Classical dance key to excelling in other dance forms: Mayuresh
Haridwar, May 21
Learning classical dance is essential to excel in other dance forms, particularly for a choreographer, dancing sensation and television dance reality star Mayuresh Vadekar said here today. Mayuresh is on a visit to Haridwar to audition dance aspirants for his academy ‘Junoon Dancing Academy’.

Haridwar, May 21
Tributes were paid to former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi on his 22nd death anniversary in Haridwar today. Various commemorative functions were organised in the city to pay tributes to the great visionary, who scripted the success of Information Technology in India.

Apart from Haridwar, in Roorkee, Laksar, Mangalore, Laundaura and Bhagwanpur, functions were held at Congress offices. Through a press note issued by spokesperson Rajesh Rastogi on behalf of Union Minister of State Harish Rawat , youths were urged to follow the ideals of Rajiv Gandhi, terming him as a visionary, who paved the way for the 21st century resurgent India.

A special offering of holy Ganga water at Birla ghat was made by Congress activists led by veteran leader Sanjay Chopra, who paid tributes to Rajiv, who was assassinated on May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu during a poll campaign.

City Congress chief OP Chauhan addressed the party workers at Subash ghat-based Congress office. Chauhan highlighted the imperative role that Rajiv Gandhi played in bringing computer technology to India in mid 80s.

At another function, Uttarakhand Kranti Manch activists remembered Rajiv Gandhi for being close to the common public and party workers, and for his role in strengthening the nation and the Congress. Under his leadership the party won record 411 Lok Sabha seats in 1984 election.

Orators pointed that Rajiv had sharp political acumen, too, as he fielded young candidates Amitabh Bachchan and Madhav Rao Scindia, who emerged victorious against Opposition biggies Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

“Rajiv Gandhi dismantled the licence raj, laid stress on science and technology, reversed the coup in Maldives, improved relations with the US and was trying to help Sri Lanka in overcoming LTTE, of which he himself became a victim. He was a global visionary leader,” remarked Santosh Chauhan, former Women's State Commission chief.

Congress state women's leader Poonam Bhagat said the day was also observed as Anti-Terrorist Day to educate youth of the country to stay away from cult of terrorism and violence.

Bahuguna opens Multipurpose Hall
Rs 600 crore development plan submitted to CM

DEHRADUN: A new multiplex built on Dispensary Road, which has been named as Rajiv Gandhi Multipurpose Hall, was inaugurated by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today. He also unveiled a tall statue of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the premises on his death anniversary today.

Bahuguna remembered Gandhi, saying that he created milestones such as giving power to local bodies and panchayats, voting rights to the youngsters and a striking peace chord with the state struggling with terrorism. He said the state, too, had prepared a proposal with regard

to formulating policies for the welfare of SCs/STs and backward classes and assessment of expenditure under these policies as per their populations. State Revenue Minister Yashpal Arya, who was present on the occasion, shared Rajiv Gandhi's contributions with the audience. State Planning Minister Dinesh Aggarwal said the schemes regarding infrastructure amenities would further strengthen the base of the state. Mayor Vinod Chamoli admired the way development projects were taking shape in the city. Be it widening of Chakrata Road, Adat Bazaar crossing, parking at Tehsil Complex , construction of flyovers, the public was going to benefit from them, he said.

MLA, Rajpur Road, Rajkumar, submitted a proposal of Rs 600 crore to Bahuguna on this occasion. The Chief Minister also laid stones of many projects on the occasion. These include construction of upgradation of Budha crossing, decorative electrical poles from

Dilaram to Mussoorie diversion, installing Indira Gandhi's statue in Indira Market and overbridge on Tehsil-Darshan Lal-Clock Tower-Gandhi Park and Astely Hall crossing.

Rajkumar said he had got a mega plan prepared to deal with the problem of water flooding many parts of his constituency. Sewer lines would be laid down from DL Road to Claimentown, for which a sum of Rs 50 lakh had already been released.

On this occasion, besides many Congress leaders, Saket Bahuguna, Suryakant Dhasmana, State Minister for Urban Development Preetam Singh Panwar, District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam and Vice-Chairman, MDDA, RM Sundaram, were also present. 

Dehradun, May 21
The Uttarakhand government will bring a separate legislation that will pave the way for proper use, planning and allocation of financial resources earmarked under the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) sub-plan, Uttarakhand Social Welfare Minister Surinder Rakesh has said.

Surinder Rakesh told mediapersons here today that the need for a separate legislation was felt as funds allocated for the SC and ST communities over the years were not being spent properly. These funds were earmarked to end economic exploitation and discrimination agaisnt Dalits and tribals in the state.

The minister said the legislation would also have a provision for penalising officials and institutions concerned in case they were unable to spend the funds. “Section 25 of the legislation will act as a deterrent and ensure proper spending of the funds.

The Cabinet has already given its approval to the Bill and soon it will be introduced in the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, he added.

Surinder said the state-level committee would sanction the budget and the plan for the SC and ST communities. For this the legislation envisages establishing a separate economic cell in the Department of Social Welfare to oversee the allocation and spending of the budget under the SC and ST sub-plan, he added.

The minister said the state and district level committees would prepare the plan and the budgetary allocation under the SC and ST sub-plan one year in advance. 

Haridwar, May 21
Learning classical dance is essential to excel in other dance forms, particularly for a choreographer, dancing sensation and television dance reality star Mayuresh Vadekar said here today. Mayuresh is on a visit to Haridwar to audition dance aspirants for his academy ‘Junoon Dancing Academy’.

Mayuresh told The Tribune that he had performed in over 1,000 shows in and outside India. He said today’s youths were glued to TV dance reality shows and Bollywood songs. They imitated dance steps but were unaware of the fact that learning classical dance and basics of other dance forms was imperative to excel in the long run.

“I had myself learned the classical dance and hence when it comes to expressions or choreography it is easy to incorporate classical dance moves. The classical dance is same as theater is to acting and test matches is to cricket,” said Mayuresh, who plans to venture into acting.

He said he idolised Prabhu Deva, Michael Jackson and his mentor Terence Lewis wanted to give back to society and fans. As a result he has opened the Junoon Dance Academy and is organising auditions for it after giving rigorous dance training to a select few.

The sessions in Haridwar will be conducted at the Rishikul auditorium from May 22-25 and the grand finale will be held on May 25.

Mayuresh said various dance shows being organised on television channels would enable the best dancing talent to emerge. He has also to his credit Sony Ericsson commercial with Hrithik Roshan, a cameo role in Bollywood dance flick ‘Anybody Can Dance’ featuring Prabhu Deva, Saroj Khan, Ganesh Acharya and directed by Remo Dsouza. He was the judge-cum-mentor on a Marathi channel aired dance reality show ‘Dance Ekach Dance’.

Asked about the dancing talent in Uttarakhand, Mayuresh said the dance aspirants did not have proper dance training but they were full of talent, enthusiasm and will to excel.

“If one targets competition only then he can’t feel dance. It is a passion for me and I have found a similar feeling among a couple of selected participants from Uttarakhand,” he said. 

Dehradun, May 21
Renowned dance guru Saroj Khan visited Max Super Specialty Hospital here today. She was in the hospital for a one-day workshop of Dance Gurukul where more than 100 children participated with zest and zeal.

The children thoroughly enjoyed their one hour with Saroj Khan and learnt many new dance steps from her. Saroj also met some patients at the hospital. This uplifted the mood of patients and their attendants.

The workshop was organised with an objective to provide a platform to children to groom themselves while they take a break from their busy academic schedules.

Meanwhile, Max Healthcare has associated itself with Dance Gurukul as its healthcare partner. As part of the health cover, the hospital will be providing immediate emergency treatment to children in case they get hurt while practising at the workshop. Dancing is ideal as a breakout to re-energize and inspire children. While dancing children often get hurt. Muscle strains and cramps, shin splints and stress fractures are some common dance-related injuries.

Gaurav Rekhi, General Manager, Operations, Max Super Specialty Hospital, said, “We are excited to be associated with Dance Gurukul as its healthcare partner. Dance is a powerful ally for developing many of the attributes of growing children. It helps them mature physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively. The physical benefits of dance are widely accepted and the emotional, social and cognitive attributes have recently begun to be appreciated.” 

Dehradun, May 21
Panabaaka Lakshmi, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Textiles, visited various ONGC institutes at ONGC ,Dehradun , here today and was highly impressed with the activities of the institutes. She lauded ONGC personnel for their contribution to the country. She said her visit to the institutes today was a learning experience.

Lakshmi assured that ''whatever support is required from the ministry's side, we are with you.'' She mentioned that after becoming the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, she had been visiting various ONGC work centres. In this context, she recalled her visit to Mumbai High recently.

The minister visited premier institutes of Keshava Deva Malaviya Institute of Petroleum Exploration (KDMIPE), Geodata Processing and Interpretation Centre (GEOPIC) and Institute of Drilling Technology (IDT). She also met ONGC personnel at Frontier Basin and also visited the ONGC Museum at Tel Bhavan. 

Dehradun, May 21
District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam held a meeting with Subdivisional Magistrates and officials of Forest and PWD Departments in regard to matters regarding acquiring of forest land.

Purushottam directed the officials to wrap up the issues pending fora long time with regard to handing acquisition of forest land. While reviewing the matters related to the issue, he got upset on finding PWD Executive Engineer, Chakrata, and Kalsi for not taking action on the given proposals for past five months.

He asked them to furnish explanation for the delay. He also directed them to come with complete information and the documents in the meetings called by him.

He directed SDMs of Chakrata, Vikasnagar, Kalsi and Mussoorie to convene a meeting every month with regard to the matter related to forest land acquisition and complete the procedure on their own end so that the other related department could also complete work on them in time.

He said there should not any gap of communication among the related departments as they must know at which level the correspondence of the related files had stopped, how much progress had

been made and what else was to be done so that the work could progress on these issues rapidly.

Mussoorie, May 21
Janari Devi, a poor villager suffering from acute brain disease known as cerebral aneurysm, for whom death was looming large due to paucity of funds and the neglect of the state Health Department, has finally received a helping hand in Mussoorie.

The Divine Light Trust, Mussoorie, a social organisation run by a doctor couple and few friends, today agreed to partly fund the cost for the intricate operation to be conducted by renowned Delhi neurosurgeon for the past four decades, AK Singh, at Max Hospital.

The president of the trust, Sunil Sanon, and his wife Venu Sanon, presented a cheque worth Rs 1 lakh to the patient at their clinic today.

However, the challenge is not yet over as Rs 2 lakh more are needed for the complete operation, and the doctor couple was hopeful that other philanthropist organisations would come forward and save the life of

the patient as the disease which in most cases leads to immediate death due to ignorance has been diagnosed timely, thus increasing the chances of the patient's survival.

Chandarpal Padyar, the son of Janari Devi, thanked the doctor couple for their financial support and guidance and said that his mother was on the verge of dying and as they were not in the position to collect the sum required for the operation of his mother, he termed the help of Rs 1 lakh as no less than God sent.

Throwing light on the Janari Devi case, Sunil Sanon said that her son approached her seven days back where he found that she was suffering from cerebral aneurysm or the ballooning of the blood vessels in the brain at the verge of bursting. “After considering the serious nature of the patient and no help coming from Vyadhi Nidhi Kosh Department of the government which was formed to fund BPL patients in the state, the members of Divine Light Trust came forward with the help of Rs I lakh for her operation,”added Sanon.

Chandarpal also informed the media that they had also approached for help from Vyadhi Nidhi Kosh of the state government for financial help few weeks back but due to a lot of red-tape in the government machinery and lackadaisical approach of the health officials, no action was initiated, leaving his mother in dying condition.

The president of the trust Sunil Sanon, also being critical of the government machinery towards the patient needing immediate operative care, said that the procedure for the receiving funds from Vyadhi Nidhi Kosh is so cumbersome that by the time the paper work is completed,

patients like Janari Devi could be heading towards cremation grounds.

Dr Sanon further said that a sea-change in the attitude of the people operating the Vyadhi Nidhi Kosh is needed in the case of utmost urgency

like that of Janari Devi. Usually the patient has to submit a number of papers at district level for where he or she is recommended to the DG, Health, and then the funds are released, but for the patents such as Janari Devi, by the time help reaches, it could be too late, said Dr Sanon.

Dr AK Singh has also agreed to cooperate in the matter and for now Janari Devi has been admitted in Max Hospital where the neurosurgeon team would be performing the surgery after stabilising the patient, said Sanon.

What is a cerebral or brain aneurysm? According to the medical experts, cerbral aneurysm is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localised dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel.

The individual may experience such symptoms as a sudden and unusually severe headache, nausea, vision impairment, vomiting, and loss of consciousness, or the individual may be asymptomatic, experiencing no symptoms at all.

A sudden severe headache that can last from several hours to days accompanied with nausea and vomiting, drowsiness /or coma.

Dehradun, May 21
UNIDO, New Delhi, Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), and Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association teams won their respective matches in the 31st All India Gold Cup Cricket Tournament played here today.

In the first match, UNIDO, New Delhi, defeated Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association by five wickets. Batting first after winning the toss, HPCA team made 207 runs for nine wickets in 40 overs. Jarnail Singh with 48 runs was the top scorer while Prashant Chopra and Sahil Malhotra contributed with 43 runs each, respectively. Subodh Bhatti took three wickets while Rahul Dagar and Krishan Pal took two wickets each. In reply, UNIDO team made 208 runs for the loss of five wickets to win the match. Rahul Dagar remained unbeaten on 61 runs while Opener Gaurav Chitkara made 55 runs. Ajay Saklani took two wickets.

In the second match, Lucknow Development Authority defeated RPCA,New Delhi by 39 runs. Batting first LDA team made 263 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 40 overs. Bharatveer scored 53 runs while Himanshu scored 43 runs. Ajit Ranjan and Akash Sudan took three wickets each. In reply, RPCA, New Delhi, were all out for 224 runs in 38.1 overs, losing the match by 39 runs. Opener Anil Bhatt scored 83 runs and Prateek Panwar scored 43 runs. Subodh Srivasan took five wickets for 49 runs.

In the third match, Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association defeated NER, Lucknow, by a huge margin of 205 runs. Batting first UPCA team, helped by a brilliant century by Abhinav Dutt, who scored 123 runs, and 80 runs each by Gaurav Tomar and Ankit Tewari, piled up 324 runs for the loss of four wickets in 40 overs. In reply, NER, Lucknow, were was all out for 119 runs, losing the match by 205 runs. Ashwani Mandhwani was the top scorer with 42 runs. Raj Bahadur took six wickets for 28 runs.