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Bahuguna to resign as MP on July 21
State earns revenue of Rs 10 lakh at Kolkata event
Weak monsoon damages 60 pc kharif crops in state
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BJP for old policy on house tax in Dehradun
MP hails Karan’s remark on Ganga
MAD volunteers clean Parade Ground
Diwakar Bhatt plans UKD (D) convention on July 25
Don't give provocative remarks: Harish Rawat
UKD demands action against Cheema
Akhil Garhwal
Sabha, too, fumes
St Lawrence School celebrates golden jubilee
Intellectual property rights cell to be set up in five universities
Trafficking of rare herb comes to light in Gangotri National Park
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BYELECTION
Dehradun, July 15 Bahuguna, who represents the Tehri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat, was made state Chief Minister following the victory of the Congress in the state Assembly elections in January this year. He took over as CM on March 13 and as per the constitutional norms, he had to enter the state Assembly within six months. After the resignation of BJP legislator Kiran Mandal from Sitarganj and the subsequent bypoll in which Bahuguna won by a record margin, the stage is set for his resignation from the Tehri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat. Bahuguna has announced that he will resign from the Lok Sabha on July 21 after the Presidential elections on July 19. His resignation will set the ball rolling for the byelection for the Tehri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat. However, the biggest worry for the Chief Minister will be to choose a party candidate for the seat. There are already a large number of party leaders who have started lobbying with senior party leaders to get the party mandate. Two senior leaders, Kishore Upadhaya and Shoorveer Singh Sajwan, who had lost the Assembly elections recently, are reportedly in the race. While Upadhaya represented the Tehri Assembly segment in the 2002 and 2007 Assembly polls, he lost this time. Sajwan, who represented the Rishikesh Assembly segment in 2002 but lost in 2007 from Rishikesh and Devprayag in 2012, is also vying for party nomination. Another strong contender is Lt Gen MM Lakhera (retd), a former Governor of Puducherry. Belonging to Tehri district, it was believed that he was also in contention. The Congress has another candidate in ace shooter Jaspal Singh Rana, who joined the party at the behest of party general secretary Rahul Gandhi before the 2012 Assembly poll. He had earlier fought the Tehri Lok Sabha elections in 2009 on BJP ticket but lost to Bahuguna. However, despite a long list of contenders, it is believed that Sudha Bahuguna, wife of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, could be a dark horse. Since Upadhaya and Sajwan belong to Harish Rawat camp, it will be difficult for Bahuguna to support their candidature. According to party sources, Bahuguna is seriously contemplating pitching Sudha Bahuguna as party candidate from the Tehri Lok Sabha seat. Sudha is no stranger to the Tehri Garhwal seat as she has been looking after all political work of her husband in the entire constituency. Affable and sincere, she is liked by party workers as well as general masses as she has been meeting them regularly since past more than a decade. |
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State earns revenue of Rs 10 lakh at Kolkata event
Dehradun, July 15 Owner of Vikrant Travel Arun Garg said people also raised queries about other tourist spots in the state, besides popular Char Dham. The people also made enquiries about the less-travelled tourist destinations. The stalls were put up by Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board and German travel agency, GIZ. |
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Weak monsoon damages 60 pc kharif crops in state
Pithoragarh, July 15 Villagers of Barkum in Champawat district today staged a protest march at Champawat district headquarters, demanding repair of their lone drinking water scheme. They are bound to drink dirty water. “The villages of Hiyali and Barkum, which are at a 50 km distance from the district headquarters, are facing severe shortage of drinking water and are forced to drink rain water. We have come to district headquarters to find the solution of our problem,” said Dan Singh, Gram Pradhan of Barkum village. Drinking water problem is being faced by the villages of Bhagichura in Didihat and Bhattigaon in the Gangolihat area of Pithoragarh district where the villagers have formed a Sangharsh Samiti to fight for their right to get drinking water. “Both drinking water schemes have become the victim of mismanagement by Jal Sansthan people as they have issued excess connections from the limited volume of water in these schemes,” said Narayan Ram, MLA from the Gangolihat area. The problem of drinking water has not been solved for the villages of the Kumaon region despite the monsoon having advanced, but the area remained dry compared to last years. The drought-like conditions have emerged for the agriculture sector due to lack of rain in June and later in the monsoon. "Out of a total 3,44,246 hectares of land cultivated under kharif crops in the Kumaon region this year, only 1,58,822 hectares of area is under irrigation,” said Pawan Kumar, joint director of the Agriculture Department based at Haldwani in Kumaon. According to the joint director of the Agriculture Department, despite some rain in July, the growth of crops had been hampered as the June rain did not get compensated by the rain in July. The big damage up to 60 per cent at some places had been witnessed to the crops of paddy and maize as most of the sown area in hill part of the region was covered by these staple crops. “If, it rains less in July as being predicted by meteorologists, these crops might get damaged and a crisis of foodgrains could be erupt in the region in the following months,” said the Agriculture Department officer. |
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BJP for old policy on house tax in Dehradun
Dehradun July 15 It was decided not to carry forward the policy formulated earlier in this regard, where the House Tax bar was hiked on which the opposition Congress councillors raised hue and cry and the previous state government too expressed serious objections. The councillors suggested to continue with the old policy while encompassing the residents of 13 new villages who had been assimilated in the domain of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC). Residents of these villages had been out of purview of House Tax for past one decade. Mayor Vinod Chamoli too ratified the suggestion of BJP councillors of not tampering with the old House Tax policy. The BJP councillors would present their views before the board meeting to be held on the DMC premises on Monday. Congress councillors had not only been opposing the hike in the House Tax but also been demanding rebate for the senior citizens, statehood fighters and freedom fighters.
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MP hails Karan’s remark on Ganga
Dehradun, July 15 In a statement issued here today, the MP stressed on collective efforts to free the Ganga from pollution. He said the saint community should also share responsibility towards the cleaning of the river. He said pollution caused by industries should be checked. Satpal Maharaj further said the construction of hydropower projects should not be stopped and one must understand the growing needs of energy in the country and the state was no exception. Seeks help for statehood
agitator
Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj has expressed concern over the deteriorating health of freedom fighter and statehood agitator Baba Mathura Prasad Bamrarey. At present, Baba Bamrarey is admitted to Jolly Grant Hospital, Dehradun. The MP has urged Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to immediately release financial assistance for Baba Bamrarey's medical expenses. |
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MAD volunteers clean Parade Ground
Dehradun, July 15 The drive, led by founder president of the organisation Anurag Chauhan and co-founder Sarayu Vasan, was conducted at the behest of Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Dinesh Aggarwal and Secretary Ajay Kumar Pradyot, who were also present on the occasion. Expressing concern over unhygienic conditions in the city, Aggarwal said people must be made aware of hazards of throwing garbage in the open.
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Diwakar Bhatt plans UKD (D) convention on July 25
Dehradun, July 15 He said insistence by fellow party men compelled him to participate in active politics. He is jumping into the political arena by holding a party convention on July 25 on the birth anniversary of martyr Sridev Suman in the city. He has thrown an open invitation to his opponents in UKD (P) to participate in it as well. Taking a swipe at Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna's announcement to give land rights to the refugees of Bangladesh in the state, he said:"I have nothing against Vijay Bahuguna's announcement on giving land rights to Bangladeshi refugees, but he must give first priority to those who sacrificed their land for the construction of many hydropower projects in the state." He also advocated construction of hydropower projects, saying that the free flow of the Gange, about which the saint community has been raising concern while opposing hydropower projects in the state, got disrupted long before when Tehri Dam was constructed. Reacting on Kashipur MLA Harbhajan Singh Cheema's statement against people living in hills, he demanded action against him. Once again he talked of bringing regional forces together to give national parties, BJP and Congress, stiff competition. The other demands made by him included declaring Gairsain as the capital of the state and formulation of effective policies to restrain migration and unemployment. Meanwhile, the sudden resurgence of Diwakar Bhatt on the political horizon after the state Assembly elections has been a shocking one. Everyone from the media to his opponents are taken aback. Very few are buying Bhatt's version of remaining absent from active politics on account of poor health. Party insiders, too, confided that Bhatt was crestfallen after the drubbing in the elections and was overpowered by the guilt of splitting apart his party and then not been able to keep even his splintered faction together. His decision of fighting elections on the BJP's symbol, pushing his party and majority of members into oblivion branded him a power-hungry and selfish leader among voters as well. The sources said Bhatt was not willing to come out of his shell but was compelled to do so. His confidant and veteran UKD leader BD Raturi said they instilled confidence in him that he was a mass leader and, hence, must renew his efforts in consolidating his party and it's ideology once again. There could not be a better occasion than the foundation anniversary of the party and birth anniversary of martry Sridev Suman on July 25 to take the first step in this
direction. The claim made by Bhatt to reunite the party by taking along UKD (P) had fallen flat with blatant denial coming from president Trivender Panwar on this issue. He said this could be a conspiracy of Bhatt in connivance with BJP to float the idea of integrating with UKD (P). He said the UKD (P) and UKD (D) could not merge like sky and earth. |
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Don't give provocative remarks: Harish Rawat
Dehradun, July 15 He said the hilly areas in the state faced problem of migration and a comprehensive strategy was needed to check this migration. He said collective efforts were needed to create employment opportunities in the hills. Rawat also favoured speedy development in the border areas of the state. He reminded that people of teh state had always rejected regional forces. He said he was very hopeful that the people of the state would never accept narrowmindedness. |
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UKD demands action against Cheema
Dehradun July 15 The leaders castigated Cheema for allegedly
dividing people on the lines of the hills and the plains. He said the statement of Cheema that people on the hills were migrating toward Tarai which affected
its development was symbolic of Cheema's anti-hill mentality. They, however, lauded the BJP for asking Cheema for clarification on
his statement. |
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Akhil Garhwal Sabha, too, fumes
Dehradun, July 15 TS Aswal, president of the sabha, in a statement said that the reported statement of Cheema was deplorable. He said that it was the magnanimity of veteran leader Govind Ballabh Pant that outsiders were given land and allowed to settle in the Terai region of Kumoan 50 years ago. He further said that Harbhajan Singh Cheema should remember that he is a legislator of the state, which was formed after a lot of sacrifices by the people of the hill regions. He demanded that Harbhajan Singh Cheema should apologise for his reported statement or else an agitation would be launched against him.Meanwhile, Ramesh Chander Juyal of Uttarakhand Sena Party has also condemned the statement of Cheema.
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St Lawrence School celebrates golden jubilee
Mussoorie, July 15 Students displayed their all-round talent by presenting several folk dances from different states of the country, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand etc. The rock band comprising senior students also mesmerised the audience with foot tapping numbers. The junior section students also presented several skits based on the short stories and plays from the course books. Former MLA Mussoorie Jot Singh Gunsola, sister Rose George, bro. Christopher and others were present on the occasion. |
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Intellectual property rights cell to be set up in five universities
Pithoragarh, July 15 Council state director Dr Rajendra Dobhal said
this to this correspond on the telephone from Nainital today. Dr Dobhal was talking to mediapersons after addressing a seminar at Academic Staff “The universities, we have chosen to establish the cell, are Kumaon and Garhwal universities, Don University, GB Pant Agriculture University and Petroleum University", said Dr Dobhal. The U-COST director said the council had selected some traditional items from the hill region which could be applied for patent rights under the intellectual property rights. These items includes traditional hill ornaments worn by hill women and some traditional food preparations. “Despite the slow pace of awakening towards the intellectual property rights in the hill state, last year 48 intellectual properties was patented in the state,” said the U-COST director. According to Dr Dobhal, Maharashtra stands at the first rank on the patent awareness,
while Delhi has second number. Earlier, speaking on the subject of "State of intellectual property rights in Uttarakhand", at Academic Staff College,
Nainital, Dr Dobhal said the need of the hour was to secure the maximum intellectual patents in the sphere of science as the ancient scientific theories of the country were being stolen by some countries by wrapping under
new covers. |
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Trafficking of rare herb comes to light in Gangotri National Park
Dehradun, July 15 Most part of Gangotri National Park becomes inaccessible during winters due to heavy snowfall and the undulated terrain. It has a mix of coniferous forests combined with lush green meadows. Apart from the park’s pride snow leopard, Gangotri National Park also houses musk deer, black bear, Himalayan blue sheep and also state bird Himalayan monal in abundance. Over a dozen mammal species and a large number of pheasants are found in the park. Due to variation in the altitude and aspect, a high diversity of vegetation exists in the region and tree line species are very much visible here. However, Gangotri National Park has its own set of challenges. The park faces lots of pressure during summers due to sudden rush of tourists during those months. The problem of Kawariyas forcing their entry inside has certainly been solved due to imposition of regulation on the number of visitors. Further, due to undulated terrain and high-altitude areas, the Uttarakhand Forest Department certainly faces tough time managing the affairs inside the park. As the northeastern part of the park also shares international border with Tibet, possibilities of unlawful trafficking of its faunal diversity cannot be ruled out. Instances of trafficking of rare herb like kida jadi have already been revealed from the region in the past. This rare aphrodisiac herb is high in demand in China and thus high in priority of faunal traffickers. The region is also vulnerable to poaching. Director of the park IP Singh admitted that the forest staff faced major challenge as the department had to make an extra efforts while ensuring security to the park, which certainly came up at high costs due to its tough topography. High ridges, deep gorges, steep cliffs and rocky terrain makes the job tougher for the park officials.
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After winning the Sitarganj bypoll and consolidating his position, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna faces another daunting task of winning the Tehri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat which will be vacated by him.
Delayed and weak monsoon rain in the country this year has not only prolonged the drinking water crisis in the Kumaon region but also created drought-like conditions as due to lack of timely
rain
Dehradun, July 15
Dehradun, July 15
Mussoorie, July 15
