Two children dressed as Lord Shiv and Goddess Parvati to garner the attention of people for money to support their poor family in Haridwar on Monday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

Poor children, self-help groups to take part in ‘Basantotsav 2012’
Dehradun, February 6
To discuss the arrangements of the forthcoming two-day ‘Basantotsav 2012’ (Spring Festival 2012), a meeting, chaired by state Governor Margaret Alva, was held at the Raj Bhavan here today.

Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva chairs a meeting held for the preparations of the Basantotsav 2012 at Raj Bhawan, Dehradun on Monday.

Cultural programmes mark farewell function
Haridwar, February 6
With intermediate board examinations scheduled for next month, a farewell function was organised at Doon Cambridge School to bid adieu the final year students.





Students of Doon Cambridge School present a cultural performance at a function on Monday in Haridwar. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

Pestle Weed College win
Dehradun February 6
Pestle Weed College team defeated Doon Cambridge by 26 runs during the P.P.S.A Inter School Cricket Tournament played at Pestle Weed College here today.

Dehradun, February 6
Uninterrupted power supply during the election period has cost Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) a whooping Rs 117.15 crore in power purchase from the open market.

The corporation has touched the record figure, the highest ever, of Rs 302.18 crore in spending on power purchase from all the sources in the month of January. It has bought 400 MW for the month of January, 350 MW for the month of February and 150 MW for the month of March.

Besides this, it’s monthly expenditure includes Rs 20 crore on salaries to its employees, Rs 1.25 crore to UPNAL agency for hiring homeguards, Rs 1.5 crore for administerative expenses and Rs 6.5 cr for operation and maintenance charges. The revenue generated in the month of January amounted to Rs 255 crore. The spiralling expenditure has given a jolt to the shaky financial state of UPCL, which has a liability of Rs 1960 crore to pay on various accounts. It is left with mere Rs 7 crore in its account.

The revenue generated needs to be several times much more than the expenditure to pay the monthly instalments of loans, the UPCL has taken for its various schemes like Rajiv Gandhi electrification programme, loans from other states and transfer schemes. The total loan amount is Rs 701.21 crore. It is also supposed to pay Rs 186.97 crore to outside sources such as NTPC, TATA, UJVNL, PTCUL, Sri Cement etc with whom the UPCL has signed agreements for regular power purchase. A delay on the part of UPCL in its monthly payment to them would cost a loss of 2 per cent subsidy and interest rate to the bank which makes payments, and thereafter, converts the payments in the form of short-term loans.

The UPCL has not made payments to these sources till now, but Anil Kumar, Executive Director, Commercial, has assured of making the payments within the next three days.

In the last financial year, the corporation spent Rs 99 crore on power purchase where no power purchase was done from the month of April till December, while in the current financial year, the figures reached astronomical Rs 141.26 crore, though one month is still left to complete the year span. In such a scenario, UPCL had gone ahead and taken another loan to make power purchase at higher price of Rs 4.25 per million unit from the open market to please people of the state during election time.

Managing Director, UPCL, AK Jain, said he had to buy from open market to provide power supply without any cuts and pay at the market rate. Punjab turned down its offer to give power on banking as it also faced election in the state and required more power for its own consumption. Jain also reasoned that power demand was increasing by 15 per cent in the state each year, whereas no new power plant was being set up to meet the increasing demand.

Continuous power supply may please the politicians who do not want to risk the wrath of people during election time, and also the UPCL officers, who, too, want to become stress free by purchasing abundant power from the open market. But it certainly deteriorated the financial status of UPCL. The entire exercise which was meant to please the voters would be used to punish them after the election gets over when the increased rate of tariffs would be imposed upon people to compensate for the losses.

Dehradun, February 6
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri today visited the Ganga canal bridge near the municipality office, which had collapsed on Saturday, claiming the lives of three working labourers.

The Chief Minister also enquired with the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, engineers and working agency Public Works Department officials about the reason behind the collapse of the suspension bridge, which is being made from Chandrasekhar Chowk till Shri Laxmi Narayan Temple.

He also directed concerned officials to speed up the magisterial probe. He took stock of the rescue efforts being done by the Army and state police personnel in tracing the bodies of the missing labourers.

Meanwhile, in view of the rescue operation, the flow of Ganga canal has been restored, despite opposition from the families and co-labourers.

But when police officials apprised them that they are conducting search operations from time to time and as control of Ganga canal flow is not in their hands, as it is operated by Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department, then only did the agitating labourers calm down.

Local legislator Suresh Chand Jain also informed Chief Minister Khanduri about the status of the search operations being done for tracing the bodies of the missing labourers.

Mussoore, February 6
More than 2,000 defence personnel stationed in various parts of the country, who have voted through postal ballot in the January 30 poll, could play an important role in deciding the fate of 15 candidates in the fray from the Mussoorie Assembly segment.

The segment witnessed 62 per cent polling of which more than 50 per cent voters from Mussoorie cast their vote. It is believed that the contest for the Mussoorie Assembly seat in this election will be among Jot Singh Gunsola, the two-time sitting MLA from Mussoorie preparing to score a hatrick, Ganesh Joshi, former Rajpur MLA from the BJP, and the rebel Congress leader Godavari Thapli, who contested as an Independent.

The polling in the cantonment area of Mussoorie also witnessed an increase in the poll percentage indicating that the defence personnel also participated with vigour in the democracy.

As the margin of victory for the three candidates is expected to be thin and all candidates claiming their win, all eyes are now glued on postal ballots as their results could decide the ultimate winner from the prestigious Mussoorie constituency.

With more than 2,000 postal ballots polled for the segment, the supporters of the various candidates are trying to contact the near and dear ones of defence personnel in gauzing whether their mood was in the favour of their respective candidate.

Bijendar Panwar, supporter of an Independent, was of the view that if the postal ballots went in favour of his candidate, his victory was assured.

D Pundir, another supporter of a party, was of the view the postal ballots could provide a much-needed lead to his candidate.

He recalled that in the 2007 Assembly elections, the votes of the defence personnel decided the outcome on several seats namely the Narender Nagar (Tehri) Assembly constituency where Omgopal Rawat of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal was declared victorious by four votes. Similarly, independent candidate Yashpal Benam won the Pauri Assembly seat by 11 votes on the basis of the postal votes.

The families of defence personnel around the town are tightlipped and keeping the supporters guessing till the final results are out in March making the candidates.

Dehradun, February 6
The factional fight in the Uttarakhand BJP has further escalated with former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank levelling charges of sabotage by his own party men to mar his prospects in the January 30 poll.

While Nishank aired his grievance publicly after the polls, other top leaders, too, have hurled charges of sabotage, albeit subtly, through newspapers and television, in turn holding Nishank responsible for giving wind to anti-party activities on the Kotdwar Assembly seat from where Chief Minister B.C Khanduri fought the election.

Sources claim unease with the March 6 verdict and intense rivalry between different factions are forcing the key players to look for scapegoats and escape becoming the fall guys, in case the verdict is not in favour of the BJP.

Interestingly, cornered former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has been taking recourse to Mahabharat and alluding himself to Abhimanyu, the besieged son of Arjun.

Since the start of the election campaign Nishank had been maintaining that a campaign to malign him was launched with the active support of his detractors within the party.

So much so, during the election campaign by Team Anna members in Uttarakhand, Nishank was singled out for his alleged role in the Kumbh Mela scam. He was even called a “pocket edition of Suresh Kalmadi.” Sources claim Nishank was given a further jolt after the party refused to back him on the issue. Nishank had threatened to sue the team members. A day before the polls on January 29, a local television channel had also aired a damaging news coverage about his alleged relationship with a woman. The matter was even brought before the Election Commission.

Not satisfied, Nishank went to the media. However, he was reprimanded by Chief Minister B.C Khanduri for raising issues that should be discussed in party forums.

Unhappy with the response, Nishank then rushed to New Delhi to hold confabulations with the senior leaders on the issue. It is still not certain if the party would take up disciplinary action against the leaders who were involved in anti party activities.

“We had suspended several party leaders who were unhappy with the ticket distribution. The decision on the complaints by the district presidents and candidates for being involved in anti-party activities would only be taken up by the disciplinary committee,” said B. S Chufal, president of Uttarakhand BJP.

Dehradun, February 6
To discuss the arrangements of the forthcoming two-day ‘Basantotsav 2012’ (Spring Festival 2012), a meeting, chaired by state Governor Margaret Alva, was held at the Raj Bhavan here today.

Alva will inaugurate the festival on March 3 after which it would be open to the public, free of cost. On March 4, the Governor would present awards to winners of the flower arrangement competitions in various categories.

While addressing the meeting, Alva insisted on making the Basantotsav popular, as the festival would be linked to enhancing public awareness on social issues like malnutrition and female foeticide. “This year, the festival will highlight malnutrition and the ways to combat it, using locally-produced food grains. We will seek support of organisations like Navdanya, the HESCO and the Child Welfare Council in this respect,” she said.

The Governor said a large number of underprivileged and helpless children would also be invited to the festival. Women self-help groups will also participate in it.

Alva also directed that only handmade paper would be used wherever needed in the flower exhibition. Cultural evenings will be held in the Raj Bhavan auditorium. Artistes from Gunji in Chamoli would perform in the festival. Floral Rangoli competition, painting competition, photography and painting exhibitions will be the high lights of the festival.

The theme of the painting exhibition will be “The beauty of Uttarakhand.” With participants from ONGC, FRI, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Forest Department and HRDI.

Haridwar, February 6
With intermediate board examinations scheduled for next month, a farewell function was organised at Doon Cambridge School to bid adieu the final year students.

Classical dance, folksongs, skits, standup comedy, quizzes and farewell speech by the passing-out students marked the programme. School Principal Kamini Verma inaugurated the function.

She exhorted the students to have confidence in their efforts and prepare for their exams in a relaxed manner.

Later, an interaction session was also held between parents and teachers of the students. Kajal, a student, said the occasion of farewell was emotional. She said she had spent almost a decade there and added that by standing first in the board examination, she would make her school proud.