Dehradun, September 2
Work on fulfilling Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna’s announcements should be expedited and the Principal Secretaries and the Secretaries should review the work being done at their level. A review report should be submitted to the Chief Minister’s office.

These orders were issued by Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar at a meeting held at the Secretariat here today .

He directed that a nodal officer should be appointed by every department to report on developments regarding the announcements made by the Chief Minister. The Chief Secretary said information on the name, post and telephone number of the departmental nodal officer should also be submitted to the CM’s office.

He said a report on the completion of work on the CM’s announcements, partial completion or work in progress status should also be submitted to the CM’s office.

The Chief Secretary said no department should shift the responsibility of implementing announcements to another was any need, they would have to send a proposal to the CM’s office giving reasons for the same, he said. — TNS

Dehradun, September 2
Ghummakkad Narain - The Travelling Literature Festival -- began with sessions at Rajkiya Prathmik Vidyala Ajabpur I and II with storytelling sessions by Mukesh Nautiyal and Shaguna Gahilote. More than 200 students attended the sessions after which books were donated to the school library to encourage reading among the children.

This was followed by a session at Jaswant Modern School where children from Raja Ram Mohan Roy Academy, Himjyoti School, DAV Public School, Olympus School and Jimp Pioneer School participated. More than 800 students attended various sessions as part of the festival from classes I to XII.

Sessions were conducted by Ajit Narayan on how to draw cartoon strips. Madhu Gurung, journalist and writer, read Burmese folktales and Atanu Roy, celebrated artist and illustrator, drew faces with children. The National Book Trust is a major supporter of the festival since its beginning.

Emily Gravett, well-known children's writer and illustrator from the UK, read her books to students aged 6 to 10 years and then wrote a story with them in a workshop.

Sherry Ashworth and Iris Feindt held reading sessions and creative writing workshops with the young adults aged 14 to 17 years.

"We are delighted with the response that the festival has been receiving every year and is growing. If in a day you can reach out to about 1,000 children, then that is a job well done. But what is more important is that if we manage to spark an interest in them to learn and read, then they will inspire and encourage their families and friends around them," said Rachna Bisht, president of Nivesh and the principal organiser of the festival, Ghummakkad Narain.

"Over the years, we have seen an improvement in our schoolchildren. They have become more creative and are writing their own poems, stories and also become better at drawing, thanks to the festival," said Kanchan, Vice-Principal of Jaswant Modern School. "I absolutely love working with children and it gives me immense pleasure when I see the kids in India react to my work and enjoy it just as much as the UK kids do. I think the festival is a wonderful initiative to encourage young people," said Emily Gravett.

Dehradun, September 2
In protest against the hike in the prices of diesel and petrol, BJP leaders burnt an effigy of the Central Government at Clock Tower here today. They also raised slogans against the Centre.

The protesters, led by chief of the city unit of the party Neelam Sehgal, alleged that the Union Government had failed miserably on all fronts and the rising prices of the essential commodities and petrol had made the life of the common man difficult. 

Dehradun, September 2
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has called upon scientists to give suggestions about mitigation measures to deal with natural disasters rather than just warning the state about disastrous consequences on environment issues.

The Chief Minister stated this after inaugurating a two-day workshop on “Mountain Meteorology and Landslides” at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) here today. He said the scientists should help the state in taking effective mitigation measures to deal with natural disasters.

The Chief Minister urged the experts and the scientists present at the workshop to discuss the natural disaster-linked challenges being faced by the state and offer solutions. He said the solution ought to be such that while the environment could be conserved the development aspirations of the locals were fulfilled.

Bahuguna asserted that post-disaster greater importance would be given to suggestions from scientists, environmentalists and experts while undertaking reconstruction work in the state. He added the state government had formed a committee of experts comprising eminent environmentalist like Dr RK Pachauri and Dr Anil Joshi and others in this regard.

He said it was wrong to portray Uttarakhand as unsafe. “There has been a lot of negative publicity about Uttarakhand being unsafe after the Kedarnath disaster. Today, tourists are even avoiding Mussoorie and Nainital, which is not good,” he said. The state government was committed to safety and well being of tourists, he added.

The Chief Minister said there was a need to strike a balance between the environment and development. “An action plan should be prepared from a scientific viewpoint to ensure that the people in the hill and border areas also benefit from development. A common policy should be prepared for the uniform development of the entire Himalayan region,” he said.

Bahuguna said several landslide-sensitive roads in Uttarakhand had been identified. Discussions were on to consider construction of alternate routes and tunnels to bypass the landslide-prone areas. He promised that long-term planning would be done before making any such policy.

Director, WIHG, Dr Anil Gupta referred to the activities of the institute towards geological studies of the Himalayan region. He assured all support to Uttarakhand in providing its expertise in the reconstruction works. Senior WIHG scientist VC Tiwari coordinated the proceedings. 

Dehradun, September 2
Poetess Kalpeshwari Mishra’s compilation of poems “Umar Key Diye” was released by Dr Shiv Prasad Bhardwaj in Dehradun yesterday.

Bhardwaj recalled hardwork done by the earlier generation in Dehradun for getting quality education.

“During our days there was no degree college in Dehradun and one had to either go to Lahore or Benaras to get higher education,” he said, asserting that today higher education was easily accessible.

However, he added that despite better education, even highly educated people had lost interest in literature and poems, which is a matter of concern. He appreciated Mishra’s zeal for continuously writing poems.

Poet and statehood agitator Dr Atul Sharma said a lot still needed to be done towards the promotion of the Hindi language. He added there were only a few individuals today who sincerely wanted to work for the betterment of society.

The Secretary of the Dr Pitambar Dutt Barthwal Hindi Academy, Dr MR Saklani, reiterated the academy’s commitment towards promoting Hindi literature in the state.

He said the academy totally supported poetesses like Kalpeshwari Mishra, who has written on all kinds of social issues.

Many speakers expressed their views on the Kedarnath disaster at the function. Dr Ram Prasad Dobhal, Dr Hridya Narayan Tripathy, Basanti Bisht and Sumitra Dhulia were prominent among those who participated in the function. 

Dehradun, September 2
The RIMC team defeated Maa Anandmayee Memorial School 3-0 in a match during the RIMC Soccer Cup under way at the RIMC here today.

Cadets O Nelson, Lulu L and A Maikel Singh scored the goals.

In another match, La Martiniere Boys College, Lucknow, defeated La Martiniere Boys College, Kolkata, 3-1. Rachit, Kapil and Akbar Nadeem scored for La Martiniere, Lucknow, while Akash Dare scored the only goal for the Kolkata team.

The third match between Scholars Home School and Woodstock School ended in a draw 2-2.

Colonel Brown School trounced Selaqui World School 6-0. Tarun Singh scored four goals while Gaurav and Kalyan scored one goal each.

Dehradun, September 2
Cambrian Hall School won the 12th Om Prakash Memorial Football Tournament after defeating Mussoorie Public School (MPS) in the final match played at Carman School here today.

In the 4th minute of the match, Shubham scored the first goal of the match for the winning team. He again scored the goal in the 19th minute. Fahad of the MPS team scored the first goal of the match in the 24th minute.

In the second half, MPS continued with its offencive moves and in the 56th minute, Dhruv equalised the score 2-2. The score remained 2-2 in the normal allotted time and the match entered into tiebreaker. Even in the tiebreaker, both teams scored two goals each making the score 4-4.

In the end, the match was decided by sudden death in which Cambrian Hall won it 5-4 score.

Dehradun, September 2
Kendriya Vidayalaya (FRI) and Kendriya Vidayalaya (IMA) today entered the finals of the Regional Sports Meet Under-19 Football Tournament under way at KV (FRI).

In the first semifinal, KV (FRI) defeated KV (Birpur) 3-1. From the FRI team, Mohan, Ajay and Divyanshu scored the goals. Rajat scored the lone goal for the KV (Birpur) team in the 14th minute.