Dehradun, May 24
The issues of identification of statehood agitators and providing them with the government jobs or reservation in the state employment are still hot though the process started in 2004. Now, when the deadline of this lengthy process is about to expire on May 31, many organizations have raised their pitch against the norms fixed for the identification of statehood agitators.

Manoj Dhyani, convener of the Uttarakhand Andolankari Sanyukt Manch, who has been on dharna for the past 34 days, said: “There is a need to relax the stringent norms, according to which only those who spent seven days in jail or got injured or shot in the limbs while fighting for a separate state of Uttarakhand are identified as statehood agitators, leaving out the ones who do not fall under these categories but had played an active role in the struggle for statehood for a long time”. He also threw light on the men and women agitators becoming overage by the time the government had announced government jobs for them. Therefore, he suggested, the provision should now be shifted for the dependants of these people.

His organisation has been demanding the status of Rajya Sainani for the statehood agitators so that they could get free transport and medical facilities, and free education for their dependents. Usha Rawat, Chairperson of the Uttarakhand Rajya Nirman Parishad (URNP), said, she too made the same recommendations to state minister Khajan Das and the Chief Secretary at a meeting, and those were most likely to be accepted soon. She is also equally hopeful of getting extension to the time limit for 10% reservation in government jobs for the dependents of the agitators from August 11 this year to 2020.

Ravinder Jugran, former vice-chairman of the URNP, raised the issue of exclusion of the most deserving statehood agitators, who live in the far-flung areas in the hills, from the list of statehood agitators. He said: “Those people who have exposure and live close to the capital city got themselves registered as statehood agitators. But, others who live in hilly terrain, may not be able to do so as the district administration, including the police and doctors, who are supposed to provide the proof of imprisonment or injuries suffered by the agitators, are not proactive, as they have their other routine work to do. Then no separate department has been created to attend to this massive work. Thirdly, the elected representatives or former MLAs, MPs, block heads and others, too, do not show interest in spreading awareness on the issue.”

Usha Rawat did not buy Jugran’s contention and said those who fought for the state were quite vigilant and they kept tabs on the updates regarding the issue. She said by now approximately 8,000 people had been identified as statehood agitators and around 550 had got government jobs.

District Magistrate, Dehradun, Sachin Kurve expressed satisfaction over the pace of the identification process, and said in the fresh round, which once was closed down on December 31 last year, but was continued again for the entire month of May this year, some 3,500 statehood agitators had been registered.

Nevertheless, Manoj Dhayani castigated state government for allegedly favouring its own selected people by enrolling them as statehood agitators and engineering division among the organizations, that were fighting for the status of statehood agitators to all the genuine activists of the statehood struggle, by inviting few ones for deliberations each time on the issue.

Both the factions of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal had also been raising this issue. District president of the UKD NK Gusain said the party itself would take upon the task to identify the “actual” statehood agitators. Diwakar Bhatt, president of the other faction of the party, has also planned a march to Governor’s house on Wednesday on the identification issue.

Nainital, May 24
The Forest Department in Uttarakhand has drawn up an ambitious plan to scale down the growing instances of the man-animal conflict in the state. According to the Forest Department authorities, several concrete steps are under way to reduce the conflict considerably.

The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Dr RBS Rawat, said: “To begin with, we are developing two major natural enclosures for the animals that have become a threat to human population. The enclosures are being developed in the Garhwal and Kumaon regions. Our enclosure near Chidiyapur is almost complete while the one at Almora is in the process of being developed.”

According to him, the Forest Department has identified six animals that are constantly in conflict with the human population of the state. These animals are tigers, leopards, boars, monkeys, neelgais and elephants. The enclosures are going to be about 50 hectares in size.

Responding to a query regarding the growing instances of human conflict with leopards that is leading to the population developing a negative attitude towards the wildcat, Dr Rawat said: “Most instances of leopard-human conflict are being reported from the four districts of Pauri, Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Almora.”

He said the Forest Department is already paying the highest compensation to the victims of the man-animal conflict in the country barring Gujarat. The PCCF disclosed that a proposal had already been sent to the state government to double the compensation from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh to the kin of those killed in the conflict. “We understand that the loss of a life cannot be compensated for but we intend to do maximum for the family of the deceased,” he said.

On the issue of the menace caused by wild boar, which is responsible for destroying a large amount of agricultural produce in different parts of the state, Dr Rawat said the Forest Department is in the process of setting up a task force for tackling the menace. Under the exercise, ex-servicemen would be trained to kill the wild boars here, as the villagers are unable to do so without training. The emphasis would be on how to save the crop grown by the villagers with extreme difficulty.

Dehradun, May 24
The Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Gorkha Morcha has demanded extension of the deadline for the process to identify statehood agitators from May 31 till the time all the deserving ones are identified. The group has also demanded amendment to the norms fixed for the identification, which say that a statehood agitator should have gone to the jail for seven days and suffered injuries in the thrashing by the police. 

These rules did not encompass those who would get free on surety in a day or two or those who observed fast, stage dharnas or protests, it said. The party also pointed out the exclusion of other categories such as those of journalists, photographers, advocates, teachers and ex-servicemen, who played a pivotal role in the statehood movement.

President of the morcha JB Karki said more than 80,000 people of the Gorkha community participated in the statehood movement, and brought the Centre on the table for talks by carrying out huge rallies, but still they were devoid of the status of statehood agitators.

Pithoragarh, May 24
The unexpected rain that was experienced in the border areas of Dharchula and Munsiyari last week damaged several trekking routes in this Himalayan region.

“We have received information about the damage caused to two important routes, namely the Dwaligar-Namik trek and the Giniband-Sumkot trek, which is alarming, as both these routes are used to supply rations to the interior parts of this region in summer,” said JS Rathor, Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM), Munsiyari.

Meanwhile, the Tawaghat-Garvadhar road in Dharchula subdivision has been opened after remaining closed for five days. The road has been cleared of debris by the personnel of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). “But, the road is not fully operational, as the work to widen it is still on,” said an official of the BRO.

Engineers of the Public Works Department said due to continuous fluctuation in the weather, the work to clear the roads and trekking routes has been hindered. “The roads in the higher Himalayan region can only be repaired after the snow stops,” said Bishen Lal, Executive Engineer, PWD.

The district administration has started to assess the losses incurred due to the hailstones and rain last week. “As the wheat crop has been harvested in almost the entire region, except some high-altitude villages, major damage has been caused to the fruit and vegetable crops, and it is being estimated,” said D Kumar, District Agriculture Officer, Pithoragarh.

Pithoragarh, May 24
The handicraft directorate of the Union Ministry of Textile has initiated a programme to develop the skills of craftsmen of the tribal belt of the Munsiyari area of this district. The ministry has launched a scheme to train craftsmen in modern techniques so that they could compete in the market.

“The training is meant to develop the skills of craftsmen in designing, colour combinations and the size of the product to make them able to sell their products in the national and international markets,” said Dr Ravish Joshi, coordinator of the programme.

In the first phase of the programme, two batches of thirty craftsmen each will be trained at Ghorpatta and Suring in Munsiyari.

The training is being provided by an empanelled trainer from the National Institute of Fashion Design, Ahmedabad.

“We will give training to 300 craftsmen in this region,” said Manisha Horla, a trainer. Later, the trained craftsmen will be taken to the Bhadoi and Mirzapur regions, Uttar Pradesh, so that they could learn about the intricacies of the carpet trade according to the national and international market demands.

“We hope to produce good quality carpets after getting training from expert designers,” said Tulsi Devi, a women undergoing training in the first batch.

The people of Munsiyari have been knitting woollen carpets for long, but their carpets cater to the local market in villages of the Kumaon region only. However, people have now started buying cheaper carpets manufactured outside, resulting in mass unemployment for these traditional craftsmen.

Pithoragarh, May 24
The Uttarakhand unit of the Backward and Minority Community Employees’ Federation (BAMCEF) will modernise all its units in Uttarakhand state by equipping these with computers to make these able to report any case of social injustice in the state. This was stated by Sulekh Chand, national secretary of BAMCEF, here yesterday.

“The reporting of the cases of social injustice is minimum in the state of Uttarakhand,” said Sulekh Chand. “The employees in the state of Uttarakhand will be given a vital task of awakening the people of the state to their rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Without awakening the depressed members of Uttarakhand society to use the constitutional redress system, they can’t get justice in the feudal society like what is in the state,” he said.

Regarding the initiative of Anna Hazare on the proposed Lokpal Bill, the BAMCEF leader said until the representatives of SCs, STs and OBCs and the minority communities were included in the committee perusing the Bill, justice can be delivered to the corruption-affected people at the lower strata of society in the country.

Kotdwar (Garhwal), May 24
Amid controversy surrounding the shifting of Dahri Devi Temple for the construction of a dam on the Alaknanda river, former Chief Minister BC Khanduri has advocated the need to have small hydroelectric plants to fulfil power demands of the state.

“Small projects of 20 kW capacity should be encouraged in the state as they provide employment to the local people and are environment friendly,” he said. PTI