Dehradun, August 21
With only Rs 4.25 crore released against the demand for Rs 7 crore during this financial year, the poor budget allocation has put the Doon Hospital in a critical condition.

"We have already spent most of the allocated funds and may not be able to pay the salary this month. The operating costs of the hospital together with the concessions which are given to the BPL patients are huge," said Dr RS Aswal, Principal Superintendent of the hospital.

Further, the Doon Hospital which is beset with the problem of plenty in terms of a number of patients gets very less budget from the government, whatever amount is released is divided between the two other hospitals ie the Coronation Hospital and the Female District Hospital.

"We have to dip into the user charge share but this cannot be spent fully as a major percentage goes towards paying salaries to the staff, the diet and local purchase of medicines," added Aswal.

The Doon Hospital will have to first address the immediate needs of the contractual employees whose salaries have to be paid next month.

Every month the hospital has to spend money on salaries of the contractual employees and replenish stocks of medicine under Local Purchase order(LP). These medicines are for BPL card holders

"Things would become much easier if the Doon hospital is assigned a separate budget. The medicines procured under the LP prove useful for the BPL patients," said PC Semwal, Chief Pharmacist (Doon Hospital).

Further to keep the machines in use at the hospital in good condition, the yearly maintenance is required, "There are several machines in use and every year a big chunk of the budget goes towards maintenance, which cannot be avoided," added Dr K.C Pant, a senior physician. 

Dehradun, August 21
A year ahead of the parliamentary elections in the country, veteran politician ND Tiwari who does not seem to be on good terms with the state government in Uttarakhand is contemplating charting out his political future course of action.

Tiwari has convened a meeting of his supporters in Lucknow on October 18, which incidentally also his birthday.

Some days back, he had questioned the state government's efforts towards providing relief to pilgrims in the recent rain disaster in the state.

According to ND Tiwari's Officer on Special Duty Bhawani Dutt Bhatt, the veteran politician was hale and hearty and has completely recovered.

Bhatt expressed concern over the delay on the part of the state government to start a probe to expose those behind administering overdose of medicines to Tiwari.

He said the recent reduction of facilities to Tiwari by the government had also irked him.

Meanwhile, ND Tiwari has conveyed his greetings to the people of Uttarakhand on festival of Raksha Bandhan and also the famous Bagwal fair of Kumaon.

Dehradun, August 21
The festival of Raksha Bandhan, which denotes sacred bond of love, trust and commitment between sisters and brothers, was celebrated with religious fervour today.

Since early morning, women and girls dressed in traditional clothes were seen travelling to their brothers’ homes for tying rakhis on their wrists.

Though the market remained closed till afternoon, a few makeshift stalls were seen selling rakhis. However, it did not make much difference as brothers and sisters were busy enjoying the occasion with their families

Himanshu, an MBA student, had planned to take his younger sister for a movie and shopping. “I am going to take her to watch movie “Chennai Express” and later we will have lunch together along with some friends.”

Ayushi, a mass communication student, said, “I love this festival as I get a lot of gifts from my brother and cousins after I tie rakhis on their wrists. We are planning to go out after the festival.”

On the other hand, for those who could not celebrate the festival with their brothers and sisters, SMSes, phone calls and emails started pouring in since morning. Courier services were used to send gifts to their siblings who live out of the state or the country.

Haridwar, August 21
The religious function ‘Anandaotsava’ commenced with gaiety and fanfare today at sub-urban Jwalapur.

Revered religious-spritual orator Swami Rajendra Das Devacharya Maharaj will be narrating the tales of Lord Krishna and Bhakt Mall.

Today, a royal procession of ‘kalash yatra’ was taken out by women devotees, with pots filled with ‘amrit kalash’ and saplings of ‘tusli’, through the lanes of Jwalapur.

The beautiful procession saw a large number of women participants even as local people lined up to view the kalash yatra.

In view of the forthcoming festive of Shri Krishan Janmashtami, the Shiv Bhandar Ann Kendra will celebrate the festival with enthusiasm and organise a religious function.

A kaleidoscopic royal procession will be carried out in which beautiful tableaux will be a major attraction.

Members of the Shiv Bhandar Ann Kendra have decided to portray the Herculean efforts of the Indian Army, Air Force, paramilitary forces and Uttarakhand police jawans in the resuce and relief operations in the Kedar Valley and the Himalayan belt during the June-July natural fury in Uttarakhand, via these tableaux.

Rajendra Vadhawan said this year the Janamashtami function has been dedicated to the Uttarakhand natural catastrophe and the affected people.

Meanwhile, at the Til Bhandeshwar Maha Dev temple in Kankhal, the annual religious 
function concluded yesterday. Legislator Madan Kaushik attended the function. He said where there is devotion, there is God.

Maha Mandaleshwar Dr Shyam Sundar Shastri said that the month of Shravan in the Hindu calendar is the month of Lord Shiva, who resides at Shri Daksh Maha Dev temple at Kankhal during this time.

This is due to the pledge given by Lord Shiva to King Daksh, who is considered the father of deity Parvati and was beheaded by followers of Lord Shiva when the deity was not called on for a yagna at Daksh temple.

As the Shravan month concluded yesterday, Lord Shiva is believed to move to Mount Kailash and will be looking after the affairs of the earth till ‘Devothan Ekadasi’ when Lord Vishnu will arise and take over the reins from Lord Shiva.

Dehradun, August 21
Dance India Dance (DID) dancing star Raghav Juyal, popularly known as ‘Crockroach’ for his mesmerising dance moves especially his slow motion dance that became a rage among the youngsters in the country, was in the city today to promote the upcoming 4th season of DID for which auditions have started across the country.

He announced that the wait is finally over for those who believe that they were born to dance, as the auditions for Dance India Dance (season 4) would be held in Dehradun on August 23 at The Asian School in Indra Nagar.

“Everybody who were spending nights to rehearse their moves must pull up their socks and get ready to show their talent to the world through Dance India Dance and I am sure that Dehradun will give the best dancers to this season of DID”,he said.

Raghav, who hails from Derhadun, rose to the fame after reaching the final round in the dance reality show Dance India Dance (season 3). He was later appointed as a skipper for the team ‘Raghav Ke Rockstars’ in ‘Dance Ke Superkids’ and his team was declared winner in that dance competition.

He said he has signed a movie namely ‘Sonali Cable’ of Ramesh Sippy Productions. He will be in the lead role along with Riya Chakarbarty and Ali Fazal. He will also be in the leading role in ABCD-2 along with another DID star Dharmesh, which is going to be shot in the USA.

“Shooting of ABCD-2 is going to start very soon and I am very excited about the movie, as it will just be dedicated to dance”, said, Raghav.

When questioned whether he misses Dehradun and Uttarakhand in Mumbai, he quickly answered, “I make sure that I visit Dehradun once in a month and spend time with my family and friends, as life in Mumbai is very fast and one gets bored of it after sometime.”

He also wishes to organise a charity dance show for the families of victims of natural disaster that had hit the state. 

Dehradun, August 21
The first conference of ‘I Can,’ a unique educational concept, was organised at Summer Valley School on August 18 and 19 in Dehradun.

‘I Can’ is an activity-based learning programme where students learn by doing and is considered as the most evolved extra-curricular educational concept for the high school students.

The school witnessed two full days for vibrant activity where 300 students were made to go through an experiential learning programme. Over the two days, students were divided into 3 groups called the corporate houses, media houses and political parties. A corporate simulation was created in the school where students played the role of CEOs, advertising departments, government and news channel.

The concept was modelled as a competition where teams had to compete over various tasks that were assigned to them. “It was a lot of fun and an intensive learning experience”, said Anurag Chauhan, one of the winning CEOs in the media section.

‘I Can’ has been launched in Uttarakhand, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. The inspiration for this concept comes from Model United Nations (MUN) and ex-students of famous Doon School have conceptualised this concept. According to the organisers, the fundamental objective of the programme is to instil in students an array of life skills and soft skills that are a prerequisite for students in every walk of life. 

Dehradun, August 21
Ecole Globale International Girls’ School today organised an inter-house “just a minute” extempore speaking competition.

The contestants were divided into the junior and senior categories. . In the junior category, Akshata, Anusha, Samya and Ananya represented the terra, aer, ignis and aqua teams, respectively. Akshata was the first speaker and she spoke on “Free time”. Anusha was the next and she spoke on “My hobby”. Samya’s topic was “My bed” and Ananya’s “Nature”.

In the senior category, Vasundhara, Chetanya, Shraddha and Aarushi represented terra, aer, ignis and aqua teams, respectively. Vasundhara’s topic was “Student life”, Chetanya’s “Youth”, Shraddha spoke on “Freedom of speech and Aarushi on “Happiness”. Anusha of the Aer team emerged as the winner in the junior category and Vasundhara of the Terra team was the winner in the senior category.