Focus on free generic drugs, insurance: Harsh Vardhan
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 2
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan today said in order to accomplish the government’s health for all mission, the Union Health Ministry has listed providing free generic medicines and insurance among its top priorities.

Emphasising that there were several areas in the health sector that required strengthening, he said, “Since taking over as the Union minister a few months back, what I have realised is that we cannot push schemes that are drafted at the Centre on states, which is why I am here to discuss things with the state government. I will try to know its areas of concern. Our plans for providing free generic medicines and insurance scheme cannot be successful without the support of states,” said Harsh Vardhan, while speaking with The Tribune.

He said for the scheme's implementation, accountability had to be set through e-governance and other measures. “We need to strengthen the government-to-citizen processes and e-governance is one way of way of doing that,” he said.

Terming the shortage of medical staff as acute, the minister said even Tamil Nadu was facing the problem of shortage of doctors. “There are some states that have very few specialists, while at other places, even general MBBS doctors are not ready to serve in villages. We have to increase the numbers at the entry level to overcome the shortfall,” he said.

Dr Vardhan said even the strength of the paramedical staff was inadequate. “We have decided to set up a National Institute of Paramedical Science in New Delhi and eight regional institutes to overcome the shortage,” he said.

In the morning, the minister visited the Uttarakhand BJP headquarter and urged the party workers to make health for all a people’s movement.

Later, the minister left for Rishikesh, where he inspected All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and urged the state government to

make available land for expanding the institute which was located on 92 acre land.

“I would be happy to pitch in for making the Rishikesh-based institute a world class institution. For this, we would require more land, at least 8 acres, so that expansion could be undertaken,” he said. The minister was accompanied by Lov Verma, Secretary, Government of India, Department of Health.

Property registration to go online
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 2
People in Uttarakhand can now expect hassle-free registration of properties. The state government is set to start an online process for registration of properties similar to the one underway in the state of Gujarat.

Inconvenience and cramped space greet the citizens who throng the registry offices in the districts. All this would now probably be a thing of the past. Under the new system, the citizens will have the facility to seek an online appointment. They will be given a time slot in which they will have to come with the necessary documents to get their property registered. The registration documents would be delivered to the applicant at the same time. In case the application is rejected, the applicant would be informed about it the same day.

“The conventional system of registration will be overhauled. Under the new system, applicants will have to come to the registrar’s office with prior appointment and carry original documents pertaining to personal details and the property to be registered. Once the task is completed, the applicants can access the website for a printout of the receipt at home displaying a bar code. This will be useful for future communication,” said Dilip Jawalkar, Additional Secretary and IG Stamps and registration.

The facility will also to be available for those applicants who come without a prior time slot and visit the sub-registrar offices without prior appointment. For registration of properties, they will have to bring their original documents and details pertaining to property purchased.

Aimed at greater transparency and speedy disposal of files, the system is already functioning in Gujarat and the passport seva kendras.

The scheme is expected to be launched by Uttarakhand Finance Minister Indira Hriyadesh in Haldwani in the coming few days.

“Once we launch the process, all the prospective buyers and sellers will be saved from standing in queue, waiting for their turn,” said Jawalkar.

As quite a few documents are needed at the time of property registration, the government also plans to list the documents needed to be brought alongwith by the applicants.

Bandh against ill-maintained highway
Our correspondent

Pithoragarh, August 2
The vehicular traffic on the 262-km-long Tanakpur-Tawaghat nationa highway No 9 remained suspended and business establishments and offices across the towns of the highway remained closed today as several organisations, including political parties and social and commercial organisations, observed a bandh protesting against the pathetic conditions of the road since the last six decades.

This highway links the last Indian border post of Lipulekh at the Indo-China border in this part of the Himalayas to the mainland. The agitators blamed Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for not caring about national security threats from across China, where according to agitators, the Chinese have maintained four-lane roads to mobilise its troops from any part of Tibet to the Indian border. “ It is due to the negligent attitude of the BRO that our soldiers have to trek five days to reach the border from this road, which is ill maintained and incomplete,” said the agitators.

“ We have called the bandh protesting the pathetic condition of the road which connects people of the hill region with towns situated in the plains, but due to bad maintenance of roads, not only are the passengers suffering but landslides have also taken place at regular intervals during the last 60 years,” said Bhagwan Singh Rawat, convener of Pithoragarh Lok Manch and organiser of the bandh.

According to information reaching here, the agitators stopped vehicular traffic across the road and the officers and business establishments were closed in the towns of Banbasa, Tanakpur, Champawat, Lohaghat, Pithoragarh, Kanalichina, Jauljibi and Dharchula and Baluakot.

The protesters have also demanded a CBI inquiry into the working of BRO and lodged criminal cases against it in connection with deaths that occurred due to landslides on this highway.

Cong workers meet state party chief
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 2
A delegation of Congress Party workers, led by former Member of Parliament Paripurnanand Painyuli and Congress leader Navin Tiwari, met the state party chief Kishore Upadhayay at the Congress Bhawan today. The discussed the strategies to strengthen the party in the state.

Speaking after the meeting, Navin Tiwari said the delegation congratulated the party chief for winning the Assembly bypolls. However, the delegation urged Kishore Upadhayay to learn lesson from the Lok Sabha poll debacle and chalk out a long-term plan to make the party more vibrant and accountable to the people.

Notably, the delegation requested Kishore Upadhayay to reconstitute district, city and block-level Congress committees and to bring the Congress workers sidelined in the past a few years to the mainstream politics.

Party workers Tarun Pant, Hemant Kothari, Balwant Bora, Bahadur Singh Mehta, Dhaniram, Digvijy Singh Rastogi, Sachin Tiwari, Suresh Chandra Arya, Abid Hussain, Kishan Dalakoti and Rashin Ahmed were part of the delegation.

Governor plants saplings at Raj Bhavan
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 2
Governor Aziz Qureshi today planted saplings at Raj Bhavan as a part of the green campaign. On the instructions of the Governor, the Horticulture Department planted various decorative and shady trees. The Governor planted four saplings of rose-scented lichi.

He said the plantation of trees was the best way to express gratitude towards the nature and protect the environment.

He said the planted saplings would add to the beauty of the Raj Bhavan gardens and inspire people to become a part of the green campaign so that the environment could be protected.

The plants that were planted included pdocarpus, bougainvillea, ficus, franshishia, gardenia, magnolia fuscata, juniperus, ashokapendula, copperbrush, neem besides various types of bamboo and creepers.

Supply on old ration cards demanded
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 2
The Uttarakhand chapter of All India Consumers Council has demanded streamlining of the public distribution system and ration supply on old cards till news ones are issued. There have been reports that subsidised ration was not given to consumers on old ration cards.

In a press note issued here today, president of the council Brig KG Behl (retd) said several complaints had been received from old ration card holders that they were not getting ration in the absence of new cards.

“The recent development has caused agony among the poor section of society. The government authorities should issue clear orders to authorised shops to supply rations on old ration cards till the new ones are issued. It should be specified as to which vintage cards are required to be renewed. In the meantime, they should entertain old card holders and issue all necessary provisions as per their entitlement,” he added.

“It has also been reported that shopkeepers are either refusing supply or supplying ration less than entitlement. It is learnt that full stocks are not being kept in the shops and ration card holders are being told that there is a shortage of supply,” Brig Behl said.

Huge rush for posts of constable

Pithoragarh, August 2
The problem of unemployment among educated youths in the Kumaon region was reflected in the recruitment of police constables as over 28,000 youths have applied for 135 posts of constables for which the recruitment process started today.

According to sources, the problem of unemployment and craze to become police constables seems high in Nainital and US Nagar districts.“ While 6,418 youths have applied for 33 posts of constables in Nainital district, the US Nagar police office has received a total of 9,831 applications for the posts of 57 constables,” said a police officer in Haldwani. — OC

Cong-BJP tussle for Zila Parishad chief’s post in Pithoragarh
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, August 2
The way has been paved for a direct contest between the BJP and Congress candidates for the post of Pithoragarh Zila Panchayat chief as BJP leaders today succeeded in persuading Kishen Singh Bhandari to withdraw his name from the fray in favour of rebel party candidate Khushal Singh Piplia.

After Kishen Singh Bhandari withdrew his name, only two candidates, Prakash Joshi from the Congress and Piplia from the BJP remain in the fray for the post of chairperson of Zila Panchayat in Pithoragarh, for which the election is scheduled to be held on August 5.

“We had to maintain the BJP principle of one person one post. We persuaded Kishen Singh to withdraw his candidature as he is party president of the Pithoragarh unit of the party,” said Prakash Pant, BJP general secretary, who mediated the tussle.

Agitating teachers’ health deteriorates
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 2
The health of the members of the Uttarakhand Polytechnic Contractual Teachers’ Association, who are on a indefinite fast for the past five days at Parade Ground, has started deteriorating.

Sarvesh Chaudhary, president of the association, criticised the state government for being indifferent towards their demands and claimed that politicians and higher government officials were not worried about the health of the protesters. A team of doctors examined the agitators twice today.

Chaudhary claimed that their delegation, which went to meet the Chief Minister at Bijapur Guest House on Friday, had to wait for more than eight hours. He said they had been getting false assurances from the government for the past many days. The Uttarakhand Polytechnic Contractual Teachers’ Association is protesting in support of their five demands, including regularisation of services.

Association members Nagendra Awasthi, Ashish Khanengra Awasthi, Pankaj Dagar, Naresh Pathak, Sandeep, Poonam Rawat, Sweta and Anjali were present during the protest today.

Air Comm Nitin Sathe takes charge
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 2
Air Commodore Nitin Sathe took charge of the command of 1 Air Force Selection Board in the Clement Town Cantonment, from the outgoing president Air Commodore Vishwanath Prakash.

The officer is a graduate from Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, and a qualified Helicopter Combat Leader. He was commissioned in the flying branch of the Indian Air Force in December 1984.

Earlier, Air Commodore Sathe was holding an important appointment at the HQ Eastern Air Command. He was also part of the United Nation Peace Keeping Mission in Congo.

Gurdwara Football Club beat DMK
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 2
Only one match was played in the ongoing Nemidas Memorial District Football League at the Pavilion Ground here today. Gurdwara Football Club defeated DMK Football Club 1-0, with Ram scoring the winning goal in the 56th minute.

Two matches would be played in the league on Sunday. The first match would be played between Doon United and The Graff while Khalanga Football Club will play against Shiwalik Football Club in the second match of the day.

RAV School beat Sapience School 4-0

A number of fast paced football matches were played in the ongoing CBSE Sahodaya School Complex Inter-School Football Tournament at Scholars Home School today. In the juniors’ matches, Raksha Anusandhan Vidhyalaya (RAV) School defeated Sapience School 4-0 while The Asian School got a walk over against Doon Academy in the second match.

Among seniors, Kasiga School beat Army School, Birpur 2-1. In the second match, DSB International School, Rishikesh, defeated Lucent International School 5-2 with Ayush Rathi scoring three goals for the winning team.

Army School win

Army School, Clement Town, defeated Kendriya Vidyalaya, Birpur, 3-0 in the first match of the day in the ongoing Uttarakhand Sub-Area Inter-School Football Tournament played at Mahindra Ground today.

In the second match, Cambrian Hall School defeated North Point School 2-0. Though North Point players made a number of moves and came close to scoring, their efforts went in vain.

Jackie Memorial Football Tournament begins

MUSSOORIE: The 43rd Jackie Memorial Football Tournament kicked off at St George’s College in Mussoorie today. Even thick fog on the ground could not dampen the spirit of the participating teams.

The chief guest, Brother Carol and senior staff from St George’s College inaugurated the tournament.

In the inaugural fixture, Barlowganj Club defeated Our Club 2-0. In other matches Hillbird School defeated Khetwala Club 3-0. In the third match, MUFC defeated Young Star 1-0. In another fixture Hillbird, second team, defeated Bala Hissar 4-3. In the last match of the day, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Dehradun, defeated Wynberg Allen School 3-0.