Probe begins into Haridwar stampede 
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, November 11
A magisterial-level probe has begun into the Haridwar stampede incident on November 8, which claimed 20 lives.

Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Girdhari Singh Rawat has been appointed chief investigating officer in this case, who today inspected the Laljiwala area where the incident had taken place.

The ADM Girdhari said keeping in mind the sensitivity of the issue, he had already inspected the venue on the day of the incident. “We have carried out a detailed inspection of yajnashala. A still photography and video coverage of the area has also been done. It will help us during the investigation,” he added.

He further said Shantikunj activists who were on duty on the day of the incident had also been questioned in detail.

The ADM has urged people to come out with other details that could help in the investigation process. They could meet him personally at his office or sent it in writing, he added.

Meanwhile, a police team visited Shantikunj, where they inquired about the Yajyashala organisers against whom a case has been registered at the Kotwali police station.

Rishikesh-Karanprayag Railway Line
War of words fails to die down
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 11
The war of words between the leaders of the opposition, the Congress, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) refused to die down on the issue of the stone-laying function of the ambitious Rishikesh-Karanprayag railway line.

Union Defence Minister AK Antony along with Union Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi laid the foundation stone of the proposed railway line in the Garhwal Himalayas in the absence of Sonia Gandhi, who could not pay a visit due to indisposition on November 9.

With Assembly elections in February next year, both rival political parties left no stone unturned to claim credit for the railway line. In fact, it was the effort of Satpal Maharaj, Lok Sabha MP from Pauri Garhwal, which led to the sanctioning of the railway line.

The Congress planned the foundation stone function as a start of their election campaign by party president Sonia Gandhi.

The BJP government, led by Chief Minister BC Khanduri, was opposed to laying the foundation stone of the national project by Sonia Gandhi and even complained to the Prime Minister. There were efforts by former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari to project that the railway line had been sanctioned due to his efforts.

Later, Khanduri complained that he was not invited for such an important event in the state. In reply to the allegations, Satpal Maharaj and an arch political rival of Khanduri in a statement issued here today said it had been reliably learnt from the Railway Ministry that the Chief Minister was invited for the programme but he declined to accept it on the ground of business due to statehood functions slated for November 9.

Maharaj said it was a lie propagated by the Chief Minister that he was not invited for the function. He said Khanduri should have shown some grace while accepting the invitation for the programme, which was important not only for the socio-economic development of the Garhwal region but was also vital for strategic defence purposes on the China border.

In a scathing attack on the Chief Minister, Maharaj said Khanduri himself had never given a damn for the protocol. “During his earlier tenure as Chief Minister, he did not invite his own cabinet colleague Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank who was a Health Minister in his government to the inauguration of Srinagar Medical College,” he added.

Meanwhile, the BJP, finding itself in a bind on the issue, has raked up the issue of the Tanakpur-Bageshwar railway- line which had been pending for many years.

Bishan Singh Chufal, Uttarakhand BJP president, said the Central Government should sanction the Tanakpur-Bageshwar railway line which was equally important for the Kumoan region and also for defence purposes.

Protest against water crisis gathers pace
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, November 11
A score of civic organisations have joined hands in protest against a shortage of drinking water in Pithoragarh town.

They also took out a procession to the office of the Collectorate and raised slogans against state Drinking Water Minister Prakash Pant.

“The Jal Sansthan must assure a continuous supply of drinking water to the town and the laying of new pipelines in some areas, where people are dependent on Jal Sansthan tankers,” said Bhagwan Singh Rawat, a coordinator of the Payjal Aaraksan Samiti and organiser of the protest.

The protesters, including members of the samiti, the students’ union of the local PG college, the Trained Unemployed Organisation, the Students Federation of India and the New Bajeti Vikas Samiti, participated in the procession that passed through various areas before reaching the Collectorate.

“The minister has failed to improve water supply to the town despite repeated protests by residents,” alleged Rawat.

According to sources in the Jal Sansthan, owing to technical faults in a drinking water scheme at Ghat, water was not being supplied to some localities of the town for the past few days.

“Though the residents of Pithoragarh are reeling under the water shortage, we are making all efforts to supply water to the localities through tankers,” said DK Mishra, executive engineer of the Jal Sansthan.

However, Bhagwan Singh Rawat, who is leading the protest, alleged that: “The department has been supplying water to selected colonies only. The agitation will continue if the sansthan failed to take any action.”

The minister said to take care of drinking water supply systems in Champawat Pithoragarh and Didihat, a new office of the General Manager of the Jal Sansthan had been opened at the district headquarters, Pithoragarh.

“With this, the department will be able to function properly in these districts and burden on the General Manager office, Nainital, will also be reduced,” said Prakash Pant.

Science and Technology Congress from Nov 14
Tribune News Service

Nainital, November 11
The Sixth Uttarakhand State Science and Technology Congress will be held on the Soban Singh Jeena Campus of Kumaon University in Almora from November 14 to 16.

The theme of the Congress this year is “Mitigation of National Calamities with Special Reference to Uttarakhand”.

According to the Vice-Chancellor of Kumaon University Dr VPS Arora, “A total of 436 presentations will be made on 16 topics during the Congress. Uttarakhand is among those few states where this Congress is being organised regularly.”

The Congress will be held with the support of the Department of Science and Technology, the Gobind Ballabh Pant Institute of Environment and Development at Kosi Katarmal, Vivekanand Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan at Almora, the Uttarakhand Sevanidhi Paryavaran Shikshan Sansthan at Almora and the National Academy of Sciences India (NASI) chapter of the Indian National Science Academy at New Delhi.

While the Congress is expected to be inaugurated by the Chief Minister Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri, Speaker of the state Assembly Harbans Kapoor is expected to come for the valedictory function.

Dr Arora said three prominent scientists who have won the acclaim at international levels will be honoured during the event. These include Dr RC Budhani who is a Director at National Physical Laboratory, Dr MC Joshi of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, and Dr GS Rautela of the National Council of Science Museums.

Dr Arora further disclosed that brain-storming sessions on five topics would be held during he three-day long exercise. These topics relate to agriculture, forestry, science and society, development of mathematics in Uttarakhand and Single Document Interface (SDI).

One of the main highlights of the event will be the NASI lecture that will be delivered by Prof Lalji Singh who is the Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University.

Dr Arora pointed out that the participants at the Congress would deliberate at length on how to take research forward in the state so that the fruits of development reach the people residing in the remote areas.

Scientists in four categories would be awarded during the Congress for the contribution made in their respective subjects. Apart from the scientists from across Uttarakhand working in different streams, those from outside who are working on various aspects of Uttarakhand would also be attending the Congress. This is the second time that Kumaon University is hosting the event.

Khanduri lends ear to people
Tribune News service

Dehradun, November 11
Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri listened to the problems and grievances of the general public at a ‘Janata Milan’ programme organised at the new Chief Minister’s residence here today and gave directions to the officials concerned for their resolution.

He said the state government was quick to respond to the common man’s problems. “The Right to Service Act has been implemented so that the people do not have to unnecessarily take rounds of Dehradun. Single window system has been implemented at the tehsil and the block levels to make it effective and stronger,” he said. He further said arrangements were being made to ensure that people’s work was done as per the procedure within a specified time frame.

On the occasion, Khanduri also directed officials present to prepare an inventory of employees who are posted in remote areas for long. He assured Surat Nagar, father of Mayank Nagar, who is held up in Nigeria along with eight others for last few days, to take up the issue with Union External Affairs Ministry.

At the Janata Milan, which was organised after a gap of few days due to Chief Minister’s tour programme to the hill areas, drew people from all walks of life who put their demands ranging from financial assistance for medical treatment to problems pending with the district administration. In response to demand for financial assistance for medical treatment, the Chief Minister asked the applicant to enclose all medical prescription documents so that the cheque could be sent directly to the hospital. In response to another application for transfer, the Chief Minister said already Transfer Act is in place according to which the process would take place on its own in a transparent manner. The Chief Minister directed all applicants who brought district level issues to approach their respective District Magistrates.

Meanwhile, according to the information available from the Chief Minister’s office, the programme would remain suspended from November 12 to 15 due to unavoidable reason. While meeting of the state cabinet is scheduled to be held on November 12, the Chief Minister will be away to New Delhi on 13 and 14. He will be attending the Platinum Jubilee of Jim Corbett National Park on November 15 at Ramnagar. 

Efforts on to save rogue tusker
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 11
Efforts are on to save a rogue tusker who has killed five persons in the Rishikesh area. Uttarakhand Forest Department officials have declared the tusker a “rogue” after it killed a driver of a legislator on November 8.

The latest killing by the tusker sparked off protest on the Rishikesh-Badrinath highway near Rishikesh on November 9 where a large number of people blocked the road for hours to demand the killing of the wild elephant. Finally, the forest officials ordered the tusker to be killed.

The tusker killed Nand Chamoli on July 9, Bahadur on July 13, Abbal Singh Rawat on October 3 and Bhagwati Prasad on October 6. The latest victim was Om Prakash Rana, driver of MLA from Narendranagar Om Gopal Rawat of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) on November 8. Forest officials under pressure ordered the killing of the elephant.

However, SS Sharma, Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden, wrote a letter to the Director of Rajaji National Park to make efforts to save the tusker. He wrote that the tusker be tranquilised and taken away across the Ganga River into deep forest.

Campaign to generate awareness among voters
Tribune News Service

Nainital, November 11
A large number of women affiliated to the Mahila Adhikar Manch and Jan Caravan Manch have launched a drive to generate awareness among both the voters as well as potential contestants for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Nainital district.

The drive that began yesterday is primarily concentrated in the Nainital, Bhimtal and Haldwani Assembly segments. The two organisations along with several others like Prayas and Sainiyon in Bhawali, Vimarsh in Nainital, Saral and Sangini in Haldwani, Chahat in Kasiyalekh, Gramin Ekta in Ganguvachaur, Cheshta in Jyolikote and CAC in Bhidapani will be carrying out public awareness drives in 160 villages of 50 panchayats over the next 21 days.

Besides visiting the villages, they will be using the means of posters, banners and pamphlets. In addition to this, there will be street plays to convey the message to the villagers.

The key issues on which the drive will focus are giving priority to the women-centric issues by the candidates and supporting those candidates who are sensitive to these issues, electing the right leadership and making the poll contestants accountable.

The other issues that will be taken up during the drive include the inclusion of issues identified by the communities in the manifestoes of the contestants, increasing the participation in the electoral process by persuading more and more people to exercise their right to franchise and to make the communities conscious about various happenings so that the process of development gets an impetus.

Talking to The Tribune, Champa Upadhyay of the manch said,” We are also requesting the potential contestants to attend the awareness campaign so that they become sensitive to the needs of the people, particularly the women. We are not for or against any political party. All we want is that good candidates get elected to provide good governance.”

She pointed out that the plight of the women and the issues pertaining to their social and economic security would form the core of the campaign.

IIT-Roorkee to confer degree on Montek Singh
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 11
The 164-year-old Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, will confer the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) on Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, at the 11th Convocation Ceremony of the institute to be held on November 12 at Roorkee.

During the convocation, four alumni will be awarded distinguished alumnus award for their outstanding contributions in the fields of Science and Technology. The award winners are Dr Shyam Sunder Rai, M. Tech in Geo Physics, who was awarded his degree in 1977, Vijai Prakash Agrawal, awarded his BE and ME degree in the year 1976 and 1978 respectively and made significant contribution in the field of Civil Aviation and is currently the Chairman of the Airports Authority of India, VK Agnihotri, who was awarded his degree in BE and ME in 1960 and 1962 respectively and is currently associated with the Indian Railway in developing state of the art microcomputers based maintenance strategies for the rail tracks which are being used across the country and Hersh Kumar who was awarded his BE in 1978 in Industrial Engineering and is a senior entrepreneur and educator.

Four national awards will also be awarded during the ceremony which include Khosla National award to Dr Inder Bir Singh Passi of the IISER, Mohali, for his lifetime achievement in mathematical sciences in India, VNMM award to Dr P Thanikaivelan (Central Leather Research Institute), who is also the youngest recipient of the award, for his innovative and creative work in cleaner leather processing technologies in India, Shamsher Prakash Research Award to Dr Pijush Samui of VIT University for his research work done in the past five years in Geo Technical Engineering and the AS Arya-IITR Disaster Prevention Award to Sushil Gupta for his outstanding contributions in the Disaster Risk Mangement in India.

A total of 1336 degrees will be awarded during the convocation, including 508 degrees in the technical graduate stream, 714 master’s degrees in the technical post graduation stream and 114 PhD degrees. The institute will also be awarding five Integrated Master of Technology degrees for the first time in Polymer Science and Technology, said Prof Prodipta Banerji, Director, IITR.

Call to protect environment
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, November 11
Emphasising the need to protect the environment, experts have urged all countries to initiate a long-term approach to save the environment and biodiversity.

The observation was made during the inaugural session of an international seminar, “Global climate change and biodiversity conservation”, being held at Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar.

More than 144 top environmentalists, biologist, scientists, religious gurus, professors and scholars are participating in this three-day seminar.

Citing various religious, natural and mythological references, the chief guest on the occasion, Shankaracharya Swami Satyamitranand Maharaj, said: “ The Vedic literature also urges human beings to protect the environment.”

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Swatantra Kumar, said: “The forest cover is decreasing and pollution is increasing due a rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. Many species of animals are on the verge of extinct.”

Dr DR Khanna of the department of zoology and environmental sciences said inputs from research papers, letters and advices of all experts taking part in this international seminar would be compiled.

In various sessions held today, former Vice-Chancellor, Allahabad University, HR Singh, Prof P S Dutta from Jammu University, the Registrar, Gurukul university, Prof AK Chopra, BD Joshi, Dinesh Bhatt, Gyanprakash, SP Singh, Rajendra Kumar Mishra, Dr Satyadev Nigmalankar, Dr Pradeep Kumar Joshi, Dr DS Malik, Rakesh Bhutani, Nitin Kamboj ,Gagan Matta and may other scholars took part.

MUSSOORIE (OC): Under the aegis of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMD) and the State Organic Board, a one-day workshop was organised to discuss the issue of climate change and its affect on farmers and their livelihood, at a hotel at Chamba, Tehri Garhwal, today.

Under a community-to-community interface project, more than 30 farmers shared their problems and means of adapting to climate change in the presence of officials from ICIMOD and the board.

Farmers were of the view that in the past few years, change in climate had affected their crops adversely, resulting in low production.

Sunil Dabral and Sangeeta Devi, farmers from Chopdiyal Gaon, said due to erratic rain, they were unable to sow their crops on time.

Officials from the ICIMOD and the board said the objective of holding such workshop was to find out from the community the changes occurring in the climate over the years in the region and ways to adapt according to new conditions. 

Cultural fest ends
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, November 11
The two-day annual cultural festival being held at Kanya Gurukul Mahavidyalaya concluded here today.

Addressing the students, the college Principal, Dr Sangeeta Vidyalankar, appreciated the efforts pitched in by the students and urged them to work hard in order to accomplish their goals.

Dr Deepa Gupta, a college teacher, read out the names of the winning students, which included Sonam in Rangoli and Yachna Kumari in mehendi. Other winners included Ridhi, Rukmani, Mohini, Shyambhavi, Sarika, Mahima, Tanvi and Sonam.

School staff comprising Dr Manjusha Kaushik, Dr Sangeeta Madan, Dr Richa Saini, Rashmi Uniyal and Anjali Goyal helped in conducting the event.

Dhruv, Mritunjay, Arnav shine
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 11
Dhruv, Mritunjay, Arnav and Utkarsh today won their respective matches to reach the semifinals of the 13th Uttarakhand State Open Junior Tennis Tournament being played at Shanti Tennis Academy here. In the boys’ under-18 singles category, Utkarsh Bhardwaj beat Shaurya Verma 8-2. Arnav Alok beat Dhruv Sabbharwal 8-5. Mritunjay Badola beat Manik Dabar 8-3 and Dhruv Pal defeated Sachin Kumar 8-1.

In the boys under-14 singles category, Utkarsh Bhardwaj beat Aviral Victor 7-1, Swapnil Negi beat Rohit 7-2, Dhruv Sabbharwal beat Aviral Bisht-7-4 and Manik Dabar beat Aryan Khanna 7-1.

Aditya Singh beat Anubhav Gupta 7-2, Ravi Kumar beat Dron Walia 7-2 and Mritunjay Badola beat Raghuvansh 7-2.

JNU triumph in cricket tournament

Dehradun, November 11
Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, and University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, won their respective matches in the North Zone Inter-university Cricket Tournament organised by Uttarakhand Technical University played here today.

In the first match, the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies team defeated the Guru Angad Dev University team by 48 runs. University of Petroleum won the toss and elected to bat first. The team scored 239 all out in 39.3 overs. Pawan Raturi was the highest scorer with 70 runs followed by Mohit Miyaan, who scored 42 runs for their team. Ankit Dhiman took three wickets for 25 runs.

In reply, Guru Angad Dev University was all out for 191 runs in 35.4 overs, losing the match by 48 runs. Opener Sanjeev Kumar was the top scorer with 28 runs. Mohit Miyaan took three wickets for 29 runs for his team. In the second match, the JNU defeated Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, by three wickets.

The toss was won by the JNU but they decided to field first. The Gurukul Kangri University team was all out on 92 runs in 21.4 over. Pradeep Kumar was the highest scorer with 15 runs not out. Ashutosh Gupta took three wickets for nine runs for the JNU team.

In reply, the JNU scored 93 runs for seven wickets to win the match in 27.5 overs. — TNS

Heritage, Hilton Schools winners
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 11
Heritage School, Hilton School and St Jude’s School won their respective matches in the Inter- school Junior Boys Basketball Tournament played at Heritage School here today.

In the first match, Heritage School defeated Guru Ramdas Academy by six points. Heritage School scored 12 points while Guru Ramdas Academy scored six points. Anubhav Vohra of Heritage School scored six points.

In the second match, Hilton School beat Shivalik International School by four points. Hilton School scored nine points while Shivalik International School could score only five points. Abinesh of Hilton School scored all nine points.

In the third match, St Jude’s School defeated Himalayan Public School by three points. St Jude’s School scored nine points but Himalayan Public School could score only six points.