Dehradun, November 1
Property in Dehradun, capital of the state, will now be dearer as the Uttarakhand government on Saturday announced a steep rise in circle rates for properties in the state. All properties, whether commercial, residential or rural, will now have the new hiked circle rates.

This increase in the circle rates is in various slabs. The commercial properties have registered an increase ranging from 15 to 30 per cent in the circle rates depending upon the area. For residential areas, the increase in circle rates is between 10 and 25 per cent whereas for agricultural land, the hike extends from 3 to 15 per cent. The new circle rates will be applicable from today (November 1) and will continue till 2011.

The circle rates are the land prices on which the state government charges stamp duty on the sale of any property to avoid under-valuation.

Thus, it could be more of tough times ahead for those aspiring to purchase property in Dehradun. The hike in the circle rates is bound to affect the property prices. It will lead to more of stamp duty, putting burden on the purchasers and a phenomenal rise in the market rates of property can be its ramification.

There are also fears that that the new circle rates will put pressure on agricultural land. While there is a stupendous rise in the circle rates of residential areas, it is comparatively less for agricultural land. There is a big possibility that this may lead to a sudden spurt in illegal plotting on the already shrinking agriculture land in Dehradun.

Those dealing in real estate business see the hike in the circle rates as injudicious. “The steep hike in circle rates will put burden on consumers and will further bring a downslide in the real estate business,” said Ranjit Singh Aswal of Friends Associates. He pointed out that while the hike in the circle rates was too much, no consideration had been given to the Master Plan while arriving at the decision to hike the rates.

Interestingly, purchasing an apartment would now burn holes in the pockets of consumers, as now they will also have to pay for the circle rates of the flat. Earlier, flats were out of the purview of the assessment and consumer had to only pay for circle rates for the land. But from today, all flats have come under the assessment category.

It took a marathon meeting of the authorities concerned to decide the new circle rates for the capital city. The Dehradun district authorities had held several round of meetings before finally announcing the revised circle rates on Saturday night. Presided over by District Magistrate D Senthil Pandian, the meetings had discussed at length possible circle rates for Dehradun city, Mussoorie, Rishikesh and Vikasnagar before coming to a final decision. Significantly, the meeting had unanimously decided to hike the circle rates both at the commercially important and agricultural areas. The meeting had also held that there should not be much of difference in the circle rates of land in a particular locality. The industrialists participating in the meeting categorically held that circle rate for the land in industrial areas should not be hiked.

Dehradun residents fear that the increase in the circle rates will further take property prices in the capital city beyond the reach of the common man. “Rates of property in Dehradun have undergone a sharp rise ever since Uttarakhand came into formation and Dehradun was awarded the interim capital status,” said Atul Joshi, a Doonite. “For a common man, purchasing property in Dehradun will now become more difficult as the rise in the circle rates will have a spiralling effect on the property prices,” argued Atul, who sees tough times ahead for those interested in purchasing property.

Nainital, November 1
The new circle rates for sale and purchase of land in Nainital district have come into effect from today. The orders for implementation of the new rates have been given by the District Magistrate Shailesh Bagauli. The land prices are set to go up in both the urban and rural areas of the district.

According to the information available, the sale and purchase of land had seen an increase in the last few days as the revision of circle rates were in the offing. It is learnt that 157 registrations had taken place in Haldwani alone over the past two days.

New rates have been fixed for four categories of land in Nainital, Kutauli, Dhari and Betalghat tehsils.

The land available up to 300 metres from road head in A-class villages will now cost Rs 2.5 lakh per “nalli” or Rs 2,500 per square metre. In remote areas, the rates will vary between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 per “nalli”. The hike that has been recorded is 34 per cent for the roadside property and 5 per cent to 15 per cent in the villages.

In Nainital town, the rates along the mall road will now be Rs 30,000 per square meter and in areas like Krishnapur and Snow View they will be Rs 3,000 per square metre after registering a hike of 34 per cent.

In Haldwani, the rates in the agricultural areas have gone up by two per cent and in residential areas; the increase is to the tune of 30 per cent. Industrial areas have seen a rise to the tune of 52 per cent.

On the main motorable roads, the new rates will be be Rs 9,000 per square metre on Nainital Road and Rs 6,000 per square metre on Kaladhungi Road.

Agricultural land prices in Dumwadunga and adjoining areas have been put at Rs 86 lakh per hectare. The rates in case of residential buildings have also been increased. The new rates that will be applicable are Rs 6,000, Rs 5400 and Rs 6400 per square metre in urban areas. The rate fixed for rural areas is Rs 2,700 per square metre. The new rates will be applicable till October 31, 2011.

Dehradun, November 1
The first draft report on the functioning of Information Commissions across the country has come up with interesting disclosures.

While Uttarakhand has fared badly in the overall public satisfaction scale and is ranked 15th, the state had excelled in the deterrent impact category bagging a rank as high as six.

Brought out by the Public Cause Research Foundation, ranking of commissions on the basis on different scales ranging from overall public satisfaction, effectiveness and deterrent impact is a first-ever initiative meant to reveal the performance of various commissions in the country.

In the overall public satisfaction category, Uttarakhand bagged the 15th rank with 13.5 per cent. In other words, only 13.5 out of 100 persons who had approached the Information Commission had received information. Thus, the Uttarakhand Information Commission found itself placed among the bottom-five commissions in this category.

The commission, however, was pegged at overall seventh rank with Madhya Pradesh on the effectiveness scale out of the 17 states that have been listed on this scale.

Effectiveness means the commission’s ability to get its own orders implemented. Karnataka and Kerala have topped with effectiveness up to 59.9 per cent. Punjab has stood third followed by Gujarat, Orissa and Bihar.

On deterrent impact, which revealed how much fear was there in the minds of government officers over the RTI Act, the Uttarakhand Information Commission was placed sixth out of the 23 information commissions assessed on this scale.

The last metric that was used to rank the commissions was the pro-disclosure factor. It is a measure of who passed the maximum number of orders in favour of disclosures.

Uttarakhand here performed the worst and stood at the overall 25th rank as it had remanded a large number of cases and rejected large number of complaints.

The Uttarakhand Information Commission with 35 per cent pro-disclosure factor was among the bottom five commissions of the country.

However, Uttarakhand Chief Information Commissioner Dr RS Tolia welcomed the draft report. He said while the commission has no comments to offer on the overall public satisfaction, effectiveness and deterrent-impact metrics, it certainly had some comment on the pro-disclosure factor.

In a letter written to Kejriwal, Dr Tolia pointed out that the commission has remanded only those cases to First-Appeal Officers in which direct second appeals/complaints were filed with the commission citing it as the reason behind remanding back a large number of cases without any hearings.

He said the commission on examination found that by not providing opportunity to first-appeal officers, who are also departmental officers, will lead to enfeebling the mechanism of first appeals.

Kejriwal’s brainchild Public Cause Research Foundation, apart from ranking commissions under different scales, also ranked the Information Commissioners.

Uttarakhand Information Commissioner fared poorly in pro-disclosure factor scale attaining 88th rank. He got the 56th rank among commissioners on overall public satisfaction. Dr Tolia got the 31st rank on effectiveness scale.

Haridwar, November 1
Even as less than two months remain for the start of the century’s first Maha Kumbh, a lackadaisical attitude of various departments concerned towards completing mela-related projects has drawn flak ministers. There has been no paucity of funds for these projects.

A slow pace of works being carried out in the city in view of the mega fair has had Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, other state ministers and Union Minister Harish Rawat, who is also an MP from Haridwar, annoyed.

Though the mela administration has tightened its grip on the departments and agencies, there seems to be no major improvement in their working. Recently, the mela officer scolded officers for laxity in certain works while he was on an inspection of the works being done by the Pay Jal Nigam and the Public Works Department.

The mela officer took a strong cognisance of the slow pace of sewer-laying work being carried in the city. It is still going on even after the the work commenced almost one year ago.

On the Kankhal-Jagjitpur road via the Daksh temple, the mela officer was miffed to see no work had started on the stretch. He sought an instant explanation from executive engineer on this negligence.

Similarly, the executive engineer of the Pay Jal Nigam was found short of words and a clear explanation when the mela officer questioned on a slow pace of water pipe-laying work in Bairagi Camp and the Dakshdeep-Satideep areas.

He gave the officers concerned the warning that if their attitude continued so then he would have to take a stringent action against them. The mela officer, at the same places, gave orders for removal of bushes and levelling the whole Bairagi camp area.

Additional Mela officer BS Dhanik too in his inspection has found various works going on snails pace of which many would have been completed by till date.

Temporary works is yet to start while permanent works are going on. It seems many works will take at least two-three months to complete, hence worries for the mela administration.

Various parties and social organisations have been complaining of a slow pace of Kumbh works in the Haridwar district. Recently, questions were raised on the works being carried during the Gang canal closure.

Roorkee, November 1
‘Thomso-09’, the youth festival hosted by the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, failed to meet the expectations of the participants as well as of the locals here. All the tall claims made by the organisers regarding arrival of top celebrities during the show fell flat.

Except one or two big names, most of the stars did not turn up at the event. The organisers, who had claimed before starting of the event that Bollywood actors like Ryhma Sen, Geeta Basra, Sonal Chauhan, satirist Surender Sharma, Navjot Singh Sidhu and singer Shaan have confirmed their participation, were tightlipped on the issue on the final day of the festival.

“I think this was the strategy of the organisers to attract more and more sponsors by announcing, though falsely, the names of celebrities to collect money. Otherwise there seemed no reason that most of the stars could not come despite their confirmation”, said Avinash, a student. The organisers also attracted nagging over the issue of making arrangements for visiting students. Earlier, claims were made that all the outside students would be lodged in IIT hostels free of cost.

Criticising the organisers for their mismanagement, a group of students from Delhi said, “We reached here in the morning on the second day of the festival but till evening we didn’t find any arrangements for our lodging. Finally, we managed to hire rooms in a local lodge.”

During two visits, this correspondent found the makeshift office, set up for the festival in Hobbies Club, locked even in afternoon. If this was not enough, the judges of the various programmes, too lamented the unprofessional approach of institute authorities.

“What to talk of payment or any honorarium, we were not even asked for meals by the institute authorities”, complained a member of judging panel of play competition, who claimed that they had to sit to judge the competition for over 10 hours continuously.

Notably, the amount of sponsorship money for the last year’s ‘Thomso’ was Rs 25,88,780. This year, the figure is reportedly touching whopping Rs 50 lakh.

“What the organisers are doing with the huge sum of money is a big question. Being termed as a state festival, the government should have a role in organising the things in it”, commented Shreegopal Narasan, local spokesman of Union Minister Harish Rawat.

During the four-day event, many students felt harassed by the arrangements here and left the premises even before the finals of various programmes concluded.

Dehradun November 1
A seminar on introducing Montessori system in primary schools was held here today. The seminar was organised for the interested people to join an internationally acclaimed pre-school chain under the name of ‘ABC Montessori’.

Anil Agarwal, the master franchisee of Uttrakhand zone, Abhilasha Jalota of ABC Montessori, India and Vatsala Agarwal addressed the event with zeal and enthusiasm. Audio-visual presentation was given in the seminar.

“It is a foreign style of educational system where toddlers at a very tender age of 2 yrs are groomed and prepared to be independent. Dr Maria Montessori at The Academy of Brilliant Child, Georgia, USA, basically established this system,” said Abhilasha, who has introduced the whole new concept of primary education with social development in India.

To this Anil Agarwal added that, “Pre-schooling of a child can help our budding entrepreneurs to start a venture that fulfils a vital social need and has great potential for setting up a great profitable educational institute.”

Many businessmen, educationists, social workers, entrepreneurs, principals of various schools and parents have attended this seminar.

Dehradun, November 1
The Heritage School celebrated its 56th annual day, ‘Symphonie Fantastique’, yesterday on the premises of Shri Rohitash Singh Auditorium. Students presented cultural and musical performance on the occasion.

Chief guest for the function was Prakash Pant, Water Resources and Planning Minister and Parliamentary Affairs Minister. The cultural programme included dances, songs and music. The highlight of the function was Om Namoh Namah a performance presented by the students in a semi-classical style. Heritagians even paid a musical tribute to the dancing legend Michael Jackson. They student performed on his much-famous ‘Thriller’ song.

School principal B Gill announced the annual report and the scholarship to the meritorious students of the ISC. In ISC, Loveeka Jain topped in the science stream with 93.7 per cent and Sneha Ahuja topped in the commerce stream with 93.5 per cent.

In ICSE, Shubhangi Sanghal and Anjali Joshi were declared toppers.

Other dignitaries presented on the occasion were former Governor HL Kapoor, Air Commodore Karan Singh Chhina, Brig RS Rawat.

Dehradun, November 1
A free health camp was organised by Dhirghayu Clinic in association with Lions Club and Dehradun Shikhar (a unit of Technica Pharmaceutical) at Nehru Colony here today.

The camp was inaugurated by Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli, who said more camps should be held so that people could avail such facilities under one-roof.

Speaking on the occasion, Rajneesh, head of Dhirghayu Clinics, said more clinics would be started at different cities, where the health camps would be held from time to time.

A total of 410 patients were examined and given medicines. They were examined by cardiology specialist Dr Deepak Kalra, dentist Dr Deepika, gynaecologist Dr Anjali Choudhury and skin specialist Dr Bharat Singh.

The camp was attended by Lion Pawan Gupta, Lion SK Ahuja, Lion Anil Mittal, Lion RK Gupta.

Dehradun, November 1
Gaurav House won the overall Championship Trophy at the Scholars’ Home Annual Sports Day celebrated here today.

Ashu Vora was the declared the best Athlete in boys whereas Kiriti Agarwal was the best athlete in girls.

In junior category Subham Saini was declared the best athlete whereas in girls A Singh was given the athletes trophy.

Amit was declared the best Volley players in boys whereas Shilpa received the award in girls’ category.

Farooq was given the best basketball players award in boys whereas in girls Neha Naithani received the award. Anuj Nautiyal won the best badminton award in girls Sughandha received the award in girls.

In football Salinder Pawar won the best footballer award.

The event began with traditional chanting of shlokas and soulful rendition of Vande-Mantarm followed by drills performed by the school children.

The tiny tots paid their tribute to the legendary Michael Jackson through a dance performance that enthralled the audience.

This was also a Golden Jubilee Year for the school and the senior teachers were honoured on the occasion.

The chief guest on the occasion Govind Singh Bisht, Education Minister Uttarakhand gave away the prizes to the meritorious students and also presented awards to sportsmen.

Dehradun, November 1
Bhawana Harbola and Vinita Bhatt did the state proud by winning a bronze medal in team event at the 35th Women’s National Table Tennis Championship organised at Bhopal from October 21 to 24.

This is the second time in succession when they won a medal at the national level. Bhawana Harbola who is employee at BSNL said, “I wish to do well at the national level and win a gold medal, but for this we need more match practice and more competitive atmosphere at the root level”.

Uttarakhand Police’s, Vinita Bhatt too feels the same, said “ The state has a huge potential to produce good players, but for it the game should be popularised among the masses”. The sports department failed to organise a camp for the players before they left for the national tournament.

Uttarakhand Table Tennis Association, secretary Ashok Wasu and facilitated the player for their medal winning performance and asked them to do well in the near future. SAI coach, Prince Vipin were also present on the occasion.

Dehradun, November 1
The annual sports day of Himalayan Public School was celebrated here today. The day began with facilitation of chief guest Harshvardan Arya, president of the school, and Dr Adiya Vardhan Arya, secretary of the school, and Principal Neena Singh.

A national song, march past, PT, dumbbell PT and yoga exercises were followed by the inauguration ceremony. Oath ceremony for the prefects was also held amid applause.

Displaying enthusiasm number of race such as pick the ball, jalebi race, bring your partner, long jump, shot put, discus throw, 4 rounds, ready to picnic, skipping race, relay, show bicycle, tug-of-war and many others. Shradhananda House bagged the trophy for the march past. Lajpat Rai House bagged the sports trophy of the year.

However, after the prize distribution ceremony the chief guest addressed the students, which was followed by the vote of thanks by Principal Neena Singh and the national anthem.

Dehradun, November 1
The GGIC team will clash with Stadium Trainees team in the final of Inter-School District Baseball Championship for Girls, organised by District Sports Office here tomorrow. Whereas in boys’, Gandhi Inter-College has made to the semifinal.

In the first girls semifinal match Stadium Trainees outplayed Doon Club by 10-1. Stadium Trainees strikers scored runs at will and pilled a mammoth total of 10 runs on board, in return Doon Club girls fail to click and could only score one run.

In the second semifinal, GGIC beat CNI girls in closely contested match. GGIC strikers scored three points against CNI team who could only managed to score two.

In the boys’ semifinal Gandhi Inter-College team outshine RS Holi Child by 5-3. Meanwhile, in other league matches, Khukhri team beat SGRR by 7-4 and S Dev Public School beat Stadium Trainees by 5-4.

Dehradun, November 1
Brightland School won the overall skaters award at the 9th Inter-School Roller Skating Competition here today. Brightland skater won six gold at the championship.

Result Boys:

In Adjustable 6-8 age group: 1. Shaurya Semwal 2. Akhil Jain 3. Lalit Saini

In Quad 6-8 age group: 1. Siddhart Negi 2. Shubham Raj 3. Sachat Singh Rawat

In Inline 6-8 age group: 1. Madhav Sangal 2. Tusar Agarwal 3. Akshat

In Quad 8-10 age group: 1 Snehshish Tiwari 2. Yashasvi Ghai 3. Yash

In Adjustable 8-10 age group: 1. Deepak Saini 2. Harman Deep Singh 3. Himanshu Gupta

In Inline 8-10 age group: 1. Sneh Shish Tiwari 2. Dhananjay Singh 3. Pranav

In u-14 age group: 1. Naman 2. Avram 3. Ayush Lakhera

Result Girls:

In Quad 6-8 age group: 1. Samsiddhi Tiwari 2. Vanshika 3. Raselika Seksali

In Adjustable 6-8 age group: 1. Kritika 2. Parena Sahrwal 3. Maanyaa Kapur.

In Inline 6-8 age group: 1. Samriddhi Tiwari

In Quad 8-10 age group: 1. Swasti 2. Kimricha 3. Nishtha

In Inline 9-10 age group: 1. Vanshika Gungiyal 2. Chahak 3. Swasti.

In Adjustable 9-10 age group: 1. Karman Sabharwal 2. Yashvi Kandni 3. Harsimran.

In u-14 age group: 1. Jhanvi Rathor 2. Ayushi Panwar 3. Priya.

In u-16 age group: 1. Vabhani 2. Sharvi 3. Shawali Arora.

Dehradun, November 1
The Uttarakhand Police to clash with Garhwal Sporting in the final of the 9th Gautam Memorial Football Tournament here today. In the second semifinal match Uttarakhand Police team defeated Sports Hostel by a narrow margin of 2-1.

Sports Hostel team came close on scoring a goal on a number of occasion but lack of finishing touches denied them the much needed goal in the semifinal match, whereas, on other hand police converted the scoring opportunities as and when they received.

The Uttarakhand Police surprised their opponent in the 25th minute of the match through a goal scored by Narendra. There lead could not last for long as Sport Hostel scored an equaliser in the 32nd minute through Rakesh Rawat.

In the second half Sports Hostel played aggressive football to missed out on scoring opportunity in the 38th minute of the match. Uttarakhand Police launched a counter attack in the 40th minute of the match but to penetrate the Sports Hostel team defence. Police team players took control on the proceedings soon and pressed hard on Sports Hostel defence to keep them on their toes.

The pressure tactic paid as they succeeded in scoring their second goal in the 62nd minute through Rakesh Rawat making the score 2-1 and win the match to make it to finals.

Dehradun, November 1
A 27-member team of Uttarkhand Police will take part in a cycle rally from November 2.

The cyclists will travel through 13 districts covering a tough distance of 18,18 km.

The rally will culminate on November 9 in Dehradun. It will be inaugurated by Uttarakhand Director-General of Police (DGP) Subhash Joshi at 10:30 am from the Police Lines.

During their journey, the cyclist will interact with the general public and spread the message of Uttarakhand police- friendship, service and protection.

The policemen will also show films to rural people promoting the slogan “Hum Chale Gaon”.

Dehradun, November 1
London Dreams, which released on October 30, opened with a good response in the state capital. Since the last two days all four shows were reported houseful.

Directed by Vipul Shah, it’s a musical drama where superstars Ajay Devgan and Salman Khan play best of friends and from a small town, shifts to London in discovering their musical dream. Arjun (Ajay Devgan) and Mannu (Salman Khan) are childhood buddies from Bathinda. While both of them at one point join hands to create music, movie takes a turn when Ajay Devgan starts getting jealous of the much-talented Salman and his love saga with Asin, making the friendship goes in jeopardy.

“This is purely a musical movie and primarily one of the main reason why people are thronging to watch it. Since the opening day till date we have received a good response,” said Inderjeet Sethi, manager, Natraj cinema.

However, in spite of being inspired a by a Hollywood flick Amadeus and not many catchy number as per the desired expectation for a musical movie, it still tends to attract crowd for revitalising the old friendship and solid performance showcased in the blockbuster Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam between Salman and Ajay.

“It’s refreshing to see Salman and Ajay together once again,” said Shaliesh, a college student.

“Within two days the response has been above average,” added Inder Jeet Sethi.