Dehradun, February 16
The police today booked senior Congressman and leader of the opposition in the state assembly Dr Harak Singh Rawat and 20 others for allegedly creating a ruckus at the New Road passport office and manhandling the officer on duty Jay Kumar and another employee Mahinder Singh.

A case under Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at the Kotwali police station. Rawat has, however, denied the allegations.

According to passport officer Jay Kumar, at around 1.30 pm today Dr Rawat called him up and misbehaved with him.

"He pressurised me in connection with the issuance of a passport to a woman. He misbehaved with me and used abusive language before disconnecting the phone," alleged Jay Kumar in his complaint.

Later, a group of unidentified youth entered in his office and assaulted him. Jay also alleged that besides beating him and another employee Mahinder, the unidentified persons vandalised the entire office.

On the contrary, Dr Rawat alleged that it was Jay Kumar who misbehaved with him. Narrating his side of story, he said, "From the past one month, I am receiving complaints against the functioning of the passport office. Many applicants had told me that rampant corruption is prevalent in the office and common people are subjected to a lot of harassment. Passports under the 'Tatkal' category have not been issued for more than a month."

Dr Rawat claimed that today afternoon a woman from Pauri Garhwal called him and complained that the officials were demanding money for issuance of a passport under 'Tatkal' category.

"Taking note of the complaint, I called up Jay Kumar. But I was shocked when he used filthy language against me and disconnected the telephone," he alleged, while adding that he has nothing to do with the incident of ransacking the passport office. "It is really strange that police have registered a false case against me", he claimed.

Meanwhile, incharge of the Kotwali police station JP Juyal said acting on the complaint of the passport officer Jay Kumar, they have registered a case against Dr. Rawat and twenty others.

Dehradun, February 16
In support of their demands, the state government doctors boycotted work at the OPD today, badly affecting the hospital services all across the state.

“If our demands are not heard, we will be left with no option but to tender mass resignations on February 24,” said Dr SD Joshi, vice president, Proventitial Medical and Health Services Association.

The government doctors are demanding a Non Practice Allowance be included in their salary structure as it is being done for the Central government doctors and the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh.

Criticising government’s move to withdraw timescale, Dr DP Joshi, general secretary of the Provincial Medical and Health Association Service said the doctors should be compensated by time bound promotion as it is being done by the central government employees who benefit from dynamic assured career progression scheme (DACP).

He demanded implementation of DACP that was being implemented in Uttar Pradesh and other states.

He said the doctors would organise complete boycott of medical services on February 24, if their demands were not met.

The protesters also decided to stage a dharna tomorrow before charting out their future course of action.

Dehradun, February 16
A leopard killed a five-year-old boy, Virendra, on Sunday morning in Loharbagoan taking the death toll of the children, killed by leopard in Kumaon region, to four within the month of February.

Villagers took the boy to Chaukhutia hospital where he succumbed to the injuries. A child died in Khera Keer on February 5, the same Leopard killed another child in the nearby Kalachunda that falls in Kedarnath forest division.

On February 10, another child died in the attack at Kafalya village in Almora
forest division. Recently leopards, along with their cubs, entered the premises
of Almora ITI.

State Wildlife authorities had recently declared the leopard a man-eater that has been presumed to be responsible for these killings.

“With the help of the pug marks we can make out that this particular leopard is responsible for the deaths in then region. Thus, we have put a cage and a hunter for taking the prowling leopard to task,” said DFO Almora, Manoj Chandran.

Meanwhile, a female leopard with swollen stomach was seen in the Mait village around 6 kms from Almora township. The DFO Almora held that they were trying to ascertain the reasons behind the swollenness.

“Either the female leopard is pregnant or it has been poisoned. We will have to ascertain that first,” Chandran said.

Dehradun, February 16
Three months ago, he was an ordinary Army jawan, but Kapil Thapa, from the Gorka Rifles, today returned home as a celebrity.

Kapil, hailing from Naya Goan village in Dehradun, who was among the top three contestants at the reality show ‘Indian Idol’ being shown on Sony channel, arrived here amidst a grand welcome by his fans, friends and family members.

Addressing a press conference, he thanked the people of Uttarakhand for constantly voting for him and encouraging him to reach the top. “Being among the top three contestants would not have been possible without the support of the people of Uttarakhand,” he said.

Thapa, who has served in the Army for almost five years, agreed that he was nervous during the auditions for ‘Indian Idol’.

“I was very nervous when I went for the auditions, but due to constant support of my family and judges at the show my confidence grew. Now, I am well- versed with the nuances of music and working hard for the final day presentation to be held on March 1, 2009,” said Thapa.

Among the four judges at the show, Thapa admires Anu Malik the most for his outspoken nature.

“I admire all of them, but my favourite is Anu Malik, as apart from being supportive he’s a very good teacher,” he said.

Thapa’s father, Subedar Kishan Singh Thapa, is also overwhelmed by the support given by people. “I am very grateful to the fans as well as the political parties. I hope my son to follows in the footsteps of my favourite singer Sonu Nigam,” he said.

However, despite such a wonderful response, Thapa wants to continue with his career in the Army.

“I will never leave my job, as Army is my first love. It is only because of the support of my colleagues that I could go for the auditions. In future, I plan to balance both of my interests simultaneously,” said Thapa.

Dehradun, February 16
The Health Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today said to institutionalises delivery cases, the Health Department was planning to set up Satellite Health Sub-centres in the state.

He said 51 per cent of deliveries continued to take place at homes that had skewed up mother and child mortality rate in the state.

“Accessibility is a problem that is being taken care though the 108 emergency ambulance services, but we are also looking at establishing 450 Satellite Sub-centres headed by ANMS and trained nurses in order to provide health care facilities to pregnant women. The proposal has been sent to the Central government,” said the minister.

Dr Nishank made these observations at a press conference. He said the EMRI 108 Emergency Ambulance services were proving a boon.

“In the last nine months, we had cases of 325 children being delivered in the ambulance and the paramedical staff has taken care of 9,980 pregnancy related cases so far,” the minister added.

He said the government planed to extend the services of the EMRI 108 emergency services to 14 new development blocks that had not been covered so far. The Department would procure 18 new ambulances for this purpose.

“Besides covering the development blocks, we have asked the service provider
to attend 500 cases per day. Presently they are attending 250 cases per day”,
said Dr Nishank.

The state has a total of 90 ambulances for which the yearly expenses that are paid by the government comes to 17 crore per year.

The COO of EMRI emergency services said the Satyam scam had not affected the functioning of the services in the state after the appointment of new national executive Venkat Ramalingam.

The emergency services have received a total of 10,93,605 calls with 30,816 calls, pertaining to medical emergencies, since signing up of memorandum in March 2008.

It may be mentioned that the state signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hyderabad-based Emergency Management Research Institute in which the state is chipping with 95 per cent of funds.

Chief, Uttarakhand, Shiv Sena Gaurav Kumar stated that party was optimistic about contesting from all five parliamentary seats.

Dehradun, February 16
The state Congress has welcomed the interim Union Budget 2009-10 asserting that the budget would render impetus to development in the country.

Expressing his gratitude to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, state Congress President Yashpal Arya said by successfully presenting the pro-people Budget for the fifth time, the Manmohan Singh government at centre had created history.

State Congress media incharge Suryakant Dhasmana said by not introducing any new tax, the UPA government had revealed its sensitivity towards the people.

He said by making provisions of Rs 67 crore for infrastructure, the Budget had rendered a fillip to development even in harsher times of economic recession. Dhasmana also welcomed hike in pension amount for the widows.

Congress leader Surendra Kumar said the interim Budget would lead to both financial and industrial development in the country.

Meanwhile, Confederation of Indian Industries, northern region, has welcomed the
interim Budget.

Salil Singhal, chairman, CII, northern region, said the interim budget was a classic example of constitutional propriety and governance.

Rakesh Oberai, vice chairman, CII, Uttarakhand, said the allocation of Rs 30,100 crore to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme would enable to ease out distress among the rural population caused by loss of jobs in various sectors, including exports.

Dehradun, February 16
Keeping the tradition of glory alive, six members, including three cadets, from the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) have been conferred with the GOC-in-C Commendation Card for their exemplary performance in various fields.

Those awarded the card include Sanjay Kumar, PK Sharma, Krishan Kumar Ahlawat, Cadet Piyush Deshmukh, Cadet Jaykant Mishra and Cadet Praveen Kumar.

Sanjay Kumar, an instructor, had led the first successful IPSC Joint Mountaineering Expedition to Mt Deo Tibba in June 2007.

An avid adventure-seeker, he was awarded with the Commendation Card of the GOC-IN-C on the occasion of 59th Republic Day Ceremony.

PK Sharma, a pioneer of the conservation crusade at the RIMC and in the Doon valley, was bestowed with the national award for outstanding work in spreading environmental awareness on August 22, 2008.

The GOC-in-C Commendation Card came as a reward for his relentless work in the realm of conservation.

With a teaching experience of 33 years, Krishan Singh Ahlawat stands out amidst the faculty. He was also awarded the GOC-in-C Commendation Card in 1996.

Having joined the college in January 2006, Cadet Piyush Deshmukh has grown from strength to strength - being selected for the Indian Sub-juniors Team.

Under the Indian banner, he attended training cum-competition-camp at Caroll’s Ranch, Hunter Valley in Sydney.

Cadet Jaykant Mishra and Cadet Praveen Kumar were the representatives of the RIMC in second civilian Siachen trek.

The Commandant RIMC Col H Dharamarajan congratulated all high-achievers and appreciated their unrelenting efforts.

“It is a day of sadness, as years ago not only Imam Hussain, but women and kids were also killed brutally by opponents of Hussain,” added Ali Hasnain.

Dehradun, February 16
DAV (PG) College made a good start at the 25th RK Shukla Memorial Basketball Tournament defeating KV Club by a margin of 24 points on the first day here today.

The match began on a slow note as DAV missed to many opportunities in the first quarter, as the score stood levelled at 2-2.

But as the match progressed DAV regained its rhythm and scored seven points to make the score 9-5 in DAV’s favour at the end of the second quarter.

Jasvinder Singh did most of the scoring for DAV. In the third quarter, DAV was on the offensive from the very beginning and went on to score 15 points giving no opportunity to their opponent to score in the third quarter.

Jasvinder again hit three pointers in the third quarter making the score 24-5. The final quarter saw the DAV increase the lead by further nine points making the final score 35-9.

In another match, played between Saharanpur and Race Course teams, Saharanpur proved a better side, as it outclassed Race Course by 30-9.

Saharanpur was on the offensive from the very beginning as they took a 14 points lead in the first quarter taking the score to 18-4 in their favour. Saharanpur kept on increasing the lead and the final scores were 30-9 in favour of Saharanpur.

In another matches, the Forest Research Institute outclassed Dehradun team (30-17), DAV beat GRD (32-6), AB Club beat K V Club (28-14) and Uttarakhand beat Race Course.

Dehradun, February 16
Pan Business List Pvt. Ltd team today register a 253 runs victory against AG Uttarakhand at the 57th District Cricket League at OFD stadium here.

Pan Business piled a huge total of 303 runs in allotted 35 overs. Kuldeep played a dazzling innings of 80 runs from 61 balls. He hit 12 fours in his innings.

Vivek smashed 64 runs from 38 balls and Vikas made 17 runs. For AG Uttarakhand, Subhraminam and Jeevan Singh took three wickets each.

Chasing a mammoth total of 304 runs the AG Uttarakhand team bundled at a score of 50 runs.

It was a terrific balling display by Subodh as he took eight wickets in his seven overs and gave just 22 runs.

Meanwhile in another match being played between Young Boys Club and Bindaas XI team, latter won the match by three wickets.

Young Boys Club could pile up 172 runs only in allotted 40 overs. Young Boys’ opening batsmen Praveen gave his team a steady start as he made 42 runs. Pravesh made 21 runs.

Bindaas XI comfortably reached the target with three wickets in hand. Raghawinder was the top scorer with 33 runs for Bindaas XI.

Haridwar, February 16
In a two-day annual athletic meet held at Girls Gurukul College, Ritika emerged as the fastest sprinter clocking 16 seconds in the 100-metre dash.

The meet attracted the best of the talent and the spirit of participants was lauded by all despite having not so good facilities of sports as being primarily a girls’ college.

In the 100-metre sprint Ritika outclassed Saloni and Sushma to emerge as the fastest girl sprinter in the athletic meet.

In the 200-metre event Saloni came first, while Anju Sharma came second and Aruna bagged third spot.

The other results are as follows: In badminton Sangeeta Tyagi, Anju Sharma and Ruchi bagged the first three positions.

In shot put Sakshi, Vikki and Sushma emerged winners, respectively. In the discuss-throw event Sangeeta Tyagi, Anjali and Pooja Chauhan clinched the first three spots, respectively.

While in kho-kho, team-A defeated team-B. In the meet a discuss throw was organised for teachers which drew quite an attention among the students.

Dr Babita Sharma, Dr Suchitra Malik and Dr Rekha Singh emerged victorious in the teachers’ section.

The victorious participants will be given medals and certificates in the school annual function on February 19.