Jammu, October 23
The Navratri festival today culminated with a large number of people assembled at the Mata Kali temple, Hagh-e-Bahu and on the banks of the Tawi river to immerse “saakh” there as a part of the tradition to formally culminate the festival.

Thousands of people started gathering on the banks of Tawi since morning today to immerse “saakh” and people also gathered at the Kali Temple, Bagh-e-Bahu to perform Kanjak pujan there.

Rupesh Pandita from Bantlab, Jammu, said, “The day is the formal culmination of the nine-day long festival. And the huge rush of devotees here is a very auspicious sign that despite busy schedules, people still have faith in religion and their traditions.”

“Navratris prepare us to follow a strict regime at least during these nine days,” he added.

The Navratra festival, organised by the Raghunath Bazaar Businessmen Association, Jammu, also culminated today whereas the festival season will continue there. These celebrations are being organised in connection with the 157th year of the historical Raghunath Bazaar here.

The theme of this year’s celebrations is “Atithi Devo Bhav” and there is a special focus on felicitating and honouring pilgrims and tourists visiting Jammu as well as the locals.

A special prayer was held at around 7:30pm in the bazaar. On the auspicious occasion of Vijay Dashmi, the association will take out a “shobha yatra”.

Jammu, October 23
Thousands of devotees descended on the banks of Tawi river for performing religious rituals on the last day of Navratras, but they left a huge pile of polythene and other solid waste considered sacred by the people.

People started visiting the river since morning to immerse ‘saakh’, which is grown during the nine-day long festival dedicated to Goddess Durga. Along with ‘saath’, polythene bags, plastic bottles and red cloth were also dumped, which lay littered everywhere, giving an ugly look to the riverbed by the evening.

However, none of the employees of the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) or Pollution Control Board (PCB) bothered to discourage people not to dump garbage, which was slowly killing the river, a major source of drinking water for 13 lakh inhabitants of the temple city.

“Rather than depicting a spiritual place, the river has virtually become a dumping ground,” said Surinder Krishan, a local resident.

Official sources said though much was being said to preserve the sole lifeline of the city and its suburbs, it was the civic body that had failed to stop dumping.

“There should be no interference in matters, but at least administration can create awareness among the people, erect signboards and place staff to ask people not to dump the waste,” said Akash Sharma, a university student.

Despite a ban imposed by the high court, the JMC and the PCB have failed to protect the river from becoming a dumping ground and the ban has been confined to the office files.

Beautification project of the river was initiated in 2004 by then Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and later reviewed by Ghulam Nabi Azad when he was the Chief Minister of the state, but has not been completed so far.

The river has turned into a virtual dumping ground, as untreated liquid waste pours directly into the river and untreated solid waste is dumped on a nearby land.

However, JMC Commissioner KL Khajuria was not available for comments.

Jammu, October 23
Preparations are in full swing for the festival of Dasehra to be celebrated on Wednesday. For the first time, a 65-foot effigy of Ravana has been erected at the Parade Ground along with effigies of Meghnath and Kumbkakaran.

Presenting a perfect example of communal harmony and brotherhood, Muslim artisans from Uttar Pradesh are busy in giving finishing touch to effigies of Ravana (demon king), Kumbhakaran (Ravana’s brother) and Meghnath (Ravana’s son) for the Hindu festival of Dasehra.

For decades together, Muslim artisans have been coming from Menaputhi under Sardhana tehsil in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh to the winter capital of the state and to prepare effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakaran and Meghnath. It is also their main source of livelihood.

“We are preparing effigies for the final day. Every year, we visit the state for the festival of Dasehra,” said Mohammad Rehman, 54.

Meanwhile, Shree Sanatan Dharma Sabha leader Jagdish Dogra, during a press conference, made an appeal to the youths to expose corrupt people and put a fight against terrorism and social evils in the society.

“It’s the duty of the present generation to eradicate social evils from the society and create a peaceful environment for the development of the country. Youths need to continue the traditions going on for thousands of years,” Dogra said.

Ramnagar, October 23
Over 45,000 pilgrims paid obeisance at the sacred Pingla Mata shrine, situated at Pinger village in Ramnagar tehsil of Udhampur district, during the navratras to seek blessings of Goddess Bhagwati.

The administration, under Deputy Commissioner PK Pole, had made adequate arrangements of security, transportation, sanitation, drinking water and power supply at the shrine site and enroute 5 km track journey from kough to darbar for the convenience of yatris. Over 15,000 devotees accompanied a sacred akhand joyti from Ramnagar to the shrine site on Sunday, organised by the Akhand Joyti committee, Ramnagar. — TNS

Poonch, October 23
A former militant, his wife and their three children, who managed to sneak into the Indian territory, were caught from a house at Digwar village near the Line of Control (LoC) and pushed back into the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) by the Army today.

Sources said it was the third such incident when a former militant belonging to Poonch district entered Indian territory to get benefits under the rehabilitation policy of the government.

The former militant has been identified as Mohammad Javid, a resident of Hari Marhot village in Surankote tehsil.

He along with her wife and three children managed to enter the Indian territory about 7am via Indian Forward Post, Bahadur, today and reached the house of Shamas Din, the sarpanch of Digwar village in Poonch district. One of the villagers informed the army post at Digwar about the former militant.

The Army swung into action and arrested all of them, said the sources.

“During preliminary interrogation, Javid revealed that he reached the PoK in 2001 with seven militants belonging to the LeT and got training at Kotli. But after sometime, he managed to escape from the training camp and got married to Sialkote girl Tabassum Bi and got himself registered at a Mangbajri Muhajir camp in the PoK,” sources said.

“After interrogation of five hours, the Army pushed all of them back into the PoK via the same post despite resistance from the former militant who wanted to return to Poonch,” sources said.

During interrogation, Javid had revealed that over 50 former militants belonging to Poonch district were living under miserable conditions in the PoK and wanted to return back but unable to do so as financial crunch hindered their entry into India via Nepal, an Army official told The Tribune.

On July 1 this year, the Army had also thwarted an attempt by two former militants to enter Indian side from the POK in Nakkarkote area of the same sector, sources said.

The Army had also pushed back three former militants, who along with their 19 family members had crossed the LoC in north Kashmir’s Uri sector a few months ago, sources said.

The Army had also apprehended Mukhtar Ahmed, a resident of Hari village in Surankote, on June12.

However, Army officials said the militants used the wrong route to enter India.

Rajouri, October 23
The minimum temperature in the border belt of the state dipped drastically after rain lashed the area.

Accompanied by hailstorm, the rain lashed the town around 2.40pm. The showers brought down the mercury by several degrees Celsius in Rajouri.

"The western disturbances that led to the rainfall over many parts of the state on Tuesday are now moving toward plain areas,” said Dr Khoosu of Met Department here today.

The weather in the district became colder earlier as compared to previous year due to snowfall in higher riches of the state, he added.

Jammu, October 23
The government has prepared a plan to construct a 100-bed hospital at a cost of Rs 48 on the outskirts of the city to ease pressure on Government Medical College and Hospital, Gandhi Nagar, and SMGS Hospital.

Addressing a function at Gangyal, Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Raman Bhalla today said a plan had been formulated to set up the hospital on the premises of the Government Rajiv Gandhi Hospital at Gangyal. He said under the plan, the hospital would be equipped with X-ray, CT scan, ultrasound, MRI, blood bank, toilet blocks, operation theatre, emergency and gynaecological facilities.

He said the government was keen to provide latest healthcare facilities in all the peripheral and rural areas in each district, which would save people from going to capital cities for treatment.

The Minister said following tireless efforts of the coalition government, the Central Government had provided a liberal funding to Jammu and Kashmir for developing every nook and corner of the state on modern lines. He said the government was committed to upgrade the living standards of the people by providing all infrastructural facilities at their doorsteps.

He called upon the people to personally monitor the quality of ongoing projects in their respective areas for better results.

Later, Bhalla also inaugurated a newly constructed gynaecology block at Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission Hospital at Ambphalla.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said private hospitals like Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission Hospital had played a vital role in providing best possible healthcare facilities to the ailing people. He said health was the top most priority sector of the government.

Jammu, October 23
The state contingent which is already struggling to bag medals in National School Games in major disciplines like badminton, table tennis, hockey, football, judo, fencing etc, the induction of new disciplines in the calendar of activities of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) has made things even more difficult for the state contingent to prove their worth in important disciplines.

According to sources, the Department of Youth Services and Sports (DYSS) which is conducting activities at district, state and division level to select players for selection of the state contingent in different disciplines for participation in the National School Games lacks adequate infrastructural facilities like grounds, sports equipment to hone skills of the players for better performance in major disciplines.

Sources said the department had no option but to depend on support of the J&K State Sports Council or University of Jammu to conduct competitions. Sources claimed that some individuals with ulterior motives took full advantage of the situation and introduced new disciplines and then later, get it affiliated from the SGFI to make it a regular feature in the National School Games.

Sources further claimed that the introduction of new disciplines was now posing problems for the DYSS which was finding it difficult to focus on important disciplines like badminton, fencing, table tennis, hockey, football. Sources said the state contingent had bagged a rich haul of medals in new disciplines like sqay martial arts, rope skipping etc but the medals won in important disciplines were much below than those bagged by the contingent in new disciplines.

It may be mention here that the state contingent bagged as many as 83 medals with most of them were fetched in the disciplines of sqay martial arts, wushu, rope skipping etc.

Meanwhile, Ashok Kumar, Deputy Director, Youth Services and Sports, who was also recently appointed as the vice-president of the SGFI expressed his concern over poor performance of state contingent in major disciplines.

“Lack of infrastructure has been the biggest stumbling block for the department to concentrate well on important games. But even then the DYSS is trying its level best to provide every necessary facilities to the state contingent so that it can improve its performance in the upcoming edition of the National School Games,” he added.

Jammu, October 23
A delegation of All India Kashmiri Samaj (AIKS) today called on National Security Advisor (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon at the Prime Minister’s Office to discuss long-term issues with the NSA.

The delegation comprised Vijay Aima, ML Malla, Dr Romesh Raina, Dr Umesh Moza, Dr Varun Raina and Romila Darbari.

Romesh Raina brought to his notice the issue of hike in the relief amount to the displaced people. He said despite a specific recommendation made to this effect by the state government to raise the amount; no progress on the issue was visible.

He mentioned only 1,300 youth had been employed under the PM’s package so far. The process for further recruitment under the package needs to be worked on as the youth were getting restive and over-aged.

The delegation emphasised that the Kashmiri Pandit (KP) youth, who stayed back in the Valley at the peak of militancy, should also be provided jobs. The NSA also urged to get the Prime Minister’s Financial Package restructured, taking into account the aspirations of the displaced KP community, so that they were never refouled ever again.

Vijay Aima brought to NSA’s knowledge the need of having a holistic policy for the rehabilitation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits and urged him to prepare a clear road-map based on the hopes and expectations of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community.

Dr Varun Raina, a migrant doctor, urged the NSA to request the state government to defer the recent order asking the doctors and paramedics to report within an unrealistic time-frame.

Jammu, October 23
With the uncertainty still prevailing over the conduct of remaining papers of the Elementary Teachers Training (ETT) special batch of 2008-10 session, there is more trouble in store for the aspirants pursuing the course as the 2011-13 ETT batch examinations are likely to be delayed due to ongoing tussle between the J&K State Board of School Education (JKBOSE) and the ETT institutes.

Sources said the school education board had earlier issued a notification regarding admissions for 2011-13. Sources said more than 20,000 applications were received by the BOSE after which it decided to conduct counselling sessions to allot colleges to the ETT aspirants.

“BOSE was busy in conducting bi-annual examination in different schools across the state wherein the maximum staff was deployed at various examination centres. Due to staff crunch, the BOSE did not initiate the counselling process on time,” a source in the school education board told The Tribune on the condition of 
anonymity.

Sources said the students who were waiting for the counselling after filling the admission forms had decided to quit the course.

The BOSE again issued a fresh notification regarding the admissions of the same batch but only 9,815 applications were received.

The owners of various ETT colleges then approached the school education board to get permission to start admissions under the management quota. A total of 11,925 aspirants were allotted 257 ETT institutes in the state.

Sources said those colleges who did not get a single admission during counselling had decided to meet the board authorities to seek permission to start admissions under the management quota but again some institutes did not succeed which eventually triggered a tussle between the ETT institutes and the school education board.

In order to break the deadlock, the concerned authorities then constituted a five-member committee both for Jammu and Kashmir.

The Jammu committee was headed by joint secretary, examination (JKBOSE, Jammu) which comprised principals of the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET)-Samba, Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur and principal, SIE Jammu.

Sources said the committee had submitted the aspirants’ list for 2011-13 batch to the BOSE chairman for further action but an inordinate delay in the decision has delayed the entire process.

Hardidutt Shishu, one of the members of the Jammu private schools and the ETT Colleges Association (progressive) told The Tribune “The 2011-13 ETT batch is already much delayed and if the decision is not taken soon, it would further worsen the things.”

Jammu, October 23
The players of J&K brought laurels to the state in the recently concluded 12th National Martial Arts Championship 2012.

The event, being organised by the Combat Advanced Martial Arts Training India, was held at KLM International School, Defence Road in Pathankot.

Mohammad Sumair, Tajinder Singh, Gautam Khajuria, Satish Kumar clinched the gold medal each while the silver medal went to Arjun Jamwal, Shivani Vijual and Paras Mehra.

Adil Farooq, Dhananjay Sharma, Nageen Butt and Meenakshi Sharma won the bronze medal each.

The other medal winners were Sarfaraz Khan, Umar Rather, Nahreen Mansoor and Saratt Malik, Momin Mansoor, Devinder Sharma, National Umpire, Rishab Sawhney, Mohammad Arshad and Fayaz Ahmed. Over 2,000 students drawn from various states participated in the event. — TNS