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Temple town of Kedarnath still not accessible
Food security Bill is political gimmick: Teerath Rawat
BJP councillors hold ‘budhi-shudhi’ yajna in MNA's office
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Woodstock alumnus a poverty alleviation crusader
Tasks assigned to officials for President’s visit
Girish remembered on death anniversary
Majdoor sangh meets Governor
Ayurvedic docs appointed
Jaswant Modern School wins debate
Lucent School wins folk dance contest
Gypsy Young, Cantonment Blue win matches in football league
Cambrian Hall beat Doon Global School
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Temple town of Kedarnath still not accessible
Dehradun, August 22 The biggest hindrance continues to be the weather. So far it has put paid to all the efforts of the authorities, keen, as they are to resume prayers at the Himalayan shrine from September 11. While the task of extricating the bodies lying buried under the rubble is on, the pulling down of the houses that surround the shrine has not yet started. So far the Engineer Projects India Limited (EPIL), that has been tasked for removing tonnes of rubble from Kedarnath, has not been able to reach heavy equipment . “The MI-26 that can carry 22 tonnes of cargo has so far not been able to fly to Kedarnath due to inclement weather. Small helicopters can only carry around one-and-a-half-tonnes of cargo. So equipment in bits and pieces after first being disassembled is being flown through small helicopters,” said Om Prakash, Principal Secretary, Home Affairs. In fact the weather has also put breaks on the efforts of the Ministry of Earth Sciences that plans to send a specialised team to Kedarnath for installing Ground Penetrating Radars (GPRs) and Geological Movement Sensors permanently for studying site specific geological
movement. Though alternative trails to Kedarnath that pass through the higher reaches and are also away from the river have been touted again and again by several organisations, in the absence of political will, these may not take shape at all. “A two-lane road can be built on the 30-km-long Chaumasi-Kalimath trail that is now no longer in use. But the trail is located high above, which may not be convenient for roadside business and may even prove to be a dampener for the locals who thrived on the business alongside the river route before the devastation,” said an official. In fact, despite the tragedy that saw a huge loss to life and property, ultimately it is politics that would decide the course of action by the government as to whether the alternative routes should be given a go- ahead for reaching
Kedarnath.
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Food security Bill is political gimmick: Teerath Rawat
Mussoorie, August 22 The implementation of the food security Bill in the state was announced by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna in a function a few days ago, coinciding with the 69th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, under which rice, wheat and other foodgrains would be provided to the needy. The BJP state chief, Teerath Singh Rawat, speaking to the media late night yesterday after arriving at a hotel in Mussoorie, lambasting the UPA and state government, said that the speed shown by the Congress government at the Centre and state in rolling out the food security Bill was nothing but an electoral stunt. Terming the Bill as merely ''old wine in new bottle,'' he said the BJP during its reign had started Atal Khadyan Yojna along with Antodaya Yojna. These schemes were rejected by the Congress government due to political reasons. He further said that the food security bill was not acceptable to the BJP in the present form and only food security scheme in Chathisgarh government model will be acceptable to BJP. The Congress government had shown haste in rolling out the Bill only to ''hide its corrupt practices'' and distract the minds of the people from the burning issues of high inflation, falling value of rupee and looming economic crisis in the country, added Rawat. Speaking on the disaster management and relief operations in the state, he said that the government had failed on every front in providing relief to the people suffering due to the natural disaster that struck two months ago in the state. ''The roads are not yet being repaired. Ration is not reaching the needy and the game of usurping the relief amount has begun earnestly,'' Rawat alleged. “The government through omissions and commissions has begun playing politics over the bodies of the victims who lost their life in the recent disaster, thus failing on every front miserably,” he added. He also said that the roads in the border areas were still non-functional, thus creating a security problem for the armed forces, which was really unfortunate. He demanded that the state government should tender its resignation on moral grounds as it had failed to address the woes of the disaster-affected victims. The former MC president, OP Uniyal, former Disaster Management Minister Khajan Das and others were present on the occasion. Earlier, a largee number of BJP party workers who had left the party joined the party once again in a function held at Jakhdar in Jaunpur region near Nainbagh in district Tehri Garhwal.
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BJP councillors hold ‘budhi-shudhi’ yajna in MNA's office
Dehradun, August 22 The councillors also put red chilly powder in the fire of yajna, owing to which several employees rushed in the open compound of the premises to breath in some fresh air. BJP councillor Sushil Gupta said: “We had to invoke this budhi-shudhi yajna in order to pray to the Almighty to instil some good sense in the MNA, '' who is hell-bent upon rejecting all our suggestions and offers regarding development in the city.'' ''He either looks into his files or just nods his head in silence when we go to his room to discuss development issues for our ward. We had no other alternative left than to seek the intervention of the Almighty in such a situation,” sai a councillor. Another firebrand councillor Amita Singh said that MNA of late had begun to show disrespect to them by indulging in arguments with them without any logic. She said he unnecessarily earned the wrath of councillors by leaving his room and getting into his car when councillors went to meet him to air their grievances a few days ago.
Congress councillors maintained distance from the yajna. Congress councillor Vinay Kohli said: “The BJP councilors are unduly harassing the Mukhya Nagar Adhikari instead of targeting the Mayor who is not convening a board meeting to clear development projects. The Mukhya Nagar Adhikari did his duty by holding a meeting of working committee. Now the Mayor should do the next logical thing by holding a board meeting but he is not doing that.” Congress councillor Meenu Sehgal said that the Congress councillors met the Mayor and appealed to him to call a board meeting which was scheduled to be held on someday in this month but the Mayor put it off for next month.
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Woodstock alumnus a poverty alleviation crusader
Mussoorie, August 22 Hugh Evans, who spent a year at Woodstock in the late 1990s when he was 15, appeared on “The Late Show” with David Letterman on August 20. She talked about what influenced him to become a humanitarian and set up the Global Citizen Project, which aims at reducing by half 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty around the world. Remembering his alma mater, Evans informed the host of the chat show that he was inspired to do humanitarian work and try to change the world during his stay at Woodstock in Mussoorie. Evans’s inspiring vision for a better world for everyone is similar to Woodstock’s 2020 Vision and Desired Learning Outcomes, which encourage students to “possess and act on a strong sense of social justice and empathy with those less and more privileged than ourselves”, said Ed Beavan, Communications Associate, Woodstock School. He said Evans, 30, hails from Melbourne in Australia. He came to Woodstock as part of an exchange programme. Woodstock had studied in Carey Grammar School in Melbourne. Evans told Letterman of the profound impact his experience at Woodstock had on him. “I was living at Woodstock, a school in the Himalayas of India, and each weekend we would go down and volunteer in an orphanage in Dehradun. In holidays we got to work at a school for disabled children and slums in Delhi and with various aid organizations,” he said. “To be honest, that was the solidifying year for me. I returned to Australia. I told myself that I want to do everything I can in my life to see an end to extreme poverty,” he added. Evans is remembered fondly for his involvement in numerous CARE activities during his stay at Woodstock. He started “I Can Be a Seed of Change campaign”. After graduating from Monash University in Australia in 2008, Evans set up the Oaktree Foundation, a charity providing aid to countries in the Asia Pacific and African regions. He then founded the Global Poverty Project, which aims at increasing awareness about extreme poverty in the world and how to counter it. He was also involved in the ‘Make Poverty History campaign’ in Australia in 2006. In September, the organisation will hold the second Global Citizen Festival at Central Park in New York with artistes, including Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Kings of Leon and John Mayer on the bill. The festival aims at raising awareness about global poverty. It is timed to coincide with the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York, reminding the world leaders of the need to focus energies on the issue of extreme poverty.
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Tasks assigned to officials for President’s visit
Dehradun, August 22 Additional District Magistrate Jharna Kamthan will be in charge of all the arrangements at Jolly Grant Airport for arrival and departure of the President. MDDA Secretary Banshi Dhar Tiwari has been made in charge for arrangements at Bidholi University, Additional Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Uday Singh Rana for GTC helipad, SDM, Mussoorie, Narayan Singh Dangi for the route from GTC helipad to IIP Mohkampur, ADM Harak Singh Rawat for Mohkampur, SDM, Dehradun, Ramji Sharan, for Indian Petroleum Institute, Additional City Magistrate Hargiri for arranging alternative road routes, City Magistrate Girish Chander Gunwant to maintain law and order and Joint Magistrate Ranjana Verma to assist women members in the delegation. Duties were also allocated to the officials of various departments to make arrangements for power, water, food safety, doctors, interrupted telephone and Internet facility.
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Girish remembered on death anniversary
Dehradun, August 22 With shots of animated Girda busy in deep thought playing on the screen in the background, it seemed that the poet, artiste and thinker had never left. His friend of several years Rajiv Lochan Shah of Nainital Samachar reminisced the times during the statehood struggle when Girda would address the larger issue of statehood by commenting on the day-to-day happenings in the state, giving shape to Uttarakhand Bulletin. ''It was in printed form published by Nainital Samachar but in a radio bulletin form and Girda was in his elements narrating the woes of the people, and at the same time giving them confidence to carry forward the statehood agitation. Those were difficult times. Both the Congress and the BJP thought the bulletin was a threat to their survival and tried to stop its publication,'' recalled Shah. Shah said that Girda abhorred any form of oppression and valued freedom of expression, even if it meant lending his voice against the banning of poet Narinder Singh Negi's CD satirising former Chief Minister ND Tewari. Similarly, in his introduction to the life and times of Girda, Naveen Pangti of Haldwani shed light on the different facets of the poet's life, who, despite migrating from his village, never lost touch with it. Jyoli (Almora), his village of birth, found mention in his poems. ''I have wondered at times if Girda would have become what he became if he had not migrated,'' said Pangti. Sambhav theater group also staged a small play on the life of Girda. The programme was organised by Samay Sakshay, Mahila Manch and Mahila Samakhya.
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Majdoor sangh meets Governor
Dehradun, August 22 National president of the union SP Malhotra informed the Governor about the problems of migrant residents from Uttarakhand living in the Loni Vidhan Sabha area in Ghaziabad. He said people from Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and other states did not have access to ration cards, voter ID cards and Aadhar cards. The Governor gave them an assurance that he would talk to the officers concerned regarding this matter.
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Ayurvedic docs appointed
Dehradun, August 22 The appointment is expected to help in tiding over the crunch faced in allopathic stream. They would be posted where there was shortage of allopathic doctors.
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Jaswant Modern School wins debate
Dehradun, August 22 The competition was inaugurated by Lt Gen (Retd) KS Pradhan who lighted the lamp in the presence of other distinguished guests. While addressing the students, the chief guest said the students must participate in cultural, arts and sports competitions apart from studies.
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Lucent School wins folk dance contest
Dehradun, August 22 Schools from Dehradun and Rishikesh participated in the competition and Lucent International School was adjudged the winner of the competition whereas Scholars' Home and GRD Academy remained the second and the third positions, respectively. Different school teams performed on different folk dance forms, which enthralled the people watching the performances inside the hall. The dance competition began with lighting the lamp by Richa Johri and Rajeev Johri.
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Gypsy Young, Cantonment Blue win matches in football league
Dehradun, August 22 In the second match, Cantonment Blue had an easy outing against Garhwal Star after it won its match by 4-1 goal difference. For Cantonment Blue, Arya and Vivek scored two goals each whereas from Garhwal Star, Sooraj scored the only goal in the 26th minute.
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Cambrian Hall beat Doon Global School
Dehradun, August 22 In the 10th minute of the game Shubham Malik opened the account for Camrian Hall after scoring the goal. Doon Global fought back after Shiva scored an equaliser at 24th minute through a header. But after that Cambrian Hall dominated in the whole match and at 27th minute team was ahead once again with the goal of Aman and within one minute, Shivam scored the third goal for his team. In the second half, Doon Global made lot of moves but could not convert them into goals and at 65th minute of the game, Aman from Cambrian Hall scored another goal to make the tally 4-1 in the favour of his team.
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The rolling out of the food security Bill by the state government has not gone down well with the BJP, which is terming it as merely a political gimmick and is nothing but “old wine in new bottle.”
A Woodstock alumnus has brought laurels to the school by appearing in a prime time US chat show this week.
Hugh Evans, who spent a year at Woodstock in the late 1990s when he was 15, appeared on “The Late Show” with David Letterman on August 20. She talked about what influenced him to become a humanitarian and set up the Global Citizen Project, which aims at reducing by half 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty around the world.
Students from 16 schools mesmerised the audiences by their breath taking folk dance performances in the folk dance competition organised by Lucent International School under the aegis of Sahodaya Vidyalaya at Scholars' Home School here today.
