Nainital, November 28
The Directorate of Cold Water Fisheries Research has undertaken a large-scale initiative aimed at promoting breeding of golden mahseer fish in various water bodies, particularly the lakes. Officials feel that this variety of fish is best suited to replenish the declining population of fish in water bodies.

A senior scientist at the directorate, Dr Debajit Sarma, told The Tribune that the impetus was now on releasing a large number of fish in the natural water bodies. Dr Sarma, who is also the in charge of the mahseer hatchery, said: “The recent initiatives taken by the directorate will certainly replenish the stock of golden mahseer in lakes and rivers of Kumaon, which are an important component of diversity”.

The directorate at Bhim Tal is a pioneer research institute conducting research and development programmes of cold water fisheries in India. It is working with five different hill states of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh for the sustainable utilisation of mountain fisheries resources with the partnership of state fisheries department as well as various universities and institutes.

The directorate has standardised the technology of culture and breeding of golden mahseer and mass-scale seed production of the fish variety is going on at the hatchery complex in Bhimtal. The hatchery produced seed has been supplied regularly to the Department of Fisheries in West Bengal, Sikkim, Rajasthan and also to different NGOs working with mahseer restoration programmes.

Dr Sharma asserted that one of the important objectives of this directorate is to conserve golden mahseer in the natural habitat like streams, rivers and lakes in Uttarakhand. “Keeping this in mind, the directorate organised mahseer seed ranching programme at the Bhimtal Lake recently and 30,000 advanced seeds of golden mahseer were released into the lake”.

According to the Director, Dr PC Mahanta, it is the need of the hour to conserve golden mahseer as the population of this fish has been declining day by day due to various natural and anthropogenic factors.

Dehradun, November 28
Eid-ul-Zuha was celebrated in Uttarakhand with religious fervour and gaiety with main prayers being offered at Eidghah here during morning hours.

Devout Muslims thronged various mosques across the city, including Dhamawala, Manjara and Jakhan. Muslims arrived at Eidghah even before the daybreak for the main Eid prayers. Special prayers were offered on the occasion for the integrity, solidarity and prosperity of the country.

The Uttarakhand government had made special security arrangements to ensure a peaceful conduct of prayers. For the first time, Black Cat commandos were deployed near Eidghah.

Traffic on the main roads was also diverted to facilitate a smooth flow of pedestrians going for offering namaz.

It was festive mood all over with people from other communities, too, greeting their Muslim brethren. There was an unprecedented rush in the market areas with children in particularly taking to buying of balloons and other toys.

Reports of Eid-ul-Zuha celebrations have also come from other parts of Uttarakhand, including Tehri, Pauri, Uttarkashi and Nainital districts.

Eid-ul-Zuha is held in commemoration of the supreme sacrifice offered by Hazrat Ibrahim Khalilullah and his son Hazrat Ismail Zabiullah in fulfilment of a divine order. Muslims are in sizable numbers in Uttarakhand.

Dehradun, November 28
Biomedical waste management has not yet reached the hilly Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, where deep burial pits are still being used to dispose of biological waste generated by hospitals and nursing homes.

At least 177 health facilities are relying on deep burial pits and it is unlikely that the remaining of the 382 facilities will be carting the waste to the common waste treatment facility located in the plains.

“The transportation of waste is problematic for hospitals and nursing homes located in the hills.

“They need to invest in a credible system that ensures that the waste is collected and not a single day is missed otherwise mounds of waste will get collected and all wrong methods will be used to get rid of it,” said Dr Sarabjeet Singh, consultant-medical, BHEL Haridwar.

He was speaking recently at a regional workshop on Initiatives Towards Making Health Care Toxic Free organised by Toxics Link at a local hotel.

He used the data and information provided by the State Pollution Control Board. Though only blades and needle waste after disinfection are recommended for disposal in a pit, there is a real chance that even highly contagious biomedical waste too finds it’s way in the pit.

Dr Kathleen McKeehan, Nursing Adviser at the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT), Jolly Grant, too, said during immunisation undertaken in rural areas, effort should be made to destroy the syringes and needles used for vaccination at the source.

If the biomedical waste management is yet to take shape in the hills, the common waste treatment facility or biomedical waste treatment plant for government and private hospitals hitherto at BHEL, Haridwar, now reaching expiry limits is too set to change.

“Under the medical pollution control committee, a new facility at Mandawar, near Roorkee, will be set up that will cater to biomedical waste. The BHEL arrangement will end on December 15, 09,” he added.

According to an agreement among hospitals (private and government), the disposal, collection and treatment of the biomedical waste is outsourced to local biomedical waste services. Their workers collect the waste and transport it to BHEL for further treatment.

During the workshop, a demand for checks and monitoring of the services of the agency, to which the disposal, collection and treatment of the waste is outsourced, was also raised.

One participant said the plastic waste comprising medicine bottles, syringes and needles were not properly disposed of and the plastic content from the hospital usually landed up at the local kabari wala.

To that end, State Pollution Control Board officials said notices had been issued to 96 hospitals and private nursing homes in the state by the board.

Dr Pratima Gupta, Head of the Department, Microbiology Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT), Jolly Grant, said in rural areas, it became all the more imperative to ensure that biomedical waste management was undertaken.

“We have undertaken monitoring of the outsourcing agency and it has been beneficial,” she said.

Summing up, Associate Director of Toxic-Link Satish Sinha said innovation was required for tackling hospital waste.

“Regulations are only possible, if the hospitals ensure that all steps towards handling of bio-medical waste are followed.”

Dehradun, November 28
After successfully coming up with first-ever comprehensive management plan for Asan Bird Sanctuary in Uttarakhand, Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India has been assigned yet another important task of preparing a management plan for Okhla Wildlife Sanctuary in Noida.

A management plan for the Okhla sanctuary was being felt for quite some time due to its proximity to Delhi making it vulnerable to perennial human pressure.

Credited with preparation of management plan for Asan, Dhananjaya Mohan, a scientist of the Wildlife Institute of India, said the Uttar Pradesh government had asked the institute to prepare a similar plan for the Okhla sanctuary, which continued to be one of the most important wetland areas in the country.

The sanctuary came into existence in the late 1950s on the Yamuna and falls between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

The Uttar Pradesh government contacted the institute a few days ago and the WII team of Dhananjaya Mohan has already started working on it. The team has chalked out a series of visits to the sanctuary.

While the Asan plan has been prepared keeping in mind its importance as a conservation reserve, the Okhla management plan is expected to go on the similar lines. Interestingly, wildlife conservation has been into a direct conflict with tourism in Asan, and Okhla, too, falls in the same line.

A management plan for the Okhla sanctuary could prove to be a boon for ensuring a long-lasting solution towards the redressal of problems being faced by it. It has recorded a maximum of 450 bird species while the sanctuary is a delight for bird watchers throughout the year. But, it is most sought after for spotting migratory birds in winter.

Dehradun, November 28
The server crashed during the online CAT (Common Admission Test), inconveniencing students appearing for the first time for online examination in many cities of the country today. Applicants got late by 15 minutes in taking the test.

Candidates appearing for the test had mixed reactions. According to them, the test paper was of 60 marks divided into three sections: quaint, English and logistic. Some found the paper difficult while others had a smooth sailing.

Amit Goel, the chief mentor of Career Launcher, Dehradun, said: “More than 1,300 candidates will be appearing for the test in Dehradun city.

Many students from Career Launcher and other cities have lamented glitches faced by them on the first day.”

“The affected students have also asked for the rescheduling of the test by the authorities concerned,” he added. 

Dehradun, November 28
Continuing the tradition of the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), this term also all 43 cadets have cleared the first phase the UPSC written examination for the NDA.

Col H Dharmarajan, SM, Commandant, RIMC, congratulated all cadets for putting in hardwork, which had paid off. Moreover, he motivated the cadets to leave no stone unturned further in their life and wished they always kept the RIMC flag flying high.

The RIMC is a feeder institute to the National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune. Every year more than 90 per cent cadets of the college go on to join the prestigious NDA. The RIMC is the institution where a cadet is moulded in every sphere, be it academics, sports, co-curricular or extra-curricular activities to join the NDA.

Haridwar November 28
The second day of the 58th BN Mallik Memorial All-India Police Championship saw host Uttarakahnd team registering its first win defeating Chandigarh team by two goals.

Himanshu Singh scored the first goal of the match in the 13th minute while the second goal was scored by Sher Singh in the 70th minute of the match. It was the first victory out of the two matches it has played in the league round.

While in the first match of the day, SSB scored a scintillating win against Tripura by notching 11 goals with Tripura only scoring two goals.

In the first half, only SSB forwards had scored four goals while the other half resulted in seven goals with Tripura scoring in the 26th and 33rd minute. For SSB Shuhan Chander and Gobind Singh scored three each.

The second match of the day saw Bihar winning by a solitary goal with a beautiful dribbling done by Martin in 26th minute. Assam Rifles too notched a win with Balu and L Kima scoring in 9th and 70th minute against the Jammu Kashmir team.

Nagaland team too tread the SSB teams performance with scoring six goals against a hapless West Bengal team.

The first draw match of the tournament was witnessed today with Uttar Pradesh and Orissa tying at one each. Pramod and Arun scored for both sides in the equally contested game. ITBP and Rajasthan too joined and drew 2-2 in their match.

In other matches, Sikkim won 4-2 against Pondicherry, Meghalaya trounced Assam 3-0 and Maharashtra with the same score line of 3-0 defeated Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka won 2-0 against Gujarat, RPF defeated Tamil Nadu 2-0 and in the last match of the day Madhya Pradesh suffered at the hands of Punjab players with Amit Kumar and Rohit scoring for the strong Punjab team.

Nainital, November 28
Nainital witnessed some very closely fought boxing matches on Saturday as women boxers from Haryana and Punjab along with those from Assam dominated the semifinal proceedings in various categories at the ongoing NC Sharma Memorial Senior Women Federation Cup Boxing Championship being held here.

With battle lines drawn for the final, Sunday is expected to provide a treat to the boxing lovers in the city. The day proved to be bad for the home team as all its boxers lost to their opponents.

The day began with a bout in the 48 kg category in which Mamta of Haryana outclassed her opponent Shabana from Delhi 8-2. The second bout in this category saw Raturanga of Punjab give a very tough fight to the high profile K Mandakinichanu of All-India Police.

The Punjab boxer tired her opponent with a stiff resistance to Mandakinichanu’s attacks. She came up with some excellent counter attacks.

However, Mandakinichanu managed to scrape through to the final with the score reading 10-9 in her favour.

In the 54 kg category, the first semifinal saw Reena of Madhya Pradesh beat Payal Tomar of Uttarakhand 13-4. In the second semifinal of the championship Preeti Mehra of Punjab beat Sunita of Haryana 11-7.

In the 60 kg category, the first bout was marked by Preeti Beniwal of All-India Police beat Neetu of Haryana 15-6.

In the second bout Rinky Singh of Assam outclassed Sangeeta Kumari of Uttarakhand 6-2.

The first semifinal in the 69 kg category saw Aneeta Rani of Punjab overcoming the challenge put up by Narmta of Madhya Pradesh. The former managed to connect well with her punches and emerged victorious 20-8.

In the second semifinal Kavita from Assam beat Pinky from Haryana 13-0. Incidentally, Kavita is a native of Hisar in Haryana but is representing Assam at the championship.

Kavita displayed a good game by making full use of her reach on account of her good height.

The Indoor Asian champion proved to be too strong for her opponent.

The first bout in the 81 kg category once again saw a boxer from Haryana Kavita overcoming the challenge put up by N Sangita of the All-India Police. Kavita started scoring with her punches right from the word go and emerged victorious 25-0.

The last bout in the category, which was also the last bout of the day, saw referee stopping the contest between Gurpreet of Punjab and BV Padmavathi of Assam as the former proved to be too strong for Padmavathi. 

Dehradun, November 28
The District Baseball Association facilitated the Sub-Junior Baseball Team that won a bronze medals at the 11th Sub-Junior Little League National Competition here today.

Uttarakhand team defeated Haryana team in the match for the third position by 9-5. Meanwhile, in its other match at the competition Uttarakhand defeated teams from Maharashtra by 9-1, Jharkhand by 11-4 and Haryana team by 9-8. In the quarterfinal match it defeated Chhatisgarh by 5 runs.

In the semifinal, Uttarakhand team went down fighting against Delhi team. It lost the match by just one run. The final score at the end of the match was 9-8 in favour of Delhi team. 

Dehradun, November 28
Raipur Youngsters registered a 36-run victory over UIT Law College at the Shyam Dutt Joshi Memorial Cricket Tournament here today.

Batting first, Raipur Youngster team piled a total of 128 runs in allotted 20 overs. The openers could not do much for the team and got out early. Opener Ashish scored eight runs, whereas Shristy scored 11 runs in 15 balls.

First down batsman Bobby was the highest scorer for the team with 21 runs in 14 balls. After Bobby departed Neeraj and Raju occupied the crease and added another 30 runs on board. Neeraj made 10 runs, while Raju made 16. Lower order batsman Raju added 13 runs. For UIT Law College team, Pankaj picked up three wickets.

Chasing the victory target of 129 runs, UIT Law College team was all out for 92 runs. It was a shaky start for UIT team and it lost its openers early. Divakar went for a duck whereas Sachin was out for just nine runs.

Following batsmen did not show much resistance and fell as a pack of cards before strong bowling attack of Raipur Young team. For Raipur Young team Sunny picked up three wickets.

Dehradun, November 28
Aravali and Nilgiri House were declared as joint winners of over-all championship trophy at the Inter-House Badminton Tournament organised at Brightlands School here today. Vindhyachal House bagged the runner-up title.

In junior girls individual championship, Nanki Sethi of Aravali House displayed some good skill work to defeated Aditi Joshi of Vindhyachal House in straight sets by 21-13, 21-17.

In junior girls team championship, Anoushka Tyagi of Aravali House did well to beat Simran Bhatia of Vindhyachal House in a closely fought match by 21-19, 21-17, meanwhile in the second match Nanki Sethi beat Aditi Joshi 21-17.

In junior boys team championship, Vyom Chauhan of Nilgiri House beat Uday Raj Sawhney of Shivalik House 21-18, 21-19. Vaibhav Chauhan beat Abhinandan Dixit 21-18, 21-16.

In junior boys individual championship, Vyom Chauhan of Nilgiri House beat Uday Raj Sawhney by Shivalik House 21-4, 21-16. 

Dehradun, November 28
Swine flu is now having its toll on games, leaving games authorities in wary. With number of cases increasing with every passing day at various places, some national level competitions like basketball have been postponed.

The postponement of games has proved to be a financial burden for the association, who has invested their time and money on preparing children for the competition. Recently, the date of 36th Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship, which was to be organised at Chittor got changed. The city was said to be in the grip of swine flu virus with 85 cases found positive. But there is a bleak hope that games would be organised any sooner.

State Secretary of the basketball association, Vinod Vachani revealed that postponement of the competition is not in the interest of children. He said once the rhythm of the players is broken to get them back in the same form is difficult and he may not be able to give same result as expected.

“We began our training camps for boys and girls on November 18 and had to abandon it after nine days. The children from Haridwar and Nainital were made to send back. Now, the investment made on the coaching fees and other stuff is all wasted,” he said.

Apart from monetary losses, he fears that if the games are cancelled then in that case the entire year of the players will be wasted. “It takes us time to prepare a player for any competition and epidemic like this could prove to be a pain in the neck for the associations like us.” He now has his fingers crossed that the national competition does not get cancelled.