Assembly poll debacle: BSP in introspection mode
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, April 7
The BSP, which performed poorly in the Assembly elections recently, is reviewing its performance and reflecting on the factors that led to its defeat.

As a first step, Dr Megh Raj Zaravare has been made the president of the Uttarakhand BSP while a new executive committee has been formed.

The party won only three Assembly seats this time as compared to eight seats in the earlier Assembly elections.

Keeping in view the poor perfomance in the parliamentary elections in 2009 and the Assembly elections in 2012, prominent leader Mohammed Shahzad, besides Kulbeer Singh, Sheeshpal Singh, Rajeev Aggarwal, BR Dhoni and Pal Singh Kashyap have been given the responsibility of vice-presidents of the party in the state, Chandrashekhar Ganguli, Lekhraj Gautam and Telu Ram has been made secretaries, while Brighrashan Rao has been appointed general secretary. Jagdeesh Bharti, Kunwar Pal and Ravindra Kashyap have been appointed executive working members.

Zaravare told The Tribune that on the directions of party supremo Mayawati the new working committee had been formed to rejuvenate the party cadre in all 13 districts of the state.

He added the party was now eyeing the upcoming zila panchayat elections in 12 districts of the state, besides the parliamentary elections due in 2014.

Asked about the reasons for the poor performance of the party, Zaravare said factionalism in the party during the elections and inaccessibility of some MLAs to voters were behind the poll debacle.

He added he would take up the issue with the party national president.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Shahzad’s appointment as a vice-president of the party has not gone down well with many leaders, as they held him responsible for the poor performance of the party in the recent Assembly elections.

Hari Das, MLA from Jhabreda, was not present at the meeting held at the Shivalik Nagar office of the party in the presence of state in-charge of party affairs RK Burman and Shri Nath. He reportedly missed the meeting owing to his unhappiness over Shahzad’s appointment.

Former president of the state BSP unit Suraj Mal accepted the responsibility of the dismal performance of the party, though in the same breath he said it was the collective responsibility of all leaders.

Party workers should come together as the party was part of the Vijay Bahuguna-led Congress government, he added.

“Now, we have a Cabinet minister as the BSP is part of the Congress-led alliance government. We can help usher in development throughout the state. This is the best chance for us to make the BSP a force to reckon with in the state," added Suraj Mal.

False propaganda led to my defeat in Assembly poll: Prakash Pant
Rajeev Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nainital, April 7
Senior minister in the former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government Prakash Pant has claimed that it was a sheer propaganda against him that led to his defeat in the recent poll from the Pithoragarh seat.

Pointing towards one of the Dr Paul Joseph Goebbels’ principles of propaganda, he claimed, “It was the case of a lie being told a hundred times that went on to be believed a truth.”

Pant has been credited for not having done anything to address the water woes of his home constituency despite having been the Minister for Water Resources in the BJP government that was voted out of power last month. He lost the poll by a heavy margin of about 13,000 votes and ever since then, the media has been carrying out reports on the water woes that have remained unaddressed in the entire Kumaon region.

However, when questioned on the issue, he said, “I took several steps the benefits of which would be visible in the long term. Development is an ongoing process and it takes some time before the benefits of a policy initiated become visible.”

He claimed that there was no dearth of water in Pithoragarh and a four-step pumping scheme had been put in place. He pointed out that a regular supply of power was required to pump up water. “There has been no power and water for the last three days but it has not been reported. You need power to pump up the water. Two more schemes had been approved recently and it will take another four to five years before they are completed,” he said.

Speaking of his tenure, he said a road map was prepared for providing water to the 8,270 settlements identified as water scarce areas. At the same time, he pointed out that the water resources were fast drying up.

“In addition to all this, in the rain-related disaster of 2010, almost 5,500 schemes were badly affected. It takes time to make them fully functional again,” he pointed out.

Substantiating his claim on the long-term developmental initiatives, he claimed, “It was in 2008 that I as a Tourism Minister had taken up an initiative of promoting tourism in the state under the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). I feel happy when the first installment of Rs 121 crore was announced recently by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the execution of the project.”

CM seeks more kerosene quota from Centre
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 7
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, in a letter to Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister S Jaipal Reddy, has urged to allocate a quota of 30,000 kl of kerosene per quarter in the state.

The Chief Minister will also talk to the minister in this regard. In a letter to the Union Minister, Bahuguna said the kerosene quota to be supplied by the Central Government to the state for the quarter was 26, 712 kl, which had been reduced to 9,108 KL.

He informed the Union Minister that the Chardham Yatra, which would begin on April 23, was expected to witness the inflow of 2-3 crore pilgrims and for this an additional fuel quota was required.

In the letter, he mentioned that 52 per cent of the families in the state were depended on the conventional source of fuel like wood and kerosene. He said if these families were provided kerosene then there would be less degradation of forest area and the environment. He has urged the Central Government to allocate 30,000 kl of kerosene quarterly to meet the demands of local people and the pilgrims visiting the state.

The Chief Minister also discussed the matter with state Food and Civil Supplies Minister Pritam Singh at his residence. Also present on the occasion was Commissioner and Secretary, Food, Suberddhan. 

Days of Cong govt numbered, says Chufal
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, April 7
BJP state president Bishen Singh Chufal has said that the newly sworn-in Bahuguna government of the Congress in the state would be short-lived and would fell down soon, making way for others. “The government will fall due to its own contradictions, which have surfaced in the party after the government came into existence, said Chufal.

The BJP chief was addressing his supporters in Askot town under his constituency, where his supporters felicitated him on his winning the seat from Didihat this time again.

The BJP chief said that the Bahuguna government is weak and volatile. “While the state is awaiting action on priority from the government, the leader of the government is out to appease leaders in Delhi or in Dehradun,” said Chufal.

The BJP state president cautioned the government on its reported decision of changing the name of some of BJP initiated schemes, including that of Atal Khadhana Yojna, and said that if the name of the BJP-sponsored schemes would be changed, the party will fight from the street to the Assembly floor. “In order to change the name of the Deen Dayal Awas Yojana, the government had withdrawn the money allotted to it by the previous government last week,” said the BJP chief. 

BJP against move to withdraw Atal Khadyann Yojana
Rajeev Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nainital, April 7
The BJP will oppose any move by the Bahuguna-led state government to withdraw the Atal Khadyann Yojana.

This was stated by former minister Prakash Pant here today. He underlined, “The government may change the name of the scheme if they do not like its nomenclature. But any move to do away with the scheme, as per the indications coming, will face a statewide agitation and we will not hesitate to take to the streets in the interests of the poor people.”

The yojana, which provides for the provision of foodgrains at a cheaper rate to the people belonging to both the BPL and APL categories, was a flagship programme launched by former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank during the BJP regime. It was a move by Nishank to pre-empt the Centre’s Food Security Act. Pant further disclosed: “We will give a period of six months to the new government to settle down and take decisions which we hope will be in the interest of the people. It is only after that we will take on the government if it is not working for the welfare of the masses.”

He flayed the government on the issue of giving unemployment allowance and stated that it would have been better if the government moves towards the creation of employment opportunities. “It is bound to generate a burden of Rs 600 crore under the non-plan sector,” he pointed out.

UKD-(P) only viable alternative to Cong, BJP, claims Panwar
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, April 7
Though the number of seats won by the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal-Panwar (UKD-P) has decreased continuously in the last three Assembly elections, the party is still the only alternative to the national parties in the state, said UKD (P) president Trivendra Singh Panwar here today.

“The party has continuously lagged behind in winning seats in the elections while the national parties manage to win elections by spending a large sum of money and using large quantities of liquor,” said Panwar. He was here to assess the reasons for the defeat of the party in the last Assembly elections.

The UKD president, while talking to mediapersons, hoped that his party would defeat the Congress, the BJP and the BSP in the next Assembly elections in 2017 and form the government in the state. “For that, we have chalked out a strategy and have decided to take part in all elections in the state, whether Assembly bypoll or panchayat elections,” said Panwar.

He said due to some overambitious leaders the party suffered defeat in the Assembly elections, as they had been pursuing personal agendas. “We are consulting the party cadre to find ways to get rid of the leaders who have been using the party for their personal goals,” said Panwar.

Marked improvement in living standards of SC, ST in Uttarakhand
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 7
The living standard of people belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities has vastly improved in the state in the last decade. In Uttarakhand, 86.71 per cent of the SC households enumerated own houses while 85.83 per cent of the ST households have houses, according to the 2011 Housing Census report.

The condition of the houses too has improved as only 5.56 per cent of houses belonging to the SC families are in a dilapidated condition and 3.79 per cent of the houses belonging to the ST families are in a poor condition.

Significantly, 35.15 per cent of the houses of the SC families have concrete roofs while 32.8 per cent of the houses of the ST families have concrete roofs.

“Even members of the SC and ST communities seem to have benefited from the widespread changes taking place in society. The improvement in housing facilities is a matter of great satisfaction for the state,” said Sneh Lata Agarwal, Director, Census Operations, Uttarakhand.

According to the Census, there are 19,97,068 houses in Uttarakhand and out of which 377,202 houses belong to the SC community, 633,322 houses to the ST community and the remaining 15,56,544 to the members of the general category.

Further, 37.85 per cent of the SC families lived in two-room houses while 36.82 per cent of the ST population had two-room houses. At the same time, only 2.36 per cent of the SC families and 4.77 per cent of the ST families lived in houses having six or more rooms.

About 61.36 per cent of the SC households and 58.61 per cent of the ST population had access to tap water for drinking in 2011. At the same time, 44.56 per cent of the SC families and 55.79 per cent of the ST families had drinking water supply facility in their houses.

A total of 79.80 per cent of the SC households and 83.68 per cent of the ST families had electricity supply, which was the main source of lighting, while 0.56 per cent of the SC households and 0.43 per cent of the ST families did not have electricity.

At the same time, 65.63 per cent of the SC families and 64.27 per cent of the ST households used firewood for cooking. Also, 74.56 of the SC households and 80.39 per cent of the ST population availed of the banking services. 

Identify slum areas in Nainital district: DM
Tribune News Service

Nainital, April 7
Nainital District Magistrate Nidhi Mani Tripathi has ordered a detailed survey of the slums areas in the district so that the living conditions can be improved in these areas.

At a meeting held in Haldwani, Tripathi underlined that the administration aims at making the areas under seven municipal and panchayat bodies in the district slum free. It has been underlined that any laxity on the part of the officials with regard to improving the condition of the slums would not be tolerated.

Pointing out the long term proposals, she said the aim of the administration was to rehabilitate the slum dwellers in proper colonies by providing them with housing and other basic facilities. She has asked the executive officers of all civic bodies to start working in this direction.

Tripathi outlined that the administration wanted to make every municipal area and panchayat clean and beautiful. For this purpose, it was important that the slum dwellers were rehabilitated in organized colonies and were provided with every basic amenity. It also includes providing them with better education and health facilities.

The DM has asked the executive officers to start identifying the land where the slum dwellers can be relocated and rehabilitated. The socio-economic issues related to the relocation and rehabilitation also needs to be addressed by the administration.

Over the past one decade, towns like Nainital, Lal Kuan, Haldwani and Ramnagar have witnessed a large scale slumming. A huge influx of population from semi-rural and rural areas along with the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh has been constantly adding to the problem.

People have been migrating to these places in search of better employment opportunities and also for a better standard of living.

Nainital, which was one of the three chosen destinations in Uttarkhand under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), is facing tremendous problems on account of the phenomenon of slumming.

Youths attack docs in Almora hospital
Medicos boycott work, seek protection
Rajeev Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nainital, April 7
The incident of doctors and staff being attacked by unruly elements at the Base Hospital in Almora is yet another instance that highlights the vulnerability of medical professionals in the region. Incidents like these have become a norm of sorts and the doctors have been seeking protection for carrying out their duties.

Just like several incidents reported in the past about the doctors being manhandled for the death of a patient or for referring a patient to hospitals in bigger cities, Thursday night saw three doctors and a ward boy being attacked by a group of youths who were demanding an explanation for a patient being referred to Bareilley. They wanted to have the medical report of the patient at night, and when the doctor on duty at the emergency, Dr Varun Prasad, was unable to provide them the report at that point of time, they started abusing him and dragged him out of the emergency. A ward boy Bhup Singh, who came to save the doctor, was attacked by the youths.

This saw three other doctors, Dr PC Pant, who is the Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS), Dr HC Gadkoti and Dr Vikrant turning up to save their colleague. They, too, were attacked with stones and sticks. The doctors ran for their safety. The miscreants fled from the spot before the District Magistrate DS Garbyal and Superintendent of Police (SP) Puran Singh Rawat could reach the spot.

A case in the matter was registered and four youths identified as Lalit Aithani, Jagdish Aithani, Mani Raj Singh and Sanjay Singh were nabbed.

The incident has seen protests from doctors in Almora and Bageshwar districts. In Almora, the doctors boycotted work on Friday, demanding police deployment in hospitals. It was on assurances of positive steps towards ensuring their security that they returned for work. The hospitals functioned normally from Saturday morning.

'Use astrology for human welfare'
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, April 7
Terming Astrology as an art that can bring positive changes in one’s life, renowned Delhi-based astrologer KPS Moudgil emphasised the need of utilising astrology more for social causes and human welfare. He was speaking at the concluding session of the 13th All-India Astrologer convention here at Kankhal.

Many other national acclaimed astrologers also laid stress on the need to make the astrology beneficial for humanity by keeping a check on monetary-oriented astrology and on the numerous fake astrologers who mislead people. They also cited immense faith of people in astrology which makes the task of astrologers more significant. Unless one had an expertise in the art, the prediction outcome would not be perfect, which might have an ill impact society, they said.

Dr Vipin Parashar of Jyotish Research Centre, Anandyimaipuram, cited various references from Vedic texts where the astrology had played an important role. He also correlated it with modern times, pointing out that the speed of sun was increasing, which was having impact on the dates of religious festivals.

Emphasising the need of a mutual collaboration between medical science and astrological science Dr Vinayak Singh pointed out that if both these field experts mutually come together for social welfare, then much of the problems of the society would eradicate.

Speaking as a guest legislator from Haridwar city, Madan Kaushik emphasised the need to make astrology a part of the education curriculum.

Youths begin agitation to save Ganga
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, April 7
Inspired by renowned environmentalist-turned saint Prof Guru Das Aggarwal, aka Gyan Swaroop Sanand, a group of youths has started an agitation for the cause of the Ganga here in Haridwar.

These youths believe that mass awareness is imperative to ensure that the Ganga is cleaned in its entire route from Gangotri in Garhwal Himalayas till Ganga Sagar.

Sanjeev Chaudhari, who has formed the Rashtriya Hindu Kranti Dal, has been involved in various socio-religious activities for the past few years. He was actively involved in former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharati’s agitation for the Dhari Devi temple of Srinagar at the Divya Sewa Mission here last year.

Chaudhari told The Tribune that as he had been associated with Aggarwal during the latter’s agitation against the Lohari Nagpala-Pala Maneri-Bhairon Ghati hydroelectric projects and his recent save Ganga campaign at Matra Sadan, he felt that youths needed to support this 70-year-old crusader.

Activists of the Rashtriya Hindu Kranti Dal began a fast at Pundit Gobind Ballabh Pant Park in Devpura today. The agitation is getting support from local youth.

Gyanendra Pundit, who also sat on dharna, said be it Anna Hazare-led anti-graft agitation or Swami Ramdev’s satyagraha for black money or other movements for cleaning the Ganga, the Dal activists had been actively participating in these agitations.

Local residents, pilgrims and tourists were also seen enquiring about the agitation and appreciating the efforts of the youth for the cause of the Ganga.

Young teerth purohits have also extended support to the agitation. President of the Yuva Teerth Purohit Committee Ujjwal Pundit met the agitating youths. Ujjwal assured the protesters that if on April 17, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would chair a meeting of the Ganga River Basin Authority, no conclusive decision was taken with regard to the cleaning of the holy river, demonstrations would be held all over the city. 

Yoga 'asanas' performed across state on World Health Day
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 7
Dehradun witnessed over 2,500 people welcoming good health by participating in Yogathon, an initiative by The Art of Living organisation here today. This unique nationwide initiative, which took place across 26 states and 4 Union Territories, saw more than 12 lakh yoga enthusiasts come together to take up the 108 surya namaskar challenge on World Health Day.

In Dehradun more than 2,500 yoga enthusiasts performed surya namaskars at more than 30 venues, including ONGC Officers' Club, Hopetown Girls School, Doon International School, Gautam International School, Montessori School and many other places.

"It is great to see the enthusiasm and awareness of people towards good health.

Today people from all walks of life, including schoolgoing children, college youth, homemakers, professionals and even senior citizens, have done surya namaskars. What is even more amazing is that a large number of these participants have completed the challenge and done 54 sets (108 rounds) of surya namaskar," said Art of Living Yogathon Uttarakhand Coordinator Ranjit Lal.

Apart from Dehradun some of the other cities of Uttarakhand where Yogathon event was also held are Mussoorie (Mussoorie Public School), Haridwar ( BHEL campus, Hero Honda, Gurukul University), Rishikesh (Panchvati Ashram), Uttarkashi (Saraswati Shishu Mandir), Almora (SBI Regional Office, Sainik School), Kashipur(GB Pant Inter College), Haldwani (Central School, Queens Public School), Khatima (Gurukul Academy), Dogaon (Don Bosco School), Jalikote (Himalaya Academy) and Ghoratal (Sainik School).

The event saw participants of the Yogathon challenge receive a Spirit of Yoga Certificate and the winners who successfully completed 108 rounds were awarded the gold certificate. 

35 sheep killed in lightning
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, April 7
Lightning killed 35 sheep at Saibhat village, 10 km from Munsiyari town, on the Munsiyari-Milam route last night, sources in the Munsiyari subdivision administration said.

The sources said the sheep belonged to Bala Singh, Gokul Ram and Shekhar Chandra, all residents of Saibhat village. Bala, Gokul and Shekhar were returning home with the sheep after they had migrated during winter. The weather changed suddenly at night and it started thundering. “After thundering, lightening struck and killed 35 head of sheep,” said Khusal Ram Arya, revenue sub-inspector (Kanoongo) of the area.

“On getting information about the incident, officials of the subdivision administration reached the spot to assess the loss caused to the sheep owners,” said Arya. 

4 arrested under Wildlife Protection Act
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, April 7
Four persons have been arrested with a leopard skin and two carcasses of barking deer in two separate incidents of violation of the Wildlife Protection Act in the districts of Pithoragarh and Champawat yesterday.

In an incident, third of its kind in the last three months in the district, forest officials have recovered a skin of a leopard from the possession of two youths and arrested them at Bans area near district headquarters yesterday. “The youths, Kailash Nath and Bishen Nath, later confessed that the animal was killed by them five months ago by strangulating it in the forest of Gangolihat, and they were going to sell the skin in the town,” said Mahipal Singh Sirohi, SDO of Pithoragarh forest division.

According to the forest official, the skin is 160 cm long and seems to be of a young leopard nearly five to six years of age. “Besides arresting these two youths, some other culprits, possibly involved in this racket, are being looked for,” said the forest official.

With this recovery, Pithoragarh Forest Department has recovered 8 skins of leopards, including one skin of snow leopard that was recovered from Dharchula 15 days before.

In a similar incident, forest officials of Champawat district have arrested two poachers alone with the carcasses of two barking deers, which were killed from nearby forest of Diuri. “A 12-bore gun, two live cartridges and other hunting equipment were recovered from the possession of the arrested poachers, named Bhagirath Rai and Prem Ballabh Rai, residents of Lohaghat town,” said Satyapal Singh , DFO, Champawat.

“The culprits, who were charged under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and Arms Act, were later sent to judicial custody by a magistrate in Champawat,” said the DFO.