Anna’s movement gets widespread support
Tribune Reporters

Dehradun, August 23
Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement has gained momentum across the state. Extending support to him, members of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a protest outside the residence of Haridwar MP Harish Rawat in Dehradun today. Students of MKP PG College and the Mahadevi Institute of Technology also held a march and raised slogans against corruption in the country.

While the BJP has already come out in support of the Lokpal Bill, Left parties, the CPI and the CPM, and the UKD (Panwar) have also joined the anti-corruption movement stating that measures were required to be taken to eradicate graft. These political outfits also organised a procession under the banner of the Uttarakhand Chhetriya Morcha. It started from Parade Ground and after passing through Globe Chowk, Astley Hall and Rajpur Road, it culminated at Clock Tower.

Members of the Pradesh Udyog Vyapar Mandal Samiti and the Doon Auto-Rickshaw Union have also joined the movement in Dehradun.

Meanwhile, Vice-President of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Raghunath Singh Negi has extended support to Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement.

However, he said the menace of corruption could not be curbed till the funding of political parties was not checked.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Negi said: “Only the Lokpal Bill cannot check corruption in the country till various funds or financial rights given to gram pradhans, district panchayat heads, MLAs and MPs were stopped.”

He said: “According to law, a pradhan cannot spend more than Rs 30,000 and an MLA more than Rs 7 lakh to fight elections. However, despite this, a person has to spend Rs 20-40 lakh to become a block head and Rs 3-5 crore to become the head of the district panchayat.”

He further said those who spent a huge money on fighting the elections later on collect the same by indulging in corrupt practices.

MUSSOORIE: More than 1,500 members of the Mussoorie Taxi Owners Association have come out in support of the Lokpal Bill and joined Anna’s movement against corruption. They organised a procession in support of the Bill, which started from Picture Palace Taxi Stand and culminated at Library Bazaar today. Wearing Gandhi caps, they raised slogans in Anna’s support.

President of the association Hukum Singh Rawat said the menace of corruption required immediate attention.

Meanwhile, more than 20 non-political organisations took out a procession under the banner of the Mussoorie Against Corruption in support of Anna Hazare. The procession started from Landour Bazaar and culminated at Gandhi Chowk.

Vishal Sharma, director of an NGO, which is working on various issues in Uttarakhand, said there was a widespread resentment against corruption in the country that needed to be addressed at the earliest. He said the movement would not end here and they would organise seminars in schools to create awareness among students against corruption. A signature campaign was also organised at Gandhi Chowk in support of the Bill.

Stir echoes in DSU auditorium
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, August 23
On the occasion of commencement of new session 2011-12 of Dev Sanskriti University, senior students welcomed freshers by presenting “Unnayan” a multi-cultural programme today.

Held at the Anandmayi auditorium, the “Unnayan-2011” was inaugurated by Chancellor Dr S D Sharma who termed the occasion as the confluence of senior and junior students.

The welcome song was sung by the Akshat group, which was followed by a humourous skit casting sarcasm on ragging and loopholes that have crept in the education system.

The Priyamwada, group of senior girl students, enchanted the audience with spiritual and patriotic songs.

At the conclusion, all first-year students were introduced to the senior students. The seniors assured them of constant support in academics and extra-curricular activities.

Head of the Gayatri family Shail Jiji in her message urged students to have balance in life and focus both on academics as well as moral-spiritual-religious aspect for their overall development.

But mass clapping was reserved for Dr Pranav Pandya whose clipping of handing out a lighted torch to Gandhian Anna Hazare a few days back at Ramlila Ground was shown.

Slogans related to Anna Hazare’s movement reverberated in the auditorium as students took pledge to fight against the menace of corruption and also to support Hazare-led civil society movement.

CII paper on growth agenda for Uttarakhand released
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 23
As part of its public policy work, the CII Uttarakhand State Council released a paper on “Growth Agenda for Uttarakhand”. The document suggests specific policy measures, initiatives and projects which will help Uttarakhand sustain the growth momentum that it has achieved over the last one decade of its existence.

Elaborating on the recommendations, Dr S Farooq, Chairman, CII Uttarakhand State Council, said the state had achieved a remarkable growth of 12.9 per cent per annum as against the national average of 8.6 per cent.

This growth had been led largely by manufacturing. The sector in the state grew at 27.5 per cent per annum as against the national average of 9.5 per cent. However, going forward, within manufacturing, the focus would have to be on medium and small enterprises and encouraging ancillarisation. This was necessary to be able to achieve a wider geographical spread for manufacturing. Till now most of the new units had come up in districts of Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Dehradun.

Hill development was another key focus area for achieving sustainable inclusive growth. The report suggested making tourism the mainstay of hill development. Related activities like the souvenir industry, handlooms and handicrafts also need to be focused upon.

Medium and small enterprises based on the local resources, for example agro-based units or units based on processing of herbs and aromatic plants should be encouraged.

The service sector, specially the education sector, could play a vital role in promoting hill development, the report suggested, by creation of ‘Education Hubs’, one each in Garhwal and Kumaon.

Good infrastructure, specially connectivity, was essential to support the economic activity in the hills, emphasised Dr Farooq.

The CII suggests the setting up of “skill gurukuls” which are residential skill facilities for school dropouts from BPL families. Another unique characteristic of the “skill gurkul” model is its partnership with the industry which ensures employment to the employable.

The key areas that the report focuses on include zoning plans for districts, improving connectivity, industrial development, special tourism zones, skill gurukuls, apna-ghar, low-cost housing scheme, improving urban infrastructure, hill development and environment conservation.

The report has been presented by the CII to Prakash Pant, Minister, Labour & Planning, Uttarakhand, Harak Singh Rawat, Leader of the Opposition, Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha, Satpal Maharaj, MP, Lok Sabha, as part of its dialogue with various political parties to share and exchange ideas for the development of the state. 

Demand for including Laldhang in Kotdwar district
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, August 23
With four new districts coming into existence in Uttarakhand, the residents of the Laldhang area in Haridwar district have started an agitation demanding that Laldhang be included in the newly formed Kotdwar district, which was earlier a tehsil of Pauri Garhwal district.

Various organisations and regional outfits have joined hands to press the state government to include Laldhang in Kotdwar district citing various reasons, including the proximity to Kotdwar and the lack of development of the Laldhang Assembly segment.The Dagadiya Jan Kalyan Samiti is carrying out various programmes in the area urging the leaders of different parties to raise the issue at all the platforms.

Also the residents are demanding that Laldhang is included in Kotdwar district and made a block to ensure its overall development as Roshanabad-situated district headquarters of Haridwar is almost 40 km away, which makes it quite tough for the residents to pay visits to Roshanabad to get their administrative work done. Kotdwar is just 25 km away from Laldhang and is easily accessible to the residents of Laldhang.

“Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has done a laudable work in creating new districts considering the tough geographical conditions of the state. We urge him to include undeveloped and backward areas like Laldhang in new districts as then only a specific budget will be allocated for development of these areas. Moreover, people will have more representation in the state Assembly and panchayats too,” said secretary of the samiti RS Manral.

Naveen Chamoli, treasurer of the samiti, cites another reason to include Laldhang in Kotdwar. He points out that considering the cultural aspect too Laldhang is more similar to the Kotdwar region with a large number of people from hilly regions having settled there.

He added if their demand was not met then the residents would be forced to go on fast unto death. The people of Laldhang have had faced government apathy previously under the Uttar Pradesh government.

Among other organisations which are supporting the demand are the Jai Siddh Baba Taxi Union, Uttarakhand Kranti Manch, Laldhang Poorva Sainik Samiti and the Mahila Mangal Dal.

Pithoragarh, Champawat plunge into darkness
Landslides hit power supply to two districts, water being distributed through tankers
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, August 23
There has been no power in the districts of Pithoragarh and Champawat for the past 48 hours with several poles supporting high tension lines having been uprooted by major landslides caused by the incessant rain near Basuli village on the Almora-Pithoragarh road. The disruption in the power supply has led to a shortage of water in the districts.

“The damaged electric poles are being replaced with new ones and the process will take a week’s time,” said NS Toliya, General Manager, Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), Pithoragarh.

According to sources in the Jal Sansthan, the sansthan has started distributing water through tankers as the water schemes supplying water to these districts are nonfunctional in the absence of power. “We have pressed into service four tankers to distribute potable water in the town,” said GK Mishra, Executive Engineer, Jal Sansthan, Pithoragarh. According to the district administration, 30 internal roads and two highways connecting the districts with the rest of the world have been closed due to the landslides for the past eight days.

“After the Pithoragarh-Tanakpur highway was opened for two hours on Sunday, the trucks carrying cooking gas and oil have reached Pithoragarh town, giving some relief to the beleaguered residents, but the highway was blocked again by fresh landslides,” said MC Joshi, District Magistrate, Pithoragarh.

According to the disaster management office of the district, the supplies of essential goods to the town of Jhulaghat and the areas adjoining Nepal have been affected for the past three days as a 50-meter landslide has blocked the Pithoragarh-Jhulaghat road at Jamirpani village, about 20 km from Pithoragarh town.

“The supplies of essential goods to the Sashastra Seema Bal pickets on the Indo-Nepal border have also been affected. The administration has carved out an alternative route to resume the supplies to these pickets as well as to Jhulaghat and the nearby Nepali market,” said RS Rana, Disaster Management Officer, Pithoragarh.

According to the officials of the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam, owing to the road blockade, the supply of cooking gas cylinders has been affected. The backlog of booked cylinders has gone up to 15,000 in the past eight days. “Against the demand of 2,500 cylinders per day from our 90,000 customers in and around Pithoragarh, we are able to provide only 800 cylinders per day,” said AS Bankoti, in charge of a gas agency owned by the KMVN.

Early morning rain floods New Haridwar
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, August 23
Early morning rain today though brought respite to the residents of Haridwar from humidity, it also brought with it problems galore as a major area of the city was almost submerged. Choked drains, nullahs and ill-planned drainage system are to blame. The worst-affected was New Haridwar area. The busiest commercial hub, the Chandracharya chowk, wore a deserted look as it was almost impossible for people to reach the intersection, which is the gateway to the industrial area of SIDCUL and suburban Jwalapur.

Similarly, the Bhagat Singh chowk was almost submerged where most of the vehicles broke down while crossing the waterlogged roads. Around six police personnel were deployed at the chowk while traffic police was deployed on the roads leading to the Chandracharya chowk to make sure that no person risk his life crossing the submerged roads.

Traffic was diverted at the Chandracharya chowk to Tibdi, BHEL and the Shankar Ashram-Jwalapur road where massive traffic jams were reported.

It was only by late afternoon that water subsided and traffic situation became normal. After the rain had stopped, the Fire Brigade members used pump sets to drain out the water accumulated on the roads, but they were was only pressed when the rain stopped.

Municipal Corporation Executive Officer BL Arya said owing to the rainy season work on the drains had been affected at the Bhagat Singh chowk. A long-term plan needs to be prepared to rid the stretch of waterlogging, for which he is in talks with the corporation.

Adding to the problem is the construction material left on the roadsides by the government agencies executing various works. It led to the blocking of the drains. Several two wheelers skidded due to the material scattered on the road.

Particularly in the Jwalapur and Kankhal areas, the Public Works Department has stocked stones, cement and granite on the road side for laying a road, but it’s been almost two weeks neither has the work started nor the raw material has been taken care of.

Residents have taken this issue with the PWD Executive Officer, OP Singh, who has assured them that the raw material would be taken care of.

Heavy rain disrupts road network in state
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 23
The road network in Uttarakhand hills has been disrupted due to heavy rain in the state.

The major destruction took place at Rudraprayag district today, where rain resulted in the collapse of a number of houses, blockades of several roads and washing away of crops.

Fortunately, no casualty was reported from the incident. In Kumaon division of the state, Almora and Pithorgarh got blocked due to fall of debris at Dhyadi and Makdao areas.

Similarly, the Almora-Haldwani road stood disconnected at Kulagarh whereas the Almora-Panar Ghat road may take some days to be restored.

In Pithoragarh district, the Dharchula-Tawaghat road, the Almor-Serighat Berinag road, Pithoragarh-Jhulaghat and Jhulaghat-Taleshwar roads had been blocked at several places.

In the lake city of Nainital, a 100-mt stretch of the Jyolikot-Bhawali road caved in at Bhumidhar. Further, Raatee ghat-Betlaghat was also blocked due to debris.

In Champawat district, the Devidhura-Champawat road was blocked. The key Rishikesh-Badrinath highway stood blocked at Sironbagad in Chamoli district.

The Rishikesh-Gangotri highway was blocked at number of places with blockades reported from Gangnane, Sungar, Bhatwadi, Sukhitop and Thirang areas.

Meanwhile, Border Roads Organisation and District Administration officials are working round the clock to restore the road communication in the affected areas.

Dept asks farmers to take preventive measures
Tribune News Service

Nainital, August 23
The Agriculture Department of Udham Singh Nagar district has issued directives for farmers to protect crops in view of incessant rain that may lead to the spread of crop diseases.

Agriculture Protection Officer BP Maurya said: “Heavy rain coupled with a high amount of moisture has made the crops both disease and pest prone.”

He has appealed to the farmers to adopt preventive measures and go in for the use of pesticides to protect their agriculture produce. Maurya has advised the farmers to go in for the use of fiproline or cartop hydrocholire or chlorophriphis to tackle the pests damaging the shoot of the plants (tana chedak keet). They have also been advised to spray cyunalphas for pests attacking the leaves of plants.

Maurya said to control bacterial leaf blight, farmers must drain out water from their farms and spray the plants after dissolving 15 streptocyclin or 500 gm of copper oxychloride in water.

He said to prevent the spread of fungal diseases in paddy, farmers should use emidachloprid or buprofagin after dissolving it in water. The department also advised the use of carbondazim or ediwinphas or tricyclozol to tackle ‘jhonka rog’.

To deal with the sheath blight disease, farmers have been asked to go in for the spray of thiophinate methyl or propakonaloz or carbondazim.

Similarly, for the sheath rot disease, they have been asked to spray carbondazim. The districts of Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar are known as the food baskets of Uttarakhand as they provide the bulk of agricultural produce, particularly wheat, paddy, cereals and other grains like maize. The recent spell of incessant rain has caused a lot of hardship to the farmers residing in the districts. Besides the problem of waterlogging that has led to the threat of diseases in fields, farmers are also facing the problem of cutting away of large chunks of fertile land by various rivers passing through the district after their water levels rose.

‘Present proposals on flood-control steps’

Nainital, August 23
The Udham Singh Nagar administration has ordered that proposals should be presented to the tune of Rs 10 crore each from every block under the MNREGA for carrying out flood-control measures.

At a meeting held at Rudrapur today, The DM, BVRC Purshottam, asked Chief Development Officer YK Pant to seek an explanation from officials responsible for laxity in Management Information System feeding the district.

He claimed that flood-control measures adopted in the district over the last one year have borne good results.

He has asked the Block Development Officers to submit proposals for the coming year within a month so that works can be undertaken.

have also been asked to undertake on-the-spot inspections for analysing the flood situation and cutting away of land by rivers and prepare a work plan which must be cleared at the emergency meetings of panchayats. — TNS

Higher Honorarium for Safai Karamcharis
Proposal forwarded to Finance Dept
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 23
A proposal to increase the honorarium from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 per month for contractual safai karamcharis and to create 3,377 posts for safai karamchari was passed today at a meeting of the Urban Development Department.

The proposal for creating new posts for safai karamchari and increasing the number of contractual employees from 120 to 180 has been sent to the Finance Department.

Chairing the meeting of the Urban Development Department, Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik said all proposals had been sent to the Finance Department for approval.

He also held discussion on the vendor policy and also on the long-pending demand of bringing the civic bodies employees under the ambit of the state government.

Chairing the meeting, Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik held a detailed discussion on the vendor policy that is in the final stages and has to be implemented by the state government.

The issue of pension for civic bodies employees, after they were brought under the ambit of government rules and regulation, has been raised for the last one year.

A government order regarding regularisation of malin bastis through the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Awas Yojana has already been issued.

Madan Kaushik also called upon officials of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to ensure timely completion of work and full utilisation of finances allocated for sewerage and water schemes under way in the state.

Those present at the meeting included Principal Secretary Urban Development Dr Ranveer Singh, Additional Secretary and Director, Urban Development, Nidhi Mani Tripathi and others.