Dehradun, August 23
Calamity struck Karligad village near Sahastradhara in Dehradun last night. Five migrant labourers were killed when Panchayat Bhavan where they were putting up collapsed under the weight of the debris brought along by flashfloods triggered by a cloudburst in the area.

The three of the victims have been identified as Rajan, Babloo and Noor, all from Bihar. Rescue work was on to retrieve the bodies of the other two labourers.

More than six houses in the area have been affected due to the cloudburst. The road leading to the village has been blocked by the debris and the rescue team had to reach the spot on foot.

The potable water and electricity supply to the village has snapped while the main Sahastradhara bridge has been washed away. According to the reports, a few head of cattle have gone missing. Lightening struck a house in the area.

According to the information, the incident occurred at about 3 am. Soon the administration was informed of the matter and officials, a disaster management team and the police rushed to the spot early in the morning. They had a tough time negotiating the hilly terrain to reach the spot. The road leading to the village was full of debris and the officials had to park their vehicles about 5 km before the spot.

“We have retrieved three bodies and sent them to a local health centre for post-mortem,” Circle Officer Shweta Choubey (Rajpur) told The Tribune.

The authorities concerned said a control board had been set up at the spot to help the victims.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Disaster Management Minister Trivendra Rawat and Rajpur MLA Ganesh Joshi inspected the spot. The CM had to reach the spot on foot.

Speaking with mediapersons at the spot, the Disaster Management Minister said: “We reached here at 5:30 am after we got the information. This is a small village with a population of about 47. A house has collapsed besides the other losses due to the calamity. The state government has announced Rs 1 lakh each for the next of the kin of the deceased. We will try to rehabilitate all of the victims of the cloudburst.”

While talking to the villagers, Nishank assured them the state government was committed to ensuring their security and said if need be they would be rehabilitated. He directed the district administration to rehabilitate the affected families at a safer place temporarily.

Dehradun August 23
The incessant rain and lightning in the Doon valley last night damaged a house at Vijay Colony. The house received cracks on the walls while the land on the front yard of the house caved in after lightning struck it.

Owner of the house Shivani who lives there with her two kids, said, “Last night, we felt tremors due to lightning after which the rainwater started trickling in our rooms. Also our front yard was caved in due to the lightning.”

Councillor Babita Sahotra visited the spot and assured the victim of some relief. 

Dehradun, August 23
At least four students of Graphic Era University suffered injuries in a group clash, which triggered after the alleged ragging of certain students last night. The injured were admitted to the Government Doon Hospital but were discharged early in the morning.

According to the Clamentown police, a junior student complained to one of his known seniors that he was teased by other seniors in the college. They had talks over the issue but it did not work.

Soon two groups of seniors were formed and they clashed near the ISBT. The most of the students are of the BBA and BTech courses.

The Patelnagar police said the two parties reached a compromise and no case was registered. Meanwhile, when The Tribune contacted Director of the university Kamal Ghansala he said he was busy and did not comment on the issue.

Dehradun, August 23
With the last date for the submission of forms for the entrance test for Uttarakhand pre-nursing and midwife courses at the Gobind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology approaching, thousands of applicants thronged the city Grand Post Office here today.

Long queues of applicants were witnessed at the post office.

“I have come from Sahaspur, 25 km from the post office, to fill the form. But due to a huge rush, all forms of today’s sale have finished. I will have to come again tomorrow,” said Deepak Kandpal.

The sale of the forms had begun from August 12. The entrance exam for the general nurses and midwife (GNM) and auxiliary nurses and midwife (ANM) courses will be held next month.

Kapil Sharma, another candidate, said: “The university should have made available this facility online to save the time of candidates, who are coming from far off places.”

According to officials, 2,500 forms had been submitted till afternoon and they were expecting 50,000 forms till the last date of the submission, which is August 27. 

Dehradun, August 23
For the development of tourism circuits, the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) has received Rs 42.03 crore from the Central Government in the past one and a half months. The total budget for the scheme is Rs 98 crore. All circuits fall under the Kumaon division.

Under the plan, cottages, tourism information centres, toilets etc will be built at those places that are mentioned in the circuit.

For the development of Panchprayag which include Devprayag, Karnprayag, Vishnuprayag, Roopprayag and Nandprayag in Badrinath, an amount of Rs 7.72 crore has been released. A sum of Rs 7.85 has been released for the Purola, Netwad and Harkidoon circuit, Rs 7.43 for Ramganga Valley in the Kosani range, Rs 8 crore for Bhavali, Ramgarh, Muktehswar and Bhimtal, Rs 6.89 for Haripura, Nanaksagar reservoir and Mayavati Ashram and Rs 4.90 for Jogeshwar and Katarmal in Almora.

To promote water sports in the Tehri lake, Rs 5 crore has been released. Houseboats and adventure centres will be provided t here.

AK Dwivedi, Joint Director (UTDB), said: “In all lakes that come under the circuits, activities such as boating, kayaking and canoeing will be introduced. Stretches that are hilly and meandering will be developed as trekking routes.

Facilities related to mountaineering and rock climbing will also be provided. Cottages, restaurants, toilets and rain sheds on the way will be provided at these circuits. Tourist information centres will also be established.”

The amount has been released after the UTDB had sent a detailed project report to the Centre in this regard.

Mussoorie, August 23
Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) IG and Director, Academy, Kabul Singh Bajwa reiterated his resolve to assist in beautification of the town by planting saplings.

He was speaking on the occasion World Senior Citizens Day on the ITBP premises here.

Senior citizen officials forum member RS Mishra, along with several ex-soldiers from the force, attended the function and shared their experience with the soldiers. Mishra also raised several issues concerning the town of Mussoorie which were well-received by the ITBP cadres present on the occasion.

Kabul Singh Bajwa after listening to all suggestions patiently said Mussoorie was home to the force here and he would leave no stone unturned in making it a beautiful and clean place in the region. The officials from the Senior Citizen Forum were also presented with souvenirs on the occasion. 

Dehradun, August 23
With the Cow Science, Research and Technology Institute at Pashulok, near Rishikesh, remaining a non-starter, the Uttarakhand Government has now decided to reinvite proposals under two-bid system to undertake research and development.

After failing to rope in private research organisations to run the institute and give scientific validity to “Panchgavya” or five elements of the cow, the government has once again invited bids for kickstarting the institute and carrying out research on ‘Panchgavhya’ comprising five cow products - urine, butter, dung, milk and ghee.

The pet scheme of Agriculture Minister Trivender Singh Rawat has failed to take off since the minister, who was also a former RSS pracharak, hit upon the idea in 2007. “Without scientific validity, people are not interested in taking medicines made of cow products,” said Rawat.

Keen to provide scientific validity to the concept that finds mention in Ayurveda in great detail, the project has been passed four times at the Cabinet meetings since 2008.

“The Uttarakhand Livestock Board is keen to establish a research centre located in 20 acres of land at Pashulok on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, so initially they had floated expression of interest that has now been cancelled due to various reasons.

Five organisations based in Uttarakhand, including Ramdev’s Patanjali and Chidanand Swami’s organisations, had applied but they found the conditions set by the government too rigid, so once again proposals are being invited through tendering. Last time the bids were invited a few months back,” said Rawat.

The selected organisation will conduct research in areas of Panchgavya, develop various medicinal applications and recommend standard to the Bureau of Indian Standard.

Besides developing various medicinal applications and patent for Panchgavya, it will also conduct professional courses in the field of cow science and establish a production logistic and marketing chain for “Gau Ark”.

“We have set up 40 collection centres at different parts of the state for collecting cow urine and after distillation at Uttarkashi, the concentrate is being sold to the Pitanjali Yog Peeth, Haridwar, which is run by famous yoga guru Ramdev. One distillation unit manages to collect around 200 litres of cow urine concentrate or ‘ark,” added Rawat. 

Dehradun, August 23
Mehul got the better of Anshuman 21-11, 11-17 in the under-15 boys’ singles semifinal during the District Badminton Championship, which is under way at the Parade Ground here today. While in the under-15 girls’ doubles semifinals, Anushta and Katyani beat Kahini and Nitisha 21-5, 21-5.

Yesterday, in the under-13 girls’ singles category, Ishita, Arushi, Shefali and Unnati entered the next round.

Also, Anurag, Ashrit, Vaibhav and Ayush made it to the next round in the under-13 boys’ singles winning their respective matches. Other than this, Apurva and Megha have entered the second round in other categories. 

Dehradun, August 23
The junior team of Welham Girls School lost while senior team scored a victory today in a one-sided league match during the Major Dhyan Chand Girls Inter-School Hockey Tournament.

Welham Girls School senior team outplayed Moravian Institute 6-0. Ishrat (10th, 20th, 25th) and Medhavi (14th, 27th) were the main scorers in the win. Ashana (30th) chipped in with a goal.

The junior girls team of Welham Girls School had to suffer loss against the senior team of Mahadevi Kanya Pathshala (MKP) College 5-0.

Kavita Bisht (10th, 12th) scored a brace. Varsha Rawat (20th), Pooja Bhatt (24th) and Anita (34th) scored a goal each.

Environmentalist Reema Pant was the chief guest on the occasion.

Dehradun, August 23
In a closely contested super league match, Garhwal Sporting got past Gypsy Young 2-1 during the district football league held on the Pavilion ground here today.

All three goals came in the second half of play. Dheeraj (40th minute) and Shivam (56th) struck for the winning team while for Gypsy Young, Mahender scored the lone goal through a penalty.

In another match between Doon Star and Willis Youth Club no goal could be scored despite repeated attempts.

Two matches will be played tomorrow.