Shukla assures CM of Central support for infrastructure development
Tribune News service

Dehradun, April 12
Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla said here today that the Central Government was aware about the problems being faced by the state government in the development of Uttarakhand, and all possible support would be given by the Centre in developing the state's infrastructure.

Speaking at a meeting held here at the camp office of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, Shukla said that the state's financial management in the last financial year was appreciable. Sources of revenue had been developed in the state. He said that there was great scope for developing tourism, horticulture and power in the state. Besides pilgrim tourism, adventure tourism also had a lot of scope. He said a special tourism project for Badrinath, Kedarnath and Haridwar should be prepared.

Welcoming Shukla, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said that the state had received all support from the Centre. In the financial year 2013-14 , the state had a goal of achieving 9 per cent rate of economic growth. The CM said that due to the difficult topography, expense of implementing schemes is higher .He said this should be kept in mind while approving schemes for Uttarakhand.

The CM said there is potential for producing 27000 MW of power through hydropower projects in the state. At present, only 3619 MW is being produced.He said several projects which were nearing completion had been closed in the state. This has had a negative impact on the possibilities of investment in the state. The CM said the state had 250 km of international border with China and Nepal .Migration from the hills to the plains is another serious problem. He said there was an urgent need for improving roads in border areas.

He said natural disasters and wild animals caused a lot of damage in the state .The state government had increased compensation for this damage and loss but the Centre should also have a separate provision for this. He said 200 villages had to be rehabilitated and help from the Centre was needed. The state should be given Green Bonus for its contribution in environment protection. Central help to Uttarakhand should be in the ratio of 90:10 in all schemes. But in 38 Central schemes, this was not the case.

He said the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer which is operating in two districts should also be run in other districts. He said the National Mental Health Programme should be started in Uttarakhand. The CM said a team of doctors from the Centre should be sent to Char Dham yatra. He stressed that there was need to accelerate the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag, Dehradun-Vikasnagar-Kalsi railway projects. Informing the minister about the Nanda Raj Jaat Yattra beginning in August, he said that a large number of pilgrims and tourists from all over the world would come to this 'Himalayan Kumbh. He said he hoped the Centre would help in the yatra. The Chief Minister invited Shukla for the opening ceremonies of Badrinath and Kedarnath.

Present at the meeting were planning Minister Dinesh Aggarwal, Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain, Principal Secretary Rakesh Sharma, S.Ramaswamy and S.S.Sandhu.

Vinod Chamoli to lock horns with Dhasmana after 16 years
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 12
History will repeat itself in the mayoral elections of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation as Vinod Chamoli, the sitting Mayor and BJP candidate, will lock horns with Congress candidate Suryakant Dhasmana after a gap of 16 years. It was in the year 1997 that both these leaders had contested for the post of chairperson of the Dehradun municipality. Vinod Chamoli of BJP won the elections while Suryakant Dhasmana, who contested as an Independent candidate, was second.

Vinod Chamoli had won the poll by getting more than 20,000 votes, while Suryakant Dhasmana polled nearly 16,000 votes.

Now, Suryakant Dhasmana, a vice-president of the Uttarakhand Congress Committee, will be locked in a triangular contest with Vinod Chamoli of BJP and Rajni Rawat of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the mayoral seat. Vinod Chamoli had won the last mayoral election held in 2008 by defeating Rajni Rawat, who contested as an Independent.

It is expected to be a tough contest between these three contestants. While Vinod Chamoli would be defending his seat, Suryakant Dhasmana who had to bear the taint of infamous Karanpur police firing incident of 1994, after being exonerated by the court, would be contesting for the first time on Congress ticket. Earlier he had contested two Assembly polls in 2002 and 2007 unsuccessfully.

Both these local leaders have their areas of influence and would be heavily dependent on their personal image and support of the party candidates from 60 wards of the city.

Both the BJP as well as Congress kept the suspense till noon today about their mayoral candidates. It was the BJP which announced the name of sitting Mayor Vinod Chamoli as its candidate but the Congress senior leaders took long and announced the candidature of Suryakant Dhasmana in the afternoon. Later both these candidates filed their nomination papers on the last day of the nominations today. Rajni Rawat had already filed her nominations on April 11.

Two UKD candidates vie for Mayor’s post
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 12
Two Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) leaders, Jay Prakash Upadhyaya and Manmohan Lakhera, filed their nomination papers for the post of Mayor here today.

Interestingly, both are claiming of having the support of party president Trivender Singh Panwar.

On the other hand, when Panwar was asked by The Tribune to comment on this matter, he said he would talk about it with the candidates.

Upadhyaya said he had been nominated as a mayoral candidate by the president himself. He expressed ignorance about Lakhera being also supported by Panwar.

He admitted the lack of discipline in the party and said the party must take action against Lakhera for filing nominations without taking the party president's consent.

He said the matter must be cleared by tomorrow, when the party would allocate its symbol to one of the candidates. Earlier, Lakhera was with the Uttarakhand Jan Manch and has recently joined the UKD as general secretary.

Lakhera said the party president called him up in the morning and informed him of his candidature for the post of Mayor. He added he was ready to withdraw his nomination if the party president wanted him to do so.

President of the UKD women's wing Promila Rawat, who went along with Lakhera to file nominations, expressed surprise at the development in the party.

Dhasmana comes from an illustrious family of Doon
Was groomed as politician by HN Bahuguna
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 12
Congress candidate for the post of Mayor in Dehradun Municipal Corporation Suryakant Dhasmana comes from the illustrious family of late Pandit Amlanand Dhasmana, an eminent astrologer and social worker of Dehradun.

Born on February 5, 1964, Suryakant Dhasmana, son of late Manohar Lal Dhasmana, had his formal school education from St Joseph's Academy. He subsequently completed his higher education from DBS and DAV (PG) Colleges in Dehradun.

Starting his political career as Chief Prefect at DBS College, Suryakant Dhasmana got his first major political success when he was elected as president of DAV (PG) College Students' Union in 1988-89, which he won with a handsome margin. He was also won Garhwal University Students' Union elections.

Dhasmana was groomed as a politician under the tutelage of late Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister HN Bahuguna and actively participated in Bahuguna’s Youth for Democracy and Yuva Lok Dal. In 1989 Dhasmana was appointed as general secretary of Uttar Pradesh Yuva Janata Dal. In 1992, he was a guiding force towards setting up of Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.

He got embroiled in an unsavoury controversy when a young man got killed in a police firing when his house was attacked by statehood agitators in 1994. In 2012, he was given a clean chit by the CBI court hearing the case.

In 2000, after formation of Uttarakhand, Suryakant Dhasmana joined Congress and headed the unprivileged communities cell of the party. In 2002, he left Congress and became the state president of Nationalist Congress Party and contested two Assembly elections in 2002 and 2007 unsuccessfully. In 2008, after rejoining Congress he was the party spokesman. In 2011, Suryakant Dhasmana was elected as vice president of state Congress, the post he still holds.

As of public life, Dhasmana is linked to as many as 20 associations in the state, including post of chief patron of Uttarakhand Roadways Karamchari Sanyukt Parishad, president, Uttarakhand Malin Basti Vikas Parishad, patron, Mandi Parishad Karmchari Kalyan Parishad, patron, Dehradun Taxi Union, patron, Akhil Bhartiya Safai Mazdoor Sangh, Uttarakhand, and patron, Street Vendors' Association.

URA fields Kothari for Mayor’s post
Tribune News Service

Dehradun April 12
Regional alliance of seven parties Uttarakhand Regional Alliance (URA) today fielded Rajiv Kothari for the seat of Mayor today. Rajiv Kothari is spokesperson of Uttarakhand Parivartan Party, one of the seven constituents of the alliance. The rest six are Uttarakhand Jan Kranti Dal (UJKD), Janata Dal (Secular), Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (D), Rashtriya Lok Dal, Gorkha Democratic Front and Bharatiya Mool Niwas.

Kothari said he would expose the discrepancies, shortcomings and irregularities of the BJP and Congress in the party election. He said if he won the seat he would make efforts for decentralisation of power, so that the DMC board did not require to look to state government for every little thing. Besides this, he said the provisions of MC Act had not been implemented in the true sense, which he would ensure in his tenure.

President of UJKD BD Raturi said as a regional alliance of seven parties, they found themselves strong enough to give challenge to both BJP and Congress. He said the Congress had made the biggest folly by fielding Suryakant Dhasmana who shot down statehood agitators for the position of Mayor. He said people of the state would never forgive him and they would campaign against Congress on this issue.

AIFF told to furnish info on football assn within 3 weeks
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 12
The Central Information Commission, New Delhi, has expressed sadness over the poor handling of an RTI application by the All-India Football Federation (AIFF).

The RTI query is regarding the documents submitted by the Uttarakhand Football Association for obtaining affiliation from the AIFF and also the grants received so far the development of soccer in the hill state is concerned.

Acting on a complaint made by co-founder, www.DehradunFootball.com’s Raju Gusain, the commission has directed the AIFF to provide documents and information about the Uttarakhand State Football Association to the applicant within three weeks.

After failing to get the desired information, the RTI applicant approached the commission and lodged a complaint on January 25. The applicant is asking for the photocopy of the documents submitted by the Uttarakhand Football Association for obtaining affiliation from the AIFF and also the grants provided to the association so far.

Accepting the complaint, the commission fixed March 19 as the day for hearing. After hearing both the parties, the final decision on the issue was put online on the commission website on Friday.

Giving the decision, Information Commission ML Sharma writes:“During the hearing, Col BMR Mehta (retd), CPIO, AIFF, submits that the reply was sent to the appellant through a letter dated 10.12.2012. The said letter is perused. I am sorry to observe that the main information requested for in para 1 of the RTI application has not been supplied to the appellant at all. Colonel Mehta is hereby directed to supply parawise information to the appellant afresh in three weeks' time.”

Confusion prevails among the football fraternity in Uttarakhand about the district football units operating in the hill state. Even after 12 years, the Uttarakhand State Football Association has not conducted the state football league so far. To clear the existing confusion, Raju Gusain filed an RTI application to the All-India Football Federation on November 9 last year. The AIFF provided a casual reply by ignoring providing information on the documents submitted by the Uttarakhand Football Association and the funds received from the AIFF so far. The RTI applicant made an appeal to the AIFF’s appellate authority on December 19, 2012, and when he failed to get a satisfactory reply, he decided to approach the Central Information Commission.

KMVN trains 18 youth in river rafting
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, April 12
Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigan (KMVN) has trained 18 youth of Jhoolaghat village for five days in river rafting on river Kali. The training undertaken with financial assistance from border areas development programme of Government of India coincided with the five-day Maheshani festival held at Jhoolaghat market. The festival concluded today.

''The river rafting training to local youths given by KMVN was an added extra attraction to the five-day festival,'' said V. Bhatt, organiser of the festival.

''The youths were trained on high flowing river waters in 10-km stretch on the river from Taleshswar to Baltari village. The trainees included 16 boys and two girls from Jhoolaghat village,” said Dinesh Gururani, in charge of adventure tourism with the nigam.

According to the adventure tourism in charge, the youth were given training in pedalling, handling raft, fillip and re-fillip, river running and swimming. “The programme was full of challenges as the Kali has a heavy water flow, which is three times more than the flow of river Saryu where the nigam earlier trained the youth,” said adventure tourism sources of the Kumaon Mandal Nigam.

RCP president on dharna against ticket to Dhasmana
Tribune News Service

Dehradun April 12
President of Rashtravadi Congress Party (RCP) Jitender Chauhan is sitting on indefinite dharna at Shaheedi Sthal in protest against the allotment of ticekt for the Mayor’s post by the Congress to Suryakant Dhasmana.

Chauhan said, “Congress election in charge Birender Singh himself laid the rule that those who had not completed the term of being a Congress member for five years would not be entitled to fight any election on the party symbol. Dhasmana has not completed five years in the Congress as yet. He should not have been allocated the ticket to fight Mayor’s election.”

He also held Dhasmana responsible for shooting statehood agitators in the city in 1994. “I oppose the candidature of Dhasmana because he killed our statehood agitators. Such a person should not be given the ticket by the party. The party had many other strong candidates like Lal Singh, Ashok Verma and Jot Singh Bisht who could be fielded for the Mayor’s post.” He said he would continue his dharna till Dhasmana’s name was withdrawn by the party.

Senior vice-president, Uttarakhand Rajya Nirman Sainani Manch, Vinod Aswal, is also sitting on dharna for the same reason.

Lioness Club gives clothes to 50 poor persons
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, April 12
The members of Lioness Club, Mussoorie, distributed clothes to 50 poor and needy persons living at old-age ashram in Dehradun in a small function held today.

The Lioness Club members headed by the zonal chairperson Babita Goel also presented around 50 salwar kurtas to the poor girls living in the premises. The district chairperson of the club, Abha Sharma, distributed fruits and stationery to the small children on the occasion.

The president of the club, Manju Jain, secretary Reny Jain, former district chairperson of the club Nirmal Goel, Usha Chaudhary and others were present on the occasion.

Minister tells FCI to provide mandis to farmers
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, April 12
KV Thomas, Minister of State (Independent charge) for Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution, has instructed Food Corporation of India (FCI) to take necessary action in establishing a parallel procurement system to make available mandis at Kichcha and Ramnagar localities of US Nagar district of Uttarakhand state, where farmers could get the right cost of their cereals, fruits and vegetables.

According to Col (retired) Pramod Sharma, convener of Swatantrata Sangrm Senani Ashrit Aum Krishak Samaj, US Nagar district, the minister issued these orders after Pauri MP Satpal Maharaj led a delegation of farmers of US Nagar to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and complained under-valuation of their produce by the present mandi system prevalent in US Nagar. “We have told the minister that due to non-receipt of appropriate prices for their produce, the farmers in US Nagar are leaving their traditional occupation of agriculture, which could result in grave food shortage in the state in future,” said Col Sharma.

“Once the order comes into force, the farmers in US Nagar district of Uttarakhand state would not only be getting good prices for their cereals, fruits and vegetables, but will also be able to stop the produce from decaying,'' said Sharma.

The minister had instructed Food Corporation of India in response to the letter written by Satpal Maharaj to Union Agricultural Minister Sharad Panwar in this connection on March 13 this year. “If we get this work done soon, the experiment will be followed in other districts to save farmers from ruin and give them confidence for remaining in the farm sector,” said Sharma.

Inter-school basketball tourney begins on April 17
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, April 12
The 13th annual Win Mumby All-India Basketball Tournament scheduled to begin on April 17 at Woodstock School promises to competitive and exciting in comparison to the previous events.

A total of 16 teams from across northern India will battle for supremacy at the state of art Win Mumby Memorial Sports Centre at Woodstock School.

Last year, the Woodstock School had clinched the boys’ title for the second year running, while Modern School from Delhi emerged champions in the girls' section. Both teams will be defending their crowns in the face of stiff competition from other schools.

The competition will include the fantastic opening pep rally which features Woodstock’s marching band and Japanese Toradaiko drumming group.

There will also be two representatives from NBA India attending the tournament, Troy Justice and Eban Hyams, who will run a number of programmes for students about sports scholarships in the US.

Woodstock’s head of sports Ajay Mark said the competition was the highlight of the sporting calendar at Woodstock. “It is the biggest tournament of its kind in north India and the only one open for both boys and girls. It is unique and we are confident it will be as competitive as ever. It also brings together the whole community here and helps us share the wonderful Woodstock experience with others,” he said.

The chief guest for the final on April 20 will be Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Vijay Bahuguna.

The 16 teams competing are Welham Girls’ School (Dehradun), Hopetown Girls’ School (Dehradun), The Shri Ram School (Gurgaon), The Lawrence School (Sanawar), Modern School (Delhi), Bluebells School (Delhi), Wynberg Allen School (Mussoorie), Woodstock School (Mussoorie),

Welham Boys’ School (Dehradun), The Doon School (Dehradun), The Shri Ram School (Gurgaon), Yadavindra Public School (Patiala), Modern School (Delhi), The Asian School (Dehradun), Wynberg Allen School (Mussoorie), Woodstock School (Mussoorie).

The tournament runs from April 17 to 20, with the final and prize giving ceremony on April 20.

Saints urge Governor for inquiry in demolition of Hanuman temple
Tribune News service

Dehradun, April 12
Mahant Ramsharan Giriji of Shri Panchdashanam Juna Akhada along with other saints met Governor Aziz Qureshi at Raj Bhavan today. He submitted a memorandum to him demanding an impartial inquiry by a retired judge of the High Court into the allegation by the akhada that the police had on March 14 demolished Shri Dukhharan Hanuman Mandir, Birla Ghar (Haridwar), broken idols and looted precious jewellery adorning the idols.

The Governor assured the delegation that appropriate action would be taken in the matter. Parshuram Giri, Devanand and Satpal Malhotra accompanied Mahant Ramsharan Giriji.