The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	SC notice to Forest Ministry on power projects Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 31 The Supreme Court of India issued notice to Union Ministry of Environment and Forest and National Hydro Power Corporation on two hydroelectric projects named Kotli-Bhel 1A (195Mega Watt) and Kotli-Bhel 2 (520 MW). The Supreme court verdict follows Sept 14, 2010, National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) decision to dismiss the appeal against the environment clearance of these two projects filed by Vimalbhai, Rajendra Singh Negi, Trilok Singh Rawat of Matu Jansangthan, an NGO working against construction of big dams in the Uttarakhand region. Subsequently, NEAA order was challenged in Supreme Court by Matu Jansangthan and Dr Bharat Jhunjhunwala. Hearing the appeal against the order of NEAA, the Supreme Court Bench of Justice DK Jain and Justice Anil R Dave issued notice to Ministry of Environment and Forest and National Hydro Power Corporation. Interestingly, despite various environmental and social issues which remain standing unanswered, a very significant cultural area is also under the threat of submergence in these two projects. These dams are proposed on Bhagirathiganga and Ganga. Kotli-Bhel 1A (195Mega Watt) is proposed on Bhagirathiganga. The making of a 17-km-long reservoir would amputate Ganga from its last free stretch near the holy confluence of Alaknandaganga and Bhagirathiganga, known as Deoprayag. After Deoprayag, it flows as Ganga. This proposed project is just after the two big reservoirs of Tehri dam and Koteshwer dam. The area is also very much landslide prone. It is important here to note that in 2010 monsoon, the office of project proponent NHPC itself collapsed, which was nearly half a km from the proposed dam site. Further, another proposed Kotli-Bhel 2 hydroelectric project (520 MW) consists of a 32-km-long reservoir which will submerge the holy Deoprayag. The reservoir is supposed to stretch till the Bhagirathiganga and the Alaknandaganga. This is how a triangular reservoir will come up around the Deoprayag. The old Badrinath Marg for pilgrims will also get submerged in the process. “We will fight the battle both on ground and at the Hon'ble court to obey our duty towards our national river Ganga and its inhabitants,” asserted Vimalbhai, convener, Matu Jansangthan. Senior advocates Raj Panjwani with Anitah Shenoy, Ritwik Dutta and Rahul Choudhary represented the petitioners before the court.
	Probable poll results talk of the town Sandeep Rawat Tribune News Service Haridwar January 31 Though the Assembly elections in Uttarakhand have concluded, poll fever is yet to subside. Be it party workers, supporters, voters or even students, all are talking about the voting pattern in their areas and the chances of winning of various candidates. Places like tea corners, cafeterias, intersections and even college canteens are abuzz with talks about the probable outcome of the elections. Polling agents of candidates were the most sought-after to have a perspective of voter turnout and other election-related things. However, even the polling agents could not declare a definite voting pattern or trend in favour of any party. Government employees, who were on poll duty, too were listened to by people with apt attention about their views about the probable outcome of the elections. As some of them were stationed in far-off Assembly seats, their first-hand account of the elections was more interesting than the routine talk. The government staff related their views in phrases citing election symbols of various parties: Elephant (BSP) is quite heavy; voters shaked hands (Congress), the lotus (BJP) is blooming; the bicycle (SP) got punctured; the sewing machine (Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha) sewed dissident votes; or its quite cold and hence voters had tea in cup-plate(Uttarakhand Kranti Dal) etc. Uday Ram Semwal, owner of Brijwasi Sweets at Ranipur Mod, said seeing the mood of the customers he had bought four newspapers and made extra samosas and tea anticipating rush in the evening. Tej Prakash Sahu, a political activist, said as the election process was secret no one could forecast its outcome with certainty. “I have witnessed more than 10 Assembly elections and five Lok Sabha elections, but barring the wave in favour of Indira Gandhi in 1984 no one could predict the results in all Assembly seats,” said Sahu while having a cup of tea with journalists at a roadside tea shop.
	A day of relaxation for most candidates Sandeep Rawat Tribune News Service Haridwar, January 31 After three weeks of intense election campaigning by the respective Assembly candidates of different parties as well as Independents, today it was a relaxing day for most of the candidates though their faces revealed that tension is not all over as their fate will be decided on March 6, the counting day. Two-time legislator Madan Kaushik remained at his Khanna Nagar residence till late in the morning, meeting party workers and neighbours who all exuded confidence of votes going in his favour. Sitting at his residence, it was an open house for all as his well-wishers were seen pouring in, assuring him that now he was all set to be completing a hat-trick of legislator victories. Congress candidate Satpal Brahamchari, a former municipal chairman, termed it as a normal day. “As a holy man, I take life’s up and downs in my stride,” h said. Cellular phone ring tones made him more busy this morning, but as is his nature, he didn’t cut or put his phone on silent mode; he attended to all phone calls. Brahamchari said that people’s love for him made them call from different colonies of Haridwar city Assembly segment. They extended their wishes and confirmed their support for him, he added. Heavyweight Independent candidate and Uttar Pradesh Assembly legislator Ambrish Kumar was quite at ease at his Jwalapur residence-cum-office. He was meeting party workers and prior to that read daily newspapers as well as fortnightly magazines. Terming this election campaign as one of the hectic ones, as he tried to make sure he reached to every voter family, Kumar said that the response and love of people for him as an Independent made him work day and night to live up to their expectations. Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive) Haridwar rural segment candidate Rana Ranbeer Singh was seen reading newspapers with a cup of tea at Brijwasi sweet shop at Chandracharya Chowk. National Panthers Party’s Ranipur-BHEl seat candidate Tripta Sharma made sure she took her children for a and give them a fast food treat as for the past three weeks she couldn’t give them time owing to hectic election campaigning. Swami Yatishwaranand of BJP at his ashram was seen performing daily religious rites, meeting devotees and party workers. Qazi Nizamuddin, Congress candidate from Mangalore and two-time legislator, said that the election campaign brought him more close to the people, their problems and aspirations. He assured he would address their problems when he gets elected.
	After election boycott, villagers unclear about next action plan BD Kasniyal Pithoragarh, January 31 Despite protesting over the lack of basic infrastructure in their villages, villagers who boycotted the poll this time are a disappointed as they are confused over what will be the next mode of protest if their problems are not solved. Villagers of Namik, a backward village of Munsiyari subdivision of the district, are scared as they have been told by some political leaders that refusing to cast vote is a crime. “We have been told that by boycotting the poll, we have dimmed the possibility of linking our village with road,” said Tulsi Devi, Gram Pradhan of the village. The villagers said they had been promised of road since long and their forefathers had been casting the votes only on this demand. “We have other demands of electricity, school teacher and agriculture sustainability, but we have been focusing on the road only as this is the major demand and if this is fulfilled, other problem of the village will get solved,” said Tulsi Devi. The same story has been told by the people of Mangchaura, in Someshwar, Nar, Faltwari and Valna villages of Dawarahat and 1,750 voters of Tarmoli and the surrounding villages of Bageshwar district. “We have been demanding the road for long and launched an agitation but the government had failed to fulfil our demand,” said the Gram Pradhan of the village. The villagers first gathered at the polling centre at Musnoli primary school and then decided to boycott the poll. Gram Pradhan of Mulsuna village of Bageshwar Assembly seat Gulab Ram, where the villagers boycotted the poll, said, “The villagers have to travel 4 to 12 km on foot to reach the highway. But the government is not ready to consider our demand.” The villagers have formed a Kamsyar Sangharsh Samiti to press the administration for construction of the road to the village but despite repeated assurances, the nothing was done in this direction. “These all are Dalit villages for whom Rs 1.65 crore has been sanctioned in 1998 to construct the road but till date the road could not be constructed,” said Satish Upreti, president of the samiti. Tarmoli villagers have protested against the shortage of “Sarak, Pani and Bijli” in the village. “The 12-km road, for which the department invited the tenders a year ago, could not be started till date. We are ready to fight for our rights up to the last breath,” said Laxman Singh Negi, Inder Singh Mehta, Bishen Singh, members of the BDC from the area. The villagers, who voted in a large number, have also complained of lack of basic infrastructure in their villages. “Though we have cast our vote, our problems are not going to be solved,” said Syamu Ram, a resident of Dhaun village of the Champawat Assembly seat talking to this correspondent. “Even our primary school has not been given facility of drinking water which forced the students to go miles to drink water,” said Jeewanti Devi, a village woman. “The BJP government could use only a sum of Rs 1,200 crore out of the allocated Rs 3,600 crore by the Centre under the special component plan in the past five years. Due to this non-utilisation of the money, meant to provide essential infrastructure for these Dalit and tribal villages like Namik, these villagers have protested,” said Mathura Dutt Joshi, spokesman of the Uttarakhand Congress Committee.
	Of 441 voters, 153 turned up for polling Rajeev Khanna Tribune News Service Nainital, January 31 A large number of villages carried out their threat of boycotting the Assembly polls to air their resentment against the political class for ignoring development in their respective areas. While some of the villages returned the electronic voting machines (EVMs) without having recorded any votes, at other places people did come out to exercise their right to franchise after much persuasion. In Nainital district, it was the people of the Harishtal area in the Okhalkanda block who gave a tough time to the poll machinery as none of them turned up to cast their votes for almost four hours since the polling had begun. However, a long session of persuasion by the representatives of various political parties and officials led to the people casting their votes, but the number of votes polled did not go beyond 153 out of a total of 441 votes in the area. The people expressed their resentment over the failure of the successive governments to provide a road link to their area. They have been demanding that the area be linked to the Mornaula-Majhaula road. A memorandum had been given by the people of the region to the election office on January 17 in which the villagers had threatened to boycott the polls. As reported earlier, Kumaon had been witnessing the frequent noise of the slogan “Road nahin to vote nahin” during the campaign. Several villages in the Mushiyari, Bageshwar and Ranikhet constituencies also boycotted the polls. The voters expressed their anger for not having provided them basic facilities like schools, hospitals, water supply, power and roads. The villages from where boycott has been reported include Namik in Pithoragarh district, Malsuna, Taknar, Mazbe and Tarmoli in Bageshwar, Mangchaura in the Someshwar constituency, Nad, Faldwadi and Valna in Dhwarahat constituency. Interaction with voters provided an insight into the prevailing disillusionment against the political class, particularly in the hill areas of the region. An old voter in Naukuchiyatal told The Tribune, ”I have cast my vote out of a sense of duty. I know none of these politicians will ever show their face in my village again for the next five years. For us it is a compulsion of sorts to choose the better among the worse.” A voter in the Someshwar constituency had stated during the course of campaign, ”At the age of 80, I can say with conviction that we were better off in Uttar Pradesh only, as there was some consideration of the hill areas. I have been thoroughly disgusted with the way things have been over the last decade.” PEOPLE’S VOICE I have cast my vote out of a sense of duty. I know these politicians will never show their faces in my village again for the next five years. For us it is a compulsion of sorts to choose the better among the worse. — a voter from Naukuchiyatal At the age of 80, I can say with conviction that we were better off in Uttar Pradesh only, as there was some consideration of the hill areas. I have been thoroughly disgusted with the way things have been over the last decade. — a voter from Someshwar
	EVMs under strict vigil at Niranjanpur Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 31 District Election Officer-cum-District Magistrate Dileep Jawalkar supervised the arrangements made for the safe upkeep of EVMs in the Strong Room on the Niranjanpur Mandi premises and Sudhowala polytechnic. It is at Niranjanpur where the EVMs from seven constituencies, Mussoorie, Rajpur, Dehradun Cantt, Raipur, Dharmpur, Doilwala and Rishikesh have been kept under the tight vigil of the security force. Similarly, at Surdhowala, the machines from Chakrata, Vikasnagar and Sahaspur have been kept. All employees who were engaged in the polling process have been permitted to leave after depositing the election-related material. Rajni Rawat, independent candidate from the Raipur constituency, made a scene for not letting her check the EVMs before being kept in the rooms and demanded to open the room once again. She said, “We were told that the candidates would be allowed to check the EVMs before keeping these in the Strong Room but here they locked the rooms before letting us see.”
	Polling parties return from duties, deposit EVMs Our Correspondent Pithoragarh, January 31 All but 26 out of 504 polling parties have returned to the district headquarters and deposited the electronic voting machines with the strong room, informed District Election Officer R Rajesh Kumar. According to the election officer, 45 local polling parties returned on Monday, and today maximum parties are returning. “We are witnessing one returning party every 10 minutes today,” said the DEO. The election officer said that the people of Namik, who had decided to boycott the polls, agreed to vote after he persuaded them to do so. But as their women could not return from the forests, where they go for daily work, by the prescribed voting time of 5 pm, some of them did not vote. “The 10-km-long motor road that the people of Namik are demanding, could only be constructed under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sarak Yojana, but as the authorities of the yojna are taking only the villages having more than 500 population, the village could not be brought under the scheme as it had 451 residents, according to 2001 census,” said the District Election Officer. The DEO said that as the population of the village had exceeded the prescribed parametre of the PMGSY authorities in the 2011 census, the construction of the road to Namik village would now be possible. “If the population of the village exceeded beyond 500 by the latest census of 2011, the district administration will give priority to the construction of this road once the authorities get the latest census data of the village,” said the DEO.