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Environmentalists stopped from entering Lachhiwala forest
Baraats hold up Dehradun traffic
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Child mauled by leopard
NAINITAL DIARY
NCC contingent returns from New Delhi
Gurukul varsity VC is member of AIU council
3 more games to be introduced in sports college
Weeklong Cong yatra begins
Farmers court arrest
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Environmentalists stopped from entering Lachhiwala forest
Dehradun, January 30 The 20-member delegation of the CFGD reached Lachhiwala today. However, they were prevented from entering Lachhiwala as the forest authorities asked them to get prior permission for entering a reserve forest area. Thereafter, the members sat on a dharna at the gate and raised slogans against the DFO and the herbal garden. Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has initiated a dream project in the form of herbal gardens all across the state. One such garden is to come up at Lachhiwala. Member of the CFGD Dr Nitin Pandey said, “Blocking the environmentalists, who had come to study the area in a peaceful manner, raises doubts that the forest administration wants to hide something”. He criticised the DFO for obstructing people’s interaction with the Forest Department at a time when the department was spending crores on trying to involve the public in the protection of the forests. The group would lodge a protest with the PCCF tomorrow. Last month the administration had started felling trees in the reserved forests of Lachhiwala to set up a herbal garden. Around 285 trees were felled. However, the project was put on hold after a public outcry against it. A 3-foot wall had also been constructed to demarcate the area from the dense forests around it.
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Baraats hold up Dehradun traffic
Dehradun, January 30 Amid the loud celebrations, the rule of law and civic behaviour are completely lost. At many places, ‘baraatis’ do not hesitate to consume a few drinks and create a nuisance on the roads. Flouting the timings set by the district police, residents of Doon continue to take out processions without any fear of the authorities. The police had earlier banned the taking out of ‘baraats’ on roads before 8 pm following complaints of traffic woes. The instruction was implemented and followed initially, but it met a slow death. Police officials said as per norms, the parties had to inform the administration and the police before holding ‘baraats’ on roads.
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Women painters portray sentiments of accident victims
Haridwar, January 30 The exhibition is going on from 11 am till 7 pm at Nehru Yuva Kendra, adjacent to Bhagat Singh Chowk at BHEL. It is drawing spectators from across the district in large numbers. So from being viewers to buying exhibits for a noble cause, there is much appreciation for the 11 women artists who have come forward to give something to society. From oil to water colours, the central theme of the exhibition, “The massive tragedy the city witnessed on New Year”, gets reflected both in the works as well as eyes of these painters. One such artwork depicts the accidental Maggi point with the bus number inscribed and with Mussoorie hills in the backdrop. Six candles, indirectly hinting the number of minor children who got killed, also in its own way points to the vision of the artist. The gallery is abuzz with visitors as almost anyone who gets to know about exhibition and social cause behind it, is just turning towards the venue to see as well as contribute his or her bit to the noble cause. Mona Verma, a city-based English novelist, is quite elated as the city has limited exposure for women artists. She said this effort would have a deep impact as it would give other women confidence to excel in newer fields. “It was for the first time in Uttarakhand that such a commendable effort by women painters has been put up, with some veterans in it. But some have exhibited maiden works, and some inexperienced women hailing from conservative families too have come forward,” remarked Mona. The organising committee artists, be it Archana Gupta, Arti Kashyap, Dr Kalpana Kushwah, Naamita Gupta, Poonam Panwar, Ranjni Thapliyal, Sapna Saklani, Sartia Sharma, Sunita Bhati or Dr Sunita Gupta, everyone is bemused at the overwhelming response from people. “We are for the first time coming on a stage together. What is worth mentioning is that it is for a social cause and we know we can’t wipe away the memory of the accident, but we can lessen the woes of these suffering families by our small gesture,” said Dr Pooja Panwar, one of the contributing painters.
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Child mauled by leopard
Dehradun, January 30
Villagers rushed to the site on hearing the cries of the mother, but by then leopard had gone deep inside the forest. This is second incident of a leopard attack in the Bhilangana region. Forest officials are closely monitoring the situation.
Leopard found dead at
Rajaji Park
After the killing of a leopard due to a snare made of metal wire near the Song river in the Rajaji National Park yesterday, a similar snare was recovered by the park authorities today. A four-year-old female leopard was found dead near the Song river, near Nepali Tiraha, in the park today, following which a team of Rajaji officials rushed to the site. The wildcat was presumed to have died after getting strangulated with a metal wire. In a search carried out today, the team came across a metal snare. “Yes, we have found another metal snare. It could have been a game plan of poachers”, said Rajaji National Park Director SS Raisaily. Meanwhile, Veterinary Officer Narayan Singh Negi carried out a post-mortem examination on the body of the leopard.
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NAINITAL DIARY
Warm-up activities for the ensuing political battle scheduled to take place in 2012 for the formation of the next government in the state has begun. All the major political parties have started doing their homework and the groundwork at the grass-roots level to ensure a better performance in the next state Assembly elections. The political workers are just waiting for the winter to end so that the pace of political activity related to their respective parties can be stepped up.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a training programme for its leaders at Rishikesh recently, the Congress has started having sammelans of its workers at the local level. While the BJP is attacking the Centre for being partisan towards the state and for the spiralling inflation besides propagating the achievements of the state government, the Congress has started highlighting the failures of the state government and is particularly playing the issue of the failure of the Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank-led state government in addressing the issues emerging from the recent rain-related disaster in the state. The party has launched the “satyagrah” and “jail bharo” programmes while launching “jan aakrosh yatras” in different parts of the state. The party has initiated these programmes from Kumaon. After the recent debacle resulting in the split of the party, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), under the leadership of Trivendra Panwar, is desperately trying to put its house in order and to make the maximum of the time left before the elections. Panwar has stated that the party would be treating the next Assembly polls as “jan aadesh” and would humbly accept the outcome. He has also accepted that the UKD has not played the role in the state politics that it should have but it has learnt its lessons and would try to improve upon things in the days to come. The Uttarakhand Parivartan Party (UPP), a party that came into existence just before the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, is desperately trying to find a foothold in the state politics and is aiming to fill the vacuum that has been created on account of the failure of the UKD to emerge as a powerful regional force in the state. The party is determined to contest the next polls seriously and carve a support base for itself. Its executive would be meeting in the next fortnight to chalk out a strategy for contesting the Assembly polls. The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are engaged in an exercise to retain their foothold in the plain areas of the state while trying to make some headway in the hills. The BSP in particular has been actively organising programmes in the hilly parts of
Kumaon.
Man-animal conflict back to centre stage
The developments in the Jim Corbett National Park and on its periphery with regards to the man-animal conflict have brought certain issues back to the centre stage. Both the government and the Forest Department are trying to evade these issues, as they are sure to face embarrassment if they are discussed in public domain. Even as the controversy over the recent killing of a male ‘man-eater’ tiger, which was initially declared to be a female tigress, rages on, the intelligentsia is posing certain questions which need to be answered. The first question is about the surety whether the animal killed was actually the man-eater that has created havoc leading to a public outrage or was it necessary for the authorities to sacrifice one tiger or tigress for pacifying the public. The answer is yet to be known amidst claims and counterclaims. Secondly, the core issue of allowing human encroachment remains unaddressed. “They have allowed resorts, most of which have violated the norms, to come up in very close proximity to the wild habitat. These resorts are holding marriage and other functions where sounds of music played on high pitch and bursting of crackers is a routine. How do you expect a tiger or a leopard to react to this? The authorities also allow people from the adjoining villages to go right into the forest to collect herbs and fodder. When these people come face to face with animals there is a conflict and the outrage follows,’’ said a hotelier and a wildlife enthusiast from Nainital. With the government having failed to provide avenues to the people living on the periphery to earn their livelihoods from other activities, these people continue to be dependent on the forests. With the recent public outrage, the entry of people and their cattle into the forest has been stopped. Since the people are not getting fodder from elsewhere, the people are now selling their cattle at cheaper rates and are thus being pushed to a more precarious situation. As of now there are no attempts to address the genuine concerns. While the officials are busy defending their acts, the government is trying to save face and not to derive more pubic ire, as the days remaining for the next Assembly polls get lesser and lesser.
Freedom fighters embarrass minister
The occasion of Republic Day proved to be an embarrassment for the government. On January 26, while the Republic Day celebrations were on in Nainital, the chief guest for the function, Gobind Singh Bisht, was in for a rude surprise. Two freedom fighters from Ramnagar, who were to be honoured on the occasion, caused embarrassment to the cabinet minister at the venue. Bharat Nandan Pande from Kaniya village refused to accept the roll of honour and it was after great coaxing by the minister that he reluctantly accepted it. Pande was agitated over the fact that his dependants had not even got the identity papers that they should have got long ago. As if this was not enough, Mohan Singh Adhikari accused the government of ignoring the plight of freedom fighters. In an outburst of emotion he even went on to say that even the British administration was better than what it is today. An embarrassed minister ordered the officials to immediately address the concerns of the two freedom fighters. The 15-minute episode was marked with commotion even as the minister later tried to dismiss it as fallout of communication gap.
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Co. donates furniture to Gadmirpur school
Haridwar, January 30 With the limited resources the school had, the management couldn’t afford costly furniture and had provided students with small mattresses. But taking into consideration the severe cold this winter, the school staff decided to seek help from outside. The management of Mahindra and Mahindra accepted the school’s request and ordered 50 benches under its CSR programme. Amit Sharma, a member of the company management, assured that if the student strength increased in the future, the company would provide additional furniture. The school staff comprising Meena Sethi, Hemlata Barthwal, Vineita Joshi, Shalini Bhagat, Sarbari, Vidhusi Kamboj and Rekha Jha expressed their happiness as they could now teach students in a proper environment. “Earlier, we teachers didn’t sit on our chairs as we thought it would appear unfair to our students,” said Hemlata Barthwal, a teacher. School students too were elated at the development.
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Seminar on industry-academia held
Dehradun, January 30 Chief guest Dr Sisodia and guest of honour Dr Hemendra Kumar jointly inaugurated the programme by lighting the lamp. Principal of the institute Dr Shailja Pant welcomed the delegates. Director, Research, T&P, Dr Arun Kumar discussed about the coordination between industries and educational institutions and also stressed upon the right and better utilisation for development of joint ventures and research programmes, identification of national industrial resources and its characterisation and technical human resources. Dr Reddy said these types of programmes should be organised on a regular basis and supported that the degree programme should be of four years and post-graduate programmes of three-year duration. The last year should be dedicated to work in related fields in industries, so that students should not remain raw for the industries, but be technically skilled professional for them. Sanjay Kapoor, Dr Ashok Kumar, Dr Shefali Arora, Dr Shalini Singh, Dipti Gulati, Dr Gyanenra Awasthi, Dr Ashwani Sanghi, Dr Santosh Kumar, Dr Lokendra Singh and Sujith TK were present on the occasion.
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NCC contingent returns from New Delhi
Dehradun, January 30 Cadet Sawrnita Kandpal amongst girls and cadet Devansh Dhaundiyal amongst boys were selected as best MCs. 1 UK R and V Sqn that participated for the first time in the competition won two gold, one silver and one bronze in the horse show jumping events, while 4 SD and 2 SW cadets were selected for the Guard of Honour. In a tough competition amongst 17 NCC Directorates, the contingent of Uttarakhand performed outstandingly. The competitions included the Guard of Honour, drill, cultural programme, national integration awareness presentation, flag area and horse jumping events. The Directorate had the distinction of bagging the first-time introduced Rolling Trophy for contributing maximum number of commissioned officers in the armed forces.
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Self-defence training camp begins
Dehradun, January 30
Kanishk gives training to security forces and film stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra, Arshad Warsi and others. On the first day, he taught girls how to deal with anti-social elements or hooligans on the road. The girls learnt the task of using mobile phone, ball pen, hairpin, pen drive, hand watch and dupatta to save themselves from such threats.
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Gurukul varsity VC is member of AIU council
Haridwar, January 30 The tenure of a nominated member is two years and has an authoritative role in shaping the organisation policies and strengthening the structure of Indian universities. Informing The Tribune from New Delhi, Professor Kumar termed his appointment as an acknowledgement of the dedicated work put in by him during his nine years of service as Vice-Chancellor of the century-old Gurukul Kangri University in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. Professor Kumar said, “Our emphasis will be on providing quality and value-based education that can be achieved by developing intellectual, moral and cultural values among the students. In the medieval era when we had the distinguished education centres like Nalanda and Takshila,” said Professor Kumar. Haridwar parliamentarian Harish Rawat, too, congratulated Kumar on bringing laurels to the state.
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ONGC clinch volleyball title
Dehradun, January 30 The winning team won by 25-21, 25-19, 25-22. While in the match played for the third place, LIC beat Bharat Electronics Limited 25-11, 25-15, 25-20. The players of the winning team were given Rs 15,000 along with the winning trophy. The runners-up team was given prize Rs 10,000 and the trophy. LIC that stood third got Rs 7,500 along with the trophy. All the players and senior officers were present at the prize-distribution ceremony.
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Kiran fashions Rao Academy victory
Dehradun, January 30 In this match, TCA won the toss and opted to bat first. It scored 108 runs in 20 overs at the loss of nine wickets. Vikas (32) and skipper Manish Gurung (20) were the principal scorers for the team. The team scored 108 runs for nine wickets in 20 overs. Sanjay and Sachin took three wickets each for Rao Academy while Kiran got two wickets. Batting second, Rao academy achieved the target easily scoring 112 runs for two wickets in 15 overs. Kiran (60) and Anil Pal (26) were the main scorers for the batting side. In another match, Himalyan Cricket Academy defeated ITCC.
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Helex Cricket Club thrash Vidhan Sabha
Dehradun, January 30 Punit scored the highest 72 runs for his side while Arun Tiwari (21) and Mohit (18) also made good contribution to the tally. Kamal and Shekhar of the rival team claimed three wickets each while Kuldeep took two wickets. In reply, Vidhan Sabha couldn’t was bowled for 72 runs in 18 overs. BS Negi (14) and Sandeep (13) could bear bowling attack of the rival team for some time but the rest of the batsmen of Vidhan Sabha failed completely. For Helex, Arun Tiwari picked four wickets while Mohit and Gaurav took three and two wickets, respectively, for the winning team.
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3 more games to be introduced in sports college
Dehradun, January 30 At present the curriculum of the college comprises six games namely the hockey, cricket, football, boxing, athletics and the volleyball. Three more games of badminton, swimming and ice-skating will be introduced soon. Dr SC Negi, Principal of the college, while talking to The Tribune, said the matter was taken up at the society meeting of the sports college. It was presided over by Sports Minister Khazan Das. “We will send a proposal to the state government and after the approval the three games will be introduced in the college,” Negi said. “Talented players of these games will be selected and trained at the college. The college is like a nursery where we make the base of the players strong. With more games to be added to the curriculum of the college, the number of seats in the college will also increase,” Negi added. The college has 250 students and classes up to the senior secondary level. Besides, the college is also sending a proposal to the government to open a similar college for girls also. “We discussed this at the meeting and will send a proposal to the government in this regard. We have the infrastructure for girl students here but we don’t have the required staff and budget for the purpose,” the Principal added. To expand its infrastructure, the college is also working on opening a regional centre of the Laxmibai National University of Physical Education in Dehradun. The Principal of the college will visit Gwalior in this regard.
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Weeklong Cong yatra begins
Nainital, January 30 Talking to The Tribune, Lok Sabha member from Almora Pradeep Tamta said, “The yatra began from Dehghat and will move through Tula Chauri, Querala, Maulikhal, Harara and conclude at Bhikiyasain. Union Minister and senior Congress leader from the region Harish Rawat and former minister in the Narayan Dutt Tiwari Government in the state Govind Singh Kunjwal were amongst the hundreds of Congressmen who participated in the yatra on its opening day”. The yatra is scheduled to conclude at Jhoolaghat on February 8. Dehghat is one end of the Almora constituency bordering Pauri district, while Jhoolaghat is the other end
bordering Nepal. President of the state unit of the Congress Yashpal Arya will be joining the yatra on February 6. Other senior party leaders will also be participating in the event over the next
nine days. Tamta has charged the Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank-led BJP Government in the state for turning a blind eye towards developmental issues concerning his constituency. He has stated that there has been no development with regards to the setting up of the proposed medical college in Almora and the condition of schools, colleges and hospitals in the constituency was pathetic.
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Farmers court arrest
Nainital, January 30 Congress president Yash Pal Arya has stated that the party will be launching such agitations across the state and the beginning has been made from
Jaspur. The movement will initially be concentrated across Kumaon and then be taken to the Garhwal region. The courting of arrest by the farmers at Jaspur coincides with the launch of the Jan Aakrosh Yatra by the party in the Almora parliamentary constituency that covers four districts of
Kumaon.
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Health plan for Raphael inmates launched
Dehradun, January 30 An immunisation, dental and eye-care programme was also held by the Foundation at the Raphael premises last year and the second phase of the programme will be held in February this year. While chairman of the Raphael Air Marshal (retd) BD Jayal said the endeavour of MIF would go a long way to improve the quality of life of the residents of the Raphael. Head, Max India Foundation, Mohini Daljeet Singh said around 300 children, including those from the nearby localities between the age group of 0-12 years, were administered the first dose of Hepatitis B on the occasion.
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