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Harish Rawat allays fear on Chinese dams
UPCL bans raids against power theft
DMC’s no to demolition drive in slums
BJP accuses govt of misusing state bureaucracy
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Congress anti-Dalit, says party rebel
Vibhor, Anshul win car rally
Cong, BJP involved in looting MC: Samar Bhandari
Couple on state tour to promote Raj Jat Yatra
Swami Agnivesh advises state to take lead in banning liquor
Van Gujjars to be rehabilitated
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Harish Rawat allays fear on Chinese dams
Dehradun, April 23 Addressing a press conference in Dehradun, Harish Rawat said while the Indian government was in constant communication with China over repeated incursions, the issue of construction of dams on the Brahmaputra by China was not a matter of urgent concern as 80 per cent of the river's catchment area was in Arunachal Pradesh. Harish Rawat statement on Chinese dams comes at a time when there are apprehensions in the country that dams on the Brahmaputra in China will decrease water in the river downstream in India. On the Centre's notification on declaring the stretch of Ganga from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi as eco-sensitive, Harish Rawat said the eco-sensitive zone would not be a stumbling block in carrying out development activities in the region. Refusing the result of civic poll as referendum on the workings of the Bahuguna government, Harish Rawat said the outcome of civic poll in the state would be a collectively responsibility of the Congress. On the opposition to Cola Cola at Vikasnagar in Dehradun, Harish Rawat said he was yet to study the pros and cons of setting up the Coca Cola plant at Vikasnagar. He, however, said while investments were welcome in the state, the concerns of farmers must also be taken into consideration. Taking a dig at Uttarakhand's Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj with whom he is engaged in war of words for quite some time, Union Minister for Water Resources Harish Rawat said he would like to seek blessings from Satpal Maharaj. He further added that the letter written by him to the state government about non-utilisation of Central schemes was not meant to specifically target the incumbent state government but had expressed concern over non-utilization of the funds even by earlier governments, including BJP governments. He said cities like Dehradun and Haridwar were yet to fully benefit the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission programme of the Centre. Congress Dharampur MLA Dinesh Aggarwal and Congress mayoral candidate in Dehradun Suryakant Dhasmana were present at the news conference. |
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UPCL bans raids against power theft
Dehradun, April 23 Vigilance in charge, UPCL, PP Thakur, hesitated to say anything on the matter. He simply put down his phone, saying that he did not have the requisite data to give on the issue. Later, he did not pick up his cell-phone. Executive Director, UPCL, Anil Kumar, however, admitted that the process of raids regarding matters releated to power stealing had ‘slowed down.’ However, he did not give any reason for doing so. The sources said anti-theft operations had been called off in the intervening period till the elections got over. The rural and industrial sectors are known for resorting to power pilferage on a large scale. The proportion of loss to the power can be understood. The government is also under scanner for extending the date of exemption of surcharge to domestic as well as tubewell operators by May 15. An official said the relaxation was given to consumers who had their dues pending up to March 31 last year. They were given the deadline of March 13 to pay their outstanding bills. They were encouraged to do so on the temptation of cent per cent rebate in surcharge. This relaxation was later extended up to April 15. Now in the wake of the civic elections, it has now further been extended up to May 15. Instead of taking action against the defaulters or withdrawing the offer, the government is more keen on wooing the voters at any cost. |
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DMC’s no to demolition drive in slums
Dehradun April 23 The diktat has already been issued by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation not to carry out any anti-encroachment campaign in the slum colonies. A DMC official on the condition of anonymity said: ''Illegal encroachers are occupying government land in and around these slum colonies in a brazen manner these days. Not only this, the slum dwellers themselves are engaged in sale and purchase of their own occupied space. But since we have been issued strict directions not to take any action against them, we are silently watching them usurp government land.” The compulsion to keep their voters happy , even at the altar of losing government land, seems justified to these leaders. This is how most of the DMC land has been captured by the illegal occupants in the city. A Congress leader said: “Anti-encroachment campaign can be taken up after the civic elections.” These leaders also know it becomes next to impossible to remove all of them. Many small time political leaders take money from encroachers in one stretch or monthly payments for shielding them. Incumbent councillor Deepa Shah said: “I have fought to provide roads, drinking water and electricity poles to the illegal slum dwellers. Most of the hundred plus slum colonies which were illegal in the beginning had been legalised later. Poor people have to settle somewhere,” she said. She was sure that these people would now reciprocate on the polling day. Incumbent Mayor and BJP candidate for mayoral seat Vinod Chamoli said:'' It is only slum dwellers who despite all the hassles go to cast votes to the polling booths. It is their sincerity which pulls the political parties towards them. The voter in urban area, especially in upper classes, might not take the pain to cast his vote.'' Buoyed by the appeasement of candidates and their supporters who are dropping in their localities after every few hours, the slum residents are sizing up to each one of them. Vimla Devi, slum dweller near Rispana river, said: “We will vote for those who worked for us in all these years. We will not go by the new faces or big names, regardless of their parties.'' Insiders revealed that the lure of money and liqour was being used by the political parties to sway these poor people. |
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BJP accuses govt of misusing state bureaucracy
Dehradun, April 23 Spokesperson for the state BJP Satish Lakhera said: "When the BJP showed the mirror to the government on the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, it fielded a senior police official to present the government’s point of view. It has never happened in the history of the state that officials have held press conferences to defend the government. The official failed miserably in his attempt to shield the government and tried hard to defend the government by wrongly stating that during the Congress rule pending cases are being solved. The official, it seems, is suffering from amnesia and should try
to recall that the BJP government never stopped the police from registering cases.” He alleged that while defending Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat, the bureaucracy was misused by
the Congress. He alleged that in the Rudrapur land scam, in which 147 bighas of government land was sold illegally, the government took action against an Additional Commissioner and an SDM only to save one of its ministers. President of the state unit of the BJP Teerath Singh Rawat, too, voiced concern at the way officials in the state were "becoming tools in the hands of the Congress government".
“The government is aware that the model code of conduct is in place. Still it asked its senior bureaucrat to publicise an MoU of understanding with Coca Cola and DS Group,” alleged
Rawat. |
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Congress anti-Dalit, says party rebel
Mussoorie, April 23 Narendar speaking to mediapersons in Mussoorie lambasting the Congress said some senior leaders of the town in connivance with Chief Minster Vijay Bahuguna converted the area from the reserved category to the general one in order to favour the Congress leader contesting on the symbol at the moment. Narendar Kumar alleged that the Municipal Council president's seat was earlier reserved for the Schedule Caste category but the Chief Minister who was in favour of Manmohan Singh Mall converted the seat into general category thus depriving the Dalits of their constitutional right. He also alleged that the Congress was anti-Dalit and used the Dalit bank as mere vote bank. Narendar further said the voters of the town were dejected with the two national parties and would vote for the new face in the elections. |
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Vibhor, Anshul win car rally
Dehradun, April 23 The rally route, which spanned around 98 kilometres, took the participants through Rishikesh, Laxman Jhoola and back via Thano and out of 49 participants, 46 completed the entire route. The open category was won by the team of Vibhor Gupta and Anshul Wasu, while Rohan Bakshi and Ankit Lamba were the first runners-up and Dr Shobhit Durga and Gaurav Kumar were the second runners-up. The all ladies team was won by Nidhi Kochchar and Surbhi Sapra while the Family event was won by Saurabh Nagalia and Mohit Aggarwal was the first runner-up. Sanjeev Bhasin was the second runner-up. |
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Cong, BJP involved in looting MC: Samar Bhandari
Mussoorie, April 23 Seeking votes for the Left-supported candidate Aslam Khan,he said that the two major parties through their acts have proved that they worked only in interest of the big builders and always neglected the grievances of the poor labourers and workers in Mussoorie. He also said that it was shameful that the CBI enquiry was constituted against the present MC, which revealed the nexus between the Congress ward members and BJP president. He further said that the CPI was the only party which cared for the downtrodden and did not believe in caste politics. Therefore, it had fielded candidates in the MC elections from all sections of society. He appealed to the voters to vote in favour of Left-supported candidates in Mussoorie.
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Couple on state tour to promote Raj Jat Yatra
Mussoorie, April 23 Ganesh Joshi, MLA, Mussoorie, recently flagged off the vehicle from Mussoorie. Addressing a gathering, Joshi commended the efforts of the couple for embarking on the journey in order to popularise the festival of the state called Nanda Raj Jat Yatra that is organised once in 12 years and is also christened as the Mahakumbh of the Himalayas. Sameer and Dr Kavita informed mediapersons that the Nanda Devi Raj Jat festival would be held in August and as it is held once in 12 years, they decided to create awareness towards the only festival that would last for a month. Sameer Shukla also said they had prepared a series of paintings on the theme of Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra and after converting those paintings into various print forms, such as posters, calendars and banners, they would traverse through various districts of the state. Dr Kavita Shukla, partner in the promotional tour, also informed the media that from Mussoorie, they would pass through Dehradun, Hardwar, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital, Almora, Champawat, Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pauri, Tehri, Uttarkashi and distribute the material related to Mother Shakti and Nanda Raj Yatra. "In this tour, we will distribute posters and calendars and also a hold brief presentation wherever required," added Kavita Shukla. According to a legend, Nanda Devi - daughter of a king of mountains - is the goddess for natives of Garhwal and Kumaon region. The goddess visits her mother's place in these mountains in Bhado - months of August - and her visit is rejoiced by local citizens as a festive time. The journey starts from Nauti village accompanying a mystical four-horn sheep and palanquin (Doli) of the goddess. In about three weeks' time, this spiritual journey reaches Roopkund Lake and to Homkund Lake from where they leave the sheep (Khadu) beyond this point. From here the sheep proceeds on its further journey on the mountains alone and vanishes in the wild. The yatra saw participation of around 50,000 people when it was held last time. The promotional tour is being organised under the aegis of the Soham Heritage and Art Centre, Bala Hisar, Mussoorie, an organisation involved in preservation of culture and tradition of the Himalayan region. |
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Swami Agnivesh advises state to take lead in banning liquor
Dehradun, April 23 Addressing a press conference in Dehradun today, Swami Agnivesh said liquor prohibition was part of the country's Constitution, but on the contrary state governments across the country believed in promoting liquor in the name of revenue earnings. He in particular criticised Uttarakhand government's recent decision to make liquor cheap in the state. ''Uttarakhand is a Devbhumi and the state government's decision to make liquor cheaper was certainly deplorable,'' he said. He called upon the religious leaders to discourage people from taking to alcohol. ''Every religion, whether Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism or Buddhism, preaches to shun alcohol. It is thus the responsibility of religious leaders to come forward and check spread of alcoholism in the country,'' he pointed out. He also stressed inclusion of moral education in the school syllabus. He said children must be made aware about the ill-effects of alcohol, both in body and mind. Referring to the recent Delhi rape case, Swami Agnivesh said one of the perpetrators of the crime himself acknowledged that he was under the influence of liquor when he committed the heinous crime. He said crime graph can fall drastically if liquor prohibition is implemented in the country. Arya Samaj leader Indu Bala was also present at the news conference. |
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Van Gujjars to be rehabilitated
Dehradun, April 23 He directed the officials that before the families were rehabilitated, drinking water, toilets, construction material for building houses, electricity, roads and schools should be made available for them. — TNS
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Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat today said there was nothing to fear from Chinese dams on the Brahmaputra as the river's 80 per cent of the catchment areas was in Arunachal
Pradesh.
Mussoorie, April 23
World Council of Arya Samaj president Swami Agnivesh has asked Uttarakhand to take a lead in the country in the implementation of liquor prohibition even while he asserted that rise in rape cases was also result of growing alcoholism in the country.
