BJP’s poll plank will be Cong’s weak governance: Rawat
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, September 7
The BJP will contest Lok Sabha elections next year on the agenda of “weak governance given to the country” by UPA government in the last two terms and “its failure at the national and international fronts,” said Trivendra Singh Rawat, national secretary of BJP, here today.

Rawat, who was speaking to mediapersons on the first leg of his Kumaon tour, said that the UPA had failed in the last two terms and it had given signs of a weak government in dealing with neighbouring countries like China and Pakistan, besides failing on the economic front. “The BJP will take all these national issues of poor governance to the people of the state and win all five seats in the state,” said the national BJP secretary.

Rawat predicted that the main contest in the coming Lok Sabha elections will be between BJP and Congress and smaller parties in the country will have to form the alliance with them or will lose the mandate. “In Uttarakhand smaller parties are bound to go into oblivion and the main contest will likely be between the two major parties,” said the BJP national secretary.

Answering a question on the leadership of Narender Modi, Rawat said that over 19 crore youths between 18-26 in the country are willing to elect Modi as the future Prime Minister of the country, while Congress is deliberately working to “trap him” in false cases instead of countering him.

Trivendra Rawat alleged that Uttarakhand government had totally failed in tackling the natural disaster as the state Chief Minister visited the ground zero after 38 days and still could not open the routes in disaster-hit areas. “If this government would not take care of the agrarian community, which is 94 per cent, there will be a bigger disaster in the state,” said the BJP national secretary.

Rampant black marketeering of LPG
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, September 7
Long queues at gas agencies belie tall claims made by the Food and Supplies Department of reining in black marketeering of LPG cylinders in the city. Local residents are facing problems in getting LPG supply due to rampant black marketeering of gas cylinders. People start queuing up at all gas agencies since early morning. They can be seen desperately awaiting supply of gas cylinders at the gas agency outlets at Singh Dwar, Kankhal, Gurukul Kangri University lane, BHEL, Shivalik Nagar and Jwalapur for hours together.

While domestic customers have to wait for hours, hoteliers, owners of ashrams, resorts and restaurants easily get gas cylinders meant for domestic use, though on double rate.

Social activist Lalit Mamgain says there is a shortage of cooking gas supply to domestic consumers as LPG cylinders are being supplied to hotels, restaurants, dhabas and ashrams.

He cited information received in response to a RTI query and said in Haridwar district the demand of LPG cylinders for domestic use is 280,523 units, while that for commercial use is just 4,118 units. “This points towards the huge gap that exists between the number of domestic and commercial cylinders in Haridwar. Everyone knows that Haridwar has thousands of hotels, eateries, restaurants and lodges which are entitled to use commercial cylinders but most of them rely on domestic cylinders,” said Mamgain.

District Food Supplies Officer Mahendra Bisen told The Tribune that in view of shortage of cooking gas supply to domestic consumers, he had given strict orders for checking the black marketeering of LPG cylinders by gas agencies.

He added that soon a drive would be launched in the district to check that LPG cylinders meant for domestic consumption were not used for commercial purposes.

Gayatri Prasad, manager of a gas agency at Singh Dwar, refuted the allegation that the employees of his gas agency were involved in black marketeering of LPG cylinders.

Prasad said gas cylinders were given to customers only after due verification and scrutiny of their booklets. Hotels, eateries and restaurants were supplied only commercial cylinders.

Political parties too have raised the issue. The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal has demanded impromptu raids on gas agencies and verification of their stocks to check black marketeering of domestic cylinders.

Shinde to lay foundations of SSB, BSF, NDRF units on October 7
Tribune News Service

Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna at a meeting with Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in New Delhi on Saturday. A Tribune photograph

Dehradun, September 7
The Union Home Minister will lay the foundations for new units of the Sahastara Seema Bal (SSB) at Sitarganj, Border Security force (BSF) in Dehradun and NDRF in Haridwar on October 7. This was disclosed following a meeting of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna with Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in New Delhi today.

During the meeting, the two discussed the disaster relief work in the state along with the units of BSF, SSB, NDRF and SDRF to be deployed in the state.

The Chief Minister also provided details about the plan of the state government to start worship at Kedarnath from September 11.

The Chief Minister appealed to the Home Minister to give relaxation in the norms of the National Disaster Relief Fund for the disaster relief work. He said that the people who had lost their houses during the disaster ought to be granted relief considering one family as one unit. This should be done as often several families live in one house.

Besides this, he has asked for Rs 25,000 as compensation for each mule. The Chief Minister said with the help of helicopters rented by the state government, 10,041 people were safely evacuated. He added that the Indian Air Force evacuated 21,514 people. He also sought compensation for expenditure on helicopters incurred by the state government.

He informed Shinde that due to the disaster, 19,138 km of roads and 258 bridges had been affected. He added their repair required an amount of Rs 500 crore while only Rs 206.73 crore had been sanctioned. He asked for the sanction of the remaining Rs 293.27 crore.

The state had demanded Rs 168.86 crore to restore power in disaster affected areas, but only Rs 10.09 crore had been sanctioned so far. He appealed for sanctioning the remaining amount. Chairman, Revenue Board, SK Muttoo, Additional Chief Secretary Rakesh Sharma, Disaster Management Secretary Bhaskaranand and Resident Commissioner SD Sharma were also present.

BPL families to be re-identified
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 7
In view of the severity of the mid-June calamity when several people were left homeless, the Ministry of Rural Development has asked the Uttarakhand government to conduct a survey for re-identifying BPL families in the state, so that the flood-ravaged families could be covered under the various welfare schemes of the Ministry of Rural Development.

The Department of Rural Development in the coming days would undertake a survey for re-identifying BPL families. For those rendered homeless, the Ministry of Rural Development has increased the quota of number of houses that could be constructed under Indira Avas Yojana (IAY) under which financial assistance is given for the construction of houses.

The ministry has already given a go-ahead for including 5000 beneficiaries (houses ) additional houses in the six districts of Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi, Bageshwar and Almora under IAY. The maximum number of beneficiaries, around 2400, have been earmarked for Pithoragarh and 1200 for Rudraprayag district.

Only families belonging to the BPL category would be covered under the Central Government's scheme.

Those living above the poverty line but have also suffered losses would be provided assistance from the Disaster Relief Funds by the state government.

According to the estimates made by the Department of Rural Development (Uttarakhand), the total number of fully damaged houses is 856 in these districts and partially damaged houses is 2522, taking the total to 3378.

While around 21 houses built under Indira Avas Yojana have been fully damaged, 3 have been partially damaged.

Renounce worldly pleasures: Kaushal Maharaj
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, September 7
Thousands of devotees are attending the ongoing Shri Ram Katha being held at Prem Nagar ashram, which has been going on for the past five days. Saint Vijay Kaushal Maharaj said temples were not the places to ask but the holy places to give.

Maharaj said the Almighty gave his blessings to those, who had patience and did not seek from God, but only offered devotion. He cited various instances from Shri Ram Katha. Maharaj said for worldly pleasures people had space but unfortunately it was missing for God. “One should better seek God’s blessings rather than seek fake worldly pleasures,” he added.

“God is omnipresent. If one offers everything to the Almighty then one can see the impact on his or her life. Worldly pleasures are temporary but devotion to God is everlasting,” said Maharaj.

Local legislator Aadesh Chauhan, who sought blessings from the saint, garlanded Maharaj before the Katha sermon began.

Mayor Manoj Garg was also present on the occasion. The event was coordinated by Rohitash Kunwar, Indra Prakash Aggarwal, Sunil Aggarwal, Ravindra Singhal, who also helped in managing the sermon affairs.

Dalits facing govt neglect, says forum
Ajay Ramola
Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, September 7
Members of the National Action Forum for Social Justice alleged in a meeting held at a hotel today that the Dalit community was facing neglect due to the apathy of the state government. The forum president, Nanak Chand, addressing the gathering in the meeting said that the state had failed in implementing the development projects introduced by the Central Government for the Dalit community even after the 13 years of the formation of the state.

He further said that the money allocated for the Dalits was not reaching the Dalit community due to the neglect shown by the state government despite the clear directions of the Central Government.

The bills of the sanitary workers are not being cleared by the municipal councils and they have to run from pillar to post for justice, added NanakChand.

He also informed the media that the organisation will be organising a national-level meeting at Haridwar on October 20 to discuss the problems being faced by the Dalit community.

GAIL officials request govt for early clearance
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 7
Officials of the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) have requested the Uttarakhand Government to give early clearance for providing the right way for the pipeline section from Nepali farm to Rishikesh, that has been pending with the National Highway PWD, Dehradun.

During a meeting, the GAIL officials said the Rishikesh-Dehradun pipeline in Dehradun would commence after the stage-I clearance was granted by the Ministry of Environment and Forest for the Haridwar-Rishikesh pipleline.

For the stage-I clearance, the Department of Forest will send the proposal to the Ministry of Environment and Forest on the submission Rs 10 lakh by the GAIL.

The Principal Secretary Forests, S Ramaswamy, said permission had to be sought for the Haridwar-Rishikesh pipleline and in Haridwar district up to Motichur.

The state government has requested GAIL to extend the pipeline from Mokhampur to Rispana (ISBT Dehradun). Further 100 m x 100 m land has to be provided in Dehradun for setting up a RT section. The spur line would further be extended to Kashipur and Rudrapur.

Fabricated huts for disaster victims
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, September 7
The process for rehabilitation of disaster victims has started in the district. All those people, who were rendered homeless due to natural calamity would be provided fabricated huts. The administration has sanctioned construction of 259 such huts for the district.

Additional District Magistrate BL Rana said these huts would be constructed at Banga Pani, Charchum, Dafa and Talla Dummer area of the Munsiyari and Dharchula sub divisions of the district. Many people where uprooted by the disaster in this area thereby rendering them homeless. “Out of these fabricated huts, 100 will be constructed at Charchum, 140 at Banga Pani, six at Talla Dummer and 13 at Dafa villages of these subdivisions,” said Rana.

Administration sources revealed that more than 10,000 of the local populace had been affected by the disaster, which occurred in June this year. “These houses will be allocated on priority basis to those homeless people, who are living in government buildings and have no houses to shift to. We are also looking for a suitable land to accommodate these families,” said a government official.

2,062 state roads opened for vehicular traffic
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 7
With around 2,062 roads in Uttarakhand that were damaged due to the mid-June disaster having been opened for vehicular movement, some semblance of normalcy is expected to return in the disaster-ravaged villages.

With Tilwadi-Mayali-Guptkashi and Ukhimath-Guptkashi road having opened up in Rudraprayag district, difficulties have been considerably eased for the villagers who were earlier completely cut off.

In Rudraprayag district a total of 12 roads were obstructed in the district due to debris, including Rishikesh-Kedarnath NH in Chandrapuri. Now out of a total of 2350 obstructed roads due to the disaster, 2062 are functional again. Work is in progress to reopen the remaining 288 roads. Though after more than two months around 202 villages are still inaccessible, the joint efforts by various agencies have resulted in 3998 villages being reconnected through roads.