Dehradun, July 12
Leaders of the state Congress who were having high hopes from the reshuffle in the Union Council of Ministers were disappointed as no new face from the state was inducted in the Council of Ministers by the party high command. To add insult to injury, the ruling BJP in the state has reiterated its oft-repeated allegation that the Congress has again ignored the interests of the state in the reshuffle.

Harish Rawat, Lok Sabha MP from Haridwar, is the sole representative of the state in the Union Council of Ministers. He is the Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing. In the reshuffle of the Union Cabinet ministers, he has been given additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs along with his earlier portfolio. This has disappointed other aspirants who were hopeful of getting another berth in the Union Council of Ministers.

It was argued that since the elections to the Uttarakhand Assembly are due in February, 2012, a new face would also be inducted in the Union Council Of Ministers from Uttarakhand. Former Union Minister of State for Railways Satpal Maharaj, who is Lok Sabha MP from Pauri Garhwal, and Tehri Garhwal Lok Sabha MP Vijay Bahuguna were the hopeful candidates.

It was believed that since the Congress won all the five Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 parliamentary elections, the party high command, keeping in view the coming Assembly poll in the state, would induct a second minister from Uttarakhand. On the other hand, the ruling BJP in the state today criticised the Congress for again ignoring the interests of the state. Deepti Rawat, spokesperson for the Uttarakhand BJP, said the reshuffle of the Cabinet by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh clearly showed that the Congress had no interest in the welfare of the people of the state. She said it was the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that created Uttarakhand and also had two ministers originally from the state while two Rajya Sabha MPs from the state namely Sushma Swaraj and Sangh Priya Gautam were also in the Union Council of Ministers.

She further alleged the Union Government had been discriminating against Uttarakhand in every aspect whether it was giving representation to the elected representatives in the Union Council of Ministers or allocating development schemes to the states. She said the industrial package given by the NDA government to the state till 2013 had been withdrawn by the UPA government.

Meanwhile, Harish Rawat said the Prime Minister had to look after the interests of the entire nation while forming his team.

Pithoragarh, July 12
A query under the Right to Information Act (RTI) has revealed that the funds meant for the repair of school buildings that were damaged in a disaster last year has been diverted for other construction works by the Disaster Management Department, Pithoragarh.

Instead of repairing the school buildings, the money has been diverted to lay paths and roads.

Hira Dhapola, vice-chairman of the state Disaster Management Advisory Council, said: “I have asked the persons concerned to collect information on the entire money spent on the repair of disaster-hit schools.”

The information was sought by a social worker. It has come to light that most of the works have been carried out at other places and the disaster-hit schools have been ignored.

The Pithoragarh District Magistrate said he had ordered officials to collect information about the allotment of Rs 41.51 crore for the repair and reconstruction of the disaster-affected works in the district last year and why the authorities concerned neglected genuine repair cases like schools and spent more than Rs 15 crore on other works. “If any complaint comes, we will order an inquiry into it,” said Mohan Chandra Joshi, District Magistrate, Pithoragarh.

According to the Additional District Magistrate and in charge of disaster works in the district, the district-level committee had allotted Rs 1.12 crore to 40 schools to carry out the repair work.

“Some schools were included in the plan on a priority basis. The repair work of rest of the schools is on the anvil, which require a sum of Rs 50 lakh,” said Vinod Giri Goswami, Additional District Magistrate.

“The money has been allotted after scrutinising works at three levels by officers,” said Goswami.

The person who had sought information said neither repair works in disaster-affected La-Jhekla village in Munsiyari were carried out nor money was alloted to primary schools of Gangolihat , Munsiyari and Berinag for repair.

The department concerned spent most of the money on concrete roads which were out of the disaster-affected areas.

Dehradun, July 12
A delegation of the State Primary Teachers Association from the Chakrata block today called on Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank at his residence and thanked him for establishing a separate directorate for primary education.

Nishank stated the state government was sensitive to teachers’ problems as they had to work in the remote areas of the state. He said: “The Education Department had been asked to prepare a practical roster to deal with these problems. It will be ensured that no teacher remains posted in the remote areas for a long period of time.”

“The state government has taken many significant steps for teachers’ welfare and has established the office of the Director-General, Education, in the state,” he added.

The Chief Minister has also issued directions to the officials concerned for a speedy disposal of service-related matters.

He emphasised making Uttarakhand as an educational hub and urged teachers to create a better atmosphere for education in the state.

District president of the association Virendra Singh Krisali, District treasurer Rajendra Singh Gusain, office-bearer Bipin Chauhan and 50 members of the association were present on the occasion.

Dehradun, July 12
With another trekking team reporting that it had seen the bodies of eight West Bengal trekkers, who went missing last year, between Sita Glacier and Tapoban, the Uttarakhand Government has speeded up the efforts to retrieve these from the snowbound area. It has constituted a team for the purpose.

According to District Magistrate of Uttarkashi Akshat Gupta, the authorities are working on a plan to undertake a safe operation to bring the bodies back. A team of trekkers from West Bengal, including Sudipto, who was part of the trekking team whose members went missing, has also reached Uttarkashi and its members were planning a trekking expedition to retrieve the bodies.

The eight trekkers from West Bengal had gone missing on Sept 16 last year while undertaking a trekking expedition to Kalindi Peak in the Uttarakashi region. The state was battling heavy rainfall during that time of the year. After much of efforts by a number of rescue teams, the missing trekkers could not be traced.

A few days ago, a trekking team, also from West Bengal, on the way to Satopanth came across the missing trekkers’ bodies. The team, led by Aalinda Mukherjee, on returning to Uttarkashi informed the West Bengal Government about the bodies. Aalinda claimed that they saw the eight bodies lying inside a tent between Sita Glacier and Tapoban.

Dehradun, July 12
The Uttarakhand Transport Employees Association is angry over the new rules for the promotion to the posts of senior assistant in the Transport Department. President of the association Mukesh Navani said, earlier there was no fixed criterion for the promotion. As and when any seat was vacated at higher level, the senior-most employee from the junior category took over the position.

The state government had issued new regulations under which years of experience had been fixed for promotions.

The decision is likely to affect 50 junior assistants who are to be promoted to the ranks of senior assistant. If promotions at this level get obstructed, it can create a vaccum at the level of senior assistants as many use this post as a ladder to reach the post of Administrative Officer.

Transport Minister Banshi Dhar expressed ignorance about the whole matter and asked the issue to be brought to his notice.

“I have not received any information regarding this matter. Once the employees approach me, then I will certainly look at the matter and try to resolve it.”

Mukesh Navani said they wrote to the minister concerned and met his personal assistant and would meet the minister to ensure the resolution of the matter.

Navani said for the promotions to the level of Senior Administrative Officers and Administrative Officers, the options in the form of relaxation of experience had been provided. For instance in case of Senior Administrative Officers, the candidates should have a minimum service of two years as Administrative Officer or 20 years on junior ranks. But three years’ experience as senior assistant or 17 years on junior positions has been sought for the promotion as Administrative Officers.

But when it came to the promotion to the rank of senior assistants, the relaxation of options has been wiped out.

For senior assistants, the candidates now are supposed to have an experience of six years as junior assistants and 11 years on junior positions.

Both requirements have been made compulsory, not optional. The junior assistants are incensed over the ‘prejudiced’ clause added in the regulations. Rajinder Singh Bisht, junior assistant said, “The double condition inserted in the clause for the promotion to senior assistants will have a major impact on our promotions, jeopardising the bright prospects of 50 junior assistants.” The association cried fowl about using a biased approach for promotions from the JA to SA level whereas the rest of promotions have been hassle free.

Mukesh Navani also indicated towards the derailment of the entire promotion process, saying, “The clause will create a vacuum at the level of senior assistant as many of the 62 senior assistants are likely to be promoted to the posts of Administrative Officer. If they are not moved, then the entire cycle of promotions will get disturbed.”

Assistant Regional Transport Officer, Administration, Dinesh Chandra too expressed ignorance about the matter and said the team of senior government officials might have intentionally inserted the double condition. 

Dehradun, July 12
The private pharma colleges in Uttarakhand today suffered a big setback as for a whopping 900 seats, only around 190 students reported for the counselling session organised at the GRD Institute of Management and Technology here.

The counselling session, which was conducted by Uttarakhand Technical University, presented a dismal picture with the number of pharma aspirants coming to Uttarakhand from other parts of India touching rock bottom this time

Vijay Juyal, OSD, Uttarakhand Technical University, said: “On the second day of the counseling session, the university invited its 15 affiliated pharma colleges from all over Uttarakhand.

The SGRR Institute of Medical Sciences got aspirants for only 43 seats as against a total of 60 seats, the Sardar Bhagwan Singh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research got 26 aspirants against 60 seats and the Dehradun Institute of Technology saw admissions to 14 seats against a total of 60 seats.”

“Being a government institution, all the seats of Kumaon University got filled today,” he added.

The students were counselled on the basis of the marks obtained in class XII and as well as on the rank scored in the entrance tests conducted by the respective institutes.

Nainital, July 12
The government’s drive for gaining publicity over the development works launched just months before the coming assembly polls is proving to be counterproductive.To begin with, the Antyodaya Vikas Yatra and the Atal Chaupals that were launched with much fanfare a few weeks back are overlapping each other.

Added to this is the individual Janata Milan programmes that have been launched by the Cabinet ministers like Gobind Singh Bisht in their respective assembly constituencies. And to top it, all is to get the maximum publicity at the individual level in the local dailies that is not only driving personnel of the government Information Department crazy, but also irking the journalists working at the mofussil levels.

Sources disclose that any politician, who fails to get publicity on the day following the programme, starts fuming besides threatening to take up the matter at the level of Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank.

For example, the sources say that the block president of Haldwani arrived half an hour after the two-hour Antyodaya Vikas Yatra programme was held in her area on Monday. Instead of apologising to the people for not turning up on time, she went on to create a scene while lambasting officials for not waiting for her to turn up.

At several places, political appointees to various boards and corporations, who are holding the Atal Chaupals, are facing the music, finding it difficult to answer the queries of the people. This correspondent was a personal witness to one such Atal Chaupal held at Khurpatal a fortnight back where the two political appointees, vice-chairman of the Minor Irrigation Committee Raghunath Singh Chauhan and chairman of the Haj Committee Shamim Alam, chose to speak on every political issue in the country for two hours thus defeating the very purpose of holding the Atal Chaupal where the people came to apprise them of the problems. The officials too were not well-prepared with regards to the schemes launched by the government. The Chaupal had ended with the people being highly dissatisfied.

Similarly, some days back there were reports of public representatives at the village level protesting at one of the chaupals where Chairman of the Rural Health Advisory Board Ajay Bhatt was present for not allowing them to speak.

Yet another instance has now come to light from the Betalghat area where Bhatt and Nainital legislator Kharak Singh Bora had to face the public ire at Simlakha village while a chaupal was being held. A large number of Block Development Council members, parents and children came to the venue and raised slogans against the government for failing to provide teachers in the area. 

Dehradun, July 12
The Uttarakhand Ministerial Collectorate Karamchari Sangh may call off its 42-day-old strike tomorrow as the administration has accepted its demand for the restructuring of the Collectorate. However, some talks are still pending and needed to be clarified.

Chief Secretary Subash Kumar, Principal Secretary (Army) Utpal Kumar , Secretary (Revenue) PC Sharms and Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Somakant Kumar held a meeting with the sangh today to discuss upon the matter.

Rajinder Semwal, state president of the sangh, said: “The administration has agreed to some of our demands and has said that the orders will be passed within two months. But some points needed to be clarified and it will be done only after holding a meeting with officials tomorrow.”

“They are expected to give us an agreement letter tomorrow following which we will call off our strike,” he said, adding that they would end the protest only when their all demands were accepted.

Employees of the tehsil and SDM/DM offices in the state have been on strike since June 1 in support of their demand for the restructuring of the Collectorate.

Nainital, July 12
Two decomposed bodies that have been recovered from a gorge on the the Bhawali-Gethia road over the past 20 days have been identified.The deceased are 48-year-old Ram Swarup and his 18-year-old son Santosh. They were residents of Champaran and had come to this part of the state in search of employment.

The police had recovered some papers in a bag that was found near Santosh’s body and through this it came to know that the deceased belonged to Champaran. Later, a message in this regard was passed on to its counterparts in Bihar following which the deceased’s family came to Nainital.

Later, the discovery of another decomposed body of a youth on June 10 had caused panic among residents of the area. This was the second body that was recovered within 20 days. The deceased was later identified as Santosh. The body was covered with mud and stones and was found at a distance of 3 km from Bhawali and 1.5 km below the road in the area known as Bhumiyadhar. It was below the same spot where Ram Swarup’s body was found. Prima facie, it appears to be a murder case. Further investigations are on.