1.19 lakh postal ballots hold key
SMA Kazmi
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 21
After the state Assembly poll held on January 30, all major political parties, the main opposition Congress, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha (URM ) led by Lt-Gen TPS Rawat (Retd) are focusing on postal ballots that could be the deciding factor on some seats where there could be a close contest.

Both BJP and Congress have marshalled their resources, particularly senior retired Army officers, to take care of postal ballots in their favour.

These political parties have realised that 1.19 lakh postal ballots in these Assembly elections could play an important role on some seats. In the last Assembly poll held in February 2007, a total of 82,000 postal ballots were issued. But this time, the number has crossed the one-lakh mark.

Postal ballots had played an important role in deciding the fate of candidates fighting elections in the past in Uttarakhand due to a large number of service voters of the Army and paramilitary forces. In the Pauri Garhwal byelection held in 2008, Lt-Gen TPS Rawat (retd), who fought elections on the BJP ticket, defeated Congress candidate Satpal Maharaj by virtue of getting more postal ballots, particularly of Army personnel. Already suffering from his past defeat, Satpal Maharaj, Congress Lok Sabha member from Pauri Garhwal, has demanded the appointment of a special observer by the Election Commission to oversee the postal ballots. He also demanded that there should be a limit of 14 days for sending postal ballots after the elections.

Interestingly, since there is gap of 36 days between the polling and counting of votes, the postal ballots received by the returning officers till the morning of March 6, 2012, will be counted.

Pauri Garhwal district is having 22,789 postal ballots, the largest number in the state followed by Pithoragarh where 15,306 ballots have been issued. Nainital district has 5,373, Dehradun 9,745 and in Almora district, 6,799 postal ballots had been issued by the Election Commission.

All these political parties have activated their ex-servicemen cells and taking the help of the senior retired defence personnel to get these votes in their favour. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj-Gen B C Khanduri (retd) had been garnering a major chunk of the service voters in the past elections. Together with Lt-Gen TPS Rawat (retd) in the Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha byelections held in February 2008, Khanduri was able to get a majority of service postal ballots leading to Rawat’s victory.

However, TPS Rawat has parted company with Khanduri and floated his own political outfit, the Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha (URM) attracting a large number of ex-servicemen.

His outfit will also be a front-runner in getting service postal ballots.

Congress vice-president Surya Kant Dhasmana has written letters to all party candidates regarding the nitty gritty of postal ballots and the precautions to be taken by them. He has asked the party candidates to know about the number of postal ballots issued from their respective constituencies. He has also written about the envelopes containing the postal ballots and the accompanying Form 13. It has also been mentioned that all those postal ballots are invalid in which the identity of the voters is established.

The candidates have also become vigilant and are monitoring postal ballots being received in their respective constituencies. Devender Sethi, Congress candidate from the Dehradun Cantt Assembly segment, has written to the Returning Officer that out of 850 postal ballots issued, most of the voters are not from the constituency.

Cong to meet today DEHRADUN: The Congress has called a meeting of all party candidates in New Delhi on February 22 to discuss various issues related with the counting of votes, including postal ballots. Birender Singh, in charge general secretary of the Uttarakhand Congress, along with senior party leaders, including Utarakhand party president Yashpal Arya, leader of Congress legislature party Harak Singh Rawat, Tehri Garhwal MP Vijay Bahuguna, are expected to address the party candidates during the meeting. All Congress candidates will be informed about the details of counting, its procedures and the precautions to be taken during the counting of postal ballots. — TNS

No victory procession after poll results: CEO
Tribune News Service

Nainital, February 21
None of the victorious candidates will be allowed to carry out victory processions after the declaration of the Assembly results on March 6.

This is being done with a view to maintaining law and order in the wake of the Holi festival which falls on March 8.

These orders were given by Chief Election Officer (CEO) Radha Raturi to all District Election Officers (DEOs) during a video conferencing session on Tuesday.

The DEOs had been asked to make elaborate arrangements for counting of votes scheduled to be held on March 6.

Raturi ordered that the strong rooms where the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) had been stored should be inspected at regular intervals to ensure security of these rooms.

Addressing the DEOs, Raturi expressed satisfaction over the conduct of peaceful polling in the state.

She said the counting too should be held in a peaceful manner under proper arrangements. She had asked the officials to tell every contestant the place and timing of counting of votes well in time.

At the same time counting agents of various candidates were to be provided proper training and relevant passes were to be issued to them.

Raturi asked the DEOs to ensure that the personnel involved in counting of votes were imparted proper training.

She said that the last randomisation of personnel involved in the counting process would be done at 5 am on March 6 in the presence of election observers. It was only after this randomisation that the personnel would know on which table they were to report for counting.

DEO at Udham Singh Nagar PS Jangpangi said the Returning Officers (ROs) had provided the contestants information about the place and timing of the counting of votes.

He further disclosed that the security of the strong room housing the EVMs had been entrusted to the paramilitary forces while he along with other officials had been

keeping an eye on the security arrangements. He said one official had been deputed there round the clock from the security point of view.

Jangpangi said the personnel to be involved in counting exercise had been identified and a training schedule for them had been finalised. He said 10 tables each would be set up for counting of votes for every the state Assembly constituency.

Leopard skins worth Rs 12 lakh seized
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, February 21
A team of policemen and Forest Department officials seized four leopard skins from the possession of a Nepali citizen and arrested him under the Wildlife Protection Act today.

SP, Pithoragarh, NA Bharane, said on a tip-off, the team arrested Bharat Singh Kotari, who had been living in the Ascot area in the district, near the Panda forest barrier when he was trying to enter the town along with the consignment of the skins.

The leopards had recently been killed in the Narayan Nagar forest in the Didihat range, the SP added.

According to the police, the cost of the skins has been estimated at Rs 12 lakh in the international market. These skins were supposed to be sent to Delhi, the SP said.

This is the third such incident in the past three months. In December last year, three leopard skins had been seized in the Monokot area and three at the DS Bisht Ground the SP added.

Tiger killed in territorial struggle
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 21
Territorial struggle has claimed yet another tiger in the Corbett region of Uttarakhand.

A male tiger was killed by another male tiger in the Kalagarh division of the Corbett national park with the half-eaten body of the tiger recovered by forest guards yesterday.

The body was recovered from the Dhaulkhand compartment number five of the Kalagarh division of Corbett.

Director Corbett Ranjan Kumar Mishra said the deceased male tiger was about five-year-old and had its skull broken.

He, however, attributed the death to the territorial struggle between tigers. “The post-mortem report has confirmed that the deceased male tiger was killed by another male tiger as part of territorial struggle”, Mishra disclosed today.

Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden SS Sharma and Corbett Honorary Wildlife Warden Brijendra Singh, who had inspected the body, ruled out any foul play.

Meanwhile, the carcass of the tiger was burnt after conducting postmortem proceedings.

60 take part in skiing training camp
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, February 21
A nine-day skiing training-cum-exhibition camp organised by the adventure sports wing of the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) concluded at Batuli Dhar in Munsiyari today.

The Pithoragarh District Magistrate and the Superintendent Police attended the concluding function. The training session began on February 11 to 19.

According to Dinesh Gururani, in charge of the wing, over 30 youths from around the district along with 30 tourists from Maharashtra and Delhi took part in the event. “This could be possible due to excess snow on the ridges of the Betulidhar terrain this year,” said Dinesh Gururani.

According to KMVN sources, the half-km-long terrain of Betuli Dhar is best in the district for the purpose of training the youths to be future guides for the tourists who would like to participate in this sport. “For advance courses on skiing, we have vast ridges of the Khalia top in Munsiyari where the snow deposits remain for almost eight months in the year,” said Gururani.

The KMVN has plans to develop the Khalia top as the centre of national skiing competition but due to the government’s apathy on the subjects, appropriate infrastructure could not be developed till date at the place. “If the rugged terrain of the Khalia top could be converted into slopes, a 5-km-long ropeway from Balati to the Khalia top could be erected. The Khalia top will be an ideal destination for skiing lovers in the district,” said the KMVN adventure wing in charge.

Purohits resent immersion of ashes at Rishikesh
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, February 21
“Teerth purohits” and “pandas” in Haridwar are unhappy over the immersion of ashes by people in the Ganga at Rishikesh and have termed the practice as against the religion and the sentiments of the Hindus.

The issue came to light last weekend once again when the ashes of noted Bollywood singer Kailash Kher’s relatives were immersed in the Ganga at Rishikesh and the rituals were performed by Chidanand Muni of the Parmarth Niketan Ashram. Earlier too the ashes of film actor Anil Kapoor’s father were immersed in the Ganga at Rishikesh and the rituals were performed by Chidanand Muni.

As in the past too Chidanand Muni has performed the rituals during the immersion of the ashes of many celebrities, the teerth purohits have come out openly against him, terming his actions as “a violation of age-old religious norms”.

The Akhil Bharatiya Yuva Teerth Purohit Sabha criticised Chidanand Muni saying he had started a new practice in Rishikesh for the sake of popularity and convenience.

Ujjwal Pandit, chief of the Yuva teerth purohit sabha, said according to the religion the immersion of ashes was right only at Braham Kund, Har-Ki-Pauri and Sati Ghat, Kankhal, both in Haridwar. But by performing the rituals in Rishikesh Chidanand Muni was violating the age-old tradition and affecting the livelihood of a large number of teerth purohits and other people in Haridwar.

He added the teerth purohits in Haridwar had kept a data bank of the family history of the people belonging to all castes, but Chidanand, who had his ashram in Rishikesh, could not perform the rituals meant for the peace of the departed souls.

Sumit Shri Kunj, a teerth purohit at Kusha Ghat, asked Chidanand Muni to stop performing rituals at Rishikesh or they would launch an agitation against him.

Tehri Garhwal village bans liquor
Ajay Ramola

Mussoorie, February 21
An anti-liquor crusade is gaining momentum in the hill districts of Garhwal and the Selur village panchayat of the Thaudhar block in Tehri Garhwal district is the latest to join the campaign.

The villagers concerned over increasing consumption of liquor in society decided to ban its intake and distribution during community functions. It was also decided that activities such as disco jockeys playing western music would also be prohibited as it promoted alcohol consumption among the villagers, especially youth.

The panches of Selur village during a general meeting expressed concern over the increasing use of alcohol accompanied by loud western music during functions. The panches decided to completely ban liquor consumption during festivals and important occasions as it was harmful to society.

It was also decided at the meeting that alcohol would not be served during community functions on auspicious occasions like marriages, ‘mundan’ or birthdays and those found violating the decision would be fined Rs 5,000 for the first time. Repeated violations could also invite social boycott of the individual or the family.

Village sarpanch Purushottam Lal, Sarvanand Dobhal, Shiv Singh Negi, Shobini Devi and others were present at the meeting.

Help invest in small saving schemes, DM tells industrialists
Tribune News Service

Nainital, February 21
District Magistrate, Udham Singh Nagar, PS Jangpangi has called upon industrialists to help invest in small saving schemes and contribute towards development activities in the district.

The request was made by Jangpangi at a meeting held at the State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal office a couple of days ago.

He said: “The administration contributes money in proportion to the investments made in small saving schemes and this is used in carrying out development works.”

Hence it became the responsibility of every citizen to secure his future and also contribute towards development by investing in such schemes and become a partner in the process, he added.

Jangpangi told the industrialists that the Postal Department had several small saving schemes to offer and the industrialists should encourage their employees to invest in them.

He said the administration had fixed an annual target under such schemes for every district. A shortfall in meeting the target meant a negative impact on development.

He asked the industrialists to themselves invest in the schemes. Jangpangi ordered the District Savings Officer Sanjay Kumar to initiate a mass awareness drive with regard to this.

He asked him to organise special camps on the premises of various industrial units and open small saving accounts of various employees working in these units.

The meeting was attended by the regional manager of SIDCUL GC Durgapal along with several industrialists.

Earlier this month, Jangpangi had expressed displeasure over the slow pace of work with regard to achieving the targets set for the small saving schemes in the district.

At a review meeting held on February 9, he had found that the district was nowhere near achieving the target set for the current financial year. Against the set target of Rs 55 crore, only Rs 12.7 crore could be raised by January this year.

Jangpangi had ordered that the officials must ensure that the target be achieved by March 3. He had told the SDMs and Tehsildars to initiate special drives for promoting small savings so that the set target could be achieved well in time in the district.

He had also appealed to the people to participate in the schemes and avail the benefits.

Jangpangi said the officials must approach every income tax payee for procuring the National Savings Certificates so that they could avail permissible income tax exemptions.

RTI activist’s killers still at large
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, February 21
Even after a week of the murder of RTI activist Jagdeesh Chauhan, the police has failed to arrest the accused, who are still at large.

Though a special investigative team is probing this matter, it has failed to achieve any success in the case. The help of the special operations group is also been taken.

Jagdeesh Chauhan, a retired teacher, who had exposed scams and the misuse of funds in various departments, was found murdered six days ago.

Though the police has registered a case against Pheurpur village sarpanch, a fair price shop dealer and two property dealers, no one has been arrested so far.

SSP, Haridwar, Pushkar Sailal said the investigating team was hopeful of getting some vital clues and soon they would achieve success.

Opposition to Save Ganga Campaign
UKD (P), Uttarakhand manch to hold protests today
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, February 21
A day after residents of the Kedarghati region extended support to the ongoing save Ganga campaign of Prof GD Aggarwal at Matri Sadan and accused regional outfits of playing into the hands of power companies, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive) and the Uttarakhand Rajya Andolankari Manch today decided to hold a protest at Matri Sadan. Both parties would hold a protest rally till Matri Sadan tomorrow to stop Aggarwal’s mediation campaign, which they termed as anti-Uttarakhand.

Uday Ram Semwal, general secretary of labour cell of the UKD (P), told The Tribune that party chief Trivendra Singh Pawar was likely to participate in the protest march till Matri Sadan tomorrow.

Semwal added there were limited employment opportunities in hill areas and hence the hydroelectric projects besides providing electricity provided job avenues also. He said quota licences should be given with the condition of strict adherence to environment norms.

He said the Ganga was being polluted in the plains and the issue needed to be addressed urgently. But Aggarwal, who hails from Kanpur, was agitating in Uttarakhand where the river was still pure.

Similarly, the Uttarakhand Rajya Andolanakari Manch too decided to hold a protest rally against Aggarwal’s campaign till the City Magistrate’s office in Devpura tomorrow.

JP Pandey, chief of the manch, said Aggarwal would not be allowed to protest in Haridwar as he had spend most of his time in Kanpur and Delhi where everyone knew the condition of the Ganga and the Yamuna. He should have protested there as these rivers were polluted there.

In view of the two scheduled protests, the district administration has decided to deploy security personnel at the Matri Sadan ashram and on the road to the ashram in Jagjeetpur.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate Harbeer Singh said no one would be allowed to disturb law and order and anyone trying to barge into Matri Sadan would be strictly dealt with.

Panwar opposes fast by Aggarwal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 21
President of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) Trivender Singh Panwar opposed the fast observed by Professor GD Aggarwal in Haridwar against building hydro-power projects on the Ganga in the state.

Panwar told mediapersons that his party was always against big hydro-power projects which damaged the environment and ecology but favoured small projects for the development of the state.

As far as the demand of Aggarwal to let Ganga flow freely without any interruption, he said it was no longer a possibility as the flow had already been disrupted wherever barrages were built for hydro-power projects.

He advised Aggarwal to rather go to Kanpur or Varanasi where Ganga was polluted by industries. He also protested against the suggestion of a Congress leader about creating

the post of Deputy Chief Minister to have balanced development in the hills as well as the plains.

“The Congress has always played divisive politics. With this suggestion of appointing a deputy CM, it has tried to deepen the wedge between people of the hills and the plains which we oppose strongly,” he said.

He also took a swipe at the dissident leaders of the Congress and the BJP who joined hands with smaller parties during the Assembly elections saying that they had begun preparation to join the Congress. If they did so, it would be ditching the public who voted for them, he said.

Two killed in mishap
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, February 21
Two youths were killed while six others sustained serious injuries when the pickup vehicle they were travelling in overturned in the Jaiti area of Almora district today.

According to the police, the youths who were returning home after appearing in their pre-board examinations at Sarvodaya Inter-college, Jaiti, boarded the pickup vehicle to reach home early as no other vehicle was available there.

The deceased have been identified as Inder Singh Mahra and Surendra Singh Naula. The injured have been referred to Haldwani hospital

Kishen Singh Negi, an eyewitness, said the mishap took place due to carelessness of the driver as he was unskilled. The driver, Mohan Singh, is at large.

Husband, in-laws held in dowry death case
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, February 21
The Pithoragarh police has arrested four persons, including the husband of a woman who died of burns last night in the town, and booked them for killing the woman for dowry.

According to information, Bhawana Pant, 26, a resident of Pitrota ward of the town, died of burn injuries in the district hospital this morning. “Bhawana’s brother Harish Joshi lodged an FIR with the police alleging that his sister’s in-laws killed her for bringing insufficient dowry,” said police sources.

The police arrested Bhawana’s husband Pankaj Pant, mother-in-law Chandra Pant, father-in-law Girish Pant and brother-in-law Brijesh Pant. They had been booked under 304 (b) of the IPC and the Dowry Act.

Bhawana’s sister Vimla told the police that her sister was being harassed by her in-laws and she used to inform her about it on telephone. “On several occasions Bhawana showed injury marks sustained due to thrashing by her in-laws,” said Vimla.