The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Adulteration, lack of hygiene in shops make sweets too bitter to swallow
Consumers’ health in peril as civic authorities prove an utter failure in enforcing norms
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 8
In absence of stringent laws, cumbersome testing process and required food analysts, there is no check on sweets manufacturers in the city, even big brands. Officials often overlook the adulteration and unhygienic conditions under which they are prepared.

Sources said the corporation’s claim of regular anti-adulteration drive is a mere eyewash as there is no stoppage in influx of adulterated raw material in the city and samples lifted in the recent past remain unchecked for months together.

JMC launches routine checking and much publicity is being given to such events, but on the ground, not much has been done to educate the traders to maintain hygiene while preparing different eatables.

The condition is the worst in rural areas, where checks are seldom conducted and masses are forced to consumer poor-quality products.

Adulteration in food occurs in its most crude form; prohibited substances are added or partly or wholly substituted.

Added to this is the poor hygiene in the kitchens where the product is prepared. During festival period and Amarnath yatra, the evil is even more menacing as for more profit, some traders use poor quality raw material.

“Before every festival, huge publicity is given to the drive being launched by the MC, but then, there is a full stop. There is need for regular check. People have no idea about what is being served to them,” said Nadeem Qadri, an advocate.

Municipal Commissioner KL Khajuria said, “Although we have launched a drive against food adulteration, sample testing is still a problem as in absence of any alternative, we have to send our samples to only one place.”

Officials said that many eating points have failed to comply with the order of government to let their staff take their fitness test made mandatory as per the Government of India’s Food Act 2006, which has laid down specific norms for people who deal with the consumers directly.

However, Navneet Abrol, manager of a sweets shop, said quality and hygiene are their priorities.

“I don’t know of others, but hygiene is maintained in whatever is produced by us. Anyone can check our kitchen. We are in the business because of our high standards,” he said.

However, just outside the shop, one can find a huge garbage dump, putting a question mark on the concern shown for the people.

There are 71 wards spread over 112 sq km which make Jammu city and its newly developed colonies which came up after 1990 and the health wing of the corporation has responsibility for wards 1 to 48, while the remaining wards are looked after by the legal meteorology department.

Verification of sportspersons’ documents: Sports Council to tighten screws
Vikas Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 8
Stung by a recent fraud allegedly committed by ace gymnast Mitali who produced fake attendance sheets supposed to have been signed by the Principal, Government College for Women (GCW) Parade to receive a monthly financial assistance of Rs 10,000, the J&K State Sports Council has issued instructions to its officials to verify every document to be submitted by the sportspersons for getting the benefits.

The athlete is popularly known as “Wonder Girl” who has brought laurels to the state by winning medals both at national and international levels with her excellent skills in gymnastics.

Dilip Thusu, Secretary, J&K State Sports Council, while confirming the development, told The Tribune, “When Mitali submitted her attendance sheets in the Sports Council, I asked the officials to confirm it with the college authorities, but to our surprise, the college principal said she was not on the roll in the attendance register.”

When asked whether the attendance sheets which Mitali used to submit in the office to get the monthly monetary benefits were got verified by the officials, the Secretary of Sports Council said, “I do not know whether the documents were verified or not but as far as I am concerned, it is my duty to take note of every aspect.”

“Had the fraud been committed by someone else, the case would have been handed over to Crime Branch for investigation but we decided against it. Mitali’s suspension from the memberships of Sports Council and stopping of financial assistance is enough punishment for her,” Thusu maintained.

Former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad had announced a financial reward of Rs 10,000 per month in shape of scholarship till she completes her education in recognition of her stupendous performance in the Guwahati National Games in 2007.

Sources said Mitali could not continue her studies after appearing in Part-I examinations of the three-year degree course in Arts stream in 2011-12. Sources added that in a bid to continue availing the financial assistance, she misled the authorities by producing fake attendance certificates, supposedly signed by the principal, in the office premises of State Sports Council.

Sources said to verify whether Mitali studies at GCW Parade or not, Secretary, Sports Council Dalip Thusu dispatched a letter to the principal of the college, who, in turn, said no such attendance sheets had been issued after 2011-12.

After that, the Secretary stopped the scholarship and also cancelled Mitali’s membership of the autonomous sports body.

Damage on Salal line suspends power flow to Jammu for three hours
Amit Khajuria
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 8
The damage of jumper on the 220 KVA line from Salal made the region partially dark for hours together in the scorching heat on Saturday. A jumper of the 220 KVA line, which is feeding Jammu region from Salal, was damaged this afternoon, which suspended the power flow for more than three hours. It was later replaced by the Power Development Department (PDD).

Miran Sahib, Kalakot, Hera Nagar and some parts of Jammu city were badly affected due to this damage.

Gurbachan Singh, Superintending Engineer, PDD, informed The Tribune, “A jumper was damaged on one of the lines from Salal in the afternoon. It was replaced within three hours.”

“The reason behind it can be overloading. The power has been restored now,” he added.

The jumper was damaged at 1 pm and replaced at 4 pm.

Meanwhile, the day-long hide and seek of electricity in the Jammu city has fuelled the problems of the people of Jammu in the blazing heat.

The severe heat wave coupled with unscheduled power cuts has raised the tempers in Jammu region. The power cuts of 5-10 hours a day led to resentment among the people against the Power Development Department.

The Jammu region has been witnessing temperature of above 40 degree Celsius for the last one month and power cuts in Jammu are also increasing with the mercury.

We are just looking at the power meter since morning; ‘power comes and power goes’ is the only topic left with us to discuss these days,” said Ashwani Pandita, 58, a resident of Channi Himmat.

“There are senior citizens, children and patients who cannot bear this blazing heat. Who will be responsible if someone dies due to these long power cuts?” he asked.

Gurbachan Singh, Superintending Engineer, PDD, said, “There was some maintenance work at Gandhi Nagar and Channi area and a power cut was already announced for the morning. We are in the process of preparing for monsoon season.”

“In some of the areas, we are forced to go in for unscheduled power cuts. Whenever overloading on the transformer is reported, we have to stop the power supply of that area, and overloading is very common during summers in Jammu,” he added.

Who will pay Superspeciality Hospital’s Rs 60 lakh power dues?
Sumit Hakhoo

Jammu, June 8
Who will pay the electricity dues of Superspeciality Hospital amounting to Rs 60 lakh? In absence of allocation of the required funds from the government, the Power Development Department (PDD) has expressed its inability to supply electricity to the hospital, which has been looking poised to become an icon of health infrastructure in Jammu region.

Even a staff of 15 safai karamcharis engaged on contract have not been paid for the last four months, which explains the condition of the hospital and the level of seriousness of the government about nurturing the hospital, built at a whopping Rs 120 crore.

Officials said though the state government has told the PDD that it would pay the bill amount from the funds kept to pay the debt of various departments which are defaulters to the PDD, officials said the question arises as to what would happen in future, for there is no separate allocation for the hospital when it comes to electricity usage.

“We need Rs 65 crore annually to run the hospital. This consists of Rs 35 crore salary component and Rs 35 crore to run the services. In February, Rs 4 crore was sanctioned, but it lapsed due to administrative inertia,” said a senior doctor.

The hospital has a central air-conditioning system. It requires a huge amount of electricity to keep the ACs running. Further, keeping in view the power situation in the city, there are three huge generator sets which consume hundreds of gallons of fuel during power cuts, which are frequent.

PDD chief engineer Sehnaz Goni said, “The government has assured us that the payment will be regular. Part of the payment has been made. We are depending on the government.”

Most of the safai karamcharis engaged are vocal about the delay in release of their salary.

“It’s been four months since we received our salaries and no one is hearing our pleas. We were engaged in October last year and the salary has been paid after a delay of months,” said Asha, a contractual worker.

Superspeciality Hospital is one of the prestigious centrally sponsored projects under which two such modern hospitals were sanctioned for Jammu and Srinagar. But they crossed nearly six deadlines as executing agencies failed to complete the construction on time while the government did not provide manpower and technical staff to run the services.

The government has advertised about 2000 posts for the GMC Jammu and associated hospitals through Public Service Commission (PSC) and Services Recruitment Board (SRB), but the twin recruitment agencies have failed to start the selection process.

Out of 2,000 posts, about 800 pertain exclusively to the Superspeciality Hospital, while 1,200 others are meant for general wards in the GMC and associated hospitals.

PDD claims recovery of Rs 19 lakh from power thieves
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 8
In the first five months of the current fiscal, the Power Development Department (PDD) has recovered fine of Rs 19 lakh from people having illegal power connections in Jammu. Officials say about 1,230 inspections have been conducted during the period.

Data released by the department claims that about Rs 845.75 lakh was recovered from domestic consumers under the amnesty scheme of the department till May, which has led to improvement in the power situation.

The Voluntary Load Disclosure Scheme (VLDS) introduced by Power Development Department (PDD) last year has added 110 MW of electricity load to power supply systems in Jammu as 46,000 people submitted their revised load details under the scheme.

As per the data, nearly 29,131 inspections have been conducted after directions from Chief Minister Omar Abdullah early during 2012, as part of the reform process in the power sector.

The revelation in a recent survey that in some areas inhabited by businessmen and politicians, the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses have increased to 80 per cent, has sent alarm bells ringing among officials.

Seva kendra inaugurated at Income Tax department
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 8
An Aaykar Seva Kendra was formally inaugurated by Sudha Sharma, Chairperson, Central Board of Direct Taxes, at the office of the Income Tax Commissioner today. She also had an interactive session with officers, staff, tax payers, CAs and advocates in which she briefed them about the new system introduced in the department by which tax evaders could be tracked.

She said all the data in the Income Tax department would be computerised by 2015 and all the transactions of the tax payers would be under surveillance of the department. Initially, the department had issued notices to 1,115,000 defaulters, but after computerisation of the system, no transaction would be undeclared and tax evaders would be easily tracked.

The Aaykar Seva Kendra is one of the steps by the IT Department to give best services to the tax payers. This is a single-window system to address all the grievance of tax payers. On this counter, people will be helped in paying their taxes and status of their returns can be checked.

Simula XI book berth in T20 tourney final
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 8
Simula XI reached the final of the ongoing ‘Salute and Tribute to the Players Cricket Tournament’, being organised by Parade Sports Association at Parade Ground. Batting first, Simula XI accumulated 163 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Hardeep Singh played a fine knock of 34 runs off 28 balls with the help of four hits to the fence and two sixes.

Atul contributed 19-ball 33 runs with the help of two sixes and four boundaries. Skipper Dhruv added 26-ball 32 runs while Sameer Khajuria made 22-ball 28 runs studded with two boundaries and a six.

For NCC, Deepak Manhas grabbed four wickets followed by two wickets by Manik Gupta and one by Vijay Dogra. In reply, chasing 164 runs to win, NCC at one stage was comfortably placed at 118/4 in 14 overs but Ram Dayal of Simula XI triggered a dramatic collapse and the whole side was perished for 118 in 18.4 overs. Dayal took four wickets to turn the tide in his team’s favour.

Jatin of NCC waged a lone battle making 56 runs off 42 deliveries including two sixes and six boundaries. Puneet made 16 in as many balls but that was not enough.

For Simula XI, Ram Dayal emerged as the most successful bowler with four wickets while Sameer Khajuria took two. Dhruv Mahajan, Vikram and Shamsher shared a wicket each. Ram Dayal was adjudged the man of the match.

Harvinder Singh and JD Singh were umpires in the semifinal while Ajay Sharma was the scorer.

Zakir Eleven advance to quarterfinals in T20 championship
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 8
Nadeem Javed played a fine knock of 59 runs, followed by an impressive bowling spell, to help Zakir Eleven, Doda, advance into the quarterfinals of the ongoing All-India 9th Gufran Memorial T20 Cricket Championship, being organised by Young Star Cricket Club (YSCC), Doda at Sports Stadium, Doda.

Batting first after winning the toss, Zakir Eleven set a massive target of 218 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Nadeem Javed remained the top scorer with 59 runs while Asif Pathan contributed 38 runs.

For Prince Cricket Club (PCC), Bhalessa, (PCCB), Majid was the pick of bowlers with two wickets while Zaffarullah claimed one wicket.

In reply, PCC could not chase the target and managed only 106 runs for the loss of six wickets in the stipulated overs.

Jagmohan was the top scorer with 39 runs while Sudesh chipped in with 19 runs. From Zakir Eleven, Ikram Pathan and Nadeem Javed shared one wicket apiece. Nadeem was declared man of the match.

The match was officiated by BCCI Ranji Trophy umpire Subhash Mathur and Ifroz Rather while Shahid Pampori was the scorer. The tournament is being sponsored by Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited and Rashtriya Rifles Battalion, Doda.

Co-ordinate to develop backward areas: MLA
Our Correspondent

Katra, June 8
To redress the grievances of poor people living in far-flung and remote areas of Reasi district, Member Legislative Assembly (MLA) Baldev Raj Sharma today convened a public grievances camp at Reasi.

Chief Planning Officer, XEN PDD Division, Reasi, XEN PHE Division, Reasi and Chief Education Officer, Reasi, besides other district and sectoral officers, sarpanches and panches attended the camp.

People raised various demands, including concession in electricity tariff for rural areas, improvement and upgrade of Reasi-Katra Road, old age pension to eligible people and timely payment of pension.

Sharma asked the officers to make coordinated efforts to develop and uplift backward areas besides exhorting sarpanches and panches to keep a close eye on various development works in their respective areas so that the funds allotted could get utilised on ground for the benefit of the people.

Charitra Nirman Shivir begins at Nagbani School
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 8
A five-day Charitra Nirman Shivir was inaugurated by JP Shoor, Director, DAV Public Schools, at MHAC School, Nagbani, here today. The shivir will be attended by 100 students of various DAV Schools of the state.

The students will be involved in various activities during the event. The J&K Wing of Arya Yuva Samaj was also inaugurated on the school premises. Earlier, the programme commenced with the lighting of a ceremonial lamp by Shoor, in the presence of other dignitaries. These included PP Sharma, Regional Director, Swami Chaitanaya Muni Ji and Captain Dewan Singh.

It was followed by a welcome song, mantra recital and a dance presentation by the students. In his welcome address, principal Alok Betab highlighted the achievements of the students of the school. Meritorious students of class XII, who had achieved above 90 per cent marks in 2013 CBSE results were also honoured.

Tug-of-war team leaves for nationals
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 8
The J&K tug-of-war team today left to participate in the 7th Open National Tug-of-War Championship, slated to be held in Kanyakumari from June 10 to 15. The team was selected under the presidentship of Hardeep Singh Anand, president of the state tug-of-war association.

Earlier, a 10-day coaching camp was organised at Unique Public Higher Secondary School, Gadigarh, wherein 57 students participated and 27 were selected for the championship.

General secretary of the association Ravinder Singh Sasan and Ajay Peshin were also present on the occasion.

Ajay Sharma and Sanjeev are accompanying the team as coaches and Sunil and Asgar Ali as managers.

The team comprises Vijay Kumar, Taeiq Ahmed, Mohd Sultan, Muzamil Qureshi, Mudasir Ahmed, Narinder Chib, Arfan, Mukesh, Arfat, Mohd Iqbal, Shabir, Nawaz, Tasleem Arif, Tanveer, Vishal Sharma, Naveen Sharma, Maheshwar, Kamaldeep, Junaid, Kufail Ali, Nageshwar, Shubam Chib, Gorav Kumar, Anu Kumari, Abida Kausar, Lalita Kumari, Manju and Meena.

BSF wrestler wins annual meet

Jammu, June 8
BSF wrestler Omkar Singh defeated Manni from Punjab in the final bout to bag the top honours in the Annual Wrestling Competition, organised by Peer Baba Nagbani-Smailpur, Block Marh, today. Bouts were played in different weight categories wherein more than 50 wrestlers took part.

Suram Singh Chib, District Rural President, PDP, was the chief guest on the occasion. He impressed upon the youth to shun drugs, smoking and alcohol and divert attention towards games.

Prominent among others present on the occasion were Parshotam Singh, president, Sports Committee, Vikram Singh Langeh, block president, Buddhi Singh, Sagar Singh, Kamal Singh, Chamel Singh and Jagjeet Singh. — TNS