Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar : The authorities on Saturday said water supply in several areas of Srinagar will remain affected on March 14 due to cleaning of a service reservoir.

According to a notice, a copy of which lies with the news agency that service reservoir having capacity of 15 lakh gallons is to be cleaned and in this regard many areas will not get water supply from 10:00 am on March 14 to 06:00 am on March 15.

The areas where water supply will be affected include Chanapora, Natipora, Baghat, Rawalpora, Rambagh, Hafta Chinar, Tulsi Bagh, Gogji Bagh, Wazir Bagh, Solina, Jawahar Nagar, Rajbagh, Humhama and adjacent areas—(KNO)

JAMMU: Continuing with its endeavour to provide financial assistance to the families of the Police personnel/SPOs who have attained martyrdom or have passed away while in service, Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh has sanctioned Rs 2.04 crore as Special Welfare Relief for NoKs of ten deceased Police personnel/ SPOs.

The special welfare relief of rupees 22 lakh each has been sanctioned in favour of dependents/legal heirs of deceased Police personnel; SI Om Parkash, ASI Surinder Kumar, HCs Girdhari Lal and Inder Kumar Sharma, SgCts Suresh Kumar and Bashir Ahmad, Rct Fayaz Ahmad Bhat, Followers Sheikh Ghulam Qadir and Jaswant Raj.

These Police personnel have passed away due to illness/ natural death while in service. Rupees one lakh each has already been paid to NoKs of deceased police personnel for performing their last rites. The Special Welfare Relief is sanctioned out of Contributory Police Welfare Funds.

DGP has also sanctioned rupees 6 lakh as Special Welfare Relief in favour of NoKs of deceased SPO Gurmesh Singh who passed away during the course of his engagement in the department. Rupees 50 thousand had already been given to his family for performing last rites. The fund is sanctioned out of the Contributory Welfare Fund of SPOs.

According to a press release, Police Headquarters is running many schemes for the welfare of its personnel and their families including schemes for the wards of Police personnel and SPOs, schemes for the NoKs of martyrs, their wards and for the retired Police personnel and their spouses.

Srinagar: All registered consumers of District Ganderbal and Rural Srinagar are hereby informed that RWS Division Ganderbal/ Srinagar has uploaded Consumer Water tax Bills on m-Pay application of J&K Bank Ltd.

Accordingly, all Registered Consumers of this division can pay their bills through m-Pay application of J&K Bank against 13-digit consumer ID (newly assigned) or at any branch of J&K Bank against hard copy of consumer Bill having 13-digit consumer ID.

The consumer ID’s can be obtained from the e-Billing Section of JS-PHE Rural Water Supply Division Ganderbal or Telephonically on following Mobile No.’s 9797232087, 9596981147.(GNS)

Kupwara : National Conference youth leader Waqar Khan on Friday held interactive session with youth of Karnah.

In a handout received here which reads, youth of Chanipora Balla Karnah has shaped, fuelled & gave motivation to me which soothes my inner soul. He held interactive sessions with the youth of the said area & heared their greviances’ & struggles of unemployment & assured them for taking these grievances with the higher authorities.

“The youth of Chanipora Balla Karnah are extremely talented, hardworking with having a lot of potential which need to be nurtured through a proper channel”, Khan said in a handout issued here,

“I’ll take necessary measures to empower their potential & assured them for full support and cooperation in time to come”, he said,

The interaction session was attended by the number of people of the area. “I’m overwhelmed to them for showing love & respect to me”, concludes the handout.

KUPWARA : Around 20 Women achivers of frontier Kupwara district were felicitated in an impressive function held at Town hall Kupwara today.
The Deputy Commisioner Kupwara, Dr. Doifode Sagar Dattatray was the Chief Guest on the occasion.
Event was organised by “Kashmir Servers Foundation” in collaboration with District adminstration Kupwara to felicitate extraordinary women of Kupwara district for their achievements and excellence in the respective fields.
During the function various mesmerising programmes related to women empowerment were presented, besides women achievers of Kupwara district were honoured and felicitated.
In his presidential address, Deputy Commisioner Kupwara Dr. Doifode Sagar Dattatray highlighted the achievements of women in diverse fields of life. He also referred to various schemes of the Government launched for the welfare of women, especially those from underprivileged sections of the society.
Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Commissioner complimented the role of women in society, in a family, and in nation building.

“Women play a pivotal role in developing and cultivating a peaceful society. Women comprise half of the work force in the country. When there are more hands there are more brains.It is better to channelise the services of women for betterment of society”DC said.
Deputy Commisioner Kupwara said that women are playing a praiseworthy and commendable role in every filed in this modern era. “Women are in space. Women are in administration, politics and are holding highest offices”.
While refering to President of the republic of India, Droupadi Murmu,
Deputy Commissioner Kupwara said
“President Droupadi Marmu Ji is the first President of India who is belonging to the tribal community and also the second woman after Pratibha Patil to hold the highest office in India”.
Deputy Commisioner interacted with women achivers and wished them good luck and more courage to shine in life.
Principal Boys Degree College Kupwara, Prof.Mohd Shafi, Dr. Shazia a renowned environmentalist, Mr.Shadab Mehboob, cluster head ,J&K Bank Kupwara district, Dr. Shugufta Qazi, Gynecologist,Chairperson Kashmir Servers Foundation spoke about the role and contribution of of women. Momentos were presented as token of gratitude to distinguished guests and dignitaries.

20 women achivers of Kupwara district who were felicitated with “Women Achivers Award” included Fareeda Bano of Diver Lolab who inspite of being 100 percent specially-abled didn’t surrendered ,and is running a fashion designing botique at Diver Lolab in Kupwara district. Specially abled woman is not only supporting her aged parents but has trained more than 50 women of far-flung Diver village in cutting, tailoring and Fashion desining.
Other awardees who were honoured included Rifat wani who has been delivering social and volunteer service to the under- privileged people of far flung areas from past 13 years.
Mymoona Begum, Mumtaza Bano, Zahida Zareen, Harisa Farooq, Syed Rufaida, Rubeena Bashir,Mehnaza Rashid, Dr. Shugufta Qazi, Nusrat Nabi, Saheela Sahil, Gulshan Bano, Rubeena Bano, and Pakeeza Akhtar included the women achivers who received women achivers award from the hands of Deputy Commisioner Kupwara and other distinguished guests.

SRINAGAR: Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari has been declared the winner of the Apni Party’s presidential elections in the absence of any other eligible contestant. The party’s founder will be holding the second term as party president for another three years.

According to a press statement issued here, the Convener of Apni Party’s Election Board Vijay Bakaya on Saturday declared Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari unopposed winner of the presidential contest.

Bakaya issued a notification, which read: “The details from both election sub offices Srinagar and Jammu certify that Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari wins the party’s presidential election unopposed. Thus, he is declared the party president for the 2nd tenure. Since the process of election is completed, as per the requirements of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party, it comes to an end with immediate effect.”

Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari completed his first tenure as party president on March 8, 2023. His second term will end on March 8, 2026.

Srinagar : Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Friday has sought immediate release of salary of Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar employees.

“It is unfortunate that the employees of GMC Srinagar are without salary for the last five months,” said DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan.

Dr Hassan said due to the non-payment of wages, employees and their families face immense hardships.

“They are not able to pay school fee of their children and can’t even buy their daily medicines. The employees are having a difficult time to even a daily bread,” he said.

The DAK President said the wages of employees have been withheld on the pretext that the employees have not uploaded one of their promotion orders on JKRM portal.

“The verification and updating of service records on portal is the responsibility of college authorities,” he said.

“Employees are working round the clock in hospitals and they should get their salaries. You can’t deny wages of hospital employees who put in their blood and sweat under difficult conditions to save sick and wounded,” said Dr Nisar.

“It is difficult for employees to work without salary and without wages they can’t deliver their services efficiently which adversely affects patient care,” he said.

Dr Arshad Ali General Secretary DAK said GMC employees are agitating for the last two days demanding the release of their salary.

“Government should redress their genuine demand immediately so that patient care doesn’t suffer,” he said.

Srinagar : A five-storey commercial-cum-residential building in Maisuma Gowkadal area of central Kashmir’s Srinagar district was damaged in a fire incident on intervening Thursday and Friday night, officials said.

“The fire has damaged wooden shelves, counters and showcases along with electric goods of several shops,” said an F&ES official, adding that, “one shop on the first floor that dealt in food items for pets, and the residential rooms on the third and fourth floor sustained direct damage due to the heat and water from the firefighting efforts.”

“Thankfully, no casualties were reported, and the fire was contained by the swift response of the Fire and Emergency Services personnel,” the official told GNS.

As soon as the news broke, the nearest fire station, Gowkadal, located 0.5 kilometres from the site of the incident,” the official said.

“The authorities have initiated an investigation into the incident and efforts are underway to assess the extent of the damage caused by the fire”, they said adding”we urge all citizens to ensure that their electrical installations are regularly checked and maintained to prevent any untoward incidents.” (GNS)

Srinagar : As mainly dry weather continues, the minimum temperature recorded increase in Kashmir Valley as well as most parts of Jammu division on Friday.

A meteorological department official here told Srinagar recorded a low of 3.2°C against 2.9°C on the previous night and it was 0.1°C below normal for the summer capital.

Qazigund, he said, recorded a low of 2.0°C against 1.8°C on the previous night and it was 0.2°C below normal for the gateway town of Kashmir.

Pahalgam, he said, recorded a low of minus 1.2°C against minus 1.9°C on the previous night and it was 0.2°C above normal for the famous tourist resort in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

Kokernag recorded a low of 4.3°C against 4.1°C on the previous night and it was 2.4°C above normal for the place, the officials said.

Gulmarg recorded a low of 0.6°C against minus 1.4°C on the previous night and it was 4.1°C above normal for the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, he said.

In Kupwara town, he said, the mercury settled at 0.4°C against 0.2°C on the previous night and it was 1.4°C below normal for the north Kashmir area.

Jammu recorded a low of 14.6°C against 15.5°C on the previous night. It was 0.6°C above normal for J&K’s winter capital, he said.

Banihal, he said, recorded a low of 3.8°C (below normal by 0.3°C), Batote 8.0°C (above normal by 2.1°C), Katra 13.1°C (1.6°C above normal) and Bhadarwah 5.5°C (2.4°C above normal).

Ladakh’s Leh and Kargil, he said, recorded a low of minus 5.6°C and minus 5.6°C respectively.

The MeT department has forecast dry weather in the next 24 hours. Mainly dry weather to isolated very light rain and thunder is expected for subsequent two days, he added. (GNS)

Jammu: Director General of Police Dilbag Singh on Thursday directed officers to take stringent action against harbourers and overground workers of militants to end militancy in the Union Territory.
He also said the UAPA cases should be dealt more efficiently and professionally.
“Neutralising a (militant) is not enough unless all those involved in harbouring and supporting him are identified and brought to justice,” Singh said.
He was chairing a meeting of the Kashmir zone officers at the police headquarters here.
The meeting was among others attended by Additional Director General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, deputy inspector generals of police (south, central and north Kashmir), deputy inspector general, Special Investigation Unit (SIU), and all district superintendents of police through video-conferencing, a police spokesman said.
The police chief directed that stringent action be taken against the overground workers (OGWs) and others providing any kind of support to militants.

“Property of accused to be seized under law and absconding accused to be declared as proclaimed offender besides initiating action under law,” the DGP said.
The meeting, which was also attended personally by ADGP (Coordination), police headquarters, Danesh Rana and IGP (CIV), police headquarters, B S Tuti and other officers, reviewed the progress of under investigation cases besides taking stock of cases under trial, the spokesman said.
“The main objective of the meeting is to reexamine and discuss the directions already issued by the police headquarters regarding investigation of cases registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA),” the DGP said.

He stressed on the need for dealing with the UAPA cases more efficiently and professionally.
“SIUs have been created to pace up result-oriented investigation in UAPA cases and assist the overall efforts of district police to dismantle the ecosystem,” Singh said.
Stressing for taking the investigation more seriously and execution of plan of action in each case, the DGP directed for efficient investigation and timely presentation of the chargesheet.
He enjoined upon all supervisory officers to analyse all the UAPA and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) cases and subsequently start the investigation taking into account their sensitivity.
He directed the district police chiefs to supervise each and every case personally besides involving prosecution officers to mitigate legal and technical lacuna, if any.
The DGP also directed for conducting regular review meetings at different levels to analyse the cases under investigation besides taking additional measures to improve the conviction rate.
Singh also emphasised upon the officers to ensure that the investigation of UAPA cases are foolproof, taking into account every evidence and contemplating trial of cases in order to achieve the desired results.

“Pairvi cells have been created at different levels to supplement the investigation process and trail of the cases,” he said and directed range DIGs and district SSPs to supervise the “Pairvi cells” to ensure improvement in conviction rate.
The range DIGs of the Kashmir Zone briefed the DGP regarding the progress of each under investigation UAPA cases through detailed powerpoint presentations, the spokesman said.