Woman’s body found near Maggi Point in Mussoorie
Mussoorie, December 25
An unidentified body of a woman was found near Maggi Point in the bushes on the Mussoorie-Dehradun Highway today. The residents of the area noticed the body in the evening and informed the police.

Dehradun, December 25
Christmas celebrations began early in the morning at St Francis Church in the city today. The church was decked up on the occasion with lightings.

The rush of the devotees to the church began pretty early in the morning. People ofered prayers and gave alms to the poor and beggars sitting inside and outside the church. Various stalls of toys, balloons etc were also stationed outside the church. Mass prayers and other rituals had begun on the Christmas Eve itself. Carol singing remained the hallmark of the day.

MUSSOORIE: The Christian community in Mussoorie celebrated Christmas with fervour and gaiety. The churches were decorated with colourful buntings and lights, giving the a spectacular look. The Bishops lend services and delivered sermons in various cathedrals and churches of different Christian denominations in the town. Pastor Mark D’Souza from St Peters Church presided over the midnight Christmas mass at the church and blessed the devotees with the holy water. In his sermon, he appealed to the people to uphold the ideals of universal love and brotherhood. The Christmas cake was cut at the Central Methodist Church along with the carol singing, which witnessed participation of a large umber of tourists. Bishop Chaman Comfort prayed for peace and harmony among all communities. The exchange of greetings and gifts, visits to relatives, games and sports among children and community feasts marked celebrations across the town. Leaders of various political parties also greeted the people on the occasion.

The community members gathered around the bonfire at night and sang Christmas songs.

The administration, however, took a backside on such a big occasion. Most of the police personnel assigned to manage the traffic were seen flouting the rules themselves. They were also not visible around the churches in the town and many community members were seen managing the traffic at Kulri Bazaar themselves. The police became active only after the matter was pointed out to the station in charge by the media.

HARIDWAR: Christmas was celebrated with fervor and gaiety with people thronging churches to participate in mass prayers. At BHEL church, devotees started pouring in on the Christmas Eve to attend the prayers and to listen to the holy Bible preachings of Lord Jesus. At the Reformed Christian Presbyterian Church at Devpura chowk, build in 1903, midnight prayers, cradle, carols, lighting of candles and Christmas tree decoration witnessed participation fro a large number of people. Father Wilson Messiah said the occasion held great importance for Christians and prayed for peace and mutual harmony between all the religions, sects and countries.

Pithoragarh: Christmas was celebrated with special prayers and remembrance of Jesus Christ and carol singing in various churches of Pithoragarh, Champawat, Tanakpur and Sandhura today.

More than 700 devotees of Central Methodist Church gathered at the main church in Siltham and offered prayers followed by cultural programme on the life of Lord Christ.

“The Central Methodist Church was constructed in 1879 after a military officer Major Huge purchased 1.26 acres near Siltham in the centre part of the town,” said Vimal Deep Philip, a member of the Christian community in the district.

In the Abbot Mount area of Lohaghat in Champawat district, special prayers were offered at the church constructed by British officer Abbot in 1930.

The festival was also celebrated in Tanakpur town where a large number of devotees gathered in the Methodist Church and offered prayers followed by a cultural programme.

In the Sandhura area of Didihat, a small community of Christians gathered in thye century-old church and offered prayers. “This church came into existence after the conversion of some of the villagers into Christianity about a hundred years ago,” said Habil Singh, a senior member of the Methodist Christian Community in the village.

The members of the Hindu and Muslim communities congratulated their Christian friends on the occasion.

Dehradun, December 25
The officials of the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority were busy handing allotment letters to the next lot of 37 shopkeepers in order to undertake the second phase of the demolition drive on Monday.

Allotment letters to 16 shopkeepers were given in the first lot. A controversy erupted when the officials denied allotment letters to tenants saying that they had to depend on the owners for the allotment. This infuriated the tenants who gathered and began protesting against the MDDA. They alleging that the change in the policy would rob them of their livelihood. After a brief lull, the MDDA officials agreed to giving allotment as well as possession letters to the tenants.

President of the Tenant Association Dheeraj Kumar said they were now satisfied with the status quo maintained as it was during the demolition on the Chakrata road. However, allotment letters will be issued to them in capacity of tenants of their owners and they will not be able to sell off the property.

Meanwhile, the shopkeepers continued to vacate their shops on the Chakrata road. Early in the morning, a structure on the premises of Ajanta Stores, owned by Hemu Bhatt, caught fire. However, there was no loss of human life. The fire spread from a vacant portion where a few scrap workers allegedly caused the fire by accident. Fortunately, Bhatt had shifted his wife, daughter and mother to a premises on the JMS road on Saturday night in view of the demolition drive but he had stayed back with his son. It was his son who had gone out of the house for some work and some others who noticed smoke billowing out of this house. Most of the items lying in two rooms of the house were completely burnt. Bhatt who was in the bathroom survived fortunately. He alleged that Rs 4.82 lakh and his wife’s jewellery were destroyed in the fire. 

Mussoorie, December 25
An unidentified body of a woman was found near Maggi Point in the bushes on the Mussoorie-Dehradun Highway today. The residents of the area noticed the body in the evening and informed the police.

Station in charge of the Rajpur police station said the deceased was in her late 20s and her mouth was filled with white froth, which has raising several doubts. The police has send the body to the nearest government hospital for identification. Autopsy would be conducted if no one claims the body.

The woman seems to be from an affluent family, said police sources.

It is worth a mention that the area around the Maggi Point has become a hub of such activities since the day eating joints were opened here. The point has been witnessing several violent and unruly scenes and a few tourists returning from Mussoorie during late hours have complained of being manhandled by drunken youths. The Police Department has conducted several raids in the past but to no avail. 

Mussoorie, December 25
Brian Paul Bach, the author of “The Grand Trunk Road from the Front Seat,” and “The Calcutta Edifice,” from Ellensburg, Washington (USA), was excited to revisit the town that played an important role in enriching the text especially for his first book. Brian Paul Bach, who was accompanied by his wife, also visited an eminent author, Ruskin Bond, after a gap of 20 years.

Brian Paul Bach, while talking to the Tribune, said Mussoorie had an important place in his life as two incidents here really helped him enriching the content of his maiden venture as an author.

The first was his meeting with an eminent author and resident of the town, Ruskin Bond, who inspired him while he was embarking on his literary journey in 1991 and other connection with the town being that the maps for “The Grand Trunk Road from the Front Seat,” were provided to him by a geographer, Joel Andréa’s, who lived in Mussoorie till 1962.

“I thought of taking a break and escaping to the mountains during the initial phase of my first book and that was how I reached Mussoorie in 1991 and met Ruskin Bond who inspired me to complete the work,” added Bach.

Speaking about his first book “The Grand Trunk Road from the Front Seat,” he said the objective of the book was to bring alive an area which was lesser known to readers and western travellers and he succeeded to certain extent.

The book is about his personal experiences all along the GT road from Howrah in West Bengal to Peshawar.

Brian Paul Bach said he was contemplating doing a sequel to the book so as to record the rapid changes that are visible even now in the landscape, culture and socio-economic status of the people all along the GT Road.

His other book is “The Calcutta Edifice, the buildings of great city”.

Dehradun December 25
Life is not easy for the several slum colony dwellers of Ward No. 44 in the Brahmpuri area, Lohia Nagar, Chamanpuri, as the region is plagued with insanitary conditions, dirty potable water, sewerage problems and low-hanging high tension wires.

Sarla Kumari, a resident of Chamanpuri locality, said she had to contend with dirty potable water as the tube-well in the area threw up filthy water of the Bindal river. Since there are no proper toilets in the area the water drawn from the tube-well had high faecal contents and is unfit for human consumption. But the people of the area have no choice left. There is municipal water supply to the area.

Councillor Taseen Ansari said the Jal Sansthan had agreed to sink a tubewell at Pithuwala for but the the matter got stuck for the want of adequate land for the purpose.

Baby Rani, another resident, indicated towards the poor shape of roads, saying that it was difficult to walk on the potholed roads at night time and during monsoon. She said the roads were hardly repaired and if carpeted, they began chipping off within a couple of months.

Ravi Hasan Ansari, a resident of Lohia Nagar, said: “The sewer lines are missing in most area.

The drains overflow spreading filthy water in the area frequently. Passersby have to hold their breath while passing these drains.

The councillor said even as sewer lines were being laid in several pockets of the city, his area had been excluded from that plan.

Mehboob Khan from Brahampuri was annoyed at the low-lying high tension wires, which have claimed a young life and both the hands of another person recently. He said: “The high tension wires hang precariously over our houses”.

We always live under constant fear as our children play and woman dry clothes on roofs.

The incident where a youth was electrocuted some time ago occurred when he went to collect clothes dried up on the roof of his house.

He complained that their pleas to the power corporation officials had falled on deaf ears.

The councillor, too, expressed his helplessness in this case.

Dehradun, December 25
The Rotary Club, Dehradun, today hosted a Bon Voyage party for district governor elect Manmohan Singh, who is heading for San Diego where he will be formally conferred with the coveted post.

Over 500 Rotarians and their families from District 3080, spread over the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and Uttarakhand, braved the fog and cold weather to gather at the sprawling lawns of Hotel Madhuban, Dehradun, to bid Bon Voyage to their incoming Governor.

District Governor nominee Rakesh Aggrawal, along with his home club Rotary Club, Dehradun president Dr M C Luthra, secretary Gauravdeep Singh and president-elect Jyoti Dhawan, welcomed DGE Manmohan Singh and other prominent Rotary members, including Past Rotary International president Raja Saboo and a large number of past district Governors.

The speakers talked about the core value of rotary, service above self,
and wished the DGE a safe journey.

Expressing his gratitude, Singh promised the Rotarians to serve the organisation with all his might in his new role.

Arun Kumar deftly handled his role as the master of the ceremony while Dr S Farooq impressed all with his urdu-couplet embellished vote of thanks.

Dehradun, December 25
The Dalit Samaj Morcha, Uttarakhand, has sought immediate filling of vacant reserved posts in the state government departments.

Addressing a press conference in Dehradun, patron of the Dalit Samaj Morcha KK Antiwal said there were large-scale vacancies that must be filled at the earliest. He also raised the problem of issuance of caste certificates. He said the Dalit Samaj Morcha was an apolitical organisation and had started a campaign to include Dalit intellectuals of the state in the morcha.

Antiwal also announced new working committee for the morcha. Gagan Gatwal has been appointed president of the morcha. Bahadur Singh has been made vice-president, Meera Bajaj secretary, Chatar Singh publicity secretary, Jagdish Prasad joint secretary, Gaje Singh treasurer and Anil Arya has been made spokesman for the morcha.

Along with the jingle bells, it was the time for the poll bells to toll on the Christmas Eve as the poll schedule for the state elections was announced on Saturday afternoon.

The otherwise chilling weather will now warm up as the hectic electioneering is expected to take place during a little more than one month available to the parties and the individuals who would be trying their luck in the poll arena. Chief Minister BC Khanduri along with his Cabinet colleagues while assuming that the Model Code of Conduct would be implemented only after Christmas, had launched a final round of foundation-laying and inaugurating spree of projects execution, which is known to none.

However, their programmes were cut short by a day as the Code eventually came to be implemented. The polls are expected to be an interesting contest across the state. With the fresh delimitation of seats, the poll pundits have been down to carrying out fresh calculations with regards to the voter profiles, breakup on the basis of caste and religion for every seat.