Dehradun, May 22
The condition of a majority of cinema halls in the city is deplorable and most of them are on its last legs. They are hardly making any profit in the business are crying for the support of the government to continue its existence.

With the closure of two oldest cinema halls, Kanak and Krishna, the owners of other movie theatres are also worried.. They blame the influx of other advanced alternatives of entertainment that have grabbed the attention of the public.

Out of the 72 cinema halls in Uttarakhand, the condition of 30 is deplorable with the infrastructure in a state of dilapidation and poor profits. “Today we are at a loss due to a dearth of funds from the state government for the maintenance of movie halls,” said AS Khan, the owner of Chhayadeep cinema.

“Also with an invasion of new technologies where a film can be seen on a cellphone or on a laptop through the Internet, people do not want to come here to watch a movie. The ceilings of the hall are worn out and the seats are broken. We do not even have enough monet to pay our staff and sweepers. Our business is fading away and I am afraid if such a situation prevailed in the future, then none of the cinema halls would be existent,” he said.

Chhayadeep is one of the oldest and known cinema halls located in the core of the city since its inception in 1972. Earlier, it was one of the busiest halls of the city that has showcased many Hindi films for over three decades. However, now it is in a deplorable condition and hardly attracts any revenue annually.

Khan, who is also the vice-president of the Uttaranchal Cinema Federation, said earlier, there were about 15 movie theatres in the city, of which only two-three halls were in a good condition while four were running at a loss. “If the state government supports us by granting development and maintenance funds, we can do better in this industry,” he adds.

Similarly, Payal, Orient, Digvijay and New Empire are facing the same problem and are somehow managing to balance their annual expenditure with revenues. In spite of the government reducing the entertainment tax to almost 40 per cent for the convenience of the hall owners, not many of them are able to commence with the maintenance work.

Dehradun, May 22
The website launched by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) with a bang on January 1 seems to have lost the interest of the people.

It was designed for local residents so that they could register their complaints regarding the sanitation drive and the non-functioning of streetlights online. In the beginning, the corporation received a good response from the people, but now it seems that residents of Dehradun are no more interested in registering their complaints online. The reason could be either no response from the corporation or people here are not net savvy.

Officials of the DMC, however, claimed that they were receiving many complaints and were solving the same within 48 hours. On the other hand, they also maintained that due to a lack of computer knowledge, people were not opting for it.

According to the statistics of the complaints registered in the past five months, there is a decline in the number of complaints every month.

The corporation had received 17 complaints for sanitation in January, which reduced to seven in February, five in March and two in April and six in May.

The number of complaints regarding the streetlight functioning was 25 in January, which reduced to four in February, seven in March, five in April and just two in May.

DMC Executive Engineer Sushil Kumar, who is heading the website, said: “Though the problems are resolved within a short period, many people are not able to access the Internet, which is a drawback for us. We are working on starting a phone line.”

The site was designed by a team of six persons under the Project Implementation Unit of the Jawaharlal Nehru Rural and Urban Mission (JNNRUM) in three months.

The Mayor had stated that they would soon start the online facilities related to birth and death certificates, but the work is still under process. 

Dehradun, May 22
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today reiterated his commitment to work for the welfare of ex-servicemen in Uttarakhand.

Addressing an ex-servicemen’s convention in Dehradun, Nishank said his government had taken a number of measures for the welfare of ex-servicemen. He said a one-time grant for decorated Army personnel had been increased substantially and was the highest in the country. Nishank said even pension of the Second World War veterans had been doubled by his government.

He said six new companies of the Eco Task Force had been constituted to provide employment to the ex-serivicemen. He said Uttarakhand had a large population of ex-servicemen and the government too had allotted free land for the construction of accommodations in Dehradun, Haldwani and the Kotdwar areas.

He said he had launched Antoyodaya Vikas Yatra to get first-hand information of the problems of the people. He said the Atal Khadhyan Yojana had been implemented in the state as relief to the people from rising prices.

The Chief Minister also honoured 102-year-old Dula Devi Gusain, a widow of an ex-serviceman. Another ex-serviceman widow Archana Negi, ex-servicemen Kedar Singh Bhandari and Bachchan Singh Bhandari were also honoured.

Uttarakhand Youth Welfare Board’s vice-president Subhash Barathwal, vice-chairman, Sainik Welfare, Col PD Kuriyal (retd), Capt Digambar Prasad Baloni, vice-president, Twenty Point Programme Implementation Committee, Jitendra Negi, district panchayat member Subhash Bhatt were among those present on the occasion.

Dehradun, May 22
Though Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank yesterday announced that a cyber crime cell would be set up in each police station of Uttarakhand, the only cyber crime cell of the state under the Special Task Force (STF) of the state is ill-equipped. The cell assists police stations in solving cyber crime case.

Sources informed The Tribune that the cell, besides grappling with shortage of staff, doesn’t have proper equipment and updated software.

Perhaps this is the reason that not even a single case relating to SMS abuse and online bank fraud has ever been solved by the cell. The cell was never officially inaugurated and the officers don’t even know the exact date when was it opened.

The cell has only three police officials who work part time to take care of the complaints received from all 13 districts, as they have to look after other STF-related works also. Thus they are not able to pay much heed to the all Information Technology Act cases, the sources added.

In the past three years, the cell has received 44 complaints. Though the officers claimed most of these had been solved, the cases related to SMS abuse and online bank fraud could never be worked out.

“Something positive could happen in this regard when the cell is officially opened and provided with the required equipment. Opening up of a cyber crime cell in each police station is impossible, as it requires investment of crores,” said a police officer, not preferring to be quoted.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (STF) Sanjay Gunjiyal said: “We have sufficient staff and we are updating our software. In the future, as the number of complaints increases, we will also increase the number of officials 
in the cell.”

He said around 25 complaints relating to the IT Act are received by the cell every year and most of these are solved.

Dehradun, May 22
Akranta edged past XI Star 1-0 to walk away with the winning trophy of the 3rd President Cup Football Tournament that concluded on Pavilion Ground 
here today.

The match remained highly competitive as the two tough sides fought hard to score goals throughout the match. However, Akratna managed to have the match in their favour through Ajit Negi (53rd) who struck a beautiful goal in the second half.

XI Star then made some desperate attempts to make a come back, but in vain.

Meanwhile former cabinet minister Navprabhat, who was the chief guest on the occasion, gave away the prizes to the winning teams. Cantt Blue’s Rohit was declared the best player of the tournament.

There is total contrast in the working styles of the Governors of Uttarakhand and Karnataka. They are both senior Congress leaders. While Margaret Alva, who hails from Karnataka, during her two years’ stint in Uttarakhand as Governor has made her mark in Uttarakhand unlike the Karnataka Governor Hans Raj Bhardwaj who has always found himself in controversy, much to the embarrassment of the Central Government.

 Both the states are ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments, but the Governors are nominees of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Central Government. While, Hans Raj Bhardwaj would be remembered as a Governor who remained at loggerheads with the state BJP Government, Margaret Alva, although Governor of another BJP-ruled state has carried herself in a dignified manner. Since she joined office as Governor in Dehradun, she has given a new meaning to her role as a titular head of the state and has become one of the most popular Governors of the state.

The most important things she did on her arrival in the Himalayan state was to make herself accessible to common people. She has been actively involved in various social endeavours, particularly those related with the welfare of women, children and the downtrodden. She started playing a pro-active role in various organizations, which she headed by virtue of being the Governor. She has been actively involved in various art and cultural activities.

Margaret Alva has been instrumental in initiating various programmes, cajoling and motivating various departments to act for the welfare of the common man. Aware of the marginalisation of the people living in the hilly areas, she has been all help for people from the hills. She also played an important role in providing succour to the people adversely affected by the unprecedented monsoon, floods and landslides in the state during 2010 by motivation voluntary organisations, schools and the Red Cross society to provide relief material to the affected people while the state government was found wanting on the front.

It is not that she has been acting as a mere figure head only, she has acted tough and made her mind known to the state BJP Government on various issues. Recently, she sent back the proposal to appoint a particular person as head of the state Public Service Commission and also returned the proposal to set up a new affiliating university since Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University has been elevated as a central university.

Interestingly, despite being firm and clear, Margaret Alva has never defied the constitutional limits of a Governor. She has her own distinct style of telling her opinion. This is for the second year that she organised the Indian Mountain Initiative on sustainable development in the Himalayan states at Nainital. Speaking on the occasion, she referred to the demand of the state BJP Government to get “Green Bonus” from the Central Government for maintaining the forest cover of the state. She categorically stated that there was a need to monitor such funding to ensure that the money was actually spent on the conservation and maintenance of the forests. She advocated hydroelectric power, terming it as the cleanest form of energy but also cautioned about proper rehabilitation of the people affected by such projects. Last year, she organised a workshop on hill agriculture, which, despite having great potential, is in a poor condition, and came out with “Nainital Declaration” on hill agriculture for the state government with an aim to ameliorate the lot of the hill farmers.

While she has often lent her shoulder to the Opposition Congress to air their grievances against the state government, she has been candid in her disapproval of their actions in the state Assembly. During her last address to the state Assembly, which was disrupted by the unruly Congress legislators, she thanked them for not throwing chairs and mikes at her and left the House.

It is also a home to several coaching centres, hostels and fast food joints. Due to a haphazard parking on roads, traffic jams are a regular feature and during peak hours, the situation worsens and it becomes tough for commuters to scrape through narrow lanes.

Councillor Viney Kohli won from this ward as an independent candidate, but later joined the Congress. He also feels that his ward is suffering due to the absence of sewerage and Laxmi Narayan Temple Road is a blotch on his area.

“For the past two and a half years, I have been complaining to the Jal Sansthan regarding our problems, but no one pay heed to them. Three lanes, Naresh Wali Gali, Bhola Singh Wali Gali and Anup Chandan Wali Gali, have no sewerage system. A four-inch sewer line was constructed at Laxmi Narayan Gali, but remains choked most of the time. Estimates have been given to the department, but nothing has been done so far,” Kohli complained.

Regarding the construction of small drains at Negi Road, Kohli said the estimate for the same had been given one and a half years ago, but the department constructed half of it and left it midway due to which it has broken now.

He also complained of low-voltage supply in the area. “A tender for installing a transformer was passed in November last but has not been installed till now. When the SDO was asked about the same, he did not give a satisfactory reply,” 
he said.

He further said the supply of water was also irregular. “There are three pumps, one of the pumps remains out of order most of the time,” he said.

About works done in the ward, Kohli said he had spent Rs 70-80 lakh for the construction of roads and small drains in the area. “A tubewell has been constructed near DAV Degree College and we are waiting when it gets started,” he said.

However, talking to TNS, residents claimed that they were facing many problems and the councillor had failed to solve them.

However, Subash Maheshwari, who lost in the MC elections, is happy with Kohli’s works as he said, “The councillor is doing his work regularly. I have no complaints from him.”