Dehradun, May 16
Finally a grievance-redress forum for children will become a reality in Uttarakhand. To supplement the implementation of the landmark Right to Education (RTE) Act, the Uttarakhand Government has finally given a go- ahead for the setting up of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), which would also hear cases of child abuse and trafficking.

Notably, the constitution of the SCPCR, which will monitor the implementation of the RTE Act, will be headed by a Chairperson whose term will be for a period of two years, six members hailing from different fields, a Secretary (a retired IAS officer), a joint secretary on deputation, a law officer and other staff members to man the office of the panel.

However, section 17 of the Commission for Protection of Child Right (CPCR) Act, 2005, provides for the constitution of SCPCR in each state. It has been constituted in 11 states so far.

“Even the RTE stipulates that for setting up of the Uttarakhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, the government order was issued just recently and the main task before the panel will be protection of a child’s rights under the RTE, so a child helpline, with a help desk in every education block has to be compulsorily established that will address the problems of children and parents regarding violation of rights under the Act,” apprised Sowjanya, Project Director, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan.

A year after the enactment of the RTE, the implementation of various provisions under the legislation remained merely in record books. “While people are not aware, even teachers’ and parents’ knowledge about the Act is insufficient; the commission should be able to bridge that divide,” said Aditi Kaur, a Child Rights Activist.

The RTE Act makes local authorities the grievance-redress agencies and the SCPCR the appellate body at the state level. In this context, it is necessary to establish the modalities through which child rights under the RTE Act are protected and violations can be dealt with.

The commission will also take up cases of corporal punishment, so rampant in schools and even hold public hearings.

Dehradun, May 16
The erratic power supply to the entire city, especially during night, has made life miserable for the residents amid rising temperatures. The mosquito menace has made matters worse. The officials of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) call it a minor irritation for the time being as the department is carrying out a triple pole manual operation (TPMO) exercise throughout the town to brace it for windy and rainy season, which a few weeks away.

Deputy General Manager, UPCL, MK Jain said: “Under the TPMO, we are dividing long electric wires with the clips at many levels so that whenever any fault develops in the wire during storms or heavy rain, only affected portion is repaired, and the power supply can be resumed swiftly. Besides, as we do during this time of the year, the connecting points or jumpers in the transformers, which become loosened or weakened after some time, are changed or tightened.

“The trees which pose dangers to the electric wires when get entangled during strong winds too are being pruned. The work takes a few hours or between two and three days in each area, when the electric supply to the respective area has to be discontinued.”

Jain denied any prolonged shutdown in an area, barring cases of fault in the wires or transformers. But, the consumers throughout the city have been witnessing long power breakdowns for at least last 15 days.

Vikram Kumar, a lineman, said electric phases often stop working when they crumbled under the load of several connections, particularly nowadays when people have started using air-conditioners and desert coolers. Because of the heavy use of these electric gadgets, the power demand has increased suddenly. “We were not expecting the demand to be more than 30 million units (MU), but it has escalated to 31.5 MU. We are still falling short of 1 MU despite all our efforts. Thankfully our hydro-power generation has improved drastically from 10 MU to 17 MU. Despite getting 11 MU from the Centre, 1.5 MU through power banking and 1 MU by way of overdraw, a gap of 1 MU in the demand-supply gap is mind-boggling,” he said.

To make up for the shortage, he said, the department was imposing power cuts stretching up to four hours on industries during the peak time in late evening, at least two hours in rural belt of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar while sparing the capital city of Dehradun.

Dehradun, May 16
Having failed to fulfil the minimum requirement of the faculty, the fourth batch of Srinagar-based Veer Chander Singh Garhwali Medical College has been denied a letter of permission (LOP) by the Board of Governors (BoG).

The BoG, which was set up in place of the Medical Council of India, objected to the number of members in the faculty in its inspection report, finding it inadequate. “The BoG has raised the faculty number. A deficiency in the faculty to the extent of only 0.5 percent can be tolerated. However, the shortage in the college is nearly 10 per cent,” said Prof SS Mishra, Principal of the college.

The Principal, along with Principal Secretary (Medical Education) Vinita Kumar, has recently returned from Delhi after holding a meeting with the BoG.

A team had some time ago conducted an inspection of the college and presented their report to the BoG. Significantly, members had also found the college wanting in several other fronts, including the capacity of journals in the library and the capacity of the auditorium.

“The college requires 117 faculty members. On the day of the inspection, we were short of 11 members. After the deficiency was pointed out, we tried to appoint some more members, but that too was found inadequate. We have submitted a report to the BoG stating that advertisements are being published to fill vacant positions. It will take some time and the next report is expected by June 15,” said Prof Mishra.

Prof Mishra said the minor issues related to the library and the capacity of the auditorium did not prove to be major irritants. “The BoG is of the view that the library should have 7,000 books while the number of books at present is 6,409,” said Prof Mishra.

Terming the hurdles as normal, Principal Secretary, Medical Education, Vinita Kumar said these would be overcome and there would be no delay in starting the next session.

Dehradun, May 16
Owing to staff crunch, the Education Department is finding it difficult to reply to the queries sought under Right to Information (RTI) Act while the work of the department is also suffering.

The department which receives about 15 RTIs a day has rather than forming a cell for the same has engaged its employees who are already burdened, thus several of its works have got stuck in the middle.

The employees said the works as varied as the preparation of the information manual, file reading, generating the information for the appellants, maintaining records of the recently disposed of cases and the verification of the applications have been delayed.

According to the officials concerned, the Education Department receives 15 RTI applications per day and has received about 10,847 applications since the implementation of the Act.

While speaking on the issue, Charu Chander Kandpal, senior assistant to the Uttrakhand School Education Deputy Director, said: “Although the RTI Act was enforced from in 2005, no separate RTI cells have been formed so far, resulting in a shortage of staff in the Education Department. Owing to the overload of work, more than 10 hours a day has to be spent by the officials of the department so that the cases can be disposed of within the stipulated 30 days”.

“The state government soon needs to establish separate RTI cells in various blocks, district and departments to lessen the burden the staff and to improve working. Also, an authorised database on computer can enhance the productivity in the Education Department,” asserted Kandpal.

Dehradun, May 16
A two-days national seminar on “Biodiversity and Environment in the Hilly Areas”, which commenced at DBS PG College here yesterday as part of its Golden Jubilee celebrations, concluded today.

The programme was conducted with an aim to emphasise coordination of research institutions and government agencies with conservators in order to harness the resources of the hill state.

Sate Asembly Seaker Harbansh Kapoor, who graced the closing ceremony of the seminar, said: “There is an urgent need for profiling of biodiversity and a bio-prospecting model needed to be put in place to make the utmost use of traditional knowledge for a sustainable utilisation of biodiversity”.

“A lot of work is to be done for the protection of biodiversity. Uttarakhand always had rich biodiversity and this could be put to use for the benefit of the common man,” he added.

Dehradun, May 16
Making Uttarakhand proud, 23 players of the state have been selected to represent India in the 5th World Senior (Veteran) Badminton Championship to be held in Vancouver, Canada, from August 21 to 27.

The trials to select players for the championship were held in Hyderabad from May 8 to 10 where 65 players were selected for participation in the world meet. In the seniors’ category, men and women above the age of 35 years will take part.

Addressing a press conference here today, Ramakant Sharma, joint secretary of the Uttaranchal State Badminton Association, said: “This is a proud moment for us.”

Navneet Sethi, secretary of the District Badminton Association, Dehradun, said out of the total of 23 players from the state, 10 players, Sushil Kumar, Ramakant Sharma, Punkendra Goyal, Punita Nagalia, Surendra Singh Pundir, Indudhar Bourai, Vinod Gupta, Ashok Kumar, Rajesh Nizawan and Alaknanda Ashok, were from Dehradun.

Dehradun, May 16
Pan Business Limited, Noida, was today routed by Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA), Kanpur, by eight wickets on the second day of the 29th All-India Uttarakhand Gold Cup Cricket Tournament held at the Rangers College Ground here today.

UPCA invited Pan to bat first. The latter were packed off for only 141 runs in 30.1 overs. Lokesh Sharma, who scored a whirlwind century in yesterday’s match, was also the top scorer today with 42 runs.

Subodh Badola(19) and Prem Prabhat(18) were the other scorers for the batting side. The remaining batsmen failed to make much of the bowling attack of the opposite team. Ashish Yadav of UPCA got the highest number of wickets (4). Anshul Kapoor and Praveen Gupta took three and two wickets, respectively.

In reply, UPCA achieved the target scoring 143 runs in 22.1 overs losing two wickets. Ravikant Shukla (50*) remained unbeaten completing his half-century. Anshul Kapoor (39*) and Chetan Singh (30) supported him in registering the win.

Mussoorie, May 16
Two matches were played on the second day of the 3rd Vasudev Raghav Memorial T20 Cricket Cup being held at the Survey grounds today.

In the first match between Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, the latter, batting first, scored 73 runs for a loss of 6 wickets. Suresh scored 32 runs. For Uttar Pradesh, Rahul took 2 wickets. Uttar Pradesh reached the target in 6 overs and won the match.

The second fixture was between Uttar Pradesh “B” and Mumbai.Batting first, Uttar Pradesh “B” scored 97 runs losing seven wickets in the stipulated overs. Aatish scored 23 runs and Vinod 22. Parmeet for Mumbai took 3 wickets. Replying to the UP “B” team score, Mumbai reached the target for a loss of 5 wickets and won the match comfortably.

The tournament is being organised by the Uttarakhand Youth T-20 Cricket Association and the Bat-Ball Federation of India. 

Dehradun, May 16
Chandrabani and Akranta scored identical 1-0 wins in the 3rd President’s Cup football tournament here today at Pavilion Ground.

In the first match, Chandrabani beat Garhwal Sporting 1-0.

This was the lone goal by Mohit Limbu (12th) that showed his team the winning way while Garhwal Sporting lost the hard fought battle. In another match, Akranta also managed to beat Adhoiwala Boys 1-0 to stay afloat in the competition. Yaspal (52nd) scored the decisive goal for the winning team. The two losing teams have made their exit from the championship.

Doon Valley will play against XI Star and Bajrang Club will meet Sarvodaya in tomorrow’s knockout matches.