Jammu, August 7
Landslides blocked the Panjtirthi-Sidhra road for four hours leading to diversion of traffic. The road link also connects city with the National Highway near Nagrota. During the last few days, landslides have struck several areas in the region leading to disruption of traffic at several places.

Meanwhile, according to weathermen, rain will continue for the next 48-hours after which there will be some respite from it.

Reports said landslides were first reported during the morning hours when mud and stones blocked the road after which the authorities suspended the movement of traffic. The road links old city areas with Sidhra and Nagrota on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.

In 2011, a major rainfall had damaged the circular road after landslides had destroyed a portion of the road. At that time, the administration had announced that it will take preventive steps in the area. The government had decided to come down heavily on the unauthorised and illegal colonies but not much has been done in this regard.

Illegal construction near the Circular road, Gujjar Nagar and the old city area on the banks of the Tawi river could lead to a major catastrophe anytime as houses built on hillocks having weak foundation could spell disaster if earthquake or heavy rainfall struck the city.

Thousands of people have constructed houses and commercial buildings on hill slopes without taking into account the consequences and peril they are in. However, the government is also silent on the issue and has not taken steps to secure the area.

Jammu, August 7
Second incident of landslide on railway tracks within four days has raised a big question mark on the safety of passengers travelling on the hilly terrain.

Due to the overnight heavy rainfall for 48 hours, a major landslide occurred near Tunnel-16 between Manwal and Ramnagar yesterday. Though no loss of life was reported, the track and the tunnel got damaged badly, which will take more than two days to get restored.

This was the second such incident within four days. On August 2, the Hemkunt Express got derailed at Samba due to heavy rainfall.

These two incidents have developed fear among passengers to travel in train during the monsoon.

Subash Chander from Delhi, who was waiting for his train at the Jammu Railway station along with his family, said, “I have read the news of the incident which happened yesterday. Though we have to travel as our tickets are confirmed, a fear is also travelling with us” .

“The railway should check all the tracks regularly, especially during the monsoon when landslides are expected,” he added.

Another passenger, Supriya Sharma from Pune, said, “The Railways should take strong steps to make the track safe for passengers”.

Farooq Andrabi, Chief Officer Superintendent, Traffic, said, “It was a natural calamity. No one can predict anything, but the engineering team is doing their best to make the track safe for the passengers”.

“Passengers’ safety is the first priority of the Railways, as it is the world’s second largest railways,” he added.

The Jammu-Udhampur Railway track remained closed to traffic on the second consecutive day after the landslide destroyed the track near Tunnel-16 (T-16) between Manwal and Ramnagar.

However, railway officials said the traffic would remain suspended on the track linking the Northern Command of the Army based in Udhampur with the rest of the country till the restoration of track will be completed.

Andrabi said, “The work is in progress and the track will be restored by Friday. All the trains for Udhampur from Jammu have been cancelled, but the rail traffic to the rest of the country is through”.

There are seven trains for Udhampur from Jammu, Malwa Express, Jammu Mail, Uttar Sampark Kranti, Summer Special and three DMUs. All these train have been affected due to the landslide.

This line is an important link for Jammu-Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (JUSBRL) Project to connect the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country. 

Jammu, August 7
Delay by Jammu and Kashmir and other states to conduct training programmes for its finance and accounts staff for an effective registration of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) implementing agencies under the Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS) is now proving costly. 

Finance controllers of these states said they were facing difficulties in proceeding further in registering the agencies. Maximum states/union territories (UTs) are facing the problems of user ID and passwords as either user ID is not correct or the password is not correct. In some cases, both the user ID and passwords are not correct.

The matter came to light in the recently concluded 37th quarterly review meeting of the Finance Controllers of State Implementation Societies of the SSA held recently at New Delhi under the chairmanship of Virender Singh, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

Sources said erring states / UTs were directed to finalise the selection and appointment of CA firm for carrying out statutory audit of SSA accounts. Further, finance controllers of states/UTs were also asked to confirm the appointment of the statutory auditors within a month. Experts of the office of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) had advised the finance controllers of the states concerned to send them detailed emails indicating their full particulars.

Besides, they also advised the states/UTs, which were facing numerous problems, to organise workshops at their headquarters where opportunity should be provided to the actual users. The sources added that it was observed that some common key issues continued to recur year after year without any resolution. Expressing concern over the alleged vacant positions of finance and accounts staff in states/UTs at block level, authorities had instructed finance controllers to take steps to get the vacancies of staff in both the wing filled up at the earliest.

The Deputy Secretary, MHRD, issued instructions to the finance controllers to ensure prompt compliance of the audit observations. He said the release of Central share to the states/UTs might get affected. Finance controllers were asked to introduce sound financial management practices to obviate the circumstances leading to prolonged advances and audit observations. 

Katra, August 7
The administration today finalised a plan for holding programmes across Reasi district by various departments in a concerted manner and ensuring a wider reach. The district has been divided into five zones with 10 officials designated as coordinators at block level.

In the next eight months, 192 awareness programmes, demonstration camps, displays and fairs will be organised involving an expenditure of Rs 22 lakh. Awareness about SKWPY, PMEGP, RTI, PSGA, RTE, child rights and labour laws will form an integral part of these programmes apart from Centrally and state sponsored schemes. Chairing a meeting of district officials convened to finalise the launch of a mass awareness programme, District Development Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary directed the departments to organise programmes at panchayat and block level through inter-departmental coordination.

The Assistant Commissioner Development has been appointed as the district nodal officer for organising multi-sectoral awareness programmes and publication of documents related to various schemes for distribution among people.

The meeting approved a month-wise calendar of programmes to be organised in urban and rural areas across the district.

The Departments of Rural Development, DRDA, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Horticulture, Employment, Fisheries, Health, Education, Social Welfare, Labour, Sheep Husbandry, ST/SC Corporation, Industries, JKEDI, Social Welfare, DUDA and Tourism will collaborate for providing awareness on one platform.

The meeting held threadbare discussion on reaching out to weaker sections, women, students, residents of rural as well as urban areas. Specific programmes have been earmarked for participation of MLAs/MLCs, DDC and district officers. A District Coordination Committee headed by the DDC will review the performance and impact of every programme at the end of the month.

Schemes related to livelihood, social security, heath and education sector, tourism, self-employment, food production and processing, loan and subsidies will receive special attention.

Tehsildars and BDOs have been assigned the charge of holding programmes in Pouni, Katra, Reasi and Arnas, whereas the SDM will be the in charge of programme for Mahore.

The DDC called for united efforts of all the departments and it was decided that no department will organise programme singly at its own. It will help in ensuring a greater awareness about all the schemes and will also be cost effective for departments. The NHPC will be providing resource persons for awareness on the RTI and the PSGA. It will be the first initiative in the state where all the 19 departments having social interface will organise joint programmes for greater results and covering the entire population of the district.

Jammu, August 7
Come August 11, a team of explorers from six nations will get together for a 11-day Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) in the Ladakh region.

The inaugural edition of the expedition will focus on adventure, cultural connect with people and activities focused on local sustainability with an aim to connect world leaders and sustainability experts to the region and set up world’s third education base (E-Base) in the region.

Sponsored by host of private sector companies, the inauguration of the ‘Third Pole E-Base’ will be done by world famous polar explorer Sir Robert Swan, Order of British Empire (OBE), the first person to have walked to both the poles of the earth. The concept of E- base, too, has been instituted by Sir Swan who prior to this initiative has built two E-bases at the South Pole and Pench Forests in Madhya Pradesh.

According to Sir Swan, “E-base has been a real support function to our work. This 3rd Pole E-Base will be a multi-dimensional base, supporting the local population and acting as a repository for future explorers and sustainability experts. We know that work is happening but we can’t be working in silos”.

During the course of the expedition, the participants would also be connecting with the local communities and support them through provision of special home lighting equipment.

The expedition revolves around three different modes of negotiating the terrain, biking, trekking and rafting, and we refer it all as the tri-adventure. The 2013 inaugural expedition of the GHE will be attended by sustainability experts, travellers and explorers from across six nations, including the US, UK, UAE, Nepal and Netherlands, and will take them through remote villages and setups across the Zanskar Valley.

Paras Loomba, who is an engineer by profession and a sustainability expert and an avid trekker, conceptualised the expedition in Ladakh this year to bring the world focus to the 3rd Pole and highlight the region. 

Jammu, August 7
The Dogri Students and Research Scholars’ Forum (DSRSF) today opposed the decision of the Board of School Education (BOSE) for changing the syllabus of Dogri at plus two level.

A meeting of the forum was held in Jammu University under the chairmanship of Kailash Mohan Bhanotra. Speaking on the occasion, Bhanotra criticised the J&K State Board of School Education for changing the syllabus of Dogri subject in plus two at this stage of mid-session when the students had already covered more than 50 per cent of the syllabus of the old pattern. He also criticised the authorities for prescribing sub-standard material in the syllabus as the published material was not readable.

While speaking on the occasion, Ritu Kumar Sharma, president of the forum, said some members of the expert committee assigned with the task of preparing the syllabus do not have any qualification of Dogri. He said teachers who were already teaching in Class XII were not consulted before changing the syllabus.

A great resentment was shown in the meeting by all the members of the forum and members of all the leading literary as well as social organisations of Jammu and its suburb who were present on the occasion. 

Jammu, August 7
Minister for Medical Education Taj Mohi-ud-Din today handed over three ambulances and one critical care ambulance to Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu.

Commissioner Secretary, Health and Medical Education, Shalen Kabra, principal, GMC, Jammu, Ravinder Rattan Pal, medical superintendent, besides HODs of various departments were present on the occasion.

Taj said the government was committed to upgrade health infrastructure in the state so that all advanced healthcare facilities were provided to the people within the state. He said work on transforming various departments into super speciality hospitals was in progress and units like cardiology, urology, neurology, neuro-surgery, endocrinology and others were expected to be made fully functional.

He expressed gratitude to the Centre for increasing the number of seats of MBBS course in the GMC, Jammu. He said the Medical Council of India (MCI) would soon visit the state for inspection of infrastructure and related facilities to be made available to the students at the GMC.

Later, he convened a meeting with Commissioner Secretary, Health and Medical Education, principal, medical college, administration officer and HODs of various departments and discussed various issues regarding upgrade of infrastructural facilities at the college in view of the increased MBBS seats from 100 to 150. He also inspected the condition of various departments including lecture halls and laboratories and issued necessary directions for upgrade of the same at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Taj also inspected AMT School, at GMC, Jammu and directed the authorities for early repair of the school. He also visited Sir Col R N Chopra Nursing Home at GMCH and directed the functionaries for early repair and renovation of the same. 

Jammu, August 7
Underlining the commitment of the Jammu and Kashmir government for socio-economic development of rural pockets, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand today said remote and border belts were getting focused attention and work on the roadmap to upgrade infrastructure in these belts was going on at war footing.

He said exemplary development initiatives had been taken and focused attention was being paid to equip these areas with all the required basic infrastructure.

“Encouraging support from the Central Government in funding different projects in the state has resulted in launching of mega infrastructure development projects in all regions and sub-regions of the state, thus ensuring equitable development,” he added.

Tara Chand was addressing a monthly public meeting at Khour.

Jammu, August 7
The state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that an attempt was made to demolish the memorials, parks and other historical symbols named after Maharaja Hari Singh.

The Jammu-Poonch parliamentary constituency in-charge Yudhvir Sethi said a few years ago, a piece of land was earmarked for a park to be built in the memory of Maharaja Hari Singh on the bank of the Tawi river on Jogi Gate cremation ground road. This land was originally Shishu Samadhi and was taken into its hands by the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) on the pretext that it would be developed as a beautiful park in the name of the late Maharaja. It was transferred to the municipality for the purpose of its construction.

Later, the JDA got the same land transferred back from the municipality and a piece measuring 8 kanals was sold out in crores on the excuse that the money was needed for the planned park.

Yudhvir Sethi said there was no logic in selling out the land. The fact was that it had been “sold out to give benefit to some people in return of some favours”, he said.

Sethi also lambasted the JDA for making 30-40 per cent hike in parking fee while lending out to private contractors. In the past, JDA used to hike fee by 10 per cent after 2-3 years but now it was making manifold increase which was against the constitution. He said all the tender procedures must be thoroughly inquired as the general public was not availing the parking facilities due to the heavy charges.

Moreover, the JDA has least concerned about the maintenance of the parking sites as there was no proper system of lights and cleanliness etc. It seemed that JDA was only busy in making money, he added.

Sethi warned the JDA not to indulge in any such act which was against the honour of the Dogra Maharajas.

Jammu, August 7
Director General, Youth Services and Sports, Navin Agarwal today held a meeting with Physical Education Teachers (PETs) of Srinagar district at youth hostel.

During the meeting, the Director General enquired from the PETs about their assignments in the schools, participation at different levels and the problems faced by them at the institutions. All the teachers gave full account of participation of their institution in the inter-school, inter-zonal and inter-district activities conducted by the department so far.

He stressed upon the teachers that only participation in the activities was not enough and their efforts should be to win medals and sponsor student players of their institutions at the national level.

He said the duty of the teachers was not just to bring children for participation in the departmental activities but their job was to find out as what went wrong in the failure of a student player. He added that those who performed well needed to be trained to excel further.

He exhorted all the PETs to inculcate awareness about physical fitness, develop character and moral values, create interest in sports and encourage discipline amongst the students. The meeting was also attended by Madan Lal, joint director and other officials of the DYSS.

Jammu, August 7
In order to promote mountaineering, particularly at the grassroots level in Ladakh region, the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), North Zone Committee, will organise a three-day training-cum-competition in bouldering at Shey, 10 km from Leh, from September 5 to 7.

On the first two days, about 40 local children will be trained in bouldering by national and international climbers and on the final day, a competition will be organised among the trainees and winners will be honoured.

Ram Khajuria, secretary, IMF North Zone Committee and a national judge in sport climbing, is the organising secretary while Mitra Ghosh and Shawetica Khajuria, both qualified national judges, will be the judges of the competition. The training in bouldering will be imparted by international climber Sandeep Maiti from Delhi and Anil Kumar, a national climber from Jammu.

The event has been fully sponsored by IMF, the apex body for adventure sports in the country and is being held under the overall supervision of S Bhattacharjee, IMF North Committee Chairman.

Jammu, August 7
Anil Gupta, president of the J&K Amateur Kabaddi Association, distributed cheques among the district secretaries of the association, in the presence of general secretary Kuldeep Kumar Gupta and other office-bearers.

The cheques worth Rs 4,000 each were distributed among the district units of Jammu, Poonch, Rajouri, Udhampur, Kathua, Samba, Srinagar, Anantnag, Pulwama, Budgam and Baramulla.

Gupta said “Kabaddi is being played in every nook and corner of the state, particularly in the rural areas and I am satisfied over the decision of the J&K State Sports Council of including kabaddi in ‘A’ category”.

He further directed the district secretaries to conduct the District Kabaddi Championships under the guidance of the J&K State Sports Council and rules of the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India.

Prominent among others present on the occasion were Dinesh Gupta, Sushil Jamwal, Basharat Khan, Vinod Kumar, Krishan Singh, Gulzar Ahmed, Ashok Kumar, Bhupinder Singh, Surinder Mohan, Anil Modi, Ajay Gupta and Anil Sharma.

Jammu, August 7
An induction programme was organised by the School of Business at Shri Mata Vaishnao Devi University (SMVDU) yesterday for the 10th batch of MBA students. Suparn Sharma, Director, School of Business, welcomed the students to the university.

Prof D Mukhopadhya, Dean, College of Management, stirred the students for discipline, integrity and hard work for a bright future. R R Chowksi, vice-president of Cadilla Pharmaceuticals, also interacted with the students and shared his business experiences with them.

The young minds were ignited by the inspiring stories by Satish Kaul, resident director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals. TK Seli, liasion manager, Emcure Pharmaceuticals and BK Bhatia, training and placement officer of Shri Mata Vaishnao Devi University, also wished the students good luck. A formal presentation to acquaint the students with the course structure and evaluation criteria was given by Rashi Taggar, assistant professor, School of Business.

The programme concluded with an ice breaking session to familiarise the students with the management. The students participated with enthusiasm and displayed creative ideas in the session. The induction programme was coordinated by Rashi Taggar and Shazia Bukhari.

Jammu, August 7
The police has arrested three accused and seized several forged credit cards and five credit card machines used for cheating customers.

Atul Goel, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Jammu, said “On July 22, the police got a tip-off that Owais Kabboo, a resident of Bemina, Srinagar, was trying to procure a credit card swipe machine from Jewel Chowk area, with the intention to swipe forged credit cards through these machines, thereby cheating the owners of the cards. After questionings, Owais revealed the names of his gang members as well as their modus operandi”.

“Owais, along with his accomplices, used to procure credit card machines from willing shopkeepers and transport these to Bangalore where they swiped forged credit cards. Based on the information provided by Owais, the police arrested his accomplice Shabbir Ahmad Mir, a resident of Firrozabagh, Srinagar. Four such credit card machines were also seized from his possession. So far, evidence of fraudulent transactions of more than Rs 1.57 crore has come to light”, the SSP added.

Goel further said a police party sent to Bangalore arrested Saud Pasha, a resident of Bangalore and recovered several forged credit cards from his possession.