CM takes stock of damage in Kempty due to landslide
Announces relief amount of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 as per the degree of damage to property
Ajay Ramola

He listens to the grievances of the disaster-affected persons.

Mussoorie, August 11
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, accompanied by Disaster Management Minister Yashpal Arya, visited Kempty today and took stock of the damage caused due to a landslide recently.

He interacted with the affected people and announced relief amount of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 as per the degree of damage to the property.

Bahuguna gave an assurance to shopkeepers that temporary shops at Kempty Falls would not be removed. Instead, he directed Tehri District Magistrate Ranjit Sinha to prepare a proposal for the regularisation of the shops and forward it to the government. He said the widening of Kempty Bypass Road would also be considered.

Stating that Kempty Falls was an important tourist place, he said an action plan would be chalked out for its development and beautification. Bahuguna further said the state government was providing all possible help to the disaster-hit people in Uttarkashi and other places and was working on a war footing to provide relief to them.

He said looking at the gravity of the situation, immediate relief amount had been doubled. Additional help had also been sought from the Centre.

He appealed to social organisations and NGOs to come forward in this hour of distress.

Meanwhile, a delegation of shopkeepers took up their various demands with the Chief Minister. They informed the Chief Minister that a big shop and two small shops were damaged in the landslide. Bahuguna assured them of taking necessary steps in this regard.

State organisation secretary Manmohan Singh Mall urged the Chief Minister to solve the problems being faced by villagers.

He told the Chief Minster that some persons were allegedly trying to usurp gram panchayat land near Kempty that was allotted for a helipad.

Mall demanded that the helipad be constructed soon, so that it could serve villagers during any disaster in the future.

Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi also met the Chief Minister and submitted a memorandum to him, demanding immediate relief and security for the affected persons from the Kandoli, Madhkhet and Kaligad areas.

He demanded that ample funds be allocated to repair roads in Mussoorie which were in pathetic condition due to heavy rains.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the visit of the Chief Minister, the department concerned started the pending work of repairing the Mussoorie-Dehradun road that had developed potholes during rains.

However, Municipal Council employees were seen filling up potholes with substandard material at Picture Palace on Mall Road.

44 persons airlifted from Harsil
Tribune News Service

Foreigners being evacuated in an IAF helicopter from Harsil in Uttarkashi despite bad weather. — PTI

Dehradun, August 11
A total of 44 persons comprising 23 tourists and 6 jawans from the Army and 15 local residents were airlifted by Mi-17 helicopter from Harsil in Uttarkashi in the morning.

So far a total of 158 passengers have been airlifted from Harsil in the last five days, and now the District Magistrate of Uttarakhand has been asked to coordinate efforts so that a team of doctors could be dropped at villages that have been completely cut off from the district headquarters.

“Air Force helicopters are being engaged in relief work operations. They are actively involved in pulling out tourists who are stuck at various places due to unfavourable weather conditions. We are also distributing food. Arrangements to stay at government accommodation are being made for all those people who have been rendered homeless,” said Om Prakash, Principal Secretary, Department of Disaster Management

The government is still assessing the total loss. Over 2,000 families have been affected by flash floods that were triggered by the cloudburst over the Uttarkashi region in the state.

Sonia expected to visit Uttarkashi
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 11
Congress President and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is expected to visit disaster-hit Uttarkashi district after Independence Day. Suryakant Dhasmana, vice-president of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee, said this while talking to mediapersons here today.

He said Uttarakhand Congress Chief and state Disaster Management Minister Yashpal Arya had met Sonia on Friday in New Delhi and explained about the massive disaster that had struck Uttarkashi. Dhasmana said Sonia expressed serious concern at the natural calamity and inquired about the rescue and relief efforts launched by the state government.

He said the Uttarakhand Congress Committee had formed a disaster-relief fund and victims of the Uttarkashi disaster would be given financial assistance as per the damage suffered by them.

Yashpal Arya refutes BJP's allegations
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, August 11
Disaster management minister Yashpal Arya today refuted the allegations of delay in the relief levied by the BJP. He is on a his visit to Kempty with the Chief Minister.

He said the government was working sincerely towards addressing the problems being faced by them due to disasters in the state. He also said instead of playing politics, all parties should join hands in helping the needy. He further said the state had incurred damages worth Rs 600 crore due to the disaster and he had apprised about the loss to UPA president Sonia Gandhi, who had extended her sympathy towards the people of the state.

He also said Sonia would be visiting the disaster-affected areas soon.

Relief material has failed to reach people: Left
CM making irresponsible statements
Tribubne News Service

Dehradun, August 11
Left parties as well as the Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha has come down heavily on Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and his government's efforts in providing relief to the natural disaster-affected people in Uttarkashi district.

At a joint meeting of the Communist party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxists) and the Bharatiya Communist party ( ML) held here today, the statement of Chief Minister Bahuguna and his government's efforts in providing relief to disaster-affected people was criticised.

Samar Bhandari, state secretary, CPI, Vijay Rawat, state secretary, Communist Party of India (M), and Raja Bahuguna, state secretary, CPI (ML), in a joint statement charged that even after a week of the disaster, the state government had failed to reach the affected population. They also charged the Chief Minister with making irresponsible statements.

The Left parties alleged that while the cabinet colleagues of Bahuguna were out of the country on foreign jaunts, at least Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna should ensure accountability as he was answerable to the people.

The Left parties stated that in the past the money allocated for disaster relief was "plundered and looted" in the state.

They demanded an all-party meeting on the issue. It was decided that Left parties would hold a protest demonstration in Dehradun on September 6 against the anti-people policies of the the state Congress government. 

Central insurance scheme for BPL families has few takers in Kumaon
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, August 11
Though more than two lakh families in the Kumaon region fall under the below poverty line (BPL) category, the benefits of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana meant for these families has a few takers due to lack of awareness among the people. The scheme is sponsored by the Central Government and was implemented in the state three years ago.

Prakash Pant, a former minister, said the BJP government had implemented the scheme in the state at the time when it was launched at the national level. But it could not gather momentum as it could not get required publicity.

“The apathy of government hospitals towards it and lack of a campaign to generate awareness about it among the BPL families have deprived the targeted people of its benefits. There is also lack of required technology to monitor the progress of the scheme in government hospitals in the districts,” said Pant.

According to sources, less than 3 per cent of the BPL families in the region had availed of the benefits of the scheme as the work of publishing it was also given to the insurance company that was to provide services to the poor BPL families. “We are still in the process of registering BPL families to enable them to avail of the benefits of the scheme though the first period of its implementation is over,” said Dinesh Joshi, district coordinator of the scheme in Pithoragarh.

The local Medical Department said only 1,065 families of 40,000 BPL families in Nainital, 750 of 26,000 BPL families in Bageshwar, 536 families of 67,000 eligible families in Pithoragarh, 550 of 60,000 BPL families in Almora, 212 of 19,585 families in Champawat and 2,319 BPL families in Udham Singh Nagar district had taken benefits of the scheme in the last three years.

Under the scheme, five members of a BPL family can get Rs 30,000 each as assistance for treatment in government hospitals every year.

“As the first phase of the scheme has concluded, the insurance company has now started making new medical cards for the eligible families Almora district,” said Dr RS Shahi, Chief Medical Officer, Almora.

The insurance company gets Rs 305 to insure the BPL families under the scheme. “We are going to register the BPL families under the scheme in the district from September. We have formed 15 teams for the purpose in the district,” said Joshi. 

Slow shifting of headquarters by ONGC irks Suryakant Dhasmana
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 11
Vice-president of the state unit of the Congress Suryakant Dhasmana has expressed serious concern over the slow move of the ONGC management to shift its headquarters from Dehradun to New Delhi.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Dhasmana said although the management had always denied any such move, it was a fact that 90 per cent of the working staff of the corporation had been shifted away from Dehradun in the past 15 years.

He said only the ONGC's museum and research work continue in Dehradun, but all major departments had already been shifted.

Dhasmana further said earlier, the Chairman of the ONGC used to sit in Dehradun. However, for the past decade, he occasionally and ceremoniously visit the Dehradun headquarters on Republic Day and Independence Day to unfurl the Tricolour.

Earlier, the entire business of the ONGC was conducted from Dehradun and 36 multinational companies had their offices in the city that were dealing with the ONGC. But since most of the offices had been shifted out, not more than three companies were still having their offices in Dehradun, he said. “This has adversely affected the business of Dehradun over the years,” added Dhasmana.

He expressed fear that the ONGC management could any day decide shifting its headquarters from Dehradun to elsewhere, which would affect the share of Uttarakhand from Central taxes as ONGC paid its taxes at Dehradun.

Dhasmana said he had written to Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to seek his intervention in the matter. He said the Chief minister hadassured him of taking up the matter with the Union Petroleum Minister.

Interestingly, in the past decade whenever the issue of the shifting of the ONGC headquarters was raised, the ONGC management had vehemently denied any such move.

Tehri Byelections 
Koshiyari takes stock of preparations
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, August 11
Rajya Sabha Member Bhagat Singh Koshiyari met party workers at Thatyur village in Jaunpur district of Tehri Garhwal today and discussed the poll prospects for the forthcoming byelections for the Tehri parliamentary seat.

Koshiyari also announced the amount of Rs 2.5 lakh for the construction of a dharamshala near Shiva Temple from the MPLAD fund at Thatyur.

He was here to listen to the religious sermon by leaders from the Hindu community.

Dhanaulti MLA Mahavir Singh Rangad, following suit, also announced financial assistance of Rs 2.5 lakh for the dharamshala to be constructed.

Koshyari later met the party workers and appealed to them to seek revenge of the Sitarganj byelections by defeating the Congress candidate for the Tehri Parliament seat. He further said all party workers should rally behind the candidate declared by the party and ensure his or her victory.

Former Cabinet Minister Trivendar Rawat, Khajan Das, Mussoorie MC president OP Uniyal and Virendar Singh Rana were also present on the occasion.

My statement was misinterpreted, says RSS chief
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, August 11
Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat is in on a personal visit to Haridwar.

The veteran RSS ideologue, who has been a regular visitor to the pilgrim city, arrived here today at Balmiki Ashram in Kankhal.

Later he paid obeisance at the Kankhal ashram of revered Jagad Guru Shankaracharya Raj Rajeshwaram Maharaj. Both refrained from talking to mediapersons, terming it as a private visit having no bearing on political or social issues.

After much persistence Bhagwat replied to a single question regarding his statement given over working of the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government.

Bhagwat said his statement appreciated both Narendra Modi’s “model” governance and also Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s “effective” governance and said it was “manufactured” by media.

“I never compared both the governments. Both the leaders have their own style of working and governance. My statement was misinterpreted, that’s all I have to say,” said Bhagwat.

Though RSS insiders hinted that the RSS supremo wanted to give a clear message to the BJP that no leader was above the party and recent claim being made by the Gujarat Chief Minister on the Prime Minister post without taking into confidence the RSS had not gone down well with Bhagwat.

No water pipelines in Pithoragarh villages
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, August 11
The border district of Pithoragarh tops among the villages in Kumaon region which have no pipelines to provide drinking water to the population there, making them susceptible to the water-borne diseases as these villages are mostly dependent on natural and open drinking water sources for their daily need of drinking water.

“Out of 65 villages, which have no pipelines in the region, the border district tops the number, where 24 villages have been identified as without pipelines. Pithoragarh is followed by Nainital, where 20 villages have been identified as without pipelines. The districts of Almora, Champawat and Bageswar have 13, 5 and 3 villages, respectively, that have no pipelines,” said JR Gupta, Superintending Engineer of Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan based at Haldwani.

According to the Jal Sansthan SE, proposals of pipelines for these villages have been sent to the government this year by the sansthan, and as soon as the government clears these proposals, drinking water lines in these villages will be laid. “Even after the proposals are accepted, some remote villages in these districts will still remain without pipelines as there are either tough terrains around or no source from which water can be supplied,” said Gupta.

According to sansthan officials, Gangolihat block of Pithoragarh district, Ramgarh block of Nainital, Chaukhutia and Tarikhet blocks of Almora and Lohaghat block of Champawat district are most backward in this field as pipelines have yet to be laid in the villages there.

Raipur MLA to redress problems of Pragati Vihar
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 11
Raipur MLA Umesh Sharma has assured to promptly redress the sewer and road-linked problems of the Pragati Vihar locality in Dehradun.

He addressed the gathering of members of the Pragati Vihar Residents Welfare Society and inaugurated a security gate in the locality.

The Raipur legislator said he understood the longstanding requirement of sewer line in the Pragati Vihar locality and had already taken up the matter with the Dehradun Municipal Corporation. He said the demand for metalled road in the locality would also be addressed after the rainy season.

Sharma said the newly-constructed gate at the entrance of Pragati Vihar would provide security to a large number of senior citizens residing in the locality.

Earlier, society’s president KS Aswal greeted Sharma on being elected as an MLA from the Raipur constituency. He also put forward the concerns of the Pragati Vihar locality before him.

Residents CP Sharma, DS Negi, Sanjay Kuksal and Rajeev Sharma were present on the occasion.

Rishav, Bhuvanyaa win debate contest
Tribune News Service

A participant in the inter-school English debate competition held at Summer Valley School in Dehradun on Saturday.

Dehradun, August 11
Summer Valley School organised its annual inter-school English debate competition here today.

The topic of the debate was ‘Are social networking sites doing us any good or are they just a sophisticated ways of stalking people?’. The chief guest on the occasion was Kanwaljit Singh, a senior advocate.

The judges were Usha Mohan, Jotika Verma Anand and Astha Kapoor.

Fifteen schools, including Bhawan Sawan School, Delhi, Raja Ram Mohan Roy School, Hilton School, The Heritage School , Summer Valley School, Hope Town School, Indian Public School, St Thomas School, RIMC, Cambrian Hall, Ann Mary, St Judes, SOS. Herman School, Carman School Dalanwala and St Joseph’s Academy participated in the debate.

The chief guest said, “All students were great speakers and because of them, I also became aware of the advantages and disadvantages of social networking.”

He congratulated the teams and the school for holding the event.

The judges gave tips to the speakers as to how to become better debaters.

The overall winning team trophy went to RIMC (speakers- Rishav Raj and Kumar Vikram) and the award for the best speaker went to Rishav Raj. St Joseph’s Academy was adjudged the first runner up (speakers- Bhuvanyaa Vijay and Anshuman Dandriyal). Summer Valley School was the second runner-up (students- Akansha Juyal and Garima Panwar). All students were given certificates.

The Principal of the school, Dr Col Jasvinder Singh, presented a souvenir to the chief guest. Also present on the occasion were Ashok Wasu, Director, Administration, Ruchita, administrator, and Sunita Oberoi, head mistress of the Girls Summer Valley School.