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Prayers, carols mark Christmas celebrations
16 shopkeepers get allotment letters
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Woman’s body found near Maggi Point in Mussoorie
US author Bach walks down memory lane
American Athor Brian Paul Bach signs autographs at a book store in Mussoorie.
Bon Voyage party for Rotary governor elect
Gatwal chief of Dalit Samaj Morcha
DPS girls present folk dances
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Prayers, carols mark Christmas celebrations
Dehradun, December 25 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. |
16 shopkeepers get allotment letters
Dehradun, December 25 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. |
Woman’s body found near Maggi Point in Mussoorie
Mussoorie, December 25 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. |
US author Bach walks down memory lane
Mussoorie, December 25 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”. |
Bon Voyage party for Rotary governor elect
Dehradun, December 25 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, 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. |
Gatwal chief of Dalit Samaj Morcha
Dehradun, December 25 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. |
DPS girls present folk dances
Haridwar, December 25 For the past four months, the students were practicising for the function and as many as 10 presentations received standing ovation from the audience. Various skits were also enacted, which depicted the tragedy and pain that people suffer during natural calamities. |
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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. While the Congress and the BJP are the two major players in the poll, a multi- cornered contest is expected on most of the seats as forces like Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Left are vying to get a strong foothold in the state political scenario. There are forces like the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party (UPP) also, looking out to emerge as a regional political alternative after the decline of the Uttarkhand Kranti Dal (UKD). The race has begun. Who clocks the best timing and emerges the winner would become apparent only in March. Poll campaigns
go online
Social networking sites are expected to play a major role in the poll campaign. Smaller parties that have more educated cadres in their ranks will make up for the shortage of resources by making use of sites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to target the computer literate electorate in the state, most of which is the youth with a very little exposure in the field of politics. Just when the poll announcements were made on Saturday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) /CPI (ML) was the first to go on Facebook, seeking support for its candidate from Dharchula, Jagat Martoliya. The post had been put up by state in charge of the party Raja Bahuguna. He had prominently put up a poster of Martoliya, seeking support for the candidate. Over the last few months, the political leadership has been making effective use of the cyberspace to get in touch with the voters and opinion makers in the state. They have particularly made use of social networking sites by putting up posts and elaborating on their stand on various issues and developments that have taken place in the state all this while. To an extent, they have succeeded in their initiative as some of the politicians have touched the optimum limit of friends they can have for their individual accounts or identities on these social networking sites.
Leaders rebuked for fretting
The BJP’s recent rally, held in Nainital earlier this month, was an occasion that some of the party leaders would like to put behind their backs. The reason being their being taken to task by the top leadership. Sources within the party said the two leaders- Cabinet Minister Gobind Singh Bisht and local legislator Kharak Singh Bora, would indeed want to forget the day like a bad dream. Party sources stated that the two literally got a “verbal chiding” from Thavar Chand Gehlot as the latter was seen fretting and fuming while being upset at the reception given to the top leadership, including the BJP’s national president Nitin Gadkari. There were hardly 12 people at the entrance of the town to receive Gadkari and his accomplices while the reception at Haldwani had been marked by the presence of hundreds of party supporters at the Kathgodam Railway Station early in the morning. Sources said it was the internal party politics at work that led to the unsavory incident as some elements had made sure that maximum party supporters, including those from the Nainital and Bhimtal areas, turn up at Kathgodam and not at Nainital, which would have been far more convenient. The event also saw the now sidelined Hemant Dwivedi taking to task a media personnel for having looked through him and ignored him while moving towards the room where former party president Rajnath Singh was staying. The blue-eyed boy of former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank has been “put in his place” by Khanduri following certain allegations against him. He was removed from the post of the chairman of the Uttarakhand Seeds and Terai Development Corporation (USTDC) following reports of “irregularities”. Dwivedi could be seen telling the “BJP friendly” journalist how he had gone out of the way to get him accreditation and other benefits.
New patent for novel plant dye
Scientists of College of Home Science of the Gobind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology have received a new patent for a novel plant dye. Professor Manisha Gahlot and her two teammates- Nargis Fatima and Neema Papnai, both senior research fellows, have been granted a new patent for extraction of natural dye from a new source, i.e. flowers of Clerodendrum thomsonae for wool and silk. The patent also includes optimisation of various dyeing parametres. In the process, shades of pink and peach colour were obtained with good colour fastness towards crocking, washing, light and perspiration tests. The research work for this was done under the All-India Coordinated Research Project on ‘Value addition of the agro and animal based fiber’ of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research in 2005. Vice-Chancellor of the university Dr BS Bisht, and Dean, College of Home Science, Dr Rita Singh Raghuvanshi, congratulated Dr Gahlot for her useful contribution in the field of research and technology development. Dr Gahlot has acknowledged the constant encouragement and support of Dr Raghuvanshi throughout the research work.
Fog to theives’ advantage
For most of the people of the Terai and Bhabar areas of the Kumaon region, the continuing fog and cold has brought in a misery. This, however, does not hold true for everyone. The happiest lot is that of thieves. Reports suggest that the thieves have been happily doing their job while making optimum use of zero visibility conditions in the plain areas of the region. With no one being able to recognise them or their movement, the foggy conditions have come a boon for them. —
By Rajeev Khanna |
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