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Power Dept’s night patrolling yet to see the light of day
Crackdown on misuse of red beacons in state
Introduce job-oriented courses, institutes told
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Educational tour flagged off
Jammu gymnast felicitated
Bilkeshwar temple in state of neglect
Srinagar Diary
Increase wage rate under MGNREGA, says minister
Health Dept gears up for polio campaign
Balwant Thakur to head north-east cultural mission
Function marks golden jubilee of ‘Sheeraza’
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Power Dept’s night patrolling yet to see the light of day
Official sources said the PDD had decided to constitute teams for conducting raids during night hours in residential colonies to identify and penalise those resorting to malpractice of hooking in absence of proper connection causing revenue loss to the department. “All executive engineers were directed to personally lead the raiding parties and impose heavy penalty on violators. Except the routine inspection, no headway was made to tighten the noose around the neck of power thieves in the urban and rural areas,” the sources added. However, a senior official said the proposal, which was started on an experiment basis a few months ago couldn’t mature as the PDD employees had to face wrath of the people in many localities. “In many cases, our officials were chased away by angry residents. Later, it was decided that the local residents would be taken into confidence prior to conduct any such inspections,” he added. Sources said the department had mooted the proposal after the state government directed it (department) to control power pilferage and improve its revenue collection. “Electronic meters are being installed with slow pace and the department had installed around 10 lakh e-meters since the power reforms were initiated in the state. There are still about 12 lakh households in the state which do not have electronic meters,” the sources said. However, the PDD had decided to seek the help of Asian Development Bank in 2009 to install high-voltage distribution system to curtail theft of electricity after it failed to curtail power losses through installation of e-meters. At present, the accumulated transmission and commercial losses in the state hover around 70 per cent. “Conducting raids during night hours was a novel idea to penalise violators. Had the department made sincere efforts to check power pilferage, it would definitely have yielded positive results. Also, the outcome of such inspections depends upon the sincerity of the officials involved in the entire exercise,” an industrialist said. The sources said the increasing power purchase bills had already put the state government on back foot, with the state heading to face an all-time high Rs 2,000-crore power-deficits for the current financial year. “By the end of the year, purchases will exceed Rs 3,500 crore and the revenue will not exceed Rs 1,200 crore. Do the math and tell me how this adds up,” Omar had said in his recent tweet. He had asked, “Where will the money come from to plug the gap between our purchase bill and our revenue
realisation?”
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Crackdown on misuse of red beacons in state “We have launched a drive against the misuse of red flasher lights on government vehicles and registered 60 cases, besides removing 15 such unauthorised lights from vehicles,” traffic police chief Himant Lohia said. The team comprising a mobile magistrate conducted the drive during the past three to four days and it would be continued further, Lohia said, adding that drivers of several VIPs were also booked in this connection. A large number of officials, including those of the ranks of IGs, DIGs, SSPs, SPs, DSPs, Commission Secretaries, Special Secretaries, Directors, Additional Secretaries, Head of departments and Vice-Chancellors of Universities, were reported to have been violating the norms rampantly. Family members of VIPs were also learnt to have been using their beaconed vehicles in their absence. As per norms, dignitaries and officials of the rank of the Governor, Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, cabinet ministers, Speaker of Legislative Assembly, Chairman of Legislative Council, Chief Justice of J-K High Court and a few other VIPs are authorised for the use of red flasher light. — PTI
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Introduce job-oriented courses, institutes told
Jammu, February 3 This was stated by Minister for Higher Education Abdul Ghani Malik while addressing a gathering of students of a local private engineering institute here recently. The minister said though a number of professional institutions were set up in the state during the past some years, their level of quality education was not up to the mark. As a result of which students have to migrate to other states every year. Malik said there were also less job opportunities available for students in the state. “This factor is also tempting the students to move out of the state,” he said. While impressing upon private educational institutions to give a stiff competition to government colleges, the minister said such a competition would make the latter accountable. “If government institutions have to survive, they have to face a tough competition,” Malik said. He asked the management of educational institutions to introduce job-oriented courses so that the students could find better opportunities after the completion of their courses. “There is a need to activate and strengthen placement cells in the state and private institutions in the business of education should seriously think over it,” the minister said. He candidly admitted that the government cannot provide jobs to one and all. Relying upon figures, the minister said out of the 1 crore population, the state government had 5 lakh employees on its rolls, while other states with a far more population were having less employees as compared to Jammu and Kashmir. “We have already exhausted job opportunities in government sector. Students and other aspirants have to realise the reality,” he added.
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Educational tour flagged off
Srinagar, February 3 The tour was flagged off by Col Manish Chaturvedi, Commanding Officer, 13 RR (KUMAON), at Manasbal in Ganderbal. The tour has been organised under the Operation Sadhbhavana wherein a total of 30 children and two teachers are participating. Starting from Manasbal, the students will visit Agra, Jaipur and
Ajmer. During the tour, the children are scheduled to visit Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Jamia Masjid, City Palace and Jantar Mantar. A school teacher accompanying the children said, “The tour will be very educative for the participating children of the area. It will also give them an opportunity to see the progress which the nation has made in the field of technology and education, besides giving them an exposure to the cultural diversity in the other parts of the country”. Faizan Tariq Safi, a student from Safapora, said: “We have heard of Taj Mahal, City Palace and Birla Planetarium and this will be a dream come true for us as we will actually visit these places during the tour”.
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Jammu gymnast felicitated
Jammu, February 3 “Her mental toughness can be judged by the fact that at a very tender age, she proved her mettle not only in studies but also in sports and other activities. Although she has achieved a lot at the age of 21, yet she is committed to add to the list of her achievements,” said her teacher Abhishek. “She works hard to keep herself physically and mentally fit to face the challenges of life. It is her perseverant attitude that has brought laurels not only to her parents but also to her academic institute, Jammu Institute of Ayuveda and Research (JIAR),” said Dr Roop Lal Sharma, chairman of the JIAR. “Apart from sports, she is also a meritorious student of the JIAR. Selected through the J&K Common Entrance Test (JKCET), Ravia passed her Ist year exams with sixth rank and two distinctions,” he added. She started her career in gymnastics at a very tender age and attended her first national in 1998 (XII Sub-Junior National Gymnastics Championship, Andhra Pradesh) under the guidance of coach SP Singh and Kripali Singh Patel (Arjun Awardee). She got third place for the very first time in the 7th National Aerobics Gymnastics Championship in 2004 in the individual event. She got gold in trio event in the 8th National Aerobics Gymnastic Championship. In the 9th Aerobic Gymnastic Championship again, she secured the first place. With much national participation, achievements, state representations, Ravia is striving hard to become an international gymnast.
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Bilkeshwar temple in state of neglect
Jammu, February 3 The neglect is quite evident seeing its dilapidated condition. The government has not spared a penny or conducted a survey to redeem its losing sheen. The Bilkeshwar Temple nestled in the mountainous grandeur of Billawar has been carved out of single stone, with pieces of stone arranged uniformly to build the Shiv temple. “This piece of art was built by the Pandavas during exile. Since at that time days and nights had an equal distribution of six months each, they could not complete it. It was later given a dome shape by the erstwhile rulers,” said a local youth Rajkumar. “No civil authority, even the Archeological Survey of India, seems to be bothered by its withering magnificence,” he added. According to myth, whenever a stone used to get shed off from the temple, it signalled the death of a king of the area. “The last brick that fell off from this temple was when Maharaja Hari Singh was on his death bed. The brick fell a week before the Maharaja breathed his last,” said Hemnath, the temple priest. Meanwhile, people of Billawar rue that though tourists from all over India come here to see the dying heritage of the Pandavas, the government does not feel the necessity to rejuvenate it.
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Srinagar Diary The highway is the Valley’s only surface link to the rest of the country. The end of ‘chillai kalan’ is supposed to bring some respite from the intense cold conditions. However, Kashmir continues to be in the grip of cold wave (see photo). With the meteorological office forecasting more snow till February 7, the people are wondering how long the winter woes would continue. New horizons await students With the winter vacations coming to a close, educational institutions in Kashmir are gearing up for the next academic session following the declaration of results of two vital examinations. The results of BA, BSc, BCom final year were declared on January 29, followed with that of class XII declared on February 2. The declaration of results have set into motion the admission process in the postgraduate courses in the universities and degree courses in various colleges in Kashmir Valley. During the next two months, Kashmir University would see hectic activity with students seeking admission to various courses with a capacity of 2,800 candidates. These admissions would be completed after a rigorous competitive exercise out of nearly 20,000 candidates, who have passed the degree-level examination. Similarly, at the college level over 30,000 students, who passed class XII examination, would be seeking admissions to various degree colleges. The academic session in the educational institutions in Kashmir Valley begins in March. (Contributed by M Aamir Khan &
Ehsan Fazili)
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Increase wage rate under MGNREGA, says minister
Srinagar, February 3 “An increase in the wage rate on a par with the prevailing market rate in the state may be of great help in successful and speedy implementation of the scheme and the appropriate wage rate will be Rs 180 per day instead of the existing Rs 125,” the minister said. He was speaking at a function convened recently in New Delhi for the celebration of six years of NREGA in the country. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Union Minister for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Jairam Ramesh and Rural Development Ministers of different states of the country were also present on the occasion. While asking to broaden the ambit of different activities under the flagship programme, Sagar, referring to the lean winter period in the state when the demand of labour is at its peak, said: “Most of the areas of the state remain snow clad and the job guarantee provided under the Act does not get ensured because of the snow”. He said the activities like snow clearance and handicrafts should also be incorporated into this scheme so that artisan class also gets benefited from the same. “A major chunk of the population of the state is involved in handicraft activities and they should also be covered under the scheme so that they can earn their livelihood and the dying handicraft sector will be given the much needed boost,” he maintained. Sagar said the number of guaranteed days might be increased from 100 days to 125, besides the
activities of self-employment might be also brought under its ambit which might provide a boon to the implementation of the scheme at the grass-roots level. “The important aspect of the implementation of the instant programme is the transparency and accountability in its implementation. The Rural Development Department has taken many initiatives in this direction also. The institution of the quality monitors is well in place and the implementation of the scheme is being reviewed periodically on the basis of the feedback from the monitors and punitive action is taken against the officials who show any kind of dereliction in the implementation of the programme,” the minister further said. Referring to the recently held Panchayati Raj elections, the minister said the constitution of Panchayat Raj Institutions in the state after a gap of 30 years had also proved a milestone in increasing awareness regarding the scheme at the grass-roots level and had also shown an increase in the employment generation under the
MGNREGA.
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Health Dept gears up for polio campaign
Officials of the Health Department stated this while presiding over a meeting to finalise the arrangements for the campaign here recently. They said 3, 21, 959 children would be administered polio eradication vaccine on the day. For the smooth conduct of the campaign, 1,559 workers, including four mobile teams, had been constituted to ensure cent per cent coverage of eligible children, they added. In addition to this, on 13km-long Katra Vaishno Devi track, four points, including Bhawan, Adhkawari, Shanjichat and Charan Phukta, had also been identified where booths had been set up for administering polio drops. Similar arrangements had also been made at Shiv
Khori. |
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Balwant Thakur to head north-east cultural mission
The mission is to identify the major thrust areas in the field of culture and to propose new initiatives to create more exchanges between the north-eastern states and the rest of the country. Recognising Thakur’s outstanding services in rejuvenating the cultural scene of the state, particularly his remarkable work in Kashmir in reviving the age-old traditional performing arts, especially the ‘Bhand Pather’, he has been honoured to head a group of eminent artists of the country. Thakur will leave for Imphal, Manipur, on February 8, 2012, and will cover all the
north-eastern states.
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Function marks golden jubilee of ‘Sheeraza’
Jammu, February 3 Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Tourism and Culture Nawang Rigzin Jora said he was pleased to know that the academy was publishing its literary journal under the title “Sheeraza” in nine languages of the state. Appreciating the richness of Urdu as a medium of communication, the minister said being the state’s official language there was a need to lay particular focus on promotion and propagation of Urdu. Atal Dulloo, secretary of the academy, said considering Urdu’s status the academy had been continuously bringing out Urdu edition of its literary magazine “Sheeraza”. Highlighting different aspects of Urdu Sheeraza, Dulloo said over the decades many stalwarts of Urdu world had liberally contributed to the journal. Chronicling the stages of evaluation of journal, Dulloo said during the past 50 years, the Urdu section of the academy had brought out many special numbers of the journal on personalities like Jawahar Lal Nehru, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, Sheikh Ul Alam, Lal Ded and Prem Chand among others. MY Taing, a former secretary of the academy, traced the history and evolution of “Sheeraza” Urdu. He said the journal was a flagship publication and had readers in many parts of the subcontinent. While presenting an extensive paper on various facets of the journal, chief editor, Urdu Mohammed Ashraf Tak said the Urdu section of the academy would continue to work for the promotion of Urdu literary traditions. Later, felicitation of some former secretaries of the academy also took place. Those who were felicitated on the occasion included professor ND Sharma, MY Taing, professor Rita Jitendra, Balwant Thakur and Ramesh
Mehta.
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Srinagar, February 3
Jammu, February 3
Jammu, February 3
The harshest 40-day period of winter in Kashmir Valley called chillai kalan in local parlance ended on January 29. This season’s chillai kalan caused a lot of inconvenience to the people not just because of the severe cold but also due to heavy snowfall that threw normal life out of gear as it led to frequent and long closure of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
Katra, February 3
Jammu, February 3