Baspur (RS Pura), April 23
Twentytwo landless labourers, who were engaged under the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MNREGA) scheme, were feeling cheated as the cheque issue to them by the Rural Development Department (RDD) has bounced thrice due to non-availability of adequate balance in the department’s account.

Interestingly, the villagers have repeatedly brought the matter to the notice of the authorities concerned but no action has been taken so far. “We have been moving from one office to another for the past two months but nothing concrete has been done to make payment to us”, said Sham Lal, a resident of Raipur under Baspur panchayat.

Under the MNREGA scheme, Sham Lal and 21 other cardholders of Gopad Basti and Raipur villages were engaged by RDD officers for desilting a canal. As all cardholders jointly completed the work, a cheque for Rs 1.20 lakh was issued to them by the department two months back.

Social activists and a former member of the panchayat Pritam Singh said that they had decided to take up the matter with the higherups to expose the officers harassing poor people. He warned that villagers would not hesitate to take extreme steps against RDD officers indulging in such practices.

Sources said RDD officers had opened two accounts in the bank for making payments to the contractors and labourers engaged under MNREGA. There is enough balance in the account meant for making payment to the contractors but the authorities were deliberately not depositing enough money in the account meant for the landless labourers.

Functioning of the RDD has come under severe criticism for alleged corruption and bungling in the schemes meant for the poor. Dogra Sadar Sabha chief Gulchain Singh Charak, a Cabinet minister in the previous government, had labelled serious allegations in this regard. Charak had alleged that undeserving people had been given job cards while genuine persons were left out.

In the rural belt of Jammu district, delay in the payment under the MNREGA scheme has become a routine affair. It is observed that the authorities concerned deliberately adopt tactics to delay the payment to labourers engaged under this scheme.

Jammu, April 23
As the Darbar Move is all set to take place from May 1, the Jammu police and public will surely get some relief in the coming days.

With the Darbar Move, a large number of cops deployed for the security of ministers and bureaucrats will get some relax from their duties. Even the public will get some respite from the huge traffic jams caused due to the frequent movements of VVIPs in the city.

After the shifting of the Darbar to Srinagar, a large number of cops, who have been deployed with ministers and bureaucrats, will again be put on patrolling in various parts of the city to ensure better law and order situation, a police officer said.

Every year when the Darbar moves from the winter capital, the city witnesses smooth movement of traffic, Hemraj Sharma, a retired agriculture officer, said.

“Jammu district, which has a population of nearly 18 lakh people, has around 4,000 cops to maintain law and order and to provide security to ministers, bureaucrats and politicians. Among which, one third of them are generally deputed with the Darbar only when it comes to Jammu,” a senior police officer said.

The Jammu police has already started devising a fresh strategy to deploy cops in all parts of the city and some transfers can also be effected in the next month.

Basant Rath, SSP, Jammu, said: “After the Darbar Move, we have to make a fresh plan of security arrangements and we have already started working on it”.

He further said after the Darbar Move, a large number of cops from security wing, armoured and general police would get some more time to vigil in their respective areas.

It may be stated here that the Darbar Move would take place in four shifts. The process will start on May 1 and will continue till May 9. The Darbar is scheduled to start its functioning in the summer capital of the state on May 10.

In view of the Darbar Move, chief secretary SS Kapur convened a meeting and decided that the State Road Transport Corporation would arrange buses for ferrying employees from Jammu to Srinagar.

Jammu, April 23
After the recent incident of breach in Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s security in the premises of the Civil Secretariat, the Jammu police has started preparing a list of those persons who may bid to violate Omar’s security.

A woman along with her husband, a surrendered militant, recently jumped before the cavalcade of the Chief Minister so as to get benefits under the surrender policy.

The ultra had surrendered before the security forces way back in 1999. As per the information provided by a senior police officer, all SHOs have been ordered to submit a list of such individuals in their areas to the SSP office at the earliest.

The police has also started keeping an eye on such persons to avoid such incidents in future. “We have to keep an eye on miscreants. After the recent incident, the security has been beefed up,” said Basant Kumar Rath, SSP, Jammu.

He further said besides the CID, the police had also initiated such drives so that nothing illegal takes place in the city.

Meanwhile, a large number of cops have been deployed at the Civil Secretariat to beef up the security arrangements. The visitors are now told to enter their name along with addresses and contact numbers before entering the secretariat premises.

Also, policemen in civil dresses have been deployed near the house of Shabnam and Shafaqat, not only for their security but also to keep an eye on them.

Simbal, April 23
Destruction of crop in a devastating fire in Simbal camp recently has befallen as yet another tragedy on Koushaliya Devi, a ‘half widow’ whose mere four kanals of land could not be spared in the fire.

Koushaliya resides in a mud house along with two daughters and grandchildren. Her life has been full of miseries and struggles. She wants the government to compensate the damage caused to her wheat crop.

With a brief period of happiness after getting married, her never-ending woes started with the disappearance of her husband, Babu Ram.

She has been endlessly waiting for the return of her husband, who disappeared after retirement from the Army as a driver 20 years ago. Koushaliya had to wait for 7 years for getting family pension of Rs 2,000 per month.

Revealing the struggle for getting pension, she said: “Disappearance of my husband came as a bolt from the blue for me. With two minor girl children, I had to work as a domestic maid for managing two square meal. I even cleaned utensils in marriage functions for bringing up my daughters and providing education to them”.

Putting in hard labour in the land had brought some cheers to the family for several years in the past. She now used to manage two square meal for the family from the yields of this land. Koushaliya also used to sell the surplus crop for Rs 3,000 from every six-monthly crop with which she used to manage her extra expenditures for another six months.

Undeterred by the miseries, Koushaliya provided education to her elder daughter, Suman Lalta, up to class X whom she got married around three years ago.

Koushaliya could not get relief even after marrying her daughter as she has been abandoned by her in-laws, along with her two siblings, for being unable to provide dowry to them.

Seeing the helplessness of her mother, Monu Rani, younger daughter, who is studying in class XII, wants to learn tailoring to earn some money so as to help her mother while continuing her studies.

The destruction of crop under such circumstances has pushed the family back into miseries. Koushaliya needs more than the compensation for her crops so that she is able to shape the future of her younger daughters.

Jammu, April 23
Following a proper learning process from the beginning of the academic session combined with yoga can help a student achieve top position in the examinations. This has been proved by Mehak Gupta and Anuj Mason, who got first and second positions, respectively, in class VIII in the district.

While giving the credit of her success to parents, schoolteachers and friends, Mehak, a student of St. Peter's High School, told The Tribune that she had followed a proper learning process from the beginning for securing the first position.

“Learning according to timetable helps a lot during the examination days,” said Mehak. While expressing unwillingness to come before the media, Mehak said securing first position in class VIII was not such a big achievement.

She further said, “Besides, private tuition in all subjects also helped me to master them”.

The second position holder, Anuj Mason, a student of Alexander Memorial School, said he was fully confident of securing the top position as learning lessons regularly from the beginning and doing yoga in the morning and before going to bed, had benefited him.

“I have a habit of doing yoga everyday which has built my confidence. My parents also practice yoga,” said Anuj, while paying gratitude to a councillor who had came to his school and told the students about the benefits of yoga.

“I use to do deep breathing exercises, meditation and recapitulation as advised by my councillor, which improved my memory. Besides, I avoid junk food and take green vegetables and juice only. Taking breaks in between also help to refresh mind and increase learning ability,” added Anuj.

Praising his parents for their care and attention, he said, “My father helped me a lot in comprehending mathematics subjects while my mother helped me in grasping other subjects”.

He also praised his schoolteachers for teaching him so well that he was able to score a position in the final examinations.

Srinagar, April 23
With the arrival of spring and blossoming of various kinds of flowers across the Kashmir valley, schools, which opened after a long winter break, have started to take students on excursions.

Earlier, the excursions of schools used to start with the opening of Badamwari, the garden dotted with almond trees which was followed by the opening of Mughal Gardens on Baisakhi every year. But now with the inauguration of Tulip Garden, the itinerary for school excursions has changed.

“Blossoming of almond flowers in Badamwari in Srinagar was an indication about the arrival of spring season in Kashmir after a harsh winter. It also used to mark the beginning of tourist season. Though Badamwari still remains one of the hotspots, after the inauguration of Tulip Garden things have changed,” said an officer of the State Floriculture Department.

As the academic session in Kashmir is different as compared to other parts of the country, students here get lots of time to enjoy summer as examinations are mostly held in winters and schools proceed on three months of vacations mostly in December.

“This is a good time to take children to outings as they have just came back after a long vacation. Excursion gives them an opportunity to once again mix up with their peers after a long gap,” said Shamim Ahmed, a schoolteacher.

Everyday buses full of schoolchildren could be seen heading towards various tourist destinations across the Kashmir valley, be it Mughal Gardens of Srinagar, Tulip Garden, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Verinag or other such places.

“These days climate is pleasant and children love to visit such kind of places. So we have decided to dedicate the next week for the outing of various classes,” said Tanveer Ahmed, another teacher of a private school. Excursion of various schools lasts from one day to almost a week as various schools organise camps at several hill resorts like Gulmarg.

“For the past five years, we have been holding camps in Gulmarg where we take a group of children who live there for a week. Apart from excursion, they also learn trekking, camping, hiking and other such activities there,” said Manzoor Ahmed, a teacher of another private school of Srinagar.

To encourage schoolchildren, the State Tourism Department and the State Cable Car Corporation have provided special concession passes to these students in various facilities, including the ride in ‘gandola’, the Gulmarg cable car.

“Last week we went to Pahalgam for excursion. We really enjoyed the visit there and had lots of fun. It was a trip worth remembering as all friends were together,” said Tufail Ahmed, a student.

Jammu, April 23
While they continue to fight varied forms of mental disorders, including the dreaded schizophrenia, a rehabilitation centre for mentally challenged patients in the winter capital eludes them.

However, sources in the health ministry say the government has started bringing its act together and a proposal to set up a rehabilitation centre in Jammu is under active consideration of the government.

In the absence of such centre, the 75-bed Government Psychiatric Diseases Hospital, the only psychiatric hospital in the Jammu region, refuses to hospitalise patients without attendants.

“In case of indoor patients, we make it clear to the family to ensure that at least one attendant stays with the patient,” hospital officials say. They attribute the precondition to the instances in the past where families dumped their mentally challenged members in the hospital and never returned to know about their well-being.

“Of course, for such patients who become a lifelong responsibility of their respective families we must have a rehabilitation centre because they need special care and medication,” they add. At a dedicated centre, care and timely medication can also help them recover from mental disorders, they say.

It may be mentioned that there are 52 stressful life events, which can prove to be initiating factors, also known as psychogenic precipitating factors, to initiate a mental disorder in able-bodied human beings.

Fully aware of the rising trend of mental disorders, the Union government has launched a fully funded National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) in the country.

However, sources expressed regrets over the poor implementation of the NMHP in the state. Due to factors like a dearth of psychiatrists and awareness, besides social stigma attached to the disease, the region has seen an alarming increase in psychiatric patients in the last few years, they say.

According to a study by Indian Psychiatrists Society, Mumbai, 25 to 30 per cent of patients attending medical OPDs in Jammu, were found to have psychological disorders, mostly neurotic disorders like depression and anxiety. Meanwhile, a 30-bed ultra modern psychiatric unit has been sanctioned near Government Medical College.

“Let us hope that a rehabilitation centre also becomes a reality soon,” says a psychiatrist.