Dehradun witnesses spurt in crime cases
Dehradun, September 23
Law and order situation in Dehradun has considerably deteriorated in the past few months. Murders, loot and cases of chain snatching seem to have become the order of the day.

SSP directs SHOs to keep constant vigil on patrolling
Haridwar, September 23
Haridwar SSP Rajeev Swarup has directed all Station House Officers (SHOs) to keep a constant tab on patrolling in their respective areas.

17 ‘Munna Bhais’ sent to Doon jail
Dehradun September 23
The 17 accused, arrested for cheating in the Ayush pre-medical entrance examination yesterday, were sent to jail after being presented before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court here today.

Dehradun, September 23
The boycott of evening and night duties by nurses across the state continues.

They had launch the agitation in support of their demands on September 16.

However, they have been doing morning shifts, forcing government hospitals to deploy interns for evening and night shifts. "We will not give up our boycott call till the government gives us in writing that all our demands will be met," said Anjana Bhowmick, president of the Uttarakhand Nurses' Service Association.

Since the boycott call, the nurses have been discharging their duties from 8 am to 2 pm. However, from tomorrow, they might change their strategy by either opting for the evening shift or the night shift.

Extending his support to the nurses, the president of the Uttarakhand Provincial Medical and Health Services Association, Dr BC Ramola, said, "The government should adopt a positive approach. On several occasions, it accepted the demands of employees who had been vociferous. But the nurses have been ignored. They should be given their due." However, government sources say there are several technicalities that have to be addressed and some of the demands will have to be placed before the Cabinet for approval.

"Some of the issues raised by the nurses such as the demand for creating the post of Joint Director (nursing cadre) will have to be approved by the Cabinet because in the service rules that were framed after the creation of Uttarakhand, there is no mention of this post. Instead, in its place there is mention about the post of Deputy Director. The government will have to bring in amendments and clear confusion regarding the nursing cadre and structure which could take time," said a senior official.

"Further, the payment of arrears and conveyance allowance, too, has to be okayed by the Department of Finance, which could take at least three months. The demand for a government order is unjustified under these circumstances," said the official. 

Dehradun, September 23
Law and order situation in Dehradun has considerably deteriorated in the past few months. Murders, loot and cases of chain snatching seem to have become the order of the day.

Leave antisocial elements and criminals aside who are wrecking havoc in city by committing crimes every now and then, even politicians are taking the law into their hands by flaunting their guns and opening fire.

Being a custodian of law and order in the capital city of the state, the police is supposed to be a role model for the other 12 districts, but policemen here seem to have no answers to the surge in crime incidents.

According to Chaman Lal, a resident of Ekta Avenue, “Things have deteriorated in the past couple of months and the police seems to be just helpless in front of criminals.”

Even in the Rajesh Kumar and Neeru Saini murder cases, both reported in September, the police has yet to make a breakthrough. Cops seem to be getting entangled in their own theories.

After interrogating more than 10 persons in the Neeru Saini murder case, the police has even failed to ascertain the motive behind the murder. Similarly, in the Rajesh Kumar murder case, the police is still not able to make up its mind whether the outsider or somebody close to the family killed the 70-year-old woman.

SP (City) Jagdish Chandra told The Tribune: “Our teams are working round the clock to solve both cases at the earliest.”

Mudit Pathak, a resident of Sahasthradhara Road, says he has to think twice to go out in the night with his family.

Meanwhile, the lacklustre attitude of the police in the firing incident at Cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat's house on September 17 to save the ruling Congress MLA Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion, who allegedly opened fire at the party, is snowballing into a major controversy. It is to be noted that two Congress leaders got injured in the firing.

On the other hand, residents of the city are living amidst fear and the police is failing to restore public confidence.

When contacted to take their views on the issue, SSP, Dehradun, and DIG (Garhwal) remained unavailable.

Haridwar, September 23
Haridwar SSP Rajeev Swarup has directed all Station House Officers (SHOs) to keep a constant tab on patrolling in their respective areas.

The direction was given during the monthly meeting of SHOs of the district here today. Taking strong cognisance of recent incidents of loot and robbery, Swarup said any laxity on the part of police personnel would not be tolerated.

He said during an impromtu inspection, if a police personnel is found to be lax, the respective SHO would be answerable.

The SSP also directed police personnel to be cordial with complainants and sensitive towards their woes.

Citing the slogan of the state police, Uttarakhand Police Mitra Police, he said if they're not polite and sensitive towards the common man, they cannot do justice to the slogan. Swarup asked the SHOs to clear pending investigations in a time-bound manner. He said law and order measures must be visible to public.

The SSP told them to continue with the helmet checking drive and identification of chasis number while checking vehicles. 

Dehradun September 23
The 17 accused, arrested for cheating in the Ayush pre-medical entrance examination yesterday, were sent to jail after being presented before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court here today.

The Kotwali police arrested all the 17 persons yesterday from the CNI Boys Inter-College where the entrance examination was going on. Reportedly, all the 17 persons, which includes 16 boys and one girl, were giving the examination on behalf of other candidates. The police registered cases against all of them under Section 419, 420 and 120 (B) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

It is to be noted that the matter came to light when one invigilator got suspicious about one candidate as his photo was not matching with the photo on the application form, and she complained it to the examination committee.

On the complaint of the invigilator, all the candidates were checked thoroughly and 17 candidates were found giving examination illegally.

According to the police, all the arrested persons belong to prosperous families. The police is also investigating whether money was paid to them to sit in the examination.

“We are investigating whether any there is any racket behind such things or it is just a mere coincidence that 17 persons were caught in just one exam,” said Jaimal Singh Negi, Kotwal, told The Tribune. 

All 17 persons, including a woman, were arrested from CNI Boys Inter-College on Sunday, where the Ayush pre-medical entrance examination was going on, for impersonation. 

Mussoorie, September 23
More than a dozen employees working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) raised slogans and locked down the office of Block Development officer (BDO) in support of their demands in Thatyur, the block headquarters of Jaunpur development region, today.

The employees also handed an eight-point charter of demands in the name of Chief Minister of Uttarakhand to Block Development Officer in support of their demands on the occasion.

Dinesh Nautiyal, the president of the MGNERGA Employees' Union, said that earlier they were being kept on outsourcing basis but after the procedure being banned by the apex court, the government began paying the wages to the employees on muster roll basis, thus aggravating the problems of the employees further. Nautiyal further said that the employees demanded to be reinstated under department contractual basis and not on muster roll basis. The other demands included proper job placement, equality in terms of PL, CL, ML and other official leaves.

He further said that if their demands are not met, they would take to streets and call for an indefinite strike in the near future.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 was intended to improve the livelihood of the people in rural areas. This Act guarantees 150 days of employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

Dehradun, September 23
Union Minister of Water Resources Harish Rawat today said that both forests and water held equal importance as natural resources as they not only contribute towards ensuring a healthy environment but also help in sustaining the existence of human civilisation and also other forms of life.

Addressing the inaugural session of three-day international workshop on ''Water and Forests-Beyond Traditional Forest Hydrology'' at Forest Research Institute Dehradun, Union Minister of Water Resources Harish Rawat pointed out that majority of the world's available water was driven by the hydrological cycle in which forests play an important role. He said at the same time, forest supports tremendous biodiversity, which needs water, for its survival and sustenance.

''Since there is direct dependence relation between water and forests, both are very critical to meet the growing demand of the rapidly urbanising economy,'' he asserted.

Earlier, welcoming the delegates, PP Bhojvaid, Director, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, emphasised on the importance of water in the ecosystem. He said he was hopeful that the three-day workshop will prove to be an excellent platform towards discussing forest hydrology issues in the Asia Pacific region.

Delegates from a total of 16 countries that includes participants from Bangladesh, China, India, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nepal, Phillipines, Thailand and Vietnam are attending the workshop.

Dehradun, September 23
Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) has sent its report to the state government with regard to increasing the tipping fee over garbage collection to Rs 112 per tonne. SPML company running Doon Valley Waste Management project had been demanding increase of Rs 175 per tonne instead.

At present, DMC is paying Rs 350 tipping fee to the company which is estimated to be lifting around 250 metric tonnes of garbage daily.

A committee had deliberated on the contentious issue of increment of tipping fee on last Friday. The members of Public Private Partnership

(PPP) cell, DMC administrative officials and DVWM officials are members of the committee. The committee was convened at the behest of the state government to resolve the stalemate between company and the administration as the former had given an ultimatum to either increase the tipping fee or else it will withdraw from the DVWM project. Mukhya Nagar Adhikari, DMC Ashok Kumar, said Secretary, Urban

Development, as well as minister, Urban Development, had been informed of the decision of the justified increase of Rs 112, which was deduced after a series of elaborate discussions and evaluation in the committee meeting. He also further added that if the company still had reservations on the decided amount, it was free to leave the ground.

Senior Health Officer, DMC, RK Singh, said the increment too would be applicable only till the time transportation centre as well as garbage processing centre became functional at Shishambara. The day these two centers began operating, the increment would be rolled up. '''With these two centers, the company will be able to make profit through recycling of the garbage. There will not be any need to continue with the increment, which has been adjusted for the timebeing to make up for the losses for these two plants not being ready as yet.''

Director, DVWM, Sidharth Jain, wondered the way the DMC had no qualms in putting the entire project in jeopardy over small amounts. He said the state government was yet to give its take on the price issue. The proposal sent by DMC must not be considered the final amount, he added.

Haridwar, September 23
Sanskrit language, being mother of all languages and rich in culture, is in fact the identity of India for outside world.

This was stated by Uttarakhand Sanskrit University Vice Chancellor Mahavir Aggarwal here today at a Sanskrit language-related function. Organised by Indian Culture Charitable Society. On the occasion, Sanskrit's literati and scholars were also felicitated for their contribution towards Sanskrit language.

Uttarakhand Sanskrit University VC Mahavir Aggarwal said young boys and girls should opt for Sanskrit language, too, as the prosperous language would make them intelligent as well as morally upright.

Aggarwal said due to the impact of Sanskrit language only, India had been producing such large number of intellectuals.

Patanjali Yogpeeth-based professor Vijay Pal Shastri said felicitating Sanskrit literati hailing from different parts of the state was a privilege for him and just listening to Sanskrit scholars one can learn a wide array of things.

Gurukul Mahavidyalya Principal Hari Gopal Shastri said in today's time ''we need to give emphasis on moral education as without it the very concept of education loses its base.''

Dehradun, September 23
Making a Difference (MAD), an organisation of youngsters, and Navdanya volunteers jointly organised a cleanliness drive today.

MAD volunteers assembled at Ashley Hall in the morning and the proceeded towards Navdanya organic farms, 25 km from the main city, and conducted a cleanliness drive at places near the Navdanya farms.

They also informed the local people about the importance of cleanliness. — TNS

Dehradun September 23
Panic gripped the area after a dead body was discovered under the Sahaspur bridge here today. The police reached the spot after getting information about a body lying under the bridge on the Dehradun-Paonta Sahib road in the afternoon today and took it into its custody. Later, the body was identified as that of 24-year-old Naeem Ahmed, resident of Ritha Mandi, Dehradun.

The police informed the family of the deceased about the incident. According to the sources, the victim was an alcoholic.

The police is investigating why and how Ahmed fell from the bridge. Later, the body was sent for a postmortem examination by the police.