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DVWM ends contract, DMC to handle job
POLITICAL DIARY
Manch holds rally to save languages
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Yoga meet at Haridwar from March 4
Day after communal violence, situation normal in Ramnagar
Leopard rescued from factory
Speed up reconstruction works in Kapkot, says CM
Prashant Bhushan praises Khanduri, hits out at Modi
AAP to have no impact in state: Raturi
Rapid weather changes affect agriculture in region
Thieves target watch shop,
police suspect foul play
Hold janta durbars to solve people’s issues, DM orders officials
Cong appoints Pauri, Tehri district chiefs
IMA win Sara Governor’s Golf Cup
Annual sports meet at Euro Kids
Specs wins national award in science
CBSE class XII board exams begin, 420 students appear
Experts discuss latest advances in
vaccinology
Rawat govt performance
Dismal: Rehab panel
ABVP burns Antony’s effigy
Rekha Sharma’s book released ‘Hunger, poverty have no
religion’ Mamata, Anna to hold
rallies
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DVWM ends contract, DMC to handle job
Dehradun, March 2 From today the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) would take over the garbage collection work in the 60 wards in Dehradun. As innumerable meetings failed to produce any kinds of positive result, the waste management firm yesterday submitted in writing that it was
ending its contract and withdrawing all services with immediate effect. DVWM CEO Sidharth Jain confirmed the development and said they finally ended the contract as the government instead of fulfilling their genuine demands was merely giving them fake assurances. The government had at a meeting with the company officials held yesterday asked for some more time. “It has been more than two years that we have been requesting the government to fulfil our valid demands. We cannot take it anymore and
continue to bear unnecessary losses,” Jain said. Mukhya Nagar Adhikari (MNA) Ashok Kumar said that the move would not have any effect on the civic conditions of the city. He said as the Dehradun Municipal
Corporation had taken over the garbage collection from today there wouldn’t be any more problems in the city. "We are in the process of taking over all
the responsibilities from the private company. Of the total equipment and vehicles lent to them nearly 70 per cent are
of no use. We are bringing in technicians for evaluating the machinery and
the losses would be deducted from the payment due to the company," Kumar said. The door-to-door collection of garbage and then its transfer to the trenching ground would be now carried on a daily basis. However, for the scientific disposal of the waste we would be hiring a
new company. Also, the fee being charged from the domestic and commercial users would be revised after a meeting
of the committee members in coming days, Kumar added. Secretary (urban development) DS Gabriyal said the city would not face any sanitation problems. “The DMC is fully equipped to take up the work in 60 wards. We will streamline the entire process in a few days. Somehow we had a feeling that Doon Valley Waste Management had made up its mind to put an end to the contract. Therefore we were ready for the challenge ahead,” Gabriyal added.
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POLITICAL DIARY
Dehradun, March 2 There was suspense over the panchayat elections since the very beginning as the state government had prepared the electoral rolls on the basis of the 2001 Census, which was challenged in the Nainital High Court. The high court ruled that the elections should be held on the basis of the census report of 2011. It took time to update the electoral rolls on the basis of the 2011 Census and the elections were delayed. Meanwhile, there was a change of guard in the state and Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat took over as Chief Minister on February 1. While Rawat took several decisions to desperately refurbish the image of the Congress-led state government, it was felt that
the panchayat elections were a big hurdle in his scheme of things. The state government moved the Nainital High Court to seek deferment of the panchayat elections on the ground that the state machinery had been involved in the relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities in
the disaster affected areas of the state. It was argued that if the entire state machinery was diverted to conduct the panchayat elections, the rehabilitation and reconstruction works would suffer. Basically, the Chief Minister would not have got the required time to prepare for the Lok Sabha elections with the imposition of the model code of conduct for the panchayat polls. It was expected that the Lok Sabha elections would also be held in the country in March and the model code of conduct would come into force. Hence Harish Rawat wanted to do the maximum in terms of taking decisions for welfare of a cross-section of people in the state. Thus an application by a village society in the Supreme Court against the Nainital High Court order demanding the deferment of the panchayat elections came as a major relief for the Chief Minister. This gave him another fortnight to move at breakneck speed and take decisions keeping the Lok Sabha elections in mind. It was also felt that the panchayat elections ahead of the Lok Sabha polls would have proved counterproductive for the Congress in the state. An adverse outcome in the panchayat elections would have a bearing on the Lok Sabha elections for the Congress. The Chief Minister felt relieved at the deferment of the panchayat polls much to the annoyance of the BJP, which wanted to encash on the resentment of the people against the state government in the panchayat and Lok Sabha elections.
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Manch holds rally to save languages
Mussoorie, March 2 President of the organisation Anuj Joshi speaking on the occasion said the aspirations for which the hill state was formed had not been met since its inception and on the contrary the people have been turned into a minority in their own state due to faulty policies and the callous attitude of the politicians. Joshi said on the one hand the present government had been quick in announcing academies for Punjabi and Urdu languages in the state, on the other it had shown no interest in announcing academies for the widely spoken languages such as Garhwali and
Kumaoni. He also said due to the exercise of delimitation of the Assembly seats in the state the people from these regions were on the verge of losing their identity and would have to struggle on the political front if nothing was done soon. Joshi added the people from the hill districts were paying a huge price for practising family planning as the Assembly seats in the hill areas had been decreased based on the population census over the years while the assembly seats in the plain districts of the state namely Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar were being increased, instilling the feeling of neglect among the people from the hilly areas. The members of the organisation also demanded to separate the two districts from plains, namely Udham Singh Nagar and 80 per cent of Hardwar from the hill state, as their culture was different from the hill districts to preserve the identity of the state for which it was formed in the first place. They also demanded that the assembly seats given to the districts from plains of Uttarakhand should be returned to hilly districts without any further delay and if it was not done then a mass movement would be carried out in the hilly regions in future. The members of Uttarakhand Parvitiya Rajya
Manch, namely Ashutosh Mamgain, Jitendar Panwar, Anil Godiyal, Dharmpal
Panwar, Sushil Rana, Suman Panwar, Sandeep, Mohan Sajwan, Sapna, Sunita
Rawat, Manju Negi, Shanti Devi, Deepa Devi, Ganeshi Panwar and Meera
Kandari, were present at the occasion.
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Yoga meet at Haridwar from March 4
Haridwar, March 2 The coordinator of the Haridwar chapter for the yoga festival, Dr Suresh Karnwal, said it was being organised on such a large scale for the first time in north India. He added participants in the 8 to 80 years age group could participate. Yoga teachers of the university Rakesh Ranjan, Nitish Kumar, and Gopendra Sahu are coordinating the preparations for this festival. The Union Home Minister stressed keeping the Ganga clean right from the place of its origin in Gangotri up to Ganga Sagar where it meets the Bay of Bengal. He described the Ganga as a symbol of purity Shinde was addressing the International Yoga Festival at Parmarth Niketan in Rishikesh today. He said the last year natural disaster in the state had jolted the entire country. The Central Government was doing its best to assist Uttarakhand in speedy rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the disaster-hit areas, he added. Shinde said he was hopeful that Uttarakhand would soon recover from the disaster. He also released a book on yoga on the occasion. Chief Minister Harish Rawat also emphasised on keeping the Ganga clean. Earlier Chidanand Muni welcomed the participants. Meanwhile, a national zonal coordination workshop began at the Shantikunj auditorium today. President of the Akhil Bharatiya Gayatri Parivar Dr Pranav Pandya was the chief guest of the workshop. He said, "Only when a person first makes his mind and thoughts pure that he could make the outside world the same. Pandya, while addressing delegates hailing from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand, said good acts and thoughts helped in making a good human being. More than 300 volunteers are being given training in spirituality, yoga and social services.
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Day after communal violence, situation normal in Ramnagar
Dehradun, March 2 The district administration today revoked Section 144 from most of the areas except a few places in Ramnagar, keeping in mind the ongoing board examinations. With an aim to restore communal harmony, District Magistrate Akshat Gupta and SSP Vimmi Sachdeva convened a meeting of the peace committee of the two communities. Chairman of the Ramnagar Municipality Mohammad Akram said Ramnagar had always set an example of communal harmony and such incidents could not disturb the brotherhood between different religious communities living here. Meanwhile, Satpal Maharaj, MP from Pauri Garhwal, made an appeal to the people to maintain peace in the area. The SSP told The Tribune that, “The situation has normalised in Ramnagar and we have arrested the person who posted an inappropriate picture on the social networking website. He has been sent to jail." An FIR was also registered against over 200 persons who reportedly indulged in stone pelting yesterday and damaged public property, she added. The Nainital police had set up a team to arrest the person responsible for circulating the offensive picture. He was arrested from Kashipur within three hours of his posting the picture.
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Leopard rescued from factory
Haridwar, March 2 Notably, the leopard had entered the factory from the Rajaji National
Park forest in yesterday morning and attacked three employees. Factory employees AK SIngh, Mukesh Kumar and Umesh Kumar
were injured in the leopard attack. They were taken to hospital and their condition was stated to be stable. The factory guards had as a precautionary measure put down the shutter of the godown as employees were running in panic. Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) Sant Ram said they waited till late night for the leopard to come out of the factory on its own. "Around 4 am, the team succeeded in entering the godown and tranquilising the leopard. A special medical team from Rajaji National Park and Wildlife Institute examined the animal. Early this morning we released the leopard into the dense forest of Rajaji Park," he added. Its believed that the leopard from the
nearby protected park area may have lost its way and intruded into the industrial area. Notably, a similar incident occurred on April 5 last year too when a leopard entered the Collectorate Office, Roshanabad, 15 km from Haridwar city. A leopard that had also intruded into the police canteen in Roshanabad on October 7 last year. They were tranquilised and then left in Rajaji National Park. Forest Deputy Range Officer Pushpha Singh said the park staff would keep a vigil in the
area as local residents had reported sighting elephants, deer and leopards in the
vicinity of Rajaji National Park, BHEL, SIDCUL and the Roshanabad collectorate area.
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Speed up reconstruction works in Kapkot, says CM
Pithoragarh, March 2 The Chief Minister on a brief visit to Bageshwar told mediapersons at a makeshift helipad that he had come to meet the disaster-hit villagers and know about their problems to resolve them. “We have taken the work of rehabilitating the disaster-affected people by working day and night and resolve their problems,” he said. According to sources, over 10,000 persons from the Kapkot block were affected by the last year’s disaster that broke the link between the upper Danpur region and the lower areas. “Residents of Khati, Karmi Pindar and Song villages in the upper part of the Pindar valley have started migrating to Bageshwar and Haldwani towns in search of livelihood. The natural disaster has devastated the tourism industry as routes to glaciers, which lure tourists from across the country every year, have been completely damaged,” said Keshav Bhatt, a social worker. The affected villagers from the upper parts of the Pindar valley demanded that besides constructing track routes and bridleways in the disaster-hit Kapkot region, a bridge should be constructed at Lehbagar to enable the villagers to cross the lower areas of the valley. “The region was hit hard by the disaster and the main bridge linking the Lehbagar, Sundardhunga and Pindar glaciers could not be opened to trackers this year, rendering jobless local youths involved in the tourism business,” said Bhatt. Kapkot MLA Lalit Farswan said the Chief Minister instructed the officials concerned to link the upper areas of the Danpur and Kapkot region with the rest of the state in a month’s time so that tourists could visit these glaciers and local youths could get employment.
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Prashant Bhushan praises Khanduri, hits out at Modi
Dehradun, March 2 Prashant Bhushan addressed mediapersons in Dehradun shortly after presiding over a meeting of the AAP's key functionaries of
Uttarakhand. He described Khanduri as the sole politician in the country who made sincere efforts to come up with an anti-graft Bill in the state that was broadly in line with their concept of
Lokpal. He, however, questioned the commitment of both BJP and Congress in fighting corruption in the country.
Bhushan said communalism and corruption both were threats to the country. While corruption was eating into the very soul of the country, communalism was creating a divide in society, he added. He referred to Sahara owner Subrata Roy's arrest and said both BJP and Congress had promoted the
corporate mafia in the country, which included people like Subrata Roy. The AAP leader said all major political parties, barring few smaller parties, in the country were corrupt. However, he refused to reveal the names of these smaller parties. He even parried a question on Anna Hazare distancing himself from the AAP and said Hazare was himself the best person to reply on his act of first objection to joining politics and subsequently supporting a political party in the Lok Sabha elections.
Bhushan also announced the setting up of a five-member election campaign committee comprising Rajeev Lochan Shah, Pawan Gupta, Harish
Arya, Balli Singh Cheema and Nand Nandan Pandey for the Lok Sabha polls in the state. He added the AAP would contest all five Lok Sabha seats in
Uttarakhand. It had already announced Harish Arya as its candidate from the Almora-Pithoragarh seat.
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AAP to have no impact in state: Raturi
Dehradun, March 2 Asked about several state agitators joining the AAP recently Raturi said none from the UKD had joined the AAP. He added the state agitators, who were
habitual of changing parties, were joining the AAP to capitalise on new political
opportunities. Raturi said the UKD was prepared to contest all five parliamentary seats
of Uttarakhand and would shortly release the list of its candidates. He announced that the party's state-level executive would be expanded shortly. Meanwhile, District UKD president Asha Sharma announced 42 new office-bearers of the Dehradun unit of the party. Deepak Pant has been appointed working district president; Meenakshi and Praveen vice-presidents; Jay Singh, Rajendra Singh and Manoj Kestwal general secretaries and Frahan Ahmed has been appointed as treasurer. Rinki Semwal has been appointed the president of the UKD district unit. “A membership campaign is under way in Dehradun and it is
getting a favourable response from the people,” said Sharma. She added the UKD
was prepared for the panchayat polls. She accused both BJP and Congress of patronising the land mafia in Dehradun.
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Rapid weather changes affect agriculture in region
Pithoragarh, March 2 Environment and agriculture specialists from the Himalayan region stated this at a two-day seminar organised by the Govind Ballabh Pant Himalayan Environment and Development Institute at Kantli village in Almora district recently. The institute was keeping a vigil on the changing weather patterns in the Himalayan region and their effect on agriculture. “We are keeping a strict vigil on the changing patterns of weather and their impact on agriculture in the region,” said Dr SCR
Vishwakarma, a senior scientist of the institute. The scientists presented papers on various studies on the weather patterns in the Himalayan region. While Dr Sandipan Mukherjee presented his study on the reasons for weather changes, Dr Basudha Agnihotri presented a paper on the quality of soil and its effects on the production of various crops. “We have studied the ground reality in our researches on the changing weather patterns and their effect on crops in the last 10 years,” said Dr
Vishwakarma.
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Thieves target watch shop,
police suspect foul play
Dehradun, March 2 Police officials claimed that the incident was not above suspicion as the circumstantial evidences did not match the versions of the shop manager and the sales staff. “The shop staff are telling us that the thieves broke the shutter locks and after stealing the watches they again locked it with new locks,” said Pramod Kumar, Circle Officer, City. The shutter of the shop was properly locked and was not bent when the staff reached the shop this morning. They told the police that they learnt about the theft after they noticed that the locks on the shutter were not the same. The employees broke the locks and found expensive watches missing from the shelves. The thieves took away the watches, which were displayed on the ground floor, but did not go to the basement where other expensive watches were displayed. “The showroom manager is saying that watches worth Rs 30 lakh are missing. We have started the investigation and the truth will be revealed shortly,” said Pramod.
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Hold janta durbars to solve people’s issues, DM orders officials
Haridwar, March 2 He directed administration officials to solve the problems of the people at their level. He directed the Chief Development Officer, Additional District Magistrate, Finance, Harak Singh Rawat and the Additional District Magistrate, Administration, to hold camps at the BDO office at Khanpur, Mandi Parishad, Mangalore, and the BDO office at Bahadrabad tomorrow. As the Roshanabad Collectorate office is 15 km from the city periphery, Pendiyan announced that from now onwards the camp office would be based at Dakkothi at Mayapur. His representative would be present there from 2 pm to 5 pm on all working days to address the people’s problems. SSP Sadanand Date, Additional District Magistrate, Finance, Harak Singh Rawat, Chief Medical Officer Dr Sushma Gupta, Social Welfare Officer Anuragh Shankdhar and other administration officials were present on the occasion.
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Cong appoints Pauri, Tehri district chiefs
Dehradun, March 2 He said the Congress would shortly start a padyatra across the state to highlight the works being done by the Congress governments at the centre and in the state. Pratap also said the AAP had no future and was a spent force in the country. |
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IMA win Sara Governor’s Golf Cup
Dehradun, March 2 It is to be noted that 203 participants, including budding golfers, participated in the tournament in comparison to 120 participants last year. The Governor, while addressing the concluding function of the two-day golf tournament, said, "We must try to make the game of golf a common man’s game so that more people could enjoy it." He said such events gave an opportunity to golf lovers and young players to display their talent and hone their skills. He added he had taken the initiative to make the Nainital Raj Bhavan golf course available to the public.
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Annual sports meet at Euro Kids
Haridwar, March 2 Barthwal said nurturing kids to take part in sports activities at an early age benefited them in academics as well, making them healthy, and disciplined.
Neeru Garg, an IPS officer, gave away prizes to the children. She said at this age when kids were getting glued to mobile phones, computer gaming and other gadgets, sports activities would divert their attention towards physical activities. School principal Nidhi
Goswami, school director Mohan Goswami, teachers Deepti, Diksha Makhija,
Nisha, Diskha, Shivani and Divya coordinated the event. Miraya, Arayna, Krishna,
Anaya, Amaira, Mannat, Kabeer, Viraj, Yuvraj, Ridhima, Rayna, Mukund,
Keshav, Kausthubh, Mayra, Ayurda and Shaurya were the winners of various events.
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Specs wins national award in science
Dehradun, March 2 The National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) had instituted the national award in 1987 to stimulate, encourage and recognise the outstanding efforts in the area of science popularisation, communication and promoting scientific temper. The NCSTC acts as a nodal agency to support and coordinate the celebration of the National Science Day through out the country in scientific institutions, research laboratories and autonomous scientific
institutions associated with the Department of Science and Technology. Dr Brijmohan Sharma, Secretary, SPECS, was awarded in New Delhi by
Dr T Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, and Dr K Vijayraghawan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology.
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CBSE class XII board exams begin, 420 students appear
Mussoorie, March 2 The students from Waverly Convent, Tibetan Homes, Manav Bharti and St Clair would be appearing for their exams at Kendriya Vidyalaya. The centre for the Oak Grove School students is their own school. Centre superintendent Dr Rajneesh Kumar Pandey said around 420 students were appearing for the class XII
exams. Fifteen students could not make it to the centre. Incessant rain and hail made it difficult for the students to
reach the exam centres but failed to dampen their spirits. The first exam gave a relief to the students
as it was English language exam.
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Experts discuss latest advances in
vaccinology
Dehradun, March 2 Reputed vaccine experts from the Indian Academy of Paediatrics Dr MP
Jain, Dr Atul Aggarwal and Dr Girish Aggarwal shared information about the recent vaccine strategies. Doctors from all over the country participated in the workshop. Dr Arun Kumar, Dr DS Rawat and Dr Uttkarsh Sharma were among the many specialists from
Dehradun, who conducted the programme successfully. All participating doctors and medical students said they benefited from the programme and got an insight into current vaccine schedules, how to counsel patient and parents and how to clear their doubts and misconceptions about vaccination.
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Rawat govt performance
Dismal: Rehab panel
Dehradun, March 2 Committee president Ajendra Ajay alleged that the disaster victims had high hopes from Harish Rawat but he had so far failed to work to provide succour to the disaster victims. He said Chief Minister
Harish Rawat was not taking rehabilitation works seriously. He added even announcements made former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had not been implemented. The disaster victims were still awaiting Rs 75,000 promised by
the state government for the reconstruction of houses under the Indira Awas
Yojana. Ajay said a delegation of disaster victims had met Harish Rawat
a few days ago but their problems were still not being given priority. |
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ABVP burns Antony’s effigy
Dehradun, March 2 “The government has failed to provide new equipment to the Indian Navy due to which such incidents are happening repeatedly. We have lost our brave soldiers. The Defence Minister must take the responsibility for the incident and resign immediately,” said Madhusudhan Joshi, secretary,
ABVP. Rakesh Negi, district secretary of the ABVP, blamed the Centre for ignoring the modernisation plan in the armed forces, which was leading to such incidents.
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Chief Minister Harish Rawat today instructed Bageshwar district administration officials to speed up the work of reconstruction of track routes, bridges and bridleways in the disaster-hit areas of the Malla Danpur (upper region of
Danpur) region in Kapkot subdivision of the district. These areas are still cut off from the district even eight months after the June disaster last year.
The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) today said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would have no impact
in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttarakhand. Addressing a press conference in Dehradun today, UKD patron and senior party leader BD Raturi said there was no impact of the Aam Aadmi Party in Uttarakhand and the UKD still ruled the hearts and minds of the people of the state.
Governor’s Golf Cup Tournament held at the Frima Golf Course here today. Commandant,
IMA, Lt Gen Manvendra Singh received the trophy. While in the children’s category, Fatima Rizwi (girls section) and Savinay (boys section) won the first prizes, Vasundhara Nagiya was the winner in the women's category. Ravi Verma was the overall cross winner.
Haridwar, March 2
sensitivities linked to day-to-day challenges of life.
Social Worker Ravindra Jugran said Rekha Sharma's writings had also highlighted the plight of the poor and the downtrodden.
Nishant Thapliyal, principal of the Institute of Technology Management, said the institute always encouraged its students to take to writing as a hobby. Dr Atul Sharma, Ranjana Sharma and Virendra Dangwal were also present on the occasion.
Dhirendra Pratap said after the postponement of the panchayat elections in the state, the party was putting its focus on the Lok Sabha elections. He said after the central screening committee meeting tomorrow, the party would announce candidates for the five Lok Sabha seats in the state.