D E H R A D U N    E D I T I O N

Kranti Dal mulls pulling out of govt
Dehradun, January 25
With the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) making it clear that the party would be fielding its candidates from all five parliamentary constituencies of Uttarakhand in the coming Lok Sabha elections, the party is in a dilemma, as to whether they should continue to be a part of the BJP-led state government or pull out from it.

All set for R-Day today
Haridwar, January 25
Elaborate security arrangements have been made in Haridwar for the Republic Day and the holy ‘Somavati bath’ tomorrow. District Magistrate Shailesh Bagoli and SSP Sanjay Gunjiyal today held a meeting with officials and reviewed the security arrangements.

Awards don’t matter to me, says Bahuguna
Dehradun, January 25
Famous environmentalist of the Chipko Movement fame Sunderlal Bahuguna has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan. The noted environmentalist, in 1983, had declined the Padma Shri, in protest against the large scale felling of trees in the hill region.

Sunder Lal Bahuguna (R) being congratulated by Dr Anil Joshi, a social scientist, in Dehradun on Sunday. Tribune photo: Anil P. Rawat

ONGC employees celebrate R-Day
Dehradun, January 25
The ‘At Home’ function on the eve of 60th Republic Day, organised at the behest of chief managing director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), created an opportunity for the confluence of three generations of ONGC employees, here today.

Akal Takht Jathedar attends Sikh fest
Dehradun, January 25
“Parents and teachers should help inculcate respect in children towards one’s religion,” said Giani Gurbachan Singh, Jathedar, Akal Takht. He was speaking on the second day of the first Sikh youth festival here today.

Raksha in u-14 India camp
Dehradun, January 25
Soccer player Raksha Pawar of Dehradun has been selected for the u-14 India camp starting from February. Raksha, who had recently performed well in the AIFF National Football Festival that was held in Chennai from December 23 to January 1, expressed her happiness for getting selected in the India camp.

President Cup Football
Sports College win
Dehradun, January 25
Sports College defeated 2/3 Gorkha Rifle 2-0 in the first President Cup Football Tournament at Pavilion Ground here today. The tournament has been organised in the memory of former presidents of DAV (PG) College, Amit Pokhriyal and Himanshu Naithani, who passed away last year.

Vishwakarma lift cricket title
Dehradun, January 25
Vishwakarma Cricket Academy (VCM) lifted the 3rd All-India SP Singh Memorial u-13 Cricket Tournament being played at Indian Public School, Dehradun. In the final, VCM defeated Shah Satnam Ji, Sirsa in a close match. Batting first, Shah Satnam Ji hit 114 runs in allotted 20 overs.

TT: Swati-Bhawana bag gold
Dehradun, January 25
Uttarakhand has rendered excellent results in the recently concluded 34th National Sports Festival for women (TT Championship) that was held at Bhubaneswar. The doubles pair of Swati Sharma and Bhawana Harbola from Uttarakhand won the gold medal in the women doubles Championship from January 18 to 21.

Kranti Dal mulls pulling out of govt
Umesh Dewan
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 25
With the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) making it clear that the party would be fielding its candidates from all five parliamentary constituencies of Uttarakhand in the coming Lok Sabha elections, the party is in a dilemma, as to whether they should continue to be a part of the BJP-led state government or pull out from it.

Currently, the UKD is alliance partner of the BJP and one of its legislators Diwakar Bhatt holds the post of a cabinet minister.

Yesterday, UKD leaders announced that their party would be contesting the Lok Sabha elections on its own. They said their party would also contest the Kapkot assembly by-election.

This implies that the UKD will be contesting against its ally the BJP. Under these circumstances, uncertainty prevails on the fate of the UKD’s alliance with the BJP in the state.

UKD state spokesman Virinder Mohan Uttarakhandi said that it would be too early to comment on the alliance with the BJP in state assembly. However, when asked how can the UKD be a partner with the BJP in the state government when the party has decided to field its own candidates in the general elections, he replied, “I won’t make any speculative remarks. We will make the things clear at an appropriate time.”

Party insiders said that the UKD’s rank and file is in favour of parting ways with the BJP. Sources said that majority of the party activists are of the opinion that the UKD must withdraw support from the BJP as the alliance was causing damage to the party.

“So far, the BJP has completely overlooked the demands of the UKD, especially the one related to making Garsain the permanent capital of Uttarakhand. Pulling out from the BJP government will be in the larger interest of the party,” said a UKD leader preferring anonymity.

The BJP is comfortably placed in the state assembly and even if three legislators of the UKD withdraw support, there will be no threat to the government. However, if the UKD goes ahead with its candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, it may eat into the vote share of the BJP.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, UKD, the biggest regional party in Uttarakhand, had fielded its candidates from four parliamentary constituencies - Almora, Haridwar, Tehri and Nainital - and managed to get a total of the 43,899 votes.

Uttarakhand BJP leaders claimed that so far the UKD has not conveyed any decision to field its candidates in the Lok Sabha poll. “The decision on any seat-sharing with the UKD will be taken by the party’s central leadership by February 10. We have informed this to the UKD,” said BJP state spokesman Vishwas Dabur.

All set for R-Day today
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Greetings from Guv, CM Dehradun: Chief Minister BC Khanduri and Governor BL Joshi have congratulated people on the eve of Republic Day. The Governor said since its formation, the state has made rapid strides during the past eight years.

Haridwar, January 25
Elaborate security arrangements have been made in Haridwar for the Republic Day and the holy ‘Somavati bath’ tomorrow.

District Magistrate Shailesh Bagoli and SSP Sanjay Gunjiyal today held a meeting with officials and reviewed the security arrangements. It is expected that lakhs of people will throng the city on January 26. Circle officer Shweta Chaubey said movement of heavy vehicles and vikrams will be banned at the Har-Ki-Pauri entry. “In case the traffic increases, then two-wheelers will also be stopped at Laltauro Bridge. The Bhalla College has been converted into temporary bus stand,” she said.

Vehicles coming from Bijnor side will be parked at the Chandighat bridge and for emergency use two points have been earmarked at Motichur and Hari Ram Inter-College.

Police have cordoned off sensitive areas such as Har-Ki-Pauri and railway station from yesterday evening. Commandos will be present at all important places and the police control room will monitor CCTV footage round-the-clock.

Meanwhile, various programmes were organised at the Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited on the eve of Republic Day. The chief guest, managing director (CFFP) BHEL, Satendra Mohan Mahajan, felicitated employees who excelled in different fields. In the evening, a cultural programme was held.

Awards don’t matter to me, says Bahuguna
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 25
Famous environmentalist of the Chipko Movement fame Sunderlal Bahuguna has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan.

The noted environmentalist, in 1983, had declined the Padma Shri, in protest against the large scale felling of trees in the hill region.

As the news trickled in, Bahuguna remained unfazed. He said, “I have repeatedly said that awards do not matter to me. I have already completed 82 years fighting for the protection of the environment. I will use it as an opportunity to pressurise the central government into framing a separate Himalayan policy for the country.”

The green man took a dig at the government for being too slow in bringing qualitative changes, “I do not say that there is complete failure but somewhere down the line, there is a feeling that saner and calmer voices are often ignored. I am worried for the Himalayas, we need to act fast to save our natural resources.

Born in 1927 in a village in Tehri, Bahuguna joined the Freedom Struggle at the age of 13. In 1972, he launched the Chipko movement in the hills. He undertook fasts in 1974 and 1979 against commercial felling of trees.

Finally, tree felling in UP hills above 1,000 m altitude was banned. The ban on green felling still continues and has been extended to Himachal Pradesh.

He led a cycle rally from Ganga Sagar to Gangotri to educate people about the threat to the Ganga. He sat on a dharna near the Tehri dam site after the Uttarkashi earthquake in October 1991.

He was honoured with the Jamnalal Bajaj Award in 1986 and the Right Livelihood Award in Stockholm.

ONGC employees celebrate R-Day
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 25
The ‘At Home’ function on the eve of 60th Republic Day, organised at the behest of chief managing director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), created an opportunity for the confluence of three generations of ONGC employees, here today.

Present among an impressive gathering were ONGC board directors, Dr AK Balyan, director (HR), DK Pande, director (exploration), UN Bose, director (T&FS), DK Sarraf, director (finance) and Sudhir Vasudeva, Director (offshore).

Dr Balyan conveyed his best wishes on behalf of the CMD RS Sharma and other board directors. Acknowledging the contribution of veterans, Dr Balyan said: “The company which you have nurtured is doing well. In the last couple of years ONGC has done exceedingly well financially and also in exploration.” At the same time, he reminded the present generation of the fresh challenges posed by the economic recession.

A documentary titled ‘Pehli Kiran’, which focused on the theme of ‘Cambay Oil Find’, was screened on the occasion. Guru Pt Rajender Gangani, a well-known Kathak dancer from Jaipur Gharana, also performed on the occasion. 

Akal Takht Jathedar attends Sikh fest
Divya Semwal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 25
“Parents and teachers should help inculcate respect in children towards one’s religion,” said Giani Gurbachan Singh, Jathedar, Akal Takht. He was speaking on the second day of the first Sikh youth festival here today.

To celebrate 300 years of Guru Granth Sahib, Akal Purak ki Fauj and Kalidhar Gurdwara is organising the three-day long festival.

Giani Gurbachan Singh, who was the chief guest on the occasion, lauded the work done by the Fauj.

DP Singh, state coordinator of Akal Purak ki Fauj, said that Sikh youth today are getting involved in all sorts of evils like drinking and gambling. They have forgotten their religious and moral duties. The event has been organised so that the youth realise the importance of Sikhism.

Students from Malaysia, Lucknow, Haldwani and Rishikesh also participated in the festival. "In December, we had organised a religious play and got a very good response from the Sikh community.”

"More than 500 students have participated in this festival. We organised kirtan competition, gatka training and dastar competition today. Girls and boys were taught how to tie a turban. The results of the competitions will be declared tomorrow ,” DP Singh said.

Raksha in u-14 India camp
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 25
Soccer player Raksha Pawar of Dehradun has been selected for the u-14 India camp starting from February. Raksha, who had recently performed well in the AIFF National Football Festival that was held in Chennai from December 23 to January 1, expressed her happiness for getting selected in the India camp. Raksha, who was captain of the Uttarakhand football team, scored eight goals at the AIFF National Football in seven matches.

Raksha is also credited for being the only girl from Uttarakhand, who played for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) u-13 girls Football Festival 2008 held at Vietnam in June 2008. Raksha, who plays for Cantt Blues Club, started her football journey, when she got selected for under-13 girls team of Uttarakhand. She played in under-13 national football festival in 2007 at Bhubaneshwar and performed brilliantly by scoring four goals in the tournament. Subsequently, Raksha was picked up for the India camp at Bhopal this year.

President Cup Football
Sports College win
Vishal Thakur

Dehradun, January 25
Sports College defeated 2/3 Gorkha Rifle 2-0 in the first President Cup Football Tournament at Pavilion Ground here today.

The tournament has been organised in the memory of former presidents of DAV (PG) College, Amit Pokhriyal and Himanshu Naithani, who passed away last year.

The 2/3 Gorkha Rifle team began in an aggressive manner, launching an attack in the very first minute.

But the Sports College defence stood rock solid, denying Gorkha Rifle the opportunity to score.

Sports College went for a counter attack in the 12th minute from the left. It was Vishal Negi’s kick from the D-top that saw the ball sail into the net.

Gorkha team players displayed some good ball possession and control throughout the first half but they lacked the finishing touch and failed to score on a number of occasions.

The score at the end of the first half was 1-0 in favour of Sports College.

The second half saw Sports College displaying better coordination.

In the 75th minute, forward Shankar neatly placed the ball in the net after dodging the Gorkha team defence to make the score 2-0.

Repeated attempts by the Gorkha team to find an equaliser failed and the match ended 2-0 in Sports College’s favour.

Vishwakarma lift cricket title
Our Correspondent

Dehradun, January 25
Vishwakarma Cricket Academy (VCM) lifted the 3rd All-India SP Singh Memorial u-13 Cricket Tournament being played at Indian Public School, Dehradun.

In the final, VCM defeated Shah Satnam Ji, Sirsa in a close match. Batting first, Shah Satnam Ji hit 114 runs in allotted 20 overs. Sunny made 38 and Ashish Dama scored 18 runs. VCA’s Ashish and Sagar took 2 wickets each.

VCA team achieved the target on the last ball of the match with 5 wickets in hand. Yashu Sharma made 28 runs and Gaurav scored 22.

Rishabh Pant of IPS was adjudged man of the series.

TT: Swati-Bhawana bag gold
Our Correspondent

Dehradun, January 25
Uttarakhand has rendered excellent results in the recently concluded 34th National Sports Festival for women (TT Championship) that was held at Bhubaneswar.

The doubles pair of Swati Sharma and Bhawana Harbola from Uttarakhand won the gold medal in the women doubles Championship from January 18 to 21.

In the final they defeated Divya and Aishwarya from Tamil Nadu in straight sets. In the individual women category, Swati Sharma won silver. Uttarakhand women team also won a silver.