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Finally, traffic lights operational
Jagti residents pool in funds to get rid of water woes
Shiv Sena, Dogra Front protest price rise
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Cost of house construction set to go up
SRTC employees’ stir enters second day
Minister reviews infra projects
Govt committed to empower rural people, says Slathia
Teachers’ training concludes
Primary school inaugurated at Kokrian Kothey
Sainik society a den of corruption: Residents
Martyrs’ families hold meeting
Five booked for forgery
Srinagar Gymkhana beat KU
Tiny Hearts School emerge winner
Jagjeet Club thrash Surjeet Club
Badminton Championship from August 23
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Finally, traffic lights operational
Jammu, August 4 The minister kicked off the much-awaited project amid heavy rain at 4:30 pm in the presence of a cluster of ministers from the Omar Abdullah Cabinet and various officers of the administration. Due to consistent rain, probably first of the season, not much people could gather at the spot. Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Chief Minister said, “I hope the functioning of traffic signals will help in reducing chaos on the city roads. It will help the departments concerned in streamlining the smooth flow of vehicles”. KL Khajuria, Municipal Commissioner, Jammu, said they had started the traffic signals at 10 prominent locations of the city where the traffic load was optimum. He said,”Rs 2.5 crore was at our disposal to execute the project, of which Rs 1.89 crore has been spent on the installation of lights at 30 locations in the first phase. The 10 locations where traffic signals have started functioning include Satwari, Bikram Chowk, Jewel, Green Belt, Gandhi Nagar, Chhatri Morh etc. and within few days the lights would be operational at some more locations.” Prominent among others present on the occasion included SS Slathia, Minister for Industries and Commerce, RS Chib, Minister for Medical and Sports, Sham Lal Sharma, Minister for Health, Horticulture and Floriculture, Raman Bhalla, Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation, Nasir Aslam Wani, Minister for State Housing and Urban Development Department and Home, Chaman Lal Gupta, MLA (West), Ashok Khajuria, MLA Jammu (East), other MLAs , MLCs, Head of the Departments of state and prominent senior citizens of Jammu city. Although residents of the city are excited about the launch of this project, they are also doubting the success of the newly introduced system. Dr Sheetal Sharma, a resident of Janipur, said this project was of much-needed importance for the city as the traffic had increased manifold over the years. “It will be premature to say anything about the success of this venture. I think residents of the city will take some time to get used to the new system. But it is good that after a long wait the traffic lights have started functioning,” she added. |
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Jagti residents pool in funds to get rid of water woes
Jammu, August 4 The residents are facing acute shortage of water since the secretariat moved to Srinagar. Arzan Nath Pandita, a Jagti resident said, “Due to the government’s laxity, people have started their own constructions inside the township.” He added, “There is no proper strategy to provide facilities to the people. If the government cannot provide us electricity and water then what is the fun of living here.” The present requirement of the township is 5,000 gallons of water per day and that will increase in the coming days as the authorities are planning to shift 700 more families to Jagti soon. For 20,000 people, the authorities have installed two water motors, which are insufficient for the township. At times, the motors are out of order leaving the residents without water. However, the residents have been demanding a proper water scheme but it has fallen on deaf ears. The Jagti township was built under the Prime Minister’s package for relief and rehabilitation to provide better living conditions to the Kashmiri Pandits who left their homes in the late 1980s due to upsurge in militancy in Kashmir. And after living for more than 20 years in the one-room shanty-like accommodation, they are not even getting the basic facilities. Sources said the Relief Commissioner did not contact the PHE Department for expert advice as a result of which the water project of Jagti is not up to the mark and since they were not involved with the construction of the project, they cannot take over the project at this point of time.
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Shiv Sena, Dogra Front protest price rise
Jammu, August 4 The protest was led by Shiv Sena’s president Ashok Gupta and Dogra Front activists as they marched from Parade Chowk and later held demonstrations at City Chowk against the economic policies of the UPA government.
Ashok Gupta said there was total confusion and chaos in New Delhi and J&K, as the ruling apparatus was indulged in corrupt practices without having any regard for the common masses. “The Omar government is shifting responsibility on the Central government while the Centre is doing the reverse and it seems there is no accountability. People are under the burden of skyrocketing prices of essential commodities”, he said. The protesters said the reason for price rise in the country was corrupt political and bureaucratic system. They said the government was more interested in foreign direct investment (FDI) rather than saving poor farmers in the country. Sunil Sharma, a protester, said the ruling party of state topped the list of corruption while the masses were under crushed under the burden of price rise. Even items of daily use are getting out of the common man’s reach. The Shiv Sena and Dogra Front have warned the coalition partners, National Conference and Congress, to stop exploiting the people of the state for their petty political gains and concentrate on curbing the rising prices of essential commodities. Further, both the parties have demanded immediate action against the corrupt ministers, MLAs and bureaucrats of the state.
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Cost of house construction set to go up
Jammu, August 4 The association, which has been demanding the revision of rates, says the cost of raw material needed for manufacturing bricks has increased manifold due to which they are suffering heavy losses. The Kashmir Administration has already revised the rates vide order No-LRS-BK302 and the rate of A-class 1,000 bricks has been fixed at Rs 5,000. Earlier, it was Rs 3,500 for such blocks. “There is a steep hike in the prices of coal and other materials used in the manufacturing of bricks. Even the cost of hiring semi-skilled and skilled labour has gone up. The Kashmir Administration has already revised rates and the district administration here should follow suit,” said association president Janak Raj Mahajan. Recently, the association members had also met Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and demanded that there should be revision of rates keeping in view the increased prices of all the raw materials, particularly coal. “We have again approached the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, and the Deputy Commissioner’s office after the decision in Kashmir as there should be uniform rates across the state. We cannot continue our trade further,” said Jugal Mahajan, chairman of the association. Sources said though the Brick Kiln Owners’ Association and the administration had held several rounds of meetings on the issue without reaching any conclusion, now there was likelihood that the administration might give its consent. Deputy Commissioner Sanjeev Verma said the decision would be taken at an appropriate time. “No decision has been taken so far, but the committee constituted for the purpose is examining the issue for the past many months,” Verma said. However, those aspiring to construct their homes are quite alarmed over the increase in the rates of bricks. “It seems building a house will remain just a dream as the prices of every construction material are increasing rapidly. We are already facing problems to get bricks,” said Surinder Krishan from Paloura. At present, the sale rate of 1,000 A-class bricks is around Rs 3,500, for B-class bricks, it is Rs 2,990 at kiln site (local taxes extra) and C-class bricks are sold at Rs 2,645 (local taxes extra). Rate of ‘tiles’ has been fixed at Rs 3,105 per thousand (local taxes extra). |
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SRTC employees’ stir enters second day
Jammu, August 4 The SRTC employees are on strike across the state for decision of the management to shift its headquarters from Srinagar to Nowgam and the decision to sell assets of the corporation to bring it out from bankruptcy. SRTC Workers Union president Ashok Mehra and general secretary Paramjit Singh warned the government that any step to sell the assets of the corporation would be opposed by the workers. "The government is selling SRTC’s assets. They are dislodging our employees and buses from SRTC-owned complexes. We condemn it and demand that the decision should not be implemented”, Mehra said. He said the SRTC had been asked to shift its office to Nowgam area where no infrastructure was available and the land was meant for farming. Meanwhile, commuters had to face a lot of inconvenience as buses, mini-buses and trucks of the corporation remained off roads, disrupting services on several inter-state routes. The strike has stalled operation of its entire fleet of over 1,200 vehicles across the state on the second day today. At Jammu, many SRTC workers, including drivers and conductors, held a demonstration at Bikram Chowk SRTC yard. The SRTC had earned Rs 58.37 crore during the financial year ended December 2011 against a target of Rs 63.45
crore. Besides, the corporation has earned Rs 16.67 crore from the auction of old vehicles during this fiscal against last year’s Rs 18.38
crore. Though in the recent past the corporation, which is almost bankrupt, had introduced nearly 150 new vehicles to provide some oxygen to the company, these have become a burden in the absence of a well-regulated monitoring system to ensure better revenue generation. Established on June 1, 1948 as government transport undertaking with a 50-truck fleet, the body was converted into the J&K-SRTC in September 1976 under the Jammu and Kashmir Road Transport Act, 1950, as part of implementation of the country-wide transport policy adopted after 1947. |
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Minister reviews infra projects
Jammu, August 4 He said government was endeavouring hard to upgrade power scenario in the state, he urged the concerned engineers to double their efforts to ensure time-bound completion of all the ongoing projects so as to improve the power scenario in the state. The minister also inquired about the availability of transformers in the winter capital and sought details about the number of replacements made during last few months. He said that government has allocated Rs 5 crore for the augmentation of 132/33 KV transformers from 100 MVA to 150 MVA at Gladni Grid Station, Narwal. He said that the Government has approved Rs 200 crore for the purchase of additional power to further improve power scenario in the region. He also inquired about the status of the installation of electronic energy meters in the Jammu division. He asked the functionaries to put extra efforts to ensure that the people may not face any inconvenience, particularly during the prevailing weather conditions. |
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Govt committed to empower rural people, says Slathia
Samba, August 4 The minister said this while addressing a public meeting at Tarore. He was accompanied by senior officers of various departments. On the occasion, sarpanches, panches and local people apprised the minister about their grievances and demands which included provision for uninterrupted power supply, potable drinking water, road connectivity, better medicare, installation of transformers and regular supply of LPG gas to the area Responding to demands of the local residents, Slathia said that many development works would be taken up in the area and would be completed in a stipulated time frame. He also announced early replacement of old iron electric poles with cement poles. Slathia assured them that their genuine demands would be addressed at the earliest. Listing the development projects in the area, he said that equitable development of all three regions of the state was the prime motto of the coalition government. He said that last three and half years have witnessed massive development activities which have changed the developmental profile of the state. About the sanctioning of IAY houses and old age Pension, he said that the names of beneficiaries would be recommended by local panchayat representatives to ensure that no deserving person was left out. He said that the coalition government was keen to develop the rural and Kandi belt by providing all basic amenities at par with the urban centres. Kathua: Subash Gupta, Member of Legislative Council, today conducted an extensive tour of the Bathal Chack area, home constituency, and took stock of the ongoing development works. During the day long tour, Gupta visited Bathal Chack in Tehsil Hiranagar and listened to the problems of the people. The people of Bathal Chack projected various demands which mostly related to up-gradation of power infrastructre, construction of road from Bathal Chack to Chappaki, electric poles, high mask light, deep hand pump and lack of amenities. Responding to the demands, Gupta said that the coalition government was committed to provide all basic amenities to the people of the state especially who live in rural and far off pockets.
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Udhampur, August 4 As many as 159 teachers from 11 zones of Udhampur district participated in the training programme. Besides imparting training in the teaching subjects, bi-lingual lectures on disaster management, value education and role of art in school education were also delivered. — TNS
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Primary school inaugurated at Kokrian Kothey
Jammu, August 4 The minister while addressing a large gathering after inaugurating newly established SSA sponsored Government Primary School at Kokrian Kothey in Old Satwari block said, “Our children have a good talents but there is need to channelise it in a proper way so that they can excel and compete at All India level competitions” Bhalla said that several measures have been initiated to improve the educational standard in the state. He said that efforts have been made to improve the infrastructure and quality education but there is always a scope for improvement. He said the centre was providing sufficient funds under various centrally sponsored schemes like SSA and RMSA to open and upgrade schools. Terming education as an important sector, he said that the government has prioritised the access of education to every child with a special thrust on better infrastructure and sufficient staff. He appealed to the parents to send their wards to government schools as the institutions have highly qualified and capable staff. He said the coalition government was making efforts to provide all basic amenities like road network, education, medicare, power and water supply to the people living in rural areas of the state. He said that the government was keen to provide adequate infrastructure to rural areas at par with urban areas.
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Sainik society a den of corruption: Residents
Jammu, August 4 “The existing managing committee should be dissolved forthwith and fresh elections be announced as the polls for constitution of the new body are overdue for the last one and half years. They (existing committee members) are not interested in holding the elections,” Harkirat Singh Sasan, president of the association said. Sasan said the residents were fed up with the unauthorised occupation of the society office by the present managing committee. “We will not tolerate irregularities in the functioning of the society and they should demit the office in the larger interest of the residents of the colony,” Sasan added. The electoral rolls for electing the members of the managing committee don’t match the present situation. The association sought intervention of the Chief Minister and demanded the society should be put under the control of Deputy Commissioner, Jammu till the constitution of new managing committee.
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Martyrs’ families hold meeting
Jammu, August 4 As many as 16 families attended the meeting. Atul Kumar Goel, SSP Kathua, presided over the function. Rohit Baskotra, Deputy Superintendent of Police, District Police Lines, Kathua, gave a detailed presentation about various schemes launched by the police headquarters for the welfare of martyrs’ families. Numerous issues were raised by the families, of which some were resolved on the spot and the rest were communicated to the higher authorities.
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One held with stolen goods
Jammu, August 4 Rajeshwar Singh, SP, south Jammu said, “Sajad Ahmad of Sainik Colony had lodged a complaint with the Bahu Plaza police station on Friday that his household goods were stolen while he was in Kashmir Valley”. The Police swung into action and arrested Amir Khan in this connection today and have recovered the household goods. They also nabbed an auto driver in this connection as the stolen goods were carried in his vehicle. A case under Section 457/380 of the RPC has been registered and the investigation is underway.
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Five booked for forgery
Jammu, August 4 Official spokesperson of the Crime Branch said that a written complaint was lodged by the complainant Leelo Devi of Hiranagar before the Court of CJM Samba alleging that Ashwani Kumar and his father Jai Karan of Jatwal had grabbed her inherited land by way of impersonation and thereby prepared sale deed (Bai-Nama) on her behalf (as vendee) fraudulently in connivance with Prakash of Tarngoli Tehsil and Maggar Singh of Chann Kana Tehsil of Hiranagar, Madan Lal, the then Patwari Halqa and got the sale deed registered dishonestly in the Court of Sub-Registrar of Hiranagar. Whereas she had never executed any sale deed in respect of the said land measuring four Kanals bearing Khasra number 678/340 situated at Sangwali Tehsil of Hiranagar. The complaint was forwarded by the Learned CJM Samba to SSP Crime Branch, Jammu with the directions to register a case and investigate the same under law. On receipt of the said complaint, an enquiry was initiated in Crime Branch, Jammu and during the course of enquiry, it was found that Ashwani and his father Jai with malafide intentions and in connivance with Prakash, and other officials of the Revenue Department under a criminal conspiracy got prepared fake revenue documents regarding the land inherited by the complainant Leelo Devi and got the sale deed executed and registered in the Court of Sub-Registrar, Hiranagar by producing someone else as Leelo Devi, thereby causing wrongful loss to the complainant and wrongful gain to themselves and the revenue officials. Crime Branch, Jammu has registered a case under Sections 419, 420, 423, 465, 466, 468, 471, 120-B of the RPC against the accused .
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Srinagar Gymkhana beat KU
Jammu, August 4 Batting first, Srinagar Gymkhana scored 233 runs for the loss of four wickets in the allotted overs. Irfan Ashraf and Qayoom were the star batsmen who played a defiant knocks to help their team post a challenging total. Irfan scored 74 runs and Qayoom contributed 61 runs. For Kashmir University, Waseem took two wickets. In reply, Kashmir University team was bowled out for 197 runs in 38 overs. Azmat scored 77 runs for Kashmir University team. For Srinagar Gymkhana, Imtiaz took four and Azhar took two wickets. The match was officiated by Owaid, Sameer and Javed.
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Tiny Hearts School emerge winner
Jammu, August 4 Batting first, Tiny Hearts School scored 159 runs in the allotted 20 overs for the loss of two wickets. In reply, Burnhall School was bowled out for 137 runs. Monis Manzoor was adjudged the man of the match. — TNS
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Jagjeet Club thrash Surjeet Club
Jammu, August 4 Janmeet Singh scored first goal in the 5th minute to give his team an early lead. Gurpreet Singh then struck a goal in the 26th minute to make the lead 2-0. Surjeet Club got a chance in the 20th minute but a serious lapse in the decisive moments eluded them of a much needed goal. Jagjeet Club then stretched their lead further in the 37th minute when Ravinder Singh converted a penalty corner. Rajanjeet Singh scored the fourth goal for the team in the 47th minute. For Surjeet Club, Ranjot Singh and Avtar Singh scored goals in the 51st and 53rd minutes, respectively. In the dying moments of the game, Pardeep Singh slammed another goal in the 59th minute for Jagjeet Club. The match was officiated by Satinder Singh, Rajveer Singh, Varinder Singh, and Amreek Singh. — TNS
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Badminton Championship from August 23
Jammu, August 4 The decision in this regard was taken in a meeting held under the chairmanship of IGP Dilbagh Singh, president, Jammu, and the District Badminton Association. Interested shuttlers, desirous to compete in the championship are directed to submit their respective entry fee to Satpal Sharma, Vikram Jamwal and Som Raj Gupta before August 21 till 5 pm. The entries for u-10 age group and new entrants will be accepted only with the date of birth certificate. — TNS
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The Brick Kiln Owners’ Association has warned to shut their units and stop the sale of bricks if the administration fails to revise its rates within a week. If the rates are revised, people will be forced to shell out Rs 15,500 per 3,000 blocks.
