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Vikrams run over games
Dehradun, January 14 The order has come as a surprise to many sports lovers. During the previous government, the cabinet had approved the proposal thrice but nothing could be done on the ground following protests by some local organisations. However, after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government came to power in February 2007, the proposal was shelved. The present government proposes to seek land for the stadium in the Raipur area on the outskirts of the city. “We have given a proposal to the government to give us forest land near Raipur on the outskirts of Dehradun to build an international stadium,” Uttarakhand sports minister Rajinder Singh Bhandari said. Since, Dehradun city lacks any stadium of international standards, former sports minister Pritam Singh had given a proposal to convert the Parade Ground as a stadium. But his proposal was opposed by many organisations. Former Chief Minister ND Tiwari had laid the foundation stone for the stadium on the February 26, 2004. “The organisations were of the view that it was in the larger interest of the public to have the Parade Ground open to all,” said Pritam. “The organisations had also registered their protest stating that the ground was at the heart of the city. Having a stadium there would add to the traffic chaos,” said the former sports minister. Besides holding public functions like Independence Day, Republic Day parade and political rallies, the 19.5 acres of the Parade Ground is also used by the sports fraternity of Dehradun to play football, table tennis, badminton, judo, athletics, volleyball, basketball, boxing, cricket, handball and baseball. A multi-purpose indoor stadium and the office of the district sports officer are also situated in the Parade Ground. The recent decision of the Dehradun District Magistrate to use the ground as a terminal for “Vikrams” and also to use it as a venue for holding rallies, dharnas and demonstrations to ease traffic congestion caused by such events in the city does not augur well for sports and sportspersons in Dehradun. When asked about using the ground as a Vikram terminal, Uttarakhand Sports Minister Rajinder Singh Bhandari avoided commenting on it. The effects of turning the ground into a Vikram terminal are beginning to show on the games being organised there. The condition will get worse when people start holding demonstrations there. Nowadays, one can see a long queue of Vikrams right in the middle of the ground which was earlier used for practice by baseball players. “It is nearly one month since the baseball team had a proper practice session at the ground,” complained Ravindar Singh, who is a baseball coach at the ground. “I had requested CO, City Traffic, to move the Vikrams to some other part of the ground to enable us to practice without any interruption. But nothing has been done in this regard,” rued Ravindar Singh. The baseball team will shortly be starting for the Senior National Baseball Tournament which is to commence from January 30 at Orissa. Baseball is not the only sport which has been affected by the decision. Sports like cricket are also facing problems as some Vikrams come very close to the pitch. “The participation of children in sports at the ground has gone down since it has been made into a Vikram terminal,” said Ravindar Singh Negi, the cricket coach. Amit Chauhan, a baseball player, said, “We should not have a Vikram terminal here. Nowadays, children hardly find grounds to play and as the Parade Ground is in the centre of the city, children gather here and enjoy.” The ground is also being used to practice car and bus driving. The ground has also become a parking place for buses and other vehicles, complained Amit. Amit demanded that gates be installed at entry points of the ground to stop vehicles from entering the ground. “Restricting the entry of vehicles will enable us to play without fear.” NIS coach Shushilla Rana said, “Vikrams cause pollution at the ground which affects the children. I feel the Parade Ground is not the place to have a Vikram terminal. Baseball players have no where to practice due to these Vikrams,” said Rana.
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Banks told to meet security norms by month end
Dehradun, January 14 Perturbed with the casual attitude of the bank authorities towards security measures now, DM has issued strict instructions to banks to comply with the security norms. Negi has asked the bank authorities to install CCTV cameras in the premises. Besides, DM has also directed the banks to appoint security guards and to design doors and windows of the bank as per to the security norms. Negi has given a fortnight’s time to fulfil these requirements. “The police administration is doing well on its part by following the trail of the criminals but due to the basic security lapses on the part of the banks, thefts were taking place,” said Negi. Meanwhile, a perturbed IG Garhwal Ashok Kumar said, “We have asked the bank officials to appoint guards, to install CCTVs in the strong room and to
IG further said it seems that some professional gang is active which is targeting houses, shops and now banks. He also ordered the district police to increase night patrolling and activate informers to obtain a lead to the identity of the gang. Meanwhile, SP (City) Pushpak Jyoti has suspended the beat constables of the area, who were responsible to keep a watch on Saharanpur Chowk during night. He too rebuked bank officials for being casual on the security front. Yesterday, some unidentified persons decamped with cash from the SBI, prior to this, five armed robbers had looted PNB, Kishanpuri Branch in Kotdwar region of Pauri district in December last year. Police administration had asked the bank officials to make tight security arrangements.
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Bose associate Col Pritam dead
Dehradun, January 14 Col Pritam Singh was admitted to the Himalayan Institute Hospital, Jolly Grant, following a heart attack. Last evening, he was taken home for Lohri. The INA hero was cremated at Khaira village with state honours this afternoon. His son Roopinder Singh lit the pyre. No senior representative of the state government attended the cremation. Neither the Chief Minister nor any of his ministerial colleagues went to pay homage to the freedom fighter. District Magistrate Amit Singh Negi paid tributes to the Colonel at his residence in the morning. The Dehradun SDM was the sole official present at the cremation. In a written message, Congress MP in charge of party affairs (Uttarakhand) RK Dhawan said Col Pritam Singh was a revolutionary who had dedicated his life to the service of the motherland. “As a soldier of the INA, he valiantly fought against the British rule in India, for which he was imprisoned. I offer my homage to the departed soul,” the message read. Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief and media in charge Yashpal Arya and Suryakant Dhasmana also expressed grief over the demise. The authorities of the Himalayan Institute Hospital announced that they would not charge Col Pritam’s family for the expenses incurred on his treatment. Col Pritam worked as ADC to Subhas Chandra Bose and was active in the operations at Malaya and Burma. After Independence, he was inducted into the Indian Army as Captain. Post-retirement, he was running Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Academy in Doiwala.
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After six-month wait, ecologist Agarwal resumes fast
Dehradun, January 14 He said he was forced to resume the fast after having waited for months for an appropriate response from the central government on his demand. Prof Agarwal resumed his protest after a havan along with his students and supporters. Magsaysay Awardee Rajinder Singh and noted supreme court lawyer MC Mehta were present on the occasion. Prof Agarwal said he had suspended the fast on June 30 last year after a written assurance by the central government that a way out would be found in three months to conserve the Gangotri-Uttarkashi reach in its pristine form. The central government had then formed a high-level experts’ group to look into the demands put forth by Prof Agarwal. Prof. Agarwal said even after a six-month wait, there was no report from the committee. Moreover, construction work at the Loharinag Pala project, upstream Uattrkashi, by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) was on unabated. However, the Uttarakhand government, under pressure from Hindu saints and organisatios like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), had shelved plans to build the Pala Maneri and Bhairon Ghati hydro-electric projects. Prof Agarwal had condemned the move on experts’ group “as a farce and a conspiracy to destroy Mother Ganga for petty gains.” He said the lack of competence of the group was pointed out to the union government through letters but in vain. “I wrote about my frustration on the approach, proceedings and draft report of the group on December 10, 2008, through the media but nothing happened,” said Prof Agarwal. Noted environmentalist and a former teacher at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, he said the work on Loharinag Pala project would destroy the Bhagirathi.
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Work on Lachhiwala rly over-bridge begins
Dehradun, January 14 The multi-crore project, which will replace the century-old railway underpass, is expected to be complete by the end of the year. Considered the worst bottleneck for Dehradun-bound traffic from all parts of the state, especially pilgrims to Haridwar from Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, the bridge will be a major relief for the state government as it will be ready for use ahead of the Maha Kumbh starting in January 2010 at Haridwar. “We have fixed December 2009 as the deadline for its completion,” said Lalit Mohan, chief engineer, PWD. For the past one week, Uttarakhand PWD, National Highways Division, has started the necessary groundwork. Digging is in progress to erect pillars as part of alignment survey of the project. Modalities regarding compensation to affected persons are being worked out. After completion of the tender process, clearance from the forests department had delayed work, which was expected to get under way by December end. Notably, there will be no requirement to divert traffic during the construction. The Uttarakhand Public Works Department, which is the major partner, will jointly construct this four-lane bridge at the cost of Rs 39 crore in association with the Railways, Lalit Mohan added. The ROB proposal was originally part of the four-lane project of NH-72 to be executed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). But its construction suffered delay as the NH-72 project failed to take off due to procedural wrangling. Upset over this, Chief Minister BC Khanduri had taken up the matter with the Ministry of Road Surface Transport and had proposed to undertake its construction by the state.
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MRI unit sans staff
Dehradun, January 14 “It is an advanced system of investigation and highly subjective, differing from patient to patient. The procedure cannot be left in care of the technicians alone, as doctors need to supervise the entire procedure. However, we have an acute shortage of manpower,” informed Dr PC Kapri senior radiologist, Regional Diagnostic Center (RDC), Doon Hospital. The RDC at the Doon Hospital offers CT scan, X-ray, Ultrasound and Mammography but these departments are also facing shortage of paramedical staff, mainly the technicians. “We are already over burdened at the RDC. At an average, we get 60-70 cases of ultrasound, 30-50 of CT scan and around 200 cases of X-ray are screened everyday and I carry the reports back home for compilation,” said, Dr PC Kapri, a senior radiologist. For running a complete MRI unit, at least 10 people are required, comprising of radiologist, technician, nurse and a ward boy. Several precautions have to be undertaken while undertaking an MRI. “At least two people are required for the scan,” informed Dr Kapri. However, according to the sources, three years back, a team of radiologists, including Dr PC Kapri and Dr DS Rawat were sent on a MRI training course to the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, but by the time the unit was installed at the hospital, doctors demanded a refresher course. “This is a specialised field, it requires constant up gradation. The training that we got earlier was of little use as the authorities took so much time to install the unit, we could not put to practice what we had learnt,” informed Dr PC Kapri. Senior radiologists had requested the state government to provide them with the staff but unable to find doctors and technicians, the government then decided to give the entire unit on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Now, it is being expected to finalise one of the three short listed agencies in the coming days. The agency would be responsible for running the MRI unit and for providing the staff including doctors for a term of five years.
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