Dehradun, August 1
Delhi-based company SPML started its trial for the collection of door-to-door garbage from the Dalanwala area of the city today.

On the first day of the trial, a team kept around 25 small and five big dustbins in various parts of the area. Three tipper vehicles were seen running in the locality in the morning but hardly any resident came out to throw the garbage in these due to want of any information.

Though, company representatives and officials of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) claimed that they collected waste from various houses in Dalanwala, area councillor Rajkumar claimed that the company had kept dustbins but did not visit the houses.

The company officials too believe that people would not be cooperative until they are informed, thus they are planning to communicate with the residents by distributing leaflets about their initiative.

“The leaflets are expected to come in a day or two from Delhi. We will ensure that it is distributed in every house,” a representative of the company told The Tribune. The company has a target of installing 19 big and 62 small containers in 15 wards where they are working on trial basis.

“We will be keeping the dustbins as per the requirement at Nashville Road, Opposite Gandhi Park, Tehsil Dhamawala, Lansdowne Chowk, Jhakhan and New Cantt Road within the next few days,” he lamented.

“The vehicles that were on route today also picked up filth that was taken out of small drains and were kept aside the roads so that it gets dry. Till our processing plants get ready, we will throw the garbage at the dumping ground located at Sahastradhara,” the official maintained.

Dr Kailash Joshi, senior health officer of the corporation, stated that they had started the process and expect it to be a hit among the residents. He further affirmed that the drive would carry on at Rajpur, Jhakhan and Hathibarkala on Tuesday.

Dehradun, August 1
Aggrieved with the working of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC), councillors from the Congress under the leadership of Ashok Verma, today submitted a memorandum to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sushil Kumar.

Verma said the employees were wasting their power by taking out the silt from small drains as they were not able to remove it on time and it again went into the drains after rain.

The councillors also asked the CEO about the works to be done as none of the contractor is ready to apply for the tenders as the corporation had failed to pay them their earlier dues.

Moreover, Verma criticised the disaster management department set up.

“The corporation had set it up but failed to provide proper equipment, including a torch, gum boots and sticks etc. When we visited it on Sunday night during the showers, it was found that five employees were sitting on duty but failed to visit any place as the driver was not available with them,” he affirmed.

Councillor Rajkumar too stated that whenever he had tried to call upon the number, it was either not working or there was a lots of disturbance. The councillors asked the CEO to ensure that work was done as soon as possible as it was affecting the citizens.

“When we visited the areas to have a look during the heavy showers on Sunday night, all the roads, including Subash Road, Cross Road, Court Road, Haridwar Road, Rajpur Road, Dalanwala and many other areas, were submerged. Water has even entered many houses,” Rajkumar lamented.

The CEO ensured them that he would organise a meeting with different departments very soon. He further stated that a wire mesh had been put up at Govindgarh and Gandhi Gram where water was expected to damage houses.

Kumar asked his officials to get two dumpers and JCBs on rent and also told them to see that tractors used for picking up the garbage got repaired on time.

Meanwhile, BJP Councillors also submitted a memorandum to Sushil Kumar.

Councillor Babita Sahotra said they had shown the place to the CEO where the hawker zone would be set up.

“The CEO had asked the patwari to submit the report to him but even after so many days he failed to do so. Residents of the area need a space so that they can earn livelihood but the corporation is ignoring the matter,” Babita said.

The CEO has now asked the patwari to submit him the report within 10 days, which he will further send it to the District Magistrate to get the approval.

Mussoorie, August 1
Most of the linking roads in and around the hill town, bearing the brunt of continuous downpour, are either cracked or have become slippery due accumulation of moss and algae, making the life of the pedestrians difficult but the Mussoorie Municipal Council is busy exhausting its stock of lime powder unnecessarily to welcome important dignitaries, frequently visiting the town.

Residents said the Municipal Council in order to impress government dignitaries is generously sprinkling bleaching and lime powder, wherever possible, neglecting their areas which require immediate attention.

Sanjay, Kulri Bazaar resident, said the tradition of welcoming the dignitaries with white bleaching powder on the road should be done away with as it had led to the council neglecting the roads which require immediate attention.

Health officials said on an average around 1000 bags of bleaching and limestone powder were used in the town annually.

Municipal Council president OP Uniyal said it was true that Mussoorie received a large number of important dignitaries, creating immense pressure on the limited resources and manpower available with the council, resulting in the neglect of the areas on some occasions.

Uniyal opined that if the government provided separate fund for the welcome of the important dignitaries, most of the problems would be solved.

Dehradun, August 1
It was the rebel playwright Safdar Hashmi who first introduced Sangeeta Sharma to all-pervasive power of street plays that later saw fruition in her learning contemporary dance drama from Narender Sharma, the pupil of Uday Shankar.

Since then, she has never looked back and continues to explore the creativity through her Dance Theater Anveshna. “Through Anveshna, I am trying to bring the feminine aspects to the fore and give shape to the sense of rhythm that I acquired when I was still in my mother’s womb. It is a culmination of my journey so far and more will follow,” said the dance director from Delhi who is in Doon to participate in the ongoing Theaterfest-11.

Her presentation “Visarjan” slated for this evening and inspired by Tagore, seeks to unravel the thought process of men and women who, in a mad moment, decide to sacrifice a lamb.

“It is a play of feeling and not of action. You will always find my characters assailed by both negative and positive thoughts. My characters have shades of grey as well, it gives enough room for the director to explore the hidden and the not so obvious,” said Sangeeta. Tagore had composed the play Visarjan in 1890.

In fact, Sangeeta will be essaying the role of the Purohit who weaves a web of superstition ensnaring the childless king and the queen into offering sacrifice at the altar of the goddess.

“Rabindranath Tagore too had essayed the role of the purohit and when I take the centrestage today evening, several thoughts would be playing my mind. Above all, I would be interpreting the character in my own way,” asserted the director, actor and choreographer.

The actor has encountered the highs and lows battling the uncertainties that are part of this profession. “I have been in this profession for the past 24 years but this is not to say that life has been easy, on the contrary for an artiste every day is a struggle for the proverbial bread and butter. Now I would like to concentrate on strengthening Anveshna financially so that even amateur artistes are assured of a secure future,” revealed Sharma.

Dehradun, August 1
Ever on the move, wandering minstrel from Birbhum (West Bengal) Prahlad Brahmachari and his troupe gave a glimpse of traditional Baul singing during their temporary halt in Dehradun.

The musical odyssey of the 71-year-old singer is a reiteration of the mystical movement that started some 2000 years ago in the erstwhile East Bengal by Lalon Fakir, who had even charmed the noble laureate, Rabindranath Tagore.

“Rabindranath Tagore was inspired by the mysticism of the Baul movement while residing in East. For me, it was more of personal experience. The musical notes of the Baul singers that I heard in my village haunted me as a child. So at the age of 15 years, I began learning music from my Guru Kapha Nabani Das and became a part of the Gurukul system. Though by all accounts, I was an outsider and did not belong to the traditional Baul singing families, students embraced me,” said Prahlad.

Free spirited he may be but this did not prevent him from getting married to a singer who at first came to learn singing from him and then became his life partner. “She has adapted to my way of life and is a versatile singer and accompanies at my various sojourns in India and abroad,” added the singer.

Holding his breath comes easy to the singer who had held the audience spellbound by holding his breath for a record one minute and 50 seconds while giving a recital in Russia. “I like the idea of performing abroad and introducing the western audience to Baul singing. The Japanese audience is quite appreciative of this kind of genre, but at times the Baul music seems to lose its ethereal quality when clubbed with western instruments. The Khamak and ghungroo (musical instruments) that are used by Baul singers become non-harmonious with the electronic musical instruments. One has to judiciously use the musical instruments,” he said.

No wonder then, the singer likes to be at Birbhum during the Jaidev mela when hundreds of Baul singers gather there to perform. The festival is held every year in the second week of January.

Dehradun, August 1
The Uttarakhand government has approved the creation of new divisions in the Jal Sansthan. As of now, the Jal Sansthan consists of 23 divisions that will now be expanded to 28 divisions.

The expansion follows the increase in work load that has already been increased after the handing over of 500 schemes that were earlier with the Peyjal Nigam.

The Jal Sansthan has already decided to raise the division in Devprayag and Haridwar, the decision regarding raising of rest of the divisions will be taken in the coming days.

The new divisions are expected to be created in the districts of Pauri, Tehri, Almora and Pithoragarh that have the maximum number of schemes.

Dehradun, August 1
In protest against the imposition of 1 per cent VAT on cloth, cloth merchants of Dehradun took out a protest march here today. It was organised under the banner of the Kapra Committee, Dehradun.

Addressing a gathering, Anil Kumar Gupta, chief of the committee, said: “The imposition of VAT might not seem a heavy tax, but it involved many other implications. In spite of registering many protests in the past, the government has not given any assurance to cloth merchants regarding the abolishing of VAT.”

The general secretary of the association, Gajender Vasan, said: “We are against the imposition of VAT in Uttarakhand and will continue with our protest till our demands are fulfilled.”

Haridwar, August 1
Members of the Valmiki community are quite angry over the removal of a statue at Teerth Seeta Bani at Ramnagar.

According to the information, miscreants had removed the statue of Rishi Valmiki from the Sitabani shrine a few days ago. The shrine holds tremendous importance among the members of the community and every year on April 26 a fair is held at there.

The people belonging to the Valmiki community in Haridwar held a meeting regarding the incident at Valmiki Dharmashala in Jwalapur and discussed the ways to raise the issue at different levels.

A memorandum was also sent to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank with the demand that he should make sure that the statue is reinstalled and the culprits punished. National joint secretary of the Bharatiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj Veer Hans Raj Kataria said BJP national vice-chief Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Almora MP KC Singh Baba had written to the state government regarding the beautification of the shrine, but it seemed that the state government was serious about their pleas.

Dehradun, August 1
The Congress workers, under the leadership of senior leader Suryakant Dhasmana, today gheraoed Sushil Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC).

Angry upon the working of the DMC, Dhasmana told the CEO that most of the areas submerged during the monsoon and water stagnated there due to the absence of drains. Dhasmana asked the CEO to prepare a drainage plan at the ward level. He further stated it had been eight months since the lintel of a sewer pit at MDDA Colony in Indrapuram collapsed and no action had been taken to repair it yet. Also digging work had left the city roads in a poor condition, he added

Kumar said he would invite tenders to repair the sewer pit this week only. The corporation would soon solve the problem of water-logging at Sailok Colony, Indrapuram, MDDA Colony, Sailok Gharwali Colony, Shastri Nagar, Sattowali Ghatti and in the Gandhi Gram area.

Dhasmana said if the corporation failed to take action within a week the Congress would intensify its protest.

Dehradun August 1
Under the aegis of the state committee of the Centre of Indian Trade Union, Uttarakhand, ASHA workers took out a massive march from Gandhi Park in support of their demand towards the residence of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank here today. The committee workers from all across the state gathered and staged a demonstration on the roads of Dehradun. The march passed through Rajpur Road, Subash Road and finally culminated at Haathibarkala where they were stopped by a strong police force from moving towards the residence of the Uttarkhand Chief Minister.

However, the protesters were stopped by the police at Haathibarkala where they staged a demonstration and threatened to intensify their agitation if their demands were not met. The protesting ASHA workers’ demand was the revocation of a government order slashing their honoraria. Birender Bhandari, regional general secretary, said, according to the last government order, the ASHA workers were entitled for an honorarium of Rs 600 in the rural areas and Rs 200 in the urban areas for a month for carrying out deliveries but the government later slashed it to Rs 350 in the rural areas and Rs 100 in the urban areas. — TNS