Jammu, June 25
While the government has earmarked crores of rupees to curb transmission and distribution (T&D) losses in the city, a survey conducted by the Power Development Department (PDD) suggests that the losses have reached up to 80 per cent in certain areas, mainly due to unregistered load.

Officials claim that the survey has also revealed that the average consumption in the region has increased by 15 lakh unit per day this year, as compared to last year, with consumption exceeding up to 30 lakh units per day on some occasions.

A senior official said the city was being supplied with power through a network of various 11 kV feeders emanating from 33/11 kV sub-stations located in different areas of the city. These feeders were under huge pressure, resulting in frequent breakdowns and tripping of transformers, leading to power outages.

The department claims that 78.85 per cent losses have been recorded in the Rajpura, Bakshi Nagar and Krishna Nagar areas, 87 per cent in the New Plot-Sarwal area, 60 per cent in Gandhi Nagar, 78 per cent in Channi Himmat, 77 per cent in the Residency Road area and 71 per cent near the Denis Gate area in the past few months.

“The load on account of air-conditioner use has gone up by 100 MW in the Jammu region. And most of this is unregistered, as is evident from the feeder losses calculated on the basis of energy input,” said Chief Engineer Shenaz Goni.

The Power Development Department (PDD) had recently launched a voluntary load disclosure scheme (VLDS) under which domestic, non-domestic commercial consumers had been asked to get their unauthorised load registered without incurring any penalty, but the move had also failed to have any major impact.

“Over the past two weeks, we have been receiving 10 warnings every day from the Northern Region Load Dispatch Centre and imposition of cuts is the only option,” said an engineer with the State Load Dispatch Centre.

Residents reject the claim made by the PDD, accusing it of failing to provide regular supply to them.

“Most air-conditioners and electronic gadgets have been installed by people from the high-income group and it is duty of the PDD to ensure that they are paying their electricity charges. Has any rich and influential person been booked so far,” said Adarsh Bali, a social activist.

Jammu, June 25
In a bid to curb overcharging of Amarnath pilgrims by traders and hoteliers, the Municipal Corporation has constituted a special cell to conduct market checking and take action against those found duping the pilgrims.

Officials said the district administration had also issued directives to hoteliers, dhaba owners, taxi and auto rickshaw unions, asking them not to indulge in overcharging, which could lead to cancellation of their permits.

A few days ago, the district administration had convened a review meeting with officials of various departments, including the PDD, the PHE, the MC and others. The members decided to get tough with traders and transporters who were indulging in fleecing of pilgrims visiting the state.

“We had received hundreds of complaints about overcharging after pilgrims got stuck here last year. We are better prepared to deal with the problems faced by people visiting the state for
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Jammu, June 25
A land dispute between two government departments and the management of a temple has reached the Civil Secretariat — the seat of governance — with the state government appointing the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, as the inquiry officer to conduct physical verification of the land.

Official sources said the state government had appointed Jammu Divisional Commissioner Pradeep Gupta as the inquiry officer to conduct physical verification of the land of Shiv Maharaj Temple, located at Devak, Udhampur. The temple is in possession of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department and the Power Development Department (PDD).

Sources said the Divisional Commissioner had been asked to probe weather any compensation paid by the PDD and PHE Department was going into the chest of the temple or not.

“The Divisional Commissioner will inquire into the ownership of land and the entitlement rights for the compensation received. He will also look into the area under the occupation of the PDD and the PHE Department,” sources said.

A senior official of the district administration said there was a dispute between the government departments and the management of the temple.

“While the PDD and the PHE Department claim ownership of the temple land, the temple management is seeking the shifting of a PDD store and a small power station of the PHE Department from the temple premises”

The Divisional Commissioner will submit his report within two months.

The Power Development Department and Udhampur Deputy Commissioner have been directed to provide all requisite documents to the inquiry officer.

Jammu, June 25
With colleges declaring their first cut-off list for the upcoming admissions, the trend of computer science and science subjects scoring over other streams remains consistent. The cut-off marks set for computer application and science courses continue to overshadow those of arts and commerce streams.

GGM Science College declared its first cut-off list, with computer application setting the qualifying benchmark of 81 per cent. This was followed by science stream at 79 per cent and geography at 75 per cent.

The cut-off set for non-medical stream (physics, chemistry and mathematics) was 61 per cent, while that for medical stream was 46 per cent, said Dr Satindar Singh, principal, GGM Science College. MAM College has set the cut-off for arts stream at 35 per cent even though the top ranking student has secured 96.04 per cent.

The cut-off for non-medical was set at 50.2 per cent even though the highest percentage received for the course was 88.2 per cent. For the combination of physics, electronic sciences and mathematics, the cut-off was set at 66 per cent.

The cut-off in the commerce stream was steep in comparison to last year, as this year the benchmark set for making it to the BBA course in MAM College was set at 71.4 per cent even though the top percentage received for the course was 86.2 per cent. SPMR College also increased the avareage cut-off for all subjects in comparison to last year, when a minimum of 60 to 70 per cent was enough to reserve a seat in various commerce combinations. This year, the cut-off for BBA was set at 75.8 per cent, while that for BCom was set at 60 per cent. The cut-off for BCA was set at 72 per cent in the college.

Government College for Women, Parade Ground, also saw a rise in the average cut-off, with medical students having to score a minimum of 72.2 per cent to book a seat in the college.

The second cut-off list is likely to be declared June 29.

Jammu, June 25
Keeping in mind a rise in the number of educated unemployed youth in the state, the Jammu Kashmir Democratic Front protested against the apathy of the state government in dealing with the situation. The protest was attended by scores of unemployed youth from across Jammu and Kashmir.

The protestors burned effigies of the state government and raised slogans against its inaction.

They demanded that all educated youth from the state should be provided opportunity to earn a decent livelihood.

“The attitude of the state government will not be tolerated any more. We demand that an unemployment allowance of Rs 2,000 per month should be announced for the unemployed youth till they find employment,” said Ravi Mehra, JKDF district vice president.

Rajouri, June 25
A woman was killed and six others seriously injured in separate road mishaps in district Rajouri here today. In the first case, a vehicle on its way from Manjakote skidded off the track and rolled down into a gorge near Mirza Mod leaving one dead and three others injured.

The deceased was identified as Kamlesh Devi, a resident of Tandwal. Locals and administration teams rushed to the spot and rescued the injured and rushed them to nearby hospital. The deceased was taken to district hospital mortuary for conducting post mortem.

In another incident, thee passengers were injured when a Tata Magic in which they were travelling skidded off the track and rolled down at Dangri, few kilometres away from Rajouri town. Sources said that all injured were undergoing treatment at Rajouri district hospital and their condition was out of danger.

Jammu, June 25
On the occasion of International Drug Abuse Day, a poster exhibition was organised by JK Fine Arts society here today. The posters depicting the menace of drug abuse were made by artist Suresh Sharma. The posters were given varied titles such as ‘drugs an invitation to death’, ‘drugs lead to premature death’, ‘drugs and death made for each other’ were some of the slogans depicted the posters.

Another poster exhibition will be held near RRL Canal Road on June 26 which will be organised by the Drug and Food Control Organisation, Jammu.

Jammu, June 25
As both the small and big screen are increasingly luring many city-based budding actors, all hope is not lost for those who think it is necessary to revive theatre as a tool of social change.

In Jammu, there are artists who are putting a great effort to keep theatre alive. Sumeet Sharma is one such campaigner of the art genre.

A postgraduate in Indian Theatre from the Department of Indian Theatre, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Sumeet has been contributing his share for the theatre movement in Jammu in his own way.

About his mission, Sumeet said, “My experience tells that theatre is an indispensable component of any society which can help people in understanding the complexity of the social structure. No matter what trends have been adopted by the entertainment industry over the years, only theatre can gratify our everlasting quest for things.”

About the taste and inclinations of Jammu people, he says that there has been a consistent decline in the number of theatre audience. But then, their group has been putting in great effort to draw more people to this, he adds.

“Most of our shows run houseful at Natrang but adding more audience will be a positive sign. Moreover, the youth should realise the significance of this art form. Audience is must for its growth.”

About the frequency of plays being performed in the city, Sumeet says there has been an increase in the number of performances in the last few years.

“We have been witnessing more performances. Natrang’s Sunday Theatre series is trying to maintain quality for eight years,” he said.

• Sumeet was conferred Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for Theatre Direction by Sangeet Natak Akademi which is country’s highest award in performing arts for youth.
• He has been working actively with Natrang since 1993 as an actor, trainer and director. He has acted in more than 40 plays which include Ghumayee, Bawa Jitto, Aap Hamare Hain Kaun, Tughlaq, Kanjoos, Mere Hisse Ki Dhoop Kahan Hai, Mahabhoj, Holi, Bagia Banchha Ram ki, Kanjoos, Holi etc. with more than 1,000 performances in India and abroad.
• He has participated in more than 40 national theatre festivals organised by prestigious organisations such as Sangeet Natak Akademi, National School of Drama, ICCR, Nandikar, IPTA, Nehru Centre Mumbai, NZCC among others.