Ganga canal closure affects rituals at Brahmkund
Haridwar, October 23
The annual closure of the Ganga canal started in Haridwar at midnight yesterday, severely affecting the water flow to Brahmkund at Har-ki-Pauri. The canal will remain closed till November 12 and during this period it will be cleaned and the ghats repaired.


The Ganga canal near Ranipur in Haridwar that has dried up due to closure. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

MDDA gives options to Chakratra Road traders
Dehradun, October 23
The Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) is determined to persuade shopkeepers to accept the controversial re-development plan on Chakrata Road. Officials have come up with many lucrative options to offer them in order to help them earn a decent living till a new shopping complex comes up on the road.

Two held with fake currency notes
Dehradun, October 23
The Patel Nagar police today arrested Ankur, a resident of Jhanda Mohalla, and Ashish Das, a resident of Luxmipur, and seized fake currency notes of face value of Rs 1.75 lakh from them.

Haridwar, October 23
Veteran BJP leader Uma Bharati has reiterated her commitment for the cause of the Ganga.

She was in Haridwar today as part of her "Save Ganga" drive from Ganga Sagar, West Bengal, to Gangotri, Uttarakhand.

Uma Bharati said despite multiple government and social initiatives, the condition at the ground level of the Ganga had not changed much.

“Now concrete, focused and sincere efforts are needed to make sure the condition of the Ganga be improved with its sanctity and purity preserved”, said Bharati.

Shedding light on her movement, the sadhvi added that throughout her route from Ganga Sagar, people were made aware about the need of saving the Ganga and its present condition that was a worrisome issue.

Interactive forums, debates and oaths were also taken from volunteers to make sure that they didn’t pollute or affect the sanctity of the Ganga, which provided salvation as well as livelihood to billions of people”, said Bharati.

Urging the Prime Minister to bring an Act for the Ganga, she said by declaring it as the National River was not enough. An Act needed to be enacted.

A global conference on the Ganga will be organised in New Delhi at Siri Fort Auditorium on November 20 in which scientists, environmentalists and research scholars will take part who had participated in projects for rivers. While a human chain will be formed in five states where the Ganga passes through on December 2 to generate awareness, she will visit Gangotri on November 26.

Haridwar, October 23
The annual closure of the Ganga canal started in Haridwar at midnight yesterday, severely affecting the water flow to Brahmkund at Har-ki-Pauri. The canal will remain closed till November 12 and during this period it will be cleaned and the ghats repaired. The exercise will affect water supply to New Delhi, the National Capital Region and Uttar Pradesh, particularly for irrigation purpose.

The Irrigation Department cleans the canal annually as silt and garbage get accumulated on various barrages, bridges and ghats situated on it. The exercise starts from Haridwar and stretches till Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

The full capacity of the canal is 10,500 cusecs while the water flow in it is controlled from the Bhagirathi point before Har-ki-Pauri and the Chaudhary Charan Singh Bhimgoda barrage supply channel.

Uttar Pradesh still controls the canal in Uttarakhand due to a unresolved dispute of property transfer. Veer Veerendra Singh, Sub Divisional Officer of Ganga Canal Head Works, said it was closed from midnight yesterday though a minimum flow of water to Brahmkund had been allowed so that rituals could be performed there.

The Ganga Sabha, which manages Har-ki-Pauri, has registered its resentment at scant water flow at Brahmkund. It has sought additional water to Har-ki-Pauri. Srikant Mishra, working general secretary of the sabha, said they had demanded additional flow of water to Har-ki-Pauri as just an inch of water level was hampering the performance of rituals and hurting the sentiments of the devotees.

Sanjay Chopra, chief of the Teerth Maryada Raksha Samiti, said at least five-foot water should be released from Bhagirathi Bindu till the Mayapur check dam during the closure of the canal so that minimum water was available at Brahm Kund and adjacent ghats.

Notably, for the first time since 1947 the water flow in the canal was not fully stopped before Diwali last year, as the then Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh had declined to give permission.

Emphasising on the need for the complete closure of the 160-year-old canal every year, officers of the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation department said the exercise was necessary for its maintenance which, otherwise, would have serious long-term repercussions. However, Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav gave permission for its closure this time despite protests by local people, the Ganga Sabha, saints, traders and teerth purohits.

Dehradun, October 23
The Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) is determined to persuade shopkeepers to accept the controversial re-development plan on Chakrata Road. Officials have come up with many lucrative options to offer them in order to help them earn a decent living till a new shopping complex comes up on the road. The shopkeepers of Chakrata Road have been fiercely opposing the new proposal, citing the reason that they would lose their business for the time period taken to demolish the existing structures and building the new premises.

Vice-chairman, MDDA, RM Sundaram, said: "We will not demolish the entire earmarked area in one stroke and start construction thereafter. The plan is to undertake this exercise in phases. First, the buildings will be demolished. Then they will be reconstructed and handed over to the shopkeepers. Only then the work on the second phase will be taken up. In this way, the business of the shopkeepers will not be affected much."

He offered a second option, saying the MDDA could also build makeshift shops or kiosks for the shopkeepers on its vacant land lying near Clock Tower and the old bus-stand. If the shopkeepers wished so, they could run their business from these kiosks till the new structures got ready on Chakrata Road, he said.

The third option was to pay a fixed monetary compensation to the shopkeepers till the time their new shops got ready. The compensation or rent could be fixed through common consensus, only if the shopkeepers agreed to it, he added. He also pacified other concerns of the traders, saying: " Shopkeepers will be provided shops at the same position where their establishments are existing right now. This means that those who have shops on the front side of the lane would not be pushed behind."

Shopkeeper Rajesh Goyal welcomed the suggestions of the MDDA but added that they could no longer afford to believe the officials right away as they had been backtracking from many of their promises in the past. He said the shopkeepers would hold deliberations on these options among themselves and give their feedback to the MDDA.

It is not to be forgotten that the MDDA has also provided one shop to each of the shopkeepers in the MDDA shopping complex near Clock Tower as well, which the shopkeepers have shunned for good and rebuilt the semi-demolished structures on Chakrata Road.

There are a total 126 shopkeepers. Ninetysix of them are residents who have been living on the upper floors in the buildings which were wholly or partly demolished in December last year to widen the 7-metre road to 24 metres. Out of these 18 have moved to the new complex near Clock Tower.

Dehradun, October 23
The Patel Nagar police today arrested Ankur, a resident of Jhanda Mohalla, and Ashish Das, a resident of Luxmipur, and seized fake currency notes of face value of Rs 1.75 lakh from them.

Both accused were arrested on a tip-off while they were going towards the bus stand from the Rispana bridge. The police recovered a bag carrying fake currency notes of the denomination of Rs 50 from their possession. On a close examination, it was found that the notes did not have the security thread and the picture of Mahatma Gandhi imprinted on it. The size of the notes too was not uniform. The facts corroborated that these were fake.

Das disclosed that they had scanned notes on a scanner and were going to use them at Glitz Mall and the bus stand. The police also recovered three scanners and other equipment used for printing notes at an under-construction building belonging to Das at Inder Colony. The accused do not have a criminal background and began this racket to earn quick money a few months ago.

Das told the police that before shifting to Dehradun, he and his family lived in Delhi where he met one of his friends who was adept at printing fake notes. He is an engineering student of a local college in the city.

Dehradun, October 23
District Magistrate Ravinath Raman has given strict instructions to all the departments in the district not to give temporary licences to cracker traders without preparing an action plan and identifying the open area where such traders could be permitted space. He said it became difficult for fire tankers to reach cracker shops in narrow streets of bazaars whenever any fire incident happened there in the past. He directed the Additional District Magistrate to issue temporary licences to cracker traders and hold a meeting with them on October 27.

Dehradun, October 23
The Uttarakhand Valmiki Samaj Kalyan Samiti will conduct Maharishi Valmiki birth anniversary celebrations in Dehradun for a week this year.

Addressing the media here today, Lakshmi Narayan, president of the samiti, said the celebrations would be held between October 24 and 30. He said CM Vijay Bahuguna would be the chief guest of the last day function at the Shivaji Dharamshala on October 30. A shobha yatra would also be carried out on that day.

Narayan said the samiti as part of its celebrations programme would honour children belonging to the Valmiki community that had excelled in studies. An essay writing competition, a sports contest, a bhajan programme and a seminar were also part of the celebrations, he added.

He said president of the Uttarakhand Congress Yashpal Arya, vice-president Suryakant Dhasmana, MLAs Rajkmar and Umesh Sharma and industrialist Rakesh Oberoi would attend the programmes. — TNS

Dehradun, October 23
Uttarakhand Police will take on Vijay Cantt in the final of the Dehradun District Super Football League Tournament tomorrow.

In the first semifinal today, Uttarakhand Police beat Doon Eagles 3-0. Veer Singh scored the first and second goals in 15th and 43rd minutes, respectively. Saurav scored the third goal for Uttarakhand Police in the 85th minute of the match.

In the second semifinal, Vijay Cantt defeated Cantt Blues 1-0. Ankur scored the goal for Vijay Cantt in the 59th minute of the match.

Mussoorie, October 23
More than 30 units of blood were donated during a one-day blood donation camp held at Appu Ghar under the aegis of the Lions Club of Mussoorie today.

The blood donation camp was organised as a part of the ongoing Durga Puja festival being organised in the town by various organisations.

The Indian Medical Association assisted the Lions Club by providing the logistic support. Apart from the blood donation camp, a religious discourse glorifying Goddess Durga was also organised in which the devotees from all walks of life participated with fervour and enthusiasm.

Acharya Radheshyam Nautiyal offered special prayers on the occasion and cut the symbolic green leaves or Haryali and distributed it as prasad to the devotees.

An idol of Goddess Durga will be immersed in the Yamuna near Yamuna Bridge on Wednesday as the concluding part of the nine-day festivities.

A heavy rush of devotees was also seen at the Sarkunda Devi temple, 45 kilometres from Mussoorie, near Dhanolti and Santura Devi temple near Kempty Falls on the occasion.