Haridwar, October 5
Despite a temporary ban on quarrying in the Kumbh Mela zone in Haridwar, the illegal activity continues unabated.

Illegal quarrying is affecting the ecology of the region and most of the river beds have become hollow. Agricultural land is also shrinking, posing problems for villagers, the majority of whom are dependent on farming.

A Tribune team today found illegal quarrying going on in a 800 m range of Brahamkund, Har-ki-Pauri, which is the core Kumbh Mela zone. At adjacent ghats, labourers could be seen carrying out quarrying work despite the ban.

Interestingly, a police city control room is situated near Har-ki-Pauri and the quarrying mafia has no fear of it.

City police chief Kiran Lal Shah said as the matter had been brought to his notice, immediate action had been taken with police teams raiding Ganga ghats today.

On the other hand, City Magistrate JS Nambiyal said the administration had been conducting raids regularly, which had resulted in a sharp decline in illegal quarrying in the Kumbh region.

Tehsildar Shahid Hussain said after receiving complaints against Shiv Shakti Stone Crusher in Katarpur village here, they impounded a stone crusher yesterday. “More such raids will be conducted and we are filing reports to the District Magistrate in this regard” added Tehsildar.

In the past few months, administrative teams have impounded tractor-trailers and JCB machines from various nearby villages that were found involved in quarrying at night time. However, the vehicles were later released.

Activists of Matra Sadan Ashram have been raising voice against illegal quarrying on Ganga riverbeds for long and now local people have also formed a samiti against the illegal activity.

The Dagadiya Jan Kalyan Samiti, a social organisation, is involving local villagers to oppose illegal quarrying that is affecting Ganga embankments.

Meanwhile, Matra Sadan founder Swami Shivanand has opposed the demand of quarrying owners to allow the activity in Haridwar.

He said it was quite unfortunate that Haridwar legislator (rural) Swami Yatishwaranand also attended a programme of quarrying operators.

Dehradun, October 5
Abhijay Negi, a resident of Dehradun and third semester student pursuing BPSc LLB (Hons) at National Law University, Jodhpur (NLU-J), is shortlisted as one of the top eight finalists in the ongoing nationwide Nano Student of the Year contest launched by Tata Nano. The result was declared yesterday.

In the first round, students were judged on four parameters -- academics, culture, sports and social life. The top eight finalists will vie for the Nano Student of the Year title by performing six assigned tasks. Doonites may bless their own favourite student by casting their vote on the website www.nanostudentoftheyear.com.

Abhijay is also the recipient of the second prize in the recently held NDTV Greenathon 2012 Teens for Green contest.

In this nationwide contest, NDTV sought the entries from all teenagers who have worked for a cause sensitive to the environment. Abhijay's entry in this competition was on behalf of a youth association called Making a Difference - By being the difference (MAD).

Abhijay is one of the founders of this group operational in his home turf, Dehradun. He had established it on June 08, 2011, with Anurag Chauhan, Sarayu Vasan, Parth Joshi, Aakash Bhatia, Rajat Pande, Parth Joshi and Samarth Khanna.

Since then, this association has scaled new heights in various realms of social and environmental activism. It is noteworthy that the association's work drew praise from NDTV Editor-in-Chief Pranoy Roy, Greenathon ambassador Priyanka Chopra, former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand BC Khanduri and noted theatre artiste Tom Alter among others.

It may be recalled that Abhijay had won the Damodarshree National Award for Academic Excellence on the basis of writing and defending an essay on Education and Nation Building in October 2011.

His entry was adjudged the best among 175 entries received from all over the country. It carried a trophy and prize money of Rs 1 lakh only.

Abhijay, a former school captain (Head Boy) of Brightlands School, Dehradun, is the son of Alka Negi and Anil Negi, Dy General Manager (Geophysics), posted at ONGC, Dehradun.

Dehradun, October 5
Cine star and Congress leader Sanjay Dutt has expressed his willingness to become the brand ambassador for Uttarakhand.

Sanjay Dutt, who today addressed a number of public meetings in the Tehri parliamentary constituency of the state, was speaking to the media at the Dehradun Parade Ground rally. Dutt said Uttarakhand was blessed with immense beauty and was most ideal for setting up of a film city. He said he was willing to become the brand ambassador for Uttarakhand to showcase the state's scenic beauty to the world.

Sanjay Dutt reminded that his family and the Bahugunas had been very close for long and that was the main reason which made him come today to Uttarakhand and seek votes in favour of Saket Bahuguna, son of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, now the Congress candidate for the Tehri parliamentary bypoll. He appealed to the people to vote for Saket Bahuguna and strengthen the youth leadership in the state. Congress candidate for Tehri parliamentary bypoll Saket Bahuguna said FDI and 2 G Spectrum were non-issues and people would vote for the Congress in Uttarakhand on the issue of development. He said on elected as MP, he would even take up the LPG subsidy issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He asserted that if elected he would forcibly raise the issues of Uttarakhand in the Lok Sabha. Uttarakhand Congress president Yahspal Arya, state Congress vice president Suryakant Dhasmana, Cabinet ministers Indira Hridayesh and Dinesh Agarwal, along with party MLA Rajkumar were present at the parade ground rally.

Dehradun, October 5
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has slammed the Centre for considering Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in insurance and pension sectors. The party also denounced private transporters for increasing bus fares.

The party is holding a meeting of the state council to deliberate on these issues on two days, Saturday and Sunday. State secretary Vijay Rawat said: “The Centre has already handed over the retail sector to foreign companies and now it is intending to bring insurance and pension as well under the ambit of the FDI, which is akin to kneeling before America. The CPM would oppose this decision by stirring an agitation.”

The CPM also castigated the hike in bus fares by private transporters. District secretary Surender Singh Sajwan said the transportation fares were already on the higher side, and now increasing these further under the excuse of rise in diesel prices was unjustified. He lamented that the state government had lost all control over the private transporters, which was why they were increasing the fares time and again. He demanded immediate intervention of the state government to withdraw the hike. — TNS

Haridwar, October 5
Supporters of a sadhvi and a saint of an ashram created a ruckus after a minor dispute took place between them on its premises today.

The incident occurred at Shravan Nath Nagar, a saint-dominated colony. Both levelled allegations at each other that they were trying to capture the Gangeshwar Dham Aatmanand Ashram property by various means.

Manager of the ashram Man Muni alleged that Sadhvi Sunita, who lives in the ashram, was trying to grab the property of the ashram and had been conspiring in this regard for months.

To this, Sunita refuted saying that Man Muni, along with a few other ashramites, were trying to illegally capture the ashram property.

The row took a serious turn when local leaders of one of the major political parties pitched in for sadhvi Sunita gheraoing the ashram manager and raising slogans in support of the sadhvi. Seeing the situation going out of control, ashram owners called in the police as the mob tried to create a ruckus.

City Kotwali SHO PC Mathpal arrived with the force and calmed down the agitating pro-sadhvi supporters.

Later on, pro-Man Muni supporters too arrived in the ashram, who were from the rival political party, and turned the ashram property dispute into a political one.

Seeing this, SHO Mathpal again arrived in the ashram and pacified both the supporters.

Ashram veteran saints too have urged both parties to have patience and not allow political parties to misuse the ashram to gain political mileage.

Dehradun, October 5
To mark the United Nations International Day for Older Persons, HelpAge India organised a seminar on “Healthy Ageing and Security” at Tasmaniya Academy meeting hall, Dehradun.

The seminar was inaugurated by S. Farooq by lighting the lamp. Before starting the technical session of the seminar, students of Love Dale Academy took a pledge that they will perform their duties towards elders within their families and community. The pledge was administered through Birendar Singh Sidhu, ADG Police. Further, in this seminar Birendar Singh Sidhu expressed his views on security issues of senior citizens. He advised that all senior citizens should do police verification of their domestic help. 

Dehradun, October 5
Welham boys and girls continued their winning streak in the District Sub-junior (Under-14) Basketball Championship here today.

In the girls’ section, Welham Girls’ School defeated Carman School 27-08. Ritunjaya scored 19 points for the winners. In the second match, Summer Valley School beat Shigally International School 33-29.

In the third match, St Jude’s School beat St Mary’s School 25-06. Shweta scored eight points for the St Jude’s team.

In the last match, Convent of Jesus and Mary defeated DAV School 30-08. Shrankhala scored 10 points for the Convent team.

In the boys’ section, Welham Boys’ School beat the Asian School 37-10. Ayush and Tulzian scored 12 points each for the Welham team.

In the second match, Hilton School defeated Raja Ram Mohan Roy Academy and in the last match, St Mary’s School beat Scholar’s Home 35-14. 

Dehradun, October 5
Col Brown School won the Inter-Council School Sub-Junior Football Championship organised by Guru Nanak Academy by defeating Guru Nanak Academy in the final of the tournament here today.

The first goal of the match was scored by Jigmit of Col Brown School in the 21st minute of the game.

Ayush Nautiyal of Guru Nanak Academy scored the equaliser in the 32nd minute but it was Jigmit again who scored the winning goal for Col Brown School in the 45th minute.

Harcharan Singh, Chairman of Guru Nanak Academy, gave away the prizes.

Haridwar, October 5
In the annual inter-stream cricket tournament being held at Gurukul Kangri University here, the MBA department defeated technology department. Fourteen teams are taking part in the tournament.

The technology team won the toss and opted to field first. The opposition team made 100 runs in 15 overs. The technology team players lagged behind by 14 runs.

Earlier, Prof Swatantra Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of Gurukul Kangri University, highlighted that in its 100-year-old history, Gurukul had been a breeding ground for budding players, particularly yoga and hockey, but now equal emphasis was being laid on other sports such as cricket, badminton, basketball, volleyball, table tennis and squash.

Dehradun, October 5
In the 5th Rohitash Singh Memorial Inter-School Boys Super 8 a side Cricket Tournament being played at the The Heritage School, Shivalik International School and The Aryan School today won their respective matches.

The first match was played between Kasiga School and Shivalik International School. Kasiga scored 17 runs at a loss of 6 wickets in its first innings. In reply, Shivalik International School scored 36 runs at a loss of 1 wicket.

In the second innings, Kasiga School scored 33 runs at a loss of 4 wickets and Shivalik International School scored 16 runs at a loss of 3 wickets. Thus Shivalik International School emerged winners by 5 wickets.

The second match was played between Aryan School and Sunrise Academy. In the first innings, Sunrise Academy scored 23 runs at a loss of 4 wickets whereas Aryan School scored 35 runs at a loss of 1 wicket. In the second innings, Sunrise Academy was all out at a score of 8 runs. Thus Aryan school won the match by 4 runs. 

Dehradun, October 5
In the Inter-Council Schools Senior Girls Table Tennis Tournament played at the The Heritage School, Welham School won the senior girls' singles titles. Sabhya of Welham beat Vani Singhal from Unison World School.

In junior girls' singles category, Saumya of Welham Girls bagged the championship while Muskan Gusain of The Heritage School was the runners-up.

The Heritage school’s Principal B Gill handed over the prizes to the winners.