Dehradun, May 11
The concept of Special Agriculture Zones (SAZ) floated by the Agriculture Minister has failed to take off in the state. In fact the SAZs do not find mention in the Agriculture Policy whose draft is ready. It has to be approved by the Cabinet and then passed in the Uttarakhand Assembly.

The Uttarkahand Agriculture Minister, Trivender Singh, had come up with the concept of setting aside a certain percentage of land in the state for agriculture purposes only. Nearly 312,000 hectares of non-agriculture and 383, 000 hectares of non-cultivated agriculture land is available in the hill state.

But the state government failed to show any enthusiasm “The SAZ concept was touted to protect farmlands and put curbs on the rampant sale of agriculture land to builders in the long run achieving food security. But we did not find any takers,” said Agriculture Minister Trivender Singh Rawat.

In fact the Uttarakhand Agriculture and Horticulture Departments had even begun implementing the project on a pilot basis in Raipur in Dehradun district, Pokhra in Pauri and Kotabagh in Nainital.

Besides SAZ was to be supplemented with self-sustaining units comprising fisheries, tea gardens, dairy farming and other agriculture and horticulture-related activities. “These were to act as cohesive units charging the rural economy islands,” said Rawat.

The farmland under SAZ could not be used for non-agriculture and non-cultivated agriculture land for this purpose and the farmers were to be given interest-free loans by the government and other sops like electricity, water supply and seeds on cheap rates will be provided to farmers. In addition to this, toll-free call centres for farmers will also be set up across the state.

Dehradun, May 11
The Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, has again blamed the Central Government for “discrimination” against Uttarakhand on various issues. Expressing satisfaction at the annual plan size of Rs 7,800 crore for 2011-12 sanctioned by the Planning Commission, Chief Minister Nishank said various issues where the Central Government discriminated against Uttarakhand were raised by him at the meeting with the commission.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Chief Minister Nishank claimed that the Planning Commission showed its happiness over the progress made by Uttarakhand and, therefore, an increase of more than 14 per cent in the annual plan size and extra help of Rs 666 crore by the commission.

He further said that during his meeting with Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, he forcefully raised the issue of double standards by the Central Government regarding treatment of Uttarakhand as a special category state. “Normally as a special category state, we should be given 90 per cent grant by the Central Government but these norms differ from 60 per cent to 90 per cent in different schemes. We have lost a total of Rs 2,400 crore due to these anomalies and have demanded that the Planning Commission grant us this amount due to us,” he said.

On the issue of clearance for roads by the Union Environmental Ministry under the Prime Minister Sadak Yojna, the Chief Minister argued that since nearly 66 per cent of the total land mass of the state was under forests, the mandatory stipulation to give double the land acquired for roads and other development projects to the Forest Department should be waived in case of Uttarakhand. “We do not have extra land except forests. So what should we do?” he asked. Nishank said the delay in the environmental clearance has also led to a loss to Uttarakhand state.

“The delay leads to cost escalation in the Prime Minister Sadak Yojna and the Central Government does not compensate us for the cost escalation,” he added. On the question of curtailment of industrial package for Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Nishank charged that the Uttarakhand was perhaps the only state to which the industrial package granted till 2013 by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was curtailed till 2010. He also castigated all Congress MPs of the state for their failure to convince their party on the issue of extension of industrial package.

Similarly, he also showed his displeasure on the failure of the Central Government to help the state in mitigating the last monsoon disaster. “We suffered a loss of more than Rs 21,000 crore but the Centre gave us only Rs 500 crore.”

The Chief Minister said he had also asked the Centre to decide about giving 25 per cent of the power generated from the Tehri hydro-electric project to Uttarakhand.

He said he had also requested the Prime Minister to give 2000 MW of free power annually to Uttarakhand to help in building its infrastructure.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister also pleaded with the Planning Commission to include all four border districts of the state in the Border Area Development Plan (BADP).

Nainital, May 11
A two-day workshop focusing on "Astronomy: Pushing Technology to its Edge" began at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) here on Wednesday. The event marks the celebration of National Technology Day and is being held by ARIES with the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST), Dehradun, being the main sponsor.

The event began with the Director, UCOST, Dr Rajendra Dobhal, deliberating upon the importance of National Technology Day and why it is celebrated. The students and research scholars were shown a documentary on the life of the famous physicist, Albert Einstein, and there were talks on the solar system.

Dr Dobhal related to the participants that the National Technology Day was a very special day for Indian science since 1999. “It is so significant because India achieved a huge technological advancement on the day. The first, indigenous aircraft “Hansa-3” was test flown at Bangalore on this day. Not only this, India also performed successful test-firing of the Trishul missile on the same day. India also executed three successful nuclear tests, carried out at Pokhran, in Rajasthan, on May 11,” he said.

According to Dr Rajesh Kumar, a scientist at ARIES, achieving all progression, India today has thetechnological, institutional and manpower strengths to become the superpower of the coming age.

Since India got Independence, it has witnessed astounding strides in all fields of science and technology development. India has also strengthened itself agriculturally in the last few decades.”

The Director of Aries, Dr Ram Sagar, stated that in the days to come, his institution would keep on organising programmes that would help take the benefits of science and technology to a common man. Later in the day, Sanjeev Bhattacharya delivered a talk on “Our Solar System”.

Dehradun, May 11
The Army is all set to get a lightweight laser target designator (LLTD) device. The Dehradun-based Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE) has come up with a lightweight device which guides ammunition right on target with the help of laser.

The instrument was displayed at the IRDE’s National Technology Day exhibition held on its campus here today. Asia’s lightest weight laser-guided ammunition device, the LLTD, is expected to be commissioned into the Army within the next 10 months.

Senior scientists at the, IRDE Saurabh Verma and Mangesh Ghildiyal, say the lightweight laser target designator has the capability to guide ammunition through laser, thus hitting the target at a range of 10 km with pinpoint accuracy.

“The IRDE has already conducted the trial of the device, which is expected to be commissioned shortly,” Saurabh said.

Earlier, the Associate Director, IRDE, Dr AK Gupta inaugurated the National Technology Day functions at the IRDE.

Dehradun, May 11
Garhwal MP and former Union Minister Satpal Maharaj has welcomed the selection of Chamoli district for growing seabuckthorn, known as badri fruit locally.

In a statement issued yesterday, Satpal Maharaj said it was a matter of honour for the state that one of its districts had been selected under the seabuckthorn promotion programme of the Green India Mission of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

A fruit-bearing plant found in high altitude, seabuckthorn’s fruits and leaves are highly nutritious and have great pharmaceutical value. Seabuckthorn drink is supplied to the Army for troops located in the Siachen area. It has anti-stress properties.

Dehradun, May 11
Belying the reports about that wild animals no longer use the Chilkiya-Kota corridor, wildlife researchers have documented signs of an elephant birth in the same corridor in the Jim Corbett National Park of Uttarakhand. This comes a month after the movement of a herd of elephants in the corridor was scientifically recorded.

The 5-km-long Chilkiya-Kota corridor connects the Corbett Tiger Reserve to Ramnagar forest division that starts from the Garjia temple in the Corbett region. This corridor has Sundarkhal settlement as major irritant towards ensuring wild animals’ right to passage.

Amidst a raging debate over the removal of the Sundarkhal settlement, wildlife researchers from the Wildlife Trust of India, a non-government organisation committed to wildlife conservation, have been working to secure elephant corridors throughout India. The trust has documented signs of an elephant birth in the Chilkiya-Kota corridor, barely 25 metres from this human settlement.

The Chilkiya-Kota corridor holds much significance in view of the movement of both tigers and elephants from the Corbett Tiger Reserve to Ramnagar forest division. The corridor has a favourable terrain for animal movement unlike other corridors in the vicinity that have hilly terrain making it inhospitable for wildlife, particularly elephants.

Being a narrow corridor with width just about 100 metres in some stretches, the wildlife right to passage certainly stands infringed in this corridor. Reports of animal-human conflict are usual here due to rising encroachments on this corridor. Conservationists have been strongly favouring the rehabilitation of the Sunderkhal settlement for a long time.

AK Singh, an official of the Senior Wildlife Trust of India, who has been working on elephant corridors in Uttarakhand, describes the Chilkiya-Kota corridor as one of most important elephant corridors of the northern India. “This corridor is important for it ensures connectivity among the tiger populations of the Corbett with its territorial forest division of Ramnagar,” Singh points out. He said the Sunderkhal settlement needed to be rehabilitated. “This is in interest of both wildlife and people,” he said, asserting that the region has been witness to worst form of human wildlife conflict in the recent years.

Haridwar, May 11
The situation at Salempur village, which is adjacent to the SIDCUL estate, in Haridwar was today under total control, thanks to patience shown by the police in tackling angry villagers who attacked a team of the administration late last night, injuring at least six members of the team.

A newlywed girl, Iram (20), died under suspicious circumstances at her in laws’ house and was buried without her parents being informed. The parents of the girl filed a complaint of dowry death with the police, taking cognisance of which an administrative team, led by the Tehsildar, was sent to Salempur village to exhume the body of Iram for a post-mortem examination.

When the police personnel, who were part of the team, tried to dig out the body, her in-laws, who were accompanied by villagers, opposed the move. However, Tehsildar Pooran Singh Rana and other police personnel tried to make them understand the legal essentiality of carrying out a post-mortem of the body, but in vain.

Soon a section of the mob began pelting the team members with stones, injuring the Tehsildar and SSI Madan Bisht. The team retreated. The mob also vandalised the police vehicles, including a Jeep.

Instantly, higher officials were informed about the incident and a SSP, Haridwar, Kewal Khurana, SP (City) KL Shaw, CO Pankaj Bhatt arrived at the spot with additional force. Later, the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) company was also called. Seeing hundreds of police personnel and the vehicles with red beacon atop them, the villagers fled from the spot.

Meanwhile, the body was exhumed and sent for a post-mortem. The police raided many places to arrest people involved in the attack on the administrative team. The suspects included village chief Rao Affaq Ali and 24 villagers who tried incite the mob to stop the police from exhuming the body.

Nineteen people were arrested under sections 147, 148, 332, 353, 307 and 427 of the IPC while as many unidentified persons were booked on the same charges.

Meanwhile, the SP (City) and Circle Officer Pankaj Bhatt held meetings with the agitated villagers to pacify them. This way the situation was controlled and it the village looked calm today.

Though the deployment of the PAC has been maintained at the village in view of the sensitivity of the incident.

“We (the police) were doing our work but were obstructed by the villagers. But, we knew that certain anti-social elements were inciting the mob, so patience was the key. Holding talks with villagers bore fruits immediately as they accepted their fault and now there is no tension in the area. However, the offenders will not be spared” said Dr Shaw.

Haridwar, May 11
The elections to the unions of the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) for affiliation concluded at the twin units of Heavy Electricals Engineering Limited (HEEP) and Central Foundry Forge Plant (CFFP) here today with a record 98 per cent turnout.

At HEEP, the BHEL Majdoor Kalyan Parishad (BMKP) won with 21.05 per cent share of total votes cast making it the number one union which got the affiliation to represent workers in the Joint Committee at the corporate level as also in plant-shop councils and bilateral committees at the unit level.

While at the CFFP, the Employees Union polled 21.49 per cent share of the total ballots cast, making it number one union at the CFFP unit. The Employees Union defeated the last year’s winner INTUC by a huge margin.

Informing The Tribune about the results, Ashok Gupta and MM Kumar, electoral officers, said at the HEEP 96 per cent voter turnout was registered while at the CFFP a whopping 98 per cent voters cast ballot.

“We had set up polling booths at 10 places so that employee working in different shifts can cast their votes easily. The counting started at 8 pm and continued till midnight,” said Ashok Gupta, in charge of the elections at the HEEP.

Meanwhile, an elated Sahdev Singh Chetri, chief of the BMKP, said they would be working to solve the problems of the employees they had pointed out in their manifesto. “Getting better working facilities and bringing long-term contractual workers in the grade circle are our priorities, for which we will be having meetings at the corporate level,” said Chetri.

Meanwhile, as soon as the results were declared around 1:30 am today, the BHEL township reverberated with explosions of crackers as the members of the winning union celebrated. Later in the morning, the executive members of the winning union held a thanks-giving rally in the city.

Pithoragarh, May 11
The tribal traders involved in the India-China border trade from Lipulekh pass in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, have demanded the facility of exchanging Chinese currency Yuan at the SBI branch of Gunji, which is opened during the trade period from June 1 till September 31 every year.

The traders raised the demand in the preparatory meeting of trade held on Tuesday under the chairmanship of the SDM of Dharchula, who is also the trade officer designated for the border trade.

“The traders demand that when they trade with their Tibetan customers, they receive the payments of their goods in Yuan, but as there is no facility available to exchange that currency into Indian rupees at the SBI branch either, they reject the trade or resort to barter trade,” said Dr Abhishek Tripathi, SDM, Dharchula and designated trade officer. The trade officer said the traders had written to the Union Ministry of Commerce and also to the Union Ministry of External Affairs requesting them to provide the facility of Yuan exchange at the Gunji mart of this trade.

“We have no facility to exchange Yuan into Indian or any hard currency at the branch, but if the traders come with American dollars or British pound sterling, those currencies can be exchanged at other branches across the Kumoan region, but we cannot exchange Yuan,” said V. Singh, Assistant General Manager , of the SBI at Almora. The traders also demanded to extend the period of the trade up to October 31, as the Tibetan traders come to the Taklakot mandi in China in October. 

Nainital, May 11
The SSB-Trained Guerrillas have intensified their agitation in the region over the past couple of days. The guerrillas have been holding protests in different parts of the region over the past couple of days in support of their demands for which they have been agitating for a long time now. They have threatened to march to the residence of Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank in the last week of this month to express their resentment against the government’s failure to address their concerns.

On Tuesday, a large number of guerrillas from Almora and Pithoragarh districts resorted to blocking the Pithoragarh-Dharchula road. This caused a lot of inconvenience to the communters on the road that included defence personnel and tourists. The blockade was lifted only after the intervention of the local administration. During the protest, the guerrillas resorted to slogan shouting against the state and the Central Governments under the leadership of Brahmanand Dalakoti.

Dalakoti assailed the governments for not paying heed to their just and genuine demands for which they had been agitating for a long time. They were seeking employment on the lines of the one provided to their counterparts in the northeastern states. The protesters also attacked the five Lok Sabha members from the state for failing to take up their issue in Parliament.

Last year, the Congress Lok Sabha members from Almora and Nainital had taken up the long-pending demands of the SSB-trained guerrillas of the state with the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Both Pradeep Tamta and KC Singh Baba had written letters to the Home Minister, asking him to solve the problems of the affiliates of the Guerrilla Warfare Organisation of Uttarakhand.

In their letter, they quoted an order of the Nainital High Court that says,”That an appropriate representation should be made by the petitioners before the competent authority annexing the judgment of the Guwahati High Court which has been affirmed by the Supreme Court of India. If such a representation is made, the authority would be obliged to pass a reasoned and speaking order within three months from the date of production of a certified copy of this order.”

The two leaders had requested Chidambaram to look into the demands of the guerrillas in the state sympathetically but no relief has come for the latter till now. The SSB- trained guerrillas have been demanding that they should be given a permanent appointment along with pension benefits. They have also been seeking that the next of kin of guerrillas should be given a job in the event of their death and their dependents be given pension benefits.

After the 1962 war with China, the SSB had been constituted and asked to train bands of young men from villages on the borders. These men were supposed to be used for gathering intelligence on the developments on the borders.

The agitators say that while the concerns of their counterparts in the North-East were addressed long back, their plight has been ignored by successive governments.

Dehradun, May 11
Irked over the fee hike by private schools, the City Congress Committee today burnt an effigy of private schools in front of St Joseph’s Academy. The party also submitted a memorandum to the school authorities.

Deep Vohra, a member of the committee, said under the leadership of city chief Harish Virmani, they had submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate a few days ago in this regard. Though after the DM’s orders some changes had been made, not as much as it should have been, Vohra said.

“A school has raised its fee from Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,200, which is against the directions of the Central Government,” he added. The party would continue its protest and submit memorandums to more such schools, he said. — TNS

Dehradun, May 11
Vice-president of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Panwar faction) AP Juyal flayed the state government for devising difficult methods to discourage the employment of the youth from the hilly areas for the ‘C category’ jobs.

Indicating towards a news item published in a newspaper on the issue, he said: “The parameters of two miles on-foot race in 15 minutes, 4 km cycling in 15 minutes, 15-ft-long jumps and horse riding for the posts of Rural Development Officer and Block Development Officer point towards a deep conspiracy. Many youngsters from hills do not know cycling. The age limit for eligibility has also not been increased up to 40 years. Even Rs 500 fee for application forms is not feasible for the poor people. The UKD is incensed by these factors and will launch a statewide campaign against it.”