Jammu, September 17
Road widening work is being carried out in Trikuta Nagar under a project of the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department. The main road is being expanded in the area to facilitate smooth flow of traffic. Under the project, the existing road would be widened at a cost of Rs 60 lakh.

“We have started the initial work of digging of the road for widening in the area. According to the size of the road, we are digging 5ft to 10ft from both sides,” said Naasir Goni, executive engineer of the R&B Department, while talking to The Tribune.

He said: “Presently, we have started digging the road and we require funds for its macadamisation”.

The executive engineer said because of the unrest in the Valley, quick allotment of funds seemed quite difficult, but the completion of the work depended on funds.

“The work can be completed either in 20 days or before December, depending on how quickly funds are allotted to us,” said Goni.

“Traffic flow on this road is very heavy. Its widening would definitely help reduce traffic problems in the area,” said Pawan Mahajan, a resident of the area.

Besides widening of the main road, the department also has a plan to widen an old culvert in the area.

“Besides widening one culvert, we are also going to reconstruct a damaged culvert in the area. The construction work of the culvert will cost around Rs 35 lakh,” said the executive engineer.

The department has already widened few roads in the Channi Himmat area and few others have been earmarked for the next year.

According to sources, in order to decongest the choked roads of the city, the road widening work would also be carried on in other areas soon.

Jammu, September 17
The prevailing situation in the Kashmir Valley for the past three months has not only claimed more than 90 lives but also derailed the process of creating new employment avenues for the local youth.

The government had planned to oranise an international conference of tour operators in the Valley in September in which operators from across the world had agreed to participate. However, due to the prevailing situation, the conference has been cancelled. The aim of the said conference was to seek suggestions from the experts to develop international standard tourist infrastructure in areas which have remained neglected so far.

Through the conference, the government had also planned to convince the private players to invest in the state, especially in the tourism sector, to develop infrastructure of international standards.

During the past six years, the government has identified new tourism destinations for developing them so that tourists could enjoy the scenic beauty of less popular tourism spots. The government had also formulated a comprehensive plan to develop these destinations.

“We had formulated a comprehensive plan for organising a number of events in September, but due to violence in the Valley, we have cancelled all our programmes,” said a senior officer of the Tourism Department, adding, “The three-month long unrest has taken the tourism sector to 10 years back”.

Last year, the government had convened a meeting of the representatives of Confederation of Indian Industry, Northern Region to sort out the issues for setting up tourism infrastructure of through joint venture in the state. The meeting had discussed various issues regarding setting up of mini and micro-tourism units through public-private partnership.

“Keeping in view the prevailing situation, I don’t think that private players would come forward to invest in the state,” the officer said.

Leh, September 17
The recent flash floods that ravaged the cold desert of Leh have also affected the long-term livelihood of the local population which is mostly dependent on agriculture.

In most of the villages of Leh, hopes of people to have a bumper crop this season were ravaged by flash floods.

As per a survey conducted by a team of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology (Kashmir), constituted by the state government, 28,000 quintals of food grains in the shape of standing crops spread over 1,400 hectares were damaged.

The team, headed by AR Trag, director, research, SKUAST, was deputed by Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister for Agriculture.

As per the preliminary report, 1,400 hectares of agricultural land was fully damaged by the deposition of boulders along the debris. The team suggested that Rs 6-7 crore were required for reclaiming the land by means of mechanisation.

The team also suggested the government to take necessary action for converting the barren and fallow government land in the area into cultivable land to compensate the affected farmers.

Governor NN Vohra, too, had stressed the need to reclaim the agriculture land damaged due to flash flood. It was under his directions that the team was constituted to conduct the survey.

Residents in various flood-affected villages say the government should adopt a long-term strategy wherein they should help the farmers who lost their farmland to slush and boulders to reclaim the same.

“Our livelihood was dependent on that land. We used to earn a living after selling our crop, but due to flash floods, our entire land has been buried under slush and boulders. The government should do something as early as possible to reclaim our farmland,” said a resident of Saboo village.

Jammu, September 17
Is there any commercial area in Gandhi Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Green Belt Park, Sanjay Nagar and Apsara road, the most happening places in the city? With shops and business establishments all around in the city, this question seems stupid.

But the municipal corporation has a different view. As per the MC records, there is just one road and that too a small area which is officially commercial and where one can have a shop or office.

In reply to an RTI query by Balvinder Singh, convener, Sangharsh, an RTI movement in the state, the MC says, “Only one road connecting Nai Basti and national highway is declared commercial. And only areas or shops developed by the JDA or Housing Board can be called commercial”.

The reply, signed by the public information officer of the MC, categorically stated, “No road in Gandhi Nagar, Green Belt Park, Shastri Nagar, Sanjay Nagar, Apsara road has been declared commercial”.

Balvinder Singh, who had asked about the declared commercial areas and action against the violators for turning residential properties into commercial, told The Tribune that he was one of the several residents of the city who got stuck in traffic jams everyday on roads where shops and business complexes had come up in the past few years.

“There is no road in the city where one can move easily. Shops have encroached much area in the front and vehicles of shoppers as well as owners keep blocking the roads for most time of the day. I wanted to know whether these are legal or illegal,” Balvinder Singh, whose organisation, Sanagharsh, is one of the most active RTI movements in the region.

He said it was strange that the MC was just doing paper work even as the violators were openly violating the rules, “The MC does not bother at the time of construction activity and later sends a notice. Why the authorities don’t act in time?”

He specifically asked in the RTI application on whether the MC took action at the start of the work or at the completion of the same. The MC evaded a direct reply saying, “The action is taken whenever information is received”.

The MC further stated that it had prepared a list of 566 violators, who had converted residential plots into commercial, but most of the cases were pending in the high court.

In response to a query on fines imposed, the MC information officer said Rs 8,85,150 had been received as compounding fee from the defaulters in the past five years.

Interestingly, when asked what plans the MC has to stop the commercialisation of residential areas, the PIO without giving details said, “It is a policy matter. However, the action is taken under the provisions of the J&K MC Act, 2000 and the J&K Control of Building Operation Act, 1988, to stop the commercialisation of residential buildings as and where these are noticed violating the land use of the area”.

Balvinder Singh said going by the ground realities it seemed the only policy of the MC was to look the other way when the violations were on.

Srinagar, September 17
RS Chib, Minister for Medical Education, Technical Education and Youth Services & Sports, on September 16 flagged off an educational tour organised by the 10 Sector Rashtriya Rifles headquarters for schoolchildren to Mumbai and Goa.

The tour aims at exposing these young impressionable minds to the world outside the Valley, providing opportunities and enabling them to identify more closely with their fellow countrymen. The 14-day tour is scheduled to conclude on September 28. The students selected for the tour were enthusiastic during the flag-off ceremony organised at the 10 Sector Rashtriya Rifles headquarters at Hyderbeigh in the Pattan area of north Kashmir.

Col Rajeev Saksena, Deputy Commandant 10 Sector Rashtriya Rifles, was present on the occasion.

Addressing the gathering of students and parents, the minister said: "India is a great democracy". It is based on secularism, recalling the freedom struggle of India in which every Indian, irrespective of religion and faith, participated in the freedom struggle. Chib added these young boys proceeding to different parts of India had great future as they were future leaders viz doctors, engineers and ultimately had to serve the nation. He made a special reference of Dr Shah Faesal, who topped in the Civil Services Examination, 2009, and brought laurels to the state.

He also made special mention about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and expressed thanks for providing an opportunity to 8000 youths of Jammu and Kashmir for being recruited in the National Youth Corps.

The minister lauded the Army, which was taking care of education, sports and medical facilities being provided to the youth in Kashmir's rural areas under "Operation Sadbhavna".

During this tour, students would be getting an opportunity to visit places of interest like Gateway of India, Hotel Taj, Haji Ali Dargah, Marine Drive, Chaupati and Nehru Planetarium in Mumbai and shall also meet prominent film personalities and the Governor of Maharashtra. At Goa, other than visiting places of interest, these students would meet the Governor of Goa and ride a ferry in the Indian Ocean.

Speaking on this occasion, Col Rajeev Saksena highlighted how people, particularly the youth, and the Army could join hands and restore normalcy in this area. He said youth of Kashmir must channelise their energies in constructive activities. 

Jammu, September 17
To provide relief to the residents, a water cooler was yesterday installed at interrogation lane in municipal ward no. 30, which falls in the Talab Tillo area.

According to a statement issued here, Ankush Abrol, social worker and NC leader, inaugurated the water cooler. The installation of water cooler in the area was a long-pending demand of the local residents.

The money was donated by Ajay Kumar Sadhotra, MLC and former minister, from his Constituency Development Funds.

The locality has been facing the problem of cold water during the hot summer. Providing and installing the cooler will now prove beneficial to the locals, commuters and workers thus by quenching the thirst during the summers.

Jammu, September 17
The ongoing conflict in the state and its impact on the socio-political and economic set-up will be discussed during a two-day national seminar, beginning here on September 21.

The seminar is being organised by the Department of Strategic and Regional Studies,University of Jammu, in collaboration with the Centre for Security Analysis,(CSA) Chennai.

Top academicians, research scholars, media men, strategists, economists and military experts are likely to attend the seminarbeing organised at General Zorawar Singh Auditorium on the university campus here.

Dr Mohd Monir Alam, director in charge of the Department of Strategic and Regional Studies, said the seminar was of high importance since the state was passing through a rough patch of history to the concern of everyone.

The inaugural addresses will be delivered by Lt-Gen VR Raghavan (retd) and Prof Varun Sahni, Vice- Chancellor of Jammu University, while Dr S Bloeria, a former Chief Secretary and noted human rights activist Balraj Puri will deliberate upon conflict and its impact on polity and inter-regional relations.

Dr Alam said during the second session, the speakers will discuss the issue concerning external dimensions of the conflict, besides Pakistan’s policy towards Kashmir. “The impact on governance, economy and inter-communal and inter- religious relationships, gender dimension of the conflict and its impact on Gujjars and Bakerwals will be some other major topics to be discussed during the two-day seminar’’, Dr Alam said.

He said some experts on Indo-Pak relations, including Prof Kanti Bajpai of tJawahar Lal Nehru University and Dr Ashish Saxena of the Department of Sociology, University of Allahabad, will also attending the seminar to share their views.

Srinagar, September 17
A three-member central team, led by Mukesh Sharma, is touring various flood-affected parts of Kargil district in Ladakh region to assess damage caused to infrastructure and other public and private property.

While giving a brief on damages, M Raju, deputy commissioner, told the committee that property worth Rs 80 crore had been lost in the district during the resent cloudburst and subsequent flash floods. He said 429 road communication schemes, 96 head works of irrigation schemes, 108 water supply schemes, 990 rural development schemes, two power stations, two school buildings, one food store, one community health center and one fish farm got damaged. Besides, 318 hectares of agriculture land, 50,000 poplar and willow trees, 384 live stocks and about 50 residential houses also washed away.

The deputy commissioner revealed that the temporary restoration work of link roads, irrigation schemes and water supply schemes started on war-footing and the maximum number of schemes restored so far while work on the remaining schemes was in full swing. He said the district administration needed Rs 30 crore for restoration work. He added that the state government had released Rs 4 crore so far.

The team, on a three-day visit, toured Shaker Chicktan block, the worst affected area of the district. The team also convened a meeting of officers at Bodh Kharboo to discuss the overall situation arisen in the district due to cloudburst and flash floods. Qamar Ali Akhoon, Minister for Transport and CA&PD; Kachoo Ahmad Ali Khan, chairman, LAHDC Kargil; Ghulam Rasool, executive councillor works and power; Haji Ghulam Amir, executive councillor, Agriculture; and M. Raju, deputy commissioner, Kargil, also attended the meeting.

Akhoon said the district administration needed liberal financial assistance from the state and Central governments to rebuild the damaged infrastructure and rehabilitation of the flood-affected people.