The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Parties find it tough to finalise candidates for posts of Mayor Tribune News Service Dehradun, April 10 The ruling Congress as well the BJP have been finding it difficult to finalise their candidates for the posts of Mayor of prominent municipal corporations of the state due to intense infighting. The BJP parliamentary party which met here for the whole day to finalise the second list of the candidates for the civic bodies failed to reach a consensus on the posts of Mayor of Dehradun, Roorkee and Haridwar. There has been intense lobbying among various groups for the post of Mayor in the BJP. The Mayor of Dehradun Vinod Chamoli of the BJP is the strongest candidate but he is facing tough competition from other candidates. Umesh Aggarwal, a confidant of former Chief Minister BC Khanduri, Anil Goyal, a former party treasurer, are also in the race for the post. Vinod Chamoli had won the last elections in 2008. He had also been the chairman of the Dehradun municipality since 1996. He has been claiming the party nomination on the work done as Mayor in the past five years. Similarly, the party leaders are finding it difficult to finalise consensus candidates for Roorkee and Haridwar. On the other hand, the ruling Congress Party has been in a dilemma to finalise its’ candidates for these positions. The city of Dehradun is particularly important for Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and his son Saket, who lost the Tehri Garhwal byelection in October 2012. Dehradun city is part of the Tehri parliamentary constituency and Bahuguna family wants to win the Mayor's position in the run-up to the coming crucial Lok Sabha elections scheduled in 2014. Birender Singh, in charge, general secretary of the party, reached Dehradun today and was with Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, state Congress chief Yashpal Arya and Pauri Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj to finalise the list. For Dehradun, Leader of Opposition in the Dehradun Municipal Corporation Ashok Verma and State Congress vice-president Surykant Dhasmana are front runners. Manorama Sharma Dobriyal, a former Mayor of Dehradun, is also demanding the party nomination. Party leaders are also in a quandary to finalise the candidates for Roorkee and Haridwar mayoral seats due to uncooperative attitude of the Union Minister Harish Rawat, who represents Haridwar Lok Sabha constituency. He did not participate in the meeting convened by state Congress chief and wrote that since he had not been consulted before the delimitation of the civic bodies, the party should also decide about the candidates. Similarly, for Haldwani mayoral post, the son of Cabinet Minister Indira Hriydesh and a nephew of Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal are contenders. It was hoped that Congress leaders would finalise these names by tomorrow evening since April 12 is the last date of filing nominations. tough task Dehradun Mayor from the BJP Vinod Chamoli is facing a tough competition from Umesh Aggarwal, a confidant of former Chief Minister BC Khanduri, and Anil Goyal, a former party treasure. The BJP is also finding it difficult to finalise consensus candidates for Roorkee and Haridwar. Leader of Opposition in the Dehradun Municipal Corporation Ashok Verma and State Congress vice-president Surykant Dhasmana are the front-runners for Congress ticket for the Mayor’s post. Chaudhary Birender Singh, in charge general secretary of the Congress for Uttarakhand, reached Dehradun on Wednesday and held meetings with Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, state Congress president Yashpal Arya and Pauri Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj to finalise the list of candidates.
	BJP continues tirade against Harak Singh Rawat Submits another memo against him to Governor Qureshi Tribune News Service Dehradun, April 10 The Uttarakhand unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continued its tirade against Uttarakhand Minister Harak Singh Rawat by submitting another memorandum against him to the state Governor Aziz Qureshi here today. A delegation of senior state BJP leaders led by former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, state BJP chief Teerath Singh Rawat, Tehri Garhwal MP Raj Luxmi Shah, Leader of Opposition in Uttarakhand Assembly Ajay Bhatt, BJP legislator Harbans Kapoor and other party legislators met the Governor in the evening today. The BJP leaders urged the Governor not to give consent to the ordinance being brought by the state government to take out the offices occupied by Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Harak Singh Rawat out of the ambit of office of profit. The BJP has been demanding the removal of Harak Singh Rawat from the state legislatures for occuping three positions of profit, besides being a Cabinet minister. The delegation drew the attention of the Governor towards Article 191 and 213 of the Constitution, which barred holding of office of profit by a minister. The Governor assured the BJP delegation that appropriate action as per the constitutional provisional would be taken. Earlier also on April 2, the BJP leaders had met the Governor to demand action against Harak Singh Rawat for allegedly violating the Constitution.
	Manch praises Bahuguna for decision on caste certificate Tribune News Service Dehradun, April 10 The Bharatiya Jan Sewa Manch has expressed gratitude to Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna for facilitating speedy preparation of caste certificates for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes in the state. Addressing a press conference in Dehradun today, Bhartiya Jan Sewa Manch president and Congress leader Jai Singh said the state Congress government had finally ensured some justice for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes of Uttarakhand as they had now started getting caste certificates, which were earlier deprived to them. He, however, asserted that it was wrong to keep 1985 as date for stay in Uttarakhand in order to get caste certificates. "This is injudicious as now those who have come to Uttarakhand from 1985 to 2000, the year of creation of Uttarakhand, will now be deprived of caste certificates both in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh", he pointed out. Jai Singh said the manch was of the view that the date of creation of Uttarakhand should be the criterion for giving caste certificates. Congress leaders Manish Nagpal and Virendra Singh were present at the news conference.
	Youth was kidnapped at the behest of uncle, cousin Tribune News Service Dehradun, April 10 The police has found vital evidence pointing towards the involvement of Gurcharan Singh Arora’s brother and nephew in the kidnapping of his son Raja Arora yesterday. The kidnappers, however, dropped Raja near the local railway station after a few hours. The evidence points towards the involvement of Gurcharan’s brother Babu Lal Arora and nephew Varun in the crime. Both are absconding. Anil, a resident of Dehradun, and Balram, a resident of Ghaziabad, allegedly kidnapped Raja at the behest of Babu and Varun. The four accused are yet to be arrested. The police found that the car used in the crime was registered in Babu’s name. It was later found parked in Babu’s house in East Rest Camp that Gurcharan had arranged for him on rent. Raja also disclosed that the kidnappers had taken him to this house. This confirmed Babu and his son’s involvement in the crime. Incidentally, Gurcharan had bought the car for Babu. Babu was awarded life sentence in a double murder case. He had shot dead Pankaj and Kritik, both employees of a rival company, in an office at Prince Chowk in the city in 2004. The district court had awarded him life imprisonment. He had moved the High Court and later the Supreme Court but did not get any relief. Babu had sought 25 days to surrender. He was to surrender on Monday last but he did not do so. A warrant was issued against him at Dalanwala police station. Both Babu and Varun are now absconding. A case of kidnapping has been registered against the duo in Dalanwala police station. The suspicion of Varun’s involvement grew when Gurucharan told the police that the former was harbouring ill will against them. Varun did not like Gurcharan managing his father’s business. The police found that Babu had sold his house at Dalanwala. He was also planning to sell his property. Varun had demanded money in lieu of their property from Gurcharan, which the latter refused. This created more bitterness between them. The police also come to know that Varun and his friends had stayed at Balaji Hotel, near Gurcharan’s house, on Chander Road. They had booked a room on March 29 and stayed there for five days. It is being implied that they were keeping an eye on the movement of Gurcharan and his family members. Anil and Balram kidnapped Raja yesterday at the behest of Babu and Varun but dropped him near the local railway station after a few hours fearing that a youth may have identified them. They also feared that the mobile phone they lost while committing the crime may prove to be their undoing. Raja also told the police that the accused took him towards Subhash Road via the CMI Hospital. Later they blindfolded him and left him near the railway station. From there some people took him to the Lakhi Bagh police post. The mobile phone that a youth, Punit Singh, gave to the police had a fake sim card of Delhi. The kidnappers had dropped this phone while committing the crime. family dispute The evidence points towards the involvement of Gurcharan Arora’s brother Babu Lal Arora and nephew Varun in the crime. Anil, a resident of Dehradun, and Balram, a resident of Ghaziabad, allegedly kidnapped Raja at the behest of Babu and Varun. The police found that the car used in the crime was registered in Babu’s name. It was later found parked in Babu’s house in East Rest Camp that Gurcharan had arranged for him on rent.
	‘Need to preserve classic architecture of Mussoorie’ Ajay Ramola Mussoorie, April 10 The eminent French academician, who was on her maiden visit to Mussoorie with an objective to do research on the subject titled ''The Indo-Anglo Architecture in 19th Century'' said that she was saddened with the sorry state of affairs in terms of town architecture. Francoise Dasques, the eminent French researcher on two-day visit to Mussoorie for a project on French influence on the Anglo-Indian architecture in the 19th century under research missions on the framework of Indo-French exchange programme in association with the Indian Council for Social Sciences Research (ICSSR), Indian Council of Historical Research and Maison des Sciences de l’ Homme, France, was saddened with the fact that the villas and bungalows of the 19th century bearing European influence were giving way to new hotels with typical Indian urban architecture now. Francoise Dasque, while paying a visit at the house of local historian Gopal Bhardwaj, said that the hill town of Mussoorie which used to have several buildings bearing British influence with few traces of French architecture, were being razed to the ground to give way to a modern looking building, which was unfortunate. She further said that the people instead of demolishing old heritage styles should try to preserve the structures by turning the buildings to either government offices or meeting points, maintaining old architecture, so that the future generation can relate to the Anglo-Indian history. Francoise further said that the Anglo-Indian architecture had few traces of French influences although it has remained in theory form, as evident from various thesis and books still available in the country. She also said that the prime example of the influence of European architecture in the country which has not been probed yet but is available through professional papers prepared by the then Roorkie Engineering College called the great Anglo-Indian Architecture review in the 19th century shed light about the use of Greo-Roman style with French influence. She also said that during her research she visited the Chateau of Maharaja of Kapurthala in Mussoorie, but found only few traces of French influence here. The Chateau, a French word, was probably used for the building to give a royal touch and nothing more, she added. However, she said that the symmetrical compounds seen in some villas and bungalows reveal that the French architecture was also preferred by the British although at a very minimum scale. The usage of asymmetrical style of architecture which is more of British in nature was much more prevalent in Mussoorie while constructing the villas or bungalows during British period. She said that the French have been able to preserve the old buildings and maintain them adequately, which proves that it was not that difficult to preserve the buildings bearing the Tudor style of architecture that still exists in the town. Francoise, who is also working on the book on the Anglo-Indian Architecture in the 19th century, said that the rampant vehicular movement on The Mall Road was acting as a deterrent for the people who wanted to pursue the pristine beauty of the time in context of the Anglo-Indian architecture. The administration should try to streamline the traffic and keep it bare minimum so that the glory of the town remains in tact in the near future.
	Tourism Dept to organise motor rally in October Seema Sharma Tribune News Service Dehrdun, April 10 It is after a gap of 23 years that the Tourism Department is going to hold a motor rally in the month of October in the state. Maruti Suzuki will sponsor the event. The event is being held to promote adventure tourism and bring in revenue from high-end tourists in this regard. Around 100 cars will participate in the rally, where those who register themselves in April will have to shell out Rs 40,000 for registration of two persons per car. This amount will further escalate with the passage of time and reach up to Rs 70,000 by September end. Since the facility of discount given for early reservation for air tickets and hotel booking would peter out with late reservation, the cost of registration will jump up accordingly. Principal Secretary, Tourism Deparment, Uma Kant Panwar, said the department had collaborated with Raid-De Himalayas for this event. The rally will start from Himachal Pardesh, criss-cross Uttarakhand and culminate in Nepal. Adventure lovers will spend approximately four days in Uttarakhand. President of Himalayan Motor Club Association Vijay Panwar, who founded Raid-De-Himalayas, said: ''Some 750 hotels in the state will be booked for the event where each motorist will pay Rs 3000 for one day.” Besides, they would pay for camping where hotels were not be available, and, hence boost the economy of the local people. Vijay Panwar said since the rally to be held in Uttarakhand was navigation rally, the best part of it would be that no roads would be blocked or traffic be diverted for the participants. He said medical ambulances would be provided by Fortis Hospital, Chandigarh. For those who would like to register themselves for the event will have to have the licence approved from Chennai-based Federation Motor Sports Club Of India. The competition licence for the rally will have to be taken from this federation. The rally would start on October I, where on the first day participants would start their journey from Shimla in Himachal Pardesh, Arakot and reach to Dehradun. On the second day, they would traverse Dehradun to Auli. Third day would take up criss-crossing Manapas, Jim Corbett and Ram Nagar. On the fourth day, they would reach Barbariya after crossing the Tanakpur border. On the fifth day, the participants would arrive at Pokhra, and on the concluding day, they would reach Kathmandu in Nepal. Panwar said they had been holding similar events for the past 15 years in Himachal, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. Since Uttarakhand has same topography, they placed a proposal before the Tourism Department, which was accepted. The registration has started from April 1 and will continue till September 21.
	CS reviews preparations for Nanda Raj Jaat Yatra Tribune News Service Dehradun, April 10 Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain today directed all departments to appoint nodal officers for Nanda Raj Jaat Yatra. Reviewing preparations for the yatra at the Secretariat here, he said help should be taken from the ITBP, the NIM, self-help groups and NGOs in the preparations. He said in areas on the yatra routes which are populated, permanent constructions should be done which could be used after the yatra. He said the District Magistrates and Commissioners concerned should keep an eye on preparations. The Chief Secretary said he would also go and take a look at the progress on April 25. Before that, Tourism Secretary Umakant Panwar and Additional Secretary Amit Negi would hold a meeting with officials in Chamoli and give a report on the progress. He gave clear instructions that no laxity would be tolerated in this significant event. Principal Secretary (Industries) Rakesh Sharma said arrangements would be made for free distribution of food kits and milk through the ITC, Nestle, Parle etc. Principal Secretary (Finance) Radha Raturi, Secretary (Food) Kunal Sharma, Commissioner (Garhwal) Subardhan, Secretary (Urban Development) MH Khan, Commissioner, Kumaon, RK Sudhansh, Additional Secretary (Forests) Manoj Chandran, Additional Secretary MC Joshi and DM, Chamoli, SA Murugeshan attended the meeting.