Dehradun, August 5
Some of the pilgrims on their way to the Kedarnath shrine are feared to have been trapped following a landslide at Rambara.

Information received at the state headquaters here says a massive landslide hit Rambara at 6.30 pm and buried at least five shops.

Rambara is a 7-km trek from Gaurikund and the starting point of the 14-km trek to the Kedarnath Temple.

Rescue parties have been rushed to the site where some pilgrims are feared to have been trapped. Pilgrims take rest at shops selling eatables at Rambara on their way to the shrine.

Dehradun, August 5
The oath-taking ceremony of Governor-designate Margaret Alva will take place at 5 pm in the Uttarakhand Raj Bhavan tomorrow.

She will be administered the oath of office by Justice VK Gupta, Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court.

Chief Secretary Indu Kumar Pandey will conduct the oath-taking ceremony. Alva will be sworn in as the fourth Governor of the state.

Alva arrived here in the evening accompanied by her husband Niranjan Alva and five family members.

On arrival at the Jolly Grant airport, she was received by Chief Secretary Indu Kumar Pandey, DGP Subash Joshi, IG Garhwal range M Ganapati, Commissioner Garhwal Umakant Pawar, Secretary Governor M Ramaswamy, ADC Governor Major Siddharth Singh and other officials. At the Raj Bhawan, she was given a guard of honour.

Dehradun, August 5
The Raj Bhawan was abuzz with activity today in anticipation of the change of guard tomorrow when senior politician Margaret Alva will be sworn in as the first lady Governor of Uttarakhand.

In keeping with the political and social initiatives of the Governor-designate Margaret Alva in the political arena, areas such as women empowerment and children are expected to get much-needed attention.

The four-time MP had spearheaded four major amendments in Parliament involving women’s rights, marriage, equal remuneration quota for women. She is expected to focus on these issues during her stint.

Another change that the Raj Bhavan is expected to witness is in the choice of food. In place of vegetarian dishes that dominated the table of Governor BL Joshi, Mangalorean cuisine is expected to make an appearance for the first time.

Terming it a routine affair, Ramaswamy, secretary to the Governor, said, “We are viewing it as a routine job. Alva is here to discharge her constitutional obligations. The staff and officers at the Raj Bhawan have made preparations accordingly.”

Sources in the Raj Bhawan say that the focus is expected to be on vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes with different rice dishes dominating the menu.

Dehradun, August 5
For the first time, the fate of new session for B.Ed course in the government and aided colleges in the state is in jeopardy because the HNB Garhwal University is yet to make any move to hold entrance test for the purpose.

This has left thousands of students eligible for admission in the lurch. The 2008-09 session in these colleges is already over.

As per the academic calendar of the university the admission process for all courses of 2009-10 session are supposed to be completed in this month.

The uncertainty over the start of this session has caused confusion among the admission seekers who have already passed their respective bachelor courses 2008-09 session.

The university registrar HB Thapliyal did not take phone calls when contacted for comments. Generally the entrance test is held in June or July every year. The past record showed that between 20,000 and 40,000 students appear in the test.

Till last year, the application forms used to become available in March or April. The university has not bothered to even declare the date of the test.

“This shows that there is no preparation by the university to hold the test. The unprecedented situation seems to be heading towards zero session,” said Sunil Aggarwal, president of self-financed institutes of Uttarakhand.

The biggest sufferers will be the students as they will be deprived of the opportunity to get the B.Ed degree at much cheaper cost.

As compared to total cost of Rs 30,000 for the course in the government as well as the private self-financed institutes, a student has to pay just Rs 3,175 for the entire course in the government and its aided colleges.

“The university will have no option but to drop the new session for the first time if failed to take immediate decision to hold the test,” said principal of a government college on the condition of anonymity.

As the process of admission in the private B.Ed institutes for 2008-09 session is still far from over.

Even if it declares the date of the test in this month, the process of holding the test is not likely to be completed before October because the process of sale of application forms, their submission and identification of examination centres on the basis of number of applicants takes time.

“I believe that continuing uncertainty over the test will force the students to migrate to other states as nobody would like to lose an academic year. The university will be responsible for pushing them to such a situation,” added Aggarwal.

Dehradun, August 5
DAV (PG) College, which has been in news recently for wrong reasons, emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the grants recommended by the University Grants Commission (UGC) at two-day interface meeting which concluded here yesterday.

A ten-member team of the University Grants Commission (UGC) has recommended total grants of Rs 25 crore to colleges affiliated to the HNB Garhwal University and the Kumaon University.

While it recommended the highest grant of Rs 2.13 crore to DAV (PG) College, followed by SGGR (PG) College, which will be getting Rs 1.23 crore. Principal Dr VA Bodai termed it as a big achievement.

The principal of colleges presented proposals related mainly to expansion and development of buildings, libraries, new academic departments as well as seminars and conferences proposed to be organise by them.

The UGC team decided the quantum of grants after intensive assessment of the proposals. Since it was not possible to visit each college due to their increased number, the principals of all the concerned colleges had this time been called for the meeting at Dehradun.

On Monday, 16 colleges of Kumaon University presented their proposals followed next day by 18 colleges of HNB Garhwal University. SGGR (PG) College hosted the meeting. The UGC releases grants for undergraduate and post-graduate development programme under 11th Five-Year Plan.

Dehradun, August 5
The government has instructed the heads of polytechnic institutes functioning across the state to shift their premises from existing to the permanent places originally earmarked for them.

Principal secretary Technical Education PC Sharma gave instructions during the video-conferencing held here.

All the heads of the institutes have been asked to submit compliance report within 15 days. The shifting of premises has to be done with immediate effect.

Though these institutes were established after the state came into being but they operated from makeshift premises due to lack of proper buildings.

There are total 10 institutes, which will be shifting their premises. Some of these will still operate from rented buildings.

Now, the polytechnic functioning at Aamwala will be shifted to Shyampur. The polytechnic for women will be shifted from Suddowala to Sahia where its building has now come up.

But the building of the primary health center will be used as hostel. The polytechnic functioning at Roorkee will operate from Haridwar.

Dehradun, August 5
Festival of Rakhi was celebrated with fervour all over the city. From early morning itself the city bore a festive look with huge crowds thronged at rakhi stores, sweet shops and gift stores.

While the Rakhi preparations began a month ago in the city with shops decorated with array of rachis, sweets and gift items.

But here on the eve of Raksha Bandhan, kite shops did an outstanding business with large number of people since early morning thronging to purchase variety of kites along with steady crowd noticed at many gift and sweet shops.

However, where kite flying is primarily celebrated on Basant Panchami but here the tradition varies as on the day of Rakhi people associate the festival with kites.

Colourful kites soaring high in sky looked awesome and added more colour and zeal to this festival of siblings’ revelry.

“Its been just three days since I started selling kites, but I am glad I started this business as the response in the city has been exceptional. Doonites associate kite flying with the festival of Rakhi, which is a unique celebration in itself,” said Mohd. Yusuf a kite seller.

Traffic jams, jam-packed restaurant, cinema halls were also noticed today as compared to regular working days. Meanwhile, in Haridwar people thronged Har-ki-Pauri to take holy dip in the river Ganga.

Dehradun, August 5
An atmosphere of festivity prevailed at the Cheshire Home as the inmates participated in the Rakhi celebrations.

Home to the mentally challenged children, the festival invokes great anticipation among them, as they begun quizzing the authorities days before the festival.

As the boys went about tying rakhis on the wrists of their sisters, the Home staff assisted them.

“They have been waiting for the celebrations since morning, as the staff went about decorating the rooms, their joy knew no bounds,” said Mamta Gupta, superintendent of Cheshire Home.

The staff too tied rakhis reinforcing their bond with special children, there was demand for Kamla and Raveena didi, both staying at the Home. While Kamla has an artificial leg Raveena works at the Home.

The meal too was special today, in keeping with the occasion; the children were served special lunch and a sweet dish.

The donors too did not forget to visit the Cheshire Home, bringing along with them gifts and fruits.

Dehradun, August 5
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today said those suffering from leprosy needed to be brought to the mainstream.

Inmates of the Leprosy Home tied rakhis on Nishank’s wrist. The CM announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh to the samiti running the home. He distributed fruits and sweets among the inmates.

Nishank said the government would make every effort to uplift the underprivileged and provide housing and medical facilities to leprosy patients.

He directed the district magistrate to coordinate with the departments concerned and do the needful in a week’s time. He also promised help for the education of wards of leprosy patients.

Prominent among those present were MLA Ganesh Joshi, Swami Yatendranand Giri, zila panchayat member Subhash Bhatt and district magistrate Dr Sainthil Pandyan.

Prior to this, during a programme at the CM’s residence, Nishank assured Naini Dixit, daughter of a poor priest, that the government would provide requisite funds for her studies at MKP College.

Haridwar, August 5
With the Dixit Commission favouring interim capital Dehradun as the permanent one for Uttarakhand, persons who had been involved in the Uttarakhand statehood movement have decided to intensify their agitation in support of Gairsain.

The Rajya Nirman Andolankari Kalyan Parishad (RNAKP) in a meeting held here today decided to observe the death anniversary of Baba Mohan Uttarakhandi on August 8 as ‘Gairsain Day’.

The parishad felt that gross injustice was being done to the people of Uttarakhand by not making Gairsain the capital of a state that has 12 hill districts.

Chief of the RNAKP Dhirendra Pratap said that as Baba Mohan Uttarakhandi gave up his life fighting for capital status for Gairsain, it would be a befitting tribute to name his death anniversary as ‘Gairsain Divas’.

“Uttarakhandi died fighting for the welfare of the hill folk and making Gairsain the capital. We will carry on the fight because some bureaucrats and politicians don’t want to leave the luxury that Dehradun provides,” said Pratap.

JP Pandey, central secretary and a statehood agitationist dismissed the Dixit commission report as shallow.

“Gairsain signifies the best of Uttarakhand. Apart from being a hill town, it is in the middle of Garhwal and Kumaon, the two divisions of Uttarakhand,” remarked Pandey.

On Gairsain Divas, programmes on Baba Uttarakhandi’s life will be organised, protests will be staged and effigies of Dixit commission will be burnt at district headquarters.

Among the statehood agitationists who participated at the meeting were Tribhuwan Uniyal, Dinesh Sundriyal, Jitendra Chauhan, Sooraj Negi, Indrajit Arora, Subash Bahuguna, Vijay Lakshmi Gosain, Surendra Singh Saini, Meera Raturi, Deepa Chauhan, Vikram Singh Rawat.

Union secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests and director general of forests will also be attending the convocation ceremony.

Dehradun, August 5
RTI Lok Sewa, a voluntary organisation dedicated to transparency in governance, on Wednesday organised Vrikshabandhan.

This was a part of its commitment to save the greenery in Dehradun. Manoj Dhyanui, president of the NGO, said its members tied rakhis on trees.

He said while there had been rampant felling of trees, it was the responsibility of each citizen to work towards safeguarding Dehradun’s greenery.

Dehradun, August 5
Shivalic and Doon United teams played a goalless draw at District Football League underway at Pavilion Ground, here today.

Shivalic Club demonstrated exceptional skills in today's match to play a goalless draw against a stronger opponent.

Doon United team constantly mounted pressure on Shivalic defense but the team failed Doon United's efforts to score goal.

In the 7th minute of the match Doon United team came close on scoring the goal but failed to get through Shivalic Club defense. In 15th minute Doon United was on the attack but failed to earn a goal.

In the 25th minute Shivalic Club made a counter attack and almost took the lead in the match, but its forward faltered to take advantage of the opportunity. At the end of the first half both the teams were locked at 0-0.

The second half was not different from the first as no goal was scored. Doon United took control of the proceeding right from the beginning and kept pocession of the ball most of the time.

But fail to find a winner. The match ended in a draw. Meanwhile, the second match between Doon Valley and Khalanga Boys team also ended in a 1-1 draw.

Doon Valley team scored its first goal in the 20th minute of the match through Sanju to take a early lead in the match. At the end of the first half Doon Valley lead the match by 1-0.

In the second half Khalanga Boys team came with better strategy to score a goal in the 61st minute through Abhishek making it 1-1. The match ended in a draw.

Dehradun, August 5
Chandragupta Section lifted the u-13 squash trophy at RIMC, while Shivaji Section emerged winner at in u-15 and u-17 category.

Gunider Sidhu was adjudged the best player and Cadet Nelson was awarded the title of the upcoming player award.

Shivam, Mayank, Kush, Puneet, Ankit, Harsh, Surya Prakash, Abhijeet, Shivam, Orkhodeep, Goul, Vinay, Priyank, Anuj, Sunandit and Gunider were proud winners.

After a tough competition Shivaji section emerged winner followed by Ranjit, Chandraguta and Pratap.