Jammu, October 14
Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place for the annual Navratra festivities beginning in Katra - the base camp of holy cave shrine of Goddess Vaishno Devi - from October 16.

This was disclosed by Jammu Divisional Commissioner Pardeep Gupta while talking to mediapersons here this afternoon. Gupta, who is also the chairman of Navratra Festival Organising Committee, said various security agencies have been working in close coordination to ensure foolproof security arrangements for the Navratras.

“Security agencies are working in close coordination and vigil is being maintained to ensure peaceful festivities in Katra,” the Divisional Commissioner said, adding that 16 sub-committees had been constituted to make necessary arrangements.

Gupta said the festival would conclude on October 23 and is being organised jointly by the Department of Tourism, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB), district administration, Katra Municipal Committee and the local hospitality industry.

“The festival will be inaugurated by the Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand at Asia Chowk. The festival was started for popularising the holy cave shrine of Goddess Vaishno Devi as a major pilgrim destination of the state,” he said.

The Divisional Commissioner said a “shobha yatra-cum-cultural procession” of troupes and tableaux showcasing cultural and tradition of Jammu would commence in keeping with convention from Asia Chowk at 7 pm on all days from October 17 to 23.

“Other main attractions of the festival are All India devotional songs competition, cultural programmes, religious discourses (Bhagwat Katha), international wrestling competition, Hassya Vyangya event, Kavi Sammelan and exhibition of departmental stalls,” he said.

Over 10 million pilgrims from different parts of the country had paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine last year and the figure for pilgrims to the shrine had crossed the 7 million-mark in the first eight months of this year.

Jammu, October 14
With CM Omar Abdullah chairing a high-level meeting on Monday to review the LPG supply situation in the state, people are hopeful that cap on subsidised cylinders will be raised to nine from the present six per year.

Meanwhile, protests continue in various parts of the city against the poor supply of cylinders, which has created problems for the common man.

On Monday, a high-level meeting with oil companies was held in Srinagar to review the ongoing re-verification process for 2 lakh blocked LPG connections.

“Housewives are facing the pinch of the gas scarcity and there are lots of problems in getting LPG from distributors. Every middle class family will be affected if the subsidy cap is not increased from six to nine in J&K,” said Renu Vaid, a housewife.

Many allege that despite completion of LPG consumers’ verification in Jammu, most of them are still not getting home delivery of cylinders. Though the government has asked oil companies to speed up the verification process in order to save the public from inconvenience, consumers continue to be at the receiving end.

“The state should take steps to provide people domestic LPG at subsidised rates. Poor people could die of starvation, unable to cook food in the face of spiralling fuel costs,” said Sunil Dimple, president of Jammu West Assembly Movement (JWAM).

Dimple urged the Omar Abdullah-led coalition to take strong measures against black-marketing of LPG, which has become common.

There have been allegations that distributors are selling subsidised LPG cylinders to hoteliers and restaurants in black.

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) activists held a demonstration at Rehari, demanding that oil companies take action against distributors not providing people refills.

“A large number of consumers queueing up with cylinders outside outlets has become common. Numerous consumers have complained they are being made to suffer for no fault of theirs,” said Rajesh Sharma, a protester.

Jammu, October 14
The Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Pardeep Gupta, who has been appointed as Electoral Roll Observer for Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Rajouri and Poonch districts by the Election Commissioner of India, has appealed to the public and political parties to take part in the process of special summary revision of electoral rolls.

The special summary revision of electoral rolls is in progress and was started with draft publication of rolls on October 1. The final public of electoral rolls will be done on January 5, 2013.

Gupta has also appealed to recognised political parties to appoint booth-level agents for all the polling stations to facilitate revision of electoral rolls.

Jammu, October 14
Vijaypur town was in shock after the deaths of two youth in a tragic road mishap on Kunjwani-Narwal bypass road near Greater Kailash Chowk late last evening. Another youth and a labourer from Bihar were in coma after the mishap, that was apparently an outcome of “high-speed and rash-driving”.

Shrieks of womenfolk in the town rent the air throughout the day and families wept inconsolably after seeing the bodies, with some even falling unconscious.

The deceased were identified as Dheeraj Kumar Sharma (24), son of Mohan Lal and Deepak Choudhary (21), son of Ram Kumar, both residents of Vijaypur.

The injured, identified as Hoshiar Singh alias Munna (22) of Vijaypur and labourer Babu Chand, a resident of Chapra in Bihar, residing at Greater Kailash, were battling for life at Military Hospital Satwari and Government Medical College & Hospital Jammu respectively.

The mishap brought to the fore penchant of youth for high-speed motorbikes and failure of the police when it comes to checking the problem of triple-riding at high speed.

“The youth engaged in triple-riding a Yamaha Fazer motorcycle at a high speed. They hit a labourer who was crossing the road near Greater Kailash Chowk at around 8.30 pm. They couldn’t control the motorcycle and fell on the road. The speed of the motorcycle could be judged as the trio fell metres away from the accident site and sustained head injuries,” a police officer investigating the matter said.

He lamented that there had been instances of youth going on a triple-ride with their friends at high speed, which caused problems to pedestrians and other road-users, while parents still purchase high-speed motorcycle for their wards.

According to family sources, Dheeraj was the youngest among three brothers and his elder brothers are abroad, while Deepak, who was recently selected for the Excise Department and was undergoing training, was the eldest among three siblings, having two sisters. His father is a mini bus driver. Munna was recently selected for Border Security Force (BSF).

“There’s no information about the purpose of their 30-km-long journey to Jammu. They were on their way home when they met with an accident,” sources said.

The local shopkeepers in their respective wards kept their shutters down and visited families of the deceased to express grief over the mishap. Hundreds from the town are said to have attended the last rites.

Jammu, October 14
In absence of required parking space, private vehicles continue to create traffic mess outside the Government Women College (GWC) and Presentation Convent School, Gandhi Nagar. Every day, there is a huge jam outside the educational institutions during the morning and afternoon.

Traffic can be a nightmare during the morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up, with drivers climbing on to pavements and having narrow escapes as they ferry students along the Satwari-Bikram Chowk road.

Hundreds of students reach and leave their respective schools almost at the same time everyday and bedlam rules the streets outside these educational institutions, hassling commuters and parents who come to drop their kids. The problem is more acute outside Presentation Convent School, Delhi Public School (DPS) and St Peter’s School.

While these roads witness heavy vehicular traffic every day, erratic parking on the roadside by private vehicles and sometimes school buses adds to the menace.

"We are trying our best to avoid traffic blockades. Buses are parked inside the campus during loading and unloading of students. But the traffic goes out of control during dispersal," said a traffic inspector.

“The situation in the morning is still manageable, but it's in the afternoon that vehicular movement is really stalled,” said a parent, Sandeep Singh.

Some motorists are said to have hurled abuses. Mirrors of cars and lorries whizzing past have reported clipping.

Despite Supreme Court of India ruling regarding safety of school buses carrying children, most private schools are violating norms in the city, endangering lives of children.

Jammu, October 14
To cut power loss and ensure adequate electricity supply, Power Development Department (PDD) has started the first phase of replacing the low-voltage distribution system (LVDS) with the high-voltage distribution system (HVDS) in the selected areas of the state.

Under this new system, apart from installing coded cables, the power company is also installing meters on distribution transformers for proper audit of energy consumption as per the energy accounting system. Besides, meters would also be installed outside houses of consumers to prevent tampering and theft.

Officials said the department has also decided to approach Asian Development Bank (ADB) to fund the entire project in the state, as part of the reform process.

“It is one of the effective system as use of plastic coated cables will prevent hooking and also reduce transmission loses, which has crossed the 63 per cent mark,” said an official.

The State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) had also directed the department to switch over to this new system for which the detailed report was prepared under Re-Accelerated Power Development Reforms Programme (RE-APDRP).

“When completed new distribution systems will be integrated with meters installed in the residential and commercial areas. Fresh measures would be initiated to take strict action against the people involved in power thefts,” said Shabir Ahmed Khan, MoS Power.

In 2010-11 report, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) also castigated the state government for failing to implement HVDS to contain increasing T&D losses.

Despite crores of rupees earmarked by the government to curb the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses, a survey conducted by the PDD shows that in some urban localities in Jammu it have reached up to 80 per cent mainly because of the unregistered load.

Officials claim that the survey has also revealed that the average consumption in the region has increased by 15 lakh unit per day this year as compared to the same period previous year and occasionally the consumption exceeds upto 30 lakh units per day.

Jammu, October 14
Department of Posts today organised a postmasters' conference at Police Auditorium, Gulshan Ground, Jammu.

An interactive session was held for the postmasters' of Jammu division with Chief Postmaster General to ascertain the ground level situation.

Jagdeep Gupta, director, Postal Services, highlighted the initiatives taken by J&K Postal circle under the leadership of John Samuel Chief Post master General in transforming the post office in J&K which included modernisation of the post office in a phased manner.

Amit Sharma, director, finance, J&K Postal Circle, while speaking on the occasion spoke about the 24 per cent growth in overall revenue generation and 40 per cent growth in saving banks during the last financial year.

During this conference faculty of Business School of Jammu University gave discourse on customer relation, team building and conflict resolution.

The function was presided over by John Samuel, Chief Postmaster General, J&K.

Jammu, October 14
'Display your talent 2012-13', organised by the Department of Students Welfare, University of Jammu, concluded with the 'folk dance' competition at Brig Rajinder Singh auditorium here today.

The students from the Government Degree College, Samba, bagged the first prize. The students from the Women College, Parade, Jammu, and Department of Mathematics, Jammu University, were adjudged as second and third, respectively.

The participating teams presented Dogri folk dance Jagarna, Kud; Gujarati-Graba, Rajasthani Dance, Kallbeliya; Punjabi Folk, Bhangra and Gidda.

The jam packed auditorium echoed with the beats of dhol, dholak, melodious notes of flute and captivating sound of anklets. Every good presentation was applauded by the audience.

Dr Inderjeet Singh, Advocate; Anuradha Sethi Kohli and Arti Mehta Mahajan were the members of jury for folk dance event.

Professor Jasbir Singh, Chairman Campus Cultural Committee was the chief Guest on the occasion while Prof NK Tripathi, dean, students welfare, University of Jammu, presided over the function.

Jammu, October 14
Dhangri Panchayat defeated Doongi to move into the next round of the U-16 boys’ basketball in the inter-panchayat tournament of Rajouri, Nowshera, Sunderbani and Kalakote being organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports {DYSS) , under the centrally sponsored scheme, Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA).

In other basketball matches played, Mubarak Pura Panchayat defeated Muradpur while Sankari thrashed Bathuni to move into the next round. In volleyball U-16 boys’ matches, Chingas subdued Agrati, Dhangri defeated Mubarak Pura and Doongi thrashed Chowdhary Nar-Panchayat to advance in the next round of the tournament.

In handball U-16 boys’ matches, Sassalkote Panchayat beat Bathuni, Sawani beat Potha and Muradpur beat Doongi.

In badminton U-16 girls’ matches, Palam Panchayat beat Agrati, south panchayat, in the final match to clinch the title.

The matches were officiated by Gulzar Ahmed, Manjit Singh Anand, Balwinder Singh, Surinder Singh, Mohammad Farooq, Rajinder Kumar, Naresh Kumar, Koushal Kumar, Mir Alam, Mohammad Arif Mir, Mohd Waseem, Majid Khan, Abrar Khan, Skinder Azam, Mushtaq Ahmed, Manzoor Mir, Tariq Shah, Hanief Mir and Suresh Bali. 

Jammu, October 14
Ravi Sharma of hosts J&K produced a clinical performance to topple formidable Somil Randheliya of Madhya Pradesh to take his points tally to 4.5 points while Tamojit Chakraborty of West Bengal and Manuja Piyush continued to lead points table with 5 points apiece after the completion of six rounds today in the ongoing Patnitop FIDE Rating All India Chess Championship being held at Hotel Mount Shivalik, Patnitop here.

The J&K players showed better temperament in the sixth round as compared to the previous rounds and managed to focus well against their respective opponents. Atul Kumar of J&K toppled his compatriot Adil Ashraf Rather to take his points tally to 4.5 points.

Puneet Choudhary of J&K got the better of Sahil J Mehta of Gujarat to take his points tally to 3 points while Tasaduq Syed Madni scripted a win against his compatriot Chatanya Sharma to fetch 1 point.

Another state player Shivinder Chib drew with Jatinder Singh of Punjab. His point tally stood at 3.5 points. Meenal Gupta of host state lost to Mughaho Awomi of Nagaland whereas Nahim Mustafa suffered defeat against Mehboob-Ul-Hassan Choudhary.

Another player of J&K namely Ashok Kumar Anand registered win against Rounak Sarawagi of Madhya Pradesh. With just two rounds to be played in the championship, Tamojit Chakraborty and Manuja Piyush are likely to be the serious contenders to bag the top honours.

Mahandra Singh Rathore of Rajasthan played well to garner four points after a drawn game against Shishir Kumar of Delhi. Rawat Jitender and Surender Kumar from Delhi had 3.5 points each after the end of six rounds.

Other Results:

Dwivedi Rupesh (Madhya Pradesh) beat Tilwani Shubam (Madhya Pradesh), Mrudul Gattani (Madhya Pradesh) lost to Abhimanyu Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Neeraj Vishwakarma (Madhya Pradesh) lost to Eshap Gupta (J&K), Devesh Baranwal (Madhya Pradesh) lost to Ankush Singh Pathania (J&K), Suresh Kumar (Delhi) beat Raghav Agarwal (Madhya Pradesh), Nishi Mahalaxmi Iyer (West Bengal) beat Abhishek Jain (Madhya Pradesh) and Niklesh Kumar Jain (Madhya Pradesh) beat Dhruvik Shah (Gujarat).

Jammu, October 14
Kishtwar district defeated Rajouri district by 6 wickets in the summit clash to clinch the U-19 boys’ tennis ball cricket title at MA Stadium, today.

Rajouri won the crucial toss and decided to bat first. The team scored 40 runs in the stipulated 6 overs. Sultan and Nadeem contributed 14 and 13 runs, respectively. Bhuran took three wickets and Mubashar took one.

In reply, Kishtwar overhauled the target in 5.3 overs. Bhuran was the top scorer with 23 runs while Arslan contributed 14 runs. Gulbash and Sultan claimed one wicket apiece for Rajouri.

Bhuran was adjudged the man of the match while Henan of Kishtwar was declared man of the series.

Earlier, in first semifinal match, Rajouri thrashed Jammu by 19 runs.

Bating first, Rajouri scored 44 runs. In reply, Jammu was bowled out for 25 runs. Sultan scored 26 runs for Rajouri.

In another semifinal match, Kishtwar beat Reasi by 7 wickets. Reasi scored 46 runs in 6 overs, which Kishtwar chased in just 4 overs for the loss of just one wicket.

The matches were officiated by Jagtar Singh, Saleem-ur-Rehman, Suresh Singh, Madan Mohan and Pankaj Sasan.

Ashok Kumar, deputy director, Youth Services and Sports, Jammu, was the chief guest on valedictory function. He distributed prizes among the winners and runners-up team.

Prominent among others present on the occasion were Zonal Physical Education Officers, Sarita Pandha, Pushpa Sharma and Manorama Sharma, besides Jaswant Singh and Veena Tickoo.

Jammu, October 14
Chowdhary-Nar Panchayat claimed the overall trophy in the inter-panchayat block-level tournament organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports, which concluded at Mini Sports Stadium, Rajouri.

Sawani Panchayat bagged the second place while the third position was jointly shared by Dhangri and Palam Panchayats.

Earlier, Chingus Panchayat clinched the girls’ handball title while Chowdhary-Nar Panchayat bagged boys’ badminton title. The title in girls’ section went to Palam Panchayat.

In boys’ basketball matches, Chowdhary-Nar Panchayat bagged the top honours while Kalalkuss Panchayat lifted the volleyball girls’ title. In volleyball (boys), Dhangri Panchayat claimed the title trophy while in hockey (boys’), the title trophy went to Sawani Panchayat.

District Youth Services and Sports Officer, Rajouri, was chief guest on the concluding ceremony who distributed prizes among the winners and runners up teams. He was accompanied by Bharat Bhushan Sharma, Zonal Physical Education Officer, Rajouri, and Ashok Kumar Gandotra, ZPEO, Doongi.

The matches were officiated by Ibrar Khan, Mir Alam, Mohd Wasim, Majid Khan, Sakinder Azam, Mohammad Arif Mir and Aurangzeb Tariq.

The inter-panchayat tournament of Gandoh block was conducted at Government Higher Secondary School, Kilhotran in Doda.

The tournament was inaugurated by Balkrishan, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Gandoh, in the presence of SR Kotwal, District Youth Services and Sports Officer, Doda. The tournament was held under the supervision of KK Kotwal ZPEO, Gandoh.

Jammu, October 14
J&K Hockey team today left for Rutherpur in Uttrakhand to participate in the 2nd Sub Junior National Hockey Championship slated to be organised by Hockey India from October 15 to 20.

Before the team's departure, track suits and uniforms among the players were distributed at KK Hakhu Astro Turf Stadium. The team comprised Prabjot Singh, Kushal Singh Jasrotia, Vishal Verma, Pushpinder Singh, Navleen Singh, Ishtyak Hussain, Jasvinder Singh, Manpreet Singh, Agandeep Singh, Sanjay Singh Jasrotia, Manpreet Singh, Ravijeet Singh, Charanjeet Singh, Balmeet Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Vikrant Singh, Simranjeet Singh and Reebak Singh.