Dehradun, July 17
Opposition parties cornered the ruling BJP on the vital issues of unemployment and pathetic state of education during the budget session of the assembly, here today. 
Taking up these issues during the zero hour on the fifth day of the budget session, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), Congress and BSP legislators came down heavily on the state government for failing to pay attention on these two crucial sectors. State Education Minister Govind Singh Bisht and his predecessor Madan Kaushik had to face a tough time while handling the volley of queries fired at them. 

UKD MLA Pushpesh Tripathi and Om Gopal said there was immense shortage of teachers up to Class 12th level, but so far the government had done nothing in this regard. Albeit the Education Minister tried to pacify the Opposition leaders, UKD MLAs were in no mood to relent. 

“The student-teacher ratio does not comply with the guidelines, but the government is least bothered,” said Tripathi, while adding that the state of education in Uttarakhand was miserable. Congress and BSP MLAs also flayed the government on this issue and supported UKD legislators. Om Gopal said there were several schools in his constituency where one “shiksha sahayak” takes care of 84 students.

Congress MLA Pritam Singh also raised the matter and asked the education minister to give details about the total number of schools in the state that are without teachers or are being run by a single teacher. 

Replying to the queries, Bisht’s predecessor Madan Kaushik told the House that as many as 16 primary schools in the state did not have any teacher, whereas 450 primary schools were being run by only one teacher each. 

The other issue that dominated proceedings was that of unemployment. BSP MLA Qazi Nizamuddin questioned what the state government was doing to generate employment for the youth who had completed their education from professional institutes, but were still jobless. 

“Since the educated youth are getting partial employment under schemes like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the state government is not making serious efforts to provide them jobs in accordance with their qualification. It is insulting that educated youth are working as labourers,” said Nizamuddin. 

In reply, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Parkash Pant, on behalf of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, said: “There is nothing wrong in working under NREGA. It is sad that Opposition MLAs are insulting the farmers and labourers by making such comments.” 

Angry over his remarks, Nizamuddin and his party member Chaudhary Yashveer walked out of the House in protest. 

Dehradun, July 17
Perturbed by the nonchalant attitude of higher officials of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC), councillors of all the parties today unanimously passed a resolution seeking removal of the entire top brass of the civic body. 

In an emergency meeting called to discuss the issue, as many as 45 municipal councillors from different political parties, including Congress and BJP, reached a consensus that officials of the DMC are not discharging their duties diligently and hence all of them should be transferred from Dehradun without any further delay. 

The resolution passed by the all-party committee has been sent to the government for further action.

Giving details of the proceedings, leader of the Opposition councillors Ashok Verma said, “It has been a long time since DMC officials, especially the higher ups, have not been paying attention to the problems being faced by city residents. Whether it is the problem of cleanliness, matters pertaining to house tax or the issue of development, DMC officials seem least bothered. Due to this, city residents have to face many problems.” 

He said most of the time senior DMC officials are not available and hence they had finally decided to adopt a stiff posture against them. Apart from this, several other issues also came up for discussion during the meeting. 

“It has been unanimously decided to take up the matter of road-cutting in the next board meeting of the DMC,” said Verma, while adding that if any government department wants road-cutting for laying cables etc, the councilor of the respective ward should be intimated. It was also decided that wages of the safai sewaks who work on a daily basis should be increased from existing Rs 100 a day to Rs 120. 

Prominent among those present during the meeting were councilors Neeraj Sethi, Darshan Pundir, RS Rawat, Govind Mohan and Ajay.

Haridwar, July 17
With the on-foot “kanwar yatra” in its last stage, the focus of the administration here has shifted to the “Dak Kanwar yatra”, which is carried out on vehicles within a stipulated time fixed by the “kanwars”.

This leg of the “yatra” becomes a challenge for the police as well as locals, as not only are there cases of rash driving but also massive traffic jams.

“Dak Kanwar” is different from the normal “yatra” as it is completed on vehicles within a specific time period. In addition, after collecting Ganga water one “kanwar” runs on foot at a certain distance from the vehicle.

He is replaced by another and the cycle continues till the point from where the “yatra” commences.

On the orders of Senior Superintendent of Police Sanjay Gunjiyal, ten zones, spanning from Bhoopatwala area to Shankaracharya Chowk, have been marked to mange the flow of traffic.

Additional Superintendent of Police Hukam Singh Kathait has been made incharge of the whole area. Seven DSPs, 12 inspectors, 2 traffic inspectors, 12 sub-inspectors and one company each of Provincial Armed Constabulary and Rapid Action Force would assist him. To boost the strength of police personnel, new recruits from Moradabad Training School have also been deployed in the area.

Meanwhile, with as many as 40 lakh “kanwariyas” in the area the “Jal Police” and lifeguards are on their toes at all prominent “ghats”.

As many as 150 people have already been saved from drowning.

The police has urged the “kanwariyas” to take all precautions while nearing the ghats and during the bath.

Dehradun, July 17
Senior Congress leader Dhirendra Pratap, who is also a member of the All-India Congress Committee, has condemned the “illegal, undemocratic and unconstitutional” arrest of Uttar Pradesh Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi under the SC/ST Act.

He has urged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati to pass orders for her immediate release. Pratap said Joshi never made any comment against Dalits and the case against her was false.

Pratap claimed that he was a disciple of late Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, Joshi’s father, who had devoted his entire life for the welfare of Dalits, minorities and downtrodden.

“Since Rita Bahuguna is the daughter of such an illustrious person, she will never even think of doing anything against the Dalits,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pratap demanded that Uttar Pradesh government should instead take action against all those involved in torching the house of Rita Bahuguna in Lucknow.

Dehradun, July 17
In protest against the apathetic attitude of the state government, Anganwadi and ASHA workers, under the aegis of Uttarakhand Rajya Anganwadi Karamchari Panchayat Sangh, today held a rally in support of their demands.

The rallyists passed through important landmarks in the city and converged outside the Vidhan Sabha. Later, they handed over a memorandum of demands to the Chief Minister RP Nishank.

“We will be forced to intensify our stir in the coming days if there is delay in acceptance of our demands,” said Sarweshwari Khanduri, president of Uttarakhand Rajya Anganwadi, Karamchari Panchayat.

Among the main demands are that the post of supervisor should be filled on promotion basis rather than through new recruitments; Anganwadi/ASHA workers be declared permanent employees of the state as procedure for their appointment is similar to the state government employees; and the state government should immediately release the government order pertaining to the announcement made by the then Chief Minister ND Tiwari in 2003.

In addition, they have demanded that Anganwadi Kendras should also be closed during winter and summer vacations; food should be given as per the weather and geographical conditions; Anganwadi and ASHA workers should be assigned six hours of work and Jan Shree Beema Yojana for ASHA and Angawadi workers should be put in place.

Yesterday, the members had organised a sit-in outside the assembly in support of their demands.

Dehradun, July 17
Led by its state president Hira Singh Bisht, leaders of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) today submitted a memorandum of their demands to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

INTUC leaders expressed dismay over the fact that the state government was ignoring the long-pending demands of labourers.

Bisht claimed that during the previous Congress regime, the then Chief Minister ND Tiwari had made several announcements for the welfare of labourers in December 2006. Ever since the BJP came to power, all issues pertaining to labourers have been put in the cold storage.

Giving details of the demands of the INTUC, Bisht said their foremost demand was sanctioning of Rs 50 lakh for every district for setting up of community labour homes.

“The workers of sugar mills and other corporations must be given 50 per cent dearness allowance. Minimum wages of farm labourers should be increased from the existing Rs 73 per day to Rs 125 per day.

“The monthly reimbursement of ‘anganwadi’ workers should be increased from Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000,” demanded INTUC leaders.

They added that adding that former Chief Minister ND Tiwari had accepted these demands in principle but before he could issue orders, the state government changed.

Bisht added that special steps should be initiated to prevent industrial units from shifting to other states.

He added that vacant posts in various departments should be filled without delay by recruiting youth from the state.

After submitting the memorandum, INTUC members in large numbers staged a massive protest outside the state assembly.

The leaders warned the state government that, in case, their demands were not met, they would be forced to intensify their protest.

Mussoorie, July 17
An outbreak of diarrhoea was reported near Hotel Park Plaza here, where 30 slum children fell ill  yesterday.

The sewer of hotel was damaged following torrential rain over the past few days and consequently, filth from the sewer flowed into the slum located just below the hotel.

This led to the outbreak of diarrhoea among the children there and at least 30 of them were taken to various government and private hospitals here for treatment.

However, the condition of the children is better and most of them have been discharged after treatment.

Meanwhile, health officials have inspected the site and have issued a notice to the hotel management to close it down until the sewer is completely repaired.

Health officer Dr SP Aggarwal said, “We have issued a notice to the hotel to close down operations until the sewer is repaired.” 

Dehradun, July 17
Continuing its winning spree, Uttarakhand Police today registered a thumping 8-0 victory over the Roshani Club of Rishikesh at the District Football League here today. Veer Singh, who struck fours goals, was the star performer.

The agile Uttarakhand Police team did not give their opponents any opportunity to get a foothold in the match. They dominated the match right from the beginning.

In the first half, Uttarakhand cops scored their first goal through Veer Singh in the 18th minute. Three minutes later, Veer Singh stuck again to make it 2-0 for Uttarakhand Police.

Roshani Club went on the defensive after conceding two goals early in the match.

Uttarakhand Police had ball possession most of the time and kept Roshani Club defence on their toes. In the 27th minute, Uttarakhand Police’s Deepak scored the third goal. In the dying minutes of the first half, Uttarakhand Police scored the fourth goal through Narandra in the 35th minute.

The second half was no different as Veer Singh scored his third goal in the fourth minute of the second half making it 5-0 for the state cops.

Roshani Club team failed to put brakes on the Uttarakhand Police scoring and on most occasion, looked out of place.

Saurabh scored another goal in the 42nd minute followed by Veer Singh in the 56th minute to make it 7-0 for Uttarakhand Police. In the dying minutes of the match, Bhupendra completed the tally for the winners.

In the second match, it was a close contest between 1/5 Gorkha Rifle and Sarvodiya Club. 1/5 Gorkha Rifle had to struggle hard to register a 3-2 win over Sarvodiya.

In the initial minutes, Sarvodiya created some good moves to pressurise the 1/5 Gorkha Rifle defence.

Sarvodiya team came close to scoring in the 10th minute when a 30-yard shot by its forward just missed the top bar by inches.

In the 12th minute, it was another long-range shot taken by the Sarvodiya team forward that was deflected off the goalkeeper’s gloves.

Gaining back its rhythm, 1/5 Gorkha Rifle launched a counter attack to open their account. It was Sargar for 1/5 Gorkha Rifle who dodged two defenders before he chipped the ball over the goalkeeper’s head to score in the 22nd minute. In the second half, Sagar scored the second goal.

Savodiya scored their first goal through Manoj in the 40th minute. Sarvodiya got the equaliser in the 56th minute through Ashok.

Bishesh then scored the winning goal for 1/5 Gorkha Rifle in the 59th minute making it 3-2.

Dehradun, July 17
The chances of organising the Uttarakhand State Games look bleak. The Games were to be organised in May but got delayed due to the Lok Sabha elections.

As a result, talented players from the state will not get experience and exposure of playing at the state level while they are sent to perform at the National Games.

The constant failure of the state government to regularly hold the Games could also spoil the state’s chances to get benefit from the central scheme. In the central scheme, sporting talent at the village level is tapped.

In the eight years after the state’s formation, just three state Games were organised. Former Sports Minister Narayan Singh Rana organised the first Games in 2000 and the last one was organised in 2005. The fourth Games were cancelled.

While the Uttaranchal Olympic Association was all prepared to hold the Games and had also submitted the budget proposal to the state government. But the budget was not approved as the election code of conduct was in force.

Rajeev Mehta, president of Uttaranchal Olympic Association, was still hopeful of holding the Games in October.

Mehta said, “Even if it is not possible this year, we will work on holding the Games next year. In this regard, we will meet the Chief Minister soon.”

Mehta said that the Uttaranchal Association has planned to organised the Games in fours districts - Dehradun, Haridwar, Kashipur and Haldwani.

He said that the lack of infrastructure in the state has forced the association to hold the Games at four places.

This year, the association has introduced horse riding, roller skating and rowing in the list of games.