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State approaches ISRO for satellite mapping of forest cover
Festival to promote Gojri language, culture
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Ladakh sector to be developed as mega tourist destination
Teachers’ delegation meets Chief Minister
KU professor awarded
Chhoona Hai Aasman staged in Baramulla
State harnesses 2,461 MW of electricity: Governor
Srinagar Diary
Jammu trade fair a big draw
State to prioritise medicinal plant cultivation
Police builds database of residents
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State approaches ISRO for satellite mapping of forest cover
Jammu, February 23 Official sources said the state government had recently written to ISRO, requesting it to start satellite mapping of forest cover as it had been facing a major challenge to check the dwindling forest cover following the complaints of encroachments. “The forests of the state cover an area of 16,309 km sq that constitutes nearly 20 per cent of the total geographical area falling within the territory of the country. Out of the existing cover, 14,359 hectares of forest land has been encroached upon by land mafia,” sources said. “The forests under encroachment in the Kashmir and Jammu regions are 4,877 hectares and 9,482 hectares, respectively.” A senior official at the Civil Secretariat said: “Though the Forest Department carried out special drives to get its encroached land retrieved, it has been facing a major challenge as far as the demarcation of forest cover is concerned. The satellite mapping will not only help the department to get its area demarcated, but it will come to know the effects of various projects, including afforestation, initiated to save the ‘green gold’ of the state.” The official said the project would further help the state government in assessing the density of forest, availability of medicinal plants and non-timber forest produce existing in the state. “The project is first of its kind and the government has attached much-significance to it. Though the government is still awaiting the response from ISRO, it is hopeful the project will take off either in the last week of May or in June. By the time, snow-capped mountains will be free from white cover, which will help the authorities to collect the exact details”. According to government records, about 59 per cent of the forest area is under permanent snow cover, glaciers and cold desert (Ladakh region) where it is not possible to grow trees due to physical limitations. The forests of the state had been bearing the brunt over the decades resulting in the degradation of the forests to the extent of 50 per cent following tremendous pressure on it due to the increasing population and livestock. Official sources said the department had started various projects for the afforestation programme on non-forest and degraded forest lands.
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Festival to promote Gojri language, culture
Jammu, February 23 “This four-day long first-ever floating festival in the Gojri language was designed to promote Gujjar culture in a vibrant manner,” said Dr Javaid Rahi, chief editor of the Gojri section, JKAACL. He said the cultural meet was not only to provide a platform to discuss different shades of the Gojri language and culture but it would also help them in their endeavour to promote underdeveloped and unprivileged languages. He said more than 300 artists, poets and writers from the border areas of the state were participating in the cultural meet which would be held in different educational institutions, thus enabling them to search new talent of border districts in tribal languages. Shahid Iqbal, SDM, Noushera, said the writer and the artist community had a key role in the construction of identities. He impressed upon the intellectuals of the tribal language “Gojri” to guide the downtrodden community through their writings. After the inaugural session, five research papers on different aspects of Gujjar history, culture language and folklore were presented by eminent scholars. Prominent Gojri scholar and a former MLC Ch. Gulzar Khatana presided over the event. A Mehfil-e-Afsana was also held on the occasion, which was presided over by prominent Bakerwal leader and scholar Mian Nazir Ahmed. Those who read out their short stories on the occasion included Zakir Nawaz, Yaseen Naz, Khalid Wafa, Tariq Fahim, Gulzar Gulshan and others. Later in musical evening, renowned Gojri artists, including Parvaiz Malik and party, Rukhsana Kousar and party, Shabnum Hussain and party and Ishfaq Mir and party, presented different angles of the Gojri folk music. A full-length Gojri play “DAAJ” written and directed by Shoukat Naseem was appreciated by the audience. As many as 25 local artists took part in the play, which was aimed at eradicating social evils. Earlier, a Gojri mushaira was held, which was presided over by an eminent Gojri writer Prof Mirza Khan Waqar. As many as 45 poets recited their latest kalam in Gojri. Dr Shah Nawaz conducted the proceedings and presented the vote of thanks. The local Asar Group presented the dances of the Gujjar tribe on the occasion.
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Ladakh sector to be developed as mega tourist destination
Jammu, February 23 “Leh-Ladakh region would be developed as mega tourist destination...The Centre has given nod to the JK government's project of setting up Rs 22.43-crore Trans-Himalayan Cultural Centre at Leh and has released Rs 4.48 crore as first instalment,” Tourism and Culture Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora said here. Under the project, galleries of Western Tibetan Buddhism, Trans Himalayan region, silk route, Ladakhi culture, lifestyle and traditional customs, craft centre, meditation hall, visitor's hall, lounges would be set up to promote the rich culture heritage of the region, he said. The minister said the government would provide the land for the project free of cost. — PTI
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Teachers’ delegation meets Chief Minister
Jammu, February 23 The Chief Minister briefed the joint delegation that the state government had already taken up the matter with the Ministry of Human Resource Development, along with the related aspects of the 6th Pay Commission recommendations, for a quite good number of times. However, the 20 per cent of the arrears should be released during the current financial year, he added.
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KU professor awarded
Srinagar, February 23 The award was conferred on Ganai on the occasion of the inauguration of a national conference on Modern Trends in Plant Sciences held at TC College, Baramati district, Pune (Maharashtra), recently, a spokesperson for the University of Kashmir said here. The award comprises a gold medal and a citation, which he received from the chief guest of the conference, AP Karvei, chairman, Appropriate Agricultural Technology Institute, Pune. Ganai has also received three awards in 2011 which include the Einstein’s Award of Excellence. He and his scholar received the Young Investigators Award in the Environment, Genes, Health and Diseases International Conference (EGHD-2011) held at Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore (Tamil
Nadu).
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Chhoona Hai Aasman staged in Baramulla
Srinagar, February 23 About 50 contestants participated in the event which was organised at the District Police Lines, Baramulla, earlier this week. The participants were judged in different fields of their talent which included solo singing, solo dance, group dance, acting and comedy. “A large number of youth participated in the programme and appreciated the efforts of the state police to garner the hidden talent of the youth and providing a platform to their talent,” a police spokesperson said while commenting upon the event. “People welcomed the move and were of the opinion that such events should be organised in future as well,” the spokesperson added. The participants who qualified “Chhoona Hai Aasman-2” round held in Baramulla would participate in the next round at the North Kashmir Range level which would be conducted soon.
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State harnesses 2,461 MW of electricity: Governor Jammu, February 23 “Against the power generation potential of 20,000 MW of electricity, only 2,461 MW have been harnessed in the state so far,” he said while delivering a joint address to the State Legislature which started here for the Budget session yesterday. “The government has evolved a multi-pronged strategy which focuses on establishing new hydro-electric projects in the state under joint ventures and through private initiatives,” he said. He said three hydel power projects with a total installed capacity of 203 MW (New Ganderbal 93 MW, Lower Kalnaie 50 MW and Parnaie 60 MW) had been tendered by the State Power Development Corporation and these projects would be executed under the EPC Mode. One unit of 11 MW capacity of Chutak HEP (44 MW) in Kargil had been commissioned, the remainder 2 units of 11 MW each of this project were likely to be commissioned during the current financial year, he said. The 45 MW Nimoo Bazgo project in Leh district would be commissioned by September 2012, while the 240 MW Uri-II HEP in Kashmir was at an advanced stage of execution and was expected to be commissioned by the NHPC during this year, the Governor said. The transmission and distribution network of the state had been considerably strengthened with the completion of 220 KV grid stations at Mir Bazar, Budgam, Ramban and Bishnah in the state. As a result, the state was able to draw and supply more power during the winter season, he said. He added that the transmission and distribution (T&D) losses continue to be a cause of serious concern. “The government will be addressing this problem through Re-structured Accelerated Power Development Reforms Programme (R-APDRP), under which the power utilities are now being mandated to reduce T&D losses by 3 per cent per annum for a period of 5 years, through suitable technological and management interventions,” he said. The utilisation of new and renewable sources of energy to supplement the power requirements, with a special focus on the un-electrified villages in the far flung areas, shall continue to receive top priority. As many as 25,000 households in the un-electrified villages across the state had been provided the solar home lighting systems in the current year, taking the total households covered under this initiative to 42,000 till date, he said. About 15,150 solar lanterns were provided to Gujjar and Bakerwal families for meeting small lighting requirements. — PTI
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Srinagar Diary Many roads and lanes in the towns are also in a similar condition. These problems continue to bother the residents, especially schoolchildren who would be returning to schools next week after a long winter break. It is time for the PWD authorities to initiate repair work for the convenience of the general public. City of darkness A walk on the city roads in evenings is a horrifying experience. While the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) has run out of ideas as far as tackling the menace of stray dogs is concerned, it has also failed to install adequate number of streetlights. Not just the pedestrians, people riding two-wheelers or driving cars face several problems as they are forced to use full beam headlights that blind the drivers coming from the opposite direction. Though a few streetlights can be spotted on some main roads, most of them are non-functional. Surprisingly, many main roads, too, remain dark in the evening hours. It is high time that the government wakes up and installs streetlights and makes the damaged ones functional. (Contributed by Ehsan Fazili
and M Aamir Khan)
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Jammu trade fair a big draw
Jammu, February 23 According to Shelakha Verma, a visitor, “These exhibitions provide an opportunity to purchase the exquisite crafts at one place. We get a variety of things here like crockery from Azamgarh, silk from Banaras, footwear from Rajasthan and other things”. “Rajasthan food stalls, chats from different states and other food items are adding to the fun here. We rarely find these things in Jammu,” she added. Haji Shakeel, a trader from Banaras, said, “These initiatives are good for the customers as well as the traders. I participated in the Silk Mark Expo also and earned a benefit of around Rs 10 lakh”. “We get a very good response in Jammu,” he added. There had been a number of exhibitions at Kala Kendra, Jammu, for the past few months. The Silk Mark Expo organised recently was also a big success here.
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State to prioritise medicinal plant cultivation
Jammu, February 23 “The JKMPB should prioritise the promotion of medicinal plant cultivation in the potential areas of the state with focus on involvement of locals,” Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma said at the 5th Governing Body Meeting of the board here recently. The minister asked authorities to focus on the ground work, particularly involvement of farmers in the cultivation of medicinal plants, which have “great market demand both at national and international level”. Sharma said if promoted properly on commercial basis, “the cultivation of medicinal plants can provide employment to thousands of unemployed youth across the state”. — PTI
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Police builds database of residents
Srinagar, February 23 Besides the number of persons living in a particular dwelling, they will also seek details about the occupation of residents. The exercise had been undertaken particularly in areas which had been notorious for street protests during the 2008-09 turmoil, the sources said. — PTI
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Jammu, February 23
As the sun has started shining again, though intermittently, waterlogging and potholes on roads have become a common sight (see photo). It is not only the city roads, but also roads in the districts have poodles of water. Frequent rains in the hinterland and snow in the upper reaches have filled the vast paddy fields with water, which otherwise used to remain barren in winter.