Traffic cops may get fuel allowance
Dehradun, September 14
Beat traffic constables and head constables of the city have a reason to cheer as the Dehradun police is contemplating sending a proposal to the state DGP to provide them with fuel allowance.

Dehradun, September 14
The Dehradun police has failed to find any clue to 71-year-old Kailash Bhatnagar’s murder whose body was found in a semi-nude condition at her Moti Bazar-situated house yesterday.

The police detained a man on the basis of suspicion in the city last night. After grilling him, the police found that he was not involved in the murder case.

The police said on the basis of the call details of the woman’s mobile phone, it called up the man and asked him to disclose his location. He first tried to mislead the police by giving wrong information about his location but later said he did so out of fear.

Till the filing of the report, the police had not established any clue to the murder and was groping in the dark. Yesterday, the police did not reach the spot with a proper investigation team. The dog squad was called quite late. Earlier, when the name of Kailash Bhatnagar was included in the list of senior citizens at the Kotwali police station, nothing was done for her safety.

Circle Officer (CO) Barinderjit Singh and SP (City) Jaswant Singh as usual did not bother to answer the phone calls made by The Tribune. For now, the murder is being linked to a property dispute and the relatives of the deceased are being questioned.

Meanwhile, Congress MLA from Laxman Chowk Dinesh Agarwal, along with Congress workers, met with state DGP Jyoti Swaroop Pandey and apprised him of the deteriorating law and order situation in Dehradun. He stated several murder cases had not been solved.

Dehradun, September 14
All the Congress councillors of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) today met the Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd), and congratulated him on being made the Chief Minister again. The team, led by Ashok Verma, Leader of Opposition in the DMC House, also submitted a memorandum related to the problems faced by them to the Chief Minister.

Criticising the poor working of the company that has been awarded the solid waste management project, Verma said though the money was being provided for the project by the Central Government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the work was not picking up speed. He said none of the meeting in the corporation was held on time. The land mafia was encroaching on the corporation’s land but the officials were quiet. The officials did not react despite being informed about the encroachment.

The councillors urged the CM to ensure that the house tax (under the old scheme) should be implemented for all the new buildings. The DMC had sent a proposal to the administration for allotting free land to the families of freedom fighters but that was rejected by it. He said another proposal to give relaxation in the house tax to the families of the Kargil martyrs and statehood agitators was also ignored by the administration.

Complaining about the working of the officials of the DMC, the councillors said the Chief Minister should take a look at their working in the past three years. The corporation has even failed to auction the shopping complex, Verma claimed.

Dehradun, September 14
Beat traffic constables and head constables of the city have a reason to cheer as the Dehradun police is contemplating sending a proposal to the state DGP to provide them with fuel allowance.

If the proposal gets the nod, they will get Rs 300-350 every month. “At a meeting held recently, constables had put forward their demand for fuel allowance,” said SP (Traffic) Ajay Joshi.

SP Joshi said: “I have brought this to the SSP’s notice, who will send a proposal in this regard to the state DGP. We hope that it will soon get the DGP’s nod.”

As beat traffic constables have to travel from one place to another for duty purposes, they are demanding the facility of the fuel allowance. They are of the view that their duties keep changing according to the visits of VIPs, ministers and other scheduled programmes in the city.

A traffic constable said: “In other states, traffic constables are entitled to the facility of the fuel allowance. While managing traffic at different junctions, they have to bear the brunt of the sun and rain for hours . Besides, we have to travel from one place to another according to their duties. Thus, we should also be given the benefits of the fuel allowance.”

Dehradun, September 14
Although there are many historical buildings in Dehradun, not many are aware of their significance. The building of American Presbyterian Mission Boys’ Higher Secondary School, known as CNI Boys’ Intermediate College, is one of the oldest buildings of the state capital that was founded in 1854. Unfortunately, many people are not aware of a historical bell installed on its premises.

A gift from the USA, it is the largest and the loudest bell in the town that had played an important role in the mutiny of 1857. Talking about the importance of the bell, school Principal RS Donald said earlier, people used to synchronise their watches with the help of this bell. “The ringing of the bell at that time would mean a signal that mutineers were about to attack the town and people would ran to safety,” he told TNS.

Just like the city-based CNI Boys’ Intermediate College, there are many other buildings, including Astley Hall, Clock Tower and Guru Ram Rai Durbar, that have a historical background. During a heritage walk organised by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation in association with INTACH on Tuesday, Lokesh Ohri, who is working on the historical buildings of the city, said the city had a historical value.“Every place in Dehradun has its own importance and named after important things. People should understand the value of their city,” he said.

Explaining the background of Astley Hall, Ohri said it was built by freebooter Fedrick Wilson “Pahari” in memory of his grandson, Astley, who died in infancy. The Mansa Ram Building, which used to be a premier bank (now in a dilapidated condition), was built by using the elements of art-deco architecture (in which geometrical shapes are used). The building has a double-height ground floor that gives an impression of this building being a five-storey structure.

He further said Clock Tower was constructed in 1953 by Kunwar Anand Singh in memory of his father, Lala Balbir Singh, a famous laureate of the British period. It stands at the junction of four important streets, Gandhi Road, Paltan Bazar, Rajpur Road and Chakrata Road.

About Guru Ram Rai Durbar, locally known as “a monument of friendship”, Ohri said it was built by Aurangzeb in honour of his friend, “udasin fakir” Guru Ram Rai. He said it was a unique example of the Mughal-Sikh-Pahari cultural heritage. The general layout of Guru Ram Rai’s mausoleum and the adjoining garden is similar to other mausoleums built by the Mughals. “According to Cunningham, the design of the guru’s samadhi appears to have been inspired by Jahangir’s tomb at Sikandara, Lahore,” he added.

Dehradun, September 14
DAV PG College, Dehradun, and SGRR PG College, Dehradun, set for a final clash in the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University Inter-Collegiate Football Tournament today. The final will be played at 11am tomorrow.

In the first semifinal, DAV PG College, Dehradun, outplayed DAV PG College, Kotdwar 4-0. Thoi (45th minute), Arpan (52nd), Shashank (59th) and Mohit (69th) were the scorers in the win of DAV, Dehradun.

In the second semifinal, SGGR PG College, Dehradun beat Government PG College, Rishikesh 2-0. This was Shuba who fashioned the win with his brace. He struck the goals in 20th and 29th minutes.