Moscow, Sep 4: In the midst of heightened tensions in eastern Ladakh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe on Friday evening in Moscow on the sidelines of a ministerial meet of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), government sources said.
It was the first high-level meeting between the two sides after the border row escalated in eastern Ladakh in early May though External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held telephonic talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the row.
Singh and Wei are in Moscow to attend a meeting of the SCO defence ministers on Friday.
The sources said the meeting was requested by the Chinese defence minister.
Indian and Chinese troops are engaged in a bitter standoff in multiple places in eastern Ladakh. (Agencies)

New Delhi, Sep 4: Supreme Court on Friday rejected the Opposition-ruled States plea to review the Apex Court’s August 17 order allowing to conduct the JEE-Main and NEET UG examinations in September.

“We don’t find any ground to review our order in the issue,” a three-judge bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said in his order.

The order was passed after an in chamber hearing today in the Apex Court.

“We have carefully gone through the review petitions and the connected papers. We find no merit in the review petitions and the same are accordingly dismissed,” said the bench also comprising Justices BR Gavai and Krishna Murari.

The review petition was filed on August 28 by cabinet ministers from six different states challenging the Supreme Court order allowing the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct the JEE-Main and NEET-UG in the month of September, amid Covid-19 pandemic.

The petitioners were West Bengal law minister Maloy Ghatak, Jharkhand finance minister Rameshwar Oraon, Rajasthan health minister Raghu Sharma, Chhattisgarh food minister Amarjeet Bhagat, Punjab health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu and Maharashtra education minister Uday R Samant.

The petitioners jointly filed the review petition seeking a direction for cancellation of NEET-UG and JEE-Main this year because of pandemic.

The review petition also sought a direction that the earlier order of the Apex Court dated August 17 be modified.

Directs for regular monitoring of all projects to ensure timely completion
Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Sep 4: In order to give a boost to infrastructural development in Kashmir Division, the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today took a comprehensive review of various Mega Projects being undertaken under several Central Schemes and other projects in a meeting held at the Civil Secretariat. He also reviewed a host of upcoming developmental projects in the region.

The Lt Governor called for multiplying the efforts in bringing developmental reforms in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir to achieve the mission of inclusive socio-economic development of all.

During the meeting, the Lieutenant Governor was briefed by officers about the pace and progress of ongoing development projects executed by Health, RDD, PWD, Jal Shakti, PDD, Agriculture/ Horticulture, and other departments in Kashmir Division.

Stressing on the need to strengthen medical infrastructure in the region, the Lt Governor directed for speedy execution of work on Major Projects of Health & Medical Education Department in Kashmir. These include AIIMS Awantipora worth Rs. 2000 Crores, Government Medical College, Anantnag worth Rs. 139.30Crores, Government Medical College, Baramulla worth Rs 139 Crores, Unani Hospital Nawabagh Ganderbal worth 32.50 Crores, Additional Block of Lal-Ded Maternity Hospital in Srinagar constructed by JKERA worth Rs 132.5 Crores, Construction of 120 Bedded Additional Hospital Block at The Bone & Joint Hospital Barzulla by JKERA worth Rs 88.94 Crores, 200 Bedded Maternity- Children Hospital Bemina- Srinagar costing 116.28Crores, among others.

While reviewing the status of development of transit accommodation for migrant employees at the cost of Rs 920 crore in Kashmir division the Lt Governor issued explicit directions to officers for expediting the same.

The Lt Governor also took serious note of the unwarranted delay in the execution of development projects being taken up by NPCC, especially the Bakshi Stadium under PMDP and directed the Administrative Secretary, Youth Services and Sports Department to take on-spot review to solve all the impending issues and expedite the project on priority.

The Lt Governor also reviewed the progress of Saffron Park at Dussu, Pampore worth 37.65 crores, Construction of Government of Degree College,Singapora Pattan, Government College of Engineering & Technology at Safapora, Semi Ring Road, Z-Morh tunnel,NH-444 ( Srinagar-Shopian Qazigund Road) of which 40.00 km of the total 85.72 km has been completed. Mega Projects under execution in Kashmir Province by JKPCC including 148 meter Span Watalbagh Basipora Bridge Ganderbal, 188 meters span Shariefabad Bridge Srinagar, Construction of 3×42 Meter PSC Grider Double Lane Bridge at Noorjahan, Qamarwari; besides, construction of 4 Mega Strom Water Drainage Projects with the cumulative cost of 133 crores by JKERA in Srinagar City.

Taking a strong note of the unwarranted delays in the completion of some projects, the Lt Governor directed the concerned officers to ensure that projects do not remain languishing unnecessarily and regular reviews are conducted to remove bottlenecks and expedite progress. He also directed officers for coming up with a formal policy to incentivize the timely completion of projects.

While reviewing the pace of Wular Lake conservation project, the Lt Governor was apprised that a complete check has been put in place to avoid any kind of encroachments around the lake. The Lt Governor called for expediting the dredging and de-silting activities and efficient utilization of funds allocated for the purpose.

He exhorted upon officers to furnish regular status reports to the government on regular intervals depicting the work done adding that it will facilitate proper monitoring and filling up gaps and remove bottlenecks, if any.

To take J&K towards inclusive development, while ensuring responsive and accountable governance, the Lt Governor asked the officers to go the extra mile to meet the developmental aspirations of the people.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary, BVR Subrahmanyam; Financial Commissioner, Finance, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta; Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor, Bipul Pathak; Principal Secretary to Government, Housing and Urban Development, Dheeraj Gupta; Principal Secretary, Revenue, Dr. Pawan Kotwal; Principal Secretary, Social Welfare, Shailendra Kumar; Commissioner Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Commissioner Secretary, Forest Ecology and Environment, Sarita Chauhan; Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole, Secretary, Planning Development and Monitoring, M Raju, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary; Secretary, Youth Services and Sports, Sarmad Hafeez; CEO, JKERA, Dr. Syed Abid Rasheed Shah; Secretary, Tourism, Zubair Ahmad; Commissioner, SMC, Gazanfar Ali, and other senior officers.

‘Government to incentivize timely completion of projects’

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Sep 4: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha took a detailed review of the overall developmental scenario of Srinagar district in meeting at Civil Secretariat Srinagar here today. He took stock of the various developmental projects being undertaken by different agencies and the impact of various Centrally Sponsored Schemes being implemented in the district.

Those present in the meeting included Chief Secretary, BVR Subrahmanyam; Principal Secretary to Lt Governor, Bipul Pathak; Dheeraj Gupta Principal Secretary to Government, Housing and Urban Development Department; PK Pole, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; Shahid Iqbal Choudhary,  Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar; Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, Chief Executive Officer, ERA; Gazanfar Ali, Commissioner Srinagar Municipal Corporation; Dr. Bashir Ahmad Lone, Vice-Chairman, Srinagar Development Authority (SDA), Chief Engineers, Heads of departments, and other senior officials from various departments.

At the outset, the Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary gave a PowerPoint presentation outlining the brief profile of the district and various developmental indicators to the Lt Governor. He also informed the Lt Governor about the status of various centrally sponsored schemes being implemented in the district.

He also briefed the Lt Governor about various innovations and milestones achieved by the district administration. He informed the meeting that 10 Modern Revenue offices are getting ready by the end of September, besides achieving 100% completion of Jamabandi updation and 89% digitization of the same to date. He stated that specific interventions have been made in education and health sector to improve the overall scenario in the district. 25 smart schools have been established and work is going on in additional 50 schools for smart classrooms. Further,  5 PHCs have been developed as Smart Hospitals and at present 4000 bedded COVID Care Centers have been established. Laying stress on Grievance Redressal Mechanism, the district has established the UT’s first IVRS Call center for public grievance redressal in which around 12000 tickets stand generated to this date and more than 8300 issues related to services have been resolved.

The Lt Governor directed for immediate capacity enhancement of COVID care beds and called for achieving 100% saturation in all Centrally Sponsored and Social Security Schemes so that larger population can avail the maximum benefits out of these schemes and programmes. He also directed to ensure that 100 % payment with Aadhaar linkage is done to benefit the beneficiaries under Social Security Schemes.

He exhorted upon the officers to lay special focus on improving the prompt service delivery mechanism for the timely disposal of public grievances. Every possibility should be explored in meeting the developmental expectations of the people, he remarked.

Later, the Lt Governor took stock of the various projects for Housing, Urban Transport, and Srinagar Smart City Mission.

Dheeraj Gupta gave a detailed presentation of the various ongoing projects being executed by field agencies of the Housing and Urban Development Department. He briefed the Lt Governor about the new Townships coming up in twin capital cities of Jammu & Srinagar and the plan to construct One Lakh houses in each of the two Metropolitan Regions. He informed that the requisite Institutional Revamp has been undertaken and the two new MRDAs have been notified for planned & coordinated development of the two capital cities. 8 locations in Srinagar MRDA, with a potential of 1.36 Lakh dwelling units have been identified already.

The meeting was also informed that DPRs for the two Light Rail Transit Systems for the two capital Cities has been finalized and the execution of Jammu & Srinagar Mass Rapid Transit Corporations (MRTCs) has been proposed through DMRC.

Taking note of the delays in the execution of developmental projects, the Lt Governor called for a formal policy for incentivizing the timely completion of projects. He also directed the Principal Secretary to Government, Housing and Urban Development Department to come up with Comprehensive Drainage Plans for Twin Capital Cities even if the work has to be taken up in phases. He stressed that prospective needs be taken into account while formulating the plans.

On Smart City projects, the Lt Governor was apprised that 15 projects have been completed, 20 are ongoing and 4 stand tendered. Work has been  started on integrated command and control center to cover issues related to emergency services, essential services, city traffic management, security, citywide CCTV monitoring, disaster management, drainage, and other services,5 KM cycle track, smart vending zone, parking, city beautification, Variable Message Display, Reverse Vending Zone.

The Lt Governor stressed upon the officials to speed up the pace of work on all ongoing projects around the city so that the completed projects can be commissioned for public use at the earliest. He asked officers to conduct regular on-site reviews to resolve all bottlenecks, besides achieving a high level of Inter-Departmental synergy.

Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Srinagar Sep 4: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Kashmir has registered cases against 17 top officers in Jammu and Kashmir in the first eight months of the year 2020.
It’s in place to mention here that Governor Satya Pal Malik-led administration in 2018 had set up the ACB for tackling increasing corruption in Jammu and Kashmir.
As per the official details accessed by news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS), the ACB has registered 17 cases in Kashmir since the beginning of this year.
Several cases have been registered against politicians and bureaucrats. The ACB has registered a case against officers of Jammu and Kashmir into illegal appointments in the bank.
Similarly, it has registered a case against allowing illegal residential commercial constructions in Rajbagh and Gogji Bagh against,Ward Officer, Ward No. 30, Srinagar; 2), Building Inspector, Ward No. 30, Srinagar; and 3), Building Inspector Ward No. 30 Srinagar.
A case has also been registered against Chairman J&K Co-operative Bank and others for sanctioning loan in favour of non-existent co-operative society. The case has been registered against Chairman J&K State Co-operative Bank Raj Bagh Srinagar, and others. The anti-graft agency has also registered a case against former chairman of the bank for allegedly misusing his position.
A case has also been registered against the former Director Archives and Archaeology Department for allegedly misusing his position and had ordered enhancement of consolidated wages without authorization.
A case has also been registered against former directors of Rural Development Department Jammu for allegedly misusing official position and causing loss to state exchequer.
The anti-graft body has also registered a case against former Managing Director JAKFED for misuse of official position.
An official of ACB said that there are complaints against several top government officials for their involvement in corruption.
“Some are still at an initial stage and action will be taken in the next few weeks,” the official added.(KINS)

Reviews court proceedings, developmental works at CC Chadoora
Budgam, Sep 4: Justice Ali Mohammad Magray, Judge of J&K High Court today emphasised that providing requisite infrastructure in all courts of UTs of J&K and Ladakh is on top priority.
Justice Magray said this during his visit to Court Complex Chadoora and added that these sites and locations have already been identified in both the UTs.
He said creating requisite infrastructure in all courts, includes construction of new court complex buildings equipped with all facilities like recreation centers, bar council offices and residential quarters for honorable Judges.
Besides this, Justice Magray reviewed the process of acquisition of land, inspection of court proceedings, took stock of construction status of ongoing projects in concerned court complexes.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice Magray said that the infrastructure will come in next two to three years at all identified places and the complexes will have the facility of Alternate Dispute Redressal Centers(ADRCs), residential quarters for judges, facility to litigants, public and lawyers as they are also stakeholders of this whole process.
He said these measures will enable strengthening the whole judicial system in both the UTs of J&K and Ladakh.
To acquire the requisite space of land, Justice Magray elaborated that being revenue related matter the concerned revenue authorities have already been taken on board on behalf of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.
He revealed that the concerned Deputy Commissioner Budgam has been directed to initiate the process of identifying the availability of State land and provide all logistics for its acquisition particularly for the court complexes of Chareshareef, Chadoora and Budgam, adding he said in addition at some places we may require land from private proprietors also.
During the visit, Justice Magray was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Budgam Shahbaz Ahmed Mirza, Sub Judge Chadoora, Munsif Judge Chadoora, SP Budgam, Bar Council President and others concerned.

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Sep 3: The Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Srinagar on Friday summoned the sales head of Spicejet North sector for non-cooperation in investigation regarding the sale of tickets at inflated prices.
Satyaajit Mohapatra, Sales head Spicejet North sector was summoned by CJM Srinagar today in a case under FIR number 03/2020 under section 420, 468, 471, 409 and 120-B IPC registered in Crime Branch Kashmir regarding the sale of tickets at inflated prices to customers through travel agents, who in connivance with airlines staff create an artificial scarcity of tickets.
The court has directed the sales manager to produce the relevant data within a span of 15 days, failing which a warrant against him will be issued.
It has been learnt from reliable sources that Spicejet was not cooperating with the investigation process. (KNO)

New Delhi, Sep 4: President Ram Nath Kovind will felicitate 47 selected teachers of the country and give away national awards to them on the occasion of Teachers’ Day on Saturday.
Kovind will felicitate these teachers through video conferencing at 1100 hrs. Two of the teachers are physically challenged. The teachers are from 36 states and union territories as well as seven organisations.
On the eve of Teacher’s Day, President Kovind also congratulated them by underlining the role of teachers in nation-building.

He said in his message, “Every year, Teacher’s Day is celebrated nationwide on the birth anniversary of a great teacher like former President Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in his memory. I convey my congratulations and best wishes to the teachers who will be honoured tomorrow.”
President Kovind said teachers were guiding force for students and true nation builders, and noted that “the teacher is not only a person who teaches but also a moral guardian and instilled values within the students.”
He said that in Indian culture, Guru Shishya tradition is viewed with respect. Teachers with their patience and restraint not only introduce students to the rich tradition of our culture but an ideal teacher motivates students to achieve their goals. There is no doubt that teachers are the driving force for the students and the creator of the nation.
He also said that in view of changing times in the society, there is a need for change in the education system and more contribution of teachers is needed for the betterment of the society. Hopefully, teachers will continue to play their role in building a great nation and make the student community wise so that they can lead the country in the coming days.