Dehradun, December 30
The 108-years-old Doon Club, one of the most frequented and preferred destinations for the New Year bash is all decked up to welcome 2010.

Where in the year 2008 in wake of Mumbai Terror attacks, there were no celebrations, this time around there is more enthusiasm and excitement in the air. Colourful surroundings, lush green lawns and sparkling lights awaits to welcome 2010.

Every year, the New Year celebrations at the club are supposed to be the best in city, which attract the most elite crowd in Doon.

Retired officers and businessman are regular members to the club. “Yes, as there was no celebrations last year, this year we are excited. Advance bookings are on since December 25 for our members,” said BS Rawat, function coordinator, Doon Club.

Along with Chinese, Mughlai, mouth-watering chaat and special Amritsari chola and kulcha, there is provision for drinks and to go merry on DJ’s foot tapping numbers. Commencing from sharp 9 pm, the party will go on till 1 am and is expected to have 4,000 people from every nook and corner of the city.

“We have especially booked three chefs, who are going to prepare scrumptious delicacies, also to get the real taste of Amritsari kulcha, professional cooks are coming all the way from Amritsar,” said Rawat.

For kids who will be accompanying their families, special arrangement for games and separate dance floor has been done also.

However, to keep the security provision steady, there is proper provision of entry ticket, fire brigade and security check. “ As we want our customers to feel safe and enjoy to the utmost, we are adhering to the best possible ways for a rocking celebration,” added Rawat.

Meanwhile, Unesco Club unlike Doon Club and other primary hotels, with a view to provide its members a happy time with family on the 31st, celebrated its New Year party a week ago.

“We strongly believe that on the eve of 31st people should celebrate with family and avoid places where there is mad rush. Around 63 members of our club on last Saturday enjoyed amid dance, fancy dress competition, music and good food,” said Dr Bharat Sabarwaal, President Unesco club.

Dehradun, December 30
With a day left for New Year celebrations, people are flocking to galleries and purchasing a variety of items to wish dear ones a happy and prosperous 2010. Depending on preference and budget, there are endless choices to look for.

For the past month, Archie’s gallery has been receiving an excellent response. Cards are its forte and starting from Rs 6, the price of a single card goes up to Rs 150.

With flowery messages on it, there are plain simple cards by CRY and HelpAge India. These come in a range from Rs 6 to Rs 30 and is being preferred by those who want to keep it plain and simple.

“In the past month, we have received excellent response from the people and along with the basic New Year card, we have relationship card for mom, dad, brother, sister and other many relations,” said Pramod Chawla, Archie’s.

From a small kid to an elderly person, everyone is doing his bit to make the New Year celebrations worth remembering.

“I purchased 10 New Year cards for my relatives so that I could wish them right on time,” said Ridhima, a college student.

Besides the array of cards, there are many other enticing gifts. There are idols of deities like the laughing Buddha, Sai Baba, Om and Ganesh.

The highlight of the season remains the exquisite crystal and gold-plated Swaroski gift items which are captivating and looks apt to decorate any corner of the house. “ We have pure crystal and swaroski items such as bowls, trays, animal figures in a range of Rs 150 to Rs 2,000. These are very much in demand for its sheer sheen and class,” said Chawla.

Other regular stuff such as zodiac sign mugs, statues, photo frames and chocolate boxes are also being purchased in large numbers. “We are pretty content with the response and are expecting good business on December 31 and January 1,” added Chawla.

Dehradun, December 30
The celebration time has begun with lots of events happening in the cities at the year end. But sometimes, grand parties and merrymaking give birth to lots of criminal as well as anti-social activities. In order to put a halt on such activities the police as well as traffic cops are now a days on their toes.

These days cops are busy nabbing hooligans, ceasing vehicles and charging penalty at every nook and corner of the city. Their vigilant actions have become the talk of the town since the past two days. Checking the driving license, each documents of the vehicle, vehicle without number plates, driving without helmets and cars with black glasses are ripped off for the security measures.

Traffic cops have been deployed at every possible area where criminal activities are likely to occur before and during the New Year bash.

With many incidents of accidents, molestation, gang fights and rape in the past, party organisers and hotels have also put some limitations to the merriment and parties. First, no hotel can organise a party without the permission of the police.

Second, the entry will be given to the selective pass owners only and the celebration will restricted to the time allowed by the set of law.

Inspector (traffic) Virender Singh Rawat said, “The system has six alcohol thermometer for Dehradun while two for Mussoorie. Those found drunk while driving, rash driving and causing havoc on the roads will be taken into the custody. They will not be penalised and left but will be put behind the bars.”

‘The department aims at punishing the goons and muggers who try to violate the system and decorum of the city. Celebrating the gala celebrations of the New Year without any chaos is our prime motto,” he added.

With the increasing number of swine flu cases in the city many might refuse to use the alcohol thermometer. But nothing to worry as the H1N1 infection cannot be transmitted with the use of these devices.

Chief Medical Officer GC Baunthiyal said, “The H1N1 virus gets spread in the tiny droplets, excluded from nose of an infected person when sneeze or cough. The device will not get contaminated until and unless it gets in contact with nasal secretion or infected person.”

Dehradun, December 30
To attract more tourists and make the Queen of Hills Mussoorie’s tourism sector more lucrative in nature, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank met office-bearers of the Mussoorie Hotel Association here yesterday.

The meeting was conducted at the Bijapur Guesthouse in Mussoorie, where addressing the gathering he said Mussoorie was one of the best hill stations of the country and so it was essential that the tourism sector should be enhanced in a better fashion.

“Better parking facilities, international stadium and other such developments are going to take place very soon,” he informed.

Discussing the beauty of the hill station, Dr Nishank said lakhs of people flocked to Mussoorie as it was one of the most enjoyable picnic spots also, and with the development of the Dehradun-Mussoorie ropeway, focus would be to turn the George Everest area into a picnic spot of an international level.

To keep the officer-bearers motivated, he also ensured them that their problems related to parking, taxes and other important issues would be time and again looked into.

Present at the meeting, along with Dr Nishank, were hotel association president RN Mathur, Amit Vishya, Sandeep Sahani, GS Manchanda and other office-bearers.

Nainital, December 30
Pulling up officials of the departments that have failed to utilise 60 per cent of the funds given to them for completion of development works in the current financial year, the District Magistrate Shailesh Bagauli has sought a turnaround by them by the end of the first month of the next year.

The departments that have been issued a warning by him include Ayurveda, Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) and the Forest Department.

The heads of these departments have been told to take personal interest in the execution of development projects.

The District Magistrate also pulled up officials of the Minor Irrigation Department for the slack pace of work regarding the projects being executed by their department and conveyed that the slow pace was taking its toll on the 20-point programme also.

Taking a serious view of the delay in electrification of tubewells in the district, Bagauli has ordered the engineers of Ramnagar and Haldwani to electrify the tubewells within a fortnight.

Bagauli took stock of the performance of various departments on Tuesday. He laid particular emphasis on the schemes started by the Social Welfare Department and asked the Social Welfare Officer to furnish a list of pensioners to the nodal officers deputed at the Nyaya Panchayat level so that the beneficiaries get their due benefits well in time.

The nodal officers have to evaluate the verifications done by a three-member committee at the Nyaya Panchayat-level comprising Aanganwadi Supervisor, Co-operative Secretary and Veterinary Extension Officers.

The Chief Development Officer has been asked to take stock of the execution work related to the disbursement of benefits to the pensioners. He called for total transparency and honesty in verifications done by the officials.

Bagauli further suggested that a meeting of Executive Officers of Nagar Panchayats be held to carry out these works at their level. He said that this job must be completed by the current financial year.

Haridwar, December 30
Though under mela works several permanent and temporary bridges are being carried out in the city yet residents of Jwalapur are perturbed, as a small connecting bridge to main Peeth Bazaar has not been repaired for past 40 days. This is the only connecting bridge to the busiest weekly markets in Jwalapur.

This connecting bridge is build over a nullah stream and falls near Lal Mandir in Shyam Nagar Colony and is the only bridge that connects to Jwalapur railway station.

People either had to cross the dirty sewer nullah or have to trek almost a km to reach the other side.

Residents complain that despite they informed municipality chairman and local ward councilor umpteenth time, both of them inspected the site but nothing has been done to solve the woes.

Perturbed by this affected people finally came out on streets and protested in large numbers. Raising slogans against municipality. They warned of boycotting the municipal members if their demand is not met.

Sarfaraz a trader remarked, “Peeth Bazaar is one of the largest markets in Haridwar and apart from thousands of customers, traders too are getting affected due to halted work at the bridge.

Affected people have also warned of closing Peeth market if in repair work doesn’t commencement before New Year.

Dehradun, December 30
The Dehradun XI team registered a 42-run victory over Rishikesh XI team in an exhibition match organised by the Uttarakhand Cricket Association here today.

Batting first, Dehradun XI team scored 147 runs in allotted 20 overs. Opening pair of Manshi Joshi and Latika Kumari contributed 77 runs in the first six overs, going by over ten runs per over.

Manshi Joshi scored 25 runs in 18 balls, hitting three fours in her innings. Another opener Latika Kumari smashed 43 runs in 20 balls, smashing ten fours in her innings.

Sahiba scored 22 runs in 21 balls. For Rishikesh XI team Archan and Garima took two wickets each for the team.

Chasing the victory target of 148 runs, Rishikesh team did not get the desired start for the team. It lost its first opener for eight runs in 15 balls, whereas second opener Jyoti got out for 19 runs.

First down batsman Arti scored 20 runs in 26 balls and Jyoti scored 19 runs in 28 balls. For Dehradun XI team Shahiba took two wickets and Shrutika claimed one.

Meanwhile, LMCC team defeated MKP by eight wickets at the District Women Cricket League here today.

Batting first, MKP team scored 106 runs. Meenu and Jyoti were the highest scorers for the team with 23 runs.

For Little Master Cricket Club Sneha took four wickets and Pooja and Rekha took two wickets each.

Chasing the victory target of 73 runs Little Master Cricket Club reached the target with eight wickets in hand. Sneha was the highest scorer for the team with 51 runs. For MKP team Priyanka took two wickets. 

Dehradun, December 30
The Sports Trainees team defeated the CAU team by eight wickets in u-17 cricket tournament match here today.

Batting first, the CAU team scored 42 runs in 11.3 overs. None of the batsman scored good runs.

It was only through extras that the team scored its runs. For the Sports Trainees team, Neeraj took four wickets, whereas Himanshu and Manish took two wickets each.

The Sports Trainees team reached the target with eight wickets. Deepak was the highest scorer for the team with 11 runs.

For the CAU team, Nishant and Parveen took one wicket each.

Meanwhile, the Ajabpur Youngster team defeated the Valley Boys team by 166 runs at 58th District Cricket League.

Batting first, the Ajabpur Youngster team scored 245 runs in 30 overs. Amit was the highest scorer for the team with 59 runs. Yogambher was the second highest scorer for the team with 50 runs and Sudheer scored 27 runs. For Valley Boys, Monuraj took three wickets.

Chasing the target of 246 runs, the Valley Boys team was all-out for 79 runs. For the Ajabpur Youngster team Raman took four wickets. 

Dehradun, December 30
The Garhwal Boys and Cantt Blues team have made it to the semifinals of the Khadag Bahadur Memorial Football Tournament organised at Guru Ram Rai Inter-College here today.

In the first match, Cantt Blues defeated Nagar Nigam by 4-2. Cantt team played aggressive football right from the beginning and constantly made attacks at their opponent goalpost. Cantt Blues scored its first goal in the 2nd minute of the match through Suraj Bisht.

He scored his second goal in the 16th minute of the match.

Nagar Nigam team scored its first goal in the 18th minute of the match through Abhinav. But it was Cheten for the Cantt Blues team in 20th minute to make it 3-1. But Nagar Nigam reduced the lead in the match by scoring the second goal for his side in the 26th minute through Tony.

Meanwhile, in the second half, Cantt Blues team pumped another goal to making it 4-2. It was Ajay for Cantt Blues team who scored the fourth goal for the team.

Meanwhile in the second match, Garhwal Boys team defeated 1/11 Gorkha Rifle team by 6-5 in a tiebreaker. Both the teams were locked at 0-0 draws at the match. But in the tiebreaker Garhwal Boys team excelled and won the match. 

Dehradun, December 30
Ashish Kumar of Sahaspur won gold in 100 m at the District Athletics Competition organised by District Sports Office here today.

Amit Verma of Kalsi was placed second with silver and Shivam of Rajpur had to settle for bronze.

Meanwhile, in Kabbadi final was played between Kalsi and Vikas Nagar teams in which Kalsi team defeated Vikas Nagar by 54-46 to lift the trophy.

The chief guest on the occasion was Darshan Singh Bajawa, who gave away the prizes to the winners and runner up teams.

Present on the occasion was Col KS Mal (retd) Trilokpal Singh, BS Rawat and others were present.