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Cong MLA creates a scene at Rajiv Gandhi Complex
Kumaon varsity VC quits
Rice for APL as per Centre’s rates: Minister
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Step anti-poor, says Khanduri
Stand-off over UKD party premises continues
Hridayesh denies crisis over profit-of-office issue
Tripathi is additional secy to CM
Badri Kedar Mahotsava from May 28 to June 3
Blueprint for medical
varsity ready
Launch cleanliness drive in cities, orders Chief Secy
Transfer policy for schoolteachers announced
DM reviews measures to check forest fires
Mussoorie legislator meets ADM over pending projects
Setia: Police not following
Juvenile Justice
Act procedures
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Cong MLA creates a scene at Rajiv Gandhi Complex
Dehradun, May 22 Rajkumar, MLA, Rajpur Road, who came there with his supporters, created a fuss at midnight yesterday and called up the SSP, the District Magistrate as well as the Vice-Chairman of the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) after finding the railings around a statue of Rajiv Gandhi and their posters missing from the scene. Administration and police officials stayed put there throughout the night. The assertion of Vice-Chairman of the MDDA RM Sundaram that the contractor had removed the railings to build a firm platform at the place and the posters had been properly folded for safety reasons failed to convince the MLA. On his insistence, an FIR was lodged against the contractor and an inquiry was demanded in the matter. Congress leader Ashok Verma, who was also present there, said, “I was called by Rajkumar late last night saying the BJP had damaged the platform and removed the railings around the statue and their banners. I came rushing thinking that BJP supporters might be present there and a serious scuffle could ensue.” A few other Congress leaders like Lal Chand Sharma also reached there. Verma demanded safety of all statues of leaders in the city. Congress insiders revealed that the Congress leaders and their supporters were heavily drunk and they refused to see reason in the explanation given to them by the officials. Rajkumar was unavailable throughout the day today. On Rajkumar’s insistence, Sundaram sent his secretary Banshi Dhar Tiwari, the District Magistrate sent Additional District Magistrate Harak Singh Rawat and SSP sent Circle Officer, Kotwali, Harish Chand Sati to the spot last night. The officials, who were present there throughout the night, were highly upset as they had been engaged in preparations and arrangements for the arrival of the Chief Minister for the inaugural function. They had hardly gone to bed when the phones started ringing. They reached the spot around midnight and returned home at 4 am. Sundaram said, “A makeshift platform was created along with railings for the inaugural function. My department was running against time as the inaugural function was scheduled for May 21 to coincide with the Rajiv Gandhi’s death anniversary. In a short span on Tuesday, Rajiv Gandhi’s statue was erected and the platform and the railing were also installed.” He added since several Congress leaders climbed over the platform, the structure, which was wet and delicate, sustained damage. The railings were removed after the function to store them safely and use them only when a concrete platform was ready. The posters were also folded to avoid mishandling. The contractor produced folded posters before the Congress leaders in the wee hours today. |
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Kumaon varsity VC quits
Pithoragarh, May 22 Bhatnagar submitted his resignation to Governor Aziz Qureshi in Nainital today. The Governor accepted his resignation and appointed Kumaon Divisional Commissioner RK Sudhunshu as the acting Vice-Chancellor of the university. “Hereafter, I will be rendering my services at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi from where I had come to this university as Vice-Chancellor,” he
said. Bhatnagar later addressing staff members, campus directors and heads of various departments said whenever he tried to maintain the autonomous nature of the university, the government squeezed funds, affecting the functioning of the academic, executive and board of study sections of the university. “When we sent a budget demand of Rs 36 crore as our salary requirements, the government released only Rs 24.92 crore and the staff could not get their salaries in time,” he
said. Bhatnagar seemed disturbed at interference by local leaders in the appointment of teachers in the university last month. “During the recruitment of more than 36 teachers in the university last month, bureaucrats, local leaders and even responsible people in the government mounted pressure on him to appoint their candidates in place of meritorious people from universities worldwide,” said
Bhatnagar. “My resignation is the outcome of pains of a person who wanted to contribute to the progress of the university sincerely but the government response was of neglect,” said
Bhatnagar. |
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Rice for APL as per Centre’s rates: Minister
Dehradun, May 22 “The state government is buying additional rice at a higher rate of Rs 21 per kg from the Central government. In order to fulfil its commitment of providing rice to the APL cardholders at Rs 8.35 per kg, the state government is incurring a yearly burden of Rs 105 crore,” said Pritam today. He said the prevailing rate of Rs 21 per kg should be seen in the light of inflation and could not be compared with the Atal Khadiyan Yojana cheap food scheme. “At that time the then BJP government bought additional rice at the rate of Rs 11.85 per kg and had announced the scheme to win extra votes, while our government was keen to fulfil the commitments realistically throughout our tenure,” he said. It may be mentioned that the state Cabinet decision to provide rice at the rate of Rs 8.53 per kg is being seen as a move by the Congress government to overturn the Atal Kahadayan Yojana introduced in 2011 under which rice was being sold to the APL cardholders at Rs 5 per kg. But besides setting the price of rice at Rs 8.35 per kg for APL cardholders, the government had also decided to reduce the quantity of rice from 10 kg to 5 kg. Though Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna always maintained that the APL cardholders would receive the full quota of 10 kg of rice, the state government was facing great difficulty in the procurement of rice due to reduced allocation from the Central government. |
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Step anti-poor, says Khanduri
Dehradun, May 22 “The Congress government is anti-poor and is bent upon negating the good work undertaken by the BJP government in the past. The Atal Khadyan Yojana was introduced to bring relief to the people battling price rise, but the Congress government has changed it,” said Khanduri. Khanduri said that the Bahuguna government’s needless interference in the functioning of universities had come to such a pass that Prof Rakesh Bhatnagar had tendered his resignation. “It is a matter of deep regret that a scholar of the calibre of Bhatnagar was forced to quit due to the interference of the government. The government should allow the institutions of learning to function independently,” said
Khanduri. |
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Stand-off over UKD party premises continues
Dehradun, May 22 President of the UKD (Panwar) Trivender Singh Panwar, in his reply to the ADM, remained adamant on his demand of evicting the alleged expelled leaders. He said he would not compromise with them. He also showed some documentary proof to prove that Aeri and his supporters had termed the annual convention as 14th convention, whereas, they had already held the 14th convention. Panwar claimed that he was elected as the president of the party in the 15th convention.This way, he said Aeri’s convention stood cancelled. Aeri’s supporter Shilash Guleri said they still wanted Panwar to become part of their group and shelve differences. He said their faction had no problem in letting any party member, be it from Panwar faction, to come into the party premises. Closure of the party office because of ego clashes would be very unfortunate, he said. Despite differences over the issue, speculations were rife that both the factions had arrived on an understanding. Meanwhile, Panwar supporters held a dharna on the road and raised slogans against
Aeri. |
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Hridayesh denies crisis over profit-of-office issue
Dehradun, May 22 “I do not foresee any constitutional crisis in the wake of the writ petition filed by Ajay Bhatt on the issue of office of profit. In the past, the previous governments had excluded several posts out of the purview of the office of profit with retrospective effect. However, as the case is in the court, it is to be seen how they interpret this in retrospect’ measure,” she said. The Bahuguna government had issued an ordinance with retrospect effect to bail out Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat, who had occupied the post of chairman of the Uttarakhand Seed and Terai Development Corporation against the statute of the corporation. He continues to occupy two other posts. The minister said Rs 27crore had been released for the construction of Vidhan Bhawan and Secretariat building at Raipur and Gairsain. She said the work was expected to pick up pace with the release of the first instalment. Meanwhile, the Finance Minister reiterated the government's commitment to provide 10 kg rice to APL card holders and said the issues would be settled once the UPA government brought the Food Security Bill and get it passed. The minister also brushed aside the suggestions that the party’s poor performance in the recently concluded civic bodies election was the reflection of the Congress government's poor performance. “The civic bodies' elections are fought on the local issues and have very little bearing on the performance of the government in the state,” she said. |
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Tripathi is additional secy to CM
Dehradun, May 22 Dr Ranjit Sinha was appointed the Vice-Chairman of the Haridwar Development Authority while Nidhi Mani Tripathi was appointed the Additional Secretary to the Chief Minister. Dr Ranjit Sinha replaces Chandershekhar Bhatt as Vice-Chairman of the Haridwar Development Authority, while Nidhi Mani Tripathi was the District Magistrate of Nainital. She is yet to be assigned the department. |
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Badri Kedar Mahotsava from May 28 to June 3
Dehradun, May 22 Maharaj, in whose constituency the Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines are located, said in a statement that the mahotsava would be held at various places of Garhwal. He added cultural programmes highlighting the rich culture of Garhwal would be its main attraction. “The cultural programmes will start from Deoprayag where these will be held on May 28, at Srinagar on May 29 and Augustmuni on May 30. Further, the programmes will be organised at Karanprayag on May 31, at Nandprayag on June 1 and the concluding function will be held at Badrinath on June 3,” Maharaj said. He added he had already started holding meetings to review preparations for the mahotsava. He also advocated continuation of registration of mules and horses for the Kedarnath yatra. He demanded deployment of sanitary workers on the Kedarnath yatra route on the public private partnership mode. He said local youths must be employed as guides to facilitate pilgrims. |
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Blueprint for medical
varsity ready
Dehradun, May 22 The government has already established the Directorate of Medical Education and the Director of Medical Education and a staff of 22 persons are likely to be appointed soon. At a review meeting of the Department of Medical Education, Chief Secretary Subash Kumar was informed that the blueprint for the Medical and Health University had been prepared so that all paramedical and medical colleges in the state came under one umbrella. In 2014-2015, th PG courses would be started in Srinagar Medical College. The Secretary, Medical Education, Manisha Panwar, said Rs 40 crore had been earmarked for Doon Medical College and Rs 11 crore for Almora Medical College. |
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Launch cleanliness drive in cities, orders Chief Secy
Dehradun, May 22 Subhash Kumar said posters and graffiti from walls should be removed. He also instructed that the illegal hoardings be removed. He said the energy saving model should be used for street lights. He said the process of approving plans by the Housing Development Authorities should be made online by June 15 and the proposed land acquisition policy given the final shape by July 31. Secretary (Urban Development and Housing) MH Khan said approval would soon be given by the Central Road and Transport Ministry for laying sewers on 900 metres of the national highway. He said the CM had also written to the ministry about this. Khan said areas were being identified to regularise illegal colonies. He said solid waste management was being done in 47 municipal areas. Within 15 days, the list of executive officers and accountants would be given by the Public Service Commission and by July, selections of other personnel would also be done. He said three new urban local body areas and seven
new nagar panchayats had been created. Vice-Chairman of the Mussoorie Dehra Authority R.M.Sundaram and Additional Secretary (PWD) Amit Negi were also present on the
ocassion. |
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Transfer policy for schoolteachers announced
Dehradun, May 22 The transfer policy has kept 70 points on the basis of which transfers would be carried out all across the state. The government has also tried to remove the existing anomalies while earmarking accessible and inaccessible areas in the state. “For effective implementation of the policy, schoolteachers would be marked on the basis of 70 points and be transfered. The maximum number of transfers would be of the teachers posted in inaccessible areas and who had never been moved from their place for the past 15 years,” said Mantri Prasad Naithani, Minister for School
Education. Moreover, all the complaints of the teachers regarding transfers will be taken up at the Directorate level where a grievance cell will be created. Similar cells will be created at the district and division level. All transfer orders will now be issued on the basis of the transfer policy and all the transfer formalities have to be completed by early June. |
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DM reviews measures to check forest fires
Dehradun, May 22 Forest officials from Dehradun, Vikasnagar, Chakrata and Kalsi participated in the meeting. Purushottam directed them to make all necessary arrangements to contain forest fires during the summer. He also told the officials to hold meetings with local people to educate them about the steps to check forest fires. The District Magistrate said the forest officials and employees must be given training in firefighting in advance and provided the required equipment. He directed them to provide information about fire incidents in any part of the forest to the Forest Safety Centre and make the firefighting staff to leave for the spot without delay. He also told them to prepare a chart of the staff available and fix duties of revenue employees accordingly. |
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Mussoorie legislator meets ADM over pending projects
Dehradun, May 22 Joshi also discussed the matter relating to the temple, which was shifted when the road from Great Value Hotel to the Canal road was widened by the PWD. Joshi said the temple had not been fully restored at the new place, which was situated at some distance from the original place. He also urged Kamthan to provide the financial assistance to the people in his constituency, whose houses got damaged in natural disaster. However, Kamthan told him that the department was yet to receive funds for the current financial year. |
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Setia: Police not following
Juvenile Justice
Act procedures
Dehradun, May 22 Setia said complaints had been received by the panel that the police in the cases pertaining to children were not involving Child Welfare Officers and were resolving them at its own level. He urged DGP Satyavrat Bansal to intervene in the matter and instruct the SPs to hold monthly meetings with Child Welfare Officers. Further, Setia welcomed the Supreme Court judgment asking the authorities to register FIRs in all cases pertaining to missing children within a month. “The decision is historic and has come in the aftermath of Delhi-based organisation Bachpan Bachao Andolan's relentless fight for missing children. A total of 75,808 children are missing in the country,” said
Setia. |
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Uttarakhand Rural Development and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Pritam Singh today said the Cabinet decision to provide rice to above poverty line (APL) cardholders at the rate of Rs 8.35 per kg was in keeping with the revised rates set by the Central government throughout the country.
Dehradun, May 22
