Haridwar, May 19
With the Bharatiya Janata Party drawing a blank in all the five parliamentary seats of Uttarakhand, demands for the resignation of Chief Minister BC Khanduri are being made from various quarters.

Congressmen and several organisations in the district have termed the loss as an upshot of the anti-public policies of the BJP state government.

Members of Congress city unit, Uttarakhand Kranti Manch, Nayi Disha Apna Manch, and small vendors organizations have demanded immediate resignation of the CM after the debacle of the party in the elctions.

“BJP fought the elections in the name of the CM and his two-year tenure in the state. Had BJP won all the seats the credit would have gone to him, but now taking responsibility of the defeat he should step down immediately,” said JP Pandey, general secretary of Uttarakhand Kranti Manch.

Meanwhile, during a march carried out at Lal Taura bridge, protesters raised slogans against the CM and other BJP leaders for plunging the state into backwardness.

“Under the ND Tiwari regime, multinationals and national companies came to the state, but during Khanduri’s rule, the companies are back-tracking.

Had BJP given land to TATA company, NANO would have been wholly manufactured from Pant Nagar instead of Gujarat,” alleged Congress leader Sanjay Chopra.

State secretary of Mahila Congress Mira Raturi said it seems now the BJP would also lose the Kapkot assembly bypoll.

“The internal feud between BC Khanduri and BS Koshyari will also drown BJP in KapKot assembly segment. I think Khanduri is waiting for Kapkot results before tendering his resignation,” said Raturi.

Among those who who participated in the march were Hitesh Sharma, Sandeep Saini, Sandeep Gupta, Om Prakash Bhatiya, Vijay Rawat, Kundan Negi, Ishwar Rana, Sanjay Chauhan, Rakesh Aggarwal, Vishal Makkad, Tej Prakash, Chotte Lal, Prabhat Chaudhari, Khusi Ram, Rajesh Verma, Om Prakash Kaliyan and ManiRam Jakhmola.

Dehradun, May 19
The issue of alleged harassment of a Scheduled Caste student by a teacher of the Government Girls Inter-College (GGIC) seems to have pitted teachers against Dalit groups.

The protesting Dalit groups had alleged manhandling of the student by a GGIC teacher and even accused the teacher of cutting the student’s hair.

After the protest by certain Dalit groups, teachers too have come to the support of the concerned teacher, Meera Dhoni, asserting that the teacher has been wrongly framed in the case.

The Uttarakhand Teacher Association has termed the charge as baseless. The association members today met the District Magistrate and demanded a probe in the matter.

On May 16, Meera Dhoni, a class teacher at GGIC, was accused of ill-treating a Dalit girl-student of her class. Angry parents of the girl, along with their community members, gathered at the Clock Tower and disrupted traffic. They demanded that the administration must take action against the teacher. The matter was later reported to the police. Subsequently, the teacher was arrested.

General secretary of the association SCP Lakhera said, “Teachers of the district are perturbed over the incident. If Meera is denied justice, then teachers will launch a statewide agitation.”

“We have met the District Magistrate and informed him about the whole case,” said Lakhera.

Principal incharge, GGIC, Kusum Uniyal, said, “A false case has been registered against Meera. She did not use abusive language or caste-based remarks against the child. She may have scolded her for delay in payment of fees because the child regularly deposits fee late.”

She said that during police inquiry, nothing substantial came up and the allegation has been proved false.

The Principals Council of the state has also backed the teacher. The president of the council KB Bharadwaj said, “Just on the basis of a student’s complaint, a teacher should not be sent behind bars. This will send the wrong message to the public and damage their reputation as teachers.”

Dehradun, May 19
Chopper services to Kedarnath and other shrines in Uttarakhand have been restored as the helicopters being used by politicians during the Lok Sabha electioneering are back for devotees. Prabhatam, a private airline, has restored its daily service to Kedarnath shrine, perched at an altitude of 3,581 meters in the hill district of Rudraprayag.

The company is operating six-seater Bell 407 helicopters to Kedarnath from Fata area of the district and carrying nearly 10 to 20 sorties everyday, official sources said here today.

The government-owned Pawan Hans has also followed suit by starting its service for Kedarnath from Fata area. The company is also planning to start special charted flights to Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines from Sahastradhara helipad in Dehradun next week.

The helicopter services to Hemkund in Chamoli district will also begin when the shrine reopens next month.

The chopper service to Hemkund, the famous Sikh shrine, will start from Govindghat area of Chamoli district. The government is in talks with both Pawan Hans and other private airlines in this regard. The pilgrimage to Kedarnath has been hampered after hundreds of horses and mules developed equine influenza last fortnight. — PTI

Mussoorie, May 19
Ruskin Bond, one of the most widely read authors, celebrated his 75th birthday along with hundreds of school children, here today.

Bond, whose books and short stories have tremendous following amongst youngsters, celebrated the occasion at the Cambridge Book Depot on the Mall road.

Despite a heavy shower in the evening, which delayed the function by about half an hour, hundreds of fans queued up outside the bookstore to wish him.

“I love all the books by Ruskin Bond and today I have come from Dehradun to meet him personally,” said Shivam.

Amid loud cheers, Bond cut the cake and later interacted with youngsters.

Hundreds of copies of various works of Ruskin Bond were sold out on the occasion. Due to his great love and affection for children, Bond was seen personally signing all of them.

“It was great to meet Ruskin Bond; he is my favourite author,” said Piyush, a young fan.

Notably, Ruskin Bond has been writing for over 60 years now and is well-known for his short stories. His simple yet fascinating style has made him very popular amongst youngsters.

Bond has also written books based on his childhood experiences in Mussoorie and Dehradun. Currently he is writing a story for a Bollywood movie.

Among those present at the function today included the local MLA, Jot Singh Gunsola, historian Gopal Bhardwaj and Ganesh Saili.

Haridwar, May 19
While in India, allopathic treatments are still being preferred, foreign countries are showing interest in traditional Indian therapies and endorsing them. The latest to join this bandwagon are the Russians.

Realising the benefit of natural therapies, the Russian government is working hard on tie-ups under exchange programmes so that Russian medical students get to know these therapies better.

The Russians are also keen to understand Vedic culture. The Russian health ministry and other organisations involved in the field of research have entered into a collaboration with the Dev Sanskriti Vishwa Vidyalaya (DSVV), Haridwar.

Recently, the Chancellor of DSVV, Dr Pranav Pandya, returned from Russia, along with DSVV and Shanti Kunj members, where he had discussions with the head of traditional therapies and health ministry of Russia. He also signed a memorandum in this regard.

Under the agreement, representatives of the Russian health department will visit DSVV under the exchange programme to learn yoga therapy, ‘yagya’ therapy, ‘pranic’ healing, acupressure, naturopathy, ayurveda and ‘panchkarma’.

Professor of yoga AN Rajumob in the Russian ministry of health played a key role in getting Russia and India closer in this regard.

The interest of Russians can be gauged from the fact that four seminars on different topics related to scientific spirituality were held at the International University of Fundamental Sciences in St Petersburg.

Speaking as the chief guest, Dr Pandya said that the 21st Century is the era of scientific spirituality. Science is not complete without spirituality, he said.

More than 100 Russian scientists attended the seminar and discussed spirituality at length. The International University of Fundamental Science conferred the doctorate for scientific spirituality on Dr Pandya.

Alexander, a Russian professor who owns a research laboratory, signed an agreement with the DSVV to work on cow products and organic farming.

Haridwar, May 19
Executive members of the Hindu Prajatantrik Party (HPP) of Nepal today staged a protest against the alleged atrocities on Hindus by the Maoists in Nepal.

They urged the Indian government to intervene in the matter and asked for the support of the Indian people, especially Hindus.

Led by party president Vishnu Kumar Prasai, the atrocities committed by Maoists on Hindus were shown with the aid of documents, photographs and video clips. The policy adopted by the Maoist government is delineating Hindus from Nepal’s mainstream, the members said.

The Hindu kingdom of Nepal was declared a secular country by the Maoist government led by Pusph Kamal Prachanda.

This move has not gone down well with the Hindus in Nepal. “Just after declaring Nepal a secular country, there has been a sudden rise in incidents of attacks on Hindus, targeting of pro-Hinduism officers, killing of saints, cow slaughter and thefts at temples,” said Prasai.

He met many saints here and sought their support. Mahant Swami Kailashanand Brahmachari, on hearing the state of Hindus in Nepal from HPP members, assured full support.

He said that the saint community from India will visit Nepal along with Indian journalists and will expose the atrocities on Hindus in Nepal.

Demanding the restoration of Nepal as a Hindu nation, party members termed it as a blow on Nepal’s identity.

“Earlier, Nepal was renowned as the world’s only Hindu nation. Besides withdrawing the world’s oldest calendar Vikram Samvat, Maoists are colluding with Christian and Muslim fundamentalists to curb Hindus,” said Brij Kishore Shah, secretary of the HPP.

Meanwhile, Nepal is in the throes of a political crisis which started with the resignation of its first Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda following a dispute with the Army over integrating his former fighters into the military. This had been part of the 2006 peace accord that ended the insurgency.

President Ram Baran Yadav countermanded Prachanda’s decision to sack the army chief. As a result, Prachanda resigned. Now, the process is on to form a new government.

Dehradun, May 19
Alleged illegal use of a residential property for commercial purpose coupled with lack of garbage disposal has for the last one month become a headache for the residents of Indira Nagar here.

The residents today gave a written request to the senior health officer of Dehradun Municipal Corporation as well as the District Magistrate in this regard. Area councilor SS Rawat has also requested immediate action as the garbage thrown towards houses on the back side of the said property may become a cause of diseases in the rainy season. The DMC health officer has assured to do the needful.

A resident, Jyoti Dabral, alleged that the plan of the building had been passed by UP Avas Vikas Parishad and no commercial activity was permitted in it. “We came to know about this from the information received under RTI,” he said.

But in violation of the related rules, its owners were renting it out for marriages, parties and other functions. “The noise created during these functions, especially marriages, which last till late nights, has also made life uncomfortable for us,” he added.

Mussoorie, May 19
As many as 150 crates of beer being illegally brought into the town were seized by the police near Gandhi Chowk, late yesterday night.

According to the SO, Mussoorie, the driver of the vehicle carrying 2,400 bottles of beer has been arrested and a case has been filed against him.

The SO informed that the driver was carrying two invoices with him dated May 11 and 14, but according to rules the liquor has to be transported to the destination within three hours of issuance of the invoice.

Haridwar, May 19
The Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited Community Centre defeated BHEL-A 16-12, 16-11 to win the annual Shooting Ball Championship at the BHEL sports complex here. The final drew a sizeable crowd.

The dribbling by the players in the defence line, high skill of forward players and the shooting by central players of the community team was the high point of the match.

BHEL-A players had no answer to the superior skills of their counterparts. BHEL-A conceded easy points by giving free throws to the opposition.

At the prize distribution ceremony, the players were felicitated by Vimal Kumar, general manager, HR.

The winning team has got direct entry into the Inter-Shooting Ball Championship to be held in Bhopal from May 26.

Dehradun, May 19
Dehradun team clinched the 4th Uttarakhand State Sub-Junior Basketball trophy in boys and girls category, here today.

In boys, Dehradun outplayed Haridwar City 39-15, whereas the Girls team outclassed Mussoorie 20-8.

In the boys final, during the first quarter, both the teams struggled to get an upper hand, but Dehradun managed to take a two-point lead at the end. The score at the end of the first quarter was 8-6.

However, in the second quarter Dehradun team took control of the proceeding and scored another 12 point to take a nine-point lead at the end. Haridwar city could only manage to score five points in the quarter.

In the last two quarters, Dehradun team completely overshadowed Haridwar. In the end, Dehradun won by a margin of 24 points. Jatin was the top scorer for Dehradun with 12 points.

In the girls final, Dehradun dominated the proceeding right from the beginning. They took a 8-point lead in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Mussoorie team failed to score even a single point, whereas Dehradun team increased its lead by four points. In the last two quarters, Dehradun team further increased its lead by 8 points.

Ridhima was the top scorer for Dehradun team with 10 points.