Dehradun, August 6
Behind-the-scenes parleys between government officials and office-bearers of the Provincial Medical and Health Services (PMHS) resulted in government doctors temporarily suspending their strike, but not before boycotting OPDs all across the state today.

Patients wait in the corridor of the Women’s Hospital; and an old woman patient is forced to return home as doctors observed a strike in Dehradun on Friday. Tribune photographs

An olive branch that was offered by the government forced the doctors to temporarily suspend their stir.

“We have been promised by Secretary Health Umakant Panwar that the matter will be sorted out within three months. Besides revoking its decision to appoint an IAS officer as Director Administration, the government has also said that the hill cadre will be offered to the remaining doctors. Also, promotional avenues as per Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) will also be implemented,” said Dr SD Joshi, President of PMHS.

Though the immediate provocation was the appointment of Piyush Singh, an IAS officer as Director (Admn), the doctors have been seething with anger at the abject poverty of ideas in tackling the long-standing problems of the medical fraternity.

Repeated strikes by them have yielded a feeble response. “Day in and day out, we have been urging the government to pay heed to our demands like adoption of DACP, grant of hill cadre to remaining doctors, proper promotional avenues and protection of doctors against acts of violence,” said Dr DP Joshi, General Secretary, PMHS.

However, it cannot be denied that the government was in mood to take risk and allow the strike to linger on in view of the mishaps that had taken place in the past 2-3 days. Today, two accidents occurred and the services of doctors was required when an ambulance laden with injured Kanwariyas landed at the District Doon Hospital.

“Several sops were offered to us. However, we will not go with empty promises. The government will have to take up concrete steps. Otherwise, we will again resort to a strike,” said Dr Joshi.

Significantly, any delay in brokering peace with government doctors will have also put question marks on the leadership of Secretary Health Dr Umakant Panwar, who had been appointed a few months ago.

In the morning, doctors from the District Doon Hospital, Deen Dyal Upadhyay Coronation Hospital, District Women’s Hospital and other hospitals of the state gathered near the administrative block raising slogans against the government.

All OPDS remained shut, but doctors were giving services at the emergency, indoor OPD, labour/septic room and even preparing ultrasound and x-ray and examination reports. Long queues were absent at the medicine centre and fresh ultrasound and x-ray tests were not undertaken.

The one-day boycott also resulted in a lot of inconvenience to patients coming from Prem Nagar and Vikas Nagar.

“I had to send back patients coming for ante-natal check ups. At least, two patients in the advanced state of pregnancy requiring check-up had to go back. Such a waste of time, money and energy,” said Asha Rani, a health worker.

Dr Deepa Sharma, CMS, Women’s District Hospital, said that interns were already assisting patients at the OPDs. “Besides, we had also asked the Director General Health to provide us with Ayush doctors,” said Dr Sharma.

The Uttarakhand Nurses Association had extended support to the strike.

Pitthoragarh, August 6
The Uttarakhand government is planning to declare woollen craft in the state as an industry so that this craft can be sustained in the state, said Shivraj Singh Kathayat, Deputy Chairman, Uttarakhand Wool Development Board.

“Our woollen industry is facing two problems mainly - pastures for sheep and the moving away of families who had been doing it for generations,” said Kathayat.

He added that the board has requested the state government to give immunity to high-altitude pastures from the forest law. He said that improved livestock of sheep was being added to the existing Uttarakhand herd.

The Uttarakhand Wool Development Board has brought high-yielding breeds of male sheep from Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan which are being distributed to sheep rearers in the state.

“We have imported 16 male sheep from these states and these have been kept at the block headquarters,” said Kathayat.

According to the board, the state has 3 lakh sheep which produce 4,000 quintals of wool every year. “These animals are not only spread in hilly areas - Pitthoragarh, Bageswar, Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts - but also in Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar where breeds imported from Rajasthan have survived,” said Kathayat.

Besides working on improving the quality of sheep in the state, the board is also bringing sheep rearers under a special insurance scheme.

“Under this scheme, we are not only putting the sheep owner and his herd under insurance, but also his children up to four years. The owner will have to pay Rs 100 per annum as premium,” said Kathayat.

Uttarakhand, despite being a traditional wool-producing state, has achieved little in this field due to the government’s neglect of wool producers.

“To revive the craft, we are trying to simplify grazing for sheep. We are also reopening a wool grading centre at Rishikesh and installing a new machine to produce thread out of raw wool in the absence of which it is being sold to the Khadi Gramodyog Board at very cheap rates,” said Kathayat.

Dehradun, August 6
The Central Zoo Authority’s decision to come up with a breeding programme for 14 endangered species in the country has come as a big boost to monal conservation efforts in Uttarakhand.

The latest census done in 2008 put the figure of monal at a little over 900. Reports of Nepali migrant labourers in Uttarakhand indulging in monal killings have been on the increase. This colourful bird is primarily poached for its colourful feathers and its meat.

To arrest the decline in their population, Uttarakhand forest authorities are working on opening a pheasant breeding centre with focus on monal in the Mandal valley of Kedarnath, a credible monal habitat in the state.

The Central Zoo Authority (CZA), in its meeting with state forest officials in Dehradun some months ago, had given its go-ahead to the project following which the Kedarnath forest authorities started working on the proposal.

Welcoming the CZA’s initiatives, Wildlife Institute of India’s scientist K Ramesh said the breeding programme for monal in the country would go a long way in the smooth conduct of studies and research work linked to it.

“Uttarakhand is blessed with rich bird biodiversity, many of which fall in the endangered category. A breeding centre for monal will certainly help further the cause of pheasant conservation in the state,” added Ramesh, an expert in avian studies in Uttarakhand.

Nainital, August 6
The district administration has called for constitution of anti-ragging committees in all institutes of higher education.

District Magistrate Shailesh Bagauli said in a meeting held here today that such committees be set up at the earliest in accordance with the recommendations of the Raghwan Committee.

The District Magistrate has placed the responsibility of ensuring establishment of an anti-ragging committee in all institutions with the Superintendent of Police (SP) and the Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) under whose area the institution is located. Bagauli directed that the recommendations of the Raghwan Committee be implemented properly and he be intimated about it.

The Registrar of Kumaon University has been asked to furnish a list of all commercial educational institutions affiliated to the university.

Director (Higher Education) Dr MC Trivedi said no instances of ragging had come to the light from the government school-run institutions, but a check needed to be kept on the institutions offering professional courses.

Dehradun, August 6
An unrequited love proved to be a source of inspiration for 19-year-old Abhishek Kothari who brought it alive in his book, “A Feeling Beyond Words,” that was released today by theatre personality Alok Ulfat and upcoming musician Jasleen Royal.

Dehradun-born Abhishek is a second year student at Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar.

“It is love that has continued to sustain me to this day, though one sided, it has always been positive and I have never felt low. Not for a moment was I filled with negative thoughts. I wanted to share all the experiences that I underwent and also wanted to tell the world that men do not ditch women nor are they interested in only physical aspect of love,” elaborated Kothari while interacting with the media.

While congratulating the author, Alok Ulfat said it was a brave effort that needed to be applauded. “Most of us can only dream what Kothari has done at such a young age, I think love is what keeps most of us going,” he said.

The book has been published by Srishti Publishers.

Dehradun, August 6
The single window system that was started with the intention to give relief to students seeking admission at DAV PG College is now causing them inconvenience. The system was started to assist students in getting rid of student leaders who troubled them for casting votes in their favour.

Students cannot find any difference to the single window service initiated by the management of the college. In the rainy weather and ruckus of the college election campaigns, students have to stand in long queues to obtain their admission forms, submitting the forms or for the payment of their fees. They still have to run from the pillar to post to get their work done.

Denying the problems faced by students, officials said the single window system was certainly running well and had helped students to purchase and submit forms, pay fees and get their identity cards made so far.

Moreover, due to the delay in the announcement of the III-year result of a majority of the courses, the merit list for the admission in masters in journalism course was yet to see the walls of the notice boards till the third week of last month.

“The payment of fees for all courses will be done through demands draft only,” informed one of the officials from the admission committee.

Haridwar, August 6
General Manager CDX-HRDC Rajesh Kumar at a convention on quality at Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) lauded the efforts pitched in by BHEL, one of the Nav Ratnas of public sector units, the here today.

Kumar pointed that this can be attributed much to the team spirit and mass participation of the employees in production done by BHEL.

Vision 2010 was also discussed in length to achieve the targets in minimum time but maximum quality products.

At the convention quality production was discussed in detail with stress on adhering of various quality cycles to ensure better production besides timely delivery was also discussed.

Additional General Manager, BHEL, MM Gupta said at present in BHEL’s HEEP unit a total of 394 quality circles are working with most of them giving their presentation in this quality convention.

The convention was organised to increase awareness about the quality management and commercial production and saw large participation of officers, labour organisations and quality cycle members.

Dehradun, August 6
Maulana Sayeed Abdullah Hasni Nadwi, Professor of Nadwa University, Lucknow, said today that personal freedom was not above tenets of Islam, though wearing a veil was an affirmation of faith it couldn’t be imposed forcefully.

“In Islam, a person is not important and personal choices do not matter. It is the policy that is carried forward. Personally, I have nothing against women not wearing a hijab or a burqa but as per the tenets of Islam a women look best when covered. A hijab is not a name of a dress but an indication of decency, it means while eyes remaining alert the tongue, hands and the entire body is covered. It speaks about control,” said Hasni Nadwi, while speaking with The Tribune today. He was in Doon to participate in a conference titled “Manavta Ka Sandesh”, organised by the Paryavaran Sahyog Society.

He also said those women who did not want to wear burqa or hijab should not be harassed needlessly and said needless controversies should not be raked out of these issues.

Advocating an education that promotes character and nation building, Professor Maulana Sayeed Abdullah Hasni Nadwi, said the benefits of education should accrue to the country as well as society.

“I think our education has not been able to produce men and women who are capable of taking decisions in the larger interest of humanity. The way our society is moving, there appears to be a deliberate departure from our core values and adoption of alien values. Several colleges have sprung up but none promises to produce men and women who are prepared to give up their individual interests for the betterment of the nation and society,” added Nadwi.

He said men and women should take up every conceivable subject on earth to expand their knowledge but shun the superfluous ideas propagated by western countries. “Everything coming from the western world has to be analysed in our context, this is a different society while we have different values that have to be upheld,” he said.

Dehradun, August 6
Working to meet the Commonwealth Games deadlines, Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute (FRI) is dispatching a truck full of potted plants everyday and has already delivered two lakh plants.

The plants that are being dispatched at an average of six thousand a day in a truck has been placed in the Nizamuddin area of Delhi ahead of the games.

“We have already delivered two lakhs plants and would have to provide one lakh more,” said Dr SS Negi, FRI Director. He said a truck with six to seven flowering and ornamental plants were being dispatched every day to Delhi. He hoped that all plants would reach Delhi comfortably before start of the Games in October.

The FRI central nurserymen are ensuring hassle-free transport of the plants and the entire transportation exercise is being carrying out during night to avoid any possible wilting of the plants. The FRI in all has to contribute three lakh flowering and ornamental plants for the Games and the institute is already working against time to meet the October deadline.

A FRI team is also camping at Delhi to ensure that proper care is being taken of the plants. The team is also assisting the Commonwealth Games authorities to even take care of plants provided by other agencies.

Significantly, the ornamental plants provided by Visakhapatnam nurseries have reportedly got infected in Delhi some time back and the FRI had to play the role of gardener by ensuring treatment to these diseased plants.

The Commonwealth Games are to take place in Delhi from October 3 and 14.

Dehradun, August 6
The SGRR Patel Nagar today scored 4-1 thumping final win over the SGRR Bindal to annex the title of the SGRR Sahodaya Complex Junior Football Tournament.

Prashant (fifth minute) of Bindal got the first success quite early in the game. But later on Patel Nagar gave no chance to the rival team to score any goal through out the match.

While for Patel Nagar Vishal scored a brace. He found the targets in the 28th and 64th minutes of the game. Sandeep (37th) and Vaibhav (52nd) were the other goal scorers for the side.

There was no easy opportunity given to the Bindal team to score any goal by the opponent side which showed good teamwork. Meanwhile, SGRR Balawala attained the third place, as SGRR Bhaniawala didn’t reach today for its match.

Dehradun, August 6
Carman School registered 3-0 facile win over Modern School, Chamba here today during the 26th Carvery Memorial Sub-Junior Football Tournament being organised by Carman School Dalanwala.

Also, Kasiga School got the better of Guru Nanak Academy 3-1.

In another match played today, Oak Grove School defeated Cameron Hall.