Dehradun, December 8
Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh reviewed the autumn term 2012 passing out parade at Indian Military Academy today. While 615 Gentlemen Cadets (GC) joined the Indian Army, 71 foreign GCs also successfully completed their training to join the armies in their respective countries.

In his address to the passing out Gentlemen Cadets, Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh greeted the GCs on the successful completion of training. He asked the GCs to continuously upgrade their professional knowledge. “The upgradation of professional knowledge comes from a lifelong process of learning and practising. This, thorough knowledge of your job along with the trust of your men, will help you cement a formidable team to live and die for,” General Bikram Singh said.

Lt Gen K Surendra Nath, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Army Training Command, and Commandant, IMA, Lt Gen Manvender Singh, were also present.

Earlier, the Gentlemen Cadets showed tremendous enthusiasm, vigour and zeal to put up an excellent parade before an august gathering as they marched on the tunes of 'Col Bogey' and 'Sare Jahan Se Achacha.’

For passing out Gentlemen Cadets at Indian Military Academy and their family members, it was an event they would like to remember for long. A joyous Lt Ashish Rawat, belonging to Kotdwar, said passing out from Indian Military Academy was like a dream come true for him. His proud father, Mehtabh Singh Rawat, a retired employee from the state Education Department, said Ashish always excelled, when at school. He said he was hopeful that he would excel as an Army officer. Ashish has got Signals.

Ninetytwo-year-old Vidhyavati hailing from Hosiarpur, Punjab, came all the way in a wheelchair to greet her grandson, Lt Kartekaya. Hardly able to speak, Vidhyavati was all for smiles seeing her grandson became an officer. Lt Kartekaya’s father Chaitanya is an officer with New India Assurance. Lt Kartekaya has joined Engineers.

Further, for the Gore family, IMA parade was the day of achievements. Col DK Gore's youngest son Shrikant Gore, too, joined the Army. Col Gore has two sons, and his 
eldest son, Capt Madan Gore, is already serving in Garhwal Rifles. 

Dehradun, December 8
Two Bhiwani school-time friends today made their presence felt at the India Military Academy's passing out parade. The two prestigious honours of the passing out parade, the coveted Sword of Honour and the gold medal, were bagged by Lt Sudeep Kumar and Lt Vikram Mann, respectively. Both of them are residents of Bhiwani district in Haryana.

Lt Sudeep Kumar bagged the coveted Sword of Honour for standing best from the regular course and also bagged the silver medal for his excellent overall performance. Similarly, Lt Vikram Mann won the gold medal. Both of them studied at Kunjapuri Army School, Karnal. Interestingly, even their villages in Bhiwani are close by. While Vikram belongs to Dwarka village, Sudeep Kumar's village Laad is at a distance of 10 km from Dwarka.

Lt Sudeep's father Randhir Singh is an Assistant Sub inspector in the Border Security Force. Sudeep gives credit for his success to his father Randhir Singh and maternal uncle Rajesh Sangwan, a teacher by profession. He said his maternal uncle constantly inspired him to join the forces. Sudeep has two younger brothers and a sister, and all of them are studying. Lt Sudeep has been inducted into 14 Sikh and has been posted at Meerut. He said he valued his friendship with Vikram.

Lt Vikram Mann, who won the gold medal in the parade for standing first in order of merit from the regular course, gave credit for his success to his father, Ishwar Singh Mann, Block Development Officer, and mother Rajwati Devi. He also recalled his long association with Sudeep, describing him as a true friend. Sudeep has joined 20 Rajputana Rifles.

It was a proud moment for both of them, as they were given the awards by Chief of Army Staff, Gen Bikram Singh, at the passing out parade.

Dehradun, December 8
For 71 foreign Gentlemen Cadets the passing-out parade today was an achievement as they anxiously awaited joining the armies of their respective countries.

Ahmed Safi from Afghanistan said he enjoyed every moment of his training at the IMA and was taking good memories back home. He added extracurricular activities like riding and swimming were of great interest to him. Safi belongs to the Panchsheer region of Afghanistan and his father is also an army officer.

Oomesh from Mauritius said training at the IMA was thrilling. He added his father was a bus conductor and it was his dream to see him join the army. He has a sister and a brother and both of them are studying in school.

Yeshey Wangchuk from Bhutan will now join the Royal Bhutan Army. Wangchuk said India and Bhutan had a long-standing friendship and he would like to see this bond grow stronger in the days to come.

Ahmed Rasheed from Maldives said while training at the IMA was fine, the winter chill in Dehradun was certainly challenging. “Dehradun experiences severe cold and getting up early during the winter was at times difficult,” he added.

The 71 cadets who passed out today included 53 from Afghanistan, 11 from Tajikistan, four from Maldives, two from Mauritius and one from Bhutan. —TNS

Mussoorie, December 8
Mussoorie Municipal Council has run into trouble with the State Pollution Control Board of Uttarakhand registering a case with the CBI for failing to implement the solid waste management plan in accordance with the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management & Handling) MS(M&H) Rules, 2000, in the town here.

According to Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB), former secretary Jairaj, the MSW (M & H) Rules 2000 came into force from 25.9.2000, making it obligatory on the part of all the municipal authorities to arrange for collection, segregation, transportation, door-to-door garbage collection and suitable disposal of municipal waste of the municipal towns/cities. But when an investigation was conducted on receiving several complaints, it was found that around 13 local bodies had done nothing to implement the solid waste management plan.

Subsequently, the UEPPCB initiated the exercise of registering the case against the erring municipalities in the Special CBI court for non-compliance, including Mussoorie Municipal Council.

Many residents of the town have welcomed the move and are of the view that the Municipal Council has failed to initiate any plan for managing and disposing waste in a scientific manner, leading to accumulation of garbage all around Mussoorie.

They also alleged that the garbage strewn all over the town was also polluting the source of natural springs at Bhilaru etc from where the town receives its drinking water.

When contacted the Mussoorie Municipal Council Health Officer, RK Singh, said he was not aware of any such case as yet.

The Municipal Council was working to implement the plan in accordance with the guidelines and under which a compactor had already been installed in the town, where the work of compressing the polythene for recycling is in process.

A project in this regard was being formulated with the help of Asian Development Bank (ADB). “The Mussoorie Municipal Council has also bought equipment for the adequate disposal of waste in the town and had also constituted mohalla swachta samitis in around 11 wards till now,” added RK Singh.

When contacted the Municipal Council president, OP Uniyal, said that the council was making an effort towards improving the garbage disposal system but were facing hindrance due to paucity of funds needed to prepare a DPR for the project. He said that they would submit their viewpoint in front of the court soon.

On the contrary, local residents rued the fact that the Mussoorie Municipal Council was disposing garbage without segregating it at the traditional site known as Gaddi Khana and no arrangements were being made for door-to-door collection so far, despite levying eco fee at the Kholhukhet toll barrier in the name of providing clean environment. The plea of lack of funds for the solid waste management was not gullible.

The 13 other local bodies in question apart from Mussoorie are Rishikesh, Haridwar, Jaspur, Kashipur, Haldwani, Jhabreda, Roorkee Cantt and five others.

Mussoorie, December 8
The three-day chemistry fair jointly organised by Society of Pollution and Environmental Conservation Scientists (Specs), Department of Science and Technology and Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST), concluded at Girls' Inter College in Mussoorie today.

The fair was organised to create scientific awareness among the school students from around 12 schools from Mussoorie.

The students learnt about the intricacies of science through the puppetry presentation given by resource person Devi Shankar here.. Naresh Upreti through hydrophonics emphasised on the importance of collecting the data related to weather and rainfall using homemade appliances. He also informed the students about the scientific instruments used to measure rainfall and atmospheric pressure.

The scientists present here educated the students about the importance of chemistry in everyday life. Ajay Joshi, addressing the students, said that everything in the world was made of chemicals, including sun, and many changes observed in the earth were due to the chemical reactions, and having knowledge about such chemical reactions would help in creating better understanding.

The scientists, later speaking to the media, said that the chemistry fair had succeeded in generating awareness towards science through various stalls and puppetry show presented here. Yogesh Bhatt said that their organisation Specs had envisaged on the mission to provide a better opportunity to the students and develop talent in the field of science. The students were also encouraged to prepare models and exhibit them at various forums provided by Specs organisation in the near future. Specs would also be felicitating the students who come up with innovative scientific ideas, added Bhatt.

The Principal of the school, Abha Saili, Prabha Thapliyal, Neelam Chauhan, Shakuntala Purohit and others were present on the occasion. 

Mussoorie, December 8
Fire Ball Sports Club defeated Woodstock School by 6 runs in a keenly contested match held at Survey Ground under the aegis of Mussoorie Cricket Club today.

In the second match Arvind Boys' Sports Club defeated Adra Club by a margin of 29 runs here.

The first match was played between Arvind Boys' Sports Club and Adra Club. Adra Club won the toss and elected to field. Arvind Boys' Sports Club batting first scored 155 runs in the stipulated 15 overs. For Arvind Boys Shekhar Gupta scored 32 runs. Pramod scored 17 runs while Bhupendar contributed by 16 runs for his team.

Adra Club could muster only 126 runs and were declared all out within the stipulated overs, thus losing the match with a huge margin. Ayush took 3 wickets while Manoj took 2 wickets for Arvind Sports.

In the match played between Fire Ball Sports Club and Woodstock School, Fire Ball Sports Club, batting first, scored 126 runs in 15 overs. Sanjay scored 37 runs while Vivek scored 35 runs for Fire Ball Club. Woodstock School chasing the total fell short by only six runs, thus losing the match. Sunil took 4 wickets for Fireball Sports Club.

Dehradun, December 8
The Doon Defence Academy defeated Pace Cricket Academy, Patiala, by 89 runs in the semifinal match of the Beehive Inter-College Cricket Tournament being played at Rangers College ground here today.

Doon Defence Academy won the toss and elected to bat first. They scored 267 runs all out in 34.5 overs. Openers Vijay and Pawan, with 68 and 43 runs, respectively, gave a solid start to the team. Shekhar with breezy 48 runs followed the footsteps to reach the respectable total. Sachin took 3 wickets for 55 runs while Vidit, Sahil and Saurabh took 2 wickets each.

In reply, Pace Cricket Academy scored 178 runs all out in 30.4 over to lose the match by 89 runs. Opener Umang remained the top scorer with 68 runs. Rohit and Vikramjeet Singh scored 35 and 27 runs, respectively. Vijay Singh, Keshav Negi and Paras took 2 wickets each.

The final match between Doon Defence Academy and Graphic Era University will be played on December 9.

In yesterday’s match, the Everest Cricket Club won by 3 wickets against the Pace Cricket Academy.

Batting first, the Pace Cricket Academy scored 202 runs losing 6 wickets in process. Jaspreet contributed 77 runs to the Pace Cricket Academy's score. For the Everest Cricket Club, Girish, Deepak, Mohit, Rahul and Ravi Lal took one wicket each.

Batting next, Everest batsmen easily reached the target score losing 7 wickets, thereby ensuring 3 wickets win for themselves. Hansraj of the Pace Cricket Academy took 2 wickets.