Dehradun, March 4
Like every other child, 12-year-old Akash too had gone to play with his friends to a nearby ground in his village. But destiny had other things in store for him as he was later found murdered.

The Roorkee police has cracked the case and arrested the culprit of the brutal killing of Akash within 48 hours.

The cold-blooded murder of the 12-year-old boy of Manakpur village, under the Jhabrera police station, 20 km from Roorkee, who went missing on March 1 had sent shock waves in the entire area.

When the boy did not return till late evening, panic-stricken parents and villagers launched a massive manhunt and found the body of the boy from a burning heap of dry cow-dung cakes near Shiv Chowk.

“Had the villagers reached the spot half an hour late, the police would not have been successful in solving the case as the evidence would have got completely destroyed,” said PK Rai, Circle Officer, Manglore.

Describing the details of the case today at the Civil Lines police station, Roorkee, DIG, Sanjay Gunjiyal said that the post-mortem examination had established that the boy was molested before death.

According to the police, all the children, who were playing that evening with Akash, pointed the finger of suspicion at Gagan, who does not have a good reputation in the village.

During interrogation of the suspect, it came to light that Gagan alias Kaka, son of Om Kumar of Manakpur, was seen at about 5 pm with Akash on that fateful day.

Gagan had given Akash a lift on his bicycle at the Inter College ground. The suspect was also spotted at the murder site at around 8 pm by some witnesses.

Yesterday, the Jhabrera police arrested Gagan near Iqbalpur crossing. After an intense interrogation, the culprit confessed to his crime.

He confessed that on the pretext of giving Akash a joyride on his bicycle, he took the 12-year-old to Jainand colony. He asked Akash to accompany him to a nearby sugarcane field as Gagan needed to pass urine.

The culprit molested his victim in the field. But as Akash started screaming, he shut his mouth tightly as a result of which the lad died on the spot.

Leaving the body on the very spot, Gagan set out for his home. On his arrival in the village, he found everybody searching for the missing Akash.

Afraid that he might get caught, he returned to the spot, located a heap of dry cow-dung cakes, put the body inside and set it alight.

Later, he returned to the village and joined the family members of Akash and the villagers in the search.

“The police had collected buttons and slippers of the deceased from the site of the incident along with the murderer’s undergarments and shirt. These are being sent to the forensic department,” said DIG Sanjay Gunjiyal.

Gagan has also confessed to the police that he had molested another victim four to five years ago. That incident was not reported to the police.

Om Singh, father of the victim, and Gagan are the same profession of driving a tempo and are also from the same community - Gujjars.

Gunjiyal said that the police was in the process of collecting the maximum evidence so that the culprit gets the appropriate penalty.

Six teams of police personnel were deployed to nab the culprit and were complimented on their success.

Dehradun, March 4
For the first time, hearing impaired and visually challenged students of Sharp Memorial School and the Bajaj Institute of Learning participated in the painting competition, which was held on the first day of Basantotsav-2011.Around 300 schoolchildren from 15 schools had registered for the painting competition and among them 100 students were from Sharp Memorial School and the Bajaj Institute of Learning.

Governor Margaret Alva, while interacting with the schoolchildren, laid emphasis on environmental conservation.

Later, the Governor inaugurated a cultural evening organised by the Department of Culture at the Raj Bhawan auditorium. Eminent folk artiste Basanti Bisht gave a “jagar” presentation. On March 5, a cultural programme, “Beats of Uttarakhand”, will be held.

Those who were present on the occasion include Vice Chancellor of GB Pant Agriculture University Dr B.S Bisht, Secretary to the Governor Ashok Pai, Additional Secretary Arun K Dhaundiyal, Additional Secretary Horticulture G. S Pandey.

Dehradun, March 4
After initial euphoria, state forest authorities are not sure whether they will be able to make the proposed platinum jubilee celebrations of the Jim Corbett National Park a mega affair.

Initially aiming to make the platinum jubilee celebrations at the Corbett an event of international stature, the state forest authorities are now finding themselves short of funds. The recent incidents of man-tiger conflict have also taken the sheen out of the preparations.

The park officials had initially planned a formal inauguration of the platinum jubilee celebrations on March 6 in the presence of the Chief Minister, but now they look non-committal on the event. An international conference on tigers on March 9 at the Corbett could be the official beginning of the celebrations.

When asked for the reason behind going low on celebrations, state principal chief conservator of forests Dr RBS Rawat said the office of the chief wildlife warden was an appropriate authority to reply to the query.

However, the office of the chief wildlife warden, too, failed to respond due to obvious reasons. Interestingly, growing resentment among the locals also seems to be playing at the minds of the forest authorities. The villagers residing in the periphery of the Corbett have already started questioning the motives of 
the Forest Department behind staging the platinum jubilee celebrations, 
particularly when the region had witnessed 
several deaths in the past few months due to man-tiger conflicts.

Raja Ram, a resident of the area, asserted that he was not able to understand the reason behind the celebrations in the Corbett, as a large number of people have lost their lives in the conflicts in the recent months.

On the other hand, with the Assembly elections not, too, far in, state government looks little interested to pursue the celebrations effectively. Sources, however, revealed that the funds stand as a major block in the conduct of the platinum jubilee celebrations, as the state government had failed to rise to the budgetary expectation of the state wildlife authorities.

Dehradun, March 4
Taking lessons from the Bhuj earthquake of 2001 in which several schoolchildren and teachers had lost their lives, a project of retrofitting primary schools is under way in Uttarakhand.The Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC) of Uttarakhand, together with the IIT, Roorkee, and Nanyang Technological University (NTU-Singapore), have picked up four primary schools in Tehri, Dehradun and Chamoli for the project.

Primary schools are the first stage of education in rural areas and keeping children safe, especially in an earthquake-prone state like Uttarakhand, is being paid due attention. The programme covers two aspects. “The first stage involves the strengthening of school buildings to improve their resistance to earthquakes. In the second stage, these retrofitted schools will then be used as training facilities,” said Dr Piyush Rautela, Director, DMMC.

For the first time more than 1,000-sq ft area will be taken up for retrofitting at Rajkiya Inter College, Dhobalwala (Dehradun), Rajkiya Balika Inter College, Ranipokhri, Rajkiya Inter College, Nainbag (Tehri), and Rajkiya Inter College Fakote (Chamoli). The preliminary work has already started at the Dhobalwala school in Dehradun.

“The design and implementation of the project will also include the costs for retrofitting. Usually these rates are not added by local engineers. For the first time we will get a proper estimate of the costs incurred for retrofitting. We will like to state that the retrofitting of an old house proves to be a cheaper and cost-effective exercise than carrying out retrofitting in a new building,” said Dr Girish Chand Joshi, an earthquake engineer.

He said retrofitting would be undertaken under the supervision of the IIT, Roorkee, which had also provided training to state engineers. “We will also be tapping expertise of the NTU in earthquake engineering and seismic-resistant construction technologies. The programme aims at promoting safer construction practices and achieving the transfer of technology,” added Dr Joshi.

Besides, local masons are also being equipped with cost-effective techniques developed by those who are partnering with the DMMC. “During the 10-day training, the masons are also paid an honorarium of Rs 300,” said Dr KN Pandey, Junior Executive, DMMC.

The DMMC has already done retrofitting of a primary school at Khurbura in 2009.

Dehradun, March 4
The Mahanagar Yuva Congress burnt an effigy of the BJP Yuva Morcha at the Clock Tower yesterday. They alleged that the Yuva Morcha’s members drank wine and danced in the Shivpuri area, near Ganga, in Rishikesh on the pretext of holding a meeting.

The Congress party workers alleged that on one hand the party claims to be following cultural ethics and on the other it was disrespecting the holy Ganga river.

They further alleged that the workers of the BJP danced, consumed wine and ate meat at the religious place in Rishikesh. The same was found by the media next morning and it was published in the newspapers, Congressmen claimed. They also shouted slogans against the BJP Yuva Morcha. 

Dehradun, March 4
It has been for the last three years that Doon Valley Special Area Development Authority (SADA), which has been working with only eight employees, had written to the state government seeking 51 new employees at all the levels, but the file concerned has been gathering dust since then.

Assistant engineer, SADA, Sarvesh Mittal said it was getting extremely difficult for them to carry out their functions in absence of the required workforce.

“We have an area of 1,500 sq km to cover that has 135 villages. It is virtually not possible to keep an eye on the indiscriminate growth of unauthorised construction in the villages with very few employees to manage the office. At present, we have an AE, two junior engineers, an accountant clerk, clerks and peons.”

The authority has asked for one more executive engineer, an assistant town planner, three assistant engineers, 12 junior engineers, an account officer, a supervisor, a draftsman and others for positions of accountant, head clerks, clerks, drivers and peon.

Secretary Vinod Suman expressed hope for fulfilment of these vacancies in the near future. “SADA is certainly grappling with the shortage of employees that has been affecting the work. The issue is progressing gradually and I hope that soon a positive decision will be taken on the matter.” 

Dehradun, March 4
Himalayan Cricket Academy defeated Rao Cricket Academy by 14 runs to enter the finals of the Uttarakhand T20 Cricket League Championship played at the Mahendra Grounds here today.

Himalayan Cricket Academy won the toss, elected to bat first and scored 130 for nine wickets in allotted 20 overs. Opener Vijay Singh scored 55 runs in 44 balls, while Varun Negi scored 22 runs. Sachin took three wickets for 13 runs for the Rao Cricket Academy.

In reply, Rao Cricket Academy scored 117 runs for seven wickets. Opener Kiran was the highest scorer with 46 runs in 43 balls. Vijay Singh took two wickets for 22 runs.

Dehradun, March 4
Helax XI and ONGC cricket teams won their respective matches in the Dehradun District Cricket League Tournament played at the OFD and Survey Stadium, respectively.

In the first match, Helax XI defeated Abhimanyu Cricket Academy by 4 wickets at the OFD grounds. Abhimanyu won the toss, elected to bat first and scored 175 runs for three wickets in allotted 25 overs. Kunal was the highest scorer with an unbeaten 75 runs. Helax scored 177 runs for the loss of six wickets in 23.1 overs to win the match by four wickets.

Puneet was the highest scorer with 46 runs, while opener Mohit scored 36 runs. PGN Business Cricket Club will take on Ajabpur Youngsters Club at the OFD Grounds on Saturday.

In the second match, ONGC club trounced Media XI by 116 runs. Playing first after winning the toss, ONGC scored 186 runs for three wickets in their allotted 25 overs.

Opener Shahnawaz scored 41 runs, while Sudhir was the highest scorer with an unbeaten 73 runs. Rakesh took two wickets for 33 runs for the Media XI. In reply, Media XI was bundled out for a paltry 70 runs in 17 overs and Manmohan wracked the Media XI innings by taking six wickets for 11 runs. Survey of India will play against Petroleum University at the Survey Stadium on Saturday.

Dehradun, March 4
Shri Guru Nanak Public Boys Inter College organised their annual function here today. A large number of students participated in a prayer meeting held specially for the students who will be appearing in the board examinations.

The programme began with a speech by Principal Jasbeer Singh Virk who wished the students good luck.

He also presented the annual report and gave cash prizes to the meritorious students of the school who had topped in the board examinations.

He congratulated the students who had taken part in sports activities and the NCC cadets for their outstanding performance in the various events.

He congratulated the 21 volunteers who had participated in a blood donation camp held this year and gave them cash prizes.

Jasbeer Marwah, President of the managing committee of the school, announced a scholarship for students belonging to the socially weak background.

The programme was followed by a recital of the Sukhmani Sahib that was attended by students, staff and guests.

The programme culminated with a vote of thanks delivered by the Principal.