Gujarat a model state: Harish Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, July 22
Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat and BJP vice-president Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today appreciated the working of the Gujarat Government, particularly in the areas of implementation of Central-aided schemes and one window system for trading.

Both leaders expressed their views at a seminar organised by the Shram Jeev Patrakar Sangh, Haridwar, on the topic "Development of Uttarakhand and Problems it Faces" here today.

Harish Rawat termed Gujarat a model state as far as implementation of Central-aided schemes and projects were concerned. He said Gujarat had been spending these aid in a time-bound manner which was ushering in development.

"Gujarat as a state is developing in fast mode which other states need to follow. We in Uttarkhand have been lacking this will and vision" said Rawat, who is a parliamentarian from Haridwar.

Speaking on this, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the BJP government led by Narendra Modi has become a role model for all state governments as far as development was concerned.

Nishank said in Uttarkhand, the BJP government faced various problems in enacting the Gujarat model as more than 70 pc of the state's land area is covered by forests.

Nishank called on for a balance between hydro projects and environment as the local ecology also needed to be preserved while making electricity from these projects.

On the occasion, courageous police personnel of Uttarakhand Pankaj Giri and Dilbar Kumar, who played a pivotal role in rescuing 3-year old infant Sangeeta were felicitated by both Rawat and Nishank.

BJP leaders meet Balkrishan in jail
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 22
A delegation of senior BJP leaders, led by Leader of the Opposition Ajay Bhatt, today met Acharya Balkrishan at the Suddhowala jail here today.

Senior party leaders, including general secretaries Naresh Bansal and Dhan Singh Rawat, were part of the delegation. Talking to mediapersons outside the jail, Bhatt said they had come to meet Balkrishan to express solidarity with him.

He alleged that the Congress-led government at the Centre had targeted yoga guru Ramdev owing to his anti-corruption crusade. "They are trying to falsely implicate Balkrishan in the passport case to defame Ramdev who has announced to start an agitation against corruption from August 8. We are with Ramdev on the issue,” said Bhatt.

Balkrishna was arrested by the CBI and his bail application was also rejected by the court yesterday. His bail application will be heard on July 30.

Give good-quality seeds to farmers, says minister
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 22
Union Horticulture and Food Minister Harish Rawat yesterday instructed officials to distribute good quality of planting and seed material to farmers for better results.

At a review meeting of the departments, the minister said efforts should be made to constantly improve the quality of the planting material so that the farmers get good yield.

"There is a tendency to go in for old planting material and quality seeds seldom reach the farmers, effort should be made to make the farmers conversant with quality seeds and planting material," he said.

To this, Principal Secretary Horticulture Om Prakash said the rules and regulations for the purchase and sale of plant material were posing problem and these need to be made flexible.

The minister also asked the department to coordinate with agriculture institutes in improving the overall quality of the plant material.

He also stressed on coordination between the Agriculture Department and Forest Department for preventing destruction of crops by wild animals.

"Intensive plantation needs to be carried in order to keep the wild animals from trespassing into the thickly populated areas," he said.

He also underlined on the need to bring the hilly area under irrigation to reduce the dependency on rain and undertaking repair work on broken ponds in the plains and hill areas. 

Less rain hits rice belt of US Nagar
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, July 22
The rice belt of Udham Singh Nagar district, the highest rice producing district of the state, is for the first time in the past 60 years witnessing scanty rain though 15 days have already passed since the monsoon entered the state.

According to information, farmers in the Terai region, who used to plant paddy with the help of rains, are this year planting the crop with the help of ground water which has resulted in further depleting the ground water in Tarai district.

“Despite more than half of July has gone, the district has so far received only 92.08 mm of rains compared to that of 460mm of average rainfall every year,” said Dr HS Kushwaha, in charge of the Meteorology Department in GB Pant University at Pant Nagar.

According to agricultural scientists from the university, the Terai region has witnessed only 124.6 mm of rainfall this year from January which is 20 per cent of the need of the farmers.

According to the weather unit, the state has witnessed only 19 per cent of rains in June-July period this year. Haridwar, US Nagar and Tehri are the worst affected.

“if the rains remain 20 per cent less in any year, the wetness level of the soil starts drying, but this year the wetness of soil has gone much down as there is 80 per cent less rain than required during the monsoon,” said a Pant Nagar University agricultural scientist.

“We are hoping 200 mm rainfall in the last week of July in the Terai region. If that does not occur, the production in the rich Terai region will face the worst crisis of foodgrains and water,” said Dr Kushwaha.

CM lays foundation stone of resident commissioner’s office in Delhi
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 22
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today laid the foundation stone for the construction of state resident commissioner's office in New Delhi.

In his address, Vijay Bahuguna said after coming up of the state resident commissioner's office in New Delhi, the coordination between the Centre and Uttarakhand will be strengthened. He said the state would also be getting speedy benefits of the Centre-sponsored schemes. Bahuguna said the people of Uttarakhand residing in Delhi will also be benefited in the process.

The Chief Minister said the Uttarakhand officers posted at Delhi must work with dedication and efficiency as they were the ones who present the face of Uttarakhand at the national and international forums by the virtue of being posted at Delhi.

Bahuguna said the state of Uttarakhand had immense possibilities of investments in tourism, horticulture and other sectors, and asserted for a need to publicise the strength of Uttarakhand before investors from outside the state.

He also thanked the Planning Commission for providing Rs 1500 crore of Central assistance to Uttarakhand. He said this fund will help Uttarakhand develop it's basic infrastructure.

Congress Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj said the resident commissioner's office in Delhi will help the people of the state get the information about Central schemes.

Uttarakhand's Resident Commissioner in Delhi SD Sharma coordinated the programme.

Executive meeting of BJP from tomorrow

Dehradun, July 22
The state unit of the BJP will hold its state-level executive meeting at Bhopatwala in Haridwar on July 24 and 25.

It will be presided over by state party chief Bisan Singh Chufal. State-level office- bearers, special and permanent invitees, district presidents, the heads of various morchas and the conveners of different party cells will attend the meeting.

BJP national organisational general secretary Ramlal, national associate organisational general secretary Saudan Singh and state party in charge Thavar Chand Gehlot will address the meeting. Sanjay Kumar, BJP organisational general secretary, today organised a meeting of office-bearers from Haridwar to plan preparations for the meeting. — TNS

No animal sacrifice reported from Champawat
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, July 22
Unlike the trend till last year, the temple committee of Devidhura, a temple in Champawat district, where an annual fair, better known for the stone-throwing ritual, has not received even a single animal sacrifice proposal from villagers, a temple committee spokesman said.

“Till last year, the committee used to witness several animal sacrifices in the form of eight-animal (Asthabali) package, but this year not even a single animal sacrifice has been reported till date,” said Kriti Ballabh Joshi, chief priest of Devidhura temple committee.

According to the temple priest, the all four traditional clan heads, besides seven village heads, who have been taking part in the organisation of ‘Bagwal’ traditionally, have been told to prohibit animal sacrifice during the fair this year, which will culminate on August 2.

According to the Champawat district administration, they have run a high profile campaign against animal sacrifice with the help of temple committee and local villagers, which has started yielding results, and the villagers have agreed to the proposal not to sacrifice live animals to the deity. “Instead of a live animal, the villagers have suggested to instal idols of gods and goddesses at the temple to repay their obligation to the deitie,.” said the temple priest.

According to the SDM of Pati, subdivision, while in the year 2010, the temple received 100 asthabalis ( sacrifice of eight animals), followed by 50 such sacrifices in the year 2011, not even a single animal has been sacrificed this year; the administration is heading towards complete success in getting the High Court orders implemented during the 8-day Devidhura fair this year. “We are committed to maintaining the High Court orders this year as we have also warned the devotees that the law will have to be strictly maintained if any violation takes place in the form of animal sacrifice this year," said Dr Ashutosh Tripathi, SDM of Pati subdivision of Champawat district. 

Creating awareness on social evils 
Six Home Guard jawans on a nationwide tour are generating awareness about HIV-AIDS, female foeticide, ill-effects of tobacco
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, July 22
A contingent of the Home Guards of Gujarat that is on a nationwide tour to generate mass awareness on various social malpractices prevalent in the society, is currently in Uttarakhand. The six-member contingent has traversed more than 4000 km on four motorcycles and a jeep.

This tour is not backed by any government or state funding. Led by team leader Jiten Gondoliya, this social expedition kicked off on July 1 from Bhav Nagar. Traversing Rajasthan, Jammu Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, it will culminate on July 27.

These jawans are generating awareness about HIV-AIDS, female foeticide, ill-effects of tobacco and urged villagers to educate their children.

"We felt that we should contribute towards society apart from the Gujarat region. So, we decided to go on a pan-India expedition which focuses on generating mass awareness about malpractices and issues which don't bode well for a developing country likes ours" said Gondoliya to TNS at BHEL district headquarters of the Home Guards.

Terming the gesture as a noble Haridwar district, Commandant S Dayanand said: "Traversing on one's own resources just for social causes are a laudable attempt which we will try to spread further in our region".

While Assistant Commandant Chandra Kant Bisht said seeing the courage, determination and thinking of the Gujarat Home Guards jawans, they too felt to contribute to the society.

Among members of the contingent are Paresh Trivedi, Vikram Bhatt, Raj Bhai Mahu, Praven Gondolia and Ajay Goyal.

Plea to reinstate 300 expelled police personnel
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 22
President of the women's wing of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) Pramila Rawat has urged Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to expedite the reinstatement process of 300 expelled police personnel.

They were expelled last year as they had filled their admission forms for the service from two centres instead of one.

Rawat, in her letter, said the ADGP (administration) and the IG (headquarters) had written to the Principle Secretary, Home, to provide legal advice on this issue. However, the matter had been lying pending in the absence of any initiative taken by the official concerned.

Pramila Rawat said she had met the Chief Minister on June 9, where he had assured her of taking a sympathetic view in this matter. 

Three youths drowned in Kali river
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, July 22
Three youths, who were gone to attend a party of their newly employed friend, were swept away by strong waves of the Kali river and two others received severe injuries at Kimkhola village, 110 km from the district headquarters on the Pithoragarh-Dharchula road early this morning. The incident happened after a Santro car, they were traveling in, fell into the river as a result of reckless driving allegedly, the Pithoragarh police said.

All youths were the residents of Pithoragarh town.

"The youths, Sandeep Rawat, Harish Narayan and Deva, were drowned as soon as the car fell into the river. The police saved other two co-passengers, Prakhar Singh and Himanshu Tamta, who have been referred to Haldwani base hospital as they are serious," said the police SP A S Takwale.

"The youths were on a trip to Dharchula to enjoy a feast on the invitation of one of their friends, Harish Narayan, who wanted to celebrate his recently received appointment letter," said the SP.

The SP added that the bodies were being searched by police teams on the spot despite the strong waves of the swollen Kali.

Former IRDE Director honoured

Dehradun, July 22
The Dehradun Chapter of Intellectuals and Technocrats Guilds of India (ITGI) today honoured former Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE) Director Dr Ramnath Singh and former Deputy General Manager Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited RS Sehgal.

Honouring the two personalities, chief guest Director Telecom Engineering Centre, New Delhi, Deepak Gairola lauded the efforts of ITGI towards honouring scientists and other technocrats, who have contributed actively towards the betterment of commoners. He said such personalities were a source of inspiration for other people.

Presiding over the proceedings, PK Khatri said the Dehradun Chapter of the ITGI had been from time to time honouring former technocrats for the services rendered by them for the society.

Folk artists also gave a presentation on the occasion, which was appreciated by the audience. — TNS

Health check-up camp for poor kids
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 22
A free health check-up camp for underprivileged kids of the Bihari Basti was organised by the Making a Difference (MAD), a youth voluntary organisation, in collaboration with Max Healthcare Hospital, Dehradun.

After numerous education awareness drives under the Right to Education (RTE), a huge amount of food pandals and book distributing sessions, MAD organised a free health check-up camp.

A team of four from Max Healthcare Hospital and 16 members from MAD came together to do something different in the form of a free health check-up camp. The activity started with a positive response from the people of the basti, who were acquainted with the members of MAD.

From Max Hospital, Rahul Basnet (sales and marketing head), Dr Manju Rana, Saurabh Uniyal (pharmacist), Jyoti (nurse) were present, who performed the check-up. After the check-up, medicines were given by the pharmacist.

The medicines were sponsored by the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Dehradun RK Pant. The medicines provided for the check up included cough syrups, vitamin tablets/syrup, general ailment medicines, folic acid, iron tablets etc.

With constant support from MAD volunteers, the activity was efficiently carried out.

At the conclusion of the activity, it was observed that the general health ailments among the kids of Bihari Basti was weakness, allergy and vitamin deficiency. The team from Max Hospital said the reason for allergy and weakness was unhygienic environment and lack of sanitation. It was also noticed that out of more than 60 children who were given free health check-up, only a handful of children were free from any severe ailment.

Saklani releases Atul Sharma's poetry book

Dehradun, July 22
The poetry book of noted litterateur Atul Sharma, ‘Jangito Ka Vatavaran,’ was released today by secretary, Hindi Academy, Muniram Saklani, in the city today.

While speaking about his book, Sharma said: “I have tried to capture the spirit of the struggle of the state formation in my book. Various prabhat pheries and street plays were enacted during that time. Some were already woven in poetry form, whereas some are depicted in that fashion by me in my book.”

He said a single marathon poem running into 40 pages was the hallmark of the book. “The book presents a milieu of the time when movements were stirred all over for the formation of Uttarakhand state. Those who contributed in keeping the verve alive for the fight did so through poetry or plays. Those were not the artistes but simple activists. I have brought about the rare collection of those songs depicted in poetry form in the book,” he said.

He said the question was equally pertinent why the need actually arose to bring about such a book in the present times. “The issues for which the struggle was launched remained relevant today as well, as they had not been settled after 11 years of the creation of the state. Main five issues, water, migration, environment, tourism and identity of the common man remained unsolved till date," he said. — TNS

Akash Gupta wins junior boys’ TT title
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 22
Akash Gupta of Summer Valley school won the junior boys' title in the Dehradun District Table Tennis Championship 2012-13 today.

Akash Gupta of Summer Valley beat Akshay Dabral of the same school 3-0 (11-9,13- 11,11-7).

In the sub-junior boys' finals, Pankaj Goel of Summer Valley won the title. He beat Nimish Latiyan 3-2 (8-11,15-13,11-7,5-11,14-12).

Ashok Wasu, Honorary Secretary, Uttarakhand Table Tennis Association, gave away the prizes to the winners.

Dr SC Negi, Principal, Sports College, Dehradun, was also present on the occasion.

Vijay Cantt beat Dehra XI
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 22
Gypsy Young, Adhoiwala and Vijay Cantt won their respective matches in the 3rd ONGC-BS Negi Memorial Football Tournament being played at Ambedkar Stadium here today.

In the first match, Vijay Cantt beat Dehra XI 6-0. Ankur scored 3 goals, whereas Shahid scored 2 goals for the Vijay Cantt team.

In the second match, Gypsy Young won by 4 goals against the Uttarakhand team, which failed to open the account. Sunil scored a total of 2 goals for Gypsy Young. The Adhoiwala team won the third match of the day against JA Boys with a score of 2-0.