Jammu, March 18
Despite a budget of crores of rupees and several centrally sponsored schemes, Public Health Engineering (PHE) department, nearly 5,150 habitations in Jammu and Kashmir are without safe drinking water, thereby putting lives of thousands of people at risk, for they are exposed to water-born diseases.

As per government data, there are 14,028 habitations in the state, out of which, only 8,878 have been covered to ensure safe drinking water.

Even the Census 2011 has portrayed a gloomy picture on the drinking water front as it had revealed that only 34 per cent of the total population has access to safe drinking water, with 64 per cent of the total population in the state using tap water for drinking but only 34.7 per cent getting it from treated source. The rest of the population uses water from hand pumps, rivers, canals, ponds and springs.

“Most of the schemes are running behind schedule, mostly because of inefficient handling by officers on the ground. A central audit has also revealed that a vital flagship scheme of the government of India aimed at providing safe drinking water to rural population has been poorly implemented,” said a PHE engineer.

The audit report by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has also revealed that Jammu & Kashmir has reported low (less than 50%) achievement against the targets under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP).

Even Minister for PHE, Irrigation Flood Control, Sham Lal Sharma has revealed in the Legislative Assembly that thousands of habitations are still partially covered.

“We are planning to constitute District Water and Sanitation Missions (DWSM) in all the districts of the state and village-level Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSC) with NRHM throughout the state soon,” said Sharma.

“Government will ensure drinking water security both in terms of adequacy and quality of water to the people of the state on a sustainable basis,” Sharma said.

Officials said the target is to cover 1,407 new habitations, benefiting a population of 11 lakh by the end of this fiscal. The government has also proposed to install 3350 Mark-II hand pumps at vulnerable locations to meet drinking water requirements.

Jammu, March 18
Dr Vinay Kumar, Principal Investigator in the School of Physics, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), has been awarded with the Young Scientists Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the area of nanotechnology in the National Conference on Physics of Engineering Materials (NCPEM- 2013) organised by the Department of Physics, Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and technology (DCRUST), Murthal, Haryana.

About 200 delegates from across the country participated in the conference wherein five best young scientists were shortlisted for the award.

Dr Kumar presented his work on nanophosphor (fluorescent nanoparticles) and their practical use in forensic science for latent finger print development, light emitting diodes (LEDs), compact fluorescence lamps (CFLs) and high-resolution TV screen.

“It is wonderful to be recognised by my peers and I am happy to be the recipient of the Young Scientist Award,” says an elated Kumar after receiving the prestigious award.

“I felt honoured yet humble to be on the list of other scientists, who went on to make great contributions in material science and nanotechnology”, he added.

Dr Kumar has published 38 papers in various international reputed and peer reviewed journals. Besides, he is handling three major research project worth Rs 63,00,000 as the Principal Investigator in the School of Physics, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University.

Jammu, March 18
The Joint Action Committee (JAC), ETT Colleges of J&K who are on an indefinite strike in support of their demand for conducting first year exams of ETT 2011-13 batch, have claimed the Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand has assured that a meeting of J&K State Board of School Education (JKBOSE) officers will be convened soon to break the deadlock. Pertinently, a four-member deputation had met Tara Chand at Civil Secretariat today.

Hari Dutt Shishu, one of the members of JAC, while confirming the development, told The Tribune, “Yes, we had a detailed meeting with the Deputy Chief Minister and he informed us that the issue has already been discussed with the Chief Minister. Due to this inordinate delay in conducting the examination, academic future of more than 24,000 students is at stake and we do not want further delay,” he added.

Another JAC member, Deep Singh, said they had also met MLC Devender Singh Rana and apprised him of the prevailing scenario. “Before meeting the Deputy Chief Minister, we held a meeting with Devender Singh Rana, who assured us early solution,” Deep Singh claimed.

“The examination would have been conducted earlier by the school education board but unfortunately, that did not happen and the students are now suffering owing to this inordinate delay,” said JAC member.

Sources said this matter came to the fore when the school education board had earlier issued a notification to start admissions for the 2011-13 batch. Sources added that more than 20,000 applications were received by the BOSE after which it was decided to conduct counselling session to allot colleges to the aspirants.

Sources added that the school education board could not start the counselling process on time and the students who were waiting for the counselling had quit the course. The BOSE issued a fresh notification regarding admissions for the same batch but this time, only 9,815 applications were received. The owners of various ETT colleges then approached the school education board to get permission to start admission under management quota.

A total of 11,925 aspirants were allotted 257 ETT institutes in J&K. Sources said those colleges who did not get a single admission during counselling had decided to again meet the board authorities to seek permission to start admissions under the management quota.

Meanwhile, the authorities concerned have also constituted a five-member committee each for both Jammu and Kashmir. Sources said the committee had submitted a list of aspirants of 2011-13 batch to ex-chairman of BOSE for further necessary action but the process failed to make any headway.

Jammu, March 18
The results of Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE-2013) have been announced. Aditya Reddy, Director, Gateforum, said their students had done exceedingly well in the test.

From the results obtained so far, it is known that Gateforum student Bibaswan Kumar Chatterjee has got All India Rank 1 in Computer Science, Shimul Kumar Dam has got All India Rank 1 in Electrical Engineering, Vinod Datusliya has got All India Rank 1 in Mechanical Engineering and Rohit Ronge has got All India Rank 1 in Instrumentation.

From Jammu, Prateek Garg, who was a student of Gateforum, achieved AIR 90 in Computer Science.

In GATE-2013, the number of students taking the test has increased to 9.84 lakh, from 6.86 lakh in GATE-2012. This makes GATE one of the largest competitive tests in India. The increase in number of test takers in GATE can be attributed to the fact that as many as 14 top PSUs such as BHEL, NTPC, IOCL, HPCL and BPCL are recruiting graduate engineers through GATE-2013. GATE-2013 was conducted on February 13.

Rajouri, March 18
Police on Monday recovered body of a youth 18 days after he had reportedly drowned in river of border district Rajouri on March 1, when he slipped into the deep water and drowned.

Reports said a police team, on a tip-off from locals, recovered the body of a young labourer Mohammed Zakir, son of Abdul Rashid, resident of Muradpur in Rajouri. He drowned when he was taking bath in the river on March 1.

He had gone to nearby village Badoon and was involved in construction of a house. He, along with four-five other labourers, was returning late evening after finishing slab (roof) work of the house; they were taking bath in the river on the way when the incident took place.

Police recovered the body in a partially decomposed condition from the river as it was stuck under a huge rock today. After receiving information from the locals, police reached the spot and retrieved the body from the gushing waters of the river, a source said.

Reports sid the police had shifted the partially decomposed body for postmortem in District Hospital Rajouri and after completion of legal formalities, it will be handed over to the deceased’s kin.

After the incident on March 1, police, Army, fire services and river rafters launched a joint operation to trace the missing youth, but failed to trace him. They used blasting method in the river, but failed to trace his body.

Later, angry relatives and local villagers blocked the Jammu-Poonch highway and had demonstrations against the police. They pelted policemen with stones, resulting in injuries to many cops.

Jammu, March 18
Minister for Agriculture Production Ghulam Hassan Mir today said a team of students from the field of agriculture would be nominated to conduct a study to develop systematic approach and plan for promotion of organic farming among the farmers of the state.

The minister was speaking after inaugurating the 3rd National Summit on Organic Farming organised by the Associate Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) India at KC Plaza here.

Mir also informed about several steps taken by the state government to highlight the importance of agriculture in the all-round growth of the state’s economy. He said soil’s fertility was decreasing day-by-day due to the use of chemical fertilisers and under such circumstances, the farmers have to adopt organic farming.

He said organic farming was picking up pace in India but the sector has been jostling with lack of awareness, knowledge and confidence about its use and subsequent food products among both farmers and consumers.

The minister said a large area of cultivated land was already under semi-organic cultivation by hilly districts of the state due to the non-availability of chemical fertilisers.

Mir said the farmers should tap the opportunity of the growing demand of organic products in India as well as across the globe. He said the state could also take a lead by promoting organic farming practises and become the first organic state of India.

Vice-Chancellor, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir (SKUAST), Prof Tej Pratap, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM DS Rawat, senior director, Dr Om S Tyagi, Director Agriculture, Ajay Khajuria also spoke on the occasion. 

Jammu, March 18
Minister of State for Stationery and Printing Manohar Lal Sharma said that the state government would take necessary steps to modernise the existing set up of the government printing press at Srinagar and Jammu in a phased manner to ensure quality printing.

Replying to the discussions on the demand of grants for the Stationery and Printing Department in the House today, the minister said to further tone up the functioning of the government press, all vacancies would be filled up on the fast-track basis.

He said the main objective of the department was to make quality supply of stationery articles and printing material to all the government departments and PSUs on genuine rates and out of this, the department generated revenue to the tune of Rs 22.37 crore in the previous fiscal.

The minister revealed that a new government press building at Srinagar was under construction at a cost of Rs 7.50 crore and Rs 48 lakh had been earmarked for the modernisation of the Jammu Government Press.

He said the functioning of the Government Stationery Depot would be revamped and e-tendering process be introduced to procure the material.

He said it would be made mandatory for all the departments and PSUs to make all stationery and printing-related purchases through the Stationery and Printing Department.

He said the department, despite, paucity of manpower had been able to ensure timely printing of all important government books and other documents. 

Katra, March 18
The Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) organised an awareness camp for farming community in which large number of farmers and local inhabitants hailing from Sungri, Mahore, Chassana, Jaslam Dharmari areas of the sub-division participated. The camp was inaugurated by former minister and MLA, Gulabgarh, Abdul Ghani Malik at Sungri village in Mahore sub-division of Reasi district.

The purpose of the camp was to create awareness about latest farming methodologies and techniques to be adopted especially during the ongoing rainy and above average monsoon season.

A detailed presentation of the facts was given by chief agriculture officer RK Safaya and his team, who answered queries about the sowing season, type of plantation, fertilisers usage, proper harvesting, incentive schemes and other relevant topics on the subject. They also threw light on the relevance of the ATMA and other useful drives such as provision of vermi composting units to progressive farmers, exposure tours to outside states and shared even success stories of farmers, who have created big farming units on hilly terrains of the state.

It was also suggested that a farmer friends club should be constituted, one club per two villages across all the villages in the sub-division so that the community as a whole could fetch maximum benefits through them.

The MLA asked the farmers to avail advantage of useful practical tips given by the department specialists and stressed the need of innovative farming and plantation of cash maize crops. He assured that more camps of agriculture, horticulture, social welfare, rural development and other line departments would be organised.

The MLA also distributed complementary hybrid seeds of various vegetable crops among the farmers.

Jammu, March 18
Minister for Tourism GA Mir, while replying to a question by Ravinder Kumar Sharma in the Legislative Council, informed the House that the Union Tourism Ministry has so far sanctioned 39 projects at a cost of Rs 121.66 crore under the Central Financial Assistance aimed at development of the pilgrim tourism in the state.

He said under the state plan, an amount of Rs 6 crore was earmarked annually for the creation of infrastructure facilities in the vicinity of potential pilgrim spots and various festivals were being held to promote pilgrim tourism in the state, especially in the Jammu region.

Mir said for the promotion of pilgrim tourism in Poonch district, a Central project, namely pilgrim circuit, had been sanctioned by the Union Tourism Ministry at a cost of Rs 5 crore which aims at providing facilities at Gurudwara Nagali Sahib, Poonch, Shri Budha Amarnathji, Poonch, and Sain Miran Sahib, Poonch.

The construction of Baitul Zaireen Rajouri had been taken up under the special task force recommendations at a cost of Rs 4 crore, the Minister informed.

The minister said besides, all important religious shrines in Rajouri and Poonch, including the birth place of Banda Singh Bahadur, would be considered for promotion in the future. 

Katra, March 18
The 6 Battalion of the Central Reserve of Police (CRPF) celebrated its 56th Raising Day at function held at Katra here. Commanding officer, 6 Bn, Sunil Kumar, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Officials of the 6 Bn CRPF said a cultural programme by the unit personnel and orchestra by the CRPF jawans of different other units was staged on the occasion.

It was followed by a barakhana with chief guests, officers, SOs and personnel. 

Jammu, March 18
Paying rich tributes to legendary Dogri and Gojri folk singer Haji Ghulam Mohammad Dansalia, Minister for Housing Raman Bhalla has said he was a connoisseur of devotional songs (Bhakan) of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji and a symbol of secular tradition of Jammu and Kashmir.

This was stated by the minister while addressing a gathering at a function organised by Bharatiya Lok Sangeet Sansthan (BLSS) in collaboration with J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages (JKAACL) to pay glowing tributes to the folk singer.

Additional Secretary JKAACL Savita Bakshi, Chairman BLSS M L Dogra, Director BLSS V K Magotra, president Dogri Sanstha Yash Pal Yash besides writers, Dogri singers and poets were present.

The minister said with his death, an era of spiritual Dogri music had come to an end. He said Dansaliya’s demise had left a vacuum on the state’s folk music firmament. A two-minute silence was observed and the participants prayed to the Almighty to grant peace to the departed soul. A colourful cultural programme was presented by artists from Jammu and sons of Dansalia, in Dogri, Gojri and Punjabi. — TNS

Jammu, March 18
Skipper Kuldeep Kumar along with Sandeep Singh and Puneet Kumar produced brilliant performances to set up a thumping win for Rainawari Cricket Club against BCC by a comfortable margin of 43 runs in the final to clinch the T20 tournament organised by the Northern Railway Sports Club at the Railway Ground here today.

Earlier, winning the toss and batting first, Rainawari Cricket Club posted a modest total of 138 runs in the stipulated 20 overs losing nine wickets in the process. Wicketkeeper batsman Sandeep Singh was the top scorer with 34 runs with the help of four boundaries and a six. Puneet Kumar and Kuldeep Kumar also contributed valuable 33 and 20 runs, respectively. Puneet hit four hits to the fence and two mighty heaves for the maximum while Kuldeep hit two fours and a six.

For BCC, Inderjeet Singh was the most successful bowler with three wickets while Vishwajeet claimed two wickets and Vijay Dogra chipped in with one. In reply, BCC batsmen failed to cope with the disciplined bowling of the Rainawari Club bowlers.

Amit Billowria was the top scorer with 36 runs studded with three fours and as many sixes. Sagar Gupta and Vijay Dogra contributed 15 and 12 runs, respectively.

For Rainawari Club, skipper Kuldeep Kumar was pick of the bowlers, who grabbed three important wickets by conceding 23 runs in his four overs while Venus, Paras Sharma and Rohit shared two wickets each.

Kuldeep was adjudged man of the match while Ishan Gupta of the same Club was declared man of the series. The winner team received a cash prize of Rs 10,000 along with a trophy while the runners-up team pocketed a sum of Rs 5,000 and a trophy. A total of 24 teams participated in this tournament. 

Jammu, March 18
Chief Trustee of J&K Dharmarth trust Dr Karan Singh inaugurated the reconstructed old Shiv Mandir at Kankhal, Haridwar.

As per the statement, reconstruction of the old temple was taken up under the supervision of the Jammu Yatri Bhawan Trust (JYBT). The expenditure for the reconstruction of temple was incurred by the Dharmarth trust.

Dr Singh announced opening of a Dharamkand training Pathshala on the temple premises. The pathshala is named after Maharani Yasho Rajya Lakshmi, the late wife of Dr Karan Singh.

The students, who would be imparted training in conducting Dharamkand at the Pathshala, would be lodged on the Jammu Yatri Bhawan premises, Haridwar, where they would be provided food, free of cost. This was announced by Pawan Shastri, president JYBT.

Others, who were present at the function, included Sh Shashi Khajuria Secretary Dharamarth Trust, V Shrinivasan Advisior, Gurudas Sharma, trustee general secretary Trust and Sardari Lal Pandotra, trustee vice-president.

Jammu, March 18
NCC got the better of RPCC by six wickets in the finals to clinch the title trophy of the T20 Cricket Tournament organised by the Dewan Cricket Club Association at Dewan Mandir ground here today.

Earlier, batting first, RPCC accumulated a total of 136 runs in the allotted 20 overs, which in reply, NCC overhauled it by losing just four wickets. Puneet was declared man of the match for his brilliant three-wicket haul.

Yudhvir Sethi, Jammu-Poonch Parliament Constituency, Parbhari, was the chief guest on the valedictory function while Vidhi Singh Jamwal was the guest of honour.

Prominent among others present on the occasion included Sat Samotra, Vishnu Partap Singh, Arjun Sharma, Ashok Gupta and Ajay.

Later, the chief guest and the other dignitaries distributed prizes among the winners and runner-up teams.

The tournament was sponsored by Ashok Gandotra, Ashok Gupta, Ajay Kapoor, Vicky Soni, Gurukul Institutes, Bushan Chowdhary and Uphar Kendar. 

Rajouri, March 18
Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) held badminton doubles matches today in which two teams have qualified for the finals.

The matches which will be played on Tuesday. As per the details, BTech team comprising Haroon Rashid Chowdhary and Wasal Choudhary will face Gurdeep Singh and Ankit Singh in the badminton doubles.

Organised by the Directorate of Physical Education and Sports of the University under the guidance of Vice-Chancellor Prof Irshad Ahmed Hamal, the tournament of various games are being supervised by Dean of Students and Registrar Mohammad Rashid Chowdhary and all the games are nearing to be completed by the end of March.

Mohammad Rashid Chowdhary said Vice-Chancellor Prof Irshad Ahmed Hamal was very serious in holding such events in the university because he wanted to focus on overall development of scholars.

He said on the directions of the Vice-Chancellor, the university has issued fixture for cricket and football tournament.

Announcing the dates, the Registrar said the football tournament would be organised at Army Goodwill Public School and would commence from March 23 while the cricket tournament would be held at the District Police Line Ground, Rajouri, from March 27.

He said the University had finalised the arrangements with the Army and police in organising these two events outside the university campus.

He said all other events like chess, carrom, badminton, tug-of-war, volleyball and table tennis were being held on the campus. 

Rajouri, March 18
Four persons were injured in a head-on collision at Gambir, on the outskirts of Rajouri on Monday. Reports said a motorbike (JK12/3339) on its way from Rajouri to Gambir hit a van (JK11A/2416) at Gambir on the outskirts of Rajouri this evening, resulting in injuries to four persons. One of them was referred to GMC, Jammu.

It was further stated that a rashly driven vehicle hit a motorbike, resulting in serious injuries to four persons. One of those seriously injured, identified as Iqliyaq Khan of Kalakote, has been referred to Government Medical College & Hospital, Jammu. Three others have been undergoing treatment at District Hospital Rajouri and their condition was said to be stable when reports last came in.

The police has registered an FIR. — OC