The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Ponty Chadha killing Police team heads for Delhi to probe Haridwar cop's role Tribune News Service Dehradun, November 18 The Uttarakhand police has sent it's team headed by a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) from Rudrapur to investigate the involvement of a police gunman of Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, Chairman of the Uttarakhand Minority Commission, in the killing of Ponty Chadha and his brother yesterday at Chhattarpur in New Delhi. According to police officials, Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, hailing from Rudrapur, is a close business associate of Ponty Chadha and was present at the Chhattarpur farmhouse when the firing took place, leading to the death of Ponty Chadha and his brother. According to Satyavrat Bansal, Director General of Police, although Delhi police has not contacted Uttarakhand police in the case, it has come to knowledge that Sukhdev Singh Namdhari was present at the scene of the crime, and his police gunman Sachin Tyagi also fired three shots from his gun, probably in self defence. " We have sent a team headed by a DSP from Rudrapur to New Delhi to investigate the role of Sukhdev Singh Namdhari and his gunman in the incident," Satyarvart Bansal told mediapersons here today. Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, a BJP leader, was appointed as Chairman of the Uttarakhand Minority Commission by the then BJP government. His tenure is likely to come to an end in the next few months. It is reported that Sachin Tyagi, a gunman provided by the police to Namdhari, has been detained by the Delhi police in the case. The policeman hails from Bahadarabad area of Haridwar district. "Our team will investigate into all the possible angles of the case," the DGP added.
	Police to set up crime-against-women cell Seema Sharma/TNS Dehradun November 18 The Uttarakhand police is further strengthening its mechanism to control crime against the fair sex, and is bringing up a proposal regarding floating a new body, crime against women cell (CAWC). Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Dehradun Range, Sanjay Gunjiyal, is preparing the draft, which will soon be sent to the Director General of Police (DGP) for final approval. Uttar Pradesh has also created such a structure quite recently. Gunjiyal said: " The idea of creating CAWC was mooted with my friend and counterpart in Lucknow, Uttar Pardesh, before he launched it in UP. CAWC here will primarily deal with crime against women such as stalking, eve teasing, crank calls, lewd texts, obscene videos, fake posting of photos or tampering with profile or other such mischief on the Internet or harassment of any sort, be it at public places or anywhere else. All this will be amply covered under CAWC." While airing his view on the subject, Inspector General, Law and Order, Ram Singh Meena, said the state police had already created structures such as women's helpline and women's protection squad at the district level, where the former attended to women's issues pertaining to marital disputes, whilst the latter comprised a team of police personnel who took action on complaints against eve teasing or harassment. The clear demarcation of structural and functional layout is absent in the latter, which is why it has not proved much effective. Women constables have been appointed in each police station/post for the very purpose but this, too, failed to yield the desired results. Gunjiyal said a need was felt for a long time to come up with a strong alternative, a body which not only covered the existing lacunae in the structures formerly floated somewhere on the similar lines, but was also equipped with a vast scope of ambit to function and power to carry out their responsibilities. He said he was working on the modalities of the proposal. He did not elaborate much on it, saying that it was still in the nascent stage. Once the blueprint got ready, it will be sent to the DGP for final approval. DGP Satyavrat Bansal has already made his stand very clear on the subject, where he categorically said that the state police would be zero tolerant on crime against women. He added that he had also directed the police personnel to behave in a courteous manner with women complainants. The inclination of sensitivity toward women, for being susceptible in society, has well percolated from top to bottom. Recently Senior Superintendent of Police Kewal Khurana also took Women's Helpline under his direct control and has begun giving special attention to the disputes reaching to him via the body.
	Badrinath shrine closed for winters Tribune News Service Dehradun, November 18 Portals of the Central Himalayan Hindu shrine of Badrinath in the Chamoli district of the state today have been closed for the winters. At a height of 10,248 ft above sea level, the Badrinath shrine was closed today afternoon in the presence of priests, dharmadikaris and other temple committee members. The Badrinath Dham’s temple committee sources said the temple was decked with flowers and other decorations even as the closure rituals continued most part of the day at the temple precincts. The mild snowfall and inclement weather conditions did not deter the devotees in thronging the temple to witness the auspicious occasion. The ‘utsav doli’ also left Badrinath for Pandukeshwar, where the deity will be worshipped during the winters. With the closure of the portals of the shrine, the Char Dham yatra has come to a close in the state. The other shrines of Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri have already been closed for the winters. Badrinarayan temple is situated along the Alaknanda river in the hill town of Badrinath in Uttarakhand. It is widely considered to be one of the holiest Hindu temples and is dedicated to god Vishnu. The temple and town are one of the four Char Dham and Chota Char Dham pilgrimage sites. It is also one of the 108 Divya Desams, holy shrines for Vaishnavites. The temple is open only six months every year (between the end of April and the beginning of November), due to extreme weather conditions in the Himalayan region.
	Two-night stay at Corbett made mandatory for tourists Step taken to attract only serious wildlife lovers, says park director Jotirmay Thapliyal Tribune News Service Dehradun, November 18 Stay at Corbett will now no more be a one-night affair. The Corbett authorities have made a two-night stay at Corbett mandatory for tourists visiting Corbett so as to ensure that only serious wildlife lover comes to the park. Tiger-famous Corbett in recent times has been facing a large number of visitors leading to questions often being raised about the park's tourist intake capacity. Most of these tourists are either day tourists or those who wish to spend just one night at Corbett and want to have quick visit, which often leads to more of commotion inside the park. These tourists intend to see maximum wildlife, including tigers, within a short time span. Corbett Director RK Mishra asserted that those tourists who wanted to stay overnight would now have to at least stay for two nights. He said this condition had been introduced solely to attract only serious wildlife-lover tourists and prevent unnecessary crowding in the tiger reserve. Hem Singh Gehlot, who had been working in Corbett for long, welcomes the minimum two-night stay condition. "Certainly, only serious tourists must go to a tiger reserve like Corbett. This is necessary when the park is facing unnecessary pressure of tourists and voices are being raised to regulate tourism inside the park," he pointed out. "Many tourists arrive during the evening and leave the subsequent day after staying just for a night. This leads to unnecessary crowding in the tiger reserve," Gehlot pointed out, adding that it was also to the benefit of the arriving tourists as a two-night stay would also redress their complaint of fewer sightings of tigers. Uttarakhand Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RBS Rawat, too, asserts the Corbett Director's decision of minimum two nights' stay was guided by National Tiger Conservation Authority norms that have been very strict in regulating tourism in tiger reserves of the country. However, those engaged in tourism in Corbett assert that such two- night stay pre-conditions can take small-budget tourists away from Corbett. Munish Kumar, a local villager in Ramnagar, termed Corbett authorities' decision to make minimum two-night stay at Corbett as both against tourists and also those linked to petty tourist -linked jobs of nature guides and Gypsy drivers. "It seems Corbett authorities want to keep the middle class at a distance from the tiger reserve and only wants to invite high-end tourists," Munish argued. "On an average two tourists spend nearly Rs 8,000, while staying in Corbett overnight, which apart from accommodation charge, includes guide charge, Gypsy charge and other food bills. By making two nights' stay compulsory, visiting Corbett will be out of the budgets of many," he added. He even asserted that those engaged in tourism-linked activities in Corbett were not happy with the decision and were even planning an agitation. Tiger-famous Corbett is visited by nearly two lakh tourists annually, which includes visitors from across the country and abroad.
	dehradun Diary Traffic relief for commuters, but for how long? For the first time after nearly a decade, residents of Dehradun has a better experience in the shape of management of traffic in the city. Since Dehradun has become the temporary capital of Uttarakhand in November 2000, the peaceful city had lost its tranquility due to increase in population, rapid urbanization and clogging of its few roads. No state government did anything to mitigate the sufferings of the residents of the city who had to spent hours in the traffic jams. It was only in December 2011 during the fag-end of the tenure of the BJP government led by BC Khanduri that the plan to decongest Chakrata Road was executed. A separate shopping centre was built and the front portion of shops razed to the ground to broaden a portion of the road near the Clock Tower. But after the initial euphoria, the administrative plan to decongest the busy Chakrata Road turned into failure as unimaginative administrative machinery, bowing to pressure from the shopkeepers lobby, kept on allowing them to not only encroach upon the proposed road and open their shops on their leftover spaces, but also allow many cuts in the road dividers to facilitate their businesses. Despite spending crores of rupees, the problem persisted. But, it all changed with the appointment of one determined police officer before the festival of Divali. Kewal Khurana, a young IPS officer was made the Senior Superintendent of Police who took upon himself to improve the traffic situation in the city during festival season. With a little imagination and the help of a few ropes, steel barricades and a few hundred policemen, Kewal Khurana could really improve the traffic scenario. During the entire festival season, there was no traffic jams or snarl ups in the main markets despite huge rush. Kewal Khurana imposed strict one-way traffic on the busy roads and deployed his reserve policemen on all traffic intersections and busy markets. None was allowed to park vehicles on the roads by policemen as traffic flowed smoothly. More than a million strong population of Dehradun really had a sigh of relief due to the initiative of a single police officer. However, the residents wonder that for how long this will continue and when politicians, under pressure from shopkeepers, start exerting pressure on him to relax the norms. Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna must have realized after the Tehri Lok Sabha byelection defeat of his son that it was the residents of Dehradun city which would be the deciding factor in any coming electoral battle and being the residents of the capital city, they deserve a better deal. Tough going for Bahuguna Uttarakand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna is finding it difficult to please his party legislators owing allegiance to different factions within the Uttarakhand Congress by distributing positions of chairpersons of various boards, corporations and other statutory bodies. It has been eight months that the Congress-led state government of Vijay Bahuguna is in the office but except a few, the Chief Minister has avoided giving such positions to party legislators and functionaries fearing backlash and more trouble for him. Since taking over as Chief Minister, Vijay Bahuguna has announced that he is for giving limited number of such positions which are necessary. However, there has been pressure on him from different quarters to adjust legislators and other senior party functionaries. Different factions led by Union Minister Harish Rawat, Congress MP Satpal Maharaj and Harak Singh Rawat are demanding adjustment of their own supporters on such positions. Moreover, state party President Yashpal Arya wants that senior party functionaries who could not get party tickets for the state assembly polls be given such responsibilities. The Sitarganj Assembly and Tehri Lok Sabha byelections delayed the decision by the Chief Minister and it was believed that he would take a decision by rewarding a few senior Congress legislators at Divali time. According to Congress sources, five or six senior Congress legislators were to be given positions but it seems that the decisions has been deferred. The Chief Minister has now announced that since the party high command has not yet approved of the names, a decision could only be taken possibly after the Gujarat Assembly elections in December. He has also talked about the financial burden of such positions that he wanted to avoid. But insiders believe that the pressure exerted by different factions has forced the party to defer the decision. The party wants to take cautious decision as during the previous Congress regime of N.D.Tewari, the wholesale distributions of such positions become a political issue leading to the downfall of the Congress government. Interestingly, the BJP government which exploited the issue and came to power in 2007 did the same by obliging its leaders. It is a fact that there are some positions that are necessary to fill for the effective functioning of the state government, including some statutory ones. It would be seen that how much time Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna takes in taking a final call on the issue that would amount to opening a can of worms. — SMA Kazmi
	Day-night cricket match between IAS, IPS teams Tribune News Service Dehradun November 18 A Twenty-20 day and night cricket tournament was held in the city between officials of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) and the Indian Police Services (IPS) at the Abhimanyu Academy ground which was organised by the Hero Motors group. The match was inaugurated by Chief Secretary AK Jain and Director General of Police, Satyavrat Bansal. The IAS team won the toss and scored 169 runs for two wickets in 20 overs. The IPS team was batting when this report was filed. The IPS team won both matches which were played between the teams earlier.