Haridwar, July 16
Special religious rites were performed here today at Braham Kund, Har-ki-Pauri ,to pray for peace of the souls of the people who got killed in the flash floods and the natural catastrophe in Uttarakhand last month.

Organised by Shri Badrinath and Kedarnath Temple Committee with Ganga Sabha, Haridwar, people from different walks of life participated in the havan-yagna to pay tributes to the deceased and speedy recovery of the affected people along side the holy Ganga river.

Titled ''Maha Shraddhanjali,'' Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, Union Minister for Water Resources Harish Rawat, who is Haridwar parliamentarian, Deputy Speaker Anusuiya Prasad Maikhuri, Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee vice chief Madhu Bhatt, chief working officer VD Singh, religious officer Bhuwan Uniyal, Ganga Sabha chief Virendra Shri Kunj, Uttarakhand Cabinet ministers Amrita Rawat, Surendra Singh Negi, Pauri Garhwal parliamentarian Satpal Maharaj, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Bhatt and former Lucknow Cantt legislator Reeta Bahuguna Joshi among other dignitaries participated in the havan-yagna.

Addressing the people Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said that the whole country was with Uttarakhand in this time of crisis and the state government was with those families who had lost their near ones.

CM Bahuguna said that rehabilitation, restoration of damaged roads and supply of essential items was being undertaken in the affected areas to bring back life to normal.

Making it clear that despite the huge impact of the natural fury, the government was committed to reopening the Char Dham Yatra once again. Barring Kedarnath Dham, Bahuguna said that the pilgrimage will restart from Septemeber 30 onwards.

Portals of the revered shrines of Lord Shri Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri will be opened once again for this pilgrimage season, while at the Lord Shiva Kedarnath shrine, an NDRF team was working to make sure the religious rituals started once again as soon as possible, added Bahuguna.

Earlier, Vishnu Shasthra naam path, shanti path,yagna,til tarpran, poornahuti and a two-minute silence to pray to the Almighty for peace for the deceased souls were performed.

A special three-day yagna was being performed by saints at the revered shrine of Maya Devi in Haridwar, which is being organised by Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

At Akhil Bharatiya Gayatri Parivar, Shantikunj, a special remembrance prayer was held simultaneously at different parts of the country from 6.30 pm to 7 pm in several Shantikunj centres.

As per Shantikunj officials, more than 1 crore Shantikunj volunteers, activists, students and followers and enrolled members took part in this mass special prayer nationwide. Along side, a special puja was done at 11 jyotirlings in the country by Shantikunj devotees.

Dehradun, July 16
Seeking an increase in seats of various courses and a concession in fee for students coming from disaster-hit districts, DBS (PG) College students today forced the closure of the college and even climbed up the roof of the building and raised slogans against the college administration.

The college administration had to call the police to ensure that law and order was maintained.

College students' union leaders, along ABVP and NSUI members, reached the college early this morning and forcibly locked its main gate.

This led to commotion in the college and the authorities had to call the police.

Students alleged that the college had not increased the seats of various courses for the past many years, thus depriving a large number of students from getting admission to the college due to a limited number of seats.

They said while people from across the country were coming to help disaster victims, the college authorities were not even providing a concession in fee for the students coming from disaster-hit districts of the state.

DBS College Students' Union president Sushil Kumar, union general secretary Devendra Singh Negi, Sandeep Chamoli, Ankit Rawat, Vipul Gaud, Pradeep Kumar and Sandeep Kumar were prominent among those participated in the protest.

Dehradun, July 16
Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) has been given approval to build a hi-tech slaughter house at Selaqui in district Dehradun by the state government. With the establishment of a new slaughter house, the illegal

practise of slaughtering of animals in private places could be controlled to some extent. This slaughter house will be built and operated on Public Private partnership (PPP) mode. Small to big animals will be processed through modern technology.

Secretary, Uttarakhand government, MH Khan, in his letter to Mukhya Nagar Adhikari (MNA) has approved the proposal of the hi-tech slaughter house under condition to coordinate with the PPP cell and sign an agreement and other formalities in this regard before going ahead with the project.

MNA, DMC, Ashok Kumar said: “A small slaughter house is being run on DMC land in Inamulla building in the city, but that land has become disputed after claims made by others on it. However, this slaughter house is not sufficient to meet the requirements of meat-eating population of the city. Hence, several mini slaughter kiosks are being run illegally in the interiors of the residential colonies.” He admitted that the rigorous parameters regarding slaughter houses are not followed by anyone, which might mean that people could be getting unhygienic meat. He assured that these parameters would be strictly followed in the new big slaughter house.

The project had been in limbo for several years and could get green signal from the state government now. MNA said: ''The slaughter house will be equipped with modern gadgets and technology. From the health of animals to the process of slaughtering to cold storing the meat or packaging it for further supply will be dealt by experts in the field. Utmost priority will be given to hygiene as well.''Soon DMC is going to hold tender process to invite bids from the private competitors for this project.

Haridwar, July 16
During the holy month of Ramzan, those who keep daylong fast should ensure that they are pure both with thoughts and actions. Maulana Iqbal of Madarsa Islamia Rashidiya said this while shedding light on Ramzan.

Maulana Iqbal said persons observing fast should not speak false or untrue words, should cooperate with others, help the poor, offer namaz and pray for the well being of all.

The Muslim cleric said those who fast with full dedication, faith and dignity, the almighty purifies them of their sins. “The faithful who come close to Allah should ensure that they keep themselves away from wrong actions, thoughts and do their day-to-day work with sincerity,” he added.

He said women should offer namaz at their homes while men should pray at mosques regularly. “Ramzan is not about observing fast only. One should refrain from wrongful doings and evils and should overcome one’s shortcomings. One should shun negative thoughts, practices, vices, alcohol, drugs, betting and false appearances and indulge in all that is good and Godly,” he added.

Haridwar, July 16
State Health Minister Surendra Singh Negi said today that there was no epidemic-like threat in the disaster-hit region of the state.

He said that precautionary measures had been taken by Health Department to check the outbreak of the epidemic like situation.

Negi stated this during his brief stay at the state guest house, Damkoti, today in Haridwar. Though he accepted that cases of diarrhoea are on the rise due to polluted water, but that, too, is under control.

For this, adequate quantity of chlorine was being mixed in drinking water supply as well as in hand pumps to ensure that people did not get affected with polluted water-related problems.

On the relief measures carried out by his department in the Kedar valley, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and other areas, Negi said adequate medicines and health staff were deployed by the Health Department.

He claimed that though there may have been complaints about ration, food packets, other essential commodities not reaching the stranded pilgrims and local people, but the same could not be said about the health facilities.

He said: '' Prior to commencement of the Char Dham Yatra and Hemkund Sahib shrine pilgrimage, we had bifurcated

Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri into various zones and earmarked various places as base medical camps for pilgrims to have easy access to health facilities.

But after June 17 with the heavy rains, these camps, too, got affected and later with the help of Indian Army and Air Force we deployed medical staff and ensured medicines were dispersed in sufficient quantities to the affected districts,'' said Negi.

Terming the natural fury as equivalent to national disaster, the Health Minister said that the government was doing its job to bring normalcy to the affected state, and added that laying blame on government working was uncalled for owing to the impact of the natural catastrophe.

Dehradun, July 16
Spokesperson of Disaster Management and Redevelopment Committee of Aam Aadmi Party Bhargav Chandola, in his press release, lambasted the state government for poorly handling the mammoth disaster striking the state.

''The state government continued to hide the incident for the first four days owing to which death roll rose so high. The number of missing people, at present 6000, is still rising,'' he said. He held successive governments responsible for this disaster.

''Both BJP and Congress are responsible for this devastation which cost lives of hundreds of people and animals. Despite repeated warnings by environmentalists and social scientists, these state governments had been exploiting the natural resources mindlessly with the connivance of industrialists. As a result,this disaster wreaked havoc in the state,'' he said. He said their committee had collected around Rs 11 lakh through public donations and had distributed relief supply in affected areas. He said it was to be seen whether the state government spent the relief amount sent by the Centre and other sources in undertaking reconstruction work in balance with environment or laid the foundations of another destruction. He demanded the state government to improve its management and engage officials/employees of government departments in relief work in the affected villages.

Mumbai, July 16
Bollywood will do its bit in rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in Uttarakhand, which has been ravaged by floods and landslides.

The film industry will organise an event on August 15 to raise funds for rebuilding and rehabilitation projects in the hill state, which was devastated by heavy rains in mid-June, filmmaker Mukesh Bhatt said yesterday.

"We, as part of the film and TV fraternity, are organising an event on Independence Day to help people affected by tragedy in Uttarakhand," he told mediapersons here.

Bhatt is the president of the Film and Television Producers Guild of India.

"We will try to arrange as much funds as we can for the people of Uttarakhand," the veteran filmmaker said.

It has been reported that superstars Aamir Khan and Hrithik Roshan have contributed Rs 25 lakh each for the victims of the natural disaster. — PTI

Pithoragarh, July 16
The Harela festival was celebrated all over the Kumaon region on the first day of month of Hindu calendar month of Sawan today. It heralded the beginning of the month-long Shrawani Mela at Jageshwar Dham, an eighth century temple of Lord Shiva known as one of the 12 jyotirlingas.

“In the Harela festival, which is considered an agriculture festival of ancient hill folks, villagers grow a bunch of different cereal and pulse seeds that have been kept away from the sun for 10 days and offer these to their deity on the first day of the Sawan month as a symbol of prosperity and long life,” said Dr Ram Singh, a local historian. He said, “The Shrawani Mela at Jageshwar Dham, about 35 km from Almora, begins with the cutting of Harela by temple priests and continues for one month.”

“The jyotirlinga at the Jageshwar temple is a symbol of pre-Aryan dominance of Lord Shiva and the Shaivite cult in this region. The temple of Jageshwar is dedicated to local people as well as to the mainstream Shiva devotees,” said Ram. According to a legend prevalent among the priest community of the Jageshwar temple, due to the worship of Mahamritunjaya before the arrival of Jagadguru Shankaracharya in the temple in the 8th century, the local people used it to wish death for their rivals. Adi Sankaracharya curved this tradition by establishing a calm and welfare-oriented cult of Lord Shiva. “Since then we are worshiping Lord Shiva as a deity of welfare, good and prosperity for locals,” said Gopal Dutt Bhatt, a senior priest of Jageshwar Dham.

Bhatt said the significance of the Jageshwar temple increased after it was made a route camp of the Kailash Mansarowar pilgrimage after the arrival of Shankaracharya here in the eighth century.

Dehradun, July 16
A huge force of 620 sanitary workers operating through Swachata Samiti (sanitation committee) in the town has become a headache for officials of Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC). Now the officials are proposing

to attach them with the Doon Valley Waste Management (DVWM) project run by Delhi-based SPML company on PPP mode in the city. But the project director is also reluctant to hire these sanitary workers.

Around 12 members of this committee work for each of the total 60 wards.

But owing to their leanings towards party politics, it has become difficult for officials to get work done by them. Any action against the workers provoke vehement protests or strikes and intrusion of Congress and BJP leaders on their behalf.

Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Ashok Kumar said he was going to send a letter to the state government to shift the members of the committee to DVWM project. ''DMC is spending around Rs 18,60,000 on the salaries of the

620 sanitary workers of Swachata Samiti. They have been entrusted the task to clean roads and drains in each ward but they hardly do their work. If these workers are taken up under DVWM, which otherwise has

hired hands through outsourcing, then DMC will be able to do some saving. These workers, too, will do some work in the field,'' Senior Health Officer, DMC, Gurpal Singh said. Transferring members of the committee would not affect the sanitation system in wards as DMC had many sweepers, and if required, more could be hired on daily wages.

According to sources, the supervisors who are supposed to monitor the presence and work of sanitary workers in each ward usually mark them present in the attendance registers. In lieu of this, they take share of the salaries of these sanitary workers. The councillors continue to complain that roads or drains in their wards are dirty, but no action is taken against the sanitary workers.

Dehradun, July 16
The Inter-School Boys' 1st Challenge Cup 2013 will be held at Marshall School Sports Field Jogiwala, Dehradun, from July 18 to 28.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, VS Rawat, Dehradun Football Academy's secretary, said the tournament was being organised in memory of former Union Minister HN Bahuguna.

He disclosed that a total of 20 teams would be participating in the tournament that prominently includes St George's College, Mussoorie, Kasiga School, Marshall School, Doon International School, DAV Public School, Gurukul Kangdi School, Haridwar, and The Asian School, Dehradun. Rawat said apart from trophies to winners and runners-up, individual prizes will also be provided in each match. Rajnish Juyal, member, Marshall School Society, was also present at the news conference.