Nainital, June 23
Labourers of an industrial unit went on the rampage in Mahuvakhedaganj near Kashipur after the death of their colleague last night.

According to information, 25-year-old Guddu, who hailed from Lakhimpur Khiri, Uttar Pradesh, died after he was trapped in a lift in the industrial unit. Irked, the labourers destroyed the infrastructure of the unit, which is being run by an Multinational Corporation (MNC).

The labourers alleged that the management of the unit quietly sent away the body to a hospital. However, the management maintained that the victim was sent to the hospital as he had sustained injuries, but he died on the way to the hospital.

The labourers said despite repeated complaints to the authorities, nothing had been done to repair the faulty lift.

An uneasy calm continued on the premises of the unit when the report was last filed. The production of the unit was suspended today and heavy police deployment has been ordered in the area.

It is learnt that the police is yet to register a case as no one has made any complaint in this regard so far.

Haridwar, June 23
With the Right to Education (RTE) Act being implemented in the state for the children of deprived sections, particularly SC, ST, physically handicapped, orphans, OBC (excluding creamy layer) etc and those with annual income less than Rs 45,000, the Education Department has now geared up to put the Act into action.

With the new session starting soon, the department is targeting maximum number of children who can benefit under the scheme. Such children will occupy 25% of the total seats in all the schools. Of this quota, 50% reservation will be for girls.

Various modes of advertising are being used to make the public, especially the targeted section, aware about the Act. As most of the poor reside in slums and temporary shelters, the department is using theatre and street plays to garner the attention of the parents of non-school going children.

Parvatiya Rang Manch and Sanskritik Samiti, popularly known as PARAM, of Pauri Garhwal has been roped in for the project. Samiti artists aided by project coordinators will disseminate information about the RTE Act and also distribute admission forms.

Yogambar Poli of PARAM told The Tribune that “despite numerous social and government campaigns being done by PARAM, the campaign is challenging.”

“As the masses connect easily with street plays, we are going to the slum colonies, clusters, roadside huts and other places to get in touch with the targeted audience. We first interact with them and then put into use some of their characters and situations in the plays that deal with the issue. After the plays, we often get queries, particularly from women and children, about the Act,” Poli said.

While RTE project coordinator Mukesh Chandra Semwal stated that the project coordinators were accompanying the theatre group so that on-the-spot queries could be dealt with.

Director of Uttarakhand Project Saujanya is keen on making the RTE reach grassroots-level beneficiaries. She believes the street plays are a pivotal tool to target this section where other media tools are not easily accessible.

The theatre group has already performed in various areas of Dehradun, Haridwar and Roorkee.

The attempt has bore results as the poor easily understand these plays where the characters and situations are taken from their lives. It helps them in understanding the message easily.

Haridwar, June 23
The city municipal committee is once again facing the ire of the residents due to dumping of garbage in Chandi Ghat Majra area, about 3 km from the main city area. The residents of nearby colonies have taken the agitation route after repeated applications and meeting with the officials concerned bore no result.

With the present dumping site also falling at the foothills of the famous shrine of Mata Chandi Devi, people are upset over the attitude of the MC as tonnes of garbage gets accumulated in the area making living conditions unhygienic.

The residents of colonies of Chandi Ghat Majra, Purana Khanta, Pandey Colony as well as nearby slum clusters took to streets today demanding instant closure of dumping site and also cleaning of the area. the protesters gathered at the MC office and raised slogans against the municipal chairman and also submitted a memorandum in this regard.

Accusing the health wing of the MC, social activist JP Pandey termed the decision of dumping garbage within city residential area as uncalled for.

“There is no valid reason of dumping the waste near a residential area by the municipality. If this goes on, we will sit on agitation at the Indira Gandhi bridge from where the dumpers pass,” Pandey said.

Citing various ailments that the residents are facing, Meera Raturi, women chief of the Uttarakhand Kranti Manch, urged the health officials of the MC and the administration to take stock of the situation.

Chairman of the Haridwar municipality Kamal Johra said the matter was already in his knowledge, but until another suitable dumping site was not available, nothing much could be done in this regard.

Pithoragarh, June 23
Despite efforts by the state government to make “Atal Adarsh villages” a model of development in the state, the villages declared under this category in interior parts of the district do not have even the basic amenities.

“Our village has been declared as an ‘Atal Adarsh’ village, but even after that we are facing acute shortage of drinking water and electricity,” said Devki Devi, gram pradhan of Sirtoli village in Madkot area of the district .

According to the villagers, electricity for the village is supplied from Bhikuria hydroelectric project owned by Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency. But from last one month the supply to the village is disrupted . “Due to fault in the lines, the supply of electricity to the village has been affected. Our employees are working on the lines they will soon be repaired,” said PK Gangwar, senior project officer of Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency in Pithoragarh.

Accordingly, the villagers are forced to depend on rain water for drinking due to the insufficient water supply to the village. Only one third of the villagers get water for drinking. “When we demanded drinking water for the entire village, the Jal Sansthan officials said it was possible only after the rains as the water level of the source has gone down in the summers,” said the gram pradhan.

Dehradun, June 23
It seems that the government is in no hurry to solve the problems being faced by the common man due to the ongoing strike of the Uttarakhand Ministerial Collectorate Karamchari Sangh.

Though Revenue Minister Diwakar Bhatt held a meeting with the members of the sangh, it has failed to yield any result, following which they have decided to continue with their protest.

Rajinder Semwal, state president of the sangh, said during the meeting, the minister gave them an assurance that they would fulfil their demands and asked them to end their protest. “The minister showed his concern and assured us that our demands will be fulfilled. But he did not give anything in writing. Last time also, they had given an assurance to fulfil our demands, but they failed to act. Now we will end our strike only when our demands will be fulfilled,” he said.

Employees of the tehsil and SDM/DM offices are on strike since June 1 in support of their demand for the restructuring of the Collectorate. The minister could not be contacted for his comment.

Dehradun, June 23
The Uttarakhand Congress has criticised the state BJP government for dragging Governor in the political rhetoric.

Addressing a press conference in Dehradun today, Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat said issuing statement against Governor Margaret Alva was uncalled for on part of the BJP. Rawat said the Governor had raised a genuine issue about safety of air travel in Uttarakhand particularly in the aftermath of a helicopter incident. Similarly her concern for Swami Nigmanand was also genuine, he said.

Referring to recent advertisements released by the Uttarakhand Information and Public Relations Department that carried a photograph of BJP national president Nitin Gadkari, Opposition leader Harak Singh Rawat said the state government was resorting to rampant misuse of public money by releasing advertisements carrying the photograph its party president.

“Gadkari holds no public post in Uttarakhand and, thus, carrying his photograph in a state government advertisement in unconstitutional,” Rawat pointed out.

On Ramdev, Harak Singh Rawat said while the yoga guru did reveal his Trust’s assets, he did not give the financial details of his companies. He said money from the Trust was being transferred to the companies that, he said, amounted to embezzlement of funds.

Nainital, June 23
The BJP government in the state has suffered a setback with the Uttarakhand High Court upholding an earlier order reinstating the elected bodies of the two municipalities in Haldwani and Haridwar.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice Barin Ghosh and Justice Sarvesh Gupta, while upholding the earlier order passed by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia,has given three weeks’ time to the government to approach the Supreme Court on the matter.

The Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank-led government had announced last week its intention to make Haridwar and Haldwani Municipal Corporations. It had gone ahead in the matter, asking the District Magistrates to take charge as administrators while doing away with the elected local municipalities.

The Single Bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia had given orders for the reinstatement of the two bodies on June 9. This was followed by protests by political parties over the delay in handing back of charge at the two places to the elected representatives. Meanwhile, the government had once again approached the high court on the matter.

The decision of the government to set up corporations at the two places was seen as “politically motivated” while keeping in mind the coming Assembly poll in the state that is barely months away.

The elected representatives of the two municipalities had approached the high court saying that they were never consulted on the decision and the government had no right to do away with a constitutionally elected body before its term ended.

The high court had ordered the quashing of the notification issued by the government in this regard.

Pithoragarh, June 23
Irked over the continuous neglect by the successive governments, residents of the Talla Pal area, one of the most backward areas of Champawat district, have decided to launch an agitation to demand the basic needs. They have also formed a committee for the purpose.

“We have formed a committee, namely the Neglected Area Development Organisation,” said said Purna Nand Bhatt, president of the organisation.

“Our area is deprived of basic facilities like roads, proper electricity supply and the setting up of an ITI. The authorities have also failed to fill vacant posts of teacher in primary and junior high schools, besides fulfilling the long-pending demand to upgrade six high schools in the area,” said Bhatt.

Villagers are also facing a shortage of basic medical facilities.“Two of the hospitals at Aomri and Chalthi in the area are also facing a shortage of doctors and other medical staff, forcing the poor villagers to go to Tanakpur for even the basic treatment,” said Pushkar Ram, general secretary of the newly formed organisation.

Dehradun, June 23
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today called upon faculty members of Uttarakhand Open University (Haldwani) and the Uttaranchal Sanskrit Academy (Haridwar) to constitute a committee for undertaking research on astrology.

He said that research on astrology would go a long way in strengthening the ancient stream of knowledge. “In my opinion astrology is a complete science that evolved with the Vedas and the debate on whether it is a science is meaningless.

But I think if at all astrology needs to be strengthened it can be done through research and our institutions can join hands,” he emphasised.

He was speaking at the inauguration of an all-India seminar on “Akhil Bharatiya Jyotish,” organised jointly by the Uttaranchal Sanskrit Academy and Uttarakhand Open University.

The Chief Minister said that in order to encourage research on astrology and Sanskrit, his government was planning to set up a Prachya Vidya Sansthan with the help of the Badri-Kedar Samiti.

In his presidential address Prof Vachaspati Upadhyaya, Vice-Chancellor, Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeth (New Delhi), said the manuscripts and other material available on astrology needed to be preserved.

Prof Bhuwnesh Sharma, Vice-Chancellor of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Vedic Vishwavidyalya (Bhopal), said along with perfecting his knowledge of Sanskrit and mathematics an astrologer should also focus on clarity of mind and purity of heart.

The Vice-Chancellor of Uttarakhand Open University, Prof Vinay Pathak, called for making astrology more practical.

On the occasion a souvenir on the seminar was released and a website on astrology launched.

Nainital, June 23
An effort to depict the ills plaguing theatre in the country was made in the form of a play “Shakuntala Ki Angoothi” by Manch - The Experimental Theatre and Repertory here recently. Written by Surendra Verma and directed by Idris Malik, the play depicts the efforts of a theatre group as they attempt to stage Kalidasa’s “Abhijnanasakuntalam”.

The play juxtaposes modern day ideology and philosophy against the classical hermit-like existence of Kalidasa’s characters.

As the play proceeds, an attempt is made to reconcile classical principles of life and love with contemporary notions and ideals. If the play’s power lies in its thematic strength, its weakness came in the form of loose presentation of certain sequences, particularly during the first performance.

Idris starred as the director of a theatre group that is preparing to present Kalidasa’s classic. He performed his role with finesse and is clearly the manch’s star performer, although he had to put in extra efforts to bring his co-performers to his level. Sanjay Kumar as his assistant came up with good dialogue delivery. Besides these two actors it was Mukesh Dhasma in the role of Malik’s short-tempered boss, who came up with a heart warming performance, drawing appreciation from the audience.

The others whose works were appreciated included Rehan Akhtar for managing to keep the audience smiling with his portrayal of an aspiring movie-star who tells tall tales and Pawan Kumar as the cynic.

The rest of the members in their small roles came up with performances that can at best be called earnest.

The constant attempt during the play was at drawing attention towards the divide between the audience and the performers brought in Brecht’s Theory of Alienation - an important premise upon which such experimental theatre is based. The actors broke away occasionally from the play to freely interact with the audience.

Malik stressed upon the use of Indian language in the play as opposed to Hindi, in a sincere effort to bring about its revival in the theatre.

The play, despite being unable to come across as strikingly exceptional, was commendable for its very earnest performances.

What stands out is that in a place like Nainital where the government has failed to even provide an auditorium, people like Idris and his troupe are striving for revival of the art.

Well known face from the world of India theatre Prem Matiyani was amongst those present during the performance. Despite its attempt to move away for convention, the play does hit upon the point that theatre needs to be taken seriously.

Haridwar, June 23
The Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) from Haridwar district refrained from their work to participate at district headquarters in protest against the non-fulfilment of their demands.

Their main demand is increase in minimum salary to Rs 3,000 while taking into account their working hours as round-the-clock services are required at times.

Led by national chief of ASHA National Rural Health Activists union Rajeshwari Chauhan they also demanded free insurance coverage, fixation of DA, issuance of free smart cards, among other demands.

The activists have also warned of refraining from work if their demands are not met soon. They even warned of taking a route of fast unto death agitation at Jantar Mantra in New Delhi. They stated that they were a vital chord and an interface between community and public health system so couldn’t be ignored for long.

“Our work is one of the toughest, round-the-clock one, but we are not given due credit or payment. The government is keeping mum on our demands while we have taken the agitation route several times. This time we will make sure that the government accepts out demands,” said Rajeshwari Chauhan while submitting a memorandum-cum-demand letter.

Among others who addressed the gathering were Chandra Pal Chauhan, Shabana Anjum, Angoori Devi, Sudha, Kawita and Madhu with activists from Roorkee, Mangalore, Lakshar, Bahadrbad, Lal Dhang, Ranipur, Jwalapur and Iqbalpur participating in the protest.