|
|
|
|
|
Who will rein in mini-buses on the loose in jammu?
Int’l cricket stadium at Bajalta |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Shabir visits border area in Kakora, reviews works
Acute shortage of staff, infrastructure at Degree College in Doda
BJP campaigns in Rajouri ahead of MLC election
Training on scientific cultivation of Rabi oilseeds held
PAU Ludhiana beat IGNOU Delhi VC Cup
Jammu claim U-19 tennis ball cricket title
Housing Board employees stage protest
Fugitive undertrial held near HP border
2 killed, 4 injured in road accident
Absconder held in Rajouri
|
|
Who will rein in mini-buses on the loose in jammu?
Jammu, November 28 It seems that there is no one to rein in these vehicles, zooming with total disregard for rules meant for safe travel of commuters. Drivers of buses and vans don’t follow the traffic lights, particularly at Bikram Chowk, Janipur, Kachi Chawni and Indira Chowk. At present, there are nearly 5 lakh vehicles on Jammu’s roads. Besides, thousands of others enter the city from other states, adding to the chaos every day. The sudden parking by mini-buses on busy roads has become a major cause of traffic jams. It seems even the traffic lights have not made any difference, with the chaos not abating. Illegal parking of vehicles and overtaking by rashly driven vans and buses are rampant, while steps by personnel deployed on the roads to deal with the problem are few and far between. Over-speeding by mini-bus drivers, which has already claimed several lives, is another problem. The drivers compete with one another for passengers and pose a threat to their lives as well as those of pedestrians. Traffic police personnel turn a blind eye to the violations. “At times, traffic policemen have failed to punish the erring mini-bus drivers, who seem to break rules with impunity. There is total chaos in the city as far as traffic is concerned, but traffic management looks like something far-fetched,” said Ashwani Sharma, a local resident. All J&K Transporters Association president Anil Chopra blamed individuals for defying the administration’s directives. “We have asked our union members to follow the rules, but there are some drivers who violate these and the traffic department should take necessary measures against them,” Chopra said. Officials said another violation which has been ignored by the administration is the seat altering by the mini-bus owners to allow overloading of passengers. Sujit Kumar Chauhan, SSP traffic Jammu, said they have been taking action against the mini-buses and buses. “A drive was started recently to make drivers comply with the rules. As for rash driving, there are strict instructions to challan those found putting lives of passengers at risk,” he stated. mounting traffic
People Speak
— Sonu, Auto driver
— Amit Kumar, Salesman
— Ganeshi Lal, Shopkeeper
— Surinder Sharma, Chattha resident
|
||
|
Int’l cricket stadium at Bajalta
Jammu, November 28 After missing of several deadlines including March 18 this year, unearthing of a multi-crore scam in the association has put a question mark on the dream project’s future. The state cricket
association had zeroed in on more than 500 kanals of land at Bajalta near Sidhra for constructing an international stadium in a bid to further promote the game in the state. Sources said before taking the decision to lay the foundation stone of the stadium, JKCA sought the help of architects for estimating the cost of the stadium’s construction and it was stated that an amount to the tune of Rs 70 crore
was needed. Sources claimed JKCA then approached a Mumbai-based firm to prepare another estimate, but when the firm said a
whopping Rs 170 crore would be required to complete the stadium, the state cricket association deferred the decision and asked the office-bearers to finalise the modalities for preparing fresh estimates. Sources said just when the state cricket association was about to initiate the estimate process again, unearthing of the multi-crore scam shocked the entire cricketing fraternity and all the attention of the association was diverted to the alleged financial bungling. JKCA chief Dr Farooq Abdullah, who constituted a four-member in-house advisory (probe) committee for investigation into the scam, had made it clear that the foundation stone for the cricket stadium would be laid only after completion of the ongoing investigations into embezzlement of funds in the cricket body. |
||
|
Green turns grey with encroachments
Jammu, November 28 In the past two decades, a large number of unauthorised colonies have come up in utter disregard to provisions of Big Landed Estates (Abolition) Act/Agrarian Reforms Act and most of the new colonies have been established in the once green patches around the city. Till 1990, most the present Roop Nagar, Bantalab, upper Janipur, Udeywala, Sidhra, Bhatandi, Muthi, Patoli-Paloura and exterior of Gandhi Nagar, Trikuta Nagar and Shastri Nagar were full of trees and shrubs, but the area slowly turned into a concrete jungle. “The district is spread over an area of 3097 square kilometres and the forest area is 767 square kilometres. Of this, only 1063 hectare (one per cent) forest land had been demarcated so far,” said Nadeem Qadri, an environmentalist. Though the existing laws in the state like Land Revenue Act and Common Lands Act empower the Deputy Commissioners and Tehsildars to evict the illegal occupants, the provisions governing the waste land, forest land and uncultivable land have been violated with impunity and the process continues unabated. “Forest areas of the district are very essential for cleaning and absorbing the pollutants and if the cover is destroyed, it will affect the local ecology. Already, some of the animal species are facing the threat of extinction,” said Nadeem Qadri, an environmentalist. According to government data, about 13,360 hectares of forest land is under encroachment in J&K, with Jammu region topping the list, having 9,469 hectares under illegal possession. On the other hand, in Kashmir valley, 3,890 hectares land has been encroached upon by land mafia. Surprisingly, despite the government’s claims of tough action against land mafia, only eviction on only 1,064 hectares area has been effected in the past two years. Forest Minister Mian Altaf said the process of eviction and demarcation is on and steps are being taken to protect the vegetation cover. “There have been some violations, but we are making plans to take tough measures against the violators and a number of people have been evicted from encroached lands in the recent past,” Altaf said. |
||
|
Gurpurab celebrated with fervour and gaiety
Jammu/Rajouri, November 28 An impressive function was held at Digiana Ashram under the supervision of Mahant Manjit Singh of Dera Nangali Sahib and Bibi Chand Kaur Gurdwara. Heads of various Sikh organisations also attended the programme and offered special prayers. Another function was organised at Nanak Nagar Gurdwara and Rani Talab Gurdwara. Heads of various Sikh organisations also attended the programme and offered special prayers. There were early morning hymns or Asa di Var, followed by renditions from the Guru Granth Sahib. During the day, there were community kitchen (langar), prayers and joyous singing. Devotees celebrated the birth anniversary of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev with
religious fervour across the border district Rajouri on Wednesday. Not only members of the Sikh community, but also other locals thronged the Chatti Patshahi Gurdwara for offering special prayers on the occasion
in the old Rajouri city despite chilly weather conditions. The main function here was held at Gurdwara Chatti Patshahi, situated in the heart of the old city in Rajouri. Thousands of Sikhs from different parts of the city and its outskirts visited the Gurdwara to join the prayers. A special langar was organised for devotees by Gurdwaras Prabandhak Committee Chatti Pat Shahi, Rajouri. The festival was celebrated at the Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Batote, with religious fervour and gaiety. Ninetyeight-year-old Babu Bhagat Singh, block
president, was present in the gathering at the Gurdwara. He was accompanied by her daughter
Narinder Kaur, district president, Congress Women Wing, Ramban. |
||
|
Seven-day Jhiri mela begins
Jammu, November 28 After inaugurating the mela, Bhalla inspected various stalls installed by various departments including Horticulture, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Sheep Husbandry, Flouriculture among others. Bhalla said the Jhiri Mela held on Kartik Purnima every year to honour and celebrate the memory of folk hero Bawa Jitto was a testimony to the Dogra character of making life sacrifice as warriors to uphold the cherished values. He said during the mela days, the devotees at Jhiri come here from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and other parts of north India to pay obeisance to the Dogra folk hero. Bhalla said Samadhi of Bawa Jitto was a symbol of his supreme sacrifice which he made some 550 years ago. He said Bawa Jitto was an honest and truthful Brahmin farmer. He said he was devotee of Mata Vaishno Devi. Bhalla also attended a wrestling competition wherein wrestlers from Punjab, Harayana, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Paradesh and Delhi participated. He presented mementos to the winners. |
||
|
Shabir visits border area in Kakora, reviews works
Rajouri, November 28 He called upon departmental functionaries to work with zeal for
accomplishment of developmental activities for benefit of people. He met the villagers, listened to their problems and developmental
needs. He said the government was endeavoring to make all the rural pockets developed on the lines of urban areas. Implementation of several flagship programmes is underway in rural, hilly and border areas, he said. He said development of infrastructure under core sectors in backward and rural areas is the priority of the government. He said for achieving development targets, the concerned officials had already been directed to take serious efforts to ensure better infrastructure in rural pockets. The minister also inspected the under-execution Kakora-Kanayal gali and Dawa roads and took stock of the pace of work there. He instructed the executing agencies concerned for time-bound completion of these projects with use of standard material and judicious utilisation of funds. |
||
|
Acute shortage of staff, infrastructure at Degree College in Doda
Batote, November 28 Not only this, there is not even a proper playing field for students. “Since two of the classrooms and exam hall on the second floor have not been constructed, we have not been able to complete our syllabus on time. During the biannual examination of private candidates held in our classrooms, we have to vacate these to enable the administration to conduct the examination,” said Zulfkar Bhat, a 3rd year student. Sources said an amount of Rs 93 lakh was paid by the government to J&K Project Construction Committee for the construction of the exam hall-cum-lecture theatre on the second floor of the Science Block. The project was supposed to be completed in 2011. “The work was resumed a month ago but it is quite irregular and sluggish. An amount of Rs 5 lakh was released by the Department of Higher Education last year for upgrading the existing ground. Neither the ground was upgraded nor any utilisation certificate has been given by the J&K Project Construction Committee even after repeated reminders. The students are being deprived of not only their studies but also sports activities,” said Prof ZA Hashmi, principal of
the college. There are 10 regular professors and 20 contractual lecturers at the college. “There is enough sports equipment but no proper field to play. The posts of physical director and assistant PD are lying vacant. The post of physical director has not been filled for the last five years,” says
Zulfkar Bhat. “The post of librarian and assistant librarian is vacant and the library is being run by a bearer since May. An assistant and three lab boys are handling the laboratories,” he adds. Prof Hashmi says there are only two clerks, four Class IV employees. There is no regular watchman,
he adds. |
||
|
BJP campaigns in Rajouri ahead of MLC election
Rajouri, November 28 Zaheer Ahmed, Ajub Khan, Abdul and Rukhsana Kousar were among those who attended the meetings. The BJP leaders stressed on the “false promises made by ruling government” and questioned its commitment to empower the panchayati raj stystem. Jugal Kishore Sharma took a dig at the state government for making hollow claims. “National Conference and Congress leaders are out yet again to woo the panches and sarpanches with the same old commitment to empower the panchayats. The government would have done the same immediately after the panchayat election two years back if it wished.” Ashok Koul and Sat Sharma said the NC-Congress leaders could not be trusted as they did not have any policy or intention to empower the panchayats. The meeting was also addressed by BJP state secretary Vibodh Gupta, district president Yogesh Sharma, former Town Area Committee chairman Rajinder Gupta, senior leader Kuldeep Raj Gupta and others. The BJP leaders along with party candidates interacted with voters at Budhal, Thana Mandi, Manjakot, Drahal, Doongi blocks and Chowki Choura in Rajouri. They also visited Shahdra Sharif to pay obeisance to the holy Peer. Later, they canvassed in Poonch where they met the voters. Jugal Kishore Sharma also campaigned for the BJP candidates at Triyath where he addressed several meetings of panches and sarpanches. He said the NC-Congress leaders were opposed to the security, financial benefits and empowerment of the panchayats. |
||
|
Training on scientific cultivation of Rabi oilseeds held
Katra November 28 Twenty five farmers participated in the programme. Dr Banarsi Lal threw light on the Rabi oilseed crops. He said Jammu and Kashmir was lagging behind in oilseed crops production and growing of cereals. The farmers should also focus on oilseed crops, he said adding that scientific cultivation of mustard could avail huge profit to farmers. He suggested that farmers should use high-yield varieties of mustard. The farmers should treat the mustard seeds with fungicides before sowing so that the crop could be saved from different fungal diseases, Lal said. The farmers were asked to use the balance dose of fertilisers apart from using weedicides to control the weeds. He said sulphur was an important ingredient for oil formation in mustard crop. He also elaborated on how to gypsum in mustard crop for better production of oilseeds. Lal also apprised the farmers about aphids which the crops suffer from in the region. Aphids can be controlled by the use of chloropyriphos, he informed. The programme was assisted by Satbir Singh, Ashok Kumar and Mohammad Iqbal and coordinated by Dr Vikas Tandon. |
||
|
SCC log win in inaugural match of Friendship Cup
Jammu, November 28 Batting first, MGCA posted a modest total of 129 runs in the stipulated 20 overs losing five wickets in the process. Yudamanyu was the top scorer with 40 runs off 51 balls. He sent five hits to the fence. Vjay Dogra contributed valuable 26 runs off 19 balls off 30 balls. For SCC, Vikram claimed two wickets while Hilal Rather, Sameer Khajuria and Mohit Puri shared a wicket each. In their reply, SCC reached the target in 19.2 overs by losing seven wickets. Vivek Thappa played a match winning knock of 45 runs which included four boundaries and two hits for the maximum. Sanju and Hilal Rather also contributed 32 and 17 runs respectively. Rohit and Ajay took two wickets each for MGCA while Vijay Dogra and Arjun claimed one wicket each. Vivek Thappa was adjudged the man of the match. The match was officiated by Sandeep Manchanda and Rajinder Singh as umpires while Sohail acted as scorer. Earlier, Ramesh Mahajan, former working president of Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association was the chief guest on the opening ceremony who declared the tournament open. |
||
|
PAU Ludhiana beat IGNOU Delhi VC Cup
Jammu, November 28 Batting first after winning the toss, PAU Ludhiana accumulated 131 runs for the loss of five wickets. Harish played a brilliant knock of 60 runs followed by Eklove (30) and Surinder (16). For IGNOU Delhi, Satpal claimed two wickets while Haresh, Gourav and Lalit shared a wicket each. In reply, IGNOU Delhi could manage 115 runs for the loss of nine wickets in the given overs. Pawan played a knock of 29 runs. Lalit (26), Rajeev (18) and Dhiren (15) were the other notable scorers. For PAU Ludhiana, Krishan bowled a devastating spell fetching four wickets while Surinder got three wickets. Eklove and Pawan snared a wicket each. Haresh was adjudged the man of the match. In other matches, SKUAST Jammu beat Mumbai University, Kashmir University beat DDU Gorakhpur and Delhi University, Delhi beat Panjab University, Chandigarh. |
||
|
Jammu claim U-19 tennis ball cricket title Jammu, November 28 Earlier, batting first, the Kashmir skittled out for a paltry 35 runs in 6.2 overs, which the Jammu boys chased in 5.1 overs for the loss of three wickets. The competition was held under the overall supervision of DYSS deputy director Ashok Kumar and conducted under the guidance of District Sports Officer, Jammu, Tirath Ram.
|
||
|
Housing Board employees stage protest
Jammu, November 28 “It is highly unfortunate that the daily wager employees of the Housing Board recruited before and after 1994 have not been regularised. It is grave injustice to us as we are working on meagre wages for the last 18 years,” a protesting employee said. They threatened to intensify their stir if the authorities did not accept their demands at the earliest. |
||
|
Fugitive undertrial held near HP border
Jammu, November 28 “We arrested him today from Hadmashka village near Himachal Border,” said a senior police officer. Sohan Singh (35), the murder undertrial, a resident of Bani in Kathua district, had escaped on August 22 this year. Sources said he was made to work as domestic help at the official residence of Jail Superintendent Bahadur Singh. Soon after the incident, the authorities had constituted a panel to investigate his escape. The panel had found that he would milk cow at the Jail Superintendent’s official residence.
— TNS |
||
|
2 killed, 4 injured in road accident
Batote, November 28 According to the CMO, Ramban, Mohd Anwar Bhat, the bodies of the dead identified as Mohd Raqib and Ch Abdul Gani, who died on the spot, were handed over to their family members after their on-the-spot postmortem. Those seriously injured, Pervez Ahmed, Bilal Ahmed and Imtiaz Ahmed, were admitted to the Sher-E-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, Srinagar, while Sajad Ahmed, who sustained minor injuries, was sent home after being given first aid at Dhararamkund.
— OC |
||
|
Absconder held in Rajouri
Rajouri, November 28 Police had lodged an FIR in police station Dhral. A police party was sent to Dhral, where the absconder was nabbed.
— OC |
||
|
| HOME PAGE |
| Punjab |
Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | |
While the administration is claiming that it is formulating a comprehensive city mobility plan to streamline traffic in Jammu, the authorities have failed to implement a simple decision: Ensure drivers and conductors wear a proper
uniform.
There is indeed a big question mark on tall claims of the traffic department. Strict action is not being taken against those violating traffic rules. While the crumbling traffic infrastructure due to increasing number of vehicles is leading to chaos every day, police is in deep
slumber.
It does not matter for them if the signal is red, yellow or green. They just zoom away, dodging the traffic cops. They have not been able to adopt the traffic signal culture yet. Streamlining vehicular movement and taking stringent action against violators are seemingly nowhere on the list of
priorities.
Mini-bus transport is lifeline of Jammu, with a large number of people using mini buses to reach their offices, schools, tuition centres and other destinations, but no care is being ensured towards safety of the people who use these on a daily
basis.