SP’s working committee meeting in Agra
Dehradun, September 6
Samajwadi Party’s National Working Committee meeting, which was scheduled for September 11 and 12 in Haridwar, will now be held at Agra on the same dates.

Haridwar, September 6
The Nainital High Court had ordered the demolition of buildings and structures in 200 metre periphery of the Ganga in February this year but the Haridwar Development Authority (HDA) had confined itself to just serving notices on the violators.

The laxity on the part of the HDA was paving the way for illegal constructions on the banks of the Ganga. Notably, the HDA has issued 152 notices in Rishikesh and 103 notices in Haridwar to those people who have constructed buildings within 200 m of the Ganga banks. But the HAD has taken no action on the ground even seven months after issuing notices.

In Haridwar city alone, 1,000-odd buildings fall within the prohibited limits indicating large scale illegal constructions along the Ganga. Several hotels and commercial establishments are still being constructed along the riverbanks.

HDA Secretary Anil Tyagi said a drive would be started soon to demolish illegal buildings on the Ganga banks. More such buildings were being identified so that notices could be served on their owners. Builders were also taking advantage of relaxation in rules granted by the previous BJP government led by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

Nishank had allowed ashrams, muths and temples along the Ganga citing religious sentiments of people of Haridwar. But builders took advantage of this relaxation and built hotels and commercial buildings after getting their maps passed as ashrams and muths.

Right to Information activist JP Baduni said more than 100 hotels, lodges, commercial buildings and ashrams had come up in the prohibited area in the past seven months after the High Court banned constructions on the Ganga banks.

He added the High Court order was being violated with impunity because of a nexus between property dealers, land mafia, politicians and officials.

Meanwhile, the Matra Sadan ashram has demanded strict implementation of the High Court order saying builders and the quarrying mafia are hell bent upon exploiting the Ganga for commercial purposes. Anti-encroachment or demolition drives have often failed because hoteliers, traders and builders enjoy political patronage.

Several honest bureaucrats and senior police officers were transferred overnight in the recent past after they tried to demolish illegal constructions along the Ganga.

However, HAD officials refused to comment when asked about government buildings like the CCR Kumbh Mela multi-storeyed building, the High Court guesthouse and other similar buildings built within 200 m of the riverbanks.

Dehradun, September 6
The steering committee meeting presided over by the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, Subhash Kumar, on the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan, sanctioned projects worth Rs 118 crore at the secretariat, here today.

During the meeting, Kumar said 29 departmental powers were to be transferred to the panchayats and for this, he asked for the proposal after studying the situation in other states, especially those in the hills.

It was stated during the meeting that in order to strengthen the panchayats, 1,405 panchayat development officers and data entry operators will be appointed in the first phase. It was mentioned that for a population of every 5,000 people, there will be one panchayat development officer and one data entry operator.

Also, one panchayat assistant or junior clerk will be appointed for 2,570 panchayats, while 285 junior engineers will be allotted to 95 development blocks. All the 5,665 posts will be filled through outsourcing. Besides this, there will be construction of 125 panchayat buildings, repair of 1,500 panchayat buildings and setting up of one state level and two division level resource centres. The panchayats will be provided with 1,000 computers.

Under the programme, an approximate 200 panchayats out of the 770 village panchayats will have improved village hygiene, street lighting, toilets, drinking water and basic amenities. The family registers, ration cards and birth/death certificates will also be computerised. Provisions will also be made to put the meetings of the panchayats online. The proposal will be forwarded to the Union Government after the acceptance. 25 per cent money for this project will be funded by the state government, while 75 per cent will be borne by the Union Government. Rural Development Secretary Vinod Fonia and Panchayati Raj Additional Secretary CS Napalchayal were also present.

Dehradun, September 6
Such are the ways of the Department of Medical, Health and Family Welfare that a non-medical person, who is also a district malaria officer of two districts, has been given the charge of the Assistant Director, Malaria, Kumaon Division, a post open only to medicos with a career span of more than 15 years.

The steep progress made by BC Joshi, who is also district malaria officer of districts of Udham Singh Nagar and Naintial and now Assistant Director, Malaria, Kumaon, has left the medical fraternity stunned.

Doubts are being raised about the efficacy of such a move, affected only few days ago, just before the Director General (DG), Health and Family Welfare, Dr YC Sharma, retired. But BC Joshi, who is presently in charge of three posts, finds himself in an enviable position, as for the time being he has been vested with the key responsibilities of implementing the programme and monitoring it.

''As it is, there are chances of under reporting because the person in question would not like to cast aspersions on his own reports. So in that sense authenticity in reporting cases of malaria, dengue and other epidemics would be in doubt,'' said a senior doctor. Going by the department reports, the Terai region of Kumaon Division reports maximum number of cases of dengue and malaria. As such medical officers, who were trained to handle epidemics, were appointed.

Further, Joshi as district malaria officer of two districts had a stint for more than 12 years at the same place and on the same post. As district malaria officer, he was handling annual budget of around Rs 15 lakh each for both the districts. Now with the charge of Assistant Director, Malaria, Kumaon Division, Joshi finds himself in an unenviable position as the budgetary allocation for a total of six districts, too, has fallen in his lap. Before Joshi was entrusted with the charge of Assistant Director, Malaria, a Deputy CMO who is a class-I medical officer with more than 15 years of service, was Assistant Director, Malaria (Kumaon Division).

''The changes were made by the previous DG. I am not aware of the reasons behind such a move,'' said GS Joshi, Director, Health and officiating DG.

Dehradun, September 6
Samajwadi Party’s National Working Committee meeting, which was scheduled for September 11 and 12 in Haridwar, will now be held at Agra on the same dates.

Samajwadi Party's state secretary Alok Rai, while addressing a press conference, said here today the venue of party’s national working committee meet had been shifted from Haridwar to Agra in Uttar Pradesh due to the recent calamity in the state.

He said the Uttarakhand SPpresident SN Sachan, state party in charge Aslam Khan and special invitee to national working committee from the state RP Singh would also attend the national working committee meeting at Agra. 

Dehradun, September 4
Maintaining its dominance in the DAV (PG) College students' union elections, the BJP's student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's Siddharth Rana was elected president of the college union, while Aryan Group's Jogendra won the general secretary's post after the declaration of the results here today.

Siddharth Rana, 2nd year student at the college, got more than 3,000 votes out of a total of 7,027 votes polled in the presidential elections, beating Bhupendra Negi of NSUI by 1,053 votes. Swati Negi remained on the 3rd position.

Deepak Rawat won the election for the post of vice-president and Prabhakar of Vikas group was declared winner as university representative.

The ABVP started leading on the president's post from the first round of counting and continued the lead till the last round. In all, eight rounds of counting were held today. After the conclusion of the second round of counting, the ABVP was leading by 250 votes over the NSUI and after the third round of counting, the ABVP increased its lead to 300 votes.

On the other hand, the Aryan group also maintained its lead till the last round and bagged the general secretary's post. The ABVP has won the president's post for the 7th time in a row in the DAV PG College students' union elections.

Dehradun, September 4
The win for the ABVP in the DAV (PG) College students' elections was dampened when the police lathi charged its workers for creating a ruckus here today.

According to information, when SSP Kewal Khuranna, along with police force, visited the ABVP office situated at Karanpur and asked party workers to vacate the office, the latter started throwing stones at policemen from inside their office. The police had to resort to a lathi charge to control the workers. It arrested 12 ABVP workers, but later released them after giving a warning.

Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi and former Assembly Speaker Harbans Kapoor also reached DAV (PG) College to take stock of the situation.

Earlier, after the declaration of the results, heated arguments were exchanged between the police and ABVP workers on the issue of a winning procession. The police did not allow the winning candidates to take out winning processions beyond Karanpur.

On the other hand, ABVP workers raised slogans athe gainst the police and the state government and accused the police of being vindictive against ABVP.

“Some of our workers have suffered fractures in the lathi charge," said Madhusudhan Joshi, in charge, ABVP administrative affairs.

Dehradun, September 6
A valedictory session of the Uttarakhand Preliminaries of the 26th Quality Control Circle Competition-2013 was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) today.

While chairing the session, CII Uttarakhand State Council Chairman Sandeep Jain said organisations can not grow without the contribution of the manpower which was an important resource.

Explaining the importance of the Quality Control Circles, Sandeep Jain said QC Circle teams play an important role in involving a wide cross-section of the employees in any organisation for improving the quality.

"They are a critical enabler for the sustained growth and also to face the international competition," he added.

He further mentioned that quality should be seen in a holistic perspective, which implies development of skills, productivity and quality of four aspects i.e. man, machine, method and product, through cumulative process of training, work experience, brain storming sessions and active participation.

Quality Circle has emerged as a mechanism to develop and utilise the tremendous potential of people for improvement in the product quality and productivity.

Jain gave trophies to the winning teams. Anubhav team from BEL in Panchkula, Haryana, won the first prize. Achiever team from Rockman Industries Ltd in Haridwar were the 1st Runner-up, followed by Joshilay team from Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd in Mohali, Punjab, were the 2nd Runner-up. The top three teams will now participate in the regional final as a pre-runner to the national competition.

A total of 15 Quality Circle teams from 12 organisations with strong commitments towards quality like BEL, CavinKare, Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd, Rockman Industries, Napino Auto, Lifelong, TATA Motors, Titan Industries, JCB, Minda Corporation, Aquamall and Carborundum participated in the competition and gave presentations on the specific projects handled by them at their work place.

Haridwar, September 6
Dinesh Lakhera from Haridwar has been elected as the divisional general secretary of the Fourth Grade State Employees' Union. He was elected during an annual convention which concluded recently.

A grand welcome was given to Lakhera by the Joint Employees Union at Rishikul Ayurvedic College, here today.

Dinesh Lakhera thanked the employees affiliated with various departments.

He assured the employees that he would take up their issues and work sincerely to the causes of the fourth grade employees.

"I assure you of a positive approach toward our woes and demands, which have been put on hold by the state government. Be it salary, arrears and other facilities, the newly elected body of the Fourth Grade State Employees will look into it with full vigour," said Lakhera.

Nurses union divisional chief Kamlesh Chetri said Haridwar has got a representation now and the issues related with the local fourth grade employees will be raised by Lakhera.

Joint Employees Association chief Sameer Panday and employee leader Shiv Narayan said employees should get united irrespective of their unions, only then the government or the administration would listen to their demands.

Employee's union leaders also stressed on strengthening the union with annual open elections and holding the conventions on regular intervals.

Meenakshi Gaud, Anandi Sharma, Jai Narayan Singh, Jyoti Negi, Rishipal Pundir, Pawan Kumar, Vinod Kashyap, Anil, Ajay, Nitin, Rakesh and Manoj Kumar were also present on the occasion.

Mussoorie, September 6
A Garhwali music album titled “Saj” was released in Mussoorie today. The album is sung by Pritam Bhartwan, an eminent folk singer from Garhwal, also known as the Jagar Samrat.

MC president Manmohan Singh Mall was the chief guest on the occasion. He released the album CD in a function today.

Manmohan Singh Mall commended the efforts of the producers and the director. He said it was a great moment for the industry that singer Pritam Bhartwan has come out with another collection.

He said the singers such as Pritam Bhartwan were doing a great job by preserving the culture and the tradition of the region.

The album consists of eight songs and is produced by T-Series. The vocals in the album are by Pritam Bhartwan and Manu Vandana, both residents of Mussoorie.

The highlight of the album is the "Jagar", a form of folk song by Pritam Bhartwan.

The lead singer of the album, Pritam Bhartwan, said it was a small effort to keep the traditional and culture of the region alive in the digital form.

Anil Godiyal, Jitendar Panwar, Sameer Shukla and Rajendar Rawat were also present on the occasion.

Dehradun, September 6
Mountaineers Tashi and Nugshi Malik, who are twin sisters, met Governor Aziz Qureshi at Raj Bhavan here today. The Governor said after having scaled Mt Everest, the duo had recently conquered Africa's Mt Kilimanjaro and Europe's highest peak Mt Elbrus. "You have brought fame to Uttarakhand and we are proud of both of you," he said.

The Governor wished them all the best for their endeavours and promised them all possible support while appreciating their courage.

Tashi and Nugshi said their goal was to climb seven highest peaks of seven continents. They had already climbed three. They would climb Carstens Pyramid in Papua New Guinea on October 22.

The duo was accompanied by their father Col VS Malik.

Dehradun, September 6
The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) won the president's post in the students' union election in Sri Guru Ram Rai (SGRR) PG College here today. It was a consolation win for the NSUI as it had lost the post of president to the ABVP in DAV PG College.

NSUI candidate Mahadev Raturi defeated his nearest rival from the ABVP to become president of the students' union. There was tight security and CCTV cameras were installed in the rooms where the counting was held. — TNS

Dehradun, September 6
Setting up a summit clash, Assam Valley and Vasant Valley made it to the finals of the ongoing RIMC Soccer Cup after winning their semifinal matches played here today.

In the first semi final, Vasant Valley defeated Doon Valley Public School by 3-1. Jaiswal Singh opened the score card for Vasant Valley in the 13th minute with Reihan Singh adding to the score in the 30th minute. Combay Khera scored another goal after the break to give an unassailable lead to the Vasant Valley. Chandra Bahadur Thapa scored a consolatory goal for Doon Valley Public School in the 53rd minute. In the other semi final, Alenso from Assam Valley scored a hat-trick against Carmen School to lead his team into the finals. Rupert also chipped in with a goal. Carmen School could score only a solitary goal.