Srinagar: Four local militants of Lashker-e-Toiba and Al-Badr were killed in two separate gunfights in Pulwama and Kulgam districts in south Kashmir, police and army said on Thursday.

Two among them were killed in a gunfight in Puchal area of Pulwama district late last night. “Based on specific input about presence of (militants) in Puchal area, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, 183Bn CRPF and 55RR in the area,” a police spokesman said.

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

In the ensuing encounter, two militants were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter, the spokesman said. He identified them as Kifayat Ramzan Sofi (LeT) son of Mohammad Ramzan Sofi of Padgampora Awantipora and Inayat Ahmad Dar (Al-Badr ) son of Abdul Ahad Dar of Samboora Pulwama.

Similarly in Kulgam, the spokesman said during the intervening night, on credible inputs regarding the movement of militants on Jammu-Srinagar Highwaya, a joint naka by Police and army’s 1RR was established at Zadora Qazigund.

“During naka checking, when a suspicious vehicle was signalled to stop by the naka party, two (militants) who were boarding the vehicle came out from the vehicle and started firing indiscriminately upon the joint naka party. However, the alert party retaliated the fire effectively, leading to the elimination of two (militants) on the spot.”

Bodies of both the killed militants were retrieved from the site of encounter, he said. Identifying them as Nasir Ahmad Pandith son of Mohammad Ayoub of Redwani Kulgam and Shahbaz Ahmad Shah son of Ghulam Hassan Shah of Katrusu Kulgam, he said that duo was affiliated with LeT.

“As per police records, all the killed (militants) were part of groups involved in various cases. Arms, ammunition and other incriminating materials were recovered from both the encounter sites.”

A defence ministry spokesman based in Srinagar in a statement said one AK-47and one pistol and “other war like stores” were recovered from the encounter site in Pulwama.

Similarly, he said, one AK-47 rifle and one pistol “with large quantity of ammunition” was recovered in Kulgam. (GNS) 

Jammu: Two militants and as many as soldiers including a junior commissioned officer were killed in a gunfight near the Line of Control in Suderbani sector of Rajouri, officials said on Thursday.

“Based on information regarding infiltration and movement of (militants) in the area of Dadal, Sundarbani Sector, District Rajouri (J&K), Army had launched extensive search operations with effect from 29 Jun 2021,” Defence Ministry spokesman based in Jammu said in a statement.

“Subsequently, the information was corroborated on 08 Jul 2021 and a search and destroy patrol seeking pro-active engagement with the (militants), spotted the (militants) in Dadal forest area, and challenged them,” the spokesman said, adding, “The (militants) opened fire and lobbed hand grenades, leading to a fierce encounter in which two foreign (militants) from Pakistan have been killed”.

He said two AK-47 Rifles and ammunition in heavy quantity been recovered from the slain militant.

“In the operation, Nb Sub Sreejith M and Sep Maruprolu Jaswanth Reddy received fatal injuries,” he said, adding, “A detailed search of the area continues.”

The gunfight comes a day after army said that an unidentified militant was killed in Nowshera sector of Rajouri. As per sources, two soldiers were also injured in the gunfight in Nowshera. (GNS)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday advised the newly-inducted ministers to learn from those who are not part of the Union Cabinet.

The Prime Minister virtually chaired the first meeting of the Council of Ministers after the Cabinet reshuffle. It is learnt that the Prime Minister said that ministers must learn from the experience of those who are no longer part of the Council of Ministers.

“The Prime Minister told the new ministers that they should learn from former ministers, who are currently not part of the Council of Ministers, and benefit from their experience,” sources said.

Sources said that Modi also advised ministers to avoid making unnecessary comments.

“The Prime Minister told the minister to carefully choose their words and avoid making unnecessary comments in the media,” sources said. It also learnt that the Prime Minister asked the ministers to focus on their ministerial assignments and work with utmost sincerity.

Expressing concern over people violating Covid-appropriate protocols, the Prime Minister told the Council of Ministers that pictures and videos of crowded places and people roaming about without masks or social distancing is not a pleasant sight and it should instil a sense of fear in us.

“The Prime Minister stressed that powered by our COVID warriors and frontline workers, India’s fight against the global pandemic is underway with full vigour. We are steadily vaccinating substantial numbers of our nation’s population. Testing is also consistently high,” sources said.

They said that the Prime Minister pointed out that in such a time, there should be no space for carelessness or complacency and a single mistake would have far-reaching impacts and weaken the fight to overcome Covid-19.

“The Prime Minister said that with the numbers being lesser than what they were in recent months, people may want to venture out. However, everyone must remember – the threat of Covid-19 is far from over. Many other nations are seeing surges in infections. The virus is also mutating,” sources said.

Modi further advised, “As ministers, our aim should not be to instil fear but to request people to keep taking all possible precautions so that we are able to move beyond this pandemic in the times to come. He also expressed concern at the persistently high number of cases coming from Maharashtra and Kerala.”

New Delhi: Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday approved a new scheme ‘India COVID-19 Emergency Response & Health System Preparedness Package: Phase-II’ amounting to Rs 23,123 crore for the financial year 2021-22.

This scheme aims to accelerate health system preparedness for immediate responsiveness for early prevention, detection and management, with the focus on health infrastructure development including for Paediatric Care and with measurable outcomes.

The Phase-II of the Package has Central Sector (CS) and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) components.

Under the Central Sector components, the release said, support would be provided to Central Hospitals, AIIMS, and other institutions of national importance under DoHFW (at VMMC & Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi, LHMC & SSKH, Delhi, RML, Delhi, RIMS, Imphal and NEIGRIMS, Shillong, PGIMER, Chandigarh, JIPMER, Puducherry and AIIMS Delhi (existing AIIMSs) and new AIIMSs under PMSSY for repurposing 6,688 beds for COVID-19 management, an official release said.

Besides this, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) would be strengthened by providing Genome Sequencing machines, besides sanctioning scientific control room, Epidemic Intelligence Services (EIS) and INSACOG Secretariat support.

Under the Central Sector components, support would be provided for implementation of Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) in all the District Hospitals of the Country (presently, it is implemented only in 310 District Hospital).

All district hospitals would implement HMIS through NIC developed E-Hospital and CDAC developed E-‘Shushrutsoftwares’. This will be the biggest impetus for the implementation of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) at the DHs. This support includes the support provided to the District Hospitals towards augmentation of the hardware capacity,” the release said.

“Support would also be provided for expanding the National Architecture of e Sanjeevani Tele-consultation platform to provide upto 5 lakhs teleconsultations per day from the present 50,000 teleconsultations per day. This includes support to the States/UTs to enable teleconsultations with the COVID patients at the COVID Care Centres (CCCs) by strengthening hubs for eSanjeevani teleconsultation in all the districts of the country,” it added. (UNI)

Srinagar: The divisional administration Kashmir on Thursday said that it has put in place elaborate arrangements and is ready to tackle the possible third wave of Covid-19.

Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, P K Pole while talking to media persons on the sidelines of the function here at DIPR auditorium, said that the two waves of Covid witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir behaved differently.

“In first wave, the spread of virus was not too high while in the second wave, the Covid behaved differently as the spread was high and the shortage of oxygen beds was also experienced,” he said.

He, however, said that keeping in view the situations faced in two waves so far, the government has made arrangements accordingly and is ready to face challenges.

“The oxygen plants have been increased manifold to ensure that the situation is tackled easily. Resources have been planned as per the experience from two waves. We have also come up with five-bed hospitals,” he said.

Asked about weekend lockdown, Pole said that it has been observed that the people don’t comply with the Covid guidelines properly and on Saturdays and Sundays, people use to come out of their homes and visit different places, thus in order to prevent the virus spread and ensure proper adherence to the guidelines, the decision to continue with the weekend lockdown is in place.

He added that although the Covid positivity ratio is declining, some variants are being reported at present. “Amid non-adherence to the guidelines, some restrictions are not being lifted to ensure the situation remains better,” he said.

About the opening of educational institutions, he said the decision when taken in this regard will be shared accordingly.

Reacting to a query about the renovation of boulevard road that caved in some months back, he said that tenders have been floated and the road will be repaired shortly. (KNO)

Srinagar: Following decrease in number of positive cases with each passing day and less number of admission of Covid patients in hospitals, the effect of second wave of Covid-19 has diminished to a large extent, however this has also resulted in lowering of guard against Covid by the masses which can pose serious threat and lay the base for predicted third wave, warn experts.

Throwing light on the current Covid-19 scenario here, Professor and Head, Community Medicine, GMC, Srinagar, Dr Mohammad Saleem Khan today said that the decrease in Covid positive cases and the number of covid deaths is an encouraging indication of winning the fight against Second Covid Wave.

Dr Saleem however cautioned that the decline of second wave has resulted in non-seriousness among people towards Covid Appropriate Behavior, adherence to SOPs particularly wearing of masks and physical distancing, adding that such behaviour poses serious threat of third wave of Coronavirus.

“The third wave of Covid is highly dangerous, fatal and can take a heavy toll of lives”, he warned and suggested that in order to keep the impact of the third wave under control people need to follow previously fixed guidelines.

Crowding the markets, health resorts and marriage ceremonies without wearing masks and no regard for social distance is unsolicited and unbecoming behavior, he added

“In the interest and safety of our families and society, we need to act responsibly in every domain of life and social interaction”, stated Dr Saleem.

While acknowledging that people mostly remained confined to homes for one and half year and are eager to start their normal life, Dr Saleem said that people may go out to attend to their needs but strict adherence to Covid Appropriate Behavior is needed for an hour to avoid possible third wave.

Additionally, he strongly recommended and emphasized on the vaccination for everyone and termed it as a strong tool to fight against covid disease.

He said that vaccination of elderly people has been almost completed; now, all the individuals above 18 years should get themselves vaccinated.  Besides, he informed that vaccination is allowed for children as well as pregnant ladies.