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SDM office, cops encroach upon Akhnoor Fort land
CBI report in Shopian case has few takers
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Shortage of Urdu-knowing employees in govt offices
Varsity develops wireless life-support system for ISRO
Stray cattle a traffic hazard in Udhampur
Encroachments on the rise in Srinagar
Grandparents day, Christmas celebrated
State takes pride in its sportspersons
Suchetgarh is now a model
village
jammu diary
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SDM office, cops encroach upon Akhnoor Fort land
Akhnoor, December 22 Besides locals, the SDM office and police station too have encroached upon the land of the fort, which is under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) since 1982. This two-storeyed fort has its own historic value. Maharaja Ranjit Singh performed anointment ceremony (raj tilak) of Raja Gulab Singh in 1822 here, when Gulab Singh was barely 21 years old. Though it has been clearly written on notice boards that under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, any kind of construction activity up to 100 m (or 200 m in certain areas) near or adjoining the protected monument is banned, still it has been flouted with impunity. “Encroachments and illegal activities are a common problem around this monument,” said in charge of the fort. Not only the police station and SDM office, a mobile tower, a temple, an overhead water tank and a reservoir have also come up here, giving bad shape to the historic monument. An official of the ASI said he would be happy if any person filed a legal suit or public interest litigation in this regard. “Have you ever seen, anywhere in India, any judicial magistrate rank officer’s office being run on an encroached land? The situation is worst here. When the authorities who are supposed to remove the encroachments are running their offices on the encroached land, how can we expect justice,” lashed Neena Sharma, a local resident. Despite a ban on the use of cement, the state tourism department has also made cemented stairs and pakka path for joggers and walkers on the banks of the Chenab inside the centrally protected monument. “The fort has lost its charm. On one hand, the ASI is spending money to protect it while on the other, various government departments are destroying the natural beauty of the fort,” said Ashok Kumar, a cab driver. “It will not be possible for the ASI to preserve this monument without the coordination of other departments,” quips, Dheeraj Ganjoo. The fort is about 35 km from the winter capital where lakhs of people from across the country come every month. It can attract more tourists if it is well maintained, Dheeraj adds. On the occasion of World Heritage Week in 2008, the ASI published brochures to propagate the rich heritage of the state. It also clearly mentioned the sites of encroachments, but there has been no action. “We have sent written complaints to senior officials, including chief secretary, divisional officer, deputy commissioner and local police, but no one has dared to check the encroachments,” said, R. Krishnaiah, superintendent archaeologist, ASI, adding that it’s the government exchequer who is actually suffering. Krishnaiah further added that they had also visited the police station to register an FIR against the violators, but to no avail. |
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CBI report in Shopian case has few takers
Srinagar, December 22 Though separatists and the opposition PDP expectedly ridiculed the report, which said two women died of drowning, ruling alliance leaders have also kept quiet on the issue even as local media and columnists have gone hammer and tonge at the CBI for shielding the “real culprits”. Senior NC leader and Cabinet minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, who defended the government vigorously when the state police kept bungling the investigation, could only say that the matter was still in the High Court in his attempt to evade a direct reply. NC leaders have kept a studied silence and when asked for their comments at any function, they take shelter under the pretext that the matter is sub judice. However, there is no such inhibition for local media and commentators. Almost all important English and language newspapers published from Srinagar have been carrying reports and comments rubbishing the CBI report since the agency told the High Court on December 14 about its findings. “New Delhi uses the CBI as an instrument in Kashmir to deny people justice. It has been seen earlier and the Shopian probe only confirms it,” said a newspaper. To be fair to the CBI, the intelligentsia and opinion-makers in Kashmir carry a certain prejudice against New Delhi and their reaction was on expected lines. However, the silence of even ruling party members only shows that they believe popular opinion discredits its report. “There is no point in defending the report when it will do no good to me. Sentiments get better of reason in the valley and we hope that people’s strong feelings would subside with time,” a Congress leader aiming for a post in the party’s youth wing says. In a place rife with conspiracy theorists, some commentators have even suggested that “Indian” media’s scathing criticism of the murder of a 20-year-old girl in Kellar in Shopian by militants on December 15 has something to do with their attempts to divert people’s attention from the original Shopian case. |
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Shortage of Urdu-knowing employees in govt offices
Jammu, December 22 Even Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand admitted this while speaking at a function in the city yesterday. The Hindu majority districts of Jammu, Ramban, Udhampur, Samba, Reasi and Kathua in Jammu division mostly face the dearth of such staff, as the government as well as private educational institutions operating in these districts have no Urdu teachers to teach the official language at the primary or high school level. The irony is that even most of the bureaucrats and senior officers posted in these districts and looking after education, police and revenue departments, are themselves ignorant of the language. Tara Chand said in the absence of Urdu knowing employees, th government was facing a shortage of patwaris and naib tehsildars in the revenue department, besides munishis in police stations and court clerks to perform duties in different courts of the division. The Deputy Chief Minister said with most of the revenue, court and police records being maintained in Urdu, a majority of the candidates who did not know the language, failed to apply for such posts. Calling for the promotion of the language, he asked educational institutions to introduce Urdu as a subject and teach the language to students at least up to class X. But, who will teach the language is a million dollar question, as most of the private institutions functioning in these districts have no Urdu teacher. Same holds true in case of government schools. Prof Shoab Malik of the Department of Urdu, Jammu University, regretted that despite Urdu being a binding force for the three distinct regions of the state, it continued to face neglect in most parts of the Jammu region. Leading Urdu poet and Supreme Court advocate Anand Lehar said Urdu was as good as Greek to the present generation. “This was not the case a few years ago when every student, even in Jammu, would learn the language. Unfortunately, certain vested elements were trying to divide the languages on the basis of religion and region. Now the condition is that we do not have Urdu teachers in the region,” he regretted. A senior officer of the police department said since locals did not know Urdu, most of munshis posted in police stations of Jammu, Samba, Kathua and Udhampur districts came from Poonch and Rajouri districts, besides the Kashmir valley where it was taught in all institutions. Similarly, patwaris were deputed to the area from Doda, Poonch and Rajouri districts, he added. |
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Varsity develops wireless life-support system for ISRO
Katra, December 22 This system will play a major role in the ISRO’s mission to send astronauts independently by 2015, if everything goes according to the plan. As per the details available, this system will monitor heartbeat, blood pressure and pulse rate of the persons going into the space through sensors and will show their movements on the screen. Whether they are moving or not, all information will be provided automatically through the system to the crew members sitting on the earth keeping a tab on the activities of astronauts. According to Sumit Gupta, project in charge, assistant professor, B.Tech (BE) Department of SMVDU, the ISRO has provided them adequate funds and the project is under the scrutiny of ISRO scientists. Gupta also disclosed that ISRO officials told them to make some modifications in the system and they had made all possible changes according to the requirements. He further said the project was complete and would surely end any further dependence on other countries. “We have presented the project to ISRO scientists in Hyderabad last week and we are waiting for their reply, which might be positive,” said Gupta. A team consisting of nine members has worked on the project, which includes three professors and six students of
the same university. It is pertinent to mention here that at present only Russia, US and China are able to launch their manned mission independently. Now, India is also planning to send a manned mission into the space and the ISRO has already uncovered the design of its crew capsule. Although there will be a need of some more equipments like robotic manipulator, rescue systems, man-rated launcher and safety mechanism to get independent, yet the system will provide help to the ISRO to get success in the plan. Apart from this, the university is also working on some more projects and will take shape very soon. While praising the teamwork done by the university, Prof NK Bansal, vice-chancellor, SMVDU, said: “This is an achievement of our team and if it gets final approval from ISRO scientists, it will be a huge success”. “We are able to develop the latest techniques, but funding is the major problem. We are fully dependent on the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. If we will get more funds, output will be doubled,” said a senior official of the university. |
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Stray cattle a traffic hazard in Udhampur
Udhampur, December 22 Though a shed was built to house stray cattle, it has been non-functional for the past one year. And the chances of its revival look grim given the instability in the MC after the removal of its president a couple of days back through a no-confidence motion. MC officiating president Prahlad Singh said proper cattle management could be ensured only after the election of the new president. Conceding MC failure in tackling the problem, he said stray cattle obstructed smooth vehicular movement leading to traffic snarls. "Some MC workers must be deployed to catch such cattle but this too needs approval of the state Local Bodies Department," he said. "I don't think catching stray cattle would work," said Mrs.Parvez Shah, councilor of ward 4. Experience showed that whenever such cattle were impounded in the shed by MC workers, someone would appear as their owner and use political pressure to get them released. "The problem will persist as this is all vote politics. How can you expect officials to take action in such a scenario. It affects their zeal to work in this direction," she summed up. But echoing the feelings of affected residents, Surjit Manhas, a social activist, said the MC could not shirk its duty towards civic upkeep of the town. The authorities concerned should take the matter seriously as it involved the safety of residents, especially old persons and children, on roads. He mentioned the busy Salathia Chowk on Dhar Road and Saila Talab Chowk as the spots affected the most by the stray cattle menace. "It has become almost routine that commuters, especially those on two-wheelers or pedestrians, meet with accidents owing to wandering stray cattle. It becomes all the more dangerous whenever a fight erupts on the road among such cattle," he pointed out. |
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Encroachments on the rise in Srinagar
Srinagar, December 22 The SMC has given a week's time to those concerned to wash off such defacements or face action. "It is, therefore, impressed upon the general public, companies and other commercial establishments to refrain from defacing, writing upon or otherwise marking any building, monument, post, wall, fence, tree or other things located within the limits of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) failing which appropriate action against the violators shall be taken", it states. However, the SMC is faced with a shortage of sweepers to maintain cleanliness within the city limits. Against the requirement of 5000 sweepers, it has only 2279 at present, senior MC officers said. An MC official said that there was least public support to the reformative measures. MC squads launch demolition drives every now and then to remove structures violating the norms. However, there seems to be no end to illegal constructions though efforts are on to check violations. Nearly 90 per cent of such cases take place due to "corrupt practices" at various levels, confided an official. "Once we remove encroachments on footpaths, the vendors resume their positions within a couple of hours", an MC official lamented. He added that it was mainly because of inaction on the part of the police for "reasons unknown". As a result there is no space left on most footpaths for pedestrians who have no other alternative to walk on the road meant for traffic, causing traffic chaos and jams. |
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Grandparents day, Christmas celebrated
Jammu, December 22 Everyone present there enjoyed and sang jingle bells and other Christmas carols with the students. Distribution of sweets and gifts by Santa Claus drew a rapturous applause. Around 800 grandparents participated in various activities and games. Chief guest Janak Raj Gupta appreciated this gesture of the school for inviting grandparents and imparting quality education to the students besides encouraging them to take part in extra curricular activities. S. Chauhan, principal of the school, thanked the chief guest and grandparents for gracing the occasion. |
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State takes pride in its sportspersons
Jammu, December 22 Nippu Jamwal, a judoka, honoured recently by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, romped home with a gold in Asian Judo Championship held in Lebanon last month. A second-year student of arts, the girl defeated her rivals from the Asian continent to clinch the medal in 45 kg category. Presently taking coaching from the Centre of Excellency in Patiala, Nippu had her initial training from MA Stadium. Impressed by her achievement, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced an award of Rs 5 lakh for her. “No doubt, we have poor sports infrastructure, but to overcome odds pitted against you one needs mental toughness, the secret behind any endeavour,” said Nippu. An alumnus of Army School, Ratnuchak, she was introduced to the physical game by her teacher Rosy Jamwal and thereafter she never looked back. “My sports teacher took me to MA Stadium and after some training, I started winning medals for the state. However, my big moment came when I won the gold in Asian Judo Championship in Lebanon,” she added. She gives credit for her success to her family, particularly her father, who keeps on encouraging her to meet the challenges head-on. “I don’t get intimidated by players from any part of the world and I have beaten top judokas just because of my mental toughness and rigorous workouts thrice a day”. Similarly, 13-year-old Hiteshwar Singh, a class IX student of DPS, Jammu, excelled at the national level in skates. The Ministry of Women Welfare and Child Development awarded him with the prestigious National Child Award. Governor NN Vohra felicitated the young skater for his remarkable achievement. Hiteshwar’s father, Sudhir Singh, an engineer by profession and a sportsperson himself, stood like a rock behind his son, inspiring him to do well in roller hockey, roll ball and roller skating. He started going to the MA Stadium rink in 2001 and from 2004, he like his seniors started winning medals for the state, said Sudhir. However, the young skater’s proud father also regretted poor infrastructure and factionalism in the roller association. “The only rink at the MA Stadium has not been repaired for the past two decades. My son has a passion for the game, which keeps him going,” he said. So far, he has won 17 medals in national-level competitions that fetched him the prestigious national child award, he said, adding that Hiteshwar was among 23 children from across the country selected by the ministry. |
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Suchetgarh is now a model
village
Suchetgarh, December 22 The village has been converted into a model village and provided with most of the basic amenities, including macadamised streets, community center, a well-equipped dispensary, besides a state-of-the-art computer centre. The computer centre was recently inaugurated by Union Home Secretary GK Pillai during his two-day visit to the Jammu region to review the security situation and have a look on the situation prevailing on the border. Though the residents are happy with the development of their village, they complain about the dilapidated link road leading to the village. "Though the government has macadamised the village streets in the village, it has failed to convert the link road into a pucca one," said Preetam Singh, a resident of the village. The residents welcomed the computer center, saying that this would help the younger generation get acquainted with the basic knowledge of computers. "Initially we have installed four computers but their number would increase in the coming days after we see the villagers’ response," said a computer instructor at the centre. The computers do not have Internet accessibility as of now but the authorities concerned would soon be requested to provide this facility at the centre. Most villagers are elated to know that they would be provided computer education free of cost. A computer instructor said the response of the people coming to learn computer working was quite encouraging as "the computer centre has become a instant hit with people of all ages.” Suchetgarh MLA Sham Chowdhary said the village had good road connectivity, better healthcare, good sanitation and other facilities. He said some villages along the border needed to be developed to stop the migration of people from villages but the government was not doing enough in this direction. |
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Humane side of cops
Cops in Akhnoor are doing selfless service. In the absence of rain shelters for passengers, cops offer them their checkpost to sit in. Cops may be facing criticism for collecting illegal entry tax from hapless drivers but they have won hearts of the fairer sex by offering them shelter in the checkpost. "Policemen here are real gentlemen. They gave space to us otherwise we would have been forced to stand under the sun or in rain. (See picture) SSP 'rescues' girls
The other day some young girls, returning from an excursion in Katra, found themselves in deep trouble when four "Bigdail Nawabzaade" started teasing them. The girls, obviously aware of Jammu SSP Basant Kumar Rath's cell number, promptly made a distress call and also dashed off an sms to the officer. Within no time Basant Rath swung into action directing Nagrota SDPO Faisal Qureshi to track down the eve-teasers. Accordingly, the four eve-teasers were nabbed at Nagrota checkpost and now they are cooling their heels off in a lockup. Really, tech-savvy SSP Basant's "Rath" really works fast and we have more cops like him criminals and trouble-makers would be definitely running for their lives. At the receiving end
A piquant situation emerged at a recent press conference convened by the BJP to highlight the grievances of agitating agricultural technocrats. While BJP leaders were addressing mediapersons inside their office, PDP activists were shouting slogans against the party for adopting a cooperative attitude towards the ruling National Conference. As the slogans were audible in the conference hall, mediapersons trained their guns towards BJP leaders and sought their clarification on the allegations labeled by slogan-shouting PDP workers. BJP leaders were virtually pushed to the wall by the mediapersons for their failure to play the role of an effective opposition. BJP leaders were so much grilled by the media corps that some of them lost their temper. The BJP leaders, claiming to the champion of the Jammu cause, were speechless when a mediaperson asked them about a thin presence in the "symbolic" protests against the government. As one mediaperson after another asked awkward questions, a BJP leader, claiming to be a crusader for securing Jammu's interests, retorted: "Those asking questions are anti-Jammu". New Year calendars hit market
As 2009 is about to end, new almanacs, diaries and calendars for 2010 have already appeared in Jammu markets. People are busy getting calendars and diaries of their choice. Business houses, government offices and banks are equally busy in distributing promotional calendars. While the people are eagerly waiting for the dawn of the New Year to bring cheers for them, a section of the employees seem to be curiously waiting for the release of the official calendar which carries a long list of government holidays. However, a cursory look on any New Year calendar reveals that the employees would be ``deprived'' of certain otherwise `` sure'' holidays, which fall on Saturdays and Sunays in 2010. To begin with, festivals and national days in 2010 like Holi, Mahavir Jayanti, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti, Dusshera, Diwali, Guru Nanak's Birthday and Christmas fall either on Saturdays or on Sundays! To add to it, calendars and almanacs do not show any holiday during June and July. (Contributed by Archit Watts, Ravi Krishnan Khajuria, Dinesh Manhotra and Rajesh Bhat) |
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Akhnoor, December 22
Jammu, December 22
Cops in Akhnoor are doing selfless service. In the absence of rain shelters for passengers, cops offer them their checkpost to sit in. Cops may be facing criticism for collecting illegal entry tax from hapless drivers but they have won hearts of the fairer sex by offering them shelter in the
checkpost. "Policemen here are real gentlemen. They gave space to us otherwise we would have been forced to stand under the sun or in rain.
