Temp dips, dengue cases to fall: Docs
Dehradun, November 2
With the fall in the day and night temperatures, the doctors at the Doon Hospital are expecting a decrease in the number of dengue cases in Uttarakhand.

Dehradun, November 2
Amid uncertainties over the implementation of the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Act in the state, former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader BC Khanduri said today that the tactics adopted by the Congress government on the Lokayukta Bill clearly showed that the party was not serious on weeding out corruption from higher places.

"When the Bill was tabled in the Uttarakhand Assembly, the then Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat, who is now a Cabinet minister in the Vijay Bahuguna government, had reiterated his party's zero tolerance to corruption and had voted in support of the Bill. But now when the Congress party is ruling the state, it is trying to stall the implementation of the Act," said Khanduri while talking to media persons today.

He said the support extended by the Congress government to the Lokayukta Bill is already recorded in the proceedings of the House.

Khanduri, who was the main architect of the Lokayukta Bill, said the Act should be implemented unchanged and without bringing in any amendments.

"Unless and until we have a strong Act to punish, the corrupt will continue to flourish. There ought to be a strong mechanism to curb corruption and when we have one, the Congress government is dithering on it's implementation," he said.

Dehradun, November 2
A delegation of senior BJP leaders and MLAs met Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today. They urged him to withdraw 300 cases registered against Rajkumar Thukral, MLA from Rudrapur Vidhan Sabha and other party workers in the Rudrapur riots that took place two years ago.

The delegation said false cases were allegedly registered against Rajkumar Thukral and his supporters. They demanded that the cases should be taken back as Thukral was a victim of political conspiracy and vilification.

The members said seven months back when the FIR was registered against 37 persons, Thukral’s name did not figure in the list.

The delegation comprised senior BJP leaders BC Khanduri, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Ajay Bhatt, leader of the opposition in the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, and Teerath Singh Rawat, Uttarakhand BJP president.

The Chief Minister assured the delegation that the cases would be examined under the law.

Dehradun, November 2
With the fall in the day and night temperatures, the doctors at the Doon Hospital are expecting a decrease in the number of dengue cases in Uttarakhand.

The doctors at the Doon Hospital said the temperature played a very important role in the spread of the disease. This year, the state experienced extreme climatic conditions with prolonged rains in September and October.

“But now with a sudden dip in the temperature, the cases will subside,” said Dr KC Pant, senior physician, Doon Hospital.

He said better diagnostic facilities had helped in the diagnosis of dengue cases. — TNS

Dehradun, November 2
A tight security regime had been put in place by the Dehradun police ahead of Diwali celebrations on Sunday with special emphasis on crowded places like markets and malls.

The police has taken security measures like intensifying patrolling, deployment of quick response teams, bomb disposal squads and dog squads at crowed places. Major markets were being monitored by electronic surveillance with close vigil on transit points.

Seeing the surge in the number of vehicles on the roads during the festive season. Extra men were being deployed for the streamlining of traffic flow in the city,

“Night patrolling will be done on the eve of Diwali and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) men are also deployed in major areas,” said Jaya Baluni, CO Mussoorie and Rajpur.

SSP Kewal Khuranna himself was on roads throughout the day to check the security arrangement and was seen giving necessary directions to the police patrolling teams.

Haridwar, November 2
A Haridwar-based spiritual group desires to clean the entire Ganga river over a period of five years.

As a fortnight-long clean-up programme ended here, Gayatri Pariwar announced its decision to spruce up the 2,525-km long river, from Gangotri in Uttarakhand to Gangasagar in West Bengal.

"The Ganga, which Hindus worship as a holy river, should be restored to its original glory," said a spokesman for the group.

As a part of an annual event, about 7,000 people took part in the manual cleaning of the Ganga in Haridwar, from Har ki Pauri to Laltara Pul, the core part of the river stretching to about three kilometres.

The activists included Gayatri Pariwar members, Haridwar residents as well as people from the neighbouring districts of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The Ganga cleaning in Haridwar, which ended late Tuesday, also had official sanction.

Gayatri Pariwar has, in the past, taken up similar work in nine major rivers in the country and one in Nepal.

As part of the clean-up of the entire Ganga, Gayatri Pariwar has launched a survey along the river banks.

"The facts collected are very surprising and disappointing too," said a spokesman of the group, referring to the discharge of pollutants from factories and municipalities into the Ganga all along its winding route.

Gayatri Pariwar members toured villages and hamlets along the banks during the survey, taking photographs of the areas which need immediate attention.

The activists plan to interact with people living close to the river, to highlight the importance of a clean the Ganga and to request help in what is undoubtedly a gigantic task.

The spokesman said this part of the programme had got delayed due to the devastating floods that hit the Kedarnath part of Uttarakhand in June and killed hundreds of people, besides causing widespread destruction.

"The real cleaning will start after the interaction campaign," the spokesman said. "We hope to set up a few groups for continuous cleaning of the river for ever." - IANS

Mussoorie, November 2
Eminent children books author Ruskin Bond released two books authored by Soni Dabral at a small function held at Cambridge Book Store here today. The books titled “The Phantom Of Raymond Villa: The Kool-5 Mystery Series” and “Mystery of Kung Fu Panda” are a part of the mystery book series. The books published by Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd portray Indian characters especially for children for the first time through ambiguous plots. Speaking on the occasion Soni said she had been telling stories to her children. It was then she thought why not start a book series for them, so that they could read at their own leisure.

Soni said the second reason which prompted her to start writing was the abundance of foreign author mystery books in the market. This gave her an idea of having a series with Indian characters as protagonists so that children could relate with them easily.

Soni said, “Basically there are five spunky Indian children in the lead role, who solve baffling and sometimes dangerous mystery. They go through several trial and tribulations and create their own vocabulary and thesaurus in the process.”

The first book, “The Phantom of Raymond Villa”, deals with a mystery in an abandoned cottage. Here, children come in face to face with on going spooky things and finally solve the mystery.

The second book “The Mystery of Kung Fu Panda” begins when a toy panda is found in a school bag of one of the protagonists. In this book children find a chain of events related to a robbery.

Soni said her characters in both the books were also net centric and took help of Google search while solving any problem.

It was important to inculcate reading habits among children as it improved their vocabulary and raised worldly awareness, she added.

Speaking on the occasion Ruskin Bond said he was pleased that more and more authors were coming out to write books for children. He said he expected not to go out of business by works of such new writers in the near future.

Mussoorie, November 2
More than 200 students would converge at Oak Grove School in Jharipani, Mussoorie, on the eve of 125th anniversary reunion celebrations from November 8 to November 11.

Birjesh Bhutani, secretary, alumni association of the school, said Adhir Ranjan Chaudhry, state Railway Minister, would be the chief guest on the occasion and former students as old as 82 years, would grace the occasion.

Several former students would also be felicitated.

Dehradun, November 2
Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN), a tourism subsidiary, has expressed its helplessness in sponsoring the skating run for promotion of the tourism in Mussoorie. The event is to be held on the state’s Foundation Day on November 9. However, the GMVN has agreed to provide free lunch packets to runners.

Skaters from all over the state would assemble at Garhwal Terrace, a tourist rest house of the GMVN, to project Mussoorie as a safe tourist destination.

Uttarakhand Ice-Skating president Shiv Penuly, who is the organising the event said, “The negative publicity about disaster has badly affected tourism. The state is passing through a rough phase after the flash floods. Emotions are running high so it does not look appropriate to hold any event which involves song or dance items. So we have decided to hold skating marathon to send the message of travel being safe in Mussoorie.”

He said, “The event will start from the GMVN rest house, proceed towards Library Chowk, then to rest house and move towards Jhula Ghar and finally conclude at the rest house once again.”

“All functions on the Foundation Day will be held in Dehradun only. By holding skating event in Mussorie, I am doing my bit,” he added.

Penuly said, “As the activity is focused on the GMVN rest house, so I expect department officials to contribute by distributing prizes or gifts among participants,” adding that “officials have agreed to give only free lunch packs to contestants. Now I am looking for another sponsor to arrange for gifts, prizes or souvenirs for runners.”

GMVN Managing Director Rajesh Kumar said, “The nigam is already passing through lean phase and finding it difficult to pay salaries to its employees. Sponsoring an event in a big way will send a wrong signal to staff members. So we have kept to the bare minimum whereby we can easily contribute for the event.”