Smooth traffic is SSP’s priority
Dehradun, August 27
Gopal Nath Goswami, new Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Dehradun, today assumed the charge from his predecessor Ganesh Singh Martolia who has been transferred to Udham Singh Nagar.

Dehradun, August 27
Flaying the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) for having failed to clear their dues pending for the past four months, contractors have refused to take part in the process of tendering.

Mohan Singh Rawat, president of the Contractor Welfare Association, said they would not participate in the process till they received the pending payment.

“The corporation has failed to give us our dues on time. A huge amount is pending with it,” he added.

According to sources, 50 of the contractors were given cheques for Rs 1.35 crore in the evening, but the remaining refused to participate in the process till they were also given the payment.

“The corporation may have given cheques to a few contractors, but we are yet to receive it. Moreover, if we get cheques, we will have to wait for another four-five days to get the them encashed. We will partipate in the process after getting the payment in our hands,” Rawat added.

Meanwhile, all councillors, under the leadership of Ashok Verma, leader of the opposition at the DMC, submitted a memorandum to Chief Executive Engineer Sushil Kumar stating that they were upset with the working of the management. “None of the DMC officials is working properly. Due to their irresponsible behaviour, residents of the state capital have to suffer. The condition of drains is very poor. The corporation has failed to execute many works in the absence of contractors,” Verma alleged.

In his reply, Sushil Kumar ensured them that the payment would be made to all contractors by the next week. He said tenders for various works would be floated on September 3 and September 7.

Verma said if the corporation failed to do so, they would agitate outside the main gate of the DMC.

Dehradun, August 27
Gopal Nath Goswami, new Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Dehradun, today assumed the charge from his predecessor Ganesh Singh Martolia who has been transferred to Udham Singh Nagar.

Goswami was posted at the 31st PAC, Rudrapur, as commandant.

Considered as a strict officer, his challenges will include finding a wayout for the smooth flow of traffic of the capital besides putting a brake on the petty crimes, including chain snatching and thefts.

Whereas the coming Assembly election peacefully is another task for the 2001 batch IPS officer. However, as he had already held the charge of the SP (City) in 2008, which was his first posting after he came from Uttar Pradesh to Uttarakhand, he understands the city well and knows the crime scene here.

Haridwar, August 27
International fashion designer-cum-model Sanjana Jon is enchanted with the spiritual aspect of the holy city of Haridwar as well as the serene beauty of hilly areas as she terms Uttarakhand as the abode of God and nature.

Sanjana Jon was here on a maiden visit to the city felt much relaxed spiritually that she would now be putting the hilly culture, tradition and attire in her forthcoming designer collections too.

Speaking to The Tribune exclusively, Sanjana, who is set to enter in the Guinness Book of World Records for designing the maximum number of models in a single ramp event, said she now wanted to shift from the United States to India.

She is involved in multiple social events, be it the campaign against foeticide, violation of human rights or Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign.

“Every girlchild is a celebration, she is a boon not bane but still foeticide is occurring in India on a mass scale. I am working in this area as well as generating awareness about the violation of human rights, particularly in foreign countries where Indians are being targeted” said Sanjana, who is quite hurt with the confinement of her fashion designer brother Anand Jon on whose guidance she entered the haute couture world.

Lamenting that she didn’t get much support as she had expected, still Sanjana says that people now realise that her brother has been framed who became a victim of western racism.

She said, along with her mother Shashi, a group of well-wishers were trying to prove innocence of Anand, who is in prison serving 59 years of imprisonment for multiple charges of rape and sexual harassment.

Having designed for global celebrities such as socialite Paris Hilton, Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman, pop stars Bruce Springsteen, Back Street Boys, supermodels and Indian stars like Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen, Karishma Kapoor among others, Sanjana is now geared up for her mega fashion event that will make her entry into the Guinness Book.

She said, “I am teaming up with Salman Khan for the gala event titled “Pride of India”which will be held in November with 500 models to sashay down the ramp with all models wearing my creations. Notably the current record is of 280 models at one show but Sanjana hopes that the figure will exceed it as she has designed 400 designer wears combining traditional attire and inputs from culture of all the 29 states of the country.

Sanjana is all praise for budding fashion model-designers, saying that in the past decade, be it beauty pageants, fashion shows, ramp modeling or acknowledgement of the Indian film industry, the young Indian generation has taken the glamour industry by a wave.

Dehradun, August 27
Reading needs to be made exciting and the concept of academic books to the youngsters must be discouraged, believes Anita Balchandran and Garima Gupta.

The two illustrators and alumni of the National Institute of Design favour making children look beyond their academic books.

Both Anita and Garima were in Dehradun today to attend “Ghummakkad Narain”, The Travelling Children’s Literature Festival 2011 being held in memory of eminent journalist and Doonite Thakur Vishwa Narain Singh.

Anita says illustration certainly has more of impact on children than just texts and they certainly bring them closer to the books.

Anita calls for more pro-active role on part of parents towards inculcating the habit of reading, particularly leisure reading among children.

Admitting that the cost of books are certainly escalating, Anita argues that but for many parents books are never in priority. “Many parents spend on clothes and edible things for their children and books are seldom their priority, which certainly is a matter of concern”, she pointed out.

She also suggests for promotion of children books on vernacular languages. This will help children in rural areas get better opportunity for reading. Referring to knowledge reading, Anita said the Archeological Survey of India has taken up one such initiative. “The ASI has entrusted me with the task of coming out with an Illustration book on Humanyun Tomb”, she said.

Also a Masters from the Royal College of Art in London Anita has illustrated a number of books for children and begun writing her own a few years ago, including “The Dog Who Loved Red” and “Mister Jeejeebhoy and the Birds”.

A graduate from the National Institute of Design, Garima Gupta, who has recently completed illustration for a book, “Tree With Travelling Heart” too asserts that the illustration are the best way to bring children closer to the books.

“The words are heavy and illustration does make much-needed easy reading for the children”, Garima says adding that the children need to think beyond words. She also backs paper-back edition to hard bound pointing out that it could help ensure books to children at reduced prices.

Garima has illustrated for Karadi and Scholastic India, books like “Moochpuri, Chooheram” and “The First Boy Made Submarine”.

Earlier, the duo interacted with children at Jaswant Mordern School, Dehradun, as part of The Travelling Children’s Literature Festival. They made children draw sketches making them understand finer points of illustrations. Referring to importance of the literature festival, Rachna Bisht, chairperson, Nivesh, said “It is heartening to see the reactions we have been getting from students during their interactions with the writers and illustrators. I’m sure Thakur Vishva Narain Singh, noted journalist and writer, must be happy to see so many students benefit from the initiative.

The Travelling Children’s Literature Festival is a NIVESH and Himalayan Hub for Art, Culture and Heritage initiative, organised in collaboration with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation. 

Dehradun, August 27
A group of 20 cadets of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) with three officers from the 29th Uttarakhand Battalion of the NCC, visited the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) daycare centre where elderly persons are looked after, here today.

The YWCA is running the daycare centre to provide care to the neglected elderly persons of the society, particularly weaker sections of the society and also to provide them opportunities to earn their livelihood. There are 41 inmates in the centre.

The NCC cadets during their day with the elderly tried to comfort the elderly who were left alone by the destiny or by their own children. The cadets cut their nails, massaged their bodies, besides providing them with food and fruits. The main aim was to make the elderly happy so that they also feel being part of the society.

The cadets also purchased pickles prepared by the elderly of the centre. The NCC cadets are coming to the centre run by the YWCA every year to interact with them, according to Anis-ur Rehman, project coordinator of the centre.

Dehradun, August 27
Balvinder struck three goals to star in the 3-0 win of Doon Valley over City Young in a super league match of the district football league that held at Pavilion Ground here today.

He struck all the three goals of his side in the 24th, 67th and 70th minutes. While for City Young, Shanu (19th) and Rakesh (59th) scored a goal each. The match remained highly competitive throughout the game.

While the second match between Doon Star and Uttarakhand Police ended on a goalless draw. Tomorrow, Akranta Boys will face Sunderwala Boys and Adhoiwala Boys will meet Wills Youth Club. 

Dehradun August 27
Dhruv Pal, the new face of Uttarakhand, is one of the top 10 junior tennis players in the India. The 14-year-old lad from Dehradun reached the finals of the All-India Tennis Association Under-14 tournament in boys singles played at Chennai today.

Find out what he had to say about playing in the finals of the Chennai Nationals.

When asked about how was it like playing in the finals, Dhruv replied, “It was really a great and good chance to test myself in a big tournament. I knocked off the number one junior player in the country and made it to the finals. This is the first time that I have reached the finals of a national tournament.”

“My father introduced me to the game when I was a 9-year-old. For the initial two years, I played tennis for fun but later it became my passion. The strenuous coaching and the ardent efforts today brought me here at this level,” he added.

The junior tennis player is a student of Class IX at Doon International School, Dehradun, and has now become a sports icon special for the denizens of Dehradun.

On questioning which tennis player did you look up to when you started playing, he said, “I really grew up idolising Pete Sampras and strove to reach that level. My coach and my parents always motivated me to give my best on the tennis court and to become a role model for kids in the future.”

In academics, Dhruv loves to solve the equations and problems of mathematics but hates biology for no reason. “I am an average student who loves maths, hanging around with friends, reading books and watching movies.”

About balancing both tennis and the academics together, Dhruv asserted that it’s up to an individual to deal with it. “I started at the Shanti Tennis Academy in a tennis camp when I was nine. Gradually, I started playing for various tournaments and series but devoted a fixed time for my studies too. My schoolteachers and friends support me in studies and in completing my assignments on time. The school authorities are also very lenient with my short attendance in the class due to my frequent travelling and practising.”

However, as an advice to budding and amateur tennis players, Dhruv opines that kids need to go out and have fun and enjoy playing tennis. They should be given full freedom and support to play the game rather then pushing them into it, which is the most important thing.

“In fact, the government of Uttarakhand should provide them an appropriate place and resources to rise as an individual. Proper sponsorship and coaching is what required here in Uttarakhand,” he said.