Dehradun, October 10
“Chitthi na koi sandesh, jane wo kaun sa desh, jahan tum chale gae” was on everyone’s lips after the news of the death of renowned singer Jagjit Singh spread in the city. Jagjit Singh performed at a function of the local school in Dehradun two days before he suffered a brain haemorrhage.

The renowned ghazal singer, who was 70 years old, died at Mumbai in this morning. Last month a surgery was performed on him and he had been in a coma ever since.

Jagjit Singh, who was famous for his semi-classical ghazal singing, had enthralled his fans at a function held at Selakui, near here, two days before he suffered a brain haemorrhage. The singer had then promised to cut his new album soon. Those who were able to meet him at the function said he was seemed to be hale and hearty and they were shocked to hear that he had suffered a brain haemorrhage.

“Oh my God! A beautiful voice has gone from our lives,” said Varun Narang, a fan of the singer. “I never thought he would pass away so soon. Though I did not get the chance to meet the singer, I loved all of his songs, ghazals as well as the gurbani recorded by him. I have been listening to him since I was 15,” he said while talking The Tribune, with tears rolling down his eyes. “It was a dream to meet him which would never get fulfilled now,” he added.

Mukul Anand said: “He looked like actor Dilip Kumar and used to sing like Mehndi Hasan. It’s really a big loss to music lovers”. “I am lucky that I got to meet the great singer. I will miss him a lot,” he said.

“We have lost the golden voice. His music is gentle, soothing and goes deep in heart,” said Meena Tyagi.

The workers of the Uttarakhand Congress Committee observed a two-minutes silence in the memory of the great singer. The Chief Minister, Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd), in a message, mourned the death of the ghazal maestro and prayed for eternal peace to the departed soul.

Dehradun, October 10
Several projects which are to be set up in the state capital by the Sports Department have been delayed due to bureaucratic red tape. Out of the five main projects proposals for which were sent to the state government, construction work on only two could be started but sadly it is going on a snail’s pace, putting players and officials in utter inconvenience.

After much delay, a boundary wall is being raised at the Parade Ground to demarcate the area for sports activities. However, sources said though work had been started, funds had not reached them yet.

A budget of Rs 50 lakh has been sanctioned for the work at the Parade Ground by the state government while an additional Rs 51 lakh is to be given by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation.

To gauge the dismal state of affairs at the Parade Ground, where budding players from the district train and where several national and district-level games are organised, a statement of the players is enough to conclude: “People urinate on the ground where we play.”

On the other hand, the work to give a facelift to the Pavilion Ground, the hub of football, was started several months ago, but it is nowhere near completion.

“Seeing the pace of the work here, it seems it will take at least six or eight more months to complete,” commented an official related to football.

A budget of Rs 70 lakh has been passed for the revamp of the Pavilion Ground, which has produced several international players. An eight-foot fencing, a tubewell, a pipeline, toilets are to be set up there. Besides the ground is to be properly leveled.

Other than these two main projects, proposals to build a boxing ring, a boys’ sports hostel and expand the badminton hall at the Parade Ground are yet to be taken up by the authorities, which claim that they are doing a lot to promote sports in the state.

When The Tribune contacted Sports Minister Khazan Das, he said: “I keep doing the inspection of different sports grounds to see the pace of work there and this evening also I am going for a similar inspection. We had given October 31 as the deadline for the completion of the project to raise a boundary wall at the Parade Ground while for the Pavilion Ground there is no deadline as such.”

Regarding other projects, he said: “For the proposed boxing rink work has already been started while as regards the proposed sports hostel and sports club, we have asked the officials concerned to assess their costs then we will start the process to materialise the plan.”

Mussoorie, October 10
The Mussoorie-Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), acting on a complaint filed with the office of the SDM, Mussoorie, today sealed an illegal structure at Doodhli village, 5 km from here.

The MDDA authorities, led by Executive Engineer Shyam Mohan Sharma, along with police personnel, arrived at the site in Doodhli village and sealed the alleged unauthorised structure. Sharma said they had received a complaint via the SDM, Mussoorie, that an illegal construction was on at the village, which we found to be true. Therefore, the structure had been sealed completely and its owners had been told not to construct it further.

The owner of the house, Vikas Sharma, has been warned against indulging in any construction further otherwise it would be demolished without delay. He also appealed to all the builders to take the necessary permission first along with proper documents and then only go for any construction activity.

Later speaking to the media, he said the MDDA was identifying illegal constructions in the town and punitive action would be taken immediately without bias.

The SDM, Mussoorie, RS Burnia, said all the necessary steps would be taken according to the law to maintain the pristine beauty of the hill town of Mussoorie.

Meanwhile, the residents of the town welcomed the move but they were of the view that due to strict regulations, housing had become a major problem and people were unable to repair their existing buildings that were in dilapidated condition. Therefore the MDDA should either relax the norms for the construction of such buildings or formulate a new housing plan, they added.

Dehradun, October 10
Beating Summer Valley School in the final, The Aryan School won the Shri Rohitash Singh Memorial Inter-School Boys Super 8s Cricket Tournament that concluded at The Heritage School today.

After winning the toss, The Aryan School opted to bat first. The school batted well and scored 31 runs losing a wicket only. Summer Valley also played well.

In the second innings, the winning team made a total of 34 runs at the loss of four wickets. Chasing the target, Summer Valley could score 29 runs for four wickets.

Meanwhile, chief guest Rajendra Pal, a former Indian cricket player, and guest of honour Mandeep Singh, Captain, Indian Volleyball Team, gave prizes to the players and the coaches.

Yuvraj Cheema of Summer Valley School was declared the man of the match. The player of the tournament was Abdul Qadir of The Aryan School. The most promising batsman award was won by Priyanshu Khanduri of St Thomas College.

Dehradun, October 10
Kailasho, the lone surviving member of the family whose 10 members reportedly committed suicide by jumping into Shakti Canal last week, was today discharged from Government Doon Hospital.

Though she has been booked in the case under the IPC on charges abetment to suicide, murder, erc, the police has ruled out any possibility of her immediate arrest.

“She has been discharged from the hospital. After evidences are collected against her, then only her arrest will be made in the case,” Circle Officer G Bijalwan told The Tribune today.

Meanwhile, the police investigation team, which had gone to Muzaffarnagar, has failed to find any substantiate lead in the case. The CO said there was no big debt on the family which would have driven them to commit suicide. He further stated they had come to know about Rs 40,000 debt which the family had to pay back to a person known to them who lived in Uttar Pradesh.

The CO also ruled out any foul play by Kailasho’s son-in-law Shokender, who is Rekha’s husband. Rekha had died of an ailment. Kailasho had accused him of loose character and teasing her family.

Nine members of the family, including six children, had plunged into Shakti Canal in Vikasnagar to end their lives while a male member committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the Telpura Tea Estate.

Though on the day of the incident the police had termed it as a case of collective suicide driven by extreme depression due to Rekha’s death.

Mussoorie, October 10
More than 25 former students from Convent of Jesus and Mary Hampton Court School (1981 batch) today paid a visit to their Alma Mater along with their families to mark the 30th year reunion celebrations and reminisce the days in school.

The ex-students were ecstatic to meet Dilawar, one of the few teachers left from their school days, and thanked her for imparting quality education and laying the foundation stone of their careers.

They also pledged financial assistance to those girl students from the economically weaker sections who were willing to study in the school.

Principal of the school Sister Lucy welcomed the ex-students by organising a special assembly for the students. She said it was indeed gratifying that the students still carried the memories of the school in their hearts even after 30 years and chose to return to the roots along with their families.

The present-day students also presented a dance number in honour of the ex-students.

Ramesh Mittal, the coordinator of the reunion celebrations, addressed the gathering and thanked the school.

Ex-students Naveen Jain, Harsukhpal Singh, Rajesh Sikka, Mahesh Sharda and Rahul Singh also asserted that the efforts were on to unite the former students under one platform so that a close connection is established for lifetime.

Amit Sandilya also said plans were on to form an alumni association officially.

Rahul, who came from Canada for the occasion, said the alumni association also planned to introduce number of scholarship schemes for the students in the field of academic and sports in the near future.

They also presented mementos to the Principal and the staff.

The Jesus and Mary congregation that were running Waverly school in the town, took over the charge of the school in 1922 and established Hampton court as a preparatory school. The school has been upgraded to class X and from next year it will become an inter college. Some of the famous alumni’s o the school are eminent author Ruskin Bond and Bollywood singer Lucky Ali.

Dehradun, October 10
The Dehradun District Magistrate, Dilip Jawalkar, discussed about the damaged roads, proposals under the JNNURM and relocation of forest land with the officials here today.

He asked the officials of the PWD and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to join hands in order to complete the work related to the laying of sewer lines, water pipes and repair of roads as soon as possible. The DM asked the project manager of the ADB to provide a list of works that had been carried out by the PWD so that they could carry out the repairs of the roads. A proposal worth Rs 12 crore has been sent to the state administration. He also asked them to inform the administration about the works that had been completed by them till now and the works which are yet to be finished.

The Executive Engineer of the PWD apprised the DM about the work to be done on 32 roads, including Saharnpur Road, Vidhan Sabha bypass, Dharampur Chowk, Ring Road, Sahastradhara Road, Haridwar Road, Rajpur to Kunthal Gate Road, DAV College Road, Teg Bahadur Road, Arvind Road, Old Survey Road, Balbir Road, Mohini Road, Kaula Garh Road and Katcheri Road. He said the administration had given nod to releasing Rs 1758.09 lakh for the work and tenders for the same would be floated by October 13. The work would start by November.

A PWD official said the ADB had laid the sewer lines as well as pipelines on the 12 roads but they had failed to repair the roads.

The DM told the officials to ensure that the best material was used in the construction and they should keep in view the slope so that water could get out of the city easily. He also asked the officials to submit the progress report every weak.

Dehradun, October 10
The contractual lecturers of the government colleges in the state today held a silent protest in support of their demands here. Wearing black bands on their mouths, the contractual lecturers marched from the Parade Ground to the Civil Secretariat holding placards highlighting their demands. Their agitation entered its fifth day today.

The contractual lecturers are agitated over the issue of appointment of permanent lecturers against 800 posts by the State Public Service Commission. The state government has directed the commission to fill the vacant posts. The lecturers fear that with the appointment of permanent lecturers by the commission, the 530 contractual lecturers working in the state colleges would be rendered jobless.

Dr DC Bebni, president of the Government Colleges Contractual Lecturers Federation, alleged that the state government by its insensitive attitude had forced highly qualified teachers to protest on the roads. He said the teaching work in the state colleges had been suffering due to their strike.

He demanded that the government should take back the requisition to the commission on appointing permanent lecturers. He also demanded that the contractual lecturers should be given permanent job.

Dehradun, October 10
Akshay Negi starred in Summer Valley School’s 1-0 win over Carman School, Premnagar, in a tooth-and-nail fight in the ongoing 13th Col Sashi Shamsher JB Rana Memorial Inter-School Football Tournament held at Cambrian Hall School, here today.

In the league match, the two sides had a neck-to-neck competition as none of their attempts to score goals succeeded in the match. Negi (54th) scored the heartbreaker in the second half to dash hopes of Carman to win the match.

Earlier, host Cambrian Hall School and Seven Oaks School played a 1-1 draw. Rohit (30th) scored for Cambrian and Piyush (eighth) struck for Seven Oaks. After the two league matches tomorrow, semifinals will be played from Wednesday.

Dehradun, October 10
Welham Girls’ School found an easy rival in the host, Doon Girls School-A, whom it outplayed 24-4 in the final of the fourth Tek Chand Memorial Basketball (under-12) Tournament here today.

Welham claimed the title beating its rival in quarters: 6-0, 7-2, 7-0, 4-2. The star player of the winning team, Sunidhi, remained the top scorer of the match with eight points.

On the other hand, Doon Girls School played well but could not match up to Welham. However, Shardha, with four points, top scored for Doon Girls School.

A prize distribution ceremony was also held.