STATE TIMES NEWS BANIHAL: In an endeavour to enhance awareness level of students so as to expose them to the diversity and cultural strength of India, a Capacity Building Tour of 35 students and 5 teachers to the city of Agra was flagged off at Ramban District. This is a part of the series of initia- tives taken by the Army in engaging youth creatively and changing mindsets and attitudes towards a produc- tive, responsible and inclu- sive outlook. The tour will expose the students to the rich cultural tapestry of India. The struc- tured tour for the students aims to inculcate a sense of belonging and foster a national sentiment amongst impressionable minds, which will help in motivating and guiding youth towards a con- structive growth path. Tuesday December 17, 2019 4 DISTRICTS DISCLAIMER “STATE TIMES” does not take responsibility for the contents of the advertisements (Display/Classified) carried in this newspaper. The paper does not endorse the same. Readers are requested to verify the contents on their own before acting there upon.” STATE TIMES NEWS REASI: Shiv Sena, J&K unit leaders held a public meeting at Thanpal in Tehsil Reasi on Monday under the chairmanship of President J&K , Manish Sahni. In the meeting, Shiv Sainiks demanded to increase the assembly seats of Jammu province and 80 per cent reservation in employment for the youth of J&K. Sahni said that people of the area have spoken to him of lack of medical facil- ities and lack of doctors in Reasi government hospital. At the same time, Shiv Sena leaders also expressed deep concern over the devel- opment of Thanpal's area, especially the poor condition of the fisheries department. Sahni said that the pools for fish farming have dried up and there is no system to maintain them. There is a lot of anger among the peo- ple of the area about the ignored attitude of BJP leaders and administration. On this occasion, about 100 people in the village Thanpal got influenced by the policies and principles of Shiv Sena, joined the party. The Shiv Saniks also took the oath of patriotism and social service. Sahni also announced Bhuri Singh as President Teh. Reasi Tehsil and Mangu Ram as Prabhari While Swan Singh was appointed as Vice President. President women wing Minakshi Chhibber, General Secretary Vikas Bakshi, Secretary Raj Singh, Youth leader Vishal Kohli, joint- secretary Raju Salaria, Pawan Singh and Uttam Singh were also present. Shiv Sena demands increase in assembly seats for Jammu province Shiv Sainiks taking oath at Reasi. STATE TIMES NEWS BHADARWAH: About 60 per cent citrus fruit crop was damaged due to recent snow- fall in this picturesque Valley of Bhadarwah and adjoining areas in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, a sen- ior government official said on Monday. Bhadarwah, along with Kellar, Pranoo, Shiva, Bhallesa, Dessa, Chatroo and Marmat, experienced heavy snowfall between Thursday and Sunday. "Nearly 60 percent of the citrus fruit crop have suf- fered irreparable losses in the latest snowfall, as harvesting season starts after first fort- night of January" Bhadarwah horticulture development officer Aabid Hussain Tantray said, quot- ing preliminary information received from the field staff. Putting the loss suffered by the orchards in the snow- bound areas to nearly 60 per- cent, Tantray asked the farmers not to let snow accu- mulate on trees. It is after several years that Chenab region has witnessed heavy snowfall in November and first fortnight of December and brought cheer to the tourism industry. However, it has turned out to be a bane for locals and fruit growers with losses incurred due to the snowfall touching in crore as 60 percent of the orchards got completely damaged as unripe fruit fell from the trees. On the other hand, rural areas of Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar districts of the Chenab region remained into darkness on fourth day as power supply lines also dam- aged due to the snow. While 60 per cent potable water supply has been restored in the Bhadarwah valley, most of the localities are still with- out water. Although the white blanket is a delight to the eyes, it has brought a great deal of trou- ble to the locals. We didn't expect such a heavy snowfall. We tried over best to save our citrus fruit but overnight snowfall dam- aged 70 percent of my orchard. I was in tears and am still in a state of shock to see the heap of unripe lemon, sweet lemon, Oranges and Kinnu lying on the ground. All of it has been damaged, said Sheikh Mohd Shafi of Bharova-Bhadarwah, a lead- ing fruit grower of Chenab Valley. According to officials 60 percent of the citrus fruit crop including lemon, Oranges, sweet lemon, Kinnu and Mousambi got damaged due to the heavy snowfall from Thursday to Sunday Morning. Harvesting season of the crop starts from 15th January. "We get no support from the government or Horticulture department as like Kashmir, we are not even covered under Prime Minister's crop insurance scheme. I took of the matter with DDC Doda Dr Sagar Dattaray Doifode during a fruit Mela, although he promised to take up the mat- ter with Chief secretary but nothing has been done so for,"said Sheikh Shafi, President fruit growers asso- ciation Chenab Valley. "Our family invested 11 years of life to grow orchard and since last 5 years we have been totally dependent on the the income we used to get from these citrus fruit, mostly sweet lemon, but a single night of snowfall changed everything as 75 percent of sweet lemons fell due to snow and got totally damaged. Hope administra- tion will bail us out from this situation," said Surinder Kumar of Village Gajoth- Kellar. "We removed snow after every two hours from our cit- rus trees even during night hours during last three days but as ill luck have prevailed, we could not save our yield just before the harvesting season. It was a horrible sight to see the oranges, lemons, and Mousambi scat- tered everywhere on the white snow, I could not gath- er courage to collect the unripe fruit from snow," said a farmer Parveen Khan of Gatha- Bhadarwah. It is notable to mention here that Bhaderwah, Kellar, Pranoo and Shiva areas of District Doda are the leading producer of the sweet lemon in the state with Bhadarwah Valley contributing 45% of the total yield. STATE TIMES NEWS KISHTWAR: Congress party delegation of Kishtwar District headed by its state Vice President and Former Minister, G. M Saroori calls for provisions of free electric- ity to the inhabitants of Kishtwar District as was promised to them by the NHPC at the time of taking over of 390 MW Dool-Hasti power projects and demand- ed jobs for local unemployed youths including Engineers, Diploma holders in 1000 MW power projects. Congress delegation com- promises of former Minister Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, Trade Unionist Raj Kumar Badyal, Counsellor Sanjeet Kumar, Congress Block President Ghulam Qadir Sheikh, Ali Mohd Naik, Tariq Hussain Mintoo, Surjeet Kumar, Student leader Waseem Saroori, Ex Sarpanch Bidya Lal, Sarpanches and many other intellectuals from the Congress party calls upon Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar and appraise him about the genuine aspira- tions of the people of Kishtwar. They called upon DC Kishtwar Angrez Singh Rana to take up the issues and matters raised by them with the government of Jammu and Kashmir as well as with the higher officials of NHPC and CVPPP so that the locals aspirations as was promised to them will get ful- filled. Among the various issues raised by them with the administration include provisions of free electricity in Kishtwar town and its peripheral areas as nothing has been done by NHPC so far for the welfare and bene- fits of people of Kishtwar, installations of high mask lights in each wards of Kishtwar Municipality and outside the town, black top- ping of two important city roads viz Om Mehta and Bagwan Mohallah road exclusively used by the NHPC etc. They also submitted the memorandum to DC Kishtwar in this regard high- lighting the various public issues. DC Kishtwar gave patience hearing to the issues raised by the Congress dele- gation with him and assured that he will take up the mat- ter with concern quarters and made an appeal for greater participation of pub- lic for taking benefits under various government runs schemes. Congress calls for provision of free electricity, jobs for locals in power projects Congress delegation handing over memorandum to DDC. Early snowfall damages citrus fruit crop in Chenab region Orchards covered under snow blanket at Bhadarwah. NPP demands compensation for damaged crops STATE TIMES NEWS R S PURA: Jammu Kashmir Nav Nirman Party Party (NNP) held a meeting at R S Pura district Jammu. The meeting was held under the supervision of State President Jasmer Singh Chohhala. People highlighted various problems during the meeting. While addressing the people, Jasmer Singh Chohala assured them that their problems will be taken up with the concerned departments. Singh said that due to the unseasonal rains, the paddy crop of the farmers has been damaged, but no one has listened to the farmers. He requested the district adminis- tration to inspect the damaged crops of the farmers and prop- er compensation to the farm- ers. Prominent among those who attend the meeting includ- ed Vice President Parminder Singh, Rajesh Sharma Bablu, Manmeet singh,Satish Bhagat. STATE TIMES NEWS REASI: Indian Army is contributing towards women empowerment by conducting job oriented cadres for women in remote areas. As part of this initia- tive, Indian Army conduct- ed a Pickle Making Cadre at Bagga, from 02 to 16 December 2019. In its pursuit of empower- ment of local women, the Army has organised various vocational training activi- ties in remote areas. Women look forward to self sustenance and improving their standard of living. Such initiatives by the Army, especially those enhancing traditional skills such as pickle making, weaving and knitting have helped women in realizing their true potential. These initiatives will encourage more women to come for- ward, enhance their skills and thereby improve the standard of living of the society as a whole. Speaking on the occasion, the women who attained the skill, thanked the Army for enabling them to become self reliant for the future and reduce their dependen- cy on the male members of their families. The local populaces have conveyed that the various initiatives by the Army, especially for the women, would assist in the all-round socio econom- ic development of the region. Army imparts pickle-making training to women STATE TIMES NEWS RAJOURI: Two weeks DST Sponsored Faculty Development Programme on Quantum Science & Technology commenced from 16th December, 2019 in the School of Material Sciences & Nanotechnology, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University Rajouri. Vice Chancellor BGSBU Prof. Javed Musarrat expressed his greeting and wishes for the success of the Programme. He further emphasized on keeping pace with the latest trends and technologies in Material Sciences & Nanotechnology particularly in Quantum Science. Prof. Iqbal Parwez, Dean, Academic Affairs was the Chief Guest of the occa- sion. Prof. Iqbal Parwez appreciated the efforts of the School for organizing the FDP and highlighted the importance of such pro- gramme for overall grooming of Academia.Prof. Iqbal said that such programmes would strengthen the vision of The Vice Chancellor Prof. Javed Musaart to develop BGSBU as a centre of excellence in teaching and research. He stressed upon the participant to get maximum benefit of the expert lecture and should come up with novel ideas and contribute in the ongoing in the field of quantum sci- ences. Earlier, Dean, School of Material Sciences & Nanotechnology Prof. Mohammad Asger, welcomed the guests and the partici- pants and shed light on the objective of conducting FDP on such an important theme. Prof. Patrick Dasgupta, from the Department of Physics & Astrophysics, University of Delhi, was the key note speaker in the innagural session. He delib- erated on the theme of the programme and its relevance in research and other appli- cations. He shed light on the latest trends and challenges in the area of the Quantum Sciences. Experts from within and outside Jammu and Kashmir have been invited to deliver lectures during the two week long course.Present on the occasion were, Prof. G. M. Malik, Dean of School of Education, Prof. Naseem Ahmad, Dean, School of Management, Heads of vari- ous Teaching Departments, besides scholars, students & faculty members. The formal vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. Feroz Ahmad Mir, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics. FDP on Quantum Science & Technology begins at BGSBU Women undergoing training at Reasi. Army officials along with participants posing for photograph. STATE TIMES NEWS BARI BRAHMANA: Members of Jat families liv- ing in Tehsil Bari Brahmana held a meeting of State Level Jat leadership, inviting Ch Manmohan Singh State President All India Jat Mahasabha J&K as their patron. As known, in an effort to connect with people of Jat biradari living in far flung areas, Ch. Manmohan Singh and his team has been tour- ing all the places where jat families live and they than form a committee of their local members. In response to his steps for integration of our biradari people, the resi- dents of Bari Brahmana attended this meeting and asked Ch. Manmohan Singh to form committees for them. On their demand, Ch.Raj Singh Randhawa was elected Tehsil President of AIJMS Bari Brahmana, Maan Singh and Capt. Des Raj as Sr. Vice presidents Capt. Manmohan Singh and Capt Sikander Singh as VP, Gurjeet Singh as Gen.Sec., Sain Choudhary and Capt Raj Kumar as Secy., unani- mously. This meeting was attended by all the Jat resi- dents including women in large numbers. Ch. Manmohan Singh said that by forming such committees at every Tehsil/ village, he is making communication between our people very easy. He said that being cho- sen as a representative of the Biradari entails a lot of ded- icated work for our people, and it is no less than a full time job. Choudhary said that by forming these com- mittees, he is enabling our people to raise their concerns independently. Ch.Manmohan Singh asked the committees to reach out to every family and bring their issues to his notice so that he and his team can raise these con- cerns with the respective authorities. Ch Diwan singh Ch Sham lal, Ch Rashpal singh, Ch Surinder Shinda, Ch Prem Pal Ch Baljeet singh and Ch Janak Raj were also present. Jat Mahasabha constitutes Bari Brahmana Tehsil unit Minor girl rescued, kidnapper nabbed STATE TIMES NEWS BHADARWAH: Police on Monday worked out a kidnap- ping case and recovered a minor kidnapped girl. According to reports, par- ents of a minor girl (name withheld) lodged a complaint with Bhadarwah police that their 17 years old minor girl was kidnapped by a youth from Bhadarwah area. As soon as the parents filed the complaint, Bhadarwah Police took the cognizance and registered a FIR 187/2019 under section 363/109 IPC at Police Station Bhadarwah and investigation was started. On the direction and overall supervision of SSP Doda Mumtaz Ahmed, ASP Bhadarwah Raj Singh Gouria constituted various teams for searching the kidnapped girl and accused. Finally the Police team led by SDPO Bhadarwah Adil Rishu and SHO Police Station Bhadarwah Inspector Shamim Ahmed recovered the girl from Padyarna area of dis- trict Kishtwar. The accused involved in the kidnapping of the minor girl has been identi- fied as Rohit Kumar, son of Bhag Singh, resident of Shakla Thathri District Doda, who has been arrested by Police. The recovered minor girl handed over to her parents after completing legal formalities. Members of Jat Mahasabha during the meeting. Army flags off capacity building tour for students STATE TIMES NEWS UDHAMPUR: District Development Commissioner, Udhampur Dr. Piyush Singla con- vened a meeting with offi- cers of various depart- ments to finalize the annu- al action plan under Jal Jeevan Mission on the theme 'Har Ghar Nal Se Jal'. The meeting was attend- ed by SE PHE Circle Udhampur, Kuldip Badyal, Chief Planning Officer, Rajeev Bhushan, Assistant Commissioner Development, Mushtaq Chowdhary, District Information Officer, Er. Sajad Bashir Somberia, Executive Engineer, PHE Mechanical, Taj Chowdhary, Chief Education Officer, P.D Sharma, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. K.C Dogra, Chief Agriculture Officer, Satish Bhagat and other senior officers of different departments. Detailed discussions were held on various issues regarding effective imple- mentation of Jal Jeevan Mission in the district like finalization of annual action plan, preparation of DPRs for all the schemes and preparation of IEC plan. While addressing the meeting, the DDC stressed that Jal Jeevan Mission is centrally sponsored scheme launched with objective to provide100 per cent tap water to all house- holds. DDC asked the con- cerned departments to constitute village level water sanitation commit- tees and submit detail within five days. DDC asked PHE depart- ment to submit DPR of Narsoo, Sewna and Latti block while ACD was asked to sensitize BDOs and all PRIs about the JJM scheme and ensure that plans are framed in gram sabhas. Meeting was informed that all the households in Udhampur district would get water connections by 30th October, 2020 and in first phase 03 blocks Latti, Narsoo and Sewna will get water connections by March 2020. DDC Udhampur finalises annual action plan under JJM DDC Udhampur Dr. Piyush Singla chairing a meeting. STATE TIMES NEWS DODA: District Development Commissioner, Dr Sagar D Doifode chaired a meet- ing of the District Environment Committee for the preparation of District Environment Plan. The meeting was attend- ed by ADC Doda, Kishori Lal Sharma, DFO Doda Navneet Singh, Joint director Planning Parshotam Kumar, CMO,CEO, District Pollution Control Board officer, EO MC Thathri, Bhaderwah. Threadbare discussion were held on preparation of District Environment Plan wherein DDC direct- ed members of DLEC for submission of detailed district Environment Plan regarding various initia- tives for environmental conservation and improv- ing parameters within one week. DDC said that the action plan shall be aimed at improving overall parame- ters of environment in the district includes solid waste management, bio medical waste manage- ment, construction and demolition waste, polluted river stretches, industrial pollution control, utilisa- tion of treated sewage, conservation of water bod- ies, e-waste management, prevention of illegal sand mining, widespread meas- ures to curb use of plastic/ polythene, community participation and mass awareness, strengthening Green Clubs, soil and moisture conservation, water conservation, curb- ing air and water pollution and grievance redressal mechanism. DFO Doda was appoint- ed as Nodal officer for the formulation of the basic structure of the DEP within two days, besides ADC Doda was asked to collect the information from all the members to make a broad framework of the plan which shall be submitted to the Chairman for the final approval within a week time. Moreover DDC Doda directed the ADC to con- vene the meeting of the said committee in every month, besides to monitor the working of the com- mittee on regular basis. DDC Doda directs to prepare District Environment Plan DDC Dr Sagar D Doifode chairing a meeting at Doda.