Srinagar: With the resurgence of COVID-19 the Srinagar administration has sounded an alarm.
During the past few days announcements are being made through official vehicles asking people to wear masks. “Anyone who is found without a mask will be fined Rs 2000 on the spot,” official vehicles were spotted making such announcements on Srinagar streets.
Experts have already declared that the COVID-19 second wave has arrived and people need to be cautious as it can prove to be more deadly. But on the other hand schools and colleges have been reopened.
“During the past few days reports about teachers and students turning positive have come from many areas. If the situation is turning bad then why schools are being kept open? Can’t we shift back to online mode, so that the children can remain safe,” asked a parent.
Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Aijaz Asad, who assumed the charge recently said, “Schools were reopened after due deliberations. Protocol in schools is being followed and action will be taken if violation is found anywhere.”
But he was quick to add that steps have to be taken to prevent situation like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu emerging in Jammu and Kashmir.
A medico said, “The COVID-19 is going to stay with us. It may turn seasonal but we have to be careful till we equip ourselves fully to deal with it. We are witnessing a surge but things can become better if people get themselves vaccinated. It will provide them the protection to at least fight the virus. The schools can turn into COVID-19 hotspots and the administration needs to give it a thought.”
He said, “The first wave of COVID-19 was bad as we were unable to predict how the virus will behave. In the last one year we have learnt how to handle it. But we cannot be complacent as the virus has got mutated and has changed its colour. We have to be patient for some more time. But people will have to cooperate otherwise situation can take an ugly turn.”
“The basic fundamental that can keep COVID-19 away is to maintain social distancing, wear masks and use sanitizers. Adults can understand it but to make children follow the COVID norms is a difficult thing. Sending small kids to schools amid the second wave of COVID-19 is risky. The decision to reopen schools for kids needs to be reconsidered,” said a teacher.
“It’s difficult to keep children away from each other in schools. Maintaining social distance in schools is a big ask,” he added.
COVID-19 second wave: Maintaining social distance in schools not easy
J&K Admin to fill up 23000 posts soon
Srinagar: The Jammu & Kashmir administration has identified 23000 posts for filling up them on immediate basis, a report tabled in the Parliament has revealed.
In its report, the department -related parliamentary standing committee has revealed that it was informed that 22,379 pots have been identified by Jammu & Kashmir government in different departments for filling up them on immediate basis
“To oversee the recruitment and to have a single nodal point, the government of J&K constituted an Accelerated Recruitment Committee (ARC) with the aim to identify vacancies across various departments which could be filled up on immediate basis. The committee in the phase-I identified 10,000 class-IV vacancies across various departments, out of which 8,575 have already been put to advertisement by the Board under the provisions of Jammu and Kashmir, Appointment to Class-IV (Special Recruitment) Rules, 2020. As part of phase-II of accelerated recruitments drive, the committee has identified 12,379 gazetted and non-gazetted vacancies which comprises of 533 gazetted and 11,846 non-gazetted vacancies,” reads the report.
According to the report, out of the posts identified in phase-II, 383 gazetted and 7,433 non-gazetted vacancies have already been referred to the recruiting agencies.
In May last year, the Jammu & Kashmir administration had constituted a panel for accelerating recruitment process which had come to halt abrogation of the Article 370 in August 2019.
The general administration department(GAD) constituted the panel to identify vacancies on immediate basis in different government departments and for monitoring the recruitment process.
On February 18, 2020, Union Home Ministry had informed the Parliamentary panel that the J&K administration has identified nearly 84,000 vacant government posts in the newly created Union Territory.
According to the Ministry’s reply, as many as 76453 vacancies are of non-gazetted and Class IV level and 7552 are gazetted posts.
It is pertinent to mention that J&K’s last Governor Satya Pal Malik had on August 28, 2019 announced that 50000 vacancies in government departments would be filled soon.
COVID-19: India records 43000 cases in day, highest in 4 months
New Delhi: India on Sunday recorded highest number of cases in 4 months with 43,846 more people testing positive for the virus in the past 24 hrs. India’s coronavirus tally rose to 1,15,99,130, Union Health Ministry said in its Sunday update.
As many as 197 people lost their lives to the virus, pushing the death toll to 1,59,755, the government data said, adding that the active cases rose by 20,693 to stand at 30,9087. It is now 2.66 per cent of the total caseload.
The past 24 hours also saw 22,956 people recovering from the deadly virus, taking the total recovery count to 1,11,30,288, which is 95.96 per cent of the case tally. The fatality rate stood at 1.38 per cent.
Six states account for 86.8 per cent of the new covid-19 deaths and Maharashtra with 27,126 new cases and 92 fatalities topped the chart on Sunday. Meanwhile, Punjab accounted for 2,578 new cases.
On the vaccine front, over 4.36 crore doses have been administered till now, with over 16 lakh people vaccinated in the last 24 hours.
As cases continue to rise in Madhya Pradesh, one day lockdown has now been imposed in Bhopal and will continue every Sunday until further orders. Apart from Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur will undergo similar Sunday lockdowns. The state government has also announced that schools and colleges in these three cities will remain closed till March 31.
Union Health Minister has blamed people’s callous attitude for the spike in the number of cases. He said, “Maximum people hang their masks around their neck, some keep it in their pocket and some do not use it at all,” adding, “If we do not follow COVID appropriate behaviour, then coronavirus will go away slowly from the country and the world.”
Large crowds, mutant strains behind India’s COVID surge: AIIMS Chief
New Delhi: There is nothing to stop the second wave of COVID-19 in India from being as severe as the first unless people follow appropriate behaviour and are quickly vaccinated, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) chief Dr Randeep Guleria has warned.
The recent spike in infections is likely being caused by slip-ups in precautionary measures and variants of the virus, he said. The cases could spread even more rapidly if basic protective steps like wearing masks and rigorous contact-tracing are not followed.
“There is a loss of Covid-appropriate behaviour. Now people feel that the pandemic is over because vaccines are here. So they fail to wear masks. We see large crowds gathering – again without masks. Many of these crowded events have become super-spreading events,” Dr Guleria told NDTV.
“The other issue is that we are become lax in the basic principle of testing, tracking, and isolating than what were doing six months ago. The third point is that the virus itself is mutating and some of the variants are more infectious,” he said.
India added 43,846 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours alone, setting another highest daily-high in nearly four months, amid a worrying surge. This rise has prompted states like Punjab, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu to consider revert to school closure, restricted public gatherings, and other measures, including lockdowns in worst-hit districts.
The number of cases and mortality could both rise in the second wave, according to Dr Guleria.
Referring to the vaccines, he acknowledged that some studies show vaccine efficacy falling 10-20% when it comes to the South African variant of Covid-19. “As we go along with vaccinations, other variants may appear. We will have to be ready to tweak the vaccines. It is not a cause of concern since we do not have enough data. But we need to be vigilant,” he said.
“There may be variants in India. If the variants are of clinical significance – causing more severity or more number of infections, that is a cause of concern. We know that the virus will undergo mutation,” he said.
Containment zones need to be developed, he said, adding that aggressive testing and quarantine must be followed. Mere night curfews and weekend lockdowns may not alone stop the chain of transmission, he said.
Need to improve health care system: Prez Kovind
Rourkela: Covid-19 pandemic has given us the lessons that as a nation, we must continue to strive to improve the healthcare system and make it equally accessible to all, President Ramnath Kovind said.
Inaugurating a Super Specialty Hospital in the Rourkela Steel Plant today , Mr. Kovind said improvement in peoples access to secondary and tertiary health care is equally important.
In recent times, he said “we have invested a lot in primary health services, and our objective behind this is to expand healthcare coverage to reach under-served people and far-reach areas.
Stating that Rourkela Steel Plant has played a major role in the industrial development of our country, Kovind said for inclusive development of a country, strong socio-economic structure is also necessary along with the industrial advancement.
About six years ago, the Prime Minister had laid the foundation for developing the Ispat General Hospital as a Super-Specialty Hospital.
And today it is ready to serve the people of the region,he said adding that this Hospital would not only cater the super specialty medical needs Odisha but also adjoining areas of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
The President said good governance has two important pillars – education and healthcare and both of them have contributed immensely to the development of human civilization.
The importance of healthcare has received worldwide attention as the Covid-19 pandemic has shown its macabre form across the world.
In this difficult time, our medical fraternity has fought an extraordinary battle against an invisible and unknown enemy.
He praised the scientists for their tireless efforts.It was only through their persistent efforts that the biggest vaccination campaign in history has been started in India,he remarked.
With this, India, Kovind said, is not only becoming self-sufficient in manufacturing the vaccines, but also providing vaccines to other countries free of cost or at a very reasonable price.
Open up COVID vaccine to more people: Omar
Srinagar: Describing the one-day token lockdown imposed in Madhya Pradesh meaningless, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday demanding opening up vaccine to more people.
Vaccines are the answer and not one day lockdowns, he said.
Taking to micro blogging site Twitter National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar said “ With a rampaging virus that has a 2-14 day incubation period this one day lockdown is meaningless tokenism. All it will do is create a misplaced sense of complacency. Vaccines are the answer not one day lockdowns. Open up vaccines to more people”.
He was reacting to a report which reads Madhya Pradesh: Streets remain deserted as one-day lockdown imposed in Indore as COVID19 cases surge.
Omar has recently said “ What a shame that while so many of us are waiting patiently for our turn to get a COVID vaccine the government admits that 6.5% of the vaccine doses are being wasted. If vaccines are allowed for all age groups this wastage can be brought down drastically.”
CJ orders ‘no public entry’ in High Court
Srinagar: Observing that covid-19 cases are “increasing at an alarming rate”, Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Justice Pankaj Mithal has ordered strict compliance of its February 3 order by virtue of which the “entry of litigants and public into the Court premises from the very outer gate shall continue to be prohibited.
“In continuation to order and with a view to ensure recording of evidence, entry of witnesses and accused persons was also permitted vide High Court Order No. 875/RG dated 10.02.2021 subject to the strict compliance of latest SoPs pertaining to containment of COVID-19 infection,” the Chief Justice said in an order, copy of which lies with GNS.
“It has been observed that the guidelines/directions are not being strictly adhered to resulting in considerable increase in footfall in the Court premises, thereby enhancing the risk of spread of COVID-19 infection particularly when such infection cases are increasing at an alarming rate.”
Thus, keeping in view the “recent surge in COVID-19 infection cases,” the Chief justice reiterated the “guideline/direction” while asking the Registrars Judicial of both wings of the High Court and the presiding officers of all Courts in the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh to strictly implement the guideline/direction.
On February 3, physical hearing of cases in Courts was permitted amid set of guidelines to be followed. “Entry of litigants and public into the Court premises from the very outer gate shall continue to be prohibited,” the court had said. “If, however, any litigant on any reasonable ground is compelled to argue his case personally, he shall be allowed entry into the Court premises subject to the condition that he makes an application at least two days prior to the date of hearing through e-mail to the Registrar Judicial/Presiding Officer of the Court disclosing such compelling reasons and seeking permission in that regard.”
If and when any such application is made by any litigant, the Registrar Judicial/Presiding Officer concerned shall consider the same and, if satisfied, may permit such litigant to enter into the Court premises and inform the litigant of such order by return e-mail, the guidelines provided. “A copy of such order shall also be sent by the Registrar Judicial/Presiding Officer concerned to the lncharge, Security at the main gate of the Court premises for necessary action.”
COVID-19: J&K records 158 more cases, 1 death
Srinagar: Worrying trends continued unabated as far as surge in covid-19 cases is concerned in Jammu and Kashmir with 158 more infections reported while one more person succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours, officials said on Sunday.
They said, 27 of the cases were from Jammu Division and 131 from Kashmir Valley, taking the total case tally to 128547. Among the fresh cases include 34 travelers and one minor.
Giving district wise details of the cases, the officials told GNS that Srinagar recorded 88, Baramulla 19,
Budgam 14, Pulwama 4, Kupwara 0, Anantnag 3, Bandipora 1, Ganderbal 1, Kulgam 1, Shopian 0, Jammu 22, Udhampur 0, Rajouri 0, Doda 2, Kathua 0, Samba 3, Kishtwar 0, Poonch 0, Ramban 0 and Reasi 0.
A number of these cases were confirmed at diagnostic laboratories of SKIMS Soura and GMC Anantnag.
The SKIMS cases female (47) from Hanjuria, male (26) from Qazipora sgr, female (38) from Soura Sgr, male (30) from Buchpora Sgr, female (68) from Buchpora , female (24) from Buchpora, female (48) from Hyderpora Sgr, male (56) from 61Bn CRPF Shivpora Sgr, male (21) from 90Ft Sgr, male (62) from Awantabha Sgr, male (30) from Awantabha Sgr, female (58) from Lalbazar, female (30) from Gund Haknar Ganderbal, male (70) from Lalbazar, female (26) from Skims Sgr, female (28) from Shadipora Sgr, female (80) from Sehpora Ganderbal and male (65) from Tral.
One fatality from Kashmir also took the fatality count in J&K to 1981—732 in Jammu and 1249 in Kashmir. The GMC Anantnag cases include female (02) from PS Raiwatan, male (36) from MS C Vatto, two males (71, 33) and female (61) from Kralchek.
Moreover 58 more COVID-19 patients have recovered and were discharged from various hospitals—11 from Jammu Division and 47 from Kashmir Valley. So far, they said, 125276 have recovered—51364 in Kashmir and 73912 in Jammu. There are 1290 active cases—279 in Jammu and 1011 in Kashmir. (GNS)
Kashmir to witness widespread rains, snow till Mar 24: MeT
Srinagar: Amid weatherman’s advisory for widespread rains or snow, minimum temperatures increased across Kashmir Valley, officials said on Sunday.
A Meteorological Department official said that Srinagar recorded a low of 7.4°C against 6.0°C on the previous night. The minimum temperature was 4.7°C above normal for this time of the year in the summer capital of J&K, the official said.
Qazigund, the gateway town of Kashmir, recorded a low of 5.7°C against 4.4°C on the previous night while mercury settled at 0.1°C against minus 0.2°C on the earlier night at Pahalgam, the famous resort in south Kashmir.
Kokernag, also in south Kashmir, recorded a low of 6.0°C against previous night’s 4.3°C, the official said.
The minimum temperature settled at 5.3°C in Kupwara against 2.8°C on the previous night, the official said.
Gulmarg recorded minimum temperature of 2.0°C against minus 0.5°C on the previous night, the official said. The temperature at the world famous skiing resort which received nearly 3ft fresh snowfall last week is 4.3°C normal for this time of the year, the official said.
The weather office has already issued an advisory regarding widespread rain or snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir.
“In quick succession, two Western Disturbances are most likely to affect J&&K and adjoining areas from 21st March (afternoon),” Dr Mukhtar Ahmad, Sc-C Director/LACD said in an advisory addressed to Divisional Commissioners of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh.
“Under the influence of these weather systems, widespread moderate rain/snow is expected in Jammu, Kashmir and light rain/ snow at a few places of Ladakh region on 21st March. (There is) Possibility of thunder/ lightning with hail and gusty winds (30-40 KMPH) at isolated places in Janimu division,” reads the advisory.
Another western disturbance is most likely to affect J&K and neighbourhood from March 22 afternoon with its peak intensity during 22nd night to 23rd night and gradual decrease thereafter, the advisory reads further.
“The system is most likely to cause heavy rain/snow mainly in upper reaches of Kashmir (Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Baramulla, Bandipora (Gurez & Tulail Valley) and Kupwara (Karnah Sector), Shopian, Qazigund-Banihal axis. Pirpanjal Range of Jammu Division, Drass (Gumri & Minamurg) and Zanskar subdivision of ladakh.”
As per the advisory, the probable impacts include “temporary” disruption of surface traffic mainly on Jammu-Srinagar/Srinagar-Leh Highway, Mughal road and other major roads.
There is possibility of landslides and shooting stones in vulnerable spots of Jammu- Srinagar and Srinagar-Leh Highway, it says.
Impacts also include temporary water logging in low lying areas and dip in day temperature.
“Suspend / avoid agricultural and horticultural operations (fertilizer and chemical spray) and drain out excess water.”
Separately, in a daily statement about the forecast, the meteorological department issued a “yellow warning” for isolated thunder/hail/ gusty winds of 30-40 kmph in Kashmir as well as Jammu divisions on March 21 and 22. However, for March 23, the weatherman has issued ‘amber warning’ for “scattered heavy rain/snow/thunder/lightning” with likely disruption in Surface traffic Jammu-Srinagar highway and Srinagar-Leh highway due to landslides and water logging in low laying area.”
On March 24, there is no warning but the weatherman said that there may be disruption in surface traffic on both highways due to landslides.”
There are four types colour codes signifying the level of caution: green which means no action, yellow—situation to be watched), amber –government agencies need to be prepared for severe weather and red –action needed by the agencies. (GNS)
89 NIT Srinagar students qualify GATE exam
Srinagar: At least 89 students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar have qualified Graduate Aptitude Test For Engineering (GAT)-2021 examination of which the results were declared on Saturday.
According to the statement issued here on Sunday, out of total of 212 students who appeared in GATE examinations at NIT Srinagar, 89 have qualified the examinations with good ranks.
The figures included 35 students of Civil Engineering, 14 in Engineering Services Examination, 12 Mechanical, 11 in Electrical Engineering, 8 in Information Technology, 4 in Chemical Engineering, 4 in Computer Science & Engineering and 01 from Metallurgical and Materials Engineering department have qualified for the GATE exams.
Director NIT Srinagar, Prof Dr Rakesh Sehgal has expressed gratitude to the qualifiers and congratulated them on their success.
“The faculty in NIT is working for the students. They will not leave any stone unturned for the overall development of students. It is a proud movement for the NIT Srinagar and we will continue this dedication in future also,” he said.
Dr Sehgal urged students to make the best possible use of available resources. He also appreciated the tireless effort of faculty members.
“Despite COVID-19 challenges, NIT Srinagar did not allow students to suffer academics. We taught students online as well as offline classes,” he said.
Registrar NIT Srinagar, Prof Kaiser Bukhari also extended warm greetings to the qualifiers and urged them to work hard to achieve success.
“It is proud movement for the institute. There is no second option to hard work. I advise them to serve the society dedicatedly and selflessly,” he said.
On Saturday, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay declared the result of the GATE in which 7,11,542 appeared out of which 1,26,813 candidates have qualified for the prestigious exam across India.
