Katra, October 30
Although the Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations have already banned use of polythene in both capital cities, the authorities have failed to implement the ban in Katra -the base camp of the most revered shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi and one of the busiest towns of the state.

As use of polythene has been going unabated with no site earmarked for disposing of the waste left by over 70 lakhs pilgrims, Katra is facing fast ecological degradation.

Interestingly, even though the number of pilgrims has been increasing every year, nothing concrete has so far been done to treat garbage and waste. No proper sites have been identified by the local authorities for dumping garbage. Due to non-availability of dumping sites, most of the hoteliers and locals throw garbage on the backside of the town, especially on Reasi road. Over 70 lakh pilgrims annually visit this shrine but the authorities are yet to even identify land for throwing garbage.

The authorities have repeatedly claimed to make Katra a model town but piles of garbage just 500 meters away from the holy town bely all these claims. Garbage spread on the road emanates stinking smell as it is human and animal waste is also mixed in it.

The authorities are very much aware that untreated garbage is a fertile breeding ground for bacteria responsible for various infectious diseases. The breaking out of any infectious disease due to untreated garbage would be disasterous for the people as pilgrims from all over the country visit this town every day.

President of the Katra Municipality Ashu Mangotra, too, admitted that garbage disposal was a big problem in the town. "For years together everything has been going in a casual manner", Mangotra told The Tribune and admitted that throwing of such a huge garbage has been a major health hazard for the residents of this town.

Mangotra said the municipality has submitted a comprehensive plan for approval to the authorities concerned. "As many 200 kanals of land has been identified on the outskirts of Katra town for garbage dumping and setting up a treatment plant", he said. This garbage treatment plant would be set up at a cost of Rs 13 crore.

Social activist and local hotelier of Katra Shiv Kumar Sharma rued the casual approach of the authorities towards this serious ecological hazard. "The Katra municipality is the richest local body of Jammu and Kashmir but those at the helm of the affairs are adopting a casual approach to solve this serious problem", he said, supporting the need for setting up a plant outside the town for treatment of garbage. 

Jammu, October 30
Though the doctors' strike is over, the ordeal of orthopaedic patients continues. Poor patients have been spending sleepless nights in the open waiting for treatment whereas the local Government Medical College hospital authorities cite the space constraint as the reason for their inability to admit more patients.

Due to "scarcity" of beds in the orthopaedics ward, several patients have been living in miserable conditions on the premises of the hospital, an employee at a nearby parking stand stated

Wrenching in pain, Subhra awaits admission into the ward. Her two children and husband are also there hoping that doctors understand their misery and cure her. "I met doctors but they have asked me to come after 10 days. Every time I approach them they ask me to come later. My wife has acute pain in the right leg but nobody changes her dressing as a result of which her wounds are not healing," said Badday Lal, her husband.

"I don't have any blanket to cover my ailing wife and children at night. However, there is ample space in the ward but despite that doctors are not admitting my wife," he said.

Dr Dara Singh, Head of the Orthopedics Department, said: "There is acute shortage of space in the wards. We cannot accommodate all patients. We entertain only emergency patients whereas others are referred to district hospitals for follow-up after primary treatment."

Ramban, October 30
Blasting of mountains along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is continuing unabated despite the fears raised by experts that such an exercise could anytime trigger heavy landslides and permanently affect the vehicular moment on the only road link that joins Kashmir with the rest of the country.

The blasting in this fragile environment region is also affecting vegetation and wildlife, besides increasing the threat of shooting stones that could lead to any causality.

During a recent visit by this correspondent, dense smoke coupled with heavy dust and deafening sound was emanating from different pockets where blasting was being carried out by different agencies responsible for the widening and maintenance of roads.

Such blasts were being mostly undertaken in the Marog area, falling between the Ramban and Ramsoo area on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. Incidentally, this very patch of the highway is highly prone to landslides and only two years ago, the road was blocked for about 21 days when a complete stretch of 2 km was washed away at Panthel falling in the vicinity of the Marog area.

Besides ruthless excavation, what could be more shocking was that the agencies concerned were not properly disposing off muck. Instead, it was being thrown into the Chenab and its tributaries that flow along the sides of the mighty mountains.

Prof GM Bhat of the Department of Geology, Jammu University, is of the opinion that the continuous blasting of mountains in this zone could certainly pose problems and would be extremely difficult to handle.

“The Marog area already comes under the Digdole fault zone and blasting could further cause damage to the rocks,” he argued.

Agreeing that the development has to go side by side, the geologist, however, informed that the entire Ramban-Ramsoo belt is more vulnerable as it has a number of original and local cracks that pass through this region.

“Personally, I am more concerned about the proper disposal of muck. Throwing it down the slope is a dangerous exercise as it could aggravate the condition leading to unmanageable landslides on the highway,” he said.

An official of the Public Works Department said not only the government departments, but also some local contractors were blasting the mountains to extract stones and other building material with impunity.

He said the National Highway Authority of India also planned to covert the existing Jammu-Srinagar Highway into four-lane, for which modalities had already been worked out.

However, the apprehension of Prof Bhat was that four-laning in the identified fault-area zone could increase the angle of repose, resulting into more landslides on this road which acts as a lifeline for the valley.

Kathua, October 30
There are several communities here which have been living a life of social exclusion and abject poverty. Pernas is one such tribe, which is scattered over different pockets of the district. Pernas’ traditional occupation is liquor making.

Most members of these communities are devoid of the fruits of development. In their households in Gati village, one would hardly find any ration. They live in temporary shelters or tenements with no doors or windows. Besides weather acting as their worst adversary, the challenge of two square meals and diseases keeps them haunting all the time.

Even as the state enjoys a unique constitutional status, these people are considered as non-state subjects and are devoid of benefits of welfare schemes.

Because of their disputed residential status, their condition has ceased to improve while in certain cases, it has only deteriorated. The reason: They could not continue with their traditional means of earning i.e. making liquor in the changing socio-economic scenario.

Ironically, despite widespread ignorance, backwardness, illiteracy and illegal activities, the government as well as society have a little to offer. Efforts of the state government to bring them into the mainstream have remained far from being adequate.

Gati is a small village of this community which has nearly 40 households. It is a hamlet of destitute and deserted women with most of them widows. “We don’t earn much. The police has been raiding and dismantling our distillery units for the past several decades. Alternatively, we have to grease their palms and give all our money to save our belongings,” villagers allege.

On asking about changing their profession, they reply: “We don’t have resources”.

Sharmili (30) has been single-handedly looking after her three children after her husband died 10 years ago. Her shelter is in a dilapidated state and may collapse anytime. She hardly earns Rs 40 a day by doing menial jobs.

“Besides my three children, my father-in-law also lives with us. He is mentally challenged and is addicted to alcohol. Life is a big challenge in the absence of resources. I am worried about the future of my children,” says Sharmili, who does not have a BPL card.

Just adjacent to her house lives Manju, mother of six daughters and two sons. Her husband is bed-ridden after he fell from a tree and seriously injured his spine four years ago.

Others like Govindo, Toshi, Sheetal, Radha and Neetu also tell similar tales of poverty, helplessness and vulnerability to numerous hazards.

Jammu, October 30
Savitri Devi of old city contented herself by “marrying off” the sacred basil, commonly known as tulsi. She did not have any daughter so she “married off” tulsi to get a feel of “kanyadaan”.

The groom was “Shaligram”. The baraat with Lord Vishnu seated in a decorated horse cart was carried out from Satyanarayan Mandir of Panjtirthi. Amidst bursting of crackers and splendor of fireworks, a large number of devotees chanting religious songs participated in the procession.

The baraat with zealous devotees and orchestra passing through different parts of the city reached the home of Savitri Devi, wife of late Krishan Lal of Pakki Dhaki.

To welcome the baraatis, a community kitchen was organised. Devotees savoured themselves with different traditional dishes and witnessed ceremonial rites of the marriage. Savitri and her son, Suresh Sharma, performed the rites of seeing off the “bride”.

But it was not a stray incident this Thursday, but every year, it’s a common ritual practiced all through the country. During the Kartik month (that spans from from Aaikadshi to Purnima), tulsi marriage holds great religious value and people perform such ceremonies overwhelmingly.

Similar functions were organised in different temples of the city. However, those who could not organise marriage ceremonies satisfied themselves by decking up tulsi like a bride in their courtyards.

Religious scholars maintain that when tulsi attains the age of 12 years after its plantation in the home, it should be married off like a daughter. After the marriage ceremonies are over, the plant is sent off like any bride in a decked up palanquin with all ceremonies.

Jammu, October 30
The detention of a local scribe Farooq Ganai’s for allegedly supplying secret information to Pakistan via his Nowabad-based news agency here has come as a shock to the media fraternity.

After the police booked him, a local court, on October 27, extended his police remand by 10 days.

The police has accused the scribe of supplying secret information about the movement of troops, their location, maps of Kashmir rail link, arterial expressway in the winter capital and other vital information to the Pakistan’s Field Intelligence Unit (FIU) via his news agency. His bank account shows the transactions of Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 every second week from the past one year. He also got Rs 8 lakh from Spain via Western Money Transfer in different transactions, claim cops. The journalist community is shocked at the development. Many are arrayed along different lines in favour or opposition of the allegations. Others want to let the case unfold itself before finally concluding if the accused was doing a journalistic activity or spying.

Echoing similar views, Resident Editor Dainik Jagran Abhimanyu Sharma says he was surprised to hear the news.

“He had also been media in charge of the National Conference and used to intimate journalists about the party programmes, but when it comes to the country’s sovereignty, every suspect, irrespective of his stature or job, has to undergo the legal process,” he says.

“Is Pakistan so weak that it had to hire a journalist for spying,” asks another senior journalist.

One can find more specific and relevant information and maps on Google Earth than what this journalist had allegedly supplied to the Pakistan’s ISI, he adds.

A senior female journalist says a number of journalists had visited the Lashkar headquarters in Pakistan, but that doesn’t mean they had supplied secret information to security agencies in their countries.

“Journalists do get access to classified information, but that’s not an evidence enough to hold someone on the charge of spying, she says, adding, “If the charges are proved against the scribe then it would be a big jolt to the credibility of the media”. But as of now we know only one side of the story and before jumping to any conclusion, the journalist in custody has to be afforded an opportunity of being heard, she says.

“Since serious charges of spying for the enemy country have been levelled against the journalist, it would be, too, early to say anything,” reacts Pradeep Dutta of Times Now.

“The case needs to be investigated deeply. Unless and until the charges are proved against him and the court of law holds him guilty, we don’t have a right to raise a finger of suspicion,” says Dutta.

“We still remember the Parliament attack in which journalist Iftikhar Gilani was accused. Initially, he was projected as the mastermind by the security agencies and then everything fizzled out”.

Sources close to the family of Farooq, son of former NC Minister Mohammed Akbar Ganai, say, he had mortgaged ornaments of his wife to start a news magazine in 2004. Aged around 40, Farooq had been living in a three-room house in Roop Nagar, the land of which was allotted to his father.

“He is being projected as an ISI agent, if so, then where is the money he received via Western Money Transfer,” they ask.

The sources claim he was living hand to mouth and the bank account of the news agency (News Agency of Kashmir) reflected a paltry balance of just Rs 25,000.

Further, he had been picked up on the grounds of spying for Pakistan, but how the police could be so sure when the data of the three hard discs is yet to be extracted and deciphered, they add.

Jammu, October 30
The proposal to convert the only inter-state bus stand in Jammu into a bus terminal has so far yielded no result, as the general bus stand, Jammu, has been converted into a junkyard where old and defunct buses are being dumped.

The state government had mooted a proposal to convert the general bus stand into an inter-state bus terminal where buses would only be allowed to stop for a brief period and leave the terminal; however there has been no progress on the proposal so far.

The only inter-state bus stand in the state, where buses from other states also come and leave, has been converted into a junkyard.

"We had requested the government to shift the idle buses to some other places, but our requests fell on deaf ears," said Promod Kumar, a local shopkeeper.

To shift the idle buses from the general bus stand to other places the government had proposed to construct parking yards at Khanpur in Nagrota, Birpur in Bari Brahmana and Palora in Chamb, but the work on these yards is going on at a snail's pace.

"The entire business community of Jammu is not able to harness the tourism potential due to this bus stand. It should be converted into a bus terminal so that tourists stop here," said Ashwani Kumar Sharma, former president of the Shopkeepers Association, general bus stand, Jammu.

The condition of the bus stand is also deplorable. The sanitation is in a bad shape. The building is at the verge of crumble and the space has been converted into a repair ground.

"All idle or defected buses are brought here and mechanics open their engines and other parts to carry out repair work here itself which is not permitted under the law," Sharma said. He said a deputation of the shopkeepers and other business establishments had recently met the Deputy Chief Minister who had assured that immediate steps would be taken to revamp the existing bus stand, but so far no measures had been taken, Sharma said. He said: "The Deputy Chief Minister told us that the government is looking for a private player who can come and convert the bus stand into a bus terminal. But so far no player has shown his interest in it".

The condition inside the bus stand is worst. Haphazardly parked vehicles block a major portion of the parking area, besides kiosks and hawkers have illegally encroached upon a large portion of the space. "These kiosks and hawkers have political backing. Once the police tried to remove the encroachments, but the next day some political parties held demonstrations and resettled the kiosks here," said an officer on duty at the bus stand.

Fish is available throughout the year in Srinagar city. The demand for fish in the market increases during the winter. As an old adage in Kashmir says that eating fish be preferred for eight months between September and April that have “r” alphabet in their names but avoided in the remaining four months from May to August with no “r”, the period of peak hot summer in Kashmir. But the availability of fish in the market places has not deterred the people from having fish in the summer as well. It is mainly available on the First Bridge or Amiraka Kadal, commonly known as “Camel Bridge” for its shape like the camel back.