Dehradun, May 29
District authorities in assistance with the Dehradun Municipal Administration today resumed anti-encroachment drive demolishing number of encroachments in Adhoiwala and other parts of the city.

The drive came after quite some time due to the polls.

The anti-encroachment staff today took up Adhoiwala in the Raipur road area here bringing down the boundary wall that has put up across 5 bighas of land.

It also brought down number of encroached constructions in the close vicinity.

Similarly, taking up a hard stance, the authorities also razed to ground a house in Mandakini Vihar locality in Sahastradhara road demolishing an unlawfully constructed house to ground.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate Ajay Arora along with Deputy City Executive officer Neeraj Pandey and police personnel accompanied the anti-encroachment team.

The authorities however pledged to continue with the campaign in the days to come.

In another related development, Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli today announced to start widening of at least 10 of the crossings within the city starting June.

Chamoli who today attended a meeting of senior district officials linked to prepartions of crossing widening programme said while a total of 30 crossings were proposed to be widened, the corporation was initially starting with only 10 crossings as there was no problem of displacement of any sort linked to these crossing.

He also pointed that further widening of rest of 20 crossings will only be undertaken after taking the affected people into confidence.

He said adequate provision for land and other compensatory benefits will ensured to those affected in the rest of 30 crossings before undertaking any such exercise.

Significantly, the Mayor also disclosed that a decision to shift the Tibetan Market from its present location has also been taken in order to facilitate smooth movement of traffic.

He said the Tibetan market would be given an alternate site.

Roorkee, May 29
Following the last week’s incident, in which two local youth were electrocuted and one had left with serious electric burns, local police is contemplating to start legal proceedings against the state electricity department.

ASP Arun Mohan Joshi said that the legal proceeding would be initiated against the electricity department under section 133 of CrPC.

“We have sent a letter to the department a month back, asking it to check all electric poles and lines properly.

Similarly, a letter was also sent to the irrigation department in April to put proper marking on the speed-breakers on the Kaliyar-Mohammadpur Jhaal and other roads, comes under the department, to make these visible from a distance. “But no one bothered to take action on our recommendation”, said the police officer.

In its letter to the electricity department, the police again asked the department to check all the lines and poles thoroughly.

“The alleged carelessness of the department can not be overlooked in the incident. So we would report the matter to the SDM to start an appropriate action in the matter,” said Joshi.

Apart from that, the national highway authorities would also be approached to put proper marking on the speed-breakers, being erected on the road, said the ASP.

Notably, in the incident, occurred on May 23, two local youth, namely Lakshya Arora and Shubham Sethi were electrocuted while third youngster Manoj Kumar received serious electric burns, when the bike they were riding on came in contact with an electric pole after it lost balance on a speed-breaker near the pole.

Their fourth friend, Bhanu Partap had a narrow escape in the tragic incident.

Dehradun, May 29
Even the electronic meters known for giving accurate reading of power consumption could be tempered with.

Understandably, this was in the mind of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) authorities as irregularities have been detected in the readings recorded by these meters during the statewide special drive launched couple of months back.

Though, the authorities ruled out any instance of tempering of these highly sophisticated meters, the development has surprised them as these meters are considered to be foolproof instruments as far as pilferage is concerned.

As per rough estimates, the nagging problem of pilferage accounts for about 8-10 per cent loss of power with incidental loss of revenue.

Under the drive, all the connections having sanctioned load above 25 KW, which are fitted with electronic meters across the state, were put under scanner with the help of Meter Reading Instrument (MRI), which can check the diagram within the meter.

This facility was available earlier. But now, any sophisticated attempt to temper with the meter can be easily detected.

The UPCL managing director Jagmohan Lal ruled out tempering as the cause of the irregularities detected in these meters at many places.

“Our own people may have connected them wrongly. We will put check meters wherever problem has been detected.

The consumers will be charged accordingly after assessing loss of power.

After this all such meters will be replaced,” he said.

Dehradun, May 29
Limited resources and handful of trainers who can provide education to the physically challenged children are some of the problems that aided government schools in the district face.

In order to provide equal opportunities to the children with special needs the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan’s Inclusive Education has not only begun identifying them but is also providing free education to those between the age group of 6-18 years.

Under the inclusive education programe 1,828 children with special needs have been identified in the district.

A total of 1,629 children are enrolled with normal kids.

While another 229 children are being provided home based education.

“The inclusive education programme aims to provide equal opportunities to the physically challenged children.

“And the main emphasis is on enrolling these chiildren with special needs with normal children, only in certain cases the children are allowed to carry on their education from home,” said JS Silori, district coordinator, inclusive education.

The state government provides a stipend of Rs 500 to a family with one child who is suffering from cerebral palsy, Rs 800 to the family with two children and Rs 1,000 to the family with three and above children.

“These children cannot attend special schools as such provision are made for home based learning, in fact parents are also nominated as volunteers.

“The children are trained in daily life skills and the volunteers get paid. There are a total of 115 children with cerebral palsy in the district (6 blocks) and 32 in Dehradun who are covered under the programme,” said Silori.

For children in the age group of 6-18 years suffering from 8 disabilities, education is provided free of cost.

In addition, the orthopedically handicapped children are given physiotherapy free of cost at the National Institute for the Orthopedically Handicapped, (NIOH, Dehradun).

In the primary and junior schools of the districts ramps have been provided for aiding the physically handicapped children.

To bring a qualitative change in the lives of the disabled, more needs to be done and it begins by making society sensitive to their needs and also encouraging the family members to make their wards suffering from any form of handicap self-reliant and independent, instead of giving mere lip service to their cause.

“But it is a difficult task, no amount of sensitising can change the attitude of society that looks at them with pity,” said Anjali Bhatt, a resource teacher, inclusive education, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan. She , however, said she was determined to do her bit.

Dehradun, May 29
Char Dham Yatra is turning more profitable for Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) than last year since it got underway a month back. An increase of 20 per cent in the business owes to increasing number of domestic and international tourists speak volumes of its improved services.

The brisk business shows the users’ satisfaction with the facilities being provided at its 90 tourist rest houses among other services. Apart from pilgrim related services, there is a considerable increase in the bookings of packages and educational tours. Official figures showed that around 20 lakh pilgrims and tourists have availed various services so far. This has helped GMVN earn Rs 6 crore during the peak yatra season.

For the government agencies, this year yatra posed a challenging task as it coincided with the Lok Sabha polls. “It was indeed a tough task but we are relieved that our efforts are paying off. The increasing number of people availing our services this season is sure a big boost. I can say that it has vindicated our claims of providing the best facilities to them,” said GMVN chairman Umesh Aggarwal.

The GMVN is one of the most important agencies, which looks after mainly the hospitality component of yatra. As part of package of facilities, renovation of these rest houses, food arrangements and chartered vehicles were among the top priorities. It also purchased five new wireless sets to ensure proper telecommunication facility to the tourists where it was not available earlier.

“Technical problems were detected in some existing sets but these were timely rectified and made available in the concerned rest houses,” added Aggarwal. As for the transport facilities, this time, the transport department decided against requisitioning buses of Uttarakhand Transport Corporation and GMVN for the yatra instead of election purpose. The services of Garhwal Mandal Motors Operators Union and Tehri Garhwal Motors Operators Union that operate, as many 4,000 buses, were engaged for the polls.

The GMVN has added a new dimension to the transport facilities by going in for chopper services to Badrinath and Kedarnath destinations.

Roorkee, May 29
It seems that the state government is least bothered about the running of state e-portal-Uttara.

According to the experts in Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, who have been running the portal since its inception in 2003, the servers and other hardware of the Data Center have outlived their expected lives so the frequent breakdowns are very likely now.

“The servers, switches and other paraphernalia, related to the portal, are very old now and could cause frequent breakdowns or even permanent failure of the portal at any time,” said Dr HK Verma, deputy director, IIT-R.|

Already interruptions in JeSIC services of the portal have taken place three times in the recent past. “It all happened due to the portal’s old paraphernalia, which has outlived its ‘useful’ life”, said Dr Verma.

To ensure an uninterrupted operation of the portal, there is a drastic need of procuring new servers and switches.

“We have conveyed several times to procure new servers and other related things but the ITDA/NIC authorities didn’t even bother to respond to our letters, in which we have made such suggestions in the recent past,” said Dr Verma.

It is also said that the authorities are not even providing required funds to give Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) of the portal.

The IIT-R was asked to continue to run the portal for another six months from March 31, 2009, the date, which was set by the government in its decision, made on July 2, 2008 regarding takeover the project from the institution.

But in absence of any preparation, the government was forced to depend on the IIT experts to run the project for another six months.

“As per the letter by Additional Secretary (IT) RK Mishra, we have sent a financial demand note of Rs 192 lakh for AMC and other expenditures but we are still waiting for the response from their side.

“In the absence of funds, it is not possible to give AMC for hardware and software,” said Dr Verma. The process of inviting bids and awarding AMCs would take about three months from time, we receive funds from the government, said Dr Verma.

He added that the worse could happen anytime for which the IIT-R could not be held responsible. The state portal, on which Rs 15 crore have been spent so far, has 15 sub-portals, 233 websites, and 3,377 government orders besides all the required information about the state.

Dehradun, May 29
Development schemes are likely to suffer this fiscal due to squeeze in the Annual Plan. State funding from its own resources may come down due to a substantial increase in non-Plan expenditure, mainly on account of revised salaries, pension and repayment of interest on government liabilities.

In the likely situation, state planners are bound to look to central support. “The reduced Plan size is a belt-tightening measure which looks sure as there is no scope of cutting down non-Plan expenditure,” observed a top official.

Last year, the size of the approved Annual Plan was Rs 4,285 crore. This time, the threat of being squeezed looks real as the state share in central taxes is expected to be reduced due to the fall in collection of central taxes under the impact of the economic downturn.

The draft Annual Plan has been prepared but it awaits the nod of Chief Minister BC Khanduri. He will then take it up with the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. The extent of increase in the approved Plan will depend much on measures taken by the state government to maintain fiscal discipline.

This will be the first revenue-deficit budget of the BJP-led government. The burden of Rs 1,400 crore on revised salaries and arrears on the recommendations of the pay commission and Rs 1,150 crore as pension component in addition to the annual repayment of Rs1,200 crore as interest on loans taken by the government will eat into the Annual Plan.

Dehradun, May 29
Rimcollians, ex-students of Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) have once again proved their mettle by bagging a series of awards at NDA.

In the past 17 years, Rimcollians at the NDA had won 18 President gold medals, 8 silver medals and 7 bronze medals.

In Indian Military Academy (IMA), they also bagged 7 Swords of Honour, 9 President gold medals, 1 silver medal, and 2 bronze medals. RIMC authorities informed that the former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam will be the chief guest for the 165th Graduation Ceremony at RIMC on May 30.

Award winners at NDA include: Best Army Cadet: ACC Gaurav Hridaya, Best Sportsman: ACC Gaurav Hridaya, Best in Officer-Like-Qualities: ACC Gaurav Hridaya, Best in Drill: ACC Gaurav Hridaya, Best Air Force Cadet: CQMS Swagat Das, Flying Pins: CQMS Swagat Das and Best in Cane Drill: SCC Ashish Sharma.

Dehradun, May 29
In a cliffhanger, Cricket Academy of Uttaranchal (CAU) registered a narrow one-wicket victory over Army XI Hyderabad, at the ongoing 27th All-India Uttaranchal Gold Cup, here today.

Batting first, Army XI team piled a mammoth total of 196 runs in its allotted 35 overs. It was a fine start for the team with both its openers playing some good shot in the initial overs.

Despite having a good start the openers could not convert their start into big scores. First opener Penta Rao was out for 18 runs, whereas second opener Sumit got out for 16 runs. It was the middle order batsman Sandeep who gave some stability to the team and accelerated the team’s run rate.

Sandeep made 46 runs off 47 balls, in his innings he smashed four fours. Lower order batsman Abhishek Sinha also chipped in with a handy 33 runs off 23 balls helping his team cross 190 runs.

For CAU team, Manish Kumar and Shushant proved successful in destroying Army XI Hyderabad’s batting line up. Both of them claimed five wickets collectively. Manish Kumar claimed three wickets whereas, Shushant pick up two wickets.

Chasing the victory target of 197 runs CAU team reached the target with one ball remaining to be bowled of the last over.

The team openers Ganjendra Rawat and Kiran gave a steady start contributing 47 runs in eight overs. Ganjender Rawat made 36 runs whereas Kiran scored 30 runs.

Middle order batsman Sushant played a sensible 41 runs off 41 balls, smashing three fours and one sixes and remained not out right till the end.

In the end it was the fiery inning off 33 runs played by lower order batsman Aruind Sajwan off 19 balls that helped CAU team register a one-wicket win over Army XI Hyderabad. For Army XI team SS Patwal was the lead wicket taker with 6 wickets of his seven overs spell.

Dehradun, May 29
On the inaugural day of the 7th Governor Cup Golf Tournament that got underway at Nainital in Uttarakhand, 65 players competed in group-1 with each player playing 18 holes.

On the end of the first day play, Lt Col RPS Gill (retd) was at first place in with gross, three over, 18 holes.

Ashish Jain was comfortably placed at second place with 69 gross, five over, 18 holes. Praveen Kumar was placed at third spot with 70 gross, eight over, 18 holes.

Tomorrow second group players will play 18 holes and all those players who cross cut-off score will play nine holes on the third day.