Jammu, October 24
Around 14 employees of a medicine plant at Bari Brahmana were injured when the mini bus in which they were travelling, turned turtle at Patli Morh in Bari Brahmana of Samba district this morning. The injured people were shifted to the Government Medical College for treatment.

As many as 14 passengers sustained injuries, two of them critically injured, when the mini bus turned turtle on the road.

According to the police, the ill-fated mini bus bearing registration number (JK02AA-6186) was carrying 16 employees of a medicine plant at Bari Brahmana from Amphala. When it reached near Patli Morh at about 9 am, the driver lost control over the vehicle due to which it turned turtle. Of the injured, the condition of two was stated to be critical. All the injured are receiving treatment at the Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu. The mini bus was hired by the medicine plant for conveyance of its employees. The bus was on its way to the plant carrying about 16 employees of the medicine plant.

Arun Jamwal, Station House Officer (SHO), Bari Brahmana, said, “Soon-after receiving the information about the accident, we rushed to the spot and started rescue operation. The occupants of the vehicle were evacuated and were rushed to the Government Medical College, Jammu”.

“Though we have impounded the vehicle, the driver fled away from the spot,” he added.

A case has been registered at the Bari Brahmana Police Station under Section 279/337 of the RPC, he said.

Jammu, October 24
Even as a consensus between the ruling coalition partners National Conference and the Congress eluded over the incorporation of the 73rd Amendment into the J&K Panchayati Raj Act, elected Panchayat members today asked the state government to immediately bring an ordinance for extending the 73rd Amendment to empower Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the state.

“We urge both the coalition partners to pass an ordinance for extending the important provision (73rd Amendment) to the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, to strengthen the democracy at the grass-roots level,” Anil Sharma, general secretary, All-Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC), said in a statement issued here.

The AJKPC leader claimed that more than 33,000 elected panchayat members had been patiently waiting that both the NC and the Congress would fulfil their promises regarding the empowerment of the PRIs in the state and regretted that except meetings of the National Conference-Congress Coordination Committee and more deadlines, nothing concrete had been done so far.

“We urge the Congress leadership to use its influence to bring an ordinance to extend the 73rd Amendment to the state because a little time is left for the completion of the tenure of the present government, which will be ending in December 2014. During this period, only two sessions of the state legislatures will be convened. Therefore, it will be in the larger interest of the public if the ordinance is brought on the pattern of the Food Security Bill and the Land acquisition Bill so that panchayat elections at the block level and district level are completed,” he said.

The general secretary of the All-Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference said the elected panchayat members could not afford any delay in this regard because more than two years had already passed since the panchayat members took oath as panch and sarpanch. The political parties must respect 33,000 elected panchayat members, who were selflessly working at the basic level to strengthen the foundation of democracy in this trouble-torn state,” the panchayat leader said.

The National Conference-Congress Coalition Coordination Committee that met in Srinagar yesterday discussed the issues of the incorporation of 73rd Amendment provisions into the J&K Panchayat Raj Act, but the leaders of both the parties could not evolve consensus on the issues and decided to meet again.

Jammu, October 24
High female infant mortality rates, practice of female foeticide, neglect of female children with regard to access to health services, nutrition and education and sexual abuse of girls are some of the critical issues in different states across the country, including J&K, that need to be urgently addressed.

This has been stated in the National Youth Policy (NYP) Draft.

“Even in the family, they face discrimination and unequal treatment. Parents restrict their movement outside home and as a result, they are not able to take full advantage of educational and work opportunities. Security of young women is assuming the proportion of concern as they are constantly in danger of being stalked by anti-social elements,” the policy claimed.

Sources said the NYP draft proposed introduction of special programmes on a priority basis for the youth of the state belonging to socially and economically disadvantaged communities and groups. It added that due to lack of information, the youth of the state had not been able to access the benefits that should legitimately accrue to them.

“They need to be empowered through special measures and affirmative action to bring them out of their present state of economic and social backwardness and help them come to terms with the other sections of society. All the efforts should focus on helping them achieve better socio-economic and healthy lives,” the policy draft maintained.

The policy has also expressed concern over lack of provisions for education and healthcare for differently abled youth of the state. It suggested that vocational skills and support from government agencies, their rehabilitation and bringing them into the mainstream should be the priority of the state and voluntary organisations.

“Although there are provisions for job reservation for the differently abled youth, including blind and those with hearing impairments, but these numbers are not enough to take care of the needs of this group. There is a need to enhance the availability of facilities in sports and constructive recreation for all sections of youth with special focus on disabled youth ,” it added.

Jammu, October 24
Jammu Divisional Commissioner Shant Manu today distributed prizes among hearing and speech impaired students who had participated in a painting competition organised during the International Week for Deaf celebrations to mark United Nations Day.

The prize distribution function was jointly organised by Nirvana Academy Club, Disabled Care Foundation, Voice for Rights, Mindscape Educational and Environmental Trust in collaboration with J&K Samaj Kalyan Kendra Secondary School, Shahidi Chowk.

Jammu, October 24
Talking about the latest research that had proved benefits of walking in cancer cure, Dr Shabab Angurana, consultant oncologist, Government Medical College, Jammu, today said without any other recreational activity, just walking one-hour a day could lower the risk of breast cancer among women.

Dr Angurana said the research had added further evidence that lifestyle choices could play a part in influencing the risk of breast cancer and even small changes incorporated into normal day-to-day activity could make a difference.

Referring to the latest research published in Cancer Epidemiology “alking Cuts Breast Cancer Risk, Dr Angurana said post-menopausal women who would walk for an hour a day could cut their chance of breast cancer significantly.

This study followed 73,615 women out of 97,785 aged 50-74, who had been recruited by the American Cancer Society between 1992 and 1993 so it could monitor the incidence of cancer in the group, the senior consultant said.

He said, "We knew that the best weapon to overcome breast cancer is the ability to stop it occurring in the first place. Now the challenge is how we could turn these findings into action and identify sustainable lifestyle changes like obesity, late marriage, delayed first childbirth, alcohol, and lack of exercises. These were some of the major modifiable risk factors that would help us prevent breast cancer".”

Dr Angurana also stressed on the regular breast self examination of women above 40 years of age.

Jammu, October 24
The state has decided to go tough against unscrupulous elements producing fake appointment orders to get jobs in government departments.

The state General Administration Department (GAD) headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has directed all the administrative secretaries and heads of various government departments to refer any case of fake appointment order to the Crime Branch and police station concerned for registration of FIR against the guilty.

“All the administrative secretaries of the departments, heads of departments, divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and officials are directed to entertain the appointment orders produced before them only after these are authenticated by the issuing authority in view of the reports received by the government that some fake appointment orders are being produced by some unscrupulous elements,” a circular issued by the GAD said.

The circular further stated that the tendency of issuance of fake appointment orders was more witnessed at the time of closure of offices at Srinagar and Jammu during the Darbar Move exercise.

“Appointment orders shall only be entertained after verification, confirmation or authentication by the concerned issuing authority. In this regard and to expedite matter, the authorities can verify or authenticate the appointment order from the concerned issuing authority through telephonic conversation in the first instance,” it said.

The circular further said the fake appointment order produced before any officer should immediately be referred to the IGP, Crime, and police station concerned for the registration of an FIR against culprits.

It also asked the Home Department to issue the directives to the IGP, Crime, to deal with such cases on a priority and ensure speedy investigation against the person involved in issuing fake, forged or fraud appointment orders.

The officers have also been asked to refer the matter in case of any fake appointment order to the Administrative Department which will intimate GAD about the action taken in such cases.

Earlier, the state government had on June 7 ordered for including a strict condition in the appointment orders of the selected candidates to cancel such appointments if on verification, the certificates produced by the appointees are proved fake or forged, the appointment shall be cancelled ab initio following the reports that some candidates with forged documents managed to get jobs in government departments by colluding with agents and some officials.

While issuing a circular, the government had admitted that the certificates of some candidates selected by the Service Selection Board (SSB) recently were found to be fake and forged on verification and consequently such selections were cancelled by the authorities concerned.

On May 13, The Tribune had carried a news report wherein the issue of forged and fake documents being used by candidates to get government jobs was highlighted.

Batote, October 24
Power supply has been disrupted in the Batote area since Wednesday evening owing to recurring technical problems in the three decade-old ill-maintained 33/11KV receiving station.

Residential areas, hospitals, commercial establishments, BSNL exchange, PHE water supply station, banks and offices plunged into darkness since last evening.

Sources said the problem occurred at 6.45 pm on Wednesday when a thimble (a metallic part joining the cable with the Bus wire) melted due to a short circuit in the Sanasar area. It damaged the breaker and three control transformers (CTs) of the Incomer Feeder Panel.

“I would have lost my life when the short circuit occurred in the panel room as I was sitting in the room,” said Sajad Ahmed, Switch Board Operator.

“Officials of the PDD have been making the snag in breakers an excuse for the power failure in the region. Since the establishment of the station on June 6, 1977, it has never been repaired,” said Ravinder Singh, former chairman, Municipal Committee, Batote.

The sources said all panel equipment and parts are obsolete except a set of three feeders installed by the Jai Prakash Associates Ltd in 2005.

“For the time being, the system will be shifted to a new breaker to restore the power supply by the evening till a new set of CTs arrive from Udhampur by Thursday night,” said AEE, SK Pandoh.

“I will request the Power Minister to immediately replace out dated equipment of the station,” said Ramban MLA Ashok Kumar.

Jammu, October 24
Priya Johal from The Law School today won the on-the-spot painting competition organised by the Department of Students Welfare, University of Jammu, under the ongoing Display Your Talent 2013-14.

Rachita Dutta from Institute of Music and Fine Arts (IMFA) and Hemant Magotra from SPMR College of Commerce clinched second and third positions, respectively.

Shikha Singh from the Department of Mathematics, Sipaj Jain from Government College for Women, Gandhi Nagar, and Rimpla Kumari form the Department of Commerce, JU, and Isha Malhotra from the Department of Psychology, JU, were awarded the certificates of merit.

The participants prepared beautiful paintings using water, poster, pastel and acrylic colours. Topics for the painting competition were bazaar or market, village mela and Himalyan landscape.

Bhushan Kesar, Sanjana Koul and Vijay Anand were the adjudicators to assess the performance of the participants.

An installation contest was conducted wherein Sharddha Sharma and Ayushi Puri from Government College of Engineering and Technology (GCET), Jammu, shared the first prize, while Ambika Bhan and Jagpreet Kour from The Law School, JU, and Tsering Gurmat and Kaneesh Pandotra from the IMFA, Jammu, secured second and third positions, respectively.

Diya Mahajan and Rimpla Kumari from the Department of Commerce, Raghav Dev Jamwal and Shayaan Bhat from Government MAM College and Romika Devi and Deepika Gupta from the Department of Library and Information Science, JU, were awarded the certificates of merit.

Jagpal Singh Bandral, Brigpal Anand and Mukul Magotra were the adjudicators to assess the performance of the participants.

Prof Jasbir Singh, provost hostel, JU, and Campus Cultural Committee chairperson Prof Neeru Sharma were the chief guest.

Jammu, October 24
On the 129th birth anniversary of Sher-e-Duggar and ex-national president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh late Pandit Prem Nath Dogra, the BJP organised a programme at Dogra Chowk, to pay tributes to the leader.

Leader of the BJP Legislative Party and Jammu East MLA Ashok Khajuria said this great son of Duggar soil was the torch bearer of the voice of common and nationalist people in the state who always stood like a rock against the Kashmir-centric and separatist tendencies and worked to unite the people for agitating for the full integration of the state with the rest of the country.

Former state president of the BJP Nirmal Singh said Pandit Prem Nath Dogra gave a new direction to “Ek Vidhaan, Ek, Nishaan, Ek Pradhaan: agitation and played an important role in uniting the nationalist forces under one umbrella.

Ashok Kumar Koul said Accession Day programmes would be organised to celebrate the day in all districts on October 26.

Jammu, October 24
The PG Department today defeated MAM College by 27-19 in the men’s final to win the Inter-Collegiate Handball Men Tournament played at the University of Jammu Sports Stadium.

Amit Sharma, Atual Jamwal, Pankaj and Shubham emerged best performers for the winning side where as Sachin, Javed, Sumit also played well for MAM College.

First Lady of the campus Lida Singh was the chief guest and Prof Dhian S Bhau, Director, Directorate of Sports and Physical Education, University of Jammu, also presided over the function.

Jammu University Teachers Association president Prof JPS Joore, public relations officer Vinay Thusoo, coach Raj Kumar Bakshi, Sanjeev Jamwal, Nisha Sharma, Vikas Karlopia, Gagan Kumar and Ravish Vaid, were also present at the event.

The final match was officiated by Karun Magotra, Gourav Sharma, Sudhesh Kumar and Jyoti Sharma.

Jammu, October 24
Riding high on Akshay’s half-century, the Sidhant Academy toady defeated the Eleven Star Club by a 106 runs in the ongoing Under-16 boys Col RN Chopra Challenge Cup Cricket Tournament at the Chopra Academy Grounds.

Earlier batting first, the Sidhant Academy posted a total of 231-6 in the stipulated 30 overs. Akshay was the top scorer with 58 runs while Pavit Singh Ishar and Prabjot Singh contributed 36 and 32 runs to the total, respectively. For the Eleven Star, Ayam Sharma clinched three wickets while Akshun Singh bagged two wickets.

In the reply, the Eleven Star was skittled out for 125 runs in 22 overs. Akshun Singh played a fighting innings of 36 runs but in vain. For the Sidhant Academy, Rohit Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with a three-wicket haul. Abhneet and Pavit Singh Ishar scalped two and one wicket, respectively. Akshay was adjudged man of the match.

The tournament is organised under the supervision of Rakesh Basin, Zabeer Ahmed and coaches Sukomal Ganguly and Deepak Dogra. — TNS