The decision was taken in a meeting on Wednesday between government functionaries including chief minister Vijay Bahuguna and NDRF officials.

Bahuguna said the decision was given a green signal by the state cabinet later on Wednesday.

Bahuguna said meeting decided to initially establish three NDRF companies at Jwalapur while three other NDRF companies will be set up each in Garhwal and Kumaon divisions. Bahuguna said government will soon acquire the land to set up infrastructure to support these companies.

A senior IAS officer said that this would help considerably facilitate and speed up rescue and relief operations after major disasters the hills during monsoon.

He said once these NDRF companies are set up, government will cease to depend on its ill-equipped disaster management department which often fails to handle natural disasters that keep hitting ecologically sensitive areas in the state.

Senior officer in National Disaster Management Authority A K Duggal said that they would urge the Planning Commission to sanction money to the state government to help relocate 233 villages which have been damaged by natural calamities such as cloudbursts and landslides.

Src: TOI

They said step was necessary to clean-up the polluted waters of the Ganga.

Senior priest Virendra Kirtipal who has been spearheading their stir said that most activists often raise the demand to de-pollute the Ganga but they fail to understand that those living in Haridwar are primarily responsible for increasing the pollution level by allowing release of sewer water into the river.

“If immediate steps are taken to prevent dirty water of our sewers and nullahas into the Ganga, the river will automatically get de-polluted considerably,” he said.

Another priest part of the stir said that they were compelled to stage the dharna as despite their repeated requests to Haridwar district administration and the Uttarakhand government to prevent release of sewer water into the Ganga, no steps has been taken so far.

“After our repeated pleas to district authorities including Haridwar district magistrate and the state government went unheeded, we were left with no option but to launch a stir,” a priest said.

The protestors said if authorities did not concede to their demand within a day or two, they will be forced to intensify their stir.

They said Friday (May 17) is Ganga Saptmi, the birthday of Ganga, but the pollution level has made it increasingly difficult for them to perform any religious or ritual activities.

Src: TOI

The BJP had filed petition in the high court against the state government’s decision to take TSDC, UPSKNL and Uttarakhand Seeds Certification (USC) out of the list of from those defined as offices of profit.

The move was seen as part of attempt by the Vijay Bahuguna government to save Rawat from embarrassment after state BJP chief Tirath Singh Rawat and leader of the opposition, Ajay Bhatt, targeted him over holding these posts.

A government official said Rawat gave his resignation to the chief minister on Tuesday. He said Rawat had decided to quit ever since the HC asked the government to file an affidavit. “It was a wise decision to resign from UPSKNL as it will help save the government from further embarrassment at the hands of the BJP,” the officer said.

“I do not mind resigning from any office if it attracts any controversy and lets tto let down government as good governance is much more important than any office for me,” Rawat said.

Bahuguna said the government has also decided to appoint a senior defence officer as UPSKNL chairman. He said this was necessary to fulfill the basic objectives of the organization meant for the welfare of the defence personnel.

Src: TOI

21-year-old Abhishek Gurung, a student of B Tech Final year at DIT College here, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his hostel room by his friends last night when they returned from a stroll after dinner, they said.

Prima facie, it appears that the youth took the extreme step due to disappointment in love or pressure of studies, they said.

No suicide note was found from the spot, they said, adding that his body has been handed over to his family based in Bhimtal in Nainital district.

Src: Zee News

Amid chanting of vedic hymns and blowing of conchshells, the gates of the shrine located at a height of 10,000 ft were reopened at 4 a.m. by Rawal, the head priest, in the presence of religious heads and administrative officials, Chairman of the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee, Ganesh Godiyal, said.

The ritual opening of the portals took place after the idol of Lord Vishnu was reinstalled in its sanctum sanctorum, he said.

With the reopening of the gates of Badrinath, all the Char Dhaam sites in Uttarakhand are now open for the public. The portals of Gangotri, Yamunotri and Kedarnath have already been opened.

Badrinath Dham along with other Char Dham shrines in the Himalayas is closed every year for six months due to snow-bound conditions during winter and reopened for visitors in April-May.

The schedule for reopening the temple’s portals had been formally announced by the Rajpurohit of the erstwhile Tehri royal family at their palace in Narendra Nagar in February.

During the long winter recess, Lord Vishnu’s idol is worshipped at Narsingh Temple located at nearby Joshimath.

Src: Hindu – BL

Ordering quick disposal of pending business related to the armed forces, Bahuguna on Tuesday said that transfer of a plot of land at Sitarganj to SSB should be expedited. According to sources, Bahuguna said that in view of the strategic importance of Uttarakhand, which shares borders with China and Nepal, the state government could not afford any delays on issues involving armed forces.

The SSB had transferred 82 acres of land belonging to it in Uttarkashi, Chamba and Satputli to the state government in 2007 for housing purposes. As per the deal, Uttarakhand government has to transfer alternative land to the SSB on the state’s eastern border, although that is yet to be done.

The chief minister said all formalities in the matter should be completed at the earliest and asked that the clearances required for the deal be placed before the Cabinet at its next meeting.

Src: IBN Live

The third phase of the yatra began three days after second phase ended in Ajmer on May 11. It began from Ganga Nagar in Rajasthan on May 5.

The first phase began from Amritsar on March 31 and concluded in Dehradun on April 16.

A turnout of over 12,000 people from different Uttarakhand districts including Tehri, Dehradun, Pauri, Chamoli and Uttarkashi participated in a public meeting addressed by Hazare and others in Rishikesh’s Doon Chowk before the yatra began.

All roads leading to Doon Chowk were jampacked and traffic came to a grinding halt at different points as Hazare addressed the public meeting.

Describing Congress and the BJP along with their allies as two sides of same coin, he emphasized need to transform the political system established by these political parties.

“IF you do not transform this political system created by these leaders, they will keep misleading and fooling you in the name of developments till the country is finally siphoned off its wealth,” Hazare said.

Hazare said one of the prime objectives of the yatra was to look out for young and committed soldiers who could get ready to wage a war against corruption and unemployment in the country.

Hazare said his country-wide campaign against corruption and misrule helped put about 400 corrupt people behind bars so far. He said his 12-day fast-unto-death in Delhi forced the UPA government to enact the Right to Information Act which has considerably helped expose corruption in different departments.

When the yatra reached Cherba village in Dehradun’ Vikas Nagar tehsil where the Uttarakhand government is planning to establish a Coca-Cola factory, a big crowd was already waiting and welcomed them.

A hundreds of residents in Cherba village have been squatting on an indefinite dharna to protest against establishing the factory there. Government may soon acquire 60 acres of land to sell to Coco-Cola to commission the plant.

Expressing solidarity, Hazare said his supporters will not allow government to take way the land against the owners’ wishes.

“Farmers will continue to have basic rights on jal, jameen and jungle and we will not allow any one to take away these rights from farmers,” he said. The third phase will end on May 24 in Udham Singh Nagar district.

Src: TOI

“There is no restriction on anyone visiting Uttarakhand, but we will have to ensure that no one spreads political pollution here,” Bahuguna yesterday told reporters here without naming anyone in particular.

Hazare began the second phase of his public awakening Janatantra Yatra from Rishikesh, on Tuesday.

Referring to Hazare’s visit to Charba village on the outskirts of Dehradun where locals and environmentalists are opposing the setting up of a Rs 600 crore Coca-Cola bottling plant, Bahuguna said, the soft-drinks major was opening such facilities all over the country and not only in Dehradun.

“I fail to understand why the Coca-Cola plant here is facing protests when the company is setting up such plants across the country,” Bahuguna said.

Hazare, however, chose not to comment on the plant while addressing a gathering at Charba village and confined himself to strategies on enforcing major changes in the country’s political system.

Hazare is to hold about 50 public meetings across Uttarakhand during the second phase of the Yatra, before it concludes at Rudrapur later this month.

Src: Zee News

The students can check the class 10th results 2013 on the Uttarakhand Board of Education’s official website www.uaresults.nic.in. They can also check their results by sending SMS to the board.

The Uttarakhand Board conducted the class 10th exams in the month of February, 2013. Lakhs of students had appeared for the class 10th exams in the state.

Src: Post Jagran

“Had he (Bahuguna) gone by road, it would not just have been a lesser burden for the exchequer but would also have given him an idea of the facilities available for devotees on (the) way to the temple,” Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Bhatt said.

Reminding Bahuguna of his recent statement advising his ministerial colleagues to fly less frequently as an austerity measure, Bhatt said the Chief Minister should practise this himself.

“Being the CM, he should lead by example. If he himself does not practise what he preaches how can he expect his cabinet colleagues to mend their ways,” the BJP leader said.

As the sacred portals of Kedarnath were reopened today after their closure during winter, Bahuguna, accompanied by his sister Rita Bahuguna Joshi and his ministerial colleague Harak Singh Rawat, paid a visit to the shrine in a helicopter.

Src: Zee News