Kathua, June 2
The process of the so-called development has taken a heavy toll on the green cover in this Kandi belt, as over 300 trees of different varieties have been felled down on the 3 km Kalibari-Kathua road this week.

The “operation” has been undertaken under the centrally sponsored scheme to widen this patch of the road, connecting Kathua town with the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway. The trees, some as old as 100 years, have been felled down by an agency, whom the work has been leased out under the ERA Scheme.

Incidentally, the process of felling of trees, that were providing a natural canopy over the road, had been undertaken under the nose of the local administration, as this road houses various government offices, educational institutions, including deputy commissioner’s office and Degree College, Kathua.

The project has justifiably invited the wrath of the local environmentalists. Sandeep Sharma, an activist of the green brigade, said most of the trees were felled down during the night hours. He asserted that instead of cutting such a large number of trees, the administration should have resorted to other means, including building an alternative road.

Mandeep Kour, deputy commissioner, Kathua, while justifying the action, however, said all requisite formalities were “legally” accomplished before felling down these trees.

She claimed “under the norms”, for every felled tree, 10 saplings were planted at other places to meet the losses and also satisfy those who raise the bogey of environmental degradation.

The local environmentalists, however, asserted that they did not notice any organisation planting even a single sapling in the town or its periphery.

He pointed out that even during the process of widening the Jammu-Pathankot road a few years ago, thousands of trees were felled down but no sapling was planted in the Kandi belt.

Some shopkeepers also expressed their unhappiness over the action. They alleged that even the revered trees like banyan and peepul were mercilessly felled down, without caring for the sentiments of the locals.

Jammu, June 2
Finally, 27 CCTV cameras have been installed at the Jammu railway station. The main screening machine, meant to scrutinise the baggage of the passengers, which was also out of order for about two-and-a-half years, has also been repaired.

Earlier, The Tribune had highlighted various security loopholes at the railway station. Following which the authorities had assured to install security gazettes soon.

Fortunately, the new gazettes were installed a little before the railway premises had some 30,000 people stranded for two days due to the violent protests against the killing of Sant Ramanand of Dera Sachkhand Ballan.

“Despite the huge crowd that stranded at the station for two days, we could control the situation in an efficient manner because of these CCTV cameras. We were able to keep an eye all around the periphery of the station, including the inner portion. Otherwise, it was unthinkable to manage such a rush. The situation could have been worse in case of panic or violence here,” said Sharma.

The development becomes more important, as the situation always remains volatile due to the terrorist movement in the region. The railway station being a public place having maximum footfalls due to the rush of pilgrims is considered to be a 
hypersensitive zone as it has earlier been attacked by militants.

Hopefully, with the installation of these gadgets, the authorities would be able to beef up the security and tackle any eventuality in a better way.

Srinagar, June 2
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has taken a strong notice of doctors and staff of the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, who are engaged in private practice and cautioned them that the government would not tolerate indiscipline in this regard.

“It was not befitting for doctors and other staff of the institution to engage in private practice at the cost of patient care in the institution, when they are getting salary and perks at par with AIIMS staff, besides drawing the non-practicing allowance,” the Chief Minister said at a governing body meeting of the institute recently.

“The private practice by SKIMS doctors should be stopped forthwith,” he said.

The SKIMS, since its inception in 1982, was set up on the pattern of AIIMS, New Delhi, and PGI, Chandigarh, as an academic and research institute, which does not call for private practice by the doctors. There have been frequent complaints of the doctors running private clinics apart from their duties in the institute.

The Chief Minister said measures were afoot to upgrade the health institutions manned by expert doctors to make treatment more affordable.

He said SKIMS’ original mandate as superspeciality and referral institution could only be restored when the primary and secondary health institutions in the state were strengthened.

He said the government would upgrade the SKIMS on priority and simplify procurement rules so that it improved its infrastructure, machinery, equipment and manpower.

Omar said the SKIMS should work only as a tertiary hospital and take steps so that load on it was progressively reduced.

“Our effort is to equip districts and sub-district hospitals and primary health centres with modern equipment, manned by competent and expert doctors”, he added.

Chief Minister also constituted a committee, headed by financial commissioner, planning, to work out suggestions for strengthening the premier health institution of the state, besides looking for any purposeful and efficient consultancy required to develop modern faculties and superspeciality units in the institution.

Omar stressed on prioritising infrastructure development for upgrading superspeciality disciplines in the SKIMS.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Abdul Rahim Rather, chief secretary SS Kapur, financial commissioner, planning and development SL Bhat, commissioner secretary, health and medical education Atal Dulloo and others.

Soibugh (Budgam), June 2
Not far away from Srinagar, the hub of educational institutions, Government Primary School at Beigh Mohalla in this township, has been functioning for the past six years only with the strength of three teachers and 75 students.

The school is lacking in space, furniture and teaching material. It was established in 2003 on the outskirts of Srinagar with the appointment of an education volunteer (EV), a trained teacher who had graduated in science from Government Degree College, Bemina. Two years later, two other teachers were appointed.

The school is housed in a temporary structure, which is insufficient to accommodate 75 students. From the link road, the school shares a common entrance with two other households separated by little demarcations. The link road is also in a dilapidated condition. The township with a population of over 10,000 has 14 schools, including one government higher secondary school and two private high schools.

Inside the tiny house, there are two rooms and the connecting corridor in which all 75 students of up to Class V belonging to poor families are huddled together. The furniture and teaching material comprises two chairs, one table and two blackboards erected against the walls.

“No teaching material has been given to this school,” lament the teachers, who were working as education volunteers and later promoted as rehbar-e-taleem (ReT) with a little rise in the salary from Rs 1,000 per month to Rs 1,500 per month.

“We joined as education volunteers and were later upgraded to rehbar-e-taleem after two years,” says Mohammad Afzal, who had joined the school at the time of its opening in 2003. He laments that instead of two years, they had to wait for four-and-a-half years for promotion, which ,in turn, means a long wait of about 10 years to get a permanent job of a government schoolteacher.

The government had introduced the system of appointment of teachers after five years of service as ReTs or two years as EVs. Two other teachers also joined him in 2005, and continue to work as rehbar-e-taleem, and have nothing to do but wait for a getting a permanent job with good salary. The amount of Rs 1,500 is too little for a living, laments Farooq Ahmad, a postgraduate, another teacher.

It is only sheer grit and hope that keeps the teachers in their place while children from the families of below poverty line are being lured to come to school by midday meals.

Katra, June 2
Although the number of pilgrims to the Vaishno Devi shrine has been increasing every year, problems being faced by devotees are also multiplying.

Non-availability of adequate medical facilities at Katra,the base of the pilgrimage, is one of the biggest problems being faced by the devotees as well as locals, especially during the summer.

The only hospital located in Katra is not able to cater to the medical needs of lakhs of pilgrims.“We have repeatedly brought this matter to the notice of the authorities concerned to provide adequate infrastructure in this hospital, but to no avail”, rued Baldev Sharma, the local MLA.

On the one hand, there is a shortage of doctors and paramedical staff in the hospital while on the other hand even drinking water is not available.“I have purchased bottles of water from the market as the tap in the hospital is running dry”, pointed out Avdesh Sharma, a devotee from Faridabad, whose daughter was admitted to the hospital due to dehydration.

An acute shortage of drinking water in Katra town negates tall claims of the authorities. “ The gravity of the problem can be gauged from the fact that the authorities even failed to provide adequate water in the hospital”, the MLA said. Although the entire town is confronting a shortage of drinking water, but the situation is the worst in the hospital. The water being supplied there is contaminated.

The authorities also admitted that there was an acute shortage of water in the hospital due to the leakage of some supply lines. The PHE department has repaired the damaged pipes and the water supply has been streamlined.

Due to the influx of thousands of pilgrims every day, dehydration is common among them. More than 600 patients visit Katra hospital everyday for treatment, but specialist doctors are not available.

“There is need to develop a superspeciality hospital at Katra to cater to the needs of thousands of devotees every day”, demanded Rakesh Wazir, a local hotelier and social activist. He regretted that on the one hand the authorities claimed to be providing all facilities to the devotees, while on the other hand even proper medical facilities were not being provided.

A year ago, a local NGO had constructed a superspeciality ward in the hospital, but it has not been inaugurated till now.

Srinagar, June 2
The Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages has awarded over 40 prominent artistes of Kashmir for their outstanding performance in the annual Kashmir Drama Festival held recently. Each award carried cash prize, a shawl, certificate and a citation.

The Kashmiri play, “Taqdear Saz”, written by late Ali Mohammad and directed by Mushtaq Ali Khan was adjudged the best among the eight plays staged during the festival. The second award was bagged by Kashmiri play “Achar Kaal”, written by Yaqoob Dilkash and directed by Reshi Rashid.

Eminent director Mushtaq Ali Khan was chosen the best director of the festival for his play “Taqdear Saz”, presented by Actors Creative Theatre, Srinagar. He also bagged the best designer award for the play. The best costume award went to Ghulam Nabi Mala for “Achar Kaal” production. Best makeup award was bagged by Tariq Wani for “Taqdear Saz”.

Raja Maqbool of the Azad Dramatic Club, Raipura, Ganderbal, was awarded with the best male actor award for his role in the play “Fathe”, while best female actor award was bagged by Amina Banoo for her role as Moauj Kashir in the play “Achar Kaal”.

The award for the second best director, set designer, costume designer, makeup, music went in the favour of Reshi Rashid, Nayeem Karnahi, Shafiya/Kausar, Sajad Qureshi and Ghulam Hassan Bhat, respectively. Second best actor male and female awards went to Farooq Shiekh and Shabnum Shah.

Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, secretary of the state academy, said from this year, the academy was going to revive the annual drama festival pigment in each and every district of the state that would go a long way in promoting theatre and performing arts.

Other major awards in different categories went to Raja Maqbool, Ghulam Mohammad, Mohammad Rafi, Fayaz Ahmad, Raja Maqbool, Mohammad Ashraf Nagoo, Mohammad Shafi, Manzoor Ahmad Dar, Ashraf Mir, Sajad Qureshi, Qazafi Khan, Ashraf Bhat, Ghulam Qadir Lone, Ghulam Mohi-u-din, Shadi Koul, Ghulam Rasool Mir, Gul Javeed, Fayaz Ahmad Ganaie, Jamela Mir, Shaheen Reshi and Shahida Alvi. 

Jammu, June 2
Hopes have brightened the life of Madan Lal Sharma - an orderly in the state government department - as his son Rahul Sharma has proved that poverty could be no bar against education after securing nearly 90 per cent marks in the secondary school examination of the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education.

Rahul, who hails from a backward Kund village in Sunder Bani tehsil, is presently putting up in Gandhi Nagar along with his father and mother. Rahul has made Adarsh Bal Jyoti High School proud by his outstanding performance.

He is contented by getting 89.4 per cent marks without any tuition. He gives the credit to his parents and schoolteachers for his performance. They maintain that the boy used to burn midnight oil for studies, whereas in the afternoon he would manage household affairs.

“Rahul gives me a helping hand while I am in Kitchen and does not hesitate in cleaning up rooms, washing clothes or doing dishes,” said his mother, Kailash Sharma, adding that, “He would read from 9 pm to 1 am and then again wake up at 4 am.” “He also recites sermons from Ramayana whenever there is some religious function in the vicinity. In this way he earns for himself,” his father said.

Rahul revealed his ambition: “I want to be a doctor and set up a multi-speciality hospital in my hometown. If everything goes well, I would like to serve humanity without any greed for money.”

His father adds: “Dear son, I will sell off everything to make your dreams come true. You just keep going as you have been.”

If you have a grievance against a public utility, or if you have a complaint about any dealing with a public servant, in a government office, bank, finance company, post office, insurance company, in a train or at a bus stand… or if your grievance has not been attended to, send an e-mail to uttamsengupta@tribunemail.com, or post the complaint to DNE (J&K Plus), Listening Post, The Tribune, Sector 29 C, Chandigarh.

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Your complaint is our concern and The Tribune offers to suitably highlight it.

There seems to be no end to miseries of commuters in Jammu as the minibus and matador operators in the city openly violate the rules and regulations.

The law-enforcing agencies in the Jammu region seem to have become defunct as they cannot check the gross violations being committed by the drivers of these minibuses and matadors in the city.

The matador operators play music at such a high pitch that it becomes difficult for the passengers to hear anything; they don’t have the courtesy to switch off the music when passengers attend a phone call.

The other gross violation of the law is the overcrowding of passengers- they stuff the passengers in such a way that it becomes difficult for passengers even to breathe. The ever- increasing temperature along with the stuffed up passengers in the vehicle makes it a living hell.

We, the citizens of Jammu, appeal to the traffic police to take some stringent measures so as to avoid the inconvenience being faced by the people of the Jammu region.

Ankit Gupta, Jammu

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