Dehradun, July 25
A contractor felled nearly half a dozen fruit trees at night in the Daakpathar Barrage Park being managed by the Irrigation Department.Dr Nitin Pandey, founder-promoter of the Citizens for Green Doon said, “The contractor was reportedly given the job of the management and beautification of the park on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.”

“He fell six trees on the excuse of chopping of trees, destroying the nests of cranes on them,” added Pandey.

Residents of that area alleged that the contractor was behind the death of over 200 cranes and hundreds of their eggs destroyed in the process.

However, some members of the Aryan group complained to local forest ranger who claimed that the contractor did not have the permission from the Forest Department for felling the trees. He promised to investigate into the matter.

Speaking on the issue, District Forest Officer, Kalsi, Laxman Singh Rawat said, “It is sad that a number of birds have died due to the pruning of the tree. We have taken the complaints against the contractor into consideration and further investigation are still going on.”

“The punishment for felling the trees without permission of the Forest Department is 3 years of imprisonment,” he said. 

Dehradun, July 25
Shri Ram Institute, a Delhi-based private company, will take samples of the material used to construct a staircase at the Pavilion ground near Lansdowne Chowk which collapsed twice within a week of its construction.

A team from the institute will be visiting the state capital soon.

Earlier, the PWD had collected the samples. However, according to reports, the samples were not taken by department officials. They had further asked a contractor to take the samples and put the same in bags. They also did not seal the bags on the spot.

The samples were to be sent to the IIT, Roorkee, for testing today, but it refused to do so.

However, Executive Engineer (PWD) Mulayam Singh said: “We had sealed the bags after reaching the office on Saturday only. As the lab in Roorkee has refused to test the samples, Shri Ram Institute from Delhi was approached for the same. A team of the institute will be visiting here in a day or two to collect the samples.”

Dehradun, July 25
Having failed in class X, a 16-year-old girl reportedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her house at Banjarawala here this afternoonThe police said no suicide note was found on the body. The members of her family said she had been tense since the result of the Class X exams was declared last month. The deceased has been identified as Pooja Kunwar.

As per SS Bisht, Inspector of the Patelnagar police station, they got the information about the suicide at 3:30 in the afternoon. Pooja went to her room and did not come back for a long time.

Sensing trouble, the members of her family knocked on the door, but the girl didn’t open it. They broke the door only to see the girl hanging from a ceiling fan. 

Dehradun, July 25
Members of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the National Student Union of India (NSUI) of DAV PG College were lathicharged by the police after they indulged in a brawl over election here today.

According to information, members of both parties clashed during the canvassing for the contesting candidates for the students’ council elections.

Nobody reportedly received injuries. No arrest has been made so far. The police has warned student groups not to indulge in such activities on the college campus during the election campaign or strict action will be taken against them.

Dehradun, July 25
The Gypsy Club and the Bajrang Club won their respective matches today in the 60th Lala Nemi Dass Memorial Dehradun Football League.The Gypsy Club beat the Nagar Nigam 4-1. Mahender (fifth minute), Akshay (16th), Ankit (36th) and Narender (50th) were the scorers in the win.

The Nagar Nigam could score a goal only through Abhishek (40th). While the Thakurpur Football Club was blanked by the Bajrang Club 5-0. Gopal Joshi (fourth), Rishabh (23rd), Anuj (31st, 50th) and Rahul (40th)

scored the goal. Whereas Thakurpur failed to score even a single goal throughout the match.

Uttarakhand Tigers will take on the Khukri and the Gypsy Club will meet Garhwal Boys in tomorrow’s matches.

Mussoorie, July 25
The second annual convention of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union of Mussoorie was held here todayGeneral secretary of the union Shamsher Singh Rawat read out the annual report and submitted the accounts for the previous year. The workers remembered Sridev Suman on his 68th Balidaan Divas by offering flowers at his portrait.

The union also discussed various issues of the workers and demanded an increase in the minimum wage to Rs 15,000 per month.

It also demanded housing facilities for workers in the unorganised sector, abolition of contractual labour, standards to be set for the ESI and provident fund in all private schools and hotels of Mussoorie.

The chief guest, district president of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Krishan Guniyal addressing the gathering said the BJP government was not concerned about problems being faced by the workers.

The other invited guests, former DAV College president, CITU leader Lekhraj and Municipal Council ward member said the price rise and inflation had broken the backbone of the workers. Therefore, the government should accept the demands of the workers immediately.

They also said a permanent arrangement for the street vendors should also be made by the government so that they could earn their living with dignity. Hotel and restaurant workers president Sobhan Singh Panwar reiterated the fact that the union was committed towards the interest of the workers.

Mussoorie, July 25
Mussoorie Girls Inter-College and St Mary Academy (Meerut) boys outshone in the finals of the 7th Manorite Table Tennis Championship, held at the St Georges School auditorium in Barlowganj yesterday.

In girls under-14 individual events, Sanjana Rawat (Mussoorie Girls) defeated Poooja Rawat (Mussoorie Girls) 11-4, 11-6, and 12-10 to lift the trophy. In the under -17 divison, Shivani Panwar (Mussoorie Girls) defeated Sonia (Mussoorie Girls) 11-7, 11-6, 5-11, 11-4. In the under-20 division, Priya Lekhwar defeated Tenzing Lama (Wynberg Allen School Mussoorie) 12-10, 11-5, 9-11, 5-11 and 11-6.

In doubles finals, Shivani and Aarti defeated Sonia and Priya by 11-8, 6-11, 11-14. Mussoorie Girls Inter-Collge were declared over all winners in the girls section.

In boys under-14 individual event, Paritosh Sati (St George) defeated Thavin (Kasiga School) by 11-7, 11-9, 7-11 and 11-8. In under-17, Arjun Kohli from (St Mary, Meerut) defeated Sachit Nanwani (St George College Mussoorie ) 11-2,9-11,11-2,7-11.

In under-20 Aditya Gaurav (St Mary, Meerut) defeated Vivek Jaiswal (Wynberg Allen Mussoorie ) 11-6,11-2,11-3. In doubles, Aditya Gaurav and Arjun Kohli defeated Sachin Nanwani and Vinayak Agarwal 8-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-6.

In mixed doubles, Aditya Gaurav and Diksha defeated Arjun Kohli and Sangita 5-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9 to lift the trophy.

State Cabinet Minister for Education and Youth Affairs Khajan Das gave away the winning trophy and citations to the winners. The host St Georges College principal Brother Christopher thanked the participants and officials on the occasion.

Dehradun, July 25
Deputy Chairman, Minority Cell of the state Congress Committee, Harpal Singh Sethi, lashed out at the state BJP government today for dragging its feet on issues related to minority communities in the state.

Harpal Singh said the state needed the Congress government as the government at the Centre was running many welfare schemes for the minorities quite effectively, whereas the BJP government had discontinued several such schemes. The children of these communities were not getting scholarships and unemployment was on the rise, he added.

He said on many such policies pertaining to scholarships, modernisation of madrasas and opening of new ITI centres, the BJP government was not taking any concrete step to implement these because of which the minority society was lagging behind in the economic and educational field.

“People from the minority community are facing problems regarding issuing of domicile and caste certificates. Their process needed to be simplified. The incomplete construction at Haj house built at Kaliyar Sharif required to be completed to give relief to the Haj pilgrims.

A medical college at Udham Singh Nagar, a hub of the minority community, should be built soon. Jobs to Urdu teachers and reservation in government jobs for the minority people are some other imminent requirements in the state,” he said.

Touching upon the Gyan Godari issue, he said, “Gyan Godari Gurdwara was established at Haridwar years ago, but an office of the Scouts & Guides was built in place of it 32 years ago. The minority community that had been imploring of setting up of a gurdwara is now ready to pay any kind of sacrifice, if the state government continues to be non-serious on this issue.”

Mussoorie, July 25
Manav Bharti India International School celebrated its 70th Founder’s Day by planting more than 100 saplings of various species such as devdar, oak, cyprus, etc, on the premises of the school today.

The plantation programme was conducted in association with the Forest Department. Principal of the school Manjari Bakshi said on founder’s day this year they thought of planting saplings in order to contribute to environment preservation.

The plantation programmes were also carried out in other parts of the town. The Cant Board residents, led by their vice-president CP Baloni, and other ward members planted around 100 saplings on the board premises. The schoolchildren planted saplings along the Tehri road especially at those points which are prone to landslides. Baloni, while addressing the gathering, said trees were important for the environment and these helped in holding the soil, thus checking landslides.

Dehradun, July 25
A one-week short-term training programme in “Ecological restoration of mine lands” for officials of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Dhanbad, started at the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, today.

Inaugurating the training programme, Dr SS Negi, Director, FRI, hoped that the training would be highly beneficial to the participants. “Whatever you learn from this training will be applied in the ecological restoration of coalmine areas”, he pointed out, adding that the collaboration between the BCCL and the FRI was the beginning in this direction. Dr Negi also assured all help and guidance to the BCCL to achieve this goal.

Welcoming the participants, Dr Laxmi Rawat, Head, Ecology and Environment Division, FRI, disclosed that the division of ecology and environment had also been given the task for developing model plantation in one of the mines of the BCCL.

Dr H B Vasistha, Course Director, gave the overview of course content. He said the main objective of this training programme was to abreast the participants with the measures taken in restoration of coal mines, particularly in the Jharia mine areas, Jharkhand. He said a road map for restoration of coal mining of the BCCL area had been prepared by the FRI on request of the BCCL, Dhanbad.

A total of 13 participants from the BCCL, Dhanbad, will be trained in this course. Dr Mridula Negi proposed a vote of thanks??.

Dehradun, July 25
Seven basketball coaches from the state attended International Basketball Coaching Clinic, which was organised by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) for players and coaches on July 9 at Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi.

The seven coaches from the state are: Rupinder Bajwa, Ajay Kailkhura, Akash Negi, Pushkar Singh, Iran Nianwal, Anita Sethi and Vinod Vachani. The clinic was conducted by the world-class Us coaches, Kenny Natt, Pete Gaudet and Zak Penwell.

Kenny Natt has nearly two decades of experience as a coach in the NBA and is now the head coach of the Indian senior men’s team.

Pete Gaudet, who is the head coach of the Indian senior women’s team, has been involved in basketball for over 40 years, spending a majority of this time with some of the finest college basketball teams in the USA.

Zak Penwell is first ever strength and conditioning coach for the Indian teams.