Jammu, May 18
Hundreds of unclaimed official and private vehicles are lying abandoned on the premises of a number of government offices, police stations and on roadsides at every district and tehsil headquarters.

However, in the absence of any decision over years together, some of these vehicles have already turned into scrap and their parts like batteries, tyres etc having disappeared.

According to sources, even the government-owned bullet poof vehicles were lying abandoned on the premises of the State Motor Garages Department here for the past one-decade.

The sources said a public notice was recently circulated by the deputy director, State Motor Garages, Jammu, with the direction to the government departments, public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies to claim the ownership before they were being finally treated as junk and disposed off.

The sources said, a similar direction was also being issued to the other department heads, including State Road Transport Corporation, to identify the worn-out and condemned vehicles lying in their premises. This was being primarily done to vacate the space and also to credit the money into the departmental revenue head, the sources said.

Some state police authorities had also mooted a similar proposal to rid police stations of unclaimed private and other accidental vehicles. However, legal wrangles were putting brakes on the move, the sources added.

Jammu, May 18
Partners of the ruling coalition in the state have been facing a tough time as state ministers have been criticised by their own colleagues. Even as the opposition parties avoid unnecessary criticism of ministers, their own party colleagues have been availing all opportunities to let them down before the people.

Annoyed leaders of both the National Conference and the Congress have been publicly exposing their leaders and ministers.

Congress ministers have been facing criticism from their colleagues due to factionalism in the party while the NC leadership is also confronting similar problem because the party has been facing criticism from none other than Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, uncle of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

Mustafa Kamal is the brother of Union Minister Farooq Abdullah. Enraged over being sidelined in the party as well as in the government, Kamal is seizing all opportunities to step up attack on the government, which is headed by his nephew. One of the senior most members of the NC, Kamal is MLA from Hazaratbal, but he was not inducted into the Cabinet.

Recently, he created embarrassing situation for the NC when he questioned the very existence of the coalition in the state. He stated that the NC was compelled to enter into an alliance with the Congress and the latter was not working on the coalition “dharma”. He even charged the Congress with hatching conspiracy to root out the NC from the Kashmir valley.

Further creating embarrassment to his party, Kamal said his party had to face humiliation by entering into an alliance with the Congress.

The situation is almost the same with the Congress. Instead of taking a united stand on important issues, party leaders are speaking in different languages. Even leaders of some frontal organisations have been critising ministers of their own party. One faction of the party has publicly declared a war against the rival group and both warring factions have been availing all opportunities to expose each other.

Meanwhile, a senior PDP leader said, “Leaders of the coalition are themselves playing our roles and we are just enjoying the game”.

He especially pointed towards the statement of Sheikh Mustafa Kamal and said that the common man had been suffering due to the ongoing tussle among leaders.

The only task before senior leaders of both parties is to cover up utterances of their activists.

Jammu, May 18
Jammu SSP Basant Rath is catching the headlines due to innovative ideas for better policing in the city.

The SSP has started taking routine meetings of his subordinate officers on roadsides, besides calling them to his office in the Parade area.

The SSP attends routine meetings with SHOs on roads and that too during the night .

Rath told a few SHOs a few days back to come at a point in the Nawabad area to attend a meeting. He was seen issuing orders to his junior officers amid the vehicles moving on the roads.

Though the commuters immediately changed their route as they thought some major crime has happened in the area because a number of cops were standing on the road with police vehicles .

Deepak said when people came to know about the reason for huge police prersence on the road they were all praise fore the police.

An exservice man, Ram Kumar, said: “Such steps should become routine for the cops to instill some fear into the criminals . Even people will feel secure this way.”Basant Rath said: “I will take every reasonable step for better policing in the city.”

Srinagar, May 18
The peak tourism season, which has already set in, may take a hit if the sanitation issue in the valley remains unattended.

Heaps of garbage collected along roadsides meets eye in almost every nook and corner of the city. The main city areas also stink due to absence of a contingency plan in the city.

A survey by India’s Urban Development Ministry has ranked Srinagar as the fourth dirtiest Indian city. This is enough to raise a wake-up call.

“This indicates that the valley, one of the most beautiful tourist resorts in Himalayan region, is facing the risk of high pollution,” says Imran Ahmad, a postgraduate student

The survey based on sanitation ratings, released recently in New Delhi, said Srinagar figured in “red zone” of pollution, as the city scored a mere 19.1 on a scale of 100 in the national rating and award scheme for sanitation for various cities in the country.

The situation turns worse when the weather is unfavourable or employees go on strike or there is a bandh call given by separatist groups. Sanitation issue is of least importance for the government here. So far no proper and well-designated plan has been devised to look into such concerns.

Sajjad Ahmad, a local businessman, says sanitation and health are closely linked. “These things should be looked into. The valley, being an important tourist destination, has to be clean. We cannot afford such negligence. The listing of Srinagar as the fourth dirtiest city has put a question mark on the government for its claims of spending money on sanitation and development. It should serve as an eye opener for our officials”.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has directed the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) and Housing Department to put in place short, medium and long-term measures for ensuring cleanliness of the city.

He said reports about the state of sanitation in the city should be a wake-up call for agencies and departments concerned, emphasising that vigorous efforts are required in this direction. He stressed on evolving an integrated approach for garbage management and keeping city roads and lanes clean.

Though the burning of garbage is prohibited by the government but people do it openly here. Despite knowing the fact that garbage burning is hazardous for health, people burn accumulated refuse in some localities where the Jammu Municipal Corporation fails to maintain hygiene.

Not only local residents but safai karamcharis of the Municipal Corporation are also seen burning collected garbage instead of dumping it at the designated place.

Jammu, May 18
In an intense competition fought for Mr J&K 2010 title, which went on past midnight on Monday, Jammu’s Varun Kotwal emerged as the clear winner. The runners up were Fasil Rafiq of Kashmir and Sahil Sambyal of Kathua.

Varun, an LLB student of the University of Jammu, has also been selected to compete in India Super Model competition, which will be held later this year, stated, Hitesh Badyal, president of the Nirwana Academy, which along with Suvidha Entertainments organised the competition to groom young talent at General Zorawar Singh Auditorium of the university.

The sub-titles given under various categories were as follows: Mr Jammu -Vinayak Sharma; Mr Kashmir - Fasil Rafiq; Mr Ladakh - Arif Hussain; Mr Cute -Vikram, Face of the Year -Muzmil, Best Smile - Dev Singh, Best Costume - Sahil, Best Physique - Ashish, Best Hairstyle - Suresh, Mr Photogenic -Sourav; and Best Walk -Vishal.

More than 80 youngsters participated in the competition, but only 16 participants could make it to the final event.

The competition began with an introduction round, wherein each participant introduced themselves to the audience.

The other rounds to follow were designer’s round, named as The True India, prop and the question-answer rounds. Rounds were managed by Hitesh, director and producer Raj Kumar, veteran actor Sudhir Jamwal, and HR Manager MIET Pankaj Sharma.

A music concert by Rumours Band and dance performances performed by the Street Guys Group enthralled the audience.

Arsheen Koul, a die-hard fan of Michael Jackson, relived the old memories by showcasing the famous dance moves of the legend dancer.

Hitesh Badyal, president of the Nirvana Academy, said the academy would organise such kind of events in the future also, so that the youth of the state could be groomed on a large scale.

Kavinder Gupta, former Mayor of Jammu, was the chief guest on the occasion. 

Srinagar, May 18
As the civil services topper, Dr Shah Faesal, awaits the call for formal induction and probation to “serve the people”, he continues to get felicitations from a cross-section of society for his distinction. He has already been felicitated by Governor NN Vohra, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and DGP Kuldeep Khoda.

While Faesal came to a warm welcome on his arrival here from New Delhi on May 7, a day after the declaration of the results, he has been felicitated at the district headquarters of Kupwara, his home district in north Kashmir.

Not only that he is being felicitated by people from the state residing outside, who feel proud of Faesal bringing laurels to the state. “ Faesal has given us the reason to rejoice. He has done what no Kashmiri could do so far. Kashmir is back in the news and this time for good reasons”, commented Ashok Handoo, a Kashmiri residing in New Delhi. “This young boy has a lot many ambitions. How far he succeeds is difficult to say. But even if he makes a noticeable difference, it will be a good contribution”, he commented pinning hopes on Shah Faesal in his future career.

While felicitating Dr Shah Faesal at a function held at the Police Headquarters here on Tuesday, DGP Kuldeep Khoda called upon the youth of the state to draw inspiration from Dr. Faesal and others who qualified the IAS examination to make a mark in their IAS and other national-level competitive examinations for better career opportunities.

He added that the youth of the state were highly talented and with their hard work and devotion they could achieve excellence in any competitive examination. Khoda said that Dr Shah Faesal and others were a role model for our youth and they should follow the path of these successful youngsters to bring the change in our conventional system of administration. The DGP congratulated Dr. Faesal and others on their outstanding performance and wished them a bright career in the civil services. He also presented mementoes to Dr Faesal, Dr Showkat Ahmed Parray, Mr Rayees Ahmed and father of Umair Mir on the occasion on behalf of the J & K Police Organisation.

A felicitation function was held at the district headquarters, Kupwara, on Wednesday where Dr Faesal was given a rousing reception by the district administration along with other respectable senior citizens. The MLAs from Kupwara, Handwara, Karnah and Lolab were present on the occasion. The District Development Commissioner along with officers of the district administration welcomed Dr Shah Faesal on reaching the Kupwara district headquarters. The son of soil of district Kupwara was presented mementoes from the Kupwara district administration. The MLAs felicitated him and urged the youth of the state to compete in all national-level examinations. Dr Faesal impressed upon the youth to work hard to achieve their goals.