Mulayam ready to apologise for Rampur Tiraha massacre
White Paper will be released soon: RP Singh
Seema Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun September 26
National chief of the Samajwadi Party Mulayam Singh Yadav is ready to apologise to the people of Uttarakhand for the atrocities on the public at Rampur Tiraha massacre in 1998 in Muzaffarnagar.

Talking to The Tribune, member of the National Working Committee of the party RP Singh said Yadav had given his consent to apologise to the people of the state for the Muzaffarnagar episode to close this chapter once and for all.

Admitting that this incident had blacklisted the party among the people, he said Mulayam Singh Yadav wanted to break the jinx of the party's successive defeats in the electoral battle just due to this reason, which had been exploited by other parties.

RP Singh said the party was consolidating its base. He would seek public apology at a rally, he said.

He also stated that the party was also preparing a white paper in this regard which would be released in the next 10 days.

The purpose was to clear the misconceptions among the public.

He said, "If Capt Amarinder Singh could become the Chief Minister of Punjab after a few years of the 1984 communal riots, the Samajwadi Party has not committed a crime of that stature. Politicians like Ram Singh Saini and Ambrish Kumar had left us.

Then DM Anant Kumar was promoted, so was DIG Bua Singh who was elevated to the position of DGP by BSP chief Mayawati. If those who were clearly involved were not punished, then the SP should not be punished just because it was in power in the state.

It was BC Khanduri, former Chief Minister of the state, who wrote to the Centre to stop the procession of the agitators."

He said it was for the first time they wanted to bring facts before people of the state on this emotional issue.

Samajwadi Party announces 31 names for state unit
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 26
The state Samajwadi Party (SP) today announced 31 names that will constitute the state unit. This includes 14 secretaries and four special invited members. The names of all district presidents were also announced.

The appointments for Chamoli and Rudraprayag are yet to be done. Heads of frontal organisations of the party belonging to youth, students, Lohiya ideology, women, backward classes, minority, labourers, advocates, traders and SC/ST were also appointed.

The names of the special invited members were selected by national party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav himself. These include BNS Bhatnagar, head of economics department, DAV college, BK Sisodia, renowned social scientist, and AS Khan, president of the Muslim Forum.

While addressing a press conference here today, state president SN Sachan said even while considering the names for the 14 positions of secretaries, the caste and community equations had been kept in mind. Eight members have been selected from the OBCs category and six are Muslims representing Ansari, Qureshi and Pathan communities. Fair representations had also been given to those who hail from hills or plains, he said.

To satiate those who might feel left out, Sachan said none of the active member would be abandoned. They would be adjusted in various cells in the next round of meeting which would be held on October 7 in Haridwar, he said.

He said each district would have 51 members and Dehradun would have 31 members. All the members of the working committee in each district would be appointed with due approval from the state unit. A seven-member disciplinary committee would also be formed. Similarly, a recommendation committee headed by the state president would also be created. The committee could recommend names for various positions and decide on party policy matters.

To consolidate the networking with all these wings, a review meeting will be held once in three months at state level. He said the endeavour for strengthening the party in the state was aimed at gaining two seats- Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar, in the next Lok Sabha polls.

Women activists create ruckus

Women party activists Hema Bora and Vijay Luxmi created ruckus at the end of the press conference called by Sachan today. They threw chairs in the room and expressed displeasure over not being given any position in the party.

They were also enraged over assimilation of Rekha Yadav as vice-president and Sudha Rani as the president of women’s wing. Bora said she did not approve of Sachan as the party president and would not let him enter party office. She also pointed out that she had been participating in all party activities and was jailed also but despite being an old and loyal party member, she was left out.

Sources said these women, considered confidant of former party president Vinod Barthwal, were sent by him to stage a showdown in the press conference.

Transfer of doctors hits blood banks’ working
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 26
Recent transfers carried out by the Health Department have left blood banks at the Gopeshwar and Pauri district hospitals without pathologists. Not only have the day to day haemaotology testing come to a standstill, but also the targets set for collection of blood through voluntary donation now seems unachievable.

With great difficulty the State Blood Safety Council (SBSC) had equipped the two blood banks with necessary equipment and licences were issued only after adequate staff was deputed there. However, with the transfer of Dr Aditya Tiwari to Kashipur the Gopeshwar Community Health Centre Blood Bank is without a pathologist. Similarly, after the transfer of a pathologist, the blood bank at Pauri too is facing similar problems.

“All hill districts of the state have been given a target collection of 13 blood units per month through voluntary donations. The blood banks at the Gopeshwar and Pauri Community Health Centres were established to meet the demand for blood promptly in these districts and also encourage voluntary donations which is the safest method to tide over the shortage of blood,” said Dr Meenakshi Uniyal, Director of the State Blood Safety Council.

This perennial shortage of staff has also come in the way of making the new blood banks at Baurari, Rudraprayag and Bageshwar functional. Licences can only be issued to these blood banks after they are equipped with adequate staff.

Significantly, while the SBSC has been successful in making the blood storage centres functional at the Vikasnagar, Rishikesh and Doiwala Community Health Centres (CHCs), its efforts to set up such centres at the CHCs at Bhawali, Agustmuni, Karnprayag, Joshimath and Kichha have not materialised due to a shortage of manpower.

“According to the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), in places where blood banks cannot be established blood storage centres are proposed for undertaking storage, grouping and transfusion of blood. But these centres too are facing problems due to a shortage of manpower. We were forced to shut the Narsan (Roorkee) blood storage centre after it could not attract adequate staff. Similarly, the Rishikesh blood storage centre too is awaiting the appointment of a laboratory technician to start functioning,” said Uniyal.

Despite facing problems in running of blood banks and blood storage centres, the state has achieved the target of 80.19 per cent of voluntary blood donation.

Rain, hailstorm flatten crops
Higher ranges of Kumaon get snowfall
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, September 26
In a sudden change of weather in the high Himalayan areas of Pithoragarh and Bageshwar districts after four days, rain and hailstorm have lashed the region damaging the standing kharif crops in the upper area village of Johar Darma and Danpur valley.

"The hailstorm last night damaged the remaining crops. A major part of the crops had already been damaged by last month's rains," said Jeewan Singh Danu, a progressive farmer in the Nachni area of Pithoragarh district.

According to district weather unit sources in Pithoragarh, the people of Munsiyari felt the onset of winter as the higher peaks of Panchchuli ranges of Himalayas witnessed snowfall last night.

"Munsiyari experienced cold wave last night as the peaks of Panchuli, Hansling and Rajrambha situated in this region witnessed the first snowfall of the season," said Devendra Singh, a hotelier in Munsiyari.

In Bageshwar district, villagers of the Garur area have demanded compensation from the government after their crop damaged due to last night's hailstorm in the area.

"The crops in the villages of Chatiya, Syalistate, Bhilkot, Ladura, Damgoli and Ggarigol were also damaged," said Diwan Singh Danu, a villager in Ladura village of Bageshwar district.

According to the weather unit in Bageshwar, villages situated in the Kapkot area also witnessed cold wave after the rain as the higher areas near Pindari Glacier also witnessed hailstorm and snowfall.

BHEL has capacity to meet nation’s power needs: Pandhi
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, September 26
A one-day national conference of turbine blade manufacturing vendors from across the country was held at the New Engineering Building Conference Convention Centre of Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited, Ranipur, today.

The participants discussed various aspects to enhance the efficiency of power production-related equipment and accessories.

Executive Director, BHEL, Virendra Pandhi said the BHEL had capacity to meet the power requirements of the country.

He said taking into consideration two quarterly production parameter, they were about to achieve the target of 13,000 MW set for the current fiscal year.

He said BHEL only expected high quality and standards from its vendors and other facilitating units. “BHEL is ready to provide full support to vendors, who want to have business with us. Attempts to improve quality are always welcome and smaller aspects need to be considered, as at a higher stage minor faults can prove detrimental to quality production,” said Pandhi.

Managing Director (TBM) Bishwajeet Das said turbine blade production should always be made taking into consideration quality demands of potential customers. MD (Quality ), AK Saxena, Ashok Gupta, Bhoodutt Sharma and Ankit Gupta were also present.

ITBP team that scaled Mountain Bhagirathi II given warm welcome
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 26
An Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) expedition team that successfully scaled Mount Bhagirathi II in Uttarkashi district recently was accorded a warm welcome at the Seemadwar office of the force in Dehradun today.

IG, ITBP, Northern Frontier, IS Negi presided over the flag-in ceremony today. A 37-member ITBP team comprising three officers was led by Gambhir Singh Chauhan, Commandant, 8th Battalion. He greeted the team for exhibiting great mountaineering skills and capturing the Mountain Bhagirathi II peak.

DIG, ITBP, Ashish Negi said the team was put through rigorous physical training and tutored on how to tackle difficulties and overcoming obstacles like glacial fields, icy ridges and hanging ice. He added the expedition team also collected garbage left on the mountain by other expeditions.

DIG ML Mamgain, Deputy Commandant Sachin Mittal, Sanjay Bose and other ITBP personnel were present on the occasion.

Hi-tech software to check poaching in Corbett Park
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 26
The Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India has come up with a technology-aided monitoring mechanism for tigers and the Corbett has been selected among seven tiger reserves of the country by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to implement it as a pilot project.

Named MSTriPes (Monitoring system for Tigers Intensive Patrolling and Ecological Status), the software will keep a track on patrols and would also help identify vulnerable points inside a protected area.

Qamar Qureshi, tiger scientist, WII, and the brain behind the software, revealed that the MSTriPES software would go a long way in tiger conservation. He said the country-wide assessment of tigers had a periodicity of four years and with tiger source population prone to poaching, this interval was too long for the timely detection of any decline in the tiger population in a particular reserve to go for subsequent interventions. He said the software would help generate systematic data that could be scientifically analysed at regular short intervals to achieve effective field conservation.

The implementation of the MSTriPES has four components starting from field training to data collection followed by data entry and storage and finally the analysis and the interpretation of the data to get the results.

Referring to the importance of the MSTriPes software, Qureshi said the data could be integrated and visualised in the park headquarters itself and also at the Chief Wildlife Warden’s office. “The biggest advantage of the MSTriPES is that it makes the ground work done by the forest staff transparent and readily available for decision making,” Qureshi pointed out.

A need to develop a technology-aided patrolling and ecological monitoring system that would update and guide park management of trends in wildlife populations, illegal activities, anthropogenic pressure and habitat status was being felt for sometime. The MSTriPes software will help achieve effective field conservation through smart patrolling and ecological monitoring. It will also provide the forest authorities with details of water source distribution and the animal distribution in the park.

Apart from Corbett, Ranthambore, Sariska, Badra, Anamalai, Kanha and Nagarjunsagar are other reserves where the MSTriPES will be put to use in tiger conservation. The NTCA has also initiated training workshops to make the forest staff implement the programme.

Society for uniform execution of Skill Development Mission
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 26
A society will be formed to ensure uniformity in the implementation of the Skill Development Mission in various departments. A target has been set to train 40,000 youth this year.

A decision to this effect was taken at a review meeting of the Skill Development Mission chaired by Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain at the Secretariat here today. Jain directed the officers to conduct analysis of skill gap in the state first and identify the places with skill development potential.

He instructed them to take into consideration the social and economical background while conducting the survey and complete the work in three months.

It may be noted that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had set the target to train 50 crore youth till 2020 in the country and 8 crore youth would be trained in the coming five years. In Uttarakhand, a target has been set to train 6 lakh people in the next five years.

Skill Development Adviser to the PM PS Sikhar Aggarwal said that assistance could be taken from public sector agencies. He laid emphasis on studying the models of other states and skill development potential be identified in important government departments.

Malvika Grover, analyst of the National Skill Development Corporation, spoke about the skill development in detail, while Dr Anil Joshi from HESCO stressed on generating employment opportunities through local produces.

Principal Secretary, Technical Education, Rakesh Sharma said in 2011-12, 597 people were trained in the tourism sector, 885 in urban development, 1,342 in industry, 6,519 in rural development, 1,894 in social welfare, 494 in labour and employment, 27,700 in IT and 10,831 in technical education. Besides, 43 ITIs were upgraded with the help of private industrial groups.

Champawat villagers face water, essential goods shortage
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, September 26
Villagers in Champawat district are facing an acute shortage of drinking water and essential goods due to the closure of seven drinking water schemes and 12 main roads.

“The villagers of Pati and Champawat blocks are facing an acute shortage of drinking water due to the closure of four drinking water projects this year and some schemes that were closed last year. They are now depending upon open water sources for their daily needs,” said Shankar Dutt Pandey, a social worker of Champawat district.

Pandey said the Tan Malla scheme in the Pati block, the Gurna Santolan scheme in the Barakot block and the Nagina Malla drinking water scheme in the Champawat block were closed two months ago. “The villagers are facing difficulties in fetching drinking water from distant sources as other three schemes of the area have been lying closed since last year,” he said.

According to local administration sources, nine villages are facing a shortage of drinking water and the problem is being addressed. “We are expecting funds from the government as we have already sent proposals to the higher authorities,” said PC Kargeti, executive engineer of Jal Sansthan, Champawat.

Besides water shortage, the villagers are facing problems in transporting essential goods and they have to carry them on their shoulders as 12 roads have been closed for the last two months. “We have given orders to the department concerned to open at least five roads to give respite to the villagers,” said Deepti Singh, ADM of Champawat district.

According to the District Disaster Management office, the roads from Bagauti to Dungarleti, Chaurapita to Totalari and Dhunaghat to Kharahi are lying closed for the last two months. More than 12 villages are facing problems due to the closure of roads.

The Tanakpur administration has started repairing the damaged road to Purnagiri at Bartanagar as pilgrims and priests are continuously complaining of inconvenience. “We have stationed one JCB machine each at Baratanagar and Thuligar to speed up the repair work on the damaged road. We want to complete the repair work before the Navratras when the number of pilgrims to Purnagiri increases manifold,” said JS Rathor, SDM of Tanakpur, in Champawat district.

Doon hospital ex-director surrenders
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 26
Former Director of Doon Hospital Bharat Kishore on Wednesday surrendered before the court of Judicial Magistrate.

His plea for bail had been rejected.

He had been charge-sheeted for allegedly raping a nurse in the hospital for a long time.

Kishore was suspended from the hospital on the charges.

60th autumn fair begins today
Ajay Ramola

Musosorie, September 26
The one-month long 60th autumn fair will begin on September 27 with the road show depicting the Nanda Rajjat Doli yatra. The fair is being organised by local artistes without any help from the government or the administration.

A meeting in this regard was held under the aegis of Parvityaa Bigul Sanstha at a hotel here today.

President of the organisation Pradeep Bhandari, while address the gathering, revealed the details of the fair in which artistes from around the country will grace the town with their presence and display their talents.

Bhandari later informed the media that the festivities would begin on September 27 with the depiction of the Nanda Rajjat Doli yatra that will start from Landour Bazaar and end at Library Bazaar.

Bhandari further said due to unforeseen circumstances, the festival was not being conducted in the town for the past two years, therefore, the artiste fraternity decided to take the onus of restarting the festival to preserve the culture and tradition of the state and entertain the tourists with quality programmes. He also said the local traditions along with the folk culture of the country will be showcased in the festival that will conclude on October 28. He also said the festival was also being celebrated to mark the 100 years of Indian Cinema. The sports and cultural programmes prepared by schoolchildren would be the mainstay of the festival here, said Bhandari.

He said the main objective of the festival was to motivate the artistes and promote culture of the state. He also demanded that the government should also come out in support of such festivals.

Eminent regional artistes Jitendar Panwar, Manu Vandana and Reshma Shah extended their support to the festival. Anil Godiyal, Sandeep Rana, Rajendar Rawat, Vijay Bindwal and others were present on the occasion.

Chaliya Mahotsava concludes
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, September 26
Five-day cultural festival Chaliya Mahotsava, which concluded today, was used by local politicians and cultural groups as a platform to demonstrate their achievements before public. The organisers of the festival have made it customary to invite leading politicians and local cultural troupes to perform on the stage. “We have invited politicians and public representatives of various parties as we need their cooperation for the success of the programme,” said Pawan Joshi, secretary of the Chaliya Mahotsava Samiti.

The mahotsava was inaugurated four days ago by Cabinet minister Dinesh Aggarwal, a Congress leader, while Rajendra Singh Rawat, a BJP youth leader and chairman of the Pithoragarh Nagar Palika Parishad, was the chief guest of the inauguration programme. “We invited UKD leader Kashi Singh Airy on the third day of the festival and were expecting Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat tonight to be the chief guest of the valedictory function of the mahotsava,” said Joshi.

“We have given a chance to 40 local schools of the town in last four days to perform on the stage. The mahotsava provides an opportunity to the schools to exhibit talent of their students,” said Joshi.

Farmer ‘drowned’
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 26
Hanif, a farmer, died while crossing a river with his wife Salima and friend Iqbal. The victim lived at Dakrani with his family. Iqbal was his neighbour. The family members of Hanif had suspected the connivance of Salima and Iqbal for drowning him, but in the post-mortem report, the cause of the death had been shown as heart failure.

Complaint against cops

Sutlan Qureshi, contractor, complained to Senior Superintendent of Police Neeru Garg about the high-handedness of the Patel Nagar police. He said the police had beat him up to extract a confession with regard to a theft in the area. He said the police deliberately wanted to implicate him in the theft case, which took place around Eid. He bore injury marks on his head.