Brahamchari’s ‘clean image’ favourable for Congress

Haridwar, January 7
With the Congress facing defeat in the Haridwar (city) segment, by opting for saint-turned-politician Satpal Brahamchari this time, the party seems to be having better chance of winning.

Satpal Brahamchari boasts of having an honest image, of being the leader of the masses masses and above all, of not being attached with any party faction which had been quite harmful for the previous candidates in 2002 & 07.

Calm and composed at his Khadkhadi ashram- cum-residence, Brahamchari, in a chat with journlists, owed it to his fellow party leaders and activists who found him eligible to contest from city’s main seat.

His journey to getting party legislator ticket is just a decade old, which is quite surprising but also shows his hard work towards the party in during this period.

He first joined politics as a BJP activist but later shifted to the Congress in 2000. Considered close to Haridwar parliamentarian Harish Rawat, he was elected as Municipal Chairman in 2003. He holds a state record in terms of winning margin in whole of the state, by garnering 46,000 votes, defeating his nearest rival by 19,000 votes.

According to local population, Brahamchari’s tenure is regarded the best with no corruption allegation and development spree, helping Haridwar hold Ardh Kumbh succesfully.

“With its development my focus, we should first look into the needs of public,” said Brahamchari, a graduate in Sanskrit.

With him in the election fray, it will not be easy this time for state BJP Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik to make a hat trick of the election wins from Haridwar segment.

Poonam Bhagat, state chief of the Kissan Congress, pointed out that in the past decade, the Congress has lost from Haridwar, owing to the inner party factionalism rather than strong opposition candidature, but this time surely hand will have an upper hand. 

FACE OF THE WEEK

He keeps cities clean and green

Dehradun, January 7
A clean and green city with open spaces is the dream of every city resident but sadly the cities in the country are infested with garbage, encroachment and concrete buildings with very little green cover. The cities of Uttarkahand, a hill state known for its lush green trees, are no exception as well.

Thanks to crusader Harak Singh Rawat, Additional Mukhya Nagar Adhikari (Additional Chief Executive Officer), Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC), the situation in the cities where ever he worked has changed for the better.

In Dehradun as AMNA, he removed encroachments from various parts of the city, fought with work-shirking sanitary workers to make them collect garbage from door to door, introduced carts to carry garbage, twin dustbins for the segregation of bio-degradable and degradable garbage and its further
processing.

These days he has also been given charge of election affairs of Rajpur Road and is leading the drive to remove illegal hoardings/banners defacing the city walls and trees.

He has been instrumental in propelling people in planting thousands of walnut trees in Srinagar, Kirtinagar, Tehri where he worked in different capacities.

He has also been at the forefront in removing encroachments, be it 350 kiosks in Tehri in one go, rehris from the bazaars or hutments from slum colonies in Dehradun.

Taking a cue from his passion to serve society, villagers around Baigul river at Udham Singh Nagar dug land up to five metres around the river at his behest and straightened the course of the river, which otherwise had changed its direction and was causing floods in the villages.

The government assistance of Rs 2 crore asked for the same project came late but was utilised well to build a concrete embankment around the river.

But the timely action plan implemented by Rawat helped in minimising the massive damage triggered by the floods every year.

From his stint as tehsildar, Udham Singh Nagar, to Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Srinagar, in year 2004, he was able to enforce a ban on the usage of polythene bags and introducing Friends of Environment Scheme (FES). “Under FES, I hired the services of small-time scrap dealers to make them collect garbage from door to door,supplementing their income from a payout of Rs 10 from each resident. The garbage

would then be either recycled or used for composting likewise,” he said. To ensure that his mission continued ever after he left, he constituted committees with heads of local bodies and workers, which are functioning well now.

As SDM, Kirtinagar, in year 2007-08 and Tehri in 2008-09, he rode on success by replicating the same experiment.

His reputation of doing good work brought him to the Municipal Corporation of the capital city but the strong union culture and idle sitting attitude of sanitary workers spawned problems for him.

The workers stood against him on one pretext or the other, banking upon political patronage. Rawat’s patience paid off and everything fell into line.

Telling about his dream projects he said: “I want fund-strapped DMC to construct its own residential and commercial complexes on its vacant land and earn money from it to be used for works of public welfare. The trees should also be planted around rivers so that people do not throw litter in them and use the area for recreation.”

Sonia Gandhi to visit Tehri Garhwal

Dehradun, January 7
United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will be in the state on January 15.

According to Congress sources, Sonia will be addressing a public rally at Boraree Stadium in Tehri Garhwal district on January 15. The rally holds much of the importance as Sonia had failed to make it to the Haldwani Congress rally in the Kumaon region of the state on January 4 due to inclement weather conditions.

Congress leaders in Tehri are hoping that Sonia’s visit to the region will boost party’s electoral fortunes in the Garhwal region of the state.

Punjab team clinch cricket title

Dehradun, January 7
The Punjab team won the 26th Banke Lal Shah Under-15 Memorial Cricket Tournament by defeating the Purvanchal Cricket Academy, Benaras, by eight wickets in the final match here today.

After winning the toss, the Punjab team elected to bowl first. In the first innings, the Benaras team scored 49 runs all out. Rohit was the top scorer with 15 runs. Raghav and Harpreet took two wickets each for the Punjab team.

Responding to the score of the first innings, the Punjab team made 52 runs at the loss of two wickets. Openers Abhinav and Marshal contributed to the team’s victory with 26 and 17 runs, respectively.

Chaudhary Avdhesh Kumar, president of the Uttarakhand Volleyball Association, who was the chief guest on the occasion, congratulated the winning team and gave away the prizes.

Sukhpreet and Abhinav of the Punjab team were declared the best bowler and the best batsman, respectively. Sanjay from MCC was declared the best fielder while Vishal Roopani of the Benaras team won the best wicket keeper title.

Abhinav of the Punjab team was declared as the man of the match.

Mussoorie has first snowfall of the season

A hill covered with the season’s first snowfall in Mussoorie on Saturday.

Mussoorie, January 7
Residents and tourists alike were thrilled to see the Queen of Hills and the surrounding hill ranges donning a white mantle today. This winter has been different in Mussoorie, as it has been waiting for snow till this day. The overnight ominous clouds finally obliged with the shower covering the town with white blanket of snow. Children, in particular, came out of their houses wearing woollens and frolicked in the first snowfall of the season by hurling snowballs at each other.
The belated snow and rain also brought cheers to farmers, especially the apple growers from Mussoorie-Dhanaulti apple belt, whose crops had been affected by the prolonged dry spell.
While the town received 2 to 4 inches of snow, the adjoining tourist spot at Dhanaulti recorded five to eight inches of snow.
The high reaches of Naag Tibba and surrounding peaks were receiving heavy snowfall since last night.
The snowfall accompanied by high-velocity icy winds snapped power transmission lines at some places and disrupted the services temporarily. Electricity Department officials had to come out in the bitter cold to fix the faulty lines amid the snow showers, making it difficult for them to work.
Neena, a tourist from Kolkota, was immensely excited to witness falling snow for the first time. Speaking to The Tribune, she said that was an awesome experience to watch snowflakes falling like cotton balls from the
sky. “My family had arrived in the town yesterday and was lucky to witness the snowfall here,” added Neena. With the Met Department predicting more snow and rain, the tourists have extended their stay for a day more. However, birds and wild animals were seen having a torrid time and were seen huddling close to each other to avoid the bitter cold.

Old residents of the town were of the view that the snow had become a rare incident now. RS Sharma, a senior citizen, said that the town that used to witness more than 12 feet of snow in the past, blamed the rampant construction and global warming for the decreasing snowfall in the town.

Met forecasts snow in higher reaches

DEHRADUN: Cold wave conditions prevailed in the state as the higher reaches experienced snowfall. Many parts of the state witnessed rain spells in the past 24 hours. According to Executive Director of the Dehradun Meteorological Department Anand Sharma, rains or snowfall is likely to continue in higher reaches of the state. Similar condition will prevail in other parts of Uttarakhand till Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, last night rains disrupted traffic movement on the roads. According to the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre, Dehradun, Dharasu-Barkot National highway has been blocked at Radi whereas the Rishikesh-Gangotri National Highway has been blocked at Harshil in the Uttarkashi district due to snowfall.

Passengers have a tough time

PITHORAGARH: Passengers from Munsiyari en route to the district headquarter of Pithoragarh have to face a lot of inconvenience as the heavy snowfall last night has caused a road blockage at the Kalamuni mountains.

“The snow-cutter machine with the department is not in a working condition; therefore, the department will have to arrange one or repair the same machine to open the road,” said AS Bisht, Subdivision Officer of the PWD.

According to PWD sources, the road is likely to be opened in the next two days as more than 2 ft snow has accumulated on the Kalamuni crossing of the road linking the remote hill station with the district headquarter. “The people of Malla Johar face this sort of problem every year during winter as the snow cutter machine lying with the department remain in the non-working condition,” said Gulab Singh Pangti, president of the Malla Johar Vikash Samiti, Munsiyari.

According to the meteorology unit of the ITBP , the peaks of Chiplakedar, Khalia Top and Kalamuni have witnessed more than 3 ft of snow in the past five hours and the valleys of Byans on the Kailash Mansarowar route have witnessed more than 5 ft of snow in this sudden change of the weather.

The Byans Valley has witnessed snowfall on Gala onwards, covering the adjoining mountains for the first time in this season.

Tourists make a beeline

NAINITAL: Apart from the higher reaches, the town too witnessed snowfall, although the snow melted as fast as it fell in the main town. The areas of Cheena Peak and Kilbury Road witnessed a heavy snowfall. The tourists made a beeline to the Kilbury Road. The roadside stalls in the town selling woollens did brisk business throughout the day. This was the second snowfall of the season in the town.

10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to be Held in Jaipur

Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago to be Chief Guest 

The 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) will be held from 7-9 January, 2012 in Jaipur. Addressing a press conference here today, Shri Vayalar Ravi, the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs and Civil Aviation announced that the Chief Guest of PBD-2012 will be the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Ms. Kamla Persad Bissessar. The theme of PBD-2012 is “Global Indian-Inclusive Growth”. He further said that Rajasthan will be the partner State of the 10th PBD, which would provide the Diaspora an opportunity to understand the vibrant culture and potential of State. 

Shri Ravi said that Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will inaugurate this annual flagship event of the Ministry on January 8, and the President Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil will deliver the valedictory address on January 9 and confer the Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Awards. He also informed that two pre-conference seminars on ‘Solar Energy- Investment’ and R&D’ and ‘Social Entrepreneurship-Water’ will also be organized during the event. 

The Minister said that more than 1500 delegates are expected to participate in PBD-2012 from all over the world. He said that Government is making efforts to make PBD more meaningful and interactive event that would address issues and concerns of the overseas Indian community effectively. He also announced that the event would be webcast online and summary of proceedings put out each day. The interactive website would provide an opportunity for the Diaspora to participate in the conference from any corner of the world. On the occasion, he also launched the PBD website- www.pbdindia.org. 

Speaking in the conference, Shri Rajendra Pareek the Minister of Industries, NRI’s, and State Enterprises of Rajasthan said that Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is an efforts to bring Indian Diaspora on one forum, which expresses the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. He also extended all kind of support and cooperation from Rajasthan Government to make the 10th PBD successful. Dr. A. Didar Singh, Secretary, MOIA & Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII were also present on the occasion.

UKD (D) passing through major upheaval

Rebels not happy fighting on BJP symbol

Dehradun, January 5
The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (D) is passing through a major upheaval for the last two days. Acting president of the party and head of the executive committee Luxman Singh Chufal is leading the group of dissidents in the party, who are not happy with the decision of party president and state Cabinet Minister Diwakar Bhatt to fight on BJP’s symbol in the Assembly elections.

Chufal is intending to break away from UKD (D) and fight in this election with the rebels. Chufal also belied the reports published in some newspapers that he was appeasing the incensed party workers to comply with Bhatt’s decision. He blamed party spokesperson Satish Semwal for distorting the facts before the media in his name.

Chufal also claimed to have got resignation letters of some 100 party office-bearers and members who wanted to split up from the Diwakar group. He said: “It was before merging with the other faction of UKD in

the year 2005 that the party was registered as UKD (Democratic), having me as the president of the party. I will lead the new party in that name and will not need to get fresh registration.”

He awaits more resignations to come his way on Friday after which he is slated to jump into the electoral arena.

Satish Semwal tried to mitigate the damage the party is destined to face, saying: “The anger brewing inside the members is more on cancellation of their seats. Chufal, who was to fight from Khatima, is highly upset as well. The discontentment will be easily contained by Diwakar Bhatt as he is scheduled to arrive from his constituency.”

Chufal refused to give in to any pressure tactics and fumed, saying: “Diwakar Bhatt is not playing politics but exhibiting traits of dictatorship. By lapping up two tickets from BJP, he had darkened the future of the rest of 68 candidates of the party who are adamant on fighting the elections as they worked hard in their constituencies. If Bhatt had fought from his party, even for two seats, we would have backed him up fully. But he is sailing in two boats. He should resign from any of the two parties because representing two parties is constitutionally incorrect.”

On the other hand, other faction of UKD (P) did not open its cards for the second list of the candidates as was decided to be done today.

Party general secretary Shishpal said: “We are being contacted by rebels from UKD, BJP and Congress. So the party leaders want to withhold the release of the second list till the Congress list is also announced so that the disgruntled leaders from other parties could be considered on various seats of the party.”

He said party leaders were also engaged in assuaging the discontent among those who are likely to be displaced from the list to make room for outsiders.