Protest for better civic facilities
Dehradun, April 2
Members of the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party staged a protest at the office of the District Magistrate in support of their demands here today. The protesters submitted a memorandum addressed to the Governor to the District Magistrate demanding better civic facilities to a large population living in slums.

Dehradun, April 2
For the safety and education of pilgrims coming from different parts of the state for the Char Dham Yatra, Uttarakhand Health Minister Surinder Singh Negi has sought the cooperation of the health ministers of different states for disseminating information about the weather conditions prevailing in Chamoli.

Speaking at a press conference today, Uttarakhand Health Minister Surinder Singh Negi said that as the yatra starts in May, when the summer is at its peak in the neighbouring states, the pilgrims who venture out do not bring adequate clothing. “Most of the time the pilgrims fall ill due to lack of adequate winter clothing and at times the pilgrims with serious illness do not take adequate precautions. I have written letters to the ministers of these states so that they could provide information in this regard,” he said.

The minister said that for this year’s Char Dham Yatra the Department of Health and Family Welfare would not only set up special health posts but a detailed map of the health facilities dotting the route would be provided to the pilgrims.

However, the minister said that the government was not keen to impose the provision of fitness certificates from persons with heart ailments, breathing problems and other serious diseases. 

"Most of the time the pilgrims fall ill due to lack of adequate winter clothing, and at times the pilgrims with serious illness do not take adequate precautions. I have written letters to the ministers of these states in this connection"
— Surinder Singh Negi, Health Minister

Dehradun, April 2
The Samajwadi Party (SP) has announced that it will field candidates in the civic bodies’ election to be held in the state keeping in mind of its programmes and policies.

Vinod Barthwal, former president of the state SP unit, told mediapersons here today that “The SP will fight the civic bodies’ election in the state on its core issues. Both BJP and Congress have created a political mess in the state. These parties are suffering from factionalism and have no concern for the public.”

Barthwal said the SP would provide a third alternative to end the monopoly of the BJP and the Congress. He added their party would contest the election on its policies and field candidates in each ward.

He added the Congress-led government in the state had failed to resolve the problems related to water, electricity and unemployment. He assured the people that the SP would try to solve these problems if it wins a significant number of seats.

Dehradun, April 2
Members of the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party staged a protest at the office of the District Magistrate in support of their demands here today. The protesters submitted a memorandum addressed to the Governor to the District Magistrate demanding better civic facilities to a large population living in slums.

The party demanded that people living in slum areas be given property rights. They alleged that major political parties had been making false promises to the slum-dwellers on the issue during the civic bodies' poll.

Dehradun, April 2
Devotees of Shri Guru Ram Rai Darbar participated in a nagar parikarma (procession) led by Mahant Devender Dass in the morning today. The parikarma marks the end of the Jhanda Mela.

Thousands of devotees gathered at Shri Guru Ram Rai Darbar in the morning. They swept roads through which the procession was to pass. Starting from the Darbar, the procession passed through Saharanpur Chowk, Kanwali Road and Ballupur Chowk. The devotees welcomed Mahant Devender Dass by showering flower petals on him and also participated in the parikarma.

The devotees rested at SGRR School, Patel Nagar, before the procession started again. The parikarma led by Mahant Devender Dass went around Paltan Bazaar, Inamullah Building and culminated at the Samadhi Stahal of former Mahants at Bhandari Bagh.

Mahant Devender Dass and the devotees paid obeisance at the samdhis. Later they were given ‘prasad’ of sugarcane. The devotees from all parts of the country, particularly Punjab, later started returning.

Dehradun, April 2
In a unique initiative, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Uttarakhand Space Application Centre (USAC) will set up a communication terminal at Shila Samundar located at 14,000 feet for maintaining continuous communication links for the Nanda Devi Raj Yatra starting from August 29.

''This initiative would be a landmark, as for the first time the entire route of the Nanda Devi Yatra would be mapped through satellite and would prove to be useful not only administrative purpose but also help the Department of Forests in taking steps to conserve rare plants and herbs growing in the area,'' said Anusuya Prasad Maikhuri, Deputy Speaker of Uttarakhand Assembly at a press conference today.

Maikhuri said that at minimum costs ISRO had decided to provide logistic support for the yatra. ''A total of 70 sites had been earmarked as areas prone to landslides which would aid the administration for early preparedness,'' said Maikhuri.

For ensuring uninterrupted communication links even in areas where there are chances of communication links snapping, ISRO would also extend C-band facility at Baan from where the yatra route becomes treacherous and difficult.

''We will also use the already established Edu-sat facility and rope in Doordarshan and other departments for providing coverage of the yatra and also relay information about the weather conditions prevailing at different padavs in tandem with the Meteorological Department on hourly basis. A control room would be set up in Dehradun for providing further audio and video linkages,'' said Maikhuri.

Maikhuri said that during the previous yatra a total of 50,000 pilgrims had participated in the yatra but the government is expecting around one lakh pilgrims.

''We would be spending around Rs 100 crore on the yatra for setting up infrastructure comprising of rain shelter, roads, health facilities etc,'' he said.

The Nanda Devi Raj Yatra would begin on August 29 and end on September 16, passing through 25 padavas.

Today scientist from ISRO Virender Kumar and MM Kimothi, Director, USAC, held detailed discussions with Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain. Based on preliminary assessment, the preparations would be made.

Dehradun, April 2
A delegation of BJP leaders led by Leader of the Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly Ajay Bhatt today met Governor Aziz Qureshi at Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandum demanding removal of Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat from the post of Chairman of Uttarakhand Seeds and Terai Development Corporation.

“We have urged the Uttarakhand Governor to dismiss Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat from the post as it is unconstitutional. We conveyed to him our concerns and urged him to use his constitutional powers under Article 192 and dismiss him immediately,” said Bhatt.

The BJP leaders who met the Governor include former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and other party workers.

Dehradun, April 2
Minister for Revenue, Land Management and District Planning Committee (DPC), Yashpal Arya, today convened a meeting of DPC to review the proposed expenditure of Rs 74.61 crore. He directed officials to select the development plans as per the proposed expenditure. He said the list of the works which had been completed or were in progress must be made available to the members of the DPC. He also emphasised on the quality of the development works.

State Minister for Rural Development Preetam Singh said the public representatives were not informed about the development works undertaken by officials. He said the officials must plug this loophole. This way the representatives will be able to test the quality of the projects as well.

District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam informed about the proposal of distribution of expenditure, which is like this: Agriculture Department Rs 60 lakh; Horticulture Rs 32.64 lakh; Dairy Development Rs 40.73 lakh; PWD Rs 1136.76 lakh; Tourism Rs 3 crore; Health Department Rs 559.27 lakh; Jal Nigam Rs 920 lakh; Jal Sansthan Rs 576 lakh; and Youth Welfare Development Rs 3 crore.

Dehradun, April 2
Lakhi Bagh police has arrested two persons who had been involved in the theft of two-wheelers for the past six months. The police has recovered seven two-wheelers from them. The accused have been identified as Himanshu Aggarwal, resident of Inder Enclave, Bhupatwala in Haridwar, and Mohd. Asif, resident of Bijnaur, Uttar Pardesh.

In a press conference, SSP Kewal Khurana said the accused would unlock the parked vehicles and hide them in a vacant plot at Bhupatwala in Haridwar. The plot was in the vicinity of the residence of Aggarwal. They would later sell the vehicles on much lesser prices. The accused had been committing these incidents in Dehradun, Haridwar and Rishikesh.

Aggarwal used to sell Rudrakash neck chain while Asif worked in a furniture shop. Both were friends. He said the police would further investigate into the matter about the vehicles sold by the accused and also about those buyers who purchased them. The stolen vehicles would then be returned to the owners of the vehicles.

A case has been registered by Kotwali police station under Section 379/411, IPC.

Dehradun, April 2
Principal Secretary S. Raju today said that the government was committed to the welfare of disabled and early detection would go a long way towards providing care and other facilities for the autistic children.

He was speaking on the occasion of World Autism Day today. The children also held an awareness march from Dila Ram Bazaar to the Secretariat.

On the occasion the Department of Social Welfare honoured 15 persons with disabilities. Those honoured include Mohan Chand Joshi and Sakir Ali from Haridwar.

Despite the complex nature of autism, the government is not running any special schemes for the autistic children, and due to lack of facilities, most of the time the problem remains undetected. 

Dehradun, April 2
A cricket tournament was organised by Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun, at Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) cricket ground in which teams of Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), New Delhi; IGNFA, Dehradun, Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun; Forest Research Institute Deemed University (FRIDU), and ICFRE, Dehradun, participated.

The final match was held between FRIDU and WII. The final match was a closely fought contest, in which the excitement sustained till the last ball of the match. The FRI DU won the toss and decided to field first. The team of WII scored 148 runs in the allotted 20 overs in which a glorious 73 runs were scored by their captain Madan Uniyal. In response to this, FRI DU could manage 145 runs and lost the match by 3 runs.

Their captain Atul Chauhan scored a brilliant half century but could not take his team to the winning total. After he was dismissed in the penultimate over, the team struggled and could not score the required 5 runs in the last over. The match was alive till the last ball as FRI DU required 4 runs to win the match but could score none.

The chief guest for the closing ceremony was Director General, ICFRE, VK Bahuguna, and PR Sinha, Director, WII, was the guest of honour.

PP Bhojvaid and other officers were also present at the closing ceremony.

The prizes were distributed to the winning team, all the ground staff and to the medical team who remained present for all the three days of the tournament.

Mementos were distributed among all the participants of the four participating teams. The tournament has been a big success and organisation/arrangements of ICFRE were applauded by all the participants.

Dehradun, April 2
Doon Tigers, Dehradun, beat Vardhan Warriors, Moradabad, by three wickets in a match in the 5th All India Uttarakhand Cricket Cup 2013 played at Rangers’ College ground here today.

Batting first after winning the toss, Vardhan warriors scored 174 runs all out in 37.1 overs. Nikhil Saini with 49 runs was the top scorer. Singh took five wickets for 25 runs. In reply, Doon Tigers, Dehradun, scored 176 for seven wickets in 30.3 overs to win the match by three wickets. Shivam remained unbeaten on 67 runs while opener Rohit scored 36 runs. Shivam, Akshay and Nikhil Saini took two wickets each.