Dehradun, November 7
BD Raturi, former President of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), has announced that workers of his party will hold a massive agitation at Gairsain on November 9, the foundation day of the state.

They plan to observe it as Sankalp Diwas to reiterate their stand to shift the capital of the state to Gairsain.

Raturi said, “The agitation has already been started on November 2 and will culminate on November 9.”

Denying all speculations about withdrawing support from the state government, he said, “We do not want to destabilise a democratically elected government and burden the state with unnecessary expenditure of elections.

“We have mutual understanding with the state government on a few issues but that does not stop us from registering our protest on the issue of changing the capital of the state. If needed, we will fiercely fight against the government on this issue.”

He also vehemently opposed the report of the Dixit Commission tabled in the House. “It was actually a manipulated report represented by the School of Planning and Architecture which was torn by our two gutsy MLAs, Pushpesh Tripathi and Om Gopal, in the Well of the House,” he said.

Raturi also demanded recognition in terms of honours and special facilities to statehood agitators who fought for the establishment of Uttarakhand since 1979 instead of 1995 as decided by the state government.

Acknowledging the gradual decline in the stature of the party over the years, he said that the time had come for the UKD to come to power.

He said, “It was our party who brought all struggling parties together under the umbrella of the Sanyukta Sangarsh Samiti and played a decisive role in the making of Uttarakhand state.

“We feel that neither the Congress nor BJP, but a grassroots party like the UKD that can give justice to the people of the state. We will strengthen our base by nominating and electing members of our local units soon.

“We will also organise a huge congregation in December where we will prepare the blueprint of our agenda for the next Vidhan Sabha elections.”

Prominent among those who took membership, including a number of women aspirants, were DL Shah, former General Manager, Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, and Mehrban Singh Gusai, teacher at Guru Ram Das Degree College.

The ones among the top brass of the party who were present on the occasion were Promila Rawat, leader of the women’s wing of the party, Virender Mohan Uttarakhandi, spokesperson, and Harish Pathak, media in charge.

Pitthoragarh, November 7
Harish Rawat, the Union Minister of State of Labour and Employment, will lay the foundation stone of a life-sized statue of the first freedom fighter of the region, Kalu Mahara, who led the first uprising in Kumoan in 1857-58, at Khetikhan square in Lohaghat on November 8. The place will be called Kalu Mahra Square later.

“We have ordered a Jaipur firm to make the statue and will be installed within three months,” said Bhagirath Bhatt, chairman of the installation committee.

Kalu Mahra had led a group of mutineers during the 1857 uprising in the Kumoan region. “Keeping Kalu Mahara’s contribution in the First War of Independence, I have spared time from my tight schedule for the function,” said Rawat.

Mahara was born in 1831 at Thuawa-Mahra village of Kali Kumoan. “He came in contact with Nawab of Rohilkhand Khan Bhahadur Khan, who was an emissary of the Begum of Awadh in that uprising. He was initiated to join revolutionaries under the condition that after the revolution became successful, the region of Kumaon would go to the Nawab of Rohilkhand and hilly terrains would remain with Kalu Mahara,” noted BD Pandey in his book on the history of Kumoan.

“The Almora Gazetteer mentions that in January 1858, people of Kali Kumoan had joined the rebel camp and to prevent its spread to other hill areas, Hennery Ramsay the then Commissioner of Kumoan deputed Colvin, the assistant commissioner of Kumoan at that time,” said Dr Sekhar Pathak, a historian and retired professor of history from Kumoan University.

Devendra Oli, a scholar researching on Kalu Mahar’s contribution during 1857 uprising, saidt after the agreement with the Nawab of Rohilkhand, Kalu Mahra organised the revolutionary in the Kumoan region and attacked barracks of British soldiers at Lohaghat and later in Almora.

“The British fearing Kalu Mahar’s army, sent off their families to Nainital and then after arranging extra strength from surrounding towns attacked and defeated the unskilled army of Mahara,” said Dr Pathak.

Kalu Mahara, along with his close companions Bishan Singh Karayat and Anand Singh Pharayal, was arrested and their properties gutted by the British, but according to Devendra Oli, Mahara was released form Almora jail after the people of Kali Kumoan surrounded the jail and died his natural death in 1905, at Khatkutum near Mayawati where an ashram had already been established by Swami Vivekanand in 1897.

Dehradun, November 7
To curb the supply of non-iodised salt in the market, surprise raids in different parts of the city have been launched by the Health Department. Raids were conducted at Vikas Nagar, Selaqui and Herbertpur.

Samples of local brands like Shagun, Shudh and Swaraj were found to contain negligible amounts of iodine.

The raids were specifically conducted at Vikas Nagar, which is a major supply centre for the district.

“In the cities, we are keeping a close eye on the products being sold at mega malls and super stores, as none of the re-packaged food stuff contains details of ingredients. They are clearly violating provisions of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA),” said GC Kandpal, Food Inspector.

The exercise came in the wake of disclosures made by Principal Secretary Keshav Desi Raju a few days back. About 55 per cent of people in the state continued to consume non-iodised salt, despite the ban, said Raju.

Dehradun, November 7
Cervical cancer continues to be the biggest killer striking large number of women, fewer facilities exist for its detection and treatment at the main District Women’s Hospital and almost negligible services in other parts of the state.

India has one-fourth of the world’s cervical cancer cases and on standardisation, it is the highest in the world. Most women are at an advanced stage of the disease and compliance with treatment is very poor.

According to medical practioners, women from economically weaker sections who are sexually active are at high risk due to lack of information, equally cases of cervical cancer among women from economically mobile sections of the society are also prevalent.

A histopathology unit is required for carrying complete tests and treatment for cervical cancer, which unfortunately is missing at the District Hospital.

Though now patients routinely report for coloschomy, due to staff crunch everything comes to a standstill, when the doctor is on leave. The histopathology analysis of patient’s slides is of utmost importance for starting any line of treatment.

“We have shortage of staff here ever since my appointment, I have undertaken examination and testing of patients suffering from cervical diseases and in the past two months, we have undertaken around 30 to 40 pap-smear tests and other cytology tests,” said Dr Sumita Singh, pathologist, District Women’s Hospital.

Several private hospitals in the city have also begun outsourcing the tests to private agencies, a complete analysis for detection of cervix cancer has to go through three stages of testing that includes biopsy, coloschomy and histopathology tests.

The National Cancer Programme is also on in three districts of Dehradun, Haridwar and Tehri. The prevalence of cervical cancer is high among women, while cases of lung and blood cancer are high among men.

“Since the launch of the programme, there has been a qualitative change in the attitude of women as they now willingly come for PAP smear tests and so is the case with men.

“The habit of chewing tobacco is on the increase among men in the hills that invariably gives rise to cancer,” said Dr Suman Arya, Joint Director (Medical Care) and Programme, Officer National Cancer Programme.

Dehradun, November 7
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education’s (ICFRE) e-champions training programme concluded today.

An apex body for promoting forestry research in the country, ICFRE, had under the e-governance programme initiated a major activity namely the Indian Forestry Research and Information System (IFRIS) which aims at transform the means of rendering services to various stakeholders of the ministry.

Handing over the certificates to the participants, project manager (e-governance) Dr Harish Kumar said with completion of training in Dehradun, the long-drawn training schedule of the e-champions that started almost two years back had come to an end. He said these e-champions were now ready to further train their colleagues in e-governance.

Dr Kumar held that e-governance initiatives taken up by the ICFRE had started taking shape as per the already laid down road map and the IFRIS project had now reached its critical phase of implementation through a long journey of more than two years, since its conceptualisation in June 2006. Through the implementation of this enterprise-level application the ICFRE and its research institutes across the country would be switching over from a manual to electronic environment and develop a model for work flow automation. 

Dehradun, November 7
A pothole on the road claimed the life of a 25-year-old BTech student, Shivam Singhal, and injured another student Sandeep (25) in an accident near Dev Bhoomi College here this afternoon.

According to deceased’s friends, Shivam was going on his bike with a friend and while overtaking a truck, from the left side, the bike got stuck in a pothole.

The pillion rider fell aside on the roadside, while the rider came under the rear tyres of the truck. Shivam got crushed under the truck while Sandeep recieved multiple injuries.

Both were shifted to Doon Hospital. Shivam was declared brought dead, while Sandeep was referred to CMI Hospital. His condition is said to be critical. Both were fourth-year students of BTech in Dev Bhoomi College. The deceased was a native of Saharanpur and the injured from Haridwar.

The truck was carrying water and belonged to Dev Bhoomi College. 

Dehradun, November 7
NGO, Karuna - Ek Prayas, is igniting a spark in the heart of the prisoners of Sudhowala Jail, Chakrata Road in Dehradun, through their noble cause of teaching the art of stitching, weaving, embroidery and jewellery making.An unconventional act from prisoners’ end to show such enthusiasm and conviction has left the city at awe.

“Convicts, who have committed crimes like murder, theft and rape, are trying to eradicate darkness of the cell through their skill. We first organise workshops to teach them and then assign the work according to their interests,” said president the NGO Kulwant Kaur.

Jewellery making, computer education, knitting, painting, making incense sticks, pottery, making of jewelry boxes, artificial flowers, soft toys, photoframes, pen stands, wall hangings are other major things that are made by the prisoners and sold at Saras Mela, presently.

“Flower stands, purses, sweaters and gloves are appreciated and demanded mostly by the people at mela. The items are cheaply priced between Rs 5 and Rs 500,” said Premlata Mishra, constable of the jail. She further added that, “Incense sticks of different fragrances and sweaters are selling like hotcakes. We are happy to see the prisoners earning within the four walls of the jail and would appreciate the initiative taken by the NGO which is a ray of hope in making them (prisoners) worthwhile.