Katra, December 10
Sixteen shops were gutted and goods worth crores were damaged in a fire that broke out en route Shri Mata Vaishno Devi cave shrine in Katra town of Reasi district.

The yatra to the cave shrine, which was suspended last night due to the fire, resumed this morning. “Fire broke out mysteriously in the PP Market near Charan Paduka en route Bhawan late last night,” a police officer here said.

He said the cause of the fire could not be ascertained. “About 16 shops, including provisional stores and a tea stall were gutted in the fire,” he said.

Police and local residents began the rescue operation. Fire fighters were also pressed into service to douse the fire, he added.

“It took hours to control the fire from spreading to the nearby shops,” a fire officer said.

He said the yatra to the Vaishno devi shrine was suspended last night to avoid any untoward incident. “The fire was brought under control completely this morning and the yatra to the cave shrine, which was suspended due to the fire, was resumed after almost 12 hours,” he added.

In December 2009, a devastating fire broke out in the PP market due to a cylinder burst in which 28 shops were destroyed completely.

Rajouri, December 10
In the absence of a boundary wall, kanals of the prime land of the district hospital, Rajouri, is being encroached upon. The hospital is spread over 90 kanal land, out of which 30 kanal is used for agricultural purposes. The process to transfer the 30 kanal piece of land to the district hospital is on, Superintendent of District Hospital, Rajouri, Chaman Bashin, said.

Land belonging to the District Hospital without a boundary wall in Rajouri. A Tribune photograph

He said, “It is true that prime land belonging to the hospital is being encroached upon in the absence of a boundary wall. We have also informed the Department of Health, local administration and the Chief Medical Officer, Rajouri, about the issue of encroachment of the hospital land, but, no positive steps have been taken in this regard.”

Sources said Dr Zahoor Shawal wrote to the Director Health Services that due to mushrooming of buildings around the hospital land there is apprehension of encroachment of the hospital land. To save the 90-kanal land, the department has also sent a project report to construct a boundary wall at the cost of Rs 2.36 crore to the Director Health Services for approval.

The CMO has directed the hospital superintendent to take the help of the police and the revenue department to stop encroachment of the hospital land.

The hospital superintendent has informed the DDC that 30 kanal of agriculture land, which is under process to be transferred to the district hospital, was being approached by the adjoining public and requested to demarcate the land and construct a boundary wall.

The DDC, Rajouri, had also issued instructions for immediate demarcation of 30 kanal of agriculture land in the presence of the Superintendent and the JKPCC representatives so that they can mark the boundary by installing cemented polls.

Till date no steps have been taken by the tehsildar. Tehsildar failed to give satisfactory reply about the demarcation.

Project officer, JKPCC, Er Shafiq Ahmed, admitted that the 30 kanal of land which is in the process of being transferred to the hospital has become easy target for encroachers, but we have done temporary barbed fencing around 60 kanal of the hospital land.

He said, “We would complete the boundary wall once we get the required funds,” DDC, Rajouri, Sougat Biswas said. “I have written a letter for work to be started on the compound wall, but the funds have not been released,” he said.

Jammu, December 10
As young cricketers are proving their mettle in the ongoing Ranji Trophy matches, the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) is likely to bring some changes in its selection policy.

Sources said the J&K team’s recent win against Assam in a Ranji Trophy match at Guwahati had impressed JKCA president Farooq Abdullah and office-bearers, including selectors and chief coach Bishan Singh Bedi.

“The young brigade is continuing to impress with their performance and the JKCA is likely to bring some changes in the selection policy.

The JKCA chief coach is also in favour of giving a chance to young players as he is not happy with the fitness level of senior cricketers who are on the verge of their retirement,” said a JKCA official.

“There is more enthusiasm and passion among young cricketers as compared to seniors, who are not agile now. It would be better for the J&K team, if budding cricketers are given a chance.

Youngsters are always eager to perform,” he said.

The sources said Farooq was scheduled to visit the Valley on December 8 but he could not make it due to some reason.

The state cricket body then decided to write a letter to the JKCA chief to brief him about the developments in the recent past.

The sources claimed that the boycott by two senior cricketers from the Valley over the alleged biased selection of the state team for the match against Jharkhand was mentioned in the letter.

The association has said after a written apology by the Kashmiri players, two senior cricketers had decided to stay out despite being selected in the team for the match against Assam which J&K had won by a convincing margin.

“Yes, all the issues were reported to the JKCA chief in the letter. We have explained to him the stance of the association during the selection row. We have not suggested to him to ask any senior cricketer to stop playing,” the JKCA official said.

Jammu, December 10
Thieves stole 15-foot long telephone communication wires of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) at Amphalla. As a result, nearly 1,000 landline telephone and internet connections went dead in the area.

These include houses of former Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and some bureaucrats in the area.

Meanwhile, the blame-game is on between the BSNL and the police for repeated thefts of communication wires and equipment in the city. The wires were stolen near the under- constructed building of a dental college for the costly copper metal in them.

Deputy General Manager (DGM), BSNL, Kulbushan Sharma, said they are surprised over the issue and they have informed the police. “Due to the construction work at the new building of the Dental College, our infrastructure has already been damaged but the J&K Project Construction Corporation (JKPCC) has failed to act to stop such thefts. The theft is a matter of concern,” DGM said.

Jammu West Assembly Movement (JWAM) president, Sunil Dimple, protested over the theft. He held lack of security in the area responsible for such incidents.

“It is the fourth incident of theft near the police post Rehari and the Dental Hospital at Miana Dido chowk, on the BC road over the last two months and the police had failed to make any arrests,” Dimple said.

DSP, Kulbir Handa said, “We are investigating the issue, but the BSNL has deployed a watchman near the spot. I visited the spot but the telecom company needs to give it in writing, so that investigation could be conducted,” Handa said.

Residents said, “The breakdown in our landlines leads to a lot of inconvenience. So the matter has to looked into on priority,” they said.

Jammu, December 10
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today launched a website of the Academy of Art, Culture and Languages (JKAACL) www.jkculture.nic.in. The website gives a comprehensive view of the academy's objectives, activities, schemes, rules, structure, besides a rich repository of manuscripts, reference books, paintings, miniatures, calligraphy specimen and sculptures.

News and photographs of day-to-day activities of the academy in the fields of art, culture and languages and notifications will be available on the site. Pictorial details of past patrons, presidents and secretaries of the institution have also been made available on the website.

Archival photographs of the academy's activities over the decades can also be accessed here. The recently launched newsletter of the academy, Saqafat, is also available on the website.

Omar, who is also the President, Jammu & Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture & Languages (JKAACL), clicked the website for a formal launch and surfed through its various sections. He also congratulated the academy.

Secretary of the academy, Khalid Bashir Ahmad, said the website would expand the viewership of the academy's activities, enhance its efficiency and bring in more transparency. He said the information available on the website would benefit viewers whose feedback shall help further improve the functioning of the institution. He said the earlier website of the academy www.jkculture.com, operational for a couple of years, was insecure for it was hosted on a private portal, which was prone to hacking and infringement and lacked content and design.

He said designing and hosting of a content-wise rich official website of the academy on a secured portal was imperative for which the National Informatics Centre was approached. He said the official website of the academy from now was iswww.jkculture.nic.in. The designer and host of the earlier website, www.jkculture.com, have been directed to be de-activated and pull off the site from the internet immediately.

Minister of State for Tourism & Culture, Nasir Aslam Wani, Financial Commissioner, Finance, Iqbal Khanday, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, BB Vyas, Commissioner Secretary, Tourism & Culture, Atal Dulloo, senior officers of Chief Minister's Office, Tourism & Culture Department and the Academy were present.

info on art a click away
News and photographs of day-to-day activities of the he Academy of Art, Culture and Languages in the fields of art, culture and languages and notifications will be available on the site www.jkculture.nic.in

Jammu, December 10
Agriculture technocrats who have been promised regularisation under Rehbar-e-Zirat (ReZ) today alleged that some members within their association are misleading the technocrats on government’s plans to start batch-wise regularisation.

Under the plan, government has decided to start regularisation of eligible, selected Rehabar-e-Zirat (ReZ) candidates from April 1, 2014, (phase-I), April 1, 2015, (phase-II) and April 1, 2016, (phase III).

The All J&K Agricultural Technocrats Association has cautioned that some people within the association are trying to create confusion between the government and the association. Their aim is to derail the process of regularisation and some of them are not happy with the process.

Association president Surinder Randotra told mediapersons that the government had assured them of fulfilling their demands by absorbing them batch-wise under the Rehbre Zirat scheme, but some people are out to derail the process.

State Cabinet had approved the regularisation of the technocrats on August 4 last year and had also decided to start the regularisation process in 2014. The government planned to give more priority to merit over seniority of the technocrats.

Initially some of the candidates had opposed the decision saying that candidates who were about to cross the age bar be accommodated first.

After a six-month long agitation, the government had constituted a high-level committee headed by Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather to prepare a comprehensive proposal to absorb unemployed agriculture technocrats, which was later cleared by the Finance Department, Planning Department and later by the Cabinet on August 4, 2011.

It was decided that the Planning and Development Department would provide the funds for the initial two years in respect of each phase of the regularised candidates on the account of their salaries.

Jammu, December 10
A symposium on the theme ‘Youth on the Move’ was organised by the Indian Red Cross Society, Jammu, in collaboration with the Government College of Education today.

Out of 15 contestants, Khalil Wandy secured first position while Shakti and Summit Sharma secured the second and third positions respectively.

Indian Red Cross Society general secretary Feroj Ahmad and Jammu District Red Cross Society executive secretary Suresh Sharma in their address talked about 
the organisation and its activities.

Jammu, December 10
Minister for Revenue, Raman Bhalla, has said the government would launch a massive plan to develop multi-purpose purpose community halls, shopping and residential complexes over vacant Evacuee Property (EP) land to make it a source of revenue generation.

The Minister said this while interacting with the residents at Udhaywalla after inspecting the construction work of a multi-purpose community hall on 20 kanal evacuee land in the area.

Custodian General, EP, Abdul Majeed Mir, Custodian, EP, Abdul Majeed Wani, besides other senior officers, revenue accompanied the minister.

Bhalla said the proposed multipurpose community hall would have the facilities such as 10-rooms, marriage hall, kitty party hall, toilet block, lawn and parking.

He said the project would cost Rs 7.5 crore, the community hall is likely to be completed by December 2013.

He said on its completion, the hall would be available to organise functions on nominal fee.

Jammu, December 10
In a series of courses being conducted at the Sher-i-Kashmir Police Academy (SKPA), Udhampur, a six-day course on ‘Investigation of Traffic Accident Cases’ began today.

A total of 18 police officers of the rank of Sub-Inspectors to Inspectors of various wings of the J&K Police are participating in the course.

The objective of the course is to make the officers aware about skills adopted during investigations and flaws found in probes related to traffic accident cases during their judicial determination in courts. Speaking on the occasion, Udhampur Additional District and Sessions Judge Mohinder Kumar Sharma talked about recent Supreme Court guidelines which the police has to adopt during investigations.

A lecture on ‘Basics of vehicle inspection before driving’ was delivered by Habeeb Ullah Reshi, Senior Works Manager, J&K SRTC, Jammu. Courses on ‘Inspection and Supervision’ and “Computerisation of Police Record’ also began, wherein officers of the rank of SP and subordinates were nominated as participants. 

Jammu, December 10
The J&K girls’ and boys’ teams are all set to put their best foot forward in the second edition of the U-19 National Tennis Ball Cricket Championship under the 58th National School Games (NSG) in Jammu tomorrow.

As many as 25 teams comprising 350 players and officials would vie for top honours in the five-day long sporting event being organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports (DYSS) under the aegis of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI). Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand will declare open the championship at MA Stadium tomorrow.

Out of 25 teams, 13 teams have confirmed their participation. The rest of the teams are likely to reach tomorrow. The teams who have confirmed their entries are the Andhra Pradesh, CBSE Board, Chattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, J&K, Jharkhand, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh apart from the J&K.

Elaborate arrangem]ents have been made by the DYSS for comfortable stay of players and officials at the Youth Hostel and Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Nagrota, during the championship. The matches will be played at four venues --- MA Stadium, Parade Ground, University of Jammu ground and Green Field, Gandhi Nagar.

“We are hoping for a better performance (than the last time) from both the teams. In 2009, the J&K eves had clinched gold while the Goa had to settle for a silver in the inaugural edition.

The boys’ team did not play up to their potential but won the bronze medal,” Farooq Ahmed Salroo, general secretary, J&K Tennis Ball Cricket Association, said.

Jammu, December 10
Gurvinder edged out Kashish in boys’ category today in the Jammu District Table Tennis Championship being played in the MA Stadium here. In another match, Sunpreet Singh defeated Anuj Gupta by 11-9, 11-9, 9-11 and 11-8.

In junior boys’ category, Adhiraj beat Nihnad by 11-2, 4-11 and 11-5 to move into the next round. Assam overcame the challenge of Lavyan by 12-10, 11-7 and 11-8.

In the sub-junior boys’ semifinals, Diviyam toppled Anuj by 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 10-12 and 11-9 while Ritvik beat Manandeep by 4-11, 11-8, 11-7 and 11-8. In cadet boys’ category, Hanumant beat Amit Koul by 11-8, 11-9 and 11-9 and Ninad beat Amaan by 11-9, 11-6 and 12-10. In the sub-junior girls’ category, Jahanvi edged out Bhavya by 11-7, 16-4 and 11-8 and Shreya defeated Ritu Charak by 11-9 and 14-12. — TNS

Jammu, December 10
The Air Force School, Jammu, has been declared the ‘Best Air Force Senior Secondary School’ of the Indian Air Force. The inspection of the school for the award was held on August 24.

The judgement was based on infrastructure, academics, co-curricular activities and the administration of the school.

On the occasion of the award-giving ceremony held at the Air Force School, Jammu, today, a special school assembly was conducted in which school principal Vikesh Sandhal welcomed Mamta Patange, president, Air Force Wives’ Welfare Association, and other dignitaries to the school.

The principal appreciated the efforts of the students, teaching and non-teaching staff, group ‘D’ employees and the management committee of the school.

Wing Commander Shikha Garg, the Officer-in-charge of the school, read out the citation and the trophy was presented by Patange to the school principal.

Patange commended the efforts of the principal and the staff of the school and encouraged the students to strive to achieve excellence in both the academics as well as extra-curricular activities.

Poonch, December 10
Poonch Brigade Commander Brigadier MK Mago flagged off a tour of elderly people of Rajouri and Poonch districts from Natu Hall here today.

The eight-day tour has been organised by 2/4 Gorkha Rifles under Operation Sadbhavana. A total of 25 people were selected from far flung areas of the twin districts for the trip. These people will visit places of interests in Kerala and Kanyakumari. The participants will also visit the Indian Navy base at Cochin, Jama Masjid at Trivandrum, Vivekananda Rock at Kanya Kumari apart from other tourists spots.

Speaking on the occasion, the Poonch Brigade Commander said the aim of the tour was to promulgate peace and harmony and to demonstrate diversity in the country. — OC

Jammu, December 10
The J&K Police (JKP) secured a berth in the quarterfinals of the 61st All India Police Hockey Championship being played at the KK Hakhu Astro Turf Stadium here.

Though the match between the JKP and the Uttarakhand Police ended in a 3-3 draw, the former won due to a better goal rate. Gurjeet Singh was the standout player from the winning team who converted all three penalty corners into goals. For the Uttarakhand Police, Manoj Singh scored two goals while Pankaj struck one goal.

In another match, the Chhatisgarh overcame the challenge of the Puducherry by 10-1 goals. Yos Topo was outstanding with five goals and Sandeep slammed three goals.

The Bihar team had the last laugh against the Rajasthan by 7-3 goals with utmost ease. Samuel was the notable striker with three goals whereas Patras contributed with two goals.

The Maharashtra also scripted a resounding 9-1 win over the Madhya Pradesh. Satyajit Sawant and Vinod made three goals each for the winning team.

Also, the SSB toppled the Manipur by 16-1 goals.

Jammu, December 10
The Thatharka Sports Club beat the Sadabahar Sports Club, Maligam, by 2-0 sets in the summit clash to win the volleyball tournament organised by IRP 9th Battallion, Ramban, at Government Higher Secondary School here.

The tournament was held under the Civic Action Programme.

Speaking on the occasion, SSP VK Bali, Commandant, IRP 9th Battallion, briefed about the sports activities being undertaken by the Police Department besides maintaining law and order.

The Ramban ADC, District Youth Services and Sports Officer and the Chief Education Officer were among those present on the occasion.

Jammu, December 10
The 3rd Kargil Martyrs Handball Championship for men got underway at Mini Stadium in Udhampur today. Udhampur SHO Kuldeep Khajuria inaugurated the championship.

In the opening match, the Government PG College, Udhampur, got the better of the Vidya Peeth Blue, Udhampur, with utmost ease.

A total of five teams are competing in the tournament being played on knock-out basis.

The championship is being organised by the Kargil Martyrs Handball Club, Udhampur, under the supervision of its president Manmeet Singh and secretary Rishi Sharma.