Haridwar, December 7
In view of making the Kumbh city polythene free under the joint collaboration of the district administration and the press fraternity, a massive anti-polythene campaign kicked off setting a platform for making Haridwar clean and green by making it polythene-free.

Mass participation of people from varied sections of the society gave a fillip to this drive which by the final deadline of December 18 makes selling and usage of polythene material legally punishable in the city.

Spearheaded by City Magistrate R Shreedhar Babu, the rally saw hundreds of people related with the administration, media, saint community, traders, social organisations, Ganga Sabha, industrial associations, schools, colleges and local public participating in the rally.

Commencing from the Rishikul open ground, the rally was given the green signal by Akhil Bharatiya Gayatri Parivar, Shantikunj, head Dr Pranav Pandya which passed through main city markets finally concluding at Malviya Deep at Har-Ki-Pauri. Here the rally turned into a public meeting with distinguished persons addressing the participants.

Voicing that Haridwar will be developed as a role model city by making it a polythene free, the City Magistrate urged all and sundry to make sure of their participation in the ongoing drive by self-prohibiting use of this non-degradable material which was causing harm to the environment.

Citing immense pollution the polythene is doing to the holy Ganga, Shreedhar said by shunning polybags people could give a more real form to the “Clean Ganga-Pure Ganga” slogan.

Informing that from today onwards, administrative teams would start seizing polythene bags from shopkeepers, the City Magistrate sought cooperation from the trader fraternity as well as consumers to not use polybags. Instead they should use cloth or jute bags to fetch consumer goods.

Giving full support, Municipal Committee Chairman Kamal Johra said the committee was also taking stringent steps to make sure in the Palika-notified area polythene was prohibited fully.

The saint community too seemed to be quite active regarding the polythene prohibition with religious gurus themselves urging people to let the Ganga remain holy by not putting in river flowers, polythene-packed ritual material and other such procedures which polluted the river water.

Swami Hansdevacharya stated that it was a noble cause and responsibility to make the pilgrim city of Haridwar clean in which the saint community had to take a major initiative in generating mass awareness.

While Patanjali Yogpeeth general secretary Acharya Balakrishan urged all to cooperate in this drive. Terming the initiative of the administration and the Press Club as commendable, Gauri Shankar Sharma of Shantikunj said the Gayatri family and its thousands of activists would be contributing their bit to ensure that the city was made polythene free.

Traders too participated in the rally with all major unions participating with district trade division president Kailash Keshwani pointing to different trading unions’ support in this drive.

Among others who participated in the rally were District Magistrate R Meenakshi Sundaram, police chief Sanjay Gunjiyal, ADM Surendra Narayan Pandey, Ram Bharat, Ram Mahesh Mishra, Rakesh Bajrangi, Dinesh Joshi, BL Arya, Shivshankar Jayaswal, PS Chauhan, Sunil Dutt Pandey, Harendra Garg, Rameshwar Gaur, Dr Santosh Chauhan, Pradeep Chaudhary, Lilawati, Rao Ashfaq, Ashutosh Sharma, Verendra Kirtipal and hundreds of eminent citizens.

Dehradun, December 7
Dehradun’s most prominent senior citizen and veteran Rotarian Kunwar Brij Bhushan died in his sleep today morning. He was just four months over 90. He was also a senior member of the Dehradun Club which he joined in 1951.

Exactly 27 years to the date before India attained Independence, Brij Bhushan was born on August 15, 1920, in a wealthy Arya Samajist family of Ludhiana. He was sent to Lahore for higher education which he completed in 1941, with a master's degree in political science. Back in Ludhiana, he actively participated in the Quit India Movement of 1942.

It was his marriage to Anand Bala, the only daughter of one of the wealthiest zamindars, in November 1945 that eventually made him shift to Dehradun in 1950.

He was a Congressman to the core and stayed with this national organisation through thick and thin. His political beliefs were unadulterated and he shunned any compromise. When the first general elections took place in 1952, Bhushan volunteered to work for Mahavir Tyagi, the then Congress candidate from the Dehradun Parliamentary constituency. As in charge of the Dalanwala area, he vigorously ran the election campaign along with late Prof Lekh Raj Ulfat, founder of the Nanhi Duniya.

With his credentials firmly established as an enthusiastic and highly educated Congress activist, Bhushan was elected president of the City Congress Committee. Later, he was also elected thrice to the Dehradun Municipal Committee (DMC) as a member from the Dalanwala ward. In 1964, he became the first citizen of Dehradun with his election as president of the DMC, a post he had held with much distinction.

Three of his four daughters are highly accomplished. Suman, the eldest, is a distinguished professor at MKP College. Her husband Rajiv Nangia is a well-known citizen who was twice president of the Doon Club. Bhushan’s second daughter Puneeta represented Uttar Pradesh in the national badminton championship and held a high ranking in the sport. Her husband Deepak Nagalia is from the well-known Nagalia family of Dehradun and owns Prabhat, city’s best-known movie theatre. Deepak too was president of the Doon Club. The third daughter Veenu was India No. 1 in table tennis and married to Sudhir Phadke, the then national table tennis champion. The youngest of the daughters lives in Dehradun in the spacious family bungalow on the Inder Road. 

A teetotaler and vegetarian, Kunwar Brij Bhushan led a regulated life and did not suffer from any major ailment. Every morning he would wake up at 4 am and walk around his expansive house; then he would do some yoga exercises. Morning prayers were his daily routine. He was also very social and made it a point to attend functions and visit friends on happy and sad occasions.

Mussoorie, December 7
Residents of Mussoorie have found a novel way to beat the biting cold and skyrocketing prices of vegetables this winter. The wildly grown nettle leaves, called kandali in the Garhwali language or bichu ghas in Hindi, have found the way to the dining tables of residents belonging to the poor strata who are relishing every bite of the leaves despite its stinging properties. The residents, in accordance with the traditional knowledge passed on from generation to generation that eating nettle leaves wards off cold, are preparing the dish called kandali ka saag.

According to local resident and hotelier Anil Godiyal, his family back home used to prepare kandali ka saag frequently, but after he took up the job in Mussoorie and shifted the family here it became a rare dish for him. But, as the prices of other available vegetables are spiralling in the town, his family has fallen back on the good old kandali ka saag these days.

According to school Principal Mukesh Lal, the dish is prepared like spinach to certain extent and eaten as a form of stew or cooked in oil with only salt and no other spice mixed in it. To take the sting out of the nettle leaves these are burned on amber. Following that the leaves are cut and put in the boiling water along with another wildly grown grass called khatti-mithi. A little amount of rice is put in the utensil so that the leaves do not stick in it. The mashed leaves are then garnished in the oil, garlic and salt for taste and then eaten with chapatti or rice.

Mukesh says it is a seasonal food and usually eaten in winter. In some places it is also used as a delicious pot herb. According to Yasmine Fernery Director Bimal Sharma, the scientific classification of the plant are: Magnoliophyta of class Magnoliopsida and the family of Urticaceae. The order of these leaves is Urticales with genus from Urtica. They are mostly herbaceous perennial plants, but some are annual and a few are shrubby. The most prominent member of the genus is the stinging nettle (Urtica Parviflora) found in the Himalayan lower altitudes such as Mussoorie. The Nettle leaves are basically food for caterpillars.

Sharma says the nettle leaves have a lot of medicinal value and contain high levels of important nutrients. Nettles are a potent herb with a long history of use. This herb is one of the natures best nutraceuticals, containing protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, beta-carotene along with vitamins A,C,D and B complex, all in a form that is easy for the body to use.

The stinging nature of the leaves is due to the presence of histamine on the bristles that leaves a stinging burn when the leaves and the stem are touched. The stinging nettle contains natural antihistamines and anti-inflammatories (including quercetin) that open up constricted bronchial and nasal passages, helping to ease hay fever and sinus allergies. Sharma is of the view that the stinging nettle leaves can be truly called poor man’s green vegetable.

Dehradun, December 7
After finding Doon Marine College fraudulent and bogus, the Dehradun District Magistrate (DM) has ordered the college management to refund fees of its students at the earliest.The order was given during a meeting held between ABVP workers and the DM here today.

It is relevant to mention that the City Magistrate has affirmed that the college has no affiliation to the university and presented bogus certification by the name of the Doon Institute of Technology and Meritorian Studies.

Its been also instructed by the DM of filling an official report of forgery in the police station falling under the respective area by the students. 

Dehradun, December 7
On an assurance given by Principal DAV PG College BL Nautiyal to look into recent scams related to the college, the Aryan group called off the weeklong protest here today.Dr Nautiyal appealed to the protesters to call off the stir, as immediate action would be taken on their demands by December 19.

The group had earlier locked down the principal’s office and was demanding filing of a case against the debarred general secretary of the student’s council of the college for producing bogus certificates during the elections.

The party has also demanded refilling of the vacant posts in the student council and a probe into the corruption matter of commerce library books.

Dehradun, December 7
Capt Satendra Sangwan (retd) has once again done India, ONGC and Uttarakhand proud by winning two bronze medals in the Israel Open Badminton Championship 2010. He won the bronze medals in the singles lower and doubles lower categories. The championship was held in Tel Aviv, capital of Israel, from November 24 to 29.

He was selected to represent the Indian team based on his performance in the National Games held in Bangalore earlier this year. The National Games were conducted by the Badminton Sports Association of India for the physically challenged, where he won a gold medal and emerged the national champion in the standing lower category.

At the Israel Open Badminton Championship, players from Russia, Germany, England, Switzerland, Nigeria, Egypt, India, Guatemala and Israel took part.

In the tournaments for the physically challenged, sports persons are categorised based upon their nature of disability so that the competitions are held amongst equals and all players get equal opportunity to win.

Sangwan participated in the men’s standing lower category in the physically challenged sports persons as he is an amputee below knee and wears a prosthesis specially made in Germany.

In the singles, he played matches with different players and reached semifinals after beating the Israeli contestants in straight sets of 21-18 and 23-21. The bronze medal Satendra Sangwan won was for the tough fight he put up in the third set against his opponent from Guatemala.

In the doubles, Sangwan paired up with Niraj Thomas from Bangalore and started their winning path by first beating their Indian counterparts and then a Israeli pair.

Then they crossed the next hurdle by defeating the Israeli pair and finally bravely fighting against the Indian and Guatemala players, Sangwan and Niraj went down by 19-21 and 21-23, satisfying their thirst with the bronze medal.

Sangwan has participated in national and international-level tournaments in badminton for the physically challenged representing Uttarakhand in the past also and brought laurels in the IWAS World Games by winning gold medal in doubles and a bronze in singles in December, 2009.

Incidentally, he got introduced to the disabled sports after losing his right leg below knee in a mine blast while fighting in the Kargil war in the Drass sector against Pakistan in 1999. Ever since, he has never looked back and turned all adverse conditions and problems as opportunities to test himself.

Dehradun, December 7
St Joseph’s Academy beat Carman School by 40 runs in the Senior Council Cricket Tournament held on the former’s premises here today.The host team won the toss and opted to bat first. St Joseph’s Academy set a target of 157 runs in 20 overs losing five wickets. Akash (70 off 51) played a brilliant innings to haunt the bowlers of rival team.

Akshay (25) and Shreyash (19 not out) also made important contributions. Nimit and Riday of Carman took two wickets each. Umang also got a wicket in the four overs he bowled.

Batting second, Carman could score only 116 runs. Umang (43 not out) alone fought for the batting side. However, in the absence of support from the other end he could not sail his team to a win.

Anubhav took three wickets in four overs giving away 22 runs for St Joseph’s Academy. Abhay was also successful in picking two wickets in three overs conceding 20 runs.