Dehradun, November 23
Dr Anumita Singh (25) of Dehradun lost her life when the AC 3-tier coach B1 of the Howrah-Dehradun Express caught fire while running through Jharkhand's Giridih district in the wee hours of Tuesday. While her husband Dr Neeraj Gaur, who had been said to be missing till yesterday, has sustained severe burns and has been admitted to Bokaro General Hospital.

According to the station superintendent of Dehradun Railway Station, SS Dobhal, “The Howrah- Dehradun Express, of which two AC 3-tier coaches were gutted in fire in the wee hours of Tuesday, reached Dehradun railway station at 3:10 pm today. The victims of the fire have been hospitalised to the Bokaro hospital. Some passengers who escaped from the fire along with the passengers of the sleeper class have reached Dehradun while some others are still to come by another train”.

“The cause of the fire is still not clear while investigations into the matter are going on,” he added.

A total of seven persons, including two children and an Australian woman, were killed and more than 50 injured in the fire. The fire broke out at around 2.30 am in the B1 coach while the train was running between Nimiyaghat and Parasnath. It soon engulfed the B2 coach.

According to Ravi Kumar, a passenger who was in sleeper coach S9 that was attached right next to the B1 coach, said: “We could feel the heat of the fire and hear passengers’ screams. There was no fire extinguisher, no guard, no railway police and no ticket examiner in the coach to help the passengers. One of the passengers in the A1 coach pulled the alarm chain to stop the train at Gomo station in Dhandbad and helped many passengers alight from the burning coaches”.

Another passenger of the sleeper coach said: “Many of us tried to save passengers but could not enter the burning coaches due to heavy smoke. The fire was extinguished by a rescue team, which reached the spot at 4 am”.

The Railway Minister has announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed in the incident and Rs 25,000 for the passengers of the two affected coaches.

Dehradun, November 23
A meeting between vice-chairman, Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority, BVRC Purushottam and freehold traders took place on the MDDA premises today to placate the agitated traders.

After the meeting, the traders seemed happy with the outcome as Purushottam agreed to give them extra space which would be one-and-a-half shop to each one of this category.

Puroshottam said out of a total of 226 shops in the new multi-shopping complex near the Clock Tower, he was left with extra 11 shops after giving away the rest to the shopkeepers of these three categories, ones who owned shops on nazul (revenue), the freeholders and tenants. He said since he did not have requisite number of shops to give them, he could only accept their demands by giving them space in extra 11 shops.

Besides other two categories, it was the freeholders who had been agitating from day one and had been demanding double shops in lieu of one without any registry charges and the difference of cost.

Ravinder Rawat, president of freehold traders, said, “Puroshottam agreed not to take any registration charges from us. He also accepted our demand not to charge us the difference of cost of property. He could not accept our demand for double shops, but assured that since he was left with 11 shops, 25 members of the freehold group can get extra space from these shops.”

Each tenant will be given a shop on the no-profit no-loss basis. The shopkeepers of other two categories were not called as they did not have any issue with the MDDA on the matter.

Dehradun, November 23
In protest against lathi charge on them yesterday, Basic Training Certificate (BTC) teachers staged a protest at the Parade Ground here today.

A large number of BTC teachers from across the state gathered at the Parade Ground and staged a dharna to register their protest against the “step-motherly” attitude of the administration.

They also raised slogans and demanded direct recruitment in the state government during their third semester of the BTC programme.

Vipin Garg, a BTC teacher, said, “The association of BTC teachers flays lathi charge on the teachers yesterday.”

The protesters have threatened to intensify their agitation if their demands were not fulfilled.

Dehradun, November 23
The District Magistrate of Dehradun, officials of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, Mayor and the Secretary, MDDA, visited the Tehsil Chowk, Lansdowne Chowk, Astely Hall Chowk and the Darshan Lal Chowk to review the possibilities of widening of these roundabouts.

The relocation of shopkeepers at the Tehsil Chowk was also discussed. It was mutually decided to get the demolition of buildings and widening work completed in the next one and a half month. Ten-odd shops and a dilapidated building at the Tehsil Chowk will be relocated to make ample space for the widening of the roundabout. Mayor Vinod Chamoli suggested the area near Excise Department, which is close to the Tehsil Chowk, for the relocation of the shops. A couple of shops which were demolished earlier at the Tehsil Chowk near the vegetable market were also considered to be shifted to the same place.

DM Dileep Jawalkar directed the officials concerned to complete all the pending works related to these projects. For the widening of the Astley Hall Chowk, the officials found it necessary to rebuild the wall of the Gandhi Park from the Kanak Cinema Hall side to the gate of the park to get ample space for the widening of the chowk. Trees will have to be removed.

Dehradun, November 23
The under 16 team of the Dehradun Football Association, which won the state championship which was held in Uttarkashi recently, was given a rousing welcome on its arrival in the city today. The Dehradun team defeated Haldwani Hostel by a solitary goal to clinch the trophy.

Based on their splendid performance, six local boys have been selected in the Uttarakhand state team for the Coca Cola Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy national championship. Deepak Pundir, Rajan Thapa, Tanveer, Aditya Bhandari, Dikshant and Mahendra have made it to the state team.

The DFA side began their campaign in grand style by registering a thumping 6-0 win over Udham Singh Nagar. They defeated Maharana Pratap Sports College 4-1 in the semifinal. Aditya Bhandari scored the lone goal in the final to help his team lift the championship cup.

District Football Association vice-president Jagmohan Rawat, former India team footballer Amar Bahadur, referee VS Rawat felicitated the team at a function held at the Parade Ground here today.

The team comprises Deepak Pundir, Rajan Thapa, Tanveer, Aditya Bhandari, Dikshant, Mahendra, Namang, Gagandeep, Shivam Raturi, Rajat Pal, Shivam Pradhan, Naveen Kumar, Depash Chhetri, Nishant Rana, Praveen Rawat (coach) and Vijay Negi (manager).

Dehradun, November 23
Karate Do player Muktipad Satpathy, a resident of Dehradun, is among the seven karate players who will be representing the Indian team in the Karate Do World Cup championship to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov 26-27.

Addressing a press conference today, Sanjeev Kumar, general secretary of the Uttarakhand Karate Do Federation, disclosed that Muktipad Satpathy had brought several laurels to the state and his selection as member of the Indian team of the Istanbul World Cup Karate Do championship is another feather in his cap.

Starting his karate career in 2000, Muktipad won a gold in 2004 in the district karate championship. He won a gold at the National Karate Championship in 2005. In 2009, Muktipad again won a silver in the National Championship.

Sanjeev Kumar also took an opportunity to appeal the Uttarakhand government towards setting up of a karate club in Dehradun. He said the state government must come forward to render financial assistance to poor talented players in the state.

Meanwhile, the Intellectual and Technocrat Guild of India’s president PK Khatri, present at the conference, greeted Muktipad Satpathy on his achievement. He said Uttarakhand was excelling in karate and Muktipad’s success was a reflection on it. PK Khatri, however, expressed concern over a little assistance being given to the poor talent players of Uttarakhand.

“Even in case of Muktipad, he had to run from pillar to post to manage funds to arrange his visit to Istanbul”, Khatri said.

Muktipad Satpathy said he would try to give the best of his performance at the championship and bring honour for Uttarakhand and the country.

Dehradun, November 23
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, has entered the final of the North Zone Inter-university Cricket Tournament by defeating Dr RML Awadh Universiy, Faizabad, by nine wickets in the semifinal match played here today.

The Dr RML Awadh University team made a paltry 105 runs all out in 29.4 overs. Opener Anurag Nishad was the top scorer with 32 runs. Abhishek and Charanjit Singh ripped through the Faizabad batting line by claiming seven wickets between them. Abhishek took four wickets for 12 runs while Charanjit Singh took three wickets for only three runs.

In reply, GND University scored 108 runs for the loss of a single wicket in 23.2 overs to win the match by nine wickets. Openers Ravinder Pal and Robin Singh played well to steer their team to the victory by opening partnership of 93 runs. At that moment Ravinder Pal was out for 45 runs. However, Robin Sigh scored unbeaten 54 runs.

In the second semifinal match played between Delhi Universiy, Delhi, and CSJM University, Kanpur, at the draw of stumps today, the Delhi team had scored 56 runs at the loss of one wicket, chasing a score of 191 runs put up by the Kanpur team. The Kanpur team scored 191 all out in 70.5 overs. Manvendra was the top scorer with an unbeaten 59 runs while opener Aditya Dinger also scored 42 runs. Manan Sharma took four wickets for 18 runs while Nitin Yadav, Lokinder and Gaurav Kochar took two wickets each. The match will resume on Thursday.