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Repair roads to Char Dham shrines, CM asks Antony
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Is river water at Brahm Kund real
Ganga?
Top cop: Shady travel agents should be booked for exploiting youth
Oil experts talk about trends at university fest
New rafting Act on the anvil
STF to have cyber lab
Goel: Need to replace mid-day meal with breakfast scheme
HC gives 3 weeks to state on original inhabitants’ issue
UK cadets play friendly hockey match with IMA counterparts
Lt Gen Manvendra Singh, Commandant, Indian Military Academy, shakes hands with cadets of the Sandhurst Military Academy, UK, in Dehradun on Tuesday.
Tankers supply water to residents of
Champawat
Review officers continue protest fast for sixth day
Review officers and computer officers of the Secretariat sitting on a dharna in support of their demands in Dehradun on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Vinod Pundir
Interactive session on e-library
34 injured as bus falls into gorge
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Repair roads to Char Dham shrines, CM asks Antony
Dehradun, April 16 He said most of these roads were under the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). These roads were not in a good condition due to the damage caused by the rains last year. The Chief Minister said the BRO needed to be given necessary funds for repair and renovation of roads, especially the sections of NH 58, NH 108 and NH 109. The Chief Minister said the BRO had been given only Rs 1.74 crore under the head of Flood Damage Repair during 2012-13. Moreover, he said, against a sanctioned work plan of Rs 194.28 crore (for 19 projects) for the BRO in 2012-13, the BRO sent estimates of works amounting to Rs190.46 crore to the Defence Ministry but no work was sanctioned in the entire financial year. He requested the minister to look into the matter as the road projects under the BRO were very important for Uttarakhand. The Chief Minister requested that necessary directions be given from the ministry to stop the charging of octroi by the Chakrata Cantonment board. Bahuguna urged Central Surface Transport and National Highways Minister CP Joshi to give priority to important routes in Uttarakhand. He said there was urgent need to repair and widen the NH 72-A (Delhi-Dehradun) between Mohand and Dat Kali. He said action be taken soon on the proposal for a tunnel parallel to the existing tunnel near Dat Kali. He drew the attention of the minister towards the bad condition of the Haridwar-Chidiyapur section (UP), the Jaspur-Kashipur-Rudrapur-Sitarganj section (NH 74) and the Rudrapur-Pantnagar-Nagla section (NH 81).
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Is river water at Brahm Kund real
Ganga?
Haridwar, April 16 This controversy arose after the Nainital High Court sought a clarification from the Haridwar Development Authority (HDA) over delay in demolition of illegal commercial establishments and buildings falling within 200 metres of the Ganga and constructed post year 2,000. The HDA had identified more than 150 illegal structures in Haridwar but many religious ashrams, hoteliers, complex owners and residents argued that the Ganga is in Neel Dhara and not the one that passes through Brahm Kund at Har-ki-Pauri. This way they deliberately tried to evade anti-encroachment drives so that their commercial establishments remained intact. Satpal Maharaj said, “The Ganga waters passing through Neel Dhara have a natural flow while Bhagirathi Setu from which its waters flow to Brahm Kund is a sub-tributary.” Brahm Swaroop objected to Satpal Maharaj’s views saying he would seek a clarification from the latter on the issue as since ages Mahakumbh and Ardh Kumbh had been held at Brahm Kund only and crores of pilgrims visit Har-ki-Pauri to take a holy dip. “Then how come it is not the real Ganga,” the Congress treasurer said. “It is the Ganga that flows at Brahm Kund at Har-ki-Pauri and adjacent ghats. The Ganga flows directly from Bhagirathi Setu to this part and one cannot say it is just the Ganga canal,” said Brahm Swaroop, who has his Jai Ram Ashram adjacent to Har-ki-Pauri. He said he would talk to Satpal Maharaj on the subject as “the latter represents the Garhwal constituency from where the Ganga starts at Gaumukh and gets its name at Dev Prayag at the confluence of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi”. Notably, the Ganga canal was the brainchild of Col Proby Cautley of East India Company and was constructed between 1842
and 1854. The system consists of a main canal that runs 272 miles and consists of about 4,000-mile distribution channels that provide water for drinking and irrigation purposes to lakhs of people. Vice-chairman of the HDA Chandra Shekhar Bhatt said they would submit an explanation to the High Court on the issue. “We are perusing the Ganga canal records in this regard as well as other facts,” he added. |
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Top cop: Shady travel agents should be booked for exploiting youth
Dehradun, April 16 Mahesh Bhagwat shared many anecdotes, which he went through while dealing with several cases pertaining to human trafficking in the southern belt. He elaborated about the role of law enforcement agencies and investigation in the matter. He also explained as to how the unauthorised travel agents showed minor girls as major and sent them abroad to work as slaves or sex workers. These hapless women get stranded overseas without permits, protection of insurance and return tickets. He also urged police officials to cross-check on the family members of the victims to ascertain their role as traffickers. Bhagwat, who has been bestowed international awards for running a rehabilitation project Aasara for sex workers at Nalgonda in Andhra Pardesh, said: ''My main objective was to save the second generation of the sex workers of Nalgonda from the curse of prostitution. The children did not know who their fathers were. The young boys were working as pimps. The Police Department collaborated with different government departments and NGOs and counselled sex workers to leave the easy life of prostitutes and take up laborious work in self-help groups.'' He further added: ''Women were imparted training in various skills . Young children were also taught soft skills whilst the boys were trained to be security guards. Not only this, small children were educated for a couple of years in a school started for this purpose. After that, they were admitted to normal school,'' he added. This pilot project was then implemented in all the districts of the state at the behest of the DGP. Thereafter AIDS awareness programme was also launched by the Police Department. Bhagwat emphasised that police which usually remained occupied in day-to-day busy schedule must give top priority to anti-human trafficking. He said the crime graph plummeted in the areas where anti-social activities in the form of human trafficking were controlled. IG Lokpal Behera, who had been associated in the investigations of high-profile cases such as demolition of Babri Masjid, Bombay blast, Madhumita murder case etc told the police officials that the law was the biggest tool in their hand. He said without punishing anybody and by just applying their mind through legal provisions, they could easily contain human trafficking. He said:'' Uttarakhand is a good state in view of lower rate of crime or human trafficking. But a closer look, the cases pertaining to missing young girls or children or young boys from Nepal working as slaves in our houses indicates that human trafficking was not absent. The police needs to go through the entire network of traffickers.'' He paid special stress on the importance of detailed records of phone calls, DNA test or forensic examination. The police officials who attended workshop today included IPS officers Vimmi Sachdeva, Pushkar Singh Sailal, Jagat Ram Joshi, Nilesh Anand Bharne and Santhiyal Abudai. Earlier yesterday, the workshop was inaugurated by Additional Director General of Police Administration Anil Kumar Raturi in the police lines. The workshop has been organised with the assistance of Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR &D) on the direction of Government of India. Raturi in his speech said:'' The police has to work within the legal boundaries. Anti-human trafficking is one such crime where humans are treated like animals. To tackle this problem, we have to take along many other wings of society where police has an important role to play. Besides this, we will have to create coordination with the state government as well as different departments such as Social Welfare, Labour, Women Empowerment.'' Raturi said there was no specific Act to counter this miasma but provisions of other Acts such as IPC, Juvenile Justice Act and Immoral Traffic Prevention Act were used with regard to human trafficking. He laid emphasis on police role which goes beyond prevention and investigation to the rehabilitation of the victims. He expressed hope that the police officials would certainly benefit from this workshop and disseminate useful information with other police officials in different districts. Nodal officer, Anti-Human Trafficking, Pushkar Singh Sailal, said the state government had floated Anti-Human Trafficking Cell with the assistance of BPR &D on the direction of the Centre.Four units of the cell, each at Haridwar, Kotdwar, Champawat and Haldwani, had been set up which took actions and gave assistance in matters regarding human trafficking. Chief Executive Officer, Impact, a social organisation, Manish Sabbarwal, and Somya Bhomik of Centre for Social Research, spoke on the issue.
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Oil experts talk about trends at university fest
Dehradun, April 16 On the opening day of the festival, BS Negi, former director, GAIL, spoke on the topic ‘Indian and World Gas Markets’. He talked about the future of natural gas in comparison to other fuels and imbalances of energy requirements in the Indian and global context. The festival was marked by events such as quiz and poster competitions, oil hunt, case study and photography events. In the virtual trading event, the participating teams traded commodities such as natural gas based on the changing pricing scenario. The paper competition event and the business idea event brought forth innovative ideas from students. Many of these ideas were appreciated by judges and would be taken up as
real projects. Lectures on various topics were given by in-house teaching staff and the guest faculty. Parthasarathi Chatterjee, an employee of the Larson and Toubro Infotech, conducted a session with students on the topic ‘Project Management and Contract Administration’. Dr V Vizia Saradhi delivered a lecture on job opportunities in oil and gas companies for MBA (Oil and Gas) students. The expert said it was believed that due to aging workforce and scarcity of skilled personnel, a mass recruitment drive would be initiated in the next few years. The festival was also marked by cultural shows by university students and invited bands of artistes. The show started with a classical Indian dance performance by a university student, followed by performances by drama group Xhilaration and music band Vultrus. Plague Revised, a university dance troupe, also gave a performance, which was followed by musical performance by Fatal Ambush.
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New rafting Act on the anvil
Dehradun April 16 He is compiling a new set of rules regarding rafting, recognised as a major source of adventure tourism in the state. Revealing more about the new Act in the making, Negi said: ''It will no longer be easy for newcomers to get a licence to start the rafting business. New stringent rules are being laid down.
As of now the rafting guides who, most of the times are not found proficient, will have to have proper certification and experience to enter into
this field.'' He said the way the rafting stretch in Rishikesh got crammed with umpteen rafts would also be streamlined. ''We are conducting a study to find out the capacity of a particular rapid and stretch to get a specific number of rafts in the allotted time on a given day. No more rafts would be allowed on that rapid or stretch beyond that. Consideration of revenue or business comes after the preservation of environment and safety of tourists,'' Negi said. He said the department was also thinking on the lines of giving alluring incentives to the operators to start rafting activity on other rivers in the state such as Tons and Alaknanda. The department will provide the required assistance or infrastructure in that matter. He said now it would be made compulsory in the Act to maintain the upkeep of safety guidelines, which include all the safety gadgets/goods in the rafts, rescue boats along with each raft, first aid box and an ambulance near the rafting zones along with others. Negi said he could not completely deny from perils involved in this adventure activity but still the safety precautions had to be followed to minimise the risk factors. For this, they are comparing the guidelines laid by various countries in this regard. To reduce the chances of friction between the related departments, he said representatives of these departments too had been given due representation in the committee and their concerns are being given space in the Act. |
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STF to have cyber lab
Dehradun, April 16 Behera said, "There are three members in a committee comprising senior IPS officers at the Centre which clear the funds for various projects of the Police Department of different states. I like the project of the STF with regard to cyber lab. There will be no problem in clearing the project." He said funds would be released in a short period as well. The STF has to send the proposal through the office of Director General of Police to the committee for the clearance of the project. Behera pointed out, "There is no point in releasing the fund in piecemeal. So whatever the cost for the project is required, it should be released in one package." He made the comment in the wake of funds released by the state government for the cyber lab which was not sufficient to meet the objective. He said many states were not aware of the existence of such a committee which was why despite having the wherewithal for development/modernisation, projects were hardly sent to them. Santhiyal said he would soon talk to the DGP and send the Detailed Project Report to Behera. He stated, "The cases of cyber crime are coming to us more than ever before. We require the specific hi-tech softwares to tackle such crimes. For the first phase, the STF got Rs 16 lakh to set up cyber lab, which was not enough. But something is better than nothing to start off with." He, however, expressed his happiness over the offer given by Behera and hoped that the department could now soon have a full-fledged cyber lab in the state.
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Goel: Need to replace mid-day meal with breakfast scheme
Pithoragarh, April 16 Goel said the income tax surcharge of 10 per cent on 42,800 persons having annual income of more than Rs 1 crore in the country would only demoralise this category of citizens and force them innovate ways to evade tax. He said the women-only bank concept was another attempt to further isolate women from the mainstream of society. This could be termed as the worst way to discriminate against women to isolate them. Goel said the present provision of interest payments on debt needs to be revised to achieve the long-term objective of effective debt management of the country. “To ensure inclusive growth on every front of India, we need to bid adieu to the Leissez Faire approach to the Indian economy,” he added.
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HC gives 3 weeks to state on original inhabitants’ issue
Pithoragarh, April 16 Petitioners Aalok Ghildiyal and Devi Lal from Pauri Garhwal have said the government’s order was against part (1) and (2) of Section 341 of the Indian Constitution, which does not give right of declaring Scheduled Caste or Schedule Tribe to a person who has migrated to another state as these provisions are meant for the persons who are born in a particular state, not migrated to it from other states. “The Supreme Court has earlier in several cases, particularly in the case of Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao v/s Union of India, opined that the provisions of SC/ST given under the Constitution declaration in 1950, will be applied only to the state of birth,” said the petitioners. The case was heard in the Single Bench court of Justice Kalyan Jyotisen Gupta.
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UK cadets play friendly hockey match with IMA counterparts
Dehradun, April 16 A film on the IMA, "Making of a Warrior", was also screened on the occasion. After the match, the foreign cadets were shown the activities and infrastructure available at the academy. During an interaction session at the tea time, Lt Gen Manvender Singh, AVSM, VSM, Commandant, Indian Military Academy, enlightened the foreign cadets with valuable thoughts and also told the importance of such programmes. They were presented with the academy memento depicting the Chetwode building and IMA credo. Foreign cadets thanked the academy for giving a warm welcome and respect. Foreign cadets and IMA cadets also shared valuable experiences with each other.
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Tankers supply water to residents of
Champawat
Pithoragarh, April 16 According to sansthan engineers, if rain does not occur soon, these sources might dry up further. “To supply drinking water to 7000 residents of Champawat town, we gather water from eight natural sources and then distribute it through distribution tanks,” said PC Kargeti, Executive Engineer of Champawat Jal Sansthan. According to the sansthan engineer, till last year this problem used to occur at the end of April, but this year this had appeared at the beginning of the month. “According to our experience, as the winter rains remained meagre this year, recharging of these natural sources could not take place,” said the sansthan engineer.
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Review officers continue protest fast for sixth day
Dehradun, April 16 The review officers said they would be forced to launch an indefinite fast if the government failed to fulfil their demands soon. Members of the federation today held a march on the Secretariat premises demanding that the government fulfil their demands immediately while others continued with their fast near the ATM
chowk. The demands of the federation include grade pay from Rs 4,200 to Rs 4,600, payment of arrears, the computer assistants status to computer operators with grade pay of Rs 2,400 in place of Rs 1,900 and the reorganisation of their cadre.
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Interactive session on e-library
Dehradun, April 16 Nipa Roy and Pragya Joshi from Encyclopaedia Britannica, New Delhi, were at Unison World School to discuss about the electronic libraries and its uses. They also discussed about “Britannica Learning Zone” which is a unique combination of modern and traditional products for school libraries - with updated and variety of options to choose from. In other words, it is a complete library reference desk and a true differentiator for the schools. It combines the best of print, digital and online resources, supplemented with Britannica’s original and high quality content.
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34 injured as bus falls into gorge
Pithoragarh, April 16 The injured were taken to a Ranikhet hospital. However, two of the seriously injured have been referred to Haldwani. The ill-fated bus with 40 passengers on board was on its way to Chaukhutia from Delhi when the
driver lost control over the vehicle and it fell into the gorge on Sunday morning. The police has registered an FIR against the bus driver for negligent driving.
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Pithoragarh, April 16
A team of 18 officer cadets, including females, from Sandhurst Military Academy, UK, visited the Indian Military Academy on April 15 and 16 to play a friendly hockey match.
The match was won by IMA cadets. Lt Gen K Surendra Nath, PVSM, AVSM, VSM,
GOC-in-C, ARTRAC, felicitated the winners and runners-up with gold and silver medals, respectively.
Dehradun, April 16
While Pauri Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj has said the real Ganga flows through Neel Dhara only, Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee treasurer Brahm Swaroop Brahamchari has objected to his view saying the river water flowing through Har-ki-Pauri is the Ganga.