Dehradun, November 5
As the term of the incumbent state BJP president BS Chuphal nears completion, a tussle has begun in the BJP for the top post, with those in line seeking blessings from the top BJP leaders.

The names of the leaders known to be close to both former Chief Minister BC Khanduri and former Chief Minister BS Koshiyari are being circulated, including former Cabinet minister Trivender Singh Rawat, Tirath Singh Rawat, Prakash Pant and Mohan Singh Gaonwasi.

While Tirath Rawat seems to have the support of BC Khanduri, Koshiyari is supporting Trivender Singh Rawat.

However, party insiders say while BS Chuphal has not openly expressed his desire for another extension, he may not be averse to the idea, in case the party leadership at the top desires to do so.

But conflicting signals are also emerging from the Koshiyari camp, who, besides being supportive of Trivender Singh Rawat as a choice for the post of the party president, may not mind leading the party himself.

“The victory in Tehri bypoll has revived the party that was highly demoralised after the narrow defeat at the hands of the Congress in the Assembly elections. Now it needs to set it’s house in order at the organisational level so that the party is able to face the challenge posed by the Congress that is in power in the state,” said a senior BJP leader.

While the party is already busy in the division-level elections right now, an important issue pertaining to the homecoming of rebels still remains unresolved.

Different groups in the party are ambling for the return of the rebels, citing the re-entry of Munna Singh Chauhan, but those opposed to the homecoming of the rebels (banished from the party after the 2012 Assembly election results) do not see any similarity between the exit of Chauhan and the rebels. “The rebels were issued show- cause notices and then expelled from the party, while Chauhan quit on his own. The party had resolutely expelled the rebels, acting on the disciplinary committee report ,” said a party leader.

Dehradun, November 5
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna called on Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat at his residence in New Delhi today and congratulated him for his elevation to the post of Union minister. Bahuguna said it was a matter of pride for Uttarakhand.

He urged Harish Rawat to release funds for 127 projects run under the Union Water Resources Ministry. In all, funds amounting to Rs 480 crore have to be released for these projects.

Bahuguna also visited Union Minister of State (Independent charge) KH Muniappa and congratulated him for taking over this new responsibility. He also discussed issues pertaining to the implementation of skill development projects in Uttarakhand under the central micro, small and medium entrepreneurship department.

He also urged Muniappa to decide the date for the foundation stone laying ceremony of a tool room.

Dehradun, November 5
Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), which is dealing with a massive losses of Rs 2,100 crore, has begun collecting pending dues from government departments to improve its financial condition. The corporation has approximately Rs 300 cr to recover from these departments.

The UPCL has recovered Rs 45 cr from the Jal Nigam this year. Executive Director, Commercial, Anil Kumar said, “The Jal Nigam and the Jal Sansthan have Rs 100 cr of dues to pay to the UPCL. We have recovered Rs 45 cr from the Jal Nigam this year. The Jal Sansthan is to give Rs 55 cr to the UPCL. Since it has not got sufficient money from the annual budget, it could not return the amount.”

Kumar said, “The state government has devised an excellent method through which a portion of the electricity dues is deducted from the total annual budgeted amount before it is released to the specific departments.”

It is understandable that the dues, which have not been paid for several years, have piled up and cannot be paid back in soon.

The Irrigation Department is also sitting silent on the issue of its electricity dues of Rs 100 cr. It has been able to dodge the UPCL for all these years. This time too, it avoided the payment by citing the reason of shortage of budget amount released to it.

The UPCL, which is repeatedly pulled up by the state government for not been able to reduce its losses, is not ready to suffer. “If the state government does not release enough fund for a department, for instance the Jal Sansthan, then the UPCL would make adjustments in the payment made to the government for availing 12 per cent of the total hydro-power generation from the Tehri Hydro Power Corporation and in the form of electricity duty.”

The Dehradun Municipal Corporation also is to give Rs 18 cr to pay to the UPCL. Kumar said, “Not only the DMC but even other local bodies throughout the state also are to pay dues to the UPCL. These bodies have been enjoying free electricity for all these years but this year, we recovered Rs 36 cr from these as well.”

Various hospitals in the city, including Doon Hospital, owe Rs 20 lakh to the UPCL whereas surprisingly, Maharana Pratap Sports College too has electricity dues of a whopping Rs 85 lakh to pay. Various other government offices have also not made a payment of Rs 50 cr to the UPCL.

The corporation has begun an exercise to take them to task as well.

Dehradun, November 5
The decision to build Vidhan Bhawan at Gairsain and hold a session there annually is being seen as an astute political move by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to bolster the prospects of Congress in the mountainous regions of the state before 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Political analysts believe that the announcement will go a long way in strengthening the Congress for the next general elections as Gairsain has been a major emotive issue with a large section of those who fought for Uttarakhand, favouring Chamoli district as the permanent capital of the hill state.

The ruling Congress has taken a lead over the opposition by striking an emotional chord with the hill people with the announcement as the BJP, despite being in the saddle for seven out of 12 years of the state's existence, is charged with not acting on the sensitive issue.

It is the first government in the 12-year-old state which has moved on the issue and this is sure to have an impact on the minds of the hill people, they held.

The move would initiate the process of infrastructure building there and might pave the way for its gradual emergence at least as the summer capital of the state if not a permanent one, they said.

Congress insiders, requesting anonymity, even suggested that Bahuguna's next announcement might be declaring Gairsain as the state's summer capital before 2014 Lok Sabha polls if the Vidhan Bhawan building and related infrastructure comes up there on time.

The decision also appears to have been prompted by the defeat of Congress at the hands of the BJP in the bypoll to the Tehri Lok Sabha seat in the hills where the Chief Minister's son Saket Bahuguna lost to Mala Rajlaxmi Shah of the BJP by more than 22,000 votes. — PTI

Dehradun, November 5
A two-day intra-regional 20th National Children’s Science Congress 2012-13 was inaugurated by Dr PP Bhojvaid, Director, Forest Research institute (FRI), at Kendriya Vidayalaya, FRI campus, here today.

The theme of the science congress was energy and its sub themes.

The aim of the programme is to provide children between the age group of 10 and 17 from all over the country a unique opportunity to use their scientific temperament and knowledge to make their dreams come true.

The main objective of the children’s science congress is to exhibit creativity of the students, innovativeness and particularly their ability to solve problems experienced locally using the methods of science.

About 200 students from 40 KVs of the Dehradun region are participating in the event.

The programme was inaugurated by Dr Bhojvaid by lighting the ceremonial lamp along with NS Rana, Deputy Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Dehradun region, SS Chauhan, Assistant Commissioner, Dehradun region, and Dr TP Gaur, Principal, KV OFD, Raipur, followed by a welcome song presented by studets of KV, FRI. Dr Charu Sharma, Principal, KV, FRI, extended a formal welcome to the guests.

The chief guest stressed the need to develop methods to use bio fuels and non-conventional source of energy in the day-to-day life. He said the state had a great potential of generating hydropower and budding scientists should develop innovative ideas to explore its use. Twenty projects will be for the nationals to be held in Hyderabad in December.

Dehradun, November 5
Badthe Kadam-IV, a disability awareness programme, was flagged off from the Raphael Ryder Cheshire International Centre today.

A team of five volunteers will now travel to different parts of the state to spread awareness.

On the occasion, the ‘Badthe Kadam’ theme song was sung by the staff and the children of the day school. This was followed by a short film on autism.

This year, Raphael, the State Nodal Agency Centre (SNAC), is conducting five melas- three in Tehri, one in Pauri and one in Bageshwar, between November 5 to 26 to disseminate information about disabilities and the programmes being launched by the government.

Pithoragarh, November 5
Residents of more than 20 villages from across the Gori river area, which divides Dharchula and Munsiyari subdivision of the district, have requested the state government to recognise the annual pilgrimage of Chiplakedar Jat being organised in the Garhwal region. The Chiplakedar Jat yatra is the main pilgrimage being conducted on the lines of the Nanda Raj Jat yatra.

“We want government protection and funds from the Cultural Department for this traditional yatra,” said Rudra Singh Panda, a BJP leader and former chairman of the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam.

Panda said the local people hold a procession to the abode of the Kedar Dham situated at more than 11,000 feet to worship the deity every year.

According to the local people, the villages across the Gori river have a distinct culture and they worship the Kedar deity, which has his abode at more than10,000 feet. “To worship the deity, the local people travel more than 30 km in difficult terrain to reach the abode of Chiplakedar in two days. Chiplakedar is considered an incarnation of Lord Shiva,” said Trilok Singh, a schoolteacher, who had accompanied villagers on the Chiplakedar yatra.

“The Tourism Department has recognised the trek route from Munsiyari to Chiplakedar, but the government has not released any funds to create facilities on this serene Himalayan route. The route provides tourists the pleasure of viewing snow-laden peaks and witnessing a unique cultural tradition of the area,” said Panda.

He said there was a need to create facilities on the Chiplakedar route from Tawaghat to Khela to Chiplakot and on the second route from Baram to Kanar to Chiplakot on the lines of the Nanda Raj Jat yatra in the Garhwal region. “In 1998-99, the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) had sanctioned two fiber huts for the Chipla peak, but these were diverted to the Pancheswar area to facilitate the angling competition,” said Panda.

He added he had written a letter to the Chief Minister to grant money for the annual event and develop it on the lines of the Nanda Raj Jat yatra. “To pursue the cause, we have called a meeting of the local people at Munsiyari in the last week of November,” said Panda. 

Dehradun, November 5
State Planning Minister Dinesh Aggarwal said today that the state government was working for the welfare of farmers and their harassment would not be tolerated.

He said lands of farmers in the Patel Nagar area of the city were acquired for the construction of a sewerage system by the Uttar Pradesh Government Construction Corporation.

Aggarwal said farmers had sowed crops on this land but the undertaking agency had damaged the crops of the farmers. He said District Magistrate Ravinath Raman had been asked to convene meeting with the officials of the undertaking agency and direct them to pay compensation to the farmers whose crops were destroyed. He said it would be ensured that the crops sowed by the farmers presently were not destroyed till they were reaped.

Aggarwal said a committee constituted by the District Magistrate would analyse the damage and fix compensation. He said the committee comprised of SDM, tehsildar and two representatives of farmers. The committee would submit report to the District Magistrate. He said there should not be any politics in this case and the farmers should be paid compensation for their losses at the earliest.

Haridwar, November 5
Shortage of medicines being provided at the government hospital in the city has been posing problems to the patients.

In view of this, Bharatiya Janta Party activists and affected people staged a demonstration on the hospital premise. They also submitted a memorandum to Chief Medical Officer Deepa Sharma in this regard while a copy has also been forwarded to state Health Minister Surendra Singh Negi.

Leading the protest, divisional chief of BJP, Haridwar, Vikas Tiwari, pointed out that for the past few months, most of the medicines prescribed by hospital doctors were not available in the hospital medicine store.

The hospital staff provided medicines free of cost to influential people while poor and needy had to buy medicines from private stores.

Tiwari also alleged the involvement of hospital staff with private medical stores that benefit from the non-availability of medicines at the general hospital.

The protestors also gheraoed CMS Ajab Singh and demanded stringent action against the offenders.

Pradeep Kalra, Nagesh Verma, Ravi Jaissal, Sachin Bharadwaj, Anil Vashisth and Vijay were among the protesters.

Pithoragarh, November 5
“Cyclone Sandy, which devastated American coastal areas recently, and cyclone Neelam, which stormed Indian costal states, are the result of internal circular changes in sun spots. This change is likely to continue for next five years and the world may witness more storms,” said Dr Rajmal Jain, senior physicist and in-charge of the physical research laboratory, Ahmedabad. Jain was talking to mediapersons after delivering a speech at the two-day physics symposium at MB College, Haldwani, today.

“The changes visible in sun spots this time are bound to affect the earth, thus creating big cyclones,” said Jain. He cited an analysis based on X-ray prints of the solar spectrometer being sent by G-SAT-2 to Indian physical laboratories.

Jain said the number of solar spots was reducing rapidly, thus causing cyclones like Sandy and Neelam. “The situation of sun spots was the same in 1956 when a big storm was witnessed in south India. Storms of that density have not been witnessed since then,” he added.

Jain said the country had now started a serious research on correlation between the sun spots and cyclones on the earth at various physical research laboratories.

Haridwar, November 5
A three-day training camp organised by the Nehru Yuva Gram Vikas Samiti for Bharat Nirman volunteers concluded here today.

During the camp, volunteers were informed about skill-based programmes.

Project manager NK Pawar said the youth should be aware about employment avenues and indulge in creative-socio projects. He said these trained volunteers would now generate awareness among villagers about sanitation.

Volunteers were also apprised about various schemes being run by the Social Welfare Department like scholarships, pension, marriage allowance for girls belonging to the SC/ST category, Atal Awas Yojana, caste certificate, residential certificate etc.

Haridwar development officer SS Sharma informed the volunteers about the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, types of works carried out under this national project, wages and duty hours.