Uttarakhand news October 2010

Agreement signed

Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments signed a draft agreement for plying buses in each other's territory. As per the agreement under Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the two state transport corporations would be allowed to cover approximately 8500 kms in each other's state on identified routes with fixed number of trips. With this agreement, new bus services will also be possible connecting Haridwar, Dehradun and other places in Uttrakhand to Shimla, Manali, Dharmsala and other important places in HP. Both the states authorised the Managing Directors of state transport corporations to introduce additional new bus services upto 1000 kms in future with mutual consent under intimation to state transport commissioners. The draft interstate agreement was signed by T G Negi, Principal Secretary (Transport on behalf of HP government and s Ramaswamy, secretary (Transport) Uttrakhand on behalf of Uttrakhand government.

Leopard found dead

A leopard was found dead at Dwarikhal development block in Pauri Garhwal district here, a forest department official said. The dead body of the leopard has been sent for post mortem last evening to ascertain the cause of death, they said. Vital internal parts along with the nails and teeth of the animal are intact and none of the body organs are missing, Divisional Forest Officer Naresh Goyal said. Forest officials suspect infection and bleeding in intestine to be the cause of death of the leopard. The officials are waiting for the postmortem report to ascertain the cause of death, Range officer S L Thapliyal said.

Pension hike for soldiers

Earlier this week state Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank said that pension of soldiers of World War II and army widows has been increased to Rs 3000 per month. Laying foundation stone for a residential colony of army welfare housing organisation at Sahaspur near here, he said the state government has recently increased their pension from Rs.2000 to Rs.3000 per month. Nishank said widows of army personnel, who laid down their lives for the country, and armymen who could not continue their jobs due to some physical inability, are being given Rs one lakh as one-time assistance from the government.

One crore for police welfare fund

Lauding the role of police in successful conduct of Mahakumbh Mela and disaster management, Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank has announced Rs.1 crore for the police welfare fund. He also paid tributes to personnel who laid down their lives while performing duty. Nishank further announced to increase from Rs.1500 to Rs.3000 the uniform allowance given to assistant sub-inspector and up to inspector level in every five years, an official release said. Washing allowance to police personnel from constable to inspector level was raised to Rs.100 from Rs.30 per month, while nourishment allowance to officials and jawans was increased to Rs.700 and Rs.900 per month, respectively.