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Harish Rawat announces sops for Gairsain
House adjourned sine die
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Panchayat elections
1,167 to contest panchayat elections in Kumaon
Agriculture, horticulture policy on the anvil
Power generation optimum, yet residents face frequent cuts
100 camera traps installed to detect tiger strength
damaged roads and bridges
ICAR’s regional panel to meet on June 13
Workshop: Vital for students to introspect
18-year-old killed in road accident
13-yr-old boy killed in road mishap
Strong winds put hurdles in controlling forest fire
MoU on construction of Vyasi hydropower project
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Harish Rawat announces sops for Gairsain
Gairsain, June 11 Making these announcements while speaking with the media persons here, the Chief Minister moaned the lack of cooperation from the BJP. “They got a whiff about our intention to bring a resolution on Gairsain and tried everything to stall it. In politics, what matters is intention and we are honest on Gairsan. At the same time, we cannot ignore the Opposition. A consensus has to be built on the issue of Gairsain. We need the support of the Opposition,” said Harish Rawat, while replying to the media queries as to what was preventing him from declaring Gairsain, the summer capital of the state. However, he made a slew of announcements for the development of Gairsain, which include making Gairsain accessible by creating a network of roads. “Paucity of funds would not come in our way for the development of Gairsain. A total of five roads would be developed for increasing accessibility to Gairsain. These include Ram Nagar-Mehelcholi-Bikyasain road, which is around 140 km on the side of river Ram Ganga. Another road from Pabo (Pauri)-Gairsain – Bhararisain (60 km) on the east of river Nayar would be strengthened. Another road link from Sama-Gavaldam- Gairsain (72 km) would be developed. While 11 km route from Garud- Tadar Tal- Chaukhotia would be strengthened, and finally the road link from Tehri- Maletha would be made into double lane so that connectivity between Tehri and Uttarkashi to Gairsain becomes easy,” he said. Other slew of measures include sanction of Rs 5.50 crore for developing infrastructure in Gairsain through the Infrastructure Development Board. Another Rs 1 crore
has been sanctioned for infrastructure development in Gairsain. Upgrading of the PWD guest house to a circuit house and also developing the stadium at Gairsain and upgrading of a Community Health Centre to a 50-bed hosptial are
other steps. Harish Rawat also announced to open an institute of parliamentary practises at Bhararisain
near Gairsain. |
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House adjourned sine die
Gairsain, June 11 As soon the House met, the Opposition put forth its demand for a discussion on the foreign liquor policy under Rule 310. However, the Speaker declined. “I am ready to allow all BJP members to hold a discussion under Rule 58. In view of an extraordinary situation arsing due to the natural disaster in the state last year, I had allowed a discussion under Rule 310. But the issue you are raising does not merit discussion under Rule 310 as it is not in the interest of the public. I am ready to even extend the House so that all members get a chance to air their views under Rule 58,” said the Speaker. The unrelenting Opposition refused to budge from its stand and reached the well of the House, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the
House twice. Later, Chief Minister Harish Rawat while talking to mediapersons said he, along with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Indira Hridayesh, had even agreed to relent to the Opposition demand. “But when we held a discussion with Congress MLAs in the Speakers’ chamber, a consensus emerged that this will become a habit-forming practice with the Opposition raising the demand on and off,” said Harish Rawat. Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Ajay Bhatt termed the suggestions by the CM as preposterous. |
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76 booths declared sensitive
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, June 11 The details were provided during a review meeting called by District Election Officer-cum-District Magistrate (DM) Dr BVRC Purshottam here today. Addressing the officials, the DM said security arrangements would be completed in time for the smooth conduct of the elections in all the development blocks. He said the voting list would be ready in time for the elections and any mistake regarding the names or otherwise should be rectified at the earliest. Those present in the meeting included Ajay Rautela, Alok Kumar Pandey, Sonika, Pratap Shah, Mohan Singh Barnia, Arvind Pandey among others. 30 withdraw their candidature; now 231 in the fray A total of 30 candidates have withdrawn their candidature from the forthcoming panchayat elections. Now, 231 candidates are in the fray. Giving the details, Deputy District Election Officer-cum- Chief Development Officer Alok Kumar Pandey said four names had been withdrawn from Chakrata, five from Kalsi, seven from Vikas Nagar, six from Sahaspur, two from Raipur and six from Doiwala. EC tells observers to ensure fair polls
Uttarakhand Election Commissioner Suvardhan today asked election observers to ensure
that the panchayat elections are conducted free and fair and with complete transparency. He said the observers played an important role during the elections. Suvardhan asked them to study all rules and
regulations as it would help them conducting the elections in a better way. Suvardhan directed the observers to hold a meeting of election officers, police officials and zonal magistrates to ensure proper security arrangements. He asked them to keep an eye on sensitive areas. He said the polling would be held in three phases – June 18, June 21 and
June 24. Coordinator for the elections Madan Singh Kundra, and Joint Secretary RS Pokhriyal were present at the
meeting. |
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1,167 to contest panchayat elections in Kumaon
Pithoragarh, June 11 According to information received from the Udham Singh Nagar election officer, 355 candidates are in the fray in Udham Singh Nagar after 84 candidates withdrew their names on Tuesday and nine nomination papers were rejected on the ground of insufficient information. In Nainital district, 311 candidates will fight
the elections for 31 seats of zila panchayat member after seven candidates withdrew their candidatures. In Almora district,
207 candidates are left in the fray for 47 seats of zila panchayat member after 15 candidates withdrew their names on the last day of withdrawal. As many as 170, 109 and 109 candidates are
in the fray for the posts of zila panchayat member in in Pithoragarh, Bageshwar and Champawat
districts, respectively, after 23 candidates in Pithoragarh, six in Bageshwar and 12 candidates in Champawat
district withdrew their candidatures. |
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Agriculture, horticulture policy on the anvil
Gairsain, June 11 There has been a sharp decline in our horticulture produce but more than anything else there is a huge wastage of fruits in the state. Around 50-60 percentage of our fruits are wasted, which is more than our national average. For this reason, we intend to bring a promotional policy in the coming days,” said Harish Rawat, while speaking with media persons. He emphasised that for this reason he tried to change the market policy on foreign liquor so that licenses could be given to only those players who took an undertaking to establish winery and distillery using the local produce. ‘’The Opposition has been hurling baseless allegations when everything has been done to facilitate the hill farmers. Under FL-II licenses would be given to those private players who use 70- 75 per cent of the local produce for setting up winery and distilleries. They will have to pay surety bond of Rs 1 crore in case the promise is broken,” said the CM. He said that an officer of the level Joint Commissioner will monitor the FL-II licenses and the department will also come up with a separate hologram. ‘’Through our policy we are trying to address the quality of liquor as well. In each district stores would be opened selling liquor of all brands and monitoring would be undertaken through the CCTV,” he said . The Chief Minister also stressed that the policy was not monopolistic but in the interest of the local farmer and his produce. “Needless accusations have been made against me that I am encouraging monopolistic practices which is not the case. Instead, under the old policy 80 percent of the companies were controlled by a single company and it’s associates,” he said. The Chief Minister also said that the government was also keen to promote milk production in the state for which subsidy to the tune of Rs 3 litres would be given and destitute women too would be given cows and buffaloes to rear under the promotional policy. |
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Traffic jams spell trouble for Doon commuters
Dehradun, June 11 Over the last one week, the situation has worsened. Traffic snarls have increased and gridlocks have been stretching across the busy arteries of Dehradun. Police seem to have no plan to deal with the problem. Traffic jams spell day-long trouble for commuters while it gets messier by the evening. Roads are clogged and vehicles are stranded in traffic jams. “Driving in the evening is becoming stressful due to traffic snarls and vehicles moving at snail’s pace,” said a commuter. “The traffic police has failed to streamline the worsening traffic situation. It is not possible to drive smoothly on city roads. Constant obstructions put brakes on smooth movement of vehicles,” said Rohit Rawat, a commuter. Commuters are also complaining of wrong parking of vehicles on roadside and roadside encroachments. These, they say, have narrowed the space on roads and are causing problems to commuters. The worst affected roads are Rajpur Road, Ballupur Road, Balliwala Chowk, ISBT Chowk, Jakhan, Haridwar Road, Gandhi Road and Chakrata Road. The situation at Ballupur Chowk has deteriorated due to the ongoing flyover construction work. All the roads converging at Ballupur Road are witnessing incessant traffic mess these days. SSP Ajay Rautela accepted traffic problems in Dehradun city were increasing these days. According to him, “The summer tourist season has begun and there is influx of vehicles into Dehradun and Mussoorie, which is causing more traffic jams. Moreover, locals prefer to venture outside during evening hours due to the mercury rising in the afternoon. This triggers more
vehicular pressure on city roads.” He said this year, the tourists are refraining from going to the hills. They are restricting themselves to Mussoorie, Dehradun, Rishikesh and Haridwar, which is causing traffic jams. For years, the traffic police has been blaming shortage of workforce and narrow roads for the chaos, but has failed to find a solution to the problem. |
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Power generation optimum, yet residents face frequent cuts
Several areas of Dehradun are facing power outages of one to two hours, with people living in the outer parts being the worst sufferers. The power situation started improving after 306 MW Maneri Bhalli-II (MB-II) started generation on June 10 following renovation. The two turbines of MB-II having a capacity of 76 MW each have generated 8.01 million units in June so far. The latest data provided by Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL) officials clearly show that the hydropower projects have generated 818.08 million units between April 1 and June 10 and 152.60 million units in June so far. Department officials said the power generation was likely to improve further once the glaciers, which are source of Himalayan rivers and their tributaries in the state, started melting. GP Patel, Managing Director, UJVNL, told The Tribune that the department gave stern instructions regularly in order to ensure optimum electricity generation by state-run hydropower projects. He said the
electricity generation was likely to improve further once renovation, modernisation, and upgrade works were completed. Patel said technical, and other supporting staff were working round the clock to ensure optimum power generation so that the gap between demand and supply of electricity in the state could be bridged. The demand of electricity in the state is about 37 million units. The state Power Department is procuring nearly two to three million units of electricity through tenders, and from the open market in order to meet the demand. |
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Notorious wildlife poacher Bheema arrested
Dehradun, June 11 The team of forest officials of Lansdowne forest division was successful in arresting Bheema at Gurgaon in Haryana. Bheema (45), son of Umrao who belongs to Bawaria community, is wanted in various wildlife activities by forest officials of Uttarakhand, UP, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan states. According to N Tripathy, Divisional Forest Officer of Lansdowne forest division, the department got inputs about presence of Bheema from Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) following which a team of forest officials and WCCB members arrested Bheema from Gurgaon in Haryana. “We were working on this arrest since May 16 and ultimately nabbed him on June 9 at Gurgaon,” Tripathy disclosed. In 2005 too, Bheema was arrested in Nagina Forest Range of Bijnaur forest division with two skins of tiger and bones. He was later given bail by the court but never appeared again on the court dates. The Judicial Court at Bijnaur had issued a non-bailable warrant against him. It is noteworthy that on May 14, Bheema entered with his accomplices in the Kotaree forest range of Lansdowne forest division. Before he could commit any crime, forest officials surrounded him and his accomplices. But Bheema managed to flee though two of his accomplices were arrested in the process. Since then Uttarakhand forest authorities have been keenly searching for him. Conservationists have expressed happiness over arrest of Bheema. “The arrest of Bheema is an important milestone towards protecting wildlife in Lansdowne forest division, where he has been frequently involved in poaching activities in the past,” said wildlife activist Himanshu Badoni. He said Bheema’s arrest will also act as a deterrent for other wildlife poachers active in the region. |
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100 camera traps installed to detect tiger strength
Dehradun, June 11 Located between the Gola and Sharda rivers in the Terai region of Uttarakhand, Nandhour Wildlife Sanctuary forms part of the wildlife rich Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) and is reported to have large tiger movement. Informing of the start of tiger count in Nandhour, eminent conservationist of the region A K Singh from the WWF said camera-trapping studies indicated that these forests were rich in mammalian species and tiger count would help reveal the latest tiger figures in this region. “We have divided the Nandhour Wildlife Sanctuary into grids and have already installed a total of 100 camera traps”, AK Singh told The Tribune. He added that the monitoring works have also started. He said the greatest strength of Nandhour wildlife sanctuary is that the region is free of any human habitations and thus can cater to thriving population of striped cats. According to Nandhour Wildlife Sanctuary’s Director Prakash Arya, the work for fitting of camera traps has begun from Jolasal range of the park. He said the staff has already been briefed and trained for the purpose. Arya said he was hopeful of presence of commendable tiger population in the region. Significantly, Nandhour stands an important corridor for excess tiger population of Corbett to move into other forest divisions of Terai in Uttarakhand, and also to the extent of Katrniaghat in Uttar Pradesh. According to WWF baseline survey report 2013, eight tigers were photographed by the organisation. More importantly these included presence of sub-adult tigers and lactating females, providing evidence of tiger breeding in Nandhaur. A total of 32 mammal species were then photographed during the study, including species such as the striped hyena, Indian fox, serow, honey badger and the large Indian civet. The Union Environment and Forest Ministry in 2011 gave its nod to accord Nandhour, a wildlife sanctuary status, the seventh wildlife sanctuary of Uttarakhand. As per estimates around 10 tigers exist in Nandhour wildlife sanctuary. |
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Cong councillors lock office of Mukhya Nagar Adhikari
Dehradun, June 11 Addressing the protesters, senior Congress councillor Jagdish Dhiman alleged the DMC was not performing its duties well, causing a lot of problems to the public. “A majority of the officials are handling their respective portfolios on a temporary basis. Further, there is no fixed time for these officials to arrive at the DMC. Several works are pending for long. People coming to the DMC have to waste several days for merely taking the signature of an official,” he said. The protesters asked Mayor Vinod Chamoli to take corrective measures or they would intensify their agitation. The protesters said they had also met Chief Minister Harish Rawat and apprised him of the problem. “The Chief Minister has assured us of solving the problem at the earliest,” Mishra added. |
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Mussoorie MC shuts down bus service
Mussoorie, June 11 Mahendar Singh, a resident of Balrowganj, said, “We are now facing difficulty in reaching Mussoorie as the service introduced by the Municipal Council three years ago had become a lifeline for people belonging to the low and middle income groups. Schoolchildren would also depend on this service only during heavy rains. Now they were again forced to depend on the erratic service of the Uttarakhand Transport Department. Manmohan Singh Mall, president of the Municipal Council, said the service had to be stopped due to a notice served by the \Regional Transport Office, as it was running without any permit. They had written to the Tourism Secretary to restart the bus service. He said the Municipal Council was contemplating increasing the fare and then run the service in the future. |
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DSO to instal trolley over Dhauli river for ration supply
Our Correspondent
Pithoragarh, June 11 According to sources, over 300 quintals of ration, including wheat and rice required at Duktu godown of Drama valley are to be distributed among the valley’s villagers during monsoon months. During this time, regular supply to these godowns is said to be at a standstill. “We have transported over 100 quintals of wheat across the river through a makeshift trolley. We are mulling transport of another 200 quintals of ration before the onset of rain,” said Manoj Kumar Barman, District Supply Officer of Pithoragarh. The step was taken on the orders of the District Magistrate, who followed the orders of the Chief Secretary of the state Subash Kumar who had visited the valley’s villages last fortnight. “We are also sending ration for Pangu godown of Chaundans and Gunji godown of Byans valley through makeshift arrangements if the regular routes are not repaired immediately,” said the DSO. According to the DSO, the situation arose as the bridle ways through which the ration was usually sent to these godowns, were found to be in a bad shape. “Due to swollen Dhauliganga and insufficient routes to the valley’s villages, we had to resort to sending ration through trolley. The monsoon season nears,” he said.
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Rain, strong winds bring down mercury in Mussoorie
Mussoorie, June 11 The dark clouds began forming around 12 noon, accompanied by strong winds, which brought down the temperatures considerably. The brief spell of rain lasted only 15 minutes but was enough to provide relief to the tourists who have been facing a heat wave in the northern plains of the country. Umbrellas and raincoats were out during the brief spell of rain here which was enough to bring down the mercury. Ranjana, a tourist from Delhi, said that they had come to Mussoorie to get relief from soaring temperatures in Delhi but the temperatures were really high here until the brief spell of rain which has resulted in cool weather here much to her delight. |
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ICAR’s regional panel to meet on June 13
Dehradun, June 11 The ministers and secretaries of agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, sheep husbandry, sericulture and rural development of partner states will be participating in the deliberations. From the Centre, Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Education, and Director General, ICAR, members from the Planning Commission, representatives from governing body of ICAR Society, Agricultural Products Export Development Authority, National Bio-diversity Authority and National Rainfed Area Authority will prominently be participating in the meeting. |
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Gurdwara Football Club win 3-0
Dehradun, June 11 In the second match of the day, Garhwal Star defeated Chandrmani Football Club 4-0 with Aman scoring a hattrick at 6th, 11th and 38th minutes. Rajbeer scored the last goal at 28th minute of the match. On Thursday, two matches would be played in the league. The first match would be between Doon Valley and Khukri Eleven and second match will be played between Vikasnagar and KVS Sporting. Pal Cricket Academy beat Himalayan team
The Pal Cricket Academy defeated Himalayan Cricket Academy by 82 runs in a match during the Vasudav Raghav Memorial Under-16 Cricket Tournament played at Doon Global School here on Wednesday. After winning the toss and electing to bat first, the Pal Cricket Academy made 201 runs in the allotted overs. Shivam scored 72 runs of 58 balls, followed by Sagar who made 36 runs. For the Himalayan Cricket Academy, Ayush took 5 wickets. In reply, the Himalayan Cricket Academy had a bad start as the openers got out cheaply. While Aryan scored the highest 23 runs, no other batsman could score much runs for their team. Shivam took five wickets for the Pal Cricket Academy while Abhishek and Paras took one wicket each. |
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Workshop: Vital for students to introspect
Dehradun, June 11 In the closing ceremony, Kanchan Negi, MD of Dazzle Key, said, “Personality development is the need of the hour.” Kanchan went on to state: “Students should introspect themselves, observe, become aware of their potentialities and follow the right alleyway. Such workshops bring about tremendous
change in students and help them to work on their best slant.” She added that it is
vital for students to know their strong and weak points as early as possible so that they may be focused. This helps one to judge their calibre and enables them to know their X-factor. The workshop is said to have helped students become aware of their innate qualities, that could help them grow into better citizens. |
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18-year-old killed in road accident
Dehradun, June 11 The injured, identified as Akshay Pal, Nikhil Pal and Amil Kumar, are said to be in critical condition.The police sent the body for postmortem. Sunny, Akshay and Nikhil Pal were going towards Laltapad from Maajri on the bike while head constable Anil Kumar was coming from Laltapad when the accident took place. After getting information, the police reached the spot and rushed the injured to hospital. |
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13-yr-old boy killed in road mishap
Dehradun, June 11 The accident occurred just opposite the Prayer Hall on the Haridwar bypass road. Although the 108 emergency ambulance took Deepak to a nearby hospital, doctors declared him brought dead. The police have impounded the car and registered a case against an unidentified person, as the driver fled the spot. |
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Strong winds put hurdles in controlling forest fire
Mussoorie, June 11 Dheeraj Pandey, DFO, Mussoorie said a team of forest officials reached the cowsheds above the villages of Ghandali-Sartali near Kempty and were working constantly to control the fire. He also said all fire fighting units including employees from the crew station had rushed to the spot to control the fire.The villagers are of the view that the fire if not controlled immediately could damage the nearby settlements. Meanwhile, the overcast conditions have brought cheer to the forest officials as they are pinning hopes on rain which could help in controlling the fire.
— TNS |
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MoU on construction of Vyasi hydropower project
Dehradun, June 11 The memorandum was signed by Deputy
General Manager, UJVNL, Mohammad Gulfishan and Assistant General Manager MK Sinha. Speaking on the occasion, Managing Director of the UJVNL GP Patel said the department had been working round the
clock to generate maximum electricity. He hoped that BHEL would complete the project in the given
time frame. General Manager, UJVNL, Tilak Mohan Bharadwaj and Directors Sandeep Singhal, SK Chopra, CP Madan and Purroshottam Singh
were present. |
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Dehradun, June 11