Sitarganj Byelection
Cong claims Muslim, Bengali voters favoured Bahuguna 
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, July 9
After a peaceful polling, the candidates of the Congress and the BJP are claiming that they will win the Sitarganj Assembly byelection.

Both BJP and Congress claimed that a huge turnout of around 76.38 per cent yesterday was a mandate in their favour.

The Congress has claimed that as the Bengali community along with the Schedule Castes and the Muslims came in a large number to vote, its candidate Vijay Bahuguna would win the byelection comfortably. “Voters belonging to the Muslim, SC and Bengali communities came to vote in a large number indicating that the people of Sitarganj have voted for the Congress and for their development,” said Mathura Datt Joshi, a spokesperson for the Congress.

According to political observers in Sitarganj, the voters started queuing up in front of polling booths since early morning in areas inhabited by weaker sections of society. This led to a sharp increase in the polling percentage from 22 to 45 per cent between 10 am and noon. But it declined 2 pm onwards. “The polling picked up because the voters from the Bengali community at Shatifarm and the Muslim and Dalit communities came to vote despite heavy rain in morning hours in the area. The Congress has got the maximum number of votes from people belonging to these communities,” said Gopal Krishna Mandal, a Congress supporter and former block pramukh of Sitarganj. According to police sources, the polling was peaceful.

The BJP is equally hopeful of its victory as, according to their leaders, the people of Sitarganj have voted against corruption that was visible in the state during the last three months of the Congress rule. “We have received 80 per cent of votes of those people who have migrated from hill areas, besides a big chunk of votes from Tharu, Rai Sikh and Bania communities,” said Uttarakhand BJP president Bishen Singh Chufal.

Chufal said the BJP was not hopeful of getting much votes from the Sikh, Bengali and Muslim communities.

Police gears up to handle errant Kanwariyas
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, July 9
As the Kanwar pilgrimage is entering its second phase, the Kanwar police is finding it tough to manage the influx of Kanwariyas, particularly the errant ones.

Clashes of Kanwariyas with the mela police force are taking place on regular basis. The high-humidity level is also taking its toll on the force personnel. Young Kanwariyas can be seen trying to barge in the prohibited National Highway 72 and 58.

Though seeing situation getting out of control, the mela police also allows Kanwariyas to pass through some stretch of the highway but is trying its every bit to make sure the Kanwar yatra goes on peaceful besides ensuring minimum congestion on the highway.

Mela police in charge SP Kiran Lal Shaw is himself pacifying errant Kanwariyas at various stretches and is also giving tips to the mela police personnel.

District police chief Arun Mohan Joshi said legal action would be taken against the errant Kanwariyas.

Rain damages 25 houses
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, July 9
A total of 25 houses have been damaged and roads to the Talla Bagar areas of Jauljibi, besides seven rural roads, have been closed for the past seven days.

Villages of the district have remained cut off as showers have lashed the remote parts of the district, sources from the disaster management office informed.

According to the disaster management officer of the district, owing to continuous rain in the interior part of the district, two houses in Golfa village of Munsiyari and one house each in Raitoli, Bisabajer, Trigaon and Meldungari in Gangolihat and Pithoragarh subdivisions have gone damaged in rain.

“Barring eight local roads in the district, all roads are open. It rained 184.3 mm between June 15 and July 3. During the monsoon since July 3, 300 mm of rainfall has been recorded per day,” said RS Rana, district disaster management officer.

According to PWD sources, road to border villages along the Kali river has been blocked since last week.

“It is due to BRO people who were dumping the debris of the under-construction road on the road which goes to the border villages,” said Bishen Lal, a PWD engineer working on the road.

The district disaster management officer says that four persons have also been injured in various incidents during rain for the last one month.

Develop agriculture, animal husbandry, says Harak Singh
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 9
Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat has said agriculture and animal husbandry could be developed as dominant professions to enhance the economy of the state and to check migration of the youth from the hilly region.

Rawat, while chairing a review meeting of Agriculture, Horticulture, University, Seed Certification and Terai Seed Development Corporation at Vidhan Bhavan, today also laid emphasis on strengthening the agriculture by implementing research made by scientists of agriculture universities, developing animal husbandry and increasing production of traditional crops.

He said the universities ought to carve a niche for themselves by implementing their research works for the benefit of farmers and artisans. He said agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry could be instrumental in enhancing the economic condition of rural people in the state.

Rawat stated that cattle rearing was the backbone of rural economy and directed officers to prepare a proposal to set up a separate university for animal husbandry. He also advocated making the organic farming as the main source of economy and producing traditional crops like madua, gahat, bhut, rajma, ginger, turmeric and others.

He also instructed the Seed Development Corporation to make available the seeds to farmers. He said the work had to be done on a war footing in this direction that too on the grassroot level.

Rawat also directed the officers to redress problems being faced by farmers and stressed on filling the posts lying vacant in the departments. The meeting was attended by Additional Secretary Dr Nidhi Pandey, Deputy Secretary Atar Singh, Dr Mathews, Dr JP Singh, Harvansh Singh Chug, Avnend Nayal, Madan Lal and CS Mehra.

Petrol shortage hits Doon
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 9
The unavailability of petrol in pumps of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) in Dehradun district has put consumers in a lot of inconvenience. They have to stand in long queues at petrol stations of other oil marketing companies to get requisite supply. The owners of these petrol stations believe the crisis arising out of paucity of petrol will continue for another week.

The restriction on the plying of heavy vehicles on Haridwar and Rishikesh routes before 11 pm due to the Kanwar mela is also hindering the movement of petrol tankers in the district.

The pumps of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) were, however, well prepared for the shortage, which firmed up during the last two days, and supplied petrol to meet escalated demand. However, two petrol stations of the IOC at Chuna Bhutta and Raipur ran out of stock today.

All 29 pumps of the HPCL in the district, including 16 in the city, ran out of petrol last night. The staff at these pumps expressed their inability to supply petrol today. Customers had to return disappointed and look for supply at other pumps. Petrol pumps belonging to the BPCL and the IOC witnessed long queues of cars and two-wheelers that extended up to the main road. At some pumps their staff were giving coupons against payment to the consumers waiting in queues so that time could be saved while filing petrol. Anxious customers took care to fill tanks of their vehicles to the brim so as to avert standing in the queue again after some days.

The owner and staff of HPCL petrol pumps sat idle throughout the day. Pankaj Mittal, owner of an HPCL petrol pump near Estley Hall, said, “The petrol supply has been affected during the last one week. We are unable to supply petrol because our stock finished yesterday.”

He said the HPCL management that did not handle the situation properly cited scarcity of petrol at the Roorkie depot, funds shortage due to a delayed response of the Central government to increasing petrol prices and the one-month strike by employees at the Bahadurgarh refinery as reasons for the shortage.

Mittal said his business had suffered a setback and the HPCL would also do nothing to bail him out. The floating and regular consumers got frustrated and visited other petrol pumps. He added the shortage was likely to persist for another week or 10 days with supply resuming for a day or two in between.

Amarjeet Sethi, general secretary of the Petrol Pump Association and owner of an IOC pump, said the district administration must relax the restriction on the movement of big vehicles carrying essential items such as petrol, medicines etc., on the Haridwar and Rishikesh border. He added the petrol supply would normalise soon as they would get the stock in a day or two.

Naresh Bahuguna, owner of a BPCL pump, said he got sufficient stock of petrol to meet the increased demand as he had requisitioned supply from the Roorkie depot a day earlier. He, however, seemed happy with more customers queuing at his pump. 

DM: Ensure regular inspection of ultrasound centres
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 9
Taking serious note of the decreasing sex ratio in the state, Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain has given responsibility of checking sex determination to the District Magistrates.

He has directed the officials concerned to ensure the regular inspection of 522 private and 79 government ultrasound centres and to position active trackers in all ultrasound machines.

The Chief Secretary was reviewing the implementation of the PC-PNDT Act during a meeting held here today. Expressing concern over the decrease in the sex ratio in the state, he said according to the 2011 census, the sex ratio in the age group of 0-6 yrs was 1000:886 as against 1000:967 in 2001.

Describing it as warning bells, he directed the officials to prepare a road map to check sex determination. Directing to position active trackers on ultrasound machines, he said these trackers would send SMS alert to the DMs and the CMOs about the sex determination tests taking place, after which that centre would be penalised.

He also asked officials to constitute a coordination committee to maintain coordination among various departments. Jain laid emphasis on making online record of ultrasound centres. He advocated maintaining records of deliveries through Asha and ANMs.

Principal Secretary, Health, Ranvir Singh, Secretary, Medical Education, Manisha Panwar, Additional Secretary, ICDS, Amit Negi, Additional Secretary, Health, Piyush Singh, District Magistrate Ravinath Raman, DG, Health, Dr SP Bhatt and senior officials were also present.

Encroachment on Parade Ground removed
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 9
State Minister for Planning Dinesh Aggarwal managed to get the entire Parade Ground area free from encroachments in one hour today.

Aggarwal who reached the ground with officials of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, the PWD, the district administration, the police and sports departments, directed to remove private buses and tempos that were parked in the ground. Vegetable sellers, foodstalls, cobblers, beggars and other squatters were pushed out by the police.

He directed the Superintendent of Police to ensure that the area was not encroached upon again. He directed the DMC to maintain the beauty of the place. The sports officials were also instructed to close all three gates of the ground with iron fencing and place proposals regarding the installation of gates.

Meanwhile, he also went to Pavalion Ground where he instructed both DMC and sports officials to arrange for proper drainage and levelling of the ground along with the maintenance of the sanitation of the ground.

He directed them to constitute a committee which would ensure the maintenance of both these grounds. He asked Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Ashok Kumar to provide him with details regarding providing Rs 25 lakh to the sports department for the development of Pavailion Ground. The sports officials were also asked to furnish all details regarding their contribution of Rs 31 lakh for the same task.

Trade unions for hike in salary
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, July 9
Various Left-supported trade unions today staged a dharna demanding a hike in the minimum wage slab in the state.

Workers also raised slogans against the state government. They said workers serving in hotels, restaurants and schools were struggling to fulfil even basic needs due to inflation.

Their pay scales were yet to be raised by the government.

Union leader from the CPI RP Badoni said they would remain on strike tomorrow also to press the government to fulfil their demand. 

ABVP activists celebrate foundation day
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 9
Workers of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad ( ABVP), an affiliate of RSS, took out a procession in the city on the occasion of the 63rd foundation day of the organisation here today.

Dr. D.K. Sahi, city president of the ABVP, flagged off the procession from a wedding hall in the city.

ABVP workers, raising slogans against commercialisation of education and alleged wrong policies of the union government on J&K, marched through various parts of the city before converging at DAV College in the afternoon.

Addressing the participants, Sahi urged the students to work for the welfare of the country. He said that the main aim of the ABVP was to inculcate in youth the love for the country and to make them better citizens. He also highlighted the achievements of the ABVP in the past 63 years of it's existence.

Later in the evening a seminar on the life and works of Swami Dayanand was held at the ABVP office.

Motorcycle rally in Mussoorie

Mussoorie: Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists today staged a motorcycle rally to mark the foundation day of the organisation here.

Flagging off the rally from Survey Chowk at Landour Bazaar to Gandhi Chowk, the ABVP district co-convener Suraj Thapli and town secretary Rahul Dimri said there was a need to change the existing education system in the country as the present system was breeding unemployment and corruption among the youth. They further said the main objective of the education was to make youth responsible citizens of the country but the existing system has failed in doing so.

The rally passed through various bazaars of the town and culminated at Gandhi Chowk in which several ABVP workers participated with enthusiasm.

Dharmpal Panwar, Ashutosh Kothari, Manoj Kumar, Dinesh Panwar, Trilok Rana and others were present on the occasion.

Poll panel awaiting report on bogus voting
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 9
The Election Commission is awaiting the report to be presented by the District Magistrate, Sitarganj, on a complaint lodged by the BJP about the alleged voting by Prem Pratap Singh, an MLA from Deoaria (Uttar Pradesh), in the Sitarganj byelection that took place yesterday.

The complaint, filed by Uttarakhand BJP, presented documentary proof of the said MLA casting his vote in Sitarganj. "Singh is a sitting MLA from Deoaria. How did he manage to vote in the Sitarganj byelection, unless the administration was hand in glove," charged Prakash Pant, the BJP candidate.

Meanwhile, the BJP has also charged the Congress for undertaking large-scale bogus voting in Sitarganj.

The Chief Election Officer (CEO), Radha Raturi, said the Election Commission was waiting for the report to be presented by the District Magistrate in a day or two. "The electoral rolls would be examined by the DM to get to the bottom of the things,"said Raturi.

Mussoorie MLA takes stock of development works
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, July 9
Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi directed the officials to complete pending road repair works and the ongoing laying of sewage pipelines here today.

Joshi reviewed the progress of various works under the Peyjal Nigam, Jal Sansthan and the PWD in a meeting held with the officials from the department concerned at his residence and discussed the possibilities of increasing the potable water supply for the town on priority basis. The Jal Sansthan officials also presented a new project of increasing the supply of drinking water from Kandi Ghat by constructing a lake in the area. If developed, the town would receive additional four million litres of water per day.

The resident association from the Wynberg Allen School area met the MLA and demanded the repair of the road from Big Bend to the school. Joshi also directed the officials of the Peyjal Nigam to provide funds for the construction of the said road damaged due to the sewage pipeline project near the Wynberg Allen School.

He also sought the list of the funds allocated for the construction of the damaged roads.

The superintendent engineer, Peyjal Nigam, SK Agarwal, while speaking to The Tribune, said the list of the roads for which the department had allocated funds to various departments would be prepared and sent to the Mussoorie MLA. He further said the proposal of constructing a lake at the Kandi Ghat for providing drinking water to the town was also discussed and it was decided that after a joint inspection and preparing feasibility report, the work on the project would be initiated.

Joshi also directed the officials of the PWD department to complete the repair work of the road from Kingcraig to Library Bazaar and other linking roads.

Later, Joshi inspected the St Mary’s Hospital and discussed the problems of the staff and the hospital. The medical superintendent apprised him of the shortage of specialist doctors in the hospital.

Joshi directed the senior officials to fill in the vacant post or make an ad hoc arrangement of providing services of radiologist, ophthalmologist and general physician on temporary basis till the time permanent staff was not available. He reiterated his commitment of addressing the problems of the resident and tourists.

Kidnapper sent to custody of Mumbai police
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, July 9
The Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Haridwar, today handed over kidnapper Raju Gaud to the Mumbai police.

The court has also issued orders to give the custody of 3-year-old Sangeeta, who was kidnapped by Gaur on June 10, to the Mumbai police, so that she could be reunited with her parents.

A police team from Mumbai arrived here today to take Gaud into its custody.

The team comprising two SIs, constables and women constables also identified Sangeeta who was kidnapped from Mumbai.

Earlier, in the morning, the Mumbai Police team had filed an application in the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court demanding the transit remand of Gaud and the custody of the girl. In the evening, the court allowed the Mumbai Police to take Gaud and the girl along with it.

Drive to remove hoardings fails to take place
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 9
A campaign to remove hoardings from rooftops of buildings could not be carried out today in the city. The unavailability of police force, most of which is engaged in Kanwar mela, remained the chief reason. Mukhya Nagar Adhikari, Dehradun Municipal Corporation, Ashok Kumar, said the advertisements over all the hoardings had been removed by the companies themselves, who had put them up, but the iron structures which supported them were yet to be removed.

Mayor Vinod Chamoli said the DMC team required not only a police force but also technical staff to cut through the massive iron structures at the back of the hoardings. The corporation did not have the requisite staff to do the task, and, hence, would take time to complete it. The procedure would also remain sluggish in view of rain and the risk factor involved in that, he added.

Chamoli visited affected parts of ward 37, Mata Mandir Road, along with newly elected BJP councillor Bhupender Farsi in the day today. He gave directions to repair the road leading to Dynasaur Park, clear the drains which lead to perpetual waterlogging and construct a road leading to Pal Mohalla. Taking note of poor sanitation caused by milk dairies, he instructed officials for the spray of insecticides around diaries. He also told the dairy owners to keep the area clean by clearing up the cattle dung on a daily basis. Those who failed to do so must be fined, he said.