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Parks become party spots for hooligans
Flowery reception awaits 2010
Maker of billion-year calendar barely earns a few thousands
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Students attend NSS camp
NREGA programme does well in hill districts
BEG-Roorkee lift hockey trophy
PBL register 76-run victory over VCA team
Shivam, Manish bag gold at athletics meet
Doon Star, Nehru Gram XI win
A year of achievements &
failures for Uttarakhand sports
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Parks become party spots for hooligans
Dehradun, December 29 Girls and boys can
be found dancing, singing and taking liquor as well as drugs in the dark
nooks and corners of every locality. As per the prior records, parks like Malsi Deer Park, MDDA Park on Rajpur Road, Tapovan Nalapani, Maldevta, Shantala Devi, etc, witness a huge crowd at the year’s end for the New Year celebrations. These isolated spots
with scenic beauty are serving as paradise to party animals away from the hustle bustle of the city at cheaper rates. But the fun of welcoming the New Year is not only restricted to singing and dancing, they also indulge in anti-social activities. Hooligans create a ruckus at these isolated areas. “Public parks and tourist spots are no more a place for family and tourists, as a number of couples are found cooing in the bushes or beneath trees. Casual attitude of the police force and getting secluded areas at a cheaper cost attract young crowds hailing from nearby cities like Mujaffarnagar, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Dhanaulti to visit city for celebration,” said Naveen Sharma, a visitor at MDDA Park. “Many hotels are organising the New Year bash for their guests, but those who cannot afford the expenses of hotels, opt for parks and other picnic spots. “The muggers drink till the level of unconsciousness, which often makes them quarrel, fight, rape and sometimes murder too,” he further added. Nowadays, the meaning of subtle enjoyment has been replaced with vulgarity, which can be witnessed at eating joints, parks, picnic spots, cinema halls and secluded parking areas too. These spots have become hubs for most couples, gangs of friends and hooligans that go to these parks in search of isolation. A gatekeeper and caretaker of one of the public parks in the city said some goons, who visit this place with despicable intentions, have broken bulbs of lamp posts. Many boys and girls visit the park to enjoy the lone atmosphere in the darkness at the spot. No complaints against these louts have given encouragement to them. “We are just grade IV employees and nobody will listen to our pleas and complaints, but the authority concerned must take measures to put a halt on the anti-social activities,” said one of the guards at MDDA Park. When contacted SP
(City) Jagat Ram Joshi said, “Our team is quite vigilant this time. All hotels and restaurants celebrating New Year bashes have taken permission from us. Those who will be caught merrymaking in secluded spots and parks will be taken into custody as well as get penalised for the havoc caused”.
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Flowery reception awaits 2010
Dehradun, December 29 Be it roses, gerbera, carnations, guldari, gladiolas, lilies, birds of paradise, orchids, flowers from Delhi and Bangalore to Italy, Thailand, Holland, Malaysia and Singapore are being imported so that customers feel satisfied and heartily welcome 2010. “Compared to other days, New Year is one time when we receive a large number of orders. Along with Indian cities, we also get flowers from Holland, England and other foreign locations,” said Ranjan of the Petal Flower shop. However, the price of flowers seems to have increased with this rise in demand. “In the past month, the prices have increased by Rs 5-10 and on December 31, the prices may increase again,” said Rajesh from Surbhi Florist. A rose bud is for Rs 15, bouquets are not less than Rs 100 to Rs 500. Bouquets of artificial flowers are available too and these easily last three to four years. Interestingly, there are orders through the Internet from people living in far-off locations. “People in Doon are very fond of flowers and till now, we have received 30 Internet orders. With not much time left for Valentine’s Day, we have
already started receiving orders of flowers, chocolates and other gift items in large numbers,” said Bharat from Charandas flower shop.
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Maker of billion-year calendar barely earns a few thousands
Haridwar, December 29 A matric pass, Ram Chand of the Kankhal area in Haridwar is a master in numbers, specially in calendar dates, days and figures. He has a passion for calendar dates since childhood and used to dwell for long how a calendar was made. He would analyse various old calendars for hours together and slowly got to understand the concept. But, no one had a whiff that his passion for calendar would one day make Ram Chand synonymous with calendar and lead to his latest discovery of billion-year calendar. Ram Chand ran a garment business earlier but suffered huge losses and got a major setback in a property dispute. He used to make flour balls for fish feed with “Lord Rama” written on them. In 1986 he seriously took up the task of making a unique calendar. He gradually improved on his earlier calendars, which were for 100, thousand or ten thousand years, to finally reach the billion mark. Living in a dilapidated rented house, Ram Chandra feels disheartened that though he has made a unique calendar, he hasn’t been ever felicitated by the state government, administration or any local organisation. “I owe a lot to the media, through which apart from recognition I also get to know that there is no one who is anywhere near to my record,” said a confident Chand. Though he had approached the Limca Book of Records authorities, they replied him that they didn’t have any category pertaining to the calendar data, hence his discovery couldn’t be included or certified by them. He also has some unique facts to tell, like he can tell through his calendar that the exact
replica of year 2009 calendar will be in year 2015. Also the coming New Year, i.e. 2010,
will have Friday on the first and the last dates. And January 1, 2010, will be the 3,288 th day of this century! “Every 400 year February gets 29 days while in the 4,000th year February will have 30 days,” said Ram Chand, as he seemed to be going on and on with his interesting details. If one spends a little time with Ram Chand, one is sure to be flooded with more such figures and data. His neighbours know him as “Calendar Man” and are used to media people thronging to his house. However, they lament that he is still deprived of due recognition and awards. “Though Ram Chand has made a billion-year calendar, he is finding it hard to earn a few thousand rupees. His art is no less than scoring six sixes in an over,” lamented a nieghbour. And this seems to be the reason why his teenaged children doesn’t seem a bit interested in carrying ahead or even learning this art as a hobby.
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Students attend NSS camp
Haridwar, December 29 Today, students conducted a cleanliness drive in the Chandighat area under the guidance of NSS teachers and local village representatives. Attending the camp as a guest lecturer, RSS divisional chief Chandra Pal Singh Negi, said that teenage was a crucial phase. He said with Western culture fast gaining predominance in our society, specially among youth, there was an urgent need to make youth morally and culturally strong. Narendra Saini, Ajay Kumar, Vidhika Rani, Nitin Pant and Vijay Bhatt, under the guidance of Ashok Saini, conducted the programmes. Meanwhile, the NSS camp of the Dev Sanskriti University’s will be held from January 1. This camp at Sarangdhar village in Rishikesh will be attended by 150 students.
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NREGA programme does well in hill districts
Dehradun, December 29 In the hill districts, the programme is centred around the main activities of water harvesting and conservation. “Work is organised in the 5-km area of the villages, so that beneficiaries can take up renovation of traditional bodies, water harvesting etc. In September, even horticulture activities were incorporated whereby the land of marginal and small farmers was utilised for carrying out plantation activities. The emphasis is on development of land that has remained underutilised,” said Om Prakash, Secretary, Rural Development. The programme is under way in all districts of the state. In 2005, the programme was started in districts of Chamoli, Champawat and Tehri in the first phase. The total job cards given in the past five years were 8.67 lakhs. “The scheme is not popular in Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital districts as under the NREG scheme, the emoluments paid are Rs 100 per day. An unskilled labourer manages to get Rs 150 for manual labour at any of the construction sites in these districts where industrial hubs too have been created. So, there is a loss of Rs 50. “In semi-urban areas, the villagers too prefer going to construction sites in Chakrata block of Dehradun and here too, we are facing problems,” said Om Prakash, Secretary, Rural Development. The NREG has also managed to provide employment to a sizable number of women. While the total man-days generated in 2009 in 13 districts were 104.83 lakh, of these 42.65 lakh were of women making it 38.78 per cent of the total. For this period, the total budget available (the state and Centre’s share and inclusive of the previous balance) is Rs 237.93 crore. Against this, the expenditure was Rs 158.33 crore.
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BEG-Roorkee lift hockey trophy
Haridwar December 29
No credit should be taken away from the forwards of both teams as they tried every bit to nail past the opposition defences. As was the first half, so was the second half which also saw a goalless scoreline. Eventually extra time was taken to get the result. In the allotted 15 minutes both teams tried to change their tactics and long passes were put into use and due to adrenaline rush fouls were also seen in the stipulated time. Still after the passage of time both teams stood equal as goalless extra time also passed off. Finally, the penalty strokes were taken and here the BEG players along with their goalkeeper showed resilience and coolness. Here BEG players stoked four goals while Core of Signals just could convert only two goals. Thus, the final trophy was won by the BEG Roorkee team and jubiliation were seen in the camp. Spectators too were thrilled with the final match. They had come in large numbers to witness the 78th edition at Dayananad stadium in Gurukul Kangri University. The tournament trophy was handed over to the winning team by Vice-Chancellor Gurukul Kangri University Swatantra Kumar. At the trophy and award presentation, a memento book was also launched by the VC which is compiled by Dr Kartar Singh and Dr Shiv Kumar Chauhan. The beautifully assembled memento book has information and pictures of previous editions. Notably, hockey’s greatest player Major Dhyan Chand too had played in this tournament in pre-independence era. From the Hero Honda group on the directions of Padma Shri Brijmohan Munjiyal a motorbike was given to Prof Swatantra Kumar as a mark of his commitment to Gurukul University.
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PBL register 76-run victory over VCA team
Dehradun, December 29
First down batsman Vijay scored 79 runs in 67 balls, smashing 13 fours and one sixes. Lower order batsman Dhanpal Negi scored 38 runs in 23 balls. For PBL team Prakash Bisht took four wickets and Anshul and Rahul took two wickets. Chasing the victory target of 252 runs, VCA team was all out for 176 runs. Despite a good beginning VCA team failed to reach the target. Prakash scored 46 runs in 62 balls, whereas Anshul was the highest scorer for the team with 67 runs. Middle order batsman Rahul scored 13 runs. For PBL team Vijay and Vikas took two wickets each, whereas Subodh, Dharmender and Dhanpal took one wicket each.
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Shivam, Manish bag gold at athletics meet
Dehradun, December 29 Results: In 200m (boys): 1. Shivam (Rampur) 2. Ashish Kumar (Sahaspur) 3. Amit Kumar (Doiwala). In 400m (boys): 1. Manish (Raipur) 2. Amit (Raipur) 3. Sunil (Kalsi). In discus throw (boys): 1. Pankaj Kumar (Doiwala) 2. Sunil (Kalsi) 3. Pramesh (Chakrata). In javelin throw (boys): 1. Premdas (Chakrata) 2. Rajendra (Kalsi) 3. Pankaj Kumar (Doilwala). In high jump (boys): 1. Ajab Singh (Vikasnagar) 2. Narendra Singh (Vikasnagar) 3. Vinod Kumar (Kalsi). In long jump boys: 1. Chamanlal (Sahaspur) 2. Amit Kumar (Doiwala) 3. Amit Verma (Kalsi). In 100m (girls): 1. Megha (Sahaspur) 2. Lalit (Doiwala) 3. Abhilasha (Sahaspur). In 200m (girls): 1. Swati (Sahaspur) 2. Kranti (Rampur) 3. Manisha (Doiwala). In 400m (girls): 1. Megha (Sahaspur) 2. Manisha (Kalshi) 3. Manisha (Raipur). In 800m (girls): 1. Rakhi (Kalsi) 2. Manisha (Kalsi) 3. Savita (Saharanpur). In 1500m (girls): 1. Rakhi (Kalsi) 2. Radha (Doiwala) 3. Jyoti (Kalsi). In discus throw (girls): 1. Reena (Raipur) 2. Komal (Doiwala) 3. Jyoti (Kalsi). In shot put (girls): 1. Abhilasha (Sahaspur) 2. Meena (Doiwala) 3. Reena (Raipur). In javelin throw (girls): 1. Rekha (Doiwala) 2. Lovely (Doiwala) 3. Abhilasha (Sahaspur). In long jump (girls): 1. Radha (Doiwala) 2. Reena (Rajpur) 3. Lalita (Doiwala).
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Doon Star, Nehru Gram XI win
Dehradun, December 29 The Roshani Club failed to show good teamwork during the match. Nehru XI scored its first goal in the 22nd minute of the match through Sohan. The equaliser for the team came in the 37th minute of the match, when Roshani Club’s Rajendra scored making it 1-1. But Nehru Gram team came back strongly in the match and scored another goal in the match making it 2-1 in the 49th minute. It was Vicky for Nehru Gram who scored to give it a lead. Meanwhile, in the second match, Doon Star team defeated Navada XI by 2-1. The first half was a goalless one with none of the team scoring a goal despite repeated attempts. Doon Star scored its first goal in the 40th minute of the match through Yan making it 1-0 for his team. Three minutes later Navada team found an equaliser in the match through Amit. Doon Star struck again in the 59th minute through Rajesh making it 2-1 and winning the match.
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A year of achievements & failures for Uttarakhand sports
Dehradun, December 29 Proud Moments
* Surender Bhandari brought gold at the Asian Grand Prix Athletics competition * Manish Maithani got selected for the Mohan Bagan Club *
Bilal, Uttarakhand Police boxer, won the silver medal at the World Police Games Disappointments *
The state missed out on organising the SAF Winter Games *
Ongoing tussle among cricket associations led to the rude denial of the BCCI in granting affiliation to state cricketing bodies Sports also received a setback in cricket due to the ongoing tussle amongst the warring cricket associations, which cost them dearly, with the state missing out on receiving the BCCI affiliation once again. The biggest disappointment of the year came in the form of the SAF Winter Games that were delayed for the third time in succession, this time it was due to international schedule that resulted in the further postponement of the games to December 2010. Although it was a big setback for the state, the state initiative to organise the games also had something positive to it. Central government investment of Rs 110 crore made at Auli and Dehradun resulted in the setting up of a state-of-art ice skating rink at Dehradun and new skiing slop at Auli. Another big setback of the year came in the form of a rude denial of the BCCI in granting affiliation to state cricketing bodies. For the past eight years, the associations have been fighting among themselves, claiming themselves to be the legitimate authorities for organising cricket in the state. In the absence of affiliation state players were forced to play from other states in the Ranji Trophy matches. The fight to attain the BCCI affiliation was not limited to associations alone, as the voice had grown loud in a session of media of the state, who had questioned the working of the BCCI for not granting affiliation to the state. But it was of no avail as the BCCI left the matter under touched at its annual general meeting. In individual performances long-distance runner Surender Bhandari brought smiles back homes on the faces of many athletes, by winning a gold medal at the Asian Grand Prix Athletics competition organised in China. For his achievement, the Uttarakhand Chief Minister honoured him for his outstanding performance at the international competition. Surender had also represented India at Beijing Olympics. He now has set his eyes on 2012 Olympics. Bhandari had joined the Army when he was 20 years old and since then he has made remarkable achievement at the national and international levels in long-distance athletics meets. In 2004, he was placed fourth at the National Athletics Competition, whereas subsequently in the year 2005 at the Open National Athletics competition he comfortably occupied the second spot and thereafter winning a gold in the same year at the Inter-State Meet. Since then, he has not looked back and represented India at many International competitions. His performance in Spain in the 10,000-km event where he clocked 28.02 second helped him qualify for Beijing Olympics. Bhandari is presently preparing for Common Wealth Games-2010 in Bangalore. Another achiever for the state was local lad Manish Maithani who hogged the limelight at the national football circuit for his skilful play and gained appreciation from all quarters. After seeing his talent, the national selectors showed faith in him and gave him the opportunity to play for the national team. Earlier in June, Maithani made Dehradun football fans proud when he got selected to play for the prestigious Mohan Bagan Club. He was the second person from Dehradun after Ram Bahadur Thapa to play for such a prominent club of India. It was hard time for Manish in 2007 when he sustained an ankle injury while playing in Sikkim for FCI team, for which he had to undergo a surgery. National clubs started to shay off to give him a chance. But national coach Bernard Oparanoie showed faith in him and Manish did not fail him as he made a strong comeback to the national circuit, before he was selected to the national team. Young talented Uttarakhand Police boxer Bilal carved out a name for himself and the state by winning a silver medal at the world police game organised in Canada. Uttarakhand DGP Subhash Joshi facilitated him for his achievement. Bilal’s future aim is to fight in the commonwealth games and to win a gold for India. Right now Bilal is recovering from hand injury sustained during an accident. Subhash Joshi congratulated the talented Bilal for his achievement, he said Bilal would be given an out of turn promotion for his achievement and would be promoted to sub-inspector rank. Bilal is right now a Head Constable in the Uttarakhand Police.
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Dehradun, December 29
Haridwar, December 29
Haridwar, December 29
Haridwar December 29
The billion-year calendar. Tribune
photo: Rameshwar Gaud
