Dehradun, July 14
In violation of the guidelines of the Government of India and the Dental Council of India (DCI), the Uttaranchal Dental College (private) authorities are charging tuition fee from the fifth-year students .

The students and their guardians were in a shock when they recently received a missive from the college authorities arbitrarily and unfairly demanding tuition fee for the new session which they had already paid. In all, there are around 100 students, who have been affected by the decision. There are two private dental colleges in Dehradun.

According to the guidelines of the Government of India, issued in 2007, the four-year plus one-year internship duration of the BDS course all over the country was revised to five years in September 2007.

To protect the interests of the students, who had already taken admissions in July 2007, the DCI asked all dental colleges in India not to charge fee from the students who would now be in the fifth year. It again issued a letter in July 2008 stating that the tuition fee for the 4-year course should be divided into five years so that no additional financial burden was borne by the students.

It also asked the dental college authorities to comply with the new directives otherwise action would be taken.

But flouting the guidelines, the authorities of Uttaranchal Dental College have now asked the fifth-year students to pay Rs 1,94,000 as tuition fee by August. The total yearly cost of the course is approximately around Rs 3,29000.

“We have already paid the tuition fee for the course and the college authorities can only ask us to pay the hostel fee,” said a student.

Not taking the DCI guidelines as binding, the Chairman of the institute said he was still studying the case and the matter would be sorted out soon. “I will go by the decision of the Fee Examination Committee constituted according to the Supreme Court directives and the matter is being looked into,” said DS Pandey.

He said the final call would be taken after a meeting with the college Managing Director, who would arrive here on July 17.

Incensed with the arbitrary action of the college authorities, the students and the parents say that the government of Uttarakhand should intervene in the matter, ensuring strict compliance of the order and take appropriate action against the erring dental college authorities.

Dehradun, July 14
Acting on a news report that appeared in the columns of The Tribune on Wednesday regarding the collapse of the stairs of Pavilion ground at Lansdowne Chowk, the PWD today started its repair work ensuring that the material to be used is of the best quality.

It was reported that most of the walls and stairs of the ground that had been constructed by the PWD came down due to rain and the poor quality of material. Officials said due to the settlement of mud, all construction work had fallen. They also mentioned that the mud that was used to fill the land needed at least one rainy season to settle down.

The Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) is one of the managing agencies for the ongoing works in the city.

It was after the report that Mayor Vinod Chamoli visited the site and asked the officials to ensure that the material used for the construction was of good quality as otherwise it would spoil his image.

Executive Engineer, PWD, Mulayam Singh, said the payment had yet to be released by the department as they were waiting for the completion of work.

“The work is in progress so we have not made any payment to the contractor and now when everything is falling down, we have asked the contractor to do it again.” “They were required to use the river bed material (RBD) but had not used it. I hope they will be using the same this time,” he said.

“The contractor has admitted his fault and said due to a small gap there was a leakage which led to its fall. The work will be completed in another two or three days,” Singh said.

Dehradun, July 14
Even as the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, has asked for more leopard cages on its campus, the Dehradun Divisional Forest authorities have asked the IMA authorities to send a proposal to the office of the Uttarakhand Principal Chief Conservator of Forests for the self-financed construction of cages.

The office of the Dehradun Forest Division has made it amply clear that with the limited number of cages at its disposal, that too were placed at various leopard-infested village areas of Dehradun, it can do little to cater to the growing demand of cages from the IMA.

The IMA has been witnessing leopard movement in the past couple of years with the academy authorities repeatedly accusing forest officials of doing little to curb the menace.

IMA officials today met the Dehradun DFO and sought more cages. Although, DFO Meenakshi Joshi said while she understood the concerns of the IMA, about 12 cages at the disposal of the DFO office were already placed at various leopard-infested villages of the division.

She suggested the IMA officials to bring cages at their own expense and asked them to take a proposal to the PCCF office for seeking forest officials’ technical guidance for the purpose.

On the other hand, the IMA has constantly maintained that the safety of gentlemen cadets is of prime importance for the academy. They say the frequent visits of leopards have caused considerable fear among civilians and small children residing on the campus.

Mussoorie, July 14
Owing to a shortage of cooking gas, unruly scenes were witnessed during the distribution of LPG cylinders leading to fistfight among the consumers here today.

The fistfight broke out when some consumers started breaking the queue which was opposed by the others who had been standing since morning.

It later turned into fistfight which ended after the intervention of the local traders.

The consumers blamed the mismanagement of gas agency for occurence of such ugly scenes.

One of the residents of Landour Bazaar Bhagat Singh Chauhan said due to the shortage of LPG cylinder, the consumers were forced to stand in rain since 7 am today and when some individuals tried to enter the queue forcefully, it led to heated arguments and later a brawl.

Chauhan lamented that such scenes were on the rise due to the wrong distribution policy of the gas agency.

He further said Landour Bazaar was the most neglected area where the gas vehicle arrived once in a month instead of weekly visits.

Another consumer Jasveer Singh said the gas agency was charging home delivery fee on each cylinder without delivering it at homes.

This correspondent has also learned that some indviduals from villages near Kempty were involved in selling the cylinders in black market to innocent villagers after collecting it from the gas godown in Mussoorie.

Gas agency manager DP Badoni said people, instead of booking their cylinders in advance, added to the problems by crowding at the site of the vehicle hindering the home delivery supply.

He appealed to all consumers that they should book their cylinders in advance so that the agency could deliver it to their homes.

Dehradun, July 14
Residents of the city have a sigh of relief as the Uttarakhand Ministerial Collectorate Karamchari Sangh returned to their normal routine here today.

The office of the Collectorate that had been lying almost empty due to the strike by the employees saw the hustle bustle of the people after 44 days.

The employees in tehsils and offices of the SDM/DM in the state had been protesting since June 1 in order to get their demands of the restructuring of the Collectorate and 10 per cent quota for tehsildar’s post fulfilled.

In order to celebrate their victory, all employees burst crackers and distributed sweets. It was in the afternoon only that they actually started work and many were confused from where to start after so many days as a lot of work was lying pending.

“I am unable to understand from where to begin the work as a bunch of files is lying on my table,” said Teeka Ram Dabral, reader to the city magistrate. It was ditto for all other employees.

Rajinder Kumar, state president of the sangh, said, “At last we have won the battle that had been going on for so many years now and the government kept on ignoring it despite the fact that a committee was constituted under the Commissioner of Kumaon in 2008 but failed to take action. Moreover, the Chief Revenue Commissioner has sanctioned us the special leave for all these days without deducting our salary,” he lamented.

More than 1,100 employees from 144 tehsils, SDM/DM offices across the state had been on strike since June 1 in support of their demands.

Shruti Bhatt was eagerly waiting for the strike to end as she required the domicile certificate to get admission in the college.

She said she got the certificate in 28 days which otherwise could be obtained in 15 days. “Thank god that the forms came out late this time otherwise I would not have been able to apply for any course as all demand the certificate,” Shruti stated and mentioned that she visited theCollectorate too many times to get it but due to the strike she had to go back empty handed.

It was not only Shruti who waited for so long to get her work done but there were many others too who were seen waiting in the queue for their turns to get the certificates.

Dehradun, July 14
On the second day of the online counselling of Uttrakhand Technical University here today, engineering aspirants thronged the cyber cafés and locked colleges as well as branches of their choices. The last day is July 17. The seats will be distributed on July 19.

Sources say that more than 4000 students have already registered themselves online in the first round of the counselling, while 5000 have deposited their fees and locked down their choices for college as well as branch in engineering.

For admission into different engineering colleges affiliated to Uttarakhand Technical University for the BTech courses, the varsity and the State Counselling Board are conducting counselling collectively. The online counselling are commenced from July 11.

In addition to this, there will be online AIEEE counselling for admission in engineering colleges in Uttarakhand based on the ranks scored in the entrance test by the aspirants. As per the official website of the counselling board, those who have appeared in the AIEEE 2011 exam, are the permanent residents of Uttarakhand.

Dehradun, July 14
With the help of a hat-trick by Rajinder Rai, Cantonment Blues Football Club defeated Indira Club 3-0 in a match in the Lala Nemi Dass Memorial District League played at the Pavilion grounds here today.

It was a brilliant display of football by Rai, who scored the first goal in the 8th minute. He scored his second one in the 12th minute.

Indira Club players tried hard looking for an equaliser but could not succeed. It was the day of Rai, who scored his third goal in the 58th minute.

In the second match, Doon Valley Club defeated Sports Hostel by a solitary goal. It was Gaurav Bahuguna who scored the goal for Doon Valley Club in the 20th minute.

Mussoorie, July 14
Health officials headed by Chief Medical Officer Pradeep Rana raided several shops selling rotting food items in Mussoorie today.

The exercise that began early this morning, a Health Department team arrived at a shop near Rialto Cinema and found the rotten vegetables infested with worms being sold in open.

Rana immediatley confiscated the food items and issued a challan against the perpetrators. The team also raided vendors selling perishable items such as eggs and corns on the Mall Road and issued stern warning to adhere to hygienic practice.

Rana speaking to the media said the drive was being carried out after they had received several complaints about rotten goods being sold in open.

Rana further said considering the ongoing monsoon season in progress, such drives would be continued and punitive action be taken against the traders indulging in sale of adulterated and rotten food items in the town. He also rued the fact that the drive was facing hindrance due to lack of understanding between various departments.

Dehradun, July 14
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) has decided to conduct a campaign from July 15 to 21 against corruption throughout the country. In Dehradun, both the CPI and the CPM would jointly submit a memorandum to the District Magistrate on July 21.

Informing the media about the programme yesterday, state secretary Vijay Rawat said: “The party is in favour of bringing the post of Prime Minister in the ambit of the Lokpal Bil and the setting up of a National Judicial Commission to rein in corruption at the judiciary level. He said a stringent initiative is needed to check corruption which was expanding due to the involvement of business houses, politicians and bureaucrats in unfair practices. He advocated reforms in the election process and distribution of ticket to clean candidates to stop the misuse of black money during elections”.

To strengthen the organisation, the party would hold meetings at different levels over various issues, he added. Those present at the meeting included Surender Singh Sajvan, Shiv Prasad Devli, Rajender Purohit, Indu Naudiyal and Anant Akash.

Nainital, July 14
His is a profession that has never bored him despite being in it for more than 47 years. A heady mix of being a professional wildlife and nature photographer besides being an environmentalist has kept Anup Sah going from strength to strength.

He has enjoyed many expeditions into the very heart of nature in the past, having visited the Pindari glacier and the interiors of the Himalayas on numerous occasions. He has also undertaken the trek to Naina Devi four times, where he spotted the snow leopard for the first time. “My fondness for mountaineering built up my eventual interest in wildlife,” he explains.

He elucidates on the special sort of skill required for this particular genre of photography, where you need to be in tune with the moods of the subject.“One needs to understand the psychology of the animal in question and learn of its habits. Sometimes you have to wait for hours in silence to get the perfect shot,” he says.

Sah also mentions his various experiences with photographing birds in particular. “Though cautious at first, birds slowly start coming nearer to the photographer because they are naturally curious. Often we record the call of a bird and then play it in the wild to draw it closer. Every picture needs to tell a story. A good photographer can sense the moment and capture particular moods of animals,” says Sah.

The equipment required for wildlife photography is again different from the elaborate and heavy equipment used in studios. Lightweight, portable cameras are preferred which grant the photographer greater mobility.

The increasing disregard for environment conservation in the region has not escaped his notice. “Animals are now treated as commodities and hunted for their skin, bones and more. Hunting and poaching cases are a daily occurrence. The Forest Department needs to use more sophisticated methods to control the activities of poachers. Mere raids do not help. One needs an exceptional intelligence network to eliminate this problem from the root,” says the photographer.

He also discusses the serious depletion of medicinal herbs and plants that the hills are famous for, saying “Herbal plants should be cultivated at a rate faster than at which they are being uprooted. Appropriate security measures need to taken. I have seen birds die in front of my eyes after eating plants sprayed with poisonous fungicides.

Such negligence should be avoided.”

He is particularly vocal about the ongoing poaching of the Chinese caterpillar (cordecyps sinensis), the fungus from whose body is a precious ingredient in a variety of medicines. His advice is that wildlife tourism should be encouraged so as to ensure the preservation of animals bordering on extinction. Nainital itself was a famous spot for studying butterflies though the trend has finished with the disappearance of a lot of bushes and trees in the area. Blue sheep, tiger moths, different species of deer , Himalayan snow cocks and a variety of rare birds are now seen less and less in the Kumaon region and above.

“I’ve seen a lot of rare sights in my time. For nature lovers, this profession can give you a high. For others it can be a punishment!” he laughs in conclusion.