Jammu, October 20
Out Patient Department (OPD) services at all the government hospitals in Jammu were severely hit today as para-medical staff went on day-long strike demanding holding of the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meeting.

The DPC meeting has not been held for last two years.

All other services were affected except emergency wards with para-medics holding protest outside the offices of hospital authorities at the Government Medical College (GMC), Shri Maharaja Ghulab Singh (SMGS) and other associated hospitals in the city.

Due to the strike call, non-gazetted employees including technicians, nursing orderlies, clerical staff and safai karamcharis did not attend their duties.

Under the banner of J&K Medical Employees Association (JKMEA), they are also demanding payment of regular salaries to the new staff engaged under the New Pension Scheme (NPS) and payment of two-and-a-half day salary for contractual employees working on holidays and Sundays.

Patients had to face problems as most of the laboratories, X-ray labs and other services were hit as no staff reported on duty.

“All non-gazetted employees of the associated hospitals observed strike from 10 am onwards. If the government does not concede to our demands, we will decide next course of action,” said Pardeep Sharma, JKMEA president.

Officials said the strike affected normal working in the associated hospitals including the Psychiatric Hospital and CD Hospital.

Employees are also demanding upgradation of pay scale, creation of additional posts and enhancement of uniform and risk allowances to the nursing staff.

“We came here from Kot Bhalwal for conducting few blood tests but no one is available here. We are waiting here since morning,” said Kamlesh Devi, a patient. Principal, GMC, Dr Anice Choudhary said a list of problems being faced by staff had been submitted to the government and they would take decision in this regard soon.

However Dr Choudhary said normal work was not affected as emergency services were functioning at the city hospitals.

Jammu, October 20
The Kathua police has arrested two policemen and seized narcotics from their possession. The arrested policemen have been identified as Head Constable Bansi Lal presently posted at Nagri police station and Constable Sahab Din posted at Assar police station in Doda.

Official sources said that acting on a tip-off, a police party intercepted Sahab Din and recovered a packet containing half kg heroin from his possession.

“After interrogation, the constable disclosed that he had received the consignment from the Head Constable Bansi Lal who was looking after the store where the seizure of narcotic was kept,” sources said. A case under Section 21/22 of the NDPS Act has been registered against Sahab Din. The police team also raided the residence of Bansi Lal and recovered 700 gm charas from his possession.

Sources said the possibility of a nexus between policemen and narcotic smugglers could not be ruled out. Kathua SSP Atul Goel said, “The probe into the matter is on and it is difficult to confirm whether they had a nexus with narcotic smugglers or not.” — TNS

Batote, October 20
An elderly person was today mauled by a bear in Doda district. The victim, identified as Mohammad Sadik Malik, 60, was badly injured when the bear pounced upon him while he was walking through a jungle near Shama Kastigarh village of Munddhar panchayat in the district. The victim was rushed to District Hospital, Doda, where he was stated to be out of danger.

Ramban MLA Ashok Kumar demanded an immediate payment of ex-gratia for his treatment and compensation from the Wild Life Department.

“I have requested Forest Minister Mian Altaf to expedite the case and also urged him to take necessary steps to check the growing man-animal conflict in the area,” said Ashok.

On Thursday, Kaushlaya Devi and her relative Yograj Bhagat were also injured by a bear at Bandhera in Batote. 

Jammu, October 20
A delegation of the Joint Action Committee, Elementary Teachers Training (ETT) Colleges, Jammu Division, which had recently submitted a memorandum to the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, regarding alleged practices of J&K State Board of School Education (JKBOSE) Chairman, is likely to meet the Chief Minister next month.

The Tribune had earlier reported that the Joint Action Committee (JAC) in the memorandum submitted to the Divisional Commissioner had sought CM’s intervention for an inquiry against the JKBOSE Chairman.

Deep Singh, president, Jammu Private Schools and ETT Colleges’ Association (Progressive), told The Tribune that the Chief Minister had decided to meet all the signatories who had signed the memorandum. “No date has been fixed yet for meeting with the Chief Minister but it is likely to be held in November,” Deep Singh said.

“We were informed that the Chief Minister is scheduled to visit Delhi in October 27 and after that he will fly to London,” he claimed.

Hari Dutt Shishu, a member of the JAC, said: “Principal Secretary B B Vyas had told us that the Chief Minister wants to meet all the signatories of the memorandum on November 27 but it was postponed.” The signatories of the memorandum included Hari Dutt Shishu, Deep Singh, Kamal Gupta, Gurtaj Singh, Nirmaljeet Singh, Sanjay Mahajan, KK Chadda, Surjeet Singh Jamwal and K K Pandoh. “It is a serious issue and we all are eagerly awaiting our meeting with the Chief Minister so that concrete steps would be taken to streamline the functioning of the school education board,” Deep Singh said.

Sources said the signatories of the memorandum claimed that no objection certificates were granted by the ministry for opening of new ETT institutes. It added top officials adopted an appeasement policy towards the ministry but never took any initiative for framing the much needed statues or any sort of guidelines in order to streamline the ETT course till date.

Jammu, October 20
To mark the martyrdom of police personnel who died fighting terrorists in the state, the Jammu & Kashmir police will organise a candle light tribute at the Martyr Memorial on October 21.

As many 1,529 personnel, including special police officers (SPOs) and village defense committee (VDC) members, who died in the line of duty will be remembered at the National Police Day.

Senior police officers today reviewed the arrangements.

A wreath laying ceremony will be held at the Armed Police Complex, Zewan, while few other events will be organised at district and Martyr Memorial, Rail Head Complex in Jammu.

IGP, Jammu, Dilbag Singh, said the martyrs who laid down their lives in the service of the nation would be remembered and people should take part in the candle light tribute at the Martyr Memorial near railway station.

“In the evening, candles will be lit to remember those who died in the line of duty. People should come forward to pay their homage. Families of police martyrs would be invited to attend the functions,” said IGP.

Blood donation camps will also be held at various zonal headquarters and other places for which donors have already approached. Another programme will be held at the Police Headquarters, Gulshan Ground.

To make the function a success, various committees have been constituted by Additional Director General of Police (ADGP-Armed) K Rajendra about a fortnight ago.

Former DGP MM Khajuria said the police had played an important role in fighting militancy in the state.

"Future generations need to remember the hardships and sacrifices of our youth who fought against terrorists," Khajuria said.

The memorial in Jammu was inaugurated in January 2008.

Jammu, October 20
A three-day workshop on Basohli painting was organised by Vishwasthali, a social and cultural organisation, in collaboration with the Jammu and Kashmir Centre for Creative Arts at Basohli.

The theme of the workshop was “Experimenting colours in Basohli miniature.” The workshop was inaugurated by renowned painter and Padmashree awardee Vijay Kumar of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh yesterday. OP Sharma, Director, Jammu and Kashmir Centre for Creative Arts, and ND Jamwal, a noted painter and writer, were also present on the occasion. 

Jammu, October 20
The state branch of the Bharat Vikas Parishad (BVP) today organised a national patriotic group song competition at Government College for Women (GCW), Gandhi Nagar, here. About 350 participants drawn from 15 educational institutions participated in the event which was inaugurated by Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Raman Bhalla.

The competition was held in two categories - Hindi and Sanskrit. In Hindi, Heritage School secured the first position, while Delhi Public School, Jammu, and Shiksha Niketan School finished second and third, respectively. Jodhamal School, Delhi Public School, Jammu, and S D Tarapuri School secured first, second and third positions, respectively in Sanskrit category. Prof Kiran Bakshi, principal, GCW, and D R Kotwal, state president, of BVP, were among other dignitaries present on the occasion.

Jammu, October 20
NGR Football Club drubbed Sainik Colony Football Club by 2-1 goals in the ongoing Senior Division Football League Tournament, being organised by the Jammu wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Football Association (JKFA) at GGM Science College football ground today.

Rashpal Singh opened the account for Sainik Colony Football Club by netting a splendid goal in the 7th minute. NGR Club players responded quickly and scored an equalizer in the 25th minute. With 1-1, a striker of Sainik Colony Club did the blunder in the dying moments by scoring a self-goal to make it 2-1 for NGR Club. In another match, Vijay Club got walkover Jammu United to advance into the next round. 

Jammu, October 20
As many as 60 wrestlers, including international grapplers from Pakistan, England and Ukraine, will vie for top honours in the 8th Mission Dosti International Indian Style Dangal-2012 (wrestling competition) to be held at Vivekananda Stadium, Katra, on Monday.

While briefing mediapersons, Minister for Youth Services and Sports, RS Chib said Olympian and international wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt would also be honoured on the occasion for his outstanding performance. He said the wrestlers would be presented a Silver Gurj along with a cash prize of Rs 50,000.

The Minister added that six wrestlers from Pakistan, one from England and four from Ukraine and 50 from India would compete in the sporting extravaganza being organised by the J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association and Navratra Festival Committee, Katra.

The winners would be awarded cash prize worth Rs 55,000 while the runner-up wrestlers would pocket a sum of Rs 45,000. Chib said such type of competitions would not only help in promoting the game in the state but also the local populace would get an opportunity to watch international wrestlers in action.

The Minister said participation of Pakistan wrestlers in the competition was a clear indication that India wanted good relations with its neighbour and such type of events would help our cause. In reply to a question regarding implementation of the Union Sports Ministry’s guidelines that an employee would become a member of a sports federation or association for only one term while a non-member for two terms, Chib said the department would look into it shortly.

The Sports Minister also informed that out of 38 contractual employees of Sports Council, orders of regularisation had been issued in favour of 28 employees while the cases of the remaining employees who were in waiting list had been sent to the department for creation of posts. 

Jammu, October 20
Udhampur got the better of Jammu by 3-0 sets in the final to clinch the U-17 boys volleyball title today in the Inter-District Volleyball Tournament that concluded at Youth Hostel, Nagrota here. The set scores were 25-21, 25-23, 25-20. Earlier, in the semifinals, Udhampur defeated Poonch by 2-0 sets (25-16, 25-16) and Jammu toppled Kathua by 25-16, 25-23.

In U-14 boys final, Poonch had last laugh against Ramban by 2-1 sets to lift the title. The final scores were 22-25, 25-15, 25-16. In the semifinals, Poonch beat Rajouri by 2-0 and Ramban notched up a convincing win over Reasi by 2-0 sets. Pardeep Gupta, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, was the chief guest on the occasion 

Jammu, October 20
Government College for Women (GCW), Gandhi Nagar, today organised an investiture ceremony on the college premises here. A charter of duties and responsibilities of an ideal student was read aloud to make every student conscious of the responsibilities towards an institution.

After that, a ceremony was held wherein members of the presidium were introduced. Arushi Sharma was felicitated as president, while Arushi Baloria as vice-president. Chamakpreet Kaur and Avneet Kaur were felicitated as general secretary and joint secretary, respectively. Nishila was felicitated as treasurer.

Monika Sharma, the outgoing president of the college handed over the torch to the present president.

All the students participated in the oath-taking ceremony and took pledge to keep ahead the institution in every sphere of activities. Dr Kiran Bakshi, principal of the college, congratulated the presidium, student council and volunteers and hoped that they would work with zeal and enthusiasm for the welfare of the college. 

Jammu, October 20
A two-day workshop on ‘Right to Information’ was organised at GGM Science College by the NSS unit of the college under Dr Rajinder Singh, NSS programme officer. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr Satinder Singh, nodal principal, Jammu Division Colleges.

Dr Rachna Dutt, Course Director, Institute of Management and Public Administration, and Sheikh Shakeel, senior advocate, Jammu and Kashmir High Court were the resource persons. Among others, Prof Rakesh Gupta, Dr Satesh Bhan, Prof Karan Singh Bhau and Prof Neeru Dalla, NCC officers, senior faculty members and students attended the workshop.

Jammu, October 20
Young Star Cricket Club (YSCC) trounced Sports Cricket Club (SCC), Bhalessa, by 3 runs via super over in the summit clash to clinch the title trophy of the CRPF-Public Friendly T20 Cricket Tournament which concluded at Sports Stadium, Doda today.

SCC won the toss and opted to bat first. The team skittled out for paltry 98 runs in 17.3 overs. Mubashir and Firdous Khandey were the main scorers with 25 and 17 runs, respectively. For YSCC Doda, Waseem was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets while Sohan Singh, Asif Ali Dev and Waseem Raja shared two wickets apiece.

In reply, YSCC, Doda, too managed to score 98 runs for the loss of 8 wickets and the match ended in a tie. Yasir Dar was the highest scorer from YSCC with a defiant 17. Manzoor Batt, Waseem and Riaz contributed 16, 12 and 12 runs, respectively. From SCC Bhalessa, Arif Rather and Firdous Khandey scalped two wickets each.

In the super over, batting first, YSCC, Doda, scored 5 runs in the allotted over which in reply, SCC, Bhalessa, failed to chase it lost the match by 3 runs.

Waseem of Young Star Cricket Club, Doda, was adjudged the man of the match and best batsman of the tournament, while Firdous Khandey of Sports Cricket Club, Bhalessa, was declared the man of the series for his all-round performance.