Dehradun, June 27
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today announced that value added tax (VAT) on kerosene would be waived to provide succour to the public from the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products in the state.

Addressing a prèss conference here today, Nishank criticised the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre for increasing prices of essential commodities. Comparing the prices of essential food grains during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Nishank alleged that there had been a phenomenal rise in the prices of all the essential food items during the past seven years, making life miserable for the common man.

He said the people of the hill state of Uttarakhand would be the worst sufferers as the prices of all the goods being transported by road in the hill state would be hiked due to increase in the price of diesel.

He said besides abolishing VAT of 4.5 per cent on kerosene, there would not be any change in the Value Added Tax (VAT) on diesel and LPG in the state. This would put a loss of Rs 8 crore per annum on the state exchequer. Similarly, there would not be any VAT on the increase in diesel prices. This would put an additional burden of Rs 35 crore on the state exchequer, according to an official statement.

The statement says there is no VAT on LPG cylinders in the state and it would put a burden of Rs 108 crore on the state.

Nishank alleged that the Central Government had been discriminating against the state government. “The Central Government withdrew the special industrial package from the state creating hurdles in the industrial growth of the state and has also been discriminating against it while giving special-category packages to states,” he said.

Lashing out at the Centre, Nishank said there was no need to advise the state on maintaining the sanctity of the Ganga.

Dehradun, June 27
Setting a new precedent, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today walked barefoot a distance of four km in protest against the hike in the prices of kerosene, diesel and LPG.

Starting from his residence here, Nishank’s march concluded at the secretariat. Uttarakhand BJP President Bishan Singh Chufal, ministers Trivendra Singh Rawat, Khazan Das and Bansidhar Bhagat, Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli, MLAs Asha Nautiyal, Ganesh Joshi and Om Gopal Rawat and Dr Devendra Bhasin of the Uttarakhand Media Advisory Committee were prominent persons who accompanied the Chief Minister during the march.

Later, addressing the party workers at a party workers convention, the Chief Minister said the Congress-led UPA Government was least sensitive towards the concerns of the general public and was fuelling inflation. He also questioned Centre’s logic that the states must do the needful to check rising inflation.

Referring to his two-year term as Chief Minister in Uttarakhand, Dr Nishank said the state government had taken benefits of development to the last man in the state. He said apart from providing employment to the youth, the state government, through the Atal Khadyaan Yojna, had provided cheaper food grains to people.

Pithoragarh, June 27
Initial monsoon showers have hit the normal life in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts, making not only the Purnagiri pilgrimage difficult for the devotees in the Tanakpur area of Champawat district, but also disturbing road traffic on more than six major roads and two highways in Pithoragarh district.

“The most affected are three roads in Munsiyari sub-division and the highway linking Munsiyari to Thal town in Munsiyari sub-division and the one linking Tawaghat to Garwadhar in Dharchula subdivision of the district,” said a source in the district administration.

“The second batch of the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims, which is returning from Tibet after completing the pilgrimage, had to wait for five hours at Lakhanpur due to the closure of the motor road between Jauljibi and Didihat to vehicular traffic. The batch was permitted to leave at 10 pm after the road was cleared of landslide debris,” said V Anand, Commandant of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) contingent at Didihat, which hosts the Mansarovar pilgrims before they reach the base camp and on their return journey.

More than average showers on Saturday had people living along the Gori river in the Baram valley and the villagers of Jarajibli and Choribagar spent sleepless night due to the fear of landslides. “The villagers were in panic as they have been becoming victims of calamities every year for the past 30 years,” said BS Parihar, teacher at Baram Inter College.

The most vulnerable road connecting Tawaghat and Garva has not only been closed to traffic but also to those travelling on foot. Landslides have been occurring on the road since Saturday. “The road has been washed away at Teen Tola,” said an officer of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which has been working on the widening of the road.

At Didihat, the roads linking the town to Adichaura and Doonakot have been closed to traffic, forcing the villagers of more than 50 villages to look for alternative routes to reach the subdivisional headquarters.

“The situation, which usually occurred in the months of August and September after monsoon, can be witnessed this point of time when the monsoon has not been widespread,” said Jodh Singh Bora, social activists from Didihat town.

On the way to Purnagiri in Champawat district, the pilgrims are now resorting to alternative routes to reach the temple despite the official closure of the fair by the Champawat Zila Panchayat on June 25. “We have imposed a ban on undertaking pilgrimage beyond 8 pm and are repairing damaged roads and the electric lines,” said Shiv Charan Dwivedi, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Tanakpur.

Dehradun, June 27
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, who completed two years in office today, has been facing an uphill task in the run up to the Assembly elections scheduled to be held in the state in February, 2012.

While on one hand he has been fighting the Opposition onslaught on the issues of corruption, lack of development and incompetence, he has also been facing strong opposition from within his party ranks as two former Chief Ministers and senior leaders of his own ruling BJP, namely Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd) and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, have been hitting at his knuckles since he took over as Chief Minister.

Following a near revolt by party legislators, led by former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, against Khanduri, the BJP high command surprised everyone by giving the reins of the state to Nishank, the Health Minister in the Khanduri government in June, 2009.

However, since the lady’s luck smiled on him and he became the Chief Minister in the face of an intense power struggle between Khanduri and Koshiyari on June 27, 2009, Nishank has never looked back and was able to get the support of the party high command. But, he has not been that lucky in running the state as his two years in office were marked by various controversies.

Nishank started on a promising note by winning the Vikasnagar Assembly byelection for his party soon after taking over as Chief Minister. Vikasnagar is a traditionally strong seat of the Congress due to a sizeable Muslim population. Nishank gave a rude shock to his Congress rivals and a pleasant surprise to his own party men by snatching the seat.

The initial euphoria died soon with the ground-level realities of governance catching up with him and his government. Strikes by various sections of the employees to demand the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations troubled him and as he tried to placate a section of the employees by giving into their demands, the others rose in protest.

But, during the past one year, he has been surrounded by controversies and on two important occasions had to reverse his decisions on court directions, much to the embarrassment of his state government. The first shock for his government came when the decision of the state government to allot 56 hydroelectric projects to various companies was challenged in the High Court. It was alleged that the companies, including even cycle manufacturers and liquor dealers, with no prior experience in hydroelectric power generation were allotted these projects. Apprehending an adverse judgment from the High court, he decided to cancel the allotments.

The controversy landed his government in such a situation that the state government has not yet been able to decide on a clear policy on hydroelectric projects. The indecisiveness of the state government on bigger hydroelectric projects following demands by environmentalists and right wing Hindu organisations, led by the RSS, to ban any such project on the holy Ganga has deepened the confusion. While the Union Government has stopped the Loharinagpala 600-MW project on the Ganga and declared the area between Gangotri and Uttarkashi as an eco-sensitive zone on the demand of the environmentalists and Hindu right wing organisations, Nishank has been critical of the decision of the Centre.

Nishank received another setback when a decision of his government to change the land-use pattern of a piece of land belonging a defunct company from industrial to residential was challenged in the High Court. After a lot of hue and cry by the Opposition, the state government again cancelled the permission given to the said company for changing the land-use pattern.

Keeping the forthcoming Assembly elections in mind, Nishank has launched a tirade against the alleged discriminatory attitude of the Congress-led Union Government. He has alleged that the Union Government has withdrawn the industrial package and was not generous enough in giving special treatment to the state that has been contributing to the national kitty in the shape of environmental protection, water and even youth force in the armed forces.

On the political front, Nishank has become the first Chief Minister to visit the remotest of corners of the state. Already, he has covered 40 Assembly segments, visiting such places where even the officials could not reach in the past half a century. He has tried to interact with the people at the grass-roots level.

In a deft political move, he has started an ambitious “Atal Khadyaan Yojna” to provide subsidised rations to below poverty line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL) families in the state. He has promised to provide wheat at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg to each BPL family to provide it succour from rising inflation. The APL families can get wheat at Rs 4 per kg and rice at Rs 6 per kg.

He has been able to keep his political foes within his own party at bay when the BJP national president Nitin Gadkari declared that he would remain the Chief Minister and the elections would be fought under the joint leadership of Khanduri, Koshiyari and Nishank.

Dehradun, June 27
Uttarakhand Congress president Yashpal Arya has asked the state government to do away with value-added tax on both petrol and diesel.

In a statement issued today, Arya said Uttarakhand must withdraw 21 per cent VAT on diesel and 25 per cent VAT on petrol immediately in order to ensure relief to people.

He pointed out that 84 per cent of the oil requirement in the country was met through imports and asserted that the Central Government was spending a huge amount on providing subsidy to the consumers. On the other hand, the Uttarakhand Government was levying a high per cent of VAT on both diesel and petrol.

Arya said large-scale blackmarketing in kerosene and LPG was taking place in Uttarakhand and the state government was acting as a mute spectator.He said the Congress would shortly launch an agitation against this.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand Congress has held the BJP government equally responsible for rising inflation in the state. The Congress announced that it would reduce VAT on petrol and diesel and also increase subsidy on LPG if the party came to power in the state.

Addressing a press conference in Dehradun, leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat asked the BJP government to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel so as to ensure that people were not affected by the rising prices of these two key commodities, whose prices were dependent on international oil prices.

“VAT on petrol and diesel is quite high in Uttarakhand when compared to other states like Delhi, Haryana and UP”, Rawat said, adding that it was unjust on the part of the BJP to hold the Congress-led Centre entirely responsible for the price hike.

Rawat said if the Congress assumed power in the state, it would reduce VAT on petrol and diesel by at least 10 per cent each. “I am part of the Congress manifesto committee and will ensure that the reduction of VAT on petrol and diesel is introduced in the party poll manifesto in Uttarakhand”, he said.

Stating that the BJP had got into the habit of blaming the Congress-led Centre for all ills, Rawat pointed out that the state was still to spend Rs 665 crore provided to it by the Centre as rain disaster relief. “Only a meagre Rs 285 crore has so far been spent by the state government. This when it is repeatedly seeking Rs 21,000 crore assistance from the Centre”, Rawat said.

Rawat said two years of Nishank rule in Uttarakhand had been full of scams and the government had completely failed to deliver.

Haridwar, June 27
Adding another feather to its cap, the public sector undertaking major Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) today flagged off the vehicle carrying India’s maiden indigenously built 600 MW turbo generator set from the Ranipur-situated unit of the company in Uttarakhand.

The state-of-the-art generator set has been manufactured for the North Chennai Thermal Power project being run by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board. The generators of this series cater to the requirements of the supercritical thermal power stations having turbines of capacity up to 700MW.

A new benchmark has been set up with the dispatch of the generator set. Also in the offing are a series of such generator sets of the 600 MW, 660 MW, 700 MW and 800 MW ratings, which are being made at the Haridwar unit of the company.

Also the facility for assembling and testing of this series of generator sets has been designed and engineered in-house at the Haridwar plant. The new facility has the capacity to manufacture and test turbo generator sets of up to 1000 MW rating.

Talking to The Tribune, Executive Director, BHEL, Devendra Kumar Mody said now the plant had equipped itself to produce thermal sets with the supercritical parameters of 660 MW, 700 MW and 800 MW ratings, which spoke of the high-level technical work being carried out at BHEL.

In view of the growing demand, the company has also introduced the thermal sets of new ratings of 150 MW, 270 MW, 525 MW and 600 MW and has enhanced its manufacturing capacity to 15,000 MW per annum. It proposes to augment the capacity up to 20,000 MW per annum by March, 2012.

Nainital, June 27
A large number of farmers from the hill areas of Nainital district staged a protest outside the office of the District Magistrate here on Monday seeking basic amenities in their respective areas.

The protest was carried out under the banner of the Parvatiya Kisan Uthan Manch. Leader of the Manch Daan Singh Bhandari said that despite raising their concerns on many occasions, the administration had failed to address them. He pointed that the farmers had raised 32 demands at a rally held in Leti Bunga on December 25last year but nothing had been done to address their grievances.

Bhandari added that even after six months no attempt had been made to resolve the issues pertaining to the farmers of the Ramgarh and Dhari regions. The farmers had demanded basic facilities that would help promote agriculture like proper water supply, power connectivity and roads so that perishable agricultural produce could be transported to the markets at the earliest. Their other demands pertained to educational facilities for their children and a proper health set-up in the rural areas.

In a memorandum handed over to the administration, the farmers threatened to gherao the state Assembly if their demands were not met at the earliest.

Haridwar, June 27
At the annual convention of the Bharat Vikas Parishad (BVP), Dev Bhoomi members of the parishad vowed to take forward the mission of working for upliftment of the poor.

Formed in 1963, the Bharat Vikas Parishad was founded by Dr Suraj Prakash who wanted to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich, generate awareness about the fundamental rights and other social causes.

Since then every year, the BVP annual meeting is held where the works done every year are discussed as well as new members are made.

Newly elected chief of the BVP Kusum Gandhi said the objectives with which the organisation was founded was being met by the executive committee in support of the members but still a lot need to be done in various sectors.

Regional member Shiv Prasad urged the young generation to become culturally stronger as one of the objectives of the parishad was to bring the country in the league of developed nations which could only be attained if the youth adhered to their culture, tradition and character.

Lauding the works of the Bharat Vikas Parishad, social activist Sanjana Sharma said more people should join and contribute to the social works being carried out as by working together only the menace of corruption, poverty, social evils and malpractices could be eradicated.

Social welfare board chief Nirupama Gaud lauded the working of the parishad in social field while Aruna Adlakha, Om Prakash Jamdagni, Raj Kumar Chauhand, Sunita Joshi, Rekha Aggarwal, Rashmi Chauhan, Rita Chamoli, Lalita Mishra, Krishna Gupta, Vineeta Guglani among other activists were present on the occasion.