Pithoragarh, April 25
“Thirteen per cent of total ration card holders in the state are income tax payees and the state government is contemplating to cancel these ration cards soon so that the ration being given to them should be transferred to the genuine ration card holders,” said Uttarakhand Minister of Revenue and Civil Supplies, Diwakar Bhatt, addressing mediapersons, here today.

“The number of fake ration card holders is nearly four lakh, which represent 20 lakh population in the state,” said the minister.

On his tour to Kumaon region, Diwakar Bhatt reached here after his visit to Udham Singh Nagar, Champawat and Lohaghat districts where the Public Distribution System (PDS) shopkeepers demanded honorarium for them as they charge that the profit margin in the business is not sufficient enough for them to survive.

“The minister assured us to put up the demand at the government level,” said Hira Ballabh Joshi, president of the fair price shop owner in Champawat district.

The minister said the state needed 63,000 tonnes of ration under the PDS scheme but the Union Government had only sanctioned 17,000 tonnes of ration for the state. “This is discrimination by the Union Government against a poor state like Uttarakhand,” he said.

He agreed that the “Atal Khadyaan Yojana” was the flagship scheme of the state government and through this scheme, the BJP government has been trying to reach out to the masses of the state wih an eye on the forthcoming Assembly elections. “As the government is spending a sum of Rs 200 crore in this scheme, its failure will have far-reaching results for the BJP government in the state,”said Bhatt.

The Revenue Minister, replying to a question, said the government had decided to regularise the land holdings of the people settled on “Nazul” land at various places in the state.

Diwakar Bhatt, who is also the president of his faction of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), said that before contesting the Assembly elections of 2012, his party would try to identify the genuine statehood agitators and create employment for the local youth after sending back the employees who have opted for the mother state of Uttar Pradesh.

Dehradun, April 25
The Open Access wing of the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) has decided to levy additional surcharge on those consumers/industries who buy electricity from the Energy Exchange during night hours. The industries have mildly registered their opposition to it.

A former Chairman, Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), has contended that the Open Access system was introduced in the state to provide the industries with the facility to buy electricity from the exchange to make a timely arrangement for long power cuts during peak hours much in advance. But, he says, the industries are buying electricity from the exchange even during night time at much cheaper rates than those of the UPCL even though the power is supplied by the UPCL only. This practice has been resulting into losses to the corporation, he alleges.

Technical Director, UERC, Neeraj Satti said after long deliberations, they decided to impose the extra surcharge to compensate for the losses to the corporation. “It is because of this practice, many states have begun opposing the Open Access system, but we are doing well with it, and hope to remove these initial problems,” he added.

Punit Mahindra, Vice-president, KVS Group, said as per the Electricity Act, 2003, the UPCL stood in competition with the Energy Exchange over the price of electricity. “In case the industries get cheaper power from the exchange, they are free to buy it from there. But, the corporation is still accustomed to the mentality of exercising its monopoly in the matter,” he said.

Nainital, April 25
Although a probe has been ordered by the district administration into the incident in which five persons were killed after their house was buried under rubble following digging in a neighbouring plot in the Paharpani area, the instance is a grim pointer towards the failure of the authorities concerned in devising a long-term strategy in the ecologically sensitive areas to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

The incident has thrown up a series of questions that have been raised at various levels time and again but there has been no attempt to address the concerns.

It was on late Saturday night that a landslide was triggered in Dhanarauli hamlet of Dhari Block that led to the house of Mohan Ram being buried under rubble. All the family members sleeping inside the house died on the spot. The collapse of his house was detected only on Sunday morning. It was late in the afternoon that the dead bodies of all the members fo the family were taken out from the rubble. Those dead included his wife Janki Devi and their three children Ved Prakash, Vinod Kumar and Sunita Devi. Diwan Ram, who works in a factory away from home, is the only survivor in the family and is the eldest son of Mohan Ram who used to work as an ironsmith.

It is learnt that an excavating machine was at work on a plot just adjacent to Mohan Ram’s house. It is being assumed that the excavation done by the machine triggered the landslide. The question arising is whether the excavating machine working on the adjacent plot till late Saturday night was being used after obtaining due permission.

More pertinent is the issue of rampant construction that is on in both the urban as well as the rural parts of the hilly terrain in Nainital district. It is a well-known fact that builders have procured large tracts of land in the Bhawali, Bhimtal, Mukteshwar areas. The rampant construction, which is said to be largely illegal, is being carried out in Nainital itself with impunity right under the nose of the authorities while throwing all the norms to the winds. The voices being raised against this are either going unheard or are left unreported.

The region as such is a part of an ecologically sensitive zone and construction activities need to be undertaken with great caution after due clearances from various authorities which does not appear to be the case. Even the use of excavators can be done after getting clearance from the administration.

District Magistrate Shailesh Bagauli has asked Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Dhari CS Imlal to carry out a probe into the incident within three days. The administration has provided initial economic and other aid to the lone survivor in the family and steps are being taken to give him a house under the Indira Awas Yojana. Meanwhile, Kumaon Commissioner Kunal Sharma has convened a meeting of top officials to discuss the rampant illegal construction that is going on in Nainital.

Dehradun, April 25
Hundreds of villagers from the Dhanaulti Assembly segment of Tehri Garhwal district today started a dharna at the Forest Department headquaters here today to demand the completion of the sanctioned roads in their areas.

Led by Jot Singh Bisht, a former block parmukh of Thauldhar block in the district, the protesters raised slogans against the state government for its alleged failure to build the sanctioned roads during the past four years.

The villagers alleged that work on 15 roads sanctioned during the last Congress government’s tenure had not yet started. “The 15 roads were sanctioned under the state sector and the Prime Minister’s Grameen Sadak Yojna from 2003 till 2006. But since then work has not started on these roads,” Bisht charged.

He further alleged that even after 64 years of Independence 70 per cent of the villages of the area were without roads. Some of the roads were to pass through forest areas and officials were explaining that clearance for these had not yet been received.

“ It is for the official machinery to fix reponsibility for the delay in making the roads. We will not go from here till the state government takes some concrete steps in this direction,” said Bisht.

Mussoorie, April 25
The Uttarakhand Tourism Minster, Madan Kaushik, inaugurated the ornamental lights installed on Mall Road and the heritage buildings at Gandhi Chowk, here today. The heritage Mussoorie Library building was illuminated with one click by the minster at around 7.30 pm here. MLA, Rajpur, Ganesh Joshi, Mussoorie MLA Jot Singh Gunsola, Mussoorie Hotel Association president RN Mathur and other tourism officials were also present at the ceremony.

However, the Mussoorie Municipal Council president OP Uniyal stayed away from the ceremony citing breach of protocol as the main reason. The ornamental lights have been installed at other sites of heritage value such as Methodist church at Kulri Bazaar, Tourism Office at stoned-carved lion near Vasu cinema, Complete Mall Road etc. Kaushik said Mussoorie was a very important tourist destination for the state which not only earned revenue for the state but also generated employment. He also said that the whole project worth Rs 91 lakh was carried out under the aegis of the Tourism Department which was commendable. MLA, Mussoorie, Jot Singh Gunsola, said on the occasion that the government should begin the ropeway project from Purkul to Mussoorie without any further delay. He also demanded that the state government should also assist the municipal council in the construction of a much-waited town hall in the town. 

Dehradun, April 25
Spearheading his campaign to get permission for quarrying even in small rivers of the state, vice-president of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam and BJP leader Raghunath Singh Negi held a yajna (havan) at Gandhi Park. Before this, he had also held a dharna at the same place.

Negi said it was not enough for the Centre to give us an NOC to do quarrying in big rivers of the state, as the small rivers were at a perilous juncture where they could give in to flood in the rainy season, and do a lot of damage to the agricultural land and the properties of the people. The interests of the people who were associated with the business of quarrying, transporters, labourers, builders were also associated with the activity, he added. He warned to intensify his stir, if his demand was not met by the Centre.

Dehradun, April 25
Employees of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam and the Managers/Supervisors Association of both the corporations have decided to go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday as the deadline for the regularisation of 375 employees and the cancellation of 10 high-level appointments came to an end today.

Feeling betrayed once again, the employees, who continued to wait for an official letter or information from Principle Secretary Rakesh Sharma or other high officials pertaining to the matter were disappointed when nothing happened till late evening. President of the Joint Employees Associations Purushottam Giri said: “Not a single high official turned up in office today. There was neither Managing Director nor General Manager to convey us any message in this regard. It is unfortunate that we have been ditched by Rakesh Sharma once again. He gave us in writing to fulfil our demands by the 25th of this month.”

Sharma had given the assurances in writing on April 20 to persuade the employees who had given ultimatum to go on a strike from midnight. The state machinery gave in to the pressure in the wake of a high-profile conference hosted by the state. It was attended by the Central Tourism Minister and tourism ministers of other states. Santosh Bahukhandi, secretary, Supervisors/Managers Association, said they did not make any attempts to talk to the officials on their own. “Rakesh Sharma himself had pointed out in his letter that they were free to go on strike, if the administration failed to take action on their demands,” he said.

General Manager UC Kabadwal expressed his helplessness in the matter saying that it was either MD, who had been out of station on official duty for more than 15 days, or Rakesh Sharma could decide on the matter. Vice-president GMVN Raghunath Singh Negi justified the decision of the employees to resort to strike in such a situation where “they have been assured and ditched time and again”.

Haridwar, April 25
Despite having talks with the state Cabinet Minister for Revenue Diwakar Bhatt, the indefinite strike by Lekhpals does not seem to be ending soon. Lekhpals, who are on the strike for the past three weeks under the aegis of the Uttarakhand Lekhpal Sangh, have now alleged that Bhatt misguided them owing to his change in stance from what he had assured them of during the talks.

With the strike entering the 21st day today, Lekhpals have said that the Revenue Minister had initially assured them to take cognisance on their 13-point demand letter, but has now has termed the strike as illegal.

District chief of the union Jay Singh Saini said the Revenue Minister was playing with the sentiments of the striking employees and has even tried to infuse factionalism among them.

“Until we get in writing the notification from the state government, we will not put on hold our strike as earlier, too, we were made to roll back our agitation but it was

just a ploy to bring us back to work rather than to meet our demands,” said Saini.

The agitation is going on at Roshanabad development office as a result of which work is getting severely affected especially for those people coming from rural areas. But according to Om Prakash, secretary of the union, the strike will continue till their demands are met. The government is not providing them with basic facilities in comparison to employees of other departments.

Dehradun, April 25
Jadi Booti Master Trainers, employed with the Uttarakhand Herbal Research and Development Institute ( HRDI) today urged the government to regularise their services. At a meeting held today at Gandhi Park, the members said that the Jadi Booti Master Trainers were employed on a contractual basis in each development block of the district in 2004 but they were never regularised.

“Most of us belong to the BPL category and were selected by a committee chaired by the Chief Development Officer (CDO) but despite going through a proper selection procedure, none of us have been regularised,” said Virender Singh Bisht, general secretary of the Uttarakhand (HRDI) Jadi-Booti Master Trainer Karamchari Sangh.

He said that despite holding a meeting with Agriculture Minister Trivender Singh Rawat and Secretary, Horticulture, Vinod Fonia, none of their demands had been met.

Notably the duties of Jadi Booti Master Trainers consist of providing training to the farmers and setting up of herbal nurseries of selected 38 species.

“For 2011-2012, the government has earmarked 950 hectares of land for undertaking cultivation of herbs and aromatic plants. The target will only be completed with the help of Master Trainers. Despite our crucial role, the government has failed to regularise us,” said L Shahi, President of the association..

Pithoragarh, April 25
Despite an expenditure of more than Rs 180 crore annually on various schemes pertaining to infrastructure in the district, more than 50 per cent villages of Champawat district are still deprived of the network of basic facilities.

According to the information available at the district development office, most of the villages in the district are still to get motor roads and other basic facilities. “Out of as many as 651 revenue villages in the district, only 325 villages have been so far linked with the motor roads, while 140 villages have improper roads, and 186 villages have not even been surveyed for the purpose,” said Shankar Datt Pandey, a social worker at the district headquarter.

“Villagers in the Danda Medar area of the district, are still travelling more than 18 km on foot to reach the motor road,” added Pandey.

The same condition prevails with the drinking water facility in the district.

“Out of a total of 2,250 settlements, 221 are totally dry, while 1,569 have sufficient, and 460 have partial drinking water facility,” said an official of Jal Sansthan. These 221 settlements are totally depend on the traditional drinking water sources, which are showing a tendency of drying up during the summer months.

“The condition of cheap ration shops under public distribution system is worse than that of roads and water, as only 300 fair price shops are available for 651 revenue villages in the district,” said Vinod Kumar Tiwari, district supply officer.

The village of Bastia that shot into limelight for its anti-liquor movement last week, has no fair-price shops for the poor villagers, and they have to travel 9 km to get their quota of the Below Poverty Line ration.

Despite such conditions of backwardness in the district, the District Development Department is full of development claims. “Last year, the district was allowed a sum of Rs188.45 crore, out of which 87 per cent has been spent on various infra structural schemes like roads, drinking water, education, irrigation and health facilities,” said TS Brajwal, Chief Development Officer of Champawat district.

Pithoragarh, April 25
Demanding metalling of 25-km road stretch from Thal town to Dharamghar via the Pankhu market in Berinag subdivision of Pithoragarh district, residents of the area have been on a relay fast at Pankhu town, 75 km from here, for the more than past one week.

“Our agitation entered its 10th day today and it will continue till the government agrees to metal the road stretch, which is a key link to the famous Kotgari temple and an important road link for nearly 40,000 people of the area,” said Vinod Karki, a youth leader and coordinator of the agitation. The agitators today met the District Magistrate, Pithoragarh, and submitted a memorandum demanding action on their demands. According to the agitators, since the road stretch was constructed 25 years ago, the government did not care to metal it, making the lives of the residents miserable, particularly in the rainy season. Most of the residents are working in the Indian Army.

This road link in the backward valley of Pungrau, adjoining the Johar valley in Pithoragarh district and the Danpur valley of Bageshwar district is the only road link to more than 36 villages that grow fruits and vegetables.

The villagers feel that with the road getting metalled they would be able to take their produce to the markets in Pithoragarh as well as in Berinag town. “Despite the agitation getting the support of all parties and various organisations, the Uttarakhand Chief Minister, during his Kumaon tour today, did not even try to ask the agitators about their problems,” lamented Karki.

Dehradun April 25
Teachers owing allegiance to the Junior High Shikshak Sangh locked junior high schools in the state in protest against the non-fulfilment of their demands today.

Students who had reached schools at the scheduled time were sent home due to the closure by the school authorities. The protesters are demanding the cancellation of their service termination orders and jobs as permanent teachers.

Surat Singh Tomar, general secretary of the sangh, said the state government had terminated their jobs on the ground of upgrading of junior high schools in the state.

He said, “The process of upgrading the schools has landed us in trouble and made us jobless. In spite of our being more qualified and experienced, we have been replaced by LT teachers at junior high schools.

“We will continue our protest and the closure of the junior high schools in Uttarakhand till our demands are met,” he asserted. He said about 4,200 junior high schools all over the state were locked today.