Dehradun, November 26
Marking the second anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks, several political parties and other organisations offered tributes to the 26/11 martyrs here today.

The state Congress committee members lit candles at Gandhi Park, in remembrance of the martyrs. At a meeting held on the occasion, Congress leaders said the Mumbai terror attack had come as a big shock at the National and International level. The speakers appreciated the UPA government at the Centre for its commitment to check rising terror incidents in the country. They also called for a united fight against terror elements.

The Mahanagar Congress committee too, in a separate programme, lit candles at Mahatama Gandhi’s statue.

The BJP members also lit candles at the Clock Tower to pay tributes to martyrs. The BJP leaders led by Ashish Nagrath recalled the supreme sacrifice made by the NSG commandos and civilians for the sake of nation.

Shri Guru Ram Rai (PG) College also held a prayer meeting for peace of the martyrs. The students led by Ashutosh Mamgain, secretary of the college students union, appreciated the Central government’s initiatives for the betterment of families of the martyrs.

HARIDWAR: On the second anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks on Taj Mahal hotel, Trident Oberoi hotel, Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Nariman House, people from varied sections of the society paid homage to the innocent people, 
who were killed in the attack and the martyrs who laid their lives while fighting against the terrorists.

The activists of Gandhivadi Ekta Manch paid floral tributes to the martyrs at Alaknanda Ghat. Manch founder Sanjay Chopra said the nation has not forgotten the innocent people who died in the attacks. The manch activists also performed rituals of ‘deep dan’ at Har-Ki-Pauri to pay homage to the martyrs.

“We should unite against this war against terror and not just rely on foreign support, so that no such attacks takes place in future,” said JP Pandey of the manch. BJP district unit members offered milk in the Ganga to pay their homage to the martyrs.

Haridwar, November 26
With a recent court verdict announcing imprisonment as well as monetary fine on a railway driver on finding him guilty on various grounds over the accidental killing of three elephants in Rajaji National Park, once again the issue of accidental deaths of elephants due to trains in this world-famous protected habitat of Asian elephants has gained importance.

The incident had happened on September 28, 1998, in the Suswa-Kansrao range.

In an analysis done on the past years’ data of the number of accidental deaths of elephants that have occurred in the Park premises close to the railway tracks, it has been found that most deaths occurred due to crushing by the moving train while just a couple of deaths were as a result of hitting on the side.

The Tribune found that in the past 23 years (i.e. since 1987), a total of 19 elephant deaths have occurred while these were trying to cross the railway track inside the Rajaji National Park. One elephant got injured as the Doon Express hit him on the Kharkhari-Haridwar range on April 2007.

These jumbo casualties don’t include the other wildlife like leopard, deer, cheetal, shambar etc which also get killed in large numbers while crossing railway tracks.

Dehradun, November 26
Three-week training programme for Uttarakhand Assistant Conservator level forest officers held at the State Forests Services College, Dehradun, concluded yesterday.

Presenting the certificates to the participants, Uttarakhand Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RBS Rawat said the course would be of great benefit for the forest officials. He said managing Uttarakhand forest was certainly a challenge due to the rising man-animal conflict and forest fires. Rawat yet again reiterated his department’s commitment towards conservation of forest and wildlife.

The forest officers also went for the field visits to Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand. They were also taken to Chandigarh. They also visited Wildlife Institute of India, Forest Research Institute, Forest Survey of India and other departments. A total of 30 Uttarakhand Forest Officers participated in the course.

Dehradun, November 26
To mark the celebrations on its annual day, city-based SGGR, Race Course, held the cultural activities at its premises here yesterday.

Director ITF SGRR (education mission) Col RL Raina inaugurated the programme along with Col Govind Bharti (coordinator education mission).

The event started with folk dance and music competitions, which was followed by Nepali Dance by Vidyanchali House, Rajasthani Dance by Nilgiri House, Jhousari Dance by Shivalik House and Punjabi Dance by Himalaya House. Vidyanchali House bagged the overall trophy.

Seema Negi and Zeenat from Himalaya House won the rangoli competition, while Lakshmi Rao and Sugandha Jaiswal from Shivalik House stood second, followed by Deevakshi and Nancy from Vidyanchali House on the third position.

Relay race, three-leg race, cycle race and skipping competitions were also held on the occasion.

Dehradun, November 26
Dr Umakant Panwar, secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department emphasised the need for sensitising government officials towards disability here today.

He was addressing a seminar organised on Disability Awareness for the government officials of the Departments of Rural Development and the Health and Family Welfare held at Raphael.

Sara Johnson, Chairperson of the Rehabilitation Council of India’s Advisory Committee, North Zone, based at Ludhiana was the Guest of Honour.

Earlier, welcoming participants to the seminar, Air Marshal (Retd) BD Jayal said everyone should remain sensitive towards the needs of the disabled. This could happen if we familiarise ourselves with various kinds of disabilities and the rights and privileges of the disabled.

The disabilities covered in the seminar were mental instability by speakers from Raphael, hearing impairment by a speaker from the Bajaj Institute of Learning and visual impairment by a speaker from Sharp Memorial.

Brig (Retd) AAS Sinha, Director of Raphael elaborated on the provisions of different Acts of Parliament, related to disability.

Dehradun, November 26
The toddlers of Kidzee School celebrated Grandparents Day in the school premises school here today, where several students participated in the various competitions and performed in cultural programmes.

The function commenced with a welcome song, performed by the students of class KG, followed by nursery rhymes by the playgroup. Students of KG also presented a dance drama on the popular song ‘Nani teri morni’, which captivated the audiences. Students also participated in various competitions like tortoise race, rabbit race and a drill on boogie-woogie.

While addressing students Adarsh Bhatia, Director of the school, said the day was celebrated to bridge the gap between kids and grand parents. Grandparents actually play an important role in imparting social and religious values to their grandchildren.

“Through our small gesture, we make the children understand the value of the their grandparents. In today’s celebrations not only the kids but also the grand parents also participated in tug of war and drawing cats tail, enthusiastically,” He further added.

Dehradun November 26
The UP Hill Electronics Corporation Limited (UHECL) has been nominated as training agency by the state government, appreciating its 20 years of experience in the field of training.

Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar appraised all principal secretaries and Head of Departments to get all their work related to information technology and computer training done through UHECL. This order will be applicable on the Centre-aided and state-level training programs.

While praising the decision of the state government, UHECL president expressed his gratitude toward the Chief Minister and implored to consider other proposals of the corporation soon. The corporation has decided to tie up with other training institutes for the proper execution of their training program and establish a corporate training cell for the purpose.

Dehradun, November 26
The booking of railway tickets from January onwards in DDN-BSB Janta Express has been barred for now. The move has perplexed passengers desiring to avail booking in the train from Dehradun to Varanasi.

OP Singh, stationmaster of the Dehradun railway station, said, “Railway authorities at the Dehradun railway station are contemplating discontinuing the train temporarily. The decision has been taken by the Moradabad division of the Northern Railway on the account of disturbance created by foggy weather during January and February.”

“Also, the train witnesses less crowd during the winter. Other long-distance trains on the same routes will continue to run. One or two more trains are likely to be discontinued for the same reason, but the trains are yet to be decided,” informed Singh. 

Pitthoragarh, November 26
Villagers living in remote areas of Pitthoragarh and Champawat districts today coincidently reached their respective district headquarters and handed over memorandums to the respective District Magistrates demanding construction of motor roads to their villages.

“Despite 10 years of the creation of the state and 63 years of the Independence, our women are still dying at the time of delivery and our patients are succumbing to the distance to motor road from our village which is still 10 km away from main highway,” said Khushal Parihar, a resident of Metli village situated on the banks of the Gori river on the Jauljivi- Munsiyari motor road, as he gave the memorandum to the District Magistrate.

Parihar, who had come to the Pitthoragarh Headquarters with a delegation of his villagers, said the area has a population of four thousand living in 600 families and it was still deprived of a motor road. Local public representatives have many times assured the villagers of linking the area with a motor road. “The local villagers are compelled to carry essential goods daily on their shoulders treading for hours to reach the village,” said Sher Singh Parihar, another villager accompanying the delegation.

Officers in the Public Works Department (PWD) confirm that the estimates of the road have been prepared many times but diverted to other areas on the instructions of higher officers.

In Champawat district, villagers visited the District Headquarters to inform the authorities that due to the closure of the Sandark-Laphra motor road since more than 12 villages are cut off from the world.

According to the district Planning Department, Champawat district is spending nearly Rs 46 lakh per day on development but despite the availability of Rs 188.45 crore on development annually, the district is still backward. “The district consists of 651 revenue villages, out of which 332 are still sans motor-road link and 221 villages are still without proper potabel water supply,” said TS Brizwal, Chief Development Officer (CDO), Champawat.

Pitthoragarh, November 26
Uttarakhand BJP chief Bishan Singh Chufal today inaugurated a five-day paragliding training camp at the army golf course near the town.

Inaugurating the camp, the BJP chief stressed on giving employment to youths through adventure activities in the state and linking it with increasing number of tourists.

Giving information about the training, district adventure sports officer Rajendra Singh Airy said that the first batch of 22 participants will be given pre-basic paragliding training between November 26 and 30 and after that, the second pre-basic training will be run from December 1 to December 5.

“Those who get qualified in these two courses will be selected for basic paragliding course which will begin from December 6,” said RS Airy.

Meanwhile, Geeta Devi, pramukh of BDC Munakot block, inaugurated a week-long river -rafting training camp being organised by the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) for the youths of Munakot block.

“Rafting training will be held at the Saryu river near Rameshwar Ghat and 24 youths from various villages of Munakot block will benefit from this camp,” said Dinesh Gururani in charge of this training camp.

Gururani added that the youths will be trained not only in rafting skills, but swimming and other rescue tactics as well. 

Dehradun, November 26
Sumit of Chandigarh trounced Upendra of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan 8-2 in the under -19 category of the National School Boxing Championship being held here at the Parade Grounds today.

In another match in the category, Ajay of Himachal Pradesh defeated Arvind of Chandigarh 5-1.

In the under-17 category, Parmod of Chhattisgarh defeated Rakesh from Haryana 6-1 while Bommy Singh of Manipur trounced Himanshu of Chandigarh 5-0. Lakshya of Chandigarh defeated Gagandeep of Punjab 4-1.

In the under-14 category, Danveer of Chandigarh defeated Harjeet of Punjab 2-0 while Sangram of Maharashtra trounced Raj of Tamil Nadu 2-0. Vipin of Chandigarh got a pass over Mukesh of Haryana 3-1. Arjun of KVS defeated Madhav of Chandigarh 2-0. M.Ibungobi of Manipur beat Devender of Uttar Pradesh 4-1.

Dehradun, November 26
Uttarakhand Institute of Technology (UIT) defeated Dehradun Institute of Technology (DIT) by 38 runs in the Inter-College Cricket Tournament being hosted by the Uttarakhand Technical University (UTU) at Survey Grounds here today.

Batting first, after winning the toss, UIT team scored 134 runs in 24.3 overs. MS Chauhan scored 24 while Pavan scored 31 runs.

In reply, the DIT team was all out for 96 runs. It was openers Nitin Rana and Dinesh who scored 29 and 23 runs, respectively, but the rest of the batsmen collapsed. Pankaj Sharma took five wickets for 20 runs for the UIT team.

In the second match, College of Engineering, Roorkee, defeated Nimbus Academy by 58 runs. College of Engineering, Roorkee, scored 175 in 24.1 overs. Vinay, who scored 45 runs, was the highest scorer. Gulbahar took three wickets for 41 runs.

In reply, Nimbus Academy scored 117 runs. Vinay Sharma scored 39 runs while Ashish scored 28 runs for Nimbus team. Priyank took three wickets for 30 runs for the winners.

Dehradun, November 26
The Uttarakhand Volleyball Selection Committee here today selected senior male and female state team for the volleyball national championship to be held in Chennai from December 12 to 19.

The names of the selected players in the male category are: Avinash, Subbarav, Ritesh Nayar, Rahul, Chand, Mandeep, Ranjeet, Lalit Chufaal, Neeraj Tomar, Pathania, Nitin, Girish Chander, Abhinav, Nitin Walia, Jatin Walia, Aashish and Vikas.

The female players include: Jaya Shah, Kavita Kotwal, Sangeeta Tiwari, Leelawati, Anita, Sunita, Renu, Bhawna Bisht, Rajni Bora, Seema Bisht, Tanuja, Anita Bisht Geeta Bisht, Meenakshi and Khushboo.

The camp for male players will be held at ONGC grounds while for female players, it will be organised in the Parade Ground from December 1 to December 7.