Jammu, November 16
Caring little about the hazardous effects of the auto emissions, the pollution check centres here are providing the pollution under control (PUC) certificates without even examining the vehicles.

“I visited a pollution check centre at Gandhi Nagar and left the engine of my car on so that the operator there could check the emission level and provide me the certificate. The person there, however, did not even get up from his chair. He clicked the picture of my car, filled the details and provided me the PUC certificate,” Abhishek Mahajan said.

“I was amazed. I told him why he didn’t check my car. He, however, replied that he has issued the certificate, what else I required,” he added. ?

There are 31 pollution check centres in Jammu province. They ought to check the vehicle and see whether the emission levels are under the permissible limits. For this, they charge a nominal amount from the customer.

Despite regular checking by the traffic department, many of the vehicles, especially the commercial ones, can be seen emitting extra amount of gases.

“Whenever we check the documents of the vehicles emitting high levels of pollutants, we are amazed to see that most of them possess the PUC certificate,” a traffic police official said on the condition of anonymity.

He, however, added that the department fines operators if their vehicles are physically seen violating the permissible limits, even if they are in possession of the PUC certificate.

Meanwhile, Chairman, Pollution Control Board, Arun Tikku said it was for the first time that he had received such a complaint.

“I am getting this kind of complaint for the first time, but it might have happened. Our team randomly checks the equipments of the pollution check centres,” Tikku said.

He added that I will send my team to check all the centres again. “I also appeal to the public to kindly inform us if anyone is issuing the PUC certificate without proper examination,” Tikku said. 

Jammu, November 16
Trainees at the Indoor Sports Complex at MA Stadium had lost precious practice session to prepare for various upcoming national events due to the alleged power failure for ten consecutive days.

Players alleged that the power supply remained affected on November 5 and it was finally restored on November 15 and that too after they threatened to take up the matter with the authorities.

“The nationals in various disciplines are round the corner and we are preparing rigorously but such unexpected interruptions play spoilsport. If the authorities have to do some major technical changes, it was imperative for them to inform us in advance so that we could make alternate arrangements. Unfortunately, it did not happen and they remained ignorant about the whole issue,” one of the trainees told The Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

The poor set-up at the higher level has started leaving its impact on the normal functioning of the autonomous sports body. Although the authorities claimed to have made alternate arrangements but the ground reality is altogether different.

“The power failure in the indoor sports complex is one such glaring example of the poor functioning of the managerial staff which is not interested in listening to the grievances of the players,” he claimed.

Sources said the worst sufferers were the regular registered trainees of the twin disciplines of badminton and gymnastics, adding that during these days, trainees were unable to continue their practice in the evening sessions.

“There was no light in the entire complex. However, an attempt was made to restore it, but of no avail. After waiting for some time, we decided to apprise the stadium staff. It proved futile because they too explained their helplessness to sort out the matter,” said another trainee.

When contacted, Dilip Thusu, Secretary, J&K State Sports Council, told The Tribune that due to some technical problem, the power supply was affected.

“Earlier, the stadium was receiving power supply from the transmission installed in the PHE wing outside the office of the Sports Council. We wanted to make all arrangements to ensure uninterrupted power supply. Infact, the department has done the work on war footing but it takes time to finalise arrangements.”

When asked him whether the trainees were informed in advance about the repair work, Thusu said he was not sure.

Rajouri, November 16
The urban health centre situated in the heart of the old city and right under the nose of the district administration needs treatment as it is running without doctors from the past three months.

Functioning in two rooms inside the Town Hall building, the centre is in a dilapidated condition and it can provide only first aid to more than 6,000 inhabitants of the old city.

With a sanctioned staff of two medical officers (MOs), one pharmacist, one female multipurpose health worker (FMPHW), one-nurshing orderly (NO) and one peon, the centre is presently being run by a pharmacist and FMPHW.

The centre is situated in the heart of the old city but is being look after by Manjakot block medical officer (BMO) about 25 km from the Rajouri district headquarters.

"The District Hospital was at some distance from the city and for any medical emergency, the urban health centre was established in the heart of the old town about six years ago. But due to the negligence and carelessness on the part of the Health Department, the centre itself needs medical help,” said Yogesh Sharma, former BJP district head, and a social worker.

As per the information provided by the health authorities, one post of a medical officer is lying vacant since the inception of the centre and another doctor, Nageena Kousher, is undergoing training in advance techniques at the ultrasound centre in Srinagar for the past three months.

“The centre is situated in an unhygienic locality near the public toilets and the staff is finding it difficult to perform their duties,” said an employee wishing anonymity.

When contacted Dr Yash Karsyal, BMO, Manjakot said the building hired for the centre was not suitable for running an urban health centre and it should be shifted to some other nearby place.

“As for the appointment of the second doctor is concerned, the matter was taken up with the higher authorities several times, but to no avail,” said the BMO.

Dr Rajiv Sharma, CMO, who recently joined at Rajouri today, visited the centre after several complaints by the social workers and inhabitants. He also found the centre in a dilapidated condition, not suitable to provided any more facilities like ultra sound, ECG, as was promised before its inception by the health authorities, and being run by a pharmacist.

“After consultation with the people, the BMO and other senior officers, it has been decided to shift the centre to a nearby private building. The proposal will be sent to the Health Minister soon and it is hoped that before the beginning of next year, the centre would be running at new place with other modern facilities,” said Dr Rajiv.

Jammu, November 16
The Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) has launched a campaign against private units supplying packaged drinking water to offices and shops in the city following complaints about the quality of water.

“We have received several complaints about the quality of the packaged drinking water and instructions have been given to the field staff to conduct an open market survey and collect random samples of water from the units operating in the city,” Municipal Commissioner Kiran Wattal said.

Several local companies have set up units supplying packaged water to showrooms, private offices and educational institutions in Jammu in recent years and consumers pay Rs 400 to Rs 800 per month for it.

Wattal, meanwhile, said people can complain to JMC officials if they find any issues with the quality of the packaged water, so that culprits are exposed and booked under the relevant law.

While the tap water goes through number of quality checks, no such measures are being adopted to check the quality of water being provided by private units.

“A bottle of drinking water that looks crystal clear could contain bacteria. Several tests conducted in different parts of the country have revealed that packaged water sometimes is contaminated,” Bushan Parimoo, an environmentalist, said.

Despite several Centre-sponsored schemes, water shortage remains a major challenge for administration.

Though the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department has spent Rs. 3.70 crore on private tankers, during 2008-2012, to supply drinking water to the residential colonies of the city facing water scarcity it has not been able to cater to the needs of the expanding Jammu city.

Officials said nearly 87.4 per cent of households have got water connections. However, most of them don’t get adequate supply of water and as a result they are forced to purchase water from the private units.

“56 per cent households get water supply for less than an hour per day,” an official said, adding that about 96 per cent of the household spend extra money on purchase of water. 

Jammu, November 16
Minister of State for Cooperative and Finance Manohar Lal Sharma today urged the Jammu Cooperative Wholesale Ltd (JCWL) to “expand the ambit” of its business.

Hailing the Jammu Cooperative Wholesale Ltd management for the increase in the body’s business volume, Manohar said: “The JCWL management is reaping the fruits of dedication, hard work and honesty.”

The Minister was addressing a function to celebrate 60th Cooperative Week at the Super Bazar here.

He added that the financial support extended by the government to the cooperative societies to improve their financial health is yielding good results.

Insisting that finance was the primary requirement of every business, Manohar urged the management to “concentrate on increasing the volume of business”.

He also asked the concerned heads of units to maintain the quality as it was “imperative for sustaining in the present competitive market”.

Manohar, meanwhile, said the government will also help other cooperative societies in flourishing their business, but stressed that the management of such societies should work with full dedication.

He added that cooperative societies have an important role to play in the agriculture sector and asked the participants to focus towards this sector also.

Jammu, November 16
Emphasising the need for quality education, Minister for Housing, Culture and Horticulture Raman Bhalla today said the government has formulated a “comprehensive plan” to improve the education standards in the state.

“The government has formulated a comprehensive plan to further improve education standards in the state, so that students could get quality education at their doorstep institutions,” Bhalla said while inaugurating the upgraded Government Girls High School, Chatha, in old Satwari area of Jammu.

The school has been upgraded under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan at a cost of Rs 39.90 lakh.

Bhalla said the government schools have well qualified staff and adequate infrastructure and urged parents to send their wards to these schools.

He added that government schools are determined to impart quality education.

Insisting that the government was committed to create adequate facilities in rural pockets, the Minister said the government has upgraded Government Middle School at Barazalla village to a high school, so that the students of the village could get quality education at their doorstep.

He also said proposal for upgrading of Government High School, Raipur Satwari, was under active consideration of the Education Department.

Chief Education Officer Tarseem Lal Bhagat and other senior officers of the Education Department were also present on the occasion. 

Jammu, November 16
An awareness camp-cum-kisan mela was organised under the Centrally-sponsored scheme, support to the state extension reforms (ATMA), at the ornamental fish farm, Doomi, today.

The purpose of the kisan mela was to popularise fish farming and to educate the fish farmers and public about various welfare schemes of the department. The mela was attended by a large number of fish farmers, sarpanches and panches from the different blocks of the Jammu district.

Mohammad Qasim Lone, joint director, Fisheries Projects, Jammu, who was the chief guest, stressed that fish farming was generating a lot of opportunities for the uplift of the rural economy, besides providing high quality protein to the masses and would reduce the gap between the fish supply and demand.

He asked the unemployed youth to establish the fish rearing unit as a source of self employment. Joginder Lal Sharma, assistant director, Fisheries, informed that 121 number of fish rearing units in private sector had been established in the Jammu district under different schemes and 165 community ponds were stocked with the fish seed free of cost by the department. — TNS

Jammu, November 16
The National Sikh Front and United Sikh Counsel today held a protest in support of their demand that Kunjwani Chowk should be named after great warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

Protesters raised slogans against the state administration on its failure to install the statute of Banda Singh Bahadur in the rotary.

"When the work on the Kunjwani-Satwari four-lane road was not even in progress in 2009, the Sikhs had been demanding to install the statue of Banda Singh Bahadur at this place," said Varinder Jeet Singh of the National Sikh Front.

He said the Sikhs had passed many resolutions and the government was informed about the matter time and again in this regard.

"The government has done nothing related to this. On November 9, the Member of Parliament, Madan Lal Sharma, ignored and disrespected the old demand of Sikh community and demanded the statue of someone else be installed there. We have been left with no option but to start agitation to make government aware about our demand," he said.

Kuldeep Singh, president, United Sikh Council, announced that they would call the rotary as Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Chowk henceforth.

"We are proud that the person who established the first Sikh state in the country, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, belongs to our state.

“The statue of this great warrior will be installed at Kunjwani Chowk," said the leader.

Gurdyal Singh Bali, vice-president, National Sikh Front, made a fervent appeal to all the regional political parties not to make it a political issue and pressurise the Chief Minister. Omar Abdullah, to fulfill his promise.

Jammu, November 16
The junior wing of KC Public School today celebrated 4th ‘Nimble feet fitness fest’ on the school premises here.

On the occasion students participated in various activities like aerobics, yoga, tae kwon do and roller skating.

Kiran Wattal, Commissioner, Jammu Municipal Corporation, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said sports was an integral part of the education and it helps in developing the overall personality of a student. — TNS

Srinagar, November 16
Over 500 recruits, a majority of them from the strife-ton state of Jammu and Kashmir, today passed out from the Border Security Force Subsidiary Training Centre based in Srinagar after undergoing a rigorous 38-week training.

The attestation-cum-passing out parade was held today at STC Humhama in Srinagar, a statement from the BSF PRO said.

"535 trained recruits today took oath to serve the motherland. These 535 trainees included 526 from Jammu & Kashmir, three from Haryana, two from UP, two from Bihar and one each from Punjab and Jharkhand," it said.

During the 38 weeks of rigorous basic training, the cadets were put through various dimensions and aspects of training involving physical fitness and mental robustness, effective use of arms, map reading and maintenance of utmost discipline, said the statement.

It added that PS Sandhu, Inspector General, BSF Kashmir frontier, took salute of the highly disciplined and well turned-out parade.

Rajouri, November 16
As many as 10 persons, including eight school students, were injured when a vehicle in which they were travelling in from Gagrot village to Nowshera skidded off the road in the morning here today.

Two students, who received multiple injuries have been shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu.

The police said the Tata Magic was being driven by an unidentified person and it was on its way to Nowshera from Gagrot village when the accident took place.

The driver of the ill-fated vehicle is still absconding, police said.

About 9 am, the driver lost control over the vehicle while manoeuvring a sharp curve and as a result, the vehicle skidded off the road and fell about 20-ft into a gorge, it added.

All passengers received injuries and were shifted to Sub-District Hospital at Nowshera by people and the police.

The injured have been identified as Raghu Kapoor, Nitin Sharma, Sisha Sharma, Harish Sharma, Neha Sharma, Nitish Sharma, Nikhil Sharma, Sahawali Sharma, all students, and Ranjni Bala and Vivek Sharma. All the injured belong to Gagrot village.

Nikhil Sharma and Nitish Sharma who received critical injuries were shifted to Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu.

A case has been registered under Sections 278 and 337 of the RPC against the driver.

Udhampur, November 16
Minister for Youth Services and Sports Taj-Mohi-Din had a tough time today while responding to the queries of sportspersons who confronted him for his department's failure to restart the abandoned work on the sports stadium in the district.

The minister was on a day-long tour of the district to lay the foundation stone of the Indoor Sports Multipurpose hall to be completed at a cost of Rs 134 lakh here. Eminent sportspersons repeatedly surrounded the minister on the prestigious Rs 16 crore project of the sports stadium work which was suspended a few months back.

“The state government had proposed to construct an international level sports stadium here in 2009 and the work started thereafter. A total of Rs 54 lakh was released to the executing agency at that time. After a few months, the work was stopped as the stairs of the pavilion suddenly collapsed. The authorities stopped the work and since then, the work has not been restarted,” said Roshan Lal, an eminent sportsperson of the district.

"We do not know as to what is the result of the inquiry being conducted but our primary concern is that if a prestigious project was completed just five per cent in four years when it will be completed and how many times the total cost would escalate as the authorities concerned are planning to solicit tenders for the entire project now," said Rajan Slathia, a national player.

Vikram Slathia, a social activist, who confronted with the minister repeatedly said: "The authorities concerned are not even bothered to cover and protect the land of the stadium as it is being taken away by land encroachers."

Balwant Singh Mankotia, MLA, Udhampur, said he was trying his level best to restart the work and he had also raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly, but the state government has deliberately delayed the project.

Pacifying the agitated sports person, the minister assured of taking up the project on priority. 

Jammu, November 16
Umar Aziz ripped through the top order with a devastating four-wicket haul as the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) was reeling at 149/5 in 53 overs against the J&K Cricket Association (JKCA) on the second day of the ongoing Col CK Nayudu Trophy match being played at GGM Science College Hostel Ground here today.

Somzo Brahma (25) and RL Das (32) were at the crease when the stumps were drawn. Earlier, the JKCA resumed their innings from 219/6 and ended up scoring 371 runs in 123 overs. SS Sharma played a fine knock of 61 runs followed by Amir Aziz (41) and AR Khan (62).

The second wicket partnership of 163 runs between Divya Pratap and Pranav S Gupta was the highlight of JKCA innings. For ACA, MR Das took five wickets while PD Sonowal took three wickets. Krishna Das and SR Das shared a wicket apiece. In reply, JKCA got off to a poor start losing first two wickets with just five runs on the board.

Jammu, November 16
The 92.7 Big FM, Jammu, is going to organise a signature campaign at the University of Jammu on November 18 to pay tributes to Indian batting legend, Sachin Tendulkar, whose illustrious 24-year career came to an end today after playing his 200th Test match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

The signature campaign titled “Big Salute to the God of Cricket-Sachin Tendulkar” will be held at 11 am near the university fountain. Minister for Youth Services and Sports, Taj Mohi-ud-Din, will be the chief guest on the occasion while Prof Mohan Paul Singh Ishar, Vice-Chancellor, University of Jammu, will be the guest of honour.

People from all walks of life, including former and present cricketers of the state, students from different colleges are likely to participate in the campaign to pay rich tributes to Sachin Tendulkar.