Assembly session at Gairsain has Governor's approval
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 31
The decision of the state government to hold an Assembly session in a tent at Gairsain from June 9 may have raised a few eyebrows but officials say the government is well within its right to hold the session at any place provided it has the prior assent of Governor Aziz Qureshi.

Article 174 of the Indian Constitution says, “The Governor shall from time to time summon the House or each House of the legislature of the 
state to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit. The government first put forward the proposal before me. Later permission was sought from the Governor and the notification was issued,” said Govind Singh Kunjwal, Speaker, Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly.

Hence, armed with the notification the Uttarakhand government is all set to hold the Assembly session in a tent at the sports ground of GIC College at Gairsain. The tent will be equipped with 3G, Internet and wireless facilities.

"The Assembly session will be held at the GIC College ground and waterproof tents have been erected for the purpose. We will be pitching 65 tents to serve as accommodation for the MLAs while the Chief Minister will be house in a tent on the Senaya bend, 2.5 km from Gairsain. However, women members of the House would be accommodated at the guest house run by the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN),” said Jagdish Chand, Secretary, Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly.

Besides several pending Bills, the government is expected to seek approval for the supplementary budget to be used for funding new departments. Meanwhile, the Opposition has decried the government for resorting to wasteful expenditure. Officials, however, say the charges are unfounded. “We hope to spend around Rs 50 to Rs 70 lakh on food and accommodation. Besides, dearness allowance will be paid according to the prevailing rates applicable to Gairsain. As Dehradun is the capital city, the DA rates are much higher there in comparison to Gairsain,” said Jagdish Chand.

While neighbouring Himachal Pradesh has been holding Assembly sessions outside its capital Shimla, after June 9 Uttarakhand under Harish Rawat will become the first state to hold an Assembly session in a tent.

 SEBI opens office in Dehradun
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 31
Uttarakhand Chief Information Commissioner Nrip Singh Napalchyal today inaugurated the office of SEBI at Dehradun, in presence of UK Sinha, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India. The office is located at 2nd floor, Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Building at Rajpur Road.

UK Sinha, Chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India, addresses mediapersons in Dehradun on Saturday. A Tribune photograph

Talking to mediapersons, UK Sinha, disclosed that the SEBI office at Dehradun apart from undertaking investor education would also keep an eye on any unauthorised activity of fund collection in the state. Sinha said he had come to know that in the past there had been several instances in Uttarakhand when unauthorised fund collection had taken place and SEBI took strong note of such activities. He said setting up of SEBI office in Dehradun would help in timely action against any unauthorised fund collection activity.

Sinha said SEBI had been opening offices across the country and had so far opened 16 offices. He said the jurisdiction of the local office in Dehradun extends to the State of Uttarakhand and would be under the administrative control of SEBI's regional office in New Delhi.

He disclosed that the functions of the Dehradun office includes facilitating the redressal of investor grievances against listed companies and market intermediaries, spread investor education and financial literacy, processing the applications for investment advisers within its jurisdiction and such other functions as may be delegated from time to time to the local offices.

 Raj Bhavan open to public from today
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 31
Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi has ordered that local people as well as tourists can witness the splendour and glory of Raj Bhavan at Nainital. A decision has been taken that Raj Bhavan will be open to public from June 1. A meeting was held at Raj Bhavan, Nainital, today where under the directions of the governor, secretary to the governor, Kumaon commissioner ,DM and SSP of Nainital and KMVN general manager a decision was taken regarding opening of Raj Bhavan for general public.

It was decided that Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) will be responsible for the entire arrangement and Raj Bhavan will be open for the general public on all seven days from 11 am to 5 pm. Tourists will be allowed in groups of 25 on the basis of tickets.

The booking for the entry ticket will be done at KMVN offices and also at the entrance gate of Raj Bhavan. Children under 12 will be charged Rs 20 while adults will be charged Rs 50 . If people arrange for a vehicle through KMVN, additional charges will have to be given.

The visitors will not be allowed to carry mobile phones and cameras to Raj Bhavan and they will be accompanied by a guide and a photographer. People will be able to get themselves photographed at Raj Bhavan and the photos would be made available to them at fixed rates. On August 15, January 26, October 2 and November 14,visitors will be allowed without entry fee.The governor also directed that better facilities would have to be arranged for visitors to this heritage site and also measures would have to be taken to protect the building and campus .Near the entrance gate, a cafeteria and a souvenir shop is being planned. The governor has given instructions for this to KMVN.The governor also said that this arrangement should be publicised so that people can visit this picturesque historic premises. 

  Jwalapur residents ask MP Nishank to address sanitary problems

Haridwar, May 31
Jwalapur residents, who have been perturbed at lack of proper garbage disposal and sewerage, have now urged Member of Parliament Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to look into the problem.

Jwalapur is a minority-dominated suburban segment, which is called a trade corner of Haridwar. But due to lack of any master plan and infrastructure facilities, the area presents a shoddy picture.

Heaps of garbage, uncovered sewers and nullahs, congested lanes and regular traffic jams make life miserable for the local residents. Ward councillors, traders and eminent citizens have now raised the issue with the new MP.

Councillor Laxmi Devi has urged other councillors of the Jwalapur area to raise the long-pending issue with the Haridwar MP, as the BJP-led NDA government has come to power at the Centre.

She said Jwalapur had been deprived of the benefits of the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, as it was not brought into its ambit.

Sarfaraz Gaud, a social activist, said Nishank got a heavy lead in the Jwalapur Assembly segment in the Lok Sabha elections and hence he should take up the problems of the area on priority. Meanwhile former legislator Ambrish Kumar of the Congress alleged that the municipal corporation was biased as Mayor Manoj Garg and local legislator Chandrasekhar Bhattewala both belonged to the BJP.

“For years Jwalapur has been neglected and no proper civic scheme has been implemented and no infrastructure facility has been provided in the area. Politics should not affect local area development and the BJP legislator, the Mayor and the MP should cooperate in implementing schemes initiated by the state government,” said Ambrish. — TNS

 $121.20 m WB loan to build rainwater harvesting models
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 31
The Government of India, the Government of Uttarakhand and the World Bank signed a $121.20 million credit agreement to support the Government of Uttarakhand, in its efforts to build sustainable watershed treatment models to improve agricultural productivity in rain-fed areas of the state in New Delhi today. The project was approved by the World Bank Board on March 31.

The credit agreement for the Uttarakhand Decentralised Watershed Development II Project was signed by Nilaya Mitash, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India; M H Khan, principal secretary and chief project director, Watershed Management Directorate, on behalf of the Government of Uttarakhand, and Michael Haney, World Bank's Operations Advisor in India, on behalf of the World Bank.

Today, 65% of India’s agriculture is solely dependent on rainfall. Thus, improving the productivity of the country's rainfed agriculture is a challenge. In Uttarakhand, while the annual rainfall is high, more than 90 per cent of it occurs during the July-September monsoon months, resulting in severe soil erosion and average annual soil loss of 40 tons/ha.
Rapid water runoff from the undulating hills during monsoon months acts as a major constraint to improving agriculture in these areas. The degraded lands are owned by poor households, and their land holdings are small and scattered. As a consequence, household incomes are low. This project will use watershed development tools, particularly rainwater conservation and harvesting, to increase crop yields in rain-fed areas of Uttarakhand.

A major focus of the project will be on catchment area treatment of about 219,000ha of non-arable land, ranging in elevation from 700 m to 2,700 m above sea level. This is expected to rejuvenate the natural resource base by significantly reducing soil erosion and runoff loss of rainwater, improve ground water recharge, and reduce sediment load in the rivers flowing through Uttarakhand.

The project will finance construction of water harvesting structures and small irrigation systems on 40,000 ha of arable land developed at the gram panchayat (local body) level. Some of the key components of the project include mobilising the gram panchayats to develop agriculture and other income generating activities; construct and rehabilitate, among others, check dams, ponds, irrigation channels and tanks, and roof water harvesting structures; develop agribusinesses in high-value crops; and strengthen the institutional capacity to monitor and evaluate the project.

This project will help Uttarakhand scale up its efforts to improve the state's natural resource base by ensuring that it has water for agriculture throughout the year. Improving water availability through watershed treatment will help increase agricultural production and productivity in these rainfed areas, lead to better use of scarce water resources and raise household incomes of farmers,? said Michael Haney, World Bank's Operations Adviser in India.

To be implemented over seven years (2014-2021), the project will build on the earlier Uttarakhand Decentralised Watershed Development Project I (Gramya-I), which treated 234,000 ha in 76 micro watersheds and strengthened the administrative capacity of 468 gram panchayats.

The project will be financed by a credit from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's concessionary lending arm which provides interest-free loans with 25 years to maturity and a grace period of five years.

 18 batches to take part in Kailash yatra
First batch to reach Kathgodam on June 12
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, May 31
Deepak Rawat, managing director of the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN), said today that an alternate track route to Kailash Mansarowar Yatra would be used if the main route gets damaged due to rains or snowfall during the yatra season.

After attending a meeting at the District Magistrate’s office, Rawat said if the valley bridge at Kanchoti near Tawaghat to Narayan Ashram route gets damaged, the pilgrims would take up either the Thanidhar route or the Mangti route.

“We have cleared the trek route up to Gunji and have started setting up camps on the route for the pilgrims,” added Rawat.

He said the first batch of the yatra will reach Kathgodam on June 12. A total of 18 batches will take part in the pilgrimage this year.

 Summer camp
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 31
The 6th mega summer camp-2014 started at the GRD Academy at Patel Nagar here today. Suryakant Dhasmana, vice-president of the Uttarakhand Congress, inaugurated the camp in which 756 participants from different parts of the country would take part. It would continue till June 30.

The participants would be taught intricacies of sports like basketball, badminton, karate, roller skating, swimming, cricket and lawn tennis. Art and craft, dance, aerobics, yoga, and English speaking , would also be taught. Yatiskates, a group of international and national skating coaches, is organising the camp.