Dehradun, December 12
Indian Military Academy (IMA) Commandant Lt Gen Rajinder Singh Sujlana has said that lot of stress is laid on imparting training to cadets to deal with the situations pertaining to the internal strife.

Addressing a press conference on the eve of IMA’s Passing Out Parade at Chetwode Hall here this evening, Lt Gen Sujlana denied that the number of cadets coming to the academy is going down.

“The number keeps going down and up. In one course, there may be less cadets but it is not a permanent trend.”

Speaking about the changes being made in the training programme of the cadets in wake of the terror attacks in Mumbai, the Commandant said, “Our training already lays special focus on making the cadets skilled enough to deal with insurgency and terror attacks. We train the cadets about every facet of activity that a terrorist can adopt.”

When asked about the recent arrest of a Gentleman Cadet, who was undergoing training at academy under “fake identity”, he replied that academy has formulated a policy to ensure that such incidents do not happen in the future.

The Commandant, however, refused to divulge the details about the mechanism.

Speaking about the POP, Lt Gen Sujlana said that Chief of Army Staff Gen Deepak Kapoor would be the reviewing officer of POP scheduled for Saturday.

“A total of 498 Gentleman Cadets including 24 foreign cadets would be passing out of the IMA tomorrow. This includes 332 GC’s from 123 Regular Course, 30 from 106 Technical Graduates, 11 from 16-A University Entry Scheme, 28 GC’s (including six GC’s of Assam Rifles) from 21st Special Commissioned Officer Course and 73 from 12th Technical Entry Scheme Course”, said Lt Gen Sujlana.

From the total GC’s passing out tomorrow, the highest number is from Uttar Pradesh (67). The other states, which will have their presence in the POP, include Uttarakhand (56), Bihar (33), Punjab (20), Rajasthan (21), Maharashtra (36), Haryana (52), Himachal Pradesh (18), Delhi (19) and Madhya Pradesh (17).

Of the seven sisters — Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh — only Assam (4) and Manipur (8) will register their presence.

Dehradun, December 12
Noorjahan, a Gujjar woman and a resident of Asharodi forest range, Rajaji National Park, today alleged that four forest officials trying to evict her and her brothers from the forest had assaulted her brothers and tried to kidnap her from her hut.

Noorjahan, while at Doon Hospital, where she came with her brothers for a medical examination, alleged that the officials had been harassing them for past few days.

"We had complained to the Dehradun SSP regarding their intentions, but no action was taken," she said.

She said Dinesh Uniyal, Anil Kothari, Hira Singh Bisht and a driver came to her hutment and beat her up and her brothers.

She said officials were in inebriated state and they tried to take her away. Medical reports confirmed injuries to Noorjahan and her brothers from a blunt weapon.

S.S. Rasailey, director, Rajaji National Park, said he was away in Delhi and would look into the matter.

Dehradun, December 12
The fate of the proposed inquiry against an assistant environment officer (AEO) of the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) for allegedly causing monetary loss related to water cess charged from an industrial unit, is unknown.

None knows about any action despite a preliminary inquiry having found the official guilty of tempering with the official record related to a big company.

The matter came to light when information about both cases was sought
through the RTI. Asked about the case, chairman of the board NS Napalchiyal
expressed ignorance.

“I am not aware about these cases. You better ask the member secretary,” he said. But the official concerned was said to be busy at a meeting.

Documents procured under the RTI show that chief environment officer Dr TB Singh, referring to the proposed inquiry against AEO Ankur Kansal, has mentioned a loss of Rs 2 lakh caused to the board as figures related to water consumption by Sagar Paper Mill, Roorkee, in the cess returns had been tempered with. The matter has been left at that, says Pardeep Gupta, president NGO, Outburst.

The board charges cess on the basis of metered consumption by the industrial unit. The cess money is sent to the union ministry for environment and forests.

Gupta says the matter be investigated by an independent agency as “corruption in the case of water cess is deep-rooted.”

The AEO concerned is also alleged to be guilty of arbitrarily changing the status of automobile-maker Mahindra and Mahindra’s unit in Haridwar from red category to green. But again no one knows what came of the case, says Gupta.

Dehradun, December 12
Director general of National Security Guards J.K. Dutt, along with senior police officers of the state, today went to the house of havaldar Gajendra Singh, the NSG commando who laid down his life while fighting terrorists in Mumbai on November 27.

He also presented a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to the widow of the deceased commando and assured help from the NSG to the children.

He further said that as per the decision of the Union government, NSG centres would also be started at four other places in the country.

Haridwar, December 12
On the third day of the North Zone Inter-University Hockey Tournament, the goal fest continued with Gurukul University, Haridwar thrashing Kanpur University by a huge margin of 16 goals.

The skillful display of hockey by the local Gurukul players left the Kanpur players in awe as apart from goals scoring skill the dribbling and the clean passing of the Gurukul team was awesome.

The Gurukul team earned 10 penalty corners out of which eight were converted into goals while one goal was scored by a penalty stroke.

For the host, forwards Sanjay Pandey and Rajendra each scored four goals while centre forwards, Abhishek and Devendra, netted two goals each. Kanpur team was at no match for the Gurukul boys.

In other matches of the day, Allahabad University despite leading twice succumbed to defeat with a clinical display of hockey by Bareilly University players.

The third match between Kumaon University, Nainital and MDU, Rohtak was a one sided affair with Rohtak winning comprehensively by a huge margin of 8-0. Ashok scored three while Anil scored two goals in the win.

Nainital players couldn't manage a single goal and looked out of sorts in the match compared to their previous outings.

The last match was played between Delhi University and Himachal University, Shimla which was tied at 1-1 at midway but DU players lifted their level of game and scored in the later stages winning by 5-2.

Ajay Malik, Praveen, Manish and Navdeep Sharma scored for DU. While the HPU got 7 penalty corners but converted only one of them into goals.

Dehradun, December 12
Krapal Singh won the 100 mts race at the athletics competition organised at Parade Ground by District Sports Office for the SC and ST boys today.

Vivek Sharma was placed at second spot and Sanjay Singh adjusted third. The other results: In 200 mts: 1st. Sanjay Chauhan 2nd. Viru Chauhan 3rd. Vivek Sharma.

In 800 mts: 1st. Rahul Singh 2nd. Bablu Singh 3rd. Vivek Joshi. In 1500 mts: 1st. Vivek Joshi 2nd. Rahul Rawat 3rd. Bablu Singh.

In Shot-put: 1st. Kripal Singh 2nd. Vipin Rawat 3rd. Tilak Singh. In Javelin Throw: 1st. Sanjay Chauhan 2nd. Mahaveer Singh 3rd. Pritam Singh.

In Long Jump: 1st. Ajab Singh 2nd. Mahaveer Singh 3rd. Rahul Singh. In High Jump: 1st. Bablu Singh 2nd. Ranveer Singh Tomar 3rd. Shushil Tomar.