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PDD fails to equip substations with protective panels
Jammu sizzles at 43°C
A boy dives into the Ranbir canal to beat the heat in Jammu on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Anand Sharma
Centre to install 150 mobile towers in state
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Jawan opens fire, leaves two colleagues dead, 2 injured
Cong makes veiled attack on NC over panchayat powers
J-K has vast potential for fruit processing ventures: Guv
Governor NN Vohra interacts with members of a CII delegation in Srinagar on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph
Shutdown in Valley on death anniversary of separatist leaders
State to approach Centre for Rs 607-cr quake relief
Sapna Kumari underwent a free surgery for cleft lip in Jammu on Monday.
A fillip for tourism as Yusmarg master plan gets approval
BJP protests over problems of border areas
BJP activists hold a protest to highlight the problems of people living in border areas in Jammu on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Inderjeet Singh
Army calls off search operation in Kupwara
Cabinet nod for medical supplies corporation
One killed in accident
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PDD fails to equip substations with protective panels
Jammu, May 21 BBPP is used as an application for inter-connections of incoming and outgoing transmission lines and transformers at electrical substations and limits the impact of faults on the entire power network. Officials said out of 10 220/132 KV substations, only two substations at Budgam and Bishnah were provided with BBPP. “The position with regard to protection given to 44 substations at voltage level of 132/33 KV is more dismal because only two grids have been provided with the protection panel whereas one substation is not in a working condition. This reflects inefficiency of the department towards safety of the installed equipment”, said an official source wishing anonymity. As per grid norms and best practices in transmission system, BBPP has to be kept in service for all 220/132 KV substations to maintain system stability during grid disturbances and to provide faster clearance of faults on 220/132 KV bus bars. Chief Engineer, PDD, Sehnaz Goni said funds were being made available for improving the infrastructure under various schemes. “There has been problem in the past but we are implementing the reform process vigorously”, she said. Two single-phase auto power transformers of 133.33 rating installed during 2001 at Gladni station Jammu had failed during June and July 2008, causing outage of entire installed capacity 400 MVA of the grid station. This resulted in the loss of integrity of grid station, plunging most parts of Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch districts into darkness for over two months. A team from Central Power Research Institute (CPRI) Bangalore later conducted inspection of failed transformers and attributed the breakdown to ‘progressive accumulation deterioration of bushing insulators of the transformers’. Even after such a big failure, nothing has been done to equip infrastructure with protective gadgets. Official sources said no action has been taken to replace power current transformers, switch gears and circuit breakers installed since the establishment of grid stations which supply electricity to half the population of the state.
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Jammu sizzles at 43°C
Jammu, May 21 The blistering heat being experienced in the winter capital of the state continues to torment people, forcing them to stay indoors. The plains are witnessing abnormal heat conditions for the past one week with the mercury soaring 4 to 7 degrees above normal. The sizzling conditions have thrown life out of gear with people preferring to remain indoors for most part of the day. While the roads wore deserted look with scanty public and private traffic, the business, even in the busiest markets, remained at low ebb like the past three days of severe heat conditions being experienced in Jammu and adjoining districts of the region. The climatic conditions in the peripheral districts of Kathua and Samba, besides parts of Jammu district, including RS Pura, Akhnoor and other plain areas, are no different. Even hilly areas of the region, including Udhampur, Reasi, Rajouri, Poonch, Doda and Kishtwar, are witnessing a surging temperature. India Meteorological Department director Sonum Lotus said, “The temperature will remain between 42 and 44 degrees till May 25, after which we expect light showers and thundershowers. The weather is dry because winds are stable across north India.” Meanwhile, unscheduled power curtailment by the PDD is adding to the people’s miseries. In several areas of the city, power cuts have become intolerable. Health experts maintain that people, especially children and old-aged persons, should not move out during the day time and avoid working in the open without wearing protective clothing, hats and applying sunscreens on their bodies. “Lot of fluids and fruits should be taken as a protection from heat. People should avoid moving in the open or walking long distances during afternoon”, said Dr Vikas Sharma of Government Medical College (GMC). Similarly, harsh climatic conditions have affected all the walks of life in Jammu city. The city roads wear deserted look, particularly during the day time, as people prefer to remain indoors to avoid the blazing heat. |
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Centre to install 150 mobile towers in state
Jammu, May 21 “We are installing 150 new mobile towers to strengthen mobile network in the state. I will talk to officials of BSNL in the state and discuss which uncovered areas are to be taken up under this plan,” Kruparani Killi, Union Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology, told reporters here. Killi, who was in the town to inaugurate the office of Chief Postmaster General at Railhead complex here, said the Central Government had decided to set up 2,000 new mobile towers in the country under the expansion plan that would cost Rs 3,000 crore to it. In his speech at the function, Lal Singh, Member of Parliament from Kathua-Udhampur-Doda segment, regretted that several areas in the state were yet to be covered by BSNL, leaving people cut off from mobile communication. In reply to another question regarding commencement of SMS service on pre-paid mobile connections, the union minister remained non-committal over the lifting of ban, saying the decision in this regard would be taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs. In June 2010, the Centre had banned SMSes in Jammu and Kashmir following large-scale violence and unrest in the Kashmir Valley. The ban was imposed in the wake of reports that anti-social elements were using SMSes to mobilise people for violent protests in Kashmir. Earlier, the minister while addressing the gathering said the Government of India had sanctioned Rs 4,700 crore under IT modernisation project for computerisation and modernisation of departmental post offices with a provision of Rs 1,500 crore for installing computer hardware in all rural post offices in the country. “By May 2014, all post offices will be providing online services and by the end of next year, the Department of Posts (DoP) will install 1,000 ATMs in main post offices,” Killi said. On the initiatives taken by the DoP for making post offices citizen-friendly, the minister said the department had started “Project Arrow” under which 15,000 post offices had been upgraded and in the next one year, 2,000 more would be upgraded. In his welcome address, John Samuel, Chief Postmaster General, J&K, said the department had taken different initiatives to come closer to the people of the state and provide them better services.
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Jawan opens fire, leaves two colleagues dead, 2 injured
Jammu, May 21 The incident occurred around 12.30 am today. However, Kishtwar Superintendent of Police Kulbir Singh said two border guards were killed
and one was injured in the incident. “Around 12.30 am today, an SSB border guard identified as Vijay Singh, a native of Una district in Himachal Pradesh, opened fire from his INSAS rifle killing two of his colleagues Narender Singh of Uttarakhand and Vir Singh of Uttar Pradesh. In the attack, another border guard Paviter Nath Roy of Assam sustained minor injuries,” the SP told
The Tribune. Singh said the SSB was posted in the District Police Lines a couple of
months ago. “The reason behind the extreme provocation has not been ascertained as yet,” the SP said. He said soon after the incident, other border guards overpowered Vijay Singh and beat him up. “He has been
hospitalised. We haven’t yet recorded his statement because of his condition,” the SP said. The officer said Vijay Singh had fired around 16 rounds from his rifle. However, the police sources said around midnight a scuffle took place between the border guards inside the District Police Lines (DPL). “They were under the influence of liquor at the time of incident,” the sources said. However, according to reports, soon after Vijay Singh sprayed bullets on his colleagues, other jawans inside the barrack in DPL overpowered him and gave him a severe thrashing, they added. They also rushed four of their colleagues, who had sustained gun shots, to Kishtwar district hospital where Narender Singh of Uttarakhand and Vir Singh of Uttar Pradesh were declared dead. The two other injured, jawans Paviter Nath Roy and and
Habib-ul-Islam, were given treatment for bullet injuries. The SSB’s 48 battalion had arrived at DPL Kishtwar a couple of months ago after the Union
Government decided to replace the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with the SSB for internal security. The incident of fratricides and suicides among armed and paramilitary
forces in the state had witnessed a sharp decline in recent years after remedial measures, pre-dominantly in the form of liberal
leave to soldiers, were initiated. Experts had attributed the disturbing trend to overburdened
jawans, mobile phones vis-à-vis problems back home that acted as catalyst for them to lose balance of mind and go berserk. Following a spurt in such incidents in the state, Union Defence Minister AK Antony had set up a high-powered committee to trace the root cause of the problem and check it.
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Cong makes veiled attack on NC over panchayat powers
Jammu, May 21 The NC and the Congress have taken different stands on the 73rd Amendment. The Congress has been demanding the application of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution to the state for the empowerment of the panchayats but the NC has been vehemently opposing it. “It is all due to the pressure of anti-national forces that the state government has failed to incorporate the relevant clauses of the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution into the J&K Panchayati Raj Act”, said Narinder Singh, former Mayor of the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) while paying tributes to the late Rajiv Gandhi. He said that it was a dream of the late Prime Minister to decentralise power at the grass-roots level through the 73rd Amendment. “To have a strong panchayat system is the core of the Congress ideology,” asserted Hukum Chand, another Congress leader who vowed to take the fight to the streets. He asked the state government, particularly the Congress ministers, to press upon the government to amend the state Constitution by introducing the Amendments made to the Indian Constitution to empower the grass-roots level democratic set-up. Mahila Congress state president Indu Pawar, while speaking at another function to observe the death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, made it clear that without adopting the 73rd Amendment the entire exercise of conducting panchayat elections would prove futile. “Under the leadership of JKPCC chief Saifuddin Soz, Congress workers would ensure that this revolutionary Amendment is extended to Jammu and Kashmir,” she said, adding that the Mahila Congress had already started an aggressive campaign on the issue.
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J-K has vast potential for fruit processing ventures: Guv
Srinagar, May 21 The Governor said there was a lot of potential in developing ventures related to fruit processing and cold storages, floriculture, pharmaceuticals, tourism, hospitality and handicrafts that would generate large-scale economic activity and employment opportunities making J&K a frontline developed state in the coming years. The Governor emphasised the need for optimally benefiting from the inherent potentials of all the regions of the state, adding that the CII could make a contribution by enabling the setting up of area and potential-specific pilot projects, which would trigger large-scale initiatives all over the state. Referring to the Ladakh region, the Governor observed that much could be done for the apricot growers there by promoting the latest technologies for drying, grading and packaging of this fruit. He said the Leh Berry is another natural product which has a tremendous potential for generating economic activity and employment avenues in this region. The CII delegation
of young entrepreneurs also briefed the Governor about the success of their own ventures set up in different arenas.
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Shutdown in Valley on death anniversary of separatist leaders
Srinagar, May 21 Traffic across the city, inter-district routes and in most towns of the region was affected due to the shutdown. Only private vehicles and cabs were seen plying on some routes. There were no incidents of protests or demonstrations from anywhere in the region. A commemoration rally called by the moderate separatist group, however, could not be held as most of its leaders, including chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, were detained at their residences, the group's spokesperson said. The rally was scheduled to be organised at the Eidgah ground, adjacent to the graveyard where the two separatist leaders were buried. A large number of policemen in riot gear were deployed in several areas of the old city of Srinagar to stop supporters from marching towards the Eidgah ground. The two separatist leaders were killed by gunmen in separate incidents, twelve years apart. Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone were assassinated by unknown gunmen on May 21, 1990 and 2002, respectively. The state government claims the two separatists were assassinated by Islamist militants while most in the separatist camp blame the killings on “unidentified gunmen”. A police spokesman said no restrictions were imposed in the city.
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State to approach Centre for Rs 607-cr quake relief
Srinagar, May 21 The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah here today. The state government has already sanctioned Rs 25 crore for the purpose in the erstwhile Doda district, which now comprises Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts of the Jammu region. An earthquake of 5.8 magnitude on Richter scale shook the area and other parts of North India on May 1. The quake caused heavy damage to private and public property. At least two persons died while more than 60 others got injured and over
70,000 structures were damaged across the region, affecting over 80,000 people. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who visited the area a week later, assured the people of all possible help for their rehabilitation and restoration of the infrastructure. The state government has been looking at the Central government for a relief package on the pattern of Ladakh. Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad, who belongs to the area, also visited the affected districts twice and assured the quake-hit of all possible help for their rehabilitation. Omar, during his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday, had stressed the need for a special package similar to what was given to Ladakh, which had witnessed heavy loss to life and property in flashfloods in 2010. Special package sought
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BSF brings smile to children with cleft lip
Jammu, May 21 The BSF has joined hands with a Delhi-based NGO ‘Smile India Train’ for identifying children with cleft lips and palates in the border areas for their free surgery by Dr Shabir
Iqbal, a renowned cosmetic surgeon of Kashmir. “I used to curse my life whenever I looked at the mirror but now the problem is over and I am very happy,” said 13-year-old Sapna
Kumari, a Class IX student and one of the seven children of Babu Ram, a marginal farmer from
Bajabain, a remote area in Rajouri district. Sapna underwent a surgical procedure at Bee Enn Hospital here yesterday to get a lease of normal life. “Because of acute penury we never thought of her treatment but today she is like any other normal child,” said Sapna’s elder brother Angrez Singh. India as of today has over 10 lakh untreated clefts, who without corrective surgery have been condemned to a life of isolation and suffering. Every year 35,000 children in India are born with clefts and many of them are abandoned or killed at birth, like an incident of abandoning a five-day-old baby girl at a Srinagar hospital in September last year. The girl child with cleft lip finally got a lap of a childless couple in October who adopted her. “The BSF joined the initiative of ‘Smile India Train’ and we will identify such children in border areas across the Jammu region. So far, we have identified five such cases, out of whom one
(Sapna Kumari) has been operated upon successfully while another, a 15-year-old Priya Sharma of
Rajouri, will be operated upon shortly,” said Dr Vinod Kumar, Commandant of BSF Jammu Frontier Hospital here. “The BSF will rope in sarpanches and panches in remote and forward areas to identify such children and then convince their parents for their free treatment,” said Dr Kumar. “A stitch in time can give someone a new life, especially to such children from poor and impoverished strata,” he added.
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A fillip for tourism as Yusmarg master plan gets approval
Srinagar, May 21 As the Cabinet today okayed the master plan of the Yusmarg Development Authority (YDA), Ghalib Mohiuddin, chief executive officer (CEO) of the YDA, said the development would lead to planned development of infrastructure. Stating that over 1.5 lakh tourists had visited Yusmarg last year, he said the master plan approval would further give a boost to tourism. Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Owners Federation (KHAROF) president Faiz Bakshi said master plans for tourist spots were the need of the hour and the government should come up with zonal plans as well so that private players come forward to give a boost to the tourism sector. Even as he welcomed the approval for the YDA master plan, Bakshi said the stakeholders would first study what had been proposed in the plan before coming up with a detailed reaction. The Yusmarg master plan document will be made available for public viewing at the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Budgam and at the CEO office, YDA. Mohiuddin said it had taken the authorities two years to prepare the master plan, which was drafted after consultations with the Forest Department to take care of ecological concerns of Yusmarg, a meadow. YDA executive engineer Zahoor Ahmad said with the approval of the master plan, the authorities would be able to lay roads and set up huts and hotels while taking into consideration the environmental concerns in a planned manner. ‘Meadow of Jesus’
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BJP protests over problems of border areas
Jammu, May 21 Ranjit Singh, while briefing about the problems of residents of kandi and border areas, said they have been subjected to neglect and discrimination during the past over 60 years. He said the border from Kathua to Akhnoor was named international border while the border in Kashmir was called the
LoC. “The government has given RBA status to the people residing along the LoC with a motive to extent benefits of reservation to them in jobs and admissions etc”, he said, adding, “people living along the borders face similar problems but the government has divided them into two categories.” He said the facility of Dogra certificate too had been snatched by pro-Kashmir governments and needed to be revived soon. He also objected to the requirement of different qualifications for different regions for the same job. MLA Ashok Khajuria said it was unfortunate that the government, which should reach the people at their doorsteps to take stock of their problems, was forcing the people to sit on
dharnas. Former state president Shamsher Singh Manhas, Jitendra Singh, Rajiv Jasrotia and others also spoke on the occasion.
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Army calls off search operation in Kupwara
Srinagar, May 21 “The search operation that was launched along the LoC on May 7 was called off on Monday,” said a senior police officer in north Kashmir. “No contact could be established with the militants who were first spotted at Budnambal in Chowkibal forests,” he added. Sources, however, said the militants had managed to flee from the forests after a brief gunfight on the first day, when the search operation was launched. The search operation was jointly launched by the Army and the police after the movement of nearly four to six militants was noticed in the forests of Budnambal. The search operation was extended later to the Vilgam sector and Kruhmohra in the Rajwar sector of Kupwara district. The Army had also pressed into service helicopters to track down the
militants.
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Cabinet nod for medical supplies corporation
Srinagar, May 21 The state Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today, accorded sanction to the establishment of the JKMSC for the purchase of drugs and other equipment required in the healthcare institutions. “The setting of the corporation is a first major step for implementing the drug policy in the state. The corporation will now handle the entire purchase of medicines and other hospital equipment in the state,” said Medical Education Minister Taj
Mohiuddin. “In view of the recent revelations about counterfeit medicines, it was important to have this corporation,” he added.
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One killed in accident
Batote, May 21 DSP Muzaffar Ahmed said the deceased, identified as Ashok Kumar of Mahanpur, Basoli, was alone in the ill-fated truck at the time of accident. Despite intense search operation by the police, soldiers of Rashtriya Rifles and locals, no other injured was found from the spot. Since May 17, four persons have died and six injured in different mishaps on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway between Ramban and Banihal.
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There is no respite in sight for people from scorching heat till May 25 as weatherman has predicted light showers between May 25 and 27 in the region.
Governor NN Vohra today said Jammu and Kashmir has a vast potential for the establishment of industrial ventures based on agricultural and horticultural produce.
A large number of people from kandi and border areas of
Kathua, Hiranagar, RS Pura and Akhnoor held a protest under the leadership of BJP senior leader Ranjit Singh against the indifferent attitude of the state and Central governments towards
them. Ranjit Singh, while briefing about the problems of residents of kandi and border areas, said they have been subjected to neglect and discrimination during the past over 60 years.
