Umar Raina
Ganderbal, Jan 25: In a tragic incident, a woman died after hearing the news about her brother’s death here in central Kashmir on Sunday.
Both the brother and the sister were laid to rest in the same graveyard.
Sources told KNT that Abdul Samad Khanday, of Shallabugh area in Ganderbal District had fallen unconscious at his home on Friday afternoon.
He was rushed to SKIMS Soura where he died today. When his body was brought to his home for last rites, his sister suffered a massive heart attack.
She was shifted to nearby hospital where doctors declared her brought dead.

Srinagar, Jan 24: The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has produced charge-sheet against the then Executive Officer (EO) of Municipal Committee (MC) Achabal, Anantnag and others for abuse of official position and regularising non-deserving daily wagers and Contingent Paid Workers (CPWs) in the Court of Special Judge Anti-Corruption Anantnag.
A spokesman of the ACB said that ACB produced chargesheet in the case against the then EO MC Achabal, Imtiyaz Ahmad, the then Junior Assistant (Establishment clerk), Kousar Ahmad, the then Junior Assistant (Dispatch Clerk) Gulzar Ahmad, and the then Daily Wager in Municipal Committee Achabal, Bashir Ahmad, in the Court of Special Judge Anti-Corruption Anantnag.
He said a case was registered by ACB on the outcome of the enquiry conducted on the allegations that the EO MC Achabal in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy hatched with other officials in connivance with the accused beneficiaries have illegally, fraudulently and without the competence regularised non-deserving daily wagers and CPW’s.
Accused officers and officials of MC Achabal in order to bestow undue benefits to non-deserving beneficiaries have violated the service conduct rules and have set aside the seniority list. They regularised 12 non-deserving daily wagers and CPW’s and casual labourers ignoring the deserving persons.
He said this caused loss of Rs 1,86,004 to the state exchequer by way of drawing a salary of 12 illegally regularised beneficiaries. Accordingly, the case was registered by VOK and investigation was taken up.
During the course of an investigation, it was established that the guidelines regarding norms/provision for regularisation of CPW’s and casual labours as provided SRO 64 of Finance Department, were violated which corroborated the fact of abuse of official position by accused public servants.
He said it was proved that the then executive officer with the active connivance of other officials have regularised 12 daily rated workers (most of them undeserved) illegally and without competence by abusing his official position. It was established that neither any screening committee was physically constituted nor was any recommendation list prepared/submitted by the said committee thereof.
All the accused persons were presented before the court for further legal action after obtaining sanction for prosecution from the government, he said adding the case is next listed for 3-3-2021.

Agencies
London, Jan 24: One of England’s leading medical officers on Sunday urged the public to continue to follow the strict lockdown rules because any vaccine-related immunity from COVID-19 takes at least three weeks to kick in.
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, also warned that there is no clear evidence yet to show that vaccinated people cannot transmit the deadly virus on to others.
“Regardless of whether someone has had their vaccination or not, it is vital that everyone follows the national restrictions and public health advice, as protection takes up to three weeks to kick in and we don’t yet know the impact of vaccines on transmission,” said Prof. Van-Tam.
His warning comes as the UK registered another high daily death toll from the virus of 1,348 this weekend, taking the country’s total to 97,329.
However, he pointed to an additional 32 vaccination sites coming on stream to add to the thousands of venues where the National Health Service (NHS) has been delivering 140 jabs a minute, taking the vaccinated total to over 5.8 million.
“The vaccine is rightly something to celebrate – let’s stay patient, stay at home and support the NHS as it continues to roll out the vaccine,” he said.
A Living Museum where the BBC filmed a hit drama series ‘Peaky Blinders’ based on the notorious Birmingham gang in the 1920s is among the new vaccine sites.
A former IKEA store at the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, London, the Francis Crick Institute, which is also in the UK capital, the Nightingale Hospital in Sunderland and the Blackpool Winter Gardens will also be new vaccination centres.
The latest openings mean there will be a network of almost 50 across the country, adding to options alongside hospitals, pharmacies and general practice (GP) surgeries.
“Through the vaccines delivery plan, we have made outstanding progress in vaccinating our NHS and care staff and the most vulnerable people in society,” said U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
“We must not drop our guard. While the vaccine can prevent severe disease, we do not know if it stops you from passing on the virus to others, and it takes time to develop immunity after a jab, so for now everyone must continue to stay at home to help bring down infections and protect the NHS,” he said.
The NHS said the new vaccine centres will each be capable of delivering thousands of jabs each week, scaling up and down according to vaccine supplies and demand.
People eligible in the priority criteria of over-80s, followed by over-70s, care home workers and staff as well as frontline workers, are being invited when it is their turn and people are being urged not to just turn up.
“These new centres provide another option for people invited for their jabs, alongside the fantastic work of local GPs,” said Professor Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director.
Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi added: “As of next week there will be almost 50 vaccination centres, more than 250 hospitals hubs and over 1,000 local vaccination service sites, run by GPs and pharmacies right across the country.
“This will enable us to vaccinate as many people as possible in the weeks and months to come and I encourage anyone who has been invited for a free vaccine to come forward and get a jab.” The NHS said its new Vaccination Centres will kick off by jabbing mainly health and social care staff from Monday before opening their doors to more patients on Tuesday.

Agencies
Uttarakhand, Jan 24: Shrishti Goswami, a 19-year-old girl, was designated as one-day Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on the occasion of National Girl Child day on Sunday.
Speaking on the development, Goswami’s elated parents said, “Today we feel very proud, every daughter can achieve a milestone, we just need to support them. We want to thank the government a lot for considering our daughter worthy of this.”
“Never stop supporting your daughters. In today’s time, daughters can achieve everything. This should be an example for everyone. If she can achieve this milestone, every other daughter is capable of doing so. We are thankful to Trivendra Singh Rawat for giving Srishti this opportunity,” said Praveen Puri, Srishti Goswami’s father.
Talking about the opportunity, Srishti Goswami said, “I am happy that I have got the privilege of becoming the Chief Minister on National Girl Child Day. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. Also, I will be going through the presentations of various departments and will present my suggestions to them. My suggestions will prioritise girl child-centric issues.”
The government, in 2008 declared January 24 to be celebrated as the National Girl Child Day every year with the objective of raising the consciousness of the society towards the girl child so that she can be valued and respected.

Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, Jan 24: The BJP on Sunday slammed Congress for spreading rumours on Covid-19 vaccine.
A one-day BJP party convention was held at party office at Poonch today. In this meeting, BJP district office bearers, Mandal presidents, BJP morcha presidents and senior leaders participated and resolved for further strengthening the party at ground level.
Addressing the party workers, BJP General Secretary and former MLC Vibodh Gupta said the global community is hailing India’s global vaccination drive under the visionary leadership of PM Narendra Modi.
“In these challenging times India has given direction and panacea to the world by gifting Covid vaccine to various countries. The countries aided by India’s vaccination programme included Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Mauritius,Seychelles etc. He strongly asserted that India emerged as ‘Vishwa Guru’ in fighting battle against Covid_19 which is a matter of pride for all Indians.”
Vibodh slammed Congress for spreading rumours on Covid vaccination programme in India and urged various political parties to unite to win a decisive battle against the pandemic.
He said the world has joined hands to overcome these humanitarian crisis but misleading statements from some senior Congress leaders are disappointing and unfortunate.

Precious Kashmir News
Kathua, Jan 24: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar Sunday conducted extensive tour of Basohli where he inspected public health facilities at Sub District Hospital besides took on spot appraisal of several ongoing development projects.
At Sub District Hospital, Basohli, the Advisor took round of different wards, Operation Theatre, Laboratory sections and inspected other facilities being provided at the hospital. The Advisor also interacted with doctors and other para medical staff of the hospital and commended them for their dedicated services during the pandemic.
While inspecting the hospital building, the Advisor directed XEN PWD Basohli for undertaking necessary renovation works at the hospital building beside developing other required infrastructure. He noted the requirement of the Blood Bank for the SDH and also inspected the COVID vaccination centre.
He also inspected the ongoing works at 100 bedded Girls Hostel coming up with an estimated cost of Rs. 254 lakh taken up by Public Works Department. He directed the concerned executing agency to expedite the pace of work and stressed on them to complete the project by March 2021.
Later, Bhatnagar also visited Government Degree College Basohli, Model Higher Secondary Basohli and Jawahar Navodaya Vidayala Basohli and enquired about the status of infrastructure and faculty position of these institutions besides inspecting other facilities at these institutions.
Taking note of the scarcity of drinking water at Jawahar Navodya Vidyalaya, the Advisor directed the officers of Jal Shakti Department to resolve the issue on priority.
Speaking on the occasion, the Advisor said that the present dispensation is very keen to develop tourist infrastructure in areas having good potential to attract tourists.
He said multiple efforts have been put to develop Basohli as a key tourist destination. “With the coming up more infrastructure and facilities for tourists, Basohli will be a key tourist destination in days to come”.