Jammu, December 3
The entire opposition in the state is fuming over the Congress-NC coalition regime’s attempt to politicise the constitutional institutions. The Opposition is worried over the way the coalition has been brazenly trying to take political mileage out of the official functions.

The principal opposition party, PDP, has already charged the coalition with encroaching on the powers of legislatures. The Panthers Party has also lambasted the government for accommodating politicians from ruling coalition in various advisory boards constituted for development of different sections of society. These advisory boards are constitutional bodies but only members of the Congress and the National Conference have been accommodated as members of these boards.

Last week, the coalition government has nominated members to the Gujjar Bakerwals, OBC, Schedule Castes and Pahari advisory boards. Forty members were nominated to each board, most of them are politicians belonging to the ruling coalition.

Panthers Party leader Harsh Dev Singh has reason to condemn the government action. He has denounced the ruling coalition for the highly arbitrary and politically motivated constitution of advisory boards.

He said that members of these boards have been named by the alliance partners without following any norms, procedure or criteria

Accusing the government of politicisation of the advisory boards, Harsh Dev Singh alleged the advisory boards had been converted into rehabilitation centres. The government, he asserted, had used the said forums to accommodate defeated, disgruntled political workers at the public expense.

Contesting the government authority in abusing the process of nominations, the Panthers Party leader called for a review of the entire process. He said such nominations would not withstand the test of judicial scrutiny as they were made in the most irrational and imperious manner. He demanded their dissolution in view of their highly irregular and unconstitutional composition.

The PDP has already launched a campaign against for not taking opposition leaders into confidence while organising official functions in their respective areas. In the recently held official functions at Kishtwar district, local PDP leader and member of the Upper House Sayed Asgar Ali was not invited. Asgar Ali said the decision not to invite him to the function was undemocratic and speaks volumes about the authoritarian behaviour of the NC-headed coalition government.

Vijaypur, December 3
The government hospital here has finally got an appropriate name. For the past several years, the hospital was known in official records as ‘accidental’ hospital. However, a story carried by The Tribune last year made a difference, prompting the authorities to finally rename the hospital and equip it with basic requirements to cater to accident victims.

It was on August 29, 2009, that The Tribune raised the issue of hospital’s wrong nomenclature, besides it being ill-equipped. It, however, took more than a year for the Health Department to pronounce it as an ‘emergency’ hospital.

Minister for Health Sham Lal Sharma and Minister for Industries and Commerce SS Slathia recently inaugurated the new hospital building and rename it by raising new signboard after dropping the word ‘accidental’ which had crept into all government records all these years.

The hospital building, rechristened has been completed at an estimated cost of Rs 1.50 crore under the National Rural Health Mission. The ministers assured that besides emergency cases, the new hospital would also cater to medical needs of the people of the area and reduce referral cases to hospitals in Jammu.

The 10-bed hospital would now have surgical, medical and orthopedic OPDs, besides facilities for conducting operations and attending to emergency and trauma cases. The hospital, however, still lacks a provision for a blood bank. This has even been pointed out by the NRHM in its previous report on the functioning of the J&K hospitals.

Under the NRHM, such hospitals, set up at a distance of every 30 km on the national highways, are denoted either ‘emergency’ or ‘trauma’ hospitals. It was incidentally with Vijaypur hospital that the institution was known as ‘accidental’ hospital.

Jammu, December 3
Yet again a sordid tale of a woman from divided families, who faced several hardships for six months ever since she, in a fit of anger, crossed the Line of Control (LoC) from Poonch district and entered Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) on May 30 this year. Caught between the devil and the deep sea, Noor Jahan, a married woman having three children, had to walk for two nights empty stomach to reunite with her children in Poonch.

Noor, 35, wife of Abdul Majid of Gutriyan village of Poonch district, who had crossed the LoC to PoK, returned to this side on November 30. Noor had an altercation with her husband and in a fit of anger she crossed over to PoK leaving behind her husband and three children, one of them still in the lap.

During questioning, she disclosed that having crossed the LoC, she was picked up by the Pakistani army, which ill-treated her and subsequently handed her to the police where she was subjected to more torture. She kept pleading her innocence, but her efforts went in vain.

Noor was then produced in a court where she was released on bail after her uncle and sister-in-law paid huge amount of money. She was then taken to the Mohajir camp in Mangbajri where she stayed with her uncle Mohammed Azam.

Her continuous appeals to Azam to send her back to her family in Poonch fell on deaf ears. She was constantly pressurised by her uncle to forget her family, stay on in PoK and get married again. Besides, the woman was also contacted by some terrorist groups and ISI officials who tried to lure her to become their operative to spread terror in India.

Despite her repeated denials to get involved in such activities, she was constantly approached by various agencies in PoK. She was also mistreated during these interactions by terrorist groups and ISI officials, probably with the approval of her uncle.

Finally, Noor got fed up with the humiliation during her stay in the camp and decided to return to Poonch. On November 28, when her uncle was out to attend a marriage ceremony, Noor ran away from the house with whatever money she could lay her hands on. She took a bus to get as close to the LoC as possible, but the money was so less that she could travel only about 20 miles short of the LoC.

Not knowing anybody else in PoK and having been humiliated at the hands of both civilians and Pakistani army personnel, she decided to walk the rest of the distance to her home. She walked for two nights before she could reach the LoC, where she was picked up by troops of the Indian Army.

The lady was in a poor state of health, having neither eaten nor rested for the past two days. The troops of the Indian Army looked after her and immediately gave her food and got her medically checked to ensure her good health. She was then handed over to the Poonch police for further disposal. Noor is now fulfilling legal formalities before rejoining her family.

Jammu, December 3
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has underlined the need for concerted efforts to maintain the number one position in the health sector among bigger states, emphasising on the improvement and upgradation of delivery system at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

“Our benchmark of services delivery in the health sector has enhanced by obtaining the status of number one state, as such coordinated approach and redoubled efforts are required to maintaining this position in future,” he said and called for a focused attention on management and services in the government hospitals.

The Chief Minister said huge infrastructure development in the health sector should match with the delivery of healthcare services. “Good infrastructure raises the expectations of people for excellent service,” he said and emphasised on coming up to the expectations of people in this regard.

Chairing the third meeting of the task force on health sector reforms here recently, the Chief Minister said a mechanism was urgently required to place necessary faculties in the 15 superspecialty healthcare disciplines coming up in Jammu and Srinagar. “With the completion of modern infrastructure, these disciplines should have adequate manpower to run the units,” he said and asked the health and medical education department to take necessary steps in this direction.

Sham Lal Sharma and RS Chib, Ministers for Health and Medical Education, respectively, highlighted measures in place for strengthening and upgrading the healthcare facilities at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

Srinagar, December 3
A film “Astha Ki Dehleez”, highlighting the high art and craft value of the architecture in and around the tomb of Sufi saint Madin Sahib in Srinagar and produced by renowned film-maker Rama Pandey, was launched here recently.

The film was released by Nasir Aslam Wani, Minister for State for Tourism, at a function organised by the Films Division of India in collaboration with the Tourism Department, Kashmir, and the Directorate of Information and Public Relation.

Speaking on the occasion, Wani said the monuments and remnants of this early medieval age spoke volumes of distinct advancements in the field of architecture. He said, “The government has already taken several measures for preserving our centuries’ old heritage, including historical dargahs, mosques, temples, gurdwaras and gumpas. Besides, there are a number of projects taken for repairs and renovation, and restoration of archeological sites in the state”.

Wani said the government had already amended the 90-year-old Act for preserving heritage monuments and under this Act, 38 heritage sites had been covered so far. He informed that the repair and renovation work of Hariparbat Fort in Srinagar had already been completed while the renovation work of Bahu Fort and Mubarak Mandi complex in Jammu was going on and the beautification of Chingus Sarai and Kothar Temple was under progress. He thanked the Union government for providing funds liberally under heritage tourism.

Kuldeep Sinha spoke on the history of Kashmir and said the Valley was earlier filmed only for its scenic beauty, but now documentaries were being made on its culture and language.

Earlier, the producer of the documentary film, Rama Pandey, welcomed the guests and thanked the state government, MLC Mohammad Yousuf Taing and departments of information and tourism for extending cooperation for completing the film.

Jammu, December 3
Set to give boost to export of goods from Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre has declared Srinagar and Anantnag as "towns of export excellence" under the foreign trade policy.

The Ministry of Commerce has announced Srinagar and Anantnag as towns of export excellence in terms of the recent foreign trade policy, officials of the Department of Industry and Commerce said.

Under the recent foreign trade policy announced by the government for the next five years, some towns have been declared as "towns of export excellence" in order to promote exports.

These two export excellence towns are now eligible for various cocessions.

The state Department of Industries and Commerce is in the process of formulating a project report to be submitted to the Ministry of Commerce.

The state government is also contemplating of roping in the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, which has executed such projects in the North-East.

The two districts of Srinagar and Anantnag are famous for the export of handicrafts, handloom products, saffron, apples, apricot and walnuts, besides various other rural products. — PTI

Jammu, December 3
Vichar Kranti Manch International (VKMI), an NGO, is holding its national convention at General Zorawar Singh Auditorium of Jammu University tommorrow.

The NGO will discuss the necessity for inculcating moral and ethical values in society during the convention. Chief secretary SS Kapur would be the chief guest on the occasion.

NGO founder RR Khajuria said an international fortnight from December 6 was being observed by the organisation during which a Sankalap march woud be held from Sawera school on December 8.

On December 10, a painting competition would be held at Sai Shyam College of Education, Ghomanasha, whereas a health camp would be organized at Mandir Community Hall, old Satwari, at 11 am on December 12.

On December 14, a blood donation camp would be held at Government Gandhi Nagar Hospital. On December 16 an awarness programme would be held to educate students about environment, global warming, besides holding a plantation drive at Sawera High school.

Khajuria said the aim of fortnight programmes is to draw the attention of masses, media and governments all over the world to realise the importance of moral and ethical values in all walks of life.

Jammu, December 3
Minister for Tourism and Culture Nawang Ragzin Jora visited the newly constructed girls hostel for Ladakh students at Muthi here. The Minister inspected the status of the construction work, which cost Rs 1.19 crore.

The three-storeyed hostel complex built on 3.7 kanal has been designed to accommodate 100 female students of the Ladakh region who come to pursue higher studies in educational institutions of Jammu.

The complex comprising 33 rooms with all modern facilities would accommodate 100 students at a time.

During his visit, Jora said the hostel complex would be inaugurated soon and deserving students of the region accommodated.

Those who accompanied the minister included vice-chairman, Jammu Development Authority (JDA), Vinod Sharma, and superintending engineer, JDA, PR Sargotra.

It took the government about one year to wake up to the menace of polythene carrybags that endanger environment in the Valley. Thanks to the National Pollution Prevention Day on December 2 that the issue was again raised stressing the need for fighting against the menace of polythene and creating awareness among the people about its ill-effects (See photo). After the use of polythene was banned by the government early in 2009, a vigorous campaign was launched here during the summer last year.

The campaign dampened in the wake of an agitation for over a couple of months in the summer last year. The five-months-long turmoil also adversely affected the fight against polythene this season. However, with the situation fast returning to normal, the fight has again been launched and public awareness campaign revitalized.

Jammu, December 3
The much-publicised proposal of installing traffic lights in Jammu and Srinagar has been delayed once again as the department has not yet floated the purchase orders.

Though surveys have been conducted and the sites where traffic lights are to be installed have also been identified, hiccups in giving purchase orders has delayed the proposal, which is supposed to check traffic chaos in both these cities.

Official sources told The Tribune that they had recommended the proposal in September this year, which had also been approved, but the work would start only in 2011, as the government had not yet given further orders.

The sources added that the department had also proposed to give traffic lights to advertisement contractors and to install toll posts at the entry points of both cities for collecting some fee from all vehicles coming from outside.

“We had proposed this, but the Chief Minister has rejected the second option in a recent meeting with top cops and officials of the civil secretariat. Now, we will ask for expression of interest from private companies and the process will take almost 15-20 days,” said HK Lohiya, IG Traffic.

Lohiya further said that only after the procedure got completed, the traffic lights would be installed. “Earlier we had decided to install the traffic lights by the end this year, but now it seems that the work will get delayed for a short period and the work would be done early next year,” he added.

Srinagar, December 3
A sum of Rs 176.37 lakh will be spent on the construction of an information and communication technology (ICT) complex in Amar Singh College, Srinagar, the work on which is expected to start soon.

Abdul Gani Malik, Minister for Labour, Employment and Higher Education, laid the foundation stone for the double-storeyed complex yesterday. The first instalment of Rs.40 lakh has been already released for the ICT block by the government Earlier, the minister also inaugurated the first-ever health fitness centre in the college. Addressing the faculty, the minister said there was no dearth of talent in students but the need of the hour was to sharpen their inner skills to help them achieve their goals.

Earlier, college principal Tariq Ahmed Kawoosa highlighted the role played by this college in producing a galaxy of scholars who had served the central and state governments. The college has ng educated more than 13 lakh students till date. — TNS