Agencies
Udhampur, Jan 12: Breaking the stereotypes, 21-year-old Banjeet Kaur from Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir is driving an auto-rickshaw to help her father to earn living.
“My father was a school bus driver but he lost his job as the schools remain closed due to COVID-19. He started driving auto-rickshaw but he was not able to earn sufficient. So I stepped-in,” Banjeet said.
Banjeet said that she is continuing her studies too as she wants to join the defence. “I am a second-year student and driving auto-rickshaw is like a part-time job,” she said.
“We girls should be ready for every situation,” she added.
Her sister Davinder Kaur is happy that Banjeet drives as she is able to impact the lives of many.
“I too know how to drive,” Davinder said.
“The girls can excel in every field. They can choose their profession depending on their will,” said Sardar Gorakh Singh, father of Banjeet.
“After I lost my job during the lockdown, my daughters asked me to teach them to drive auto-rickshaw. I supported them,” he added.
“Girls like Banjeet Kaur, who is driving auto-rickshaw to support her father, is an example for society,” said Rachana Sharma, Assistant Regional Transport Officer (ARTO), Udhampur.
“When I was transferred as ARTO at Udhampur, I started a campaign called ‘Girls can drive’ under which several girls were trained to drive,” Rachana added.

Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, Jan 12: After the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the poultry industry in Jammu and Kashmir, the industry is now reeling under the threat of the bird flu infection.
People associated with the industry said that despite banning of the entry of any poultry product into J&K not a single case has been reported here, while most people have left consumption of chicken and other poultry products.
Bano Pratap, owner of Prem poultry in Jammu said the unrest created by the bird flu in various states of India is badly hitting the industry.
He said that rumours of bird flu in Jammu and Kashmir have reduced the number of customers by around 60 per cent.
“We have suffered huge losses during Covid-19 lockdown, even now we are unable to pay rent to shop owners, Pratap said, adding that, the government must inform people that no case of flu has been reported in J&K and consumption of poultry products is safe.
The owners of hotels and restaurants in different areas of Jammu and Kashmir also said that despite no cases in J&K, people have stopped eating poultry products which resulted in the reduction of over 50 per cent work.
Ishfaq Ahmad a poultry dealer from Pulwama said that most traders associated with poultry have themselves stopped selling poultry products after there was no demand for them.
“I used to sell at least 2 to 3 thousand chicken on daily basis days to traders but from last few days there is no demand for poultry products,” he said. “We have already suffered huge losses in last two years, we can’t bear any more losses.”
Doctors and experts in J&K have also advised people not to use raw products of poultry as a precautionary measure—(KNO)

Bhat Imran
Srinagar, Jan 12: The government is all set to implement the 2015 transfer policy in the School Education Department (SED) with different priorities of the employees for teaching and non-teaching staff in the department.
In this regard, Administrative Secretary to Government for School Education Department, B K Singh issued a circular stating that the teachers posted at one place for seven years or more, and ‘someone in the category of hard area or very hard area, disability based, spouse request for transfer shall be considered favorably.
“In case of any teachers’ with safety and security issues, certified by ADG (Security, CID), will be considered or top priority,” the government said.
It also said that in pursuing a transfer for a place, teachers having a disability with 40 percent will first to be considered against that place or the vacancy.
According to the government, the decision was taken in view of receipt of a large number of representation from the teaching community.
“It is deemed proper to issue guidelines for considering the genuine request of all the concerned in a given time frame accordingly, both the directorates are instructed to initiate transfer drive 2021 as per transfer policy 2015,” reads the circular.
The government also said that in case of Director Kashmir and Director Jammu all cases will be processed between Feb-1.to 15 and the tentative list will be placed on the website on Feb-16 for one week.
Then the final list will be prepared, however, individual orders will be issued as per final list.
Singh in the circular also said that those who are not able to get transfer as per their request may be permitted to seek transfer again for the resultant vacancies after publication of above mentioned transfer list.
“In case of a teacher being at one place for a long time like 7 yrs and more, and someone in the category of hard area, very hard area, disability based, spouse request for transfer it shall be considered favorably,” he said.
The third priority according to the government will be for teachers having extreme health conditions endangering their life. However, a medical certificate from the Medical board in prescribed Proforma will be considered.
“Fourth priority will be those who are posted in very hard areas and they may be considered as per their tenure in that post. Fifth priority will be for those who are posted in hard areas and they may be considered as per their tenure in that post,” it reads.
The circular states that the sixth priority will be those who are seeking transfer on marriage ground—(KNO)

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Jan 12: The drivers stranded along Srinagar—Jammu highway for the past four days on Tuesday rued lack of facilities alleging that the administration seems to have forgotten them.
The drivers said that they are stuck along the highway following the damage to the bridge along the highway at Kela Morh in Ramban district for the past four days.
Pertinently, the highway will continue to remain closed till Saturday, officials have stated.
“We are stuck along the road from past four days, but no arrangements have been made for them by the administration,” one of the drivers said.
Srinagar—Jammu, the only road connecting Kashmir with rest of the world, remained closed after sudden collapsing of the retaining wall of a bridge at Kela Morh, Ramban.
It will take at least five days to repair the damaged bridge as stated by NHAI, officials said—(KNO)

Srinagar, Jan 12: Roads to several far-flung and remote villages, including border town of Machil, reopened on Tuesday after remaining closed for eight days due to slippery road conditions and accumulation of snow.
However, the border town of Gurez and its adjoining areas, remained cutoff from rest of the valley since January 1.
Meanwhile, one-way traffic was plying normally on Kupwara-Karnah and Kupwara-Keran roads, which was reopened on Sunday and Monday respectively, after remaining closed since last week due to heavy snowfall.
“Traffic has been restored to the border town of Machil and its adjoining areas after clearance of several feet of snow,” an official of Police Control Room (PCR), Kupwara, told UNI.
He said vehicles were plying on Kupwara-Keran road only till Munden, which is few kms from the main town. “The snow clearance operation to restore traffic till Keran town was going on war footing,” he added.
“One-way traffic on Kupwara-Karnah road was also plying normally. The border town was reconnected with district headquarters on Sunday after clearance of snow from the road, including Sadhna top, which was under 5 feet of snow,” he said.
An official of Police Control Room (PCR) from Bandipora told UNI that Bandipora-Gurez road remained closed for traffic since January 1. “Razdan pass, connecting Gurez, Neeru and dozens of other areas near LoC with district headquarters Bandipora, received over 2.5 feet of fresh snowfall last week,” he said.
He said the traffic to the border town has been suspended till further orders.
Official sources said that dozens of villages in Tulail tehsil continue to remain cut off from Gurez town due to snowfall. “About 50 small and big villages remained cutoff from Dawar in Gurez due to three to four feet of snow from last over a week,” they added.

‘PAGD crumbling sooner than expected’
Abid Bashir
Jammu, Jan 12: Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari Tuesday urged the Prime Minister Narendera Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to fulfill the promise of granting statehood status to erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir stating that the Government of India should also announce an “unemployment package” for the swelling number of unemployed youth of UT.
Addressing a press conference in Jammu, Bukhari said Apni Party got 5.5 vote share in the recently concluded DDC polls adding that the Apni Party re-started politics after the August 5, 2019 decision of 2019.
“We met PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and discussed the 17 point agenda. Today, we urge the PM and the HM to fulfill the promise they made on the floor of the house and restore statehood to J&K,” Bukhari said.
While welcoming the new industrial package, he said that old industries should also be covered under the new package. “There are many youths who are still behind the bars, they should be released. Security situation has improved. Misguided youth are returning. Let there be an unemployment pension package at the rate of Rs 10,000 per youth, a month,” he said adding, “There are seven lakh unemployed youth in J&K. We buy missiles worth billions of rupees, can’t there be an unemployment package.”
To a query about PAGD, he said it was an alliance of the politicians for the politicians to show a new face to the people. “It was expected to crumble, but it crumbled before we expected it to fall,” he said.
Bukhari said that administration in J&K got buried under a few inches of snow and the Srinagar-Jammu highway closure has added to the misery of the people of UT.
“Earlier, we used to witness the highway closure once a month, now the situation has reached a point where high remains blocked for the entire month almost,” he said.
“GoI must send a fact finding team to J&K to get the real situation on ground. Nothing is good on the ground. Administration is defunct and there is no development taking place anywhere. Let a team assess the ground situation beyond the computerized representations,” Bukhari said. “There are no milk streams flowing in J&K as being projected wrongly by some quarters.”

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Jan 12: The online test for the candidates who missed the ongoing J&K Bank Banking Associate examination due to extreme weather on January 3, 5 and 9 shall be held again.
The decision comes after J&K Bank Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) R K Chhibber requested the authorities at Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), Recruitment Agency to consider re-examination of the candidates who couldn’t make it to their allotted centres due to extreme weather conditions in the UT of J&K on 3rd, 5th and 9th January 2021.
The aspirants shall be required to submit their willingness to appear in the test. The link for the willingness is available on Bank’s website till 13th of January, 2021 midnight. Once the willingness is submitted, fresh call letters can be downloaded from the Bank’s website from 15th of January 2021.
IBPS along with its technical partner Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) taking cognizance of circumstances have acceded to the request made by the Bank to hold the exams for the said candidates. However, IBPS has made it clear that they shall treat the matter as one-time exception and won’t be entertaining any such request in the future as a number of exams i.e. railways, public sector banks etc. are going on and no centre is available with them for the next few months.
“As already reiterated J&K Bank has only observatory role in these exams and that these exams are being conducted by IBPS. We were receiving lot of requests from candidates who couldn’t make it to the centres due to harsh weather conditions, for conducting a re-examination. In order to make sure that the candidates are given a fair chance to take the test for which they had been preparing hard, we requestedIBPS for re-examinations for such candidates, and, thankfully IBPS along with its technical partner TCS have obliged despite their tight schedule with almost all their slots occupied for next five months,” the CMD said.
“Lot of people wanted the examination to be cancelled due to harsh weather, but I must clarify that cancellation or re-examination is not our domain as it is a discretion with IBPS, an independent agency and that too depends upon their regulatory norms and availability of centres. We are happy now, the candidates can appear in the examinations again which augurs well for the overall competition and leaves no scope for missed opportunities.” the CMD said.

Precious Kashmir News

Jammu, Jan 12: The Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board (JKSSB) Tuesday convened 178th Board meeting under the chairmanship of its Chairman, Khalid Jahangir to consider various matters pertaining to withheld recommendation, court cases, cancellation of selections and release of selection list for various posts.

The meeting was attended by Board members including Mohammad Shafiq Chak, Nazir Ahmad Khwaja, Pritamlal Atri, Harvinder Kour and Ashiq Hussain Lily, Controller of Examination, Musheer Ahmed Mirza and Secretary Sachin Jamwal while Special Secretary, Law, Jang Bahadur, Deputy Secretary, Vinay Khosla and other officers also assisted the Board in the meeting.

The meeting had detailed discussion on various issues relating to withheld recommendation cases of Divisional Cadre (Jammu /Kashmir), District Cadres (Jammu/ Kashmir and PM Package migrants), pending selection list for certain posts, returning of unfilled posts to concerned Indenting Departments, various pending legal cases in the form of writ petitions and original applications (OA) filed before the CAT and the Board took appropriate decisions on these important matters.

It was decided in the meeting to release withheld recommendation in respect of 28 candidates relating to  various posts. Besides, 14 cases were deferred for re-examination due to qualification related issues and other deficiencies.

Moreover, the Board also decided to reject the candidature of 15 candidates due to non-possession of requisite prescribed qualification/ eligibility criteria on or before the prescribed Cut-off date. It also approved empanelment of agency pursuant to transparent online bidding process for developing Web Portal for accepting online application forms for various notifications of J&K SSB.

Apart from this, the Board approved selection of 57 candidates for various posts advertised at different points of time and also decided to return 13 posts to the Indenting Department due to non-availability of eligible candidates against the said advertised posts. In addition, 09 court cases were also deliberated upon during the meeting and appropriate decisions in light of the directions of Courts were taken for timely disposal by the Board.

Ex-branch manager Cooperative Bank Mendhar arrested
M S Nazki
Poonch, Jan 12: Former Branch Manager Mendhar, Jammu Central Corporative Bank, has been arrested by police for alleged misappropriation of public money to the tune of approximately Rs 3 crores.
The former Branch Manager Abdul Karim of Uchad Mendhar was arrested after a complaint against him by one (name withheld) from Thera Mendhar that money deposited by him with the bank has not been deposited in his account, officials said. Soon, many other complaints were received by the police, the officials added.
In-charge Bank manager, Subash Chander said approximately Rs 3 crores have been misappropriated.
SHO Mendhar Manzoor Kohli said that case (FIR No 4) under section 420 and 109 IPC at Police Station Mendhar. He said that former chairman Abdul Karim, who retired on December 31 last, has been arrested and further investigations are going on. “Many other employees of the bank including those who have retired or are in service are on the police radar,” he said. (GNS)