z Saturday z December 15, 2018 3

Rs 8 Cr released for corpus under Road Safety Fund

„ STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: To arrest the trend of
traffic accidents and ensure
effective traffic management in
the State, the State
Government for the first time
released Rs 8 crore under Road
Safety Fund.
This information was given at
a high-level meeting chaired by
Principal Secretary Transport,
Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon, here
on Friday.
The meeting was attended by
IGP Traffic, Alok Kumar,
Additional Transport
Commissioner, Ajaz Abdullah,
Additional Secretary Transport,
Ashok Kumar, Additional
Secretary Technical (Police), R
K Bhat, Additional Secretary,
PWD Technical Mushtaq
Ahmed, Director Finance
lishment of traffic and design
wings in Transport
Commissioner's office at
Srinagar and Jammu for effec-
tive planning of traffic manage-
ment in Kashmir and Jammu
regions. For mobile checking of
pollution standards of vehicles,
Rs 1 crore has been earmarked
for purchasing smoke meters/
Principal Secretary Transport, Dr Asgar Hassan gas analyzers, tyre depth
Samoon chairing a meeting at Jammu. gauges, route survey etc.
Transport, Mahesh Kumar, Safety which has called for To create awareness regarding
RTO Jammu, Deep Raj and establishment of non-lapsable traffic rules, Rs one lakh has
other officers. Road Safety Fund in the States. been released to each Regional
RTO Kashmir Ahmudullah Threadbare discussion was Transport commissioners,
Tak, ARTO Kathua, R K held in the meeting regarding Assistant Transport
Thappa also participated in the the effective utilization of fund Commissioner for conducting
meeting through video confer- for different activities and pur- activities and programmes
encing. chase of equipment for road regarding road safety in their
The initiative is in tune with safety measures. respective areas.
the directions of the Supreme The meeting decided to For enforcing traffic discipline
Court Committee on Road release Rs 2.5 crore for estab- and checking violations on the
roads, Rs 1 crore has been ear-
marked for fabrication of inter-
ceptor on a vehicle. The other
accessories and equipment
which would be part of the vehi-
cle include roof light bar with
siren, cordless mike, One KVA
with light bar with siren, cord
less Mike, Speed hunter -III
plus-speed laser gun, breath
alcohol analyzer and others.
Road Safety Fund has provi-
sion for allocation of expendi-
ture for implementation of road
safety related schemes, pro-
grammes, projects, purchase
and installation of equipment
and devises connected with road
safety, conduct of studies, proj-
ects and research on matters
relating to road safety, trauma-
care programmes or activities,
etc.

Power shutdown
„ STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: To carry out work for installation and
commissioning of 33 KV Indoor Circuit
Breaker panel, the shutdown of 50 MVA,
132/33 KV Transformer banks installed at
132/33 KV Grid Station canal is being
observed.
During the shutdown period of 50MVA
Transformer Bank-2, rotational curtailment
shall be enforced from December 15 to
December 19 for one hour on 33/11KV
Satwari, Toph and Company Bagh Receiving
Station if required.
Similarly, during the shutdown period of
50MVA Transformer Bank-1, rotational cur-
tailment shall be enforced from December 20 to
December 24 for one hour on 33/11KV Manda,
Medical and New Secretariat Receiving Station
if required.
Meanwhile, for replacement of 33KV Bus-Bar
and jumpering work at Sub-Station
Ratnuchak, the shutdown of Ratnuchak-Sainik
Colony line emanating from Grid Station BB-II
is being observed.
During the shutdown, the power supply to
Ratnuchak, Sainik Colony and its adjoining
areas will remain affected on December 15 from
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. However, to execute
work for shifting of load, the shutdown of 33KV
Switchyard at 132/33KV Grid Station Canal is
also being observed.
During the shutdown, the power supply to
Canal, Bhagwati Nagar, Chatha, Satwari, Talab
Tillo, Medical, Company Bagh, Toph, parts of
Rehari and Bohri will remain affected on
December 15 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 Noon.
Repeal of Roshni Act: Eminent citizens comment
Madan Lal Sharma, retired police official from
Kathua has urged the Governor to probe all the allot-
ments made under the Roshni Act. He alleged that
this scheme was introduced with a pre-planned strat-
egy to change the demography of Jammu region.
"Under this Act, members of particular community
were settled in various areas of Jammu, Samba and
Kathua Districts", he said and requested the
Governor to check all the cases in which ownership
rights of State land were given to influential people under the Roshni Act.
He said after the former Governor Jagmohan, Malik is the first Governor who
has taken various steps for the welfare of people of Jammu region and also ini-
tiated effective drive against corruption. He said Governor Malik is the need of
hour, as he has the courage to do justice with the people of Jammu region. We
request him to cancel all Roshni deals so that those who had taken undue ben-
efits can be exposed. This repeal has only hit the genuine poor applicants where-
as the influential have already taken undue benefits of this scheme.
Vineet Dubey, Assistant Professor in Sociology, Trikuta
Degree College, raised serious concern over the scrapping
of Roshni Act without taking care of the interests of
deserving applicants who were relying on this Act's benev-
olence. He said the government has failed to generate the
targeted revenue of Rs 25,000 crore by selling State land
by virtue of aforesaid Act due to the rampant corruption in
J&K.
Claiming that those who had filed genuine applications for getting the own-
ership rights of land are still lurching for justice in the government offices, he
appealed to the Governor to probe against the officials involved in this mas-
sive scam due to which the State Government has suffered a major loss.
He urged upon the Governor to give directions to the Revenue Department
to immediately cancel all the allotments made under the Roshni Scheme to
influential persons and do justice.
Rajni Bala,
R epealing of Jammu and
Kashmir State Lands
(Vesting of Ownership
to the Occupants) Act, 2001,
Corporator Ward
No 60 lauded
Governor Satya Pal
Malik for his bold
decision on the
commonly known as Roshni Roshni Scheme but
Act, has generated a huge said that due care
debate with people, by and must have been
large, hailing the decision of taken with regard to the cases of poor
Governor Satya Pal Malik, deserving applicants, who have nothing to
describing it as yet another warm the pockets of revenue officials. "Their
cases are still pending in the concerned
landmark move to contain cor - offices and those having contacts had
ruption. already taken benefits of Roshni scheme,"
Here is how people reacted to the Governor's decision. she said and appealed to the Governor to
cancel all the unauthorised allotments,
Jaseel Singh Salathia, President Mandli JK Surya mostly to influential people, made under the
Gram Vikas Samiti pointed out that while big fish have Roshni Act and deliver justice to the genuine
taken advantage of the Roshni Act to get lands trans- applicants.
ferred in their names because of their administrative- She said due to the rampant corruption in
political influence; genuine cases are still lurching for jus- the State, the poor and weaker sections of
tice. "The rightful move in the matter would have been society are suffering a lot as no work is car-
that all the unauthorised cases should have been annulled ried out in government offices without giving
and the deserving ones who had been tilling the land for bribes. She believes that the repeal of Roshni
the last five to six decades must be given a green signal", he said. scheme is merely an eye wash as in many
Salathia appreciated Governor Satya Pal Malik for delivering bold gover- cases influential got transferred the land in
nance to the people of Jammu and Kashmir by taking in hand the toughest their names by using even fraudulent papers
task of eradicating corruption from the highly corrupt State. He said that the and are still holding the land whereas the
corruption has gone into the roots of politics and bureaucracy and the com- genuine persons whose genuine papers were
mon man continues to suffer. He said that every elected dispensation had still under process are at loss as the scheme
been nourishing the plant of corruption for the past 70 years which has now has been repealed. She appealed all the
become a big and deep rooted tree. deals under Roshni must be cancelled.

Bail denied to sympathiser Workshop on complex coronary KAS aspirants seek

of HM outfit
„ STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Sub-Judge
Electricity Pattan Amarjeet
Singh Langeh rejected the
bail application of Shafeeq
Ahmad Dar, son of Abdul
Aziz Ahmad Dar, resident
of Chuker Pattan alleged
sympathiser of Hizbul
Mujahidin outfit.
While rejecting the bail,
court observed that prose-
cution has opposed the bail
application on the grounds
inter alia that petitioner
along with 50 other persons
was involved in
publishing/pasting of
posters of Hizbul Mujahidin
in village Choker Pattan
and its adjacent areas
wherein general public has
been requested to assist
Hizbul Mujahidin, an FIR
vide No. 143 of 2018 for
offences under Section 120-
B, 506 of RPC and Section
10 of Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act was regis-
tered against petitioner and
he was taken into custody
on July 15, 2018 and inves-
tigation is at initial stage
and that if petitioner is
admitted to bail, the ongo-
ing investigation would be
hampered.
Court further observed
that this court has no juris-
diction to entertain this
application and dismissed
the same.
interventions held at SSH Jammu
„ STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: To reap the benefits
of re`cent advances in the
field of interventional cardiol-
ogy and to share the native
experiences and challenges
faced while treating patients
with complex ailments,
Department of Cardiology,
GMC, Jammu under the
supervision of Dr Sushil
Sharma organised a two-day
workshop at Super Specialty
Hospital (SSH), Jammu.
The workshop was conduct-
ed by Dr Imad Sheiban,
Director of interventional
Cardiology, Pederzoli
Hospital (Verona, Italy),
University of Turin along with
Dr Sushil Sharma, Head,
Department of Cardiology,
Government Medical College,
Jammu.
It is important to mention
that Dr Sheiban is the leading
Workshop on complex coronary interventions in progress.
interventional cardiologist the Department of
whose presence can be felt Cardiology, GMC, Jammu is
across the globe as an Invited doing high volume interven-
faculty and speaker in several tion work.
national and international Maintaining that India has
meetings and symposiums on taken a giant leap as far as the
interventional cardiology and healthcare standards and
other clinical aspects of heart facilities are concerned Dr
disease. It is a matter of com- Sheiben said the Department
mon knowledge that Dr of Cardiology, Jammu is
Sushil is in the process of equipped with adequate infra-
organising such workshops structure and expertise to pro-
since long and most notably, vide world class treatment to
patients of this region. During
the workshop, more than 10
complex PCI cases related to
coronary artery disease were
successfully performed.
The Department of
Cardiology, GMC, Jammu is
already doing good number of
complex procedures in coro-
nary interventions with
desired outcomes thereby ben-
efitting the people of this
state, most particularly the
people belonging to disadvan-
taged section of the society
who otherwise were unable to
get such advance treatment
due to various socio-economic
constraints. He further added
that this is the eleventh work-
shop of this kind in the
Cardiology Department in
which people with complex
coronary and non coronary
artery diseases were treated
and advised, said Dr Sushil.
transparency in Mains result
KAS aspirants staging protest at Jammu.
„ STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: KAS aspirants on Friday intensified their protest
against the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission
(JKPSC) seeking fair and transparent mechanism in the KAS
Mains examination result. The aspirants assembled outside the
premises of Commission’s office and raised slogans in support of
their demands alleging error in the recently declared JKPSC,
KAS 2016 Mains exam result. They criticized JKPSC for
adopting digital checking in the recently declared Mains exami-
nation. The aspirants alleged that digital checking procedure is
full of errors and many deserving candidates despite performing
well in their papers have been failed to appear in the list of can-
didates shortlisted for interviews. The protesting aspirants said
that they have no other option but to indulge themselves in the
stone-pelting as the Government has been failed to do them jus-
tice. They demanded a judicial inquiry into this matter.

Govt to put in place comprehensive Mir reviews current political Security cover to separatists: DB directs
elderly care system
Secretary, Social Welfare, Dr Farooq Ahmad Lone
chairing a meeting at Jammu.
„ STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Secretary, Social
Welfare, Dr Farooq Ahmad
Lone on Friday reviewed the
modalities for ensuring effec-
tive implementation of J&K
Maintenance & Welfare of
Parents and Senior Citizens
Act-2014.
Temperature (Jammu)
Max: 21.4ºC Min: 7.4ºC
Humidity
Max : 76 Min : 64
Temperature (Srinagar)
Max: 10.3ºC Min: -1.0ºC
Humidity
Max : 97 Min: 66
Sunset : 17:28 Hours
Sunrise : 07:26 Hours
development in J&K
The Act provides for compre-
hensive legal framework for
elderly care system in the
State including establishment
of Old Age Homes and Senior
Citizens Welfare Fund. It also
provides for constitution of
Maintenance Tribunal,
Appellate Tribunal, State
Advisory Council and
Conciliation Officers to
address the issues of Senior
Citizens.
Executive Director/
Secretary, State Social Welfare
Board, Dr Khalid Hussain
Malik informed the meeting
that the proposals for estab-
lishment of Maintenance and
Appellate Tribunal have been
moved to Planning/ Finance
Department by the
Administrative Department.
It was decided that till for-
mal appointment of
Conciliation Officers, the con-
cerned CDPOs shall be desig-
respondents to file objections
nated as Conciliation Officers
in their respective areas of
jurisdiction while District
Social Welfare Officers shall be
designated as Maintenance
Officers in their areas of juris-
diction. The meeting also
reviewed the modalities for
constitution of State Advisory
Council and District
Committees for the effective
implementation of the Act. He
said the project of old-age
home at Jammu is in progress
at a cost of Rs 9.73 crore and
all Deputy Commissioners
have been asked to identify
land at the earliest for estab-
lishment of Old-Age Homes in
their respective districts.
Representatives of pension-
ers' associations present in the
meeting also gave their sug-
gestions on how to make elder-
ly care system more effective in
the State.
Among others Commissioner
Disabilities Mohammad Iqbal
Lone, Director Social Welfare
Department Jammu Dr
Bharat Bhushan, Additional
Secretary Social Welfare
Department, Babu Ram,
Director ICDS, Veer Ji
Hangloo, Officers of Social
Welfare Department and rep-
resentatives of Pensioner's and
Senior Citizen's Association
attended the meeting.
„ STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) President
G.A Mir took stock of the current issues and the latest political devel-
opment in the State.
In the meeting held here, Mir congratulated Congress President
Rahul Gandhi for the marvellous victory in three major states which
went to poll recently and the BJP has been ousted out of power.
The meeting expressed gratitude to the electorates of three states
for rejecting the politics of hate, arrogance and vendetta nullifying the
false claims made by the Modi government and BJP in the country,
thus setting a trend of change for the general elections due next year.
The meeting also appreciated the spirit with which entire leadership
of the party and the rank and file in the respective states fought
against various odds.
The meeting also discussed the current issues and political develop-
ments besides discussing the strategy to gear up for the coming elec-
tions. The meeting decided to hold series of programmes and conven-
tions in different parts to activate the cadre and expose misdeeds of
BJP led government at the centre and its utter failure in the State.
The meeting also discussed the current issues in the media regarding
the move of rotation of constituencies and the pending issue of reset-
tlement Act. The party felt that the BJP has utterly failed to fulfill
its much talked about commitment of delimitation and now trying to
target the opposition strong holds through half-baked move of rota-
tion for fear of losing seats, through the institution of Governor.
However, the party is not opposed to any such process of rotation
which is overdue, if it is carried out in accordance with constitution
and the law as well as norms for the same without any political bias
and favoritism. The institution of Governor should take on board all
stake holders especially the main stream parties on all major policy
decisions, the party reiterated. As far as the issue of resettlement is
concerned the meeting viewed that the party stand is already known
from the day of introduction of this legislation, since the matter is
sub-judicious in the Supreme Court and it does not require any polit-
ical exploitation. The meeting was attended by Tara Chand, Mula
Ram, Raman Bhalla, Jughal Kishore Sharma, R.S Chib, Ravinder
Sharma, Suman Bhagat, Rajnesh Sharma, Balwan Singh, Dr
Manohar Lal Sharma, Manjeet Singh, Vikram Malhotra, G.L
Chalotra, Shiv Dev Singh, Ashok Sharma Ex-MLA, Subash Bhagat
and S.S Shingari.
„ STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: A Division Bench (DB) of State
High Court comprising Chief Justice Gita
Mittal and Justice Tashi Rabstan directed
respondents to file objections within six weeks
in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed
by Deewakar Sharma seeking withdrawal of
security cover provided to the separatists,
Hurriyat leaders and others who are
indulging in anti-national activities in the
State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Appearing for the PIL Advocate Lawanya
Sharma submitted that to maintain the secu-
rity of the State as also the law and order
problem, appropriate action is required to be
taken against such persons who are propagat-
ing separatism of the State from the Union
and who are also instrumental in the propa-
gation of communal hatred leading to mass
migration of Kashmiri Pandit community
from Kashmir.
"Surprisingly instead of taking stern action
against such persons, the respondents are
spending huge expenses in providing security
cover, boarding/ lodging, medical facilities
and even food to such separatists and pro-ter-
rorist elements particularly in Kashmir Valley
and the amount so spent by the Government
is from the public exchequer which is collect-
ed through taxes being paid by the common
man, therefore, it is baffling for a common
man to understand as to how the taxes being
paid by him through hard earned money is
used for such persons who are threatening the
very unity and integrity of the country as also
the life of a common man", the counsel of the
petitioner added.
In the PIL it has been further submitted
that respondents are involved in inciting large
scale violence in Kashmir valley and recently
they are allegedly involved in inciting the
youth to resort to stone pelting, etc. which has
created the situation of emergency in the
State.
He further submitted that it is again very
surprising that there is no uniform which has
been provided to the Government employees
which they should wear while attending and
discharging their duties and most of the times
it is very difficult to identify as to who is the
Government employee in the office.
"Providing of uniform will add discipline to
the Government offices and will make it easy
to identify the Government employees attend-
ing the office or not. This will also ensure that
such Government officials will be easily iden-
tified in any demonstrations or protests and
further more during the police check and
search, the Government employees can be
easily identified which will be even beneficial
to these Government employees", he added.
"Media instead of playing its actual role as a
strong pillar of democracy is happy in playing
role of instructor and prompter of separatism
and unrest particularly in Kashmir valley.
This may apply to certain vested segment of
the media though there is responsible media
also working in the Valley and elsewhere
which is still trying to maintain balance. The
media becoming propagator of separatism
and as the voice of anti nationalism and ter-
rorist organization is really compounding the
problem. No effort has been made by the
Government to pass on instructions on the
media reporting and to the extent to which
such reporting would be acceptable so that a
limit is fixed for everybody associated with the
media", he submitted.