Dehradun, July 12
Being one of the managing agencies for the ongoing works in the city, officials from the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) are not ready to accept the mistake that has been committed by them.

Works related to the widening of roads and other constructions are in progress but it seems that the material used for it was not up to the mark as most of the walls constructed recently had fallen. But the officials state that it is not their accountability to deal with these problems.

“In the past few days, many walls fell due to the showers, be it of the stairs of pavilion ground located at Lansdowne Chowk or the walls of the CPWD colony or of the small drains that had been constructed lately.

The officials maintained that they required at least one season for the settlement of mud and people needed to keep patience.

Mayor Vinod Chamoli said the people should be prepared to face the problems for this season. “Everyone knows that mud requires at least one monsoon to settle down and gets well in shape by the next year only,” he affirmed.

“All this is being done in a hurry and thus people are facing the trouble,” Chamoli added. Everything would be perfect before the next rainy season.

Despite the fact that most of the works are sponsored by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission scheme, the money is getting waste as whatever is being constructed falls after sometime. No one is ready to pay the heed about what kind of material is being used for the construction.

“It is the liability of other departments but still the corporation is blamed for wrongdoings,” the Mayor claimed.

Ashok Verma, leader of the opposition DMC, stated that though the corporation was considered as the coordination committee for these works, it definitely needed to keep an eye on them. “The officials from the corporation along with other departments should arrange for a joint inspection of the work. They should have also checked the material that is being used for construction,” he said.

“This work should have been completed till now but the rains are here so they are trying to complete it speedily and it is the speed only that instead of going right the work is moving in wrong direction,” Verma lamented.

Dehradun, July 12
Fear of any disaster like last year when water entered houses and a large part of the city witnessed flooding due to incessant rains still haunts Dehradun residents.

The administration has failed to learn a lesson from the last year’s destruction and many parts of the city has still a poor drainage system. The existing drains also remain choked.

However, officials of the Municipal Corporation claimed that they had got all drains cleaned. They also blamed residents for throwing garbage in drains. But the fact is that not only residents but safai karamcharis also dump garbage in these drains.

Residents also complained of waterlogging in most of the areas and blamed the administration and the MC for turning a blind eye to their plight. They maintained that had the authorities taken any action after the last year’s destruction in many areas, they would not have been facing the same problem this year.

They said due to the overflowing of seasonal drains, the Rispana river and Bindal during the monsoon, water entered their houses. The worst-hit areas included Ashirwad Enclave, Morewala, Turner Road, Vasundhara Enclave, Niranjanpur, Mohit Vihar, Keshav Vihar, Patel Nagar, Aazad Nagar, Mazra and the ISBT.

Mayor Vinod Chamoli said: “Drains are being constructed to avoid waterlogging. But as the monsoon has arrived earlier, they are facing difficulties in completing the work.”

Regarding blockage in drains, the senior health officer, Dr Kailash Joshi, admitted that sweepers also throw garbage in drains. Recently, Dehradun Congress councillors, led by leader of the opposition Ashok Verma, had also staged a demonstration and blamed MC officials for their lack of preparedness to meet monsoon woes.

Earlier, Dehradun District Magistrate Sachin Kurve had also issued instructions to MC officials to ensure that all drains were cleaned on a regular basis.

Dehradun, July 12
With the state government being unable to decide on the reimbursement pattern of fee to be paid to private schools admitting students under the Right to Education Act (RTE), the schools are showing reluctance to admit students.

According to the state project office, a committee headed by the Principal Secretary (Finance) has to take a decision on the issue of fee payment.

Conservative estimates made by the Central Government peg the requirement of financial assistance for implementing the Act in Uttarakhand at Rs 1,450 crore, which can further increase when the actual implementation begins. This is to be used for building schools, buying furniture and payment to be made to teachers etc.

“However, after a slow start, the admission process in consonance with the provisions of the Right to Education Act in private schools is on in the state and 4,000 students have been admitted so far. The response in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar has been far better than Dehradun district,” said Sowjanya, state project directorm Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan.

To keep an eye on the entire process of admissions, the Chief Secretary through videoconferencing had taken stock of situation recently and in Rudraprayag district, the last date has been fixed as July 20. “As the students will be admitted to Class ,1 they are not likely to face problems this year, but we will also be starting bridge course for out-of-schools students,” she said.

There were some problems of the adjustment of students in Dehradun and to tackle the same, the Education Department has set up a helpline (18001804132) for taking calls of aggrieved parents who need counselling.

Mussoorie, July 12
A march, led by Municipal Council President OP Uniyal, was organised here today to create awareness on sold waste management to be carried out under the City Sanitation Plan.

The march began from Landour Bazar and ended at the Gandhi Chowk. Schoolchildren from various schools participated in it carrying placards and raising slogans with the message of keeping the town plastic free and clean.

Uniyal, while speaking to the media, said the awareness march was organised with the objective of revitalising the existing sanitation system through the City Sanitation Plan. He, however, lamented the fact that despite the earlier such campaigns, not much had been achieved, be it the case of garbage segregation or keeping the town plastic free.

Uniyal stated that the Municipal Council would strictly implement the cleanliness and garbage management plan, under which a fine of Rs 1,000 would be slapped on traders using plastic carry bags. He also said civic sense was lacking among residents, hence a task force had been constituted which would see to it that the segregation of garbage was done at source.

Uniyal said the cooperation of the officials, NGOs and individuals was solicited for the introduction of the solid waste management in the town.

Executive Officer Rohtash Sharma said a nominal user charges for the sanitation service (Rs 20-30 per month) would be levied from residents as soon as the ward samitis were formed.

The residents of the town have welcomed the move but opposed the plans to impose user charges on 

them.President of the Traders Association Rajat Agarwal said the council was already charging them for door-to-door garbage collection under the head of “conservancy tax” and the imposition of user charges on them for the same service amounted to double taxation, which was uncalled for.

He said the traders were ready to cooperate with the council provided things were done in a transparent manner.

Dehradun, July 12
The Uttarakhand Safai Karmachari Ayog today thanked Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank for making an announcement regarding the creation of more posts of safai karmachari and also increasing their honorarium. They also appreciated Mayor Vinod Chamoli for his efforts in this regard.

A delegation of the safai karamcharis met the Chief Minister at his residence here today. Later, the members visited the premises of the Municipal Corporation dancing to drumbeats and met the Mayor.

Welcoming the Chief Minister’s announcement for the revision of the cadre structure of the safai karmacharis in the municipal bodies, Bhagwat Singh Makwana, chairman of the body, termed it as a historical step for the swachhkar community.

Talking to the media, he said the very step by the Chief Minister would not only help realise the Mukhya Mantri Nirmal Nagar Yojna but also provide employment opportunities to nearly 3,000 people.

He stated that there were only 3,445 posts of swachhkar in the state whereas going by the population ratio, more than 6,000 posts were needed to be created.

Now, they would be getting Rs 3,000 as salary instead of Rs 1,500 they used to get earlier.

The members also thanked the Chief Ministers for increasing the honorarium for the safai karmacharis from Rs 120 to Rs 180.

Dehradun, July 12
Both matches played in the Lala Nemi Dass Memorial District Football League at the Pavilion grounds here ended in a draw today. The first match between Doon Challengers and Gorkha Boys ended in a draw. Both teams scored two goals each. In the interesting match, it was Mohit Thapa of Gorkha Boys who drew first blood by scoring a goal in the 25th minute of the game. It was Thapa again who scored the second goal for his team in the 40th miniute.

When it looked that Gorkha Boys would prevail, Doon Challengers went all out to score a goal. Their chance came in the 42nd minute with Dinesh scoring a brilliant goal. Doon Challengers kept up the tempo and scored the equaliser in the 52nd minute. The second match between Hostel Boys and Thakurpur XI ended in a goaless draw.

Mussoorie, July 12
The Pratibha Samman Samaroh was organised under the aegis of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Mahila Aggarwal Mahasabha today, where more than 50 students from various schools were felicitated for excelling in academics.

Mussoorie Municipal Council president OP Uniyal was the chief guest on the occasion, who inaugurated the function by lighting a ceremonial lamp and offering floral tributes at the portrait of Maharaj Aggrasen.

Coordinator Anuj Tayal said more than 50 students from various schools were felicitated by the mahasabha. Tayal further said the students had been selected from both Hindi and English medium schools. Students were presented with medals and citations.

Jai Shree, Ritu (Nirmala Inter College), Rubina Ansari (Sanatan Dharam Inter College), Shivangi Tamta, Sonika Panwar, Shalu and Priya (Mussoorie Girls Inter College), Satyendar Singh, Neeraj Singh Chauhan, Ankit Bhargav (RN Bhargav Inter College) and Sushmita Sajwan, Soni Chauhan (St Lawrence), Indresh Goyal, Shivam Juyal, Archana Negi, Mohammad Ali (Mussoorie Public School), Devesh Jaiswal, Aashish Gupta, Shalini Badoni, Vishal Bisht, Gurpreet Singh and Nimkazi Sherpa (Guru Nanak Fifth Centenary School), Udit Manchanda (St Georges College) and Akansh Bansal from St Clares School were felicitated for excelling in Class IX, X, XI and XII exams.

Uniyal appreciated the efforts of the mahasabha in acknowledging the dedication and hardwork put in by the students.

Mussoorie, July 12
Mussoorie Municipal Council in-charge of the Congress Minority Cell DX Johny met Chief Secretary Subash Kumar today and urged him to provide aid to those from the minority community who were in need of it.

Johny informed the Chief Secretary that one woman was suffering from cancer but did not have enough finances for her treatment. He also said the Chief Minster had assured immediate help several months back on a priority basis but nothing had been done so far.

Subash Kumar after going through the documents of the relief seekers assured Johny on the matter.

Dehradun, July 12
Dr VK Bahuguna, Director-General, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun, today reviewed different research works and services in the Forest Pathology Division of the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun.

Dr NSK Harsh, Head of the Forest Pathology Division, revealed the progress made in the field of pathology with special reference to shisham mortality, eucalyptus and poplar diseases along with medicinally important mushrooms. The consultancy projects on conserving trees at Ta-Prohm temple, Combodia, and the Bodhi tree at Bodhgaya were also highlighted as one of the frontier areas of services rendered by the division.

The Director General appreciated the disease specimens and National Type Culture Collection of forest fungi where more than a century-old specimens and fungi were being preserved.

Scientist Dr YP Singh elaborated the research work currently being conducted on different fungal species with their potential role in carbon sequestration and their potential use as biofertilisers in commercially important tree species.

Scientist Dr Amit Pandey highlighted the work done on the DNA fingerprinting of Cordyceps sinensis (yarcha gumba), Cylindrocladium quinqueseptatum and Ganoderma lucidum (reishi) and their phylogenetic status. The breakthrough in developing species on specific primers to detect the fungal species and their molecular diagnostic kits were brought to the notice of the Director General during the review.

He was apprised that the division had taken the leadership in this field in the country and about 200 DNA sequences of some important fungi had been deposited and accession numbers were obtained from the National Centre for Biotechnological Information (GenBank), the USA.Director FRI Dr SS Negi also attended the meeting.

Dehradun, July 12
President of the Tanzim-e-Rehnumae Millet (TRM) Latafat Hussain has derided the Central Government for taking the issue of publication of blasphemous contents in a CBSE book for class IV lightly and not bringing the guilty to book. He submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate to be forwarded to the President of the country and the Governors of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

Hussain said: “The publisher of the book and the Education Department have merely confiscated the copies of the book but have not taken action against the perpetrators of the crime. Therefore we demand the filing of a legal case against the guilty persons and they should also be divested of their positions.”

Hussain recounted two incidents where BSP MLAs had indulged in lawlessness in Uttarakhand. In the first instance pointed out by him, the Bhagwanpur MLA allegedly thrashed Block Vice-Chairman in front of the public while in the second instance, the son of MLC Megh Raj Singh Jaravare allegedly kidnapped a bride from the marriage venue. Citing both the incidents, he slammed Mayawati for not taking action against the accused while on the other hand she hurriedly cancelled the membership of Bijnaur MLA Shah Navaz Hussain even though his involvement was not proved as yet in the said matter. This indicated toward an anti-Muslim mentality of the UP Chief Minister, he alleged.