Jammu, June 3
To protest against delay in the clearance of pending bills, sanitation workers of the municipal corporation dumped garbage in front of the Treasury Officer's office in today.

Civil Safai Karamchari Union president Dev Anand Gill alleged that the officials were deliberately delaying the release of pending dues and the union would fight against the anti-employees attitude of the corporation.

The standoff between the protesters and officers continued for hours and it was only after assurances by senior MC officers, that they lifted the dharna and removed garbage.

Shahzadi Gill, Yaspal, Bansilal, Vivek Sood, Bhagat Ram, Hardev Singh, Gogi Menon, Shankar Kumar and Sunny Gill spoke today.

Jammu, June 3
A day after Jammu University authorities claimed that it had accepted most of the demands of Class-IV employees, the striking employees today came down heavily on the varsity administration for creating confusion among them and accused it of making an attempt to sabotage their 23-day-old agitation.

The employees vowed to continue their five-hour-long indefinite token strike and threatened to suspend work completely in the next couple of days if their demands were not fulfilled forthwith.

Meanwhile, the fourth round of dialogue between the varsity administration and representatives of striking employees failed to achieve any breakthrough with the latter refusing to budge from the stance.

Situation, however, turned chaotic on the campus after all hostel canteens were closed following the strike of cooks, mess boys and ward boys, subjecting students and scholars to great hardships.

“We have decided to continue with our agitation and we will completely suspend the work in the next couple of days if they don’t concede our demands forthwith,” said Krishan Chand, president, Jammu University Non-Gazetted and Casual Workers Association.

“All hostel canteens would remain close on the campus from today. The university authorities are responsible for the prevailing situation and their statements are nothing, but mere eyewash,” Chand said.

Rajouri, June 3
Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) Ravinder Sharma visited Nowshera and Sunderbani tehsils and held a series of meetings with sarpanches and panches, party functionaries and prominent members of the civil society during his two-day tour of the area.

Sharma apprised about the difficulties being faced by the people on various accounts, especially power, and announced an amount of Rs 40 lakh for the twin tehsils to meet the urgent needs of people relating to the Power Development Department in different panchayats of Nowshera and Sunderbani tehsils.

He asked the PHE and PDD departments to expeditiously work in close coordination to maintain power and water supplies. —OC

Jammu, June 3
Areas such as Roop Nagar here are faced with the problem of voltage fluctuation due to overloading of transformers. The residents say the area, which has a transformer of 250 KVA capacity, needs to upgrade it to 400 KVA.

The residents say the existing transformer got damaged five times in summer last year and is yet to be replaced by the PDD authorities.

Sanjay Dhar, a resident of the locality said, "All the connections here are metered, and the PDD team has checked it many times, if we are honestly paying bills, then why is the department not providing us electricity?"

"Our air conditioners are not working; many electrical items have been damaged due to the voltage fluctuation. Who is responsible for these loses?" he asked. The residents of the locality were asked by the department to enhance their load on record, so that the transformer can be replaced, but even after enhancing the power load, the department fails to provide electricity to the locality.

Residents of Sharstri Nagar, near the Girls Higher Secondary School, face power shutdown as the transformer in their area has been damaged since Saturday night and is yet to be replaced. Protesting against the PDD, residents of Shastri Nagar raised slogans against the department.

Ravi Bakshi, a resident of Shastri Nagar said, “The transformer of our locality was damaged on Saturday night, but it has not been replaced yet. We have been facing the low voltage and power fluctuation for many years, but nothing has been done so far."

Gurbachan Singh, Superintending Engineer, PDD, has accused the residents of using kundi connections.

He said, "The transformer damage rate is high these days and we are regularly replacing the damaged ones, but we cannot upgrade the transformer, people have to use electricity judicially."

Meanwhile, rain and windstorm on Monday morning led to power cut in many localities such as New Plot, Talab Tillo, Janipur, Bakshi Nagar, Muthi, Bohri for more than two hours today. It was restored when the weather cleared.

Jammu, June 3
The University of Jammu today launched online Admit cards for Jammu University Entrance Test (JUET)-2013.

Launching the online facility, Prof Neelam Saraf, Dean Academic Affairs, University of Jammu, said the students appearing for the Jammu University Entrance Test for the admissions to various academic programmes of the main campus, offsite campuses, and affiliated colleges of the university could generate online admit cards from the official website of the University of Jammu.

“More than 13,000 candidates will be sitting for the entrance examination scheduled from June 10 to June 15 at various centres in Jammu. Five sessions will be held per day,” she said.

Others who were present on the occasion include BL Bhat, Assistant Registrar, Guneet Sudan, Assistant Director, IT Enabled Services and Management, Satbushan Gupta, Private Secretary to DAA and other officials of the office of Dean Academic Affairs.

Jammu, June 3
The ongoing tussle between the Jammu Private Schools and ETT Institutes Association (Progressive) and the J&K State Board of School Education (JKBOSE) has intensified further especially after the recently issued notification by the General Administration Department (GAD) wherein it had mentioned that the ETT was not a required qualification in J&K.

While criticising the recent GAD order of the School Education Department, the association termed it a mockery on the part of state government. “Even after fetching crore of rupees in the shape of fees for the last eight years and declaring five marks to the ETT diploma holders in the teacher-selection process of the State Service Recruitment Board (SSRB), the authorities said the ETT was not a required qualification in J&K,” said Deep Singh, president of the association.

“It is the JKBOSE that is charging Rs 660 in the shape of a draft from the aspirant outside ETT students from the past three years while taking online type applications for the admissions as a cost of its broacher, but not a single copy was provided to any single student and while asking for the same, he/she is being asked to download the same from the BOSE website,” he claimed.

“After earning a lot of income from the ETT course, the School Education Department’s recent reflection in its controversial letter is unfortunate and pinching. In its controversial letter, the department on one hand has written about an enquiry to be initiated by the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, but on the other hand without any outcome of the enquiry, it has used word “Cheating” for the ETT institutions,” the association observed.

In another startling revelation, the association alleged that the School Education Department issued another order regarding the renewal of ETT NOCs by charging a fee of Rs 10,000.

“The authorities are saying that the ETT is not the required qualification in J&K and asked the School Education Department to revisit the policy of establishing such institutions in the state, but during the recent past, the government has announced that it is planning to train its 55,000 Rehbar-e-Taleem teachers in the ETT course for a better service in the government educational institutions”, the association said.

“The state government, instead of making the things confusing, straightway shutdowns the private sector, otherwise its ongoing policy based on uncertainties will just ruin the moral of credible promoters in the private education sector. An early overhauling of the JKBOSE and the draft of a meaningful Education Policy of the state is the immediate need of the hour”, the association maintained.

Jammu, June 3
The All J&K Patwar Association (AJKPA) today impressed upon the government to speed up the process for issuing formal orders to resolve pay anomalies and other outstanding issues so that the trust reposed by the organisation could not be breached further.

AJKPA provincial president Raman Raj Sharma, while briefing the mediapersons, expressed gratitude to Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation and Revenue Secretary Raman Bhalla for taking keen interest in resolving the issues. AJKPA district president Mushtaq Ahmed Ganai, Jammu tehsil president Sanjeevan Sharma and other members had urged the cadre to work with dedication to mitigate the suffering of common people. — TNS

Rajouri, June 3
Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University today started a 10-day short-term course on research methodology in which researchers from various universities of the country have ensued their registration.

Indian Council for Social Sciences Research is sponsoring the programme at the School of Management Studies of the University.

Vice-Chancellor and chief patron of the programme Prof Irshad Ahmed Hamal inaugurated the course. The Vice-Chancellor has called upon the researchers to select local problems for their research so that the results become more realistic. He said there was a need to opt subjects like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, MGNREGA and other health schemes in research so that a conclusion could made about the impact of these programmes. “This will benefit the implementation of these programmes in the long run,” he said, adding that rural small scale research was important for the development of the country.

The Vice-Chancellor also congratulated the Department of Management Studies of the BGSBU and the Department of Human Resource Management, Central University of Jammu, for organising the short-term programme which was very important for initialing research.

He said the registered trainees would be trained in academic writing, research process, research designs, survey research and errors, experimental research designs, measurement and scaling, questionnaire design, sampling, tools of data collection, hypothesis framing and testing, factor analysis, application of statistical techniques, correlation and regression, structure and content of research paper, writing of abstract, writing for seminar, conferences and field report presentation. 

Jammu, June 3
Refugees from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) today staged a demonstration and reiterated their demand for comprehensive settlement package from the Central Government.

Hundreds of PoK refugees, including women, assembled outside the office of Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, and blamed the state government for indifferent attitude towards their long-pending issues.

“We will intensify the agitation from August 15, if the government fails to fulfil our demands. We want full and final rehabilitation and settlement package for refugees,” said Yudhvir Singh, president, PoK Refugee Displaced Persons Front.

The refugees had been demanding one-time settle-cum-rehabilitation package from the Centre on the pattern of displaced Kashmiri Pandits. They have also demanded reservation to their children in education and employment.

Besides, they also demanded immediate implementation of the Wadhwa Committee Report for their final and comprehensive settlement. 

Jammu, June 3
Describing former Director General, accounts and treasury as a symbol of honesty and dedication, Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs Abdul Raheem Rather lauded the contribution of Ravi Magotra in the Finance Department.

Speaking at the farewell party organised by the Finance Department at Jammu, in honour of Mangotra, the minister said the accounts fraternity had an important role in cash management and fiscal reforms. He expressed hope that this vital part of the government machinery would continue to play its role in making the sector more vibrant and result oriented.

Rather acknowledged Mangotra’s contribution towards the accounts services and said he would be a great source of inspiration for others to follow.

The function was attended by Accounts and Treasuries Director General Majid Jahangir, Deputy Accountant General AK Jain, Accounts and Treasuries director MA Malik, treasuries officers, chief accounts officers and other senior officers of the department. 

Jammu, June 3
A belt grading examination was conducted by the All-India Taekwondo Union and Sports Tansodo Association, J&K, at Trikuta Nagar here.

A total of 210 students drawn from various schools of Jammu province participated in the test. The schools included JP World School, DRS Kids Trikuta Nagar, Roots Montessorie House, Aglow Kids, Crescent Public School, Kids Planet School, Dogra Academy, DRS Kids Talab Tillo, Euro Pride and Taawishi Public School. Students were awarded different colour belts after completion of the test.

Out of 210 students who took part in the examination, 195 were promoted to the next rank colour by Anil Nanda, technical director and Sanjay Kumar, president All-India Taekwondo Union.

KC S Mehta, principal, Army Public School, Akhnoor, was the chief guest while Pooja Malhotra, chairperson of Tawishi Group was the guest of honour. The dignitaries distributed prizes among the students who qualified the colour belt certificates.

Detailed Result:

Group A: Aryan Zutshi, Samreen Kaur, Atin Sandeep Wazir, Adhiveer Sharma, Suhani Jagotra, Hardik Pandita, Pragun Sharma, Prajin Chopra, Balraj Nirala, Jagteshwar Pal Singh, Jeevitesh Singh, Sharanya Sharma, Ciya Gupta, Suryansh and Pranay Gupta.

Group B: Aryan Gupta, Smaiyra Mahajan, Nidha-ul-Nisha, Tavisha Singh, Taliqeer Raza, Raghav Sharma, Aarav Saraf, Aashi Jain, Aditya Pratap Singh, Sumaiya Zabir, Anandika Datt, Rudresh Sharma, Samrat Ashok, Akriti Sharma, Ritvik Abrol, Aryan Kaul, Parth Bhatia, Sidh Mahajan, Sonal Bhatia, Utsav Dogra, Esha Joshi, Kaniya Gupta, Vansh Gupta, Rehan Gupta, Shreesh Aggarwal, Saksham Kapoor, Kshitij Goldni, Sarthak Gupta, Advitya Kankal, Bhupinder Paul Singh, Harsh Dogra, Kashish Pandita, Harshvardhan Singh, Shoryavardhan Singh, Kankshit Chanyal, Harvinder Kaur and Varunpreet Singh

Group C: Kabeer Viren Bhagat, Jeevesh Gupta, Sachi Balgotra, Aryan Lakhnotra, Vayomika Sharma, Puneesh Singh Manhas, Shiven Gupta, Saransh, Armaan Mahajan, Mudakkir Lattfi, Karanvir Singh Chahal, Jaikaran Singh, Ritika Dogra, Rishika Dogra, Harshit Kohli, Rudrakshi Pandita, Ansh Pandoh, Aditya Jamwal, Krish Sadhotra, Janvi Jain, Mahi Gupta, Bhavyaa Kohli, Yuvraj Langer, Laksh Sharma, Kanishka Kapoor, Parav Sharma, Taranjot Singh, Mrigasya Malhotra, Vihaan Abrol,Vignesh Bhat, Anandi Verma, Ayush Gupta, Akashdeep Singh Wazir, Bhavya shree, Rajveer Singh and Rishit Sharma,

Group D: Samreen Sasan, Vatsal Sharma, Ashmit Pandoh, Ayushi Raina, Yuaan Yasir Sirwal, Ishia Jain, Adhyant Bargotra Pavni Vaid, Vansh Langer, Jiya Dogra, Samarjeet Singh,, Tvarita Mahajan, Kavya Gupta Arivan Gupta, Shreyan Jain, Sourish Kesar, Shubh Khajuria, Jasmesh Kaur, Nikhil Kaul, Akshaj Chopra, Bhavya Bansal, Hardik Mahajan, Shivansh Bharadwaj Greshika Kaul, Ishan, Aarush Kaul, Adhrav Rajput, Almas, Purvi Patyal, Daania Puri, Manaansh Srivastava, Rajvir Langer, Zorawar Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Rajveer Gandotra, Priyal Kapoor, Samarth Gupta, Shivaya Gupta, Aditya Singh Bagal, Kaartikya Bhat, Archit Pandoh, Siddhant Mahajan, Dhananjay Malhotra, Rakshit Kumar, Gurmanjot Kaur, Sakhipreet Kaur, Jotveer Singh, Rahil Choudhary, Manvi Narnia, Manish Dogra and Muskaan Dogra. 

Rajouri, June 2
The 54 Rashtriya Rifles today apprehended a mentally-disturbed, hearing and speech impaired man from the LoC for trying to cross the border into POK from Jhanger area of Rajouri. The police sent him to a hospital in Jammu. — OC