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Ration meant for poor embezzled
Abhinav Theatre in a shambles
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Philatelic exhibition a big draw
Melting
of Shiv Lingam at Amarnath shrine
SKUAST-J celebrates 12th foundation day
Development of remote areas a priority: Omar
srinagar
DIARY
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Ration meant for poor embezzled
Srinagar, September 30 Shabir Khan, Minister of State for CAPD, though claimed that an additional 1,900 quintals of ration was later dispatched to meet the deficiency, Sayeed Asgar Ali of the PDP has alleged that from the additional quota, 700 quintals was again embezzled by officials of the department. Raising this issue in the Legislative Council, Asgar Ali, who belongs to Kishtwar district, alleges that inhabitants of the belt had been facing hardships due to the non-availability of ration. He said the belt remained cut off from the rest of the state during winter and it was the duty of the government to ensure sufficient stock of ration in this belt. Asgar Ali said certain areas of Marwah tehsil were deprived of their monthly ration/food grains last year and this time, the government must ensure that enough stock was available before the commencement of the winter season. He further alleged that deficiency in food grains in the backward areas of Kishtwar was caused by two consecutive embezzlements which took place last year for which the minister concerned had already ordered departmental inquiries. Shabir Khan, while responding to the allegations, admitted that 4,200 quintals of ration was embezzled, but said effective steps were immediately taken to meet the deficiency. He said during his visit to Marwah in January, CAPD Minister Qamar Ali Akhoon had found that a part of stock dispatched from an FCI godown in Mir Bazar, Anantnag, had not reached destined sale centres in Marwah. Khan further informed that the embezzlement was detected and the minister ordered an inquiry on the spot to single out the culprits. “An inquiry was ordered into the complaint by a committee, headed by assistant commissioner (revenue), to investigate the case,” he said. When asked about the present status of the inquiry and the names of the officials responsible, the minister said a report of the inquiry officer was received recently and was under consideration. The PDP member was not satisfied with the reply and alleged that the government was trying to shield the culprits. He said six months ago, he had raised the same inquiry in the budget session, but he was given the same reply.
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Abhinav Theatre in a shambles
Jammu, September 30 In August last year, The Tribune had reported in its columns that rainwater seeps through the roof of the auditorium, causing an extensive damage to its infrastructure. The scenario remained the same this rainy season also and artistes were denied permission to hold functions inside the auditorium. “It is a deliberate attempt to sabotage the theatre movement in Jammu which we began 30 years ago as Abhinav is the only place in the Jammu region suitable for theatre. In North India, theatre is the most vibrant in Jammu but still it has no official patronage,” said Balwant Thakur, a distinguished theatre activist and director, Natrang theatre group. “The activities related to arts and aesthetic are the intellectual demands of any healthy society. It is very sad that cultural activities are not a priority of our political representatives,” he said. “It is also unfortunate that people working in the academy are not professional. They don’t know the requirements of the artistes,” he alleged. “Besides, the charges of Zorawar Singh Auditorium, which is more like a convocation hall, have been doubled to Rs 80,000 for a single show,” he said and added, “Where will the artistes go? Can they afford to book the hall? The government does not have a policy for the promotion of artistic and creative pursuits”. “The authorities, especially the staff of the academy, have been flaunting a misplaced sense of arrogance. To draw public attention towards the pathetic condition of the Abhinav Theatre, we staged protests in the academy in August and September, but not even a single official approached us,” said Mohan Singh, president of the Duggar Manch and an eminent Dogri writer. “Under the initiative of our organisation, we have made a collective platform, United Cultural Front, an amalgam of 12 cultural organisations, to highlight the plight of the artistes on the premises of the Cultural Academy on October 4,” he said. Singh further lambasted the officials of the academy and political representatives. “Officials of the academy are just government employees. They hardly have any sense of art and aesthetics. Besides, most MPs and MLAs are not even remotely concerned about theatre,” he said. “In a unique initiative, Doordarshan, Jammu, was to hold a Dogri theatre festival in May-June at Abhinav. At least 19 plays were to be staged in two phases, but the event could not take place as the auditorium was in a bad shape,” he said. Harish Kaila, president, Nami Dogri Sanstha, said: “The present secretary of the academy, Zafar Iqbal Manhas, and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who happens to be the president of the academy, have no interest in patronising art and culture. The condition of Abhinav Theatre bears testimony to that”. “Our organisation has planned a cultural function on October 6, but the academy is not renting out the auditorium as the structure is in a shambles,” he added. Krishan Kumar, noted Hindi poet and journalist, said: “An official survey of the crumbling building was conducted but nothing has been done so far. It is quite clear that political will is missing. Our MLAs and MPs must understand that any development which lacks growth of art and culture would be incomplete”. Denying the allegation, Zafar Iqbal Manhas said: “The department has already submitted a detailed project report to the government. The academy does not have funds to take up the renovation work on its own. The renovation work requires an estimated cost of Rs 3 crore to Rs 4 crore”. “On my persuasion, VB Viyas, principal secretary to the chief minister and commissioner secretary, planning, had visited the site along with Sudhanshu Pandey, chief secretary, finance ,” he said and added, “Now, it is up to the government to start the renovation work”. |
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Philatelic exhibition a big draw
Srinagar, September 30 More than one lakh postal stamps, including the rare “Black Penny”, were displayed at the exhibition. Over 10,000 visitors and a large number of students from various schools attended the four-day exhibition aimed at highlighting tourism, trade and culture of various regions of the state. Kuldeep Khoda, DGP, who was the chief guest on the concluding day function, released two stamps one each of Royal Springs Golf Course and the SKICC. He said the stamps would focus on the tourist spots not only at the national but also at the international level. Khoda said the Department of Postal Services had been serving the people from the early days and it had to expand its services to meet the tremendous pressure mounted due to the introduction of new
Praising the department for organising such a grand exhibition in the
Valley, the DGP said it would help the people, generally the student community, to get knowledge about their past. He said such efforts would bring the people close to the department and also help promote tourism. He also inspected the gallery and took a keen interest in the stamps displayed at the exhibition. He praised the people who had displayed their collections. Earlier John Samuel, chief postmaster general, J&K Circle, deliberated on aims and objectives for organising the exhibition. He said the exhibition was organised in the Valley after a long time and there was a good response from the public which had encouraged them to organise more such exhibitions in other parts of the state in the coming months. He said more than 10,000 visitors, including a large number of schoolchildren, visited the exhibition.
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Melting
of Shiv Lingam at Amarnath shrine
Dehradun, September 30 The WIHG proposes to set up a field observatory at the revered Amarnath cave shrine. Prof Anil K Gupta, director of the institute, disclosed that the WIGH proposed to write to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, and the Department of Science and Technology at the Centre for the setting up of a laboratory at the shrine for a comprehensive study. The Amranath yatra, for which one has to trek a height of about 14,500 ft, begins on Jaishth Purnima and ends on Shravan Purima, the day of Raksha Bandhan. Inside the main cave lies an ice stalagmite that resembles the “Shiv Lingam” which waxes during May to August and gradually wanes thereafter. But in the recent
years, there has been growing concern over its speedy melting. Dr DP Dobhal, a glaciologist with the institute, who was part of a WIGH team that visited Amarnath shrine in 2006 said equipment would be put up at different places at the shrine to monitor the entire weather system. The study would focus around eight to 10 parameters ranging for snowfall, rainfall, wind speed in the Valley, besides other factors. “The climate change, anthropogenic causes and winter snowfall changes could be either of the reasons leading to speedy melting of the snow ‘Shiv Lingam’”, Dobhal pointed out and hoped the study would lead to exact reasons. He said satellite imageries data of the previous years apart from historical data would also be taken into consideration to get better inferences.
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SKUAST-J celebrates 12th foundation day
Jammu, September 30 Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mishra emphasised the importance of celebrating the foundation day and thanked the students for bringing laurels to the university during 2010-11 in various academics and extracurricular activities. He delivered the foundation day lecture on the theme “Recent Advances and Future Vision of Hill Agriculture”. Dr Mishra said hill agriculture in the state in the recent past made big strides, but a lot was still to be done. “Horticulture forms an important sector in the economy of J&K with an annual turnover of fruits worth Rs 2,000 crore and giving employment to over 25 lakh people,” he added. To fill the gap in production and requirement, Dr Mishra stressed on the need for boosting agriculture in the state, besides going for the diversification of crops, including mushroom cultivation, beekeeping, medicinal and aromatic plants and various animal products. He also emphasised the need for enhancing seed replacement rate from less than 9 per cent prevailing at present in the state to at least 25 per cent. He further said the university had contributed significantly in academics and research and technology development for the benefit of the farmers. “Several high-yielding varieties of rice, wheat and oilseed crops have been released. Besides, farmer-friendly technologies for increasing production per unit area have been disseminated through the extension wing of the university,” said Dr Mishra. The Vice-Chancellor stressed on frontier research in the areas of biotechnology and said in this direction, the university recently established the School of Biotechnology and self-financing degree programmes of B.Sc Biotechnology and M.Sc Biotechnology. He added that, “The university is also establishing the faculty of dairy technology in the near future”. Later, he felicitated the teachers and students for taking the university to a new height and appreciated the Directorate of Resident Instructions for arranging a blood donation camp as part of the celebrations of the 12th foundation day of the university. A large number of teachers and students attended the
programme.
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Development of remote areas a priority: Omar
Srinagar, September 30 He was addressing a meeting held here recently to review the progress and development of the erstwhile hilly Doda district, which now comprises three districts of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban. Advisors to the Chief Minister, Mubarak Gul and Devender Singh Rana, legislators GM Saroori, Abdul Majid Mir, Waqar Rasool, Ashok Kumar, Mohammad Sharief Naiz, Sajad Ahmad Kitchloo and GA Mir and senior officers attended the meeting. The legislators highlighted various issues pertaining to the overall development of the three newly created districts. They also took up the matters relating to the construction of roads and bridges, land compensation, creation of health centres, establishment of model villages, PMGSY programme, Border Area Development Programme, etc. Matters pertaining to the construction of Chattro-Vailo tunnel also came up for discussion and legislators emphasised the need for this tunnel for making remote areas accessible for development. The tunnel would connect the Kashmir valley with the Doda-Kishtwar areas round the year as the road through high-peak mountains remains blocked due to heavy snowfall during the winter months. |
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srinagar
DIARY Despite assurances by the government from time to time regarding upgrading of infrastructure and facilities at various tourist spots, most of the roads leading to such places continue to be in a dilapidated condition (see photo). Greater attention is being given only to prominent tourist spots like Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonmarg, although efforts are on to develop other spots to extend the duration of stay of tourists from the present about one week to three weeks.
With this intention, the Tourism Department has identified and is developing at least 22 Tourism Development Authorities. Besides, many tourist villages in the Valley are being developed for providing greater tourist attraction. However, famous tourist spots like Yusmarg, 50 km from Srinagar in the central Kashmir district of Budgam, continue to be neglected. Though the government has recently expanded the jurisdiction of the Yusmarg Development Authority, the road from Srinagar to the tourist spot has been posing many challenges, discouraging even the local tourists. It is high time that proper attention is given to the roads for tapping the tourism potential of the Valley. Speak in
English only Speaking in English has become a matter of prestige for ministers while replying to questions of members during the proceeding of both the Houses of the State Legislature, currently in session. Interestingly, even if some members cannot understand the language, the ministers still prefer to reply them in English. Such an attitude sometimes leads to a piquant situation when other members also try to follow their ministers. A similar situation emerged in the Upper House when a minister spoke in English while replying to the query of a National Conference member, most of whom speak only Urdu. A member while asking supplementary of his query sought “insurance” instead of assurance from the minister that their problems would be solved. “You have ‘insured’ a number of times earlier but no action has been taken….we want “insurance” from you this time,” one such member said. (Contributed by
Ehsan Fazili and Dinesh
Manhotra)
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Jammu, September 30
