Mussoorie, July 4
For the past two days tourists and residents witnessed the fury of pre-monsoon rains as it has not being raining, but pouring in the Queen of Hills, benefiting the town on the whole, barring incidents of deluge, dense fog and electricity cuts.

With the end of a prolonged dry run in the state, the fresh spell of rain has replenished and recharged the spring water around the town to a certain extent leading to an increase in water levels.

According to Jal Sansthan AE PB Bhatt, the complete recharge of springs will occur only after continuous spell of rains for a week. However, the fresh spell will improve the drinking water supply situation in the town as people have begun avoiding the use of pipeline water in their gardens for nourishing plants.

Bhatt said they had also appealed to hoteliers and residents to store the rain water through the rainwater harvesting technique for which the department was ready to provide necessary expertise.

Bhatt, showing concern at the continuous electricity cuts in the town, said the water pumps which pulled water from springs near Murray Pump and Bhilaru were lying idle and due to which they were unable to provide regular water supply.

According to Electricity Department SDO Bikram Singh, the fault has erupted between Kyarkuli and Murrey Pump due to the downpour and would be rectified soon.

The environmentalists believe that due to concretisation of the linking roads, the benefits of the rainfall cannot be reaped as most of the water will flow without seeping underground and hence will go waste.

Dehradun, July 4
Residents of the villages and flats, which have sprung up in the past few years around the main trenching ground of the city on the Sahastradhara road, are sitting on the verge of catching deadly diseases, as the trenching ground has not only got filled up to the seams, but is also getting the deadly waste from slaughter houses/shops and medical waste from hospitals/nursing homes of the city, which are otherwise prohibited from the main dumping grounds.

The stink from the gases and garbage fumes has made life hell for them as people have begun contracting respiratory and lung diseases because of this. The collective garbage, which comes from all over the city here, has been depositing here for the past 10 years and is untreated scientifically.

Mayor Vinod Chamoli says when the dumping ground was made, there was no locality around it, but in the past 10 years builders have made flats around it and villages extend their territories closer to it.

The residents have been demanding the shifting of this dumping ground and Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) officials have been giving plain assurances for the past four years. But the patience of the residents petered out recently when sanitation workers threw slaughter waste on the locality roads a couple of times. They sat on dharna and blocked the way to the sanitation ground in protest. Not ready to be fooled this time with sugary words, the residents have given two-month time to create a new dumping ground.

But the question remains: even if the new dumping ground is created, what will happen to the hundreds layers of the garbage which have deposited on this ground for a decade? No solution to that, Assistant Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Harak Singh Rawat has categorically made it clear. “Where will the garbage go from here? It will remain here only,” Rawat said, admitting negligence shown in treating the garbage, where spray for killing micro-organism was never used and the layers were never compressed with rollers, which are basic requirements to maintain such a place.

No one surely has the answer for treating hazardous gases emanating from the garbage hillock which has poisonous materials mixed into it and the juices that is going underground and mixing with the water. The cascading effects will thus be felt for many more years to come.

Senior Health Officer Gurpal Singh says the residents of the area are vulnerable to catch serious respiratory, kidney and skin diseases.

The residents confirm the escalation of many such cases in the past few years. Nagender Singh, a resident of a Hill View flat, situated in the vicinity of dumping ground, says “My wife, who remains mostly at home, has caught asthma and red patches on her skin. People in our area having many such common ailments”.

Suman Thapa, gram pradhan of Nalapani village, says the stench of the garbage becomes unbearable when a piece of garbage is put on fire. Not only this, she says, the garbage also spreads around during the rains and becomes more stinking.

The dumping ground needs proper scientific treatment to create a safe living for the residents. Sanjay Aggarwal, CEO of Clover Organic, says, “Surprisingly, had the DMC acted wisely, it could have churned a large amount of compost from its bio-waste and earned not only revenue for itself, but benefited farmers in return.

Bio-gas could be another great benefit. But it can still create a safeguard for people by treating the deposited waste with ‘caping’ method, by which harmful gases are stopped from emission and toxic juices are also controlled”.

Aggarwal also suggested the DMC for opting for higher capital projects rather than confining its vision to localities based.

Chamoli sees the solution of this grave problem in much-hyped JNNRUM’s Solid Waste Management to be hopefully begun in the next six months, where the new dumping ground, segregation of garbage, treatment of garbage on scientific basis, a wholesome package will be taken care of. But in the haste and frenzy of new project, the corporation also should not ignore the present dumping ground and put life of hundreds of residents at stake.

With the completion of the process of electing primary members and then block-level presidents of the Uttarakhand Congress in the organisational elections, the race for the election of the President of the state Congress has started becoming a hot issue.

Divided in various groups and sub-groups, five of the senior Congress leaders are trying to have their own person as the Pradesh Congress Committee Chief.

Presently, Yashpal Arya, a protege of former Chief Minister ND Tiwari, is the state Congress President. Being a Dalit, he is also in the reckoning as he is getting support of two of the stalwarts from the Garhwal region, namely Vijay Bahuguna, MP from Tehri Garhwal, and Satpal Maharaj, MP from Pauri Garhwal.

However, the decision of Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Harish Rawat will also be crucial.

The election of the state Congress has become all the more important for these party leaders due to the fact that all of them are smelling victory in the next Assembly elections scheduled to be held in February 2012 and thus eyeing the position of Chief Minister of the state. Topping the chart is Harish Rawat, who lost the race to veteran ND Tiwari, his bete noire for three decades after the first-ever Assembly elections held in February 2002.

Rawat has not come out openly in favour of any particular candidate, but according to his supporters he will not like Yashpal Arya for another term at a time when the Assembly elections are around the corner.

Since the state party President along with party MPs plays an important role in deciding the tickets of the assembly segments, Rawat would like to have his own President.

Commanding loyalty of a majority of the Congress legislators, Rawat, a shrewd tactician and a good political organiser, has many cards up his sleeve. To play the Dalit card, he has Almora MP Pardeep Tamta to counter Yashpal Arya. Former PWD Minister and number two in the Tiwari cabinet Indira Hariydesh has also joined hands with Harish Rawat and could be a candidate, if the party decides to give command to a Brahmin and a woman from Kumoan.

However, the Congress observers believe that Rawat would not bet on Indira Hariydesh since she is also from Kumoan and would be a powerful claimant for the post of the Chief Minister if the party wins the 2012 assembly elections.

So, Harish Rawat, being a Thakur himself from the Kumoan region would prefer a Brahmin leader from Garhwal region to head the state unit in the run up to the assembly polls. Insiders believe that Kishore Upadhaya, party legislator from Tehri who is a trusted colleague could be put up by his group.

On the other hand, a large section of the Congressmen are of the opinion that despite the hype of organisational elections, most of the positions are being filled by consensus and it is highly unlikely that elections will be held. They are of the opinion that finally the decision of National President Sonia Gandhi will be binding in the name of consensus. The election for the post is likely to be held this month.

Experts against building road to Hemkund Sahib

With the Hemkund Sahib yatra in full swing, thousands of Sikh pilgrims are braving odds to visit the famous shrine nestled in the Garhwal Himalayas in Chamoli district, despite advisories by the Uttarakhand government to pilgrims not to travel to the hill shrine by two-wheelers or in trucks packed with pilgrims mostly from Punjab. But despite such advisories in the past, there has not been a letup in the enthusiasm of the pilgrims travelling on two-wheelers, mostly young boys.

There has been an accident also where a pilgrim on his motorcycle lost his life while his brother riding the pillion was critically injured.

The Sikh pilgrims had to traverse 18 km of treacherous climb from Govindghat on foot, braving inclement weather en route to the Hemkund Sahib Gurdwara.

There has been a long-pending demand from Sikh pilgrims to build a road up to the Hemkund Sahib. Even before the formation of Uttarakhand state in 2002, there was a move to build a road that was opposed by environmentalists and locals.

Environmentalists claim that any road in the Valley of Flowers, a part of Nanda Devi biosphere, a world heritage site will be disastrous for ecology.

The state government turned down the proposal in 2003.

The locals opposed the move on the ground that a road would destroy their businesses dependent on the annual yatra.

SS Bains, a retired Punjab government official from Mohali, Punjab, told The Tribune that a road to the Hemkund Sahib would be beneficial for the local economy as more people would be able to make the pilgrimage like the Vaishno Devi shrine and famous Badrinath Dham.

Dhoni ties knot, gives tough time to media

It has been an interesting chase for mediapersons of Dehradun on Saturday when rumours spread that Indian cricket team captain Mahender Singh Dhoni was in the city. Since morning mediapersons, particularly the electronic media and photographers, were running helter-skelter in all directions of the city.

A few went up to a village near Rajpur, while others pitched themselves outside a few houses in the Dalanwala area. By evening rumours became strong that captain cool MS Dhoni was getting engaged to Sakshi Rawat, his old girl friend with whom he was spotted last year at Mussoorie. Still there was no clue.

Late in the evening it was heard that the engagement party has been going in a hotel at Selaqui, 15 kilometre from Dehradun on the Dehradun-Paonta
Sahib road.

Mediapersons reached the hotel gate along with a large number of Dhoni fans, but were not able to get into due to tight security arrangements. Mediapersons were there till 2 am and returned to their offices to break the story of his engagement. On Sunday, mediapersons eager to get a quote from Dhoni again descended in front of the house of a senior woman IPS officer of Jharkhand cadre who is related to the bride.

However, by afternoon the Dehradun police confirmed that indeed marriage was taking place, but at a private resort, 10 km away from Selaqui, as Dhoni family had sought police security for the event.

It was time for the mediapersons to rush to the resort where they found barricades to stop them. The marriage ceremony was held on Sunday night.

Dehradun, July 4
It is only when the clock strikes 10 at night that members of the gay community in Dehradun come to life. Most shed their double roles and embrace identities that they are comfortable with. One year since the decriminalisation of adult sexual behaviour, gays and transgender people in Dehradun continue to remain underground, venturing out in the dead of the night, making it difficult to reach them for HIV prevention treatment and care services.

Though the Delhi High Court may have restored the dignity and human rights of millions homosexuals and transgender people a year back, by and large the gay community here, continues to be at the receiving end of public behaviour that borders on hostility or plain ignorance, seldom allowing members of the gay community to come out of the closet.

So, far away from public eyes, farm houses, parks and public utilities are meeting points for gays who communicate with each other in their own language almost shutting out the world that others may be familiar with. However, to this day they find it difficult to approach doctors or hospitals and talk about themselves.

“There may be several doctors among us, who may still think being gay is an illness and may even come up with outrageous treatments. That’s no way to deal with the problems of the gay community members, as it is their fears and guilt complexes prevents them from talking about their sexual orientatiopenly,” said Dr Pratibha B Sharma, psychologist, Doon Hospital.

Notwithstanding their vulnerabilities, gays are considered to be among the high-risk group vulnerable to the spread of HIV/AIDS in India. Apart from them, the other high-risk groups are sex workers, truck drivers and injecting drug users (IDUs). “Ours is a preventive programme, that aims at providing information about HIV/AIDS. But most of the time we do not talk about their sexual orientation. From time to time we also take up issues of their rehabilitation, so that they are accepted in society,” said Sanjay Bisht, Programme Coordinator, Target Intervention Programme.

The Uttarakhand State Aids Control Society (USACS) then has a tough task at hand, identifying these group of people for its Target Intervention (TI) programme largely handled by non-government organisations. It is believed that a few among gay persons are even married, so the risk of spreading HIV/AIDS among women and children is even more, a still graver situation exists for those at the bottom of the heap economically as they are the ones who have no voice and are open to black mail and exploitation by the police and even their partners.

“In metropolitan cities, the decriminalisation of the act at least led to a discourse about the problems being faced by gays, but it is not the case in small cities and towns, where gay sexuality continues to be a taboo and hardly any one is clued to their problems,” said Hitesh (name changed), who is forced to lead a double life for fear of ostarcisation. 

Dehradun, July 4
Harish Sharma from Delhi won the BS Bisht Open Chess Tournament and a cash prize of Rs 10,000 here today. Mohan Naithani from Dehradun stood second winning a cash prize of Rs 6,000, while Vinay Raj Bhatt of Dehradun secured the third place and a cash prize of Rs 4,000.

Anil Kumar Gairola of Dehradun stood fourth and won a cash prize of Rs 2,500, while VN Bharatwal of Pauri Garhwal was fifth winning a cash sum of Rs 2,000.

Ravi Rawat of Pauri won a cash prize of Rs 1,500 and Ashutosh of Patna and AP Tewari of Pauri won cash prize of Rs 1,000 each.

AS Negi of Pauri Garhwal and SP Pokhriyal of Dehradun won cash awards of Rs 800 each.

In the junior section, Deepak of Dehradun won the trophy and a cash prize of Rs 2,000 while Nidhi Sharma of Ghaziabad was second and won a prize of Rs 1,500.

Ritik Yadav of Meerut won the third prize of Rs 1,000. Tanmay Naithani and Ajay Gusain, both from Dehradun won the prize of Rs 500 each, respectively. Ankita Gupta of Dehradun won a cash prize of Rs 300.

Haridwar, July 4
One-day International and T-20 player Praveen Kumar is delighted to be a part of India’s team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s marriage and has wished him a successful married life.

Praveen was in Haridwar for a brief stay before moving ahead to Dehradun, the venue for the marriage ceremony of “captain cool”Dhoni.

The Bangalore Royal Challengers T-20 specialist lauded the efforts of the local Bhagwan Das Cricket Academy in nurturing the cricketing talent in Uttarakhand.

He stated that whenever his help was needed, he would be available for giving tips to budding players.

With his ability to swing ball both ways, Praveen Kumar has created a niche for himself in the international circuit and played a contributing role in the T-20 World Cup win in 2007 under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.

Praveen evaded any comments on Dhoni’s marriage and his affair with Sakshi Rawat. Hundreds of cricket fans thronged the city restaurant as soon as the news spread that Praveen was in the city, while he was on his way to attend Dhoni’s marriage, but Praveen, like his deceptive style of bowling, disappeared in no time and left fans disappointed.

Pavilion B team members show victory sign after lifting the Promotional Football Tournament in Dehradun on Sunday. A Tribune photograph

Dehradun, July 4
Pavilion B team defeated Marshal School 3-0 to lift the Promotional Football Tournament played at the Pavilion Grounds here today. Pavilion Boys played exceedingly well to dominate the entire game.

It was Manish who scored twice for Pavilion B team in the 15th and 30th minutes while Bhuvan added by scoring the third goal in the 52nd minute of the game. Marshal Boys did try to counter attack but the strong defence of the Pavillion team prevented them from scoring any goal.

The Navada team was given the Best Fair Play trophy while Shubham Basna of Thakurpur was adjudged the Best Striker of the tournament.

Deepak Lakehra of Gujarada was the best mid fielder while Vikesh of Pavilion team was the Best Defender of the tourney. Abhishek Rawat of Pavilion was the Best Goal Keeper. The chief guest Upender Singh Thapli gave away the prizes.

Gorkha Heroes, Doon Star Club play draw

The match between Gorkha Heroes and the Doon Star Club was a draw at the Lala Nemi Dass Football League played at the Pavilion grounds here today. Both the teams played a good football to prevent the other side from scoring a goal.

Both the sides raided each other but could not succeed in scoring a goal. 

Dehradun, July 4
The Diamond Cricket Academy lifted the Uttarakhand Challenger Trophy by comfortably defeating the Doon Combined Academy by two wickets at the final played here today.

The Doon Combined Academy won the toss and elected to bat first.

In their allotted 30 overs, the team was all out for 105 runs. Ravi and Vaibhav were the top scorers with 28 and 21 runs respectively.

For the Diamond Cricket Academy Amit and Rohit took three wickets each while Haidar took two wickets.

In reply, the Diamond Cricket Academy made the required 106 runs at the loss of eight wickets. Amit was the top scorer with 27 runs.

For the Doon Combined Academy, Vaibhav took two wickets.