Jammu, October 28
The city roads will be bursting with an additional burden of 25,000 vehicles, including that of VIPs, ministers and bureaucrats, on November 4 as the Durbar Move offices will reopen and remain functional for next six months here.

Commuters would face a harrowing time as the authorities are finalising their arrangements vis-à-vis more diversions within municipal limits due to security reasons. Traffic police is also exploring all options to put in place its “specified plan” to streamline chaotic vehicular movement as the department is grappling with the major problem of manpower shortage.

“There will be an additional pressure of around 25,000 vehicles, including VIP vehicles, on city roads after the reopening of the Civil Secretariat and other Move offices in Jammu on November 4. We have finalised our arrangements to deal with the traffic rush,” Senior Superintendent of Police (Traffic), Jammu, Manmohan Singh, told The Tribune.

The police officer said the department would make additional deployment of around 60 traffic policemen around the Civil Secretariat to regulate the movement of vehicles, particularly VVIPs and VIPs.

“Presently, there are 283 policemen regulating ever-growing traffic in Jammu. We will arrange the strength of around 60 traffic policemen to regulate the vehicular movement around the Civil Secretariat and other vital points,” the SSP said.

Official sources, however, said the road uses would have a tough time in the wake of the prevailing chaos on the city roads and the situation would deteriorate with the movement of vehicles of the VVIPs and VIPs as the traffic police is presently working with half of its manpower.

“There are more than five lakh vehicles in Jammu, which is nearly half of the total vehicular population of the state. City roads generally remain blocked and traffic moves at a snail’s pace during peak hours. The city’s road length which is just 704.22 kilometers does not match with the vehicular population as the density of vehicles is 574 per kilometer in Jammu,” sources said.

Furthermore, one traffic policeman controls around 1,700 vehicles on Jammu roads as the department is battling severe manpower crunch, sources said, adding that though the traffic signals had been made functional on busy rotaries, the situation was yet to improve on roads.

As a part of the annual Durbar Move, the Civil Secretariat---seat of the government ---and other government offices were closed in Srinagar on October 25 and will reopen in Jammu (winter capital of the state) on November 4. Around 7,000 government employees will move and stay in Jammu for the next six months.

To a query about the closure of a busy stretch between Vivekanand Chowk and Dogra Chowk following the digging of road to lay sewer lines, the SSP traffic said they had been assured by the executing agencies to complete the work in next eight days. “Definitely, the road users would face problem following the closure of the road, but we will make all efforts so that the traffic moves smoothly till the completion of the work,” he said.

He also informed that some traffic signals would continue to remain on blinker mode as it would add to the chaos if these signals are made functional.

NO solution to the Problem Commuters would face a harrowing time as the authorities are finalising their arrangements vis-à-vis more diversions within municipal limits due to security reasons. Traffic police is also exploring all options to put in place its “specified plan” to streamline chaotic vehicular movement as the department is grappling with the major problem of manpower shortage. One policeman controls around 1,700 vehicles on the Jammu roads as the department is battling severe manpower crunch. Traffic signals have been made functional on busy rotaries, but the situation is yet to improve on roads.

Jammu, October 28
The WiFi Internet connection of the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) office at the Rail Head complex in Jammu is open to all and posing a threat to the security of the militancy infested state.

Without realising the gravity of the threat of the open WiFi Internet network, the JDA officials are in a deep slumber and are not taking any steps to make the connection secured.

Any anti-national or anti-social element could use the internet connection on his mobile phone or on laptop to send any kind of emails or get in touch with the enemy forces within or outside the state and country.

Any person using the Internet connection with an intention to harm the interests of the state or country could be caught by obtaining the Internet Protocol (IP) address which is different for every Internet connection.

But when such elements open the WiFi connection, they can’t be traced as it gets difficult to obtain the IP address.

This WiFi connection at the JDA office is open since long and no steps have been taken to make it secure and restricted for the official use. The JDA comes under the Ministry for Urban Development which is being headed by Nuwang Rigzin Jora and a vice-chairman looks after its office in Jammu.

“There are possibilities that any body can misuse the WiFi Internet connection like what happened in Mumbai once when a private internet connection through WiFi was used by some miscreant,” said Atul Goel, Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu.

The SSP Jammu said he has given directions to all offices under him to use secured WiFi connections so that it is not used by any outsider. ”But I am not aware whether the government has circulated any such order to its office or not,” Goel added.

After repeated calls, the JDA vice-chairman, KL Khajuria, was not available for comments. Even after turning at his office, he preferred not to meet with The Tribune over the issue.

Jammu, October 28
Instead of a complete blacktop coat, the Road and Building Department has started repairing the Tawi bridge with patch work.

The department repairs all roads of the winter capital every year before the Durbar Move, but this time due to shortage of funds, the department is doing only patch work.

The Tawi bridge which requires a complete blacktop, has been repaired with patch work, which has made the drive more jerky.

Sahil Khajuria, a commuter said, “This is for the first time the department is doing patch work in Jammu ahead of Durbar Move, but at least the bridges should not be repaired with the patch work, as it can lead to accidents.”

Satpal Sharma, 54, a shopkeeper at Bikram Chowk said, “The condition of the Tawi bridge, which is the lifeline of the Jammu city, is already in a bad condition, but the department is taking chance with the lives of the commuters.”

“Earlier, the department was keen in giving a new look to the entire city before the Durbar Move, but this time they are trying to save money,” he added.

SP Manhas, Superintending Engineer, PWD (R&B), informed that the department had shortage of funds this year. He accepted the fact that the life of blacktop of the Tawi bridge was almost over and it required a complete blacktop.

“The process of complete blacktop on the bridge will take about two months, so we have decided to start that work in May, after the Durbar moves to Srinagar, till then we have made temperory arrangements by patch work on the bridge,” he said. “We have also brought special kind of concrete for the Tawi bridge, but cannot start the work till the Durbar is here,” he added.

The Civil Secretariat will reopen in Jammu on October 4.

Katra: District Development Commissioner Reasi Dr Shahid Iqbal, senior officials of the district administration and Border Roads Organisation (BRO), today kick-started the blacktopping on the Reasi-Mahore road. Director General BRO AT Parnaik had issued directions to the chief engineer, Sampark, for immediately initiating the blacktopping after proceedings under Section 133 of the CrPC were initiated by the District Magistrate last month. — OC

Jammu, October 28
In a bid to prevent further cases of corporal punishment to the students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) in all states, including J&K, the Ministry of HRD, Department of School Education and Literacy (S&EL) has issued detailed guidelines for the implementation of Section 8 and 9 of the Right to Education (RTE).

The guidelines have been forwarded to the Deputy Commissioners of all regional offices of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) and Principals of all JNVs for its strict implementation. Sources said all JNVs of the state have received copy of the guidelines of the HRD Ministry.

"Section 8 and 9 of the RTE Act makes it a duty for all concerned to ensure that any child belonging to weaker section or disadvantaged group is not discriminated against and prevented from pursuing and completing elementary education on any ground. The school shall prohibit all persons and authorities of the school from harassing or victimising any child belonging to the weaker section and disadvantaged group," the guidelines said.

The ministry said the school should ensure that no child belonging to weaker section or disadvantaged group is discriminated against by segregating such children from others in playground or canteen or any provision of the mid-day meal, or any other amenities provided by the school, including toilets and drinking water facilities.

"Regular activities of such children are not disturbed by any of its decision. Further, such children do not experience financial extortion or forceful expenditure. All such children are allowed to participate in cultural programmes, sports events and other activities organised by the school," the HRD Ministry guidelines added.

Sources said the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in the state has also issued detailed instructions to the principals of all the schools to ensure that no child is subjected to any form of corporal punishment at any point of time in the schooling process, saying that there is no scope for such punishment in the learning environment and teachers should adopt strategies by which a learner realises one's mistake, if any, rather than face a corporal punishment.

"Children, due to fear are often silent and submit to any punishment without questioning. Everyone needs to realise that children are more sensitive than adults. They need to be provided with a caring atmosphere. It is necessary to ensure that they are not subjected to violence and hurt of any kind. The responsibility to safeguard the children lies with the school teachers and school administration at all levels," the guidelines maintained.

Katra, October 28
A recently discovered ancient cave of Lord Shiva in the high mountain area of Thanpal village in Reasi district is attracting a lot of devotees.

Situated in a high mountainous terrain, it takes around two hours on foot from ‘Surman Khud’ to reach the shrine.

The cave which holds the stone idols of the ‘Shiv parivar (Shiva family)’, besides the holy lingum was located by Sunil Kumar.

“The cave was inaccessible. But we used to hear some sounds emanating from the area, as a result nobody dared to visit the site,” said a local inhabitant.

“Sunil along with two or three people, managed to reach up to the cave using ropes. He saw a Shiv Lingum and stone idols of the Shiv parivar in the cave, besides statues of a saint and Lord Hanuman,” he said.

Some officers from district administration visited the spot last week and were astonished to see such a wonderful cave, he said.

The cave shrine, which is in the close vicinity of the Salal dam, can be reached from three different routes, one via Talwara-Siar Baba and Thanpal and the other through Reasi-Salal. There is one more way via Bidda-Dhayangarh dam site.

Meanwhile, the district administration has assured the villagers to develop the area and the cave for pilgrimage on the pattern of the Shiv Khori shrine, which is also in the Reasi district.

Katra, October 28
Most people go to a hospital when they are unwell and require treatment. However, the government hospital at Reasi, in the heart of town, is itself an exception to this.

The hospital lacks even the basic amenities and the building is in a dilapidated condition.

Though the hospital, which started as a Primary Health Centre (PHC), has been upgraded to a Community Health Centre, the facilities required at such a centre are yet to be provided.

Enquiries revealed that there was no eye specialist, no radiologist and no ENT doctor. The hospital also lacks toilets in emergency as well as in the general ward.

Amit Sharma, a social activist and president, Youth Congress, Reasi, said a few months back there was only a surgeon at the hospital. After his transfer, no alternative arrangement was made. People had to travel to Jammu for getting surgeries and other related issues, he added.

He said the party had submitted a memorandum regarding the condition of the hospital and had appealed to the Health Department to take the matter seriously in the interest of the general public.

Katra, October 28
District Development Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary today reviewed arrangements for the upcoming Diwali festival in Katra and Reasi town. Measures were put in place for the safety of citizens.

Sale of crackers began from today. As many as six fire tenders have been deployed in Reasi, Katra, Jyotipuram and Pouni while contingency plans for other places have been put in place.

A team of police officials from the CA&PD, Drug and Food Control accompanied by magistrates shall inspect markets on regular basis to ensure proper food quality and destroying substandard or adulterated items.

The DDC directed the authorities concerned to impose heavy fine on the establishments found selling adulterated food items. Announcement would be made through loudspeakers for information on fire safety, sale of crackers and location as well as contact numbers of ambulances and fire tenders which would also be displayed at prominent places.

New Bus Stand, Katra, Sports Stadium, Reasi, and Sports Ground, Jyotipuram, have been designated for the installation of crackers stalls. The procedure to obtain permission for the installation of crackers has been decentralised for the convenience of the public.

Special squads have also been constituted to check overcharging of commodities especially at Katra and Ransoo where thousands of pilgrims visit everyday.

PHE and Power Development Departments have been directed to ensure uninterrupted and water supply on the day of festival. Education Department was directed to create awareness about Green Diwali and motivate students. Officers of the district administration will also celebrate Diwali with inmates at the District Jail and orphanage in the town.

The Health Department would deploy doctors and paramedical staff at various places.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for all sensitive places and an emergency plan has also been put in place. The SSP informed that due to security alert across the state, extra deployment has been kept on standby and comprehensive security plan was discussed. About 10 magistrates will coordinate security arrangements at various locations.

SSP MS Chouhan, ADDC Bikram Singh Jamwal, ADC Rajinder Singh Tara, ACR Tilak Raj, ExEn Nissar Hussain ,Sanjeev Rathore, Tehsildars Dr Manmeet Kumar, RK Anand, Rajesh Baru, Munshi Ram, Gian Chand, executive officers Thakur Das, Ravi Kumar, AD Fire Services and other officers attended the meeting.

Major Decisions A team of police officials from the CA&PD, Drug and Food Control accompanied by magistrates shall inspect markets on a regular basis to ensure proper food quality and destroy substandard or adulterated items. The DDC directed the authorities concerned to impose heavy fine on the establishments found selling adulterated food items. Announcement would be made through loudspeakers for information on fire safety, sale of crackers and location as well as contact numbers of ambulances and fire tenders which would also be displayed at prominent places.

Jammu, October 28
Continuing their drive to stop illegal use of subsidised LPG cylinders at commercial establishments, a joint team of the Legal Metrology Department and representative of oil companies today conducted an extensive checking on commercial establishments at Nanak Nagar, Bahu plaza and Apsra road areas.

The team was led by Legal Metrology joint controller Amar Singh, Consumer protection deputy controller Manoj Prabhakar and senior sales officer of HPCL Anees Quari.

More than 30 establishments dealing in hotels, restaurants, sweetshops and roadside food venders were checked and 16 cylinders were seized on the spot from 13 establishments.

All the seized cylinders were handed over to the respective oil companies with the direction to cancel all domestic connections which were being utilised for commercial establishments and detail inquiry be conducted to ascertain the distributor feeding to such establishments and strict action be taken against the defaulter.

Jammu, October 28
As many as 12 persons from different blocks of the Gandhinagar Assembly constituency today joined the Peoples Democratic Party.

Rajan Singh, Sandeep Kumar, Satpal, Parveen Singh, Bunty Kumar, Charan Dass, Bikram Manhas, Deepak Singh, Joginder Manyal, Kewal Dass, Ajay Kumar and Pawan Kumar joined the PDP at its Gandhinagar office here.

Welcoming the new entrants into the party fold, senior PDP leader T S Bajwa said the PDP is the only party which can solve the problems of the common masses.

He alleged that the present government has failed on all fronts and corruption and nepotism was at full swing.

“The present regime is not at all bothered to solve the problems of the people of the state,” he said.

He urged the new members to whole heartedly support the PDP and strengthen the hands of party president Mehbooba Mufti.

Party representatives Daman Bhasin, Ashok Jogi, E-Peter, Ashok Bhat, Kuldeep Sharma, Balbir Singh, Zaheer Khan, Deepak, Sukhvinder Singh, H S Sodhi, Chaman Lal Manyal and KK Sharma were also present on the occasion.

Jammu, October 28
The Citizens Forum has criticised the Power Development Department (PDD) for enforcing eight hours long power cut in the entire Jammu city on Sunday (October 27), which caused inconvenience and hardships to the people, that too, at a time when the festival of lights is round the corner.

“The prolonged power cut had its adverse impact on water supply in the city as the people were denied water supply by the Public Health Engineering Department today as well, following which residents could not lift water from various resources,” said RK Chadha, president, Citizens Forum in a statement issued here today.

Chadha said cleanliness and washing of households and commercial establishment takes place before Diwali, but this tradition exercise was also marred due to non-availability of water.

He claimed that a sum of Rs 600 crore was advanced two years ago by the Centre to the state for the upgrade and improvement of power supply to the Jammu city and its suburbs. “The state government and the PDD have taken no step to improve the power supply. The amount has also remained unspent so far,” the forum president said. 

Jammu, October 28
The Powergrid Corporation of India which manages the power supply to all three regions of Jammu and Kashmir, today reaffirmed its commitment of serving with honesty and bravery on all fronts.

The premier agency today started celebrations of the vigilance week in Jammu which will continue till November 2 in all its regional offices all across the northern region.

During the vigilance awareness week, several programmes are being organised in various schools, apart from site offices for creating awareness among the employees and their family members highlighting evils of corruption and its impact on our society.

On the first day of the week, a pledge was administered to all its employees by executive director JP Singh. Messages of the President of India, Vice-President of India , Prime Minister of India, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha were read out by JP Singh, General Manager (O&M), SK Sharma, General Manager (I/C-Projects), SD Joshi, addl general manager (J&K Projects) and B Dash DGM (finance), respectively.

Messages of the Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar, vigilance commissioners R Sri Kumar and JM Garg were read out by DGM Vigilance Paramjit Singh..

The programme was coordinated by Sudhir Dhar, Manager (Vigilance), POWERGRID and his team.

Jammu, October 28
Jammu Gymkhana and RCC won their respective matches today to advance to the next stage of the ongoing Eid-Diwali Milan T20 Cricket Cup, being played at the MA Stadium here.

While Jammu Gymkhana prevailed over Eleven Star, RCC got better of Christian Sports in the super over to make it to the next stage of the tournament.

Electing to bowl, Jammu Gymkhana restricted their opponents to a moderate 105 runs from their stipulated quota of 16 overs.

Abas was the pick of the bowlers for Jammu Gymkhana, as he accounted for three eleven Star batters. He was, however, ably supported by Amar who scalped two wickets.

Chasing 106 runs to win, Gymkhana batsmen batted with purpose and overwhelmed the target in 15.3 overs.

Earlier, Eleven Star had notched up a 52-run win over the BCC in the first match of the day.

The team rode on contrasting half-centuries by Anand Tripathi (76) and Irshad (50) to pose a challenging 166 on the board.

BCC in reply was bundled out for 114 runs, handing a comfortable victory to their opponents.

In the other match of the day, RCC survived a scare from Christian Sports before finally winning the match by just one run in the super over.

Batting first, RCC was bundled out for a moderate 127 runs from 19 overs. However, the Christian Sports batsmen made a heavy weather of the chase as they tied the score on the last ball of the regular overs to send the match into a super over.

But it was the RCC that held on to its nerves in the decider to emerge as winners.

Jammu, October 28
The first J&K T20 Championship 2013 was inaugurated by Jammu district vice president of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Vikram Singh at village Fallain Mandal here today.

President of United Cricket Federation of India (UCFI), Safeer Ahmed was the guest of honour.

Vikram said such type of tournaments will help in the overall development of the youth of the area.

He assured the UCFI president that the party will continue to promote the game in the state.

The organisers of the tournament were also present on the occasion. Meanwhile in the inaugural match, Dharal ‘1’ got the better of UCFI Kathua ‘1’. — TNS

Jammu, October 28
As many as eight climbers have been selected for a training camp by the Mountaineering Association of J&K here today.

The climbers, which include two girls from St Xavier Convent Higher Secondary School, Barnai, were selected for the camp on the basis of their performance at a day-long competition held at Sprawling Buds School, Chinore.

Today’s selection is a part of the series of competitions being held across different schools to build a state team that will participate in the inaugural Sub-junior North Zone Sport Climbing Championship, to be hosted by Jammu and Kashmir from November 20 to 22.

Vishav Partap Singh, Deepak Kumar, Bhaskar Digra, Summanyu Singh, Imran Ghani, Vansh Gupta, Siya Suryavanshi and Kashish Sharma were picked for the camp by the state mountaineering association. — TNS