Precious Kashmir

R-Day Function: LG to take salute in Jammu, Advisor Baseer in Srinagar

Front

09/01/2021

Nadeem Nadu
Srinagar, Jan 8: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha will be presiding over January 26 function and take salute at Jammu and his advisor, Baseer Ahmad Khan, at Srinagar.

The main function will be presided over by Lieutenant Governor at M.A Stadium Jammu. While Baseer Ahmad Khan will oversee the function at Srinagar, Deputy Commissioners’ of respective districts will preside over the officials functions’ at respective district headquarters.
BDC Chairpersons’ will oversee the functions at respective Block headquarters, President Municipal Council Committees at respective Municipal headquarters and Tehsildar/Senior most civil officer at respective Tehsil headquarters wherever BDC Chairperson is not available. (GNS)

Army to evacuate Lower Plateau Kargil in 6 months

Front

Precious Kashmir

09/01/2021

Precious Kashmir News
Kargil, Jan 8: In a historic development, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the LAHDC Kargil and the Army to evacuate the Kargil Lower Plateau.
The MoU was signed between the Deputy Commissioner and CEO,LAHDC,Kargil Baseer ul Haq Choudhary on behalf of the LAHDC, Kargil and Brigade Commander, 121 Infantry Division Brigadier Vivek Bakshi on behalf of the Army in presence of the Chairman and Chief Executive Councilor,LAHDC, Kargil Feroz Ahmad Khan and the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 8 Mountain Division Major General Praveen Kumar Airy, AVSM.
As per the MoU, substitute land shall be provided to the Army near Maratha Unit Kurbathang and Mulbekh area.
An official statement reads that the MoU also outlines that the Army shall complete the process of evacuation within 6 months time.
The CEC, LAHDC, Kargil and the GOC, 8 Mountain Division said that it is a land mark decision which was a long pending demand of the people of Kargil and will pave way for the establishment of a new and well planned township in Kargil with all modern amenities under Smart City Project—(KNO)

Dozens of remote areas remain cutoff in north Kashmir

Jammu & Kashmir

United News Of India

09/01/2021

Srinagar, Jan 8: People continued to suffer as dozens of far-flung and remote villages — including border towns of Keran, Karnah, Machil and Tanghdar — remained cutoff for the fifth successive day on Friday due accumulation of several feet of snow.
Meanwhile, traffic to the border town of Gurez and dozens of other far-flung villages, including those near the Line of Control (LOC), remained suspended for the sixth successive day from rest of the valley due to slippery road conditions and accumulation of snow.
“Traffic remained suspended to dozens of far-flung and remote villages, including Kernah, Keran, Machil and Tanghdar, due to accumulation of several feet of snow,” an official of Police Control Room (PCR), Kupwara, told UNI.
He said Sadhna top is under about 5 feet of snowfall while Phirkiyan pass and Z-gali received about 2 to 3 feet of snowfall earlier this week. “Snow clearance operation has been started following improvement in the weather,” he said.
However, he said the snow clearance operation will take time as the snow has frozen due to sub-zero temperature, making it difficult to put through traffic to these areas anytime sooner. “Traffic will be resumed to these areas only after clearance of the road and getting a green signal from officials deployed on the ground,” he added.
An official of Police Control Room (PCR) from Bandipora said Gurez remained closed for traffic for the sixth successive day on Friday. “Razdan pass, connecting Gurez, Neeru and dozens of other areas near LoC with district headquarters Bandipora, received over 2.5 feet of fresh snowfall this week,” he said.
He, however, said it was not immediately clear if the snow clearance operation has been started as there was no contact with the official at Gurez, which remains cutoff from rest of the valley during winter months.

UT cadre to offer JK wider choice of officers: Jitendra

National

Agencies

09/01/2021

Agencies
New Delhi, Jan 8: Senior J&K BJP leader and Union Minister MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh Friday said UT cadre will offer Jammu & Kashmir wider choice of officers to choose from because there is going to be a much larger pool of All India Service officers, including IAS officers, for posting in the two newly created Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
Talking to Doordarshan on the implications of the government order merging the J&K cadre of All India Services into the AGMUT cadre, Singh said, “J&K will now be getting its officers from the common cadre available for the three States of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram as well as all the Union Territories of India”.
“As a result of this, the officers from J&K can now be moved seamlessly in and out of J&K among the different Union Territories of India as well as the three States of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Mizoram. Such an arrangement often tends to bring in more accountability in the conduct and performance of officers,” he said.
Singh disclosed that bringing in another reform, the DoPT has also done away with the UPA regime order whereby J&K used to have directly appointed IAS officers vis-a-vis IAS officers inducted from the State KAS in the ratio of 50:50, which was in contrast to the ratio of around 67:33 maintained in other State/UT cadres of the country whereby over 67% IAS officers are the ones who have been directly selected into IAS through All India Civil Services Exam.
As a result of this earlier arrangement, he said, the number of directly inducted IAS officers was much lower in Jammu & Kashmir whereas a large number of IAS officers were those who had been inducted into IAS from the State KAS services. “Now, with the introduction of the same ratio in J&K as is prevalent elsewhere, this anomaly will also stand corrected to a large extent and the composition of IAS services in J&K will be the same as elsewhere”.
“After the creation of Union Territory following the abrogation of Article 370, the merger of J&K cadre into AGMUT cadre was a natural corollary and would further carry forward the process of total integration of J&K with the mainstream India,” added Singh.

14-year-old PaK boy, who crossed LoC by mistake, sent home: Army

Jammu & Kashmir

Precious Kashmir

09/01/2021

Jammu, Jan 8: A14-year-old boy who had crossed over to this side of Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir on December 31 from was handed over to the Pakistan Army on January 8.
Ali Haider, a resident of Mirpur in PaK, had inadvertently crossed over the Line of Control (LoC) on December 31. He inadvertently crossed the LoC near Rangar Nala in Poonch on December 31, 2020.
Jammu-based Defence spokesman said the boy seemed innocent and was immediately provided with clothing, food and shelter .
“On January 3, a request was quickly made to Pakistan authorities to repatriate him on humanitarian grounds. Pakistan Authorities were also reminded of our earlier request to repatriate an Indian boy named Mohammed Shabir, who had inadvertently crossed over to Pakistan from the Poonch sector on December 24, 2020,” he said.
The spokesman said Pakistan authorities finally accepted the proposal on January 6.
“With the support of J&K Police and Civil administration, Ali Haider was repatriated to Pakistan via Poonch Rawalakot Crossing Point. Pakistan authorities also handed over Mohammed Shabir after 16 days of staying in Pakistan custody,” he added.

Tourists seen clearing roads

City

Precious Kashmir

08/01/2021

Owais Gul
Srinagar, Jan 08: Much to the embarrassment of administration, the tourists who had visited Kashmir on New Year eve were seen clearing the roads after heavy snowfall in Dalgate locality of Srinagar.
A number of tourists were seen clearing the roads by shovels and other equipment in Koni Khan locality of Dalgate.
The tourists said the failure of administration in clearing the snow has compelled them to come out and clear the roads on their own. “Our vehicles were stuck in heavy snowfall and nobody bothered to take care of tourists present here and thus left us to lurch at large,” one of the tourists said.
Manju Agarwal, a domestic tourist said that her family especially children are facing immense hardships as they are finding it tough to come out to have meals outside amid the accumulation of snow on the roads.
“We have been in Kashmir for the last eight days. In the starting four days, we enjoyed a lot but after that we faced a lot of hardships as nobody bothered to even clear the snow from our roads here from the hotel. Besides, we are not getting even water supply as well,” she said accompanied by her family members.
“The administration besides failing to clear snowfall, has not come up with any guidelines for the tourists and also didn’t check the tickets being sold in black amid closure of the road,” she said.
She said they approached the tourist police as well, but they also failed to pay any heed to their sufferings.
Moreover, the tourists hailed the hoteliers and houseboat owners for opening their respective hotels and houseboats for the stranded tourists and said that people here are quite helpful, but the administration has left them disappointed—(KNO)

Govt regularizes 33 incharge CEOs as regular officers

Jammu & Kashmir

Precious Kashmir

08/01/2021

Bhat Imran
Srinagar, Jan 8: The Jammu and Kashmir School Education Department has regularized 33 In-Charge Chief Education Officers (CEOs) as regular Officers.
Administrative Secretary to government for School Education Department, B K Singh in an order stated that the sanction was accorded to the regularization of In-Charge CEOss as regular CEOs.
“On the recommendations of the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) constituted, sanction is hereby accorded to the regularization of In-Charge Chief Education Officer as Chief Education Officers in the relevant pay scale, as revised from time to time, with effect from the dates indicated against each,” Singh said.
He said that the regularization is without prejudice to the outcome of any writ petition pending in any competent court (s) of law or any case pending vigilance or Crime Branch.
Stating the conditions of the regularization, Singh said that the Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDO’s) shall take an undertaking from the concerned Officer in the shape of an affidavit duly attested by the 1st Class Magistrate.
Singh said that that if his or her service particulars PG Certificate is found fake or forged or tempered or issued by un-recognized University or the course is proved as un-recognized at a later stage, he or she shall have no claim for the regularization and the regularization order issued in his or her favour be treated as cancelled without further notice.
“The DDO’s concerned will obtain LPC and other related details above from the DDO’s of their parent offices before fixing the pay of these officers in the relevant pay scales as revised from time to time,” it reads—(KNO)

Snowfall Aftermath:SMC, R&B fail to clear roads; Power Deptt leads from front

Anchor stories

Afaq Bhat

07/01/2021

Snowfall Aftermath:SMC, R&B fail to clear roads; Power Deptt leads from front

Rohit Kansal hails field staff, says department had made preparations in advance
Afaq Bhat
Srinagar, Jan 7: Kashmir witnessing a heavy snowfall exposed the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), Road and Buildings and Mechanical Engineering Department (MED) as these departments failed to clear the roads but the Power Department led from the front as the officials ensured that electricity is not disrupted.
The SMC has been struggling to put its act together since Tuesday after the snowfall stopped. Even now, many roads and by lanes are blocked as the snow has not been cleared.
“It is embarrassing to see the SMC men clearing snow with shovels,” Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu told a news conference at his office here.
Mattu admitted that SMC and other two departments clearing the snow on roads could have done better. He urged Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to ascertain why the situation turned ugly on the ground following heavy snowfall. “I respect LG as he believes in delivering. I will also write a letter to him to ascertain why it took a long to clear the snow on roads,” he said.
However, Power Department on the other hand didn’t allow heavy snowfall to disrupt the electricity.
Talking to Precious Kashmir, Principal Secretary, Power Department, Rohit Kansal lauded the hard work of the department’s field staff and gave full credit to them for keeping Kashmir illuminated during the snowfall. “We had made preparations well in advance to tackle the weather vagaries. We had ensured that branch cutting of trees is done before the winter commences. We had kept buffer stock of transformers available. Even if the disruptions occurred at few places the power was restored within six hours,” Kansal said.
The Principal Secretary said that divisional works of the Power Department were activated well in advance. “We could provide electricity to the people due to the homework which we had done much before the snow could arrive,” Kansal added.
An observer said, “It’s for the first time in the past so many years that electricity didn’t betray the people of Kashmir amidst heavy snowfall. Power Department deserves all the credit for it.”
He said, “But the road clearance operations not taking place at a fast pace disappointed people. As on date many link roads are still blocked and people have been confined within their homes.”
“The speed at which the roads are being cleared it appears that it may take many days for people to come out and resume their daily chores. The administration should take a note of the hardships being faced by the people and send the snow cutting machines in the areas which continue to remain inaccessible,” he added.

Rs 28,400 cr New Industrial Development Scheme to employ 4.5 lakh: LG Sinha

Front

Precious Kashmir

07/01/2021

Rs 28,400 cr New Industrial Development Scheme to employ 4.5 lakh: LG Sinha

Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, Jan 7: In a major decision of far reaching consequence, the Union Government has approved the new Industrial Developmental Scheme for Jammu and Kashmir.
The scheme will go a long way in ushering an era of socio-economic development of the region as also catering to the aspirations of people.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday morning, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha visualised the scheme as a major push to the economy of the region and providing huge opportunities of employment to the people of J&K.
The main purpose of the scheme is to generate employment beyond government jobs in both manufacturing and service sectors which directly leads to the socio-economic development of the region.
The scheme is being implemented with the vision that industry and service led development of J&K needs to be given a fresh thrust with emphasis on job creation, skill development and sustainable development by attracting new investment and nurturing the existing ones. It will provide a major support to local industry, besides creation of new business opportunities, the Lt Governor observed.
The scheme is approved with a total outlay of Rs 28,400 crore up to the year 2037.
He said that the incentives would be available under the scheme including capital Investment Incentive at the rate of 30 per cent in Zone A and 50 per cent in Zone B on investment made in Plant & Machinery (in manufacturing) or construction of building and other durable physical assets (in service sector) will be made available. Units with an investment up to Rs 50 crore will be eligible to avail this incentive. Maximum limit of incentive is Rs 5 crore and Rs 7.5 crore in Zone A and Zone B, respectively.
“At the annual rate of 6 per cent for maximum 7 years on loan amount up to Rs 500 crore for investment in plant and machinery (in manufacturing) or construction of building and all other durable physical assets (in service sector),” he said adding that financial incentive based on Gross GST. This will incentivise output up to 300 percent of the eligible value of actual investment made in plant and machinery (in manufacturing) or construction in building and all other durable physical assets (in service sector) for 10 years.
However, he said that the amount of incentive in a financial year will not exceed one-tenth of the total eligible amount of incentive.
He said that all existing units at the annual rate of 5 percent for maximum 5 years. Maximum limit of incentive is Rs 1 crore.

Briefing on key features of the scheme, the LG said, “scheme is made attractive for both smaller and larger units. Smaller units with an investment in plant and machinery upto Rs. 50 crore will get a capital incentive up to Rs. 7.5 crore and get capital interest subvention at the rate of 6% for maximum 7 years.”
He added that the scheme aims to take industrial development to the block level in UT of J&K, which is the first time in any Industrial Incentive Scheme of the Government of India and attempts for a more sustained and balanced industrial growth in the entire UT.
Remote areas of J&K will see a major impetus through the scheme, he said.
The LG said that scheme has been simplified on the lines of ease of doing business by bringing one major incentive- GST Linked Incentive- that will ensure less compliance burden without compromising on transparency.
“Scheme envisages a greater role of the UT of J&K in registration and implementation of the scheme while having proper checks and balances by having an independent audit agency before the claims are approved,” he asserted.
Sinha further said that earlier schemes though offered a plethora of incentives and added, “however, the overall financial outflow was much lesser than the new scheme. Whereas, the earlier schemes have provided about Rs 1120 crores in all these years, this scheme shall provide an outlay of Rs 28,400 crores.”
He said that the major Impact and employment generation potential included scheme is to bring about radical transformation in the existing industrial ecosystem of J&K with emphasis on job creation, skill development and sustainable development by attracting new investment and nurturing the existing ones, thereby enabling J&K to compete nationally with other leading industrially developed States/UTs of the country.
“It is anticipated that the proposed scheme is likely to attract unprecedented investment and give direct and indirect employment to about 4.5 lakh persons. Additionally, because of the working capital interest subvention, the scheme is likely to give indirect support to about 35,000 persons,” he said.
The Lt Governor expressed gratitude towards the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for approving the New Central Sector Scheme for Industrial Development of Jammu and Kashmir.
“New Industrial Development Scheme for J&K will give a boost to domestic manufacturing in the region & help J&K in becoming AatmaNirbhar,” he added and said that the Scheme will encourage new investment, substantial expansion and also nurture the existing industries in J&K.
The Lt Governor, while giving out the details of the scheme, emphasized that it will be ensured that the implementation of the new scheme shall be done in a manner which is friendly and hassle free to the investors. It will be ensured that entrepreneurs from within J&K and outside find a smooth and progressive ecosystem for their business plans.
Further, the Lt Governor emphasised that ‘With our transparent policies, investments in developing infrastructure, market oriented policy environment and skilled human capital, we aspire to become a growth pillar for India in the current decade’.

He also said that Government and Industry will work closely to achieve the vision of the holistic and balanced development of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Lt Governor also appreciated the Industry and Commerce department for working hard to materialise this scheme in continuous consultation with the Government of India.
He also thanked the business associations and all who contributed through their valuable suggestions.

‘Good news on 4G restoration soon’

Front

Precious Kashmir

07/01/2021

Jammu, Jan 7: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Thursday said that there is a committee examining the restoration of 4G services in the remaining districts of the UT and “there will be good news soon in the coming days.”
“I know 4-G is working in just two districts of J&K UT. There is a committee examining the issue. Hopefully, there will be good news soon in the coming days,” he said in reply to a query during a press conference in Jammu. (KNO)

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