Rajouri, July 10
Protests erupted in this township after a woman died and 15 were in critical condition after being injected an expired drug at the district hospital late last night.

Eyewitness said 34 patients of the general ward developed adverse reaction after the paramedical staff injected them with some expired drug at 11:45 pm last night. He said on seeing the patients becoming unconscious, their attendants went outside to look for the doctors. "The situation worsened after patient Rehmet Bi wife of Khadim Hussain died. As the news about the incident spread in the area, people reached the hospital and looked for the doctors on duty who were at their residence", eyewitness said.

After the death of the woman, relatives and local people demonstrated outside the hospital and later blocked the Sher-e-Kashmir disrupting the traffic for over an hour. They were demanding probe into the alleged negligence of doctors and paramedical staff and shifting of the local staff from the district hospital.

The police tried to pacify the protesters but failed. It was only after additional deputy commissioner Javed Khan reached the spot and assured the protesters of a probe into the matter that the agitating people went away.

Chief medical officer (CMO), Rajouri, DrTilak Raj Gupta told The Tribune that 20 patients developed adverse reaction after they were injected with normal saline water reconstituted injections. "Normally we don't have distilled water for injections in the hospitals so we inject the patients with saline water reconstituted injections. Even in this case, the patients injected to the same liquid", he said. "There are chances of the normal saline water being infected with fungus but that needs to be investigated. We are sending the bottles of the normal saline water to forensic science laboratory to find out whether the normal saline water was fit for injection". He said the paramedical staff had nothing to with it.

Meanwhile, the police after questioning the two paramedical staff on duty last night, let them off.

The district administration has ordered a probe into the incident and set up a three- member committee for it. "The committee will be headed by the chief medical officer. The committee will submit its report within a week's time", sources said. 

Rajouri, July 10
The police and infantry unit of 39 Mountain Division in a joint operation busted a militant hideout and recovered cache of arms and ammunition in the Chingus area, here late last night.

Tej Ram Katoch SP Operations Rajouri said on a tip-off the presence of a militant hide out in Plulian forest, the police and troops of 39 Mountain Division posted to the Chingus area in a joint operation busted the hideout and recovered arms and ammunitions- two AK-47 rifles, AK-47 silencer rifle, AK-74 rifle, one UBGL grenade, 89 AK-47 rounds, 5 AK-74 rounds, Pika gun belt, three AK-47 magazines, AK-74 magazine and two and half kg of explosives.

Srinagar, July 10
Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in the Shopian area of south Kashmir this afternoon.

On a tip-off on militants, the police and Army launched a search at Padder Pora in Shopian where the hiding militants opened fire on the search party. Two militants were killed in the fire by the security forces, the police here said. One of the militants was identified as Ayaz Chopan, while search was on. — TNS

Udhampur, July 10
Miseries of inhabitants of more than 35 villages, comprising more than 50,000 persons, gets compounded with every passing day as the entire Sheraj belt of Doda district has been cut off from others parts of the state after the submerging of two foot bridges,the only means of connectivity in this area.

For earning a living residents have to risk their lives every day as they have to cross the Chenab regularly by boat rowed by untrained local youths.

“We play with our own lives regularly as there is no option other than of crossing the Chenab by boat which is risky”, said Jagdish Raj, ex-chairman of Sushaiter panchayat, and regretted that the authorities had done nothing to mitigate their miseries.

Admitting that residents had been facing hardship, deputy commissioner, Doda, Sourab Bhagat told The Tribune funds had been already allocated for the construction of motorable bridge near Assar and tenders in this regard were floated. “We had made elaborate arrangements, but these areas submerge very quickly due increase of the water level in the river in summer'', the deputy commissioner said, adding, “We are taking steps in a phased manner”.

Before the construction of the Bhagaliar project, the Sheeraj belt was connected with two foot bridges located at Trangul and Korapani villages. As the flow of water stopped at the project site, both bridges submerged in two months and since then this belt had been cut off from other parts of the state.

“Since June 2006 this belt has been cut off and even the supply of essential commodities has been badly affected'', said Bali Bhagat, a senior leader of the BJP, and threatened a movement if appropriate steps to mitigate the woes of the inhabitants were not taken.

Echoing similar views Krishan Lal of Chakka Kundi village said in some areas people had been facing shortage of ration as supply in the outlets of the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department had been affected.

Most of the schools and health centres have virtually been defunct due to unavailability of staff. In case of any emergency, people have to wait for a boat to carry the patient across the river for treatment. Many areas of Doda district situated on the bank of the Chenab have been submerging slowly as the construction of the Bhagaliar project is about to complete.