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CM opens Uttarayani fest at Bageshwar
Jugran asks state govt to clarify stand on Land Act
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Work begins on Gurdwara Lakhishah Banjara
Governor greets state on Makar Sankranti
MLA gives cheque for Rs 21 lakh to CM’s fund
Ministerial staff plan massive protest tomorrow
Regional parties a non-entity
Rally planned on permanent residence issue
Medicines distributed free at health camp
Elephant crushed to death by train near Haridwar
CM institutes inquiry
Killing of Indian Soldiers on Border Dehradun Diary TPS Rawat demands strong reaction from India
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CM opens Uttarayani fest at Bageshwar
Pithoragarh, January 13
Inaugurating the five-day long religious and cultural festival, Chief Minister Bahuguna said the historic town of Bageshwar was not only rich from the cultural point of view but political awakening in the region also rose from here. “The festival of Uttarayani has always been a pathfinder at the time of confusion for the area in the hill politics as our freedom fighters have chosen this place to start a strike against the tradition of Kuli-Begar in 1921,” said the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister announced an engineering college and a base hospital for Bageshwar district during his address after the inauguration of the fete at Numaishkhet ground of the town. Thousands of people will take a holy dip in the confluence of the Saryu and the Gomati at the town on the morning of January 14 to celebrate the religious aspect of the sun’s entry into Capricorn. “Thousands of people from parts of Kumaon, Garhwal and outside the state have camped near the confluence to take a holy dip early morning tomorrow when the sun will enter Capricorn,” said Ghansyam HJoshi, a local social worker. Information of celebrations of the festival of Uttarayani is pouring from various corners of the region and from Bareilly where the Kumaoni settlers have started celebrating it for the past 15 years. “The Uttarayani festival, better known as Ghughutiya, is being celebrated in Haldwani, Sitarganj, Tanakpur and Champawat towns with much devotion and religious fervour in all over the Kumaon region as the people offered their first delicacy of the sacred month of Magh to the crow because the crow is considered powerful carrier of their offering to the sun god,” said Parmanand Chaube, a retired professor of culture in Champawat town. In Pithoragarh and Champawat districts, preparations are being made at Pancheswar, Rameshwar and Hanseshwar ghats for the sacred bath of Uttarayani where thousands of devotees are expected to take bath on the occasion. “We have made a detailed preparation on the Sharda ghat on Monday and deputed dozens of police personnel and departmental swimmers to protect the devotees from drowning in the river,” said JS Rathor, SDM of Tanakpur in Champawat district.
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Jugran asks state govt to clarify stand on Land Act
Dehradun, January 13 He said since the high court gave the verdict in favour of the cut-off date of November 9, 2000, over the permanent residence issue, the Land Act formulated by the previous BJP government was automatically nullified. Under this Act, those living outside the state could not buy more than 250 sqm of land and if they wanted more, they would have to take permission from the state government. The provision was introduced to check the indiscriminate sale and purchase of agricultural land and protect the borderline areas from strategic point of view in the state. He said the high court had also revoked the Land Act 2007 while acting upon a writ petition filed in this regard. Thereafter, the state government moved the Supreme Court which had imposed a stay over the high court’s decision. Jugran said the state government that had decided to go with the high court’s decision must clear whether it was in favour of the Land Act 2007 or not. |
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Work begins on Gurdwara Lakhishah Banjara
Dehradun, January 13 Inaugurating the renovation work by performing Kar Sewa, Uttarakhand Congress vice-president Suryakant Dhasmana said the Sikh history was full of bravery and sacrifice. He in particular referred to Guru Gobind Singh's sacrifice for the cause of humanity in the backdrop of the tyrannical Moghul rule. He called upon the people to follow the path shown by the gurus for the betterment of society. Earlier, during morning hours, Guru Granth Sahib was shifted to elsewhere from the gurdwara. This was followed by prabhat pheri led by Panj Payaraas. Congress leader Devendra Singh Sethi, Congress Councillor Jagdish Dhiman, Balvinder Singh and Sulekh Chand were prominent among present on the occasion. |
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Governor greets state on Makar Sankranti
Dehradun, January 13 Meanwhile, former Chief Minister BC Khanduri has also greeted the people of the state on the occasions.
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MLA gives cheque for Rs 21 lakh to CM’s fund
Dehradun, January 13 He also stressed on strengthening of van panchayat. Kuwar Pranav disclosed that Rs 11 lakh out of 21 lakh was collected from the one-day salary of officials and employees of the FDC. |
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Ministerial staff plan massive protest tomorrow
Dehradun, January 13 Seeking Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna’s intervention, Ministerial Services Association Secretary D Budakoti said the Chief Minister must intervene and hold talks with the striking employees for the redressal of their genuine concerns. The striking ministerial employees are mainly demanding pay parity with the Uttar Pradesh ministerial employees. Significantly, the Uttarakhand government has been maintaining its stand that the pay parity issue was not under its jurisdiction as the state had been following the Central Government directives. The strike has crippled public dealing works such as distribution of pensions, scholarships, driving licences and others. Ministerial employees are 33,000 in number and are employed with various departments like Transport, Public Works and Collectorate. |
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Regional parties a non-entity
Dehradun, January 13 They are merely surviving on the sidelines. The biggest regional party, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, which has already given rise to six factions and has been divided four times in the past, is standing on the verge of another split. Another regional party, Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha (URM), which emerged as the most promising new regional party during the state Assembly elections, when many bigwig disgruntled leaders of BJP and Congress aligned with it , is also passing through a lean phase with many tall leaders having already forsaken it, and a few more openly ranting views against party president TPS Rawat. When Rawat held a dharna on the issue of permanent residence recently, cracks were visible, with some first-rung leaders not joining him for having opposing views about the issue. Former party spokesperson PC Thapliyal said: “Party president Rawat has confined himself to a particular lobby in the party. He has also narrowed his vision to the people of the hills only. The fact is initially we founded the party to cater to the interests of all sections of the state.” He rued that tall leaders who connected with the party and gave it importance left it one by one after facing disappointment over Rawat’s rigidity and one-sided decisions. Be it heavyweight political leader, Kedar Singh Fonia, who left BJP to join the URM, or Ratan Singh Gunsola, mass leader, former district panchayat head, Tehri, Virender Pal, member of the royal family at Dharchula, Renu Bisht, firebrand leader of Yamkeshwar who joined back Congress now, or the latest among all, Kunwar Japinder Singh, who was appointed vice-president, have all broken ties with the party. Kunwar Japinder Singh, whom URM had fielded opposite Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna in Sitarganj byelection, said: “The party president’s statement calling the Punjabi refuges in the state and demanding exclusion of the 60 pc population, mostly people of Punjabi community, by insisting on the cut-off date for permanent residence on 1950, embarrassed me to no end and left me with no option but to resign.” Rawat in his defence said his party would not be affected by the desertion of those leaders of BJP and Congress who joined it during Assembly elections and left it after that. He said by getting rid of 'opportunists,' his party had further strengthened. He accused Japinder Singh of focusing his vision on the Punjabi community, whereas his party encompassed all cross- sections of society. He also blamed PC Thapliyal and others in influencing him to field Japinder Singh in the Sitarganj byelection on the party ticket. He said history had testified that political parties took several decades to take roots in the country, and his was hardly one-year old. The party which banked upon the presence of a massive section of ex-servicemen living in the state, however, performed poorly by garnering mere 7,500 votes across the state and not winning a single seat. |
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Rally planned on permanent residence issue
Dehradun, January 13 While addressing a gathering of members of various other organisations today, president of the organisation, Ompal Singh Rathi, said more than half of the population was facing problems to obtain permanent residence certificate for issues related to education, employment and other fields. He said the Chief Minister had assured that he would release a government order legalising November 9, year 2000, as the cut-off date for permanent residence certificate after holding the assembly session. But he had not done that so far, which raised several questions. The members decided in unison to take out a big rally in the city in order to put pressure on the state government to take concrete steps on this issue.
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Medicines distributed free at health camp
Dehradun, January 13 The panel of doctors present in the camp included surgeon SK Jain, gynaecologist Arti Sharma, child specialist BK Jha, orthopaedic surgeon Deepak Semwal, Mayank, ENT specialist Apoorv Pandey and dentist Roopal.
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Elephant crushed to death by train near Haridwar
Haridwar, January 13 The incident occurred at 6 in the morning when the Jan Shatabdi train coming from Dehradun was about to reach Haridwar and was plying near the Motichur forest range, which falls under the Rajaji National Park. A herd of five-seven elephants was crossing the track, which is categorised as an elephant corridor, when the speeding train hit two in the group, crushing one and injuring a baby elephant. The age of the elephant is said to be between 18-20 years. The driver of the train was arrested by Haridwar Forest Division officials and was later handed over to the local police. Officials of the Rajaji National Park and Haridwar Forest Division arrived at the spot and took stock of the situation. Train driver Surendra and sub pilot Netra Ram Meena have been arrested. Both of them claimed that the train speed was between 45-47 kmph, refuting the allegations of some local people, who said the train was running at the speed of 60 kmph, which is prohibited in the reserved forest track region. Due to the incident, the railway traffic movement got delayed for more than five hours with the schedule of at least six trains getting affected. The train was stationed at the Raiwala railway station before the track was opened at 11:30 am. The Mussoorie Express, Dehradun-Saharanpur Express, Rishikesh-Haridwar and Rishikesh-Delhi Passenger were cancelled in the wake of the incident. The Lahori Express was stopped for more than two hours and the Howrah-Dehradun Express also signaled a stoppage at the Najibabad railway station. Talking to The Tribune, state Chief Forest Conservator RBS Rawat said, “We will take measures to make sure such incident do not occur in future. High level talks will be held with the Railways also.” Park ranger Mahendra Singh Negi stated that in view of the threat, night patrolling was conducted in the sensitive Motichur range at night which had lessened the number of such incidents since 2002. From late 80s till 2002, more than 20 elephants were hit on the Motichur-Kansrao track falling in the Rajaji National Park. Armed with wireless devices, park employees inform the nearest railway station whenever a jumbo movement is noticed and accordingly either the train is stopped or directed to slow down so that elephants do not come in the way. Haridwar Superintendent of Railways GK Das said Railways said they were looking into the possibility of lowering down the speed limit from the Haridwar station till Kansrao in view of the track falling in the highly sensitive Rajaji National Park area. Dr Ritesh Joshi, a noted elephant researcher, said sharp turns in the Motichur-Kansrao railway track made it difficult for both wild animals and train drivers to see each other from a distance. “Also, the hillocks need to be cut to make the vision clear for the drivers as the corridor is dense wioth vegetation,” added Dr Joshi.
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CM institutes inquiry
Dehradun, January 13 The elephant's death in the train accident has certainly come as a big setback for the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) that in assistance with the Rajaji Park authorities and the Railways has been implementing the Rajaji Train Hit Mitigation Model in the 18-km stretch of the railway track in the state’s protected area at the Rajaji National Park. The model, a brainchild of the WTI, was initiated in 2002 resulting in minimising elephant casualties to zero in this killer stretch of railway track. As many as 40 trains run everyday on this stretch of Railway track that crosses the Rajaji National Park. A total of 20 elephants were killed on this railway track inside the Rajaji park between 1998 and 2002. But the WTI Rajaji Train Hit Mitigation Model came as a big success completing stopping the elephant deaths since 2002 and now other states in the country too have started emulating the model. The mitigation model is already in implementation in Assam which alone accounts for 36 per cent of the total elephant train accidents. Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka are also on the way towards implementing the the mitigation model. The model apart from limiting the speed of trains also involves human patrolling along the track, sensitising of train drivers and taking other steps like curbing tendency of passengers to throw edible items which was also a factor in attracting the elephants to the track. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Additional Secretary, Forests, Manoj Chandran disclosed that Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had ordered a Commissioner-level probe to look into the reasons as to whether standard operating procedures linked to movement of trains in the Rajaji Railway Track stretch was followed. Manoj Chandran admitted that there was no fog during morning hours today and the train driver too belonged to Delhi depot. He asserted that only those drivers, who are well aware of this track and its surroundings, must be deployed to run the train on this track. Expressing concern over the incident, Wildlife Trust of Indian’s vice-chairman Ashok Kumar described the incident as worrisome. “We have already sent a team of WTI officials to the site to look into the cause of the mishap leading to the death of an elephant and injuries to other”, he said. “A preliminary information received by me reveals that a Delhi depot driver was driving the train that hit a herd of elephants. We have been for long sensitising the local drivers. Thus the drivers, who know the region, should run trains on this stretch. Further, we certainly need to have more of technical assistance like usage of electronic devices to make train mitigation model fool-proof”, Ashok Kumar observed.
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Killing of Indian Soldiers on Border
Dehradun, January 13 Interacting with mediapersons on the sidelines of a condolence meeting held in Dehradun today by ex-servicemen in remembrance of two Army jawans who were brutally killed by Pakistan forces in Jammu and Kashmir some days back, BC Khanduri said the decision-making at the ground level must be left with the Army with least interference of political leadership. "The political leadership should take up the issue at political level rather than interfering at ground level as the forces understand the situation at the ground level more properly”, he said. Referring to the foundation stone laying ceremony at Gairsain by Congress government, BC Khanduri described it as an
election stunt. "The state government has said only one session in a year will be held at Gairsain, which evidently means that Assembly at Gairsain will be working for just 5 days and for rest of 360 days, the infrastructure to come up at Gairsain will not be of any purpose”, he said, adding that the state government was doing all this keeping the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in mind. When asked about the election of new Uttarakhand BJP president, B C Khanduri admitted that the election of new president should be done at the earliest. “Yes, there has been a delay and the election should have taken place by now but that depends on the party’s central leadership”, he said. Earlier, addressing a gathering of ex-servicemen at Gandhi Park, Dehradun, B C Khanduri criticized the Pakistan army for resorting to such inhuman acts like beheading. He said anti-India propaganda had been an integral part of Pakistan politics. Paying tributes to the two martyrs, Lt Gen HB Kala (retd) stressed that the politicians must speak with full responsibility rather than making statements of no purpose. Lt Gen OP Kaushik (retd) said the army had always given a befitting reply to the Pakistani army whenever the latter had tried to resort to misadventure inside the Indian territory. Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi said the Centre must take strong action against Pakistan and should not be complacent on the matter. Dehradun Ex-services League President Brig KG Behl (retd) said beheading of the Indian jawans by the Pakistan army was all pre-planned. He said India needed to give strong response to Pakistan’s heinous acts. Earlier, a two-minute silence was observed for the peace of the departed soul. |
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Dehradun Diary
THE working of the state Information Department leaves much to be desired. Even after more than 12 years of it's existence, after the creation of the separate state of Uttarakhand on November 9, 2000, the state Information and Public Relations Department has utterly failed in it's main objective to project the policies and programmes of the respective state governments over the years. Moreover, it has remained mired in controversies as it's primary objective remained the disbursement of government advertisements rather than galvanising the image of the state government.
The political leadership of the state lacking in experience, knowledge and modern methods of communication has failed to recognise the importance of the department in the functioning of the state government. Interestingly, perhaps, Uttarakhand would be the only state giving low priority to it's Information Department because of lack of knowledge of the political leadership. In all the other state governments, the Information and Public Relations Department is a frontline department, acting as the eyes and ears of the state government, particularly of the Chief Minister. In Uttarakhand it is the least sought after department. In other state governments, heading the state Information and Public Relations Department is the most sought-after position as the person heading it is considered closest to the Chief Minister. But it is not the case in Uttarakhand. The most reluctant officers are sent to head the controversial department. In the past 12 years, the department, instead of improving the image of the state government, has done the opposite by it's omissions and commissions. The present Chief Minister, Vijay Bahuguna, has also completely failed to stem the rot in the department. In the past 12 years of existence, the department has failed to deliver even simple press releases in English language. None of the past Chief Ministers, even those knowing English, including the present incumbent, has done anything to appoint a person who could draft press releases in English. Sometimes, the Hindi press releases are literally translated into English language which makes funny readings and even lands the state government in embarrassing situations. The most glaring example was a press release issued by the department about a delegation of “sugar” industry meeting the Chef Minister. Interestingly, in fact it was a Chinese delegation which had met the Chief Minister but the person doing a translation of the Hindi press release translated “Chini” (Chinese) as “sugar,” and issued the press release. It was carried in some newspapers as the correction was sent late at night and could not ratified. Another issue that has put Minister Bahuguna to nationwide criticism was the reported decision of the state government to stop women from working after 6 pm in commercial establishments. There was no such order and the state government had only issued an advisory regarding ensuring transportation facilities for women working till 10 pm. There was no word from the state Information Department as the Chief Minister drew flak from the national media as well women organisations. There is no focus of the Chief Minister who heads the Information Department to refurbish his own image or of his own government, and it was expected that such goof-ups would continue in future. Assembly building at Gairsain
The Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Vijay Bahuguna, in a historic decision would be laying the foundation stone of the new Assembly building at Gairsain in Chamoli district on January 14 but this has triggered a bitter debate within the ruling Congress on having the permanent capital of the state at Gairsain. After the defeat in the Tehri byelection, Chief Minister Vjay Bahuguna, with an eye on the coming 2014 Lok Sabha elections, held a Cabinet meeting at Gairsain on November 3, 2012, and decided to build an Assembly building and related infrastructure, including buildings to house legislators and officials there. The Congress, which has fared well in the hilly areas of the state during the state Assembly polls in January 2012 by playing the Gairsain card, wanted to consolidate it's electoral position in the hills. But in a balancing act, the Chief Minister who did not want to annoy the people of the Terai region also announced to have a new Assembly building at Dehradun. The initial idea was to hold at least one Assembly session at Gairsain in a calendar year. The argument put forth by the ruling Congress leaders was that such
a move would fuel development in the backward hilly region. But his decision has started a demand by various political parties and leaders of his own Congress Party to have the permanent
capital at Gairsain. This has put Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna in an awkward situation. The first to raise the demand was Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal, a protégé of Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat. He demanded that Gairsain be made the permanent capital followed by Pardeep Tamta, Almora Congress MP and another Harish Rawat loyalist, who also demanded the same. Probably, the Harish Rawat camp wanted to put the Chief Minister in an embarrassing situation on the issue and wanted to rob of him of any political mileage which he wanted to seek through his Gairsain move. However, Chief Minister Bahuguna clarified that it would take not less than three years to complete the infrastructure at Gairsain. On the demand for having the permanent capital at Gairsain, he said that
it would be decided after three years with the consensus of all the political parties. The main Opposition BJP, which found itself dumbfounded by the Congress move, has been crying foul and alleging that it was a political move aimed at the Lok Sabha 2014 polls. Ajay Bhatt, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, has gone a step ahead in demanding a “white paper” on the state government move. The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, a regional outfit and other statehood agitationists, are steadfast in their demand to have Gairsain as the permanent capital. It is believed that the issue of Gairsain as permanent capital would continue to dominate the
state politics in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls in May 2014. —SMA Kazmi
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TPS Rawat demands strong reaction from India
Dehradun January 13 Rawat said it was highly despicable and intolerable act of the Pakistan army. He wondered at the audacity of Pakistan soldiers in taking along the head of one slain Indian soldier. Instead of this that the Indian Government would have talked to the Pakistan government over the
matter, latter itself questioned the Indian Embassy about it. He said be it Capt Saurabh Kalia who was killed by the Pakisan army and whose body was badly mutilated by them during the Kargil war in 1999, this incident substantiated that Pakistan would go on repeating such dastardly acts unless dealt with ample stringent measures. Rawat demanded snapping of all political and financial ties with Pakistan and befitting reply so that it could not dare to do so again. |
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Chairman of the Forest Development Corporation (FDC) Kunwar Pranav Singh submitted a cheque of Rs 21 lakh to Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna for Chief Minister's Relief Fund. In a simple ceremony held on this occasion today, which was attended by Principal Chief Conservator RBS Rawat and Managing Director,
FDC, Srikant Chandola, Vijay Bahuguna said:"
Dehradun, January 13
