Dehradun, March 29
Alleging the involvement of HNB Garhwal University's administration in the fraudulent process of appointment against the vacant five posts of Assistant Registrar and Public Relation Officer, a large number of candidates who had appeared in the recruitment test gheraod Professor S K Singh, Vice Chancellor of the university, here today.

Around 200 aggrieved protesters today seized the university office at Srinagar, Garhwal, while the officials fled from their offices to save their own skin.

Dr Uma Shankar Thapliyal, state president, Writers' and Journalsits' Association, Uttarakhand, accused the university officers of appointing their favourites on the posts and for opting for "the strangest kind of appointment process for the single post of PRO."

"The candidates were asked to write their names on the answerbooks so that they could be identified for appointment by the evaluators. They were asked to type press notes on the computer and it's printouts attached to the answersheets. On the admit cards for recruitment test, there were neither the names nor photographs nor the Roll Nos of the candidates, so that "Munna Bhais" could easily be accommodated," he said.

According to Thapliyal, no OMR Sheet was supplied to the candidates to verify the validity of answers.

"It appears the university has handled the process to fill the vacancies before 31st March, 2012, to give berths to their own kith and kin and favourites," added Thapliyal.

Though the Vice Chancellor of the university could not be contacted to give his version on the issue but an official of the university on the condition of anonymity said: "The varsity has constituted an investigating committee to look into the matter and have assured the protesters to provide them justice."

It is to be mentioned that the HNB Garhwal University has recently been bugged by a series of controversies, including retrospective sessions of B.Ed. courses, forged marksheets of a professor and many others. 

Haridwar, March 29
It seems controversies are not leaving yog guru Swami Ramdev and his aide Acharya Balkrishan, as after Ramlila Maidan police crackdown, disproportionate assets allegations and fake passport documents, now a truck has been seized by enforcement directorate for ferrying cow urine without requisite papers.

A truck of Divya Pharmacy was seized by Excise Department officials at Lakshar-Kankhla road during an impromptu inspection, in which requisite documents related with the commodity ferrying vehicle were not found. Even the goods worth Rs 13 lakh had no label of the pharmacy company, package date and other information as are required for such commercial products.

Acharya Balkrishan, Managing Director of Divya Yog Pharmacy and Patanjali Yogpeeth, has termed the vehicle seizure as another part of the conspiracy hatched by a specific party(Congress) to malign their image.

Balkrishan cited cow urine as a tax exempted commodity and lack of proper knowledge of the driver, which led to the seizure of the vehicle.

Though Balkrishan tried to give various excuses, yet excise officials said that they had seized the vehicle only after not finding the requisite documents with the goods being ferried in a secret manner in order to escape from excise tax.

On this Balkrishan reacted, saying that Divya Pharmacy submits annually more than Rs 2 crore tax, so why will they do such an illegal act to save an amount of Rs 50,000 via tax only?

An official on condition of anonymity said that earlier they didn’t check Patanjali trucks but now will take such actions at regular interval as who know whether mass violation may be going on to exempt tax radar.

Dehradun, March 29
The moments of excitement and eagerness were largely visible on the bright faces of the brave soldiers of the Bengal Sappers and their families as Bollywood filmstar Irrfan Khan attended a promotional event to include an interaction with soldiers and screening of Paan Singh Tomar at Hajipir Auditorium in the Bengal Engineer Group and Centre, Roorkee, today.

Irrfan has portrayed the role of the lead in Paan Singh Tomar who himself was a Subedar in the Bengal Sappers. Incidentally, parts of the movie depicting the military life of Paan Singh Tomar have been shot at the Bengal Engineer Group and Centre (BEG). The movie has already recovered three times the production cost and kudos are still pouring in from all quarters for Irrfan's sterling performance.

The story of Paan Singh Tomar is set in Chambal and revolves around the life of a brilliant athlete named Paan Singh Tomar (Irrfan Khan), who brings a lot of fame to the country by winning the steeplechase, a form of race, at the Indian National Games consecutively for seven years. However, after his retirement, he is forced to go to Chambal where he pursues farming. A series of events and happenings in his life makes him take up the gun and become a dacoit.

Irrfan said, "I had promised myself that whenever the movie is released I would make it a point to get back to BEG to see the movie with the troops and today that promise has been fulfilled". Further speaking on the success of the movie, he said, "The audience has given a very positive response as the choice of the viewers is changing every week and even a single subject if portrayed and enacted well is able to draw the masses".

Produced on a minuscule budget of Rs 4.5 crore, the film has already collected more than Rs 12 crore and has been declared a hit at the box office. Tigmanshu Dhulia, director said, "This story was with me for more than 10 years and now to see the same film opening to packed theatres fills me with immense pride. It is a fascinating tale and for the kind of efforts and research gone behind making this film, I am really grateful to each and every one who has made this movie a huge success. As a director, it is very encouraging to see that the audiences are ready to consume films that redefine the general norms of filmmaking." The Assistant Director, Col RVS Rawat (Retd), was also grateful to BEG for all assistance provided by the authorities. 

Dehradun, March 29
Confusion persists over who is the leader of the BSP in the House, more so after the newly elected president of the BSP nominated Sarvat Kalim Anasari as the leader of the party in the house.

Earlier, the three elected BSP MLAs had nominated Haridas as the leader of the BSP in the House, but soon after Dr Megraj was appointed BSP president; he met the Speaker and submitted the letter nominating Sarvat Kalim Ansari as the leader of BSP in the House.

The three members from the BSP have extended support to the Congress and had voted in it's favour in the election of the Speaker and the trust vote held today.

However, repeated flip-flops had angered Haridas, who had threatened to abstain from the House until such time he was not made the leader of the party in the BSP.

Though, today all the three MLAs participated in the trust vote, the Congress is keen to ensure the MLAs' presence tomorrow, when the election of the Speaker is held.

Today Cabinet Minister Surender Rakesh remained evasive about the BSP voting alongside the Congress for the election of the Speaker tomorrow. "We will see what happens tomorrow," said Rakesh, who has been supporting the nomination of Haridas.

It is these fissures in the BSP which the BJP would like to exploit for the election of the Speaker tomorrow. 

Dehradun, March 29
The results of much-awaited Uttarakhand elephant census could be out in the first week of May. Uttarakhand forest authorities have recently conducted the census of elephants through a dung- decay method, used for the first time in the elephant census in the state.

According to Chief Conservator of Forests Garhwal DVS Khati, the basis of elephant census this year has been the dung decay method. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, that had been entrusted with the task for counting elephants in Uttarakhand. The new method is expected to give accurate population of elephantss in the state.

While the normal count of elephants has possibility of errors, dung decay method is very close to accuracy. As per the method, elephant dung is photographed and the photos are further fed into software which will establish the identity of the pachyderm and check any possibility to double counting of the same elephant.

“The results of normal direct count are likely to be influenced by human error and repetition compared to which the dung-decay method is more accurate as photographs of elephant dung are taken and these photos are fed into a special software, which will establish the identity of the pachyderm and prevent the scope for repetition or human error,” Khati pointed out.

Significantly, all the major wildlife areas inhabited by elephants like Corbett National Park, Rajaji National Park, Lansdowne Forest Division, Kalagarh Forest Division and other forest areas have been taken up under the count. The last elephant census had revealed elephant population was a little above 1500 in Uttarakhand. 

Pithoragarh, March 29
A forest officer deputed in the Pithoragarh forest division has a rich collection of nearly one lakh varieties of grass, mainly found in the Indian sub continent. “These varieties of grass have been collected from India, Nepal and Bhutan in the last 15 years," said Manoj Chandran, Deputy Forest Conservator, Pithoragarh forest division.

Chandran said he had a passion for collecting grass since his college days in Ernakulum in Kerala. "During and after my studies, I visited the interior parts of Bhutan and Nepal, besides other parts of the subcontinent to collect various kinds of grass from a area which seemed geographically separate from other areas," said Chandran.

He added the Indian subcontinent had 1,200 varieties of grass, while there were 11,000 varieties world over.

Chandran claimed that his collection now comprised of two thirds of all types of grass found in the subcontinent. “Of all the varieties found in the Indian subcontinent, 16 were even new to the Indian records. I have not given any name to these varieties yet, but I intend to do so soon,” said Chandran.

The young forest officer wants to share his collection with the future generation of researchers and plans to donate it to a forest research institute in Dehradun.

Haridwar, March 29
While the Indian youth is today more inclined towards the western culture, an Austrian couple has tied the nuptial knot by performing rituals in the Hindu vedic style in Haridwar.

Marcous, 30, a theatre artist, and Barbara, 35, an ace choreographer, both hailing from Austria, got married according to the Hindu customs at a temple at Kankhal here yesterday.

While Marcous was attired in the traditional Indian clothes, Barbara dressed in a red saree looked a real Indian bride. They took seven rounds of the sacred fire and pledged to remain always together.

It was a unique wedding for all those present at the temple. The news about foreigners getting married in the Hindu style spread like fire and the marriage venue was soon jam-packed even before the bride and the groom could garland each other.

Marcous and Barbara had met during an event in Austria two years ago. They later fell in love with each other. After hearing about Indian spiritualism and culture and Bollywood, they decided to visit places like Haridwar, Rishikesh and Varanasi, besides Delhi and Mumbai.

In Haridwar, they were immensely impressed by the Indian religious culture, particularly the marriage ceremony. They came in contact with pandit Prateek Mishrapuri here and expressed to him their willingness to get married according to Hindu customs.

Mishrapuri then made all arrangements _ decided the marriage venue, arranged dresses and prepared the guest list too. He also made their ‘kundlis’ and decided ‘Chaitra Navratra’ as the suitable time according to astrology for the marriage. With the wedding date decided, Barbara’s mother Alexandra and other relatives flew to India from Austria to attend the wedding.

Barbara said the marriage performed in the Hindu style was the best moments in her life. She added that they had heard marriages lasting throughout life in India, while divorces over petty reasons within short period of the wedding were common in the West. Hence, they decided to go for the Hindu-style wedding by performing rituals.

“See how foreigners respect our customs. But in India the youth is drifting towards the western culture. This shows that we do not respect our rich culture,” said an onlooker present at the marriage venue. 

Dehradun, March 29
The Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) at a review meeting held at the DMC office yesterday decided to take action on its ongoing projects. The meeting was attended by Mayor Vinod Chamoli, Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Sushil Kumar, Additional Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Harak Singh Rawat, Chief Sanitation Officer Kailash Joshi and other senior officers.

It was decided to start the auction process for the shops built by DMC at various locations in the city, complete the survey for the self assessment tax for new addition of 50,000 houses, swift action on land cases pertaining to DMC near Sai Temple, take up the construction on extension of DMC office, shift the animal shelter home from Kedarpuram to Mothorowala, impound property of those who refuse to deposit tax to DMC, give cleaniness awareness campaign to NGOs and instal statue in Gandhi park.

Tax Superintendent Rajesh Naithani said the DMC earned a revenue of Rs 2.25 crore from hoardings in the last financial year. As many as 36 hoardings on rooftops are under stay from court whereas 18 illegal hoardings have been removed.

In case of slum colonies, Nagar Adhikari and Executive Engineers were given directions to complete the survey work as per slum policy. The survey carried out by highfeed organisation has to be tallied with fresh survey being undertaken for Rajiv Awas Yojana.

Dehradun, March 29
LMCC won by 26 runs against Hathibarkala XI in the 60th District Cricket League match here today.

Electing to bat first after winning the toss, LMCC team piled up 169 runs. Jai scored the highest 29 runs and Prem contributed valuable 25 runs. Govind and Kamal of Hathibarkala XI took 2 wickets each. Batting next, Hathibarkala XI were all out for 143 runs, thereby ensuring 26-run win for LMCC. Kamal scored highest 46 runs for Hathibarkala XI team.

Rao (A) will take on Diamond Cricket Academy in tomorrow's match?.

Mussoorie, March 29
The Mussoorie police arrested two thieves near Kolhokhet on the Mussoorie-Dehradun highway last night and recovered stolen goods worth about Rs 15,000 from their possession. Suraj, a native of Salyan in Nepal, and Premchand, a native of Kajalgad in Gaziabad district and at present residing at Dalanwala in Rishikesh, broke into a shop owned by Balbir Singh, near Kholukhet, a few kilometres from Mussoorie, last night. After committing the crime, they were going towards Dehradun with the stolen goods stashed in a sack when they were stopped by the police during routing checking. The police questioned the duo about the goods and the latter confessed to the crime. They took it to Balbir's shop. The police arrested them.

Dehradun: The Sahaspur police nabbed three of six accused of the Atma Ram robbery case, which took place a few days ago at Sahaspur. Their names are Rahul, Rajender and Majhar, all belong to Bijnaur. They are hardened criminals and have been booked in many cases in Uttar Pardesh.

The police has seized three pistols, a WagonR, used in committing the crime and Rs 50,000 from their possession.