Gloomy winter ahead for Vijay Bahuguna
Rebels led by Rawat up in arms
Saket's defeat a major setback
SMA Kazmi
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 23
The coming winter is going to be gloomy for Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on the political front, after the defeat of his son Saket Bahuguna in the Tehri Lok Sabha byelection, as his detractors within the Congress have started asserting themselves under the leadership of Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing and Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat.

The tea party thrown by Harish Rawat for his own supporters on Monday evening in Dehradun could be the start of assertion by the Harish Rawat group within the Uttarakhand Congress, which has been lying low since the initial rebellion after the state Assembly elections and subsequent elevation of Vijay Bahuguna as Chief Minister in March this year. Although publicly, Harish Rawat claimed that it was an informal meeting with his supporters but interestingly, all those who were present in the tea party were known detractors of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna.

It was believed in Congress circles that either these leaders remained inactive or worked against the official party nominee in the Tehri Lok Sabha byelection. They reportedly urged their leader to start asserting himself.

Already Harish Rawat has said publicly that the party would have fared better had his opinion regarding the choice of candidate for the Tehri bypoll been given weightage by the party. “The party workers gave vent to their feelings,” claimed Surender Aggarwal, a close associate of Harish Rawat.

Following the defeat of his own son in his own Lok Sabha constituency, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna finds himself on a weak wicket, and the Harish Rawat camp would not like to let go the opportunity.

Already, a change of guard in the party set-up is on the cards. The Harish Rawat group had been clamouring for a change in the state Congress leadership after the state Assembly elections. They demanded that since Yashpal Arya, the state Congress chief, has been made a minister also in the state government, the formula of one man one post should be adhered too. Harish Rawat would like himself or his own supporter to be made the state Congress chief. Birender Singh, Congress general secretary in-charge had already announced that a new president would be appointed after the Tehri Lok Sabha polls.

Since he is involved in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections also as state general secretary in-charge, it was expected that a change could be done in the month of November.

It was expected that Harish Rawat himself or his own man would be made the state Congress president. In such a scenario, he would be in total control of the state party organisation. Already many of the close supporters of Harish Rawat are in the state Congress ministry and owe their positions to Harish Rawat.

The complete sway of Harish Rawat on the party organisation would further weaken the position of Chief Minister Bahuguna in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

 No animal sacrificed in Kumaon temples
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, October 23
Villagers of Dwarahat and Maulekhal areas of Almora district have abdicated the 500 years’ old tradition of animal sacrifice during these Navratras. For the first time in the history of the Bhauna Devi and Udaipur Golu temples, 40 animals brought for sacrifice by devotees were returned by the two temple managements on Ashtami today.

It could be possible due to cooperation from the administration, the police and local voluntary organisations, which came forward to help in implementing court orders to stop animal sacrifice in temples, said Anand Singh Rawat, priest of the Bhauna Devi temple in the Maulekhal area of Almora district.

Rawat said animals were being sacrificed at the temple since its establishment 500 years ago by the kings of Kumaon. The goats and the buffaloes brought by the devotees were returned after their symbolic offering to the deity.

Local MLA Madan Singh Bisht, who was present there, announced Rs 4.5 lakh for the renovation of the temple after the villagers promised to respect the court orders and vowed not to sacrifice animals at the temple, said Anand Ballabh Joshi, a villager.

 Shortage of teachers hits plan for special kids
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 23
The paucity of trained educators is proving to be an impediment in the fulfilment of education programme launched for the differently abled children under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in Uttarakhand schools at the elementary stage.

The SSA inclusive education programme is meant for previously excluded children with disabilities such as blindness, low vision, speech impairment, learning disabilities, locomotors disabilities, speech disabilities, mental disabilities and other disabilities. The programme continues to face the shortage of trained educators.

“We require 183 special educators to ensure the children with special needs benefit from the inclusive education programme. Most of the special educators are being hired through a private agency and come from the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh but they are not eager to work in the hilly areas of the state. They are mostly resource persons and not trained in special education,” said RK Kunwar, additional project director, SSA.

Now, with the number of disabled children expected to go up as the state government begins to implement the inclusive education under the Right to Education (RTE) on a large scale, the shortage of special educators is expected to affect the programme.

“At the elementary level, the differently abled children have to be taught the basics of communication and learning, so that it becomes easier for them to complete eight years of elementary education with ease. But there are a few special educators in our state. Under the SSA, the government provides up to Rs 1,200 per child for the inclusion of disabled children in the inclusive education programme,” said Uma Panwar, expert, Inclusive Education.

With the scope of inclusive education expanding under the Right to Education, the government will require more special educators. Children are facing difficulty in memorising mathematical facts and the concepts of time, quantity and value have to be reinforced again which has to be tackled by special educators.

Even the atmosphere in schools has to be improved for differently abled children so that they have the freedom to move despite their disabilities.

 Fertile land for industry issue rocks House
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 23
In the newly constituted Uttarakhand Assembly, the issue of land allotted to GB Pant Nagar Agriculture University being acquired for developmental activities has raised a storm. Newly elected MPs have spoken on the issue of fertile land being taken over for building airports, industrial hubs and roads. The use of fertile land at Chief Minister’s Sitarganj constituency for other purposes has also irked the Opposition.

Since the creation of the state, the government has allowed huge tracts of fertile land in the districts of Haridwar, Nainital and Dehradun to be swallowed by builders for setting up industrial hubs, construction of roads and other development activity.

“As a rule, the government should avoid giving fertile land for developmental activities. The Congress government set a trend of sorts by allocating land for industrial activity in areas that were extremely fertile. The Congress government took away 3291 acres of land for establishing SIDCUL. Then later land was acquired for laying of railway line and airport. Now once again the Congress government has announced setting up an industrial hub in Sitarganj,” said Trivender Singh Rawat, former Cabinet minister.

 BJP demands White Paper on Sitarganj industrial hub
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 23
The BJP has demanded a White Paper on the industrial area in Sitarganj. Smelling a conspiracy in the Congress government's announcement to set up a new industrial hub by allotting fertile land to big industrial houses, including the Sitarganj jail area, the BJP said the plots, allotted under the earlier announced Sitarganj-I project, still remained vacant.

“After the concessional industrial package was withdrawn in 2010, several industrial houses wrapped up their businesses. It was the industrial package announced by the then former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that acted as a magnet. Now, the industrial houses are not keen to invest here. That is why we would like to know what the Chief Minister is offering to the investors,” said Ajay Bhatt while interacting with mediapersons today.

He said the Congress government should issue a White Paper, so that there was a clarity on the entire issue. “The intentions of the government are not honourable. We fear instead of utilising wasteland for setting up industrial hubs, the government is keen on changing the land use of fertile farm land into industrial purpose. Even the open jail area of Sitarganj that is being used by the inmates for cultivation purpose may be incorporated in the Sitarganj-II plan,” he charged.

He also charged the government for failing to utilise the plan money at the district and the state level. Bhatt said out of Rs 7,048 crore of the Plan money, only Rs 1,378 crore had been spent this year.

“There are just two months left for the government to initiate works, after which the winters will set in making it difficult to carry development activities,” he said.

Bhatt said in 13 districts, only 12 per cent to 15 per cent of the budget for development had been released.

Bhatt also take a swipe at the functioning of the Bahuguna government and termed the Union Minister of State Harish Rawat and Pauri Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj as “Undeclared Chief Ministers of the state” for their ability to ruffle the Chief Minister.

 Dhasmana flays Bhatt’s remark of 3 CMs in state
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 23
Vice-president of the Uttarakhand Congress Suryakant Dhasmana has pooh-poohed BJP leader Ajay Bhatt’s statement in which the latter had claimed the existence of three Chief Ministers in the state.

In a statement issued today, Dhasmana said the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly should first reveal the number of Chief Ministers the BJP had in Uttarakhand during its rule from 2007 to 2012 rather than making irresponsible statements. He added while the BJP had always changed the Chief Minister midway, the Congress gave stability to the state.

Dhasmana said Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna’s leadership was stable and he was working for the all-round development of the state. He reminded Bhatt that senior party leaders like Harish Rawat and Satpal Maharaj always extended cooperation to the government through their valuable guidance.

He said rapid industrialisation had started in Uttarakhand since the Congress government came to power. He added during the BJP rule no new industrial unit was set up in the state. He accused the BJP of even opposing industrialisation started by the previous Congress government. 

 Leopards kill 2 women in Kumaon
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, October 23
Leopards struck again and killed a woman and a 12-year-old girl in the Kumaon region in the last 24 hours. A woman, who was the village panchayat vice chief of Silkhora village, was killed by a leopard at Silkhora village of Lamgara block of Almora district while she was collecting grass for her pet animals in the nearby forest last evening. “This is third such incident in the village in which women have been killed in the leopard’s attack,”’ said Rahul, DFO, Almora.

“We have installed a cage at the place the leopard attacked the woman, and armed guards are being deputed in the village to protect the villagers,” said Rahul.

In another incident in Devrari Pant village of Pithoragarh district last night, a 12-year-old girl was killed by a leopard while she was sitting in the backyard of her house. “The body of the girl was later recovered near the site of the incident by the villagers,” said MS Sirohi, SDO of the Forest Department of Pithoragarh division.

“Lack of prey of leopards in the forests, shrinking of their habitation area and mating season during these months are the main reason the carnivores attack human settlements these days,” said Rahul.

 SIDCUL workers allege harassment, to stage protest
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 23
The Inqualabi Mazdoor Kendra, an organisation of workers employed at various factories of Uttarakhand, has decided to stage a protest against alleged continuous harassment of workers at State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIDCUL), Haridwar.

Addressing a press conference in Dehradun today, president of the organisation Kailash Bhatt referred to the October 15 protest by SIDCUL workers following which cases were registered against a number of workers under various sections of the IPC. “This is complete injustice. We had only held a peaceful march. But it is strange that the Haridwar police registered cases of serious nature against us,” Bhatt said.

He added industrial workers from Haridwar and other parts of the state would stage a demonstration at the District Magistrate’s office on October 26. Bhatt said unemployed youths were being exploited in the industrial areas of the state in the name of industrialisation.

 Four teams to remove encroachments from footpaths
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 23
The district administration has constituted four teams which will remove encroachment from footpaths or other public places in the city.

District Magistrate Ravinath Raman said the teams would visit their respective areas and remove encroachment on a daily basis. The City Magistrate, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, the Tehsildar and the Naib Tehsildar will head the teams.

Raman said the employees of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) and the police coordinator would assist the teams. The teams will give him a report about the drive everyday.

The District Magistrate said he had written to the SSP to provide the required police force to the teams. He had directed the Mukhya Nagar Adhikari of the DMC to provide him teams of employees for additional assistance.

 Key accused arrested in tusk smuggling case 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 23
The Kotdwar police has arrested the key accused, Jitendra, in the smuggling of elephant tusks in the Lansdown forest division. Earlier, five persons were arrested in this connection.

Ivory recovered at Kotdwar by forest officials. Photo: Kamal Joshi

Jitendra was arrested on the basis of information provided by two of his accomplices, who were arrested in a sting operation carried out by a team of the STF, Dehradun, and the SOG, Kotdwar police.

According to information, the team had recovered four pieces of an elephant's tusk from a car at Nimbuchaur, Kotdwar, a couple of days ago. It had arrested three persons on the spot while one managed to run away. Later, the police arrested two more persons, who led the police to the key accused, Jitendra, who had brought the ivory from the forest.

Jitendra told the police that six months ago, he had seen the carcass of an elephant at Dhobisrot in the Lansdown forest division. He informed about this to Kiran of Bhabar. Later, both of them went to that place again and sawed off the tusks from the elephant's carcass and buried the remains nearby. Kiran approached Jaipal to arrange for the sale of the ivory.

A. Senthil, SP (STF), said the buyer was in fact an undercover STF person. The team arrested Rajendra Singh, Dhan Singh and Narendra Singh with 67 kg of ivory. Later, their other two accomplices, Jaipal and Kiran, were also arrested.

Circle officer Aruna Bharati said the police had also recovered the skeleton of the elephant from Dhobisrot.

Divisional Forest Officer, Lansdowne Forest Division, Narendra Chaudhari said they had formed a joint team of forest and police personnel for coordination in forest-related crime. He said a DNA test would be conducted to determine the veracity of the accused’s claim. Meanwhile, all accused have been sent to jail.

This was the biggest haul of ivory since the inception of Uttarakhand, claimed SP (STF) A. Senthil. The cost of the ivory is more than Rs 65 lakh in the international market.

 Advocates for CBI probe into Saklani case
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 23
A delegation of advocates, led by President of the Dehradun Bar Association Surender Singh Pundir, today met Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna with regard to the Pushpa Saklani murder case.

They urged the Chief Minister to allow the police to interrogate the two accused arrested in the case. He said the Chief Minister had given them an assurance that if did not feel satisfied with the outcome of the findings, the case would be handed over to the CBI.

Advocates said they did not believe the statement given by the arrested accused, Vikas and Basant, that they had killed Pushpa Saklani, wife of advocate OP Saklani, with a motive to commit a theft in the house.

DBA members have demanded a CBI probe into the case to unearth the exact reasons behind the murder.