Offers Raj Bhawan’s Chopper to public for medical emergencies, evacuation

Precious Kashmir News

Srinagar, Sep 29: Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha today chaired a joint meeting of various departments on winter preparedness here at Civil Secretariat and directed the concerned officers for the strengthening of a robust response mechanism for power restoration, essential supplies, water and road connectivity during winters. The Lt Governor also directed the officials present in the meeting to use Choppers of Raj Bhawan for medical emergencies in addition to the Heli Services extended by the Central Government in the cut off areas such as Tangdhar, Gurez, Keran, Machhil.

Take early measures for ensuring uninterrupted drinking water and power supply, besides, put in place a strong mechanism for ensuring smooth movement of traffic for continuous road connectivity ahead of the winter season with special focus on far-flung and snowbound areas. Apart from available helicopter service to cut off areas, the administration should use choppers at Raj Bhawan to help those in distress, he added.

He also directed to ensure availability of public utilities like wood, ration, medicines and other basic amenities.

For road connectivity, the Lt Governor directed for acquiring all the necessary machinery required for snow clearance from all the main and internal roads. In order to clear the inner lanes of villages off snow, where machines cannot be deployed, the administration can hire the trained manpower, and must clear the snow for smooth movement.

Stressing upon synergy between the departments, the Lt Governor directed the officers to monitor and keep a close watch on the functioning of their respective departments pertaining to winter preparedness for better coordination to avoid inconvenience to the public.

While reviewing the winter preparedness of the Power Department, the Lt Governor enquired about the availability and surplus of power transformers for the coming winter season. He directed the Power Department for establishment of task force to ensure power supply and gave strict directions for the availability of surplus transformers to cater to the need during the winter season.

The Lt Governor directed the Jal Shakti Department to take all the measures required to ensure that there is no scarcity of drinking water. He also stressed upon enough stock of fuel, cooking gas before harsh winter slams the region.

The Lt. Governor also asked the top government officials to put in place every available facility including emergency services such as power back-up for hospitals, water pumping stations, important government offices and state of the art ambulance services at all hospitals, especially in the higher reaches area. The officials said snow control rooms will be established in every district headquarters by 15th October for smooth operation of Snow Clearance mechanically and manually.

BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Sh. Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor; Sh. Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary to the Government, Home Department; Sh. Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Power Development Department and Information Department; Sh. Shailendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Government, Public Works (R&B) Department; Sh. Pandurang K. Pole Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; Sh. M Raju, Secretary to the Government, Jal Shakti Department; Sh. Simrandeep Singh, Special Secretary to the Government, Department of DMRR&R; Sh. Mohammad Aijaz, Managing Director, Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited and other senior officers attended the meeting.

Asks them to own Back to Village Programme

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Sep 29: Own the ambitious Back to Village Programme and every single officer on the ground must work as a changemaker to ensure benefits of governance reach the last man in the queue, Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha directed the senior officials during a meeting he chaired to review the preparedness for Back to Village 3 programme at Civil Secretariat here today.

The ambitious programme starting from 2nd October aims to take the governance to the doorstep of people which is also seen as a unique effort of the Government to strengthen the newly constituted Panchayats.

He sought detailed report on action plan for the conduct of B2V3 Programme and enquired about progress made under Jan Abhiyan programme.

He asked all the stakeholders to put in dedicated efforts to complement the unique and sincere efforts of the government to reach the doorsteps of the people with responsive, accountable and equitable governance.

He issued directions to the DCs, ADCs, SSPs, ASPs and other senior officers of the Districts to remain present at all Sub-Division Headquarters in every District on rotational basis from 10 am to 4 pm every Wednesday, with officers and representatives of different line departments.

The Lt Governor also sought detail of activities to be conducted during the three day visit of over 4000 visiting officers, who will visit all panchayats of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

Focus on ensuring that funds and functions devolved to the panchayats are used without any bottlenecks and the beneficiary schemes actually reach the people. Public services have to be target oriented and administration should ensure 100% saturation, he added.

During the meeting, Lt Governor instructed all officers to gear up and gave a clarion call to own B2V3 for making it a huge success.

Discussions were also held on the issues of vacant government buildings, availability of playgrounds in every panchayat, Government handholding to Self-Help Groups, sanitation activities and to identify candidates for Self-Employment.

Sheetal Nanda, Secretary to the Government, Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj apprised the Lt Governor about the achievements recorded during Block Diwas under Jan Abhiyan. Three-day activity plan of visiting officers was also given during the meeting.

The meeting was attended by BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance Department; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor; Bipul Pathak, Principal Secretary to Government, Science & Technology Department and Social Welfare Department;Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon, Principal Secretary to the Government, School Education Department; Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Power Development Department and Information Department; Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Commissioner/Secretary to the Government, Industries and Commerce Department; Pandurang K. Pole Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; Sheetal Nanda, Secretary to the Government, Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj; Simrandeep Singh, Secretary, Public Grievances and other senior officers.

Anantnag, Sep 29: Militants “seem to have fled” after an encounter with joint team of police and army in Marahama Sangam area in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district, a police officer said on Tuesday.

He said that militants and the joint team of forces had exchanged fire after former attacked a patrol in Marahama area this afternoon.

“It seems that the militants have managed to flee. However the searches in the area are still underway,” the officer told GNS.

Srinagar, Sep 29: Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Tuesday said that due “callous approach” of the detaining authorities, the whole purpose of the preventive laws is getting defeated in J&K.

“We are at pains to observe that in routine this Court comes across the cases in which the detention orders issued on the grounds of threat to the security and integrity of State are getting quashed due to non adherence to technical requirements,” said a bench of Justices Rajesh Bindal and Rajnesh Oswal while allowing an appeal against court’s single bench order by virtue of which PSA detention of a man– Sartaj Ahmad Allie—from Kulgam.

“In many petitions the grounds taken are non-furnishing of material relied upon by the detaining Authority to the detenue; not informing the detenue about his right to make representation; not informing the detenue about the grounds of detention in the language that he understands etc. The law on which is well settled,” the court said as per Global News Service Correspondent, adding, “Due to callous approach of the detaining Authorities in passing such orders, the whole purpose of the Preventive laws is getting defeated.”

The court said that either the detaining authorities are not aware about the requirements of law or they are dealing the issues of preventive detention very “casually”.

“Be that as it may, time has come when the detaining Authorities must be imparted proper training about the requirements of law in passing the detention order so as to ensure that such orders are not set aside on technical grounds,” the court said as per GNS and asked Registrar Judicial to send copies of the judgment to the Chief Secretary, Commissioner Secretary, Department of Home, and Law Secretary, for compliance through email. “It is made clear that any such slackness in future may invite imposition of personal cost on the officer concerned,” the court said.

Meanwhile allowing the petition by Sartaj who was booked under PSA on 28 November 2018, the court ordered that he be released forthwith provided he is not detained in any other matter including FIR Nos. 260/2017 and 333/2017.

” The Learned AAG (additional advocate general) has not been able to bring to our notice any such satisfaction recorded by the detaining Authority while passing the detention order. The Single Judge though has discussed about the appellant (Sartja) being in custody at the time of passing of detention order but has not dealt this issue in right perspective,” the court said, adding, “On this ground only the appeal deserves to be allowed.”

Haridwar, Sep 29: “The sole aim of the opposition in the country is to oppose us only for the sake of opposition and to spread misinformation to misguide the people”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Tuesday.

PM Modi made the observation while dedicating to the nation, six mega projects, through video conferencing.

The projects include– 68 mld. capacity treatment plant at Jagjeetpur and 18 mld. capacity plant at Sarai in Haridwar district, completed under the Namami Ganga Mission.

Welcoming the Prime Minister, Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that after the completion of a network of STPs not a drop of untreated water would flow in the Ganga. Trivendra Singh Rawat, the chief minister of the state, said that almost all the STPs have been completed and the few which could not be completed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, would be completed before the Kumbh in Haridwar.

“The treated water would be recycled and reused for agricultural fields on the bank of the Ganga. We are also trying to promote organic farming in the stretches on the banks of the holy river, which would empower the farmers community”, remarked the Chief Minister.

PM Modi said that Ganga was not only the center of faith and our culture, but it was also the lifeline of about half the population of the country. Targeting the former non BJP governments at the center, he said that they wasted money on cleanliness of the Ganga, but their efforts did not yield any result, since they had neither farsightedness nor could they enlist public participation in the Ganga cleanliness mission. “We had adopted a new approach and new technology the result of which is there for all to see,” he added.

He further remarked that during the last Ardh Kumbh at Prayag, the devotees from all over the world witnessed the magnificence and purity of the Ganga and now during the coming Kumbh at Haridwar they will have the experience of taking bath and achman (a ritual of sipping water) in clean water of the holy river. Elaborating further on the clean Ganga Mission, he said that it was the biggest and widest component of Jal Jeevan Mission, which had been launched by the union water resources ministry.

On the occasion a documentary, showcasing the flowing of the Ganga through mountains and its biodiversity, was also displayed. The PM also unveiled Ganga Avlokan Museum, built at Chandighat in the city. The museum would promote tourism in the region, he hoped.

Lambasting the opposition parties, mainly the Congress, without naming them, he said that they had no agenda except targeting his government. “They oppose all the reforms. When we introduced GST to cut down taxes, they opposed it. When we purchased Rafale to strengthen our air force, they opposed it. When we tried to liberate the farmers from the clutches of the middle men, they opposed it. They are even insulting the farmers by consigning to fire the machines, which are venerated by the farmers” he alleged.

Without naming the Congress, he said that a party, whose four generations have ruled the country, is opposing agriculture bills, which we have brought for the freedom of the farmers. They are targeting us by training their guns at us from the shoulders of others”, he stated.

‘Heart diseases largely preventable by adopting healthy lifestyle choices’

Precious Kashmir News

Srinagar, Sept 29: Financial Commissioner Health & Medical Education, Atal Dulloo Tuesday on the occasion of ‘World Heart Day’ said that heart ailments contribute highest number of deaths globally but the same can be prevented by adopting certain lifestyle changes.

The FC was addressing healthcare professionals here through video conferencing. Director Health Services Kashmir, Dr Samir Mattoo was present on the occasion.

Renowned cardiologist, Dr Upendra Koul, famous in the field of interventional cardiology was invited this year to share his expertise with local doctors and give free consultation to patients at far off places here.

Dulloo revealed that studies have shown a link between cardiovascular diseases (CVD)and Covid-19, therefore taking care of the heart has attained greater significance today than ever.

Quoting WHO, Dulloo said, CVD takes lives of 17.9 million people each year and it is responsible for 31% of all global deaths, so any intervention can help in saving many human lives if taken in right earnest.

The Financial Commissioner said CVD (Cardio vascular diseases) are estimated to cause around 35-45% of all mortalities in the Valley and the overall prevalence of CVD in Kashmir is about 7 to 10%.

He said that our novel initiatives like ‘ER Care’ and ‘Save Heart’ in the region are meant to address the same issues and deal with CVD cases in the golden hour utilizing technology.

Showing satisfaction he said the good thing is that most of the heart diseases are largely preventable by simply adopting healthy lifestyle choices. He elucidated that there are a number of ways one can take his health into his own hands by observing certain precautions and actions.

Dulloo gave up that some of the modifiable risk factors include use of tobacco, unhealthy diet, large intake of salt, physical inactivity, unhealthy consumption of alcohol.

Emphasizing he said that need of the hour is to get active.He advised that at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week is necessary for good heart health.He further asked to make it habit to take only healthy fats, snap out of sedentary life style, avoid smoking, shed excess weight, avoiding over-eating and experiencing good sleep are tested prophylaxis against keeping heart ailments at bay.

Jahangeer Ganaie

Srinagar, Sept 29: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has found that none of the sub centre/primary health centre/community health centre in Kashmir was upgraded to the level of Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) during 2012-17.

In its report tabled in the Parliament last week, the CAG has also pulled up the authorities for financial mismanagement which manifested in non-utilization of available funds in full, diversion of funds for purposes not approved and procurements without complying with the provisions of the Financial Code.

The report also states that Kashmir division was short of 40 Community Health Centres and 975 sub-centres as of March 2017.

It also reveals that about 51 per cent health institutions in the Kashmir division were functioning from hired accommodation and none of the SCs/ PHCs/ CHCs had been upgraded to the level of IPHS in Kashmir division during 2012-17.

The auditor states availability of health care human resources in the 12 District Hospitals in Kashmir region vis-a-vis Indian Public Health Standards was 93 per cent for medical staff and 50 per cent for paramedics.

It further reveals that no post was sanctioned separately for Blood Banks in 12 District Hospitals against required 72 posts as per Indian Public Health Standards.

“There was overall shortage of 340 (25 per cent) and 3,816 (62 per cent) para-medical staff in 50 Community Health Centres and 557 Primary Health Centres/ New Type Primary Health Centres respectively as compared to Indian Public Health Standards,” the report reveals.

The audit has laid bare that targets fixed under various family planning measures and immunization were not achieved and there was prevalence of vaccine preventable infant and child diseases.

Audit checks of records showed that the Health Planning and Monitoring Committees (HPMCs) to assess the progress made under various activities were not constituted at any level.

As per guidelines, HPMCs were to be formed at PHC, Block. District, and State levels to ensure regular community based monitoring of activities at respective levels, along with facilitating relevant inputs for planning. (KNO)

Precious Kashmir News

Srinagar, Sept 29: Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) has declared the result for Combined Competitive Examination -2018 (CCE-2018).

“The Commission in its Extra Ordinary Meeting held today decided to declare the result of all the candidates who had appeared in the interview and also to notify their aggregate marks while publishing a list of candidates to be summoned for Medical Examination in accordance with the relevant rules” a JKPSC communiqué stated.

As per JKPSC, seventy (70) candidates have been declared to have qualified, for the Medical Examination which will be conducted at GMC Jammu/Srinagar. The dates of the Medical Examination shall be notified separately.

It also stated that the General Administration Department had on 10.05.2018 referred 70 posts to the J&K Public Service Commission for being filled up through the Combined Competitive Examination -2018 (CCE-2018).

Accordingly, these posts were advertised by the Commission on 25.05.2018.

The Preliminary Examination of CCE-2018was conducted on 16.09.2018 in which 25188 candidates appeared in full.

The result of the preliminary examination (CCE-2018) was declared on 27.09.2018. 1750 candidates were declared to have qualified for appearing in the Main (Written) examination of CCE-2018.

In all, 1703 candidates applied for appearing in the (Main) Examination and 1279 candidates actually appeared which was held from 22.07.2019 to 29.07.2019, out of which 229 candidates were declared to have qualified for appearing in the interview/personality test.

The interviews were held from 08.09.2020 to 26.09.2020.

Precious Kashmir News

Srinagar, Sept 29: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday claimed to have arrested an Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), Public Health Engineering (PHE) department, Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs Twenty Thousand from the complainant.

“A case was registered on a complaint against an Assistant Executive Engineer, PHE, Govt. of J&K under section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018). It was alleged that the complainant’s firm was allotted a tender by Flood Control Division, Samba for construction work in river Tarnah, near Gow Shala on the Pathwal Downstream of national highway and the said work was completed,” CBI said in a statement.

CBI said as per the terms of the tender, the then Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) of Flood Control Division, had to supervise and inspect the construction work. “It was further alleged that the accused did not sign the Work Register due to which payment was not cleared by Flood Control Division. It was also alleged that the accused demanded a bribe of Rs.20,000/- for signing the Work Register,” CBI added.

CBI laid a trap and caught the accused red-handed while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs Twenty Thousand from the complainant. “Searches were conducted at the residential & official premises of the accused in Jammu & Rajouri,” CBI statement said. (KNO)