Dehradun, January 10
The statewide bandh announced by the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), which was supported by a few political and social organisations, failed to have any impact in the city today. None of the traders or transporters shut down their services in support of the bandh. The police remained vigilant since early morning and foiled all attempts of rowdy activists of the UKD.

By 12 in the afternoon, the police had arrested 29 women and 13 men belonging to the party. Surprisingly, it was the women activists of the party led by aggressive president of the women's wing of the party Promila Rawat who were seen indulging in forcible closure of shops or stalling of vehicles, but they could not have their way before heavy police presence.

A group of 60-70 people of mixed organisations, with a majority

coming from the UKD, began stopping buses at the ISBT early morning. The police post personnel at the ISBT and the SP, City, along with many policemen overpowered the agitators. The same team, resorting to vandalism, then proceeded to Prince Chowk by 10 in the morning. The police had by then diverted the direction of the traffic and also dispersed the agitators who, after creating a ruckus for an hour on the spot, moved to Paltan Bazaar and began forcing the shopkeepers to close their shops. Circle Officer Mamta Vohra swung into action and pushed the agitating women, who were leading the show, into the police vehicles.

The men, too, were made to sit into police vehicles. They were taken to Sidhowala Jail. By the evening, the police had begun releasing them from detainment in groups. Party president Trivender Singh Panwar held court in Rishikesh.

The party, which announced the bandh on the issues of permanent domicile and Gairsain as capital of the state, failed to sway the masses in their favour and got exposed through this bandh. The party leaders need to do some introspection for losing base among the masses. 

Dehradun, January 10
The Uttarakhand Congress has described the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal's bandh today as untimely and without a purpose.

Addressing a press conference in Dehradun, Uttarakhand Congress vice-president Vijay Saraswat said the UKD bandh over domicile issue was untimely and without a purpose. He said such a bandh would only lead to division in the inhabitants of hill and the plain areas of the state.

Saraswat also took opportunity to say that the Congress' three-day meet at Jaipur beginning January 18 holds much of importance for the party keeping in view of 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He said apart from Congress presidents, Congress Legislature Party leaders of various states would be attending the meeting.

Congress vice-president Saraswat said Uttarakhand was witnessed rapid progress under the leadership of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna. He said special focus was being given to underprivileged sections of the society.

Uttarakhand Congress leader Lalchand Sharma was also present at the press conference.

Pithoragarh, January 10
The UKD-sponsored bandh on domicile and other issues drew a mixed response in the Kumaon region today. While the bandh was total in some towns, it drew a mixed response in Champawat, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital and Almora.

While a complete bandh against the domicile issue and the shortage of LPG was observed in Pithoragarh, it drew a mixed response in Almora. However, the life remained normal in Champawat, said sources in the police.

They said the UKD activists forcefully got offices closed in Pithoragarh and Almora towns while in Champawat town everything was normal throughout the day.

Haridwar, January 10
The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) received a mixed response to its statewide bandh call in Haridwar today.

The bandh was partial in the city and its periphery while it had no impact in the rural areas owing to little following of the party there.

The UKD activists staged a demonstration at the busiest commercial hub, Chandracharya Chowk at Ranipur in the city, after forcing the closure of commercial establishments.

Led by district party chief Bal Singh Saini, the UKD activists demanded that the cut off year for the issuance of the domicile certificate for permanent residency should be 1950 instead of November 9, 2000, when Uttarakhand was created.

Central secretary of the labour cell of the UKD Uday Ram Semwal demanded a minimum of 12 subsidised LPG cylinders in Uttarakhand taking into consideration the geographical and ecological conditions of the state.

Semwal said while 80 per cent of the forests in the state were covered under the reserved category, the respective governments had not ensured a sufficient supply of LPG cylinders.

President of the youth wing of the party Lalit Mamgain said reservation in promotion in government jobs would sow seeds of division on the caste line among employees. The step would also hamper working in the offices and affect the morale of the general category employees.

The activists of the UKD women cell carrying placards also held a march. They urged traders to support the bandh and close their establishments as people belonging to other states would also be eligible for state government services if they were issued the domicile certificate according to the 2000 cut-off year ruling.

Sarita Purohit, a UKD women wing leader, said the issue was important for the residents of the hill and plain areas as the High Court order made people belonging to other states, who did not have natural residency of the state, eligible for government services.

Indu Singh, Aadesh Marwadi, Khem Chand Thakur, Vikki Saini, Sachin Rajput and Anuj Bisht were among others who actively participated in the protests.

In Roorkee, Mangalore, Narsain and pockets of Haridwar, the UKD activists staged protests and commercial establishments were closed in response to the bandh call. 

Mussoorie, January 10
Following the bugle for the month-long Maroj festival celebrated by the Jaunpur-Jaunsar-Rawain community of district Garhwal, which was sounded earnestly yesterday in Mussoorie, many from the community have begun arriving in their respective villages to become part of the festivities.

However, some clusters of villages around Jaunpur region adjacent to Mussoorie are not keen to celebrate the festivial due to the escalating costs and high inflation, forcing them to stop it completely.

Jaunpur block of district Tehri Garhwal consists of several smaller clusters known as pattis, out of which half of the area that comes under Pali Gad along with Silwar patti, Idyalsu patti, Dus Jula and Saklana patti has stopped celebrating the festival completely.

The major reason to stay away from festivities is the practice of goat sacrifice as one goat now costs around Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000. Earlier, every household in the village used to buy one goat for sacrifice and the meat was shared among the villagers equally for the whole month of January.

However, over the years the escalating price of the goat to be sacrificed has made it beyond the reach of the poor villagers in the above-named pattis, thus resulting in the extinction of the practice.

Upendar Lekhwar from village Parodi opined that the whole exercise of celebrating the festival had become too costly and the pressure of buying the goat for sacrifice was bearing on the households in his village. Therefore, the decision was taken by a panchayat meeting two years back to stop celebrating the festival.

In addition to that the migratory nature of the population has meant that very few villagers make it on time for the festival, thus forcing the elders to abandon the practice.

Many villagers now have adopted a novel way of celebrating Maroj by sacrificing only one goat in the village as a symbol. The other activities are carried on the same way as done in the past, thus keeping the tradition alive.

The pattis that still celebrate the festival in the old-fashioned way are also considering stopping the month-long celebrations due to the high price rise and other pressures.

Bitoo Kavi, another villager from Birod, who still celebrates the festival in the old-fashioned way, said that it came only once in a year and was an integral part of the community that provided a chance to meet family members whom they had not met for a while. Hence, efforts should be made to continue the practice an in economical way so that the tradition of the region is kept alive.

Many also believe that the practice of goat sacrifice should be done away with and some other cheaper symbol should be introduced so that people of the region do not stop celebrating the festival.

Dehradun, January 10
A Special Task Force (STF) wing of the state police has started a campaign to apprehend the wanted criminals these days.

Under this, a team led by Inspector, STF, Yogesh Chand arrested Salim alias Nanhe from Jallapalli, Ranga Reddy district, Andhra Pardesh, on Wednesday. Nanhe was sentenced life imprisonment for murder at Gadarpur, Udham Singh Nagar, in 1999 and had escaped from Sadhowala jail from August 30 along with accomplice Ravi Mandal of Haldwani.

A reward of Rs 50,000 was announced on his arrest. The STF had also got concrete clues about Mandal as well.

Nanhe was working as a driver in Andhra Pradesh and had brought his family along some time back from the hometown Baheri, Bareilly. He had also escaped from Sitargang jail in 2006 and was arrested three years later from Haldwani.

According to Yogesh Chand, Nanhe had created terror in the Nainital-Rudrapur area by extorting people with the help of other criminals of same ilk, who included Ravi Mandal and Shabira. Nanhe was then arrested in 1999 for committing a murder at Gadarpur.

Dehradun January 10
Ten-day short-term self-defence training courses started by the Police Department for city girls on December 23 have been discontinued after holding only one batch. The classes were held free of cost at the Police Lines on the behest of the SSP Kewal Khurana.

Different versions came from people of the authority on this matter, though SSP Kewal Khurana said the classes would soon be resumed and the duration of course would be extended from 10 days to one month.

However, Circle Officer, City, Mamta Vohra put the onus on coach Satish Sharma for discontinuation of batches, saying that he insisted upon a proper judo dress for the trainees and extension of course from 10 days to three months which was why it was given a break to ponder over the changed scenario.

Satish Sharma asserted that he was hired for 10 days and no intimation was given to him regarding the batches and questioned the claim of the city police about the continuation of batches.

Denying from making any such conditions which led to the disruption in continuity of batches, Sharma supported the rationality behind wearing proper judo dress and prolonged the course period.

He said, "The girls who came clad in jeans-shirt or salwar-kurta should rather wear judo dress. It is while practising self defence techniques, which requires lots of pulls-pushes. Their dresses may get torn in the process. Similarly 10- day course works as a mere introduction so one needs three month training to attain the mastery in defencive strokes for challenging situations."

The young women enrolling for 10 days may not spend on a new judo dress, however, the city police can start extensive courses for the serious aspirants who can invest in a dress and deposit fee for the course as well. Sharma was of the opinion that training itself instilled lots of self-confidence in girls about their self-protection.

SSP Kewal Khurana refused from keeping the self-defence training suspended. He said, "The second batch was not started as the police judo team which assists the coach has gone to play national games. As soon as they come back, the batches will be resumed again for one month."

The training offered by the city police had received an overwhelming response from young women who in the aftermath of gruesome rape incident in Delhi showed keenness in taking responsibility of their security in their hands. In this endeavour, parents too extended support for the initiative.

The strength of the aspirants for the course rose up from 60 on the first day to 100 within a few days but the suspension of course has certainly proved dampener. There is also uncertainty about the timing of resumption of training classes as well. 

Pithoragarh, January 10
The 17-day agitation of employees of the Public Welfare Department (PWD) at Kapkot ended today after the Bageshwar police arrested the two Congress workers accused of thrashing an engineer of the department and named in an FIR lodged with the Kapkot police. The protesters had been demanding the arrest of two Congress workers, who had allegedly manhandled an executive engineer of the department on December 23.

“We arrested the second culprit today while the other one was apprehended yesterday. Both were named in the FIR lodged by the engineer. They were sent to jail after the magistrate rejected their bail applications,” said GS Martolia, DIG, Bageshwar range.

The PWD employees ended their agitation, which was started on December 24 last year, following the arrest of the culprits. CDO, Bageshwar, Roshan Lal offered a glass of juice to the fasting workers and announced the withdrawal of the agitation, said the DIG. 

Dehradun January 10
Demanding declaration of winter break and making available cooking gas cylinders at Anganwari centres in the district, Anganwari workers yesterday held a march in support of their demands.

The workers held a meeting at the Parade Ground union office and then took out a march that culminated at the DM’s office.

Janki Chauhan, general secretary of the Anganwari Karyakarta/Sewika Karamchari Union, said the Anganwari centres should be shut for winter breaks and cooking gas cylinders provided at the centres for cooking mid day meals.

Dehradun, January 10
The Raiwala police today traced Kamla (name changed), resident of Chiddarwala, who had run away with her lover Dhirender Bisht to Rishikesh on January 2. Both also got married in a temple at Rishikesh but the girl, who is studying in BA part I, turned out to be a minor.

The girl who was being engaged by her parents asked the boy to marry her or else she would get married as per her parents' choice. The boy who was under training in a private company at Ahmedabad resigned from his job and eloped with the girl.

In Rajpur, too, a 14-year-old girl Nahida (name changed), who hails from Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, and was residing in a village near Rajpur, absconded with her paramour Sajid, who lived in the same locality, on Tuesday. The police arrested both from Noida. 

Dehradun January 10
After nabbing three members and an accomplice of a member of the Naushad gang and recovering 28 bikes from them, the police today arrested two persons and recovered five bikes from them.

The accused have been identified as Jamshed Ali and Mazid, both belong to Mirzapur village, Saharanpur.

Jamshed worked as mason while Mazid hailed from an affluent family where one of his close relatives is said to be connected to a political party as well. On a tip-off, the police arrested them from the Dhalipur barrier in Vikasnagar with a bike.

Four other bikes were recovered from Vikasnagar.

Jamshed, proficient in lifting bikes, had earlier been arrested in the Clement Town police station and had cases lodged at Pinjore in Haryana and Himachal Pardesh.

Mazid was also booked along with Jamshed in many such cases. The police is gathering more information from them which might lead to some other gangs and further recovery.

With the arrest of hardened gangs associated with bike thefts, the cases with regard to bike stealing have drastically come down.

Dehradun, January 10
In the 61st District Cricket League matches being played on Survey Ground, Dehradun, the Rising Star and Yuwa Swarankar Sangh teams won their respective matches today.

The first match was played between RR Pal Cricket Academy and Rising Star. Batting first, RR Pal Cricket Academy scored 181 runs losing 7 wickets in the process. Sandeep Pal scored the highest 41 runs. Vishal of Rising Star took 3 wickets in his 6-over spell.

Batting next, Rising Star easily got to the target score losing 4 wickets in the process, thereby ensuring a 6-wicket win for itself. Chinu scored unbeaten 59 runs followed by Sagar, who contributed 57 runs to the Rising team’s score. For RR Pal Cricket Academy, Sandeep and Pushkar took 2 wickets each.

In the second match, the Yuwa Swarankar Sangh won by 8 wickets against Doon County. Batting first, Doon County scored 102 runs losing all its wickets in the process. Apoorv scored 22 runs. Neeraj of the Yuwa Swarankar Sangh took 4 wickets.

Batting next, the Yuwa Swarankar Sangh easily got to the target score losing just 2 wickets, thereby ensuring itself an 8-wicket win. Himanshu scored unbeaten 46 runs for the Yuwa Swarankar Sangh team.