Anantnag:  Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan Thursday chaired a series of meetings with officers, PRI/ULB members, traders and transporter’s associations, religious leaders of Anantnag & Kulgam districts here at Dak Banglow Khanabal to take stock of Covid mitigation efforts, besides the modalities that need to be put in place to tackle the pandemic in the twin districts.

He impressed upon the officers to implement the Covid guidelines in letter and spirit while ensuring that basic services like food, water, medicine etc are provided to the people uninterruptedly. He called for greater and active involvement of Panchayat Raj Institutions, Urban Local Bodies members, local Auqaf committees and religious leaders in this regard.

Advisor directed the officers to ensure that all target groups besides employees, bankers, traders etc, where chances of virus exposure are more, get vaccinated in nearest future.  He further directed to fumigate and sanitize the offices, banks, ATMs and market places where people to people interaction is more.

Khan directed for creation of dedicated control rooms at District, Sub-division & Block levels headed by senior officers and manned by officials of line departments so that the medical emergencies besides public grievances are addressed in real time.

He exhorted for ensuring that wage employment programmes like MGNREGA and agricultural operations go smoothly with adherence to Covid SOPs, adding the government is taking calibrated measures for saving both lives and livelihoods together.

Highlighting the importance of Information Education and Communication activities for mitigating the infections, he asked the officers to rope in PRI/ULB members, religious leaders and committees at micro level in this regard.

Khan stressed for augmenting and readying the health infrastructure, besides preparing a meticulous and actionable plan to address any medical exigency. He asked both the Deputy Commissioners to have resources assessment done in terms of infrastructure, Oxygen availability, bed capacity, ventilators and man power. He advised them to augment the bed capacity and other infrastructure to be ready for any spike in covid positive cases. He stressed to ensure new oxygen plants are put to trial immediately and within next two to three days these plants be made operational. The Advisor directed the Deputy Commissioners to conceptualise plans for efficient vaccination, management of containment zones, movement of people, food and supplies, medicine, emergencies, avenues of wages and other aspects that need prime focus at this stage. He directed them to have mobile supply vans ready to suffice to the needs of people at their door steps in the containment zones.

By: Nasir Azam

Srinagar: The Government of India has advised the administration of Jammu & Kashmir against dropping the car parking projects approved for the Union Territory under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme.

Documents reveal that secretary Housing and Urban Affairs Durga Shanker Mishra suggested to J&K that it shall not abandon these projects at this stage as UTs are getting 100% central assistance for AMRUT projects.

The Centre communicated its views to J&K during the 26th meeting of the apex committee set-up for monitoring implementation of the scheme. The meeting was held on December 28, 2020.

In the meeting, the UT administration pushed for replacing two car parking projects sanctioned under the scheme. “Representative of UT of Jammu & Kashmir submitted before the committee that two projects of construction of car parking at Peerkhoo, Jammu and Poloview, Srinagar at the total cost of Rs 25.10 crore have been non-starter and are to be replaced,” reads minutes of the meeting lying with KNO.

In 2015, the Government of India launched the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) with the aim of providing basic civic amenities like water supply, sewerage, urban transport, parks as to improve the quality of life for all especially the poor and the disadvantaged. The focus of the Mission is on infrastructure creation that has a direct link to provision of better services to the citizens—(KNO)

By: Murtaza Mushtaq

Srinagar:  Police on Thursday reunited with his family a 24-year-old youth who had gone missing mysteriously from his home in Sochuldari of Villgam in north-Kashmir’s Handwara in December 2010.

SHO Villgam Iftikhar Ahmad, briefing media persons while handing over the youth to family, said that the youth—Mohammad Ashraf Chauhan (24) son of Fazal Din Chauhan – had gone missing in December 2010. The person being resident of a catchment area with dense forests around, the family thought that he had killed by some wild beast.

However it was only some three months before that police got traces that the youth is alive, the officer said.

“On utilizing all possible human resources with collective efforts from SSP and SP concerned, we were able to retrieve him from Srinagar.”

Asked as what circumstances led to the youth go missing, the officer citing family sources said that that he had been psychologically unwell at that time. “He even had been hesitant in returning home to evade backlash from family,” the officer said.

During all these years he worked at many places including in Jammu and Srinagar, the officer said adding that upon tracing he was working as painter at IUST Srinagar.

It nevertheless is a big achievement that a person has reunited with his family after all these years and “we feel highly elated for dispensing our role in this act”, the officer said.

A missing report in this regard was filed then, which has been closed now, the officer informed. (GNS)