|
|
|
|
|
Centre’s nod to textile, spice parks in Kashipur
UKD (P) activists protest illegal sale of gas cylinders
Farmers seek monkey rehab centre at Tanakpur
|
|
|
Skilled training to be given to jobless youth
Alok Jain chairs meeting to improve sanitary conditions
Disaster management training camp begins
Buses of other states not to be allowed on Char Dham routes
67 kg of ivory seized from Kotdwar
Two women found murdered in Kumaon
UPP to hold fast in Gairsain
|
|
Centre’s nod to textile, spice parks in Kashipur
Dehradun, October 18 This was decided at a meeting between Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and Union Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textile Anand Sharma in New Delhi today. Bahuguna asked Anand Sharma to complete the process for establishing the textile and spice parks at the earliest. The Chief Minister directed the Uttarakhand Industrial Development Department to prepare a proposal for the textile park in three months and present it before the Centre. Bahuguna said a team of the Central Spice Board would visit Uttarakhand in the last week of October. Bahuguna at a meeting with Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Vayalar Ravi also presented a proposal for the establishment of a tool room at Sitarganj, which the latter immediately accepted. The state government would provide 20 acres to the Centre for the proposed tool room. Meanwhile, interacting with mediapersons after the meeting Bahuguna said that state government was committed towards overall development of the state. He added the establishment of the textile and spice parks and the tool room would generate employment opportunities and also open door for bigger investments. Bahuguna said an investment of Rs 100 crore was estimated in the tool room. Chief Resident Commissioner SK Mattu, Principal Secretary (Industry) Rakesh Sharma, Union Additional Secretary Amrendra Sinha and Joint Secretary (Textile) Sunayna Tomar were also present on the occasion. |
|
|
UKD (P) activists protest illegal sale of gas cylinders
Haridwar, October 18 The protesters said while the Congress-led governments at the centre and in the state had failed to rein in corruption it had aggravated the woes of the people by increasing prices of the LPG, petrol and diesel. The labour and traders wing of the UKD said while LPG cylinders were easily available for Rs 1,100 each on the black market, the gas agencies were not supplying the six subsidised cylinders to consumers as per the Central government policy. Central secretary of the UKD labour cell Uday Ram Semwal said the gas agencies were only supplying commercial cylinders to traders, ashrams and saints at Rs 1,600 each. He said despite repeated complaints to the District Food Supplies Department and managers of the gas agencies no concrete steps had been taken to check the black marketeering of LPG cylinders and ensure supply of cylinders at the fixed rate. Tarun Gupta, a member of the UKD trade wing, demanded deployment of the police at all gas agencies to check black marketeering of cylinders. He said consumers had to wait for hours to procure subsidised cylinders for domestic use. Suraj Kumar, Vikki Saini, Sunil Gulati, Ashok Negi, Vaidh Pathak, Anshul, Vijay Pal and Rahul Gupta were among others who participated in the protest. |
|
|
Farmers seek monkey rehab centre at Tanakpur
Pithoragarh, October 18 “The BJP government in the state had approved a monkey rehabilitation centre in the Kirora area of the Bom range in Champawat district last year, but the process to establish it had not started yet,” said Ram Dutt Pangaria, a farmer in Champawat district. The farmers said they were suffering losses as monkeys were continuously destroying their crops. They also suffered huge losses to their farmlands due to natural calamities. The Forest Department had even selected a piece of land for setting up the centre but could not effectuate the plan due to lack of funds. “We have selected a piece of land for setting up a monkey rehab centre and are awaiting funds to develop it,” said VK Mahra, Range Officer of the Bom range in Champawat district. Mahra said the centre had to be developed to keep monkeys caught from all six districts of the Kumaon region and provide feed to them. Edible wild herbs and fruits had to be planted in 25 acres selected for the centre. The scheme also included sterilization of monkeys, provision of staple food to them at government cost and training of monkey catchers, he added. According to Forest officials, the six districts of the Kumaon region alone had more than 37,000 monkeys in jungles which were now attacking crops of fruits and potato sown by farmers near forests. “Due to development works, the space and food of monkeys have shrunk. This is the reason that they are now attacking local crops,” said Prakash Phondari, a scientist at Himalayan Paryavaran and Vikas Sansthan at Katarmal in Almora district. |
|
|
Skilled training to be given to jobless youth
Dehradun, October 18 Along with providing skill training to the unemployed youth, the ITIs are now set to start new training modules designed by the Central government and further sharpen the skill of the youth. “The vocational training providers will provide training according to the 500 modules. The training comprise both short (five months’ course) long courses extending to one year. We have also approached different industrial bodies to provide practical training,” said Shailash Bagauli, Additional Secretary, Department of Technical Education. During the course of the training the Department of Technical Education will even partner with private companies so that the trainees are provided in-house practical training. Youths with a minimum qualification are already being trained in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) so that the requirements of different sectors are met. Now with the introduction of the MESP they will be further equipped. Besides, under the World Bank-funded vocational training improvement project (VIP) under way in the 10 ITIs since the last three years, the youth of the state have gained considerably. “Not only did our youth gain by way of skill enhancement, but the funds that were received under the project were utilised to upgrade the ITI laboratories. The project will be ending this year,” said Bagauli. A total of Rs 500 lakh would be released under the project that would end in 2012. Since the last five years, the focus of the Department of Technical Education has been to upgrade the infrastructure of the ITIs. Besides, the Department of Technical Education is also contemplating hiking the entry fees at all the ITIs. |
|
|
Alok Jain chairs meeting to improve sanitary conditions
Dehradun, October 18 The teams will find out whether manual scavengers were present in their respective districts. They will also find out the numbers of dry toilets. The committee chaired by the Chief Secretary would monitor the works on a regular basis. The Chief Secretary directed the officers concerned to approach the Registrar General of India and obtain social-economic census of the state. He said the census would furnish the exact statistics. He asked the Social Welfare Department to prepare an action plan for rehabilitation of manual scavengers. They would be trained, provided loans on low interest and self-employed. Construction of private toilets would be encouraged under the Swajal project in rural areas. A sum of Rs 10,000 each would be provided for every toilet. Jain said that the Urban Development Department would carry out works of conversion of dry toilets under insanitary latrine conversion scheme (ILCS). It may be noted that manual scavenging and use of dry toilets are prohibited under the Employment of Manual Scavenging and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act,1993. |
|
|
Disaster management training camp begins
Haridwar, October 18 Inaugurating the training camp, director RC Sharma said Red Cross volunteers needed to play a pivotal role during natural disasters, accidents and also in peace time. He added that through this camp, disaster management training would be imparted to make sure a single volunteer was capable of providing prompt relief before government agencies arrived. A mass awareness march was also taken out by the volunteers which was flagged off by Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Kiran Lal Shah and Secretary of the Haridwar Red Cross Society Dr Naresh Chaudhari. The rally passed through Anant Ashram , Rishikesh road, towards Har-ki-Pauri where volunteers cleaned the ghats of Braham Kund, Har-ki-Pauri. The volunteers also urged devotees to maintain the sanctity and purity of the Ganga waters while taking a dip and performing rituals. Shah said the disaster management training being given to young volunteers was a laudable initiative which needed to be replicated in all states of the country. JRC Field Officer Ramashish Mandal gave the participants information related with blood donation. |
|
Buses of other states not to be allowed on Char Dham routes
Dehradun, October 18
These buses had been denting revenue and tax collection of Uttarakhand. Just by paying three months’ tax these buses had been illegally plying in the state for the whole season.
The department had failed to do anything about it. The issue had also created furore among members of the Sanyukt Yatayat Rotation Samiti, which had stalled the movement of all buses from other states on the Char Dham routes during peak time. The issue was resolved only after high officials of the Transport Department assured the samiti of concrete action in this regard. Samiti is recognised by the department, which has been streamlining the movement of hundreds of buses belonging to the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation and private buses engaged in Char Dham tours during the pilgrimage season every year. The department has been incurring losses year after year as it had not been able to control the illegally plying buses belonging to other states. Last year, the government lost Rs 50 crore in revenue and Rs 25 crore on account of meager collection or non-payment of taxes. Transport Minister Surender Rakesh said, “The buses of other states will not be given permits to ply on the Char Dham route any more. Illegal travel agencies will be banned as well. The Transport Ministry is going to be very tough with them.” President of the samiti Chandan Singh Panwar said the drivers of buses belonging to other states were also not accustomed to driving in hill areas. Hence, they caused a lot of accidents, thus leading to death of passengers. |
|
67 kg of ivory seized from Kotdwar
Dehradun, October 18 Although the authorities are yet to go into the details, the initial reports reveals that the ivory may belong to a tusker whose body was found with both tusks missing at Kotdwar in the Lansdowne forest division in 2005. Interestingly, of the three arrested, two, Rajendra Singh and Narendra Singh, belong to Kotdwar and the third, Dan Singh, is from Dharchula in Pithoragarh. The trio that belongs to the state was transporting the ivory in a car when they were intercepted by the police late last night. The authorities are, however, yet to establish the source of the ivory. Expressing concern over the recovery of 67 kg of tusk, the in charge of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, Uttarakhand, Rajendra Aggrawal, said it was important to find the source of the ivory. He pointed out that in all probability, the tusk could belong to the elephant poached in Kotdwar in 2005. “Or the tusks recovered today could be the one stolen from the Corbett’s Dhangarhi Museum in 2008,” he said. He further stated that the arrest of these poachers with the ivory from Kotdwar in the Lansdowne forest division of the state that shares borders with Uttar Pradesh was expected to reveal more information in the days to come. Chief of the anti-poaching cell of the Uttarakhand Forest Department SK Dutt, who along with forest department officials reached the site in the Lansdowne forest division, said the cell would go for a thorough investigation and would try to get to its root. |
|
Two women found murdered in Kumaon
Pithoragarh, October 18 “As the body bore injury marks, the police has registered a case of murder against the three,” said Damodar Pandey, Inspector of police in Bhimtal. In another incident, the body of a newly married woman was found in her house in Rudrapur town of US Nagar district on Wednesday night. The police recovered the body following a complaint by the deceased’s brother. “We have registered a case against 7 persons, including the husband of the deceased,” said police circle officer of Rudrapur Pankaj Bhatt. |
|
|
UPP to hold fast in Gairsain
Dehradun, October 18 He said the announcement of the Bahuguna government to hold a cabinet meeting at Gairsain was not enough and the state government should rather immediately declare Gairsain as permanent capital. |
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
The Centre and the Uttarakhand Government have reached an agreement to establish textile and spice parks at Jaspur in Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar district. The state Industrial Development Department will forward an amended proposal to the Union Industry Ministry soon.
Dehradun, October 18
