Mussoorie, April 13
Heavy rain accompained by strong winds lashed Mussoorie today, bringing down a number of trees and billboards in many areas.

The tourists and residents were seen in woollen clothes to tackle the unprecedented dip in temperature. The heavy rain and strong winds started in the morning and continued for more than four hours.

At Mussoorie Public School, the students had a narrow escape when an oak tree got uprooted and fell on the roof of one of the classrooms in the afternoon. No one was injured as the tree fell over the grill erected around the area that lessened the impact of the fall.

The Principal of the school said the students were taken to a safe spot and they immediately wrote to the Forest Department to remove the tree. The winds also peeled away advertisement billboards at few places in the town, posing threat to the life of the pedestrians and commuters.

The higher reaches around Mussoorie like Naag Tibba, witnessed a snow spell accompanied by heavy rain.

Due to overflowing drains, the roads near Picture Palace and Kulri Bazaar turned into a cesspool of mud, making it difficult for the pedestrians to walk through. Unlike tourists, the farmers from the apple belt in the Dhanaulti area showed their unhappiness over the fresh spell of rain and strong winds. They feared that the strong wind would affect agriculture adversely.

Director of Metrological Department Anand Sharma termed it as a routine occurrence and added that the weather would start improving soon. Surprisingly, the sky cleared by the evening and the life returned to normalcy.

HARIDWAR: Heavy rain accompanied by a windstorm that lashed the city in the wee hours today disrupted life at several places.

Uprooted trees, fallen electricity poles and overflowing nullahs were common sites.

Power supply also got disrupted with intermittent cuts and several colonies remained without electricity till late morning. Colonies of Shiv Lok, Shiv Moorti area, Mayapur, Devpura, Khanna Nagar, Jwalapur, Vivek Vihar and Awas Vikas were badly affected.

On the Delhi-Dehradun, Haridwar-Rishikesh and Haridwar-Najibabad highways, many portions of the road got affected with several trees fallen on the highway. Drains in many inner roads got choked, which submerged many vital intersections.

The rain in the region has brought the temperature down.

Dehradun, April 13
Effecting a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the Uttarakhand Government today transferred 46 IAS officers, including the Commissioners of Garhwal and Kumaon Divisions and 11 District Magistrates.

Ajay Nabiyal has been made the Commissioner of the Kumaon Division and Kunal Sharma of the Garhwal Division.

The Principal Secretary, medical education, Ayush and FRDC forest and rural development has been entrusted with the responsibility of culture and Central Government-aided projects. She has been divested of the responsibility of medical education and Ayush, rest of the responsibilities will remain with her.

Principal Secretary PC Sharma has been divested of the responsibilities of Commissioner, revenue and housing. He will continue to hold the charge of civil aviation and Sanskrit education.

Similarly, Principal Secretary Rakesh Sharma will no longer hold the responsibilities of the departments of small scale industries, Khadi Gram Udyog, Central Government-funded programmes and officiating Director of Khadi Gram Udyog. However, he will continue to hold the charge of industries and managing director of SIDCUL.

Principal Secretary, home, DK Kotia has been given the additional responsibility of special programmes.

While Principal Secretary S Raju has been assigned the responsibilities of the departments of medical education, medical, health and family welfare, Ayush, housing and Commissioner (housing).

Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Utpal Kumar Singh has been divested of the responsibilities of higher education, information, Suraj and anti-corruption and jansewa. He will continue to hold the charge of the PWD, personnel and vigilance.

On the other hand, the Principal Secretary has been divested of the responsibilities of transport, medical, health and family welfare departments. Instead, he will now hold the charge of departments of forest and environment, labour and employment. He will continue to hold the charge of the department of planning.

Principal Secretary Om Prakash has been given the additional charge of revenue and divested of the charge of school education, minor irrigation and fisheries. He will continue to hold the charge of the agriculture department.

Secretary Vinod Fonia has been entrusted with the responsibilities of urban development, small-scale industries, khadi gram udyog and has also been made officiating director of khadi gram udyog. He has been divested of the responsibilities of rural development and rural services.

Secretary to the Chief Minister SS Sandhu has been divested of the responsibilities of forest and environment. He will continue to hold the charge of tourism and power.

Uttarakhand Chief Electoral Officer, Secretary, Election, and Commissioner, Tax, Radha Raturi has been given the additional charge of Secretary, technical education. Secretary to the Chief Minister MH Khan has been transferred to the posts of Secretary, minorities' welfare and MD, Minorities Welfare Corporation. Secretary, watershed, Manisha Panwar has been transferred to the post of Secretary, higher education and school education, Secretary, irrigation, Dr Uma Kant Panwar has been transferred to the posts of Secretary, transport, information technology and Commissioner, transport.

Secretary, revenue, Kunwar Rajkumar has been transferred to the post of Secretary to the Chief Minister. Secretary, transport, RC Pathak has been transferred to the posts of Secretary, disaster management, rural engineering services and chief revenue commissioner, Dehradun.

Secretary, information and technology, Arun Dhondhiyal has been transferred to the post of Secretary, rural development and panchayati raj. Dr PS Gusain, who was Secretary, panchayati raj, has now been made Secretary cooperatives, science and technology and biotechnology. Dr Hemlata Dhoundiyal has been removed from the post of Secretary, finance, and given the charge of Secretary, Secretariat administration and watershed. Chief Revenue Commissioner NS Negi has been transferred to the post of Secretary culture and games.

Dr Ajay Pradhyot has been given the additional charge of Secretary, animal husbandry and fisheries.

Ranjeet Sinha, DM, Chamoli, has been transferred to the post of DM, Tehri while DM, Tehri, SA Murugeshan, has been made MD GMVN. Additional Secretary, home, information technology, Director ITDA and Director, training, Meenakshi Sundaram has been transferred to the post of vice-chairman, MDDA.

Chief Executive Officer, Tehri, has been transferred to the post of DM, Champawat. DM, Uttarakashi, Akshat Gupta, has been transferred to the post of DM, Bageshwar. DM, Almora, DS Garbyal has been made Additional Secretary in the Uttarakhand administration.

DM, Champawat, Ashish Joshi has been transferred to the post of DM, Almora. DM, Dehradun, Dilip Jawalkar, has been transferred to the post of Additional Secretary to the Chief Minister. He will also be given the additional charge of Director General, information.

Sujanya, Additional Secretary to the Chief Minister and also Additional Secretary, election, has been transferred to the post Additional Secretary, power.

MD, GMVN, Ravinath Raman will be the new District Magistrate of Dehradun. DM, Bageshwar, Deepak Rawat has been made the DM, Chamoli, DM Udham Singh Nagar PS Jangpangi will be Additional Secretary in the Uttarakhand administration, DM, Pauri MC, Upreti has been transferred to the post of Additional Secretary, information, cane and civil aviation.

Additional Secretary, food and civil supplies, Subardhan has been given additional charges of social welfare and Managing Director, Multipurpose Finance Development Corporation. RK Sudhanshu has been given the additional charge of Additional Secretary, dairy development.

Dehradun, April 13
Demanding apology from state Transport Minister Surender Rakesh for searching the bags of women staff during a raid on the the Regional Transport Office yesterday, the employees' union of the RTO has decided to launch a silent protest by wearing black badges from Monday.

Employees said besides searching the bags of women staff, the minister allegedly took away money belonging to a chief assistant and three other male employees, accusing them of indulging in corruption.

Mukesh Navani, president of the Parivahan Karamchari Sangh, said, "Employees have no issue with the raid. But the way he searched the wallets of the male staff and the bags of the women employees, is not acceptable. We will not strike work, but our silent protest will continue till the minister tenders apology for his conduct."

He further said the minister took away Rs 45,000 belonging to chief assistant Sanghya Mitra, which she had withdrawn from bank for the construction work in her house. She had also shown him the bank slip as a proof, but the minister did not listen.

The minister accused the employees of indulging in corruption and also took away money from the wallets of three other male employees.

The minister could not be contacted as he was busy at a meeting.

Dehradun, April 13
Angry sanitary workers of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) dumped garbage in front of a footwear shop situated at Tehsil Chowk in the morning here, when owners of the shop beat up DMC supervisor Sunder Lal for parking his motorbike before their shop.

When injured Lal came back accompanied with a crowd of DMC sanitary worker and Additional Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Harak Singh Rawat, the accused ran away from the scene and closed their shop.

The enraged workers stalled the traffic on Tehsil Chowk. They were pacified when the Kotwali police assured them that the culprit would be produced before them by the evening.

The incident happened when at 10 am when Lal parked his bike before a shop at Tehsil Chowk. The owners of the shop, Firoz, Shamshad and

Hasan threw the bike on the ground as they also used the space to display the slippers.This infuriated Lal who, when exchanged words with the three, was beaten up mercilessly by them. During their altercation, a supervisor assigned under Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission program stood spectator and did not intervene. Injured Lal returned to the DMC and informed president of the sanitary workers union, Semu Selwan and members Karamvir Valmiki, Ashok Rajouri and councillor Madan and then reached the incident site with many workers to take the assailants to task but by that time they had vanished.

The crowd then dumped the litter before the shop and blocked the traffic.

Harak Singh Rawat reached the site, so did the police, who assured the crowd of arresting the accused by the evening.

But the police has not been able to arrest the accused till now. According to the police, the shop owners told them that it were not they but their servants from Bihar who manhandled the supervisor and had ran away into hiding since then. Lal claimed that the men who thrashed him were not from Bihar but the owners who lived in Inna Mulla building and hails from Meerut. He said he recognized them since he had been working in this area for the past one year.

He also denied from making any compromise with the accused and said if the police did not arrest them, the sanitary workers would go on indefinite strike.

Dehradun, April 13
Amid much fanfare, a total of 1,200 runners hit the streets of Dehradun as part of the Annual Terry Fox Run, also called the ‘Marathon of Hope’.

GOC Maj-Gen Ranvir Yadav from Doon School flagged off the race.

Students from St Kabeer Academy, Summer Valley School, Unison World School, Doon Blossom, Welham Girls School, Kasiga School, John Martyn, St George’s College, Welham Boys School, Carnival Academy, Olympus High, ITM, Hope Town School, Asian School, Doon Girls, Selaqui School, Roller Skating club and participated in the marathon. The guests included Dr Peter McLaughlin, Headmaster, Doon School, and Simon Cridland, head of Advocacy, Canadian High Commission, among others.

The Indo-Canadian Cancer Research Foundation (ICCR) gave away t-shirts to the participants. An amount of Rs 66,500 was raised at the end of the marathon.

Dehradun, April 13
Sixteen Territorial Army (TA) officers, after 1-2 years of tenure at their respective battalions, underwent 13 weeks of post-commission training at the Indian Military Academy.

The closing ceremony was held here today at Chetwode Hall, Indian Military Academy. The chief guest on the occassion, Lt-Gen Manvender Singh, AVSM, VSM, Commandant, Indian Military Academy, said the TA was playing a major role in handling almost all security challenges prevalent in the country. Over the years, the Territorial Army has rendered valuable service to the country both in war and peace and its achievements were praiseworthy. With time the TA had grown in status and established itself as a very potent force. The TA officers, in particular, were playing a very important role as citizen soldiers.

Later, he gave away Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose medal to Lt Piyush Sharma for standing first in the course, Brig KP Deo medal to Lt Manish Verma for officer cadet best in PT, and Brig Kapil Mohan medal to Lt Piyush Sharma for officer cadet best in tactics and weapon training.

Dehradun, April 13
The pictures formed in the minds of the fans of Tom Sawyer and his friends was brought alive in a Hindi adaptation of the play staged today at the AMN Ghosh auditorium.

The agrarian crisis and the issue of migration have always been the raging issue in America’s mid-west area where the story of Mark Twain’s ‘The adventures of Tom Sawyer’ is based.

Trying to make a connection with the Hindi-speaking audience, Director of the play Babita Pande tried to pick up the commonalties between the rural India and rural America as depicted by Twain, managing to strike a chord with the audience.

The 75-minutes play revolves around Tom Sawyer’s midnight escapades in the graveyard and the constant pushing and pulling that he was forced to stoically bear.

The play was organised jointly in association with the American Centre, New Delhi, in association with Purvabhyas and Rural Entrepreneurship for Art and Cultural Heritage.

Dehradun, April 13
The festival of Baisakhi and Khalsa Sajna Divas were celebrated at Gurdwara Guru Sangat Dhamawala, Gurdwara Guru Sri Singh Sabha, Adat Bazar, Gurdwara Race Course, Gurdwara Patel Nagar and Gurdwara Dila Ram Bazar with religious fervour today.

At Guru Nanak Niwas, the celebrations began with akhand path followed by kirtan by Bhai Raspal Singh and others.

Dehradun, April 13
Experts at the second annual national conference of consortium against rabies yesterday said awareness and prompt post-bite treatment was the only way to effectively tackle rabies.

The conference was organised by the community medicine department of the Sri Guru Ram Institute of Medical and Health Sciences.

Dr S Abdul Rahman, president of the Association for Prevention and Control of Rabies in India, said apart from adopting measures like carrying out mass sterlisation to control the population of wild animals, people should also be made aware of the disease. “In the case of an animal bite, the affected area should be placed under the running water to get rid of the virus and then approach the hospital for the post-bite care,” he said.

He said other than dogs, the rabies virus could be present in monkeys, cats and foxes also.

Dr Anil Arya, a skin specialist from Doon Hospital, said in the rural areas, the cases of animal bites were taken lightly.

Shedding light on the rabies scenario in the country, Dr JS Hanspal, Professor, department of community medicine, SGRRI, said both Sylvatic and Urban rabies had been present in the country since ancient times.

Dehradun, April 13
It seems that schools in the district have not learnt any lesson from the much hyped Vikasnagar kidnapping case, as yesterday in the morning a child disappeared from Apollo International School, Raipur,about which the school authorities had no clue till quite late. It was when a teacher saw the school bag of Anubhav Kala, class VII student, lying in the class, that the boy was found missing from the school.

Some senior boys who had seen the boy being taken by a stranger in a Santro car and had also the presence of mind to note down the car number, and the told the teacher about it.

The school informed the mother of the child, Anju kala, and the police. The car was traced parked outside Touchwood School in Raipur.

It was then found that a man named Vinod Chauhan brought Anubhav to that school to substantiate the story as his brother's son, Anshul.

The parents of Anshul had seen mobile phones lying in his bag in the morning and enquired from him the source from where he got the mobile phones.

He gave the name of Anubhav, who, till last year, studied with him in Touchwood School and moved to International Apollo School from this academic session.