Anantnag, July 30
Several houses were damaged and livestock washed away after a cloudburst hit Dadoo village of Mudhama area in Anantnag district. According to reports, flash floods hit Dadoo village at around 6 am on Tuesday morning.

“Some houses were damaged in the flash floods that followed the cloudburst,” said a senior police officer from the area.

He said a police team was dispatched to the site as soon as the news of the mishap reached them.

“No person was injured during the rescue operation lasting more than three hours,” he added.

Reports however suggest that livestock were washed away in the flash floods; the authorities are yet to ascertain the quantum of damage.

Meanwhile, the Anantnag DC Dr Farooq Ahmad Lone, Anantnag SSP and the local MLA are reported to have reached the spot and supervised the rescue operations.

The MLA has directed the officials to ascertain the damages and compile a list of the house holds affected.

Srinagar, July 30
A day after Srinagar city recorded the hottest day of the season, light showers in the morning today brought brief respite from the prolonged heat wave. Even as the temperature remained on the lower side in the morning, the mercury rose a few notches in the afternoon.

The maximum temperature in Srinagar as per a Meteorological Department official was 28.4 degrees Celsius as compared to yesterday's 35.4 degrees Celsius, which was the hottest recorded day temperature here in the last seven years.

While Kupwara had recorded the hottest day temperature across the Valley yesterday at 35.8 degrees Celsius, the maximum temperature in the border town dipped to 28.2 degrees Celsius today.

Other parts of the Valley too saw a dip in day temperatures. South Kashmir tourist resort recorded a maximum of 24.7 degrees Celsius while Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir, saw a high of 27.6 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperatures in Srinagar, Qazigund, Pahalgam and Kupwara were 22.9, 20, 20.2 and 22.8 degrees Celsius respectively.

Day temperatures dropped due to rains in the morning.

While Srinagar received very light rainfall, Qazigund recorded 4.3 mm rainfall till 5.30 pm today. Similarly, Kupwara recorded 3.2 mm rainfall during the course of the day.

Even as humid weather conditions were witnessed in the afternoon again once the sun came out, Director MeT office Sonum Lotus said respite from the prolonged heat wave was likely from the first week of August. He said rains were forecast from August 1 onwards. According to the Director MeT office, at 39.5 degrees Celsius, Srinagar had recorded the hottest day in 1973.

Meanwhile, Ladakh region continued to witness hot weather conditions. Leh recorded a maximum temperature of 34.3 degrees Celsius while Kargil saw a high of 35 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature in Leh and Kargil stood at 13.4 and 19.8 degrees Celsius respectively.

Srinagar, July 30
The government has decided to set up a new cement plant at Khrew, which will be having a production capacity of more than 1,000 MTD. The new plant will come up at the vacant land at the existing J&K Cements plant at Khrew in Pulwama district, a government spokesman said in a statement here.

“With a view to capturing available local market share for the cement appropriately, the government has decided to set up one more 1,000 tonnes per day cement plant in public sector on the available 240 kanals of vacant land at the existing J&K Cements plant at Khrew in District Pulwama,” the statement said.

A decision to this effect was taken at the 97th meeting of the Board of Directors of Jammu & Kashmir Cements Limited, which was presided over by the Minister of State for Industries & Commerce Sajad Ahmad Kichloo, it said. Kichloo is also Chairman of the JK Cements, a public limited company.

“The decision to install a new cement plant at Khrew was taken to fill the gap in demand and supply of cement in the local market as according to preliminary survey, the requirement of cement in the State is about 30 Lakh Metric Tonnes per year as against the installed capacity of about 15 Lakh metric tonnes annually, 
it said.

The board also approved the proposals for various schemes of diversification and expansion.

The meeting also discussed threadbare the status of the upcoming Rs 27 crore 300 MTD Clinker Grinding Cum Packing Unit at Samba. It was noted that the unit is at final stage of completion and shall be put on Trial Run within a fortnight, it said.

The meeting also approved that the cement produced from this unit be sold under the Brand name of Chenab Brand, the statement added.

Briefing about the fiscal and financial achievements made during 2011-12 and 2012-13, it was “noted with satisfaction” that the JK Cements has shown growth of 47% in two consecutive years and earned profit of Rs 8.35 crores in two years.

Srinagar, July 30
A delegation of hoteliers’ association met Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Sham Lal Sharma here today and demanded a review of water tariffs.

Interacting with the delegation, the Minister said the government had been receiving representations from various stakeholders for review of present rules and tariff. He said the Water Regulatory Authority would examine all such claims and put up its recommendations to the government. “The Government will examine the views of stakeholders and remove the discrepancies, if any,” he added.

The Minister sought cooperation from the civil society and commercial establishments for implementation of reformative measures to make judicious use of water. He said the government would adopt a people friendly approach and try to address the genuine demands of stakeholders.

Srinagar, July 30
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today impressed upon the youth to rely on their potential and ability to revolutionise the economy of the state and asked them to become the agents of socio-economic transformation.

“How long would the state wait for big businesses from outside to invest here. We have to steer our economy on our own terms and conditions and by our own means,” Omar told students at Amar Singh College in the city here.

The Chief Minister said his government was continuously on an endeavour to rope in outside investors to become partners in the economic growth and employment generation in the state.

Omar also replied to the questions of the students in an interaction session with students, after inaugurating Institution of Mathematical Sciences on the college complex.

He said entrepreneurship development in agriculture and the allied sectors of tourism, handicrafts, information technology and science technology had tremendous promises and a bright future.

Omar asked the youth to come forward with confidence to prove their mettle and play an important role in achieving economic independence and ensuring holistic development.

In reply to a question regarding reluctance by investors to venture into Jammu and Kashmir, Omar said the “biggest burden” was the unpredictable law and order situation in the state.

He said shutdowns and incidents like Gool and Budgam marred the peace and tranquility which made the investors apprehensive of launching business projects in the state.

The biggest disadvantage was the “image of the state being presented by the media” to the outside world, he added. “When media magnifies even minor law and order problems and smaller disturbances, which otherwise exist in every part of the world, out of preposition, the image of the state progressing towards peace and development gets tarnished,” he said.

The Chief Minister said his government was making all out efforts to provide a secure, productive and beneficial environment for outside investors to be partners in the economic development of the state.

“At the end of the day, businessmen count profits and this is the only objective for which they invest in any part of the world,” he said.

Omar also attended a meeting with the principals of Government Degree Colleges of the state and shared their view points on various matters of importance for the development of higher education and welfare of faculty.

Srinagar, July 30
Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment Mian Altaf asked the authorities of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) and forest department to speed up issuance and renewal process of licences to industrial unit holders besides following the guidelines of Central Pollution Control Board while handling environmental issues in the state.

The minister was talking to representatives of Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir, Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Association and Saw Mill Association of Anantnag here today.

Commissioner Secretary Forests Sheikh Aijaz Iqbal, besides senior officers of Forest Department and SPCB, were present on the occasion.

“Emphasising on early renewal of licences to the industrial units of Anantnag district, the minister directed officers of SPCB and Forest Department to streamline the process so that grievances of the unit holders were addressed. He asked them to come up with the recommendation of the broadbased committee constituted to look into the problems of industrial unit holders so that a final decision is accordingly taken in the matter,” said an official spokesman.

Srinagar, July 30
A career orientation and motivational talk for youths of Kargil district who have cleared class XII and graduation was held at Syed Mehdi Memorial Hall. The chief guest on the occasion was Deputy Commissioner (DC), Kargil, Fida Hussain.

The programme was organised by North India Management Association (NIMA) (Government -Corporate-NRIs Business Interface) to select 100 students from Kargil district under Post-Matric Scholarship (PMS) of Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, to study at Institute of Technology and Future Management Trends (ITFT) College, Chandigarh.

Major (Dr) Gulshan Sharma, president NIMA, gave a power point presentation on the courses offered by ITFT for bachelors and masters degree and had an interactive session with the students.

"In the presentation, Sharma stressed upon the students to unlock their potential and work on skill development with major emphasis on communication skills, calling it the need of the hour," an official said.

Sharma further informed the youths that their main objective of coming to Ladakh was to provide 100 per cent academic scholarship to Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC) students of Leh and Kargil with direct employment on completion of studies.

While interacting with the students Kargil DC thanked NIMA for organising the programme. He also stressed upon the students of Kargil to avail benefits of such scheme. —TNS

Srinagar, July 30
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) general secretary and former minister Dilawar Mir has said PDP did not believe in political exploitation through emotional slogans.

“We have contributed to political and economic development of the state without ever shifting our stand,” Mir said while addressing a workers’ meeting to commemorate the foundation week of the party in Baramulla today.

Mir said the “pro people” steps taken by PDP during its tenure were only starting points of the vision that the PDP hoped to continue and accomplish. On this occasion, district president and MLA Syed Basharat Bukhari, Javaid Hussain Baig, all zonal presidents and other senior workers were also present and spoke to the gathering.

They said while the state needed a good and just administration, political problems had to be addressed for achieving peace. —TNS

Srinagar, July 30
Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand today said the promotion case of class IV employees of the Education Department was being sorted out and due consideration would be given to the issues confronting them within the shortest possible time.

He said this while interacting with a deputation of School Education Employees Coordination Committee (SEECC) here.

The deputation, as per an official statement, expressed gratitude to the Deputy Chief Minister for issuance of promotion orders and for filling up large number of vacant posts of teaching and non-teaching cadres.

Chand assured the deputation that all pending genuine issues would be resolved by the government in a phased manner.

He said the government was contemplating to constitute an education board for framing educational policies besides formulation of the Right to Education Act (RTE) under its active consideration.

The Service Selection Recruitment Board had been directed to speed up filling up of posts referred by the Education Department and make selection as early as possible, he said.

Srinagar, July 30
Srinagar city will play host to the 17th All-India Police Golf Tournament, being organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, in October. Director General of Police (DGP) Ashok Prasad, while chairing a meeting of senior police functionaries at the Armed Police Headquarters here, said the tournament would be held from October 8 to 10.

Prasad said 100 players representing 26 states and Central Police Organisations of the country would be participating in the three-day tournament being held at the Royal Spring Golf Course. The state was hosting the national event for the third time and earlier the tournament had been held here in 2002 and 2005, he added.

“To ensure arrangements for the prestigious tournament, various committees were constituted in the meeting and the required arrangements were discussed. Lodging and boarding arrangements for the guest players were discussed and it was decided that convenient accommodation would be provided to the visiting players and the management,” an official said after the meeting.

Earlier, ADGP (Armed) S M Sahai, who is the organising secretary for the event, apprised the meeting about the details and required arrangements for the tournament through a power point presentation.