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traffic police department
Stray cattle pose threat to motorists on highway
Govt mulls Rs
500-crore project for providing potable water to Jammu
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JMC adds to residents’ woes
Youth drowned in river at Thandi Kasi
Woman, minor boy injured in assault
Employment package a hit among KP youth
Slow pace of work ‘worrisome’
Ramban MLA resents traffic chaos on NH1A
‘Dil to Bachha Hai’ staged
Stress on tapping potential in agriculture
Two held for engaging children as labourers
JKDF youth wing holds signature campaign
Driver, cleaner hurt in mishap
Over 35 Sikh youngsters join state BJP
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Flagship projects fail to take off
Several ‘innovative proposals’ conceived during the tenure of former IGP (Traffic) remain on paper Arteev Sharma Tribune News Service
Jammu, July 22
Sources said the traffic police department’s prime focus remained on penalising the violators who crossed the staggering one-lakh mark in the first half of the year. But then, several ‘innovative proposals’ conceived during the tenure of former IGP, (Traffic) HK Lohia have remained only on papers so far. “Barring the affixation of high security registration number plates (HSRNP) in all vehicles, all other proposals which could ensure some sanity on dangerous roads across the state couldn’t simply take off due to lack of concern on the part of the traffic authorities,” an official said. Sources said that the department had decided to introduce speed interceptor vans fitted with alcoholometers to penalise drunk drivers and habitual offenders but that too remains a far cry. “The department had submitted the proposal to the state Home Department for the clearance of at least seven speed interceptor vans costing Rs 27 lakh each some months back but the traffic police department did not pursue the case thereafter. The Home Department is sitting over it,” he added. Another much-hyped proposal of installing global positioning system (GPS) in all private as well as government vehicles to stop vehicle theft too remained on papers. It was conceived after the police witnessed spurt in number of vehicle lifting incidents. “After the state government’s failure to create multi-tier parking facility in twin capital cities of the state, the The Traffic Police department had also come up with a novel idea to reduce congestion and stop illegal parking on roads by allowing people to use their residential plots for commercial purposes,” sources said. The department had decided to work in close coordination with the municipal bodies to allow the residents, both in Jammu and Srinagar, to convert their unused residential plots into paid parking lots to tackle the problem of haphazard parking on roads. Even this proposal too could not see light of the day. Other major proposals which became the victim of the official apathy are enforcement of unique uniform for the drivers of mini-buses and buses, installation of electronic meters in auto-rickshaws and fixing of dividers on busy roads to regulate the chaotic traffic. IGP (Traffic), J&K, Muneer Ahmad Khan, however, could not be contacted for his comments. Projects that did not come up * The Traffic Police department had decided to introduce speed interceptor vans fitted with alcoholometers to penalise drunk drivers and habitual offenders * It had also come up with a novel idea to reduce congestion and stop illegal parking on roads by allowing people to use their residential plots for commercial purposes * The proposal of installing global positioning system (GPS) in all private and government vehicles to stop vehicle theft has also remained on papers x
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Stray cattle pose threat to motorists on highway
Jammu, July 22
The Jammu Municipal Corporation’s (JMC) anti-animal squad has captured these cattle several times but in absence of any facility to keep them they release them later and these again flock the roads, particularly the national highway. Many commuters say that at times they narrowly missed hitting these animals which has become a threat to cars, buses and trucks moving on high speed. There have been many incidents when people received grievous injuries after hitting these stray animals. “You can imagine what it is like to hit an animal at a speed of 80-90 km per hour. It can be simply fatal. Few days back, I narrowly missed a cow on the road which suddenly came running towards middle of the road near Kunjwani,” said Ravi Kiran, a businessman. The problem is not confined to the highway only. In Jammu city, stray animals can be seen creating problem to people on various roads. “At times, we have approached the officials to set a cattle pond and impose heavy fine on people who release their cattle near public places but they seem to be reluctant,” said Sudesh Kumar, a local resident. Despite this becoming a menace, there are only two functional cattle ponds in the city. The proposal to set up a modern facility in Dili area on the outskirts of Jammu was shelved after the locals objected to the JMC’s move and non-availability of sufficient land at the site. Cattle ponds at Rehari and Gandhi Nagar have capacity of 15 and 20 cattle respectively and they are filled to capacity most of the times thus forcing the staff to release the captured animals within hours back on roads for want of space. The city has grown from 30 sq km in 1980 to 112 sq km in 2012 but the administration has not been able to meet new demands with the growing area. Another thing is that the surroundings villages of Jammu city still rely on cattle rearing for milk and for livelihood. JMC Commissioner, KL Khajuria said the civic body had initiated several measures to deal with the menace. "We are not getting proper cooperation from the general public. We appeal the people to extend their full cooperation in dealing with the menace. The cattle pond at Dilli would come up soon." Highway Blues * JMC’s anti-animal squad has captured these cattle several times but in absence of any facility to keep them they release them later * Cattle ponds at Rehari and Gandhi Nagar have capacity of 15 and 20 cattle respectively and they are filled to capacity most of the times * The proposal to set up a modern facility in Dili area on the outskirts of Jammu was shelved after the locals objected to the JMC’s move and non-availability of sufficient land at the site
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Govt mulls Rs
500-crore project for providing potable water to Jammu
Jammu, July 22 Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today announced during the District Development Board (DDB) meeting that Rs 500crore project for providing safe drinking water to the greater Jammu by utilising Chenab water was being negotiated with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). “We have received positive indication from the bank in this regard,” the CM said adding that a detailed project report (DPR) on this would be prepared. He said the STP at Baghwati Nagar was likely this year adding that Rs 10 crore was spent on the upgradation of the drainage system in the district during the last one year. On high-profile projects, the Chief Minister said a modern abettor would come up at cost of Rs 20 crore. He added the Jammu Convention Complex was being constructed at a cost of Rs 24.10 crore and Rs 5 crore have been earmarked for its construction this year. He said Rs 27 crore have been arranged for the Mubarak Mandi Complex while Rs 5 crore have been earmarked for Abhinav Theatre. 88 kanals of land has been identified for the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, he said. The Chief Minister directed the District Development Commissioner, Jammu, to identify land for shamshan ghats at various places in the district. He also asked the commissioner to prepare report in this regard. On eight laning of the BC road, Omar said this project was linked with the rehabilitation and re-location of large number of affected traders and households. “We are working on the issue and negotiation with the Asian Development Bank in this regard is also on,” he said. He said that work on an artificial lake and another bridge on the Tawi was going on adding the bridge was likely to be completed by November or December this year.
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JMC adds to residents’ woes
Jammu, July 21 For the past few weeks, the JMC has adopted the practice of lifting the waste during peak hours of the day. One may frequently find the JMC vehicles parked in the middle of the busy roads, especially between 10 to 11 am to lift the garbage without caring much about the travails of the commuters. The Jammu Tribune team found out the JMC vehicles were being loaded with the garbage at many prime locations in the city during these hours. Raman Prashar, a commuter, said the practice showed indiscipline prevalent in the working of the JMC. He said, “ Offices and other institutions open at 8 am. This should not be allowed at least during office timings in any case. 90 per cent of the city roads and the connecting lanes have already been dug out for the reasons best known to the authorities.” Isha, a Jammu University student, said such scenario revealed the mismanagement on the part of the system. “Such things simply cause inconvenience to residents. The JMC should realise the importance of the time when the Amarnath yatra is at its peak and tourists from across the country reach the city,” she added. People from different walks of life complained over the issue expressing their anguish over the lackadaisical approach of the authorities.
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Youth drowned in river at Thandi Kasi
Rajouri, July 22 Reports said the police recovered the body of youth from the banks of the river and send it for postmortem. But on the request of the family members of the deceased, his body was handed over to them without conducting autopsy. The police has lodged an FIR under the relevant sections in the police station concerned.
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Woman, minor boy injured in assault
Jammu, July 22 “The two families entered into a verbal spat over some family dispute, which later turned into an assault,” the police said. The injured have been identified as Babli Devi, 40, wife of Ranjit Singh, and Romil Kumar, 8, son of Joginder Kumar, both of Darbi. Both the injured are undergoing treatment at Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu. A case under Section 341/323 has been register at Nagrota police station. |
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Employment package a hit among KP youth
Jammu, July 22 However, the package announced in 2008 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had not received a very good response as out of total 3,000 posts advertised by the government, only 2,169 candidates were issued appointment orders of which only 1,446 had joined in the Valley. This time, the government has announced 1,443 posts in different departments in the Kashmir valley. But the overall response is different this time. They are not apprehensive about their stay in the Valley following the success of the first lot of the employment package. Sunil Raina, a resident of Kulgam said, “I am quite excited about the new announcement. I wanted to apply last time as well but got apprehensive since it was for the first time that such a big chunk of Kashmiri Pandits was going to the Valley after migrated from there way back.” “It has been almost three years since then but no such incident has been reported yet. This has given a kind of confidence to those who did not go for jobs last time,” Raina added. After the government made the provision of quota for the Kashmiri migrants in various professional courses in the backdrop of the migration, a good number of Pandit youth started venturing out of the state boundaries in search of better education and jobs for the first time . But the employment package is attracting the youth working in different states as job in the home state is the first priority for most of the youth. Anil Koul, who works in pharma sector in Nagpur said, “If conditions are conducive, then there is nothing wrong in working in the Valley. Last time I did not apply because my family did not allow me to do so. But if those youth joined last year and it worked, then why cannot we?” |
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Slow pace of work ‘worrisome’
Tribune News Service
Jammu, July 22 Charak, who is the former vice-chairman and member, governing body of Mubarak Mandi Jammu Heritage Society (MMJHS), which has been entrusted with the task for fast restoration and conservation of this prestigious project, ridiculed the sluggish work, saying the way things are going on, it will take decades together to complete the project. “The pace of restoration and conservation project is a cause of concern for all of us. The condition of the building is deteriorating day by day, except for the erstwhile foreign office and Army headquarters, which were recently restored by the society through the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Since rainy season has already started, there is every apprehension that due to landslide and destabilisation of the slopes towards the circular road, the building may collapse anytime,” Charak said. He observed that the condition of the buildings in the complex couldn’t bear the rainfall and the state government should immediately put in place necessary steps to save this prestigious heritage. “I had to resign from the post of the vice-chairman of the society following my political assignments. The conservation has virtually come to standstill since then despite the availability of funds,” he pointed out. The renovation work was started in 2008 when Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was the Chief Minister of the state and it was stopped last year due to the paucity of funds. The MMJHS was constituted on December 28, 2006 for the conservation of 22 buildings of the erstwhile Dogra rulers of J&K. Charak virtually lashed out at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is the ex-officio chairman of the society, for destabilising the whole system. “Former chief ministers were regularly persuaded to convene meetings of the society being chairmen right from 2007 onwards, but unfortunately the whole system has been destabilised as no governing body has taken place in recent years,” he said. The Centre has recently sanctioned Rs 24.51 crore, including Rs 16 crore, under the Mega Tourist Destination Scheme for the conservation of the complex. The DSS chief also expressed concern over the increasing death toll of Amarnath pilgrims and requested the state government and the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board for setting up of yatra niwas-cum-disaster management complexes along the national highway, one each in Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Ramban and Udhampur districts, besides at various places in the Kashmir Valley.
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Ramban MLA resents traffic chaos on NH1A
Ramban, July 22 According to a press statement released by his office, he has exhorted all the agencies concerned to have a better coordination among them to make the journey of the highway commuters comfortable and safe. He has urged the government to allow only the passenger vehicles to ply on the NH1A from dawn to dusk and trucks or trolleys during night hours only, besides deputing enough traffic police staff on the highway. He has also demanded the availability of cranes after every few kilometers on the NH1A, especially at all vulnerable places, so that if any vehicle breaks down on the highway or meets with any accident it should be immediately removed from the road to avoid inconvenience. He has castigated the traffic cops for stopping any vehicle, especially the trucks, at any place as per their whims and fancy for their vested and ulterior motives thus causing huge traffic jams. He has asked the ARTOs to allow minibuses and buses to stop only at specified places on the highway.
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‘Dil to Bachha Hai’ staged
Jammu, July 22 The play unveils different excerpts of childhood in a creative manner. When the play opens, children are shown as if their summer holidays have come and they are planning to make the maximum of them. Some are planning to go out, some are going to join hobby classes and some have joined a theatre workshop where they have to present stories before the audience. So, they start narrating the stories of their choice, most of them were wisdom tales, preaching a strong moral lesson. But after sometime, they realise that the most appropriate story to tell anyone would be their own story as childhood has in it, all the elements of a perfect drama. The play reveals the dream world, which almost every child knits during his or her childhood. The children who performed in the play included Bhagyashree Kotwal, Manasvini Oswal, Rhythm Misher, Ojusvini Kotwal, Divyan Sharma, Gopi Sharma, Anannaya Sangra, Bhavya Jain, Stuti Kuthiala, Aafreen Singh, Kritika Bhau, Chander Pratap Singh, Chirag Anand, Mannat Arora, Poorti Arora, Yajur Mahajan, Apurva Gupta, Shayana Khajuria, Vaanya, Ishmeet Soni, Shreya Gupta, Sanyam Gupta, Tanya Dogra, Mihir Gujral, Sanchita Dubey, Deepshikha Sharma, Arshiya Singh, Petunia Singh, Shambhavi Gupta, Arjit Khajuria, Harbir Singh, Ritambhara Puri, Devish Puri, Pragya Jain, Aavishi Arora, Arihan Gupta and Danish Koul. All participating children were awarded certificates by the chief guest Dr Pawan Kotwal, Commissioner Secretary, Transport Department. Lights were designed and executed by Rahul Singh and the sound effects were operated by Susheel Raina. Renowned designer and cartoonist Chander Shekher designed the publicity of the show. Mohd Yaseen looked after public relations. The hall management team included Suraj Ganjoo, Rohit Verma, Atin Tikka, Vishal Sharma, Sajra Qadir and Romilla Basnet.
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Stress on tapping potential in agriculture
Jammu, July 22 He asked them to avail the incentives provided under self-employment schemes for setting up ventures in potential fields like poultry, dairy, fish and other farming. The chairman was speaking at a public gathering in the presence of Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla here at Chatha. Malhotra said the government had launched various self-employment schemes for the rural youth so that they could generate their income resources by starting their own ventures, including poultry, sheep, agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, bee-keeping, mushroom, retail shops, small scale and cottage industry. He highlighted the role of the private sector in boosting industrialisation in the state, adding industrialisation was the only solution to solve the challenges of unemployment problem in the state. He announced Rs 10 lakh out of his CDF for the timely completion of a play field at Chatha village so that the people could arrange national as well as sports events at their doorstep stadium. Speaking on the occasion, Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla said the coalition government was making all-out efforts to improve the living standard of the rural populace of the state by creating modern infrastructure facilities on a par with urban pockets like multipurpose better roads, lanes, drains, schools, colleges, hospitals, play fields, electricity, safe drinking water and community halls. Regarding the construction of the play field on the available 8 kanals, Bhalla said the foundation of the project had already been laid at an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore at Chatha village to meet the necessity of sports lovers. He said the project would be completed by April 2013 having the facilities of seating steps, pavilion, a changing room and a toilet block. Bhalla added he had also released Rs 10 lakh out of the CDF for the project.
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Two held for engaging children as labourers
Jammu, July 22 The police said the children were engaged by two persons identified as Maha Dev Dass of Bharat Pur tehsil, Rajpur district, Damesh Pur, and Parveen Kumar of Hisar, Haryana, presently working as general manager of HH Factory. Both have been booked under Section 3/14 of the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act - 1986 and a complaint has been filed in the court of the CJM, Kathua, today. |
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JKDF youth wing holds signature campaign
Jammu, July 22 The forum lamented the non-serious attitude of the government officials in sustaining unemployment policies, which will be favourable for unemployed youth. They urged the government to take serious action in lieu of the growing number of unemployed youth in the state. Munish Khajuria, president, JKDF youth wing, said: “We will be constrained to intensify our agitation with the active support of the youth and the student community if our genuine demands are not accepted by the government.” “We demand immediate announcement of Rs 2,000 per month allowance for unemployed youth till they are absorbed into jobs,” he said. “The JKDF is a group committed to raise the issues which are in the interests of public and serves to achieve the aims and objectives to uplift the living standard of the common masses with equal opportunities to grow and prosper. The present signature campaign is part of our endeavour to highlight the burning issue of unemployment, which is a major concern for younger generation,” said Murari Lal, senior JKDF leader.
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Driver, cleaner hurt in mishap
Batote, July 22 Workers of Leighton Wellspun Construction Private Limited and the locals working nearby rushed to the spot and rescued the injured. They took them to SKME Hospital, Batote, with the help of the police from Chanderkot. The injured were further referred to GMCH, Jammu, from SKME Hospital, Batote. In another mishap, a Srinagar-bound truck (JK0 2AP-6673) turned turtle while negotiating a sharp curve at Champa Batote today. However, the driver and the cleaner received only minor injuries. — OC
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Over 35 Sikh youngsters join state BJP
Jammu, July 22 Addressing a function to welcome over three dozen Sikh youth into the party fold, who joined the BJP under the leadership of Gurdyal Singh Bali, Manhas said there were no jobs for educated unemployed youth.
Manhas said whether it was permanent employees, daily wagers, ad hoc employees, unemployed youth, women, farmers, pensioners, refugees, migrants, SCs, STs, OBCs, everyone was suffering, while the Chief Minister, his colleagues and bureaucrats were enjoying the luxuries of life at the cost of public exchequer. Manhas said the BJP had always been agitating for the rights of people. He said today people from all walks of life had realised that their survival and the welfare of the future generations would only be safe if the BJP would be strengthened. “It is due to this change in the mindset of the people that more and more people are joining our party,” he said. Gurdyal Singh Bali said the youth of the state had now realised that Kashmir-centric regional parties and the Congress were the two faces of the same coin. “Be it the NC or the PDP, their core constituency has been Kashmir, but Jammu or Ladakh has no place in their scheme of things. The stoic silence on part of the Congress on discrimination with Jammu and its youth is more dangerous,” he said, adding, “We have joined the BJP today as this party has proved its credentials by continuous struggle for the masses, including youth”. Amit Pal Singh, Teeraj Singh, Pritam Singh, Harvinder Singh, Harmeet Singh, Ravinder Singh, Surjeet Kumar, Amritpal Singh, Harjeet Singh, Tarlok Singh, Pritam Singh, Paramjit Singh, Jagdish Singh, Vakil Singh, Ramdev Singh, Rajan Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Shakti Pal Singh, Rajbir Singh and Jasbir Singh Sodhi were prominent among those who joined the BJP on the occasion.
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