Dehradun, January 14
Courage has nothing to do with age. Priyanshu, just 10 years old, showed this while saving his sister from a leopard.

Displaying exemplary courage and without a care in the world for his life, Priyanshu managed to save his sister and himself from the clutches of a hungry leopard that had strayed into a thickly populated area in 2009.

For this act of bravery, this braveheart has been selected for the National Bravery Awards 2010 to be awarded by Prime Minister of India in New Delhi. Along with other brave children from across the country, he would be proudly riding an elephant during the Republic Day parade.

“In spirit and in action, Priyanshu has fulfilled the vows that a brother makes to his sister on Rakshabandhan,” said Pushpa Manas, General Secretary, State Child Welfare Board.

The board today felicitated Priyanshu Joshi for making the final cut among four proposals. He would proceed to Delhi on January 15.

Recounting the incident, Priyanshu, who is a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya, IMA, said that he and sister were on their way to school when a leopard attacked them at Paundha village near Prem Nagar, a few km from Dehradun.

“As the attack was sudden, I was nonplused for a while. Within a fraction of a second, the beast was upon my sister and I saw her ear lobe hanging loose.

“There was no time to waste. My school bag became my weapon. I began hitting him with the bag. I also punched him. The noise of an army vehicle that was passing by distracted the leopard. Otherwise, it would have carried us away,” said Priyanshu.

Such impressive tales of valour abound in every corner of the country and Priyanshu is raring to set foot in New Delhi and meet other bravehearts. “I had never thought that one day, I too will participate in the Republic Day parade and ride an elephant,” exclaimed Priyanshu.

A keen footballer, he wants to join the Indian Army. His father RK Joshi is hopeful that the bravery award would help him gain entry to the Rashtriya Indian Military College(RIMC).

“We have chosen the RIMC and Doon School as preferred schools in case the Indian Council of Child Welfare, Government of India, sponsors his education,” added Priyanshu’s father.

Haridwar, January 14
Faith of the devotees empowered the cold weather as lakhs took holy bathe in the Ganga. As per administrative estimates, the number of pilgrims that thronged the BrahamKund, Har-Ki-Pauri and adjacent Ganga ghats in Haridwar had touched half a million mark till evening.

Though, Har-Ki-Pauri had less water as it received water only from the Alaknanda river and water from the Bhagirathi river was not received owing to tunnel damage at the Koteshwar Dam situated in the higher reaches of Tehri Garhwal district. Despite assurances from the district administration, the water level was quite less as has been the case for past few weeks. Water level of the Ganga was below 5,000 cusecs, which in normal days is above 8,000 cusecs.

Ganga sabha chief Ram Kumar Mishra expressed his displeasure on the state of affairs though the administration claimed that the additiosnal water was pitched in via the Koteshwar Dam and from the nearby Chaudhari Charan Singh Bhimgoda Barrage.

The entire mela zone was bifurcated into six zones and 18 sectors for better management of the holy bath. Mela in charge ADM Ranveer Singh Chauhan, along with other administrative officers, monitored the whole proceedings.

In view of the Varanasi blast, security set up was beefed up so that any terror strike may be thwarted with on alert Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), sniffer dog squads, Quick Reaction Team (QRT), elite commandos from Guldaar Commando Unit, horse squad and sharp shooters-snipers were positioned at the sensitive places. A platoon of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) was also deployed for crowd management and to meet any untoward incident during the festive time.

High-skilled divers from the Uttarakhand’s Water Police, popularly known as ‘jal police’, monitored the Ganga ghats throughout the day in life-saving boats.

Informing the Tribune about the security proceedings, Superintendent of City Police Dr KL Shaw said in view of the Varanasi blast, the police took all precautions.

Haridwar, January 14
The three-tier panchayat elections in the district have become quite a cause for concern for the administration, as 70 per cent of the polling booths in the district have been categorised under the sensitive and ultra-sensitive categories.

This itself indicates major task ahead for the administration, particularly the police, to ensure a peaceful and transparent election procedure.

As per the District Election Commission assessment, due to various reasons, these areas have been chalked as sensitive ones from the aspect of communal tension and caste-related violence. Moreover, several cases of violence were reported at various booths, including those identified in this list, in the previous panchayat elections.

The most sensitive booths are in Roorkee and Bahadrabad blocks, and the least sensitive booths are indicted in Khanpur block numbering just seven in comparison to 116 in Bahadrabad, followed by 87 in Roorkee. Other blocks Narsain, Bhagwanpur and Lakshar, too, have more than 36 sensitive booths.

Informing about the administrative preparations, chief development officer BK Sant assured that the administration was well prepared to carry out a peaceful election process at such sensitive areas and a security strategy was being chalked out for these areas.

To keep a strict vigil in these sensitive booths, the administration has decided to deploy additional police force and personnel from the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) for foolproof security set up.

Senior Superintendent of Police Sanjay Gunjiyal, who has now been promoted to the DIG rank, stated that the police was gauging varied aspects with adequate deployment of the police force and holding meetings with the local representatives and communities to ensure that anti-social elements do not try to misuse communal and caste sentiments to gain the political mileage or disrupt the polling process.

Meanwhile, training is being given to returning officers and assistant returning officers ahead of the panchayat elections. A special booklet containing manuals and directions has also been given to these trainee officers to solve most of the complexities by reading the book.

Nodal Election Officer, ADM, Revenue, SN Pandey briefed the electoral officers on varied aspects of the election procedure. All these returning officers, prior to the nomination filing process, would issue a notification in their respective areas and examine the nomination forms, name withdrawal process and allocate the election symbol to the candidates and other election-related procedures.

Training in charge RS Rawat informed that all the trainees had been directed to visit the polling booths and learn the electoral manual and work with full dedication, as any laxity may affect the election process.

On the fourth day of the selling of the nomination forms at the district panchayat office, interested applicants for the village, block and zila panchayats were seen buying the forms in large numbers, along with their supporters, mostly in traditional attire and in tractors.

70 pc booths sensitive, ultra-sensitive

Roorkee and Bahadrabad most sensitive

  Admn to deploy additional police force, PAC personnel

Lal Kuan Paper Mill Unrest
For now, management agrees to regularise employees

Tribune News Service

Nainital, January 14

The industrial unrest in a paper mill in Lal Kuan has been resolved for now with the management and the government agreeing to the employee regularisation demands over the next one year.

Both the sides took up the matter at a meeting, in which Cabinet Minister Bansidhar Bhagat was also present. The meeting was held at a government guest house in Haldwani on Wednesday.

The employee leaders were reluctant to accept the oral promise made to them, saying that despite having a written agreement from the management for their regularisation since 1997, all that they had been getting was the annual renewal of the contracts.

However, the management, which promised to initially regularise the oldest contractual employees against the fresh vacancies and enroll others within a year, persuaded them.

The premises and the area around the paper mill had erupted over the issue of employment on Saturday, as the workers employed on the temporary basis were joined by the local youth in an unprecedented protest. The venue had witnessed industrial unrest for close to 14 hours and it was only after the assurance of the proposed meeting on Wednesday that the tempers had cooled down.

The trouble had started on Saturday morning, when the temporary employees climbed on top of a crane and a tower and started raising slogans. This had triggered off a protest in the other sections, as the workers shut work and took over the gates of the mill, stopping the movement of the vehicles.

Coming to know about the protest, the unemployed youth in the vicinity of the mill had also joined the protest.

Nainital, January 14
Taking a serious note of the slow pace of development of homeopathy facilities in the Kumaon region, Commissioner Kunal Sharma has directed all the District Magistrates (DMs)to hold meetings with respective Homeopathic Medical Officers (HMOs) and expedite the work in the sector.

Sharma was chairing a meeting of the top brass of the districts in the region. He expressed concern at the shortfall in the achievement of targets in the promotion of homeopathy in the districts.

Referring to the non-disbursement of sanctioned funds to various departments, he said the heads of these departments needed to take up the matter with the administration so that the funds were made available for the execution of various schemes that were hanging fire.

With regards to the utilisation of funds in the district plans, he expressed dismay that despite having utilised Rs 22 crore, the region was lagging behind its counterpart in the state. He particularly asked the top brass in Almora and Champawat to improve upon their showing.

Sharma said the officials needed to expedite works and ensure that the money sanctioned to them was optimally utilised over the next three months.

He warned the departments that had utilised mere 50 per cent of the funds sanctioned to them to speed up their works failing which the officials heading them would face action. The DMs were asked to initiate action against those officials whose laxity was leading to the slow execution of works in their districts.

Sharma laid emphasis on providing power facility to those villages that had been left out despite there being plans to electrify them.

He also expressed displeasure over the slow pace of work with regards to the 20-Point Programme where several departments were presently faring in the D category. He asked the DMs to ensure that the performance of these departments picked up in the next three months.

Pitthoragarh, January 14
The status quo on the 90 km-long Indo-Nepal border territory in Champawat District will be maintained and no further encroachment from the Indian side will be allowed there. Champawat District Magistrate Dr Pankaj Pandey stated this here on Wednesday.

“We will also write to Nepali officers to stop the encroachment from the Nepali side into the no-mans land,” said Pandey.

According to the Forest Department, nearly 93 families from both the countries have encroached 116 acres of land falling under no-mans land so far and to remove the proof of this illegal activity they have even removed the border pillars.

“At Brahma Dev Mandi, near Tanakpur, the Indian and Nepali families have constructed 44 shops on the no-mans land and some persons are even cultivating on the land,” said a forest officer.

Champawat District Administration Officers, led by SDM Shiv Charan Divedi, on Tuesday visited the border and found that only 19 pillars out of more than 100 were in the exact position and the rest had been either removed or the numbers and identity written on them had been deleted.

“From the pillar No. 800/13, from where the border of US Nagar District starts, more than a dozen Indian and same number of the Nepali families have encroached into the no-man’s land and the forest area,” said the forest officer. “The encroachment has been made on the no-man’s land even in the Pillibhit district of Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

The Champawat District Magistrate will raise this question in the meeting, scheduled to be held this month, of the officers of the border districts of India and Nepal and will ensure that Champawat district administration takes further steps to keep check on any fresh encroachments on the no-mans land and will expect the same steps from the Nepali officers.

Nainital, January 14
Irrigation and Social Welfare Minister Matbar Singh Kandari has accepted the prevalence of gross irregularities in the pension disbursements across the state and said he and his team are trying their best to put the system back on track.

Interacting with mediapersons here yesterday, Kandari said numerous cases of scandalous disbursements of pensions, which were meant for widows, disabled and senior citizens, had come to light. He related that on several occasions married women were found to be availing the pensions meant for widows and there had also been instances of postal department employees usurping the pensions meant for other beneficiaries.

He said, “We are trying to do away with the system of middlemen and have decided that pensions will now be disbursed through camps at the nyaya panchayat level every three months. We have also decided to set up clusters for the disbursement, so that the beneficiaries will not to have to run from pillar to post. The banks have been ordered to open zero-balance accounts for the pension beneficiaries”.

Kandari said there had been instances that the beneficiaries got cheques for the bank branches located 100 km away from their homes and in certain cases, the beneficiaries had even got cheques after a delay of one-and-a-half years. In certain cases, people had been availing pensionary benefits of a person who had already died.

However, when asked about what action had been taken against the erring officials and how many of them had actually been taken to task, the minister was evasive and simply said inquiries were being conducted and the guilty would be taken to task.

The minister further disclosed that the government had now decided to set up Gram Samaj Sewa Samitis in every village. The members of the samiti would include the gram pradhan, ASHA workers, anganwadi workers, village development officer (VDO), additional development officer (panchayat) etc and the purpose of these samitis would be to identify and verify the beneficiaries of various pension schemes.

“The samiti will verify who is dead, who is alive and who is a widow. It will also help identify the beneficiaries of the Atal Awas Yojana and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Yojana. This way we will be able to reach to the grassroots,” he said.

Dehradun, January 14
With pre-board examinations commencing shortly, the State Education Department, along with the students from Classes X and XII of the affiliated state board schools are gearing up to meet the challenge.

“I am still not through with my revisions and I am quite scared of mathematics. In spite of thorough revision, I scored less in the half-yearly examination. Through the pre-boards, I want to improve my marks before the finals,” said Neharika, a student of Phool Chand Nari Shilp Inter College.

However, the State Education Department is following strict norms and has asserted that in case the students would not sit for the pre-boards, strict action would be taken against them. The department would also take strict action against the schools in case of leniency and lack of focus in the pre-board examination.

In fact, the school authorities have also made sure that all of the students will appear in the preliminary examination. “We are starting our pre-board examination from February 2 to February 12 based on the state-board pattern. The preliminaries are conducted for the practice of the students appearing in the board examinations and to remove examination fear out of them,” said Sanjana, a teacher of the Government Girls Inter College.

Keeping in mind future of the weak students, provision of extra classes is also conducted in various state board affiliated schools. The extra classes are for weak students to provide them extra attention for the preparations of the boards. The teachers of the schools are also counselling the students to decrease their stress levels, while helping them in performing well in the board examinations.

“Pre-boards are considered very crucial from the point of view of the boards. The exams also help the students to understand the board pattern well,” said one of the officials of the Education Department.

Dehradun, January 14
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today opened the skiing events part of the first South Asian Federation (SAF) Winter Games at Auli, Chamoli district.

A performance by folk artistes from Pauri was the main attraction of the opening ceremony. Well-known Sufi singer Kailash Kher also sang during the opening ceremony.

Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, who was to open this leg of the Games could not arrive due to inclement weather.

The first (ice skating) leg of the Winter Games was held at Dehradun from January 10 to 12 where India won all medals on offer.

Nishank, while inaugurating the second leg of the Games in Auli, said, “Emphasis has been given by the state to promote winter games by developing world-class in Dehradun and Auli. The present Winter Games will help boost relations with south Asian countries and attract winter sports lovers from various parts of the world.

"Six south Asian countries, including Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, are participating in the meet. The biggest delegation - of 27 participants - is from Pakistan. A majority of the events will be held in Auli where a world-class ski slope of global standards has been set up.”

The events at the Auli ski resort will include alpine skiing slalom - men and women; giant slalom - men and women; nordic skiing - men 10 km, 15 km, 4x10 km relay; and for women 3 km, 5 km, 10 km relay. The main competition in Auli is between India and Pakistan.

Snowboard events will include slalom - men and women; giant slalom - men and women.

Sports Minister Khajan Singh and former MP Bachhi Singh Rawat were present on the occasion.

Dehradun, January 14
Mritunjay Badola and Dhruv Pal won the under-12 years and u-14 singles tennis titles in the All-India Talent Series Lawn Tennis Tournament organised by the Uttaranchal Tennis Association at the Shanti Tennis Academy here today.

In the u-12 final, Mritunjay Badola of Uttarakhand defeated Yugal Bansal of Delhi 6-1, 6-1 in straight sets to lift the trophy.

In the u-14 final, Dhruv Pal of Uttarakhand trounced Nazim Davla of Delhi 4-6, 6-1 and 6-2.

Rameshwar Dutt Sharma, a former Indian international volleyball player who is a manager with the ONGC, gave away the prizes to the winners and runners-up. Pardeep Walia, Secretary of the Uttaranchal Tennis Association, welcomed the guests while office secretary Arun Saxena was the master of the ceremony.

Players from different parts of the country participated in the meet held here from January 10 to 14.

Dehradun, January 14
Doon Champs defeated ITM by 3 runs in a knockout match of the Uttarakhand Twenty20 Cricket League played at the Survey Stadium here today.

Doon Champs won the toss and elected to bat first. Galib (25) and Vipul (19) were the main scorers who led the team to a respectable score of 107 runs.

For the losing side, Amit Kutti and Pramodh scored 34 and 26 runs, respectively. However, the ITM team could score only 102 runs in the stipulated overs.

Meanwhile, Doon Tiger got better of Tiwari Eleven by 107 runs. Doon Tiger won the toss and elected to bat first. They scored a total 206 runs. Pradeep (100) was the principal scorer for the side.

In reply, Tiwari Eleven scored 100 runs losing all the 10 wickets. Chandu (21) was the main scorer for it.

Dehradun, January 14
The Sri Lankan Port Authority team defeated the Indian National Insurance Club by eight wickets in the inaugural match of the Shyam Dutt Memorial Cricket Tournament played on the OLF grounds here today.

The Indian National Insurance cricket team won the toss and elected to bat first. The team was all out for 118 runs in 19 overs. Yogendra was the only batsman who scored 20 runs for the Indian National Insurance team. Sharndra took three wickets for 30 runs while l Periera took two wickets for 16 runs.

In reply, the Sri Lankan Port Authority team scored 119 runs for two wickets in 15.3 overs. Shemen scored 66 not out with the help of eight fours and one six. He was ably supported by P Kumara who scored 28 not out.

Dehradun, January 14
A 21-day winter camp conducted by Strikers Sports Academy, Dehradun, culminated here yesterday. The participants were given training in cricket, football, badminton, karate, art and craft, dance and English-speaking during the camp.

Around 80 students from 25 schools like Brightlands School, St Joseph’s Academy, Summer Valley School, St Thomas, Doon International, Asian School, Convent of Jesus and Mary, Marshall School took part.

Experts and senior sportsmen shared their experiences with the participants.