Precious Kashmir

LG visits Vaishno Devi shrine, inspects facilities for pilgrims

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21/08/2020

LG visits Vaishno Devi shrine, inspects facilities for pilgrims

Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, Aug 20: Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, who is the Chairman of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Thursday paid obeisance at the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi and prayed for peace, progress and prosperity in Jammu and Kashmir.
During his visit, the Lt Governor was accompanied by Chief Secretary, Mr. BVR Subrahmanyam; and Chief Executive Officer, Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Ramesh Kumar.
Manoj Sinha, who was on his first visit to Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine after taking over as the Lt Governor of J&K UT earlier this month, inspected the wayside facilities put in place by the Shrine Board for facilitation of the pilgrims.
At Bhawan, the Lt Governor inspected the arrangements made by the Board for the pilgrims in view of the resumption of the Yatra on 16th of this month and asked the CEO that all the precautionary measures taken by the Board in connection with the COVID-19 for the safety and security of the pilgrims and the Shrine Board staff should continue till the situation normalises.
The Lt Governor also directed the CEO for expeditious planning and construction of Durga Bhawan for providing free of cost accommodation facilities for the pilgrims. Besides this, the Lt Governor asked for further enhancing accommodation facilities for pilgrims, maximizing utilization of IT-enabled services for facilitation of yatris and expediting work on the installation of Video Walls project. He also asked the CEO for enhancing religious activities at the Shrine.
Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Sanjeev Verma; IGP, Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh; Deputy Commissioner, Reasi, Indu Kanwal Chib; and SSP, Reasi, Rashmi Wazir also accompanied the Lt. Governor.

Tele-radiology benefits 10,000 patients in less than two months in JK

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Precious Kashmir

21/08/2020

Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, Aug 20: Over 10,000 patients have availed the services of tele-radiology in Jammu and Kashmir since its launch on 24th June 2020 in the Union Territory.
The patients who visited the identified centres in remote and far-flung areas of Doda, Reasi, Ramban, Poonch, Kupwara and Bandipora got their X-Ray and CT Scan reports in a time bound manner under this initiative and as on date more than 10,000 X-Ray reports stand issued.
Pertinently, the services for tele-radiology are being provided under National Free Diagnostics Initiative of National Health Mission at identified Healthcare Facilities in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir focusing on rural and far-flung areas in the initial phase.
The initiative has brought lot of respite to the people living in these areas by providing them with accurate diagnosis without compromising quality with use of high-end Technology & Equipment; improved Consultation and better management of patient care in Rural/Remote areas. “Tele-radiology services are seen as a major initiative to overcome the shortage of Radiologists without Compromising on the equality of consultations”.
In the first phase, 53 healthcare institutions including 6 district hospitals have been identified to be covered under this initiative like extension of free X-ray services. These free tele-radiology services at the identified facilities have been made available 24×7 basis.

Wheel of development gaining momentum: Advisor Baseer

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Precious Kashmir

21/08/2020

Meets BDCs, PRIs; inspects ongoing works of RDD in Pulwama
Precious Kashmir News
Pulwama, Aug 20: As a part of public outreach program initiated by the Jammu and Kashmir administration, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan, Thursday visited Pulwama and met various delegations and individuals who apprised him of their grievances and demands pertaining to development of their respective areas.
District Development Commissioner, Pulwama, Raghav Langer, Director RDD, SP Pulwama, District Officers and other concerned functionaries were present on the occasion.
Advisor also met and interacted with 18 delegations who projected their issues and demands like up gradation of civic amenities, Health, Education, Road connectivity, Drinking water, Power supply and adequate staff in schools and hospitals in their respective areas.
A Delegation of BDC’s raised the issue of strengthening of Panchayats, security concerns, residential accommodation, provision of vehicles for mobility besides emphasized on the issues of power connectivity and supply of drinking water.
Meanwhile, representatives of various political parties demanded special package for unemployed youth, establishment of PG courses in GDC Pulwama, beautification and development of Pulwama town, Development of Bus Adda and widening of main road from Awantipora to Pulwama.
Similarly a delegation of Panches and Sarpanches interacted with Baseer Ahmad Khan and briefed him of the issues pertaining to Panchayats which included complete empowerment of Panchayats and enhancement of honorarium.
Members of Urban Local Bodies Awantipota/Tral demanded development of springs besides conservation of water bodies, construction of Marriage Hall, Slaughter House at Tral, construction of Attendant Sarai near Sub District Hospital Tral besides development of Tourist places like Shikargah, Pastoona, Naristan and Kali Mandir.
The delegation of Fruit Growers demanded subsidy on Anti-Hail Net to protect the fruits from hailstorms and subsidy on bore wells for perennial irrigation facility. They hailed District Administration’s swift compliance of LG’s directions in submitting proposals for setting up of Fruit Mandi at Tral and Farmers Haat in Pulwama.

LAWDA procures deweeding machines, other allied mechanical equipments

City

Precious Kashmir

21/08/2020

Precious Kashmir News

Srinagar, Aug 20: On the advice of Committee of Experts appointed by J&K High Court, J&K Lakes and waterways Development Authority(LWDA), Srinagar has procured indigenously built High Capacity Deweeding Machine along with two 100 Ton capacity Dumb Barges, one Self Propelled Barge and one Weed Transfer Crane from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) New Delhi.

All the Mechanical Equipments have been received by LWDA on 20th August, 2020 except of one 100 Metric ton capacity Barge which is held up at Ramban due to road blockade and is expected to reach after the road reopens.

The trial operation of deweeding machines shall start within a day or two once launching of the machine in the Dal Lake is completed.

Initially this set of indigenous machines shall be operated in Hazratbal Basin and its effectiveness shall be monitored while operating it in two shifts.

It is expected that the machines will extract and remove lily weeds to the extent of about 500 tons on daily basis.

While briefing about the procurement of new high capacity Make in India machines, the Vice Chairman, LAWDA conveyed that if the set of machines proves to be successful, similar arrangement shall be proposed for Nishat Basin as well which will have a greater impact in controlling tremendous growth of Weeds in the Dal-Nageen Lake.

Jammu, Srinagar Airports receive 25 domestic flights with 3,714 passengers

Jammu & Kashmir

Precious Kashmir

21/08/2020

Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, Aug 20: On day 88 of resumption of routine domestic operations in Jammu and Kashmir, 25 domestic flights with 3,714 passengers on board today arrived at Jammu and Srinagar Airports.
A total of 1077 passengers aboard 9 regular commercial flights arrived at the Jammu Airport while 16 domestic flights with about 2637 passengers on board landed at Srinagar Airport today.
Pertinently, Jammu Airport Authorities have received a total of 712 domestic flights with 57,293 passengers while Srinagar Airport Authorities have received 1,137 domestic flights with 1,51,575 passengers since 25th of May till date.
Also, the Jammu and Kashmir government has brought back about 3,676 passengers from various countries to the Union Territory through special evacuation flights in the wake of global pandemic till date.
After arrival, all the passengers were tested for the COVID-19 and transported to their destinations at both the airports amid strict observance of all necessary preventive protocols.
The Government has made elaborate arrangements for the arrival, screening, sampling and proper transportation of the passengers to the quarantine centers taking special care of guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) prescribed by the Union Ministries of Civil Aviation and Health and Family Welfare.

Longest ICU stayed patient among 8 Covid-19 patients discharged from SKIMS Bemina

City

Precious Kashmir

21/08/2020

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Aug 20: Eight COVID-19 patients were Thursday discharged from SKIMS Bemina (JVC) after successful completion of treatment and testing negative before discharge.
The patients discharged today include 07 patients admitted under the Department of Medicine in High Dependency Unit (HDU) ICU and one from Gynae and Obstetrics.
Among the discharged six patients had Severe COVID Pneumonia with Severe Respiratory Distress, and were put on High Flow Oxygen besides other COVID treatment including Inj. Remdesivir. These patients with COVID Pneumonia had associated co-morbidities like Hypertension, Hypothyroidism and Diabetes, which were also taken care of.
Regarding the other two patients, one patient who was very sick and remained admitted for 47 days besides receiving Inj. Remdesivir and Convalescent Plasma Therapy (CPT), the patient failed to recover on maximum oxygen therapy and was put on Ventilator and stayed in ICU for 37 days.
Another patient of Gynae and Obstetrics delivered normally and the patients were monitored on a day to day basis till their oxygen saturation remained 94 percent on room air and were discharged from HDU.
With this the number of COVID-19 recovered patient’s moved to 917, out of total COVID positive admitted patients numbering 1009 till date.
The recovery rate at present is 90.88 percent and with 29 fatalities the mortality rate is 2.87 percent.

Speedy truck crushes minor girl to death in Ganderbal

Jammu & Kashmir

Precious Kashmir

21/08/2020

Raja Syed Rather

Ganderbal, Aug 20: An eight-year-old girl was crushed to death by a speedy truck in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on Thursday afternoon.

An official said the girl identified as Adiya Bano, daughter of Muhammad Anwar Paswal was critically injured after she was hit by a speedy truck in Ganiwan area.

“She was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment where doctors declared her dead on arrival,” he said.

The official said that police have taken cognizance of the incident and registered a case in this regard.

Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Khalil Poswal expressed sympathies with the family of the minor girl and said that legal action will be taken and justice will be done.

“A minor girl died in an accident at Hariganiwan, great loss, my sympathy with the grieved family. Legal action taken and shall ensure justice is done,” SSP tweeted. (KNO)

Residents of Pulwama village demand completion of KGBV school

Jammu & Kashmir

Precious Kashmir

21/08/2020

Syed Aijaz

Pulwama Aug 20: The residents of Mughalpora village in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Thursday, expressed resentment over the delay in completion of a school there.

A group of residents have said that “a centrally sponsored scheme school KGBV was sanctioned to their village more than a decade back, and the construction work was also started, but is yet to be completed.”

They said that a two storey building was constructed but were not equipped with the basic things like doors, windows and other interior equipments.

The building, as per the locals, has “wore a pathetic look now and has become a hub of immoral activities for drug peddlers and others.”

A student cum social activist Mudasir Dar has said that “work on the building was restarted a year back in 2019, but that continued for few time only and failed to make the building functional.”

He said that locals had donated their 20 kanals personal land for the purpose of construction of school and back to back delays have now left them dismayed.

“The school was accommodated in a private building but that turned futile, as the landlord refused to give further accommodation in view of some rental issues,” Mudasir said.

The locals have requested higher ups of the district and UT to look into the matter as early as possible. (KNS)

Algae Covers Dal Lake

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Precious Kashmir

20/08/2020

A thick coat of algae has spread through a wide swathe of Dal Lake, the flagship of Kashmir’s tourism.

The algae growth is a pointer to the deteriorating health of an already stressed water body and also raises questions over the conservation efforts.

Put differently, the return of the algae indicates that the factors that threaten the ecosystem of the Lake have not gone away and in the absence of daily cleaning by the concerned authority during the ongoing pandemic, it threatens to overwhelm the water body.

The Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA), entrusted to protect and upkeep the water body, is under directions by the J&K High Court to, among others, remove floating gardens, carry out de-weeding and disposal of weeds, take measures for the management of solid waste, perform dredging of the Lake besides “relocation and rehabilitation of encroachers and title-holders” from the Lake area. All these processes have been exceedingly slow. For example, over the past decade or so, not many families have been rehabilitated in several colonies including Rakh Arath, a 940 acre of the government land on the outskirts of Srinagar.

The untreated sewage from nearly half the Srinagar population as also many houseboats also continues to flow into lake. As per experts, the weed growth, fish loss, declining water quality etc can only be arrested if sewage flow is halted or treat properly.

The alga not only detracts from the Lake’s aesthetic appeal, is also alarming on various fronts as regards overall wellbeing of the water body.

As its growth is associated with the ever-growing load of the effluents into the water body and improper de-weeding weeds¸ there is immediate need to for the LAWDA to redouble its efforts to bring back the lustre of the Lake waters. While some experts’ underline that the weeds contain nutrients in their roots and once cut, the nutrients release directly into the water which leads to the growth of algae, the authorities need to address the issue also.

Over the years, the conservation efforts have witnessed simultaneous progress and reversal as well as inordinate delays in execution. On August 4 last, the Lieutenant Governor held a meeting with the members of Committee of Experts (CoE) who suggested that any planning and development in and around the water body has to be in consonance with the High Court directions and suggestions put forth by them. There is a need to take all the requisite measures to restore the ecosystem of the Lake and preserve its unique biodiversity.

After talking about statehood, Omar goes silent again

Anchor stories

Afaq Bhat

20/08/2020

After talking about statehood, Omar goes silent again

Afaq Bhat
Srinagar, Aug 19: After triggering a debate over restoration of J&K’s statehood, National Conference vice-president and former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah seems to have once again gone into hibernation.
Omar Abdullah after breaking his silence over Centre’s decision to revoke J&K’s special status seems to have gone back into his shell. “It appears that NC leaders don’t want to cross the line as they don’t want to end up in trouble again,” a politician told Precious Kashmir.
It may be recalled that soon after Centre announced its decision to revoke J&K’s special status on August 5, 2019, more than 40 mainstream leaders, including three former chief ministers—Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti—were placed under detention. Most of the leaders were released after serving six month detention or less, but Mehbooba Mufti continues to remain detained under Public Safety Act at her Gupkar residence in Srinagar.
Omar Abdullah had remained silent after his release but broke the lull after writing an Oped in a national daily in which he had stated that he won’t contest the assembly elections till J&K remains a Union Territory. His statement stirred a Hornet’s nest within his party as his close aide and NC chief spokesman Aga Ruhullah tendered his resignation from the party stating that “NC top leadership has accepted the change in J&K’s status-quo.”
After Ruhullah’s resignation, Omar went into damage control mode and said that besides restoration of statehood his party wants J&K’s special status back. He even lashed out at journalists for what he said “misinterpreting” his statement.
On the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2020, National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah had called an all party meeting of regional parties at his residence in Srinagar but authorities didn’t allow the meeting to take place and since then NC has not made any significant attempt to make its presence felt.
An analyst said, “It appears that most of the regional parties in Kashmir have realized that the Centre is no mood to give anything back so it’s no point making noise. After remaining in detention mainstream leaders in Kashmir have come to know that they don’t enjoy any impunity. It seems that leaders are in no mood to annoy the Centre. When these leaders were released the speculations were rife that they have assured the administration that they won’t indulge in any activity which could lead to a law and order problem. Omar Abdullah and others remaining silent is no surprise.”

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