Dehradun, June 4
A total of 31 cadets of the Army Cadet College (ACC) wing graduated here today thus entering the one-year pre-commission military training at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) at Chetwood Hall.

They were awarded degrees at the graduation ceremony at Chetwood Hall of the IMA. Out of the 31 cadets, 17 are from science stream and 14 are from arts stream. These degrees were conferred on the cadets by Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

The ceremony was presided over by Lt Gen RS Sujlana PVSM, AVSM, VSM Commandant, IMA. Being a golden jubilee of the Army Cadet College (Siachen Battalion) Sujlana also released the Special Day Cover by the Army

Postal Service Corps and Golden Jubilee stamp booklet prepared by the Postal Department of Uttarakhand.

The Army Cadet College (ACC) trains the selected personnel from the ranks of the Indian Armed Forces found suitable to be given commission in the Indian Army. After three years of academic training at the ACC, the graduated cadets will hereafter join the IMA for one year pre-commission military training.

Brig Sunil Chandra, Head of the Academic Department while presenting the college report highlighted the high standards and admirable academic performance obtained by the cadets of the graduating course.

The commandant IMA, in his convocation address to the graduating course congratulated the course and said now you are academically eligible for entering to the IMA.

Addressing the cadets he added that they needed to continue with the same zeal during their training at the IMA. At the main wing of the IMA, there would be greater stress on military training to further develop the qualities of leadership, moral, physical courage, discipline, loyalty and integrity towards the nation.

The cadets were also bestowed with the Chief of Army Staff and Commandants Silver Medal awards in different categories by the IMA commandant.

Dehradun, June 4
The End of Term Indoor Club exhibition-cum-competition was inaugurated at central foyer, Chetwood Hall of the IMA here today. The exhibition will conclude on June 11.

The event was inaugurated by Rashmi Sujlana, wife of RS Sujlana, AVSM, VSM Commandant, IMA. Four clubs Arts Club, Bird Watching and Photography Club, Computer Club and Wild Life Ecology and Arboriculture Club have put up exhibits for the exhibition-cum-competition.

The Arts Club helps igniting the latent talent of the GCs. This exhibition highlights oil, water, pencil and charcoal paintings.

While members of Bird Watching and Photography Club captured various species of birds in their camera in and around the IMA campus. They also visited the Assan barrage to capture photographs of rare species.

The members of Computer Club apart from learning and improving their skills in computer also developed a project based on the data on Gallantry award winners.

Wild Life Ecology and Arboriculture Club organised a run for the cause to save the tiger. They visited the Bamboo Setum garden in the FRI.

The judging and evaluation of the exhibits by the judging committee was held on June at 11 am. The prizes were presented to the GCs for the first three positions in different categories.

Dehradun, June 4
Some of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam’s (GMVN) important tourist rest houses, which are in a bad shape, need immediate maintenance to attract tourists. Unless this is done, the GMVN will not earn desired revenue and these rest houses will continue to suffer loss year after year.

General Manager of the GMVN UK Kabadwal said: “One 500-bedded dormitory of the GMVN in Badrinath is in a despicable shape. Seepage in walls, leaking roof, chipped plaster and bad state of infrastructure have reduced this potentially profit-making property to a loss-making proposition. A huge number of tourists come to visit Badrinath, but this rest house gets tourists only when people don’t get bookings anywhere else due to over rush or only poor people who do not mind the quality of service stay here”.

There are many such properties which call for urgent attention and renovation. The other tourist rest house in famous tourist spot Kedarnath is also a victim of sheer neglect. In this case, the GMVN did spend Rs 12 lakh on its renovation but did not make arrangements for hot water. The tourists who come to this cold place prefer to bathe in hot water before visiting the sanctum sanctorum in the Kedarnath temple but since the nigam rest house do not have the facility, the number of tourists there is also dwindling.

While dealing with its poor financial state, the nigam has come to understand that it will have to loosen its purse strings to refurbish its wretched rest houses in order to gain long-term profits.

Kabadwal says: “There is no point maintaining big dormitories especially when these receive a few tourists. Even if there is one or two tourists, the whole place has to be lit up and maintained incurring a lot of expenditure. We are planning to convert such dormitories into plush rest houses with two or three bedrooms equipped with premium infrastructure and services.

He said their target was to tap the high-end tourists who are ready to shell out amount equal to market price for such services. He said spending power of people has increased over the years and they don’t mind in splurging more on better services.

Kabadwal felt this would also improve the dented image of the GMVN.

(To be concluded)

Pitthoragarh, June 4
Though the Himalayan region cannot be free from landslides as these are related with the tectonic activities of the growing Himalaya, the Himalayan people can mitigated them by adopting some precautions in their life styles, said Dr VK Gairola, a retired Professor of Geology at Banaras Hindu University. Dr Gairola was delivering his inaugural speech at a national seminar on landslides and environmental degradation in hill terrains here today.

“We can mitigate the disaster caused by these landslides by adopting some steps as forestation and demoralising mining activities and constructions of small hydro electric schemes in place of big dams,” said Dr Gairola.

The three-day national workshop on landslides and environmental degradation in hill terrains was organised by the Department of Geology of the local PG College and was sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and the Uttarakhand Space Application Centre, Dehradun.

“While constructing motor roads, the concerning department should use schear keys and buttresses between horizontal and vertical walls. This method can control landslides and mitigate the damage in the Himalayan region,” said Dr Gairola, regretting that these measures are used by the Uttarakhand government very late.

Referring to Uttarakhand government’s recent move to start penetration of rainwater inside earth for regeneration of natural water sources, Dr Gairola said these channels should be used at the places where there was no possibility of landslides. “

If we do this without studying geological condition of a particular area, we can invite the danger of landslide because the landslides are mostly caused due to water logging inside the earth,” said Dr Gairola.

More than 30 geologists from Uttarakhand, UP and Delhi are participating in the workshop, said Dr RA Singh, organiser of the seminar.

Nainital, June 4
Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva has called upon the people to adopt environment-friendly lifestyle with the view to respect and protect the environment.

In her message on the eve of the World Environment Day, Alva said, “On this occasion let us resolve to respect and protect the environment and adopt lifestyles which are environment friendly."

She pointed that the World Environment Day is an occasion for the people to show gratitude to Mother Nature, which sustains all forms of life.

“It is on this historic day in 1972, that the United Nations Conference on Human Environment began in Stockholm. The UNEP theme for the World Environment Day this year is “Many Species: One Planet, One Future.” which lays stress on the importance of species and ecosystems, and is in tune with the UN International Year of Biodiversity,” she pointed.

Alva asserted that India has rich traditional knowledge and wisdom in the conservation of nature and natural resources.

Religious beliefs, culture and folklore have all treated nature and environment with sanctity.

“Conservation and protection of the environment have thus been part of our ethos. We must be proud of our natural bounty and unique biodiversity. We must be sensitive inhabitants of the planet, to which climate change has become a major challenge,” she underlined.

Dehradun, June 4
Riding over last year, the second environment summit is all set to take place tomorrow as the event coincides with the World Environment Day celebrations.

Experts from various institutions and industry would be deliberating climate change at the summit.

Being jointly organised by number of bodies - Uttarakhand Council of Science and Technology, (UCOST) Uttarakhand Environment Protection Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB), Uttarakhand Forest Department, Uttarakhand Science Education and Research Centre (USERC), Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the theme for this year’s summit is “Climate Change in Context of Uttarakhand”.

The summit will focus on Scientific Aspects of Climate Change, Global and Indian Policy Perspective and Mitigating Climate Change. It is also slated to address the multiple aspects of Climate Change in the context to Uttarakhand. It is aimed that the deliberations and recommendations of the summit will generate ideas for the State Action Plan for Climate Change (SAPCC). The government of Uttarakhand is proactively working on the issue of climate change and is in the process of preparing its own State Action Plan for Climate Change.

Like many other like-minded institutions and organisations industry through CII too has been working on various aspects of this subject across the country. The CII has been involved in the development of the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC), and is also part of the Low Carbon Expert Group of the Planning Commission. The CII is also helping some state governments develop climate-friendly policies and low-carbon growth and development strategies.

Dehradun, June 4
A day ahead of the World Environment Day celebrations, the Dolphin (PG) Institute of Biomedical and Natural Sciences and Uttarakhand State Council of Science and Technology held a programme in its campus here today.

The chief guest Assistant General Manager Punjab National Bank Vijay Kumar laid importance on sensitisation within society towards environment conservation. A competition on power point presentation linked to conservation, apart from tree plantation drive and a poster exhibition was also organised to observe the occasion. All the events were initiated by the Students Welfare Society of the institute. Awards were also presented to the participating students.

Dehradun, June 4
On the Environment Day today, leading environmentalists of the country called for changing focus of the nation from consumer culture to practicing austerity and preserving the environment.

In his message Padam Vibhushan awardee Sunderlal Bahuguna said Mahatma Gandhi had foreseen the dangers of materialistic civilisation and the only solution is to minimize needs practicing austerity, change in lifestyle and finally tree farming, which will give us oxygen and serve as sinks of carbon dioxide, bring rains and conserve water use organic fertilisers.

“Species giving nuts, edible seeds, oil seeds, flowering tress for honey and seasonal fruits for food, leaf fodder for animal fiber for clothing. This will help make communities self-sufficient in their basic needs and on the other hand will eliminate the unproductive expenditure in transport and air pollution,” he said.

While Padma Shri Dr Anil Joshi said despite marking the Environment Day for the last 10 years, there has not been substantial environment in our surroundings, “Things have gone from bad to worse.

Consumer culture has destroyed our trees and agriculture. In the next decade the focus of development should be on increasing forest cover,” he said.

Dehradun, June 4
The Uttarakhand Human Resource and Economic Management Development Foundation (UHREMDF) will begin its plantation drive for the current year from Gandhi Park tomorrow.

Jitendra Mohan Sharma, the founder chairman of UHREMDF said the organisation this year has decided to plant as many as 15,000 trees in panchayat areas of Dehradun. He disclosed that they had successfully planted around 12,000 trees last year.

He said the organisation would also be conducting environment awareness programmes throughout the year to sensitise people on the importance of environment conservation. These programmes include rallies, street plays and painting competitions.

Sharma also pointed out that the foundation has also adopted Doiwala Block for pro-environment initiatives.

Dehradun, June 4
Only four countries, including India will be participating in the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships for Boys and Girls being organised by the Uttarkhand State Table Tennis Association on June 5 and 6 at Maharana Pratap Sports College, Raipur.

The organisers had earlier claimed that seven countries, including Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and India are expected to participate in these championships but only four countries turned up for the championship.

An organising official told The Tribune, the teams from only Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and host India are participating. “Pakistan will not be participating in the Championships due to visa problems. Pakistan had it confirmation but it had to pull out at the last stage owing to the visa problems. While Bhutan hasn’t confirmed its participation,” added the official. Besides this the organisers couldn’t give any reason why Bangladesh was giving it a miss.

Meanwhile, in total about 80 players and officials of the four teams reached Dehradun today.

The players practiced at the sports college complex till evening and would be given a special dinner at a hotel by the association.

“It will be a get together for players and officials so that they can understand one another,” told the official.

Haridwar, June 4
With summer vacation on and the parents too encouraging their children to indulge in outdoor activities and sports, a slew of skill-based programmes are being organised here these days. And the most sought after programmes are the sports camps and in those too cricket is the most in demand.

For the budding enthusiasts, a cricket coaching camp-cum-workshop is being organised at Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) sports stadium wherein the young kids are learning the basics and nitty-gritty’s of the most popular game in the sub-continent.

The camps is being organised by joint efforts of the Cricket Association of Haridwar and Jymkhana club. Being coached by able and skilled coaches, the camp is witnessing hundreds of children learning the sports.

Former selector of Ranji Trophy for the North zone and Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) chief pitch curator Radhe Shyam today attended the camp and gave tips to the enrolled cricketers. From his decades of experience and expertise Radhe Shyam fine-tuned the basics like stance, still head, usage of feet, length-line of the ball, bowling action, wicket keeping and urged students to play fairly keeping spirit of sportsmanship alive.

He cited examples of legendary Indian cricketers Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble who not only smashed runs and took wickets at international level, but also won the hearts of people with their fair play and off the field behaviour.

“You idolise them so you should also know the hard work, efforts put in by your favourite players, besides always playing in the right spirit of the game which is called gentleman’s game,” said the coach.

In view of the growing popularity of T-20 format and the high level of fitness skills needed in it, Radhy Shyam advised the trainee cricketers to maintain stamina and give emphasis on the fielding aspect, as according to him the old cricketing adage catches wins matches is still the core of the game irrespective of the cricketing format.

Dehradun, June 3
Uttarakhand Police outplayed the Doon Eagle 5-0 here today during the football league being organised by the District Football Association at Police Lines.

The Uttarakhand police had a combined contribution from its players. Dhan Sing (7th), Suresh (30th), Anup (40th), Saurabh (60th) and Narendra (62nd) all scored a goal each to ensure the win of the team.

On the contrary, the players of the Doon Eagle failed to retaliate and buckled under pressure. They couldn’t utilise the opportunities it got to score a goal and lost the match easily.

Dehradun, June 4
Doiwala Boys and Roshni Club played a 0-0 draw at the ongoing Lala Nami Das District Football League being organised by the Old District Football Association here on Pavilion Ground.

Both teams made several good efforts but they all proved unsuccessful. Both the teams gave a tough time to their rival which led to a goalless a draw. Tomorrow confident City Young will play strong BC Milan in another league match. Spectators enjoyed todays match and expecting a good, entertaining competion tomorrow.