Mussoorie, May 16
Chairman of the sub-committee of the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (SCMC) Hugh Gantzer has alleged that the Ministry of Environment and Forest has sanctioned additional 42 rooms at Hotel Jaypee Residency Manor located in Barlowganj, Mussoorie, bypassing rules.

Ganzter, in an exclusive interview with The Tribune, strongly felt that it was wrong on the part of the ministry to bypass the SCMC and authorise its branch office in Lucknow to give permission for the construction at the hotel without consulting the committee. He also said construction was destroying the environment and wanted to look into such violation of the Supreme Court-constituted committee.

Gantzer further said the carrying capacity of Jharipani and Barlowganj in terms of drinking water was already over the edge and these additional rooms would increase the pressure on the supply of water in the area. He added that during the inspection at Barlowganj, residents informed that they received only two hours of drinking water, whereas, according to the Jal Sansthan, the department was providing 35,000 to 40,000 litres of drinking water to the Jayee Residency every day leading to the scarcity in the town.

Gantzer said when hotel officials were asked, they informed him that the hotel had round-the-clock water tankers bringing water from natural resources. But reality was that the Jal Sansthan had diverted the supply of drinking water, which was meant for the residents of Barlowganj and Jharipani, to the hotel. In this case the ministry was questionable.

Gantzer categorically denied that the SCMC did not meet people at Nagar Palika, but some members of the SCMC on the invitation of Nagar Palika president OP Uniyal had held a meeting to explain the technical aspects involved in constructing a residential building in Mussoorie.

He said the SCMC was only a monitoring body and had no executive powers to stop any construction.

Gantzer said he had written letters to the SCMC about a perception that people were not being allowed construction by the committee, but rich people were getting sanction freely. He said the next meeting of the SCMC would be held in July.

Gantzer said if anyone had to be blamed for the degradation of environment it should be the MDDA, government, Jal Sansthan and Forest Department and not the SCMC.

According to the DFO, Mussoorie, the Ministry of Environment can sanction the projects on individual basis and agreed that the Jaypee Hotel Residency Manor project has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Lucknow branch.

Officers of the ministry and hotel were not available for comments.

Nainital, May 16
The State Information Commission is planning to purchase an Outside Broadcast (OB) Van to record the complaints of people residing in remote areas under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Chief Information Commissioner for Uttarakhand Dr RS Tolia said, “The van is to be procured at a cost of Rs 35 lakh and will be deployed in remote areas of the state very soon.

“The purpose is to record the problems of people residing in villages that are away from road heads and to provide them with suitable remedies with regards to the RTI”.

Talking about the functioning of the commission in Uttarakhand, he said the state today ranked in the top five performers across the country.

The commission on its part had come out with proper manuals and had itself made visits to all blocks of the state.

Its performance could be gauged from the fact that in 200 cases fines to the tune of almost Rs 6 lakh had been imposed on various officials for their failure to provide people with relevant information.

Talking about the problems being faced in the implementation of the RTI in the state, Tolia advocated that the seriousness of the first appeal needed to be enhanced so that the matters got resolved at the departmental level only and people did not have to approach the commission.

Secondly, he said the duty to self declaration should be taken more seriously by various departments. He pointed out that the departments should be forthcoming in revealing maximum information about themselves so that the people did not have to file applications under the RTI.

For this, the departments should have a pro-active approach towards using tools of the Information Technology (IT) and the representatives of the civil society and the media also had a major role to play in it, he asserted.

Tolia said the recent praise, which the Indian government got at a South Asian conference on the RTI for its implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and the RTI, went to prove the functioning of the commissions at the state level.

When asked about frequent complaints being aired by people against the commission itself, he said people were under a wrong impression that the commission could also assume the role of a court or a tribunal. They did not understand that it was a mere facilitator in their quest for justice and the information provided under the RTI could help in redressal of their problems.

Haridwar, May 16
After flooring the panel of judges at the Miss India pageant and whole of India with her wit, beauty and personality, the ‘not to be left behind’ newly crowned Miss India World Manasvi Mamgai today took a holy dip in the Ganga and performed rituals.

This was Manasvi’s first visit to the holy city after her crowning at the Miss India beauty pageant in Mumbai and the rush, passion and excitement among the people on seeing her stamped her with a celebrity status which is mostly reserved for Bollywood actresses.

Her elegance and aura cast a spell. Her dark sunglasses, a halter top and sky blue faded jeans gave her a cool look in the simmering hot Haridwar noon.

Be it localites, pilgrims, tourists, foreigners, priests, police personnel on duty or mediapersons, everyone seemed to be heading towards Manasvi to get a glimpse of her. And if a photograph or autograph came one’s way, one’s labour would have borne fruit.

First, the Miss World entourage reached Har-ki-Pauri, performed rituals and offered flowers to the Ganga and Sun God.

Then under the guidance of Teerth Purohit, Manasvi performed rituals. After this, the diva headed for the VIP ghat, just opposite the Har-ki-Pauri, and took a holy dip.

Speaking to The Tribune, Manasvi Mamgai termed her Dehradun-Haridwar tour as refreshing which made her more of an ‘Uttarakhandi’.

Miss India World Manasvi Mamgai performs a ritual at the Har-ki Pauri

She said that the love and warmth that the people of her home state are bestowing on her makes her want to do some substantial for Uttarakhand.

On her preparations for the Miss World title to be held later this year, Mamgai said that there is a strict regimen to be followed. She oozed confidence that a billion wishes are with her. After making Uttarakhand proud, it is time to make India proud at the international level, she said.

Women police from hill districts who were on duty when the damsel visited Har-ki-Pauri were impressed with her achievements and were quite excited when Manasvi agreed to have a photograph with them.

“Nowadays, daughters of Uttarakhand are really shining all over. Manasvi has done the state proud and has reaffirmed that girls are in no way lesser than boys. When I took the examination for sub-inspector, many persons in my hometown Pauri didn’t believe I could make it, but I did,” said a women cop who was praised by Manasvi.

Autograph seekers too were obliged by the glamour girl who has in her awards kitty titles like Elite Model Look India in 2006 and Miss Tourism International in 2009. She is a model for various brands like Lifestyle, Wagon-R and Woodland.

Shravan Kumar took his aged parents on pilgrimage in baskets that he lifted on his shoulders. Kailash from Jabalpur town of Madhya Pradesh is a modern-day Shravan Kumar who has reached Badrinath dham taking his old blind mother in a basket.

Walking continuously for the past four months, Kailash reached Badrinath well in time before the opening of the portals of the famous Hindu shrine.

His desire was to make his mother have darshan there. It was a physically challenging task to lift the basket in which his mother was sitting on his shoulders and trek high mountains.

He could barely walk 4 km a day. But finally, he has reached his destination and is now waiting for the Badrinath temple to open.

Anusuya Parsad Bhatt, Chairman of the Badrinath Temple Committee, impressed by the single-minded devotion of Kailash has announced that Kailash and his mother would be the first to have darshan of Badrinath.

Plastic ban at Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib

With start of the Char Dham yatra from May 16, the Uttarakhand government has decided to ban the use of plastic bags and bottles at Badrinath and the famous Sikh shrine of Hemkund Sahib in Chamoli district.

Situated in the ecologically sensitive zone near to the world famous Valley of Flowers, lakhs of pilgrims visit these religious places, but litter it with plastic waste.

Neeraj Semwal, District Magistrate, Chamoli, has announced that with the cooperation of all concerned, pilgrims will be educated about the ill-effects of plastic waste in the hills.

However, he said cases would be registered against the violators of the ban. Water bottles, plastic waste of eatables, gutka, pan masala and above all rain coats used by pilgrims pose a real threat to the ecology of the sensitive mid-Himalayas region and the rivers flowing there.

The race within the state ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the lone vacant Rajya Sabha seat from Uttarakhand has started with the announcement of the poll schedule.

Satish Sharma, Congress member, will be retiring next month to pave the way for the election for the seat. The BJP having the support of 42 legislators out of the total of 70 members of the Uttarakhand Assembly is sure to win the seat. The polling will be held on June 17. The seat falls vacant on July 4.

But intense lobbying has started among the aspirants for the seat. A host of aspirants are in the race. Bacchi Singh Rawat, a former state unit head and a former Union minister, is among the front runners along with RSS ideologue Tarun Vijay.

Tarun, who hails from Dehradun, has been frequenting the city during the past month and Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is reportedly in favour of his candidature.

Nishank would like to support Tarun Vijay, who could, in turn, watch his interest in the high command. But Tarun has denied that he was a contender.

However, the recent nearness of two bitter political rivals, namely Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd) and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, is also considered important in deciding about the candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat.

It was learnt that both are likely to support the candidature of Bacchi Singh Rawat, who lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 from the Nainital constituency.

State unit leaders feel that the party high command should give preference to someone from the state rather than imposing a candidate from outside. They argue that with next Assembly elections due in next one and a half years, the elevation of a state-level leader would help in rebuilding and rejuvenating the party ahead of the crucial Assembly polls.

There are other names which are also in the reckoning. Former Chief Minister Nityanand Swami and former Rajya Sabha member and former state President Manohar Kant Dhyani are also believed to be in the contention.

Another name that is being discussed here in party circles is that of Najma Heptuallah whose term in the Rajya Sabha has expired. She came to the Maha Kumbh last month at Haridwar and met senior party leaders.

However, party insiders believe that a final decision about the candidate will be taken by the party high command. The realignment of forces within the state BJP with shaking of hands by two former Chief Ministers namely Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd) and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, both senior leaders, will also play an important role in the decision.

Dehradun, May 16
Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Major-Gen (retd) BC Khanduri has sought speedy repair of roads on the Char Dham routes.

Khanduri expressed concern on the condition of roads on the Char Dham routes while interacting with Brig SK Grover, newly appointed Chief Engineer of Shivalik Project of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

Brigadier Grover today visited the former Uttarakhand CM as part of a courtesy visit.

General Khanduri said with the Char Dham yatra beginging from today, the BRO must ensure that pilgrims faced no problem and the roads were smooth and functioning well.

He also reminded the BRO head about the 2002 Central proposal for double laning of roads from Rishikesh to Badrinath and Gaurikund.

General Khanduri, who had been instrumental in the establishment of the Shivalik Project of the BRO, also conveyed his best wishes to Brigadier Grover.

The Shivalik Project is headquartered at Rishikesh and works for the construction and upkeep of border roads in Uttarakhand. 

Dehradun, May 16
In one of its kinds initiative, Libra College of Law, Dehradun, has adopted Nawada Gram Panchayat on the outskirts of the city trying to make it litigation-free village.

At a meeting held in Nawada Gram Panchayat today, chief guest RK Sharma, Chairman of the District Consumers Forum, welcomed the initiative of the college towards making Nawada a litigation-free village.

Sharma said it was important that petty cases should be solved within the village.

He also expressed concern over the rising number of cases in the country’s courts and asserted that delay in justice was causing great inconvenience to the litigants.

He said while such a panchayat adoption programme had been implemented in Kerala, it was for the first time that a law college in Dehradun had taken such an initiative.

Chairman, Libra College of Law, GG Aggarwal (retd) said the team from the college would visit the Gram Panchayat every week and try to help the villagers reach an agreement to solve their petty cases. He said the college had already entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nawada Gram Panchayat for the same.

Gram Pradhan Poonam Gurung, BDC member Naveen Uniyal, Sudarshan Sharma and Sushil Purohit were present at the meeting.

Mussoorie, May 16
Students, teachers and parents alike enjoyed a day out at the annual fete organised at the Mussoorie Public School premises with enthusiasm yesterday. The fete was inaugurated by Principal of the school Mukesh Lal.

Students clad in beautiful attires were seen manning the self-prepared stalls showcasing various games and fun activities.

Children of all ages enjoyed at the blind-folded sketching competition, Lucky 7, Hoop-la, tambola and housie stalls all day. The juke box was the major attraction at the fete where Bollywood numbers were the choice of the students.

Stalls of eateries also saw an immense crowd as people rushed for the junk food on the day. Prizes were given to the winners of the lucky draw on the occasion.

School Director DP Singh, along with his family, also participated with enthusiasm in the annual fete. The money raised in the fete will be used to support poor students of the school, said the Principal.

Nainital, May 16
Over the past six days, theatre artistes from Nainital came under the banner of the Nirmal Pandey Natya Manch to present Dr Dharamvir Bharati’s classic “Andha Yug”.

The performance, dedicated to the late actor from Nainital Nirmal Pandey, was directed by the National School of Drama (NSD) pass-out Idrees Malik who has done a considerable amount of work in Bollywood and was a part of films like “Chandni”, “Maya Memsaab” etc.

Malik told The Tribune, “For the next one year we will be regularly staging plays that were directed by Nirmal. This is a token of our respect to the great actor who was committed to theatre and wanted to take the art to new heights in his native land. I still remember the day when Nirmal and his team had performed this play in Mumbai and won kudos from stalwarts like Amrish Puri and Amitabh Bachchan”.

Nirmal’s brother Mithilesh Pandey, who was also present at the presentation in the BM Sah Park, recalled his dedication to the art of acting and direction.

The unique part of the production was that the artistes performed on an open-air stage without the help of microphones.

“Andha Yug” is regarded as one of the most powerful plays to have been written and performed in modern India. Written immediately after the partition of the Indian sub-continent, the play is a profound meditation on the politics of violence and aggressive selfhood.

The message conveyed in the poetic play is that every act of violence inevitably debases society as a whole and has an impact that lasts forever. The play revolves around the great epic Mahabharata. It is set in the timeframe of the last day of the battle of Kurukshetra.

Presenting the dilemma of Aswath Thama, it tries to find a way out of the cycle of revenge into a redemptive ethicality.

The play depicts the last day of the Mahabharata when the ramparts are in ruins, the city is burning and Kurukshetra is covered with corpses and vultures. The few bewildered survivors of the Kaurava clan are overcome by grief and rage. Longing for one last act of revenge, they refuse to condemn Ashwathama when he releases the ultimate weapon, the Brahmastra, which threatens to annihilate the world. Instead they blame Krishna for having caused the war and curse him.

The moral of the play lies in Krishna. He is the voice of compassion, an embodiment of all that is good and just in the world.

Despite his failure to ensure peace, it is his presence throughout the play which reveals that the ethical and the sacred are always available to human beings even in the worst of times.

Malik’s team did complete justice to the classic play. The artistes came up with excellent performances in terms of acting, direction, light arrangement and musical score leaving the audience mesmerised.

Dehradun, May 16
Welham Girls’ School (WGS) win yet another championship by thrashing Carman School, Dalanwala 30-10 in the girls’ final to lift the District Sub-Junior (u-14) Basketball Championship that concluded today in the school premises.

The mighty WGS didn’t face much resistance from its rival. With fine help of Afra (eight points) the WGS outplayed Carman School to win the final and the championship.

While yesterday in the semifinal, Carman School, Dalanwala had to face tough battle from Convent of Jesus and Mary (11-10) to reach the final. In another semifinal, the WGS had drubbed Summer Valley School.

Dehradun, May 16
A brilliant 169 runs in 111 balls by the Man of the Match, Sumit Singh of Services Sports Control Board, went in vain as the Jharkhand Cricket Association beat the Services team by six wickets to emerge as the winner of the 28th All-India Uttarakhand Gold Cup Cricket Tournament held on the Ranger’s College cricket ground, here today.

Jharkahand won the toss and invited the Services team to bat first. But things didn’t go well with the latter as its batsmen baring Sumit struggled to score runs. Services’ top order crashed badly and at one point team’s score was 65/4 in 15.1 overs.

Sumit Singh sent the ball to boundary 24 times and smashed eight sixes too during his century. None other batsmen could ably support him and he carried the fight all alone but paid the team in the long run.

Services mustered a total of 248 runs before getting all out in 42.1 overs. For Jharkhand, Shahbaz Nadeem captured three wickets, Keshav Kumar and Mihir Diwakar got two wickets each.

In reply, the JCA achieved the target in 249 runs for the loss of four wickets in 42.4 overs. Rameez Nemat (115 off 136) was the mainstay of the batting side and was ably supported by team’s star performer Keshav Kumar (52 off 34). Yashpal Singh of Services took two wickets.

Meanwhile, during the prize distribution ceremony the individual and the team prizes were given away. Sumit Singh of Services and Kuldeep Sharma of Jharkhand were adjudged best batsman and bowler respectively of the tournament.

While Keshav Kumar (Jharkhand) was awarded with the title of Man of the Tournament. The winning team and the runners-up team were given check of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively. 

Haridwar May 16
The sub-junior basketball team, which will represent Haridwar in the district championship, has been selected here today. The team selection was done after a series of trials.

The team selection was done at DAV School sports complex with both girls and boys teams partaking in the state-level championships representing the district.

The sub-junior boys team comprise Keshav Giri, Himanshu Thapa, Rohit Chauhan, Vishal Khatri, Rohan Thapa, Jayant, Ambuj, Vaibhav Shaurya, Aayush, Pulkit, Jayant Kashyap, Chanchal, Rohan and Amit.

The girls team includes Shivangi, Muskan, Shreya, Shivangi Awasthi, Nishan, Ashu, Palak, Puja, Simran, Reena Thapa, Kanika Verma and Shubhangi Garg.

Coach Sanjay Chauhan informed that all players had been selected as per their skill and team position suitability and now soon there would be a conditioning-cum-training camp for the district team selected.

Dehradun, May 15
The Education Department registered a one-sided victory over the OFD 3-0 during the Second Institutional League Football Tournament played on Pavilion Ground here today.

Right from the beginning, the Education Department played an aggressive game and got early successes as well.

Shailender struck the first goal in the fifth minute of the game.

As the OFD was trying to settle itself in the game after the first goal from the opponent, Sushil Rawat of the Education Department gave the another jolt in the 8th minute. The OFD could strike back and the first half got over with 2-0 in the Education Department’s favour.

Sushil Rawat scored in the second half too in the 55th minute while the OFD failed to retaliate and lost the match.