Pitthoragarh, December 12
The Himalayan musk deer, which is the state animal, continue to be poached in Himalayan reaches that are more than 3,000-ft high.

Poachers are active in the high meadows and this is evident from the smoke emanating from the Panchuli meadow in Pitthoragarh district. The fires are ignited only to trap this shy animal, Pitthoragarh forest division sources confirmed.

“We have sent a patrol team of forest workers to nab these poachers in the high Himalayan ranges of Dharchula and Munsiyari where a sudden spurt in smoke is being reported,” said Sambandhan, District Forest Office, Pitthoragarh.

“Poachers, who have traditionally been active in these Himalayan meadows to hunt the musk deer, have their own way to kill the animal. They set fire to dry grass in the lower part of the meadow (locally called bugyal). When the musk deer runs for safety to higher reaches, the poachers trap and kill it,” said the DFO.

He added that Himalayan wild animals were being poached at present which is evident from an incident in which a person last month was arrested with the skin of a Himalayan barking deer.

According to the Forest Department, musk deer are hunted mostly during winter as they come down to escape the chill at the higher altitudes. “They reach 2,500 ft near Munsiyari town and are hunted mostly by poachers who take advantage of the town,” said Sambandhan, District Forest Office, Pitthoragarh.

According to the DFO, there are 96 musk deer in Pitthoragarh district, mostly in the high Himalayan meadows of Dharchula and Munsiyari. “This data is based on the animal counting held in 2008,” he said.

According to the Forest Department, this animal stays at a height from 8,000 to 16,000 ft in the Himalayan region during summer months.

“We count the animal in our area and up till 6,000 ft. Beyond this height, our workers seldom go,” said the DFO.

He opined that more musk deer might be sighted if counting is taken up in the range of 6,000 feet to 16,000 feet.

According the Forest Department, most areas where these animals dwell fall under van panchayats and whenever any campaign to save the beast are run, these van panchayats are taken into confidence.

“As every van panchayat has more than nine members, they can be helpful in protecting these animals, the number of which are decreasing every year,” said the DFO.

Dehradun, December 12
To develop tourism in and around Char Dham, the State Tourism Development Board mulled over the sites around it that could emerge as potential attractions to lure tourists. Brahmakhal is the only significant settlement ahead of Dharasu, en route Yamunotri, apart from Barkot and is otherwise a landslide-prone area.

The wayside amenities such as parking lots, public convenience and communication facilities have been suggested in the report a km before the settlement area, so that the tourists could take a break from their arduous journey. Similarly, Kharati could be developed as a stopover on the route, since it is blessed with picturesque view and dense vegetation.

At the moment, this location has been marked in the report for further discussion on its development as another tourist destination.

Syanachatti, a major stopover, en route Yamunotri, falls 8 km before Hanuman Chatti, having flat lush land could serve as an entry point for Yamunotri dham. There is a need for betterment of road from Hanumanchatti to Phoolchatti, as the local operators transit the yatris up to Phoolchatti, which is 3 km ahead of Hanuman Chatti to facilitate the vehicle movement.

At present the roads are in a dire need of repair, as they got badly damaged during recent monsoon. Further proposed road structure ahead of Phoolchatti to Janankichatti will reduce the trek route from 8 km to 5 km.

Dehradun, December 12
Students of Doon School, Dehradun, Maharani Gayatri Devi School, Jaipur, and Vivek School, Chandigarh, in a 12-day camp, are helping in the construction of a new building for a school at Daandapur village, 20 km away from Dehradun.

A student of Maharani Gayatri Devi School, Jaipur, teaches at a school at Daandapur village, near Dehradun, on Saturday. A Tribune photograph

Under the aegis of SMTA Director Rubin Fertado, Doon School and the Society for Motivational Training and Action (SMTA) have adopted a primary school at Boksa in Daandapur village.

Doon School established the school at Daandapur village 18 years back in 1992 as part of its social service scheme. The school was then under the “round square” (group of schools chain of international educational institutions that follow the philosophies of German educationist Kurt Haan) project.

One of the oldest teachers of the primary school Manju said, “We started this school with just three students of the village. Initially, I faced great difficulty in convincing people to send their children, especially daughters, to school for basic education. The villagers were quiet hesitant to send their children to school, but our joint endeavour has borne fruit,” said Manju.

“Now, a village education committee, comprising seven persons, has been constituted by SMTA. Gram pradhan, ward members and parents of the students are acting as its members. Our salaries and other funds to run the school are borne by Doon School and SMTA. I feel satisfied and rewarded when I see one of my students as a colleague of mine, teaching in the same school,” said Manju.

During the camp, the volunteers are teaching the students of the primary school, training them in conversational English, interacting with them, identifying their problems and promptly extending a helping hand to the masons, who are engaged in the constructing the school building.

One of the in charges of the social service scheme Mohan Joshi informed about the planning of the primary school. “We are expanding three rooms, planning to set up a computer laboratory and setting up a library,” said Joshi.

With the Assembly elections of 2012 fast approaching, the internecine war within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of the state has also started hotting up. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has emerged a winner in the wake of the recent onslaught by two state party veterans and former Chief Ministers against him. The intensity of the struggle between pro and anti-Chief Minister factions of the state BJP has came in the open with the sacking of one of the close associates of a former Chief Minister, Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd), from the government position. The war of attrition between senior state BJP leaders has reached New Delhi and both the factions are lobbying hard to influence the senior party leadership at the Centre.

The genesis of the factional rivalry could be traced much before the second Assembly elections in February, 2007. Major Khanduri and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, two senior leaders hailing from Garhwal and Kumoan regions, respectively, were brought together to campaign jointly in the run up to the Assembly elections under pressure from Central party leaders. However, after the party won the Assembly polls, it was Major Khanduri who got the support of the Central leadership to become the Chief Minister much to the annoyance of Koshiyari, who publicly showed his displeasure. During more than two-year tenure of Major Khanduri as Chief Minister, Koshiyari worked overtime to overthrow him. He managed to parade party legislators before the party high command and with active support from then party chief Rajnath Singh finally succeeded in removing Major Khanduri as Chief Minister in June, 2009. It was Nishank, the Health Minister in the Khanduri cabinet, who got the approval of Major Khanduri as well as the Central leadership to become the Chief Minister.

All went well in the beginning as Major Khanduri as well as Nishank belong to the Garhwal region but soon fissure started developing between the two. The relations between the two leaders from Garhwal started to sour as smaller issues and ego problems created a wedge between them. Major Khanduri, being a senior party leader, felt the Chief Minister Nishank was trying to undermine his position as the tallest BJP leader of the Garhwal region.

Both Khanduri and Koshiyari probably felt that Nishank being much younger to them could upstage them, finally called a truce between them and started working in tandem to oust Nishank this time. But, ironically, the Central party leaders already under pressure from the Kanataka BJP crisis did not want to open another front. There were intense lobbying by Major Khanduri as well as by Koshiyari to convince the senior party leaders that the BJP would be at the receiving end of the ire of the voters due to non-performance and alleged corrupt deals of the Nishank government in the forthcoming Assembly polls. But it did not cut much ice.

Chief Minister Nishank had been under pressure on two important deals, one related to the allotment of 56 small hydro-electric projects and another one regarding the allotment of industrial land to Citurgia company for residential purposes. Both matters went to the court, but Nishank acted cleverly and before any adverse court verdict against his government in the state cancelled both deals.

While campaign against the Chief Minister hotted up in New Delhi, Nishank decided to act decisively against his opponents in the party. He sacked Ravinder Jugran, vice-chairman of the Andolankari Kalyan Parishad, a government position with a rank of minister of state. Jugran was a known supporter of Major Khanduri. He was served a notice by the state BJP chief Bishan Singh Chufal for a statement praising the working of former Chief Minister Khanduri compared to the present one at a gathering of students of Garhwal University at Srinagar, Garhwal. He was shown the door by the Chief Minister much to the chagrin of Major Khanduri who said he would take up the matter with party bosses in New Delhi.

Dehradun, December 12
The first prize for hand painting was won by Nehru House, while Jhanvi House stood first in a rangoli competition held during the inter-house creativity competition at Children’s Academy here yesterday. The theme of the competition was Sargam.

The school field and auditorium came alive with students taking part in a variety of competitions.

Chief guest Prem Kashyap, Principal of Pestle Weed College, praised the students for their creativity. Judges HK Chabra, Principal of Doon Cambridge, and Neeru Garg, prominent artist of Dehradun, were overwhelmed to see the rangolis and face painting.

Nehru House in the mehendi competition and Tagore House in face painting competition were declared first. Tagore House won the title of the Best Flower Decoration team.

Mansi Wadwa of class V was declared the winner for participating in the painting competition organised by the Zoological Survey of India, Northern Region, on December 2.

Dehradun, December 12
Rose Mount School celebrated its annual sports and cultural day with great enthusiasm here today. A large number of students participated in the extravagant event, while every individual was privileged to find his or her place under the spotlight.

The occasion commenced with the inauguration ceremony followed by various races of tiny tots, while seniors students conjured up a wonderful presentation of songs, dances, music and expression. The performance of the students received appreciation and applause from the audience.

The principal of the school presented the annual report and congratulated all meritorious students who had performed excellently in the academics.

Dehradun, December 12
Soban scored a brace to lead Willis Youth Club to victory against Balaji Club 3-1 in the Shivalik Football Tournament held at the Survey of India grounds here today.

Sagar drew the first blood as early as in the second minute for Balaji Club. Balaji Club despite early start could not capitalise later in them match and could score no goal for their side.

Whereas Soban of Willis Youth Club jolted the rival team with two goals. He scored in the 31st and 46th minutes of the game to give his side a solid position. After the match reached the stage of 2-1 in the favour of Willis, Shaam of the team gave another jolt to the rivals.

Shaam scored in the 51st minute to push the tally to 3-1 and to an easy match win. Balaji failed to score later in the second half and lost the match.

Haridwar, December 12
As soon as the news of India’s ace badminton player Saina Nehwal of her becoming the world number player broke out, a sense of pride gripped the sports lovers here with her achievement being the point of discussions among people across the city.

By winning the Hong Kong Super Series final against China’s Shixian Wang despite being one set down, Saina has made a record by being the world’s highest point garnering badminton player in the Badminton World Ranking (BWF) and so has gained a deeper place in the hearts of her fans in the pilgrim city.

So by distributing sweets, sending SMSes or tweeting at Nehwal’s account, congratulating her on the big achievement, the youths were seen quite elated at her feat.

Dolly Bisht, a badminton lover, termed it as a milestone in the Indian sports history equating her individually with cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar.

She said both these players have immense natural talent, focus, dogged determination, aptitude and fighting spirit . “I also have gained quite a bit by idolising Saina,” said Dolly.

While many compared tennis sensation Sania Mirza with Saina Nehwal putting achievements and temperament of badminton ace quite higher than Mirza, some even blamed the media for making an ordinary player like Sania Mirza a star due to her glamour quotient while real stuff lies in hard working but media-shy Saina.

“Saina has the mettle, talent, wherewithal aided with sheer determination while Sania became an easy prey to glamour, stardom, affairs and the media glitz. That’s the difference between the two stars as one has reached the pinnacle in badminton by becoming numero uno while other (Sania) is out of top 100 even failing to win Commonwealth Games gold, let alone the Asian Games,” remarked Umesh Dimri, a player of the ITC at SIDCUL.

The Badminton Association of Haridwar has also expressed happiness on ace shuttler’s achievement expressing hope that this will make badminton more popular in the country. It has urged the state government to promote this indoor game so that from Uttarakhand too in the coming days another Saina emerges.

Dehradun, December 12
Nitin played a fast knock of 88 runs to help Rising Star, Premnagar, defeat Secretariat XI by 36 runs in the Beehive Challenger’s Trophy Inter-District T20 Cricket Tournament underway at the Matawala Bagh, Saharanpur Road, here today.

Rising Star piled up a huge total of 175 runs giving away four wickets in 20 overs. The team had won the toss and had opted to bat first. Nitin topscored for the side. He was ably supported by Deepak (37) who played a cameo role.

Secretariat’s Vikas, Ankit and Bhupidner were the successful bowlers with a wicket each.

In reply, Secretariat could score only 79 runs in 12.4 overs losing all wickets. Lalit Joshi (33) was the only scorer, who could save the team some blushes.

Rest of the batsmen could not even cross the mark of 10 runs and the team surrendered. Manish and Pappu of rival team got three wickets each. Vishal also took two wickets for the team.

The ice-skating rink for the SAF Winter Games

Dehradun, December 12
The winners of recently held First Open Skating Talent Hunt were honoured by Prakash Pant, Drinking Water Minister, here today.

Twelve skaters, who have shown skills and finesse on the rolling wheels, were awarded with the certificate of participation.

The skaters were six months ago trained and selected by five major institutes of Uttarakhand under the direction of the Ice-Skating Association of Uttrakhand.

Ice-skaters from various schools watch the rink in Dehradun on Sunday. Tribune photographs

The talent hunt was conducted with the aim of promoting skating among in state while providing opportunity to the children of Uttarakhand to make their career in skating.