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2 CRPF men die in mishap
Newly built reservoir develops leakages at Kupwara village
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Rickety footbridge a threat to lives of Wadpora residents
PHE casual workers call off strike
Naseem is Hurriyat’s convener in Paki
6 months on, ICDS employees await salaries, threaten stir
Ganderbal police fines 23 for smoking in public
NRHM helpline evokes good response
Residents protest against delay in land allotment for school
Kashmir Bar team to visit Tihar, Rohini jails in Delhi
Photographer selected for ‘Rutog Artist Grant’
MLA holds grievances camp
Farmers told not to use ‘Butaveer’
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2 CRPF men die in mishap
Sopore, June 8 The accident took place at 11.30 pm last night when a bullet-proof vehicle they were travelling in skidded off the road at Sangri-Top, Watlab, and turned turtle. Police sources said due to a break-failure, the driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a sharp curve near Watlab. The Inspector seated on a front seat and constable Parvaiz manning the vehicle on top died on the spot. Police personnel from Sopore police station and CRPF jawans from 177 Battalion rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to the Army Hospital, Srinagar, for treatment. Condition of two injured jawans was stated to be critical. |
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Newly built reservoir develops leakages at Kupwara village
Kupwara, June 8 Following strong resentment from local residents against the substandard material used in construction of the reservoir, Law Minister Saifullah Mir ordered an inquiry into the construction work. On the request of a delegation of local residents, the Minister had visited the village last week. “Kupwara Superintendent of Police has been appointed as head of the inquiry committee. The committee would assess the work on the ground and ascertain the material used in construction of the reservoir. The Minister ordered the inquiry while chairing a review meeting in the Deputy Commissioner’s office last week,” said an official. The reservoir was built to provide irrigation water to enable drought-hit farmers cultivate paddy over thousands of kanals of land. For the past four years, around 300 families in Charwari village were forced to cultivate maize crop due to a severe shortage of irrigation water. To provide irrigation water to the farmers, the authorities started construction work on a reservoir in 2009. The reservoir was completed in April this year, but to the dismay of the farmers, leakages were noticed at many places and water stored in it in the first instance, disappeared within a few hours, sources said. “It is a sheer misuse of funds. After four years, we had planned to cultivate paddy this year, but the only source of irrigation water was snatched away from us. A high-level probe should be ordered into the poor quality work carried out by the contractor and he should be punished,” said Liyaqat Ahmad, a local resident. The reservoir was believed to be the only source of irrigation water to thousands of kanals of paddy fields. Some farmers said they sow paddy seedlings in neighboring Gulgam village and were hopeful that they would be able to cultivate paddy this year. |
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Rickety footbridge a threat to lives of Wadpora residents
Handwara, June 8 “For the past many years, we have been erecting additional support under the decayed footbridge to use it. The years old bridge has become unsafe and may prove fatal,” said a resident of the village. Local residents said the bridge also connects the village with shrine of popular saint, Pir Wali Mohd Shah. They said a dilapidated link road leading to the village added to their woes. “The link road to the village has not been repaired since it was constructed five years ago. It is full of potholes and drivers refuse to ply their vehicles on it,” said another resident of the village. Students and employees are the worst sufferers. “It takes about 40 minutes in a vehicle to cover a distance of about 2 km to reach Zachaldara, which could be covered in 10 minutes. From adjoining Panzar village, the stretch has become non-motorable as it has not been taken up for repair for the past many years,” said Farooq Ahmad, a resident of Wadpora. Local residents said dust emanating from the road was causing severe chest complications. “We are forced to cover our mouth and face to avoid dust emanating from the worn-out road. The dilapidated road delays our arrival to the school as we are often forced to foot the distance,” said Ishfaq Ahmad, Class VIII student. Abdul Hamid, who is working in the Health Department, said, “I leave my house as early as 8 am to reach Zachaldara hospital. It takes more than an hour to reach the hospital on foot as drivers refuse not to ply their vehicles on this dilapidated stretch. Executive Engineer (Roads and Buildings), Handwara, Javid Iqbal Tara said, “The department will take up repair work of the road in the next 10 days. I have also written to the Minister concerned about the vital footbridge and hopefully funds would be allocated for construction of a new bridge.” |
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PHE casual workers call off strike
Srinagar, June 8 “On the assurance of the Minister for redressing the genuine demands of the PHE daily wagers and casual workers in a phased manner, they called off the strike,” an official spokesman said. The strike which was called by the PHE Joint Employees Association (PHEJEA) had begun on Wednesday. The Minister said the government was keen to solve all the genuine issues of the daily wagers and casual workers of the PHE department who had been engaged from 1994 to 2005 and 2005 onwards, besides left out cases of daily wagers. “The Minister directed the Executive Engineers concerned to submit a detailed report of all daily wagers and casual labourers to the Chief Engineer, PHE, Kashmir and Jammu, for onwards submission to the administrative department,” he said. |
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Sufi rock band to come up with first album ‘Alif’ soon
Srinagar, June 8 The band is now all set to produce its first
album, “Alif” which will include a few of the band’s earlier as well as newly recorded songs. “Our genre of music is not typical rock which has a lot of noise and groves attached to it. We make more of soothing and soulful music. Faith in God is an important component of our lyrics. I think that has clicked with audiences,” said Muneem. “Highway-61” has performed in over 500 various colleges and cafes of the country. In Kashmir, the band gave its solo performance in 2010 which was hugely applauded by the audiences, especially youth. In Valley, youth are particularly towards Muneem’s Kashmiri songs which are basically the modern versions of some classic Kashmiri Sufi songs. “I feel Muneem has rejuvenated a lot of old Kashmiri songs. We used to feel disconnected with the old Kashmiri songs, but after hearing the Muneem’s voice singing 18th and 19th century songs, I feel so connected to roots,” said Imtiyaz Shiekh, a Srinagar-based fan of the band. Muneem, however, maintains that his album “Alif” will not incorporate Kashmiri songs in particular, but Kashmiri Sufi music feel is definitely there. “I am sure the songs will be liked by one and all. We are trying to arrange for a performance in Kashmir, too, keeping in view the response we got from our last performance,” Muneem said. |
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Naseem is Hurriyat’s convener in Paki
Srinagar, June 8 The position of Hurriyat’s Pakistan convener fell vacant since May 30, when Hurriyat leader and head of Democratic Freedom Party Shabbir Shah had asked his representative and Hurriyat’s convener for Pakistan Chapter Mehmood Saghar to step down. Shah had said the step was taken to register his party’s protest against what he called “deviation” of Hurriyat Conference from its 1993 constitution and “undemocratic” setup within the amalgam. “The Hurriyat has today formally asked Syed Yousuf Naseem to coordinate political and diplomatic activities of the Hurriyat in Pakistan and PoK. Naseem was already nominated for the same by the Hurriyat during its earlier meetings,” a Hurriyat spokesman said here. |
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6 months on, ICDS employees await salaries, threaten stir
Srinagar, June 8 The employees said it was happening time and again that the government was withholding the salary from the officers upto the levels of anganwari workers and helpers. “The employees have been suffering immensely and it seems that the government is not concerned about our sufferings,” said the J&K president of Supervisor and Child Development Project Officer Association, Zareena Shafi. “There are nearly 20,000 employees of the ICDS, who are without salary for the last six months and the government is a mute spectator,” Shafi said. The employees said the government was not releasing their salary despite the fact that they had taken up the issue with top state government officials. “We get meagre salaries and it is shocking that the government is even not able to provide this salary to us,” said an anganwadi worker. “The government has left its poor employees high and dry,” she added. Director, Social Welfare, Farooq Ahmed said the funds for the employees of the ICDS come from the Union Government and the state had nothing to do with it. “The government is, however, on the job and is in touch with the Union Government over the issue and we hope to pay the salary to these employees shortly,” Ahmed said. |
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Ganderbal police fines 23 for smoking in public
Srinagar, June 8 The team inspected various public places in the town and challaned 23 persons for smoking in the public. A fine of Rs 3,000 was recovered from the offenders. The details of offence will be incorporated in the monthly crime reporting form of the police station. This action follows a sustained campaign launched by the J&K Voluntary Health Association, a non-governmental organisation, for imposing a complete ban on smoking at all the public places in the state. Executive director, J&K VHA, AM Mir complimented the police for initiating the action. Food Safety Officer, Srinagar, Shabir Ahmed Lone issued a notice under Section 4 of the COTPA (Anti Tobacco Act) to the owners of Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) and Akbar Hotel and Restaurant Srinagar, Durga Nag, for not restricting their customers from smoking in their restaurants. Customers had complained the restaurant owner was allegedly encouraging smokers in the restaurant, thereby causing inconvenience to non-smokers. Under Section 4 of the COTPA, smoking is prohibited in public places, including restaurants. In case a complaint is lodged, the restaurant owner is liable to pay a fine of Rs 200 for every person caught smoking in the restaurant. |
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NRHM helpline evokes good response
Srinagar, June 8 The helpline has been established at both the divisional offices of Srinagar and Jammu. Official sources said numerous calls were being received on routine basis and callers were satisfied with the follow-ups by the helpline team, which comprises NRHM officials. Referring to some cases, the sources said, “Veena Devi, an ASHA worker from Marh informed about a child who was suffering from serious heart ailment. As she brought the case into notice by making a call at the helpline number, the case was immediately referred to the officers concerned for financial assistance under School Health Programme.” “Manzoor Ahmad, a class IV employee from Anantnag, had registered a complaint alleging that he was not paid the duty fees for pulse polio duty for one day. His dues were issued with immediate intervention of NRHM officials. Likewise a complaint was received regarding non payment of money to a JSY beneficiary at Gandoh and the issues was sorted out within no time,” sources added. Mission Director, NRHM J&K, Dr Yashpal Sharma said all the complaints registered through the helpline number were being recorded and monitored properly. “The grievances or queries are being addressed as soon as possible. This move will help us penetrate more to grassroots level,” said Dr Sharma. He said there were various schemes under NRHM and the concerned programme manager would be contacted for the redressal of queries. “The helpline number is answered from 10 am to 4 pm at present which will be further extended from 8 am to 8 pm later. The helpline would help everybody, including stakeholders associated with the NRHM, field functionaries like ASHAs, ANMs, paramedics and medical officers and patients as well,” he added. |
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Translators’ orientation programme concludes at KU
Srinagar, June 8 The workshop aimed at stimulating the interest towards translation of knowledge content from other languages into Kashmiri among young scholars and students. Prof Talat Ahmad, Vice-Chancellor of KU, presided over the event. He urged the students for what he termed as “dire need for rendering the great works of Kashmiri scholars, sufi saints, poets and philosophers, historians and writers in other regional and global languages”. Prof Talat announced that with the assistance of NTM and CIIL, a centre for translation would come up at KU, which could prove affective in getting the desired results in that direction. Audish Kumar Mishra from the CIIL said the CIIL was established to coordinate the development of Indian languages and to bring about their essential unity through scientific studies and promote interdisciplinary research. Mishra said the CIIL contributed to the development of all Indian languages by creating content and corpus. He announced that out of the five centres for translation which CIIL intended to establish, one centre would be established at KU. Zaman Azurdah, former Dean, Faculty of Arts, KU, impressed upon the students to avail the opportunity to learn their mother tongue properly. “There is a great demand for translators these days throughout the world, where students and scholars can earn well. Besides, there are a lot of job opportunities if you are well aware of your native language,” said Azurda. |
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Residents protest against delay in land allotment for school
Anantnag, June 8 The protesters alleged the Wakf Board had forcibly taken land acquired by the Local Auqaaf Committee for the construction of the Higher Secondary School - the land was used for the construction of the Islamic University of Science and Technology. “The Local Auqaaf Committee with support of the locals had purchased 180 kanals of land some twenty years ago, and within ten years a building was also constructed over the land,” said Muhammad Ramzan, a local. He said in the year 2005, when the school was ready to be shifted to its new location, the Wakf Board forcibly acquired the land. “In 2007 the then Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, promised to provide 20 Kanals of land for the school building,” said another protester. “While our children have to study in rented, dilapidated accommodations, the government has been sleeping over the issue,” alleged the protesters. Hundreds of people protested on the National Highway in Awantipora, demanding immediate fulfilment of the promises made to them by the government. The protesters dispersed after two hours of sloganeering; however they threatened that the agitation will be intensified if the Wakf Board does not take any decisions within four days. |
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Kashmir Bar team to visit Tihar, Rohini jails in Delhi
Srinagar, June 8 The Bar Association had moved an application before the court wherein it had sought directions to the respective Superintendents of Tihar and Rohini jail in New Delhi to allow a team of lawyers to meet and interview Kashmiri detenues and undertrials lodged in these jails. The Bar had prayed that a team of lawyers, named in the application, be allowed to visit jail number 1 to 9 in Tihar. “Keeping in view the innocuous prayer sought, the application is allowed and the respondents (jail superintendents) are directed to facilitate the proposed visit and direct the SP of the jail concerned to allow the lawyers to meet the detenues of the state in accordance with the jail manual and the rules occupying the field,” a single bench of the high court said in its orders made available today. The application to allow visit to Tihar and Rohini jails had been moved before the high court by Bar president Zaffar Qureshi. “On Monday, the Bar has proposed a meeting, wherein the team and the dates of the visit would be announced,” Bar secretary M Ashraf Bhat said. |
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Photographer selected for ‘Rutog Artist Grant’
Mind Mountain Foundation (MMF) is a California-based non-profit organisation working to promote environmental and cultural stewardship throughout the Himalayas. Through the ongoing support of arts, education and sustainable business, the foundation is dedicated to the preservation of Himalayan diversity. As per the grant minutiae, the recipient will have to work on and submit twelve new photographs of a consistent theme over a period of three months, apart from weekly blog entries to be published on the foundation’s website. After three months of work in Kashmir, Khan will begin with a photography project in other Himalayan countries, including Nepal and Bhutan, for a period of 15 days. |
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MLA holds grievances camp
Katra, June 8 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.
— OC |
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Farmers told not to use ‘Butaveer’
Srinagar, June 8 According to the Deputy Director, Law Enforcement, Department of Agriculture, farmers should not use weedicide “Butaveer”, manufactured by Saraswati Agro Chemicals Ltd, vide batch No. Butsa-30002 & 3006 in their fields as the weedicide has been found mis-branded in the Quality Control Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture, Kashmir.
— TNS
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Srinagar, June 8