Cricket fans want state honours for Unmukt Chand
Haridwar, August 26
With under-19 cricket team winning the World Cup, defeating giants Australia, cricket fans have demanded honour for state's own Unmukt Chand, who captained the team to global glory.

Minister promises fair transfer policy for teachers
Dehradun, August 26
Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani today pledged to uproot corruption linked to the transfer of government school teachers in the state.

Govt must protect interests of Dalits, minorities: Forum
Mussoorie, August 26
A symposium on improving the condition of Dalits and minorities in the town was held on the Municipal Council premises under the aegis of the National Action Forum for Social Justice last evening. The vice president of the forum, Pooran Lal, speaking on the occasion said that the Dalits and minorities were being exploited by the people from upper castes and the state government should address the problem immediately.

Dehradun, August 26
In a major success, the Uttarakhand Police today solved the Sai Mandir theft case by arresting two of the accused within a few days of the happening of the crime.

Uttarakhand Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Ram Singh Meena disclosed that the Kulwant gang was behind the theft in Sai Mandir, Rajpur Road, here.

The two arrested were identified as Harjeet and Gurdeep. The duo, in assistance with Raju Singh and gang leader Kulwant, committed the theft taking away silver items of the temple and a gold chain of the Sai Baba idol.

Meena said while Harjeet and Gurdeep had been nabbed from Dehradun, the police was in search of Raju Singh and Kulwant, who were absconding. He said the gang had been involved in a number of thefts in various temples in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

A total of four bags containing around 50 kilogram of silver articles and one gold chain stolen from the Sai temple have been recovered from them. Both Harjeet and Gurdeep belong to Delhi.

Today’s breakthrough came after the police managed to zero in on Hardeep and Gurdeep after they received some leads through some mobile phones that were used during the night of theft and were subsequently put on surveillance.

Meanwhile, several awards have been announced for the police team that was involved in nabbing the culprits. Uttarakhand DGP Vijay Raghav Pant has announced an award of Rs 20,000 for the team while Uttarakhand Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Ram Singh Meena has announced Rs 10,000 for it whereas DIG Dehradun Sanjay Gunjiyal has declare to give Rs 5000 to the policemen. Further, the Sai Baba temple management has also announced Rs 1 lakh for the police team involved in the investigations.

Haridwar, August 26
With under-19 cricket team winning the World Cup, defeating giants Australia, cricket fans have demanded honour for state's own Unmukt Chand, who captained the team to global glory.

The Cricket Association of Haridwar and regional outfit Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) held special meetings extending wishes to the son of the soil. Both the organisations urged Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to hold a grand felicitation function for Chand, who hails from Khadku Bhalya village in Pithoragarh district.

Inder Mohan Barthwal, secretary of the Haridwar Cricket Association, termed the U-19 colts' victory as a bright example of India's superiority in cricket. He cited Indian national team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, also hailing from Almora, Uttarakhand, and Indian women's national team player Ekta Bisht, also from Almora, as shining examples of players coming from the hill state.

Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) activists demanded better playing facilities, stadiums, grounds, infrastructure and coaching facilities in various sporting disciplines in the state.

Sports cell chief Lalit Mamgain said that in comparison to Uttarakhand, other hill states like Himachal Pradesh and Manipur have good sporting infrastructure and set-up, which needs to be emulated by the state government.

Fans distributed sweets on Indian young guns winning the World Cup with some even lighting crackers despite rain playing foul to their celebration mood.

"MS Dhoni, Mahesh Pandey and Unmukt Chand have really made us proud and now I am looking forward to Ekta Bisht's World Cup performance. Surely, she, too, will emulate Unmukt's brilliant performance of 111 runs, and as a spin bowler, we expect a five-wicket haul from her in women's final," said Payal Bisht, an ardent cricket fan hailing from Almora.

Dehradun, August 26
Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani today pledged to uproot corruption linked to the transfer of government school teachers in the state.

Addressing a convention of the Unaided Recognised Schools Association of Uttarakhand in Dehradun, Naithaini said he had pledged to do away with the corruption in the teacher transfer matter. He said he was for free, fair and transparent transfer policy for the government teachers.

Referring to the association’s long-standing demand of allowing them to go for English as the medium of teaching in their schools, Naithani assured them that their demand would be fulfilled from the next session.

Naithani also assured them that their other demand for the inclusion of representatives of unaided recognised schools in the State School Education Advisory Board would be considered.

Mussoorie, August 26
A symposium on improving the condition of Dalits and minorities in the town was held on the Municipal Council premises under the aegis of the National Action Forum for Social Justice last evening. The vice president of the forum, Pooran Lal, speaking on the occasion said that the Dalits and minorities were being exploited by the people from upper castes and the state government should address the problem immediately. Eloborating further he said that village Bansagad, near Mussoorie, was declared with swatantra gram panchayat status by former Chief Minister of the state Narayan Dutt Tiwari but the government had not taken any action in the matter so far. He demanded that the present Congress government should work towards declaring the village as swatantra gram panchayat without any further delay. He also said that the land mafia and members from the upper caste were bent upon usurping the land meant for the Dalits in the area without any permission of the district administration, and such practice needed to be curbed on a priority basis.

The Central executive committee member of the forum, Mohammed Yasin, in his address said that the issue of rehabilitating 36 street vendors in Musosorie was still pending at various levels in the government since 1995 and the Mayawati government had directed the officials to expedite the matter when the town was under the erstwhile Uttar Pradesh state, but no action had been initiated so far. He demanded from the government to address the problem so that the street vendors can earn their livelihood in a dignified manner.

Town president of the forum Surendar Pal raised the issue of the sanitary workers belonging to the Dalit community in the Municipal Council of Mussoorie and said that the population of the town had increased manifold in the last three decades but the number of sanitary workers had decreased considerably over the years, which had left the sanitary workers agitated. He demanded creating 200 more posts of sanitary worker in the town to decrease the gap so as to improve the sanitation conditions of the town.

He also said that due to the indifferent attitude towards the contractual workers belonging to the Dalit community, frustration had set in, affecting their work adversely, and the administration should work towards addressing their problems immediately.

The other speakers raised the issue of the Municipal Council not following the reservation policy while allotting the newly constructed shops. They also sought investigation into this matter. Surendar Pal demanded regularisation of the snake-charmers colony in Mussoorie.

The national president of the forum, Nanak Chand, appealed to all the members to be aware of their problems and jointly raise them in various forums form time to time so that the government was forced to address them without any further delay. He further said that the forum was also planning to raise all these matters in the winter session of Parliament for their effective redressal. He said that the forum members would be meeting Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna in this regard soon and discussing with him all the issues raised so that they were addressed in an effective manner. Arshad Ali, Kamil Ali, Banwari Lal, Satish Chandra Gaud, Satya Prasad Nautiyal, Uday Singh Bisht, Mohd Aslam and others were present on the occasion.

Dehradun, August 26
Ghumakkad Narain --The Travelling Children's Literature Festival on its second day today held sessions in a number of government schools of Dehradun. The host Nivesh, an NGO, also donated books to children.

Five hundred students attended the sessions which ranged from story reading to poems sharing. The sessions were led by noted literary personalities Rajendra Upadhyay, Dinesh Chamola and Mukesh Nautiyal. The speakers urged the children to inculcate reading habits asking them to go for the reading of their choice.

The children enjoyed the day with writers despite it being a Sunday. Naresh Raturi from the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan was also present.

Later, in the evening, a Hindi book on Nagas by Amish Tripathi, well-known author from Mumbai and an Indian Institute of Management ex-ex-alumnus, was launched by Padma Shree Leeladhar Jagudi at the Officers Transit 
Hostel, Dehradun.

The festival is being organised by NGOs Nivesh and Himalayan Hub for Art and Cultural Heritage in collaboration with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation in the memory of noted writer and journalist Thakru Vishva Narain Singh.

The festival is a two-month event to organise activities on book reading, creative writing, illustration workshops, puppet shows, from a wide range of writers, illustrators and performers from both India and abroad and will culminate on September 29, 2012, in Delhi. The festival this year will be organised in Dehradun and Delhi.

Dehradun, August 26
Governor Aziz Qureshi, in his capacity as the chairman of the Uttarakhand chapter of the Red Cross Committee, yesterday flagged off vehicles carrying relief material for the cloudburst-affected people of Uttarkashi.

Talking about the efforts of the Red Cross, the Governor said 200 tarpaulins, 500 blankets, 200 sets of utensils, 200 plastic buckets, 200 pieces each of dhotis, saris, towels, mosquito nets and sheets were sent yesterday.

Besides, medicines, ration, matchboxes, candles and stoves were sent earlier.

The Governor said relief material was being received regularly from the national headquarters of the Red Cross Committee and supplied to the affected families. He appealed to the people to come forward and help their suffering brethren.

Ranjit Singh, chairman of the organising committee of the Red Cross Committee, Dr IS Pal, general secretary, Dr MA Ansari, treasurer, and Amit Verma, member of the committee, were present on the occasion.

Haridwar, August 26
The police yesterday arrested two persons, Dashrath Singh and Ashish Kumar, both residents of Uttar Pradesh, for allegedly murdering a BHEL labour contractor on August 21. The body of Subhash was found in Ambedkar Nagar at Jwalapur on August 23.

According to information, Dashrath, a maintenance labourer, was having a dispute with Subhash over some payment. On August 21, Dashrath demanded Rs 15,000 from Subhash. As both were drunk, their arguments turned violent. In the meantime, Ashish also arrived at the scene and both allegedly attacked Subhash with stones. Subhash later succumbed to his injuries. After committing the crime, Dashrath also took away his cellphone and motorcycle.

Hiding the vehicle at Ashish’s house, both were trying to flee to Bareilly when the police arrested them during a checking.

Dehradun, August 26
Carman School will clash with Kendriya Vidyalaya, Indian Military Academy, in the final of the 11th Om Prakash Memorial Football Tournament being played in Dehradun.

Meanwhile, the semifinal matches were played yesterday. In the first semifinal, Carman School beat the KV, Upper Camp, team 3-1.

In another match, KV, IMA, beat Woodstock 1-0. — TNS

Dehradun, August 26
The Second Uttarakhand Muay Thai Championship started in the state capital Dehradun today.

Inaugurating the championship, Dehradun District Sports Officer Dharmendra Bhatt said Muay Thai was becoming quite popular in Uttarakhand and also in the country. He said this martial art was today an Olympic event. He hoped that more and more of Muay Thai players will become part of the Indian Muay Thai team.

Uttarakhand Muay Thai Association’s president Naveen Hickey informed that a total of 62 participants from all across the state were taking part in the championship. He said those selected from the championship will participate in the National Games to take place Chhatisgarh in 2013.