Dehradun, October 29
Dehradun police constable Hari Mohan, who was seriously injured while braving gun shots of dacoits who struck at a Nehru Colony house late last night, has been awarded cash Rs 1 lakh and an out-of-turn promotion for showing exemplary courage.

Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal today met the constable at the Combined Medical Institute (CMI) hospital and made this declaration.

He also met Priydarshan Bhatt, the owner of the house where the dacoits had struck. Bhatt was also seriously injured in the attack and admitted to the hospital.

Chief Minister Nishank appreciated the efforts of the policemen in tackling the situation bravely. He said that the culprits would be dealt strictly.

He told mediapersons that the police has been given instructions to keep a strict watch on outsiders who come to the state. He also exhorted the general public to extend cooperation and inform the police if anything suspicious happens in their area.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Director-General of Police has also declared a cash prize of Rs 20,000 to the police team that nabbed three of the dacoits.

Police officers namely circle officer Dalanwala Ajay Singh, station head officer Bhaskar Lal Shah and constable Hari Mohan have also been recommended for bravery awards.

SSP Abhinav Kumar appreciated the police team’s effort. The police team had, in no time, reached the spot after two neighbours called up the control room about the incident. They had no time to go for safety measures like bulletproof jacket.

The SSP also announced Rs 5,000 each for the two neighbours namely Sanjay and Rishi who informed the police of the incident.

Dehradun, October 29
The police suspect that two more persons might be involved in the dacoity bid at Nehru Colony last night. Policemen arrested three miscreants involved in the incident.

The police suspects that two persons were reportedly keeping watch outside the house when the three were committing loot.

The police said that the family members of the victims told them that though only three persons entered their house, but they had a strong doubt that two persons were waiting outside the house.

The police hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the direct or indirect involvement of vegetable vendors who are stationed near the house.

“Our sources have confirmed that there were vegetable vendors involved in the dacoity. We are yet to interrogate the dacoits in this regard and it will be clear only after we take them in police remand,” said Abhinav Kumar, Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police.

The arrested have been identified as Ram Singh, Gaurav Jogi and Zahid, all residents of Muzzafarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. The police said that Zahid had committed crimes in Mumbai also. The trio will be booked under the Gangsters’ Act.

The police has seized two country-made pistols and a ‘khukri’ from their possession.

According to the police, they had entered the house of a retired engineer in Nehru Colony at about 7.30 pm. They allegedly hit the owner of the house Priyadarshan on his head with a pistol when he opened the main door. As he fell down bleeding, the dacoits entered the house.

His wife rushed to save him but the dacoits beat her brutally and tied her. To scare away the victims, the miscreants fired gunshots.

As this caused a lot of commotion, two neighbours namely Rishi and his brother Sanjay called up the control room. The police in no time reached the spot and barged into the house. From both sides, several shots were fired. When the dacoits realised that a large crowd had gathered outside the house, they tried to flee.

When a dacoit managed to get away, constable Hari Mohan gave chase and caught hold of him. The dacoit hit the constable on his head with his ‘khukri’ and fired on him injuring him seriously but the constable did not let him go.

Two dacoits were caught on the spot while the third was caught later while trying to flee from Dehradun at Asharodi checkpost, said police officials. The trio was given a sound thrashing by the agitated mob and the police.

Haridwar, October 29
With many industrial houses packing off from Integrated Industrial Estate created by the State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal (SIDCUL) and many others reluctant to establish their units in Uttarakhand due to the expiry of industrial package in 2012, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has demanded extension of the package till 2020.

Dr Nishank emphasised that for a new state, which had limited sources of income and revenue generation, the central government should extend the package up to at least 2020 for a wholesome development of industrial areas in the state.

Dr Nishank was in the city to attend a function of a company in SIDCUL where he dwelt on the need of industries in the state.

He said Uttarakhand should not be compared with other states as recently on his visit to Haridwar, Union Minister for Industries Vilas Rao Deshmukh had said if the industrial package was extended to Uttarakhand, then other states would be raising similar demands, which was not feasible in the long run.

Citing instances of many industries packing off from SIDCUL areas, the Chief Minister said the previous Vajpayee government at the Centre had understood the limited options of this hilly state and that industrial uplift was imperative for the development and self-reliance of the state.

On the Ganga water being sold to offshore places, Dr Nishank lashed out at the critics who term it as making Ganga water a commodity. He said this was not a sell-off but an effort to make people get the holy Ganga water in every corner of the country and overseas. He termed it as Amrit and said the idea was to propagate the Ganga water worldwide and not to make money from it.

Swami Chidanand Muni of Parmarth Niketan had said the profit made through the sale of the Ganga water should be utilised in the cleaning of the river.

Meanwhile, prior to Chief Minister’s reaching the venue, there was an altercation between press photographers and police personnel. The incident happened just minutes before CM’s arrival.

As photographers were lining up for the lamp-lighting ceremony, ASP Arun Mohan Joshi tried to make them shift away from the spot, saying that it was a security-related matter and no photographer will be allowed at the dais. When Ravindra Singh, a photojournalist of a leading daily, pointed out that shots of the lamp-lighting ceremony will be the best from the spot where they were standing, police personnel caught hold of his jacket collar while Joshi warned him of dire consequences. Many other photographers were also manhandled by the police.

This irked the photographers and journalists and all boycotted the function.

Soon, administrative officials and event managers tried to solve the matter. Seeing no action from the police side, the photographers boycotted the event and protested outside the venue. No photographer covered the function.

Later, several press unions condemned the act of the police and demanded a strict disciplinary action from the SSP and also conveyed to the Chief Minister about ill-treatment meted out to them.

Roorkee, October 29
With much-awaited state’s youth festival Thomso having set in on the campus today, a wave of excitement swept all around here. Many local youngsters, who are not associated with the IIT-Roorkee in any way, were seen approaching their sources to get entry to the festival venue where various events are being presented by students of over 800 colleges across the country.

After the inauguration ceremony took place this evening, the three-day programme started with a “hasya kavi sammelan”. Organisers as well as many students were disappointed as one of the famous satirists of the country Surender Sharma could not make it to the festival due to some reasons. However, the organisers maintained that during the event, there would be no dearth of thrill and joy as many celebrities, including Bollywood stars like Ryma Sen and Geeta Basra, had confirmed their participation in the festival.

Dehradun, October 29
Prof DS Chauhan, Vice-Chancellor, Uttarakhand Technical University, has now been entrusted with the task of giving direction to technical education in the state, more so after 189 colleges begin the de-affiliation exercise from HNB Garhwal University that has become a central university.

With a career spanning more than 10 years as VC of various professional universities, he was optimistic that the university will be able to meet the target for 2011-12 session.

Prof Chauhan said that the target was achievable provided the government comes out with clear-cut admission policies.

“Since the policy matter has to be decided by the government, it has to release a clear-cut order so that matters pertaining to admission are not challenged in the courts.

“For this, the order needs to muster support of the legislators and only the government can get it passed in the assembly.

“Over the past few years, academic sessions have suffered and have been delayed because of pending court cases,” said Prof Chauhan.

He said that the university had received the copy of the new ordinance that had entrusted the technical university with the responsibility of conducting of BEd, MEd, para-medical, BPEd training, research programmes and UGC courses - both educational and professional.

“In addition, we will be conducting medical/ BDS/pharmacy degree/ diploma courses, besides the other regular technical degree/diploma courses that we had been running from the very beginning when the university was created.

Keen to control the mushrooming private institutions, Prof Chauhan said that it can be achieved with the active cooperation of the government.

“To standardise the functioning of private institutions, regular checks and inspections will be carried and strict punitive measures will have to be taken against those violating norms. Our problem compounds when the institution owners resort to political pressure,” stressed Chauhan.

Optimistic that the institutions would one day fall in line, he said, “A time will come, sooner than later, when private institutions will have to look beyond the narrow prism of commercial interests and open their doors to all,” added Prof Chauhan.

In the coming days, the university hopes to work in tandem with the government. “The biggest challenge before us is the running of academic sessions of various courses on time. It can be achieved if the government decides to start the admission session by June-July and allows us to implement our academic calendar,” elaborated Chauhan.

A technocrat, Prof DS Chauhan, has done his BTech from the Benares Hindu University and MTech from the National Institute of Technology, Madras.

He did his PhD from IIT Delhi and has served as VC of Lovely Professional Institution, Jalandhar and JP University, Himachal Pradesh.

Not unduly worried about brain-drain, Prof Chauhan said that the phenomenon of the 70s has now ebbed. “These days, professionals, after getting good education from abroad, are turning back to their roots and this is a good sign,” said Prof Chauhan.

Dehradun, October 29
The final of Inter-Section Quiz Competition was held at RIMC here yesterday. A team of four members from each section took part in the quiz.

To judge the knowledge and energy levels of students, the quiz comprised rounds covering various topics such as ecology and environment, social science, sports, brain-teasers, science and technology, current affairs, surprise round, audio-video round and the buzzer round.

The participants from Pratap Section were Aman Thakur, Ankur Rawat, Abhishek Kundalia and Akash Kumar. The representatives of Ranjit Section were Mukesh Kumar, Sachin Lakhawat, Amrit Panda and Gaurav Kumar.

The participants of Shivaji Section were Vignesh, Guninder Singh, Aman Kumar and Vipul Jajoo. The participants of Chandragupta Section were Devi Prasad, Himanshu Thapa, Suyash Gupta and Sidharth Mishra.

The quiz masters of the evening were Neelam Kaushik, Keshav Anand, Balvir Chauhan and PN Naik along with the timekeepers of the quiz Piyush Pawar and Akshay Chugh of the RIMC.

The top position was bagged by Pratap Section with 284 points, Ranjit Section stood second with 283 points, Chandragupta Section was third with 280 points and Shivaji Section secured the fourth position with 165 points.

The chief guest for the evening was Lieut-Col R Nathawat, adminstrative officer, RIMC. He appreciated the performance of the cadets and encouraged them to keep the flag of the RIMC flying high. The other dignitaries present were Sqn Ldr YS Panghal, Major R Rexson and KS Ahlawat.

Dehradun, October 29
Dr Pratibha Saini, MS (gynaecologist and obstetrics), yesterday said test tube and ICSI method could considerably increase the success rate of fertility to 40 to 50 per cent. Earlier, the success rate was between 15 to 20 per cent.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Dr Saini said her paper on improved pregnancy rate with estrogen administration in follicular phase of previously failed IVFET-ICSI cycle due to poor endometerial growth had been accepted by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.

“I had presented the scientific paper at the international meeting held at Atlanta (USA) between October 17 and 21.

Another research paper was presented on improved pregnancy rate with pretreatment of GnRH in July in Amsterdam. These papers have been widely quoted and the doctors in America have expressed their keenness to visit our centre in Dehradun,” said Dr Pratibha.

Those desirous of seeking treatment against infertility should check the claims of the mushrooming test-tube centres in the city before approaching them, she said. “Very few possess requisite expertise and gullible patients get taken up by claims without testing their worth,” she stressed.

Dr Saini said the government should boost indigenous research in stem cells as it holds promise in finding a cure to several degenerative diseases. “We are still dependent on borrowed research and technology but if the government allows quality laboratories to undertake embryo stem-cell culture, it will bring down costs and more and more poor patients can benefit,” she added.

Dehradun, October 29
The Sport Hostel and the Garhwal Sporting team have made it to the semifinal of the ninth Gautam Gurung Memorial Football Tournament here today.

In was a tough match for the Sport Hostel team who defeated Doon Valley by a solitary goal. It was Manoj for Sports Hostel who played a blinder to earn his team a first goal in the eighth minute of the match.

The experienced Doon Valley team missed out on a number of occasions on the scoring opportunities and the score at the end of the first half was 1-0.

In the second half, Doon Valley failed to stop the Sports Hostel team from creating pressure on their defense. It was a good keeping skill demonstrated by the Doon Valley keeper that resisted the Sport Hostel team to make any gaol.

In the end, Sport Hostel won the match by a solitary goal.

Meanwhile, in the second match, the Garhwal Sporting team defeated the Akranta team in a tiebreaker. The match began on a fast pace between the two teams. But the first half did not see much action from the forward of both the side. In the second half, Garhwal Sporting pressed hard on the Akranta, but rock-solid defense of Akranta resisted them to score any goal.

Dehradun, October 29
Dehradun’s Dhruv Pal to clash with Ishaque Eqbal of West Bengal in the final of the u-12 AITA Championship Series Tennis Tournament underway at Shanti Tennis Academy, here today.

In the first semifinal match of u-12 Ishaque outplayed Shrey Gupta of Hariyana in straight sets. Ishaque’s strong serve did the trick for him in the match. He won the first set by 6-3 to leave his opponent demoralised. Ishaque made a strong start in the second set and gave his opponent little to take charge of the game, winning the match 6-3.

In second semifinal match between Dhruv Pal and Vishu Prasad of West Bengal, the former dominated the match throughout giving his opponent little chance to set his foot in the match. In the second set Dhruv’s good form continued as he won the match against Vishu by 4-1.

In u-14 Boys’ category, Sachin Kumar of Chandigarh defeated Aman Rawat of Delhi in three sets. Sachin won the first set by 7-5, but Aman came back strongly in the second set to win it by 7-5. Sachin won the set by 6-4.

In the second semifinal, Ishaque defeated Aditya Pattnaik and won the match against 6-2, 7-5.

In u-12 girls’ semifinal, Karman Kaur of Delhi defeated Yuden Shyodhi of Maharashtra in three sets by 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. In the second semifinal, Nandhini Sharma defeated Ria Vardhan by 6-2, 6-2.

In u-14 girls semifinal, Yuden Shyodhi beat Ria Vardhan by 6-3, 6-3 and in the second semifinal A Bhasin beat Charvi Saxena by 6-2, 6-2.

In u-14 girls’ doubles, Pair of Karman Kaur of Delhi and Harsimran of Hariyana beat Vinita Singh of Delhi and T Grover of Delhi by 4-0, 4-1. In the second semifinal, Nandani Sharma and Shrishti beat Yuden Shyodhi and Aboli by 3-4, 4-3, 10-8.

In u-14 boys’ doubles semifinal, Ishaque and Sachin beat S Dhawan of Delhi and Sumitpal of Jammu. In the second semifinal, Rahul Singh of Delhi and Deepak beat D Bhatt of Chandigarh and Dhruv Pal of Dehradun by 4-2, 5-3. 

Dehradun, October 29
Brightlands School held its 4th annual athletic meet here today. Students from classes III to VII took part in various races.

Around 1,200 students participated in the meet. Pushpa Thapliyal, principal of the school, inaugurated the meet while Sujata Banerjee, head mistress, Ritu Gupta, junior school head mistress, Chitra Saraswat, head of English Department, and Romila Beri, organising secretary, were present at the meet.

The annual meet comprised skipping race, needle-and-thread race, lemon-and-spoon race, 80m race, Limca race, book-balancing race, shoes-and-socks race and tying-the-tie race. All sections of each class were asked to participate in the meet so that apart from studies, children get a chance to indulge in extracurricular activities. For every race there were top three positions. The winners were awarded medals.

In the Jhelum House, the first position in the skipping race was won by Diya Saigal, needle-and-thread race Shrawam Singh, lemon-and-spoon race by Riya Aima, 80m race by Aditya Rawat, Limca race by Adhiraj Pal and tying-the-tie race by Vedant Upadhaya.

For the Chenab House, the lemon-and-spoon race was won by Tarushi Singh Rajaura, book-balancing race by Madhika Sharma, skipping race by Gaurangi Chandra, Limca race by Umang Khanna, 80m race by Ashirvad Sethi and sack race by Dushyant Wahi. In the Flamingo House, the first position in the book-balancing race was won by Gurbani Bindra, lemon-and-spoon race by Mehak Lang, Limca race by Pritika Sharma, 80m race by Aryaman Dua and shoes-and-socks race Yashyvardhan Srivastava and in Dolphin House, the winner of the book-balancing race was Rageshwari Garg, lemon and spoon race Jessica Kashyap, Limca race Arjun Aeron, 80m race Shaumya Bhatia and the winner of the shoes-and-socks race was Ishan Shankar Roy. The meet will conclude tomorrow.

Dehradun, October 29
Defending champion ONGC will meet LIC in the finals of the All-India Public Sector Sports Promotion Board Volleyball Tournament here tomorrow.

In the first semifinal match, ONGC won the first set in tough contest with BSNL. The scores of the first set were 25-22. In the second set, ONGC won the match by 25-21 and the set third by 25-22.

In the second semifinal match, the LIC team beat BEL to advance into final. LIC won the first set by 25-19 and the second by 26-16. LIC won the last set by 25-20.

Doon, Welham cagers triumph

Doon Girls and Welham Girls won their respective matches at the Tek Chand Memorial Inter-school Basketball Tournament for girls underway at Doon Girls School here today.

It proved to be a one-sided affair in the first match between Doon Girls and Hope Town teams. The Doon Girls team defeated Hope Town 31-16. The Doon Girls team dominated the match throughout to score at frequent intervals. After taking a lead in the first quarter, the Doon Girls team maintained it throughout and won the match with an ease.

Meanwhile, in the second match, Welham Girls defeated Carman School by 28-12. Welham Girls opened their account with a three pointer and ended the first quarter at a score of 8-2. In the end Welham Girls won the match by the 28-12.

Dehradun, October 29
The SGRR Race Course team won the SGRR Inter-School Kho-Kho Tournament here today. In the final it defeated the Bombay Baag team.

In the first half, Bombay Baag lost three players, whereas Race Course lost just two players. In the second half, Bombay Baag again lost three players, whereas Race Course lost just one.