Jammu, September 30
Transporters of the state under the banner of the All Jammu and Kashmir Passenger Transporter Welfare Association (AJKPTWA) have deferred their strike for 15 days as the committee constituted by the government has assured them to order a genuine hike in passenger fares. Passengers were a harried lot as more than 70,000 passenger vehicles remained off the road today.

In a meeting with the committee constituted by the government under the chairmanship of the Transport Commissioner, the transporters expressed their views and demands. The committee told the transporters to submit the cost of operations so that a reasonable increase in fares could be considered.

Sanjeev Verma, Transport Commissioner, Jammu and Kashmir, said, “We have told them to show the cost of operations. It is true that the cost of diesel has increased, but the public at large is involved in this issue and so, we cannot hike the fares as per their demands.”

“We have appealed to them not to put the people to inconvenience and assured them that a genuine fare hike could be considered within a few weeks,” he added. Taking the meeting as a positive response from the government, transporters deferred their strike for 15 days.

“We have deferred our strike for 15 days as the committee has assured us to order a genuine fare hike in our favour. We will submit the cost of operations within two days and will wait for its decision for 15 days,” said Anil Chopra, vice-president of the AJKPTWA. “The price of diesel has been increased by more than Rs 5 per litre and the passenger tax levied by the state government is forcing us to demand the increase in fares,” he added.

Meanwhile, normal life was paralysed in the state today as more than 70,000 passenger vehicles remained off the road. Transporters had been demanding a 40 per cent hike in passenger fares.

No passenger vehicle was plying on the roads since the morning in Jammu. People were dependent on taking a lift to reach their destinations. Attendance in schools, colleges and offices was very less as all matadors and minibuses were off the road as well.

Transporters also protested against the government in different parts of the state. Passengers throughout the state, who were suffering the whole day due to the non-availability of transport, opposed the demand of transporters for a fare hike.

Ashwani Pandita, manager with a private firm said, “How can they demand for 40 per cent hike? The price of diesel has not increased by even 5 per cent. The government should keep the common man in mind before hiking the fares. Our budget has already been disturbed and this hike will increase our problems.”

Jammu, September 30
A Division Bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court comprising Justice Virender Singh and Justice Janak Raj Kotwal today directed Rajeshwar Jasrotia, Superintendent of Police, Jammu City South, to appear in court on October 21 along with the CD and file in case of sexual abuse of physically and mentally challenged girls.

The Superintendent of Police is the investigating officer in the case. Pursuant to the last order on September 24, the Jammu Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police, Jammu City South, filed their respective status reports.

The Deputy Commissioner of Jammu, in his personal affidavit, specifically stated that he had ordered that the management of Rotary Inner Wheel Home would be taken over by a committee headed by the Jammu Additional Deputy Commissioner which included two members of the Rotary Inner Wheel Home as nothing had been alleged against them with regard to the incident.

The Deputy Commissioner further stated in his affidavit that he had also visited the aforesaid home on many occasions, last on September 27, convened a meeting of the administration management committee and passed certain directions after taking the stock of the entire situation.

Rajouri, September 30
Mobile phone, landlines and Internet service of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), have been in a state of disarray in the Kalakote area of the border district of Rajouri.

Consumers are facing acute hardship on account of the virtual collapsed of services even though consumers are been charged for the services which have never been provided to them in the last seven months.

Since March, all BSNL services went off in the Thriat area of Kalakote due to a technical snag in transformers of the towers, leaving hundreds of BSNL users to rue their fate.

A resident of Chibbar said, “For seven months, towers of the BSNL are lying defunct. Despite several complaints to officials concerned about the problem, no heed has been paid to our problems.”

“Customers in Thriat and Mogla are facing problems and several other areas are facing a similar hardship. Those at the Army camp are also facing problems in contacting their families and others,” he added.

Another village resident said, “It is very unfortunate that even after continuous efforts, it is difficult to get desired number due to the technical snag, weak signal and congestion.”

“If their services continue to stay poor, I will have to switch to a private telecom player which provides better services in border areas compared to the BSNL,” he said.

AK Saxena, BSNL head of Rajouri and Poonch, said, “I have recently joined here, but received several complaints about the problem people facing owing to the technical snag in transformers. We are trying to replace them soon as possible so that people get proper telecom services of BSNL.”

Jammu, September 30
The Kashmiri Pandit migrants of the Jagti tenement felt concern over the recent incident at Habbakadal wherein 18 houses of some Kashmiri Pandits have been demolished without any notification.

The community suspected that it is the National Conference (NC) who is hell bent to destroy the Kashmiri Pandits who actually do not want the existence of the Kashmiri Pandits.

“It is the same party who has forcibly grabbed the valued land of the Kashmiri Pandits. The incident has also been brought to the notice of the Chief Minister and department concerned that our grabbed valuable land and property be freed from the hand of miscreants who have illegally encroached upon the land and some other religious places, but till date nothing has been done positive in this regard,” said Shadi Lal Pandita, president, Jagti Tenement Committee.

It was resolved in the meeting that Kashmir is the motherland of Kashmiri Pandits and an integral part of India and any force in the world cannot separate it from India. An appeal has been made to the government to preserve Sharda temple which is the property and place of worship of the Kashmiri Pandits and has been illegally occupied by Pakistan.

Jammu, September 30
The National Awareness League, India’s first sports-based woman-driven health awareness campaign, was launched here today on the occasion of World Heart Day. The theme is 'If stents can dissolve, why not smoking, obesity and stress?'

The campaign was inaugurated by Kamal Kant Sharma, member of the All-India Congress Committee, and Dr Rajneesh Kapoor, director of interventional cardiology, Medanta The Medicity, New Delhi. Singer Neha Kakkar came to support the cause and cheered everybody with her mesmerising voice.

The league is first-of-its-kind campaign initiated to educate and encourage people for a physically active lifestyle in order to counter rising non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

The league is a series of cricket matches which will take place at grounds of schools and colleges in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Pune and Kolkata.

The eight matches will be played by woman players in 10 months. This is to generate awareness about non-communicable diseases with focus on women.

The captains of all playing teams to be trained and honoured as ambassadors for awareness with certification from doctors after the last match. The captains will be invited to a dinner with celebrities supporting the league.

Dr Kapoor said the thought process of the scientists behind the development of the stent that dissolved after doing the job of unblocking choked arteries was very important as it helped arteries restore natural form.

Udhampur, September 30
An illustrious Artillery Regiment of the Army with a glorious history will celebrate its Golden Jubilee on October 1. The regiment was raised by Lt Col (Later Maj Gen) RCV Apte, and has the unique distinction and proud privilege of participating and seeing action in both 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan. The valour and supreme sacrifice of soldiers in the 1971 war (Op-Cactus Lily) earned the regiment the honour title of “Harar Kalan”.

The heroism, valour, gallant sacrifice and devotion to duty of all ranks of the regiment has enabled it to earn two Vir Chakras, two Shaurya Chakras, three Param Vashist Seva Medal (PVSM), three Ati Vashist Seva Medals (AVSM), four Sena Medals, three Vashist Seva Medals (VSM), six Mention in Despatches, ten Chief of Army Staff Commendation cards and 21 General Officer Commanding-in-chief Commendation cards.

Apart from operational achievement’s, the regiment has also excelled in games and sports activities at various forums. The regiment has proudly participated thrice in the Republic Day parade and has proudly won the “Championship Banner” both at Brigade and divisional-levels during the golden jubilee year.

To commemorate its golden jubilee, a number of activities were organised, including a blood donation camp, honouring of ‘veer naris’, issue of first day special postal cover, unveiling of silver trophies along with a number of entertainment programs.

A total of 56 ex-officers and about 500 ex-servicemen attended the function and enjoyed the festivities in the traditional spirit of the regiment.

Jammu, September 30
The director of the Sher-i-Kashmir Police Academy (SKPA), IGP Farooq Khan, was accorded a warm farewell on his retirement today. A strong contingent of 10 platoons conducted the march past followed by a colourful band display. Large gathering of civilians and police officials attended the function.

Speaking on the occasion, retiring director Farooq Khan thanked God for giving him an opportunity to taking the farewell parade salute at his alma mater, where he received the sword of honour at the completion of his induction training in 1985 as Prob Dy SP.

He said he always took pride in his service. Farooq Khan also inaugurated the Sher-i-Kashmir Police Academy's website containing information, activities, programmes and projects of the academy.

Khan also inaugurated the police academy’s own website which had been developed after his personal efforts and interest.

All information, activities, programmes and projects of the Sher-i-Kashmir Police Academy will now be available on its official website (www.jkskpa.org).

Jammu, September 30
A group of children from remote areas of Jammu region, who were on a Bharat Darshan tour, returned today. The tour was organised by the BSF for children in the age group of 10 to 16 years. The flagging-in ceremony was held at BSF’s Jammu Frontier headquarters and was presided over by SS Tomar, IG, BSF Jammu.

During the ceremony, officer in-charge of the groups shared experiences about the places being visited by the children and the VIPs whom they met during the tour.

Children also shared their experiences with the BSF. The children presented a group song “Saare Jahan se Achha Hindustan Hamara”.

As part of its civic action programme, BSF conducts a 'Bharat Darshan' tour for the children of remote and border areas of Jammu region.

The main purpose of the visit is to inculcate feeling of national integrity among the children of remote areas, besides giving them exposure of Indian heritage and culture. Gifts were also distributed by the IG to the students.

Jammu, September 30
Nitin Mehra struck a brilliant knock of 83 runs to help RR Cricket Club (RRCC) beat Lucky Cricket Club (LCC) by a mammoth margin of 119 runs in the opening match of the Jammu Tawi Premier T20 Cricket Tournament which commenced at MA Stadium.

Batting first, RR Cricket Club accumulated a challenging total of 207 runs in the stipulated 20 overs losing seven wickets in the process.

Nitin was the top scorer with 83 runs with the help of eight delectable hits to the fence and five hits for the maximum.

Abhimanyu and Sunil Sambyal contributed 32 and 26 runs, respectively.

For LCC, Zahid Ali was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets by conceding 32 runs in his quota of four overs while Pardeep, Sunil and Puneet shared a wicket apiece.

In reply, Lucky Cricket Club could manage a meagre 88 runs in the allotted 20 overs by losing nine wickets.

Sunil Sambyal and Vishal scalped two wickets each for RRCC by conceding nine and 14 runs, respectively.

Nitin Mehra was adjudged the man of the match. The tournament is being organised by Young Star Cricket Club (YSCC) under the supervision of the five-member organising committee, including RK Bhat, Ankush Abrol, Rajesh Dhar, Shashi Paul and Vikram Singh.