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Mahakumbh scam back to haunt BJP
Activists of the Congress Sewa Dal stage an agitation at the Chandracharya chowk in Haridwar on Saturday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur
Anti-adulteration drive in Mussoorie |
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Kumaoni dancers set the mood for cultural evening at Virasat
Face of the week Negi’s songs inspired statehood agitators Dehradun, November 10 Folk singer Narinder Singh Negi has a song for every moment, be it the songs set in lilting tunes describing the beauty of his village, Pauri, revolutionary songs that were a source of inspiration during the statehood agitation or the satirical songs condemning the power-hungry ways of the ruling class.
Cultural events mark founder's day of Summer Valley School
Olympus High students showcase karate skills
Guru Nanak Academy outplay Hilton School
DM visits under-construction MDDA complex
Dehradun District Magistrate BVRC Purshottam, Vice-Chairman of MDDA R. Meenakshi Sundram and SSP Kewal Khurana inspect the under-construction MDDA complex
on the Dispensary road in Dehradun on Saturday.
Govt wrong in taking credit for slum policy: Mayor
Sports day celebrated
CM bans sale, purchase of property at Gairsain
Vijay Bahuguna
St Thomas College victorious
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Mahakumbh scam back to haunt BJP
Haridwar, November 10 Thirty activists of the Congress Sewa Dal have launched an agitation alleging that irregularities of more than Rs 200 crore of funds meant for the Mahakumbh--2010 were committed by the previous BJP government. Rajesh Rastogi, district coordinator of the Sewa Dal, said while the previous BJP government left no opportunity to take the credit for the arrival of a record six crore pilgrims, devotees and tourists to the Mahakumbh in Haridwar, it also didn’t lag behind in misusing the Rs 750-crore Mahakumbh budget. Rastogi demanded an explanation from the then Mahakumbh mela in-charge and former Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik, about the Rs 200 crore scam indicated by the Comptroller and Auditor General in its report on the fair. Kaushik is at present the BJP MLA from Haridwar city. Congress Youth Wing chief Ravish Bhatija alleged that the BJP had used the Mahakumbh to appease its national leaders and contractors. He said the BJP government misused the Central funds meant for providing good infrastructure and facilities to the devotees during the four-month fair in Haridwar. Union Cabinet Minister for Water Resources and Haridwar parliamentarian Harish Rawat, according to the Sewa Dal leaders, has also extended support to their agitation. He may also pay a visit to the protesters in the coming days. Meanwhile, the BJP rubbished the allegations as a political gimmick to divert the attention of the people from the misrule of the Central government. State secretary of the Mahila Morcha Poonam Jha said while the defeat in Tehri Garhwal in the Lok Sabha byelection recently was a major setback for the Congress, numerous scams involving its Cabinet ministers in the UPA government had dented the image of the party. “The Congress is just trying to have media space by raking up the Mahakumbh scam issue. It is merely making a wild allegation as it could not digest the successful management of the world-famous Mahakumbh in Haridwar by the BJP government,” said Poonam. Uday Ram Semwal, central secretary of the labour cell of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive), has questioned the timing of the ongoing agitation by the Congress activists on the Mahakumbh scam issue. |
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Anti-adulteration drive in Mussoorie Our Correspondent
Mussoorie, November 10 The food safety department team began the drive early in the morning from Picture Palace and inspected several shops for adulterated food. Health Officer, Municipal Council, Dr RK Singh, also confiscated several polythene bags that have been banned in the town. The arrival of the team created flutter among several shopkeepers, including the milk vendors in the town who shut their shops and vanished in thin air, fearing punitive action. Food safety officer Ramesh Singh informed the media that they were receiving several reports of adulterated food being sold in the town and that was why a drive against such shopkeepers was launched. He further said around four samples of sweets being sold here in more than four shops had been collected and would be sent for testing to a laboratory at Rudrapur. Ramesh Singh said during the Divali season, the demand for such consumer goods increased and several shopkeepers tried taking undue advantage of this. He said shopkeepers should stay refrain from selling adulterated food or they would be levied fines in addition the punitive action that included imprisonment. Mussoorie Traders Association president Rajat Agarwal, being critical of the drive, said the department was harassing the petty traders by carrying out the drive just before Divali. He said the department should carry out such exercise several days prior to the Divali season to avoid unnecessary harassment.
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Kumaoni dancers set the mood for cultural evening at Virasat
Dehradun, November 10 The second performance of the evening was a theatrical presentation ‘The King Dies’ from five freelance Estonian actors and Director Homayun Ghanizadeh from Iran to experiment with forms of the theatre of the absurd. The drama that unfolded before the eager spectators was a pragmatic performance that left the audience enraptured. The third performance of the evening was a musical concert by Swanand Kirkire, who is a famous Indian lyricist, playback singer, writer, television serial writer, assistant director, dialogue writer, both in television and Hindi films. He has also been awarded the National Film Award for Best Lyrics twice- first in 2007 for the song ‘Bande me tha dum Vande Mataram’ from the 2006 film Lage Raho Munna Bhai and second time in 2009 for the song ‘Behti hawaa sa tha who’ from the film 3 Idiots. He started his performance with ‘Khoya khoya chaand’ followed by ‘Raat jo hai humari saheli’, ‘Panch tattava’ and ‘Ori chiraiya’. He was accompanied by Amit Kapoor on guitar. The last performance of the evening was Mehfil-e-Mushaira by Nida Fazli, Abbas Tabish, Sheen Kaaf Nizam, Nawaz Deobandi and Madan Mohan Danish. The evening was a tribute to all poets. The poets among the audience were appreciative of the efforts made to represent the Urdu culture in Virasat. |
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Negi’s songs inspired statehood agitators
Neena Sharma/TNS
For the past four decades, his songs have amplified the prevailing mood of the people, his own sense of history and the times that he represents. An anti-establishment singer to the core, Negi’s troupe had recently performed at Gairsain during the November 3 Cabinet meeting. But true to his calling, Negi denied that he was trying to mend relationships with the government, “I have always been anti-establishment for the simple reason that once in power, the leaders become arrogant and ignore the people who in the first place brought them to power. I may not be a conscious keeper of the government but I think singers, writers and poets should always maintain a certain distance,” he added. It is for this reason that he appreciated the Bahuguna government’s decision to hold a Cabinet meeting at Gairsain, adding, “It is just the beginning and a curtain raiser. We have to wait for the entire narrative to emerge and drama to unfold before condemning or criticising it,” affirmed Negi. To be sure, quite bewildered at the concentration of the political power in Dehradun at the cost of the hill regions of the state, Negi had even composed a song condemning this practice. Who can forget Negi’s brush with the establishment that even led to his quitting the state government job at the Information Department? During the tenure of former Chief Minister ND Tiwari, Negi had composed ‘nauchami narayana’, a satirical song, exposing the misrule of the Congress government and most specifically the extravagant ways of the former Chief Minister. So far, Negi has over four hundred songs to his credit, most of which are freely being circulated on the Internet and cable television networks due to the absence of strong piracy laws. “The piracy laws needs to be strengthened, otherwise most of the folk singers will have to shut up shop,” he stressed.
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Cultural events mark founder's day of Summer Valley School
Dehradun, November 10 The chief guest of the occasion was Lt Gen Avinash Chander Soneja (retd). A prayer was sung by the school choir. The school captains addressed the gathering. The Principal, Col Jaswinder Singh (retd), introduced the chief guest and read out the annual school report. Awards for academics and excellence in sports were given to the students for outstanding performance in their respective fields. In his message, the chief guest spoke about the importance of hard work. An eloquent speaker, Lt Gen Soneja peppered his lively speech with anecdotes and made his point more relevant to the students. He also appreciated the excellent show put up by the students and staff. A play, ‘Shunye Se’, inspired by the five elements of nature was also staged. Written and directed by Pratibha Srivastava with her team of choreographers- Ashish and Arzoo, the play was a pure delight for the students. The dance performed in the play was a fusion of Kathak and contemporary dance. The artistes gave out the message of saving the earth through the play. Also present on the occasion were Dr Ashok Wasu (Director, administration, Summer Valley School), Pawan Wasu (Director, administration, Sun Valley School), PN Onial (Director, education, Summer Valley School), Saroj Pal (Principal, Sun Valley School)
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Olympus High students showcase karate skills
Dehradun, November 10 The programme started with the rhythmic march past by the four houses of the school namely
Saam, Rig, Yajur and Atherva. Sports captain Gaurav Manwal led the students. The captains of the houses took oath to maintain the integrity of the school and the country. The chief guest took the salute and declared the sports meet open. The students participated in free-hand exercises, karate show and pyramid formation to name a few. They competed for a variety of sports events, including sack race, one-leg hopping race, shoes and socks race, 100 m sprint and 50 m dribbling race. Fun races for the little ones like arranging the basket and bursting the balloon were a treat to watch. Speaking on the occasion, Kunal
Malla, Managing-Director of the school, opined that, “Sport can be a national strategy to shape our future, whether we are promoting physical, mental and psychological
wellbeing, creating strong leaders with drive and confidence, developing a
winning spirit or uniting us as a nation. It provides many practical and teachable moments." The events ended with the inter-house baton relay. The Yajur house was adjudged the winner and Naveen Thapa won the overall best athlete title. Air Chief Marshal BM Bali
(retd) congratulated the Principal, teachers and students for making the programme a success. Principal Anuradha Malla gave a vote of thanks and expressed her gratitude to the parents for their cooperation and to the management for their support. |
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Guru Nanak Academy outplay Hilton School
Dehradun, November 10 In the first match, Guru Nanak Academy won by 8 wickets in its match against Hilton School.
Batting first, Hilton School scored 112 runs and were all out in the process. Pankaj scored the highest runs (44) for Hilton School. Batting next, Guru Nanak Academy easily reached the victory target of 113 runs at the loss of 2 wickets, thereby ensuring 8-run win for itself.
Himanshu scored the highest runs (31) for Guru Nanak Academy. In second match, Carman School won by 36 runs against Sanskar International School. Batting first, Carman School scored 128 runs losing all its wickets in the process in the allotted
overs. However, Sanskar International School batsmen were all out at a score
of 92 runs, thereby ensuring 36-run win for Carman School. The third match took place between Aryan School and Shiwalik International School. The Aryan team won the match by 9 wickets. Electing to bat after winning the toss, Shiwalik International School could just manage a score of 53 runs, losing all its wickets. The Aryan team easing got to the victory target losing just 1 wicket. |
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DM visits under-construction MDDA complex
Dehradun, November 10 Sundaram directed officials to get the construction work completed within two months. “The complex should be ready by January next year, so that the offices of the Tehsil and the District Supplies could be shifted here,” said Sundaram. He also directed for the immediate completion of the basement parking in the complex. Purshottam said the present Tehsil office in Dehradun was situated in over 100-year-old building that was in a state of dilapidation. Dehradun SSP Kewal Khurana said traffic problems in the city would be solved to a big extent after the shifting of the Tehsil office from here. Dehradun Additional District Magistrate, Finance, Jharna Kamthan and other officers were present on the occasion.
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Govt wrong in taking credit for slum policy: Mayor
Dehradun, November 10 Chamoli said the government had only to pass an order but it had politicised the whole issue. “We already had a slum policy. The government had to issue an order so that the state could benefit from the Rajiv Gandhi Slum Dwellers Regularisation Policy. But the Congress government is acting as if it has formulated the policy,” he added. The Mayor called for developing the areas near the banks of both Bindal and Rispana rivers. “These rivers are our life lines. The government needs to focus on making them encroachment
free and develop them on the lines of the Sabarmati project in Ahmedabad,” he said. |
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Sports day celebrated
Dehradun, November
10 The sporting events started with junior school fun races, followed by 100 m and 200 m individual and relay races. Students also showcased their aerobic skills.
Kasiga girls performed wonderful dance steps to the music of international love. This was followed by a hoop drill in which boys displayed an imaginative and artistic routine created with the aid of colourful hoops. A breathtaking tae kwon do display left the audience awestruck. The prize distribution ceremony was applauded by all and the celebrations ended with the closing march past and sounding of the retreat, followed by the lowering of the flag. |
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CM bans sale, purchase of property at Gairsain
Dehradun, November 10 The decision has been taken in view of the building of a new Vidhan Sabha bhawan as decided by the state government and the holding of at least one Assembly session at Gairsain. The foundation stone of the new Vidhan Sabha bhawan will be laid on Makar Sakranti in January next year. It will also prevent real estate mafia to buy land for its own monetary benefits in the anticipation of the new Vidhan Sabha bhawan. The Chief Minister ordered officials to prepare a master plan for the overall development of Gairsain and to upgrade the town to the Nagar Panchayat level. |
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St Thomas College victorious
Sonali of St Thomas College scored 16 points while Agrata of St Joseph's Academy scored both points for her team. A match in progress during the Dehradun District Council School Junior Girls’ Basketball Tournament in Dehradun on Saturday.
Tribune photo: Vinod Pundir
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The multi-crore Mahakumbh scam issue has returned to haunt the BJP as Congress activists have started an indefinite agitation in support of their demand for a CBI inquiry.
A day after announcing the shifting of the Tehsil office and the District Supplies office from their present locations, Vice-Chairman of the Mussoorie-Dehradun Development Authority R Meenakshi Sundaram and Dehradun District Magistrate BVRC Purshottam today visited the under construction MDDA complex on the Dispensary road. Both offices will be shifted in this complex.
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has banned the sale and purchase of property in and around Gairsain in Chamoli district.
The decision has been taken in view of the building of a new Vidhan Sabha bhawan as decided by the state government and the holding of at least one Assembly session at
Gairsain. The foundation stone of the new Vidhan Sabha bhawan will be laid on Makar Sakranti in January next year.
Dehradun, November 10
Dehradun, November 10