Srinagar, July 8
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has asked the Health Secretary to explain what steps have been taken to fill up the vacant posts at the Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar.

These directions were issued today by a Bench comprising Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur in a PIL filed in the wake of infant deaths at the GB Pant Children Hospital early this year.

On May 31, the high court had asked the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to fill vacant posts in the GMC.

During the hearing today, the Bench observed that in the compliance report filed by the authorities concerned, there was no mention of the progress made with respect to the filling up the vacant posts at the GMC, Srinagar.

“The Bench today directed the Secretary, Health, to file a status report about the steps taken to fill up these vacant posts,” a counsel connected to the PIL said.

During an earlier hearing on May 31, it had come on record before the Bench that there was a shortage of teachers at the GMC as out of the sanctioned strength of 507 employees, only 222 were in place.

“This is low,” the Bench had observed while passing its orders and had asked the authorities to explain what steps had actually been taken to fill these vacancies.

“Steps should be taken to fill the vacant posts at the earliest,” the high court had directed the Commissioner or Secretary H&ME in its orders passed on May 31. The high court had also asked him to file a status report in this regard within four weeks time.

shortage of staff
During a hearing on May 31, it had come on record before the Bench that there was a shortage of teachers at the GMC as out of the sanctioned strength of 507 employees, only 222 were in place

Srinagar, July 8
In the Tufail Mattoo killing case, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has reserved its final orders in a petition by the victim’s family, wherein it has challenged the lower court’s order that had accepted the final closure report submitted by the police in the case.

The family has now demanded a reinvestigation of the case by a special investigation team headed by Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir.

The case was closed as ‘untraced’ by the magisterial court after it accepted the police closure report early this year.

The killing of teenager Tufail Mattoo in 2010 had triggered a cycle of violence in the Valley. More than 120 persons were killed in firing by the police and security forces.

“The Single Bench of Justice Verinder Singh today concluded the arguments in the petition and reserved it for final orders without specifying any time frame,” a counsel connected with the petition told The Tribune.

On July 3, while arguing the matter on behalf of the police, Additional Advocate General (AAG) Riyaz Khan had submitted that the SIT had not reached any concrete conclusion during its investigation in the Tufail Mattoo case.

The Single Bench of Justice Verinder Singh, before whom the matter was listed had observed that, “If the SIT is not reaching any concrete conclusion in the regard, then why not change the hands of investigation for the satisfaction of the complainant family?”

On the other hand, the victim’s family has been insisting for setting aside the lower court orders which had accepted the SIT closure report in the case. It has also demanded reinvestigation of the case by an independent agency or by a special probe team headed by an IGP of Kashmir. The family, however, does not appear interested in the probe by the CBI.

Srinagar, July 8
In the most prosperous area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, a long line of women could be seen every morning moving out of their villages for collecting drinking water.

Just 15-km from the district headquarters, several villages of Rafiabad constituency are without tap water. Women of Sarpara, Chighama and Budan villages have been drawing drinking water from private and government sponsored hand pumps.

Braving the chilly winters and hot summers, women of these villages have been doing it for decades now.

“We have never seen tap water in our villages. Carrying water in pots has become a routine now,” said Fatima Rashid of Sarpara village.

Fatima belongs to a large extended family and has been assigned the work of carrying water from a tubewell to home for around 25 family members. “I have been doing it for the past 30 years,” she said.

She said in 2007, they heard that the government had started laying pipes for water supply. “We thought our dream has come true, but unfortunately, we never saw the tap water,” she said.

Another woman said the government had allotted tubewells to some villagers and some had dug their own for drinking water. However, she said to carry the water from the tubewell was a cumbersome work. “We have to do it in harsh winters and hot summers. We can’t show fatigue otherwise our children will die of thirst,” she said.

Mahfooza, a resident of Baramulla town, who recently got married to a man in Sarpara, said she found tubewell water very difficult for drinking. “I have never used this mineral-rich water for drinking at home,” she said.

But for her husband and her school going children, Mahfooza has to stay every day in queue to take water for drinking and washing.

A Public Health Engineering official said the department was already working on a scheme to provide drinking water facility to the people of the area.

“By the end of next year, we have to provide filtered water to these villages,” said Zaffar Ahmed, who was posted as an assistant executive engineer in the area and was recently promoted as executive engineer. “The department is working hard to ensure that these villages along with other neighbouring areas are provided filtered water,” he added.

Srinagar, July 8
Jammu and Kashmir produces 20,000 tonnes of fishes annually although its consumption is 25,000 tonnes. As per the Fisheries Department statistics, the supply is still short of 5,000 tonnes.

The department has established 784 carp and 268 trout units in the state. Around 14,000 fishermen families are registered with the department while financial assistance for construction of low-cost houses has been extended to 1,587 such families so far.

Director, Fisheries, RK Dogra gave this information to Minister of State for Fisheries, Cooperatives, Finance and Planning Manohar Lal Sharma in a review meeting here today.

The minister was informed that the Fisheries Department had generated revenue of Rs 78 lakh during the first two months of the current financial year while five hatcheries with seasonal production capacity of 2.50 lakh fingerlings each had been completed and made operational in the Kashmir valley.

The minister asked the authorities to frame short and long-term plans in order to expand the activities of the department. He said fisheries sector had vast potential of employment generation and asked the officers to redouble their efforts in their respective areas and motivate people, particularly educated youth and farmers, for establishing fish units.

Emphasising on awareness, the minister asked for launching a massive awareness campaign among the people about the state and Centrally sponsored schemes, introduced in the fisheries sector, and the financial incentives attached with them, so that maximum person could be brought under the ambit of these schemes. He asked the officers to take necessary measures for bridging the gap between the demand and supply. He said, “Consumption of animal protein, including fish, is increasing day by day. The need is to find out alternate ways for meeting the public demands by way of increasing fish production in the state.”

The minister said every year thousands of tourists, domestic as well as foreign, visit the Valley and underlined need for establishing aquarium-cum-awareness centre at Srinagar on the pattern of Bahu Fort in Jammu.

Srinagar, July 8
Several delegations met Chief Minister Omar Abdullah during an ‘awami mulaqat’ (public meeting) held here today.

“As many as 40 deputations from various areas of the state met the Chief Minister to acquaint him about their grievances and demands. The Chief Minister gave on-the-spot directions for redressal of various issues of urgent public importance brought to his notice by different deputations and referred many to the departments concerned for a prompt action,” an official statement said.

Meanwhile, Omar said the coalition government during the last four-and-a-half-years had concentrated on the revival of institutions of governance to bring in transparency and empower people. He said 69 important public services had been brought under the Public Services Guarantee Act to make the administration legally bound to provide these services in a fixed time frame.

“We have given ample powers to a common man to question the state government for its all actions and omissions, sought time-bound delivery of services and be participant in the process of development,” he added.

The Chief Minister said around 600 bridges were under construction across the state while 81 new bridges had also been taken in hand during the current fiscal. He said the state government had also made a proposal of funding by the centre for 102 road schemes involving an expenditure of about Rs 932 crore in militancy-hit areas.

Handwara, July 8
Hundreds of residents of Langate and a few other adjoining villages under the jurisdiction of Handwara tehsil protested against the shortage of drinking water in their villages. The villagers belonging to Batpora, Bandpora, Harpora and Tulwari blocked the Handwara-Baramulla road near Langate from 10am to 1pm.

Residents of Batpora said for the past two years, the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department had been laying pipes in the village and they were suffering for want of water.

They raised slogans against the PHE department for its failure to supply drinking water. They said in the absence of drinking water, they were forced to fetch contaminated water for Mawar nullah for the past two months.

“We are without water for the past two months. The consumption of contaminated has led to the outbreak of water-borne diseases like cholera and gastroenteritis in the villages and authorities are watching as mute spectators,” said Rasool Bhat, market president, Langate.

Women beat the empty pitchers in protest and sat on the road. They did not allow any traffic movement on both sides of the road. “In spite of repeated pleas, the PHE division has not bothered to address our problems. We will be forced to intensify our protest if the water division did not restore water supply or provide us the tanker service without delay,” said Aijaz Ahmad from Batpora.

They demanded that water tankers be provided to them till the supply was restored to the villages. Hanifa Begum said, “We are forced to collect contaminated water from a nearby nullah, which has led to the outbreak of water-borne diseases. The water division should press water tankers into service till the supply is restored.”

The locals threatened to intensify the protest if the supply was not restored to the villages before Wednesday. “We will be forced to intensify protests if the supply is not restored at the earliest. We are dying for a drop of water and the authorities are doing nothing to address our problem,” said Bashir Ahmad.

Langate police station SHO rushed to the spot and pacified the protestors. Executive Engineer, PHE division, Handwara, Mohd Afzal said “We will send tanker service to the villages to address the problem and water supply will be provided in next few weeks.”

Anantnag, July 8
A cultural programme was organised to commemorate the 184th death anniversary of the famous Kashmiri poet Ghulam Rasool Mir, in his ancestral Dooru Shahabad village, here in Anantnag district.

The programme was organised by Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages in collaboration with the Department of Tourism and Information, Kashmir.

Students from different schools participated in the festival "Youm-e-Rasool Mir" and presented cultural programmes based on the poetry of Ghulam Rasool Mir. According to the reports, many artistes, including the famous Kashmiri singer Abdul Rashid Hafiz, performed during the day-long festival. The festival was presided over by Minister of State for Tourism GA Mir and Minister of State for Housing, Horticulture and Culture Raman Bhalla.

Bhalla said Mir wrote Kashmiri poetry at a time when Persian was the dominant language in this part of the world.

"I hope younger Kashmiris will rise to the occasion and carry forward the mission of the genius poet of ours," Bhalla said.

Saying that his ancestral village, Dooru Shahabad has produced poets like Mir and Mahmoud Ghami, Minister of Tourism GA Mir hoped that the legacy would not end there. "We will provide every kind of support to the young talent," Mir said.

Paying rich tributes to the poet, Mir said he at a very tender age had written a large volume of quality Kashmiri poetry. "I think every Kashmiri should read his couplets. That will help us get closer to our language, culture and history," Mir said. — OC

Srinagar, July 8
Central University of Kashmir (CUK) Vice-Chancellor Abdul Wahid Qureshi on Monday expressed dismay and concern over the declining reading habit among the youth.

“The upcoming generation is least interested in reading books, which is a matter of grave concern,” said Qureshi, during a book release function held at the transit campus of the University at Sonwar here.

Two books—"Gilnavith Kath in Kashmiri", by noted writer Ghulam Nabi Gowhar and "The Graveyard" by a teenage upcoming writer Towfeeq Wani—were released on the occasion.

CUK Registrar Abdul Gani, former Dean and Head of Department of Urdu, Kashmir University, Mohammad Zaman Azurda, Dean, School of Languages, Muhammad Aslam, Head of the Department, IT, AM Wani, Head of the Department, MBA, Farooq Ahmad Shah, Librarian, Reyaz Rufai and other faculty members were also present.

Qureshi called for revival of reading habit and asked the youth not only to read books on different subjects and topics, but also try to write them. He said the books written on literature were reflection of the society. The CUK VC hailed, both the writers, particularly, the class XII student of Aligarh Muslim University and a resident of Baramulla, Wani, for his effort.

Gowhar, while deliberating about his book, said his book deals with varied themes and has attempted to clear many misconceptions about Kashmir politics and literature. Gowhar said during his tenure at Sheikh-ul-Alam chair (RA) in Kashmir University, he and his associates had collected different variants of Kalam-e-Sheikh (RA). Gowhar underscored the need to edit the material and put it before the literary circles.

Wani said the book was a vent to his emotions.

“I have penned down my emotions in the book and have tried to highlight the plight of the Kashmiri people, who suffered during the unrest in 2008 and 2010. I believe in doing things honestly and that’s what matters the most to me,” the teen writer said.

While reviewing The Graveyard, Dean School of Languages, Muhammad Aslam congratulated Towfeeq for portraying the events, that happened during the 2008 and 2010 unrest, in his book.

“The boy has treaded on a road, which is too difficult for adults. The book is about the trials and tribulations faced by the people of Kashmir during all these years,” Aslam added.

Azurda, while reviewing Gilnavith Kath, said the book encompasses many things. Complimented the author, he said that Gowhar’s contribution to the Kashmiri literature had been immense.

Welcoming the guests, CUK Registrar Abdul Gani said the university was organising book release functions frequently to encourage the writers and to provide them a platform to interact with writers and intellectual class. He said the university would hold more such functions in the near future. 

Srinagar, July 8
Continued Nursing Education, an application of nursing theories in education, research and practice aimed to create awareness and bring in focus changing trends in nursing education, was conducted by Madr-e-Mehrban College of Nursing, SKIMS, here today.

SKIMS Director Dr Showkat Zargar who was the chief guest on the occasion said the college had made a marked change from past one decade. He exuded confidence that the Nursing college SKIMS would excel as institution and become a centre for learning and would set an example in the education of nursing in the state.

Dr Zargar, while stressing on the adoption of research and innovative techniques, said there was a tremendous change in the approach in nursing education at a global level and upgrade of knowledge to keep a pace with new advances has become significant for each of us. He assured all financial help to the faculty to organise more such educative programs in future.

He also appealed to the students to be committed to their profession.

During the programme, students of nursing presented presentations on various topics. Faculty members and students of nursing participated in the programme.