Busy in official meetings, DM has no time for public
Dehradun, July 24
Dehradun District Magistrate Ravinath Raman is not seen much in his office these days. He is often spotted at Vidhan Sabha premises, attending meetings in the rooms of various ministers. The public which comes from far-off villages or towns to meet the DM at his office with regard to it's grievances has to often go back disappointed.

Girls hurry on their scooter to escape the rain that lashed Haridwar on Tuesday afternoon. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

Landour Cantonment Board plans citizens' charter
Mussoorie, July 24
The chairperson of the Landour Cantt Board, Major General Ranvir Singh Yadav, today announced that the board was considering introducing the citizens' charter on similar lines with the other boards that have already passed the resolution in Dehradun.

Missing IMA cadets reach home
Dehradun, July 24
Gentleman Cadets Wahindmam Sanjib Singh, a resident of Waangwai in west Imphal, and Vikram Pratap Singh, a resident of Patiala, who were under training and had been missing from IMA since July 19 and 22, respectively, had reached their families. 

Barthwal concerned over poor condition of roads
Dehradun, July 24
President of the state unit of the Samajwadi Party (SP) Vijay Barthwal has expressed concern over poor condition of roads in the city. He said the roads dug by Asian Development Bank were yet to be carpeted, which was causing inconvenience to commuters.

CT Youngs, Doon Valley enter quarterfinals
Dehradun, July 24
CT Youngs and Doon Valley today won their respective matches in the 3rd ONGC-BS Negi Memorial Football Tournament being played at Ambedkar Stadium, Dehradun. Both the teams have entered the quarterfinals.

Haridwar, July 24
The two-day BJP executive meeting of office-bearers of state leaders began here today with top organisational national executive members also participating.

No resolution was passed in the first session.

In the wake of drubbing the party received in Sitarganj at the hands of Congress Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna despite the Assembly segment being a bastion of the saffron party, the executive meeting assumes more significance.

The party leaders dwelled on the organisational structure, reviewed Assembly election loss and urged party workers to focus on the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to wrest all five parliamentary seats from the Congress in it's kitty.

Thawar Chand Gehlot, in-charge of Uttarakhand BJP unit, urged party workers and leaders to regroup with a fresh approach as the public is perturbed by the 'anti-common man policies' of the Congress.

Gehlot even termed the record win of CM Vijay Bahuguna as 'victory on meagre assurances and lollypops.'

Former Chief Ministers Nityanand Swami, Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, besides BJP state chief Bishan Singh Chufal also addressed the convention, citing BJP state governments' developmental-oriented works despite lack of support from the Central government.

Leader of the Opposition Ajay Bhatt pointed out that the BJP had performed quite well, considering it was just a seat's difference with the Congress, but accused it of behind-the-door trading to garner the 36-number mark.

Central BJP leaders, as per party insiders, had a discussion regarding inner party factionism, which paved the way for three tenures in the five years of BJP governance in Uttarakhand.

Dehradun, July 24
With the Tehri parliamentary byelection round the corner, Munna Singh Chauhan may, once again, join hands with the BJP, the party he quit before the last general elections in 2009.

A popular leader, who continues to hold sway in the Jaunsar Bawar region of Uttarakhand, Munna Singh Chauhan's decision to join the BJP is rooted in his desire to contest from the Tehri parliamentary seat once again, provided the BJP is ready to field him.

"He has excellent equation with senior BJP leaders. He had left the BJP during the tenure of former Chief Minister BC Khanduri. The BJP is keen to strengthen its position in Tehri. In the 2009 general elections, Congress candidate Vijay Bahuguna had done well in the Dehradun and Chakrata areas, part of the Tehri parliamentary constituency.

If Munna Chauhan rejoins the BJP, the party will be strengthened. But until the decision is finalised, nothing can be said," said BS Chufal, Uttarakhand BJP chief.

While the talks are on, it remains to be seen how much support Chauhan gets from the party leadership for his candidature as there are several BJP leaders who are also in line for the ticket.

In the 2007 Assembly elections, Chauhan had joined the BJP and won the Vikasnagar Assembly seat but in 2009, Chauhan quit the BJP and resigned from his seat to contest on the BSP ticket from the Tehri parliamentary seat.

Chauhan has begun talks with BJP senior leaders for his possible entry into the party and in view of his mass base in Chakrata and Vikas Nagar, the party hopes to strengthen its position for the Tehri parliamentary elections.

In the last decade, Chauhan has left many a party and worked with all parties, including the Samajwadi Party, the BJP and BSP. He even formed his own party, the Uttarakhand Janwadi Party in 2000.

The party failed to win a single seat in the first state assembly elections in 2002. He once again revived the party and fought the 2012 Assembly elections from the party's ticket from the Chakrata Assembly seat only to lose to Congress heavy weight Pritam Singh.

Dehradun, July 24
Dehradun District Magistrate Ravinath Raman is not seen much in his office these days. He is often spotted at Vidhan Sabha premises, attending meetings in the rooms of various ministers. The public which comes from far-off villages or towns to meet the DM at his office with regard to it's grievances has to often go back disappointed.

As per protocol, the DM is supposed to attend to the Chief Minister’s query in his office but there are no such directions for a minister. The ministers who most of the time hold these meetings to please people or supporters of their constituencies do not bother to give minutes of such meetings as well. What transpires in these meetings remains unknown or unproductive. The DM, who is supposed to make visits to the villages/blocks to resolve problems at the ground level and monitor progress of various ongoing schemes, is stuck at either the Vidhan Sabha or the secretariat, attending a series of meetings.

Ever since the prestigious Sitarganj byelection where the fate of the Chief Minister was at stake was over, the much relieved CM has pulled up his ministry and bureaucrats. Sources said the newly

activated ministers, out of a zeal to show results and to be seen in the media, are calling the DM everyday for their meetings. The end result has been that the public sitting on chairs in the verandah of DM's office is going back exasperated.

Sunil Chamoli, resident of Sahaspur, said he had made three rounds to meet the DM at his office to complain about widespread encroachment taking place on his land, but could not meet the officer. He said land mafia was threatening him. Another old lady, Kamala Gupta, complained of not getting benefits of MNREGA in her village. A few villagers from Karligaad village came to enquire about their rehabilitation. This was the village where five labourers got buried alive in a cloudburst incident during monsoons last year, and the state government had assured them of relocating them at a new place, which has not happened till date. The office staff, too, has no idea when the DM would be in his chair in the office. At times, he drops in at lunch time, or a couple of hours before the office closes. DM Ravinath Raman, too, admitted uncertainty in his time schedule for more than a fortnight wherein he is required to be present in the meeting held by individual ministers in their offices. He said: “Protocol requires the DM to attend the meetings called by the Chief Minister. Normally the DM is not supposed to do so for a minister. But since there is no clarity on this issue, I have no option but to attend the ministers’ meetings as well, which consumes a lot of time.”

Mussoorie, July 24
The chairperson of the Landour Cantt Board, Major General Ranvir Singh Yadav, today announced that the board was considering introducing the citizens' charter on similar lines with the other boards that have already passed the resolution in Dehradun.

Major General Ranvir Yadav, speaking to the media on the sidelines of the Landour Cantt Board meeting today, said that he was not averse to such an idea and would bring the proposal to introduce the charter in the next board meeting.

Speaking on the issue of encroachments and illegal constructions in the Landour cantt area, he said that he had initiated action against those indulging in illegal constructions and in some cases the matters were still pending in the court; therefore the delay. However, he assured that illegal activity would not be tolerated at any cost and the board was contemplating legal action and demolishing such buildings built without permission.

However, many residents have alleged that the cantt authorities were deploying double standards on the issue of illegal constructions in the area. On the one hand they were taking strict action against the poor residents who have constructed small verandahs for themselves, but on the other they were tightlipped at the ongoing illegal constructions done by people with muscle and money power in the same cantonment area.

The residents, under anonymity, cited the example of the illegal constructions carried out in St. Ashap Estate where a building with two floors has come up in the last one year without any prior permission, and the authorities have turned a blind eye towards it due to unknown reasons.

When contacted the CEO, Landour Cantt Board, Ashok Kumar, informed the media that several notices were served to the owner of the property at Ashap Estate in the past and as he approached the High Court and was granted a stay, no action could be initiated against him. However, the owner, despite the matter being subjudice, has carried on construction work. They have filed a report in the police station against the owner and were also contemplating action against him on the basis of contempt of court.

The ward member, Jasvinder Garg, when contacted said that board had served a notice one year ago and did not pursue the matter effectively thereafter, leading the owner to take it for granted that the authorities had granted the permission for construction. She also said that the authorities should also have acted at the time when the owner started the construction initially. The issue of Sanjay Narang, the Mumbai businessman carrying out the construction work in Dahlia bank on the plea of repair work has also irked the residents, who believe that the rich and high can go scot-free easily in the Landour Cantt Board area, while the poor residents have to suffer continuously.

The residents of the area were of the view that if the citizens'charter is introduced in the Landour Cantt Board area, such activities can be mitigated, resulting in more transparency; otherwise considering the value of the property in the area, another Adarsh Society-like scam may take place.

Dehradun, July 24
Gentleman Cadets Wahindmam Sanjib Singh, a resident of Waangwai in west Imphal, and Vikram Pratap Singh, a resident of Patiala, who were under training and had been missing from IMA since July 19 and 22, respectively, had reached their families. 

Public Relation Officer of the IMA Reetu Thapa said cadets leaving the course midway were not an unusual incident. It was that this time the matter was brought to the notice of the police, which leaked it to the media. She said, “At times the youths join the course at their parents’ insistence and sometimes during the training they decide they don’t want to continue. They always have the option to resign during Thapa said the rigorous training could not be the ground for the cadets to leave the course as the preliminary physical test taken by the IMA was equally tough. She added if the cadets wanted to return, they would be taken back in the IMA within 30 days of their leaving the premises. However, since they had exhibited indiscipline internal disciplinary action would be taken against them. Thapa said these stray incidents would not affect the morale of the other cadets

Dehradun, July 24
President of the state unit of the Samajwadi Party (SP) Vijay Barthwal has expressed concern over poor condition of roads in the city. He said the roads dug by Asian Development Bank were yet to be carpeted, which was causing inconvenience to commuters.

He also expressed concern over the felling of tress by the Forest Department to widen the roads. Barthwal said he would take up the issue with the Principle Chief Forest Conservator. "Trees were of paramount importance and cannot not be cut at free will, he added. Meanwhile, he said the party had started shortlisting candidates for the Tehri byelections.

Dehradun, July 24
CT Youngs and Doon Valley today won their respective matches in the 3rd ONGC-BS Negi Memorial Football Tournament being played at Ambedkar Stadium, Dehradun. Both the teams have entered the quarterfinals.

In the first match, CT Youngs beat Adhoiwala Boys 5-3 in a tie-breaker.

In the second match, Doon Valley beat Bajrang Football Club 1-0. Gursagar did the scoring for the Doon Valley in the 58th minute of the match

Tomorrow, three matches will be played. Doon Star will meet Doon Challenger, Eleven Star will take on Garhwal Sporting and 6 Garhwal team will play against Akranta Club.