Harish calling the shots in Cong
SMA Kazmi
Tribune News service

Dehradun, March 23
Despite losing the race for the post of Chief Minister to Vijay Bahuguna, Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing and Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat has shown through his strong-arm tactics that he is the only Congress leader who has been calling the shots for the past more than a fortnight since the crisis engulfed the Uttarakhand Congress.

Harish Rawat, Congress MP from Haridwar, along with more than 17 party legislators had raised a banner of revolt against the decision of the party high command to appoint Vijay Bahuguna, Congress MP from Tehri Garhwal, as Chief Minister after the party won a slender majority in the state Assembly elections.

Miffed at being denied chief ministership for the second time after victory in the 2002 Assembly elections earlier, Harish Rawat and his supporter legislators started a dharna at his New Delhi residence. While Bahuguna took oath as Chief Minister, a majority of the Congress MLAs supporting Harish Rawat refused to take oath.

The high command, which was already overburdened with governance crisis at the Centre, and the Chief Minister could do nothing but to accept Harish Rawat's demands.

Harish Rawat could get nomination for the lone Rajya Sabha seat for his loyalist Mahender Singh Mahra, a former minister from the Kumaon region. Moreover, during bargain for ministerial berths, he was also able to get a lion’s share for his supporters. Of all ministers, Pritam Singh, Indira Hariydesh, Surinder Singh Negi and Dinesh Aggarwal are Harish Rawat supporters.

Harish Rawat, who has acted tough and not yielded even an inch to the Chief Minister, is believed to be trying to get the Speaker's post for his another loyalist, Govind Singh Kunjwal. Interestingly, in an effort to placate Harish Rawat, Bahuguna has not been left with much elbow room and some of his own loyalists have been left out. Navparbhat, Vijay Pal Singh Sajwan and Kunwar Parnav Singh Champion, known to be Bahuguna's supporters, have been denied ministerial berths. According to party sources, some of them are in touch with Harish Rawat as they feel that he is a better leader who looks after the interests of his supporters well even in adverse circumstances.

Being a shrewd tactician, Harish Rawat has not yet allowed his supporters to take oath as legislators before the Assembly session that is starting on March 26. This has forced Bahuguna to rush to him in New Delhi. Harish Rawat has publicly announced that the crisis is over from his side, but he has been using the precarious situation of the Chief Minister and the party to his advantage. It is believed that he has been bargaining to get his protégé Pardeep Tamta, Congress MP from Almora, as state Congress president since the present state Congress chief, Yahspal Arya, has been inducted into the Cabinet. If this move succeeds, Harish Rawat will have a stranglehold over the state government as well as the party organisation.

It is believed that he is also asking for positions in the state government boards, corporations and other bodies for his supporter legislators and other senior party workers.

His son, Anand Singh Rawat, is the Youth Congress president of the state. While his detractors within the party has been trying to cut him to size after the Assembly elections, Harish Rawat by his shrewd moves has emerged stronger.

Blast at Hans Karuna Hospital site
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 23
A high-powered blast occurred on Thursday night, damaging the 106-metre-long RCC protection wall built at the Hans Karuna Foundation Hospital in Satpauli in Pauri. Nobody was injured in the blast, the district authorities said.

According to reports reaching here, the labourers deployed at the site had already left when the blast occurred. “We had asked for a high-level enquiry into the incident. But for the RCC wall, the damage would have been intensive. The foundations of the hospital have been damaged due to the impact,” said Padmender Bisht, Garhwal in-charge, Hans Karuna Foundation.

The District Magistrate of Pauri, M.C Upreti, said they would be calling experts to ascertain the material used in the blast.

Meanwhile, the officials at Hans Foundation are not ruling out sabotage by an influential political group keen to stop work at the hospital. “The area falls under the jurisdiction of the Revenue Police. They cannot be expected to handle such cases; so we have asked District Magistrate to initiate a high-level enquiry,” said Bisht.

Devotees not allowed to visit temple in Rajaji park
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

The police stops people from entering Maa Chamunda Devi temple situated in the Rajaji National Park in Haridwar on Friday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

Haridwar, March 23
Despite resistance by devotees to reach the shrine of Mata Chamunda Devi, which is situated in the protected area of Rajaji National Park, the park authorities, personnel of the Forest Department and the district police did not allow them to enter the park area today.

Notably, on the pious occasion of Navratras during the past few years local residents had been trying to take out a Kalash yatra up to the Mata Chamunda Devi shrine in the park area, but the park and forest authorities did not allow them to enter the park, citing forest laws.

Local people under the guidance of saints have formed a forum, Mata Chamunda Devi Sangarsh Samiti, to ensure that they are allowed to visit the shrine in the park.

This morning the samiti members, led by Laxman Das Moni Baba, started moving towards the park to pay obesiance at the shrine. The police was present in strength there.

Tibdi Forest Range Officer Mahendra Singh Negi, accompanied by SHO PC Mathpal and other forest officials, was monitoring the situation.

He tried to convice the devotees citing forest laws that they could not be allowed to enter the park.

Negi and other officals tried to tell the samiti members that a large number of rare animals and plants were found in the park zone and the movement of people harm these species. Unless they had legal permission they could not be allowed to enter the park to pay obeisance at the shrine.

While enraged devotees tried to forcefully enter the park, a saint gave anxious moments to the forest and police personnel as he was adamant on paying obesiance at the shrine.

The devotees said there were temples in the forest areas elsewhere, it was here that they were barred from performing prayers at the Mata Chamunda Devi shrine.

Forest officials said even the Archaeological Department in its report had not mentioned that the park area had an ancient temple.

CITU resents cut in EPF rate

Dehradun, March 23
In protest againt the decision to reduce the interest rate on provident fund, members of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) held a protest in front of the Regional Provident Fund office here today. They also demanded that the pension amount be raised. Virender Bhandari, state general secretary of the body, submitted a memorandum to the Commissioner, RPF, in support of their demands.

Bhandari said: "Many people will bear a massive loss with the interest rate being reduced from 9.50 per cent to 8.25 pc. The PF is like fixed deposit for employees. Instead of providing social security to them, the Centre is minimising the deposited amount of the employees." — TNS

Sangathan to raise caste certificate issue
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 23
The Uttaranchal Sanyukt Sarv Samaj Sangathan will celebrate its foundation day on March 25.

State president of the sangathan Kunwar Japender Singh said they had been raising the issues like domicile certificate and caste certificate before the BJP government and would continue to do the same before the Congress government.

He criticised the BJP saying the previous state government played with the welfare of all communities by deliberately complicating and prolonging the process of issuing caste and domicile certificate. He also pulled up the Congress for having a biased approach toward these communities. He said, “All the 40 communities are enraged over the prejudice shown against them by the Congress. Both the BJP and the Congress played dirty to usurp power in the state. But these communities are also alert about their constitutional rights and have come under an umbrella to protect them. Not only this, they would also fight for development, jal jungle zameen (water, forests and land), and to eradicate corruption from the state.

Peetam Singh Kulvanshi, Chiranji Lal, Surya Vikram, Ompal Singh and Kartar Singh were present.

Koteshwar hydro project synchronised with Northern Grid
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 23
The fourth unit (100 MW) of Koteshwar Hydro Electric Project (HEP) has been successfully synchronised with the Northern Grid. Koteshwar HEP will now add 400 MW of power to the Northern Grid. This 400 MW of power has come as a big relief for Northern India, which is already facing power shortage ahead of the summer season. The commissioning of all units of KHEP was scheduled in March 2012, and the same is achieved well in time with the synchronisation of this unit. Before this the third unit was also commissioned in January 2012 in line with the commissioning of Unit I and II in March 2011 as per schedule.

Energy of 581 Million Units (MU) is already generated from three units of KHEP against the target of 564 MU up to March 2012. It is expected that 600 MU of energy will be generated by the end of this month. With the successful commissioning of all four units of KHEP, the total installed capacity of Their Hydro Development Corporation India Limited (THDCIL) has now increased to 1400 MW.

With this (1000 MW), Tehri Hydro Power Project and (400 MW) Koteshwar Hydro Electric Project are fully operational and the work on (1000 MW) Tehri Power Station Project (PSP) is in progress. It is a run-of-the-river scheme which will generate 1234 MU of energy annually. The reservoir created by Koteshwar Dam having live storage capacity of 35 MCM will also function as lower (balancing)reservoir for Tehri PSP. This project will also regulate water releases from Tehri reservoir for irrigation purpose.

Start work on Tanakpur-Bageshwar railway line soon, demands samiti
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, March 23
Tanakpur-Bageshwar Rail Marg Sangharsh Samiti volunteers organised a thanksgiving rally in Bageshwar today after the proposed rail line between Tanakpur to Bageshwar was declared a national project by former Union Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi in his speech in Parliament on Thursday during the debate on the Rail Budget.

“The inclusion of Tanakpur to Bageshwar rail line into four national rail projects is a good news and we welcome it and appeal to the government to start the construction of this rail project as soon as possible,” said Gusain Singh Dafauti, president of the samiti.

According to information, the proposed rail line will be 137-km long and will have six stations beginning from Poth, 26 km from Tanakpur, followed by Madua and Pancheswar in Champawat district, Ghat and Seraghat in Pithoragarh district and Bilona in Bageshwar district.

“This rail line, besides being useful for the armed forces going to border posts, will also link the valley areas of all three districts to the mainstream and give their produces good market reducing migration from there,” said Dafauti.

“This rail route has been promised by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi during the state Assembly elections this year at a meeting in Almora and she has fulfilled her promise, “said Pradeep Tamta, MP from the Almora-Pithoragarh parliamentary seat.

Tamta said it would be second such projects, after the rail project of Doiwala-Rishikesh to Karnprayag rail line in the state which will be constructed by national fund rather than the Budget of the Rail Ministry.

The British had proposed this railway line in 1888-89 and surveyed it with the intention of the construction. Delayed due to some unavoidable reasons, the British again surveyed this railway projects in 1912 citing separate alignment than that of last survey. The third survey had also been conducted by the British in 1929 but dumped it due to uncertain political situation in Europe.

“The recent surveys by the Government of India done in 2006 and in 2011 have estimated an expenditure of Rs 2,800 crore on the construction of this137-km-long railway line,” said Dafauti.

“We have called sangharsh samiti workers here to pass the thanksgiving resolution to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and local MP Pradeep Tamta. But if this projects will not be started soon, we will be compelled to begin our agitation again,” said Dafauti.

Annual day celebrations begins
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, March 23
The two-day annual day celebrations of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Central University began with much fanfare on the Swami Ramteerth campus at Badshah Thaul near Chamba town in Tehri today. The students enthralled the audience with the display of their talent in various cultural events presented here.

The chief guest on the occasion, senior BJP leader and member of the royal family from Tehri Garhwal, inaugurated the function by lighting the ceremonial lamp.

He assured the students that he would always stand for the development of Tehri. He advised the students to pursue their studies with hard work. He also demanded separate budget to stop migration of the youth from the hills.

New ministers take charge
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 23
Being the first day of the auspicious Navratras, newly appointed Cabinet Minister Amrita Rawat today took charge of her Vidhan Sabha office and performed a hawan.

Amrita Rawat, who was greeted by the Vidhan Sabha staff on her new assignment, reiterated her pledge to work for the betterment of society. She laid emphasis on the formulation of schemes that helped in empowerment of girl child. Amrita called upon the employees to develop a new work culture.

Other Cabinet Minister Surendra Singh Negi and Mantri Prasad Naithani too reached their respective Vidhan Sabha offices and performed special worship. Surendra Singh Negi said he was taking the Cabinet Ministership as part of his commitment to work for welfare of people of Uttarakhand. Mantri Prasad Naithani said he would work to ensure all round development of Uttarakhand.

‘Weather watch group to benefit farm sector’
Jotirmay Thapliyal/ TNS

Dehradun, March 23
Setting up of mandatory crop weather watch group will greatly benefit Uttarakhand in increasing its agriculture yield in the state. This was stated by Director, Dehradun Meteorological Centre, Dr Anand Sharma, while interacting with the The Tribune on World Meteorological Organisation Day today.

He said several states of the country had the mandatory crop weather watch group that was proving useful for the agriculture sector.

The group that comprises stakeholders linked to agriculture like irrigation, power, seed resources, weather and others, holds regular meetings in order to have a look at all factors that affect the agriculture and take necessary measures. “The state needs to have such groups for strengthening its agriculture sector,” said Dr Sharma.

Referring to the role of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in the country, he said the IMD was providing services in almost every sector of the economy such as food security, transport, health, tourism, management of water energy and other resources in environment monitoring and protection, disaster management and in the sustainable development. “We have to make judicious use of the climate information and services to maximise benefits and minimise risks”, he said, adding that timely forecast in the state had helped prevent hazards from turning into disasters.

Dr Sharma also held that the centre had been receiving appreciation for its services from all quarters. “Very recently we received a letter of appreciation from Uttarakhand Chief Electoral Officer Radha Raturi for the weather forecast details provided to the commission in the recently concluded Assembly elections in the state,” he stated. He said even the External Affairs Ministry and Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force had lauded their services linked to weather forecast during Kailash Mansarovar Yatra every year.

Meanwhile, the meteorological centre was open today for students and general public as a part of the day. Students who visited the centre in big numbers were informed about various issues related to atmospheric sciences. They also had a look on the meteorological instruments.

Silk sari expo a big draw
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 23
The exquisite range of silk saris from Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Assam and other parts of the country are attracting a huge crowd at the ongoing National Handloom Expo-2012 these days.

The exhibition organised by the Ministry of Textiles, Development Commissioner (Handlooms and Handicrafts) and the Uttarakhand Handloom and Handicraft Development Council (UHHDC) is on a display at Parade Ground.

The artisans from all across the country have gathered to showcase the traditional handicrafts of the country. The stall of silk saris has some unique collection in pure Malbari silk, Kalanjali, Maheshwari, Chanderi, Kantha, Patola, Mekhla and many more to attract women visitors.

“Our saris are in demand as we use quality products and take ample time in giving final touches to each piece. From Dehradun to other cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Kolkata, we have customers who know us for our hard work,” added Ramesh, an artisan.

Starting from Rs 2,000 in basic silk, there’s wedding collection up to one lakh with some intricate designs on brocade and Malbari saris.

According to SC Nautiyal, an officer from the UHHDC, “Our stall of silk saris is one of the centres of attraction in the expo. The myriad varieties, fabulous colour combinations and designs, depicting the age-old handwork of India’s tradition are attracting visitors in large number.” The expo will continue till April 8.