Dehradun, February 9
Uttarakhand today experienced widespread rainfall and snow in the range of 25 mm to 82 mm being recorded from across the state. It also brought to an end the long dry spell in the region.

Gangotri, Yamunotri, Harsil, Badrinath, Kedarnath and other high reaches of Garhwal witnessed heavy snowfall and even Dhanolti, at a little higher altitude than Mussoorie, experienced the season’s second snowfall.

There were reports of one-and-a-half feet of snow in Joshimath and four feet of snow was recorded in Auli. While snow and rain hit the hills, all plain districts - Dehradun Hardiwar and Udham Singh Nagar - were drenched in rain.

According to Dr Anand Sharma, Director, Dehradun Meteorological Centre, rain and snow have been widespread in the state and this weather was expected to continue through the night. “The weather will improve by tomorrow afternoon,” he said.

Haridwar, February 9
The faith and religious aura, the akhadas and Peshwayis are associated with, resurfaced today once again and the enthusiasm of people accompanying it proved that it’s not for nothing that the Maha Kumbh is known the world over.

Today, a few days ahead of the first Shahi Snan of the Maha Kumbh, the last Peshwayi was carried out by Atal Akhada. Adverse weather conditions notwithstanding, the glory of royal processions wasn’t any less in comparison to the previous Peshwayis of other akhadas. Heavy showers welcomed the Peshwayi at Kankhal itself, but the Peshwayi kept moving on. So did the crowd that thronged the Peshwayi route in the chilling cold and rain. People were seen waiting on the route perched atop roofs, standing under trees and at shops holding umbrellas and wearing rain coats.

Rituals of the Peshwayi began early morning while the procession started at 11 am from Shravannath Bagh, led by Acharya Maha Mandaleshwar Devanand Saraswati.

Naga saints were the main attraction of the Peshwayi and elephants and camels carrying the Nagas presented a different view.

When the Peshwayi passed through the Kankhal area, people greeted the saints from terraces and rooftops.

At Shankaracharya Chowk and Damkoti Bridge, people queued up on either side of the road to get a glimpse of the Peshwayi. The procession further passed through Tulsi Chowk, Shiv Moorti Chowk, Ramleela Gound, Birla Road, Giri Ashram, Laltaura Bridge and culminate near Guzranwalan Bhawan at the Chavni of the akhada late in the evening.

As had been witnessed in previous Peshwayis, foreigners once again accompanied the procession in large numbers.

Paramilitary personnel accompanied the Peshwayi throughout the route while intense checking and frisking was done at sensitive areas. Circle Officer (Traffic) Shweta Chaubey said the traffic plan devised in view of the Peshwayi was successful and there were no jams on the entire Peshwayi route as well as adjoining routes.

Defying rain, Naga sadhus ride camels during a Peshwayi in Haridwar on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

More stories, pictures on page 2

Nainital, February 9
The region has been experiencing a good spell of rain since Monday evening even as snowfall continued to elude Nainital.

After a continuous downpour overnight, the town and adjoining areas continued to receive rain for a major part of the day at regular intervals.

The area in and around Nainital received more than 50 mm rain overnight that put an end to almost a month-long dry spell.

During the day, chilly conditions prevailed in the region with fog making visibility poor. Weather department officials said that Uttarakhand had experienced a shortfall of 85 per cent precipitation in January. Hence, the present spell has brought lots of respite to the people.

Life was affected in Nainital town today with most people preferring to stay indoors. Traffic on the Bhawali-Mukteshwar road was temporarily disrupted.

The markets wore a deserted look for most of the day as several shopkeepers preferred to take a day off.

Even otherwise, a large number of hotels are shut and business establishments are undergoing repairs during this period and there is hardly any tourist inflow.

Power supply continued to be major problem during the day as it was very erratic. These cuts were apart from the announced power cut of two hours on a daily basis.

Dehradun, February 9
The much-talked off-season showers have drenched Dehradun and other parts of the state with 25 mm to 82 mm of heavy rainfall, providing respite to the agriculture sector, but has ruined the shelters of many slum dwellers too. The water blocking roads and the overflowing sewerage have left the homeless roadside migrants in dismay.

The city received rain on Monday and Tuesday as forecasted by the Weather Department making February, the month of love, more romantic, but also brought forth the shortcomings of the city. The population of the homeless migrants from the Parade Ground, outside Doon Hospital premises, railway station and Sai Mandir were found missing. They were rather seeking shelter in the front yard of shops, beneath trees, abandoned buildings or some religious places. Today, beggars and rag-pickers were also missing from their regular labour sites.

On the contrary, Rein Basera, shelter for homeless people, was found empty. The shelter has a capacity of 100 persons, but witnessed a crowd of approximately 40 per cent only. While speaking to the secretary of the shelter, Dr Arun Aggarwal, said the less number of homeless migrants coming to the centre might be because of it being only men’s home it mist be restricting the head of the family to come here leaving rest of the family on the roadside.

He added, “We are on a drive to spread awareness on the existence of such a shelter among shelterless people. We meet roadside migrants personally, often bringing them to this place. It requires a lot of effort to convince them”.

At a stretch, the heavy rainfall today made several suffer throughout the day. Roads were deserted during the afternoon, restaurants/dhabhas witnessed fewer customers, the attendance of students at schools was recorded less and so on. But, early morning witnessed a lot of hue and cry. Due to lack of proper drainage system, water-logging and spilling of putrid compost was found at some of the busiest places of the city such as the ISBT, Gandhi Road, Arhat Bazar and Kachehari Road. The overflow of garbage created potholes on the road and held traffic to a standstill for a long time. The office-going class has suffered a lot from the two-day rain. Bikes, cars and buses were crawling on the roads. Vehicles were stranded because of heavy jams across the city.

Like previous years, the arrival of rain has once again raised questions over the working strategy of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) in the capital of the state. During the election time of Municipal Councillors, every candidate makes tall claims promising to initiate essential steps to cope with the rain. Apparently, the present scenario represents those assurances to be in vain.

The DMC, which has been set up for the welfare of the common people, must work properly to avoid hazards. As it’s the citizens who construct the governing bodies and so they deserve proper basic amenities from the departments in return. 

Nainital, February 9
District Magistrate Shailesh Bagauli has pulled up officials of the education and revenue departments and asked them to facilitate a speedy delivery of caste and domicile certificates to students in the district.

After getting complaints from people that there was an inordinate delay in the issuance of certificates of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and domiciles, Bagauli convened a meeting of officials of the Education Department and tehsildars of the district yesterday and asked them to prepare a plan for addressing the grievances of the people.

He instructed the Education Department officials working at the block level to get the required forms properly filled by students enrolled in the high schools and inter colleges of their areas and take these to the respective tehsildars. He ordered tehsildars to finish the verification of applications within 15 days by taking the help of patwaris and notaries who would personally go to the educational institutions.

Bagauli told the officials that once all formalities had been completed, the tehsildars should issue these certificates within five day to the applicants. The District Magistrate said the officials of the education and revenue departments should work in co-ordination for this important job.

Haridwar, February 9
The decision taken unanimously by the Akhada Parishad regarding the inclusion of March 30 festive bath as Shahi Snan in the Kumbh schedule and all akhadas to take a dip in the Ganga simultaneously that day is not only historic, but also a path-breaking one. With this decision there will be four Shahi Snans this Maha Kumbh compared to the traditional three in earlier mega fairs.

As the akhadas play a pivotal role during the Maha Kumbh and any unrest or controversy from their side directly affects the hosting and management of the mega fair, the decision has brought cheer to officials of the mela administration.

Notably, there used to be traditionally three Shahi Snans falling on February 12 (Maha Shivratri), March 15 (Somwati Amawasya) and April 14 (Mesh Sakranti). But now with the parishad announcing Chaitra Poornima Snan of March 30 as an additional Shahi Snan for this mega fair, the number of Shahi Snans comes to four.

Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad national secretary Hari Giri had made the proposal to announce March 30 as Shahi Snan, which was unanimously passed by the Akhada Parishad late last evening at the Bairagi camp.

The mela administration is now gearing itself for the fourth Shahi Snan with renewed vigour in the wake of the unity shown by the akhadas.

Haridwar, February 9
The Forest Department has come under fire from farmers, local people and various organisations for its failure to control rampaging herds the elephants that have created a scare in villages for the past few months.

At several villages, up to 50 per cent crop has been damaged by jumbos.

Villages of Jagjitpur, Missirpur, Katarpur, Jio Pata, Ajeetpur, Panjanhedi and other nearby areas are almost frequented by elephants daily and residents fear that if the situation continues, then they might lose their only mean of earning.

The Congress has also come out in support of the affected villagers and demanded compensation to the farmers for the loss of their crops and damage to their property due to jumbo intrusion in residential areas.

Uttarakhand Congress Committee general secretary Santosh Chauhan lashed out at the Forest Department for being a mute spectator to elephant intrusion in villages of Haridwar district, which had severely affected the lives of people.

“While Forest Department officials are having a negligent attitude to the problem, villagers are risking their lives by being on vigil the whole night in this cold. Moreover, they are not well equipped to handle herds of elephants,” said Chauhan.

While the Uttarakhand Kranti Manch has warned the government and the district administration of a mass protest if the affected people’s demands were not met soon, JP Pandey, state head of the manch, said apart from villages situated near Ganga ghats, jumbos were seen intruding in urban areas such as BHEL and Tibdi Colony.

Forest officials had failed to control elephant movement in these areas also.

Villagers complained that despite apprising forest officials of their woes, no concrete step had been taken to check the menace. “We are left in the middle as from both sides (violent elephants and unconcerned forest officials) we are getting blows. Apart from seeing our crops getting damaged in front of our eyes by elephants, no other option is available to us,” said a perturbed Vijay Kumar Saini, a farmer of Jiopata village, one of the worst affected villages due to elephant intrusion.

DFO R Pathak said the department was trying its level best to control the elephant intrusion. Efforts were being made to check jumbos’ movement on the routes they use to reach these villages.

Meanwhile, representatives of affected villagers have written a letter to Chief Conservator of Forest and the Forest Minister demanding an instant intervention.

Dehradun, February 9
The Uttarakhand Police outplayed the Gypsy team by 2-0 at the ongoing second President’s Cup Football Tournament underway at the Pavilion Ground here today.

The Uttarakhand Police team played attacking football right from the beginning. It got a scoring opportunity in the 6th minute from the right flank but could not convert it in to a goal.

Thereafter, the Uttarakhand Police team came close on scoring again for the team in the 12th minute. Though the attacks were not converted, but moves by the Police team created enough panic among the opponent team, which completely lost its coordination.

On the other hand, the Uttarakhand Police team kept on gaining confidence as a team and made new moves. The teams score their first goal in the 45th minute of the match.

It was Praladh Rawat for the team who scored the goal of a powerful shot from the right.

After the first goal, Uttarakhand team scored its second goal through Saurabh Rawat in the 60th minute and won by 2-0.

Meanwhile, the second match was played between Gorkha Rifle and CT Young team, which was won by Gorkha Rifle by a margin of 4-1.

The goals for the team came in the tiebreaker, with Gorkha Rifle team scoring 4-1 victory.

Rajesh, Abhinandan, Janak and Amrit Rai scored a goal each for his team in the tiebreaker, for CT Young team Rohit was the only scorer for the team. S Bahadur was given a Red Card.

Dehradun, February 9
Local football hero Manish Maithani has suffered an injury that will keep him away from the national football side touring Sri Lanka. He is nowadays undergoing training in Pune. Manish recently injured himself and was ruled out for at least two weeks.

Manish hogged limelight at the national football circuit with his skilful play that had gained appreciation from all quarters.

Way back in June, Maithani got selected to play for the prestigious Mohun Bagan Club. He was the second person from Dehradun after Ram Bahadur Thapa to play for the famous club of India.

It was a hard time for Manish in 2007 when he sustained a similar ankle injury while playing in Sikkim for the FCI team, for which he had to undergo a surgery.

National clubs started becoming reluctant to give him a chance. But national coach Bernard Oparanoie showed faith in him and Manish did not fail him as he made a strong comeback on the national circuit, before he was selected in the national team.

After Shyam Thapa, CB Thapa, Ratan Thapa and Amar Bahadur Thapa, some of the big names that Dehradun football has produced, Manish can well be among them in the times to come.

“If he is seen as the successor to the great Dehradun footballers, it is indeed be a great honour for us. But there is still a lot of hard work to be done by him,” said elated Pushpa Maithani, Manish’s mother.

Manish belongs to the first batch of Maharana Pratap Sports College students of 1993. The college at that time had an inadequate infrastructure at hand and was mainly surrounded by a forest. 

Dehradun, February 9
Ranjit House won the overall championship trophy of the RIMC Inter-section Shooting Championship that concluded here today.

Pratap House was second and Sivaji and Chandragupta house were declared third. Ashish Tiwari was felicitated with the International Award For Young People by the education world at Mumbai for his excellence in shooting.

Results:

Individual Results: In .177 air rifle category first was cadet Sunchit Shinde (Chandragupta), second was cadet Ankit Malik (Ranjit). Most upcoming was cadet Kshitij Katoch (Chandragupta).

In the .22 rifle category, first was cadet Divyaraj Tomar (Ranjit), second was cadet Anil Verma (Ranjit). Most Upcoming cadet Pranjal Thakur (Pratap).

Team results: In .177 air rifle category, first was Pratap section, second was Ranjit, third was Shivaji, fourth was Chandragupta.

In .22 rifle category, first was Ranjit, second was Chandragupta, third was Shivaji and fourth was Pratap House.

The chief guest of the occasion was Major-Gen GS BAL, SM, VSM presently the Deputy Commandant and Chief Instructor at the Indian Military Academy. Other dignitaries present at the occasion were Lt Col R Nathawat, Major S R Sahu, Lt Cdr S Chakravarty and Mr KS Ahlawat.