Nainital, April 28
With the summer setting in, the region has started experiencing unscheduled power cuts. The worst affected parts continue to be the town of Haldwani and certain parts of Udham Singh Nagar. Both these places have seen several public protests on the issue of unscheduled power cuts and the failure of the administration to rectify faults in the local electricity lines.

Yesterday, Haldwani saw an aggressive protest from the residents and traders of the Transport Nagar area who have threatened to launch a massive agitation if the administration fails to improve the power supply within a week. The agitated crowd went on to burn an effigy of the Power Department.

The people of the town are agitated over the fact that apart from the scheduled rotational cuts, there are frequent power cuts stretching up to several hours that have made life miserable.

The laying of power and other lines is further adding to disruption of power supply. The Mukhani area is yet another worst affected area of the town.

The people have been alleging that the frequent power cuts are resulting in a fall of productivity at various enterprises.

It was only on last Saturday that District Magistrate Shailesh Bagauli had assured the entrepreneurs at a meeting of the District Udyog Bandhu that there would be minimal power cuts in areas where production work is on and people would be duly informed of the scheduled power cuts. He had also asked the officials of the Power Department to prepare a proper roasting schedule.

Meanwhile, in a related development the Power Corporation has started taking measures to curtail power theft. The corporation has started installing pole-mounted metering cubicles at the boundary of the 11 KV feeders to obtain automatic reading of the power supplied to various areas. Initially, these meters are being installed in Haldwani, Nainital and Ramnagar. These meters would help the Department tabulate the difference between the power supplied and the revenue earned.

Hence, the areas can be identified where the power theft is going on. The Power Corporation is learnt to have got a sanction of Rs 1 crore for installing these meters.

Pithoragarh, April 28
This year as the Himalayan butter trees bloom in abundance, making all those engaged in collecting honey happy as they hope to get a better harvest this year because the butter tree is one of the biggest attractions for the honey bees.

The areas of Balawakot, Gorihat, Gurna and Talla Bagar are the main honey production centres that are totally dependent on the blooming of butter tree.

In old Sanskrit and Hindi literature, the description about a Himalayan tree called Kalp Vriksh has been mentioned frequently.

The Puranic description of the honey tree is still seen in mid-Himalayas where a tree called Chiura on steep slopes or cliffs at an altitude of 1,200 to 4,300 feet, particularly in Uttarakhand, Nepal and Bhutan is found. In Uttarakhand, this forest plant is called Chiura (Aesandra Buty Racea Butyracea ).

“When the tree blossoms in October and November, it attracts honey bees, helping locals to collect honey. After the flowering, the fruit of the Himalayn Butter tree is eaten by the local people due to a higher content of sugar in it. In Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan these fruits are also sold in the market,” said Harish Ram Arya, District Horticulture Officer, Pithoragarh.

“Not only fruits but the seeds of Chiura are very important to local consumption. The local people extract these seeds and prepare oil and ghee out of them which ,before introduction of market goods, was the only substitute of oil for them,” said Shekhar Joshi, a resident of Doobash in the valley of river Kali. Joshi said whereas the seeds begot oil and ghee, the fruit juice was also taken by local villagers as it had a rich sugar content.

Harish Ram Arya, who had widely studied about the Chiura tree, said, “Chiura seed contains about 60 to 75 per cent of oil in it, according to the chemical composition of Chiura ghee; whereas the cow ghee contains 64.5 per cent saturated fatty acid, the Chiura Ghee has 60.2 per cent of it. Chiura ghee has 36 per cent monounsaturated fatty acid which is 27.2 per cent in cow ghee besides 3.8 per cent poly unsaturated fatty acid in Chiura ghee as compared to only 2 per cent in cow ghee.

The local people, where the Chiura tree is widely grown, used its leaves as fodder for cattle. “The wood of this tree is used as building material as it is solid and long lasting and does not attract termite,” said Jeevan Chandra, a resident of Bilai village.

“In our country, where more than 30 per cent to 40 per cent food oil is imported to fulfil domestic demand, a 15-year-old Chiura plant produces approximately 150 kg fruits, 14 kg seeds and 25 kg oil,” claimed Harish Ram Arya, DHO. Pithoragarh.

‘Chiura plants are mostly found in Saryu valley and Kali valley in Pithoragarh district mainly at Baluvakot, Gorihat ,Seelbadhuli in Champawat. 

Dehradun, April 28
It has been five months since the Open Access System was introduced in the state, but the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) has not been able to provide proper billing system to consumers till date. The refunds are still lying pending with the corporation.

Senior Deputy General Manager, Surya Roshni, Vikas Ranjan said, his bills of January had not been cleared as yet, whereas he had to pay double the amount for one billing. “As per the system, the consumer has to pay to the Energy Exchange (EE) in advance to purchase power from it. But the UPCL has not installed any separate system to differentiate between the power supply provided by them and the EE. Hence, it has been sending us one bill for both. This way, we end up paying double the amount,” said Rajan. He further said that he had put up the matter before the UPCL and was awaiting refund of the amount from January onwards.

Another consumer, Punit Mahindra, vice-president, KVS Group, said, “As per the directives, the UPCL is supposed to deduct the power supply provided by it from the total meter reading, and prepare the bill accordingly. This way, we need not to pay for the supply taken from the EE to the UPCL. Since they have not updated their system, consumers like us are left paying double the amount, and wait for the refund.” UPCL officials, though claimed of sorting out the billing procedure, admitted that a few refunds were yet to be made.

Haridwar, April 28
If you are a senior citizen coming to Haridwar for a holy dip, you will see the other facet of khaki personnel lending you a helping hand, also assisting you in visiting the nearby temples.The Haridwar police has set up a special cell, ‘Senior Citizen Help Desk’, catering to the needs of senior citizens at the world famous Har-Ki-Pauri.

The desk will assist senior citizens, who may find it difficult to take a holy dip at the bathing ghats owing to a heavy rush of pilgrims. The desk personnel will be at their service round the clock.

This help desk has been formed on the initiative of the police chief of Haridwar district, and it will have an SI as the in charge with four constables, including two female constables to assist him.

The newly-appointed Senior Superintendent of Police, Haridwar, Kewal Khurana, told the Tribune that this was one of the many steps that the Police Department would take to ensure smooth and peaceful pilgrimage in this city.

According to city SP Dr Kiran Lal Shaw, the help desk will also keep an eye on thieves as well as anti-social elements, who create nuisance at Har-Ki-Pauri.

This help desk also assumes greater importance as a higher percentage of pilgrims, who throng Haridwar to take a holy dip, comprise senior citizens. Religious organisations, local people and senior citizens’ forums have welcomed the initiative of the SSP terming it in sync with the image of the pilgrim city.

Dehradun, April 28
After establishing “vertical connectivity” in which the state treasuries and the revenue departments have been covered through the State Wide Area Network (SWAN), the Information Technology Department Agency is now moving towards “horizontal connectivity.”

Keen to ensure an effective delivery system for the citizens of Uttarakhand by putting up necessary technological infrastructure through the State Wide Area Network (SWAN), the information highway is expected to spread the benefits of information technology to the Block level, and gradually to the remotest part of the state.

“Vertical connectivity has been achieved at 133 points of presentation (POP). At two places we are still lagging behind, as we have to take forest clearance,” said Director of the Information Technology Development Agency (ITDA) Ravi Nath Raman.

As a part of the National E-Governance initiative, the Rs 76-crore-project has been jointly undertaken by the Government of India and the Government of Uttarakhand since 2006.

Now, the ITDA is engaged in undertaking horizontal connectivity, which will link the departments with common service centres created at the Block and district levels.

Already, the Chief Minister and senior bureaucrats in the state have managed to keep a track on the progress of developmental activities through video conferencing. Similar facility will be provided to ministers, middle-level bureaucrats and police officials in the state.

In fact, the video-conferencing facility proved quite effective last year when torrential rains triggered natural disaster in the state.

“Since network connectivity has assumed paramount importance for any modern and efficient administration, the connectivity ought to be seamless. A proposal is underway to set up a master data centre that would be housed at the Secretariat. We are aiming at improving delivery of specific services to citizens and business, and reduce the use of paper,” added Raman.

The treasuries of the state connected through the SWAN have reduced paper work, and the government hopes to cover more ground under the evolving National E-Governance Action Plan focused on delivery of services to citizens.

Haridwar, April 28
While Village Development Officers (VDOs) in the district are on an indefinite strike for the past two weeks, villagers in their respective areas are facing problems galore as due to the strike, the VDOs have been boycotting the work totally.

Be it issuance of birth certificates, caste certificates, copies of family registration, ration cards or even the payment of the Central Government’s ambitious Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee daily-wage payment as well as other works are getting affected.

With no signs of negotiations, the strike seems certain to enter the third week, aggravating the grievances of the people. Though striking employees accept that the public work is getting affected, they say that for this situation, only the BJP government is to be blamed.

Agitating at the Roshanabad development office, striking officers under the aegis of the Gram Vikas Adhikari Association (GVAA), put the onus on state government terming it being negative to their legal demands.

Informing about the strike, SomNath Saini, district chief of the GVAAU said the state government did not seem to be a bit concerned about the woes of the rural public as well as the employees working in the rural areas as despite regarding their demands nothing concrete had been done.

The association has even warned the state government that they will be taking their agitation to a higher level by locking all offices of block development divisions if no heed is paid to their demand by April 1. “We will be forced to lock the offices of all district block offices in the state”.

Among others who addressed the agitators were IS Bhandari, Vishnu Dutt Sharma and Dinesh Joshi with all the village development officers of the district continuously registering their presence. 

Dehradun, April 28
After the equine crisis a few years back, Char Dham Yatra authorities could be caught unawares this time, too, as in all probability the Bijnor horses and mules that were infected with dreaded Glanders disease some time back could find way their into Uttarakhand particularly in the Char Dham Yatra routes where horses and mules are used extensively to carry luggage, provisions and even pilgrims.

A worrisome situation is building up in Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Pithoragarh. The deadly disease, Glanders, has been found in horses in Bijnor in December 2010. Now these very horses are all set to be

brought to Uttarakhand for the yatra season. Some 15,000 horses are expected to arrive from Uttar Pradesh and there is so far no mechanism to filter these horses.

Not many years back on May 8, 2009, during the Char Dham Yatra, an epidemic was caused by the equine influenza virus H3N8 which infected more than 5,000 horses and mules, resulting in the deaths in hundreds

in Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi yatra districts of Uttarakhand. The carcasses, for want of any suitable disposal system, were left to rot on the hillside that led to further contamination of the environment. The spread of the disease was then attributed to unhygienic living conditions and overcrowding. The Department of

Animal Husbandry had to rush teams of veterinarians from all over the state and summon scientists from veterinary institutes of Hisar and Pantnagar to tackle the emergency. But inspite of all measures taken, hundreds of horses and mules died within 20 days due to equine.

A similarly situation cannot be ruled out in this yatra season, which is slated to commence in the first week of May. 

Dehradun, April 28
The Uttarakhand Government has refused to budge on the demands of the BEd/BPEd Prashikshit Berozgar Sangathan even as three of their members, who climbed up a mobile phone tower in the Badkot area of Uttarkashi district two days ago, have said they won’t come down till their demands are met.

Balbir Rana, one of the protesters who climbed up the tower, was not feeling well since morning and an ambulance was called for him, but he refused to come down.

Himanshu Rajput, vice-president of the organisation, said: “In support of our three members who have climbed up the tower in Uttarkashi, we have appealed to all other members to continue with the agitation across the state till our demands are met.”

However, the protesters, who have been perched atop the tower since the midnight of April 26, are pressing for the release of their jailed fellows who were arrested from the Parade Ground, Dehradun. The three protesters have even said that they will jump off the tower if their demands are not met.

According to the police, “The two other protesters perched atop the tower are Dinesh Rana and Pramod Chamariya. The administration is trying to persuade the protesters to come down while an adequate police force has been deployed around the tower to deal with any sort of untoward situations,” he asserted.

Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has condemned the action of the protesters of climbing up the 60-foot mobile tower and endangering their lives. He has urged them to come down and resolve the issue through meeting.

Meanwhile, the agitating BEd trained teachers of the sangathan continued their demonstrations across the state. The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) has also extended support to the protesters and has even decided to take out a massive march on May 2, if their demands are not met by then.

The demands of these BEd and BPEd trained teachers include creation of 8,000 posts of special BTC teacher.

Dehradun, April 28
Arun Mishra, former Chief Engineer of Uttar Pradesh Industrial Devolvement Corporation, was sent to a seven- day Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) remand by the CBI court today. The CBI filed an application in the court demanding a 14-day CBI remand. However, the court ordered a seven-day remand.

Mishra is allegedly accused of abusing his official position in facilitating buying of land at low rates for Tronica city project in Ghaziabad, which resulted in the loss of crores of rupees to the government. He is also accused of laundering money worth crores of rupees at a Punjab National Bank branch in Dehradun.

Superintendent of Police, CBI, Neelabh Kishore, confirmed to The Tribune, “The CBI has got seven-day remand from the court though we, in our application, requested the court to grant a 14-day remand.”

The CBI officers in the morning got medical examination of Mishra done, who was arrested last night, at Coronation Hospital. The police then in the afternoon produced him before the CBI court.

After his arrest last night, mediapersons gathered in large numbers outside Doon Hospital in the morning. However, the CBI got the medical examination done at Coronation Hospital to avoid catching media’s eye.

The CBI officials have been grilling Mishra since Monday in Dehradun before arresting him last night. According to sources, in a startling revelation to the CBI, Mishra has accused Dehradun-based astrologer Ashish Semwal of being involved in the scam.

The CBI has sent a summon notice to Semwal to appear before the agency. Semwal will frequent the grand guesthouse of Mishra at Rajpur Road. Semwal is also running his astrology offices in Noida and Ghaziabad, the sources added.

Other than this, the CBI officials are also questioning Alina, a female friend of Mishra for her alleged links with him. However, the CBI SP said the two had not been questioned yet and all those whose names appeared in the case would be questioned.

Nainital, April 28
A court in Almora has sentenced a jawan to life imprisonment in a case of rape of a minor. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the accused.

The accused, Kishen Singh, of Dhunchu village in Pithoragarh had committed the crime in Bakh village on July 6, 2010. At the time of the incident, he had been posted in Udham Singh Nagar district.

According to reports, the accused had dragged a four- year-old girl to a seasonal drain near the Women’s Protection Home and had raped her. He had been spotted while committing the crime by Devendra Singh of his own village who had caught and handed him over to the police with the help of the local people. The victim had been taken to the district hospital in a state of unconsciousness for her medical examination.

One of the prosecuting lawyers in the case, Sunita Pande, told the Tribune,”The victim had remained hospitalised for almost a month after the incident. The Forensic Science examination report, which established the crime, was upheld by the court.”

The father of the girl, who is a labourer, had lodged a complaint at the Almora Police Station. During the course of hearing, 10 witnesses had deposed in the matter before the District and Sessions Judge.

The All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) has welcomed the court order.