Jahangeer Ganaie
Kulgam, Dec 22: Two newly recruited militants of banned outfit on Tuesday surrendered before security forces after a brief encounter in Yaripora belt of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
A senior police officer told KNO that on a specific information about the presence of militants’, joint team of forces including 34 RR, CRPF and police launched Cordon-and-Search-Operation in Tongdouno area of the district.

He said that as the joint team approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon forces, triggering off an encounter. “After getting that both militants are locals, their families were brought to the spot who persuaded them to surrender,” the official said.
The arrested militants have been identified as Yawar Ahmad Wagay son of Aijaz Ahmad Wagay resident of Reban Shopian who was missing since 24 September this year and Amir Ahmad Mir son of Bashir Ahmad Mir resident of Hattipora Yaripora Kulgam who was missing since October 06, this year, official said.
The official said that two pistols besides other incriminating material were recovered from the duo. “12 militants have surrendered this year during live encounters,” the official revealed.
Meanwhile, a police spokesman said that on a specific input regarding presence of militants in Tungdano area of Kulgam, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Srinagar and Kulgam Police, 34RR and 18Bn CRPF in the area.
“During the search operation, as the presence of militants got ascertained, they fired a few rounds upon the search party. However, joint forces showed utmost restraint and instead militants were given opportunity to surrender. Family members of the trapped militants were also called to the encounter site to motivate and persuade them to surrender,” the police spokesman said, adding that “Due to the great efforts of police, security forces and repeated surrender appeals by their family members, eventually they surrendered before the joint forces.”
Pertinently, there was a militant hideout inside the target house which was later on destroyed. “One AK-47 rifle, two pistols and a few grenades besides some incriminating materials were also recovered,” he said.
The police spokesman said that IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar has yet again congratulated the joint team of police and forces for showing utmost patience and exhibiting professionalism, which resulted in saving the life of two misguided youth. “The IGP stated that the local misguided youth are always welcomed to return to the mainstream. This year has been successful as many of them are returning and has reiterated his appeal to them to shun the path of violence.”
It is pertinent to mention that so far 12 militants have been successfully persuaded to surrender during live encounters,” he said and added that Police is committed to provide full support to such militants who lay down their arms and surrender.

Jammu, Dec 22: A Division Bench of Jammu and Kashmir High Court comprising Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Sanjay Dhar hearing the Roshni review petitions adjourned it for January 28, 2021 for hearing of all matters together as Court observed that all matters could not be heard and now the High Court would be closed for winter vacations.
On Tuesday, 47 Review petitions were listed which were adjourned due to poor connectivity.
The J&K UT was represented by DC Raina Advocate General with Aseem Sawhney, Additional Advocate General who submitted before the DB that he was ready to argue the Review Petition filed by UT Government.
Other counsels who appeared were S S Ahmed, Ankur Sharma, Z A Shah, Jehangir Iqbal Ganai, Azhar Ul Amin, Altaf Haqqani, Sunil Sethi, Gagan Basotra, Rohit Kohli, R A Jan, Monika Kohli and other battery of lawyers.

Srinagar records minus 5.2°C: Gulmarg, Pahalgam Coldest At Minus 5.8°C
Srinagar, Dec 22: Bone-chilling weather continued in Kashmir as overnight temperatures remained several degrees below the freezing point in the Valley, weatherman said on Tuesday.
Srinagar, where people endured second coldest night at minus 6.6 °C in a decade on Saturday last, recorded a low of minus 5.2°C against 4.0°C on precious night, a MeT official told GNS.

The temperature also remained below normal overnight in other parts of the Valley with Gulmarg, the world famous skiing resort as well as Pahalgam, the famous tourist destination in south Kashmir, recording a low of minus 5.8°C. Qazigund recorded minus 4.6°C, Kupwara minus 2.4°C and Kokernag minus 3.6°C.

The 40-day Chillai-Kalan commenced on December 21 and ends on January 31. The period is considered the harshest of the winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum.

The cold wave, however, continues even after that in Kashmir with a 20-day-long ‘Chillai-Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day-long ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold). The weatherman has forecast mainly dry weather over Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh for next few days till December 27.

“The weather is going be dry in next 24 hours,” the MeT official said, adding,” There would be widespread rain/snow in Kashmir and Jammu besides isolated rain and snow in ladakh from December 27.”

Due to the harsh weather conditions, people are facing a lot of problems. The water supply has been disrupted with frozen taps becoming a common sight now. The frequent power cuts, scheduled or unscheduled, only amplify the cold and add to the discomfort of the people. Some portions of the Dal Lake were also frozen due to the cold wave. (GNS)

Pays tributes to Chaudhary Charan Singh on National Farmers’ Day
Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, Dec 22: Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, on the occasion of Dogri Manta Diwas has extended his heartiest greetings to the people of J&K, Dogri speaking folks of the UT, in particular.
The day is observed to commemorate the inclusion of Dogri language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
The Lt Governor observed that a Language is a cultural identity, heritage, and promotion of any language needs collective efforts.
The development of any region shall also be measured with the development of local culture, literature, and language. To achieve the desired results on the ground, the Government is making determined efforts for the promotion of Dogri and other local languages of J&K, he maintained.
Not only the Government, but every stakeholder must come together for the promotion and preservation of Dogri Linguistic heritage and must pay attention to the use of local languages for protection of the cultural identity, said the Lt Governor.
Pertinently, Dogri has already been included in five official languages of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

Pays tributes to Chaudhary Charan Singh on National Farmers’ Day

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, in his message on the occasion of the National Farmers’ Day (Kisan Diwas), paid rich tributes to former Prime Minister, Chaudhary Charan Singh. The former Prime Minister played a pivotal role in empowerment of the farmers, he added.
Acknowledging massive contribution of the farmers in Nation’s growth and development, the Lt Governor observed that the day must be seen as an opportunity to create awareness among people, especially the youth, on the importance of farmers and farming for a healthy and prosperous nation.

The Lt Governor observed that welfare of the farmers is one of the key focus areas of J&K Government and laid special emphasis on providing sustained handholding to the farmers, besides giving a determined push to Agriculture and allied sectors for achieving better results on the ground.

Farmers have a major role to play in achieving inclusive growth of the nation. There is ample scope of entrepreneurship in Agriculture and allied fields and more youth should be encouraged to take up Agriculture as a career, said the Lt Governor.

Sputnik
Washington, Dec 22: US companies Pfizer and Moderna are testing the effectiveness of their COVID-19 vaccines against a new and more contagious strain of the coronavirus that was recently discovered in the United Kingdom, media reported on Tuesday, citing vaccine developers.
Last week, the UK government announced that the mutated coronavirus strain that can transmit up to 70-percent faster has been actively spreading in London and the surrounding areas. The authorities have responded to the spread of the new strain, named VUI-202012/01, by introducing the highest level of alert in some areas. Amid fears of the mutated strain, more than a dozen countries in Europe and elsewhere, including Russia, Turkey, Israel and India, have announced decisions to halt air traffic with the UK.
“Based on the data to date, we expect that the Moderna vaccine-induced immunity would be protective against the variants recently described in the UK; we will be performing additional tests in the coming weeks to confirm this expectation,” Moderna said in a statement.
Moreover, Pfizer said in a statement that it is “generating data” to assess the effectiveness of blood samples immunized with its vaccine, developed in partnership with German firm BioNTech, against VUI-202012/01.
At the same time, BioNTech has expressed confidence in the efficacy of the vaccine against the mutated variant.
“We have already tested the vaccine against about 20 other variants of the virus with other mutations. The immune response caused by our vaccine has always inactivated all forms of the virus,” BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin told the German dpa agency.
Meanwhile, several researchers examining the genome of VUI-202012/01 told CNN that they have concerns that mutations may have a negative impact on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.
The new coronavirus variant, which infects at a more rapid rate but does not appear to be more deadly or pose any concerns for vaccines, has also been detected in the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, South Africa and Australia. US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci has said that the UK variant may already be spreading in the US.

Dealers say number of trucks with mutton livestock to Valley has decreased from 20 to 7 per day
Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Dec 22: The 15-member delegation comprising traders, civil society members and media persons have found fluctuated rates of mutton in New Delhi.
The delegation was formed after government asked traders to visit New Delhi and assess the rates amid the deadlock over mutton rates in J&K.
The deadlock begun after the government issued fresh rates, asking mutton dealers to sell mutton @Rs 480 per kg, which otherwise is being sold @ Rs 600 per kg.
The 15-member delegation visited various mutton dealers in New Delhi to assess the rates. However, the committee has found fluctuated rates while the dealers have stated that nearly seven trucks mutton livestock supply are reaching J&K at present being due to the deadlock.
The dealers have said that at least 20 trucks of mutton livestock used to reach J&K before the deadlock.
As per the committee, the livestock dealers said that no monitoring system of mutton grading and quality is being done in the livestock markets.
The dealers said that in Kashmir, Grade-C is being mostly exported from Ambala while the mutton dealers in Delhi said that they only export Grade-1 mutton livestock to Kashmir.
According to the committee, the rates kept on fluctuating from one dealer to the other.
The mutton livestock organizer at Ambala livestock market, as per the committee said that before the deadlock, in an average on daily basis, around 20 trucks of mutton livestock supply used to reach for Kashmir while after impasse, only 5-7 trucks are reaching the Valley.
It is pertinent to mention here that the many of the butchers at present are selling chicken at their shops due to the impasse over the rates as the government has so far booked many mutton dealers for selling meat at exorbitant rates. (KNO)

Jammu, Dec 22: In order to promote the payment through digital mode and to provide a seamless passage to the fee plazas, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to strictly implement 100 percent electronic collection at Toll Plazas through FASTag from January 1, 2021.
Project Director, NHAI Jammu, Ajay Kumar Rajak here on Tuesday said that it has been decided that all the lanes shall be declared as ‘FASTag lane of fee plaza’ and user of the vehicle not fitted with FASTag entering into FASTag lane of the fee plazas shall pay a fee equivalent to two times of the fee applicable to that category of the vehicle.
The trials of 100 percent electronic collection will be conducted at Thandikhui Toll Plaza in Samba, Ban Toll Plaza in Jammu District and Lakhanpur Toll Plaza in Kathua District, he added and said that increase in use of FASTag will lead to non-stop movement across the Toll plazas in near future.
“NHAI is making every possible effort for hassle-free movement of VVIP, Defence Personnel, Ambulance and other exempted vehicles and avoiding the traffic Jams,” said Mr Rajak.
He further informed that the recharge or top-up once made in the account linked to the FASTags can be used whenever the vehicle crosses any of the toll plazas in the country.
“Non FASTag vehicles will have longer waiting time and will not be allowed to cross the toll plaza. They will have to pay double the Toll on entering the Toll Plaza and has to install the FASTag,” he said.
The vehicle fitted with FASTag will move swiftly through the toll plaza at the existing rates and even discounts like return journey monthly pass, local district discount to commercial vehicle are only available on using Fastags, the Project Director informed adding that they are distributing pamphlets at toll plazas, making use of public announcement systems, continuously interacting with media and giving advertisement in local and National Newspapers to create awareness and promote the use of FASTag so as to achieve the goal of 100 percent electronic toll collection.
Mr Rajak said, “the rule will be strictly implemented in the UT and no vehicle will be allowed to cross the Toll Plaza without FASTag and also double Toll shall be imposed without FASTag from January 1, 2021 and has requested all the stakeholders to install/activate the FASTags on their vehicles before January 1, 2021 for seamless movement across the toll plazas on the National Highways in India.”
FASTag have been made available at the toll plazas, branches of banks e.g. HDFC, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra, Paytm etc. NHAI FASTag is available at the toll plazas which can be recharged/linked with a bank account by using ‘My FASTag App’. These FASTag can also be bought from online shopping sites e.g. Amazon, Paytm, etc.

Jammu, Dec 22: The Crime Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday booked four employees of the Jammu university along with two promoters of private colleges besides some officials of J-K Bank for allegedly running a “large racket” of fake receipt for fraudulent deposit and withdrawal of examination fees.
The case was registered on a written communication for an in-depth investigation under the relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code against the erring officials, a spokesperson of the Crime Branch Jammu said in a statement here.
He said the Crime Branch booked the officers and staff of the Jammu University along with the promoters of private colleges and J-K Bank branch New University campus Jammu for running a large racket of fake receipts for fraudulent deposit and withdrawal of examination fees of colleges by way of fraud, criminal conspiracy, forgery, cheating and misuse of their official positions.
“The formal criminal case has been registered against the erring officers/officials who have been during enquiry found to be involved in fraudulent deposit and withdrawal of nomination fee,” the spokesperson said.
The institutions are Rajiv Gandhi Memorial College of Education, Kathua, and Vivekananda College of Education, Lakhanpur, Kathua, and two of their employees, Ashwani Kumar Khajuria of Rajiv Gandhi Memorial College of Education and Vijay Kumar of Vivekananda College of Education, were booked along with the university employees — Abdul Gafoor, Yogeshwar Singh, Pardeep Kumar and Sunil Kumar, he said.
Some officials of J-K Bank branch, New University Campus, Jammu, were also booked in the case, the spokesperson said, adding further investigation is on.