Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, Dec 11: The State Election Commissioner (SEC), KK Sharma on Friday chaired a meeting of officers to review the preparations for counting of District Development Council (DDC) elections to be held on December 22, 2020.

Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Sanjeev Verma and Deputy Commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir, Secretary State Election Commission, Anil Salgotra and other officers participated in the meeting held via video conferencing.

The meeting discussed the arrangements and manpower for the counting of the polls which would be held on December 22 from 9 am.

The SEC received one-by-one feedback from all the deputy commissioners and the arrangements so far taken for the counting day.

The SEC directed the concerned DCs to make available all the counting halls and the staff as the counting would be done manually.

‘COVID-19 pandemic poses new challenges on human rights front’
Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Dec 11: Academics and legal experts have called for raising levels of public awareness to ensure that human rights of marginalised sections of society are protected with greater seriousness amid new challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
They were addressing a webinar, organised by Kashmir University’s National Service Scheme (NSS), to mark the Human Rights Day, observed every year on December 10.
In his keynote address, Prof M Afzal Wani, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Delhi, asserted that respect for human rights is imperative to lay foundations of a peaceful society.
He suggested that district judges should be given the powers to entertain petitions under the Constitution’s Article-32, which gives the right to individuals to move the Supreme Court if they feel their right to justice has been “unduly deprived”.
“This would ensure accessibility of weaker sections of the society to justice and make human rights more meaningful,” he said.
Dr Khalid Hassan, Coordinator, Department of Politics and Governance, Central University of Kashmir, critically evaluated the influence of western philosophical thought on human rights jurisprudence.
“The human rights discourse was essentially elitist in its approach and this was the primary reason for its failure to address the needs of the marginalised sections of the society,” he said.
Dr Mir Mubashir Altaf from KU’s School of Law highlighted, from the constitutional law perspective, the issue of women’s rights in the country. He said that while the Constitution provides a rights-based framework in this regard, reality on the ground is different.
In his message for the webinar, Coordinator NSS Dr Musavir Ahmed said the Covid-19 pandemic has posed new challenges vis-à-vis protection of human rights of marginalised sections of society.
He said this year’s theme for Human Rights Day—‘Recover Better—Stand Up for Human Rights’—has been chosen accordingly to end discriminations, address inequalities and encourage solidarity for a better post-Covid19 world.
Dr Heena Basharat, organiser of the webinar, said Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated how greatly interconnected and interdependent the entire world is.
“Therefore, respect for human rights has to be fostered universally,” she said.
The webinar was, among others, attended by Dr Waqar Amin, Dr Yasir Hamid, Dr Shazia Malik—co-organisers of the webinar—apart from students and scholars of the University of Kashmir.

Augmentation of Delina Grid to be completed by Jan 31: 160 MVA capacity to be added

Precious Kashmir News

Kupwara, Dec 11: The augmentation of the capacity of Grid station at Delina Baramulla will be completed within this month. This was decided in a review meeting chaired by Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary to Government, Power Development Department at Kupwara. Kansal was on a day long extensive tour of Baramulla and Kupwara.

With this augmentation, the capacity of Delina Grid Station would double from existing 160 MVA to 320 MVA. This in turn will significantly enhance the power supply position to Baramulla and Kupwara districts and bring relief to the people of the twin districts. Later in the day, the Principal Secretary visited the Grid Station, Delina and took stock of 160 MV augmentation project. He complimented the engineers and staff for the efforts and exhorted them to complete the work by Dec 31, 2020.

In another significant decision, it was decided that 10.5 MW small hydro electric project would be constructed at Mohra, Baramulla. Secretary PDD said that Mohra HEP shall be taken up for construction by J&K Power Development Corporation  and the work is expected to be allotted as early as March 2021.

Mohra Power House bears great significance from heritage point of view as it was the first hydroelectric project set up in J&K in the year 1905.  The hydro-electric project would not only generate electricity but also revive and rekindle the old memories of the heritage Mohra Power House.

Earlier in the day, the Principal Secretary to Government, also reviewed in detail the power scenario of two remote districts of Kupwara and Baramulla and issued directions to the engineering staff to streamline the power system and remove the difficulties by taking additional measures.

He called upon all the officers to ensure that there is proper and swift  mechanism in place for replacement and repair of damaged transformers and that damaged transformers are replaced immediately from the buffer stock kept available in all districts . He also emphasized that the damaged transformers must be repaired at the designated departmental workshops in the quickest time possible. Instructions were given for quick transportation of damaged transformers from Districts to work shops twice a week to replenish the buffer stock and improve the turn- around and repair time of transformers. In order to improve the schedule of repair of damaged transformers, he also sanctioned two trunk-mounted cranes one each for Kupwara and Sopore.

Principal Secretary also gave directions to augment the capacity of District level workshops so that 400KVA transformers are also repaired without referral to the Central workshop. Principal Secretary to Government, Power Development Department stated that the overall objective of the department is to minimize the power outages during winters so that the people do  not face inconvenience.

Reviewing the progress of ongoing works, the Principal Secretary, asked the  engineers to complete all ongoingprojects under languishing projects head by Feb 15, 2020. He also directed that the projects under DDUGJY and PMDP Urban must be completed by end of March 2021 in all towns and immediately handed over to the distribution corporation for installation of meters in these towns to achieve the target of 100% metering.

Principal Secretary to Government, Power Development Department also instructed the department functionaries to attend to the grievances and demands of general public received through the call-centre set up by the Power Development Department.

The meeting also reviewed the revenue realization in the twin districts and the engineers and other field staff were directed to improve revenue realization and to take action against wilful defaulters. Instructions were given for improving billing efficiency and taking action for non-payment of dues against habitual offenders.

Later Rohit Kansal inspected the ongoing construction of 33/11 KV Galizo Kupwara, Sub Station being constructed under IPDS/PMDP Project. On the occasion, the Principal Secretary was informed that Project is being constructed at a cost of Rs 4.28 cr and shall be completed by 31st January 2021. He was further informed that after Commissioning of the Project, it will relieve load on Tikker station and improve power supply in the district.

Srinagar, Dec 11: The 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed for any traffic movement on Friday for maintenance of the road, connecting the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, the national highway, the only road connecting Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh with Kashmir and historic 86-km-long Mughal road remained closed for the fourth day on Friday following accumulation of snow and slippery road conditions.
A traffic police official told UNI today that traffic on Srinagar-Leh national highway was suspended on Tuesday morning following fresh snowfall. There was fresh snowfall during the past 24 hours. Few inches of snow had accumulated at Meenmarg , Zero point and Drass, the second coldest place in the world after Siberia. However, there was one to two feet of fresh snowfall at Zojila, he said.
He said there was improvement in the weather and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has put into service sophisticated machines to clear the snow on the highway. However, traffic will be resumed only after receiving green signal, he said adding night traffic movement from 1800 hrs to 0900 hrs next morning will remain suspended on the highway between Gagangir and Sonamarg.
This year the government has decided to keep the highway open till December end provided. The highway remained closed during winter months due to accumulation of 10 to 15 feet of snow on the highway.

The historic Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region, also remained closed for any traffic movement for the third due to accumulation of snow, traffic official said.
Traffic on the road was resumed recently after remaining closed for over a week due to snowfall. The road, also seen as alternative to Srinagar-Jammu highway, remains closed for six winter months due to snow and avalanches.
He said there will be no traffic on Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Friday to allow National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) maintenance and repair of the highway, he said adding it has been decided to allow the NHAI to repair road on Fridays.

Peerzada Waseem
Gulmarg, Dec 11: After over-a-year, tourism activities are all set to pick up this winter the world famous ski resort—Gulmarg in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district with hotel bookings picking up at a great pace first time after the roll back of article 370 on August 5, 2019.
All eyes are now set on winter sports which is coupled with Christmas celebrations on December 25 and the New Year event scheduled for Dec 31 and January 1.
Tourism was badly hit post abrogation of article 370 in Kashmir and hotels were deserted in absence of any local or foreign tourist. Talking to news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Mukhtar Ahmed Shah said that after the recent but early snowfall in Gulmarg, skiing activities have picked up and so have the hotel bookings. “We are receiving inquiries on a daily basis about hotel packages etc,” Shah said, adding that the reports of 100 per cent hotel bookings in Gulmarg are totally false.
“The only reality is that inquiries are picking up each day,” he said. “We are expecting a good winter tourism season this year. There are bookings from couples, domestic as well as foreign tourists as well, which is a good sign. Winter sports activities especially skiing activities are all set to attract a large number of tourists this year to Gulmarg.”
He admitted that this is for the first time that tourist bookings were registered by the hoteliers at Gulmarg post scraping of special status on August 5, 2019. “One big thing is that in Gulmarg, there is less effect of Covid-19 pandemic and the place is safe for visitors given its topography and landscape,” Shah said.
Showkat Ahmed Khan, Owner of Green Park Park Hotel in Gulmarg, said that they are receiving calls from domestic and international tourists asking about hotel bookings and winter packages available. “Our hotels have been empty since August 5, 2019. We are hoping for a better season this time,” Khan told KNO
Managing Director Gulmarg Cable Car Project (Gandola), Sahil Ahmed Wani said that they are expecting the arrival of a good number of tourists this season despite Covid-19 pandemic. “Two days are important—December 25 (Christmas) and January 1 (New Year). All arrangements are in place, let’s hope for a good season,” he said.
Official figures state that 43000 tourists visited Kashmir between August and December last year. In 2020, less than 15000 tourists arrived in Valley till August since there was Covid related lockdown.
Only 6345 tourists have visited valley in September and October months.

Srinagar, Dec 11: Hundreds of Jammu and Kashmir Bank customers here have faced inconvenience as the mobile banking has gone for a toss from the last two days, thus leaving the customers to lurch at large.

According to KNO the customers of J&K Bank said that the mobile banking application (MPay) is lying defunct from the last two days after they updated the fresh version of the application.

“We have never witnessed such a situation in the past as it is for the two consecutive days that I am not able to use mobile banking,” Sajid Ahmad, a businessman from Srinagar said.

He added that the users are not even able to log into it. “We are surprised to see that the authorities concerned don’t even bother to fix the error for the betterment of the users,” he said.

Another customer informed KNO that they are being forced to spend a lot of time visiting the banks for their work, which otherwise was possible to be done at home. “We want the concerned authorities to fix the errors at earliest,” he said.

Many of the netizens have also expressed their resentment and highlighted their sufferings due to the defunct mobile banking application.

“JK Bank outs digital transaction facilities including mpay, net banking on suspension mode to revert back to withdrawals, cheques, pay in slips for transaction now,” a netizen wrote in his Facebook post.

Meanwhile, officials in the J&K Bank told KNO that there is some issue with the service providers, but the bank is coordinating with the service providers in this regard.

“There is no issue in application from the bank side. It is up and working from here. But there is some issue with a few service providers. Had it been a bank side issue, nobody would have been able to use mobile banking,” he said.

He added that for the convenience of the customers, the J&K bank authorities are coordinating with the two service providers and are trying to resolve the issue so that the users are facing inconvenience. “The issue of two lakh users has been resolved. We are putting our efforts to ensure all the users will be able to use mobile banking application without any hindrance,” he said. (KNO)

Bhat Imran
Srinagar, Dec 11: The School Education Department on Friday announced winter vacations for all government and recognized private schools of Kashmir division and winter zones of Jammu region from December-21.

According to the government order, the vacation shall be observed from December-21 to February-21 2021.
“The government educational institutions including recognized private schools upto higher secondary level functioning in the Kashmir division and winter zones of Jammu division shall observe winter vacations from December-21 to February-28, 2021,” it reads.

It also states that the winter tutorials for 11th and 12th standard and online classes shall be held by strictly adhering to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) of COVID-19 issued by the government—(KNO)

Total cases reach 115,207, death toll swells to 1,786; recovery rate over 94 percent in UT

Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, Dec 11 (KNO): Jammu and Kashmir on Friday recorded 11 deaths due to COVID-19 taking the death toll to 1,786 in the Union Territory while as 434 positive cases were reported taking the tally of positive cases to 115,207 in J&K.

Of the exact number of 115,207 cases, 68,165 are from Kashmir and 47,042 from Jammu division. Officials told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that among 434 new cases, 232 belong to Kashmir division while as 202 are from Jammu division, adding that the total number of positive cases in Kashmir division have reached to 68,165 including 64,469 recoveries and 1,145 deaths while as total number of positive cases in Jammu division have reached to 47,042 including 44,103 recoveries and 641 deaths.

The officials said that total number of active cases in Jammu and Kashmir are 4,849 including 2,551 from Kashmir division and 2,298 from Jammu division.

With 422 more recoveries, the tally of total recoveries in Jammu and Kashmir has reached 108,282 which is 94.24 percent of the total cases.

“Cases tested positive in J&K include 98 from Srinagar, 19 from Baramulla, 36 from Budgam, 25 from Kupwara, 17 from Pulwama, 06 from Anantnag, 11 from Bandipora, 11 from Ganderbal, 01 from Kulgam and 08 from Shopian in Kashmir division while as 202 from Jammu division include 101 from Jammu, 13 from Udhampur, 17 from Rajouri, 10 from Doda, 28 from Kathua, 13 from Kishtwar, 07 from Samba, 02 from Poonch, 08 from Ramban and 03 from Reasi,” officials disclosed.

Notably, in the last 24-hours, 11 persons who were tested positive for COVID-19 have died, among them four belong to Kashmir division and seven to Jammu division.

As per media bulletin, patients who have died include three from Srinagar and one from Baramulla in Kashmir division and four from Jammu district, two from Rajouri and one from Kuthua in Jammu division.

As per officials figures, 24,072 positive cases including 433 deaths and 22,504 recoveries are from Srinagar, 7,693 including 166 deaths and 7,336 recoveries are from Baramulla, 7,255 including 6,851 recoveries and 105 deaths are from Budgam, 5,347 including 5,067 recoveries and 87 deaths are from Kupwara, 5,266 including 87 deaths and 4,991 recoveries are from Pulwama, 4,652 including 4,445 recoveries and 82 deaths are from Anantnag, 4,524 cases including 4,364 and 56 deaths are from Bandipora, 4,327 including 4,124 recoveries and 40 deaths are from Ganderbal, 2,624 including 2,506 recoveries and 52 deaths are from Kulgam and 2,405 including 2,281 recoveries and 37 deaths are from Shopian.

In Jammu division, 21,954 including 20,834 recoveries and 324 deaths are from Jammu district, 3,909 including 3,463 recoveries and 53 deaths are from Udhampur, 3,676 including 3,387 recoveries and 52 deaths are from Rajouri, 3,274 including 3,043 recoveries and 58 deaths are from Doda, 2,982 including 2,812 recoveries and 45 deaths are from Kathua, 2,643 including 2,469 recoveries and 21 deaths are from Kishtwar, 2,607 including 2,376 recoveries and 34 deaths are from Samba, 2,417 including 2,360 recoveries and 22 deaths are from Poonch, 2,025 including 1,913 recoveries and 21 deaths are from Ramban and 1,555 including 1,446 recoveries and 11 deaths are from Reasi.

As per the daily information bulletin, 822,335 persons in Jammu and Kashmir are under observation while 22,620 persons have been kept under home quarantine besides that 4,849 persons are in isolation.

According to the bulletin, 766,061 persons have completed surveillance period and 27,019 persons are under home surveillance besides that so far results of 3,294,008 samples are available. Out of 3,294,008 the number of samples tested negative stands at 3,178,801 while as 115,207 have tested positive, among them 4,849 persons are active, 108,572 persons have recovered and 1,786 persons have died—(KNO)

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Dec 11: Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday claimed to have solved blind murder case in record time and have arrested accused involved in the commission of crime.
Police spokesman in a statement said that on 13-11-2020 Police Station Nigeen received directions from Court of CJM Srinagar for filing report in the light of petition filed by complainant namely Nasir Hussain Kawa, son of Ghulam Hassan Kawa of Kawpora Shadipora stating that he was engaged to one lady namely Shahnaza, daughter of Late Muhammad Qasim Sultan of Sultan Mohalla Saida Kadal Srinagar and his marriage was fixed on 4/5 November 2020.
On 4/11/20 morning, police said he was informed that the lady died due to a heart attack. “Finally the complainant stated that he had apprehensions of the lady being murdered. Accordingly, proceedings under section 174 CRPC were initiated,” police said.

The statement said that the Investigating officers learnt from the medical reports that the lady was actually murdered. “The proceedings under section 174 CrPC were converted into a formal criminal case under FIR number 182/20 under section 302 IPC was registered in PS Nigeen,” police said.

A special investigating team led by SHO Nigeen under the supervision of SDPO Zakoora immediately swung into action and started rounding up suspects in the instant case, it said, adding that after hectic efforts and on human intelligence, the Special Team got the clues which were indicating the involvement of the family of the deceased.

“Among the suspects, Wajid Gulzar Sultan (nephew of the Victim) was put to sustained questioning. He confessed to the crime and divulged the details & the sequence of events. He revealed that he along with his uncle namely Mohammad Shafi Sultan and Sister namely Nighat Gulzar hatched a conspiracy to eliminate the lady namely Shahnaza as she has been their eyesore. Wajid and Nighat were related as nephew/niece to the deceased while Shafi was step-brother of the deceased. The main conspirator is Shafi, who motivated Wajid & Nighat to take part in the killing of the victim,” police said.

Accordingly, on 3/11/20, they all hatched a conspiracy to eliminate her. “As the victim used to wake up for prayers very early in the morning, on 4/11/20 wee hours, as she was busy in prayers, Shafi alongwith Nighat and Wajid entered the room and attacked the victim from behind & smothered her till death. Then they flattened and strangled her with a Golden coloured piece of cloth in order to ensure her death. Later on, they tied the cloth with a fan and tied the dead body with it for deriving an assumption that she had hanged herself to death,” police added.

Police said that the motive of the murder was that Shafi being the step brother of the victim was not in good relationship with the victim and used to harass her on one pretext or other.

“On various instances, he used to torture her. Since their expired father had kept a piece of land for the victim, Shafi’s eye was on that piece of land. The jewellery which was brought by the family for the victim was also in Shafi’s mind. Since the victim was not happy with the articles, especially jewellery brought by her family, as she had engaged in a verbal duel with the family especially with Shafi a day before the fateful day. Shafi was fed up with the behaviour of the victim. He also wanted to grab the piece of land & the jewellery. For that purpose, he persuaded Wajid and Nighat to help him in killing her. For that purpose, he promised both of them of equal share out of it,” the statement said.

Moreover, Shafi’s conduct was always questionable as he used to return home drunk which was always objected by the victim, police said, adding that after the disclosure of the accused and the linkage of other evidences, all of them were arrested.

“The article of offence was identified by the accused and recovered from their house. Further investigation into the case is in progress,” police said.

Stresses on work expedition, completion of projects within deadline

Srinagar, Dec 11: Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Pandurang K Pole Friday conducted an extensive tour to take stock of pace and progress in the work process on various developmental projects in Srinagar.

The Div Com was accompanied by Chief Engineer R&B, Irrigation, PHE, KPTCL, Director ERA, GM JKPCC, GM SIDCO, SE CPWD, ZM NPCC, GM NBCCEE Tourism and others concerned.

Stressing on the speedy work execution, the Div Com visited to NIT Srinagar to take stock of work progress of under-construction developmental projects including high-Tech Auditorium, Guest house and Sports Facility Complex. He also visited the proposed boys and girls hostel sites at NIT.

Emphasizing on the early completion of work, the Div Com also visited Dargah Hazratbal Shrine and instructed concerned to ensure work on Umbrella installation, marble work, construction of shops, public convenience, boundary wall and inbuilt security pocketsand parking complex is completed within the stipulated time.

He instructed concerned to get design of non- mechanized canopy vet from the NIT first before setting up the same at Dargah.

On a visit to the newly constructed 100 bedded State Cancer Institute at SKIMS Soura, the Div Com stressed on the early installation of required machinery and equipment for smooth OPD functioning and to ensure better health services to the people.

The Div Com also visited to Under Construction LalDed Maternity Hospital Block, 120 bedded additional hospital block at Bone and Joint Hospital Barzulla, 200 bedded maternity hospital Bemina, Comprehensive Sewerage Scheme Project Eidgah, 150 MVA 132/ 33 KV GIS Grid Station Tengpora, 1000 MVA 123/ 33KV Grid Sub Baghi Ali Mardan and took on spot stock of the pace and progress made on these projects.

He also visited Bakhshi Stadium where he emphasized on execution of the work process.

Expressing his displeasure at the slow pace of work on some projects, the Div Com directed concerned to impose delay penalty fine on concerned contractors for failing to complete the work within the stipulated time frame.

He instructed concerned to ensure early completion of the work process and submit monthly progress reports to ensure there are no unnecessary delays in the execution of work.

The Div Com further directed the concerned to list details on department wise issues causing delay or bottlenecks in the work process on these projects for their resolution.