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Avalanche warning in higher reaches
Snow-hit areas yet to get power |
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IAF helps restore power in Valley
Govt mismanagement led to power crisis: Mehbooba
Govt urged to install transformer at Kalakote
BSNL yet to restore Net services in
Promoting Tourism
Govt mulls buying back Uri, Salal hydel projects: Minister
Army Commander meets troops along LoC
Lt Gen KT Parnaik, GOC-in-C of the Northern Command, at a forward post along the Line of Control in Jammu on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph
Unions rally behind PDD protesters Crisis Management
Justice Kohli meets Governor
Governor NN Vohra shakes hands with Pramod Kohli, Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court, during a meeting in Jammu on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph
Festivity in Ladakh amidst snow
Traditional dancers called Karoks perform a dance during Losar celebrations
at Basgo village in Ladakh. A Tribune photograph
In-laws held for setting bride afire
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Avalanche warning in higher reaches
Srinagar, January 10 “On the basis of information received from the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), a medium avalanche alert has been issued for higher reaches in the Kashmir valley,” Coordinator Natural Disaster Management Cell Aamir Ali said here. The official said the areas prone to avalanches included those close to the Line of Control (LoC) i.e. Macchil, Tangdhar, Keran, Drass and Gurez. He said Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam in south Kashmir and north Kashmir areas of Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, besides Kargil in the Ladakh region, were also prone to avalanches. People living in these areas have been advised to not to travel during snowfall or venture onto steep slopes close to the avalanche-prone areas. The Valley continued to reel under severe cold wave conditions, after some respite from the snowfall last week. All regions of the Valley witnessed temperatures below freezing point last night. As a result, peripheries of the Dal Lake froze and the residents complained of frozen waterlines. The skiing resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district recorded a minimum temperature of -16.2 °C, a MeT official said. Srinagar city recorded a minimum temperature of -2.8 °C, while Qazigund in south Kashmir recorded a minimum temperature of -4.8 °C. Srinagar witnessed the coldest day of the season, as it recorded a maximum temperature of -1 °C. The minimum temperatures at the tourist resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir and the border town of Kupwara stood at -11.4 and -4.2 °C, respectively. The MeT office has forecast light to moderate snow in the upper reaches of the Valley during the next 24 hours. Prone Zones Areas near the Line of Control i.e. Macchil, Tangdhar, Keran, Drass and Gurez; besides Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam in south Kashmir; Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora in north Kashmir; and Kargil in the Ladakh region have been cited as avalanche-prone zones. |
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Snow-hit areas yet to get power
Jammu, January 10 Uprooting of electricity poles and snapping of transmission lines had plunged most parts of the state into darkness following heavy snowfall last weekend. Official sources told The Tribune that power supply to Bani tehsil, parts of Basohli, Billawar and remote villages in Kathua district, Kishtwar and parts of Ramban could not be restored due to the accumulation of snow. “PDD engineers couldn’t rectify the 33-kV transmission line between Banjal and Ghara in Bani tehsil, resulting in complete darkness in the affected areas. Similarly, parts of the Basohli and Billawar areas in Kathua district remained without electricity for the fifth consecutive day,” sources said. The sources said 25 power transformers were damaged due to rain and snowfall on the outskirts of Kathua town, plunging many villages into darkness. The Chief Engineer, EM&RE, Jammu, Shahnaz Goni, said PDD engineers were on job to rectify snags in snow-affected areas.
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IAF helps restore power in Valley
Jammu, January 10 On January 6, an extensive power breakdown took place in the Kashmir valley and the state government gave a requisition to the IAF through the Power Grid Corporation. A helicopter recce was conducted along with grid engineers to assess the faults in snow-clad and difficult terrain between Ramban and Banihal. Thereafter, a plan to winch down technicians near the affected towers was prepared. On January 9, a MI-17 flown by Wing Commander Anurag, Wing Commander Saxena and Flight Lieutenant Tomar carried out a successful mission of dropping four Power Grid engineers along with five tons of crucial repair equipment at the Chanderkot helipad, near Ramsu. From there, the personnel were dropped near the faulty towers by a Cheetah helicopter being flown by Wing Commander Nitin Welde, Flight Lieut Nainwal and winch operator Sqn Ldr Abhijit Kumar. The winching operations were carried out as there were no helipads or roads near these towers. This was the first unique well-coordinated mission to repair major power failures undertaken by the IAF and the Power Grid Corporation. The arduous exercise was an outcome of meticulous planning by a joint team of Jammu and Udhampur Air Forces bases. |
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Govt mismanagement led to power crisis: Mehbooba
Srinagar, January 10 She termed Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s recent order to the Power Development Department
(PDD) to snap electricity to the VIP areas a gimmick. “It is just a gimmick. The pronouncement of shutting off power to VIP areas is not the answer to the problem because they are all in Jammu. Would he apply the same power cut schedule to VIP areas in Jammu?” Mehbooba said. Claiming that most rural areas and many areas of the city were still facing the consequences of government failure, in the wake of a less than normal snowfall, she said the government claim that it had restored all facilities after snowfall last week was a total lie. Accusing Omar of being insensitive to the human rights issues, she said the government was running like a headless chicken. “The only two achievements of the NC-Congress government are survival despite disasters and giving a bad name to the people of Kashmir. Whenever the government is confronted with a human rights issue, it starts wailing like a widow. He (Omar) is not behaving like a Chief Minister, but a common man,” Mehbooba added. She reiterated that Omar never wanted to revoke the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
(AFSPA) from the state and the issue had been raised only to divert attention from the killing of the NC worker Syed Mohammad
Yousuf. Yousuf had died in September last year soon after meeting the Chief Minister. Earlier, Mehbooba visited Shah Gund Hajin in Bandipora district to condole the death of Mehrajudin
Hajam, who was killed in a cross-firing incident in Sopore on Saturday last. She said the government must compensate the family and provide employment to one of the members of Hajam’s family. |
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Govt urged to install transformer at Kalakote
Jammu, January 10 Sharma, who is the member of the Legislative Council, has expressed concern over the delay in the installation of the transformer, saying people of the
Sunderbani, Nowshera and Kalakote tehsils were suffering and there was resentment among the people of these areas. Sharma talked to the Chief Engineer, System and Operating, Jammu, who told him the transformer, would be available at Kalakote in three to four days and would be installed in the next 15 days. He told the department to fulfill the demand without further delay.
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BSNL yet to restore Net services in
Udhampur, January 10 A major chunk of Internet users, too, has been left in the lurch as all cyber cafes in both places have been shut for the past three days. “We hope that the broadband services will be restored in the affected areas by tomorrow. Our teams could not undertake the repair work due to the closure of roads. We have already restored the services in Srinagar, Ransoo and Banihal areas of Ramban district in the Jammu region last night,” said RK Koul, chief general manager, BSNL, J&K. The cable got damaged on a 9-km stretch between Batote and Assar on the Batote-Kishtwar National Highway. “Though the cable is laid underground along the road, the damage was caused by an avalanche owing to the continuous snowfall on the stretch,” said AK Angural, telecom district manager, BSNL. Koul, however, ruled out the use of helicopters to facilitate the landing of BSNL staff in areas where the cable had been damaged, as done by the Power Grid Corporation.
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Promoting Tourism
Dubai, January 10 “Our security situation is stable, and it can be gauged from the fact that in 2011 we have had 2 million tourists; of them 70,000 were foreigners, including Saudi families,” said Farooq Shah, Director Tourism, J&K. Shah is part of a delegation of tourism and culture ministers, government officials, bureaucrats, airline operators and tourism experts from different states of India currently visiting Saudi Arabia. “We are also known as the shopper’s paradise because of our traditional hand-made goods, shawls and carpets,” Shah said. One of the reasons why tourists from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have avoided going to Kashmir is the security situation even though Kashmir is as safe as any place in the world, the senior official said. The Jammu and Kashmir contingent is the biggest one, headed by Tourism and Culture Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora. “Saudis especially like our houseboats. We call them floating apartments, they are nicely decorated, and in terms of service, they are no less that any five-star hotel,” Shah said on the sidelines of the road show in Dammam. He claimed that the state is the right destination for young Saudis looking for adventure. — PTI |
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Govt mulls buying back Uri, Salal hydel projects: Minister
Jammu, January 10 Minister for Public Health Engineering, Irrigation and Flood Control Taj Mohiuddin asserted this while delivering the keynote address at a national seminar on “Management of Water Resources in North India” at University of Jammu this morning. “The NHPC in J&K was never given ownership of the power projects as per the provisions of the law, except for their execution, operation and maintenance. Even the agency status given to the corporation expired in 1987. Therefore, these projects actually belong to the state. However, a Cabinet subcommittee has recommended for payment to the corporation for taking over the Uri and Salal projects, which will help the state become self-sufficient in power and enable it to export the power to other states and strengthen our economy,” said Taj. He said the agreements that the J&K government had signed with the Centre from time to time had given the corporation rights to the extent of execution, operation and maintenance of power projects in the state but not the ownership rights. The minister said the government had constituted a Cabinet subcommittee, which was examining the issue. In the second session, AR Makru, Dr RK Gupta and Prof B Thussu addressed the seminar. Later, a question-answer session was held, wherein Tejwant Singh Reen and other eminent persons participated and Taj replied to the queries.
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Army Commander meets troops along LoC
Jammu, January 10 Lt Gen KT Parnaik and his wife were received by GOC of the White Knight Corps Lt Gen AS Nandal and Madhu Nandal, chairperson of the White Knight Family Welfare Organisation, stated an official release issued here today. The itinerary commenced with a visit to forward posts in Akhnoor sector. The Army Commander later visited Nangi Tekri in Poonch sector, which has been in news for some time due to ceasefire violations from across the LoC. The GOC-in-C reviewed the defence preparedness and the ongoing counter-insurgency operations in both the sectors. He also interacted with the troops and complimented them for their steadfastness, in maintaining the sanctity of the LoC. Lt Gen Parnaik paid tributes to the resoluteness of the soldiers, who had foiled all attempts of infiltration in 2011. While addressing the troops, he said, “The troops deployed on the LoC have an onerous task, which demands highest degree of alertness and determination. The jawans have time and again lived up to the expectations of the country despite daunting challenges. Having foiled numerous infiltration attempts should not lull us into complacency,” he added. He exhorted them to continue to keep a strict vigil to defeat the nefarious designs of inimical forces. The Army Commander thereafter visited the headquarters of the Counter Insurgency Forces, Uniform and Romeo at Reasi and Maniyarwala, respectively. The GOC-in-C was briefed on the deployment of the troops in the south of the Pir Panjal ranges. While reviewing the counter-terrorist operations, Lt Gen Parnaik said, “The relentless hard work of the security forces has kept terrorists on the run. As their numbers have dwindled and their leadership has been eliminated to a great extent, the operations are now entering a more difficult phase. It demands excellent synergy amon the security forces, intelligence agencies and civil administration.” The Army Commander expressed the hope that the Army units would continue their people-friendly operations and with the support of the people they would soon be able to deal a final blow to terrorism in the state. He also conveyed his best wishes to the soldiers and their families for the New Year. Lt Gen Parnaik and his wife returned to Udhampur today.
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Unions rally behind PDD protesters
Jammu, January 10 The protesting daily wagers staged a protest outside the office of the Chief Engineer here today and raised slogans against the state government, demanding regularisation of their services. The representatives of the Provincial Electrical Employees’ Association (PEEA), the J&K Linemen Workers’ Association, the All J&K ITI Diploma Holders’ Association and the J&K Electrical Employees’ Federation (JKEEF) extended support to the PDD daily wagers. They also served a seven-day ultimatum to the government, threatening to go on a mass strike, if the demands of the PDD daily wagers were not met. Talking to mediapersons here, the leaders of these unions condemned the police action on the protesting daily wagers yesterday and described it as “undemocratic” and “unjustifiable”. “The police cane-charge on daily wagers, who were staging a peaceful demonstration is condemnable. The government has always backtracked from its commitments and never honoured the agreements reached between the representatives of daily wagers and its functionaries,” the leaders said. They added, “The strike of daily wagers has entered its 29th day today, but the government has become totally insensitive towards their grievances. We have decided to give seven days to the government for resolving their issues, failing which we would also join the stir.” Those who addressed the press conference included PC Sharma of the PEEA, Ghulam Nabi Bhat of the Linemen Workers’ Association, Jasbir Singh of the ITI Diploma Holders’ Body and Gurmeet Singh of the JKEEF. |
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Crisis Management
Jammu, January 10 In a statement issued here today, Jitendra said while the government was quick to initiate prosecution proceedings against the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel charged with firing on people, protesting against power shortage at Boniyar in Uri in Baramulla district, there was not a single word of condemnation against police personnel, who cane-charged the Power Development Department (PDD) daily wagers in Jammu yesterday. The PDD daily wagers were demanding regularisation of their services. Jitendra said the power crisis in the Kashmir valley was a manifestation of the helpless state of mis-governance. He added there was an acute power shortage in the Jammu region, but the government was not so quick to solve the power crisis in the region. He said the NC-led government was always defensive and apologetic while dealing with the grievances of the people of Kashmir, but indifferent to the same grievances from the people of Jammu and Ladakh regions. “Is this because the government is apprehensive of the situation being exploited by the separatist leaders in Kashmir?” he asked. He added if this was true then this was a dangerous message for the country. The state BJP spokesperson also took the Congress to task and wanted to know why Congress ministers had kept quiet and did not highlight the problems of the people of Jammu, even when they had got substantial mandate from the region. |
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Justice Kohli meets Governor
Jammu, January 10 The Governor wished Justice Kohli a very successful tenure as the Chief Justice.
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Festivity in Ladakh amidst snow
Leh, January 10 Losar is a community-based socio-religious festival celebrated by the Buddhists of Ladakh, which has 19 major monasteries celebrating 18 monastic festivals every year. The Losar celebrations begin with prayers to the god and goddess common to a group of families, known as Faspun. They exchange wishes and greetings for the New Year. On the eve of Losar, family ancestors are remembered by offering delicious food and lighting the traditional lamp in front of the graveyard. Basgo village, known as the capital of old Ladakh, has upheld the tradition and culture of Losar and remains unaffected by modernity of thoughts and actions. The village has been a source of inspiration for nearby villages. Neighbouring Nimmo village, where the traditional Losar celebrations had almost died out during the past decade, revived the celebrations this year. The revival has also begun in the Saspol block. Stanzin Gurmat, president of the Village Youth Association and village sarpanch, says: “The decline in Losar tradition and culture started when the family, which had been holding the post of Lardaak for generations, quit the post and the villagers decided to pass on the post to three Karoks. Lardaak is responsible for offering prayers to the village god and goddess during Losar celebrations and carrying out rituals to purify the individual who perform the traditional role of the three Lama Jogis and grandparents. Lardaak heads the Karoks, the dancers of the grand celebrations. Karoks have to complete the dance 360 times before the deadline set by the village astrologer. Villagers take turns to perform role of the three Lama Jogis and grandparents. Considered pilgrims of Kailash Mansarovar and well-wishers of New Year, Lama Jogis visit each house of the village, wishing prosperity. Children and youngsters also join the grand celebrations by covering their faces and dressing up in animal skin jackets. They visit houses wish a prosperous New Year. The 15-day celebrations formally conclude with the purification of the Lama Jogis and grandparents on the ninth day of Losar
by taking a dip in the village stream. After the purification ceremony, spectators are treated to traditional dances. A bonfire is also prepared. |
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In-laws held for setting bride afire
Udhampur, January 10 However, her husband was not present when the incident took place. SSP, Udhampur, Shakeel Ahmed Beig said the incident took place in Upper Thanoa, Udhampur. A police party led by SHO, Udhampur, Gian Chand Sharma immediately rushed to the spot on receiving the information. The victim was brought to the hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. — TNS
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PDP president Mehbooba Mufti today said the Kashmir valley was facing power crisis this winter because of the “mismanagement” of the government.
“During the PDP tenure, we had 500 MW less available, but still people did not face any problems. During out time, the management was better, but this time the crisis is due to the mismanagement,” Mehbooba said while addressing a press conference at her Gupkar residence here.
Jammu, January 10
Jammu, January 10
Jammu, January 10
Even as surface connectivity remained affected due to the closure of high passes and temperatures remained at sub-zero levels — with some areas witnessing mercury as low as -20 °C — the centuries-old traditions of celebrating
Losar, or the New Year
