Soon, Mall Road to don a new look
Mussoorie, October 10
Plans to give a facelift to Mall Road under the Landscape Revitalisation Project were discussed at a meeting held at the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) office here today. The project will be completed in two phases.

Dehradun, October 10
To instill the feeling of safety and security in women, the Department of Women Empowerment will set up 'one stop crisis management centres' in five districts of the state, where the cases of crime against women are on the rise, under the Nirbhay scheme to be launched shortly.

Although coming several months after the Delhi gang rape case, the department plans to set up these centres in Haridwar, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Tehri, Nainital and Pauri on a pilot basis.

“In these districts, counselling cells equipped with counsellors and lawyers will provide all kind of support from medical to legal to sexual assault and acid attack victims. It will also oversee the effective implementation of the Domestic Violence Act and discrimination at work place,” said Nidhi Mani Tripathi, Director, Women and Empowerment.

The details and scope of the structure of the cells has been finalised. If need be, a dedicated helpline could also be set up.

“These districts were selected on the basis of information gathered from the State Women’s Commission. At these cells, the department will appoint a counsellor and a lawyer. The presence of a woman counsellor and a woman lawyer will be able to instill confidence in victims for registering complaints without any fear,” said Arti Balodi, state project officer, Department of Women Empowerment.

The underlying gender-centric focus is also inspired by the Central Government’s Nirbhay scheme already launched during the last general budget. The scheme once implemented would go a long way in helping women feel safe and secure.

The Department of Home has also set up a corpus fund of Rs 5 lakh under the victim compensation relief fund for providing financial relief to sexual assault and acid attack victims. The provisions for the fund were made in the supplementary budget passed during the just concluded state Assembly session.

“On the issue of financial relief, we could work in tandem with the Department of Home, directing the victims to access the fund and at a later stage, a corpus fund, too, could be set up for the victims by us,” said Nidhi Mani Tripathi. 

Haridwar, October 10
The traffic police in just a week's time, as per its ongoing helmet checking drive,has levied penalty of over Rs 2 lakh on violators, with the amount being deposited in the state exchequer.

Notably, as per directives of district Senior Superintendent of Police Rajeev Swarup , traffic police is carrying out a drive to ensure scooterists wear helmets and all vehicle drivers carry relevant documents. More than 1,800 traffic challans have been issued by the traffic police officers to the violators in this week alone. As per Superintendent of City Police Jagjeet Singh Bhandari, with the increase in traffic in the city, traffic violations as well as accidents and incidents of rash driving have been noticed. SSP, Haridwar, then decided to check this by directing a regular checking drive, as a result of which on a daily basis at major intersections and accident-prone stretches, traffic personnel are carrying out the drive.

Bhandari said that requisite documents and papers of vehicles both commercial and private vehicles are being checked on the two national highways that pass through the city.

Traffic inspector Devendra Dabral added that as these two national highways, NH-58 and NH- 72, pass through the city periphery and Haridwar district being on the border of two districts of Uttar Pradesh (Bijnor and Muzaffarnagar), the checking drive is also coming in handy in nailing antisocial elements and criminals..

Last year, in a similar drive initiated by the then SSP Arun Mohan Joshi, several criminals were nabbed, while many were arrested who were trying to escape to neighbouring Uttar Pradesh after coming criminal acts.

Police officials also urged school principals to ensure no two-wheeler student drivers were allowed to enter the school premises without protective helmet gear and driving licence.

Shiv Dale Public School founder Maharaj Sharadpuri said that they welcome the police initiative and also urge parents not to allow under-age children to drive two-wheelers.

Citizens' Forum, Senior Citizens' Forum, Aam Admi Party ,Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and Teerth Maryada Raksha Samiti have welcomed the traffic drive.

Mussoorie, October 10
Plans to give a facelift to Mall Road under the Landscape Revitalisation Project were discussed at a meeting held at the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) office here today. The project will be completed in two phases.

The meeting was attended by MDDA Vice-Chairman R Meenakshi Sundaram, Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi, MC president Manmohan Singh, Mussoorie SDM Sonika, MDDA secretary Bansidhar Tiwari and former MC president OP Uniyal.

At a MDDA meeting held on August 8, MDDA chief architect Ashish Srivastava had outlined his vision for the beautification of Mall Road taking into consideration the glorious history and heritage of the town.

At today's meeting, Srivastava discussed the plans of beautifying various vantage points from Library Bazaar till Picture Palace. He said a cobble stone road would be made with a separate pedestrian path on one side.

It was decided at the meeting that the area around Jhoola Ghar would be reconstructed and shops would be built in a systematic manner, so that children could get enough space to play. He solicited cooperation from all stake holders as without their help it is impossible to revitalise and develop the town in accordance with the aspirations of the people.

The MDDA Vice-Chairman said the estimated cost of the project was Rs 35 crore and it would be initiated in two stages due to the paucity of funds.

In the first stage, the area from Library point to Jhoola Ghar would be covered. As the architect had completed his exercise, it was decided to hold talks with stake holders today and discuss the modalities of the project and seek further suggestions.

He said the suggestions had been taken from the stakeholders and some components of the project would be completed before the start of the tourist season next year.

The project would begin only after the underground cabling of electricity wires was completed by the UPCL, said the MDDA Vice-Chairman.

He said Rs 10 crore would be spent in the first phase and the rest of the project would be completed when the funds were available.

However, the Mussoorie MLA complained of lack of parking space in the town and said he would oppose the project till an ample parking space was not created. The MC President said he was in agreement with the facelift project being envisaged by the MDDA and expressed hope that the people of the town would extend their cooperation.

On the issue of parking space, he said work on establishing two parkings sites at Picture Palace and Town Hall would begin within two months. On the other hand, a section of the residents said the immediate need of the town was augmenting drinking water supply. However, officials were busy giving the town a facelift. 

Haridwar, October 10
After monsoon season the repair and maintenance work on the Ganga Canal walking stretch has begun, a major portion of which got caved in due to rise in the Ganga river, after the June flash flood.

The Irrigation Department has started the repairing and maintenance work of this stretch, which is used by local residents for morning and evening walk purposes.

Also pilgrims take holy bath at various new ghats built on the stretch from Mayapur Check dam to Singh Dwar.

Among these ghats are Gobindpuri, Swami Vivekananda, Bhagwan Valmiki and Lav Kush. Tourists, too, are seen strolling on this nicely built stretch.

A total of Rs 16.72 lakh have been allocated for the maintenance and repair work at this stretch.

Local residents are quite relieved that finally the repair work has commenced as walking on this stretch had become dangerous owing to caving in of the side walls.

Officers of North Division, Irrigation Department said patch work would also be done at this stretch.

Tesu, a local resident, said most of the pedestrians opt for this stretch to reach Ranipur and Jwalapur as it's just adjacent to the national highway-58. 

Dehradun, October 10
The management committee of the MKP College Society has accused District Magistrate (DM) of Dehradun, BVRC Purushottam of defying High Court orders regarding removal of the locks from the office of the society and Mahadevi Institute of Technology and working under pressure of the state government.

''On our petition, the Nainital High Court had directed the DM on October 7 to remove the locks from the office of the MKP College society and Mahadevi Institute of Technology and to hand over the possession of the locked rooms to the society,'' Jitendra Singh Negi, secretary, MKP college management committee, told The Tribune.

It is the second time that the High Court has directed the DM in this regard but district administration seems to be playing delaying tactics and not adhering to the court orders of removing the locks, he added.

When contacted, Joint Magistrate Dehradun, Ranjana Verma, said, "We have not received such order as yet and will surely comply with the court orders once we get it formally."

In the month of July this year, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, passed an order on behalf of the Governor of the state, exercising powers under Section 58 of the State Universities Act, 1973 and dissolved the committee of management of MKP (PG) College, and appointed DM of Dehradun as authorised controller.

Taking over as the authorised controller of the management committee, the DM had also put other five institutions functioning under Mahadevi Kanya Pathshala, which is a registered society, under his control. The management committee challenged the decision of the DM in the High Court and the court in its order dated September 16 quashed the order of the DM taking control over the sister institutions of the MKP, which included five colleges and hostels run by the society. ''I met the DM even after the September 16 court order and requested him to comply with the court directions but he has not acted upon it till date,'' said Negi. 

Dehradun, October 10
St Jude’s School and Bala Hisar School entered into the semifinal of the 6th Shri Rohitash Singh Memorial Inter-School Boys super-8 cricket tournament, after winning their quarterfinal matches here today.

In the first quarterfinal match between St Jude and Cambridge School, the toss was won by Cambridge School, which elected to bat first. In the first innings, Cambridge School scored 33 runs at the loss of 1 wicket. In reply, St Jude’s made 28 runs for 3. The Cambridge team witnessed a 2nd innings debacle when it merely managed to score 17 runs. St Jude’s easily chased the target and won the match by 1 wicket.

Bala Hisar Academy defeated Doon Public School in the other quarterfinal by 5 runs. After deciding to bat first, Bala Hisar made 37 runs for 4 while Doon Public School managed to score 28 runs in their 1st innings. In the 2nd innings, Bala Hisar scored 28 runs and in return, Doon Public School could score 32 runs and lost the match.

St Joseph’s College, St Jude School, The Aryan School and Bala Hisar Academy have reached semifinal of the tournament.