By: Jahangir Sofi

Srinagar: Amid spike in Covid-19 cases and prevailing global pandemic situation, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir has categorized the media persons under ‘High Risk Group’, after keeping in view the nature of their duties.

A top official while confirming the development, said that the government recently took a decision to keep media persons in the High Risk Group, after it was observed the nature of their duties in view of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic.

“Journalists are more vulnerable to get infected with the virus as they are always on the run and come in contact with many people. So DIPR today held a vaccination drive for left out journalists at the directorate office Srinagar, before that two vaccination drives were held in collaboration with Kashmir Press Club (KPC),” an official said.

An official said that they have directed all the District Information Officers to conduct the vaccination drive for journalists, and so far the vaccination drive has been carried at district Anantnag, District Budgam and District Baramulla.

On considering media men as frontline warriors, the official said, “We know the Journalists are at the frontline, and delivering their duties professionally, that is why the government has categorized them under the High Risk Group.”

“The matter will be looked into and taken up with the higher ups, whether there is any such policy decision to designate the journalists as frontline warriors, but the Journalists have been officially recognized now as ‘High Risk Group,” an official said.

During the inoculation drive at DIPR complex on Wednesday, Media Coordinator Shabir Ahmad and Bilal Ahmad said, after the directions were passed to coordinate with the Journalists who are yet to get vaccinated, many Journalists from print and electronic media came and took the jab.

“If there is still any left out journalist who hasn’t taken the vaccine can contact us during the office hours,” they said. (KNO)

Srinagar: The Joint Coordination Committee of City Center (JCCCC) Traders Wednesday appealed to the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to opt for unlocking as otherwise many would be left to starvation.

In a statement issued here, President Kashmir Retailers Association and General Secretary JCCCC, Farhan Kitab said the lockdown has badly affected the livelihood of lakhs of people who along with their families have been left at the verge of starvation.

He said from traders to transporters, the business community is badly affected especially for the city center shopkeepers, where no shop has been able to open for the last over a month.

He said let the government call a joint meeting of stakeholders and medical health experts to decide about the protocol for the unlock.

Kitab extended full support to the adherence of such prospective protocol of SOPs as would be set by the government.

He also sought a relief package for traders community and said the process should start with amnesty on payment of service bills like electricity, sanitation, special extension of the statutory dates of GST, exemption of interest and penalty for not filing the return by the statutory date and six month moratorium on bank interest and EMI without interest.

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir government continued to impose a strict curfew across the Union Territory for the 28^th straight day on Wednesday in order to prevent the Coronavirus from spreading.

Nonetheless, police in a statement claimed to have arrested 21 persons in the Valley and fined over 1100 people for violating the guidelines and norms.

Police and paramilitary troopers were deployed on the roads again today in order to enforce the Corona curfew in Jammu and Kashmir.

However, some of the areas witnessed a brisk movement of private vehicles throughout the day while the majority of the roads remained temporarily blocked after the forces erected concertina wires, which thwarted pedestrians as well as the vehicular movement.

Witnesses said that all the shops and markets remained closed across the Valley while only emergency services were seen functioning normally.

Meanwhile, a statement reads that during the last 24 hours, police have arrested 21 persons, lodged 15 FIRs and also realized fine to the tune of Rs 1,54,910 from 1118 people for violating the guidelines and rules throughout Kashmir.

“The special drive against the violators of Covid-19 guidelines and rules continued throughout all the districts of Kashmir Valley to ensure that people adhere to SOPs and guidelines envisaged by the government to curb COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement said.

Moreover, police urged people to cooperate in containing the spread of Coronavirus by following the SOPs, guidelines and protocols for the safety of the people. “The special drive shall continue throughout the districts of Kashmir Valley to strengthen the safety measures,” police said. (KNO)

Srinagar: A Sarpanch was on Wednesday arrested for duping two families by promising them of getting their kin, detained for questioning in a militancy related case, released in south Kashmir district of Anantnag.

Official sources said that two suspects (name withheld) were called for questioning in a militancy related case. “As the youth were being questioned, the family approached the local Sarpanch Nisar Ahmad, who sought money for the release of the youth,” they said.

“When the Sarpanch enquired about the youth, he was informed that they will be released if not found guilty,” they said, adding Nisar took Rs 1.1 lakh from the families to get the youth released.

They said the duo during questioning was found innocent and subsequently released. “After reports of Nisar taking money from the families came out, he was arrested and a case was registered in Police Station Anantnag,” they added. (UNI)

By: Tasaduq Hussain

Srinagar: Amid reports about the cap on the number of Hajj pilgrims by Saudi Arabia, the authorities in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Wednesday said that the decision about the number of pilgrims to be allowed to perform Hajj this year was expected within a week.

Executive Officer (EO) J&K Hajj Committee Abdul Salam Mir said that no decision has been taken as of now about the number of pilgrims allowed to perform Hajj pilgrimage this year.

He said that a decision in this regard was expected to be taken within a week. “Around 8000 pilgrims have registered themselves for this year’s Hajj pilgrimage. We have also made vaccination mandatory for all those scheduled to perform Hajj given the COVID situation,” he said.

Salam said that no one will be allowed to proceed for Hajj pilgrimage without COVID-19 vaccination. “We don’t know whether all those who have registered themselves for this year’s Hajj pilgrimage have vaccinated themselves or not as the details were not available with them but no one will be allowed without it.”

Notably, reports said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has decided to cap the number of pilgrims in this year due to COVID-19 situation.

They have also announced that anyone below 20 years of age and above 60 years won’t be allowed to perform Hajj this year. (KNO)

Jammu: Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha on Wednesday chaired a high level meeting to review the preparedness of Power Department for Jammu division in view of the ongoing summer season.

During the meeting, which was attended by senior officers of Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (JPDCL), and J&K Power Transmission Corporation Limited at Raj Bhavan, the Lt Governor passed various important directions to streamline the power transmission and distribution system in the UT.

Stressing on speeding up the process of replacement of damaged transformers to avoid inconvenience to the people, the Lt Governor fixed an 8 hour deadline for replacement of damaged transformers in urban areas, while rural areas will get transformers replaced within 48 hours.

Adopt a futuristic approach, make procurements in advance and fix responsibilities for delays, besides taking corrective measures to provide consumers with the requisite facilities, the Lt Governor asked the Power Department.

He further emphasized on urgent re-examining of short-term and medium-term measures to minimize disruption in supply, network resilience, besides developing better synergy between officials at all levels.

In order to make the repair and replacement working more effective, the meeting decided that the transformers would get a Unique Identification number with details of Installations and repairs. One month’s timeline was fixed for preparing an online system for inventory management, executing a meter reading application for streamlining the process of power consumption, billing & collection.

The Lt Governor asked the concerned officers to rationalize the buffer stock of inventory in all districts in order to reduce the replacement time.

“Speed up the process of replacement of non-functional power infrastructure. Prioritize areas with more power consumption; put power curtailment schedules in public domain and address the issues of power outage in villages”, the Lt Governor directed the officers.

Directions were also passed to senior officials for monitoring of up-gradation work of grid stations, strengthening of distribution mechanism, transmission lines, while concentrating on immediate needs of power supply, focusing on maintenance of transmission and distribution networks.

The Lt Governor also directed the officers to take all necessary measures to reduce the transformers’ damage rate, besides upgrading the infrastructure to reduce instances of disruption causing power outages.

While taking the status of power supply to oxygen generation plants, the Lt Governor directed the concerned officials to ensure uninterrupted power supply with backup to the oxygen plants.

The Lt Governor further directed for making the response mechanism for power restoration prompt and more effective to ensure optimum power supply to every household in the summers.

Meanwhile, the Lt Governor took a detailed overview of the total Installed Transformation Capacities and peak demand met in Jammu Division during Summers 2020 and anticipated for Summer 2021.

He further assessed the present status of category-wise power consumers, district-wise power demand & supply position in Jammu, buffer stock of distribution transformers, augmentation of receiving stations, procurement of spares & inventory, status of branch cutting/ trimming of trees.

During the meeting, the Lt Governor also took stock of the implementation of directions passed earlier pertaining to strengthening of the Power sector in J&K.

Principal Secretary PDD, Rohit Kansal briefed the Lt Governor about preparedness of the department for the summer season, besides status of various projects for augmentation of power infrastructure in Jammu Division, including commissioning of 220 KV LILO-I Interconnection with PGCIL Jatwal , construction of 160 MVA 220/66  KV GSS Ghatti, Kathua along with its associated 220 Kv D/C Thein- Hiranagar Transmission line, construction of 160 MVA 220/66  KV GSS, Samba along with its associated 220 Kv D/C Jatwal-Samba Transmission line, capacity addition works at GSS Barn , capacity addition works at GSS Canal, capacity addition works at GSS Gladni.

BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance Department; Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Power Development Department & Information Department; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor; Jagmohan Sharma, Chairman JPDCL; Gurmeet Singh, MD JPDCL; Chief Engineers and other concerned officers attended the meeting.

Jammu: Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam Wednesday held a meeting with the Principal Secretary, Public Works Department (R&B), to review the progress made under the flagship programme, ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana’ (PMGSY) in the previous financial year and fixed a target of completing 4,200 km of road this fiscal.

While appreciating the progress made in the previous financial year, the Chief Secretary observed that the Department has registered an unprecedented achievement by completing 3,300 km of rural roads under various schemes, thereby providing safe and secure all-weather connectivity to the eligible habitations.

The Chief Secretary maintained that the Department must utilize the acquired expertise in fast-tracked project execution to achieve a road length of 4,200 km this fiscal. The projected target includes 800 km and 3400 km rural road in Kashmir and Jammu province, respectively.

He asked the Principal Secretary to periodically review district-wise progress for timely resolution of bottlenecks and associated challenges. He advised the Department to prioritize works that are free from encumbrances while simultaneously resolving such issues/grievances in the projects facing delays.

The Department was also asked to maintain quality standards of new constructions and ensure creation of high-quality infrastructure, besides undertaking routine inspections of the works with focussed attention on maintenance works.

The Chief Secretary also reviewed issues related to un-awarded works, forest clearances, land acquisition, quality standards, and utility shifting.