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Mixed response to bandh call
Officials taken to task
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Release development funds, Chief Secy tells officials
Class IV employees of the state government hold an agitation in Dehradun on Thursday. A Tribune photograph
Take care of senior citizens: Alva
Bank opens two new branches
Awareness programmes mark World AIDS Day
Doon Tusker humble Street Star
All-India Tennis Tourney
Preparations for forest sports meet discussed
OP Thapliyal sports club president
Athletics meet begins in New Tehri
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Mixed response to bandh call
Dehradun, December 1
The representatives of these associations burnt the effigy of the state government at Clock Tower. Umesh Aggarwal, president of the STA, said they were satisfied that Chief Minister BC Khanduri had promised them that he would not enforce this “black law” in the state, and even if the state government did take any such action, they would hold a string of protests and keep their shops shut until the policy was finally withdrawn. Anil Goyal, prominent member of the STA, called the policy as a “conspiracy to damage the economy of the country, a move to render more people jobless and push farmers towards penury.” Not only the entire Opposition but even the alliance partners and some of the MPs of the Congress Government were opposing the FDI policy, he added. Gurbaksh Singh, president of the Indira Market Association, drew comparisons with the British colonisation days, saying they came to have trade with the Indians and enslaved the whole country in the process. He said people would not let this happen again where foreign companies began reigning over the economy and capturing power. Both the CPI and the CPM extended support to the bandh. CPI leader Samar Bhandari said the Centre took the “suicidal step” of bringing in the FDI policy as a face-save measure in the crisis precipitated by price rise and various scams. The party activists of the CPM held a two-wheeler rally where CPM leader Surender Singh Sajwan supported the bandh call given by the Joint Trade Union on the FDI issue. The Students Federation of India also held a two-wheeler rally led by district president Abhishek Bhandari on this issue. Superintendent of Police (City) Jaswant Singh said the cops had allowed the bandh as it was peaceful and the protesters did not force closure of shops and did not create mayhem in the city. MUSSOORIE: Most of the shops in Mussoorie remained open today as traders remained unfazed with the Bharat Bandh call given by the Opposition in protest against the Central Government’s decision to allow the FDI in the retail sector. President of the Mussoorie Traders Association Rajat Agarwal, while defending his association’s stand to keep the shops opened, said one of the reasons for not supporting the bandh call was that that a clear picture was yet to come with regard to the issue as the matter was still open for discussion. He further said as most of the towns did not fall under the ambit of the FDI, there was no point in opposing the move. HARIDWAR: The Haridwar unit of the CPM today staged a protest against the Central Government’s decision to allow the FDI in the retail sector. They also lashed out at Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for having “failed” to protect the interests of the poor. District secretary of the party RC Dhiman blamed the Centre for framing anti-poor policies. Among others who addressed the protesters were Harish Chand, Chandra Singh Rawat, Mahendra Jakhmola, Ashok Gupta, Surendra Kumar, DP Raturi and Kamlesh Saxena. NAINITAL: The bandh call given by various political parties and organisations against the Central Government's decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail sector had a mixed response in the Nainital region. While the call did have some impact on the markets in Haldwani, Rudrapur, Kashipur and some other parts of Terai, there was no impact whatsoever in Nainital town. In the Lake City, the markets remained open throughout the day with there being no protest anywhere.
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Officials taken to task
Dehradun, December 1 Jawakar said the officials must carefully examine their proposals and not show the expenditure unnecessarily.He also made clear that those department who did not present their cases well would not be provided funds. While reviewing the case of the Forest Department, he said the complaints were pouring in which showed that the department was not taking public representatives in confidence.
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Release development funds, Chief Secy tells officials
Dehradun, December 1 Reviewing the progress of the annual plan at the Secretariat in Dehradun today, the Chief Secretary expressed his displeasure over the fact that less amounts had been released in the case of the Forest Department, the Education Department and the Power Department apart from the status of expenditure in these departments also being far from satisfactory. During the process of conducting a review of the Forest Department, he also issued a warning to the heads of office of Forest and Rural Development Commissioner and the State Forest Department. The Chief Secretary also informed the meeting that the Chief Minister had expressed his unhappiness over the situation of releasing of funds under the annual plan, and that a review of progress of the plan would be carried out by the Chief Minister as part of the agenda item in the forthcoming Cabinet meeting. He directed all Secretaries and Principal Secretaries that they carry out a review of their respective departments and apprise about the information regarding the latest status of sanctioning and expenditure of funds till date by December 5. He disclosed that the Chief Minister would also conduct a review of department-wise progress while reviewing the plan. Hence, all senior officials should bring about the desired improvement in their respective schemes, especially those related to development. Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar also expressed his unhappiness over senior officials not carrying out any regular monitoring exercise of works under the plan. He said that immediate punitive action should also be ensured against those officials who were found adopting a lackadaisical attitude in works. The Chief Secretary also directed the officials to accelerate the pace of works to make available scholarships and pension available to the eligible beneficiaries, as well as make civic amenities such as roads, electricity and potable water to the general public. At the meeting, Uttarakhand’s Additional Chief Secretary Alok Jain said that the Finance Department was taking prompt action in issuing sanction and approval to proposals submitted by the departments. Hence, all departments should get their respective receipts issued under the annual plan immediately.
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Protest by Class IV staff
Dehradun, December 1 State president of the association Manvar Singh Negi said the state government had failed to fulfil their demands of salary benefits from January 1, 2006, according to the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations and the benefit of promotions. “As many as 52,000 class IV employees have been agitating for years. Though officials have issued eight government orders till date, of them seven are not according to the agreement struck with them. In the eighth order, they gave us the benefit of promotion but passed orders for further reduction on November 14, when half of the employees had already availed the benefit,” he added. Those who participated the march included Rajpal Singh, Shankar Uniyal, Prem Singh and Subhash Kamboj.
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Take care of senior citizens: Alva
Dehraduin , December 1 Inaugurating a three-day exhibition of paintings of well-known artist Monica Talukdar at the Raj Bhawan auditorium, the Governor said that the exhibition would prove helpful in providing inspiration to senior citizens to engage in creative activity and live a healthy life. She said Monica Talukdar was an institution in herself and had made a unique contribution in the sphere of art for the last six decades. The exhibition has been organised with the support of Helpage India. The Governor appreciated the work being done by Helpage India, which is helping two million elderly people every year, providing them with social security and shelter and making them aware of their rights. She said that in Uttarakhand, Helpage India had several projects under way, including a toll-free helpline, an Ayush-based mobile medical unit and six physiotherapy centres. It had also set up a senior citizens federation. Alva said that the younger people in the family must respect their elders and benefit from their wisdom and experience. She congratulated Helpage India for its work and presented the organisation with a cheque of Rs 30, 000.
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Bank opens two new branches
Pithoragarh, December 1 “The banks, which serve the rural clients in their operations, are more capable of stabilising an economy than those which operate in the urban and industrial areas,” he stated. “These branches will function in small hubs of the urban and semi-urban areas of the state to encourage small entrepreneurs to save and prosper through the help of the bank,” said Verma. According to Uttaranchal Grameen Bank officials it is the only bank which is providing insurance worth Rs 1 lakh to every account holder in the state. “Besides this, the bank is soon starting wider package of schemes to provide self employment through bank finance,” he added. — OC
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Awareness programmes mark World AIDS Day
Dehradun, December 1
The efforts of the USACS received a boost after film actress Chitrashi Rawat agreed to become the brand ambassador of the USACS. Speaking on the occasion ,Health Secretary Dr SS Sandhu said more and more people had begun reporting at the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC). On the other hand, Project Director Dr PC Kapri of the USACS said the setting up of the additional ICTC centres and the link ART centers have helped in reaching out to the patients in the remote corners of the state. Later, secretary (Health) presented awards to Hope, an NGO, for carrying out it’s role in providing shelter to persons diagnosed with the AIDS and also running a community centre for children. In another function today, the Confederation of Indian Industries (Uttarakhand) was felicitated by the USACS for spreading the HIV/AIDS awareness among industrial workers. Principal secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Dr SS Sandhu presented the award to Rakesh Agarwal, vice chairman of the CII Uttarakhand State Council. Dr S Farooq, Chairman of the CII Uttarakhand State Council, said, “We have to ensure that no new HIV positive case is added. Over the past few years, the CII in Uttarakhand has organised 15 HIV/AID workplace intervention programmes jointly with the USACS, sensitizing over 2000 industrial workers. In the morning, a rally from Madrasi Colony (slum area) to Clock Tower and then to Gandhi Park was also organised by the USACS. Over 200 school children participated in it. World AIDS Day was celebrated by the Community Medicine Department of the SGRR medical College, Dehradun.
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Doon Tusker humble Street Star
Dehradun, December 1
Winning the toss, Doon Tusker chose to bat and piled up 123 runs losing 7 wickets in the process. Doon Tusker initiated well with its opening pair of Shashank and Harry contributing 50 for the first wicket. Shashank scored 44 runs whereas Harry scored 28 runs. However, the rest of the batsmen could only take the team’s score to 123 runs. For Street Star, Anuj, Pawan and Vivek clinched 2 wickets each and Naveen took 1 wicket. Batting next, Street Stars was all out at a score of 53 runs. Pawan for Street Star scored the highest 11 runs.
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All-India Tennis Tourney
Dehradun, December 1
In the under-14 years category (boys) semi-finals, Mritunjay Badola (Uttarakhand) defeated Mohak Bajaj (Delhi) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 and Utkarsh Bhardwaj (Uttarakhand) beat Rupesh Khokhar ( Haryana ) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to enter the finals. In the final match, Utkarsh Bhardwaj defeated Mritunjay Badola 2-6, 6-4, 7-6, (7-5) to lift the title. In the under-12 category semi-final matches, Shivank Bhatnagar ( Delhi) beat Achint Bhagat (Delhi ) 4-2, 5-3, while Sanjit Singh Pahuja (Delhi) beat Mohit Sahrawat (Delhi) 4-2, 5-4, (7-5) to enter the finals. In the final match, Shivank Bhatnagar beat Sanjit Singh Pahuja 6-3, 6-0 to won the title. In the under 12 (girls) category final match, Nirmat Kaur Kang (Punjab) defeated Alisha Menon (Punjab) 6-4, 7-5. In the under 14 years (girls) category semi-final matches, Sachi Belwal ( Uttarakhand) beat Kavya Gupta ( Punjab)1-4, 4-1, 4-2 and Arushi Kakkar (Chandigarh) beat Sukanya Vishwas (UP) 4-2,4-2. In the final match, Sachi Belwal defeated Arushi Kakkar 6-1,6-4. In the girls doubles under-14 category semi-finals, Sachi Belwal (Uttarakhand) and Arushi Kakkar (Chandigarh) defeated Ayushi Gupta and Aakriti Gupta (both Delhi) 4-1, 4-2. In the second semi-final, Kavya Gupta (Delhi) and Sarnanya Khanna (Punjab) beat Nirmat kaur Kang (Punjab) and Alisha Menon (both Punjab) 4-2, 5-4. In the final match in the girls double under-14 category, Sachi Belwal and Arushi Kakkar beat Kavya Gupta and Sarnanya Khanna 4-0,4-0 to win the double title.
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Preparations for forest sports meet discussed
Dehradun, December 1 Presiding over the meeting, Rawat said preparations were already on the last stages on part of host Uttarakhand Forest Department. He said several committees were already in place for accommodation, transportation, event management and coordination like activities. The Uttarakhand PCCF disclosed that an amount to the tune of Rs 1.27 crore would be spent for the conduct of the sports meet. He said apart from the Forest Research Institute and the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, the infrastructure of the Indian Military Academy would be used for the games.
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OP Thapliyal sports club president
Mussoorie, December 1 Other members of the executive committee are the following. Raj Bhadur Kshetri vice-president, Rajneesh Kandari treasurer, Pradeep Kumar convener, Manish Kumar organisation secretary, Surendar Lal secretary, Ved Prakash Thapliyal patron, Suraj sports secretary, Ganshyam adviser and Bhagiarth Prasad publicity secretary. Thapliyal said the Balrowganj Sports Club was one of the oldest clubs in the town and many sportspersons from the club had brought laurels to the town. He said the lack of adequate sports stadium in the town was hindering the training of sportspersons.
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Athletics meet begins in New Tehri
Mussoorie, December 1 The meet is open for those who had competed in the under-16 category at the block-level athletics meet earlier. On the occasion, Sports Minister Khajan Das said the state government had announced Dev Bhoomi Samman and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh for the coaches and students to promote sports activities in the hill state.
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Dehraduin , December 1
