BJP pinning hopes on Arya case
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 24
Reduced to 30 MLAs in the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha, the Uttarakhand BJP is awaiting the results of the enquiry committee constituted by the District Magistrate to look into the issue of the validity of the caste certificate issued to Congress MLA Sarita Arya from Nainital and then strike back at the Congress.

Demoralised by the desertion of Kiran Mandal and rumours of four other MLAs ready to walk out of the BJP for power, for once the rank and file in the BJP has pinned hopes on the Arya case.

After the loss of former BJP MLA Kiran Mandal, the BJP is eagerly awaiting the report and then filing a writ petition in the court challenging the election of Sarita Arya. "We are awaiting the result of the enquiry. Sarita Arya cannot claim benefits of reservation as she belongs the general category and was married to the person from SC category," said B.S Chuphal, Uttarakhand BJP chief.

While Congress is keeping mum on the issue, the vice chairman of SC and ST commission Suresh Rathore has also questioned the procedure of issuance of SC certificate to Sarita Arya. "She is a Punjabi Khatri married to a person from an SC community; therefore, she cannot avail the provisions of reservation and should not have been issued the caste certificate. There should be a thorough enquiry," said Rathore.

Meanwhile, fissures have also erupted in the Congress on the way Kiran Mandal was brought into the Congress fold with the Congress chief Yashpal Arya trying to distance himself from the whole affair.

Most of the ministers and MLAs belonging to the senior Congress leader Harish Rawat too are maintaining studied silence on the issue.

But political analysts say in the past former Chief Minister B.C Khanduri had brought the then Congress MLA T.P.S Rawat to its fold. T.P.S Rawat had not only vacated the Assembly seat of Dhumakot for Khanduri but had also quit the Congress.

"It is another matter that the BJP is now at the receiving end of the treatment and crying foul. The Congress has only repeated what the BJP had done during his last term. The razor thin margin of victory achieved by the Congress would make the Bahuguna government vulnerable to all kinds of shenanigans," said a senior Congress leader.

CPI burns Centre’s effigy
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 24
The state unit of Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) burnt an effigy of the Centre before the Clock Tower, denouncing the sharp increase in petrol prices from Wednesday mid-night.

District secretary, CPM, Surender Singh Sajwan, and district secretary, Mahipal Singh Bisht of CPM , maintained that the current crisis would deteriorate the financial condition of the people of the state who were already under severe strain due to escalating inflation.

They threatened to wage a strong movement if the Centre did not roll back the petrol hike.

UKD (P) seeks additional foodgrain storage houses
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, May 24
Despite record production of foodgrains this year, hundreds of metric tonnes of foodgrains are getting damaged in the open due to lack of storage houses in the Garhwal division.

Taking this issue, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive) has demanded setting up of additional storage houses as well as upgrading the existing ones in the division.

A memorandum was submitted to the Food and Supplies Officer to be forwarded to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna by the party activists.

Later, a protest was held at Bhagat Singh Chowk by the UKD (P) activists, accusing Central government and state government of not taking quick action on setting up of additional food storage houses either by Food Corporation of India or by the state.

Labour cell central secretary Uday Ram Semwal pointed that two additional storage houses were to be set up in Garhwal division but still after three years, no action has been taken in this regard due tochange in guard of Chief Ministers in the previous BJP government, which is paving way for shortage of foodgrains in the division owing to lack of storage capacity.

He added, “Despite record production and Uttarakhand importing majority of its foodgrain requirements, the capacity of the existing storage houses is just 1/4th of it, which means thousands of metric tonnes of foodgrains are being put up in the open.”

Veteran leader Anil Pokhriyal cited recent deduction of kerosene by 66 pc and per unit ration card availability of meagre 250 gm sugar by the Central government as anti-poor step, which reflected the apathy by the UPA towards the common man and poor people coming under BPL category.

Warning of stirring an agitation, youth wing chief Lalit Mamgain said that if food storage facilities are not upgraded, then the party activists will take to agitational route as in hilly regions and far-flung areas of plain districts of Garhwal division, insufficient food availability is affecting the people with even mid-day meals being denied in many parts.

Now, Bengali migrants to demand SC status
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, May 24
After assurances from Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to Kiran Mandal, a jubilant Bengali community in the Terai region of Uttarakhand now plans to emphasis on their second demand for the grant of the Schedule Caste (SC) status to Namo Shudras, Paunds and Majhis to enable them to get reservation in the state and Central government jobs.

“We are happy that the Uttarakhand government has fulfilled our 50-year-old demand of giving land ownership rights. Now, we hope the state and Central governments will give the Schedule Caste status to the Namo Shudras and other two communities to which almost all Bengali settlers belong,” said Gopal Krishan Mandal, a former pramukh of the Sitarganj block and prominent Bengali leader.

Mandal said the Namo Shudras migrated to India from Bakarganj, Faridpur, Decca, Memansingh, Jessore and Khulna districts of erstwhile East Bengal (now Bangladesh) after the division of the country. “As the community also lived in other parts of Bengal, it was given the Schedule Caste status in that state, but due to some provisions in Articles 340/341 of the Constitution, they could not be enlisted as a Schedule Caste earlier in Uttar Pradesh and now in Uttarakhand,” said Mandal.

“Pantnagar University has done a survey to find out SCs among the Bengali settlers and enlisted all of them as SCs. This list is pending with the Registrar of Census, Government of India, and if the Congress-led governments at the Centre and in the state showed political will, Parliament could pass a Bill to grant the SC status to the Bengali settlers,” said Mandal.

According to district administration sources, there are 28,000 Bengali voters in the Sitarganj Assembly seat. Most of the Bengali settlers are farmers, labourers and petty businessmen and are poor compared to other communities settled in the Terai region after the creation of Bangladesh. They could not get reservation in government jobs as they are not categorised as a SC community.

Our leader Kiran Mandal talked to Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi last week and the UPA chairperson had assured our community that it would be enlisted as SC in Uttarakhand, said Krishna Pad Mandal, pradhan of Nirmal Nagar village, near the Sitarganj subdivision.

“As the Bengali settlers were not granted the SC status in Uttar Pradesh, former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand ND Tiwari had issued a government order enabling their children to obtain scholarships as given to SC children. The children of all categories of Bengali settlers, namely Namo Shudra, Majhi and Paunds get scholarships in Uttarakhand,” said Mohan Rajput, a senior journalist and expert on the Terai region matters.

The Bengali settlers claim that as they are not migrants and the government has settled them in the Terai region, they are entitled to reservation as given the SCs in Uttarakhand, said Rajput.

According to experts on the Terai region, if the provisions of land ownership come into force not only the Bengali community living in the Shakti farm, Sitarganj and Khatima will be benefited, but also people who have bought the land illegally from these settlers, will get the ownership rights. “These people, who have hitherto been categorised as possessing land illegally, could become the owner of the land,” he said.

“We have another demand that the government also needs to address. The Begul river, which is washing away land from Gobind Nagar to the Sitarganj area, needs embankment as due to the soil erosion not only the industries established at Sitarganj under SIDCUL are leaving the place but also cultivable land of thousands of settlers have been washed away. We need embankment before we are granted the SC status,” said Mandal. 

Water, LPG Shortage
Lohaghat residents block highway
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, May 24
Residents of Lohaghat town of Champawat district today blocked the national highway No.9 at Lohaghat for two hours in protest against a shortage of cooking gas and drinking water.

“The government is not supplying a sufficient number of LPG cylinders though it has debarred us from using traditional fuel source of forest. We demand that we be given rights to collect wood for the cooking purpose from the nearby forests or we be supplied LPG cylinders,” said Saraswati, a woman from nearby Chauri village.

She said they were facing a shortage of not only the cooking gas but also drinking water for the past one month. “In our Patan village, near Lohaghat town, we had demanded that other sources of drinking water be tapped to tide over the crisis but the department turned it down,” said Mohan Patni, a resident of Patan village, near Lohaghat town.

In the Talli Chanmari and Tanakpur areas of the district, the people are facing the water crisis for the past 15 days as hand pumps, the only source of drinking water, have gone dry due to some mechanical fault. “Jal Sansthan officials are not paying attention to our demand for the repair of hand pumps,” said Puja Yadav, a resident of Tanakpur town of Champawat district.

The pilgrims going to the Purnagiri temple in Champawat district are also facing the water crisis due to the drying up of the main source that supplies water to them. “The crisis has deepened due to shortage of labourers who supplied mineral water to the Mela area for the pilgrims. The shopkeepers who used to store water for the use of pilgrims are also not getting supply due to labour shortage,” said Kishen Tiwari, a member of the Purnagiri Mela Committee.

The water shortage has also been reported from Pithoragarh, Narayan Nagar, Didihat and Munch areas of Champawat district. “Drinking water is being rationed and we are getting the supply every third day,” said Bhagwan Singh Rawat, convener of the Pithoragarh Jan Manch.

“We know there is a drinking water crisis in the district as natural water sources have dried up due to scorching heat in this part of Kumaon region,” said PC Kargeti, executive engineer of the Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan, Champawat. 

Tap alternative sources of energy: Amrita Rawat
Tribune News Service

Dehadun, May 24
Uttarakhand Tourism and Alternative Energy Minister Amrita Rawat has advocated installing alternative energy equipments over canals on the line of Gujarat state.

She has directed the departmental officials to prepare an action plan for exploiting the alternate sources of energy in the state. She said the equipments be installed even in barren lands and those places where there is no forest.

Rawat, during her meeting with the departmental officials and the head of Mozer Bear Clean Energy Limited, New Delhi, she also directed the officials to provide subsidy and waivers so that maximum people use these alternate sources of energy. She also instructed them to publicise the benefits of such projects and prepare a draft solar policy for the state.

The minister also instructed the officials to conduct survey and prepare wind-power projects. The meeting was attended by Secretary, Energy, SS Sandhu, Additional Secretary, VVRC Purushottam, Manoj Gupta from Mozer Bear Clean Energy Limited and other department officials.

Earlier, Rawat, at a review meeting of the Tourism Department, expressed her resentment against non-compliance of her simple instructions of changing bed sheets in the GMVN guest houses. She laid stress on rope-ways at Mansa Devi and Chandi Devi at Haridwar in public-private mode. She pointed out that the rope-way at Auli being run by the government has been defunct for long. She directed the officials to repair it and submit a report to her. She also laid emphasis on using latest technology for the repair of the rope like in Japan and Switzerland and suggested running it on contract system.

The Tourism Minister directed the officials to ensure participation of Tourism Department in the 125th raising day of the Garhwal Rifles. She asked the officials to identify the places with mythological and historical importance like Mahabharata and Ramayana and publicise them along with the culture and heritage of the state.

DGP seeks funds for police modernisation
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 24
Director General of Police Vijay Raghav Pant has sent a proposal to the Centre for allocation of funds under modernisation scheme while incorporating the requirements of police personnel, especially head constables/constables to take care of their welfare and increase their efficiency on a priority, which he had also enlisted while taking charge as DGP of the state.

Under the proposal for the commercial year of 2012-13, the requirement has been sent for vehicles, buses and motorcycles for the STS and Anti-Terrorist Squad, vehicles to carry the bomb squad team to the spot of the incident, 100 motorcyces for patrolling for better traffic management and control over crime, purchase of Automatic Vehicles Location System based on GPS technique to improve the police response in the time of disaster and emergency, purchase of video surveillance equipment for Mussoorie and Naintal to ensure safety of tourists, establishment of interrogation room in Pauri and Naintal range for the interrogation of the criminals through scientific ways, purchase of 100 breath analysers to discourage drunken driving, 200 masks for traffic personnel to protect them from pollution, Rs 50 lakh to buy new equipment for Police Training College at Narender Nagar, an amount of Rs 1.75 crore to buy modern arms and ammunition for the border police at district Pithoragarh, Champavat and Udham Singh Nagar, Rs 1.80 crore to build houses for police personnel and Rs 54 lakh to purchase riot control equipment. 

11-member Pak team to visit Doon
Jyotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 24
An 11-member delegation of the Labour Party, Pakistan, will visit Dehradun to attend the 4th conference of the National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers from May 26 to May 30.

According to Roma, fraternal organisations from 20 states, representing more than 50 forest regions will participate in the conference. Delegates from the neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan will also attend the conference. Representatives from international organisations will also attend the conference.

The Pakistani delegation include Azra Shad, chairperson, Women Workers Help Line (WWHL), Riffet Maqsood, general secretary, WWHL, Yousaf Baluch, chairman, National Trade Union Federation, Mehmood Butt, general secretary, Pakistan Bhatta Mazdoor Union, Ashfaq Ali, president, Labour Qaumi Movement, Faisalabad division, Zulfiqar Ali, general secretary, Lahore Press Club.

She said the workshop would start with a public hearing on the issue of the “National Parks and Forest Rights Act” followed by formal proceedings of the organisational conference.

She said with the passing of the legislation on forest, the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, the forest-based working communities had come under the increasing attack from the forest bureaucracy supported by mafias, local feudal and vested interests, including illegal mining contractors, in an organised manner across the country.

“Thus there are serious political and organisational issues with regards to forest right movement that need to be discussed within the organisation and it is equally important to discuss all such issues with the fraternal organisations who are working in the field of natural resources and with the working people in general,” Roma pointed out.

Among key issues expected to be taken up for discussion include setting up of political agenda for the collective struggle by the natural resource-based traditional working people against the neo-liberal regime, strengthening the process of community leadership in the forest rights movement and also in the organisation process to create an alternative forest governance system under the community leadership across the country, strengthening of women leadership at all levels in the movement and in the organization from the local to national level.

Begin work on scrapped power projects, Kaushal asks Sonia
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 24
Avdhash Kaushal has requested UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for immediate construction of hydropower projects scrapped by the Centre.

In a letter written to Sonia Gandhi, Kaushal said these projects were started after clearance. He held that in these projects more than 50 per cent work had already been completed and thousands of crores have already been spent from the poor man’s money.

Kaushal reminded that the Prime Minister had put his entire government on stake to fulfil the national mission to provide electricity to each household by the year 2012. “Rahul Gandhi had also said in Parliament that he met a woman, Kalavati, whose house was in total darkness as there was no electricity. They assured the country through Parliament that each Indian household shall get electricity; now they have to decide whether the assurance given to the entire country in Parliament important or not,” he said.

Two commit suicide
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 24
Savita Gupta, resident of Bhandari Bagh, committed suicide at her house by consuming poison this morning. She was reportedly unhappy at her 18-year daughter’s repeated misbehavior.

She took the extreme step after a fight with her daughter in the morning. She was taken to Indresh Hospital by her husband, advocate Arvind Gupta, where she died at 11.30. The couple also has a five-year-old son.

Meanwhile, in another incident, a 55-year-old man, Chander Pal, resident of Banjarawala, committed suicide late last night after having an altercation with his wife over his fondness for liquor. He was found hanging in his room this morning.