Power rich, yet weak on power front
SMA Kazmi
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 14
As the state goes to the third Assembly polls on January 30, the most controversial and most important issue for the state remains the development of its hydroelectric potential.

Although most of the political parties talk of building the hydroelectric potential keeping in view the environmental concerns, the two parties, the BJP and the Congress, that ruled the state for the past more than 11 years failed to evolve a power policy. More than six agitations all across the hilly areas of the state were organised against the construction of such hydroelectric projects.

At the time of the formation of the state, hydroelectric potential was billed as the singlemost important resource of the state with a capacity of 20,000 MW. Both political parties termed the state “Urja Pradesh” with a promise of exploiting its hydroelectric potential. However, in the past 11 years, confusion on the issue whether to go in for bigger hydroelectric or opt for smaller hydroelectric projects has been created as people in the state are up in arms against the proposed hydroelectric projects.

Uttarakhand finds itself at a crossroads of development, politics and ecological concerns.

The ruling BJP finds itself caught in its own political web. The development strategy vis-à-vis tapping the hydroelectric potential of the state since its formation has been mired in politics. At the time of the formation of the state on November 9, 2000, it had a total generation capacity of 1100 MW of power from the existing hydroelectric projects.

However, the trouble for the hydro-power sector started in June 2008 when environmentalist Prof GD Agarwal started his fast in protest against hydroelectric projects on the Bhagirathi, citing the sentiments of the Hindu community which revered the river as sacred.

He got ample support from the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Under pressure from the party high command, then Chief Minister BC Khanduri, reluctantly, stopped two of the major power projects, namely 480 MW Pala Maneri and 381 MW Bhairon Ghati Phase-I and phase-II upstream of Uttarkashi on the Bhagirathi.

Agarwal then started another fast to stop work on the Lohari Nagpala project being built by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). Apprehensive of the approaching Lok Sabha elections of 2009, the Union Government stopped the work on the project despite spending Rs 800 crore.

The Uttarakhand BJP government then focused its attention on smaller hydroelectric projects but the entire process of giving tenders of 56 such projects was mired in controversy following allegations of corruption and favouritism, forcing the state government to cancel the entire process as the matter went to the high court.

Moreover, the Ganga River Basin Authority declared the 135 km stretch of the Bhagirathi from Gaumukh to Uttarakashi as the eco-sensitive zone and ordered to stop all three major hydroelectric projects.

“Both Congress as well as BJP governments added only 304 MW of power in the past 11 years. This is the situation of the most important resource of the state. One can imagine about other resources,” claimed SS Pangtey, a retired senior bureaucrat and leader of the Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha.

The first elected Congress government of ND Tiwari did work to increase the hydro-power potential by awarding various projects to public and private sector units amid protests by environmentalists and social organisations. The Congress government restarted the pending 304 MW Maneri Bhali-phase-II that got completed in 2007 but pledged to have only run of the river type of projects instead of storage dams.

Two power projects, namely 400 MW Vishnuprayag by a private company and 180 MW Dhauli Ganga project by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), were the projects that got completed besides completion of 1000 MW Tehri project by the Tehri Hydroelectric Development Corporation (THDC). The state government gets around 13 per cent of the power from these projects as royalty.

“We are for the development of hydroelectric projects keeping in view all environmental concerns of the local people,” maintains Surender Aggarwal, spokesperson of the Uttarakhand Congress.

With industrialisation and urban development of the Terai regions of Haridwar, Dehradun and Udham Singh Nagar districts, the power demand has skyrocketed in the past decade but the state government will be unable to meet the peak demand. The state BJP government has demanded 2000 MW of free power from the Centre for cancellation of power projects.

Reaching out to people through dance, music and puppet shows
Rajeev Khanna/TNS

Nainital, January 14
The time-tested folk media is once again being used at large for promoting awareness amongst the electorate in the ongoing poll exercise across the state. The general perception at work is that people identify themselves more closely with the message given in their own language and with reference to the local issues that are closer to their hearts.

A major tool that is to be used for making the electorate aware across Kumaon would be puppet shows. A team has been deployed by the election machinery to move from village to village and persuade the masses to turn up in large numbers for exercising their right to franchise on the polling day.

The ongoing Uttarayani Melas in the region, particularly the ones at Bageshwar and Haldwani, are being used as the main venues for carrying out public awareness programmes. Apart from the government machinery, social activists, too, are playing their role in educating the people not only to cast their votes but to act responsibly as voters. Through the street plays, songs and dancees, the voters are being told how to confront the efforts of various candidates to lure them with liquor and money.

The voters are being told to use their wisdom while casting their votes. A government functionary involved in the process of generating awareness amongst the voters told The Tribune: “ The message being sent

out is that instead of cursing oneself for having allowed a wrong candidate to come out victorious, it is better to come out and choose the right one who can take up their issues in the Assembly.” In the various public functions, the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have been put on display and people are being educated on how to vote by using them. Pamphlets are also being circulated in large numbers, asking the voters to come out on the day of the polling, no matter how the weather is on that day.

Political parties banking on star campaigners
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 14
With barely two weeks to go for the Assembly polls in Uttarakhand, to win over voters and create a wave in their favour, political parties are now heavily banking on their respective star campaigners.

As in hill districts heavy snowfall has affected normal life and electoral campaign, the star campaigners’ itinerary is now being concentrated in plain segments of the state, particularly in Haridwar.

Congress party national chief Sonia Gandhi’s Haldwani election rally was cancelled owing to extreme weather conditions. Now her electoral tour has been confined in plain segments of Roorkee and Rishikesh.

The UPA chairperson will be addressing voters on January 17 at Lido grounds in Roorkee, where party election planners are expecting a 50,000-odd crowd.

Rajesh Rastogi, Congress Sewa Dal spokesperson, told TNS that Sonia’s visit has been finalised with 10 Janpath giving final consent and now they are busy in making successful the preparations for the rally.

A team of Special Protection Group (SPG), which gives security cover to Gandhi, has inspected the rally venue and Haridwar SSP Pushkar Sailal has also paid an inspection visit to the venue.

With the joining of multiple Asian gold medalist-ace shooter Jaspal Rana in Congress last week, in view of a substantial number of hilly voters in plain segments, the demand of Rana is also being made by Haridwar-Dehradun party candidates.

Communist parties have also plunged into this star attraction public drawing effort. CPI (M) parliamentarian and general secretary of CITU Tapan Sen has arrived in Haridwar today.

More is in the offing, as CP(M) has finalised the whirlwind tour of its firebrand leader Vrinda Karat, while talks are on to call in politburo member Sita Ram Yechury.

With BSP finding it hard to regains its six seats tally in Haridwar district, the party is now banking on its supremo, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, who is scheduled to address a mega rally on January 23 at Nehru Stadium in Roorkee.

Bharatiya Janata Party, which has the ruling government in the state, is also finalising its star campaigners, with heavy demand from party candidates for calling in glamorous faces such as Hema Malini and Vinod Khanna.

Former Uttar Pradesh CM and in-charge of UP-Uttarakhand election Rajnath Singh will be attending tomorrow an election meeting of Haridwar(rural) party candidate Swami Yatishwaranand.

As Hema Malini and Sushma Swaraj in recent years have been to Haridwar, party candidates are demanding their presence in their rallies to give a stiff reply to rival parties as far as star campaigners are concerned.

Dhan Singh Rawat, general secretary of BJP, who is contesting from Sringar Garhwal segment, told TNS that the parties’ star campaigners plan will get finalised before 16th and not only will they be campaigning in plain segments but also in hilly districts as core of the state population lives there only.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his parliamentarian son Akhilesh Yadav’s tour has not been finalised as per party state chief Vinod Barthwal.

Tripta Sharma, Haridwar party candidate of Nationalist Congress Party, said that party state unit had invited Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and his parliamentarian daughter Supriya Suley to Haridwar for an election rally.

‘No factionalism in BSP’
Sandeep Rawat/TNS

Haridwar, January 14
While the Congress and BJP ticket brawl is affecting their election campaigning, the Bahujan Samaj party seems to be in a comfortable position as it has witnessed no such uproar during the allocation of ticket, which was done some time ago.

Relating factionalism in Congress and BJP to the clean ticket allocation record of BSP, Megh Raj Jaravare, in-charge of Uttarakhand elections, pointed out that this is majorly due to party culture and the philosophy that party is above individual, which is not the case in other parties.

Exuding confidence that as the BSP had declared its candidates almost two months ago, Megh Raj said that the advantage of this will surely be accrued by party candidates in the election.

“We are way ahead in voter penetration both in plains and hills owing to party chief Maywati’s declaration of announcing candidates earlier. We are the only party, which is adhering to Election Commission guidelines,”said Megh Raj, an MLC in UP.

State party chief Suraj Mal reiterated that the party will be winning at least 36 seats this time, with due representation given to all the religions and communities in the 70 Assembly segments.

“We don’t fool the public with lofty assurances, but work on the ground level. Mayawati replicated this in Uttar Pradesh and now it is the turn of Uttarakhand to witness development spree if elephant is given a chance by state voters,” said Suraj Mal, at Shivalik Nagar party office.

Winning over dissidents uphill task for Harish Rawat
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 14
The Congress is finding it difficult to win over dissidents in Haridwar as despite local MP and Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat camping here for the past few days, the outrage of the dissidents over the denial of ticket is getting extensive media coverage.

Several ticket aspirants made allegations of the party denying them ticket and favouring others in presence of Harish Rawat. This was witnessed almost everywhere when Rawat tried to appease the dissident leaders. At Roorkee, Lakshar, Mangalore, Ranipur or twin segments of Haridwar, those who have been denied ticket openly alleged favouritism and money having changed hands in the allocation of ticket.

Congress Assembly election in-charge for Roorkee Dr Kuldeep Suryavanshi even alleged in the presence of a large number of party workers that Harish Rawat also took money for ticket allocation.

Outrage among Suryavanshi’s supporters was so severe that they raised slogans against the Union minister and state party chief Yashpal Arya. Similarly, Haridwar district party chief Chaudhary Rajendra Singh is also unhappy over the denial of ticket to him.

For the past one week, since the names of the candidates were announced, Rajendra Singh remained incommunicado despite being persuaded by Harish Rawat. He, however, is now being seen at party programmes though not with the same enthusiasm as is associated with a district leader.

Similarly, former legislator Ambrish Kumar too is angry over the denial of ticket. He has resigned from the party membership and filed nomination papers from the Ranipur Bhel seat as an Independent candidate. He too alleges that Harish Rawat betrayed him as he had rejoined the Congress on the assurance that he would be given ticket from the Ranipur Assembly seat.

Though the Congress candidates came out in Harish Rawat’s support and said he alone did not finalise the list of candidates and it were the special screening committee and the party high command that took the final decision on ticket allotment.

Pradeep Batra, Roorkee Municipal Committee chairman, who is the Congress candidate from Roorkee, told The Tribune as the Congress was a national party and it did not give importance to a few dissidents.

“Even if I had been denied ticket, I would have campaigned for my party candidate. We are loyal Congress activists first and the party is above personal aspirations. One should first have a broad perspective, fit into the parameters of the selection committee and have loyalty towards the party and only then blame others,” said Batra.

Cong asks Azad, Joshi to placate rebels
S.M.A.Kazmi/TNS

Dehradun, January 14
The Uttarakhand Congress, worried over the prospects of it’s candidates facing a rebellion on a number of seats in the state Assembly polls scheduled to be held on January 30, 2012, has sought the intervention of the central party high command to persuade party rebels. Union Ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad and C.P. Joshi have been entrusted with the task to placate the party rebels to persuade them to withdraw from the contest. In this connection, some of the senior party leaders who are close to the rebel candidates would also be pressurised to let the rebels to withdraw. Already, Central Government intelligence agencies have been engaged to collect information on such rebel candidates and their mentors.

Birender Singh, Congress general secretary and in-charge, Uttarakhand Affairs, has been confident that the party would be able to persuade a majority of rebel candidates to withdraw.

“ I am confident that with active support of the party high command and senior leaders, we would be able to persuade them,” he said.

“ I decided not to take any risk and give representation to each and every section of society and place capable candidates,” he added.

Asked about the pressure maintained by former Chief Minister N.D.Tewari to get two party tickets for his favourites, Birender Singh told TNS that it was better to placate Tewari than have him as an adversary in the polls. “ I have seen tremendous goodwill for Tewari in the state and we would have suffered, if he had put up candidates against Congress, particularly in the Kumoan region,” opined Birender Singh.

On party ticket to Youth Congress nominees of Rahul Gandhi, Birender Singh replied that none in Congress could dare challenge the nominee of Rahul Gandhi but in Uttarakhand the ticket to them was given after due deliberations with Rahul Gandhi. He hoped that they would do well as there was an under current in favour of Congress in the state.

Asked about the party ticket to Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat from Rudraprayag Assembly segment, Birender Singh said that he himself is responsible for his landing in Rudraprayag. “Firstly, he wanted Sahaspur, then he dared Nishank from Doiwala but when Nishank came to fight him, he ran away,” he said.

Birender Singh said that the party had given due representation to youth, women and minorities in giving the ticket. “Both the parties are facing rebellion but since we are going to form the next government, we would be in a better position to tackle them,” he concluded.

Congress, BJP ‘have ignored Dalits’
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, January 14
Mohan Lal Nirala, BSP candidate from the Dhanaulti seat (general), has accused both the Congress and the BJP of having failed to solve the problems being faced by the Dalits.

Talking to mediapersons here, Nirala alleged that both the parties had used the Dalits for their vested interests and had proved that they were working with the sole agenda of garnering votes.

Nirala said folk artistes of the region who belonged to the lower strata of society were living a miserable life due to the “faulty” polices of both the BJP in the state and the Congress at the Centre.

Nirala further said the Congress and the BJP, which always claimed to be well-wishers of the Dalit community, stood exposed after denying ticket to a Dalit candidate from Dhanaulti.

He said with the BSP having alloted party ticket to him from Dhanaulti, the party had proved that it wanted to uplift the Dalit community so that it could also participate in the nation-building exercise. Narula belonge to the Dalit community. Nirala also claimed that the BSP would expose both the Congress and the BJP.

The Dhanaulti constituency has around 15,000 voters that belonged to the of the Dalit community.

Piran Kaliyar seat in Haridwar to witness keen contest
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 14
Haridwar district has now three new seats following delimitation and of which the Piran Kaliyar seat has emerged the hottest as far as the political battle is concerned.

Piran Kaliyar, or Kaliyar Sharif, is of immense religious significance as here world famous dargah of Sufi saint Hazrat Aliuddin Ali Ahmad Sabir is situated.

This seat has been carved out of three Assembly seats, namely Landaura, Bhagwanpur and Roorkee, and is situated between two sub tributaries Ratmau and Sonali of the Ganga.

A total of 82 villages have been carved out of these the three earlier Assembly seats to form the Piran Kaliyar seat. Kaliyar is also one segment in the state which is covered on both sides by the Delhi-Dehradun and Delhi-Haridwar national highways. The Jwalapur, Bhagwanpur, Roorkee and Jhabreda seats surround this new seat.

Being a small segment, the number of voters here are about 87,000, with male voters around 47,000 and female 40,000.

Contrary to the normal perception, Piran Kaliyar has 50 per cent Hindu voters, while 45 per cent are Muslims. Of the Muslims, the Jhojha sect constitutes about 9 per cent while there are 6 per cent Teli voters.

Being a place where religious harmony prevails between Hindus and Muslims, voters here want development of the area.

This seat is already gaining media coverage as BSP heavyweight Mohammed Shahzad is contesting from here. In the delimitation exercise Shahzad’s current seat of Bahadrabad has been merged.

Exuding confidence, Shahzad told The Tribune that he was way ahead of other rivals in this seat too as he had always followed development-oriented politics and raised issues related to all segments of Haridwar in the Legislative Assembly.

While the Congress has fielded a Jhojha Muslim leader, Furkan Ahmed, vice-president of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee, who had also contested from the nearby Roorkee seat in the last Assembly elections.

As Furkan, who lost to BJP candidate Suresh Jain then, had been actively working in the Piran Kaliyar seat, party MP from Haridwar Harish Rawat especially recommended his name for ticket from the seat.

BJP candidate Shyam Veer Saini, a veteran politician from the district, makes the contest on the seat triangular. Saini has a substantial base in the region with about 6 per cent community (Saini) vote, the BJP seems to have made a tactical move in fielding him. Besides, Brahmanand of the Lok Janshakti Party will be eyeing peasant’s votes in the region.

The election agendas of these candidates revolve around development and providing better facilities to pilgrims who throng the Kaliyar dargah every year, a smooth road connectivity, opening of a government medical college and hospital and ensuring the international airport project starts in the Assembly segment.

Piran Kaliyar comprises Gumawala, Imlikhera, Dharampur, Mohammadpur Panda, Rampur, Pirankaliyar, Dhanori, Dolatpur, Badheri Rajputan, Bhounri, Margubpur Didaheri, Danderi Khwajgipur, Belra of Roorkee, Dariyapur and Dayalpur of Bhagwanpur in Roorkee tehsil.

Four polling booths 10 km away from main road
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, January 14
Four polling booths in the district are at a distance of more than 10 km from the main road for which the polling parties will have to travel on foot as no motor service is available to these booths, informed district election officer R Rajesh Kumar.

“The pooling booths of Namik, in Dharchula seat, Daubans in ,Didihat, Haldu in Pithoragarh, and Bajar in Gangolihat, seat are at a distance of 10 to 25 km from the main road. The polling booth at Namik in the Dharchula Assembly seat is at 25 km distance, which is maximum of all polling booths,” said the election officer.

“Keeping the facility of voters in mind, some polling booths in Gangolihat Assembly seat have been enlarged to four voting places, while in Pithoragarh Assembly seat, 3 voting places have been created in many polling booths,” said the election officer.

The election officer said that there was not a single polling booth where the number of voters exceeded more than 1500.

Nainital DEO orders action against erring officials
Tribune News Service

Nainital, January 14
District Election Officer (DEO) in Nainital Nidhi Mani Tripathi has ordered that action be taken against officials of those departments who have failed to give their vehicles for the election-related exercise.

She has expressed her annoyance over the fact that certain departments have not given their vehicles to the election office despite having been directed to do so.

Tripathi carried out an inspection of the election office that has been set in the MB Postgraduate College in Haldwani.

Taking stock of the preparedness for carrying out the election exercise, she gave a series of instructions for strengthening the functioning of the office. She laid stress on the transparent functioning of the office and ordered that complaints that are coming with regard to the violation of the model code of conduct be registered round the clock.

Tripathi has also ordered that the stationery and other items required for polling be procured and sent to the polling stations well in time.

She has asked the personnel of the video surveillance teams to provide a copy of the recordings being provided to the Election Commission to the election observers as well so that they have a clear picture with

regard to the expenditure being done by various candidates.

At the same time she called for a blanket coverage of advertisements being carried by the print and electronic media to be provided by the Media

Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) to the observers on a daily basis.

Tripathi has ordered that those candidates violating the model code of conduct must be given notices and in case of serious violations, an First Information Report (FIR) be got registered against them.

The district is going to witness some close-fought battles between political heavyweights in some of the constitutencies.

Congress manifesto ‘handiwork of confused leadership’
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 14
Dr Devinder Bhasin, state BJP election campaign member, said today that the people of the state would not be influenced by the promises made by the Congress in its manifesto.

“The manifesto has been prepared in a hurry and is a handiwork of a confused leadership that is on the brink of defeat. The promises made by the party are hollow. By promising an honorarium for the unemployed youth, it has put a question mark on the potential of the industrious youth of the state. The honorarium is not an answer to the rampant unemployment in the state,” said Bhasin.

Interacting with mediapersons, Bhasin alleged that the Congress was responsible for ending the term of the industrial package in the state that was granted by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

“In name of protecting the environment in the state, the Centre declared several areas as eco-sensitive zones. As the result, no development could be initiated,” he said.

He also lashed out at party leaders for not doing proper homework while making promises in their manifestos.

Poll snippets

Change of venue for R-Day function due to poll

DEHRADUN: The venue for the Republic Day function (January 26) has been changed from the Parade Ground to the Police Lines here. This has been done due to the January 30 slated polling in the state. All polling-related vehicles will be parked at the Parade Ground on January 26 before leaving for the destinations. Thus the administration has been forced to shift the venue.— TNS

Villagers to boycott elections

Dehradun: Several villages of the Kalsi development block, Dehradun, have decided not to vote this time. The villagers alleged that they were still to get roads despite promises made for the same by almost all political parties in the state. They said public representatives had only befooled them and thus they had decided to boycott the elections. — TNS

‘Run for Fun’ on Jan 26

Dehradun: The state election authorities will be utilising the services of eminent environmentalist Sundarlal Bahuguna for motivating people towards practising their adult franschise. The election office is expected to organise ‘Run for Fun’ on January 26, which will be used as means to appeal the people to ensure that they vote in the elections. — TNS

Distribution of voter slips begins

NAINITAL: The distribution of voter slips by the booth-level officers has been started across Udham Singh Nagar district. According to the District Election Officer PS Jangpangi, appeals are being made to the voters to procure their voter slips so that they do not face any problem on the polling day. The BLOs have been ordered to go from door to door to distribute the voter slips. Jangpangi said complaints regarding the distribution of these slips through functionaries of political parties would be dealt with sternly.

Almora stadium open to star campaigners

NAINITAL: The Almora administration has decided that the stadium in Almora town will be made available to the political parties only for rallies to be addressed by star campaigners. District Election Officer DS Garbyal has stated that this is being done keeping in view high security requirements for the star campaigners. He said the stadium would be available for the political parties for such rallies on a first come first serve basis. — TNS