BTC trained Shiksha Mitters stage a dharna on a road leading to the residence of the Uttarakhand Chief Minister in Dehradun on Friday. A Tribune photograph

Rehabilitation centre for monkeys to be set up
Gopeshwar, November 25
In a bid to relieve the residents of Uttarakhand from monkey menace, the Uttarakhand forest authorities have decided to set up a rescue and rehabilitation centre for the apes.

Hemant, Manan help Delhi varsity post good total
Dehradun, November 25
A brilliant century by Hemant Singh (105 runs) and a solid knock of 80 runs by Manan Sharma helped Delhi University post a good total of 320 all out in 90.4 overs against Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, in the final match of the North Zone Inter-university Cricket Tournament here today.

Two get Josephite award
Dehradun, November 25
Two outstanding students, John Antony and Anandani Arora, today became the first recipients of the AFII Josephites of the Year awards at an impressive ceremony held in the jam-packed St Joseph’s Academy auditorium.


Governor Margaret Alva presents the AFII Josephite of the Year award to John Antony in Dehradun on Friday. A Tribune photograph

29 RIMC cadets clear NDA exam
Dehradun, November 25
The 171st Course of the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) has maintained the record of getting 100 per cent results in the National Defence Academy (NDA) written examination.

Mussoorie, November 25
The Mussoorie Municipal Council (MC), which is already facing heat in the wake of the High Court order over the issue of corruption and irregularities, is in trouble again, this time over the issue of advancing the board meeting date from November 15 to 14 allegedly by using dubious means and tampering with the record in the proceedings book.

According to nominated ward member Anil Goyal, a delegation, including him and a few local BJP leaders, met Urban Development Principal Secretary Ranvir Singh in Dehradun today and apprised him about the whole matter. They alleged that the BJP-supported MC President OP Uniyal and several ward members advanced the board meeting date from November 15 to 14 without informing the ward members via a notice that should have been done according to the norms.

Goyal said another anomaly that came to light was that although the meeting was held on November 14, in the proceedings book it had been mentioned that it was held on November 15. The MC officials when realised their folly the next day allegedly changed the text in the proceedings book accordingly, he alleged.

Goyal has demanded a thorough investigation into the whole matter as the meeting was allegedly advanced by the authorities with a view to benefiting few individuals. He also submitted to the Urban Development Principal Secretary the agenda of the meeting that had passed proposals worth several lakhs.

Ranvir Singh has assured him that a detailed investigation will be conducted into the matter soon.

Dehradun, November 25
The 37th Inter-college Athletics Meet of HNB Garhwal University started at Maharana Pratap Sports College, Raipur, Dehradun today.

Inaugurating the three-day meet, Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Trivendra Rawat stressed adequate promotion of athletics in the state. He said the sport if promoted in colleges would lead to better performances by Indian teams at the international level.

Trivendra Rawat reiterated Uttarakhand’s commitment to promoting sports in the state.

The colleges which are participating in the meet include Government PG College, Rishikesh; DAV PG College, Dehradun; DBS PG College, Dehradun; MKP PG College, Dehradun; Shri Guru Ram Rai College, Dehradun; Government PG College, Rishikesh; HNB Garhwal University, Pauri Campus; and Mussoorie PG College.

Dehradun, November 25
The Uttarakhand Government Colleges Contractual Lecturers Federation has resented the forcible shifting of its member, Dr Santosh Kumar Singh, from the site where a dharna was being staged by the police last night.

Addressing a press conference in Dehradun today, the president of the federation, Dr DC Bebni, said it was totally autocratic on the part of the administration to reach the site of the dharna during night hours and forcibly shift Dr Santosh Kumar Singh, who had been on indefinite fast outside the Vidhan Sabha for the past 13 days, to a hospital. He was pressing for the federation’s demand for ad hoc appointments for the contractual employees. He said the police had forcibly admitted Dr Santosh Kumar Singh to the Coronation Hospital.

Now, Dr Manikant Shah, Dr Srikrishan Nautiyal and Dr Bhupnarayan Dixit had started an indefinite fast at the very site from where Dr Santosh Kumar Singh was shifted forcibly.

He asserted the contractual lecturers had now pledged to continue with their stir till their genuine demand was accepted by the state government.

Dr Harsh Negi, general secretary of the federation, and Dipti Bagwari, treasurer, were also present.

Gopeshwar, November 25
In a bid to relieve the residents of Uttarakhand from monkey menace, the Uttarakhand forest authorities have decided to set up a rescue and rehabilitation centre for the apes.

The centre, which will be set up at Didoli village in the Nandprayag area in Chamoli district, will work to control the growing population of monkeys, said DK Singh, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Kedarnath Forest Division.

The centre is being developed on the lines of rescue centres in Himachal Pradesh where monkeys are kept for a few days and then rehabilitated back in jungles, he added.

The people of the state are finding it difficult to save their crops from monkeys, he said.

In the jungles of Chamoli, a total of 2,300 monkeys have been identified by the forest authorities. — PTI

Dehradun, November 25
A brilliant century by Hemant Singh (105 runs) and a solid knock of 80 runs by Manan Sharma helped Delhi University post a good total of 320 all out in 90.4 overs against Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, in the final match of the North Zone Inter-university Cricket Tournament here today.

Delhi University started on a confident note with openers, Gaurav Kochar and Akash Yadav, posting 58 runs. Hemant Singh then started his innings with a flourish and scored 105 runs with the help of 12 hits to the fence and two over it in 170 balls. Later, Manan Sharma also played a stellar role in the Delhi innings by scoring 80 runs in 147 balls with the help of nine boundaries and two sixes.

Charanjit Singh took three wickets for 72 runs while Amrinder Singh also had a figure of three wickets for 26 runs.

Dehradun, November 25
Two outstanding students, John Antony and Anandani Arora, today became the first recipients of the AFII Josephites of the Year awards at an impressive ceremony held in the jam-packed St Joseph’s Academy auditorium.

Governor Margaret Alva presented the coveted awards instituted by the AFII Corporate Advisors, promoted by Dr Mahesh PS Gandhi, an alumnus of the school. The award carries a cheque of Rs. 50,000 and an assurance that the AFII would always be there to assist, counsel and financially help the students.

Congratulating the award winners, Governor Alva expressed her happiness that an outstanding boy and an equally distinguished girl were the deserving winners. Addressing the students, she encouraged them to work hard and emulate the achievements of their contemporaries. The government also complimented the AFII and its promoter Dr Gandhi for the generous awards.

The function also marked the formal release of a poster on girl child, designed and produced by Rajeev Sachhar’s St. Joseph’s Alumni Association. Alva made a fervent appeal to all to oppose female feticide. She praised the high GDP rate and other favourable parametres achieved in the state, but lamented the growing tendency of female feticide.

Giving her own example, the Governor said she was the third daughter born and her mother even wept at her birth. “It is a different matter that later my mother would say that of all five siblings, I made her most happy,” Alva stated.

She appealed to the young people to wage and carry forward this battle for the girl child.

The Governor praised the school and said it had done remarkably well over the past 75 years in all curricular and extracurricular activities. She congratulated 3500 students of the academy for the opportunity they got of studying in the best school.

Speaking about the awards, Dr Gandhi announced that the AFII was committed to continue to give these awards for the next 25 years. He also announced a donation of 50,000 girl child posters for a widespread distribution in the interior areas of the state.

Profusely thanking the Governor for her kind and generous praise, Principal, Bro AJ George said Alva was an epitome of simplicity and humility. “Each word she spoke was from her heart and that is why her words mean so much to us,” said George. He also greatly appreciated the gesture of the AFII and added that though the school had thousands of former students, it was for the first time that Dr Gandhi’s team had offered such generous awards.

Dehradun, November 25
The 171st Course of the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) has maintained the record of getting 100 per cent results in the National Defence Academy (NDA) written examination.

This is for the third consecutive time that the cadets of the RIMC have got 100 per cent NDA results. A total of 29 cadets had appeared and all have cleared their written exam.

Col Pankaj Kumaria, Commandant, RIMC, has congratulated the cadets and wished them good luck for their Services Selection Board (SSB) interviews.