Category: Union Territory

Budgam: The elderly person who was tested positive after his death was buried under proper Covid-19 protocol at his native village of Buchroo Chadoora here in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

The body arrived in the village during late Saturday night and he was buried at the same time in local grave yard in presence of four Municipal Employees and three relatives.

Meanwhile, all the family members of the deceased have been put under quarantine and the village has been declared as red-zone. (KNT)

Srinagar: A 70-year-old man from Budgam on Saturday became latest victim of novel coronavirus and his death took the overall toll due the disease to 12 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Medical Superintendent SKIMS, Professor Farooq Jan, told GNS that the man had suffered heart attack and was reported to Casualty section late last night. “He died at 8 a.m. on Saturday,” he said, adding, “There was element of chest ailment also. His swap sample was taken and the same returned positive this evening,” he said. The body of the elderly had been kept in mortuary and would be handed over to the family after completing formalities as per covid-19 protocol, he added.

Sources said that the septuagenarian was a resident of Buchru Chadooora in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
With this fatality, 12 persons have died due to the disease so far in Jammu and Kashmir—10 of them in Kashmir and two in Jammu division.

The Srinagar district has reported 4 of the deaths, highest in any district, followed by Baramulla (3) and one each in Bandipora, Anantnag, Budgam, Udhampur and Jammu. (GNS)

The FM also said a revised power tariff policy would be unveiled in the coming days

PTI

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said electricity distribution companies in Union Territories (UTs) will be privatised.

This is expected to provide a model to be replicated in states later to improve efficiency and attract investment. Unveiling the fourth tranche of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package to revive the coronavirus-hit economy, Sitharaman said there is sub-optimal performance of power distribution and supply in the country.

She said privatisation of discoms will lead to better service to consumers and improvement in operational and financial efficiency in power distribution. This would serve as a model for emulation by other utilities across the country, she added.

Privatisation of distribution companies (discoms) has been under consideration of the power ministry for quite some time. Earlier, discoms in Mumbai, Delhi and some other cities had been privatised.

Meanwhile, Power Minister R K Singh had on Friday asked industry representatives to participate in the bidding process for discoms.

The minister also said a revised power tariff policy will be unveiled in the coming days which would focus on consumer rights, promotion of industry and sustainability of the power sector.

Under the revised policy, the discoms will not be allowed to pass on their inefficiencies and losses to consumers.

Discoms will also have to maintain certain service standards and would be penalised for load shedding, except in cases of natural calamities or technical failures.

The generation and transmission project developers would be selected through competitive bidding. It will also provide for direct benefit transfer of subsidies and installation of smart meters. Singh had told industry representatives in a webinar that an informal group of ministers had approved the revised tariff policy which would be taken to the Union Cabinet for approval. He expressed hope that the policy would be rolled out within a month.

Srinagar: A day after the highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases, forty-four persons including 12 pregnant women from Anantnag district tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, taking the overall tally of the patients in J&K to 1092 so far.

Nodal Officer for Coronavirus Control at SKIMS, Dr G H Yatoo, told GNS that 27 samples tested positive for the disease at viral diagnostic lab of the tertiary care hospital.

Professor Farooq Jan, Medical Superintendent SKIMS, told GNS that 10 among them are from Jammu (all travelers), 12 from Kupwara, 3 from Anantnag and one each from Baramulla and Budgam.

Dr Salim, concerned nodal officer, told GNS that 17 persons tested positive at CD hospital’s Covid-19 laboratory and include 14 from Anantnag, 12 of them pregnant women, while three are from Kulgam district. The number could be higher as reports from Jammu and private lab was awaited, sources said.

On Friday, J&K recorded the highest day spike in cases as 65 people tested positive for the dreaded disease. 35 of them were confirmed at the army’s command hospital in Udhampur and included travels from Kulgam (25) and Ramban (10). (GNS)

Srinagar: A policeman was killed after militants fired upon a joint police and CRPF party in Frisal area of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district.

Police sources told KNT that militants resorted to indiscriminate firing on a joint party in which a head constable sustained serious injuries.

He was shifted to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The head constable has been identified as Muhammad Amin (349/Kgm).

The incident occurred in the jurisdiction of police station Yaripors. (KNT)

Pattan: An Army Commanding Officer Saturday pacified angry mob and stopped the issue getting snowballed into a major controversy when he ‘apologized’ to people who alleged that a soldier part of a patrolling party passed ‘lewd’ comments on a young girl in Singhpora area of Pattan town here in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Saturday morning.

Local sources told news agency KNT that soldiers from 29 Rashtriya Rifles stationed at Khanpeth camp were patrolling in a vehicle in Singhpora area when a soldier allegedly passed ‘vulgar’ comments on a young girl. The girl raised hue and cry attracting the attention of people. In a jiffy, scores of people assembled and started raising pro-freedom and anti-army slogans.

The protesters demanded immediate arrest of the ‘erring’ soldier. “After passing lewd remarks, the soldier threatened her as well and this is unacceptable and we won’t tolerate it,” said an elderly protester.

Police team led by SDPO Zafar Mehdi and Chowki Officer Mirgund police post, Muhammad Ashraf rushed to spot to pacify the protesters.

Police, without any delay informed Commanding Officer, stationed at Hyderbeigh Pattan about the incident, who rushed to the spot to ascertain the facts.

SDPO Pattan said that they are still verifying the matter. Chowki Officer Muhammad Ashraf told KNT that though army soldier had done nothing, still the Commanding Officer apologized to people and pacified them. The officer told people that he apologizes, though he doesn’t know whether his soldier has done any stupid thing or not.

The police officer said that people dispersed peacefully after the assurance of Army officer that matter will be probed thoroughly. (KNT)

Unidentified gunmen fired upon a joint police and CRPF party in Frisal area of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district

Further details awaited

The DPR of Ujh project, which was declared as a national project in 2008, was initially prepared by Indus Basin Organisation of the Central Water Commission in 2013

PTI

The Centre has given approval to a modified detailed project report (DPR) of the Ujh Multipurpose Project (MPP) in Jammu and Kashmir at an estimated cost of ₹9,167 crore, an official spokesman said on Saturday.

The Central Advisory Committee for consideration of techno-economic viability of major and medium irrigation, flood control and multipurpose project proposals accepted the project proposal subject to certain conditions, keeping in view its strategic importance from Indus Waters Treaty angle for utilisation and regulation of waters flowing across the border, the spokesman said.

The modified Ujh MPP is located on river Ujh, one of the main tributaries of river Ravi, in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.

A 116.00 metre high dam is proposed at the river with full reservoir level (FRL) at 608 metre.

The proposed dam site is Barbari village about 1.6 km downstream of Panchtirthi. The powerhouse site is approximately 9.5 km downstream of the dam site near Deoli village.

The spokesman said the advisory committee of Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (DoWR, RD&GR) accorded approval to the modified DPR of the project at a meeting chaired by Union Secretary U P Singh recently.

The DPR of Ujh project, which was declared as a national project in 2008, was initially prepared by Indus Basin Organisation of the Central Water Commission in 2013.

Total number goes up to 1,013 with Srinagar topping the list

Thirty new COVID-19 cases, nine from the Jammu division and 21 from the Kashmir division, were reported on Friday. The total number of cases in Jammu and Kashmir has gone up to 1,013.

An official said Srinagar topped the list with 153 cases, followed by Anantnag with 145 cases. In the Chenab Valley’s Kishtwar, only one case has been detected so far.

Of the 1,013 cases, 489 are active cases and 513 have recovered and 11 have died, officials said.

Clashes over prayers

Another official said the administration had evacuated 49,218 people through Lakhanpur and brought back 7,264 persons by special trains at Jammu and Udhampur till May 15.

A clash broke out between locals and security forces in south Kashmir’s Pulwama against the ban on Friday prayers during the lockdown.

Eyewitnesses said a group of youth clashed with the forces manning the streets in the Rohimoo area after an attempt to offer prayers at the mosque was foiled.

The locals, according to the eyewitnesses, were demanding that they be allowed to offer congregation prayers at mosques.

All mosques, including the popular Jamia Masjid and Hazratbal Shrine, remained closed in the Valley.

With inputs from The Hindu

OFFICE OF THE DEAN ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

A meeting was conducted by the Vice Chancellor with Dean Academic Affairs, Registrar and all the Deans on 12.05.2020 to take stock of the current academic status and discuss future course of action.

After detailed deliberations and considering the inputs from Heads of Departments conveyed by the Dean of respective School and keeping in view the current situation, the Vice Chancellor in exercise of special powers vested in him by virtue of section 3(v) of the University Act has approved the following:

1. The current odd semester and the following even semester (Autumn 2019 and Spring 2020) shall be merged together for the purpose of teaching and conduct of examinations for all UG, PG and Diploma programmes.
2. The examination shall be conducted for both the semesters jointly starting from the month of August 2020 after receiving syllabus completion certificate from the concerned teacher/HoD.

Consequent upon above all the HoDs shall:

a) Continue conducting online classes and try to cover as much syllabus possible using online platforms like Zoom, Google classes etc up to the maximum possible satisfaction of students.
b) Frame the schedule for online classes for the next semester, convey it to the students besides posting it on the University website and start the classes immediately.
c) Conduct internal assessments of students maintaining the sanctity of academic expectations and integrity of examination process.
d) Employ simplified modes and methods of internal assessments to complete the process. These may include Open Book Examination, Open Choices, assignment/presentation-based assessments etc.
e) After the end of lockdown, practical and interactive classes may also be arranged before the conduct of final examination if needed/possible.
f) For UG/PG students pursuing Projects/Dissertations, in view of the prevailing circumstances, review-based/secondary data-based projects or software-driven projects, instead of laboratory-based experiments or field/survey-based be assigned.
g) Students be counselled through the online classes on the safety measures to be taken during the Covid-19 pandemic and keep themselves safe and healthy.

Sd/-
Deputy Registrar
(Academics)
No: IUST/Acad/Notification/20/188
Dated: 15.05.2020
University Website