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UKD (D) to fight for Gairsain as capital
Tehri bypoll: Raj Lakshmi strikes emotional chord with people at rallies
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Rebels may spell trouble for Cong, BJP once poll is over
Satya Narayan Sachan is new state Samajwadi Party chief
Speed-breakers to come up on roads in Rajaji National Park
Staff too less to check substandard drugs
State agitationists seek withdrawal of cases
Army chief delivers lecture in Mussoorie
Monsoon is withdrawing from state, says Met dept
Maharaj hails one-rank one-pension decision
Career guidance session in Echole Globale school
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UKD (D) to fight for Gairsain as capital
Dehradun, September 25 Bhatt told mediapersons that the party would fight the byelection on various issues. He said they would continue to fight for Gairsain as the capital of the state. Merely holding of a Cabinet meeting was not enough and we demand Gairsain to be declared as capital of the state, he added. He criticised Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna for going along with the decision of the Nainital High Court on the issue of original inhabitants of the state. He said Bahuguna could not do injustice to the people who had been living in the hill region of the state for many generations. Bhatt said the state government must sort out the issue of building big hydropower projects with the Centre. He was of the view that generating energy through hydropower projects was the only way out for the government to earn big revenue or else the Central government must compensate it for stopping work on hydropower projects. The UKD (D) leader also talked about devising an effective policy for the rehabilitation of the people who were displaced due to calamities in the state. He expressed dissatisfaction over the relief measures saying the government had failed to provide relief to the victims of natural calamities. He accused the UKD (P) of conniving with the Congress saying it was supporting the latter on all its policies. Bhatt said the UKD (P) had abandoned its stand on old issues for the sake of sharing power with the Congress. “If the UKD (P) was serious about its differences with the Congress, it should break ties and withdraw support to it the way it did when the BJP was in power,” he added. Yogi Rakesh said he had always fought for the interests of the people and would continue to do so. He added the issues of ‘jal, jungle and jameen’ (drinking water, forest and land) was his top priority along with development. Yogi Rakesh said he would also expose the BJP and the Congress before the public. |
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Tehri bypoll: Raj Lakshmi strikes emotional chord with people at rallies
Mussoorie, September 25 Mala Raj Lakshmi, addressing the voters during her election campaign rallies at Jaharipani, Suakholi and Mulingar in Mussoorie, said that if she was elected from Tehri parliamentary constituency, it would be victory for the women from the hills and not only the BJP. She said after being elected, she would make an effort to empower the womenfolk by providing opportunities through self-employment. Mala Raj Lakshmi, striking an emotional chord with the voters, said that they had given immense love and affection to the royal family and especially her father-in-law Manvendar Shah, and hoped that they would bless her with votes in the forthcoming Tehri bypoll so that she was able to serve them as well. Mala Raj Lakshmi said that she was the daughter-in-law of the constituency and people should vote for her in large numbers on the election day. She also said that her main motive in contesting the elections was to serve the people. Mala Raj Lakshmi stated that the people of the constituency were reeling with pain due to the disaster that occurred recently in the region, and her priority would be to provide solace to such families, if elected. She also said that the hill women were not weak, and if enraged, could take the form of Godess Kali at will. However, at some places the condition of the women was pathetic, and she would leave no stone unturned in improving their condition. Lambasting the Congress government in the state, she said that the government had stalled all the programmes beneficial for the people in the state, which was really unfortunate for the state. The Leader of the Opposition, Ajay Bhatt, accompanying Mala Raj Lakshmi said that they were not interested in forming or breaking the government in the state, but if the Congress, "that was infested with various scams," kept on working like this, it would be ousted from the Centre, too. He also said that the increase in the crime graph had led to deterioration in the law and order problem, which showed that inept functioning of the government. He also said that the government had no vision for the state. Therefore, it was necessary to bring the BJP back in their Lok Sabha constituency. He also said that that MPs from Uttarakhand had failed to deliver despite having their government at the Centre. He appealed to the voters to vote in favour of the BJP so that they could give a befitting reply to "scam- ridden" Congress government at the Centre. BJP leaders Kailash Pant, Vinod Uniyal, OP Uniyal, Roop Singh Kathait, Kushal Singh Rana, Vijay Ramola, Anita Saxena, Seeta Panwar, Jyoti Kotia and others were present on the
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Rebels may spell trouble for Cong, BJP once poll is over
Focusing on this strategy, Tanvir Singh, who fought the 2012 election from Rajpur (Dehradun) on the BSP ticket, joined the BJP in the presence of senior leader Bhagat Singh Koshiyari. “His entry would fortify the party position in Rajpur as the Assembly seat was won by the Congress. Tanvir was given the party membership in view of his influence in the Rajpur Assembly segment, which is part of Tehri parliamentary constituency,” said BS Chuphal, BJP Uttarakhand chief. The Congress, which brought in Ajay Sood with this aim in mind, is also pursuing a similar strategy. Sood had fought the 2012 Assembly election as an Independent after he was denied ticket from Raipur. While these former rebels may serve the immediate purpose of garnering votes, once elections are over, they may spell trouble for the parties, demanding gratification that may be difficult to fulfil. “All leaders who have joined the party recently have come with a clean slate. These leaders know we are not in power and their demands cannot be fulfilled right away. Besides, several things are taken into consideration while offering posts to leaders in the party,” said Mukesh Mahindra, BJP spokesperson. However, the situation is slightly different for the Congress, which is already in power and expectations by the rebels and newcomers to be accommodated are not unfounded. But the Bahuguna government would be hard pressed to accept them as there are several leaders in the Congress waiting to be rehabilitated. “The unrestricted entry of rebels may prove costly to the Congress. Heavyweight leader like Matbar Singh Kandari has not entered the party for free, and in time others like him may be difficult to handle, in case their demands are not met,” said a senior BJP leader. |
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Satya Narayan Sachan is new state Samajwadi Party chief
Dehradun, September 25 Besides, party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has also appointed Rajendra Kumar
Badi, Rekha Yadav, Suresh Parihar and Durga Verma as vice-presidents of the state unit. Abdul Mateen Siddiqui has been appointed general secretary and HP Yadav treasurer of the state unit. Appointments have also been made on the positions of 14 state secretaries and nine members to the state executive. Durgesh Pratap Singh has been named the state spokesman. The new changes are being seen in the backdrop of the party’s preparations for the 2014 parliamentary elections. New party president Sachan said Mulayam Singh Yadav had handed over the responsibility to him to do the makeover of the party, which he would carry out with single-minded devotion. He said the main reason for the party’s successive debacles in the state Assembly as well as parliamentary elections had been lack of connection with people at the grass-root level. He said meeting of the executive committees at the district level were never called. To plug the obvious loopholes, he said, soon the names of the presidents of district committees and 15 different wings of the party would be announced. The appointed heads would then constitute their respective working committees and bodies at the Vidhan Sabha level. This task would be summed up in the next 15 days. A meeting to discuss this subject in great detail has been called in Haridwar on October 7. He said the state was a fertile land, full of oddities pertaining to social, political and cultural aspects, which the party could cash in on to build its strong base. He added Mulayam Singh had directed to work on building the party in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra as well in order to bring good results in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. election move
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Munsiyari villagers demand shifting to safer place
Pithoragarh, September 25 According to the gram pradhan of Qurie Zimia, the houses of 42 families were damaged due to a landslide on September 17 last year. They were still living in these houses. “The villagers, who had first shifted to the forestland in Malla Balanti village, were ousted by the Forest Department on the charge that they violated forest laws. The administration did not help the villagers to settle down at the forestland,” said Devendra Singh Deva, pradhan of Qurie Zimia village of Munsiyari. Deva said the villagers had many a time held demonstrations in the Munsiyari subdivision headquarters in support of their rehabilitation demand but the administration only assured them that their plea was under the consideration of the state government. The villagers from another sensitive zone in the same subdivision had also demanded their rehabilitation at some safer place. “As many as 105 villagers of Gatghorgari, Bhainskhal and Nai Basti are at present living under the threat of landslides as these villages are sliding since the rains last year,” said Jeewan Danu, a social worker in the Nachni area of the sensitive zone. Danu said due to continuous landslides at Hararia Nullah, the villages of Gatghorgari and Nai Basti were sliding slowly. “The hill that started sliding last year developed big cracks this year, making the villages more prone to landslides,” he said. According to revenue sources, crops of staple corn like paddy, soybean and Madua were damaged due to landslides. “Ten families, which were financially better off, are living at other safer places, but other 10 poor families from Gatghorgari village, 18 from Bhanskhal village, which are not in position to find land for constructing temporary houses, are facing uncertainty,” said Danu. The local MLA from Dharchula, Harish Dhami, has assured the villagers of getting them shifted soon. He said the localities were not worth living. “I have talked to the Chief Minister in this regard and the latter has assured me that these families will be shifted to a safer place soon,” said Dhami. “Even revenue workers, who undertook a survey of these villages some time ago, have given a report that the villagers need to be shifted from the place immediately,” said the MLA. |
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Speed-breakers to come up on roads in Rajaji National Park
Dehradun, September 25 Wildlife loss in vehicle-hit incidents on roads, particularly the National Highways that pass through Rajaji National Park, continue to pose a big challenge to the park authorities even as the new Rajaji National Park Management Plan proposes to come up with speed-breakers on vulnerable stretches, apart from putting up the warning signs for motorists. Besides leopard, sambhar, chital, wild pig and jackal deaths, smaller animals like mongoose, civets and snakes are frequent casualties on these roads as they are trampled by the speeding vehicles. Some stretches of the two key National Highways, NH 58 Delhi-Badrinath highway and NH 72 Ambala-Haridwar, pass through Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand. While in NH 72, Dehradun-Nepali Farm stretch, and in NH 58, Haridwar-Rishikesh stretch that pass through the park are witness to frequent small animal deaths. A survey undertaken way back in 2007 by Rajaji National Park revealed that nearly 30,000 vehicles, passing through roads each day, go via Rajaji National Park. The figure of the number of vehicles could have gone up now for the obvious reason of increase in the traffic pressure on these roads. While 2 speed-breakers are now proposed to come up at NH 72 stretch, 4 speed-breakers are proposed for NH 58. Further, two speed-breakers are proposed to be constructed in the between Chila Barrage and Lakhman Jhula stretch in the Gohri range. Similarly, 2 speed-breakers are proposed in the Chila range between Chandipul and Pashulok Barrage, 2 others are to be installed in the hilly bypass road in Haridwar and 3 speed-breakers are proposed for Roorkie-Dehradun stretch in the Chilawali range of the park. Significantly, movement of elephants in some key elephant corridors of the north like Chilla Motichur and Teenpani are also affected due to these highways, but while bigger animals like elephant, somehow manage to have a right to way, smaller animals are frequently hit by the vehicles. Moreover, the death of smaller animals like mongoose, civets, snakes and even rabbits are not even taken with seriousness. In cases of leopards or cheetals, forest officials visit the site and take the necessary steps for the disposal of the carcass. Former Rajaji field director S S Rasaily, who has been instrumental in preparing the management plan, asserts that speed-breakers could certainly help in limiting the speed of vehicles and, thus, giving smaller animals a chance to escape from being hit by these vehicles.
wildlife deaths
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Demand for sugarcane price hike
Haridwar, September 25 Earlier, symbolic agitation was being carried out at the sugarcane department office in Jwalapur, where they had set September 25 as the deadline. As the deadline was not met, the peasants started an indefinite agitation from today onwards. Various farmer unions have made it clear that they wanted the rates to be announced before they give up their agitation. Under the aegis of the BKU, various peasant unions have pitched in to support the ongoing agitation in which daily protests were being held at various parts of the district for the past few weeks in Jwalapur, Lakshar, Bahadrabad, Khanpur, Lal Dhang, Roorkee, Lal Dhang, Jwalapur and Bhagwanpur. Peasants had also kidnapped additional sugarcane official at Jwalapur office four days ago and released him only after an intervention by the District Magistrate. Chief of the Garhwal division of the union Sanjay Chaudhari said for the past two months, peasants had been going to the additional sugarcane office where no one paid heed to their woe. That was when they decided to go on an indefinite strike. Chaudhari said apart from this, the state government was further delaying the announcement of the support price of sugarcane, which is breeding unrest among the farmer community. A letter has also been posted to state Union Minister for Agriculture Harish Rawat by the BKU, apprising him of their agitation. Rawat has also shot off a letter to Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to ensure speedy payment to the farmers. While presiding over the protest meeting, Chaudhari Harendra Singh, district chief of BKU, warned that till the state government announces new hiked sugarcane support price, farmers would not leave the agitation venue. |
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Staff too less to check substandard drugs
Dehradun, September 25 As the number of pharmaceutical companies increased after the creation of the state, the Uttarakhand Health Department did not keep pace and failed to equip the drug controlling authority with adequate staff. “As opposed to fake pill that sometime contains harmful ingredients, a substandard drug does not produce the desired medical benefits. These drugs are indeed flooding the market due to poor checks and negates the government’s fight against several diseases. There are reports of resistant strains of tuberculosis having developed and it could be attributed to fake medicines,” said KC Pant, senior physician, Doon Hospital. On the 2012 list of substandard drugs, untienzymedrops manufactured by Cotec Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Roorkee, Zest drops by Coral Lab (Selaqui), Dehradun, and ibuprofen and paracetamol tab (Ibuzen), manufactured by Alps Pharmaceuticals (Almora), are some of the medicines that were found to be substandard. The proposals presented by the State Drug Controlling Authority seeking approval for increasing the staff along with computerisation of the authority are pending with the Health Department. Vacancies exist at the level of senior inspectors and inspectors that have to be filled through the UPSC. “We have sought an additional staff of 42 members but the state Finance Department is in favour of less staff due to financial reasons. The proposal for computerisation is also pending, which will allow us to create a website containing information of the number of licences issued to the retailers, wholesalers and private companies,” said SC Sharma from the Drug Controlling and Licensing Authority. Interestingly, only Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar have district-level drug control offices. In the remaining hill districts, no office exists. To meet the problem of under-staffing, the government has made a single drug controller in charge of five districts. “At the moment, there is requirement of at least seven more staff members to look into the affairs of Dehradun district. If you compare the structure with other states, we are acutely short of manpower,” said Sharma. |
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ASHA workers protest in Pithoragarh
Pithoragarh, September 25 District president of ASHA workers Hemlata Saun demanded that though a parliamentary committee of the Government of India had given its recommendations to grant the health workers as government employee status, the Centre was doing nothing in this direction. “Even the ASHA workers are not being given ex gratia,” said Saun, while addressing the demonstrating workers. The union president also stated that whereas other states were giving Rs 1,200 per delivery to ASHA workers, Uttarakhand had reduced it to Rs 350 only. At Lohaghat in Champawat district, ASHA workers took out a procession to the SDM office and submitted a memorandum to the government through him demanding raising of remuneration amount and declaring ASHA workers as government employee in the state. The demonstrations were also held in Berinag, Gangolihat and Dharchula town of the district Pithoragarh. |
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Ashes of RSS ex-chief immersed in Ganga
Haridwar, September 25 To pay homage to the veteran RSS ideologue, its activists, BJP workers, saints and people from different sections of life went to the Nishkam Sewa Samiti hall where the ashes were kept with a portrait of the deceased. Yog Guru Swami Ramdev, after offering floral tributes, said K Sudarshan was a true patriot who gave directions to the society and the country. He said Sudarshan went to every section of society giving message of devotion, service and patriotism. Former union minister Swami Chinmayanand stated the RSS ideologue was always concerned for the country having nationalistic approach. Former Shankaracharya Swami Satyamitranand Maharaj said the personalities like K Sudarshan were true sons of the country as he offered his whole life for the cause of the nation. Haridwar rural legislator Swami Yatishwaranand, all-India executive member of the RSS Madhu Bhai Kulkarni, sub-divisional pracharak Roshan Lala, divisional pracharak Mahendra Singh among large number of RSS activists offered floral tributes at Nishkam Bhawan. |
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State agitationists seek withdrawal of cases
Dehradun, September 25 He said different state governments had assured them that cases against agitationists registered during the statehood movement would be withdrawn but these assurances were still to be fulfilled. Echoing a similar sentiment, agitationist Vivekanand Khanduri asserted that while many state agitationists were hand to mouth, it was not easy for them to bear the legal expenses. Vivekanand Khanduri sought immediate intervention from the state government. Another state agitationist Virendra Pokhriyal said the agitationists would also take up this matter
with Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna. State agitationist Manmohan Mal was also present at the news conference. |
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Army chief delivers lecture in Mussoorie
Gen Bikram Singh was welcomed by Director of LBSNAA Padamveer Singh. While delivering a lecture to the officer trainees, he touched upon various aspects of military, diplomacy, information and economics. He also answered queries of the officer trainees following the lecture. |
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Monsoon is withdrawing from state, says Met dept
Dehradun, September 25 Making this announcement here today, Dr Anand Sharma, Executive Director, Meteorological Centre, Dehradun, said the monsoon, which was on a withdrawal mode, would completely withdraw from Uttarakhand within a
day or two. Dr Anand Sharma said the state had witnessed a good amount of rainfall this monsoon. Even the rains caused havoc in the parts of the state with incidents of cloudburst taking place in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts. Dehradun also faced heavy rainfall, added the Executive Director, Meteorological Centre. |
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Maharaj hails one-rank one-pension decision
Dehradun, September 25 In a statement issued today, Satpal Maharaj said Uttarakhand with a large population of ex-servicemen would be greatly benefited from the Centre's decision. Maharaj expressed gratitude to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Defence Minister AK Antony for finally fulfilling the long- standing one-rank one-pension demand of ex-defence personnel. Maharaj said a package of Rs 2300 crore for ex-defence personnel reveals UPA’s concern for the ex-servicemen. |
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Career guidance session in Echole Globale school
Dehradun, September 25 Conducted by the BackBenchers, a Delhi-based career guidance company, the session evoked good response. The session dealt mainly with the qualifications, SATs, IELTS, TOEFL and the scores expected for the various programmes. The question and answers sought to dispel all myths and doubts associated with entrance examinations. |
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Dehradun, September 25
Mussoorie, September 25