Haridwar, July 12
Tension prevailed in the city after miscreants attacked a religious place belonging to a particular community in Shivalik Nagar area late last night.

The incident took a communal turn after hundreds of people belonging to the community gathered at the place and resorted to sloganeering. It flared up more when news spread to the nearby Jwalapur area, where both communities have a sizeable presence. The mob later went berserk and resorted to stone-pelting, arson and loot. Many shops were ransacked and public property was destroyed.

However, due to immediate intervention by local administration officials a major conflict was averted. District Magistrate R Meenakshi Sundaram, SSP Sanjay Gunjiyal, SP Asim Srivastav, ASP Sweety Aggarwal, CO Navneet Singh, CO Traffic Shweta Chaubey, and Jwalapur SHO, along with heavy police force reached Jwalapur area as soon as they received information.

Initially, they too had to face the wrath of both the communities even as stone-pelting continued from both the sides. However, the police managed to restore normalcy after a while. Later, the entire Shivalik Nagar-Jwalapur area was cordoned-off.

Meanwhile, no untoward incident has been reported today and strict police vigil is being maintained. The District Magistrate and SSP also called a peace meeting at the Jwalapur police station, where leaders of both the communities as well as other representatives were asked to maintain harmony.

Initially, members of one community filed a police complaint but it was later withdrawn, as both sides decided to resolve the matter amicably.

But keeping the 'kanwar' season in mind SSP Sanjay Gunjiyal warned that anyone found violating the law or trying to fuel communal violence would be dealt with strictly.

Inspector General of Police, Garhwal Range, MA Ganapathy also took stock of the situation and directed police personnel to ensure that no such incident occurs in future. 

Pitthoragarh, July 12
With little rain in the border district of Pitthoragarh leading to water shortage, there has been an increase in the cases of jaundice in the district.

“Nearly 10 to 15 jaundice patients daily arrive at the district hospital as well as the same number of patients visit the other 11 primary health centers in the district,” said Dr MC Tamta, chief medical officer, Pitthoragarh

Consumption of contaminated water is the main reasons of its spread in the district. In the absence of potable water as rains have eluded the district since January this year and natural water sources have also gone dry.

“The condition has started improving after the monsoon rains but till the date we have treated more than 5,000 patients in our hospitals,” said Dr Tamta. “This is extraordinary phenomena this year only, till last year the number of jaundice patience used to remain very normal,” said the CMO.

The prices of radish, which is used to treat jaundice traditionally, have gone four times high from Rs 5 per kg to Rs 20 per kg. Even local ‘tantriks’ are also treating a large number of jaundice patients.

“At least 300 patience per day visit me daily since last month,” said Narayan Singh, a tantrik at Chandak village. “Jaundice is spreading fast in the district mainly due to contaminated water and particularly in the region where people drink water supplied by local rivulets and which is not chlorinated,” said Dr RP Kharkwal, a private practitioner.

Haridwar, July 12
With kanwar season treading towards its peak, Kanwariyas from all over the nation are thronging Haridwar to fetch Ganga water.

The traffic jams at major intersections and Delhi-Dehradun highway has become a norm of the day. Though, substantial number of policemen and traffic police has been deployed all over the route especially at Har-Ki-Pauri and at all major intersections, crossings of Roorkee and Haridwar.

Yet with growing number of Kanwariyas has made the task arduous for administration to control and manage the whole proceedings.

Meanwhile, this time with administration’s initiative and to complete yatra in shorter time most of the kanwariyas are using shortcuts and avoiding highway.

Pilgrims coming from Haryana, Panjab, Saharanpur are using Dhaunari-Bhagwanpur route and avoiding the busy Roorkee route.

Similarly, kanwariyas of Muzaffarnagar district are finding it easier through the Laksar-Purkaji route.

Number of women and children are overwhelming this year. Locals say that women were rarely seen in the Kanwar yatra earlier but this time participation is much more.

The inflow of kanwariyas this time suggests that the number may touch 80-85 lakh, which has put the mela administration and police on the tenterhooks.

Already PAC, RAF companies have been pitched in while police personnel from other districts of state and even recruits are being deployed in the mela duty.

In view of the unprecedented flow of kanwariyas district 
magistrate R Meenakshi Sundaram has announced closure of all schools in the Haridwar district till July 22, the last day of kanwar yatra.

The decision was taken with the increasing number of kanwariyas in the city and the traffic jams, which make it quite difficult for the school children while 
commuting. 

Roorkee, July 12
In two different incidents, two ‘kanwariyas’ and an unidentified labourer were burnt critically after coming in contact with high-tension wires while travelling atop trains.

In the first incident, took place at Laksar railway station, around 30 kms from here, two ‘kanwariyas’ received 70 per cent burns while over a dozen other persons got injured in commotion there after the incident.

Delhi residents Anil (17) and Shekhar (22) were travelling on the roof of Mussoorie Express on their way to Haridwar.

The duo came in contact with the overhead high-voltage line while the others, who were also travelling on the roof of the bogey, started jumping on the platform.

Over a dozen persons received injuries during the commotion. The injured were shifted to hospital.

In the other similar incident, occurred at the same venue today morning, an unidentified labourer received over 85 per cent burns.

He was also travelling on the roof of a train compartment of a passenger train and came in contact with the high-voltage lines.

However, the labourer could not be identified.

“He was speaking in the South Indian language so we could not ascertain his identity,” said SO GRP, Laksar, Neelam Rawat.

Meanwhile, the police has been facing a tough time to stop ‘kanwariyas’ and other commuters from travelling atop the trains.

Due to heavy rush these days, the trains are overflowing to capacity. “We have asked our counterparts in other states to discourage people from travelling on the roof tops,” said SSP Sanjay Gunjyal.

Dehradun, July 12
With the 12-day budget session of the Uttarakhand Assembly scheduled to start from Monday, the main opposition party, the Congress, is all set to corner the ruling BJP.

In wake of the fact that major political developments had taken place after the last session of Assembly in February, this session will be a great challenge for the state government.

For Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and his new team, satisfying Opposition legislators will be an uphill task as Congress MLAs appear to be in a very aggressive mood.

Even during the last Assembly session, most questions posed by Opposition had to be suspended for want of satisfactory reply by the concerned ministers.

Tomorrow all eyes will be on Pokhriyal who will be attending his first session as Chief Minister. Though Pokhriyal is quite an experienced politician but how well he handles the proceedings in the Assembly as leader of the 70-member House will be clear once the session gets under way.

Besides the budget for 2009-10, the tabling of the Dixit Commission report will be one of the main highlights during the session.

The Dixit Commission report pertains to the issue of the permanent capital for Uttarakhand. After a period of seven years, the report had finally been submitted to the government and will now be tabled in the House.

Apart from this, the main issues that are likely to rock the Assembly include the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, water scarcity and power cuts.

“Crime has increased so much that nobody feels safe in this state that once was the most safe state in the country.

Also, the state government has to answer people of Uttarakhand about police atrocities which are increasing day by day,” said leader of Opposition in the Assembly Dr Harak Singh Rawat.

He also said that Congress legislators would take up all issues concerning the general masses.

Besides the Congress, BSP MLAs are all set to take up the issue of water crisis in the state.

Other issues that are likely to create a furore in the House are of illicit tree-felling incidents in the state and the government’s failure to provide employment to the youth.

BJP leader and co-incharge of party affairs in Uttarakhand Dr Anil Jain said that they were hopeful of a healthy discussion on issues.

“Though some ministers have recently got their portfolios but still they will try their best to respond to the queries of Opposition MLAs,” he asserted.

In order to ensure that there is no ruckus in the Assembly and the proceedings are held in a smooth manner, Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha speaker Harbans Kapoor convened an all-party meeting yesterday.

He requested the leaders of all parties to keep decorum in the House.

The security near the Assembly has been beefed up. Besides setting up several check posts, policemen will remain deployed on all routes leading to the Assembly.

Extra caution is being taken in wake of the fact that several teachers’ association have been staging dharnas outside the Assembly.

During the last Assembly session, two NTT teachers had attempted suicide in protest against the government’s failure to provide employment to NTT teachers. 

Dehradun, July 12
The Bharatiya Janata Party today came in defence of Yoga guru Ramdev and flayed the Congress for tagging him as "BJP agent".

Accusing the Congress of indulging in cheap politics, co-incharge of state BJP Dr Anil Jain said the comments made by leader of Opposition in Uttarakhand Assembly Dr Harak Singh Rawat in context of Ramdev were unfortunate and disgusting.

"Whosoever talks of Indian culture is a BJP agent. The words used by Dr Rawat against an internationally acclaimed yoga guru and a pious person is a glaring example of the cheap mindset of the Congress. This is disrespect to both BJP and Ramdev, and we condemn it in strong terms," he said.

Jain also came down heavily on the UPA government for completely ignoring Uttarakhand in the Union and Railway budgets, respectively. He expressed dismay that not even a single penny has been allocated for the Maha Kumbh Mela scheduled to get underway in Haridwar early next year.

"People from India and abroad come for Maha Kumbh, the world's biggest religious festival. The state had demanded Rs 500 crore, but the Union government has not sanctioned anything in the recent budget," he rued, while adding that rising above party lines, UPA government should have allocated funds for the festival.

Jain also criticised the Congress MPs from Uttarakhand for failing to build any sort of pressure on the Union government for extending the industrial package.

He said no new rail line was sanctioned in the Railway Budget, and the Union Budget was equally disappointing for the state. "This is nothing but the failure of the Congress MPs in taking up the case of Uttarakhand with the UPA government," he alleged.

Expressing his party's views on the issue of reasons behind the death of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jain said BJP strongly feels that the Union government should concede the request of Shastri's family members about making the reasons of his death public.

"The country has the right to know the reasons behind Shastri's death," he argued, while adding that the Union government should adopt a positive approach on the issue.

Dehradun, July 12
Theatre group Abhirang Natya Academy recently staged a play ‘Andher Nagri Chopat Raja’ written by Bhartendu Harishchander at the Town Hall here. The story suits the present scenario.

A stinging indictment on the situation that prevailed several years ago in the rein of a king, whose stupid and foolish ways led to total chaos in the state. The relevance of the subject matter was not lost on the audience.

The play tried to highlight the plight of the public that had to bear the brunt of a foolish ruler.

The performance by the budding theater artistes was laudable, as they had attended a 30-days workshop organised by the Abhirang Natya Academy. Viplov Anant, playing the part of the king, Shashank Tyagi in the role of Goverdhan Das and Devansh Sharma in the role of guru impressed the audience with their spirited performances.

The play was directed by Babita Anant and presentation was by Atik Ahmed, president of the academy.

It was staged in the memories of renowned theatre personality Habib Tanveer and kathak dancer Madhukar Anand. At the end of the play, Shivangai Joshi presented a dance recital, while Ramesh Singh and co-artists presented qawwali recitation. 

Dehradun, July 12
Aiming to bridge rural urban divide, e-Gyan kendras will soon become a reality in villages around Dehradun. A start in this direction was made with the launch of one center at Bahuwala.

Being promoted by SEEWA, a Doon based NGO, the center was officially launched yesterday by Uttarakhand state unit president Yashpal Arya.

In his address he said that unemployment is on the rise and if the rural youth have to be gainfully employed they need to possess requisite qualification to meet the demands of the market.

“Rather than rural youth going to towns and cities in search of jobs, we need to open e-Gyan Kendras that become one stop shop for the rural youth for training purpose,” he said.

Emphasising on the need to end to put an end to migration of rural youth, senior Congress leader Suryakant Dhasmana said that technology can bridge the divide even between rural and urban.

“The e-Gyan Kendra is a diversified form of IT revolution, in which hosts of services are being offered,” he said.

The e-Gyan Kendra is offering courses in travel and tourism, computer education, hospitality, financial service, accounting and even communication English to the rural youth.

“The emphasis is on learning and earning through flexible and accessible vocational and skill development programmes for rural, underprivileged and unemployed youth, including women,” said Anil Jaggi, president SEWAA.

The organisation aims to establish 26,000 centers in the state, initially youngsters would be picked up from the villages to be trained as master trainers.

In the first year, it plans to establish between 30-40 centers for which, ideation is on with IT organisations.

“If knowledge has to be made relevant we got to reach all sections of society,” said Rajey Goyal who is working on web to point O projects in the USA and is on the advising SEEWA on new technology.

Dehradun, July 12
Aditya and Niharika emerged winners in the adjustable skating competition at the 13th Doon District Summer Camp Roller Skating Championship organised by the Roller Skating Association of Uttarakhand here today.

Results:

Adjustable category (girls)

Gold: Niharika Goyal, Agrima, Isha Verma, Neha, Sanchi Pandit and Himmani Singh.

Silver: Nishtha Verma, Khushi, Aditya Jain, Neha Johri, Anjali Gupta and Shanchi Sood.

Adjustable category (boys)

Gold: Aditya, Vidit Bansel, Satiyam Baliyan, Anchit Goyal, Arpit Gupta and Pranav Raina.

Silver: Ritika Agarwal, Sarthak Raj, L Jain, K Jaswal, P Raina, Arpit Gupta and S Gupta.

Quards category (girls)

Gold: Niyati Kukrati, Dihika, Y Kukrati, P Thapa, Y Gupta and Vsundhara.

Silver: Vantika, Riya Pant, Kim, K Chawala and 
S Goyal.

Quards category (boys)

Gold: Amit Pundir, Paritosh Goyal, Abhishek Bhandari, Akhita Johari, Eklavya, A Raj.

Silver: R Bali, Vikhyat Ghai, K Giroti, A Singh, Siddhant, Harsh Gupta, Manav, Ayush Gupta.

As many as 375 skaters participated in the competition. International skaters Akshit Johari, Yati Gupta, A Raj and Priyanshi Thapa demonstrated various forms of skating.

The main attraction of the event was couple-skating and artistic skating that was performed by children.

Dehradun, July 12
It was a time when world-renowned wrestlers like Dara Singh and King Kong used to compete before jam packed Pavilion Ground here. But over the years, wrestling has vanished from this place.

Apart from being the centre for football in Dehradun, Pavilion Ground also has a brief history linked with freestyle wrestling. Despite achieving popularity in the city freestyle wrestling did not carried on for a long here.

Though people hardly recall any specific reason that brought an end to the wrestling culture in Doon but some say Dara Singh and King Kong’s entry into commercial cinema was one of the reasons.

Football lovers still remember the wrestling days that received overwhelming response from the audience. Despite the fact the tickets to the wrestling match were too expensive, people still turned out in huge numbers to witness the match. Old time football lovers and presently serving as a referee at District Football Association, Govind Thapa said that domestic wrestling had grown in popularity here.

Therefore, to add more attraction to wrestling demands for organising freestyle wrestling was raised. For which rich people of the city made rapid arrangements.

He disclosed that for the first time in the mid 1960’s the first freestyle wrestling match was organised here. The match was participated by Dara Singh and King Kong.

“The craze to see Dara Singh wrestling with King Kong brought people from in and around Dehardun to Pavilion Ground. And those who could not afford ticket money use to climb trees around the ground to witness the match.”

The list of freestyle wrestlers included Joginder Singh, Titler, Dara Singh, King Kong, Dara Singh Murderer and so on.

About ‘Khooni Dara Singh’ Thapa revealed that the wrestler got his name because he has said to have killed a man in a blow, this made people call him ‘Dara Singh Murderer’ or ‘Khooni Dara Singh’.

Former president of Dehradun District Football Association (DDFA), JM Jindal said, “Yes, King Kong and Dara Singh had fought here and Dara Singh had won in most of the fights. The wrestlers use to accommodate in the famous hotels Indiyana Hotel and Hotel White House.”

“The interesting part was the King Kong’s diet. He was a complete non-vegetarian and people used to jostle hard to get a glimpse of him,” said Jindal. 

Dehradun, July 12
Eleven Star and 6/8 Gorkha Rifle teams played a goalless draw at the District Football League here today.

It was a tough match between 6/8 Gorkha Rifle and Eleven Star. Both teams were equal in strength.

In the first half, 6/8 Gorkha Rifle played aggressive football creating a strategic move from the right in the 10th minute.

The Gorkha Rifle forward took a shot from the D top. It rebounded off an Eleven Star defender. The Gorkha Rifle forward took another shot at the Eleven Star goalpost that was saved by the goalkeeper.

In the 20th minute, Eleven Star made a counter attack that was obstructed by 6/8 Gorkha Rifles defenders.

In the 25th minute, 6/8 Gorkha Rifle came close to opening their account. But their defender hit the ball over the bar.

In the closing minutes of the first half, Gorkha Rifle left-out made a solo run from the centre but the move fizzled out as he made a wrong pass.

In the second half, Eleven Star came with a better strategy and constantly kept the 6/8 Gorkha Rifle defence on its toes. But they too failed to score. The match ended in a goalless draw.

In the second match, 1/5 Gorkha Rifle defeated New Gipsy 2-1. 1/5 Gorkha Rifle proved to be more agile than New Gipsy as the Gorkhas penetrated the New Gipsy defence in the 3rd minute. Thereafter, they dominated the half but failed to score.

In the second half, New Gipsy came with a better strategy and were successful in opening their account in the 50th minute of the match through Sandeep to make 1-0. For 1/5 Gorkha Rifle, Rajendra fetched the equaliser in the 68th minute. In the 70th minute Gorkha Rifle stuck again through Khem Bahadur to score the winner.