Controversy of ash-immersion rituals in Rishikesh rages on
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, February 24
Retaliating to mass protest being held by teerth purohits and pandas of Haridwar against ash-immersion rituals being done in Rishikesh, now the same community people from this temple town has come out openly against their counterparts in Haridwar.

Citing mythological and religious-historical references wherein ashes immersion has been done in Rishikesh, too, teerth purohits said that the rites being done by Chidanand Muni of Parmarth Niketan is not new and is not violating any religious-traditional norms.

Banke Bihari of Gau Sankalp Trust, Rishikesh, termed ashes immersion as very well in sync with Hindu rituals and customs in Rishikesh, adding that the ashes need river water for last rituals and not any specific place only, though Haridwar has its importance since ages but it is not binding or necessary to do so there only.

Sanskrit students, too, have come out openly in various Sanskrit institutions in Rishikesh, lashing out particularly at yuva teerth purhohits of Haridwar, who burned effigies of Chidanand Muni, terming it as an act that does not go down well with the religious image of teerth purohits.

Students of Ved Maha Vidyalaya protested at Maya Kund in Rishikesh where they alleged some section of teerth purohits of Haridwar were carrying out agitation just for sake of personal interests only.

They cited Shastras and other scriptures where it was written that ashes immersion was done at river ghats only and, thus, it was not mandatory that the river or Ganga ghat be of Haridwar, Rishikesh or any other place.

Meanwhile, in Haridwar the issue of protest against Chidanand Muni’s ashes immersion act of Kailash Kher’s mother is still alive as today state Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik issued a statement supporting Haridwar teerth purohits’ stance.

Madan Kaushik, legislator from Haridwar city Assembly segment, said that since ages ashes immersion had been done in Haridwar only, and that, too, at Braham Kund, Har-Ki-Pauri, and so the tradition laid by sages should not be infringed, also citing reference of religious scriptures in this matter.

Citing Mahabharata epic reference, Maa Chamunda Devi Mukti Andolan Samiti coordinator Sunil Sharma pointed out that even Bhisham Pitamah had done final rites of his father at Ganga Dwar in Haridwar and urged the saint community of Rishikesh practising this ritual there to refrain from any act that hurt the age-old traditions.

 Women seek police help to check illegal sale of liquor
Tribune News Service

Nainital, February 24
Women residents of the Devnai area, Bageshwar, have sought the help of the police in checking the illegal sale of liquor in the villages in the area. They have announced their resolve to launch a campaign to put an end to the practise of illegal sale of liquor in the villages that has become a menace.

The women said there was hardly any shop in the villages around Devnai that did not sell liquor. They pointed out that liquor can be procured from even small eating joints and grocery stores.

Besides leading to an increase in the consumption by menfolk, this practise has led to a feeling of being unsafe among women. A large number of girls and even married women shy away from going to general stores and grocery shops in the evening.

The women have now resolved to constitute groups to prevent the procurement of liquor by the shopkeepers on the eve of Holi. They have stated that they would be carrying out raids to confiscate liquor from those who are selling it illegally. They have asked the police to help them in their campaign.

The police on its part has increased a vigil in the area. It has also increased the checking of vehicles that go from Garud to the Devnai area. Besides buses, Jeeps and other modes of transport are being subject to random checks.

The police has agreed to provide all possible help to the women to check the menace. The women have been carrying out a battle against the illegal sale of liquor in various parts of Kumaon over the past several years. They have been pointing out that unbridled liquor consumption has caught a lot of misery in the rural areas of the hilly terrain, where unemployed youths have been resorting to alcohol abuse on a large scale.

The women have also been demanding that the police carry out special drives to check the sale of liquor from shops other than the licensed liquor vends.

Reports of liquor being sold from grocery stores and small eating joints keep on coming to light regularly from various areas of the region. The menace exists even in main towns like Nainital and Almora.

 Drive to check spurious milk products on
Tribune News Service

Nainital, February 24
In the wake of the coming Holi season, the authorities have initiated a special drive to check the sale and distribution of spurious milk products. It has been noticed that large quantities of spurious milk products, particularly khoya, are brought into the region during Holi.

The authorities at the Food and Civil Supplies Department have chalked out a strategy to check the movement of spurious products and also keep a tab on the adulteration of milk products in the region.

The officials have already started random sampling of food products available in the markets. The sampling is being done extensively at various dairies and shops selling sweetmeats.

In addition to this, random checks are being carried out in the buses coming into the region, particularly at night. Various teams have been constituted to carry out checks in the buses and other vehicles bringing in milk products from outside the state.

Apart from khoya, sampling is also being done of ghee and cottage cheese. The demand for all three articles shoots up during the Holi season as goodies are made in every household for the festival.

Over the next few days, the authorities will be carrying out raids, particularly in the areas bordering the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh. For the last several years, they have been recovering massive quantities of adulterated khoya and other milk products like cottage cheese.

Tonnes of spurious milk products have been seized and destroyed every year. It has been noticed that a large number of spurious products are brought into the region from places like Bijnore, Moradabad, Rampur and Bareilley through various routes leading to Uttarakhand. The spurious products recovered by the authorities are dumped immediately.

The annual exercise carried out by the authorities is often met with skeptical response from the people who point out that why is it that the authorities carry out such raids only before Holi and Diwali when

it can be easily assumed that such adulterated stuffs will also be coming when the marriage season is on. People also want that more stringent laws be made to check adulteration in food stuffs. The festival of Holi is marked by large-scale consumption of sweets made from milk products.

The region is famous for its Bal Mithai and Gujiya preparations which are taken by visitors not only to various parts of the country but to other countries as well.

 Avoid pious work during ‘Holasthak’ period
Tribune News Service

Haridwar,February 24
From March 1 this year, performing any pious work (mangal karya) will get affected due to ‘Holasthak’ tenure, which commences from this date as per Hindu calendar.

So, be it marriages, performing religious rituals related with house and other related works which are deemed ‘mangliks’ (auspicious), these get affected as it is considered not a good phase for performing such rituals.

The ‘Holasthak’ tenure starts from 7:49 am on March 1 and will continue till March 9, which means from the next day onwards once again auspicious dates begin for performing of these events.

As per mythological-religious references, as this period falls in midst of the festive season of Holi, in which Holika had burned to death in fire, any pious work is not considered to be good that is performed in this tenure.

According to the lunar month (Chandra Maas), Purnima of Phagun Maas is celebrated as Holika festival. “Holashtak’ witnesses the arrival of Holi and heralds the arrival of Holi festival.

Looking at the literal meaning of ‘Holashtak,’ we find Hola + Ashtak, which means eight days before Holi, that is Holashtak. Basically, Holi is a festival of nine days instead of a single day and on the day of Dhulendi - played with colours - this festival comes to an end.

According to noted astrologer Pundit Vipin Parashar, as Holika dahan continued for eight full days, this time is not celestially appropriate for pious works. So one should refrain from doing such acts as they may have negative results.

 Experts express concern over depleting medicinal herbs 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 24
A three-day training programme on “Propagation, cultivation and nursery management of Saraca asoca (Ashok) and other medicinal species” concluded at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) here today.

Dr Meena Bakshi of the botany division (FRI ) and AS Rawat, group coordinator (research), FRI, who presided over the programme expressed concern over the depleting resources of medicinal species.

Various aspects related to Saraca asoca and other medicinal species, including clonal propagation techniques, pathogen control, the collection and storage of seeds, nursery techniques of propagation, the biodiversity of medicinal plants in India and their conservation strategies, were discussed.

Senior scientists of the FRI --- Dr S. Nautiyal, Dr NSK Harsh, Dr Veena Chandra, Dr Meena Bakshi, Dr Sangeeta Gupta, Dr Avinash Kumar Sharma, Dr Manisha Thapliyal, Dr Ombir Singh and Dr Karan Pal Singh — delivered lecturers on the occasion.

A live demonstration of clonal propagation technologies developed in Saraca asoca and the nitrogen fixation ability of medicinal species were presented by Dr Meena Bakshi and Dr SP Chaukiya.

A field visit to Dr Sushila Tewari Nursery and Muni ke Reti, Rishikesh, was also part of the training programme, where the trainees were exposed to the identification of medicinal species in the field by Dr HB Naithani and Sajad Rizvi.

 2 killed in road accident
Our correspondent

Mussoorie, February 24
Two persons were feared killed and more than one dozen injured when an overloaded Mahindra Max vehicle plunged into a deep gorge at Masrana, near Suva Kholi, on Mussoorie-Dhanaulti road around 6.30 pm today. The vehicle was returning from Erana and heading to Kimoi village in of Jannpur Block after attending to a marriage ceremony when the driver lost control at Masrana village and plunged from the road into the deep gorge.

According to police sources, two persons have been reported dead while more than one dozen are feared injured. The police have confirmed two deaths and recovered the bodies. The injured have been sent to the nearest Landour Community Hospital in Mussoorie for treatment. The serious patients have been referred to hospital at Dehradun. Police personnel and 108 ambulance service reached the spot of the ill-fated accident and rescue work was on till the filing of the report.

 CM’s remarks against EC baseless: Cong
Calls it a sign of frustration, possible defeat in poll
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 24
The state Congress has termed the allegations of partiality against the Election Commission by state Chief Minister BC Khanduri on the issue of undelivered postal ballots of service voters as a sign of his frustration and possible defeat in the state Assembly elections.

Uttarakhand Congress vice-president Suryakant Dhasmana in a statement termed the allegations as false and totally baseless.

Dhasmana alleged that the BJP had been misusing the postal ballots of service voters of Army and para-military forces in the past two decades of elections in the state. He further charged that the BJP had been using the undelivered postal ballots of service voters in its own favour in the past. “However, this time the Congress has been keeping a close vigil on all postal ballots and this has led to consternation in the Uttarakhand BJP,” he said.

Yashpal Arya, Uttarakhand Congress president, also termed the allegations of Chief Minister Khanduri as unfortunate. He said the Congress party has been keeping a strict vigil on each and every postal ballot and if these postal ballots were coming undelivered, then the Congress or the Election commission needed not be blamed. “This showed the frustration of the BJP and Chief Minister Khanduri for their inability to manipulate postal ballots,” he said.

Dhasmana said the Chief Minister should verify the rules related to the postal ballot and then make charges. “The game of the BJP which had been misusing the service voters in the past is over,” he added.

 Open road or face stir, say Dharchula villagers
District Magistrate to meet BRO engineers soon
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, February 24
Sarpanches of five villages of the Chaudans valley on the Kailash Mansarowar route, situated in the interior part of Dharchula in this district, have threatened to launch an agitation in Dharchula, if the road from Ghatiabagar to Jipti, closed due to a major landslide eight months ago, will not be opened.

“Due to closure of this road from June 2011, people of Gala, Jipti, Bungbung, Simkhola and Garva villages have to walk 9 km on steep heights to reach their villages from the point they leave the road,” said Kundan Singh Bhandari, sarpanch of Simkhola village.

The 5-km road from Gatiabagar to Gala, which was blocked in the landslide, could not be opened till date by BRO engineers. According to the villagers, the BRO has not even tried to open the road despite many complaints by villagers to the district and sub-division administration.

“The government has created an alternative way for Kailash Mansarowar pilgrims, due to that the hope of opening the road has been dim,” said the sarpanch.

Not only the road to Jipti, but another road from Mangti to Tawaghat in same area has also been closed for the last one month, creating inconvenience to three villages of Jipti, Bung and Garva.

“We have two roads to reach our villages. But both being closed, the villagers are suffering a lot and carrying their essential daily items, even LPG cylinders, on their shoulders on steep heights to their villagers from Tawaghat town,” said Hema Bisht, sarpanch of Garva village.

The Dharchula administration, reacting to the agitation threat of the villagers, has said soon the District Magistrate will hold a meeting with the BRO officers, involved in the road construction and apprised them of the inconvenience being faced by the villagers.

“We are very much concerned with the inconvenience the villagers are facing for the past eight months and committed to solving the problem before the rains this year,” said Abhishek Tripathi, SDM of Dharchula. 

 RTI activist’s killers surrender, sent to judicial custody
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, February 24
Three accused in the murder case of RTI activist Jagdeesh Chauhan, who were at large, today surrendered in court. The bail application filed by the trio, Bablu Kumar, Som Lal and Karamjeet, all residents of Pheurpur village, has also been rejected by the Judicial Magistrate. They have been sent to judicial custody.

Yesterday, the police had confiscated the property of the accused, which is seem to be the reason behind their surrendering in court today.

Jagdeesh Chauhan, a retired teacher, who had exposed various scams, was found murdered under mysterious circumstances on February 15. He had expressed fear of threat to his life to the police, but no action was taken.

His son, Gulab Rai, has expressed satisfaction on the rejection of their bail application and demanded stringent punishment for them. 

 Landslides on road to Kumaon make travel risky affair
Tribune News Service

Nainital, February 24
Regular landslides and rock falls continue to occur near Jaurasi on the Bhawali-Almora road, making travel on this road a very risky affair. This route acts as the arterial road for the hilly terrain of Kumaon as most of the supplies to the districts of Almora, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh go through it.

Eyewitnesses say that the landslides and coming down of boulders have become a frequent phenomenon that can take place any time. The area saw a massive landslide on late Wednesday night that led to the blockage of the road between Khairna and Almora. As of now, vehicular movement on this road has been prohibited from 6 pm to 6 am.

A large number of police personnel and functionaries of the Public Works Department (PWD) are being deployed near Jaurasi round the clock so that the road can be cleared immediately after a landslide occurs.

Ever since, the area witnessed large-scale destruction in the rain-related disaster of 2010, the occurance of landslides and rock falls near Jaurasi has continued unabated. It was in December last year that the administration had constituted a committee to ensure smooth movement of traffic and to address the problems being faced by the travellers on the stretch.

A geological survey of the area that had been carried out recently has shown the area to be extremely sensitive geologically. Efforts are being made to find a long-term solution to the problem. The feasibility of various alternate measures is being studied at length by the administration. 

 Animals to be sacrificed to please Mahakali rescued 
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, February 24
The Gangolihat subdivision administration in pursuance of court orders to check animal sacrifice today got freed a male buffalo and eight goats being brought for sacrifice at the Mahakali temple here. “We not only succeeded in rescuing the buffalo but also extracted an assurance from the temple priests that animal sacrifice will not be allowed in future,” said PC Dumka, SDM, Gangolihat.

The Mahakali temple in Gangolihat has more than 1,000 years’ history of animal sacrifice. According to legends, one of the Shankaracharyas, who visited this place when humans were sacrificed to please Mahakali, got the practice changed to animal sacrifice. “This has been stated in the Manas Khand of Sikand Puran,” said Kalika Rawal, a priest at the temple.

Administration sources said on receiving information that eight goats and a male buffalo were being brought for sacrificing at the Mahakali temple from Sangar village in Berinag subdivision of the district, a team of administration officials led by the SDM stopped the villagers carrying the animals by showing them court orders. “When we told the villagers that there were standing orders of the Uttarakhand High Court against sacrifice of animals, the latter insisted on sacrificing the buffalo on the basis of the centuries-old tradition. However, we told them about punishment for violating the high court orders, they relented and set the buffalo free after anointing it,” said the SDM.

He said they also succeeded in persuading the villagers and the priests, besides the temple management committee not to sacrifice animals.

 Physical education a must: Experts
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, February 24
Experts have called for making physical education and sports science a mandatory subject in all educational institutions across the country.

This was stated at a three-day international conference on “Global Innovations, Strategies and Policies in Physical Education and Sports Sciences” that commenced at Gurukul Kangri University here today.

The Head (academics) of Jindal Global Sports University, Dr Sanjeev P Sahni, cited loopholes in government-run sports authorities as well as policies and said as the country did not have a sports-loving culture, particularly among the youth, most of the talent was either not identified at an early stage or their skills were not honed due to lack of proper sports infrastructure.

Sahni said countries like the US, Russia, China and Australia had policies to promote sports, huge budgets for various sports and they inculcated awareness about physical education among the youth at an early age. This all resulted in a big pool of sports talent as well as healthy citizens.

Religious guru Shankaracharya Raj Rajeshwaram Maharaj, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said if physical education, yoga and Sanskrit were combined, citizens would be both healthy and cultured.

Justice Mukund Kum Sharma (retd), Vice-Chancellor of Lal Bahadur Shastri Vidyapeeth, New Delhi, also stressed on physical education as a mandatory subject to prepare the youth at an early age. He added considering the fast-paced life in modern times physical education was a most for long-term benefits.

Vice-Chancellor of Gurukul Kangri University, Prof Swatantra Kumar, who is also a retired Army officer, said the university was the first institution in Uttarakhand to have a Physical Education-Sports Science Department. This had resulted in the university students excelling in various sporting events and people recognising the importance of this wing.

Prof Mahavir Aggarwal, Dr SK Dagar, Simon Paris, Vinay Rohila, Dr Manu Dev Bandhu, Sunil Dabas, Dr Budhdev and Prof AK Chopra were among others who addressed the inaugural session.

The conference would continue for two more days and delegates from the UK, Ethiopia, Japan, Germany and Bangladesh and more than 400 delegates from 22 states of the country were participating. 

 DM for mechanism against disaster
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 24
Dehradun District Magistrate Dilip Jawalkar has stressed on developing effective mechanism for safeguard against disaster. Presiding over a disaster management meeting, Jawalkar directed for coordination among various departments to ensure development of effective mechanism as safeguard against disaster.

He said the departments should be sensitive towards disaster management and asked them to come forward with suggestions towards a disaster safeguard mechanism.

The District Magistrate said operation, service, health, infrastructure, logistics, communication and resource desks had been created for speedy disaster management works. He said each desk would be headed by chief controller who will be the nodal officer. “In case of any disaster, these nodal officers will be in direct touch with the district operation centre”, the DM observed. 

 Textile exhibition a hit with Doon women
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 24
The dress material of silk and cotton is creating a fashion rage among the ladies of Doon valley with the ongoing Indian textile exhibition at a city’s hotel located on Rajpur Raod these days. The authentic fabrics are put up on sale at an affordable price by the artisans from across the country.

According to Saurabh Gupta, the organiser of the exhibition-cum-sale of silk and cotton dress material, silk and cotton spectrum has earned the reputation of being an ensemble of exotic creations for women. Such expos not only become a direct interface between the artisans and the buyers but also help the struggling industry find new markets.

The exhibition is showcasing the best of Indian handlooms from Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Chhatisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, he added. 

 Risk reduction training concludes

Dehradun, February 24
A four-days community-managed disaster risk reduction training programme, organised by the HelpAge India under SAG programme for 22 elder self-help groups at the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA), culminated here yesterday.

HelpAge India state head Aapga Singh and Ashutosh Misra from SAG along with Anis-ur-Rehman (PDO) from the YWCA, Dehradun, organised the programme. — TNS