Dehradun, July 18
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has requested the president of the Central Railway Board SS Khurana to take steps to ensure better rail connectivity in the hill state.

Besides demanding the induction of various projects pertaining to the Railways in Uttarakhand into the national projects for speedy completion, Nishank said that the Union Railway Ministry must provide requisite funds for setting up proper rail infrastructure in the state.

While discussing various issues related to the Railway Department with Khurana at Bijapur guest house, Nishank said that Uttarakhand is a special state, while adding, “Pilgrims and tourist from India and all across the globe visit the state in large numbers. Hence, better rail connectivity is the need of the hour and there is a need for laying special emphasis on the railway sector.”

He also said that considering the contribution of Uttarakhand in maintaining ecological balance because of its 60 per cent forest cover, the state deserves funds for its development.

Nishank told Khurana that there was a need for railway expansion in the state and immediate requirement of starting new trains.

He added that since Uttarakhand has got the status of a special state, the Union Railway Ministry has to invest in railway projects in the state leaving apart commercial considerations.

He said that apart from Dehradun and Kathgodam, there is need for expansion of rail services to other parts of the state.

“Besides giving a nod to the Rishikesh-Karanprayag, Tanakpur-Bageshwar and Dehradun-Kalsi railway lines, there is requirement for railway lines from Ramnagar to Chaukhatiya, Kicha to Khatima and Rameshwaram to Haridwar,” the Chief Minister said.

He said that the union railway department must see that the railway lines are laid at the earliest. It would only be possible if these projects were inducted into national projects, he added.

Nishank also conveyed to the president of the Central Railway Board that the Dehradun-Haridwar-Kotdwar-Ramnagar-Haldwani railway line was very important from the tourism point of view. There was an urgent need to move further in this regard, he said.

He added that there was a need to speed up the work of the railway over-bridge at Laksar, Lacchiwala, Kashipur and Motichur.

The CM said that as the Mahakumbh would get underway in Haridwar early next year and crores of devotees from all over the world will be visiting Uttarakhand, the Union Railway Ministry must take steps to improve rail connectivity.

Nishank also laid stress on connecting Uttarakhand with Gujarat and Maharashtra. He asked Khurana that between Delhi-Ramnagar and Delhi-Kathgodam, provision must be made for a daily Shatabdi Express.

He assured the Railway Board president that for the acquisition of forest land for the expansion of the railway network, the state government would take all steps so that there is no procedural delay.

Later, Khurana said that funds amounting to Rs 100 crore have been sanctioned for the strengthening of the rail network in Uttarakhand.

He added that the department will make efforts that on the lines of the rail projects in the North-East, the rail projects of Uttarakhand are also inducted among national rail projects.

“By 2010, the work of making Dehradun railway station a model station will be completed. Besides, work is on to increase the coaches in the AC Special,” he said.

He said that provisions were being made for the movement of trains with 24 coaches at the Dehradun railway station.

Plan to widen NH-58 and arterial roads Motichur may be linked to Jwalapur by rail More than 9,000 toilets in the pipeline 266 hectares marked for parking sites

Haridwar, July 18
The paucity of funds for the ongoing projects of the Mahakumbh 2010 in Haridwar has caught the attention of the Central Planning Commission that has assured full support to the works.

The assurance was given by the Secretary, Planning Commission, Subash Pani, in a review meeting with the mela-related officers late last evening.

Taking strong note of the delay in progress of the mela-related work, he gave directions to complete the projects in stipulated time.

He hinted at the widening of National Highway 58 and several arterial roads connecting the city. “The central government is seriously considering the proposal and soon, a decision will be taken,” assured Pani.

Stressing on the need for a permanent bypass to the city, Pani said that directions were been given in this regard.

Subash Pani said that he would take up the matter of linking Motichur with sub-urban Jwalapur via rail with railway board officials. This would drastically ease the traffic load, he said.

At the meeting, Kumbh mela officer Anand Vardhan apprised Subash Pani of the ongoing works.

The mela officer said that in the 1998 Mahakumbh, about 3 crore persons visited Haridwar. In 2010, the number is expected to touch 4 crore. He said that more than 9,000 toilets are in the pipeline while for parking, 266 hectares have been marked.

Planning Commission Adviser Harish Chandra, Secretary, Urban Development, Anoop Badhawan, District Magistrate R Meenakshi Sundaram, DIG Mela, Alok Sharma, SSP Sanjay Gunjiyal and all departmental officers related with the mela were present at the meeting.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Congress party and saints met Pani and put forth their demands and suggestions.

The saints demanded the four-laning of the national highway, widening of city roads, cleaning of the Ganga, setting up of lavatories and a hospital at Jwalapur.

Congress partymen demanded the allotment of funds for the Kumbh and gave suggestions for flyovers, traffic control, water supply, medical facilities, cleanliness and maintenance of ghats.

Subash Pani assured the delegations of the central government’s full support and urged the citizens to cooperate in the widening of roads and national highways. There will be no paucity of funds for the works, assured Pani and added that if more funds were required, these would be provided.

Haridwar, July 18
As many as 40 lakh on-foot ‘kanwariyas’ left the city today passing the baton to the ‘dak kanwariyas’.

The huge influx of ‘dak kanwariyas’ has resulted in massive jams at the mela zone and the Delhi-Dehradun highway.

The pilgrims are ‘flowing’ into the city on their vehicles even at night as they are bound by a time-bound schedule. This has ensured that traffic policemen don’t have any respite round the clock.

All major parking lots are full with ‘Dak Kanwar’ vehicles.

Police personnel, especially the traffic police, had a tough time managing the ‘Dak Kanwar’ and to ease traffic at Har-ki-Pauri, Bhoopatwala, Bairagi camp, Doodha Dhari Chowk, Pantdeep Parking, Laljiwala, Vivekananda park area, Shankaracharya chowk and the entire stretch of the Dehradun-Delhi highway passing through the city.

‘Dak kanwariyas’ from Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan left the city today while pilgrims from Delhi region and Uttar Pradesh came to the city.

SSP Sanjay Gunjiyal had prohibited the use of music systems and the wires of the ‘dak kanwar’ vehicles violating the norm were cut by the city policemen.

The ‘kanwariyas’ were seen protesting on the matter but with the police stern on the matter and the heavy deployment of police in the district, the resistance of the ‘kanwariyas’ was short-lived.

Keeping in view the problem faced by locals in commuting, the administration has blocked the entry of the ‘Dak Kanwar’ in the city area from Devpura.

Dehradun, July 18
Exhibiting exemplary courage, the Haridwar police has saved as many as 500 kanwariyas from drowning in the Ganga waters since the start of Kanwar Mela on July 7.

Three police teams, specially trained in disaster management, are deployed at Har-Ki-Pauri, the Gang Canal and Jatwada Bridge round the clock for the benefit of those attending the mela.

Besides, the police has done a good job nabbing pickpockets. It has recovered goods stolen from the kanwariyas at the mela. 

Roorkee, July 18
The next three days will be a challenge for the police as the ‘Dak Kanwar’ began today. The authorities are under pressure to ensure the smooth conduct of the pilgrimage.

The term ‘Dak Kanwar’ is used for those pilgrims who use two-wheelers and four-wheelers to fetch water from the Ganga from Haridwar or Neel Kanth and have to reach their destinations within a stipulated period. As these ‘Dak Kanwariyas’, who come in lakhs, are notorious for rash driving and flouting rules on the road, the police has a tough task dealing with them.

Every year, several accidents, including fatal ones, take place due to the nuisance they create on the road.

Expressing satisfaction over the smooth conduct of the on-foot kanwar that is in its last stage now, ASP Arun Mohan Joshi admitted that the next three days would be the toughest for the force.

“You can’t stop those kanwars who violate traffic rules due to the religious sentiment attached to the pilgrims.

To provide smooth passage, we have deputed around 1,600 constables on the entire ‘Dak Kanwar’ route till the culmination of the pilgrimage on July 22,” said Joshi.

These constables were deployed at ‘Kanwar Bazar’ in Haridwar for the on-foot ‘kanwar yatra’. As this yatra is in its last stage, they have been shifted to various points on highways that will be used for ‘Dak Kanwar’.

Two rescue teams of the fire services will be placed on the highway to deal with any emergency.

“We are ready to meet the challenge and, in fact, all preparations have been put in place for the smooth conduct of the yatra,” added Joshi.

The vehicles will reach Haridwar after traversing through BEG chowk in Roorkee and Laksar. On their return, the vehicles will reach Roorkee via Bahadrabad. 

Pitthoragarh, July 18
The local trade officer has extended the Sino-Indian border trade through the Lipulekh Pass in Pitthoragarh district till November 30.

Earlier, the trade was allowed for five months from June 1 to October 31.

But the extension of the trading period only up to November-end has not been welcomed by traders as they want it to be extended further.

“Before 1962, our forefathers used to trade with Tibet even in January so this extension is not sufficient. Even if the trade period is extended till November, 20 per cent transactions remain unpaid,” said Padam Singh Raypa, president of Semant Vyapar Samiti.

“This year more traders are willing to join. A total of 37 traders have obtained trade passes till date,” said Navnit Pandey, SDM, Dharchula, and designated trade officer this year.

The Sino-Indian border trade through the Lipulekh Pass in Pitthoragarh district of the state has been in favour of China since the trade was resumed in 1992. This is because the volume of import to India is almost three times more than the export.

“Despite the involvement of more than 300 Indian traders, the volume of import has remained three times more than the export,” said Jeevan Singh Ronkali, a prominent trader.

“More than 300 traders, along with porters and helpers, go to Taklakot in Tibet every year but only a few Chinese traders cross the Lipulekh pass to reach Gunji, the Indian mart,” said NS Negi, District Magistrate, Pitthoragarh.

Padam Singh Raypa, president of Semant Vyapar Samiti said that during the initial years, Tibetan traders came to Gunji but there were not many facilities that could attract the Chinese. This led to them coming in lesser numbers.

“Our imports are mainly contain raw Tibetan wool, Borax and Yak tail,” said Ronkali, a veteran trader and the secretary of the association.

Imports increased rapidly after 2001 when the import of Chinese silk was allowed and the figure of imports went up to Rs 4.7 crore which was almost 20 times the export that lay at Rs 20 lakh that year.

But after the Government of India banned the import of goods for persons not belonging to the local tribal community in 2005, the imports came down at Rs 81 lakh against the export worth Rs 39 lakh.

The Government of India had issued a policy guideline that the trade was only meant for the local tribal economy which depended on Tibetan raw wool for their craft.

Dehradun, July 18
The Right to Education Bill, that is expected to be floored at the ongoing Parliament session, an exercise in futility, Anil Sadgopal, an academician and an ex-member of central advisory board of education, expressed these views today at the two-day workshop organised by Mahila Samakhya to deliberate on the Right to Education Bill.

Prof Sadgopal, said that instead of making right to education and equality the main focus of the Bill the government has quietly surrendered to market-driven agenda.

He charged the HRD Minister Kapil Sibal for ignoring the recommendations made by the Central Advisory Board (CAB) members. He said, “So much so the Bill in it’s present state is an eyewash and a clash of common man’s idea of education and that of the government as implied in the Bill,” said Sadgopal.

Expressing dismay at the state of the Bill and it’s consequences Sadgopal said that in future the government’s role in education would become irrelevant. “There is a strong possibility that the government’s role in education would become irrelevant, the day is not far when industrial houses from both within and outside the country would be preparing school curriculum for children,” he said.

He further said that when the entire country should have been debating on the Bill, the HRD minister opened a Pandora’s box by suggesting that the board examinations would be done away with. “An important issue about right to education and government’s role in providing qualitative education to all without discrimination was side tracked,” Sadgopal added.

Taking the discussion forward Tripen Singh of Chetna organisation said that the quality of primary education in the state is extremely poor. “Either the schools have no teachers or they are being run by Shiksha Mitars who are not regular and at schools where teacher have been appointed, they fail to turn up. In most cases they have been forced to take up non-teaching work,” said Singh.

He said that absenteeism among teachers is rampant. A study undertaking by Chetna and Mahila Samakhya found that out of the 240 days that teachers are mandated to attend classes, most of the teachers were involved in non-teaching errands for a period of 176 days.

While Rajeev Lochan Shah, editor Nainital Samachar said that he has been witness to schools being constructed through the collective efforts of the villagers but today no body wants to study in a village school.

Earlier while setting the discussion into motion, Geeta Gairola, State Project, director, Mahila Samakhya said that the workshop has been organised to build awareness about the bill, “Unfortunately the efforts should have been made by the government but it has not been forthcoming. Our aim is to facilitate discussion,” said Gairola.

Dehradun, July 18
Dehradun, known to be an education hub, has always evolved newer things for its’ students. Students here have started shifting their preferences from the regular courses to those more sophisticated and ingenious ones. While professional courses like BCA, BBA, hotel management are still ruling the priority list of students, there are newer courses preferred by them.

Various vocational courses like grooming, cosmetology, cosmic science, animation, event management and many more are now attracting younger students.

Catering to all genres of students, and being run by the professionals these courses are providing state-of-art training facilities to the students.

Manish Mamgain, director of IEL Events and Productions states,” Event management is a budding stream here but several students are enrolling for the course.

Animation and multimedia are getting popular in Doon as these have huge job potential. There are several schools and institutes like College of Interactive Arts, Arena Animation, Frameboxx, Xplora Web Designing Institute and others offering animation and computer graphic courses.

Apart from diploma courses students are also been provided degree courses for the same.

For Doonites even courses in astrology, vaastu, reiki, tarot and other allied sciences have no longer remained a distant affair to opt for. With various small institutes the bigger ones like Vibgyor Institute of Cosmic Sciences, is serving people with courses in astrology, numerology, graphology face reading, vaastu, reiki, and tarot card reading etc.

People here have now become more trendy and beauty conscious. Catering to the need several grooming institutes have mushroomed in the city. Among these, renowned names in the beauty industry like VLCC, Matrix, Javed Habib’s JBCC lounge have already established themselves. Students who earlier had to migrate to places like Chandigarh and Ludhiana for doing these courses can now fulfill their desire staying in Dehradun.

Where VLCC has already set up its institute others like Matrix is planning to do so soon. 

Dehradun, July 18
6/8 Gorkha Rifle registered another big win at the ongoing District Football League against Little Star team 3-0 here today.

6/8 Gorkha Rifle dominated the match right form the beginning and made constant pressure on Little Star's defense.

In the sixth minute of the match 6/8 Gorkha Rifle came close on scoring, but its forward missed out as the shot went over the bar. Three minutes latter Gorkha Rifle team was on the attack again.

But its forward failed yet again. Little Star team also created some good moves trying to penetrate 6/8 Grokha Rifle defense but their moves died half way to the Gorkha Rifles defense.

Gorkha Rifle team opened its account in the 27th minute of the match through Rohin Pradhan to take a lead in the match. Three minutes later Pradeep scored the second goal for 6/8 Gorkha Rifle team making it 2-0 for his side before half time.

In the second half Gorkha Rifle did not give Little Star any opportunity to make a come back.

Gorkha Rifle scored their third goal through Anand Thapa in the 52nd minute of the match to take invincible lead and later win the match with ease.

Meanwhile in the second match Shivalik registered a 2-1 win over Nagar Nigam team. Shivalik team was on the offensive right from the beginning.

They scored their first goal in the 20th minute of the match through Sushil Rawat. In the 28th minute Shivalik team'sKalam took a wonderful half volley shot to beat goalkeeper on all quarters.

In the second half Nagar Nigam managed to reduce the lead, as Sandeep scored the first goal for his team in the 12th minute to make it 2-1

Dehradun, July 18
Dehradun District Football Association has shown an unprofessional approach towards organising the ongoing District Football League. The association is not following the league rules.

As per the league rules the first match has to be organised at 3 pm for which both the teams have to assemble in the field 15 minutes before the scheduled time.

But for the past few matches the teams are arriving late to the field as a result the matches are starting at 4 pm.

Tow matches are organised everyday at the Pavilion Ground by the association. The teams coming late to the ground has forced the referees to reduce the time of the game in order to complete the matches on time.

Recently a match between New Gipsy and Doon Star was played only for 50 minutes as again the teams arrived late for the match. On the other hand the referee also do not follow the dress code closely enough.

Players have also alleged that some outsiders who do not possess identity card, issued by the association, are playing in the league.

Over all this, secretary of District Football Association (DFA), Divender Bisht said, “Yes, from the past few matches the teams are taking the league causally and were coming late to the field.

But now the association has warned the teams of not tolerating any such behavior. They have decided to give walk over incase a team arrives late to the field.” Over the issue of the identity card Bisht said if any team expresses doubt about any opponent, in that case the association will check the identity of all the players.

Senior referee of DFA, Govind Thapa said that strict directions have already been given to referee in regard to their dress code by the association. About reducing the game timings he said that referees were forced to resort to this method due to pressure of completing the match on time.