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40,000 Cong workers court arrest
498 GCs become officers at impressive IMA parade
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Players suffer as ground turns into bus station
‘Party geared up for LS poll’
TB society spreads awareness through poster competition
Children participate in the poster and slogan competition held at Parade Ground. Tribune photo: Vinod Pundir
Haridwar resident wins Young Scientist Award
Samajwadi Party: Include Roorkee in Kumbh
Stray dogs wreak havoc in Doon
Little Master enter semifinals
MC gears for bonfires
Hockey: Day 4 witness chaos, violence
Rao defeat
Ever Wins
Christians pray for Mumbai victims
Double delight
for Rekha
CM mourns pilot’s death
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40,000 Cong workers court arrest
Dehradun, December 13 Buoyed with the recent assembly elections success, Uttarakhand Congress workers here in Dehradun started the protest rally from Gandhi Park accusing the state BJP government of doing little to address the concerns of the
people. The rallyists, who were prevented from proceeding towards the Chief Minister’s residence, halted midway where at least 3,000 party workers courted arrest. All arrested persons were released by the administration at around 4 pm. Earlier, addressing a mammoth Congress gathering at Gandhi Park, Uttarakhand Congress president Yashpal Arya said, “The Congress has given enough opportunity to the state government to perform and now the party would not keep mum on the anti-people policies of this government.”
He exhorted the Congress workers to expose the misdeeds of the Khanduri government while asserting that state Congress leadership was committed to take the agitation of party workers to a logical conclusion. He said that both teachers and the employees of various corporations are yet to get the benefits of Sixth Pay Commission. Arya added that the unprivileged sections of the society are the ultimate sufferers due to the wrong policies of the state government. Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat accused the BJP of halting the development works undertaken by the party. He mentioned that the development works initiated by the previous Tiwari-led Congress government had come to a standstill and the BJP was solely to blame for the failures. Resenting the delay in the announcement of the support price for sugarcane, Rawat said that it is strange that the state government had little interest in the farmers’ welfare. He also lauded the policies of the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government pointing out that while the global meltdown was hitting the world economy, the Indian economy is still going strong. Vijay Bahuguna, Congress MP from Tehri, recalled the UPA’s initiatives towards ensuring comprehensive development in Uttarakhand through its central schemes. He asserted that the people of the state have decided to teach BJP a lesson and the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections would reflect this sentiment. He also accused the state government of adopting step-motherly attitude towards his constituency. Uttarakhand Congress media-incharge, Suryakant Dhasmana said, “The big presence of party workers in the protest amply revealed that the Congress under the leadership of Yashpal Arya is on the rise in the state.” He reiterated that the Congress would continue to take up public welfare issues. |
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498 GCs become officers at impressive IMA parade
Dehradun, December 13 In true army tradition, the parade unfolded the ceremonial turn out of the outgoing cadets, reviewed by the Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor among other well decorated defence personnel. Smartly clad in their ceremonial dress, the GCs entered the drill square, situated in front of the Chetwode Hall, marching to the tune of “Bharat Mata Teri Kasam, Tere Rakshak Rahenge Hum”. While the cadets smartly marched in, the select gathering of well decorated officers from the Army, including Reviewing Officer General Deepak Kapoor, IMA Commandant Lt Gen R.S. Sujlana, misty-eyed parents and visitors looked on from the marquee. In his address to the newly commissioned officers, General Kapoor said, “Today you have entered the most sacred and noblest profession of the Indian Army.” He further said that India faces multifarious challenges and hence military responsibility is not just ensuring security but also in nation-building. “Over the years, the Indian Army has been successful in all its endeavours and has performed its duties meticulously. I am sure that these young officers will continue this tradition,” said the Reviewing Officer.
After General Kapoor’s address, commanded by parade commander Academy Cadet Adjutant Abhishekh Gargmukh, the GCs joined the officers’ corp the moment they gracefully crossed the “Antim Pag” as they bid adieu to the IMA. Thereafter, the parents of the just commissioned officers from all over the country shared the proud moment at the pipping ceremony by pinning up the stars on their shoulders. The Adjutant of the Indian Military Academy Lt Col Rakesh Nair administered the oath to the young officers. The young officers then rendered a full-throated Army number, “Kadam kadam badhaye ja”. With the commissioning marking the end of gruelling training, the newly-inducted officers whopped in joy and tossed their caps in the air in unison. From total of 498 pass outs, 332 were from the regular course, 30 from 106 Technical Graduates, 11 from 16-A University Entry Scheme, 28 GCs from 21st Special Commissioned Officer Course and 73 from 12th Technical Entry Scheme Course and 13 from Bhutan, two from Nepal and nine from Tajikistan. Meanwhile, when asked to confirm, whether the leave of Army officers has been cancelled after the Mumbai terror attacks, General Deepak Kapoor refused to comment.
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Players suffer as ground turns into bus station
Haridwar, December 13
The Panna Lal Bhalla New Intermediate College is situated in the midst of city and possess the largest playing field in the city. Being a largest playground, it is often used as a practice/training ground for not students but for the sports persons here in the city. Since the private bus operators have occupied the ground, the players and students are being denied a playing area. The temporary bus station at the college sports ground has invited garbage, encroachments and squatters in the area. During the Kumbh mela and other important events, the district administration use this ground as parking space but the concerned citizens have been demanding to use the ground for sporting purpose only. "We demand that a stadium should be constructed at the ground as this will help in building a sporting culture in the city and adjoining areas," says Sanjay Chopra a social activist. The ground is open and is adjacent to the main Ranipur road therefore, the bus drivers park buses there and cause lot of inconvenience to the students. Municipal chairman, Kamal Johra says that Nagar Palika is serious about the matter and therefore, we have passed a plan for constructing a boundary wall for the ground. However, the bus owners claim that they pay charges to municipality to use the area and also demand for another space for the bus station near the city. Meanwhile, the college authorities say that during the Kumbh mela and other occasions, the administration turn the ground into a temporary station but the bus operators continue to use it as their bus station which is severely affecting the sports activities here.
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‘Party geared up for LS poll’
Haridwar: Thousands of Congress activists here took out a massive rally against the BJP-led state government's policies and failure to control rising crime and prices of essential commodities.
Under the leadership of state Congress vice-president Brahmaswaroop Brahmachari, the party leaders gathered at the party headquarters and staged a rally up to the city magistrate’s office and gave voluntary arrests at the Roshanabad district magistrate office. Addressing the gathering, Brahmaswaroop Brahamachari criticised the functioning of the state government saying that it is the bureaucrats that in reality are ruling while government is confined to internal politics and allotting red beacons to its supporters. "On the economic front, he said that though there is a provision of 70 per cent reservation in companies like SIDCUL, it is merely on paper and government is playing in the hands of corporates. "Failure of the Khanduri-led government in revealing the Dixit commission report regarding the Gairsain Capital Issue has deeply hurt the sentiments of the people of Uttarakhand specially in the hill areas" said J.P. Pandey, state secretary of the Uttarakhand Congress committee. "The Congress workers have realised that working as a unit was the key to success in the recent assembly elections and we are geared up for the Lok Sabha elections," said Poonam Bhagat of Women Congress Cell. Significantly, several members from other political parties also joined the Congress in its agitation which also included Congress workers from as far as Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital and Chamoli districts. |
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TB society spreads awareness through poster competition
Dehradun, December 13 Meanwhile, in the junior category of Slogan competition, Swati Thakur of Mahraishi Vidya Mandir bagged the first position and Shewta Thapa of the same school came second while Jyoti Rawat of DAV Public School stood third. And in the senior category, Shyama Mirza of Maharishi Vidya Mandir stood first, Arjun Tomar of the same school came second while Sandeep Chauhan of Army School got the third position. Altogether 100 children participated in the competition.
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Haridwar resident wins Young Scientist Award
Haridwar, December 13 Dr. Ritesh Joshi will be given twenty lakh rupees for the research work and a citation. Joshi has been working for past ten years in Haridwar in the world famous Rajaji National Park studying the behaviour pattern of elephants. He is also a member of various wildlife and international organisations. He has published more than 45 research letters published in national and international journals and more than 175 articles have been published in magazines and newspapers. By next year two books on elephants and wildlife by Ritesh Joshi will also come out. "It's an honour and this award means a lot. I will be able to carry out research on elephants more extensively and this is the first time in North India that a research has been done on the acoustic communication." said Dr. Ritesh Joshi. He further added that with this project, various unknown aspects of elephants’ communication with each other will be known. Uttarakhand chief Wildlife warden, Srikant Chandola, Park director, S.S Rasaiyali, former director J.S. Pandey, senior scientist Dr. S.P. Sinha, Dr.B.D Joshi of Gurukul Universtiy have expressed happiness on Ritesh Joshi's achievement and bringing laurels to the state. |
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Samajwadi Party: Include Roorkee in Kumbh
Haridwar, December 13 Samajwadi Party held a meeting here yesterday reiterated their demand to include Roorkee in the Kumbh area as it serves as a gateway to Haridwar.
"The state government is having a biased attitude towards Roorkee region otherwise the mela area if extended upto Roorkee will only help in better conduct of the Mela" said Munesh Tyagi, president of the city unit of the party. A resolution was passed in the party meeting that if the state government doesn't take steps in this regard then they will have to resort to an agitation. Party leader, Surendra Saini also highlighted the civic problems the city has been facing. He also said that the a large chunk of tourists coming to Uttarakhand from Delhi and other states go through Roorkee and considering the municipality budget its insufficient for the city. Roorkee is situated 25 kilometers from the Haridwar city and is the entry gate to Uttaranchal from Uttar Pradesh. Though, at the time of creation of Uttaranchal in 2000, it was a tough task to include Roorkee in the newly created state as there was opposition from certain local outfits including Samajwadi party. But seeing the development work and mass budget for the Kumbh area voices of including many areas in the Kumbh area have gained momentum. At the meeting the party representatives Rajkumar Passi, Kamar Alam, Rao Shahid, Ravi Kashyap, Rina Nath, Suresh Tyagi, Gopal Verma, Anuj, Raghavendra among others were also present.
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Stray dogs wreak havoc in Doon
Dehradun, December 13 Hordes of stray dogs could be seen in at every nook and corner of the city. These dogs are seen at all the garbage dumps rummaging food. The incidents of dog bites in and around the city have also increased manifold in the past eight years. With expansion of the Dehradun city, the number of stray dogs has also risen. It has been witnessed that small children are the common victims to the dog bites. Lately, a pack of stray dogs bit a kid at the railway station. "Yes, the deaths of small children have been reported after the stray dogs attacked them. We have discovered that such tendencies develop in dogs who stay close by to butcher stalls," said Bhaukhandi. Over the years, people have faced problems due to steady increase in the population of the dogs. "After sunset it is dangerous to drive with dogs running after you," said Aashish, a lawyer. "So many times we do notice dogs in a pitiable condition but due to lack of shelters, sterilisation programmes and casual attitude of the authorities we are forced to be passive," said Shrishti, an animal lover. Moreover, people in the city feels that such kind of menace can be managed and believe that if government takes up some stringent action then residents as well the animals will get some of relief. "This will happen instantly and the authorities have to plan meticulously. They need to keep a count of numbers before sterilising and dogs should not be killed brutally or deserted," said Rohan Raj, an engineer. It is pertinent to mention here that the steady increase in the population of dogs is also due to large number of pet population in the city. People who have pet dogs abandon their puppies."It is been observed that pet owners with leave puppies to far off places and therefore, the population is rising and causing problems to the residents," informed Puja Bhaukhandi, president of the local unit of People For Animals (PFA). Presently, the pet population in the city is around one lakh whereas there are more than 20,000 street dogs. "The population is increasing rapidly but under the animal protection act, these animals cannot be killed. They need to be sterilised in large numbers so that the menace can be controlled," said Bhaukhandi. However, in 2005, PFA started animal birth control programme with by sterilising stray dogs. The PFA claimed that for past three years, more than one thousand dogs have been sterilised. According to a report by PFA, in past six years the population of street dogs has increased by more then double and it is not only causing accidents but also developing fear in the minds of people. It's not practical as well as unethical to flush out whole of the street dog population to a shelter. Moreover, for that kind of a solution, proper infrastructure, time and lot of money is required. In collaboration with Dehradun Municipal Corporation, PFA would again start the sterilising drive from January 2009. "An anti-rabies drive with the support of government in future would surely minimise the cases of deaths by dog bites and provide an environment where people feel secure," adds Bhaukhandi. |
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Little Master enter semifinals
Dehradun, December 13 In the first semi-final that is to be played here tomorrow, Amritsar play against Junior Cricket Academy and in the second semi-final, Little Master will meet Diamond Eleven. On the last day of the league matches, Ponta Sahib beat Hindustan Academy by 28 runs. Winning the toss and electing to bat, Ponta Sahib batsman had a flying start. Their opening batsman laid a solid foundation for the team to help the team put up a modest total on board. They added 21 runs for the opening wicket stand. There were some good partnerships for the Ponta Sahib team to help the team put up 119 runs on board. Lov Garg was the highest scorer for the Ponta Sahib team, he made 21 runs. For the Hundustan Academy, Praveen pick up 4 wickets and Hushnawaz and Shyam Sunder took two wickets each. For Hindustan Academy, it was a sloppy show from their top order batsmen. It was 24 for four in six overs. Before Nitin trying to stabilise the inning he made 31 runs. Nitin received little support from other batsmen as Hindustan whole inning concluded at 92 runs, 28 runs shot of target.
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MC gears for bonfires
Dehradun, December 13 The bonfires will be put up at eight places across the city which prominently include the Railway Station, Inter State Bus Terminus, Clock Tower, Prince Chowk, Saharanpur Chowk and will come as big relief to pavement dwellers. The corporation authorities are monitoring the temperatures on a day-to-day basis. “We are keeping a tab on the day-to-day mercury level. We will start these bonfires when the temperature dips to the 4°C mark,” chief engineer Ravi Pandey said. To aid street dwellers in battling the winter, several charitable organisations also distribute warm clothing to them. |
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Hockey: Day 4 witness chaos, violence
Haridwar, December 13 Ludhiana players have been warned and a disciplinary committee will hear referees and point of view of both the teams before taking any punitive action. Gurukul team had taken lead when due to the altercation the match had to be cancelled. Ludhiana team thus got ousted from the tournament as it needed a win to go into league round. In the other matches of the day, Delhi University cruised into the league round with an emphatic 3-1 victory over GND University, Amritsar. While, Kurukshetera University pounded Rohilkhand University by half a dozen goal with Rohilkhand unable to score a single goal. In the fourth match of the tournament, MD Rohtak University succumbed to defeat with Punjab University winning by 6-2 with sheer display of aggressive play. |
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Rao defeat
Ever Wins
Dehradun, December 13 Rao Cricket Academy began on the shaky note as they lost their three batsmen at 32 runs. But thereafter, Parkash played a brilliant knock of 48 runs. He was supported well by Jagpreet on other hand who made 27 runs. In the end Amit made a valuable contribution of 25 runs to help his team pile a massive total of 183 runs. For Ever Wins, Sahil and Shankar picked up 3 wickets and Ashish took two wickets. Chasing a victory of 184 runs, Ashish Pal of Ever Wins gave a flying start to the team. He made 36 runs. Other top order batsmen for the team made valuable contribution. Ankul chipped in 22 runs, Ashvani scored 29 runs and Vipin made 20. But thereafter, other batsmen could not do much as rest of the batsmen fell for 168 runs. Thus Rao Cricket Academy managed a narrow win in the end.
— OC |
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Christians pray for Mumbai victims
Dehradun, December 13 Special prayers were offered for the Mumbai victims. The speakers while extending their condolences to the bereaved family members strongly condemned the Mumbai attacks terming the attacks as act of cowardice. “We strongly condemn these attacks. The government should take stern action so that such incidents don’t happen again,” said Rev. J.P. Singh, president of the fellowship. He also held the Christian community stands with the nation and was ready for sacrifices of any sort for the cause of the nation. Quoting the example of Jesus Christ, Father Bernard said that love and non-violence are the only ways to attain world peace. Rev. Sunil A. Luke, Rev. D.P. Lal and Rev. Simon Chandra also offered prayers for world peace. It was also announced that the annual Christmas rally has also been cancelled this year due to the Mumbai attacks. The Christain Clergy Fellowship supervises more than 40 churches in Dehradun.
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Double delight
for Rekha
Dehradun, December 13 Results: In 400 mts (Boys): 1st. Sanjay Chauhan 2nd. Ranveer Singh Chauhan 3rd. Rahul Singh Chauhan In 100 mts (Girls): 1st. Rekha 2nd. Babita 3rd. Sapna In 200 mts (Girls): 1st. Rekha 2nd. Sunil 3rd. Neeraj In 400 mts (Girls): 1st. Sunita 2nd. Priyanka 3rd. Rekha In 800 mts (Girls): 1st. Ritu Chauhan 2nd. Rakhi 3rd. Niraj Chauhan In 1500 mts (Girls): 1st. Rakhi 2nd. Ritu Chauhan 3rd. Sapna In Shot-put (Girls): 1st. Babita Chauhan 2nd. Babita 3rd. Amirta Chauhan In Discuss Throw (Girls): 1st. Ritu Sharma 2nd. Sema Chauhan 3rd. Amita Chauhan In Javelin Throw (Girls): 1. Babita 2. Ritu Sharma 3. Rekha In Long Jump (Girls): 1. Babita 2. Ritu Sharma 3. Rekha In High Jump (Girls): 1. Ritu Sharma-II 2. Sema Chauhan 3. Ritu Sharma-I. — OC
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CM mourns pilot’s death
Dehradun, December 13
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Health camp
Dehradun, December 13 |
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Dehradun, December 13
Dr Ritesh Joshi has been conferred the Fast-track Young Scientist award by the Union Ministry of Science and Technology for the year 2008 for his work on "Acoustic Communication Behaviour on Elephants in Rajaji National Park". Earlier, in 2004, Joshi was conferred this prestigious award for his work on 'Asian Elephant behaviour in Rajaji National Park'.
