Dehradun, May 25
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi has called upon workers of the Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India (NSUI) to work wholeheartedly for the upcoming state Assembly elections in five states to ensure the victory for the Congress.

He also asked them to work for the strengthening of the two organisations at the grassroots level and work hard for the upcoming panchayat poll in 12 states.

Rahul Gandhi, who is in charge general secretary of these two Congress frontal organisations, was speaking at the concluding function of the three-day national executive committee meeting of the National Youth Congress at Rishikesh today.

Rahul said the Assembly poll in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are due early next year and the role of workers of the Youth Congress and the NSUI would be crucial in getting the party to power.

Rajeev Satav, National President of the Youth Congress, while briefing the media about the deliberations of the meeting, said over 80 delegates, including state presidents and other office-bearers, participated at the meeting and discussed various issues related to the youth.

He said at the initiative of Rahul Gandhi, democracy has been introduced in the Youth Congress and the NSUI in the state with the elections held recently. He said Rahul Gandhi also expressed dissatisfaction at the neglect of border districts of the state by the state government and Char Dham yatra places.

Earlier, Rahul was received at the Jollygrant airport by Uttarakhand Congress Chief Yashpal Arya and other senior state party leaders on his arrival. Yashpal Arya briefed Rahul Gandhi about the ongoing “Satyagraha yatra” of the party against the state government. He also urged Rahul to address two rallies, one in the Garhwal region and another in Kumaon, before the Assembly poll. Rahul Gandhi left for Rishikesh amid tight security arrangements.

Rahul Gandhi left for Mussoorie in the afternoon to take part in a programme at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration.

Nainital, May 25
The Uttarakhand High Court has issued a non-bailable warrant against former Director of the state Horticulture Department PC Nautiyal for the non-compliance with the court order.

A single-member Bench of the High Court headed by Justice VK issued the warrant Bist yesterday.

The court in its order in April this year had asked the department to give minimum wages to gardeners working at Raj Bhavan in Nainital and not to evict them from their government accommodation.

However, the order was not complied with, following which the court asked Horticulture Secretary Vinod Fonia and Nautiyal to appear before in the court in person.

While Fonia produced himself in the court, Nautiyal failed to do so, following which the court issued a non-bailable warrant against him.

The services of Nautiyal, who was on contract, have already been terminated by the government last week. — PTI

Dehradun, May 25
Delay in the repair of water schemes that got damaged in Uttarakhand during the torrential rains and landslides last year has given rise to scarcity of water in many places in the state. Along with undertaking repair work of broken water schemes, the authorities are also carrying out reorganisation of old schemes by launching new pumping schemes.

In all 648 schemes were damaged, out of which, the Peyjal and Jal Sansthan authorities managed to temporarily repair 625 schemes. However, in 23 places, the source of water was completely damaged and locating a new source is proving to be cumbersome.

“We are behind target and should have finished the repair work by June this year but delay in the release of funds by the district administration complicated matters. The Peyjal Nigam received a total of Rs 20.88 crore for undertaking repair work, out of which Rs 11.65 crore has already been spent and the work on 381 schemes is still being carried,” said Bhajan Singh, Managing Director, Peyjal Nigam.

Meanwhile, most of these places are being provided water through tankers or temporary water connections. A total of 65 schemes were damaged in Pauri for which Rs 2.86 crore has been sanctioned, in Chamoli, 79 schemes were damaged and Rs 2.69 crore has been sanctioned, while for Tehri Rs 2.25 crore has been sanctioned for repairing 62 schemes and most of the work is either complete or in progress.

Work on 19 pumping schemes is under way in districts of Tehri, Pauri, Almora, Pithoragarh, Nainital and Champawat. While work on some more new pumping schemes (mainly tubewell) in Dehradun, Almora, Nainital and Pithoragarh is being undertaken through the Source Water Assessment Programme (SWAP) underway in the state in which the schemes are being managed by the communities and Panchayats.

The norms laid down for 2020 about the daily requirement of water, 40 liters per capita per day, is being taken up on a priority basis with additional 30 schemes that got either dried or defunct also being reorganised. “Most of these schemes have either got defunct or begun yielding less quantity of water; there is a danger of water contamination, so the supply is usually stopped,” said Bhajan Singh.

Pithoragarh, May 25
Indian villages on the India-China border in the Milam area of the Darma valley in Pithoragarh district are yet to get the basic facilities of employment, road connectivity, electricity and primary education.

“While the Chinese forces are patrolling the border on vehicles, the Indian forces still travel 105 km to reach the border posts due to a lack of motor connectivity,” said Tarun Vijay, BJP MP and the leader of the “Seema Darshan Yatra” organised by the Shyma Prasad Mukherjee Trust, after returning from Milam with his team of 32 volunteers. The yatra team has gone to Milam on May 16 and returned after eight days on May 24 after trekking 55 km from Munsiyari to Milam. Resenting the condition of the basic infrastructure in these border villages, Tarun Vijay said owing to neglect of these areas by the Central Government, the commercially viable cultivation of herbs in these villages has not begun. In the absence of employment opportunities in these villages, the villagers are slowly migrating to the plains. The team unfurled the national flag at the glacier. “More than 500-year-old village of Milam in the Johar valley, which had been inhabited by more than 500 families 100 years ago, has now been left with only 40 families,” said Tarun Vijay. It took the team eight days to reach Milam village, the last Indian village in the Johar valley after passing the villages of Mapang, Burfu, Laspa, Rilkot, Martoli and Tola villages. “Our team found these villages without any facilities and most of these were witnessing migration of villagers. These villages are a sheer example of how the respective governments at the Centre have neglected the border area over 60 years of national planning,” alleged Tarun Vijay.

Tarun Vijay also opposed the 340-MW hydro-power project being constructed by GVK Company near the Milam glacier.

Dehradun, May 25
As a part of the fifth stage of their agitation, which had been going on since March 22, seven employees of the Uttarakhand Van Vikas Nigam Association launched an indefinite fast at Aranya Vikas Bhawan on Wednesday. They demands include a hike in the pay scale of Class IV and Class III categories and the title of Class IV employees to be changed from ‘Anusevak’ to guard.

State president of the association Santosh Rawat said if their demand were not fulfilled, they would close down the corporation. As a representative of the association of employees of nine corporations, the Rajya Nigam Karamchari Sangh, he said all the corporations would also go on strike on May 30 when the state transport would be brought to a halt to press for their demands.

Nainital, May 25
Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva disbursed cheques worth Rs 20,000 each to four Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) as an encouragement for their initiatives.

The cheques were handed over by her to the representatives of these NGOs at a function held at Raj Bhawan here on Wednesday. The NGOs that were provided with the money included Srijan Spastics Society at Nainital, Viklang Mandbudhi Kalyan Samiti at Nainital, Mangaldeep Vidyamandir Samiti at Almora and Leprosy Mission Home and Hospital at Almora.

The Governor hoped that these institutions would continue with the work that they had been doing. — TNS

Nainital, May 25
In a gruesome incident that has come to light in the Bazpur area in Udham Singh Nagar district, a nine-year-old girl was murdered after being allegedly raped. She was found lying semi naked in the Levda river bed.

The deceased has been identified as Sonam of Chakarpur village. The body was noticed by passersby, who reported the matter to the police. There was froth at her mouth, scratches on her neck and blood marks at her private parts. Her clothes and slippers were found from nearby bushes.

It is learnt that the girl was playing outside the house of her maternal uncle, Kunwarpal in Gandhinagar locality, along with other children when she was lured away by a person. Members of her family kept on searching for her till late night, but their efforts proved to be futile. It was only on Tuesday morning that her body was found. The post-mortem examination has been done and efforts are being made to identify and nab the culprit.

Dehradun, May 25
Clearance was given for the construction of 200 houses in Nainital for the urban poor under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) at a meeting presided over by Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar at the Secretariat on Wednesday.

At the meeting a dispute over the ownership of land was resolved among the Department of Urban Development,the Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam, the Uttarakhand Power Corporation and the Revenue Department. It was decided that the Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Corporation would not claim the ownership of 3.50 acres of Durgapur at Nainital. The Chief Secretary directed the officers that after taking the opinion of the Law and Revenue Departments, construction work on the houses should be started. The Chief Secretary said that the said land should be given back to the Municipal Committee, Nainital. Additional Secretary, Urban Development, Nidhimani Tripathi said that under the Basic Services for Urban Poor of the JNURM, the budget for the construction of 200 houses had been sanctioned.

Dehradun, May 25
Revenue Minister and president of a faction of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), Diwakar Bhatt held a massive rally in the city from Gandhi Park to Governor’s House with hundreds of party workers/supporters joining it from different parts of the state on Wednesday. In the absence of the Governor, Margaret Alva, they submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate, Sachin Kurve.

Bhatt demanded revocation of ban on hydro-electric projects in the state, relaxation in the Forest Act, whereby people living in the forest area are given rights to protect themselves from wild animals and they should be given compensation in case of harm done to their properties and lives by these animals; Gairsain to be made new capital city of the state, industrial package that was terminated in 2010 should be extended till 2020; 75 per cent employment to local people in industrial units and granting of extra quota of foodgrains/gas/kerosene on subsidised rates to the state by the Centre, including 68,000 metric tonnes foodgrain quota and control over inflation. — TNS

Dehradun, May 25
The Association of Self-Financed Institutes has alleged that the self-financed BEd colleges being run by the government are flouting the norms of the National Council of Teachers’ Education (NCTE) regarding the appointment of teachers.

Sunil Aggarwal, secretary of the association, while talking to media persons here today, said the teachers in the 16 government-run self-financed BEd colleges were being appointed on a contractual basis in violation of the norms of the NCTE. He said according to the norms to get recognition for these BEd colleges by the NCTE, these colleges should have seven regular teachers with one head of the department. Aggarwal alleged that since 2008 when these colleges started functioning, in most of the colleges teachers had been appointed for a period of 11 months. Eight of these colleges are in the Garhwal region while nine are in the Kumaon region.

The teachers in these government-run colleges are being exploited while the private institutes are being pressurised by the government officials to strictly adhere to the NCTE norms regarding faculty. “Interestingly, the advertisements issued by the sate government for the recruitment of teachers in these government-run self-financed colleges say the appointment will be done on a contractual basis,” he added.

He said the government should firstly implement the NCTE norms in its own colleges before sermonising the private self-financed BEd colleges. He also demanded that the government-run colleges, which were flouting the NCTE norms, should be derecognised immediately. Meanwhile, Dr NC Trivedi, Director, Higher Education, Uttarakhand, said it was true that the NCTE norms were to have regular teachers in the BEd colleges. “We are bound by the government order and adhering to the government instructions on the appointment of these teachers. The question is of interpretation of the term “regular” teachers,” he said.