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Protest against violence on JU campus
Poor food distribution triggers ration shortage
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Schools unmoved by deadline on safety norms compliance
Legislative assembly
Staff crunch mars Palyarni school’s functioning
ZPEOs seek power, office premises
Panthers Party to corner govt on regional bias, non-performance
Rural infrastructure to get focused attention: Dy CM
Railway budget
Rs 5 crore to be released for restoration of services
Avail benefits of financial package, weavers told
JU hosts folk dance festival ‘Indradhanush’
Students perform during the dance competition at General Zorawar Singh auditorium in the University of Jammu on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Anand Sharma
Workshop on Gojri language gets underway
Ambedkar School celebrates Annual Day
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Protest against violence on JU campus
Jammu, February 26 They also demanded that “adequate security measures” be put in place to avoid such incidents in future. Raising slogans against Jammu University authorities, the protesting students and scholars, under the banner of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Progressive Students Association (PSA), blamed the varsity administration for security lapses and alleged that they (authorities) had failed to stop the entry of outsiders and repeated incidents of assault on the campus. Yesterday, some outsiders had allegedly assaulted a Law student Sohail with iron rods and had managed to flee the spot. The victim had alleged that he informed the security officer and Dean Students’ Welfare about heated arguments with an outsider near Law Department before the incident, but the authorities paid no heed to
his pleas. A few days back, a girl student of Biotechnology was severely thrashed and beaten up on the
campus by some unidentified outsiders. “Authorities have failed to ensure safety of students and scholars on the campus. Earlier, a girl student was attacked by some unidentified outsiders and a Law student was yesterday assaulted by some people on the campus. It seems students are not safe on the campus. The varsity authorities must act against the culprits,” Arun Dev Singh, City Secretary, ABVP, said. He alleged that the university authorities and police had failed to identify the culprits who had attacked the girl student of Biotechnology. “While an FIR has been lodged against unidentified people, the varsity should identify the real culprits and a case should be registered against them. Besides, the authorities should put in place
necessary security measures to stop such incidents in future,” the ABVP leader said. The protesters continued their sit-in near the main gate for two hours and later met the Registrar of Jammu University,
Professor Naresh Padha, submitting to him a charter of demands. Meanwhile, normal traffic movement was disrupted for some time and visitors on the campus had a tough time getting an entry into the campus. Talking to The Tribune, Prof NK Tripathi, Dean Students Welfare (DSW), Jammu University, said they had reported the matter to the police and measures were being put in place to prevent recurrence of such incidents
in future. |
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Poor food distribution triggers ration shortage
Jammu, February 26 As per the 2001 Census, the state receives a monthly quota of 63,067 metric tones (MTs) of ration from the Centre at the scale of 35 kg per family per month. There is deficit of 55 metric tonne foodgrains per month at the existing scale. “The state has been getting additional quota to meet its requirements, but the problem is distribution network, which is very poor,” said an official. At the moment, thousands of families living in Kishtwar, Bhaderwah, Warwan, Poonch, Rajouri and Doda in the Jammu region and Kupwara, Handwara and Anantnag in the Kashmir valley are facing shortage of ration on a routine basis. In the recent past, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), National Panthers Party (NPP) and several other organisations have organised protest against the shortage. As per the 2011 Census, the total population of the state is 1.25 crore which works out as 22.73 lakh families at an average size of 5.52 persons per family. As many as 3.02 lakh families are outside the ambit of ration supply. “At several depots, there is no supply for days together and people are forced to buy rice and flour from shops, which turns out to be much costlier than that supplied through the Public Distribution System (PDS),” said Balkar Singh, a resident of Jeewan Nagar. “There are thousands of families which cannot afford foodgrains from open market, but as there are problems in the supply, many people are forced to buy from shopkeepers,” said Sunil Dimple, a local community leader. “Due to shortage, the government is diverting the ration from Above Poverty Line (APL) category to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, particularly those living in rural and far-flung areas of the state,” said an official. "We are working on improving the system and people will not be put to hardships. Consumers should register their complaints so that action can be taken against anyone who is not doing his work," said CAPD Minister Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan.
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Schools unmoved by deadline on safety norms compliance
Jammu, February 26 The traffic police and Regional Transport Department (RTO) have served notices to all schools for implementation of Supreme Court (SC) guidelines within a 10-day time period or face seizure of vehicles. Sources said though checks were conducted over a few days, most of the educational institutions have not made much changes in their transport services, asking for more time, keeping in view the cost factor involved. As per Section 2 (47) of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, an educational institution bus is a transport vehicle and therefore requires a permit to ply on the road. Being a transport vehicle, it would also need to undergo mandatory fitness test every year without which the permit cannot be renewed. “Buses are painted yellow but there are doubts about the working condition of vehicles of every school and most of them don’t have conductors to ensure safety of children,” said one of the parents on condition of anonymity. It is a fact that very few drivers running school buses have been challaned by traffic police personnel. Regional Transport Officer (RTO) recently constituted a committee to review the transport of educational institutions, but not much headway is expected. On February 21, hundreds of parents, including women and children, had taken out a massive protest rally against the management of Delhi Public School (DPS), demanding judicial or Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the death of Suruchi Choudhary, who was run over by her school bus on February 7.
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Move for raising of cap on subsidised LPG
Dinesh Manhotra Tribune News Service
Jammu, February 26 “Residents of Jammu and Kashmir, especially those living in far-flung areas, have been facing hardship due to cap on subsidised cylinders announced recently, so I have moved a resolution in the Assembly for enhancement of quota for LPG cylinders from nine to 12,” Sharma said, hoping all other parties would support his resolution. He said it was the state government’s duty to bear the additional burden in case the Centre refused to enhance the quota for Jammu and Kashmir. Giving details of his resolution, Sharma said he had demanded that Jammu and Kashmir should be treated as a special case in giving additional quota of subsidised cylinders, keeping in view the weather conditions in the state. In his resolution, the BJP leader has also demanded that the process for getting a new LPG connection should be simplified because common people have been facing hardship due to the cumbersome process being adopted by the oil companies when it comes to a new connection. After the Centre put a cap on subsidised cylinders, it has been getting tough for people to get their refills and at times, they have to wait for more than two weeks for a cylinder. According to official records, there are 15 lakh Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) users in Jammu and Kashmir, but those living in snow-bound areas are finding things difficult in the wake of the cap on subsidised cylinders. In the snow-bound areas, consumption of LPG is more as compared to other areas due to the severe cold. Due to non-availability of subsidised LPG, people in Doda, Bhaderwah, Rajouri, Poonch, Kishtwar and Reasi have started using firewood collected from forests as fuel for cooking food. This trend has put pressure on the forests and cutting of trees has again started in such remote areas.
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Staff crunch mars Palyarni school’s functioning
Rajouri, February 26 Over the past few months, this school was run by a single teacher identified as Showkat Ali. Students used to depend on this teacher not only for studies, but also for mid-day meals, said a resident. Naib sarpanch Abid Malik told The Tribune, “Hundreds of villagers from three panchayats of the adjoining areas who are completely dependent on this school, today locked the school building and protested against the government’s neglect of this backward area.” He also said, “The school is supposed to have five teachers, of whom, two teachers are busy in polio vaccination campaign, another is busy with class VIII examination duty and a teacher is on long leave.” The school had upgraded from primary to middle in 2005 after efforts of local villagers who cannot afford to admit their children in privately run schools. The Palyarni middle school building has five rooms which are in a reasonable condition, but “without staff, this school is of no use for us,” he added. Sources said villagers locked the building after they complained about staff crunch to senior officials, but villagers received a shocking answer from a Zonal Education Officer, who said, “We are busy in arrangements of a retirement party of the ZEO which is scheduled for tomorrow.” “Our children walk miles to reach here every day in hope of better education and future, but the administration’s careless and ignorant attitude forced us to lock this building, which is of no use for our children without a teacher,” a villager said. Reports said when this issue reached the Education Minister Tara Chand’s notice, he ordered Officiating Chief Education Officer, Rajouri, Saif Ali Chowhan, to visit the spot. Talking to The Tribune, Chowhan said, “People are angry over staff crunch. I personally met and assured them those teacher who are on other duties will be sent back to their normal duties and a post lying vacant will be filled soon in this school.”
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Students from remote areas shine
RK Kichlu
Batote, February 25 The apparent reason: The switchover of the examination pattern to the ‘Single Paper System’ (SPS) introduced since the last year in J&K province on the pattern of CBSE.
In Ramban district, the girls have outshone the boys immensely in all streams. According to SS Bandral, Principal, Government Higher Secondary School (GHSS), Ramban, not only the high-scoring CBSE-pattern question papers but also merging of the assignments, practical and the theory marks are contributing factors. “There have been some good performances in individual subjects. Though Quarait-ul-Ain of GHSS, Ramban could score only 79%, she scored 97% (highest in province) in Environmental Science (ES) and 98% in Maths,” said Raj Singh Raju, Lecturer, EV, GHSS, Ramban. As many as 93% of his students have passed in EV and he has announced an award of Rs 1,000 to each student scoring over 90% in EV. “Though there have been unprecedented individual performances and many a distinction, the overall pass percentage in class XII was only 65% in the district,” said AR Giri, Principal, GHSS, Banihal.
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ZPEOs seek power, office premises
Jammu, February 26 Sources said the ZPEOs had apprised officials of the DYSS about the difficulties being faced by them due to non-disbursing powers and lack of accommodation to run the affairs but to no avail. Sources said the All J&K Youth Services Sports Employees Association had also wrote a letter to former Sports Minister RS Chib wherein it was mentioned that despite establishment of zonal offices, there was a need to create adequate infrastructure, besides other powers vested to the ZEOs could also be implemented to the ZPEOs, claiming that all the rules pertaining to the Education Department were applicable to the DYSS. The re-organisation of the DYSS was specially done to create posts of the ZPEOs on the lines of the Zonal Education Officers (ZEO) in the Education Department but all the executive powers vested to the ZEOs were not provided to the newly elected 199 ZPEOs. “Without drawing and disbursing powers, all the ZPEOs are handicapped because they are not authorised to spent even a single penny to conduct competitions. We are still following the instructions of district officers and that too when our duties have been specifically mentioned by the department,” said one of the ZPEOs. “After a long discussion with our fellow colleagues, we have taken a decision to approach the minister concerned to find out a possible solution,” another ZPEO claimed. “We have no permanent office to carry out our duties. All the officers have no option but to discharge their duties from makeshift arrangements and it is quite embarrassing for us,” the officer said. “Infact, we also had a meeting with JP Singh, director, DYSS recently, who gave a patient hearing to our demand but nothing significant has been done so far. We are determined to get our genuine right and for that we continue to strive hard for it,” he added. — A Zonal Physical Education Officer |
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Panthers Party to corner govt on regional bias, non-performance
Jammu, February 26 “The Panthers Party would highlight in the Assembly the issues of non-governance, non-performance, regional bias, fractured work culture, lack of accountability and transparency, fiscal indiscipline, patronised corruption and poor government deliverance with utter failure on its part to address and redress the genuine urges and aspirations of the people of the state and to redeem its promises,” said Harsh Dev Singh, NPP chairman and leader of Panthers Legislature Party. Singh said the government had been high on rhetoric and low on delivery with all its tall claims, airy slogans and loud pronouncements having fallen flat. “Despite liberal central funding and a plethora of Centrally-sponsored schemes announced to support the infrastructural development of the state, the delivery on the ground has been negligible. The politico-constitutional apparatus has collapsed and the administrative machinery having completely been paralysed, the faith of the common man has been completely shaken,” Singh alleged. “Besides, there are large scale complaints of irregularities and omissions and commissions having been committed in their implementation which would be highlighted in the Assembly with a thrust on accountability and transparency,” Singh said. He said the party would also highlight the issue of Jammu’s neglect and deprivation, unemployment, government employees’ demands, large-scale encroachments of state and forest lands and Panchayat members’ demands for devolution of powers at grass-root level vociferously in the Assembly. |
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Rural infrastructure to get focused attention: Dy CM
Jammu, February 26 “Exemplary development initiatives initiated by the government clearly show seriousness of current dispensation towards all round development of the state,” tara Chand said. Continuing with the drive to reach out to people and bring administration to their doorsteps, Tara Chand conducted a two-day extensive tour to different areas of constituency and convened a series of public rallies and inspection of various ongoing development works. Lauding unprecedented support of the Central Government, the Deputy Chief Minister said with the help of liberal funding, major development initiatives had been taken and the state government had launched mega projects for all round development of all the three regions of the state. “Completion of these prestigious projects would go a long way in addressing development aspirations of people of the state,” he added. He said two cluster model villages had been sanctioned and work on the same was going on at fast pace. All the villages coming up under these clusters would be developed on modern lines with required infrastructure, he added. He said with completion of the cluster model village project, 31 villages of Pallanwala area would be facilitated with several specialised schemes in education, health, communication sewerage and drainage, agriculture and above all provision for a bus terminal and development of tourist attraction spots in the area. |
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Katra welcomes announcement of direct train
Our Correspondent
Katra, February 26 While presenting the Railway Budget, Bansal said the direct train to Katra would run six-day a week while the stretch connecting the holy town to Udhampur was expected to the commissioned by May-June. It has been announced that there will be 'yatra slips' to pilgrims travelling by rail at the time of booking of the ticket saving their time, while undertaking the pilgrimage. Railway has already announced that Jammu-Katra-Udhampur rail line will become operational by June. While the Katra station is almost ready, work on the Udhampur-Katra line is underway. Vaishno Devi Shrine is one of the main Hindu pilgrim destinations, is set to become accessible by rail. Local MLA Baldev Raj Sharma said he welcomed the move by the Union Minister, "It will allow more people to reach the holy town, without having to travel from Jammu by road." Rakesh Wazir, vice-president, Hotel and Restaurants Association, Katra, said an average of 25,000 passengers visit the town every day. “Commercial and real estate values on the station road have gone up five-to-six times during the last three years.” The railway budget has also approved railway line laying on Bilaspur-Manali-Leh, Jammu-Poonch via Aknoor.
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Rs 5 crore to be released for restoration of services
Jammu, February 26 The Chief Secretary while chairing a high-level meeting on disaster management in the state directed constitution of a verification committee headed by the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, to critically evaluate the assistance plan submitted by the district administration. The assistance plan comprises financial assistance to sectors like the
PHE, PWD, power transmission and electric maintenance which were badly damaged in the snow
storm. Khanday, as an interim assistance, directed release of Rs 5 crore to the district administration for restoration of essential services. He also directed the Deputy Commissioner,
Poonch, to ensure the restoration under his own supervision. The Chief Secretary also asked the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, to furnish complete list of cases under SRO-43 so that the same are examined for ex-gratia
assistance. Khanday also directed immediate sanctioning of relief amount to the livestock owners of
Leh, whose cattle perished in a hailstorm in Changthang area of the district. |
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Avail benefits of financial package, weavers told
Katra, February 26 Dr Kusam Chib, assistant director, Handloom Development Department, chaired the programme. The assistant director stressed that the weavers shall avail the benefit of financial package under the new scheme namely “weavers credit card” so that investment needs as well as working capital needs of the weavers could be met in flexible and cost-effective manner through the ‘NABARD’ by the Ministry of Textile, Government of India. To avail the benefit, Handloom weavers are required to apply in a bank on the prescribed application form. She advised the weavers to modernise the profession by replacing pit-looms, with fly shuttle/take up motion looms and introduction of new design, so that production as well as the quality of the handloom product shall improve.
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JU hosts folk dance festival ‘Indradhanush’
Jammu, February 26 Vice-Chancellor Prof Mohan Paul Singh Ishar was the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony while Prof Naresh Padha, Registrar of the University, also attended the function. In his inaugural address, Prof Ishar said, “Dance is one of the old art forms and India is known as the land of folk dances as dancing is an essential part of life for the Indians.” He said every folk art was an integral part of India’s rich cultural heritage and the younger generation was supposed to preserve it. Bharitya College of the education bagged the first prize while KCS College of Education for Women and Poonch College of Education, Poonch were adjudged second and third, respectively. Participants presented Dogri, Punjabi, Himachali, Pahari, Bhadrawahi, Rajasthani and Haryanvi dances from the rich treasure of folk dances of various regions. |
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Workshop on Gojri language gets underway
Jammu, February 26 The minister was speaking at the inaugural function of the two-day Gojri literary and cultural meet organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages. Minister for Culture Raman Bhalla presided over the inaugural function. Gojri writers, poets artists and critics were present on the occasion. The ministers released ten latest Academy Gojri publications edited by chief editor Dr Javaid Rahi. Altaf said he would personally meet the Centre leadership and convince to include Gojri in the Constitution of India. He assured the participants that he would convene a meeting of all stockholders for opening of the Gojri Department in the University of Jammu which stands already approved by the University Council in 2008. |
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Ambedkar School celebrates Annual Day
Jammu, February
26 The function began with Ganesh Vandana by Dipesh Badgal and other students followed by speeches from students, namely Anamika Sangral and Amit Kumar. The colourful cultural programme was also presented by the students to enthral audience. The notable feature of the programme was Punjabi gidda presented by Armaan Sangral and Harpreet Kaur. Kamal Kumar read out the annual report of the school on the behalf of the principal of the school. The chief guest, in his address, lauded the efforts of the school management for organising a successful function and complimented the chairperson of the school, Parveen Badgal. Later, prizes and mementos were distributed among students by Harinder Hari and Ashok Kumar.
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Despite school managements being served a 10-day ultimatum to comply with the Supreme Court (SC) guidelines and improve compliance with safety norms in buses and stop old vehicles from ferrying children, educational institutions are not paying the directions much heed.
The traffic police and Regional Transport Department (RTO) have served notices
to all schools for implementation of Supreme Court (SC) guidelines within a
10-day time period or face seizure of vehicles.
Jammu, February 26
“Though this appears to be mainly because of the adoption of ‘SPS’, it was boosted by the filling of most of the vacant posts of lecturers, albeit on contractual basis, their dedication, strict supervision by their officers, change of exam session and improved infrastructure coupled with the hardwork put in by the students,” said Chief Education Officer, Ramban, VK Soni.
