Dehradun, August 7
Gleaming rooms equipped with dialysis machines that promise a high degree of precision became a reality today with the inauguration of the first ultra-modern nephro-dialysis centre in Uttarakhand.

Inaugurating the centre at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Coronation Hospital, Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said that the centre, a public-private initiative with Apollo Enterprises Ltd, will usher in corporate management while ensuring that patients living below the poverty line (BPL) are given free treatment.

“Around 16,000 patients are expected to avail the facilities in a year. The government will be spending Rs 1 crore annually on the centre and our private players will be looking after the deployment of staff,” said Dr Nishank.

He said to tackle the manpower crunch in the Health Department, 250 doctors have been appointed by the Union Public Service Commission while 1,000 ayurvedic doctors have also been appointed.

“I am aware of the staff crunch at the Coronation Hospital. Existing vacancies will be filled soon. We are also working to setting up a modern burns and cancer units in Dehradun,” stressed the Chief Minister.

Dr Shree Nagesh, representative of Apollo, expressed happiness at the opportunity to serve in Uttarakhand coming their way.

The services will be free for below poverty line patients (BPL). There are 13 machines, water-cooling centres and a separate room for HIV patients.

The centre will be open 16 hours even on Sundays and holidays. It will be mandatory upon the private party to provide two nephrologists, trained nursing staff (four to six), technicians (minimum three) besides establishing the unit. Dr Vikram Singh will be heading the unit.

A similar arrangement is expected to be replicated at the Haldwani Government Hospital and then, other hospitals as well.

Above poverty line (APL) patients will have to pay Rs 450 as user charges and also pay for consumables if need be, but 15 per cent less than the market retail price.

The private party will be extended financial support by the government for the services rendered charged at the rate Rs 936 per dialysis.

Those present at the inauguration included Secretary Health Dr Umakant Panwar, Dr Sudhanshu Bahuguna, Director Doon Hospital group, DG Health Dr HC Bhatt, Dr RK Pant, CMS, Doon Hospital, and Dr Deepa Sharma, CMS, District Women’s Hospital.

Dehradun, August 7
Agitated members of the BEd/ BPEd Prashikshit Berozgar Sangathan vented their anger by burning the effigy of Govind Singh Bisht, state Education Minister, in front of the Vidhan Sabha here today. They shouted slogans against the administration and continued to stage dharna on the 13th day of their protest.

Baldev Singh Bhandari said the federation had given several memorandums to the Chief Minister, Secretary of Education, and state Education Minister, but except giving false assurances nothing had been done yet. In fact, the affected were facing such a financial crisis that their families were at the state of starving.

The demands of BEd and BPEd trained teachers are that the state government open 8,000 vacancies of special BTC teachers and 5,000 for LT teachers. The protesters are on strike to press their demands on the administration. Out of them, five protesters are on fast unto death.

“We request the state government to immediately take action in favour of our demands or else we will be compelled to take lethal ways of protest,” asserted Bhandari.

Also present at the dharna were Himanshu Rajput, state vice-president, Birpal Bisht, state secretary, Himmat Rawal, treasurer, Mahendra Chauhan and others.

Dehradun, August 7
In the backdrop of the closure of government primary school at many places in Dehradun due to the scarcity of teachers, agitated members of the Uttarakhand Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh held a protest at the office of the District Education Officer here today.

A large number of primary teachers had gathered to protest. They expressed their resentment against the administration and shouted slogans pressing their demands on the administration for taking immediate action in the case.

The agitators have given a memorandum to Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank through the District Education Officer, demanding recruitment at every government school in the state.

Apart from this, the federation has also demanded incorporation of members of the federation under the group insurance scheme, inclusion of upgraded junior high school in the list of schools that receive grants from the administration and others.

JP Bahuguna, district president of the federation, said, “The primary schools don’t fulfil the teacher-student ratio due to which it has been closed for the past many days. I have left no stone unturned. From the State Education Director to Secretary of the School Education Department and from District Education Officer to District Magistrate, everybody had assured of proceeding with appropriate inquiry, but nothing has materialised yet”.

“Children are suffering due to the negligent attitude of the administration. If this is the situation of a government school located in the state capital, what might be the condition of schools situated in the interiors or other districts,” added Bahuguna.

Dehradun, August 7
An inter-house speech and debate competition was held at Children’s Academy here today. The competition was organised in two categories of group A for speech and group B for a debate competition.

The chief guest on the occasion was Principal of the school Kiran Kashyap, accompanied by Vice-Principal Anita Vijan and coordinator Sonia Ahuja as judges.

The chosen topic for the debate was “Conservation of environment” for which students from each house participated and spoke for and against the motion.

Subhash House bagged the first position giving a tough competition to the participants. In group A, Meghali Devnath won the first prize, while Anya Chhetri and Charu Nanda stood the second and the third, respectively. In Group B, Akhilesh Nautiyal won the first prize, while Yash Kulshreshtha and Arushi Aggarwal won the second and the third positions, respectively.

Conveners of the programme were Tanya Bajwa and Santrik Devnath. Pooja Aggarwal proposed a vote of thanks. Kashyap appreciated the efforts of the students while awarding the prizes and certificates. She said a balanced approach in such activities was essential to encourage them in enhancing their oratory skills.

Dehradun, August 7
Nitin Jyal, a student of Maharana Pratap Sports College, Dehradun, has been selected for a nine-month football training programme in the USA.

Nitin is among 16 under-14 boys selected on the basis of their performance in the U-14 Football Festival in Jamshedpur. Reliance Industries and IMG had jointly launched the programme, in association with the All-India Football Federation, to groom budding players.

The selected players will train at the IMG Soccer Academy in Florida. They will attend a camp from August 7 to 27 in Gurgaon before leaving for the US.

The 16-member squad: goalkeepers: Agyapal Singh (Punjab), Supratim Bhattacharjee (West Bengal); defenders: Anis Kaitharia (Kerala), Jimmy Singh Maibam (Chandigarh), Mohammed Sajid Dhoi (Chandigarh), Myron Senzie Mendes (Goa), Nitin Jyal (Uttarakhand); midfielders: Germanpreet Singh (Punjab), Hanan Javed Nellikavil (Kerala), Harmanjot Singh (Punjab), Lalrammwana (Mizoram), Manraj Singh (Punjab), Siddharth Mukhi (Jharkhand); strikers: Alen Deory (Assam), Laldantsanga (Mizoram), Uttam Rai (Delhi).

Dehradun, August 7
Nirmal Ashram, Rishikesh, defeated Guru Nanak Academy 4-1 in the 26th Carbery Memorial Sub-junior Football Tournament organised by Carman School here today. For Nirmal Ashram, Mohit Pokhriyal and Mohit Sajwan scored two goals each.

In another match, Morovian School trounced Modern School, Chamba, 3-0.

In the third match, Mussoorie Modern School defeated Guru Nanak Fifth Centenary School, Mussoorie, by a solitary goal that was scored by Devesh Panwar.

The fourth match between Col Brown School and The Heritage School ended in a goalless draw.

Dehradun, August 7
Pankaj Dimri of Uttarakhand has done the state proud by breaking the 40-year-old record at the 800m race in the Senior National Athletics Meet being held at Patiala to qualify for the Indian contingent for the Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi in October.

Pankaj Dimri, Head Constable with the Uttarakhand police, bettered the qualifying time of 1 minute, 47.4 seconds for the Commonwealth Games.

Uttarakhand Director General of Police JS Pandey announced an award of Rs 20,000 for this student of Maharana Partap Sports School here.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has also appreciated the feat of Pankaj Dimri. In a message, the Chief Minister said Pankaj Dimri had made everyone in the state proud and reiterated his resolve to help sportsmen do well at national and international levels.

Pankaj Dimri, who is posted at Haridwar, has also brought cheer to the Haridwar police force.

Dehradun, August 7
The seventh Uttarakhand State-Level Athletics Championship 2010 got under way at the Maharana Pratap Sports College, Raipur, today.

The chief guest of the two-day championship was Ashish Joshi, Director (Sports), Uttarakhand, who flagged off the first round of athletics.

Boys and girls from different districts of the state gathered to participate in the mega event.

In the boys under-16 category, Naveen S Parihar from Haridwar stood first in the 3,000m race, Sourabh Kumar stood first in shot put, Suresh Kumar won 800m and Nikul Kumar won 400m race.

In the girls under-20 group, Babita from Haldwani won the 3000m event, Jyoti Pandey won the 100m dash and Jyoti Bora stood first in shot put.

For boys, the sports meet was divided into six categories - under-16, 14, 20, 18, 4 and 8 while for girls, the championship was divided into four categories - under-20, 14, 18 and 16 years.

Dr SC Negi, Principal, Sports College, was the guest of honor while other eminent guests present were RS Rawat, Assistant Director (Sports) Uttarakhand, Chetan Gurung, President, Uttarakhand State Athletics Association (USAA), Sandeep Sharma, secretary USAA, KJS Kalsi, Chairman, Technical Committee, USAA, Gurupal Singh, coach, Manoj Sharma, Uttarakhand junior chief coach, and Nirmal Kumar, secretary, organising committee.

The closing ceremony will begin at 12:30 pm tomorrow at the same venue.