Dehradun, August 21
Uttarakhand Cooperative Federation’s director and BJP office-bearer Arun Shukla has accused Rudrapur Congress MLA Tilak Raj Behad of conspiring to kill him.

Shukla’s accusation comes at a time when hardly a month back Behad had created a ruckus in the state assembly alleging a threat to his life from a Ramanagar resident Arun Shukla and sought intervention of the House in the matter.

On July 22, Behad had threatened to immolate himself outside the residence of Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank seeking immediate arrest of one of his old-time associates Arun Shukla.

On Behad’s complaint that Shukla had threatened him of dire consequences on several occasions over the phone, a case under Section 506 of the IPC was registered against Shukla at the Rudrapur Kotwali police station on July 14. The probe is being carried out by CB-CID now.

In a related development, Shukla, here today, admitted his long association with Behad asserting that while he had helped the latter in winning many electoral battles, the latter was adamant in eliminating him politically.

Shukla, who re-joined the BJP in the recent parliamentary elections, described Behad as a political terrorist. “Behad has criminal antecedents and I am ready to prove it at any given time and place,” alleged Shukla. He also held that while he was ready for a probe on the allegation hurled on him by Behad, he expects a similar probe into the properties owned by the Congress MLA.

When asked for the reason behind the fallout between him and Behad, especially when their past association stretched to many decades, Shukla said while he still considered Behad as his elder brother, it was for the latter to respond to reasons behind his sudden hatred.

Dehradun, August 21
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has urged Himachal Pradesh CM Prem Kumar Dhumal to extend technical support to Uttarakhand in hydropower sector during discussions between both the leaders, which took place after BJP’s ‘Chintan Baithak’ in Shimla, yesterday evening.

As per release issued here today, Nishank discussed the issue of early completion of Kishau Dam.

This multipurpose hydro project is being constructed on Tons river flowing through the border districts of Dehradun in the state and Sirmour in Himachal Pradesh. On completion, this 236 metres high power project will have installed capacity of 600 MW.

In his meeting with the chairman and managing director of Satluj Hydro Power Corporation (SHPC), Nishank urged him to expedite hydro projects at Devsari (252 mw), Netwad-Mori (60mw) and Jakhol-Sankari (45mw) in Uttarakhand being constructed by it. He underlined the need of coordinated efforts to harness huge potential of hydropower in both states during discussions with his HP counterpart. 

Haridwar, August 21
The Shivalik Nagar incident, which rocked the city last month after some anti-social elements had attacked a house where a certain religious community used to offer prayers, once again took centrestage today with Haridwar parliamentarian and Union minister for state Harish Rawat favouring the offering of prayers.

Rawat said India is a secular country and everyone has the right to practise their religion and pray within household limits.

He added that if some old-aged Muslims in Shivalik Nagar can’t travel five to six kilometres to a mosque situated in Jwalapur, then they have all the rights to pray inside their houses and there was no need to politicise the issue.

Rawat said religious harmony has been a feature of Uttarakhand, but alleged that the BJP-led state government in connivance with the Rashtriya Sevak Sangh was trying to spoil peace. He said riots had never taken place in Haridwar, except last month.

Lashing out at the state government for not resolving the domicile and caste certificate issue for the last two years, Rawat said: “I have written a letter to Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank regarding this issue and if nothing is done soon, we will have to take to streets.” He added that on October 3 he would keep a one-day fast in protest against this.

On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party district leaders have condemned Rawat’s statements and said the property belongs to Uttar Pradesh Awas Nigam. Therefore, it was unlawful to carry out religious activities from there.

City BJP workers also held a protest and burnt effigies of the Congress and Harish Rawat at the Devpura city head office.

“We will not allow construction of any mosque at the controversial place. There are already mosques in Bahadrabad and Jwalapur; no religion preaches that land should be occupied illegally,” said Swami Yatishwaranand, BJP district office-bearer.

Inspector General of Police (Garhwal Range) MA Ganapathy said the controversial place has been closed for two months under Section 144 of the CrPC. He added that strict measures would be taken against anyone who tries to flare up communal sentiments.

Dehradun, August 21
‘Jinnah: India, Partition and Independence’ the latest book by BJP’s ex-senior leader Jaswant Singh, which led to his expulsion from the party for showering praises on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, has been doing good sales in Dehradun amid speculations of its ban.

Due to the controversy, within the four days of its release, the book has picked up sales in the city which otherwise would have received an average response for being exhaustive and preference of only those who are inclined towards subjects like history and geography.

“It’s more then 60 years to our Independence and today’s generation has no time to spare hours on books which are so bulky and cover subjects like history and geography.

“And where such genre of books generally receives an average response by limited section of the society, the ongoing heat leading to Jaswant Singh’s expulsion has definitely triggered its sales in the city,” said Upendra Arora, owner Natraj Book Store.

However, there are also rumours that the book might get banned today for considering Jinnah as a great man and blaming great leaders like Nehru and Sardar Patel equally responsible for India’s partition.

“There are chances that the book might get banned by later this evening.

“And incase the ban is as strong as it was in the case of Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ then the sale will depreciate or if the ban is for the sake of it then the sales will double as people will get more anxious to get a glimpse of this book,” said Upendra. 

Dehradun, August 21
The Public Works Department (PWD) has finally agreed to minimise the number of trees to be axed for construction of the state’s first proposed expressway from Sahastradhara to the Jollygrant airport. With this, the main hurdle coming in way of the project has been removed.

The development followed the recent inspection of the proposed route of the four-lane expressway by the Director General (DG), forests, Delhi. The PWD had originally estimated that about 9,000 trees would have to be removed for its construction. But about 5,000 trees could be spared after the intervention of the DG, forests.

PWD Chief Engineer Lalit Mohan confirmed that the trees standing within total 20 metres area on both sides of the expresseway would be cut. The resolution of the issue has paved way for starting the construction work. The Forests Department had objected to such large scale cutting of trees standing on its land.

The project was envisaged during the tenure of former Chief Minister BC Khanduri. 

Dehradun, August 21
Seeking prompt disbursal of caste certificates, Shiromani Guru Ravidas Mahasabha members today held a protest rally followed by a demonstration at the secretariat.

Led by Lekhraj, DAV (PG) Students Union leader, the rallyists, criss-crossed downtown Dehradun before staging a noisy demonstration at the secretariat, where they submitted a memorandum.

Addressing the protesters amidst sloganeering, Lekhraj accused the state government of harassing the Dalits in the name of caste certificates and sitting on the issue for a long time now.

He said by non-disbursal of the caste certificates, the state government was depriving them of education and employment benefits.

Another agitated speaker, TC Bharti warned that the Dalits would further intensify their agitation if the state government did not work towards speedy disbursal of the caste certificates.

Sagar Singh, CP Singh, Shivlal and Guddi Devi were prominent protesters on the occasion.

Dehradun, August 21
Casting a meditative spell on his audience, flutist Pandit Rajender Prassana’s musical soiree in Doon left everyone enchanted and kept the tradition alive of illustrious Benares gharana.

Performing at a live concert the Dehradun chapter of SPIC MACAY, Prassana was at his best playing the Krishna Bansuri and the traditional ‘raags and raginis’.

Hailing from a family of shenai players who have preserved a 300-year-old tradition, it was Pandit Raghunath Prassana, father of Rajender Prassana who took to flute playing and even started affixing the Prassana title with his name that has almost become a family title.

“Though ours was a family of shehnai players, my father was greatly perturbed by their dwindling numbers and did not envision a bright future. At that point of time he decided to learn flute playing. The new tradition then was set by my father, as such I continue to play both flute and shenai,” said Pandit Prassana.

He said that there are very few musicians who are willing to take shehnai as it is quite complex and requires a team of artists, “Flute on the other hand one can practice alone for hours” he said.

A believer in ‘guru-shishya parampara’ Pandit Prassana said that it is the only way that education in music needs to be imparted, “Few things should not be altered or changed. I am against renaming or bringing so called innovation to ‘raagas’ that are several years old. So also is the case with schools, in my view they do not serve the purpose as we have a practice of passing musical legacy by a guru to his shishya. It is the purest form of learning and should be encouraged,” said Prassana.

Like the seven surs in music, flutist Rajender Prassana began his musical apprenticeship under seven gurus. Beginning early he started learning from his grandfather Pandit Gauri Shankar Sharma, father Pandit Raghunath Prassana, Pandit Bhola Nath, Vishnu Prasad Sharma, Thumri samrat- Pandit Mahadev Mishraji of Benares gharana, Ustad Hafiz Ahmed Khan sahib and Sarfraz Hussain Khan of Rampur Shesvan Gharana.

Though now based in Delhi, Pandit Prassana continues to have strong links with Benares the family home and believes that if Pandit Pannalal and Pandit Raghunath Prassana are credited for popularising flute then Pandit Hari Prassad Chaurasia took it another level of popularity by introducing it to the international audience. 

Dehradun, August 21
A number of activities were performed by the 29 Uttarakhand Battalion NCC camp here today. The camp will continue for another week with a motive to educate the cadets regarding health, security, career and other issues pertaining to their interest.

Today 2,000 cadets from Garhwal region got life-saving training by security training expert Dr LMS Negi.

The cadets were well versed with artificial breathing methods and were even made to perform rescue operation, besides other important tips on maintaining a healthy body and mind on a daily basis.

Dehradun, August 21
Chamoli hammered Haridwar team by 3-0 in the inaugural u-19 Ram Bahadur Chhetri Memorial Championship State level match that got underway at Ambedkar Stadium, here today.

Chamoli team took the game in control early in the match and launched sharp attacks on Haridwar team. The team almost earned their first goal in the 6th minute but it was a fine save by Haridwar goalkeeper to deny them the certain goal.

In the 11th minute Chamoli was on the attack again, but its forward yet again failed to take advantage of the chance. Haridwar team was on a counter attack in the 20th minute as its forward dodged two defenders to penetrate into Chamoli team defense. But he failed to score. The first half was goalless.

In the second half Chamoli team completely dominated the proceedings and scored in the in the 45th minute through Puran to make it 1-0.

Ten minutes later Rakesh scored the second goal for his team. But the scoring did not stop here for Chamoli team as Anoop scored the third goal for the team to take an invincible lead of 3-0. In the second match Champawat beat Almora by 3-0. 

Dehradun, August 21
DAV (PG) College lifted the Basketball Championship trophy in men and women categories. The tournament was organised to celebrate Urja Divas.

In men’s final match, it was a close contest between DAV (PG) College and the Stadium teams. In the first quarter, the Stadium team took an important 3 points lead, as it scored 9 points against DAV (PG) College which scored 6 points. In the second quarter, DAV (PG) College made a come back to score 11 points and against the Stadium team, who could scored only 2 points. Thereafter, DAV (PG) College took 15 points lead and won the match by 56-41 points.

In women’s final match, DAV (PG) College defeated Kendra Vidayalay. Both teams were locked at two all at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the DAV (PG) College team took 4 points lead. The third quarter also saw DAV (PG) College take another 4 points lead. In the end DAV (PG) College lead by 16-7.

Dehradun, August 21
Piroune Balachandran from the Doon School has won the inaugural edition of Spelling Champs 2009, a national school level spelling championship by ESPN STAR Sports. A resident of Noida, 14-year-old Piroune has now won himself a trip to South Africa for the ICC Champions Trophy 2009.

The championship comprised of seven engrossing episodes with a grand finale, which saw four finalists fighting to win the title. The other finalists include first runners up Rohan Bhatia form The Mother’s International School, Delhi, Ananya Das from Springdales School, Delhi and Shubhangi Sinha from Welham Girls School, Dehradun.

The show started with 52 participants from across the country. It had a panel of word commissioners, novelist Mr Rana Dasgupta and English language experts from British Council.