Major fire in Chandi Devi hills
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, April 26
With summer season peaking, so has the fear of forest fire looming large in Haridwar, which is surrounded by two sides with forest hilly terrains.

A major fire erupted in the Chandi Devi hilly mountain, where revered shrine of Mata Chandi Devi is situated. The fire would have erupted in the evening but it was only after dusk that infernos were visible clearly from even lower reaches of Haridwar city, and one could easily gauge the magnitude of the fire. Residents watched from their rooftops the huge lines of infernos spreading, speedily engulfing the trees and natural flora and fauna in quick time.

After hours of fire operation, the flames were controlled, and prevented from reaching the temple premises. More than 60 fire fighters were pitched in to douse the fire flames.

Chidiyapur, Rasiyabad and Shyampur forest range employees jointly carried the operation, with an alert being issued in the region due to fire season.

Led by Haridwar Divisional Forest Officer Sanatan Sonkar, forest employees assessed the intensity of the fire and formed various teams to control the fire from different sides.

Aid from the Fire Department was also taken but due to the mountainous terrain, it was quite difficult for fire fighters to douse the infernos.

DFO Sonkar informed that windy waves made it quite tough for fire fighters as flames spread wildly in the dry forest terrains.

Notably in the past few years, similar fire incidents have occurred in the Chandi Devi terrain, Mata Mansa Devi hilly terrain and parts of Rajaji National Park.

As fire season remains prevalent till late June, Forest-park Department is contemplating on making sure fire incidents are minimised and instant fire operation is started as soon as reports of fire come.

Acute water crisis in Kumaon areas
Almora, Haldwani worst hit
Tribune News Service

Nainital, April 26
Even as the summer is yet to set in properly, areas across the Kumaon region have been experiencing an acute shortage of water. Reports of scarcity of water coupled with its gross mismanagement continue to pour in from various parts of the region. Though the plight of people residing in main towns and villages gets highlighted, a large number of others struggling to acquire a sufficient quantity of water for daily use.

The region is also witnessing a series of protests and demonstrations that are marked by people marching up to the offices and locking up officials and gheraoing them. But their problems remains far from over.

Reports coming from Bageshwar say that the worst affected areas of Kapkot, Bharadi, Kanda, Garud, Vajyula and Kharedi witness serpentine queues of people at the natural sources on daily basis.

It has been reported that in areas like Bangchudi and Jethai, water has to be transported from sources by mules. Ths has put an additional burden on their pockets. The worst affected are those families in which marriages are being solemnised during these days.

Making arrangements for the guests has proved to be a Herculean task for such families. The people of this region point out that despite regular appeals and even threats of agitations, the government has failed to revive the defunct water scheme in the area.

In Lohaghat area of Champawat district, people in some of the localities claim to be bringing water from far off places. They have been pointing that the water from Banaswad scheme is being wasted on account of broken pipelines. They have demanded that the proposed Kolidhek lake be built at the earliest.

Several parts of Ranikhet in Almora district are also reeling under acute water scarcity. One can come across women travelling long distances to fetch water in jerry cans and then transporting these on makeshift vehicles. Several parts of rural Almora in blocks like Lamgarah, Danya and Jageshwar are also facing an acute shortage of water.

In terms of the urban centres, the town of Haldwani remains the worst affected. Residents of several areas, including the worst affected Vasant Vihar, Mukhani and Judge Farm, have been agitating on daily basis. The officials of the Jal Sansthan have pointed that in areas like Judge Farm the pipelines being nonaligned have been the mainm reason for the erratic supply.

The bursting of a pipeline that brings water from Saungaon to the main tank in Bhimtal on Wednesday saw the supply being hit in several parts of the town.

Even at the meeting of the Block Development Committee in Ramnagar, the issue of water supply dominated the proceedings as the elected members demanded that the officials led by the Chief Development Officer (CDO) Dhiraj Singh prepare a long term plan for mitigating the problem.

IT raids on educational institute, property dealers
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 26
Income Tax Department officials raided some business ventures in Dehradun today. These included an institution imparting professional education, offices and residences of property dealers and a hotel. The tax officials seized a number of incriminating documents which were expected to reveal large undisclosed income.

According to income tax sources, the department teams accompanied by a large contingent of the police made early morning raids at a number of places here. They raided the Dev Bhoomi Institute of Technology, Manduwala, besides the Palm City residences and offices of property dealers and seized a large number of documents.

The IT team did not allow anyone to enter and go out of the the Dev Bhoomi Institute of Technology during the raid. Even mobile phones of the employees of the institute were taken into possession by the income tax officials. A hotel on the Tyagi road was also raided.

Later in the evening, Chitranjan Das, Joint Director, Income Tax, Dehradun, said the raids were code named Operation Paradise and were carried out at a number of places in Dehradun.

He said tax evasion to the tune of crores of rupees was likely to come to light.

Tablighi Izzatma concludes with fanfare
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, April 26
The two-day Tablighi Izzatma concluded with much fanfare here today at Jwalapur Idgah and Madrasa Darool Uloom Rasheediyah which was attended by many devotees. Mufti Mohammed Sufiyaan urged people to tread moral path and treat all as brothers.

Mufti Sufiyaan said a majority of Muslims were not serious on imparting education to their children. He said good moral education was imperative for the children only then they could be the best judge to differentiate betwen good and evil.

“We all should live with mutual harmony. We should pay respect to our neighbours and make sure our relations don’t hurt any one’s feeling,” said the revered Mufti.

On the occasion, marriages of 10 Muslim couples were also performed with simplicity and mass food was also organised for the devotees.

Idgah committee secretary Hazi Naeem Qureshi, Fakira Khan, Maualana Sharafat, Maulana Iqbaal, Hazi Musik, Hazi Irfan and Hazi Mukkaram Ansari managed the proceedings. In view of Tablighi Izzatma, an elaborate security arrangements were in place by the police administration.

Cops to watch yatra route on horses
Tribune News Service

Dehradun April 26
It is for the time in the state that on the direction of Director General of Police Vijay Raghav Pant, police personnel will patrol on horses on the Char Dham yatra route.

There will be six horse riders on the stretch from Gauri Kund to Kedar Nath and four from Jankichatti to Yamunotri.

The riders will patrol in the treacherous walking terrains which will help in strengthening the security in the region and make people feel safe while traversing through the area.

Besides this, it will also help the police to reach out to any spot of occurrence in a short time.

All-India Women's Conference 
Managing home and office “inherent trait in women”
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, April 26
Terming women as more than able as far as leadership is concerned, various women who have made a mark in different fields said that managing home and outside affairs was also an inherent trait of leadership, which women folk carry on better than their male counterparts.

This was stated at the inaugural session of the three-day All-India Women's Conference organised by Jagriti Society here today at Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Youth Centre.

Stating as chief spokesperson Sudesh Jain, national chief of the society, said that post-globalisation in India, women achievers in almost every field have stamped their authority.

Be it academics, politics, social field, journalism, literature, sports, corporate sector, administrative field, police, defence, space, science, religion, adventure, business etc,women are in no way lagging behind the male achievers.

She added that even though a career-oriented women may be at the highest post or earning lakhs but still her first priority is family, which sets them apart as this is in "our very culture and nature."

Zonal coordinator Neeru Jain emphasised the need of providing basic education and attention to the girls residing in villages and educating them on subjects like female foeticide, inferior treatment to girls in comparison to boys and social stigma.

Along side a leadership training programme is also being organised for the women delegates hailing from Nainital, Roorkee, Haridwar, Dehradun and also for neighbouring Uttar Pradesh districts such as Moradabad, Saharanpur and Dhampur.

Earlier, the traditional lamp was lighted at the inaugural session with Haridwar based noted women novelist Mona Verma being felicitated for her contribution to English literature in Uttarakhand. Receiving the award, Mona stated that more needs to be done for the women in hilly districts of the state as they don't have much of opportunities as are available for women in cities.

Master trainers Beena Jain, Sheela Kakhde, Usha Nayar and Meenakshi will give lectures and pinpoint presentation to the participating women delegates on leadership skills.

Jawans to get river rafting training in Saryu
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, April 26
The adventure tourism wing of the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) will train Army jawans in river rafting in the Saryu and Kasli rivers in May. This was stated by the manager of the adventure tourism, KMVN, Dinesh Gururani.

“The officers of Gorkha Regiment have approached the nigam to impart training to jawans and officers of the regiment in the coming month. We will deploy our best trainers to train the jawans,” said Gururani.

According to him, Pithoragarh is emerging as the best river rafting centre in the state after Rishikesh, which is best known for the sport. “Since 2005, the nigam has trained more than 1,400 local youths besides 345 tourists in river rafting in both the rivers. The river flow in the Saryu from ghat to Pancheshwar is favourable for rafting,” he said.

“Besides river rafting, the adventure tourism wing of the nigam has so far trained 700 local youths in rock climbing, 97 in paragliding and 100 in skiing at various adventure destinations of the district,” he futher stated.

“After we train the Army jawans, we have plans to train women rafters. The target is to produce best women river rafting guides to appropriately direct women tourists about this water sport,” he added.

Teaching of Sanskrit must to check moral degradation: Naithani
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, April 26
Uttarakhand Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani today said the teaching of Sanskrit language and literature was necessary to check moral and cultural degradation in society. He added corruption and ills of society could be controlled by the proliferation of the ancient language.

Naithani stated this at a function of the Uttarakhand Sanskriti Academy here. He said he had also studied Sanskrit as one could get rid of mental agony and confusion by just chanting Sanskrit shlokas.

The minister assured the people of a proper budget for Sanskrit education in the state and a world Sanskrit seminar in Haridwar. He impressed the audience with his knowledge of the language as he quoted from scriptures and science.

Spiritual guru Mahamandaleshwar Hrichetanand Maharaj said culture could be preserved only by the teaching of Sanskrit and hence efforts should be made in this direction.

On his maiden visit to Haridwar after becoming minister, Naithani also listened to the complaints of students, teachers and the local people and assured them of taking appropriate steps.

Naithani, Devprayag MLA, was impressed with the cultural-moralistic impact of Sanksrit education in the academy. Naithani defeated former Revenue Minister Diwakar Bhatt in Devprayag in the last Assembly elections.

Former Municipal Corporation chairman Satpal Brahamchari, vice-chairperson of the Delhi Sanskrit Academy Dr Shri Krishan Semwal, secretary of the Sanskrit Institute Dr Buddh Dev Sharma, Education Director of the Kumaon division Dr Kusum Pant, district education officer Dr Anil Kumar Bhoj, general secretary of the World Ayurveda Council Dr Prem Chand Shastri, Ratnesh Kumar Singh, Dr Hari Gopal Shastri, Ramesh Kumar, Acharya Mahendra Narayan, Prof Mohan Balodi and Dr Keshav Prasad Upadhyay were among those present at the function.

Centre-funded schemes to be reviewed
Tribune News Service

Nainital, April 26
The performance audit of the implementation of the centrally-sponsored schemes in Nainital district is all set to begin from April 27. This was stated by the Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General, the Government of India, Niranjan Pant, at a meeting held at Vikas Bhawan in Bhimtal today.

He said during the year-long exercise, the performance of the departments with the execution of schemes for which money was being provided by the Centre would be reviewed. He said it would be seen whether the schemes that had been launched with the purpose of benefitting a common man were actually serving their purpose or not.

Pant said over the next one year, audit officers would be going down to the block level to see for themselves how the centrally-sponsored schemes were being implemented. At the same time, they would be seeing how the money being given for various schemes was being utilised. The main stress would be on ensuring that the funds were utilised according to the guidelines laid down by the Centre. The main schemes that would be reviewed are the MGNREGA, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Indira Awas Yojana and the Integrated Slum Development Programme.

EC rewards puppeteer for election awareness
Tribune News Service

Nainital, April 26
Recognizing the impact made by a series of puppet shows in generating awareness about polling, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has honoured the chairperson of a Dehradun-based NGO, Jan Sanchar Chetna Trust, Ram Lal, who had toured extensively for almost a month before the state went to the polls on January 30.

The honour was bestowed upon Ram Lal at a function held in Surajkund last week by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Dr SY Quraishi.

According to a government spokesperson, the shows performed by Ram Lal at the Uttarayani Festival in Haldwani along with those on National Voters’ Day on January 25 and on Republic Day in Nainital had played a major role in making the government initiative to educate the voters a success.

It was through these shows that Ram Lal had approached the voters. Through his puppet shows, he had tried to convince the masses not to be lured away by freebies and other items like cash and liquor.

He had been trying to tell the people to vote for the best candidates while making use of their wisdom. His puppet shows had been hitting hard at the practice of giving cash for votes and making use of liquor to get individuals to persuade their entire families into voting for a particular candidate.

The message being given was, "Instead of cursing oneself for having allowed a wrong candidate to come out victorious, it is better to come out and choose the right one who can take up their issues in the assembly.”

In fact, the non-conventional modes of educating the voters proved to be a great success in the recent poll in the state. The result was visible for all to see as not only did the percentage of polling go up across the districts despite harsh weather conditions, but the polling was also carried out peacefully.

The other tools used for educating the voters had been folk songs, poster competitions, essay writing competitions and talks on how to use Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Some youths from Nainital and Khatima had taken initiatives at their end and had come out with their own version of the mega hit song “Kolaveri di….” which was aimed at reaching out to the voters with the purpose of persuading him or her to make use of their right to franchise and choosing the best of the candidates in the fray.

Mahindra Group plans Rs 3,000 crore plant in Uttarakhand 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 26
Auto giant Mahindra Group has proposed to set up a Rs. 3,000 crore plant in Uttarakhand.

President of Mahindra Group and Managing Director Pawan Goenka and his associates called on Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna at CM's residence this evening and revealed their intention for the investment in Uttarakhand.

Chief Minister Bahuguna and Goenka discussed various possibilities of investments in industrial sector in the state. Bahuguna on his part assured Goenka to seriously consider the proposal and extend all possible assistance. He said that the state government would try to provide land to Mahindra Group at Sitargunj for the proposed plant.

Bahuguna said the state government was looking forward to increase investment in industrial sector in the state and would provide all possible help to the investors. He pointed out that Uttarakhand was a peaceful state and had industry-friendly environment. He said that the state had great potential in sectors like tourism, medicines and information technology.

Bahuguna also stressed that the industries should also carry out their social responsibilities along with industrial activities. Chief Minister Bahuguna said that the state government was laying emphasis on constructing cheaper residential units at industrial areas with participation of private sectors and putting efforts to generate skilled human resources for industries.

Chief Minister revealed that the state government was committed to encourage setting up of high-tech industries in electronics, information technology, pharmaceuticals, small-scale industries, food processing units and other similar industries at hill areas by ensuring 24 hours power supply in subsidised tariff and providing rebates in taxes.

Goenka said that he had prepared a work plan for the Rs. 3,000 crore project under which the Mahindra Group would set up a plant with production capacity of 2.55 lakh vehicles in an year. He said it was expected from the state government that 500 acre land for the plant apart from other benefits will be provided to the company.

Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain and Principal Secretary Industrial Development Rakesh Sharma were also present on the occasion?

Auction of liquor shops from April 27 to May 15
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 26
As part of the new excise policy that will come into effect for the period May 16, 2012, to March 31, 2013, the auctioning of shops will take place from April 27 to May 15.

According to the tenants of the new excise policy for which the government order has been issued, the time period for opening and closing the shops or vends has been revised.

“Now the shops would remain open from from 10 am to 10 pm, but those shops in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar that are located in the 10 km from interstate border would remain open till 11 am; earlier the shops remained open from 11 am to 9 pm,” said Surinder Singh Rawat, Secretary, Excise.

The government has also fixed the licence fee for hotels bars with 20 rooms at Rs 2 lakh, restaurant bars at Rs 2 lakh, beer bars (regular Rs 30,000, seasonal beer bars at Rs 15,000) during this financial year.

According to the policy, the club bars having membership of 100 people would have to pay Rs 1.20 lakh as licence fee during this financial year.

Similarly, those retailers seeking shops for countrymade liquor would have to pay 10 per cent of the expected enhanced revenue earning ( pegged at 18 per cent) for this financial year and the minimum guarantee duty (mgd) as licence fee. Similarly, for seeking shops for Indian made foreign liquor the retailers would have to pay 14 per cent of the expected enhanced revenue earning (pegged at 18 percent) for this financial year and the minimum guarantee duty (mgd).

On the other hand, a person would be eligible for a single shop and no excise duty would be charged on countrymade liquor, while the excise on Indian made foreign liquor has been affixed at Rs 72 alcoholic litre.