Uttarakhand civic polls
Rising prices, curb on LPG unlikely to work for BJP
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 24
It was the rising price of cooking gas and resentment against Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna who had fielded his son from the Tehri parliamentary seat that had helped the BJP win the election in 2012. Though the anger against the Congress government persists, it is not certain if it would again work for the BJP and help it come up trumps in the civic body elections.

The morale boosting victory helped the BJP leadership overcome the internecine war taking place among its top leaders. Now, in these upcoming civic body elections, the BJP is hoping to evoke the same magic but has so far failed to pin down the Congress by bringing to the fore an evocative issue that could rally the people against the Congress.

Analysts say in the civic body elections, unlike the Assembly and parliamentary elections, local issues play a crucial role but at times evocative issue that helps raise a pitch for a change also subsume the local issues.

The issues of price hike and cooking gas have been thrown again by the BJP and these may no longer affect the people with the same urgency as they affected them in the past. Further on the issue of governance, the BJP is equally culpable as the Congress.

"Though the party is maintaining that is has a discerning edge over the Congress, the party cannot wash its hands off the four-year period during which the BJP was in power and the issues of giving power to the civic body were cast aside.

The issue of bringing malin bastis under the ambit of tax and giving the residents land rights were raised in the past by the BJP but never fulfilled," said a BJP leader.

It is no surprise then that while the BJP leaders are publicly declaring the party would win five mayoral seats and around 35 Nagar Palika, Nagar Panchayat seats, the party is only confident about winning two mayoral seats, Haridwar and Dehradun. So also the ground reports coming from Nagar Panchayts and Nagar Palikas too are not very favourable. "The BJP is hoping for an immediate gain in Dehradun on the mayoral post as Vinod Chamoli has an edge over Congress candidate Suryakant Dhasmana, but it is not certain if the magic of Chamoli would work in 60 wards," said a senior BJP leader.

Further though the BJP leaders had said the list of candidates for various civic body posts were declared after careful thought and deliberation, the fact remains that on several seats candidates have been picked up without much thought it could affect the total tally of the party.

Kaushal opposes Centre’s decision on eco-sensitive zone
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 24
Chairperson, Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), Avadhash Kaushal, has opposed the Union Ministry of Environment's notification to declare the area from Gomukh to Uttarkashi as an eco-sensitive zone.

He termed the notification as unfortunate as it prohibits any development activity within 5 km on both sides of the Bhagirathi river.

Kaushal said the Government of India had forgotten that Gomukh and Uttarkashi were on the borders of China and Nepal, where big hydroelectric projects were being constructed. “Going by this notification, if roads are also not constructed, defence of our nation will be jeopardised,” he added.

Kaushal alleged that this had been done only to please GD Agarwal and Rajendra Singh who did not have any stake in the area and were working on the instructions and financial support of the USA to influence the Central Government.

He alleged that the USA did not want India to become self-sufficient in power generation and wanted it to become dependent on them for nuclear energy.

Kaushal said all MPs, including the Uttarakhand Chief Minister, should resign in protest.

During the tenure of the BJP government, the then Chief Minister BC Khanduri, keeping the interest of his party above the interest of the state and the nation, had stopped the ongoing hydroelectric projects after spending a huge public money, he alleged.

The Central Government has forgotten that Gomukh and Uttarkashi are situated on the borders of China and Nepal where big hydroelectric projects are being constructed. Going by this notification, if roads are also not constructed, the defence of our nation will be jeopardised. This has been done to please GD Agarwal and Rajendra Singh, who do not have any stake in the area and are working on the instructions of the US. — Avadhash Kaushal, chairperson, RLEK

CFLs to be given free of cost
Seema Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun April 24
Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) has come up with an interesting scheme of distributing four compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) free of cost to each of 6,25,000 consumers, including domestic and BPL consumer categories, throughout the state to save precious energy. To stop these consumers from using normal electricity bulbs, known as incandescent bulbs, the department will give the CFLs in return of four such bulbs. The consumers will be made to switch over from bulbs to CFLs. The project will incur an expenditure of Rs 10 crore. The project has been aptly named as Bachat Lamp Yojana.

Executive Director, UPCL, Anil Kumar, said:''The plan has been taken up as a pilot project. The areas where the incandescent bulbs are used more have been chosen in the project. These people might not have spent on buying CFLs, which cost more than the bulbs. Hence, the department is giving them free CFLs while taking back the bulbs which they had been using till now. If this project becomes successful, then we will extend it in other towns of the state.'' Each CFL of 15 watt will cost Rs 40 to the department.

He said massive energy will be saved under the scheme. The approximate calculations of savings per year in terms of energy considering three hours per day utilisation will be 112.50 MW or 123.19 MU.

Justifying the decision of distributing free CFLs and spending money on it, he said:''Assuming 20 pc distribution losses and 1.76 pc transmission losses, the saving in power purchase cost comes out to be

Rs 66.30 crore at the rate of Rs 4.23 per unit. The loss in revenue shall be Rs 28.30 per unit average recovery. Thus net saving comes out to around Rs 37.97 crore. The cost will be recovered in three months.''

The areas which have been selected for the implementation of the scheme include Haldwani, Kashipur, Sitargang, Roorkee, Luxar, Mangalore, Haridwar, Bahadarabad, Rishikesh and rural areas of Dehradun.

Feast day at St. Joseph’s Academy
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 24
St. Joseph’s Academy celebrated the feast day of its Principal Bro. AJ George here yesterday. It was on this day that Bro. George took on the name of St George, a noble knight from Cappadocia, who is believed to have been martyred around 300 AD and was made the patron saint of England in 1098.

The programme commenced with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp after which Shruti Verma led all in prayer. Sanvi Belwal and Raghav Anand then presented a prayer song. The foot-tapping dance performances given by tiny tots of SJA on the classis nursery rhyme “Old McDonald” and the popular song “Waka Waka” left the audience demanding “Encore”.

Then followed the mellifluous melodies presented by the school choir, a skit displaying the trials and and tribulations faced by St. George as well as an interview with Bro. Dennis.

Aditi Singh, Utsav Thapliyal and Aditya Singh Bisht also dedicated speeches to the brothers. The event was brought to an equally beautiful close as the students of class VII presented a well-choreographed contemporary dance.

Addressing the gathering, Bro George wholeheartedly thanked the SJA family for making the day a memorable one. "True schooling enables the students to look at life with a broader perspective and appreciate noble people around them,” he said. He also congratulated Bro. Dennis for completing 25 years of dedicated service to the congregation. The special guest Bro PU George thanked the Principal for extending such a warm welcome and also mesmerised the audience with a melodious rendition of an old Hindi song.

Lastly, Bro Dennis complimented the students as well as teachers for putting together a wonderful programme. "Had I not joined the Patrician Congregation, I would have never been able to come across such enlightened souls", he further said. Present on the occasion were Dr. Daljeet Kaur, Principal, Patrician College of Education and Raj Kanwar, a senior journalist.

Investiture ceremony at St George’s College
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, April 24
In order to hone the skills of potential leaders of the future, investiture ceremony was held at St. George’s College in Barlowganj near Mussoorie, yesterday. The day is also celebrated as St. George’s Day.

The chief guest, Brig. Rajesh Rawat, inaugurated the ceremony by lighting the ceremonial lamp. The ceremony started with the hoisting of the school flag. The students read out the speeches highlighting the life of St. George’s, the patron saint of the school.

The students also laid emphasis on the seven qualities required to become a great leader. Office-bearers from senior classes were administered the oath and received badges from the chief guest on the occasion.

Parmjeet S Sahrawat, Siddharth Narang, Abhinav Jain and Himanshu Malik were nominated as the house captains of Cullens, Gateleys, Marthins and Tapsells, respectively. Harshit Pahwa, Raag Munjal, Rishab Jindal and Aashish Baweja were nominated as vice-captains in same order.

Sanidhya Agarwal, Siddharth Thakur, Chitipat, Sat Sahib Singh Bhatia and Shresth Rastogi were administered oath as prefects.

Sumeet Narang, Milind Shya, Nandish Jagwani, Ishan Sethi, Aakash Bawwja and Joshua D. Galstaun were administered oath for the office of editorial board.

Hriday Mittal, Yashovardhan Agarwal and Akhil Jain were administered the oath for the office of audio-visual department.

Brig Rajesh Rawat congratulated the office-bearers and also distributed prizes and awards to the students excelling in the academics and sports on the occasion.

The best all-rounder prize in for different classes went to Anmol Thapa, Shriyansh Pundora, Anurag Kukreti, Ashmit Panwar, Raiyan Ali Khan, Prashant Chandra, Ujwal Goel, Tushar Gupta, Dev Bhimsaria, Chaitanya Gupta, Apurv Gupta, Madhav Agarwal, Shashwat Dabral, Samarth Gupta, Sarthak Goel, Mihir Raj, Sanjay Kumar, Sanket Sirohiya, Dhruv Bansal and Chitpat. While for excelling in academics Chirag Choudhry, Divyam Dewan, Ayushman Kashyap, Tabrez Choudhry, Garvdeep Singh, Chetan Khosla and Mohd. Zeeshan Alam were given awards and citations.

The Class X student band enthralled the audience by singing Bollywood numbers on the occasion.

Notification on eco-sensitive zone welcomed
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 24
Ganga Ahvaan, a voluntary organisation working for safeguarding the Ganga in Uttarakhand hills, today welcomed the Centre’s eco-sensitive zone notification, asserting that political parties were wrongly interpreting the notification as anti-development and against local people.

Addressing a press conference in Dehradun, Ganga Ahvaan’s president Hemant Dhyani today said the political parities were wrongly interpreting the Centre’s eco-sensitive zone notification for the Gaumukh-Uttarkashi stretch of Bhagirathi.

He said the notification had fully protected the traditional rights of locals and no way banned activity that was linked to exercising these traditional rights or development of the region. He said the notification banned all types of commercial mining, but allowed it for fulfilling the domestic needs of the bona fide residents.

“Similarly, while banning commercial hydropower projects, the notification allowed setting up of micro and mini hydel power plants to serve energy needs of the local communities”, Dhyani pointed out, asserting that the eco-sensitive zone was in no way against development of local people and was only aimed to check the exploitation of nature by vested interests.

Dhyani said it was only the politicians both from BJP and Congress who were trying to portray the eco-sensitive zone declaration as anti-development and against the interests of local people.

He said political parties were hand-in-glove with quarrying and tree felling mafias and that was the reason all of them were united to oppose the eco-sensitive zone.

He said the zone would go a long way in conservation of the Ganga. He even supported creating such zone in the Yamuna river valley area of the state in the future. Mallika Bhanot of Ganga Ahvaan was also present at the news conference.

Sports College, UPES teams win cricket matches
Tribune News service

A batsman plays a shot in a match in the 61st Dehradun District Cricket League played at the Survey Stadium in Dehradun on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Vinod Pundir

Dehradun, April 24
Sports College, Dehradun, and University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) won their respective matches in the 61st Dehradun District Cricket League played at Survey Stadium here today.

In the first match, Sports College defeated Vidhan Sabha team by eight wickets. Batting fitrst after winning the toss, the Vidhan Sabha team was all out for 91 runs in 18.5 overs. Arun was the top scorer with 30 runs. Gaurav and Ankit took three wickets each for Sports College team. In reply, Sports College team reached the target of 92 runs at the loss of two wickets. Opener Deepak remained unbeaten on 25 runs while Gurinder contributed 25 runs. Ravinder took two wickets for 19 runs.

In the second match, UPES team beat Secretariat XI by 29 runs. Batting first UPES team scored 183 runs fot six wickets in 30 overs. Opener Madhur remained unbeaten on 89 runs. Vikas Rawat and Lalit Joshi took two wickets each. In reply, Secretariat XI were all out for 155 runs, losing the match by 29 runs. Bhupender scored 36 runs. Parth Sharma, Akash and Kasish took two wickets each.

ITM beat JBIT by 166 runs

Institute of Technology and Management (ITM) defeated JBIT, Dehradun, by 166 runs in a match in the 61st Dehradun District Cricket League played at Survey Stadium here yesterday.

Batting first after winning the toss, the ITM team scored 246 runs all out in 23.5 overs. Openers Shahzad and Harsh scored 37 and 32 runs, respectively. Chetan scored 42 runs. Shankar took three wickets for 41 runs. In reply, JBIT team was all out for 80 runs, losing the match by 166 runs. Abhay and Kamni took four wickets each.

Civil disobedience movement at Jageshwar begins
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, April 24
Social activists from across the country along with thousands of local villagers under the banner of the Uttarakhand Lok Vahini on Tuesday launched a civil disobedience movement at Jageshwar Dham in Almora district and resolved not to obey those orders of the governments which aim at snatching the traditional rights of local communities on water and forest.

“We have decided to fight against the government’s policies of the privatisation of water resources in the state,” said Dr Shamsher Singh Bisht, president of the Uttarakhand Lok Vahini and organiser of the movement.

The meeting organised on the anniversary of Peshawar revolt by Chandra Singh Garhwali, who refused to fire at peaceful demonstrators at Peshawar on April 23, 1930, later passed a resolution which said after the formation of separate state of Uttarakhand, the respective governments failed to fulfil the aspirations of people here and had been rather involved in leasing out natural resources of the state to big corporate houses. “We resolve not to obey any anti-people policies of the state government and will launch an agitation on the basis of statehood movement of 1994 to regain community control on natural resources of jal, jangal and jamin, which have been given to people under Section 39 and of 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution,” said the resolution.

Setia: Fresh recognition must for pvt schools
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 24
Chairman of the State Child Rights Commission Ajay Setia yesterday said representatives of private schools were misquoting the Chief Minister that the government had relaxed RTE provisions for them and it was not compulsory for them to seek fresh recognition.

In a letter written to the Chief Minister, Setia has said under Section 18 of the RTE Act, it was mandatory for the private schools to seek fresh recognition, failing which they could face closure. After a delegation of private schools met the Chief Minister to sort out the problems being faced by parents and children in the wake of poor implementation of RTE norms, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had held a meeting with the representatives of the private schools.

But after the meeting got over, the government and the representatives of the schools gave different interpretations about the outcome of the meeting forcing the Chairman of the State Child Rights Commission to write a letter to the Chief Minister and stressing upon the requirement of all private schools to seek fresh recognition.

Painting contest for schoolchildren
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 24
Gram Vikas Sansthan, Upper Garhwali Colony, Nehru Gram, Dehradun, organised a painting competition for schoolchildren.

Chief guest, Dehradun district panchayat member, Subhash Bhatt, greeted the sansthan for organising the competition. He assured all support to the sansthan in its future activities. He also gave away prizes to children.

President of Gram Vikas Sansthan Pan Singh Rawat said the sanstha had been regularly organising such competitions for school going children. He said mehndi, rangoli and even singing competitions are regularly organised by the sanstha for the village children. He disclosed that painting competition was meant to give a platform to the village children to get necessary exposure.

Chief convener of the event LK Kandpal said a total of 220 children from classes 1 to V111 participated in the competition. He said the competition was free of cost and the children were provided with all stationery needed for drawing and colouring.

Chamoli asks BJP workers to intensify campaign
Tribune News Service

Dehradun April 24
With just a few days left for campaigning coming to an end, outgoing Mayor and BJP candidate Vinod Chamoli today asked party supporters to further intensify the election campaign. Today he took to Sabji Mandi, Niranjanpur, Maharani Bagh, Nehru Colony.

Chamoli also addressed a public gathering in Panditwari and Mehboob Colony and Majra.

Harbans Kapoor who also addressed the public in support of Chamoli said: '' Congress was swept off its feet because of the public wave in favour of BJP. People have seen the good work of BJP in the last five years. Vinod Chamoli attended to the grievances of public and solved their problems.''

He said he had also laid out a plan to build a metro city connecting Dehradun, Rishikesh, Vikasnagar and Haridwar. Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon have been connected through common infrastructure.

GGIC, MKP victorious in hockey
Tribune News service

A match being played in the 3rd Welham Girls’ Invitational Hockey Tournament at Welham School in Dehradun on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Vinod Pundir

Dehradun, April 24
Government Girls’ Inter College, Welham (Blue), and Mahadevi Kanya Pathshala (MKP) won their respective matches in the 3rd Welham Girls’ Invitational Hockey tournament played at Welham School here today.

In the first match Government Girls’ Inter College (GGIC) defeated Moravian Institute by 3-1. Mohini Verma, Arti and Rekhi scored for GGIC while the lone goal from Moravian Institute was scored by Solem.

In the second match, Welham (Blue) team defeated CNI School 9-0. Aryashree scored five goals while Medhvai Gupta scored three goals.Yashita scored a goal.

In the third goal, MKP School beat Welham Girls’ (White) 5-0. Pooja scored a hattrick while Chanda and Mamta scored one goal each.