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Excise Department in a spot
Voice of the youth gets stronger
SPOs at GMCH demand parent dept
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Students lock principal, JU registrar in a room
Reasi-Katra road becomes a dumping ground
Want a home in Valley but safety must: Manoj Raina
PDD fails to regularise illegal connections
Rectification in voters’ list sought
Will foil evil designs of anti-national forces: BJP
Orientation programme held at MBS College
Bus service flagged off
18 bovines rescued, 3 smugglers held
Payal of RWCC adjudged woman of the series
Football players raise pitch for infrastructural facilities
PCC log win in T20 tourney
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Excise Department in a spot
Jammu, September 13 The irony of the situation is the department is well aware of the “illegal occupation” of its property by some retired officials, government departments and security forces, but it has failed to take “necessary action” to retrieve these assets. Moreover, a good number of buildings and plots are still lying idle but the department has not taken any initiative to utilise them either for commercial or organisation purpose. An official document revealed that the department had failed to act on the recommendations of a committee that was constituted to look into the “encroachments” and suggest measures to retrieve the assets under illegal occupation. “Four quarters of the department at Ambphalla is under the illegal occupation of some retired officials of the department. The committee had recommended necessary steps to get the building vacated and its disposal through public auction,” the document said. It further said that the property spread over an area of 2,645 square feet was in a shambles and not being used. “There is an apprehension of it being encroached upon,” the document said. Similarly, the offices at Rehari and Canal bridge were lying closed and were awaiting auction. “The erstwhile Toll Post at Banihal measuring 10 kanals 5 marlas had been rented out to M/s IRCON. The Committee has found that an attempt for encroachment had already been reported and it needs immediate auction,” the document said, adding that octroi post buildings at Nowpora and Amdakadal in Srinagar, owned by the department, had been illegally occupied by the Border Security Force (BSF), which should be vacated from the BSF and then put to public auction. Vineeta Gupta, Excise Commissioner, said she had no information, whatsoever, of any official document (available on website of the department) relating to “illegal occupation” of assets of the department. “I am yet to go through the document because I am not aware of it. I have not checked as to who uploaded the document and whether it is an old document. I will find out whether the website has been updated,” the Commissioner said. Buildings encroached
Four quarters of the Excise Dept at Ambphalla by some retired officials Toll Post at Banihal measuring 10 kanals and 5 marlas by M/s IRCON Octroi post buildings at Nowpora and Amdakadal in Srinagar by the BSF |
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Voice of the youth gets stronger
Jammu, September 13 Students say through these associations, they enjoy the contentment of being involved in social activities. Manoj, a third year student, who is a member of a student union for two years, says, “My association with this student union has helped me in channelising my energy and thought process towards raising relevant social questions and protesting against corruption at the local level.” National Secular Forum president Vikas Sharma says, “Though student unions in Jammu are still young in terms of garnering massive support and are not at the level of student unions in bigger cities, they are picking up fast. We are working steadily towards generating a youth base which is aware of people’s problems and issues associated with local politics. Gradually, all student associations will mature into something more relevant.” The Ladakh Students’ Association counsels students who come for studies from outside the city. “We have been associated with students’ welfare for a long time. Not only do we provide them a political platform to express their opinions but also financial assistance in case of an emergency.” Last week, students of Gandhi Nagar Women’s College and those of the Science and Parade Ground College for Women jointly protested against rising cases of eve teasing outside colleges.
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SPOs at GMCH demand parent dept
Jammu, September 13 An SPO told The Tribune that they have also lodged a protest with the administration this morning to underline their problems. He said there was resentment among them as their monthly wages were being held up for over 15 days every month. “We are not getting our wages in time whereas our counterparts at the police posts and police stations have been getting their remunerations by the first or second day of every month. We get a meagre amount of Rs 3,000 per month and even that is not paid to us in time,” he added. The SPO said other reason for their anguish was the misconduct they face while performing their duties. He said, “No one from the GMCH staff treats us as security person. Most of the times, we face embarrassment and humiliation from doctors and other staff members. No one can give similar treatment to our counterparts in other stations. We have demanded our reinstatement in the parent department.” He said the protesters were pacified by the in charge of GMCH police post, who assured that their wages would be given by the afternoon. The SPOs were deployed in the GMCH security in February this year. Earlier, the security of the hospital was handled by a private firm. Since then, many incidents of rift between the SPOs and other staff members have come to light. At present, 88 SPOs have been working in the GMCH in three shifts. Thirty-eight SPOs perform duty in the morning shift, 25 in the afternoon and 25 in the night shift. |
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Students lock principal, JU registrar in a room
Jammu, September 13 The Registrar had come to see the condition of the building, which was partially damaged recently. While talking to the protesting students, he said though the university campus did not have space for accommodating the institute, they could find an alternative solution. The students got furious over his comment and locked the registrar and principal of the institute in a room for half an hour. They opened the door after getting a written assurance that they would get an alternate building by tomorrow. The students boycotted their classes for the fourth consecutive day and protested against the administration. They refused to join the classes till a new building is arranged for them. Mohit, a student of the institute, said, “This problem is not a new one. For the past 20 years, the situation is same and it is getting worse day by day. We will not join the classes in the same building and will intensify the agitation if a new building is not provided to us by tomorrow.” The Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University, Prof Mohan Pal Singh Ishar, had on Tuesday said the university was not shifting the institute to some other building but the students are adamant that they will not join the classes in the same building. He had mentioned that the construction of a new building would cost Rs 40-50 lakh and the university did not have funds for the same. |
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Reasi-Katra road becomes a dumping ground
Katra, September 13 Katra is one of the busiest towns of the state. The problem has been aggravating since there is no site earmarked for disposing of solid waste here. Millions of pilgrims visit Katra every year creating ecological degradation in the town. Over 1 crore pilgrims visit the shrine annually. Despite the number of pilgrims has been increasing every year, nothing concrete has been done so far to treat waste. Due to non-availability of dumping sites, many hoteliers and local residents throw garbage in the open, especially on the Reasi road. The authorities have repeatedly claimed to make Katra a model town but piles of garbage just 500 meters away from here belie all these claims. Garbage spread on the road emanates stinking smell all over. The officials are very much aware that untreated garbage is breeding ground for bacteria causing various contagious diseases. The breakout of a pestilence may have large-scale implications since a big chunk of population will get affected from this as people from all over the country visit the town every day. The Katra Municipal Committee Executive Officer, Ravi Kumar, admits the garbage disposal has been a big problem in the town. "For years, everything has been going on in a casual manner. Throwing of such huge garbage poses a major health hazard to the residents here,” Kumar said. He said as many 200 kanals has been approved on the outskirts of Katra town for garbage dumping and the civic body would take possession of the land soon.
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Want a home in Valley but safety must: Manoj Raina
Jammu, September 13 Raina says keeping in mind the current volatile situation in Kashmir, he is waiting for more opportune time when the situation becomes safer to go back to his homeland. “I always dreamt of going back to my homeland and build a house there. But looking at the present situation, I need security assurance and also land at a place where I feel safe,” Raina said while speaking to The Tribune. “Tomorrow, I will meet Minister for Revenue and Relief Raman Bhalla and discuss my future plans. Though I want to go to Kashmir to build a house there but things are not that easy. It is not feasible to build a house in my native village Chowgam in Qazigunbd. Therefore, I will request for land where I may feel secure,” he said. The KBC winner said he would have given a thought of buying a house in Delhi or some other metropolitan city but that would be expensive. “Had I won Rs 5 crore, then I might have thought of buying house anywhere and done some charity.” The 48-year-old is a diehard fan of Amitabh Bachchan. He calls the moment very special when Amitabh announced him the winner of Rs 1 crore. He remembers a time when he would wait for film star’s visit to Kashmir to have a glimpse of him. Working as an assistant in the India Railways, Manoj is presently posted in Sangaldan, Ramban. Manoj says he had a very difficult times preparing for the game.
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PDD fails to regularise illegal connections
Poonch, September 13 Only 250 illegal power connections were regularised in the first two days of the campaign, departmental sources said. Following a deepening power crisis due to huge power theft in the district, the higher authorities had directed the PDD to launch a drive to regularise 45,028 illegal power connections within a stipulated time without imposing any fine. The PDD Poonch in a recent direction had informed that in out of 88,876 households in the district, 77,235 have power connections. Only 32,207 households have registered power connections while the rest 45,028 were having illegal connections, sources said. The PDD Poonch has to bear a loss of Rs 50,000 lakh every month due to this. The department has set an income target of Rs 22 crore per year. Last year, it had to bear a loss of Rs 6 crore. The department has been organising camps to regularise illegal power connections. But only a few people attended the camp due to ill planning, sources said. Villagers said the department had not informed them and hence they could not attend camps at Poonch and Mendher. “Though most of illegal connections are in rural areas while the camps are being organised in towns,” a villager said. Some villagers said the department was not keen in regularising illegal connections as they had largely failed to provide regular power to villages. “Initially, the awareness camps are being organised at tehsil headquarters and thereafter we will reach the block and village level,” said Maqbool Hussain, PDD officiating engineer. Once the drive concludes, department teams will visit every house and check loads in non-metered areas but the drive against defaulters will continue, officials said. Power department’s woes continue
Illegal power connections cause loss to the tune of Rs 50,000 lakh per month to PDD Poonch The department incurred a loss of Rs 6 crore last year Few people have attended the camps organised by the PDD Sources say once the drive concludes, department teams will visit every house and check loads in non-metered areas |
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Rectification in voters’ list sought
Jammu, September 13 Navin Jandial, one of the contestants in the upcoming elections, said today the elections should be based on the guidelines mentioned in the written constitution of the RBBA. Contesting for the post of general secretary, Navin said nothing significant had been done so far regarding the rectification of voters’ list. He claimed that the existing body was not conducting the business as per the written constitution of the RBBA, which was a registered body. Jandial further said he had sent written submission in this regard to the president, office-bearers and all the members of the RBBA when he was a member of the governing body. The RBBA elections were earlier scheduled to be held on August 26 but later the office-bearers and executive body members deferred it. Later, another meeting was held on September 3 wherein it was decided to conduct elections on September 16.
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Will foil evil designs of anti-national forces: BJP
Jammu, September 13 BJP state president Shamsher Singh Manhas said Taploo was a great patriot who worked throughout his life for strengthening the nationalist forces in the state and sacrificed his life while fighting against the separatist elements in the Valley. He said Taploo played a very effective role in taking the RSS ideology to each corner of Kashmir besides working for popularisation of the ideology and principles of the BJP among all sections of the society. Jitendra Singh, BJP chief spokesman, said that Taploo was a man of strong conviction with a golden heart and therefore the assassins who killed him must have also repented for having committed the sin. “By killing him they may have silenced his voice but Taploo’s uncompromising patriotism and nationalism found its echo across India and inspired a countrywide outrage and formation of strong will against seccessionist terrorism in Kashmir valley,” he added. Party leader Chander Mohan Sharma said that Taploo had put civil resistance against separatist politics and also produced a number of fighters against secessionist ideology. “I also pay tributes to all such patriots who sacrificed their lives in the Valley during all these years of militancy,” he added.
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Orientation programme held at MBS College
Jammu, September 13 Mahant Manjit Singh, sole trustee of the college, was the chief guest on the occasion. He asked the students to remain disciplined and inculcate moral values in their life. Principal SK Badyal welcomed the chief guest and other dignitaries. He highlighted the achievements made by the college and called upon the new students to be more disciplined and focused in their studies. Sudershan Singh Wazir, member management committee, highlighted the importance of education and exhorted to the students to word hard and excel in various fields |
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Traffic police launches challan drive
Rajouri, September 13 To curb over speeding, removal of tinted glasses and driving without helmet, Traffic Mobile Magistrate Parvez Iqbal laid a naka outside Dak Banglow against traffic offenders and produced on the spot challans to those who were found violating traffic rules. Parvez Iqbal said, "We are conducting such drives on regular basis to curb traffic violations on city roads. We have not yet challaned any tinted glass so far which is a good sign." He said the police was challaning those who had incomplete documents, over speeding, driving without helmet, and other things which come under road safety or traffic norms.
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Bus service flagged off
Ramban,September 13 The 42-seater bus will ferry college students between Batote and Degree College, Ramban. Expressing gratitude to the MP for providing the facility, college principal SS Bhalwal said that only a nominal fare would be charged from students to meet the expenses and maintenance of the bus. He said the students of BPL, SC and ST categories would be reimbursed their fare every year under the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms. |
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18 bovines rescued, 3 smugglers held
Rajouri, September 13 Sources said the police got information about bovines being transported to Kashmir. Follwoing this, a naka was laid near Drali bridge. The police team intercepted three Tata Mobiles from which 18 bovines were recovered. The police seized the vehicles and arrested Mohammed Tufil, Muzaffer Iqbal and Sarfraz. A case has been registered a case under Section 188 of the RPC and 3 PCA ACT and investigations are on.
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Payal of RWCC adjudged woman of the series
Jammu, September 13 The PCA XI emerged victorious in the first two matches with utmost ease while the RWCC managed a win in the third and final match in an exciting contest. Earlier, in the first match, the PCA registered a 19-run win over the RWCC. Batting first, the PCA accumulated 131 runs in the stipulated 35 overs with Reva (26), Meenu (23), Shranjit (20), Asha (14) and Diksha (13) as the main contributors. For the RWCC, Sandhya Sayal was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets. Payal and Nayana shared two wickets apiece. In reply, the RWCC could manage only 112 runs in their allotted quota of overs losing eight wickets in the process. Payal was the top scorer with 53 runs while Nayana and Anju chipped in with 22 and 18 runs, respectively. For PCA, Asha scalped three wickets whereas Reva and Mehak took two wickets each. Ritu and Diksha snared one wicket each. In another match, PCA got the better of RWCC by a comfortable margin of 42 runs. PCA garnered 151 runs with Reva and Jaskaran contributing 55 and 31 runs to the total respectively. For RWCC, Rohini Bharti took one wicket. In reply, the RWCC scored 109 runs in the allotted overs. Payal again struck a gutsy half century (51) while Anju, Upasana and Nayana contributed 22, 15 and 12 runs, respectively. For PCA, Diksha bagged three wickets while Mehak claimed two. In the third match, the RWCC notched up a thrilling win over the PCA by a thin margin of four runs. Batting first, the RWCC posted 100 runs in the stipulated 20 overs for the loss of six wickets.
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Football players raise pitch for infrastructural facilities
Jammu, September 13 “The way our team played against country’s professional club like Mohun Bagan and that too without the inclusion of key players proves the fact that we have the talent provided it should be given appropriate opportunities to prove its mettle,” one of the football players told The Tribune. “As far as playing skills is concerned, there is not much difference between both the teams but professionally there is a huge difference. Mohun Bagan and other national clubs of the country are enjoying full support of their respective authorities but here in J&K, we are still struggling to get the basic facilities, which is really unfortunate,” he added. “Playing against top professional sides will not only boost our morale but we should also know our weaknesses and strengths,” said another player. “Not only few matches, there is a need to conduct maximum tournaments of national repute if we want to further improve our skills,” the player maintained. “As far as the Valley is concerned, the game is very popular here because there are so many tournaments being conducted on a regular basis,” another player claimed. “Even there is much better infrastructure and that is why you find most of the footballers selected in the prestigious clubs of the country,” he added. “The state team’s disastrous performance in the recently concluded Santosh Trophy national football tournament was an eye opener and if the Jammu and Kashmir Football Association (JKFA) wants to avoid an early exit humiliation in the next edition, it should focus on conducting tournaments at regular intervials in both provinces so that the players are selected only on merit,” the player maintained. A senior official of the JKFA told The Tribune that the association was trying its best to bolster the standard of the game in the state. “The hosting of matches in the state against top clubs and teams shows that both the government and the JKFA is interested in promoting the game at the grassroots level”, he said. “We are thankful to the Union Sports Ministry and the state government for their assistance in organising such matches in J&K,” the official added.
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Jammu, September 13 Speaking on the occasion, the Superintendent of Police (SP) Doda highlighted the people-friendly approaches of the district police and utility of Civic Action Programme. He also sought cooperation of the general public, especially the youth in eradicating crime from the district. — TNS
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Jammu, September 13
Enraged over the delay in finding an alternate building for their institute, students of the Institute of Music and Fine Arts today locked registrar of Jammu University Naresh Padha along with principal of the institute in his room for half an hour.
Blanket ban on the use of polythene in the state notwithstanding, the authorities concerned have failed to implement the ban at the Katra base camp of the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.
Manoj Raina, the first crorepati of the Kaun Banega Crorepati Season-6 (KBC-6), wants to build a house of his own at his native place in the Valley but with a rider to it.
Raina says keeping in mind the current volatile situation in Kashmir, he is waiting for more opportune time when the situation becomes safer to go back to his homeland.
“I always dreamt of going back to my homeland and build a house there. But looking at the present situation, I need security assurance and also land at a place where I feel safe,” Raina said while speaking to The Tribune.
Rajouri, September 13
