Mussoorie, February 2
The residents of the hill town of Mussoorie, who have been agitating against the existing guidelines under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, for the diversion of private forest land for construction of residential building, got relief from the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF), Government of India, which announced easing of norms for constructing residential houses in Mussoorie.

The MOEF had issued the new guidelines about modifying the paragraph no 4.5 of the Forest Conservation Act on the basis of recommendation of forest advisory committee on February 24, 2011, but the departments here had been sitting on it for some time now due to unknown reasons.

The Tribune, after accessing the letter issued by MOEF, found that the ministry by relaxing the norms had allowed the construction of residential or dwelling houses in private forest land in Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) in Uttarakhand, subject to fulfillment of conditions laid down by the concerned departments.

The MOEF in its letter further stated that the construction activity for residential purpose in private forest area shall be allowed only for domestic purpose and shall not be extended to any institutional building or commercial development. In addition to that the constructional activity shall be restricted to a maximum of 250 Sq.m of built up area in this case plinth level.

The letter issued by MOEF further states that the new guidelines have been issued to alleviate the hardships of homestead owners for constructing and completing their bonafide residential buildings.

The permission has been provided, subject to the fact that tree felling should be minimal and sufficient soil conservation measures should be taken.

The ministry also cleared that the clearance from MDDA and other agencies should be obtained while constructing their dwellings.

Earlier guidelines issued by the MOEF that stated “the Central Government will not entertain any proposal for diversion of forest land for construction of residential or dwelling house” had stalled construction activity and created a housing problem in the town.

With these new guidelines residents of the town have heaved a sigh of relief and said that they have waited for a long time for such relaxation and with this relaxation in construction, they will be able to extend their dwelling areas considering the increase in the number of their family members in the past several years.

Dehradun February 2
The fact with regard to eviction of 36 families from Economically Weaker Section (EWS) flats built by Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) at Rajpur Road has come to light that the Urban

Ceiling Department of the state government sold the wrong piece of land to the MDDA in 1985. MDDA, too, sold the flats to the people of EWS even though the litigant had dragged MDDA in a lawsuit for building

flats on his land by that time in 1987. The buyers purchased the flats without checking the documents believing MDDA. It is indeed a lesson for the buyers to remain alert even while buying property from a government agency.

According to MDDA lawyer TK Singh, it was in 1976 that the state government acquired land from owner Hari Singh under Land Ceiling Act of 1976 where land above 2000 sq meter in the name of a person was considered surplus and could be acquired by the state government to build constructions for public welfare purpose. Meanwhile, Shamshad, litigant who was busy in a partition suit, came to know of the development and filed the case against MDDA in1987 for encroaching upon his land. It was later substantiated that Hari Singh’s land was found where a river was flowing; so another chunk of land, which was owned by Shamshad was taken up by the government without following any procedure and built flats over it.

The district court has given the verdict in favour of Shamshad, who also filed another suit against the allottees in 1995, the decree of which is yet to be pronounced. TK Singh said the allottees were suggested to approach the court at that time but they did not want to spend their money and looked at MDDA for everything. Ultimately, now they had to take legal recourse in district courts. He, however, said the residents could avail the benefit of suspending eviction, alluding to the pending judgment in this case.

A middle way of compromise with the litigant also seems out of question as the latter has demanded of Rs 2 crore from MDDA for that.

As per sources in MDDA, the lawyers engaged to fight the case are also under scanner for not fighting the case well. Singh said the defending lawyer was changed time to time where he came only at the fag-end, six months prior to the judgement. He blamed MDDA staff for not showing any interest in the long drawn case. MDDA officials blamed members of its Law Department for not updating the vice-chairman and secretary, whoever was in the chair, after transfer of the case.

Dehradun, February 2
The state Health Department proposed it but the ministry of health and family welfare rejected it to the misfortune of poor patients in the state suffering from serious diseases.

A few months ago, the state government had submitted a proposal of raising the ceiling on the state illness fund from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh only to be turned down by the Centre. In view of the escalating costs on the specialised procedures and in the interest of the poor patients, the state government had submitted a proposal for enhancing the assistance amount. But sources claim that the Centre had turned down the proposal on the ground that fewer patients from the hills were availing the fund. The state illness assistance fund has been created to provide monetary assistance to poor patients suffering from serious diseases. Patients requiring surgeries for cancer, bone-marrow transplantation, heart diseases, brain tumour, hip and knee replacement and kidney transplantation and treatment for HIV AIDS can avail the fund. Initially, a corpus fund was created that was supplemented by the state and the Centre contributing their share.

“Most of these procedures are costly. The government has set a limit of Rs 1.5 lakh for assistance. Patients requiring surgeries for treatment against cancer and heart diseases have to look for additional resources as the treatment cost exceeds Rs 1.5 lakh,” said Dr JP Bhatt, Director-General, the Health and Family Welfare.

The patients can get treatments at higher centres located in the country that are empanelled by the state government. In 2010-2011, a total of 116 beneficiaries had availed the fund amount totaling around Rs 1.37 crore. Between 2011-2012, 61 beneficiaries had availed the fund totaling around Rs 72, 20,250.

A district management committee, comprising six members, is entrusted with the task of selecting the beneficiaries depending on the merit of their cases.

Dehradun, February 2
St Joseph’s Academy celebrated it founders’ day here today. The congregation of Patrician Brothers was founded in 1808 by Bishop Daniel Delany in Tullow, Ireland, with an aim to enlighten youth and work for the welfare of the underprivileged.

To mark the occasion, class IX students put up a special assembly to throw light on the glorious years of the Patrician Brothers and their selfless service to humanity. The chief guest on the occasion was Superior Bro. Sebastian. The programme started with the lighting of the inaugural lamp by Bro. Sebastian and Bro. AJ George.

Gunraj Singh led a devotional prayer, which was followed by a hymn sung by the choir. The students presented a skit on the travails of Bishop Daniel Delany’s life and his exemplary service. An Irish dance and a soul stirring song mesmerised the audience.

The assembly ended with an inspiring speech by Principal Bro. AJ George who spoke about the congregation in Ireland and citing the example of Bishop Daniel Delany’s life.

Dehradun, February 2
Vice president of the Uttarakhand Volleyball Association (UVA) Karnail Singh said today that the UVA had sacked Sanjeev Sharma, the assistant secretary and district secretary, for working against the activities and norms of the association.

He said, “Sharma, along with other referees of the state, participated in the state-level private volleyball competition without any permission from the association. He also collected donations from senior players of the state and failed in reckoning them.”