Schools in inaccessible areas closed
Dehradun, August 6
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today directed the Principal Secretary (Education) to order the closure of schools falling in inaccessible areas for an indefinite period in view of incessant rains. “As most of the roads are broken, children are finding it difficult to reach their schools,”  said Bahuguna.

MDDA acquiring land on Chakrata Road to implement development plan
Dehradun, August 6
Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) has begun preparations to acquire land on Chakrata Road to implement its re-development plan. The initiative on MDDA's part has put the Nazool land owners in a tizzy, while freehold traders are happy with the move. Those who have their shops and houses in the backlanes are also ready to go with the new plan. MDDA is hoping to get sanction from the state government by next week.

Haridwar, August 7
Saints today offered ‘pind daan’ to their forefathers, martyrs and the victims of the recent disaster on the occasion of Shravan Amavasya.

The founder of Baba Amir Giri Dham, Shri Mahant Vinod Giri Maharaj, said such rituals on Shravan Amavasya held great significance as it's believed that ‘pind daan’ would give moksha to the deceased.

Mahant said hundreds of people were buried under the debris in the recent flash floods. Since their identities were unknown, they were cremated at Kedarnath valley only. For the peace of the departed souls, the saint community decided to offer pind daan to them. At the Ganga ghat, tributes were also paid to jawans who sacrificed their lives for the country. "It's our duty to offer tributes and thank them in anyway," he said.

Dehradun, August 6
Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) has begun preparations to acquire land on Chakrata Road to implement its re-development plan. The initiative on MDDA's part has put the Nazool land owners in a tizzy, while freehold traders are happy with the move. Those who have their shops and houses in the backlanes are also ready to go with the new plan. MDDA is hoping to get sanction from the state government by next week.

Special Land Officer Ranjana Verma who is overseeing the whole acquisition process said :'' Around 3110 sq metres land on right side of Chakrata Road stretching from Clock Tower to Bindalpul and 6916 sq metre land on left side will be widened. Approximately 200 metre land will be acquired in totality for which 212 buildings will be demolished in the process.''

Secretary, MDDA, Banshidhar Tiwari, said: ''Four shopkeepers of Chakrata Road belonging to Nazul land had filed a PIL in Nainital High Court against the proposed re-development plan. MDDA was called to give its response to it. There we submitted a report of Disaster

Management Mitigation Centre, according to which these half demolished buildings are susceptible to fall down even with a tremor of 3.5 on the Richter Scale. At this the High Court ordered us to start the acquisition process. Now the traders, tenants and house-owners will have to abide by the direction of the High Court.''

President of shopkeepers' association of Chakrata Road Shashikant who has built his shop on Nazul land on Chakrata Road said that he was given 24 sq metre shop in the new shopping complex on Rajpur Road in lieu of his 35 sq metre shop on Chakrata Road. He also expressed displeasure that the MDDA estimated the cost of the remaining part of his shop on Chakrata Road as merely Rs 1,35,000.

Along with Shashikant, Rajesh Goyal, too, has filed PIL against the plan. He said: ''I fail to understand why the shopkeepers are being forced to give their land for re-development plan. If our buildings are fragile, we will construct them again as per given parametres.

Moreover, the shopkeepers can make three-storeys over their shops while

MDDA is giving one shop in the new proposed multiplex in exchange of one shop, which is not fair.''

However, President of Freehold Shopkeepers Association of Chakrata Road Virender Rawat said that MDDA was compensating well to those who had even the smallest size of shop of just 5 sq metre by promising to give each one at least 15 sq metre shop. He said, he got assurance from Secretary, MDDA, that the house owners would be paid rent till their new houses got ready in the new building.

He was of the opinion that the Nazul shopkeepers would have to fall in line sooner or later as the roads in the city would have to be widened in the wake of increasing pressure of traffic on the roads. 

Dehradun, August 6
The common scene in almost every police station of Dehradun is the row of seized, recovered and unclaimed vehicles, which have been rusting there and gathering dust for years turning the police stations into a dumping yard.

The free space in almost all the police stations in Dehradun are filled with two-wheelers and four-wheelers parked there in a dilapidated condition. On an average, more than 20 unclaimed or seized vehicles are there in every police station of the capital. Maximum rows of vehicles could be found at Kotwali, traffic police office, Dalanwala police station, Cantonment police station, Patel Nagar police station and 
Bindal Police Post.

The vehicles lying in the police stations were seized on violation of traffic rules, recovered from crime offenders and unclaimed vehicles found parked somewhere. On the condition of anonymity, a police Sub-Inspector told The Tribune, “There is nobody to take care of the seized and recovered vehicles in the police stations and we rarely even look at their condition after they are brought to the police station.”

However, as per the norms, the police should auction the seized and unclaimed vehicles after taking the permission from court when no claimant is found within prescribed period of time.

But it is worth mentioning that condition of majority of the vehicles lying in the police stations have deteriorated to such level that even the scrap-dealers will be reluctant in giving a decent price for the vehicles.

When contacted, SP Rural, Mamta Vohra, told The Tribune, “all the recovered vehicles are case properties and they remain in the custody of the police till the case gets solved at court level.” On the question of responsibility of wear and tear of these vehicles during the time they remain in the police custody, SP Rural said, the police is not responsible to keep the recovered vehicles in good shape.

Interestingly, even if the vehicles are released after the case gets solved, the majority of them are rusted by the time they reach the rightful owners.

It seems there is nobody to take a stock of these vehicles parked outside the police stations and on other hand the lengthy auction process making things worse resulting in loss of property worth lakhs.

Haridwar, August 6
The much-awaited annual Multan Joth Mahotsava will be organised for the 103rd time in Haridwar on August 11.

The mahotsava began in year 1911 to disseminate the message of love, brotherhood, culture and peace between India and Pakistan.

A devotee, Roop Chand, treaded on foot from Multan, now in Pakistan, to Haridwar in 1911 with a message of love and peace. He offered ‘joths’ to mother Ganga after performing prayers-a legacy that is continuing even today. It has now become an annual festival in the calendar of the city.

People hailing from the Multan region come to Haridwar to take part in this festival, besides a large number of people belonging to the community based in Haridwar. This religious-cum-cultural festival has now taken a big leap and has become one of the attractions during this period of the year.

Chairman of the All India Multan Youth Organisation Mahendra Nagpal told The Tribune that the festival had emerged as a source of bonhomie between the two countries, which assumes importance post-Kargil War.

“Devotees from Pakistan and India will offer milk to the Ganga before offering lighted joths to it, seeking blessings for people of both countries. It is not confined to Multan now but people from across the country participate in it,” said Nagpal while chalking out cultural programmes for the event.

Various dignitaries, including BJP parliamentarian Varun Gandh, BJP national party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, South Delhi BJP Mayor Azad Singh, former Delhi Mayor Aarti Mehra, firebrand leader Vani Tripathi, BJP legislator Vijay Jolly, noted television actors Praveen Kumar and Vijay Bajaj of the Mahabharat fame and a host of noted comedy stars would take part in the mahotsava.

Nagpal said a large number of devotees had started arriving in Haridwar to take part in the festival. Religious programmes, a yajna, mass food, a jagran, Rasleela would also be organised.

Dehradun, August 6
Rains continue to lash Uttarakhand even as a causality was reported from Uttarkashi district today where a five-year-old boy was killed in a rain- related incident.

According to the Met Department, rains will continue in the state in the next 24 hours. The Dehradun Met Department has forecast rather heavy y rainfall at isolated places in the state on Wednesday.

In capital Dehradun, water-logging took place in low-lying areas along seasonal rivers of Bindal and Rispana. Residents in a number of localities had to move to safer places as water entered their houses. In the city water-logging took place at MKP College crossing, Prince Chowk and Haridwar Road. The entire Inter State Bus Terminus was inundated, causing great inconvenience to the commuters. Till 8 am today, Dehradun had experienced 34.8 mm of rains in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Disaster Mitigation and Management sources said several roads had been blocked in the state due to the rains. Tuni-Chakrata road, New Tehri-Kirtinagar road, Lambagad-Kimadi road and Chamsari-Tehri road have been blocked due to the landslides caused by rains. 

Dehradun, August 6
In view of loss to life and property in the natural calamity in Uttarakhand, Governor Aziz Qureshi has decided that no function other than the flag-hoisting ceremony will be held at Raj Bhavan to celebrate Independence Day.

The Governor will hoist the National Flag at Raj Bhavan at 8 am on August 15. He will pay tributes to the heroes of the freedom movement on behalf of the people of the state. A resolve will be taken on the occasion to help the disaster-affected people in every possible way.

The high tea that is held in the evening to celebrate Independence Day will not be organised and the money thus saved will be contributed to the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund.

The Governor has called upon individuals and organisations to come forward and help the disaster-affected families. “If we could help any disaster-hit family it will be a moment to celebrate. And only then can we say that we will begin to fulfil the dreams of the freedom fighters.” 

Pithoragarh, August 6
Congress MLA from Dharchula Assembly constituency has said that after taking out 111 villages out of the purview of Askot Musk deer sanctuary in the district, it is time for speedy development of these villages which have remained stagnant from the basic infrastructural development point of view in the last 30 years. Dhami said that to fulfil the gap of backwardness of the last 30 years, he will demand a special package from the Chief Minister for these backward villages.

“After the state government removed the ban under sanctuary laws from these villages, the possibility of development of infrastructure has come up with hope, keeping which in mind, we have started a process of calling tenders for those 12 motor roads under PMGRY, work on which was stopped due to this stricture in the area,” said Dhami, while addressing mediapersons here yesterday.

Dhami thanked Chief Minister Bahuguna for his efforts in removing sanctuary laws on the affected villages and providing a way out for their speedy development. “Besides Chief Minister Bahuguna, I also thank our leader Rahul with whose blessings the area will get special attention in developmental projects in future,” said Dhami.

According to Dhami, while 11 more roads under PMGRY category proposed earlier in that area have been sanctioned for proposals, proposal for 28 motor roads under state sector are also being worked out to give connectivity to the people of the area. “We have given road construction priority to the area as it is a vital sector which follows all-round development of any area,” said Dhami.

Dhami said that he had given a demand charter to the Chief Minister, demanding at least 5 nalis of land for each family of disaster-hit villages and develop every basic facility before they were resettled. “Wherever government resettles these people, they should have all basic facilities, including schools, hospitals road connectivity and means of employment for livelihood,” said Dhami.

Dehradun, August 6
Members of the Patanjali Yog Samiti and Bharat Swabhiman gathered at Gandhi Park in Dehradun yesterday and distributed saplings of medicinal plants among the people free of cost.

Deepa Sharma, women wing president of the Pantanjali Yog Samiti, said the samiti was observing Medicinal Plants Week from August 1 till August 7 and plants were being distributed as part of it.

Gayatri, Kamala and Ram Pyari were some of other prominent samiti members who participated in the programme.