Nainital, November 24
Going by the latest craze among people for astrology and their growing bent towards spirituality, the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) has come up with a novel idea to satiate their wants.

The KMVN has drawn up a plan to develop a Nakshatra Vatika or a garden that will have plants related to various zodiac signs.

The garden is to be developed inside the premises of the Cave Gardens in Sukhatal area of Nainital town which is visited by a very high number of tourists every year.

Under the plan, visitors can plant saplings that rule their zodiac sign. The garden will be developed by the KMVN in coordination with the Forest Department and the local municipality.

According to the Managing Director of the KMVN Shailesh Bagauli, “It is a well-known fact that trees have had an impact on human lives from times immemorial”.

He informed that the duties for developing the Nakshatra Vatika had been assigned to various officials so that the project could be made a reality at the earliest. The KMVN wanted this garden to come into existence within a fortnight.

According to Bagauli, this initiative will serve a dual purpose. On one side, it will increase awareness among the people on environment and ecology, while on the other, it will become an added attraction for tourists visiting the Cave Gardens.

Under the plan, the KMVN plans to install a huge board outside the Cave Gardens that will provide information on various plants that suit a particular sign of zodiac. This will help the visitor to choose the plant as per his astrological sign.

Bagauli also informed that the musical garden lying defunct in the premises will also be restarted immediately. A decision has also been taken to open a restaurant in the vicinity of the musical fountain.

Haridwar, November 24
Though on one hand, globally renowned yoga guru Swami Ramdev is known for his commitment to making people healthy as well as quite serious on keeping the Ganga river clean and pollution-free, yet in his own backyard, he seems to be faltering.

So grievous is the situation that on a complaint of local residents, the municipal committee has issued a notice regarding the wastage being openly dumped without any treatment plant which is causing severe health-related problems to them.

The yoga guru’s own pharmaceutical factory situated in Haridwar is churning out chemical waste that is directly being poured into the Ganga.

The Divya Pharmacy situated in the Indira Industrial Area near the Railway Station run by the Divya Yog Mandir Trust has been issued a notice by the municipal committee’s Nirman Samiti.

The pharmacy has been given a fortnight’s time to rectify the problem, otherwise stringent action will be taken as per palika rules.

Notably earlier too, the district administration taken cognisance of the complaint and had directed the municipal committee and the railway department on this matter, but no action was taken owing to the yoga guru’s status.

But with several persons residing in Shiv Basti, near the Divya Pharmacy, taking the agitational route due to the regular falling ill of dozens of its residents, now the palika has served notice to the Divya Pharmacy management.

Ward councillor Dinesh Joshi, who is also the head of the committee dealing with this issue, informed that a 15-day notice has been served to Divya Pharmacy owner Swami Ramdev. If no necessary steps are taken by them, then the palika would be forced to take legal action against them.

When The Tribune inspected the site, it found the condition pathetic with waste fluid passing through the colony houses with a pungent stink making standing there for few minutes quite difficult. One can imagine the people - be it old or infants - living in the same pitiable conditions on daily basis.

Divya Pharmacy officials refused to comment citing that the factory authorised official had gone outside the factory for some reason.

On condition of anonymity due to the fear of Ramdev’s reach, local residents accompanied the Tribune team to the affected area showing the whole length of the pharmacy nullah that poured the waste into the Ganga.

The ill-effect of chemical waste had even dried up a nearby open park. It has now been somewhat restored by ashram inmates who live nearby by putting in urea, new fertile soil and planting vegetables, flowers etc.

Now all eyes are on the deadline of the palika’s notice. Swami Ramdev already is in the limelight for his bribery allegations on a Uttarakhand state Cabinet minister.

Notably, the Divya Pharmacy had also come under national limelight in 2006 when CPI Upper House parliamentarian Brinda Karat had alleged that the pharmacy was using human bones in preparation of medicinal drugs as well as violating labour laws in the ISO-9001 certified factory.

Dehradun, November 24
The 10th All-India Police Water Sports Championship was declared open by JS Pandey, DGP, Uttarakhand, at the Roorkee Solani Canal amid a light drizzle.

He wished all participants luck during the championship and hoped to witness keen contests in all categories.

On the occasion, the DGP said that “sports play an integral part in bringing together the troops with the aim to develop a spirit of competitiveness and also generate awareness about the sport among locals. This prestigious event will also contribute to the promotion of water sports in the country and state.”

Commenting on the performance of the Uttarakhand police in the field of sports, he said that “our sportsmen are doing well at all levels.”

He lauded the achievements of Uttarakhand athlete Pankaj Dimri for bagging three silver medals. Pankaj Dimri had recently bagged silver medals at the Asian Grand Prix Championship at Bangalore and Chennai in 2010 and 2009, respectively.

There are 17 teams from various police forces from all over the country that are participating in this championship. Thirty-six heats were conducted this morning in the Bengal Sappers Water Sports Complex on the Solani Canal.

“Uttarakhand police has organised this event with a sense of pride as it is an opportunity for promoting adventure sports, especially water sports because of the natural advantage in the state,” said MA Ganpati, IG, Garhwal Range.

Present on the occasion were SK Bhagat, ADG, Law and Order, Ajay Kumar, ADG, Administration, Alok Sharma DIG, SSP, Haridwar, and other police officers.

Dehradun, November 24
Queens XI and Bhumi Challengers entered the final of the Women Cosco Ball Cricket Tournament being played on the ONGC’s Ambedkar stadium.

Queens XI, in the first match, beat Tel Bhavan by 10 wickets. Tel Bhavan set a target of 53 for four wickets in 10 overs. Veena (10), Madhu (12) and Champa Chauhan (10) were the scorers. Anurahda and Tajidner of the rival team took two wickets each.

Replying, Queen XI scored the required runs in 6.4 overs only without loss of any wicket. In the second match, Bhumi Challengers defeated Queens XI by seven wickets. Bhumi scored 65 for 4 in 10 overs, while Queens XI could score only 58 runs for four wickets in 10 overs.

Dehradun, November 24
Bharat of Madhya Pradesh beat Saini of Uttarakhand in a 46kg bout of the under-14 category 4-1 in the 56th National School Boxing Championship-2010 being played here on the Parade Ground.

Rahul of Haryana routed Himanshu of Punjab 5-0 in the 46kg bout. Tushar of Maharashtra defeated Narender of Chandigarh 7-1 in the 48kg. In the u-19 bout of 75kg, Sonu of Chandigarh defeated Magesh of Tamil Nadu.

In another match of the same category, Saurabh of AP beat Vishal of Uttarakhand after the referee stopped the contest in the first round. Baljit of Punjab also surpassed Marivunidhi of Tamil Nadu 5-2.

Dehradun, November 24
Nimbus got the better of Roorkee Institute during UTU’s Second Inter-College Cricket Tournament held at Survey Stadium.

Batting first after winning the toss, Roorkee scored 118 in 20 overs. Udil (17) topscored for the team. Nimbus achieved the target easily with the help from its good batting performance.

Saurabh (45) fashioned the win of his side. He hit six fours and scored 45 in just 42 balls. Shabader Ali took the maximum - two wickets - for Roorkee Institute.

In another match played today, Hermes won by one wicket over GIS. The latter set a target of 418 runs all out. Hermes achieved the target at the loss of nine wickets in 30 overs.

Dehradun, November 24
Bageshwar defeated Pauri 36-18 in a kabaddi quarterfinal during the state-level games organised under the Panchayat Yuva Krida and Khel Abhiyan at Balawala.

Rudraprayag beat Chamoli 37-23 and Udham Singh Nagar defeated Nainital 37-25 in the other quarterfinals.

In kho-kho quarterfinals, Chamoli surpassed Uttarakashi 10-2. Nainital drubbed Tehri 9-1 and Haridwar blanked Pauri 16-0. Dehradun defeated Bageshwar 9-2.

In volleyball, Nainital continued its winning spree beating Almora 25-1, 25-10.

Dehradun, November 24
It is the season of sports in the district of Haridwar. One of the oldest All-India Volleyball Tournament of the region - the 57th Tayaji Memorial All-India Volleyball Tournament - would be held at Roorkee on Thursday.

Bhutani, organising secretary, said that with each passing year, it was becoming difficult to hold the tournament.

The budget for the tournament goes into lakhs and there are no government sponsors for it. It is all on private donation told Bhutani.

He commented that it is sad to see that no government organisation is coming forward to save the game which has become an tradition for the denizens of Roorkee and Uttarakhand.

He said that many a times they had knocked on the doors of government officials, but never found any positive response.

He took pride in telling that five players who are currently playing in China are from the visiting teams.

He said that the maximum volley players of our country have been part of this tournament sometime or the other along with the Arjuna Awardees.

This year, the budget was approximately Rs 4 lakh and till now, they have been able to gather only Rs 2.75 lakh, said Bhutani.

The meet, from November 25 to November 28, features eight teams. Players are coming from all over India - ONGC, Dehradun, BEG, Roorkee, Freedom Club Ghaziabad, Army Red, Hyderabad, Service teams, Air Force Delhi, Uttarakhand Police, Haridwar.

The meet would kick off at IIT Ground tomorrow.

The tournament was started in 1951 by Krishan Raj (who was fondly called Tayaji by the peers).