Dehradun, June 29
Come rains and the Dehradun Municipal Corporation ability vis-à-vis cleanliness is put to the test.

It could be more challenging this time as President Pratibha Patil’s proposed visit to the capital on July 3 had forced the corporation to go in cleanliness mode.

Yesterday, the first rains this season resulted in overflowing drains revealing the sorry state of civic affairs in the city.

Already grappling with the shortages of sanitary workers, Dehradun Municipal Corporation every year undertakes preparations that start in March to deal with the garbage menace in the city.

The Dehradun Municipal Corporation today held a special meeting of sanitary supervisors to undertake special cleanliness arrangements in view of the President’s visit.

According to senior health inspector Dr Gurupal Singh, apart from regular sanitary employees, the department has already pressed into service three teams of drain cleaners who have been employed on daily wage basis.

“We had started cleaning the drains as early as March in order to ensure that there was no choking,” Dr Gurupal said.

Fogging and spray machines that have already been put to use to check the spread of mosquitoes and other insects.

Already under pressure for improvement in the city’s sanitation conditions, the councillors at the DMC board meeting took up an aggressive stand demanding prompt and concrete steps to improve sanitation.

Public resentment has time and again been spilling over to the streets over the poor state of sanitation in the city.

Visibly agitated councillors have sought a permanent solution to the worsening garbage problem in Dehradun city.

Leader of Opposition and senior councillor Ashok Varma said it was becoming increasingly difficult for the councillors to face the public in their respective wards as sanitation was turning from bad to worse each passing day.

“It becomes worst during the rainy season as the entire garbage and dirt spills over to the roads from drains and dustbins,” Varma pointed out.

The issue of outsourcing of sanitation works in some big wards also came up as a suggestion. But the Corporation stood divided over the issue. Some members said that outsourcing was the solution to the problem while others were of the opinion that such an effort would only encourage the contractor system.

There have been suggestions for purchase of night sweeping machines. But lack of trained sanitary employees has resulted in the government not going for their purchase.

Those opposing the sweeping machines argue that lift bag machines purchased by the corporation earlier too had failed to deliver results due to the lack of expertise with the corporation to operate such machines. They asserted that the new night sweeping machines would meet the same fate.

Councillor Dr Bijendra Pal said, “For proper sanitation, a minimum number of sanitary employees is required in every ward. I represent Rajpur Road ward that also includes the VIP area of New Cantt Road. There are hardly 30 sanitary employees in my ward which is one of the biggest. As a result, maintaining cleanliness is a big challenge,” Dr Pal observed.

Some councillors have alleged that garbage from other wards was being dumped into their bins. The lack of coordination between supervisors and councillors has compounded the problem.

The Dehradun Municipal Corporation limits generate an estimated 257 metric tonnes (MT) of solid waste per day. Only 155 MT/day of this waste finds its way into the dump site. The rest is dumped in vacant plots, drains and ultimately into seasonal rivers.

The arrangements go for a toss during rains as the litter spreads on roads and subsequently find its way into drains alongside roads choking them.

While the municipal corporation claims that 70 per cent of the bins are cleaned regularly, these claims are hardly substantiated on the ground.

A total of 862 sanitary employees, including contractual and daily wagers, are employed in various work capacities. Some councillors have time and again demanded the creation for more sanitation committees to deal with the shortage of sanitary staff.

Haridwar, June 29
After hearing the news that the state capital was lashed by rain yesterday, residents of the holy city were eagerly waiting for their turn to receive the rain gods’ blessings. They did not have to wait for long as Haridwar received rain early in the morning today.

The showers provided much-sought relief from the high temperatures which had touched 44 degrees in the past week.

Locals woke to the pleasant weather and were seen enjoying the cool morning. Many people were seen at several ghats and parks.

The showers also gave respite to farmers and people suffering from water shortage.

On the flip side, the rain once again exposed the frailty of the roads and sewer system of the city.

Though the shower continued for about an hour, there were several reports of choked drains, bursting of sewer pipes, water seeping into colonies and mudslides.

The shower gave a glimpse of what is to come during the monsoon as last year too, locals had to face problems during the rains.

The city had been under water for days because of the complete failure of the drainage system.

Though the administration and municipality committee claims that the drainage system has been improved and sewers have been given arterial connectivity, the water logging exposed their claims.

“I had to return home as all crossings were flooded,” said Sanjana Verma, a class IX DPS student who resides in the posh Model Colony.

Roorkee: The spell of rain in the morning today brought cheer to localites, who had been bearing the scorching heat for the past couple of days.

The pre-monsoon downpour, which started around 4 am today, lashed the city for over two hours. This provided much-needed relief to the area which witnessed the maximum temperature shooting above 40 degree Celsius last week.

According to the Hydrology Department of the IIT, Roorkee, the town received 29.4 mm rain in its first pre-monsoon shower. As a result, a fall of 7.3 degree Celsius in minimum temperature and 4.1 degree Celsius in maximum temperature was recorded.

Today’s maximum temperature was 37.6 degree Celsius and minimum was 22.1 degree Celsius. Yesterday’s temperatures in comparison were 41.7 degree Celsius and 29.7 degree Celsius.

As the rain hit other parts of the state too, residents are hoping that the rain would help solve the power and water crisis that the state has been undergoing for the past few weeks.

“Now, we are hoping for some relief from long and unscheduled power cuts and scarcity of water,” said DK Aggarwal, a local businessman.

The rain also brought relief to paddy growers. Along with smiles on the faces of farmers, the rain is also said to bring sweetness to the mango crop.

“Without rain, the mangoes tasted a little sour till date. But now with the rain lashing the mango belt, we are hopeful that the fruit will become sweet,” said Fasihuzzama, a mango grower at Manglore. He added that the rain would give a boost to mango sales in the entire region.

Dehradun, June 29
Pawan Shankar, who played the lead role in television serial ‘Siddhanth’ for which he bagged the Best Actor award, is a former national table tennis champion in the cadet category.

Presently, he is acting in television serial ‘Vikey Ki Taxi’ and few films. According to him, coincidence has always played a major role in guiding the course of his life.

It was by coincidence that Pawan Shankar started playing table tennis. “We had shifted to our new house in Allahabad and our neighbours had a table tennis table. It was there that I started playing and slowly, I developed a passion for it.”

“I spent a lot of my leisure time playing table tennis and it paid off,” said Pawan. In 1987, he became the UP sub-junior and junior champion.

In 1988, he was placed third at the sub-junior nationals. In 1986, he became the national champion in the cadet category.

“I used to rush to the table tennis hall to occupy the table so that I could play more than everybody else. Despite lack of facilities, I did well at various levels,” added Pawan.

Speaking about his experiences at the 1986 Muzaffarnagar nationals, he said that the competition turned out to be a unique one as all participants from Uttar Pradesh won a medal.

His passion could not continue for long. “Sports, in those days, was not as paying as it is today. Finding a job totally on the basis of sports was quite tough. This forced me to quit sports,” said Pawan.

His journey into the world of television began in 2006 with ‘Siddhanth’, the serial for which he earned the Best Actor award.

Then, he did serials like ‘Kassam Se’ and ‘Thora se Zameen, Thora sa Asman’. Presently, he is acting in Vikey Ki Taxi. Pawan also has some films to his credit like ‘Rajdhani Express’, ‘Mr Bhatti on Chhuti’ and ‘Niyati’.

It was yet another coincidence that he ventured into television. “I had never thought of acting in serials but my friend, who is associated with the media, proved to be the agent of change.

“It seems that such pleasant coincidences are destined to happen to me,” he said.

With a few films around the corner, Pawan has his fingers crossed and hopes to succeed on the silver screen as well.

Dehradun, June 29
Senior physician Dr SD Joshi of Doon Hospital has been elected president of the Uttarakhand Provincial Medical and Health Services Association while Dr DP Joshi, child specialist at Doon Hosptial, has been elected general secretary.

Election officer Dr RK Pant of CMS Doon Hospital declared the results. Dr SD Joshi received 347 votes while his rival Dr BC Ramoli got 241 votes.

For the post of general secretary, Dr DP Joshi received 339 votes while Dr TK Pant received 174 votes.

The elections for the association were held on June 22. Dr JS Chufal was elected vice-president (general).

He bagged 306 votes and defeated Dr KK Pandey (273 votes). Dr SP Kuriyal was elected vice-president (headquarters) and Dr Meghna Aswal was elected vice-president (woman post).

Dr SD Joshi said that they would try to work for the betterment of the medical fraternity.