Governor opens auto exhibition
Dehradun, December 15
Governor Aziz Qureshi here today inaugurated an automobile exhibition. Seeing a variety of new models of companies like Tata, Honda, Maruti and Nissan, the Governor said the auto industry in the country was doing very well.

Governor Aziz Qureshi at the inauguration of Auto Expo in Dehradun on Saturday.

Rama Devi Inter-College celebrates annual day
Mussoorie, December 15
The annual day function of Rama Devi Inter-College was celebrated with fervour and gaiety here today.

Asian School annual fete
Dehradun, December 15
The Asian school celebrated its annual fete here today. Despite the chilly weather school students along with the members of their family and students from various schools turned up in large numbers to enjoy the fun and food extravaganza.

Tributes paid to Mahant Mitra
Haridwar, December 15
Tributes were paid to revered saint Shri Nirmal Panchayati Akhada Mahant Mitra Prakash Singh in Haridwar today.



Saints lead the funeral procession of Mahant Mitra Prakash Singh of Shri Nirmal Panchayati Akhara in Haridwar on Saturday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

Dehradun, December 15
State government employees from different departments staged a strong protest today against reservations in promotions for SC/ST staff and boycotted work.

Protesting against the tabling of the Bill for quota in promotions for SCs and STs, the state government employees owing allegiance to the Uttarakhand Karamchari Shikshak Sangarsh Morcha staged marches at the district headquarters.

“On Monday, we will observe a complete lockout in the state as we are opposed to the Bill,” said GS Bhakuni, chief coordinator.

In Dehradun, the members gathered at Parade Ground and then marched to the Collectorate to lodge their protest.

“For their own self-interest, the politicians have made a mockery of the Constitution. It is for the first time that the constitutional amendment would be brought the fourth time pertaining to SCs and ST’s,” said Vinod Nautiyal, Assistant Engineer, PWD (Haridwar), who had earlier filed a writ petition in the Nainital High Court.

Further, another faction of the Uttarakhand Kramchari Shikshak Sangrash Morcha at a meeting today decided to go on mass casual leave on Monday and burn copies of the Bill and the Congress government. “Our protest against quota in promotions will continue and we will burn copies of the Bill if it is passed in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, and lodge our protest by submitting a memorandum to the Governor of Uttarakhand,” said Mahesh Dobriyal.

HARIDWAR: Under the aegis of the Sangharsh Samiti of Employees, a district unit of parental body Uttarakhand Adhikari Karamchari Shikshak Sangarsh Morcha, anti-reservation in promotion employees refrained from their governmental duty as part of a statewide protest.

Employees led a massive protest at Roshanabad district headquarters, raising slogans against Congress-led United Progressive Alliance's Union Government for pushing the quota bill in promotion in government jobs.

A bikers' protest rally was carried out in the inner city lanes by the protesting employees.

Surendra Singh of the samiti said that if the quota Bill was passed in the Upper House, then they will have to resort to an indefinite agitation as the provisions of the quota Bill harm the prospects of the general employees.

Regional political outfit Uttarakhand Kranti Dal Progressive, too, has lent it's support to the anti-quota agitation by the Sangharsh Samiti.

Labour cell central secretary Uday Ram Semwal in a statement said that reservation was brought to bring to the mainstream of society the suppressed, minority and backward classes.

"But now even after passing of 65 years of Independence, it's a shame that still we have not been able to come out of this biased aspect and reservation is being given in every government job,' he added.

"If reservation is given in promotions too, then the deserving, able, genuine and worthy employees who hail from general classes will definitely suffer. It may also evoke differences and affect the working calibre of the general classes," said Uday Ram, while addressing the activists.

The youth wing city chief, Lalit Mamgain, accused politicians of utilising reservations as trump voter cards, who are just interested in coming to power rather than bringing long term-overall development of in society.

Haridwar, December 15
The ongoing agitation by Swami Poornanand Saraswati of Matra Sadan for the cause of the Ganga today received support from various sections of society.

Swami Poornanand Giri Saraswati has been on fast in Jagjeetpur village, 5 km from Haridwar, since December 10.

Several religious, social and local organisations have already extended support to the Matra Sadan movement.

Saints of Matra Sadan are demanding a ban on quarrying on the Kumbh mela land and the Ganga riverbed, particularly in Haridwar, where quarrying mafia is carrying out multi-crore business despite prohibitive orders by the High Court and no new road construction along the Ganga in the Kumbh land area.

Social organisations, while extending support to the ongoing agitation of Swami Poornanand Saraswati, have also decided to stage a separate agitation in support of him if the government did not take any action on this matter.

Ganga Aahwan, a pro-Ganga outfit led by its chief Hemant Dhyani, is grouping together pro-Ganga organisations to lend solidarity to the Matra Sadan agitation.

So far, the Citizen Council, the Akhil Bharatiya Dashnam Goswami Samaj, the Vishweshwar Mission, the Dharma Jagriti Mission and the Hindu Kranti Dal have come out in open to support the anti-quarrying agitation.

The Maa Ganga Local Truck Union has also extended support to the Matra Sadan agitation with chief of the union Ganga Dhar Pandey demanding that quarrying be allowed only on monsoonal riverbeds like Rawasan instead of Ganga riverbeds.

Sanjeev Chaudhari, youth wing chief of the Hindu Kranti Dal, warned that if the government and the Haridwar administration did not pay heed to the demands of the Matra Sadan, a massive agitation would be carried out in the coming days.

Dehradun, December 15
The city police, which was being criticised for allegedly unleashing atrocities on a crowd of protesters, shiksha mitras, around the Vidhan Sabha premises, because of which the state government had announced a judicial inquiry, is jubilant over revocation of the judicial inquiry.

SSP Kewal Khurana said: “The morale of the police personnel had gone down after the announcement of the judicial inquiry. The city police did it's best to restrain the aggressive protesters who first pelted stones on policemen, and, thereafter, broke the barricades in order to gain entry into the Vidhan Sabha. In this very process, many policemen had got injured as well.

Instead of applauding police for controlling the hostile crowd, a judicial inquiry was ordered, which affected their morale. He added that he was happy that some public representatives raised the issue in the Assembly quite emphatically and were successful in getting revocation of the order, which was the first of it's kind, where the decision of the judicial inquiry taken was withdrawn in that very Assembly session.

Meanwhile, SSP Khurana took note of the increasing number of theft incidents in the city. While reacting to the phenomenon, which is more perceptible in Patel Nagar and Raipur police station area, he said: “The modus operandi of the gang which is committing these thefts while commuting in cars has been identified. The police has got vital clues about their movements and soon they would be apprehended.” He said the negative side of the operation of this gang was that they committed several crimes in a short period, whereas the positive side of this was that whenever they were apprehended, a number of theft cases would get automatically solved. He said the gang members would be arrested shortly.

He held as the police was busy due to the Vidhan Sabha session, thieves became active.

He assured that with active patrolling day and night, the crime rate would come down.

Dehradun, December 15
President of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Democratic) BD Raturi today accused the Congress-led state government of resorting to oppressive policies against public agitations.

During a meeting held at the Suman Nagar party office here today, Raturi said the recent lathi charge on shiksha mitras outside the Vidhan Sabha revealed the state government’s ‘autocratic mindset’.

Raturi said police officials responsible for the lathi charge must be suspended immediately and a through probe be conducted into the incident.

General secretary of the UKD (D) DK Pal said party workers would organise street plays to apprise people about the ‘faulty domicile policy’ of the state government.

He said the UKD (D) would be actively taking part in all public agitation programmes.

UKD (D) leaders Dinesh Badola, Shivanand Chamoli, DN Todariya and Omi Uniyal were also present at the meeting.

Mussoorie, December 15
Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi inspected the government-run Indian Technology Institute (ITI) here today.

During his visit, students demanded a separate hostel and the introduction of new courses in the institute.

Joshi discussed the ways to improve the hostel facilities and which additional courses could be introduced here.

The staff apprised the MLA of the problems being faced by the students due to inadequate hostel facilities, forcing them to stay outside the institute on rent.

MLA Joshi said the problems raised by them were genuine and he would look into them on a priority basis.

oshi said he would request the adjacent Ghananand Inter-College management to provide some land for the hostel here.

The MLA further said the previous principal of the institute was terminated due to irregularities and he would initiate another inquiry to find out any other anomaly in the institute.

Manmohan Kudiyal,VK Shani, Anil Tripathi, Sanjeev Kumar, Kushal Rana, Shalendar Bisht and others were present on the occasion.

Dehradun, December 15
Governor Aziz Qureshi here today inaugurated an automobile exhibition.

Seeing a variety of new models of companies like Tata, Honda, Maruti and Nissan, the Governor said the auto industry in the country was doing very well.

He sat in a new model of a car. He also congratulated the organisers of the expo. Among those present were Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli and Director, Meteorological Department, Anand Sharma.

Mussoorie, December 15
The annual day function of Rama Devi Inter-College was celebrated with fervour and gaiety here today.

The function began with a devotional song in praise of Lord Ganesh sung by a class XII student.

Following this, Amit Singh presented a musical number on his guitar which was much appreciated by the audience. Ravi, a class VII student, sung a Garhwali folk song.

A Hindi skit, titled ‘Jamun Ka Ped’, was staged by the senior students of the school, which highlighted the present social condition of the country. Students presented several cultural programmes much to the appreciation of the audience.

Principal of the school Anuj Tayal presented the annual report of the school and highlighted the achievements in academic and sports on the occasion.

Deepak Dubadia was adjudged the student of the year while Narendar Thapa was adjudged best sportsperson while Etey Syam was adjudged best NCC cadet.

Shivaji House was declared overall champion and received the Cock House shield on the occasion.

Chief guest on the occasion Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi gave away the prizes and citations. Mussoorie Municipal Council president OP Uniyal, Narendar Sahni, Mohan Petwal, Kushal Rana, Amit Bhatt and others were present on the occasion.

Haridwar, December 15
Tributes were paid to revered saint Shri Nirmal Panchayati Akhada Mahant Mitra Prakash Singh in Haridwar today.

He was cremated at the cremation ghat at Kankhal today in presence of a large number of saints, devotees, administrative officers and local people.

Mahant Mitra, who died two days ago, was much revered for his social works. He was associated with Shri Nirmal Panchayati Akhada for the past 36 years and was given the status of Kothari on January 5, 1990. He selflessly worked at Shakh Kot Sad Majra village in Patiala for more than two decades with villagers nominating him as village chief.

Since 1990 in all Mahakumbh and Ardhkumbh fairs, Mahant Mitra remained actively involved as Kothari of Shri Nirmal Panchayati Akhada. On behalf of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, the District Magistrate, Haridwar, Sachin Kurwe offered floral tributes to the deceased saint.

Nirmal Panchayati Peethadeeshwar Shri Mahant Gyan Dev Shastri Maharaj led the funeral procession that passed through Kankhal lanes up to the cremation ghat.

DIG, Mahakumbh Mela Haridwar 2010, Alok Sharma also paid tribute via his representative to the departed soul. The national chief of the Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad, Mahant Gyan Das Maharaj, expressed his condolences at the passing away of Mahant Mitra. Mahant Surendra Nath Avdhoot, national chief of the Vishwa Sanatan Dharm Parishad and Kalika Peethadheeshwar, said Mahant Mitra was a simple saint who always worked for unity among all akhadas.

A large number of saints, dignitaries and devotees also offered their tributes to Mahant Mitra. — TNS