Stay on Increase in Docs’ Retirement Age
Services of acting DG, 4 others end
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 17
After the Nainital High Court stayed the Uttarakhand government’s order raising the retirement age of allopathic doctors from 60 to 62 years, the services of the acting DG, Health and Family Welfare, Dr Asha Mathur, and four others have also ended.

Dr Jagdish Prasad Bhatt has now been appointed acting DG on the basis of seniority. It was Dr Bhatt who had filed a petition in the High Court against the government order. The services of the four other doctors have been terminated. They are Dr HGS Manral (Director, Admn), Dr DN Pauriyal (CMS of Pithoragarh), Dr Hem Chand Joshi (CMO, Champawat), Dr KP Joshi and Dr Suresh Tamta.

The then Chief Minister, Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, had raised the retirement age of government (allopathic) doctors from 60 to 62 years on August 31, on the day when Dr Asha Mathur, the acting DG, was to retire. It was alleged that the move was aimed at benefiting the acting DG, but the government maintained that it was being done to tackle manpower shortage.

Averse to the idea, the Provincial Medical and Health Service office-bearers had raised their objection to the move saying that the enhancement of age would have no effect on manpower shortage as the immediate beneficiaries were in administrative posts, while the requirement was in medical posts at the entry and middle levels.

It has been 11 years since the creation of the state only Dr HS Pal was appointed full DG and twice the government’s appointed of acting DG has been taken up in the court of law. Earlier, Dr HS Bhatt and Dr YS Bisht too had taken the judicial recourse against the appointment of Dr CP Arya and Dr PL Joshi as acting DGs. Both had made claims on the basis of seniority.

Earlier, BC Khanduri had ordered a vigilance enquiry against Dr Pooja Bhardwaj, Director, Ayush, who was perceived to be close to Nishank. Now backed by a High Court order his government has ended the services of senior doctors who were immediate beneficiaries of the previous government’s order.

Sliding of Village
Residents urge DM to send survey team
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, November 17
Residents of Dhaulakote village in the Askot area of Didihat subdivision of the district have asked the District Magistrate to send a team of geologists to their village to survey the continuously sliding of the village.

“Owing to the landslide for the past 20 years, a number of villagers have left their homes as not only their houses have been damaged but their fields have also been disappeared due to continuous landslides,” said Saraswati Pal, Gram Pradhan of the village.

According to the villagers, a ridge, named Bagrauli, has been continuously sliding for the last two decades. “Today not a single home is left without cracks,” said the Gram Pradhan.

The village lies at 3 km of distance from the newly announced district of Didihat. There are more than 24 villages adjoining this village which are on the brink of disaster under the ridge. ”Out of 48 families once lived in the village two decades ago, 23 have left the village and settled at some safe places.The economically weak villagers are only left in the village,” said the Gram Pradhan.

The families living in the village are panic-stricken, said the pradhan. “We have demanded from the district administration that if the state government is not in a condition to shift the poor families from the village, they should at least survey the village and inform the villagers whether it is safe to live in the village or not,” said gram pradhan. 

State misses fiscal deficit target: Report
Rajeev Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nainital, November 17
A study carried out by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch (NEW) on Uttarakhand revealed that over the five years between 2005-06 and 2009-10, the budget projections for the revenue deficit and fiscal deficit had not been achieved.

The study pointed out that the state could not achieve the fiscal deficit target of 4 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product as prescribed in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management (FRBM) Act, 2005, for the year 2009-10 which stood at 5.94 per cent.

The study has taken into account that Uttarakhand is a Special Category State because of its mountainous terrain, due to which there are higher infrastructure and transaction costs as well as higher costs of governance. This means that special privileges are given to Uttarakhand, including financial assistance from the Centre in the ratio 90 per cent grant and 10 per cent loan, unlike non-special category states which get 70 per cent grant and 30 per cent loan.

The key indicators that have been underlined point out that revenue receipts were short by 13 per cent in 2009-10 due to less receipt under non-tax revenue.

The state government, in its mid-term policy statement, attributed the shortfall in revenue collection to the recession in the economy and the financial burden that rose by Rs 2,500 crore after the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations.

The study also points out that the capital expenditure in 2009-10 remained unutilised to the extent of 16 per cent, due to less disbursement under the education, rural development and irrigation sectors.

On the issue of revenue receipts, it has been pointed out that more than 50 per cent of the revenue income of the state came from Central sources in the shape of either grants from the Government of India or share of the Union Taxes.

The ADR and NEW have stated, “It should be noted that the Central Government has been transferring a sizeable quantum of funds directly to the state implementing agencies for the implementation of various schemes and programmes in social and economic sectors recognized as critical. These funds are not routed through the state budget or the state treasury system.”

Referring to the committed expenditure, it has been pointed that this expenditure is defined by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) as the expenditure on interest payments, salaries and wages, pensions and subsidies.

The points that have been emphasised upon are that salaries, pensions and interest payments, together consisted of 71 per cent of the total revenue expenditure of the government in 2009-10, leaving a much smaller amount (Rs 2,424 crore) of revenue expenditure to be spent on new social welfare schemes. This amounts to less than Rs 2,500 per person.

It has also been underlined that the 12th Finance Commission norms prescribe that the expenditure under the salaries head should be 35 per cent of revenue expenditure while actual expenditure on salaries accounted for 53 per cent in 2009-2010.

The ADR and NEW have further pointed out that expenditure on salaries increased by 44 per cent from 2008-09 to 2009-10 due to the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission. 

Lokayukta Act incapable of curbing graft: UPP
Tribune News Service

Nainital, November 17
The Uttarakhand Parivartan Party (UPP) has come out against the recently passed Lokayukta Act in the state, describing it as ‘a paper tiger that is incapable of curbing corruption’.

Party President PC Tewari has underlined that the government had very cleverly saved the ministers and legislators from being taken to task.

Tewari has pointed out that on one side the Chief Minister had been made the president of the committee for choosing the Lokayukta and on the other it had been insured that complaints or action against Chief Minister, members of the cabinet and legislators could be initiated unless there was a unanimous consensus of all the members of the institution of the Lokayukta.

He said by failing to protest against the provisions, all the parties with their representatives in the state assembly had proved that there was no difference between them as long as preventing political corruption was concerned.

Alleging that Chief Minister Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri and his party (BJP), were aiming to get electoral benefits on the anti-corruption platform, Tewari said Khanduri must come forward to change the provisions if he was genuinely concerned about removing corruption.

He also criticised the Act for going easy on corrupt bureaucrats. He said expecting a constructive change from the BJP and the Congress was nothing but an illusion.

GB Pant varsity celebrates Foundation Day
Tribune News Service

Nainital, November 17
The 52nd Foundation Day function of Gobind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology began at Ratan Singh Auditorium of the university in Pantnagar today with Former Director-General of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) and present agriculture advisor to Chief Minister Dr Mangla Rai calling for infusing commerce into agriculture.

He said commerce should be infused into agriculture for its development in real terms and to make it profitable. He emphasised the need for promoting agro-based industry and removal of supply-side constraints for saving the losses of perishable agriculture produce.

Dr Rai cautioned scientists to take lessons from ill effects of the first green revolution and work upon water use, water harvesting, fertiliser and pesticide-use efficiency along with conservation of agriculture to have maximum production from the minimal use of resources.

He also called for integration of satellite-based knowledge, information and communication and computer technology to evolve further programmes in agricultures. He asked for undertaking of collaborative inter-departmental research work as a holistic approach towards agricultural development.

Vice Chancellor of the university Dr BS Bisht presented the historical perspective and achievements of 51 “glorious years” of the university. He also gave his views on vision, mission, mandate, goals and objectives of the university in future. 

Liquor consumption up, social activists express concern
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, November 17
Social activists have expressed concern at the increasing rate of liquor consumption despite more and more residents of the district applying for an inclusion in the below poverty line category.

“The tendency of liquor consumption is not only depriving the villagers of the benefits of income drawn from the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Scheme but it is also causing a social and moral downfall,” said Prakash Joshi Shool, a social activist running anti-liquor campaign in Kairala valley of the district.

According to information received from the district excise department, during the last financial, the addicts in the district consumed 16.11 lakh bottles of liquor, which fetched the district a sum of Rs 18.10 crore. “The amount will increase more than 10 per cent this year, which means the number of wine bottles consumed will also increase this year,” said DK Tripathi, District Excise Officer, Champawat.

According to the excise department, at the time of formation of the district, the number liquor bottles consumed was only 8.73 lakh. It has now gone up to 16.11 lakh bottles.

“The increased rate of wine consumption might have increased the revenue of the state but it has started giving negative results to the youths of the district. Out of 369 candidates, only 117 could pass the physical fitness exam in the recent recruitment of police constables in the district. Most of the youngsters were found suffering from diseases related to liver and kidney,” said Shool.

According to the figures made available by the district planning department, nearly half of the population of the district is below poverty line and more and more people are applying for inclusion in the BPL list.” Out of the total population of the district, 2,59,315 (2011 census), 1,00,500 people fall under the below-poverty-line category, as 20186 families have been given the BPL cards by the government,” said DS Nagarkoti, District Statistical Officer of Champawat.

According to social workers, the condition in the interior villages of the district has deteriorated due to an increase in liquor consumption. “The school going children are falling victims to the liquor consumption. More than 15 liquor shops are situated in the countryside of the district,” said Prakash Joshi, another anti-liquor movement supporter.

Lifeline Express a boon to Haridwar residents
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, November 17
The Lifeline Express, a hospital on wheels, is proving to be beneficial to residents of Haridwar.

Stationed at the Haridwar railway station till December 1, it is equipped with the state-of-the-art medical facilities and equipment. It is a joint effort of the Impact India Foundation and Mahindra & Mahindra.

The Lifeline Express is an initiative against avoidable disablement, which has been on the national agenda for decades.

In five AC coaches with modern gadgets, a specialised team of doctors is performing operations and treating patients on a daily basis with local surgeons also offering their services.

This hospital on wheels has, so far, treated 6 lakh physically challenged persons and those suffering from with eye (cataract), ear (deafness), cleft lip, teeth and other ailments.

Chief executive officer of the Lifeline Express Randheer Singh said it had been serving people across the country since 1991 and its focus was more on the remote areas.

With the ambitious Rishikesh-Karanprayag railway line being built in the state, Subravrat Bhattacharjee, senior vice-president of Mahindra & Mahindra, expressed hope that this service would also be available to the people living in the hilly districts of the state.

Haridwar is the second city benefiting from the Lifeline Express in Uttarakhand. Earlier, it had been stationed at Rudrapur in 2007.

Corruption rules under UPA govt, says Advani
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 17
BJP senior leader and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani today said the present UPA government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had given free run to corruption.

“Of what use is his personal integrity when the entire world is saying that corruption in India has risen tremendously under his rule,” Advani made these observation at a public meeting in Dehradun as part of his Jan Chetna Yatra.

Advani said people were watching ministers being removed and some being sent to jail not at the behest of the PM, but the SC. “The action should have been forthcoming from the Prime Minister or the Congress chief but sadly the decision making in the UPA is paralysed,” he said.

He further said in a democracy the Prime Minister was numero uno, but in New Delhi not Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but Congress president Sonia Gandhi was the supreme leader.

“It appears in the country instead of democracy, Communism has taken hold. Our PM cannot decide. The decision making is paralysed. Political issues are hanging but no decision has been taken. The Telangana issue needs immediate redressal but nobody is listening”, stressed Advani.

Advani also said corruption and good governance could not co-exist, so also democracy and dynastic succession.

He also made a strong pitch for bringing back black money stashed in foreign banks that could be utilised for development purpose.

Earlier, Chief Minister BC Khanduri presented a sword to Advani and said due to his inspiration, he had set up a separate department for ushering in good governance and for curbing corruption.

Party leaders did not leave a stone unturned to praise Chief Minister Khanduri, while Agriculture Minister Trivender Singh called him Anna Hazare of Uttarakhand.

The thinly attended meeting saw BJP leaders taking pains to eulogise Khanduri and praised his attempts to bring in important anti-graft legislation. 

UKD, Left launch drive against Jan Chetna Yatra
Rajeev Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nainital, November 17
Ahead of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra reaching Kumaon, the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist), CPI (ML), and the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) have launched a vigorous campaign against it.

The CPI (ML), along with the other Left parties, including the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), on Wednesday described the yatra as a farce. In a joint statement these parties had stated that the seriousness of the intention of the BJP to do away with corruption can be gauged by the deeds of its own leaders in Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttarakhand.

The three parties also pointed out that while former Chief Minister BS Yedyurappa has just come out of jail in Karnataka, former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was recently removed on grounds of corruption but has not been sent to jail.

The CPI (ML) cadres have been distributing pamphlets and have put up posters at various places where the yatra is supposed to pass through or halt. These pamphlets ask Advani to put an end to the “farce on the issue of corruption”. The party has charged that Advani too has jumped on to the anti-corruption bandwagon treating it as a means to achieve his desired aim of becoming the Prime Minister.

The pamphlets say that the history of Advani’s rath yatras has been marked by stoking of communal conflict. The CPI (ML) has charged that it was Advani’s rath yatra that had led to the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in 1992 and subsequent communal riots.

The party has protested against Advani’s arrival in Haldwani and Rudrapur at a time when Rudrapur has just witnessed unprecedented communal riots only last month. Ironically, Advani’s yatra would be passing through the areas where the Left has a support base in pockets.

The UKD has also come out heavily against Advani’s yatra. For a party that is at present woefully short of cadres, social networking sites have become a major tool to propagate its view. In a status message on Facebook, party president Trivendra Singh Panwar has questioned Advani’s moral right about corruption when the governments of his own party have been involved in one corrupt deed after the other.

Cong has a dig at yatra
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 17
Uttarakhand Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat today questioned the entry of BJP stalwart LK Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra in Uttarakhand, asserting that the BJP rule had been full of scams.

Addressing a public meeting at Purola in Uttarkashi district, Rawat pointed out that the BJP-ruled states in the country were facing large-scale acts of corruption and Uttarakhand was no exception.

“There is no justification for Advani’s Jan Chetra Yatra in Uttarakhand when the incumbent BJP government in the state is neck deep in corruption”, Rawat pointed out, adding that it was strange that LK Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra so far had completely ignored the acts of corruption committed in the BJP-ruled states in the country.

He said the Uttarakhand BJP had even failed to carry forward the works of development initiated by the earlier Congress government. He said the BJP government was still to come up with any policy on the unemployed.

Joining the issue, Uttarakhand Congress Tehri Garhwal MP Vijay Bahuguna too opposed the entry of Jan Chetna Yatra in Uttarakhand, asserting that the BJP stalwart must first highlight the acts of corruption committed by the BJP government in Uttarakhand.

Congress Purola MLA Rajesh Junwatha and Congress leader Lokendra Rawat also addressed a gathering. Earlier, Harak Rawat along with Vijay Bahuguna reached Purola in a helicopter from Dehradun around 12 noon.

Haridwar: With former Deputy Prime Minister and veteran BJP leader Lal Krishan Advani’s nationwide “Jan Chetna Yatra” set to arrive in Haridwar tomorrow, the Congress leaders today questioned the very motive for the yatra.

Demanding a clarification on the Maha Kumbh scam, the Congress leaders pointed out that Advani’s silence on the Kumbh scam spoke of the double standard he was adopting on the issue of corruption.

Former State Women’s Commission chief Santosh Chauhan said despite the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) report indicating misuse of Rs 200 crore of the Kumbh fund, the BJP was questioning the very authority of CAG, but when it came to the Common Wealth Games it tried to corner the Sheila Dikshit government on the very basis of this report.

Convener of the Teerth Maryada Raksha Samiti Sanjay Chopra termed the replacement of former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank with BC Khanduri by the BJP as a political gimmick.

“If a person is removed from the post of CM over allegations of a scam, then how come he is eligible to be appointed as national vice-president of a party,” said Chopra.

Demanding immediate resignation from Kumbh mela minister in charge Madan Kaushik, district committee chief Furkan Ali said if Nishank could be axed then why not Kaushik.

UKD (P) workers held

Dehradun, November 17
The activists of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Panwar) were arrested at Tehsil Chowk today when they reached there with black flags which were to be waved to BJP leader LK Advani’s yatra. The UKD had formed teams of its activists who congregated at different points on the yatra route to register their protest against the yatra.

Leader of the women wing of the UKD Promila Rawat said: “We are opposing Advani’s anti-corruption campaign as his own party had failed to check widespread corruption during the tenure of former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank who was removed abruptly to save the deteriorating image of the party”. The other activists who are accompanying Rawat included Devi Thapa, Deveshree Chauhan, Anita, NK Gusain and Amit Verma. The UKD team which was arrested at the Tehsil Chowk comprised Latafat Hussain, Mohan Singh Rawat, Gowardhan Sharma and others. — TNS

MP lauds info drive
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 17
Congress MP from Nanital KC Singh Baba has lauded the Central Government’s Bharat Nirman Public Information Campaign, describing it as an efficient medium to spread awareness of various centrally sponsored schemes among the masses.

Addressing the valedictory session of the three-day campaign organised by the Press Information Bureau, Dehradun, at Khatima in the Kumaon division of the state, Baba said the campaign apart from providing all information about the central schemes, it took feedback of the people.

Badrinath portals closed for winter 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 17
Portals of the Central Himalayan Hindu shrine of Badrinath in the Chamoli district of the state were closed for the winter today.

At a height of 10,248 ft above sea level, Badrinath shrine was closed for the winter in the afternoon in presence of priests, dharmadikaris and other temple committee members.

Badrinath Dham’s temple committee office bearer JP Sati said the temple was decked up with flowers and other decorations. An Army band was also present on the occasion.

The ‘Utsav Doli’ has also left Badrinath for Pandukeshwar, where the presiding deity will be worshipped during the winter.

With the closure of the shrine, the Char Dham yatra has come to a close in Uttarakhand. The other shrines of Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri have already been closed for the season.