Jammu, May 27
In the absence of safety equipment, thousands of daily wage workers engaged by the Power Development Department (PDD) in Jammu and Kashmir for maintenance work or laying new infrastructure are working under constant threat of death and injury.

Despite clear directions of the Central Government, the department has failed to provide helmets, high-quality ropes and special gloves to the workers.

Even repeated pleas by employees’ unions to equip the field teams with necessary gadgets have fallen on deaf ears and no steps are being taken to ensure their safety.

As per the government records, till 2010, nearly 100 daily wage workers engaged in maintenance work have died, mostly from power shock or by falling from poles and high tension towers. Another 185 have been left handicapped while performing their duties across the state during the past 15 years.

“We have been asking the engineers to provide us equipment, but they say it is the duty of the government. We have no choice but to work under constant fear of death,” says Ram Sharma, a daily wage worker.

Even during the summer season, when most of the equipment becomes too hot to handle, workers can be seen working with primitive equipment and bare hands.

“You can see what type of ropes and safety gadgets we have. These ropes are very old and we are working in constant fear,” says Ramesh Kumar, another worker.

Though the government started the insurance scheme for the daily wage workers engaged in various maintenance works protested after they ptotested about two years back, representatives of the workers’ unions say that it would have been better to provide safety gear for them workers.

“The PDD waits for death to provide relief. Why not to invest money in buying necessary equipment so that workers can work without fear of death,” says Tarun Gupta, president of the Daily Wagers Union.

Most of the critical areas are being looked after by about 5,500 daily wage workers in the department, who are getting Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 per month. They work in highly hostile and odd conditions without any safety kits to keep the electricity supply running in the state. The Power Development Corporation (PDC) has around 500 daily wage workers.

“In the neighbouring Himanchal Pradesh and Punjab, most of the workers have been provided with the necessary safety equipment, like helmets, specialised ropes and cranes to be used during maintenance of distribution lines, but in Jammu and Kashmir no such equipment has ever been provided to the workers,” said Kuldeep Singh, general secretary of the association.

Jammu, May 27
A newly married woman died due to severe burns here this evening. It is not yet known whether someone tried to kill her or she committed suicide.

The police sources said Santoori (25), wife of Bitta, was found burnt at a slum area near Kanhachak.

“The neighbours heard her screams as she rushed out of her house. She was taken to the Government Medical College. Doctors said she had 97 per cent burns,” said a police officer adding that she died around 5 pm.

“Her brother and brother-in-law, who lived in the same Jhuggi, said she had a quarrel with her husband two days back. Her husband is absconding since morning,” said the police.

The police has registered a case under Section 174 of CrPC.

Jammu, May 27
Government Hospital, Sarwal, in association with Fortis Escorts Hospital, Amritsar, organised a head and neck cancer screening camp here today. Dr Bikramjit Singh, consultant at Head and Neck Oncosurgery and ENT surgery in Fortis Escorts Hospital, screened the patients and gave them advice.

Dr Maqbool Ahmed Zargar and Dr Rajive Sharma from Government Hospital, Sarwal, were also present on the occasion.

Over 70 patients were screened and given advice.

It was learnt that chemotherapy would be done at Government Hospital, Gandhinagar, Jammu and some surgeries would be performed at Government Hospital, Sarwal.

Dr Madhu Khullar, Director Health Services, Jammu, inaugurated the cancer screening camp.

Dr Khullar said such camps were being held regularly in various health institutions of the state. 

Jammu, May 27
SOS School, Gole Gujral, sealed a thrilling solitary goal win over High School, Rajpura, yesterday to lift the U-17 girls hockey title in the ongoing Jammu district inter-school competitions in multi-disciplines being organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports at different venues here. SOS School also lifted the football title in the same group by defeating MHAC School, Nagbani, by identical margin.

Meanwhile, the U-17 girls basketball title went to MHAC, which defeated KC Public School by 11-9 in an exciting contest. JK Public School got the better of KC Public School in the U-14 girls football final to claim the trophy.The U-17 girls throwball title went to MHAC by defeating Carmel Convent School, Kunjwani, in the summit showdown by 2-0. MHAC also claimed the tug-of-war boys U-14 title by beating HSS, Gole Gujral, by 2-1. The U-17 title went to Guru Harkrishan Public School while Navyug Public School finished runners-up.

In the U-14 boys table tennis, KC Public School emerged victorious by scripting win over JK Public School by 3-1 while in the U-17 group, KC Public School dispatched SOS by 3-1. Meanwhile, the inter-school competitions in the disciplines of badminton, judo and taekwondo for U-14 and U-17 boys and girls also commenced at the Indoor Complex, University of Jammu. Around 400 schools students of Jammu district are competing in the event.

Results:

Judo U-14 Boys:

Below 25 kg: Aryan Khajuria, gold; Manish, silver.

Below 30 kg: Sumedh Singh, gold; Shivam Sharma, silver.

Below 35 kg: Shrvesh, gold, Diwakar, silver.

Below 40 kg: Nikhil, gold, Ashish Pandita, silver.

Below 45 kg: Bilal Ahmed, gold, Akshit, silver.

Below 50 kg: Parvinder, gold, Shashank, silver.

Judo U-17 Boys:

Below 40 kg, Jeevan Singh, gold, Ankit Mahajan, silver.

Below 45 kg: Anmol Abrol, gold, Nikhil Sharma, silver.

Below 50 kg: Kunal Sharma, gold, Ajit Behra, silver.

Below 55 kg: Shubam Singh, gold, Aman Choudhary, silver.

Below 60 kg: Kumar Vishisht, gold, Aditya Anand, silver.

Below 65 kg: Karandeep Singh, gold, Rishav Kumar, silver.

Below 71 kg: Abhijeet,gold, Paras Singh, silver.

Taekwondo U-14 Girls:

Below 26 kg: Dhwani, gold, Bharti Mehra, silver.

Below 29 kg: Manpreet Kour, gold, Jhanvi Mahajan, silver.

Below 32 kg: Komal Dhiman, gold, Aditi Verma, silver.

Below 35 kg: Simranjeet Kour, gold, Ritika Sharma, silver.

Below 38 kg: Ashita, gold, Riya Sharma, silver.

Above 38 kg: Vidhi Sharma, gold, Akshita, silver.

Taekwondo U-14 Boys:

Below 18 kg: Achutam, gold, Vawn, silver.

MIER and DPS have qualified for the finals in the U-14 boys badminton event while Presentation Convent and JK Public School sealed a berth in the U-14 girls badminton. 

Jammu, May 27
In a protest against hike in the annual fee in colleges by the Higher Education Department, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) today held a demonstration against the government.

Protesters led by Jammu City Secretary Arun Prabhat Singh alleged that steep hike in fee structure in colleges would deprive the poor students from education.

A large number of ABVP activists gathered at the Main Chowk and warned to start agitation if the decision is not taken back. Lambasting the government, Arun Singh said steep hike in fee structure would not be tolerated by the student community as students and their families were already facing inflation.

Balbir Singh, Ranbir Singh, Rohit Manhas, Kailash, Yash, Neeraj, Pankaj, Rohan Bhandari, Manik and Ashish were also present on the occasion.

Jammu, May 27
In the wake of NDA’s call for Bharat bandh on May 31 to protest against petrol hike, the state BJP unit today officially announced its decision to observe the bandh.

The party also called upon other organisations to join in order to make the bandh a successful one.

Addressing a press conference at party headquarters, Shamsher Singh Manhas said the petrol hike would lead to hike in the prices of other essential commodities, including LPG and would make the day-to-day survival of common man very difficult. He said the BJP has been protesting for the past one year against price rise and would now intensify it in the view of UPA’s recent decision.

The state BJP appealed all the political, social, religious, trade, transport and industrial organisations and Unions and Bar Association, Jammu, to support the bandh.

He said people were fed up with the anti-poor policies of the government.

The chief spokesperson of state BJP, Jitendra Singh, and state general secretary Sat Sharma were also present during the press conference. 

Rajouri, May 27
Massive forest fire that erupted in thick forest area of border town Nowshera recently is causing serious concern about ecological imbalance in the area.

The loss is not limited only to green cover of the area, but wildlife is equally getting affected due to the frequent forest fire. Locals blame officials for the loss of their green cover and inefficient handling of the situation, which forced them to migrate from the area owing to intensive threats of wild and uncontrolled fire.

Number of hectares of forest cover vanish in Jagdad, Bawani Sector and Tapsia under Nowshera division but forest officials are also finding it difficult to deal with frequent fires in the forests.

Some locals say forest fire erupted in the border area in Bawani sector due to explosive mines near line of fence and some time fire was erupted from Pakistani side under the conspiracy to damage more and more natural resources of India, but wild waves of fire has covered huge area of the Indian territory and damaged livestock, but the Forest Department is completely helpless to tackle with wild waves of forest fire from the past few days.

“Everybody know that this is dangerous for our nature, mountains and climate. But nobody comes up. I think everybody should come forward for the preservation of such a beautiful place,” said a local resident Inayat Ali.

“It’s impossible to stop, we can only resist the fire a little, but unfortunately we have no developed equipments and manpower and on the other hand strong winds and the complex terrain also hinder efforts to put the fire off,” an official said.

He said local villagers were now engaged with the forest departmental teams for helping and evacuating those people and livestock who comes under danger of the forest fire.

Forester Raj Kumar of the Janngad area of Rajouri district said, “Recent forest fire had affected over 10-12 acre area in the border belt of Bawani sector in Nowshera division, however, main reason of forest fire is explosive mines in the border belt”.

Jammu, May 27
The Gujjar-Bakerwal Scheduled Tribes of Jammu and Kashmir today pleaded to the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development to include the rudiments of “Gujjar Pritihara Period” (6th-11th Century AD) in curriculum books of Indian History prepared by different agencies for students.

In a letter sent through the Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation, the community expressed strong resentment against concealing of significant details of ‘Gujjar Era’ in new books of history published by the UGC and state boards of school education, including the National Council of Educational Research and Trainings (NCERT).

Javaid Rahi, Secretary, Tribal Foundation, said some important parts of history of the Gujjar era were missing in books prepared by the UGC, NCERT, CBSE and other boards.

Jammu, May 27
The Socialistic Democratic Party (SDP) today staged a demonstration against the hike in petrol prices. The party leaders raised slogans against the decision and termed it as ‘anti-people’ during the demonstration outside the Press Club, Jammu.

The protesters demanded roll back on the price hike in the interest of the common masses. “By raising the petrol prices, the government has once again cleared the way for the overall price increase of all commodities. This is going to create a situation where common man’s life will be a hell,” said Sham Bhagat, SDP leader. He said the government had failed to check the increase in prices. 

Jammu, May 27
Zakir XI, Doda, and Haryana Cricket Club (HCC), Haryana, scripted win over Foji XI, Doda, and Khan Cricket Club, Delhi, respectively, to move into the next round today in the ongoing All-India Eighth Gufran Memorial T20 Cricket Championship being played at the Sports Stadium, Doda, here.

In the first match, Foji XI skittled out for paltry 83 runs in 16 overs. Ashraf and Yasir contributed 18 and 17 runs, respectively. From Zakir XI, Abid Nabi snared three wickets while Mudasir took two wickets. In reply, Zakir XI, cruised to victory in just 7.1 overs without losing a single wicket. Abid Nabi smashed an unbeaten 60 runs while Ashfaq contributed 14 runs. Abid Nabi of Zakir XI was awarded the man of the match.

In another match, Khan Cricket Club, Delhi, won the toss and opted to bat first. The team suffered a middle order batting collapse and eventually perished for just 75 runs in 17.5 overs. Imran and Garan chipped in with 19 and 16 runs, respectively. From Khan Cricket Club, Rohan and Mastan grabbed four and two wickets, respectively.

In reply, HCC got off to a flying start as they scored 40 runs in 7 overs when rain interrupted the play.

As per the tournament rules, HCC was declared winner on the basis of net run rate. Rohan Paul of HCC was adjudged the man of the match.

The matches were officiated by Amit Bansal, Sanjay Singh and Afroz Rathor as umpires while Dheerendra Singh was the scorer.

Jammu, May 27
JKCA (Red) notched up a mammoth 126-run win over Star Cricket Club (SCC) today in the inaugural match of the U-14 Cricket Tournament, which commenced at GGM Science College, Hostel Ground, here.

Batting first, JKCA (Red) posted 187/7 in the allotted 30 overs. Sahil was the top scorer with 37 runs while Vansh Sharma and Tushar contributed 27 and 28 runs, respectively. Vikrant Sharma chipped in with a handy 17 runs. For SCC, Rohit Kumar and Arun shared two wickets apiece whereas Ankush took one wicket.

In reply, SCC bundled out for paltry 60 runs in 16.4 overs. For JKCA (Red), Dheeraj, Pavit Singh and Sampark Gupta shared two wickets apiece. Earlier, the tournament was declared open by JKCA chairman Mohammad Aslam Goni. Joint secretary Hardev Singh was also present on the occasion.

Jammu, May 27
The inter-district girls kho-kho tournament for the U-14 and U-17 age groups got underway at the Youth Hostel, Nagrota, here today.

About 250 girls from 10 districts of Jammu division are competing in the tournament, which is being organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports under the overall supervision of Deputy Director SS Bali. Earlier, Jaipal Singh, Director, Youth Services and Sports, declared the tournament open.In U-14 girls kho-kho, Jammu got the better of Rajouri by 7 points in U-14 girls kho-kho. In other matches, Udhampur trounced Samba by 2 points, Reasi outplayed Doda by 4 points, Poonch defeated Kishtwar by 5 points, Rajouri dispatched Ramban by 5 points, Poonch toppled Kathua by one innings and 6 points, Samba mauled Kathua by one innings and 12 points, Jammu had last laugh against Doda by 5 points, Udhampur prevailed over Kishtwar by 6 points and Reasi thrashed Ramban by 8 points.

In U-17 girls kho-kho, Kishtwar got the better of Poonch by one turn and 7 points, Jammu pipped Rajouri by one turn and 3 points, Udhampur subdued Samba by one point, Doda scripted a narrow win over Reasi by one point, Kishtwar spanked Poonch by one turn and one point, Rajouri trounced Ramban by one turn and 4 points, Samba overwhelmed Kishtwar by one turn and 3 points, Jammu drubbed Doda by one turn and 4 points, Udhampur beat Kishtwar by one turn and 4 points and Reasi outclassed Ramban by one turn and one point.

Jammu, May 27
KC Public School proved their supremacy in table tennis and badminton events while Guru Harkrishan Public School clinched the U-14 and U-17 girls tug-of-war titles in the two-day inter-school competitions, which concluded here today. KC Public emerged victorious in U-14 girls table tennis by defeating Shangrilla Higher Secondary School by 3-0.

Jhanvi Pandoh of KC subdued Archita Sharma of Shangrilla and Shreya Mahajan of KC outplayed Pallavi Jasrotia of Shangrilla in singles event. In doubles event, the duo of Jhanvi/Shreya of KC got the better of Archita/Pallavi of Shangrilla. U-17 girls table tennis, KC Public School eased past JK Public School by 3-1 while in U-17 badminton, KC Public School prevailed upon Army Public School, Domana, and JK Public Schoo,l respectively. The badminton U-14 boys and girls titles were bagged by MIER and JK Public School, respectively.

Meanwhile, Guru Harkrishan Public School defeated DBN in the final to clinch the U-14 girls tug-of-war title. Similarly, in U-17 age group, Guru Harkrishan Public School cruised past Government Higher Secondary School, Mubarak Mandi. In U-14 girls judo, Diya Jamwal and Vandona Indora claimed gold and silver medals, respectively, in 23 kg weight category. In below 27 kg, Tanvi Panjgotra and Bhawana Hans fetched gold and silver, respectively, while in below 32 kg, Komal Mangotra and Akriti Sharma got gold and silver, respectively.

In below 36 kg, Sakshi Sharma claimed gold and Bhumika Mahajan clinched silver. Below 40 kg gold went to Aditya Sharma while the silver medal was claimed by Divya Kumari. Meanwhile, in U-17 girls judo, below 36 kg gold went to Arohi Khajuria while below 40 kg gold was won by Arpita Puri. Himanshi Nagri bagged gold medal in 44 kg weight category while Rashika Wali clinched gold in 48 kg weight category.