Dehradun, May 28
Mayors from across the country are of the view that the 74th Amendment Act should be implemented as soon as possible. The mayors demanded that they should be given enough power as interference by the administrative departments creates hurdles for them and also hampers their functioning.

A team of 12 mayors (both present and former), along with former mayor of Kota Suman Shiring, a special member from Rajasthan, gathered here today to participate in the 101st meeting of the executive committee of the All-India Council of Mayors (AIMC).

The meeting was inaugurated by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. He said the local government could be made strong if the Centre, the state government and the urban local bodies coordinated with each other.

Talking to the media, Ashutosh Varshney, Chairman of the AIMC and Aligarh Mayor, said: “In every part of the country, there are different rules for the working of the mayors. At many places, their term is of five years while at some places, it is just of one year. The government should make a rule and fix a five-year term for them,” he said. “We have proposed a model act to the Centre, which has further sent it to all state governments for the nod,” he added.

“If the mayor is given certain powers, he will be able to ensure better development in his area,” said Varshney.

The mayors maintained that they should be given financial and administrative powers to improve the working condition, as at present, they were being forced to run after the administration for every little work.

Bhopal Mayor Krishna Gaur said financial power had recently been increased by 50 per cent, but certain more powers needed to be given. Meerut Mayor Madhu Gurjar said: “We have no power in our hands and we can spend only Rs 15 lakh for the development of the city. For every little work, we have to take permission from the administration.”

Ghaziabad Mayor Damyanti Goel maintained that till they did not have any power in their hands, they could not do any development work properly.

Krishan Murari Moghe, senior Vice-Chairman of the AIMC and Indore Mayor, said: “The money we are getting is very less, thus creating problems in development works.”

Raipur Mayor Kiranmayee Nayak said: “The mayor and the area councilors are the only ones to whom the common man approaches during any trouble. He never visits MLA or any other leader. Then why we are being deprived of all facilities.”

Subash Patel, former mayor of Bareilly, Ajay Paswan, Darbhanga Mayor, Damyanti Goel, Ghaziabad Mayor, Yogdhyan Ahuja, former Mayor of Delhi, Krishna Gaur, Bhopal Mayor, Baljeet Singh, Bathinda Mayor, and Vinod Chamoli, Dehradun Mayor, were also present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, at the meeting, all members decided to meet Union minister Kamal Nath and submit a memorandum to him regarding Central schemes.

Dehradun, May 28
During Anna Hazare’s visit here on June 1, social activists from the city will also hold a discussion on the Lok Pal Bill and make the visiting leader aware of Uttarakhand’s specific concerns.

Addressing a press conference today, Tripen Singh Chauhan of Chetna Andolan, said that after Anna Hazare’s address at Gandhi Park, a session with social activists would be held on the same day. “We would like to convey our misgivings regarding the stranglehold that the bureaucracy in Uttarakhand has and how steps could be taken to lessen it,” said Chauhan.

He said corrupt practices were being encouraged in the state by making independent bodies, different commissions and the office of the Lok Ayukt subservient to the state machinery. “All these bodies are far from independent and have political nominees,” added Chauhan.

Coordinator of the Uttarakhand Mahila Manch Kamla Pant said that though Dehradun was the interim capital of the state, that has not stopped the government from spending crores on building the Chief Minister’s residence and Secretariat.

She said the government should come out clean on the many projects (power) that had been initiated in the state without taking the views of the general public into consideration.

“Instead of addressing the problem of migration, the Uttarakhand Government is engaged in financial profligacy. All natural resources of the state have been sold,” charged Pant.

The different social organisations of Uttarakhand will also hold a rally against corruption on June 1 that will pass through Garhwal and Kumaon and end in Dehradun on June 15.

Dehradun, May 28
The All-India Council of Mayors (AICM) has sent a notice to former Dehradun Mayor Manorama Sharma regarding the alleged misappropriation of Rs 1.26 crore during the period she was the vice-chairman of the council.

“It has been found that Manorama Sharma had opened an account in the name of the council in Dehradun and got this amount transferred paid by the council along with some other transactions. None of the officials is allowed to open a personal account in the area where he or she is residing as the council has accounts in Delhi. According to the bylaws of the council, the account could be operated by any two persons, including the chief, treasurer and a secretary, and none of them could take out more than Rs 5,000 from the account until passed by the board,” he said.

“Manorama had deposited Rs 2.40 crore in the bank. She spent Rs 1.26 crore out of it, but never told anyone about the same. She was later issued a notice, but failed to reply. A five-member committee has been constituted for the same and we have again sent the notice and asked for her comments on audit reports,” he said.

He added that if she failed to reply, they would lodge an FIR against her. However, denying the allegations, Manorama Sharma said it was a conspiracy against her.

Dhradun, May 28
A tiger was found dead in a drain in the Kaladungi range of Ramnagar Forest Division of Uttarakhand on Saturday. A forest patrol team came across the carcass of the tiger. This is the fourth tiger death in the Ramnagar Forest Division since 2011.

The Ramangar Forest Division is the territorial forest division of the famous Corbett National Park. Besides, five cubs died in the womb of a tigress in the Kalagarh region of Ramanagar forest division sometime back.

These deaths of tigers come at a time when the Uttarakhand Government is spending over Rs 4 crore on the silver jubilee functions of Corbett National Park, which is primarily meant to sensitise society towards tiger conservation.

Dehradun, May 28
The cities of Allahabad and Dehradun may be miles apart but poets at a Monsoon Reading session today brought alive the memories of these cities at a poetry-reading session.

Lamenting the uniform degradation of Indian cities, Prof Arvind Mehrotra said they were the ugliest in the world and to make his point, he read out his poem dedicated to Allahabad city’s landscape. While taking an evening walk, the poet in him takes note of the “gnarled trees trapped in asphalt”. He adds that “this massacre of trees” is evident even on Dehradun’s Rajpur road.

He then read out from another poem that described the oldest landmark of the city, the Bharati Bhawan Library, “Though lying near the vegetable market, like most Indian libraries it never opened. Forcing my friend, a Research Scholar from Cambridge (England), to request the authorities to lock her inside so that she could carry on with her research.”

In that sense, the poem also managed to convey the lack of interest that prevailed during the pre-colonial period among the general public towards reading and that remains pretty much the same even now.

The poet had a word of praise for Sultan Mohammed Gaznavi who transformed the city of Gazna that was only known to grow melons, before he made it his own.

Professor Mehrotra, a renowned English poet shortlisted for Oxford professorship two years ago, has translated Kabir’s poetry in English besides composing his own which will soon be out in India. He has a home in Dehradun but teaches at Allahabad University.

It was the turn of Jaskiran Chopra to revive the memories of Dehradun city before it became the interim capital of the new state. Reciting from her poem- “Alvida Doon”, in Hindi, she said, “Every day brings news of death of the city, still people do not seem to care.... where will it end?” she questions.

While reading from her poem “Batein guzar gayen”, she goes on to trace the leisurely pace of Doon city, when everybody had time for friendship. “Now it seems an almost unfriendly city,” she said.

A journalist by profession, Jaskiran has a book of Urdu poems titled “Jashen Ai Tehnayi” to her credit and will soon be releasing a new book of poems.

However, poet Dr Atul Sharma, while reading from his collection of poems, “Beena Darwaze Ka Samay”, lamented the loss of hope in the city that seemed not to care about the expectations of the common people.

On the other hand, Dr Manoj Panjani recited a satirical poem that shed light on the disintegration of the Soviet Union and how certain pockets in India and abroad still thought that the Soviet Empire would strike back.

Monsoon Poetry Reading was organised by Doon Library and Research Centre.

Nainital, May 28
Delegations of two political parties called upon Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva and sought her intervention in the deteriorating law and order situation along with certain other problems in the state.

One delegation was led by Congress MLA from the Almora constituency Pradeep Tamta and the other was led by Prabhat Dhyani of the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party (UPP). Tamta told Alva that along with the ordinary people, elected representatives were also feeling insecure in the state.

The delegations demanded that the Ramnagar-Kalagarh-Ktdwar road, known as the Kandi route, be opened for the public transport. The delegations also took up the matters pertaining to the deteriorating law and order situation, along with irregularities that have surfaced with regard to disaster relief and management activities in the state.

Dehradun, May 28
Members from the Uttarakhand Women’s Congress today held a protest march here, targeting the state BJP government on the development front.

The Leader of the Opposition, Harak Singh Rawat, flagged off the protest march that started from the state Congress Headquarters here and proceeded to the Chief Minister’s residence. The protesters were prevented from marching forward at Hathibarkala by security officials. Addressing the gathering at Hathibarakala, Rawat said development had taken a beating ever since the BJP government had come to power in Uttarakhand. He said even central funds meant for the state were not being utilised.

He also raised the issues of state government employees and unemployment in the state. Leading the protest march, former Mayor Manorama Dobriyal Sharma said the government had never been able to utilise its plan funds since it came to power. She said a large amount of funds meant for the central schemes had lapsed due to its “wrong policies”. The Uttarakhand Women’s Congress also submitted an 18-point memorandum, highlighting various issues of the state that needed immediate attention. A binocular was also presented to the district administration, which was meant to be given to the Chief Minister.

Dehradun, May 28
The Piyush Chawla-led Abhimanyu Cricket Academy (ACA), Kolkata, made its exit from the 29th All-India Uttarakhand Gold Cup Tournament here today in the semifinals at the Rangers' College ground. Air India pipped ACA by four wickets to set up the title clash with the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association tomorrow.

The World Cup winning team member scored 39 off 39 balls and picked up four wickets as well.

In this 40 overs encounter, Air India won the toss and asked ACA to bat first. The latter team set a target of 225 runs before losing all its wickets in 38 overs. Mahesh Rawat (71) topscored for the team.

Coming to bat at seventh number Chawla (39) who got LBW ably supported him. For Air India, Pawan Negi and Abid Khan captured three wickets each. Atif too got two wickets.

In reply, Air India achieved the target in 226 runs in 30.3 over for six wickets. Ajit Chandela (69 off 48) was on song and played a fast half-century to guide his team home. Deepak Joon (61 off 51) also played a major role in 10 win of Air India.

Dehradun, May 28
The Day-Night Softball Cricket Tournament being organised by the Khalanga Cricket Association will begin from May 30 at PRD Ground,Tapovan Road.

A total of 32 teams will take part in the championship. The qualifying matches will be of 15 overs each while the semifinals and the final will be a Twenty-20 affair.

In this district-level championship, besides clubs, teams from technical institutes, government and semi-government organisations will also take part. The teams have been divided into two pools and cash prizes will be given.The winners will get Rs 51,000 and the runner-up team Rs 31,000.

Dehradun, May 28
The 60th Lala Nemi Dass Memorial District Football League being organised by the District Football Association(DFA) will begin tomorrow at the Pavilion ground.

Virendra Singh Rawat, District Referees Association secretary, said 40 participating teams would be divided into four groups. “Last year 30 teams took part and this time 10 new teams have made their entry. This is happening for the first time in the league. The league will be over in at least four or five months,” Rawat added.