Jammu, March 14
Militancy-infested and economically backward Jammu and Kashmir faces a food crisis as the state reels under a shortage of 16,500 metric tonne ration every month and it doesn’t have ration to feed nearly 24 lakh people.

As per official statistics, the state is getting only 63,067 tonne ration against the total requirement of 79,567 tonne per month at a scale of 35 kilogram per family from the government of India. Thus, there is a shortfall of 16,500 tonne every month.

Further, around 19 lakh ration card holders in Jammu and Kashmir are getting fixed ration scale “strictly against the projected population of Census 2000-01”.

The population of the state was 1,01,43,700 in 2001, which increased by 24,05,226 over the past decade.

As per the Census 2011, this figure stood at 1,25,48,926. There are 24.05 lakh inhabitants of the state which are still deprived of ration.

“The state requires 79,567 metric tonne foodgrains per month at the scale of 35 kg per family as per the Census of 2011 but it is getting 63,067 metric tonne foodgrains as per the Census of 2000-01, which makes for a shortfall of 16,500 metric tonne,” admitted Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan in response to a question by Shenaz Ganie in the Upper House of the state legislature today.

He said the government of India has released additional quota of foodgrains to meet the shortfall in the state.

“Upgradation of ration cards is a continuous process and they are being renewed after every two years with exclusion and inclusion of family members,” he said, adding that the department had taken various corrective measures to strengthen the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Ramzan said the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) had been involved to identify and recommend deletion of bogus, fake or ineligible BPL and AAY ration cards with the assistance of CAPD employees concerned in their respective panchayats so that only deserving people get ration from ration depots.

“The PRIs have also been involved for receipt of foodgrains, supervision and monitoring of PDS and other essential commodities in their jurisdiction. Besides, end-to-end computerisation on PDS is under progress,” he said.

About 1,038 posts including nine in gazetted category, 390 in non-gazetted and 639 in class IV category are lying vacant in CAPD department. Besides, about 554 posts of storekeepers and senior assistant were vacant in CAPD department. As many as 174 posts of storekeepers are vacant under direct quota in Jammu division, while the number of vacancies under promotional quota is 380, comprising 107 in Jammu and 273 in Kashmir division.

Jammu, March 14
Around 4,365 kanal and 15 marla land identified as Jammu Development Authority (JDA) land, is reported to be under encroachment of landgrabbers.

This was stated by the state government in a written reply in the Legislative Assembly in response to a query of Panthers Party MLA Harsh Dev Singh. “Out of this, 2,712 kanal and eight marla have been retrieved from the encroachers during the last three years,” the government stated.

“Steps are being taken on a regular basis for removal of encroachments through Khailafwarzi wing of JDA, with the support of Revenue authorities for the purposes of records and with the help of police in cases where the removal of encroachments necessitates the presence of police,” the government further stated.

“Notices have been issued under Public Premises Eviction Act 1988 under various sections against the unauthorised occupants of JDA land during the last three years. One hundred and twenty three show-cause notices have been issued under Section 4 for removal of illegal occupation,” the government stated, adding, “Further notices have been given under Section 5- 40 in number, section 6- 34 in number, under section 7- 1 in number. Thus, a total of 198 notices have been issued under the Act. There are a number of cases in the court of law relating to the notices. These are being contested vigorously.”

The government further said 82 encroachments/illegal constructions had been reported within the jurisdiction of Srinagar Development Authority (SDA). It was also informed that the enforcement wing had demolished 61 structures which had come up illegally out of 82 encroachments. “The action in respect of remaining violations could not be initiated due to status quo imposed by the court,” the government stated.

The government further mentioned that in village Chatha, 59 kanal land was encroached upon by landgrabbers, of which, 50 kanal had been retrieved by Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC). As for the rest of the land, the matter was sub-judice.

“About 5 kanal land has recently been encroached upon at village Sunjwan by the landgrabbers. The matter therein has been brought to the notice of Deputy Commissioner Jammu for demarcation of the said land. Besides, this case stands registered by the police station concerned,” the government stated.

Rajouri, March 14
Two hundred students studying in a government model school in the heart of the city in border district Rajouri are forced to attend classes outside their classrooms. And these classes are suspended when it rains.

“The pathetic condition of school is owing to a nullah flanking this school. Every time stinking water of the nullah comes gushing, students are forced to study in the open. Even a mild downpour is enough for the classes to be suspended,” said a teacher of the school.

According to the teacher, this school was built in 1972 and last year, the school was added as a model school of this district, where nearly 17 teachers and 200 students are enrolled.

“The stinking nullah carries all the dirt and filth of the city and when it gushes into the classrooms, it damages desks, chairs and other necessary furniture and building of the school. Not only this, it is posing a serious threat of health hazards among students and teaching staff,” he added.

Windows and walls of the building were damaged due to this nullah in heavy rainfalls two years ago and till date, the education department has not made the repairs.

“Ironically, the condition of this school is known to everyone in the education department because the model school is situated alongside the Chief Education Office at Rajouri, but no heed has been paid to this issue. We want this nullah to be shifted so that students can study properly without threat of health hazards,” he added.

“We raised this issue before the Education Department and later brought it to the notice of District Development Commissioner (DDC) Rajouri Sawgat Biswas along with photographs as evidence, but still, nothing has been done on this serious issue,” the teacher said.

“There is no bathroom or potable drinking water facility for the students. They, as also the teachers, have to procure water all by themselves from natural springs by covering a distance. Now, I have started building a bathroom on my own,” said a teacher.

This model school has mostly students from very poor families who cover long distances to reach here. A few of them are even working as domestic help at their school teachers’ residences for meagre amounts to meet their needs.

Several attempts to contact the officiating Chief Education Officer (CEO) Rajouri Saif Ali proved futile.

Katra, March 14
The employment fair, which was started today at the Sports Stadium Reasi by the District Employment Counselling Centre failed to generate a considerable response from the people as a number of stalls wore a deserted look and very few people turned up on the occasion.

The fair was organised by the district administration with an aim to raise awareness among the unemployed youth about various self-employment schemes and programmes. Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Reasi RS Tara inaugurated the fair.

When the fair did not get a positive response from people, the authorities managed school children to occupy empty chairs.

Chairman, JK Human Right Development Council and senior Congress leader, Tariq Bhat, said, “This is wastage of government funds by the department of employment, as it lacks planning and co-ordination on part of the authorities.”

The ADC made the people aware about various schemes for the benefit of unemployed youth.

He also threw light on various schemes of the government for the unemployed youth and invited the youth to avail benefits of various schemes. It was stated, “It is not possible for the government to give job to every unemployed youth, so the youth should come forward to avail the benefits and set their own ventures to earn a livelihood with dignity”.

Banihal, March 14
The District Development Commissioner, Ramban, SA Bhat, inaugurated a two- day Employment Fair organised by the District Employment and Counselling Centre at Government Boys Higher Secondary School in Banihal today.

DC, Ramban, Bhat, exhorted the educated youth to realise the importance of self-employment and entrepreneurship rather than clamour for government jobs.

Assistant Commissioner Development, MS Malik, dwelled on various government schemes for unemployed youth.

Various stalls had been put up. The Assistant Director Employment Ramban, Naresh Kumar gave a brief resume of the activities and achievements of his department.

Jammu, March 14
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) has said organic farming in the state had the potential to generate over 80 lakh jobs, including 60 lakh in the state and an additional 20 lakh if on-farm storing, processing, value addition, packaging and marketing facilities were included.

DS Rawat, national secretary general of ASSOCHAM and OS Tyagi, senior director, released the chamber’s study titled “Organic Jammu and Kashmir: Avenues of Job Creation and Capital Formation”.

Tyagi said promotion of organic farming could lead to wealth accumulation worth over Rs 10,600 crore and generate exports worth Rs 600 crore in the state during the course of the next five years.

Rawat said adoption of organic farming could increase per capita income of farmers of J&K by a whopping 250 per cent, to over Rs 17,625 in the next five years from a meagre Rs 7,050 currently. Out of the total organically certified area of 1.7 lakh hectares (ha) across the country, Odisha had the maximum area of over 26,300 ha, followed by J&K (22,316) and Rajasthan (22,105), he added.

Rawat said organic farming in J&K was a default practice as the state had about 85 per cent of small and marginal farmers using less amounts of fertilisers and pesticides. “Farmers in Kathua, Kupwara, Leh, Poonch, Pulwama, Rajouri, Srinagar, Udhampur, Samba and Reasi districts practice organic farming due to little or no use of chemicals, thereby making most of the area organic by default”.

He said the ASSOCHAM had proposed formation of a national commission for organic agriculture with participation of all stakeholders including private sector.

“The J&K government should set up an organic village in each district to encourage usage of organic fertilisers to protect the land from residual affect of chemical fertilisers. The state government must provide information on new technologies and rural credit to farmers through cooperatives, commercial, regional and rural banks”, they added.

Katra, March 14
The Counter Insurgency Force (Uniform) (CIF) took the initiative to provide computer education to the teachers of Reasi zone. Trained computer personnel of CIF taught the basics of computers to 25 teachers each from different schools.

The course was organised by CIF in order to uplift the knowledge base of the teachers and enable them to improve the teaching standards of computers in government schools.

A defence official said around 25 teachers of Government Schools from Reasi zone attended the course.

Co-ordination and liaison was carried out with CEO, Reasi, Tarseem Lal for working out the modalities of the course, primarily for the schools which have been provided computers.

Speaking at the concluding ceremony, the CEO thanked the Army for holding such a course, which would help the teachers and students of the area in long run.

Jammu, March 14
MBA Department team toppled the BTech Department team to lift the title trophy of the tug-of-war event in men’s category of the ongoing Inter-Departmental Tournament, being held at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU), Rajouri.

In women’s section, Post Graduate (PG) team got the better of Information Technology (IT) engineering team to bag the top honours.

In badminton, students of BTech course, Tariq Aziz and Kashish Kapoor, secured a berth in the final after defeating their respective opponents. Registrar of the university Mohammad Rashid Chowdhary was the chief guest on the occasion and congratulated the winners of the various events.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Irshad A Hamal, in his message to the participants, said the university was ready to provide every possible support to the students to prove their worth at higher levels in academics, sports and culture. Earlier, Deputy Director, Physical Education and Sports, Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din presented the welcome address.

Poonch, March 14
A wreath-laying ceremony was organised by the police at Manjeet Memorial, Poonch, to pay homage to Manjeet Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Poonch, who sacrificed his life in a gun battle with the terrorists at Poonch Bus stand on March 14, 2003.

Shamsheer Hussain, Superintendent of Police, Poonch, laid a wreath and paid homage to the martyr.

Speaking on the occasion, Hussain said Jammu and Kashmir Police had sacrificed its best officers to bring peace and normalcy in the state and their sacrifices would not go futile.

“Deputy Superintendent of Police Manjeet Singh is still alive in the hearts of the people and is a source of inspiration for the youth of Poonch district, especially for the security personals”, Hussain added.

“He was a very honest, brave and dedicated officer. His sincerity towards his duties was his identity and our youths, especially security personnel should follow his foot steps while performing their duties,” he said.

A similar ceremony was also organised at police martyrs’ memorial at District Police Headquarters, Poonch, where police officials laid wreaths and paid homage to Manjeet Singh.

ASP Yougal Manhas, Mohd Rasshid, Deputy Superintendent of Police HQ, MA Qureshi, Deputy Superintendent of Police DAR, Javid Naz, DSP Operation and Inspector Sanjeev Singh, Station House Officer were also present.

Jammu, March 14
Nazia Choudhary, a student of MV International School (MVIS), bagged the second position in National Hand Writing Competition, organised by Smart Write, a division of ASK India Society. The competition was organised in two groups, A and B, wherein 25,326 students from various parts of the state participated. MVIS bagged six trophies (three from each group).

Toppers from group A included Kanika Chadgal, Shelly Jamwal and Kushagra Slathia. From group B, Nazia Choudhary, Divya Manhas and Rahul Verma were the toppers.

Director of the school, Gourav Abrol and Principal BN Sarkar congratulated the winners and exhorted them to keep up their achievement.

Poonch, March 4
BJP Poonch unit today held a protest against the Power Development Department for its failure to restore the power supply in the district, even after two months of its disruption.

The protest was organised under the leadership of Sunil Gupta, president of BJP Poonch unit.

Speaking on the occasion, the BJP members strongly criticised the state government for its apathetic attitude towards the problems of the people of the district.

Gupta said, “Power Minister has given a false statement in the assembly that over 50% power supply has been restored in Poonch district, actually only 2 to 3 hours’ power supply is available. Same is the case with the water and ration supply in the entire district”.

People were running from pillar to post to get ration but the department, by giving one or the other reason, was cheating the masses, he said.

Pardeep Sharma, senior BJP leader, said a case was registered against PDD engineers, involved in the low-quality work of 132 KV transmission line from Thannamandi to Draba, two months ago, but to no avail. If government was really keen to restore the power supply, it should work on the project on war-footing, he added.

Later, a protest march was also organised which, after passing through the main market Of Poonch town, culminated at DC office, Poonch. Protestors also submitted a memorandum to Ajeet Kumar Sahu, DC and demanded early restoration of power and water supply. 

Rajouri, March 14
The district unit of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) today demanded the dismissal of the coalition government and imposition of governor's rule as they said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah-led government had completely failed to provide relief to the people in the state.

Addressing party workers at the protest rally, BJP state vice-president and National Council (NC) member Advocate Vibodh Gupta termed the government a failure in all sectors. “We want that the governor should take over the state as Omar Abdullah seems quite helpless and had failed to control the situation of the state” he said. Gupta slammed the state government for yesterday’s attack in which five CRPF men were killed in Bemina.

Meanwhile, party workers marched towards the office of District Development Commissioner (DDC), Rajouri.—TNS

Jammu, March 14
Kishan Cricket Club (KCC) trounced John Cricket Club (JCC) by 25 runs today to move into the next round of the ongoing T20 cricket tournament, being played at Sarore village playfield here.

Batting first after winning the toss, KCC accumulated a challenging total of 168 runs in their allotted quota of overs, losing eight wickets in the process. Sidhant played a fine knock of 57 runs, studded with five hits to the fence and a six.

Gourav and Anuran also chipped in with handy knocks of 25 and 27 runs respectively. For JCC, Rishu was the pick of the bowlers who fetched five important wickets to keep a check on the run spree of rival batsmen.

Rohan and Vikas snared two and one wicket respectively. Chasing 169 runs to win, JCC got off to a fine start provided by the opening pair of Sandeep and Kanu. Both added 45 runs for the first wicket but after their dismissal, JCC struggled to put on a decent partnership.

The whole team was bowled out for 143 runs in 18.5 overs. For KCC, Gourav and Vivek shared four wickets apiece.