Rift in Mussoorie Congress as MC members gun for MLA
Mussoorie, September 19
Mussoorie Municipal Council (MC) ward members criticised Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik and Congress MLA Jot Singh Gunsola in a hurriedly called press conference at the MC Camp office today.

Protest over unavailability of ration cards
Dehradun, September 19
Aggrieved over the unavailability of new ration cards, members of the Mahanagar Mahila Congress Committee today protested outside the office of the District Food and Supply.

Dehradun, September 19
Vijay Cantt knocked out Cantt Blue 3-0 during the Doon Callisto Football Tournament here today. Suraj (35th) scored the first goal of the match to open the account of Cantt Blue. This followed three back-to-back goals in the second half by Vijay Cantt. Nitin (56th), Arya (59th) and Bhuvan (65th) were the scorers.

The goal trail by the rival team put Cantt Blue in a fix, as they could not score even a single goal in the second half. A few attempts they made to net goals were derailed by the strong defenders of Vijay Cantt.

Mussoorie, September 19
Mussoorie Municipal Council (MC) ward members criticised Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik and Congress MLA Jot Singh Gunsola in a hurriedly called press conference at the MC Camp office today.

Ward member from the Hakmans compound Kedar Singh Chauhan targeting Madan Kaushik alleged that the MC had not seen any growth during his over 3-year tenure.

He also said no initiative had been taken by the minister in solving the existing problems of the MC, be it payment of salaries which had been pending for the past six months or initiating any other constructive work in the interest of the town.

Chauhan also alleged that the ornamental lights worth Rs 90 lakh had become redundant and stopped working due to its substandard quality. Chauhan also said the fact that the work of constructing houses under EWS schemes had been given to the Uttar Pradesh Nirman Nigam despite the presence of executive agencies in Uttarakhand. He demanded removal of the minister from the Urban Development Department.

Another ward member Jasvir Kaur being critical of local MLA Jot Singh Gunsola alleged that he was bent upon stalling the constructive project proposed by the MC in the town namely that of toy train at the Camels Back road, the Town Hall construction or opening of college by opposing them.

She further said Jot Singh was indulging in cheap politics, thus hindering the development works in the town.

Most of the ward members opposing the minister and the local MLA today belonged to the Congress and with this the infighting among the Congress has come out in open that could be damaging to the party’s prospect in the coming Assembly elections.

However, a few Congress-supported ward members, Ramesh Bhandari, Nandlal, Subhasini Barthwal, Virendar Rawat, stayed away from the press meet announced here.

Ward members Sushil Kumar, Jai Kumar Gupta, Kanta Bisht were present.

Dehradun September 19
Members of the Uttarakhand Film and Artiste Joint Committee in favour of their demands took out a march from Hindi Bhawan to the Clock Tower here today.

A large number of artistes gathered with dhols and damaos (folk instrument) to join the demonstration.

The protesters gave a memorandum to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister demanding to constitute the Uttarakhand Film Board, announcement of the Uttarakhand Film Schemes and declare the dhol, damao, ransingha as the state’s musical instruments.

Meanwhile, the protesters also paid tributes to Hari Dutt Bhatt “Shailesh”, an eminent artist and father of actress Himani Shivpuri, on his demise today. 

Dehradun, September 19
Currently, a fierce tug of war is on between the Dehradun district administration and the Forest Research Institute (FRI) over the playing field of Rangers’ College situated on the Cross Road. The Dehradun District Magistrate had formally taken charge of the ground a couple of weeks ago. A small notice board has been put on the gate of the ground opening to the road saying, “The property belongs to the state government”. Both the gates of the grounds were thereafter locked by the officials of the district administration.

The swearing-in of new Chief Minister BC Khanduri on September 11 was also held on this spacious ground. Earlier on September 9, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank too had presided over a function on the same ground to celebrate the first anniversary of the Van Panchayats.

The stand of the Dehradun District Magistrate on the disputed ground is that it belongs to the state government and its lease to the Forest Research Institute (FRI) had expired many years ago. Its possession, therefore, stood automatically reverted to the state government. Meanwhile, the activists of the Citizens for Green Doon (CFGD) also staged a dharna at the gate of this ground protesting against its “take over”. The activists demanded that the ground be returned to the college since they apprehended the state government would promptly changed the “land use” of the property and convert this open space in the heart of the town to another concrete jungle.

Avdhash Kaushal of Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), a voluntary body, however, has a different take on this issue. He said both the Forest Research Institute and the state government had their own agendas that are similar in nature. The authorities of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) had also planned to construct a forest colony on this very ground and had even started construction in 1987 or thereabouts. It was only due to the persistent campaign by the then civil society that dissuaded the Forest Institute authorities from going ahead with their building plans.

The state government is already in an acquisitive mode and takes over by hook or crook any land either vacant or in use ostensibly for “public purpose”, which invariably means construction of some building or widening of road or even felling of trees. It has already played havoc with the Parade Ground, Gandhi Park and the Pavilion Ground.

However, the Forest Research Institute authorities strongly rebut the stand being taken by the district administration. They claim that the land was first taken on lease in 1883 by the FRI which was then known as Imperial Forest Research Institute & Colleges. Subsequently, however, the land was transferred to the Central government by the then government of United Provinces. According to them, the transfer was irrevocable and as such it has been with the FRI in perpetuity. An FRI official dared the District Magistrate to show the so-called lease deed, if any.

Meanwhile, The worst sufferer in this tug-of-war is St Thomas’ College which has been using this ground for several years as the play field of its students.

Dehradun, September 19
In search of fresh faces for the upcoming film of Karan Johar to be shot in Dehradun, Sinmit Communications organised final auditions here today. A total of 80 aspiring models and actors from different places participated in the event. Prior to the final auditions, two preliminary rounds were held where candidates were shortlisted on the basis of their acting skills.

“Karan Johar has given many blockbusters. If I get selected for the film, it will be a dream come true,” chuckled Priyanka Kaul, an aspiring actor.” The selected candidates will get the opportunity to work as junior artistes (acting) with the director for his upcoming film to be shot in Dehradun from October 20 this year. “The auditions were held to provide platform to upcoming models and actors. We want to encourage the talent of Uttarakhand and make them capable of universal recognition. I am sure of extracting the best talent,” Dalip Sindhi, Director, Sinmit Communications.

Dehradun, September 19
Fourth class employees of the Uttrakhand Forest Development Corporation cancelled their intent to go on fast today when noted socialite Ravinder Jugran assured them to fulfill their demands of grade enhancement and assured career promotion (ACP) within a week.

State president of the Fourth Class Employees Association of the corporation CP Semwal said the state government had not issued orders regarding the increase in their minimum grade pay by Rs 1,800 and promotion despite the fact that the matter had already been cleared by the Finance wing but pending with the Chief Minister’s office.

Ravinder Jugran’s assurance of fulfilling their demands within a week consoled the aggrieved employees who abandoned the idea of fast and returned to their work. 

Dehradun, September 19
After getting National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation from the University Grants Commission (UGC), the Dolphin (PG) Institute of Biomedical and Natural Sciences and the Pestle Weed College of Information and Technology have come under the category of reputed institutions.

The Dolphin institute has been awarded 2.81 points out of a total of four points by a NAAC team.

Arvind Gupta, chairman of the institute said, “During inspection, the NAAC team appreciated the management work culture and the standard of institutional work adopted by us.” Meanwhile, the Pestle Weed College of Information and Technology has been awarded 2.83 points. The institution had submitted a self-appraisal report to NAAC 10 months ago, following which it inspected the institution.

Prem Kashyap, chairman of the college, congratulated staff members for their dedication to achieve the honour. 

Dehradun, September 19
Employees of Surya Roshni at Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar will protest in front of the Chief Minister’s residence on Tuesday after their one-month-old dharna before the office of the SDM, Kashipur, failed to evoke any positive response on their demand to reinstate 3,400 employees of Surya Roshni Limited.

The owners locked the factory on August 8 after suspending 79 employees on the charges of indiscipline.

Deepak Saxena, treasurer of the Surya Roshni Labour Union, informed mediapersons saying, “The owner wants to replace old employees with contractual employees at lower salaries. It is their pre-planned conspiracy under which first he suspended seven employees. When we approached Assistant Labour Commissioner at Rudrapur, he suspended 71 more employees on August 8 and locked the premises without bothering to attend the hearings at the labour office.”

He said the administration took no notice of their dharna going on at the SDM’s office since the closure of the factory. “It has become difficult for us to survive without any salary. Our gratuity, PF and other emoluments are also lying with the owners.”

Saxena, however, admitted that the factory was paying them Rs 10,000 per month on time.

A highly placed official of the factory said the 79 employees who had been suspended were creating indiscipline for a long time by coming to the office drunk and indulging in brawl with their seniors and demanding overtime dues.

The matter was made complicated when the union insisted on their reinstatement and went on strike. The owner had offered the voluntary retirement scheme allowance to the willing employees. 

Players of ITITI, Jhajra (in dark blue) and KV IMA (in sky blue) in action in a match in the Ram Bahadur Chhetri Memorial Football Tournament in Dehradun on Monday. Tribune photo: Anil P Rawat

Dehradun, September 19
KV IMA qualified for the quarterfinals beating ITITI, Jhajra, 4-2 in a tiebreaker during the ongoing 3rd ONGC Ram Bahadur Chhetri Memorial Football Tournament held at Ambedkar Stadium here today. The well-fought encounter ended in a goalless draw. The two halves of the play saw a neck-and-neck contest between the two sides.However, none of them could succeed in scoring a goal. 

As the match ended 0-0 in the normal and extra time, the tiebreaker round was taken. Sushank Badoi, Jitender, Siddharth Gurung and Gaurav struck for KV IMA while Moshank and Amut scored for ITITI. Amutup and Taba missed the chances for ITITI. Tomorrow, Doon International School will play against Col Brown School and KV ONGC will battle it out against Doon Valley Public School in the quarterfinals.