Dehradun, May 8
The state government has failed to utilise the potential of the ice-skating rink at Dehradun and skiing slopes at Auli constructed for the first South Asian Federation (SAF) Winter Games held in January this year. The rink has been lying closed since the games concluded.

The Centre had allocated Rs 110 crore and the state government had to contribute 10 per cent in it. Though the government is planning to hold a carnival at the ice-skating rink here even after four months of the conclusion of the SAF games, it is yet to finalise it.

“We are going to complaint against the state government to the Centre through the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). We are disheartened with the government, as it has failed to open the ice-skating rink for players and others or hold championship,” said PC Thapliyal, spokesperson for the Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI).

“The Chief Minister who had made a commitment to make the ice-skating rink a hub of the state is only befooling the people. The players who made the country proud by winning medals in the SAF Winter Games are still waiting for the prize money, despite the fact that over Rs 110 crore were spent on the games,” Thapliyal lamented.

SS Panghti, former president of the WGFI, who had resigned from his post due to the apathetic attitude of the government, opined, “The need of the hour is to make the ice skating rink commercialised so that players from foreign countries, who did not have such rinks back homes, can come here and utilise it.”

“The expenditure of monthly maintenance of the rink is very high thus, we cannot depend only on students and players in the country.”

“While for Auli, in summer we should have facilities like grass skiing and golf course there, rather than keeping the slopes dumped. The government should come up with such a policy,” he added.

Technical member and Ice Skating Association secretary Pankaj Bhardwaj said: “We are in talks with government officials and a big carnival at the ice skating rink is in the offing. We are just finalising the things and probably in the end of this month it will be started. The carnival will include coaching, talent hunt programmes, besides other things.”

He said the carnival got delayed as the final examinations of school students were underway.

However, well-placed sources said several ice skating associations had shown little interest in the carnival, which is a blow to the efforts of the government.

An expenditure of about Rs 50,000 is required per day to run the ice skating rink. And this is not possible only through the pockets of students and amateurs, the sources added.

Dehradun, May 8
Prakhar Pal of Shanti Tennis Academy (STA) won the under-10 and undr-12 boys singles titles at the 12th Uttarakhand State Open Junior Tennis Tournament held at Shanti Tennis Academy here today.

In the under-10 boys singles final, Pal beat Drona Walia, also from STA, 5-3, 2-5, 5-3. Prakhar Pal (STA) in the semifinal defeated Siddharth Aggarwal of SJA 5-1 and Drona Walia (STA) surpassed Ishan Sethi (STA) 5-2 to enter the final.

In the under-12 boys singles also Prakhar Pal (STA) won the title getting past Drona Walia (STA) by 2-5, 5-3, 5-3. In the semis, Drona Walia (STA) won by 5-3 against Siddharth Aggarwal (SJA) and Prakhar Pal (STA) won by 5-2 against Dhruva Sabharwal (STA).

The other results are:

Boys singles Under-18 year: In final Dwij Budhhiraja (DS) won by 7-2 against Shaurya Verma (STA). Semifinals: Dwij Budhhiraja (DS) won by 5-3 against Aarush Sood (DS) and Shaurya Verma (STA) by 5-3 against Arnav Alok (STA).

Girls singles under-14 year: Final: Sachi Belwal (STA) beat Vidisha Balyan (STA) 5-1. Semifinals: Sachi Belwal (STA) won by 4-0 against Nandina Nayar (WGS) and Vidisha Balyan (STA) won by 5-2 against Dakshita (WGS).

Till the filing of the news report, the remaining matches were being played.

Dehradun, May 8
A workshop under the 18th National Children’s Science Congress for the district conveners, academic conveners and the associating teachers commenced at the State Institute of Educational Management and Training here today.

State Education Director Chandra Singh Gwal inaugurated the programme while GK Sharma, president, Rajya Academic Samiti, presided over its first session.

This science congress, being organised in collaboration with a socio-scientific organisation called ‘PAHAL’, has the theme, “How to enrich the land resources and its conservation” while the workshop was initiated by Kamla Pant, president, PAHAL.

While addressing the workshop, Dr DK Pandey, Senior Scientist, Science and Technology Department, Government of India, said: “This year a large number of student scientists in the age group of 10 to 17 from all over the state will participate in this congress while the selected models and research papers would be presented in this state-level Congress to create awareness among students on science and technology.”

Dehradun, May 8
On the occasion of Mother’s Day, the Uttaranchal Mahila Association conducted an inter-school letter-writing competition here today. The participants celebrated the occasion with enthusiasm.

The programme began with the lighting of the lamp by chief guest Sushila Baluni, president of the State Women’s Commission, and association chief Sadhna Sharma. The children from various schools presented a colourful cultural programme of dance and music.

Sadhna spoke about the importance of mothers and said the God had created mother with a heart full of love, care and compassion. Her importance in life could never change. She would remain the epitome of love.

The children recited beautiful poems as they danced.

The winners of the letter-writing competition were Vani Barmola from Him Jyoti School (first), Monika Goel (second) while the third prize was jointly bagged by Shriya from Guru Nanak Academy and Swati Chauhan.

Dehradun, May 8
Over Rs 50,000 were allegedly misused from a credit card of a Wing Commander (retd) through a fraudulent way.

According to the police, a man posing as an employee of Axis Bank came to the house of the victim, SK Sharma, in March. He asked Sharma to increase the credit limit of his card and the later gave him a card.

The conman had promised to return his card after increasing the credit limit in four to five days. However, when the man didn’t come back to his house even when after a week, the Wing Commander got suspicious.

He went to the bank and asked for his card. He was surprised when the bank said it had not sent anyone to his place. After checking his account, it was found that Rs 51,540 was used from his card in Ghaziabad, the complainant added in his compliant to the cops.

The victim then approached the police yesterday after making several rounds of the bank. The police has registered a case of fraud at the Nehru Colony Police Station. However, there is no sign of the conman.

Dehradun, May 8
As the duration of one-week time limit to pay 20 per cent Entertainment Tax (ET) to the state government on the billing amount comes to an end on Sunday, the Rafting Association at Rishikesh still stood its ground to oppose it and decided to file its objections in the high court, Nainital. President of the association Deepak Bhatt said, “I as a representative of the rafters’ community have come to Nainital High Court to file my objections to the notice given by the District Magistrate, Dehradun, according to which the rafters have been asked to pay 20 per cent ET within a week’s time or else the rafting activity would be banned.”

Bhatt contended against inclusion of rafting in the purview of entertainment. He reasoned, “Rafting is not an entertainment but a participatory adventure sports, where the constraints of age limit, training and risks are fully involved unlike in any other entertainment mode. Nowhere in India or globe, ET is charged for rafting.”

One of the founder-members of rafting in the region, Yusuf Zaheer also opposed the category under which the state government wanted to charge rafters, and suggested it to think of some other revenue mechanism instead to which the rafters might not have any problem. He said, “We had filed a writ against the order of the government in the Nainital High Court in mid-April on the same issue, where the court had directed the District Magistrate, Dehradun, to listen to the pleas of rafters as well. It suggested to refer the matter to the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate in case of contention.”

The rafters were to deliberate with DM on this issue in April, but April being the peak season for rafting, the Rafter Association could not take out time for the exercise, he said, adding that very soon they would meet the DM in this regard.

The other strong arguments which the rafters placed in their favour are the seclusion of rafting from other adventure sports when it comes to ET. Pratha Pratim Saha, another rafter argued, “If rafting was brought under the entertainment category, then other adventure sports such as mountaineering, skating, skiing, ice-hockey, etc should have been incorporated as well, but that was not done, which sounds dubious.”

Saha also questioned the intention of the state government behind levying ET where just six months ago, it hiked rafting rates three times. He said, “We already have been paying first to the Tourism Department, then to the Forest Department along with other taxes, and now this third category of ET, too, has emerged to make matters worse for us.”

Dehradun, May 8
The DL Road area from the DAV Inter College toad to Nalapani Police Chowki comprises ward no. 9, which is one of the smallest wards of the city. The residents here too face the problems related to sanitation, absence of sewerage, damaged roads and traffic congestion.

The councillor, Vipin Kumar, is an independent candidate who has won the MC election for the first time. He says his area faces the problem due to the absence of sewerage in the ward, the proposal for which is pending with the Irrigation Department, and the roadside vendors. “The roads here are very narrow and the roadside vendors make it more difficult for people to move freely as they set shop anywhere on the road. When the police arrives, they flee from the spot but resume business as soon as the cops leave the area,” he adds.

The councillor has got done works costing Rs 30 lakh so far. “New roads have been constructed in my area at a cost of Rs 18 lakh. Earlier, no one paid heed to accomplish the work,” he affirmed.

When The Tribune talked to residents, they complained of the ill-maintained small drains, the menace of stray cattle like pigs, traffic congestion and potholes on the roads.

The councillor claims that he monitors the works in his ward and make sure that sweepers visit the ward on a regular basis. “Cleanliness of drains was a problem earlier but now I ensure that these drains are cleaned regularly,” he added.

Speaking about the roads in his area, Ram G Lal, a shopkeeper, said: “Most of the roads have sagged due to which water stagnates on these during rain. Any one can dig roads to serve their own purposes and nobody from the MC takes notice of it. It creates a lot of problem for residents as well as passers-by.”

Manish, a shopkeeper of the DL Road area, grumbled about the menace of stray cattle, which enter their area and spread filth all over. “Most of the time the area is not cleaned by safai karamcharis. Moreover, animals like pigs spread filth all over. Stink emanating from the filth make it difficult for us to sit around.”

Shalini, owner of a beauty parlour-cum-cosmetics shop, was annoyed at the congested roads in the area. “The roads are very narrow here and people park their vehicles anywhere on the roadside, making it difficult for the shoppers to move freely,” she said.

Deena Nath, a resident, says no one is ready to listen to them regarding cleanliness in their area. “We have to pay ourselves to get the roads in front of our shops cleaned, as safai karamcharis hardly visit the area,” he said.

On the other hand Prem Sharma says the councillor visits the area in the morning to check whether the safai karamcharis have visited the site

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WITH the Assembly elections in Uttarakhand fast approaching, both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress in the state have started their own campaigns to woo the voters through their respective yatras. While the Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, has embarked upon an ambitious ‘Antodya yatra’, the rival Uttarakhand Congress has also started its own ‘Satyagraha yatra’. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has wrested the initiative by starting his own ‘Antodya yatra’ in February this year, while the feuding Congress could start its own ‘Satyagraha yatra’ from Dharchula in Pithoragarh on May 2.

Nishank has been smart enough to use the entire official machinery to highlight the achievements of his government and also to interact personally with the people in the remotest corners of the state. He has been flying in the official chopper to such remote places not even visited by the officials almost 
every day.

His strategy has been simple to meet a large number of people on the ground, listen to their grievances and try to address the local issues on the spot. Unlike his predecessor, who, during such visits, collected bundles of applications and brought these to the state capital, finally to be lost in the maze of official files, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has been making on-the-spot decisions.

He has been instructing the official machinery to come prepared during his meetings to reply to the grievances of the common man. He has been patient enough to listen to the grievances of the people and even punish reluctant and inefficient officials and employees. All his emphasis has been on personally interacting with a lot of people in the remote areas particularly women and children and also redress their grievances.

He has also been encouraging young students to ask questions on government policies and monetarily reward them for correct answers. Already he has announced development programmes worth more than Rs 200 crore during his ‘Antodya Yatra’. During the past two months, Nishank has already covered more than 30 Assembly segments of the state.

Dehradun, May 8
Senior Uttarakhand Congress leader Dhirendra Pratap today asserted that by making a staggering increase of Rs 666 crore in Uttarakhand’s Annual Plan for 2011-12, the Centre has amply revealed its concern for the state.

In a statement issued yesterday, Pratap said a substantial increase in the state’s Annual Plan had exposed the Uttarakhand BJP government’s false accusation that the Congress-led Centre was not doing enough for the state.

Pratap yet again accused the Uttarakhand BJP government of failing to utilise central funds. He said most of the funds provided by the Centre to the state were getting lapsed due to a complacent attitude of the state government.

He said the Nishank government in Uttarakhand must now render a public apology for falsely accusing the Centre of not doing enough for the state.

Pratap said it would have been better had the Chief Minister worked on ground rather than resorting to helicopter visits across the state.

Dehradun, May 8
The 10th Uttarakhand State Junior (Under-18year) Basketball 10th Championship for Boys and Girls, being organised by Uttarakhand Basketball Association (UBA), will be held from May 9 to 12 at Welham Boys’ School.

About 20 teams in both boys and girls section are expected to participate in this championship. The event will be played with a league-cum-knockout system.

During the championship, the UBA will be conducting FIBA New Rule Clinic, Coaches Clinic/Workshop and Uttarakhand State Referees examination. The opening ceremony will be held on May 9 at 3.30pm onwards followed by the matches.