Haridwar, July 30
After the buzz that followed Swami Nigmanand’s death who laid down his life for the cause of the Ganga after being on fast for more than 100 days, another of his Matri Sadan colleague started an indefinite fast to demand the start of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Nigmanand’s death here today. The Uttarakhand Government had recommended a CBI probe into Swami Nigmanand’s death after a lot of hue and cry over the Ganga mining issue.

In protest against the delay on the part of the Uttarakhand Government for initiating a CBI investigation into Swami Nigmanand’s death, banning mining in the whole of the Maha Kumbh Mela area forever and taking legal action against administrative officers who have been working against the Matri Sadan saints allegedly in connivance with the mining mafia, Swami Poornanand has started his agitation on the ashram premises.

Accompanied by the Matri Sadan saints, social-environmental activists, Swami Poornanand said as in all circumstances Swami Nigmanand was murdered and as the state government was delaying the procedure which paved the way for a CBI probe, he had gone on fast.

Matri Sadan ashram founder Swami Shivanand said the whole area falling in the Maha Kumbh mela zone should be declared prohibitive for mining of any type as in one way or the other the mining mafia, having liaison with political leaders and administrative officials, would explore all the opportunities.

Swami Shivanand also pointed a finger at Nishank-led BJP government citing an RIT application which revealed that despite the state government issuing a notified request on July 15 this year for a probe into Swami Nigmanand’s death to be conducted by the CBI, the CBI head office in New Delhi hadn’t received that letter.

Now, with Swami Poornanand going on fast, the legacy of Matri Sadan to work for the cause of the holy Ganga and stick to agitations when need arises continues. Though this time a precaution has been taken as last time when Swami Nigmanand laid down his life allegations were made by his parents and the administration that Swami Shivanand had forced him to resort to an indefinite fast.

Swami Poornanand has declared that he is pursuing the agitation on his own discretion and no one has forced him to do so.

Haridwar, July 30
Irked over a “lackadaisical” approach of the management of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited towards their demand, farmers who had given their land for the setting up of the public sector unit have warned to intensify their agitation. They also threatened self-immolation if their demand was not fulfilled.

General Secretary of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti Sanjay Sharma said 1,500 acres was in the BHEL’s possession. He demanded that the land should be allocated to those farmers who had not been given compensation so far or were still waiting for the management’s decision regarding the rehabilitation process.

“We will take every inch of our land back that was taken from poor villagers by misguiding them. We will move the court and also take to the streets if our demand is not fulfilled. If needed, a delegation of the samiti will also meet the Uttarakhand Chief Minister and the Prime Minister in this regard,” he added.

Chief of the samiti Balwant Singh Chauhan demanded that a part of 1,500 acres that was in the possession of BHEL for the past 50 years and was not being used for any purpose should be given to the displaced farmers.

In a memorandum forwarded to Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, they stated that if their demand was not met, the farmers would resort to self-immolation.

Among others who addressed the gathering were farmer leaders Vinod Chauhan, Islam Gada, Hazi Rafiq Khan, Shami Bhatti and Liayakat Khan.

Dehradun, July 30
Acting against malpractices by dealers of the Public Distribution System (PDS), the District Food and Civil Supplies Department has forfeited security deposits of certain dealers amounting to Rs 63,500 since April.

Department officials had raided 682 shops from April to June and collected a total of Rs 54,500 as a fine.

Dehradun area rationing officer Shilpi Shukla said they had visited 22 PDS shops in Doiwala and 20 in Rishikesh for inspection. But 15 shops in Doiwala and seven in Rishikesh were found closed. She said the boards outside these shops mentioned that the shopkeepers had gone out to procure rations from a godown.

But after an enquiry, it was found that they had not gone there. “We have issued a show-cause notice to all of them. If they failed to give a satisfactory reply, they will be fined Rs 1,000 each. A copy of the challan will be sent to them by post. If they committed the same mistake again, their licence will be cancelled,” said Shukla.

Earlier, the department had inspected 4,850 PDS shops in 2010-11 and forfeited the security deposits of shopkeepers totalling Rs 3,71,428 for their “unprofessional” conduct.

The department has also lodged an FIR against 14 PDS dealers who were caught selling foodgrains on the black market. It had also suspended the opening of 19 shops, including two petrol stations, last year, and two shops, including a petrol pump, in April and June this year, which would only be opened once the investigations are over. However, 32 shops had been closed permanently last year.

The opening time for PDS shops is 7 to 10 in the morning and 3 to 7 in the evening. But many shops do not open on time and customers have to wait for long.

Admitting this, one of the dealers said: “It hardly matters if we do not open our shops on time or keep them closed in the evening. We deliver the product in the morning as we have some other works to do.” The dealer further said: “All dealers keep some quantity of foodgrains with them and sell the same to outsiders to earn more as they hardly get commission from the government.”

District Supplies Officer MS Visan said the department was committed to providing ration to beneficiaries at the price fixed by the government. He said they would take action against all those dealers who would be found guilty.

Haridwar, July 30
Though the Kanwar fair concluded here yesterday, the Haridwar Municipal Corporation has failed to remove heaps of garbage from the fair zone. As the monsoon season is on, residents are fearing that it could spread many diseases.

At Har-ki-Pauri, the core mela zone, the ghats of Malviya Deep, Alaknanda and Subash ghats, kanwars, plastic and heaps of garbage could be seen. The situation is no different at Kanwar Patri from Chandighat bridge-Rishikul-Singh Dwar till Jatwada bridge-Bahadrabad block.

Garbage sanitation in charge Balram said earlier, they were carrying out a cleanliness drive with the help of regular and contractual employees, but as the garbage was lying at many places, they had to engage 150-odd non regular employees to remove the waste.

As the monsoon is on and there is a fear of the spread of contagious diseases owing to garbage lying near residential areas, corporation officials have now decided to sprinkle chemicals along the Kanwar stretch and in the city areas. Till the evening, the employees had covered many areas in the fair zone.

Meanwhile, the Teerth Maryada Raksha Samiti, a social organisation, has lashed out at the corporation for its failure to remove the garbage.

Dehradun, July 30
The Kanwar Mela, an annual event, came to an end on July 29 as more than one crore devotees of Lord Shiva thronged Haridwar to fetch holy Ganga water. While the Shiva devotees had thronged Haridwar over the past fortnight in large numbers, the Sappers from Bengal Engineering Group (BEG), Roorkee, were on their toes. A total of 112 Kanwariyas were saved by the rescue teams of the Sappers deployed in the mela zone.

The Sappers from the Bengal Engineer Group and its centre at Roorkee played an important role in ensuring the safety and security of the devotees. Two rescue teams, on the directions of Brig Suresh Sharma, comprising one junior commissioned officer, three non-commissioned officers and 10 jawans equipped with safety equipment and boats, were formed. These rescue teams were stationed round the clock at Haridwar, Har-ki-Pauri on the banks of the Ganga keeping a strict vigil along the 1.5-km stretch of the river, according to a press note of the Bengal Sappers.

This rescue team, under the able leadership of Naib Subedar Mehar Singh, carried out major rescue operations from July 19 to 29 saving a total of 112 Kanwariyas. These rescue missions portrayed the daredevilry of the Bengal Sappers where their bold actions in highly inclement weather, muddy waters and intense water current saved precious lives.

Nainital, July 30
As many as three persons drowned in canals in Haldwani and Ramnagar over the past 24 hours. According to information, a couple living in the Damuvadunga area of Haldwani drowned in a canal.

The deceased have been identified as 53-year-old Ganga Singh and his 45-year-old wife Chanara Devi. They had left one of their relative’s house in Fatehpur village to return to their home in Mitra Colony on Friday. However, after a few hours, their bodies were found in a canal in the Katgharia area.

It is being assumed that they must have decided to take a short cut to their house on foot from the Chaufula area or probably one of them had fallen into the canal and to save the person, the other also jumped into it.

There are injury marks on the bodies.

In another incident, a seven-year-old boy drowned in a canal in Ramnagar.

The incident took place when he, along with his friends, was returning from his school and fell into the canal.

The deceased has been identified as Junaid of Telipura village. His friends raised the alarm following which people rushed to the spot.

But he could not be saved and the body was later recovered at a considerable distance from the spot.

Haridwar, July 30
The Haridwar police today arrested the person who had been sending bomb hoax messages to the police during the Kanwar Mela.

Abhimanyu, a resident of Khadkhadi Colony, Haridwar, tried to spread panic by sending bomb hoax messages for just fun sake. His messages affected police patrolling in the Kanwar Mela zone as it was quite tough to evacuate people from the crowded places during the Kanwar fair.

Abhimanyu had been misusing a SIM card belonging to Anil Kumar of Bijnore district of Uttar Pradesh who had lost his mobile phone while he was on a visit to Haridwar. The police came to know about the location of the cell phone at Khadkahadi and arrested Abhimanyu with the SIM card, which had several such messages in the “sent item” box of the phone.

Superintendent of Police (City) Kiran Lal Shaw said the arrested person had given false information of bombs having been fitted on a pedal rickshaw at Bhimgauda Kund and on a motor cycle near Sukhi Nadi. A bomb disposal squad was pressed into service but no bomb was found in those areas.

Abhimanyu has been booked under sections 182, 186, 268, 290, 419 and 403 of the Indian Penal Code, 66-Information Technology Act and section 7 of the Criminal Law Abetment Act. He was arrested on the tip-off by an informer. Abhimanyu has confessed to his crime.

Dehradun, July 30
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today inaugurated a national conference on “Uttarakhand SATCOM Network: Vision and Mission” being organised by the Uttarakhand Space Application Centre here today. He released a satellite data-based land-use and land-cover map of Uttarakhand.

Speaking on the occasion, Nishank said quality education and training in all educational institutions, including those situated in the remote areas of the state, could be imparted by the application of space technology.

He added that the EDUSAT programme had already been initiated in the state and after getting connected with the SETCOM network, students, especially of rural areas, would get the updated information on science and technology.

He further said the new technology would also benefit other fields besides education. He said training and capacity-building work should be done by using satellite techniques at the panchayat, block, and district levels through community-participation.

On disaster management, he called for getting the maximum benefits from the use of space technology to mitigate disasters in the state. “If the space technology can anticipate natural disasters, many lives can be saved in disaster-prone regions like Uttarakhand,” he added.

The Chief Minister also laid emphasis on the need of enhancing application of tele-medicine and e-governance with the help of the SETCOM network.

The Chief Minister said the government wanted to move ahead by maintaining a healthy balance between the environment and development in which modern technology could play an important role.

Prof Pushpesh Pant, a renowned educationist from Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi, who was a special guest on the occasion said the initiatives taken by the state in the field of space technology would act as a source of inspiration for other states of the country.

He added that such schemes had always been instrumental in forming a knowledge-based society.

Arun Dhaundiyal, in-charge secretary (science and technology, Uttarakhand, said the space technology would shortly be associated with other schemes of public utility. The Vice-Chancellor of Doon University, Prof Girijesh Pant, said that the university would actively participate in such schemes.

The Director (Space Application Centre), Uttarakhand, Dr MM Kimothi, the Additional Secretary (Higher Education), Dr Nidhi Pande, senior scientists and educationists were also present on the occasion.

Dehradun, July 30
The Chairman of the Uttarakhand Media Advisory Committee, Dr Devendra Bhasin, has expressed concern over the delay by the Centre in starting a CBI probe into Swami Nigmanand’s death. In a statement issued here on Saturday, Bhasin said those political parties that were earlier attacking the state BJP Government for the delay in recommending a CBI probe into the swami’s death must now clarify as to why the Centre was not starting the CBI probe.

He also pointed out that the Uttarakhand Chief Minister had ordered for making the District Magistrates directly accountable in case of illegal quarrying. Bhasin has appealed to Swami Purnanand to end his indefinite fast, asserting that his life was precious for the country. — TNS

Dehradun, July 30
Former minister and Congress MLA from Beronkhal Amrita Rawat said yesterday that the proposal of beautification of 34 temples in her Assembly segment has fallen prey to the BJP government’s partisan attitude.

The MLA charged the BJP government with ignoring the interests of the non-BJP Assembly segments and favouring the BJP constituencies.

The neglect by the BJP government has also resulted in a lack of development activities in the non-BJP Assembly segments.

The leader said during the Congress rule all-round development had taken place in the state.

“The BJP government has failed to sanction plans for the beautification of 34 temples and construction of roads in the Beronkhal assembly segment whereas the BJP segments have benefited from the largesse of the government,” she said.

She also charged the BJP government with failing to sanction funds for a water-pumping scheme in her Assembly segment.

Nainital, July 30
The Ramnagar police has booked four traders along with some unidentified persons from the area for having allegedly assaulted and abused officials of the Sales Tax Department.

It is learnt that the four accused traders had gone on to allegedly thrash three personnel of the mobile unit of the department accusing them of resorting to the illegal collection of money. They had also allegedly torn up the receipt books that were being carried by the officials. The incident took place on Thursday night on the Mohaan road. The incident was followed by one of the accused traders reaching the police station and alleging graft by the officials and stating that they had also “beaten” his driver besides “snatching money” from him.

However, a senior official of the department gave a written complaint against Ashok Kumar, Pramod Kumar, Arun Kumar and Shakeel along with others for preventing government officials from carrying out their duty. He also pressed charges of violence and abuse against them.