Dehradun, November 2
The Uttarakhand government finds itself in a piquant situation on the issue of announcing support price for sugarcane. The state government’s worries started after the Union government announced its Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for the season’s sugarcane at Rs 129.84 per quintal.

Uttarakhand, which is already facing a decrease in its sugarcane cultivation, finds itself in a no-win situation.

The problem has been compounded by the recent amendment in the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, that says that the difference between the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) announced by the central government and the State Advised Price (SAP) of sugarcane has to be paid by the state government and not by sugar mills.

Already, the state government has written a strongly worded letter to the central government alleging that the move by the Centre was inspired by the powerful lobby of private sugar-mill owners and that it has put additional burden on cash-starved states.

Since the FRP is far less than the expected SAP, the state government will find it difficult to meet the difference of the prices.

Already, the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh has announced its SAP of Rs 165-170 per quintal putting pressure on the Uttarakhand government to act fast.

The expert committee, comprising representatives of private sugar mills, farmers and other experts, set up by the state government has already given its recommendations about the SAP to the state government.

However, the state government has not been able to take a quick decision due to the financial liability involved. It was expected that an urgent cabinet meeting will be called to discuss and decide on the sensitive issue that also has political bearings.

State government officials are making permutations and combinations to get out of the situation. It was believed that if the state government has to bridge the gap of Rs 40 per quintal then the state government will have to bear an extra burden of nearly Rs 140 crore. A state government that is dependent on central aid will find it difficult.

Moreover, officials maintain that if the system continues, the burden on the state will recur year after year.

The delay in the announcement of SAP will also lead to a delay in the start of the crushing season that normally starts in mid-November in all 10 sugar mills - four in private sector and six government-run.

Last year, the sugar mills of the state crushed 242 lakh quintal of sugarcane. According to rough estimates by state government officials, a sum of Rs 72 crore would be due to four private mills if the gap between SAP and FRP has to be bridged by the state government.

For six government-owned mills, the financial burden will be more than Rs 65 crore for this crushing season.

On the other hand, sugarcane farmers are agitated over the delay in the declaration of SAP and are demanding a price of more than Rs 200 per quintal. Private small crushers known as ‘kohlus’ are already offering a price of Rs 220 per quintal.

Interestingly, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state government has been mulling over the pros and cons of the issue, the acreage under sugarcane has been steadily going down in the state.

This year, despite a good harvest, only 95,000 hectares have come under sugarcane production than last year’s 1.5 lakh hectares. A year before, it was 1,33,000 hectares.

In 2007-08, 400 lakh quintal sugarcane was crushed and 42 lakh quintal of sugar was produced as compared to 280 lakh quintal crushed in 2008-09.

The production of sugarcane and sugar in Uttarakhand is in the throes of a major crisis. Sugarcane production and the resultant production of sugar from sugar mills have shown a marked decline setting alarm bells ringing.

In December 2008, the state government had announced a package of Rs 56.3 crore for settling sugarcane dues of farmers. In 2007, a sum of Rs 72 crore was given to settle the dues of the farmers by the mills.

With the new regulation by the central government, while citizens are buying sugar at the rate of Rs 38 per kg, farmers are crying for better remuneration of their crops. Officials believe that sugar mill owners have been let off the hook.

“It is totally unwarranted and callous on the part of the central government to benefit private sugar-mill owners at the cost of state government, customers and poor sugarcane farmers. We are deliberating on the issue and will come up with a solution soon,” Uttarakhand Sugarcane Minister Madan Kaushik told TNS.

Dehradun, November 2
Diminishing interest in traditional freestyle wrestling notwithstanding, come Sunday, a large crowd gathers at the rear of the Parade Ground to witness bouts of ‘pehelwans’ who come from different parts of the country.

For the past 60 years, the bouts organised by the Akhara Sheraan Samiti have been going on uninterrupted and Mahaveer Sharma, pradhan of the samiti, has managed to keep this traditional wrestling form afloat.

His spotless set of white hair and quiet demeanour may be a bit unsettling at times, as one can easily take him for a professor and not somebody who started his career as a man Friday at a local akhara in Murad Nagar.

The low-profile nature of his job helped ignite interest in wrestling and when he came to Dehradun, this interest continued.

From the day he set foot here, he has gone with a begging bowl from person to person asking for donations to host weekly wrestling bouts.

Yesterday, being a special day, close to 25 wrestlers from Roorkee, Karnal, Delhi, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Haridwar have come down for the wrestling show.

Such is his reputation that players from the legendary Chatarsal Stadium, Delhi, made popular by Olympian Sushil Kumar, have been participating on a regular basis.

“Banta, a well-known wrestler from Chatarsal Stadium, is here with five wrestlers and has quoted a fee of Rs 14,000 for the bout.

“Other pehelwans will also be paid between Rs 4000-Rs 5000. As the bouts become interesting, the public too chips in and at the end of the show, the wrestlers are richer by few thousands. One has to pay outstation wrestlers and there is no way out,” he emphasised.

With no support coming from the government, it is efforts like these that are ultimately sustaining this traditional sport that, till this day, is played in a mud or clay pit.

The pit is prepared by mixing the soil with ghee, curds, turmeric etc. After that, it has to be simply dug up and some more mud is added to level the pit.

It is the soil pit, several experts point out, that does not allow traditional wrestlers to graduate to the mat that is a must at international events. Hence, not many are turning to the sport.

But wrestlers like Sandeep Dubey and Yashpal Choudhury of Roorkee discount it. “Techniques have to be perfected and that can only be done if we start at the beginning. Traditional ‘kushti’ is important, but later, one can take up mat-wrestling as has been done by Sushil Kumar,” said Sandeep Dubey.

So much for the step-motherly treatment by the state government, Akhara Sheraan Samiti had to fight a lonely battle after the akhara at Race Course was closed. “Now, there are no akharas left in Doon, save for the one at Guru Ram Rai Darbar Sahib. It is no wonder then that there are few takers for the sport that requires wrestlers to live together under strict rules.”

“We could not get any akharas but we held on to the akhara pit that moved from Race Course, Police Lines, Delhi Bus Stand and now the Parade Ground,” said Sharma.

In fact, Fakir Chand was the last Kesri Hind hailing from Doon, who bagged the coveted title in 1979, 1980 and 1981. Now, he has been assigned the job of a referee.

Dehradun, November 2
The 541st Prakash Parv of Guru Nanak Dev was observed all over the state today, with devotees visiting Gurdwaras since early morning to offer prayers.

In the city, at the main Gurdwara on Race-Course Road, Gurbani and paaths of Sukhmani Sahib were eagerly heard by a large number of devotees.

Giani Manmohan Singh from Poonch (Jammu and Kashmir) threw light on the life of Guru Nanak Dev and said he relentlessly fought against inequality and superstition.

The Chief Minister, Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, went to the gurdwara at Race-Course Road to seek blessings of the Guru. He was presented a siropa (robe) by representatives of the gurdwara committee on the occasion.

Amarjeet Singh Sethi, member of the executive body of the gurdwara, said: “We are expecting more than 10,000 people to come here for langar to be held once the kirtan is over. School kids and the youth could be seen engaged in ‘seva’ (service) at gurdwaras”. “We have also arranged langar for around 12,000 people today,” added Sethi.

Other dignitaries present at the venue were Harvansh Kapoor, Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, and Dinesh Agarwal, MLA, who also came to seek blessings at the gurdwara. Similar functions were held at the gurdwaras at Arhat Bazar, Nehru Colony and other places.

In the evening, a special programme was held at Guru Niwas in which Head Granti Gyani Bhupal Singh recited several incidents from the lives of the Gurus.

Roorkee: Sikh community celebrated the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev with religious fervour and gaiety here today.

All the gurdwaras in the town, including BT Ganj, BEG, Ram Nagar and Civil Lines were pleasingly decorated where the devotees started thronging in a large number to pay obeisance since early morning and participated in religious congregations and recitations from Guru Granth Sahib.

A large number of devotees had ‘langar’ there. Akhand Path, Diwans and community kitchens marked the day.

The religious leaders exhorted the people to follow the ideals of Guru Nanak Dev and uphold the high traditions of communal amity and brotherhood to mark the day.

Roorkee, November 2
Living up to the expectations, Pakistan’s renowned band ‘Jal’ virtually rocked during the ‘RockNight’ event on the final day of ‘Thomso-09’ at ABN Ground, Indian Institute of Technology, here last night.

The young musicians, namely Gohar Mumtaz, Farhan Saeed and Shazi, from Pakistan, not only infused a top-level energy among the spectators with their high-pitched music, but also won the hearts of the present ones by showing their love for India and Indians as well.

“We are proud to be here, performing in front of you. We love you,” announced Gohar, the leading singer of the band.

The venue witnessed a huge crowd, mainly consisting youngsters, swaying on the tunes of the rock stars.

Earlier, the programme started around 8 pm with the London-based Punjabi pop singer Jaggi D.

The programme reached to its crescendo as soon as the members of the band appeared on the stage.

The hit numbers, including “Woh lamhe”, “Ab toh aadat si hai mujhko”, “Dama-dum mast kalandar”, “Kya hua tera vaada’ and “Kabhi kabhi” from Indian movies not only led the youngsters to dance, but also forced the elderly to shake their legs.

The band members also distributed CDs of their recently released album “Boondh” among the crowd.

“Seeing the love of the Indians towards us, we wish to come here again and again,” said Shazi, the bass guitarist in the band.

An elated local resident, Malini, who termed herself as a big fan of the band, said, “It’s a dream come true to witness her favourite singers, performing live here”.

While another student, Rajesh Jain, said it was a perfect ending of the youth festival, which otherwise was marred by mismanagements on the part of the organisers.

Dehradun, November 2
Under the leadership of Society Towards Environmental Protection (STEP) an awareness campaign was organised amid schoolchildren, women and unemployed youth of Naya Gaon Palio village and the adjoining villages on Saturday. The motive behind the campaign was to generate awareness regarding the utilisation of eco-friendly products and avoid usage of polythene bags and other such non-recyclable items.

During the day-long campaign at Asha Rani Gain Chad Jain Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Naya Gaon Palio, on Shimla Road, the students of MSc (envioronment management) of Forest Research Institute (FRI) actively participated in creating awareness and training schoolchildren to maintain clean and green environment by planting the saplings in the school area.

Devotedly, after planting the samples, the students pledged to maintain the same as long as they would be in the school, so that in future there would be greenery in the surrounding areas of the school campus.

An active member of BJP Khem Chand Gupta made an appeal to all villagers, including the students that they work hard to make sure that Naya Gaon Pailio village would be soon plastic free. Furthermore, joint secretary, STEP, Chaya Chaudhary and members Gargi Sharma, Mahesh Gupta, Vinod Yadav and Usha Gairola informed the students regarding the harmful effects of polybags and its frequent consumption by stray animals, gradually poising their life span.

An essay-writing competition was also organised for students so that they develop interest to participate in more of such competitions.

Certificates to the deserving candidates were distributed by school chairman Chander Mohan Naithani, Khem Chand Gupta and principal Laxmi Rawat. Besides, helping the cause Gramudhyog Samiti Shyampur of Prem Nagar, Dehradun, secretary TS Bist Bagwan provided the saplings for plantation in the school.

“Our society will help in providing the quality planting material in Shyampur village. Moreover, with the help of FRI, Dehradun, a model village has been developed by his society and along with medicinal plants, other forestry and horticultural plants will facilitate in developing clean and green environment in Sahas Pur block of Dehradun, proving to be a boon to the state of Uttarakhand. Efforts will also be made in developing the entrepreneurship from the forest-based technologies such as utilisation of weeds growing in these areas. STEP will continue in developing the entrepreneurship among the desired youth of the area so that they can improve there socio-economic status and an additional income can be generated by adopting the technologies developed by the institute,” said TS Bist.

The awareness programme concluded with the distribution of Khadi Bags to the students so that soon usage of polythenebags comes to a standstill.

Dehradun, November 2
With an aim to connect with the population of the rural and hilly areas of the state, a 28-member police team left for a weeklong motorcycle expedition here this morning from the Police Lines. The team would visit all the 13 districts of the state and the rally would culminate on the State Foundation Day i.e. November 9 in Dehradun.

The Uttarakhand Director General of Police (DGP) Subhash Joshi flagged off the rally. The 28 policemen, including a Superintendent of Police (SP), an inspector, four sub-inspectors, head constables and constables. The team was joined by four media persons. An emergency van and an additional police gypsy carrying five management people also left with them.

The motorcyclist will travel through 13 districts covering a distance of 1,818 km. During their journey they would interact with general public and listen their problems. This would help the police force to work for the welfare of the people in a better way. The policemen would spread the message of Uttarakhand police-serve, protect and friendship.

All the senior police officials, including the DGP and the Dehradun SSP Abhinav Kumar were present at the event. Earlier the DGP met personally with team and wished them good luck for the journey.

The DGP urged them to make the police force proud by making the best of this initiative. He said that a police inspector had given this suggestion to induct this program and after talks they came up with this program.

He said that besides boosting the morale of the police this would also help the people living in rural areas to get in touch with the police and share their problems. This is a platform from where we can make contact with people living in distant places, told the DGP.

He informed the media that various programs would be organised on the occasion of the State Foundation Day. A convention of general public and police would be organised from November 7 to 11 in all the police stations of the state.

While on November 12 and 13 a meeting of senior police officials would be held in the police headquarters which will be inaugurated by the Chief Minister of the state. As a fun frolic activity a cricket match between Secretary XI and DIG XI would be played on November 14.

ROORKEE: The senior police officials welcomed the team, namely ‘Sahsik Khel Abhiyan Dal’, which is on a mission to encourage the sports in the state, here today afternoon.

SP (rural) Ajay Joshi, ASP Janmajay Khanduri were present at BEG Chowk to welcome the team, which reached at the venue around 12.30 pm here.

“Apart from encouraging the adventure sports among the youth in the state, we would also improve the liaison between police and public”, said the team leader Neelesh Bharne.

Dehradun, November 2
The Uttarakhand Police clinched the 9th Gautum Gurung Memorial Football Trophy after capturing the District League Football title last month. In the finals they battered Garhwal Sporting by 7-1.

The star performer for the Uttarakhand Police team was Veer Singh and Deepak Kandari. Veer Singh scored a hat-trick and Deepak Kandari scored a brace.

The Uttarakhand Police yet again dominated the proceeding in the finals to leave its opponent struggling to get a foothold in the match.

Deepak Kandari scored for Police team in the 5th minute of the match to give them an upper hand.

Police team hit the second goal in the 11th minute of the match through Veer Singh making it 2-0. Deepak scored his second goal in the 32nd minute. Garhwal Sporting team tried to put up some resistance to score its first goal in the 25th minute through Dheeraj.

But the strong Uttarakhand Police team rebound back to make it 4-1, it was Veer Singh for the police team.

In the second half, Police team gave no scoring opportunity to their opponent.

Sher Singh scored another goal to make it 5-1. But the scoring did not stop here with Saurabh striking for his team in the 54th minute followed by Veer Singh in the 62nd minute making the final score 7-1.

Throughout the match Garhwal Sporting failed completely to match the energy and skill of the police team.

They looked completely out of place and tired in the match against police. 

Haridwar, November 2
The young judukas brought laurels to the district by wining overall state boy’s junior level championship title outshining seven district teams. The championship was held at Vedic Mohan Ashram in Haridwar in boys’ and girls’ categories. Dehradun emerged champion in girls’ event followed by Pauri district.

The two-day judo championship saw the best of the talent from state and many according to the referees and judo experts have the potential to make it to national and international level.

In the boys’ junior category Haridwar district bagged 91 points to emerge as champion chased by Dehradun and Pauri districts.

While the junior eves of the state were also not behind in talent and skill showcasing their hard work coupled with sheer skill. In the overall rating Dehradun district came first followed by Pauri.

The chief guest Anurag Sharma gave away the prizes. He urged players to hone their skills and never be complacent. “It’s easy to reach the top but tougher to maintain it and complacency is one major factor which should be avoided by more hard work,” said Sharma.

Lauding the efforts of players SS Rana president of the Judo Association of Uttarakhand was quite optimistic about the future of judo in state. He pointed that the level of judo play exhibited by the junior boys and girls is quite high and opined, “Among these players surely some will be bringing laurels to the state and for the country too.”

Dehradun, November 2
KV Hathibarkala defeated KV OFD at the Regional Sports Meet organised by Kendriya Vidyalaya here today.

In the first league match of basketball KV Hathibarkala outplayed KV OFD by 21-4 and in the second match KV Haldwani defeated KV FRI by 8-6. KV Meerut beat won by 8-6 against KV Pithoragarh by 24-12.

In the handball matches NER Bareilly won by ITBP 16-3. KV 1 defeated ABK by 6-0. In volleyball KV 11 beat KV OFD by 25-19, 15-7.

Earlier in the day Nitin Joshi, nominee chairman Kendra Vidayalaya declared the meet open. 

Dehradun, November 2
The Stadium Trainees lifted the Inter-School Girls Baseball Tournament trophy that was organised at Parade Ground here today. In the finals they defeated GGIC Rajpur team.

It was an outstanding performance by the Stadium Trainees team that outplayed GGIC Rajpur in all departments. Striker Rakhi Negi, Ruchi and Sapna scored three runs each for the team. In replay, GGIC Rajpur strikers failed to match the Stadium Trainees team and were all out for three runs. The highest scorers for GGIC team were Arti and Komal.

Meanwhile, in the boys’ semifinal match Khukri team defeated S Dev Public School by 8-0 to advance into the finals. Khukri team striker Anil, Vicky, Amit and Anit Joshi scored two runs each for their side. Khukri team will clash with Gandhi Inter College in the final.