Jammu, February 9
Even as swine flu has killed two persons in Kashmir, the health department is unprepared to deal with the threat. In most of the hospitals in Jammu, no isolation wards have been established. A high-level meeting has reviewed the measures against the disease, but there is not much preparation in health institutions, particularly at the district level.

After detection of flu cases in Kashmir, the health department in the city had begun monitoring of the patients being admitted in hospitals, but no foolproof mechanism has been created to deal with any outbreak.

Sources said there is no preparation at district hospitals and only token alert has been sounded, with no measures being taken to equip the doctors and paramedical staff with necessary equipment and medicines.

Swine influenza, also called pig influenza, swine flu, hog flu and pig flu, is an infection caused by any one of several types of swine influenza viruses.

A senior doctor in Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu said a cause of worry is the influx of people from outside the state. “Though it is not possible to scan every person who enters the state, the health department should identify the people who visit the state from states where the maximum number of cases have been reported. But nothing is being done,” he said.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), swine flu has now moved into post-pandemic period. He said this spreads as seasonal influenza and in winters, with other influenza, its cases are being reported in the hospital.

When contacted, Director Health, Dr Madhu Khullar said they have taken measures. “We are monitoring the situation and a separate cell already established to deal with the disease has been activated. We are monitoring the situation,” Dr Khullar said.

Dr Khullar did not elaborate on the measures and on any teams created in Jammu for the purpose of monitoring.

This is not for the first time that swine flu has been reported in Kashmir. Over a dozen patients, mostly those who had contracted it outside the state, were reported in 2009, when swine flu broke out in India and in a year, over 1,800 people died of this flu across the country. Last year, over 350 persons died of this disease across India.

Jammu, February 9
The hanging of Afzal Guru affected movement of passenger vehicles from Jammu to Srinagar as none of the private vehicles and cabs moved towards Kashmir valley. Hundreds of passengers were stranded in the state’s winter capital. As the news of Afzal Guru’s hanging emerged from the media in the morning, most of the transporters operating small cabs and vans on the 300-km-long Jammu-Srinagar National Highway stopped plying their vehicles. Fearing trouble enroute and in the Kashmir valley, most of them preferred to stay in the city rather than take the risk of travelling towards the Valley.

“There will be trouble for days now and it is better to suspend transport. I will not take any risk of ferrying passengers during these troubling times,” said a driver.

Jammu, February 9
Protests in response to the death of a class VII student of Delhi Public School (DPS) Jammu continued to rock the city roads for the third straight day today, with the parents, their wards and some social groups demanding strict action against the school authorities for their negligence and flouting of safety norms.

Hundreds of students, along with their parents, under the banner of Parents Association, DPS Jammu, assembled outside the school and took out a peaceful procession towards Raj Bhawan, where they staged a sit-in, demanding registration of an FIR against the school management.

The protesting students and their parents raised slogans against the school management and demanded justice to the deceased girl, Suruchi Singh, a class VII student who was run over by a school bus inside the school on Thursday, February 7. They also demanded immediate removal of the school principal.

Surinder Varmani, president of the association, said they had written a letter to the school authorities on December 27, 2012, and a reminder was given on January 15 for taking the obsolete and old buses which were being used for transporting students, off the roads, following an incident of brake failure near Raghunath Temple in December last year.

“Careless and unresponsive attitude of the school management towards the safety of children travelling in school buses has resulted in the tragic and untimely death of Suruchi,” Varmani said.

He also the questioned the role of the transport department, wondering how the authorities gave licences and fitness certificates to the fleet of old and condemned buses allegedly operated by the school management.

He urged the Governor NN Vohra to personally intervene in the matter and order registration of a case against the school management, removal of all old buses from roads and strict implementation of Supreme Court guidelines pertaining to safety of children in school buses.

Later, the association submitted a copy of the memorandum to the Raj Bhawan.

Meanwhile, workers of Dogra Front and Shiv Sena led by president Ashok Gupta also took out a procession from Parade Ground to City Chowk and raised slogans against the authorities of DPS Jammu who, they alleged, were responsible for the death of Suruchi.

In his address, Gupta said about 5,700 students were getting education in DPS but the parking facility for 63 big buses and for small vehicles was insufficient, due to which, the movement of vehicles from there was difficult, which had resulted in the recent tragedy.

“How did the Regional Transport Office grant permission to the 28 private vehicles hired by the DPS and 27 owned vehicles of DPS when there was no space for the vehicles to be parked?” he questioned.

Jammu, February 9
Posing a threat to people and themselves, youth, particularly girls, without helmets, are violating every traffic rule in the city. Even the traffic police don’t bother to take action against these women drivers.

It not only puts lives of people in danger but at times, has led to tragic accidents, bringing many families to grief.

Though the traffic department is supposed to be responsible for laxity towards the girl riders, the actual culprits are parents of these drivers.

While they often drive without helmets, rash driving and overtaking by rashly driven cars and two-wheelers driven by teenagers have become a big threat for commuters.

“Not only do youngsters violate the rules by riding motorcycles without licence but also they drive without a helmet and documents. Jumping traffic signals is the norm among them,” said businessman Rakesh Sharma.

At times, rashness is the main reason for accidents. Besides, the underage students are said to be engaging in stunts on roads, risking their own and other people’s lives. Their families are responsible to an extent. The traffic police, on its part, needs to deal sternly with underage riders.

Officials said on an average, every day, 800 traffic violators are being booked.

The violations mainly relate to over-loading, over-speeding, rash driving, plying two-wheelers without crash helmet, overcharging by auto-rickshaws, jumping of red lights and wrong parking.

Most of these mini bus and bus operators play songs during the school/college going time in the morning and during their closing time. They don’t hesitate to play vulgar songs during these hours.

Long ago, traffic police had tightened the noose around the violators and used to crush the tape recorder recovered from the vehicle, which had mitigated this menace to a great extent, but now, the drivers and traffic police being in league, the nuisance has amplified.

Jammu, February 9
Despite a ban on extraction of sand, gravel from Tawi riverbed in Jammu, the powerful mining mafia continues to indulge in illegal mining. Extraction continues in Tawi riverbed near Sidhra and Raipur Satwari areas of the city right from the wee hour everyday. Illegal mining is leading to the loss of crores to the state exchequer every month, but due to the nexus between the officials and people associated with the trade, illegal mining is on.

Hundreds of tractors, trucks and vehicles can be seen extracting sand, stone and other mining material everyday from un-auctioned sites, close to the important bridges. With the boom in the construction activity, sand is in big demand. Several truckloads of sand are extracted every week to feed the construction industry.

After inputs of uncontrolled extraction of minor minerals from riverbeds a ban has been imposed to keep a check on the uncontrolled extraction of minor minerals from local rivers, nullahs, including river Tawi (both Nikki Tawi and Badi Tawi), Nullah near Sidhra bypass bridge, Jajjar Nullah, Kattal Battal, particularly in the vicinity of Motorable and Railway Bridges, which is likely to damage the basements and super-structure of these bridges.

Few months back with reports of large-scale damage to the railway and bridges on the National Highway due to the illegal extraction, the administration had imposed Section 144 along the bridges falling on the highway.

Migrant labourers are hired in large numbers for extraction of sand, gravel and boulders from these sites and transport it in tippers and tractors to various destinations to be used in various projects in the area.

Jammu, February 9
The Department of Youth Services and Sports (DYSS) is likely to introduce doping tests for participants in the National School Games. The proposal comes after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) introduced it recently to develop a mechanism to fight against this problem.

Sources said after reports pouring in during the previous edition of the National School Games wherein 11 student competitors tested positive, the CBSE then took a major decision to introduce doping tests for students taking part in the National School Games organised by the School Games Federation of India (SGFI). Sources said the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) had also written to all school boards to launch a crusade against the menace.

Sources said, “Initially, the department has not taken it seriously and is of the view that there is no need to introduce this system. But after the matter came to light the department was seriously considering its introduction for sportspersons of the state. Though the DYSS has yet to take a final decision to introduce dope tests but it is most likely to be launched very shortly”.

“The sportspersons of J&K are not as competitive as compared to their counterparts from other states like Punjab, Karnataka, Delhi and Union Territory Chandigarh. It is imperative to introduce the tests to ensure dope free competitions,” sources said.

As per data, the NADA had collected 81 samples from competitors of the CBSE affiliated schools in wrestling (30), boxing (31) and weightlifting (20), of which 11 tested positive for banned substances in the 57th National School Games.

Ashok Kumar, Deputy Director, Youth Services and Sports, said, “At present, there is no such proposal to introduce dope tests for sportspersons of the state competing in the National School Games. We are in regular contact with the SGFI and if it issues any notification in future, we would follow it,” he said.

Jammu, February 9
Like other parts of the country, the common man of the city of temples has also welcomed the hanging Afzal Guru by the government saying that it will send a strong message to the enemies.

Like any other citizen of the country, we have also heaved a sigh of relief that the main perpetrator of the Parliament attack has finally been executed by the government. Terrorism has no religion and it is imperative for the authorities that there will be no delay in punishing these people, who are a real threat to the nation. Though the government has taken a lot of time to decide the fate of Afzal Guru but we are happy that justice has been done.

— Ashwani Kumar Sharma

Good job done by the government to execute the mastermind of 2001 Parliament attack in New Delhi. Hanging of Afzal Guru is a victory of every Indian, who wants peace and stability in the country. I hope it will definitely send a strong message to Pakistan that India will no more tolerate such kind of misdeeds from its agents in future.

— Vijay Kumar Sodhi

The Government of India has done the right thing by executing Afzal Guru, who is responsible for claiming innocent lives in the 2001 Parliament attack. Today is a historic day for the whole nation and we are all happy to see the end of Afzal Guru. President Pranab Mukherjee has done the right thing by rejecting a mercy plea from Mohammad Afzal Guru.

— Mohammad Iqbal

When the Parliament was attacked by militants in 2001, every citizen of the country was shocked that these people have breached the high security and killed the security personnel, who were on duty. Finally, the main culprit has been hanged now.

— Rakesh Kumar Gupta

In fact, When India blamed the militants backed by Pakistan for the 2001 attack on the Parliament of the world's largest democracy, targeting the Prime Minister, interior minister and legislators, we knew that Pakistan will deny its involvement and it actually happened. Today every Indian is celebrating the execution of Afzal Guru.

— Janak Raj Gupta

Jammu, February 9
Additional CEO, Shrine Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), PP Singh has said that all issues regarding grant of permission for tents and shops during the yatra has already been resolved in consultation with the Deputy Commissioners of Anantnag and Ganderbal. The board has clarified that the Supreme Court has stated that the quality of tents made available to pilgrims in many cases were not upto mark and, in future, a committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner concerned should grant permission for pitching tents only after verifying the quality of tents.

He said Farooq Ahmad Shah, Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, who had considerable experience of working in the tourism sector, was requested to identify reasonably priced tents of suitable quality which should be the benchmark for assessing quality before issuing permission for pitching tents.

He said a benchmark tent was identified by Shah, which costed around Rs 18,000 per unit and not Rs 35,000 as mentioned in some reports.

The additional CEO said for Yatra 2013, a committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner and not the shrine board shall grant permission for shops and tents.

Further, the guidelines in this regard were framed in close consultation with the Deputy Commissioners of Ganderbal and Anantnag districts and no condition had been prescribed that every person desirous of seeking permission to install tents has to buy a new tent.

He said the representatives of tent owners association had repeatedly met the CEO and most of their issues regarding production of documents, date for filing applications had already been resolved. — TNS

Jammu, January 9
Highlighting the importance of vocational training courses in providing employment avenues to the youth of the state especially those living in rural and far-flung areas, Minister of State for Technical Education and Information Vikar Rasool today directed the officers to ensure that the targets set for the imparting technical education to the youth in various fields are achieved.

The minister was addressing officers during a high-level review meeting of the technical Education Department here today. Technical Education Principal Secretary KB Aggarwal, Technical Education Director SS Sawhney and other senior officers of the department were present.

The minister directed the officers to introduce area specific trades in various polytechnics of the state so that the people could get much needed employment at their doorsteps and also contribute in building the economy of their respective areas.

The minister also directed the officers to formulate a mechanism by which admission could also be given to boys in various women polytechnics of the areas like Bhalessa and Surankote, so that they don’t have to go to far of places for their technical education.

Reasi, February 9
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Reasi, Mohammad Shafi exhorted students not to be "silent spectators”, but raise their voice for human rights through proper channels.

He was addressing them at the Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Reasi, during an awareness programme on “human rights and policing” today.

Shafi said there was a lack of awareness among the public on fundamental rights and not just public but even the implementing agencies were not aware of them.

“Fundamental rights are amended every time according to the need of the hour and the civil society should be aware of the rights and come together to defend them. When the civil society is united, even the government and police have to think twice” Shafi said.