UKD (D) passing through major upheaval
Dehradun, January 5
The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (D) is passing through a major upheaval for the last two days. Acting president of the party and head of the executive committee Luxman Singh Chufal is leading the group of dissidents in the party, who are not happy with the decision of party president and state Cabinet Minister Diwakar Bhatt to fight on BJP’s symbol in the Assembly elections.

Sale of liquor under EC’s lens
Nainital, January 5
The election machinery in the state is keeping a strict vigil on the flow of liquor in the wake of the coming Assembly poll. Employees of the Excise and Prohibition Department are being kept busy round the clock having to tabulate the sale of liquor.

Dehradun, January 5
The Health Department has announced a 10 per cent hike in user charges for all the services being offered at the Doon Hospital (male and female).

The patients availing themselves of treatment at the hospital will have to get used to paying more and the latest increase is in view of the decision of the department to undertake a yearly hike of 10 per cent.

“The increase in the user charges for the services being offered at the hospital is in keeping with the inflationary trend being witnessed in the country,” said Dr BC Pathak, Principal Superintendent of the Doon Hospital.

The hospital authorities have revised rates of the diagnostic tests, food, examination, etc, but for those falling in the BPL (below poverty line) category, the services will continue to be free of cost.

The new charges include Rs 60 for admission, Rs 84 for X-ray, Rs 960 for CT scan, Rs 24 as bed charges and Rs 120 as ECG charges.

However, the hospital authorities maintained that the increase in charges of the diagnostic procedure, bed charges, operation, etc, continues to be cheaper than that those in private clinics and hospitals. The hike in the user charges, though minimal, is expected to make a substantial difference to the earnings of the government hospitals, grappling with an influx of patients on the one hand and the pressure to provide better facilities on the other.

Dehradun January 5
A team of shopkeepers from Chakrata Road met vice-chairman, Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), today to discuss their reservation regarding leaving two metres more space from the remaining part of the demolished shops on the road.

VC, BVRC Purushottam, tried to drive home the fact that the space was necessary for parking purpose. The shopkeepers were not content with his explanation and insisted on not giving up any more space. They said they would not tolerate any more demolition of their shops. Shashikant Goyal, president of the Chakrata Road Shopkeepers’ Association, said: “We are hardly left with eight metres of the remaining area. If we leave two metres from it, then we will not be left with much space. Therefore, no one is willing to abide by the MDDA’s direction in this regard.”

The VC said he would clear the MDDA’s stand on the issue in two to three days. Meanwhile, all the 10 mobile towers stood tall over RGM Plaza and were not removed even today. The notices have already been served to the tower owners but they have not come forward in removing them. It is only the Plaza which remains to be demolished on the road as rest of the buildings have been cleared. Others whose shops have been demolished are angry at the authorities for sparing RGM Plaza and are airing their displeasure openly.

The traffic, was, however, opened on the Chakrata Road as the debris has been removed from the road.

The MDDA officials have prepared a new plan for the Chakrata Road, according to which the road will be made six lane instead of four lane as was proposed earlier. The road will be decorated with plants on both the sides and ample footpath area would be provided.

Dehradun, January 5
The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (D) is passing through a major upheaval for the last two days. Acting president of the party and head of the executive committee Luxman Singh Chufal is leading the group of dissidents in the party, who are not happy with the decision of party president and state Cabinet Minister Diwakar Bhatt to fight on BJP’s symbol in the Assembly elections.

Chufal is intending to break away from UKD (D) and fight in this election with the rebels. Chufal also belied the reports published in some newspapers that he was appeasing the incensed party workers to comply with Bhatt’s decision. He blamed party spokesperson Satish Semwal for distorting the facts before the media in his name.

Chufal also claimed to have got resignation letters of some 100 party office-bearers and members who wanted to split up from the Diwakar group. He said: “It was before merging with the other faction of UKD in

the year 2005 that the party was registered as UKD (Democratic), having me as the president of the party. I will lead the new party in that name and will not need to get fresh registration.”

He awaits more resignations to come his way on Friday after which he is slated to jump into the electoral arena.

Satish Semwal tried to mitigate the damage the party is destined to face, saying: “The anger brewing inside the members is more on cancellation of their seats. Chufal, who was to fight from Khatima, is highly upset as well. The discontentment will be easily contained by Diwakar Bhatt as he is scheduled to arrive from his constituency.”

Chufal refused to give in to any pressure tactics and fumed, saying: “Diwakar Bhatt is not playing politics but exhibiting traits of dictatorship. By lapping up two tickets from BJP, he had darkened the future of the rest of 68 candidates of the party who are adamant on fighting the elections as they worked hard in their constituencies. If Bhatt had fought from his party, even for two seats, we would have backed him up fully. But he is sailing in two boats. He should resign from any of the two parties because representing two parties is constitutionally incorrect.”

On the other hand, other faction of UKD (P) did not open its cards for the second list of the candidates as was decided to be done today.

Party general secretary Shishpal said: “We are being contacted by rebels from UKD, BJP and Congress. So the party leaders want to withhold the release of the second list till the Congress list is also announced so that the disgruntled leaders from other parties could be considered on various seats of the party.”

He said party leaders were also engaged in assuaging the discontent among those who are likely to be displaced from the list to make room for outsiders.

Nainital, January 5
The election machinery in the state is keeping a strict vigil on the flow of liquor in the wake of the coming Assembly poll. Employees of the Excise and Prohibition Department are being kept busy round the clock having to tabulate the sale of liquor.

Sources in the department say that they are drawing day by day comparison of the sale of liquor from every licensed liquor vend vis a vis the sale that had taken last year. This is helping the election machinery analyse how much increase in the sale is being registered.

If there is a dramatic increase in the comparative sale, this will lead to the inference that the liquor is being purchased and stored for distribution probably during the last few days of poll campaign.

The department is also keeping a stringent watch over those purchasing the liquor in bulk. With the marriage season coinciding with the poll campaign, it needs to be clearly demarcated whether the liquor is being purchased in bulk to serve the wedding guests or someone else.

It is a well-known fact that in the past elections, some of the candidates had resorted to luring the voters with distribution of free liquor. It has been seen in the past that liquor plays a role even in the smallest of elections that take place. It is to curb this menace that the Election Commission has adopted stringent measures.

Although there are teams to carry out raids in case there is any information of storage of liquor, the irony remains that the personnel of the department are woefully short of manpower and paraphernalia.

Sources in the department related that there were very few hands available for carrying out the routine jobs what to talk of carrying out specific operations. Then there is a shortage of vehicles and also of arms to tackle a situation where there might be armed resistance from the guilty.

The officials do not dispute the effectiveness of the plan chalked out to check the menace but at the same time they point out to the various shortcomings which need to be addressed by the administration.

Dehradun, January 5
With a large number of rebel candidates expected to be in fray in the Uttarakhand Assembly elections, the Uttarakhand Janmanch, a non-political organisation, has appealed to rebels from both Congress and BJP to come on a common platform and give people of Uttarakhand a viable political alternative.

The Uttarakhand Janmanch that had been quite vocal over the corruption issue in the state today issued an appeal to both Congress and BJP rebel candidates and other intelligentsia to join the Janmanch.

Uttarakhand Janmanch secretary Rajen Todariya disclosed that the Janmanch had taken an initiative to bring all rebels on a common platform for the betterment of politics of Uttarakhand that had been marred with the rampant corruption. He said both Congress and BJP had never believed in democracy and asserted that neither there was internal democracy in both these two parties, nor they were committed to the development of the state.

Todariya said some MLAs and certain former ministers were already in touch with him and had welcomed the Janmanch’s efforts. He said literary personalities, artists and others social workers in the state had also strongly favoured for providing a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative to the people.

He said the Janmanch would also be convening a conference of intelligentsia in Uttarakhand for forming a popular opinion linked to the Assembly elections in the state. Todariya said the good people must come forward to become opinion makers and free Uttarakhand from corrupt politicians of the national parties.

Dehradun, January 5
A brilliant hat-trick by Gopal Joshi helped the Bajrang Football Club trounce the Balaji Boys Football Club in the quarterfinal match of the Ram Bahadur Chhetri Memorial Football Tournament played at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) ground here today.

Both teams were locked in an even battle when Gopal Joshi scored the first goal for his team in the 40th minute. He scored his second and third goals in the 50th and 52nd minutes, respectively. Later, Rahul Kainthola scored the fourth goal in the 55th minute and Anuj scored the fifth goal in the 58th minute of the game.

In the second quarterfinal match, Garhwal Sportings beat Chanderbani XI 6-5 to enter the semifinal stage of the tournament. Both teams remained locked at 1-1 during the stipulated time. Vikaran Rana scored the first goal for Garhwal Sportings in the 51st minute but Chanderbani Xi equalized through Deepak in the 55th minute.

In the tie-breaker, Garhwal Sportings scored all five penalties while Chanderbani XI missed a goal to lose the match 6-5. Abhishek, Vikaram Rana, Naveen, Sumit and Pankaj scored for Garhwal Sportings while Mohit, Deepak, Shubham and Anuj scored for Chanderbani XI.

The Bajrang Football Club and Garhwal Sportings reached the semifinal of the tournament. Wills Youth Club will take on Nagar Nigam Football Club while Doon Star Club will clash with Doon United Club in tomorrow’s matches.

Dehradun January 5
The Punjab team entered the semifinal by defeating Khail Gao Allahabad and Himachal during the 26th Banke Lal Shah Memorial Under-15 Cricket Tournament played at the Rangers’ College ground here today.

In the first match, the Punjab team defeated Khail Gao Allahabad by 7 wickets. After winning the toss, Punjab chose to bowl first. Khail Gao made a total of 60 runs all out. Rohit Pandey and Aalok were the highest scorers for the team with 13 and 12 runs, respectively. Sukhpreet took three wickets for 12 runs.

In reply, the Punjab team scored 62 runs at the loss of three wickets to win the match. Opener Abhinav scored 34 runs while Marshal also contributed to steer their team to victory with 11 runs.

Meanwhile, in the second match, Punjab beat Himachal by 20 runs. Punjab won the toss and elected to bat first. They made a total score of 140 runs.

Abhinav scored 56 runs in 54 balls and was the highest scorer for the winning team while Marshal remained the second highest scorer with 39 runs in 30 balls.

Responding to the first innings score, Himachal fell short of the target by 20 runs and lost the match with a total score of 120 runs. Lakshay and Sahil were the highest scorers for the team with 32 and 20 runs, respectively.

Dehradun, January 5
The mounting rebellion in the BJP has forced the central leadership to depute senior party leaders who have been instructed to pacify the party workers and supporters and stem rebellion that could spoil the party’s prospects in the coming Assembly elections.

Party senior leaders, vice-chairman, State Planning Commission, Manohar Kant Dhyani, Murat Ram Sharma and Naresh Bansal have been asked to get in touch with the rebels to defuse the revolt.

Today the supporters of S.M. Zaidi also staged a protest against the party’s decision to give the party ticket to Kalim Ansari from Mangalore. In Devprayag district, the party has deputed leaders to take the lid off the simmering discontent prevailing in the BJP after the resignation of Mahipal Butola, who has decided to fight the elections as an Independent candidate.“This is a temporary phase; the things are bound to settle down after some time and the party workers would work for the BJP in the elections,” said Manohar Kant Dhyani.