Dehradun, March 1
The Char Dham pilgrimage, which hitherto had been restricted to the six months of the summer season (from May to November), had been launched for the winter season as well. Quite belatedly, the winter pilgrimage started off today from Rishikesh. Four buses, which will go to Kharsali (Khushimath), Mukhimuth, Ukhimath and Joshimath, winter abode for the deities of the Char Dham temples of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, respectively, were flagged off from Rishikesh. The buses will be back on the third day.

The devotees had been lured with fascinating offers. Surat Ram Nautiyal, vice-president of the Char Dham Vikas Parishad, said: “We are giving 70 per cent discount in the fares for the next two months before the peak season starts. On this first winter pilgrimage, we are providing food and accommodation at the guest houses of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) free of cost.” The pilgrims will stay at the guest houses in Barkot (Khushimath), Uttarkashi (Mukhimath) Rudraprayag (Ukhimath) and Gauchar (Joshimath).

Nautiyal also said the buses bound for the respective abodes might ply to all the four temples of winter Char Dhams, if devotees demanded so.

Nautiyal said March 1 was selected for the launch on the advice of Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Madavashramji who suggested the date to coincide it with the auspicious day of Shivratri when the pilgrims will reach the respective temples and will be able to participate in the special Maha Shivratri prayers on Wednesday.

The prayers will be followed by delectable local cuisines and cultural bonanza. “Uttarakhand has a rich cuisine of its own, which will be offered to the devotees. Apart from that, we have also arranged cultural programmes for their entertainment, where they will get to enjoy the famous Pandav dance in which the dancers lick the red hot metal rods while dancing. Ramlila will also be presented in an inimitable Garhwali style,” said Nautiyal, adding that the devotees would also get glimpses of snow-clad peaks, lush green land and, of course, enjoy the pleasant weather on the way. Not to forget they would also get to see simple and scintillating village life from close quarters.

Little skeptical over the gushing response from the pilgrims in the initial stage, Nautiyal stated: “I didn’t have grand expectation on the very first day of the launch as it was mere symbolic and, moreover, we can not publicise the winter yatra much. But, I certainly hope that over a period of time, the response will continue to improve. The infrastructure and other facilities will also become much better to suit the convenience of pilgrims. Foreign tourists will also come to Uttarakhand in good numbers, as they prefer to travel in India in the winter season”.

Dehradun, March 1
Two Prantiya Rakshak Dal (PRD) jawans in uniform allegedly robbed three persons at Dobhalwala last night. The duo Suresh and Manish Sharma, who were posted at the Police Lines, were later arrested by the police at Arha Ghar.

The three victims, who work as waiters at a city hotel, alleged in their complaint to the police that two “cops” on a Cheetah motorcycle stopped them when they were returning home after work and demanded that they show some identity proof.

When the trio took out their purses, the “cops” snatched the same and sped away.

Then, the victims called up the police control room and reported the incident. An alert was sounded at all police stations in the city and all policemen on Cheetah duty were checked, but to no avail.

Later, on the information provided by the victims, the police apprehended the duo at the Arha Ghar Chowk.

The police realised that they were not “cops”, but jawans of the PRD, who posed as policemen to the victims.

Senior Superintendent of Police Ganesh Singh Martolia said the police was questioning the jawans to find out whether they were involved in any similar incident in the past.

The duo has been sent to the Kotwali police station.

Martolia added that as the two jawans were indulging in illegal activities, the police doesn’t want their services anymore.

The police is also considering making a list of PRD jawans who have taken part in illegal acts in the past and will oust them from the district police. At present, about 30 jawans of the PRD are posted at the Police Lines.

According to the police, the jawans were inducted into the police force for assistance as there was a shortage of staff. The jawans are paid honoraria by the government.

Dehradun, March 1
Shortage of female allopathic doctors is affecting women’s access to medical facilities in the state. The state is already grappling with shortage of manpower with both the male and female doctors refusing to serve in the hills.

While the state is trying hard to control maternal mortality rate, the main drivers of the programme, female doctors continue to elude the government. Out of the 800 doctors, the number of female doctors is only around 150 in the state.

In view of the serious shortage of staff and service providers, vacancy of contract employees was advertised, but that, too, has yielded little result. There is shortage of specialist doctors at CHCs, staff nurses at CHCs and PHCs, auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) and multi-purpose workers at the sub-centres that are the initial points of contact between people in remote areas and the primary health care system.

Even if there are female doctors, a majority of them prefer working in the cities. Things have come to such a point that a majority of the female doctors are confined to cities like Haldwani, Haridwar and Dehradun.

“The working conditions, especially in the government sector, do not suit women. They have to strike a balance between marriage and their profession. So most of them opt for private practice as it is less taxing and allows them a fair amount of time with their families,” said Dr Deepa Sharma from CMS, Doon Hospital.

The Reproductive Child and Health (RCH) programme and the Janani Suraksha Yojana are programmes aimed at curbing maternal mortality and ensuring that women’s health gets due attention, and the success of these programmes depends on the deployment of female doctors.

“The complications in pregnancies and births are found to be the leading cause of deaths and disability among women of reproductive age.

“The health problems of the mothers and newborns arise as a result of malnutrition, poverty, illiteracy, unhygienic living conditions, infections and unregulated fertility.

“At the same time, poor infrastructure and ineffective public health services are also responsible for inadequate obstetric care,” said Director, General Health and Family Welfare, Dr Asha Mathur.

Dehradun, March 1
In the wake of yesterday’s lathi charge on the Shiksha Mittars, members of the BPEd Prashikshit Berozgar Sangathan held a massive rally on the Rispana Bridge here today.

The protesters raised slogans, blocked traffic and staged a demonstration in front of the Vidhan Sabha to press the authorities to fulfil their demands for creating 8,000 posts of special BTC teachers and 5,000 of LT teachers.

A large numbers of BEd and BPEd students gathered at the bridge to participate in the agitation against the state government. The protesters also criticised the state government for making hollow announcements. “Instead of increasing the number of posts of trained BEd and BPEd teachers, the administration has failed to fill the existing vacant posts,” said one of the protesters.

Manorama Dobhal, general secretary of the All-India Mahila Congress, and Satpal Maharaj, Garhwal MP, have condemned the lathi charge on the helpless Shiksha Mittars.

“It seems that the state government has become deaf, as it can not hear the plea of the BEd teachers and had to lathicharge them. The cops did not spare even women protesters, showing its brutal side,” said Dobhal.

Dehradun, March 1
After Capgemini, a software service provider from France, that picked 19 would-be graduates of computer science, Automatic Data Processing (ADP), an American company, has selected four more computer science graduates from ICFAI University, Dehradun, here today. The candidates have been offered a lucrative package of Rs 3.65 lakh per annum.

Among the selectors were Manish Aggarwal and Sudhir, Technical Manager and HR Manager, respectively, of ADP, who appreciated the quality and standard of computer science studies at ICFAI. They said the faculty as well as the mentors at the institute worked diligently for giving the best education to their students.

Nainital, March 1
What came as an unpleasant surprise for Census enumerators on last night was the fact that Nainital town had more than 20 homeless persons. It was on February 28 that the enumerators had been entrusted with the task of tabulating the facts about the homeless people.

“The enumerators came across more than 20 such persons in the town. One of them was from Lakhimpur Khiri and another was a graduate,” disclosed Mahesh Gururani, official in charge of the Census operations in the town. “One can imagine the plight of these people as they are compelled to spend their nights at public rest shelters and other such places in temperatures that are close to freezing. The enumerators found such people at Tibetan market, bus terminus, etc,” he said.

Conducting the Census operations in the hilly regions is a very tedious task. In Nainital and other similar places in the Kumaon region, it was compounded by the fact that several people could not be enumerated as they had gone out for winter. This is a normal trend in Nainital that people go out or at least send their families away during winter. “The working people were often at work and with no one at home to furnish the required information, several people have been left out. Those people who have purchased flats here and had been registered during the first phase carried out in the summers were found missing this time around,” said officials.

The 89 enumerators, who have been entrusted with the Census job, had a difficult time as they had to scale heights to enumerate the residents of different areas. In Nainital, most of the people reside in houses located at great heights as the entire construction around the lake is commercial and comprises mainly hotels and eating joints.

Gururani said the enumerators found that the people were not aware of the Census operations and its purpose. “The respondents often confused Census with surveys for making voter lists or issuing voter identity cards. Some were reluctant to give information about their tenants or workers residing in their buildings fearing that they might be approached by the local and Income Tax authorities later. Some were reluctant to divulge information fearing that the survey might lead to a change in the Public Distribution Supplies (PDS) quota that they are getting at present,” he said.

According to him, the government must ensure that Asha workers and anganwadi workers are deployed for generating awareness on this most important exercise. “Even if the government has to pay them extra for the effort, it will be worth the effort,” he pointed out.

Pithoragarh, March 1
As announced by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, the long-awaited Purnagiri Trust, which will manage the annual fair at the Purnagiri temple in Champawat district, will be formed soon and the District Magistrate of Champawat has been asked to take steps for the same, said Kunal Sharma, Commissioner of Kumaon, at Tanakpur today.

“The state government has announced that a trust will be formed to manage the Purnagiri annual fair and we hope the order of the government in this connection will reach us in two months’ time,” said Sharma.

According to the Commissioner, the interests of the traditional priests of the temple will be taken care of and the facilities for the pilgrims will be developed in the area.

“We are studying all the possibilities in the limited mela area, out of which maximum facilities can be provided to the pilgrims,” said the Commissioner.

The traditional Purnagiri fair is supposed to have been started by the Chand kings of Kumaon. “The government started interfering in the affairs of the fair in 1960, first through the Zila Panchayat of Almora and later by the Pithoragarh and Champawat district administrations,” he said.

At present the Purnagiri fair is governed by the Mela Act, which was notified in 1986, under which the sanitation, health, drinking water and light arrangements are being done by the Zila Panchayat.

Sharma said the money being collected by imposing taxes on shops and parking lots in the area had dwindled due to a big chunk of the mela land having been claimed by the Forest Department since the forest land could not be used for non-forest purposes.

“After the creation of a trust at Purnagiri, all arrangements to increase the income of the trust will be made and a maximum part of the income will be spent on creating more facilities for nearly 8 lakh pilgrims who visit this mela every year,” said Sharma.

Dehradun, March 1
Additional police staff will be deployed on the main roads to assist the traffic police in managing the traffic in the city.

Ganesh Singh Martolia, SSP, said, “We have identified the traffic bottlenecks in the city. Sub-Inspectors from police stations and chowkis will also be present on the roads to help the traffic police in regulating the traffic”.

More policemen will be deployed on the roads, especially during school, office and evening timings. The police is also contemplating earmarking a place where more than one processions can be organised at a single place to give relief to the city traffic.

The SSP held a meeting with district police officers where he gave them guidelines to improve the traffic. The officers put forth their problems and discussed how these could be sorted out.

Dehradun, March 1
Chintu scalped six wickets to help New Indian Star beat ITCC by three wickets in a league match of the Uttarakhand Cup Beehive Challenger League at Matawala Bagh, here today.

ITCC was packed off by New Indian Star for just 75 runs in 15 overs. Mohit (29) and Lalit (14) could score some runs for ITCC. This was winning team’s Chintu who broke the backbone of the ITCC innings by claiming six wickets.

Shakti and Vipin also took two wickets each.

New Indian Star, while batting, scored 76 for three wickets in 13.2 overs. Shakti (24) and Tony (14) contributed for the team. Sunil, Aman and Mohit got one wicket each for ITCC.

In another match YMCA defeated Doon Colours.

Tomorrow, ITM will play against New Indian Star and Al Fateh will lock horns with Sai Institute.

Dehradun, March 1
Tata Teleservices Limited (TTL) has announced a special price reduction on both its Tata Photon Plus and Tata Photon Whiz data services.

At a press conference here, Sanjay Vohra, Chief Operating Officer, UP (West) Circle and Regional Head (North-West) of Tata Indicom, announced that the plus and the photon were available at a competitive price of Rs 1,799 and Rs 999, respectively. The company has also announced the beginning of the Tata Photon League, a first of its kind and the only loyalty programme initiative being introduced by any telecom player.

With the Tata Photon League, Tata Photon Plus customers can enjoy offline services like white goods, household goods, personal accessories and other lifestyle vouchers from stores like Pantaloons, Raymond, Pizza Hut as well as online game options.