BJP office-bearers focus on girl child, Amit Shah’s visit
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 23
The Uttarakhand BJP office-bearers at a meeting held at Rudrapur today focused on chalking out programmes dedicated to booth-level awareness campaigns, preparations for the visit of BJP national president Amit Shah and programmes dedicated to the girl child.

“Discussions were held on the issues that would figure in the working committee meeting starting tomorrow. These are holding of booth-level awareness campaigns for party workers from September 25 to October 2, campaigns dedicated to the girl child titled ‘Beti Bachao’ on September 3 and ‘Kanya Janam Utsav’ on September 4. These dates are subject to approval by the executive committee,” said a senior BJP leader.

He said the campaigns dedicated to the girl child were being mooted in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narender Modi’s stress on according respect to girls in the country.

Further, to motivate party workers, the BJP is keen to invite Amit Shah for which the date is yet to be fixed.

A report prepared on the party’s recent defeat in the Assembly byelections and the panchayat elections would be referred to the disciplinary committees of the district party units. The meeting of the executive committee would be held tomorrow.

Decks cleared for referral centre at Coronation Hospital
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 23
Decks have been cleared for the setting up of the first referral centre for the disabled at Coronation Hospital. Due to paucity of space the centre had been delayed for which funds were allocated in 2009.

“We have received permission for constructing the centre on top of the early intervention centre under the national health programme,” said Dr Bharti Rana, Chief Medical Superintendent, Coronation Hospital.

The Social Welfare Department has already been allocated Rs 75 lakh to be utilised for procuring testing equipment and appointment of staff.

Along with acting as a referral centre, it will also act a specialist resource centre for disabled persons under the national programme for rehabilitation of persons with disabilities (NPRPD).

The appointment of staff comprising an occupational therapist, an audiometry expert, a speech therapist and a clinical psychologist fulfilling norms and qualifications according to the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) would be done by the Department of Social Welfare.

Significantly, along with the initial fund allocation, the Central Government had expressed keenness to allocate more funds, once the resource centre takes off and has pegged the budget at Rs 2 crore for the project. The soundproof audiometry unit and IQ testing unit using international standard testing equipment too would be part of the centre. These equipments would aid in detecting hearing and intellectual disability problems in children.

On priority The Social Welfare Department has already been allocated Rs 75 lakh to be utilised for procuring testing equipment and appointment of staff. The appointment of staff comprising an occupational therapist, an audiometry expert, a speech therapist and a clinical psychologist fulfilling norms and qualifications according to the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) will be done by the Department of Social Welfare.

Power generation improves
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 23
The power generation in the state-run hydro power projects has started improving, but it is insufficient to meet the electricity demand of the state. Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) enforced emergency power cut in different cities of the state as the gap between demand and availability of electricity increased.

The latest data compiled by UPCL clearly highlighted that electricity demand was 38.18 million units against availability of 37.41 million units of electricity, while the state-run hydro power projects have generated 19.08 million units of electricity.

Speaking to The Tribune, Madhusudan, an official spokesman of UPCL, said the department had been procuring electricity in order to reduce the gap between demand and availability of electricity in the state. He said the corporation will receive 2.5 million units of electricity in order to keep outages to the minimum.

He said strict instructions had been given to the technical staff to rectify errors in order to ensure disruption-free electricity to consumers.

Power generation in the 198 Megawatt Kalagarh and the 90 Megawatt Maneri Bhalli-I hydro power projects is nil.

The gap between demand and availability of electricity has widened further as turbines of 104 Megawatt Chilla hydro power have stopped generating electricity.

UPCL enforced a two-hour emergency cut in rural areas of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts.

Small towns of the state went without power for an hour in order to meet the electricity demand in the state.

Besides, several areas of the capital city faced power cut for nearly an hour in the morning and evening on Friday due to technical snags. Testing of lines was done till late evening for ensuring disruption-free electricity and correct voltage to consumers.

DG, Health, inspects hospitals
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 23
Dr GS Joshi, Director General, Health and Family Welfare, today inspected the Combined Hospital, Prem Nagar, and the Mental Hospital at Selaqui here today to check the services being provided there and the presence of staff. Dr Asha Singh inspected the Female Hospital, while Dr LK Gusain visited the Doon Hospital and Dr Savitri Singh inspected the Coronation Hospital.

“The exercise was carried out to see for ourselves the gaps existing in the services being rendered in the hospitals,” said Joshi.

The inspections were also carried out to deter paramedical staff from absenting from duty. “It had come to our notice that the paramedical staff was not discharging their duties properly, thus affecting the functioning and services at the hospitals. Hence, I decided to inspect attendance registers at the hospitals,” said Joshi. However, no one had been suspended, he added.

Identification of statehood activists
UKD seeks extension till Nov 9

Dehradun, August 23
The deadline for identifying statehood activists should be increased to November 9 as the identification process was still incomplete, said Kashi Singh Aeri, senior leader of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal here today.

Aeri claimed hundreds of deserving statehood activists had not got recognition from the government and the state government must postpone the deadline for finalising the statehood activist list so that rightful people can get their due. — TNS

Tribal students from Arunachal meet Governor
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 23
A team of young students from the Bharatiya Janjaati Soochna Vidya Sansthan, Jhajra, met Governor Aziz Qureshi, at Raj Bhavan, today. All students were from the tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh. They were led by social activist and tribal leader Taba Hare.

The Governor interacted with these students and spoke to them about their culture and language. He inspired them about matters like national unity, brotherhood and border security and also took their views. The students expressed their love and respect for the country as well as their feelings regarding preservation of their language and culture.

The Governor gave them blessings and wished that after getting educated, they would make the country proud. Teachers and guardians of the students also accompanied them.

Review of takeaway ration project

Dehradun, August 23
The Chief Development Officer, Alok Kumar Pandey, held a meeting with the district program officer, district child welfare officer and officials of the child welfare project, to review the ‘Take Home Ration’ project, here today.

The CDO sought the details of the food being distributed under the TDH, a Supplementary Feeding Programme of Integrated Child Development Scheme of the Central Government.

For the distribution of the THR, the CDO has fixed August 27 for Child Development Project at Sahaspur and Vikasnagar, August 28 for Raipur, August 29 for Chakrata and Kalsi and August 30 for Doiwala. — TNS

Ex-servicemen celebrate foundation day

Dehradun, August 23
The 21st Foundation Day of the Uttarakhand Purvsainik Ardhsainik Sanyukt Sangathan was celebrated here today. The annual magazine, Sainik Darpan, was also released during the function.

Addressing the gathering, senior vice-president Madhvanand Bandooni gave a detailed account of the various activities carried out by the organisation. “The ex-servicemen have contributed largely towards the state and would continue to do the same in future. The state government should come out with welfare-oriented schemes for its ex-servicemen and fill the vacant post of CMD at the UPNL,” he added. — TNS

MDDA seals illegal construction at Avalon resort
Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, August 23
The local administration in association with the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) sealed a flat being constructed illegally at the Avalon resort, near Gun Hill, in Mussoorie today.

A joint team of the local administration and the MDDA reached the resort around noon and stopped the construction work being done on one flat of the resort. Following that, the officials sealed the flat and directed the owners not to venture out with construction activity, further.

The MDDA officials said notice had been served to the owners regarding the illegal construction but there was no response from the other side forcing them to carry out the sealing drive on the instruction from the MDDA, joint secretary.

UPES conference focuses on streamlining agro supply chain
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 23
The College of Management and Economic Studies at University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) organised the first-ever supply chain management conference on agriculture in Uttarakhand called “Agro Supply Chain Conference” (ASCC -2014) organised on its campus here yesterday.

Academicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, consultants and administrators from the agriculture sector from across India participated in it. Even the Central Government has indicated its willingness to resolve issues related to the agriculture sector as food inflation and hoarding of essential agricultural items that have a direct bearing on the pocket of the common man continue to haunt it.

Dean of College of Management and Economic Studies Dr Anirban Sengupta welcomed the participants and shared with the audience the objectives of the conference that was aimed at building a comprehensive framework for financial, technical and economic issues in the agro supply chain.

Conference chairman Dr Neeraj Anand said the agriculture sector in India had undergone significant structural changes in the form of decrease in the share of the GDP from 30 per cent in 1990-91 to 17.4 per cent in 2013, indicating a fruit processing shift from the traditional agrarian economy towards a service dominated one. However, still more than half of the total workforce (about 52 per cent) is still employed in the agriculture sector. “These days, we continuously observe that there is an urgent need to create awareness among farmers about the latest practices in farming and crop protection. There is a need for investment in creating storage facilities to make these easily available to farmers. Local products need to be promoted within India and abroad to create more demand,” he said.

Conceptual and empirical papers, case studies and doctoral thesis related with the conference themes and functional areas of management like marketing, finance, operations, supply chain and cross-functional areas, strategy, entrepreneurship etc., within the broad themes were presented by academicians as well as practitioners representing corporate, financial institutions, regulatory bodies and government agencies in various technical sessions. Dr Sumeet Gupta said select research papers would also be published in form of edited book by a reputed publishing house in the near future.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, chief guest Vijay Sardana, co-chairman, Agri Business Committee, PHDCCI, said the main reason for rise in the prices of vegetables, fruits and other agro products was the huge gap between the management of the supply chain in India. Dr BS Negi, Mission Director, National Horticulture Mission, Uttarakhand, said the audience on various steps taken by the Uttarakhand government, including focus on the promotion of the food processing industry in the state. He added to promote the spices sector the state government would shortly establish three mini spice parks at three locations in Uttarakhand.

In all, 60 papers were presented in the conference on multi-faceted aspects of the supply chain of agro products, including two from the Union Ministry of Telecommunication.

Convent of Jesus & Mary wins debate competition
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 23
Tejasvi Singh of Convent of Jesus and Mary won the 11th annual JL D’Souza Memorial Inter-School English Debate Competition organised at St Joseph’s Academy (SJA) here today.

The debate is organised annually in the memory of late JL D’Souza who served SJA for 40 years.

Seven schools namely Convent of Jesus and Mary (CJM), The Asian School, Summer Valley School, RIMC, St Mary’s School, The Doon School, St George’s College and the host school SJA participated in the competition.

The topic for discussion was “India’s ‘Unity in Diversity’ is a farce”. The debate commenced after an hour of brain-racking session. All participants spoke with conviction and confidence.

Tejasvi Singh of Convent of Jesus and Mary bagged best speaker as and best rebuttal award. Vrindam Nagpal of The Doon School won the first runner-up trophy while Ayushmaan Choudhary of St George’s College and Deeksha Chandra from Convent of Jesus and Mary tied for the position of the second runner-up. Convent of Jesus and Mary was adjudged the best team.

Thieves decamp with cash, jewellery at Motharawala
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 23
A gang of armed dacoits broke into the house of a businessman at Motharawala in the Nehru Colony police station area in the wee hours today and decamped with cash, jewellery worth lakhs of rupees. They also made away with the car after confining the family members into one room.

The incident took place around 3:30 am in the morning when Rajeev Chauhan and his family members were sleeping. Reportedly, four masked robbers carrying weapons invaded the house, tied up the family members at gunpoint, and made away with cash, jewellery and a car.

According to Rajeev, two robbers were carrying country-made pistol while the other two were holding knifes in their hands. They took Rajeev, his wife and two children inside a room and tied them up with a rope after which they started searching for cash and jewellery. The family members have told the police that robbers were inside the house for some two hours and decamped with Rs 20,000, jewellery worth lakhs of rupees and their car.

Later, Rajeev and other family members untied themselves and informed the neighbours about the incident after which the police control room was notified about the robbery. The Nehru Colony police along with senior officials reached the house for investigation. Efforts are on to nab the culprits. Although, the victim family did not had much to share with the police as all four dacoits had their faces covered with masks.

Mayors’ conference from Aug 25

Dehradun, August 23
The stage is set for the 46th edition of the All-India Council of Mayors being organised by the Dehradun MC in the state capital on August 25 and 26.

Expected to be attended by 70 Mayors of various civic bodies, the two-day conference is being organised at Hotel Viceroy Inn. — TNS

MAMS overcome Doon Int’l School

Dehradun, August 23
In the second day of the ongoing Directors Cup Football Tournament, hosts Maa Aanandmayee Memorial School defeated Doon International School (B) 3-0. Vivek, Anuj and Rahul scored one goal each for the winning team.

In a keenly contested match, Doon International School (A) prevailed over KV Raiwala 2-1. Prateek and Kartavya scored a goal each for the winning team. In another match, Genesis Global School, Noida defeated SelaQui International School 3-1. Uttam remained the star for Genesis Global School and scored two goals.

Ryan Chandigarh defeated Tibetan Homes School 2-1 with Parival and Danish scoring a goal each for Ryan. Tibetan Homes School (A) registered a 3-1 win over SPS, Roorkee with Niyavana, Paldan and Lyukaya scoring a goal each for Tibetan Homes School. DAV Public School trounced Woodstock School Mussoorie convincingly 4-0 with the help of goals from Piyush, Ajay, Jagdish and Ritesh. In another keenly contested match, NDS Rishikesh drew against Asian School 1-1. Welhams Boys School defeated Pathways World School, Gurgaon 2-1 and booked a berth in the semis. — TNS

Unison World School beat Cambrian Hall

Dehradun, August 23
Final matches were played in both girls’ and boys’ categories in the ongoing Inter School Football Tournament played at Gorkha Military College.

In girls’ senior final, Unison World School defeated Cambrian Hall School 6-0 with Krishna and Maok scoring two goals each in the match. Poowi and Poonam scored one goal each for the winning team. In the girls’ senior section, Krishna Rathore of Unison won the best player award while Bhimkumar of Cambrian Hall was adjudged best goal keeper. In boys’ junior finals, Doon International School beat Cambrian Hall 2-1. — TNS