Winterline: Joy for tourists, concern for environmentalists
Mussoorie, November 16
With the winter making its way in the hill town of Mussoorie, tourists and residents alike are enchanted with a meteorological wonder called the ‘Winterline’, which makes its presence felt gradually on the imaginary horizon overlooking the Doon valley.

Parents suspect foul play in daughter's mysterious death
Dehradun, November 16
The parents of the schoolgirl who died under mysterious circumstances while going to the school on Friday at Badowala met SSP Kewal Khuranna here today and demanded an inquiry into the death of their daughter.

Haridwar, November 16
In view of the festive bath of Kartik Poornima to be held tomorrow, elaborate security, traffic and administrative steps have been put in place by the mela administration.

As lakhs are expected to throng the city on the auspicious festive bath and Guru Nanak Parv, also falling on the same day, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Haridwar, Rajiv Swarup took a briefing of the mela force that has been put on duty from today onwards.

During the briefing held at Rishikul auditoriums, SSP Swarup stressed donning twin duty roles, as security personnel as well as friendly police, for the pilgrims.

For the festive bath fair, a special traffic plan has been envisaged that will be applicable till late midnight tomorrow.

Specific lots in Green Vista, Pant Deep parking, Deen Dayal multi-storey parking, Alaknanda, Bairagi camp, Neel Dhara, Gauri Shankar, Rishikul maidan, Gurkul Kangri Dayanand Stadium and Rodi Belwala open land area have been marked as parking lots.

Laljiwala and Chamgadar Tapu lots have been put in as reserve parking lots, which will be used during additional influx of vehicles during the festive bath.

The traffic pouring in from Delhi side will be diverted through Narsan border, Lakhnauta, Jhabreda, Iqbalpur Puhana, Roorkree, Landaura, Lakshar, Sultanpur, Pherupur, Kankhal, Shankarachary Chowk, Irish Setu and will be brought at Bairagi camp.

Meanwhile, vehicles coming from Najibabad route, going towards Dehradun-Rishikesh, will be taken through Chandi chowk-Chilla-Yamekeshwar, Pauri Garhwal route towards Rishikesh.

Traffic coming from the Dehradun-Rishikesh route will be plied through the National Highway, ie from Nepali Farm, Raiwala, Motichur, Chandi Ghat Chowk route. Saharanpur-bound traffic will be diverted through Roorkee.

Superintendent of Rural Police Ajay Singh, Superintendent of City Police Surjeet Singh Pawar, Circle Officer Sadar Rajesh Bhatt, Circle Officer City Jodh Ram Joshi, Circle Officer Kankhal Chandra Mohan Negi, among other police officers, were also present at the briefing of mela police personnel.

Dehradun, November 16
Chandmari village on the outskirts of Dehradun continues to be in the grip of leopard menace as villagers are not ruling out a man-eating leopard in close vicinity.

Little less than a month back on October 24, a 14-year-old girl was brutally mauled to death by a leopard in the Chandmari area. Victim Lakshmi, daughter of Dilip Thapa, along with some women had gone to collect dry wood from the forested area of Chandmari, when she was attacked by a leopard hiding in bush. Her half eaten body was later recovered. Since then Chandmari village, which is not far from the VVIP residences of the Chief Minister and the Governor, is facing leopard threat.

As an immediate measure, the Dehradun forest authorities had cleared off all the bushes, particularly those of Lantana from Chandmari to stop re-occurrence of the incident. Cages were also put at a number of places in the village to trap the leopard but so far it had failed to yield results. A team of forest guards deployed to deal with the situation found little success with the prowling leopard still at large and continuing to create fear among the residents.

Some residents of Chandmari a few days back also reported sighting a leopard and sought immediate action among the forest guards. One of the residents, Suresh Kumar, said there had been constant leopard movement in Chandmari and any major tragedy cannot be ruled out in the near future. He has sought more concrete efforts on part of the Forest Department to trap the leopard.

Meanwhile, Dehradun forest authorities asserted that apart from putting up cages, a team of hunters had also been deployed to deal with the situation. They asserted that they were also keeping a strong vigil during morning and evening hours in order to check occurrence of any untoward incident.

Mussoorie, November 16
With the winter making its way in the hill town of Mussoorie, tourists and residents alike are enchanted with a meteorological wonder called the ‘Winterline’, which makes its presence felt gradually on the imaginary horizon overlooking the Doon valley.

But little do they know that the imaginary crimson line separating the two layers of air, which is falsely believed to be witnessed only at two places, one in Switzerland and the other in Mussoorie, is formed due to the pollutants suspended in the atmosphere over the Valley. The experts are of the view that the winterline occurs due to the temperature inversion that stops atmospheric convection (which is normally present) from happening in the affected area and can lead to the air becoming stiller and murky from the collection of dust and pollutants that are no longer able to be lifted from the surface. The refraction of sunlight at a particular angle, when looking at the valley from the mountain, gives rise to what is called the crimson-coloured line over the horizon, the experts added.

Eminent environmentalist and president of the Winterline Nature Trust Shantanu Sarkar is of the view that the winterline, as it may look beautiful to the naked eye from Mussoorie, is nothing to be proud off as it is a direct result of the human induced pollution suspended in the atmosphere above the Valley.

He further said due to the saucer shape of the Doon Valley, with only two opening traps available at the far eastern and western side, the heavy polluted air within the Valley remains suspended for a longer time. Hence it is clearly visible during the winters and not in the monsoons, when the strong winds scatter the suspended pollutant particles in the atmosphere quickly.

Sarkar further opined that ten years from now, with the increase in the number of vehicles in Doon Valley, the smoke exhaust will also increase in the same proportion and the winterline might look even much more beautiful.

However, it should be no reason to cheer. Instead, one should work towards reducing the pollutant to the levels that the winterline is less visible.

Wildlife biologist and outdoor educator Suniti Bushan Dutta, sharing the picture of the winterline visible from Pangot, about 11 km from Nainital, said it was a myth that the winterline was only visible from Mussoorie and Switzerland. It is an atmospheric phenomenon, which is seen from anywhere when conditions are just right in the mountains.

Meanwhile, for the tourists and residents, who are unaware of the environmental implications of this phenomenon, the winterline remains a major tourist attraction that should be promoted vigorously in Mussoorie.

Dehradun, November 16
The parents of the schoolgirl who died under mysterious circumstances while going to the school on Friday at Badowala met SSP Kewal Khuranna here today and demanded an inquiry into the death of their daughter.

Reportedly, 16-year-old Karishma Negi left for his school at 7 am in the morning on Friday and around 8:30 am she was spotted at one restaurant in Dakra in Garhi Cantt with a person called Laxman. According to the police, Laxman took Karishma to one hospital after she complained of illness. Later, she died during the treatment in the hospital.

According to the cantonment police, after leaving Karishma to the hospital, Laxman left the hospital and gave one phone number to the hospital staff and asked them to inform on that number about her health condition.

Dehradun, November 16
Faced with opposition from their families to their relationship, a young lover couple attempted suicide by consuming poison here today. The couple was admitted in Doon Hospital in critical condition.

Reportedly, Anuj and Rekha, both hailing from Saharanpur district, ran away from their houses and came to Dehradun three days back. After their family members got to know about their location, both of them reached the railway station in the morning and consumed poison, which triggered panic in the railway 
station premises.

Dehradun, November 16
Making a strong pitch for inclusiveness, Nicola Tansely, a distinguished educationist and psychologist from the United Kingdom, today said that inclusiveness is a basic human right and would benefit the country immensely, if it is propagated in the field 
of education.

''Inclusiveness should matter to India, which despite making considerable progress in other spheres, continues to be rated poorly on the social indicators. The absence of inclusiveness leads to disparities. Younger generation falls prey to terrorism, corruption and in the long run leads to a barrier in development,'' she said while delivering the 10th lecture in the Sir Ratan Tata Trust distinguished lecture series on education and inclusion, organioed today by the Latika Roy Foundation.

In fact Nicola also highlighted the inequalities prevailing in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, which consumed 30 per cent of the world resources.

Dehradun, November 16
Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi has greeted the people of the state on the occasion of Guru Nanak Dev Jayanti and Kartik Purnima.

In his message issued on the eve of the festivals, the Governor said Guru Nanak Dev’s message of truth, love, compassion and sacrifice was an eternal and constant source of inspiration for society.

Dehradun, November 16
Rotary Club, Dehradun, in its endeavour to provide woollen clothes to the needy children, donated pullovers to 110 students of Shiv Shiksha Sadan Primary School, Rajeev Nagar, Dehradun, at a function here today.

The Club was established here in 1940 and has been continuously working for the benefit of the society through various projects. Rotary Club has been working with the school earlier also by providing them stationery items, bags and has also constructed toilets in the school.

Club president Gaurav Deep Singh said the flash floods which had struck the state recently had affected thousands of residents.

The Rotary Club has come forward and stood by citizens of the state on previous such occasions and now it had committed to rebuild and provide furniture to 176 schools of Uttarakhand, he added.

Principal of the school Neelam Sharma thanked and appreciated the gesture of the Rotary Club.

Brother AJ George, principal, proposed a vote of thanks in which he appreciated the students as well as teachers for making the sports day a grand event.

Dehradun, November 16
The Uttarakhand Junior State Volleyball Championship begun today at the ONGC volleyball ground, with teams from all the districts participating in it in both boys and girls category.

Dehradun, November 16
Final matches were played in both girls and boys' category in the CBSE Sahodaya Inter-School Volleyball Tournament played at Doon Global School here today.

In the girls' category, DAV Public School won the trophy after defeating Himjyoti in the three set final match by 23-25, 25-18 and 250-17. On the other hand, in the boys' category, NDS defeated Sapience in a closely fought four-set match with a score line of 25-17, 24-26, 25-22 and 28-26.

Dehradun, November 16
On the second day, AIA defeated Himalayan Institute by two wickets in the ongoing 1st SDBIT T-20 cricket tournament at the Ranger College ground here today.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Himalayan Institute managed to score 87 runs after a middle order batting collapse. Vinod Shah scored the highest 18 runs for his team, Himalayan Institute. From AIA, Amit Bhandari took four wickets.

Haridwar, November 16
Pauri Garhwal district bagged the first prize in the folk dance category in the ongoing state-level Mini School Sports and Cultural Championship, being held at Dayanand stadium in Gurukul Kangri University.

As nearly 1,371 students are participating in the championship. Rudraprayag district won the second position and Tehri Garhwal won the third position.

In the skit presentation, Pauri was adjudged the winner followed by Uddham Singh Nagar and Dehradun district teams.

In the sports competition, Pauri Garhwal girl’s team clinched gold in the Volleball segment while Dehradun won gold in the table tennis team event.

In wrestling, Vishu of Haridwar won the 41kg event defeating Dipak of Dehradun. Ashish and Manoj from Dehradun won the 32 and 35 kg event respectively.

A district-level Sanskrit school’s competition also was organised at Nirdhan Niketan Ashram by the Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy.

In the Sanskrit skit event, the first position was bagged by the city based Shri Bhagwan Das Sanskrit Maha Vidyalaya and fetched a cash prize of Rs 1,500.