SGRR defeat Seven Oaks 2-1
Dehradun, September 16
SGRR, Bindal, got past Seven Oaks 2-1 during the third ONGC Ram Bahadur Chhetri Memorial Football Tournament at Ambedkar Stadium here today.





Players of Kendriya Vidyalaya, FRI (in light brown) and Kendriya Vidyalaya, ONGC (in red) in action in a match in the Ram Bahadur Chhetri Memorial Football Tournament in Dehradun on Friday. Tribune photo: Anil P Rawat

Akranta Boys beat Gypsy Young
Dehradun, September 16
Akranta Boys beat Gypsy Young in a tie-breaker match 2-1 during the Doon Callisto Cup-2011 being organised by the Doon Callisto Club in partnership with the District Football Association on the Pavilion Ground here today.




Players of Akranta Club (in blue) and Gypsy Young (in yellow) in a match in the Doon Callisto Cup tournament played in Dehradun on Friday. Tribune photo: Vinod Pundir

Mussoorie, September 16
Change in the state leadership recently that was effected to speed up development works and resolve the pending issues has not made any impact on “lethargic” officials of various departments.

The main swimming pool at the Kempty Falls that had damaged at various places due to incessant rain recently is yet to be repaired by the authorities, thus revealing the shoddy construction and beautification work done by the PWD by spending Rs 4.24 crore that was funded by the Tourism Department. The Tribune had also highlighted poor condition of the swimming poll in these columns on July 9.

Though former Disaster Management Minister Khajan Das had given an assurance to get the repair work done at the earliest, nothing has been done so far. On the contrary, the condition of the pool has further deteriorated. Tourists visiting the Kempty Falls are unable to muster courage to dive into the pool due to a crack on the floor of the pool.

Talking to TNS, Madhuri, a tourist from Patna, Madhuri said: “We have come from Patna to enjoy our holidays here. But seeing poor condition of the pool, it is risky, especially for small children, to go into it.”

Another tourist from Khatima, Manjeet, said he and his friends wanted to take a bath in the pool but could not do so seeing its damaged condition.

Salig Ram, a local shopkeeper, said due to the damaged pool, tourists were returning without spending time here, which had also been affecting their sale. He said if the repair work did not start at the earliest, there would be a sharp decrease in the number of tourists visiting here.

District Magistrate, Tehri, Radhika Jha and minister Khajan Das could not be contacted.

Dehradun, September 16
Since there is no provision for the accreditation of travel agencies by the Tourism Department of the state government, travel agencies are mushrooming all over the capital city, without any checks and balances. Tourists, especially international tourists, have no one to look to for verifying the credentials of these travel agents.

Joint Director, Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, AK Dwivedi said the policies regarding tourism were well orchestrated but lacked any provision regarding accreditation to travel agencies in the state. “The matter of accreditation to travel agencies surely calls for immediate attention seeing their multiplication taking place at a quicker pace in the city. The way the state government is promoting tourism in the state with the help of slick marketing and improvement of the infrastructure at tourist destinations, the tourists inflow is on the rise. These travel agencies are emerging to benefit from this promising field. As a result, the department has to formulate clear guidelines which these travel agencies have to adhere to in order to get and sustain their accreditation,” he said.

Barring a couple of travel agencies, most of them do not have a proper office set-up and the required facilities. Golden Holiday, a travel agency having its office on the busy Gandhi road, has a leaking roof. The stench of stagnant water tests the tolerance of visitors. Pankaj Nagar, the sole office-bearer, bragged about his connections with good hotels and airlines in the state but could not produce any document of a package tour he had organised recently.

Much better in its ambience, Comfort Travels at Darshal Lal Chowk, tried to look authentic by pasting an accreditation certificate from the VIA, a Bangalore-based travel company, on the one of its walls. Rajiv Verma, Director, squirmed at the mention of accreditation.

“Why should we have any accreditation from the state tourism which could do nothing to improve its own 90-odd state guest houses? We are good enough to run our own business”.

Be it Shubham Travel or Vaibhav Travel on the Tyagi road, many were found closed or manned by a single employee. Professionalism was found sorely absent.

The manner in which travel agencies pick up tourists from the bus stand, railway station or airport has infuriated taxi operators in the city. Inder Pal Singh, General Secretary, Dehradun Transport Association, said: “These travel agencies are denting our business by stealing away tourists in the city or through their websites. They offer them their private vehicles but charge taxi fares and in the case of death or accident, the tourists or their families will not get any insurance claims. The state government must do something urgently to rein in the wayward behaviour of travel agents in the city.” 

Dehradun, September 16
Despite being selected as the mission city for the Central Government’s Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) programme under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Dehradun city has failed to deliver affordable houses to the urban poor, three years after the programme was launched.

Despite the Centre sanctioning the required funds, the projects for building 148 houses at Kath Bungalow, 240 houses at Niranjanpur Bharampuri (phase I) and 421 houses at Niranjanpur Bharampuri (phase II) are awaiting clearance from the Finance Department on the issue of awarding of centage charges.

Similarly, the project at Khala Basti for building 80 houses for the urban poor has been a non- starter due to the objections by its inhabitants on the issue of ownership rights.

For the three mission cities of Dehradun, Haridwar and Nainital the Central Government has released Rs 65.27 crore for the schemes out of the total sanctioned amount of Rs 97.84 crore.

In a unique sharing agreement, the Centre is expected to bear 80 per cent cost, the state government 10 per cent and the remaining 10 per cent cost is to be borne by the beneficiaries themselves.

“The housing projects in Dehradun are under the supervision of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation that in turn has hired agencies for the same. There are several agencies and most of these projects have missed the deadlines. The Central Government has now asked the states to complete the work by March 2012,” said Subash Gupta, Deputy Director (Urban Development, Directorate).

However, work under the housing projects at Ram Nagar Kusth Ashram (27 houses), Shanti Kusth Rog Ashram (28) and Rotary Kusth Rog Ashram (34) located in Dehradun is on the verge of completion.

In comparison to Dehradun, the cities of Haridwar and Nainital have shown a considerable progress. In Pandewala (Haridwar) work is in progress in different stages for building 96 houses. In Durgapur (Nainital), where 200 houses are to be built, the PWD has built the boundary wall. While in Narayannagar (Nainital) where 141 houses are to be built the land has to be transferred by the Forest Department.

Dehradun, September 16
The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has asked the Uttarakhand Government to ensure discontinuation of practice of glue traps to kill rodents in the state.

Expressing strong concern over the use of cruel techniques like glue traps in killing of rodents, the AWBI has shot off a letter to the Chief Secretary asking him to ensure immediate discontinuation of such cruel techniques.

Maj-Gen RM Kharb (retd), Chairman, AWBI, in the letter held that glue traps were extremely cruel method to kill rodents.

Glue boards, also known as sticky traps, involve traps that are extremely sticky with non-drying adhesive on one side of its rigid flat surface so that small animals get stuck to the glue boards by their feet or by their fur when they attempt to run across these.

Once captured on a glue trap, an animal is unable to free itself from the adhesive and while struggling to free itself, it brings its additional body parts in contact with the adhesive. Glue traps do not kill rodents although trapped animals will eventually die from exposed dehydration, starvation, suffocation, predation or killed by humans.

Animals can also die from injuries or blood loss as they try to chew their own body parts in an attempt to escape from the trap.

Kharb held that the available evidence clearly suggested that the use of glue traps caused unnecessary pain and suffering to the rodents and was against the spirit of the Prevention of Cruelty to the Animals Act 1960.

“Use of glue traps for controlling rats is in contravention of the provisions contained in the Prevention of Cruelty to the Animals Act 1960. Thus the use of glue traps must be discontinued in favour of other humane methods such as regulation”, the letter held.

Meanwhile, the AWBI chief has also asked the Director-General of Foreign Trade to issue appropriate directions to prohibit the manufacture, sale and use of glue traps. It has also asked the Indian Pest Control Association to issue appropriate advisories to its members.

Nainital, September 16
The Champawat district administration has ordered that entrepreneurs interested in setting up industrial units in the district be allocated land on a priority basis.

These instructions were given by the District Magistrate, Dr Pankaj Pandey, at a review meeting of the District Udyog Mitra held at Champawat recently.

Pandey has made it clear that the dilly-dallying approach with regards to making land available to entrepreneurs would not be tolerated. He has also called upon the senior functionaries of the Industries Department to served notices on those entrepreneurs who have not started industrial units despite the land having been allocated to them. The Industries Department has also been asked to carry out regular inspections of the units that have been set up and has asked the officials to prepare a road map with regards to the implementation of the Special Integrated Scheme.

He has laid emphasis on the establishment of bigger units that have the capacity to employ a greater number of people. He has pointed out that too much emphasis should not be laid on small units like flour mills, bakeries, etc. Pandey has pointed out that the larger units have the potential to check emigration of the youth from the region.

He was disappointed at the fact that nothing visible has taken place in the district with regards to the industrial development. He has ordered the officials to make extra efforts in finding the markets for coal being manufactured from pine needles and also prepare a plan for horticultural development on the piece of land allocated earlier to a cement plant at Chamaniya Chaur.

The entrepreneurs present at the meeting apprised the administration of the problems being faced by them on various counts.

The General Manager in charge of the District Industries Centre, GB Joshi, said various issues related to the industrial development of the area were discussed at length during the meeting. He disclosed that the department aimed at setting up 65 industrial units in the current financial year for which the process had been initiated with regards to 28 units. He also related that various banks have been approached for granting a loan of Rs 107.44 lakh for the setting up of 11 small enterprises. Champawat happens to be among the most backward districts of the state when it comes to industrial development. Tough terrain, ignorance on the part of the successive state governments and the failure to draw investors have been the main causes for the area remaining dependant primarily on agriculture.

Dehradun, September 16
The district administration has decided to recover the entire amount earned by the authorities of the Rangers’ College ground in the past 14 years.

Officials are preparing a notice asking the college authorities to deposit the amount earned by it in the past 14 years.

The SDM had also installed an ownership board outside the gate of the ground on Wednesday. Sources said the administration was expecting a gain of Rs 46 crore.

SDM Manmohan Singh said the administration had given 23 beeghas of land to the college on a lease for 99 years that ended in 1997. However, after that the college never approached the administration for the renewal of the lease or to make it freehold. Moreover, it had also failed to pay the rent to the administration. Sources said the institution was supposed to pay one-fourth of its earnings to the administration, but it never did. “The land was given to the college to use it as a playground. But they are using the land for private and cultural functions that is against the rules,” the SDM said.

However, college representative said the action was one-sided and they were never asked about the same. — TNS

Dehradun, September 16
SGRR, Bindal, got past Seven Oaks 2-1 during the third ONGC Ram Bahadur Chhetri Memorial Football Tournament at Ambedkar Stadium here today.

Sachin scored the first goal in the 18th minute for the winning team followed by Siddharth in the 28th minute. Nipolocha (36) remained the lone scorer of the Seven Oaks team.

In another match, KV ONGC drew with KV FRI 1-1. The match ended with a tie- breaker round in which KV ONGC beat KV FRI 6-5.

Tomorrow, Colonel Brown will take on Kasiga International School and Carman School, Prem Nagar, will meet Carman School, Dalanwala.