Haridwar, June 15
The state government and district administration has claimed they have adopted an “unbiased” attitude regarding the Matra Sadan saint Swami Nigmanand’s agitation. Facing criticism of administrative apathy, Haridwar District Magistrate R Meenakshi Sundaram formed a five-member medico-legal panel to look into the whole matter that would be submitting its final report on June 25.

This is being seen as an attempt to dispel confusion over the death of Swami Nigamanand and to ascertain the exact cause of his death by expert doctors.

The administration has refused to perform a second postmortem of the deceased saint as demanded by Matra Sadan saints who sought a postmortem by doctors of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

The final rites of the deceased saint -- ‘bhoo samadhi’-- will be performed tomorrow amid presence of large number of people on the ashram premises.

Senior Superintendent of Haridwar police Kewal Khurana stated that till the final report of viscera came, the ongoing investigation would go on as the forensic lab in Lucknow where the sample had been sent normally took one to six months.

He added that only after the outcome of the forensic lab report, the investigating officer would submit his report and if the case turned out to be one of murder, only then we would be registering a case of murder.

Meanwhile, in a turnaround, the parents of deceased Swami Nigamanand have arrived in the city to be present at the performance of his last rites.

Though Kalpana Jha, mother of Swami Nigmanand, has alleged that Swami Shivanand Saraswati is the one behind the death of her son.

Rubbishing the allegation, Swami Shivanand said Swami Nigmanand lived in the ashram on his discretion and there was no objection from his side to his personal life.

Dehradun, June 15
Uttarakhand Congress President Yashpal Arya has expressed grief over the death of Swami Nigmanand who died Monday after a 115-day fast demanding making the Ganga in the Kumbh mela region free from quarrying.

Arya said while the BJP top leadership had been hobnobbing with yoga guru Ramdev for the past couple of days, they least cared to address the genuine concerns of Swami Nigmanand. The Congress President said it was strange that while the state government was spending crores of rupees on Sparsh Ganga Abhiyan, it stood insensitive towards a genuine issue raised by Swami Nigmanand. Arya said the Congress would take the martyrdom of Swami Nigmanand before the people and will highlight the apathetic attitude of the state government towards the agitation of the swami.

Uttarakhand’s Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj too have expressed remorse over the demise of Swami Nigmanand. He held the Uttarakhand BJP Government responsible for the death of the swami.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Congress workers gathered at Clock Tower at around 6.30 pm today and took out a candle march in memory of Swami Nigmanand. Led by Vijay Singh Chauhan, state secretary of the Uttarakhand Congress Committee, the party workers sought a CBI probe into the death of Swami Nigmanand. Chauhan accused Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank of making little efforts to ensure end to the fast undertaken by Swami Nigmanand.

Vivekanand Khaduri, Lachand Sharma and Devendra Singh Sethi prominently participated in the candle march.

Nainital, June 15
The Draft Committee of Water Policy for Uttarakhand has been flooded with requests from the people that the areas around natural sources of water be declared reserved areas. The respondents to the appeal made by the committee for making suggestions with regards to water conservation in the state have also suggested that the developmental schemes being implemented close to water bodies must be executed with great caution so that the source of water is not affected.

According to the Chairman of the committee, Sachidanand Bharati, who is also a member of the state Planning Commission, the people of the state also want that public participation should go hand in hand along with the legal provisions with regard to conserving the sources of water. Besides, it has been pointed that there is a need to grow more and more rain forests where trees have broad leaves.

“Only 34 per cent of the total forest area of the state is covered with rain forests. This cover needs to be expanded so that maximum water can be retained,” said Bharati. He stated that despite there being an abundant rainfall in the state that ranges between 1,100 millimetre to 1,600 millimetre every year, a large number of areas across the state face water scarcity. He pointed out that the state government was in the process of formulating a water policy that would deal with issues related to usage, conservation and increasing the water-storage capacities in the state. According to him, the first meeting of the committee had been held in October last year where it was given a time of one year to come out with a draft policy. The committee has held 11 meetings across the state till now and has been interacting with people working on the issue of water.

Bharati did not deny when it was pointed that the government and the administration had been largely responsible for the depletion of water resources in the state. The government has turned a blind eye to the uncontrolled sale of land which actually is a part of the river beds or nullahs. Similarly, it has been allowing rampant tapping of underground water in areas where the water table is low, thus leading to an acute crisis. The Mukteshwar-Bhimtal belt in Kumaon is one such

example on hands. He said, “We are doing our best to prepare a policy that can go a long way in solving water- related issues in the state. I am not even sure whether an Act will be made or not.”

Mussoorie, June 15
Even as the country observed World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on June 15, the senior citizens in Mussoorie feel that the state government can do a lot more to mitigate elderly abuse by strictly implementing the existing laws.

State president of the Federation of Senior Citizens Association RS Mishra, while speaking to The Tribune, said senior citizens of the state were living in isolation and facing neglect. The children of most of the elderly people in hill state are working either in the plains or metro cities and that has led to a lack of love and attachment in the lives of their elders. The elderly people have to struggle for meeting their daily needs relating to health care and finances. Most of the elderly suffer from the problem of brittle bones, etc.

Mishra said as the elderly couldn’t contribute to the income of the family, their children often neglected them. There have been cases where the daughters-in-law have ousted the elderly persons from their own houses in the month of winter and they were given shelter by the Senior Citizen Forum. In some cases the old-age health problems like insomnia and continuous urge of using urinal have also led to elderly abuse.

Property disputes are also one of the main reasons for the elderly abuse. The disappearing joint family culture has aggravated the problem. The nucleus family culture and daughter-in-law and son both being working has added to the elderly abuse in the state.

Mishra said the Government of India had formulated a policy to provide respite to the senior citizens but it had not been implemented in the state yet. They would meet the Speaker of Vidhan Sabha, Harbans Kapoor, and request help from the government to curb elderly abuse in the state. He said expensive medicines should be provided to elderly persons free of cost.

Mishra said he had demanded form the Judiciary that senior citizen be provided respite in litigations so that they did not have to stand for hours in courts.

The state head of Help Age India, Dr Aapga Singh, said they were releasing a report on elderly abuse nationwide to mark the day. She said Help Age India had also come out with a toll free number (1800-180-1253) to address the cases of elderly abuse. She said the physiotherapy centres like the one in Mussoorie helped a lot in curbing elderly abuse, as at these centres the senior citizens could share their woes with each other daily.

Mussoorie, June 15
Students from Mussoorie Girls Inter College and the members of the All-Mussoorie Senior Citizen Welfare Association marched from Kulri Bazar to Gandhi Chowk to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day today. The students, who were carrying placards, raised slogans in support of the senior citizens and appealed to the people to put an end to elder abuse.

Later, talks were held at the gurdwara situated near Library where the senior citizens shared their experiences. They said the cases of elder abuse were on the rise in the town. The senior citizens also demanded from the state government that the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 be implemented in the state immediately.

The chief guest on the occasion was Mussoorie MLA Jot Singh Gunsola. He said the abuse and neglect of our elderly was a serious issue. He was shocked to know that such cases were on the rise in the town, he said, adding that elder abuse involved physical, sexual, emotional and financial harassment of an elderly person by a family member, friend, neighbour, caregiver or any individual in a position of power, trust or authority.

Gunsola said awareness and continuous community discussions were the best way to end elder abuse in our town and the country and senior citizens forums could play an active role in it.

Kavita, student of Mussoorie Girls Inter College, said the senior citizens were our national treasure and instead of abusing them we should learn from their experiences.

President of the All Mussoorie Senior Citizen Welfare Association HS Khullar, RK Khanna, Madan Mohan Sharma, Narendar Sahni also presented their views on the occasion.

Dehradun, June 15
Finding common ground between India and Pakistan, senior forest conservators from Pakistan said today that experts from India and Pakistan should meet more often as environmental concerns transcend boundaries and both the countries could learn from each other’s experiences.

“The man-made divide created between India and Pakistan has not hindered the movement of animals. Their natural habitat extends beyond Pakistan and into India,” said Abdul Haleem Khan Marwat Divisional officer, Wildlife, from Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa Pakistan.

He said since joining the forest services of Pakistan, he nurtured a desire to visit the Forest Research Institute (FRI) and today he got a chance to do so.

“So many senior foresters from Pakistan passed out from this institute during pre-Partition era. We continue to read books authored by them”, he said.

He is a part of a seven-member team comprising two Forest Conservators and five World WildLife Fund (WWF-Pakistan) officials, who are here on a study-cum-exposure visit to the Wildlife Institute of India (Chanderbani).

The members met with the media at the Natraj Green Book Depot that has a good collection of books on forestry.

They visited Rajaji National Park and said elephants, lions and tigers were not found in Pakistan.

“We were surprised to see a railway track passing through Rajaji National Park,” said Ahmed Syed, who is a WWF site manager and hails from the Swat area of Pakistan.

Commenting about the conservation practices launched by the Pakistan department, Abdul Haleem said the game of trophy hunting was helping the country maintain a balanced population of ibex and ghoral.

Conservation of dolphins that are found in the Indus river is also being promoted in a big way in Pakistan.

Dehradun, June 15
Reviewing the works done under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) here today, the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, Subhash Kumar, asked the officials to ensure that traffic did not suffer due to the ongoing work of laying sewer lines or water pipelines in Dehradun.

During the meeting, he asked the officials of the PWD, the Municipal Corporation and the Pay Jal Nigam that they should make sure that roads should be filled immediately wherever excavation work was going on -- be it the widening of roads or laying the water pipes or sewer pipes. Kumar further stated that roads should be constructed immediately once the mud settled down.

On the issue of widening of the roads, he also told the Power and Forest departments to check that all complexities were solved immediately. Kumar asked them to remove all electricity poles in the course of the work within one week. He advised the Municipal Corporation to start door-to-door garbage collection within a month. Furthermore, Kumar told the Chief Secretary of city development to release the payment under the JNNURM immediately so that work was not delayed.

Dehradun, June 15
Members of the Uttarakhand Ministerial Collectorate Karamchari Sangh will observe a 24-hour fast from next week. This was stated by Rajinder Semwal, state president of the sangh, here today.

Talking to The Tribune, he said, “Two employees all over the state will observe a 24-hour fast from Monday. They will be accompanied by 12 other workers. The persons observing the fast will be changed on a daily basis.” “Before starting the fast, we will hold a rally, which will be continued for 10 days. A new strategy will be made after that,” Semwal stated. “Five of us will be visiting all over the state in these 10 days,” he mentioned.

Employees of the tehsil and SDM/DM offices in the state have been on strike since June 1 in support of their demand for restructuring of the collectorate. Owing to this, the work related to revenue, the sale of stamp papers and the issuance of various documents has been hit for 15 consecutive days.

The people visiting the collectorate to get their work done have to return empty handed. Officials are also facing the pinch of the ongoing strike and most of them do not come to the office and if they come, they leave in half an hour as they have no work to do in the absence of the staff.

Pithoragarh, June 15
Neemach Football Association and Garhwal Heroes, Delhi entered the next round after defeating Sports College, Lucknow and Uttrakhand Police, Dehradun, by 3-1 and 2-0, respectively, on the fifth day of All India Football Tournament being played at D.S. Bisht stadium here today.

Despite scoring one goal in the first half of their match in a penalty shoot, the Sports College, Lucknow team could not maintain the pace as Neemach Football Association team scored two goals to win the match.

In the next match played between Uttarakhand Police and Garhwal Heroes, Delhi, started with the Delhi team mounting initial pressure on the rival team. The first goal was scored by Vikas

Rawat and second by Husaini Joshua, a player of Nigerian origin of Garhwal Heroes in the first half of the game. Garhwal Heroes, Delhi, emerged winners.