Jammu, June 30
The Jammu University authorities were ill-prepared to conduct the national eligibility test (NET) of the University Grants Commission as candidates were made to sit on broken desks and had to use file cover under their answersheets to attempt their paper.

This was the scene at the Department of English of the University of Jammu, where candidates appearing for the test in the subject of mass communication and journalism, Kashmiri, Urdu and public administration sat on broken desks.

Candidates pay Rs 470 each in the open category for the test yet the university failed to provide them basic facilities.

More than 8,500 candidates appeared for the test here today. Out of these, 3,000 candidates appeared for the test at the six examination centres created at the University of Jammu while other candidates appeared in the adjoining colleges.

“This is no way to treat candidates appearing for the test. We paid fee and it is the duty of the varsity authorities to provide us with the best possible facilities," said a candidate. He said such situation at the university accredited A grade by the NAAC was unbelievable.

Candidates said they also suffered as there was no power supply at their centre for the first two hours of the examination. A candidate said by the time the power supply was restored, a Class IV employee started switching off fans and lights.

“I don't deny that there is no problem but in an institution with more than 3,000 students, infrastructure can get damaged. Regular repairs are conducted to repair such damage,” said Professor Rajni Kant, the NET in-charge of the University of Jammu.

Jammu, June 30
The fourth batch of pilgrims comprising 2,066 devotees left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp for their journey to the Amarnath cave shrine amid tight security today.

The police said the first batch left at 4:45 AM while the last batch left at 5.20 in the evening. The convoy included 80 vehicles. The batch comprised 1,507 men, 399 women, 35 children and 121 sadhus and 4 woman sadhus.

Jammu, June 30
Seven years on, the Jammu Municipal Corporation has been carpeting a road in the heart of the city without filling and leveling it.

The vital road link in Jammu West Assembly constituency that connects two densely populated localities was being carpeted after more than seven years.

“The road was last carpeted in 2006 and after almost seven years the contractor engaged by the Jammu Municipal Corporation is merely carpeting the road with proper filling and leveling work," said PL Tickoo, a resident.

Another resident Advocate Abhinav Sharma said, “One can understand their constraints of limited funds but they should at least maintain some kind of honesty in carpeting this important link road. They were simply putting bitumen without even removing grass and other wild growth from the road that remained dilapidated for over seven years.”

However, a Jammu Municipal Corporation official, who has been assigned the task to supervise the work, claimed it was being executed as per the guidelines.

Jammu, June 30
Even as executing agencies have failed to repair the dug-up roads and narrow lanes in several localities of winter capital city, fresh digging for laying sewer lines has added to the woes of the citizens with slush and mud affecting pedestrians as well as vehicular movement.

Several roads and lanes, which were dug up to lay sewer lines about five to six months, are yet to be repaired by the executing agencies including Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA), National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) and Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC).

Official sources said there was a complete lack of coordination between the civic body and other agencies executing various developmental projects in the city. It could be gauged from the fact that the residents of several localities were facing innumerable hardships in their day-to-day life.

"Unmindful and indiscriminate digging of roads and lanes has made our lives miserable. Rainwater enters the houses and shops of the people as debris and construction material has choked the drains. Two-wheelers have been receiving injuries due to slippery roads due to slush," Rahul Dubey, a resident of Jawahar Nagar area said.

Dubey alleged that the lanes, which were dug-up almost five months ago, were yet to be repaired by the civic body despite the fact that the residents had approached the authorities many times.

Vivek Sharma, a resident of Mubarak Mandi, alleged that the digging of roads was being done in violation of the specified guidelines. "Some labourers came and started indiscriminate digging of the road connecting Panjthirthi with Mubarak Mandi this morning. The civic body has turned a blind eye and the agencies are executing projects at their whims and fancies, resulted into great hardships of the people," Sharma said. “There are several lanes in our locality which were damaged by the executing agencies for laying sewer lines but these have not been repaired thus far. These agencies need to be made accountable and guilty officials should be penalised."

It may be placed here that the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) and the Economic Reconstruction Agency had undertaken digging work for laying sewer lines under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Kapil Sharma, Joint Commissioner (Administration), JMC, said the civic body was waiting for the funds, which were required for the repairing of damaged lanes and interior roads, from the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA). "We will start repair work in these localities as and when we receive funds from ERA," Sharma said.

Jammu, June 30
The Socialistic Democratic Party today held a protest against the acute water and electricity crisis in Jammu. SDP leaders raised slogans against the failure of the state government to ensure sufficient water and electricity supply to Jammuites in the ongoing summers.

“Both departments have failed to deliver and chief engineers of these departments should either ensure sufficient supply to the people or should resign taking a moral responsibility,” said SDP leader Deepu Ronetra, while briefing the mediapersons.

SDP general secretary Ajay Kumar said the state government had taken people for granted. “We are peaceful people, but the state government has become habitual of listening to violence and language of anti-nationals,” he said.

Rajouri, June 30
Minister of Health Shabir Ahmed Khan paid obeisance at Ziarat Shadra Sharif during his visit from Srinagar to Rajouri via Mughal Road today.

He also took stock of the facilities for tourists and pilgrims at Pir Panjal area of Rajouri and Poonch and directed senior offices to open medical sub-centre at Pir ki Gali.

He asked the Director, Health Services, Dr Saleem-Ur- Rehman and CMO, Shopian, to provide ambulance at Pir ki Gali. He also met several panches and sarpanches from the area. —OC

Jammu, June 30
Clouds of uncertainty loom large over the future of employees of partner institutions of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) after its management decided to sack them after suffering huge financial losses due to abeyance of the convergence scheme.

The partner institutions had suffered a huge setback after the head of the convergence unit of the IGNOU did not respond positively to the notice of the High Court to start admitting the students for pursuing various programmes for July 2012 cycle under the scheme. As a result, these institutions were left with no option but to minimise their staff strength to curb their expenses.

Pertinently, every partner institution has recruited five to six employees to run the programmes smoothly. These included programme coordinators, clerks, helpers, concerned teachers etc.

“When I was recruited by one of the partner institutions to teach the aspirants, I was very happy that I had succeeded in achieving my aim to be a teacher. But it is very unfortunate that the institutions have now made up their mind to issue pink slips to us,” a coordinator said.

“Though the salary package and other emoluments for the teachers in partner institutions is much less as compared to the government educational institutions, still we were satisfied with our jobs. The sudden decision to sack the employees has not only shocked us but also left us in the lurch because there are not much employment opportunities in the state,” said another teacher.

“We are passing through a difficult phase of our lives. We are not eligible to fill forms to apply for government jobs not only in the Education Department but also in other departments as well due to over age. In fact some of our colleagues were the only bread earners of their families but after they were sacked,” an employee said.

Ashok Khajuria, a member of the Association of All Partner Institutions of India (AAPI) said, “We came to now that recently the board of management of IGNOU has convened a crucial meeting at Delhi wherein various important agendas were discussed in detail but we have yet to confirm whether any decision was taken on this issue.”

Batote, June 30
The 636th Parkash Divas of Guru Ravi Das was celebrated with the religious zeal and gaiety at the Guru Ravi Das Temple, Baggu Nallah, Batote today.

A grand procession was taken out from the town with a portrait of Guru Ravi Das decked on a vehicle which was followed by Gurdip Giri of Pathankot in a car and by hundreds of devotees hailing from the various places of Jammu province, Punjab and Haryana, including the MLA, Ramban, Ashok Kumar and other dignitaries of J&K and other states. An idol of Guru Ravi Das was also dedicated to the temple .

Earlier, a prabhat pheri was taken out through the town. It was followed by a Aarti, ardas, kirtan and Pravachan by the saints.

Jammu, June 30
Stanzin Youthoj, a senior mountaineer of the Mountaineering Association of J&K, has returned after participating in a mountaineering expedition to Bhagirathi-II peak (6,512 metres). She was part of an all women expedition organised by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, the apex body for adventure sports in the country.

Led by Bimla Negi of Uttarakhand, a mountaineer, the team comprised of 12 climbers from 10 different states, including Anita Devi of Manipur, another mountaineer.

The 17-member team which also included Hemant, a doctor, two guides and two cooks was flagged off from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation Complex, New Delhi, on June 1 by Prem Singh, one of the top mountaineers of the country.

The team reached Gangotri on June 3 and set off for the base camp at Nandanban the next day.

The base camp was set up at an altitude of 4,400 meters at the beautiful meadow of Nandanban. The next three days were utilised for rest, load ferrying to advance base camp, thus getting acclimatised. Advance base camp was established at an altitude of 4,870 meters on June 10 and load ferrying to camp-1 (5360m) was completed on June 11.

The team was divided into two groups. The first group of six climbers which included Stanzin of J&K also occupied camp-1 on June 14 and moved up to camp-2 (the summit camp), at an altitude of 5,801 metres on June 15 for the summit attempt on June 16. Meanwhile, the second group occupied camp-1 for their planned attempt on the peak on June 17.

The weather turned hostile in the night. There was heavy snowfall due to which the tents almost collapsed. The strong winds made the conditions worse. There was no point in waiting for the weather to improve as it was continuously deteriorating. The team abandoned the camp and turned back to camp-1 amidst heavy snowfall and whiteout conditions. To their dismay, there was no trace of camp-1. Luckily, the second group had also evacuated to a lower advance base camp and both the groups were safe.

Stanzin Youthoj is a leading woman mountaineer of J&K, having the distinction of being the first Indian girl to scale Shivling Peak. Presently, she is employed with the J&K Police.

Jammu, June 30
Natrang today staged a new play ‘Firouti’ as a part of its weekly theatre series. The play was originally written by Uday Shankar Bhat and directed by Neeraj Kant.

New and contemporary elements fortified the play and enhanced its impact.

The play opens at the home of Baisakha Ram where all family members are tensed. Baisakha Ram is upset and has turned mad as someone has kidnapped his son and is demanding a huge amount to set him free.

Miser to the core, Baisakha is concerned about earning and investing money. He is not ready to pay a single penny no matter what happens to his son. His family and well-wishers try to convince him to pay the money as money and material are far less important than relations, that too akin.

But he pays no heed. His munim is concerned about his reactions after receiving the threat letter. He tries to suggest him various ways from where he could arrange and pay off the money and get his son released, but to no avail.

Finally, the son comes back home, but Baisakha Ram’s happiness gets evaporated after knowing that all the amount of morning collections has been paid to get him back. He turned unconscious, but the other family members are happy to find their family member back home.

Those who acted in the play included Ashwani Bali as Baisakha Ram, Sajra Qadir as mother, Mohit Sharma as pathan, Uplaksh Singh Kotwal as munim, Mohammed Yaseen as son and Vineet Sharma as daughter.

Jammu, June 30
The Jammu and Kashmir Rashtra Bhasha today organised a ‘kavi goshti’ at the Government Women College, Parade, here today. Prominent poets of the Jammu and Kashmir recited poems which reflected a variety of shades of society and the nation.

SS Bijral, Inspector General of Police (retd), and Prof Raj Kumar were the chief guests while Amar Singh, Hindi officer, regional research laboratory, Jammu, was the chief guest. Renowed Punjabi writer Deedar Singh welcomed the guests.

Poets who recited their poems included Dr Sudhir Mahajan, Randhir Singh Raipuria, Shekh Mohammad Kalyan, Soniya Upadhya, Raj Saigal, KK Shakir, Sudhir Mahajan, Sanjeev Bhasin, Sushil Brgana, Raj Kumar, Kewal Kumar, Bhushan Kumar, Amita Mehta and Rajesh Bhakhari.

Jammu, June 30
A brilliant six-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, by Aseem helped the Kapil Cricket Club (KCC) to register an emphatic 34-run win over Chowhan Club in the ongoing Friendship Cup Night Cricket Tournament at DBN Ground, Mubarak Mandi.

Batting first, KCC accumulated 79 runs in the allotted quota of 12 overs. Kapil remained top scorer with 32 runs while Hari Om contributed 25. For Chowhan Club, Bunty took two wickets.

In reply, Chowhan Club suffered a dramatic batting collapse and the whole team was skittled out for 45 runs in eight overs. Aseem bowled a devastating spell to grab as many as six wickets, including an excellent hat-trick. He was later adjudged man of the match.

Meanwhile, in another match of the tournament, Baru Club got the better of Miran Sahib XI. Earlier, batting first, Miran Sahib was bowled out for 32 runs. Gora was the chief destroyer with four wickets. Later, Baru Club overhauled the target in five overs with Anku (22) being the top scorer.

For his four wickets haul, Gora of Baru Club was declared man of the match.