By: Bhat Imran

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Monday said Covid third wave has started to settle down and if the situation improves further in next 15 days, the government will take a call on re-opening of schools and colleges in the UT.

“I congratulate and hail the efforts put forth by the doctors and para medics in fighting the Covid third wave. The wave seems to have settled down now. If things improve further within the next 15 days, we will surely deliberate on re-opening of educational institutions including schools and colleges in J&K,” the LG told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Srinagar.

He said that the government ensured that special focus is given on the vaccination process.

He also said that the government has received around Rs 1400 to Rs 1500 crore investment in Jammu and Kashmir and land is being identified for Rs 70,000 crore for further investments.

Sinha said, on March 1 the government would organize a groundbreaking investment ceremony that would be up to the tune of Rs 20,000 to 25,000 crore.

He said that the stretch of Jhelum bank in the Lal chowk would be developed for the recreational activities that would depict the rich culture of Kashmir. He said under the leadership of SMC, Srinagar will get a major developmental boost in the coming months.

On the withdrawal of the government posts before October 2019, Sinha said that the process of recruitment has changed and all the posts would be re-advertised as per the new rules and laws. “There is a need to modify recruitment rules. Since Ladakh is a separate UT now, there was a need for making some mandatory changes in recruitment rules. There will be no interview for class 3 and class 4 posts. We have referred 20,000 posts to recruitment agency. (KNO)

Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Monday laid the foundation stone for Jhelum Riverfront development to be developed on the lines of Sabarmati riverfront.

Costing Rs 75 Crores, the riverfront project is being implemented by Jal Shakti Department under the Srinagar Smart City project.  The phase-1 is envisaged with modern public utilities and state-of-the-art green space.

The Lt Governor also laid foundation stone for redevelopment of Polo View Road as pedestrian walkway at a cost of Rs 5.3 Crores to provide better ambience and shopping experience to the citizens.

The Lt Governor said that a systematic effort to improve our cities in J&K UT has been long overdue.

We are working on this much-awaited transformation by improving urban services, creation of urban infrastructure and improved system of urban governance to make the cities ecologically sustainable, economically productive and socially equitable, added the Lt Governor.

“I believe through physical and economic regeneration of our cities & its infrastructure we can provide citizens an attractive environment to live & work and fulfill the needs of businesses”, the Lt Governor observed.

It is equally important that residents should proactively participate in the urban rejuvenation programs to improve the quality of life, said the Lt Governor.

Smart City is a people’s movement to make the cities sustainable, efficient to provide improved services to the citizens. We need to come together and realize the dream of Smart City by working in cohesion, he further added.

Today we are facing many challenges due to rapid global change but they can be successfully tackled through better services, better planning, implementation and good governance. We are also making dedicated efforts to create an eco-system so that urban and rural economy would complement each other instead of being dependent on each other, said the Lt Governor.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that – “Every city has a unique culture and their development also takes place traditionally and it is necessary to save that cultural heritage while developing the cities”, observed the Lt Governor.

We are developing our cities with the same spirit. We are keeping the spirit of cities alive and culture intact. We are making efforts to increase per capita income by providing opportunities to the people and improving the standard of living, said the Lt Governor.

The enlistment of Srinagar city in the UNESCO world creative cities network under the Craft & Folk Arts category is a proud moment for all. It is the collective responsibility of all the stakeholders associated with crafts and art to strengthen it and also revive the traditional handloom and handicrafts, added the Lt Governor.

The Lt Governor appreciated the efforts of SMC and other districts of Kashmir division for continuous public services delivery during the harsh winter season.

Srinagar Municipal Corporation has introduced various technical interventions, working continuously on Good Governance for the convenience of the common citizens and improving the public service delivery. Development works initiated today will strengthen the core infrastructure of Srinagar, besides opening up new avenues for the tourism sector and extending facilities to the locals, the Lt Governor said.

Complementing SMC for the work done on graffiti and art in public places, the Lt Governor advised the Municipal Corporation to organize events like wall paintings in different areas to celebrate Azadi  ki Amrit Mahotsav.

Several other projects including Control Room of ‘Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS)’ costing Rs 12.76 crore; Vehicle Mounted Manhole Desilting Machine  and Snow clearance machines  have been dedicated to the citizens of Srinagar to strengthen city’s infrastructure and to ensure efficient services are delivered in a sustainable manner.

While speaking on the occasion, Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta said that the new projects will add new attractions to Srinagar and increase tourist flux to the city.

He also announced on the occasion that the Dal Lake will be cleaned fully this year, besides the issue of sewage disposal of houseboats in Dal Lake will be resolved by June this year.

Junaid Azim Mattu, Mayor, Srinagar Municipal Corporation said that the massive Urban Transformation projects dedicated to the people by Lieutenant Governor will give impetus to the ease of living of locals here and increase their standard of living.

Athar Aamir Khan, Commissioner, SMC and CEO Srinagar Smart City delivered the welcome address and briefed about the projects initiated today.

The redevelopment of the famous Polo View Road includes- Pedestrian Walkway, Seating spaces, Retractable bollards for emergency services, Illumination, Surveillance, Improved drainage and WI-FI Zone.

Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS) is being implemented under the AMRUT scheme within SMC limits. The scope of the project includes the establishment of a Control Room at SSP’s (Traffic) office and implementation of traffic lights at 33 junctions in Srinagar in Phase – I and 33 junctions in phase –II, it was informed.

Pandurang K Pole, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; M Raju, Commissioner/Secretary to the Government, Jal Shakti Department; Vijay Kumar, IGP Kashmir; Mohammad Aijaz, DC Srinagar; ULB representatives; concerned officers and people from all walks of life were present on the occasion.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a scathing attack at the Congress in Lok Sabha and said it has become the leader of the ‘tukde tukde’ gang.

The Prime Minister was replying to a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s speech.

Several exchanges were witnessed between the Opposition and Treasury benches, and PM Modi also said at one point that Opposition MPs had threatened to disrupt his speech when Treasury benches created a ruckus during Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s speech.

The Prime Minister started his speech by paying tributes to Lata Mangeshkar, who died of post Covid complications on Sunday. He named states after state where Congress has been out of power for long.

Modi said Congress has been out of power in Nagaland since 1998, Odisha since 1995, Goa since 1994, and has been out of power in states like West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat for long as well.

He said Congress created Telangana but has been out of power in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh ever since. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury objected to the comments, and questioned if it was a reply to the President’s address.

The Prime Minister, in an apparent reference to Rahul Gandhi’s speech, said, “The space that was supposed to be used for the nation was used for a party. We are being forced to do this”. Modi accused the Congress of being arrogant, when Chowdhury interjected and asked the PM to talk about unemployment.

Modi however quoted a couplet and said “vo magaroor hain khud kee samajh par beintaha, inhen aaeena mat dikhao, vo aaeene ko bhee tod denge” (They are arrogant about their understanding of things, if you show them the mirror they will break it).

The Prime Minister accused Congress of adopting the British policy of divide and rule, and slammed comments made by Rahul Gandhi on Tamil Nadu while participating in the debate in Lok Sabha. Rahul Gandhi had accused center of not respecting states, as he emphasized that India was a Union of States.

“Congress has become the leader of the tukde tukde gang,” Modi said, evoking loud thumping of desks from the treasury benches. “Those who can’t stop us democratically are doing it through indiscipline in the House,” he said as he was repeatedly disrupted by Opposition in his reply.

He also slammed the Opposition of running campaign against Covid-19 vaccination, which was again objected to by the opposition MPs.

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi was seen shouting about “dead bodied in Ganga”, as the Prime Minister talked about the pandemic control.

Modi also slammed Opposition for the migrant exodus witnessed during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic, and said Congress leaders stood at railway station in Mumbai and provoked the migrant workers to go back.

He also alleged that in national capital Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government made announcements in the city and asked migrant workers to go home. He took a jibe at the Congress and said they have made up their mind not to come back to power for another 100 years. If you have prepared for 100 years, so have I,” he said.

The Prime Minister said India is the fastest growing amid large economies in the world, and also talked about farmers and said there was record production an procurement despite the pandemic. Talking about defence exports, the Prime Minister said India cannot reply on imports if it wants to ensure its safety, and said the government is pushing indigenisation of defence production.

He also slammed Rahul Gandhi for saying Make in India is not possible. Opposition MPs were meanwhile seen mentioning China, and asking the PM to talk about the border situation, and imports from China. As Chowdhury repeatedly objected to the comments of the Prime Minister, Modi took a jibe and said, “You have improved you CR (Confidential Report)… No one is going to throw you out in this session”.

Modi also made reference to former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru at least thrice, and quoted him on price rise, emphasizing on fundamental duties, and on India being a nation.

Modi said even Nehru had said in one of his independence day speeches that the price rise was affected by international events, and quoted a passage from Discovery of India to counter Rahul Gandhi’s argument of India being a union of states and not a nation. The Prime Minister was interrupted several times during his speech, As he spoke of the Ujjwala scheme, TMC MP Saugata Roy said the poor were unable to afford gas.

PM in reply said, “Dada is having the fun of youth even at this age”. At one point, an Opposition MP also mimicked the PM as he spoke.

Modi however said “it would be good for him to learn”. Soon after the Prime Minister’s speech was concluded, Speaker Om Birla put the motion of thanks to the President’s speech to vote. While several Opposition MPs have moved adjournments, those were disapproved by the House and the Motion of Thanks was passed. (UNI)

Srinagar: A Laskher-e-Toiba militant was killed in an encounter with a joint team of Police and army in Awantipora area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Monday, officials said.

“Based on a specific input generated by Awantipora Police, a raid was conducted by a small team of police at Nambal area of Awantipora. During raid, the hiding (militant) started firing indiscriminately upon the police party which was retaliated effectively, leading to an encounter,” a police spokesperson said. “In the meantime, reinforcement of 42RR immediately reached at the encounter site.”

In the ensuing encounter, he said. One militant was killed. He has been identified as Irfan Ahamd Sheikh son of Abdul Rashid Sheikh of Karemabad Pulwama. “He was linked with LeT/TRF,” he said.

As per police records, he said, Irfan was a categorized militant. “He was involved in several cases including attacks on security forces”. Besides, he was also providing logistic and other support to the active militants operating in the area before joining the militant ranks, he said.

“Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including one Pistol was recovered from the site of encounter,” police said, adding, “All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation.”

Srinagar: Suspected militants lobbed grenade on Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in Chapargung area of Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on Monday evening.

A senior police officer said that militants attacked SSB Bunker with the grenade. However the device missed the target and exploded on road.

In this incident there was no loss of life or injury reported. Soon after the attack, the whole area was cordoned off to nab the attackers, the officer added. (GNS)

By: Jahangeer Ganaie

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Monday reported six deaths and 686 fresh cases, pushing the number of active cases to 14,924 in the Union Territory.

With six more deaths, the death toll in J&K has reached 4,721 and 686 fresh positive cases reported on Monday have pushed the tally of positive cases to 447,334.

Of the exact number of 447,334 cases, 284,744 are from Kashmir division and 162,590 from Jammu division.

Officials said that among 686 new cases, 374 belong to Kashmir division while as 312 are from Jammu division, adding that the total number of positive cases in Kashmir division have reached to 284,744 including 272,378 recoveries and 2,410 deaths while as total number of positive cases in Jammu division have reached to 162,590 including 155,311 recoveries and 2,311 deaths.

The officials said that the total number of active cases in Jammu and Kashmir are 14,924 including 9,956 from Kashmir division and 4,968 from Jammu division.

With 3,168 more recoveries, the tally of total recoveries in Jammu and Kashmir has reached 427,689 which is 95.61 percent of the total cases.

“Cases tested positive in J&K include 119 from Srinagar, 41 from Baramulla, 51 from Budgam, 29 from Pulwama, 33 from Kupwara, 30 from Anantnag, 19 from Bandipora, 09 from Ganderbal, 33 from Kulgam and 10 Shopian in Kashmir division while as 312 from Jammu division include 137 from Jammu district, 25 from Udhampur, 05 from Rajouri, 81 from Doda, 10 from Kathua, 04 from Samba, 28 from Kishtwar, 03 from Poonch, 12 from Ramban and 07 from Reasi,” officials disclosed.

Meanwhile, authorities said that no fresh cases of Mucormycosis popularly known as black fungus was reported in the UT and the tally stands at 51.

As per officials figures, 101,163 positive cases including 903 deaths and 95,957 recoveries are from Srinagar, 37,360 including 303 deaths and 35,000 recoveries are from Baramulla, 34,513 including 33,669 recoveries and 233 deaths are from Budgam, 18,333 including 17,860 recoveries and 201 deaths are from Pulwama, 21,452 including 172 deaths and 20,697 recoveries are from Kupwara, 22,314 including 21,265 recoveries and 218 deaths are from Anantnag, 13,586 cases including 13,185 and 118 deaths are from Bandipora, 13,518 including 13,144 recoveries and 84 deaths are from Ganderbal, 16,229 including 15,552 recoveries and 118 deaths are from Kulgam and 6,276 including 6,049 recoveries and 60 deaths are from Shopian.

In Jammu division, 74,494 including 71,133 recoveries and 1,218 deaths are from Jammu district, 14,557 including 14,137 recoveries and 146 deaths are from Udhampur, 12,699 including 12,333 recoveries and 248 deaths are from Rajouri, 10,705 including 9,627 recoveries and 143 deaths are from Doda, 11,201 including 10,776 recoveries and 162 deaths are from Kathua, 9,022 including 8,779 recoveries and 123 deaths are from Samba, 5,786 including 5,557 recoveries and 45 deaths are from Kishtwar, 7,678 including 7,364 recoveries and 109 deaths are from Poonch, 7,826 including 7,308 recoveries and 69 deaths are from Ramban and 8,622 including 8,397 recoveries and 48 deaths are from Reasi.

As per the daily information bulletin 5,876,140 persons in Jammu and Kashmir are under observation while 28,903 persons have been kept under home quarantine besides that 14,924 persons are in isolation.

According to the bulletin, 5,392,446 persons have completed the surveillance period and 435,146 persons are under home surveillance besides that so far results of 21,918,950 samples are available. Out of 21,918,950 the number of samples tested negative stands at 21,471,616 while as 447,334 have tested positive, among them 14,924 persons are active, 427,689 persons have recovered and 4,721 persons have died. (KNO)

J&K scores 75% under NeSDA; 2nd among UTs

Srinagar: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta Monday convened a meeting on e-HRM on J&K, Digital portal for real time monitoring of District Good Governance and J&K e- Services delivery assessment.

Among others, the meeting was attended by V Srinivas, Secretary DARPG; DG IMPARD Saurabh Bhagat; Joint Secretaries of DARPG, NBS Rajput, Jaya Dubey; Secretary IT J&K, Prerna Puri and senior officers of Government of J&K besides Knowledge partners from CGG Hyderabad and KPMG India.

On the occasion, the Chief Secretary along with Secretary DARPG today approved the outlines of the Dashboard which shall provide a monthly view to all DDCs, Administrative Secretaries, and Chief Secretary’s office for improvement and outcomes in every month.

The meeting was informed that after the successful launch of District Good Governance Index (DGGI) to measure the annual change, the Government of J&K in collaboration with Department of Administrative Reform and Public Grievances (DARPG) has developed a Dashboard with 50 indicators and 140 data sets to help measure the monthly change between various districts thus to provide a more accurate measure of district governance.

During the meeting, the NIC, Government of India presented the dashboard on the indicators finalized by JKIMPARD and it was decided that the DGGI Dashboard will be ready by 15 February and DG IMPARD was made Nodal Officer for the initiative.

While reviewing the progress under NeSDA, it was informed that JK UT has an overall score of 75% which is second among UTs and in most of the 7 sectors namely Finance, Labour & Employment, Education, Social Welfare, local government, Environment and Tourism, the J&K has performed exceedingly well.

Dr Mehta informed that in addition to 56 services already mapped, 130 new services under Ease of Doing Business (EODB)/ BRAP shall also be added making the total number 186.

The Chief Secretary directed the Secretaries of Tourism, Labour and Employment and Housing and Urban Development Department to resubmit data and provide IT Secretary accurate information so that the UT obtains number 01 ranking not only among UTs but also among states.

A project report of 53 crore was submitted by SIU NIC for funding under e-HRMS for human resource data entry for approximately 4.5 lakh employees of the state.

e-HRMS project shall help the government in keeping all employees data like APRs, leave, promotion, increment and salary records in e-form.

Srinagar: Officials of the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir (DHSK) said on Monday that around 154 illegal appointments have been found in the health department in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipora district.

The officials of DHSK had last week said over 2200 illegal appointments have been found in Kashmir division.

“Of these, 154 illegal appointments have been found in Bandipora district.

“61 of these have been found in Gurez block, 53 in Hajin block, 28 in Bandipora block and 12 in district hospital Bandipora. Data submitted to chief medical officer Bandipora by the concerned block medical officers and the district hospital Bandipora have revealed these fake appointments.

“The directorate has asked all the chief medical officers in Kashmir division to collect data from various block medical officers to find out the exact number of fake appointments made in various districts”, health department officials said. (IANS)

Jammu: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Monday reviewed Information Technology Department and discussed its Strategic & Policy initiatives towards Digital Mission.

During the meeting, Sanjay Gaden, Principal Consultant (Head-SeMT)-NISG, briefed the Lt Governor via a PowerPoint presentation on digital services blueprint, which is based on unified interface, major umbrella reforms, and enhanced digital infrastructure.

It was informed that the IT Department is working on revamping Digital Services with better digital infrastructure, trained human capital, and aligning high-value ICT projects with sustainable outcomes.

The Lt Governor said that the UT Government aims to provide the best and transparent online services within specified timelines.

He issued directions to keep a provision of penalty if the timelines to deliver the online services are violated for ensuring hassle-free and timely services to common man.

The Lt Governor further directed the IT Department to utilize the best available technologies to fulfill the goal of Digital J&K.

It was also mentioned in the meeting that e-offices have been established by all the major departments and field offices across the UT.

Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lt Governor; Prerna Puri, Secretary Information Technology Department; Amit Sharma, CEO, Jammu and Kashmir e-Governance Agency; representatives from Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, besides other concerned officers of IT Department attended the meeting.