Diwakar Bhatt not to quit; drops agitation plan
Says he is retracting from announcement under public pressure
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, December 5
In a dramatic twist to the ongoing quarrying controversy, state Revenue Minister Diwakar Bhatt has retracted from his announcement of first submitting his resigning to the Chief Minister and then launching an agitation in support of quarrying.

Bhatt, who had more than two-hour talks with Swami Shivanand of Matra Sadan yesterday, today paid a surprise visit to the ashram and held talks with him for more than an hour.

However, despite repeated assurances by the Cabinet Minister, Swami Shivanand refused to bow to his suggestions and categorically stated that till he got an assurance in writing from Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri on totally banning quarrying in the region he would not end his agitation. His agitation has entered its second week.

Accompanied by Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Bhatt) activists and local people involved with quarrying, Bhatt in the evening made it clear that he would not be launching an agitation because of public pressure. He said he would not resign from the state cabinet and would take up the quarrying issue with the Chief Minister. He asserted that at no cost there would be any ban on quarrying in the region.

Though he once again proposed to the Matra Sadan authorities that a controlled quarrying be allowed with a total ban using JCB machines and heavy tractors in quarrying on the Ganga river bed.

Meanwhile, Commissioner of Garhwal Ajay Singh Nambiyal, Garhwal Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Sanjay Gunjiyal, District Magistrate of Haridwar R Senthyl Pendiyan, Superintendent of City Police Yogendra Singh Rawat and Sub-divisional Magistrate Harbeer Singh visited Matra Sadan and urged Swami Shivanand to end his indefinite fast.

Till the filing of the report, administrative officials had been engaged in holding talks with Matra Sadan members. Given the heavy deployment of police personnel at the ashram it seemed that any time during the night the police can arrest Swami Shivanand on medical grounds or on the charge of attempting suicide.

According to administrative sources, the police could take action any time in the evening and with Khanduri also speaking in favour of quarrying in the state, it seems the government has decided to rein in Swami Shivanand.

 BJP rout definite in Assembly poll, says Rawat
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, December 5
Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing and Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat said today that it is the youth power that will change the BJP rule in the state in the coming Assembly elections.

“The youth in the Congress will make a new Congress out of their struggle to oust the corrupt BJP Government from the state and imbibe a new sense of pride amongst the people of Uttarakhand,” said Rawat, while addressing a youth rally organised by a faction of the Congress Party here today.

The rally, named as “takhta palat rally,” was not attended by a sizable section of the Congress as it blamed the organisers for neglecting them. The Congressmen, who organised this rally, boycotted the ex-servicemen’s rally organised on November 27, and also did not invite senior leaders like vice-president of the Uttarakhand Congress Ravindra Singh Bisht and Pithoragarh district Congress chief Mahendra Singh Lunthi.

Addressing the rally, Harish Rawat said that the pace of development that the Congress Government initiated from 2002 onwards was stopped by the BJP Government, which came to power in 2007. “When the government neglected industry, how could jobs be created in the state,” asked Rawat.

Addressing the rally, deputy in charge of the Uttarakhand Congress Party affairs and national joint secretary Anees Ahmed said that every state in the country had air transportation almost in every district but the border district was still waiting for the facility despite the airstrip constructed by the previous Congress Government. “If the BJP Government had developed hydroelectricity, the state today would not be borrowing power from other states,” he said.

Former Uttarakhand Minister Indira Hrideyesh, addressing the rally, said that the BJP Government had failed to come up to the expectations of not only the youth but also ex-servicemen, Dalits and women of the of the state. During the BJP regime, there was no electricity, no water and no respect for ex-servicemen and women and the youth,” said Hrideyesh.

Uttarkhand Youth Congress president Anand Singh Rawat, who is son of Harish Rawat, said that the result of the byelections in recent times showed that the Congress was coming into power in all five states which are going to the polls next year. “Out of 17 mid-term elections, the party had snatched 14 seats from the opponents,” said Anand Rawat.

Congress Members of the Legislative Assembly, including Mahendra Singh Mahra, Ranjit Singh Rawat, Manoj Tiwari and Almora MP Pradeep Tamta were also present in the rally.

Addressing the rally, former Agriculture Minister Mahendra Singh Mahra said that the BJP Government could not utilise a sum of Rs 800 crore for the current budget given by the Central Government. “ The 19 departments of the state government have been running totally on the financial assistance given by the Central Government. The state authorities have failed to use the funds for the welfare of the poor,” added Mahra.

  State to get extra power

Dehradun, December 5
The Central Government has decided to give Uttarakhand an additional 150 megawatt of electricity from the Central reserve pool.

The breakthrough came at a meeting held between Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar and Central Energy Secretary P. Umashankar in New Delhi recently.

The Chief Secretary had informed the Central Energy Secretary about the grim power scenario in the state that was expected to get worse in the winter months due to gap in the demand and supply.

He also said most of the power projects had been shut due to environment reasons. “The Centre should adequately compensate the state by allocating extra power,” said Kumar.— TNS

 Zila Panchayat chief joins Cong
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, December 5
Pithoragarh Zila Panchayat Chairperson Sunita Devi joined the Congress in the presence of Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing and Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat here today.

Sunita Devi, BJP Chairperson of the Zila Panchayat, who joined the Congress during a Youth Congress rally at Pithoragarh on Monday.

Sunita Devi, who was earlier a BJP member, was elected Zila Panchayat Chairperson on April 18 after former Chairperson Ranjana Devi was ousted by BJP members through a no-confidence motion on January 19.

Sunita Devi alleged that: “From day 1 of my joining, I was being tortured by BJP leaders.

They used to demand a hefty sum from me as the Zila Panchayat Chairperson. Therefore, I took decision to left the party sensing its anti-Dalit and anti-women stance.”

Welcoming Sunita Devi into the party fold, Congress leaders said with her joining the party, “anti-Dalit” policies of the BJP had come to the fore.

BJP state president Bishen Singh Chufal, however, said Sunita Devi had left the party due to her personal interests. “During elections such incidents are common,” he added.

 Gang of ATM card thieves busted
Three held with 25 cards; Rs 3 lakh stolen money found in suspect’s account
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, December 5
The police today claimed to have arrested three automated teller machine (ATM) card thieves while they were trying to execute another such theft.

According to the information, the three suspected thieves, who are below 25 years of age, were arrested near the Mata Mansa Devi shrine rope way. Sonu Kumar Upadhyay of Muzaffarnagar, Pradeep Kumar of Baghpat and Ankur Kumar of Meerut were held along with 25 ATM cards stolen from different areas of the district. These cards were were stolen by them from either naive ATM card users or senior citizens on the pretext of helping them.

One of the suspects used to keep an eye on an ATM card user from a distant while another immediately follow the card user into the ATM cabin. The third one would stand outside the cabin and hassle the user by asking him repeatedly to speed up. The suspect already present in the cabin gets a chance to offer help to the card user and if the former accepts his offer he would change the ATM card after withdrawing money for him. Station house officer of the City Kotwali Jai Mal Singh Negi said the police had been on the trail of this gang for the past six months as they had duped several persons of their ATM cards.

Pushkar Sailal, SSP, has announced a cash reward of Rs 2500 for the police team . Deposits worth Rs 3 lakh were found in Sonu Kumar’s account and he has admitted that it was all stolen money. 

Their modus operandi

One of the suspects used to keep an eye on an ATM card user from a distant while another immediately follow the card user into the ATM cabin. The third one would stand outside the cabin and hassle the user by asking him repeatedly to speed up. The suspect already present in the cabin gets a chance to offer help to the card user and if the former accepts his offer he would change the ATM card after withdrawing money for him.

 Janadhar e-Sewa for people of U’khand in Delhi, NCR 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 5
Chief Minister BC Khanduri inaugurated Janadhar e-Sewa for Uttarakhandi people residing in Delhi and NCR at Uttarakhand Niwas in New Delhi today, according to a prèss release of the state government.

Addressing mediapersons, Khanduri said to get various administrative certificates, common men, students and senior citizens had to make rounds of villages, blocks, districts and divisional offices, which caused inconvenience to them. “So, with a view to alleviating their sufferings, we, through Janadhar e-Sewa, have provided the common men a single-window office, where they could easily get various certificates such as caste certificates, domicile certificates, and hill-region resident certificates,” he said. Khanduri, after assuming office as CM of Uttarakhand on September 11, 2011, issued directives to the officials that in every tehsil of the state, Janadhar e-Sewa centres be set up and such centres were started in every tehsil headquaters.

“With the starting of Janadhar e-Sewa in Delhi, over 30 lakh people from Uttarakhand living in Delhi and NCR would be benefited,” he claimed. In Delhi, Janadhar e-Sewa has been set up in the office of the Chief Resident Commissioner at Indraprakash Bhavan, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi. 

 MC gets Rs 100 cr for rehabilitation of slum areas
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, December 5
With Haridwar becoming a Municipal Corporation, the benefits of this status are now getting materialised. The Municipal Corporation has got a budget of Rs 100 crore for the rehabilitation of 45 slum temporary colonies (malin basti) falling under the purview of the corporation.

This sum has been allocated under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for the rehabilitation of the development of slum colonies.

Fortyfive slum colonies have already been earmarked with a survey done by Dehradun-based private agency in Haridwar and within two days, the drafting work will be completed by different government departments and nodal agencies regarding the facelift of these slums.

Informing The Tribune, District Magistrate R Senthyl Pendiyan said this multi-crore project would provide basic facilities like water, road connectivity, sewerage, electricity, garbage disposal and permanent homes.

“What is unique about this project is that while rebuilding these 45 colonies, all parameters as pointed by the survey agency, will be kept in mind, while other specifications, which come into light by respective government departments officials in consultation with the colony people, will also be taken into account” said Pendiyan.

Also with the Haridwar population touching 10-lakh mark and rapidly expanding industrial sector in the district, this JNNURM project will be kept in view of the population and infrastructure that will be required in 2025.

Apart from infrastructure under this project, education will be provided to children and the unemployed youth of these slums will also be trained in various trades and then will be provided direct placement in the industrial units situated in SIDCUL, 15 kms from Haridwar.

Co-administrator of the Municipal Corporation Jyoti Pandey said suggestions regarding further improvement in the survey agency report had been invited from the various departments concerned involved in this project, so as to make these slums an ideal role model permanent colonies.

As per the officials under this project, all colonies will be developed keeping in mind their respective considerations so that each and every aspect or flaw gets covered, making them
ideal colonies. 

 Two exam admit cards sent to one person
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, December 5
The nonchalant and negligent attitude of the Uttarakhand Board of Technical Education, Roorkee, was evident today when the office, enshrined with the job to conduct examinations in the state, sent two admit cards of different persons on one address in Chamba town in district Tehri Garhwal.

Two admit cards that have been sent on one address by the Uttarakhand Board of Technical Education.

Pramod Uniyal, resident of Chamba, an applicant for the grade C post, who is preparing for the exams scheduled for December 11, opened a package delivered by the Postal Department and to his disbelief found that he had received not only his own admit card but also of another applicant from Ghansali bock, 70 km away from Chamba, along with it.

Uniyal first thought that he had received a duplicate of his own admit card, but after reading it carefully found that the admit card was of another applicant, VijayPal, resident of Dhamtoli in Ghansali. Realising the amount of inconvenience Vijay Pal would undergo without the admit card to the extent that he would not be able to sit in the examination, he, through registered post, delivered it to the rightful owner of the admit card after showing it to the mediapersons today.

Pramod Uniyal further said that this incident cast a doubt over the working of the Uttarakhand Board of Technical Education, which was jeopardising the career of the unemployed youth of the state.

All the attempts to seek a response from the Uttarakhand board failed as most of the telephone numbers were either engaged or out of order.

The board had been set up by Act No 27 of 2003 as passed by the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly to conduct various examinations as prescribed under the state government guidelines.