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Worst floods in Jammu & Kashmir in six decades
Landslide hampers repair work on NH
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Back from hell, says footballer
Monsoon to revive in west, central India
Ex-Bengal DGP held in chit fund scam
Let’s work together for 24x7 power, Centre urges states
Centre to promote self-attested papers
No compromise on food security, PM to FAO
Court rejects Lalu’s plea in fodder scam
Death penalty for Pune driver who killed 9
Nadda is CEC secretary
Southeast Asian nations vow to fight kala-azar
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Worst floods in Jammu & Kashmir in six decades Dinesh Manhotra Tribune News Service
Suraychak (Jammu), September 9 A majority of the families which had been rendered homeless took shelter either in government schools or community buildings. Official houses collapse figures would not be released before a fortnight, but it was believed that thousands had been rendered homeless in Jammu region due to the flashfloods and incessant rain. Suraychak village is located 28 km west of Jammu in the Tawi island, but relief is yet to reach the families which have taken shelter in the panchayat ghar. The authorities failed to provide relief to the flood affected, but local residents came forward to do whatsoever they could for these homeless families.
“This is the maximum we can do for these helpless people. We are only protecting them from death by starvation,” said Ravinder Choudhary of Mandal village. He said the community kitchen would continue to be operational with the help of village residents till the government made some alternative arrangements for them. The family of Choudhary Mukthiyar from Barzala village had taken shelter on the banks of the Tawi under the open sky. The authorities had neither shifted them to any building nor provided them tents. “Where we will go? We have no place to take shelter except under the open sky,” he said. The situation was worse in far-flung and remote areas, where people were at the verge of starvation due to non-availability of food. The government had not dispatched tents for the homeless in hilly and inaccessible areas of Rajouri, Poonch, Udhampur, Reasi and Ramban. Contrary to claims of the authorities, hundreds of families in the Nowshera area of Rajouri had taken shelter in government schools and panchayat ghars. Crammed in government buildings, these helpless families had not received any help from the government so far. Govt found wanting
Locals lead the way
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Landslide hampers repair work on NH
Ramsu (Ramban), September 9 “Due to a fresh landslide, not only the whole effort put in by the GREF went in vain but it also doubled the damage to the road at that spot. Now, it may take at least four or five days to make the road suitable for light motor vehicles. Beacon’s Portland excavator and other machines are on their way from Kishtwar which would expedite the repair work,” said Deputy Commissioner, Ramban, Farooq Ahmed Shah Bukhari. The highway has been damaged at 172.645 km milestone (from Jammu),174.835 km milestone and 174.495 km where about 60 m, 50 m and 30 m of the road portion, respectively, due to overflowing of water from the Bisleri nullah. Locals travelling between the district headquarters of Ramban, Ramsu and Banihal were seen trekking about 4 or 5 km, bypassing the damaged road portion, and then boarding taxies from Gangru Ramsu or Hingni Nachlana in Banihal tehsil of Ramban district.
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Air Force giving priority to tourists stranded in Valley
Jammu, September 9 The Valley, which is cut off from rest of the country, is only accessible by air. The IAF planes and civilian aircraft are carrying people between Srinagar and other parts of the country. The planes are also carrying relief material for the affected people of Kashmir. With the flood situation improving a bit in the Valley, the IAF is giving priority to passengers and tourists from various parts of the country, stranded in the Valley since September 3. Most of the people who had to take their flights could not make it to the airport in Srinagar today. The city is waterlogged and hundreds of tourists and employees are trying to get out of the marooned city. Five flights which operate between Srinagar and Jammu were fully booked but each flight had about 20 to 30 passengers on board, said an airline official. An official at the IndiGo airlines counter at the Jammu Airport said most of the people had missed their flights as they couldn’t reach the Srinagar Airport on time. “We are also delaying the flights for the passengers to reach the Srinagar Airport but only a few people could reach there,” the official said. “We can’t even contact our ground staff in Srinagar as there is no phone connectivity. They are making manual boarding passes and we can’t even check how many passengers have boarded the aircraft until the flight lands here,” she said. Shabir Ahmed, a student from Kralapora in Srinagar, who reached Jammu this afternoon, said: “Most of the places are submerged in Srinagar city. The water level has reached up to the first floor of the houses and people are stranded on the second and thirds floor of their houses.” Most of the passengers who reached Jammu today were students, studying in various parts of the country. The Jammu Airport witnessed a heavy rush of passengers today who wanted to travel to Srinagar as their families are stuck there and there is no
communication.
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Back from hell, says footballer
“As news spread about flashfloods in the state, our only concern was whether or not we would be able to return home in time, but it did not happen,” Ramanjot said. “The authorities claimed that they were doing their best to carry out rescue, but stranded sportspersons did not get the support they expected,” he alleged. “Why is there a delay in airlifting a few hundred sportspersons from Kashmir?” he asked. 202 players from Jammu in Srinagar
As many as 132 sportspersons are putting up at the JAKLI Centre of the Army. Seventy others have been taken to the technical airport in Srinagar. At least 200 sportspersons from Jammu province had gone to Srinagar to participate in different disciplines of a state-level under-19 tournament organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports. On September 8, 27 sportspersons, 17 from Doda and 10 from Udhampur were airlifted from Srinagar to
Jammu.
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Worst affected areas in Kashmir valley
Flood-hit areas of Jammu region
Help pours in for state
Vaishno Devi Board sends food packets
Google app to be used
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Five no-frills airports to come up in four states
New Delhi, September 9 “The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has developed a no-frills model airport which will provide essential services needed to operationalise the airports, without compromising safety and security. This will result in low cost of operation and make it viable for the airlines to run their services,” he said, adding that the AAI was committed to commencing work in this financial year at the five locations. Raju said a draft policy on remote and regional connectivity had also been evolved, which would aim at granting various concessions and incentives to airlines to fly to such areas. The minister said it has been proposed to create a framework which enables synergy between the scheduled airlines, regional carriers and the non-scheduled airlines for better penetration and connectivity and a conscious effort was being made to develop routes to unserved and under-served airports. He said a draft policy in this regard was being discussed with all stakeholders, including airlines and airport operators. The minister also launched a “Know Your Rights” (KYR) portal of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which would provide information on the rights of passengers in cases of delays, cancellation and denied boarding, lost, delayed, misplaced and damaged baggage and on matters related to booking, airfare components and refund of air tickets. The information on availability of the Grievance Redressal Mechanism, names of nodal officers and contact numbers would be shared with the public on the portal. Raju said the AAI had also awarded the contract to construct a new integrated terminal building at Veer Savarkar International Airport, Port Blair, with a capacity to handle 600 domestic and 600 international passengers. He said a new terminal would come up at the Port Blair airport at a cost of Rs 374 crore, while sophisticated air navigation facilities were being installed in Mumbai and Kolkata airports to enhance radar coverage on huge airspace in these regions. The AAI also signed an MoU with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for the establishment of solar power plants of 50 MW capacity to tap alternative sources of energy. Solar photo voltaic power plants would be set up at the AAI airports to meet not only their own requirements, but also to feed the surplus power generated to the local grids. Aiming at giving a boost to the air cargo and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) sectors, the ministry was consulting stakeholders and experts to finalise policy guidelines and take other measures such as tax concessions and regulatory steps in this regard,
Pusapati said. Work to begin in six months
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Flood threat looms over poll-bound Vadodara
Ahmedabad, September 9 With the authorities concerned forced to open all gates of the Ajwa dam as the increasing water level threatened to breach the embankment, water of the Vishwamitri river that flows through the Vadodara city entered the low-lying areas in the city, affecting even the posh areas such as Fatehganj and Nizampura, besides the housing colonies on the banks of the river. With the weather office forecasting continued heavy rainfall in the north and central Gujarat regions in the next 48 hours, contenders for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat are keeping their fingers crossed. While more than 5,000 people from the low-lying areas in Vadodara city were shifted to safer places, the villages in the downstream of the Tapi river as well the people of Surat city have been alerted to remain prepared for evacuation.
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Monsoon to revive in west, central India
New Delhi, September 9 The worst is over for J&K and parts of adjoining Punjab and Himachal Pradesh which were at the receiving end of the nature’s fury last week. Some parts have been receiving light rains due to the remnant moisture in the air, says IMD Director General Lakhman Singh Rathore. After some vigorous monsoon conditions mainly over J&K, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, rains in the region would decrease significantly, said the IMD chief. Flood-hit parts of J&K may experience some sporadic “light rains” which will “not hinder the relief and rescue operations”. “Punjab and Himachal received good rains due to transient monsoon, which will decrease from today onwards. In the coming days, rain activity will mostly concentrate over Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Konkan and Goa, Vidarbha and Madhya Maharashtra,” he said. However, east Rajasthan and Uttarakhand — the two subdivisions that constitute the northwest along with Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, J&K, HP, west UP and west Rajasthan—will get widespread rain in some parts. So while J&K, HP, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Punjab will receive “scattered rains” at a few places, Uttarakhand can expect “fairly widespread rains” in the next couple of days.
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Ex-Bengal DGP held in chit fund scam
Kolkata, September 9 Majumdar’s name cropped up after suspended Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh, now behind bars, accused the former Indian Police Service officer of swindling crores in organising a cultural programme in Las Vegas in 2012. Majumdar joined Trinamool in recent years and served as the party’s poll observer for Birbhum district for the 2013 panchayat election. Majumdar, who had been denying allegations against him, would be produced before a designated court here, they said. Meanwhile, the CBI did not file any chargesheet in the Saradha chit fund scam as decided earlier in the Alipore court today. However, it again sought the custody of the accused - Sudipta Sen, Debjani Mukherjee, Somnath Dutt and TMC MP Kunal Ghosh — for their further interrogation following revelation of new information on the basis of the official records and several bank documents and the interrogation of former Doordarshan director Ratikanto Bose, who originally owned “Tara” and other TV channels that Sen later bought from him. Today, the CBI once again interrogated Sardar Hasim Imran and Ahmed Khan, the two TMC Rajya Sabha MPs and editors of two Urdu newspapers in connection with the TMC’s involvement in the multi-crore chit fund scam. Imran told mediapersons that he had told in detail whatever he knew about the party’s connection with the chit fund
group. (With PTI inputs) CBI fails to file chargesheet
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Let’s work together for 24x7 power, Centre urges states
Goyal, who a held meeting with state power ministers and UT officials here, said a “mission mode” approach needed to be adopted for solving problems in the energy sector. He said the meeting would pave the way for getting a better understanding of the ground realities and practical problems faced by the states and UTs. He also assured that the Centre was committed to solving the problems. Goyal appealed to all states and UTs to work as a team with the Centre for focusing on the development agenda of the nation. The agenda of the meeting included 24x7 power for all, strengthening of the transmission network, development of hydropower, promotion of renewable energy sources and discussion on coal-related issues. The government had on Sunday said there was no low coal supply and dry-fuel based power production had increased by about 22 per cent in the three months of the Narendra Modi-led government. He had said the coal shortage at power stations was due to stocks being consumed faster for higher electricity generation. “There is no low coal supply ... the materialisation of coal is as per the plan in the last few years. The fact that the coal production has not increased is the reality that I have inherited. I cannot increase coal production in 100 days, but the fact using the available resources we have increased electricity supply by 22 per cent which is only coal-based,” Goyal had said. The Union Minister expressed his condolences over the loss of lives in Jammu and Kashmir floods, and said the states which had experienced such massive natural disaster in recent times may send their experts to the state for immediate relief and rehabilitation in consultation with the National Disaster Relief Force.
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Centre to promote self-attested papers
New Delhi, September 9 Addressing a press conference, he said self-attestation would benefit the unemployed youth who often had to visit gazetted officers to get their documents attested while applying for jobs. However, he said there was some reservation as far as the security matter was concerned. “We will not compromise where the security matter is involved, like jobs in the force and getting the arm licence,” the minister said. Highlighting the work done by his ministry in the first 100 days of the BJP-led NDA government, Singh said the government had succeeded in meeting the deadline in facilitating the setting up of the state administrative machinery in newly-created state of Telangana. Within five days of assumption of office, the orders were issued to around 10,000 government employees for serving in Telangana. The government’s decision of pre-retirement counseling and post-retirement engagement of government officials is one of the achievements of the Central government. On the issue of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the minister said the government would very soon have a conclusive opinion on the issue. “We sought the opinion of the Secretary of the Lok Sabha as to what would be the ideal way to proceed (on the issue of the Leader of Opposition). I think very soon we will have a conclusive opinion about it. I don’t need to speculate,” Singh said. He added the government would soon appoint the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) and the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC). “As far as the appointment of the CVC is concerned, he is still there. He will retire at the end of September. We will take a call when that happens. The appointment of CIC and other commissioners is in process. It will happen very soon,” he said.
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No compromise on food security, PM to FAO
New Delhi, September 9 The PM’s reiteration came when FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva, called on him. “The PM asserted that India does not stand in the way of a rule-based global trade agreement, but India cannot sacrifice the interests and food security of the poor,” a statement by the PM’s Office said. Modi described Dr da Silva as one of the champions of the “No Hunger Project” in Brazil, and called upon the FAO to take the lead in protecting the interests of the poor and farmers at the World Trade Organisation.
— TNS
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Court rejects Lalu’s plea in fodder scam
The court rejected the petition filed by Prasad under Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act and Article 22 of the Constitution which states that a person once convicted or acquitted not to be tried for the same offence. The case pertained to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka treasury. On August 12, it dismissed a petition in connection with 68A/96 fodder scam case pertaining to alleged fraudulent withdrawal of
Rs 36 crore from the Chaibasa treasury in 1993-94. — PTI
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Death penalty for Pune driver who killed 9
Mumbai, September 9 Confirming the death penalty awarded to Mane by Additional Sessions Court in Pune, Justice VM Kanade and Justice PD Kode termed it “rarest of rare cases”. “This is an exceptional and rarest of rare cases where the crime is so cruel, diabolical and revolting so as to shock the collective conscience of society. In rarest of rare cases where collective conscience of the community is so shocked, it expects the court to inflict death penalty irrespective of its personal opinion as regards desirability or otherwise of retaining the death penalty,” the judges said in their ruling. On January 25, 2012, Mane wreaked havoc after his request to be given a day shift instead of night duty was denied by his supervisor. Angered by the decision, Mane jumped into a bus at the Swargate bus depot and drove on the wrong side and ran down pedestrians and motorcyclists.
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Nadda is CEC secretary
New Delhi, September 9 The appointment comes as a major elevation in the party hierarchy for Nadda who had lost to Shah the race to the party post. Party veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were replaced with young faces - Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Nadda. The new CEC’s first task was to finalise the candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections.
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Southeast Asian nations vow to fight kala-azar New Delhi, September 9 Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan signed the MoU on India's behalf at the 32nd Meeting of Ministers of Health of Countries of the WHO South-East Asia Region today in Dhaka. Over 147 million people in the South-East Asia Region are at the risk of contracting this life-threatening disease, mainly in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, with recent, sporadic cases being reported from Bhutan and Thailand. As over 50 per cent of the cases in the three main affected countries occur in areas close to international borders, besides strong national efforts, countries also need close collaboration to eliminate the disease. Kala-azar is debilitating and fatal if left untreated. It is transmitted by sandflies which breed in moist soil, cracks in mud walls and burrows.
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Sushma’s Kabul visit begins today
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Residents of Mandal village set up a community kitchen in the village and provided food to the flood affected camping in Suraychak village.
Jammu, September 9
New Delhi, September 9
Ranchi, September 9
