Power projects must, but Ganga's sanctity to be maintained: CM
Sandeep Rawat/TNS

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna performs puja at Ganga ghat in Haridwar on Thursday

Haridwar, April 12
In his maiden visit to Haridwar city, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna made it categorically clear that the "sentiments" of "Save Ganga" activists would be taken into consideration but for development of the state, hydro power projects were imperative and his government would carry on with such projects though with a scientific and environmental approach.

Bahuguna assured the saint community and the activists involved with the Save Ganga mission that the sanctity of the Ganga would not be allowed to be affected as he himself had come to Haridwar to pray at Har-Ki-Pauri.

"The Ganga is regaded as the mother so how can we think on that lines, but as for the development, power is necessary. We have to see that safe hydro projects are allowed in the state", he said.

Bahuguna also took a dig at Team Anna member Kiran Bedi and the BJP on amendment to the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill.

Citing his vast experience in legal field, being a High Court lawyer and Judge, he remarked that he was a veteran player in this field. So Kiran Bedi could not challenge him.

On the issue of factionalism in the party, particularly from the Harish Rawat group, Bahuguna told The Tribune that he was focused on developing the state into one of the best in the country. “I am looking forward how to make the state a developed one where the gap between the rich and the poor is lowered, state coffers get filled which have been emptied by the previous BJP government, providing basic education, power, water, health, transport and other amenities to hilly regions as well as plain rural villages. How many times will one pull my legs, once, twice, thrice…. As a follower of Gandhi, I know ultimately truth and broad vision prevail," said Bahuguna at Jai Ram Ashram.

Bahuguna arrived this evening in Haridwar, visited Braham Kund and Har-Ki-Pauri to pay obeisance to the Ganga.

Later, the CM's entourage moved towards Jai Ram Ashram where he met ashram head Braham Swaroop Brahamchari, who is also Pradesh Congress Committee member too. Brahamchari gave a memento to the Chief Minister and recalled his father Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna's contribution to the country.

He had discussion with the spiritual guru, spending time in the ashram, meeting other saints and addressed party workers urging them to gear up for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

He also met party workers at state guesthouse Damkotiwhere he reviewed the party’s performance in the district in the just held Assembly elections.

Bahuguna attended a mega annual Baisakhi sermon which was organised by Pauri Garhwal parliamentarian and renowned spiritual guru Satpal Maharaj at the Rishikul college ground.

With more than 30,000 devotees present, Satpal Maharaj welcomed Bahuguna thanking him for gracing the occasion.

With this visit being the first one of Vijay Bahuguna since his assuming the Chief Minister's post, various delegations also submitted him memoranda regarding various issues.

The ongoing controversy related with the ancient Kushavrat ghat was also brought to his notice by Akhil Dharamshala Raksha Samiti members, urging the CM to take stringent action in this regard against the culprits, who tried to sell illegally a religious-public property.

Demand letters were also given by statehood agitators, Congress district unit members, several social organisations regarding various issues.

People okay with tariff hike but want regular power supply
Tribune News Service

Nainital, April 12
The hike in power tariff in the state has been accepted by the people with scepticism with regard to the supply that they would be getting in the days to come.

People have once again raised the issue of uninterrupted supply of power as they have to pay more for it. The consumers have pointed that Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited should first ensure an uninterrupted power supply with no voltage fluctuations.

The view and mood of the consumers had become apparent earlier this year in the month of February during the public hearings conducted by the Power Regulatory Authority at a couple of places in Kumaon.

At a meeting held in Rudrapur, the consumers, including a large number of entrepreneurs, had got more than 30 suggestions registered with the authority. It was made very clear that before initiating a hike in the power tariff, the power corporation needed to ensure that the consumers got an uninterrupted supply of power.

In addition to this it was demanded that the proper voltage in supply of power needs to be maintained. The consumers were also of the opinion that due responsibility should be fixed on the officials for dealing with the problems that continue to arise with regard to the supply of power in the region.

Apart from this there was a demand for deployment of more technical staff to address the issues on the technical front.

Presently, several areas of the region are reeling under a power crisis. There have been protests at several places with regard to the unscheduled power cuts across the region. The worst affected areas continue to be Haldwani and various parts of Udham Singh Nagar districts.

The industry while expressing its satisfaction with regard to the hike in the tariff has stated that it's only requirement is that the production should not suffer. "We have no issues with the 7 per cent hike announced by the state government. It is less than the rate of inflation. Ideally, we want a 24-hour supply of power but we are content even if we get it for more than 20 hours," said the Chairman of the Kumaon Garhwal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

An area of concern for the people has been the maintenance of power infrastructure. In the recent past there have been several agitations with regard to the burning of transformers and delays in repairing them.

For the power authorities, power theft is another challenge that has to be met. Recent drives carried out in areas like Haldwani and, Ramnagar have resulted in disconnecting of supply to several consumers who had failed to pay for the power used by them. A large number of illegal connections were also removed at the two places.

Striking staff burn effigy of management
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 12
The workers of Rockman Industries Limited (RIL) and Satyam Auto Component Limited (SACL) burnt an effigy of the management at Clock Tower in the afternoon for ignoring the labour laws in the state.

It is the fourth day since five employees of both the companies, which are subsidiaries of Hero Auto group and are based at Haridwar, are observing hunger strike, demanding swift action on their demands.

The main demands of RIL workers are reinstatement of suspended and dismissed employees, permission to form an employees' union and raised salary structure. The demands of SACL is also of reinstatement of suspended and dismissed employees, raise in salary from Rs 5,500 to Rs 10,000 and reimbursement of their 8-day salary deducted on March 28, when they joined a one-day strike.

Lovers who had eloped arrested
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 12
Sachin and Halima, who had eloped from their village Mehuwala in Patel Nagar on March 24, were arrested by Patel Nagar police when they reached the city today.

They had been travelling all these days to various places such as Mumbai, Goa and Jammu & Kashmir together. Both were arrested and presented before court, where the boy was sent to jail and girl was handed over to her parents.

Halima, daughter of a carpenter, accused Sachin of emotionally blackmailing her. She said Sachin asked her to accompany him or else he would commit suicide.

Sachin refused from doing, so saying she came on her own. Both live in the same village and were having an affair for around five months.

Sachin's father works in MES and mother is a teacher. He was taking coaching for Merchant Navy.

After the duo had eloped, police personnel had been deputed in the village for the fear of communal tension.

Centre to open food processing units in every district: Harish
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, April 12
Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing and Water Resources Harish Rawat has said his ministry will soon open primary food processing centres in every district of Uttarakhand so that jobs could be created in the food processing sector. “For secondary processing, the stuff from hill districts can be sent to the mega food park in Haridwar,” said Rawat while talking to this correspondent here today.

The Union minister said he had plans to rid the state of shortage of water and non-sustainable agriculture.

“If the state government could avail of funds and technology available under the National Agriculture Development Scheme (NADS), it could rid the state of the problem of water scarcity and unviable farming,” he said.

Rawat said by using funds under the NADS, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan had successfully recharged their dying natural water resources and now Maharashtra and Bihar were using it to revive their dead natural resources. “This scheme can be used to revive traditional, Chal, Khal in the state to generate groundwater as Rajshekhar Reddy did in the Royalseema region of Andhra Pradesh during his government there,” said the Union minister.

He added Uttarakhand used the NADS least and the BJP government did not take interest in this direction during its five-year rule. “It is now for the political leadership and the bureaucracy of the state to have a vision and chalk out schemes to be presented to the Union ministry under the NADS and take technology and funds for the development of water resources in the state,” he said.

On the question of reviving agriculture to check migration from the hill areas of Uttarakhand, Rawat said the state could avail of funds and technology under the NADS for the development of agriculture in the state.

Deity's procession reaches Mussoorie
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, April 12
The palanquin procession of local deity Lord Bhadraj that began today from Jaidwar village in Jaunpur block of district Tehri Garhwal to mark the beginning of annual Baisakh festival celebrated in the region reached Mussoorie today.

The procession, after seeking blessings at Lakshmi Naryan Temple in Mussoorie, will head for Haridwar for the holy dip at Brahmkund.

Devotees of Lord Bhadraj gathered at Library Bazaar for one glimpse and sought blessings from the deity revered by them. Villagers from 32 villages around the region accompanied the procession.

Tremors: Villagers being trained in rescue operations
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, April 12
Keeping the coming rainy season and frequent earthquakes in the district in mind, the Disaster Management Office of the district has started giving training on the first-hand response at the time of earthquake to the villagers from the district.

According to the information given by the department, more than 1500 villagers of remote border villages of Darma, Byans and Johar valleys had been given training on the safety and first response tactics by the department last month. This high-Himalayan region of the district falls under Zone Five of earthquake regions and frequently hit by small and medium density of earthquakes round the year, RS Rana, district disaster management officer said.

According to the officer, more than 500 villagers from 60 villages from three valleys of Darma, Johar and Byans, lying on the Indo-China border were selected for the training.

“As the villagers are soon move to their high Himalayan homes, this training will help to save them and to run rescue operation at the time of earthquake,” said Rana.

“This is the second time we have trained the villagers on how to save themselves and run rescue and search operations during the calamity in these remote border villages,” said the disaster management officer.

The 10-day training was given by experts from the department which was aimed to make the villagers aware not to create panic and act towards a certain direction, said the officer.

The villagers have said their confidence has risen by this training as during summer months, they used to remain in a fix on how to tackle the situation of earthquake as minor earthquakes are very frequent in the high-Himalayan region. “With this training, we can now take step to save ourselves and also instruct others on the methods of facing the calamity at first response,” said Bala Singh Parihar, gram pradhan of Kanar village in the Darma valley.

“Besides training the villagers of the border areas on earthquake safety, our department also trained 125 youths from a cluster of five gram panchayats in Pithoragarh subdivision for search and rescue operations last month,” said the officer of the district.

According to the officer, the trained village youths would be able to use local instruments in search and reascue operations at the time of disaster, especially at the time of earthquake and landslides.

Multipurpose malls under way in Haridwar
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, April 12
With massive development taking place in Haridwar, various housing and commercial projects are coming up to cater to the growing needs of local people, pilgrims and tourists.

This will fulfil the residential needs of the people and provide entertainment and luxury facilities, which had been missing in the district so far.

On the lines of Delhi’s famous shopping hub Palika Bazaar, a similar market hub is being developed on the Bahadrabad road which will be providing one-roof shopping centre to the people.

Adding to this, a separate food park, multiplex and residential apartments made specifically keeping in mind the local residents requirements and pocket.

Talking to the TNS, Shailesh Gupta, chief operating officer of Lotus Infra Project, said this would be one of the first residential-cum-shopping hub experiences in the district which is now a trend in other metro cities.

He added that keeping in mind the religious-spiritual aspect of the city, eco-friendly and spiritual ambience would be ensured at the centres.

Meanwhile, the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, will soon be having a multipurpose activity centre where both the students and faculty members can avail varied range of facilities at one place.

The upcoming centre will have a community hall, restaurant, shopping centre, amusement centre and various other educational-cum-entertainment lots.

What is more noticing is that students of this coveted engineering institute are drawing the outlay of this multipurpose activity centre which will be spread over 6000 sq m area.

Liquor shop: Women take out procession

Pithoragarh, April 12
Opposing the opening of liquor shop in their area, women of the Pull Hindola area of Champawat district today took a 6-km-long procession from Pulla market to Kimtoli village.

“The procession led by the Mahila Samakhya and Sangharsh Samiti also raised slogan against the sale of liqour in the area,” said Usha Pandey, leader of a women’s organisation.

According to Menu Pant, convener of Mahila Samakhya, the women also cautioned the administration that if the liquor shop was not shifted from their area, they would block the National Highway no 9 at Lohaghat. “The women, who took out the procession also said their struggle would continue till the administration orders the removal of liquor shop from the Pullhindola market,” said Pant.

The women were also helped by a few government offices and private schools. The agitating women also passed a resolution at the meeting before holding the procession that they would boycott any person who would offer his premises for liquor shop. — OC

NIUA team discusses ways to improve financial health of Mussoorie MC
Ajay Ramola

Mussoorie, April 12
Members of the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) at a meeting on the Mussoorie Municipal Council premises today discussed ways to strengthen the financial condition of the MC and introduce various development projects.

MC president OP Uniyal welcomed the two-member NIUA team and said the urban local bodies in Uttarakhand were facing a financial crisis due to the non-implementation of the 74th Amendment of the Constitution. Under the 74th Amendment the municipal councils were to be provided additional executive powers to expedite public projects.

Uniyal said the issue was also raised at a national conference organised by the Union Ministry of Urban Affairs for the urban local bodies in New Delhi recently. The present visit of the NIUA members, Ajay Nigam and Navin Mathur, could be seen in this context.

He said due to paucity of funds the urban local bodies such as the Mussoorie MC were unable to carry out various development projects that were needed on a priority basis. He stressed on the fact that if more powers were not transferred to the municipal councils under the 74th Amendment soon, their condition could worsen.

Uniyal said it was imperative that Mussoorie being a tourist town was facing problems like housing, parking and drinking water, which needed to be addressed immediately.

Councillors Jasvir Kaur, Kedar Singh Chauhan and Sushil Agarwal raised the issue of honorarium for public representatives in the urban local bodies like the municipal council as they were in direct touch with the people who looked up to them for solutions.

The councillors informed the NIUA members that development works had come to standstill as they did not have much financial and executive powers needed to execute various projects. They emphasised on introducing a new master plan for the town to save it from falling apart.

Ajay Nigam and Navin Mathur, project officers from the NIUA, after listening to the problems, said they were here to evaluate the social, administrative, financial and other aspects of the implementation of urban development plans and programmes for the urban local bodies such as the Mussoorie MC.

They said the Union Ministry of Planning had identified six urban towns of north India, namely Chandigarh, Indore, Patna, Mussoorie and Banaras, to introduce capacity-building measures and strengthen the urban local bodies to mitigate the problems faced by the people residing in these cities.

The NIUA officers said they would incorporate the problems raised by the MC members and incorporate them in their report that would be submitted to the Union Ministry of Planning for further action.

Police meet on rising crime graph in Dehradun
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 12
DIG, Garhwal zone, Sanjay Gunjyal and DIG GN Goswami convened a meeting of the SP (City), the SP (Traffic), circle officers, station house officers and other junior police officials of Dehradun district to discuss the strategy to deal with the rising crime graph in the city.

Gunjyal expressed displeasure over the rising number of theft and loot cases. He blamed the method of the police in dealing with crime for a sudden increase in kidnapping and chain snatching cases.

He said, “The response of the police personnel should be positive and quick when they get information about the occurrence of any crime. They need to keep a check over crime incidents happening in their respective areas, take people into confidence and make them feel secure for a better crime control mechanism.”

Gunjyal also gave directions such as development of criminal intelligence by the officers at the circle level, regular night patrolling and Cheetah mobility in their areas.

He was satisfied with the public support owing to which the police had succeeded in cracking many crime cases. Goswami too admitted that the district police lacked a quick-response mechanism to tackle crime. “Crime could happen at any place and it could not be checked before hand. But the police preparedness could discourage anti-social elements from indulging in criminal activities,” he said.

Body of baby girl found in nullah
Tribune News Service

Nainital, April 12
The case of a drunk man having abandoned his 11-month-old daughter has been solved. It has been found that he had thrown the child in a nullah in the state of intoxication.

The matter had come to light on Monday. Girish Chandra Joshi of the Ghodanala area of Bindukhatta had gone out for a stroll after dinner and carried his daughter with him. However, when he returned, the child was not with him.

The police had launched a hunt for the child and was suspicious when Joshi kept changing his statements. Meanwhile, there were rumours about the child being handed over to someone else.

The body of the baby girl was found in the nullah by women who had gone to collect fodder. They informed the police and the body was retrieved on Tuesday. The baby has been identified as Riya and had injury marks on her head.

A case of murder has been registered against Joshi on the basis of a complaint lodged against him by his wife Champa. According to his version of the story, the child had fallen from his hands when he was crossing the nullah.

The accused is not unemployed and is an alcoholic.

According to sources, Joshi often thrashed his wife and also threatened her of killing their children. He has been arrested by the police.

Boy drowns while avoiding bee attack

In a bizarre incident that took place recently in Jyolikote area near Nainital town, a young boy lost his life after drowning while he was battling a swarm of honey bees that had attacked him. Several other persons were also injured in the attack.

According to sources, 16-year-old Gunjan Jeena was on his way to his native village of Chopda along with his father and several others. It was in the forest area of Nalaina that a swarm of bees attacked the group. Since Gunjan was in the forefront of the group, maximum number of bees stung him. While trying to escape from the stings, he fell into a pond adjacent to the path on which he was walking and drowned.

It was only after the swarm of bees had vanished back into the forest that his body could be retrieved.

While Gunjan's father 50-year-old Bhupal Singh Jeena and another villager had to be rushed to a hospital in Haldwani for treatment, several others who were accompanying them had to be provided first aid.

The boys accompanying Gujnan were students of Government Inter College at Jyolikote and were returning home after school. The incident has sent shock waves across the region.

Morcha objects to Agarwal’s save Ganga agitation
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 12
The Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha has strongly favoured hydro projects for the state.

The morcha has also objected to Save Ganga activist GD Agarwal agitation aimed at against the setting up of power projects in the upper stretches of Ganga in the state.

In a statement issued here today, spokesperson of the morcha PC Thapliyal said scrapping of hydro power projects in the state would adversely affect development. He said the hydro projects could be a major source of employment for the youth in hills.

Criticising Ganga activist, Prof GD Agarwal now Swami Sanand, Thapliyal said while Prof Agarwal was calling for the conservation of Ganga in the state, he was least concerned about the big power projects coming up in Uttar Pradesh on the same river.

He said the morcha would not tolerate the pressure politics of environmentalist, who are against development of Uttarakhand. He warned both the state government and Centre against succumbing to the pressure of Ganga activist Swami Sanand.