Dehradun, September 3
After playing the Hockey Nationals in 2004 at Indore and being the athletic champion in Nagpur, Sonam Negi, the international football player from Uttarakhand gives all credit to her parents and to ‘The Hans Foundation’, which supported her to play in the Homeless World Cup International Women Football Tournament at Paris, France.

“I started playing when I was in seventh standard. In fact, my father introduced me to football and encouraged me to participate in several sports activities in school and college,” 
said Negi, who is the captain of the Indian Women Football team.

“Playing in ‘The Homeless World Cup’ was a dream come true for me. Despite the strenuous selection criteria, financial crunch and no proper exposure, I made it to this level because of my efforts,” added Negi.

She claims her team edged past the women football team of Canada, by 3-2 in the finals and defeated other 64 participating countries in the tournament.

She boasts of having received more than 100 certificates for participating and winning the game till now.

Sharing her experiences of the international tournament, she said, “It was a delightful experience for me and other participants of my team. We met people from all across the world where language and race was not a barrier at all. We were all connected through the game of football.”

She also criticised the state government for not providing her financial assistance, when she was selected for the Germany football team. “I needed Rs 75,000 for my tournament at Germany. I met Ramesh Pokhariyal, appealing him to fund my trip, but he gave no response,” she said.

Dehradun, September 3
The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Garhwal, Deepam Seth today presided over a meeting of senior police officers of the state in view of the forthcoming Assembly elections.

DIG Garhwal sought details about the sensitive booths and past records linked to last Assembly elections. The issue of deployment of beat constables at the polling booths was also discussed. He also demanded for the constitution of election cell.

He also reviewed crime scenario at various districts. He asked police officials to come with a workplan to check crime in their respective areas. He said the acts of crime must be checked and absconders arrested at the earliest.

IG also directed for time-bound solving of the cases. He also ordered for providing victims’ regular updates ofn their case. He said no case should be held pending for long. 

Dehradun, September 3
The Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) has received around 100 complaints within three days of the inauguration of the redressal centre.

The department has received grievances from all parts of the city related to sanitation and fuse streetlights.

Only one woman has been appointed to attend the call, enter it in a register as well as on the corporation’s website. Now the centre feels a need to appoint one more person.

“We need one more person to look after the matter. There is only one person who has to complete all work single-handed. Sometimes she also needs to visit the office. We require a person who can enter the data online quickly,” Bhagwati Prashad, IT officer, told The Tribune. “We will be sending the request to the chief executive officer very soon,” he affirmed.

It is the operator who has to enter all complaints on the website, which automatically gets transferred to the department concerned. “I would have to visit the office on Sunday as well in order to upload the data on the website,” the worker said. Though the toll-free number is available from all landline as well as mobile phones, if anyone has the Idea number, it would get difficult for him/her to connect as it says “error in connection”. When asked Prashad, he mentioned that the fault was from the operator’s side and not from their part.

Upper Nagar Adhikari Neeraj Pandey was not available for the comment.

Dehradun September 3
Ashish Rawat has become a new face of the city with his election as the president of the Student Council of Uttarakhand’s biggest degree college, DAV PG College, Dehradun.

“The party’s (Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad) efforts, faith of my supporters and the blessings of God made me win the Student Council Election 2011,” told Rawat in an exclusive interview with The Tribune. “Well, now people know me as a representative of students as well as of the college. Earlier, I was just like any other student of the college but now I am the face of the youth at DAV PG College,” said Ashish when asked about how much has your life changed after winning the council election.

He believes that his non-political background will not hinder his service at all. “There had been many examples earlier that are from non-political background but have proven their mettle as president of the DAV PG College, efficiently. Being a representative of the college, I've the responsibility to work in students' interests and my seniors will help me in setting the directions for my forthcoming duties,” he added. The priorities of newly elected president of DAV PG College comprises improving the academic environment in the college and make strenuous efforts to get the pending results of 3,200 students of the college, which was rejected by the university.

When asked about why you joined the ABVP, Ashish replied, “Since, my adolescence I was determined to get into politics with the ABVP as the party has always worked in students' interests. In fact, I took the membership of the party when I was in seventh standard. The party’s ideology is to work genuinely in favour of students and the accumulation of maximum votes in the Student Council elections says the rest of the story.”

He also enlisted the work ABVP candidates have done in the past three-four years during their service tenure. From making of new toilets for girls to the tube well for curbing the problem of potable water in the college. “New parking area, auditorium and placement cell have also been made earlier. I will now focus on improving the infrastructure of the college according to the strength of 30,000 students in the college,” he asserted. On being asked that how much have you spent on the entire election procedure, he said as per the recommendation set up by the Lyngdoh Committee, the party has performed the entire election activities. The expenditure, including placing banners, hoardings and others, during the canvassing were entirely funded by members of the ABVP themselves.

He also denied any sort of support from the state ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) during the council election. He agreed that both BJP and ABVP shared similar ideology with different identities but the student organisation was working independently without being offered with any assistance (financial) by the state ruling party in the Student Council elections.

Dehradun, September 3
In the first round of the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) Inter-Section Quiz Competition, the Chandragupta section was leading the table closely with 135 points followed by the Shivaji section with 127.5 points and the Ranjit section with 105 points.

The Pratap section was at the bottom of the table with 55 points.

Cadets, Kunal, Hemant, Hardaman and Deependra represented the Pratap section. Arpit, Ayushkam, Prince and Abhijeet represented the Ranjit Section while Krishan Pal, Nirbhay, Saurabh represented the Shivaji section.

The Chandragupta section was represented by Shinjan, Rishav, Anirudh and Arpit Garg.

The quizmasters were Rakhi Chamola, UP Dalvi, Neeraj Negi and Balvir Chauhan. The chief timekeeper was TS Selvan.

The Chief Guest for the event was Col Pankaj Kumaria, Commandant, RIMC.

He was impressed by the performance of the cadets and told them to work hard in the same manner for the upcoming competitions.

Other dignitaries present were Lt Col A Tiwary, KS Ahalawat, CS Vishwakarma, DN Thapliyal and PN Naik. The main coordinator of the event was PK Sharma.

Dehradun, September 3
A free eye care camp was held at the Information Technology Institute for the Tribes of India (ITITI) in Jhajra, Dehradun, for the students and staff members of the institute. The ‘Children Eye Care Project’ was sponsored by the Blind Foundation for India, USA, and organised by the Ram Krishna Mission, Dehradun.

In the camp, eyesight of all the students was checked and the team members gave them appropriate assistance and advice. The team promised to again set up a camp with a team of eye specialists to provide necessary help to the students. The principal of the institute thanked the Ram Krishna Mission for providing the service and helping the students, who came from a poor background.