Dehradun, December 13
With Lieutenant Abhishek Gargmukh receiving the prestigious “Sword of Honour” for being the best all-round Gentleman Cadet from the Regular Course at the passing out parade of the Indian Military Academy here today, the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) has once again proved its supremacy.

During the past 16 years at the IMA, RIMC cadets have won a total of seven “Sword of Honour”, nine president’s gold medal, one silver and two bronze medals.

After passing out from RIMC, Lieutenant Gargmukh joined the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla.

Besides the “Sword of Honour”, Lieutenant Gargmukh, who was Academy Cadet Adjutant and parade commander for the passing out parade at IMA today, was also awarded the gold medal for standing first in order of merit from the regular course.

Lieutenant Gargmukh has also been an excellent sportsman and was a part of Academy hockey team for two years.

An elated Lieutenant Gargmukh, who hails from Katihar district in Bihar and has been commissioned into 9 Para Special Forces, said that today his childhood dream of serving the nation by joining the armed forces has come true.

Son of a government employee, Lieutenant Gargmukh disclosed that he was the first Army officer in the family.

He added, “My younger brother is also undergoing training at National Defence Academy. In a way, we have started a tradition in the family.”

The silver medal for standing second in order of merit from regular course was given to Academy Under Officer Atul Kumar Rai.

Hailing from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, he is being commissioned into 72 Armd regiment. Son of village development officer in Uttar Pradesh, Rai is an excellent sportsman, who participated in all sporting events in the IMA.

The bronze for standing third in order of merit from the regular course went into Senior Under Officer Kundan Kumar’s kitty. Kundan belongs to Lukersarai (Bihar) and has been taken into 7 BIHAR.

The silver medal for standing first in order of merit from technical graduates course went to Dehradun. Gentlemen Cadet Jaspreet Singh, a Dehradun resident and son of a retired Army officer Col Amar Singh (retd) was bestowed the silver medal at the POP today.

Jaspreet will be inducted in Corps of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering. Wing Cadet Captain Dablu Mishra was awarded the silver medal for standing first in order of merit from technical entry scheme course.

Dehradun, December 13
The nine Gentleman Cadets from Tajikistan, who passed out from the Indian Military Academy (IMA) today, will always miss India.

“It was a memorable three-year stay here and we will cherish the memories of time spent at the IMA for the rest of our lives,” said Yusuv of Tajikistan, who became a Lieutenant today.

After the passing out parade (POP), the group of foreign cadets, while sharing their experience, said that India is a country with multi-ethnicity, different cultures and really good people.

“We have been to all parts of India and it is beyond any doubt that this country is simply lovable. Not only we got love and respect but also cooperation of every sort from the IMA”, said Rihmol of Tajikistan.

The Tajikistan cadets were also concerned about the recent terror attack in Mumbai. “The attacks literally shook us. Whatever happened was extremely unfortunate and it should not happen”, asserted Daler, another Tajik GC, who passed out today.

Some pass-outs today rose from the rank of sepoy to Lieutenant. Pramod Prabhu, D.D. Maity and Rajib Lochan Pradhan were commissioned into the Indian Army as a sepoy and were initially selected for Army Cadet College (ACC) Wing and finally passed out from IMA.

Pramod Prabhu gives the credit to his friend D.D. Maity. “When Maity sought my assistance in his preparation for the ACC, I also decided to take up the task. It feels really good to be commissioned as an officer in the Indian Army”, he revealed.

Likewise, D.D.Maity, who was commissioned into the Corps of Army Air Defence did a lot of hard work to become an officer. Son of a Subedar Major, Maity hails from Medinipur in West Bengal.

Lt. Rajib Lochan Pradhan is proud of becoming an officer of the Indian army. Pradhan, who worked as a sepoy in the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering for six years, had to leave his studies for some reason.

“When I got to know about the opportunity to become an officer, I did my
graduation and applied for the ACC Wing. Hard work has finally bore fruit today,”
said a Lt. Pradhan.

Meanwhile, a group of students from Uri in Kashmir also attended the parade at
the IMA today.

Dehradun, December 13
The anti-encroachment drive aimed at de-congestion and resultant smooth flow of burgeoning traffic has not shown effective results in Dehradun as compared to other parts of the district, reportedly, due to the pressure exerted by influential sections in the case of big encroachments and political patronage in the case of small ones.

The case in point is St Joseph Academy, a leading school of the city whose boundary wall on Subhash Road is built over government land.

This road passes in front of the state secretariat building and needs to be widened up to Old Survey Chowk for smooth traffic flow.

But the work has been impeded due to strong opposition by the school management and other residents.

“Of course, opposition is there but widening has to be done in the larger public interest. It might take some time as we are sounding out everyone concerned about this,” said district magistrate Amit Singh Negi.

Apart from the resistance, he sounded unhappy over the official slackness, particularly in Dehradun, for the slow pace of the drive even as it had showed tangible results in other parts of the district like Mussoorie and Rishikesh where houses and shops were demolished by the concerned authorities.

In Dehradun, temporary encroachments in Paltan and Arhat Bazar have reappeared due to political patronage.

Lack of coordination among Municipal Corporation, PWD and Mussoorie Dehradun
Development Authority (MDDA) is believed to be the reason behind the drive losing
its steam.

On Negi’s initiative, the district administration adopted an integrated approach to tackle the nagging problems of encroachment of roads and traffic congestion.

Instructions were given by him to officials of different concerned departments in the meeting held last month to work in a coordinated manner for the purpose.

“I agree that the drive in Dehradun is not effective. The pace of work related to completion of required formalities is very slow. So I have decided to monitor the performance of officials of all concerned departments every month instead of two months as decided earlier,” he added.

In the meeting, he had given instructions to the officials of PWD, telecommunications, Municipal Corporation, Forests, Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), police, and MDDA for their time-bound compliance.

Besides two rounds of meetings between the police and ADM for widening roundabouts, the UPCL has submitted proposal of Rs 50 lakh for removal of electric poles impeding traffic at Survey Chowk, Dharampur Chowk, Dilaram Chowk, Rajpur Road, Kanak Chowk, Balliwala Chowk, Old Survey Road, Dilaram to Hathibarkala stretch and Eucalyptus Road.

Funds to be given by MDDA for this purpose are yet to be sanctioned. Police and MC officials were instructed to take immediate action against the workshop owners and constant monitoring to prevent reappearance of such traffic impediments.

Besides removal of encroachments by fruit and tea vendors on the roads, the major bottlenecks ordered to be de-congested with immediate effect included Ahrat Bazar, Paltan Bazar, Chakrata Road, Lansdowne Chowk to Darshan Lal Chowk and Prince Chowk to Ghanta Ghar Chowk.

To ensure smooth flow of traffic, Negi had stressed on the need to widen the city roads and asked the officials of the PWD and MC to use the government land for the purpose where it is available.

In case of private land, he had asked officials to negotiate with the owners failing which process could be initiated to acquire such land in the larger public interest.

He had also called upon the heads of the departments whose land could be used to facilitate smooth traffic, to cooperate with the agencies involved in this task.

Placement of dustbins, creating traffic diversions and putting signages at all important points were other tasks entrusted to the concerned departments.