10 of family end life by jumping into canal
The family was depressed following the death of one of its members earlier: Cops
Sandeep Rana
Tribune News Service

Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri enquires about the condition of Kailasho Devi in Doon Hospital in Dehradun on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Vinod Pundir

Dehradun, October 4
In a tragic incident, 10 members of a family, including six children, reportedly committed suicide by jumping into the Shakti Canal at Vikasnagar, near Dehradun, today.

According to the police, the family was depressed following the death of one of its members a few months ago. However, the senior police officials said the exact reason behind the extreme step taken by the family could be ascertained through a proper investigation.

The lone survivor, an elderly woman, was found unconscious on the banks of the canal. She was reportedly tied with her clothes by the members of the family after she tried to stop them from committing suicide. She was also to jump into the canal but changed her mind seeing her grandchildren drown.

The bodies of three women and their six children have been fished out of the canal while search was on for the body of a male member of the family. The bodies have been sent for the post-mortem.

According to Vikasnagar Circle Officer (CO) GR Bijalwan, the incident came to his knowledge at 6:30 am when the locals, who had spotted an elderly woman lying unconscious on the banks of the canal, informed the police.

The police reached the spot and the woman as identified as Kailasho Devi. She was taken to the Government Doon Hospital. The cops found some sleeping pills, shoes, chappals and a paper with some mobile phone numbers lying near the woman. One of the mobile phone numbers turned out to be that of Rita, a daughter of Kailasho, who narrated the whole story to the police. She told the police that a few months ago her sister, Rekha, died of a stomach ailment. Her four sisters could not bear the shock as they were very much attached to Rekha.

They would always tell their mother that they wanted to go where Rekha had gone. Yesterday, three of the four sisters, Ravita, Hemant and Sonu, along with their six children, Golu, Prassan, Choti, Moti, Pridum and Charoo, and the mother, left for Vikasnagar from their residence at PNB Colony on the Shimla bypass. Rita, however, stayed back. They reportedly consumed sleeping pills before jumping into the canal in order to avoid pain. The CO said the police had found a suicide note written by Hemant to her husband Chandershekar before leaving the house.

The adult members of the family worked as labourers to earn a livelihood.

Creation of New Districts
Nishank ignored panel’s suggestions
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 4
Notwithstanding the political and financial fallout due the announcement of the creation of four new districts, the government, under former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, had also bypassed a unanimous decision adopted by the Uttarakhand House to refer the creation of new administrative units to a three-member committee headed by the Chief Revenue Commissioner.

The committee was formed in 2009 to establish norms for reorganising and creating new administrative units.

It was decided to refer all these issues to the committee and also ensure that the reorganisation and creation of new administrative units was based on genuine considerations.

Congress MLA Shailender Mohan Singhal said a committee was constituted in 2009 after MLA Amrita Rawat raised the issue about taking a re-look at the already created administrative units and establish norms for future reference.

“Clearly, the government under former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhiryal Nishank bypassed the commitment of the House in unilaterally announcing the creation of the districts on August 15. The committee was asked to submit its report within six months,” said Singhal, who had even raised the issue during the session of the Uttarakhand Assembly recently.

The committee comprising four members was mandated to ascertain the views of political representatives and the public so that the District Magistrate could prepare a district-wise reorganisation proposal.

This was to be referred to the committee.

“After the committee was set up, the members met twice.

But when the time came for studying geographical boundaries, the Census process was started in the state, thus putting a stop to the activities of the committee. Then shortly, the former Chief Minister announced the creation of four districts.

I am not clear what is the present status of the committee,” said PC Sharma, Revenue Commissioner.

More than a month has passed since the announcement of the creation of four districts, the government has failed to issue a notification.

“We have received a report from two districts. The District Magistrates of Pauri and Uttarkashi are yet to submit the reports. The reorganisation of the districts will take place on eight points established by the government,” PC Sharma.

Another power project fails to meet deadline
Kalandigaad project was to be completed in Sept
Seema Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 4
The deadline for the completion of Kalandigaad, a small hydro-electric project (SHP) of 9 MW situated at Uttarkashi which started in 2008, expired in September this year. Only 19 per cent of this project, which has been funded to the tune of Rs 76 crore by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has been completed till now.

The project was one among the five SHPs funded by the ADB in the state. The deadline of three other projects, namely Kali Ganga-1 (4 MW), Kali Ganga-II ( 6 MW) and Madhya Maheshwar (15 MW), have already expired in 2010. The fifth project Sobla (8 MW), costing Rs 36 crore at Pithoragarh, was commissioned this year only.

Officials at Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL) are blaming the weather, locals for their non-cooperation and consultants, who are not willing to come to the state, for the inordinate delay.

Madhya Maheshwar costing Rs 120 crore, Kali Ganga-1 costing Rs 32 crore and Kali Ganga-II costing Rs 54 were all commissioned in 2008 in February, March and May, respectively, in Rudra Prayag and were to be completed in two-year period but at present they are not completed.

According to highly placed sources, Kalandigaad and other projects got delayed due to massive rain-hit disaster and chilly winters in the last few years which took its toll on the pace of the work. These excuses are not justified beyond a point as the factors related to weather are taken into account while fixing the deadline.

They also faced the opposition from locals on Kali Ganga I and II where their fears regarding the probable hazards to the environment by the projects were allayed first.

Sources said in matter of Madhya Maheshwar, the biggest among all, the realisation dawned upon the officials concerned quite late that this project, slated for 10 MW, could be scaled up for higher capacity of 15 MW.

Managing Director, UJVNL, GP Patel gave other reasons saying, “A lot of time was wasted in finding the experienced consultants from outside the state who do not show readiness in taking up small projects.”

Learning lessons from their past experiences, the officials have now given Sobla to four partners. An official said, “In joint ventures, the two partners depend on each other and work suffers when one is absent, as happened in case of Kali Ganga projects. So in Sobla, we gave the project to four partners so that the work continue unabated in one part or the other.”

7 cheetals run over by train
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 4
In a bizarre incident, seven cheetals were found dead on a railway line in the Ramnagar region of Kumaon division.

A pack of cheetals was run over by a train while they were crossing the Kashipur-Ramnagar railway line resulting in their death. Body parts of the cheetals were strewn all over at the site of the mishap.

According to Divisional Forest Officer Nishant Verma, rangers on patrol, came across the carcasses of the cheetals. After the post-mortem examination, the carcasses were buried.

It is the first-ever major incident involving a large-scale death of cheetals in the Ramangar region situated close to the Corbett National Park.

Wildlife conservationist AK Singh said while bigger animals often became causalty on the railway line, the death of smaller animals was rare. Hence, the death of seven cheetals was a matter of major concern for him.

Meanwhile, Verma said the Forest Department was now planning to register a case against the Railways and hold talks with the Divisional Railway Manager, Moradabad, to ensure the reduction in the speed of trains.

Rudrapur Clashes
Top cop Amit Sinha’s field postings “jinxed”
Rajeev Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nainital, October 4
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police (Kumaon Range) Amit Sinha, who has been replaced by the Chief Minister, Major-Gen Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri (retd), in the wake of the Rudrapur clashes, has faced such action for a second time in the incidents that have been highly controversial. Officials and observers say that his removal on both the occasions has been “unfortunate” since he has proved to be an officer with foresight and action. It is being said that his field postings are “jinxed”.

Earlier it was the high-profile Ranvir Singh encounter case that had led to Sinha’s exit from the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) at Dehradun in July, 2009. At that time it was former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank who had ordered his removal from the office following tremendous pressure from the top brass of the BJP at the Centre. Since the victim had been a resident of the parliamentary constituency of the then national president of the BJP Rajnath Singh and he belonged to the influential Jat community, the removal of top police officials had been imminent. The posturing by Jat leaders like Mahendra Singh Tikait at that time had added to conundrum.

It was barely four months back that Sinha had once again seen a field posting after having been in the Police Headquarters for a long time. His posting as the DIG (Kumaon Range) was being seen as an end to his hibernation. It was barely a month since he had taken full-fledged charge of the region after the departure of his predecessor, Inspector-General (IG) Ram Singh Meena who is also his senior in the official hierarchy.

Ironically, in his initial interactions with The Tribune, Sinha had listed those areas as his priorities which the new Chief Minister has stressed. Sinha had talked of intensifying vigilance on the areas bordering the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh. He had talked of frequent checks and monitoring of population that comes to Uttarakhand daily.

He had also been talking of strengthening intelligence network. To cap it all he was well aware of the possibility of a communal outbreak in the Terai region and had given instructions to check such an outbreak in a couple of meetings that he had held with his subordinates during his brief tenure.

However, the communal outbreak did take place on Sunday. There were lapses on the part of the police and the administration that led to four deaths and scores being injured besides there being massive damage to property and vehicles. Once again Sinha has been removed, this time by Khanduri.

He had earlier been replaced by Abhinav Kumar as the SSP, Dehradun, who once again has been made the SSP, Udham Singh Nagar. He has once again vacated the office at Nainital for Meena who had barely left the Lake City a month ago.

Complete probe in a week: CM

Dehradun, October 4
The Chief Minister, Major-Gen BC Khanduri, has directed senior state officials to increase their level of preparedness to meet law and order exigencies. He has also ordered for the completion of the probe into the Rudrapur clashes within a week.

Presiding over a meeting on law and order at the secretariat in Dehradun, General Khanduri said the police and the administration must keep an eye on suspicious-looking elements so as to ensure that none was allowed to resort to any misadventure.

The Chief Minister in particular directed the officials of Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar and Dehradun to identify mischievous elements so as to ensure peaceful Dussehra celebrations.

He said the possibility of anti-social elements creating mischief during the festival season couldn’t be ruled out. — TNS

High-level inquiry sought

Dehradun, October 4
The members of the Tanjeema-a-Rehnuma Millat today held a demonstration at the Dehradun district headquarters demanding a high-level probe into the Rudrapur clashes.

Led by Sibte Nabi, Muttawali, Waqf Board properties, the demonstrators said while those behind the clashes must be punished, the innocents must not be unnecessarily harassed. They pointed out certain mischievous elements were behind the Rudrapur riots.

They have accused the police of protecting the rioters. The demonstrators submitted a memorandum to Dehradun District Magistrate Dilip Jawalkar. In the memorandum, the members have also demanded adequate compensation for the kin of the victims of the clashes. Latafat Hussain, Furkan Ahmed, Abdul Rehman, AH Naqui and Tahir Khan Suri were prominent among the protesters. — TNS

Yoga festival draws 200 foreign experts
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

An expert (left) addresses participants in an international yoga festival in Haridwar on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

Haridwar, October 4
Chanting of Vedic mantras and dwelling on varied aspects of yoga by foreigners is a normal scene at the ongoing International Yoga Festival in Dev Sanskriti University in Haridwar, where 200 experts from 20 countries are taking part.

A mini global conglomeration of varied cultures is also visible with the impact of yoga in life of these foreign yoga experts and growing popularity of this ancient art can easily be gauged by just being a listener to the numerous interactive sessions being held throughout the day.

Queries by participants as well as the audience are also being heard during the interactive sessions, making it more productive, both for researchers and layman too.

The day commences for the participants with a regular early morning session of yoga followed by religious rituals at “Yajnashala” to make sure that one gets purified internally.

Addressing one of the sessions, founder of the World Movement for Yoga Amedia Biyanchi related spirituality and yoga as the means by which one can get objectives of life.

Professor Marx Smicki from Italy gave a beautiful presentation on inner conscience and related deeper elements with scientific facts. A number of yoga experts and researchers from 20 countries are also attending the international yoga festival.

Indian researchers and yoga practitioners are also divulging on yoga and meditation with many getting invitation from foreign experts to have a tour of their respective countries to teach art of yoga and put forth their research papers making this ancient art more popular among masses.

Renowned yoga experts Dr Alka Mishra, Usha Jaiswal and Dr Amritalal gave foreign delegates information about Ayurveda, pranic healing, holistic health remedies and other related forms like acupressure and marmsparsha.

Chancellor of Dev Sanskriti University Pranav Pandya termed yoga and spirituality as the essence of art of living, pointing out that yoga, as was common belief, was not confined to just one’s body but instead it also took one to path of universal truths.

Yoga, an integral part of Emy’s life
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Emy Blesio, president of the International Yog Confederation

Haridwar, October 4
While 200 international yoga experts are participating in the Dev Sanskriti University’s yoga convention, The Tribune spoke to Mahamandaleshwar yogacharini Emy Blesio alias Pt Gayatridevi, president of the International Yog Confederation, on the sidelines of an interactive session.

Emy Blesio, also an Ambassador of the World Movement Yoga & Ayurveda, is living a life of a yogini and has devoted her life for the propagation of yoga and Ayurveda.

Born in Brescia, Italy, on March 31, 1947, she studied fine arts and specialised herself in drawing and visual arts in Milan. She is a founder of a research group and started a magazine called “Sintesi- Selezione dell Arte” (Synthesis - Art selection) which is quite popular in Europe.

Terming yoga as an integral part of her life, Emy said yoga had made her strong to face all ups and downs of life as there was a time when she had no money to survive. “But as I had a passion for reading, I thought it to earn by putting into pen my thoughts in chapters which luckily were accepted by readers” said Emy.

After working on the science and the therapeutic value of yoga, she has now specialised in pranayama and is an expert on Varutha Kriya, a technique that remove problems, to reinforce and protect oneself from tension which comes from others.

Terming Shantikunj as a family for her and crediting all her success to the blessings of Pt Shriram Sharma Acharya, who gave Emy her Indian name as Gayatri Devi, Emy remarked that hard work, honest, sincere approach and spiritual alignment had transformed her as a person.

“I have got not only a new name but also a new life due to Acharyaji’s blessings and people back in my country call me Pandit.But I feel my knowledge is not enough; so I should read and understand the Vedas first to live up to the people’s expectations”, added Emy who is totally against yoga being taught as a fashion and scientific statement.

“Fusion of new forms of Yoga has given birth to various confusion which are hurting this ancient art objectives but it’s up to us and institutions like Shantikunj who are working round the clock for yoga and ayurveda’s spread” said Emy, who was currently teaching at Suryanangara School, Milan, Italy holding lectures, workshops and conferences in various part of the world.

She has also innovatively designed various courses like the Yoga Teachers Training Courses in Italy which are certified by the International Yog Confederation of Delhi. Recently she was honoured with "Simplicity Feroz Gandhi Award-2010” by the Darshan Smriti.

Festive season in full swing in Haridwar
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, October 4
The festive season is in full swing in the pilgrim city with either Durga Puja, Ramlila and garba dance or other religious rituals being held in almost every nook and corner.

In rural areas too the Durga Puja “pandals” have been erected where religious activities, particularly from the members of the Bengali community, are held daily.

Devotees as well as tourists are offering prayers at these “pandals” and participating in garba dance. Though for the local people this is a new concept, they are showing enthusiasm to learn the steps of garba dance.

At sector 4 on the BHEL complex, Durga Mahotsav has been drawing devotees since early morning the festival goes on till night with chanting of bhajans making the atmosphere more religious. At the temples of Mata Mansa Devi, Mata Chandi Devi, Maya Devi, Mata Sureshwari Devi, Kali Peeth, Mata Viashno Devi, long queues of devotees were witnessed on Ashtami, the eighth day of the Navratris, today.

Ramlilas are being staged across the city. A beautiful depiction of Ramleela in a short format was presented by the junior students of Academics Height School. Dressed like the Ramayana characters, students also had the style, mannerism and voice to fit in the characters, which showed in their overall performance.

The students of Bachpan Play School, Rudra Walia, Nevaidya and Tanvi played the characters of Lord Rama, Laxman and Sita to near perfection at a tableau taken out on the premise of the school. The event was conceived by Ritu Ahluwalia, Nitina Ahluwalia, Sachin, Ashok Sharma and Arpita Devli.

At Vidya Vihar Academy, the week-long dandiya celebrations concluded today with the teachers dancing to garba songs after the students’ performances.

Engg college for Pithoragarh

Pithoragarh, October 4
Uttarakhand Potable Water Minister Parkash Pant said today that a self-financed engineering college affiliated to Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun, would open in Pithoragarh in November.

The minister was talking to the media after inspecting the land earmarked for the construction of the college building. “Admissions will be made on the basis of the norms set by the All-India Council of Technical Education, New Delhi,” said HC Nainwal, VC of Uttarakhand Technical University.

He said for the time being, the college would run from the students’ hostel on the ITI campus at the district headquarters. “We have identified 15 acres in Mad village near the town, where the college will come up. Construction work on the permanent building will begin next year after the release of the funds.”

The Vice-Chancellor said initially, five courses, animation, fashion designing, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electronics and communication and computer science, would be started from this session. — OC