Accused sets himself ablaze on district court premises
Haridwar, March 19
In a sensational incident, an accused set himself ablaze during an appeal hearing of his case on the district court premises here today.

Dehradun, March 19
It was a day of protests in Dehradun today as unemployed youths, teachers, gram pradhans and class IV employees staged demonstrations in support of their demands.

Demanding empowerment of panchayats, the Uttarakhand Gram Pradhan Sangathan staged a protest march to the Vidhan Sabha today. However, police personnel prevented gram pradhans from moving forward at the Rispana Bridge barricading.

Led by president Surat Singh Negi, sangathan members alleged that the concerns of the gram pradhans were not being addressed by the governments in power in the state.

He said the funds allotted to the gram pradhans by the State Finance Committee were yet to be released, which was hampering development works. He alleged that the government had even failed to give gram panchayats more rights and autonomy.

Negi said as per the 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Constitution, administrative and financial rights of 31 departments should be given to the gram panchayats.

He also demanded the inclusion of gram panchayat members in the District Planning Committee.

In another protest, unemployed youths holding BPEd degrees staged a march to the Vidhan Sabha, seeking the appointment of physical education teachers in primary and upper primary schools.

Members of the Unemployed BPEd Association gathered at the old Raipur bus stand and proceeded towards the Vidhan Sabha. A strong police contingent, however, stopped the protesters from marching forward at the Rispana bridge barricading. This forced association members to stage a dharna there only. Association president Ramkrishan Nautiyal, vice-president Sunil Saini, Ashok Chauhan and Himanshu Rajput were prominent among the protesters.

Similarly, shiksha acharyas, too, went outside the Vidhan Sabha hoping that the government would ultimately accept their demand for the regularisation of their services. Shiksha acharyas said they had been staging a dharna for the past 292 days but the state government had failed to address their concern.

Meanwhile, class IV employees from 36 state departments continued with their dharna at the old Raipur bus stand today. Today was the 16th day of their protest.

They have been demanding the issuance of government notification regarding grade pay profit to all class IV employees in the state from January 1, 2006.

BS Negi, Abbal Singh Khatri, Mangal Singh and RN Sati were prominent among the protesters.

Haridwar, March 19
With the arrest of Gurukul Kangri University students Simaranjit Singh and Vikalp Chaudhari by the police on the charges of manhandling a police official and hampering official work of a government employee, students of Gurukul Kangri University and other city colleges closed six colleges today as mark of protest.

Simaranjit was arrested from Jagjeetpur when he along with Vikalp in an inebriated condition manhandled a police constable yesterday.

The police arrested the duo and as the news spread, the students gheraoed the police station.

Today, students of Shravan Nath Math Jawaharlal Nehru College, Haridwar Education College and Gurukul Kangri University jointly staged a protest, closing six colleges of the city.

Ex-chief of student union of SMJN Shakti Tyagi, addressing students, said if the police wouldn't withdraw the charges filed against the innocent students, they would be forced to start agitation.

As a result of the forceful closure of the colleges, classes were suspended with many cultural activities going on at SMJN and HEC suspended for tomorrow.

Though, taking into consideration the annual function of Kanya Gurukul, agitating students exempted the girls college from closure

Kankhal Circle Officer Chandra Mohan Singh said the police keeping in mind the future of the students would have imposed minor charges had both students not found drunk and their supporters not created commotion at the police station with many misbehaving with police officers too.

After presenting them in court, both have been sent to jail and no one will be allowed to disturb the peace or taking law into their hands, said Chandra Mohan.

Haridwar, March 19
About 101 trees were cut illegally at a horticulture garden at Jagjeetpur, 5 km from Haridwar city, last night.

The incident came to light this morning when the owner of a nearby plot, Rajendra Goyal, arrived there and saw the logged trees. He informed the forest, horticulture and administrative officials about the incident.

Local villagers alleged that wood smugglers and the land mafia were behind the incident as in the similar fashion trees had been cut in three gardens in the area in the past few months. Tehsildar Asraar Hussain tried to contact Goyal as the owners of neighbouring plots said he was constructing a commercial building at his plot.

The Tehsildar told The Tribune that a probe had been initiated in the case. The land mafia had cut more than 140 trees growing adjacent to the Jagjeetpur garden on January 24.

Hussain added that the Forest Department had authorized the Horticulture Department to prune and log trees two months ago and since then the incidents of illegal felling of trees had increased.

District Horticulture Officer Sanjay Srivastava said he was looking into the matter and anyone from the department found guilty would face punitive action.

The land mafia is very active nowadays as a large number of trees on agricultural land, near the national highway, have been logged. Notably, 24-odd trees were illegally felled in a few hours at a horticulture garden at a colony, near Gurukul Kangri University, on the NH-58 last month. Similarly, the land-builder mafia illegally axed 45 mango trees at Gurbaksh Vihar at Kankhal recently.

Though the Horticulture Department had given permission for pruning, all 40-odd trees were felled in one night and transported.

Mussoorie, March 19
The local administration, finally waking up to the strict directions issued by the DM, Dehradun, during his meeting held yesterday over the issue of banning plastic completely, has decided to divide the town into six zones, six sectors and appointed 11 supervisors to overlook the work on regular basis.

The District Magistrate had shown his dissatisfaction over the efforts of the local administration in curbing the plastic menace in the town, and had directed the officials to begin the exercise without any further delay in the meeting held in Mussoorie yesterday.

The SDM, Mussoorie, adhering to the strict directions of the District Magistrate, held a meeting with health officials from the Municipal Council in the town yesterday evening, where it was decided that the area falling under Mussoorie Municipal Council and Landour Cantonment Board will be divided into two zones and six sectors under the supervision of 11 officials from various departments. It was decided that a campaign to remove plastic from the town would be taken up in all seriousness.

@The 11 supervisors, namely Sushil, Surendar Pal, Phool Kumar, Vinod, Naresh and other officials from the Municipal Council would be monitoring the exercise and ensuring that the plastic was not strewn around in the selected sectors.

The zonal head MC executive officer, PS Rawat, Nayab thesildar, assistant engineer, tax superintendent and tax collector have been appointed as zonal heads to assist the supervisors in the matter.

The SDM directed the supervisors to survey the sectors allotted to them in the town on daily basis, and if any polythene material was found, it should be reported to the sector officers around so that they were able to slap fines and confiscate the goods without any delay.

The sector officials will submit the progress report within a span of three days regularly to the zonal heads, who would forward the report to the SDM, Mussoorie, on weekly basis with action taken report attached to it.

The SDM, Mussoorie, speaking to the media said that all forms of plastic, including carry bags and glasses, will be confiscated without hesitation. He also appealed to the people to join the administration in this campaign. The awareness drive will also be carried out in a timely manner to make residents and tourists aware about the plastic menace in the town, added the SDM.

President of the state unit of the Samajwadi Party addresses a press conference in Dehradun on Tuesday

Dehradun, March 19
State president of the Samajwadi Party SN Sachan said hundreds of party members would protest before the Secretariat on their 12-point agenda on April 4.

If the state government did not approve of these points, then they would start a statewide agitation. The issues are the inclusion of social and backward castes such as jats in the OBC category, decentralisation of administrative machinery, resumption of hydro power projects, proper implementation of schemes pertaining to education and health, no reservation in promotion, implementation of effective agriculture policy and providing ownership rights to slum people in the state.

The city unit also burnt an effigy of Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma for making remarks against SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Addressing a press conference in the party office, Sachan said if Finance Minister Indira Hridesh, native of Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, could rise to the position of minister in the state, then why people of other states, who settled in Uttarakhand before the state formation, were denied the facilities and status of permanent residence certificate.

He slammed the state government for allegedly selling the illegal government land. Sachan said the state government acquired land in the name of developing industrial town SIDCUL but then the land was sold to builders on high rates involving hundreds of crores.

He also ridiculed the act of the Congress to stage protests in public saying that never ever any state government held ‘halla bol’ public protests.

“MLAs and ministers are busy with their foreign trips whereas the party is trying to attract the attention of people toward corruption by holding protest in each district of the state. This government drama was a total flop,” he said.

Sachan called regional parties barring the BSP to unite and emerge as a force in the state. While taking on the BJP he said, “The BJP went to the Governor demanding cancellation of the Bhati report as some contents went public before it could be tabled in the Vidhan Sabha. Even if the report leaked, the facts of the report stand as they are, so there should be no demand to cancel the report. Rather an inquiry should be conducted into the leak.”

He said the benefits of centrally sponsored scheme implemented for the uplift of minority and backward classes were not reaching the deserving persons at the grassroot level. This exposed the serious discrepancies in the functioning of ministries and bureaucracies in the state. He also demanded the implementation of recommendations of the Rangnath Mishra and Sachar Committee reports.

Dehradun, March 19
Governor Aziz Qureshi here today honoured Sampoornanand Bharti, founder of the Dudhatoli Lok Vikas Sansthan, Pauri Garhwal, with the 'Green Award' of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The sansthan has been working for the conservation and enrichment of the environment.

Speaking on the occasion, the Governor said environment protection in the state was becoming a challenge that needed to be taken seriously. He appreciated the efforts made by Bharti in this regard.

The Governor said it was due to efforts made by people like him that the traditions, culture and environment was protected.

Bharti said without any government support, his organisation had afforested 150 villages and made 20,000 'chal-khals' to store rainwater.

CII's north region chairman Manvinder Singh also addressed the gathering.

Dr Farooq, former chairman, CII, said the award was started by the CII in 2006 to encourage people and organisations working for the cause of the environment.