Nainital, June 10
The BJP Government in the state continues to bite the dust in the legal battles initiated against it in various controversial matters in the state High Court.

The latest setback for the Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank-led government has been the court reinstating the elected bodies of the two municipalities of Haldwani and Haridwar. The single bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia gave the orders for the reinstatement of both the municipalities last evening. It was about 20 days ago that the state government had announced that both Haldwani and Haridwar would hence attain the status of municipal corporation and went on to make tall promises to the people.

The decision was seen as a ‘politically motivated’ step keeping in mind the forthcoming Assembly polls in the state that are barely a few months away. The elected representatives of the two municipalities had approached the High Court, pleading that they were never consulted on the decision and the government had no right to do away with a constitutionally elected body before its term ended. The court has ordered quashing of the notification brought out by the government in this regard.

Expressing happiness over the decision, an elected representative from Haridwar, while talking to The Tribune, said: “We were either expected a stay or a further date of hearing in the case. But, the court heard the matter bringing it to a logical end.”

Prior to this, the Nishank government has faced setbacks in several other matters. The most recent was the High Court ordering reinstatement of Madhu Chauhan as the Chairman of the Zila Panchayat in Dehradun and restoration of her powers on April 26. Her powers had been seized by the state government in August last year and she had been dismissed from her post by the government citing misconduct on February 18 this year.

On December 28, the High Court had ordered the District Magistrate of Dehradun to take possession ‘forthwith’ of the land at Rishikesh that was the centre of controversy in the infamous Citurgia Bio-Chemicals (CBL) land use case and had also called for initiation of an inquiry into the misconduct of the officials involved in the matter. The court also ordered quashing of all the notifications in the matter and said the land in question could only be used for the purpose for which it had been allocated to the company.

The court had reportedly upheld that facilities had been extended by the government illegally. It had also pointed out that it learnt from the District Magistrate in Dehradun that the cost of the land as per the existing stamp duty was almost Rs 400 crore but it had been given to the company for as less as Rs 20 crore. Although the Nishank government has been desperately trying to convey that the government has come out clean in the matter, observers say that it has been clearly indicted.

Dehradun, June 10
A cadet from distant union territory Andaman Nicobar will be among the 546 Gentlemen Cadets who will join the Indian Army here tomorrow in august presence of President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil and Army Chief VK Singh.

“It is rare that a cadet comes from Andaman Nicobar”, said APRO Public Relation Officer (APRO) Prasoon Goswami.

Almost all the seven sister states have a representation in the parade.

Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of cadets (90) in the parade. Haryana (56) and Uttarakhand (43) are second and third, respectively.

Along with 546 GCs from India, 17 GCs from the friendly countries will also pass out.

The maximum number of foreign GCs is from Tajikistan (9) while Bhutan, Maldives and Mauritius have two cadets each. Mongolia is making its debut. Cadets from friendly Afro-Asian countries have been joining the IMA for pre-commission training since 1948.

Cadets from Nagaland (3), Sikkim (1), Meghalaya (1) and Mizoram (1) will also pass out.

Dehradun, June 10
The Weights and Measurement Department has imposed a penalty on 112 jewellery shops, which failed to provide accurate weight items to its customers in the financial year 2010-11.

Talking to The Tribune, MS Negi, Uttarakhand Legal Metrology Assistant Controller, disclosed that the department fined jewellers as they were not providing items with correct weight to its customers.

“Around eight jewellers have been fined in the last two-and-a-half months. Other then this, 112 bullion traders were penalised in the financial year 2010-11,” he said.

Negi further stated that the enforcement officials have been deployed to keep a tab on the shopkeepers and carry on inspections. They have inspected as many as 80,000 shops, which include LPG agencies, petrol stations, fair price shops, etc.

“We have registered around 3,403 cases during the year. It includes 902 cases against kerosene depots, 74 cases against petrol stations, 14 cases against LPG agencies, 166 against packaging shops, 24 cases against fair price shops, 56 cases against dairy, 121 against sweets shops and 250 cases against vegetable and fruits vendors who were cheating their customers,” he mentioned adding that Rs 500 is the minimum amount the offender need to pay as a fine.

During the year 2010-11, the department earned revenue of Rs 1.74 crore against the assigned target of Rs 1.65 crore. Besides, the department has earned around Rs 15.12 lakh since April this year.

Negi further stated that at most of the places the consumers are aware of their rights but they still needed to create more awareness among the people regarding their rights as provided by the Central Government in the interests of consumers.

Dehradun, June 10
The Governor of Uttarakhand, Margaret Alva, has expressed shock and sorrow at the demise of world-renowned artist and painter Maqbool Fida Husain.

The Governor in her condolence message said that Hussain, who was decorated with Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan, was a great artist, painter and a multi-faceted personality, and his death had caused irreparable loss to the world of creative art. The Governor has prayed for eternal peace to the departed soul and has prayed to God to grant courage and fortitude to his family members in this hour of grief.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has mourned the death of renowned painter Husain. Party members at the state office on Friday observed two minutes’ silence to remember the contributions of Husain. District secretary Surender Singh Sajwan said Husain continued to fight against communal forces to safeguard artists’ personal freedom. On the occasion, Virender Bhandari, Anant Akash, Lekhraj, Shiv Prasad Devli and Kamruddin were also present.

Dehradun, June 10
Almost hidden behind imposing newly constructed houses, the narrative of Fatehgram and Katapathar villages in Vikasnagar till a few years ago was one of apathy and neglect. But, then came the schoolchildren and things began to change for the impoverished villagers who mostly belong to the SC communities.

Come the summer vacation, students, led by the authorities of the Doon School, Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Gawalior, The Sanskar Valley School, Bhopal, Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ School, Jaipur, Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai, Vivek High School, Chandigarh, visit both the villages to do hard work along with the villagers. As part of a social initiative, the Doon School adopted Fatehgram village in 2006-2007, bringing a sea change in the lives of the inhabitants.

They not only build houses but also nurture the entire ecosystem around the village. The Doon School is also a member of Round Square, a social service and community initiative started by schools from different countries.

Similarly, at Katapathar, a primary school, land and funds for which were donated by Jagut Shamsher Jang Bahadur, has been rebuilt by the schoolchildren this summer. “We believe that these school students would be our future leaders and values of discipline and dignity of labour have to be inculcated while young. This kind of exposure has to come through schools,” said Mohan Joshi, project coordinator.

What has worked for the villagers in Fatehgram, besides the free flow of funds that have helped its villagers get low-cost houses and toilets, is a livelihood sustainability plan worked out in cooperation with the Himalayan Environment Studies Conservation Organisation (HESCO). The organisation has not only provided technique for building low-cost houses and toilets but also helped upgrade an ancient water mill, which has been rechristened as “Unnat Gharat”. Besides, the cultivation of aloe vera and goat-keeping have been promoted in the village.

“After the upgrade of the turbine of my water mill, things have become more efficient. Now, I can easily grind 50 kg of wheat in an hour,” said Rangey Lal, a beneficiary.

Away from the world of television and the Internet, the students are learning to adapt themselves to village conditions. Each day, since they first landed in the village on June 4, has been a learning experience for them. “It is an eye-opener for me. Never mind the contrast between our lives and theirs, it is the resilience that they display and it is awe-inspiring. They are doing so many things to eek out a living,” said Ishita Chawla of Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya (Gawalior), who was found making cement blocks that would be used for building a house for Gulabo Devi.

Situated near the Yamuna river, the recently improved Primary School building at Katapathar is ready to greet the pupils from 12-15 villages who would be taking lessons here once the school vacation is over.

“We chose this village for specific reasons. One was to instil a degree of sensitivity among students towards needs of others and the other thing was to show them how sensitive this part of the area is to landslide and soil erosion,” said Ambikesh Shukla, the team leader.

Dehradun, June 10
Max Healthcare’s much-awaited 200-bedded multi- speciality hospital will become operational by November this year.

Announcing this at a press conference in Dehradun, Dr Dilpreet Brar, executive director, Max Healthcare Institute Limited, said the state-of-the-art hospital was coming up at Mussoorie Diversion Road, Dehradun, and would be operational by November.

She said the hospital project was moving fast with the external façade work already completed and the interior work going on at full swing. She said works linked to engineering services were also coming to a completion. “Key medical equipment is arriving and recruitment drive is underway for both medical and non-medical staff,” she added.

She pointed out that as the Max Healthcare was concerned about the general health of the public at large, the hospital would continue to hold health camps in order to reach out to a wider section of society particularly those from poorer sections.

Dehradun, June 10
It is not only regular sports that keep the Gentlemen Cadets (GCs) fit at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) but they have a wide array of sports activities to choose from. Scuba diving and ice-skating have been started newly by the academy for the cadets.

The GCs are learning ice-skating at the ice-skating rink at Raipur while for scuba diving they are going in areas on the outskirts of Dehradun. These activities have been added for the past six months.

According to the IMA Assistant to Public Relation Officer (APRO) Prasoon Goswami a total of 29 clubs are there and for the past six months, three more clubs, including the Ice-Skating Club, the Scuba Diving Club and the Library Club have been added.

Lt-General Rajinder Singh Sujlana, Commandant, IMA, said at a press conference that scuba diving had been started as it would help the GCs to deal with water operation in future, thus scuba will help in a big way.

Ice-skating has also been started and GCs go for training at the Raipur rink for it. “We will also send our team to take part in the ice-skating competitions in future,” added the Commandant who will retire after this passing-out parade.

Meanwhile, Sujlana also shed light on other programmes started for the overall personality development of the to- be officers. Improvement of commutation skills is one of them.

Dehradun, June 10
To make the prestigious Indian Military Academy (IMA) safe and secure, officers at the IMA are demanding early construction of an underpass. The officers feel that in the wake of the threat perception, there is a danger to the security of the cadets who use the National Highway-72 that splits the academy.

A few months back two dreaded terrorists were arrested near the IMA and the academy is always high on the terrorists’ list. No wonder then that the delay in the construction of an underpass has the officers worried.

Brig (administration) Chandrasekhar said there was a danger to the security of the cadets. “Anybody can shoot at cadets while crossing the road, thus the bypass project should be readied.”

The cadets use the highway daily to and fro between Chetwode building and South campus.

Throwing light on the bypass project, the Brigadier said Rs 32 lakh was sanctioned and was spent on the Detailed Project Report (DPR). The report had found technical feasibility of building of the bypass and recommended a budget of Rs 75 crore which has been sanctioned by the Centre but is yet to be used.

The bypass will be built from PT Dwar to Panditwari. Subway creation will help in a big way in facilitating the linking of the IMA campus and make it as one complete whole.

Other than this, the problems faced daily by civilians and Gentlemen Cadets when traffic has to be held up at the crossings during training hours can be avoided.

On top of it, it will save manpower in terms of security guards and traffic policemen.

Dehradun, June 10
The Adventure Sports Sangharsh Samiti, Rishikesh, has demanded inclusion of local people connected with adventure sports in the Adventure Sports Development Authority floated by state government. Speaking on the issue at a meeting held at Muni-ki-Reti today, president of the committee Deepak Bhatt said any plan to promote adventure sports would face problems without the participation of local people and, if the state government took such a step, then they would strongly oppose it.

Bhatt said: “In the past 25 years, the local people have established several adventure sports in the state and made rafting on the Ganga and Tons popular. Now, when the foreign tourists have started visiting the state to indulge in these sports, the state government has acted smart to claim credit for the development of adventure sports in the state and sidelined the locals in the process to develop adventure sports.” Welcoming the formation of the authority, Bhatt has demanded inclusion of expert officers, members of the adventure committee and businessmen related to adventure sports in it.

General secretary of the samiti Manjul Rao opposed the alleged clandestine manner in which the process to invite tenders for beach camps was conducted by the state government.

He said they were gradually losing business to Nepal, given the uncooperative attitude of the sate government. Therefore, now the government must be cautious enough to take along the local people in the development of adventure sports in the state. He welcomed the revocation of entertainment tax on adventure sports run by people and demanded that the government should not levy any tax on adventure sports for the next 10 years in order to promote tourism in the state.

The meeting was attended by vice-president of the samiti Dharmender Negi, secretary Dinesh Kathait, Ved Prakash, Yashpal, Arjun, Rajiv and others.

Dehradun, June 10
The Uttarakhand Government has constituted seven medical teams who are on round-the-clock duty for President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, who is in Doon today.

While a team from the Military Hospital that has been designated as the section hospital, has also been constituted, in addition there are seven medical teams from various hospitals.

“In all three well-equipped teams (with doctors and equipment) from Doon Hospital, two from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Coronation, one from Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT), Jolly Grant and one team from Rishikesh Hospital have been kept on alert for the President till tomorrow morning,”said Dr BC Pathak, Chief Medical Superintendent, Doon Hospital.

Dehradun, June 10
The counselling for the students of MBBS, BDS, BAMS and BHMS from seven different colleges was held at Sri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences, here today. About 400 medical students from Haridwar, Rishikesh and Dehradun gathered to participate in the counselling.

All shortlisted students who had appeared in the Uttaranchal Combined Pre-Medical Entrance Test (Unaided)-2011 participated in the counselling. Only the candidates ranking from one to 800 were called in the first session of counselling. According to the Principal of SGRR Medical College, Dr NK Singh, about 95 seats in the MBBS stream have been filled.