Jammu, April 14
Most students of Jammu University carry drinking water with them instead of relying on the water availabile on the campus due to unclean water tanks and containers coupled with the absence of water purifiers.

Students while sharing their grievances with The Tribune said, “Water available in tanks is infectious and we have not seen anyone cleaning them for several months. Take, for instance, this water tank in the Department of Social Sciences. Going by the label pasted on it, the tank was cleaned in June last year.”

“Despite the fact that labels displaying the date of cleaning the tanks are changed from time to time, they are never cleaned in reality,” added the students. They further said except for the vice-chancellor’s office, there were no water purifiers on the entire campus. “Most of the time taps are dry in the entire School of Social Sciences so we prefer to carry water along with us or resort to other alternatives,” said a student.

“There are several other departments in languages that do not have any drinking water facility,” said a student of the Dogri Department. The water coolers at the examination section of the university, which witnesses a huge influx of students on a regular bases, are in worst condition. “No one would like to drink water available on the campus,” said a student of the MCA Department. There is no student organisation that could fight for the interest of the students while the varsity authorities seem to be least bothered about the health of the students.”

“The public works department of the varsity is already short of manpower while it has been performing several functions that do not fall into its purview. The varsity has overburdened the department as a result of which its primary work is suffering,” revealed president of the Progressive Association Rahul.

“Many a times, students fall sick after drinking contaminated water. It is unfortunate that the varsity cannot even provide drinking water to its students,” he said. “If the scenario remains the same, we will soon start bringing pitchers along with us to mark our resentment,” he added.

According to Praveen Gupta, food inspector in the Municipal Corporation, “With the peak of the summer season, all educational institutions ought to clean the reservoirs and ensure their proper chlorination. The water tanks on an average should be cleaned after every three months, otherwise there is a strong possibility that water may turn contagious, exposing students to health risks”. The authorities at the JU could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.

Jammu, April 14
Cricket fans here are all geared up for the Indian Premier League matches. Many are adjusting their daily schedules to watch the matches. Even though the IPL is being held in South Africa, the organisers have promised that the match timings would remain the same.

Shops selling TV sets are also gearing up to cash in on the craze. Other shopkeepers have already installed TV sets in their shops with some purchasing new sets to watch the matches as they wont be able to go home.

Dhyan Chad, a shopkeeper at Talab Tillo, says, “I have purchased a new TV set, bigger than my old 14-inch TV, only for watching IPL matches. During the telecast of the cricket match, many people who pass through my shop use to stop here for hours together.”

In the areas where irregular power cuts is a constant problem, some people have purchased inverters for watching the matches without any interruption.

Expressing disappointment over the power cuts in his area, Amit Koul, a resident of Patoli, says he has purchased a new inverter, especially for watching IPL matches.

Pointing out the missing charm in watching cricket match at home on TV sets, Viney Kumar, a resident of Residency Road, says, “Watching cricket is more enjoyable when we watch it with a group of fans. Cinema hall owners should bring cricket fans out of their homes to watch the matches on big screens at reasonable prices.”

“Watching a cricket match on big screen adds to the excitement. In cinema hall, you feeling like actually watching the match from the venue, so what if we cannot go there,” says Sanjeev Sharma, another resident of Residency Road.

Being uncertain about the response of the people, manager of Indira Cineplex Rajinder Bedi says the cinema halls here are not telecasting the IPL matches.

The argument put forward by him is that “the business suffers from more than 50 per cent loss during the telecast of cricket matches, as a majority of the viewers prefer to watch cricket instead of a movie. But since the matches generally are of long duration and start early in the morning, people do not turn up to see them in theatres in the morning”.

He says earlier, cricket matches were telecast in Ambha Theatre but that failed to attract viewers and thus it incurred heavy loss.

“The theatre owners should experiment with the telecast of cricket matches for additional revenue while keeping the ticket price affordable,” says Rita Sharma, a resident of Sarwal.

She says if cinema halls start telecasting matches, fans would be happy as they would no longer need to fight with other members in their families who are not interested in watching cricket on TV. 

Jammu, April 14
Latest gizmos, including trendy laptops, mobile phones, ipods and MP3 and MP4 players, the youth in Jammu are getting trendier by the day with the usage of these latest electronic items.

With the technological innovation and revolution in the field of electronics, the youth here are having a great time with these gizmos.

In the past few years, various showrooms that sell these hi-tech technology items have come up in the city. These have now become the hotspot for the youths of the city.

With the trend of latest mobile phones, shopkeepers selling these say youths in the city change to new mobile handsets as soon as a new model hits the stand.

“What we have been seeing that the youths here keep on replacing their mobile phones with a latest model as soon as it is launched,” said Pankaj, an employee at a Nokia showroom here.

He said, “The purchasing power of the people has gone up as they can afford to purchase new models and dump their old handsets quite often”.

Youths here say in the past, they had to wait for the latest products to be available in the local market. Now, as almost every electronic company has opened its outlet here, it has become easy to buy and choose from a variety of products, they add.

“The market in Jammu is totally unexplored and there is a lot of scope for the companies to make profit. Establishing an outlet here means a lot of business, thus many companies have opened their showrooms in Jammu,” says Jasdeep Singh Bali, owner of a mobile phone showroom here.

With the availability of latest gizmos under one roof, the youths are elated as all latest products, which earlier they could not have access to, are available in the city.

“Earlier, the latest electronic items were not made available in Jammu or they were sold at exorbitant rates, but now we get a lot of choice and the rates are also reasonable,” says Kuldeep Singh, a postgraduate from the University of Jammu.

With the growing interest of the youths, the companies are also registering good turnover and introducing many new products in the city.

“Earlier, we used to bring products on order, but after this retail revolution not only our sales but also the profit has increased,” Bali adds.

Srinagar, April 14
When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flagged off the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, Karvan-e-Aman, from here on April 7, 2005, the event followed a militant attack on the preceding night at the Tourist Reception Centre (TRC), razing the historic complex to the ground.

According to those associated with the Kashmir tourism, it is now four years after the incident when “tourism lost its address in Srinagar”. The then government had envisaged a plan to reconstruct the TRC to provide all modern and hi-tech facilities to the domestic and international tourists on their arrival in Kashmir.

However, the plan did not materialise and eventually a new site has been identified at Nowgam on the city outskirts, which is easily accessible to those arriving here by road from Jammu and also nearer to the present international airport here. The location is also nearer to the Nowgam (Srinagar) railway station, thereby making the tourist facility centre within a comfortable reach of all those arriving in the valley by road, air or rail.

Though the rail services are operational in the valley after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated it on October 11 last year, it may be linked to the rest of the country after completion of the Qazigund-Udhampur link in the years to come.

Even as the new TRC is coming up at the new location in Nowgam, the old TRC in the city is also being reconstructed, for which architects are being engaged to come out with proper designs, the officials at the Tourism Department said. It will have a tourist centre, outlets of banks, foreign exchange travel agents and food courts to facilitate the tourists.

“This would have a traditional design,” director of the Tourism Department, Kashmir, Farooq Ahmad Shah said.

Udhampur, April 14
Already confronting the problem of internal bickering, aggressive campaign launched by the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) has given sleepless nights to BJP candidate Nirmal Singh contesting from the Udhampur-Doda Lok 
Sabha seat.

JKNPP party candidate and supremo Bhim Singh, who has a capability of mobilising people during the campaign, has been effectively raking up the discrimination with the Jammu region, which is actually the poll plank of the BJP. The JKNPP has virtually hijacked the agenda of the BJP to consolidate its position in some pockets that are known as bastion of the latter. Singh has hijacked most of the issues being taken by the BJP in the ongoing electioneering. Worried BJP cadre has been finding it difficult to counter the Panthers Party.

During the last one week, the JKNPP has organised a series of public meetings in the different areas of this segment. Singh, during his tour in Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban and Reasi has been raking up the issue of discrimination with the Jammu region that was earlier exploited by the BJP leadership for the years together to consolidate its vote bank.

Local BJP leaders blamed their high command for its failure to rope in Bhim Singh. “We supported the JKNPP candidate in the election of the Legislative Council, so that the party leadership should ask Bhim Singh not to join the fray on the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat”, a senior BJP leader said and regretted that it was the failure of the party leadership that Singh has been spoiling chances of the party nominee.

“The way Singh has been aggressively taking up the discrimination issue, split in the pro-Jammu vote is almost certain”, said another BJP leader and aired the apprehension that the division in the votes would definitely help the sitting Lok Sabha member Choudhary Lal Singh, who is contesting as Congress candidate from this seat.

Interestingly, Singh has been aggressively campaigning in those areas considered as the stronghold of the BJP. He has also touched the issue of the Article 370. Although, he has not demanded to abolish the Act but has asked to amend this Act.

He has successfully roped in some prominent BJP leaders in his party. Former state president of the Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Anil Parihar has already joined the JKNPP.

Srinagar, April 14
Man-made disasters and natural calamities were discussed at length during the four-day disaster management workshop organised by divisional administration, Kashmir, in collaboration with the Disaster Management Centre, IMPA and the United Nations Development Project (UNDP), here recently.

Officials from various districts while sharing their experiences during disasters came up with district disaster management plans.

“Our motto is to save life and property,” says Abdul Rahman Wani, representing fire and emergency services, Kulgam.

Manzoor Ali from the irrigation and flood control department, Bandipora, while pointing towards rainfall creating problems in the area, said people had constructed houses even in nullahs (small rivers). “Being a hilly area, rainfall brings down boulders that cause heavy damage to life and livestock. People must be made aware,” said the officer.

Aijaz Hussain, representing the same department, said they had mitigated the effects of many floods using conventional methods.

“Such workshops should involve political leaders as well. Politicians encourage people for construction in the flood-prone areas, which creates problems,” said Hussain.

Abdul Majeed, deputy superintendent of police, Awantipora, emphasised on coordination, planning, patience and management during disasters. “In all disasters, the role of the police is pivotal.”

Ghulam Mohammad Khan, DSP Police Lines, Ganderbal, while admitting that cops remained mostly unaware about what to do during disasters, emphasised for refresher courses.

Assistant commissioner Ganderbal said the Degree College, Kupwara, was located in flood zone and an adjacent village witnessed flood twice a year. “People care for petty things but our appeals (asking them to shift to safer places) fall on deaf ears”.

“Establishing control rooms, involving public and transparency is must for devising a disaster management plan,” said the officer.

Bashir Ahmad, additional commissioner, Anantnag, said resources, if utilised properly, could avert disasters.

“Police and the Army never consider themselves part of the administration during disasters. We wasted 17-18 days in Uri before actually starting relief work.”

Additional commissioner Shopian MY Zargar emphasised on a separate authority at the divisional, district and tehsil levels. “There should be a check on the quality of material used during constructions.”

Mauzam Bakshi, representative from civil defence, stressed on coordinated emergency operation centre. Recalling 2005 earthquake, Bakshi said two teams were deputed at quake-hit Uri and Karnah and they had to make an assessment, to report, to establish hotline, first-aid camp and relief operation.

Interestingly, some officials like Manzoor Ahmad from Handwara and MK Ahangar, AEE electrical department, said they had nothing to share.

Altaf Hussain from the electrical department pointed towards accidents like electrocution. “Preparedness is important. We can’t avert disasters, but mitigate them,” 
said Hussain.

Chief medical officer Rahman suggested a disaster management committee comprising members from all spheres of life.

His counterpart Dr Bashir from Bandipora demanded for the availability of alternate transport.

Reyaz Ahmad, another participant, said, “We’ve to be careful while disseminating information about disasters otherwise there can be a disaster before disaster itself.”

Inspector Reyaz Ahmad, Police Lines, Baramulla, asked for a separate disaster management department.

Assistant commissioner, revenue, Muzaffar Ahmad from Bandipora demanded strengthening of medical facilities at grass-roots level. 

Jammu, April 14
The young brigade over here has a bagful of mixed opinions about the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in the region. While some believe that democracy has proved to be a failure, others do have faith in it and believe that because of a few black sheep, a collective opinion about all of the politicians cannot be framed.

The elections for the Jammu-Poonch Parliamentary seat are on April 16 and the Udhampur-Doda seat on April 23. Going by the figures available with the chief electoral office, more than 1.31 lakh fresh voters in the entire state are going to exercise their right to franchise for the first time.

“I have got my election voting card for the first time, so I will surely exercise my right to vote,” said a youngster, Sagrika. “We have no right to criticise the system, unless we participate in its functioning actively,” she added. Citing major concerns, she said the unemployment and the national security are the issues that are needed to be addressed on the priority basis. “The leader I want to vote for should remove the reservation quota system from the field of medicine and engineering, as it has been marring the career of the competent students.”

Another voter from Gandhi Nagar, Bhavna, is quite happy to caste vote in the elections. “It gives me a sense of being the destiny maker of the country,” she said. “I would prefer to caste my vote in favour of a non-dynastic young leader, but they are hardly promoted. Secondly, no party has given mandate to any female candidate this time, so I am exploring other options,” she added.

“Election card is as good as identity card. I am so thrilled that I would be pressing the EVM machine. Looking at the candidates in the fray, none sounds to be academic or have an intellectual background. Honest people are being marginalised in every party. Money is preferred over merit. Why someone should wait in a long queue for his turn to caste vote?” asked a student of MBA, wishing not to be quoted.

“If someone is genius in his field, any Multi National Corporation (MNC) would happily give him a lucrative job. So, what’s the need of giving thought to issues that do not have any solutions? Even after the elections, I am not going to be benefited. Whether UPA, NDA or another third front comes to power, aam aadmi has to relay on his own hard work,” said another youth, Romesh Chander of Talab Tillo. “There are several others of my cult who feel disenchanted with the system. We will have to exercise other options to clean up the system of the governance,” he added.