Dehradun, March 1
In a state like Uttarakhand, which has higher castes Hindus in a majority, the Congress has decided to play ‘safe’ and not to portray itself as the sole ‘guardians’ of the minorities, particularly Muslims, in the run-up to the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Fearing that the Congress would be branded pro-Muslims by the right-wing ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Uttarakhand unit of the Congress has decided not to host the proposed Muslim conventions scheduled to be held in February in various parts of the state having a sizeable Muslim population.

Earlier, the Uttarakhand Congress, in a bid to woo various communities, had decided to hold conventions of Dalits and Muslims in the state. Some Dalit Sammelans were held under the leadership of state Congress chief Yashpal Arya, who is a Dalit.

It was also decided that Muslim conventions would also be held at Sahaspur in Dehradun district on February 23, Roorkee in Haridwar district on February 25 and Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar district on February 26.

A meeting of prominent Muslims of Dehradun district was also called at the Congress Bhawan in Dehradun in the first week of February to chalk out the details of the conventions. Muslims were called upon to participate in these conventions in a big way.

However, the party decided to quietly abandon the idea of holding these conventions. On enquiry, it was found that the party planners decided that holding such Muslim conventions could give a ‘wrong’ message to the majority Hindu community.

“The party did not want to give a message that could be exploited by the BJP to portray us as pro-Muslims in the state due to prevailing conditions,” a senior Congress leader said on the condition of anonymity.

Muslims form more than 12 per cent of the total population of the state having major concentration in Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts.

The Muslims votes will be important in three out of the total five seats in the state namely Tehri Garhwal, Haridwar and Nainital. In Haridwar, Muslim votes will play a decisive role.

Senior Congress leaders decided to shy away from being portrayed as pro-Muslims for the fear of losing Hindu votes.

Asked about this change of heart, Uttarakhand Congress spokesperson Suryakant Dhasmana denied that the proposed Muslim conventions have been abandoned. “These conventions have only been postponed,” he said but did not specify when these conventions would be held.

Haridwar, March 1
With the parliamentary elections nearing, the demands of various communities and regions have also intensified.

The long-term demand to declare Roorkee and Laskar tehsils as separate districts is once again on the boil. Roorkee and Lashkar come in Haridwar district.

Earlier too, there had been several movements, citing their backwardness and distance from the district headquarters, to get these tehsils upgraded as districts.

Uttarakhand Kranti Manch yesterday held an agitation raising this demand and has put Roorkee and Laskhar on its radar with Kotdwar, Haldwani, Ramnagar and Rishikesh as other cities which should be accorded the status of district.

Uttarakhand Kranti Manch president JP Pandey lashed out at the state government for dilly-dallying in this matter.

“The crime graph is going up in Roorkee and Lashkar due to their proximity to Muzzafarnagar which is famous for crime. If these tehsils are made districts, policing and administration will be easier. This will definitely help in bringing crime down”.

Even after eight years of the creation of Uttaranchal, nothing has changed in these places, he said.

Santram Saini, pradhan, Ranjitpur village, has also warned of a fierce agitation if government doesn’t pay heed to their demands. “The government doesn’t seem to be interested in the formation of new districts that means it doesn’t want development. 

We will take the route of agitation and will vote for the party who accepts our demand,” said Saini. Mira Raturi, Sukarpal Saini, Ravindra Bhatt, Dr Amar Singh and Suresh Mamgai were present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, on the death of Communist leader and Uttarakhand movement agitator ND Sundripal, Rajya Nirman Andolkankari Kalyan Parishad and Uttarakhand Sanyukta Sangarsh Samiti have expressed their condolences.

Dehradun, March 1
Dehradun Bachao Chhatra Sangarsh Morcha has sought regular monitoring of all the paying guest accommodations in Dehradun that are housing students from other states.

Rajesh Nautiyal, convener of the Morcha, said authenticity of these paying guest accommodations need verification in order to differentiate between anti-social elements and genuine students.

Putting forward the four-point agenda before the state government, the Morcha called for compulsory registration of paying guest accommodations, making the owners accountable towards residents of the locality, and a thorough probe into the antecedents of 
paying guests.

The morcha members alleged that ruling party student leader Rajkumar Jaiswal has rented out rooms to anti-social elements at Ahir Mandi. “Verification of students from outside the state and studying at different colleges of Dehradun is very important,” said Nautiyal.

“If the administration does not take urgent measures, these paying guest accommodations would turn into a den of anti-social elements, which can cause law and order problems,” he said. 

Dehradun, March 1
In the run-up to Id-ul-Milad, the Sunni Muslim Welfare Organisation, Dehradun, today organised an Islamic conference at Municipal Auditorium which was attended by ulemas and other Muslim intelligentsia. Key speaker Maulana Anees Ahmed Suwani from Lucknow said the very basis of humanity is charity to the poor. 

He said the Prophet’s teaching calls for universal peace and was totally relevant in the present world scenario of unrest and distrust.

Other speakers including Maulana Gulam Nabi Noori, Manzoor Ahmed Beig Quadari and Maulana Mohd Noori elaborated on the importance of Islam and its contribution to world peace.

The speakers held that there were many in society who had misinterpreted Islam. There is a need to understand the ethos of this great religion which has its roots in simplicity and world peace, they said.

Welcoming the participants, president of the Sunni Muslim Welfare Organisation, Syed Ashraf Hussain Quadri, said the organisation planned to come up with more Islamic conferences at short intervals as deliberations at these conferences were of immense importance for the well-being of Muslim community.

Dr Syed Farooq and Dehradun councillor Abdul Aziz were other prominent participants. Many participants took the opportunity to present their compositions which were appreciated by the audience. Quazi Nazar Salami conducted the proceedings. 

Haridwar, March 1
With the high school and intermediate board examinations of the Uttarakhand School Board scheduled to commence from March 5, all preparations have been completed to conduct them. A meeting of the teachers and centre invigilator will take place on March 4 to clear any doubts about the examination procedure.

A total of 17 centres have been identified as sensitive out of total 61 examination centres set up in the district.

A total of 33,547 private and regular students will appear for the examinations.

While for the high school board examinations, 22,774 students will sit for the examinations, for higher secondary examination, 10,773 students will give the exams.

A series of meetings have been held in this regard between the education department and district administration.

A total of six centres have been earmarked ultra-sensitive and for these centres, six nodal officers have been appointed.

To check copying in examinations, six sector magistrates have been appointed who will oversee the fair conduct of examinations.

They will be assisted by four flying squad of the school education board which will be conducting raids at various examination centres.

District education officer RP Vishwakarma said that on March 2, all examination papers will reach the centres amid tight security. The question papers will be handed over to the centre coordinators on the day of the examinations.

In these centres, 20 per cent of the teachers will be from the same school while 80 per cent teachers will be from outside. This will ensure impartiality during the examinations.

The DEO added that at every centre, there will be a custodian who will be useful in better conduct of the exam process.

SSP Sanjay Gunjiyal had apprised the District Magistrate of the security measures at all examination centres.

DM Shailesh Bagholi said that all measures have been taken for the smooth conduct of the examinations.

Haridwar, March 1
Barely a day after SK Singh assumed charge at Srinagar Garhwal, a demand for according central university status to Gurukul Kangri University has surfaced.

Samajwadi Party and the GKU Employees Union have urged the government to give priority to the 100-year-old university against the other contender, Kumaon University, while re- commending the next university for a similar status.

Samajwadi Party state chief Ambrish Kumar, addressing Gurukul university members, today said: “Be it a national movement or contribution to the development of the nation through education and social awareness, Gurukul Kangri University has been the front-runner and, hence, it should be given preference in according the central university status.”

He said the University had contributed immensely to the development of Haridwar, which made its claim stronger.

Ambrish Kumar urged local residents and employees of the university to agitate until the demand was met. Prof Shravan Kumar of the employees’ union said there was a need to launch a movement to compel the government to confer central university status to Gurukul.

Ambrish Kumar also said if elected, he would raise the issue in Parliament.

Dehradun, March 1
Doon Kids School at Sahastradhara road here celebrated its founder’s day today with a cultural show and fancy dress competition.

Inaugurating the function, Sadhana Sharma, president of the Uttarakhand Mahila Association, said such occasions provided an opportunity to students to show their talent. 

Ritu Mehta, principal, said the school aimed at tapping the potential of every student and channelising it.

In the fancy dress contest, Priyanshu Mamgain was adjudged first, Kavya Pant second and R. Shekhar Bannerjii and Devansh Kukreti third. Shubhra Shrivastava, a teacher at Convent of Jesus and Marry here, was the judge.

Dehradun, March 1
Dhoran Malsi Kulhan team (DMK) lifted the 17th Narayan Gurung (ZICS) Memorial Football Trophy. Dawa of Potala XI won the Best Player of the Tournament award while Cantt Blues’ goalkeeper Amit won the Best Goalkeeper award.

Potala XI failed to repeat the magic on the final day of the tournament today despite being rated highly by the football lovers.

The team lost to DMK 2-0 in the final. Potala XI team came close to scoring in the 10th minute when forward Dawa took a dashing shot at the DMK goalpost. But the ball was deflected off the left bar.

Potala XI dominated the ground play in the first half leaving DMK struggling to get a foothold.

Dawa was on the attack again as he dodged two DMK defenders in the 35th minute and came close to the goal.

But it proved to be a bad day for him as his second shot too got deflected from the bar.

The bad run for Potala XI did not end here. Their defender Karma did a self-goal in an attempt to stop the ball in the 40th minute of the first half. At half-time, the score was 1-0 in DMK’s favour.

In the second half, Potala XI team again showed good coordination to launch a number of attacks.

In the 20th minute, Dawa got a golden opportunity to score the equaliser at the defenceless DMK goalpost, but he fumbled again to let the scoring opportunity slip out of his hand.

On the other hand, DMK got fewer opportunities but they turned these opportunities into goals. DMK team scored their second goal in the 80th minute through Dhir Singh.

Dehradun, March 1
PBL defeated UPCL by five wickets in the 57th District Cricket League at OFD Stadium here today. Batting first, UPCL scored a massive 227 runs in the allotted 40 overs. There star opener Arvind made a sizzling 62 runs off 53 balls, smashing seven fours and two sixes.

Middle order batsman Keshav played a fine knock of 57 runs off 49 balls helping his team pile a massive total.

For PBL, Dhanpal was the most successful bowler as he bagged five wickets in his eight-over spell. Deepak claimed three wickets.

In reply, PBL openers contributed 70 runs. Subodh made 31 runs and Ravi Uniyal contributed 49 runs.

Middle order batsman Kuldeep struck a brilliant 68 runs, hitting 10 fours in his innings, to see his team reach the mammoth total of 228 runs with five wickets in hand.