Dehradun, October 17
It will be for the first time after a gap of five years that the quarrying will take place on the riverbed of the Song river at two positions -- known as the Song 1 and the Song II -- from November 1 to May 30, 2012. Quarrying on the Song I and II has been permitted till 2019.

The Forest Development Corporation, Uttarakhand (FDCU), is expecting permission for the Song III and the Jakhan I and II in the existing season. Environment clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) for the Song, Mussoorie, is yet to be taken.

With the permission of quarrying, officials of the FDCU are claiming that the cost of building material will come down by half and the employment will be generated to hundreds of people involved in this business.

The officials, the FDCU clarified, would also begin patrolling to check the illegal quarrying by the mining mafia. This will include barricading exit points.

The quarrying in the Song I and II has been permitted up to five lakh cubic metre, which will give revenue of Rs 5 crore in one season.

If the Song III and the Jakhan I and II is also included, the revenue will go up to Rs 25 crore.

General Manager, Production, FDCU, Vinod Kumar said, “We are taking permission from the High Court, Nainital, on case-to-case basis as the High Court made it mandatory to take the clearance of the MoEF under the Environment Impact notification. In matter of the Song I and II, we took the MoEF clearance in 2006 but just then, another notification made it compulsory to take further clearance from the National Board for Wild Life. We fought against it as the clearance from the NBWL was only needed if any activity is carried out within parks and sanctuaries and, in our case, the quarrying was to be done outside. The High Court made it a must to take clearance from the NBWL citing that the stretch from the Yamuna to the Sarda came under the Shivalik Elephant Reserve. The entire episode consumed 5 years. We have also sought all clearances for the Jakhan I and II by now.”

Contrary to the normal quarrying cycle which starts from October 1 and lasts up to June 30, this year, it has been revised from November 1 to May 31.

“The way it is raining from the month of May up to the end of October, the quarrying dates have been fixed accordingly,” he said.

Dehradun, October 17
In protest against poor condition of roads, members of the Mahanagar Congress Committee, Dehradun, burnt an effigy of the BJP-led state government at Clock Tower here today.

Led by Congress leader Deep Vohra, they also raised slogans against the government.

Vohra said due to the alleged apathetic attitude of the government, roads were in a poor shape. They also raised slogans against the PWD.

Vohra said if the government failed to get the roads repaired soon, they would be forced to launch an agitation.

Dehradun, October 17
Under the banner of the Anganwari Karyakarti/Sevika Karamchari Union, Uttarakhand, members of anganwari workers held a protest in support of their demands here today.

The protesters took out a march raising slogans against the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand with a motive to gherao his house, but were barricaded by the police force at Hathibarkala.

The anganwari workers gathered at the Parade Ground and later a memorandum was submitted to him demanding the issuance of an order ensuring honorarium of Rs 5,000 to the officials.

“We have already intensified our protest. If no conclusion comes out of it, the state government will be responsible for future action,” said Asha Rawat, general secretary of the union.

However, the anganwari workers were demanding the release of the amount set aside by the Central Government for the Cooked Food Programme at anganwari centres, filling of vacant posts advertised by the state government and Diwali bonus.

Dehradun, October 17
Sampling teams today seized five drums containing about 60 kg of ghee, believed to be spurious, from Hanuman Chowk. The drums were brought in an autorickshaw from Raipur.

The person believed to have come to deliver the ghee to the shopkeepers at Hanuman chowk, fled the spot. The sampling team of the Food Safety Authority, however, managed to seize the drums.

The ghee is suspected to be adulterated and it had been transported to the dealer network of Dehradun. “The samples will be sent to the Rudrapur testing laboratory and then the case will be registered. We have informed the police about the incident,” said Designate Officer GC Kandwal.

Sources claim that initial interrogation found that some persons had been preparing refined oil and ghee by using essence and some other chemicals and these were being supplied to shops and other dealers.

The team also took samples of milk from Anil Mawa store located at the Saharanpur road. The demand for ghee, oil and milk products has risen sharply due to the festive season.

Mussoorie, October 17
Oak Grove School can take pride in producing four stalwarts who went on to represent India in the Olympics during the initial period of Indian hockey from 1928-1936 also known as the “Golden Era of the game”.

The dominance of the school can be ascertained by the fact that four former student players namely Eric Pinniger (1928 to 1932), Leslie Charles Hammond (1928 to 1932), Richard James Allen (1928 to 1936) and Richard John Carr (1932) represented the country in the Olympics and brought laurels not only for the country but also for the school in Mussoorie.

Anil Verma, Special Judge, Sagar (MP), and person who is prominently associated with Indian hockey, speaking on the sidelines of the All-India John Carr Tournament in Mussoorie, said the most celebrated player from the school was Eric Pinniger, vice-captain of the 1928 Olympic team that defeated Holland in the final. He was regarded as the best centre-half of the world at that time.

Another former student Richard Allen was an excellent goalkeeper and represented India in three consecutive Olympics and in 10 matches conceded only two goals of which one goal was scored by the USA in 1932 Olympics, while he was busy signing autographs!

The match was won by India with a record number of goals 24-1 and was registered in the Guinness Book of World Records, too. Leslie Hammond, another student of the school, was defender and represented the country in two Olympics.

Another player, Richard John Carr, was a forward who played as left or right winger along side Major Dhyan Chand, the wizard of hockey, in the 1932 Olympics. He scored one goal against the USA that year.

However, Verma blamed the deteriorating standards in the game solely on the continuous bickering taking place among various federation members over petty issues.

Verma believed that the members running the federations should sink all differences and concentrate on promoting the sport at the school-level along with improving the infrastructure so that the players could compete with others internationally.

“Holland has super-turfs (The synthetic floor on which hockey is played now) in more than 50 schools in one city whereas we are still struggling for one super-turf in each state” added Verma.

Still hopeful of the revival, he affirmed that if the federations were able to put their act together, the glorious days of hockey were not far away and India could retain its position at the top once again.

Mussoorie, October 17
State Education Minister Matbar Singh Kandari, during his visit to the Rural Sports and Cultural Festival being organised in Bhatoli village, Tehri Garhwal, yesterday, announced that Government Middle School in the village will be upgraded to high school. He also commended the efforts of the Bhatoli Cultural and Sports Committee for organising such festivals that can help the rural population to showcase talent. The minister said the government had decided to ensure that at least two teachers at the basic level and three at the junior-high school level were present in every government school. He said the teachers had also been directed to report on time and any negligence would not be tolerated.

He further said the government, under the guidance of Chief Minister BC Khanduri, was committed to providing quality education to the students.

Highlighting the achievements of the state government, he said the LT teachers’ appointment procedure would provide over 3,000 jobs to the youth. On the corruption issue, he claimed that the BJP-led state government had introduced several laws to curb corruption at the grass-roots level and in this context, a new department had also been incorporated to deal with the menace. However, he was of the view that the menace of corruption could not be curbed by introducing laws only, but the will of the people to restrain themselves from indulging in corrupt practices was also required.

Kandari, who was the chief guest, also gave prizes and awards. President of the Bhatoli Sports and Cultural Committee Kunwar Singh Chauhan thanked the minister for accepting their demand for the upgrading of the school.

Dehradun, October 17
Rajpur MLA Ganesh Joshi inaugurated a community centre at Vijay Colony here today. The minister claimed that: “The BJP has always worked in public interest and for the welfare of the people.”

Babita Sahotra, municipal councillor, Kamal, Rajkumar Rajoria, Subhash Balmiki, Devi Singh, Sunita and Savitri were present on the occasion.

Mussoorie, October 17
The much-awaited All-India Inter-school Hockey Tournament, which is being organised by Oak Grove School in collaboration with the Alumni Association to mark the birth centenary celebrations of its former student and illustrious hockey player Richard John Carr, began at the school with much fanfare today. Carr represented India at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932.

The chief guest on the occasion was Lt-Gen Eric Kerr (retd), who is a former student of the school, inaugurated the tournament by cutting the ceremonial ribbon. He was accompanied by Anil Verma, Special Judge at Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, and Harjeet Lamba, the only Indian student enrolled in Oak Grove School in 1949.

The inaugural match was played between Oak Grove School and Modern School (Delhi) which Oak Grove won 5-0. Shariq Scored the first goal in the 8th minute while the second goal was scored by Ajay in the 13th minute. The third and fourth goals were scored in the 18th and 20th minute by Amarjeet and the fifth goal came through Azhar in the fag end of the match. In other fixtures Public School (Nabha) defeated St Georges College (Mussoorie) 2-0. Yadvendar Public School (Patiala) defeated Aryan School (Dehradun) by a huge margin in the last match of the day.

Addressing the gathering, Gen Kerr said it was indeed an honour to inaugurate the tournament of such a stature commemorating the 100th birth anniversary of Olympian Richard John Carr who was a student of the school in 1928.

More than 12 teams are participating in the tournament namely Delhi Public School Patna, Sainik School (Kapurthala), Punjab Public School (Nabha), Yadvendar Public School (Patiala), La Martinier School (Lucknow), Modern School (Delhi), LB School (Jhansi), St Georges College(Mussoorie), Gurunanak School, Moravian Institute and Aryan School, all the three from Dehradun.

Dehradun, October 17
Kendriya Vidyalaya-Hathibarkala (number one), got the better of Kendriya Vidyalaya-ITBP 7-3 in the boys’ sub-junior category on the inaugural day of the District-Level Handball Tournament being organised by the District Sports Office at Parade Ground here today.

Nitesh scored five goals and Aman netted two goals for KV- Hathibarkala while Himanshu of the ITBP chipped in with two goals for KV-ITBP, which lost the well-fought battle ultimately. In the girls’ sub-junior section, Kendriya Vidyalaya-Hathibarkala (number one) and Kendriya Vidyalaya-ITBP drew on 2-2. Monika and Aruna scored identical two goals each for KV-Hathibarkala and KV-ITBP, respectively.

Earlier, Chief Guest Col KS Mall (retd) inaugurated the game. He interacted with the players and encouraged them to do well ahead.

District Sports Officer Dr Dharmendra Bhatt and Deputy District Sports Officer Rajesh Mamgain were also present on the occasion.

Dehradun, October 17
Shivalik Institute surpassed the JB Institute of Technology (JBIT) by 94 runs in the UTU Inter-college Cricket Tournament at Raipur today.

Choosing to bat first, Shivalik set a target of 176 runs for six wickets in 25 overs. Openers, Amit (36) and Vijay (42), were the main scorers. Vishal also chipped in with a knock of 26 runs. Ajay of the JBIT took two wickets while Dharmendra and Parvesh got a wicket each.

The JBIT could score only 68 runs in 20.3 overs. Abhinav (15) and Parvesh (24) were the main scorers. Aditya claimed five wickets and Sarvan got three wickets for Shivalik to play an important role in the win.

Dehradun, October 17
It was double delight for Stadium Trainees today as they won both boys’ under-14 and under-17 league matches during the District-level Basketball Tournament held at the Parade Ground.

In the boys’ under-14 match, Stadium Trainees outplayed Army School, Birpur 22-4. The Trainees won the first two quarters easily with 9-0, 8-2. However, in the third quarter Army School beat its rivals 2-0. The Trainees retaliated strongly in the last quarter drubbing its opponent 5-0. Kuldeep (11 points) was the top scorer for the winning team while Snehashish scored four points for Army School.

In another boys’ Under-17 match, Stadium Trainees continued their victory march thrashing the same rival Army School, Birpur 27-5. The one-sided score remained 12-5, 4-0, 8-0, 3-0 in the Trainees’ favour.

Abhishek Pal (10 points) and Mohammad Kismat (10 points) played a pivotal role in the win of the Trainees. For Army School, Vivek chipped in with five points but his effort failed to save his team from defeat. Meanwhile, the last league match of the girls’ section will be played at 4 pm tomorrow.