Leopard on hit list of poachers
Dehradun, November 13
Leopard continues to be a causality in Uttarakhand with as many as 31 leopard hides being confiscated in the state so far this year, amply revealing that poachers continue to eye this spotted wildcat in the state.

Indiscriminate honking irks Doonites
Dehradun, November 13
Dehradun, which is the state capital, can well earn the reputation of being the ‘honking capital’ of the state as well. Small children, senior citizens and the ailing are the worst sufferers of the frequent and indiscriminate honking by motorists in the city.

Asha workers come down from water tank
Dehradun, November 13
Six Asha workers, who had been atop a water tank at Vikasnagar since November 8, came down this morning after the government agreed to give them an annual bonus of Rs 5,000, which was one of their primary demands. However, the other demands of the Asha workers have not been met yet and the government will decide upon them within a fortnight.

Tourism Dept to organise Int’l Yoga Festival in February
Dehradun November 13
The Tourism Department is going to organise the International Yoga Festival at Rishikesh in February next year.

Allahabad Bank opens another branch
Dehradun, November 13
Assistant general manager Gopal Jha yesterday inaugurated the branch of Allahabad Bank at Bageshwar in Uttarakhand.

Dehradun, November 13
The much-awaited three-tier panchayat elections will take place in January in the state.

The Uttarakhand Government has submitted the proposed schedule of the panchayat elections to the state Election Commission (EC).

As per the schedule, the poll notification has to be issued by the commission on December 10. The process of filing of nominations will take place from December 18 to December 21. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be held between December 22 and December 26, while the withdrawal of candidature can be done on December 27.

The polling will be conducted in three phases that includes dates for pollings on January 11, 15 and January 18. The counting will be done on January 22.

There has been a delay in the conduct of panchayat elections in the state. As per the earlier schedule, polling had to take place on December 24, 28 and 31, while the counting was scheduled for January 4. But the government amended the schedule and has now sent it to the state election commission.

The delay has been attributed to the conduct of rapid survey that was conducted recently for deciding the OBC seats in the three-tier panchayat elections.

Dehradun, November 13
Leopard continues to be a causality in Uttarakhand with as many as 31 leopard hides being confiscated in the state so far this year, amply revealing that poachers continue to eye this spotted wildcat in the state.

According to State wildlife sources, man-leopard conflict continues to aggravate in the state of Uttarakhand with a total of 30 leopard hides recovered so far this year from various miscreants arrested in the state. This evidently reveals that leopard has been on the hit list of poachers and rising animosity between leopard and man is also a factor behind it.

Despite best of efforts on the part of state forest authorities to make relations between man and leopards cordial, the situation has only turned from bad to worse. The state forest authorities in recent years have tried to make the procedure of giving ex-gratia to the leopard victims more simplified and speedy. But rising incidents of leopard attack on humans are making matters worse for the state Forest Department. The latest being the gory killing of girl in Chandmari in close proximity to VIP area of Dehradun.

Wildlife conservationist AK Singh admits that man-leopard conflict was a serious challenge and needs to be tackled tactically. “While conserving wildlife is of paramount importance, it is also important that wildlife attacks on human settlements are minimised,” he points out. “It is quite evident that human causalities are bound to result in retaliatory killing of wildlife,” he observed.

Meanwhile, a leopard cub was killed in a road mishap in Dehradun today.

An unidentified vehicle ran over a leopard cub on the main Chakrata Road close to the main gate of the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. The incident happened at around 7 in the evening.However, the vehicle that hit the leopard cub could not be identified. Dehradun forest division officials who rushed to the spot took the carcass. It is noteworthy that the region where the incident took place today has been infested with leopards in recent years. On Divali day, FRI along with forest authorities managed to trap a female leopard that has been spreading terror in the region for quite some time. FRI residents do not rule out more leopard cubs inside the FRI campus.

Dehradun, November 13
Dehradun, which is the state capital, can well earn the reputation of being the ‘honking capital’ of the state as well. Small children, senior citizens and the ailing are the worst sufferers of the frequent and indiscriminate honking by motorists in the city.

City motorists are notorious for honking and the intensity of pressing horns increases when they at stuck at traffic signals. “Their impatience and road-intolerance get translated into frequent honking and it seems to have become a culture here in Dehradun,” Mukesh, a no-honking activist, told The Tribune.

Motorists even don’t show any regard to ‘silent zones’ such as hospitals and schools, where indiscriminate honking is prohibited. “The problem is that motorists here honk for all reasons, and for no reason at all. Few persons have the habit of deliberately honking from behind to irritate others. This disrupts the concentration of the drivers on the road,” Sumit, shopkeeper, told The Tribune.

According to Mukesh, who has been carrying out the crusade tirelessly against indiscriminate honking by the motorists, said:“We organised 'No-Honking Day' in year 2011 and got overwhelming response from the people of the city, and this year also we are planning to organise the day in month of December in association with few NGOs.”

He feels that there is a need to create awareness among the youngsters of the city who show little concern for any rules and regulations regarding honking. It is to be noted youngsters even replace the factory-fitted horns with high-decibel honks in their cars and bikes, which create more noise pollution.

On other hand, traffic police keeps carrying out drives against high-decibel horns but still the usage of such horns has not stopped. Mostly people use them as a tool to wade through the traffic during the peak hours but sometime they even resort to honking without any reason due to habit.

“We take action against such errant drivers who use high-decibel horns, which also acts as a distraction during driving for other commuters moving on roads and can cause accidents. Awareness should be created among the people about ill-effects of indiscriminate honking,” Virendra Rawat, traffic inspector, told The Tribune.

It is noteworthy that according to the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board data, the noise pollution level at sensitive places such as Doon Hospital and CMI Hospital chowk remains higher than the prescribed limit.

Dehradun November 13
The Tourism Department is going to organise the International Yoga Festival at Rishikesh in February next year.

The decision in this regard was taken at a meeting organised by Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar. Others who attended the meeting were Principal Secretary Tourism, Uma Kant Panwar, along with the managing directors of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam and officials of the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board.

Swami Vishudanand, who organised the event last time, was entrusted with the task to prepare the design for the function this year as well.

He said, “An event manager will be hired this year to provide all paraphernalia, including tented camps, sitting arrangements, decorations, cultural programmes and food arrangements.”

He said applications would be welcomed from those who aspire to become a part of the festival by arranging their own yoga and spiritual classes. Each of them would be provided separate tents which would be erected near the banks of Ganges in the vicinity of the Ganga Resort owned by the GMVN.

The Tourism Department has made the registration fee compulsory this time. All ashrams and hotels, including the Parmarth Niketan, will have to adhere to the guidelines in this regard.

Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar has directed officials of the Tourism Department to invite applications for the event management company and begin the process for the online registration of the guests who are keen to attend the festival.

Dehradun, November 13
Members of the students' union of DAV (PG) College here today gheraoed their Principal Devendra Bhasin to draw his attention towards the problems being faced by them.

The protesters, led by union president Siddharth Rana and general secretary Jogendra, reached the Principal's office this afternoon and informed him about the problems of the students.

Their main demands included the renovation of the college building, proper infrastructure and the construction of a girls' common room with attached toilet.

They warned the college administration that they would launch an agitation if action was not taken on their demands within a week.

Meanwhile, Bhasin assured the students of solving their problems soon.

Dehradun, November 13
Uttarakhand Council of Science and Technology’s (UCOST) Director General Vijay Dhoundiyal has stressed on the development of scientific temper among students.

Inaugurating the Department of Science and Technology’s science senstisation programme “Inspire” at Mahaveer Kanya Pathshala Dehradun, Dhoundiyal said it was the duty of teachers and scientists to make science a common man’s subject. He said science was nothing but a common sense that needs to be understood.

He said it was important that science do not remain a part of academics, but rather becomes a subject that was a part of our daily lives and understood by one and all.

Society of Pollution and Environmental Conservation Scientists (SPECS) founder president Brijmohan Sharma apprised the schoolchildren of the ill-effects that could be caused to the body if there was no proper intake of iodine. He stressed on the importance of health diet and adverse impact on health of fast foods.

UCOST’s Amit Pokhriyal disclosed that UCOST in assistance with other NGOs had been organising science awareness programmes at various schools of Dehradun. 

Dehradun, November 13
Governor Aziz Qureshi has greeted children on the occasion of Bal Diwas.

Paying tributes to first Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, he said Nehruji’s love for children made him beloved "Chacha Nehru" for all children. The Governor emphasised the need to organise programmes for children, especially the underprivileged, on a regular basis. — TNS

Dehradun, November 13
The CBSE Sahodaya Inter-school Volleyball Tournament began at Doon Global School here today.

In the first match in the girls' category, Himjyoti School defeated Doon Global School 50-23.

Himjyoti also won its second match of the day after trouncing Sapience School 50-17. In the third match in the girls' category, DAV Public School beat Doon Global School 50-17 score.

In the boys' category, six matches were played on the inaugural day.

Doon Global School defeated Horizon School 50-28 score whereas the match between NDS and Sapience School went to the third set and NDS won the match in the end with the final score 75-56.

In a close match, DAV Public School defeated Lucent School 51-45. Satya Sai School also won its match against Bahgirathi School in a three-set encounter.

In another match, NDS defeated Lucent School 50-31. In the last match of the day, Satya Sai School registered an easy win against Horizon School with 50-27 score in its favour.

Dehradun, November 13
Two close and exciting matches in the super league stage of the ongoing Drona College 70th Nemidas Memorial District Football League here today ended in draw.

The first match between the CT Young football team and the Sunderwala football station ended in a 1-1 draw. For CT Young, Rakesh opened the goal tally in the 50th minute while in the 79th minute, a striker of Sunderwala scored a brilliant equaliser.

The second match between Vijay Cant and Akranta also ended in a 1-1 draw with both teams playing thrilling football. While Rohit scored the goal for Akranta in the 55th minute, Tushar of Vijay Cant scored the equaliser in the 79th minute.

Two matches would be played in the super league stage tomorrow as well. Dehra Eleven will fight it out against Cantt Blue while Adhoiwala will play its match against the Wills Youth football club.

Dehradun, November 13
An 80-year-old man was found dead near a vegetable market in the Patel Nagar police station area this morning. The deceased has been identified as Indra Singh.

There is no injury mark on the body and the police is suspecting it to be a case of natural death.

Dehradun, November 13
As part of its ongoing crackdown on drugs and illicit liquor in Dehradun, the police recovered charas and illegal country made liquor form different places.

After getting a tip-off, Nehru Colony police started a checking drive and held Nandan Singh, resident of Motharawala, from near Nayi Basti on Tuesday late night and recovered illicit cartons of country made liquor from his possession. According to the police, Nandan was going to sell the illegal liquor to his customers, and a case has been registered against him under Excise Act.

On other hand, Rishikesh police arrested one drug peddler, Manoj, and recovered 270 gram of charas from him. According to Rishikesh police, Manoj hails from Saharanpur and presently lives in Rishikesh in a rented accommodation near Munikireti. A case has been registered against him under NDPS Act.