Dehradun, May 30
Last week, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen BC Khanduri (retd) announced a cash award of Rs 1 lakh to cricketer Manish Dubey, a native of the state, for performing well in the recently concluded Indian Premier League in South Africa.

But closer home, the state government failed to acknowledge the achievement of a young Dehradun girl Raksha Panwar, who not only captained the under-14 girls Indian football team in the recently concluded Sports Festival in Colombo but was also adjudged the best footballer of the tournament.

The official apathy speaks volumes about the decline of football in Dehradun, once considered the second-best football centre of the country. Kolkata topped the list.

After the formation of Uttarakhand, the tussle between various football associations to control the game has become more intense harming the cause of the football.

There are more than 25 football clubs in Dehradun but there is not even a single national-level football tournament where local footballers can also show their talent.

The state has yet to hold its inter-district tournament. Even young footballers of hill districts, particularly Tehri and Pitthoragarh which produced good footballers in the past, are now disillusioned with the present state of affairs.

There is no state government help to give a boost to football as there are no playgrounds. The old Pavillion Ground is in a bad shape and local talent fails to bloom for the want of a connect with the national football circuit.

There are young talented footballers playing for various clubs or undergoing training at the Maharana Partap Sports College, Raipur, and Sports Hostel, Dehradun, but they get little or no exposure.

Uttarakhand Sports Minister Rajinder Bhandari claims that efforts are on to give a new shape to the Pavillion Ground but the condition of the building shows a completely different picture with drunkards and drug addicts making it their favourite hideout.

Dehradun, May 30
Efforts are on by Vijay Cantt Club, one of the oldest club of Dehradun, to revive the game of football.

The club came into being in 1950s and since then has witnessed the highs and lows of Doon football.

For the past five years, the club has been organising free summer camps at Mahandra Ground to tap Doon’s football talent. The endeavour undertaken by the club has received an encouraging response from the young football enthusiasts.

Located in the heart of the Ghari Cantt area, also known as the hub of Dehradun football, Mahandra Ground comes to life at 5.30 am with around 200 young footballers, both boys and girls in the age group of 5 to 17 years. It is the biggest camp organised by any club in Dehradun.

Children from far-away places like Ranjhawala, Clementown, Purkul Gaon and Raipur come on their bicycles to attend the camp.

But the popularity of the camp is not limited to state. There are children who come from cities like Jalandhar as well.

Shubham Kumar, who hails from Jalandhar, has been a regular student at the camp for the past four years.

“I came to know about the camp through my relatives who live in Dehradun. The camp has helped in improving my football skills. Football is a popular sport here but this is not the case in Jalandhar. I have made lot of friends here and I love coming to Dehradun to play football.”

Anirudh Thapa began playing football in 2006 at the camp. He got admission in St Stephen School, Chandigarh, on sport quota last year.

This year, he has come back to attend the camp. Anirudh’s father, Pramod Thapa, is an ONGC employee.

Since 2006, training is also being imparted to girls. Many girls who trained at the camp got selected for the national camp. One of them, Raksha Pawar, is leading the u-14 Indian team.

“We started coaching girls in 2006 and the response has been good. The number of girls has increased over the years with 17 girls having played the nationals in various categories,” said Buddiman Thapa, secretary of Vijay Cantt.

Anita Rawat and Jyoti Kumari both played in the u-13 national team in 2007. Anita was the highest goal scorer for the team with six goals that included a hat-trick against Punjab whereas Jyoti Kumari played at the left-out position.

The Vijay Cantt Club also organises a football workshop every year in which good football teams from other states are invited. Experienced football players share their experiences with student during the workshop. Club students are also made to play matches with these teams as part of their learning experience.

Dehradun, May 30
“Dehradun was a paradise for football lovers in early 1960’s and 70’s. The attraction of playing against the highly-skilled army teams in the famous Nemi Das Football League of Dehradun brought team from far off place like Calcutta to Dehradun,” said Narsingh Gurung, who was a part of the services team in the 1966 and 1969.

“Those glorious years are unmatched, bringing them to life again is difficult. But, standard of city football could be raised to that level again as it was when the army teams use to play here,” said Narsingh Gurung.

All he wants that old players should come forward to bring up the standard of football in the city. “More such camps should be put up in here where old renowned players should impart training to the youths. This is the only way we can revive the glory of the game here,” said Gurung.

A national level highly rated football coach, Gurung is part of the effort by Vijay Cantt. Club is going to run a free coaching camp for 21 days for budding footballers in the city.

Meanwhile, Ratan Thapa who is also an old time player of Vijay Cantt, expressed his happiness over the way camp was working. “More such camps should be organised in order to promote the game. Whenever I have time I pay a visit to the camps and impart special guidance to young footballers. I feel more camps should be organised for children so that they develop interest in the game with the help of senior players. ‘Catch them young’ should be the motto of the camps in order to increase the standard of football,” said Ratan Thapa.

He also advised for more competition for girls at the grass root level in order to further improve the standard of girls football. “I and Budhiman Thapa conceived the idea of imparting coaching to girls as well and it has churned out well. All we now need to do is to increase competition at the grass root level for girls,” said Ratan.

JB Gurung, an old player, has been rendering his services at the camp for the past five years.

Dehradun, May 30
As per the guidelines of United Nations Environment Programme, Uttarakhand Forest Department had decided to conduct a cleanliness campaign in as many as 60 townships of the state on June 5 on the occasion of World Environment Day.

The Uttarakhand principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) Dr RBS Rawat yesterday said the forest department would be engaging at least 20,000 people towards ensuring a successful campaign against cleaning litter in the form of plastic bottles, polythene bags and other materials that was spread across cities, in various forest divisions and protected areas of the state.

“While half of these workers will be from the forest department, the other half volunteers will be from educational institutions, Yuwak Mangal Dals, Pranteey Rakshak Dals, NCC and NSS cadets, personnel from ITBP and SSB,” Rawat said.

The Uttarakhand PCCF also on the occasion disclosed that the state has received an amount of Rs 3 crore from the Centre towards undertaking forest fires safety measures.

“We plan to utilise the amount, on strengthening mobility of lower staff by introducing motorcycles and bicycles at lower staff levels,” he added.

When asked on proposed stir of Uttarakhand forests guards, the PCCF said while it was for the first time that the guards in the state has been provided with promotion based pay scale while also ensuring them provision of one time promotion.

He, however, said other concerns of the forest guards would also taken into consideration by the authorities.

Responding to a query, Dr RBS Rawat admitted that the recent tigers deaths in an around Corbett National Park was a matter of concern.

He said the state forest department would seek assistance of Wildlife Institute of India towards actually coming to scientific basis behind these deaths. He however also reminded that 10 per cent of total tigers in the country were in Uttarakhand.