Jammu, September 8
Science may have given mankind the gift of a Doppler Weather Radar to predict natural calamities but thanks to oversight, the Indian Meteorological Department did not include the district for installing the radar in its proposal sent to its head office in Delhi sometime back.

Sources said the department proposed the radar to be installed in Kashmir but ignored the crucial mechanism for the district.

Sources said a proposal has been sent by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) to its head office in New Delhi sometimes back to install the radar in Kashmir, but the requirement of the radar for the region was not included in the proposal.

The radar can protect life and property as the region experiences extreme rain and snowfall. The radar can sound advance warnings about snowstorms and cloudbursts.

Officials say the Doppler radar uses the Doppler Effect to gather data about the prevailing weather conditions in advance, allowing scientists to provide timely information to the administration about any impending calamity. In a majority of southern states, these radars are proving very effective in sending advance weather warnings.

“We don’t have a Doppler Weather Radar in the state, which is an effective tool to forecast thunderstorms, heavy snowfall and cloudburst, but we are expecting it over the next few years,” said Sonam Lotus, regional director, IMD.

Sonam said a proposal to install Doppler Weather radar in kashmir has been sent but no such proposal has been put forth for the Jammu region. Officials claim that in the recent past IMD centre in the state has been reduced to mere prediction of daily temperature and rainfall, despite the fact that weather related disasters have become a major challenge for the administration.

Sources said after the snow tsunami in the state in 2005, the proposal to install these radars in the state remained in the cold storage due to unknown reasons. “The government takes weather forecast lightly even though in the mountainous regions cloudbursts and snowstorms wreak havoc. Installation of such equipment should be a priority in a state like Jammu and Kashmir where several areas remain cut off for months together,” an official said.

Jammu, September 8
Deprived of their wages for last six months, 12,000 daily wagers of the Department of Public Health and Engineering have threatened to suspend work if their salaries were not released immediately. Though they have not given any timeframe, workers have warned to launch their agitation again if their grievances were not redressed.

Sources said despite assurances by the Minister for PHE, Taj-Mohi-Ud-Din, that pending dues of the daily wagers would be cleared, so far thousands of daily wagers across the region have not been paid their wages.

The workers include consolidated paid wagers, need-based workers and daily-rated workers. At present daily wagers are paid Rs 110 per day. This despite the fact that the government had assured on the floor of the House that the daily-rate workers would be paid their salaries every month.

In February 2011, the state government had issued a notice (circular number 4), according to which they had agreed to pay uniform salary of Rs 110 per day to the daily wagers. Till now the government has failed to come up with a mechanism to pay the salary to these workers who are the backbone of the department to keep the water supply functional.

PHE Employees United Front general secretary Kartar Chand Dubey alleged that the government is totally apathetic towards them. “Our requests have fallen on deaf ears. Most of the workers are on the verge of starvation and are doing their work, as they have no other option. We have been waiting for our salaries for past six months,” Kartar Chand said.

The minimum wage of a simple labourer in the market is Rs 250 but workers engaged by the government are paid only Rs 110 but even that is not being done now. “How can we manage our family expenditures, we have no money to buy notebooks or uniforms for our children or food and medicine for our family,” said Susheel Kumar, a labourer.

PHE Chief Engineer Ashwani Sharma said the authorities have submitted the lists of daily wagers to the government and the same are being scrutinised. “We discussed the issue during a meeting to sort out the issue of these workers yesterday. A report has also been submitted to the government in this regard. We will take a decision in this regard soon,” Sharma said. He claimed that some of the workers had received salaries on time. “I don’t have the exact numbers, but in a few divisions and we are streamlining the process.”

Jammu, September 8
The Minister for Health, Sham Lal Sharma, today asked private healthcare players to adhere to the norms set by the government. He was speaking after inaugurating a clinical diagnostic centre here.

He said the government was keen to cooperate completely with the private players but in return it expects complete adherence to the set norms to ensure that the people get services from them at genuine rates.

Jammu, September 8
Volunteers of National Youth Corps (NYC) today staged a demonstration outside the Exhibition Ground here to protest against the state government’s move to terminate their service and they accused the government for playing with the future of 8,000 educated youth.

The protesters, including a large number of women volunteers, shouted slogans against the government for adopting adamant attitude against the NYC volunteers.

They alleged the government, during 2010 unrest in Kashmir, had deputed 8,000 youth in the various departments as a supporting staff.

“We were provided jobs during the peak days of unrest in Kashmir, but now when the situation is stable, the government has decided to wind up the scheme,” said Asif Ali Bhat, vice-president of All J&K National Youth Corps Volunteers Association.

He said that NYC workers were under psychological stress and suffering from mental harassment due to indifferent attitude of the government. Bhat demanded that the government should regularize their services without any delay.

“The NYC volunteers would not hesitate to take any extreme step if the government didn’t drop its idea of disengaged their services. We would intensify our struggle and the onus of any untoward incident would lies on the government, “he said.

Jammu, September 8
Extended monsoons may be good for the paddy crop in the region but experts fear that if the situation persists, crops such as maize, vegetables and even paddy may be affected.

Dr MK Khushu, Chief Scientist and Head of Agro-metrology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences (SKUAST), Jammu, said the existing weather conditions may affect the yield of various crops. He said, “Although the rains are good for paddy but prolonged cloudy weather may affect its yield. For a better yield, crops need clear skies at frequent intervals. Otherwise the present weather conditions are suitable for the paddy crop.”

Dr Khushu said the extended rains could prove disastrous for the maize crop. “Prolonged rains can affect vegetables and other crops but maize is among the worst affected crops as the water affects the roots of the crop. Increased moisture levels can destroy the roots of the maize crop roots and it is really important to that water does not remain stagnant in the fields. Most importantly, soil has become saturated with the water level at present and further inflow would be of no significance,” he added.

“We expect rains to continue till Monday morning but the weather is unpredictable.” Tejinder Singh, president, Jammu and Kashmir Kisaan Council, said the paddy crop which was sown late may get affected.

He said, “The paddy crop sown in June may not be affected directly but for the crop sown later, the yield may be affected, if rains continue. Vegetables crop would be affected the most due to prolonged rains and cloudy weather conditions. Most of the vegetable crops are prone to various diseases due to the increased moisture content.”

Jammu, September 8
Calling upon people to avail maximum benefits from the welfare schemes, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand said the state government had taken many initiatives in order to address welfare requirements of different strata of the society and to encourage youth.

Addressing a public meeting, a monthly public contact programme, at Khour, he said it is a duty of the administration and the local panchayat representatives to provide all necessary details of the schemes to the beneficiaries.

Tara Chand said the government is committed to take the development revolution to all parts of the state and special care has been taken to address the infrastructure requirements of border and rural parts of the state. He said to improve power infrastructure in the area, a grid station has come up at Kaleeth at the cost of Rs 50 crore.

“Besides launching mega-infrastructure development projects in the state, the government has taken many welfare initiatives like SKEWPY, MNREGA, and other schemes for weaker sections, elders, migrants, widows and people living below poverty line,” he added.

Additional sistrict Development Commissioner, Jammu Rehana Batul, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Akhnoor N.S.Jamwal and other officers and engineers of various departments attended the meeting.

Rajouri, September 8
The Minister of State for Transport, PDD, CAPD and Forest handed over two garbage disposal vehicles to the Municipal Committee, Rajouri, at a function on Thursday. He said improvement of infrastructure in urban areas is the priority of the government.

These vehicles would help in lifting the garbage as well as keep the town clean. He asked the municipal authorities to ensure that work on several urban infrastructure projects was completed on time.

He said the construction of lanes and drains in the town had cost Rs 2 crore so far. He said like other towns of the state the power infrastructure of Rajouri town is also being improved and augmented under the RAPDRP. He said for the purpose Rs 12 crore was being spent under the said programme. He said urban infrastructure in other towns of the district was also being upgraded. He said the government was keen to transfer the powers to the people at the grassroots level for the all-round development of the state.

He said besides taking several bold and reformative steps, the government had already conducted panchayat elections successfully. He said soon the government would also conduct the municipal elections in the state.

Jammu, September 8
Rich tributes were paid to Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah on the occasion of his 30th death anniversary at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan here today. National Conference ministers, legislators and other senior leaders were present.

Addressing the gathering, Rattan Lal Gupta, the provincial president of the National Conference, said Sheikh Abdullah was a towering personality internationally known for his contribution in promoting secular and democratic values. He fought a long war for the rights of the people of the state and worked shoulder to shoulder with national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Abdul Kalam Azad and Raj Gopal Archarya, he said. He remained in prison for 22 years, he added. He was a visionary leader and had rejected the two-nation theory, which had led to the Partition of India.

Surjeet Singh Slathia, the Minister for Industry and commerce said the National Conference was a secular party founded by Sheikh Abdullah. Abdul Gani Malik, the Minister for Higher Education and Labour Employment, also paid rich tributes to the great leader and highlighted the achievements of the coalition government in the state.

Thakur Rashpal Singh MLA , Ajay Kumar Sadhotra MLC , Sheikh Bashir Ahmad provincial Secretary , Bimla Luthra MLA , Master Noor Hussian , Laxami Dutta , Jugal Mahajan , Rampal , Rekha Manhas , Ch. Haroon , Haji Mohd Hussian, Ayub Malik , Pardeep Bali, Kashmir Singh , Satpal Lokhotra , Dr. Kamal Arora , Pankaj Kohli Rajesh Bakashi , Mohinder Gupta , Ram Saroop , satwant Kour Dogra ,Diljeet Sharma Kuldeep Kour , S.S Bunty , Nar Singh, Dharam veer Jamwal , Ashok Singh , Subash Bhagat , Rashida Begum , Ashok Dogra , Rakesh Singh Chib, Veena Obrai , Pinky Bhat , Satya Jamwal , Sain Dass, Ch. Rehmit, Sarvan Singh Chib , Rakesh Singh Raka, ,Kurana , Shipra , , Amit Koul , S. Balwinder Singh , KD Singh , Rachpal Singh , Ch. Akhtar , Parminder Singh , Gurnam Singh , Dilbeer Singh , Sham Mehra , Vinod Tak , ML Munshi., Varun Talwar and others also spoke on the occasion.

Jammu, September 8
The working chairman of the National Panthers Party (NPP) Harsh Dev Singh, an MLA, criticised the state government for inordinate delay in release of honorarium for sarpanches and panches in consonance with the assurance given by it in response to a question raised by him during the budget session 2012 in the assembly.

In a statement issued here today, Singh pointed out that the Minister for Rural Development, in a written reply to his question, had stated that the proposal of giving honorarium to the elected members of the panchayats had been moved to the Finance Department.

He said that the minister had made a categorical statement but the government had failed to take any action thereafter despite the fact that the panchayats had completed duration of more than 18 months since their formation.

Singh stated that the elected members of the panchayats were entitled to receive remuneration and emoluments in accordance with various provisions of the Panchayat Raj Act.

The Section 10 of the Panchayat Raj Act categorically deals with the payment of monthly honorarium to the elected sarpanches, along with sitting fee to be paid to the panches.

Expressing a concern over the functioning of the Rural Development Department, Singh said they need to ensure proper co-ordination between elected officials, village level workers (VLWs), block development officers (BDOs) and various other functionaries of the department.

Jammu, September 8
In the recently held meeting of the Jammu Private Schools and ETT Institutes Association (Progressive), the members criticised the state government for its indifferent attitude towards the private school education. They alleged that Chief Minister had not paid any heed to increasing corruption cases in the education department.

The association highlighted the several cases of nepotism, corruption and misappropriation of funds that have cropped up in the education department.

In the face of non-responsiveness especially when the CM holds the school education portfolio, the association pointed out that there is an urgent need for the administration to come out of its slumber mode and take action against the culprits who are openly selling education in the market without promoting credibility in the field.

They expressed their discontentment over the functioning of several JK Board schools in the city and the state wherein the Education Board has failed to establish a research wing or to revise the syllabus. Allegations were also drawn up questioning the disposal of funds granted to the Board since no new work has been initiated by the authorities concerned.

The members suggested that the Chief Minister should take initiative to constitute province-level committees to keep a check on educational quality in the area.

Jammu, September 8
The Sampark Economical Development Society in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art Culture and Languages today organised a composite mushaira at Kashmiri Pandit Sabha Amphalla, Jammu.

Mustaq Ali Punjabi, an eminent poet, conducted the function. Many poets like Gopal Verma and Vijay Malla from Jammu, Suraj Narian Saraf from Kathua, Brij Nath Amar from Kishtwar, Ramdiita Sharma, Vijay Jeetu from Arina, Sahil Sharma “Lalla”, Romesh Chander and others, recited their poems. — TNS