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Water crisis unites people of all parties
Demolition drive begins in Nainital
Dehradun Diary
Khairna-Kwarab stretch to remain closed from
Feb 27 to Mar 5
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CM meets Panchayati Raj officials
Almora District Magistrate DS Garbyal chairs a meeting of the District-level Committee for the management
of various hospitals at Almora
Simon Paris from England (right) and Birgit Biegel from Germany during an international conference at Gurukul Kangri University in Haridwar on Sunday. Tribune photo:
Rameshwar Gaur
Dharasu villagers-police clash
Black marketing in Haridwar People hold a protest against the sale of LPG cylinders on the black market in Haridwar on Sunday. A Tribune photograph
Sports festival concludes at Dev Sanskriti University
Two killed in mishaps, two commit suicide
Annual function at Doon Kids School
Students of Doon Kids School participate in a fancy dress competition in
Dehradun on Sunday. A Tribune photograph
Special teams to check poaching incidents
Governor visits Sitarganj jail today
Boy falls from rooftop, dies in US Nagar
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Water crisis unites people of all parties
Pithoragarh, February 26 “The seriousness of the problem can be gauged from the fact that the people in Pithoragarh and Champawat have for the first time shunning their political differences, sat to discuss the impending drinking water crisis in their respective towns,” said Bhagwan Singh Rawat, president of the Pey Jal Arakshan Samiti. Out of 328 drinking water schemes providing safe water to the villagers, 40 are not in a position to supply water while other schemes are facing shortage of water as the sources are drying in Champawat district. “Even in the town areas, the supply of drinking water is decreasing over the years as Champawat town has only 0.36 MLD drinking water against the need of 0.49 MLD. Lohaghat needs 0.7 MLD drinking water but it has only 0.5MLD available for the town,” said PC Kargeti, executive engineer of the Jal Sansthan, Champawat. The Jal Sansthan engineer said the water supply in Tanakpur was better than those in other hill towns. In Lohaghat, the people discussed the problem decided that a delegation of senior citizens of the town would soon meet the officials concern and apprise them about the impending water crisis in the town. “We have also decided that a sum of Rs 2.28 crore, which has been given to the tourist department to construct an artificial lake at the Kolidhek area, should be released soon to the department to meet the challenges of water crisis of the town in the summer,” said Maherdra Singh Mahra, Congress MLA from Lohaghat. Jal Sansthan officials in Didihat have decided that they will supply drinking water to all four wards of the town only once a day as the water in the source feeding the town is drying gradually. “We have decided to give water to the people only in mornings like last year since we are not in a position to give it in evening hours as the source is generating less water than that of last year,” said N.K. Bhargav, Executive Engineer of the Jal Sansthan, Didihat. In Pithoragarh, residents of Saraswati Vihar colony, situated near the town have demonstrated in front of the office of the District Magistrate and demanded a regular supply of water to their newly inhabited colony. “The lower areas of the colony are not getting sufficient quantity of drinking water. Sansthan engineers are not listening to us,” said Mahesh Uperati, a resident of the colony.
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Demolition drive begins in Nainital
Nainital, February 26 Sources in the LDA said notices were being issued to the owners of the structures that have come up illegally across the town to demolish these structures themselves within the next fortnight, failing which they would be sealed or demolished. The month of February has finally seen the LDA resorting to the sealing of illegal buildings and carrying out demolitions. This has eventually come about after a public
outcry over the flouting of norms by the rich and powerful who have gone against the existing laws and built buildings at will in the zones that have been declared unsafe and green. The people in the town are questioning why the LDA kept quiet while all these buildings were coming up right under its nose without the guilty even bothering to get the maps for their proposed construction approved from the authorities. Over the past few days, they have also been pointing out that why is it that the LDA has targeted the poor and small fry while being lenient on the rich and powerful. During a discussion organised by the Uttarakhand Academy of Administration at the Administrative Training Institute on Wednesday, people had also questioned the compounding of some of the illegal structures that came up in unsafe and green zones. The people feel that such practises are an encouragement to those rich and powerful people who are indulging in illegal activity in the town. The people had raised these issues during the day-long interaction in the presence of the Secretary, LDA, Vijay Chandra Kaushal. Kaushal has made it clear on several occasions that the LDA will not allow illegal construction to thrive Meanwhile, in a similar action being carried out in Haldwani, the Railways has removed a large number of structures that had come up on its land. The Railway authorities are clearing the land belonging to the institution between Haldwani and Kathgodam on which hundreds of people have set up hutments. On Saturday, more than 100 structures had been raised and the drive was on today also. It is expected to continue over the next
few days. |
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Dehradun Diary
EVEN before the election results of the state Assembly are out in Uttarakhand, a controversy over the issue of appointing a Deputy Chief Minister has erupted. It was Congress leader and Rudrapur legislator Tilak Raj Behad who has made the demand that Uttarakhand should have a Deputy Chief Minister from the Terai region of the state.
Interestingly, his demand was endorsed by none other than Uttarakhand Minister and BJP leader Madan Kaushik hailing from Haridwar. The demand by these two leaders belonging to different political parties evoked strong response from their own party brethren. Leaders of these parties, including Chief Minister BC Khanduri, showed displeasure at the demand. While most of the senior Congress leaders termed it a personal comment of Tilak Raj Behad, the BJP has sought an explanation from Madan Kaushik on the issue. Most of the leaders and social workers termed the demand divisive. However, despite the outrage over the issue, it is a fact that there has been a wide gap between the perceptions of the people of the hills and those of the plains in the state since the very beginning. Before the state came into being on November 9, 2000, there had been agitations in the two plain districts of Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar to demand taking out these two districts from the new proposed state. The residents of these two plain districts also known as the Terai region of the state were skeptical about the land laws to be promulgated and the perceived domination of the hilly areas in the political affairs of the state. The agitation to exclude Haridwar continued even after the formation of the state. The Samajwadi Party which advocated the demand did benefit from it when it won the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat in the 2004 elections on the promise that it would work for the exclusion of the district from the state. With the passage of time, the demand to exclude these districts from Uttarakhand died as people realised the benefits of a small state. But the politics of the Terai remained different with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) winning a majority of the seats in the Assembly from Haridwar district. It was a fact that while the Congress and the BJP ruled the state in the past more than 11 years, the desired levels of development eluded Haridwar due to its political affiliations. Another turning point in the politics of Uttarakhand came with two events, one was shifting of senior Congress leader Harish Rawat from Almora to Haridwar and another was the fresh delimitation of Assembly constituencies. Harish Rawat took a political gamble which paid off as he won the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat in 2009. This made the entire political scene of the state topsy turvy. Moreover, in the fresh delimitation based on the population criterion, the Terai region has now more Assembly segments than the hilly regions. The Terai region now accounts for 36 Assembly seats as compared to only 34 seats in the hilly region in a House of 70. The new power equation has also forced these two leaders belonging to the Terai region to demand a Deputy Chief Minister from the region. More interestingly, due to the chasm between the perceptions of politicians from the hills and the Terai region, whenever there was an issue concerning the Terai region whether it was power supply, developmental projects, issuance of caste certificates, the legislators from the Terai region cutting across party affiliations had tried to put up a joint front in the Assembly. The politicians of the hills have tried to give a message that basically it was a hill state and all benefits should have gone first to the hills much to the consternation of people and politicians of the Terai region. It will be seen that how the new government after the state Assembly elections would try to work for the betterment of the entire state rather than giving impetus to parochial feelings. Another interesting unnecessary controversy related with the elections was created by senior Congress leader Satpal Maharaj this week. He proclaimed that Lt Gen TPS Rawat (retd), who has floated his own political outfit Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha (URM), would not be welcome in the Congress. He said that Rawat had betrayed the Congress by joining the BJP and even support, in case the Congress falls short of majority, would not be sought. Rawat was brought into politics by Satpal Maharaj but left the party to join hands with BC Khanduri of the BJP. He defeated his political guru Satpal Maharaj in the 2008 Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha byelection. Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing and Parliamentary Affairs added spice to the entire affairs by giving a statement that Rawat would be welcome in the Congress and his support whether he wins the Assembly elections or not would be appreciated. But Rawat has been saying that he neither applied for entry into the Congress nor there was any question of giving support to a Congress government before the announcement of election results. He charged that Congress leaders were playing their own game of oneupmanship by
using him. (By SMA Kazmi) |
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Khairna-Kwarab stretch to remain closed from
Feb 27 to Mar 5
Nainital, February 26 During this period, the National Highways Authority of India
(NHAI) authorities will be attempting to remove the boulders in the chronic slip zone at Jaurasi that are threatening to come down any moment. Since a rain-related disaster had struck the area in September 2010, the stretch has been witnessing frequent landslides and rock falls. The vehicular movement on the road is hampered every other day
and travel on this stretch is not safe as the boulders can start coming down any moment. The traffic has been stopped on this road in the evenings for quite some time. Officials say that after the removal of the boulders with the help of excavators, there is a plan to build a wall of stone blocks as a long-term measure to check the frequent landslides. A proposal to the tune of Rs 30 lakh in this regard has been sent to the
Centre. It is learnt that the authorities have already spent Rs 10 lakh for the clearing of the debris that has been coming down frequently since September 2010. Even the labourers involved in the clearing of the debris have been carrying out their job at a great risk to their lives. Officials say while the stretch between Khairna and Kwarab would be closed for carrying out the removal of boulders, people going to Almora would either have to take the route via Ranikhet or
Ramgarh. Those going via Ramgarh will have to travel an extra distance of 20 km and those travelling by buses being run by the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation would have to shell out
Rs 28 extra. Similarly, those opting to go via Ranikhet will have to travel a distance of 40 km extra and will have to pay Rs 54 more when travelling by a bus. This road serves as an artery to the hilly terrain of
Kumaon. It is used for the transportation of people and essential commodities to the districts of
Almora, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh districts. |
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CM meets Panchayati Raj officials
Dehradun, February 26 Prior to tomorrow’s minister and secretary-level meeting of all states’ Panchayati Raj departments to be held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, Khanduri, while reviewing the schemes, programmes and the progress of Panchayati Raj departments in the state, directed the officials to make the three-tier Panchayati Raj system more effective in Uttarakhand. Khanduri also called for speedy implementation of every scheme pertaining to village, block and district levels panchayat as the state was primarily dependant on rural economy. This was all the more so because people’s representatives could keep a vigil on the schemes in progress and poor people from the rural area could ensure their active participation in the development process, Khanduri added. Khanduri brought home the fact that the rural development could only be possible by making Panchayati Raj institutions more effective and dynamic. All states in the country were asking for necessary constitutional provision in the realm of empowering Panchayati Raj institutions. For this, the State Election Commissions (SECs) need to be made more effective. The SECs could assist in developing Panchayati Raj Institutions as per the needs and challenges of rural development.
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Need to install CCTV cameras in hospitals: Committee
Nainital, February 26 Committee members said an operator be appointed to start the ventilator services available at the Base Hospital. At a meeting of the committee held under the chairmanship of District Magistrate DS Garbyal yesterday, it was decided that the sanitation facilities in all hospitals were required to be improved along with the availability of blood and medicines. Garbyal pointed out that the facilities extended for the patients by the state government must be made available to them. He said a humane approach be adopted towards the attendants of the patients. He said doctors and the paramedical staff assisting them must deal with the attendants and the patients in a polite manner. He expressed surprise over a number of complaints being received about the behaviour of doctors and their subordinate staff. At the meeting, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr RS Shahi, said those coming for a disability certificate should be told to bring the relevant identity papers along so that the certificate could be issued to them without any delay. |
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Yoga fast gaining global acceptance: Experts
Haridwar, February 26 Foreign delegates from Great Britain, Japan, France, Ethiopia and Germany, who had come to attend the conference, said the ancient Indian art of yoga was fast gaining global acceptance. Simon Paris, a renowned yoga practitioner from Great Britain, described yoga as a culture which is uniting the world. Elaborating on its benefits, he said yoga purifies mind. He said he himself was being hired by various corporate to teach yoga to employees and students in various nations of Europe, America and Asia. Having learnt yoga in Varanasi, Rishikesh and Haridwar from various yoga gurus, Simon said in his home country, many NRIs were realising the importance of yoga. Birgit Beigel from Germany said yoga was an art that needed to be practised regularly. He said researches showed that when yoga was practised by sportspersons, a definite change was visible in their physical and mental fitness. At the seminar, more than 500 Indian delegates from 22 states and delegates from five countries participated and read out their research papers. The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Swatantra Kumar, and the Dean, physical education department, Dr RKS Dagar, thanked the delegates for their participation. |
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Dharasu villagers-police clash
Dehradun, February 26 On Thursday, the state police and forest officials seized five leopard skins from a village in the Dharasu area of Uttarkashi district. But shortly thereafter, villagers gheraoed the police. Five police personnel were injured and two department vehicles were torched when angry villagers tried to prevent the police and state Forest Department officials from arresting some persons who were in the possession of leopard skin. Subsequently on the next day, the police arrested eight persons for the violation of the Wildlife Protection Act and for disrupting government work and damaging government property. The villagers, since then, have been opposing the arrests. Uttarkashi District Magistrate Akshat Gupta today ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. Meanwhile, the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) has opposed the hoodlums in Dharasu. WPSI coordinator Rajendra Aggarwal held that Uttarkashi and its adjoining areas of Tehri and Dehradun districts are very sensitive and wildlife in these areas had been vulnerable to poaching. “Around 30 to 40 leopard skins and other wild animal skins and body parts have been found in the past three years,” Aggarwal said. He said the villager poacher nexus must be taken seriously. |
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Black marketing in Haridwar
Haridwar, February 26 On the other hand, despite tall claims of the Food and Civil Supplies Department with regard to keeping a check on the sale of cylinders on the black market, the same are easily available on the premium with some dealers even providing home delivery. Three days ago, a CBI team had carried out raids on LPG outlets and agencies in Dehradun. Stock registers were checked, illegal LPG cylinders seized and the complaints of customers were also taken into account by the team members. But that seems to be having no impact on the black marketeers in Haridwar. While the common man is being forced to wait for hours to get a cylinder, those who can afford it a price ranging from Rs 650-800 per cylinder are ready to buy it on the black market. Food and Civil Supplies officials, however, maintained that the scarcity of LPG cylinders had occurred due to a gap between demand and supply and not due to its sale on the black market. PS Pangti, District Supplies Officer, said as the demand was more than supply, there was a shortage of LPG cylinders in the city. He said with many industrial units in SIDCUL, the demand of LPG cylinders had increased in the past few years. |
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Sports festival concludes at Dev Sanskriti University
Haridwar, February 26 In Kabaddi, girls section Vijay Laxmi group won the finals and repeated this success in kho kho and table-tennis events as well. In chess, Surabhi Kumari won the coveted title while Prerna won the carom event. Ankit Kumar Dubey and Richa Tripathi were adjudged the most prominent achiever. Nemi Chand Sahu and Arti Sharma were adjudged the sports champion of the meet. A basketball match was also held. A cultural event was also held in which the Meenakshi group won the group dance event while Pragya Mandavi won solo group dance title. In the singing event, the Arpit group was adjudged winner while Rohit Chaubey bagged the first prize in the solo performance. The skit presented by the Mrituyanjay youth group won the first prize. ‘Pragya Geet Antakshari’ was won by the Rishabh group. The Sandeep group won the laughter challenge round.
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Two killed in mishaps, two commit suicide
Nainital, February 26 A labourer from Nepal, who was injured while unloading material from a truck in the Khanauli area of Bageshwar district,
died at the Base Hospital in Haldwani. He has been identified as 55-year-old Vir Bahadur. The police is trying to contact his family. In another incident, Madan Singh Bisht, 62, a resident of Bindukhatta, died after he fell into the Gaula river and sustained head injuries. A Home Guard jawan, Diwan Nath, 35, committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance. He was a resident of
Indra Nagar in Lal Kuan and reportedly took the extreme step due to a disturbed family life.
He was rushed to a hospital in Haldwani but he died. In another case of suicide, Dewan Nath, 45, died after he consumed
some poisonous. He was a resident of Bindukhatta. The reason behind Dewan taking the extreme step was yet not known.
The police is investigating the case.
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Annual function at Doon Kids School
Dehradun, February 26 President of the Mahila Association of Uttarakhand Sadhna Sharma and Jaskiran Chopra were the guests of honour. Tiny tots presented group songs, skits, acts and dances on the occasion, which were appreciated by the audience. Later, the chief guest gave away the prizes to the winners of various competitions. Anand Sharma congratulated the teachers and children for organising such a grand show.
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Special teams to check poaching incidents
Dehradun, February 26 State Principal Conservator (Forests) RBS Rawat, while taking to mediapersons in Haldwani, said checking the poaching incidents had become a major challenge for the state Forest Department and thus the setting up of specials teams in the vulnerable forest areas was being done. He said the number of leopards in Uttarakhand had increased. “The population of leopards has crossed 2,500 mark. Some of our districts even share borders with China and Nepal and thus the setting up of teams to check poaching is very important”, he said. To a query, Rawat admitted that a large number of resorts had come up near the Corbett region, which was affecting the wildlife. He said the department was undertaking a study regarding the impact of resorts on the Corbett wildlife.
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Governor visits Sitarganj jail today
Dehradun, February 26 On February 28, she will visit the Haldwani and Almora prisons. Alva will be accompanied by Principal Secretary to the Governor Ashok and Principal Secretary (Home) Utpal Kumar Singh.
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Boy falls from rooftop, dies in US Nagar
Nainital, February 26 The victim, Sonu, was playing on the roof when he slipped and fell down. He was taken to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. He sustained injuries on his head, which is assumed to be the cause of his death.
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Dehradun, February 26
Owing to a shortage of LPG cylinders in Haridwar, consumers are being forced to stand in queues for hours to get a cylinder.
On the other hand, despite tall claims of the Food and Civil Supplies Department with regard to keeping a check on the sale of cylinders on the black market, the same are easily available on the premium with some dealers even providing home delivery.
Dehradun, February 26
