Category: Union Territory

Srinagar: Founder & vice chairman of Kashmir Road safety foundation demands financial assistance to drivers and conductors of Passenger Transport vehicles viz a viz Auto-rickshaw drivers, Maxicab drivers, drivers and conductors of Mini buses, deluxe buses, etc.

Speaking to Kashmir Today, Er. Junaid said ” I request LG of UT J&K and Transport Minister, Govt of India to kindly implement an order wherein they provide financial assistance of ₹ 5,000/= per person. As everybody is aware due to lockdown they are not able to move for earnings.”

Praising maxi cab drivers who are standing with State Disaster management Authority in this Life threatening situation. Mr Nazir added “Transport department have reserved runds in “Passenger Welfare Fund” Account head. With consent from Finance department they should utilise the same for welfare of the people dealing with this sector of trade. In this juncture I request Govt. should support the transport community of UT J&K”

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir recorded death of a septuagenarian and 14 new novel coronavirus cases on Friday. While death toll has mounted to five, the overall tally of the COVID-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir has gone up 328.

Official sources told GNS that among them nine are from Bandipora, three from Shopian and two from Kupwara district.

Of these cases at least 270 were added this month alone. From the time the first COVID-19 case was announced in J&K on March 09, it took about three weeks for the cases to reach 50-mark. It took the next five days to cross 100-mark, subsequent five days to cross 200-mark and few days to reach 300-mark.

From 52 reported cases by the end of last month, the J&K reached a cumulative tally of 106 cases on April 5.

Till date, the officially confirmed tally stands at 328—54 in Jammu and 274 in Kashmir. Five people have died due to the deadly infection in the J&K while 38—9 in Jammu and 29 in Kashmir divisions have recovered and discharged, leaving the active cases in Kashmir to 241 and 44 in Jammu. (GNS)

Srinagar: All education institutions and training institutes in Jammu and Kashmir shall remain closed till May 3, the government ordered on Friday. However, the government has ordered the resumption of all the offices from April 20 as per the manner provided by it.

“All the offices dealing with essential supplies/services shall be fully functional….,” reads the order issued by the government, a copy of which lies with GNS

“All the Educational Institutions/Training Institutes shall remain closed till 3rd May 2020.”

In all other offices, officers of the level of Under Secretary and above have been asked to regularly attend offices from April 20. “33% of Non-Gazetted staff shall attend office as per roster to be devised by the respective Head of offices,” it added.

The staff, workers of Forest Department operating and maintaining zoo, nurseries, wildlife, fire-fighting in forests, watering plantations and patrolling have been asked to “work as usual.”

“The Head of offices shall take necessary steps for implementation of instructions with regard to social distancing, face masks and sanitizing the workplaces in their respective Offices, as per guidelines,” it said, adding, “Arrangements for issuance of passes shall be made by the General Administration Department for Civil Secretariat Employees and by the Deputy Commissioners in respect of officers/officials working in their respective jurisdictions.” (GNS)

“Security update by Zoom and few precautions make it a safe platform”

Govt playing with careers by continuously suspending 4G services

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Srinagar: Condemning government attitude of suspending 4G services, Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) today said that educational institutes can’t wait endlessly for the situation to normalise and this is the reason schools started the initiative of online classes through social media to compensate for the loss of students.

The Association said that desperate times need desperate solutions and the social media is our only hope to keep our students engaged. “With COVID-19 positive cases emerging every single day all over the world, there is a bleak chance that the normal life would be resumed in a near future. One of its biggest impact has been on the schools and students have been at the loss,” said G N Var president PSAJK. “But we cannot just sit and do nothing. Like the schools all around the world we too started the online classes on social media platforms and it will continue despite limitations of low internet speed.”

The Association said that majority of schools have started online classes on platforms like Microsoft Teams, Skype, WhatsApp, FaceTime, and Google Meet, and the response has been good. “We have been receiving some complaints to Zoom but the company has updated its security and continued with our own few precautions, Zoom is a good platform for online classes,” said Var.

Regarding MHA advisory on Zoom, the Association said that it has been banned mainly for official meetings and the main reason is its routing of traffic through China. “Many of our schools have invested heavily in different professional educational softwares, which are both secure and compatible for classes, but that needs high speed 4G internet and government is in no mood to give that to us,” said Var. “We even went to Supreme Court for restoration of 4G but still nothing is happening. It seems government is playing with the career of lakhs of students.”

Reiterating that Zoom is a secure platform PSAJK asked all of its users to follow guidelines issued by the National Cyber Coordination Centre, which using the platform without any worry.

The guidelines are

1) The user ID and password for each meeting should be regularised, which means you should enter new credentials for each meeting.

2) Set up a waiting room for video meetings by default, so that there can be no unauthorised access by strangers.

3) Also, you are recommended to disable “Join” before enabling “Host” for a video meeting.

4) As far as screen-sharing is concerned, it should be done by Host only. The recording should also be restricted.

5) The Host should disable the “Allow removed participants to rejoin”.

6) The file transfer option should be limited or, better, disabled for certain video meetings that you think may not require file sharing.

7) The Host should lock a video meeting after checking all the participants have joined in.

8) The video meetings, when complete, should be ended rather than being just left by the host, as well as the participants.

Srinagar: An elderly patient from North Kashmir’s Sopore hamlet passed away due to Covid-19 infection here at JVC SKIMS Bemina hospital in Kashmir capital Srinagar.With the death of the patient, the toll in Jammu and Kashmir has touched to 5. Four persons have died of Covid-19 infection in Kashmir, while one died in Udhampur. Medical Superintendent JVC SKIMS, Bemina, Dr Shafia Deva told KNT that a Covid-19 patient who was admitted in the hospital after he was declared positive died this afternoon.

“An elderly man from North Kashmir was admitted in our hospital on April 2 and today he died,” she said.

Divulging information about the patient, Principal JVC, Dr Reyaz Untoo told KNT that the patient was suffering from acute chest problem. “Before getting admitted here at JVC SKIMS Hospital on 2 April, he was under observation at Chest Disease Hospital Srinagar. The patient hailing from Armpora Sopore was 76 year old and had a clinical history. He was a chain smoker, suffering from acute chest problem and besides being a Covid-19 patient, the elderly deceased person was asthmatic and was also having blood-pressure history,” Dr Untoo said. The total number of positive Covid-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir stand at 314, with 54 reported from the Jammu region while 260 are from Kashmir.

Among the 314 Covid-19 cases Srinagar has highest rate of active as well as recovery cases. 11 patients from Srinagar has recovered from this disease and at present there are 64 cases. 10 patients from North Kashmir’s Bandipora have also recovered followed by Shopian 2, Udhampur 4, Budgam and Jammu 3 while one patient each has recovered in Pulwama, Rajouri and Kishtwar.

Srinagar has 65 active positive cases followed by Banipora 54, Baramulla 41, Kupwara 25, Shopian 12, Ganderbal 14, Budgam 9, Kulgam 5, Pulwama 2, Anantnag 1, Jammu 23, Udhampur 15, Rajouri 2 and Samba 4.

Among the 314 positive cases, 272 are active, 38 have recovered and 5 have died due to this lethal infection. (KNT)

Srinagar Apr 17: With reports that recovered coronavirus patients are getting reinfected, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Friday urged health authorities in Kashmir valley to test recovered patients for antibodies that would help us know whether they are immune for reinfection.
“Patients who recover are getting infected with the virus again,” said DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan.
“141 cases in South Korea who had recovered from the disease were tested positive for the virus again,” he said.
“About 15 percent of recovered patients in the Southern Chinese city of Shenzhen were retested positive for the virus,” he added.
Dr Nisar said while the recovery rate is promising, it does not mean that those who have been infected with the novel virus are not still at risk.
“Having the virus once does not mean you can’t get sick from it again,” he said.
Dr Nisar said not all people who recover from coronavirus have the antibodies to fight a second infection
“A new study from China suggests that some people who have recovered from coronavirus have very low or even undetectable levels of protective antibodies against the virus,” he said.
“The study found that almost a third of those who recovered had low levels of antibodies against the virus, with ten patients having no detectable levels of neutralizing antibodies at all,” he added.
Dr Nisar said this raises concern that patients surviving COVID-19 don’t develop immunity to prevent reinfection.
“The low amounts of antibodies could affect herd immunity which is the resistance to the disease among the general population to stop its spread,” he said.
“This will also have implications for the development of a vaccine. If the real virus could not induce an antibody response, the weakened version used in a vaccine may not work for some patients too,” said Dr Nisar

SRINAGAR: Police on Friday arrested 20 people including an Imam for assembling and offering Friday Congregational Prayers at a mosque in Batwara area of Sonwar, Srinagar.

Police sources told Asiannewshub that some people assembled and tried to offer Friday Congregational prayers at a mosque in Batwara area of Srinagar, thus voilating the advisory issued to contain the spread of deadly novel #coronavirus in Kashmir valley.

Taking strong note of the incident, police booked 20 persons including an Imam and registered a formal FIR vide number 51/2020 under section 188,269 & 271 IPC against the violators. (ANH)

‘No international preacher to be invited this time’

Budgam: In wake of looming threat from Covid-19, Anjuman Shari Shian has decided to cease all religious activities in the month of holy Ramadhan.

President, Anjuman Shari Shian, Aga Syed Hasan Almosvi Alsafvi, who is facing house detention since August last year told KNT that the organization held a special meeting in wake of present crisis emerged due to Covid-19 outbreak. “During the meeting it was decided not to invite any international delegates of Qaris or NaatKhawns as has been the practice. The congregational Quran Khawani and recitation training will also not take place in the coming holy month due to the prevailing condition.

No Chilla, the 40-day self-confinement in Masjids will be allowed until further orders,” he said. Aga Syed Hasan advised believers to pray individually at their homes and explore spirituality with Allah (SWT). “Performing social responsibility is of utmost importance so voluntarily donate alms and charity, share your surplus and make supplication for well-being of every person of the world,” he said adding that Anjuman’s Quick Reaction Team (QRT) is already in place to extend any possible help and establish links of social-caring. (KNT)

Srinagar: Government of Jammu and Kashmir has issued instructions to the concerned departments for regulating and facilitating the construction activities to be carried out during the lockdown period while following the norms of social distancing.

According to an order issued by Chief Secretary, Jammu and Kashmir, copy of which lies with news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), it has been impressed upon the departments to carry out certain construction activities under set guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOP). 

As per the order, the concerned executive engineers shall have to identify the works to be resumed during the lockdown period and a list of such projects/works shall be shared with the concerned district magistrates.

They have also been directed to prepare the list of the required machinery and equipment to be deployed at the identified construction sites/works and same shall be submitted to the concerned district magistrates for permission. “In construction projects falling within municipal limits, the/construction workers shall have to stay at the construction site.

The concerned contractor in coordination with the executive engineer shall me sufficient arrangement for their stay, besides providing masks and sanitation items and keep social distancing norms place,” reads the order. The order also read that in construction projects in rural areas, the labour has to stay in the areas adjoining the construction site—(KNO)

Srinagar: A Covid-19 patient died at JVC SKIMS Bemina here in Srinagar on Friday. With the death of the patient, the toll in Jammu and Kashmir has touched to 5. Four persons have died of Covid-19 infection in Kashmir, while one died in Udhampur.

Medical Superintendent JVC SKIMS, Bemina, Dr Shafia Deva told KNT that a Covid-19 patient who was admitted in the hospital after he was declared positive died this afternoon. “An elderly man from North Kashmir was admitted in our hospital on April 2 and today he died,” she said. (KNT)