Mussoorie, Dhanaulti don white mantle
Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, January 11
The hill town of Mussoorie and neighbouring areas like Dhanaulti were covered with a thick blanket of snow today, drawing hordes of tourists. The cold wave intensified with the mercury plummeting at several places in the state.

The second snowfall of the season in Mussoorie began around 6 am and continued for an hour much to the delight of the tourists, who made a beeline to the famous hill town and its neighbouring areas of Lal Tibba and Dhanaulti.

Mussoorie received around 1 to 2 inch of snowfall on Mall Road, Lal Tibba and Company Garden, forcing residents to keep indoors.

Transportation services were disrupted on the Mussoorie-Dhanaulti-Chamba route, forcing government buses to return without dropping passengers at their respective destinations.

Tourists reached Dhan-aulti and Mussoorie in a large number and enjoyed throwing snowballs at each other, causing traffic jams at several places.

The fresh snowfall brought cheers on the faces of the local businessmen due the large influx of tourists. It also gladdened farmers, especially apple growers, who said the moisture due to snow was good for the crop and would result in an increased yield in Dhanaulti.

The Meteorological Department is not ruling out more snowfall and rain in Mussoorie and nearby areas in the coming days.

Meanwhile, people living in tents and makeshift houses in the areas affected by the natural disaster at Kedarnath and Uttarkashi in June last year faced immense difficulties due to the severe cold. 

Banbasa, Berinag towns declared urban bodies
BD Kasniyal
Tribune News Service

Pithoragarh, January 11
The people of Banbasa in Champawat district and Berinag in Pithoragarh district have a reason to rejoice and celebrate as the Uttarakhand Cabinet at its meeting on January 8 declared these towns as urban bodies.

“We have won our 25 years’ struggle as the government accorded the status of an urban body to the town having a population of 26,000 and situated on the Nepal border of Champawat district,” said Jaswant Singh Basera, former BDC member in the Banbasa block.

After it was notified as a nagar panchayat, Banbasa town will be the fourth such urban body in the district. Tanakpur, Lohaghat and Champawat towns are the other three urban bodies.

Residents said the border trade that mainly depended on visitors from Nepal had suffered due to lack of civic facilities. Civic amenities could not be provided as the town was not an urban body and hence did not get funds from the Urban Development Ministry of the state and Central governments. 

Road safety week begins 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 11
A road safety week was started here today.

SSP Kewal Khuranna flagged off a bike rally to create awareness about road safety among the city residents.

Khurana himself took out a rally in the morning from Clock Tower with a message of careful and sensible driving.

Loud speakers had also been installed at various police pickets across the city. The police personnel were also seen interacting with two-wheeler and four-wheeler riders. 

Govt flayed for ignoring statehood agitators
Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, January 11
Statehood agitators held a meeting at a hotel in Mussoorie yesterday and lambasted the successive state governments for their failure to address the issues of the people since the inception of Uttarakhand.

Former vice-president of the Andolankari Samman Parishad Ravinder Jugran criticized the Vijay Bahugun-led government, especially Advocate General UK Uniyal, for their policies. He said Uniyal had failed in his duty to defend the cases related to statehood agitators and youths of the state in the high court and instead was more interested in pursuing these in the Supreme Court to benefit a few individuals.

Jugran said Uniyal was removed from the post of Advocate General by former Chief Minister ND Tiwari but was reinstated by Vijay Bahuguna due to vested interests. He demanded Uniyal’s removal in the larger interest of the people of the state. He added the then District Magistrate accused of the crimes against statehood agitators at Muzzafarnagar was provided a safety route by Uniyal, who failed to fight the case effectively in the high court. Jugran alleged that the present state government had not called a single meeting to address the issues of the statehood agitators.

Speaking on the issue of identification process, he said around 45 files related to statehood agitators of Mussoorie were still pending.

Jaiprakash Uttarakhandi, convener of the parishad, alleged that both BJP and Congress were misleading the people of the state and were milking the resources of the state for their own vested interests. He added efforts were on to form a third front to the BJP and the Congress in the state.

The criticism

* Former vice-president of the Andolankari Samman Parishad Ravinder Jugran criticised the Vijay Bahugun-led government, especially Advocate General UK Uniyal, for their policies

* He also criticised that Uniyal had failed in his duty to defend the cases related to statehood agitators and youths of the state in the High Court and instead was more interested in pursuing these in the Supreme Court to benefit a few individuals

Former minister pens book on state politics
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 11
Uttaranchal Sey Uttarakhand Key Barah Varsh, a book written by former Uttarakhand Minister Kedar Singh Fonia, was released in Dehradun today.

Releasing the book, Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha leader Lt Gen TPS Rawat (retd) said there was lack of vision among the leadership of Uttarakhand and pointed out that it was strange that the political leadership in the state was still to decide on an important issue like a permanent state capital.

He said migration continued to pose a big challenge even after more than a decade of creation of the state and the political leadership had failed to address this important issue.

Earlier, author of the book, Kedar Singh Fonia said he had touched every aspect of politics in Uttarakhand from the date of its inception till the present day political affairs in the state. He held both the BJP and Congress responsible for the sorry state of affairs in Uttarakhand.

Founder and President Marshall School GC Juyal, Dr IS Pal and KS Kunwar were also present at the function.

Rape, murder of class VII student
Candlelight march, protests continue in Haridwar 
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 11
Condolence meetings, protests, and candlelight marches continued in Haridwar for the fourth consecutive day yesterday demanding the arrest of people involved in the rape and murder of a schoolgirl at Pherupur village.

Haridwar (rural) legislator Swami Yatishwaranand demanded that a college be constructed and named after the deceased girl, Sandhya.

Yatishwaranand said Sandhya was an intelligent Class VII student and hence it would be a true tribute to her if the state government names an intermediate or degree college after her in Haridwar.

The Dalit community organised a candlelight march in the evening demanding punishment for the culprits, who were still absconding even 72 hours after the unfortunate incident.

Meanwhile, state president of the Uttarakhand Kisan Morcha Poonam Bhagat has condemned the heinous act and expressed condolences to her family members.

Students of Dev Sanskriti University also held a candlelight march and prayed for peace of the departed soul. They also took part in mass meditation at the Pragyeshwar Mahadev Temple.

Pro Vice-Chancellor Chinmaya Pandya said the crime against the teenager was a blot on society. He urged the judiciary to give such culprits exemplary punishment so that others did not dare to indulge in such heinous crimes. 

  State-level painting, declamation contest organised

Dehradun, January 11
Principal Secretary Education S Raju yesterday gave away prizes to the state-level winners of the painting and declamation competition organised today at Rajiv Gandhi Navodaya School under the Uttarakhand Tobacco-Free Initiative (UTFI) and World Lung Foundation South Asia.

The winners of the painting competition were Ankit Kumar, GIC, Pithoragrah; Sunil Mukhmal, GIC, Manipur; and Pratiksha Gusain, GGIC, Dehradun.

The winners of the declamation contest were Hemlata Joshi, GGIC, Fazalpur; Priti Agarwal, GGIC, Nainital; Girish Pangariya, GIC, Champawat, and Amit Uniyal, GIC, Ghumetidyar, Tehri. — TNS

  Women take part in safety campaign

Dehradun, January 11
Over 200 girls from Kalsi, Rishikesh, Mussoorie, Vikasnagar, Ranipokhri and Raiwala participated in the ongoing women safety campaign at Dehradun police lines here yesterday.

On the third day of campaign, SSP Kewal Khuranna, spoke on the issue of human trafficking and urged the participating girl’s to report them complaints about violence against women.

The experts gave lessons on Art of Living, whereas Rajiv Sharma gave tips on self-protection. — TNS

Guv inaugurates CME programme
Tribune News service

Dehradun, January 11
Governor Aziz Qureshi inaugurated a Continuing Medical Education (CME) programme with the theme ‘Acute Ischemic Stroke: Basic to Advances’ at AIIMS, Rishikesh, yesterday.

The Governor said till about three decades ago, the doctors were seen as the representatives of God on earth as they treated patients with great sincerity and devotion. “They believed that curing the sick was their mission, But now, things have changed and commercialisation of the medical profession has taken place,” he added.

He said it was a matter of concern that 70 per cent of India’s population does not have a proper access to good medical facilities.

He said the medical and educational spheres were now highly commercialised. He called upon the doctors attending the CME to remember that medicine was a very noble profession and doctors must try to fulfill the dream of Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

He said the doctors should recall the words of Nehru, when he said the struggle for freedom would carry on till the day when there were no tears in the eyes of any person in the country.

Wishing the CME all the best, the Governor expressed hope that AIIMS Rishikesh would under the guidance of its able director and team of doctors and faculty, would not only provide excellent medical facilities to the people of Uttarakhand, but also to the people of the neighbouring areas.

Kunjwal convenes all-party meeting
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 11
Speaker of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly Govind Singh Kunjwal yesterday convened an all-party meeting for ensuring smooth running of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly beginning on January 13, 2014, for three days.

Kunjwal sought cooperation from the opposition BJP for ensuring that the session was made to run for three days.

“We will heed by the Speaker’s request and will extend our cooperation for the sitting,” said Ajay Bhat, leader of the opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly.

He said the opposition would also like to raise development issues during the sitting and also demanded explanation from the government.

“If the government tables the new Lokayukta bill soon after the Governor’s address, the remaining two days would be devoted to the discussion on the bill. There will be no time for addressing people’s issues. So, we have requested the speaker to extend the session,” added Bhatt.

He said the government did not inform about convening the business advisory committee to Ajay Tamta on time.

“It was also scheduled for today and Tamta could not attend the meeting as he had to travel from Almora,” said Bhatt. The business advisory committee has approved day-to-day business agenda for January 13.