RTE Act: Well-to-do people forge papers for wards’ admission
Dehradun, March 23
People from well-to-do families are using forged documents or references of ministers and top officers to facilitate admission of their children to reputed schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

Haridwar, March 23
In view of a rise in the number of instances of elephant intrusion in the residential colonies and on the outskirts of the Rajaji National Park, the forest department and park authority has stepped up vigil in these sensitive areas.

Villagers and residents passing through the elephant corridor are being advised to be cautious of the elephant movement.

Such is the rise in jumbo intrusion that villagers are having sleepless nights and they have been patrolling at night to counter the problem. Villages of Jagjeetpur, Missirpur, Katarpur, Panjan Hedi, Ajeetpur, Pathri, Dhanauri, Ferupur, Chandpur, Telliwala, Bishanpur Kundi, Kota Muradnagar, Shyampur and Laldhang are reporting jumbo intrusion on daily basis. Several hectares of crop has been ravaged by elephants.

Forest officer MS Negi of the Tibdi range of the Rajaji National Park said they were keeping a close vigil in the vulnerable elephant-prone area and night patrolling was also being held. The visibility of elephants on the Haridwar-Najeebabad-Kotdwara highway is also being reported.

Taking cognisance of the complaints in this regard, the forest department has set up a special task force to counter this problem.

Special vigilance and night patrolling is being done in the affected villages, particularly early in the morning and in the evening when the animal movement is most likely.

Forest official D Sanatan Sonkar said forest guards were keeping a tab of elephant movement. The villagers have also been urged to inform of any such incident to the authorities.

“Construction of concrete walls and solar fencing to block the entry of jumbos into residential areas is in the pipeline to ensure jumbo intrusion in residential areas could be avoided,” he said.

Affected villagers of Jagjeetpur, Missirpur and Panjanhedi have also demanded the District Magistrate to provide compensation for the damaged crop.

To avoid man-animal conflict, a 13-km long fencing light will be installed by the Forest Department from the Jagjeetpur-Bhogpur village stretch. This is considered the most affected elephant intrusion stretch.

Haridwar, March 23
International president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Ashok Singhal has welcomed the Supreme Court order in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts case punishing Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt and the masterminds of the crime. He, however, termed the five-year imprisonment to Sanjay Dutt as insufficient considering his involvement in “terror” activities.

The firebrand leader, who was on a private visit to the city, said the actor had been convicted under the Arms Act only while AK-56 rifles and explosives that were stored at his house claimed 257 lives and wounded 700 persons.

“The consignments of weapons and explosives were smuggled into the country by dreaded underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his accomplices for carrying out the blasts in Mumbai and still Dutt has been awarded five years of jail only. The others involved in ferrying the explosives have got at least 10 years of rigorous imprisonment,” said Singhal.

On the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Singhal said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance would face defeat and like-minded opposition parties need to form a major coalition on the lines of the National Democratic Alliance.

Dehradun, March 23
People from well-to-do families are using forged documents or references of ministers and top officers to facilitate admission of their children to reputed schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

Under the Act, only poor people with annual salary of Rs 55,000 can get their children, aged 6, admitted to Class I and avail of free education up to Class VIII in any private school. In the present times where education is getting expensive and admission to good schools difficult, people even belonging to the higher income group are not hesitating from misusing the RTE Act. Their wards, otherwise, might not qualify the admission tests, but under the RTE Act where it is compulsory for schools to reserve 25 per cent of the total seats for poor children, they are getting admission easily. There are only 4,465 seats reserved under the RTE Act for Dehradun district this year compared to 5,770 last year.

In-charge under the RTE Act, Dehradun City, Tripta Sharma, said some rich people come to her with forged ration cards and income certificates for the admission of their children under the Act. “They, at times, misbehave with me when I point towards their expensive gear and lifestyle. An official of the Education Department came to me to seek admission for his son to a school under the Act. However, District Magistrate (DM) BVRC Purushottam rejected his case,” she added.

“The DM has rejected six such cases this year so far.

Manipulation under the Act becomes easier when RTE officials themselves take bribes to approve undeserving cases,” Tripta said.

The RTE in-charge, Mayur Vihar in Dehradun district, was removed from his post for facilitating admission of undeserving candidates under the Act. Ironically, the children whom he facilitated admission continue to study in those schools.

Tripta said they could not take action in such cases because the documents furnished by such people, even if they were forged, were up to the mark.

The DM said, “An enquiry will be conducted to identify undeserving children who got admission on the basis of forged documents and they will not be allowed to continue studies.” The DM had asked junior officials to prepare a list of slum children of 6 years of age and the schools situated in their vicinity to facilitate their admission to such schools under the Act. However, the list had not been provided to him.

Dehradun, March 23
Waste Warriors, a voluntary group, continued its efforts to keep Dehradun clean through clean- up drives at various landmarks of the city.

The walls of General Post Office, the Clock Tower compound and the PWD wall at Darshan Lal crossing are testimony to the hardwork undertaken by its volunteers.

Garbage girl Jodie Underhill, along with her team of workers and local people, scraped the walls of the General Post Office. The team also cleaned the Clock Tower compound area, which was strewn with discarded clothes and garbage. The team members had a tough time removing the strings and wires used for illegally hanging the banners and the construction waste piled up in the compound. Waste Warriors will now request the Nagar Nigam to repair the fountain and remove the scaffolding in the compound.

Since March 15, volunteer artists --- Pan Trinity Das of Canada and Ali Mae Thompson of the USA--- have been painting the PWD wall at Darshan Lal Chowk, which has now undergone a complete transformation.

A wall mural of Goddess Radha with the caption, "The pollution in India brings me to tears" and an angry Lord Shiva with the caption, "Mother Earth is a temple not a dustbin" now adorns the wall which saw the artists working tirelessly to achieve the result.

Jodie Underhill, Rajat Saxena, other members and local people also came forward to lend a helping hand.

Vice-President, Waste Warriors, Sujata Paul Maliah said, "We hope that people will appreciate the work being undertaken by Waste Warriors and help in creating a clean Doon. We request all citizens to join hands and play a pro-active role in preventing people from turning our wonderful city into piles of garbage. Let us all work towards create a clean environment to pass on to our future generations."

Mussoorie, March 23
In memory of the ultimate symbol of youthful patriotism, over a 100 members from the Indian Peoples' Theatre Association (IPTA) and All India Trade Union Congress(AITUC) gathered at Picture Palace and remembered the sacrifice of martyrs, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev and others today.

The members remembering the sacrifice of the martyrs for the nation, demanded remaining of Picture Palace as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk.

The IPTA members through various street plays relived the moments of the supreme sacrifice of the martyrs such as Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on the occasion.

The chief guest on the occasion, CPI leader of the state Samar Bhandari, addressing the large gathering said that if Bhagat Singh was alive today, he would be disappointed with the state of the affairs of the country with widespread poverty, farmer suicides and children dying of malnutrition etc.

He further said that this was not the India Bhagat Singh had dreamt of. Bhagat Singh opposed the Industrial Trade Bill, but the present government at the Centre was thrusting it on the people, which was unacceptable.

He said that the Centre and state government were both promoting free entry of MNCs in retail trade, using bulldozers in an Army style operation to demolish small shops around the country, thus belying the dreams of Bhagat Singh.

He, however, said that the tide was changing now and youngsters were waking up from deep slumber and taking to streets against issues such as Delhi gang-rape, and all the governments should be beware of this spirit of uprising against injustice, added Bhandari.

Later, the new executive committee of AITUC was announced in a function held at a hotel in Mussoorie.

Dehradun, March 23
District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam yesterday held a meeting with the officials concerned regarding the preparations for urban local bodies’ election in the district. He directed them to start preparation at the war-foot level, owing to the shortage of time in meeting the deadline. He said they must complete the preparations in time so that no problem cropped up at the time of election.

He directed Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDM) of Rishikesh, Vikasnagar, Mussoorie and all the tehsildars to inspect the polling booths in their respective areas. He directed the SDMs to identify sensitive and hyper-sensitive booths. He also instructed the Chief Development Officer to ensure appointment of in-charge officials, printing of voting material, EVM machines, training of employees, voting, deputing polling employees, returning officers, additional returning officers and zonal magistrate. He also directed additional election officer Rajkumar Verma to assist the CDO in this task. —TNS

Dehradun, March 23
Uttarakhand Technical University (UTU) defeated PWD XI by 10 wickets in a match during the 61st Dehradun District Cricket League played at Survey Stadium here today.

Batting first after winning the toss, PWD XI scored 56 runs all out in 15.2 overs. Atul took three wickets in 8 runs. In reply, UTU team scored 60 runs without any loss to win the match by 10 wickets.