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JU stir: No breakthrough in 3rd round of talks
736 students forced to attend classes in nearby school at Bhaderwah
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PHE seeks help of panchayats to revive traditional ponds
BJP leaders asked to shun differences, tour interior areas
JURSEA flays PSC’s eligibility criteria
JMC conducts anti-encroachment drive in old city areas
Residents demand regular water supply
Army organises communal harmony meet at Batote
College conducts interactive session on teaching practices
Father demand govt intervention to solve mystery of son’s death
NC’s grievances cell to meet people at dist headquarters
Panthers Party demands ‘martyr’ status for Chamel Singh
APS Udhampur brings laurels
3 Gujjars injured in attack
Police arrests imposter
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JU stir: No breakthrough in 3rd round of talks
Jammu, May 31 Sources said the high-level committee, constituted by the Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University Mohan Paul Singh Ishar, held a fresh round of talks with representatives of striking employees this evening and tried to end the stalemate. “The Committee comprising Registrar Manoj K Dhar, Controller of Examinations Keshav Sharma and former Registrar Naresh Padha conveyed the representatives of the employees that the Vice-Chancellor would take up their demands with Governor NN Vohra and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah during his meetings scheduled to take place in Srinagar tomorrow. They appealed to them to call off their agitation and
wait for the meeting which was outrightly rejected by the employees,” the sources said. Earlier, the two rounds of talks between the varsity administration and striking employees had failed to achieve any breakthrough with the latter vowing to take their agitation to logical end. The indefinite five-hour-long strike entered 17th consecutive day today. Over 700 non-gazetted employees comprising Class IV and casual workers had been protesting in support of their demands which include removal of pay anomalies, regularisation of causal workers and reduction in the period of conducting test for promotion of Class IV employees from five years to three years. Safai karamcharis too have joined the strike which has worsened sanitary conditions on the campus with heaps of garbage and waste material remaining scattered in the corridors of various departments. Jammu University Non-Gazetted and Casual Workers Association president Krishan Chand said no conclusion came out of the third round of dialogue with the varsity administration. “We have issued a circular according to which all boys at the canteens, cooks and ward boys of all hostels have been asked not to perform their duties from Monday. We had already given enough time to the administration to resolve our long pending issues but the authorities are seemingly least bothered to our demands,” he said. The leader said they were left with no option but to continue the agitation till the administration concedes the demands of employees. Earlier, the employees held a strong demonstration outside old administrative block on the
campus and raised slogans against the varsity administration. Meanwhile, situation remained chaotic on the campus following the decision of the safai karamcharis to abstain from their duties in support of the non-gazetted employees’ strike. |
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736 students forced to attend classes in nearby school at Bhaderwah
Batote, May 31 The students are attending classes in a nearby Government Boys Higher Secondary School (GBHSS) in the morning where they do not feel at ‘school’, which has resulted in a drastic decrease in attendance. “The shifting has affected the studies of 736 students and we have been managing it all by shortening the periods, cancelling the recess and curtailing the morning assembly to accommodate our class work between 8 am and 12.30 pm,” said Anni Kotwal, Principal, GGHSS. “Because of certain reasons, we are not been able to use the laboratories and the library. The students are deprived of their science practicals. The officials and management are also suffering,” said Anni. She said many girls from remote areas failed to attend the school daily, as they find it difficult to get any conveyance to reach the school by 8 am, she said. “The girls are scared to sit even inside this building, which has developed minor cracks and in the wake of recurring and sporadic tremors, we cannot even force them for this,” she said. “The re-construction of the building, including the financial approval and the tendering process, will take one or two years. So, for the time being, fabricated huts can serve our purpose,” she opined. Principal of the GBHSS Ajeet Kotwal said he had shortened the periods, cancelled the morning assembly and recess to adjust the class work of 750 students from 1 pm to 5 pm. Reportedly, the May 1 earthquake destroyed 225 classrooms of 88 schools. Over 180 school buildings were partially damaged. Problems
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Car owners find a ‘legal’ way to beat the heat
Jammu, May 31 People claim that they were resorting to such methods to beat the scorching heat. These shades are easily available on the roadside. Minors are selling them on the traffic signals and flyovers at nominal rates. Muhammad Rafiq, a 9-year-old boy, has a daily earning of Rs 100 by selling such shades. “We bring it from Ludhiana and sell it here. People use it on their cars to get protected from the direct sunlight,” Rafiq said. He claimed that no policemen stop them to sell it even they also buy these shades from them. As the temperature is above the 40-degree mark, these shades can increase the efficiency of air conditioner of cars, but it also violates the directions of the Supreme Court. “I respect the direction of the Supreme Court, but air conditioners are not effective without shades or tint in this scorching heat, sometime it becomes difficult to sit in the car. At least something should be allowed to get protected from this direct sunlight in summers,” said Sunil Sharma, a
banker. As per the direction of the Supreme Court, there should be 100 per cent visibility from all sides of the vehicle. SSP Traffic Manmohan Singh said, “We are checking the vehicles using shades or curtains, and a heavy fine is being imposed on such vehicle owners. We are seizing vehicles that fail to remove the dark tints.” On the sale of shades by children on roadside Jammu DC AK Sahu said, “The traffic department is taking all measures to stop the usage of shades. But we cannot stop their sale, but we will see what can be done in this regard.” |
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PHE seeks help of panchayats to revive traditional ponds
Jammu, May 31 Officials said though people have almost given up using pond water for drinking and other purposes, to revive them could be beneficial for rural areas. Kandi belt starts from Akhnoor and covers Raipur, Gharota, Nardani, Bantalab, Roop Nagar and Bhatindi, Kathua and Samba, falling in lower Shivalik range. Poor management of these water bodies, ever increasing population and the growing demand for human settlements meant these water ponds were pushed towards a premature death in the past two decades. “We have been discussing the idea and the help of NGOs could make it a success. The need to involve panches, sarpanches and public in the revival and maintenance of traditional water reservoirs could do wonders,” said Minister for PHE, Sham Lal Sharma. Water scarcity is a characteristic feature of the Kandi belt and therefore, ways and means to harvest and conserve the rainwater have been tried and developed since times immemorial by the Dogras, who inhabit the lower Shivaliks. Construction of ponds for harvesting rainwater for drinking and irrigation purposes has been a traditional way in the region. “A preliminary mapping and field monitoring exercise has been carried out for a limited number of village ponds for evaluation. These ponds hold great potential for harvesting rainwater and preventing droughts”, Sharma said. But not much attention was paid towards their preservation and land mafia illegally filled many of them. “Greed for land contributed to their end while the civic bodies did nothing to save these water bodies within the city”, said Bushan Parimoo, an environmentalist. |
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BJP leaders asked to shun differences, tour interior areas
Jammu, May 31 During his first visit to Jammu after getting new assignment, Khanna reviewed functioning of the party and held separate meetings with a number of leaders so as to get feedback and to devise a ‘comprehensive’ strategy to make the BJP a force in this region. Sources said Khanna was not happy with the factionalism in the organisation as state leaders, instead of giving him workable suggestions, were more interested to undermine each others credibility. “During his first visit, Khanna sought suggestions from all leaders but he also dropped hints that he was not satisfied with the style of working of the state unit,” the sources said. The sources added that he asked party leaders to connect with the common masses to mobilise public opinion against mis-governance of both state and Central government. The sources said Khanna suggested senior leaders that work should be divided among all general secretaries so that functioning of the party should be streamlined at the grass-roots level. Asking party leaders to shun their differences to aggressively pursue agenda of the party, Khanna told them that the BJP cadre had to play an important role in J&K because this state was a core part of the ideology of the party. He said nationalist forces in the state were looking towards the BJP to protect their interests so the party cadre has to shoulder its responsibility. Meanwhile, the state unit of the BJP today stated that Khanna during his two-day stay at Jammu held a series of meetings with the senior leaders, state office bearers, heads of morchas and incharge of different cells of the party. He held a four-hour indoor meeting with the new team of office bearers of the state unit under the leadership of president Jugal Kishore Sharma, who briefed the visiting leader about the number of programmes being undertaken during the past three months and also the future course of action as follow up of the same. |
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JURSEA flays PSC’s eligibility criteria
Jammu, May 31 Talking to the mediapersons here, Rakesh Chib, president of JURSEA, said Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree must be the basic requisite qualification for the post of assistant professor in a college. “The number of National Eligibility Test (NET) qualified and Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD) candidates who can apply as per the current criteria of the JKPSC is very low as compared to the total number of posts advertised. There is every possibility that a bulk of posts would remain vacant,” Chib said. He said MPhil was a basic requisite qualification for the same post in various states and the
policy of theJammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission was not only degrading the value of MPhil degree but
was also demoralising degree holders. He also demanded advertisement of more posts for various subjects like electronics, bio-chemistry, statistics, geography, Dogri, Hindi and library sciences and alleged that these subjects had been ignored by the commission. He urged the Chief Minister to intervene into the matter for the welfare for the unemployed educated youth of the state. |
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JMC conducts anti-encroachment drive in old city areas
Jammu, May 31 The drive was conducted to remove the obstructions in free flow of vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
The vendors and hawkers who had encroached upon footpaths and pavements were asked to vacate the area. Around four truck loads of goods like wooden boxes, tables, make-up kits, folding beds, bed sheets, iron stands and buckets were seized and impounded by the JMC. The drive was conducted with the assistance of police force from Police Station City Chowk and District Police Lines, Jammu. The JMC appealed to the shopkeepers to keep their goods within their establishments to avoid seizure and penalty. The rehri owners were also asked to keep their vehicles mobile as stationary rehris were a source of obstruction for the traffic and also caused inconvenience to the pedestrians. |
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Residents demand regular water supply
Jammu, May 31 He alleged that the department was blaming the electricity department for water shortage but was not utilising the time to lift water from deep tubewells. Dimple criticised the PHE officials for their failure to ensure regular drinking water. He said the department had stopped the supply of water through tankers, which had affected a large number of people. He appealed to the officials to speed up the Chenab lift project which aimed at lifting water from the Chenab river to meet the future requirements of the expanding city. The delegation also demanded deployment of more tankers in the city areas facing water shortage. |
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Army organises communal harmony meet at Batote
Batote, May 31 During the meet organised by the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) under the aegis of the Counter Insurgency Force (Delta), marches were taken out by school students of Kishtwar. Declamation, drawing and painting competitions were organised for the students. The CIF (Delta Force) General Officer Commanding, Baba Gulam Shah Badshah University Vice-Chancellor Irshad Ahmed Kamal; DIG DKR Range, and Dr Shah Faisal, ambassador of National Foundation for Communal Harmony were also present at the meet. The prominent speakers underlined the need to work in cohesion and goodwill to achieve a peaceful environment for an all-round development and to defeat the anti-social elements from society. Maj Gen AK Singh SM, the chief guest, thanked all leaders and residents of Kishtwar for participating in the meet. He hoped that the day is not much far when the old golden era of peace will return. He also felicitated the winners of the competitions. He presented a modified scooter to Sepoy (Retd) Krishan Lal of Punjab Regiment, who had lost his leg during the Indo-Pak War, 1971 and gave a cheque of Rs 1 lakh to Begum Akthar, wife of Late Naib-Subedar. |
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College conducts interactive session on teaching practices
Jammu, May 31 Krishana, principal, Government Higher Secondary School, Nandpur, Jarnail Singh, principal, Guru Nanak Public Higher Senior Secondary School, Ramgarh, Uttam Sharma, principal, Nation’s Pride High School, Ramgarh, Tarlok Singh, principal, Bhagat Singh High School, Ramgarh, participated and gave suggestion to improve the teaching practice programme, an indispensable component of BEd course. The session was inaugurated by Chairperson Anu Gupta and was presided over by Prof KB Sethi, former principal, Government College of Education, Jammu, while GQ Sheikh was the guest of honour. Principal SD Gupta welcomed the guests. |
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Father demand govt intervention to solve mystery of son’s death
Jammu, May 31 Addressing a press conference here today, Chand said his daughter-in-law and her family were behind his son’s death. “We were in a wedding ceremony on April 29 when we came to know that Manohar Lal and his wife are not coming to attend it. When we reached back home, we found my son hanging and his wife lying on the floor,” Chand said. He alleged that Lal’s in-laws used to beat him and were behind his death and the police was deliberately delaying the investigations. He appealed to the state government and the police department to intervene in the case and help him.
— TNS |
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NC’s grievances cell to meet people at dist headquarters
Jammu, May 31 The objective is to play the role of a bridge between the government and the people for seeking redressal of various individual and area-specific problems. Since its inception three months ago, the grievances cell has been listening to the problems of the people on week days between 10 am and 5 pm. So far, nearly 4,300 people and various associations have registered their grievances at the cell, which have been processed for appropriate response from the concerned quarters. On an average, 50 people have been meeting NC leaders, Anil Dhar and Iqbal Wani, who are heading the cell. NC ministers have been part of the system and they met people from various parts of the state, besides various organisations of trade, commerce, transport, tourism, education and other disciplines, heard their problems and took on-the-spot decisions to redress these. Encouraged by the success of these interactions, provincial president Devender Singh Rana had constituted a two-member grievance cell to listen to the problems of the people. |
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Panthers Party demands ‘martyr’ status for Chamel Singh
Jammu, May 31 The protestors raised slogans against the state and the central government for allegedly discriminating against the family of Singh and demanded that he be given the status of a martyr on the pattern of Sarabjit Singh, another Indian prisoner who lost his life after he was attacked by his jail mates in Pakistan. The protest was led by leaders of Young Panthers, including Vikram Singh and Atul Sudan. They demanded that the government should provide adequate financial help to Singh’s family, as provided to Sarabjit Singh’s family. Sudan said, “It is shameful that on one hand the Central Government says J&K is an integral part of India and on the other it resorts to gross discrimination with Chamel Singh’s family.“ |
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APS Udhampur brings laurels
Udhampur, May 31 The students were ecstatic and so were the teachers. Another unmatched feature of the results was that more than one-third of the total students got more than 9/10 CGPA aggregate marks. The students and parents assembled in the school today to congratulate the Principal and the teachers for their untiring and relentless efforts in achieving this result. Principal Vinod Joseph congratulated the students, parents and also the teachers for achieving success. |
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3 Gujjars injured in attack
Jammu, May 31 Those injured were identified as Bashira Beebi, wife of Muneer Hussain, Guna Beebi, wife of Kaga and Muhammad Hussain son of Feroz Din, all residents of Jai Bash. The injured were shifted to sub-district hospital, Bhaderwah where one of the injured, Bashira Beebi is said to be critical. An eye-witness, Kaga Hussain said they were the owners of the Jai Bash for the last 100 years which was mentioned in the forest records, but today some people tried to grab the land and throw us away. “The move was resisted and they attacked us,” he added. |
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NSS holds programme on World No-Tobacco Day
Jammu, May 31 The main purpose of this programme was to make people aware of ill-effects of tobacco. The NSS volunteers launched a door-to-door campaign in the nearby Pathra village to make people aware of the bad effects of tobacco. They tried to make the people understand that use of tobacco in the shape of cigarette, bidi and hubble bubble is injurious to health. |
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Police arrests imposter
Jammu, May 31 Mohinder Paul Singh Bali of Guru Teg Bahadur Singh area of Jammu was using fake letter pads and stamps of the JKCA chairman Muhammad Aslam Goni and was luring youth to be part of the J&K cricket team.On the complaint of Goni, the police registered a case and conducted a raid. Bali was arrested from his house. |
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