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| Onset of winter
brings large number of tourists to Doon, Mussoorie DEHRA DUN, Oct 27: The Doon Valley, which experiences extremely pleasant weather conditions in October and November, attracts a large number of ..more ‘Need to protect quality of drinking water supply’ BANGALORE, Oct 27: Sources of water supply for more than 25 million people in the country contains fluoride and arsenic compounds beyond permissible limits, Director of the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water....more 25 feared drowned in Brahmaputra GUWAHATI, Oct 27: More than 25 people were feared drowned in the Brahmaputra when two boats collided near Sukreshwar........more IGNOU warns B.Ed students against fake institutions NEW DELHI, Oct 27: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has warned potential students for the B Ed programme ..more |
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HC grants bail |
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| Onset of winter
brings large number of tourists to Doon, Mussoorie DEHRA DUN, Oct 27: The Doon Valley, which experiences extremely pleasant weather conditions in October and November, attracts a large number of visitors from West Bengal, Delhi and the Southern states during these months. Beginning from the "Durga Pooja" holidays, a constant stream of tourists and nature lovers flow into the Valley as well as Mussoorie, "The Queen of Hills," to savour the beauty of the winter before the days of intolerable cold set in Diwali festivities including carnivals, fairs, crafts bazars and musical evenings set the tone for the winter tourist season in this region. Huge tourist coaches from several parts of the country can be seen crowding the narrow roads of the Doon as well as Mussoorie, causing great inconvenience to the locals as well as the visitors as there is no organised parking system, especially in Mussoorie. As the debate between advocates of "development" and those of environment conservation goes on, Mussoorie is fast becoming like any small town in the plains, constantly losing its natural splendour and unpolluted environs. But while conservationists regret the growing tourist traffic in the hills, hoteliers and other traders in Mussoorie and Doon have never been more satisfied. The recent spell of Government holidays brought an unprecedented rush of tourists from Delhi and Punjab leading to hundred per cent occupancy in all hotels. Founder’s days of the Doon School, Welham Boys School and Welham Girls High School, all of which fall in the month of October, add to the air of festivity in the Valley. Celebrities who arrive here to attend these functions lend a sparkle to the Diwali celebrations of the Doonites. Parents of students of these schools from a large majority of the visitors occupying the Valley’s hotels. Cultural functions organised by the Dehradun chapter of the Spic Macay and various theatre groups of the region are other highlights which the Doon Valley offers to the tourists looking for a change from the rush of life in the metropolitan cities. The well-known gardens of this charming Valley begin to bloom with a variety of winter flowers and many a visitor who ventures to walk into the sprawling lawns of the "circuit house" is taken by surprise at the verdant splendour. These gardens seem to have retained the spirit of beauty which had endeared this place to the hearts of Pt. Nehru and Mrs Indira Gandhi. With the Indian Military Academy (IMA) having now been made a part of the tourist circuit of Doon, an increasing number of visitors have been coming to the academy to see the famous "Chetwode Museum" as well as the entire campus of this prestigious Military Training Institution. (UNI) |
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| ‘Need to protect
quality of drinking water supply’ BANGALORE, Oct 27: Sources of water supply for more than 25 million people in the country contains fluoride and arsenic compounds beyond permissible limits, Director of the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM) Palat Mohandas has said. Revealing this at a regional workshop yesterday for promotion of community participation in rural water supply programmes, he said there was an urgent need to improve and protect the quality of drinking water supply in view of the prevalence of gastro-entric disorders. A recent survey in six states in the country had shown that hardly any surveillance of the water quality was made. Though ground water was generally believed to be safe, about 30 to 40 per cent of the samples of even deep borewells were found to be bacteriologically unsafe at some point in a year. He said excessive withdrawal of groundwater for various purposes, increased use of agrochemicals, poor environmental surroundings and the discharge of treated and untreated sewage and industrial effluents have significantly increased the risk of further deterioration of the quality of water sources. Mr Mohandas, delivering the keynote address, said the workshop would evolve an action plan to implement a pilot project, aimed at instituionalising sustainable water supply systems with assured quality. This plan would be implemented in a couple of districts in each state, preferably those selected for disease surveillance or improvement of operation and maintenance of rural water supply facilities and coming within a catchment by an identified nodal institution. The projects would be implemented in two years and each state would then evolve a suistainable strategy to continue a nationwide programme for monitoring water quality and implement them within the current five year plan. State Rural Development
and Panchayat Raj Minister M P Prakash assured the
Drinking Water Mission officials that the state would
ensure implementation of the action plan drawn up by the
workshop in which officials from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra,
Goa, Kerala and Lakshadweep and Pondicherry were
participating. (UNI) Kamrup district Deputy Commissioner D N Saikia said all the victims were enjoying a joy ride after performing the Chhat Puja at the bank of the river. The incident occurred when the boats collided barely 40 meters away from the shore, he said the ill-fated boat sank immediately after the collision. Army divers and boats have been pressed into service to fish out the bodies. A police officer supervising the rescue operation said only three persons could jump to the other boat and there was little hope of finding the survivors since the boat capsized in less than a minute. "We have already informed all the police stations to look for the bodies", he stated. He said the passengers of the other boat, which actually hit the ill-fated boat, did not even inform police. One of the three survivors intimated police about the incident and the force rushed to the spot within 20 minutes, he added. The Sukreshwar Ghat was just 500 meter away from the main police station of the city and thousands of people thronged the bank of the Brahmaputra yesterday and early this morning for the Chhat Puja. Arun Jha, an eyewitness said it happened in a flash. Though other boats from the bank approached fast, but could not save the victims. Meanwhile, the actual number of devotees in the capsized boat was yet to be ascertained. The assistant of the boat, which hit the ill-fated one, was arrested. Interrogation was on. The driver of the other boat escaped immediately. (UNI) |
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| IGNOU warns B.Ed students against fake
institutions NEW DELHI, Oct 27: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has warned potential students for the B Ed programme not to be mislead by fake institutions using IGNOU’s name while offering courses. "The university has yet to launch this programme and will inform through advertisements in leading newspapers when it does," an IGNOU spokesman said today. He said various ‘fake institutions’ were creating confusion by misusing IGNOU’s name while advertising for B Ed courses in newspapers. (UNI) |
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| HC grants bail to urea scam accused NEW DELHI, Oct 27: Delhi High Court today granted bail to D Mallesham Goud, an accused in the Rs 133 crore urea import scam case. Justice D K Jain directed Goud to furnish a personal bond of Rs one lakh and a surety of the same amount before the trial court while imposing certain conditions on him. The court directed him to surrender his passport warned him against contacting any witness in the case. Goud is an employee of Sambasiva Rao, an Indian agent of Turkish firm Karsan whose top executives — Tunakey Alankus and Cihan Karanci — were also lodged in jail here under judicial custody for allegedly cheating National Fertilisers Ltd (NFL). Goud was remanded to judicial custody on January 12 when he appeared before the trial court after being chargesheeted in the case. Except the Karsan executives, all other accused including former NFL top officials — C K Ramakrishnan and D S Kanwar, were now on bail in the multi-crore scam. CBI had accused goud of playing an active part in the alleged cheating conspiracy and distributing the urea kickback money amon he other co-conspirators in India on behalf of Sambasiva Rao. (PTI) |
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| Laloo, Mishra to surrender today PATNA, Oct 27: Former Bihar Chief Ministers Laloo Prasad Yadav and Jagannath Mishra will surrender alongwith seven others before the special CBI court of S K Lal here tomorrow in connection with the fraudulent withdrawal of over Rs 94 crore from the deoghar treasury in 1996. The surrenders will be in response to the September 25 directive of the Supreme Court which rejected the bail petitions of Mr Yadav, Dr Mishra and others and asked them to appear before the CBI court so that their bail petitions could be decided on a merit basis. A three judge-bench of Supreme Court comprising Mr Justice M K Mukherjee, Mr Justice S P Kurdurkar and Mr Justice K T Thomas, while asking them to surrender before the court, directed that the special CBI judge should consider their bail petition on merit. Besides Mr Yadav and Dr Mishra, the other accused, who had moved petitions before Supreme Court, were former Union Minister Chandradeo Prasad Verma, former Bihar Ministers Bhola Ram Toofani and Vidya Sagar Nishad, RJD MLA R K Rana, former Animal Husbandry Regional Director S B Sinha and two others. The special CBI court on July 2 had taken cognizance of the fourth CBI chargesheet against Mr Yadav in the fodder scam case 64(A)/96 and directed him to surrender before it on or before July 27. The CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant of arrest against Dr Mishra and R K Rana and directed Chandradeo Prasad Verma, Bhola Ram Toofani and Vidya Sagar Nishad to surrender before it within a week. The court took cognizance of the case on July 2 after Bihar Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari accorded sanction to prosecute Mr Yadav and others in June. While Dr Mishra and others moved the Patna High Court against the CBI court order seeking anticipatory bail, Mr Yadav challenged the order directing him to surrender since he had already been released on bail on October 29 last year in the case. The court had released him on bail as the case did not have the sanction of the State Governor for his prosecution. A regular chargesheet was later filed by the CBI after obtaining the Governor’s permission to prosecute the former Chief Minister. The chargesheeted persons then moved the Supreme Court which directed them to surrender on October 28. Their arrest was, however, deferred till October 28 in view of Durga Puja and Diwali festivals. (UNI) |
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