Haridwar, January 21
Team Anna members today cornered the BJP on the issue of the Mahakumbh scam, which took place during the tenure of Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

Arvind Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas and Manish Sishodiya raised the Mahakumbh scam issue at their first rally at Ranipur in Haridwar.

Pro-BJP supporters were seen clapping when Kejriwal termed the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Act introduced by Chief Minister BC Khanduri as the best in the country. He praised Khanduri for acting promptly on the Lokayukta Act after he was reinstated as Chief Minister and also including his post under its purview.

Kejriwal urged other state governments to adopt the Uttarakhand model of Lokayukta. He took a dig at the Gujarat government saying, “The people need a strong and effective Lokayukta. A debate is on about who should be appointed Lokayukta, which is important only when there is a strong Lokayukta Act.”

However, Kezriwal then raised the issue of Mahakumbh funds in Haridwar. He said the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had pointed towards the Rs 200-crore Mahakumbh fund scam in Haridwar in 2010, which itself emphasised the need for a strong Jan Lokpal Bill and a Lokayukt Act so that those who pocketed the public money meant for a religious and spiritual fair could be put behind bars.

The Team Anna members also targeted Cabinet minister and Mahakumbh mela in-charge Madan Kaushik. Kumar Vishwas said the people of Haridwar had to decide, “Whether they want another Kumbh scam or they want to teach their representatives a lesson for hurting their religious sentiments by not voting for a corrupt candidate.

Following today’s rally both Congress and BJP issued statements in the evening regarding the Team Anna’s campaign in the district and urged it to contest elections rather than playing blame game.

General secretary of the Women Congress Dr Santosh Chauhan said Team Anna seemed to be anti-Congress as a major part of its speeches revolved around the Congress only.

She said Kejriwal and others were having prejudice against the Gandhi family and development schemes. At the same time they were praising the Lokayukta Act in the state as the best though it had several anomalies, she added.

Tej Prakash Sahu, spokesperson for the city BJP unit, termed allegations against Nishank as baseless. He said there was no substantial evidence in the Mahakumbh fund scam or the Sterdia land deal case and the charges were politically motivated, aimed at maligning the image of the state government. As Nishank is contesting from the Doiwala seat bordering Haridwar district and Madan Kaushik from Haridwar city, the Mahakumbh fund issue may impact their electoral fortunes in the Assembly elections on January 30.

Haridwar, January 21
Team Anna member Arvind Kezriwal today accused all political parties, including the Congress, of betraying the common man’s demand for a strong Lokpal Bill and fostering corruption in India.

Kezriwal was here today to launch a campaign urging voters not to cast their vote to a corrupt, criminal or dishonest candidate.

Prior to their mega rally, core group members of Team Anna --- Manish Sisodiya, Kumar Vishwas and Kezriwal --- discussed about their ongoing campaign with mediapersons.

Describing the Lokpal Bill presented by the Central Government as weak which aimed at protecting corrupt ministers, bureaucrats and the lower strata of government employees, Kezriwal urged the people to expose the leaders who had betrayed the sentiments of the public.

“Parliamentarians who think that the fate of billions of people is their hands are unaware of the fact that their electoral fate lies in a single vote. It is the right time to show the door to corrupt leaders,” said Kezriwal.

On the issue of the CBI being kept outside the purview of the Lokpal, Kezriwal said the CBI had been been “misused” to gain political mileage and harassing other political parties. So no party was in favour of keeping it within the ambit of the Lokpal.

Another key member, Manish Sisodiya, said with the Assembly elections nearing, some of the parties had started talking of Muslim-Dalit reservation, but these parties had forgotten to provide basic facilities to all citizens in 64 years of independence.

Kumar Vishwas also ruled differences among Team Anna members.

He said Team Anna was not only about the core group members but also about millions of people who support them and take to streets during agitations and gather to hear them.

Dehradun, January 21
A man has been arrested for hurling a shoe at Team Anna during its maiden meeting here today. The shoe, however, did not reach the podium. The man has been identified as Kisan Lal, a tea shop owner at Premnagar.

Meanwhile, flaying the incident, Congress spokesperson Surendra Kumar said although the party never supported such acts, now Team Anna should also understand that its reputation was on a downslide.

He also questioned Team Anna’s silence over the BJP’s “involvement” in corruption cases in Uttarakhand.

Addressing a gathering, Team Anna members ---Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Manish Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas and Sanjay Singh --- asked the people of the state to seek an explanation from political parties as to why the Lokpal had not been approved by Parliament.

They also urged the people to stand against corruption. However, at the same time, they maintained that the Uttarakhand’s Lokayukta Act was the best in the country and quite close to Anna’s Lokpal Bill.

Trying to maintain a distance from both the BJP and the Congress in poll-bound Uttarakhand, Kumar Vishwas categorically said their struggle was against corruption and not against any political party.

Dehradun, January 21
Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi today termed as misleading and irresponsible the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at an election rally in Rudrapur yesterday that no development had taken place in Uttarrakhand during the BJP rule.

Joshi was addressing a press conference here today. He said the Prime Minster had not been informed as a comparative study of the present five-year rule of the BJP and of the Congress government in the past showed that the economic management and development initiative of the BJP was far better.

“The average yearly revenue expenditure during the Congress rule was Rs 2,128 crore, while during the BJP rule it was Rs 4,516 crore. While the average yearly revenue plan expenditure and the average annual industrial investment during the Congress rule were Rs 262 crore and Rs 1,639 crore, respectively, during the BJP regime these were pegged at Rs 4,207 crore and Rs 3,984 crore, respectively. While the average yearly employment during the Congress rule was 14,577 (people) and it was 25,132 (people) during the BJP rule,” he said.

Asked whether the change in Chief Minster in the state a few months ago would have an adverse impact on the prospects of the party, Joshi said, “People are mere players and the party is supreme.”

Dehradun, January 21
Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi today charged the Congress-led UPA government with derailing industrial development in the state. Joshi was canvassing for former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in the Doiwala Assembly seat,

By withdrawing the industrial package conceived by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the UPA government dealt a blow to the future of industries in the state.

Joshi accused the UPA government of failing to extend aid as it did NorthEast states. “The people of Uttarakhand have not forgotten the atrocities afflicted on the protesters during the agitation for statehood when late Narisimaha Rao was Prime Minister at the Centre and Mulayam Singh Yadav was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. On the other hand, the BJP workers lent support to the protesters in the state,” he said.

Dehradun, January 21
In a state where man-animal conflict has been at its worst, Dr Anil Kumar Singh has done some sincere efforts for the cause of the wildlife conservation in the state.

The Coordinator and Head of the department in the Conflict Mitigation division of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), Dr Anil is widely recognised as one of the main persons behind complete eradication of elephant deaths due to train accidents in the elephant-famous Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand. The railway track that criss-crosses the national park had earlier been a cause of several pachyderms’ deaths in train-hit incidents. Dr Anil, by efficiently managing the train hits mitigation project of the WTI, succeeded in reducing the death rate to zero since 2001 through a coordinated approach with the state Forest Department and the Northern Railways. A wildlife biologist, Dr Anil has done post-graduation in Zoology from Bhagalpur University and a doctorate on ‘Ecological investigations on human-elephant conflict in south’ from Saurashtra University, Rajkot. He was selected as a Junior Research Fellow at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in 1995, following which he was associated with several research projects till 2001. These include restoration of corridor habitat in the western Terai Rhino Conservation Unit, comprising Dudhwa TR and Katerniaghat WLS in Uttar Pradesh, India, and Bardia National Park in Nepal and relationship between large herbivores, habitat and humans in Rajaji and Jim Corbett National Parks.

With over 13 years of experience in wildlife research and conservation, especially on the issues related to the Asian elephant, Dr Anil has been a member of several state government committees on wildlife conservation. He has served as a member of a ‘Task Force’ constituted for resolving elephant mortalities due to train hits in the Rajaji National Park and the Gujjar Rehabilitation Committee of the state government. Dr Anil has published several research papers, abstracts and technical reports on subjects ranging from elephant ecology, managing human-elephant conflict, use of GIS and Remote Sensing in wildlife management, elephant corridors, documenting elephant movement using radio telemetry, developing wildlife techniques and mitigation of elephant mortalities due to train hits.

In 2002, his paper won him the prestigious "Chaturvedi Award" for the most outstanding wildlife paper in 2002, published in the Indian Forester.

Currently serving as the Head of the WTI's Conflict Mitigation division, Dr Anil has also been working for the revival of Chilla-Motichur corridor. The corridor faces a lot of obstacles, including a human settlement and Dr Anil has been working round the clock to see that this key corridor gets secured. He has also been looking into the vexed issue of Gujjar rehabilitation. He is also working to replicate the Rajaji National Park’s success of the train hit mitigation project in other elephant-range states.

Dehradun, January 21
In an ongoing 4th Uttarakhand Shaheed Girish Bhadri Cricket Tournament organised jointly by Ajabpur Youngstar and Tanush Cricket Academy at Rangers Ground, Vidya Jain cricket Academy(VJCA) , Delhi, and ICL Chandigarh won their fixtures with emphatic margin here today.

In the first match, VJCA Academy defeated Lukcnow XI by a margin of 8 wickets with 27 remaining balls.

Lucknow XI, batting first, garnered 160 runs at the loss of 9 wickets. Sumit Mishra (48) and Mohit Yadav (39) were the highest scorers for Lucknow XI.

For the fielding side, VJCA Gurvinder emerged the highest wicket-taker with the rich hall of 3 wickets.

The VJCA achieved the target at the loss of 8 wickets with 27 balls remaining.

Vivek Rana with the score of 89 in 67 balls was the highest scorer. Amit Beru, followed by his constribution of 45 runs, resulted in an emphatic win of the VJCA.

In second match, ICL, Chandigarh, defeated Uttarakhand Police by 25 runs. The ICL, batting first, scored 208 runs in 40 overs. Talwinder Singh (57) was the highest scorer for the ICL.

Uttarakhand Police, in response, were bowled out for 183 runs in 35.4 overs, thus losing the match.

Dehradun, January 21
In an ongoing 60th District Cricket league 2012, being played at OFD stadium, Health Directorate XI defeated Vidhan Sabha XI by two wickets here today.

Vidhan Sabha XI bating first scored 73 runs in 20.1 overs.

BS Negi was the highest scorer for Vidhan Sabha. He scored 30 runs in 34 balls. Kanwaljeet took 10 runs in 14 balls. The rest of the players could not reach the double figures.

For Health Directorate XI, Yashwant took the highest number of wickets with haul of 4 wickets. Nitin Negi took 3 wickets while Sumit followed with 2 wickets haul.

In reply, Health Directorate XI won the match by 2 wickets, achieving the winning target in 20.2 overs.

Vinod was the highest scorer with 35 runs, followed by 17 runs scored by Ankur for Health Directorate XI.