Dehradun, July 26
A preliminary inquiry report of the Chief Electrical Officer into the Harbartpur bus tragedy in which five passengers were electrocuted to death indicated serious lapses on part of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) in adhering to the safety norms with regards to 11 KV High Tension (HT) wire.

The distance between the poles was found to be 55 metres instead of the advised 70 metres. The poles on which the wires were attached were meant for Light Tension (LT) wire. The earth wire was found to be missing. The height of the wires from ground was at 12 ft instead of 17 ft.

Giving his take on the questions raised about the sheer lack of professionalism in UPCL, Managing Director, UPCL, Anil Kumar Jain, said, “I myself visited the accident site and found the bus driver to be at fault for having parked his bus right under the 11 KV HT wires. It was when the passengers reached atop the bus and picked up their luggage, they came in contact with the wires. We too mourn their death and has announced a compensation for Rs 35,000 for each victim, but in reality, the fault mainly lies with the driver and the public which should have been more cautious.”

In his reaction to the neglect of the other parameters as mentioned in the report, he said, “I am yet to get the report which will be considered final on the lapses responsible for the mishap. Other than that, the minor difference between the distance from ground does not matter much, from 17 to 12 metres”.

“In the plains, we get good stretches for installing the poles but in hills, we have to compromise on length and height. Similarly, the brouhaha made over the kind of poles and the distance between the poles does not hold much ground. The poles were erected 4 ft away from the main road. Yet the earth wire has not been connected in most of the cases. For this, I have given direction to be particular about for new installations, he said.”

The HT/LT wires over residential colonies have emerged as a big problem, which is resulting into the deaths of innocent people every now and then. To deal with, Jain said they had placed a proposal before the state government and asked for a budget of Rs 122 crore which was denied. Hence they had come to the conclusion to providing coating to the low handing HT wires to prevent electrocution.

Mussoorie, July 26
Chaotic scenes were witnessed during a board meeting of the richest Municipal Council of Uttarakhand here today, when ward members created ruckus and levelled charges of favouritism and high-handedness against Municipal Council President OP Uniyal and Executive Officer (EO) Rohtash Sharma over the issue of awarding two projects to certain contractors, allegedly flouting all the norms. Uniyal, dismayed at the charges levelled against him, flung the tender files down on the floor and walked out of the meeting midway. Thereafter, the meeting was cancelled for an indefinite period.

Ward members Ramesh Bhandari and Virendar Rawat carried on with the tirade against Uniyal and questioned his abrupt departure from the board room. They alleged that the proposals inviting tender for replacing shaft-wheel assembly and passenger cabin, and 80 or 100 kilowatt generators for the Gun Hill ropeway being run by the Municipal Council worth Rs 51,21,000 and Rs 10,60,000, respectively, were overpriced, raising doubts of nepotism in awarding the projects to the contractors.

Bhandari also said an official of the generator-manufacturing firm, Mittal Machinery Store, had quoted a much lower price of Rs 6,25,000 during his recent visit to the firm headquarters in Dehradun for the same equipment. He demanded that tenders for the same projects be floated again. Rohtash Sharma’s statement that no laws had been flouted during the tendering process raised the temperatures, and almost resulted in exchange of blows between the two.

Uniyal, refuting the charges, said it was necessary to install the said equipment at the ropeway considering the safety of tourists. He also added that the firm that was awarded the project had done the same work previously too. He said the Congress-supported ward members were raising baseless issues with ulterior political motives, keeping in mind the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Uniyal, who has been supported by the BJP, said an indirect involvement of some senior Congress men in the matter, as they had been opposing him throughout his tenure, couldn’t be ruled out. Rohtash Sharma also counter-alleged that Bhandari was annoyed with him just due to the fact that the tender for the construction of a road near Jabarkhet had been cancelled.

Meanwhile, the members of the MC Employees’ Union, while defending Uniyal, said the shutdown of the ropeway was leading to loss of MC revenue, and if the tenders were floated again the whole process could extend six months further, thus affecting the contractual employees working at the ropeway.

Dehradun, July 26
Banking on old machines that are past their shelf life may seem to be the only alternative for the cash-strapped District Doon Hospital, but not for long. The hospital authorities can no longer ignore the problem as most of the equipment is in need of immediate overhaul.

The Digital X-ray machine, which has troubled the hospital authorities for much of this year, is again non-functional so is the RO unit at the dialysis unit.

The machine has been in service for the past couple of years and in a day, around 70 X-rays exposures are taken. The Hospital also uses the services of a manual X-ray machine, but the digital one has more clarity.

“The machine is under its warranty period and would at least require Rs 1 lakh to get the latest software problem sorted out,” said Dr BC Pathak, Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS), Doon Hospital.

Along with the digital X-ray machine, the reverse osmosis (RO) unit at the dialysis unit too has become non-operational and the CMS has been trying hard to contact the company officials, but to no avail.

Sources said that the company with which the hospital has a maintenance arrangement has already serviced the X-ray machine, but now, the machine needs a major overhaul which the hospital cannot afford at the moment.

In case of the RO unit, the hospital authorities too are in a bind because the nephro-dialysis unit is already functioning at the Coronation Hospital and the Doon Hospital authorities do not see any merit in running the unit here.

“As long as the machine continues to be in optimum condition, it would be used at the Doon Hospital as a nephro unit has already been set up at the Coronation Hospital. For the convenience of non-BPL patients, dialysis continue to be conducted here. It will eventually shut down,” said Dr Pathak.

No wonder the hospital authorities don’t see any value in spending money on the machines in their weak financial condition.

Dehradun, July 26
Vehicles of students and parents parked on the roads outside city schools often lead to traffic jams during opening and closing timings of the schools. The city traffic police now plans to deal with the menace strictly.

Circle Officer (Traffic) Shweta Choubey today asked the traffic Inspectors to strictly impose the traffic norms in those areas.

The police today didn’t let parents, students and staff members park their vehicles on the roads outside schools.

“We have taken the permission from the DGP and the SSP in this regard and we will strictly impose the traffic rules in the areas adjoining schools,” the CO said.

The police had earlier served notices on some of these schools for not setting up parking lots on their respective premises.

However, that warning has been ignored by all the schools. Several rounds of discussion with the school authorities were also held, but the exercise proved to be futile.

“Though some of the schools have their own parking lots inside their respective campuses, they do not allow students and parents to park their vehicles there and this leads to heavy traffic jams on the roads outside the schools in the whole city, particularly when the schools begin and close,” Choubey added.

A traffic Inspector said the schools must set their own parking lots, as the vehicles of parents and staff parked on the roadside cause traffic jams and make our exercise to ease traffic movement in the city ineffective.

Dehradun, July 26
To test the creativity potentials of students on technology and other technical innovations, ICFAI University, Dehradun, conducted an inter-house debate here today.

A large number of students participated in the competition with great fervour and enthusiasm. The topic of the competition was “Is Technology Destroying Human Relationships?”

The four houses, CV Raman, Tagore, Radhakrishnan, Vivekanand House participated in the competition. The first prize was bagged by Tagore House, where Namrata Chauhan and Akhilesh Gunwant were the participants. The Best debater prize went to Swati Bhaduria of Vivekanand House.

Professor Ravi Kant Mishra and Professor Sarita Negi, senior faculty, assessed the performance of the students. Addressing the students, Dr DK Giri, Dean, Faculty of Education, appreciated the efforts of the budding teachers and faculty members.

He said the faculty kept on organising various cultural activities along with rigorous academic programme, as the nation needed not only qualified teachers, but also competent teachers.

The programme ended with the vote of thanks delivered by Professor Ravi Kant Mishra. 

Dehradun, July 26
Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, New Delhi, Avinash Dixit, visited Kendriya Vidyalaya, FRI, here today. The students and staff members of the school gave him a red carpet welcome.

During his visit, the students presented a cultural show. The eminent educationist also observed the teaching-learning process of the school and interacted with the students.

A sapling was also planted by the chief guest on the occasion Dr S S Negi, Chairman, VMC, KV, FRI.

Speaking on the occasion, Dixit said, “It is a memorable moment for all of us. I hope that the students and the staff of the KV, FRI, will bring laurels to the KVS in all sphere.”

Dr Charu Sharma, Principal of the school, Dr O V S Sikarwar, officiating Assistant Commissioner, Regional Office, Dehradun, N S Rana and Ombir Singh, Principal, KV, BHE, Haridwar, were present 

Dehradun, July 26
Uttarakhand Tigers beat Khukri Club 2-0 here today in the 60th Lala Nemi Dass Memorial District Football League.

Deepak (13th) and Rakender (57th) scored in each halves to help the side score a win. Khukri Club failed to retaliate throughout the match as they lost the match. While in the second match, Gypsy Young battled hard to beat Garhwal Boys 3-2.

Ankit (29th) and Sunil Raj (37th, 40th)starred in the win for Gypsy.

Garhwal Boys put up a good competition scoring two goals through Akash (sixth) and Karan (20th) but lost the battle.

Tomorrow, XI Star will face Balaji and Sunderwala Boys will play against Doon Valley.

Dehradun, July 26
All the cadets take active participation in squash at Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC). The college has produced many good squash players like Ritwik Bhattacharya, Brig Raj Manchanda, Major Shakti Singh. The results of the matches played on the first day of an inter-section squash competition were as follows.

Under 13 years age group: winner: Cadet Tomthin (Chandragupta Section), runner-up: Cadet Shikhar (Pratap Section), winner: Cadet YS Shrivastav (Chandragupta Section), runner-up: Cadet Omkar Dalvi (Pratap Section), winner: Cadet Kapil (Chandragupta Section), runner-up: Cadet Louizing (Pratap Section), winner: Cadet Ujwal Gupta (Shivaji Section), runner-up: Cadet Mohit Bansal (Ranjit Section), winner: Cadet Mridul Rawat (Ranjit Section), runner-up: Cadet Shresth (Shivaji Section), winner: Cadet Punit Jatrana (Shivaji Section), runner-up: Cadet Abhay Singh (Ranjit Section), winner: Cadet Vivek Boora (Chandragupta Section), runner-up: Cadet Tarun Dhanik (Pratap Section), winner: Cadet Sai Ganesh (Chandragupta Section) and runner-up: Cadet Shivam Sisodia (Pratap Section).

Under 17 years age group: Winner: Cadet Kush Kumar (Chandragupta Section), runner-up: Cadet Gurvir Talwar (Pratap Section), winner: Cadet Mayank Kumar (Ranjit Section), runner-up: Cadet Amit Rai (Shivaji Section), winner: Cadet Chitiz Panwar (Ranjit Section), runner-up: Cadet Shashank Dahiya (Shivaji Section), winner: Cadet Pratyush Sharma (Ranjit Section) and runner-up: Cadet Samarth Singh (Shivaji Section).

At the end of the day, the scores were as follows: Pratap Section: 0, Ranjit Section: 8, Shivaji Section: 4 and Chandragupta Section: 12.

The Chief Guest of the event was Col PK Kumaria, Commandant, RIMC. The other dignitaries present were Lt Col A Tiwary, Wg Cdr SK Thapliyal, CS Vishwakarma, DN Thapliyal, PK Sharma and PN Naik. The coordinators of the event were Balvir Chauhan and Birjesh Chauhan.

Dehradun, July 26
Badminton players of Dehradun today returned after participating in the All-Sub-Junior Ranking Tournament held at Banglore from July 20 to 24. Coach Deepak Rawat said 11 players took part in the meet. Five of the players were already in the main draw. While three others qualified for the main draw at the competition.

The best performance for Dehradun, the coach said, was in the under-13 boys category. Vaibhav Chauhan entered the semifinal of the competition and gave a tough fight to his rival before losing the battle. Chauhan paired Delhi’s Kartikey to enter the U-13 boys final, however, they lost the battle. The coach said about 1,000 players in the U-13 and U-15 categories took part in the tournament.