E-stamping introduced in state
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 2
Uttarakhand today became the ninth state in the country to launch e-stamping. From now, non-judicial stamp papers of Rs 500 and above will be available electronically. For simpler, faster and transparent process of paying stamp duty, the government of Uttarakhand has tied up with Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL), which has been authorised by the Centre to introduce e-stamping in the country. In the first phase, it is being introduced in Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital.

During the inauguration of the service, Alok Jain, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance), said it would help the government keep an eye on the black marketing of stamp papers that were required for rent agreements, property registration and all kinds of affidavits. “E-stamping is a part of the e-governance initiative introduced by the state Finance Department. It is a moment of happiness that we have been able to introduce this service in our state despite opposition from certain quarters,” said Jain.

However, he said stamp papers in the physical form would continue to remain available with vendors in the state. “To safeguard the interests of vendors, we have increased the commission of vendors from 1 per cent to 2 per cent,” Jain said.

There are over 70 registered stamp vendors operating in Dehradun. Various licensed stamp vendors purchase the papers on a day-to-day basis and on a given day, the total business incurred from the sale of stamps is Rs 25 lakh.

The benefits of e-stamping are it is a tamper proof and the authenticity can be checked through an online receipt with a bar code that the sub-registrar’s office would be able to authenticate.

The SHCIL will be starting operations in Dehradun from the District Treasury, SHCIL branch, on Rajpur Road and four branches of Punjab National Bank ie Race Course, Indira Nagar, Kaulagarh and Asley Hall.

The state government has also roped in 45 branches of PNB in these districts through which e-stamping can be sold.

Undelivered postal ballots with addresses to be redirected
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 2
After receiving instructions from the Election Commission, the Uttarakhand electoral office would be redirecting those undelivered service postal ballots carrying addresses of the senders.

However, the Uttarakhand electoral office is maintaining that the lapse was on the party of the Army and it should have sent the postal ballots. “The matter has been brought before the Election Commission, which in turn has taken up with the Ministry of Defence, as it is the duty of the Army to redirect the ballots at it’s own cost. A full enquiry is in order,” said Radha Raturi, Chief Electoral Officer (Uttarakhand).

She said the Election Commission had spent over Rs 1 crore towards the entire exercise of making the postal ballot available to the service voters. For now the Uttarakhand electoral office has instructed the Returning Officers to redirect the undelivered postal ballots. “We have instructed the concerned Returning Officers (RO) to redirect the postal ballots that carry possible addresses. At the moment it would be impossible to ascertain how many would be sent back; we would be able to get a clear picture in a day or two,” said Raturi.

With a few days remaining for the day of counting, which would take place on March 6, it is highly unlikely that the postal ballots would return with the vote duly caste.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has also asked the Uttarakhand electoral office to do away with videography of each table during counting of votes on March 6. The Chief Electoral Officer had expressed inability to do so. “We had highlighted pracitical difficulty in carrying out the videography of each table. However, the general videography would be undertaken,” said Raturi.

The Commission has also directed that during each round of counting, counting supervisors will ensure that at the time of pressing the result button on the control unit of the EVM, the counting agents of all candidates are shown the display panel of the control unit to their satisfaction so that they can note down the votes polled in favour of each candidate as displayed on the control unit display panel.

In case a counting agent desires to have the result displayed on EVM more than once, it shall be done by the counting supervisor to the satisfaction of counting agents, it said.

The Commission has also directed that when tabulation sheet of each polling booth(form-17-C) is received at the RO's table, it will be the responsibility of the Returning Officer to show it to the candidates, their election agents and counting agents sitting at the Returning Officer's table to enable them to note down the results of each candidate for each polling station.

On the other hand, Congress has instructed it’s candidate to be vigilant and present during the counting of the postal ballots. Suryakant Dhasmana, vice-president of Uttarakhand Congress, said that all the 70 party contestants have been given instructions regarding the precautions to be taken during counting of ballots.

40 cases of forest fire reported since Feb 15
Jotirmay Thapliyal/TNS

Dehradun, March 2
Even as 40 incidents of forest fire, big and small, have been so far reported in Uttarakhand since the start of forest fire season (Feb 15) this year, the fire happenings amply indicate that particular areas of various forest divisions and protected areas have experienced forest fires repeatedly.

With the coming up of summer season, forest fires are quite common in Uttarakhand. The State Forest Department, too, every year makes special planning to counter these forest fire challenges. Fortunately, due to extension of winters, forest fires in Uttarakhand this year have been quite less comparatively to the past summers.

But repeated occurrences of forest fires at a particular area of a forest division have been a matter of concern. There have been as many as 6 incidents of forest fires so far in the tiger-famous Corbett National Park, and all 6 incidents have taken place in the Dhela range of Corbett. Similarly all the 6 incidents of forest fires in the Terai Central forest division have occurred in the Pipalpadao range. Another 4 out of 6 forest fire incidents of Terai West division have taken place in the same Ampokhara range.

The rest 2 forest fires have taken place in Ramnagar range. Similarly, the 2 forest fire incidents at Terai East division have all occurred in Ransali range. In the Rajaji National Park, 4 out of a total of 6 forest fire incidents in Rajaji National Park have occurred in Chillawali range, the other 2 incidents being at Chilla. Even in fragile Kedarnath Wildlife division, all the 3 forest fire incidents have occurred in Ukhimath range.

These forest fire incidents have been detected through satellite imageries. The IT Department of Uttarakhand Forest Department has been monitoring round the clock the incidents of forest fires in the reserve forests of the state. Chief Conservator of Forests and head of IT cell of Uttarakhand Forest Department Monish Mullick disclosed that a total of 40 forest fire incidents, small and medium, have been detected so far. He said no major forest fire had been detected due to frequent occurrences of rainfall even after the beginning of the fire season in the state.

UKM issues ultimatum to GD Aggarwal
Appeals to Uttarakhand government to ban agitation
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, March 2
Activists under the aegis of the Uttarakhand Kranti Manch has given a 9-day ultimatum to GD Aggarwal and Matri Sadan agitators to discontinue the agitation or they will be forced to stop it. They are opposing GD Aggarwal’s “Save Ganga” agitation, terming it against the interests of the people of the state.

The manch activists are also demanding the removal of Aggarwal from Haridwar, asking him to instead start agitation in Uttar Pradesh or other states where the Ganga is being highly polluted.

JP Pandey, founder of the manch, blamed Aggarwal for not taking into account the status of the Ganga in Uttarakhand from its origin Gaumukh till Haridwar. It is quite clean but gets polluted in the lower reaches, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

“This agitation should be banned by the administration as the agitation is anti-Uttarakhand and it’s high time that he should be asked to leave Matri Sadan. If he or the administration doesn’t take this step, then we will be forced to oust him from this state” said Pandey.

Afzal Alvi, core member of the UKM, pointed out that the closure of multi-crore projects viz Lohari Nagmapala, Pala Maneri, Bhairon Ghati were scrapped by the Central Government when almost 70 pc of work was completed but now they would not be allowed to continue agitation again as hydro projects were imperative for the development of this hilly state.

Fear of another leopard in Sarwala area
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 2
A day after Salawala trapped leopard in Dehradun was left in the wild at Kansro range of Rajaji National Park, the residents of the same Salawala locality yesterday complained of hearing the howling of a leopard in the vicinity.

The Salawala residents yesterday complained to the Uttarakhand forest authorities about hearing the howling of a leopard during late evening hours. Forest Range Officer Rajkumar Tonk said presence of another leopard in the Salawala area of Dehradun cannot be ruled out. “There could be possibility of another leopard in Salawala region. It could be the calls made by the mate of the male leopard trapped and relocated. Thus, we are continuing with night patrolling in the region,” he said.

Forest authorities have not removed the cages and are keeping all precautions. The forest officials are hopeful that the second leopard would also get trapped in the cage sooner or later.

Interestingly, some time back residents of Salawala and the adjoining Hathibarkala area of Dehradun had claimed sighting two leopards in the localities for the last few months. However, the Forest Department officials were able to sight only one leopard. A male leopard was finally trapped on Tuesday night and subsequently released in the Kansro range of the Rajaji National Park. But on the very subsequent night, residents claimed hearing a leopard howling.

Action on 35 rebels soon, says Chufal
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, March 2
State BJP chief Bishen Singh Chufal has said the process of removing the 35 party leaders, who have been given notices for allegedly working against party candidates in the elections, will be started soon.

“As we have decided to take action against such party leaders after receiving reports from election in charges, district presidents and candidates of Assembly seats, we will act only after they submit their reports,” said Chufal.

Talking to newspersons on reaching here, Chufal said he had confidence that the BJP was winning most of the seats in the Kumaon region.

Expressing displeasure over the MLA LAD fund, he said the allocation for this fund should be immediately stopped as the funds meant for rural development under MLAs’ purview were being misused. “Neither the quality of works done under these funds is up to mark, nor are the people pleased by the mode of its disbursement,” said Chufal.

Chufal reiterated that if the BJP government returned to power, Khanduri would be the Chief Minister again. “There is no fight for the top job in the BJP as all leaders are unanimously agree to give leadership of the government to Khanduri again,” said Chufal.

Training and lectures given during yoga festival
Tribune News Service

Rishikesh, March 2
On the second day of the International Yoga Festival being held at Parmarth Niketan here at Rishikesh, a number of yoga gurus gave yoga training and lectures in varied sessions. Acharya Balkrishan, close aide of Yog Guru Baba Ramdev, who is also Vice Chancellor of Patanjali University, addressed yoga practitioners from 30 countries in the morning session.

He also showed various asanas to the participants, emphasising on the positive impact on the body of every move and technique practised in yoga.

Terming yoga as of immense benefit for having a sound body and mind, Bala Krishan pointed that now the world had realised the ancient art of yoga and that was why in Europe, Asia or America yoga was making fast inroads.

Spiritualist Andrew Cohen highlighted the impact of yoga, which no other medical therapy or medicinal cure can match.

Training was also given on the right posture, correct asanas, pranayama, kundalini yoga, meditation, reiki, shinto yoga, mantra yoga, yoga nidra, vinyasa yoga and related arts with foreign delegates, too, sharing their experiences during the interactive session.

Sadhvi Bhagwati gave vital lessons on the right methodology while practicing yoga for maximum health benefits.

Industry being developed to check migration: Minister
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, March 2
The Uttarakhand government has spent Rs 4,200 crore of the Rs 5,200-crore sanctioned plan during the period between the imposition of the model code of conduct and March 1. The total plan amount before the code of conduct came into force was Rs 7,800 crore. Uttarakhand Planning Minister Prakash Pant said this here today.

Pant said this was made possible due to the emphasis of the government on a regular review of the state plan expenditure, especially on the secondary sector. “The main emphasis of the state plan has been on strengthening infrastructure in the secondary sector so that it could attract investment and generate jobs,” he said.

The minister said the Khanduri government had realised that it was necessary to develop industry in hill districts of the state to check migration from there. “To check migration from hill areas, the government has given nod to handing over the allocated land to the department concerned for setting up industrial estates in hill districts. We have already developed an industrial estate in the Kotdwar subdivision and another estate is being developed in Pithoragarh district,” said Pant.

He added the government had a plan to generate 1.50 lakh jobs by encouraging and developing industrial estates in hill districts under its industrial policy of 2008.

Khanduri trying to influence postal ballot results: Harish Rawat

Dehradun, March 2
Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Harish Rawat has accused Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri of pressuring state election officers to influence the counting of postal ballots of the state Assembly elections.

Seminar on role of research in professional education
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 2
The school of management studies, Uttarakhand Graphic Era Hill University (UGEHU), organised a day-long faculty development programme on “Role of Research in Professional Education - Implications and Challenges” here today.

The programme focused on guiding and motivating faculty to pursue research activities leading to the award of Ph.D. degree.

Prof R.C. Joshi, Chancellor, Graphic Era University, Prof. Anjali Sardana from IIT, Roorkee, and Prof Sanjay Jasola, Vice-Chancellor, UGEHU, were the chief speakers at the programme.

The event began with Saraswati Vandana followed by a welcome speech. In the session Prof R.C. Joshi talked on the model of education system and various emerging areas of research. Prof. Anjali Sardana discussed in detail the process of research with the participants. Prof. Sanjay Jasola’s interactive session on how to write a research proposal enlightened the participants. The programme culminated with a vote of thanks and certificate distribution.

Workshop on National Working Plan Code
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 2
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun, today organised a consultative workshop on “Revision of National Working Plan Code” (NWPC) under the chairmanship of former Director-General Forests A.K. Mukherji.

During the deliberations, Director-General, ICFRE, Dr. V.K. Bahuguna, suggested to include the water harvesting techniques, eco-tourism and silviculture techniques in the joint forest management along with the economic valuation of goods and services from forests.

Director, FRI, Dr. S S Negi revealed that there was a Supreme Court order on working plan preparation. He said once the draft of revised NWPC is ready, it will be circulated to the State Forests Department, NGOs and other stakeholders for their suggestions and valuable comments. Subsequently, the regional workshops will be organised in Dehradun, Bangalore and Kolkata for further discussions.