Srinagar, Jan 4: The Kashmir University (KU), Cluster University of Srinagar (CUS) and Board of School Education (BOSE) have postponed examinations scheduled for Monday.
All Kashmir University undergraduate examinations, which were scheduled to be held on Monday are postponed in view of the inclement weather conditions, Controller of Examinations Prof Irshad A Nawchoo said in a statement.
The new dates for the deferred examinations will be notified later, he said.
The KU had also postponed all examinations on Sunday.
The controller examination CUS, Mir Khurshid Ahmad said examinations scheduled to be held on Monday have been postponed due to inclement weather conditions. He said the new dates for the postponed examinations will be notified later.
The BOSE also postponed all examinations scheduled for today.
The board also postponed yesterday’s examinations due to inclement weather.
However, Jammu and Kashmir Bank (JKB) conducted examinations on Sunday as per schedule.

Srinagar, Jan 4: A man slipped on snow and died in the central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, official sources said on Monday.
Forty-five-year-old Mehrajuddin Lone, a driver by profession, was critically injured when he slipped on snow and fell down on Sunday night. However, he was immediately rushed to S K Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) where he was declared brought dead.
Police have registered a case and initiated proceedings, the sources said.

Srinagar, Jan 4: Air traffic remained suspended at Srinagar International Airport for the second consecutive day on Monday due to fresh snowfall and poor visibility.

Meanwhile, due to closure of Srinagar-Jammu national highway and cancellation of all incoming and outgoing flights at Srinagar airport on Monday, air fares have witnessed a major hike during the past 24 hours.

No aircraft could land at or take off from the Srinagar airport on Monday so far, officials told UNI.

They informed that there was fresh snowfall during the night and visibility remained poor. However, so far no flight has been cancelled, officials said adding morning flights which were scheduled to land from New Delhi from 0900 hrs are delayed.

They informed that snow clearance work on the runway has been started, adding that flight operations will resume when the visibility improves.

Large number of passengers, who are scheduled to travel to different parts of the country, particularly New Delhi, Amritsar and Jammu, had arrived at the Airport today morning.

There is no word from the Airport authorities about the status of their flights today, they said adding they had to return back to their homes in the evening on Sunday after all flights were cancelled.

Tourists also face the similar situation and had to return back to their hotels yesterday and are face uncertainty today also.

Passengers alleged that Srinagar-Delhi fare which was just Rs 3500 to Rs 5000 about few days ago now costs in the range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15000. If you search online fare of different Airlines between Srinagar to other parts of the country, you will see a huge jump despite repeated assurance by the authorities to keep a strict check on airfare when the highway is closed.

People associated with tourism industry also expressed concern over the steep increase in airfare. They said they were expecting a good winter season but unjustified increase in airfare will force tourists to travel to other places in the country because of low air fare, they said and demanded immediate intervention by Union Territory (UT) and central governments.

Srinagar, Jan 4: The Kashmir Valley remained cut off from the rest of the country for the second consecutive day on Monday following closure of the 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway due to snowfall, landslides, shooting stone and mudslide at several places.

Meanwhile, the national highway, the only road connecting Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh with Kashmir valley, the historic 86-km-long Mughal road and Anantnag- Sampthan Kishtwar road have been closed for winter months due to snowfall and slipery road conditions.

Traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway was suspended on Sunday due to fresh snowfall on both sides of the Jawahar tunnel, Shaitan Nallah and Banihal, a traffic police official told UNI today. About three feet of snow has accumulated in the Kashmir side of the tunnel while two feet of snow has accumulated in the Jammu side of the tunnel.

The official informed that there was fresh snowfall till late last night on both sides of the tunnel.

However, he said, rain triggered landslides, shooting stones and mudslides at several places on the highway, the only road linking Kashmir valley with the rest of the country.

However, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Border Roads Organisation (BRO), responsible for maintenance of the road, have put into service sophisticated machines and men to clear the landslides and shooting stones. However the official warned that there is a prediction for more snow and rain on the highway during the next few days which could again disrupted the traffic movement.

Meanwhile, large number of vehicles, including those carrying essentials, are stranded at different places on the highway. Once the road is put through, the stranded vehicles will be allowed to move before which fresh traffic would not be allowed, he said adding stranded vehicles between Jawahar tunnel and Banihal will be allowed first to move towards Jammu.

Stranded passengers told UNI over phone from Banihal that locals opened their houses for them. There are about 400 passengers, including women and children besides elders at Banihal.

Local residents provided accommodation, food and other facilities to stranded passengers. The stranded passengers demanded that they should be allowed to use new Banihal-Qazigund tunnel to reach Kashmir. However, the tunnel is likely to be dedicated to people in March.

The national highway connecting UT Ladakh with Kashmir has been closed for winter months by the authorities due to accumulation of heavy snow and slippery road conditions.

The Anantnag-Sampathan road and Mughal road connecting south Kashmir with Rajouri, Poonch and Kishtwar in Jammu region have also been closed for winter months due to accumulation of heavy snow on these roads.

Srinagar, Jan 4: Jammu and Kashmir Disaster Management Authority today issued Medium and Low levels avalanche warning for upper reaches of avalanche prone areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
Medium level avalanche warning has been issued for upper reaches of Poonch, Rajouri, Ramban, Jawahar Tunnel, Doda, Kishtwar, Anantnag, Kulgam, Kupwara and Tanghdar.
Similarly, low level avalanche warning has been issued for upper reaches of Gulmarg, Gurez, Kanzalwan, and Sonmarg.
People living in these avalanche prone areas are advise not to venture out to avoid loss of lives.

New Delhi, Jan 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that country has been on the threshold of beginning the largest vaccination programme in the world and the entire nation is indebted to all our scientists and technicians.
Delivering the inaugural address of the National Metrology Conclave 2021 through video conferencing, PM Modi hailed the approval of two made in India COVID-19 vaccines by the drug regulator.
Noting that the quality and credibility should be the pillar for ‘Brand India’, he further said that the Government’s priorities have been on the strengthening the collaboration between industry and scientific institutions that has aptly resulted in setting up of many world renowned research centres in the country.Due to the constant efforts of these centres, the country as on date stands among the top 50 countries in the Global Innovation Rankings, he added.
Lauding the role of the scientists and technicians, the Prime Minister said “CSIR and other science institutes in the country came to the fore and found a solution to the global pandemic and the country has developed respect towards scientific institutions due to the role played by them during the corona crisis”.
He also appealed to the scientists of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to communicate with students of educational institutes of the country and share their experiences with the youth. He said this would help in developing the next generation of young scientists.

New Delhi, Jan 4: COVID-19 cases in India are on a sustained decline with 16,504 fresh infections being added to the national tally in the past 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry update said on Monday.
While the decline has ensured a consistent fall in the active caseload which fell to 2,43,953 today, the share of active cases has further compressed to merely 2.36 per cent of the cumulative caseload.
A net decline of 3,267 has been recorded in the total active cases in last 24 hours.
India’s total cumulative tests have crossed 17.5 crore (17,56,35,761). 7,35,978 samples were
tested in the last 24 hours.
The testing infrastructure has seen a significant boost with 2,299 labs across the country.
One crore tests were conducted in the last 11 days. Higher testing has led to further decline in the
cumulative positivity rate (5.89 per cent).

With the rising recoveries and decline in daily new cases, India’s cumulative recoveries are moving closer to 1 crore.
The total recovered cases are nearing 99.5 lakhs (99,46,867) on Monday which translates to a recovery rate of 96.19 per cent. A many as 19,557 cases have recovered in the last 24 hours.

Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, Jan 4: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar today chaired a meeting to review the arrangements for smooth implementation of COVID-19 vaccination plan in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting was attended by Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo; Mission Director NHM, Bhupinder Kumar; Managing Director JK Medical Supplies Corporation, Dr.Yashpal Sharma; Director Health Services Jammu, Dr.Renu Sharma and other concerned officials of the department while as State Immunization Officer, Dr.Qazi Haroon and other officials participated in the meeting through video conferencing.
Speaking during the meeting, Advisor Bhatnagar directed the officials for effective planning beforehand, and compile the database of potential vaccinators, prioritized groups of beneficiaries to be administered the vaccine in its initial stages well in advance so that no bottlenecks are faced during vaccination drives.
Regarding the transportation and handling of the vaccines, Advisor directed the officials that robust mechanism should be put in place for smooth transportation of vaccines. He asked them to prioritize the transportation arrangements for hilly as well as snow bound areas.
To effectively deliver the vaccines at the grass-root level, Advisor Bhatnagar impressed upon the officers that inter-sectoral convergence between the frontline workers of various departments including health, social welfare, school education, rural development, and housing and urban development is must for the successful implementation of COVID-19 vaccination plan.
Highlighting the need for maintaining an open and transparent communication with the public to curb misinformation and rumours, the Advisor asked the officials to launch Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities on mass scale so that timely and effective information reaches out to public.

Advisor Bhatnagar also asked the department to develop a robust database to assess auxiliary requirements such as additional cold chain equipment and waste bags for bio-medical waste management and prepare plans for cold chain installation sites.
Financial Commissioner, H&ME, Atal Dulloo informed the meeting that vaccine will be available in next 10 days besides communication strategy as per the MoHFW guidelines has already been finalized.
He further informed the Advisor that district level trainings have already been imparted and required workforce has been prepared for effective implementation of the vaccination plan.
Giving detailed presentation on the occasion, Director Health Services Jammu informed the meeting that under phase-1 around 28 lakh persons will be vaccinated starting from healthcare workers both in government and private establishments, frontline workers including revenue officials, Anganwadi workers, armed forces, home guards, police, volunteers, municipal workers, etc, prioritized age group of persons above the age of 50 years and persons with co-morbidities.
Director Health Services further informed the meeting that 586 cold chain points have been established for vaccine storage besides sufficient vaccine carriers have been made available for transportation of vaccines for first phase.