Samba, April 28
Commuters and pedestrians in this frontier district are a harried lot as kiosk owners selling food items on the roadside have allegedly encroached upon almost half of the national highway in the area.

A vendor sells sugarcane juice in Jammu. A Tribune photograph

The border district that falls on the national highway 1, Alfa (NH1A), which connects the state with the rest of the country, has unnplanned placement of kiosks that causes a lot of problems for the residents and the commuters.

“Since these kiosk owners have illegally occupied the road, there has been a lot of congestion on the road that leads to frequent accidents in this area. Accidents and traffic jams have become so frequent here that the road is now called as the highway of deaths,” Ashok Kumar,a resident of Samba, said.

Residents of the area say that even after repeated requests to the authorities concerned to remove the illegal encroachments from the roadside, nothing has been done.

They said the administration was reluctant to act against the illegal encroachers due to various reasons and the highway had become a death trap for them.

“There is a mafia behind all this. The police takes money from these kiosks operators and the money then reaches higher-ups in power. Also there is a strong political lobby working behind them.So, the administration has failed to take any action against them,” another resident said.

Some of the commuters said it had become difficult for them to ply their vehicles on the highway as the size of the road had become less than half of its original size due to the encroachments.

“It has become very difficult to give side to vehicles coming from another side as there is no space on the road that leads to traffic jams,” Om Sharma, a bus driver, said.

Despite repeated attempts, the Highway Authority and local administration of Samba could not be contacted.

Water woes of residents

With the onset of the summer, residents of various localities of this border district are facing an acute shortage of water.

The residents of various localities are fighting for every drop of water for their survival. People, especially ladies, can be seen waiting for their turn to fetch water from a tap. They rue that successive state governments have failed to mitigate their woes.

“Every time there is an election, the promise of making potable water accessible to every household is a poll plank, but when it comes to the delivery, nobody remembers the problems that the common masses suffer,” said Meenakshi Sharma, a local resident.

People allege that there has been discrimination with them as the areas where people support the candidate of a particular party are pampered whereas the areas where people support another party’s candidate are ignored.

“The Public Health Engineering Department in the area is biased, they only care for the people who support a particular party and when it comes to us, they turn their face away,” said Munesh Kumar, another local resident.

People here say union minister for water resources Saif-ud-din Soz who is also the chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee had made several promises with the people of the area when he was campaigning for the party candidate during the recently held assembly elections in the state.

“Even the union minister for water resources did not keep his promise and since the arrival of summer the problem of water shortage has doubled in the area.” said Sangeeta Sharma, a resident of Samba.

The residents say the situation in the rural areas of the district is worse and the people there have to rely on drinking the unhygienic water which is the reason for many diseases in the area.

“ A lot of people in the area come to us with acute waterborne diseases.They say they have to consume filthy water from the streams in their area,” said Dr Ranbir Singh, who runs a private clinic in the area.

Officials of the local Public Health Engineering Department which is responsible for providing potable water in the state say that they mooted a proposal for laying new pipelines in the area, but no decision was taken at the ministry level.

“To mitigate the problems of the residents, we have installed a few tubewells in the area .However, the government has to decide of laying new pipeline in the area,” a PHE official said.

Srinagar, April 28
While national-level programmes like the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) have tremendously benefited people across the country, the situation is bad in the Kashmir valley.

Officials of the Health Department say NGOs that have pivotal role to play in implementation of the health programmes and schemes have failed. On the other hand, the NGOs put the ball in the court of the department, saying the government does not support them in their endeavours.

Saleem-ur-Rehman, assistant director, Health and Family Welfare, says NGOs working in the valley vis-à-vis the health sector do multiple jobs instead of concentrating on one particular aspect.

“What is the credible work done by NGOs in the valley insofar as health is concerned? NGOs across India have done a lot of work with respect to the NPCB, but here in Kashmir nobody has come forward. In Jammu, many NGOs have worked in controlling blindness and we have exclusive eye wards there in hospitals,” said Saleem.

However, on the other side, AM Mir, executive director, Voluntary Health Development Association (VHDA), puts the blame on health officials for the “inappropriate” functioning of NGOs.

“A simple MoU with chief medical officer is enough to release a sum of Rs 1 lakh for the implementation of health-oriented programmes in a particular district. If this is the case with a simple issue, then how can you expect good work from NGOs,” says Mir.

“We trained many workers under various health schemes, but honorarium is yet to be paid to them. Kashmir is lagging behind in the implementation of various health programmes and whole blame lies on the government,” said Mir.

Prof. Abdul Hameed Zargar, director, Sher-e- Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, believes that the strengthening of health system at the grassroots level will help a lot in improving health care in the Kashmir valley.

“It is important to involve locals at the grassroots level and in this regard NGOs have an important role to play. Once the basic health institutions are well- equipped, there would be less rush on tertiary hospitals like the SKIMS,” added Zargar.

Jammu, April 28
The roadside business of selling juice, locally manufactured fresh lime soda and cut fruits has started picking up with the rising mercury in Jammu. As residents are on the lookout for ways to beat the heat, vendors in the city are making the most of the scorching summer and doing a brisk business.

Usually, the vendors occupy the place adjacent to a drain or an open gutter or a place adjacent to a public urinal. These rehris remain surrounded by flies and mosquitoes.Thus, consuming items made at such unhygienic places makes people prone to various diseases.

"This year, the summer heat is intense and we are unable to come out and work. Cold drinks and juices infuse a sort of comfort in our body to work in the heat," says Mukesh Sharma, a resident of Manorma Vihar.

The sale of cut fruits, sugarcane juice and other food items in the open is continuing unabated in the city. Most of the vendors at Jewel Chowk, Indira Chowk, City Cowk near SMGs hospital, Bakhshi Nagar and Jammu University do not care about hygiene.

They, however, claim that they maintain hygiene but the fact is that they are selling the eatables at unhygienic places. The callous attitude of the administration towards this crucial issue can be gauged from the fact that no ban has been imposed on the selling of fruit juices and cut fruits by roadside vendors that too at unhygienic places.

No mechanism has been put in place to ensure that the vendors conduct their business in a hygienic way so that it does not lead to any epidemic.

“We are often haunted by officials of the administration and to escape penalty, we park our rehris at such places. We are not allowed to park our rehris in clean and posh localities. If the government allots us proper place, we would definitely improve the quality of the products offered,” says a vendor selling sugarcane juice at Jewel Chowk. Meanwhile, the corporation has launched a drive to check the sale of adulterated food items, but it is not considering this issue.

JMC commissioner Mubarak Singh says, “It is impossible to ban the selling of cut fruits and sugarcane juice by vendors who are supposed to be mobile. We will ensure that no rehri is stationed anywhere”.

Jammu, April 28
Going by the low turnout in two Lok Sabha constituencies of Jammu-Poonch and Udhampur-Doda, which went to the polls on April 16 and April 23, respectively, the ruling alliance partner in the state, the Congress is certainly a harried lot these days.

The Congress had won both constituencies in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. In the ongoing parliamentary elections, while the Jammu-Poonch seat recorded 49 per cent polling, Udhampur-Doda witnessed 45 per cent turnout.

In 2004 elections, the Jammu-Poonch constituency had recorded 44.49 per cent while the Udhampur constituency had recorded 45.09 per cent turnout.

“Low voter turnout, particularly in the Udhampur parliamentary constituency had been a cause of concern for the Congress,” says Rekha Choudhary of the political sciences department of Jammu University.

Though it had always been unpredictable till the results were out, in the Udhampur constituency the Muslim-dominated areas recorded 30 per cent polling while in the Hindu-dominated areas there had been more mobilisation of voters to the polling stations, she said.

Going by the media reports, one could say that the BJP might have gained an upper hand in Udhampur, she added.

“But in Jammu-Poonch, we might anticipate a neck-and-neck fight between the Congress and the BJP.”

Though people may feel that by fielding Leela Karan Sharma from the Jammu parliamentary constituency, the BJP tried to take some advantage of the Amarnath land row, it doesn’t necessarily mean that votes in the Hindu-dominated areas largely fell into BJP’s kitty, Rekha said.

When asked about the National Conference (NC), which didn’t field any party candidate on the two seats under mutual understanding with its alliance partner, the Congress, she said expecting NC voters to cross over to the BJP would be totally wrong. “At the most, some of them could have gone to the PDP”.

However, media reports suggested that the Congress was a demoralised lot and downbeat, but since elections had always been unpredictable,she would not like to make any predictions, she added.

The Udhampur constituency, which is spread over six districts, has 13,62,382 voters. Sitting MP Lal Singh of the Congress had lost the last Assembly elections from the Kathua Assembly constituency to an independent, Charanjeet Singh (a former bureaucrat), while Lal’s wife Kanta Andotra had lost the contest from the Basohli Assembly constituency.

Though the two Lok Sabha constituencies by and large had remained a Congress bastion, this time , the coalition partner may undergo certain hiccups because of low voter turnout.

In the 2004 elections, though Congress candidate and sitting MP Madan Lal Sharma had emerged victorious from the Jammu parliamentary constituency, Dr Nirmal Singh (who contested 2009 LS polls from the Udhampur constituency) had given him a run for his money before losing by a narrow margin of 17,000 votes.

Sharma had secured 3.19 lakh votes while Dr Nirmal Singh had secured 3.02 lakh votes.

In the Assembly elections, the BJP had done impressively well by winning 11 seats, including RS Pura, Suchetgarh, Nagrota, Raipur, Domana and Marh while the PDP had wrested Darhal and Mendhar seats from the Congress and the NC, respectively.

The Jammu-Poonch parliamentary constituency had been won twice by the BJP candidate, late Vaid Vishnu Dutt, when BJP-led NDA had its regime at the Centre in 1998 and 1999.

However, following the death of Dutt, NC candidate Choudhary Talib Hussain had won the seat in 2002 byelection defeating BJP’s Dr Nirmal Singh by a margin of 57,000 votes.

The Jammu parliamentary constituency, spanning over four districts of Jammu, Poonch, Rajouri and Samba, has 17,21,696 electors, including in-service voters from various security forces.

Jammu, April 28
Come summer and incidents of fire in wheat fields of the Jammu region become rampant. Every year fires caused by multiple reasons destroy hundreds of tonnes of crop produce. Despite that the administration is not equipped with sound mechanism to deal with such incidents.

In the recent major incidents of fire across different villages of RS Pura and Vijaypur, mature wheat crop over a cover of nearly 487 kanals has been reduced to ashes. In all incidents, farmers allege that fire extinguishers could not reach well on time.

“Had there been a perfect mechanism for firefighting, the losses could have been curtailed,” said Vijay Kumar of Fatehpur Brahman village in RS Pura, who lost his entire yield recently.

Remarkably, the state government does not have any provisions in place to compensate the farmers whose produce is damaged by such incidents.

“There are two Assembly constituencies in the RS Pura block, including Suchetgarh and RS Pura itself, and at least 200 villages. Agriculture is the prime occupation here. But to cope with any exigency there is only one fire extinguisher stationed at Kullian,” said distressed farmers of RS Pura.

“During elections, politicians promise to provide adequate fire tenders for the area but they don’t keep their word every time,” they added.

“Worries of farmers are manifold. They don’t have any other means of survival except for their produce. But after the wheat fields go up in flames, the farmers suffer double loss. First, the foodgrain stock for the entire year is lost and secondly, they won’t get any fodder for the livestock,” said Choudhary Dev Raj, president of the Panch-Sarpanch Association.

“Last year also crop over thousands of acres was gutted in fire, but as usual farmers did not get any relief or compensation,” added Choudhary.Officials at fire brigade office, Kullian, also agreed that there should be more tenders in view of the vast area under their jurisdiction.

The All-Jammu and Kashmir Kisan Union has demanded adequate fire extinguishers in different areas of the sub-tropical zone. The union has also urged the Power Development Department for setting right the power transmission lines to minimise the risk of short circuit in fields. It has also appealed to the government to assess the crop damages and provide six months’ free ration, fodder and cash compensation to the affected farmers.

Chrar-e-Sharief, April 28
This holy town of Chrar-e-Sharief, which is yet to overcome the devastation caused 14 years ago, is gasping for breath with residents crying hoarse over the snail’s pace in the development of the area.

The shrine of Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Noorani, along with the adjacent Khanqah, and several residential houses in the midst of the town, about 30 km from Srinagar, were gutted in a devastating fire on May 11, 1995, which followed an encounter between holed- up militants and security forces. The shrine attracts a large number of devotees throughout the year. The premises around the shrine which is common with that of the Khanqah, presents a deserted look with development work yet to take place.Police personnel keep guard at the front and rear gates of the premises.

The only higher secondary(plus two) school established here in 1956 has not been upgraded so far, lament locals blaming the previous coalition government for not attending to their problems. The issue of a degree college was brought to the notice of NC president Farooq Abdullah during the last Assembly elections, who had gone to the “extent of saying that it deserves a university”, said a resident, Abdul Rahim. “It was also brought to his notice recently, but there was no positive response”, he added. He points at the “deserted look” around the Khanqah near the shrine. There has hardly been any development for several years, though the work on the revered shrine was completed a few years ago. A segment of parks has come up on the backside of the Khanqah. The promise of the construction of a shopping complex by the previous government to rehabilitate the affected business community due to the fire, has also not been fulfilled as yet, laments Ghulam Qadir, a shopkeeper in the town.

The shopkeepers at the bus stand in front of the shrine are fearing the removal of two old structures housing a school and some government offices apart from two rows of shops in the main market place. “Hundreds of shopkeepers who were affected due to the devastation, have not been rehabilitated yet, and if the two complexes are removed for widening the bus stand, what the authorities plan to do about the shopkeepers there”, asked Abdul Rahim. He laments that the government has not been addressing the problems in Chrar-e-Sharief, while another model town declared with it, Katra, in Jammu, had witnessed a lot of development. Many affected people await the compensation even after 14 years, the residents claim. 

Jammu, April 28
Jammu Childline has approached the state education department to maximise its reach to the poor and underprivileged children. Coordinator of Childline OP Gupta recently held a meeting with zonal education officer Vasudha Bano and zonal education planning officer Prithviraj to seek their help.

Gupta has asked the education officers for their cooperation in the matter. “I have asked these officers to let us have access to the primary and middle-level government schools in Jammu. Our counsel will meet teachers, who would introduce us to poor and the underprivileged children”.

He also said, “Besides landline subscribers of BSNL, our helpline number 1098 cannot be contacted by the subscribers of any other telecom operator. It makes matters difficult for children stuck in difficult situations as they cannot contact us through any cellphones, which are easily accessible these days. To solve the matter, we have started a mission to reach out to such children instead of vice-versa”.

Gupta has also requested mobile companies to come forward to offer their service to make the helpline operative so that the organisation can come to the aid of numerous children who either run away from homes or get trapped in the clutches of unwanted elements.

The coordinator is also targeting those volunteers who could pave the way to introduce them to dropout children, where he aims to meet the parents of such children and convince them to let them resume their studies. For such cases, the Childline is ready to felicitate their admission in schools.

Not only this, Childline also wants to extend the basic medical facilties for such children.

Jammu, April 28
Even as the stand-off between SRTC workers and its management remains unresolved, the management has come up with some “revolutionary solutions” to curtail the losses of the corporation. The workers union, however, does not seem to be in any mood to believe these assurances.

Admitting the lacunae in the system to a large extent, managing director, SRTC, Anup Kanoj, who took charge a few days ago, also blamed the employees for their non-cooperation.

He has promised to do the damage-control exercise and chalk out some innovative and result-oriented solutions to revive the financial health of the corporation.

He says, “As I said earlier, we need to reduce the extra manpower through VRS/GHS. The second step would be to repair the old buses and make them roadworthy. We have already made some 150 buses operational by replacing their tyres. Another 50 buses will be soon made operational. These buses with minor complications have been lying in workshops for months, affecting revenue generation”.

Kanoj says he will get some 140 new buses for the urban areas from the Central government under the Jawahar Lal Nehru Revenue Management.

The corporation has also arranged some funds to meet up its huge loss. The MD says, “The SRTC has got Rs 2 crore for purchasing small buses for the Jammu and Doda regions. Another Rs 5 crore has been sanctioned for upgradation”.

The management is also planning to generate revenue from its under-utilised and unutilised assets, Kanoj says, adding, “The SRTC will lease out its property of 141 kanal to the Housing Board under the self-financing scheme. We also have an opportunity to earn huge revenue from shops at Lala Rukh Hotel in Srinagar by bringing out a new regulation that the claim of the property will remain only with the original leaseholders. Similaly, the SRTC property in Delhi can generate awesome revenue through an arrangement under public-private partnership”.

The MD feels that these measures, if supported by the employees, would turn around the financial condition of the corporation, making it a profitable organisation.

Meanwhile, Shakeel Ahmed Kuchay, chairman of the union, says, “We are tired of the unending assurances given by some 14 successive MDs in the past 10 years, but nothing has been done to solve our problems”.

Kuchay says, “The corporation was in good shape till 1969, when the insurgency began. Since then, we have not been getting regular salaries. The SRTC did not any compensation for its 200 buses burnt during militancy”.

“Earlier, while 150 buses used to ply for sightseeing, 200 buses were operational in the city. But after 1988, city buses were stopped and matadors replaced them. The corporation’s revenues suffered a great deal”.

He says despite the promise made on March 26, 2008, the promotion of low-scale employees is still pending, whereas senior officers got regular promotions”.

Kuchay also says on the national highways, thousands of other buses ply illegally, which is affecting the corporation’s revenue. He also opposed the handing over the management and revenue collection of the bus stands of Srinagar and Jammu to the Srinagar Development Authority and the Jammu Development Authority, respectively.

Jammu, April 28
Eminent scholar Jatindra Udhampuri has added new chapter to the Dogri literature by recently penning down a book on Dogri Sufi poetry.

Talking to The Tribune, Udhampuri, a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, said, “It was my modest attempt to write Sufiana Kalam in Dogri, as no such attempt has earlier been made by any Dogri writer”.

This has been even validated by state’s another eminent writer Arsh Sehbai in the foreword of Udhampuri’s book “Judaayan”, claiming it to be a milestone in the Dogri literature.

Udhampuri, who has already 25 books to his credit, said such kind of poetry in the region was earlier found only in Punjabi and Kashmiri literature.

The author, however, regretted that the new generation of the writers was not fully contributing towards the promotion and enrichment of the Dogri language.

“It is necessary to read a lot, particularly about the literature of other languages. But unfortunately, such kind of inclination seems to be missing in the present young lot of Dogri writers”, said Udhampuri, whose 650-page reference book on “History of Dogri Literature” has been incorporated in the curriculum by the state Board of School Education.

Udhampur, however, felt that there was no dearth of talent in the region. “But to contribute towards the literature of the language like Dogri, having recently been introduced in the Eighth Schedule, needs an extra effort”, the former station director of Radio Kashmir Jammu said.

Udhampuri admitted that over the years Dogri language had got a raw deal but takes pride in saying that Radio Jammu has been the only institution in promoting this language, besides serving as a strategic media centre in this border state in countering Pakistani propaganda since 1947.

“Dogri dramas and the local music aired from Radio Jammu have captured the listeners even from across the border”, he said.

Udhampuri has a word of advice for the parents: “Do not feel shy in communicating in the mother tongue with your children”.