NRI forms Patnipeedith Association
Dehradun, April 3
Vishwanath Iyer, a Non-Resident Indian, who now lives here, has formed the Patnipeedith Association to help those who have been harassed by their wives or laws which are pro-women and leave enough scope to be distorted and used against husbands.

Dehradun, April 3
In a major policy shift from the previous state government, the new Congress government will plead with the Prime Minister to allow Uttarakhand to start the stalled major hydro-electric projects.

Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, who is a supporter of hydro-electric project, will be taking up the issue of the stalled projects in the state at the next meeting of the National Ganga Basin Authority scheduled to be held in New Delhi on April 16.

“I will be pleading with the Prime Minister to allow the state to start all hydro-electric projects, including the stalled Lohari Nagpala project on the Bhagirathi river,” he told The Tribune.

“It will be totally unacceptable to impose a blanket ban on hydro-electric projects in a hill state with abundant water resources,” he added.

Asked about the environmental concerns as put forward by many groups, the Chief Minister said a balance approach was needed to look into the environmental concerns and developmental needs. “Only experts should be allowed to give a judgement on the issue and it should not be approached with a pre-conceived notion,” he said.

With the growing power demand, Uttarakhand is reeling under power crisis. The entire state has been facing power cuts ranging between three and five hours daily as bills to purchase power from outside are mounting. With a generation of nearly 9 million units from its own sources per day, the state has a demand of 24 million units per day.

In the past five years of the BJP rule in the state, the power generation from hydro-electric projects reached its lowest ebb with the stalling of some of the major hydro-electric projects.

At the time of formation of Uttarakhand state in November 2000, it was billed as the future “power” state of the Indian union. However, nearly 10 years down the line, environmental and religious concerns, economic recession and above all “power politics” have cast a long shadow over the future of the various hydroelectric projects in Uttarakhand.

The state has not made much headway in power generation and could complete only 304 MW Maneri Bhali phase-11. Earlier, the 1000 MW Tehri project, 400 MW Vishnu Prayag and 280 MW Dhauliganga project in Kumoan region by public and private sector companies were completed in the past decade. The state government only gets a royalty of 12 per cent power from these projects.

The trouble started in June 2008 when noted environmentalist Prof. GD Agarwal with support from enviromentalists and right wing groups and saints started his fast unto death at Uttarkashi on the banks of the Bhagirathi demanding a ban on the construction of hydro-electric project on the Bhagirathi between Gaumukh and Uttarkashi.

The previous state BJP government led by Chief Minister Maj Gen B C Khanduri (retd), although reluctantly, succumbed to the pressure of the RSS to stall its two hydro-electric projects of Pala Maneri and Bharon Ghati.

Agarwal then started another fast to demand abandoning of the 600 MW Lohari Nagpala project on the Bhagirathi where the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) had spent Rs 600 crore.

The group of ministers, formed by the Prime Minister as the head of the Ganga River Basin Authority, also recommended to stop the construction of two state-owned proposed projects namely 480 MW Pala Maneri, 381 MW Bhairion Ghati and underconstruction 600 MW Lohari Nagpala project being built by the NTPC on the Bhagirathi.

Prof GD Agarwal, who has taken sanyas has also started a fast for saving the Ganga. Three members of the National Ganga Basin River Authority, Rajinder Singh, Ravi Chopra and Rashid Siddiqui, also resigned from the body in protest against the alleged inability of the authority to achieve much since its formation three years ago.

Dehradun, April 3
A total 61 BJP leaders holding ministerial ranks as heads of various government corporations, committees and utilities in the previous Khanduri government have submitted their resignations to the government while the resignations of the remaining 26 leaders are awaited.

Chief Secretary Subash Kumar said among the 61 leaders who submitted their resignations today include president of Krishi Utpadan Mandi Parishad Puran Chand Sharma, president of Uttarakhand State Seed and Organic Production Certification Agency Balraj Pasi, chairman of Uttarakahnd Terai Seed Development Corporation Hemant Dwivedi and Chairman of Sheep and Wool Development Board Shivraj Singh Kaithhat.

During the tenure of the previous BJP government, ministerial ranks were according to senior BJP leaders who could not be adjusted in the Cabinet. These leaders were made heads of various corporations and committees and received monthly salaries, allowances, official cars and guards. Some of them even headed constitutional posts as well.

With the new Congress government in place, these leaders were asked to tender their resignations. 

Dehradun, April 3
Calling upon the new state government to review the industrial package, members of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said today that it was acting as a big deterrent to attract industry to the state.

Presenting its 30-point agenda to the government today, national secretary- general, Assocham, DS Rawat said the government should review the package and promote a investor-friendly policy to achieve the double digit growth.

“Industrially backward regions must be promoted through the cluster development approach based on the public private partnership model. More integrated industrial estates, pharma city and IT parks should be established in the state,” said Rawat while addressing a press conference.

Calling upon the government to boost agriculture, the Assocham suggested that the state government must immediately draft a policy to bring additional area under cultivation, extend irrigation facilities, provide better quality seed and introduce the latest technologies in farming to ensure protection and boost productivity.

It also called for setting up a SEZ with support from public sector. Land acquisition-related policies to set up SEZs and AEZs (agro export zones) must be made convenient for land owners.

The Assocham also called for according industry status to education so that international companies could investment in international standard schools, colleges, technical institutes and universities.

The 30-point agenda stressed on increasing investment opportunities in food processing. Agro and food parks must be set up to provide common infrastructure facilities for storage, processing, grading and marketing.

Dehradun, April 3
Vishwanath Iyer, a Non-Resident Indian, who now lives here, has formed the Patnipeedith Association to help those who have been harassed by their wives or laws which are pro-women and leave enough scope to be distorted and used against husbands.

He called a press meet today to inform the mediapersons that a plenary session would be convened on April 15 to hear the grievances of those who were having troubled relationship with their wives and want to seek legal help.

Ironically, Iyer's own life had been full of contradictions. He married four times, last time five years ago at the age of 59. He said he was implicated in a case of setting a woman on fire in Rishikesh and was also put in jail for seven months. He also had a live-in relationship with a woman Sharda, who lived in Rishikesh whom he had married third time in 2004 and then married for the fourth time in 2007 to another woman in Rishikesh.

He calls his fourth marriage, a "forced" one where the woman pressured him into marrying her. After he annulled this marriage, he began staying with Sharda.

Iyer said he worked in France as a translator and came back to India in 2001 after he felt emotionally broken after his second divorce and settled in Rishikesh. At present, he is living in Dehradun.

As a head of the organisation, he has taken along a panel of advocates Ravi Singh Negi, Sahshikant Shahi, Rakesh Kumar Verma and Ranjeet Kantura. 

Dehradun, April 3
A complaint pertaining to corporal punishment to an11-year boy, Harjot Singh, studying at Selaqui International School, Dehradun, was registered here today.

The case was registered by Apar Singh, father of the victim, who had alleged that his son, a Class VI student, was mercilessly beaten up by three teachers on February 22, 2012, for roaming in the corridor of the school. The teachers were said to be in a drunken state when the incident happened.

Apar Singh said the medical examination of the boy was conducted at Coronation Hospital after which he had filed a complaint with the Children's Rights Protection Commission for Uttarakhand about the incident. However, no written complaint was filed till yesterday as the parent of the victim feared that the school authority would not let their daughter sit in the examination who also studies in the same school.

Though the teacher involved in the case had been suspended by the vice-chairman of the school, the student’s father has demanded strict action against the accused so that the offender did not go unpunished.

The parents of the victim learnt about the incident three days after it took place. He had called his father from the mobile phone of a maid at his hostel. The boy was beaten up with a cricket bat on his back and hips.

Dehradun, April 3
Continuing with their protest against Union Government over imposition of the excise and custom duties on the jewellery business in the General Budget 2012-13, the jewellers in Dehradun today staged a chakka jam at the Clock Tower, Dehradun.

A large number of jewellers gathered at Clock Tower in downtown Dehradun during morning hours today and staged a chakka jam, bringing flow of traffic to a halt. While resorting to large-scale sloganeering, the protesters also burnt an effigy of the Union Government.

The agitating jewellers held that they would continue with their agitation till the new taxes imposed on them are abolished. It is noteworthy that the jewellers in Uttarakhand are on strike for more than one week as part of the nationwide stir. Uttarakhand capital Dehradun has been witnessing large-scale protests by jewellers.

Dehradun, April 3
A daylong lecture on “Industrial Growth: Employer-Employee Relationship” was organized by the School of Management Studies, Uttarakhand Graphic Era Hill University, here yesterday. Dr S Farooq from Tasmia organisation was the keynote speaker for the session.

The lecture witnessed a large gathering of students as well as staff while Prof. R.C.Joshi, Chancellor, Graphic Era University, and Prof. Dr.Sanjay Jasola, Vice-Chancellor, Graphic Era Hill University, chaired the event.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Farooq enlightened the students with his life experiences and highly energetic and motivational content delivery. He described that the objective of education was to learn the art of expression, earning and living.

He discussed the modalities and strategies of maintaining good employee-employer relationship in the organisation.

During his interactive session, he also talked about the role of discipline in the life of an individual.

He discussed his tenure in Himalaya Drug Company and the journey of company since its inception from 1930 till date.

Dehradun, April 3
Doon Tigers defeated Roorkee Young by 187 runs in a match in the 4th Uttarakhand Cricket Cup here today.

After winning the toss, Doon Tigers chose to bat first. The Doon Tigers team scored 318 runs at the loss of 10 wickets in 33.1 overs. Sanjeev and Arvind were the main scorers with 61 and 51 runs.

Ankit took three wickets for Roorkee Young, Mujeeb and Manoj took two wickets each while Kadir, Wasim and Lalit took one wicket each.

Batting next, Roorkee Young could only score 131 runs at the loss of 10 wickets in 21.5 overs. Lokesh (21), Imran (19), Ajay (17) and Mujeeb (16) scored mainly for their side. Dipanker took six wickets, Arvind got two wickets while Sanjeev took one for Doon Tigers. 

Dehradun, April 3
Nirmala (name changed), 35, widow with four children, was admitted in Doon Hospital today after she was allegedly raped and brutally thrashed by her boyfriend, Vijay alias Babbu. Since no one in the family has registered a case against Vijay, he has not been arrested so far.

Nirmala, resident of Ambiwala, started working in a factory at Selaqui after she lost her husband, Ajay Rana , a worker in Ambiwala Tea Estate. There she became close with Vijay, a contractor, who used to come to the factory where she worked. He also began visiting her at her home as well.

Vijay, a bachelor, lured her with the promise of marrying her. She went with him and stayed at a hotel in Vikas Nagar for two days and returned home on Monday. It is was during their stay at the hotel that Nirmala urged him to marry her, which he refused. Then they both quarrelled over the matter, and Vijay beat her up.

She bore injury marks on the face and cuts on her hand. Her second daughter, who dropped studies after class VIII and now works with her in the factory, said that her mother had called them up on phone two days, ago saying she would never return home.

But she returned home on her own on Monday in a battered state. It was in the morning today, when she heard from neighbors that Vijay was getting married soon; she fell unconscious and was brought to hospital. She has accused Vijay of raping her. She has been medically examined, the report of which has not been released so far. Her eldest daughter is mentally challenged. She has two small boys as well, aged 12 and 7. 

Dehradun, April 3
Uttarakhand Jal Vidjyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL) has won the volleyball tournament organised by Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited's (UPCL) games committee in Dehradun.

In the final today, UJVNL beat Power Transmission Corporation Limited 25-17, 25-14 and 25-17 in straight sets, thereby clinching the trophy.

Earlier in the first semifinals, UJVNL beat UPCL Kumaon 25-20 and 25-14, whereas Power Transmission Corporation Limited beat UPCL Garhwal 25-22, 22-24 and 25-21 in the other closely contested semi-final.

UPCL director, operations, AK Johri handed over the trophy to the winner. The runner-up trophy was handed over to Power Transmission Corporation Limited by director, projects, UPCL GK Sharma. Anil Mittal, GM Finance, UPCL, handed over the third winner award to the UPCL Kumaon team. Shankar Bhandari and Pramod Pandey were the match referees whereas DC Dhyani did the scoring. Games committee president Satish Chand was also present at the prize distribution ceremony. —TNS