Haridwar, July 28
The most exciting and adventurous phase of the Kanwar Yatra, known as “Dak Kanwar”, is on its peak with tens of thousands of vehicles at a high speed moving back to their respective places after fetching holy Ganga water.

At every minute, 12 vehicles carrying “Dak Kanwar” were entering Haridwar as per the Kanwar Mela control room data, round the clock today.

Dak Kanwariyas were coming from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and moving till late night to fetch Ganga water in beautifully decorated Kanwars to offer it on Shivalingam tomorrow on the occasion of Shravan-Shivratri.

The Haridwar-Delhi national highway as well as the Haridwar-Dehradun highway was busy with Kanwarias’ vehicle drawing people attention. It’s a nightmare for the police as it’s quite difficult to control speeding “Dak Kanwars” in comparison to Kanwariyas on foot.

Citing a huge influx of the “Dak Kanwars”, which had thrown the normal highway traffic out of gear, the traffic police was stopping them way ahead of the city zones like Har-Ki-Pauri to decongest the traffic jam. But aggressive Kanwariyas throughout the day were seen opposing the police move. But with barricades putting on, and the heavy deployment of police force, Kanwariyas had to go on foot to fetch Ganga water.

As all the parking lots were full, the incoming vehicles were stationed on the sides of inner roads.

Though Kanwariyas were to ply on highways only, such is the number that they were treading through connecting roads posing problems for residents, but this time due to better management from the police administration, a smooth flow of both Kanwariyas and traffic was being seen.

Mela police in charge Dr Kiran Lal Shaw said till the evening, the Kanwariyas had broken the previous year record, as 1.40 crore Kanwariyas had left the city, while still lakhs of Kanwariyas were still in the city and would only disperse by tomorrow morning.

Dehradun, July 28
The trouble that had been brewing at the GVK EMRI 108 ambulance service for the past several months came to the fore today after the field staff went on a one-day strike, temporarily bringing the reliable emergency service to a halt in the state.

The worst-affected were the Kumaon and Garhwal regions while the officials of the company managed to run the service in the Dehradun, Raipur, Premnagar, Ballupur and Doiwala areas. There was no 108 service in the Sahaspur and Vikasnagar areas. In all 650 members of the technical staff went on a strike.

“Out of a total of 114 ambulances in our fleet running across the state, we have managed to keep 80 on the road. To tackle the problem, 300 PRD jawans have been deployed in the Kumaon region and we have also brought in 100-member technical staff from Hyderabad and 15 members from Himachal Pradesh,” said Anoop Nautiyal, Adviser (health) to the Chief Minister.

A running feud between the staff of the 108 ambulance service and its officials on the issue of allocation of government cadre, fewer transfers and reduction of workload forced the authorities to suspend and later terminate services of seven employees.

“These are arm-twisting tactics being adopted by some of the drivers and members of the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) staff, most of whom have been posted in Kumaon. We tried to sort out their problems and advised them against going on strike but they did not pay any heed to it,” said Manish Tinku, Operation Head (Uttarakhand).

In anticipation of the strike, the Secretary (Health), Dr Uma Kant Panwar, had brought the 108 ambulance service under the category of essential services but this did not deter the field staff who halted five ambulances at the Dalanwala police station early in the morning. Later, these were put on duty with the help of the PRD jawans.

Since the inception of the ambulance service three years ago, this is the first time that the field staff have resorted to strike.

“We want a more pro-active role of the government in the affairs of the ambulance services. The highhanded attitude of the management would come to an end only after the members of the technical staff are absorbed in government service,” said Nandan Singh, president of Devbhoomi EMRI Welfare Society.

He said after the 24-hour strike that will continue till 8 am in the morning they would be rejoining duties. Meanwhile, owing to the strike, a total of 303 cases were refused in the state, out of these 97 related to pregnancy.

Dehradun, July 28
After rehabilitating 24 landslide-affected families of Bagi village, the local authorities have served notices on them, asking them to pay a fine and rent for illegally occupying the government land.

After the landslides of 1997 and 1998 in which the villagers lost their land and property, terming the Chargadi area safe, the revenue officials had asked the villagers to shift to that area.

But now the Revenue Department has served a notice on the families for illegally occupying government land and is demanding rent for the period of their stay on that land from 1997 to 2010.

“Though our village was affected by the landslides in 1997 and 1998, compensation came our way in the aftermath of the Varunavarat mountain tragedy. After the release of the first instalment with which we built our houses, the authorities have stopped the further release of funds. When the affected families tried to evoke section UPZA (161) of the Land Act and applied for land exchange, a notice was served on them demanding rent from them for 1997 onwards, which is beyond our means,” said Prem Sagar Semwal, Pradhan of Bagi village.

Speaking at a press conference here today, Semwal said the settlement was carried out in the presence of the revenue officials and at that time they did not demarcate the government land. “The land was used for agriculture purpose and for sheltering cattle. Now, the new order by the Patwari has come as a bolt from the blue as each family member will have to pay Rs 14,400 as fine,” said Semwal.

In all 129 families were affected by the landslides, out of which 24 families built their houses at Chargadi.

A compensation of Rs 3,60,000 for each family was earmarked as part of the Varunavarat package in 2008. The villagers received the first instalment of Rs 1.60 lakh.

Dwarka Semwal, President of the Uttarkhashi Apda Prabhandan Jan Manch, said a delegation, led by MLA (Gangotri) Gopal Singh Rawat also met the Chief Minister during his recent visit to Uttarkashi, but no action had been taken yet.

Dehradun, July 28
Twentynine cadets of the 170th course of the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) re-created history by achieving 100 per cent result in the National Defence Academy (NDA) written examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on April 17.

The much-awaited results were declared on July 26.

It is also to be noted that the cadets of the RIMC have always been achieving top places, be it in the order of merit for the UPSC NDA exams, awards during the passing-out parades either at the NDA, Pune, or at the Indian Military Academy (IMA).

The Rimcollians again did wonders by bagging all the top awards in the recently held 120th passing-out parade at the NDA, Pune.

President’s Gold Medal for being 1st in Order of Merit was bagged by ACA Nikhil Prabune.

This year at the passing-out parade of the 128th Course of the IMA, Rohit Shekhar won the prestigious Sword of Honour while Raghav Swarup Gupta, another Rimcollian, won the esteemed President’s Silver Medal.

The cadets have constantly been improving their standards in different field and their mission to join the NDA remains the top priority.

Col Pankaj Kumaria, Commandant, RIMC, acknowledged the efforts of the cadets as well as their masters for their hard work, which had led to these results.

Dehradun, July 28
Moderate to heavy rain today lashed most parts of Uttarakhand throwing normal life out of gear as several low-lying areas were inundated due to an increase in the water level of most rivers. Many parts of Uttarakhand received moderate to heavy rain with Chamoli and Mussoorie recording very heavy rain, the Met office said here.

Mussoorie recorded the heaviest rainfall (150 mm) followed by Chamoli with 148 mm, Dehradun 119.3 mm, Old Tehri 85 mm, Munsyari 69 mm and Banbasa 64 mm during the past 24 hours, said the Met office.

The weather office has predicted rain and thundershowers at isolated places in Uttarkashi district for another day.

According to Dehradun Meteorological Office’s Executive Director Dr Anand Sharma, rain will continue in Uttarakhand, particularly in the districts of Dehradun, Haridwar, Nainital, Pauri, Chamoli and Udham Singh Nagar in the next 48 hours.

The rain caused inconvenience to people, especially children, who could not reach their offices and schools in time because of flooding on the roads.

The rain also forced the closure of some schools.

The water level of most rivers like the Ganga, the Yamuna, the Kosi,the Bindal, the Rispana and the Song increased due to rain inundating several low-lying areas, the official said, adding that the administration was monitoring the situation.

The state government has already released funds to all 13 district magistrates for dealing with natural disasters like landslides, cloudbursts, avalanches and floods.

Natural disasters had badly hit the hill state during the last monsoon leaving more than 200 dead and rendering thousands others homeless.— PTI

Dehradun, July 28
The Uttarakhand government today finalised the design for Doon Medical College that will commence the academic session from the next year. Initially, the government will offer 150 seats for MBBS students later to be expanded to the postgraduate course.

The design was approved for the medical college according to the Medical Council of India norms. Chief Secretary Subash Kumar said that the existing Doon Male and Female Hospitals, land acquired from the PWD and land on the old jail premises would be utilised for constructing the Doon Medical College. The government was planning to provide 780 beds at the hospital so that it could fulfil the norms for conducting Postgraduate courses.

The Nehru ward located on the jail premises would be preserved as a heritage site.

Construction work had also begun at the Almora and Rudrapur medical colleges for which the government had sanctioned Rs 25 lakh and Rs 16 crore.

Meanwhile, the government is also planning to issue notices to MBBS students who while availing the government scholarship did not report for state duties for a specific period, a precondition for availing the scholarship.

“We will be issuing notices to 150 students who did not render state service despite filling the bond. These MBBS students passed out in 2010 and 2011,” said Vinita Kumar, Principal Secretary medical education.

Dehradun July 28
Uttrakhand Open University has once again started selling the entrance examination forms for the MBA course here today. Those in the first chance failed to fill in the examination forms can now avail it from the regional office of the university located at SGRR PG College. The entrance examination will be conducted in the last week of August month.

Informing about the course, Dr Harshvardhan Pant, convener of the university, said, “As many as 250 students from all over the state had participated in the first phase of admissions and its results are available on the official website of the university, www.uou.ac.in .”

“A large number of students are thronging to inquire about the newly introduced courses such as Geo informatics (MA, Diploma and Certificate course), MA Yoga, MA Education,” he added.

Dehradun, July 28
Congress MP Satpal Maharaj has said that his private bill seeking the inclusion of the Garhwali and Kumaoni languages in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution is slated to be taken up for discussion during the monsoon session of Parliament.

In a statement issued today, Saptal Maharaj said the discussion on the bill could take place on August 5 or 19.