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Back-to-back holidays: Tourists make a beeline for Mussoorie, Haridwar
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Hotels fleece tourists
Mussoorie, August 14 Tourists coming to the town had to spend Rs 5,000-7,000 for an average hotel room, courtesy the long holiday, including the weekend and Independence Day. Seeing the tourist rush, hotels increased the tariff of the rooms. Inclement weather and heavy downpour added to their woes. Shopkeepers, too, were seen charging more than the market price displayed on the consumer goods.
Dehradun diary
Community centre opened
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Back-to-back holidays: Tourists make a beeline for Mussoorie, Haridwar
Haridwar, August 14 In view of the heavy influx of tourists, additional traffic police personnel have been deployed on the national highways to regulate traffic. The Superintendent of City Police, Dr Kiran Lal Shaw, said as was expected the rush was quite huge. Once again just after the completion of the Kanwar fair additional police personnel have been deployed on all the major points on these highways. Certain commuters coming from Roorkee said it took them almost three hours to reach Haridwar while those coming from Dehradun and Rishikesh also spoke of massive traffic jams on the roads. Railway and bus stations too are witnessing a heavy rush of passengers, as all the trains and buses are coming jam packed. The additional buses plied by the Haridwar roadways depot on the Dehradun-Rishikesh route were also full with passengers, some sitting on the roofs too. Regional Manager of the Haridwar roadways depot Kranti Singh said on all the major routes additional buses were being plied.
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Hotels fleece tourists
Mussoorie, August 14 The administration, Tourist Department, hoteliers and other bodies affiliated with the tourism industry failed to check the unwarranted price rise. Sarabjeet Singh, a tourist from Chandigarh, said the hotels, shopkeepers and other related organisations were charging exorbitantly. Ravi Bajaj, another tourist from Meerut, said most of the hotels did not place their regular tariffs and charged at will. Rooms that are available for Rs 500 to Rs 700 otherwise were available at Rs 5,000-Rs 7,000 for a day. Spokesperson for the Mussoorie Hotel Association Sandeep Sahni said the association had given clear directives to display tariff cards and avoid fleecing of tourists, but certain hotels outside their association were bringing bad name to the whole hospitality industry. He demanded strict action against such units. Sahni also advised the tourists to book their rooms in advance to avoid any inconvenience during such days. Speaking on the illegal guest houses
running in the town, Nayab Tehsildar Matadin said a list of such units was being prepared and action would be initiated soon.
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Mussoorie mourns Shammi Kapoor’s
death
Mussoorie, August 14 The residents of the town were of the view that Shammi Kapoor was known for his antics and unique dancing style and for redefining the romance period through his films. According to local historian Gopal Bhardwaj, Shammi Kapoor paid a visit to Mussoorie and Rajpur for the shooting of “Teesri Manzil”. The popular song “O mere sohna re sohna...” was shot in the beautiful locales of Rajpur along with co-star Asha Parekh. Bhardwaj, paying homage to the great actor, said an era had ended with his sad demise and he would be remembered for his jovial nature and exemplary acting. Ram Sharan, a resident of Mussoorie, who is aged 60, reminisces those days and said Shammi Kapoor was a craze in those days and girls used to wait for hours to catch a glimpse of the Bollywood star, as he came for shooting in Hakmans Grand and Savoy Hotel in Mussoorie. Another resident Sunil said Shammi Kapoor would be remembered for a long time.
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Over 100 take part in inter-school race
Mussoorie, August 14 The event was organised by the Mussoorie Municipal Council in association with the Mussoorie Sports Association. More than 100 athletes participated in it. The first race was flagged off by MLA Jot Singh Gunsola. In the senior division (boys), Girish Bhatt (Rama Devi Inter-college) won the race that was held from Garhwal Terrace till Nand Residency Camels Back road. Mahesh (Ghanand Inter-college) and Vimlesh (Sanskrit Mahavidhyalaya), won the second and third positions, respectively. In the senior division (girls), Sushmita Panwar from Sanatan Dharm Inter-college was the winner. Nisha from Mussoorie Girls Inter-college and Pooja Kairwan from Sanatan Dharm won the second and third positions, respectively. In junior boys, Devendar and Praveen from St Lawrence were declared first and second, respectively, whereas Mohan Singh from Ghanand Inter-college stood third. In junior girls, Seeta from St Lawrence stood first, Vineeta from Sanatan Dharm second and Shobha from St Lawrence third. In the sub-juniors boys, Gaurav Ramola was the winner. Tejpal from St Lawrence stood third. In the sub-junior girls, Chandni, Pooja Rawat and Pooja Melwan from Sanatan Dharm Inter-college won the first, second and third positions, respectively. In up to 10 years boys’ category, Shivankar from Hampton Court stood first, Aman Chauhan from St Lawrence second and Vipul Panwar from Rama Devi Inter-college stood third. In up to 10 years girls’ category, Babita (St Lawrence) was the winner, Manju from Sanatan Dharm won the second position and Aarti from Sanatan Dharm Inter-college won the third position.
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Vikas sets new IMA cross-country record
Dehradun, August 14 While the Doon valley slept blissfully, the Gentlemen Cadets lined up at the starting line, eagerly awaiting the flagging off, so that they could put to test all the hard work put over the past few weeks and bring home the Cross-country trophy to the company/battalion they represented. The Inter-Battalion Cross-Country Championship Autumn Term 2011 was flagged off by Major-Gen TS Gill, Officiating Commandant, Indian Military Academy, from the Nizam Pavilion of the academy. A total of 18 teams participated in the event. The overall championship was won by Bogra Company of Siachin Battalion while Nubra Company finished second. Kargil Company secured the third position. The Gentlemen Cadets ran a total distance of 11 km. Cadet Vikas Kumar of Nubra Company, Siachen Battalion, secured the first position by completing the distance in 40 minutes and 4 seconds, a new Academy record. The previous record was 41 minutes and 10 seconds. The company Cadet Captain Bhanu Pratap came second with the timing of 40 minutes and 15 seconds.
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Doon Civic Blues: Ward No. 23
Sehgal also rued a shortage of safai karamcharis in the area. “The department has failed to fill vacant posts of safai karamchari. Whenever a karamchari retires, gets promotion or transferred to some other area, we never get substitute for him.” She further said: “Officials should hold regular meetings with safai karamcharis to listen to the problems being faced by them as it will help boost their morale.” She also requested the residents to cope up with the door-to-door garbage collection. “This is a great initiative being taken by the Municipal Corporation and people should cooperate,” she added. She also complained of contaminated water in the area. Talking to TNS, most of the residents complained of traffic problem in
their area. Local resident Naresh Minocha said: “Most of the places have been encroached upon by rehriwalas, which creates difficulty for vehicles to move. Traffic jams are common in the area.” Another resident, Hakim Ishrat Hussain Farooqui, also complained of traffic congestion and problems being created by a dustbin that is lying near his shop. “Due to traffic jams, it take us hours to reach our destinations. We have asked the corporation to ensure that no vehicle from other localities should be allowed to enter the market, but to no avail,” he said. He further said: “We are being forced to live in stink all the time due to the dustbin lying near
our market.” Shamshad said: “Due to damaged water pipes, drinking water gets mixed with sewage and thet are being forced to drink contaminated water.” Meenu Singh said: “Our councillor is hard working and committed to the development of the area. She is always there to solve our problems.”
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Dehradun diary
WITH the state Assembly elections fast approaching, all the political parties, including the ruling BJP, are gearing up to woo the voters. Most of the parties have chalked out plans to organise meetings and contact programmes with their constituents.
But interestingly, the events of the past one month indicate the people of the state who are fed up with their political leaders are paying them back in the same coin.
Annoyed with the lack of basic facilities like road, clean water and power in their respective areas, common people have not only started questioning all those in power but even started protesting against them in the open. During the past one month, four of the ministers of the BJP-led state government had faced the ire of the common man over basic facilities. It is not common that people would come out openly against the state ministers who had police security but now with the Assembly elections only six months away, people have realised that it was the most appropriate time to hit out at the ministers and leaders. It was on August 13 that Uttarakhand Irrigation Minister Matbar Singh Kandari, who was going to attend a party programme at Jakholi block of Tehri Garhwal district, faced the ire of the residents of Bashta Badma village. The villagers stopped his cavalcade and did not allow him to proceed further on the Vijaynagar-Timli road at Lokendridhar. The villagers were incensed by an order of the minister, who represented the area, of stopping the construction of a road to their village. They charged that the construction work on the road was in progress and a 200-meter stretch had been cut but on express orders of the minister, the work had been stopped. Though Kandari did try to argue with the agitating villagers, they were in no mood to listen to him and raised slogans against the BJP ministers. They did not allowed him to proceed further in his official car. Later, Kandari was forced to travel in a private jeep to Rudraprayag. He clarified that there was no sanction for the road but villagers didn’t pay heed to his arguments. On the other hand, Uttarakhand Panchayat Minister Rajinder Bhandari is in trouble over his alleged threats to Garm Pardhans in his own constituency of Chamoli district. It was alleged that in a move to influence the Gram Pardhans in his Assembly segment, the minister allegedly threatened the Garm Pardhans to toe his line. But, the move backfired as the Gram Pardhan Sangathan has decided to start an agitation against the minister at Gopeshwar, the district headquarters of Chamoli district, from August 16. Earlier, Uttarakhand Transport Minister Banshi Dhar Bhagat faced the anger of the people of his own constituency of Haldwani. People thronged his meeting place with empty pitchers and openly condemned him for doing nothing to mitigate the sufferings of the common man. A sheepish minister had to do a lot of explaining to pacify the irate mob, including women. Similarly, Uttarakhand Water Resources Minister Parkash Pant had to face the ire of the people of his own constituency who are facing an acute drinking water problem in Pithoragarh city.
Guv sends back Info Commissioner file again
The forthcoming Assembly elections in the state have given an opportunity to the people to give vent to their feelings as politicians are making a beeline for constituencies to placate them. Before using the ballot to teach unscrupulous politicians a lesson, the people are appropriately tongue lashing their leaders. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank finds himself in a piquant situation on the issue of appointment of a new Information Commissioner in the state. The file has been returned by the Governor for the second time in the past month. Nishank wanted to appoint Ajay Setia, a Delhi-based television journalist, as the fifth Information Commissioner in the state. His appointment was mired in controversy since the beginning. Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat, who is a member of the selection committee, has opposed the move to make a fresh appointment since the beginning. He avoided the selection committee meeting and used his absence as a veto against the government move. However, when the state government decided to hold the meeting and appointed Ajay Setia, Rawat went to the Governor complaining against the move of the state government on the issue. The state government got a shock when the then officiating Governor, BL Joshi, returned the file sent to him for approval citing the absence of Rawat and his Opposition to the appointment. The Governor also questioned the appointment on the ground that the Chief Information Commissioner NS Napalchayal, in a semi-official letter, had said there was no need for a fifth Information Commissioner in a small state like Uttarakhand. The state government replied to the questions posed by the Governor stating that the Leader of the Opposition was given ample opportunities to attend the selection committee meetings but he avoided it and misused his position as a member of the selection committee. The file was again sent to the Governor’s office. This time state Governor Margaret Alva has reportedly commented that a fresh meeting of the selection committee should be called to decide the issue.
(By SMA Kazmi)
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St Joseph beat Indian Public School to enter semifinals
Dehradun, August 14 In the first match, St Josephs’ Academy “A” team defeated Indian Public School 3-1. Allan Roger, Joshu Antony and Tenzin scored for SJA team, while Anoop scored the solitary goal for Indian Public School team. In the second quarter final, Col Brown School team trounced Shivalik International School 2-1. Kunal and Harsh Raj scored for Col Brown School and Prabhjot scored the lone goal for Shivalik team. In the third match, Guru Nanak Academy defeated Moravian School 3-2. Nitin, Saurab and Kapil scored one goal each for Guru Nanak Academy. Parkash and Ashish scored one goal each for Moravian School. In the last match, Hilton School beat St Josephs’ Academy “B” team 2-1. Rohit Pundir and Rahul scored for Hilton School, while Archit scored the solitary goal for the SJA “B” team. The semi-finals and the final match will be played on August 15.
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Community centre opened
Mussoorie, August 14 Hoshiyar Singh Thapli, Hukum Singh Rawat, Amar Singh and other Congress leaders were present on the occasion.
— OC
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Dehradun, August 14