A senior police official here claimed disposal rate in crime in Uttarakhand perpetrated against women in the state was far higher than the national average.

“The disposal rate in rape, loot and murder cases is more than 70 per cent in the state, which is way above the national average,” IG (law and order) Ram Singh Meena told reporters here.

His statement came a day after former Uttarakhand CM Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank asked Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to step down for his alleged failure on law and order front.

Meena also said the apparent spate in crime against women in the state was misleading as all cases of missing women since 2010 had recently been converted by the police into kidnapping cases in compliance with an order of the Supreme Court in the wake of Delhi gang rape incident.

“Hence, concluding that there has been a rise in crimes against women in the state will be wrong,” Meena said. Nishank had yesterday demanded resignation of Bahuguna for “failing” to control law and order situation in the state, which he said has hit an all time low with regular recurrence of murder, loot and rape incidents, especially crime against women.

The BJP leader alleged that in a span of just one year, 215 cases of crime against women had been registered across the state. However, Meena said he was not aware of the charges levelled by Nishank and he was not offering a clarification.

(Source : BS)

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LUCKNOW: Riding on Binita Xess’s four goals, defending champion Railways spanked Uttarakhand 19-0 in a Pool A league match of the third Hockey India Senior Women National Hockey Championship at Major Dhyan Chand Stadium on Saturday.

Goal scores for Railways were Binita Xess (10th minute, 23rd, 41st, 42nd), Amandeep Kaur (1st, 11th, 39th), Jasjeet Kaur (20th, 37th), Apoorva V (24th, 32nd), Rosalin Dung Dung (45th, 64th), Joydeep Kaur (6th), Ramneek Kaur (22nd), Rosalind L Ralte (10th), Asunta Lakra (50th), Preety S Kiro (53rd) and Laurenua Kerketta (60th).

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DEHRADUN: A joint team of the Special Operation Group (SOG) and the Special Task Force (STF) on Friday arrested six members of a gang of suspected poachers after raids in the Corbett National Park landscape under the Ramnagar forest division. Poachers arrested near Corbett are thought to be responsible for Thursday’s killing of a six-year-old tiger near Choi village in Nainital district.

The raids had followed a tip-off that the gang members were hiding near Choi. An STF officer said the suspected poachers had been operating in the region for the past four months.

An IPS officer told TOI that the arrested men were taken inside the forest for their interrogation in connection with the recent poaching. “Since these poachers had used firearms and sharp-edged weapons in poaching the tiger, we hope to recover these weapons from there after the interrogation is over,” said the officer. He said cases would be registered against the six men after their interrogation.

An Uttarakhand STF officer said the government had entrusted the responsibility of nabbing poachers to the joint SOG and STF team since it was upset over the way state forest department officials had virtually failed in protecting tigers and other endangered species.

(Source : TOI)

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Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, today announced the launch of its weekly flights between Dehradun and Lucknow from May 2.

“Alliance Air will be introducing flights on Dehradun- Lucknow-Dehradun sectors with Canadian Regional Jet (CRJ) aircraft on four times weekly basis from May 2,” an airline spokesperson said.

The flights, AI 9615/9616, would operate on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday to connect the two state capitals.

“A large number of Buddhists, especially from China and Nepal, come to Lucknow and Dehradun and this flight would be beneficial for those, apart from officials,” the spokesperson said.

Yesterday, expressing gratitude to the airline board, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said the service would not only be helpful for natives of Uttarakhand residing in Lucknow but also boost tourism and industry sectors in the state.

Bahuguna had been requesting Air India Managing Director Rohit Nandan for the service for the past few months, an official statement said.

(Source – Business Standard)

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DEHRADUN: Former Uttarakhand chief minister RameshPokhariyalNishank today charged the Vijay Bahuguna government with shielding criminals and demanded immediate resignation of the Congress ministry.

Addressing media persons here, the BJP leader alleged that Congress government is supporting and shielding criminals.

Giving several instances of alliance between the Congress and criminals, the former CM alleged that the government is unable to arrest noted journalist Umesh Sharma despite of 14 criminal cases against him.

He also alleged that the government is making efforts to take back the cases filed by senior police officers and district collector against Sharma. Nishank said that since the past one year the number of criminal cases in the state have increased, out of which 215 cases are of abduction of women and 174 cases of rape.

(Source – ET)

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DEHRADUN: Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd (HCCBPL), a bottling partner of Coca-Cola Company in India, will invest Rs 600 crore to set up a facility that will make carbonated beverages, juice and fruits-based drinks here.

The company will invest Rs 600 crore in two phases on the project which will come up in 60 acres of land in Vikasnagar tehsil of Dehradun, Uttarakhand government said in a press note.

An agreement regarding this was signed between company officials and State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Ltd (SIDCUL) in the presence of Uttrakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna.

HCCBPL is the largest bottling partner of the Coca-Cola Company in India and responsible for the manufacture, package, sale and distribution of beverages under the trademarks of Coca-Cola Company, according to information on its website. HCCBPL Executive Director Shukla Wassan and SIDCUL Managing Director Rakesh Verma signed the agreement. The proposed unit would manufacture non alcoholic carbonated beverages, juice, fruits based drinks, it said.

It said the Uttrakhand government would provide 60 acres of land to the company at the rate of Rs 95 lakh per acre. The project is expected to provide direct and indirect employment to around 1,000 people, it added. Speaking on the occasion, Bahuguna said such an investment in the state would give a positive signal to other investors.

Further, the press note said HCCBPL Senior Vice President Patrick George has deposited a cheque of Rs 1.60 crore to the state government as earnest money and processing charge.

Expressing gratitude to the government, he said special preference would be given to local people for employment in the project. Beverages major Coca Cola Company has posted 8 per cent sales growth in volume terms in India for the first quarter ended March 29, 2013. The US-based company, which announced its global earnings for the first quarter, had said brand Coca Cola grew by 30 per cent in India during the first quarter.

(Source – ET)

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DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand government has issued a notification promulgating an ordinance dropping four positions from the office of profit list.

The notification was issued on Saturday. The ordinance has been passed by the governor’s office. Leader of opposition in Uttarakhand and BJP MLA from Ranikhet Ajay Bhatt and state BJP chief Tirath Singh Rawat said on Monday that they will file a writ in Uttarakhand HC in a day or two to challenge it.

He alleged the ordinance was promulgated to save state agriculture minister Harak Singh Rawat who is a close confidant of chief ministerVijay Bahuguna. He holds posts in the Tarai Seeds Development Corporation (TSDC), Seeds Certification Corporation (SCC) and the Uttarakhand Purva Sainik Kalyan Nigam Ltd (UPSKNL) which the BJP says is in violation of constitutional norms.

A senior IAS officer said that after the notification is passed, TSDC, SCC, UPSKNL and the Punjabi and Urdu Academy will be kept out of the ambit of office of profit. A governmental source said it will prevent the government from being embarrassed. The issue became prominent after the BJP attacked Rawat for hold more than one office of profit for financial benefit by violating articles 102(1) and 191(1) of the constitution. They demanded Rawat’s disqualification as an MLA from state assembly.

Senior BJP leaders said the great haste with which the notification was issued and the fact it was not made public for two days shows it afraid of facing criticism. These BJP leaders said that they are still waiting for a copy of notification and will file a writ against it in the high court. The notification on ordinance was issued by principal secretary of the legal department D P Gairola two days after it was approved by governor Aziz Qureshi.

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Filmmaker Subhash Ghai is shooting his new movie “Kaanchi” in Uttarakhand with Bengali actress Indrani Chakraborty.

Indrani, who is making her debut in Bollywood with the film, plays the title role of Kaanchi, a girl’s journey from mountains to a metro city.

The film also stars Rishi Kapoor and Mithun Chakraborty while the music is composed by Ismail Darbar and Salim Suleiman.

The film’s unit and technicians moved to the Valley Of Flower in Uttaranchal to begin shooting for the project. ”Mishti (Indrani) is one of the most talented new heroine I found ever. She is just fantastic. You have to see her performance in ‘Kaanchi’ to believe me… She is another superstar in the wing this year,” Ghai said.

Ghai is returning to the director’s chair after a gap of four years with this project. The film will be released on August 30.

(Source – Business Standard)

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The floriculture department in Nainital encourages the farmers to shift their focus from traditional crops to cultivation of Lilly flower, as surge in the sales of flowers yield profits for the growers.

A grower Sudhir Chaddha said that due to high demands in foreign countries, efforts are being made to produce good quality Lilies and help them export in the international market.

“Our hopes are very high because the flower has very high demand in foreign countries. Until now, we were not able to take orders from foreign clients because of the inability to grow high quality flowers in large numbers but now with the help of more local farmers like some who are already enrolled with us have started similar projects on their fields. We will now provide them with a production plan help them export their flowers,” he concluded.

Traditional crops are increasingly giving way to Lillian farming in the villages because of the rich dividends the flower offers to the farmers. Lilly flowers have picked up in the area and farmers unlike earlier times are less stressful about marketing their farm produce.

Farmers are earning about 70000 to 80000 rupees per month out of Lillian cultivation, where as they used to get 5000 rupees from the traditional crops.

Lillian is a fast growing flower and takes only three months to grow, depending on production practices and weather conditions. Farmers said that the flowers are in huge demand as many florists are ready to pay good prices in last three years, the cultivation of lilies has increased manifold and high profits has encouraged more farmers into this trade.

Earlier florists used to get flowers from the Himachal Pradesh, but due to the low quality flowers in Himachal, they are now approaching farms in Nainital. (ANI)

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Congress today fielded senior party leader and PCC vice president Suryakant Dhasmana for the post of Dehradun mayor.

Dhasmana, who filed his papers today, is pitted against Dehradun mayor Vinod Chamoli who has been retained by BJP as its nominee for the post and BSP candidate Rajni Rawat, a eunuch.

Civic body polls in Uttarakhand are slated for April 28 when 15,20,527 voters are likely to exercise their franchise. 28 municipal boards and 38 nagar panchayats will go to polls this year being held after 2008.

Elections will be held for municipal corporations in Dehradun, Haridwar, Roorkee, Haldwani, Kashipur and Udham Singh Nagar. Around 3,61.092 voters are registered in Dehradun, 1,52,719 voters in Haridwar, 81,849 in Roorkee, 97,799 in Haldwani, 77,936 in Kashipur and 74,554 in Udham singh Nagar.

Source – Business Standard

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