Jammu, January 4
The traffic police has recovered a whooping Rs 10 crore as fine for traffic violations last year. Such widespread violations resulted in the death of 1,100 persons last year.

The traffic police had fined 3, 36, 260 violators till November alone.

The number of violations was 2.38 per cent higher than those in 2011. "A total of 3, 36,260 challans were issued for violation of traffic norms in 2011, while the number was 3.79 lakh in 2010," a source said. In 2009, 4.39 lakh challans were issued.

Sources said though the authorities strictly enforced the laws to restore sanity on the roads, yet they have failed to achieve the desired results so far. "With the rise in such violations, there was a significant increase in the revenue collection from the violators. Up to November, 2012, the Traffic police had collected Rs 9.68 crore as fine from violators. In 2011, the revenue collection from challans was Rs 8.91 crore, while the in 2010 it was Rs 7.27 crore. In 2009, the revenue collection was Rs 7.56 crore," said an official.

A senior traffic police officer said there was immediate need to increase the penalty amount to curb the violations on the roads. "The existing amount of fine does not hurt the violators. Despite the fact that long deliberations were held on increasing the penalty amount, the government is yet to take a decision in this regard,” the officer said.

"During 2011-12, an increase of 12 per cent vehicles was registered in the state with 98,805 vehicles getting registered across the state.

In 2010, the state had witnessed an increase of 11.92 per cent in vehicle registration," sources said.

The total number of registered vehicles had crossed the 10-lakh mark.

“It was not only an increase in the number of vehicles and traffic violations, but the state government also recorded an increase in the number of accidents in the state. In 2009, 6,006 accidents took place claiming the lives of 1,126 persons, while the number of accidents was 6,136 in 2010 claiming 1,042 lives. In 2011, the total number of accidents was 6,644, which claimed the lives of 1,120 persons. Up to November, 2012, the number of accidents was 6,244 claiming the lives of 1,028 persons," official sources said.

accident toll In 2009, 6,006 accidents took place claiming the lives of 1,126 persons 6,136 accidents claimed 1,042 lives in 2010 In 2011, 6,644 accidents claimed 1,120 lives Till November, 2012, 1,028 lives were lost in 6,244 accidents

Jammu, January 4
Inspector General of Police Traffic (IG) Munir Ahmad Khan today ordered that as per the court orders, curtains must be removed from all kinds of vehicles, including government vehicles.

The public in general and the vehicle owners, including drivers in particular, have been asked to remove curtains from their vehicles besides black films, tinted glass or any other material reducing visibility inside the vehicle.

He said if any vehicle, including government vehicle, was found using curtains, black films or tinted glass, it would be impounded. Khan said the use of black films/tinted glasses/curtains and other allied material would not only amount to a violation of the court orders but would also amount to the contempt of court.

Jammu, January 4
Representatives of various educational institutions have decided to seek reduction in the fee for single paper system for Higher Secondary part-II (Class XII). The J&K State Board of School Education (JKBOSE) had turned down the request of these institutions to reduce the fee.

The Tribune had earlier reported that after introducing a single-paper system in the Higher Secondary Part-II Examination (Class XII) in 2011, the school education board had rejected the demand of educational institutions to reduce the fee.

Sources said the owners of private educational institutions of Jammu had met the JKBOSE authorities and appealed them to rethink over the decision. But the JKBOSE authorities had made it clear that there was no logic behind the fee reduction. Sources said in the previously held annual examinations for Class XII, some of the aspirants belonging to the economically weak sections studying in the private institutions had informed the management that they were unable to submit the fees and appealed to them to pay the required fee to save their academic session.

Sources said the educational institutions decided to approach the school education board after that but to no avail.

It may be mentioned here that Rs 660 is being charged from the candidates by the school education board for filling the examination form of Class XII. “The JKBOSE has done a commendable job by introducing a single paper system because the earlier process was not only a time-consuming affair but it has often taken a toll on the candidates. We are now planning to meet the authorities concerned to apprise them of the entire scenario,” he claimed.

VR Sharma, Joint Secretary (Examination), BOSE, said, “The department has no proposal to reduce the present fee structure for the Higher Secondary Part-II examination.” To reduce stress on candidates who were not comfortable with the pattern of A and B papers, the school education board had convened a meeting of its officials and decided unanimously to introduce single- paper system at par with the Central Board of School Education (CBSE).

minister speak
Under this system, marks secured by a candidate be counted on the basis of the marks obtained by him/her out of 500 instead of 750 (in all the five subjects) of Higher Secondary Part-II examination

Jammu, January 4
The Water Works (PHE) Employees Association, Jammu, held a protest today to express concern over the alleged callous attitude of the authorities at the PHE Office, BC Road here.

Association Provincial President Shiv Kumar Sharma asked the authorities to look after the property of the department. He claimed that some motor rooms, chowkidar quarters were in a shabby condition and the authorities concerned had opted for temporary arrangements instead of repair work of the rooms.

He said the applications/representations of the field staff were not addressed. Shiv also demanded that the overburdened officers must be relieved of their additional charge. He also condemned the policy of hiring daily workers in large number.

Jammu, January 4
The demand for traditional heaters, halogen heaters, oil heaters, heat convectors and other heating appliances has witnessed a surge by 35 per cent in the Northern region. These are the findings of a recent market analysis-cum survey on heating appliances conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (ASSOCHAM).

With the dip in mercury breaking records by the day, the demand for heating appliances in the region has nearly doubled from 20 per cent last year to more than 35 per cent this year due to the recent onslaught of cold weather across North and Western parts of India.

The survey also states there is a supply deficit of 20 per cent in terms of heating appliances almost across the entire region and this has also lead to a rise in their prices due to the sudden spurt in demand owing to continued cold spell across north, more so over the past 10 days.

As per ASSOCHAM estimates, the organised heating appliances’ segment is likely to cross Rs 150 crore this season from more than Rs 80 crore last season. “Apart from the shortfall in the supply of heating gadgets, the cost of branded products across varied makes has also spiked by 15 per cent adding to the woes of the people seeking heating options during the most severe winter seasons over recent years,” said Rawat from ASSOCHAM.

According to ASSOCHAM analysis, the demand for heating appliances might swell further with weather experts claiming that February and March will witness further dip in the temperatures. About 18 to 20 lakh pieces of room heaters across various categories are likely to be sold by the end of the season.

During last fortnight (December 25-January 3) ASSOCHAM representatives interacted with 150 manufacturers, sales and marketing managers at electrical appliances’ stores and shopkeepers in Amritsar, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Delhi-NCR, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Lucknow, Patna and Srinagar to ascertain the market for the heating appliances considering the decline in the temperatures and persisting cold wave.

Almost all the electronic appliances’ manufacturers said they had scaled up the production of heating appliances by 25 per cent over last year but still the demand surpassed their estimates due to a sharp decrease in the temperature.

The dip in mercury has proved good for their business they said. There has been an unprecedented surge in the demand over the past 10 days and has surpassed what it was last year, they said. The shortage in supply would not be met this year as heaters are manufactured well in advance, they said.

Most of the manufacturers said due to the input price inflation they had increased the prices of these appliances by 15-20 per cent this season.

A majority of shopkeepers and electrical goods dealers at Lajpat Rai market, Bhagirath Palace and Daryaganj in Delhi said they were out of stock in terms of heating appliances as there was no supply.

Rajouri, January 4
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) workers and residents of Rajouri district protested against the district administration and the Boarder Road Organisation (BRO’s) for the low quality work on the Thanamandi- Rajouri road.

Traffic remained closed for over one hour on the busy road which connects famous Mughal Road, Sahadra Sharif, Thanamandi, Dharal and many other adjoining areas today.

The protesters claimed that they had repeatedly pointed out to officials of the road construction departments about the poor quality of the work, black topping, build the culvert and broken pipelines, but no one noticed it forcing them to take to the path of protest. — OC

Jammu, January 4
Phalguni Manhas and Manjeet Kaur of Jammu have made it to the final round of auditions for the upcoming Pond’s Femina Miss India 2013 contest to be held in Delhi on January 6.

More than 100 young women took part in the auditions held here today. The auditions were held for the first time for girls from the state. Having launched the careers of the likes of Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta and Priyanka Chopra, the pageant is celebrating its 50 years.

Rajouri, January 4
District Development Commissioner (DDC) Rajouri, Saugat Biswas has today placed three government employees under suspension, a day after a Naib tehsildar allegedly manhanded an Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) in border Rajouri district.

However, various wings of engineers’ of Rajouri district, who were on pen-down strike demanded an FIR against the Naib tehsildar for slapping an AEE in presence of full public on Wednesday, have suspended their strike for one-week after the DDC has suspended three persons, besides the Naib tehsildar involved in manhandling.

Mohammad Unees Malik, district president, Engineering Association (DEA), while talking to the reporters informed that the DEA has given seven days time to the district administration to take action against the Naib tehsildar, who was the main culprit in the heinous act of assault on an officer, who was on duty.

“Besides slapping in the presence of SHO, Darhal, and in full public, victim Ravi Raina, AEE, PWD (R&B) sub-division, Shadra Sharief was also manhandled by the revenue officials inside the tehsildar office at Darhal where he was taken to settle the dispute,” said Unees Malik.

He further said engineers had joined their duties today and thanked the DDC for taking action against the three government employees.

On Wednesday, people had blocked the Rajouri-Darhal Road against its bad condition. Commuters alleged that the dilapidating condition of the road was creating problems. During the discussion, the AEE and Naib tehsildar, who as a magistrate reached on the spot, got into a hot discussion where the Naib tehsildar slapped AEE.

After the incident all the Engineers under the leadership of Sadiq Khan, XEN, and PWD met with DDC Saugat Biswas. The DDC immediately constituted a four-member committee headed by Additional DC Matloob Khan to inquire the incident and file report within three days.

After the interim report submitted by the Additional DC today, the DDC placed under suspension three persons, identified as Sajad Mehmood, patwari at tehsil HQ, Mohd Qasim, revenue clerk and Wasim Mirza a Rehber-e-Taleem (ReT) teacher. Mohammad Qasim revenue clerk was already facing suspension in a ‘fake gun license’ racket and has been attached at Sunderbani.

Jammu, January 4
Panun Kashmir has announced to observe the Holocaust Day on January 19 as black day as it was on this day that the Kashmiri Pandit community was forced to go into exile.

Addressing the activists and the community members, Kuldeep Raina, general secretary, Panun Kashmir said, "January 19 is the black day in the history of India when the secular and democratic India failed to protect the tight to life, property, religion and culture of the Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley.”

“Indian state remained silent to the genocide inflicted on the community and within no time the upholders of the Indian nation were rendered homeless and subjected to penury in their own state and country,” he said.

Panun Kashmir would observe the day as the black day to send the message to the nationalists all over India and the international community that even after 23 years of religious cleansing and genocide inflicted on the Kashmiri Pandits, their killers had not been brought to justice as per the law of the land and the covenants of the international human rights.

He said, “Panun Kashmir is observing a massive protest all over India and in Jammu. The community members would assemble at the Jagti Camp, Nagrota, to register their protest on January 19 and send the message that our silence is not dumb but the reflective silence of the community which is conscious of its human rights and we will not rest till the killers and persecutors of the community are not brought to justice.”

Katra, January 4
The district administration has set up 351 booths for the first phase of pulse polio drive of 2013 which is targeting to administer polio drops to some 52,000 children.

Of the 351 booths, the hilly terrain of Mahore has the maximum of 146 booths, followed by Pouni with 84, Katra with 61 and Reasi with 60.

As many as 14 mobile teams and 24 transit teams had been set up for door-to-door campaign.

“Mahore, with 25,200 kids, has the highest number of kids, who are below the age of five years. It is followed by Pouni with 10,095 kids. Katra has 9,800 kids while Reasi has 7,237 kids,” said Nirmal Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, Reasi, who is also the chairman of the district health society.

She said specials booths and mobile teams had been set up to cater the yatra at Vaishno Devi and Shiv Khori Shrine during the campaign.

The district administration had appointed 71 supervisors while 1,404 had been appointed as vaccinators. The Health Department is targeting two towns in the urban areas while 255 villages in the rural areas.

It is estimated that 123 vehicles are required for the drive. This time, students at nursing schools have been deputed for the drive, the official stated.

Jammu, January 4
The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is going to launch two new products namely ‘New Jeevan Nidhi’-a deferred pension plan and ‘Flexi Plus’-a unit-linked assurance plan.

While briefing the media, senior divisional manager DC Thakur informed that the LIC of India’s Flexi Plus plan was a unit-linked insurance profit. He said the plan not only provides a lump sum benefit on death but also the maturity benefit, irrespective of survival of the policyholder.

He said the policy holder could choose the amount of premium he/she desires to pay, depending on which equivalent level of cover would be provided. The divisional manager said there was a flexibility to choose policy term, mode of payment and fund type.

He also disclosed that the LIC of India, Srinagar division, had shown growth of 9.97 per cent on policies and 18.37 per cent on the first premium income as on December 31, 2012. Thakur further informed that Srinagar division had achieved 1,21,921 policies with 141.81 crore of the first premium income.

He said the Government of India’s initiative to provide social security to masses through micro insurance was also doing good in Srinagar division with a growth of 64.2 per cent. 

Rajouri, January 4
Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University Vice-Chancellor Prof Irshad Ahmed Hamal along with other university officers today released calendar of the varsity for 2013.

For the first time, the authorities had adopted the calendar as per the state government holidays for which the General Administration Department had issued an order no 1,324 on December 13.

The calendar was released at the Vice-Chancellor’s Secretariat lawn by Vice-Chancellor Prof Irshad Ahmed Hamal, Registrar Mohammad Rashid Choudhary, Controller of Examination Mohammad Ishaq, special secretary to Vice-Chancellor Suneet Gupta, Deputy Registrar HR and Planning Dr Ashfaq Zarri, Head of Department of Management Studies Prof SK Gupta, Head of Engineering Wing BR Chadgal and Assistant Registrar Academic Affairs Shabina Nazir.

The calendar has highlighted the historic moments of first convocation of the university which was held on December 16.

Following release of the university calendar, Vice-Chancellor Prof Irshad Ahmed Hamal termed 2012 as the historic year for the university when the institution had organised its first convocation and got funds from the University Grants Commission and the state government.

The Vice-Chancellor thanked Chancellor and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, University Grants Commissions and other aiding agencies of the university for their support in the development of the university. He said 2013 is an year of challenge for the university and they would strive hard to speed up the educational development of the university.

The Vice-Chancellor said they had released their information bulletin for the admissions.

Srinagar, January 4
Known for making controversial statements, MLA Langate Engineer Rasheed today said the people of Kashmir should not give up their demand for the implementation of the United Nations (UN) resolutions.

“Kashmiris should not give up their demand for implementation of the United Nations resolutions by surrendering to the illogical arguments that these resolutions are now outdated to resolve the long pending Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” Langate said in a statement issued here.

As UN had passed a resolution on January 5, 1949, Rasheed said: “January 5 knocks at conscience of world community in general and Indian and Pakistani leadership in particular to wake them up and fulfil their commitment made to the people of the state.”

“The argument that much time has gone since 1947 and the circumstances have made the UN resolutions irrelevant is purely ridiculous. India and Pakistan themselves know that without doing justice with the Kashmiri people they cannot move even an inch to resolve their issues among which Kashmir dispute is the main core unresolved issue,” he said.

Rasheed said Kashmiris should not dilute their stand towards the resolution of Kashmir issue as the Government of India had thrown the same into dustbin.

Jammu, January 4
J&K defeated defending champions Haryana by six wickets in the 58th National School Games U-14 Boys Cricket Tournament being organised by the Department of Sports, New Delhi, under the aegis of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) in Delhi today.

Bowling first, J&K restricted Haryana to a total of 98 runs in the stipulated 20 overs. Ashish was the top scorer with 45 runs while Aman contributed 26 runs. For J&K, Mujeeb Mansoor Bhat was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets while Tehzeem chipped in with one wicket.

In reply, J&K overhauled the target easily in 17.5 overs by losing four wickets. Meeran Manzoor, Mohd Owais Wani and Shahid Rasool contributed 20 runs each. The J&K team is being accompanied by Zahoor Rather and Sandeepan as manager and coach, respectively.

Meanwhile, in girls’ section, J&K eves eased past Tamil Nadu by eight wickets with consummate ease at Kohlapur in Maharashtra.

Earlier, batting first, Tamil Nadu skittled out for a paltry of 44 runs in 10.5 overs with Belinda (8) being the top scorer.

For J&K, Ruhi Bilal was the wrecker-in-chief with a four-wicket haul while Ruksara and Nadia claimed two wickets apiece. Sayeema took one wicket.

J&K, in reply, did the needful in just 6.1 overs for the loss of two wickets. Ruksara scored 12 runs while Jaspreet and Sheikh Nayeema remained unbeaten on 12 and nine runs, respectively. Ruhi Bilal was adjudged woman of the match for her splendid bowling performance.

As many as 13 states/union territories drawn from all over India are taking part in the tournament. J&K will now face Chattisgarh in their next match tomorrow.