Dehradun, February 10
The day did not bode well for the senior citizens of the city as two elderly persons were found dead at different locations in two different incidents. At Patel Nagar, the body of Ram Prasad was found near Lalpul where accused, who killed him, was arrested from the spot.

In the second incident, the body of 71-year-old Tika Ram Thapa was spotted near Morvin School.

The Patel Nagar police arrested Karan alias Suraj for strangulating 73-year-old Ram Prasad near the BSNL building, Lalpul, in Patel Nagar at 2 am late last night. It was on the information provided by a tea-stall owner Ashok Kumar that the police reached the spot and found Suraj pressing Prasad's throat.

When the police pushed Suraj aside, they found the man had already died of strangulation. The accused could not give any apparent reason for killing Prasad and kept repeating that he had committed a mistake by doing so. Suraj is a drug addict and was put in a rehabilitation centre for six months.

It was just last month he got discharged. On the day of incident, he was returning from a birthday party which had got over by 9pm.

The police felt that Suraj, in a state of inebriation, might have misbehaved with Prasad over an issue and in a successive brawl and fit of anger strangulated him. Prasad, a poor man, used to sell newspaper on the pavement in the area. He had also made a makeshift small room covered with polythene on the road side.

The tea-stall owner, Ashok Kumar, used to provide him food and tea. It was Kumar, who got up at 2 at night on sensing some disturbance and spotted Suraj sitting on the chest of Prasad who was lying on the ground. While Suraj was holding his neck with both his hands, Prasad had become immovable and dead by then.

The murderer had no inkling of that and was still continuing to press his throat. When the police arrested him, he was still sitting on the deceased's chest. The police has conducted a post-mortem, the report of which is to come tomorrow. The accused has also been arrested.

In another incident, Tika Ram, who lived with two of his sons, one of whom worked as chowkidaar while other was a cook in Rajpur, was found dead near a nullah, flowing close to Morvin School. He had been missing for past four days.

A passer-by spotted his decomposed body. The body did not sustain any injury, given to which the police is considering it an accident where the deceased is understood to have slipped during the rainy days, when he went missing and died. His wife died long ago and he lived with his two sons and their families, with whom he did not have any dispute.

Dehradun, February 10
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today announced that he would urge the Union Government to issuing a postal stamp in memory of freedom fighter Durga Mall as part of his birth centenary celebrations.

Addressing a programme organised by the Uttarakhand Rajya Nepali Bhasha Samiti, Dehradun, at Garhi Cantt Park, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said the sacrifice made by Durga Mall for the cause of freedom movement had been unparalleled.

He said incidents from the life of Durga Mall would also be included in the text books of the state.

Chief Minister Bahuguna also asserted that the Gorkha community was pride of Uttarakhand and sought their contribution towards development of the state.

The Chief Minister on the occasion also unveiled the statue of martyr Durga Mall at Garhi Cantt Park.

Uttarakhand Congress President Suryakant Dhasmana also lauded the contribution of martyr Durga Mall towards freedom movement. Vivekanand Khanduri, Vishnu Sawant, Hari Singh Gurung and Shivlal Arya were prominent present on the occasion. 

Dehradun February 10
The traders, who used to hold stalls on every Sunday around Parade Ground and were made to shift their market at another location at Chuna Bhatta the previous Sunday, protested at Parade Ground today against their relocation.

They later met District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam and demanded permission to hold stalls inside Parade Ground.

Purushottam assured them of another viable location but not the Parade Ground, reasoning that the bazaar at Parade Ground led to chaos in traffic but traders insisted on Parade Ground only.

A trader Heera Lal said their business got completely ruined after the shift as the space at Chunna Bhatta was inadequate to accommodate all stalls and the customer footfall was minimal. Another trader Rajesh Kumar said they lost out to their customers who could not reach far away location at Chuna Bhatta. Given to this, they were incurring losses in their trades. They also vehemently opposed to Purushottam’s suggestion for some other location in the city and insisted on Parade ground only. However, the DM assured them to find a amicable solution of their problem.

Mussoorie, February 10
A one-day seminar was organised in Mussoorie under the aegis of the Vriksh Yuva Sangathan, the Pravah and the 5th Space Live and Consultant with an objective to create platform for the youth to voice their opinions on the space the youth need to optimise their potential.

Speakers on the occasion highlighted the fact that that on the one hand, the youth of today were under immense pressure to safeguard the traditional values and fulfil social responsibilities and on the other was burdened by the pressures of succeeding in his or her career.

Elaborating further, seminar organiser Jaipaal Singh informed the gathering that due to these challenges, the youth were forgetting the real objective in life and after completing the education, they were unability of taking right decision about career options available to them. Therefore, the need had arisen to guide the youth towards right direction during this transitional phase.

Jaipaal Singh further said the main objective of the Vriksh Yuva Sangathan was to develop the educative qualities of the youth so that they could take right decision to improve their career. The seminar held here today was a part of such activities where the organisers through a series of lectures and demonstration tried to provide the exposure to the youth so that they could make an impact in the society.

The members from the 5th Space Live and Consultant highlighted the aims of the organization and said the youth were encouraged to experiment with the fifth space that can make the other four spaces, namely career, education, family, friends and leisure count as well.

They further said the 5th Space was grounded by the belief that the youthhood was the time for identity seeking through experiments in the real world.

The Vriksh Yuva Sangathan in collaboration with the Pravah, co-creates the 5th Spaces and offers mentoring to the youth engaging organisations across different sectors. The members also highlighted the fact that the fifth space not only influenced the person who experiences it, but everyone around as well. It is called the fifth space as it is a space that needs to be created beyond the four traditional spaces of family, friends, leisure and education/livelihood but it essentially nourishes these four spaces.

The members also said through such seminars and events, they were trying to promote respect and understanding among citizenship, requisite attitude of ownership for common spaces and leadership skills for social change and behaviours to develop strong relationships as the foundation for change.

Neha, Aparna and the members of the Pravah also addressed the gathering of around 50 youth assembled here.

Dehradun, February 10
The Aam Aadmi Party will expose corrupt deeds of both BJP and Congress before the people in Uttarakhand.

Addressing a press conference in Dehradun today, state convener of the Aam Admi Party Harish Arya today said party activists would expose misdeeds of both BJP and Congress before the people of Uttarakhand.

He said both the Congress government and the previous BJP government had resorted to large scale corruption which needed to be exposed.

Arya said the people of the Uttarakhand needed to be informed about the dangers of corruption for the state.

"The Aam Admi Party activists will go door to door and inform people about the dangers of corruption for the country", Arya said.

He also held that issues that were behind the creation of the state of Uttarakhand were still to be addressed. "The problem of migration in hills is still to be solved", he said. Arya also accused the Congress of putting the Lokayukta Bill in Uttarkhand on a backburner.

Dehradun, February 10
City Circle Officer Mamta Bohra today held a family counselling session at Women Helpline Centre at the SSP office here.

Out of eight cases that came before her, she solved four of them on the spot and gave the complainants in the four cases the next date for further counselling.

While showing a lot of patience listening to each of them, she also exhibited exemplary insight and a sense of balance in making couples understand their shortcomings and suggested preventive measures to overcome them.

Today onward, a voluntary bureau comprising SSP Kewal Khurana, CO Mamta Bohra and a panel of other experts has started holding special session of some selected cases of family disputes and making endeavours to solve them. The SSP could not make it today due to his other engagements, so Bohra held fort and did the job. Reacting on the family conflicts brought before her, she said, “At Women Helpline Centre, we try to resolve the misgivings among the spouses in order to save their family life and protect the interests of children. Initially, we grope for zeal in the spouses to live together; if that spark is there, then we make the efforts. Otherwise the police has to simply close the case or take legal action against the erring partner.”

Mussoorie, February 10
Himanshu was declared the winner in the chess tournament while Mohit emerged as the winner in carrom tournament organised under the aegis of the Mussoorie Sports Association here today.

In the chess final, Himanshu defeated Dharmendar convincingly to lift the title.

In the carrom final, Mohit defeated Furkan by a margin of 29-19 and won the title.

In the under-15 category, Tazim defeated Anshul by 29-0 and lifted the winning trophy. In the doubles event of carrom final, the duo of Mohit and Ajay Rao defeated Subash Kavi and Aslam by a margin of 30-19 and won the trophy.

The president of the Agarwal Mahasabha Dhan Prakash Goyal presented the awards and the citation to the winners on the occasion.