Plumber electrocuted in Wilfield School
Dehradun, November 3
In a tragic incident, plumber Narender Singh Rawat died of electrocution on the rooftop of Wilfield School situated at Ajabpur Kala this morning when he came in contact with 33 KV high tension wires (HT) passing over the school building.

Teachers take out march
Dehradun, November 3
Demanding the implementation of the package announced by the University Grants Commission (UGC), members of the Uttarakhand Vishwavidyalaya Mahavidyalaya Sangharsh Samiti took out a march here today.

Dehradun, November 3
In a tragic incident, plumber Narender Singh Rawat died of electrocution on the rooftop of Wilfield School situated at Ajabpur Kala this morning when he came in contact with 33 KV high tension wires (HT) passing over the school building.

A piece of rooftop made of fibresheet also blew off with the blast but it did not harm anyone as the school staff and children were attending a morning ceremony in the playground at that time.

The family of the deceased did not register any police case against the school till late evening.

The school authorities also tried to wash their hands off the incident by saying that they had no knowledge of the presence of plumber in the school. The residents were angry with the school authority for having built the school close to the wires.

It was in the morning at 9, a strong blast drew the attention of the school staff, children and neighbour and with that a piece of rooftop too crumbled. The plumber who was there for some work had died on the spot due to electrocution.

Rakesh Kala, Principle of the school, blamed officials of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) for turning a deaf ear to their complaints filed in May, June and July for shifting of HT lines from near the school.

Managing Director, UPCL, Anil Kumar Jain asked the principal to show the receipts of the complaints filed by him to UPCL. He assured him of looking into the matter.

The school authority had no intention to provide financial help to the family of the deceased. Kala said, “We did not call the plumber. Since there was no water tank on the rooftop, we have no idea why he went there. The school will not pay anything but can continue to provide education to both his children who are studying in the school.”

Councillor of the area Manmohan Dhanai belied the claims made by Kala saying that it was the school staff who called plumber again for work when he returned his home in the morning.

Dehradun, November 3
Demanding the implementation of the package announced by the University Grants Commission (UGC), members of the Uttarakhand Vishwavidyalaya Mahavidyalaya Sangharsh Samiti took out a march here today.

The members, including teachers, gathered at the Parade Ground and then marched towards the Secretariat where they staged a demonstration and submitted a memorandum to the official concerned. It is to be forwarded to Chief Minister BC Khanduri.

In the memorandum, the members have demanded that the age of retirement for teachers should be raised form 60 years to 65 years as announced by the Central Government. They have also demanded early payment of the arrears pertaining to the implementation of the recommendations the Sixth Pay Commission.

Mussoorie, November 3
On the concluding day of the inter-school athletics meet, during which six schools participated in various events, Oak Grove School was declared the overall champions at Jharipani, Mussoorie today.

In the individual category, Garima of Oak Grove was adjudged the best athlete in the junior division (girls) while Aastha of St Clares School was declared the best athlete in the senior division (girls). In junior division (boys) Amarjeet from Oak Grove was declared the best athlete while Ranjan was declared the best athlete in senior division (boys). In the relay race, the Oak Grove team won gold medals in all the divisions.

In 100-metre dash, Ranjan in the boys’ section and Anisha in the girls’ section, both from Oak Grove, were the winners.

The chief guests on the occasion were former MLA Rajpur Ganesh Joshi, Municipal Council President OP Uniyal and Principal of Oak Grove School.

Haridwar, November 3
Showing concern over the ill condition of cows nowadays, the Chief Minister, Major-Gen Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri (retd), has said that enhanced efforts are required to protect the cow in accordance with the human ideals, religious values and Indian culture.

General Khanduri was speaking as the chief guest at a programme organised by the Samanvay Gaushala Sewa Trust on the pious occasion of Gopashtami at Bharat Mata Mandir here this morning.

He accepted that the Gau Raksha Ayog founded by the BJP government a few years back had not lived up to the expectations and directed the members of the commission to work more diligently in providing the holy status which the cow has in the Indian context.

“It’s a matter of concern that cow which is considered as holy as the Ganga and is a source of livelihood for the millions of Indians is not being protected and properly taken care of. More sincere efforts are needed and it was only our government which four years ago prohibited slaughtering of the cow in the state,” said the Chief Minister who offered fodder to the cows at the newly built cow shelter at Bhoopatwala.

Efforts such as those which also serve as inspiration for others should be initiated for the protection of the cow, he said. Assuring the trust of full cooperation from the state government, General Khanduri said enhanced efforts would be made to revive pastures to serve as grazing spots for cows in the region.

Inaugurating the cow shelter named “Gaushala Sadan”, the Chief Minister also praised the efforts of former Shankaracharya Swami Satyamitranand Giriji Maharaj in cow protection. The latter said said cow’s milk didn’t differentiate between any religion and caste as it’s utilised by everyone so it’s imperative that every human being respected the holy cow.

Swami Satyamitranand also presented a cheque for Rs 1 lakh to the Chief Minister as contribution towards the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

At present, 80 cows have been put up at the newly built cow shelter, which is the idea of social activists Nyay Mitra Sharma and ID Sharma Shastri.

Those who were present on the occasion included Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik, legislator Prem Chand Agarwal, Chairman of the State Natural Disaster Management Committee Tirath Singh Rawat, Trust president ID Sharma, Swami Brahmanand, Swami Lalitanand, Swami Harichetanand, Swami Mitranand.

Dehradun, November 3
An extravagant 12-day event, Saras Mela-2011, began at the Parade Ground here yesterday.

The Indian government and the Uttarakhand government’s rural development departments have collectively organised the mela.

Over 20 states of the country are participating in it.

Chief Minister B C Khanduri inaugurated the fair.

The organiser of the fair, Sharad Sundriyal said, “The mela is conducted to encourage and strengthen artisans hailing from the BPL families who are not beneficiaries of the state and the Central government schemes. It also upgrades skills of the artisans through industrial exposure and training.”

“Like every year, this year also all the artisans have assembled to showcase their skills and to seek employment opportunities,” he added.

Dehradun, November 3
The final of the quiz competition at Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) was held here today.

After a close competition between the respective sections, the Chandragupta section lifted the coveted cup with 200 points followed by the Shivaji section (187.5 points), the Ranjit section(140 points) and the Pratap section(130 points). The following cadets participated from each section:-

Pratap Section: Cadet Prakhar Kaushik, Cadet Ashish Dahiya, Cadet Abhijeet Vaish and Cadet Devesh Mukherjee.

Ranjit Section: Cadet Vijayant Rana, Cadet Ankit Singh, Cadet Piyush Panwar and Cadet Chandrashekhar.

Shivaji Section: Cadet Avinash Chhetry, Cadet Shivam Sharma, Cadet Utkarsh Baru and Cadet Chetan Kumar.

Chandragupta Section : Cadet Aditya Kalsotra, Cadet Anuj Saxena, Cadet Vishal Shaw and Cadet Sachin Kumar.

Col. Pankaj Kumaria, Commandant, RIMC, was the chief guest at the prize distribution function. He was delighted to see the vast knowledge and talent among the cadets and encouraged them to keep it up.

The other dignitaries present were Lt-Col Ambarish Tiwari and Wing Cdr SK Thapliyal. The jury consisted of CS Vishwakarma, DN Thapliyal and PN Naik. The scorer of the event was Thamil Selven.

The quiz masters for the event were Neelam Kaushik, Taiyaba Khatoon, Rachna Malhotra, Sant Kumar, Shishupal and Brijesh Chauhan. The time keepers were Cadet Ayushkam Pandey and Cadet Tarun Dhanik. The overall in charge of the event was PK Sharma.

Dehradun, November 3
Under the aegis of Person Education India, The Summer Valley School organised the annual quiz, Quintessence 2011, on the school campus here today. The team of Kaushubh Chaturvedi and Amartya Ghosh of Brightlands bagged the first position.

Six teams, out of twentyseven schools of Dehradun, were selected for the quiz through a preliminary test. These teams were from Cambrian Hall, Brightlands School, Summer Valley School, Doon International School, Touch Wood School and Scholars’ Home.

The theme of the quiz was “Books”. Andrew Scolt, vice-president from the Derek O’Brien and Associates, was the quiz master. He made the quiz very interesting and entertaining by his interaction with the audience and flawless conduct of the event.

Brightlands School stood first, Doon International School second while Touch Wood School was declared the third.

Dehradun, November 3
The Unison School in collaboration with Premier India Football Academy (PIFA), Mumbai, is organising a football coaching camp for the girl students from November 3 to 6.

Since its inception in 2007, the school has been organising these camps, which are very popular with students of the school and also other schools of Dehradun.

The students will be trained for four days by the UEFA Licensed coaches of world repute Connon Hannah and James Quinn, both from the Coaching Connexions Ltd. United Kingdom.

Anjali Shah from the PIFA, Mumbai, is the coordinator between Unison World School and the Coaching Connexions Ltd. U.K.

The camp was inaugurated by Trilok Singh Bisht, Dean of activities where the 32 participants were introduced to the coaches. After the warming up exercises, some basic techniques and skills were taught and finally the two teams played against each other to implement what they learnt.

Dehradun November 3
Garhwal Sports Academy got the better of Sports Stadium Mathura by 83 runs in the Uttarakhand Youth Twenty-20 Cricket Tournament held at the Survey Stadium here today.

Garhwal Sports won the toss and elected to bat first. The team set a target of 122 runs where Nipun (37) made the highest score. For Sports Stadium Mathura, Amit made the highest score of 15 runs in 12 balls.

In the second match, Garhwal Sports Academy edged past Sher-e-Punjab by 5 runs. The winning team achieved the target of 110 runs where Nipun (37) and Kunal (22) remained the highest scorer. Gurpreet of the other team was the highest scorer with 43 runs.

Meanwhile, Sher-E-Punjab won over Delhi Cricket League by 10 wickets in the third match.

Dehradun November 3
Welham Girls’ School thrashed Doon Cambridge by 56-10 in the Dehradun Council Schools’ Association Inter-School Senior Girls’ Basketball Tournament held at The Aryan School, here today.

The second match was played between St Judes School and Moravian Institute where St Judes won the match by 28-08.

Dehradun, November 3
A total of 21 models from all over Uttarakhand participated in the Miss Catwalk round, a sub-contest of the Miss Uttarakhand Contest 2011, held here today.

Rahul Tyagi, area manager, Seagram’s, Avantika Mohan, Shikha Raturi and Shikha Rawat, former participants of Miss Uttarakhand, adjudged the participating models. The contest is organised by Sinmit Communications.