Scams dent Horticulture Department’s image
Dehradun, December 2
A series of corruption scandals involving collusion of top officials in the four-year term of the BJP has severely dented the image of the Horticulture Department.

Indoor club exhibition at IMA opened
Dehradun, December 2
The Indoor club exhibition-cum-competition of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) was inaugurated by Ranjana Singh, the first lady of the IMA and wife of Commandant Lt-Gen Manvendra Singh here today.

Dehradun December 2
Bedlam prevailed at the board meeting of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) today where the Opposition did not let any discussion take place on new proposals and insisted upon a review of the old proposals passed in the last board meeting. While accepting lacunae in action taken on past projects, the Mayor gave the deadline of February 28 for the completion of those projects.

Leader of the Opposition Ashok Verma was upset on convening the board meeting only once in a year instead of once in every two months. He indicated towards the pending projects, which include renovation of the DMC building, shifting of the DMC workshop to a new premises on the Sahastradhara road, renovation of Gandhi Park, auction of shops under the DMC, renovation of Clock Tower, land to landless freedom fighters and installing a statue of Subhas Chandra Bose on the DMC premises.

The Mayor regretted the inordinate delay in the completion of all these projects and said these would be completed by February 28. The project relating to allotment of land to freedom fighters had been turned down by the state government, he said.

Verma was not satisfied with his explanations and said the DMC was losing its ground gradually. It had already lost the right to sampling food items and food licence recently. He pulled up the corporation officials for not levying house tax on those 58,000 houses which came under its ambit when 18 gram sabhas were included in it after it was upgraded from the local body to the Municipal Corporation in 1998. Due to the exclusion of these residents from house tax, they were not able to avail bank loans and had to pay commercial water tax, he said.

He also made it clear that the Opposition would oppose the self-assessment policy because of high evaluation.

A committee of five members had been constituted to take up the issue of allowance of councillors and other related matters with the Chief Minister. These members are councillors Uday Chandel, Gobind Mohan, Sushil Gupta, Jagdish Dhiman and Anita.

The board members are most likely to meet on December 8 to hold further discussions.

Dehradun December 2
The Kotwali police station nabbed three alleged thugs near the Jhanda pond in the city today on a tip-off of an informer.

The names of the three are Pappu, Kuldeep and Yusuf who used to feign as zodiac stone sellers and fortunetellers and used to fleece women of their valuables and gold jewellery. The trio had admitted of duping city women in five cases whereas the police is expecting to crack more such cases in further interrogation with them. Pappu, Meerut resident, also got married to sister of Kuldeep, a Brahmpuri resident in the city, four months ago. Kuldeep said he would earn a living by holding some street shows (khel-tamasha) and had no idea of the real status of Pappu.

It was Pappu who had involved the rest of the two in the act. “I used to sell cheap zodiac stones and would earn from Rs 50 to Rs 5,000 for each one, depends on the customers. But then I realised I could make quick money by fleecing women. With success coming my way in couple of instances, I got deeper into it.”

Yusuf , an accomplice, had been involved with Pappu from the day one.

While revealing the modus operandi of the accused, Inspector, Kotwali, Dinesh Chand Baunthiyal, said, “One of the three would trap a vulnerable woman usually in the pretext of asking some address and would then proceed to tell her that he had come from Haridwar in case the woman is Hindu or holy Pirane Kaliyar if she is a Muslim, so on. Another friend, who kept a vigil from a distance, would come over and enquire about his future as well. The first one would give some detail about his family which the second one agreed to in order to gain the confidence of the woman.”

Then the third one also used to enter into the drama, where the first used to ask the duo to give him their rings or valuables etc and close their eyes for five minutes to witness Almighty. The men would do the same and heartily accept having seen Him. Then they would impress upon the woman to do the same and when she would close the eyes, they would whisk away from the scene with her gold jewellery. Baunthiyal said they were getting information about such a gang operating in the city but were unable to catch the real ones until they pounced on them today. The police has recovered a mobile phone, a gold chain, a gold ring and a wallet from them. The accused have been booked.

Dehradun, December 2
A series of corruption scandals involving collusion of top officials in the four-year term of the BJP has severely dented the image of the Horticulture Department.

In the latest such scandal involving the purchase of garlic seeds for farmers, the government is contemplating a vigilance inquiry. The case pertains to a letter written by then Horticulture Secretary Vinod Fonia to the Chief Minister, levelling serious charges against Additional Secretary and Director Horticulture GS Pande in the Rs 1 crore garlic purchase scandal.

Pande, in his capacity as Director, Horticulture, had done the tendering procedure for the purchase of garlic. Fonia had since then been shifted to the Rural Development Department.

Fonia was also at the centre of storm after he ordered a probe in an another corruption scandal at the Dehradun-based Centre of Aromatic Plants (CAP) in which Director of the CAP Nirpendra Singh Chauhan has been issued a charge sheet.

Sources claim that though Fonia had given recommendation for his suspension, the government turned it down and Singh continues to attend the office. It is also alleged that Singh has the backing of a top minister in the BJP.

On the other hand, charges have also been levelled against Fonia for his involvement in the misappropriation of funds in the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) scheme for procurement of hybrid seeds. However, no written complaint or inquiry has been initiated against him.

A year back, Dr BP Nautiyal had to make an unceremonious exit from the post of the Director, Horticulture, after his name figured in a series of alleged scandals. Pande was then made the Director, Horticulture, in his place.

Dehradun, December 2
The Indoor club exhibition-cum-competition of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) was inaugurated by Ranjana Singh, the first lady of the IMA and wife of Commandant Lt-Gen Manvendra Singh here today.

The exhibition-cum-competition will continue till December 10.

The Arts Club helps igniting the latent talent of the cadets. The exhibition highlights glass colour, oil colour, pencil sketch and charcoal paintings.

Members of the Bird Watching and Photography Club captured various species of birds in their cameras in and around the IMA campus and also visited the Asan barrage to capture photographs of rare species of birds. During this term, the club members visited the Jim Corbett National Park.

Members of the computer club, apart from learning and improving their skills, also developed a project on the IMA website based on the HTML. This term Gentlemen Cadets have shown keen interest in programming various computer projects like library management system, small arms system used in various countries and concept of geomorphology.

Dehradun, December 2
A total of 96 cadets of the Army Cadet College (ACC) Wing who graduated today were awarded degrees amid a presentation ceremony at the renowned Chetwode Hall of the Indian Military Academy here.

From among the 96 cadets, 63 of them hail from the science stream and 33 from the humanities stream. These degrees were conferred on the cadets by the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The ceremony was presided over by Lt-Gen Manvender Singh, Commandant, Indian Military Academy.

The Army Cadet College trains the selected personnel from the ranks from the three services found suitable to be given commission in the Army. After three years of academic training at the ACC, the graduated cadets will join the Indian Military Academy for one year pre-commission military training.

Brig Sunil Chandra, Head of the academic department, while presenting the college report, highlighted the high standards and admirable academic performance shown by the cadets of the graduating course.

IMA Commandant, in his convocation address to the graduating course, congratulated them and said, “As you have performed well during your training at the Army Cadet Wing, you need to continue with added zeal during your training at the IMA. You must make an endeavour to continue to be pro-active, proving to one and all that you are not only as good as but even better than your peers in all spheres.”

Later he gave away the medals to the award winners. The list of award winners is as under:- COAS Gold Medal : Dharampal Singh, COAS Silver Medal- Sunil Patel, COAS Bronze Medal - Bhanu Pratap Kapilashrarmi.

Commandant’s Silver Medal, first in the Service subjects- Sunil Patel, Commandant’s Silver Medal, first in Humanities Stream-Dharampal Singh, Commandant’s Silver Medal, first in Science Stream- Cadet Sajal Kumar Yadav.

On this occasion, Lt-Gen Manvender Singh also awarded the Commandant’s Banner to the Bogra Company.

Dehradun December 2
District President, Shiv Sena Yuva Morcha, Rahul Chauhan held a rally and demonstrated before the office of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in the city today against the terror of liquor mafia and money lenders.

Chauhan said liquor sellers were selling illicit liquor openly in slum colonies and making poor men their prey. The youngsters were also made addicted to such liquor where money lenders too were accomplice, as they charged 10 per cent to 100 per cent interest on the loan, he said and added that their mutual terror had reached to a level where many people had committed suicide due to it.

City general secretary Ashok Singhal said the people connected with liquor and money lending trade were provided patronage by the local police.

SSP GN Goswami assured them that he would take stricter action against those police personnel who were found negligent in tightening noose around these anti-social elements.

Dehradun, December 2
Demanding an amendment in the Uttarakhand Pranteey Rakshak Dal Act, the members of Pranteey Rakshak Dal (PRD) Sanghatan yesterday staged a protest at the office of the Youth Welfare Department in Dehradun.

Addressing the protesters, PRD Sanghatan leader BS Tomar said the PRD jawans would continue with their agitation till their longstanding demand of an amendment in the Act was fulfiled. He said despite several pleas, their job was yet to get the status of the state government employee.

Tomar also held that the PRD jawans would be taking out a rally to the Dehradun Secretariat tomorrow (December 2). He accused the state BJP government of doing very little to address their concerns.

Narendra Nautiyal, Rajpal Singh, Rajendra Singh Dimri, Gopal Singh and Mohan Singh Mehta were prominent among the protesters.

Dehradun, December 2
The Uttarakhand Congress working classes cell yesterday gheraoed Dehradun Additional District Magistrate Vinod Suman’s office, accusing him of failing to provide a solution to the civic problems in the city.

Addressing the protesters at the Dehradun district headquarters, Senior Congress leader Suryakant Dhasmana alleged that there was a sorry state of affairs of civic amenities in the city.

He said while there were numerous potholes on roads, the traffic arrangements in the city were completely in disarray.

Dhasmana asked the district administration to improve the civic amenities within a week. “If the administration fails to improve the civic amenities, we will be forced to undertake a bigger agitation,” he said. He held that all prominent roads of the city like Chakrata Road, Raipur Road and EC Road were all dug due to the laying of sewer line some time back. But no repairing had been done on these roads. The protesters prominently included Cantonment Block Congress vice president Rajesh Pundir, councillor Anup Kapoor, Sandeep Ramola, Kishore Uniyal and SK Goyal.

Dehradun, December 2
The XXXI ( thirty first) Petroleum Sector Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) Tennis Tournament is being organised at Dehradun from December 5 to 9, 2011.

The ONGC is the host organisation for the tournament and the inaugural ceremony will be held at the ONGC Tennis Facility on December 5, 2011. Ashok Pai, Principal Secretary to the Governor of Uttarakhand, will inaugurate the tournament.

Sixty tennis players of six teams representing IOC, OIL, BPCL, NRL, GAIL and host organisation ONGC will participate in the five-day tournament from December 5-9, 2011.

The players will vie for team championship in men and veteran categories as well as individual events. The matches will also be conducted on knock-out basis at Shanti Tennis Academy, besides the ONGC Tennis Facility during the five days.

Asian Games medalist Vishnu Vardhan, newly crowned National champion Yuki Bhambri, former National Champion VM Ranjeet, all Davis Cuppers, and former National Champions Vijay Kannan, Vinod Sridhar will represent the host ONGC team. With such renowned players in their team, the ONGC is confident to give a tough fight to the IOC last year’s team champions.

Indian Tennis star Roshan Bopana leads the IOC team. The other former National Champions in the IOC team Sunil Kumar, Sipaeya, Divij Sharan and youngster Kaza Vinayak Sharma will also be seen in action during the Tournament.

The matches for the veteran category will have yester year national rankers TS Bhandari and Vivek Sathyajit now with IOC, who will give strong competition to other veteran players.

The final matches for the team event are scheduled for December 6, 2011, at ONGC tennis facility from 9 am. Prize distribution and closing ceremony will be held on December 9, 2011.