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Bahuguna Park in state of neglect
CM's sops have not gone down well with BJP
Maya Arya Deputy Director, Nursing
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Need to focus on basic amenities for ST people: NSTC chief
Cong members of nagar parishad stage dharna
Ex-minister for CBI probe into Rudrapur riots
Doctors await renewal of contracts
BJP team meets UPCL MD on
poor power supply
Power staff body stages dharna, seeks higher wages
Girl attempts suicide
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Bahuguna Park in state of neglect
Mussoorie, June 12 The park bears historical antecedents as it was constructed around 1870 by the British to relax and view the panoramic beauty of the Himalayan peaks visible from here on clear days. The British also constructed a Hawa Ghar to be used for sojourns after a long and tiring walk on Camels Back Road. Many prominent political figures, thinkers and authors of yesteryears, namely John Lang, Rajah Dilip Singh, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rahul Sankratayan and others enchanted by the peaceful environs had spent hours at the park viewing the Himalayas and the surrounding beauty. Since Independence the park has remained an important resting place where pedestrians, including senior citizens, come for relaxation. Many yoga lovers use the shelter at the park for morning exercise such as laughter therapy every day. Shiv Prasad Bhardwaj, a permanent resident of the area, said around 1990 then Municipal Council president Jot Singh Gunsola re-christened the park after HN Bahuguna. A fountain and a few flowerbeds also donned the park to attract visitors. The inaugural stone mentioning the name of the leader along with the flowerbeds and the fountain has disappeared in the due course of time, much to the disgust of the local residents. Bhardwaj lamented that the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) a few years ago, besides polishing the pillars of Hawa Ghar and installing a railing did nothing in the name of repair. He said the roof of Hawa Ghar was leaking at several places and made it difficult for the visitors to stand under it during rain. The woodwork put in place by the British in the construction had also disintegrated over the years. He added the block of a wooden framework fell frequently over the heads of the visitors, endangering their lives. His wife also pointed at a high power electricity line passing close to the park. Bhardwaj said, “The old British era benches, which were in a good condition, were replaced by new ones in the name of repair work. These new benches are in the news due to their placement opposite to the Himalayan view, thus rendered them useless.” The departments concerned had been reminded of the condition of the park several times but to no avail, he added. Municipal Council president OP Uniyal said the civic body managed the park but the repair work was the responsibility of the MDDA. Asked why no memorial plaque in the name of HN Bahuguna had been place at the park, Uniyal said they had erected a bust at the spot a few years ago but some miscreants destroyed it
beyond repair. He said if any organisation was ready to maintain the park on its own cost he would gladly agree to give it to it without any delay. Assistant engineer, MDDA, SM Sharma said they had repaired the park by glazing the floor, erecting a railing etc., but the repair of Hawa Ghar was not included in that. However, if the roof was leaking they were ready to repair it on priority. He also clarified that there were no plans to install a bust of HN Bahuguna at the park. The senior citizens of the town have been demanding that a small museum dedicated to HN Bahuguna should be established at the park so that the future generations could learn from his life while in Mussoorie. The indifferent attitude of the authorities concerned towards the park indicated the state of affairs in
Uttarakhand. |
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CM's sops have not gone down well with BJP
A day ago Bahuguna had announced a hike of 7 per cent in the DA of state government employees along with revising minimum wages of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labours along with several other schemes, even as the model code of conduct was in place. "The government order (Central) pertaining to dearness allowance had come up six months back and the Uttarakhand government is implementing it six months after the order had been issued.
So there is no violation of the model code of conduct. Besides the model code of conduct is effective only in Sitarganj Assembly seat and the work on development activities should not get affected in other districts. The work on the ongoing development schemes should go uninterrupted," said
Radha Raturi, Chief Electoral officer (CEO), Uttarakhand. The Election Commission's explanation that the state government was within it's rights to announce the hike in DA has not helped matters as the BJP is questioning the intention of the Bahuguna government which has from day one been on an announcement spree. "We are aware of the Election Commission's replies, but the intention of the Bahuguna government has not been sincere from day one. He managed to win over our former MLA by promising the status of Namo Shudra (SC) to be given to Bengali migrants settled in Sitarganj. That cannot be done by the state government and requires amendment in the Constitution. The CM has promised the moon," said Satish Lakhera, Uttarakhand BJP spokesperson. What has upset the BJP is the manner in which the Bahuguna government has about turning down one decision after another taken by the BJP government when it was in power. " The Congress government has turned down several decisions taken by the BJP government. Is it a ploy to bait the BJP MLAs who could be won over by yet another promise of reversal of decisions? Since coming to power, Bahuguna government has used coercion and false promises," alleged the BJP spokesperson. |
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Maya Arya Deputy Director, Nursing
Dehradun, June 12 The government has also promoted 25 nurses to Assistant Matron, thereby clearing the pending backlog of the past few years. “It is a measure of immense satisfaction for the nurses that the vacant post has been filled and now Arya would take position at the Director-General, Health and Family Welfare, office,” said Anjana
Bhowmick, general secretary, Uttarakhand Nurses Association. However, association members say their fight was still on and they hope to convince the government to create a separate directorate for nurses. “There is lack of awareness about nursing profession. The service
is always looked upon as subordinate to medical practise, which is not the case. The creation
of a separate directorate for nurses will help us achieve that goal,” said Bhowmick. The nurses are also demanding that the posts in the Nursing Council be filled by nurses. As of now, doctors have
occupied almost all posts of the council. The creation of the post of operation theatre supervisor is also high on the agenda. “This post has to be filled at Doon District Hospital and Bhawali Hospital. In Doon
Hospital, there are six operation theatres and one operation theatre supervisor from the nursing cadre is a must,” said Bhowmick. In Uttarakhand, there are a total of 1,100 nurses in the nursing cadre with 35 Assistant Matrons. But this is not sufficient as the hospital bed and the nurse ratio is also inadequate in
Uttarakhand. |
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Elevate Furkan Ahmed's status, says Harish Rawat
Dehradun, June 12 Furkan Ahmed is a parliamentary secretary looking after minority welfare and industrial development departments. Rawat made an appeal that he be given an independent charge of departments. "As per the election manifesto of the Congress, I urge the party leadership and the Chief Minister to elevate the status of Ahmed to chief parliamentary secretary and give him independent charge of minority welfare and industrial development departments," Rawat said while speaking to mediapersons here today. He said representation to the minorities in the government could not be given in the prevailing political circumstances. Rawat thanked Bahuguna for appointing Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion, an MLA from Khanpur, as the Chairman of the Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation and said the move would help remove the resentment of party workers in Haridwar, who were demanding representation for their
district. |
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Four-time Everest climber Dharmashaktu honoured
Pithoragarh, June 12 “The camp four on the route to the Everest peak is the dirtiest and it might possess the maximum tonnage of garbage as the mountaineers going to and returning from the peak leave garbage at the camp four,” he said. Dharamshaktu, an Inspector with the BSF, was speaking to mediapersons after he was felicitated by the Johar Club of the Munsiyari valley today for climbing the Mount Everest fourth time and thus becoming the first Indian to have done so. He was given a rousing welcome by the office-bearers of the Johar Club at Munsiyari today and presented a citation and shawl for his unique achievement in the sphere of mountaineering. “This time 15 mountaineers from across the world have gone there to give a message to the future generation of mountaineers that they should take care to keep the peak clean and ever challenging,” he said. Dharamshaktu said every year more than 700 mountaineers go to the Everest and leave garbage, damaged tent pieces, oxygen cylinders, tinned food and even cameras at all four camps ahead of the base camp towards the peak. “We have collected one tonne of garbage from all these camps and left a message for the mountaineers that if they can carry material with them to these camps, why they can’t bring the used material back from the mountain,” said Dharamshaktu. The mountaineer said their party not only picked up garbage from the camps but also cleared the route of plastic garbage during the 12-day trek from Namche Bazaar. “Woodland company, which has sponsored me, has again shown interest in sponsoring another expedition to clear the garbage completely from the route to the Mount Everest and for the purpose it is going to make an announcement soon,” said Dharamshaktu. |
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Need to focus on basic amenities for ST people: NSTC chief
Dehradun, June 12 At a review meeting attended by the Chief Secretary and other head of the departments here today, Oraon laid emphasis on giving more attention towards basic amenities like education, health, roads, drinking water and power supply in the areas inhabited by the ST population. He said after visiting several such areas, he observed that there was still a shortage of teachers and doctors and there was need for education till intermediate from class 8 onwards. He added the people had demanded hostel facility for girl students of the community, who were pursuing higher education in Dehradun. Oraon said if land was provided by the state government, he would pursue the Centre for the construction of a hostel. He said besides literacy programmes, some vocational training programmes should be launched to meet the problem of unemployment and bring them out of backwardness. There was need to activate committees formed under the Forest Rights Act, he said. Oraon expressed hope that problems pertaining to land security, right to their winter abodes and obtaining caste certificates would be resolved. Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain said suggestions made by the commission would be followed. He said several welfare programmes for STs had been implemented in the state and special attention was being given to ensure that all members of the community get benefits of development programmes launched by the government. Secretary, Social Welfare, Subardhan said five Scheduled Tribes, Bhotia, Tharu, Jaunsari, Boxa and Raji, resided in Uttarakhand among which Boxa and Raji came under the category of ancient Schedule Tribe. He said the Bhotia tribe was found in Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts, Jaunsari in Dehradun, Tharu in Udham Singh Nagar, Boxa in Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital, Pauri and Dehradun, Raji in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts that, too, only in limited development blocks. Subardhan said the state government had constituted a separate directorate for the implementation of development programmes for STs and an annual state budget for them was allocated as per their population. |
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Cong members of nagar parishad stage dharna
Pithoragarh, June 12 “There have been several cases of corruption in the Pithoragarh Nagar Palika Parishad in the construction of houses for the poor and laying of tiles in the town in the last three years of the BJP government. The workers and the chairman of the parishad have been indulging in such irregularities,” alleged Subodh Singh Bisht, a Congress member of the parishad. The protesters said unless the District Magistrate did not send their memorandum to the Chief Minister demanding the setting up of an inquiry into the issue, they would continue the agitation. “We are holding a symbolic dharna today and if the Chief Minister does not look into our demand, we will resort to an indefinite fast,” said Bisht. Parishad Chairman Rajendra Singh Rawat denied any corrupt practices in the civic body and said, “We are ready to face any inquiry from any agency. We are even ready to resign if these hostile elements are ready to run the parishad at a time when it is facing a severe resource crunch.” |
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Ex-minister for CBI probe into Rudrapur riots
Dehradun, June 12 Four persons were killed and a large number of shops were set afire or looted in the communal violence at Rudrapur on October 2 last year. The state government has ordered a CB-CID probe into the communal riots. A local court has also ordered the police to register a case against Raj Kumar Thakral, Rudrapur BJP legislator. There has been intense tussle among state Congress leaders on the issue. There are allegations that Thakral, who had defeated Behad in the recent Assembly poll, has been trying to come close to the Congress leadership in the state. Annoyed by the developments, Behad said for truth and justice, only a probe by the CBI should be ordered by the government. He said it would give a clear message to the people against communal violence. |
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Doctors await renewal of contracts
Dehradun, June 12 Under the terms, their contract was revised yearly, but as soon as the contract of the doctors expired, the government failed to renew it. “We do not know the reason behind the decision to delay the renewal. Earlier these super specialists were demanding enhancement of remuneration but the delay in the renewal of contracts have forced them to take the demand back,” said a senior doctor. A total of three super-specialists, comprising neuro surgeons Dr Pankaj Arora and Dr Arvind Mamgai and neuro physician Dr Naveen Ahuja are attached to Doon Hospital. Out of the three, Dr Arvind is a government employee. In Coronation Hospital, Dr Mohit Goyal, a super specialist (plastic surgeon), is awaiting the renewal of contract. |
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BJP team meets UPCL MD on
poor power supply
Dehradun, June 12 Convener Bhupender Singh Kathait said they had put the matter of unscheduled rostering before officials of power corporation many times but no action was taken on it. He said the tender process for the purchase of electrical items had been suspended in the corporation, given to which now the officials passed the buck to the lack of transfer, poor quality wires or other equipment for power cuts. He urged the MD to remove all the bottlenecks, otherwise, he said, the people would protest on roads on the issue. |
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Van Gujjars hold protest march
Dehradun, June 12 Led by Mahasabha’s state president Purshottam Sharma and CPI (ML) state secretary Rajendra Protholi, the protesters accused the Uttarakhand government of failing to implement the Forest Rights Act in the state. They said villages in the close proximity of forests had even been deprived of basic civic amenities. Sharma said over over 1.5 lakhs forest dwelling communities in the state were still struggling for the restoration of forest rights. He reminded that last year, after much agitation, the Nainital administration had started working towards providing basic amenities to the forest dwellers of Lalkuan but asserted that shortly after incumbent Congress government came to power, the process had been halted. He said both police and Forest Department officials were harassing the forest dwellers on one pretext or the other. The protesters also submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister at the Lalkuan tehsil office. |
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Power staff body stages dharna, seeks higher wages
Dehradun, June 12 General secretary of the association KR Kashyap said class IV employees had been appointed through self-help groups. They should have been appointed through the UPNAL agency, as those who came through SHGs were getting merely Rs 2,400 while those appointed through the UPNAL agency were getting Rs 7,000-8,000 per month. He said the MD , UPCL, had agreed to fulfil their demands, but he had not issued any order. He demanded that the salary structure of class III employees be increased, vacant posts be filled and promotions be done on time. |
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‘Desist from engaging child labour’
Dehradun, June 12 She said if they ever saw any child put to work in domestic or commercial area, they must report the matter to their organisation. Deepak Gersvall, an HIV counsellor at Doon Hospital, threw light on the subject of AIDS-HIV and also replied to the queries of children. Prakash Kumar, who had been associated with the Drug De-addiction Centre for the past 10 years in the city, also gave a lecture and a representation about the harmful effects of
drug addiction. |
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Girl attempts suicide
Dehradun, June 12 She was taken to hospital by the neighbours and the local police. She is out of danger The incident took place in the absence of their father, who had gone out of station in Uttar Pardesh. The mother of the children had expired long ago.
— TNS |
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Dehradun, June 12