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150 hurt in stone war ritual in Kumaon
Animal sacrifices at Devidhura fair decrease
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Shiv Sena demands more relief for mishap victims’ kin
Streetlights on during daytime in Mussoorie
AIIMS gets 5 specialists
Ishani heads prefectorial body of Unison school
Epidemiologists with masters in social welfare being appointed in districts
Lions Club members celebrate Teej
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150 hurt in stone war ritual in Kumaon
Pithoragarh, August 2 "For the first time, Bagwal had to be stopped as participants from two clans, out of four that take part traditionally in this stone war ritual, did not reach the spot.The first part of the ritual lasted for 12 minutes while the second part only for five minutes," said Dheeraj Pandey, district information officer, Champawat. "The administration kept a strong vigil to keep it under control and arranged medical facilities for the devotees who get injured in the stone war," said Pratush Singh, SDM of Pati subdivision of Champawat district. "As soon as the temple priest blew the couch signalling the beginning of the stone war, the participants pelted each other with stones," said Devendra Oli, a local historian from Champawat. "The administration stopped the battle after seven minutes when it was convinced that the ritual had been over," said Lal Singh Chamyal, president of the Devidhura temple committee. According to mythology, in ancient times, the temple deity used to take human sacrifices once in a year to keep her blessings intact on the people of area. Later with the arrival of Britishers, the tradition was stopped as it was found inhuman by the then Commissioner of Kumaon in eighteenth century who also converted it into "stone war" when he saw the feeling of the people attached to it," said Devendra Oli. "The stone war was held at 20 places in Kumaon till eighteenth century to express the might of a clan which wanted to extract taxes from the public on behalf of the ruling regime," said Devedra Oli. More then 20,000 spectators from all corners of the state and parts of UP witnessed the stone war at Devidhura for which the administration has made elaborate arrangements, sources from Champawat district administration informed. Yashpal Arya, Uttarakhand Congress chief and Revenue Minister, was the chief guest on the occasion.
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Animal sacrifices at Devidhura fair decrease
Pithoragarh August 2 “Earlier more than 50 athwars, (a herd of eight animals) used to be sacrificed at the fair but the number reduced to four this year. The villagers believe that according to the tradition at least one animal has to be sacrificed before taking part in the Bagwal (stone war),” said Pratush Singh, SDM of Pati subdivision of Champawat district. The SDM said the administration succeeded in persuading the villagers to offer coconuts in place of animal sacrifices, as coconuts form the eighth part of the athwar, besides seven animals. It succeeded in discouraging animal sacrifices keeping court orders in mind. The animal sacrifices during the Bagwal had replaced the ancient ritual of human sacrifices. “The villagers agreed to offering coconuts but some superstitious people still sacrificed animals without the knowledge of the administration,” said the SDM. “We were keeping a strict vigil every where to prevent animal sacrifices during the festival on August 2. This has resulted in a drastic fall in the number of animal sacrifices this year,” he said.
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Shiv Sena demands more relief for mishap victims’ kin
Dehradun, August 2 Led by Mahanagar Youth Shiv Sena president Sushil Bisht, Shiv Sainiks assembled at the Clock Tower and lit candles, offering tributes to the departed souls. Sushil Bisht also expressed concern over the poor maintenance of roads in the hilly areas of the state. He also demanded prompt widening of hill roads in Uttarakhand. Another Sena activist Vikas Negi sought an increase in ex gratia for the families of the victims. "The government should at least provide Rs 10 lakh to the families of the deceased and Rs 5 lakh for the injured", he said. Ashish Singhal, Anurag Srivastava, Kuldeep and Rakesh were prominent among Sena workers that took part in the assembly.
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Buses crowded with women on Raksha Bandhan
Dehradun, August 2 Boys and men of all age groups could be seen flaunting the holy thread, rakhi, in various shapes, sizes and designs. A day before, women of the Tibetan refugee community, too, tied rakhis on the wrists of Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Ashok Kumar in Dehradun. Tough time for commuters
Haridwar: Heavy rush had been witnessed at the bus stand here since yesterday owing to Raksha Bandhan. Such was the situation at the bus station that passengers waited for hours to board buses even for the nearby places like Dehradun, Rishikesh, Roorkee and Laksar. With the Uttarakhand Government announcing free travelling on state buses for women as a gesture on Raksha Bandhan, a large number of women travellers were seen today. Kranti Singh, Assistant Regional Manager, Haridwar Depot, told TNS that in ordinary buses, women passengers availed the facility as the local routes witnessing the rush of women passengers. Kranti Singh added that it was on local routes like Doon-Muzaffarnagar where influx of passengers was more but additional buses were plied on these routes to lessen the congestion. Anastisia Shevanova, a Russian tourist, complained that she had to wait for 45 minutes for a bus to Rishikesh but there was no one at the counter to give information.
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Raksha Bandhan celebrated with fervour and gaiety
Mussoorie, August 2 With the announcement of free transportation for women by the state Transport Department on the occasion, sisters availed the services by calling upon their brothers and tied the pious knot of rakhi in order to strengthen the bond of love and affection. The members from Himveer Housewives' Welfare Association (HWWA) at the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) academy in Mussoorie celebrated the festival by tying rakhis on the wrists of more than 100 officers undergoing rigorous training from past several months at the academy. HWWA member Shikha Sharma, speaking on the occasion, said the officers undergoing training were far away from their kith and kin. The women's association of the academy thought of organising the raksha bandhan ceremony with the objective of making the trainees feel at home. For trainee officer Amit Singh, it was a welcome sight. Speaking to The Tribune, he said the gesture shown by the wives of the jawans and officers of tying rakhi on their wrists at the academy was a moving moment for all present. The second in command at the academy, Benodhar Nayak, commended the efforts of the HWWA members and said that such functions channelised new energy in the veins of the officers undergoing rigorous training here. Chandni, Upasna, Bhuvneshwari Devi, Rajeshwari Rawat and other staff members were present on the occasion.
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Streetlights on during daytime in Mussoorie
Mussoorie, August 2 With every ampere of the electricity current becoming important, the commodity these days is high in value. While the blame game is on for overdrawing power from the National Grid, the Electricity Department of Mussoorie left the streets lights on during daytime for more than four hours today. The streets lights were seen at the roads near Kingcraig and Library Road, leading to not only loss of public money but also the precious commodity, electricity, here. The local residents were of the view that this was not happening for the first time, and on several occasions the lights remained on in the streets during daytime but not at night time. The local residents attributed the power grid failure to such misuse by the government departments, leading to the present crisis. When contacted the Municipal Council president said that as today was a holiday, the lights might have been kept on by the Electricity Department and not the council, which, otherwise, looks after the streetlights during working days. The SDO, Electricity Department, AK Singh, said that it was a rare mistake by the department workers that was rectified as soon as it came to his knowledge. He also said that the people of the town should also keep vigil on any such cases and inform the department as soon as they see such misuse of electricity.
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AIIMS gets 5 specialists
Dehradun, August 2 Director of AIIMS Prof Rajkumar said the specialists would further strengthen the OPD that had begun functioning since July when two medical officers were appointed. With the appointment of the five, the strength of doctors in OPD has gone up to seven. Besides, 35 more medical officers would be appointed by the end of August.
— TNS
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Ishani heads prefectorial body of Unison school
Dehradun, August 2 The student leaders of the school are selected to assume many responsibilities and take up an important leadership role in The school principal, staff and students welcomed the sixth prefectorial body to assume responsibilities and dispense their duties to the best of their abilities. The following have been selected to the sixth prefectorial body of the school for the session 2012-2013. Head girl--Ishani Pandya, vice-head girl--Dhanvi Shekhar, vice-head girl (junior school)--Shivangi Gupta, academic prefect--Vageesha Aneja, academic vice-prefect--Vedika Pathak, academic prefect international curriculum--Komal Baliyan, academic vice-prefect international curriculum--Mansi Narang, activity prefect--Medha Awasthi, activity vice-prefect--Amra Ansari, sports prefect--Pragati Paliwal, sports vice-prefect--Renuka Tanwar, Daffodil House prefect--Preety, Daffodil House vice-prefect--Ankita Gupta, Jasmine House prefect--Sweekriti Mishra, Jasmine House vice-prefect--Vanshika Singh, Orchid House prefect--Abha Mahajan, Orchid House vice-prefect--Anamika Pandey, Tulip House prefect--Sailesha Banskota and Tulip House vice-prefect--Ruchi Bhadkaria.
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Epidemiologists with masters in social welfare being appointed in districts
Dehradun, August 2 The department has been unable to retain epidemiologists in remote areas. After approval from the Health Ministry, candidates with master's degree in social welfare (MSW) are also being considered for the post of epidemiologists. In the districts of Chamoli and Tehri, epidemiologists with masters in social welfare are have been appointed and the experience has been good. They are entrusted with the task of preparing disease surveillance reports and keeping a watch on possible outbreaks, said Kiran Bisht, Joint Director, Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP). Simultaneously, the Health Department has advertised for the posts of epidemiologists to be posted at Pauri, Bageshwar and Uttarkashi. To strengthen the disease surveillance programme, the Uttarakhand government has also set up three referral units at Haldwani, Srinagar and HIHT (Rishikesh), and two regional laboratories have been set up at Almora and Pauri for addressing the needs of Terai and Garhwal regions.
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Lions Club members celebrate Teej
Dehradun, August 2 Dressed in their best attires, bedecked with jewellery and mehndi, the members danced to their glory till late evening to regale the audiences with judges Indrani Pandhi and Neetu examining their performances. The programme began with the dance by Sugandha on the song “Mehndi Hai Rachne Wali” which left the members in the Teej mood wishing for “Rimjhim Gire Sawan”. Teej queen titles were announced in two categories. Radha Singh was declared the winner of the Teej queen below 40 and the winner of the Teej queen above 40 was Renu Jain.
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