Dehradun, September 18
The police seems to be in no mood of taking action against the ruling Congress party MLA from Khanpur constituency Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion, who allegedly fired shots at a dinner party organised at the residence of Cabinet Minister Harak Singh Rawat on Tuesday night, injuring two fellow Congress leaders.

Kunwar, who is the Chairman of Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation and holding a Cabinet rank in the government, has a controversial past and had become an embarrassment to the government in the state on previous occasions as well.

Reportedly, Harak Singh Rawat had organised a dinner for all the VIPs at his house on the eve of monsoon session, which began from today. The guests, including senior Cabinet ministers, in the party were shocked when Kunwar fired six rounds from his pistol in the government bungalow, injuring veteran Congress leader Vivekanand Khanduri and Congress worker Ravindra Saini.

According to sources, who were present in the party, the Khanpur MLA fired two rounds while he was making entry into the party and four more inside the house, which allegedly rebounded and had hit the Congress leaders standing there.

A ballistic expert team which visited the house in the night did not recover any bullet shells, which could have proved handy in nailing the culprit. “A forensic team was sent to collect the blood samples of the injured,'' SP, City, Jagdish Chandra, told The Tribune.

Interestingly, after firing the shots and injuring two people, Kunwar took the Congress leaders to the hospital in his own car where Vivekanand Khundari is still being treated for injuries he sustained during the gunshots.

Surprisingly, the police has registered a case against unidentified persons in the matter and officers are claiming that investigations are going on.

“We have registered an FIR under the Section 337 and 338 of the IPC against unknown persons, as both victims who got injured in the incident did not name anybody when our team went to meet them at hospital,” the SP, City, told The Tribune.

When questioned on any possibility of questioning Kunwar in the case, as his name is coming up as the accused, the SP said: “Our team went to his house in Dehradun today for questioning purpose, but he was not there and we have also sent another police team to Haridwar for tracing him.”

It is noteworthy that the MLA was last seen in the hospital on Tuesday night and since then he has been missing from Dehradun, especially when the Assembly session is going on.

It is to be noted that this was not the first time that the MLA has fired from his licensed pistol publicly. Last year, he was booked for firing gunshots at one hotel by the owner in Haridwar after he was denied a room there.

Two fellow party men injured; Kunwar Pranav takes them to hospital in his own car Police ‘going slow’ on taking action

Haridwar, September 18
Statehood activists and Opposition parties have demanded legal action against minister and Congress legislator from Lakshar Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion over the firing incident that took place yesterday during a dinner party hosted by Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat.

Statehood agitators' committee members staged a protest in this regard at Bhagat Singh Chowk, terming the incident as a blow to the martyrdom and aspirations of the statehood agitators. Central chairperson of the committee JP Pandey said that in the firing incident statehood agitator Vivek Khanduri was hurt but all the ministers and legislators present at the party tried to brush the incident under the carpet.

“We will take the agitation route if legal action was not taken against the legislator, who, it seems regards himself above the law.It is not a good message going between people that a legislator is toying with the law, while agitating employees, teachers, unemployed youths and Opposition party activists are lathi-charged and booked when they try to take the agitation route in support of their demands,'' said Pandey. Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, too, described the incident as a blot in the 12 years of statehood attainment in a meeting held at the camp office.

Central secretary Uday Ram Semwal said that in the past too Laksharlegislator had resorted to firing but neither the then Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari or nor the present CM Vijay Bahuguna (both of Congress) directed the police to take legal course of action against the legislator.

Youth wing city head Lalit Mamgain, industrial cell chairperson Anil Pokhriyal also condemned the legislator’s behaviour, demanding apology and resignation from him over this incident.

Haridwar, September 18
Talent is inborn but it needs to be honed for maximum utilisation. Eight-year-old classical singer Khanak Joshi seems to be following this path by pitching in hours of practise and mesmerising audience with her sonorous voice.

Student of Class III at Bhagirath Vidyalaya, Haridwar, Khanak has been learning vocal music for four years under guidance of RP Singh. Noticing her talent, Vidhushi Uma Garg, Dean, Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, Delhi University, is providing her all necessary training.

Khanak has already established herself as a prodigious singer at school, city and also at various national competitions. Born in Shirdi, Maharashtra, her family settled in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, few years ago, along the Ganga ghats, the spiritual essence of which can be easily felt in her singing. She also made it to third round of famed singing show Indian Idol, but was called back by her guru as he didn’t want Khanak to lose classical touch and go in for Bollywood at such an early stage.

Awarded Uttarakhand Idol Award by a prominent television channel, Khanak already has to her credit dozens of performances at All India Radio.

She was also featured in special episodes of ‘Sat Ranga Bachpan’ telecasted on Doordarshan, Delhi, in which similar prodigies from across country were invited to perform. She has also participated in the 36th All Children’s Music Conference held in Kolkata. The little talented lass has won a number of trophies, prizes and certificates.

Khanak had also won first prize in the Hindustani music in the minor category at Bal Kala Utsav 2012 in New Delhi, organised by the Tamil Kala Sangam and Society for Upliftment of National Arts in India.

Khanak idolises Lata Mangeshkar and is equally attached with bhajans, ghazals as she is with classical music. She practices for two hours each in the morning and evening.

“I follow Sufi singers a lot but Lata Mangeshkar is the best,” said a confident Khanak.

Her guru said Khanak can sing ragas like Kedar, Vrindavani, Bhoopali, Yaman, Bhairavi, Bheem, Palasi, Maalkauns, Kaafi, Bihag, Desh, Janunpuri, Khamaj, Bageshree, Asawari, along with bhajans in Hindi and Sanskrit language. She is well versed in harmonium and table. Her father, SK Joshi, said he was very proud Khanak.

Mussoorie, September 18
The row over the mysterious death of Nishant, a class IXth student at Maanav Bharti International School, on September 12, refuses to die down with the school administration breaking its silence today and denying its involvement in the case.

At a hurriedly called press conference at a hotel here today, Director Shanti Devi and Principal Manjari Bakshi denied the involvement of the school staff, including two wardens, who have been arrested and sent to a 14-day judicial custody in Dehradun.

Principal Bakshi said on the fateful day, when they found a "obscene" letter written by Nishant, she immediately called up his father, Dr Rajveer Singh, in Meerut and apprised him about the matter.

Thereafter, the father-son duo had a telephonic conversation for a few minutes. Presumably due to that conversation Nishant went in depression and ended his life the next morning.

The Principal alleged that on September 16, Nishant's parents, along with a mob, tried to enter the school campus and intimidate the school administration.

She alleged that his parents threatened the school administration with dire consequences and a complaint against in this regard had been filed at the Mussoorie police station.

Shanti Devi said she had been running the school for the past 60 years and they had issued directives not to hurt any student physically. Therefore, the allegation being levelled by Nishant's parents that their son was beaten up by the wardens prior to his death was baseless.

The Principal said as the matter was now in court, they hoped that the school would soon be exonerated from all charges levied against them.

Fourteen-year-old Nishant, a boarder student, was found hanging from a wooden plank in a bathroom at Manav Bharti International School on September 12.

Haridwar, September 18
Perturbed at the damage being done to the holy Ganga river bed, the local ecology, environment and the quarrying mafia forcefully taking on lands of hapless farmers, a group of youths has come forward to raise the issue of illegal quarrying.

These youths have demanded a specific quarrying policy in the district and sought explanation from the District Magistrate over the mass quarrying going on in the region.

Led by youth activist Ram Vishal Dev, a forum has been formed by the youths, who will now be making impromptu visits to various sites and inform the District Magistrates and the local legislators about it. The forum members have also warned of resorting to stronger agitation in the coming days if the administration failed to rein in the illegal quarrying mafia and stone crushers- who are operating dozens of JCB machines and trolleys on daily basis near the Ganga river and on agricultural fields. Ram said Union Minister for Water Resources Harish Rawat had expressed his support to the initiative of the forum members. Arvind Gujjar, farmer leader, said many cases of the quarrying mafia operating on agricultural lands had come to light.

Dehradun, September 18
A workshop regarding the procedure of selection of deserving families to provide benefits of the National Food Security Mission was held by Mayor Vinod Chamoli in Town Hall at the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC).

District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam and Chief Development Officer Jyoti Neeraj Kherwal, along with councillors of the DMC and local bodies, were also present on the occasion.

While addressing the councillors, Chamoli said the ration was to be given to the deserving and poor people as per the food security scheme. He called upon the councillors to assist the government representatives in the task of identifying the people in the poor sections of society in this regard.

Purushottam explained in detail about the parameters to select the deserving people. He said after the selection of the people, all the formalities must be completed on one single affidavit so that poor people did not face unnecessary inconvenience.

He acquainted the councillors with the 15 parameters as enlisted by the state government with regard to the selection of people for the scheme.

He said the family headed by a woman or widow and earning less than Rs 15,000 a month would fall into the category of deserving family. Second, the family where chief of the family is stricken by incorrigible maladies such as leprosy, HIV etc or is handicap, and the monthly income is less than Rs 15,000 will also be a beneficiary. Third, those families where the head of the family is above 60 years of age and the family income is less than Rs 15,000 per month will also be regarded worthy of the benefits. Similarly, people working as rickshaw pullers, coolie, labour, ragpickers, cobbler, carpenter, maids, servants or farmers toiling on somebody else’s land will be included in the category. Slum dwellers who do not pay income tax, state government/private employees who have salaries less than Rs 15,000 per month, inmates who live in shelter homes for children, women, mentally challenged, lepers, aged etc. will also be benefited by the scheme.

Jyoti Neeraj Kherwal also addressed the gathering about the various facets of the scheme. District Social Welfare Officer and Additional Mukhya Nagar Adhikari were also present during the interaction. 

Dehradun, September 18
After the brawl between ABVP and NSUI members in DAV PG College campus on Tuesday on the issue of submission of forms, cases have been registered against the members of both student union outfits.

It is to be noted that the scuffle started with a small argument between the members of the two groups during the submission of ‘improvement paper’ form in the college. The small argument turned into a full-fledged fight in which members of both ABVP and NSUI got injured.

Both parties filed complaints against each other in the Dalanwala police station.

“Investigation is going on in the complaints filed by both parties and arrests will be made once we are done with the investigations,” FS Farswan, CO, Dalanwala, told The Tribune.

It is to be that a complaint has been registered against current president of the college, Siddharth Rana, and former president Mahesh Jagudi as well, both belonging to ABVP.

On other hand, Vineet Bhatt, district president of NSUI, has been named in the complaint filed by the ABVP members. 

Dehradun, September 18
Welham Boys’ School and Welham Girls’ School won the ongoing District Youth Under-16 Basketball Championship being played at Welham Boys School here today.

In the girls’ category, Welham girls dominated from the beginning. They beat Carmen School by a huge margin 53-20. Divya remained the star of the match by scoring 14 points for Welham. Welham girls won the first two quarters with a massive margin of 18-1 and 17-1 and the remaining two quarters ended in a draw.

Welham boys won the match 42-37against Doon International in the finals. Arjun of Doon International scored maximum 18 points in the match, followed by Prathvi of Welham, who scored 16 points.

The semifinal matches were played on Tuesday in which Welham School defeated Convent of Jesus and Mary by a huge margin of 57-2. The second semifinal proved to be a close game but Carmen School won the match 20-18 against St Thomas School.

In the boys’ category, Welham boys defeated The Asian School 56-27 in the first semifinal match. Doon International defeated Pestle Weed College 45-29 in the second boys’ semifinal.

Dehradun, September 18
The first match in the ongoing Drona College 70th Nemidas Memorial District Football League that was played between Garhwal Sporting and LOCO Football Club ended in a 2-2 draw here today.

Rohit and Abhishek scored the goals for Garhwal Sporting in the 48th and 59th minutes, respectively. For LOCO Football Club, Aujun scored both goals in the 27th and 29th minutes of the match.

In the second match, Doon Valley defeated Wills Youth 1-0, with Aakash scoring the only goal of the mach in the 48th minute.

In another match, Khukri Eleven beat Sarvodya Football Club 2-1. Manish scored both goals for Khukri in the 41st and 53rd minutes of the match. —TNS

Dehradun, September 18
The 9th Gardner Jubilee Inter-School Senior Girls' Basketball Tournament will begin at St Thomas College tomorrow.

Fourteen teams will be participating in the tournament. The finals will be played at Gardner Multipurpose Floodlit Auditorium of St Thomas College on September 28.

The Board of Governors of St Thomas College, Dehradun, had introduced the tournament to felicitate and honour RV Gardner, former MLA, and Principal, St Thomas College, on the completion of his 25 years of outstanding and dedicated service to the institution in 2005. —TNS