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Worst floods in six decades in Jammu and Kashmir
Left out in cold without food & water
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IAF continues relief ops
BJP suspends political activities to help in relief operations
Flood victims of Samba village protest, demand relief
After floods, Jammu city goes without drinking water
Quake rumours trigger panic in Jammu
KVS to encourage scientific temper among students
District-level youth club meets to promote sports
Five arrested for sacrilegious act in Bantalab area of Jammu
Guv recalls contribution of Sheikh Abdullah
Vitasta Divas celebrated
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Worst floods in six decades in Jammu and Kashmir * 40 soldiers evacuated from forward posts * Army says border surveillance system in place Ajay Banerjee/Ravi Krishnan Khajuria Tribune News Service
New Delhi/Nagrota, September 7 The BSF has also suffered damage to its border posts and other infrastructure on the international border in recent flash floods, especially in the Ramgarh sub-sector of Samba district and the Pallanwala sector of Akhnoor. Nearly 10 Army forward posts were inundated and some of them had to be ‘thinned out’ while nearly 5 km of the barbed fence has been damaged, in stretches, on the Line of Control in the Jammu region due to the flash floods and mudslides. However, following improvement in the weather since 4 pm yesterday, troops reoccupied most of the vacated posts this morning. “Less than 10 forward posts along nearly 300-km-long LoC, south of the Pir Panjal Range from Poonch to Akhnoor, under the 16 Corps zone area were inundated by the flash floods. Some had to be thinned out but none of the posts was washed away,” said Lt Gen KH Singh, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 16 Corps, here today. The GOC said, “There is some damage to the fence. On the LoC under 16 Corps zone nearly 5 km of the fence has been damaged but in small stretches…say 10 to 100 metres. The damage is well under control but we need to repair it and would be done in no time.” “In this bargain, we lost a BSF Inspector in the Sabzian sector of Poonch and a soldier in the Akhnoor sector. His body was found yesterday,” the GOC said. He said 40 troops had to be evacuated from forward posts along the LoC in helicopters. Several of the ground-based sensors that pick up movement of militants, trying to infiltrate into India, have been washed away. Locations of underground mines —- used by countries along such hostile borders —- have been eroded and pose a risk to civilians. Makeshift helipads, bunkers and several other spots, used by troops have been damaged or flooded. The Army today ordered a review. All frontline units, Brigade headquarters and Division headquarters have been told to prepare a report of the damage. Specialised engineering teams will be sent in to repair damages before the onset of the winter —- setting in some six weeks from now —- sources said. When asked if Pakistan could exploit the gaps to its advantage, the 16 Corps GOC said the Pakistan army itself was trying to grapple with the situation. “They have suffered casualties of their troops, especially opposite the Pallanwala sector. It was all flooded on both sides in the past few days,” he said. “If they try to push in ultras, then they will pay for it. Our boys are fully prepared to defeat any such designs. We have complete surveillance system in place. Patrolling is on and boys are dominating the areas,” he added. The forces are also rescuing people in flood-affected areas. The Navy has kept a team of divers at Delhi which can be airlifted within hours to any spot. Till this evening, the Army had rescued 15,000 people. The food stocks of the Army have been opened for the locals. More than 2,000 men, women and children have been provided shelter and some 3,500 have been provided food at these shelters. More than 2,200 Army men, all skilled in mountaineering, have been pressed into service with boats. Border flooded
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Left out in cold without food & water
Jammu, September 7 They have taken refuge on top floors of buildings and say the water level is constantly rising. Charging the administration with indifference to their plight, the have demanded immediate airlifting to safety. Water in the Jhelum has breached the bundh in Srinagar and entered residential localities, causing extensive damage to houses and other property. “A total of 55 persons from various parts of the country have taken shelter on the first floor of municipal complex near sports stadium in Tanchi Bagh area of Pampore in Pulwama district,” said Sachin Sharma, an event organiser, over telephone from Srinagar. “They were without food and water last night as no one from the administration rescued or shifted them to a safe place. We are worried about their safety,” he said. He said he and his family had taken shelter near Shankaracharya temple and there was water all around in Srinagar. “Local residents have informed us that houses in submerged localities have started collapsing. There will be great loss of human lives if the situation does not improve soon,” he said. A Civil Secretariat employee from Jammu said on the condition of anonymity that waterlogging had confined them within the four walls
of hotels. “Employees panicked after the level rose and water entered residential localities. They were not able to return home in view of waterlogging in Srinagar,” he added. Anil Malhotra of Trikuta Nagar said his relatives were stranded in Gogibagh area of Srinagar and were making frantic calls for help as nobody from the administration had extended a helping hand. “I have made several calls to senior police officers in Srinagar, but nothing is working. I can only pray for them as I do not know what will happen,” he said. |
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IAF continues relief ops
Jammu, September 7 The latest Mi-17-V5 helicopters, which have night-flying ability, have been sent in. A total of 26 copters are operating from Srinagar, Udhampur, Jammu and Pathankot. A C-17 Globemaster aircraft launched from Delhi to Awantipora today carried a rapid action medical team. Two IL-76 transport aircraft with medical supplies and boats have taken off from the Palam Air Force Base for Srinagar. Another IL-76 with teams of the National Disaster Response Force was sent to Srinagar. Three C-130J Super Hercules special operations aircraft have been pressed into service to transport boats from Pune and Gandhinagar to Srinagar and 10,000 blankets and 3,000 tents from Kanpur to Jammu Meanwhile, the Navy has kept a team of divers at Delhi ready which can be airlifted within hours to any spot. Till this evening, the Army had rescued 15,000 people. The food stocks of the Army have been opened for the locals. More than 2,000 men, women and children have been provided shelter and some 3,500 have been provided food at these shelters. More than 2,200 Army men, all skilled in mountaineering, have been pressed into service with boats. Navy on standby
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Illegal constructions along river banks behind massive destruction
Jammu, September 7 Corrupt officials and political pressure have forced the civil administration to turn a blind eye towards all this activity, which has wreaked havoc in the state. The land along the fourth bridge on the Tawi, a portion of which got washed away, had become a haven for unauthorised colonisers, courtesy a few politicians, who had taken over land illegally, hoping to reap benefits after the artificial lake comes up in the area. Houses and shopping complexes have come up along the river banks in the past few years. The situation is similar on the banks of the mighty Chenab, which flows through Akhnoor before entering Pakistan, as villagers have taken over the flood-prone land for agricultural purposes. Though Municipal Corporation officials and the Divisional Commissioner were not available for comment as they were involved in the rescue operations, the floods have exposed the “faulty” policies that have encouraged unlawful activities along the banks of rivers and rivulets in the Jammu region. “Before giving any relief to the affected families, they should be asked, who gave them the permission to build colonies on the river bank. It raises a question mark on the working of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Municipal Corporation, Jammu Development Authority (JDA) and the Housing Board,” said Suresh Jamwal, a retired civil engineer. Illegal constructions near Circular Road, Gujjar Nagar and the old city area of temple city is another catastrophe-in-waiting as houses built on hillocks having weak foundation can spell disaster as thousands of people live in the area unconcerned about the consequences and peril they are in. People have constructed two to three-storeyed buildings without taking into consideration the strength and quality of the plinth and total disregard to the condition of hills which are constantly being eroded due to destruction of trees and vegetation to construct concrete structures. “The foundation of most of the hills is very weak and one gets jitters looking at the construction of houses on the entire stretch from the Gujjar Nagar bridge to Panjtirthi,” said Bushan Parimoo, an environmentalist. In 2011, heavy rain had damaged Circular Road after landslides had destroyed its several stretches. At that time, the administration had announced that it would take preventive steps in the area and come down heavily on unauthorised constructions but not much was done in this regard. Wreaking havoc
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‘Srinagar streets turn into raging streams’
Ishfaq Tantry Tribune News Service
Srinagar, September 7 The Jehangir Chowk area, one of the busiest circles in the city, turned into a huge stream of water. The Jhelum, which flows from the area, breached its embankments, spewing thousands of cusecs floodwater onto the streets, inundating shops, malls and banks. The sheer volume of water in the streets prevented me from getting to my office just a block away in the same area. As I moved on foot from the Jehangir Chowk area towards Batamaloo, key government installations such the High Court Complex, Government Secretariat stand partially submerged. The Police Control Room nearby too was flooded. At the Police Control Room, busloads of police personnel tried to evacuate the premises. As I waded further down the road in waist-deep water, the picture of the Fire Services Headquarters was no better, as it took in water from the Jehangir Chowk area. The firemen and their machinery were on the road as the water level inside the complex continuously rose. As I stood there, some youths rushed towards a residential locality just behind the new secretariat in a makeshift boat, made from plastic cans and a wooden platform. Some residents soon emerged from the alley, carrying children and elderly people on their backs. Just then, I received a call for help from a relative trapped along with his family inside a house in Balgarden. With rescue operations nowhere to be seen, I along with some other journalist friends decided to get the family out of the marooned locality. The scene was grim as we waded through the flooded lanes. All along, elderly people and wailing women made frantic pleas, requesting to be evacuated. Only two of the three stories were visible as I reached my relative's house. The water level rose with every passing minute. We soon heard some people requesting policemen to arrange a heavy vehicle to rescue their trapped families to a relatively safer Chattabal area. But the policemen, who were themselves fleeing to safety, seemed helpless. After rescuing the family in the Balgarden locality, I moved to the Qamarwari area where the Jhelum had breached its embankment. On reaching Qamarwari after wading through the flooded highway, I found the residence of senior PDP leader and MLA Iftikhar Hussain Ansari inundated. The womenfolk had taken shelter on the roof of the house. In other lanes and alleys, youths helped people get out of their houses by tying ropes. The picture remains grim all along the Srinagar-Baramulla highway.
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Army evacuates 3,000, deploys 2K men
Nagrota, September 7 Five days after the natural calamity struck the state, these villages are yet to get any assistance and none exactly knows the situation therein. “There are many villages affected by the flash floods where the Army and the administration have not reached yet,” Lt Gen KH Singh, GOC of the 16 Corps, said on Sunday. He added that they were not able to reach the villages so far. Asked about possibility of loss of lives and property, he said the Army did not have any information yet. “I am not sure about the death toll, but mudslides might have destroyed houses in the villages,” he said. He stated that the 16 Corps had so far evacuated 3,000 persons. He said they had initially set up 10 camps for the affected, where they were were provided shelter, medical aid, food and water. He said nearly 2,000 personnel of the 16 Corps had been deployed south of the Pir Panjal range from Akhnoor to Poonch and Kishtwar for rescue operations. “During their operations, the Army recovered 52 bodies, including those of victims of the Nowshera bus accident,” he further said. “More bodies of mishap victims are likely to be recovered as those are floating downstream in the Munawar Tawi,” he said. “This morning, our personnel recovered the body of a woman from the Munawar Tawi in Pallanwala before it could flow into Pakistan waters,” he added. Talking about Poonch and Rajouri, which bore the brunt of flashfloods, Lt Gen Singh said electricity supply was snapped in the twin border districts and the Army had set up generator sets. He said the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), in tandem with the Army, doubled efforts to restore the strategic Jammu-Poonch highway and other link roads connecting various villages and hamlets as the weather had improved. “Restoring the highways and roads in the region is the top priority. The BRO, in coordination with the Army, has started repairing three damaged stretches of the Jammu-Poonch highway,” he said. “The BRO is working in a motivated manner. The alternative road from Jammu to Poonch via the Kalai bridge is likely to be restored by tomorrow morning,” he added. The C-130J Super Hercules, the second biggest airlift aircraft of the Air Force, was flown from Kanpur to Jammu this evening with around 25 truckloads of relief material for the flood affected. |
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BJP suspends political activities to help in relief operations
Jammu, September 7 The move to finalise the candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections has been postponed. The BJP high command has directed the state unit to utilise all resources to minimise miseries of the affected families. “Areas have been distributed among leaders so as to intensify relief operations in an effective manner,” said Kavinder Gupta, general secretary of the state unit of the BJP. Gupta disclosed that the high command had already given directions to the local unit to suspend the political activities for the time being and get involved in the relief operations. “Polling-booth level committees have been converted into relief committees to help in the rescue operations at the grass-roots level,” Gupta said, adding that soon a campaign would be started to collect relief material for the affected families. Gupta further said the high command was thinking over involving all MPs and MLAs of north India in the relief and rescue operations in Jammu
and Kashmir. National general secretary of the BJP JP Nadda, who is the election in charge of J&K, has also stated that the party will help in the relief operations in a big way. “BJP MPs and MLAs from all northern states, including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and the Union Territory Chandigarh, have been asked to help in the relief and rescue operations,” Nadda stated on a social networking site. “We have asked all party workers to contribute and collect relief material for the flood victims in Jammu and Kashmir and requested the state unit to distribute it efficiently,” he said. Sources say the BJP with the support of other affiliated organisations of the Sangh Parivar has decided to launch the relief operations at the grass-roots level. Party workers have been asked to identify all affected families in their respective areas so that relief could be directly provided to the affected families. “Within a day, the BJP with the assistance of some other social organisations will set up relief camps in most-hit villages,” a source said, adding that a campaign to collect relief material would be started in the whole country, but the northern states would be given important assignments in the campaign. Rescuing flood-hit
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Flood victims of Samba village protest, demand relief
Samba, September 7 “Due to the flash floods, nearly two feet of silt has accumulated in the fields in the entire area. As a result, many houses and fields have been damaged,” said Parminder Singh, a resident of Barian. “The flash floods have caused panic in the area and people are seeking help. Fields spread over acres are also submerged in water,” he added. “The floods have affected more than 200 families in Barian, Sujwan, Burj, Tanda and Dwarkapuri villages. We have lost our crops and fields as well,” said Harsimrat Kour, a protester. “No official from the district administration and public representative has arrived here to take stock of the situation. We demand adequate relief for our damaged houses and fields,” she said. Meanwhile, after receiving information about the incident, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Samba, Inderjeet Singh Bhagat along with other senior officials rushed to the spot and pacified the protesters. “The loss to property is likely to be in lakhs but we are in the process of working out the exact loss,” said the Samba ADC. However, officials said due to the flash floods, the water level of the Devak river flowing through these villages had risen suddenly and water had entered into the houses and fields. A portion of the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway passing through the Barian village has also been washed away. |
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A new struggle lies ahead in J&K
Arun Joshi It is a battle against nature’s fury that the human effort will have to win in Jammu and Kashmir. There is no other option. The floodwaters have ravaged the whole of Jammu and Kashmir. The surging waters from the Chenab and the Tawi in Jammu and the Jhelum and the Sindh in the Valley have shown that when misery befalls the state, it makes no distinction between plains and hills and cities and villages. It was unsparing in its ferocity. And, if any evidence was needed, one should have visited Rajouri, Poonch, Reasi, Anantnag , Ramban, Samba, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam, and seen how village after village got inundated How many have survived, and how many were lost to watery graves is anyone’s guess. Don’t go by official statistics because the officials themselves have no idea about the extent of the damage. Had they been alert to the situation and not just concentrated on one or two specific areas, the situation would not have come to such a pass. The Sunday dawn was a nightmare for the city of Srinagar. Its residents —from the common man to the men occupying high positions in corridors of power — were swept away by the currents of the Jhelum. Their abodes were submerged, and they were looking for help from the skies — waiting for helicopters to come and rescue them. They were without shelter, food and water. J&K will have to rediscover its new identity after the floodwaters recede. What would be left of Srinagar city, where sun eluded its residents and those of other areas in the state for almost a week? The real horrors would be revealed once the localities and villages are free of this unwanted water. That is one part of the story. This would also bring people face to face with the contours of the struggle that would lie ahead of them in overcoming the trauma of floods and the losses, and building a new future for themselves. It is for the historians to tell, whether or not the 2014 floods are the worst ever to hit J&K in the past 60 years. The fact is that this is a massive tragedy that has befallen this unfortunate state, which was trying to recover from a quarter of a century of violent militancy. This has tested the limits of human and technical efforts against the nature’s fury, which worsened because of multiple factors. Apparently, the incessant rain which flooded the rivers, washing away villages, bridges, roads and claimed human lives, resulted due to the collision of western disturbances and warm monsoon winds. This is the conclusion of meteorological experts. Such a magnitude was unexpected. But, it happened and the results in terms of losses would be known in the months to come. At the moment, what is being seen is that people are marooned. Their houses have submerged. There is no likelihood of any immediate relief coming to them as the rescue agencies are themselves caught in a tough situation. Another question is whether the extent of the damage could have been minimised. The government’s explanation is that it is an unprecedented situation, hence would have unmatched consequences. Srinagar city has been flooded. The Jhelum waters have entered the city, submerging several localities and the people are crying for help. The government’s efforts have proved inadequate because it had not prepared itself for nature’s fury at such a large scale. Right now, the task of the government is to save as many lives as it can, rather all the marooned people, without making a distinction on regional or political bias. These doubts have cropped up in the minds of the people living in different parts of the state, despite the extraordinary visibility of CM Omar Abdullah in monitoring the flood situation. He had not anticipated this. This is obvious. But the signs of dangers were there. Those should have been taken seriously. That seriousness did not dawn until the things really worsened.
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Weather-wise, worst may be over
New Delhi, September 7 IMD Director General Lakshman Singh Rathore said flood-hit parts of Jammu and Kashmir might get “sporadic light rain” in the coming few days which would “not hinder relief and rescue operations”. Dr D Sivananda Pai, head of the Pune-based Long Range Forecasting Division of the IMD, termed as “unprecedented” the events that wreaked havoc in the northern-most reaches of the country. He said the events, which were the first of their kind in the last 50 years, might not be “frequent”, but could not be termed as “unusual” either. “It was unprecedented in Jammu and Kashmir. Otherwise, only the location has changed. It occurred in Uttarakhand last year and in Pakistan and adjoining north-west India in 2012,” he said. Pai said a similar catastrophe had wreaked havoc in Uttarakhand last year, which experts then attributed largely to environmental reasons. He said when stock-taking would begin in Jammu and Kashmir, they might discover similar causes behind flood fury, like encroachment of “flood plains” of rivers. He said nature’s fury was the result of interaction between the monsoon current and two equally intense western disturbances. He said the monsoon normally developed in presence of a western disturbance. “The heavy rain was not due to the monsoon but interaction between the monsoon current and two intense western disturbances,” he elaborated. He disagreed that the Indian monsoon system might be changing its pattern due to reasons like climate change. “The monsoon pattern has not changed. We have started monitoring it more closely,” he said. He did not agree that the state was not adequately forewarned. “Such events can be predicted between 24 and 48 hours in advance. A weather warning for heavy rain was issued in daily bulletins,” he asserted. The worst might be over as “light to moderate rain” was expected in the coming few days. This might not augur well for the authorities, struggling in carrying out relief measures and avoiding breakout of water and vector borne diseases in affected areas. The IMD said the monsoon was very active in the central region. It said another low pressure area was developing in the Bay of Bengal, as a result of which rain was likely to continue over Central India. More rain was unlikely in Punjab and Haryana even though light rain was expected in the region between September 10 and 14. The north-west region might get rain if the low pressure area reached Rajasthan and coincided with development of another western disturbance. This week, the monsoon was vigorous over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi and active over Uttarakhand, west Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Konkan and Goa, central Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and south interior Karnataka. Why the downpour
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After floods, Jammu city goes without drinking water
Jammu, September 7 Flood water has also entered the Sitli lift station and other water filtration plants on the banks of the Tawi which supply drinking water to a major part of Jammu. Officials said as the water level was receding, silt was becoming a major problem for the smooth running of the machinery. The powerful pumps lifting groundwater are also working below their capacity due to electricity cuts leaving many areas without drinking water for the last two days. “First it was the three-day strike by the PHE workers and then rain. It has totally snapped the supply in our locality and we are bringing water from PHE overhead water tank,” said Kanta Sharma, a housewife from the Roop Nagar locality. Hot spots of water scarcity areas in the city like Sainik Colony, Bathindi, Sunjwan, Narwal, Greater Kailash, Roop Nagar, Janipur, Naseeb Nagar, Ploura, Durga Nagar, Muthi, Ban Talab, New Plots, Indira Colony, Buta Nagar are facing acute water shortage and it may take weeks before the supply is fully restored. Many areas get water supply just once a day and that, too, not for sufficient prescribed time period. However, none of the officials from the PHE Department were available for comments. The department, as part of the strategy to ensure drinking water supply as per schedule, has already passed directions to officials concerned to speed up repair of the machinery if the weather improves. Water woes
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Quake rumours trigger panic in Jammu
Jammu, September 7 At some places, residents were afraid of getting back to their houses with people trying to figure out from where the rumours began. Not only in Jammu, reports said in most of the districts of the Jammu region, panicked people made frantic calls to their relatives and friends to know their well-being. “You could hear panic in their voices while calling police control room and fire stations during the night. It is very difficult to know from where the rumour originated, but it also kept us awake,” said a police officer. Even social networking sites and WhatsApp was flooded with the message, which added fuel to the fire as many people believed that an announcement has been made by the administration. “I received a call from my sister at about 1 am on Saturday night about the earthquake. She had also received a call from her friend and had read a message on WhatsApp. So I spent about four hours outside my house”, said Bupesh Kumar, a resident of the old city. Geologist Prof GM Bhat, however, rubbished the news about earthquake striking Jammu. “People should not heed to such rumours as there is no way to predict earthquakes. There is no mechanism developed in the world to know the exact location were earthquake will struck. Some people are trying to create panic among the public,” Prof Bhat said. In the past few days, rain has wrecked havoc in the entire Jammu and Kashmir and most of the people are living in fear. |
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KVS to encourage scientific temper among students
Jammu, September 7 Claiming that the conduct of Junior Mathematical Olympiad at school level for the past
few years has proved useful and encouraging, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has suggested that students of
Classes IX and X must be encouraged to participate in Junior Science Olympiad. Sources said the first phase of the Science Olympiad was conducted by Indian Association of Physics Teachers every year and meritorious students in the first phase would be allowed to
participate in the second phase of the Olympiad which is to be conducted by the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has directed all the schools immediately to encourage students of Classes IX and X to register themselves for participation in the first phase of the Science Olympiad. “All Kendriya Vidyalayas have been asked to enroll themselves as members in the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education which would facilitate them to subscribe to their useful journals and books. The information and news in these journals must be thoroughly discussed during the subject committee meetings of Science teachers for appropriate dissemination among the student communities,” sources in the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan claimed. Further, the schools have been asked to ensure that lab facilities must be used effectively and meaningfully. Junior Science labs must be put to use more effectively. Practical periods should be earmarked in the time table for Classes VI to X every week and at least in these periods, practical teaching must be ensured. The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan was of the view that most of the schools were having eco clubs, science clubs, etc, but they were not
very active. The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has suggested the heads of the schools to plan field trips for the students of secondary and higher secondary classes to nearby science centres, science museums, central labs in order to awaken their interest towards science learning and also to provide an exposure to the practical application of science. |
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District-level youth club meets to promote sports
Jammu, September 7 Further, the award money at all the three levels i.e. district, state and national under the scheme of Awards to Outstanding Youth Clubs (AOYC) has also been enhanced. At district level, the winner youth club would be awarded Rs 25,000 and at state level, the award would be Rs 1,00,000. At national level, the first, second and third winners would be awarded Rs 5,00,000, Rs 3,00,000 and Rs 2,00,000, respectively, along with a scroll and certificate. Sources said under the Annual Action Plan 2014-15, the focus of NYK would be on the issues and problems confronting rural young people of the state with emphasis on their development and empowerment for sustainable livelihood on one hand and active partnership in nation-building activities with a spirit of voluntarism on the other hand. Sources added that a provision of 10 per cent skill training for male youth under Skill up-gradation Training Programme has been proposed by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS), Government of India. “The achievements against coordination programmes have been found encouraging and appreciated by the Ministry and Cabinet Secretariat. Therefore, coordination activities, which have proved to be the image-building activities of the NYKS, have been continued and are given focused attention,” a MYAS statement said. The Ministry observed that the activities of youth in NYK activities provide them platform to learn and participate in social welfare and development activities. Sources said the district youth coordinator and deputy director, NYK, had been directed by the Central Ministry that besides monitoring they should provide full support, guidance and facilitate volunteers and trained youth club leaders in coordinating with other development departments and agencies in the districts for the successful implementation of proposed activities. ”Further, for strengthening of network of youth club and mahila mandals, the district youth coordinators have been asked to that new youth clubs are formed in uncovered villages, existing youth clubs and mahila mandals are activated,” the sources added. |
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Five arrested for sacrilegious act in Bantalab area of Jammu
Jammu, September 7 There was tense situation for the entire night as the locals demanded action against the accused and warned to continue their protest if no action was taken. However, the police arrested all the accused bringing peace in the area this morning. Pawan Singh, a resident of Bantalab, said, “The police had used force to clear the mob from the road and a curfew-like situation was in Bantalab throughout Saturday night. Hundreds of police personnel were deployed in the area for for the entire day today.” Mohan Lal Kaith, SP, Rural, said, “The situation is normal at Bantalab now as all the accused have been arrested”. Jai Pal Sharma, Station House Officer, Domana, said, “The situation is under control now. No violence has been reported and all five accused have been arrested.” A case has been registered against the accused under Section 298 of the RPC. BJYM stages protest
Jammu: Led by the Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Janipur Mandal president Rinku Chouhan, dozens of protesters blocked the Janipur road for several hours and condemned the sacrilegious act. State vice-presidents of the BJYM Karan Sat Sharma and Bhanu Singh Jasrotia led the protest along with mandal president Rinku Chouhan. State secretaries Rahul Sharma and Eshant Mahajan, state additional treasurer Himanshu Mahajan, district vice-presidents Lovekesh Gondi, Pradeep Sharma and Kanavdeep Parotra also accompanied the BJYM leaders. Karan Sharma demanded strict action by the administration against the culprits. Rinku Chouhan demanded a high-level enquiry into the incident and placing culprits behind the bars. Varun Jandiyal, Arpan Baigra, Achal Sharma, Amit, Vishal, Anil Sharma, Rajinder Singh, Romesh Dutta, Ramesh Sharma, Vikrant Sharma, Ashok Kumar, Rahul, Abhishek, Shiva, Rakesh, Sunny, Satish, Shubham, Manik were among the BJYM activists present there.
— TNS |
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Guv recalls contribution of Sheikh Abdullah
Srinagar, September 7 He also recalled the
period during which Sheikh Abdullah had worked with eminent national leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The Governor referred to the land reforms pioneered by Sheikh Abdullah, which laid the foundations of equitable development of the state and the priority he had devoted to the development of health and education facilities. The Governor observed that the best tribute which could be paid to the leader would be for the people to work with a missionary zeal for strengthening the state’s deep-rooted secular traditions and the bonds
of communal harmony, brotherhood and amity to ensure peace and prosperity in the state. |
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Vitasta Divas celebrated
Jammu, September 7 Earthen lamps were lit and ‘aarti’ and ‘deep daan’ performed. Panun Kashmir president Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo said Kashmiri Hindus should strengthen their cultural traditions.
— PTI |
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Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday instructed the National Disaster Response Force
(NDRF) to send five more columns immediately to the flood-affected areas of Jammu and Kashmir. The Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA) has also dispatched 70 boats to the state.
The communication network in the Kashmir Valley collapsed on Sunday as water entered most buildings in Srinagar and adjoining localities.
