Jammu, April 29
Notwithstanding claims of the authorities regarding keeping a check on industrial units spreading pollution, more than 100 stone crushers have been functioning across the state without permission. Though the authorities have initiated action for the closure of illegal units, a large number of stone crushers continue to play havoc with the ecology of the state.

According to official documents, 26 stone crushers are working in Jammu district without consent. In Samba district, the number is eight, followed by six in Udhampur district, three each in Kathua and Rajouri district. In Reasi, Doda, Kishtwar and Poonch districts also, a couple of stone crushers have been operating illegally.

Besides, four illegal units are in Srinagar, seven in Badgam, 13 in Anantnag, two in Ganderbal, eight in Leh and eight in Kargil. It is mentioned that most of stone crusher units in Ladakh region are inoperative, although they were functioning without permission. On the whole, 673 stone crusher units have been working in the state, out of which 409 are working in Kashmir province and the remaining 264 in the Jammu region.

Besides stone crushers, pollution by brick-kilns is also a matter of concern for the authorities. According to official data, around 201 brick-kilns are in Budgam district of Kashmir, followed by 148 in Jammu, 65 in Anantnag, 57 in Pulwama, 50 in Kathua, 49 in Samba, 38 Kulgam and 23 in Rajouri.

The annual consumption of fuel by brick-kilns registered with the Directorate of Industries and Commerce is 1,43,485 metric tonnes of coal and 64,271.45 metric tonnes of firewood.

According to the Industries and Commerce Department, the Pollution Control Board has prescribed guidelines for brick-kilns with regard to pollution control devices and measures. Modernisation of brick-kilns and stone crushers is to be done by the industry itself. However, with regard to modernisation of the technology in respect of pollution-control devises or pollution-control measures, the same in envisaged in the guidelines in the form of fixed chimney with a minimum height of 30 m along with gravitational settling of water with prescribed stack emission standards and raising green belt around the brick-kiln. The prescribed standards are either on a par with or stringent than the standards prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board.

Jammu, April 29
Having witnessed over 110 killings during summer unrest in Kashmir last year, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s decision to delegate the Home Department to his confidant Nasir Aslam Wani, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, amply conveys that the former is desperate to maintain peace.

CM’s decision has been welcomed by the security forces as well. “Even as the state government has two security advisers for Jammu and Kashmir regions in the form of Lieut-Gen JP Nehra and Lieut-Gen Hasnain, commanders of the 16 Corps and 15 Corps, respectively, the appointment of Wani as MOS Home is a positive development,” said sources in one of the counter insurgency forces.

“Though maintaining law and order is the job of security forces, there was a requirement to keep a political tab on the situation, which we think has been fulfilled with the appointment of Wani as Home Minister,” they add.

Since the Chief Minister, who till date, had been holding the charge of the Home Department, cannot personally look after day-to-day developments, the new man (Wani) will have more time and will certainly facilitate better coordination between the government and various security agencies, said the sources.

Talking to The Tribune, Wani said, “Obviously my job will be to ensure that peace prevails not only in the Valley but in the entire state all through the year. Since Chief Minister is busy with so many other issues confronting the state and its people, I am supposed to brief him on the functioning of the department on a day-to-day basis”.

Wani said, “The government has to ensure that nothing untoward happens in Kashmir this summer. Despite adequate measures in place, we need to be prepared for any eventuality, which has to be tackled with minimum confrontation”.

“We have to ensure that even during a confrontation there were no casualties or injuries to the people,” he said.

During summer unrest last year, the CRPF, which primarily maintains law and order in the state along with the police, had been accused of highhandedness while dealing with frenzied mobs in Kashmir. This time around, the CRPF has also been provided with less and non-lethal weapons to avoid casualties in case separatists again incite the passion of Kashmiris to trigger street protests, said sources in the CRPF.

“Besides less lethal and non-lethal weapons, we have also provided improved protective gears to our jawans because last year, nearly 1800 of our men had suffered serious injuries in stone-pelting incidents,” they added.

The Union Government had already asked the state government to initiate measures so as to keep a check on street protests this summer.

Meanwhile, getting down to the task straightaway, Wani has started reviewing the security scenario with DGP Kuldeep Khoda.

Nandini, April 29
Nandini, a small village famous for its eating joints, located between Nagrota and Domel on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, attracts a large number of tourists every day.

Pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi shrine, tourists and locals are all fond of delicacies offered by dhabas here. However, owners of these dhabas or restaurants feel that the government has done nothing for the promotion of this place.

“The place has a scenic beauty and over the years, it has got its identification as well, as people commuting on the road prefer to relax here. Nandini has a tunnel as well that not only attracts children but also people of all age groups. But the government is reluctant to bring it on the tourism map, as nothing has been done in this direction,” said Rakesh Kumar, owner of Sharma Dhaba.

He added, “During peak hours that is breakfast, lunch and dinner time, we get a large clientele, but there is no parking lot and people have to park their vehicles on the roadside, which sometimes even leads to a mishap. It also affects our business. The government should immediate take steps for providing infrastructural facilities at this place”.

Besides Rakesh, others engaged in the same business also want Tourism Minister Nawang Ringzin Zora to take an initiative to bring this place on the tourism map of the state.

Rajinder, another dhaba owner, said, “Due to its topography, Nandini always remains cool and people from Jammu and other nearby places come here for picnic, but except for our delicacies, there is nothing much to enjoy. The government should launch a beautification drive to promote Nandini as a tourist place”.

He added, “A parking lot and a park are a must. It will not cost much, but it will do a great favour to this place”.

Nandini is located 20 km before the holy town of Katra and most pilgrims of Vaishno Devi shrine take a break here before heading for their journey.

Srinagar, April 29
Vocational training courses and programmes for undertrails could stimulate their potential for work and provide an answer to many rehabilitation problems. Prisoners need proper segregation and classification, which requires proper infrastructural facilities not only for prisoners but also for the prison staff and we need correctional homes for juveniles as warranted under law to avoid ill effects of the system.

These are some of the recommendations which came up at the end of the three-day training programme for prison officers on the theme “Human Rights in Prison Management”, which concluded at University of Kashmir.

The programme was organised by the Department of Law of the university, Staff Academic College, and Prisons Department, Jammu and Kashmir, and sponsored by the Bureau of Police Research and Development, New Delhi.

Prof Riyaz Punjabi, vice-chancellor, who was the chief guest at the concluding event, said in the changing scenario world over, challenges for jail officials had also increased manifold.

Saying that service conditions of officials working in jails were abysmal, Prof Punjabi said there was a need to create awareness to lessen the pressure on jail management. He said, “We must have the objective to reform jail inmates to make them productive citizens and help them live a normal life”.

SM Sahai, IGP, termed the subject as sensitive and said, “Law is there to guide us at all levels, but its implementation is what is important”. Sahai looked forward for the sensitisation of prison management in this regard and more discussions and debates on the theme and to see its all aspects, especially the social response to the theme.

SS Ali, former ADG prisons, stressed the need for interaction of NGOs and other social groups with jail inmates for educating them about their rights.

Earlier, Prof Mehraj ud-din, dean and head, Department of Law, and director, Academic Staff College, termed the three-day training programme as successful and said during the three days, a wide variety of resource persons, comprising academicians, senior prison and police officers, explored different dimensions of human rights in prison management. Prof Mehraj said in 11 working sessions, participants zoomed in on many of the suggestions pertaining to the theme which would be sent to the relevant forums for consideration and discussion.

Srinagar, April 29
A high-level meeting of the Committee on Petitions (Rajya Sabha) under the chairmanship of Ram Vilas Paswan, MP, on the issue of female foeticide was attended by various representatives of non-government organisations, social activists, legal practitioners and women groups at the SKICC here today.

The meeting was attended by Rajya Sabha member P Rajeev and MP Veerpal Singh Yadav, besides health officers of Central and state governments, including the Director, National Rural Health Mission, Director, Health Services, Kashmir, former Principal of the GMCH, professors, intellectuals, women and members of society. The forum discussed threadbare the petition for need for curbing female foeticide and expressed concern over the continuing practice and falling female ratio in the state.

The forum unanimously urged the government for stringent action against those officers, who were found guilty of not conducting regular checks on illegal ultrasound clinics. It added that the laws already existing for the punishment of the responsible officials should be implemented in letter and in spirit. It was also felt in the meeting that a vigorous awareness campaign should be launched against such an inhuman act. In this connection the religious and other concerned agencies, including NGOs, were asked to make the people aware at the grass-roots level about the consequences of this inhuman act.

Meanwhile, some members also said the root cause of the female foeticide was domestic violence, dowry, other social evils and discrimination against women.

The forum was also told that appropriate measures were needed to be taken by the Central and state governments to implement the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994 (PNDT) and the pre-conception Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 effectively and stringent punishment for private nursing homes and clinics, which aided and abetted the heinous practice of female foeticide for sheer profits.

Awantipora, April 29
The DIG, south Kashmir Range, Anantnag, Shafkat Watali inaugurated a pavilion and a change room at the Sports Stadium at Charliegund here on Sunday.

The stadium is being developed by the Awantipora police for the youth of Awantipora and its adjoining areas.

The DIG said the Jammu and Kashmir Police was not only committed to augmenting the sports infrastructure in all districts of the state, but also had come forward to uplift sports culture among the youth, especially in the remote areas of the state.

Watali said despite the efforts of the government to create sports infrastructure in the state, the talent among the youth of remote areas remained untapped. The police in order to hone the talent of the youth in sports had initiated a programme in this regard so that the latent talent could be explored, he added.

The police is envisaging creating avenues for the talented sportspersons so that they get opportunities to play at the national and international levels. The DIG said the police would also develop volleyball, football and basketball courts in the stadium. — TNS

Srinagar, April 29
In view of the ensuing Darbar Move to Srinagar, one-way vehicular traffic will be allowed on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway from Jammu to Srinagar for four days on April 30, May 1, 7 and 8. The traffic police has appealed to the public to adhere to the schedule, an official spokesman here said.

Meanwhile, the local administration is taking all measures to regulate traffic movement in Srinagar city ahead of the Darbar Move. Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, chaired a high-level meeting to review the arrangements regarding the regulation of traffic in the city.

The SP, Traffic City, Srinagar, gave a presentation on various bottlenecks and problems due to which traffic had compounded in the city and the steps being taken by the Traffic Department to regulate it in view of the ensuing Darbar Move.

The IGP, Traffic; DIG, Traffic, Kashmir; Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation; Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar; SSP, Srinagar; and other officers from various agencies attended the meeting.

Samoon directed the PWD (R&B) to remove all bottlenecks on roads and immediately take up the repair work of roads, footpaths and the central verge on the MA Road.

The Electricity Department was directed to remove electric poles from the main roads. Taking stock of the IG Road, Samoon directed the Economic Reconstruction Agency to ensure that the drainage work to be completed on a war footing.

The Commissioner of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation was directed to send legal notices to shopkeepers, who had encroached upon roads, and take immediate steps to ensure that vendors did not hinder traffic and pedestrians.

The IGP, Traffic, informed the meeting that barricades had been procured and would soon be put up at identified places in order to ensure smooth traffic movement.

After the meeting, Samoon and the IGP, Traffic, along with all officials concerned, visited various areas of the city to assess the regulation of traffic and the steps to remove bottlenecks.