Govt presents a rosy picture of Plan expenditure
Shows increase of 19.46 per cent in year 2012-2013
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 3
Amid reports of poor spending of the Plan expenditure, the government today tried to convey a rosy picture of the expenditure by showing an increase of 19.46 per cent of the total Plan expenditure for the year 2012-2013 in comparison to 2011-2012.

With the close of the financial year, Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain put on record the receipt and expenditure position of the government in the financial year 2012-2013. “The total Plan expenditure during 2012-2013 was Rs 5525.10 crore against Rs 4625.12 crore in the year 2011-2012, showing an increase of 19.46 per cent,” said Jain at a press conference today.

Further, he said that the government’s collections through VAT during the financial year 2012-2013 at Rs 4261 crore had been better than other states. “It has shown an increase of 17 per cent while the collection during 2011-2012 was Rs 3643.51 crore,” said Jain.

He said that better monitoring and rationalisation of rate structure had helped in mopping up good revenue. “The total collection made by the state Excise Department during 2012-2013 is Rs 1092 crore as against 2011-2012 when it was Rs 843.65 core, showing an increase of 29 per cent,” said Jain.

Though these figures are still to be verified by the Accountant General, nevertheless the government even claimed that the expenditure under the Centrally sponsored schemes too had shown a considerable increase of Rs 521.38 crore as compared to 2011-2012, when the expenditure was Rs 1494.66 crore, and in 2012-2013 it was Rs 2016.04 crore. 

Permanent Residence
UKD seeks change in cut-off date
Tribune News Service

UKD workers raise slogans against the government at the District Magistrate’s office in Dehradun on Wednesday.

Dehradun April 3
A delegation of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate in protest against the Government Order issued yesterday on the subject of permanent residence and caste certificate.

The members while carrying out a demonstration blamed the state government of divesting the original inhabitants of the state of their rights.

In the memorandum, the state government was castigated for distorting the constitutional provisions on these subjects. They also indicated towards the change in the cut-off time period as specified by the Supreme Court in this regard.

UKD vice-president AP Juyal said, “As per the Constitution of the country, those, who were living in a particular city/state in 1950, are considered the permanent residents of that state. Moreover, the UKD has also filed a petition before a Double Bench of the state high court. In such a situation, issuing the GO on the matter is totally unconstitutional. Hence the state government must withdraw the GO at the earliest.”

He said they had addressed their memorandum to the Prime Minister. They had pleaded the Centre to revoke this decision. The members also demanded the expulsion of Chief Minister of the state.

The leaders who were present on the occasion included Latafat Hussain, Promila Rawat and Sufi Khalikh Ahmad. 

Loopholes in caste certificate govt order
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 3
Half-hearted attempt by the government to entangle the caste certificate issue and thereby finally put to rest the issue of conferring the status of permanent resident of Uttarakhand has once again resulted in a half-backed government order, which in the long run may antagonise groups for whose benefit the government has brought it in the first place.

Experts point out that while according to the government order, the cut-off date for conferring caste certificates to members of the SCs, STs and OBCs who had been residents of state for the last 15 years would be November 2000, confusion persists for the cut-off date for permanent resident as the government order was issued in 2001.

Clearly, the government order issued a year later is not compliant with the November 2000 cut-off date of the court.

The permanent resident issue according to the 2001 order should then be considered from the date of the order, ie 2001 and not 2000, said a senior official.

For that matter in one clause the cut-off date for listing the members of SCs and STs and OBCs is 1994 (According to the reservation Act), but further down the clauses of the government order, it has been stated that the members of OBCs would be able to claim themselves to be permanent residents even after November 9, 2000, ie as and when the government declares new communities under the list. Significantly there is no cut-off date for OBCs. This may go against the members of SC and ST communities.

“Clearly the lacuna is glaring and is aimed at dealing one set of communities differently by defining different cut-offs for the three communities who would be seeking the caste certificate,” he added.

Further, one of the clauses states the government order would be applicable to persons who had settled in Uttarakhand from undivided Uttar Pradesh, but is mum on persons who could qualify as permanent residents but coming from states other than Uttar Pradesh.

However, while the government order refers to the issue of permanent resident for disbursing caste certificates, there is no longer any requirement for procuring permanent resident certificates.

Protest march by class IV employees
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 3
Class Four employees today staged a protest march to the Secretariat in Dehradun.

Held under the aegis of the Uttarakhand Class Four Employees Federation, the rally started from Old Raipur bus stand and passed through Kanak Chowk route before reaching the Secretariat where it held a demonstration.

President of the federation Govind Singh Negi asserted that class four employees would continue with their agitation till their genuine concerns were addressed by the state government. He yet against threatened to teach the Congress a lesson in the coming civic bodies elections in the state.

Ramchandra Bhatt, Prem Singh Kandari, Guman Singh Panwar, Malti Bisht and Alok Sharma were other prominent class four employees federation leaders who addressed the rally.

It is noteworthy that class four employees have been demanding an instant implementation of the government notification regarding giving them pay grade benefit in the state from January 1, 2006.

Jain calls for more services to people
Tribune News service

Dehradun, April 3
Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain on Wednesday called for the expansion of services provided to the public under the Right to Service Act.

At a review meeting at the Secretariat, he said a meeting of all departments should be convened to decide which services they could include under the Act.

Jain said at present 80 services were being provided and these should be increased to 200. He added that more public services should be made available online and a monitoring system should also be developed.

He said services like adding or removing names from ration cards, change in residential address, registration of marriages, registration of doctors, chemists and schools, renewal of driving licences and providing new electricity meters could be added to the list of existing services.

Principal Secretary Ranvir Singh, Principal Secretary (Agriculture) Om Prakash, Principal Secretary (Planning) S. Ramaswamy, Principal Secretary (Finance) Radha Raturi, Secretary (Food and Civil Supplies) Suvardhan, Secretary (Minor Irrigation) RC Pathak, Director General (Education) RK Sudhanshu and Additional Secretary (Education) PS Jangpangi were present at the meeting. 

Residents block Haridwar road
Tribune News Service

Dehradun April 3
Residents of Sarvhara Nagar blocked the Rishikesh-Haridwar national highway last night to demand the arrest of accused after a resident of the colony was found murdered in Pragati Vihar, Rishikesh.

According to the police, the body was identified as that of Subhash, tempo driver, by his wife Rekha. She told the police that the victim left home after having dinner. When he did not return till late night, the family began searching for him and found his body abandoned on the Haridwar road outside Sabjimandi.

The police also recovered a liquor bottle, a bidi packet, a match box, a namkeen packet and an empty glass. The police is yet to ascertain whether the victim committed suicide by dousing petrol on himself or was burnt alive by others.

Public parks in Pauri town in poor condition
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Pauri Garhwal, April 3
Public parks at tourist town Pauri are in a neglected condition and they present a disappointing picture.

Before the creation of Uttarakhand the town used to boast of many beautiful parks in its periphery. But now these parks are either neglected or have been converted into parking lots for vehicles.

This gives a bad impression to tourists, who visit the town round the year, while for the local people the ambience of beautiful parks is now a foregone past.

Playing space for children in the town is squeezing due to construction activities and the conversion of parks into parking lots has further restricted their activities.

The local Municipal Council has demolished up to 90 per cent of Agency Park situated in the middle of the town and commercial vehicles can be seen parked there. Locals say Agency Park used to be a favourite place of the local people and the tourists due to its greenery and its location right at the centre of the town. But it has been lying in poor condition for the past five years and anti-social elements could be seen there consuming alcohol and drugs.

A project of the Municipal Council to build a multi-storey library, a park and a basement parking at Agency Park is hanging fire. Social activist Dharmendra Negi says the project was envisaged with a view to providing parking facilities to the taxi union in which some municipal councillors had vested interest.

“If the Municipal Council was serious about the multi-storey project, why even after five years not a single brick had been laid at Agency Park, which used to be a place of major attraction for tourists in the town,” says Negi.

“Increasing urbanization has taken its toll on greenery in the town. Public representatives, who have no vision for public welfare, are more concerned about parking of vehicles at the park instead of environment, greenery and tourism,” he adds.

Similarly, Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Park, earlier known as Jail Park, has been temporarily converted into a parking lot. Situated adjacent to the District Magistrate’s office, this park was used by children for playing and many fairs were organized here. It is now being used for parking vehicles, including heavy commercial vehicles.

Though Rs 20 lakh was sanctioned and released for the renovation of Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Park in 2002, only works like construction of a boundary wall and a slip road for easy accessibility of vehicles to the Dhara road and the levelling of ground were executed.

Politicians used this park for public rallies as besides Ramleela Maidan, it is the only place in the town where a large number of people can assemble at a time.

Local historians say that political stalwarts like former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna and former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao had addressed people at this park. A statue of HN Bahuguna is in place adjacent to this park.

Municipal Council chairman Rajendra Prasad Tamta says he could not execute the park project as he did not get support of the councillors and there was no consensus on the issue.

He adds that if he is elected to the post for the second time, renovation of Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Park will be his priority.

Another major park near Kandoliya Temple is lying in a neglected state with damaged walls, broken iron railings and a non-functional fountain.

Similarly, Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Park, which was inaugurated in 1992 by the then state Tourism Minister Harak Singh Rawat, is being renovated at present after a delay of a decade.

Hurting tourism The Pauri Municipal Council has demolished up to 90 per cent of Agency Park situated in the middle of the town. Commercial vehicles can be seen parked at Agency Park. Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Park, which was inaugurated in 1992 by then state Tourism Minister Harak Singh Rawat, is being renovated at present after a delay of a decade. Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Park, earlier known as Jail Park, has been temporarily converted into a parking lot. Another major park near Kandoliya Temple is in a neglected state with damaged walls, broken iron railings and a non-functional fountain.

Separate corridor for rogue elephants on the cards
Talks on with wildlife officials
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 3
Translocation of rogue elephants active in Rishikesh region of Uttarakhand seems to be on the cards even as human death toll in elephant attack cases in Rishikesh rose to eight after yesterday's death of a teenager.

In yet another gruesome incident yesterday evening, a teenager was mauled by an elephant in the Mansa Devi village in Rishikesh. The victim, 16-year-old Deepu, son of Ram Bahadur, an attendant in a shop, was retuning back after the day's work when near Mansa Devi village he was attacked by an elephant, who mauled him at the very spot. The incident infuriated the villagers as there have been several human deaths in elephant attack cases in the region.

Dehradun Divisional Forest Officer Sushant Patnaik did not rule out translocation the rogue elephant. He said the Forest Department has started consultations with pachyderm experts in Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. “If the rouge elephant is identified, it can be translocated,” Patnaik said.

On other hand, villagers today accused Forest Department of doing little to protect the Rishikesh region from the growing elephant attack menace. They alleged that Rishikesh, Shivpur, Badkot and Motichoor forest ranges that surround Rishikesh town have become a virtual danger zone for them due to frequent human killing done by the elephants.

Forest authorities, however, claimed that they were taking every possible measure to safeguard the general public from attacking elephants. The new traffic system at Dehradun-Rishikesh road is already in place with vehicles only being allowed to move in convoy. Patrolling in sensitive areas has been increased and even fencing undertaken in forests that fall in close proximity to villages.

AK Singh of Wildlife Trust of India, who has been working on Uttarakhand elephants, admits that growing man- elephant conflict was a matter of urgent concern. “Interestingly while there have been efforts to protect and increase the elephant population in the country, man-elephant conflict in elephant range has risen sharply in the country, including Uttarakhand, due to degradation of elephant habitat and blockage in the traditional elephant corridors,” Singh observed.

As per the latest census, Uttarakhand has a total of 1346 elephants.

Severe cold in Pithoragarh, Champawat
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, April 3
Temperature in the lower valleys of Pithoragarh and Champawat districts witnessed a sudden fall in the last 24 hours, as a cold wave lashed the region following a heavy hailstorm in the upper areas of the Himalayas on Tuesday, and subsequent snowfall on high Himalayan peaks.

According to subdivision sources in Munsiyari ,vegetable farmers suffered heavy losses as the hailstorm lasted 20 minutes in and around the subdivisional headquarters and nearby villages. “The standing crops of vegetables and cereals were destroyed at Baram Kanar and Bhatbhata areas of the subdivision,” said Devendra Singh Deva, a resident of Munsiyari subdivision.

According to Weather Department sources in Champawat district, this heavy hailstorm in the valleys and snowfall on Himalayan peaks in this part have resulted in a dip in the temperature in lower valleys of Champawat and Pithoragarh. “The temperature in Champawat district was recorded at 6°C today,” said RS Kharkwal, in charge of the weather unit in Champawat district

The sources said even today some villages in Munsiyari and Dharchula subdivisions in Pithoragarh district witnessed heavy hailstorms in some valleys, which destroyed the crops of potato, barley, besides other rabi crops. “We have requested the District Magistrate to send a revenue team to assess our losses and send proposals to the government to release relief fund to compensate these losses,” he said.

Disability detection, certification camp on April 6
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, April 3
A disability detection and certification camp will be held under the aegis of the Society for Social Service, a wing of official trainees from Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), at Garhwal Terrace on April 6.

The officials and trainees from the LBSNAA met the Municipal Council president, OP Uniyal, and solicited his support for the camp.

The secretary, Ravi Shankar Shukla, along with the other members, Nikhil Kalyan and Vibhu Goel from the Society for Social Service, an in-house wing run by the officials trainees at LBSNAA, informed the MC president that the camp would be organised for the people suffering from physical, mental and other disorders. Ravi Shankar also said that the patients suffering from eye, ear and polio disorders can also avail the benefit of the camp.

The medical team form LBSNAA will examine the patients. The patients will be provided certificates so that they can avail the benefits of disability pensions. The suffering patients will also be provided with various instruments such as hearing aids on the occasion.

Vibhu Goel, the official trainee from LBSNAA, speaking on the occasion said being born in Mussoorie he was attached towards the ton and the camp was got the opportunity to contribute for the betterment of society through this camp.

He also said that LBSNAA was also holding regular health camps where medicines were being distributed free of cost to the poor and needy persons.

The Municipal Council president extending his support for the cause said that person qualifying for pension should be given the certificates and the pension amount at Mussoorie itself as it was difficult for them to reach the office of Samaj Kalyan Department in Dehradun.

Haldwani to have ISBT, says Finance Minister
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, April 3
Haldwani will have an ISBT which will be constructed by the Tata group keeping the quality of construction in mind. Cabinet Minister and Haldwani MLA Indira Hridayesh said at Haldwani today.

Talking to mediapersons at her residence, Dr Hridayesh said to develop Haldwani as a model Assembly constituency, the construction of a modern stadium had already been started on the pattern of the stadium at Sydney in Australia.

“Now, we have decided to construct an ISBT in the town," said the minister.

According to the minister, her government has sanctioned a sum of Rs 30 crore to construct and renovate the roads in the town, out of which work worth Rs 10 crore on the roads has already been started.

“We have sanctioned a sum of Rs 25 crore to dig eight tubewells in the town and 4 in the rural areas of Haldwani,” said the minister.

DIG, SSP discuss clash between two communities
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 3
Deputy Inspector General, Dehradun Range, Amit Sinha yesterday discussed the clash which took place between two communities in Narsan Kala village of Mangalore, Haridwar, on Holi with SSP Arun Joshi and other police officials of Haridwar.

Sinha expressed satisfaction over the swift action taken by the police in this matter. He said, “Many policemen had also got injured in the scuffles. The police responded quickly and arrested 20 persons involved in the incident. There is no laxity found on the part of the police in the discussion.”

It was on March 27 during Holi festival that Harender of the Jat community asked people of the Scheduled Caste community to tone down the sound of DJ music at night. This led to heated arguments between both sides which turned into clash.

A woman of the Jat community who got critically injured was rushed to Roorkee hospital. Meanwhile, Circle Officer, Mangalore, had also reached there with police force.

The rumour of death of the injured woman aggravated anger among members of the Jat community where they resorted to violence. Despite the clarification given by the hospital authority about the woman being stable, people did not relent. They also threw stones on the police. Many police personnel got injured besides several others of both communities. Many among those who mounted attack were found to be an inebriated condition.

A cross FIR was lodged by both communities against each other. Three police personnel who were seriously injured are under treatment in CMI Hospital in Dehradun.

3 friends held in engineer’s death case
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, April 3
The police acting on a complaint by members of the family of the electrical engineer, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Mussoorie on April 1, registered a murder case and started investigation today.

Deepak Mohapatro, an electrical engineer and native of Odisha, was found dead in his rented accommodation at the Glen Gown estate, near Library Bazaar, on April 1. He was working in a private firm.

According to the police, it found Deepak’s half-naked body with his legs charred. A chair and some papers in the room were also found half burnt. The police did not find any other suspicious material during the investigation. The post-mortem report revealed that he died of suffocation.

However, his parents suspecting foul play lodged an FIR naming three of Deepak’s close friends, who were frequent visitors to his room, as the main suspects. The police after registering a murder case against the three took them into custody.

Parents’ orientation at Unison World School
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 3
The 7th academic session of Unison World School started with the 7th Parents Orientation Programme here today.

The parents were introduced to all members of the Unison staff. They were briefed with the rules and regulations of the school that needed to be strictly adhered to for the smooth and effective functioning of the institution. Principal Veena Singh assured the parents of holistic development of their daughters along with their security, care and finest grooming.

The programme started with lighting the ceremonial lamp by Principal Veena Singh. In her welcome speech, the Principal said the school had reached greater heights all because of the dedicated team and she introduced the teaching faculty to new parents followed by music, art/ craft, games and sports department.

Principal reminded all parents about the Indian culture and values and their importance. She promised a noticeable transformation in their daughters when they step out into the real world meeting all challenges in life courageously and confidently. The orientation ceremony was followed by high tea for the parents.