Haridwar, June 15
Swami Nigmanand’s death has sparked another agitation against the illegal quarrying being done on the Ganga riverbed in Haridwar. Now, residents of the city have decided to support the Matra Sadan agitation by launching another agitation, which will continue till the court, government and the administration put members of the quarrying mafia behind the bars.

A number of social organisations have joined hands to take forward the agitation of Matra Sadan against the illegal quarrying on the holy river Ganga and named their agitation as the Ganga Bachao, Bhrashtachar Mitao (save Ganga, eradicate corruption) movement. The organisations that have launched the new movement have as its members farmers, traders, statehood agitators, drivers, Gujjars and people from other communities.

All these social activists have unanimously decided to take forward the Ganga cause for which Swami Nigmanand sacrificed his life. They have demanded a CBI probe into his death and sought the stance of state government regarding quarrying on the Ganga riverbed.

Furkan Ali, social activist, said the common man would not sit silently as we have lost a “Ganga Putra”. Statehood agitator and founder of the Uttarakhand Kranti Manch JP Pandey said Uttarakhand had been the land of martyrs and the onus now was on all of us to take forward the historic efforts of Swami Nigmanand to save the Ganga.

The agitation will be held daily and its outline will be drawn on the basis of the response of the state government and administration to the demands of the activists. If need be, the agitation will be run 24 hours a day.

The members of the joint forum of organisations include Sanjay Chopra, Mahesh Gaud, Ashok Upadhyaya, Pandit Shiv Chand Sharma, Bhoopendra Rajpoot, Jai Singh Bisht, Manju Devi, BS Tejiyan and Radhelal.

Nainital, June 15
The district administration has made it clear that the private schools will have to admit 25 per cent of their students from the marginalised sections of society as has been enshrined in the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

According to the District Magistrate, Shailesh Bagauli, the schools violating this norm will be facing stringent action.

The beneficiaries comprising this 25 per cent will be identified on the basis of the Below the Poverty Line (BPL) certificates in rural areas and BPL ration cards in the urban areas, according to the survey that had been done in 2002.

A stock-taking with regard to the implementation of the RTE was done for the district by the Chief Secretary, Subhash Kumar, and Secretary, School Education, Manisha Panwar, through video conferencing on Tuesday.

According to the district administration, there are 250 private schools in the district with an intake capacity of 8,220 students. Out of these 2,035 seats are to be filled by the students from the marginalised sections comprising Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), exclusing the creamy layer, orphans, disabled, dependents on divorcee mothers and widows. Half of this intake will be girl students. The administration is going to include another 20 schools under the purview of the Act.

Till now applications have only been received for merely 464 seats from students from marginalised sections and 1,571 seats are still vacant. The administration is currently in the process of spreading awareness among the masses regarding the benefits available for the students from the marginalised sections of society.

Bagauli has asked the parents of such students to apply at the nearest schools by June 25. If the seats at the nearest schools have been filled, the parents can apply in a school located within 5 km. He has further stated that the admissions will begin from July 2. Till now the maximum number of applicants have come to various schools in Ramnagar and Ramgarh with their number being 241 and 75 respectively. The lowest number has been in the Bhimtal block with the number being nil.

Dehradun, June 15
It has been for the past one year that the tourist rest house of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) at Kaddhukhal near Dhanolti has remained closed. The orders to furnish this 10-room accommodation were issued six months ago after the nigam stopped renting it out, but till now only four rooms have been furnished.

The rest house is just a couple of kilometres away from the GMVN’s profit-making TRH at Dhanolti. S Khankriyal, manager of the Dhanolti rest house who is also holding the charge of Kaddukhal, said, “It is only those who come to visit the temple of Ma Surkanda Devi, situated a few metres away, who come to stay here. I am probing other possibilities to attract tourists during Navratri or rest of the time at lower rates.” Kaddhukhal has a very thin tourist flow as most of the tourists prefer to visit Dhanolti, a major hill station.

Similar is the situation with a number of other TRHs that had either been built at odd places which are not easily accessible or are built nearby to the main TRHs. These rest houses are lying closed almost as they rarely see tourists visiting them. Purushottam Giri, president of employees union, said, “The GMVN’s rest house at Hariyali Devi at Rudraprayag had been built at such a quaint location in the hills that not even the locals ever go there. Then the TRH at Yamkeshwar showed an earning of Rs 100 for 2010-11 which was why the salary of the staff of this TRH is supplemented by the Rishikesh rest house.

Similar is the example of the TRH at Karnprayag which holds an annual fair and Jwala Pa Devi near district Pauri and Kanvashram near Kotdwar which see few tourists during the Puja season. They were built unnecessarily only to incur losses due to the pressure exerted by those politicians who wanted to have free accommodation in their constituencies.

Giri said these ailing rest houses were proving a big liability on the shoulders of the GMVN, which is already under debt. He said, “The expenses of paying salaries to the manager and staff, electricity, water charges and other taxes with regard to these rest houses is a huge burden on the GMVN as these expenses are just adding to the critical state of the GMVN.”

Khankariyal also named other such TRHs at Adibadri in Chamoli, Guptu in Tehri, Halol in Uttarkashi, Natwar, Sankri, Osla rest houses for trekkers only near Purola. He said the management always sought a solution of passing on the additional burden of managing these sick TRHs to private parties along with profit-making TRHs. “It is the ploy of the management to give our profit-making TRHs on the PPP mode. We do not approve their ideas,” he said.

GMVN president Anil Nautiyal, who at each board meeting talked of revamping and giving these TRHs on the PPP mode reiterated his remark, “This year we could not work on our loss-making TRHs as the pilgrimage season has already begun. Therefore, we will undertake this exercise next year.” 

Dehradun, June 15
In an embarrassment to the state BJP state government, Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva in statement today expected that a fair inquiry be conducted into Swami Nigmanand’s death of Matri Sadan, Haridwar after Swami’s 115 days of fast in protest against quarrying in the Ganga river bed in Haridwar.

In a statement issued here today, Alva condoled the death of Swami Nigmanand. She expressed concern at the reports in the print and electronic media regarding the circumstances leading to the Swami’s death and expected that an impartial inquiry would be ordered to unearth the truth.

The Governor’s statement comes a day after the state BJP government ordered a CBCID inquiry into the death.

The BJP leadership finds itself in a piquant situation as Swami Nigmanand was also admitted to Himalayan Hospital at Jollygrant where the BJP leaders made a beeline to meet Swami Ramdev but none visited Swami Nigmanand who was in coma.

Matri Sadan chief Swami Shivanand had alleged that Swami Nigmanand was poisoned at the government hospital, Haridwar, where he was forcibly taken for forced feeding on the 68th day of his fast unto death in April. Later, Swami Nigmanand slipped into coma and died two days ago. 

Dehradun, June 15
There seems to be some old dispute behind the last night incident when a man, who was dressed as a sadhu, threw acid on a trader at the crowded Paltan Bazar, the police said today. However, there was no clue to the identity of the miscreant as the victim has said he couldn’t identify the former.

The incident happened at about 8 pm when Avinash Gupta (32), native of Bhandaribagh, was standing near his shop. It was very dark as there was no streetlight at that time. Gupta has been admitted to the CMI Hospital. He has suffered burns on the head, face and back.

Gupta was first taken to the Coronation Hospital where doctors referred him to the CMI Hospital.

The SP (City), Ajay Joshi, along with the police force, inspected the spot. The police said a case had been registered and the investigations were on.

The police has questioned other traders of the area.