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Official vehicles in top gear at JU
Enforcement wing of PDD becomes mere eyewash
MA Stadium betting case |
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MLAs panel cancels visit to Rajouri, to probe infant deaths
State govt ignoring us while preparing budget: AJHLA
DDC opens sports facilities
Rajouri District Development Commissioner, Saugat Biswas inaugurates sports facilities in border area villages of Rajouri on Wednesday. Photo: Ranjit Thakur
Parmodh Memorial T20 Cricket Tournament
Police training institutes to be upgraded, says ADGP
Inter-College
Cricket Tournament
Players in action during the Inter-College Cricket Tournament at University of Jammu on Wednesday. Tribune Photo: Anand Sharma
Madni inspects repair works at Legislative Assembly
Shubham slams ton against Vidarbha
GCW Gandhi Nagar, PG Dept in volleyball finals
Oak Hill Institute win state rugby title
6 lakh saplings planted around Chenab area
Cattle smuggling bid foiled; one held
Husbandry department official suspended
Family welfare body chief visits school
Tiny
tots: Ashwani Kumar, Chairperson, Family Welfare Organisation, Tiger Division, interacts with school students at Tiger Army Pre-Primary School, BD
Bari, in Samba district on Wednesday. Tribune photo
NPSU to hold convention
'Boost adventure tourism'
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Official vehicles in top gear at JU
Jammu, January 23 Though the university has already withdrawn all official vehicles from officers and senior professors while deciding to provide the facility only on “need basis”, sources said it had vindicated the complaints of a section of students that official vehicles were misused by varsity babus and teachers. In some cases, fuel expenditure of some heads of department and senior officers was anything between Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 per month, resulting in huge losses to the varsity exchequer. This information has been provided by the university in response to an application filed under Right to Information (RTI) Act by the National Secular Forum (NSF). “Around Rs 10 lakh was spent on fuel under the Common Pool Vehicles including the official car of Vice-Chancellor Professor Mohan Paul Singh Ishar in just 11 months (from February 2012 to December 2012),” the document revealed. Similarly, Administrator, General, Zorawar Singh Auditorium, spent Rs 1.31 lakh as fuel expenditure for his official car from May 15, 2012 to December 2012. The officers in the Directorate of Distance Education incurred fuel expenditure of whopping Rs 4.24 lakh on their official vehicles from May 2011 to November 12. A total amount of Rs 3.96 lakh was spent on fuel for ferrying staff members and students from Jammu to Kathua campus. Interestingly, the university charged Rs 1,000 per month from the students of the Kathua campus as bus fare, the documents read. Prof NK Tripathi, Dean Students Welfare, incurred an expenditure of Rs 1.60 lakh on his official vehicle from May 15, 2011 to December 15, 2012, while Prof KK Sharma, who was the head, Department of Zoology, spent Rs 1.03 lakh on fuel for the same period. Prof Meenakshi Kilam, Director, Internal Quality Assurance, incurred an expenditure of Rs 1.38 lakh on fuel for her official vehicle for 20 months. Following massive uproar on the misuse of official vehicles by the officers
and senior professors, the university authorities had recently withdrawn all vehicles from them and decided to provide them the facility only on
“need basis”. It was decided that only top officers of the varsity comprising Registrar, Dean Academic Affairs, Controller Examination, Director Distance Education, Administrator of General Zorawar Singh Auditorium and Rector of Bhaderwah campus would be entitled to official vehicles. “The university vehicles attached with the heads of various departments, directors, executive engineer etc will be kept in the common pool. The vehicles will be attached to officers or teachers as and when required,” the varsity notification had said. The NSF leader said the official documents vindicated their stand that official vehicles were misused by the varsity professors and officers. “The varsity officers and professors are enjoying the facility for personal purpose. They stand exposed. Students are
facing several problems while the higher-ups are misusing their (students) money. The vehicles were withdrawn because we raised the voice against blatant misuse of power by the officers and professors. The university authorities should devise a mechanism so that such things don’t occur in future,” NSF senior vice-president Surjit Choudhary said. On a spending spree
Just Insensitive
The varsity officers and professors are enjoying the facility for personal purpose. They stand exposed. Students are facing several problems while the higher-ups are misusing their (students) money. The vehicles were withdrawn because we raised the voice against blatant misuse of power by the officers and
professors. — Surjit
Choudhary, NSF senior vice-president |
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Enforcement wing of PDD becomes mere eyewash
Jammu, January 23 While the government rues a lack of sincerity among people to clear their electricity dues, ministers and bureaucrats owe Rs 1.39 crore arrears to the department. On the other hand, various government departments have failed to clear Rs 900.49 crore (2010-2011) arrears. Though Power Development Department (PDD) has recently issued a notice publishing names of high profile defaulters, but sources said that it is just a eyewash, as no action has been taken to recover the amount. Many of the defaulters are related to Ministers and their power bill has crossed Rs 10 lakh mark. The disconnection notice under Section 50 of J&K Electricity Act 2010 (read with regulation 8.3 of J&K SERC Supply Code Regulation 2011 has been served to a total of 137 VIP defaulters including big hoteliers, owners of big commercial establishments, industrialists from both Jammu and Kashmir provinces. The pending dues against these defaulters (104 from Jammu province and 33 from Kashmir province) amounted to Rs 53,87,68,209. “It is just a paperwork, department does not have teeth to take action. Few months back when a son of Minister was caught for stealing power, PDD was forced to issue, public apology?, said a senior officer in power department. He claimed that this time, his name also figure in the list prepared by the department. ?Why cannot Chief Minister ask his trusted Minister to submit the bills and don’t steal the electricity?” officer said. Special Enforcement Wing was constituted by making internal adjustments on the directions of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, after it was exposed that hotels, industrial units and other business establishments are indulging in power theft by resorting to different means in connivance with the help of PDD. In past few years Jammu and Kashmir has spent crores in improving the power sector in the state but to some extent these measures have failed to curb the losses, because government departments, ministers, MLAs are themselves major defaulters. Power losses due to ineffectiveness of reforms have become a major headache for the government in the state which at times has invited strong reprimand from the centre. |
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Inquiry committee gives clean chit to In-charge Manager
Vikas Sharma Tribune News Service
Jammu, January 23 The committee, in its report submitted to Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Technical Education, has found that Singh was on leave at the time of the incident. After receiving the report, the government has reinstated Ashok Singh with an immediate effect and posted him as In-charge Manager, Mini Stadium, Parade Ground. Sources said during his tenure as In-charge Manager, Indoor Sports Complex, Ashok Singh had also written to the authorities to install CCTV cameras inside the complex to check the activities of miscreants but in vain. The state government had issued suspension order of Ashok Singh following a report in an English newspaper published on October 12, 2012, which claimed that the multipurpose hall was utilised as a hub of betting. Following this, a three-member enquiry committee headed by JP Singh, Director, Youth Services and Sports started probe into the matter. Mohammad Afzal Malik, Administrative Officer, J&K State Sports Council, and Prof Bashir Ahmad Shah, Joint Secretary, Sports Council, Kashmir, were the other members. The committee concluded that since the photographs used in the report were not from an authentic source, it could not take it as clinching evidence. The probe committee after recording statements of the employees of the Sports Council and badminton players (both senior and junior) established that sportspersons, particularly shuttlers, were not being provided adequate time for training due to utilisation of the hall by private and veteran players using it for recreational purposes and not for promotion of sports. Concerning the involvement of Ashok Singh, the committee said he was on leave on the date of incident and had also produced sanctioned leave as well as copies of tickets to New Delhi. Establishing that Singh had nothing to do with the incident and was a dedicated employee, the committee gave him a clean chit. The shuttlers, while recording their statement before the committee, said “Ashok Singh is an honest person and a dedicated officer and is always helpful to the players”. Case against the manager was a manipulation of some people who had made the complex a recreational centre with their influence and did not want to promote sports culture, they submitted. Sacking and reinstatement
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MLAs panel cancels visit to Rajouri, to probe infant deaths
Rajouri, January 23 A 16-member house committee of legislators headed by Panthers Party MLA from Udhampur Balwant Singh Mankotia postponed the visit citing monthly meeting with the Health Minister in Jammu. Now, the committee will be visiting to take stock of the increasing infant deaths in the District Hospital in a few days and will assess the situation on the ground. Reports said the District Hospital suspended three employees for negligence in infant death case two days ago. Those placed under suspension are staff nurse Samita, junior pharmacist Nasir Dar and FMPHW Anjum for negligence. The action was taken after Health Minister Shabir Khan took cognisance of the matter when he came to know that several new-born babies had died at the hospital in the past three weeks. The report of another committee probing the death of another infant at the same hospital is yet to be submitted by the committee headed by Deputy Director, Health, Dr Baldev Sharma. A senior Health Department official from Rajouri said the staff at the said hospital was inefficient and untrained. Doctors were not working with dedication and were involved in private practice, he said. He added that many nursing homes were running without registration and did not have licence. Even laboratories were not following proper guidelines, he said. On December 13 last year, a special Health Department team from Jammu had sealed three private clinics running illegally and had seized two ultrasound machines in Rajouri town. But no further action on the illegal practice of doctors and nursing homes had been taken so far, he said. The official said doctors were not allowed to leave beyond a radius of 13 km but most of them were seen running clinics or other activities. Director, Health, Madhu Khuller said, “Infant mortality rate is not high but intra-uterine deaths (IUD) are on a higher side which is a cause of concern for us. She, however, said they were trying to assess the reasons as to why these deaths had taken place. “Whether it is because of the inefficiency Aasha workers or something else needs to be checked,” she said. “We are assessing those areas where IUD rate is high. We are taking a serious note of inefficient Aasha workers. Whosoever found guilty or inefficient will be sacked and replaced,” she added.
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State govt ignoring us while preparing budget: AJHLA
Jammu, January 23 In a statement issued here, AJHLA regretted that this year their association has not been invited for submitting their proposal as feedback for the budget presentation. Requesting Finance Minister AR Rather to provide them an opportunity to submit their proposals and have discussion on the issue, the hotel body has submitted some proposals, for accommodating their demands in the budget. The association has observed that although tourist-related trades have been declared as an industry but all the benefits available to the manufacturing industry have not been extended to the tourism industry. These include grant of soft
loans, concessional electric tariff for their establishments etc. They demanded that these benefits should
be extended to them. Interest-free loans should be given to existing establishments for
renovation and additions, AJHLA said. “Jammu city still continues to be kept in the negative list in respect of benefits and incentives provided to the tourism industry under environment friendly tourism. This should be deleted,” said Inderjeet Khajuria, association president. He further proposed, “Adequate funds should
be earmarked for development of infrastructure, such as all weather roads, running regular transport to tourist spots in the
Jammu region such as the Chichi Mata-Mansar road, road linking Mansar with Sruinsar and the Pramandal-Uttarvahni road.” The association also proposed laying four-lane road from Kathua to Akhnoor for developing border tourism. Similarly, funds should be earmarked for developing the Suchetgarh border post as a tourist destination on the pattern of Wagah-Attari border check post in Punjab, it added. |
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DDC opens sports facilities
Rajouri, January 23 “We have done an extensive exercise across the district and identified schools that require specific sports infrastructure or playgrounds for specific games. In the present phase we are creating facilities for volleyball, basketball, badminton, kho-kho and also table tennis, as per the demand and availability of space” said Biswas. “The idea is to encourage students to play specific games so that they can excel in a particular field” he added. The DDC added that in the present phase more than 30 schools had been covered and had been allocated funds for the purpose. With a view to ensuring adherence to quality, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Nowshera, Dr Rajinder Khajuria had been designated as the nodal officer for monitoring execution of the works across the district. The sports facilities were in the process of completion and would be given out to the students shortly, he said. During the inauguration functions, Dr Rajinder Khajuria, ASP Nowshera, Purshotan Sharma were present, besides Deputy Chief Education Officer and Tehsildar of Nowshera and all other officers of the education department, sarpanches ,panches and all prominent citizens of the area. The public and the students conveyed their gratitude to the district administration for creating sports facilities in far flung areas. |
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Parmodh Memorial T20 Cricket Tournament Tribune News Service
Jammu, January 23 Winning the toss and batting first, RW accumulated a decent total of 175 runs in the stipulated 20 overs by losing five wickets. Nikhil was the top scorer with 87 runs with the help of six fours and two sixes while Jatin contributed 44 off 41 balls containing four boundaries and a six. Imtiyaz Malik, Habib and Arshid shared one wicket apiece for HPC. In reply, HPC overhauled the target with ease in 14.1 overs, losing just one wicket in the process. Atul smashed 63 off just 21 balls, which included four hits to the fence and as many sixes. Habib hit four boundaries and two sixes in his 53 runs for 38 balls. Sunny Malik contributed 52 off 24 balls with the help of two fours and five sixes. For RW, Pardeep claimed the lone wicket to fall. Atul was adjudged the man of the match for his brilliant innings. The match was officiated by Monu Sharma and Balbir Singh as umpires while Sunny Sharma was the scorer.
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Police training institutes to be upgraded, says ADGP
Srinagar, January 23 “Upgrade of all the police training institutions in the state is in the offing and the training syllabii has also been implemented, as per the latest requirements, for various courses,” Kumar said. “In the present scenario, the latest training in the field of professional policing, people-centric community policing, crime control, mob controlling without using lethal weapons, cyber crime, forensic science, relentless battle against terrorism without collateral damage, respect of human rights and no violation at any cost and upholding rule of law, has assumed much importance and have been introduced in the curriculum,” he added. He asked the officers and instructors of the institution to train the cops with the latest techniques of policing, besides making them well versant with the laws of Indian Panel Code and police rules.
— TNS |
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Inter-College Cricket Tournament
Jammu, January 23 Batting first after winning the toss, GDC Paloura garnered 118 runs for the loss of eight wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Amit Raj and Aman Singh were the top scorers with 30 and 15 runs respectively. Rohit and Sangram contributed 15 runs apiece. For MAM College, Syed Zaffat was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets while Mohammad Nisar and Abhimanyu shared two wickets each. In reply, MAM College did the needful in 19.3 overs for the loss of eight wickets. Tushar Kumar played a fine knock of 26 runs followed by Gunveer Singh (16), Syad Zafat (16), Varinder Singh (15) and Sahil Sudan (11). For GDC Paloura, Sahil was the chief destroyer with three wickets whereas Sangram Singh and Manpreet Singh took two wickets each. The match was officiated by Raman Singh and Vijay Kumar.
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Madni inspects repair works at Legislative Assembly
Jammu, January 23 The Deputy Speaker impressed upon the executing agencies to speed up the pace of repair and allied works to ensure completion by January 31 so that the budget session could be held smoothly. He also called for conducting thorough safety check of the complex by a team of experts. M Ramzan, Assembly Secretary, Ishtiyaq Ahmad Hamal, Managing Director, Jammu and Kashmir Project Construction Corporation (JKPCC) and other officers and engineers of the Assembly Secretariat and JKPCC accompanied Madni during the inspection. Earlier, he convened a meeting with the officers of JKPCC and discussed the status of the work on the complex. He directed for the replacement of old electricity wiring and creation of a temporary structure for housing a canteen during the ensuing budget session. Hamal assured Madni that the repair of the damaged structure and other allied works would be completed in time.
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Shubham slams ton against Vidarbha
Jammu, January 23 Earlier, riding on brilliant centuries by Akshay Wadkar and JM Sharma, Vidarbha piled up a mammoth total of 630 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 215.4 overs. Wadkar scored 137 runs off 312 balls which included 17 boundaries while Sharma amassed 119 runs off 228 balls with the help of 21 boundaries. SS Neral, AS Tiwari and SO Katriya also slammed half-centuries scoring 84, 66 and 51 runs respectively. For J&K, Rohit Sharma was the most successful bowler with four wickets by conceding 134 runs in his 44 overs. Umar Nazir bagged two wickets in 47 overs by giving away 142 runs in 47 overs. Shubam Khajuria and Fani shared one wicket apiece.
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GCW Gandhi Nagar, PG Dept in volleyball finals
Jammu, January 23 Bindu Verma and Bharti Devi of GCW Gandhi Nagar played extra ordinary game by putting drops and hard services against the spikers of GCW Parade. Meenu Rajput and Jigmit also played well for the loser team. In the second semifinal, PG Department got the walkover to secure a berth in the final to be played on January 28. The matches were officiated by Romesh Sharma, Shahi Sharma, Sat Paul, Minisha Devi and Ashima Sharma. |
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Oak Hill Institute win state rugby title
Jammu, January 23 New Convent Institute and Kashmir Harward Institute had to be content with the second and the third position respectively. In sub-junior boys, Oak Hill clinched the title while Prime Public finished runners-up. Shahi Hamdan School secured the third place. In junior boys, Dark Wolves lifted the title while Mehboob Institute and New Convent School fetched the second and the third position respectively. In U-19 boys, Total Rugby Club bagged the top honours while KFC Budgam bagged the second place and the third place went to Chichilora Stars. The championship was organised by the J&K Rugby Association and sponsored by the Department of Tourism, wherein the teams from all over the state participated. |
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6 lakh saplings planted around Chenab area
Jammu, January 23 Forest Minister Mian Altaf Ahmed was apprised of this while chairing a meeting of Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) convened to review the financial and physical achievements of CAMPA in the area. The Chenab Forest Circle- the largest in the state- is spread over Marwah and Gool towards Bhaderwah, Batote, Doda, Ramban, Kishtwar and Marwah divisions. — TNS
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Cattle smuggling bid foiled; one held
Jammu, January 23 Reports said on a tip-off, the police laid a naka at Patli nullah on the National Highway and intercepted a truck bearing registration number JK02T-6571 driven by Muhammad Tariq of Ramban and Abdul Hamid of Jammu. On seeing the police, the driver managed to escape from the spot leaving behind the truck loaded with animals. A hunt has been launched to arrest the accused, the police said.
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Husbandry department official suspended
Srinagar, January 23 “The Minister of State for Animal and Sheep Husbandry, Nazir Ahmad Gurezi, paid a surprise visit to the Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Directorate of Sheep Husbandry, Kashmir and ordered immediate suspension of an employee He said Gurezi had stressed upon punctuality of the employees and warned that any ‘laxity in duty would not be
tolerated’. “Gurezi issued instructions to the head of the departments to ensure that the staff posted in various areas worked at their respective place of postings and are assigned the job they are meant to do,” the official added.
— TNS |
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Family welfare body chief visits school
Jammu, January 23 Kumar appreciated the new theme-based classrooms and the use of computer-based learning at the school. She was also shown the various outdoor facilities at the school aimed at improving the sensory and motor skills of students such as the amusement park, mini zoo, and the new traffic park. The tiny tots of the school then presented a variety of entertainment programmes for the visitor. Kumar appreciated the efforts of the school
and presented gifts to the outstanding teachers, students and administrative staff. |
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NPSU to hold convention
Jammu, January 23 This was stated by the union secretary Muhammad Shakeel during a press conference. He said NPSU would organise the convention in Brahman Sabha, Jammu, on February 16. He invited the student community to attend the convention and said several issues would be discussed pertaining to students and general public. He appealed the student community to support the policies of the organisation and protest against the recruitment policy introduced by the state government, terming it anti-student. Others present at the press conference were Abdul Faisal, Muhammad Pervaiz and Rajan Singh.
— TNS |
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'Boost adventure tourism'
Srinagar, January 23 The association also welcomed the appointment of Mir as Tourism Minister in the recent reshuffle of the council of ministers. |
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Rajouri, January 23
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Jammu, January 23
