Justice Srivastava is chairman of judicial panel
Dehradun, November 10
After Justice BC Kandpal, who was probing into the alleged 56 scandals of the previous Congress regime resigned, the Uttarakhand government has appointed Justice SN Srivastava as the new chairman of the judicial panel into the scandals.

Haridwar, November 10
In a shocking incident, two persons were arrested by the police today, including father of a 16-year-old boy, on the charge of attempting to kill the boy, in the name of sacrifice.

The incident took place at Jwalapur where Aamir, a Class XII student of Saraswati Vidya Mandir, was freed by neighbours in suspicious circumstances in the presence of a ‘tantrik’ who was performing suspicious rituals being conducted by the boy’s father, Shahrukh, and relative Mehboob in midnight.

As per the neighbours, flames of rituals, several suspicious objects and darkness prevailed in the house of Anwar and when on suspicion they went to their house, they saw the boy undressed and in a semi-conscious state.

”We rescued the child by calling other people. Initially, the boy’s family members termed the proceedings mere rituals. But when the boy saw us, he started crying for help and we understood that some evil rituals were being performed,” said Javed, a neighbour.

When the local police was informed, it initially didn’t lodged any complaint but when Aamir, the child revealed that his father wanted to sacrifice him, the crowd got berserk and gheraoed the Jwalapur police station.

The police then arrested the father of the child and his two brothers, Mehboob and Anwar. Search is still on to nab the absconding ‘tantrik’.

Zeba, a neighbour, pointed out that a suspicious movement was observed in the house with a number of tantriks performing rituals. Anwa was failing in his business and wanted to remove obstacles by this way.

“Even my father wanted to sacrifice me, they tortured me and gave me something which made me unconscious for sometime during the ritual. I even overheard the ‘tantrik’ and my uncle (Mehboob) talking about the positive results that would come after the procedure,” said Aamir, who was later admitted to a hospital.

He further added that most of his relatives were uneducated and were under the influence of ‘tantriks’ and fortune tellers. His father said their’s was no such intention and Aamir had come under neighbours influence. 

Dehradun, November 10
The leaders of the Uttarakhand Congress today blamed the state BJP government for bringing in a weak Lokayukta Bill in a hurry to gain political mileage. Addressing a convention of lawyers organised by the lawyers’ cell of the party, Congress general secretary and in charge of Uttarakhand party affairs Birender Singh alleged that the Lokayukta Bill passed by the state BJP government was not only a weak Bill but also violates the Constitution of the country.

He said the Lokayukta Bill had brought the lower judiciary under its ambit but it was wrong. “The lower judiciary is under the control of the respective High Courts of each state as per the Constitution,” he said.

Vijay Bahuguna, Congress MP from Tehri Garhwal, said the Central Government would be coming up with a strong Lokpal Bill in the coming winter session of Parliament which would also make provisions for appointing Lokayuktas in states.

He termed the entire exercise by the state BJP government headed by Chief Minister BC Khanduri as a political rhetoric with an eye on the coming Assembly elections.

Harak Singh Rawat, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, charged that the BJP government in a bid to gain political mileage passed the Lokayukta Bill in a hurry without having a debate on its merits and demerits in the general public.

Yashpal Arya, president of the Uttarakhand Congress, alleged the state BJP government, which had been allegedly involved in so many corrupt practices and deals during the past four-and-a-half years had tried to hoodwink the people of the state by bringing in a weak Loakyukta Bill. “The people of the state cannot be befooled by the BJP and would teach them a lesson in the coming Assembly elections,” he added.

Mahender Pal, former MP and president of the Uttarakhand Bar Council, called upon the lawyer community to see through the designs of the BJP leadership and work to oust the corrupt BJP government from the state.

More than 100 lawyers from all over the state participated in the convention.

Mussoorie, November 10
Former Andolankari Parishad president Ravinder Jugran, who reviewed the progress on the undergoing sewerage project, submitted his report to Chief Minster BC Khanduri regarding the irregularities that were found during his recent visit to the hill town.

Speaking to the media here today, Ravinder Jugran said a two-page strong-worded report had been sent to the Chief Minister demanding immediate action against the erring officials of the Pey Jal Nigam, the executive agency for the ongoing sewerage project being undertaken under the JNNURM scheme.

Ravinder Jugran had visited the town on November 3 and had found several irregularities and gross neglect during the laying of the sewerage project.

He had found that no guidelines were being followed in sewerage project and furthermore the Jal Sansthan Nigam that would be maintaining the project after its completion was also not involved in it in effective manner.

Jugran said the report had been submitted to the Chief Minister who had assured strict action on the report.

However, the whole exercise being done by Jugran is being seen with skepticism and many in the Opposition believe that it is just a façade to highlight himself as probable candidate from Mussoorie in Assembly elections. — OC

Dehradun, November 10
After Justice BC Kandpal, who was probing into the alleged 56 scandals of the previous Congress regime resigned, the Uttarakhand government has appointed Justice SN Srivastava as the new chairman of the judicial panel into the scandals.

Justice Srivastava, is heading the Police Complaint Authority in the state. Kandpal had requested the state government to relieve of his assignment citing the reason of over burden of work. He also heads the state Consumer Panel in Uttarakhand.

Chief Minister BC Khanduri had set up the Inquiry Commission in September 2007 to prepare reports on the alleged scams that took place during the previous Congress government in the state.

The Kandpal judicial commission has already completed its probe into 60 out of the total 68 scams that took place during the Congress regime led by Chief Minister ND Tewari and a report has been submitted to the state government, according to state Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar.

Interestingly, Kandpal decided to quit a day after the state government decided to hand over 17 of these alleged scandals to the vigilance department for framing of the charges against the alleged accused in the alleged scandals. 

Dehradun, November 10
Huge congregation echoed with the recital of hymns and prayers offered by thousands of Sikhs at Gurudwaras across the Doon Valley to mark the festival of Guru Nanak Jayanti here today.

The occasion marks the culmination of the “Prabhat Pheri”, the early morning procession that starts from Gurdwaras and goes around localities singing “shabads” or hymns.

Devotees started thronging to Gurudwaras since early morning at Arhat Bazaar, Race Course, Karanpur, Prem Nagar, Raipur Road, Clement Town Cantonment and other places where special nagar kirtans were organized.

All the Sikh shrines were beautifully lit and decorated to mark the occasion.

Meanhwil, The birth anniversary of Shri Guru Nanak Dev was celebrated at the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) here today. Cadets from all religions visited the gurdwara. They were led by Cadet Pranjal Thakur and Cadet Hasanpreet Singh.

On the occasion, Cadet Sachinpreet Singh and Cadet Ajinder Arora gave special speeches on the Gurpurb in Punjabi as well as in English. Following it was a kirtan and ardas by the priest of the grudwara.

While addressing the function, KS Ahlawat, Vice-Principal, RIMC, told the students about the significance of the Gurpurb.

After the function, prasad was distributed among the cadets as well as the staff of the RIMC and a langar followed. 

Mussoorie, November 10
Dr Venu Sanon of Mussoorie is all set to make her debut as poet and add to the growing list of the authors from the hill town with her book of poetry titled “Realisation”.

A self-published book will be launched at India International Centre on November 11, 2011.

Dr Sanon reveals her compassionate self and admiration for the pristine nature surrounding the town through the book of poetry.

A close observation of human nature, the struggles of life and an abundance of natural beauty in her surroundings have contributed heavily to Dr Sanon’s poetry.

Dr Sanon said the book had been launched in Uttarakhand at Governor’s House a few days ago and she was looking forward to the international launch at New Delhi.

Excited at her debut in poetry, she said, “My first book unfolds a plethora of thoughts that completes a larger picture for all of us in our journey of life”.

She further said the book had 10 chapters characterised by a spontaneity and simplicity of thoughts at one end and high standards of the traditional English poetry at the other.

Dr Sunil Sanon, her husband, said 50 per cent of the sale proceeds of the book would go to an organisation run by them called “the Divine Light Trust” through which they financially assist the poor patients in need of open heart surgeries, kidney transplants, ear drum transplants and a few critical plastic surgeries, besides caring for other ailments on the daily basis.

Dehradun, November 10
Brig KG Behl (retd), president of the Dehradun Ex-Services League, Uttarakhand, has thanked Chief Minister Khanduri for announcing several concessions especially for the ex-servicemen on the occasion of state’s Foundation Day.

He thanked Khanduri for concessions on purchase of vehicles through the CSD, where a limit for two wheelers has been removed and the number of four wheelers has been raised to 500 per year.

Similarly, doubling of the amount of scholarship, presently being given to the students of families of ex-soldiers for higher education from Rs 12,000 to Rs 24,000 for engineering and medical education. 

Dehradun, November 10
Inordinate delay in vacating the premises and absence of the single window clearance has put brakes on the Fortis Escorts Heart Centre facility that was to become fully functional by November at the Coronation Hospital.

Though the hospital has started carrying out the OPD, TMT (or stress test), Blood test and ECG, the in-patient facility would now become fully functional by January next year. The delay has exposed the nonchalant attitude of the government that had entered into an agreement with the Fortis centre to set up a modern state-of-the-art heart facility in March under the PPP mode but failed to get the portion of the second floor evicted, which continues to be with the GVK EMRI 108 emergency services that operate a call centre from there.

The GVK EMRI 108 Emergency Services office has been functioning from the hospital for the past three years and the service has not yet moved, though it has been assigned a new place at the old Health and Family office.

“Since the renovation and fitting work is being carried at the new office, we cannot move out in a phased manner. The new office has to be completely ready as the services are coordinated with the help of the call-centre,” said Manish Tinku, head of operations, GVK EMRI, Uttarakhand.

Sources claim that despite giving November 15 as the deadline for its departure, the 108 services would be able to move in only by December.

To add to it, the Fortis centre is also finding it difficult to receive clearance for acquiring the drug license and permission for establishing the Echo Doppler unit for making the Cath lab functional. “All these issues could have been sorted out through the single window clearance but such a facility does not exist in the state. We are already running behind the schedule as the premises for running our centre was handed to us very late,” said Jatinder Arora, chief administrator, the Fortis Centre.

Dehradun, November 10
The Prem Nagar police came into action when laptop of Gargi Singh, a B.Tech student of Petroleum University, got stolen a few days ago. She is a relative of a senior official of the state government.

Two students, Anando Vishwas and Shagun Bansal, who are Gargi’s batchmates, were caught red-handed yesterday on the information provided by a police informer and recovered three laptops and mobile phones from them. Both the students are from affluent background. Vishwas is son of a General Manager of a coal company at Jharkhand and Shagun Bansal is of an industrialist at Buland Shahar.

The duo used to sell off the stolen mobile phones and laptops to earn quick bucks. 

Mussoorie, November 10
Nirmala Inter-college were declared overall champions with 176 points on the concluding day of the regional athletics meet held on the Survey ground here today. The hosts Santan Dharm Inter-college were declared second with 156 points and St Lawrence School third with 106 points.

Neeraj and Sunil from St Lawrence, Chandni, Hina and Parvez from Sanatan Dharm Inter-college, Neetu from Mussoorie girls and Girish Bhatt from Rama Devi Inter-college were adjudged the best athletes in their respective categories.

Girish, who won the 1500m gold yesterday was adjudged the best cross-country runner in senior boys’ section while Pankaj from Nirmala School stood second. The third place was secured by Ajay, also from Nirmala School.

In the senior girls’ cros-scountry Nisha Gusain from Mussoorie Girls stood first while Sushmita Rana (Sanatan Dharm) stood second and Pooja Kairwan from Mussoorie was adjudged third.

In the relay race for senior boys’ division Ghanand Inter College won gold, Nirmala Inter-college silver and Rama Devi Inter-college won bronze. In the girls’ senior division Sanatan Dharm won gold, Nirmala School won silver and Mussoorie Girls won bronze.

Former president of the Mandi Parishad Upendar Thapli and Joint Director (Education), Narendar Nagar, Santosh Kumar Sheel were the chief guests on the occasion. They gave away the trophies to the winners. 

Dehradun, November 10
Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, and Uttarakhand Technical University won their respective matches on the opening day of the North-Zone Inter-university Cricket Tournament being organised by Uttarakhand Technical University (UTU), here today.

In the opening match, Punjab Agriculture Universiy (PAU) defeated Doon University, Dehradun, by 204 runs.

Batting first after winning the toss, the PAU team piled up a total of 204 runs for nine wickets in the allotted 40 overs. Gurbir Singh was the top scorer with 85 runs with ten hits to the fence. Harjeet and Sukhmeet scored 33 and 30 runs respectively. Ajay Chaudhari was the most successful bowler taking four wickets for 52 runs. Mitul took three wickets for 59 runs.

In reply, Doon University was bundled out for a paltry 44 runs in 17 overs.

None of the batsmen could reach double digit. Sukhmeet Singh captain of the PAU team took three wickets for 6 runs while Gurinder took two wickets for 11 runs.

In the second match, the UTU trounced GB Pant Agriculture University, Pantnagar, by six wickets.

The UTU team won the toss and put GB Pant Agriculture University to bat. The team scored 113 runs, all out in 34 overs. Preyas Bhatt was the top scorer with 46 runs. Ritush Bhatt of the UTU took four wickets for 26 runs.

In reply the UTU team scored 114 runs in 17.4 overs to win the match by six wickets. Ashutish Tewari was the top scorer with 23 runs while Dinesh scored 20 runs. Mayank Sharma took two wickets for 30 runs. 

Dehradun, November 10
DAV PG College, Dehradun, yesterday won the two-day Inter-college Volleyball Tournament organised by Swami Ram Teerth (SRT) College at the Badshahi Thaul grounds in Tehri Garhwal.

It defeated its rival, DBS College, Dehradun, in the final played today in straight sets by a margin of 25-18, 25-17 and 25-21 and lifted the trophy. Earlier, DAV defeated PG College, Kotdwar, to reach the finals.

The Director of Swami Ram Teerth College, Dr GS Kaintura, gave away the trophy to the winners.

More than 13 colleges affiliated to Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Central University participated in the tournament.