State at a glance

Govt employee held on graft charges

A government employee was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 3,000 at Harbartpur area of the district. Sub-Station Operator of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Dhirendra Kumar was arrested by a vigilance team for accepting the bribe on a complaint by Irshad Hassan. Hasan had alleged that Kumar was demanding the bribe for settling his electricity bill.

In another case, a special CBI court awarded a three-year sentence to Atmaram, the then Upper Divisional Clerk in Employees Provident Fund, for accepting bribe from a person named Kaliram for sanctioning loan to him. Holding him guilty, Special CBI Judge Narendra Dutt also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on Atmaram. Atmaram was arrested for accepting bribe of Rs 1,000 from Kaliram in August 2003.

Mayor gets BJP support over hoarding policy

The ruling BJP has backed Dehra Dun Mayor Vinod Chamoli who has drawn flak from the party-led Uttarakhand government over new hoarding policy of the Municipal Corporation in Dehra Dun. "Mayor Vinod Chamoli is working as per the aspirations of people and the policy and there is no issue between him and the government (regarding new hoarding policy)," Uttarakhand BJP President Bishan Singh Chufal told reporters. The removal of "illegal" hoardings by the municipal corporation had invited criticism from the state government, which said the corporation cannot draft a new policy or change the existing policy without the government approval. Uttarakhand Media Advisory Committee chairman Devendra Bhasin had expressed surprise over the campaign launched by the municipal corporation to clean the city stating that Mayor Chamoli did not even consult the government officials before removing the "illegal" government hoardings. In this regard, Chufal said Chamoli and the government had already sorted out their differences and now there is no issue between them.

Rs 5,892.86 cr credit potential in state

Uttarakhand has a credit potential of Rs 5,892.86 crore, with a substantial requirement in agriculture and other sectors, according to an estimate by NABARD. As per the estimates prepared by the NABARD, out of the total credit potential, Rs 1,700.24 crore is for crop loans, Rs 886.28 crore for long-term investments in the agriculture sector, Rs 1,159.98 crore for the non-farm sector, including agro and food processing, and Rs 2,147.26 crore for other priority sectors, the Chief General Manager of NABARD's regional office, Prasant Das, told reporters. Highlighting the achievements of NABARD in Uttarakhand, Das said a loan of Rs 220.54 crore was provided to the state government against the target of Rs 150 crore in the 2009-10 fiscal for creation of rural infrastructure under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF). He said various projects amounting to Rs 426.18 crore were also sanctioned during the year. Some of the important sectors under which projects have been sanctioned include rural roads (250 projects), minor irrigation (128), rural bridge construction (53) and mini-hydel (4 projects), he said. Das said NABARD has so far sanctioned Rs 1,191.43 crore and disbursed Rs 850.40 crore under the RIDF in the state. A total length of 3,274 km of roads has been created so far, besides 787 metres of bridges, for connecting 3,357 villages in the state, he said.