Army defuses four mortar shells in Poonch

M S Nazki
Poonch, Sep 18: A 34-year-old woman was injured in firing by Pakistan along the Balakote sector in Poonch district of Jammu.
Official sources told GNS that during the “ceasefire violation”, the woman identified Manaz kouser wife of Mohammad Nassar Khan of Sohala was injured and shifted to PHC Burthi for treatment.
BMO Mendhar Dr Parvaiz Ahmed told GNS that woman was admitted to the health facility.
Two buffalos belonging to one Mohammad Zaman of Sohala and other to Mohammad Sarwar Khan of Dharati were injured.
Army defuses four mortar shells in Poonch
Meanwhile, Army on Friday destroyed four unexploded mortar shell found in a village of Balakote in Poonch district.
An army official told GNS four 120-mm mortars, fired by Pakistan, were recovered and destroyed today.
“Army team dugout unexploded live shells from a village and destroyed it at a safe place,” the official said, adding, “The operation was undertaken swiftly by the bomb disposal team, ensuring no loss of life and property or any collateral damage.”

Sajid Raina
Bandipora, Sep 18: Panic gripped the villagers along the Line of Control (LoC) in Gurez sector of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Friday after the Pakistan army violated the ceasefire near Bagtore area.
Official sources told KNO that the Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation along the Line of control in Bagtore sector by firing mortars and other weaponry and targeted the forward defence locations in the area.
Locals said that the exchange of fire triggered panic in the villages located near the LoC while some villagers were shifted to safer places.
The locals added that the cross-border shelling started at around 11 am in the morning.
An official said, “No loss of life was reported till now. The Indian Army is giving a befitting reply,” he said.
Meanwhile, Army’s Srinagar based spokesperson, Colonel Rajesh Kalia said that Pakistan initiated an unprovoked ceasefire violation along the LoC in Kanzalwan area of Gurez Sector today morning by firing mortars and other weapons.

Pertinently, the cross border shelling took place twice in the last four days in the Gurez sector.

Last Tuesday, Army said it has recovered arms and ammunition during a counter-infiltration operation in Baduaab area of the same sector.

HC asks CS to ensure funds for Infrastructure projects

Srinagar, Sept 18: With construction of 16 bridges delayed for years owing to paucity of funds, Jammu and Kashmir High Court has asked the Chief Secretary to look into the matter so that there is no delay in completion of infrastructure projects in J&K.

A division bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Puneet Gupta passed the direction after hearing counsel for the petition and perusing Jammu & Kashmir Project Construction Corporation’s status report informing that some 16 number of the bridge projects under execution with it including Akhal and Tengchatri bridges.

Regarding Tengchatri Bridge, the counsel for the petitioner advocate Arshid Andrabi stated that it was to be completed in the 2013. He said more than seven years have passed byt the bridge has not been completed till date. Andrabi said that the people of the area are really suffering.

“The status report reduces the problem to inefficient financial planning and release of finances to enable completion of public infrastructure projects,” the bench said, observing that “It cannot be denied that the people must be facing extreme difficulty on account of the non-availability of the means of the connectivity.”

The court said that the matter “needs critical attention at the highest level” as construction of16 bridges is stated to have halted.

“Let a copy of this order be placed before the Chief Secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir for immediate examination and looking into the matter of availability of funds so that there is no delay in completion of infrastructure projects in the Union Territory of the Jammu and

Kashmir,” the court said. (GNS)

Sofi Sajad
Srinagar, Sep 11: The government has directed officials to speed up the identification of land to explore the solar power sector in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The direction comes that despite the government’s directions to the officials to identify land for solar power plants no initiative was taken so far.
Official sources said administration has directed all concerned officials to take steps to complete the land identification process to explore the solar power sector.
J&K has the second highest potential of solar power in India. As per the study conducted by the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), J&K has a solar power potential of 111.05 GWp, the second highest in India after Rajasthan, which has the potential of 142 GWp.
In February 2018, the government directed deputy commissioners to identify suitable land for setting up of solar power plants to “diversify the solar power sector” of J&K.
“Projects with a minimum 10 MW capacity of the solar power projects are economically viable for which 400 kanals of land having full sun shine is required,” an official document reads.
However, no much exercise was carried out so far.
Against 111,000 megawatts of solar energy potential of Jammu and Kashmir, the government has harnessed only 6.86 mws of solar power last year, which is 0.006 percent of the state’s renewable energy generation potential.
The Union Renewable Energy ministry report highlights that other states, which have far less potential as compared to Jammu and Kashmir have been able to generate several hundreds of million units of electricity from solar energy.
The report reads that states like Bihar have generated 142.5 mws and Chattisgarh solar power generation stands at 177.97 mws, which is manifold higher than JK.
Keeping in view solar energy potential particularly in Ladakh region, some years back the union government had sanctioned two projects-one each for Leh and Kargil to generate 7500 MegaWatts of solar power and even a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Union Ministry of new and renewable energy and science and technology ministry of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Centre had initiated solar power plant programmes to provide solar power in far-flung areas to make Jammu and Kashmir self-sufficient in power generation,” the official said.
Sources said that the government is spending a huge amount of money on power purchases despite having estimated 20,000 megawatts hydro power potential, of which around 3000 megawatts are being generated.(KINS)

Manzoor Sheeri/Sofi Inayat

Baramulla, Sept 18: Police on Friday claimed to have arrested four drug peddlers in Baramulla seized brown sugar worth Rs six crores from their possession.

A police statement said in a war against drugs, Baramulla police recovered a huge quantity of illegal Brown sugar with market price worth six crores

SSP Baramulla Abdul Qayoom said that during naka checking which was laid at Khanpora bridge one person with illegal drugs was held.

He said after questioning police were able to arrest three more persons involved in the illegal drugs.

He also said investigation has been initiated into this case and more arrests are expected.

The four arrested persons were identified as Bilal Ahmad Mir son of Ghulam Mohammad Mir or Gulnar Park , Rafeeq Sofi alais Kanjwal son of Mohammad Shaban of Syed Karim, Tariq Guroo son of Abdul Rashid Guroo of Azad Gunj and Shabir Ahamd Mir son of Habibulla Mir of Ganderbal.

Police in this regard has registered a case under FIR Number 160/20 US 8/21-29 NDPS (KNS)

Precious Kashmir News

Ganderbal, Sept 18:  The three-day Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET-2020), conducted by the Central University of Kashmir (CUK) in association with other fellow Central Universities across the country began on Friday.

The university made all the proper arrangements and followed safety protocols vis-à-vis COVID-19. The staff was provided necessary kits including sanitizers to ensure strict implementation of the prevention measures and the social distancing norms among the students were followed in letter and spirit.

Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mehraj ud Din Mir monitored and inspected the entrance test centres along with Director Admission, Prof. Parveen Pandit and appreciated the role played by all those involved in the conduct of the test. The staff of the university health centre also played a key role in ensuring safety protocols.

The consortium of 18 varsities including 14 Central Universities and four State universities participated in the CUCET-2020. The varsities comprised Central Universities of Kashmir, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan, Odisha, South Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University Rajouri, Dr. Ambedkar School of Economics Bangalore, Khallikote University (Berhampur), Sardar Patel University of Police, Security, and Criminal Justice (Jodhpur).

On the first day, as many as 2700 candidates appeared in the entrance test in two meetings conducted at 13 different centres established across Kashmir division, Leh and Kargil in Ladakh. The centres were set up at Green Campus, Tulmulla Campus, Nunar Campus, Science and Arts Block of the varsity in Ganderbal district, S.P. College Srinagar, Amar Singh College, Govt College for Women at Nawa Kadal, Anantnag, Baramulla, Government College of Education, Srinagar, Qamaria Model Education Institutions, Ganderbal, Satellite Campus University of Kashmir in Leh and Boys Higher Secondary School Kargil.

Jammu, Sept 18:  An elderly man and his six-year-old grandson drowned in a pond in village Chowki Chora of Akhnoor here on city outskirts on Friday.

Police here said Divyansh was taking bath along the bank of the pond in village Chora and suddenly slipped.

Her mother raised an alarm, following which, his grandfather, Kaka Ram, 78, who was few meters away from the pond, rushed to the spot and jumped into the water to rescue the kid.

But, he was neither able to rescue to his grandson nor save himself.

“Both of them drowned in the water,” police said adding that the bodies have been retrieved while the matter is being investigated.