The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

PRD jawans taking out a procession towards the residence of the Chief Minister being stopped at a police barricade in Dehradun on Thursday.
A Tribune photograph

BSP goes with upper castes in hills
Haridwar, December 8
Though the Bahujan Samaj party has been primarily a party of the Dalits and minorities, a paradigm shift is being witnessed in the party’s strategy now, in view of the coming Assembly elections in Uttarakhand.

Jharkhand BJP leader gives tips to party workers
Mussoorie, December 8
Senior BJP leader from Jharkhand and in charge of Mussoorie Assembly segment Ganesh Mishra met BJP workers and discussed party’s winning prospects in the coming state Assembly elections here today.

No doctor for a population of 60,000 in Dharchula
Pithoragarh, December 8
The people of Dharchula will gherao the office of the District Magistrate on December 17. They are planning the protest as there is no doctor posted at the community health centre in the town.

Class IV staff seek higher package
Dehradun December 8
Poor members of the Uttarakhand Class IV State Employees’ Association had to brave cold weather conditions and, above all, apathy of the state government as no government official came to even receive the memorandum from them when they sat on dharna for close to two hours before the Chief Minister’s house. Striking class IV employees of the Uttarakhand Government holding a dharna on the road leading to the Chief Minister’s residence in Dehradun on Thursday

Striking class IV employees of the Uttarakhand Government holding a dharna on the road leading to the Chief Minister’s residence in Dehradun on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

Poor state of education in Champawat
Pithoragarh, December 8
There is total mismanagement in the Education Department in Champawat district. As a result, students of intermediate colleges in remote areas of the district are suffering. Dozens of teachers are sitting idle in some of the colleges as there are no students to teach.

Few takers for U-Health smart card scheme
Dehradun, December 8
The optional U-Health cashless smart card scheme, which was launched last year, has proved to be an unattractive proposition for the state government employees who continue to show disinterest in opting for it.

Debris dumping continues on Kempty road
Mussoorie, December 8
The continuous dumping of the debris illegally on the road from Mussoorie to the Kempty Falls is turning the area into a dumping zone, thanks to the building mafia and the neglect of the authorities here.

Students take vow for clean, green Doon
Dehradun, December 8
An awareness rally on the theme “Clean Doon, Green Doon” was taken out by students of Children’s Academy Senior Secondary School. Principal of the school Kiran Kashyap inaugurated the programme.
Students of Children’s Academy hold a rally in support of eco-preservation in Dehradun on Thursday.

Work boycotted at collectorate office
Dehradun December 8
The Uttarakhand Collectorate Ministerial Employees Association boycotted work at the collectorate office in the city today. The members are demanding restructuring of the collectorate set-up and promotion of ministerial employees on the 10 per cent vacancies for the position of nayab tehsildar.

	Assembly Poll Koshiyari may be made BJP in charge Tribune News Service Dehradun, December 8 With state BJP president Bishan Singh Chufal likely to contest the coming Assembly elections, the chances of former Chief Minister and senior leader Bhagat Singh Koshiyari being made as in charge of the state BJP have brightened. The BJP top leadership is expected to make the organisational change once the party finalises the distribution of tickets. Soon after the leadership change was made in the state with the anointing of BC Khanduri as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, probable leadership changes in the party had also gained ground as Chufal was seen more in tune with the former Chief Minister, Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. However, Chufal managed to stave off any challenge to his leadership. Now, with the elections drawing near, the party sources say Koshiyari would be made the in charge of the state BJP. As Chufal is expected to get busy with the elections, he would not be able to devote much time for the organisation and without removing him the party would be able to anoint Koshiyari as in charge of the state BJP. With two power centres revolving around Khanduri and Nishank pulling the party in different directions, the situation in the BJP is expected to get further complicated after Koshiyari steps in. In the recent shake-up of Chief Ministers in the state, Koshiyari had aligned with Khanduri. Nishank is known to have skipped recent meetings in which Koshiyari was also present.
	Semwal terms Chufal’s statement confusing Tribune News Service Dehradun December 8 Spokesperson of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Diwakar) Satish Semwal has termed the statement of BJP state president Bishan Singh Chufal confusing where he said that Diwakar Bhatt would join the BJP and fight on their party’s symbol in the forthcoming Assembly polls. Semwal said such misleading statements might weaken their alliance. Talks between two persons could not be decisive in any way and said they had followed the political religion of staying truthful to the alliance for the last five years. If the BJP offered them again, their party would consider the option or else would fight on the seats themselves. Reacting to the parleys between constituents of the United Regional Front, he said the members of the parties were tired and over-ambitious and would part ways before election code of conduct was imposed.
	BSP goes with upper castes in hills Sandeep Rawat Tribune News Service Haridwar, December 8 Though the Bahujan Samaj party has been primarily a party of the Dalits and minorities, a paradigm shift is being witnessed in the party’s strategy now, in view of the coming Assembly elections in Uttarakhand. The BSP now is giving a substantial representation to politicians from higher castes by making them official party candidates, particularly in hill segments. This can be gauged by the fact that the just released third list of 10 candidates for the Assembly elections have all the candidates belonging to upper castes. With the BSP having no legislator at present from the 11 hill districts, the state unit leaders and election planners have now given tickets to candidates from upper castes, taking into various considerations. First of all, this move will give the party mass acceptance among the voters from these castes as well as boost their candidates’ winning chances in the plain segments of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar too, where it has a strong base. Secondly, the party think-tank realises that in the hilly regions the lower caste and minorities population is very less and candidates belonging to them could not draw substantial votes, unless they are is politically strong. Mohammed Shahzad, party’s leader in the state Assembly, told The Tribune that this move should not be viewed keeping in mind the election prospect only, but should be taken alongside the party supremo Mayawati’s ideology of “Sarv Jan Hitay” wherein all the communities are equal for the party. He cited last parliamentary elections, when from the Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat the party had given ticket to Rajiv Aggarwal and Dr Pramod Uniyal from Tehri Garhwal, both hailing from upper castes. Notably, the party’s third list figures upper caste candidates: Hukum Singh Pokhriyal (Gangotri), Bijendra Prasad Nautiyal (Yamunotri), Dheer Singh Bisth (Rudraprayag), Rajendra Kutiyal(Pithoragarh), Gobind Ballabh Pandey (Lohaghat), Devki Nandan Suyal (Nainital), Nupur Gupta(Dehradun Cantonment), Ajay Sood (Raipur), Rajesh Pratap (Kitcha) and Gulshan Arora from Haridwar (rural). “Mayawati-led BSP government in Uttar Pradesh has carried out development and the same will be replicated in Uttarakhand. We have given due representation to every caste in view of the merit of the candidate, surely we will be not only opening account but will also be winning at least 10 seats in the hills,” said state BSP chief Suraj Mal. This move surely has upped the party’s prospects in the coming elections and certainly the “elephant” is on its way to climb the hills, it seems this time.
	Jharkhand BJP leader gives tips to party workers Our Correspondent Mussoorie, December 8 Senior BJP leader from Jharkhand and in charge of Mussoorie Assembly segment Ganesh Mishra met BJP workers and discussed party’s winning prospects in the coming state Assembly elections here today. BJP local unit president Roop Singh Kathait welcomed Mishra. Mishra, while speaking to the media, said the preparations for the elections were in place and the BJP was once again gearing up to return to the power in the state. Elaborating further, he said the BJP would be going into elections on the plank of good governance and development work done in the past five years in the state. He also gave tips to the party workers on ways to form booth-level committees and garner more voters to the BJP fold. He also said the BJP government was committed to root out corruption and effective Lokayukt Bill brought by the Khanduri government is a prime example of the honest intentions. However, considering the low turnout at the review meeting of party workers, many insiders feel that the factionalism was here to stay and achieving results under such circumstances will be a uphill task for the party even after importing election in charge from Jharkhand.
	No doctor for a population of 60,000 in Dharchula Residents plan gherao of DM’s office on Dec 17 Our Correspondent Pithoragarh, December 8 The people of Dharchula will gherao the office of the District Magistrate on December 17. They are planning the protest as there is no doctor posted at the community health centre in the town. “Before that, the residents of the town will gherao the office of the chief medical officer of the district and close down the government offices on December 11 and 15 respectively,” said Kalu Ram Bharati, a senior citizen of the town. According to the residents of Dharchula, they are fed up with the government’s promises on the matter and have found the agitation the final resort. They said the promises and the assurances could not bring the doctors for the past 6 years, when the centre was opened. “Dharchula subdivision has population of more than 60,000, including the town and the villages of the remote border areas. But at present, the centre has no doctor. The lone doctor deputed here has gone on a leave,” said Bharati. “The government has fully neglected this border area from the health and communication point of view, as neither the sufficient number of doctors is available in the CHC, nor the mobile towers have been erected in the subdivision,” said Bhupendra Singh Thapa president of the Dharchula Vyapar Mandal. The people of the subdivision said even for a small medical case, they had to move to the district headquarter which was 100 km from there. “The people of Dharchula are so poor that they are in no position to travel to the district headquarter for minor ailments,” said Thapa. The delegation of citizen today met the subdivisional magistrate of Dharchula and handed over a memorandum for the chief minister through him demanding an immediate appointment of doctors in the community health center, Dharchula.
	Class IV staff seek higher package Tribune News Service Dehradun December 8 Poor members of the Uttarakhand Class IV State Employees’ Association had to brave cold weather conditions and, above all, apathy of the state government as no government official came to even receive the memorandum from them when they sat on dharna for close to two hours before the Chief Minister’s house. Their demands include a salary package as per the Sixth Pay Commission and promotions. The members had surged ahead in a big rally, which began from the Parade Ground and proceeded via Panchayati Mandir, Clock Tower, Rajpur Road, Hathibadkala and finally reached the CM’s residence, where they were stopped at the barricades. The members continued raising slogans and sat waiting for either the CM to arrive and address their issues or a higher officials to receive their memorandum.But even after two hours, none appeared. The same happened on November 21 as well when no officials came to take the memorandum from them for more than six hours, due to which they had to sit on dharna, and ultimately the police imprisoned the members and left some at the Parade Ground and others at the police lines. Enraged by the outrageous attitude of the state government, the members went on an indefinite strike.

Poor state of education in Champawat
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, December 8
There is total mismanagement in the Education Department in Champawat district. As a result, students of intermediate colleges in remote areas of the district are suffering. Dozens of teachers are sitting idle in some of the colleges as there are no students to teach.

In some other intermediate colleges, there are plenty of students but no teachers.

More than 12 intermediate colleges of the district have science teachers but have no students. “These ‘idle’ teachers have been appointed by the order of the education director. We have requested the director to shift these teachers to the schools where the strength of students is sizable but have received no response from there,” said PR Kohli, district education officer of the district.

There are five intermediate colleges where the number of students is quite sufficient but science teachers are not available. “Most of these colleges are situated in Champawat, Lohaghat and Tanakpur areas,” said the education officer.

The local member of state Assembly, Beena Maharana, has also expressed her concern at the sheer mismanagement of the education administration in the district and said this amounted to cheating the students of the district.

“The matter has been brought to my notice and I will talk to the director to shift these teachers to the colleges where the student strength is strong,” said Beena.

According to Education Department officers, some of the teachers appointed in intermediate colleges where the student attendance is very low have been there since 2006. Due to this problem, the students are gradually shifting to the colleges where teachers are there in good strength. “In our college, the students are not taking admission.

According to the Education Department, posts of 130 lecturer are vacant in the district. Out of an approved strength of 348 lecturers, there are only 218 lecturers available in the district.

Few takers for U-Health smart card scheme
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 8
The optional U-Health cashless smart card scheme, which was launched last year, has proved to be an unattractive proposition for the state government employees who continue to show disinterest in opting for it.

Out of 2.75 lakh (approx) employees, around 3,000 employees have opted for the scheme and most say the hospitals empanelled by the state government under the scheme do not have facilities for carrying out procedures that only major medical centres can undertake.

“The hospitals selected in the state are not well equipped. The OPDs are without basic facilities and these have limited choices for undertaking treatment for cancer and heart diseases,” said Prahlad Singh of the Rajya Karamchari Sanyukt Parishad.

The Uttarakhand Government had introduced U-Health smart cards for the serving and retired employees last year. The facilities to be provided include in-patient care, emergency services in all the allopathic systems, pathological and diagnostic investigations, free supply of necessary drugs for patients, supply of necessary drugs for out-patients prescribed by the authorised medical attendants, free supply of necessary drugs for follow-up after treatment for five days, and after that on the recommendation of the authorised medical attendants from a public hospital.

“An ATM-like card allows access to treatment packages and procedures available at the empanelled hospitals (both private and government) in the state as well as outside the state. The entire treatment cost is to be funded later by the government,” said the acting DG health, Dr JP Bhatt.

Out of the empanelled hospitals, 43 are in the state and 11 outside the state. The scheme is being administered through the third party, MD India. All the employees are given a guide book that includes a list of empanelled hospitals, along with a list of treatments being offered,” said Dr Bhatt.

However, the employees allege that the Health Department, that is the nodal agency for the scheme, has not carried out publicity for the scheme on a war footing. “The benefits of the scheme are yet to reach the employees in the lower rung,” said Prahlad Singh.