20 from Congress keen for top post in Haldwani MC
Pithoragarh, April 5
The selection of Congress candidate to contest for Mayor in the Haldwani Municipal Corporation will be made on the basis of consensus as more than 20 candidates submitted their candidature before the Congress observer today.

Model code of conduct comes into force
Dehradun, April 5
With the notification issued for civic bodies poll, the model code of conduct has come into force in Uttarakhand.

Govt changes pattern of reservation for five seats 
Dehradun, April 5
The state government has changed the pattern of reservation for five seats with regard to civic polls in the state. The seat for chairperson of Almora Nagar Palika, which was earlier reserved for OBC woman, has been declared general.

Haridwar, April 5
An anti-encroachment drive launched in the areas falling within 200 metres of the Ganga ghats is likely to be affected due to the coming in force of the code of conduct in view of the municipal elections scheduled to be held from April 28.

The Haridwar Development Authority (HDA) started a demolition drive last month on the order of the Nainital High Court which stated that all commercial and religious buildings constructed before 2000 in the area falling within 200 metres of the Ganga in Haridwar should be demolished.

Two big temples situated on the Ganga banks near Har-ki-Pauri were demolished despite opposition from a section of saints and traders.

The Maha Kaleshwar Mandir of Baba Dhun Giriji Maharaj and a temple of Mahant Hari Giriji Maharaj adjacent to Birla Setu constructed illegally on the Irrigation Department land were razed on March 12 and 14, respectively.

With the municipal election nearing, the district administration is likely to defer the drive by at least a month.

Those who have been served notices by the HDA have heaved a sigh of relief.

Secretary of the HDA Giridhar Singh Rawat said they had already identified more than 100 buildings and served notices on their owners. He added that as the municipal election was approaching, the HDA had told those who had been served notices to demolish the illegal structures themselves.

“Otherwise, after the election we will launch a massive demolition drive in deference to the High Court direction. Everyone should cooperate in the drive as it is aimed at making this world famous pilgrim city free of encroachment,” said Girdhari.

Meanwhile, the district unit president of the Aam Aadmi Party, JP Baduni, has warned the HDA that they would launch an agitation if it did not demolish illegal structures of local politicians, the quarrying mafia, builders and hoteliers. He said a similar encroachment drive carried out before the Mahakumbh in 2010 spared illegal structures built by politicians, rich and influential people and targeted only poor people.

City Magistrate Jeevan Singh Nambiyal said, “Any encroachment in the vicinity of the Ganga ghats will be razed. We urge the people owning or staying in these illegal buildings to demolish these at the earliest.” 

Pithoragarh, April 5
The selection of Congress candidate to contest for Mayor in the Haldwani Municipal Corporation will be made on the basis of consensus as more than 20 candidates submitted their candidature before the Congress observer today.

“We will try to make consensus among the aspirants on the panel of five candidates which will be sent to the high command for the final selection,” said Vijay Saraswat, Congress observer deputed to select the Haldwani Mayoral candidate for the party.

According to the observer, besides more than 20 candidates from the Congress wanting to contest for the post, more than 100 candidates of the party in Haldwani have expressed their will to contest as ward members of the MC.

“We will empanel these aspirants from each ward and send the panel of three to the Congress state leadership for a final decision,” said Sarswat.

Dehradun, April 5
With the notification issued for civic bodies poll, the model code of conduct has come into force in Uttarakhand.

According to State Election Commissioner Harish Chandra Joshi, no transfer of any government employee whether officer or from subordinate staff can be done till the completion of the ongoing election process.

He said this would also be applicable for IAS, IPS, PCS and PPS officers.

Joshi said no new fire licence could be issued within the period when the model code of conduct was in force. Further, any allotment of house building, shops and land by Municipal Corporations, municipal boards and nagar panchayats could not be done within this period. Even these civic bodies could not undertake transfer of any property.

He said no works be sanctioned under the MP or MLA discretionary fund or even with government fund. 

Dehradun, April 5
The state government has changed the pattern of reservation for five seats with regard to civic polls in the state. The seat for chairperson of Almora Nagar Palika, which was earlier reserved for OBC woman, has been declared general.

Contrary to that, Uttarkashi chairperson seat, which was earlier in the general category, has now been reserved for woman candidate. Badkot seat, which was reserved for OBCs, has been declared general now.

Hathibadkala ward under Dehradun Municipal Corporation has been made general. Earlier, it was reserved for woman, second time in succession.

Dharampur ward, which was general earlier, has been reserved for woman candidate.

A total of 289 objections were received in response to the notification of reservation released with regard to civic polls in 69 urban local bodies. The state government made these announcements late at night yesterday after going through the review report sent by Urban Development Directorate after considering objections. 

Mussoorie, April 5
With the announcement of polling date for the civic bodies’ elections in Uttarakhand, political activity has gained momentum in Mussoorie.

The probable candidates have begun probing the mood of voters and have intensified the efforts of winning them over in the civic elections scheduled for April 28. The polling for civic bodies' elections in Uttarakhand will take place on April 28. Filing of nominations will begin from April 8 till April 12. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on April 13. The withdrawals can be done on April 15. Further, allotment of symbols will take place on April 16.

On the other hand, the voters for whom development and corruption are the main issues are keeping the probable candidates guessing, thus raising the heartbeats of the candidates in the fray.

For the voters the development of the town which has remained neglected in the past few decades is emerging as the major issue. The people are interested in favouring those candidates who would take keen interest in solving the problems such as parking, housing, clean public toilets and beautification of Mall Road in these elections.

The going for the elected representatives who won last time has become tough as the outgoing Municipal Council which has remained shrouded with charges of corruption in the past five years, thus leaving no time towards development, be it Congress or BJP.

The outgoing council consisted of the president from BJP and eight members from Congress and both parties would have to face the ire of the people on the corruption front in upcoming elections.

With several candidates trying to up the ante by playing the regional card, the political prospects of many candidates hang in the balance for now as any minor change in the mood of voters on regional lines could lead to a major swing in 
vote share.

The anti-incumbency factor would also dominate the municipal elections in the town during the elections.

The young turks from both Congress and BJP by staking claims to the posts of president and 11 wards have made it difficult for the senior party leaders in selecting the winning candidates this time.

With the announcement of the election date, the model code of conduct has also come into force, which would restrict the elected representatives in using the government machinery till the election process is completed.

The state Election Commission has issued a clear directive that no state guest house facility would be extended to any Central/state minister and the accompanying staff except in case of failure of law and order or calamity or any such urgency required personal presence of ministers, Chief Minister for aforesaid specific purposes. The Election Commission has also banned any issue of government grant of any form and laying of foundation stones of any project or building with immediate effect.

When contacted the SDM, Mussoorie, NS Dangi, also warned the candidates to stay away from enticing the voters in their favour by using illegal means during the election process, as all such cases would be dealt with seriously. He said that the investigations on the complaint of fraudulent voters' list in several wards in the town are also being done, and if any anomalies are found, the official involved would have to face punitive action.

Meanwhile, the probable candidates were seen running from one office to another to clear their dues and receive no objection certificates made mandatory by the Election Commission for filing of the nominations.

Dehradun, April 5
Agitating Class IV employees of the state government performed a ‘buddhi shuddhi yajna’ here today.

Under the aegis of the Uttarakhand Class IV Employees Federation, the activists performed the yajna at the Old Raipur bus stand and employees from various districts participated in it.

Federation president Govind Singh Negi said they performed the yajna so that the state government got wisdom to address the genuine issues of the employees.

He added that the Class IV employees would teach the Congress a lesson in the civic bodies’ election.

More than 56,000 Class IV employees working in 36 departments of the state government have been on strike in support of their demand for better pay and perks since March 2. 

Haridwar, April 5
Green Vista, a much-hyped project aimed at drawing tourists to the Alaknanda-Ganga ghat, is in poor condition. The Rs 2.72-crore project of the Uttaranchal Tourism Development Council was constructed by the Central Public Work Department in 2005.

During the inauguration of the project, the then Union Minister for Tourism (Independent charge) Renuka Chaudhary, and former Chief Minister ND Tiwari had claimed that the project would be one of the major attractions of the city and similar projects would be made in the coming years.

However, more than seven years have passed, not even one project has been sanctioned. Moreover, the authorities have also failed to maintain Green Vista. Filth and garbage could be seen at various places at Green Vista. It has also become a home to anti-social elements. Electricity supply has not been restored for years.

Recently, the Irrigation Department gave away open land adjacent to Green Vista to a private travel agency for vehicle parking. However, as per the rules of the agreement, the department has no authority to allow the use of land belonging to Green Vista for commercial purposes, as the maintenance aspect is with the Municipal Corporation only.

District Magistrate Sachin Kurwe said since the matter had been brought to his notice, he had directed officials to look into this matter. He assured of restoring the glory of Green Vista and districted an officer to look into the matter.

Meanwhile, the Teerth Maryada Raksha Samiti has demanded action against those officials who illegally gave away Green Vista land for parking purposes.

“Not a single tourist comes at Green Vista now. Both the tourism department and the Municipal Corporation had failed to maintain it," said samiti chief Sanjay Chopra.

Dehradun April 5
Chairman of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN), Dinesh Dhanai, addressing mediapersons on the performance of the corporation in the last financial year, said the corporation had incurred a loss of Rs 376.54 lakh in 2011-12, but in 2012-13, it made a profit of Rs 224.95 lakh.

Since the state formation, the GMVN has spent a whopping Rs 3,14,43,751 to pay the salaries.

Similarly, an amount of Rs 2.75 crore has also been spent on the salary of employees working in canteen at the Chief Minister’s residence and the office and also at the Secretariat.

He said he had written a letter to the state government urging it to direct the departments which were using the services of GMVN employees to use outside agencies for these services.

He admired the administration for turning Hotel Drone into a profitable entity. On many loss-making rest houses of the department, he said, he was ready to use these for other purposes.

He said he could not shut these because these were built to cater to tourists, even if their inflow was minimal in those regions.

At this Managing Director, Dr Pankaj Pandey said, the rest house at Kotdwar was also being used for wedding purpose thus giving profit.

New rest houses were also being set up in the places which attract a good number of tourists. These include a new building, Tip & Top at Lansedown, new huts at Chilla and Auli.

The GMVN has also given its third floor on rent to Indian Reserve Bank for three years on lease at Rs 85 lakh per annum.

He said they would get eight new AC buses and four deluxe buses, besides an Innova and one Indica car before the beginning of the Chardham pilgrimage season.

These additions would not only provide facilities to the tourists but also better the revenue generation for the corporation.

The buses had been purchased.

The process of e-tendering to build body fabrication of the buses too had been started.

Out of total 240 sites identified by the GMVN for quarrying, around 73 had been handed over to the state government. In four districts of the state, the GMVN had 148 sites, for the rest it was taking clearance from the Environment Investigation Agency, he said.

Dhanai said under the Regularisation Act 2011, 46 employees of the department in class III, 115 in class IV category had been regularised.

While counting on the achievements of the GMVN, he said the corporation imparted training to some the 1,150 unemployed youth under the scheme ‘Hunar Se Rozgar Tak’ and organised ‘International Yoga Festival’ successfully for the first time in Rishikesh.

Dehradun, April 5
SJ Cricket Academy, Jaipur, entered the final of the 5th All-India Uttarakhand Cup Cricket Tournament by defeating Malik Sports, New Delhi, by eight wickets in the semifinal played at the Rangers' College ground here today.

Batting first, the Malik Sports team scored 209 runs all out in 34.1 overs. Mohit was the top scorer with 82 runs. Joginder Sharma scored 44 runs. Nishant Sharma took four wickets for 32 runs while Rituraj Singh took three wickets for 37 runs.

In reply, SJ Cricket Academy, Jaipur, scored 210 runs for two wickets to win the match by eight wickets. Opener Jobanpreet scored 71 runs. Vaibhav and Puneet Yadav remained unbeaten on 50 and 44 runs, respectively.