Defence Secretary enquires about work on border roads
Dehradun, April 29
A meeting with the Union Defence Secretary, officials of the Indian Air Force and the Director General, BRO, is proposed to be held in New Delhi regarding the construction of strategically-important roads in the areas of Uttarakhand bordering China and Nepal.

Candidates set for counting of votes today
Haridwar, April 29
After toiling hard in the past fortnight, candidates are relaxing at their election offices, waiting for the results that following the counting of votes tomorrow.

BJP mayoral candidate from Haridwar Manoj Garg takes feedback from party workers at the Vivek Vihar election office; and (right) Congress mayoral candidate Swami Rishishwaranand interacts with a spiritual guru in Haridwar on Monday. Tribune photos: Rameshwar Gaur

DM, SSP inspect strongroom
Dehradun, April 29
District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam and SSP Kewal Khurana today inspected the strongroom at Bannu Inter-College at Race Course where the EVM machines after voting of civic polls have been kept. The counting for the Dehradun Municipal Corporation elections will take place there tomorrow.

ICFRE book on forestry for rural poor released
Dehradun, April 29
In the past few decades, the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun has covered many milestones in forestry research and extension. However, the scientific work carried out by it has not been appreciated in good measure.

Dr VK Bahuguna (third from left), Director General, ICFRE, releases a booklet on ‘Forestry research : ICFRE-supporting rural and tribal livelihood’ in Dehradun on Monday.

Dehradun April 29
The candidates fighting for various positions in the civic bodies spent this one day today relaxing after a back- breaking schedule of non-stop electioneering, campaigning and attending to voters' demands for the last several days. They found the voting pattern in their favour and exuded confidence of registering victory.

BJP mayoral candidate and Vinod Chamoli as usual interacted with people at home, went to the party office in the day and returned home by the evening. He seemed confident of his victory when he said: “People of the city have completely rejected Congress in this election. Despite the factor of anti-incumbency , BJP is sure of repeating it's term in Dehradun Municipal Corporation.” His wife said:'' The entire family offered special puja at Sanatan Dharam Temple in Nehru Colony in the morning. “We have a lot of faith in Santan Dharam mandir. In each election, we offer prayers in this temple for registering victories. I prayed for the triumph of my husband who has worked very hard in the last five years.”

Mayoral candidate of Congress Suryakant Dhasmana could not be contacted. However, his wife reposed confidence that people would facilitate victory for her husband in this election. The family, too, offered prayers for Dhasmana's victory. “The time has come for the fruition of all the hard labour my husband has put in to serve people of the city for so many decades. I am sure people will not disappoint us.” She also emphasised that Congress would certainly be blessed with a sure shot win tomorrow.''

BSP mayoral candidate Rajni Rawat was also full of confidence as she said: “I could clearly see that people were all excited to vote for me. They gave me warm welcome wherever I went. In the last DMC election, I

had to be satisfied with the second slot, as BJP and Congress lured voters with various temptations. But in this election, no one can stop me from getting the clear mandate from people to become Mayor of the city. The public has become wiser with experience.”

Exhausted by the demanding schedule of campaigning, Rawat had retired yesterday night at 8, handing over her phone to her party members. She knew that no more convincing or appeasing was of any use, after the fate of each candidate got sealed in the ballot boxes.

State president of Samajwadi Party SN Sachan said: “The party will now break the jinx of not winning a single seat in any election after the formation of the state government. This year in the civic poll, I am expecting to win two to three seats in the entire state.”

UKD mayoral candidate Manmohan Singh Lakhera avoided meeting people at the party office, which has become a hub of party wrangles. He preferred to meet people at his residence only. Exuding confidence of garnering a good number of votes, he said: “The way people are unhappy with Congress and BJP, I am sure my party would be able to get benefit on this account. Then the contributions of my father, a prominent statehood agitator, will also not go in vain. So I strongly feel that we will certainly do well in this election.”

Mayor candidate of Uttarakhand Regional Party Rajiv Kothari said the Congress had already weakened it's case by fielding a candidate who triggered atrocities on statehood agitators and whose party at that time opposed agitation for state formation. He said the whole community of freedom fighters and statehood agitators are with URP and they expected a win in the election. 

Pithoragarh, April 29
Both Congress and BJP expect a neck and neck fight in the local body elections the polling for which was held yesterday. While the Congress expects to perform better in the Kumaon region, the BJP is expecting better results in the Garhwal region compared to the last elections.

“Besides the civic bodies in Dehradun, Haridwar and Doiwala, we are sure that we will win more seats in the civic bodies in other districts of the Garhwal region. We will also win a majority in the Vikas Nagar and Mussoorie local bodies,” said Suresh Joshi, BJP general secretary.

“The Congress has an edge over the BJP in Pauri and Udham Singh Nagar districts. We do not expect to fare well in Pauri and Udham Singh Nagar districts this time. The wrong selection of candidates and infighting in the party will affect our poll results,” he added.

Joshi said though the Independents might win some seats earlier held by the two parties, the BJP was likely to get the benefit of anti-incumbency in the Garhwal region. “We were expecting more seats, but some local factors worked against our candidates in some seats,” he said.

The BJP leader said besides the local bodies in Pauri district, where the Independents gave a tough fight to the candidates of the mainstream parties in some seats, the BJP would win the majority of seats in Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Dehradun districts. “Except in Herbertpur, we will win all seats in Dehradun district,” Joshi said.

He added infighting in the party and the wrong selection of candidates would cost the BJP dear in Pauri district while it would get a majority in all five local bodies in Chamoli and Rudrsprayag districts.

“We will perform well in the local bodies in Gairsain, Karnprayag and Pokhari in Chamoli district,” claimed Joshi.

The Congress is overwhelmed by the voting trends yesterday and it expects to win 60 per cent of the total seats in most of the local bodies. “Except Dehradun, Roorkee and Haridwar we will win in all other Nagar Nigams,” said Mathura Dutt Joshi, Congress spokesman.

Both parties agreed that Independent candidates were likely to give a good fight on some seats. The Independents were likely to give tough time to the BJP candidates in Garhwal and the Congress candidates in the Kumaon region.

Sources said more than 10 Independent candidates were likely to win from the Garhwal and Kumaon regions. “The Independents are likely to emerge victorious in Herbertpur, Rishikesh, Didihat, Champawat and in two seats in Pauri district. They are also expected to fare better in the Nainital and Haldwani civic bodies where they have revolted against their parties,” they said.

Haridwar, April 29
Administrative officials were busy today to give final touches to the preparations for the counting of votes to be held tomorrow.

Counting of votes for the Municipal Corporation and other civic bodies, falling in Haridwar district, will be held under strict security vigilance, the voting for which was held yesterday.

District Election Officer Sachin Kurwe along with Senior Superintendent of Police Arun Mohan Joshi inspected the arrangements for the counting at SDM's court, Roshanabad, 15 km from the city. A training session was held for counting employees who numbered 236 at BHEL convention hall.

At every table put up for counting, one observer will also be at place to ensure correct and smooth counting process. Seven tables have been put up for counting for Haridwar Municipal Corporation, 7 each for Lakshar and Mangalore, 6 each for Jhabreda and Laundaura.

Vote counting for Roorkee Municipal Corporation, Mangalore Municpal Committee, Laundaura and Jhabreda nagar panchayat will be held at BSM College, Roorkee. Lakshar nagar panchayat votes will be counted at Lakshar tehsil.

Electronic voting machines have been used for only Haridwar and Roorkee Municipal Corporation elections, while for civic body elections of Jhabreda, Laundaura, Lakshar and Mangalore voting was done through ballot papers only.

For these civic bodies counting of votes will be done after going through every single ballot paper, as a result of which election result will get somewhat delayed in comparison to EVM results.

Talking to TNS, sub district election officer VS Dhanik said that all arrangements had been put up in place at Roshanabad and Roorkee.

Dehradun, April 29
A meeting with the Union Defence Secretary, officials of the Indian Air Force and the Director General, BRO, is proposed to be held in New Delhi regarding the construction of strategically-important roads in the areas of Uttarakhand bordering China and Nepal.

The Defence Secretary has asked Subhash Kumar, Chairman of the Uttarakhand Revenue Board, for information regarding the progress of construction work on these roads within a month.

Subhash has written to the Commissioners of Garhwal and Kumaon to hold meetings with the DIG (DGBR), the Chief Engineer (PWD) and the District Magistrates concerned to accelerate the work on these road projects.

In 2011, Subhash had through video conferencing told the Union Cabinet Secretary and the Defence Secretary about the condition of the roads near China and Nepal borders. The DIG and the Chief Engineers, BRO, at Rishikesh and Tanakpur have been asked to provide information regarding these roads.

The work on these roads, including Malari to Badahoti, Mana village to Mana Pass and Bhaironghati to Naga-Sonam-Kumal road, is under progress.

A total of 56 km of road has been built from Mana village to Mana Pass while an 18-km road from Gunji to Kutti has been built. While a 65-km road is being built from Dharchula to Lipulekh, a 65-km road is being built from Munsiyari to Milam.

Subhash has asked both Commissioners to ensure coordination among District Magistrates and BRO officials regarding permissions related to land transfer, felling of trees and stone crushing.

Haridwar, April 29
After toiling hard in the past fortnight, candidates are relaxing at their election offices, waiting for the results that following the counting of votes tomorrow.

Thought party workers are presenting facts, figures and assessments of polling in the wards, the lines on foreheads of candidates point that they are not as relaxed as they appear to be.

Bharatiya Janta Party candidate Manoj Garg spent his morning offering prayers followed by breakfast with his family. But as party leaders and neighbours arrived at his Gobindpuri residence, he went to the Vivek Vihar-Tibdi bypass main election office. As news spread of his presence, party workers and well-wishers arrived at the office to wish him good luck and presented to him their assessment and calculations of the poll scene.

Heavyweight independent candidate Murali Manohar, who is being supported by the Rashtriya Krantikari Manch, was relaxing at the Union office in Mayapur. Murali said he was in a good position as voter turnout had proved that people wanted change and development.

He alleged that election officials had failed to control the violation of the election code of conduct by BJP and Congress workers. Murali said for a pilgrim city, luring voters with liquor, money and other commodities did not bode well. He cornered the Haridwar parliamentarian, union minister Harish Rawat, and local BJP legislator Madan Kaushik for trying to influence the polls.

Sant-turned-politician Swami Rishishwaranand of the Congress met sants, party workers and local people at his Chetan Jyoti Ashram in Bhoopatwala. With a smile on his face, Swami Rishishwaranand, alias Sanjay Mahant, exuded confidence and claimed to have got the votes of all major sections of society.

He also listenened to party workers and poll booth agents' analysis of the poll.

Samajwadi Party candidate Qazi Chand was glued to his cellular phone at Jwalapur most of the time. With sub-urban Jwalapur being dominated by the minority community, he was at ease, claiming that apart from the minority community, he had got votes of people following the Samajwadi ideologue.

Irfan Ali of the Bahujan Samaj Party also met his party workers at the Shivalik Nagar-based office. Claiming to have got a good percentage of votes, he said the people were fed up with the governance of the BJP and Congress, so they voted for the ‘Sarvjan Samaj-Sarvjan Hitay’ ideology.

Dehradun, April 29
District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam and SSP Kewal Khurana today inspected the strongroom at Bannu Inter-College at Race Course where the EVM machines after voting of civic polls have been kept. The counting for the Dehradun Municipal Corporation elections will take place there tomorrow.

The two officials directed the deputed officials not to leave any shortcoming in their preparations. The counting of votes will start tomorrow at 8 in the morning. The barricading has been done to prevent people from unnecessarily going inside.

Around 24 tables have been laid for the counting.

All returning officers will hand over the final count to Additional District Magistrate Harak Singh Rawat. Fourteen tables have been laid for Nagar Palika Rishikesh vote counting in IDPL premises. For counting of Nagar Palika Mussoorie votes, eight tables have been arranged in Ghananad Inter-college.

Around six tables have been laid for Nagar Palika Vikasnagar and four tables for Nagar Panchayat Harbartpur. The counting of both the areas will take place in Asharam Vaidik Inter College, Vikasnagar. Counting for Nagar Panchayat Doiwala will take place on four tables in Vikas Khand, Doiwala.

To conduct the task of counting the votes in effective manner without any flaw or interruption, some 302 counting personnel were trained today on the premises of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation. 

Dehradun, April 29
In the past few decades, the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun has covered many milestones in forestry research and extension. However, the scientific work carried out by it has not been appreciated in good measure. Therefore, it has shifted its research focus to being people-centric, having a direct relevance to the rural people by providing a solution for water and food security as well as livelihood through forest-based enterprises.

To showcase the work done by ICFRE institutes towards integrating forestry with rural development through forest-based activities for the rural and poor tribesmen living in the forest fringe areas and villages, especially in the rainfed areas of the country, the ICFRE has come out with a booklet titled “Forestry Research : ICFRE Supporting Rural and Tribal Livelihood”.

The booklet was released by Dr VK Bahuguna, Director-General, ICFRE, at a function here today. All deputy director-generals of the ICFRE, Director, FRI, senior officers and scientists from the ICFRE and the FRI were present on 
the occasion

The booklet highlights 22 such technologies and procedures having direct relevance to the rural poor and tribesmen. Some important ones include the production of natural dyes as an alternative for a safe environment, portable distillation units, improved methods for compost production, cultivation of mushrooms, bio-insecticides, sustainable harvesting and propagation of medicinal plants and a product called ‘Samridhi’ which is a boon for silkworm rearing. The booklet will be shortly translated into Hindi and other regional languages for wider distribution and readership.

With ICFRE interventions, tribal people in Naxal-affected areas of Jharkhand are earning about Rs 80,000 per hectare from lac cultivation in Flemingia spp. and about Rs 40-45,000 from lac cultivation in kusum trees. Similarly, rubberwood technologies developed by the FRI were adopted by Tripura Forest Development and Plantation Corporation and have benefited more than 6,000 families directly and an equal number indirectly. The agroforestry models on poplar, eucalyptus, casuarina developed by the ICFRE institutes have yielded profit to the farmers to the tune of around to Rs 2 lakh per hectare.