Pithoragarh, June 20
Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar said here today that the construction of the road from Ghatiabagar to the Lipulekh Pass in the India-China border area had been going on a slow pace. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which has been constructing the road, has made only one-and-a-half-kilometre stretch of the road in the past more than two years, he added.

“At the speed, at which the BRO is constructing the road, it will be difficult to achieve the target of completing the road by 2013, as the BRO engineers claim,” said the Chief Secretary. He questioned the claims of the BRO that the 75-km road would be completed by 2013 when only about 2-km stretch had been completed so far.

“Whereas the Chinese have linked the border areas with roads much earlier, we could make only about 2 km of road stretch in two years,” he added.

Subhash Kumar, who reached here after visiting the border villages in the Byans valley in Dharchula subdivision from June 16 to 19, was talking to mediapersons here.

The Chief Secretary said the proposal to build the 75-km strategically vital road from Ghatiabagar to the Lipulekh Pass was cleared in 2006-07 by the Government of India and the work had been handed over to the BRO in 2008.

“I will talk to the Director-General of the BRO as to why the pace of the construction is slow and what will be their strategy to complete the road as per the schedule,” said the Chief Secretary.

“When I had gone to Barahoti in the border area in Chamoli district in 2006, I saw the Chinese vehicles were plying close to the border,” he added. The Chief Secretary said under a new government scheme every ration card holder in the state would now be provided with 10 kg of rice and an equal quantity of wheat at Rs 6 and 4 per kg, respectively, from the next month.

The government has pledged to reach to the last man of the state living in interior border villages and in this connection senior officials are visiting remote border villages, he claimed.

Dehradun, June 20
Instead of recommending the closure of three Community Health Centres (CHCs) that were found violating the provisions of Bio Medical Waste Management (BMWM 1998) System, the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) has allowed the three erring Community Health Centres (CHCs) to establish the BMW facility in a phased manner.

After submitting the report about the three erring Community Health Centres located at Chakrata, Mananth (Chakrata hills) and Bhaniyawala (Dehradun) to the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee, the Health Centres faced imminent closure “but in the interest of the public, we decided to allow the centres to adopt the BMWM practices in a phased manner; had we gone for their closure, the medial services would have been badly affected in these areas,” said Amarjeet Singh Oberoi, Environment Officer, UEPPCB.

The Bio-Medical Waste (BMW) Management and Handling Rules, 1998, mandate hospitals to ensure that such waste is handled without any adverse effect on human health and environment. “We had issued notices under Sections 15, 16 and 17 of the Environment Protection Act to 41 private clinics and government hospitals on March 31. They were given 45 days’ time to comply as per the rules but only three were left,” added Ankur Kansal, Assistant Environment Officer.

Initially a total of 177 District Hospitals, Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Additional Primary Health Centres (APHC) and private clinics were issued notices in February 2010.

“Most of the hospitals and clinics were able to comply in the Garhwal division because of repeated reminders and strict checks. Though initially, the issue of setting up the BMWM was not being taken seriously even by the government establishments, now things have improved. It is up to the regional officials of Pollution Control to take up field visits vigorously so that they do not falter,” said Dr Suman Arya , Joint Director, Medical Care, Directorate, Health, Uttarakhand.

However, the condition in the Kumaon division is relatively better, with almost all private and government hospitals showing compliance and applying for authorisation of the BMWM at the UEPPCB.

While the District Doon Hospital has already set up a plasma Pyrolyzer facility where all government hospitals and health centres send their biomedical waste, the private hospitals use the combined facility at Bhagwanpur (Roorkee).

Haridwar, June 20
Emphasising vast possibilities in the agriculture and food processing sectors in Uttarakhand, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Harish Rawat has said there is a need to focus on the marketing aspect otherwise the state will lag behind in these sectors.

Harish Rawat was speaking at a convention on “Enhancing Value Addition to Food Processing and Agro Exports Opportunities in Uttarakhand” here today. At the convention, which was organised by the Punjab, Haryana, Delhi Chamber of Commerce, in association with the Industries Association of Haridwar, the minister stressed the need to shift from the traditional agriculture methodology in the state and adopt the latest alternatives, which could prove to be more beneficial in terms of both output and profits to farmers.

“Horticulture and floriculture have immense potential in view of the geographical and ecological conditions in the state. By investing in the two sectors, farmers of the state can reap handsome profits and create more employment opportunities for the youth of the state,” said Rawat, who is also the parliamentarian from Haridwar.

Regarding the release of Rs 50 crore by the Centre for setting up mega food parks, Harish Rawat stated despite the subsidy given to food parks, the real beneficiaries were not the farmers but the entrepreneurs. The benefits of setting up the food parks should reach the grass-roots level.

Dehradun, June 20
The three-day 41st All-India Police Science Congress (AIPSC) will start here from tomorrow. The Police Science Congress is being organised by the Uttarakhand Police in collaboration with the Bureau of Police Research and Development, New Delhi, on the campus of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) here.

The Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, will inaugurate the Congress while Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Gurudas Kamat will be the chief guest. The Uttarakhand Governor, Margaret Alva, will be the chief guest at the valedictory function on June 23 while Governor of Nagaland Nikhil Kumar will be the distinguished guest of honour on the occasion.

During the three-day Congress, 15 papers will be presented and discussed by a galaxy of experts, including senior police officers and professionals. A total of 12 plenary sessions will be held in which 10 themes will be discussed culminating in an open session in which the resolution of the Congress will be finalised for presentation in the valedictory session. More than 100 delegtates from all over the country are expected to participate in the Congress.

Vikram Srivastava, Director-General of Bureau of Police Research and Development, along with the Uttarakhand Director-General of Police (DGP) JS Pandey at a joint press conference said that MK Narayanan, Governor of West Bengal, would be the chairperson of the session on “Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism,” while BL Joshi, Governor of Uttar Pradesh, would chair a session on “Integrity in higher echelons of police leadership -- moral and financial”. Vikram Srivastava said that GK Pillai, Union Home Secretary, would address the Congress on “Police accountability in a democratic society.” “The aim of the Congress is to evolve a fresh approach on various issues of topical interest to the police and find newer solutions to the multi-dimensional problems confronted by the police force in the country,” he added.

Vikram Srivastava further said that the Congress would be looking at the best policing practices not only in India but also abroad that could be amalgamated into Indian conditions. “The modernisation of the police force in terms of technological upgradation, infrastructure, training of the manpower in every aspect, forensic advancements is on the agenda of the Bureau of Police Research and Development,” he said.

He said the Bureau had been running three Central Detective Schools at Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Kolkata and added that more such detectives schools to impart specialised traning to police officers would soon start functioning at Ghaziabad and Gandhinagar.

He also said that a central academy of police training to train Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs), gazetted- rank officers, would soon start functioning at Bhopal on a 400-acre campus. He also explained about the National Police Mission and its six micro missions that aimed at improving the overall policing in the country.

Dehradun, June 20
Members of the Punjabi Sangathan, Uttarakhand, have demanded five seats from the Congress in the coming Vidhan Sabha elections. Talking to the media here today, Devinder Sethi, district president of the sangathan, said there were a large number of Punjabis in the state and the Congress should give ticket to at least five Punjabis. The five demanded seats include three seats in Udham Singh Nagar and two in Dehradun.

He said the Punjabis were contributing a lot to the progress of the state. “Owing to the absence of a Congress candidate from the Punjabi community in the fray, Harbans Kapoor of the BJP was able to win the election from the Cantt Vidhan Sabha seat,” Sethi said.

On the other hand, Vijay Bagga, president of the city unit, demanded the status of second language for Punjabi in the state. “The Punjabi language has a script called Devnagri, thus the state government should give it a proper status,” he said.

The sangathan has also asked the government to construct a proper way from Guru Gobind Ghat to Hemkunt Sahib. “The government should construct a proper road between Guru Gobind Ghat to Hemkunt Sahib just like the one built on the way to the Vaishno Devi shrine, as devotees have to walk a long distance,” Bagga stated.

Dehradun, June 20
More than 2,000 employees of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) have not received their salaries for the past two months. General Manager of the GMVN UC Kabadwal has assured the staff that he would resolved the issue soon.

Vice-president of the Employees Association SP Pant said: “The employees are aggrieved at the ad hoc culture prevailing in the GMVN, because of which neither the Managing Director nor the General Manager has been given full charge of the nigam. It is the employees who suffer due to this. The employees have now reached the state where they can no longer meet expenses of their families. They have not been given salaries for the past two months. The files regarding the release of funds for the salaries are to be cleared up by the top management.”

Managing Director A Santhiyal Pandiyan has gone on leave once again, leaving the GMVN in abeyance.

Pant said: “The anger among the employees have started rising once again. It seems we will have to go on a strike again to get our salaries and permanent management in place in the GMVN so that the welfare of the corporation and its workforce can be taken care of.”

Kabadwal as usual expressed his limitations in clearing the backlog of the files. As of now, he has once again be given the charge to clear the routine files. It is yet to be seen when the files related to funds for salaries are cleared on a priority basis.

Mussoorie, June 20
The gaping hole at the pushta (side wall) on the south road here has instilled fear among the local residents. The age-old pushta has begun caving in from several places, endangering the lives of the people residing above and below it. Most of the buildings at the south road are already in a dilapidated condition and any small geological movement could result in a huge damage to property and life if the pushta is not repaired soon.

According to a local resident and social activist Anant Pal Singh, the loosened bricks have been falling one by one for the past two years and even after repeated complaints to the Municipal Council, no action has been initiated so far.

He further said that several cracks were visible on the road itself and the community residing here was forced to fill the holes on the road themselves so that no untoward incident took place as the road was being used for traffic under the one-way system.

The residents of Raj Mandi residing below the damaged pushta have also expressed fear that the road and the buildings may cave in if the problem is not addressed soon.

The Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), Dehradun, in its survey done earlier has already declared the buildings at the south road as unsafe and vulnerable to a moderate to a high category of earthquake.

Anant Pal Singh further says that keeping this factor in mind, the repair of the pushta becomes necessary to avoid any such damage to the whole area and neglecting the problem could lead to loss of life and damage 
to property.

Mussoorie Municipal Council Executive Officer Rohtash Sharma said he had also received several complaints about the gaping hole on the pushta at south road and would visit the site personally to assess the damage and then only would direct the engineers to look into it and rectify the problem on a priority basis.