Jammu, January 7
Schoolchildren here have no other option but to bear the biting cold since most of the government as well as private schools are ill equipped so far as heating arrangements are concerned.

No wonder parents are a worried lot as their wards have to first bear the early morning chill to reach their schools and later sit in the classrooms which do not have any heating equipment.

A visit to some government and private schools reveals that the students keep shivering inside the classrooms, particularly those who are made to sit on mats. Most of the students, mainly boys, keep playing games to keep themselves warm.

“We do not mind going to the school in severe winter, but despite wearing many clothes, we keep shivering inside the classroom due to which we cannot concentrate on our studies,” said Manoj Gupta, a student of Class XII of a private school.

Ritu Rani, class VIII student of a government school, said, “We do not have any heating arrangement in our school. It becomes very difficult to sit inside the classroom for long hours”.

Most of the schools are witnessing thin attendance as either students refuse to go to school or parents are reluctant in sending their children to the school because of severe cold.

“A majority of students residing in the far-flung areas are not coming while local students too are irregular,” said Gurucharan Singh, principal of Government Girls Higher Secondary School. “Though we do not have any heating arrangement, sometimes students light bonfire by collecting straw, dry cow dung and dry grass in the open to keep themselves warm,” he added.

“We have laid four layers of mats in each classrooms, but the students are still facing problems due to harsh weather. I will soon arrange bukharis in the school so that the students could keep themselves warm,” said Shreshta Sharma, principal of Government Girls High School, Reshamgarh.

In most of the schools, there is no sufficient light. It is seen that though lamps are lit, their light is not sufficient for the students to study. In some government schools, the classrooms do not even have a single lamp whereas in other schools, classes having less and small windows remain in the dark, making it impossible for children to study.

Meanwhile, some schools are conducting pre-board examinations of class X, but the students are facing difficulties on account of poor light and heating arrangements.

Jammu, January 7
Attending to a patient admitted in a hospital is a tough job. And the bone chilling winter makes it even tougher, especially in government hospitals. The aisles occupied by attendants outside wards in city hospitals are a common sight these days.

However, harsh the winter may be, family members have to look after their patient. In the main referral hospital, Government Medical College and Hospital, Bakshi Nagar, scores of attendants have been camping there, some for the past three months or even more. Braving the chill, a good number of attendants can be seen wrapping quilts and blankets. The canteens too remain abuzz with attendants.

While looking after the needs of their patients, a glimmering hope that this season too will go giving way to spring, keeps them going in the freezing cold.

Among attendants huddled up together outside the ward number 10 of the hospital is Ram Rattan from Akhnoor. His wife is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and needs an attendant round the clock. “My son and brother are also here for the past 75 days. My wife requires an attendant all the time so each one of us stays here by turn,” he said, adding, “She is unconscious as she is suffering from myasthenia gravis”.

Jammu, January 7
Chief education officer (CEO) Natha Ram Dingra distributed woollen clothes to street children enrolled under the project PAHL, run by the Damodhar Satri Udyog Sanstha.According to a statement issued here, the clothes were collected by volunteers of the project PAHL for distribution among poor children to ensure that they do not suffer from ill-effects of the intense cold wave conditions.

Apprising the CEO of the project PAHL, Sunita Chandra, secretary, Damodhar Satri Udyog Sanstha, said the aim of the project was to motivate street and underprivileged children to join regular schools at least up to the primary level.

Sunita also raised the issue of hardships being faced by the children from outside the state before getting admissions in any of the state government schools. She said in the absence of discharge certificates, most of the children belonging to the labour class failed to get admission in these schools.

On the occasion, the CEO assured that he would personally look into the issue of admission of these children. He directed the PAHL to submit a comprehensive list of the children with details of their academic record to ensure that deserving children would be accommodated in the nearest government schools.

Dingra also laid stress on the importance of personal hygiene and inculcating social values among the children.

Jammu, January 7
While the winter capital has recorded the lowest-ever day temperature in the past three decades with the mercury plummeting 10 degrees below normal, the bone-chilling cold has aggravated the problems of people here, particularly of the middle class, besides compounding the hardships of the low-income group as well.

“The intense cold wave conditions have forced us to go for extra arrangements to beat the chill, putting an extra burden on our pockets this winter,” said housewife Suman Sharma, who lives in Nanak Nagar.

“Despite my husband being the only earning member in our family, the biting cold forced us to purchase woollen clothes, heating equipment like blower, heater and geyser etc”, she said.

But what adds to the problem is erratic power supply. Though the heating equipment have provided the much-needed relief, unscheduled power cuts during morning hours when children have to leave for their school creates problems, added Suman.

She said in absence of electricity she uses conventional methods to guard against severe cold.

For example, we use ‘kangris’ (firepots), ‘sigdis’ to maintain the temperature in our rooms while LPG is used for boiling water in the morning whenever there is a power cut, she said.

“The chilly weather has forced us to cough up extra bucks from our fixed monthly budget to purchase woollens. Even a normal woollen jacket costs Rs 1000 here while sweaters cost between Rs 400 and Rs 600 and a woollen ‘salwar kameez’ costs Rs 500,” she said.

Suman added she had to purchase jackets, woollen clothes, thermals for her family, which alone cost her Rs 7000 while electrical gadgets cost Rs 12,000. Another housewife from a middle class family, Meenakshi Gupta, who lives in New Plots, said the dry winter in December caused severe ailments to her daughter, who had to miss her school for at least a fortnight.

“My eight-year-old daughter Swati contracted viral and was drifting towards typhoid because of the dry winter spell that nts ended with rain in January this year,” she said.

Though the dry spell ended with rain, biting cold conditions are now posing problems to people like us. The prevailing weather conditions, which have resulted into ailments to young and old, have certainly made a hole in our pockets, she added.

However, to keep ailments away, Meenakshi has also made some changes in her kitchen using spices like cardamom, clove, garlic, ginger and dalchini.

“Though dry fruits and nuts are the best way to keep the immune system of your body strong during the winters, everyone cannot afford to have them in plenty. Hence, I use spices and also give boiled eggs to the family to stay healthy,” she said.

ML Kachroo, a Kashmiri Pandit, said he had asked his family to stay indoors as much as possible in view of intense cold.

“I drop and pick up my two children from school in my car, a makeshift arrangement to save them from the prevailing intense cold wave conditions. They have told them to stay indoors and in their beds once back from school”, he said.

Jammu, January 7
Law and order problems and violent agitations led to death of 127 persons in 2010, but Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a fall in militancy-related incidents and infiltration cases in the year gone by.

“There was a fall in militancy-related incidents, infiltration, civilian, security personnel killings by militants last year as compared to 2009,” a senior police official said.

Infiltration attempts and militancy-related incidents were down to 459 and 474 till December 15, 2010, as compared to the 2009 figure of 485 and 499, respectively, said a report on security and militancy compiled by the State Home Department.

However, there was an increase in the number of processions, demonstrations and strike calls given by separatists and militants and also in the causality figure of civilians due to the law and order problems in 2010.

There were 708 militancy-related incidents reported in 2008, 1,092 in 2007, 1,667 in 2006, 1990 in 2005, 2,565 in 2004, 3,401 in 2003, 4,038 in 2002, 4,536 in 2001.

While the highest number of 5,946 militancy-related incidents took place in 1995, the lowest in the past two decades was reported in 2010.

Not only this, violent incidents directed against the security forces also saw a fall. There were 75 such incidents reported in 2010 till December 15 as compared to 89 in 2009, 128 in 2008, 217 in 2007 and the highest 2,675 in 1994.

While civilian killings due to militant firing and explosions were down to 33 as compared to 63 in 2009, civilian deaths due to firing and law and order increased to 127 in 2010 from 20 in 2009, the report said.

According to the official, the increase in civilian deaths was mainly due to the violent protests and agitations which rocked the Valley last year.

Similarly, there was also a fall in the killing of security force personnel and policemen. Sixty-eight securitymen were killed in gun battles with militants in 2010 as against 79 in 2009, 85 in 2008 and 122 in 2007.

As many as 237 militants were killed and 19 surrendered in 2010 compared to the figures of 239 and 15 in 2009, it said.

However, on the law and order front, there was an increase in demonstrations and processions and strikes sponsored by separatists and militants as 134 demonstrations and processions and 131 hartals were witnessed in the state in 2010 as compared to 45 demos and processions and 35 hartals in 2009.

The figure of political and public rallies went down too as 1,420 such meetings were held in 2010 as against 3,021 in 2009 and 6,783 in 2008, the report said. — PTI

Srinagar, January 7
The government will spend `31 crore in the next five years for promoting sports in the state under the centrally sponsored Nehru Yuva Kendra Scheme (NYKS)," Minister for Youth Services and Sports RS Chib said. Under this scheme, each block and panchayat would get a sports stadium.

Out of the total amount, `16 crore would be incurred in Kashmir while `15 crore in Jammu division, the minister said. The Anantnag stadium would be further upgraded, he said.

"The government is contemplating to provide drawing and disbursing powers to 200 zonal officers of the Youth Services and Sports Department which would help promote sports activities in each and every area," he said.

Urging the youth to evince tremendous interest in sports activities besides curricular education, Chib said: "Our youth have tremendous talent and can compete in any competition both on the national and international levels ." — PTI 

Jammu, January 7
Tata Motors has announced the open sale of Nano car in all remaining states of the country, including Jammu and Kashmir. According to a statement issued here, customers across the country, who are desirous of driving home a Nano, but had not booked the car in 2009, will now be able to purchase it from the company’s 874 sale outlets across the country.

Tata Nano comes with a four-year or 60,000 km (whichever is earlier) manufacturer’s warranty at no extra cost. Besides, customers have the option to avail a comprehensive maintenance contract at only Rs 99 per month. This contract will help them take care of the running maintenance of the car.

Tata Motors Finance (TMF), which provides finance for all Tata Motors vehicles, has launched a special finance scheme under which a customer can get up to 90 per cent loan in just 48 hours. Besides, Tata Motors has tied up with 28 banks and NBFCs to offer customers loans for purchasing Nano at attractive rates of interest. Besides its dealership showrooms, the company is setting up “Special Nano Access Points” for customers in the hinterlands to experience, test-drive or test-ride the car. — TNS

The traffic police is currently organising a weeklong awareness programme to check violations and maintain the smooth flow of traffic (See photo). However, the police seems to have turned a blind eye towards its own duties in the summer capital.

Two major factors have been coming in way of the smooth flow of traffic in the Civil Lines area where the traffic police has the maximum deployment due to the location of Civil Secretariat and other offices of the state administration, state Assembly and High Court. These factors are the growing number of footpath vendors and the irregular halting of minibuses in the midst of the road, which hampers the movement of traffic leading to congestions and chaos. Though bus stops along the MA Road or Residency Road between Batamaloo and Dalgate through Lal Chowk, have been earmarked, there is hardly any adherence to these.

Srinagar, January 7
In the bone-chilling cold of the ongoing “Chilay Kalan”, children of a remote village in the frontier district of Kupwara were given a chance to celebrate the New Year with warmth and zeal.

The men in uniform of the 152 Infantry Battalion (TA) Sikh came as a messenger for the children of the remote village of Keegam in the district where they celebrated the New Year for the first time.

The students from Government Middle School, Keegam, and adjacent villages participated in the function. Students and teachers of the school thanked the Army for organising such an event for them. Around 300 children from the area participated in the function.

“This is for the first time that such an event was organised in our village. We are thankful to the Army unit for making this day a wonderful and memorable for us. The children are happy as the senior Army officers, including the commanding officer of the unit, interacted with the students and distributed books and sweets among them,” said a teacher of the school.

The students of the school and children from the adjoining villages, who took part in the function, were all praise for the Army unit as despite doing their duties, they took out time to make the day memorable for them.

“We are thankful to the Army and we request them to continue this thing every year,” said a student. Not only students, but also a large number of residents from the adjoining villages attended the function.

Srinagar, January 7
Wildlife officials at the Dachigam National Park have made special arrangements for the endangered Hangul deer as the Kashmir Valley is experiencing heavy snowfall. The vegetation and soil on which these deer survive are covered under thick snow making it difficult for the animal to graze.

“The herbs and other vegetables, which these animals eat, are covered under snow during this season. We keep these supplementary feed and mineral cakes, as it gets difficult for this endangered species to find food during this lean period,” said Rashid Naqash, a wildlife warden at the Dachigam National Park.

Presently, around 200 Hangul deer are surviving in the park from 3,000 in 1940s.

Forest officials collect dry willows and other herbs that are placed at strategic spots for deer to descend down and feed.Cakes made of special salts and minerals are also scattered in forests as snow makes it impossible for the animal to get its supplement of salts from the soil. “These wild animals get the required salts from the soil, but during snowfall the whole region is covered with snow. So, we have to take special care so that they receive an adequate amount of salt,” said Nazir Ahmad, a forest guard.

“For the past couple of years, we have brought special kind of salt that has over 20 other minerals and vitamins. We have placed these salt cakes in a large area for the deer,” he added.

Hangul is the only surviving species of the red deer family of Europe in the subcontinent. Hangul stags are prized for their magnificent heads. — ANI