House adjourned four times amid Oppn uproar
3 Bills passed by voice vote
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 28
The Uttarakhand Assembly today passed three Bills amid uproar created by the Congress members who were demanding a CBI inquiry into the alleged scandals involving the ruling BJP government.

The Bills relating to the annual transfer policy, special courts and the right to public services were passed by voice vote. A supplementary budget for Rs 1,636.46 crore was also tabled in the House.

As soon as the proceedings began in the morning, the Congress members gathered before the Chair and started raising slogans against the ruling BJP government. In the entire rumpus, the Speaker, Harbans Kapoor, read out the agenda for the day and also tabled the Uttarakhand Panchayat Raj Bill, 2011, on the demand of Congress MLA Kishore Upadhyay. A resolution by Congress MLA Jot Singh Ghunsola to make amendments to the Transport Policy of the state, incorporates safety and security of the passengers in it, was also tabled.

Today also the Speaker was forced to adjourn the House four times as the Opposition members didn’t pay heed to the repeated requests made by Parliament Affairs Minister Prakash Pant who said the government was ready for discussion and the members should stop impeding the proceedings of the House.

The Congress continued its onslaught even outside the House as MLA Mahinder Singh Mahra sat in the gallery demanding action on the pending land issue of Lohaghat. Congress MLA Kishore Upadhyay lent him support.

The government also tabled the rules and regulations of the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC), including the UERC (appointment and functioning of ombudsman) second amendment regulations 2010, UERC (guidelines for appointment of member and procedure to be followed by the forum for redressal of grievances of the consumers) second amendment regulations, 2010.

Entertainment Tax
Samiti-govt talks hit roadblock

Dehradun, September 28
The talks between the Sahsik Paryatan Sangharh Samiti and the state government on the entertainment tax issue have hit a roadblock.

The samiti has been boycotting the rafting activity in Rishikesh for the past one month to register their protest against the non-revocation of a proposal on levying entertainment tax on the rafting activity in the state.

With no solution in sight for the time being, the samiti has decided to give some more time to Chief Minister BC Khanduri to understand their plight. The samiti rued that their business had been taking a nosedive for the past one month.

Deepak Bhatt, president of the samiti, said, “It seems that more meetings with the CM are required to make our case clear to him.” The samiti also did not rule out resorting to dharnas and fast in the future if their demand was not fulfilled.

Bhatt said: “Our second season of rafting starts in the beginning of September. However, this year it has been delayed due to the entertainment tax issue. We had to cancel all our bookings for September.”

He also expressed apprehension that if tourists chose Himachal Pradesh, which offered better packages, they might not come back to Uttarakhand in the future. — TNS

Library rooms on paper only
‘Misuse’ of legislator’s development fund comes to light in Urban Development Minister’s Assembly segment
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, September 28
It has come to light that the library rooms for which the funds have been allocated from the legislator’s development fund are either being used for other purposes or have not been constructed at all.

This all is being done in the Assembly segment of Madan Kaushik, who is Urban Development Minister in the state Cabinet. Kaushik time and again corners Haridwar parliamentarian Harish Rawat for the alleged non-utilisation of the MPLAD fund.

For the past few months, former municipal committee councillor Dinesh Joshi had been complaining of this irregularity. Finally, after he complained to Chief Minister BC Khanduri and the Chief Development Officer (CDO) about this, a three-member investigative committee, headed by Irrigation Department Executive Engineer DD Dalakoti, was formed.

In its inspection of 11 such sites for which funds were released from the legislator’s development fund to set up a room each for public library in the Haridwar Assembly segment, the team found none of these rooms were being utilised for the said purpose.

The report of the committee states that either these rooms are being used for other purposes or have not been constructed at all. At Valmiki Basti, which is situated adjacent to the Tourism Department office at Mayapur, a statue has been constructed instead of the library room and what is more shocking is that a sign board has been put up there which depicts that the construction has been funded by from the legislator’s development fund.

Similarly, at Kunj Colony, the team found the library room was being used as a wedding point. At Bhalla Intermediate College, the public library room was being used for commercial purposes.

The local residents said despite complaints made to the legislator and the RES Department, no inspect of the library rooms was carried out earlier. Umesh Kumar, a resident of Valmiki Basti, said even the investigative team didn’t record their statements and seemed trying to put a veil on this matter.

Meanwhile, DD Dalakoti said during the investigation of the sites by him, it had come to light that the rooms were not being used for the library purpose while some had not been constructed at all. The findings of the investigation will be reported to the CDO and the necessary action has to be taken by the higher authorities, added Dalakoti.

Newly appointed District Magistrate R Senthyl Pandiyan has also said that he would look into the matter and have a look at the report of the investigating team.

Lakhs visit temples on Day 1 of Navratras
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, September 28
Lakhs of devotees visited temples in the city on the first day of the Navratras. From the wee hours of the morning, after taking a dip in the Ganga, devotees thronged the shrines of Mata Mansa Devi, Mata Chandi Devi, Maya Devi, Daksh Prajapati, Mata Vaishno Devi, Sureshwari Devi, Dakshin Kali Peeth and other temples situated in the suburban Jwalapur and BHEL region.

Serpentine queues were seen throughout the day at the temples with an elaborate management being done by the temple authorities and traffic personnel deployed in view of the huge rush of devotees.

Worshipping of the deity of Shailputri, avatar of Sati Parvati regarded as bringing peace and fortune. Many women observe fast for the nine days of the Navratra festival while some on the first and the last day of the Navratra.

At various places, religious kathas are being organised in the city.

LPG cylinders being smuggled into Nepal
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, September 28
The border town of Dharchula in Pithoragarh district is facing acute shortage of cooking gas as according to consumers, LPG cylinders, which reach on a regular basis in the town, are being smuggled to Nepal via illegal routes escaping Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB) guards on the border.

“We have seized 15 such cylinders being transported through illegal routes via the Kali river,” said BS Tolia, Commandant of the SSB at Dharchula.

According to information received from a gas agency run by the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN), for 16,000 LPG consumers in Dharchula and surrounding areas, almost 400 cylinders are distributed daily.

However, despite the usual supply of cylinders to the town from the past one month, the shortage of cylinders persists and long queues of customers can be seen at the agency outlet.

“We suspects some racket in smuggling of cylinders to Nepal via hidden routes across the Kali as the SSB is guarding the bridge and other main border routes on the indo-Nepal border along the town,” said Tolia.

The Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Dharchula has also taken the incident of smuggling of LPG cylinders to Nepal seriously and deputed two revenue sub-inspectors to investigate the matter.

“These revenue employees will also look into if employees of the agency are also involved in this racket,” said the SDM.

Accordig to officials, one LPG cylinder fetches Rs 1,700 in Nepal while in Dharchula town it is being sold at a rate of Rs 405. Keeping the high

demand of LPG cylinders in Nepal, the smugglers might have become active.

“We issue the cylinders to our customers but we are unaware about these cylinders being smuggled to Nepal,” said NS Rakhola, in charge of the gas agency in Dharchula.

“Due to this trend of smuggling of LPG cylinders to Nepal, 14 villages of the Chaudand valley in the high Himalayan region have now started facing the shortage of the LPG cylinders as the truck load of cylinders could not be sent to the valley residents for the past one week,” said Ashok Nabiyal, chairman of the town area committee, Dharchula, and a resident of the Chaudand valley.

The SSB has decided to open a new border outpost at Khotila near Dharchula to intensify the guarding. “The incidents of smuggling to Nepal in recent times have taken mostly from this place and being an unguarded area this place need to be guarded to stop not only the LPG smuggling, but other types of smuggling as well,” said BS Tolia, the SSB commandant.

Assembly Poll
BJP, Cong to focus on corruption issue
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, September 28
The issue of corruption seems to be the defining subject which the rival parties, the Congress and the BJP, will be raising in the upcoming Assembly elections.

With the former BJP Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank stepping down on corruption charges, the Congress has intensified its anti-corruption movement putting the BJP on the backfoot.

After the Youth Congress staging a protest outside local legislator Madan Kaushik’s residence and outside the state Assembly in Dehradun yesterday, the district unit of the party has decided to hold protests on a regular basis.

A protest was held today by Congress activists seeking answers from Chief Minister BC Khanduri on the questions related to spendings on the Maha Kumbh.

Party activist Sanjay Chopra also asked the CM to order a high-level probe into the Maha Kumbh scam.

Meanwhile, the district unit of the BJP has decided to oppose Congress parliamentarian from Haridwar Harish Rawat whenever he visits his constituency. A meeting in this regard was held recently, where it was decided to show black flags to Rawat whenever he visits the district in the future coming days.

Flaying Rawat for levelling corruption charges against the BJP state government, Chauhan said he should first look at the Central Government that was “deep into corruption”.

BJP Yuva Morcha activists also held a protest and burnt an effigy of Harish Rawat near the party office at Devpura.

BJP plans rallies to ‘expose’ Central Govt

Dehradun, September 28
The Uttarakhand BJP will take the issues of corruption at the Centre and rising prices as the main planks of its campaign during the Assembly elections due early next year. Stepping up pressure on the Congress, the BJP President, GS Chufal, has said the Congress at the Centre has failed to curb corruption and control rising prices. “We will now organise rallies in 22 districts (party designated) and five parliamentary constituencies of the state to expose the corrupt practices of the Central Government along with its failure to control inflation. We have organised a rally at Haridwar and four more will be held in other places in October,” said Chufal while addressing a press conference at the party office here today.

Terming the Congress rally held yesterday as a complete failure, Chufal said the Congress in the state was scared. “The rally is part of diversionary tactics adopted by the party. Soon the report on the 56 scams that took place during the previous Congress regime will be out and it would be exposed. To draw the attention of the public away from its own misdeeds, the Congress is levelling charges against the BJP,” he said.

He said on October 10 a media workshop for the workers of the BJP would be held in Dehradun in which central leaders are expected to give tips to the workers.

550 bottles of liquor seized from house in Haridwar
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, September 28
With the festive season begins, the Excise Department and the police have started keeping a vigil in the district owing to the mass supply of illegal liquor from the nearby states into the Uttarakhand territory.

Already in the past week in separate raids, the police had seized English and country-made wine worth lakhs which were being supplied into Haridwar and nearby districts for sale.

On a tip-off, an excise team conducted a raid in a Rajeev Nagar-situated house of Tilak Raj alias Tilku. The team led by excise inspector Prabha Shankar Mishra found liquor bottles hidden in the temple.

During interrogation, the accused confessed that he had been running an illegal liquor business for quite some time and to dodge the police, he had stored bottles of liquor in the puja room.

About 550 illegal liquor bottles were seized by the team and also arrested Sunil, Bachni, Meera and Neetu in aiding Mishra in this illegal trade.

Excise in charge Haridwar city Sanjay Kumar stated that more such raids would be conducted in view of the festive season ahead.