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Post-polls, BJP reshuffle likely
Security beefed up for IMA passing-out parade
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Quota seats: Roorkee pips other IITs
Maharana Pratap remembered
Teachers learn rules of soccer
Recognise naturopathy, say experts
Parakeet deaths befuddle experts
Soon, raids on pvt diagnostic centres sans licence
Swami Ramanand’s ashes to be immersed today
Leopard kills goat in Sunderwala
Three nabbed with marijuana
One killed in bus accident
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Post-polls, BJP reshuffle likely
Dehradun, June 7 Acceptance of the resignation of BJP Dehradun Mahanagar president Vinay Goyal and dissolution of the party's Chamoli and Dehradun units is a clear indication that a major reshuffle in the party's organisational set up is on the cards. "While Goyal decided to quit on moral grounds, party's Chamoli unit has been dissolved in wake of the widespread complaints of irregularities within the party unit," said BJP state spokesman Vishwas Dawar. Notably, out of the total 70 assembly segments in Uttarakhand, the BJP managed a lead in just 18 and the extremely poor performance had
left the entire party leadership extremely "worried". Although state president Bachi Singh Rawat is tight-lipped on the issue, sources revealed that Uttarakhand BJP is likely to witness a major reshuffle in the coming days. Sources further disclosed that perturbed with party's dismal performance in the elections, the top brass of BJP has also made up its mind to initiate action against those who indulged in anti-party activities during the elections. Four-time MP and state BJP president Bachi Singh Rawat himself lost the election from Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar constituency. After the debacle, Chief Minister BC Khanduri and Bachi Singh Rawat had announced that they would evaluate the reasons behind the poor show and necessary steps would be initiated to strengthen the party. As a part of the exercise, initiated to ascertain the main reasons behind party's defeat, Rawat had constituted 10 teams to prepare a detailed report of all the 70 assembly segments and lay out the reasons that cost the BJP so heavily. During the meeting of senior BJP leaders on June 4, it was decided that the party would be streamlined. "After receiving the report, suitable action will be initiated against the erring partymen (if any). Besides, corrective measures, including reshuffle of the state unit, is also on cards," disclosed a senior BJP leader on condition of anonymity. |
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Security beefed up for IMA passing-out parade
Dehradun, June 7 The police has initiated combing operations and identification drive in the villages surrounding IMA. Police officials have also initiated door-to-door search operations in villages near the Academy. In wake of the fact that more than a dozen villages and residential areas, including Ekta Vihar, Methibari, Panditwari, Prem Nagar, Nandi Ki Chowki, Old Post Office and Chaman Vihar, are in the vicinity of IMA, identification drive in these areas has also been initiated. Police officials informed that search operations would also be held in
city hotels. Reportedly, IMA has been receiving threats from terrorist outfits for the past several years. About four years back, a team of Delhi Police had arrested an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba member from Dehradun's Premnagar area, which is situated near the IMA. Thereafter, in 2005, interrogation of some militants had revealed that they were planning to attack IMA. Besides, police had also recovered maps of IMA from terrorists killed in various police encounters in the past few years. IG (Garhwal) MA Ganapathy said all security arrangements for the parade are in place. "Beefing up the security ahead of POP is a routine affair, but this time we have constituted several quick response teams (QRT) in order to deal with any exigency," he said, while asserting that the police has made fool-proof security arrangements. Besides deployment of cops at various points near the Academy, police personnel have installed barricades on the outskirts of Dehradun and every vehicle entering the state is being thoroughly checked. Apart from this, around a dozen bunkers and check-points have been set up on Chakrata Road, which leads
to IMA. Yesterday, SP City NA Bharne himself supervised the checking of vehicles. The top brass of the police, however, refused to divulge the details about the strength of police personnel to be deployed for the POP but assured that there will be no laxity as far as the security arrangements are concerned. Giving further information, police officials said security at the Inter-State Bus Terminus and railway station has already been beefed up, and special instructions have been passed to the intelligence wing officials. Meanwhile, in order to ensure that POP passes off smoothly, unprecedented security arrangements have been made by the IMA authorities. No civilian would be allowed entry into IMA campus on Saturday without having proper passes issued by the Academy. Even parents and relatives of Gentleman Cadets have to carry photo identity cards with them. |
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Quota seats: Roorkee pips other IITs
Roorkee, June 7 The Supreme Court had ruled in 2007 that all IITs across the country should increase the number of seats of reserved candidates by 54 per cent over a period of three years. According to the Deputy Director of IIT-R Dr HK Verma, IIT-R has increased seats by 36 per cent in two years while the other IITs could only increase 30 per cent seats in the same period. “We are ahead in comparison to other IITs,” said Dr Verma adding that this year, a total of 136 admissions would take place at Roorkee. The IIT-R had increased 18 seats last year taking the total number of seats to 118. This year, another 18 seats have been added. On the issue of required infrastructure and faculty for the additional seats, Dr Verma said that the institute was ready with adequate infrastructure for the enhanced seats. “We started working on the infrastructure immediately after the ruling of the Supreme Court,” said Dr Verma. However, like all IITs, the institute is also facing the problem of shortage of faculty. For the enhanced reserved seats, as many as 330 new faculty seats have been sanctioned. But the IIT-R that has a staff of around 400 at the moment is yet to fill around 200 vacancies. The number of seats for the General Category candidates will remain unchanged. Next year, all IITs have to add more seats and take their total to 154. |
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Maharana Pratap remembered
Haridwar, June 7 Speaking on the occasion, chief guest former Uttarakhand Women Commission head Dr Santosh Chauhan exhorted youths to follow the principles, ideals and ethics of the two great warrior kings. “The power of change lies in the hands of the youth and it is imperative that they derive inspiration from personalities like Maharana Pratap, the last ruler of Chauhan dynasty, and Prithvi Raj Chauhan, the king of Mewar,” said Chauhan. She also exhorted women to come forward and help curb wrong practices that have engulfed society. Arya Samaj leader Mangtu Ram urged the Kshtriya community to come forward as they had in the past and save the society from various dangers. “But now, the dangers to society have changed, so has the enemy. Fighting corruption, untouchability, poverty, illiteracy and communalism are the dangers which not only the Kshtriya community but all sections of society have to fight out,” said the Arya Samaj leader. While Jagdeesh Rana, MP from Saharanpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh, cited the example of Prithvi Raj Chauhan and Maharana Pratap who fought for their ideals. City Congress chief OP Chauhan highlighted the bravery of the duo. “Prithvi Raj Chauhan didn’t attack the retreating army of Mohammed Ghori because he believed it was not in sync with Rajput tradition. “Later, Ghori misused this magnanimity and defeated Chauhan. Maharana Pratap never accepted the kingship offered by Emperor Akbar though he was lured by various means including force,”said Chauhan. Among those who addressed the function were OP Chauhan, city unit president of the Congress, Swami Shiv Kumar Maharaj, BHEL Kshtriya Samaj president Jeetendra Pundir, general secretary Brij Lal Pundir, Yashpal Bisht, state president of Kshtriya Samaj and Yashpal Rana, president of Kshtriya Samaj. |
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Villagers apprised of their legal rights
Dehradun, June 7 During the camp, students from the college apprised people about consumer rights, dowry laws, importance of registering birth and deaths, and Lok Adalat. The District Judge said cases in courts are piling up with each passing day, which makes it difficult to deliver speedy justice. She said an increase in population and lack of awareness amongst the masses are reasons behind the rising number of pending cases. She appreciated the steps taken by the Law College for organising the camp. Rajesh Bahuguna, principal of the college, said legal assistance and legal awareness are two sides of a coin, but the latter is more important’. Surat Singh and Khem Singh Pal, panchayat members of the village, also shared their views. College chairman Jitender Joshi, Anuradha Joshi, GP Sharma, Beena Bahuguna and a large number of villagers were present during the camp. The programme ended with the message that legal knowledge should be spread from village to village and not restricted to only books. |
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He loves framing sport stars
Dehradun, June 7 For the past five years, he has been an official photographer of Desert Classic Golf which is played in Dubai. After shooting around 2.5 lakh photographs of cricket and a large number of photographs of golf, freelance photographer Kamal Sharma still hesitates to call himself someone who has perfected his art. Kamal has captured many action shots of top players like Tiger Woods, Jeev Milkha Singh, Sachin Tendulkar and Shoaib Akhtar. Numerous pictures by Kamal Sharma are on display at the Uttaranchal Gramin Bank (UGB) Art Gallery. The exhibition will be on for a month. “I have not undergone any training and what ever I have learnt was by way of observation and later experimentation and improvisation,” said Kamal. “To me, sports photography is a passion and I think I have an eye for detail that has helped me in my composition of shots,” added Sharma. Hailing from Ferozepur district in Punjab, he was desperate to become a cricketer but repeated attempts at it came to a nought. “While studying at Government College, Ludhiana, I realised that I was not cut out for cricket. It is a demanding profession and one has to possess oodles of talent otherwise the chance of survival are very less.” “I then took a job of a clerk but my heart was not into it. Chucking the job, I moved to Delhi where I began covering club and Ranji Trophy matches. “At that time, most players in the present-day Indian team were part of the under-19 squad. Virender Sehwag, Mohammed Kaif and Gautam Gambhir made the cut only after playing local cricket. I managed to build a rapport with most of them as they advanced in their careers,” said Sharma. During his career, he developed a very good friendship with Sachin Tendulkar and Jeev Milkha Singh. “Catching Sachin’s attention was not easy but posters of Sanjay Manjrekar and Salil Ankola that I had shot earlier did the trick. Sachin liked my work and somehow my name got stuck in his memory,” Kamal recalled. “So when I went with a request for an exclusive photo shoot during a match in Sri Lanka, he relented. Ever since, I developed camaraderie with him. He complimented me for my brilliant timing while capturing some great moments,” said Sharma. He was in New York on that fateful day in 2001 when the Twin Towers fell. “I was there in the USA covering the US Open in 2001. A day before the incident, I had spent time capturing the towers rising handsomely in the New York backdrop. The next day, I was at the same spot but this time, I was shooting what had remained of the towers,” said Kamal Sharma. Kamal is based in Dehradun for the past six months and hopes to also venture into wildlife photography. |
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Soccer camp ends, kids want more
Dehardun, June 7 On the concluding day, young girls and boys demonstrated their skills. Anita Rawat, who had played in the u-13 national team, said, “It was really fun to participate in the camp especially this time as the number of girls has gone up. And playing at par with boys make us feel good.” Shubham Kumar, who comes from Jalandhar every year to attend the camp, said, “I always look forward to attending the camp. My summer vacation is an excuse for me to come to Dehradun to attend the camp.” The students have received expert guidance from renowned players like Narsingh Gurung, Ratan Thapa and old-time footballers like JB Gurung during the camp. Narsingh Thapa said that an initiative like this would go a long way in promotion of football. The chief guest, Vidhan Sabha Speaker Harbans Kapoor, said, “A camp like this is a great encouragement for children and Vijay Cantt has done good work by running this camp for the past five years.” The Kanta Devi Radha Memorial Training Summer Camp for cricket was inaugurated at Survey Stadium here today. The camp was inaugurated by Anurag Tripathi, Principal, Oak Grove School, Mussoorie. Anurag Tripathi said, “One should work for the spread of cricket and make a career in the game and bring laurels to the state.” Tripathi was bestowed the Kanta Devi Radha award for his efforts in the field of education. On the inaugural day, about 95 children participated in the camp. Student in the age group of 7 to 16 years participated in the camp. Present on the occasion were chairman of the association Pradeep Singh Rawat, association secretary, Javed Bhatt, Adil Khan and KC Tripathi. |
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Teachers learn rules of soccer
Dehradun, June 7 The workshop aimed at imparting knowledge to sports teachers about the laws of the game and how to officiate at matches. As many as physical instructors from 20 schools of the country participated at the workshop. On the concluding day, Dr Krishna Kant
Sahu, class-one soccer referee in Madhya Pradesh, told physical instructors about various rules. On Saturday, Dr Maj LMS Negi addressed physical instructors informing them about various types of sports injuries, causes of such injuries and how they could be treated on the ground before any expert help is received. Football coach Dr SC Negi said that workshops like this should be conducted at the school level to impart knowledge to students about various safety
measures. Negi also gave a demonstration on treatment of injuries and showed video footage. During his lecture, he discussed the treatment of fractures, dislocation, sprain, strain, cramps and other injuries sustained by players during a
match. Negi told physical instructors about life-saving techniques that should kept in mind during a match. |
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Recognise naturopathy, say experts
Dehradun, June 7 He was speaking today at a seminar on “Vision of Mahatma Gandhi and Healthy India” organised by Uttaranchal Yog Evam Prakritik Chikitsa Samiti in association with Jeevan Jyoti Evam Prakritik Jeevan Vigyan Academy. Dr Sharma said that naturopathy relies on five elements - air, water, earth, fire and ether - for curing patients. “Whenever there is an imbalance in any of these, a person falls ill. The balance can be restored in the body by getting rid of impurities. “Mahatma Gandhi also practiced naturopathy at his ashram in Sevagram and he was greatly influenced by books written by European authors like Adolf Just and Louis Kuney. “He wanted to end reliance of patients on modern medicines and doctors,” he said. He added that the government should open ‘gurukuls’ where centres of naturopathy can be opened. Roop Chander Gupta, secretary of Uttaranchal Yog Evam Prakritik Chikitsa, said that naturopathy stresses on eating the right kind of food, maintaining hygiene, doing yoga and taking ayurvedic medicines. |
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Parakeet deaths befuddle experts
Dehradun, June 7 Admitting that it was the first such incident in the state, divisional forest officer (Terai central) Parag Madhukar Dhakatey said the deaths may have been caused by a hailstorm or pesticides. “We are not ruling out any possibility and the reason will be known after we get the report, which is expected within a week,” said Dhakatey. In the meantime, forest officials are monitoring the situation. Meanwhile, locals say the use of pesticides on sunflowers could have caused the deaths. The parrots feed on the seeds of the sunflower. Some believe that toxic emissions from a factories around the area could be the reason.
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Soon, raids on pvt diagnostic centres sans licence
Dehradun, June 7 Not withstanding the orders of the state Health Department, it has come to the notice of the DG’s office that several diagnostic centres in the plain districts of Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar are functioning without licences. The district administration had conducted raids in January and had booked five centres in Dehradun for carrying clandestine ultrasound testing activities for sex determination. In order to check female foeticide, the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994, was enacted and brought into operation from January 1, 1996. Rules have also been framed under the Act. “The Act prohibits determination and disclosure of the sex of the foetus. “We, in Uttarakhand, will take action against the clinics engaged in this activity. “Besides, there are several centres that have not renewed their licences. “The complaints are more from the plain districts. We have asked the CMOs of district hospitals to monitor the activities of diagnostic centres,” said Dr PL Joshi, DG Health. |
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Swami Ramanand’s ashes to be immersed today
Haridwar, June 7 The ashes were to be immersed today but as the procession, which began at Jalandhar, reached Roorkee late in the evening, the ashes couldn’t be immersed today. Swami Ramanand was attacked in Vienna in a gurdwara by some persons. Later, he succumbed to his injuries. Elaborate security arrangements were in place for the immersion at Har-ki-Pauri and for the cavalcade of the swami’s followers as soon as they entered Uttarakhand territory. SP (Rural) Ajay Joshi has been made the security
in-charge of the procession while CO City Navneet Singh and CO Traffic Shweta Chaubey were to assist him. Punjab police personnel also accompanied the procession. |
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Thousands take dip on Poornima
Haridwar, June 7 As many as one million people thronged the ghats of river Ganga in Haridwar and Rishikesh today. Elaborate security arrangements were put in place for the occasion. In addition, many tourists from Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan thronged the city for the weekend. Devotees in large numbers were witnessed at the Har-Ki-Pauri ghats, Alaknananda ghat, Kushawrat ghat, Birla ghat, Kankhal and other ghats in the city and Muni-Ki-Reti in Rishikesh. Even foreign nationals could be spotted enjoying the
occasion. In view of the huge rush, additional coaches were attached to the trains running on major routes, while buses plied extra rounds on Dehradun-Haridwar, Dehradun-Rishikesh and Haridwar-Rishikesh routes. Extra buses were also pressed into service from Dehradun depot. However, such was the rush that even these proved insufficient. |
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Leopard kills goat in Sunderwala
Dehradun, June 7 These leopard attacks in the thickly populated area of Sunderwala assumes significance keeping in view that the region is in close proximity to Dehradun city. The residents are demanding compensation for the livestock killed by the leopard from forest authorities. “The incident has created fear among the locals and the authorities need to take prompt action,” said Sumit Thapa, a resident of
Sunderwala. |
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Three nabbed with marijuana
Haridwar, June 7 The three were caught
following a tip-off. As the crime is negligible in the hill districts, the smugglers are able to skip frisking and reach plain areas along with the contraband unhindered. The three, Chuttan of Balrampur Gaunda and Vijay and Santosh of Bairagi camp here confessed to the police that consumption of heroin being rare in the hilly districts, they earned a huge profit while selling the same in the plain areas of Haridwaar, Roorkee and Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Following intense interrogation by the Kankhal police, they gave names of other accomplices in the illegal trade. |
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One killed in bus accident
Dehradun, June 7 The injured were rushed to a hospital in Rishikesh. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen BC Khanduri (retd) has expressed grief over the mishap.
— TNS |
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