Dehradun, September 22
The Forest Research Institute today came out openly in support of its claim over the Rangers College ground that is being disputed by the district administration here as the state government’s property, citing the end of the lease period with the institute as the reason behind the acquisition of the ground.

Strengthening the FRI’s claim over the Cross Road-situated Rangers College ground, Director, FRI, Dr SS Negi today accused the Dehradun administration of being poorly informed about the ownership of the ground.

“After the end of the FRI’s initial lease period from 1880 to 1907, the Rangers College ground ownership was transferred to the FRI, which has been confirmed from the municipal records”, Negi said. He also held that Military Hospital, Dehradun, had given the Rangers College ground on lease to the FRI and the District Dehradun administration was nowhere in the picture.

The Director, FRI, said after taking permission from the Union Environment and Forests Ministry, they would challenge the district administration’s wrong claim over Rangers College ground with the Nainital High Court.

“The ground property belongs to the FRI and the district administration was creating unnecessary confusion. We will take up the matter with the court”, he added.

The FRI and the Dehradun district administration came at loggerheads a week back when the administration ordered for the acquisition of the college ground asserting that the institute had not renewed its lease agreement for the ground which expired in 1997.

The district administration also held that the entire amount earned by the authorities of the college ground in the past 14 years will be recovered from the institute. The administration also put up a small notice board on the gate of the ground opening to the road saying, “The property belongs to the state government”.

The Green activists of the Citizens For Green Doon (CFGD) had also staged a protest at the gate of this ground some days back resenting the acquisition. The protesters had apprehended that the state government would promptly change the land use of the property and convert this open space in the heart of the town to another concrete jungle.

Dehradun, September 22
Demanding implementation of the national vendor scheme in Uttarakhand, a large number of vendors under the banner of the Laghu Vyapar Association took out a march from the Parade Ground till the residence of the Uttarakhand Chief Minister here today.

Led by Sanjay Chopra, state president of the association, the vendors from all over the state participated in the protest march but were barricaded by the police force while on way to the Chief Minister’s residence at Haathibarkala.

Chopra said, “We have demanded the state government to make different schemes and policies for the vendors of Uttarakhand so that they could make the maximum benefit. We have urged the Uttarakhand BJP government to stop following the policies formed by the government of Uttar Pradesh.”

Dehradun, September 22
Irked over the non-fulfilment of their demands, three workers, Chandi Bhandari, Jajman Negi and Naveen Barthwal, who get employment under the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), climbed on a mobile phone tower near the Vidhan Sabha complex in the morning here today.

To bring down the protesting trio from the tower, a police team was deployed at the spot. The Circle Officer (Nehru Colony), Superintendent of Police (City) and the City Magistrate visited the spot.

The protesters have threatened to intensify their protest against the state government if their demands were not met immediately.

Meanwhile, a large number of MGNREGA workers held a march to the Rispana Bridge to press the state government for the fulfilment of their demands, including the upgrade of junior engineers, computer operators and gram rojgar sewaks working as daily wage earners to contractual workers.

Nainital, September 22
The Kumaon region is witnessing the unique phenomenon of flowering of the jyontilla plant these days. The unique aspect of the plant is that it flowers once every 12 years. Its flowering these days is the first one in the current century. Famous photographer and wildlife enthusiast Anup Sah has captured the flower in the areas around Nainital recently.

According to Sah, “This plant grows at a height of 3,000 ft to 7,000 ft above sea level from July to October. The plant grows on a hedge having a height ranging from 2 ft to 7 ft and the flower is dark purple in colour. Despite belonging to the family of angiosperms, flowering does not take place annually but once every 12 years and the plant withers after that”.

Belonging to the Echathesy family, its botanical name is Echymenthira Gossipina while in Kumaon it is referred to as jaunilla or jyontilla. In the Chaudas valley area, it is known as kandali. The plant Teracanthus or Strawbilanthus, which belongs to the same family, is also found in close proximity of jyontilla. While the leaves of jyontilla are spongy, those of teracanthus are like a web and the latter flowers every year.

According to Sah, “I first noticed this flower in 1987 and I recorded its flowering in 1999 and now again this year. I have witnessed its three flowering cycles. I feel that it needs to be researched much more deeply as it will now flower in 2023. I have noticed the flower right from China Peak to the areas of Riya village, Beluvakhan, Patwadangar, Dogaon and Suyal Badi”.

The plant was also grown in the botanical garden at Narayan Nagar by former Forest Ranger Kunwar Singh Rawat and they have also started flowering. The wonderful aspect is that the plants may be growing in different terrains, yet they flower at the same time, Sah pointed out.

He has narrated that the plant adds to the beauty of the hills and draws a lot of honey bees for collecting nectar from it.

Sah said: “The new generation might not be paying much attention to the plant but the aged women of the region have full knowledge about it and use its leaves as fodder”.

The flower has immense cultural importance in the Chaudas valley area of the Kumaon region as the residents mark its flowering every 12 years with the Kandali festival. The locals destroy the hedges after a series of rituals. The event draws a large number of tourists and photographers from across the world.

The Kandali festival is celebrated in the Chaudas valley of Pithoragarh to celebrate the defeat of Zorawar Singh’s army, which actually attacked the area from Ladakh in 1841. There are several folklores associated with this festival.

Women move out in procession in their conventional manner to destroy the kandali plants, where soldiers were supposed to be hidden during the attack. The demoralised army is said to have returned along the Kali river vandalising and looting the villages on the way. The women had resisted them and this is actually re-enacted during the festival.

Another story tells of a boy who died upon applying the paste of the root from the bush known as Kang-Dali on his wound. Enraged and angered, his mother cursed the shrub and ordered the Shauka women to pull up the root of the Kang-Dali plant off its ground upon reaching its full bloom, which occurs once in 12 years.

Dehradun September 22
Wynberg Allen clinches the running trophy for the inaugural edition of the prestigious All-India Shri Naveen Agarwalji Memorial Debate Championship held at Unison World School here today.

The championship witnessed a vibrant and highly competitive debating session held in the memory of Naveen Agarwalji, an educationist and founder of premier institutes of higher learning, Dehradun Institute of Technology, Institute of Management Studies and Unison Law College.

To mark his birth anniversary, the management of Unison World School hosted an annual session of debating with the introduction of this All-India Debate Competition.

The event began with the welcome of David Hilton, President, Dehradun Council Schools’ Association and renowned educationist. A floral tribute was paid to Naveen Agarwalji by the chief guest along with Veena Singh, Principal, Unison World School.

As many as 14 schools of the region participated in the competition whose theme was “The Common Man is no longer A Common Man.”

Each speaker came up with his opinion of defining the proposition and with suggestions that reflect the deep thought process and reflective ideology these youngsters of today possess.

Following it was the Turn-Coat session wherein each candidate picked a topic through a draw of lots, spoke for a minute on one aspect of it and with the sound of the buzzer reversed his opinion.

The winners of the inaugural session were:

Debate

FOR-- 1st Sanchi Ranyal, Ann Mary School, Dehradun; 2nd Devvrat Joshi, St Thomas’ College, Dehradun; 3rd Harmony Singh, Wynberg School, Barloweganj.

AGAINST-- 1st Huzaifa Rather, Unison World School, Dehradun; 2nd Osheen Guleria, Doon International School, Dehradun; 3rd Ganga Shinghal, Wynberg Allen School, Barloweganj;

TURN-COAT-- 1st Harmony Singh, Wynberg Allen School, Barloweganj; 2nd Shelby Thompson Woodstock School, Mussoorie.

The programme concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by the head girl of Unison World School and also thanked all school principals for sending their teams without which this would not have been such a successful event.

Dehradun, September 22
A one-goal effort by Manish Khatri led City Young to a win over Doon Star in a knockout match of the Doon Callisto Football Tournament here today.

The two tough teams left no stone unturned in the match to stay in the championship. City Young managed to have the edge over Doon Star, scoring a single goal through Khatri in the 23rd minute.

Tomorrow, Vijay Cantt will take on Doon Valley in the first semifinal while in the second semifinal City Young will meet Akranta on Saturday.

The final will be held on September 25.

Dehradun, September 22
Col Brown School got past Doon Valley Public School 1-0 to register the final berth today during the 3rd ONGC Ram Bahadur Chhetri Memorial Football Tournament under way at Ambedkar Stadium.

In the first semifinal of the championship, it was the goal of Aishwarya Nath in the 23rd minute that did the trick for Col Brown.

Rival Doon Valley put up a good competition against Col Brown which led in the first half.

The second half of the important match witnessed some highly volatile actions but to the dismay of the two teams, neither succeeded.

Meanwhile, the second semifinal will be played tomorrow.

Mussoorie, September 22
Local residents, gathered at the SDM office here today for the renewal of old ration cards, had to return empty handed due to unavailability of new cards that have not been printed yet thus showing the callous attitude of the district supply office.

The residents had come with much hope considering that the administration had fixed Thursday for obtaining new ration cards along with the renewal of the old ones but were aggrieved when they were informed by the supply inspector that the process could not be initiated and they would have to wait.

Municipal Council ward member Jai Kumar Gupta, who had also arrived to assist the people from his ward, expressed his dissatisfaction on the unavailability of cards here.

He also said the District Supply Officer had assured him one month back that the newly printed ration cards would be available at the Mussoorie office but so far there was no sign of their availability.

Rajni, the housewife from Barlowganj, said that they were told about the ration cards were being distributed at the office here but after reaching the spot the picture was totally different making their visit a waste of time.

Supply Inspector Maya Devi attributed the delay to unavailability of new ration cards and apprised the mediapersons that the new one had not been printed yet. But she was hopeful that within a few weeks the problem would be addressed.

Dehradun, September 22
Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College (GBPEC) Pauri beat Dehradun Institute of Technology (DIT) Dehradun 3-1 in the final to win the Uttarakhand Technical University Inter-Collegiate Football Tournament today.

Atul Prohit scored a brace in the match to help GBPEC register win. He struck in the 32nd and 85th minutes of the play while Akash Chhetri (73rd) chipped in with a goal for the wining team.

Sirjan Shah (22th) was the lone scorer for DIT.

Dehradun, September 22
Folk singer Chander Singh Rahi held a lecture and demonstration on traditional folk art at the Culture Department auditorium.

The famous folk artiste gave a demonstration of the traditional musical instruments like “hoodki: and dhol and also gave a lecture on the traditional folk singing that is prevalent in the state.

The Culture Department has been organising lectures and demonstration concerts for students and is also trying to document these masters.

In the districts of the state, the Guru Shishya Parampara programme has been launched to make the people conversant with the traditional singing styles of Uttarakhand and also bring the legendary surviving folk artistes in the public arena.

Dehradun, September 22
Considering the best results of St Joseph’s Academy since 1934 in the examinations of both the ICSE Board and the ISC Board, the school has been ranked first in the category of day schools in Uttarakhand.

The award has been given on the basis of the results of a survey conducted by “Education World” (a magazine) of 400 leading schools across the country on 14 criteria.

The representatives of schools from all over India attended the function of “India’s Most Respected Schools Survey Awards 2011” which was held on September 17 in New Delhi. — TNS