Dehradun, September 7
The crowded District Courts campus here continues to be without security arrangements.

A large number of parked vehicles and the presence of people with no security arrangements in place have put a question mark on the security of the District Courts in the aftermath of Wednesday’s blast in Delhi.

Advocates have expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of security on the court complex. “The court complex is always crowded and there is no security. We only want police presence here;this will certainly instil confidence among us,” advocate Anil Gandhi, secretary of the Dehradun Bar Association, said.

“We had a word with former SP (City) Ajay Joshi regarding the security arrangements about two months ago but now after he got transferred nothing happened. The SP had agreed on not allowing all vehicles inside the court campus, which was very important from the security aspect,” Gandhi added.

Following this, the police inspected the court campus, which seemed to be a mere formality.

Meanwhile, state Director General of Police Jyoti Swaroop Pandey told The Tribune that at places like the High Court, the Secretariat and the state Assembly, there was dedicated security.

Dehradun, September 7
The Uttarakhand Government’s plan to run Gandhi Centenary Eye Hospital under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode has run into rough weather with doctors opposing the move.

Facing financial crunch, the government has initiated preliminary discussions for running the hospital under the PPP mode, but doctors from the eye hospital are resenting the move.

“The move is the indicative of the government’s lack of trust in the abilities of its own doctors. According to the earlier agreement, Gandhi Centenary Eye Hospital was to function as an eye institute, an arm of the proposed Doon Medical College. However, with this latest move, the institute will automatically go into the hands of private players,” said Dr BC Ramola, a senior eye surgeon, Doon District Eye Hospital.

Sources claim that the government is keen to invite private players so that the hospital can be equipped quickly. However, it has also been informed that no private party will be willing to run the institute solely as an eye institute. To this end, the government is even agreeable to give a part of the building to run a multispeciality unit. “When the society running Gandhi Centenary Eye Hospital was dissolved, it had been decided that the area will be used only for building an eye hospital or a state ophthalmologist institute. Clearly it is a breach of that agreement,” said 
Dr Ramola.

The Heath Department has now decided to send a team of doctors to study the functioning of eye institutes at government medical institutions in Lucknow, Chandigarh and New Delhi.

“Several proposals are being discussed. We have even sent medicos to study the functioning of eye institutions in the neighbouring states,” said Dr BC Pathak, Chief Medical Superintendent, Doon District Hospital.

Dehradun, September 7
Defence Colony, Dehradun, has finally got a Sub-Post Office. The fully computerised post office will provide all services ranging from SpeedPost, Express Parcel, Kisan Vikas Patra, the National Service Scheme and other services.

Inaugurating the Sub- Post Office today, Chief Postmaster General, Uttarakhand Circle, Anjali Devasher, said the post office would have all modern facilities and would be fully computerised.

She said earlier Defence Colony residents had been demanding a post office at their colony for the past many years as they were forced to travel four to five kilometres to Araghar Post Office for their postal needs.

She also did not rule out setting up of a dedicated post office at Defence Colony at a later stage with the Sainik Cooperative Society offering land for the purpose.

“The offer of land by the Sainik Cooperative Society is already in place and we propose to take up the matter with our higher authorities at the Centre under the next five-year plan”, disclosed Anjali Devasher.

Earlier, Chairman, Sainik Cooperative Society Limited, Col SL Painuily (retd), appreciated Cdr AK Narula for his efforts towards taking up the matter with the postal authorities and thus facilitating opening of full-fledged Sub-Post Office at Defence Colony.

The new Sub-Post Office will also serve the residents of Chakshah Nagar, Gorakhpur, Shivnagar, Shivlok Colony, Mandakini Enclave, Doon Hills Colony, Friends Colony, Shastrinagar Extension and other adjoining localities.

Director, Post Services, Sanjay Singh, Senior Superintendent, Post Offices, Abhishek Singh, Vice-Chairman AS Kandari, Secretary, Col ARS Panwar (retd), Cdr AK Narula, Dr Bimal Kant Nautiyal and other Defence

Colony residents were present on the occasion.

Dehradun, September 7
Surashek helped Colonel Brown School to clinch the Senior Boys Council Football Tournament title beating Cambrian Hall School 1-0 in the final played here today.

The lone scorer of the match, Surashek, struck in the 42nd minute to bring cheer to his teammates. Cambrian, on the other hand, tried desperately to score the equaliser but failed in all their attempts.

Yesterday, in the second semifinal, Col Brown scraped past host St Joseph’s Academy 2-1 to register the final berth. Sunny (15th) and Surashek (25th) scored in the win. Divyanshu (28th) could score a goal for the host side in this tough encounter.

Meanwhile, the chief guest, Brother AJ George, Principal of St Joseph’s Academy, gave away the prizes to the players. Principal of Cambrian Hall AC Uniyal was also present.