Haridwar, August 23
The statement of state vice-president of the Congress Brahmaswaroop Brahmachari that Harish Rawat was merely indulging in theatrics to woo the Muslim community, has drawn flak from the party rank and file.

Rawat’s supporters have termed Brahamachari’s statement as unfortunate and linked it to personal enmity, as he had lost the Lok Sabha ticket race to Rawat.

The latter had gone on to win by a record margin and was later appointed a Union minister of state in Manmohan Singh’s cabinet.

Former city chief Purushottam Sharma said the statement of Brahamachari was an open violation of party ethics and discipline.

“Expulsion of Brahamachari is inevitable if the party has to function and perform smoothly in the future, especially keeping in mind the 2012 assembly elections,” said Purushottam.

In a letter to Uttarakhand Congress incharge RK Dhawan, state chief Yashpal Arya and disciplinary committee head Narendra Singh Bhandari have urged instant removal of the present state vice-president and cited that even in parliamentary elections in May Brahamachari was initially reluctant to campaign for Harish Rawat, which had set a wrong example for party workers.

Spokesperson to Harish Rawat Rajesh Rastogi said some persons were trying to fuel communal tensions, which does not augur well for Congress.

Youth Congress activists too have come down heavily on the state vice-president and even burnt his effigy as a mark of protest. 

Dehradun, August 23
Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, alliance partner of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has decided to wholeheartedly back the BJP in the Vikasnagar bypolls. Announcing this, UKD President Narayan Singh Jaintwal said the decision has been taken after lengthy deliberations with BJP leaders.

He informed that the party’s bi-annual convention would take place at Chuakhutia on August 29.

“The issues of permanent capital, identification of state agitationists and state foundation day will be taken up for deliberations at the convention,” he said.

Senior UKD leader Kashi Singh Airy said the party would undertake a membership drive from September 1 to October 15.

“We have appointed district-level observers for the purpose. These include Ramlal Nawani (Dehradun city), DN Todaria (district Dehradun), Rajkumar Saini (Haridwar), Latafat Hussain (Roorkee), Virendra Mohan (Tehri), Ram Singh Rana (Pratapnagar), Om Gopal Rawat (Uttarkashi), AP Juyal (Chamoli), Lalit Bisht (Rudrprayag), Shivanand Chamoli (Pauri), Vijaya Dhyani (Kotdwar), Pushpesh Tripathy (Nainital), Ranjit Vishwakarma (Almora), Narayan Singh Mehar (Ranikhet), Harish Pathak (Bageshwar), Jagmohan Rathore (Champawat), Ghanshyam Joshi (Pitthoragarh) and Nirmal Chowdhary (Didhaat).

He informed that UKD would constitute its block and district level units from October 16 to 31. 

Haridwar, August 23
In the aftermath of the Mumbai 9/11 attacks and serial blasts in several major cities in the past few years, the police is gearing up to face the terror threat looming on century’s first Mahakumbh, scheduled next year. Apart from managing the crowd of pilgrims the police has to oversee security and vigil simultaneously which has made the police task more arduous.

In this respect, the police is banking on its beat police system so as it gathers intelligence and whereabouts of terrorists to thwart any possible attack during Mahakumbh.

Garhwal range IG MA Ganapathy, who also took charge as IG Mahakumbh, said beat constables were being giving training so as they knew as much of their beat neighbourhood as they could easily identify suspected persons and terrorists.

Notably, since the inception of the beat policing system in Haridwar several criminal cases have been solved due to the efficient beat policing. There are 138 beats in the district with two each in every beat. Approximately, for every 5-10,000 population a beat has been deployed. Ganapathy also gave instructions as well as briefed up all 138 constables, especially in context of the Mahakumbh.

Para military and other states forces needed to manage a big crowd of the pilgrims, which may see more than 5 crore people in the city, said Ganapathy, adding that the police had demanded 50 companies from the central government.

On tenant and employee verification drive, especially in the context of establishment of the SIDCUL integrated industrial area, where employees from outer states stay and many of them are found in criminal and illegal activities, SSP Sanjay Gunjiyal informed that the police was strictly adhering to the verification drive and till date, 11,000 employees had been verified and plan was to maximise the verification drive before the Kumbh starts.

Meanwhile, the IG rewarded the six beat police constables for their excellent work. The constables, who were felicitated during the beat constable meeting by the IG and the SSP, are Akbar Ali from Mangalore thana, Jaswant from Jwalapur thana, Sushil Kumar from Mangalore, Om Prakash from Jhabreda thana, Tarsem Kotwali and Vipin Chand from Kotwali, Roorkee.

Later in the evening, ADG (Law and Order) AK Bansal took a review meeting of police officers regarding the Kumbh mela preparations at CCR towers. 

Dehradun, August 23
Keeping in view the Kumbh Mela next year, Railway officials are mooting the idea of a shuttle train between Rishkesh and Hardiwar.

Senior Railway officials had recently conducted an inspection in Rishikesh and adjoining stations to explore the possibility.

Railway official Vikash Chaubey, who was part of the team that visited the region, said the shuttle train would help as many as 1.5 lakh people commute on a daily basis during the fair.

Railway officials also looked into the possibility of increasing the number of goods train tracks in the region.

Apart from Haridwar, the officials also visited Harrawala, Jawalapur and Rishikesh stations.

Kumbh Mela, slated to begin early next year, would attract crores of pilgrims and both the Centre and the state have been working towards adding more infrastructure in Haridwar as well as the other adjoining cities. 

Dehradun, August 23
After the Central Government directed the state health department to send samples of only those patients falling under 'high risk category' for swine flu virus test to the National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD), the backlog is expected to get much lighter.

Out of the 115 samples sent by the state nodal office to NICD, the results of only 50 have been received so far. "The NICD has a backlog of six days. Earlier, the results were available within 48 hours but now they are getting delayed," said Dr RK Pant, CMS, Doon Hospital. The state nodal office has received 1.30 lakh Tamiflu tablets for August.

Meanwhile, according to the new guidelines, all individuals seeking consultation for flu-like symptoms would be screened at healthcare facilities -- both government and private - or examined by a doctor. They would later be broadly placed under three categories, A, B and C, depending on their health status, the state health authorities informed.

Those found infected would be given treatment and isolated as specified in the guidelines.

Patients with mild fever plus cough/sore throat with or without body ache, headache, diarrhoea and vomiting would be put under Category-A.

They would not require Oseltamivir and treated for the symptoms mentioned above. Patients' progress would be monitored after every 24 hours. For this category, no testing for H1N1 would be required.

These patients have been advised to confine themselves at home and avoid mixing up with the public and high-risk members in the family.

Category B has two subcategories. Category BI is for patients who have high fever and severe sore throat in addition to all the signs and symptoms mentioned under Category-A. They may require home isolation and Oseltamivir.

Category BII is for those who have, in addition to all the signs and symptoms mentioned under Category-A, one or more of the following high risk-conditions - children less than five-year-old, pregnant women, persons aged 65 years or older, patients with lung disease, heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease, blood disorders, diabetes, neurological disorders, cancer and HIV/AIDS, or patients on longterm cortisone therapy. These would be treated with Oseltamivir, but no tests for H1N1 is required for the entire category.

However, all patients under Category B (I) and (II) have been advised to confine themselves to their houses and avoid mixing up with public and high-risk members in the family

The category C would have patients, who in addition to the above signs and symptoms of Category-A and B, have one or more of the following problems - breathlessness, chest pain, drowsiness, fall in blood pressure, sputum mixed with blood, bluish discolouration of nails, irritability among small children, refusal to accept food, and worsening of the underlying chronic conditions.

All these patients would require testing, immediate hospitalisation and treatment, the health authorities informed. 

Dehradun, August 23
A seminar on ‘Careers in Banking’ was held today in Dehradun and Rishikesh by Time a leading coaching Institute for bank PO, clerical examination. Pankaj Kukreja said that a student can easily crack the examination if preparation is started 2-3 months in advance.

“The success in banking exams largely depends on the approach and time management,” he said. He said that the seminar was organised keeping in mind that number of vacancies that have been advertised by leading nationalised banks.

State Bank of India holding examinations for 11,000 vacancies in the month of November and Dehradun is one of the centres. The last date of application is September 15, 2009.

Any student with 60 percent marks in Class XII exams or a student with 40 per cent marks in graduation can apply. Time is running courses in over 100 locations in India and here the centres are in Dehradun, Haridwar, Rishikesh and Roorkee. 

Dehradun, August 23
The deployment of 163 ayurvedic doctors at various state allopathic dispensaries is expected to be delayed in view of the model election code in place in the state.

The health Directorate is waiting a go head from the election commission.

Against the 900 posts, 218 posts were advertised for ayurvedic doctors and selection has been made for 163 candidates the remaining seats were in reserved categories and so far no candidate has been appointed.

Earlier, the state government had held interviews of medical officers in order to fill several vacant posts at the government hospitals. However, they would be employed only on contract.

Besides due to the recent round of postings several posts of medical officers lying vacant have to be filled. It is believed that the ayurvedic doctors would be appointed at these places. While for the post of MBBS doctors, out of the total 650 seats, only 103 have been selected.

“We would be able to appoint the doctors only after the Vikas Nagar by-election, but we have put our case at the office of the election commission,” said Dr PL Joshi, DG Health.

So far the state health authorities efforts to bring in more doctors has not yielded expected results, despite offering sops such as raised pay scales.

“The state government is offering Rs 29,000 to those posted at difficult terrains. We have only got 163 medical officers to run State Allopathic Dispensaries and 103 MBBS doctors,” said Dr HC Bhatt additional director (admn). 

Haridwar, August 23
The examination for government Basic Training Teachers’ course was held here today. In the district, as many as 23 centres were established for the purpose and elaborate security arrangements were put into place.

As many as 13,195 aspirants were registered for the exam. District Education officer Chandrakanta Sharma informed that 71.2 pc of the candidates (9,400) appeared for the test.

Archana Grehawar for Haridwar and Joint Magistrate Ashish Joshi for Roorkee were on duty to ensure that the exam was conducted smoothly.

Separate teams were made for inspection and to ensure that examinees do not resort to cheating. However, a candidate was caught using unfair means at Mata Vaishno Devi Inter-College.

SDM Haridwar Harish Chandra Kandpal, SDM Lakshar Uday Singh Rana and Tehsildar Haridwar Pooran Singh inspected the 13 centres at Haridwar, while in Roorkee ADM Bhagat Singh Fonia and Tehsildar Shahid Hussain inspected the 
10 centres.

Meanwhile, in a directive to all divisional education officers, district education officer Chandar Kanta Sharma said the third batch of teachers would assume charge as in various schools.

Notably, 165 teachers of the third batch undertook training while 164 were allocated appointment letters from the education department.

But before they could take charge, due to a case in the High Court their appointment was temporarily cancelled.

Dehradun, August 23
DAV (PG) College has geared up to curb ragging as the college administration is taking all essential steps needed to stop any such untoward incident. Following the Supreme Court’s orders the college has formed a ragging committee to tackle the problem in the college. Yashasvi Sharma student leaders from NSUI said,

“Yes, the college administration has formed a committee to keep a check on ragging.

“Although there are no such case of ragging in the college but as per Supreme Court’s orders it is mandatory for all colleges to form a committee that will look into the ragging cases.”

Sharma said, “Ragging should be banned as it leaves a negative effect on the students’ mind.”

He said that if any one is found involved in ragging in the college then in that case he would face punishment as decided by the college committee.

Presently, the college administration has asked the students, seeking admission in the college, to fill a Rs 10 stamp paper before taking admission to the college.

This is done in order to make the student accountable if he is found involved in ragging in the near future.

Anant Mistra a BCom student said, “Ragging in any form should be stopped and seniors should be more helpful towards their juniors.

Instead there should be more interactive sessions between the students to develop a healthy and better understanding between the two. The steps taken by the college administration would go a long way in checking any ragging incident here.”

Pradeep Bisht a student said, “Recently a first year student was beaten up by his seniors, in one of the Dehradun’s private college, during ragging.

Although the matter was settled later but the incident must have disturbed many students.” 

Dehradun, August 23
Inspector general of police Garhwal yesterday presided over the Dehradun crime review meeting, which was attended by all those in charge of police station and other subordinate police officials.

The meeting took up issues such as law and order, traffic, encroachments, behaviour of police personnel and others for discussions.

IG MA Ganapathy while expressed unhappiness over delay in redressal of pending cases directed for speedy conduct of investigation proceedings. While taking to task some of the thana in charge, the IG in particular referred to slow progress in some of the theft cases in the city. He directed the police officials to remain on alert in the respective areas.

Referring to the traffic lawlessness, the IG asked the police officials to ensure participation of the common public towards finding solution to worsening traffic scenario in the city.

He also directed the police officers to ensure an effective curb on crime under any circumstances. 

Dehradun, August 23
As the seventh film show on Sundays since it’s launch on July 5, the film club of Dehradun, REACH Talkies, screened ‘Kanchenjungha’, a 1962 classic directed by Satyajit Ray, here today.

‘Kanchenjungha’ was Ray's first original screenplay and for the first time, he was shooting in colour. The film shows about 100 minutes (in real time) in the life of a group of rich Bengalis on vacation.

Unlike the usual Ray films, it has a fragmented narrative with no central characters, and no straight narrative in the classical sense.

A wealthy family of Calcutta's industrial bourgeoisie is vacationing in Darjeeling, at the foot of Mt Kanchenjunga, the second highest peak of the Himalayas.

The family members are dominated by the figure of the father, Indranath, who expects all of them to obey his will.

Several long walks, embellished by long conversations, sow various seeds of crisis into the family's midst: for example, a couple breaks up when the younger daughter rejects the staid, respectable engineer her father wants her to marry.

Instead, she seems attracted to Ashok, a young student of modest means who has the nerve to refuse the job that the elderly Indranath offers him.

REACH Talkies shows movies by renowned film directors every week on Sundays at 4 pm at the KDMIPE mini auditorium in ONGC, Kaulagarh Road campus.

Ran (adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear) by Akira Kurosawa will be screened next Sunday, August 30 at the same venue. 

Dehradun, August 23
Vandana Luthra Curls and Curves (VLCC) in collaboration with the Apollo Clinic organised a daylong heath camp here today. In order to provide health benefits to everybody, the prices of the services were reduced to 50 per cent as compared to the original cost of the medical clinics.

Altogether, three packages were simultaneously run and under expert supervision patients facing problems related to sugar, haemoglobin, heart, kidney or the liver along with weight and height measurement were examined thoroughly.

“Apollo Clinic in the past has also organised various health camps so that people get more conscious towards their health. We are providing services at nominal rates.

Services that cost Rs 150 are provided at Rs 30, services worth Rs 400 priced at Rs 99 and services worth Rs 600 is priced at Rs 400.

In case there is need we recommend people for further check ups,” said Prashant Mishra, asst marketing manager at Apollo Clinic.

The camp witnessed participation of almost 49 people. “VLCC apart from contributing to the beauty industry believes in creating awareness in the field of health also.

Though this for the first time we have organised a health camp and soon we will organise more such health camps,” said Ananya, institute head, VLCC. 

Dehradun, August 23
Latika Roy Foundation’s Early Intervention Center hosted the inauguration ceremony of its new campus recently. The Early Intervention Center (EIC) provides assessment and services for children showing, or being at risk for developmental delays.

It was designed to quell the anxiety of parents in and around Dehradun who found that their kids are born with a disability. Earlier, the EIC was based at St Joseph’s Academy.

Chief guest Jyoti Sood inaugurated the ceremony, which was followed by an action performance by the EIC kids, who were in the age group of 2-4 years.

There was a song and dance performance by the staff of Khusahi, which is the satellite EIC center located.

The main highlight of the function was a performance by a very popular band called ‘The Ensemble’ that started last year with the musical choir ‘Save the Earth’.

The members of the band are Sangeet Charles (lead guitarist), Pariyank Madhwal (bassist), Winston (vocalist), GL Bakshi (drummer), and Shivani Arora (keyboard player and vocalist).

Dehradun, August 23
6/8 Gorkha Rifle continued its winning spree at District Football League after defeating Western Boys team by 3-0 here today.

6/8 Gorkha Rifle dominated at the league giving their opponent little opportunity to get a foothold in the match.

At the end of the first half 6/8 Gorkha Rifle team was leading by a solitary goal that was scored by Anant Thapa in the 5th minute of match.

But the team capitalised in the second half to give Western Boys team double jolt at the end of the match.

6/8 Gorkha Rifle came close on scoring in the 38th minute of the match but the shot sailed over the bar.

Lok Bahadur Thapa scored the second goal for Gorkha Rifle team in the 45th minute of the match. The third goal came soon, DB Thapa struck the goal in the 52nd minute to make it 3-0.

The second match between 1/5 Gorkha Rifle team and Doon Star ended in goalless draw.

Meanwhile, at the ongoing u-19 Ram Bahadur Chhetri Memorial Football Championship at Ambedkar Stadium Kashipur team moved into the next round after defeating Pauri by 3-1, here today.

Kashipur team was outstanding on the ground with shot passes and good ball control. The team dominated major part of the game.

Good coordination of Kashipur team players earned them their first goal early in the match. It was in the 14th minute Mukesh cruised through Pauri team defense to earn this team the first goal making it 1-0.

Pauri made repeated attempts to fetch an equaliser for his side but failed. At the end of the first half the scored remained at 1-0.

In the second half Pauri team fetched an equaliser in the match making it 1-1. It was Devinder Negi for the team in 41st minute of the match who scored the goal by a powerful kick.

But Kashipur team came back strongly to further increased their lead by two goals to place themselves in an invincible position.

Kashipur took control of the match soon in the game and scored their second through in the 52nd minute.

It was Abdul for the team to score the second goal. For Kashipur, the third goal was made in the 55th minute by Mukesh again making it 3-1, sealing the team victory. 

Dehradun, August 23
Ravi won gold in the open category at the Junior District Judo Championship organised by District Sports Office at Parade Ground here today.

Results:

In open weight: Ravi Rai of DAV (PG) College got gold, Gagan of DAV (PG) College won silver and Nilesh Negi of Drona International School won bronze.

In 73 kg: Shubham Sharma of Guru Nanak Academy won gold, Ravi Rai of DAV (PG) College bagged silver and Gorav Tomar of Vedic Inter College won bronze.

In 66 kg: Gagandeep Singh of DAV (PG) bagged gold, Sagar Sahi of Gorkha School got silver and Vinay bagged bronze.

In 60 kg: Mahinder of DAV (PG) College won gold, Shaukeen of DAV (PG) College got silver and Himanshu of Kendra Vidayalay FRI win bronze.

In 55 kg: Nilesh Negi of Drona’s International School got gold, Anurag Rai of Drona International School won silver.

In 50 kg: Rahul of SGRR College got gold, Suraj of CNI Boys won silver and Vipin Yadav of DAV (PG) College bagged bronze.

In 45 kg: Nishank of Aryan School got gold, Vasudev of DAV Public School won silver and Arun Kumar of Gorkha School got bronze.

In 40 kg: Vinod Singh of Ideal Children School won gold, Abhay Rana of Drona’s International School got silver and Abhishek of Gautam International School won bronze. 

Dehradun, August 23
Four matches in were played today at the ongoing Rashtriya Indian Military College Inter-Section Soccer Competition.

In the juniors category, in the first match, Pratap Section won with a score of 1-0 from Shivaji, with cadet B Vanmalsawma scoring the goal.

In the Second match, Chandragupta Section beat Ranjit with a score of 1-0, with cadet Akash Yadav scoring the goal for the team. In the middles category, the match played between Pratap Section and Shivaji was drawn with 1-1.

In the seniors category, Chandragupta clashed with Pratap. In this match, Chandragupta won with 3-0, with cadet S Shyam of Chandragupta scoring two goals, while cadet Praveen Mishra scored the third one.

Chief guest Lt Col R Nathawat, officiating commandant RIMC exhorted the cadets to play even harder, gaining from strength to strength in the subsequent matches.