Batote, December 8
Thousands of villagers living on the shores of the Chenab in Siraj area of Doda district are allegedly charged an unspecified fare to ferry them across the river and that too for the free boat service provided by the Power Development Corporation (PDC).

Sources said the PDC has arranged a boat alongwith a life jacket each at Karmail (Trungal), Makdi Faat, Marsu and Madhol on the Batote-Doda road.

The free boat facility was provided after a bailey bridge submerged at Trungal in the Baghlihar Hydel Project reservoir during its construction. Two boatmen were also hired on temporarily basis at these places by the PDC on a consolidated salary of Rs 3,200 per month to ferry the villagers free of cost.

"Normally we are charged Rs 5 for one side trip by the boatmen. The boatmen who ferry us in their absence charge us Rs 10 for one side to cross the river from Karmail to Suva,” said Mohd Amin,Sarpanch, Bhartund.

“The boatmen neither wear the life jacket nor ask anybody to wear it except only when its windy,” he rued.

“These are baseless allegations. It is human nature to be greedy to earn more. You shouldn't report such petty things. The officers cannot keep an eye constantly," said Rajiv Saini, AEE, PDC (Civil Maintenance Division). "The department has placed an order to procure 6 to 8 life jackets," he added.

Jammu, December 8
Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand today seized the attendance register at the building section of the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) during a surprise visit. Tara also holds the portfolio as the Urban Development Minister.

Sources said many senior officers were not present in the office and when the Deputy Chief Minister came. Many of them hurried back to work. He inspected various wings of the corporation and interacted with the employees and other staff.

Sources said Tara took exception to the absence of senior officers and many of the employees from work and they may be asked to explain their absence.

Emphasising upon the need to complete various ongoing development works, Tara called upon the authorities to ensure completion of the works on time besides making sure that the highest quality standards are maintained during their execution. Sources said he also expressed concern on mushrooming illegal constructions and encroachments and called for joint efforts of various departments to curb the menace of encroachment. He also took a strong note of illegal roadside hoardings in the city.

Municipal Commissioner, KL Khajuria, said Deputy Chief Minister visited the office and inspected functioning of its various wings. “It was a routine visit but some employees and officials were not present, but many of them were away for official duty. We have conveyed the same to the minister.

Jammu, December 8
While little is being done to improve the condition of the roads, the Regional Transport Office (RTO) issues 130 registration certificates on an average everyday.

The state government has failed to enact legislation for registration of vehicles of applicants who have parking space.

Regional Transport Office (RTO), Jammu, on an average issues 130 registration certificates daily, which means that 40,560 vehicles (irrespective of their types) are added every year to the four lakh vehicles in the district.

"On an average we register 130 vehicles daily adding to the four lakh vehicles in the district," RTO Jammu, Varinder Salathia said.

He said the tourist state, which has a population of more than 1.25 crore has nearly 10 lakh registered vehicles.

"Fresh series of 10,000 numbers was issued within three months and sometimes it takes less than that to exhaust the registration numbers," said Salathia.

The road length in the capital city, barring two new bridges over Tawi River that divides the city in two parts and an arterial expressway, has not been expanded to bear the burden of new vehicles.

The condition of the roads remains the same as they in the eighties, residents say.

"The city of temples looks like a jungle of vehicles now. Narrow and congested roads, an understaffed and insensitive Traffic Police Department vis-à-vis constantly increasing number of vehicles has added to the chaos on the roads," said Neeraj Sharma, a bank employee.

"The government must start road widening work, construct new roads and bridges on the Tawi River, sub-ways and overhead bridges at the busy rotaries besides checking encroachments by the shopkeepers," added Sharma.

Reasi, December 8
Students belonging to various schools of Talwara and the adjoining areas blocked the National Highway-1C near Bharabhari Bridge today. They were protesting against the lack of public transport facilities in the area. The students said the district administration had failed to act despite their repeated requests.

One of the protesters Sanjeev said, “The authorities had assured us of all help when we held a similar protest in May. The authorities had assured us that the matter would be resolved within six days but to no avail,” he alleged.

Another student, Simran, said the problem had worsened over the past six months. “Our studies are suffering due to the shortage of transport facilities as most of the time we reach the school late and even miss school because of lack of transport. We fear our results will be poor as the annual examination is just over two months away,” she added.

The blockade put devotees on their way to Shiv Khori shrine and commuters to great inconvenience.

A tourist from Mumbai, Ashish, said the inconvenience caused to the commuters was an administrative failure. We are here to visit Shiv Khori cave shrine and we have to board a train from Jammu at six in the evening. The two-hour road blockage by the students has forced us to go back home without visiting the cave shrine.

Assistant Transport Officer Reasi, Shami Kumar, said, “We are already facing shortage of buses on this route and no one is applying for a fresh permit on the said route. On a temporary basis we are deploying two buses as per the demand of the students.”

Jatinder Singh Sambyal, SHO, Reasi, had a tough time convincing the students that their demands had been conveyed to the authorities concerned and would be resolved within a day or two. However, the students called off the protest only after they were given an assurance in the presence of prominent people of the area.

Jammu, December 8
Despite the hue and cry over the damage caused to fertile land and pollution due to brick kilns in Jammu, efforts of the government have been restricted to mere official meetings and preparing reports. Kilns continue to be run in several areas of the city in violation of the norms.

A report prepared by the government has states 65 brick kilns and 32 stone crushers in the state were operating illegally till last year. The government had asked the Pollution Control Board to close these units. “Only 13 stone-crusher units shut were closed recently, while notices issued against 11 units were withdrawn. The owners of the remaining eight crusher units went to the court and secured a stay against the closure notice,” said a source.

A sub-committee constituted by the Legislative Assembly (LA) directed the authorities to submit a report on the impact of kilns on the local population and agriculture land.

“The committee has directed the DCs of Samba and Kathua to submit a report to Assembly. But it will meet the same fate as the earlier reports,” a source said.

A member of the committee, Choudhary Zulfikar said, “We have taken exception to the way the agencies are working and it has been decided to take strong action against the illegal kilns.” He said the committee is waiting for the report.

Records say 400 kilns are operating in the state.

Jammu, December 8
The Department of Sports has failed to set up a mechanism to conduct dope tests on players taking part in the National School games. The tests were made mandatory by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), from this year.

“The CBSE has taken a major decision to introduce doping tests for students taking part in the National School Games organised by the School Games Federation of India (SGFI). During the previous edition of the competitions, 11 participants tested positive for banned substances,” said a source.

“The National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) had written to all school boards to engage them in the fight against the problem. DYSS has not taken any decision to introduce dope tests,” he added.

“Though sportspersons from the state are not as competitive as compared to their counterparts from other states like Punjab, Karnataka and Delhi but it is imperative to introduce the tests to ensure dope-free competitions,” sources add. “The reason behind poor show by our sportspersons is inadequate infrastructural facilities and lack of a policy on sports. In fact, the introduction of dope tests is also a part of effective policy on sports which shows the keenness of sports bodies of other states towards the betterment of the game,” a DYSS official claimed.

As per data available, NADA had collected 81 samples from participants from the CBSE-affiliated schools in the disciplines of wrestling (30), boxing (31) and weightlifting (20), out of which 11 tested positive for banned substances in the previous edition of the National School Games.

“It is always better to take precautionary measures at an early stage and for that it is mandatory for the department to take decisive measures for its implementation at educational institutions of the state. This will also bring more accountability to sports as this field should be taken seriously,” the official added.

“There is every possibility that the sportspersons due to their frustration over bad performance may take some medicines or substances to increase their stamina but unfortunately we do not have a mechanism to keep a check on the same,” he rued.

Jammu, December 8
Tribal’s today demanded settlement of Gujjar and Bakerwals on the state land, which is under their possession, so that they can live a settled life. They have warned to start agitation across the Jammu region if their demands are not met.

Under banner of the Gujjar Bakerwal Students Welfare Association (GBSWA), members from both the communities today held demonstration outside the Press Club and alleged that the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) and the J&K Police is harassing them by using force to evict community members from the land on which they are living for last many years.

State president of the association Talib Hussain said, “Thousands of nomads in J&K want to live a settled life so that their children could get education and it is duty of the government to start process for the same.”

“Nomads are militancy-affected poor and living in various parts of Jammu so that their children get good education, but government is totally indifferent to their plight. The government should support their demands,” Hussain said.

He said to provide basic education to the nomads, the state government had launched mobile schools for them, but somehow these schools are unable to fulfill the purpose.

Protesters said on one hand Minister for Revenue Raman Bhalla was helping the non-state subjects to get ration cards and right to vote in the state but on the other hand the state government is non-serious in settling the case of nomads and tribes.

According to the study conducted recently by a prominent Gujjar organisation, extreme poverty, child labour, early marriage and nomadic way of life is causing dark shadow over the future of lakhs of nomadic Gujjar children residing in the most backward, hilly and border areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

Survey said the worst condition was of the children belonging to Ajjhari Gujjar (shepherd keepers) and Manjhii Gujjar (buffalo keepers) as 83 per cent of them have not seen the school and only 17 per cent children were getting education in the religious institutes.

Jammu, December 8
The All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) is now seeking support of people and intellectuals from Jammu for the resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Hurriyat leader Syed Salim Geelani, who spoke during a seminar organised jointly by Hurriyat and the J&K Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, said the amalgam of separatist parties in Kashmir wanted to end the mis-understanding between different regions of state for the resolution of the J&K issue.

Geelani said APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is due to meet the Pakistani leadership in next few days, would discuss the ways to bring India and Pakistan closer for the resolution of the Kashmir conflict.

He stressed it was important to get inputs and feedback from the civil society and the intellectuals from Jammu and other regions of the state so that mis-understanding between the people is resolved.

The Hurriyat leader said the cross LoC trade between two parts of Jammu and Kashmir has been an important component of the ongoing peace and dialogue process. “It is important that the civil society and the intellectuals work together to analyse the benefits that have accrued to the two sides and the people of divided state since start of the trade,” he said.

President of the forum Jetinder Bakshi said, “It is important that all the outstanding issues between India and Pakistan are resolved through peaceful dialogue at the earliest.”

He expressed happiness on the talks between the two countries and said this process should not be allowed to stray.

Bakshi emphasised on the demand of the Kashmiri Pandits that they should be allowed to visit Sharda Peeth in Neelam valley in Pakistan.

He said the facilities for the cross LoC travel for the common people should be improved.

Jammu, December 8
Shaheend Manjeet Singh Club defeated Pinto Club by 3-0 in the summit showdown to clinch the Manjeet Singh Memorial Volleyball Tournament organised by the Poonch district police at sports stadium, Poonch.

Brig MK Mago, Commander, 93 Infantry Brigade was the chief guest on the occasion while the District Development Commissioner, Poonch, AK Sahu was the guest of honour. SP Poonch, Shamsheer Hussain, in his speech paid rich tributes to the police martyrs’ and other security forces, who laid their precious lives for the cause of the nation.

He said the J&K police was committed for channelising energy of the youth in a positive manner.

A cash reward of Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 were given to winner and runner-up teams, respectively, besides trophies and individual prizes. Hardeep Singh of Pinto Club was awarded trophy for the best player of the tournament.

The matches were officiated by referees Bashir Ahmed Bakshi, Wali Mohd, Mohammed Tariq Khan, Nirdosh Kumar and other officials of District Sports and Youth Services, Poonch.

Jammu, December 8
Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) today scripted an emphatic win by an inning and 112 runs against the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) in the U-16 match of Vijay Merchant Trophy played at GGM Science College Hostel Ground here.

The JKCA, in their second innings, were bowled out for 167 runs in 55.3 overs to suffer a heavy defeat. Earlier, resuming the play at 318/4, the HPCA’s first innings wrapped-up for 387 runs, thereby, taking a healthy lead of 279 runs. The JKCA was skittled out for 108 runs in their first innings.

For the HPCA, SG Arora was the top scorer with 77 runs while SN Vij and NA Sharma contributed 71 and 65 runs, respectively. For the JKCA, Shubam Singh was the wrecker-in-chief with a five-wicket haul while Aman Sharma chipped in with two wickets.

Trailing by 279 runs, the JKCA started their second innings on a poor note by losing first wicket at 23. After showing his heroics with the ball, Shubam Singh played a knock of 55 runs but in vain. Abhishant Bakshi also contributed 52 runs. For the HPCA, MJ Daggar and CS Malhotra were the chief destroyers with five-wickets each.

Jammu, December 8
PDDC (B) notched up a solitary goal win over Churchill Brothers to secure a berth in the final of the ongoing Christmas Soccer Championship being organised by the Christian Sports Organisation (CSO), J&K, in collaboration with the J&K Police Department, J&K Football Association and the J&K Sports Council at GGM Science College Football Ground here today.

Munish was the goal scorer for the winner team in the 66th minute of the match.

The match was officiated by Clint Mattoo, Moon Stephan, Vijay Kumar, Kamal, Rajesh Sumbaria, Saudhar Mattoo, Harmanjeet Singh, Roheny, Elijah Sotra and Harbans Lal. Rajesh Gill, president, CSO, J&K, Majid Kakroo former Indian Captain, Rakesh (Kuki), David Mattoo, Asif Gill, Satpaul, Victor Sotra, William Mattoo, Sam Paul, Nitu and Roman Sandhu were also present on the occasion.