Udhampur, May 19
At least four persons, including three Army jawans, lost their lives in a storm which uprooted trees, electric poles and blew off roofs of many houses early morning today in different parts of Jammu province.

Life in entire Jammu province was thrown out of gear by storm of 80 km velocity accompanied by heavy rain. In Udhampur district four persons lost their lives.

Defence spokesman of the Northern Command Col S K Goutam said there were reports of three casualties of Army jawans in the storm. He said the incident took place at a far-flung area so details were awaited.

Sources, however said four Army jawans, who were on guard duty, received severe injuries when a wall fell on them near Krimchi. They were shifted to the hospital where three of them , Sunil Kumar, O Giri and Mangal Lal succumbed to their injuries, while Ram Ditta is under treatment in the hospital.

A minor was killed when roof of his house in a far-flung village of Udhampur district collapsed while 15 persons received minor injuries in different incidents. Rakesh Kumar, (12) son of Mohan Lal of Kardhi village of Ramnagar tehsil injured grievously when roof of his house caved in.

Winds lashed the entire province at 2.30 am, traffic at many places came to a halt with trees and electricity poles getting uprooted. Almost all parts of parts of Jammu province plunged into darkness due to uprooting of at least 1000 electric pools in different areas. The Power Development Department (PDD) authorities have been working to restore the power supply. Traffic was restored this afternoon after the clearance of uprooted trees from roads.

Due to power failure, water supply was also affected in most parts of the Jammu province triggering severe crises in many parts. Telecommunication system was also affected due to storm which lasted for more than 40 minutes.

Authorities have been working to restore the system but power has been restored in only some select towns of Jammu province. Far-flung areas of Poonch district are also baldy affected while as power and water supply has almost stopped in Samba district due to the burning of 6.5 KV transformer which is caters to entire district.

Chief engineer of PDD, D S Pawar said 1000 poles had been uprooted while as more than 50 conductors completely damaged in entire the province.

'We are working to restore power supply but due to severe damage to electric poles and wires, the restoration work will take little over two or three days,' said Powar. 'We are trying to restore power to essential feeders supplying power to important installations including hospitals and pumping stations. `` The loss is yet to be assessed and it will take some time to compute the damage'', he said.

Roofs of many houses and huts were blown off due to strong winds.

Reports said power supply had been affected in Ramnagar, Banihal, Billawar, Basholi, Reasi, Udhampur, Kathua and other areas. 

Srinagar, May 19
At least three persons died and 15 were injured in a storm that swept parts of the Kashmir valley after a hot day last evening, uprooting trees and damaging 100 structures. Several houseboats and shikaras in the Dal Lake here were also damaged partially. About 200 tourists and others living around the lake were rescued by the police and security forces deployed in the area.

Trees which were uprooted by storm that hit the Kashmir valley on Saturday. — Tribune photo by Amin War

Officials here said high-velocity winds disrupted power and water supply in most parts of the valley restoration of which would take a couple of days. More reports of damage were being collected from far-flung areas of the valley, officials here said. Traffic on the inter-district routes and many parts of Srinagar city was restored after hiccups this morning. Men and machinery were pressed into service here soon after there was respite in the high-speed winds followed by rain.

Those dead in north Kashmir were identified as Abdul Rahim Nadro at Unisoo, Baramula district, Ghulam Hassan Wani at Behnipora, Handwara in Kupwara district and Taj-ud-din Ansari from Jharkhand at present at Uri in Baramula district. At least 15 others were injured in the valley, the police here confirmed. More than 33 houses, 40 structures, two shops, one cowshed and some houseboats damaged partially. A cow also perished in the Kulgam area of south Kashmir.

According to inspector general of police, Kashmir Range, S. M. Sahai policemen and officers from police stations and posts of Nehru Park, Nigeen, Hazratbal and other police stations in downtown, and CRPF personnel reached the people who were either in boats, houseboats or shikaras. He said there was no loss of life due to the sudden storm. He added policemen were out well past the mid night to ensure that any body that was missing was found. 

Talwara (Reasi), May 19
Contrary to the government’s claims, poverty-stricken displaced persons living in the Talwara migrant camp, are still sending their minor children in towns and cities to work as domestic helpers by taking advance money from their “employers”. This human rights abuse of children has been going unabated as these families have no other option to earn two-time meals for them.

Some call it “mortgaging” of children, while others call it “surrogating,” but one thing is clear that due to their economic conditions a large number of families have sent their children to far-off places by taking advances from their “employers” thereby reducing these minor children to the status of bonded labourers.

The issue of “mortgaging” children by displaced persons was raised by Panthers Party MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia. The mock exercise of selling children by migrants had created a political storm on March 29, 2006. After being put in embarrassing position, authorities had stoutly denied any incident of “selling” or “mortgaging” children at that time and had assured to provide succour to them till they return to their native places.

Although nothing has been done to minimise the miseries of these migrants, undeclared ban being imposed on working of minor children of these displaced families in near by towns and cities as domestic servants or helpers in shops. Keeping in view the strictness of authorities, displaced families have been silently sending their children to the cities and town.

Migrant committee’s president Balwan Singh said they had presented a list of 83 children who were “mortgaged” to the government. “Now, the number has increased to 100”, he claimed and rued that expect lip services authorities had done nothing to solve problems of displaced persons.

Srinagar, May 19
Governor Lt Gen S.K. Sinha (retd.) inaugurated the recently renovated shrine of Aga Sayed Mehdi Almausvi Alnajfi at Budgam near here today. The first phase of the renovation work, carried out under Army’s Operation Sadbhavana, was inaugurated two years ago.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the Governor regretted that the hate-Army propaganda launched by a few people was creating an impression that it was the number one enemy of the people of Kashmir. He, however, complimented the sagacity of masses for appreciating the good work done by the Army and for refusing to get swayed away by such malicious propaganda. He added that during his tours to various areas especially the far-off places he was elated to find the amount of goodwill between the Army and the people.

GOC of 15 Corps Lt Gen A.S. Sekhon, GOC Victor Force Maj Gen S.K.Bhardwaj and other senior civil and police officers were present on the occasion.

Construction of a retaining wall, Kota stone flooring, concrete minars along with huge gates, and drinking water facility and seating arrangements for pilgrims at Rs 8 lakh was carried out in the first phase of the renovation work. Another Rs 10 lakh has now been spent towards interior renovation of the Ziarat proper which includes tiling of floor, repair of roof, plastering of inside walls, electrification, painting and white washing, thus providing a majestic look to the shrine.

Srinagar, May 19
A non-government institute for physically and mentally challenged children has come as a boon for families feeling disillusioned with government hospitals.

When three children, Sahil, Masaib and Sumaira - who suffered from behavioural disorders - said prayers and sang rhymes before a cheering audience today, experts dubbed it a feat for them as they could hardly comprehend or speak months back. "If you set upon a goal with purity in you heart, then results could even surprise you," said Dr Mir Mohammad Maqbool, president of the voluntary society, which runs Shafaqat (affection).

A former head of the ENT Department of a government medical college here, Maqbool quit job to do something for deaf and dumb children. "Government services offered little hope for rehabilitation for them. I wanted them raised to become self-dependent," he said. And then he met the children who had rare behavioural disorders, including autism. Even some parents fund them a burden and wanted to discard them, he said, adding they were "unwanted, unloved and treated as dispensable by society".

Relative of an autistic kid, who did not wish to be identified, said the family took him to several places across the country for treatment before turning to Shafaqat. "He has shown marked improvement. It's often violence which people associate with this city. Let them know how much good a few persons are doing for perhaps the most disadvantaged lot in society," he said.

Former IAS officer Khurshid Ahmad Malik, who was left confined to a wheel chair after an accident a few years back, has also lent help to the cause. He has had, he says, some bitter personal experience to realise the suffering of the disabled. And so the voluntary society has now decided to set up a centre for spinal injuries which will also run rehabilitation packages for disabled children.

Srinagar, May 19
Union Minister for Water Resources, Prof Saifuddin Soz, has expressed hope that the present peace process would succeed and lost glory of the Kashmiri people return soon.

Addressing public meetings after inaugurating a water supply scheme near here today, Soz said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were keen to ensure lasting peace and prosperity of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

He said the dialogue was the only way to solve the problems, which have been confronting people of the state for past 17 years.