Dehradun, April 9
After reassigning key responsibilities to bureaucrats in the state soon after taking office in March, all eyes are fixed on the next move by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and whether he would retain the services of incumbent Chief Secretary Subash Kumar.

While the Chief Secretary has some years before he retires, it is widely believed that the new Congress government may go in for a change, and two top IAS officers of 1977 batch, along with senior IAS officers of 1979 batch, are in the race.

During the tenure of former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Subash Kumar was made the Chief Secretary, superseding Ajay Joshi, now Director-General, Uttarakhand Administrative Academy, Nainital, who is the seniormost IAS officer in the state, followed by S.K. Mattoo, Chief Resident Commissioner of Uttarakhand.

Earlier, there were three IAS officers with the rank of Chief Secretary having similar pay parity; now with the promotion of Alok Jain as Additional Chief Secretary, he too has joined this hallowed club.

Going by the past precedent set by the BJP government, politics had overwhelmingly dominated the appointment of Chief Secretary, creating much rancour among the officials.

These officers were later given insignificant responsibilities and shunted out of the secretariat. Sources claim dogged by shortage of senior-level bureaucrats, the new Congress government had recently questioned the logic behind posting two senior IAS officers on insignificant posts, thereby being unable to take benefit from their seniority and experience.

"Whether the Chief Minister goes for a change by appointing a new Chief Secretary would be clear in the coming days. The Congress is already embroiled in controversies pertaining to distribution of portfolios. It remains to be seen, if the Chief Minister would take the risk of dislodging the present Chief Secretary.

He is already well entrenched," said a senior bureaucrat.

There are rumours of Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Alok Jain emerging as a dark horse and getting the coveted post. More so after the Chief Minister had expressed apprehensions about the state's fiscal health. However, sources claim the move may prove unpopular for the coalition government that is keen to restore the seniority criteria. 

Dehradun April 9
Nirmala Yadav, housewife, never thought that one day she and her husband would repent for building their dream house in Indira Nagar of the town, where sewerage treatment plant (STP) for many localities of the city is being built. A huge piece of vacant land, where STP is coming up, is surrounded by Indira Nagar on one side and Shastri Nagar slum colony on the other side, has been dug in such a way that it is touching the borderline of the houses. Yadav said:"The foundation of my house has now weakened with the blatant digging. The ground or rainy water will now easily seep into it and it can fall down any time." She is also worried that hazardous gases emanating from the STP would enter into her kitchen, which faces the plant site.

Not only she but 1200 residents of Indira Nagar are opposing the construction of STP in their colony. Mohan Singh Akela, volunteer and resident, said:"A seasonal (barsati) nullah which had been choked for the last two and a half years in this area had not been cleaned by the authorities despite many complaints. They did not correct the fault arising in the sewerage pipe or machinery of the plant immediately. Now the residents will have to pay the price for it. How long we can continue fighting for these reasons.?"

While referring to ITBP Kendriya Vidyala in the vicinity, he said:"The health of school children will also get affected with the existence of STP amid them. The dirty fluid residual of STP is to be released in

the nullah criss-crossing the school, which will be hazardous. There are two more schools which are also being operated in the vicinity. Besides, ITBP office is also located just behind it."

He said the plant was being built, violating the Industrial Act whereby no industry could be developed near human settlement. Apart from this, 16 trees enlisted in this green belt will be uprooted as well. A

wall which will be erected around the plant will restrict the direct entry of slum dwellers to the Indira Nagar and would push the water flow from the barsati nullah towards them, endangering their lives.

LP Juyal, general secretary, Indira Nagar Residents' Welfare Association, said: " The STP was to be built at this land as per the Mater Plan of the city of the year 1990 when there was virtually no human settlement around it. Meanwhile, the land was sold to ITBP Kendriya Vidyala by Awas Vikas Parishad, which also built Indira Colony. The matter against sale of land to ITBP was taken to Lokayut in the year 2005, which earmarked green land adjacent to ITBP for the construction of STP. Later in the year 2007, Payjal Nigam was selected as working agency. By this time, the colonies mushroomed all around the area."

Meanwhile, under the Urban Development Ministry of the Central Government, the city was divided into 13 zones, chalking out sewerage planning for the next 25 years under JNNURM. Under this planning, the STP of Zone H, which comprises plenty of colonies, was to be built by acquiring land at any of these three places, Daduwala, Indira Nagar and Salawala. Without taking the hassle of acquiring land or hearing public grievances raised in Pollution Control Board, the work was started in the green belt of Indira Nagar.

Umesh Kumar, resident, said he took up the matter with Managing Director, Payjal Nigam, SK Goyal, who ordered to stop the work at the site for seven days until he took experts' opinion and monitored the site on the issue. The work was continuing unabated. Goyal was not available for his version on the issue. 

Mussoorie, April 9
The local administration has geared up for the scheduled visit of Union Home Minister P Chidambram to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration here tomorrow.

Chidambaram will reach the Jolly Grant airport around 5.15 pm tomorrow and arrive at the academy around 7.20 pm.

He will stay at the academy overnight. He will deliver a lecture to trainee IAS officers around 9.30 am on Wednesday. The SDM, Mussoorie, Jharna Kamthan, said security and other arrangements had been completed for the visit of the Union Home Minister. Additional forces had also been deployed, she added.

Mussoorie, April 9
Mussoorie SDM Jharna Kamthan has served a notice under Section 133 of the CrPC on the Peyjal Nigam for non-compliance of her directive to remove the construction debris accumulated on the Mussoorie-Dehradun road due to the sewage project being carried out under the JNNURM in Mussoorie today.

When contacted, Kamthan said she had directed the nigam officials in a meeting held at her office to remove the debris strewn at the Mussoorie-Dehradun road till March 31.

The department had, however, not completed the work in time.

The mud debris strewn all over the town claimed two lives in Mussoorie and the Peyjal Nigam had to pay compensation in the both cases.

Another reason for serving the notice could be attributed to the visit of Home Minister P Chidambram to the Lal Bhadur Shastri Academy of Administration here on April 10.

Dehradun, April 9
The police on Sunday rescued Rajan Kandari, who had been kidnapped last Tuesday, from Sujanpur in Pathankot. He had been kidnapped from Saraswati Shishu Mandir School in Vikasnagar.

The kidnapper, Ashu Kumari, a resident of Indresh Nagar Jatiya Mohalla, Dehradun, has been arrested.

According to information, Ashu Kumari had been staying at her elder sister's home in Pathankot for the past six days and had left the child at one of her male friend's home. However, a person who had watched the news regarding the kidnapping of a child on local news channel suspected the presence of an unknown child in his neighbour and informed the police.

During interrogation, Ashu Kumari told the police that she lost her stepfather Prem Singh two months ago. As she was getting married in a few months, she wanted to give the company of a male child to her mother, so that she did not feel lonely after her marriage.

Ashu Kumari said she did not even know the parents of the child. "Since it was not easy to kidnap any child from a city like Dehradun where school rules are stringent, she opted for Vikasnagar."

However, the police is skeptical of her statement. Circle officer, Vikasnagar, Prakash Pant said since she was changing her statement time and again, it was not easy to believe her.

Ashu Kumari has named one Rajni Rawat, who works with her in a factory at Selaqui, who allegedly encouraged her to kidnap a child.

The circle officer said the police had asked the Magistrate to take her on three-day remand, so that the motive behind the kidnapping became clear.

Meanwhile, DIG GN Goswami has announced a reward of Rs 2,500 for the eight teams that rescued the child. In this operation, the Punjab Police, too, helped the teams.

The police had been under constant pressure as employees of the Oriental Bank of Commerce, where the father of the kidnapped child, Vinod Kandari, works had been lodging protests. 

Dehradun, April 9
Muslim clerics of Uttarakhand have called upon the Congress-led state government to fulfil promises made to the minority community during the Assembly elections. Talking to mediapersons here today, a group of clerics alleged that during the five-year rule of the BJP government in the state all institutions involved in the welfare of the Muslim community were rendered near defunct.

Mufti Rayees, a member of the Uttarakhand Wakf Board, said a large number of irregularities in the state Wakf Board had led to mismanagement of the Wakf properties, including mosques and graveyards.

The clerics said Haj pilgrims from Uttarakhand had to suffer as about 10 to 15 pilgrims were herded in a single room during the pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Madina in Saudi Arabia during the BJP rule.

They added the Muslim Education Mission and the Minorities Finance Development Corporation remained completely defunct. They alleged that the schemes started by the previous Congress government during 2002 to 2007 were stopped and computer teachers were not appointed in the madrassas in the state.

The clerics demanded that the present Congress government in the state should work for the welfare of the Muslims so that the community could get better educational opportunities and other related issues were taken care off.

Dehradun, April 9
Former Spokesman of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh Ram Madhav has sought more participation from the youth in the development activities of the country.

Addressing the Tarun Vidhayarthi Sammelan organised by the sangh here yesterday, Madhav said 70 per cent of the population of the country was youth but still did not have adequate participation in the development activities.

He asserted that youths could address the concerns of the nation.

He said the RSS was playing an important role in working with youth of the country.

Sangh Pracharak Jagdish and Neeraj Mittal were prominent speakers at the conference.

Dehradun, April 9
Carrying within him the varied influences of Ragis and the Ganga-Jamuna tradition of Varanasi, through his soulful flute playing Ronu Majumdar manages take listeners to the world of varied experiences.

Be it the sound of the gurgling stream in the distant mountains or the rhythm of the falling rain, Ronu’s flute encompasses all this and much more.

Open to several influences early in life, Ronu’s stay at Ramdas in Punjab helped him grasp the spirituality behind Ragis. “I was only 10-year-old when I heard shabads of Harbans Singh Jagadhri wale in Ramdas (Punjab). It led me into studying Guru Granth Sahib. A Bengali by birth, I am still enchanted by Ragis. Even to this day, the shabads of Harbans Singh Jagadhri wale make me cry. Similarly ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh’s devotional songs, too, touched me deeply,” said Ronu Majumadar while talking to The Tribune today.

Long after he left Ramdas and began his sojourn into the world of music, Majumdar kept himself open to some more influences. A votary of “every music is one music”, as said by Dr Bal Murli Krishna, flutist Ronu Majumdar is unhappy with the divide existing between different musicians.

“The gharana system rankles me deeply. The artistes seem to be divided in different groups. There is no unity of purpose. We are a divided house. It prevents musicians coming on one platform. It is due to the division that the voices of musicians go unheard,” said Majumdar.

The discordant note has not helped the cause of the musicians, who have even been unsuccessful in prevailing upon the culture department to include the study of music as a compulsory subject in primary classes. “It is rather sad that the government has failed to introduce the study of music compulsory in the primary classes. Music is a complete subject and should be introduced as a compulsory subject in primary classes. It helps in personality development,” said Majumdar.

Playing four different flutes today at MKP Inter-college, Majumdar said it gave him immense pleasure to create Shankh Bansuri. “The flute helps me in achieving the lowest octave with ease and felicity,” he added.

Dehradun, April 9
The Uttarakhand Police cricket team defeated the Shivalik College of Engineering (B) team by 8 wickets in a match during the 60th Dehradun District Cricket League here today.

The Shivalik College of Engineering (B) team decided to bat first after winning the toss. The team scored 127 runs all out in 24.1 overs. Opener Ashutosh remained the top scorer with 48 runs to his credit. Ravi took three wickets for 11 runs while Naresh and Udit secured two wickets each for the police team.

In reply, the Uttarakhand police team scored 129 runs for the loss of two wickets to win the match by eight wickets. Manish scored 42 runs while Asish Joshi remained unbeaten on 36 runs.