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Few takers for VLDS
Protests over ‘anti-Islam’ film leads to chaos on city roads
Vehicles stuck in a traffic jam on the Tawi bridge following a protest against the ‘anti-Islam’ film in Jammu on Friday.
Tribune photo: Inderjeet Singh |
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Finally, recarpeting of damaged roads begins in city
Workers of the Roads and Building Department repair a damaged road in Jammu on Friday.
Tribune photo: Anand Sharma
Bar on BlackBerry services puts users to inconvenience
Body on Pandits’ rehab a rubber stamp, says Panun Kashmir
Sportspersons resent inordinate delay in grant of scholarships
NC-Cong govt a failure: BJP
Jammu university offers MA economics in public policy
Tithwal Brigade gives computers to school
Army personnel along with school officials pose with new computers at Government
Middle School, Bisali. A Tribune photograph
Peace prerequisite for progress, prosperity, says minister
'Display your talent' event organised at Jammu varsity
GDC Hiranagar beat GDC Udhampur
JU orders shifting of IMFA classes
NPSU protests against state government
KCC script win over SCC
Traffic awareness camps held
3 die in mishap
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Few takers for VLDS
Jammu, September 21 Officials said while there has been some response in this region, in the Kashmir valley, only a few hundred consumers have disclosed their actual load. The VLDS scheme was aimed at designing new system for the distribution of electricity from the grid stations. Though officials claim that 1,00,751 KW load
was revised by the department since the start of the scheme in May, it has failed to meet the required targets. Officials from the Power Development Department (PDD) said despite the announcement for general amnesty for the illegal users of electricity under the scheme, it has not generated much response from the public. Against a demand of 2,600 MW, the agreement load is around 1,600 MW only for all categories of consumers in J&K, mainly because people are drawing excess electricity. The PDD supplies 11 billion units of power, which costs the state a whopping Rs 3,000 crore annually but only 4 billion units worth Rs 1,200 crore are billed by the consumers. “People have taken steps initiated by the government for granted. Though some of the consumers have submitted their new details, not much has been achieved by this exercise”, an official claimed. There were 12,77,369 registered consumers with the department in 2010-11 and the department had installed only 5,09,685 electronic meters, leaving over 7.5 lakh consumers to use power without
meters. “There is huge unaccounted load of power drawn by ghost consumers. In the Kashmir valley, people are not even depositing their regular bills”, revealed a source. “Overloading is the main cause for failure of transformers and we have launched this scheme to design new system which is beneficial for consumers”, said Minister for State for Power (MoS) Shabir Khan. However, the minister said the VLDS could not be termed as failure, but the consumers are gradually coming forward after some strict measures were taken by the government. Illegal load has become a major killer of nearly 40,000 transformers installed in Jammu and Kashmir. Around 15,000 transformers get damaged annually because they are not been able to hold the additional illegal load. Principal Secretary PDD Sudhanshu Pandey said people need to cooperate by availing the amnesty scheme, as it will allow them to identify the
shortcomings in the existing system. “The PDD is facing a precarious situation since its distribution system is not designed to cater to the total installed connected load. The system is grossly inadequate considering the magnitude of the actual installed connected load, which the system is required to cater to”, Pandey said. ‘Ghost Users’
Overloading is the main cause for failure of transformers and we have launched the VLDS to design new system which is beneficial for
consumers — Shabir Khan, Power Minister People have taken the steps initiated by the government for granted. Though some of the consumers have submitted their new details, not much has been achieved by this
exercise — PDD official |
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Protests over ‘anti-Islam’ film leads to chaos on city roads
Jammu, September 21 The protesters burnt the effigies of the US, Israel and other western countries and also the American flags. They said everyone was hurt over the video as it was an ‘open attack’ on Islam. They raised anti-US slogans and urged the government to cut all its diplomatic ties with the western countries soon. The protesters took a peaceful rally starting from the Bhatindi Chowk to the national highway blocking the NH-1 for around half an hour. Gafoor Dar, a protester, said, “Insulting a religion can never be tolerated and also the film has showed Islam in a much degraded manner. This is an insult for all the followers of Islam. We want that the United States should apologise for this and the film should be banned forever”. Many Hindu organisations also joined the protest. Members of the Shiv Sena (Hindustan) staged a protest against the US and burnt its effigy against the ‘acts of blasphemy’ and said it was wrong to attack the basics of any religion. Batote: A large number of Muslims in Bhaderwah in Doda district and several places in Ramban district expressed anger over the video by taking out peaceful processions today. In Bhaderwah, the protesters took out a protest rally from Seri Bazaar to Jama Masjid in Quila Mohalla via Gatha and Domail at 11 am. Reportedly, an angry mob burnt tyres on roads to stop traffic. Consequently, the traffic in the city remained suspended for about two hours. The Muslims held peaceful demonstrations at Batote, Ramban, Banihal and Chanderkot after the Friday prayers. Raising slogans and carrying placards, the protesters condemned the ‘blasphemous’ video. |
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Finally, recarpeting of damaged roads begins in city
Jammu, September 21 The stretch from the BC Road to Janipur has been damaged for the past three months after the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) and National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) started the sewerage laying work. Officials said with monsoon season receding and funds being released by the government, the macadamisation work will be taken up on a war footing to complete the process before the Darbar move in November during which the government will function from the winter capital, Jammu, for six months. For the entire day today, thousands of commuters had to face a harrowing time to pass through the area, as only one road on the busy BC Road was open for traffic. Few days ago, hundreds of residents of Janipur, New Plot, Sarwal and Disco Morh had taken to streets protesting against the poor condition of roads and delay on the part of the administration to improve its condition. At present, there are 21 roads having aggregate length of 12 kilometres which are damaged in the city. Further, there are many localities where streets have been dug out by the contractors for laying sewerage lines. “I hope the work is completed soon as for the past six months the commuters passing through the area are facing a lot of problems. Even roads in interior areas of the city are in a poor condition”, said Rohit Sharma, a bank employee. The total road length
in the city is 704.22 km and per kilometre density of vehicles is 574. The situation has been worsening with each passing day with the addition of new cars, tractors, motor bikes, trucks, matadors and buses. Sushil Sharma, another resident, said for the last more than four years, the project to facelift the city is under execution and it has turned Jammu into a war zone. “The main roads and bylanes are dug and left unfilled for months together, not to speak of being metalled, even drains have been damaged”, Sharma said. |
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Bar on BlackBerry services puts users to inconvenience
In an order issued by the Home Department, it was mentioned that downloading or uploading of content from all Internet portals with regard to videos, messages, comments and excerpts of the blasphemous video titled “Innocence of Muslims” or by any other name shall be barred. Though the order was mentioned only for barring a particular video from all the websites available on the Internet, the state government barred the Blackberry services and YouTube across the state after 5 pm yesterday. “The Short Message Services (SMS) on pre-paid connection are already not working in the state. Now the Blackberry services and the YouTube have also been blocked here. It seems that we are still living in the dark ages. If the government wanted, they could have blocked that single video from the Internet, but barring modes of communication is no solution to any problem,” said Satish Sharma, a businessman from Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. “I have been using the Blackberry services for the past two years. Now suddenly snapping off these services has created lots of problems for us. Also, if the government wants to maintain peace, then there are other methods also, whereas the Blackberry is used by a selected number of people here,” he added. However, the state government had invoked the ban on short message services in June 2010 for an indefinite period. Though the SMS on postpaid mobile phones were restarted after a few months, the pre-paid customers are yet to get the service back. As per the orders, it was mentioned that to ensure that bulk mails that are being generated from their subscribers or clients do not contain the file or versions of “Innocence of Muslims” and the content and in case of suspicion or detection, the same would be blocked and filtered. |
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Body on Pandits’ rehab a rubber stamp, says Panun Kashmir
Jammu, September 21 The committee was constituted by the government to start the rehabilitation process of the Pandits back in the Valley, which they had left after the eruption of militant insurgency in 1989, during which many community members were killed by the terrorists. Few days after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah chaired a meeting of committee members, two factions of the organisation led by Ajay Chrungoo and Agnishekhar, who were part of the Working Group (WG) constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006, have alleged that most of the members have been handpicked by the government and some of them are political workers of the National Conference (NC) and are in the meeting only to endorse the views of the government. They have alleged that during the implementation of the employment package for the community youth, the apex body allowed the unconstitutional point in the package, which forced the youth to give an undertaking that they will never seek transfer from the Valley, rendering them ‘hostages’ for the administration. “There is nothing new in the meeting held yesterday, these are just assurances which the government has been giving routinely. The real issue faced by the community, particularly the Jagti residents, remain as it is”, said Agnishekhar, one of the factions of the PK. Agishekhar claimed that all the members are
pro-establishment and the state government is just an implementing agency of the huge package announced by the Central government. On Tuesday, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had chaired the meeting of the apex committee in Srinagar and had assured the community that their relief and rehabilitaion was priority of the government. Another leader Ajay Chrungoo, who was nominated to the committee but did not join, alleged that nothing significant could happen in the meetings. “It cannot be called a meeting as the agenda is set by the government and members just give their consent. The government is trying to control the community and dictate its terms to the displaced Hindus of the Valley through a chosen few”, alleged Chrungoo. However, Anil Dhar, a National Conference (NC) leader who is part of the community chided away the stand of the Panun Kashmir. “It is a platform to discuss the issues of the displaced community and many of the issues like cash relief enhancement, employment package and improving the infrastructure in Jagti township were approved by the Chief Minister”. Dhar said the community members who have significant contribution in social life represent that committee. “Sanction has been allotted to the relaxation of upper age limit prescribed for entry into government service by 3 years in favour of Kashmiri Hindus and the Chief Minister has announced that he will pursue the case with the Centre to increase the relief assistance”, Dhar said. |
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Sportspersons resent inordinate delay in grant of scholarships
Jammu, September 21 According to sources, the DYSS had earlier assured the aggrieved sportspersons that the matter would be taken up on priority basis with the state government to release an additional grant for the disbursement of scholarships but an inordinate delay in deciding the fate had eventually infuriated the medal winners of 57th National School Games. The sources added that it was for the first time that the additional grant had not been released by the state government on time for the DYSS for disbursing scholarships to the sportspersons. “We are fed up with the assurances from the DYSS officials who are now focusing on conducting selection trials to pick the state contingent in multi disciplines for the 58th edition of the National School Games”, one of the outstanding sportspersons told The Tribune on the condition of anonymity. “This is not the way to treat the budding sportspersons who are working hard to bring laurels to the state”, he maintained. “If the Department fails to disburse scholarships, it will not only raise doubts over the credibility of the department but will also affect the performance of the state contingent in the upcoming National School Games”, another sportspersons claimed. “What to talk of providing infrastructural facilities to its sportspersons, the government has failed to address our basic grievances”, he maintained. “If the authorities concerned fail to take a decision on the disbursement of scholarships, then we will have no option but to stop participating in the competitions in future because there is no logic to waste energy as the government is least bothered about the achievements of its sportspersons”, another sportsperson quipped. As per rules, the medalists (outstanding sportspersons) will get a scholarship of Rs 10,000 while the participants in various competitions will get a scholarship of Rs 1,750.
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NC-Cong govt a failure: BJP
Jammu, September 21 He alleged that problems like rampant corruption, unemployment, inflation and denial of the 73rd Amendment to the panchayats in the state forced the common man to live in a miserable condition. He said no legal power had been transferred to the panchayats and all claims made by the government in this contest were a ‘mere eyewash’. He said the killing of panches and sarpanches in the Kashmir valley was the ‘murder’ of democracy and demanded adequate security for the panches and sarpanches in the state. The MLA said the present ‘anarchy’ and ‘chaos’ in the state was a result of the ‘failure’ of the system. He described the NC-Congress regime as the ‘directionless coalition’ meant just to ‘grab power’. He assured the public that the BJP would continue its fight for the common man in the Assembly as well as on roads. After the public meeting, Kishore went to the residence of a cancer patient, Kaki Bibi, and handed over a cheque of Rs 25,000 to her husband Bashir Ahmed for her treatment. He also inaugurated many development projects during his tour of the
constituency. |
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Jammu university offers MA economics in public policy
Jammu, September 21 Professor Dipankar
Sengupta, head of the Economics Department, said the aim of the proposed MA programme was to train economists to analyse matters that belonged to the realm of public policy. “What is unique about the programme is that while most masters programmes in public policy are interdisciplinary
programmes, MA economics (with specialisation in public policy) analyses public policy from an economist's perspective,” he said. He added that currently similar programmes were offered by a few institutes in the country like the IIM
Bangalore, TERI University, New Delhi, etc. He said the procedural impediments in syllabus formation had led to a delay in the launching of the course. “The department expects to start classes form early October. The department will entertain application forms till September 28 and
BCom, BBA and BA (with economics) graduates are eligible to apply,” he said. He explained the rationale for this new programme by pointing out that those who had been following the changes in the Indian economy were aware of the problems and challenges it faced due to inadequate infrastructure, constraints on natural resources as well as the potential and actual challenges created by climate change. “The 16-course MA economics (with specialisation in public policy) is a self-financing programme with 25 seats. The course fee is Rs 60,000 apart from the other fees and admissions have been kept open till September 28,” he added. |
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Tithwal Brigade gives computers to school
Rajouri, September 21 Computers with peripherals, including UPS, printers, speakers, tables and chairs, were also given to the school. The function was attended by a large number of people, including prominent local personalities like Mohd Mustaq Ahmed, Zonal Education Officer, Doongi Block, Sarfraz Khan, sarpanch, Thatiyali, Mohd Sadiq Hussain, sarpanch, Jhallas village. “I am deeply touched by the noble gesture of the Army. Now, my son will be able to operate computers, which will subsequently help him in this technical era,” said Mohd Kaayyum, a resident of Bisali village. Mohd Sadiq Hussain, sarpanch of Jhallas village, said, “There is no computer education in these remote schools, but such a step by the Army will definitely increase the knowledge of computers and information technology in our children”. Col N Gojendra Singh, Commanding Officer, 2 MAHAR Regiment, urged the teachers and students to derive maximum advantage of the facilities being provided by the
Army and motivate children to work hard for a bright future. |
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Peace prerequisite for progress, prosperity, says minister
Jammu, September 21 He was addressing an ‘Aman Jyothi Peace Meet’ at Carmel Convent High School, Kunjwani, organised by the Catholic Social Service Society in association with the J&K Peace Mission, here today. The minister said peace was a prerequisite for the progress and prosperity of the state, adding that every necessary step must be taken to further strengthen peace and tranquillity. He said during turmoil in the state, the development sectors, especially education, suffered a lot thus affecting growth and economy. He said normalcy had been restored with the cooperation of the people and development activities had been taken up on a fast track under various vital sectors like the PHE, PDD, R&B, ERA, Health and education in the state. Referring to the turmoil period in the state, Bhalla said this had led to man and material losses and severely damaged the communal harmony, secular ethos and value system. He said in the wake of the Partition in 1947, when the entire sub-continent was in the grip of a communal frenzy, it was in Jammu and Kashmir state that Mahatma Gandhi had seen a ray of light.
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'Display your talent' event organised at Jammu varsity
Jammu, September 21 The month-long inter-collegiate and departmental event was organised by the Department of Students Welfare, University of Jammu. Surbhi Sharma from Government Degree College (GDC), Kathua, and Rahul Kumar from GDC, Reasi, bagged the second and third prizes, respectively. The certificates of merit were awarded to Mobeen Sayeed from the Department of Political Science, University of Jammu, Jyoti Chandan from GDC, Reasi , and Simran Gupta from the Government College of Engineering and Technology, Jammu. In collage contest, Rigzin Paljor from the Institute of Music and Fine Arts, Jammu, bagged the first prize, while Rimpla Kumari from the Department of Commerce, University of Jammu, and Jasneet Kour from GCW, Parade, were adjudged as second and third, respectively. |
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Chess Championship Tribune News Service
Jammu, September 21 In other matches, the GDC, Samba, trounced GDC Paloura by 3-1; the MIET, Jammu, defeated the GDC, Akhnoor, by 4-0; the SPMR College of Commerce, Jammu, registered win over the GDC, Poonch, by 4-0; the GDC Bhaderwah defeated the GDC, Reasi, by 3-1; the GDC, Kathua, beat the GDC, Billawer, by 4-0 and the GCET defeated GGM Science College. Dr Nutan Kumar Resutra, principal of the host College, also visited the venue and encouraged the participating teams. The matches were officiated SP Sharma and Sushil Kumar Sawhney from the University of Jammu under the supervision of PD Singh, who is also observer from the University of Jammu.
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JU orders shifting of IMFA classes
Jammu, September 21 According to Public Relations Officer of Jammu University, the university has hired a “spacious accommodation” at the Tawish College of Education, Channi Rama, Jammu, for the classwork of the IMFA. “This temporary arrangement has been made till the building of the institute at Poonch House is renovated and put to use,” the PRO said. He added that the Principal had been requested to advise the students of the institute to call off their agitation in the interest of their academic pursuit and immediately start the shifting of the departments from Poonch House to Tawish College of Education’s premises and start the course work at the earliest. The students of the institute had been boycotting their classes for the past 12 days. They had started their agitation after a portion of their institute’s building had collapsed on September
11. |
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NPSU protests against state government
Jammu, September 21 “There is already a shortage of teachers in the state and the government is delaying the procedure of appointing selected teachers,” said Varinder Singh. He further said the state government should speed up the process of appointing the teachers so that studies of students do not suffer. He added that the Service Selection Board (SSRB) had advertised the posts last year but to date none of the candidates could join in any of the district of the state. |
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KCC script win over SCC
Jammu, September 21 Batting first, KCC was bowled out for 62 runs in 18 overs. Kuldeep Tickoo was the top scorer with 18 runs while Sudhir Peshin and Aman Zutshi contributed 15 and 14 runs, respectively. For SCC, Vikas took three wickets while Sonu Singh and Rajender took two and one wicket, respectively. In reply, SCC could manage only 32 runs in the stipulated 20 overs. For KCC, Nasir was took four wickets while Sanjay Kher took three wickets. Tashur Koul took two wickets.
— TNS |
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Traffic awareness camps held
Jammu, September 21 Drivers, transporters and commuters were educated regarding the measures to be taken to put an end to road accidents in which precious lives are lost every year. Measures for smooth flow of traffic in both the districts were also discussed at length. |
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The much-hyped Voluntary Load Disclosure Scheme (VLDS) to detect “ghost electricity users” started by the Power Development Department (PDD) has come a cropper, as only 40,246 applications have been received under the scheme in the Jammu division. The Jammu region has nearly 5 lakh electricity users.
Jammu, September 21
Jammu, September 21
Rajouri, September 21
Jammu, September 21
