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Fewer flights, high fares ground Leh
Kashmir handicrafts to have coded tags
Mishap victim awaits surgery
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School in dilapidated Samba Fort poses risk to students
Rising theft cases haunt Kathua residents
Time to rise above party politics on Kashmir: Sagar
Srinagar diary
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Fewer flights, high fares ground Leh
Leh, December 17 The airlines that used to ply twice daily from Delhi to Leh sector have reduced the frequency to three in a week, causing huge demand for tickets which has resulted in the escalation of airfares. After the discontinuation of flights by Kingfisher in October, only three airlines, Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Go Air, are operating three flights each on Delhi-Leh route. Indian Airlines also operate one flight from Jammu to Leh and Srinagar to Leh in a week. After the closure of the Leh-Srinagar national highway and the Leh-Manali highway for next six months from November to May, there is always a high demand for flights. In winter months, old-aged people and patients have to travel to the plain areas and warmer places to get reprieve from cold. Many other people perform pilgrimage to Buddhists sites in Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh during the peak winter months. Lesser number of flights has also led to problems for patients of Ladakh who need advance or emergency treatment as now they have to wait for two to three days. Tsering Samphel of District Congress Committee (DDC), Leh, said, “Many people could not travel this year because of non-availability of tickets and high fares. Almost all political parties, including the DCC and social and travel associations, have raised concerns over the issue. They have also sent representations to Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and urged him to look into the matter. They have also urged him to subsidise airfares owing to over dependence of locals on air transportation, particularly in winter months”. He further said the number of people travelling by air next month had doubled as thousands of Buddhists have booked tickets to attend a five-day teaching programme of their spiritual leader Dalai Lama starting from January 12 to 16 at Sarnath in UP. |
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Kashmir handicrafts to have coded tags
Jammu, December 17 "The world famous Kashmiri shawls will have RFI tags which will be a great step forward to protect Kashmiri handicrafts across the globe. This will stop the sale of fake Kashmiri shawls and other handicraft items," a senior official of the Handicrafts Department said. Besides, a Rs 4.44-crore testing laboratory is also coming up for the world famous pashmina shawls in the Nowshera area of Srinagar,he said. The Industries Ministry had been receiving frequent complaints not only from various parts of the country but also from across the world about the sale of fake Kashmiri pashmina shawls and other handicraft items in the market. The state government had been successful in getting geographical indicator registration under the Geographical Indicators of Area Act of India for the world famous Kashmiri handicraft items like Kashmiri pashmina, kani and sozni shawls in order to provide protection to Kashmiri handicrafts. Applications seeking GI registration had been submitted for other handicraft items like papier mache and Kashmiri walnut wood items, he said, adding that documentation had been completed for preparing an application for khatambandh (wood carvings). Once GI registration was received for all these handicraft products, it would help build up "brand Kashmir" in handicrafts in the state, he said. Handicrafts items fetched a good foreign exchange revenue to Jammu and Kashmir and over five lakh persons were engaged in the handicraft and handloom sectors in the state. Jammu and Kashmir had exported handicraft items worth over Rs 500 crore in 2009-10, worth Rs 705.50 crore in 2008-09 and worth Rs 1,200 crore in 2007-08. Due to global recession which was triggered as a result of the economic meltdown and sale of fake products, the handicrafts sector had been affected resulting in a decline in income through export of handicrafts during the past three years. Apart from above measures, the state government was making allout efforts to check the sale of fake handicraft items, including pashmina shawls and carpets, he said. For this purpose, the Handicrafts Department was deputing quality control Inspectors and supervisors to various places where craft bazars, exhibitions were held within and outside the state to monitor the quality of handicraft goods. In order to promote handicrafts and handlooms, the government was running 653 training centres, including 553 in the handicrafts sector and the rest in the handloom sector, which trained around 7,000 artisans every year. — PTI
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Mishap victim awaits surgery
Jammu, December 17 Since there are already 40 orthopedic patients waiting for a surgery at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Ranju has been hopelessly wrenching in pain for the past 20 days. The department reportedly gets operation theatre for only one-and-half day in a week during which only six to seven patients are operated upon. Ranju was going to her school in a matador that met with an accident. Her bone in the right thigh and femur bone got critically fractured and she was airlifted to Jammu along with other badly injured passengers. The doctors at GMCH recommended immediate surgery. However, she has not been operated upon till date. “At least four times we took her (Ranju) to the operation theatre, but every time we were told that an emergency case has come or the surgeons are exhausted. Consequently, her surgery is inordinately getting delayed,” said Angrez Singh, Ranju’s father, who is a daily wage labourer. “Isn’t an accident case considered an emergency?” he asked. Meanwhile, Ranju has been turning pale owing to acute pain. “Whenever I cry in pain, doctors administer some painkillers, but the relief is only temporary,” she said and also expressed concern over her academic loss. Besides, despite the fact that Minister for Medical Education RS Chib has announced free treatment to all mishap victims, the family has been bearing her medical expenses. Dr Suresh Sharma, head of the orthopedic department, feigned ignorance over the delay in surgery and asked to contact the consultant doctor for the reason. “There are already 40 patients in waiting who need to be operated upon. We get operation theatre for only one-and-half day in a week. During this short period, we manage to carry out only 6-7 surgeries,” said Dr Paramjeet Singh, consultant doctor. When the Tribune brought the issue into the notice of Minister for Medical Education RS Chib, he assured treatment to the patient on a priority basis. “I will personally speak to the medical superintendent of the hospital and make sure that she gets operated upon without any delay, besides giving her free treatment”.
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School in dilapidated Samba Fort poses risk to students
Jammu, December 17 The condition of Government Higher Secondary School, Samba, state’s one of the oldest educational institutions, is deplorable. The school is functioning from Samba Fort, which is currently being renovated by the Department of Tourism in consultation with the Archives Department. Even as the edifice has been declared unsafe after the Tourism Department took up the task of renovating it last year, the school continues to run from there. The school is believed to have initially set up as a high school in 1905 and later upgraded to a higher secondary level in 1974. It lacks most of the basic facilities. Broken desks and chairs have been provided to the students, who prefer to study on the floor and that too in the open for the fear of being getting trapped inside the dingy classrooms in the event of any emergency. Although the government claims to have constructed a new building after the renovation work was taken up on the ancient fort, the school has not been shifted. Intriguingly, Degree College Samba was initially asked to operate from the fort. However, the same has now been shifted. Surinder Kumar, principal of the school, admitted that a new building had been set up at Kehli Mandi, near the town, but pointed out that its space was inadequate to accommodate 12 classes, besides a library and laboratories. “There are only eight rooms in the new building and it is practically impossible to shift the entire school to that building,” the principal said. He, however, said the Education Department had not taken the possession of the building. Surinder said the matter had already been brought to the notice of the authorities and till any decision was taken regarding constructing more rooms at Kehli Mandi, the school had to operate from the fort complex. Khursheed Ahmad Qadri, state consultant, archaeology, said while renovating the fort complex every effort for safety of students was made.
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Rising theft cases haunt Kathua residents
Kathua, December 17 In the past one week alone, more than five cases of theft have been reported. In one incident, thieves decamped with valuables worth Rs 8 lakh from Ganpati Jewellers in Shankar Market on the night of December 12. Surinder Kumar, owner of the shop, called the police when he came to the shop the next day and found it ransacked and ornaments missing. He said the thieves broke opened the locks of his shop for committing the crime. All this happened despite the fact that the shop is situated in the heart of the city. Within 24 hours of this incident, a Tata Safari vehicle, equipped with an anti-theft device, was taken away from PWD colony. The owner of the vehicle, Rakesh Singh, has reported to the police that he had parked his vehicle (JK-02-AE-0837) outside his house in the night and found it missing in the morning on December 14. Though the police has started investigation, the culprits are still at large. The sudden spurge in theft incidents has also started haunting local residents. Amit Sharma, a resident of Shahidi Chowk, said, “It seems some professional thieves are involved in these incidents as they have left no proof behind. As a result, the police is groping in the dark, having no clue about the identity of thieves”. He added that the residents were thinking of engaging some private watchmen to protect their belongings. Police sources also accepted the fact that with the advent of winter, the crime rate, especially theft cases, has increased. Anil Mangotra, ASP Kathua, said, “We have alerted the patrolling parties and special instructions have been given to them. A special checking drive has also been launched.” The teams were working on various aspects and samples had been colleted from the spots to trace the thieves, he added. |
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Time to rise above party politics on Kashmir: Sagar
Srinagar, December 17 He said the present government under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has already initiated several measures for mitigating the problems of the people and also striving to normalise the situations in the Valley forever. The Minister was addressing a gathering at Shool Sursan of Humshalibugh in Anantnag district. He said the government has already launched many welfare and developmental schemes for common people, particularly belonging to downtrodden, living below poverty line, and also for those living in the remote areas. He asked the people to come forward and get benefits of these schemes. The Minister further said the National Conference whether in power or not has played constructive role so that the people may not face any difficulty while the main opposition party in the state stayed out from the recent Assembly session and the last district board meetings which only created hurdles in the ongoing developmental projects. Sagar said the need of the hour was to rise above the party politics and work to redress the grievances of common people. The Minister also appreciated PDP MLA Basharat Ahmad Bukhari in the recent district development board meeting where he appreciated the Omar-led government for performing well despite the recent unrest in the Valley. On the occasion, Sagar also distributed cheques worth Rs 20.20 lakh among 129 beneficiaries under the IAY for constructing houses as the first instalment. Deputy commissioner, Anantnag, Jaipal Singh, ADC, Anantnag, Kulgam, BDO Qaimoh and other officers were also present on the occasion.
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Beautification of Lal Chowk hangs fire
This was done as part of the beautification project of Lal Chowk that was to be completed within a couple of months by March-April this year. But due to the bad weather conditions during this period the work could not be completed. Later, the turmoil also added to the delay in completion of the project as the area continued to remain under curfew restrictions for days together. The landscape having been given shape, the tower was later damaged during a series of violent incidents, further delaying completion of the project. The repair work has again started to complete the project ahead of winter. It would be only by the next summer that this nerve centre of the city dons an aesthetic look. Secretariat wears deserted look
Even as the five months of turmoil in the Kashmir valley hampered all official works with most of the government offices, including the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar city remaining closed, when there was an open day people used to rush to the secretariat to get their work done. Now as the seat of governance has moved to the winter capital of Jammu, the civil secretariat in Srinagar wears a deserted look (See picture) as people whose work in the secretariat had lingered due to the five months of turmoil in the summer, now have to visit Jammu to get their work done. The gates of the secretariat in Srinagar remain closed with only a few security guards of the police and the paramilitary force maintaining round-the clock vigil at the complex. The people of Kashmir are forced to travel to Jammu to get their work done, thanks to the long unrest in the Valley when the seat of governance was in Srinagar. (Contributed by Ehsan Fazili and Tejinder Singh Sodhi) |
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The historic Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the summer capital, is always in the news both for good and bad reasons. It has been witnessing the brunt of violence from time to time ever since it was christened as Lal Chowk or red square around the time of India's Partition. It was the centre of the turmoil during the peak summer months this year when the newly constructed Clock Tower was given a new shape from a snowwhite structure to the one with rust-coloured bricks.