Jammu, January 31
Notwithstanding allegations leveled by encroachers, the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) intensified its campaign to retrieve encroached land.

Amidst protest demonstration and stone pelting, a joint team of the JDA and the police retrieved 1,000 kanal of land which was occupied by encroachers on the banks Tawi River in Sidhara area.

Following action of the JDA-police team, local residents blocked the Kunjwani-Sidhara highway and raised slogans against the authorities.

Protesters who had allegedly created structures on the JDA land, also pelted the police with stones which, according to the administration, forced police to fire tear gas shells and cane charge to disperse the mob.

Director Land Management, JDA, Babu Ram, has denied allegations leveled by the residents. He said the land was purchased by the JDA from the residents after paying a compensation of Rs 7 crore.

Babu Ram refused to disclose identity to those who have been encouraging encroachment of the government land. He said there were some "forces" behind the land grab.

However, vehicular movement on the highway remained disrupted for several hours due to the blockade subjecting commuters to great hardship.

The Forest Department has retrieved more than 3,500 kanal of forest land over the past two days. Range Officer of Bahu range area Baaz Khan said over the last two days, the entire land encroached by the land grabbers on both sides of the bypass from Narwal to Sidhara has been retrieved by the department with the help of the police.

The Forest Department officers are tightlipped over involvement of some politicians in encroachment of the land.

Sources said some people who had created sheds on the forest land have disclosed that some politicians had charged Rs 500 per family to fill up a form to allot plots to them.

A large chunk of the land has been encroached by the land mafia in various parts of the state.

According to official documents there were 38,410 encroachers who had illegally occupied 13,360 hectares of government land in all 22 districts of the state.

As far as the encroachment of the forest land was concerned, according to official data, 14,359 hectares of the forest land has been encroached by the land grabbers in the state which is alarming and increasing with each passing day.

As many as 23,002 encroachers in Jammu region and 15,408 land 'sharks' in Kashmir division have encroached upon the government land.

As many as 55,721 kanals of the state land and 53,744 kanals of Kacharai land (grass land) was under illegal occupation of the land mafia.

In Rajouri, 3.92 lakh kanals of state land and 3,495 kanals of Kacharai land (grass land) was under illegal occupation. There were 9,614 "land grabbers" in the district, sources said.

Jammu, January 31
The government would adopt a holistic approach to make the examination system more student-friendly. Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand said this while chairing a high-level meeting of the J&K Board of School Education (BOSE) here today. He said the government would ensure that students do not get overburdened and stressed due to examinations. He said necessary reforms would be made in the system to ensure a pro-student approach to examination and that fear of examination was removed from the minds of students.

Commissioner-Secretary, School Education FA Factoo, Chairman, BOSE, Secretary and other senior officers were present in the meeting.

Activities of the board, financial status, examination procedures and reforms needed in the 
system were discussed at the meeting.

Tara Chand, who also holds the portfolios of School Education Department, said results was the yardstick to asses the performance of the teachers and due recognition would be given to best performing teachers but at the same time strict action under law would be taken for under performers.

He directed the board authorities to prepare lists of government schools according to the percentage of result and the list needs to be bifurcated into categories of below 30 per cent, below 50 per cent and those showing results above that.

“Those schools which show poor performance for the first time, the teachers would be issued a warning and schools which have preceding bad performance for two-term, in such cases increment of the teachers of the school will be stopped,” he said.

The highest level of monitoring would be conducted and schools where performance has been declining continuously for three terms, the teachers concerned would be declared dead wood and action be initiated under relevant clauses of the CSR.

Calling for keeping a vigil on the functioning of both government as well as private schools, the Deputy Chief Minister said every school under the board would be judged on performance and in case of underperforming private schools action will be taken against them too.

“Student performance is the benchmark for judging schools and those institutions whose students show excellent results, the respective teachers would be suitable rewarded but for those where the performance is below the standard the teachers concerned will be dealt with strongly,” he said. Later, he also took a round of the different sections of the board and interacted with the staff members.

Jammu, January 31
The Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education (JKBOSE) is all set to introduce tamper-proof envelopes for question papers in the upcoming annual examination of Class XII in the Jammu Division.

As many as 300 examination centres have been set up by the school education board across the division to ensure smooth conduct of the examination. VR Sharma, Joint Secretary, (Examinations) JKBOSE, said all arrangements have been made to introduce the much talked about tamper-proof envelopes to minimise the risk of the question papers getting leaked. “Yes, the department is ready to introduce the envelopes this time and let us hope that the strategy works out for us. As far as setting up of the examination centres was concerned, there are 300 centres to be established in various education institutions so that there is no interruption in managing the affairs during the important examination,” Joint Secretary said.

About the recommendation of the former BOSE chairman Deshbandhu Gupta to keep the question papers in branches of the J&K Bank, VR Sharma said, “No doubt, the idea was great but it did not materialise.”

Sources said the experiment with the newly- introduced envelopes was made in the recently concluded Class XI examination in the Kashmir Division. After its success, the BOSE authorities had decided to launch it in the upcoming annual board examinations of Class XII here.

Sources said the series system was earlier introduced by the school education board to keep a check on unfair means in the board exams but even after that reports of cheating at various examination centres and leakage of question papers poured in. Sources said a meeting of the school education board officers was convened to find a way and it was decided to introduce special envelopes.

After the infamous incident of Class XII question paper getting leaked at Miran Sahib in RS Pura in 2009, the school education board authorities were criticised for their poor management. Prof Desh Bandhu Gupta, the then Chairman, JKBOSE, took a serious note of the matter and immediately made some recommendations for better working of the organisation.

Jammu, January 31
Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Mir Saifullah has said the elections to Shri Gurdwara Parbandik Committees and Board (SGPC) will be held in the state soon. He said this while interacting with a delegation of Sikhs today.

Discussing various issues regarding conduct of the elections under the J&K Sikh Gurdwara and Religious Endowment Act,1973, the delegation members demanded early conduct of elections for the Shri Gurudwara Parbandik Committees at the district, board at state levels, deletion of non-Sikh voters, if any from the SGPC electoral rolls and notification for newly carved out districts.

The Minister said the demand to amend the in J&K Sikh Gurudwara and Religious Endowment Act, 1973, would also be considered.

Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Pardeep Gupta, Secretary, Law GH Tantray and Senior Additional Advocate General, Gagan Basotra were also present.

Jammu, January 31
The Crime Branch, Jammu, today produced challans against eight employees of the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) for allegedly obtaining loan on the basis of forged documents thereby defrauding the bank.

The accused have been identified as Chaman Singh of Ashok Nagar, Canal Road, Arun Kumar, a resident of Lakar Mandi, Janipur, Kuldeep Kumar of Mahesian in RS Pura, Pritam Lal of Mahesian, Om Parkash of Bari Brahmana, Vijay Kumar of Arnia in RS Pura, Sham Lal of Nai Basti in Satwari, Om Parkash of Machine Domana, Deepak Kumar and Bachan Lal of New Plot area.

A spokesperson said a written complaint was received from the manager of the State Bank of Patiala, Gandhi Nagar branch, alleging that the JDA employees had withdrawn loan from the bank by way of fraudulent means after preparing forged documents and thus cheating the bank.

An inquiry was launched based on which a case was also registered. During investigation, record of the State Bank of Patiala, Gandhi Nagar, and the JDA, Jammu, pertaining to the loan availed by accused was seized and sent to the FSL, Jammu, for comparison and expert opinion.

It was found that the accused had obtained a consumer loan on the basis of fake salary certificates and undertakings on behalf of the Accounts Officer, JDA. Three out of the 10 accused were not even on the rolls of the JDA. Challans against the accused were presented in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate. The next date of hearing in the case has been fixed for February 15.

Jammu, January 31
To make dhaba, restaurant owners follow guidelines on maintaining hygiene, the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) has come up with a novel idea. The civic body has decided to rope in famous chefs from the city to make the dhaba owners and hoteliers aware about cleanliness and storage of food items.

The initiative aims to bridge the gap between the JMC and hoteliers to maintain a high-level of hygiene at all eating joints across the city. In this series, the health wing of the Corporation today organised a day-long workshop for small hoteliers, restaurant and dhaba owners to create awareness about the maintenance of cleanliness in their establishments. Five chefs from famous hotels were invited in the workshop who gave professional tips to the owners of small hotels, restaurants and dhabas on the preparation, storage, serving of food items besides maintaining hygiene and preventing cooked food from infection.

“Our aim to organise the workshop was to issue licences under the new Food Safety Act to the restaurant and dhaba owners besides creating awareness about hygiene at their establishments,” Dr Vinod Sharma, Health Officer, JMC, said.

He said professional chefs from five prominent hotels were invited in the workshop to give tips to the hoteliers, restaurant and dhaba owners as how to prepare, serve, store food items besides preventing infection. “There was a need to bridge the gap between city hoteliers and the civic body as we want to create awareness in positive manner so that they comply with the guidelines on their own. We have received good cooperation from them and we are hopeful that things would improve further in days to come,” the health officer said.

Jammu, January 31
The three-member inquiry committee, headed by Jaipal Singh, director, Youth Services and Sports, which had recently given a clean chit to Ashok Singh, former incharge, Indoor Sports Complex, MA Stadium, into the alleged betting incident at the Indoor Sports Complex, has warned that the staff must remain extra vigilant to avoid such incident in future.

Mohammad Afzal Malik, administrative officer, J&K State Sports Council and Prof Bashir Ahmad Shah, joint secretary, Sports Council, Kashmir, were the other members of the committee being set up by the state government.

The committee in its report submitted to the commissioner/secretary, Technical Education also established that the shuttlers were not being provided adequate time for training due to utilisation of hall by private and veteran players, who were utilising it for recreational purposes.

“Indoor Complex was used by veteran players for recreational purposes in which they used to have small bets to create interest in the game. Players involved in the conduct of badminton activities were not provided adequate amount of time required for their training. Further, un-registered players were also using the complex for recreational purposes,” the inquiry committee in its report concluded.

In the light of its findings, the committee had recommended that the infrastructure should be utilised for training purposes and conduct of various national and state-level activities. It added that the players using the facilities must be properly registered under the close supervision of the sports officer, Jammu. It further asserted that the timing should be fixed and adhered to.

“The findings of the inquiry committee are correct and the recommendations if implemented in a proper manner would help us to bring an improvement in the whole functioning of the department,” sources said.

“It is not that the shuttlers have not complained of not getting enough time to attend practice sessions due to occupation of courts by the veteran players. Infact, they had apprised the whole matter to the officers concerned but in vain. But now after the findings of the inquiry committee, let us hope that something should be done serious to keep a check on it,” sources added.

Katra, January 31
The gujjars community from the state took out a protest rally in Reasi today. Led by Bhartiya Gujjar Mahasabha under the leadership of Eshfaq-ur-Rehman Poswal, the community members demanded welfare of Gujjars, Bakerwals and other ST communities, reservation and proper utilisation of funds for the welfare of community.

Amid anti-government slogans for ignoring the ST community, Poswal said, “The government wants to solve the problems of the downtrodden community by mere lip service whereas the need of the hour is to go to the grassroots level and assess the condition of the community members.” He said implementation of the centrally- sponsored schemes for the welfare of Gujjars, Bakkerwals and other ST communities was negligible.

"The government should conduct a survey to ascertain the population of ST communities in the state so that proper welfare schemes could be formulated for their welfare,’ he added.

The Gujjar leaders alleged that the ST communities was being neglected in all sectors like education, employment, development and were at the receiving end due to the pathetic attitude of the government.

“If the issues of the ST community are not addressed, the government will have to face mass agitation, the responsibility of which will rest on the government,” Poswal said.

Poswal also submitted a chart of demands to the Deputy Commissioner, Reasi.

Jammu, January 31
Dogra Law College organised the 2nd Matushri Inter-School Dogra Law College Debate Contest 2013 on the topic ‘Prevailing Education Policy in Schools: Is it adequate enough in Personality and Potential Development of Students’. Prof Nalini Kohli, director, Colleges was the chief guest on the occasion.

Prof Nalini Kohli lauded the efforts of the college in selecting relevant, timely and debatable topic dealing with the prevailing system of education.

The overall running trophy was bagged by Jodhamal Public School while Shivang Puri of Jodhamal Public School secured first prize. The second prize was bagged by Mayank Mahajan of Jodhamal Public School. Areca Raina of BSF Senior Seconday School, Paloura had to be contended with third prize while the consolation prize went to Vasundhara Sharma of Carmel Convent School.

Earlier, the contest was inaugurated by Kumar Samar Dev Singh Charak, secretary, Dogra Educational Trust while Prof BD Damral, director-cum-principal, Dogra Degree College, presided over the inaugural session.

Shifali Sharma, vice-principal of Dogra College of Education and Anubha Sharma, senior lecturer, Dogra Law College were the chairperson and co-chairperson, respectively of the first session. Bela Charak, academic coordinator, Dogra College of Education and Dr Anu Mankotia, lecturer, Dogra Law College were the chairperson and co-chairperson, respectively for the second session.

Prof KB Razdan, former head, Department of English, University of Jammu, Dr Shubhra Kapoor, former principal, RRL School and Rashim Chib, lecturer, Dogra College of Education were the jury members. Prof VK Kapoor, director-cum-principal, Dogra Law College delivered keynote address and explained aims and objectives of the debate contest.

Jammu, January 31
Minister for Higher Education Mohammad Akbar Lone today exhorted upon the students to channelise their energy towards nation-building. He said the responsibility to build a healthy and harmonious society lies with them.

He said this after inaugurating the three-day international symposium on Semiconductor Devices (ISSD-2), organised by the Department of Physics, University of Jammu, in collaboration with the Society for Semiconductor Devices (SSD), New Delhi, at the General Zorawar Singh Auditorium, University of Jammu today. He said the government would provide necessary support to the state institutions to improve the standard of education. Lone said he would assuage the aspirations of the student community.

He sought necessary support from academicians and teaching community in education within the reach of all segments of society, particularly, the youth in far-flung areas.

“Our mission is to improve literacy,” he said. Education was key to socio-economic empowerment of the people, he added.

Vice-Chancellor, University of Jammu, Prof Mohan Paul Singh Ishar, said the university had been focusing to create a conducive academic environment to promote research in various disciplines.

For this, necessary assistance was being provided to host workshops, seminars and symposiums to share the experiences of scholars and academicians to formulate a strategy to encourage research, he said.

University Registrar Prof Naresh Padha, convenor of the symposium said the symposium would showcase the latest research achievements and applications of semiconductor-based materials and devices.

He said 136 contributory papers had also been received, out of which 107 had been shortlisted for the proceedings of the ISSMD-2.

Prof Vikram Kumar presented the keynote address, while Prof Anju Bhasin gave brief history of the department.

Jammu, January 31
A farewell was accorded to Prabhat Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Jammu on attaining the age of superannuation at the district police lines, Jammu.

The function was attended by IGP Jammu Zone Jammu, DIG JK Range Jammu, SSP PCR Jammu, SP South, SP North, SP Rural, SP Headquarters, Jammu, and all SDPO’s of Jammu district along with staff members of DPO Jammu.

A memento was presented to the officer.

All the participating officers appreciated the work of the officer.

Jammu, January 31
The trio of Deepak Dogra, Shubam Khajuria and Pavit Singh Ishar produced excellent performance to help Ishar Cricket Club (ICC) beat Azlaan Cricket Club (ACC) today in the ongoing 3rd Parmodh Memorial Cricket Tournament being organised by Mandal Cricket Club at playfield mandal here.

Batting first, ICC piled up a total of 197 runs in the stipulated 20 overs by losing seven wickets. Deepak Dogra was the top scorer with 66 runs. Shubam Khajuria slammed 58 runs with the help of four boundaries and three sixes. Paras Sharma and Sourab Chopra contributed 20 and 18 runs, respectively.

For ACC, Faiz Ahmed snared four wickets while Rashid, Abid and Muneer shared a wicket apiece. ACC, in reply, was all out for 106 runs in 14 overs. Abid (37) and Shabaad (30) were the main contributors while Faiz Ahmed chipped in with 16 runs. Pavit Singh Ishar was the wrecker-in-chief for ICC with a four-wicket haul by conceding 15 runs in his three overs. Deepak Dogra bagged three wickets by giving away nine runs in two overs. Sahil Sharma and Sourab Chopra claimed one wicket each. Deepak Dogra was adjudged man of the match.

The match was officiated by Arun and Sunil as umpire, while Sunny Sharma was the scorer.

Jammu, January 31
BSF School, Paloura, clinched the title trophy of the Goenka Cricket Challenge T20 Inter-School Cricket Tournament by defeating hosts GD Goenka Pubic School in the summit showdown.

Earlier, batting first, BSF School accumulated 180 runs which in reply, GD Goenka was skittled out for 111 runs. Sourav Bhagat of BSF School was declared man of the match for a brilliant knock of 77 runs. Agreeney Happa of GD Goenka Public School was declared man of the series for his brilliant performance during the tournament. The fair play award trophy was awarded to RRL High School.

Principal Poonam Jha distributed prizes among the winners and runner-up teams on the occasion. — TNS

Jammu, January 31
Wrestler Gurlal of Amritsar defeated Farooq of Sarore in the final bout to lift the 4th Annual Akhli-Buttan Kesari Dangal title at Middle School, Buttan, Reasi.

Gurlal was presented a cash prize of Rs 3,000 by Shiv Kumar Sharma, president, Jammu and Kashmir Indian Style Wrestling Association.

In all, 31 bouts were conducted in the day-long competition, which was organised by Akhali-Buttan Dangal Committee under the aegis of the J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association. In the third bout, Bobari of Sarore outplayed Rajesh Sharma of Jindrah while fourth bout was bagged by Murad Ali of Domana, who defeated Prem of Amritsar. In the fifth main bout, Mohammad Akram of Jammu beat Devinder of Amritsar.

Other Results: Sadiq Ali of Domana beat Bagha of Kot Bhawal, Jamat Ali of Domana beat Bal Krishan of Buttan, Liakat Ali of Panthal beat Bir Singh of Reasi, Billu of Domana beat Honiar Singh of Mahore, Balli of Domana beat Kartar Singh of Narkote and Rajesh Sharma of the J&K Police beat Prahald Singh of Kalakote.