The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Traffic violations continue with impunity Arteev Sharma Tribune News Service Jammu, January 6 Schoolchildren packed in auto-rickshaws, pedestrians weaving their way around speeding vehicles on busy crossings, use of cellphones while driving and mini-buses picking up passengers from the middle of roads are a common sight in Jammu amid Road Safety Week celebrations. The offences like non-use of crash helmets, negligent driving, no proper number plates, drunken driving and tinted glasses on the vehicles also go unchecked as the traffic police and other enforcement agencies remain conspicuous by their absence from all vital points. These brazen violations of road safety rules are taking place on Jammu roads at a time when the Road Safety Week-2012 is being observed throughout the country from January 1 to January 7. The theme of this year in the state is “accidents bring tears, safety brings cheers”. The visits to different areas in Jammu city revealed that traffic violations are on the rise. Youngsters riding two-wheelers without helmets, using cellphones while riding motorbikes, bus drivers taking wrong turn without any fear and wrong parking of vehicles on roadsides posing a threat to other commuters are a common practice. “Not much difference has been observed during the road safety week celebrations as traffic violations continue across the city. Though traffic cops are busy in intercepting outstation vehicles, they seldom bother to penalise traffic violators. The absence of traffic cops at the busiest junctions is virtually adding to the chaos,” Sahil Khajuria, a student, said. Castigating the traffic authorities for restricting their activities to papers and media, Khajuria said instead of ‘papering over the cracks’, the department should mobilise its men and machinery to streamline the traffic as well as creating awareness among the road users. Nidhi Sharma, another student, said: “The traffic police should not restrict its drive to educating people about traffic rules like wearing helmets, using seat belts, refraining from over-speeding and installing reflectors on the rear of the vehicles, for one week. It should be pursued vigorously throughout the year to imbibe a sense of responsibility among road users”. However, commuters complained that traffic jams had become a routine affair as the traffic police was not present on vital and busy intersections. “The traffic cops are either busy on their cellphones or intercept outstation vehicles to earn money through illegal means from tourists and pilgrims visiting Jammu and Kashmir,” they alleged. Pointing towards the recent road mishap in Ambala where 14 students had lost their lives, they also raised safety concern for schoolchildren who travel in auto-rickshaws. “Neither the administration nor the school authorities are serious about reining in erring drivers who pack kids like sardines putting their lives at risk. They are least bothered about the plight of a kid who has to jostle for space everyday in a crammed auto-rickshaw,” they added. The Traffic Police Department, however, cited shortage of manpower as the major reason for chaos on the roads. “The department has only 300 traffic cops available in its kitty to control over 5 lakh vehicles. On an average, one cop controls 1,750 vehicles in the winter capital,” a senior traffic police official said.
	CBI launches anti-corruption campaign through radio Rajesh Bhat Jammu, January 6 The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched an anti-corruption campaign through Radio Kashmir Jammu and Radio Kashmir Srinagar in an effort to reach out to the masses and seek their inputs so as to curb the menace of corruption in various Central government departments in the state. Under the CBI’s anti-corruption campaign, Radio Kashmir Jammu and Radio Kashmir Srinagar have been approached for broadcasting slogans and public interest messages, impressing upon the common masses to come forth in case an official of any Central government department forces them to pay graft in lieu of accomplishing any work. The public is also being informed to help the CBI in this drive by identifying corrupt officials having accumulated wealth beyond their known sources of income. These announcements and messages are being broadcast daily at prime time radio programmes having a vast listenership across the state. The CBI has especially chosen programmes like “Shubh Prabhat”, “Sainikon Ke Liye” and other film-based programmes to transmit these anti-corruption messages over Radio Kashmir Jammu. Dr Armandeep Singh, Superintendent of Police, CBI, Jammu, said the people of the Jammu division could lodge their complaints directly to him on phone numbers 9906040999 and 0191-2477755. People in the Kashmir division could contact the CBI on 0194-2452200. These phone numbers were also regularly being announced over Radio Kashmir. The SP said: “Since radio has a vast reach and acceptability in a hilly state like Jammu and Kashmir, such anti-corruption campaign has yielded positive results during the fast few weeks”. He said the sleuths of the CBI yesterday only laid a trap at Katra and caught a branch manager red-handed while accepting bribe. “A few days ago, an officer of the MES was also apprehended in the same fashion in Udhampur,” Dr Singh said. He said such whistleblowers intending to help the CBI could also personally visit the investigating agency’s office at Panama Chowk here to lodge a complaint or share inputs. “The identity of such people, if they choose, can also be kept secret,” the SP said. He, however, clarified that the CBI could lodge cases only against the officials of the Central government departments and not those working with the state government. “We receive scores of complaints everyday whereby people want us to take action against some state government officials. It is clarified for the general masses that the CBI can act in such cases only either on the direction of the court or if a particular case is referred to us by the state government,” the SP CBI added.
	‘Kuggi Maar Duaari’ evokes good response Varun Suthra Tribune News Service Jammu, January 6 Only the art has the power to sustain the cultural heritage of a society and pass it on to the successive generations. Scores of Dogri literatures and artists sacrificed and contributed for the inclusion of the language in the 8th Schedule and efforts are still on to maintain its glory. In a similar endeavour, a group of enthusiast Dogra artists made a Dogri film ‘Kuggi Maar Duaari’ which has been evoking a huge response, since the day of its release on December 16 at the Swarn Theatre. Seeing the tremendous response, the film has also been run at the KC Cineplex, which gives a better cinematic experience to the audience. Running successfully for the third week, the film has successfully broken the records of few films produced in local languages in the past. With the grant of exemption of entertainment tax by the state government, producers have found it easier to generate audience and display it for long. “We are getting huge response and people are coming along with their families at the Swarn Theatre as well as in KC Cineplex,” said Neelam Phull, producer and director of the film. Report says that the shows in KC Cineplex are going full house and no Bollywood movie has run so successfully in Swarn Theatre in the past 10-11 years like ‘Kuggi Maar Duaari’ is running. “It’s a matter of pride all of us and I feel this is the milestone, which we have achieved to promote, support and preserve the Dogra culture, folk and language,” he added. He also said the film showcased peculiarities of Dogra folk, Pahari culture and influence of modernisation on lifestyles of Dogra clan. He thanked the government for its approving exemption of entertainment tax saying, “It was really hard to accomplish this task but we did it with missionary zeal.” Surinder Manhas, music director and singer of the film, said the film was attracting audience due to its story line and neatness as people could watch it along with their families. He said, “Kuggi, the main character of the film, is shown as a flutist, who lives in a hilly village and reaches Jammu city on persuasion of the villagers in search of name and fame. But bitten by the double standard people in the city, he later decides to return to his village.” “The story stresses on the supremacy of love and emotions over materialism, which is a characteristic of Dogra people,” said Manhas. Manager of KC Cineplex Shashi Pal Sigh Jamwal said, “We are getting a marvellous response from public as most of our shows are going house full. I feel Dogri films should be produced in series, if they want to retain the audience.” Basant Boyogi, an eminent Dogri writer, has scripted the film and main cast of the film included Vinay Daggar, Amrita Sood and Kiran Sharma. Suraj Singh, Deepali Watal, Marina Jamwal, Julekha Farid and Upma Sharma were among the singers.
	Sarpanches to get Rs 10,000 each for buying drugs for poor Dinesh Manhotra/TNS Jammu, January 6 To provide life-saving drugs to the poor and needy people, the Health Department has decided to keep Rs 10,000 at the disposal of each sarpanch for purchasing drugs at the time of any emergency. The department has given powers to the sarpanches to purchase drugs for poor patients who could not afford costly medicines during any emergency. Minister of Health Sham Lal Sharma, while addressing a meeting of panches and sarpanches of the Akhnoor area recently, announced that Rs 10,000 would be kept at the disposal of each sarpanch for purchasing emergency drugs and other life-saving support for the people of their respective areas. He asked them to make the judicious use of these funds specifically for the purpose these were earmarked. This decision has been taken by the Health Department because most of the time, poor patients die due to the non-availability of costly medicines at the time of emergency. As the local panchayat members are aware of the economic conditions of the patients, they have been given the responsibility to identify the patients to whom medicines would be given from this special fund. Furthermore, the Health Minister has also announced to place Rs 20,000 at the disposal of each panchayat from his Constituency Development Fund (CDF) for executing some emergency work. Reminding the sarpanches and panches of their responsibilities and duties, the minister said the government had empowered them to take decisions at their level in the interest of the common masses and they must perform with honesty and dedication to fulfil the aspirations of the people for which they had been elected for. He asked them to do justice with people equally irrespective of caste, creed and colour. The panchayat members are also directly involved to monitor the functioning of national flagship schemes like MNREGA, PMGSY and IYA. The government is also thinking to give all the powers to the panchayats to identify work to be done under the MNREGA and to select labour for the same work. Asking the people to take the maximum benefits of MNREGA, which has been especially designed for the rural areas, the minister said: “This scheme has a vast scope for the all-round development of the rural areas”. He said: “Lots of funds are available in this scheme and people should involve themselves fully and utilise the resources for the community benefits”. Regarding employment opportunities for the youth, the minister said a special recruitment drive would be launched in Akhnoor to recruit the local youth in military and paramilitary forces. He said in past also, some recruitment rallies were organised wherein a good number of youth of Akhnoor tehsil were absorbed. This year, the focus would be on the recruitment. He asked the panches and sarpanches to motivate the unemployed youth to take up self-employment ventures and also explore their career in non-governmental fields like floriculture, horticulture and take benefits of various government schemes. The minister said the government had already taken a decision to give powers to the panchayat functionaries. However, the government was committed to bring 73rd amendment to give them more powers.
	srinagar DIARY Traffic week fails to serve purpose Despite a number of awareness programmes and observing traffic weeks from time to time, road users, including drivers and pedestrians, seem to be paying no heed to the rules and regulations. However, the traffic police makes it sure that the week is observed to create awareness among the road users. The traffic week is being observed in the state, both in the Kashmir and Jammu divisions. But, the police is seen busy only in two activities as part of the traffic week. First, checking valid documents and imposing fine on those without proper papers. Secondly, wrongly parked vehicles are being towed away from the city roads mainly in the civil lines area which has the highest number of vehicles. These measures, however, do not serve the purpose of the traffic week. The erring drivers continue to commit the habitual mistakes like overtaking from the wrong side and parking at wrong places without taking care of the movement of other vehicles or passersby. Annoying beggars At almost every main city market, the locals are subjected to a lot of inconveniences because of the growing number of beggars (see photo). Even though the matter has been raised in the media several times before, the authorities have failed to keep a check on their conduct. Some of the beggars not only demand money but also can be seen holding the arms of the pedestrians in case they are not paid. The beggars become all the more demanding if they spot a young couple. These couples are often made to face an embarrassing situation in case they do not give money to the beggars. Besides marketplaces, the beggars in a large numbers can also be found outside the local mosques and shrines. Therefore, the government should keep a check on them in order to avoid inconvenience to the public. (Contributed by Ehsan Fazili & M Aamir Khan)
	KPL to be annual feature in Kashmir M. Aamir Khan Srinagar, January 6 Encouraged by the success of Kashmir Premiere League (KPL), the Army has decided to make the cricket tournament an annual affair in Kashmir Valley. Lt. General Syed Ata Hasnain, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps, said the KPL, which was organised last year by the Army as part of its efforts to reach out to the Kashmiri youth, would be made an annual feature. As many as 14 local teams participated in more than 300 KPL matches played in July-August last year. Hasnain made these comments during a function here yesterday where three KPL teams were flagged off to participate in a cricket tournament at Kolkata. Minister for Youth Services and Sports RS Chib was the chief guest of the occasion. Chib appreciated the role of the Army for taking keen interest in organising various sports tournaments. The Minister also said, “It will be in the interest of boosting tourism activities to frequently organise cricket tournaments which will provide vibrant platform to sportspersons”. He welcomed the Army for institutionalising KPL in the Valley and said steps had already been taken to start a similar league in the Jammu region. The Minister said the Kolkata tour for the local cricketers had been organised with an aim to involve the youth of Jammu and Kashmir in the national-level sports events. Chib said the last two decades of turbulence in the state had caused big loss to sports infrastructure. The tour had been organised under the Army’s Sadbhavna Programme.
	Awareness camp for farmers held Our correspondent Srinagar, January 6 To create awareness on the latest farming technologies, the Department of Agriculture organised a farmers’ awareness camp in Kulgam district of Kashmir Valley recently. Speaking on the occasion, MY Tarigami, MLA, Kulgam, advised the farmers to take the benefits of various schemes launched by the department and cooperate with it in implementing all the programmes for making the state self-sufficient in crop production. Farooq Ahmad Khan, District Development Commissioner, Kulgam, described the agriculture sector as the backbone of the state’s economy. He said the need of the hour was to develop this sector as per the latest scientific technologies. An official here said the participating farmers gave an overwhelming response and also interacted with the experts on various issues related to adoption of scientific techniques during the camp. Later, incentive cheques worth Rs 10 lakh were distributed among 82 farmers of the Kulgam area.