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PTI

Srinagar: A spell of overnight rainfall broke the prolonged dry spell in Kashmir valley even as the summer capital Srinagar had on Monday recorded the hottest August day in the last nearly four decades, officials said on Tuesday.

Many places in the Kashmir valley received a spell of rainfall during the night, the officials said. They said the valley witnessed rains and thunderstorm with lightning and gusty winds which continued at few places till the morning.

Srinagar city recorded 20.2 mm rainfall, while Qazigund 12.2 mm, Pahalgam 6.2 mm, Kupwara 5.2 mm, Gulmarg 2.6 mm, and Kokernag 1.8 mm, they said.

The clouds dispersed in the morning, the officials said, adding, there is no forecast of rainfall ahead in the union territory.

The rainfall broke the prolonged dry spell in Kashmir valley which had been witnessing hotter days in the recent weeks.

On Monday, Srinagar city recorded a maximum temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius, which was the hottest August day in the last 39 years, the officials said.

They said Monday’s maximum temperature was six degrees above the normal.

The city remained hotter than Jammu — the winter capital of the UT — which had recorded 32.1 degrees Celsius on Monday.

While the Met office had announced the arrival of monsoon on June 24 this year, the valley witnessed dry weather conditions amid soaring temperatures.

Srinagar: The process of recruiting various posts piling up in government departments is likely to expedite in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Centre had already announced on the floor of Lok Sabha that 50000 vacancies would be filled in government departments in J&K during the ongoing fiscal.

A budgetary provision of Rs 2000 crore was also earmarked for the recruitment process in J&K UT’s maiden budget presented in the Parliament earlier this year.

Sources told news agency KINS that the high-level panel already constituted to fast-track the recruitment process have been asked by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha led administration to speed up the work.

The four-member panel was tasked to identify the vacancies with priority to Class-IV jobs, to finalise the procedures to be adopted, to obtain necessary sanctions.

Sources said that the government has asked the panel to meet regularly and submit the recommendations to recruiting agencies.

The constitution of the panel was a major step in the administration’s endeavour to restore employment in the UT, which is witnessing the ever-growing unemployment, even as some of the past recruitments turned out to be full of irregularities.

The panel was asked to finalise the procedure to be followed for recruitment, so that the principles of transparency and inclusiveness are maintained and the process of recruitment is concluded speedily.

The committee was also asked to ensure that necessary sanctions/approvals are obtained, rules notified (wherever required) for enabling Services Selection Board to commence the process of recruitment immediately and removing hitches in the recruitment process, if any.

The government had ordered the Committee to meet frequently, if necessary on a daily basis, and interact with Administrative Secretaries to ensure that the indents for recruitments are forwarded to the Service Selection Board by 22nd May, an official order in this regard had said.

“The Chairman-Nodal Officer shall be responsible for the tasks assigned to the Committee and he shall be assisted by other officers of the Committee,” it had said.

It was informed that the panel will continue to monitor the process till the recruitment process is completed.

In order to restore the employment, the government had also set up a task force which was directed to formulate a time-bound plan for recruitment to government jobs at different levels, to resume the delayed and halted recruitments.

The eight-member task force led by the Financial Commissioner Finance Department was asked to submit its report before May 15.

A consolidated date estimates around 81000 vacancies in various government departments in the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir.

To fast track the vacant posts the government recently appointed B R Sharma as Chairman Public Service Commission (PSC).

It may be recalled that the erstwhile JKPSC was closed down following the re-organization of Jammu and Kashmir State into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.

As per the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019, the JKPSC will continue to be a recruiting agency for various posts in J&K UT while recruitments in Ladakh would be done by the Union Public Service Commission.

Sources said that the failure of the previous government to appoint the Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) was delaying the recruitment for various gazetted posts of the candidates, who were shortlisted for various posts including administrative services and Assistant professors.

Sources said that the selection process of the various posts was stalled, due to the fact that Commission chairman and other members were not in place, in absence of which not any policy decision or the selection process could have been completed. (KINS)

PTI

A man was arrested for raping his 15-year-old cousin, police said on Tuesday.

The matter came to light after the girl was taken to a hospital as she was not feeling well. The doctors there revealed that the girl was seven months pregnant, Circle officer Kalu Singh said.

The incident took place in a village under Gyanpur Police Station in the district, Singh said.

The girl said that her cousin repeatedly raped her and also threatened to kill her if she told anyone about it, Singh said.

“A case was registered on Monday evening, and the accused person has been arrested. The girl has been sent for medical examination,” the CO said.

PTI

Jammu: Pakistani Rangers opened fire on border out posts (BoPs) along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, sources said on Tuesday.

BSF troops guarding the border retaliated, resulting in exchanges, the sources said.

They said Pakistani Rangers fired from machine guns at forward BoPs of Chandwa and Karol Matraya in Hiranagar sector on Monday night.

There were no casualties in the firing.

Srinagar: Sajad Ahmad Mir alias Haider alias Jaja, a Lashker-e-Toiba commander, rated among top ten militants in Kashmir and top most in north Kashmir by Director General of Police Dilbag Singh, was among the militants killed in Kreeri Baramulla.

“He had joined militancy in 2016 winters and used to work on same pattern as that of Burhan Wani.

He was active in north Kashmir.

If Burhan Wani turned many to become militants in South Kashmir, he spared no efforts in north Kashmir.

So far we have arrested atleast 20 militants recruited by him apart from many Over Ground Workers (OGWs),” he said.

Flanked by the IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar, the top police officer of Jammu and Kashmir said Sajad had a history of militant related records since 2016. “He was involved in planning and executing several attacks in the area including civilian atrocities and attacks on security establishments. Moreover, he was also involved in recruitment of youth in militant ranks,” he said, according to GNS correspondent. . “He was brain behind the killing of Waseem Bari (BJP) and his family member in Bandipora. He was also involved in an attack on CRPF party at Sopore resulting in killing of one personnel and injuries to four other personnel,” he said, adding, “he was also involved many other attacks including the killing of civilians namely Eid-ul-Amin Mir alias Nazir Budoo (tower guard) R/o Behrampora Sopore, Gh Mohi ud Din Sheikh of Bomai and Mushtaq Ahmad Mir of Harwan Sopore besides firing onthe family of a fruit merchant namely Haidullah Rather at Dangerpora Sopore inwhich 4 family members including a three year baby got injured.”

He was also involved in firing on a non local labour namely Mohammad Shafi Alam near Noorbagh Bypass inorder to “terrorise the non local labourers”, the DGP said.

Moreover, he was also involved in setting ablaze two Maruti cars at Reban Sopore and Warpora Sopore to terrorize transporters for observing complete shutdown, the top police officer said.

Regarding the other militant Anayatullah Mir, the DGP said, he was recruited by Sajad in March this year and was also involved in threatening and harassing civilians in Pattan area and transporting of foreign militants from Northern Kashmir to Central and Southern Kashmir parts.

“Today’s operation no doubt started with the killing of 3 jawans but police, CRPF and army in a very successful operation killed the top commander. His death will save many lives and it will prove as a sign of relief for the families,” he added. (GNS)

CRPF man injured after militants attack forces camp

Kulgam: A CRPF man was injured after militants attacked a CRPF camp at Nehama area of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district, officials said.

They said that militants fired at the CRPF camp at Nehama indiscriminately leaving a CRPF man injured. “The injured CRPF man was shifted to hospital where his condition is stable,” an official told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO)

He said that entire area has been cordoned off and a massive search operation launched to track down the attackers—(KNO)

PTI

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir on Monday recorded 422 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of infected persons to 28,892, even as six COVID-19 patients died during the last 24 hours in the Union territory, officials said.

Six persons, who were COVID-19 positive, have died over the past 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir,” the officials said.

They said all the deaths were reported from the Kashmir valley.

With the fresh deaths, the death toll of coronavirus infected persons in the UT has risen to 548 of which 507 were from the valley and 41 from the Jammu region, they said.

Meanwhile, the UT recorded 422 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of infected persons to 28,892, the officials said.

While 81 of these new cases were from Jammu region, 341 people were from the valley, they said.

There are now 7,048 active cases in the Union territory, while 21,296 patients have recovered from the infection, they added.

The cases detected on Monday included 55 persons who had returned to the UT recently.

The officials said Bandipora district in north Kashmir recorded the highest of 49 new positive cases followed by 46 in Kupwara district.