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Cold wave sweeps Uttarakhand
Simply heaven, say Mussoorie tourists looking at Doon valley
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Nainital
diary
Nainital beat Udham Singh Nagar by 4-1
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Cold wave sweeps Uttarakhand
Dehradun, January 2 Dr Sharma said the weather would remain dry in the next 24
hours, but the cold winds would continue. Meanwhile, the sky over the city remained cloudy throughout the day and people could be seen shivering even during the daytime. Roads presented a deserted look as most of the people kept indoors. Fortunately, today being Sunday, most of employees remained confined to their houses and thus escaped the chill outside.
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Simply heaven, say Mussoorie tourists looking at Doon valley
Mussoorie, January 2 The tourists had packed their luggage and were homeward bound, but as they glanced at the Doon valley they were simply enchanted by nature revealing her true beauty. Rajesh, a tourist from Delhi, could not believe his eyes and said the view was “simply heaven”. His wife Radhika also agreed with him and said they felt as if they were walking on the clouds after seeing such a scene for the first time in their life. The Met Department was of the view that such a view would be a regular feature in the days to come. However, the clear sky over Mussoorie and dense clouds over Dehradun was comparatively a new phenomenon, the officials added.
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Winter clothing sales hot up
Dehradun, January 2 To help people with picking up the right winter stuff, which is warm as well as trendy, a large number of shops are offering many choices for every one. From the busiest Paltan Bazar to the most posh Rajpur Road market, people are thronging all the shops to purchase the winter clothes. With the outlets of international brands like Unite Colors of Benetton, Levis, Tommy Hilfiger, Numero Uno, Wrangler, Lee, Reebok and many more, both men and women have experimented with their overall looks. A majority of most preferred brands in India have come out with bold fusion of red, green and purple besides the black or blues. For women there are satin dresses, short crop jackets, shrugs, trench coats and sweatshirts or the popularly called hooded jackets in v-neck style to give it a more stylised look while for men there are sweatshirts, tweed coats, quilted jackets to protect themselves from the biting winds. “With a steep drop in the temperature recently, I am running short of woollens for going to my office every day. I purchased a black corduroy jacket, which can be comfortably worn in office. Interestingly, I purchased it in a winter sale running at a famous brand. It is very comfortable to wear and has a brand value also,” said
Shubha. However, many leading brands in denims and fashion clothing for this season have come up with colourful jackets with fur on the neckline, long coats, sweatshirts, denim jackets and the jackets made of other material. The latest collection put up in the showcases is attracting people to look for a variety of winter clothing. “Till now, we have received a good response in the festive season of Christmas and New Year. The younger generation believes in the Benetton brand for being inline with the latest trends. This winter we have introduced a new collection of brighter colours and variations between a range of Rs 1,000 and Rs 8,000,” said a salesman at the store of United Colours of Benetton. Those who want to try something funky can either try outfits at famous Indira Market or Tibetan Market. From sober V-neck sweaters to bold printed jackets, which can be easily teamed up with a regular pair of jeans, can be purchased for Rs 1,000 and above.
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Traders, hoteliers condemn load shedding during peak tourist season
Mussoorie, January 2 In a jointly called meeting by the Mussoorie Traders Association and the Mussoorie Hotel Association, members lamented the fact that the hotels and trade industry was the main sufferer last year due to natural disasters and all were eagerly waiting for the period between Christmas and New Year to bolster their business. But all their hopes were shattered by the continuous shortage of the electricity during this period, thus harming the interest of people immensely and leading to a huge loss to the government exchequer. Mussoorie Hotel Association president RN Mathur lambasted the Electricity Department and said this year traders and hoteliers were excited that they would be able to recover some of their losses during Christmas and New Year’s Eve and had even decorated their installations. But the Electricity Department, due to its callous approach, had ruined it all with continuous and regular electricity cuts that carried on till the midnight of New Year’s Eve. He further said when the department officials were contacted, they just shrugged making lame excuses. The mad rush of tourists when did not receive basic amenities like water and electricity in the month of biting cold, headed back to their homes pledging never to visit Uttarakhand again. Another MHA member Ram Kumar opined that on the one hand the Electricity Department was advertising to save electricity, on the other had introduced a faulty system like Minimum Consumption Guarantee (MCG) scheme where it was charging minimum amount from hoteliers, irrespective of the amount of electricity used. He further lamented that in this way the department itself was encouraging to spend more electricity in hotels. HS Manchanda also said the state government
had simply forgotten the town which provides a major chunk of revenue to the government via tourism. The Tourism Board is a defunct organisation and does not even have adequate staff in their office near the ropeway. Mussoorie Traders Association president Rajat Agarwal said business had suffered immensely due to the continuous electricity shortage, but the bureaucracy and politicians had shut their eyes and on the other hand the Tourism Minister was busy with his other lucrative portfolio of the Excise Department, thus completely neglecting the tourism sector. The announcements of developing a special circuit around Mussoorie has also been shelved and chances that the tourist sector will recover from last year jolts remain a distant dream. Trader and Hotel Association secretary Ajay Bhargav and Javed Khan appealed to the government to address the woes of the business class of the town soon or the time was not far when they would be forced to lock up their business houses and leave for some other destination conducive to tourism in the country. Spokesperson Sunny Sahni said the government should stop addressing the state with nomenclatures such as Urja Pradesh and tourism state when it could not even provide basic amenities at the time these were needed the most.
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Nainital
diary
Despite its attempts to cover up its debacle on Citurgia Bio-chemicals Limited (CBL) land use matter on which the High Court delivered its much-awaited judgment earlier last week, the state government, led by Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, is trying its best to convey to the masses that it has come out clear and unscathed in the matter. Its critics on the other hand are pointing to things otherwise.
Nishank’s close protégés in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been trying their best to ensure that there are no adverse reports in the media in the matter. However, common people have been furious over how the judgment was reported, particularly in the electronic media. The people are now questioning that if it is not the government led by Nishank that has been indicted then who has? At heated debates across the region where the matter is being discussed, people are saying that when the court asks the District Magistrate of Dehradun to take possession “forthwith” of the controversial piece of land, it is clear that the land was being put to use for a purpose other than that it was meant for. They are asserting that when the government is asked to initiate a probe against the erring officials then it is clear that there was something hanky panky in which the files had moved and it is Nishank who is morally responsible for it. Observers are saying that when the court reportedly says that it has come to know that land worth Rs 400 crore had been given away at a price to the tune of nearly Rs 20 crore, then who else but the Chief Minister and his government are responsible. They are furious over the “managed” view being put across that the government has come out “pak saaf” (clear and unscathed). Even the supporters of the ruling party are now hinting that there will be an attempt to hush up the matter as the forthcoming polls get nearer. The people, particularly mediapersons, are now questioning that what is stopping Nishank from facing questions from the media on the issue. The people were surprised by his recent visit to Nainital to review the progress of various schemes. “A person who is known for his publicity craze and his movement towards mediapersons the moment he sees them, just fled from the venue after saying whatever he had to say. He did not give any mediaperson a chance to put across a single question,” is a common refrain amongst the mediapersons at Nainital these days.
Martyr’s mother waits in vain
Even a group of women, including some of the BJP workers and supporters, were agitated over Nishank’s conduct on the day he was in Nainital. The reason for their displeasure was that he did not even bother to meet Malti Adhikary, the mother of Kargil martyr Major Rajesh Adhikary. The aged woman waited for hours so that she could have a word with Nishank and convey her grievances to him. Major Adhikary’s case has been that of promises being made to be forgotten and tall claims made at the time when people make the extreme sacrifice for the nation being put on the back burner. People have seen this phenomenon so many times that its repetition does not surprise them any more. All it draws is a little more contempt for those in power. At a programme held earlier last year, his mother had made passing references about the then government making a promise to erect his statue at a prominent place in Nainital. The women who had accompanied her to the venue where Nishank was present said there were certain grievances besides this that she wanted to convey, but she never got a chance.
Delhi media
heckles Nishank
As pointed out earlier, the Chief Minister’s “media managers” are trying their best to ensure that Nishank is projected only as the darling of the masses and the poster boy of Uttarakhand. They do everything possible to see that there is no negative news about him in the papers and channels and to the large extent they have been successful on account of reasons well understood by the masses. A recent case in point was the booing and hooting out of Nishank at a meeting of journalists from Uttarakhand in New Delhi. The incident never got to see the light of the day in the Uttarakhand media and it was only on certain blogs by “conscious and non-subservient” journalists that it was put up. Nishank, along with a couple of other prominent politicians from the state, was present at the platform. Thinking that the mediapersons present were as gullible as the majority in the mainstream Uttarkhand media, Nishank started speaking in his trademark style never expecting sharp reactions and criticisms. Those present at the venue disclosed to this correspondent that he began by claiming that the world’s best Kumbh had been organised by his government to which his critics retorted that he was talking as if the Kumbh had never been organised in Uttarakhand before. Similarly, when he talked of his flagship “Sparsh Ganga” drive, it was hooted that the Ganga was never “asprishya” (untouchable) before he came on the scene and it is not his government and for that matter the BJP that had brought the Ganga to Uttarakhand. The eyewitnesses disclosed that an agitated Nishank accused his critics of being “nakaratmak” (negative) in approach and things came to a pass that he had to leave the venue amidst hooting and slogan shouting against him.
Jokes on Chief
Minister
Jokes on Nishank continue to do the rounds amongst masses in the state. The manner in which he is being mimicked and jokes are being narrated very often put his party members in an embarrassing position. Local poets and artistes can be seen enacting his personality in public. At once such display in Almora this correspondent came across the latest joke in the series. The joke went around that when Nishank’s critics approached him on the issue of his distributing red beacons in the manner similar to that of the Congress regime under Narayan Dutt Tiwari, he in his trademark style replied, “Hum lal batti nahin baantate. Hum kewal darja dhari badhate hain.” (We do not distribute red beacon. We just increase the number of persons who are given ministerial ranks.)
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Abdul, Kajal clinch carom titles
Dehradun, January 2 In the playoff matches for the 3rd and 4th places, Mohammad Hassan (Chandigarh) defeated Mohammad Danish of Delhi 21-5, 13-8. Last year’s runner up and current sub-junior champion Kajal Kumari of Bihar clinched the girls championship title defeating M Kanagdhara of Tamil Nadu 21-9, 21-0. Defending Champion Dipika Sinha of Bihar after losing the match for the 3rd and 4th places against P Jayashree of Tamil Nadu 6-21, 21-5, 12-21 had to satisfy with the 4th place. Khushboo Kumari of Jharkhand defeated K Karn of Bihar 21-3, 21-6 in the final of the youth girls singles. Last year runner-up Kamna Gupta of UP had to satisfy with the 3rd place. She defeated A Swathi of Hyderabad 21-0, 21-0. The other results are: Boys Singles (3rd and 4th place): Mohammad Hassan (Chandigarh) beats Mohammad Danish (Delhi) 21-5, 13-8; (5th & 6th place) Akash Goel (Maharashtra) beats Ansari Naeem Akhtar (Maharashtra) 9-5, 19-13; (7th and 8th place) Naresh (Hyderabad) beats Mohammad Talib (Chandigarh). Semifinals: K Srinivas of Hyderabad beats Mohammad Danish (Delhi) 11-8, 21-2 and Abdul Rehman of UP beats Mohammad Hassan of Chandigarh 16-8, 21-2. Quarterfinals: K Srinivas (Hyderabad) defeats Akash Goel (Maharashtra) 18-2, 7-21, 21-0; Mohammad Danish (Delhi) defeats Mohammad Talib (Chandigarh) 15-10, 21-10; Mohammad Hassan (Chandigarh) defeats Ansari Naeem Akhtar (Maharashtra) 18-14, 3-14, 21-11; and Abdul Rehman (UP) defeats U Naresh (Hyderabad) 7-20, 13-11, 21-6. Girls singles (3rd and 4th place): P Jayashree (TN) beats Dipika Sinha (Bihar) 21-0, 5-21; (5th and 6th place) Tuba (Chandigarh) beats Farheen (Chandigarh) 21-0, 21-0; (7th and 8th place) Archana (Bihar) beats R Vinitha (Tamil Nadu) 16-18, 21-0. Semifinals: M Kanagdhara (TN) defeats defending Champion Dipika Sinha (Bihar) 13-7, 1-19, 21-7 and Kajal Kumari (Bihar) defeats P Jayashree (TN) 16-14, 19-11. Quarterfinals: Dipika Sinha (Bihar) beats Tuba (Chandigarh) at 17-11, 11-20, 18-6; M Kanagdhara (TN) beats Archana (Bihar) at 14-0, 11-13. 21-4; P Jayashree (TN) beats Farheen (Chandigarh) 14-13, 9-19, 10-9; and Kajal Kumari (Bihar) beats R Vinitha 21-0, 14-7. Youth boys singles (3rd and 4th place) V Akash (Orissa) beats Mohammad Salman (Delhi) 2-18, 21-07, 14-12. Semifinals: Mohammad Ghufran (UP) defeats Mohammad Salman (Delhi) 21-9, 21-3 and SK Wasim (Vidarbha) defeats V Akash (Goa) 14-10, 21-1 Quarterfinals: Mohammad Ghufran (UP) beats S Romendra Singh (Manipur) 21-5, 12-5; Salman (Delhi) beats Nikul Kakde (Maharashtra) 21-9, 21-9; V Akash (Orissa) beats Manish Jaiswal (Bihar) 0-21, 19-5, 17-16; and SK Wasim (Vidarbha) beats Raj Kumar (Chandigarh) 21-5, 21-5. Youth girls singles (3rd and 4th place) Kamna Gupta (UP) beats A Swathi (Hyderabad) 21-0, 20-3. Semifinals: K Karn (Bihar) defeats A Swathi (Hyderabad) 15-12, 21-6; and Khushboo Kumari (Jharkhand) beats last year’s runner-up Kamna Gupta (UP) 17-6, 21-5. Quarterfinals: K Karn (Bihar) beats defending national champion Kudrat (Chandigarh)) at 20-5, 21-10; A Swathi (Hyderabad) beats B Sudha Rani (Andhra Pradesh) 17-2, 18-10; Khushboo Kumari (Jharkhand) beats Chaitali Harizan (Goa) 21-0, 21-0; and last year’s runner-up Kamna Gupta (UP) beats L Shreya Devi (Manipur) 21-0, 21-0. Meanwhile Anil Goel, president of the Uttaranchal State Carom Association, and SK Sharma, general secretary of the All-India Carom Federation, gave away the prizes to the winners of the championship.
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Himalayan Academy win cricket trophy
Dehradun, January 2 Batting first, the YMCA was bundled all out for meagre 83 runs in 17 overs. Vishal (21) and Gulshan (20) started off well with their respective innings, but could not build good numbers and gave their wickets. Shkher of the HCA captured three wickets, along with Manish and Vijay, who took two wickets each. While batting, the HCA achieved the target in this important match in 14.4 overs scoring 87 for five wickets. Sheetal (24), Sumit (18) and Vijay (13) were the main scorers for the squad. YMCA’s Vishal got three wickets. Ravinder and Prashant took a wicket each. Meanwhile the teams and players were given prizes and trophies after the match. Shekher Arya of the HCA was declared man of the match. All-rounder Vijay Singh, also of HCA, was given away the man of the series. Wicket keeper Jashan Azmi of the HCA was declared the best keeper of the tournament. Jaswinder of the YMCA was awarded with the best bowler award of the tournament.
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Doon Star enter soccer final
Dehradun, January 2 Aman Chetri (39th minute) scored the lone goal for Sports Hostel and was named the Man of the Match for giving a good performance during the match. Lokesh (43rd minute), Balvinder (30th minute) and Rajesh Chauhan (87th minute) scored for the winning side.
Doon Valley, Cantt Blues win
Doon Valley and Cantt Blues registered identical 2-0 wins in their respective matches of the Great Vivekanand Memorial Football Tournament played on the Pavilion Grounds here today. In the first match, Doon Valley blanked Doon Challenger 2-0. Varun (12th minute) and Brijesh (68th minute) scored for the winning side while the rival team. Cantt Blues beat Balaji Boys 2-0. The winning team had maintained pressure since the very first minute of the game. It scored the first goal through Ravinder in the 15th minute while the second goal came in the 55th minute through Suraj.
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Doon boys, girls clinch softball titles
Haridwar, January 2 Being played on the Bhalla Inter-College ground, in the girls category the Uttarkashi eves failed to match the skills of their counterparts from Dehradun and lost the final match 1-11. Though the Uttarkashi players put up a good show, the unavailability of regular coaching went against them compared to the state of the art facilities available to the Dehradun team. In the boys section, the host Haridwar team despite the support of the home crowd, failed to turn the tables against the Dehradun team and lost 4-11. Kishan, Prateek, Vishal Chirag, Nitesh, Jugal impressed with their fine display of softball skills like pitching and base running. Informing about the popularity of this new sport in the state, Haridwar Softball Association’s honorary secretary Ajay Malik said the boys and girls from hilly districts or plain urban areas were taking this sport with much enthusiasm. The presentation ceremony was presided over by chief guest Harbeer Singh, SDM, Mahender Singh, a saint, and Dr Raj Kumar Rawat. Senior vice-president of the Uttarakhand Softball Association said the players selected from this championship would represent in the Senior National Championship to be held from January 5 to 10 in Chandigarh. Prominent persons among those who watched the finals were Dr RKS Dagar, Anuj Kumar, Bindu Malik, Dushyant Rana, Devendra Pradhan, Sanjay Malhotra, Ajay Nautiyal, Ranjeet Singh Negi, Rakesh Bhandari and Kapil Mishra.
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Scholars’ Hockey Club, St Agnes play a draw
Dehradun, January 2 Rajat (ninth minute), Honey (34th) and Ankit (42nd) scored a goal each for St Agnes, while Shubham (29th), Abhishek (48th) and Antariksh (52nd) were the scorers for the Scholars’ Hockey Club. During the match, St Agnes and the Scholars’ Hockey Club got three and eight penalty corners, respectively. Both the sides managed to convert each, while missed rest of the chances. In the today’s match, principal of the school Jasbir Singh Virk was the chief guest. The tournament is being played on league basis. The organisers said they have got about 10 to 12 entries by now and were expecting more in the coming days.
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Nainital beat Udham Singh Nagar by 4-1
Dehradun, January 2 In the second match of the competition, Pithoragarh defeated Uttarkashi 5-1, while Almora defeated Tehri by 6-5 in the Kho Kho competition (boys). In the first Kabaddi match (girls), Haridwar defeated Nainital by 28-14, while Tehri won the second match by 30-9 over Chamoli. In the first Kabaddi match (boys), Pithoragarh defeated Chamoli by 26-0, in the second match Haridwar defeated Tehri by 19-0 and in the third match Rudraprayag defeated Champawat by 38-0.
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