Dehradun, August 25
A delegation of the Uttarakhand Congress led by its president Yashpal Arya today called upon Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva to demand a judicial inquiry into the Kaladhungi incident.

Uttarakhand Congress chief Yashpal Arya, leader of opposition in the assembly Harak Singh Rawat, party MLAs Tilak Raj Behad, Jot Singh Gunsola, former Minister Hira Singh Bisht and Surayakant Dhasmana called upon the Governor Margaret Alva and alleged that the law and machinery in the state has completely collapsed.

They argued that there has been no communication or control of the civil administration over the police force.

Pointing towards the incident of Kaldhungi police station where a BJP leader was shot dead that led to subsequent arson and violence resulting in the death of a policeman, Congress leaders charged that while the Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has suspended all the policemen posted in the police station while senior police officials are claiming publicly that only one policeman has been suspended.

“It points towards total collapse of administration and the control of the BJP government on the instruments of public order,” Yashpal said.

They further alleged that the moral of the police force has been at its lowest ebb since the BJP government has come to power in the state. “Senior party leaders, including minister and MLAs had been involved in tearing the uniform of policemen in public and getting accused freed from the custody while cases registered against BJP and RSS functionaries were withdrawn,” he added.

The Congress leaders demanded that the Governor should ask the state government to order a judicial probe into the the matter and also issue necessary instructions to the state government to maintain law and order for the safety and well being of the common people.

“The CM should order a probe by a retired High Court judge so that the truth behind the whole chain of violent incidents can be established,” said the leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Harak Singh Rawat said while terming the magisterial enquiry as mere eyewash.

Rawat announced that his party’s legislators and workers would organise a symbolic dharna in front of Gandhi Park against the state government’s failure on the law and order front.

Launching a scathing attack on the CM, Rawat alleged that the violent incidents showed that the CM had failed as an administrator. Taking a dig at him, Rawat said Nishank might be a good litterateur but the state needed a strong administrator who could rein in criminal elements.

He alleged that the CM was patronising criminal elements in the BJP due to which no officer dared to take action against them.

Holding the BJP government responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation since it came to power in 2007, Rawat alleged that it has worsened under the leadership of Nishank ever since he became the CM.

He gave examples of Anshu Nautiyal murder case, ‘fake encounter’ of Ranbir and violence at Kaladhungi to support his allegations.

Rawat also demanded that top police officers should be held accountable for their failure to anticipate the violence at Kaladhungi.

Dehradun, August 25
The state has failed to avail central grants worth crores meant for development schemes for backward areas due to alleged mishandling by the legislators concerned.

Sources said the district-level committees for planning development works for Tehri, Champawat and Chamoli districts, selected under the central scheme Backward Region Grant Fund (BGRF), could not be formed as the legislators felt their role was marginalised in them.

Due to this, the annual grant of Rs 15 crore for these three districts could not be availed for the last three years. The total loss totals up to Rs 145 crore.

Under the scheme, the Centre was to provide financial assistance for construction of school buildings, sports grounds, bridges and tourism-related activities.

According to the guidelines, plan committees have to be constituted at the district and state level having elected representatives of zila panchayat, nagar palika and nagar panahayat as its members.

“Since legislators could only be taken as invited members on these committees, they felt their role would be marginal. Due to this, they created hurdles in formation of these committees,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

Sources said the proposal containing rules and regulations governing functioning of the committees has been prepared and sent for approval of the cabinet many times.

But the same could not be put before the cabinet allegedly under the pressure of legislators.

Interestingly, Uttarakhand and Gujarat are the two BJP-ruled states that have failed to reap the benefits of the scheme.

The exposure has lent credence to allegations by the Congress leadership that the BJP-led state government has failed to utilise the central funds, although it has been accusing the UPA of financial discrimination.

Dehradun, August 25
A delegation of foreign students, who are learning Hindi language in their respective countries, called on Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal ‘Nishank’ here today.

Welcoming the students, Nishank said Indian culture and is all-embracing, and to understand it one needs to have the knowledge of Hindi language.

He said by doing so, they would be able to propagate Indian culture as well.

“Since times immemorial, Indian culture has been propagating that the entire world is one family and wished for the well-being of everyone,” he said. Nishank asked the language department of the state government to arrange a comprehensive visit of the students to the state.

Meanwhile, the students also recited poems by renowned Hindi poets on the occasion.

Haridwar, August 25
The city Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party units have come out against each other after municipal ward members Sapna Sharma of BJP and Anil Verma of Congress party had a verbal duel regarding a property matter.

While Verma complained of threat to his life, Sapna Sharma alleged that the BJP ward member physically assaulted her. Both sides have registered cases at Ranipur police station in this regard.

They have also met Senior Superintendent of Police Sanjay Gunjiyal and SP Asim Srivastava and demanded action.

City Congress members staged a dharna outside the DM’s office today and demanded stern action against the BJP ward member, while accusing her of defaming Verma.

They also demanded that the case be shifted from Jwalapur police station.

City Congress chief OP Chauhan lashed out at the BJP and said the party was creating unnecessary controversies to deflect public attention from their dismal performance in the recently held Lok Sabha polls. Indu Pandey, secretary of the women wing, demanded resignation of Sapna Sharma.

On the other hand, BJP district head Manoj Garg has charged that the Congress was trying to gain political mileage by blowing up the issue.

Sharma too has refuted all claims.

Meanwhile, Jwalapur station house officer BS Chauhan said the police was investigating the matter in a free and fair manner.

Dehradun, August 25
To curb ragging in colleges in Dehradun much need to be done still.

An incident of ragging occurred here few days back when teachers of the Institute of Management Studies caught few students red handed, as they were ragging their juniors.

Taking action against the students, the institute is said to have taken stern action against the said students.

Four students have been rusticated whereas five were suspended for 40 days and 21 students face 15-day suspension. Sources said four of them were found in inebriated state.

Sources said the news of suspension of the students involved in ragging case created much unrest in their classmates and demonstrated before the main office.

The students alleged that college administration had taken wrong action against the students. The administration tried to calm the students but they refused to listen.

Agitated students moved ahead to director’s officer where they had heated exchange of words with the director, PK Aggarwal.

The director asked the students to submit a written complains in the matter so that it could be dealt properly. But they refused to listen his appeal.

The students were forced out of the room by police personnel called by the college management to avoid any untoward incident.

After the protest took place the students of BBA and BSc stream also came out in support of other students, refusing to attend their classes.

In other institutes of Dehradun, ragging still exits but it has taken a new turn.

Seniors are taking introductions instead of forcing students to act out various things. A DIT first year student Nitin said, “Our seniors are unable to rag us despite trying out various things.

But the education institutes should get more tough in order to completely end it in the campus”.

Haridwar, August 25
Haridwar has scores of temporary bridges apart from permanent bridges constructed now and then, especially during Mahakumbh and Ardh Kumbh.

But the sorry state of bridges irks the local residents as well as the lakhs of pilgrims and tourists who throng the city.

Taking cognisance of the ill-repaired and ill-maintained condition of the bridges in the city, Teerth Maryada Raksha Samiti has stirred a movement and attracting attention of the mela administration and the state government towards the pathetic condition of these bridges, locally called ‘setus’.

Starting last week, the activists of the samiti created a human chain at several bridges, which need renovation and refitting.

At Birla Ghat and Lal Taura bridge activists of the samiti stopped the traffic and showed the people the condition of the bridge which may collapse anytime in the near future if it isn’t repaired instantly.

Today a delegation of the manch met mela officer Anand Vardhan in Haridwar and apprised him of the importance of these bridges and the danger lurking keeping in view of the outcome of pilgrims daily.

Citing the Mahakumbh scheduled next year in Haridwar, the manch members pointed to mela officer that since the times of Britishers bridges were constructed on every Kumbh in the city, but this time no bridge had been made which was quite astonishing.

“Though mela budget is in crores, yet no permanent bridge has been constructed and the deadline for it is October 31 and it seems the city would have to bear the flow of people on these old bridges,” said state convener of the manch Sanjay Chopra.

Activists pointed that pressure on these bridges was increasing day by day with manifold increase in number of pilgrims as well as the vehicles.

“While the need of the hour is to have eight-lane highway, flyovers, under bridges and under passes. The situation in Haridwar is such that we have to demand upgrading of existing bridges, while the central government has now granted Rs 400 crore for the Mahakumbh.

“This itself exposes and explains the working of bureaucracy and working nodal agencies in the city,” said Pandit Chandra Prakash Sharma, national president of the samiti.

Anand Vardhan said he would seriously consider the suggestions of the manch and lauded it’s initiative in apprising him of the situation.

“We need public help and suggestion in conducting successfully the Mahakumbh,” said Anand Vardhan.

Dehradun, August 25
A two-day senior foresters workshop on climate change at Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy concluded today with a session specifically devoted to ‘Mitigation potential of forests’.

Dr Pramode Kant, director of the Institute of Climate Change and Ecology, Gurgaon, gave a detailed account of potential of forest ecosystems to deal with the problems of climate change.

He said there existed a big potential of forest ecosystems to deal with the problems of climate change.

He said the sector contributed significantly to global CO2 emissions, while at the same time providing significant opportunities towards reducing the current or projected emissions and also removal of CO2 accumulated form the past in the atmosphere.

He also said forestry sector was very closely linked to socio-economic systems, particularly for forest dwellers and the rural communities in the developing countries.

He also threw light on impact of climate change on the forest ecosystem. He said according to the third assessment report (IPCC, 2001), ecosystems were subjected to many pressures such as land-use change, harvesting, grazing by livestock, fire, and introduction of new species and natural climate variability.

Dr Jagdish Kishwan gave details about scope of REDD and its potential. He said rehabilitation of degraded forest was of high priority as forest contained very valuable mitigation potential.

He said the forestry sector, apart from being a source of CO2, also provided opportunity for reducing atmospheric CO2 concentration.

Tropical countries such as India offered large opportunities for reducing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Three-day workshop concludes tomorrow, he added.

Dehradun, August 25
The Jain community is observing the ‘Pawan Puryushan’ festival in the city with devotion and enthusiasm since Monday night onwards.

Started on August 24 the festival will last for 10 days and will end on September 3.

Every year during the month of ‘Bhadhon’ Jain community with a motive to spread message of peace, love and devotion and follow different principals, based on forgiveness, patience, love, compassion, avoiding temper and being true to oneself.

“In Jain community the month of ‘Bhadhon’ is considered as a holy period and by fasting and praying we completely devote ourselves to the god and even perform many religious programmes for 10 days,” said Manju Jain, media incharge Jain community.

Since early morning people perform rituals along with cultural programmes to educate and enlighten people about the fundamentals of their religion.

Where on Monday night the festival began with an entertaining cultural performance.

On Tuesday evening members participated in a talent show, primarily based on religion.

“From 6:30 am till 10:30 pm, for these 10 days we are going to perform different activities amid prayers.

“The main reason for observing fast for this period is to inculcate good habits and to purify our souls as we believe that after death also our soul remains alive,” added Manju.

However, the festival will end with a large scale Rath Yatra. Commencing from the main Digambar Jain Panchayati Temple.

Dehradun, August 25
Uttarakhand Khiladi Sangharsh Samiti has decided to take a u-turn in their pursuit to create an international stadium in Dehradun.

The Sangharsh Samiti is determined to make a stadium at Parade Ground, but have decided to alter their earlier demand of an international stadium with a district-level stadium, which, according to them, is very much possible.

It is to be noted that their demand is a long standing one.

But it could not be fulfilled because of the objection from various quarters against building a stadium in the heart of the city.

Taking note of this, the samiti has decided to ask for a district-level stadium instead of an international stadium.

Samiti president Jaswinder Singh said, “It is almost 10 years now that the matter of converting Parade Ground into a international stadium is being raised.

“But the demand could not be met because of various reasons. We have decided to meet the sports secretary to put forth our demand.”

Every district has its stadium except Dehradun. On the other hand, district sports officer PS Lunthi is also in favour of creating a district stadium.

“When a place like Haldwani could have an international stadium, why not Dehradun have one.

All that is needed to provide a 400m track with the facilities of handball, basketball, football and a boxing ring.

The remaining part of the Parade Ground could be use for other commercial activities.”

At present, Parade Ground is an open area used as a vikram terminal. The vehicle moving across the field disturbs the practice sessions of the players, having a district stadium constructed in a limited area could prevent the players from being distracted from these activities.

Dehradun, August 25
Alleging large-scale irregularities in the workings of Regional Transport Office, Uttarakhand Transport Mahasangh has threatened to stage statewide agitation soon.

The president the Mahasangh Suryakant Dhasmana held that the transporters would no more tolerate the autocratic style of working of the Regional Transport Office and go for a massive agitation.

He accused RTO’s involvement in such unlawful operations.

Dehradun, August 25
Sarvodaya and Doon Challengers team played a draw at the District Football League here today.

Sarvodaya team played an aggressive game right from the beginning and scored its first goal in the 4th minute of the match. It was Rakesh for Sarvodaya team who opened the account for the team. He dodged two defenders before neatly placing the ball to the right corner of the goalpost. Doon Challengers made repeated attempts to fetch an equaliser but poor finishing from Doon Challengers defenders denied the opportunity to score.

In the second half Doon Challengers wasted no time and scored an equaliser in the 36th minute of the match making it 1-1. Thereafter, none of the team members could score a goal and the match ended in a draw.

In the second match, CT Young team outplayed Doon United by 2-1. CT Young scored its first goal in the 15th minute of the match through Vikrant to take Doon United by surprise. Till half time the score remained 1-0.

In the second half, Doon United efforts paid and they finally scored an equaliser through Sumit in the 42nd minute of the match.

But CT Young team made a come back thereafter, to score their second goal through Subhash in the 49th minute to win the match by score of 2-1.

Meanwhile, in the u-19 Ram Bahadur Chhetri Memorial Football Championship Dehradun Red made it to the finals after defeating Maharana Pratap Sports College (MPSC), Dehradun, in a tiebreaker, here today.

Dehradun Red team showed outstanding form at the semifinal match to dominate major part of the first half. The team launched number of attacks at MPSC defence in the first half but failed to convert their chances into scoring opportunities.

The team managed to score their first goal in the 25th minute of the match through Shashank, who scored an excellent goal of the aerial ball on MPSC to beat their goalkeeper all quarters.

The MPSC team tried hard to find an equaliser, but they failed to penetrate Dehradun Red defence. In the 35th minute, Dehradun Red team came close on scoring a goal through a 25-yard short but missed the goalpost by a whisker.

In the second half, Dehradun Red was a bit off rhythm and did not look as sharp as in the first half, thereby giving MPSC team a chance to make a come back in the match.

The MPSC team scored an equaliser in the 64th minute of the match through Devender Negi. The result of the match could only be decided in the tiebreaker where Dehradun Red won the match.