Category: Union Territory

Jammu: Director Information and Public Relations, Dr. Syed Sehrish Asgar condoles the sad demises of Father of Masood Hussain, Editor in Chief Kashmir Life and Mother of Nazir Masoodi, Burea Chief NDTV. 

In this connection, a condolence meet was held in the office chambers of Director Information in which all the officers participated. Dr. Sehrish and other participants expressed deep sorrow and grief over their demises.

Dr. Sehrish also offered her deepest condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for eternal peace to the departed souls and courage for the bereaved families to bear their irreparable losses.

“Give power to elected representatives”

Srinagar: Former Chief Minister J&K and Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad today asked the Government to bring restoration of statehood in J&K bill in parliament.

“Scrapping of Article 370 was done unilaterally and state was downgraded. Prime Minister, Home Minister has promised that statehood would be restored in J&K. This is the time to bring a bill in Parliament regarding restoration of statehood in J&K,” he said during his speech in virtual meeting of All Parties.

“DDC and and Panchayat elections were held recently. Now they should have no excuses to grant statehood to J&K.

He asked the Government of India to give power to the elected representatives and said that it is not good to give unlimited power to officers in a place which has border with China and Pakistan where situation is bad there. (KNS).

Srinagar: Around 10,000 people of Kamad in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district are forced to consume contaminated water as Jal Shakti Department has failed to provide them potable water. 

Residents said the authorities have constructed a water supply for residents of Kamad but has not been started yet.

“There is an old water supply on which crores of rupees have been spent. However, the water is not reaching to reservoir where from it could have been supplied to people,” Ashfaq Ahmad, a local told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).

He said around 10,000 people from Kamad and its adjoining areas are facing water shortage. “We have to fetch contaminated water from Nallahs,” he said.

Another resident Firdous Ahmad said they have apprised concerned officials several times about shortage of water but to no avail. “Our women have to fetch water from Nallah which we later consume. We are forced to consume untreated water from ponds and Nallah which has led to several diseases to the locals,” he said.

The Jal Shakti Department had in 1982 constructed an Over Head Tank (OHT) at Ugjen Teng in Kamad area. The scheme was supposed to cater to water supply needs of half a dozen villages including Kamad, Chichripora, Laalan, Nawathoo, Papaibal and Chek Kamad.
The scheme however was a failure and despite spending crores of rupees in repeated maintenance of the pipes and the OHT.

According to a report of a local daily, locals have demanded a Vigilance enquiry into the mindless money spending in the name of these water supply schemes.

Executive Engineer of the JSD for Bijbehara Division, Muhammad Haneef admitted people were facing shortage of water at Kamad.

“We had a meeting with DC sahab in this regard. We are going to construct OHT for which we are looking for land so that water shortage problem of locals is solved,” he told news agency KINS.

PTI

Srinagar: Cold wave conditions intensified in Kashmir on Friday as mercury plunged by two degrees in Srinagar, while the minimum temperature elsewhere in the valley stayed mostly 10 degrees below freezing point, officials said.

Srinagar city recorded a low of minus 7.7 degrees Celsius plunging more than two degrees from minus 5.6 degrees Celsius the previous night, the officials said.

Qazigund the gateway town to the valley recorded a minimum of 10.8 degrees Celsius down from minus 10.5 degrees Celsius the previous night, they said.

The minimum temperature at the Gulmarg skiing resort, in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, settled at minus 11.3 degrees Celsius last night up from last night’s minus 13.4 degrees Celsius.

Pahalgam tourist resort, which also serves as a base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra in south Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 12 degrees Celsius marginally up from previous night’s minus 12.3 degrees Celsius.

Kupwara recorded a low of minus 3 degrees Celsius, while Kokernag, in the south, minus 11.4 degrees Celsius.The extreme subzero temperatures have resulted in freezing of water bodies and drinking water supply lines in many areas of the valley.

The minimum temperatures are expected to remain below freezing point for the next few days as the weatherman has forecast the possibility of a western disturbance hitting the valley on February 2.

Kashmir is currently under the grip of ‘Chillai-Kalan’ — the 40-day harshest winter period when a cold wave grips the region and the temperature drops considerably leading to the freezing of water bodies including the famous Dal Lake here.

The chances of snowfall are the most frequent and maximum during this period and most areas, especially in the higher reaches, receive heavy snowfall.

While ‘Chillai-Kalan’ which began on December 21 — will end on January 31, the cold wave continues even after that in Kashmir with a 20-day-long ‘Chillai-Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day-long ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold).

PTI

Jammu: The service weapon of a policeman stolen from his house was seized from a thief here, an official said on Friday.

A complaint was lodged by assistant sub-inspector Ali Mohd Wani of Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police posted at Manwal area in Sangar on Thursday, they said.

The ASI said that he had kept his pistol in a briefcase at his rental house at New Plot area and gone to the market. However, upon returning, he found the weapon missing, they said.

A case was registered at Bakshi Nagar Police Station and special teams were constituted.

A suspect named Ranjeet Singh alias Raju of New Plot area was questioned and he confessed, police said, adding that the stolen pistol along with cartridges was recovered.

Leh: Ladakh reported 17 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 9,704, officials said on Friday.

All the new cases were detected in Leh on Sunday, they said.

Two more patients recovered in Ladakh, pushing the total number of active cases to 63.

Ladakh has so far recorded 129 COVID-related deaths – 85 in Leh and 44 in Kargil.

Both the patients who recovered are residents of Leh, bringing down the active cases in the district to 57, the officials said, adding that there are only four active cases in Kargil district.

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir on Friday recorded 76 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 1,24,373, even as one death due to the virus took place in the last 24 hours, officials said.

Out of the fresh cases, 16 were from Jammu division and 60 from Kashmir division of the union territory, they said.

Srinagar district recorded the highest of 32 cases, including 22 travellers, followed by 11 in Jammu district. Baramulla was the only other district to have double-digit positive cases in the past 24 hours.

While nine districts — Ganderbal, Pulwama, Shopian, Doda, Kathua Kishtwar, Rajouri, Reasi and Ramban — did not report any fresh cases, eight others recorded cases in single digits, the officials said.

The number of active cases was 823 in the union territory, while 1,21,617 patients have recovered, the officials said.

One death was reported from Kashmir division in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll due to the virus to 1,933.

PTI

Jammu: Three alleged drug peddlers were arrested with 57 kg of poppy here on Thursday, officials said.

The accused have been identified as Baljinder Singh, Azad Singh and Kulvinder Singh, all residents of Punjab, they said.

A police team intercepted two Punjab-bound trucks at Jhajjar Kotli and recovered 28.76 kg and 28.50 kg of poppy from the two vehicles, the police said.

In this regard, two cases were registered at Jhajjar Kotli police station and all three accused arrested, they said.

Further investigation in the two cases is underway, they said.

Srinagar: President Ram Nath Kovind said in his address in the Central Hall of Parliament that Jammu and Kashmir has moved rapidly towards a new democratic future.

He said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have also given full support to the development policy of the Central Government. Only a few weeks ago, for the first time since independence, the Zilla Parishad elections in Jammu and Kashmir were concluded successfully, in which a large number of voters participated.

“After the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been empowered with new entitlements. The development-oriented policy of the Central Government has also received wholehearted support from the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Only a few weeks ago, the elections to district councils in Jammu and Kashmir were held successfully for the first time after independence,” Kovind said.

The President said the large-scale participation of voters in the District Development Council (DDC) polls in the Union Territory had shown that Jammu and Kashmir was forging ahead towards a new democratic future at a rapid pace and the grant of new entitlements had empowered the people of the region.

“After the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Health Scheme, every family of Jammu and Kashmir is assured of free treatment worth Rs 5 lakh. A bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal has also been established in Jammu,” he said.

Kovind said after becoming a Union Territory, elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Council were held successfully a few months ago, and now, people of Ladakh were taking decisions related to the development of their region expeditiously. (PTK)

Seeks promotion of fish production, processing and marketing in both provinces of J&K

Jammu: Principal Secretary Animal, Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries Department, Navin Kumar Choudhary, chaired a review meeting of Fisheries Department here Thursday.

The meeting had a detailed review of implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, PMMSY besides assessing status of release of funds by the Finance Department.

Pertinently, Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana is an initiative launched by the Government of India to establish a comprehensive framework and reduce infrastructural gaps in the fisheries sector. The policy envisages to integrate all the fishermen with agricultural farmers and provide all the facilities available through various farmer welfare schemes to the fishermen.

Navin Choudhary directed the officers to identify potential areas of fish production and prioritise setting up of such units for better growth of the sector and welfare of those engaged in the trade. Assistance to existing units and their expansion should also be another priority, he added saying that with increased production, trade and export of the produce also needs to be exhilarated, he added.

Emphasis was laid, by the Principal Secretary, on generating awareness among the SC-ST people to start fisheries related businesses. The department was directed to utilise different media channels to advertise about the PMMSY and various other initiatives of the department, by the Principal Secretary. He also called for involving panchayat and BDC members to better deliver the benefits of these schemes.

Navin Choudhary took detailed review about fish production works being done in various districts and directed the senior officers to identify variety of fish best suited to climatic conditions and water availability of each districts. He said that the department and its officers must work diligently to deliver benefits of welfare and developmental schemes on ground. Give equal attention and efforts to all districts of both the provinces, he stressed upon the officers.

Reiterating the need for developing better marketing and export facilities, Principal Secretary said that increasing the fish production two-fold is no good unless there is good fish processing, storage, packaging and logistics facilities. People need to be encouraged and assisted for starting entrepreneurial ventures in these sectors, he maintained.

Later, detailed project reports were sought by the Principal Secretary, in which he asked the department to furnish relevant details as to how and where such facilities could be established in both the provinces of the UT. He also assured support from the government’s side to assist private players for venturing into the sector.

Principal Secretary also directed the department to identify potential of fish production in certain untapped water resources of the union territory. Later, the department’s finances and status of pending projects was also discussed.

The meeting was attended by Director General Budget, Finance Department; Director Fisheries, Bashir Ahmad Bhat; Director Finance, Animal, Sheep Husbandry & Fisheries Department; Joint Director, Resources, Finance Department; all Joint Directors of Fisheries Department among other senior officers. Assistant Director, Fisheries from all districts also participated through virtual mode. (KINS)