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cloudburst fallout on ramban
Omar launches Kashmir Tribune
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Tech-savvy Omar may sign off from Twitter for good
Contract coaches not paid for 9 months
High-level panel to promote eco-tourism
DIG reviews security arrangements
Municipal Commissioner visits Kassim Nagar
Jagti township without water supply for two weeks
Checking T&D Losses
Charges Against ex-VC
Students given tips on RTI Act
Need to strengthen Indian medicine system: Expert
Srinagar pip Ramban in football
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cloudburst fallout on ramban
Batote, Ausgust 9 An engineer was killed when the tipper he was travelling in got washed away on that fateful evening. The cloudburst struck the Jwartha peak bordering Ramban and Doda districts. Reports said in the remote area comprising the Rajgarh, Kumet, Ghari and Draman panchayats, 13 houses, nine culverts, several pavements and paths, drinking water pipes, seven watermills and crops spread over hundreds of acres were damaged. Besides, three head of cattle were killed in the four-hour long torrential spell of rain followed by the cloudburst. Landslides at dozens of places on the 15-km-long Rajgarh link road leading to the Baghlihar powerhouse have cut off the area from the district headquarters. “A bridge in the area, constructed by the Forest Department, also got washed away, causing huge inconvenience to hundreds of villagers, particularly students as they need to cross the stream daily,” said Mohammad Shafi, sarpanch of the Rajgarh panchayat. “Two culverts and three watermills were also destroyed. Besides, the house and watermill of Deepchand of Tangar village were also damaged. Several mud houses have reportedly developed cracks in Tangar and Mangla villages. About 200 water pipes of a newly laid line were washed away. Two oxen and a cow also became victims of the flashflood fury in Jalwada village,” Shafi said. The Kumet panchayat bore the brunt of the flood fury where four culverts, including two in Dhundi village, were destroyed, besides flattening maize crop in the area. “Two culverts, four houses and maize crop were destroyed in our panchayat,” said Shama Begum, sarpanch of the Ghari panchayat. She is the only woman sarpanch in the area. Naseeb Singh, sarpanch of the Draman panchayat, said eight houses and four watermills were damaged there. Sources said villagers in all these panchayats were virtually left without any piped drinking water and were relying on stream water, posing a grave risk to their health. “There are reports of widespread damage. However, information from some remote areas is yet to come. The administration has sent teams of revenue officials to assess the damage,” said Ramban Tehsildar RK Anand. Mounting Loss
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Omar launches Kashmir Tribune
Srinagar, August 9 After the launch of Jammu Tribune earlier this year in May, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today launched the Kashmir Tribune at a function that was held at the
Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), located on the banks of the Dal Lake. The Tribune Trust chose to launch the Kashmir Tribune during the holy month of Ramadan. The function was attended by various dignitaries, including Governor NN
Vohra, President of The Tribune Trust Justice (retd) SS Sodhi, other Trustees of The Tribune Trust, Lt Gen
(retd) SS Mehta and Naresh Mohan, Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune group of newspapers Raj Chengappa and General Manager of The Tribune Trust Sanjay
Hazari. On the occasion, many speakers remembered the founder of The Tribune, Sardar Dyal Singh
Majithia. Besides the dignitaries, the hall at the SKICC was full of locals who were enthusiastic about the entry of a national newspaper into the Valley. The Governor hoped that the journey of the 131-year-old newspaper would not end here as he was now looking forward to the launch of Ladakh Tribune. “Ladakh is a vast region showcasing interesting geographical, cultural, heritage, developmental and other features and provides extensive material for reporting. This region is witnessing significant development of infrastructure and economic growth and the promotion of tourism requires to be highlighted,” he said. First Lady Usha
Vohra, Finance Minister AR Rather, Agriculture Minister G H Mir, CA&PD Minister Qamar Ali
Akhoon, Public Enterprise Minister Peerzada Sayeed, Forest Minister Mian
Altaf, Minister for Medical Education RS Chib, MoS (Home) Nasir Aslam
Wani, Social Welfare Minister Sakina Itoo, Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla, senior National Conference leader Sheikh Mustafa
Kamal, opposition PDP leader and MLA Bandipore Nizamuddin Bhat, MLA Langate Engineer
Rasheed, IG (CRPF) Sudhir Pratap Singh, ADGP (Prisons) Naveen Agarwal, IG (Security) Sunil Sharma, vice-chairman Pahari Advisory Board MA
Bukhari, Principal Secretary Home BR Sharma, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister BB
Vyas, Principal Secretary of Power Development Sudhanshu Pandey, Advisers to Chief Minister Devender Rana and Mubarak
Gul, and various other dignitaries, including mediapersons, were present on the occasion. |
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Tech-savvy Omar may sign off from Twitter for good
Srinagar, August 9 Omar, a tech-savvy politician, termed tweeting as a “lose-lose situation” for him. “Don’t rely on tweets for what I think any longer, because it is a lose-lose situation for me,” Omar said in his address at the inaugural function of Kashmir Tribune. Omar said it was “amazing” how both his tweeting and silence on the website made news. “It is just amazing how one publication tends to dub me tweet-a-minute Chief Minister and when I go silent a week later, the sister publication puts a huge piece on me where have I gone and why I have gone silent,” he said. For nearly a fortnight since mid-July, Omar remained silent on Twitter despite interesting developments in the Valley, country and abroad. Omar said he was undecided about whether to continue or suspend his Twitter activity. “It is one of those situations where you are damned if you do and you are damned if you don’t. So, I don’t know whether I will be doing so (tweeting) or not,” he said. Omar’s first experiment with highly volatile and anonymity-laden online forums began in April 2008 when he began writing a blog while being in opposition in the state. The tryst with blogging ended four months later when Omar decided to shut the blog after facing a “heap of personal abuse” from angry Kashmiri Netizens during the height of 2008 street protests. Omar made a second attempt to air his views online in 2011 when he regularly went to Twitter to write his opinion about issues ranging from local politics to sports to national events. As the number of followers increased on a daily basis, the Chief Minister used the micro-blogging platform to promote tourism in the Valley — posting pictures of the landscape and inviting people by handing them assurances. His “followers” have swollen to over 1.6 lakh in nearly two years of tweeting. He has been successful in making it to newspaper headlines with his tweets on issues of governance. The Chief Minister’s failed blogging and highly successful tweeting was a rare attempt by a mainstream politician to connect directly with people. The only other politicians to utilise the online networks were the separatist leaders who during the 2010 protests extensively accessed the online options, including video-sharing website Youtube and social networking website Facebook, to propagate their message and publish protest “calendars”. Buoyed by the online success of others, the ruling National Conference and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party have also started their Twitter “handles” over the past few months. Omar may now be deciding to call it a day as his last tweet, written this week after a fortnight-long silence was broken, said: “I never thought I’d say this but I love having nothing to say on Twitter.”
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PoK refugees gherao Cong MP’s house
Jammu, August 9 The protesters, including women, raised slogans against the Centre and the state government, and demanded a comprehensive package for their permanent settlement. “We gheraoed the residence of Congress MP Lal Singh to express our resentment against the failure of the Centre and the state government to solve the problems being faced by lakhs of PoK refugees. We want that Congress MPs, who were elected by the refugees, should raise their issue in the current session of Parliament,” PoK Refugee Front general secretary Rachhpal Singh Chib said. He said the PoK refugees of 1947, 1965 and 1971 had been demanding a package for their permanent rehabilitation in Jammu. He regretted that while New Delhi-appointed interlocutors had recommended an “honourable settlement package” for the PoK refugees, Minister for Revenue Raman Bhalla had recommended an “incomplete and intriguing” financial package for the PoK refugees and the West Pakistan refugees in the same memorandum, complicating their case. The leader said the West Pakistan refugees could not be equated with the PoK refugees as two categories of refugees could not be mixed up in the matter of a settlement package.
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Contract coaches not paid for 9 months
Jammu, August 9 Sports Minister RS Chib, while convening the 128th standing committee meeting at Srinagar recently, had announced to regularise the services of contractual coaches/instructors who had completed seven years of service in the department. Sources said another standing committee meeting was held in November 2011, wherein a similar announcement was made. However, nothing concrete had been done as the contractual coaches were still awaiting the regularisation of their services. “We will wait for another month and if things do not improve, we will look for other options. We are getting offers from outside, that too with a handsome salary package,” one of the contractual coaches told The Tribune. “The way things are going, we are not sure whether we will be engaged on a permanent basis in the Sports Council,” he added. “Last year, when the Sports Minister announced that we will be engaged on a
permanent basis in the Sports Council, all contractual coaches/instructors were very happy,” said another contractual coach. “Suddenly the government removed Kiran Wattal as the secretary of the Sports Council and appointed Daleep Thusoo as the new secretary. No progress has been made regarding the regularisation of our services,” he said. “The authorities at the helm of affairs in the Sports Council are playing a cruel joke with our future by delaying the process,” he alleged. Dilip Thusoo, secretary of the Sports Council, told The Tribune, “The process of regularisation of their services is in progress and we are hopeful that all contractual coaches as well as instructors will be engaged on a permanent basis in the Sports Council.” |
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High-level panel to promote eco-tourism
Jammu, August 9 The committee, headed by Commissioner Secretary, Tourism and Cultural Department, will also pay full attention to conserving the wildlife, carrying capacity and sustainability. The panel has been entrusted with the task to work out the details of an action plan for promoting tourism relating to wildlife, forests, eco-sensitive zones to prepare an inventory of natural sites and to assess the requirement of financial assistance from union Ministry of Tourism. A General Administrative Department (GAD) order said the Commissioner Secretary, Forest Department, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Srinagar, Chief Wildlife Warden, Srinagar and tourism directors of Kashmir and Jammu regions will be members of the committee which has been asked to submit its report within a month. Sources said the government had identified around 16,000 sq km land under Protected Area Network (PAN) to execute the eco-tourism development plan afresh in the state and it had sought a nod from the Centre in this regard. “Earlier, the state government’s proposal was rejected by the Centre on the grounds that it did not meet the set guidelines of the Union Ministry of Tourism,” sources said, adding the Centre had instructed the state to submit a site-specific proposal at that time. Sources added the previous proposal which was submitted by the state government to the Centre, was based on a survey conducted by a Karnataka-based company in 2008 and it had forced the state government to restart the entire process afresh. The areas identified under PAN for showcasing state’s eco-tourism include Dachigam, Gulmarg, Thaj reserve and Aru in Kashmir division and Nandni reserve, Ramanagar sanctuary and Jasrotia sanctuary in Jammu region, Hemis High Altitude national park, Changthang wildlife sanctuary, Tsokar, Tso Moriri and Pangong Tso, all in Ladakh region. The government will approach the Centre for financial assistance soon after the committee submits its report, sources said. The forest area constitutes 50.97 per cent of the total geographical area in Kashmir while in Jammu it is 45.89 per cent. In Ladakh region, it stands at 0.06 per cent making the average forest area in the state 19.95 per cent. Preparing the plan
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Devotees take out Janmashtami procession
Jammu, August 9 Temples were decorated with colourful buntings and lights for people to pay their obeisance. City markets are witnessing a huge rush of customers, who are buying traditional decorative items, flowers, ‘jhula’ for Lord Krishna among other items. Shoppers were seen purchasing flute, artificial jewellery and ornaments for decorating idols of Lord Krishna.
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DIG reviews security arrangements
Jammu, August 9 He issued instructions for tight security arrangements at all places in the three hilly districts. He asked the officials to ensure proper checking of vehicles and frisking of strangers visiting the town. He said activities of surrendered militants and released terrorists would be kept under watch. |
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Municipal Commissioner visits Kassim Nagar
Jammu, August 9 Vikram Singh, PDP district vice-president, had met the Municipal Commissioner yesterday and discussed the problems being faced by residents. Vikram Singh said the protection wall was constructed without using proper raw material due to which the wall collapsed and damaged pipes. The Commissioner directed the officials to speed up the work and assured people that action would be taken against the agency concerned if low-quality material was used. |
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Jagti township without water supply for two weeks
Jammu, August 9 Addressing a meeting of the organisation, its convener Agnishekhar said residents of the township had alleged that for the past over a fortnight, the drinking water supply to the town was not regular and they were facing a lot of problems. “Ever since they were shifted from Muthi, Purkhoo and Mishriwala, they have been put to enormous hardships for want of adequate transport, electricity, medical and drinking water facilities,” Agnishekhar alleged. “According to our survey, there are nearly 6,000 old and infirm residents, 4,000 schoolgoing and college students and 2,000 patients undergoing treatment for various medical conditions at Jagti. All of them are facing a lot of difficulties,” he alleged. Agnishekhar expressed concern over the recent threat letters sent to Kashmiri Pandits reportedly by terrorists asking them to leave the Valley or face the consequences. “The government has apparently underplayed this issue, keeping the Valley Pandits in a dilemma,” he said. |
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State Transmission Utility to be set up soon
Sumit Hakhoo
Jammu, August 9 The STU will comprise two wings - Systems and Operations - of the Jammu region and the Kashmir valley and will be headed by two Chief Engineers. Officials said as part of the reforms programme, some employees from the PDD will be relocated to the new department, which will work independently to streamline power distribution in the state. Transmission of energy to customers will be handled by the distribution utility. Both utilities will be held accountable by the regulator (State Electricity Regulatory Commission) for their job. Despite receiving grants from the Centre for arresting T&D losses, the state has failed to show any laudable improvement. The losses at present have crossed the 63 per cent mark, leading to constant warnings from the Planning Commission of India to curb the losses. Time and again, the government has found itself in an awkward position before the Planning Commission over its failure to improve its performance. It has even failed to meet the guidelines set by Union Power Ministry to bring down the losses by 3 per cent annually. “The restructuring will allow for independent functioning of transmission and distribution businesses, the main area of concern for the department,” an official said. Despite crores of rupees earmarked by the government to curb the T&D losses in Jammu, a survey conducted by the PDD shows that in some city localities, these have reached up to 80 per cent, mainly because of unregistered load. “We are taking steps to curb the T&D losses,” said Shabir Ahmed Khan, Minister of State, Power. Since 2004, when the state government started a massive project to streamline the power sector, the PDD had taken many steps to curb power losses and increase the revenue collection. However, it has ended up in a failure.
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Varsity told to make inquiry report public
Tribune News Service
Jammu, August 9 The direction was passed by the commissioner while disposing of the second appeal filed by a correspondent of a newspaper against the order of the First Appellant Authority (Registrar, JU) and Public Information Officer (Deputy Registrar, JU). The appellant had filed an application under the State Right to Information Act before the PIO, JU, seeking copy of the inquiry committee report pertaining to allegations of administrative impropriety against the previous VC. In his second appeal, the appellant contended the First Appellate Authority had unilaterally and arbitrarily rejected the first appeal thus violating the natural justice and there was no application of mind by the first Appellate Authority. After hearing, the CIC observed, "The information has been denied to the appellant on the plea that investigation is still underway and Section 8(G) of the Act is applicable. However, the PIO in his order had admitted that appellant shall be entitled to have information only after completion of investigation in the matter."
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Students given tips on RTI Act
Jammu, August 9 Rakesh Singh Chib, province president, NCSU, said, “The Omar-led coalition government in the state is committed to empowering people and making governance more energetic, responsive, transparent and accountable.” Chib said the Revenue, PHE, Power, CAPD, Social Welfare and Transport departments have been brought under the ambit of the PSG Act for the convenience of the people. |
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Need to strengthen Indian medicine system: Expert
Jammu, August 9 Addressing a felicitation function by the Jammu Institute of Ayurveda and Research (JIAR), Dr Tyagi said consistent efforts were needed to promote the Indian system of medicine (ISM) in order to serve society better. Those present on the occasion were CCIM members Dr Prasana, Dr Ragini Rajn Patil, Dr Vaneta Kumar, Dr Kashmir Singh and Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Sanjeev Verma among others. The CCIM is leaving no stone unturned in advancing the ISM and said people should cooperate in accomplishing the mission, Tyagi said. He added it was necessary to maintain teaching standards in various institutions across the country. “To make sure quality education is being provided to students, the ISM institutes across the country will have to comply with the basic minimum standards and any institute that fails to do so will be closed,” Dr Tyagi said. He further said to ensure that students could pursue higher education, the CCIM had streamlined the examination system by reducing the BMIS examination duration from 25 days to eight days. Dr Tyagi said the CCIM recently roped in as many as 180 experts to compile the syllabus.
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Srinagar pip Ramban in football
Jammu, August 9 Budgam outplayed Kishtwar 3-0. In the other matches, Pulwama dispatched Rajouri by 3-0 in which Mohammad Gous scored two goals. Baramulla thrashed Udhampur 4-0 while Ganderbal outplayed Anantnag 2-1. The match between Kupwara and Poonch ended in a draw. In all, 17 districts of the state are taking part in the tournament. The event is being organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports. |
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The journey of The Tribune, which had begun way back in Lahore on February 2, 1881, reached another milestone with the launch of the Kashmir Tribune here today.
After remaining active on Twitter for over two years — airing views on a variety of issues — Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today
hinted at signing off from the micro-blogging site for good.