Six killed as bus falls into gorge
Dehradun, May 2
Six persons were killed and 20 injured in a road mishap in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. The incident took place at 1.30 pm when an ill-fated mini bus (No. UA 11 0967), on way to Karanprayag from Gopeshwar, fell into a gorge in Dronagiri village of Chamoli district. 

Dehradun, May 2
Members of the Sikh community in Dehradun today held a silent march in support of their demand for action against the perpetrators of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. They gathered at Gandhi Park in the morning and walked towards Clock Tower and Paltan Bazaar carrying placards demanding justice for the victims of the anti-Sikh riots.

“The acquittal of Delhi Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in one of the cases of his alleged involvement in the killing of Sikhs in 1984 has hurt the community,” they said.

The Sikh leaders alleged that even after 29 years the victims of the 1984 riots were still deprived of justice. Nothing concrete had been done to identify and punish those involved in the organised killing of more than 3,000 Sikhs and looting and burning of their properties across north India. 

Dehradun May 2
State Transport Minister Surender Rakesh has directed the transport office to procure 100 more buses from Himachal Pradesh for the upcoming Chardham pilgrimage. He also directed that 40 city buses be put on on rotation and some buses of the Kumon Mandal reserved for the pilgrimage.

Around 1,600 buses are in operation, of which 40 per cent are used for the pilgrimage and the rest for local services. He said the local citizens should not be put to inconvenience.

He hoped that the Border Road Organisation would ready the roads for the pilgrimage by May 13.

He instructed that signages/boards be put on areas vulnerable to accidents.

He directed the officials of transport companies to instruct the drivers to abide by the regulations related to the green card and it be issued only after proper scrutiny of permit, licence, insurance or other documents of the vehicles.

He said the technical officer concerned would issue the green card on checkpost of state entry points in Haridwar, Rishikesh, Kotwdwar, Haldwani and Narson. The vehicles would also be checked at Kuthalgate, Tapovan, Bhadrakali, Behrapur and Lakhnota check posts. Besides, three mobile enforcement squads would be deputed on the pilgrimage route to conduct surprise checks on vehicles. All SDMs/tehsildars had also been directed to check any vehicles in their areas.

He said he was doing away with the rotation system following the demand of transport companies, but in case of any mismanagement, the system would be enforced again. 

In the rotation system, the buses are released to pick passengers one by one. The drivers responsible for rough driving, overspeed or overloading would be challaned. He directed tourism officials to maintain the tourist rest house and arrange for toilets by May 10.

On health amenities, he was told that one specialist doctor would be provided each in Chamoli and Rudra Prayag districts and two doctors in the other districts falling on the route of Chardham on rotation. The time period for a specialist to stay had been fixed for 20 days while that of the other doctors 30 days. Two doctors each from Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts would be provided an orientation course 
of 15 days.

Dehradun, May 2
The BJP workers today burnt effigies of Pakistan and the UPA government at Garhi Cantt holding both responsible for Sarabjit’s death. Led by their leader Devendra Pal Singh, BJP workers accused the UPA government of failing to protect the citizen of the country. He said the UPA had no right to continue if it kept no concern for its citizens.

Devendra said Pakistan had crossed all limits of cruelty and Sarabjit’s death is the latest example. He said Pakistan today stands as a nation of cowards. Prominent BJP leaders Bhupendra Chandal, Prem Singh Rana, Subhash Aggarwal and Nandini Sharma took part in the protest. 

Dehradun, May 2
A one-day workshop on the subject of ''Change Management for State Leaders and Mentors'' was convened in the police headquarters at the behest of Director General of Police Satyavrat Bansal today.

A team of NIIT officials, who are working in coordination with the state Police Department is not only streamlining the entire functioning of the 
department in a computerised way but also training officials to use the system, addressed the gathering of senior police officers.

The team members said the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), an ambitious plan of the Centre, was implemented in the aftermath of the terrible 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes. At the time the need was felt to connect the entire security system, including each police station, through a common network with Home

Department at the Centre in order to tighten the trap around crime and criminals. With CCTNS project, a data base would be prepared where any police station in any part of the country can search information about other police stations of other states through CCTNS.

This technology will help them in tracking the criminals hidden in other states or disseminating information about missing children/girls, which has become a very sensitive and important issue now. The citizens will also be able to lodge complaints or FIRs online as well.

The team was of the view that the Police Department must brace itself positively for the transformation. The team will work in close coordination with them for full one year to train them. During the workshop, they also dissipated some of the doubts of the audience as well.

Mussoorie, May 2
Newly elected president of the Municipal Council Manmohan Singh Mall has straightway taken up development works in Mussoorie town so that these could be completed before the summer tourist season.

Manmohan met Public Works Department (PWD) officials at a meeting at a hotel here today and discussed the proposal for constructing a 2.45 km tunnel from Cart Mackenzie Road to the area near Mussoorie International School in order to ease traffic congestion.

Executive Engineer, PWD, CM Pandey informed the meeting that the department was planning to construct the 2.45 km tunnel from Cart Mackenzie Road and connect it with Chakrata Road near Mussoorie International School. He said Lomabardy construction company had been assigned the task of preparing the feasibility report of the project.

Forest Department officials along with environment and engineering experts today inspected the tunnel area to assess the viability of the proposal, added Pandey.

He said the construction company would submit its report within four months and after that the project would be initiated at the cost of around Rs 250 crore.

About other projects being undertaken by the PWD, Pandey said a detailed project report for a parking at Kingcraig was being prepared and the work on it would begin soon.

Manmohan also directed the PWD officials to complete pending works on various roads like Motilal Nehru Road, Company Garden Road, the road near the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy and on Mall Road on priority.

He said he hoped that the most of the pending works would be completed before May 15 so that tourists did not face inconvenience during the summer.

He added the proposal for the construction of Town Hall with a parking in its basement was under consideration. 

Dehradun, May 2
Members of the International Human Rights Organisation today tied black bands as part of their awareness campaign against increasing incidents of atrocities against women, particularly rape of young girls. The members held a meeting at the main gate of Gandhi Park, condemning the increasing shameful incidents of rape.

Anurag Kumar, president of the organisation, said it was social malaise and had to be countered by aggressive campaigning. He further said the country had earned a bad name on this count and every citizen should try to stop such incidents and make the public aware. 

Dehradun, May 2
A comparison of the governance of the first year of present Congress state government headed by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and previous BJP rule of BC Khanduri (retd) during his second stint before the Assembly polls has moulded the public opinion of the voters during the just concluded civic polls in the state.

The steps taken by the then Chief Minister BC Khanduri in curbing corruption and making officials accountable for public services during his second stint of four months from September 2011 to February 2012 has helped the BJP.

The measures taken during Khanduri's last rule helped the party in winning 31 seats, one short of ruling Congress Party, which secured 32 seats. But, ironically, Khanduri lost his own Assembly seat.

The single measure of bringing in Public Services Act by Khanduri did bring relief to the people. Earlier, the people, particularly in the plain areas of the state, did face a lot of problems in getting simple officials things done like getting ration cards, certificates and licences.

However, with the promulgation of the Public Services Act, during the four months from November 2011 till February 2012, lakhs of people got relief. In Garhwal region during the four months period, a total of 3,68,377 complaints were received and 3,40,087 were admitted and only 2815 remained pending. Similarly, in Kumoan region, out of a total 2,12,431 complaints, 1,91,036 complaints were admitted, while more than 20,000 remained pending.

The move by Khanduri to allow the candidate appearing in various recruitment examinations for the state government to take copies of their answersheets home to bring in more transparency went well with the youth.

The move did help the BJP to maintain its credibility with the people of the plain areas, which was also reflected in massive BJP victory in the recently concluded civic polls in the state.

The BJP, which did well in the bigger cities and towns during the previous Assembly polls, particularly in Udham Singh Nagar, also did commendably well in the civic polls. ''The governance during the second stint of Khanduri regime was better and people comparing the present Congress government's performance found it wanting,'' commented Shishsir Prashant, a senior journalist.

Many believe that the comparison of the rule by Khanduri and now by his cousin brother and Congress Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna did swing the voters in favour of BJP. The issues of rising inflation, corruption and ever increasing scandals surfacing in the Union Government together with the non-performance of the state Congress government during it's first year of rule did annoy the voters.

Dehradun, May 2
Vice-President of the state unit of the Congress Suryakant Dhasmana, who recently lost the Dehradun mayoral election to Vinod Chamoli of the BJP, has reiterated his commitment to work for the party despite getting little support from certain party leaders in the poll.

Dhasmana said he was a committed party worker and could never imagine quitting it. He said electoral outcomes did not matter to him and he would continue with his public welfare works.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress Bhawan here today, Dhasmana said though he had taken the defeat in his stride, the shift of Congress traditional vote bank in the recently held civic bodies' elections was a matter of great concern as it could hurt party’s interests in the parliamentary elections.

Dhasmana said he had no complaints against any senior party leader, but the mayoral poll statistics itself revealed the story. He said: "The number of votes polled by Congress candidates for the posts of ward councillor in Dehradun exceeded by 11,000 votes what the party received for the post of Mayor."

He said the poll outcome needed to be analysed thoroughly to get to the exact reason behind the defeat.

Dhasmana said despite vicious campaigns carried out against him by the BJP, he got a substantial number votes in the areas dominated by hill people.

Congress leaders Sumar Chand Ravi and Arun Valmiki were also present at the press conference. 

Dehradun, May 2
Review officers today called off their 22-day-old stir after the government decided to accept their five-point charter of demands. The strike had taken a serious turn after the government took strong measures and asked the review officers to stage a sit-in outside the Secretariat. But today the government reached an agreement with the officers who decided to call off their stir.

“We have called off our stir after the government gave us in writing about accepting most of our demands,” said JP Maikhuri, president of the Review Officers (Secretariat) Association.

Among the five- point charter of demands that the review officers have been demanding for implementation, the payment of arrears from 2006 onwards has not found favour with the government.

Earlier the Finance Department had turned down the demand as it was likely to put additional fiscal burden on the government, forcing the officers to continue with their strike. But now a formula has been worked out and the officers have joined duty.