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ITBP Promotion Scam
Doonites mourn Dev Anand’s death
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Hydrographic office holds
At Home
Dehradun Diary
Peyjal staff defer stir
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ITBP Promotion Scam
Dehradun, December 4 Satpal Singh has been accused of taking bribes from candidates taking the ITBP rankers exams, which was held at the Headquarters here and at the sub-headquarters at Bareilly in Jaunary this year for promotion of constables to the rank of head constables against 84 positions. Many constables had alleged bribery at the highest level to promote the undeserving ones. It had been alleged that a total bribe of Rs 2 crore was taken from aspirants. Gunmen Varinder and Maan Singh and head constable Neeraj have also been arrested in the case. Varinder Kumar was granted bail on November 30. His lawyer had blamed the CBI for implicating his client, who, he said, was merely a middle man. He said the CBI was shying away from taking action against the higher-ups who were involved in the scam. DIG Satpal Singh, Assistant Commandant Somnath and Deputy Commandant MN Shimre were found to be involved in the scam. They were attached to the Chandigarh-based IG office. The CBI is trying to arrest two more officers.
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Doonites mourn Dev Anand’s death
Dehradun, December 4 Chetan Anand, his brother, was a teacher of English and history in The Doon School from 1940 to 1944. It was during those years that Dev Anand frequently came to meet him in Dehradun and spent a considerable amount of time here. It was during his sojourn at The Doon School that he learnt his trademark mannerism which made him a star. He, in his autobiography, wrote that his trademark mannerisms, which made him a star, were picked up from the students of The Doon School. Manoj Panjani, a Doon-based film researcher and documentary maker, had an opportunity to meet Dev Anand on a number of occasions. Referring to his first meeting with the star, Panjani said, “Dev Anand was curious to meet me as he came to know of my friendship with Babu Sheikh, Dabolkar and Surat, some of Dev Anand’s key team members at Navketan. And this was how I got an audience with him for the first time.” “He was excited when he came to know that I was from Dehradun, and recalled the immemorable days he had spent here, courtesy Chetan Anand,” he reembered. Panjani said it was Dev Anand who always gave opportunities to newcomers. Shatrughan Sinha got his first break in “Prem Pujari”, where Dev Anand created a role of a Pakistani fauji for him. His contribution towards giving breaks to Sahir Ludhianvi as a lyricist and Zohra Seghal as a choreographer is well known. Panjani also recalled his last meeting with the Bollywood actor in 2000 in Mumbai on the occasion of Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Navketan studios. “The Navketan banner gave to the Indian Cinema some legendary directors like Guru Dutt and Vijay Anand,” Panjani said, describing Dev Anand’s demise as an irreparable loss to the Indian cinema.
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‘He is still alive in hearts’
Mussoorie, December 4 Members of the Mall Beautiful, an organisation, paid tribute to the iconic actor by playing songs from his films on the public address system installed on the Mall Road the whole day. Local Historian Gopal Bhardwaj said, “Dev Anand frequently visited the town as his wife Kalpana Kartik, formerly known as Mona Singha, lived near Christchurch in Library Bazaar. Her father was a commissioner of Garhwal and found Mussoorie to his liking. Another reason for Dev Anand’s visit was that his two children, Suniel and daughter Devina, studied in Woodstock School around mid-sixties. Gopal Bhardwaj further said Dev Anand visited them frequently. Later he also bought a house near Char Dukan in the Landour Cantonment Board and gifted it to his daughter Devina who still lives in it with her daughter. Care taker of the house Shiv Singh said the whole house was in mourning after hearing about the death of Dev. Dev Sahib was fond of vegetarian food and use to walk for several hours watching the panoramic view of the Himalayas along with his children, added Shiv Singh. Gopal Bhardwaj reminiscing one incident said Dev Anand was so popular that one day a housewife, who was strolling with her litle baby lying in the pram on the Mall Road, lost her senses after seeing him and left the pram which was later caught by some tourists downhill on the Kulri Bazaar road. According to another resident from Mussoorie Madan Mohan Sharma, Dev Sahib, on his visit to Mussoorie, attended pageant contests that were held during those days. It was in one such pageant contest that he discovered the famous actress, late Nutan, who had won the Miss Mussoorie Contest in 1960s and later cast her in one of the films that became a hit. Rupali, a resident of Sisters Bazaar, opines that Dev Anand can never die and will live in their hearts as he was the human being who taught others to live with style and finesse and with an optimistic approach.
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Hydrographic office holds At Home
Dehradun, December 4 Lt-Gen Manvendra Singh, accompanied by Rear Admiral SK Jha, had a look at the exhibition. A presentation of folk dances, including Kathakali and Lavni, were greatly appreciated by the audience. Earlier, Rear Admiral SK Jha, Chief Hydrographer, conveyed his greetings to all Navy personnel both serving and retired and their family members on the occasion. Brig A N Bahuguna (retd), Director, Rajya Sainik Kalayan Parishad, Rajpur, MLA Ganesh Joshi, Maj-Gen Shamsher Singh (retd), Cdr AK Narula (retd) and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
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Dogs compete for top honours
Dehradun, December 4 Abhishek Sharma from Kurukshetra had the only dog of the New Foundland breed at the show. “There are only seven dogs of the New Foundland breed, which is the best water-rescue breed, in the country of which I own five. Each one costs me Rs 9 lakh. One puppy has already been sold for Rs 1 lakh and we have advance booking for the one which is yet to be born”. The owner of cane corso, Amandeep Singh, who is from Mohali, Punjab, had bought the shiny black robust dog for Rs 8 lakh. “I bought this Italian breed from Siberia for his sheer magnificence”. These two distinct breeds competed with the other dogs of breeds such as light brown striped white Siberian husky, dogoman, English mastiff (known for their guardian qualities), boxers, very lean caucous spanion (known for their hunting skills), 38-inch-tall great dape, short but smart wippet and beget. Gaurav Kalia, a businessman and member of the American Canine Club from Delhi, sits surrounded by a family of St Bernard dogs. Talking about his infatuation with the breed, he said: “I have 18 St Bernard dogs at home. My passion had grown for them since 1988 when I had four dogs. Their majestic built and saint-like affection and composure is hard to resist. I have begun selling their pups as I spend Rs 4,000 a month on each dog,” he said. Short breeds like pug and pomeranian remained hot among the buyers who also showed interest in German shepherds and labras, which were priced between Rs 6,000 and 8,000 per puppy. Guruditt from Chandigarh priced pug breed male puppies at Rs 15,200, female for Rs 20,000 and St Bernard puppies for Rs 10,000. The range could go up to even Rs 50,000, depending on the haggling skills and buyers. The judge for the competition, Rajiv Shandilaya, said this year’s competition scored an edge over the previous dog shows. The chairman of the DVKC, VK Sharma, said such competitions helped people to improve and better breed of their dogs. Brijesh Vashisht, a dog lover from Khanna, Punjab, who won the trophy for the best St Bernard, said: “There is a lot of confusion regarding pure dog breeds. Those who win prizes for the purity and excellence of the breed of their dogs are trusted most by buyers”. The paraphernalia for dogs, be it belts, chains, nail-cutters, medicines, food and health shakes were available at the show. It was not entirely a dog show, as other species too participated and looked for their admirers. Exotic birds like macaw, fancy pigeons, white rats, colourful parakeets, rabbits of different hues and fishes were all on sale at the show.
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Doon Civic Blues—Ward No. 41
Dehradun, December 4 The plying of heavy vehicles on these narrow roads is posing a danger not only to the lives of the elderly, but also to children, who have to face a tough time while going to school.
BN Sharma, a local resident said: “Children are the worst hit as they have to face many problems while going to school and coming back. They have to look for space to walk due to the movement of trucks.” Another resident, Sarita, said: “Frequent jams lead to accidents. The government should provide an alternative route for the plying of
heavy vehicles.” Bimla Devi said: “As most of the traders have constructed storage rooms in their houses, the unloading of sacks from trucks is a common sight here. If the authorities concerned impose a ban on the running of storage houses from residential premises, we will get a lot of relief.” Tulsi Rani attributed poor condition of roads to the plying of heavy vehicles.
“Even after repair, roads get damaged as these are not meant for heavy vehicles.” Area councillor Sushil Gupta expressed helplessness in solving the problem. “A large number of traders who have their shops in Adat Bazar and Lakkar Bazar live in the area. They run storage rooms from their houses. As the entry of heavy vehicles is banned on the main road, the traders have to use the route of linking roads in the Lakhi Bagh area that also connects to Mata Bagh. Since there is no solution to the problem, residents will have to bear with it,” he
added.
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1,248 attend health camp
Dehradun, December 4 Inaugurating the camp trust’s president
and senior Congress leader Suryakant Dhasmana said serving the poor was the greatest service on the earth. He said the trust had been organising health camps for the poor for the past seven years. He said the health services were not up to the mark in the state with many villages still without doctors, adding that a lot was needed
to be done to improve health infrastructure in the state. He further said the next health camp would be organised at Sanatan Dharam Mandir, Premnagar, here on December 11.
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Dehradun Diary
The poll bugle has been sounded in Uttarakhand and the main political parties — the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress — have started preparing for the electoral battle. The state Assembly poll is scheduled to be held in February 2012.
Apart from fine-tuning their strategies to win over the voters, the main battle has started among political leaders of both parties to get party nominations from their favourite Assembly segments. The delimitation of the Assembly segments and the formation of the new Assembly constituencies have forced the leaders to look for newer pastures. Seniormost leaders of both parties, including Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri, former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat, Uttarakhand Congress president Yashpal Arya, several legislators and former ministers, are looking for new political grounds. Interestingly, most of these leaders, who had their constituencies in the hills, are trying to migrate to the plain areas. Due to lack of basic infrastructural facilities in the hills like roads, employment, health and education facilities had forced people to migrate from the hills to the plains in the past century. Villages after villages in the hills have been abandoned as people left their homes and hearths to move elsewhere in the country and abroad. Now in the forthcoming Assembly poll, there is a scramble among the politicians to “migrate” from the hills looking for safer and manageable constituencies in the Terai areas. There was a buzz in the Congress high command office in New Delhi where senior leaders were found enquiring about this trend of party leaders from hills looking for new seats in the plain areas, according to party sources. Political analysts believe that it has been easier for the politicians to manage their segments in the plains due to variety of reasons. The problems of accessibility in the hills, which are geographically far-off for the politicians to visit frequently while being stationed in Dehradun, have forced many of them to look for segments near the
capital city. It was also believed that with large concentration on people with castes, regional and religious identities, it will be easier for the politicians to manage them. According to BJP party sources, topping the list of such leaders who are nurturing their new constituencies is former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank who plans to shift from Pauri Garhwal district to the Doiwala segment in Dehradun district. Even there is a lot of talk about Chief Minister Khanduri fighting from the Dharampur segment in Dehradun or Srinagar in Pauri Garhwal after leaving his the Dhumakot segment. Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat is bent upon getting a nomination from Doiwala after leaving his Lansedown segment in Pauri Garhwal which has been redrawn in the delimitation process. Uttarakhand Congress president Yashpal Arya, who is a legislator from the Mukesthwar segment in Nainital district, is looking for a seat in Udham Singh Nagar district as his seat has been de-reserved in the delimitation process. Two of the BJP ministers, Balwant Singh Bhauriyal and Govind Singh Bisht, have lost their segments in the new delimitation, they are searching for new segments. While most of these leaders have started nurturing their new constituencies, they are tightlipped about it till they get party nod about their future. An intense struggle will be witnessed in the Congress over the distribution of party ticket. The first meeting of the screening committee having senior state Congress leaders as members was held last week in New Delhi. There would be discussions on the list of probable candidates sent by the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) in the future meetings. It was believed that most of the sitting party legislators would get
nominations. However, there was infighting and intra-party struggle with Birender Singh, national general secretary and in charge of the Uttarkhand affairs imposing himself. His assertions that party MPs would not have much role in the selection of candidates was not taken well by the party MPs. Congress has all five Lok Sabha seats in its kitty since 2009 Lok Sabha elections. It has been the norm that the party MPs are taken into confidence while giving nominations in the jurisdiction of their parliamentary constituencies. It was heard that party MPs even complained to the senior party leaders about Birender Singh propping up some candidates who have no political base. Many of the senior Congress leaders were perturbed at the love, affection and status accorded by Birender Singh to Aryaendra Sharma, a personal assistant of former Chief Minister ND Tewari, who has been disgraced following a sex scandal in the Hyderabad Governor house in 2009. To the surprise and annoyance of senior party leaders, Aryaendra Sharma is one of the closest lieutenants of Birender Singh. Aryaendra Sharma has been preparing to fight from the Sahaspur Assembly segment in Dehradun where local Congress leaders who had been working for the party for the past four decades are pitched against him to seek party nominations. Congress leaders are of the opinion that such moves by Birender Singh would convey a wrong message to the voters. Since Birender Singh, a Jat Congress leader of Haryana, has been made general secretary in charge of the Uttarakhand Congress, most of the state Congress leaders are busy making their connection with the Haryana politician. A large number of prospective ticket seekers of the Congress are trying to look for a Haryana connection to reach closer to Birender Singh. The most sought people are those from Haryana residing in Uttarakhand and preferably Jats. They are being approached by Congress leaders to approach Birender Singh. During his visits to the state, lavish parties are being hosted by such Haryana connections where Birender Singh is a special invitee. It would be seen whether such Haryana connections help tickets
seekers. (By SMA Kazmi)
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Peyjal staff defer stir
Dehradun, December 4 At a meeting held yesterday, the employees decided to postpone their stir, giving time to the government to implement the points of agreement. BK Jain of the employees’ joint coordination committee said the committee had not withdrawn the demand of departmentalisation (government) of the
nigam.
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Dehradun, December 4
