Dehradun, June 6
The clerical and class IV employees of Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) went on strike today in protest against thrashing of a driver of the DMC by an encroacher in Suman Nagar on Tuesday. A team led by Tax Superintendent Rajesh Naithani dismantled the encroachment today over which the entire ruckus began. DMC Employees Union is mulling over bringing the entire sanitation system of the city to a halt on Thursday if the accused in the matter, Kamal Singh, is not arrested. The police is searching for the accused, who is absconding since yesterday.

The entire clerical and class IV employees came to the DMC office today but did not work, demanding arrest of Kamal Singh, ex-police personnel who, along with his wife and son, injured the driver of JCB

machine of DMC, Om Prakash, on Tuesday with stones when he began dismantling the wall erected around DMC land at Suman Nagar, which was encroached by Singh. DMC had built a toilet at this place long time ago, which was not used. Singh took advantage of this and erected a wall and gate on the land by removing the toilet a few months ago. It was on the complaint of some neighbours that DMC officials woke up to the reality.

DMC team led by Rajesh Naithani had gone to remove the encroachment two days ago. Singh threatened the team not to raze the structure to the ground but when JCB surged ahead, Singh, along with his wife and son, injured Om Prakash by throwing stones on him. The team had to come back without accomplishing it's task that day.

An FIR was lodged against Singh. When the police went to arrest him, his house was found locked. He, along with his wife and son, is absconding.

The police is raiding many places in search of him.

Mukhya Nagar Adhikari (MNA) Ashok Kumar appealed to DMC employees to resume work. He said: “I urged representatives of employees' union to call off their strike as now the matter is with the police, which is searching for the accused, but the union members insisted on remaining on strike till the accused was put behind the bars.”

Mayor Vinod Chamoli, too, called the entire incident unfortunate, saying the police must expedite the arrest of the accused in the matter. He also demanded enough police protection, whenever DMC teams went out to dismantle encroachments in the city. President of the DMC employees' union Nam Bahadur said they would intensify their protest on Thursday if the accused was not arrest by then. He said the sanitation workers, too, would join them and would not collect or dispose of garbage or clean the city.

Mussoorie, June 6
The decision of the zila panchayat, Tehri Garhwal, to reintroduce the entry tax on tourist vehicles visiting Kempty Falls, the famous tourist destination around Mussoorie, is drawing dissent from various quarters here.

Zila panchayat, Tehri Garhwal, used to collect entry tax also known as toll tax earlier but the practice was stopped three years ago due to immense opposition and High Court order.

However, the zila panchayat with an objective to increase it's revenue base has reintroduced the entry tax with a different name this time round.

The entry tax on the tourist vehicles started from June 3 onwards. It is now being called as Vahaan Vyavastha Shulk, where the hapless tourists are forced to pay Rs 40 for small cars, Rs 60 for medium- sized vehicles, Rs 80 for 15-seater vehicles and Rs 150 for big buses with more than 30 seats.

Several organisations, including tourists, have vented their ire at reintroduction of such tax and termed it as of a self-destructive nature for the promotion of tourism in the region.

The practice has also left two villages adjacent to the entry point a divided lot where the residents of Kempty village are supporting the move, while the villagers from Bungalow ki Kandi are against it. The introduction of entry fee has led to verbal altercations among the villagers from both sides on several occasions in the past two days. The administration, fearing the worst, has already placed additional police force in the area as a precautionary measure.

Senior official from the zila panchayat, Tehri office, Tez Singh Rana, informed the media that the revenue collected at the entry barrier here will be used for the development, beautification and maintenance of Kempty Falls on an annual basis.

He further said that Commissioner, Garhwal, has already issued the gazettee notification and following that, the entry fee collection has begun from June 3. A village-level committee has been constituted in which it was decided that the 10 % of the revenue collected will go to Kempty village, and the other 10 % to village Bunglow ki Kandi, that will oversee the development works and flow of funds from the vehicle entry tax and ensure the proper use of the collected funds.

The villagers of Kempty village have come out in support of the arrangement and have suggested that the revenue should be spent on creating new infrastructure and basic public amenities for the tourists.

On the other hand, the villagers from Bunglow ki Kandi are vehemently opposing the reintroduction of the vehicle entry tax. The gram pradhan, Kamal Singh, lamented the fact that the zila panchayat has done nothing for the development of Kempty. Therefore, it had no right to collect the tax or fee from the tourists in an extortionist manner. He also said that the collection of the tax was stopped at the order of the High Court and reintroducing it with a different name is acting against the directions of court, thus resulting in contempt of court. He also said that if the collection of the tax is not stopped, then they would be forced to protest on streets.

Meanwhile, the real sufferers in the introduction of a such move are the tourists. Dibagh Singh, a frequent visitor to Kempty from Punjab, said that the tourists were already over-burdened with a plethora of taxes in the form of several toll road taxes on highways and bridges right from the start of his journey from home, including eco-tax at Kholhukhet barriers just before entering Mussoorie. He further said that such a move will be detrimental for the state, which is infamously being called road tax state. "This is my last vist to the state. The government itself has turned into an extortionist in the form of such taxes. The tourists are also human beings and should not be seen as the cow that can be milked at any given moment," added Dilbagh Singh.

The Mussoorie taxi associations have also demanded exemption from such taxes and have threatened to boycott the tourist destination of Kempty if their demands are not met.

The senior panchayat officials are still camping in the area and assessing the mood of the people here so that a report can be sent back to the administration on the outcome.Whether the tax is levied or is removed remains to be seen.

Dehradun, June 6
BJP MLA from Kiccha Rajesh Shukla has termed the government’s decision to grant ownership rights to lease holders under the Government Grant Act as eyewash and injustice to the people of the Bengali community of Sitarganj.

At a press conference today, Shukla said the poor Bengali community would not be able to freehold their land because most of them were economically weak and would then have to approach big land orders for bailing them out.

According to the arrangement announced by the Bahuguna government for making their land freehold, all lease holders would have to pay a specific amount that is according to the prevailing market rate.

Dehradun, June 6
District Magistrate Ravi Nath Raman has directed SDMs and ADMs to send him complete information regarding the number of villagers in Dehradun, whose houses and crops had got damaged due to excessive heat and storms this summer.

He said if any human and animal casualty took place due to these factors, then SDMs must get the matter enquired from regional Lekhpal and inform him about the outcome. If the houses got damaged due to fire, then the relief allowance must be distributed immediately so that the affected could be helped in time, he said. He warned them not to slacken the pace of work about such issues. — TNS