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Protests keep traffic cops on toes
Anti-encroachment protesters gherao
Mayor
For Khanduri, a year of ups & downs
Pancheswar Dam |
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BJP panel meet begins today
The humble leggie offers prayers at Haridwar
National Varsity Hockey C’ship
Garhwal Rifle defeat Valley Boys
Youngsters throng to learn hockey basics
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Protests keep traffic cops on toes
Dehradun, December 26 As majority of the dharnas were staged at the Gandhi Park on Rajpur Road, it was a hectic day for traffic policemen and special arrangements were made to ensure smooth flow of traffic. Albeit major traffic snarls were avoided, the rally taken out by the All-India Women Panchayat, from Gandhi Park to Civil Secretariat, affected smooth flow of traffic. At around 11.30 in the morning, activists of Samajwadi Party Mulayam Singh Youth Brigade burnt the effigy of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati. Addressing party members, general secretary Dr SN Sachaan said in the wake of deteriorating law and order situation in the state, UP assembly should be dissolved without any delay. “The ‘goondaraj’ of BSP MLAs and the CM has reached its peak and lynching of an engineer is glaring example of that. The entire police administration, including the state DGP, are trying to save the culprits,” he rued, while demanding that President rule should be imposed in UP. In another protest against the anti-labour policies of the state government, the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) members stated a massive dharna at Gandhi Park. Addressing the gathering, state president of INTUC and former Minister Hira Singh Bisht said the Khanduri government is adopting “unconstitutional” means to suppress the voice of the protesting teachers and state government employees. “The recent lathicharge on the teachers outside the assembly was highly condemnable,” said Bisht. Flaying the state government for not giving the benefits of recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission to the teachers and employees of the corporations, he said all sections of the society, including farmers, labourers, Dalits etc, are suffering on account of the wrong policies of the Khanduri government. He also alleged that labour laws are being flouted with impunity in the industrial units in SIDCUL. The INTUC leaders also submitted a memorandum in this regard to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen (retd) BC Khanduri through the District Magistrate Amit Singh Negi. The members of Yog Prashikshit Society also staged a dharna expressing their resentment against the ignorant attitude of the government towards their demands. The president of the society Arvind Rana rued that government authorities, including the education minister Madan Kaushik, are least bothered about their demand of providing them jobs. He threatened that in case government fails to take note of their demands, the society will intensify its agitation. In addition, members of All-India Women Panchayat (AIWP) took out a rally in the city urging the state government to accept their demands with respect to statehood agitators. The national president of the AIWP Usha Negi demanded that all those agitators who remained in jail for four or more days should be given government jobs. Notably, the government had promised jobs for the statehood agitators who spent seven or more days in jail during the agitation for separate state of Uttarakhand. Listing several other facilities for them, the AIWP members also submitted a memorandum to the CM.
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Anti-encroachment protesters gherao
Mayor
Dehradun, December 26 The protesters, who gheraoed the Mayor, accused the corporation of abetting encroachments. In their memorandum to the Mayor, the protesters pointed out at the encroachments in wards 32, 35 and 37. Referring to Shetala Vihar and Saraswati Vihar in ward 37, the memorandum said that illegal plots had come up on land adjoining the drain. It also mentioned encroachments at Rispana and Gorakhpur graveyard. “The corporation has been a mute spectator to the growing encroachments in the city,” alleged Rakesh
Bhatt, a protester. Alluding to collusion of municipal officials with the encroachers, Prakash
Chand, another protester, held that the corporation needed to act fast before things went out of hand. Encroachments have come up in Dehradun in a big way in recent times and rising land prices in the city are a major factor behind the phenomenon. |
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For Khanduri, a year of ups & downs
Dehradun, December 26 Surviving an electoral scare by winning an important bye-election in his home Lok Sabha constituency by a narrow margin early in the year, Khanduri trounced his rivals within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to consolidate his position in the government, as well as in the party, as the year comes to an end. Khanduri took over the reigns of the state after the February 2007 assembly elections with the blessings of senior Central party leadership, despite resentment by a dominant faction led by former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh
Koshiyari. In 2008, the CM after completing his first year in office faced the biggest political challenge in the shape of bye-elections for the Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat, from where he had won since 1991 except in 1996. He was able to win over Lt. Gen. TPS Rawat (retd), a former Congress minister in the ruling BJP. Rawat vacated his Dhumakot seat that he had won as Congress candidate in February 2007, paving the way for Khanduri to enter the state assembly. Khanduri secured an easy win here. But now it was pay back time. Lt. Gen. TPS Rawat (retd) was the ruling BJP candidate for the Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat that Khanduri vacated. The latter did everything possible to win the elections since it was linked to his popularity as the first Garhwali CM and was also his home constituency. However, it was sheer luck that Lt. Gen. TPS Rawat (retd) managed to win the seat with the help of ballot votes of the servicemen while in the normal votes, the Congress candidate Satpal Maharaj had secured more votes. The Congress candidate secured 1,000 more votes in Electronic Voting Machines but Rawat got more than 5,000 service ballot votes securing a win by a slender margin. After this scare in February, the ruling BJP shared honours with the Congress in the civic elections but won the lone municipal corporation seat of Dehradun, much to the relief of
Khanduri. As expected, the ruling BJP also did well in the panchayat elections held in September this year. But the biggest political challenge to the authority of the CM came from within. In August, 24 ruling BJP legislators led by former CM Bhagat Singh Koshiyari approached the Central party leadership complaining against the alleged autocratic style of functioning of
Khanduri. Most of the party legislators alleged that the CM was running the state in his ‘Military Style” and they were completely
marginalised. They also charged that Khanduri’s personal secretary Parbhat Kumar Sarangi was calling the shots. They were also unhappy for not getting the government positions, following a freeze by the party. Baffled by the events, the BJP Central leadership tried to mediate between the In September, the Koshiyari camp again tried to put pressure on the Central leaders by offering to resign from their assembly seats. Despite tremendous pressure Khanduri survived but in the bargain offered to give positions to party legislators by taking 54 government positions out of the purview of the Office of the Profit Act. He shifted Sarangi from his own office. However, he also managed to pack off his main adversary in the Uttarakhand BJP To defuse the situation in the state, BJP leadership decided to give a vacant Rajya Sabha seat from the state to Bhagat Singh
Koshiyari. Although unwilling, Koshiyari had to obey the order of the party high command.
Riding high on his stars and unbridled support from party bigwigs, Khanduri not only managed to consolidate his position in the party but also in the government in the year 2008.
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Pancheswar Dam
Dehradun, December 26 Chief Minister Maj Gen BC Khanduri (retd), who was in Delhi today, met the Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and categorically demanded 13 per cent share in power generation on proposed Pancheshwar Dam project. He said while 80 per cent of the submergence area of the dam falls in Uttarakhand, the state must get 13 per cent share in the total power generated. Significantly, in the meeting between Shinde and Khanduri it was also in principle decided to constitute a joint team of the Tehri Hydro-Development Corporation (THDC) and state government to investigate cases linked to caving in of land in villages falling in the periphery of Tehri Dam reservoir. It was also decided to ask the THDC authorities for making adequate compensation in the affected cases. The CM also took the opportunity to seek Shinde’s intervention for speedy conduct of works linked to Kisau Dam Project. He said both the Himachal and Uttarakhand governments have broadly decided on the modalities of the project, but matters on sharing of on power, potable water and irrigation were still to be resolved.
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BJP panel meet begins today
Dehradun, December 26 Besides party national general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal and
state BJP chief Bachi Singh Rawat, state office-bearers will attend the meeting. Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri, chairmen of all cooperatives, district presidents and general secretaries, leaders of frontal units and those holding ministerial rank posts will be present on the concluding day. The main agenda of the meeting is to prepare a strategy for the forthcoming Lok Deliberations will be held on Uttarakhand-specific issues, which the party will take up in the next General Election. With the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for early next year, the state unit has already started election preparations. A few days back,
the party in charge for Uttarakhand, Krishan Murari Moghe, had convened meetings with party legislators, ministers and activists of Sangh
Parivar. |
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The humble leggie offers prayers at Haridwar
Haridwar, December 26 And Uttarakhand presents the perfect setting for such a break. With master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar already enjoying the serenity and winter sun of Mussoorie, another cricketer, Amit Mishra, is in the state on a personal visit. The leg-spinner was spotted performing a puja at Maha-Mritunjaya Mandir, Hari-Har Dham, in Haridwar today. Mishra, along with a friend, reached Haridwar early in the morning and attended the rituals with full devotion. As soon as the news about his visit spread, fans and people gathered near the temple to catch a glimpse of him. He shot into fame in October this year when in a match against Australia in Mohali he bagged five wickets on his debut. By doing so, he accomplished a unique feat that no other Indian has till date. Mishra hails from Delhi and has played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Delhi Daredevils. When asked about IPL, Mishra said: “It was a different experience altogether and playing with international stars in the same team enhanced my skill.” He added that after being dropped from the one-day team in 2003, he worked hard in the IPL and even got a hat-trick against the Deccan Chargers. “He is sure a future spinner for India on the lines of Bishan Singh Bedi, Prasanna and Kumble and as I got news about him in this temple we ran from our college to see him,” said Urvashi Bisht and Shikha Bera, both from the girls college here. Having played in Delhi Ranji team with stars like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma, Mishra opined: “Viru and Gambhir are terrific openers in all forms of cricket and Ishant is turning into a premier international strike bowler. Having played in same team makes the bonding deeper.” Meanwhile, Mishra performed the ‘Laghu Rudra Abhishek’ here, which is done especially for the New Year for Lord Shiva. Priest Satish Chandra Joshi performed the rites for close to two hours.
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National Varsity Hockey C’ship
Haridwar, December 26 With the league phases over today, Gurukul Kangri, Haridwar, Kurukhshetra University, Panjab University, Chandigarh and Jaunpur University have cruised into the semi finals. Gurukul knocked out Ranchi University with a clean sweep by nine goals. Gurukul team scored four goals in first half itself. In the second half, Gurukul scored five more goals. Manish scored twice while Devendra, Sanjay, Sachin, Jagam, Mudit and Dinesh scored a goal each. The match between Panjab University, Chandigarh and Kashi Vidyapeeth was a one sided with Chandigarh team scoring half a dozen goals. For the winners, Yadvendra scored two while Satnam, Manidra and Gurbhekh The third match between Bangalore University and Nagpur University ended in a draw with both team scoring two goals each. Somna scored a couple for Bangalore and Ganesh and Ravikant scored one In the fourth match between Mumbai University and Annamalai University, Mumbai outscored Annamalai by 4-2. The match was a close contest but the Mumbai boys held the nerves till the end. For Mumbai team, Murganardhan scored two while Mirtyu Kumar and Ranjan scored one goal each. Ashok and Amit scored for Annamalai. The fifth match between Kurukhshetra University and Sambhalpur University also ended in a draw with the scorecard showing 1-1 at the end of the stipulated time. Rohit scored for Kurukhshetra while Sanjit for the Sambhalpur. In the sixth match, Pune Univesity was given a walk over as the Bharti Sadhan team could not turn up at the field. The seventh match between Jaunpur University and Gwalior University, Gwalior team though leading 1-0 in first half, they couldn’t sustain the lead and Jaunpur players fired three goals in the latter half to cruise into the semi finals. Shashi, Amarnath scored two while Chirag scored one for the winner’s while Vikram scored the lone goal. The first semi final, Group A winner Gurukul University will clash with Group D winner Kurukhshetra University, while Group B winner Panjab University, Chandigarh will clash with Group C winner Jaunpur University in the second semi final. The semi finals will be played tomorrow at the Dayandand Stadium.
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Garhwal Rifle defeat Valley Boys
Dehradun, December 26 Winning the toss and batting first the Garhwal Rifles had a shaky start as it lost three wickets at the score of 58 runs. But Mohit stabilised the Garhwal Rifles as he scored 62 runs facing 71 balls. In his knock of 62 runs he hit six fours. Towards the end of the inning, Ranjeet made a useful contribution by scoring 40 runs in just 46 balls. Chasing a mammoth total of 194 runs, Valley Boys team was under pressure right from the start of the their inning as the team was struggling at 19 for the loss of four wickets. Valley Boys falling innings brought together by Abhishek who scored 43 runs. But no other batsmen showed much resistance as the Valley Boys inning ended at 147, falling short by 46 runs. Ranjeet and Satish rattled through Valley Boys innings. Ranjeet picked four wickets and Satish took three wickets each. Meanwhile, Sports Trainees and Rao Crickets won their respective matches on the second day of the Cricket Competition, which is organised by District Sports Offices at Sports College Raipur. In the first match between Sports Trainees and NSC, former piled a fighting total of 84 runs on board in their allotted 20 overs. For Sports Trainees, Deepak Bhandari was the top scores with 40 runs. Sagar was the only successful bowlers for NSC who picked up two wickets. Chasing a victory target of 85 runs NSC could not stand before the fine bowling display of Sports Trainees as the whole team was all out for 47 runs. For the Sports Trainees, Avkash was the pick of the bowlers with five wickets in his kitty however, Rishabh claim three wickets. In another match played between Rao Cricket Academy and Uttarakhand Cricket Academy, former registered a thumping victory over the latter by 103 runs. Batting first, Rao Cricket Academy scored a massive total of 134 runs in their allotted 20 overs. For Rao Cricket Academy, Sahil 53 runs and Deepak made 23 runs. For Uttarakhand Cricket Academy, Amit and Niraj took two wickets each. Rao Cricket Academy bowlers never allowed Uttarakhand Cricket Academy’s batsmen to settle down as they took wickets at regular intervals. Uttarakhand team was all out for 31 runs score. For Rao, Sahil and Aakash took three wickets each.
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Youngsters throng to learn hockey basics
Dehradun, December 26 The main guiding force behind the camp is Uttarakhand Hockey Association secretary, Mohammad
Hakeer. Mohammad Hakeer said it was May 2007, when he first organised a hockey camp. “I was not sure about the response but my efforts seems to have bore fruits with more than 60 students from different city schools enrolling themselves for the camp,” he said. “The players are mainly being trained in dribbling, dodging, pushing, scooping, chopping and other things which are tested in during the trials,” Hakeer added. Deepak Jha of class VII, who is undergoing training at the camp said, “I just started playing hockey eight months back. I am learning lot of basics of hockey.” Another player, Abhishek Kothari, said the camp will help him learning various technical aspects of the game. SAI coach, PK Mehrishi praised Hakeer’s efforts for organising the camp. “There are hardly any sponsors for hockey in the state.
A camp like this would be of immense help to the game,” said Mehrishi. |
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Haridwar, December 26
hockey
especially the matches featuring Panjab University, Chandigarh and Gurukul Kangri university drew the
applause of spectators.
