Dehradun, March 10
Tension prevailed in Chamoli after the alleged kidnap and murder of a two-year-old girl.

The police claimed to have the situation under control. No incidence of violence was reported today.

The situation had turned violent yesterday when a group of the residents and some Bajrang Dal activists attacked shops of a particular community.

Diya, the two-year-old daughter of a shopkeeper in Chamoli, was kidnapped on Shivratri (February 23).

On March 2, the body of the child was found in a bag near the hills in Chamoli.

The police arrested the suspect Shadab Ansari but the protesters were demanding that the police must arrest other accused involved in the crime.

According to the information available, protesters in large numbers, including some activists of the Bajrang Dal, gathered in Chamoli yesterday and targeted the shops of a particular community.

Undeterred by the presence of the cops, they ransacked the shops and burnt the furniture and hoardings.

Besides resorting to chakka jaam, the protesters also burnt the effigy of the accused and alleged that the police was not making any effort to nab the other culprits.

One of the protesters and a student-union leader Manoj Bhandari demanded that a high-level probe be ordered.

He said that they would not allow the shopkeepers of a particular community to open their shops.

Pawan Rathore, district convener of the Bajrang Dal, accused the cops of not taking the matter seriously.

“Had the cops been serious, the life of the child could have been saved,” he claimed.

Chamoli SP Vimmy Sachdev Raman claimed that one of the suspect had already been arrested and, in case, there are more persons involved, they would also be brought to book.

She added that instruction have been passed to ensure that no untoward incident occurs in the area.

Dehradun, March 10
Even as old encroachments are coming in way of the ongoing widening of Ballupur-Garhi Cantt road on one side, the new ones though temporary have already reduced its width on the other side.

All this is happening under alleged political pressure starting from one end of the road close to Ballupur Chowk.

The executing agency PWD is in a bind as to what to do with the permanent encroachments on the Ashok Vihar side.

To be completed by the end of this month, the work is expected to linger on for some months more because the political bosses will not like to displease the encroachers due to the Lok Sabha election.

Since the start of work in December 2006, the PWD had identified encroachments required to be removed to widen the proposed 2.4-km stretch of the road from existing single to double lane.

Officials of the PWD said they could not go ahead due to political pressure. Most of the encroachers even deleted the red markings for identification purpose from their buildings.

The area comes under the Assembly constituency represented by Speaker Harbans Kapoor.

Dismissing any political pressure, District Magistrate Amit Singh Negi, however, maintained that the encroachments were not in his knowledge. “I will check it,” he said.

As per the plan, which is to be executed at the cost of Rs 4.85 crore, pavements as well as underground drains will be constructed on both sides.

But till the pavement comes up, the residents and owners of commercial establishments have already started using part of the newly laid road along the ONGC premises.

This has defeated the very purpose of widening the road and is causing inconvenience to commuters.

“This will not happen once pavements demarcating the side of the road are constructed,” asserted area councillor CS Negi.

Another problem being faced by the PWD is the shifting of two transformers of the UPCL and a tubewell belonging to the Cantonment Board, Dehradun.

Not much progress has been made regarding this despite a written request by PWD authorities.

These have to be ultimately shifted to make way for free left turn after Ballupur chowk is taken up for beautification and widening among several others identified under Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. But we do not know how long it might take, said officials.

Dehradun, March 10
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Tibetans’ Uprising of 1959, hundreds of Tibetans gathered at Gandhi Park today to pay tribute to those who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Tibet.

Expressing solidarity with the Tibetan struggle the senior Congress leader Hira Singh Bisht said, “Under the dynamic leadership of the Dalai Lama, the community has lead a peaceful stir but it seems the Chinese authorities are hell bent upon crushing the movement.” He said the people of Uttarakhand would continue to support the cause of Tibet.

The message of Dalai Lama was also conveyed to the gathering. “Tibet is a responsibility of every Tibetan and they are looking for a legitimate and meaningful autonomy, an arrangement that would enable Tibetans to live within the framework of the People’s Republic of China. However, since the occupation of Tibet, the communist China has been publishing distorted propaganda about Tibet and its people,” the Dalai Lama said in his message.

The Tibetan Welfare officer Gyaltsen said they had planned to hold a protest march in the town but had to postpone it due to the Model Code of Conduct.

Dominique Valter a close associate of His Holiness who had come to lend support to the Tibetan freedom struggle said the ethnic Tibetans are being moved out from Lhasa and other Tibetan dominated provinces, “I visited Tibet two years ago as a part of World Heritage Project of UNESCO and witnessed the large scale demographic alterations being brought by the Chinese rulers,” she said.

Later, the community chanted slogans against the Chinese government. A prayer meeting was also held in which Tibetans from Dekyiling, Rajpur, Clement town, Manduwala and Haridwar participated.

Mussoorie, March 10
Garhwali-Punjabi singer Manuvandana and Kishen Mahipal enthralled the audience at Holi Milan here yesterday evening.

Jaunpuri, Garhwali and Punjabi songs sung by Manuvandana captivated the large audience. While Mahipal also sang a number of Garhwali songs.

Other artistes who performed at the programme included comedian Trilok Chauhan and singer Jitendra Panwar.

This programme was organised by a local NGO here at a wedding point.

Dehradun, March 10
While the city sweet shops are packed with fancy sweets and traditional namkeens, women in the rural areas here are also busy making gujiya at home to welcome the festival of colours.

A group of women in the area start preparing gujiya in advance for one another.

“Yesterday we made gujiyas for our neighbour, and today everybody is helping in preparing the sweets,” said Pratima Rawat, a housewife.

Apart from gujiyas, we also prepare chips, namkeen, jaljeera and bhang pakoras,” said Pratima. "This is the best way to meet our friends and help one another,” said Abha Saxena, a housewife.

However, due to busy lifestyle and lot of variety of sweets and namkeens available in the market people in the city prefer to purchase rather making these at home.

Dehradun, March 10
Id Milad-un-Nabi, was observed in Dehradun and surrounding areas by the Muslim community with reverence. The day is observed as the birth and death anniversary of Prophet Mohammad.

Special Seerat functions were held in many mosques where devotees were told to follow the path shown by the Prophet. Sunni Muslim Welfare Organisation distributed sweets and fruits amongst poor patients in Doon Hospital.

Syed Ashraf Hussain Quadri, president of the organisation said the advent of prophet was the greatest gift to the mankind and there was an urgent need to spread his true message of love, compassion and brotherhood in these troubled times.

Dehradun, March 10
Central Industrial Security Force personnel at ONGC Dehradun celebrated the Raising Day of the paramilitary force, here today.

Sushant Vats, executive director ONGC while greeting the force personnel on the occasion of Raising Day lauded the contribution in providing security to key government institutions of the country.

Vats expressed gratitude to CISF contingent posted at ONGC Dehradun for providing an effective security cover to the institute.

He took the general salute of the parade and planted a tree sapling.

Earlier, Uttarakhand Health Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank participated at the Bara Khana organised to mark the occasion.

He too expressed his best wishes to the paramilitary force for its contribution in strengthening the security at central government offices.

A week-long programme was also organised by CISF from March 3 that ended today as part of Raising Day celebrations.

Dehradun, March 10
BK Puri and F Nimon Chakma won gold in the 30-33 kg and 33-36 kg category respectively at the final of the Inter-Section Boxing organised at sports complex of RIMC, here today.

Results:

Finals: In 30-33 kg: B K Ravi (gold), Parth Tiwari (silver)

In 33-36 kg: F Nimon Chakma (gold), Prathmesh Kohle (silver)

In 36-39 kg: Abhishek Kundalia (gold), Manasvi Shukla (silver)

In 57-60 kg: Swaraj (gold), Praveen Kr Singh (silver)

In 60-63 kg: Avinash (gold), Abhishek (silver)

In Opens kg: Guninder (gold), Sabyasachi (silver)

Semifinals:

In 48-51 kg: Abhash (P) beat Rathin (R)

In 48-51 kg: Nitish (S) beat Ankit (C)

In 51-54 kg: Suvendu (P) beat J.Suman (C)

In 51-54 kg: Arjun (R) beat Priyank (S)

In 54-57 kg: Myang (C) beat Marshal (R)

In 54-57 kg: Harshit (S) beat Navneet (P)

Commandant, RIMC - Col H Dharmarajan, SM was the chief guest for the evening. He congratulated all the boxers for magnificent display of skills and stamina which was indeed impressive..

The other dignitaries present were Lt Col R Nathawat, Maj Rexon Robatson and Mr KS Ahlawat. The co-ordinator of today’s events was Sqn Ldr Y S Panghal.

The judges were Sub BR Hiremath, Ex Hav/APTC Ashok Kundaragi, CHM/APTC Arjun Thapa, Hav/APTC Suraj Chauhan, Ex Hav/APTC Pradeep Rana.

Dehradun, March 10
Two days after its birth in the Chila range of the Rajaji Park, the elephant calf died of infection on Monday. The body was found from the Shyampur range of the Haridwar forest division.

The birth of the elephant in compartment number 7 of Chila range on Saturday morning had generated much curiosity among onlookers and forest officials.

Rajaji Park authorities had put the animal under strict observation. But the mother elephant had taken her cub away to Haridwar forest division.

On Sunday night, Van Gujjars, settled in the Haridwar division, had heard the trumpet of an elephant that they had informed the forest authorities of the commotion.

Forest guards led by Dilip Singh reached the site in the early hours of Monday where they came across the desperate mother elephant beside her cub.

The officials somehow managed to push the mother and came close to the elephant calf who was found to be in critical condition gasping for breath.

Medical assistance was immediate summoned but before the forest officials could anything, the elephant calf passed away.

The postmortem report citied birth infection and dis-functioning of lungs as the reason behind the death.

2 jumbos get safari training

Rajaji National Park’s two camp elephants - Rangeela and Radha - that had been on patrol inside the Motichoor range for the past two months, returned to the Chila range of the park on Monday.

The park authorities had brought these two elephants from Delhi Zoo in October 2007 after Arundhati, the park’s famous camp elephant, died in a mishap.

The two elephants had reached Motichoor range on January 9 and have also encountered the other wild animals while undertaking visits to the forest.

Gangeshwar Pandey, warden, Rajaji National Park, said that the two elephants had patrolled vast stretches of the forest during their stay.

He said the patrolling was aimed to make these camp elephants safe for taking tourists inside the forest area.

An untrained camp elephant can put tourists to greater risk.

Rajaji Park had, in recent times, discontinued its elephant ride due to the absence of camp elephants. The park authorities had been trying to get camp elephants from other states and had even put up an advertisement for getting elephants on lease.

By taking the two elephants to the Motichoor range, the authorities are trying to train these camp elephants for safari.

Dehradun, March 10
A male tiger was found dead in the Corbett National Park.

A team of forest guards today came across the body in Karseva beat of Dhela range of the park and informed the higher authorities about the incident.

The Corbett authorities, in an attempt to hush up the matter, immediately conducted the post-mortem examination and buried the tiger.

A senior Dhela range officer confirmed that the tiger was around 12 years old and died due to natural circumstances.