Dehradun, January 1
Winter chill effect has set in Dehradun with city roads getting enveloped in fog during the evening hours leading to a sharp fall in temperature levels.

Met officials in Dehradun attributed this effect to moisture-laden south easterlies flowing in a high velocity in the city during afternoon hours.

Dehradun Meteorological Centre Director Dr Anand Sharma described sudden appearance of fog in Dehradun as “wind chill effect”. Dr Sharma said one felt more of cold due to this wind chill effect, which, he said, was actually caused due to high velocity winds coming from cooler areas. “These high velocity winds coming from the plains to Uttarakhand led to further dip in mercury, thus extracting out the body heat making one feel cold,” he said.

The temperatures that stood at 19.5°C at 1.30 pm, fell to 15°C at 2.30 pm followed by further decline to 9°C as the day progressed.

He also held that while there could be clouds at certain places, upper reaches could have rain or snow in the next 24 hours.

However, he hoped a change in the weather on Sunday with minimum temperature likely to rise.

Wind chill effect was also reported from Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and other parts of Dehradun.

Meanwhile, Doonites kept indoors today. By evening, the mist that had completely taken over the city further discouraged residents from venturing out on the roads. People took to woollens to ward off the cold.

Haridwar January 1
On the pious occasion of lunar eclipse as the New Year began lakh of pilgrims and devotees thronged Ganga ghats here in Haridwar. Despite chilling, foggy, shivering weather conditions prevalent devotees thronged Har-ki-Pauri to take holy dip in the river Ganga. With the official starting of Mahakumbh period with the day, many took dip as it has a religious significance.

Though fog prevailed whole day and temperature was plummeting as low as 2 degree Celsius there was affect on tourists outpour but ghats were still occupied by devotees braving the chilly weather.

Due to lunar eclipse falling from 12:21 am to 1:23 am devotees took the holy dip to avoid any negative influence due to the eclipse.

Meanwhile, a yagya was organised by Rashtriya Shawak Sangh praying for peaceful and successful completion of Mahakumbh in Haridwar. Addressing the sangh activists state chief Chandra Mohan Kaushik said as today world-renowned Mahakumbh mela has begun but due to lackadaisical working of the mela administration, the fair’s successful completion is being questioned.

At ShantiKunj hundreds of Gayatri followers took pledge to work towards environmental and river conservation, eradication of alcohol, lavish marriage-parties and other social pledges. Head of the Akhil Vishwa Gayatri Parivar chief said the New Year will be full of challenges but in those challenges lies bright future.

Spiritual Guru Yogeshwar Pushpnandan Ji Maharaj in New Year religious programme at Siddh Peeth Sidhashram presided the rituals.

Jal Police to keep watch at ghats

After Guldaar commando unit for thwarting terror attacks, mela police in its arsenal has deployed special water police personnel commonly known as ‘Jal Police’ to be the life saviours for those who get drowned in the river Ganga during the Mahakumbh.

While in this year Kanwar mela more than 400 drowning cases were reported wherein jal police personnel saved hundreds of Kanwars. But now they are aided with newly swift boats to assist them in their efforts when crores will be thronging Ganga ghats and such drowning and slip off instances may occur in large numbers.

Special rescue and relief training has been given to the personnel who will be manning the river ghats across the 130 sq km range of mela area spreading across Haridwar to Rishikesh.

The water warriors have been training at ghats trying out various situations and tactics for better rescue efforts. A dozen odd boats will be deployed during the mela tenure and four have already arrived. 

Dehradun, January 1
In the case of fake e-mails from the office of Chief Minister to the Managing Director of Uttarakhand Hydroelectric Power Corporation RP Thapliyal seeking confidential information about hydro-electric projects, the police raided the house of Deputy General Manager (DGM) Vinay Gupta.

The police took away a laptop used by the daughter of Gupta and the hard disc of a computer used at his residence.

According to police sources, RP Thapliyal got suspicious on getting several e-mail queries and checked up with the office of the Chief Minister. It was found that no such queries were asked by the office of the Chief Minister.

Later, a case was registered with the Dehradun police in this regard.

The cyber crime cell of the Uttarakhand police traced the IP address of those e-mails. It was allegedly found that the e-mails were generated from the telephone installed at the house of Gupta.

Further investigations in the case are on. 

Dehradun, January 1
Intensifying their stir, daily wage earners and work-charge employees working with the Uttarakhand Public Works Department today locked the Yamuna Colony office here.

Led by Babu Khan, state president of the PWD Employees Union, the employees said while as many as 1,500 posts were lying vacant in the department, the management was not working towards regularising these employees.

Department’s employees across the state have been agitating for quite some time. These work-charge employees have been working with the department for the past 15 or 20 years and were still to be regularised.

Another employee union leader Vikram Singh Rawat called the employees to unitedly work for getting their genuine rights.

The protesters have submitted a six-point memorandum to the authorities concerned many a time. These employees have been staging a dharna and other protests for quite some time. 

Pitthoragarh, December 31
The Pitthoragarh police, accompanied by contingents of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), special operation task force and local intelligence units, is conducting an intense combing operation on the India-Nepal border in Pitthoragarh district.

This is being done keeping in mind the activities of the Young Communist League, an organ of the Nepali Maoists, across the border in Nepal.

“The operation, which was specially concentrated at Pipli, Dwalisera and Ghingrani area from where smuggling activities are often reported, is continuing and will go into the New Year until their activities in Nepal become non-provocative,” said Puran Singh Rawat, Superintendent of Police, Pitthoragarh.

Besides the police, the Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB) contingents are also guarding the India-Nepal border. “The SSB personnel have been ordered to keep a close and round-the-clock vigil on the 174-km-long India-Nepal border ranging from the high mountains to the lower terrains,” SSB officials said.

“After the Maoists called a three-day Nepal bandh last week, we have intensified the vigil on all 18 border observation posts (BOP) and all five suspension bridges which fall on the India-Nepal border in this district,” said Bhagat Singh Tolia, Commandant of 11th BN SSB based at Didihat.

Tolia said that near the India-Nepal border in Dharchula town of Nepal, Maoist activities are on the rise. “The strike on Saturday and calling the Indian traders to Nepal to make a joint strategy to fight with trade bans recently executed by the SSB are some symptoms which indicate that the Maoists are activating their cadres in these border towns,” said Tolia.

“We have extended the vigil on bridges for 24 hours and deployed extra companies, which have recently returned from election duty in Jharkhand, to these bridges and enhanced patrolling,” said Tolia.

As winter progresses, the water in the Mahakali recedes allowing easy crossing for unwanted elements. “We have identified 14 places at Charchum, Kalika, Pangla, Saptari and Sunarkoli where the river has gone shallow and is easy to cross. We have put extra personnel on these places,” said Tolia.

He added that a 24-hour vigil was being kept at Sitapul near Garbiyan. 

Dehradun, January 1
Giving wings to its ambitions, GVK EMRI 108 Ambulance services has now demanded a piece of land from the state government to house its headquarters in the state capital that is expected to leave the ex-chequer poorer by 
several crore.

Land continues to be in short supply in the state and several educational institutions, and industrial houses waiting in the wings to roll their project have been hindered in their effort.

The EMRI officials are demanding 35,000 sq ft of land in the outskirts of Dehradun that is still in the process of being finalised.

According to sources, still facing heat from PIL pending in the Supreme Court, GVK EMRI was forced to tone down its demand from 15 acres to 35,000 sq feet. The state government too would have gone along with the demand but for the pending PIL as the provision of land existed in the memorandum signed between the government and erstwhile Satyam that had started the services.

Interestingly, the state government is yet to sign a memorandum with GVK, though it was officially announced that GVK had taken the management of 108 EMRI in June 2009 as a result of the Satyam financial fraud, necessitating renew of contract.

“The provision for land was always their from the word go and we are looking at the possibility of getting building measuring 35,000 sq feet, however nothing has been finalised as yet. It might take some time before the proposals gets going,” said Anoop Nautiyal COO of GVK EMRI 108 that is providing emergency health care facilities in the state.

However, sources maintain that preliminary surveys have been undertaken and the previous demand for 15 acres of land was only toned down after it was pointed out that such a costly piece of land would be difficult to come by and would also set a wrong precedent. 

Nainital, January 1
A large influx of tourists to the region and late night revelries marked the ushering of the year 2010 in Kumaon. Tourists from the adjoining Terai and other parts of the country visited Nainital, Almora, Ranikhet and other locations in large numbers despite a snowy yearend evading them.

There were wide ranged celebrations in the city of lakes. The entire Mall Road running adjacent to the Naini Lake had been illuminated with popular bollywood numbers playing right from the afternoon. The hotels here had organised events to mark the yearend.

These included dance parties, fashion shows and other party competitions for the participants at these parties. Several bonfires were lit in various parts of the city for the comfort of those who preferred celebrating with the masses on the roads. Although thousands of tourists did come to Nainital, their number was lesser than what was expected.

The primary reason for this was the rumours floated by hoteliers in advance that their bookings were touching the optimum so that they would charge higher costs from tourists desperate for lodging facilities. But this proved counter productive as the tourists instead went towards Almora and Ranikhet.

The evening passed off peacefully with no major untoward incident from any part of the region. Elaborate security arrangements had been put in place well in time. Large number of police personnel had been deployed at regular intervals and random checking of vehicles was done.

Vehicles entering Nainital were allowed to get out from parking lots only after midnight to maintain a constant flow of traffic. Checks were also conducted to check drunken driving.

In Almora, large number of tourists visited Kasar Devi, Patal Devi, Chitai and Banri Devi. Similarly, a large tourist activity was witnessed in Kausani, Baijnath, Pindari, Kafni, Sunderdhunga, Binsar, Devaldhar and Vajyula in Bageshwar district. The resorts in and around the Jim Corbett National Park also drew a large number of tourists.

Dehradun, January 1
As part of the New Year celebrations, volunteers from Prerna Andolan planted saplings at Gandhi Park here today. Inspired by the moment, founder Prerna, Arun Thapliyal said, “At present the whole world is bearing the brunt of global warming and from animals, insects to human beings all of us are in great danger. Its essential to come together through various medium and express our concern over such grave issues.”

Volunteers strongly favour agitation and feel that children in can easily leave heartfelt messages big way, which can encourage and inspire people to become more matured and sensitive as human beings.

“A child due to his innocence, concern can easily melt hearts of many and indirectly change the mindset of parents, teachers and others around them,” said Arun Thapliyal.

People supported the cause in large number. Environmentalist Manoj Uniyal said, “These efforts definitely with time can leave a deep impact on the minds of people, the idea is to continue and encourage more of such ideas.” 

Haridwar, January 1
After witnessing several protests against quarrying on Ganga riverbed in Ajitpur, Jiyopata, Missirpur, Katarpur villages, now people related with quarrying have upped their agitation to press the administration for allowing quarrying once again.

Pointing out that banning quarrying has put a question mark on their survival and is affecting their life badly as this has been their only source of employment, these people have now got united and started various measures to press for their demand.

Recently, they carried out a massive vehicle rally in Haridwar putting city traffic to a standstill. All quarrying-related villagers and workers came the city riding tractors, trucks and other vehicles used in material carrying.

They are also reaching out to political parties, social organisations and saints in particular in view of the coming Maha Kumbh. Saints of Matra Sadan have launched a protest against quarrying in these villages.

They have written a letter to Akhada Parishad chief Mahant Gyandas to intervene in the matter and help in sorting out the issue.

Under the aegis of the Gramin Yuva Samiti, these villagers are lobbying to abolish the ban on quarrying in their areas. “We don’t want any clash only we want to put up our stance and cause. Our families are suffering as quarrying is what we all depend on. The administration and anti-quarrying people should look into this aspect too,” said Sunil Jayaswal, a representative of the samiti. 

Dehradun, January 1
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank inaugurated night shelter for poor people at Chukkuwala on Friday. The premises, which had been ready for a quite some time, was waiting to be inaugurated by the Chief Minister to open up for the poor people.

The land was earlier being used as cattle house for stray animals. The Mayor went to attend the function but Leader of the Opposition of DMC Ashok Verma preferred not to go for being invited only a day before the inauguration. He said, “The Mayor and I had strong reservation as to why the administration is taking initiative in inaugurating it when it has been built on the DMC land. Then, we were sent 70 invitation cards on Thursday evening. It was merely a formality as we could not send invitation to all our counsellors at such a short notice. So we ended up informing few counsellors only.”

Verma, who got to know from the Mayor that he was not going to attend the function, was later caught unaware when he learnt that latter had left for the function.

Verma was otherwise happy that the night shelter would serve a kind purpose by providing shelter to poor at night. He said, “The winter has started much earlier. The building too was ready for a quite some time. And it would prove to be a great blessing for those who do not have a place to hide themselves in the chilling winter.”

It seems the city too had held up the biting cold until now, as on Friday evening the cold wave enveloped the whole city. 

Dehradun, December 1
Some of the finest and quality pashmina shawls from the land of Jammu and Kashmir are attracting women in large numbers at the ongoing National Handloom Expo in Dehradun.

Available in a variety of colours and intricate hand embroidery, these shawls are difficult to find in ordinary woollens stores and for ages have been preference of those, who are on a lookout for exquisite woollen wear.

Mohammed Ashraf, a businessman from Srinagar, Kashmir, and member of the Shabnam Ruffle and Pashmina Society, has displayed some of the best pashmina shawls in the price range from Rs 6,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh. “We have come to Dehradun for the first time and from plain to heavy embroided shawls have some of the best designs in pure pashmina, which are expensive for their quality and the hard labour that takes to create these world’s best shawls,” said Ashraf.

The embroidery done on the soft woollen shawls is primarily categorised in three varieties named aari, needle and kani jamavar. Depending on the handwork and complexities that are involved, a shawl can easily take a month or a year to be as beautiful as possible. However, along with pashmina, there are endless choices in reon stoles, crape saris and appealing dress materials.

“Not only do we have fine pashmina material, but also have stoles, crape saris in a range of Rs 300 and Rs 35,000 so that everybody can purchase as per their budget,” added Ashraf.

“I purchased a Kashmiri embroidered suit material from a stall at the expo for the simple reason of being outstanding in style and quality,” said Poonam, a housewife.

However, with expectations of a good business, Ashraf and others feel people should be conscious enough to make their investment in quality products and should trust people who are in a particular business from generations.

Dehradun, December 1
The NCC Directorate organised a felicitation ceremony to honour cadets of 29 Battalion NCC DAV (PG) College here today.

Lt Atul Singh and two other cadets, under officer Dheeraj Upadhyay and Sgt Mayank Sajwaan, were awarded with the national-level Director-General Commendation card and badges.

Lt Col BS Ahluwalia was also congratulated for taking over the command of 29 Battalion of NCC, Uttarakhand.

Col Deepak Bisht, Lt Col Gurung and other civil staff were present at the event.