Precious Kashmir

Army Chief takes charge as head of CoSC

Jammu & Kashmir

17/12/2021

Srinagar: Army Chief Gen MM Naravane has assumed the charge as the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee that comprises the three service chiefs, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday.

The post fell vacant following the death of Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat in the IAF helicopter crash on December 8.

Gen Naravane has been given the charge as the chairman of the committee as he is the senior-most among the three service chiefs, the people cited above said.

IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari and Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar had taken over their respective positions on September 30 and November 30.

Before the creation of the post of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the senior-most among the three service chiefs used to be the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.

The Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) met on Tuesday and condoled the death of Gen Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 11 armed forces personnel.

Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor of the crash, succumbed to injuries on Wednesday at a military hospital in Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, Gen Naravane held a telephonic conversation with Lt Gen Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Mutair, the Commander of Royal Saudi Armed Forces.

The Army said they discussed issues of bilateral defence cooperation. (CNS)

Fire & fury corps celebrates Vijay Diwas

Jammu & Kashmir

Precious Kashmir

17/12/2021

Srinagar: Fire and Fury Corps celebrated Vijay Diwas in commemoration of India’s victory in 1971 War with solemn reverence and patriotic fervor. Homage was paid to the brave hearts who have made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty during 1971 War.

Lieutenant General PGK Menon, General Officer Commanding, Fire and Fury Corps laid a wreath at the iconic Leh War Memorial on the occasion, on behalf of all ranks of the formation. Senior military officers and a large number of troops from Leh Garrison were present during the wreath laying.

On this solemn occasion, Lieutenant General PGK Menon called upon all ranks of Fire and Fury Corps to re-dedicate themselves in the service of the nation and always keep ‘Nation First’ in all their endeavours.

3 years on, 100 bed maternity hospital awaits completion

Jammu & Kashmir

Precious Kashmir

17/12/2021

Pulwama: Despite passing three years, the work on construction of a 100-bed Maternity hospital in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district has come to grinding halt, thus leaving the local populace to lurch at large.

In order to meet the growing health issues of women, government identified around 112 kanals of land Pulwama town for building up of a 100-bed maternity hospital at a cost of around Rs 12 crores. But there has been little progress in this regard with notice board and constructing an entrance road.

According to an official familiar with the project, it would have benefited people in two districts, Pulwama and Shopian, and would have reduced referral rates to Srinagar Maternity hospital to a large extent.

“It was a long-pending demand of the people and would have mitigated referrals to city hospitals or to other districts, but there is no progress on the project”, he said, adding it appears that the administration has abandoned the project.

Locals said that the administration promised them a maternity hospital would be built in the town in response to demands for better maternity care, but official indifference has dashed their hopes.

They said that the site was identified in the area following extensive negotiations with the administration. “There was a debate over the designation of land for the hospital, and residents succeeded in acquiring the hospital in the area after rising pressure on the administration”, Nazir Ahmad, local said.

“We had run from pillar to post to get this hospital sanctioned here, but the facility is still not being constructed despite a three-year delay”, Ghulam Nabi, another local, said.

Locals said that the facility would have enhanced maternity care while also reducing patient travel time. “It would have offered us better and timely healthcare facilities at our doorstep. It would have saved us both time and money”, a local said.

They said that the authorities had previously relocated the hospitals to another part of the district and that it was only after repeated protests that the land at the current location was identified. “The current site is a convenient location for people because it is located in the main town”, they added.

Meanwhile, Locals have appealed to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to personally look into the matter and issue immediate orders for the construction of hospital at an earliest. (CNS)

J&K Govt constitutes SRTs to deal with power woes in winters

Anchor stories

Precious Kashmir

17/12/2021

J&K Govt constitutes SRTs to deal with power woes in winters

By: Sameer Lone

Srinagar: As the Kashmir valley is all set to enter into the harshest phase of winters locally called Chilai-e-Kalan starting Dec 21, the Jammu and Kashmir government has come up with an ultra-responsive system to deal with any electricity related public grievances.

The government has come up with a 24*7 call center which will be available in all interfaces like Web, App and IVR. The move is aimed to discourage public protests used to be often seen during winters in the past.

“We have established dedicated helpline numbers for the purpose. People can call anytime through web interface, App or a normal call to register their grievances,” said a senior official in the Civil Secretariat.

The Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited (KPDCL), the department dealing with the distribution and maintenance of electricity infrastructure in Kashmir, has constituted Swift Restoration teams (SRTs) at all the sub divisional offices.

Faults on power infrastructure are being attended by SRTs, said a senior most officer in the Civil Secretariat, adding, the SRTs will be a first respondent to any public complaint vis-a-vis power outage, breakdown of infrastructure.

“The SRTs have been framed so that people don’t have to face problems in chilling winters. A large number of power transformers have also been made available at sub-divisional levels to meet any kind of problems,” he said.

He said such a system has been put in place for the first time since people in Kashmir valley had a bitter experience of power outages during winters in the past.

The consumers can register their grievances through phone numbers: 6006613056, 6006613057, 6006613058, 6006613059, 6006613060.

Meanwhile, people on social media platforms have hailed the work of the government for improving electricity infrastructure and power supply in both metered and non-metered areas.

BWF World Championships: Sindhu, Srikanth advance to quarters

Sports

Indo Asian News Service

17/12/2021

BWF World Championships: Sindhu, Srikanth advance to quarters

Huelva (Spain): Ace Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2021 BWF World Championships after winning their respective singles round of 16 matches, here on Thursday.

Defending champion Sindhu beat Thailand’s ninth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-14, 21-18 in the pre-quarterfinal match that lasted 48 minutes, to stay on course for a second successive world badminton title.

This was the fifth win for world No 7 Sindhu over the 10th-ranked Chochuwong from eight meetings. The Thai had beaten Sindhu in the previous two meetings, including the one at the BWF World Tour Finals earlier this month.

The two-time Olympic medallist will next face Chinese Taipei’s top-seed shuttler Tai Tzu-Ying on Friday, who accounted for Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour 21-11, 19-21, 21-10 in 48 minutes.

In the men’s singles, 12th seed Srikanth beat unseeded Guang Zu Lu of China 21-10, 21-15 to enter the last eight.

However, in women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy suffered their seventh straight loss against Thailand’s Rawinda Prajongjai and Jongkolphan Kititharakul. The Indian pair lost the match to the sixth seeds 13-21, 15-21 in 38 minutes.

In the men’s doubles, eighth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also went down to the ninth-seeded Malaysian duo of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 20-22, 21-18, 15-21 in 68 minutes. This was the third loss for the Indian pair against the Malaysians in five meetings.

Retired judge of Allahabad HC charge sheeted by CBI in graft case

National

Indo Asian News Service

17/12/2021

Retired judge of Allahabad HC charge sheeted by CBI in graft case

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed a charge sheet against retired Allahabad High Court judge S.N. Shukla in connection with medical institute admission corruption case.

The CBI had, in November, got sanction to proceed against him.

A case was filed by the CBI in December 2019 against Justice Shukla, the a sitting justice of Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, Chhattisgarh High Court’s retired Chief Justice I.M. Quddusi, Bhawana Pandey, Bhagwan Prasad Yadav, and Palash Yadav of the Prasad Education Trust and others in connection with medical institute admission corruption case.

As per the FIR, the Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences was not fulfilling the required criteria for facilities, and was thus stopped by the government against admitting medical students.

“This happened in 2017. The government debarred 46 other medical colleges on the same grounds. The trust challenged this before the apex court. They later withdrew the petition. But they moved a fresh plea before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court. A day after their move, their plea was heard by the division bench comprising of Justice Shukla. The bench passed a order in the favour of the trust. Shukla received illegal gratification by the Institute for this favourable order,” said a CBI official.

Justice Quddusi was earlier booked in a related matter.

The CBI said that the charge sheet was filed under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

A CBI official said that after registering the case, they had searched the house of the suspects, including the judges, and recovered incriminating documents from there.

The then Chief Justice of India wrote to Prime Minister requesting him to initiate a motion in the Parliament to remove Justice Shukla and give the case to the CBI. This letter was written in July 2019 whereas the CBI lodged a case in December 2019.

The apex court had also initiated an in-house inquiry, and its report said that Justice Shukla should be removed from his post as he was found involved in judicial irregularities.

Before this in 2018, a former Chief Justice of India had asked Shukla to resign, and if he did not wish too, he could take voluntary retirement.

In 2018, a committee comprising then Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee, Sikkim High Court Chief Justice S.K. Agnihotri and MP High Court’s Justice P.K. Jaiswal probed the matter and found that there was merit in the allegations levelled against Shukla.

No timeline for restoration of Statehood to J&K: Centre

Front

Precious Kashmir

16/12/2021

No timeline for restoration of Statehood to J&K: Centre

‘Will be granted at appropriate time, conduct of elections prerogative of ECI’

Srinagar: Government of India on Wednesday said that statehood to Jammu and Kashmir would be “granted” at an “appropriate time” even as it put the ball regarding elections in J&K and Ladakh in the Election Commission of India’s court.

“Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir would be granted at an appropriate time,” Minister of State in Ministry of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said while replying to written questions in the Rajya Sabha by parliamentarian Vivek K. Tankha who wanted to know whether there was a timeline to grant statehood to the “Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh”. No word has been stated regarding Ladakh.

To another question whether there is a timeline to hold the state elections in the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Rai, said that “the decision to schedule elections is the prerogative of the Election Commission of India.”

The reply comes days after Delimitation Commission headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai called meeting with Associate Members, three of them from National Conference, in New Delhi on December 20 to discuss and possibly share the progress achieved by the panel.

The Commission has five Associate Members who have been invited to the meeting through emails sent to them.

They are Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, all three National Conference Lok sabha members from Kashmir and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma, MP Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency, both from BJP.

This is second meeting called by the Commission with five Associate Members. First meeting on February 18 this year was attended only by two BJP MPs and was boycotted by all three National Conference members on the ground that the Commission has been set up under Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act which the party had challenged in the Supreme Court.

However, since then there have been clear indications that the National Conference is likely to attend the Delimitation Commission meeting now.

Recently Home Minister of India Amit Shah said that first delimitation will take place, then elections will be held and then the process to restore statehood will begin.

Top Hizb militant killed in Pulwama gunfight

Front

Precious Kashmir

16/12/2021

Srinagar: A top militant of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen was killed in an overnight encounter with police, army and CRPF in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, officials said on Wednesday.

“During the intervening night of 14/15 December, acting on a specific input regarding the presence of a (militant) in village Uzrampathri area of Pulwama, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, (army’s) 44RR and 182 batallion CRPF in the area,” a police spokesman said.

“During the search operation, as the presence of (militant) got ascertained, he was given repeated opportunities to surrender; however he fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated, leading to an encounter.”

In the ensuing encounter, the militant was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter. He has been identified as Feroz Ahmad Dar son of Abdul Khaliq of Heff-Shrimal Shopian.

“As per police records, the killed (militant) was A+ categorized (militant) and was part of groups involved in several cases including attacks on security forces and civilian.”

Pertinently, he said, the killed militant was active since 2017 and involved in several cases including attack on the Minority Guard in December 2018 at Zainapora, resulting in killing of four Police personnel and looting their service rifles. “He was also involved in killing of a girl namely Ishrat Muneer daughter of Muneer Ahmad Bhat resident of Dangerpora Pulwama in February 2019,” the spokesperson said, “He was involved in killing of a non local labour namely Charnajeet son of Hans Raj resident of Fazila Punjab and injuring other in October 2019 when they were loading Apple boxes in a vehicle in Zainapora area of Shopian.” Besides he was also instrumental in luring the gullible youth to join militant ranks, the spokesman said.

“Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including one AK rifle along with three magazines were also recovered from his possession. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation.”

AC approves transfer of state land for various public purposes

Front

Precious Kashmir

16/12/2021

Jammu: The Administrative Council (AC) which met here under the chairmanship of the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved the proposal of Revenue Department to transfer various parcels of land for public purposes.

Farooq Khan and Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisors to the Lieutenant Governor, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, J&K and Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor attended the meeting.

The Administrative Council approved the transfer of land measuring 15 Kanal at village Majeen, Tehsil & District Jammu to Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) on lease for 40 years. The Board will be constructing a Yatri Niwas and a Disaster Management Centre for better management of the yatra aimed at boosting religious tourism in the Union territory.

The construction of these facilities will enhance the number of pilgrims visiting the holy cave and subsequently generate substantial indirect employment. It will also ensure compliance to the orders of the Supreme Court of India and the National Green Tribunal.

Further, approval was given to the transfer of state land measuring 38 Kanal and 19 Marla at village Chak Jawala Tehsil Vijaypur, Samba to the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India, for establishing the Composite Regional Centre (CRC) for Skill Development, Rehabilitation and Employment of persons with disability (DivyangJan) in Jammu District.

Once functional, the Center will provide multitude of services to the Persons with Disabilities in the field of education, employment, vocational training, research and manpower development, rehabilitation of Divyangs, and distribution of assistive aids through a team of experts, besides working on the principle of trans-disciplinary approach.

The Administrative Council further approved the transfer of land measuring 10 Kanal 11 Marla in favour of Health & Medical Education Department for establishing a 50-bedded integrated AYUSH Hospital in district Budgam. Establishment of the AYUSH Hospital will promote the Indian System of Medicine (ISM) in the region, provide health care facilities and strengthen the healthcare infrastructure in the area. The ISM focuses both on preventive medicine as well as the medical treatments for various ailments to promote overall health and fitness.

Moreover, a parcel of land measuring 28 Kanal at village Donipawa, Tehsil & District Anantnag was transferred to the School Education Department for establishing a Kendriya Vidyalaya. Opening of the school will provide education avenues to the children and will enhance the standard of education in the area.

Another parcel of land measuring 8 Kanal situated in village Ichgam, Tehsil & District Budgam was transferred to the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj for constructing the Rural Self Employment Training Institute (RSETI); to provide skill development trainings to the youth and boost employment generation. The RSETI provides opportunities of learning diverse skill sets in multitude of trades including courses in driving, IT, plumbing, electrical, masonry, among others.

The Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department was also given 6 Kanal land for constructing office accommodation for the District Development Council, Baramulla.

The Administrative Council also sanctioned transfer of 1 Kanal of land at Langate to the Finance Department for construction of a Treasury building.

Inter-Modal Station to come up at Katra

Front

Precious Kashmir

16/12/2021

Jammu: The Administrative Council (AC) which met here under the chairmanship of the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved the proposal of the Housing and Urban Development Department to sign a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding between National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Ministry of Railways (MoR), and Government of Jammu and Kashmir (GoJK) for co-development of Inter-Modal Station (IMS) at Katra through Katra Development Authority (KDA).

The approved IMS will be developed as a terminal infrastructure integrating various transportation modes of rail, road, air (helipad), bus, auto rickshaws, taxis and private vehicles at a single hub for seamless movement of people from one mode to another. The project will be completed in three years.

The Inter-Modal Station at Katra will be developed in two phases. The public zone and subsequently commercial infrastructures will be developed under phase I and II, respectively.

The decision is aimed at minimizing the transit time and cost for commuters and potentially extend the duration of their stay in Jammu and Kashmir.

Development of the IMS at Katra will also boost commercial development and economic activity which will significantly upscale the socio-economic profile of Katra and its adjoining areas.

For development of the infrastructure, a tripartite MoU will be signed which will regulate funding and promote coordination between various agencies for time bound execution of the project. The Chief Executive Officer, Katra Development Authority was authorized as the signatory on behalf of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.

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