|
|
|
|
|
Two cars gutted in cylinder blast
Land settlement process may take another seven years
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Azad reviews work of super specialty hospital
‘Include ‘Gojri’ in 8th schedule’
Raghunath Bazar upgrade plan hangs fire for 4 yrs
7 fined for smoking in public places
Batote Beopar Mandal constituted
DDC reviews implementation of rural power scheme
Public Darbar
Maharaja Hari Singh’s birth anniversary celebrated
Woman crushed to death
Meeting on economic census organised
Vocational training centre opened
Smuggler, two bootleggers
arrested
Quarterfinals’ lineup drawn in snooker championship
Volleyball tourney begins
|
|
Two cars gutted in cylinder blast
Jammu, September 23 Though no one was injured in the fire, there was a total chaos in the locality as the area residents were shocked by the incident, forcing many of them to call the Police Control Room for help. The vehicles that were destroyed included a Maruti van bearing registration number JK02R-1755, which was parked outside a private school and a Wagon R bearing registration number JK0AJ-8759. Eyewitnesses said fire started from the Maruti van, which later spread to another vehicle. “The accidental fire engulfed the car before it spread to the Wagon-R parked nearby and damaged it completely,” the police said. Local resident Sandeep Singh said there was a total confusion after the fire and the people heard small explosion. “Most of the residents were quite frightened after the fire was detected. Some youngsters tried to move towards the vehicles but they were not able to stop it. People are still frightened,” he said. Locals say two fire tenders reached the spot and controlled the blaze. A case has been registered at the Gandhi Nagar police station and investigation was on to ascertain the cause of accident. The police said so far they have not detected any mischief and leakage from a gas cylinder might be reason for the fire. |
||
|
Land settlement process may take another seven years
Jammu, September 23 Officials said shortage of patwaris and other employees is hampering the work, as the present strength is too overstretched thereby slowing down the process initiated under the National Land Record Management (NLRM), with the Revenue Department urging the Centre to release additional funds to recruit manpower so that the process is taken up on a fast-track basis. Out of 679 villages in Jammu district, the process has been completed in just 381 villages. Across the region, the Revenue Department has been able to complete the process in just 841 villages out of 2,150 villages identified for the purpose. The process was to be completed in five years in a phased manner after it was started in 2008. As per records, despite the government announcing it as a priority project in the state, the Revenue Department has failed to achieve targets due to insufficient patwaris and computers to process the voluminous data. Minister for Revenue Raman Bhalla said despite problems, the government has set a target of six years for the completion of the project across the state. “We have succeeded in reducing the survey and record preparation time per khasra number, making it possible to complete the entire operation in next five to six years. New staff will also be recruited to deal with the data”, Bhalla said. “We have found that during the land survey that maximum time is consumed on the demarcation of common and state land boundaries. We hope to cut this delay with the help of vectorisation from the cadastral maps and use of relevant technological tools”, the minister said. The state government has also urged the Central government to allot funds under the NLRM on the basis of 90:10 pattern, which was earlier being released on 50:50 basis, citing fund shortage. Officials attribute the slow progress of work to the non-cooperation of villagers in many cases due to disputes over land within families. In some cases, the disputes are also pending in courts. However, sources said lack of staff is not the only problem which the department is facing. At times, the patwaris are engaged in various other works and there is dual control over the staff engaged by the department. Slow pace of work
|
||
|
Azad reviews work of super specialty hospital
Jammu, September 23 Azad, who visited the hospital today, was briefed by Minister for Medical and Technical Education RS Chib about the progress of work on the Rs 120-crore project at Resham Ghar Colony. He said posts of specialised doctors would be adverstised across the country so that patients in the state get best of medical assistance. “The government has decided that half of the post of doctors would be advertised in other states of the country while the process has been set to recruit the doctors in J&K on a fast-track basis”, Azad told mediapersons. He said the hospital would be functional by the end of this year as per the deadline set by the government. “Most of the construction work has been completed and the process is on to install the machinery. Directions have been issued to the agencies involved to speed up the process”, he said. Later, the minister reviewed the status of various faculties at a high-level meeting. The complex will have super specialties like neurology, cardiology, urology, cardio-thoracic and vascular surgery, neuro surgery, nephrology and renal transplant. He said the Health Department had been asked to send doctors for specialised training in other medical institutes of the country so that they are able to handle the equipment. The construction of the hospital was approved in February 2004 by the then Union government and work on the project was started during the tenure of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. For the Rs 120-crore project, the state government has received Rs 100 crore from the Centre while Rs 20 crore was contributed by the state government. |
||
|
Kashmiri Pandits protest
Jammu, September 23 The protesters had started a hunger strike on September 2 to pressurise the government regarding the enhancement of the cash relief. They today came out on roads holding banners and raised slogans against the government demanding immediate action into the matter. They alleged that the government was ignoring their demands. The state Cabinet had sent recommendations to the Home Ministry on June 20 to give the approval for the enhancement of cash relief up to Rs 10,000. Since then, many meetings of the apex committee members were held to discuss the matter with the higher authorities. The Chief Minister had assured a speedy action into the matter but no action has been taken as yet. |
||
|
‘Include ‘Gojri’ in 8th schedule’
Jammu, September 23 Seeking support from all political parties, linguistic groups, media and influential dignitaries of the country, the Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation - a frontal organisation of Gujjars - today sent an appeal to the Union government and sought an immediate amendment in the list of official languages of India through inclusion of Gojri - the oldest tribal language into it. Dr Javaid Rahi, secretary, Tribal Foundation, said Gojri has already been recommended to the Government of India for its inclusion in the Indian Constitution during the President’s rule period in the 1990s from Jammu and Kashmir. It is pending with Delhi since the past two decades. He said being one of the oldest and significant “Noted saint scholar and Hindi Persian poet of 13th century Hazrat Amir Khusroo had formally mentioned Gojri language in the list of 18 major Indian languages of his time. Several researchers and historians have already said that the Gojri language is the mother of Rajasthani, Gujarati, Urdu and Haryanvi languages,” he added. According to an analysis, Gojri language is the first language of 20 million people in south Asia, including India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. A good chunk of Gojri-speaking people are living in the state.
|
||
|
Raghunath Bazar upgrade plan hangs fire for 4 yrs
Jammu, September 23 The modernisation work was almost stopped due to lack of coordination between various agencies concerned. The Raghunath Bazaar Business Association (RBBA) president Baldev Khullar and other office-bearers met the Additional District Development Commissioner (ADDC), Jammu, and urged him to restart the work on the project which was left midway to restore the market. The market was established by the Dogra ruler Mahajara Ranbir Singh in 1850. Executive Engineer, PWD(R&B) Construction Division-II, Jammu, Executive Engineer, PHE city, Executive Engineer EM&RE PDD, Executive Engineer Sewerage and Drainage Division, General Manager NBCC and Manager BSNL were also present on the occasion. “There is need to speed up the work which is going on at a snail’s pace. Some proposals have never been taken up. The project that started in 2008 was expected to be completed in 2010 but very little has been done on ground,” Khullar said. Under the project, 400 metres portion of the market which one of the oldest business area in the city is will be upgraded through making the power distribution network more efficient, shifting of cables, paving of the road that passes through the bazaar with heavy duty red tiles interlocking blocks, installation of fire hydrants and providing benches for the sitting. “The bazaar is known for its dry fruit shops. It is a busy market where one can get designer boutiques,” said Mohit Gupta, senior vice-president. Sources say lack of coordination and planning between government agencies and internal bickering within the Raghunath Bazaar Business Association (RBBA) is said to have derailed the modernisation project of the historic market for last four years. Other office-bearers of the association present in the meeting were Madan Mohan Sharma, vice president, Sanjay Sethi, general secretary, Ashwani Kohli, secretary and Amit Kapoor, treasurer.
|
||
|
7 fined for smoking in public places
Jammu, September 23 The defaulters were fined on the Residency Road area of the city in the past two days for breaching Section 4 of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003, they said. During a joint special drive, the team of Food Safety Department and Drugs and Food Control Organisation realised Rs 1,200 from the defaulters as fine. As per the provisions of the Act, smoking in public places is a punishable offence. — PTI
|
||
|
Batote Beopar Mandal constituted
Batote, September 23 Sanjay Kumar Paroch was elected president of the Mandal unopposed for the second term consecutively. Ravinder Singh, Rajneesh Pargal and M Shakeel Bhat were elected vice-presidents; Harikrishen as general secretary, Satish K Sharma as cashier; M. Amin Sheikh and Niraj Paroch as joint secretaries. The other elected members included Dipak Kapoor, Ajaz Parihar, Gh.Haider, Nishu Gupta, S.Manjit Singh, Ashwani Kumar, Ratan Gopal, Dhiraj Kohli, Shakil Malik, Atul K Gupta, Sudesh Paroch, Tarlok Gir, Anayatullah Salaria, Mulkh Raj, Sudesh Kumar, Th Karnail Singh, M Rafiq and M Latif. Exhorting to make this election a biennial affair Sanjay said each of the trade community was given a representation in the Mandal and assured to strive to work for the welfare of the traders and the society at large.
|
||
|
DDC reviews implementation of rural power scheme
Rajouri, September 23 The meeting was attended by the superintending and executive engineers of the EM&RE and RGGVY and contractor executing the Pir Panchal Private Limited project. The scheme was sanctioned for the electrification of 687 non-electrified habitations in the district, including six non-electrified villages. Keeping in view the sluggish implementation of the scheme, the DDC had set fortnightly targets for the JKSPDC and the Power Development Department (PDD) in the last meeting held in July 2012, with an aim of completing the execution of works under the scheme by the end of December. The DDC said the JKSPDC had been able to speed up the work in the past few months and had installed complete infrastructure in 356 and partial in 60 habitations. The PDD had energised and operationalised sub-stations in 81 habitations so far. He said the jump in progress had been satisfactory as compared to the position in June when the infrastructure was installed only in 260 habitations and only 24 sub-stations had been energised. Biswas directed the officials of the JKSPDC and the PDD to gear up the implementation of the scheme to achieve 100 per cent targets by the end of December. He directed all the wings concerned to expedite joint inspections in all the sub-stations in a well coordinated manner according to the timeline already generated. He said any failure to comply with the timeline would be dealt with strictly. While the DDC asked the superintending engineer, EM&RE, to get all sub-stations charged as per the timeline, he also asked the superintending engineer, RGGVY, to devise a mechanism for the repair and maintenance of faults in new sub-stations in a seamless manner.
|
||
|
Minister distributes appointment letters to anganwari workers
Our Correspondent
Katra, September 23 The minister inspected the functioning of high and higher secondary schools in Mahore and took stock of working of other offices of the area. He distributed appointment letters among several anganwari workers and relief cheques to registered construction workers of the region. Addressing a public gathering on the occasion, the minister gave resume of various milestones of the present government and lauded the role of the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, in steering the state towards progress and prosperity in the past three years. He added that the opening up of 23 new degree colleges in the state in the past three years has provided opportunities to every student to go for higher and quality education.
|
||
|
Maharaja Hari Singh’s birth anniversary celebrated
Jammu, September 23 Vikas Sharma, president, NSF, appreciated the initiative taken by the university unit of the NSF to remember the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh. He was born in 1895 in Jammu and died on April 26, 1961, in Bombay. He was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of J&K. He said Maharaja Hari Singh was a great visionary who brought considerable reforms in the state during his regime. Hari Singh always worked for the development of downtrodden and oppressed class of the society. “He made primary education compulsory in the state, introduced laws prohibiting child marriage and opened the places of worship for the low castes,” he added.
|
||
|
Woman crushed to death
Rajouri, September 23 Reports said, Kulvinder Kaur, wife of Balvinder Singh of Bathoni was working in her house when her scarf was entangled in the machine. She was crushed to death on the spot. Later, the police sent her body to a local hospital for the post-mortem examination and then handed over it to family for last rites after completing all legal formalities.
|
||
|
IL&FS conducts health camps
Jammu, September 23 Dr Tausif Jalal from the Wockhardt Foundation and Dr Rajinder Singh Charak (retired state epidemiologist) disseminated the information among the schoolchildren as well as local people about the diseases commonly spread during monsoon. A multi-media projection was used to make the learning more effective. A general physical health check-up of the students and the community was also conducted in which 230 patients were given free medications. The school staff and the sarpanch of the Sanasar thanked the IL&FS and doctors for providing free health facility to the poor section of the society.
|
||
|
Meeting on economic census organised
Kathua, September 23 A discussion was held with members of the committee and officers engaged at the block levels regarding the conduct of the census in the district. The DDC said, “Field work for the economics census is a nationwide programme, which is likely to start in October, for which the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Jammu and Kashmir, has to make necessary arrangements of various items, including manpower.” She says 14 charge officers, in the rank of BDOs/ZEOs, 415 enumerators and 210 supervisors, have been deployed for the census. Assistant Director (Planning) Babu Ram Sharma, the resource person, explained in detail the economic activities which were to be enumerated in the census. He also elaborated upon instructions and guidelines pertaining to the census work. Chief Planning Officer, Kathua, Manoj Kapoor, Geneal Manager, Industries, Dr Bharat Bhushan, Chief Education Officer JK Suddan, all the block development officers, zonal education officers and statistical officers were present in the meeting.
|
||
|
Vocational training centre opened
atote, September 23 According to an official handout, as many as 30 sewing machines were donated to poor women trainees of the centre to uplift their standard and supplement their incomes. Besides zonal education officer, Mohd Sharif, Bhatyas, many villagers, including sarpanchs, panchs, teachers, senior citizens, children and women were also present at the function.
|
||
|
Smuggler, two bootleggers
arrested
Batote, September 23 Meanwhile, two persons carrying 216 pouches of J&K excise liquor in a
Banihal-bound vehicle (Tata Sumo-JK14-5910) was held by the police during a checking at Magarkote in Ramsoo today. The arrested bootleggers were identified as Atam Singh of Mavalkote Sangaldan and Hem Raj of
Udhyanpur, Doda. They were arrested under Section 48 (A) of the Excise Act. |
||
|
Ujjwal, Rahul clinch chess titles
Jammu, September 23 In the U-13 category, Puneet of the Pragmatic School bagged top honours while Prabhnoor Singh of the Jodhamal School emerged victorious in the U-11 category. The U-9 and U-7 titles went to Shashwat Sharma of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sunjuwan, and Dewang of the Jodhamal School respectively. The matches officiated by FIDE arbiter Anil Kotwal, along with Rohit Bhardwaj. The selected players in the championship will represent the state in the forthcoming National Schools Chess Championship slated to be held at New Delhi from October 26 to 29. Atul Kumar Gupta, joint secretary, All India Chess Federation and president of the All J&K Chess Association, along with Baldev Raj, secretary, distributed prizes among the winners and runners-up.
|
||
|
Quarterfinals’ lineup drawn in snooker championship
Jammu, September 23 In the pre-quarterfinals, Aditya Sharma spanked last year's runner-up Gagandeep Singh in a tough contest by 2-1 frames. Aditya lost the first frame tamely with a margin of 41-54. Gagandeep Singh though failed to seize the advantage after pocketing the first frame and lost the next by 54-64. Third frame went neck to next with both cueists played outstandingly game to emerge victorious but it Aditya who eventually had the last laugh with a frame margin of 43-33. Akshay Kumar bagged past against Mandeep Singh by 2-0 frames with utmost ease. The frame score read 48-36 and 70-42. In other matches played, Rohit Sodhi outclassed Vasudev Singh by 63-26 and 61-07, Abhi Gupta trounced Pankaj Sharma by 45-24 and 34-33, Sanjay Sharma toppled Sanand Sharma by 59-46 and 63-51 and Aditya Sharma beat Gaurav Panday by 24-53, 58-40 and 67-29.
|
||
|
Volleyball tourney begins
Jammu, September 23 The championship was inaugurated by SSP Kathua Atul Goel. Speaking on the occasion, SSP Kathua stressed upon the need to bring awareness among the youth to remain away from the of drugs and other anti-social activities. He suggested them to channelise their energy in a positive direction. In all, 20 teams of Hiranagar tehsil are competing in the sporting event.
|
||
|
| HOME PAGE |
| Punjab |
Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | |
Panic gripped the Sanjay Nagar area of the city today after a cylinder blast completely destroyed two cars parked in the
locality. A private school building was also damaged in the blast.
