DMC to clear footpaths of encroachments from today
Dehradun, June 5
The Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) will start a drive against encroachments on the footpaths in the city tomorrow.

Silver stolen from temple
Dehradun, June 5
Silver jewellery and tiara adorning deities at Sri Sai temple on Sahastardhara Road were found stolen today.

Dehradun June 5
Deputy Inspector General, Dehradun Range, Amit Singh expressed dissatisfaction over the progress of pending crime cases which had not been solved within the given time period in the Pauri district.

While holding a meeting at the Pauri office, he pulled up the Superintendent of Police (SP) to take exemplary steps to nail down habitual offenders, hardcore criminals, thieves, motorcycle lifters and smugglers abetting crime in the district.

He said circle officers should be held responsible to brief their investigating officers about the case details while proper monitoring and evaluation should be dealt with by the SP with immediacy.

He said matters pertaining to missing children should be taken seriously and solved on priority bases. The database of missing children should be maintained properly. Case monitoring of such cases should be done by officers at the SP level. He said the SPs must share details about the missing children through social sites which would help them in gaining necessary information. He said the police should move a step forward and carry out its social duty in sensitising public about children going missing through media.

While speaking on the crimes against woman, he directed the police officials to tackle such cases seriously. He said they must develop a healthy atmosphere in police stations so that female complainant could come there without any hesitation.

In context of the Char Dham pilgrimage, he said a checking drive should be conducted during the peak hours. The pilgrims must be cautioned about gangs of pick-pockets who offering food or drink laced with sedatives. 

Dehradun, June 5
Forest guards held a demonstration outside the Secretariat today for better pay and perks. Led by Inder Mohan Kothari, president, Uttarakhand Forest Guards Association, the guards had been agitating for some time but the state government did not pay any heed toward their demands. They have sought pay scale at par with police constables.

Swaroop Chand Ramola, a protesting forest guard, said they must be given additional emoluments as they worked 24 hours. He also demanded risk allowance for the forest guards. “We have been forced to boycott the Environment Day celebrations today and go for an agitation,” Ramola added.

The guards also pledged to continue their agitation till their demands were accepted by the state government.

Dehradun, June 5
The Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) will start a drive against encroachments on the footpaths in the city tomorrow.

The Additional Mukhya Nagar Adhikari, HV. Mishra, who took charge today, will spearhead the campaign.

The drive has been taken up on the directions of the Nainital High Court to remove encroachments from the footpaths in the city. The high court has given the directions in response to the PIL filed by a leader of the Uttarakhand Jan Mancha, Manmohan Singh Lakhera. He said, “The footpaths were created in the city to facilitate walking space for the commuters. However, the footpaths have been encroached upon either by shopkeepers or hawkers and vendors. As a result, commuters have to walk on the busy roads and this leads to accidents.”

He said he was happy that the DMC was finally swinging into action on the direction of the high court in the matter.

The Mukhya Nagar Adhikari, DMC, Ashok Kumar, said, “The drive against footpath encroachments will continue till all of them are cleared.”

He, however, felt that it was primarily the job of station police officers. “The encroachers always return to the place from where they had been removed. The corporation cannot go after them all the time or check the proliferation of encroachers in any particular pocket. Even the high court has mentioned in its direction that the station police officer of the area should check the encroachments. It is the police that first comes to know of any encroachment in its area and can use the force to evict the encroachers,” he said.

Kumar also directed the dismantling of parts of footpath covering the drains and posing problems in their cleaning. He said, “Footpaths have been built on drains at many places in the city in a bid to encroach the place. In Paltan Bazar, the drains cannot be cleaned because these have been covered with cemented footpaths. I have issued directions to break footpaths over the drains at several points and cover them with meshed iron in order to make it feasible to clean the silt deposited there.” 

Dehradun, June 5
Silver jewellery and tiara adorning deities at Sri Sai temple on Sahastardhara Road were found stolen today.

The police is quizzing 10 employees of the temple and a guard, who were present on and around the temple premises. The main priest has gone to Delhi and is expected to return tomorrow morning.

The temple is situated far from the city and can be reached only through ropeway from Sahastardhara. The sanctum sanctorum is surrounded by a glass house.

According to the police, 10 employees of the temple were sleeping at the distance of 50 m from the sanctum sanctorum, while the guard was also there. A brick was thrown to break the glass and steal the jewellery. The police is amazed that the employees and guard could not come to know of the noise triggered by breaking of the glass. Circle officer Swatantar Kumar said he was interrogating all employees.

Mussoorie, June 5
The CID team from tinsel town in Mumbai today arrived in Mussoorie to shoot few scenes for the television serial.

The creative team of CID, a television serial based on murder mystery, arrived in Mussoorie and began shooting at various places of the town.

Artistes Daya, Poorvi and Shreya shot few scenes in the traditional attire of Uttarakhand in Company Garden, while another actor from the popular television serial Abhijeet was scene in the attire of Sikhs. Actor Shivaji, who plays the role of SP Pradyumun Singh in the serial, also shot few scenes today.

Production coordinator Pankaj Sharma informed the mediapersons that the director of serial also belongs to Dehradun so he thought to shot the Ganga episode of the serial in his home state.

The CID team will also shoot in Dehradun, Haridwar and Rishikesh.

Dehradun, June 5
Uttarakhand Minister for Health and Family Welfare Surinder Singh Negi today inaugurated a B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) blood test analyser, semen analyser, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyser and coagulation machine at the Doon Hospital.

While inaugurating the machines, Negi said these would further aid in improving the facilities at the Doon Hospital. “These facilities would be available free of cost for the BPL card holders and at government rates for the others,” said Negi.

The BNP tests help diagnose cardiac conditions in infants.

The HPLC analyser would pave the way for complete microbiological and virological tests.

In one go, 75 blood samples can be tested with the machine. 

Mussoorie, June 5
Colleen and Hugh Gantzer, a local husband-wife author team, which brought laurels to the hill town by winning the prestigious National Tourism Award 2011-12 for their two books on tourism and heritage of the country, were felicitated by the municipal council at a simple function held here.

Kavi Mohan, programme coordinator, welcomed the authors. He highlighted their works and number of national and international awards received by them in past several decades. Mohan said Hugh and Colleen had discovered magical places in India, which were real and accessible.

He said the author couple had also hosted 52-weekly episodes of India’s first nationwide TV travel show, wrote first travel scripts for websites, toured India and the world as guests of tourism organisations. They had, possibly, visited, photographed and written about more places in India than anyone else in the history of the country, he added.

Dehradun, June 5
A medical camp will be held at Shanidham Ashram, Vikas Nagar, on the occasion of Shani Jayanti on Thursday. District Magistrate BVRC Purushottom will inaugurate the camp, which will be held from 9 am to 5pm.

Experts from Max Hospital will examine patients at the camp. A lecture on the ill effects of a sedentary lifestyle and hereditary diseases and their prevention will be held.

An eco-ambulance will also be launched. Tejasvini, a recipient of the President’s Medal, will sing bhajans on the occasion.

Director-General of Police Satyavrat Bansal will be the chief guest, while the chairman of Uttaranchal Medical College, Dr Ashvini Kamboj, and principal of Mahadevi Kanya Pathshala, Dr Kiran Sood, will grace the occasion. — TNS

Dehradun June 5
District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam said yesterday that though the provisions of the Forest Rights Act were enforced to recognise the rights of forest dwellers, their rights could not be implemented in true letter and spirit unless they were aware about it.

He said to spread awareness about the Act, a camp would be held at Sahiya, Navi Gram Panchayat. The SDM and BDO, Kalsi, will ensure adequate publicity about the camp with the assistance of the members of the district panchayat, gram pradhans and the general public of the area.

He said the district social welfare officer had been made the nodal officer to deal with issues related to this matter.

He said, “The Forests Rights Act validates the rights of Scheduled Tribes and traditional forest dwellers to do farming on forest land, collection of small forest products, etc. But there is a lack of awareness about the provisions of the Act”.

Dehradun, June 5
The Kotwali police arrested six persons on the charge of gambling at Maliyan in the Lakhi Bagh area yesterday and confiscated Rs 1.34 lakh from them. However, the main accused, Roshan, managed to escape. A non-bailable warrant has been issued against him.

The six arrested persons are Pankaj Kukreja, a resident of Moti Bazaar, Ashish Garg, a resident of Majra, Saurabh, a resident of Chaman Vihar, Navin and Rakesh, both residents of Chander Nagar, and Mukhtiyar from Dhamawala.

According to Station Officer, Kotwali, MS Negi, except one of the accused, others are from simple background and have no criminal record. “They were gambling in order to make quick money. Roshan had been involved in gambling for a long time,” he said.

Circle Officer Harish Chand Sati said a lot of people were taking to gambling in the city these days. A couple of days ago he along with a police team had gone to apprehend a group of gamblers at Laxman Chowk. But by the time they reached there the accused had fled.