Mussoorie, December 12
Residents of Rockstone Outhouse Estate, a property near Jhoola Ghar in Mussoorie, were in for a shock as representatives of the property owned by Pratima Mittal began demolition work on the upper floor of the property, using a JCB machine today.

The demolition work was stopped only after intervention of local shopkeepers, who began protesting against the means adopted to oust the residents of the building.

On the other hand, the representatives of the owner said that the exercise was being carried out in accordance with the court direction as they were the rightful owners of the property.

However, Niyaz Ahmed, one of the residents of a section of the property, contested the claims and said that he was sold part of the said by Pratima Mittal herself, but the representatives of owner Pratima Patil were trying to evacuate him also despite having the legal sale deed in his possesion.

Another tenant Meenakshi Saxena, a widow, informed that the ground floor of the property where she was residing was given to her by the Railways, which had hired the property when her husband was alive and working in Railways 60 years ago. Since then they had been living in it. Meenakshi also alleged that she was not given any prior notice by the owners and without informing her, the demolition exercise had begun on the upper floor, that resulted in huge boulders falling onto the ground floor, causing minor injuries to her children. The marriage ceremony of her daughter was also scheduled for tomorrow, added Meenakshi Saxena.

When contacted, the CO, Mussoorie, Shweta Chaubey, said that she had been apprised of the matter beforehand.

Meanwhile, the owner of the part of the property, Niyaz Ahmed, has registered a complaint against the owners of the property in the matter.

According to sources, the 100-year-old property, that is known as Rockstone Outhouse Estate, initially belonged to Rai Bahadur Nandan Gopal Sardana and Rai Sahib Harichand, who sold it further to Bhikan Lal, s/o Late Shankar Lal, in 1968. Later, his son Avnish kumar formed a charitable trust and, thereafter, sold the property to Pratima Mittal, who further sold a section of the property to Niyaz Ahmed.

The residents of the town are of the view that the owners should have handled the situation much more humanely and informed the tenants about any evacuation before the demolition of the building.

Dehradun, December 12
Uttarakhand Governor and Chancellor of Uttarakhand Technical University (UTU) Margaret Alva today said the ultimate aim of education was developing human personality.

In her address at the third convocation of the UTU held here, the Governor said that education should be relevant to life.

She called upon the passing out students to “have the strength and determination to succeed” when faced with the realities of a complex and turbulent environment, that was totally different from the cosy and serene life that they were used to. “You must resolve to grow - intellectually, morally, spiritually and professionally - every day of your life,” she said.

The Governor said that technical education played a vital role in human resource development by creating skilled manpower, enhancing industrial productivity and improving the quality of life.

She said that the UTU had given a new dimension to technical education in the state and was providing professional education not only to students from Uttarakhand but also from other parts of the country. “It is well equipped to provide leadership in forging a synthesis of professional and technical education. It is fast becoming an important destination for excellence in technical training,” she said.

As many as 6,600 degrees were conferred in 11 disciplines today, compared to 4979 in eight disciplines last year. Besides, nine scholars were awarded Ph.D. degrees.

The Governor congratulated Prof S.V.Raghavan, Prof S.G.Dhande and Padma Seth, who were awarded honorary degrees by the university. All three delivered keynote addresses at the convocation.

The Governor urged the students to “go out and make your families and teachers proud. Being young in today’s India is an opportunity and a challenge. Always work with an aim, a mission, a vision.”

She was welcomed by UTU Vice Chancellor, Prof D.S.Chauhan. The vote of thanks was delivered by the Registrar of the university.

Dehradun, December 12
Instead of teaching at primary schools, the basic school teachers all across the state observed a lookout at schools and were on the streets, demanding the fulfilment of their 10-point charter of demands.

In Dehradun the teachers took out an impressive march from the Parade ground and raised slogans against state Education Minister Matbar Singh Kandari for failing to meet with the delegation that had gone to meet him with their demands.

The Minister refused to meet with the union members. He allowed the situation to get out of hand, said Virender Singh Krishali, president, Uttarakhand State Primary Teachers Federation (Dehradun).

The agitating teachers are demanding establishment of a directorate of basic teachers at the division and state level, departmental promotion committee for officers in the basic teachers’ cadre, promotions against the posts with grade pay of Rs 5,400 per month for assistant teachers serving at primary schools, rules and regulations for primary teachers and a basic teachers’ cadre and better salaries.

On December 15, the teachers will boycott work and also organise a dharna at the Education Directorate.

Dehradun, December 12
Members of the Muslim community have sought a high-level probe into the activities of the Wakf Board, particularly in Dehradun.

Led by Haji Dilshad Ahmed, care taker of the Naya Nagar mosque, the members of the Muslim community today held a demonstration at the district headquarters. Haji Dilshad Ahmed said the irregularities revealed in matters at the Kaliyar Sharif shrine in Haridwar had amply proved that the Wakf Board was indulging in rampant corruption in the state. He alleged that the board Chairman was trying to usurp the board’s properties in the region.

The protesters also submitted a memorandum to the district administration. Hyat Khan, Qumar Qureshi, Haji Akhtar Khan and Anis Ahmed Ansari were among the protesters.

Dehradun, December 12
Sri Guru Ram Rai (SGRR) Institute of Medical and Health Sciences is organising an international symposium on Recent Advances in Medical Disorders between December 14 and December 16 in association of the University of Kansas.

Addressing a press conference today, Principal of SGRR Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Dr SK Ghildiyal said the symposium was part of the exchange programme between the University of Kansas (the USA) and the SGRR Institute of Medical and Health Sciences.

“A memorandum of understanding will also be signed. It will allow students of SGRR institute to undertake studies and research at Kansas, similarly the students of Kansas too will come and undertake research,” said Dr Ghildiyal.

At the symposium, papers on advances in medicine, surgery gynaecology, orthopaedic, paediatrics, thyro diabetes, cardiac prevention and cervical cancer will be presented.

Dehradun, December 12
The Bharti Bandhu mesmerised the audience today at the Kendriya Vidyalya (Upper Camp) through their soulful rendering of Kabir bhajans. Credited for popularising Kabir Gayaki among the masses, the brothers were in complete harmony with their young audience as they sang popular bhajans.

“The simplicity of our singing has helped us popularise the bhajans among the masses. Earlier, this style of singing was only sung in the temples,” said Swami GCD Bharti, the elder brother, while speaking with The Tribune.

For the past 45 years, they have sung in 80,000 schools and colleges and 15 central universities, but strangely they have so far not gone commercial.

“We have failed to release any CDs because we really do not know the mechanism. We are not good in marketing, this is a task best left to professionals but so far not a single company has approached us with the offer of coming out with a CD,” said Bharti.

Not happy with the popular mixing of pop and Sufi singing and other popular genres, Bharti said the result was not good.

“It appears as though the songs have been rendered soulless, they appear mechanical with more focus on presentation,” said Bharti.

He was of the view that the Khusro Bandish should be sung only in its pure form. “Remember, he was also revered as a great saint and had mystical qualities which is believed to have reflected even in his bandish. They should be kept intact. But a singer can also create something new by harnessing his own potential,” said Bharti.

Adept at classical singing, Swami said it allowed them to explore all genres comfortably. “It is advantageous, if you know classical singing, then you do not have limitations,” he said.

The brothers performed at the Kendriya Vidyalya (Upper Camp) and at the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH) as part of the SPICMACAY concert.

Anand Bharti, Bhushan Bharti were part of the chorus, while Sanidhya Bharti and Anubhav Bharti accompanied their elder brother.

Haridwar, December 12
Small-scale traders and vendors today met the officials of the Municipal Corporation and the police regarding their alleged exploitation at the hands of police personnel who, according to them, ask them for money despite they are paying ‘tehbazaari’ to the corporation regularly.

The traders first laid a siege to the office of accounts officer of the MC Bhajan Lal Arya and apprised him about the several cases of harassment of small-scale traders and vendors by police personnel. They said the small-scale traders and vendors regularly paid daily vending fee which is Rs 10 for movable vendors and despite that they were harassed by the police.

The traders then met Circle Officer Ajay Singh and brought the matter to his notice.

Divisional representative chief of the Small-scale Traders Association Sanjay Chopra demanded the creation of a separate vending zone and strict monitoring of all those police personnel who allegedly harass vendors.

The Circle Officer assured the traders that as the matter had been brought to his notice he would take necessary action against those personnel who were found to be indulging in such practices.

After getting the assurance from him, the traders cancelled their planned blocking of a highway.

Dehradun, December 12
Hemanti and Sangeeta Chand, both women boxers from Uttarakhand, won their respective matches in their weight categories in the 5th Central India Senior Women Boxing Championship being conducted at Parade Grounds here today.

In the 48 kg category, Hemanti of Uttarakhand beat Nirmala of Madhya Pradesh 5-0. In the same weigh category, Rukhsarbano of Uttar Pradesh defeated Neha of Chattisgarh 4-1.

In the 51 kg category, Kavita Gaur of Uttar Pradesh defeated Rakhi of Chattisgarh 4-1. In the same category, Shabana of Delhi beat Vinita Mahar of Uttarkhand 4-1.

In the 54 kg category, Alia Khan of Madhya Pradesh defeated Sandhya Thapa of Chattisgarh 5-0 and Geeta of Delhi beat Arti Sharma of Uttar Pradesh 5-0.

In the 57 kg category, Sarika Kumari of Madhya Pradesh knocked out Bhavna of Uttar Pradesh in the second round of the bout. In the same weight category, Sarita Rawat of Delhi beat Deepa Bisht of Chattisgarh 5-0.

In the 60 kg weight category, Sangeet Chand of Uttarkhand knocked out Kanchan Singh of Madhya Pradesh in the first round of the bout. In the same weight category, Renu Kumari of Delhi beat Nandan Tewari of Chattisgarh 4-1.

Dehradun, December 12
Akranta Football Club and Doon Valley Football Club won their respective matches in the Abhishek Memorial Football Tournament played at Survey Stadium here today.

In the first match, Akranta Club defeated Garhwal Sporting Club 2-1. The first goal of the match was scored by Abhishek Kala of Garhwal Sporting Club in the second minute of the match through a penalty kick. Akranta Club also earned a penalty in the 19th minute and Pramod did no mistake to score a goal to equalise. But playing in a coordinated manner, Akranta Club scored a field goal through Vaibhav in the 56th minute of the game to win the match.

In the second match, Doon Valley Club beat BC Milan 2-1. It was a tough match where both teams raided each other but could not score any goal. It was in the 42nd minute that Ritesh of BC Milan scored the first goal to put his team ahead. Balwinder Singh of Doon Valley Club scored the equaliser in the 48th minute. It was in the 55th minute that Balwinder Singh again struck to score a magnificent goal to win the match.

Dehradun, December 12
Himalayan Cricket Club (B) beat Doon Sunrise Club by six wickets in the Beehive Challengers Cup Cricket Championship played at the Matawala Bagh ground here today.

Doon Sunrise Club won the toss and elected to bat first. The team was bold out for 113 runs in 19.4 over. Farman (24) and Amrit (26) were the top scorers while Ankit and Rajat shared two wickets each. Kuldeep claimed a hat-trick for Himalayan Cricket Club.

While chasing the target, Himalayan Cricket Club (B) scored 114 runs for four wickets in 15.2 overs to win the match. Paras scored a magnificent 41 from 22 balls. Amrit, Nadeem and Tazeem claimed one wicket each for Doon Sunrise Club.