Srinagar, December 26
The state weather department today said a fresh spell of rain and snow is likely to occur around the weekend even as minimum temperature across the region fell several degrees below the freezing point.

Snow and rainfall is likely to occur in the next 24 hours which will continue till the weekend, an official of the state Meteorological Department said.

Mercury around the Srinagar city, the main town in the region, fell to a minimum of minus 2.9 degrees Celsius overnight, an official said.

The maximum day-time temperature in the city was recorded at 10 degrees Celsius. The Gulmarg resort in north Kashmir recorded a cold night with mercury falling to a low of minus 7 degrees Celsius and at Pahalgam resort in south Kashmir the night temperature fell to minus 6.8 degrees Celsius.

Leh in remote Ladakh region also recorded a cold night with mercury falling to minus 15.9 degrees Celsius while the adjoining Kargil district recorded a low of minus 15.4 degrees Celsius, the official said.

The minimum temperature in Ladakh region usually hovers many degrees below the freezing point in winter months, sometimes falling down to as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius. The Ladakh region remains cut off from the rest of the state for most of the winter as heavy snow along the Srinagar-Leh road shuts access to the mountainous Ladakh.

Qazigund, the southern gateway town to the Kashmir valley, recorded a minimum temperature of minus 3.2 degrees Celsius while in the frontier Kupwara town in north Kashmir, the minimum temperature was recorded at minus 3.7 degrees Celsius.

Srinagar, December 26
The year 2012 began on a deadly note as scores of infants died month after month, which otherwise were avoidable deaths as an official inquiry later revealed. The year ended on an equally fatal note when two infants died when electricity supply to a hospital got snapped and the authorities failed to provide a back-up.

The grim picture of the healthcare system in the region, coupled with protests by the affected families and incessant media coverage highlighting the failure to provide basic facilities, forced the state government to act, but by then around 400 infants had died.

GB Pant Hospital, which is the main childcare facility catering to the entire Kashmir valley, remained in news for several months from the beginning of the year as a large number of infants admitted there died. In October this year, the state government revealed that 3,828 children had died in a four-year period from 2008 till August 2012 this year.

In May, the state government appointed a one-man inquiry committee headed by Director of SK Institute of Medical Sciences to look into the causes of high infant mortality rate at the GB Pant Hospital and also provide remedial measures.

The report blamed the high rate of infant deaths in the hospital on lack of manpower, equipment and overall mismanagement of services following which the Medical Superintendent of the hospital was transferred and attached and a new head was appointed.

The government later said it has taken “various steps” to prevent infant deaths by making administrative changes, deployment of manpower in a “coordinated manner” and provision of additional drugs.

Immediately after the appointment of new head, the hospital began improving its infrastructure which soon showed results and the death rate dropped considerably. The hospital has since then also initiated a tagging mechanism aimed at preventing the spread of infection from attendants to patients and discourages the “perception” of child swapping.

The hospital authorities this month also announced that they are upgrading the healthcare system and have installed five ‘vital sign monitors’ and a cardiac defibrillator in the facility’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), where “very sick” children are admitted for treatment.

However, the darkest chapter, which shocked many, unfolded in the year’s last month when a doctor along with two associates were arrested in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district for carrying out an “illegal delivery”, murdering the newborn baby and then dumping the body into a stream.

The year ended on another grim note when two infants died at a hospital in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, which an official inquiry blamed on “administrative lapses”. The two infants, under treatment at Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Baramulla District Hospital, had died when a four-hour-long power cut left ventilators and incubators non-functional.

Medical Superintendent and four other members of the hospital staff were suspended for negligence over these deaths while the inquiry conducted by a three-member panel headed by a Deputy Director blamed “administrative lapses” for the deaths.

Srinagar, December 26
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the state government to constitute a team of doctors to visit jailed separatist leader and Muslim League chief Ashiq Hussain Faktoo in jail and carry out his medical check-up. These directions were passed by a division Bench of the high court while acting on an application filed by Faktoo through his counsel, wherein it had been alleged that he was not being provided required medical treatment as advised by the doctors earlier.

Faktoo, alias Dr Qasim, who is the husband of radical Islamic group Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi, is currently lodged at the Central jail in Srinagar, where he is undergoing a life imprisonment in a murder case.

In 2003, Faktoo (45), was sentenced to life imprisonment for involvement in the murder of human rights activist Hriday Nath Wanchoo in 1992 and has completed 20 years in jail this year.

Faktoo, who has completed his doctorate degree in Islamic studies while in jail, has denied the charges of murder and has accused the government of “persecution” for his political views.

“The double Bench of the court today directed the government to constitute a team of doctors headed by the Head of Department, Orthopaedics from Bone and Joints Hospital Srinagar”, Faktoo’s counsel told The Tribune. The team, he said, has been directed to visit Faktoo in jail on Thursday, December 27, and recommend if he needs further treatment.

Srinagar, December 26
The National Conference today asked Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti and its patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to resign from their south Kashmir seats on moral grounds on account of their defeat in the Legislative Council elections.

The ruling coalition swept all four seats in the poll.

“Mehbooba and Mufti have lost their own constituencies and still talk about their existence. They have no moral right to stick to their seats of Wachi and Anantnag after being rooted out in south Kashmir in the recent Legislative Council poll. They should immediately resign,” National Conference spokesman Tanvir Sadiq said.

He said the PDP cannot “hoodwink” the people of Srinagar and claimed the opposition party's “obituary” had been written and would be “completed by 2014” when the state Assembly elections would be held.

“In winter, she (Mehbooba) is in Delhi, enjoying her vacation, and issues statements from Delhi on and off and then strangely for a day, she comes to Srinagar only to call for protest,” Sadiq said.

The ruling party accused the PDP of detaining 1,266 youth without trial it was in power. “In their short tenure of three years, they have the ignominious distinction of using the PSA according to their whims and slapping the law on 1,266 young students,” Sadiq said.

The NC spokesman accused the opposition party of playing the role of a “disruptor”. “The PDP is a spent force trying to test the water in Srinagar. They will get the same humiliation in Srinagar as they got in Wachi and Anantnag,” Sadiq said.

The spokesman lashed out at the PDP for being “intentionally oblivious to the revolutionary initiatives and considerable achievements” of the Omar Abdullah-led coalition government. “Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, in the last four years, has taken visionary steps to mitigate the sufferings of people. The city is our stronghold and we will ensure its holistic development,” the spokesman said.

Srinagar, December 26
The Opposition PDP has called for a protest on January 5 against the government for failing to provide basic facilities to residents.

"To protest the crisis created by shortage of electricity, gas and rations apart from price rise and victimisation of youth on false charges, the party will hold demonstrations at all the district headquarters on January 5," PDP president Mehbboba Mufti said while addressing a meeting of the party office-bearers.

She said after shrinking elsewhere in the state, the ruling National Conference was trying to hold on to Srinagar by adopting a strategy of political isolation and official repression.

"While the NC has landed the state in a serious crisis of governance, it was engaged in dirty tricks to keep Srinagar as a political hostage to stay in contention for power," she said.

Party leaders Naeem Akhtar, Syed Altaf Bukhari and district president Mohammad Ashraf Mir, MLC, also participated in the interaction that discussed the protest programme of the party slated for January 5.

Mehbooba said Srinagar was the worst sufferer of the NC misrule in the past but it continued to play games with the people of the city and was using all unfair means to prevent a political contest to retain its false monopoly.

She said thousands of youth had been framed in false cases and in spite of the Chief Minister’s repeated announcements the cases had not been withdrawn. "Some of these youth are being forced to carry out the dirty tricks of the NC to ensure that the youth in general continue to feel alienated and a viable opposition does not emerge. The party continues to pose as the only representative even as it survives primarily on the election boycott."

Mehbooba said the PDP would continue to focus on problems of the citizens who had become victims of worst governance under the present regime.

Srinagar, December 26
The National Conference today launched a membership drive in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. NC vice-president Chowdhary Muhammad Ramzan, general secretary Sheikh Nazir Ahmed and MLA Mir Saifullah were present on the occasion, said a party spokesman.

Meanwhile, National Conference additional general secretary Mustafa Kamal along with Member of Parliament Sharief-u-din Shariq addressed a party convention at Kunzar township in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

The party had launched the drive in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district yesterday.

The spokesman said the move was aimed at reaching the remotest areas of the state with a message that the NC would redouble its efforts to ensure that the developmental schemes percolate in all the areas. — TNS

Srinagar, December 26
Minister for Revenue and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla today distributed land-ownership certificates among 111 beneficiaries of Pulwama district involving 643 kanals under the Roshni Scheme.

Bhalla said despite the shortage of manpower, the Revenue Department was performing satisfactorily for the welfare and development of people. He said the Revenue Department was playing a pivotal role for the state’s development.

He urged upon the officers of the department to speed up the pace of work to dispose of the pending applications after proper scrutiny. He said infrastructure of the Revenue Department in the district was being upgraded besides adding more manpower.

He also took stock of the pace of ongoing works of Goripora Barsu bridge and a flyover-cum-bridge at Galander, which are being constructed under the National Highway Developmental Plan by the National Highways Authority of India. He urged upon the executing agencies to speed up the pace of work and complete the projects within stipulated time.

The minister was accompanied by Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC) Pulwama Shafaqat Noor and other officers concerned of the district.

Srinagar, December 26
In an effort to raise social awareness about the role of pharmacists, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) is planning to start a country-wide awareness yatra from Jammu and Kashmir.

The yatra by the Udyog Development Foundation (UDF) will be flagged off in the first week of January, a statement from the organisation said.

“The aim and objective of the yatra is to create awareness among the common man and policy-makers of the country/state about the role and status of a pharmacist”, the statement said.

“The UDF will start its yatra by first week of January, 2013, which will be led by UDF National coordinator Tufail Bazaz and state coordinator Hushiyar Singh Rukhwal”, the statement added.

The UDF has appealed to all the members of pharmacist community in J&K to join the yatra movement.

“This is an occasion to show professional solidarity and to strengthen the unity among the pharmacy professionals so that their voice is heard at the national level”, the statement added.

Srinagar, December 26
Baramulla Deputy Commissioner Ghulam Ahmad Khwaja today chaired a joint consultative meeting of police officers, local residents and traders in Sopore today. He said their endeavour would be to make the north Kashmir's apple town drug free.

“During the meeting, residents said the menace of drug addiction was spreading its tentacles in the town. I assured them that the police would take concrete measures to ensure that the town becomes drug free,” Khwaja said.

A trader, who attended the meeting, said they expressed concern over the “alarming rise in drug abuse in the town.

“We told the officials that concerted efforts need to be taken in the town to root out the menace,” he said, adding that they assured their support to the officials in this regard.

The meeting was attended by Sopore SP Imtiyaz Mir.

The police in Sopore arrested many drug peddlers and seized a huge quantity of drugs and intoxicants this year.

Srinagar, December 26
The Hallions Football Club will face the Batamaloo Football Club in the finals of the ‘Winter 7-A-Side Football Tournament’.

In the first semifinal which was played at the Tourist Reception Ground, the Hallions Football Club defeated the Solina Sports Football Club by 3-1 goals. In the other semifinal match, the Batmaloo Football Club defeated the Maharaja National Dalgate through a tie breaker by 3-2 goals. The final match will be played on December 29. The tournament has been organised by the J&K Football Association.

Jammu, December 26
The J&K Judo Association has selected the state team which will participate in the Senior National Judo Championship to be held at Bhubaneshwar in Odisha from December 27 to December 30. Arshi Nad and Vikas Dogra are the coaches while Mohammad Mushtaq is the team manager.

The team comprises Aman Gupta, Bhanu Pratap, Danish Sharma, Ranjodh Singh, Satyajeet Singh, Arunesh Shrin, Nippu Jamwal, Sheetal Sharma, Paheli Sharma, Shweta Thakur and Satya Devi.

The selection was conducted in the presence of Sports Officer Ravi Singh; incharge, Indoor Sports Complex, MA Stadium, Satish Gupta; and J&K Judo Association joint secretary Vikas Gupta.