Nainital, June 4
The police has drawn up a plan to manage traffic in the Lake City on the day of the arrival of President Pratibha Patil on Sunday. With Sunday being a day when the maximum tourist movement is witnessed in the town, the police will be trying to cause the minimum inconvenience to the visitors.

According to the plan, the Haldwani-Bhawali and Haldwani-Nainital routes will be closed to traffic from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm. It is during this period when the President is expected to land at Haldwani and drive up to Raj Bhawan in Nainital. During this the route open to tourists coming towards and leaving Nainital will be the Kaladhungi-Nainital road. Those wishing to travel from Almora to Haldwani will have to stay put at some convenient place from 10 am onwards.

Inspector-General of Police (Kumaon Range) RS Meena has convened a special meeting of police personnel deputed in the town for the Presidential visit. The police held a dry run with regard to traffic management on Saturday. A large number of police and security personnel could be seen in the town.

Meanwhile, the main highlight of the President’s five-day visit to Nainital will be her inaugurating green technology initiatives taken at Raj Bhawan.

According to Governor Margaret Alva, the President has expressed her desire to take a break and rest in the pristine environs of Raj Bhawan and her visit will not have many public engagements. Even the handicraft mela which Alva had wanted to organise during the President’s visit has been cancelled.

President Patil is scheduled to arrive with her family at Raj Bhawan before lunch on June 5. In the evening, she will be inaugurating the greening of the Raj Bhawan project to mark World Environment Day. During her visit she will also attend a one-hour cultural programme and participate in a public reception.

She is also expected to visit the Boat House. Alva has undertaken a large number of green technology initiatives. A tank meant for storing 24 lakh litres of water has been built at Raj Bhawan under the rain water harvesting programme. Another tank has been built below the golf course that will help maintain the course usuing sprinklers.

In addition, solar panels have been put up.

The Governor has also undertaken an initiative to install three windmills for producing energy.

Alva said the Raj Bhawan restoration project was also under way.“The Prime Minister has sanctioned Rs 7.5 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The restoration architect has been selected.”

A memorandum of understanding is to be signed for the purpose. It is learnt the job has been entrusted to Abha Narayan Lamba, who has been instrumental in restoring the Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai. The restoration of Raj Bhawan is to be done over a year. After this Alva wants to throw open Raj Bhawan to tourists.She wants the building to be declared national heritage property.

Dehradun, June 3
As the Union Government has approved the inclusion of some castes in the Central list of other backward castes, communities in the state are expected to benefit. The decision has been taken on the recommendation of the National Commission for Backward Classes.

A total number of castes that have been included in the OBC list is 79 being carried from time Uttarakhand was part of Uttar Pradesh.

These castes were given reservation in Central government jobs.

But when the first Congress government came to power, it decided to extend reservation to Kuthaliya-Bora settled in Pithoragarh, Almora, Nainital and Bageshwar. People belonging to Gharat Bahati/Chahang, Gorkha communuity, Rwalta/ Jaunpur community and Mahar/ Gujar living in the development block of Bhatwari in Uttarkashi were eligible for reservation in state government jobs, but these castes were not notified in the Central list.

Chairman of the State OBC Commission Tejpal Singh Panwar said while the list was yet to be released by the Central Government, the National Commission for Backward Classes had recommended for the inclusion of five more castes in the OBC list during its visit to the state. He further said the Central government’s directive would benefit the people in the hills.

Members of these castes were unable to avail reservation in Central employment and education since the state came into being 10 years ago.

Dehradun, June 4
Security arrangements are in place for the passing-out parade of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) and the visit of President Pratibha Patil.

The passing-out parade will be held on June 11 while the President will arrive in Dehradun on June 10 and will leave the city on June 11 after attending the parade as a reviewing officer.

SSP Ganesh Singh Martolia said seven SPs, eight DSPs and 10 inspectors/SHOs would be on duty besides, nearly 200 constables and head constables, including 40 woman cops. Four companies of the Police Armed Constabulary (PAC) will be stationed at the site.

“Security arrangements have been made for the passing out parade. The IMA and Jolly Grant Airport will be our safe houses,” said Martolia, adding that, “We have started doing verifications and it will be continued for a few days,” he added.

Public relations officer of the IMA Amit Dagar said security arrangements had been made at the academy. Additional forces and the state police would also assist them.

Meanwhile, traffic diversions have been made for the parade. Heavy vehicles coming from Ballupur Chowk towards the IMA will be diverted to the Shimla bypass. “Several traffic diversions have been planned keeping in view the smooth flow of traffic. These diversions will be implemented from June 7 to June 11,” said Circle Officer (Traffic) Shweta Choubey.

Dehradun, June 4
Intensifying its agitation against corruption and black money in the country, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has announced that its nationwide agitation will also focus on the demands of the student community.

The ABVP will hold agitations in all the colleges and universities of Dehradun followed by a signature campaign in all the inter and degree colleges from July 20 to 25. On July 27, its cadres will stage a demonstration at the offices of the District Magistrates at the national level and initiate a graffiti drive.

From August 1 to 5, the ABVP workers will gherao the MLAs, MPs and other political leaders of the country as part of its agitation against corruption and hand over memorandums to the authorities concerned. While on August 9, the ABVP workers will observe a chakka jam and closure of schools and colleges, followed by a Tiranga rally on August 15.

Addressing the media here recently, the state president of the ABVP, Ummed Singh Negi, said the national council of the ABVP, besides discussing political situation in the country, had stressed the immediate need for effective action to bring about radical reforms in the education system and to check increasing unemployment, which threatened to create a social crisis.

Agreeing to the opinion of Negi, state ABVP vice-president Ramakant Srivastava said: “We demand from the Central Government to institute a probe into the 2G spectrum case, Common Wealth Games scam and the Adarsh Society scam,” he added.

Anshul Chawla, president, DAV PG College Student Council, said: “The resolutions adopted by the ABVP against the menace of commercialisation and privatisation of education in the country will continue to be implemented. We will now protest against the hike in the fee structure and other miscellaneous funds added to the annual fees that are certainly against the Supreme Court’s orders”.

Dehradun, June 4
Uttarakhand Open University (UOU) felicitated the best performing centres in the Garhwal hills on its Dehradun campus, here today.

While addressing the ceremony, Prof Durgesh Pant, director, UOU, said the university was working on the authorisation towards “promoting knowledge centres”.

“Despite all odds, the university has now reached 7,000 registrations in various programmes,” he added.

The university centres that had witnessed increase in the number of learners and overall performers include SGRR PG College, Dehradun. A few others in Uttarkashi and Pauri districts were felicitated as best performers. These centres were also given three computers each, along with accessories, and other equipment.

Dr Rajesh Nathani, adviser to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister, also highlighted the need for creating knowledge society through effective collaboration and coordination of the industrial sector.

“We have launched the Aashirvad Yojana in collaboration with the UOU. We are involving industrial houses like Hindujas and other groups where they are training amateurs from the hilly regions,” he added

Meanwhile, Vijay Dhondiyal, managing director, HILTRON, opined that HILTRON that has collaborated with the UOU had done well in terms of reaching out to the people in remote areas and promoting technical education.”

Pithoragarh, June 4
To prepare for the coming Assembly elections in the state, the Pithoragarh district election office has completed the work of making the voters’ identity cards of 2,86,873 persons in all five constituencies of the district, according to District Election Officer Vinod Giri Goswami.

The district administration is now laying emphasis on repairing the polling booths which were damaged by landslides and other natural calamities after the last elections.

“A polling booth should have not more than 300 voters and a polling station not more than 1,200 voters. If the number of voters exceeds the limit and the distance of a voter’s residence to a polling booth is more than 2 km, a new polling booth will be set up,” said Goswami.

Dehradun, June 4
Gajendra scored a brace in a 3-0 win of Doon Star against Rising Star during the 60th Lala Nemi Dass Memorial District Football League at the Pavilion ground here today.

Dharamvir of Doon Star was the first to open the account of his team.This was followed by Gajendra’s two goals. He struck in the 36th and 46th minutes of the game.

During the match, Nikhil of the losing side was shown the yellow card by the referee in the eighth minute. In the second match, Ashish (25th) struck a lone goal to show Garhwal Boys the winning way over Shivalik.

Meanwhile, tomorrow Gorkha Boys will take on Willis Youth Club and Sarvodaya FC will meet Nagar Nigam.

Dehradun, June 4
On the occasion of its completing 10 years, Mission True Biologist released a children’s magazine on the environment, “Bal Lekhak,” at the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation here today.

Environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna released the magazine and laid emphasis on saving natural resources.

Also present were Dr Anil Prakash Joshi and Suryakant Dhasmana, a senior Congress leader. Bahuguna was honoured with the title “True Biologist of the Century” for his exceptional, selfless and dedicated service in the field of environment.