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Employees’ Strike Locked rooms in Government Medical College Hospital
in Jammu. Photo: Inderjeet Singh
Defiant employees extend
stir till April 19
Reports of Chinese intrusion in Ladakh true: BJP
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No end to patients’ miseries
Annual Maize Workshop
A peep into complexities of thought process
Kashmiri Pandits protest against Centre, state govt
Over 2,700 take IIT exam
Gujjars seek Primitive Tribal Groups status
Recruitment Bill divides Gujjars-Bakerwals
Water supply to be augmented: Bhalla
‘All parties should find out solution to agitation’
Minister for united efforts to bring social reforms
Ladakh front starts dharna for UT status
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Join duty today or face sack, Health Dept warns ad hoc staff
Jupinderjit Singh Tribune News Service
Jammu, April 11 Insofar as regular employees are concerned, the department has started with those who had applied for mass leave by directing them to join duty immediately as their leave has been cancelled. Udhampur District Hospital has issued notices to 52 employees, including nurses, pharmacists and other paramedical staff, that “in view of the prevailing situation (strike), the mass casual leave of the employees as mentioned in the joint application cannot be sanctioned and hence rejected”. The notice says: “Report for duties immediately”. The notices which have been issued to 34 employees on directions of the Minister for Medical Education (R S Chib) say:” As per the directions conveyed from the office of the Minister for Medical Education, the employees who were found absent from their duties are hereby directed to resume duties by April 12 , failing which they shall be deemed to have been terminated from the services”. The health departments in other districts were also issuing similar notices, sources said. This would enable the government to be legally stronger in case they had to eventually terminate the services of the employees, sources said. The functioning of hospitals has already been paralysed and patients are the worst sufferers. Though the emergency services have not been affected and volunteers as well as civil defence personnel are trying to provide these, all operations and surgeries have been put on hold. With accident-prone roads, the government was hoping no accident took place. Otherwise it would be tough for them to handle a number of patients, said a worried doctor.
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Defiant employees extend
stir till April 19
Jammu, April 11 “We can’t leave our struggle (strike) at this moment when our leaders are being arrested by the police. We will do everything possible to get our demands fulfilled,” Subhash Chander, a leader of the striking employees (who has been evading arrest), said. Earlier, the employees had planned a “secretariat chalo” march on April 12, but after the arrest of some senior leaders, they have now decided a lockout from tomorrow. “We have decided to start a “jail bharo andolan” from April 12, in protest against the government’s decision to invoke ESMA on the striking employees,” Sushil Sudan, a senior leader of the Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC), said. On the other hand, the government has announced that it would take strict action against the striking employees if they do not report for work by April 12. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also appealed to the striking employees to resume work on the last day of the Assembly. The strike began on April 3, which prompted the government to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) on the employees on April 5. Then the employees also extended their strike up to April 13. Besides the payment of Sixth Pay Commission arrears, the employees are demanding the enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60 years and house rent allowance (HRA) on a par with central government employees. The employees have also alleged that the police is harassing their families and special squads have been constituted to keep an eye on the attendance of the employees in all departments and offices.
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Reports of Chinese intrusion in Ladakh true: BJP
Jammu, April 11 Although the delegation will visit some border areas of Uttarakhand before submitting its final report to party president Nitin Gadhkari, one of the members, Nirmal Singh, told The Tribune that the Chinese soldiers had been repeatedly crossing Actual Line of Control (ALC) to terrorise local population of Ladakh. Jawans of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) had been deployed on the ALC, but their numbers were less, he said and informed that the reports about stopping of the local officers from constructing a road in Ladakh were true. “The reports about intrusion of the Chinese soldiers in Ladakh were authentic, as there were many evidences in the forward areas of Ladakh that China has grabbed our land,” Singh said and added that locals were not even allowed to enter green pastures inside Indian territory near the ALC. Local nomads, who usually visit these grazing fields, were terrorised by the Chinese soldiers and they were warned against visiting these forwards areas in the Indian territory. Besides Nirmal, other members of the delegation included former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, former Union Minister Rajiv Partap Singh Rudy, Rajan Sushant and Tatir Goa. The BJP delegation spent five days in Ladakh and visited those forward areas where there were reports of the Chinese intrusion. The delegation earlier visited the border areas of Arunachal Pradesh and interacted with inhabitants of the state. “We have been collecting evidences of the Chinese intrusion in Indian side”, Singh said. He pointed out that there was very less deployment of the Army on the border, especially in the Ladakh area, where the Chinese soldiers had been repeatedly creating trouble for locals. Quoting apprehensions aired by locals, Singh said the situation in the border areas of Ladakh would be out of control, if appropriate steps were not taken in time. |
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No end to patients’ miseries
Srinagar, April 11 Hundreds of patients from far-off areas of the valley return disappointed because of the agitation. However, Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Naseem Lanker says she is satisfied with the functioning of various government health institutions, including hospitals, as “OPDs and emergency services are functioning normally”. “Surgeries and other allied tests are being conducted as usual. Around 16300 patients were treated in associated hospitals and in other health institutions on Saturday. Also, 1309 patients were admitted and 97 major and 179 minor surgeries were conducted,” the Divisional Commissioner said. However, contrary to the administration’s claims, the situation is quite different as only emergency services with only a few doctors are functional across various hospitals. After Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the situation in the rural areas was better as compared to the urban areas of Srinagar, the administration claimed to have taken contingency measures to make sure that people didn’t suffer. But in reality, the people in the rural areas are the worst affected by the ongoing strike. Meanwhile, people in the rural areas are also facing shortage of essential commodities due to the strike. “The stores of the CAPD are shut and we don’t have enough rations in our houses.We are also unable to buy the ration from private shops as they charge heavily and have also started hoarding and indulging in blackmarketing ,” said Tariq Ahmed, a resident of Budgam district. Similar is the situation in most of the educational institutes across the valley as almost all of them are shut due to the strike. “We have only government schools in most of the villages in our tehsil and all of them have been closed for many days, thus badly affecting the education of our children,” said Bashir Ahmed, a resident Uri.
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Pool expertise to boost maize production: Vohra
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, April 11
The Governor was addressing the inaugural session of the three-day 53rd annual maize workshop organised by the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir (SKUAST-K), in collaboration with the Directorate of Maize Research, Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi. The Governor emphasised the need for raising the contribution of agriculture to the GDP by adopting the latest techniques and switching over to high-yield hybrid seeds. “This is imperative to suffice the foodgrain requirements of the increasing population of the country on one hand and at the same time attaining self-reliance on a sustainable basis”, Vohra said. Referring to maize cultivation, the Governor observed: “This major food crop has a vast potential for quick growth and in the recent years the rate of growth has been appreciable. The challenges on the agricultural front are numerous but these can be met successfully by better resource and environment-management. For this purpose, we need greater synergy between the ICAR, state agricultural universities and the extension agencies of the state agricultural departments to transfer the latest technologies to the farm”. The Governor asked the SKUAST-K to enhance production of quality seeds and ensure timely and adequate distribution to the farmers thereof, followed by application of the recommended packages of inputs and technological interventions for increasing productivity and production of maize and other crops to a required level. Referring to the workshop, the Governor expressed the hope that the outcome of its deliberations would be followed by time-bound application, adding that the state would considerably benefit from the discussions held during this scientific event of great importance. He also released the research and other ICAR publications and went round an exhibition.
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A peep into complexities of thought process
Jammu, April 11 The play urged upon the masses to be logical in their thinking and not to get swayed by false apprehensions. The play put the impression that most of the times people create miseries for themselves out of their own illusions. They evolve an issue from a non-issue that finally ruins their peaceful life. The story carried deep insight into the complexities of human thought process. It opened at a thunderous rainy evening, where a housewife was waiting for her husband to come back from office. She was anxious as her husband was late and it was raining heavily. She had an apprehension that her lover was chasing her to take the revenge of his unsuccessful love. Her lover had one sided loved her before she was married, he even tried to disrupt her marriage ceremony and for that criminal act he was jailed for four years. With every succeeding thunder, her heart sunk and she cried for help. She became so much hallucinated that an act of some radio play sounds like real news of a prisoner breaking jail, even a cat in the kitchen appeared as a hardcore murderer who has come to her. All the apprehensions were proved wrong at the end when her husband comes home and makes her to rethink the events in a rational and positive manner.
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Kashmiri Pandits protest against Centre, state govt
Jammu, April 11 The rally was conducted at Nagrota camp and protesters burnt the effigies of the Centre and the state government. Braving the scorching heat, a large number of displaced Kashmiri Pandits from various camps and different localities of Jammu participated in the rally. While expressing surprise over the recent enhancement of Rs 250 per person in migrant relief by the state government, Dr Agnishekhar termed it as rubbing salt to the wounds of displaced Kashmiri Pandits. He urged the Centre and the state government to reconsider their decision and immediately approve the demand of enhancement from Rs 4,000 to Rs 12,000 per family, thus, enabling them to make two ends meet. Dr Agnishekhar also expressed surprise over the drinking water scarcity at TRT Nagrota Camp and even nearly 200 vacant quarters had not been allotted yet to the needy, living under dilapidated sheds. The protesters expressed disappointment over the sudden withdrawal of Income Tax Deferment, which is causing distress to the displaced state government employees.
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Over 2,700 take IIT exam
Jammu, April 11 Students from far-flung areas of Jammu division demanded that the examination centres should be set up in other districts also as they had to travel a lot and suffer financial burden as well. The examination was conducted in the morning and afternoon sessions. Each paper consisted of three separate sections on chemistry, mathematics and physics and 84 questions each. A majority of aspirants who appeared in the examination for the first time complained that they got less time for the preparation of entrance examination. They said their examination concluded recently and in some papers, they had to take the exam of a subject twice due to paper leak. “Our examination concluded on April 4.So, I got just six days for the preparation. The stress level was high as besides preparing for the annual examination twice, I had to prepare for the entrance examination as well,” Sonam Laangur said. “The paper was based on the syllabus. The good thing about the paper was that this time the negative marking is less as compared to previous years,” said Moulik Gupta, who appeared for the second time. Many aspirants hailing from the far-flung areas like Rajouri, Doda and Kishtwar had to come here for appearing in the examination, because the centres were situated in the city. Such candidates appealed to the examination authorities that in future they should constitute some examination centers in the far-flung areas as well.
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Gujjars seek Primitive Tribal Groups status
Jammu, April 11 The foundation observed that the tribal Gujjars of J&K no doubt deserved special attention and a fair deal from the state government and the Centre as the ST status, which was granted to them in 1991 in the state along with 10 other communities, has miserably failed to develop Gujjars as a socially alert, economically sound and politically vibrant community. The foundation also submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and urged him to direct the Union Tribal Ministry for favourable declaration. Dr Javaid Rahi, secretary of the foundation, said the Gujjars in the state on merit should be categorised as Primitive Tribal Groups, and without this status the all-round development of the community could not be possible. |
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Recruitment Bill divides Gujjars-Bakerwals
Jammu, April 11 Gujjar ministers in the NC-Congress government have repeatedly made it clear that there is no need for exemption of STs in the bill, as their community has presence in all districts of the state. Some leaders, especially from the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri, have observed that ministers of their community have cheated them. They demanded that like the Scheduled Castes (SCs), the STs should also be given exemption in the Bill. Secretary of Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation Javid Rahi regretted that the Gujjar ministers in the coalition regime had failed to serve interests of the community. “In other parts of the country, STs have been treated on a par with SCs as far as reservation and other benefits are concerned, but in Jammu and Kashmir we were treated differently in the Bill,” he said. When the Bill was passed on April 9, Gujjars resorted to anti-government demonstrations and burnt effigies of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the several areas of Poonch and Rajouri. Another organisation of Gujjars, the J&K Tribal United Forum, while terming the Bill anti-ST, said they would challenge the new legislation in the court of law. — TNS
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Water supply to be augmented: Bhalla
Jammu, April 11 The minister was addressing a large gathering at Old Satwari today. Bhalla said a comprehensive plan had been prepared to develop remote and far-off areas. He said the government had launched a number of welfare schemes for uplifting the socio-economic conditions of farmers by providing loans and agriculture implement kits. He asked the farmers not to sell agriculture land and also discourage construction on it. He said the government had issued instructions to the departments concerned to trace people who had sold the agriculture land without prior permission of the revenue authorities. Regarding irrigation facilities to farmers, he said the coalition government was committed to providing adequate water on the tail-end of their respective villages through the Ranbir canal, dug-wells and deep drill hand pumps. To deal with water scarcity in the remote and the far-flung areas,instructions had been issued to departments concerned to dig hand pumps and deep drill tubewells.
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‘All parties should find out solution to agitation’
Jammu, April 11 “All political parties need to come forward in hammering out a formula to the satisfaction of the aggrieved employees. We criticise the coalition government for failing to handle the employees’ issue properly and also use of force by the Omar government,” senior vice-president of the Awami National Conference (ANC) Muzzarfar Shah told mediapersons here. He said the government had entered into an agreement with the representatives of the government employees on payment of their arrears, removing pay anomalies etc, but it backed out from its own promise, forcing the employees to go on strike. He asked: “If the government was aware that it had no resources to meet the demand of employees on the arrear front, why did it enter into an agreement with them?” The government should have envisaged in advance that it would not be able to find the funds to meet these demands, the ANC leader said. About 4.5 lakh state government and PSU employees are on strike from April 3 and have extended their stir till April 13, demanding the release of Sixth Pay Commission arrears and raising the retirement age from 58 to 60.
— PTI |
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Minister for united efforts to bring social reforms
Jammu, April 11 He called upon intellectuals and religious bodies to spread message of peace and strengthen communal harmony and mutual brotherhood. The minister was speaking at a function organised by the management of the Shaheed Veer Ram Chand Smarak, at Akhnoor road, Batehra, to mark the
Martyr’ Day of Veer Ram Chand. Terming Veer Ram Chand as a great social worker and staunch follower of Arya Samaj, the minister said his contribution towards the mankind was outstanding and unforgettable. He further said Veer Ram Chand throughout his life worked tirelessly for the poor and distressed lot and sacrificed his life for the social cause. Sharma added, “A total of Rs 40 lakh will be spent on the upgradation of Veer Ram Chand Park at Betehra, which is located on the Jammu-Akhnoor highway.” |
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Ladakh front starts dharna for UT status
Leh, April 11 The LUTF is the ruling party of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council
(LAHDC), Leh, which is an elected body with autonomous power for development in the district. A rally was also held where the protesters raised
slogans. LUTF president Dr Sonam Dawa said it was being staged to intensify the demand of Union Territory status for Ladakh and protest the Working Group’s report on the
Centre-state relations which had rejected the demand. |
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Students body backs strikers
Jammu, April 11 |
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With health services bearing the brunt of the week- long strike of government employees, the state health department has become the first to crack the whip on the strikers.
