Haridwar, Sep 2 : Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev has denied receiving a notice from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) with regard to violation of country''s foreign exchange rules.

He told that his trusts-- Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust and the Divya Yoga Mandir Trust had not indulged in any illegal or unconstitutional acts.

After the industry has seen a boom in the Gurgaon and Noida belt as far as the establishment of automotive hubs is concerned, experts are of a view that it is now thee turn of Uttarakhand to attract a lot of investment from the industry.

It is believed that till now the Pune auto belt has been one of the most successful auto hubs present in the country but according to a source in the industry, with players like Tata Motors, Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto, which have set up their manufacturing units here, are in talks with the state government to make the state an auto hub in the times to come.

Omaxe, one of the leading real estate developers present in the country, has recently bagged the contract for building the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), at Rishikesh, Uttarakhand.

As the contract was awarded by the Ministry of Health & Family welfare to the real estate developer, experts believe the value to be around the Rs. 648 million levels for the construction of the medical institute.

In fact, the company will also build the hostel for students who will be practicing at the medical institute along with a hostel for the nurses.

The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) led government in the state of Uttarakhand has set its mood up to get the tax holidays extended from the central government for another three years.

In fact, the leaders of the opposition party Congress have also supported the move of extending the tax holidays. While the tax breaks vary from product to product but broadly it is referred to the excise duty concessions that the companies get who are operating in the state.

Haridwar, Jan 31- The ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela is providing ample opportunities to unemployed youth here to make quick bucks.

While some unemployed youth have devised ingenious ways to earn money themselves during what is perhaps the largest religious gathering in the world, others have been hired by "established shopkeepers" to cater to the rush of customers from around the globe.

Haridwar (Uttarakhand), Jan 14 : Devotees have gathered in large numbers for the Maha Kumbh Mela that began in Haridwar on Thursday morning on the auspicious occasion of ''Makar Sakranti''.

Despite severe cold and fog, over 25 lakh people are expected to gather at Har-ki-Pouri for a holy dip.

Officials claimed that around eight lakh people have already reached Haridwar.

The Deputy Fair Officer of the Maha Kumbh Mela, Harvinder Singh said the people of different religions are here to witness the Maha Kumbh.

Dehradun, Jan 7 - Uttarakhand has set up 31 temporary hospitals and trained at least 150 doctors to check any swine flu outbreak during Kumbh Mela, one of the largest religious congregations in the world that begins Jan 14.

"The central government has already inspected the arrangements. They have also given us a truckload of masks for tackling swine flu during the congregation," Pankaj Jain, chief nodal officer for swine flu in Uttarakhand, told IANS.

Hardwar, Jan 1 - One of the world's oldest religious gatherings may become the world's biggest this year as the Hindu faithful carry forward a tradition first recorded in the Vedas.

Every 12 years, millions gather at Hardwar -- the gateway to the abode of Lord Shiva in the Himalayas -- for the Maha Kumbh Mela in a show of faith that is rivalled only by the Maha Kumbh Mela at Prayag (in Allahabad), the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers.

The belief has not only been sustained over millennia but has grown, as the rest of the world -- from Huang Tsang in the seventh century to Mark Twain in the 19th to many more in the 20th -- has looked on amazed.

Dehradun, Dec 29 : Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' Tuesday sought a high level probe into the charges levelled against veteran Congress leader N. D. Tiwari, who quit as Andhra Pradesh governor Saturday after allegations of his involvement in a sex scandal.

"Considering that such wild allegations have been levelled against a person who has always been held in high esteem, it would be in the fitness of things to get these probed," Pokhriyal told media persons here.

Mussoorie, Dec 25 : Hundreds of tourists thronged at Mussoorie, the hill resort in Uttarakhand, to view rare natural phenomenon known as ‘winter line’ on Thursday.

Incidentally, such a scene is witnessed in just two parts of the world, Mussoorie being one and Switzerland the other.

During the months of November and December, the ‘winter line’ starts forming. It appears when sun starts setting and the horizon gets lit up in different hues like red, orange, purples and mauve.

Dehradun, Dec 23 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday filed a chargesheet in the MBA student Ranbir Singh fake encounter case.

The CBI accused 18 police personnel as responsible for the alleged fake encounter in the chargesheet, which was filed five months after the incident.

In the chargesheet filed before CBI Judge Narendra Dutt here, the agency framed the murder charges against seven police personnel under Indian Penal Code (IPC) 302.

Nainital, Dec. 11 : Concerned with polluting water streams in Uttarakhand, schoolchildren in Nainital have pledged to clean the Bhimtal lake during their holidays.

Nainital’s renowned lakes attract thousands of tourists from all over the country every year.

But increasing pollution, usually caused by tourists, has become the main cause of lower levels and filth-ridden waters.

Lucknow, Nov 28 : The Uttarakhand government has clamped heavy restrictions on the number of people undertaking the popular 18-km trek to Gomukh - the source of the Ganga, a river revered by Hindus.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said here Saturday: "We have decided not to allow more than 150 people to undertake the trek in a month."

Pokhriyal was here on a day-long visit to resolve various issues pending between the Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh governments ever since the former was carved out of the latter nine years ago.

Dehradun, Nov 28 : Police Department officials have tightened the security here, after some well-known organisations and public schools in the region received threatening letters from alleged terrorists.

The top brass of the police has sounded a high alert over the past two days after nation''s prime petroleum exploring agency, the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) and the Doon School received threatening letters.

The ONGC had received a letter on Wednesday (November 25) that had threatened of serial blasts in the city and had bore the names of dozen institutions and offices as targets.

Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Nov 25 : A year after the tragedy of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Vinita Bisht, widow of a martyred commando residing in Uttarakhand asserts that she does have any fears in sending her two sons to be enrolled in the nation''s armed forces.

Vinita is the wife of late Gajendra Singh Bisht of National Security Guards (NSG), who died on November 26, 2008 while fighting the terrorists who attacked prime spots in Mumbai for over two nights.

Nainital, Nov. 25 : As part of the Uttarakhand Government’s newly constructed adventure sports wing, a batch of school children are being trained in parasailing in Nainital.

This camp has a batch of 30 school children, including five girls from various local schools. It will be in action until November 26 in Nainital.

The school children are very excited with the prospect of trying out parasailing.

Nainital, Nov. 21 : Following various incidents of mishaps due to accidents or vehicles falling off the high cliff into the deep gorges, accident-prone hillside roads are being fenced with bamboo along Kathgodam-Nainital National Highway in Nainital.

The initiative Bamboo bio-fencing has come up as a pilot project of the Forest Department of Nainital.

Under the project, the Forest department and the Department of Transportation will plant bamboo along the roads of Kathgodam Nainital National Highway to prevent road mishaps.

New Delhi, Nov 19 - A notorious tiger poacher was arrested in the Champawat district of by a joint team of the police and forest department, an NGO which helped in his capture said.

Birbal alias Totha Ram, was arrested along with an associate Wednesday after a tip-off given by the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).

A tiger trap, two deer antlers, knives, skinning tools, a net, two mobile phones and a motorcycle were recovered from them. Totha Ram is a leader of a poaching gang, the NGO said in a statement.

Haldwani (Uttarakhand), Nov 18 : A record holder in reverse-motor-driving, who has made it to the Limca Book of Records laments the lack of support from the state government in facilitating his bid to get into the Guiness Book of World Records.

Mobin Khan, 40, a resident here, always drives his car backwards and holds the record for the longest reverse driving without a break.

Khan teaches driving for a livelihood and is also financially supported by his friends.

Haridwar (Uttarakhand), Nov 18 : The ''Maha Kumbh Mela'' or the Great pitcher festival, celebrated once in every 12 years, here is expected to attract 10 million people.

Satpal Brahmachari, former chairman of the city board, says that the authorities are not utilizing the funds given by the government for the preparations of the festival properly.