IIT-B honours Dr Chopra
Dehradun, March 17
The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay has presented its 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award to Dr Ravi Chopra, Director, People's Science Institute (PSI), Dehradun, for his outstanding contributions in the areas of Water Resources Management, Environmental Quality Monitoring, Disaster Mitigation and Conservation of Rivers.

Ginger farmers from Tehri Garhwal facing govt neglect
Mussoorie, March 17
The farmers from the area around Kirti Nagar and Narendar Nagar blocks in district Tehri Garhwal, who have been involved in ginger cultivation since ages, are yet to receive any kind of financial benefit due callous attitude and lack of encouragement from the state government.

Mussoorie, March 17
Tourists and residents alike were caught in a traffic jam in the Picture Palace area in Mussoorie today, belying the claims of the local administration and the Municipal Council of making adequate traffic arrangements before the start of the peak tourist season.

The local administration on the other hand attributed the problem of traffic congestion to the erratic work on the sewerage project that had been going on in the town from the past several years. As one side of the road had been dug up for laying sewerage, leaving no passage for vehicles to move in the opposite direction, there was traffic chaos in the Picture Palace area today.

The absence of police personnel added to the misery of the commuters who, while trying to find a way out of the traffic jam, created more chaos.

The tourists, who had just arrived and were waiting to enter Mall Road, were stranded for several hours.

The traffic started moving smoothly after a few hours following the intervention of the Municipal Council employees. However, police personnel posted near the Picture Palace area did not bother to manage traffic.

President of the Mussoorie Municipal Council OP Uniyal was unhappy with the role of the Traffic police and said despite several reminders policemen had not been deputed in the crowded areas to ensure a free flow of traffic.

He said if the police continued to act in such a callous manner the traffic problem would worsen in the peak tourist season. He demanded that the SSP, Dehradun, should personally look into the issue and discipline lethargic police personnel. Meanwhile, no senior police officer was available for comments. 

Mussoorie, March 17
The farmers from the area around Kirti Nagar and Narendar Nagar blocks in district Tehri Garhwal, who have been involved in ginger cultivation since ages, are yet to receive any kind of financial benefit due callous attitude and lack of encouragement from the state government.

The farmers of the region around Narendar Nagar and Kirti Nagar have been involved in ginger(with its botanical name, Zingiber Officinale, from the ginger family) cultivation since ages. The total annual

ginger yield amounts to 8000 quintals per annum, but even after bumper produce, the farmers are struggling due to lack of proper distribution and marketing techniques, courtesy the state government.

According to the president of Haryali Gramin Krishak Sahkari Samiti Agra-Khal, the major problem being faced by the ginger farmers is that they do not receive the seeds compatible to the local temperatures,

thus leading to their low quality that does not fetch good price in the national markets such as Azadpur mandi in Delhi.

Elaborating further, he said that the government had failed to provide any sort of crop insurance to the farmers along with the adequate storage facilty, resulting in rotting of the crop. The farmers are also not provided adequate knowledge about the appropriate pesticides to be used in the field that leads to the increase in disease on the plants, making them useless for the farmers.

Apart from this the government has only provided two distribution centres for ginger, one at Narendar Nagar and the other at Agra-Khal, whereas the farmers of the Dagra region do not have any such facility and, therefore, are forced to sell their produce in the retail market.

As a result of this, the ginger farmers are able to earn only around Rs 60,000 from the ginger cultivation in which they are barely able to sustain their lives.

Kandari demanded that the government should assisit the farmers by forming a ginger federation which would look into the farmers' problems sympathetically. He also demanded that some villages that are involved in the ginger cultivation should be identified and declared as “Seed Research Villages,” from where they can be distributed to other farmers after complete research.

The Agriculture Department officials should also visit the farmers before the sowing season to educate them about the quality of seeds. The farmers should also be extended banking facilities so that they are not dependent on the local money lenders to avoid any exploitation.

“If the government initiates such measures, it will not only encourage the farmers towards ginger farming but also generate income and employment and help in curbing migration from the hills,” added Viriendar Kandari.

Dehradun, March 17
Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva today reviewed the passing-out parade of the Bengal Sappers at Bengal Engineer Group and Centre, Roorkee, where 180 recruits participated to become fully trained sappers.

The sappers are put to a rigorous training curriculum of two to two and a half years wherein they are taught the basic skills of weapon handling, field craft and physical conditioning, followed by training in the field engineering. The recruits are also trained in respective trades before they become fully trained combatant soldiers.

It was the first time in the history of the Bengal Sappers that a dignitary of this stature had reviewed a parade at the Bengal Engineer Group and Centre.

The Governor awarded the sappers who had excelled in various fields of training. Sapper Govind Singh, Sapper Parvinder Singh, Sapper Inder Pal Singh, Sapper Inderjit Singh and Sapper K Boycha Singh were the awardees.

At a wreath laying ceremony at the Bengal Sappers War Memorial, the Governor paid homage to the sappers who sacrificed their lives for the nation.

To commemorate the occasion, a sapling was planted by the visiting dignitary in the Bengal Sappers Museum. 

Dehradun, March 17
Since making his debut at the South Asian Federation (SAF) Winter games last year and now finding a place in the national ice-hockey team for the Indian Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Challenger Cup of Asia that is under way in Dehradun, it has been an unbeaten run for 19-year-old ice-hockey player Amit Belwal.

Though hailing from Chaubatia near Raniketh in Kumaon, Belwal picked up the ice hockey skills while studying at a Ladakh school. Infact, he is the only team member from the state who is in the national hockey team and also plays for a club in Leh.

“Last year, when I represented the Skara club at the SAF games in Dehradun, it surprised many that a boy from Uttarakhand was playing for the club, but it was while studying in Ladakh that I was introduced to ice hockey and the club culture,” said Belwal.

He completed his schooling from Ladakh Public School where his father is posted and is the Principal of the same school. He owes his interest in the ice hockey to his early exposure to the game in Leh, “It is an altogether different world there. The thrill of playing on natural ice rink in front of local crowd is exhilarating. Then we have matches with teams from the Canadian Embassy who are very good players,” he said.

Predictably it is Rinchin Tundup, the assistant captain of the national ice hockey, that Belwal turns to on a bad day at the rink. “He is my role model and I like to pick up tips from him,” he emphasised.

While his parents lent him whole-hearted support to fulfill his sporting ambition, they ensured that he continue with his studies. “The career of the ice-hockey player is short lived. Most players begin to fade out as they enter their 30s. Besides, the support from the sporting authorities and the government is still lacking. One has to have other options and that’s why I am pursuing a degree in engineering at the Graphic Era Institute of Technology (GEIT),” said Belwal.

After the ice-rink was set up at the Sports College in Raipur (Dehradun) last year, Belwal was confident that it would give impetus to different winter sport events in the state, but it was not meant to be. “I am quite disheartened as not even a single sporting event has taken place in the past six months at the rink. In my opinion, the facility should be open for sports persons and regular events should be organised so that the local players and new-comers get the much-needed exposure,” asserted Belwal.

Dehradun March 17
Wonder Years School at Dalanwala in the city celebrated its 7th anniversary and annual function yesterday, where little children enthralled the audience with their endearing performances.

The little kids sang nursery rhymes. The students of upper and lower KG presented a programme based on new and old Hindi songs and title tracks of cartoon series.

Be it the dances on songs of film Ra One, Kolaveri Di or riddles on alphabets, the innocence of children was reflected in each move and captivated the audience.

On this occasion, Principal Shweta Kumar, chief guest Manohar Kumar, faculty members and parents of children were also present.

Dehradun, March 17
Under the aegis of Sanctuary Asia, a wildlife magazine, The Hans Foundation, Dehradun, organised ‘Kids for tigers’ campaign at St Joseph’s Academy here today. Over 1,000 students from 17 city schools participated in the drive.

Holding placards with a slogan ‘Save the tigers’, the students took out a march to spread awareness among people to save tigers.

Bitto Sehgal, an environmentalist and editor of Sanctuary Asia, flagged off the march from St Joseph’s Academy which after passing through the Gandhi Park and the Clock Tower culminated at the academy.

According to city coordinator of the campaign Mona Randhawa, the event is an initiative towards tiger conservation in Uttarakhand. “After today’s successful efforts, we have decided to launch a signature campaign in all schools of Dehradun. Once we manage to gather satisfactory results in the signature campaign, we will then appeal the Chief Minister to take adequate measures for tiger protection,” she added.

Meanwhile, students of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and The Hilton School organised streetplays showing the declining rate of tigers in the forests. Bobby Cash, a renowned artiste, also performed on the occasion.

Haridwar, March 17
With production work at VIP Industries in industrial estate of SIDCUL getting totally disrupted due to strike by employees for the past two days, finally today administrative officials intervened to bring out a settlement between agitating employees and the company management.

Employees were demanding hike in wage and increments keeping in mind the current inflation.

Subdivisional Officer Harbeer Singh and Circle Officer Manoj Kumar arrived at the factory premises to take stock of the situation. A meeting was held between company management and striking employees in the presence of labour enforcement officials which fructified.

Administrative officials, after listening to company management officials, met the striking employees and on finding many of their demands unjustified, urged them to come on the table to have talks with the management in the presence of him and labour officials.

After the meeting the striking employees agreed to call off their strike immediately, with production work starting on a regular basis from Monday onwards as company officials agreed to take on their wage increment demand on a priority basis.

Vijayant Kumar, HR Manager, VIP, Haridwar, expressed happiness over the striking employees agreeing to have talks and later calling off their strike.

He added that since the past six years company had been providing best of the facilities to the employees and whatever issues were there, could have been communicated to them by employees, instead of taking the agitation route.

Earlier, in view of the sensitivity of the strike, as all the agitating employees had been agitating for more than 36 hours, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) was deployed at the unit premises.

Representative of striking employees Brij Pal Singh also expressed hope that their demands will be met by company officials, adding further that misunderstanding between the management and employees also led to them to take the agitation route.