By: Jahangeer Ganaie

Srinagar: The second wave of Covid-19 has wreaked havoc in Jammu and Kashmir as in just 11 days of the ensuing month, 564 deaths were reported in the Union Territory.

As per the data, from May 01-11 J&K has reported 564 deaths which includes 200 from Kashmir division and 364 from Jammu division.

“On first May, J&K reported 46 deaths which includes 17 from Kashmir division and 29 from Jammu and on May 02 J&K reported 41 deaths which includes 11 from Kashmir and 28 from Jammu,” the figures reveal.

They suggest that on 03 May, J&K reported 51 deaths, 16 Kashmir and 35 from Jammu while as 04 May, J&K reported 37 deaths which includes 12 from Kashmir and 26 from Jammu.

“On 05 May, J&K reported 52 deaths which includes 24 from Kashmir and 28 from Jammu division and on 06 May J&K reported 52 deaths including 18 from Kashmir and 34 from Jammu,” the figures state. “On 07 May, J&K reported 50 deaths including 21 from Kashmir and 29 from Jammu division while as on 08 May, J&K reported 60 deaths including 18 from Kashmir and 42 from Jammu.”

The figures further state that on 09 May, J&K reported 54 deaths which includes 22 from Kashmir and 32 from Jammu while as on May, 56 deaths were reported including 17 from Kashmir and 39 from Jammu.

“On 11 May, 65 deaths were reported in the UT which includes, 24 from Kashmir division and 41 from Jammu division,” the figures added—(KNO)

Special pension for life to senior citizens who lost only earning member

Children, who lost parents, will be provided special scholarship

Srinagar:  Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday announced a slew of measures to mitigate the suffering of families who have lost their loved ones to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Lt Governor said, senior citizens who have lost only earning member of the family will be provided special pension for life while children, who have lost their parents to this calamity, will be provided with special scholarship by the government.

“Many of our near and dear ones have left us untimely due to Covid-19. The Government has decided to reach out to each and every such family and they will be provided with financial assistance for self-employment by the Jammu and Kashmir Bank,” the Lt Governor said.

The Lt Governor also observed that the global pandemic has rendered thousands of daily workers jobless. “The Government has decided to provide Rs 1,000 per month to all registered construction workers, ponywalas, palkiwalas, pithuwalas for the next two months”, maintained the Lt Governor.

The government is also adopting other mitigation strategies and all concerned officers have been directed to ensure the supply of ration to all ration card holders on priority. Installments of social welfare schemes like old-age pension, Laadli Beti etc and PMAY, MGNREGA, and other welfare schemes will be released immediately,” the Lt Governor further added.

Announcing these measures while chairing a high-level meeting, the Lt Governor said that in these challenging times, old-age homes, Orphanages will be extended all the support from the government including rations etc.

“Our top-most priority is to defeat this pandemic with people’s participation. I urge all of you to follow Covid appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated. We will soon prevail together over this pandemic,” the Lt Governor said.

The Lt Governor also observed that an instruction would be passed soon to all DCs to issue death certificates to the people who died due to Covid-19 disease.

Sinha said that Rs 55 crore would be released under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to all the Deputy Commissioners, both Divisional Commissioners and J&K Police for emergency use during the current Covid-19 crisis. Rs 2 crore will be released to all 20 Deputy Commissioner, Rs 5 crore to both Divisional Commissioners and Rs 5 crore to J&K Police for emergency use under the SDRF.

Earlier, the Lt Governor received feedback from the senior officers over the Covid-19 management and other measures in J&K.

While taking the review of Covid scenario in the UT, the Lt Governor enquired about the availability of Covid dedicated beds, high flow oxygen supply, installation of oxygen plants in the Union Territory.

He was informed that additional oxygen plants are being imported and would be installed soon in the government-run hospitals.

The Lt Governor reiterated that the additional oxygen capacity would cater to the requirement of oxygen, besides helping in enhancing the bed capacity with oxygen support.

The Lt Governor directed the concerned officers to enforce strict Corona Curfew across Jammu & Kashmir and allow only emergency and essential services during the restrictions to break the chain of transmission.

Srinagar: Three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were killed in an encounter with troops in south Kashmir district of Anantnag on Tuesday.

A police spokesperson said that following specific information about presence of militants, a joint CASO was launched by Special Operations Group (SOG) of J&K police, 19 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and CRPF in village Sheikhpora, Vailoo area in Kokernag at around 0400 hrs on Tuesday.

He said during the search operation, as the presence of militants was ascertained they were given an opportunity to surrender. However, he said the militants fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to an encounter.

“The joint teams also rescued all the civilians trapped in the gunfire and halted the operation for the time to ensure safety and safe evacuation of people from the area of gunfight,” he said.

He said after ensuring all the civilians were safe, the operation was resumed and all the three militants were killed in the gunfight. “Bodies of the slain militants were retrieved from the site of encounter,” he said, adding they have been identified as Ilyas Ahmad Dar alias Sameer, Ubaid Shafi alias Abdullah and Aqib Ahmad Lone alias Sahil.

He said as per police records, all the killed militants were linked with LeT and part of the groups involved in several attacks on security forces and security establishments.

“Ubaid Shafi was part of the militant group involved in carrying out the attack at Aaribagh area of Nowgam Srinagar on April 1, 2021 in which one Constable Rameez Ahmad attained martyrdom,” he said.

He said arms and ammunition, including one AK-47 rifle, two pistols and incriminating materials, have also been recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other crimes,” he said.

Admin withdraws provision of exemption for partially permissible activities

Srinagar: Even as the government claimed no partial relaxation in Corona Curfew, the markets across Srinagar and other parts of the Valley witnessed a huge rush of shoppers who were seen buying the essentials ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr.

Some of the roads continued to wear a deserted look as the Corona Curfew remained in place for the 12th straight day in Jammu and Kashmir in order to prevent the cases from spreading.

The shoppers were seen busy in the markets buying essentials ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. According to eye-witnesses, bakery, mutton and chicken and readymade garment shops witnessed the rush of the shoppers.

The roads witnessed brisk vehicular movement coupled with traffic snarls at several places.

Some areas remained under lockdown where the police and paramilitary troopers were deployed and had erected concertina wires on the roads, thus halting the pedestrians as well as the vehicular movement.

Notably, the government has imposed lockdown across Jammu and Kashmir since April 29 evening in order to prevent the virus from spreading. The administration extended the Corona Curfew across J&K till May 17.

Meanwhile, district administration Srinagar said that the provision of exemption for partially permissible activities from 8:00AM to 12:00PM has been withdrawn till further orders.

“In consonance with the State Executive Committee guidelines vide order No. 29-JK(DMRRR) of 2021 dated 09.05.2021 and in continuation to this office order No: DSC/DDMA/THQ/21/332-44 Dated: 09.05.2021, I Mohammad Aijaz (IAS) District Magistrate Srinagar, in the capacity of Chairman DDMA, by virtue of powers vested in me under Section 34 of the National Disaster Management Act, 2005 read with section 144 of CrPC. hereby order that the provision of exemption for partially permissible activities from 8:00AM to 12:00PM (Para-B, items: I-IV) is hereby withdrawn till further orders,” reads the order issued by DC Srinagar.

“Movement of Govt. Officials shall be regulated through passes issued by the District Administration, Srinagar and Heads of Departments shall regulate attendance of the employees at 50% strength in light of guidelines issued by State Executive Committee,” the order said.

Srinagar: The Srinagar administration on Tuesday said that passes will be issued to government officials to facilitate their movement from Wednesday in order to strictly implement COVID curfew to curtail the spread of the virus in Srinagar.

An official said that movement of government officials shall be facilitated through a pass system from Wednesday. “All Heads of Departments (HODs) are requested to kindly place requisition for passes immediately,” he added.

The decision to issue movement passes to government officials comes a day after Advisor to Lieutenant Governor Baseer Ahmad Khan asked the police to implement the lockdown strictly and ensure that only those vehicles are allowed who carry valid passes issued by the competent authority.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday extended the ‘COVID curfew’, which was scheduled to end on Monday, till May 17 in all 20 districts of the Union Territory. Eid-ul-Fitr, the culmination of holy fasting month of Ramazan, also falls within the extended corona curfew period.

‘20 Oxygen plants installed, 17 in offing; 2100-2300 bulk cylinders at disposal of hospitals’

Srinagar:  After the onset of 2nd wave of Covid-19 pandemic, the hospitals associated with Covid-care in Kashmir have witnessed a steep rise in requirement of medical oxygen as more number of patients who have tested Covid-19 positive are turning up to the hospitals after their saturation level decreases in home isolation.

To give an information about the supply position of medical oxygen in Kashmir, Chief Engineer, Mechanical Engineering Department Kashmir, Rashid Ahmad gave an in-depth details about the status of oxygen both in terms of generation capacity and in the form of bulk cylinders available to cater to the needs of  Covid hospitals in Kashmir.

The CE said that the role of MED has been very important vis-à-vis ensuring the generation of oxygen in hospitals to make it available to the patients and the department is doing its best to live up to the expectations.

He said the oxygen supply may be in the shape of liquid medical oxygen, cylinders or in the form of Captive PSA Medical Oxygen generation. “We have an issue regarding supply of liquid medical oxygen here due the logistics involved which would be cumbersome to procure from outside the state on a consistent and reliable basis” the C.E said.

For cylinders, he said in Kashmir we have four industrial units for refilling and bottling but that is insufficient.

Rashid said following the 2nd wave of Covid-19 Pandemic there has been a steep rise in the requirement of medical Oxygen in hospitals and the position of oxygen has become better as the department has remained quite prepared.

Giving details about the Oxygen generation capacity of Kashmir, the C.E said that prior to 2nd wave of Covid-19 our hospitals would generate 8000 litres of oxygen per minute, but as on date we have further installed 20 plants in different district hospitals and GMC associated hospitals in Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag districts.

He said this time the bulk oxygen that is being supplied to the hospitals is being done through these PSA based plants and the production of oxygen exceeds 23500 lpm and, “if we talk in terms of per capita, patient and population wise, this much of Oxygen generation capacity is sufficient” he added.

The C.E said that with the support of 2100-2300  bulk cylinders  from Industrial units and together with Captive PSA based Oxygen generation, the situation is normal in hospitals, patients are getting good supply of Oxygen.

“The position of oxygen has become better as we were prepared to deal with it and we had fixed our contracts in time, we had made order for 37 plants in October-November, the bulk of this order has already arrived and we have so far installed 20 plants and 17 plants are in the offing” he said.

He informed that the PSA Oxygen generator of these plants come from Germany, this time also 09 plants are in transit and ready for shipment for airlifting. “Due to the Covid there is an embargo in Air Cargo, so our UT government has directly talked to the Civil Aviation ministry about the  lifting of 09 plants from Frankfurt, Germany and the same shall be done on 16th of May and it may take another couple of days for it to reach here” Rashid added.

“Following the installation of these 09 more plants our position shall be improve further and there shall remain no dearth of oxygen” he assured.

By: Nasir Azam

Srinagar: Amid COVID-19 scare, the civil secretariat and other Darbar Move offices reopened in Jammu & Kashmir summer capital Srinagar on Tuesday after a gap of six months.

The civil secretariat, which houses offices of J&K’s top bureaucrats, reopened here, even as it will also function from Jammu for the duration of the deferment of Darbar Move.

The administration has decided to defer the bi-annual practice of Darbar move due to upsurge in COVID-19 cases in the UT.

According to the arrangement worked out by the administration, the civil secretariat will remain functional from both the capitals while as administrative secretaries will rotate between the two places as per the roster notified by the General Administration Department.

As many as 62 offices of head of departments, which move in full/ in camp, will primarily function from Srinagar while 73 will work from Jammu.

Apart from this, 13 offices will also have civil secretariat-like arrangement for the period of deferment of Darbar move.

In 2020, the administration had also deferred the practice of Darbar move in view of the extraordinary circumstances arising due to COVID-19.

The biannual practice of Darbar Move was started by Dogra ruler Ranbir Singh in 1872 to “escape the extreme weather of Kashmir in winters and to give a fillip to economy of Jammu”

The practice of Darbar Move has come under question from different quarters, with several elected heads of J&K voicing support for abandoning the practice, but none could do much about it given the sensitivity of the issue. (KNO)

Admin directs CMOs to rationalise COVID-19 sampling

Srinagar: The government on Tuesday said that RTPCR or Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) tests must not be repeated of any individual who already have been tested positive.

In an order issued by In-Charge Divisional COVID-19 Control Room Kashmir, it was stated that molecular (RT-PCR) testing laboratories have been overwhelmed due to huge testing load and the government has observed that people tested positive on RAT are being re-tested through RTPCR, thereby putting unnecessary pressure on already overburdened labs.

Meanwhile, the government in a directions issued to the Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) said that no test either RAT or RTPCR shall be undertaken for COVID-19 recovered individuals at the time of hospital discharge. “RTPCR test shall not be undertaken for healthy or asymptomatic individuals,” it reads.

“In view of this situation, it is imperative to rationalize the sampling as per guidelines issued by ICMR, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GOI so that wastage of resources and unmindful testing is reduced,” it reads.

‘Covid positive mothers can breastfeed children under SoPs’

Srinagar:  “There was this general observation during the first wave of Covid pandemic that children were least affected and were asymptomatic or having mild symptoms, but in prevailing second wave of virus more children are infected which demonstrates severity of infection”, said , Dr Muzaffar Jan, HoD, Pediatrician, GB Pant Hospital, Srinagar while speaking about the impact  covid disease on children.

Cough, Cold, Fever, Body ache and Diarrhea are the symptoms of Covid infection among  children, he said and added, “Oxygen saturation of children should be above 94. However,  the  O2 saturation reading between  94 to 90 is a  symptom of mild infection and below it indicates severity of infection”.

“In severe infection a child becomes lethargic, vomits and  gets diarrhoea. Sometimes children get convulsions and shock due to infection”, said Dr Muzaffar Jan while sensitizing parents to monitor symptoms of their children. Monitor and check whether a child is breathing, responding normally or has become lethargic, he advised.

“Infectious children should be kept in isolation and administered immunity boosters including vitamins and zinc besides a paracetamol tablet”

“In a condition of severe symptoms a child should be hospitalized.”

However, he maintained that Covid vaccination for children is not allowed because the issue  is under trial, yet.  Although, USA has allowed vaccination for children above 12 year olds just a day before but still covid vaccination for children has not been permitted in other countries till now, Dr Muzaffar Jan, paediatrician informed.

Regarding breast feeding, Dr Jan said that Covid positive mother can breastfeed child while properly following SOPs particularly with wearing face mask and sanitizers applied on hands after washing.

Besides, other routine immunisation to children after their covid infection can be given two weeks after the child becomes asymptomatic. However, if the child has received steroids or tocilizumab then routine immunisation should be deferred by 3 months, instructed Dr Jan.

It was advised by Dr Muzaffar that children should be kept away from elderly people because old age people are prone to get covid infection besides high morbidity risk to them.

Meanwhile, he appealed to people to get vaccinated and said that there is no need to worry for mild reactions. He called for avoiding social gathering and following SoP guidelines.

New Delhi: Amid the current coronavirus crisis across the country, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has said universities must take care of the on-ground situation before deciding on holding online examinations.

According to the UGC, before conducting online examinations, the Covid-19 guidelines set by the state and Central governments should be strictly adhered to. The safety of students and teachers must be given primary importance during the pandemic.

The statutory body has urged universities across the country to keep their campus premises safe from the pandemic. The UGC has said universities should encourage students and other staff to get vaccinated.

UGC Chairman D.P. Singh has written a letter to universities across the country over tackling Covid-19. The letter said universities should remain united in the fight against the coronovirus pandemic.

In the letter addressed to all vice-chancellors of universities and principals of colleges, the UGC Chairman has said to overcome the Covid-19 crisis, higher educational institutions should be remain in touch with students, teachers, education staff, officials and their family members. There is a need to work collectively for the physical, mental health and safety of all people, he added.

Meanwhile, the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has written a letter to Singh. “We request the UGC to review its decision for the terminal semester year students. We request that the deadline be extended for MPhil, PhD submissions similar to that during the previous year,” DUTA said.

According to DUTA,”The families of the teachers who have died in Delhi University (DU) should be granted jobs on compassionate grounds. Also the overall situation related to the death of teachers in DU has been apprised to the UGC.”

DUTA President Rajib Ray has said pension and gratuity should also be given immediately to retired teachers. Additional funds should also be arranged for teachers and staff working on contract during the pandemic, he added.