Haridwar, April 30
A woman, Rekha, was arrested here today. She had allegedly hired three persons to kill her husband who was found dead yesterday. He had been missing since April 23.The three hired persons have also been arrested of which one of them, Sonu, is a relative of the deceased while the other two, Ravi Kumar and Sonu Babu, were nearby residents of the deceased Rajendra Kumar.

The Haridwar police cracked this sensational case in the late evening with the case disclosure being done by Senior Superintendent of the Haridwar police Kewal Khurana here today.

According to the SSP, Kewal Khurana, Rajendra Kumar was working in the Haridwar municipality as a labourer on contract and was missing since April 23 with a complaint registered by his wife, Rekha, at Khadkhadi police station. While yesterday, the police recovered the body of Rajendra whose head was hit with rods and sharp-edged weapons near the Neel Dhara riverbed.

“Taking the circumstantial evidence as well as investigation into account, it was found that Sonu had visited the Khadkhadi house of Rajendra and on interrogation, both Sonu and Rekha accepted their involvement in the murder. They conceived the murder plan for which Rekha gave Rs 50,000 to Sonu Kumar, Sonu Babu and Ravi Kumar, which all three of them shared equally among them,” said Khurana.

When questioned, Sonu revealed that Rekha was disturbed with her husband, owing to his drinking alcohol every day as well as beating his wife physically. Rekha offered him money in lieu of killing Rajendra and then he (Sonu) contacted Sonu Babu and Ravi Kumar and called Rajendra at Ravi’s hut where we killed him with iron rods.

Rekha used to work as a domestic help, while the police is also looking into her involvement in selling country liquor in the area as the sum of Rs 50,000 half lakh rupees, which she gave as payment for killing, is under investigation.

Though she says that it was her savings, but no one is willing to believe this and according to police officials, more revelations are in the offing as investigation is going on.

Pithoragarh, April 30
The long-awaited base hospital project in Pithoragarh district seems to be on the verge of becoming a reality as Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank will lay the foundation stone of the project on May 3.

“The Chief Minister will also lay the foundation of a nursing college within the base hospital complex ,” said Balwant Singh Bhauriyal, Uttarakhand Medical Education Minister who is also in charge of the district.

The land for the project was cleared by the Ministry of Forest and Environment recently making the construction of the base hospital possible in the district.

“We have a letter from the Forest Department saying that 0.96 hectare of land near Chandak has been registered in the name of the Medical Department for the purpose of construction of a non -residential building at the place meant for the hospital. We need additional 0.985 hectare of land for the construction of the residential buildings for the staff,” said Dr PC Pant, CMO of the district.

It is being felt that the BJP government in the state has not allocated sufficient funds for the project. “We have not received the letter related to the budget of the project, but the Uttarakhand Infrastructure Development Corporation has been given an initial amount of Rs 2 crore for the construction work under the project,” said the CMO.

The local unit of Congress committee, is highly critical of the move terming it a mere election gimmick of the BJP, as the government has not sanctioned adequate amount for the construction of the base hospital. “The construction cost of the base hospital is more than Rs 200 crore at present, but the government has not made any proposal in this year’s annual budget for the hospital and wants only to pacify the people till the elections scheduled next year,” said Mayukh Singh Mahar, the Congress MLA from Kanalichina in Pithoragarh district. 

Nainital, April 30
The Congress gave a display of strength and unity at Bazpur today. The occasion this time was a kisan sammelan through which the party leadership lashed out at the Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank-led BJP government in the state.

A turnout of more than 10,000 people marked the event which also saw the Congress leadership come on to a single platform in its efforts to dispel the view that there were divisions in the party in Uttarakhand.

Among those present were the party in charge for Uttarakhand Birender Singh, senior party leader Anees Ahmed and five Lok Sabha members from the state.

Birender Singh spoke about his close association with the Bazpur region. He said he had always wanted to start farmer-oriented programmes of the party from the region, which was as fertile as the states of Punjab and Haryana. He propagated various farmer-oriented steps taken by the UPA government at the Centre, including the loan waiver announced by the government in 2008. He said the

Congress always had farmers’ interests at the core of its policies while the BJP had taken steps that went against such interests.

State unit president of the party Yash Pal Arya attacked the Nishank government for “failing” to implement the pro-farmer schemes of the Centre in the state. He also attacked Nishank for “failing to utilise” central funds for carrying out various other development schemes. He said the Congress would frame farmer- centric policies when elected to power in the state and ensure that farmers did not have to run from pillar to post to get agricultural loans.

Lok Sabha member from Almora Pradeep Tamta said people in the state, particularly farmers, were disillusioned with BJP rule which did not have any long-term vision or objective. He said,“We are in favour of a national agricultural policy which is on the lines of the forest policy. Every state must have at least a specific area under agriculture. This will prevent the government from selling off fertile tracts to industrialists in the name of industrial development. This will also help the farmer retain his traditional economic security.”

Union Minister of State for Food Processing and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat referred to new schemes and programmes being introduced by the Centre. He played up the decision of the Centre to give

Uttarakhand a Rs 134 crore grant under the National Agricultural Development Programme for the current financial year.

Nainital, April 30
District Magistrate Shailesh Bagauli has ordered the Secretary of the Lake Development Authority (LDA) to ensure that the illegal construction of 52 identified buildings in the green belt of Nainital town is halted immediately.

The orders were given by him at a meeting held on Friday to take up issues relating to illegal construction in the Lake City that is going on unabated right under the nose of the administration.

Bagauli constituted a subcommittee comprising the Chief Development Officer, the Divisional Forest Officer and the Additional District Magistrate to investigate the matter and submit a report to him.

Bagauli emphasised that before undertaking any construction, a person had to obtain clearance from the LDA, the Municipal Committee, the Jal Nigam, the Jal Sansthan, the Forest Department, the Public Works Department and the Power Department. The nodal office for obtaining all these clearances would be the LDA.

He asked the LDA to convene a monthly meeting with representatives of all these departments and take up the applications. The LDA has been asked to submit a report on the clearances given and the rejections to his office subsequently.

The District Magistrate also announced the setting up of an additional committee comprising 10 members to check illegal construction in Nainital.This committee would meet once every month.

He said that from May 1 a special drive would be undertaken to remove the illegal shops that were being set up in various markets and the Flats Grounds. In addition, a drive would be undertaken to clean stormwater drains in the town. 

Dehradun, April 30
Uttarakhand Animal Welfare Board Vice- President Shanti Mehra today expressed concern over the lack of veterinarians and pharmacists in wildlife parks and sanctuaries in the state.

Addressing the valedictory session of a two-day workshop organised by the Uttarakhand Animal Welfare Board in Dehradun, Shanti Mehra said this lack of veterinarians and pharmacists was a major impediment in providing relief to animals that suffered injuries due to the man-animal conflict.

She said animal husbandry today provided livelihood opportunities to village folk in hill areas.

Mehra asked veterinarians to play a more pro-active role in serving the people.

Uttarakhand Principal Secretary, Home, Rajiv Gupta said the government was contemplating making units of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals active in every district. He said a cowshed facility in every district was also proposed.

Representatives of several NGOs attended the workshop that concluded today.

Dehradun, April 30
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has said it is necessary to make the public aware of quality organic farm produce. He was addressing a conference on “Value Addition in Organic Farming” organised here today.

The Chief Minister said a large section of the population was unaware of the beneficial qualities of organic farm produce. He said for systematic marketing of organic farm produce, farmers should not only be taken into confidence but advance payment should also be made to them by entering into an agreement with them. Terming the role of the Uttarakhand Organic Farming Board as important, he said co-ordination among all departments was necessary.

Nishank added that discussion on the issue of encouraging organic farming produce would be held at the coming meeting of the Planning Commission.

The CM also said if the Union Government was giving subsidy on chemical fertilisers, it should also extend some assistance for organic farming. He directed that food from organic farm produce should be compulsorily used in the Secretariat and the Vidhan Sabha. He announced clearance for a pending proposal pertaining to encouraging organic farming worth Rs 80 lakh. He also directed the posting of a nodal officer for encouraging preservation and marketing in the field of organic farming. Chairman of the Organic Farming Council Kishan Chandra Punetha laid stress on value addition to organic farm produce.

Haridwar, April 30
In view of cutting edge technology and global competition, the need of the hour is to lay more stress on providing consumers quality products at lower costs. This was stated at a one-day Turbine Blade vendors’ convention.

Speaking on the occasion, Executive Director of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Ranipur, DK Mody said it was imperative to meet the quality standards as well as the consumers’ criteria without compromising on any aspect.

Mody urged the vendors to ensure that good quality turbine blades reached the consumers in time. He said this would enhance their reputation in the market as well as save them from incurring losses on account of delayed delivery.

“Equipment made in BHEL are not only used in the country, but also exported to foreign shores, and as such, if there is any fault from our side, then the company may suffer huge loss of reputation,” said Mody.

At the convention various aspects were discussed to enhance quality of turbine blades and the related trade.

Among others who addressed the meet were KR Gupta, AK Viz, B Das and Brijesh Pandey.