Mussoorie, June 27
Come July 1, villagers from the Jaunpur region in the Aglar-Yamuna valley, 25 km from Mussoorie, will celebrate the only fishing festival of its kind in Garhwal called “Maund” (a local term meaning a state of addiction).

Thousands of villagers from Silwar, Laloor, Mayani, Athjula and Silgaon villages upholding the 250 year-old tradition will gather at the Aglar rivulet and struggle with each other to take home the largest number of fish on July 1.

The preparation for the festival begins one month earlier from the actual day of the festival, where a village is selected and given a task to prepare the addictive powder using the bark of plant “Timru” with botanical name (Zanthoxylum Alatum,) at a pre-destined place called the “Maundkot” upstream in the Aglar rivulet so that the fish are paralysed and fallen in the nets. This exercise of placing the powder is called “Maund” from where the festival gets its name.

Villagers after collecting the bark of the plant leave it for drying after which it is grinded in the local water mill into fine powder. This year the onus to prepare “Timru” powder lies with Laloor patti (zone), which are ready to throw “Maund” in the rivulet on July 1. As a mark of respect the powder will be used only after the head of the village arrives at the designated location. The villagers young and old will then wait for fish to fall in the respective nets of the individuals.

Member from the Aglar-Yamuna Gahti Vikas Manch Surat Singh Kharkai said the festival bore historical antecedent dating back to the feudal era where the maharaja of Tehri inaugurated the festival and collected “Maund tax” imposed on fishing. The festival was stopped temporarily for a few years by the maharaja due to a scuffle that went on between villagers during the festival right in the middle of the river leading to injuries. Later, the festival was restarted after local panchayat members pledged not to enter in any kind of brawl with each other, added Rawat.

Shyam Singh from Myani village said he had been attending the festival since his childhood. He also stated that his marriage was also decided by elders of the two family right in middle of the Galr river when he was 20 years of age. He would attend the festival along with his grandchildren this year, added Shyam Singh.

Tourists, who are aware of the annual festival, have also started trickling in Mussoorie and are unable to hide their excitement. Rajan Sharma, a tourist from Delhi, said it was an exhilarating experience to see thousands diving in for fish in the rivulet. This year he had brought his family along so that they could experience the festival.

Bitto Kavi, another local resident and member of the Aglar-Yamuna Ghati Vikas Manch, opined that the fishing festival that would be observed on July 1 was only of its kind in the Garhwal region and should be promoted in a big way so that more tourists could be attracted.

Dehradun, June 27
Currency notes and coins worth Rs 10 lakh offered at the Piran Kaliyar shrine have been found soiled during the counting of cash lying in the donation boxes at the holy place at Roorkee. The currency notes had got torn and coins rusted due to moisture inside the boxes. The counting of the cash lying in the 40 donation boxes, which started a few days ago, is expected to continue for a week.

Member of the Uttarakhand Wakf Board Mushirrul Hasan, who is overseeing the counting process, said the donated money had not been taken out of the boxes for the past eight months as the board had been under District Magistrate’s control for some time, and later on when it was reinstated in November last year, the boxes remained locked.

The Chairman of the board, Haji Rao Sharafat Ali, passed the buck to then District Magistrate and former Chief Executive Officer for not taking his orders of counting the money seriously, which was why the matter had lingered on for this long. He said: “I had to finally force the order when I saw water drops leaking from the boxes. I did not emphasise for the fear that the members and others might doubt my intentions. I need cooperation and trust of my members in this task, which I am not getting.”

Ali said now learning a lesson from the mistake, he had made the counting of the donations mandatory after every two months and was getting the boxes painted as well to protect these from moisture and rust.

Board member and MLA from Haridwar Mohmmad Shahzad said the chairman must also make clear how much unspoilt money had been collected so far. Questioning the very procedure of counting the donated money as well, he said: “The way chairman is operating the entire procedure of counting, it suggests of hogwash and a ploy to usurp the public money. This procedure should not be carried out by any member or the chairman himself but by the District Magistrate, who can get the entire process recorded through surveillance cameras and maintain transparency in the process.”

The Chairman did not buy the contention, and said he had deputed an inspector and the manager of the Cooperative Bank, where the Wakf donations would be deposited, and members of the Wakf Board at the place where the counting of the cash was going on.

Dehradun, June 27
The Uttarakhand Chaturth Vargiya Rajya Karamchari Mahasangh held a rally in the city here today to mark its protest against not fulfilling their demands.

The employees are demanding similar fixation of grade pay and the minimum wages as given to Central Government employees. They continued indefinite strike, saying that until there demands were not met they would not take back the step.

The association has had several rounds of talks with the officials of the state government but the consensus could not be reached. The protesters said they were asked to compromise on their demands but they didn’t relent.

Meanwhile, the association has made the life of commuters a virtual hell at the time of their rally. For hours, the commuters had to wait.

Nainital, June 27
Waking up to the reality of encroachment on 1.5 acres of government land in Sitarganj, the local authorities carried out a demolition drive in the Naharpar area of the town on Sunday.

As part of the demolition drive, five pucca structures were razed to the ground and foundations on 12 plots were demolished along with a hut within one and a half hours. The affected people tried to protest but were contained by a large police presence in the area.

The most interesting aspect of the illegal structures coming up in the area was that the government land had been sold off by certain elements on stamp papers worth Rs 10 to Rs 50. People fell into the trap as the land was being offered to them at low rates. The sellers had even granted them permission to set up production units on the land.

The administration has ordered a probe into the sale of this piece of land. It has also stated that criminal cases would be registered against those who were involved in selling off the plots.

It is learnt that the government wants to set up an Industrial Training Institute on this piece of land.

Dehradun, June 27
The BEd/BPEd Prashikshit Mahasangh continued their relay fast that entered its 64th day today in favour of its pending demands.

Protesters said they had met several officers and ministers but their demands had not been fulfilled. This attitude of the government was forcing the unemployed educated youth of the state to go for an agitation.

They said those who should have been got jobs were agitating for their rights. The protesters warned the government if such practice continued, then the number of unemployed youth would increase by the day.

This would result in a big agitation like that of Libya, Egypt and Arab and the government would be responsible for this. They also questioned the state government on the policy to tackle unemployment. State president Baldev Bhandari and Manoj led the protest.

Dehradun, June 27
President of the state unit of the Samajwadi Party (SP) Vinod Barthwal has made an appeal to save Gandhi Park, and advocated the protests to be held outside the park, not inside. He appreciated Mayor Vinod Chamoli for his efforts in this direction.

Barthwal said way back in 1978-79, he and Vivek Khanduri along with two others had observed a fast in protest against a decision taken by the Nagar Palika to build shops at Gandhi Park. Then Union Minister of Petroleum Hemvatinandan Bahuguna visited them and urged them to break their fast, and thereafter the move to build shops at the park was withdrawn.

He said: “Gandhi Park should remain a park, not a political ground. The public protests should be allowed outside the park.” He also stressed the earmarking of a place like Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, in Uttarakhand to hold protests.

Dehradun, June 27
The CPM denounced the arrest of the president, Kedar Ghati Bachao Sangarsh Samiti, Gangadhar Nautiyal, by the Rudraprayag district administration today.

District president Surender Singh Sajvan said Nautiyal had been engaged in exposing irregularities in Vyong Phata and Singoli Bhatwadi hydroprojects and had been opposing the damage done to environment and forests by L&T and Linko Companies.

The other speakers gave a warning to launch a stir against the arrest of Nautiyal. The speakers included state secretary Vijay Rawat, Ananat Akash, Shiv Prasad Devli, Kamruddin. 

Nainital, June 27
While the much-awaited and publicised Inter-State Bus Terminus continues to be underconstruction, the existing one is in a dilapidated condition. Passengers continue to be the sufferers on account of official apathy.

The existing bus terminus at Tallital, despite being frequented by a large number of local passengers and tourists, is in a deplorable condition. The dark, dilapidated building looks ready to crumble any day, with constant leakages in the monsoon season making the place unsuitable for passengers waiting for their respective buses. Chipped benches in a visibly bad shape serve as an excuse for a waiting room.

This bleak situation worsens upon nightfall. There is no appropriate lighting at the site, adding to the discomfort of passengers boarding the night buses. For almost a year, no night guard has been employed by the authorities to oversee the safety of the area. To make matters worse, the site is occupied by hordes of stray dogs. A person trying to save himself from rain is likely to find at least two dogs at his feet if he or she decides to take refuge in the shelter serving at the bus terminus.

Dharmendra Pant, a book vendor who sets up shop adjacent to the bus station comments upon the lack of basic amenities. “The toilets are not approachable, there is no ATM at the terminus, no phone booth or even a mobile and laptop charging point. Neither are there any proper charts listing the bus schedule”, he said. These facilities are a must at the modern bus stations.

Passengers frequently make their way towards him, inquiring about the arrival and departure timings of buses. Pant notes how some local politicians have visited the bus station but have not taken any step towards its restoration.

Itar, among others present at the bus stand, pointed out how there were several hoardings of private companies in and around the area, but no pointers or directions to guide the public to the stand.

Besides causing inconvenience to the daily passengers, the bus stand is also an eyesore which is the first thing that tourists approaching the town by bus see.

Narendra Singh, who is the station in-charge, acknowledges the deteriorated state of the bus and pointed out at the efforts being made at the level of the Transport Department at improving the current situation.

“We have submitted an overhaul proposal to the Bhowali Depot and have also approached our regional office at Dehradun with a renovation plan.” Singh related that the upcoming bus stand which will take the load off this station had been under construction for almost two years. This project was being executed by the Lake Development Authority (LDA).

Dehradun, June 27
Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar at a meeting held in the Secretariat on Monday asked the officials of Doon Library and Research Centre to collaborate with the universities of the state to further expand its reach to the rural areas.

Chairing the meeting of the working committee, he said, “The benefit of expertise of this institute in social studies and humanities based on Himalayan research must percolate down to all, including the villages. For the task of teaming with the other universities and the rural belt, financial assistance can be made available from the Planning Commission.”

He asked the Director, Education, to enlist the institute as a research agency and get the approval of the Planning Department for additional construction on the premises and the Municipal Corporation for executing construction.

Principal Secretary, Tourism, Rakesh Sharma suggested that the institute should go online about its activities to help youngsters for which it would get financial help from the Department of Information Technology.

Director of the institute VK Joshi said the institute had more than 14,000 books on various subjects and more than 50 newspapers and magazines. He said

the premises had a library for the public. Through the research centre they were encouraging research on Uttarakhand, especially the Himalayas.

He said the institute had a strength of 930 members.

Dehradun, June 27
CT Young and Cantt Blue registered victories in their respective league matches in the 60th Lala Nemi Dass Memorial District Football League held at the Pavilion ground here today.

CT Young defeated DMK 3-1 in the first encounter. Manish opened the account in the seventh minute for his side. Later, Abhiruchi (18th) and Nitin Saini (26th) scored the next two goals to win the match.

Prachi (59th) scored the lone goal for DMK. In the second match, Atitsh (23rd) struck the lone goal to sail Cantt Blue home 1-0 against Doon United.