By: Jahangeer Ganaie

Srinagar: The two districts in Jammu and Kashmir have achieved 100 percent vaccination of all above 45 age group with at least the first dose of Covid-19 inoculation.

The two districts which have completed 100 percent vaccination in all above 45 group include Jammu district in Jammu division and Shopian in Kashmir division.

The other two districts which are set to achieve this milestone include Samba in Jammu division and Ganderbal in Kashmir division.

Officials from Shopian told KNO that health care workers besides other front line workers have visited door to door to counsel people about the need of vaccination.

They said that their hard work has finally started paying off as cases as compared to other districts are very less and there is a significant decrease in fatalities.

District Magistrate Shopian, Sachin Kumar recently said that achieving the target of vaccinating all above 45 age group and adherence of people on Covid protocol has helped them largely while fatality rate in Shopian is just 0.5 percent.

Ganderbal has also vaccinated over 99 percent of the population above 45 group and are set to achieve 100 percent target in coming days.

Jammu was the first district to achieve the target of vaccinating the whole population above 45 age. Officials said that people in the district were less hesitant as compared to other districts.

Samba district has also vaccinated around 98 percent of the total population above 45 and officials from the district said that due to shortage of vaccine for a few days, their target got delayed.

In total around 67 percent of the population above 45 and 94 percent of the population of the same age group in Jammu division have been vaccinated.

SRINAGAR: State Election Commissioner,  K K Sharma has greeted people of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on the auspicious occasion of Buddha Purnima.

Conveying his warm wishes to all  people , SEC said that “Vesak” the day of full moon in the month of May is the most sacred day to Buddhists everywhere. It was on this day  in 623 BC that Buddha was born. It was also on the day of “Vesak” that Buddha attained enlightenment and it was on the day of Vesak too that Budha passed away in his 80th year, he added.

Buddha’s teachings of compassion, peace and love have moved millions in the past and will continue to shape human thought in the times to come, the SEC maintained.

Commemorating the day helps   us with an opportunity to purify our thoughts and become a better human being through introspection, said the SEC.

He prayed for well-being of the people and wished the day would be a harbinger of new hopes, peace, progress and prosperity in Jammu and Kashmir.

By: Bhat Imran

Srinagar: In a major development, the government has regularized more than 646 officials of School Education Department who were posted as In-charge principals at various schools.

Administrative Secretary to government for School Education Department, B K Singh said that among the total regularized officials of the department who were posted in different schools and were acting as In-charge principals include senior lecturers and Zonal Education Officers (ZEOs).

The news agencyKNO has leant that Singh said that the orders were issued on the recommendations of the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) constituted in 2019.

Meanwhile, an order was also issued in this regard reading, “Sanction is accorded to the regularization of In-charge principal, senior lecturers and ZEOs as principals and equivalent in School Education Department.”

Singh said that the regularization is without prejudice to the outcome of any writ petition pending in any competent courts of law or any case pending in vigilance or Crime Branch department.

Stating the conditions of regularization, the orders read that the selected principals who also act as Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDO) shall take an undertaking from the concerned officer.

“The undertaking shall be in a shape of an affidavit duly attested by the Class-1 magistrate to the effect that if their service particulars, PG Certificate is found fake, forged, tempered or issued by un-recognized University or the course is proved as un-recognized at a later stage, they shall have no claim for the regularization and the regularization order issued in his/her favour be treated as cancelled Ab-initio without further notice,” it reads.

It also states that the DDOs concerned will obtain LPC and other related details from the respective DDOs of their parent offices before fixing the pay of these officers in the relevant pay scales as revised from time to time—(KNO)

Srinagar: National Conference (NC) Member of Parliament from Anantnag Hasnain Masoodi on Wednesday rued the lack of awareness in rural areas of south Kashmir and asked the incumbent administration to go for mass awareness campaign to stem out Covid vaccine hesitancy.

Party’s Member of Parliament who visited the SDH Dooru, and Verinag; PHC Kilam, and Vessu and other adjoining areas to assess the Covid mechanism and availability of necessary facilities to people said the availability of vaccines and testing kits is not an issue in these forlorn hamlets as adequate quantity of vaccines are available at all the government designated Covid Care centers instead it is the lack of awareness among the rural folks which is impacting the vaccination rate.

Besides the lack of awareness among the digitally dark people, Masoodi, as per a statement said it is the range of misconceptions circulating about the side effects, which is affecting the inoculation rates in certain pockets.

On that account, he impressed upon the incumbent JK government to carry out mass awareness campaigns particularly in far-flung areas to snap out of ignorance, hesitancy and misconceptions.

“On one hand we see isolated districts in south Kashmir achieving the anticipated target of inoculating cent percent populace in the age group of 45+ but on the other hand most of the districts are yet to cross the halfway mark of inoculating the preference groups. At some places, he said the vaccination drive is yet to pick up.

“The situation is no different in Dooru, Kilam, Vessu belt, despite having ample stocks of viles; the local populace is not showing keenness in getting them jabbed. This is a worrying trend in view of the imminent third wave of Covid infection. I hope the concerned divisional and district authorities will take note of the situation and  do whatever is possible to break the myths associated with the vaccines and also spread general awareness among masses about the Covid crises  and indispensability of  vaccines in curbing it. It is high time to get rid of misconceptions,” he said.

Drawing the attention of the incumbent JK Government towards the shortage of medics and Paramedics plaguing the fight against the Covid-19 in rural hinterland and upper reaches of south Kashmir, Masoodi said dearth of human resource to run the facilities is severely affecting the government’s response to Covid.

He said facilities of CT scan at Dooru, and Digital X-ray at Verinag have been left unmanned all this while leaving the people with no other option to travel to distant places to avail such facilities there.  He said the staff crunch also looms at various other PHCs, SDHs across south Kashmir including PHC check Wangnoo where the newly constructed building is dysfunctional due to the need of required medics and Paramedics.

Masoodi ruing the shortage said with case count breaching and rising numbers of patients requiring hospitalization and access to testing, the government should waste no time to make good of the deficiency by engaging unemployed medics, Para medics to ensure forceful retort to the ravaging public health crises in the shape of deadly Covid.

During his visit, the visiting MP interacted with the civil society groups, individuals, patients and concerned frontline staff at the health facilities.  Appreciating their efforts, he prayed for their wellbeing and safety.

Kargil: Villayat Ali, with some rough books, and a mobile phone travels three to four kilometers daily on foot from his home in Majadass towards the national highway to get access to internet connectivity. His village Karkit is not connected with telecom service yet. Internet access is not a hobby or fun for him, but a genuine need to attend his college classes on Zoom Application amidst the COVID-19 lockdown.

Villayat is pursuing graduation with a major in Natural Science at Degree College Kargil, and due to the COVID-19 emergency, his college classes have been suspended and relied only on online learning. Across District Kargil, classes in both schools and colleges have shifted to online learning considering the threat of the COVID pandemic. However, the unon-availability of internet connectivity at the whole Karkit village has failed hundreds of other students in Villayat’s village.

Gulzana Banoo, a female student, also chases 4-5 kilometers daily from Budgam to the highway to attend her classes. She is pursuing B.Sc from Degree College Kargil and her teachers take online classes daily. Unlike boys, a walk for such a long distance is not easy for Gulzana and her female colleagues. Due to the lockdown movement of vehicles is also not allowed in the district.

Karkit village with a total population of around 4000 is comprised of four Modas named Budgam, Majadass, Khunda, and Haral. From these adjacent areas, around 50 other students in the age group of 12-25 including female students also up-down daily from home to the highway to attend their online classes.

Sitting below the sky, sometimes in harsh sunlight itself is trouble and disturbance to the students while attending their classes. The appearance of the mobile screen also reduces by the direct sunlight and the noise created by running vehicles on the highway cause disturbance to the students. Their suffering is also added by the miss of lunch as many of them have to stay for long due to continuous classes.

Despite tolerating all the hardship, even at the internet site, the internet service is not regular but fluctuating, said another student named Muzaffar Hussain. Muzaffar is preparing for competitive exams and has to attend online classes daily. In absence of the internet, he does not get access to both his classes and reading materials.

Living in the border village of Karkit in Kargil District, the students have no internet facility. The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) service installed in another village sometimes gives a poor signal on high altitudes like windows and rooftops. Like Karkit, other villages near the border like Kaksar, Latoo, and Hundurman also have no telecom facility and internet access.

The students from Karkit village explained that many students who study in colleges and universities outside Ladakh are also at home. They also suffer for their class. In addition, they do not get instant updates regarding their classes, assignments, admission forms, examinations, and recruitments. Life without the internet in this age of information and competition is unthinkable, said a student.

As told by the students, the local administration has already sanctioned a mobile tower for the village but the army has not accorded a No Objection Certificate (NOC) due to security hypothesis in the border area.

In this regard, the Chief Executive Councillor LAHDC Kargil Feroz Ahmad Khan after receiving a representation from Councillor Chuliskamboo Constituency had written a letter to the Core Commander HQ 14 Core in June 2020 requesting to issue the NOC for installation of an Airtel tower. The development of this letter is not known, but the issue has not resolved yet.

The students have formed an ad-hoc group to collectively raise their concern to the higher authorities in the district and at the Union Territory level. Muzaffar being a member of the group said that they are seeking an appointment with the Member Parliament from Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal as he is on a five days long tour to Kargil District.

In the first place, the students want the administration to get an NOC for the installation of the mobile tower. In its absence, the students want the administration to work out an alternative solution to provide them access to uninterrupted internet service. (KNT)