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Maha Kumbh: Tourism Dept gives final touches
Mega fair casts shadow on pre-board exams
Roorkee hospital gets 40 more beds
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Revised salary brings smile on coaches’ faces
A batsman defends a delivery during a match in the 58th District Cricket League in Dehradun on Wednesday.
A Tribune photograph
Shraddhanand hockey tourney begins today
Mother-infant Care
Teach crime awareness in schools: SSP
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Maha Kumbh: Tourism Dept gives final touches
Dehradun, December 23 The department is taking the challenge to conduct the first Kumbh under Uttarakhand quite seriously. Rajiv Bhartari, Additional Secretary, Tourism, informs that they are planning to get tourism section at Kumbh Mela on January 5 inaugurated by Secretary, Tourism, Government of India. The Tourism Department is geared up to present a Pan India picture at the Kumbh Mela. Utpal Kumar Singh, Secretary, Tourism, informed, “We are working on building new ghats, revamping some old ones and holding a Pan India exhibition. “The exhibition will showcase Indian culture and heritage where stalls of different industries will also be installed. Artisans from different states and Khadi Udyog will showcase their music, dance, handloom and handicraft and traditional cuisine. This will go on from March 1-April 15. “The site for the exhibition has been chosen on 12-acre land at Gauri Shankar ghat. The cultural programme will be presented by Patiala North Zone and North East Culture Centre. The state government has worked on creating and revamping ghats under the Central governments Mega Tourism Circuit Project launched in December 2008. Rajiv Bhartari, Additional Secretary, Tourism, said, “The union government had asked us to work on specific tourism-related projects in four different districts. So we chose Pant Dweep in Haridwar, Ved Niketan Ghat in Pauri Garhwal, Swargashram in Rishikesh (Dehradun) Muni Ki Reti in Tehri Garhwal which incurred an expenditure of Rs 7.5 crore. We have almost completed all Kumbh-related projects”. Informing more about these projects, he said Astha Path (expenditure Rs 10 crore), 1.6-km stretch in Muni Ki Reti walk-way is near completion opposite the banks of the Ganges. It has been lined with red stone and green trees. Similarly, Ved Niketan Ghat stretches from Ramjhula to Parmarth Niketan in Rishikesh has been made. Two ghats, Brahmnivas Ghat (expenditure Rs 56 lakh) and Pant Dweep Ghat have been renovated in Haridwar. About the latter, his eyes twinked as he said, “Pant Dweep Ghat has come out beautifully. Pant Dweep (expenditure Rs 4 crore) has been created in such a way that it will provide privacy and picturesque view of the river. “People who park their vehicles close to the river, will not be able to do so due to the extension of this ghat. These ghats will have room for changing clothes. The ghats made during the previous Kumbh were of 5 km which have been extended to 10 km. Three km was contributed by the Tourism Department.” The Tourism Department is working extensively on publicity. NK Singh, Joint Director, Uttaranchal Tourism Development Board, said, “We have already released advertisement in 42 national magazines and four international magazines which are National Geographic in Germany and Asia Edition in English, Conde Nast Travellor and Travel & Leisure.” The insiders revealed that department got late in placing orders in December to these magazines which publish after three months of placing the orders. This way, the advertisement will appear in late February or early March. Singh further explained that 2000 copies of coffee table book have been prepared and, similar copies will be readied after Kumbh. “Then brochures and Smarika which carry messages of top dignitaries of country and state, will be available on our 14 information booths on all important places of the venue. “We are also trying to tie up with BSNL to provide internet services to international tourists in these information centers. Besides this, we have given two spots of 30 and 60 seconds, and, two documentary films, 30 and 60 minutes to main electronic media for Kumbh publicity,” he said. He also informed that the board will also install unipole, signage, billboard and hoardings on the various sites of Kumbh. It will upgrade 13 existing and renovate 21 toilets in collaboration with Sulabh Shauchalya Services to the tourists for whom sanitation comes first. The tourism department will have to fasten its speed to meet all the targets if it is planning to get inauguration done by January 5.
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Mega fair casts shadow on pre-board exams
Haridwar, December 23 The first festive bath will be held on Mauni Amawasya on January 14 and this being the first Maha Kumbh of the century, a massive crowd is expected to throng the city. This will certainly hinder the movement of students going to take examination in their respective schools. Many parents have tried to bring this aspect to the notice of the district Education Department, officials concerned told them that there would be no problem for the students. They said on January 15 there was no holiday and so all government work would be carried out. So there was no excuse for not having pre-board examination on that day. The Principal of Hari Ram Inter College, Mayapur, which is close to the Bairagi camp falling in the mela area, said students should leave for their respective schools well in advance. “Even on ordinary religious baths, the city life comes to a halt and considering this is a Maha Kumbh, at least examination committee for pre-boards should have taken this into consideration. Our children rely on “Vikrams” to go to Hari Ram Inter College which falls in the mela area and there will be a huge rush during the mega fair,” said Vikram Singh, a local resident. Additional District Officer (High School) R Kushwaha said as major holy baths of the Maha Kumbh are starting from February so there will be no major problem to the students. The examinations will be over in just a week so the department will get enough time to conduct practical examinations. The mela administration is focusing on the board examinations to be held in March-April. DSP, Traffic, Mela, Shweta Chaubey said a major problem would arise during the Shahi Snans, which were performed by akharas. The traffic police is chalking out elaborate plans to ensure students didn’t have any problem reaching the venues of board exams. Pre-board exams are of less significance, she added. Meanwhile. a core committee has been formed to oversee pre-board examinations in the district. Ankita Bhadola, a Class X students of Jwalapur Girls Inter College, says: “I will stay at the house of my relatives which is just near to my school during the pre-board exams. I don’t want to take any risk during the exams.”
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Roorkee hospital gets 40 more beds
Roorkee, December 23 An arrangement of 40 additional beds has been made at the hospital besides setting up of an isolation ward for the treatment of swine flu cases. A team of medical staff will also be readied to deal with the cases that are expected to be increase manifold during the religious congregation. The step has been taken on the directions of the state’s Health Director. According to local health authorities, all arrangements have been completed in the hospital. Now, patients of swine flu will be admitted to the separate ward for treatment. Earlier, in absence of any isolation ward, doctors used to refer the cases to Haridwar. “During Maha Kumbh, the arrival of patients will increase manifold in the hospital, but we are prepared to meet any kind of exigency at our place. All arrangements have been put
in place,” assured Dr Mangeram Malik, acting CMS of the hospital. Due to heavy traffic flow during Kumbh, the number of accident cases also goes up. “To deal with accident cases, we have made separate arrangements,” said Dr Malik.
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Railways right on track
Haridwar, December 23 An additional 40 ticket counters will be set up to lessen passenger pressure at railway ticket counters. These counters will include counters of the unreserved ticketing system commonly known as the UTS. To de-congest crowd at platforms, the train will be let off from the platform as soon as the bogies get filled. Mela Officer Anand Vardhan said that it is imperative to make the trains go as soon as these get filled. This will be helpful in lessening the crowd at the station and in avoiding any chaos at the platforms. The Railways is also taking the security aspect seriously. As soon as trains bound towards Uttarakhand will enter the state’s territory, passengers in the entire train will be frisked and checked.
The Railways will deploy around 1,000 personnel during the mega fair for security purposes to keep tab on activities at railway stations. At the station, there will be
three-tier checking and everyone coming to the railway station will get frisked. In case of fire, the Fire Service Department will have a separate set up at the railway station premises, so that any incident can be brought under control at once. Also six sniffer dog squads will be deployed to thwart any explosive threat. In addition, Mela DIG Alok Sharma has assured the deployment of a bomb-disposal squad specially for railways. Moradabad Divisional Manager Ramesh Chandra has assured the mela administration of full cooperation. Meanwhile, DRM Sharma has expressed unhappiness over the delay in the over-bridge construction at Lakshar. As this bridge will be quite helpful during the Maha Kumbh, the DRM has ordered its completion before the first bath of the Maha Kumbh. He has also given instructions for the arrangements and cleanliness at every sub-station enroute to
Haridwar.
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Revised salary brings smile on coaches’ faces
Dehradun, December 23 Many coaches are of the view that present salary structure would draw many towards the game and make them to take it as a career. The state government had recently increased their salaries. Now inter-university players will get Rs 3,000, national player will get Rs 5,000, NIS diploma holder will get Rs 7,000, international player will get Rs 10,000, ad hoc coaches, who have played at Asian and Commonwealth level, will receive Rs 12,000 and those who have participated at Olympic and World Cup competition will receive Rs 14,000. At present, there are over 50 ad hoc coaches of different sports in the state, who have been working for the past many years at the ground level to promote sports in the state. Speaking to The Tribune, cricket coach at Parade Ground Ravinder termed it as a crucial step that
would go a long way in promoting games at the grass-root level. “Ad hoc coaches play an important role in the state sports. Although he still felt apprehensive about sports facilities at the grass roots level. “After this positive move one just hopes to receive
better sports facilities at the grass roots from the government that would be a great plus to the state sports,” said Ravinder. Volleyball coach Sanjay Sharma
was also excited about this new development. He said, “Now it is the responsibility of the coaches to take up
regular practice sessions of the students. Earlier, in-order to make a living the coaches were working at other places as well, but now they will be more concerned about sports due to the handsome money they will earn from it”. It was a double bonanza for boxing coaches in Dehradun, as along with increasing their salary, they will also get temporary indoor stadium. “Yes, we will soon get a temporary indoor stadium which would be a great help for us to continue with our training session during rains as well,” said Durga Thapa.
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Ajabpur Youngster, YMCA win
Dehradun, December 23 Batting first, Ajabpur Youngster scored 185 runs in 30 overs. Despite a poor start, Ajabpur came back in the match with the help of Rohit and Raman. Rohit scored 33 runs off 23 balls hitting six fours in his innings. Raman supported him well from the other end to score 30 runs at a run-a-ball. Middle-order batsman Yogambar increased the run rate and scored 49 runs off 40 balls. For New Era, Anil Dhayni, Bablu and Kapil took two wickets each. Chasing 186 runs for victory, New Era was bundled out for 166 runs, falling shot by 19 runs. Middle-order batsman Shashank was the only batsman who scored well. Thereafter, it was lower-order batsman Narender who made 23 runs. For Ajabpur Youngster, Rohit took three wickets. In the second match, YMCA defeated Young Boys by seven wickets. Batting first, the Young Boys team scored 119 runs. Abhishek made 21 runs off 19 balls, Manish made 27 runs and Rinku contributed 22 runs. For YMCA, Kamal and Laxit took three wickets. In reply, YMCA achieved the target with seven wickets in hand. Narender scored 26 runs, Tarun and Jasvinder scored 32 runs each. In the third
match, Uttarakhand Police defeated Vansh Cricket Academy by a huge margin of 202 runs.
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10-day cricket camp gets under way
Dehradun, December 23 The selected children will be receiving expect guidance of VS Gujral, Amrish Gautam and Vishwajeet Sinha - all of them are level 1 coaches hailing from Uttar Pradesh. On the first day today, Vishwajeet Sinha told children about the importance of proper warming-up exercises. “Children do not follow a proper warm-up session before a match. As a result, their bodies get stretched during the match. Therefore, to give a good performance in any match, one needs to follow a proper warming-up and stretching drill,” said Vishwajeet Sinha. Sinha said that there has been a great change in cricket
over the years and present-day cricket is more scientific. Therefore, one needs to
lay more emphasis on proper development of various body structures. He added that there has been a great change in coaching style. Coaches have now turned more scientific and that has improved the performance level of players. At the camp, coaches will give individual attention to each player and tell players about their mistakes and improve upon it.
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Shraddhanand hockey tourney begins today
Haridwar, December 23 This is one of the oldest hockey tournament in the country and assumes historic significance as world’s greatest hockey player Major Dhyan
Chand, popularly known as Dada, had also played at the Gurukul Kangri grounds in the pre-Independence era. Vice-Chancellor Professor Swatantra Kumar informed that all arrangements had been put in place for the six-day tournament. Chief Guest of the inauguration ceremony will be GKU Chancellor Pandit Sudarshan Sharma while Maha Kumbh Mela DIG Alok Sharma will be the special guest at Shradhanand Hockey Ground.
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Sandeep boxes to gold
Dehradun, December 23 In the men’s 51-54 kg, Mohit Rawat defeated Pradeep Bhandari and in the men’s 42-45 kg, Pradeep beat Haran Rai. In the men’s quarterfinals, Himanshu beat Ashish Rawat in 30-36 kg group. In the women’s final, Jyoti Thapa defeated Mangala Devi in the 50-54 kg group while Navadita beat Preeti in 46-50 kg category. Sangeeta beat Shivani in 42-46 kg class.
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Mother-infant Care
Dehradun, December 23 Despite launching the Janani Surakasha Yojana that is aimed at encouraging institutional deliveries, the state has not been able to upgrade the health infrastructure and appoint women doctors. “The first few days are essential for the baby and if adequate neo-natal care is not given to the babies, their chances of survival are less,” said Dr DP Joshi, a child specialist. Health experts said that primary health-care facilities were still not available to women and children in the state. Both mothers and infants are vulnerable soon after child birth. This is a critical time when life-saving interventions like post-natal visits, proper hygiene and counselling about danger signs of maternal and newborn health are required, but all these facilities are missing in many parts of the state. “Even if deliveries are taking place at district hospitals, there is so much rush that the authorities relieve the mother as soon as possible as another case is awaiting to be taken care off,” said Dr RK Pant, CMS, Doon Hospital. The state Health Department maintained that institutional deliveries have seen marked improvement from a mere 28 per cent in 2005-06 to approximately 50 per cent in 2008-09.
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Teach crime awareness in schools: SSP
Nainital, December 23 SSP MS Bangyal had an interactive session with the authorities of different schools of Haldwani on Tuesday. He also circulated a pamphlet underlining 25 points related to the safety of the children in particular and citizens in general. These points pertained to things like taking care of the safety of house, vehicles and discouraging use of motorcycles by schoolchildren. The emphasis of the drive is to instill a feeling of being a responsible citizen among the people and to take their help in combating crime. In the wake of the murder of a seven-year-old girl in Ramnagar last month, the police authorities have also started approaching the schools in the district to start teaching crime awareness as a part of the school curriculum.
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“Increased salaries will make the coaches invest more time in the game. Till date, people use to
see coaching as a profession that render no career to them in the state. Now they would look at it with a career prospective.”