Use power sparingly, people told
Dehradun, June 15
Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) in its official notice has appealed to the people of the state to keep patience and minimise the use of electricity.

Career guidance, counselling workshop
Mussoorie, June 15
More than 160 students from various Hindi-medium schools were provided necessary career guidance and counseling by experts in a workshop held at Rama Devi Inter-College here yesterday. The workshop was organised under the aegis of Rotary Club of Mussoorie. President of the organisation Shalabh Garg also presented a cheque in form of medical aid to two needy person on the occasion.

Students from various schools during the career guidance counselling workshop in Mussoorie.

Rotary Club members meet Qureshi
Dehradun, June 15
Several people, including a delegation of the Nainital Rotary Club, met Governor Aziz Qureshi at the Nainital Raj Bhavan here yesterday.

Dehradun, June 15
Several areas of the state are in the grip of an acute water shortage, so much so that mules and tankers are being used to supply water to the parched areas of the state. The water crisis has been exacerbated by unscheduled power cuts and low voltage.

Several areas of Tehri Garhwal and Almora are facing an acute water shortage and mules are being used to supply water. While in other areas of the state tankers have been pressed into service.

“Mules are the only means to transport drinking water in some parts of Tehri Garhwal and Almora where connectivity is poor, while we have also pressed into service tankers to augment water supply. As of now, 128 tankers are providing water in the affected areas,” said DD Dimri, Chief General Manager, Jal Sansthan.

The water supply in Dehradun has been hit by unscheduled power cuts being introduced in the afternoon when the Jal Sansthan starts water supply.

“All 250 tube wells require electricity for pumping water. Unless there is power supply these tube wells cannot function. Hence, 14 generators are being used for pumping water from tube wells and that too are inadequate,” said Dimri.

In view of the persisting water problem, 28 water tankers have been pressed into service in Dehradun and the affected areas, including five in Dehradun north, 47 in rural and 16 in Dehradun city and adjoining areas.

Despite Parliamentary Affairs Minister Indira Hriyadesh’s assurance in the Assembly that a schedule of power cuts would be prepared and published in newspapers for people’s information, the power corporation had failed to do so.

“This arrangement existed during the tenure of former Chief Minister ND Tiwari. It will be better if the power corporation plans the power cut schedule in advance,” said BS Chufal, Uttarakhand BJP chief.

Besides, in view of the demand for tankers, an illegal business has sprouted in the city with water being collected through unauthorised boring and sold in the market.

“This malpractice cannot be stopped without the framing of a water policy that bans illegal boring and allows the Jal Sansthan to punish those violating law,” said Dimri. 

Dehradun June 15
Union Minister Harish Rawat met higher officials of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) at its office today in protest against the unscheduled power cuts in the state.

According to sources, Rawat brought the attention towards the plight of farmers in Haridwar who are not getting required water for irrigation from tube-wells which are dependent on electricity and their crops are getting severely affected. The officials tried to pacify Rawat by explaining the widening gap between power availability and demand which has led to the crisis.

In the day, city president, Uttrakhand Kranti Dal (P), Bahadur Singh Rawat also protested over the power crisis in the state and burnt the effigy of the Centre for not giving a go-ahead to Srinagar hydro power project.

He said, “The state is reeling under power crisis because one after another, three ambitious mega hydro-power projects, Bharion Ghati, Pala Maneri and Lohari Nagpala have already been shut by the Centre and now it is also planning to close down Srinagar hydro power project.”

He demanded the resumption of all these projects where he said more than half of the construction work had been completed and hundreds of crores had already been spent.

Meanwhile, the city unit of the BJP also held a protest at the UPCL headquarters here today to highlight the plight of the common man due to acute power shortage.

Puneet Mittal, president of the city BJP unit, leading the protest alleged that the state government had failed on all fronts as people were reelng under acute power and water crisis. The BJP workers also tried to lodge their protest with senior Congress leaders and Union minister Harish Rawat who had also come to register his protest over the inadequate power supply, particularly in Haridwar. The party workers wanted to present Harish Rawat with hand-held fans but he left the office from the other gate.

Dehradun, June 15
Rajpur Road MLA Rajkumar, along with a delegation, met Chief General Manager, Jal Sansthan, DD Dimri to discuss the problem of water scarcity in the city.

Mussoorie, June 15
Students from Mussoorie Girls Inter-College, Rama Devi Inter-College and Saraswati Shishu Mandir along with the members from various senior citizen welfare associations took out a marched from Kulri Bazaar to Gandhi Chowk to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day today.

Carrying placards, students raised slogans in support of senior citizens and appealed to the people to put an end to the abuse against elder persons.

Later in talks held at a gurdwara near Library Bazaar on the issue, senior citizens shared their experiences and said the cases of elder abuse were on the rise in the town. The senior citizens also demanded more security for the elders from the police.

The senior citizens were also saddened by the fact that several elders had been murdered in the town in past but the cases were yet to be solved.

The chief guests, Former MLA from Mussoorie Jot Singh Gunsola and Municipal Council president OP Uniyal, said due to generation gap, the cases of elder abuse were on the rise, therefore a concerted effort should be made in society to narrow down the gap.

He further said the elder abuse involved physical, sexual, emotional and financial harassment of an elderly person by a family member, friend, neighbours, caregiver or any individual in a position of power, trust or authority.

Gunsola said awareness and continuous community discussions were the best ways to end the elder abuse and senior citizens forums could play an active role in it.

Students from Mussoorie Girls Inter College, while speaking on the occasion, said senior citizens were national treasure.

The association felicitated two students with cash prize worth Rs 500 on the occasion.

President of the All-Mussoorie Senior Citizen Welfare Association HS Khullar, RK Khanna, RS Mishra, Madan Mohan Sharma and Narendar Sahni also presented their views on the occasion.

Dehradun, June 15
A two-day workshop on ‘Enabling service tax practice’, organised by the indirect taxes committee of the Institution of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and hosted by the Dehradun branch of the ICAI, was inaugurated here today.

Anuj Goel and Madhukar Hiregange, both members of the Central Council Members of the ICAI, New Delhi, were present at the workshop as the chief guests.

The workshop was attended by a large number of chartered accountancy students and more than 60 chartered accountants.

The chief guests enlightened the members about the ICAI-opened professional opportunities for the chartered accountants to play an important role by opting to practice in the area of indirect taxes.

Goel said the additional collection expected from service tax alone this year is estimated at more than Rs 50,000 crore, though the Finance Minister has conservatively estimated it to be above Rs18,000 crore.

Druv Seth from Lucknow, Ashok Batra from Delhi and Madhukar Hiregange from Bangalore addressed the participants present on the occasion.

He gave the overview of the Indirect Tax structure in India and the importance of service tax in the Indian economy followed by the definition of service and its taxability declared service.

Ashok Batra covered the statutory compliance like registration, issue of invoice, payment of tax, adjustment of excess payment of tax and others.

Dehradun, June 15
Dehradun Mahanagar Congress Committee members today staged a protest at the office of the Director General, Health, in Dehradun.

Led by Deep Vohra, senior vice-president of the Dehradun Mahanagar Congress Committee, protesters said health services at Premnagar government hospital had turned from bad to worse in recent months.

They said while cleanliness was never maintained at the hospital, most of the hospital staff was found absent during duty hours.

They also held that medicines were never available at the Premnagar hospital causing a lot of inconvenience to the people.

The protesters asked the Director General Health for prompt action in the matter and also submitted a memorandum in this regard. 

Dehradun, June 15
Pauri Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj has termed unfortunate the closure of the Sringar Hydro Power Project by the Centre.

In a statement issued today, Maharaj said the Centre must verify all facts and must appraise itself with the ground realities before taking any decision on hydro power projects.

He said 90 per cent of the proposed amount for Sringar Hydro Power Project on the Alaknanda had been spent and now it was not judicious to close down this project. He said even the Union Environment and Forest Ministry had cleared this project before work on it commenced.

He said Uttarakhand desperately needed power which could come only through hydro power projects. He said the closure of projects that were on the verge of completion would serve no purpose and only affect the development of the state. He said he certainly was for the maintenance of flow of the Ganga, the power needs of the state must also be kept in mind.

Maharaj said apart from the Saint community, the aspirations of common people must also be taken into consideration by the government. He said even opinion of MPs, MLAs and other public representatives must be given adequate heed. The Garhwal MP said all Uttarakhand MPs led by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna would shortly meet the Prime Minister and appeal to him for the restart of projects that were on the verge of completion and had been closed abruptly by the Centre. 

Dehradun, June 15
Several people, including a delegation of the Nainital Rotary Club, met Governor Aziz Qureshi at the Nainital Raj Bhavan here yesterday.

The team from the club was led by president of the club JK Sharma. They informed the Governor about the various 
activities that the club organises.

The members of the delegation requested the Governor to inaugurate the pulse polio programme to be organised by the club on June 17 (Sunday).Other people who met the Governor yesterday were Dr Ranjit Bhargava, Dr Suresh Dalakoti, A Vir Singh, Girish Ranjan, Lalit Tiwari and former Minister Ram Prasad Tamta.