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Niglat bailey bridge closed to light vehicles too
Rawat trains guns on Nishank
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UKD (Panwar) takes on CM
Congress MLA demands district status for Purola
Congress to move EC
Cong team meets Governor
Union Minister for action plan on
hill farming
Villagers oppose inclusion of Laldhang in Kotdwara dist
Mountain develops crack, Nachni residents shifted
Plan to earn more income from tourism
SPGMC burns effigy of MLA
Blast in Deputy Jailor’s car
Cyber cafe owner shot dead
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Niglat bailey bridge closed to light vehicles too
Nainital, September 1 The result is that the people wishing to go to Ranikhet, Bageshwar, Pithoragarh or Almora from Nainital or Haldwani are being compelled to travel an additional 40 km. Those travelling by buses or other modes of public transport like private Jeeps and taxis are shelling out extra money for a journey that is highly uncomfortable. The officials say that it would take at least a couple of days before the light vehicles are allowed on the bridge again. As of now the vehicular traffic is moving via Ramgarh. This has had an adverse impact on the livelihood of a large number of people who earn their daily bread by running small eating joints between Bhawali and Almora. With no vehicles plying on the stretch there are no customers. Even the supply of essentials to these areas like Garampani and Khairna has been badly hit. The misery that the people are undergoing is a direct pointer to the failure of the administration to put things in order between Bhawali and Almora over the past one year. The road between Bhawali and Almora had been devastated during the rains but precious little was done to repair the road, particularly the stretch between Khairna and Almora. The two bailey bridges built just before Bhawali on the Nainital-Bhawali stretch and just ahead of Bhawali at Niglat on the Bhawali-Khairna stretch were temporary arrangements but these arrangements have continued for almost a year now.The bailey bridge that is located near Niglat was opened on August 21 after traffic movement on it had to be completely suspended following heavy damage to the surface of the earth on its ends. The people were crossing over the damaged bridge on foot and finding small vehicles to take them further at both ends of the bridge at that time. The administration and the government have made tall claims with regards to the stretch between Khairna and Almora but nothing concrete has been done. A spell of heavy rain has led to the closure of the road on several occasions over the past one year. The Chief Minister, Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, has ordered the suspension of officials for delay in works but still the purpose of having a functional road has been elusive. There are several other roads, particularly the link roads in the interiors of the region that are still closed and the supply of essentials to these parts are badly affected. Reports say that the Almora-Berinag road remains closed for more than 17 days now. Supply of essentials like the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), food grains and vegetables to the Seraghat, Mangalta and Lingunta areas has been badly hit. |
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CM’s name on statehood agitators’ list
Dehradun, September 1 Talking to mediapersons, Harish Rawat said here today that the Chief Minister had given a rude shock to the entire state and political leaders and parties in particular by his “shameful” act of including his own name on the list. Interestingly, the Chief Minister has got his own name included on the list prepared by the state administration to identify the “andolankaris“ of the statehood agitation of 1994. The Chief Minister had applied to the state administration to identify him as a statehood agitator and the same had been done by the administration. “His move is against the spirit of political propriety to be followed by politicians and political parties. The political parties participate in public agitations for their own interests and compulsions,” he said. “We as Congress workers also participated in the statehood agitation but only as political workers of our party and not “andolankaris” and never claimed so,” he added. Harish Rawat said the move by the Chief Minister has shocked everyone and he should immediately disown himself as an “andolankari” and apologise to the people and genuine “andolankaris”. “Is it possible for a state administration to deny a request by the Chief Minister?,” he quipped. Launching another attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he further accused former BJP president Rajnath Singh, who is also in charge of party affairs of Uttarakhand, of giving protection to Anant Kumar Singh, a former District Magistrate of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh where thousands of statehood agitators, who were on their way to New Delhi, were brutally beaten up and women raped by the Uttar Pradesh Police in October 2, 1994. He charged that Rajnath Singh as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh not only included Anant Kumar Singh in his personal staff but also refused permission to prosecute him for the atrocities. Later, as a Central minister, he took Anant Kumar Singh with him to New Delhi, he alleged. “Rajnath Singh is a senior political leader and being an in charge of Uttarakhand affairs, he is answerable to the people of the state on this issue,” Rawat said. |
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Retirement age of docs
Dehradun September 1 While paying homage to the martyrs of the Khatima carnage at Shahidi Smark today, Gusain said, “The number of the unemployed youth in the state is rising with each passing year. In such a situation, it is erroneous to increase the age of doctors from 60 to 62. The CM’s move seems to be connected to benefit the DG Health, Dr Asha Mathur, who is about to retire.” He further added, “The report presented by a committee constituted by former Education Minister Gobind Singh Bisht has also recommended to increase the retirement age of the government teachers from 60 to 65 years. It is a gross injustice with the unemployed section of this society.” He said the maximum age for joining the state government services must be 40 years and 60 years for retirement. He flayed the CM for getting himself included on the list of statehood agitators as a journalist and and ignoring other mediapersons and important UKD leaders like Kashi Singh Aeri and Trivender Singh Panwar who also participated in the agitation.
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Congress MLA demands district status for Purola
Dehradun, September 1 Junwatha pointed out that the Purola region has been the hub of activities in the Rawayee valley and has the required infrastructure for the district headquarters status. He said the government has created the Yamunotri region as district instead of Purola. “By not making Purola a district, the state government was bringing disrespect to large number of public representatives,” Junwatha pointed out. Other Congress leaders from Purola also joined Junwatha in the dharna. The Congress MLA also dispatched a memorandum to the Governor demanding district status for
Purola. |
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Atal Gram Schemes
Dehradun, September 1 Harish Rawat, Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing and Parliamentary Affairs, while talking to media persons here today, alleged that the state government had adopted a discriminatory attitude towards the Opposition legislators and even the general public in making the BJP party legislators and functionaries in charge of developmental schemes to be carried out under the Atal Gram
Yojna.
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Cong team meets Governor
Dehradun, September 1 Submitting a memorandum to the Governor, Mantri Prasad Naithani said due to heavy rain, a large part of land in Budkot village has caved in resulting in cracks in the number of houses and destruction of agriculture fields. He said a total of 27 families had been affected due to caving-in of land in this village. Similarly, in Kirtinagar, 78 families had been affected due to landslides triggered by rain. Many houses in the Kritnagar region of Tehri were on the verge of falling down due to landslides. He also referred to the problem of Dharmandal in Tehri alleging that many villages in the area had been affected due to caving-in of land caused by the Tehri Dam reservoir. Naithani accused Tehri Hydro Power Corporation officials of failing to rehabilitate the affected villagers.He also sought adequate compensation to the affected for livestock killed in the rain.Uttarkhand Congress general secretary Virendra Singh Bisht, secretary, Uttarakhand Congress, Anand Bahuguna and state Congress spokesman Rajeev Maharishi were part of the delegation that met the Governor. |
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Union Minister for action plan on
hill farming
Dehradun, September 1 Rawat said Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and senior bureaucrats would also be participating in the seminar. He said the agricultural yield in the Himalayan states like other places had been on decline. The Union Minister said the seminar aimed at formulating short-term as well as long-term strategies to enhance Himalayan agriculture and the related fields. He requested the state government to prepare a status paper and an action plan on hill farming in the state so that Uttarakhand benefits from the entire exercise. On the importance of such a seminar, he claimed that holding of such an exercise at a time of start of the 12th Five Year Plan was important for re-formulating the strategies for the hill farmers. On the question of ameliorating the lot of the farmers in the entire country, Rawat said the Central Government had lowered the credit rate for farming loans from 7 per cent to 4 per cent. “The banks have been asked to provide loans worth Rs 47,000 crore to the farmers of the country,” he said. On the Jan Lokpal Bill, he said that it was expected to come in the winter session of Parliament. |
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Villagers oppose inclusion of Laldhang in Kotdwara dist
Haridwar, September 1 Notably, after the announcement by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Independence Day last month of the formation of four new districts, includes Kotdwara to be carved out of Pauri Garhwal district, various organisations have been holding protests demanding the inclusion of Laldhang in Kotdwara district, citing the lack of development in the Laldhang area and the distance between the town and the Haridwar district headquarters. A number of representatives of various villages of Laldhang today submitted a memorandum to District Magistrate R Meenakshi Sundaram urging him to make sure their villages remain part of Haridwar district. They opposed the Lal Dagadiya Samiti, a local outfit carrying pressing for the inclusion of Laldhang in Kotdwara district, and termed its stance of getting Laldhang alienated from Haridwar as politically motivated one. They have said some of the members of the samiti have vested political interests in this agitation. Shakoor Ahmed, a social activist from Laldhang, said in reality maximum people of the region were happy remaining in Haridwar as the development that was going on in the area at present couldn’t be maintained if Laldhang was included in a new district. The villagers also said there was no need to bifurcate Haridwar as already Kotdwara had been carved out of Pauri Garhwal district which had been one of the biggest districts of the state both population and area wise. Through the state Gau Raksha Commission vice-chairman Swami Yathishwaranand, the villagers have urged Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to first know the wishes of the people of Laldhang before he took any decision as this would be against the feelings of the majority of the local residents if any step was taken in haste. Notably, the Laldhang area has been divided into nine gram sabhas with a population of 70,000. The area touches the city of Haridwar near Chandighat and spreads through Bijnore district in Uttar Pradesh touching Kotdwara. People from Haridwar pass through Laldhang to reach the Kotdwara-Bijnore-Najibabad belt. |
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Mountain develops crack, Nachni residents shifted
Pithoragarh, September 1 According to the information reaching the district headquarters, the sub-divisional administration has sent 20 tents to the area to lodge the displaced villagers. “Till the permanent arrangements, people facing threat to their lives will be lodged in tents or in local Panchayat buildings,” said JS Rathore, Sub-Division Magistrate (SDM) of Munsiyari. “Not only the villagers of Gat and Ghorgari, but 20 families from Nachni village are also facing danger of displacement as their houses have witnessed cracks after the rains and subsequent cloudburst last night,” said the SDM. According to the disaster management department of the district, nearly 50 families of the Nai Basti area near Nachni are also facing the danger of displacement as the cliff of the mountain behind their village is on the verge of collapse. “We have sent relief teams from the Munsiyari and Pithoragarh areas to the spot to shift the villagers from their houses and lodge them at some safer places,” said RS Rana, District Disaster Management Officer, Pithoragarh. “Last night, 20.3 mm average rainfall was recorded in the district, whereas the Pithoragarh area received highest rainfall at 28 mm, including the area of Nachni in Munsiyari. Over 15 internal roads and the Thal-Munsiyari main road in the district were closed due to heavy rains,” said
Rana. |
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Plan to earn more income from tourism
Dehradun, September 1 The Uttrakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) has combined the trio -Chilla, Rishikesh and Shivpuri Kodiyala - as a circuit. The department has decided to present the circuit as a package tour where the tourists will be able to enjoy wildlife at Chilla, spiritualism at Rishikesh and adventure sports at Shivpuri Kodiyala in a span of three days.The proposal has been approved under the 13th Planning Commission. For the project, an estimate of Rs 60 lakh has been prepared. Telling more about the circuit, Joint Director AK Dwivedi said, “We will set up world-class cottages, beach camps, restaurants and tourist information centres along with other facilities such as of own transportation etc at these places. GMVN guesthouses, which already exist at these places, will also be renovated at the same scale.” For the staff, he said, well-qualified and trained people would be hired. Preference would be given to local people, especially for the job of tourist guides, so that they could feel and become a part of the developmental projects in the state. All these three destinations, which are situated next to each other, attract major chunk of tourists in the state every year. “Chilla is merely 14 km from Rishikesh and is known as a wild tourist place of the state for having a large part of the Rajaji National Park in its territory. The park, spread out to 820.42 km, is home to hundreds of magnificient wild species, including tiger, bear, elephants, king kobra etc. Similarly, Kodiyala Shivpuri, just 17 km away from Rishikesh, is a perfect destination for rock climbing and white water rafting. Rishikesh itself is a heavenly abode renowned for yoga and spiritualism.“We have these three amazing combination with us which can easily be covered within three days,” said Dwivedi. He further added that the high-ended tourists, who had good spending power and always wished to have diverse tourist experiences at one stretch in short period of time, would certainly admire this package tour. |
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UJVNL creates history
While sharing the good news with mediapersons in his office today, Managing Director, UJVNL, GP Patel, said, “UJVNL has been making one record after another in quick succession. On August 19, we broke our own record of a single day production by churning 22.502 MU. On August 31, we surpassed the previous record by producing 23.115 MU. We had never even dreamt of touching this mark. This is unbelievable.” Patel said in the entire month of August, the department had produced 553.597 MU against the target of 417.750 MU. Last year in the same month, the production was recorded at 489.075 MU. Similarly, as comparison to last year’s electricity generation from April to August, which remained at 2670 MU, this year it touched 2998.180 MU. Elated over the success coming his way in series, Patel said it was prior planning, proficient handling of the machines and the good team work which paved their way for success. He said, “There is no denying the fact that eversince we took the complete control of all our hydro-power projects from the Irrigation Department last year, the communication gap and misunderstanding which used to cause us the precious loss of production did not occur. Other than that, we kept our machines in good condition before the monsoon came and handled these deftly during and after silt or garbage removal. Besides, we also took advice and recommendations from our staff seriously and worked on them. This resulted in the exemplary productions.” Patel also hoped that after both the proposed gas projects of 350 MW each would get operational by next year and Byasi-Lakhwar hydro-electric projects also began in the next three years, the state will not face power crunch anymore. |
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SPGMC burns effigy of MLA
Dehradun, September 1 Devender Singh Sethi, general secretary of the SPGMC, condemned the MLA for his alleged arrogant behaviour with the GM, GS Bedi. He demanded immediate legal action against the MLA. Bedi said some 600 families had occupied the company land illegally for years. The place once used to be the homes of the labourers who had come to build the company building. These residents had taken illegal connections and were now demanding proper electric connections through the MLA. When Bedi refused, the MLA allegedly insulted him and threatened him with dire consequences. Bedi said he had filed an FIR against the MLA but no action had been taken in this regard till now. Aggarwal remained adamant that he did no wrong in this case. He said: “These families are living on the land for the past three decades, even if illegally. Everywhere the illegal occupants are provided with all kinds of amenities, and as an MLA its my duty to provide them with water, electricity connections and roads. I had been trying to get electricity supply for them for the past one year, but the GM dithered each time.” |
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Ganesh Mahotsava begins
Haridwar, September 1 Markets are flooded with idols and statues of Lord Ganesha. The temples have been decorated with Ganesha’s idols. Dozens of pandals have been put up across the city, particularly in the Har-Ki-Pauri, Bhooptawala, Shiv Moorti, Devpura, BHEL and Jwalapur situated temples, ashrams, akhadas and grounds. Chanting of “Ganpati Bapa Moraiya” reverberated in the mandaps and temples as people paid their obeisance to the deity of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. |
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Blast in Deputy Jailor’s car
Haridwar, September 1 The incident occurred yesterday when Singh started his car outside the prison. A portion of the vehicle was damaged in the blast while he escaped unhurt. Higher police officials arrived at the spot with the forensic experts finding parts of the improvised bomb scattered all over the place. Circle Officer Kamlesh Upadhyay said the bomb was made up of potash, iron pieces and glass and involvement of a prisoner or their relative could not be ignored. The security of the Deputy Jailor has been increased both at his office and residence. The security has also been beefed up inside the jail with checking drive being carried out in the prison as well as strict monitoring of all the barracks, inmates and the visitors. Joint Magistrate Sachin Bansal carried out an inspection of jail, taking stock of the situation and gave directions to the jail administration. The jail officials apprised him of the shortage of security personnel in the jail. Bansal directed them to send a proposal to him in this regard and deployed two additional police personnel at the prison main gate. Superintendent of Rural Police Roshan Lal Sharma said a case had been filed against unknown persons under the Explosives Act and an investigation is being carried out in this matter. |
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Cyber cafe owner shot dead
Nainital, September 1 The body was discovered near Chandpur village by an employee of the Forest Department in the wee hours yesterday. He informed the villagers and the police. A couple of cartridges were recovered from the spot, whereas his motorcycle was found nearby. The deceased was residing with his uncle at Chandpur and had been running a cyber cafe from a portion of his house. His uncle informed the police that he used to go to a gym in the evening after closing the cafe. He had left for the gym on Tuesday evening and had not returned. He said he did not search for Sunil in the night thinking that he might have gone to his sister’s place. The police has started investigations into the matter and is analysing his telephone call records to get a clue about his murderers and the motive behind the killing. |
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Harish Rawat, Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing and Parliamentary Affairs, has asked Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to immediately apologise to the people of the state, particularly those “andolankaris” who fought for statehood, for getting his own name included on the list of such agitators.
Demanding district status for Purola in the Uttarkashi region, state Congress MLA from Purola Rajesh Junwatha staged a dharna outside the residence of Uttarakhand Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant here today.
A delegation of Congress leaders led by former Cabinet Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani today met Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva and drew her attention on the landslide-affected villages in the Devprayag development block in Tehri district.
