Dehradun, March 9
Owing to irregularities in the tendering process, the Accounts Department of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) recently cancelled a tender, which was invited for the procurement of dustbins.

Sources claimed that the Accounts Department had cancelled the tender for the procurement of 50 dustbins. The corporation had published an advertisement for the tender in only one newspaper and received on one application. According to the rules, it is mandatory that the tender is published in at least three newspapers and should receive a minimum of three applications in response. But, none of these rules were followed while awarding the tender.

Most of the dustbins in the state capital are in a bad shape and need repairs now and then. Keeping this in mind, the corporation had invited bids for the procurement of new dustbins.

The sources said: “Stray animals like cow and dogs enter the damaged bins to feed on the filth. In the process the garbage gets scattered on the ground around the dustbin, presenting a filthy look,” they affirmed.

Now, the corporation will have to initiate the tendering process again. It may take a long time as also cost a lot of money. The delay in the procurement of new dustbins will affect sanitation in the city, as it gets difficult for the safai karamcharis to collect the garbage spread all over around the damaged dustbins.

Talking to The Tribune, Mayor Vinod Chamoli said he had been told about the tender having been cancelled. The Executive Engineer could not be contacted.

Nainital, March 9
The Education Department has eventually cracked the whip on 10 teachers who had been absent from their duties for a long time. Orders have been given for the termination of their services.

According to sources, eight of the 10 teachers are women and five of them had been deputed in different institutions of Almora district, three in Pithoragarh district and one each had been posted in Nainital and Bageshwar districts.

It is learnt that these teachers had not been coming to their respective schools for duty since 2009. The Education Department had served them show-cause notices thrice and they had not even bothered to reply to these. This has led to the department taking a stringent action against them. It is learnt that several of these teachers have joined services elsewhere without informing the Education Department.

Meanwhile, a Block Education Officer (BEO), who has been posted in the Dhari area of Nainital district, has been asked to explain his failure to turn up on time at the function, which was held to mark the completion of four years in office of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government in the state.

According to sources, Hare Ram Yadav failed to turn up when his name was announced from the stage to speak on the achievements in his field at the programme where Education Minister Gobind Singh Bisht was present. This made the minister furious. He was about to order his suspension when the official concerned turned up. He was let off with a warning and asked to explain the reason for his delayed arrival.

The minister also ordered that the other officials absent from the programme be asked to explain the reason for their absence.

Dehradun, March 9
Uttarakhand cops, who returned with a rich haul of medals in the 59th All-India Police Competition, held in Jammu and Kashmir from March 2 to 6, were felicitated at the police headquarters here.

The winners were welcomed by Director-General of Police Jyoti Swaroop Pandey and other senior police officers. The officers congratulated the players on their achievement.

Inspector-General of Police Alok Sharma informed the officers about the achievements of players. The team had bagged a total of 17 medals, six silver and 11 bronze, in the event.

In gymnastics, Sumit Kumar of Uttarakhand got silver and Kripal Singh and Sunil Chander won bronze. Dinesh Joshi and Deepa Mehra won bronze medals in weightlifting in men’s and women’s categories, respectively. Boxers also won medals in both men’s and women’s categories.

Dehradun, March 9
The National Neutrino Observatory, an underground laboratory being set up at Madurai, Tamil Nadu, and being funded by the Indian government, will play a key role in the generation-next studies on neutrinos.

Dr SK Singh, a renowned physicist, today said the country was aiming to develop high-energy research with international collaboration.

“The conference under way in Dehradun will help set goals and let us plan for the future. It will take almost 10 years to build the observatory,” said Dr SK Singh.

He was speaking today with The Tribune on the sidelines of the seventh international workshop on “Neutrino-nucleus Interactions in the Few-Gev Region” under way in Doon.

He said the site had been chosen because the rocks in the region provide good cover. “The hard rocks will act as a natural filter allowing only the neutrino particles to reach the laboratory. Neutrinos are tiny, neutral, elementary particles found abundantly in the cosmos.

The sun and all other stars produce neutrinos abundantly through nuclear fusion and decay processes. Neutrinos rarely interact and pass unhindered through all objects including the sun and the earth,” he said.

Demystifying the collaborative effort under way in the field, Dr SK Singh emphasised that international collaboration and sharing of data among scientists engaged in the study of neutrinos was very much on.

“There is no competition among the scientists. We are in this together. The sharing of information started in the ’80s after the main laboratory in Geneva began sharing data through the Web,” emphasised Dr Singh.

Vouching for this kind of collaborative research is Steven Dytman, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, USA.

He said the focus of their research was now on the symmetries of neutrinos. “We are interested in the symmetries. It is a deep mathematical process.

“What happened in the first couple of seconds after the Big Bang? Our world is made of matter. During the Big Bang, an explosion took place due to the collision of matter and antimatter. But where did it go? Neutrinos can help us unravel this mystery even though these studies are indirect and quiet complicated,” he said.

He also emphasised the need to choose topics carefully while undertaking research, especially by developing countries like India and even by students. “This will ensure better coordination, better utilisation of financial resources and genuine students,” said Dytman.

Dehradun, March 9
Four tiger experts from abroad, three Americans and one Australian, were among prominent participants on the first day of the international tiger workshop that began at the Corbett National Park here today as part of the park’s platinum jubilee celebrations.

Inaugurating the workshop at the Kalagarh Training Centre, Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden Srikant Chandola said he was hopeful that the outcome of the three-day deliberations would result in solutions to the ever-growing challenges at Corbett.

Subdivisional Forest Officer Gopal Karki gave a slide presentation about the Corbett Tiger Reserve. He revealed the efforts undertaken by the Corbett park authorities to check poaching. He said apart from patrolling, facilities like the GPS had been introduced at the park. The issue of collaring tigers also came up for discussion.

Park Director RK Mishra spoke on the challenges being faced by them while safeguarding wildlife at Corbett. US tiger expert George B Sheller expressed fear over the rising man-animal conflict concerns. He suggested minute monitoring of the movement of tigers. He also called for specialised training for forest officials engaged in tiger protection.

The participants also held field visits inside the park. National Wildlife Board member Brijendra Singh, Bittu Sehgal, Paramjeet Singh and AS Negi were among those who attended the seminar on the first day.

Dehradun, March 9
The Municipal Corporation (MC) Income Tax (IT) Department has issued attach-the-property warrants against 15 local persons who have failed to pay them the house tax.

They have been given one-week time in which they can deposit the tax that has been pending for the past two to three years, failing which, the corporation will sell off their immovable/movable property to fulfill the tax.

Other than private owners, the list includes Triniti Hospital that has to pay Rs 60,000, house No. 134 on the Chawdhary Bihari Lal Marg (Rs 20,000), Ashish Leasing Pvt Ltd (Rs 1.30 lakh), two shops at Rajpur (Rs 72,000 and Rs 24,000, respectively) and Chayadeep Cinema Hall (Rs 62,000).

Azhar Ali, Tax and Revenue Superintendent, said they had issued the warrants against these persons as they had failed to respond to the corporation that had many times issued notice to them and asked them to pay the tax, but they did not heed to their warning. “After waiting for about two years, we have issued warrants and if they fail to come this time too, we will seize their property and sell it. The amount we fetch from it will be deposited as tax,” he affirmed. 

Haridwar, March 9
Not one, two or a dozen, but a whopping 81 prizes in different categories have been won by the horticulture team of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) in two state-level flower exhibitions.

The team was given a warm reception by the management, employees and local citizens at the Ranipr unit of the company here.

The team won these prizes in the recently concluded flower exhibitions held at the Raj Bhawan, Dehradun, where Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alwa appreciated the works of this team and at the Roorkee Bengal Engineering Group compound. The BHEL team marked its stamp almost in every category of both the flower exhibitions.

From bouquet making, flower park, lined garden spaces in front of big buildings, kitchen garden to decoration, the BHEL team won almost in all the categories, winning a total of 81 prizes.

Besides, BHEL also got the coveted N Khanna Memorial Trophy for the record fourth time for having the best public park, called Swarna Jayanti Park, near Sector 4, on the BHEL-SIDCUL road.

Lauding the efforts of the team, BHEL administrator Rajeev Bhatnagar said the leap taken by the team in comparison to the previous year was extraordinary. Managing Director of BHEL Devendra Kumar Mody termed the work of horticulture team as one that gives strength to the employees, as beautiful parks and greenery provided them a relaxing environment.

Dehradun, March 9
The semifinals of the inter-section boxing competition of Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) were held here today. A total of 16 bouts were held yesterday.The judges were Hav Avito, Hav DB Shah, Hav RL Janatia, Hav Iboyaima Singh, CHM Ashok and Hav Bhosale. The referees for the bouts were CHM Ashok Kumar, Hav Satish Patil, Sub Kundan, Sub-Maj RH Magdum.

Two bouts in progress at inter-section boxing competition at RIMC, Dehradun, on Wednesday.

Dehradun, March 9
Quick knocks by openers SS Rawat (62-ball 100) and Ashok Rana (79-ball 90) led Survey of India to a 69-run triumph against Doon University in the District Cricket League under way at Survey of India stadium here today.

Rawat and Rana toyed with the bowlers of Doon University to help their team gather 257 runs, while batting first, in 30 overs for four wickets. Rakesh (32) also contributed to SoI’s innings.

Aswani Thapa of Doon University grabbed three wickets.

In reply, Doon University was bowled out for 188 runs in 26 overs. Rohit (39), Nahim (31), Sukant (29) and Aswani Thapa (28) scored well for the side, but couldn’t prevent the loss.

Rakesh Negi and Ashok Rana captured five and three wickets respectively for the winning team.

Tomorrow, Tanush Cricket Academy will face Vikasnagar and ACA will meet Race Course.

Pithoragarh, March 9
People living in remote areas of the district have been facing starvation-like conditions, as the ration supplies to 800 persons of 105 families of the Namik area in Munsiyari subdivision of this border district have been hit for the past one week due to heavy snow on the 28-km road that links the area with the rest of the country.

The villagers of the area have written a letter to the Pithoragarh District Magistrate. The ration stocks for three months have finished at Namik village, said Tulsi Devi, gram pradhan of Namik village, adjoining Indo-China border, in the letter. “Even the ration provided to the villagers under the recently launched Atal Anaj Yojana is not being delivered to them,” charged Tulsi Devi.

“From December every year, the administration keeps the ration stocks for three months in the godowns of these remote villages. These stocks might have finished, as in three months’ time no supplies are sent to these godowns,” admitted District Magistrates NS Negi while talking to this correspondent.

“But as the weather is getting warmer, the snow will melt soon. In the next week, the road will get cleared and fresh supplies, including the ration under the Atal Khadyann Yojana, will be sent to these godowns,” claimed the DM.

“This year the area witnessed an unexpected snowfall in March because of which we could not open the road early. But, we have engaged our men to clear the road and it will be opened soon,” said Anil Kanaujia, a PWD engineer.

The district administration supplies ration to these interior godowns through porters and by ponies but this time the snow was so dense that even the porters cannot make it to the godowns. “Not only the ration supplies but also the other programmes like the apple plantation have been hit due to the heavy snow. We had to plant 2,000 saplings of apple around February 20, but due to the road block, we could not plant these on appropriate time,” said HS Kohli, in charge of a horticulture team in Nachni.

Dehradun, March 9
Tired of traffic problems, city residents have started coming up with traffic plans for the Dehradun police.Recently, city resident Prateek Singh gave a detailed chart of a traffic plan to SSP Ganesh Singh Martolia. The plan suggests that the Rajpur Road and the EC Road till the Survey Chowk be made one-way with several other changes.

“We have received such traffic plans and suggestions from residents earlier as well. We will review these plans and have a talk with them to see if something can be done in this regard,” the SSP told The Tribune.

According to the police, the plans were good, but it was apprehensive of implementing these due to lack of support from the residents and sensing political pressure, especially ahead of the forthcoming elections.

However, even senior police officers in the department were convinced that considering the condition of the city and its roads, many experiments could not be done here. The police had last year proposed more one-ways to the existing traffic plan to improve the traffic scenario.

These include Agarwal Bakeri to Dharampur Chowk, Convent Chowk to Manoj Clinic, Cross Road, Tehsil Chowk to Doon Chowk, Doon Chowk to old bus stand, Kabaadi Market to Haridwar Road, from Kurzon Road to Brightland School, Lucky Medicos to Municipal Road, Karanpur to DAV College and into in-roads of the Balbir Road.

However, some of these plans were implemented. Some one-ways were followed during school and office hours and a few of them for the whole day.