Dehradun January 9
Prominent leaders of the city preferred to file their nomination papers today, professed auspicious, in the District Magistrate’s office premises amid tight security arrangements. The weather remained pleasantly sunny till the afternoon. All the leaders had filed their nomination papers, except Bahadur Singh Rawat, city president, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P), who remained busy in giving statements to media persons and crossed the time limit for filing the nominations. Now he will file the papers tomorrow.

The prominent leaders who filed nomination papers were Manoj Sharma from the BSP from Mussoorie, Tanveer Ahmad from the BSP and Ravinder Kataria of the BJP for the Rajpur seat. Those who filed for the Dharampur seat were Prakash Suman Dhyani from the BJP, Dinesh Aggarwal from the Congress and Haji Salim Ahamed from the BSP.

Phool Singh Lodhi from the BSP was the lone candidate who came to file nominations from Doiwala; so was speaker Harbans Kapoor for Cantt seat.

For the Raipur seat, Maya Mohan Lakhera, Mohan Singh Rawat, both Independent candidates, Ajay Sud of the BSP and Trivender Singh Rawat, Cabinet minister and BJP candidate, filed their nomination papers.

The first one to drop in at the DM’s premises was Dinesh Aggarwal, who filed one set of papers at 11.30 and came again to file the rest. The way he came with fewer supporters for the first round spread the speculations that he hurried for a specific time, as must have been advised by astrologers, to brighten his winning chances. Aggarwal, who may strike a hat-trick with this election, said his priorities would be to beautify the state with better infrastructure, make it the most developed state and provide the fundamental amenities to voters of his segment.

The leaders continued to come with a crowd of their supporters, beating drums, airing slogans and dancing in the form of procession, which defied the modal code of conduct to some extent. Instead of the leader and four of his supporters, as was permissible, hordes of supporters barged inside the nomination room. They also raised slogans inside the office premises, though later on the police became alert and stopped them from doing so. BSP leader Tanveer Ahmed’s caravan came with blue flags and proceeded inside the premises but was stopped at a little distance from the nomination rooms. It was Dinesh Aggarwal and Trivender Singh Rawat’s rallies which were rated biggest among all.

The supporters of Aggarwal seemed genuine but those of Rawat appeared hired, as a lot of buses were seen parked outside his residence.

Speaker Harbans Kapoor came with his wife and son. Beaming with joy, Kapoor, who fought the Assembly elections eight times and registered victory six times, said: “Elections are the biggest festival of democracy, where the public either rewards or punishes the candidates, taking into account the sum total of their work done for the welfare of the people for a period of five years.” He said he was ready to get the verdict from the people and meet the challenges which would come his way.

Vinay Kataria, BJP candidate for Rajpur seat, who is fighting for the first time, said the organisation had rewarded him for his services spanning two decades by giving an opportunity to serve people through active politics.

Trivender Singh Rawat exuded confidence, saying that by seeing the surging enthusiasm among the public for BJP leaders, the party was most likely to return to power this time.

Ajay Sud of the BSP expressed diverse opinion, saying that the BSP was slated to do extremely well as people were aggrieved with both the BJP and the Congress for their tainted leaders and poor administration.

Tanveer Singh, BSP candidate, said his priorities would include checking migration, simplification of issuance of caste certificate and ownership rights to people of slum colonies. 

Mussoorie, January 9
The Dhanaulti constituency, which has been de-reserved after 43 years due to the delimitation exercise conducted by the Election Commission, is witnessing the largest number of rebel candidates in major political parties, namely the BJP and the Congress.

Jot Singh Bisht, a senior Congress leader, has already announced that he would fight as an Independent candidate in the upcoming election from Dhanaulti.

Somwari Lal, another Congress leader, has resigned from the party and announced his candidature from the Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha.

Dr Virendar Rawat, Congress leader of a tall stature in the party, is still contemplating resigning and fighting as an Independent candidate from Dhanaulti. Rajesh Nautiyal from the BJP is also in the rebel mode and may file his nomination as an Independent candidate after consultation with his supporters.

In the wake of such circumstances, the rebel candidates and their supporters have begun clandestine meetings with frantic pace.

According to sources, rebel Congress candidate Bisht had several round of talks with rebel factions in the BJP and Congress both, today. Another rebel from the BJP Nautiyal is also talking to his supporters and gauzing their mood on his candidature an as Independent candidate.

Dr Virendar Rawat, another Congress candidate, is analyzing his prospects and is in a dilemma whether to leave the Congress or not.

The official candidates in both the major parties, the Congress and the BJP, worried about such clandestine activities by various rebel factions that could damage their winning prospects in the elections. 

Dehradun, January 9
For refinement of weather predictions, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) will be setting up automatic weather stations at the districts and two doppler weather radars in Uttarakhand for monitoring of areas where heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and hailstorms are expected.

“We intend to use technology for real-time access to data. This kind of data will be helpful for farmers. Presently we are unable to provide such data. The GPRS manned automatic weather stations would be able to monitor hour by hour weather updates. We are also installing doppler weather radars in Mussoorie and Nainital,”said Director General IMD Air Marshal (retd) Ajit Tyagi, while speaking with The Tribune.

He was here in Dehradun to inaugurate the meteorological centre.

He said the district-level automatic weather stations in the states would boost the overall improvement in weather prediction at the all-India level. “Though we have a fairly good number of observatories, all the districts are not covered. This kind of data will be helpful for the farmers also,” he said.

The DG said there was also need to strengthen ground-level weather stations and admitted grey areas in weather prediction depended on local conditions. “These have to be minutely observed. Each weather development has to be monitored right from when it starts and how it proceeds to its culmination point. We have to strengthen our observation systems to the extent that we are able to monitor the randomly occurring weather changes and give timely warning to the people,” he said.

Air Marshal (retd.) Ajit Tyagi also said that two 100-year-old weather observatories are already functional in Mukteshwar and Dehradun. “These observatories, established during the British period, continue to provide us data and are testimony to the fact that the record keeping of data with the help of these observatories has continued uninterrupted,” he said.

Meanwhile, the DG today inaugurated the meteorological Centre to be built on Haridwar road by the CPWD, Dehradun circle. Once the centre becomes operational, it will be able to provide forecast to the farmers, aviation centre and the general public. 

Dehradun January 9
Dehradun received hailstorm and rain while the higher reaches of Uttarakhand received snowfall here today.

A few areas of the city, including Rajpur, Johri Gaon and Purkal Gaon, were covered in white hailstones. The people were seen enjoying the view and threw hailstone balls at each others. Till late in the evening, drizzle continued to moisten the city.

According to Dr Anand Sharma, Director, Dehradun Meteorological Department, “Cold wave conditions will continue in Uttarakhand with snowfall taking place in higher reaches and rain in other parts of the state.”

Dehradun, January 9
Chief Electoral Officer, Uttarakhand, Radha Raturi, today said in view of the forthcoming Assembly elections, the Home Guards and paramilitary forces would take part in the police parade to be held on January 26, as the Uttarakhand police force would be deployed in different places for election duty in remote areas of the state.

She aired her views during a meeting held to discuss district-wise and range-level deployment of Central paramilitary forces. A review was carried out regarding district-wise deployment of 2000 Home Guards personnel to be requisitioned from Himachal Pradesh.

At the meeting, Additional Director General of Police (Law & Order) SK Bhagat presented details of comparative chart of standards prescribed for plain and hill areas in terms of total police force available in the state, polling stations, polling booths, and sensitive and extremely sensitive polling stations.

The Chief Electoral Officer, Uttarakhand, reviewed the status and position of deployment of Central paramilitary forces for security of EVM machines at the vote counting stations, and directed the deployment of companies of the ITBP personnel for the purpose.

She also said a report of cases registered for violation of the model code of conduct, flying squads and effective action to be taken by static surveillance teams in the state would be filed through the nodal officer on a daily basis.

Those who were present at the meeting included Inspector General of Police, PAC, Alok Sharma, IG, Kumaon Zone, RS Meena, DIG of Police (Crime, Law and Order), Deepam Seth, DIG, Garhwal Range, Sanjay Gunjyal, and Joint Chief Electoral Officer Saujanya.

Mussoorie, January 9
Even the inclement weather accompanied by heavy snowfall could not deter the Rawain-Jaunpur-Jaunsar community from celebrating the Magh festival, popularly called “Maroj” that was organised by the Aglar Yamuna Ghati Vikas Manch in here today.

The festival was a low-key affair this year as the majority of members from the community were busy with the nomination filing of the candidates, especially from Dhanaulti Assembly constituency and were unable to attend the festival here.

General secretary of the manch Bijendar Panwar and coordinator SS Kharkhai welcomed the chief guest on the occasion. The celebration was followed by a mesmerising folk dance performance by a local group from the community.

The womenfolk, dressed in the traditional attire, graced the occasion. Panwar highlighted the fact that the manch was an organisation to promote the socio-economic and cultural issues of the region. He was extremely happy that the community in Mussoorie had gathered to celebrate the festival despite heavy snowfall. OP Uniyal, president, Nagar Palika, also congratulated the community for a successful celebration of the traditional festival of the region. He also commended the effort of the organisers in bringing the community together.

Another community leader Balbir Singh Chauhan said the festival would help in reviving the tradition of the state.

The chief guest, sports and youth minster in the BJP Government Khajan Das also wished the people on the occasion.

He also danced with the folk artistes on the occasion, thus proving the allegations by the opposition that he did nothing other than dancing during his tenure as a minister in the past five years.

Khajan Das, speaking to mediapersons about his election prospects, said he would be fighting elections as an Independent candidate or from a regional party. He also alleged that it was senior leaders like Koshyari and Khanduri who were responsible for cancellation of his Assembly ticket from the Rajpur constituency. He claimed that the party was following an anti-Dalit policy under which his ticket was cancelled and would pay a huge price in these elections.

Another senior leader said the senior leaders of the party at the state-level had hatched a conspiracy of neglecting the ardent workers of the party. He also confirmed that his son, an ace shooter Jaspal Rana, is destined to join the Congress. Narayan Singh Rana also assured that he would keep serving the BJP for a long term despite his son leaving the party.

Dehradun, January 9
“Opulence and prosperity of the country can be achieved only through greenery. We as humans have a responsibility to conserve forests and plant more and more saplings for the posterity,” said noted environmentalist Padam Vibhushan Sunderlal Bahuguna during a tree-plantation ceremony conducted by the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO), Shuklapur village, here today.

The programme was organised on the occasion of the 86th birth anniversary of Bahuguna where he shared his life experiences with other environmentalists and forest conservers.

He said trees, rivers and hills were the assets of the planet. Bahuguna also encouraged the youth of the country to come forward and take up the mission of preserving the Himalayas.

Dr Anil Prakash Joshi, Founder of the HESCO, also congratulated Bahuguna on his birthday.