Jammu, June 20
Failure of the state government to finalise formalities for procurement of sugar through the Public Distribution System (PDS) from the open market has led to resentment among residents. In the absence of sugar supply at government ration depots, residents are forced to buy it at retail price from the open market.

Even activists of the ruling coalition partner, the Congress, held a protest against the non-availability of sugar at ration depots. "We are forced to protest against the government for its failure to ensure the adequate supply of subsidised sugar at ration depots under the Public Distribution System," Ricky Dalotra, general secretary, Jammu West Assembly segment of Pradesh Youth Congress said.

Yudvir Sethi, senior BJP leader and party in-charge for Jammu-Poonchsaid, “The residents have been subjected to great hardships in their day-to-day life. They have been facing shortage of ration, including sugar, but the state government, particularly the CAPD department has failed to ensure regular supply of sugar to the people," Sethi said.

Jammu, June 20
The police claims to have busted a gang of chain snatchers with the arrest of three persons yesterday. The police has also recovered 11 chains, including eight made of gold and three artificial, from the accused.

The accused include Ajay Pratap Singh Jamwal of Naraina Mohallla, Pacca Danga, Vidit Gawri of Sidra and Ankush Sharma of Gole Gujral.

The police has also seized three motorcycles used in the crimes.

The stolen chains were recovered from three city jewellers; Om Prakash of Rehari, Rahul Dogra of Janipur and Ankit Kumar of Peer Mitha. The police is trying to find out whether the jewellers had bought the chains knowing they were stolen.

Shakeel Beig, DIG, Jammu-Kathua range, told mediapersons here today, “These accused are unemployed and this seems to be the main reason of veering towards crime. The interrogation of the accused is on, we will see if the jewelers knew about the stolen chains. Legal action will also be taken against them,” he added.

Jammu, June 20
Terming Omar Abdullah government as a "total failure", the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) staged a protest rally today.

Addressing party workers, the PDP leaders alleged the government had failed to solve the basic problems of the common man due to its indifferent and casual approach.

They alleged rampant corruption, bungling in funds and non availability of essential commodities like drinking water. They held the government responsible for non-availability of ration at government-run depots, scarcity of drinking water in most parts of Jammu region and unscheduled power cuts.

The PDP leaders said over the past five years, the government had reneged on all promises made with the people during campaign for the 2008 assembly elections.

They also pointed out that the achievements of this government were confined to paper and nothing concrete had been done on the ground. “The government seems to be more concerned about issuing statements in the press and conducting photo sessions to hoodwink the common masses,” they alleged.

Trilok Singh Bajwa, Ved Mahajan, Dhaman Bhasin, Shanti Devi, R K Bali, Hussain Ali Bafa, Bharat Bhushan Gupta, Jagjit Singh Jagga and others spoke on the occasion.

Batote, June 20
About 150 workers of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) of Ramban district, led by its national executive committee member Dr Nirmal Singh, got themselves court arrested under its nationwide ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ (JBA) after taking out a rally against growing corruption, mis-governance and in support of the Prime Minister’s resignation in Ramban town yesterday.

While addressing the workers, Nirmal alleged that last nine years of the Congress rule at the Centre and the five years of coalition regime in J&K had made India the most corrupt state in the world.

He flayed the allotment of contracts by the state ministers on the chits. Citing the programme organised in Ramsu on Tuesday, he alleged that the party programmes of the ministers were organised by the BDOs and the contractors.

He flayed the embezzlement in the distribution of the relief among the earthquake victims by the Congress and NC workers here.

Bemoaning the nexus between the ruling NC-INC leaders and the bureaucrats for looting the tax payers hard-earned money, he called the MNREGA as a means of corruption.

Speaking on the occasion, Training Cell state convener Rajeev Charak said the mis-governance and the increasing unemployment in the country indicates the failure of all policies of the state and the union governments.

Daljeet Singh, Kirpal Singh, Anchal Singh and Rajeshwar Kumar joined the BJP yesterday in presence of state secretary Mamta Singh, Anuradha Charak, state general secretary, Mahila Morcha, Vijay Mohan, district president, Ramban, Ramesh Sharma former district president, Shashi Goswami, district general secretary, Suraj Singh, district secretary, Rakesh Singh, district president, BJYM, Neelam Langeh, state secretary,BJYM, Mohammed Irfaan, district president, Muslim Morcha, Raja Riyaz, state vice-president, Muslim Morcha, Mohammed Saleem Bhatt, Om Prakash, Mangal Singh, Ranbir Singh, Rishpal Singh Sarpanch, Mohammed Tariq, Jagdeep Singh, Irshad Bhatti, Sanjay Mehra, Manav Gupta, Jagdeep Thakur and others.

Kathua: On the fourth day of ongoing “Jail Bharo Andolan”, a large number of BJP activists under the leadership of Jammu East MLA Ashok Khajuria today courted arrests at Kathua.

The BJP workers held a massive protest against the UPA Government before courting arrests. The programme was organised by BJP Kathua district president Vijay Sharma. Khajuria, while addressing the party activists, said the UPA Government at the Centre had beaten all the records of mis-governance and corruption. “The UPA has failed to come up to the expectations of the masses as the nation has witnessed price-rise, unemployment, weak foreign policy and appeasement of anti-national elements,” he said.

BJP leaders Ranjit Singh,Vijay Sharma, Chaggar Singh, Sain Dass, Prem Nath Dogra, Inderjit Sharma, Damanjit Singh, Inderjit Sambyal, Rekha Rani, Pushpa Devi, Ramesh Gupta, Vidya Sagar Sharma, Rajinder Bakshi, Kaka Ram, Chatter Singh were prominent among those who courted arrests. 

Rajouri, June 20
Minister of State for Health Shabir Ahmad Khan has exhorted upon the sectoral officers of the Rajouri district to ensure time-bound completion of all ongoing projects in the district.

The minister chaired a district officers meeting at Rajouri today to review the physical and financial status of various developmental projects, besides discussing the district action plan for the current year.

He said the development needs of every village should be considered at the formulation of action plans. District Development Commissioner, Rajouri, FC Bhagat, Chief Planning Officer, Rajouri, district officers of various departments and prominent citizens, besides sarpanches attended the meeting.

The DDC gave a detailed resume of physical and financial achievements registered under different sectors during the last financial year in the district.

The Health Minister directed the Animal Husbandry Department to formulate veterinary quick response teams and set-up a control room at the district headquarters for the treatment of livestock.

He also instructed the district health authorities concerned to ensure punctuality in health institutions and provide all possible medicare facilities to the people, especially the ones who were living in far-off and hilly areas of the district.

Shabir also stressed on agriculture and horticulture officers to use their expertise for covering more and more land under these sectors and introduce modern technology, besides high yielding seeds and plants for the development of agri and fruit production in the area.

The health minister instructed the engineers concerned of different departments to ensure time-bound completion of ongoing developmental projects being executed under several flagship programmes.

The minister called upon sarpanches and panches to work with dedication for the welfare of the people of their respective areas. He asked them to bring developmental needs to the notices of officers concerned well in time so that these may be incorporated in action plans. 

Jammu, June 20
All J&K Sad Guru Kabir Sabha is celebrating Kabir Jayanti on June 23 at Kabir Temple, Janipur.

Talking to mediapersons here, GR Bhagat, senior vice-president, All J&K Sad Guru Kabir Sabha, said a religious procession would be taken out on June 23 which would start from Satwari Chowk at 9 am and will pass through Gandhi Nagar, Vikram Chowk, Gumat, Indra Chowk, KC Morh, Shakuntla road, Ambphala and culminate at Kabir Mandir, Janipur.

He said All J&K Sad Guru Kabir Sabha would also honour the newly-appointed officers to IAS, IPS, IFS, KAS, KPS and students selected in the professional courses, including MBBS, BDS, BE, MBA and MCA, from the community.

Besides, the sabha will also honour students who have scored 85 per cent or above marks in metric and higher classes examinations.

Jammu, June 20
Member of Legislative Council (MLC) and former minister BR Kundal has asked the Power Development Department (PDD) to take necessary steps to improve the power scenario and reduce damage of distribution transformers in RS Pura tehsil.

In a communiqué to the PDD, the MLC conveyed that people of entire RS Pura tehsil, including rural areas, had been facing frequent power shutdowns, thereby causing a lot of hardships in the prevailing hot weather conditions.

The MLC asked the Chief Engineer M&RE, Jammu, to direct the functionaries concerned to take concrete measures to mitigate the sufferings of the people by providing uninterrupted power supply to the people of RS Pura and its adjoining villages.

Kundal asked the PDD authorities to conduct villagewise survey of connected load and accordingly upgrade the existing distribution transformers.

The MLC also invited the attention of the chief engineer, PDD, towards power pilferage through hooking, unregistered power load in these areas and called for keeping a close check on such practices.

He asked for snapping of all illegal connections to save the DTs from frequent damages caused due to overloading.

Rajouri, June 20
The J&K Bank while celebrating its platinum jubilee celebrations organised a free medical check up camp at Rajouri today.

The free medical camp was inaugurated by FC Bhagat, District Development Commissioner (DDC), Rajouri, in the presence of Gurcharan Singh, zonal head, J&K bank Zonal Office, Jammu West, chief medical officer, Rajouri, Dr ZA Shawl and Medical Superintendent Dr Arun Sharma.

Bhagat suggested that the bank should organise more such free medical camps at far-off places where medical facilities were not easily available.

The zonal head informed that the bank as a part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) is taking various initiatives and today’s camp is also part of “Health for all” initiative launched by the bank to celebrate its platinum jubilee.

More than 400 patients hailing from Rajouri and nearby areas were provided free medical facilities in the camp. Super-specialist doctors from Jammu, including Dr Adarsh Bhagat, Dr Arun Sharma, Dr Manoj Gupta, Dr Vipin Gupta, Dr Koushal Khajuria and other paramedical staff from the District Hospital, Rajouri, offered consultations, ECG and glucose tests, besides distributing free medicines to the poor. 

Katra, June 20
In a bid to make annual 'Baba Jitto Mela' more impressive and attractive, all arrangements were finalised by the authorities prior to the fair beginning from June 22 at Agar Jitto village in Katra, the base camp of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Cave Shrine.

Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Deputy Commissioner, Reasi, has instructed various agencies and departments to complete all preparations for the visitors participating in the three-day long festival.

The Reserve Bank of India is hosting a coin show in the state for the first time at the native village of Baba Jitto during the mela days, whereas theatre skits by Natrang Theatre Group, Jammu, depicting the life history of Baba Jitto would be staged on June 22 and 23, official sources said

“All roads leading to Baba Jitto temple will be renovated, while sanitation units will be made functional,” official sources added.

However, the Power Department has been directed to ensure regular supply of electricity during the fair while flood lights would also be installed around the temple.

Besides, adequate water supply would also be made available in and around the temple for the devotees to avoid inconvenience while special buses would ply from Katra to Agarjitto.

''The departments, including CAPD, forest, agriculture and health have also been engaged for successful conduct of the three-day-long fair as thousand of devotees from within and outside the state visit the fair,” official sources added.

A wrestling competition is also scheduled on June 24 as a part of mela celebration, whereas additional troops from both state police and para-military forces would also be deployed as a part of tight security arrangements for an incident-free festival, they asserted. 

Rajouri, June 19
The police booked two persons for alleged attempt to rape a 21-year-old woman of Kalakote in a moving bus.

The accused include Gurdan Singh, the owner and Tinku, the driver of the bus of Kalakote. Hearing her shrieks, local residents rescued her. The accused fled the spot. The police has seized the bus.

A case has been registered under Section 354 of the RPC and a police party has also been sent to look for the accused.