Dehradun, April 21
Uttarakhand has become the first state among 10 tourist destinations in the country to be promoted for tourism and hence will get a Central assistance of Rs 250 crore for the purpose.

This was announced by Union Minister of Tourism Subodh Kant Sahay, who has come here to attend the Regional Tourism Ministers’ Conference of North Central States, along with Tourism Minister of Jharkhand Bimla Pradhan, OP Jain of Haryana, Vinod Singh of UP, Madan Kaushik of Uttarakhand and state Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank at Narender Nagar, Rishikesh.

Sahay said a plan had been mooted to boost foreign tourist arrivals in the country from 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent of the aggregate in the world. “We require 5 lakh hotel rooms to cater to our target tourists. The construction of budget hotels will help to rein in hotel fares also,” he said.

He said these 10 tourists destination would be identified and labelled for their selling features and offered as the wholesome package to tourists.

Uttrakhand would be projected as ‘Snow Route Tourism’. The entire plan would be developed under the next Five Year Plan of 2012-17. Sahay also talked about the presence of some 60 crore tourist destinations in the country and said the Centre planned to develop rural tourism for domestic tourists, which he felt would also boost the economy. Besides this, Sufi circuit, Jain circuit and Sikh circuit would also be developed for the first time.

He also urged the states to evolve a single-window mechanism to provide all kinds of sanctions to private investors under the private-public-partnership mode on the lines of the Central Government. I&LS Company had been given 11 new tourism projects by the Uttarakhand Government.

Acknowledging the significance of local communities in supporting the tourism development at any destination, he said the Center’s scheme, ‘Hunar Se Rozgar Tak’, aimed at training 10,000 youth in the age group of 13-28 years in various skills to serve the purpose.

He appreciated the vast potential of the state to hold a tourist for longer period for simply being blessed with sites of various significances, be it adventure, religion and spiritualism, scenic beauty or art and culture.

On the issue of bringing about an amicable solution between the warring state Tourism and the Union Environment and Forest Ministries on the issue of the eco-sensitive zone, he said a midway had to be evolved after a due deliberation between both.

Apart from Pithoragarh and Darchula, the Center would find out an alternative route for Kailash Mansrover pilgrimage to which Himachal Pardesh had also shown interest, he added.

Dehradun, April 21
Following the directives given by the Principle Secretary (Tourism Department) to the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) to fill 375 vacancies and to the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) to fill 64 vacancies with senior-most employees by April 25 and another directive to the MD (GMVN) to cancel 10 high-level controversial appointments, the agitating members of the Joint Association of the GMVN and the KMVN have decided not to go on a strike.

However, the association maintained that they would continue to hold a peaceful dharna till their demands were actually met.

President of the association Purushottam Giri said the letters released by Principle Secretary Rakesh Sharma were not the agreement letters, as given to them many times in the past, but concrete official directives.

“Rakesh Sharma has also given us freedom to go on an indefinite strike if our demands were not met. But to maintain the pressure on the department, we will continue to hold a peaceful dharna in shifts. In case, the department failed to act on its promises, we will go on an indefinite strike,” he said.

Nainital, April 21
The Army will be conducting the annual Surya Sailing Regatta for children from various schools on Friday.

Eight schools from Nainital as well as outside will be competing in the event to lift the trophy.

The competition started in 2007 by Headquarters, Central Command, is held every year.

The Army has been a promoter of the sport and has earned laurels both at the national and international levels.

It is aiming at promoting this sport among schoolchildren who would eventually some day bring laurels to the country. The General Officer Commanding, Uttar Bharat Area, Lt-Gen SP Tanwar, is expected to be present during the regatta.

The Commanding Officer at the cantonment here, Lt-Col VRS Katoch, said Nainital had a sailing history which the Army wanted to keep alive. There were still some boats available with the Nainital Yatching Club that dated back to the British era.

The participants in this year’s regatta are All Saints School at Nainital, Sainik School at Ghodakhal, Rashtriya Indian Military College at Dehradun, Army School at Bareilly, Amtul’s School at Nainital, St Mary’s School at Nainital, Bharat Shaheed School at Nainital and Government Inter College at Tallital in Nainital.

Colonel Katoch said the Army had decided to start its own sailing node at Nainital. Trainers from the Army would be imparting training to schoolchildren during the months sailing was feasible at Nainital.

Four boats of the Army have already arrived in the town and can be seen bobbing just opposite the Army Holiday Home near the boat stand in the Tallital area.

Dehradun, April 21
In a surprising move, Superintendent of Police (SP) Kewal Khurana, who is facing a CB-CID probe for irregularities in the rankers’ recruitment in Tehri district last month, has been promoted as SSP (Haridwar).

Despite the fact that he has been facing probe, Khurana has been given the charge of Haridwar, which is a vital station surrounded by districts like Saharanpur, Muzzaffarnagar and Bijnore (UP), where the crime rate is very high.

Last month, he was transferred from Tehri and posted as the SP (STF), after the probe was ordered.

It was alleged that in the examination at Tehri, seven candidates were facilitated to sit in a separate room and not at their scheduled seats. It was also found true during preliminary investigations.

After the CB-CID inquiry, the seven candidates, two circle officers and Khurana, all of Tehri district, were transferred.

However, Uttarakhand DGP Jyoti Swaroop Pandey said: “His promotion has nothing to do with the probe as he has not been suspended. He is an able officer and his services are being used according to that.”

He further clarified that, “Last month, he was transferred from Tehri so that the ongoing investigation remain fair and was given the charge of the SP (STF). Even now he has been given the charge of the SSP according to his capabilities.”

Dehradun, April 21
The Uttarakhand Police Complaints Authority has recommended to the administration action against 13 cops, most of them sub-inspectors. However, there is no compiled data of what action has been taken against these policemen. The administration has sent these reports to the Police Headquarters, which has directed it to the SSPs concerned of different districts. However, it is not clear whether action has been taken against them or not.

Neither the complaints authority nor the Police Headquarters has a complied data on this. State Director- General of Police (DGP) Jyoti Swaroop Pandey said the Police Headquarters didn’t have a separate data on what action has been taken against the cops on the recommendation of the complaints authority as there are policemen against whom we also took action. According to the complaints authority, till date they have received 453 complaints against the police and 250 of these have been disposed of. In 13 cases, cops have been found guilty and action against them has been recommended to the administration.

The officers at the authority said a majority of the guilty include sub-inspectors, while there is a constable and a few inspectors in the list of the 13. These cops have been found guilty mainly for involvement in property disputes, biased investigation particularly in dowry cases and custodial beating.

“We don’t have the figures but action must have been initiated against these policemen,” said one of the members of the authority, Brigadier VK Agarwal (retd).

Dehradun, April 21
While the Uttarakhand Government never fails to take credit for managing to get from the Planning Commission a sizable annual plan outlay for the state, sadly its performance in the utilisation of a portion of the budget allocated for the welfare of the SCs and the STs continues to be dismal.

In 2010-2011, a sum of Rs 747 crore allocated for the welfare of the SCs and the STs has lapsed, thanks to a lack of proper utilization on the part of the government. In 2010-2011 a sum of Rs 1,226 crore was allocated for the welfare of the SCs and the STs.

Out of the allocated amount, the government was able to spend Rs 479 crore (39 per cent). The annual plan size (2010-2011) was pegged at Rs 6,800 crore.

For the integrated development of the SCs/STs, it is mandatory for the states to allocate certain percentage of the annual plan for the SC and ST communities. The government has to contribute 18 per cent of the allocation for the welfare of the SC communities and 3 per cent of that for the ST communities. These outlays are under the area-oriented schemes directly benefiting the villages having a majority of SC/ST population.

Instead of taking lessons from the poor spending past year, this year too the Uttarakhand Government is seeking an enhanced annual plan outlay.

The proposed annual plan size is being pegged at Rs 7,554.79 crore for 2011-2012. Out of which Rs 1,359.86 crore has been proposed for the welfare of the SC/ST communities.

“Every year we see a hike in the annual plan outlay but we have not been able to spend the budget primarily due to a lack of staff. Around 50 per cent of the posts of junior-level officials are vacant in various departments. We should come up with a realistic planning,” said a top official on the condition of anonymity.

This year the government has proposed a budget outlay of Rs 110.81 core for PWD/transport, which is 14.67 per cent of the total plan outlay, followed by Rs 792.53 crore towards education, art, culture and youth affairs, which is 10.49 per cent of the total outlay.

For agriculture and allied services the proposed total allocation is Rs 583.8 crore, at least 7.73 per cent of the plan outlay. For the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department, the proposed outlay is pegged at Rs 555.65 crore, which is 7.73 per cent of the total annual plan. The Planning Commission would approve the annual plan outlay in the first week of May.

Dehradun, April 21
Launching a scathing attack against his very own party MP, Tehri MLA Kishore Upadhyaya today accused Congress Tehri MP Vijay Bahuguna of working against him and the party.

Addressing media persons in Dehradun, the first since he ended his fast, Updhayaya said he had been wrongly blamed for the defeat of the Congress candidate in the Tehri Municipality Chairman election. “Congress MP Vijay Bahuguna, who has always worked against me, is now blaming me for the defeat of the Congress candidate in the Tehri Municipality Chairman election. I take it as an insult as I am a dedicated worker of the Congress and have always been sincere towards the Gandhi family,” Upadhyaya said.

The Congress MLA pointed out that the same Vijay Bahuguna worked for his defeat in the 2007 Assembly elections in the state but could no succeed due to the unstinted support of people of Tehri to him. He said since then he had repeatedly been ignored in all the Congress organisational appointments done in Tehri district. Those who are opposed to him have been given plum posts in Tehri as there were many leaders who do not want to see him win as legislator again. He disclosed that he was leaving for Delhi shortly and would apprise the All-India Congress Committee of the matter.

Referring to his recent fast staged in support of the people of Tehri, Upadhayay said Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had assured him and the senior Congress leaders that the issues pertaining to Tehri raised by him would be redressed at the earliest. The MLA said he was very much hopeful that the chief minister will keep his word or else he would re-start his agitation.

He said the people of Tehri could no more be taken for granted by those in power in the state. He reminded that the inhabitants from 132 villages of Tehri, which were displaced after due the construction of the Tehri Dam, now resided in as many as 17 Assembly constituencies of the state and could impact elections in these constituencies.

Pithoragarh, April 21
The Rashtriya Sainik Sanstha, an organisation of ex-servicemen, on Wednesday demanded amendments to the Army Act of 1950 saying that it had failed to give justice to Army men punished for various offences.

“It represents the British legacy of oppression as it was conceived immediately after the first freedom struggle of 1857 to crush Indian-origin soldiers,” said Col SP Guleria (retd), district president of the sanstha, at a meeting held here.

According to Colonel Guleria, the Army Act was one of the most strict Acts in the world. Most of the countries which had remained British colonies in the last century had now liberalised their army Acts in keeping with their democratic forms of government and civil rights.

According to the sanstha, under the Act officers who take action against soldiers then become the judges themselves and create evidence according to what they want in a bid to punish the soldiers. Sections 80,83, 84 and 120 of the Act needed to be changed as these smacked of dictatorial tendencies, said Colonel Guleria. — OC

Haridwar, April 21
With the state Assembly elections, which are scheduled to be held in 2012, fast approaching, the leaders of the ruling BJP have started visiting rural areas with an eye on votes of villagers.

The BJP leaders are making villagers aware of the failure of the Central UPA Government, led by the Congress. It’s an irony that they are not propagating the developmental works being done by the BJP Government in the state.

The villagers seem to be amused at the chaupals being organised by the women’s cell of the BJP under the programme “Chalo Gaon Ki Or”. The campaign seems to be just a formality. There is a low turnout at the chaupals organised under the programme for most villagers remain busy harvesting.

When The Tribune team visited one such chaupal it was found villagers of only the nearby villages had turned up and they too started leaving the venue soon citing one reason or the other.

Anjana Chaddha of the Garhwal Mandal unit of the BJP women’s cell denied the poor response to the programme, saying that as the campaign reaches the interior areas the response will be much better. These interior areas are still devoid of development. “The impact of our (BJP Government) policies are easily visible in these villages, so there is no need to promote them here. But, it is being falsely propagated that the Centre has changed the fortunes of the villages and we are apprising the rural people of this fact via the chaupals,” said Anjana.

Neelam Sehgal, Chairperson of the Bal Vikas Board, said the programme had been aimed at exposing the non-governance of the Congress-led UPA, which is in power at the Centre. There has been no development in the rural areas as is being touted by the Central Government.

On the other hand, the Congress has termed the “Chalo Gaon Ki Or” programme as a publicity stunt to gain the media attention. Chief of the women cell of the city Congress Vimla Pandey said the women leaders of the BJP wearing full makeup, sunglasses and riding on cars couldn’t understand the tough life of villages and the problems of the rural sector.