Mahasabha flays attack on Cheema’s house
Dehradun, July 14
The Uttaranchal Punjabi Mahasabha has condemned the attack on the residence of Harbhajan Singh Cheema, BJP legislator from Kashipur, by some activists of the UKD ( Panwar) here yesterday. It has demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.

Pithoragarh, July 14
Leaders of various political parties today held protests and burnt the effigies of BJP legislator from Kashipur Harbhajan Singh Cheema in the Kumaon region against latter’s reported statement that the migrant people from hills of the state were causing extra burden on the Terai region.

Congress workers, who led the protest at various places, said Cheema’s statement was aimed at dividing the people of hills and plains in the state. “As Uttarakhand has both hill areas and plains, such a statement hurts the very social fabric of Uttarakhand,” said Yashpal Arya, MLA from Bazpur and state Congress president.

The Congress workers across the Kumaon region criticised Cheema’s statement and termed it as divisive and communal that hurt the feelings of various communities of Uttarakhand. “The hill state should have only talks of development rather than such statements, which could be used to divide the state in future,” said Govind Singh Kunjwal, MLA from Jageshwar and Speaker of the state Assembly.

The Congress MLAs from Pithoragarh, Gangolihat, Almora Kapkot and Dharchula also joined the local people in criticising Cheema.

Besides Congress MLAs, the BJP MLAs from the hill region of the state also lambasted Cheema’s remark and said it was his personal opinion. “Cheema’s statement has been wrongly projected by the media. As far as I know, the statement says that the hill part of the state be made rich by setting industries so that the local people have not to migrate in search of a livelihood and basic facilities,” said BJP president Bishen Singh Chufal.

Workers of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) and student leaders also burnt Cheema’s effigies at various places in the region and threatened that if the Kashipur MLA continued to make such statements the youth from the hill region would launch an agitation to oust such people from the state. “Cheema does not know the history of the Terai region that has been an undivided part of Kumaon since the time of the Chand dynasty.

The people of hills used to spend the winter in the region,” said Dr Shamsher Singh Bisht, president of the Uttarakhand Lok Vahini, Almora.

Haridwar, July 14
Angry over the anti-hill people statements being given by BJP legislator from Kashipur Harbhajan Cheema, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) activists today sought a public apology from the legislator, even demanding that the BJP high command should suspend him for his 'meaningless' stance.

UKD activists staged a massive protest on the Chandra Charya Chowk-Bhagat Singh Chowk stretch, raising placards, demanding a public apology from Cheema and terming his statements as an attempt at disturbing mutual harmony that exists between the people of both hills and plains of the state.

Terming Cheema’s statements as totally uncalled for, Uday Ram Semwal, central secretary of Haridwar UKD unit, said that Cheema had hurt the sentiments of the hill people as well as of those who live in plains.

He said that by such statements the souls of the statehood martyrs who laid their life on October 2,1994, and subsequently thereafter till separate Uttaranchal was carved out in 2000, had been hurt as the martyrs never separated plains from the hills and gave their life for a whole Uttarakhand region.

Youth wing city chief Lalit Mamgain demanded clarification from the BJP high command as to why it was not taking any disciplinary action against the legislator, who was trying to create a rift between plains and hills.

“It takes just a minute to give such statements but it takes decades, blood, patience, agitation, struggle and vision to have a separate state. Cheema doesn’t even know that what pain we the people living in hily districts have been going through. We now feel hurt that in our own state we are being targeted. Did we gave our sweat and blood for this only,” remarked Mamgain, as common people, too, joined in their protest.

A reference to Kashipur town, which Cheema represents, was also made.

Veteran UKD leader Anil Pokhriyal cited historical books which point that Kashipur was formed by Chand clan dynasty of Kumaon, which named it after one of their aides, Kashi Nath, as Kashipur.

“Cheema lacks knowledge of history, too. Kumaon kings formed Kashipur, and later migrants from Punjab settled here in large numbers. Cheema lacks sense, knowledge and has no regard for natural inhabitants of Garhwal-Kumaon region, who are basically hill people,” said Pokhriyal.

Dehradun, July 14
The Uttaranchal Punjabi Mahasabha has condemned the attack on the residence of Harbhajan Singh Cheema, BJP legislator from Kashipur, by some activists of the UKD ( Panwar) here yesterday. It has demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.

Jagjit Singh, treasurer of the mahasabha, in a statement said the reported statement of Cheema was not against hill people.

He said Cheema only highlighted the plight of such people in the absence of lack of development in the hill areas.

He further said Cheema had been misquoted. “Cheema had only said that the due to lack of basic infrastructural facilities and employment, people from the hills are forced to come down to the plain areas,” said Jagjit Singh.

He further said the mahasabha was for overall all-round growth of the state, but it was fact that migration had been taking place rapidly from the hills.

He lamented that even the politicians from the hills had started migrating to the plain areas looking for new political ground. He said since 2009, senior leaders of the state, including Harish Rawat, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and now Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, had fought the elections from the plain areas and were accepted by the people.

He said stern action should be initiated against the UKD (P) activists.

Haridwar, July 14
The Kanwar pilgrimage has entered its final phase called Dak Kanwar when Dak Kanwariyas from various states arrive in the city driving vehicles at a high speed. The arrival of Dak Kanwariyas on speedy vehicles has added zing to the Kanwar yatra and sent the mela administration into a tizzy.

The next three days are going be the toughest for the Kanwar mela administration. While the mela police till now have been managing Kanwariyas coming to the city on foot, the Dak Kanwariyas have made its job more challenging. The mela authorities were today busy managing the influx of Dak Kanwariyas as well as chalking out alternative strategies for the next three days.

The Dak Kanwariyas are coming to the city from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and from tomorrow Kanwariyas from western Uttar Pradesh will start arriving. Haridwar is teeming with Kanwariyas walking in a line wearing orange colour clothes and the others traveling in speedy vehicles.

The Dak Kanwariyas tend to break rules as they have to meet a customary time deadline to reach Haridwar.

The mela police has announced that the vehicles carrying Dak Kanwariyas will not be allowed to use music systems, carry weapons and other objects like hockey sticks and cricket bats. Though the mela police at the Narsan entry point in Uttarakhand was strictly implementing the rule, many vehicles carrying Dak Kanwariyas were today spotted playing music at a high pitch.

Though the police removed the music systems from the vehicles of Dak Kanwariyas at various entry points, the Kanwariyas resisted the move at some places but later removed these themselves.

SSP Arun Mohan Joshi told The Tribune that the mela police was trying hard to ensure that the Dak Kanwariyas did not flout the rules. It had urged them to cooperate with it. The Shravan Kanwar yatra in Haridwar is the largest religious pilgrimage held during the auspicious month of ‘Saawan’. Till today 1.25 crore Kanwariyas have arrived here and fetched Ganga water since the pilgrimage started on July 4.

Haridwar, July 14
Haridwar SSP Arun Mohan Joshi today organised a press conference with regard to Dak Kanwars.

Addressing mediapersons, SSP Joshi said to ensure the successful completion of the Kanwar pilgrimage, 4,000 mela police personnel were managing the rush of Kanwariyas for the past 10 days in Haridwar.

“The influx of Dak Kanwariyas is being smoothly managed by the police at the Bairagi camp.

Although 1.25 crore Kanwariyas have come to Haridwar to fetch Ganga jal so far, not even a single incident of violence has been reported,” said Joshi, while lauding the efforts of the mela police personnel.

A special operations group team has been entrusted with the task of registering all vehicles so as to know the exact number of Kanwariyas coming to the city.

From tomorrow, according to the SSP, Delhi-Haridwar-Dehradun National Highway 58 will be one way only as the Dak Kanwar phase will start. To avoid traffic jams, all Haridwar-bound vehicles will enter the city from Dehradun and will leave from the Haridwar-Roorkee stretch. Mela police chief (city region) Kiran Lal Shah said two parking lots at the Bairagi camp and Gauri Shankar Dweep have been made for four-wheeler Dak Kanwariyas.

Dehradun, July 14
The city unit of the BJP today submitted a memorandum to Vinod Chamoli, Mayor of Dehradun, Municipal Corporation, demanding that the proposal on hike in house tax be suspended. The proposal would be taken up at the upcoming meeting of Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC).

Led by Puneet Mittal, president of the city unit, a delegation of the BJP city unit met Vinod Chamoli and raised apprehensions on the proposed hike in house tax. “The house tax to be calculated on the basis of self-assessment is unfair and would burden the common man. The hike would be between four to six times of the present house tax,” said Mittal.

He said the corporation should impose tax on the basis of “use of property”, “The Corporation should tax the those residential complexes that have been converted into commercial shops and are being used for business purpose. By all means increase the revenue of the Corporation but be fair to the retiree population who form a large population in Dehradun, they would not be able to bear the taxes,” stressed Mittal.

Dehradun, July 14
Dr Charu Sharma, Principal, Kendriya Vidyalaya Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, is among those women who have attained an administrative post in a leading organisation, KVS, in her early forties. Among her various qualities, she possesses the spirit of dedication, devotion and competitive instinct.

She did her graduation from Regional Institute of Education, Bhopal, a premier college in the field of education, and secured third position in the entire college. In M.Sc. physics, with 78 per cent marks, she stood second in Barkatullah University, Bhopal. The ladder of success was unending when she secured the first position in M.Ed. examination from Garhwal University in 2005. The inquisitiveness for learning, experimenting and innovation drove her towards pursuing Ph.D. in education. Her career as a teacher was model and her thoughts pursued excellence everywhere. She inspired students and teacher alike all the time.

After joining Kendriya Vidhyalaya in 1993, she quickly moved up the ladder due to her sheer hard work and dedication. Today she is Principal, KV, FRI, and prior to it she was Principal, Indian Institute of Petroleum. Even as Principal, IIP, she achieved a milestone by finally ensuring transfer of land from IIP to KV to fulfil the long-standing need of land for the construction of a school building. She has in-depth knowledge of CBSE’s flagship Continuous and Comprehensive Education (CCE) programme. She proved her managerial skills by organising in-service courses of Kendriya Vidhayalaya Sanghatan (KVS). She is a prominent member of the academic advisory committee of Regional Office, KVS, Dehradun, and KVS officials have extended praiseworthy comments for her key role. As a student, teacher and Principal of KVS, she has always held high the flag of KVS.

She strongly believes that the profession of teaching requires full dedication. “Teaching profession is a commitment in itself. You have to shape the life of others and, thus, this profession requires 200 per cent commitment,” Dr Sharma points out. She said Kendriya Vidhyalayas today were providing best of education in the country.