Mussoorie, March 31
Chaotic scenes were witnessed during a board meeting of the Municipal Council (MC) held after a period of six months on the MC premises here today.

The situation turned ugly when some members raised the issue of the pathetic condition of public toilets in the town and charged the Health Department with adopting a callous approach.

Health Officer Dr Vinod Nautiyal, while responding to the charge, said he found himself helpless in improving the situation as a worker of one of the MC members was allegedly collecting money illegally in the name of user charge at one of the public toilets situated near the Kempty Fall taxi stand at Library Bazaar. He said a company, Mark Media, had been given the task of maintaining the public toilets and granted rights of placing advertisements at the space available there, but the person running the toilet allegedly at the behest of the councillor was not allowing the employees of Mark Media to take possession of the toilet and instead was charging money from people for using the toilet.

This enraged the MC members and they asked the Health Officer to disclose the name of the member indulging in the illegal activity as it was bringing a bad name to the council. They also demanded strict action against the member if the allegation was found to be true. However, Nautiyal did not disclose the name and said he would do that at an opportune time later.

MC president OP Uniyal pacified the angry members and said he was ordering an inquiry into the matter. He assured the members that if the charge was found to be true action would taken against the guilty member.

The members raised the issue of stolen Mahindra Bolero vehicle and opposed around five proposals at the meeting. A ward member, Jai Kumar Gupta, while targeting the present executive officer, Rohitash Sharma, sought an explanation from the latter on what action was being taken in the vechile case. He said as the vehicle was not insured, a claim could not be made, thus causing a financial loss to the MC.

Gupta said the day the vehicle was stolen Rohitash Sharma was himself driving it though official drivers were on duty. Hence, the sole responsibility of the incident was on the executive officer and he should be penalised for it. Sharma responded to the charge saying the police had registered a case in the matter and efforts were on to locate the vehicle. He said since the vehicle was at his disposal officially he could drive it himself. He was on election duty when the vehicle was stolen in Dehradun and his official driver was on leave that day.

The members opposed a proposal for allocating about Rs 82.88 lakh for the repair of the Mazdoor Building owned by the council at Shifon Court at Library Bazaar. They argued that it would be a waste of money as the area was due to be transferred to the Tourism Department for the Purkul-Mussoorie ropeway.

The members also opposed a proposal for the payment of Rs 8,000 as consultancy fee to Mark Media. They said the whole work was worth only Rs 3 lakh and the consultancy fee demanded by the firm was high. Uniyal in reply said MC offcilas would be directed to follow the guidelines of the council and pay the firm accordingly.

The council cancelled the previous tender of the construction of a clock tower and directed the officials concerned to issue a new tender in the matter.

Around 100 proposals were passed along with the annual budget at the meeting.

Dehradun, March 31
The Chief of Army Staff, Gen VK Singh, visited the Roorkee Military Station today as the guest of honour for the 250th Raising Day celebrations of 1 GUARDS (2 PUNJAB), the senior battalion of the Army.

Gen VK Singh was received by Brig Suresh Sharma, Station Commander, Roorkee Military Station, and Commandant, Bengal Engineer Group and Centre, Roorkee at the BEG helipad.

The Army Chief, who is also the Honorary Colonel of the Brigade of the Guards, released a special first day cover to commemorate the occasion at Hajipir Auditorium. A Coffee Table Book glorifying the history of 1 GUARDS was also released by the Army Chief, who later addressed all ranks of the battalion in a grand Sainik Sammelan. This was followed by a sound and light show in the evening, depicting the two and a half centuries of history of 1 GUARDS which is in a way the history of the Punjab Regiment and that of the Brigade of the Guards.

1 GUARDS had been raised at Madras in 1762 as 10th Batallion and was reconstituted in 1772 at Madurai as 9th Carnatic Batallion under Captain Kelley and hence was named as 'Kelly Ki Paltan'. The batallion has received 31 battle honours so far.

Earlier in the day, the celebrations got off to a start with the flagging-in of the 12-day 960-km cycle expedition by the Western Army Commander, Lt Gen SR Ghosh. This expedition was undertaken by the soldiers of 1 GUARD from Naushera in J&K to Roorkee to mark the occasion.

Dehradun, March 31
The WWF-India in collaboration with Doon University, Dehradun, organised a poster-making competion and a debate at the university for students of local schools on Earth Hour today.

Vice-Chancellor of Doon University Dr VK Jain was the chief guest . He said every year Earth Hour was observed to send a global message that it was possible to take action on global warming. "Earth Hour aims at spreading awareness and inspiring individuals, organisations, institutions and groups to be part of the largest global environment movement in the history," he said.

Director, Uttarakhand Council of Science and Technology, Rajender Dobhal called upon the gathering to mark the occasion by switching off lights. Dr Harish Kumar, Head of the Terai Arc Programme, WWF-India, spoke about the significance of Earth Hour. Dr GB Pant of Doon University elucidated on the conservation of energy and told the gathering to switch off at least non-essential lights.

Students of Welham Girls, RIMC and Doon University talked about the Earth Hour campaign and gave power-point presentations on the subject. The students were also given awards for the best poster and power-point presentation. An exhibition van by the Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency generated interest among students about the use of renewable energy sources.

Dr Jatinder Kaur, coordinator of the WWF-India Dehradun Programme Office, coordinated the programme which was attended by 280 students.

The students held a candlelight march later in the evening. Students of Doon University, DAV (PG) College, DBS College, SGRR, Graphic Era and NCC cadets turned off the lights from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm.

Dehradun, March 31
Residents of Vivekanand Gram Lane number 1 in Jogiwala of the city are under panic due to the shifting of high tension wire from another locality to the locality by the Power Department.

One high tension wire is already running here and the department has dug up pits to erect poles for second high tension line. The city has witnessed many deaths in the area due to electrocution as these wires are hanging either loose or passing through near the roofs of houses.

Geeta Bisht, former member of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, tried to resist the attempts of the department to dig up the pits for poles just in front of her gate.

She said, “The department has first installed a high tension line before the house of Atma Singh, resident of other lane, who ultimately had to sell his house when the line was not shifted. Now some influential person has bought the house. It seems that under his influence the line is now being shifted and poles are being dug up just outside my house. When employees came to erect the pole, the residents of the entire line opposed the move. But the officer present on the spot made it clear that the high tension wire would be installed here.”

Sarla Rawat, living in the same area, now has no option but to live under constant fear. Not only this, a pole has been erected in such a way that the car cannot be parked in her house. She said, “When my husband, a Town Planner, bought the plot and got the map cleared, the high tension wires had not been fixed here. It was just before we were to start construction, we found it all over the place. We had no option but to construct the house.”

The department, however, does not see anything wrong in it. General Manager, Power, SK Tamta, said, “The residential colonies have mushroomed all over the city. To provide better voltage, we cannot install the lines far from houses.

Nevertheless, safety measures are strictly followed to avoid the possibility of fatal accidents due to the wires. Proper earthing is provided to wires and a distance of standard 17 feet from the ground and six feet from the roof of the house is maintained to keep the residents out of human touch.

Dehradun, March 31
ICL Chandigarh defeated the Dehradun team by 8 wickets in a match in the 4th Uttarakhand Cricket Cup 2012 here today.

Electing to bat first after winning the toss, the Dehradun team scored 133 runs losing all wickets. Ankit scored the highest 33 runs for the Dehradun team. Pankaj of ICL Chandigah took two wickets.

ICL Chandigarh easily managed to chase the target and won the match by 8 wickets. Amrit Pal scored unbeaten 67 runs.

Haridwar, March 31
Terming modern Western-based education as the one diverting students from moral, traditional values that have been Indian Gurukul mode of education, Jagad Guru Shankaracharya Raj Rajeshwaram said that lack of moral character in today's generation is paving way for degradation of our country.

Jagad Guru Shankaracharya was speaking as chief guest at a function at Saraswati Vidya Mandir Inter College, Mayapur, here today.

The revered guru further added that the country is lacking honesty in every field. The emphasis is now more on academic results but less on character building.

Accepting this, school principal Vijay Pal Shastri highlighted the moralistic education being taught to students as well as many activities being done in the academic session to bring children closer to Indian culture.

At the function meritorious students performing excellently throughout the academic session were also felicitated. Vijay Uniyal, who secured 87.9 pc in class XII, making it to the top 15 in the state list, was felicitated by Shankaracharya Raj Rajeshwaram.

Later, a gala cultural programme was presented by the students, showcasing different folk, regional song and dance items of various states of the country.