Zabarwan Times E-Paper English 04 January

New Delhi, Jan 3: On a day when he called signing of the Indo-US nuclear deal as the “best moment” of his nearly 10-year-long ten-ure, Prime Minister Man-mohan Singh on Friday strongly batted for nuclear power as a “dependable and clean option”.Prime Minister Manmo-han Singh also said the country is aiming to gener-ate more than 27,000 MW of nuclear power in the next 10 years.He underlined the need to ensure that all ingredients by which nuclear fuel is made remain safe and do not fall in the hands of ter-rorists and anti-social ele-ments. “Nuclear energy is a de-pendable and clean option to produce power. India is among the very few na-tions which have devel-oped technology to install nuclear power plants and

have achieved the capabil-ity to make nuclear fuel”.“Our aim is that in the com-ing ten years, we should achieve the capability to generate more than 27,000 MW nuclear power,” Singh said in Haryana’s Jhajjar district. He was here to lay the foundation stone of two key projects -the National Cancer Institute and the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership.“...Certainly I think the best moment was when we were able to strike a nucle-ar deal with the US,” Singh had said earlier in the day when asked at a news conference in Delhi what were his best and lowest moments in life during his tenure. The Indo-US Civilian Nuclear Agreement was signed in 2008. The Prime Minister said that “besides increasing our capability to generate nuclear power,

what is important for us is to ensure that all ingredi-ents by which nuclear fuel are made remain safe and do not fall in the hands of terrorists and anti-social people.” He said it is also important that the nuclear power plants maintain the high-est standards of safety. He said “post the Japan nu-clear accident case in 2011, we have adapted highest safety standards in our power plants design and management”. The Prime Minister said as the country’s population grows and more urbanisa-tion happens, the demand for power will also go up. Ensuring that there was enough power for our growing economy was the need of the hour, and while there were various sources like coal, hydro, wind, gas to generate power, nuclear

See Nuclear Power on Pg. 11

J&K Bank’s valedictory function of Platinum Jubilee celebrations

New Delhi, Jan 3: Prime Min-ister Manmohan Singh today declared that he would bow out of office after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and strongly backed Rahul Gandhi for the job. While answering a question during a media conference in Delhi, on a potential contest between Ra-hul and Modi, Dr. Singh said, he sincerely believe that it will be disastrous for the country to have Narendra Modi as prime minister. He ridiculed Modi’s campaign for a Congress-free India saying that was not going to materialise. Dr. Singh said, a strong leader also does not mean one could preside over the kill-ing of innocent citizens in the streets of Ahmadabad. Dr. Singh said, he has full confidence that the next Prime minister will be from a UPA coalition.Dr Singh said he is not going to

be Prime minister if the UPA comes to power for a third term at the Center. The Congress will announce its Prime Ministe-rial candidate at an appropriate time. Dr. Singh also said, Con-gress Vice President Rahul Gan-dhi has outstanding credentials to be the Prime Minister.

He said, the Congress welcomes the people’s mandate in the just concluded Assembly elections and will learn lessons from it.Dr. Singh said, India’s democrat-ic constitution and institutions are the cornerstone of modern India. No one person or institu-tion can substitute the countries democratic framework. He said, only time will tell on the success of Aam Aadmi party.Terming, dealing with corruption as a complex issue he called for cooperation cutting across party line to combat the menace. Dr. Singh said, he has never used of-fice for personal gains and history will be kind to him than the con-temporary media and the opposi-tion. He said, it is for the people to judge him and he is the same man with the clean image since the be-ginning of UPA tenure.

See PM on Pg. 11

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SATURDAY January 04 | 2013 | 02 Rabi-Al-Awwal 1435 AH | PAGES 12 | VOL NO: 4 | ISSUE NO: 04 | RS: 2/- (AIR SURCHARGE FOR JAMMU /DELHI/LEH 50 PAISA)Pen For JusticeLargely Circulated, No. 1 Bilingual Daily of J&K

PM to bow out of office after 2014 LS polls, backs

Rahul for the job

http://www.zabarwantimes.com

WEATHER

TEMPERATUREMAXIMUM MINIMUMSUNSET ON(SATURDAY)SUNRISE ON (SUNDAY)

05:35 pm07:38 am

-1.6 0C3.0 0C

FORECAST FOR NEXT 24 HRS:

FORECAST OF SRINAGAR:

Light rain/snow may occur at isolated places over higher reaches of the state.

Partly cloudy sky. Maximum & Minimum temperatures will be around 5°C & -3°C respectively.

Protests in Acchabal against

wine shop

Inaugurates Panchayat Ghar at Basantpur

Reviews status of Katra- National Highway

road connectivity

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See More On Page 10See More On Page 08

Petition filed against

Musharraf’s possible exit

Cherry helpful in

sleep disorder

Inside story

On Edit Page

DGMO’s meeting a good omen

The recent meeting of Directors General operations of India and Pakistan and their subsequent decision to continue with the ceasefire agreement on LOC

Speaker reviews working of Assembly

SecretariatSpeaker, Jammu and Kash-mir Legislative Assembly Mr. Mubarak Gul today chaired a meeting of the senior functionar-ies of the Assembly Secretariat convened to take stock of the working of various House

See More On Pg 10

See More On Pg 9

Nuclear power a dependable, clean option

Omar emphasises on enhancing Bank lending in priority sectors

Cracks in Hurriyat Conference (M)

8 injured in road mishaps

Srinagar, January 03: Eight persons were injured in differ-ent road accidents in Kashmir Valley.A Tata Sumo bearing registra-tion number JK01U-0266 driven by Abdul Rashid Malik son of Ghulam Mohammad resident of Pariswani turned turtle on the road near exchange Gokhama, resulting in injuries to five pas-sengers. All the injured were hospitalized. A case has been registered in this regard.A Bus bearing registration number JK05B-3769 on way from Budgam to Srinagar skid-ded off the road near Petrol Pump Sheikhpora, Budgam, resulting in injuries to Moham-mad Shafi Sofi and his wife Mst. Parveena residents of Palpora Budgam. Both the injured were hospitalized. A case has been registered in this regard.A Van hit and injured a girl Hafeeza Bano daughter of Mo-hammad Ismail Lohar resident of Dardpora Lolab, Kupwara at Dilbagh Dever, Lalpora. The girl was hospitalized. A case has been registered in this re-gard.

Body found in Budgam

Srinagar, January 03: Bud-gam police has started an in-quest to ascertain the cause of the death of a youth found dead in suspicion conditions at Kadi-pora Nasrullahpora.Budgam police was informed by some locals that a male body is lying at Kadipora, Nasrullah-pora in suspicious condition. Police party rushed to the spot and recovered the body, who was later identified as 27 years old Tariq Ahmad Beigh son of Mohammad Ramzan resident of Kadipora, Nasrullah Pora.

See Body on Pg. 11

National Cancer Institute the biggest project in health sector: PM

New Delhi, Jan 03: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal for construction of a 220kV Transmission System from Alusteng (Srinagar) to Leh (via Drass, Kargil & Khalsti 220/66kV PGCIL substations) and 66kV Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) interconnection system for Drass, Kargil, Khalsti and Leh substations in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) at an estimated total cost of Rs. 1788.41 Crore. The transmission project shall provide grid con-nectivity and reliable power supply to the strate-gically important Ladakh region. The project will be implemented through PGCIL, a central transmission utility, within 42 months from the date of release of the first instalment of funds. The project cost will be borne by the Gov-ernment of India and the Government of J&K in the ratio of 95:5 to ensure interest of the Govern-ment of J&K in the project. Upon commissioning of the transmission sys-tem, the same shall be transferred to the State of J&K Government who will carry out Operation & Maintenance (O&M) and other related activities at their own cost as per the terms & conditions in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be signed in this regard. The electric supply system of Ladakh Region in the State of J&K is currently isolated from the Northern Grid and is fed through local small hydro generation and diesel generator sets. Being an area of defence establishments and strategic

See CCEA on Pg. 11

CCEA approves Srinagar - Leh

transmission line

Srinagar, Jan 03: The murder of a teenager boy sparked off protests on Friday in Mahrajpora area of Sopore town in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.Reports reaching Global News Service said that Dawood Nabi Wagay son of Ghulam Nabi Wagay of Mahrajpora, who was missing since Thursday after-noon, was found dead in an orchard in Chinkipora locality on Friday morn-ing. His mutilated body was recovered by a police team headed by Station House officer (SHO), Sopore Syed Ayaz Geelani in an orchard near the floor mill, Chinkipora. He had visible marks

of violence.“It also seems that the boy was mauled by stray dogs after he was murdered by unknown persons. The body was re-covered, hours after the parents of the boy filed a missing report at the police station Sopore this morning,” police sources said.The body was later sent to the nearby hospital for post mortem report and was accordingly handed over to their relatives for last rites.Superintendent of Police, Sopore, Ab-dul Qayoom told GNS that police has recovered a sharp edged weapon from

See Protests on Pg. 11

Protests in Sopore after boy found murdered

Srinagar, Jan 3 : While the Valley has received heavy snowfall and is gripped in freezing cold, weathermen on Friday said weather is likely to remain dry for at least next four days. Howev-er they said that the higher areas of Valley might re-ceive snow fall. Meanwhile Srinagar-Jammu Highway was reopened on Friday after remaining closed for three days.“Though weather will re-main cold and cloudy, there would be no rainfall or snow in the Valley at least for the next four days,” Director Meteorological department, Sonam Lotus told KNS.The Metrological depart-ment has a mechanism to forecast weather for only 3-4 days. Pertinently, Kashmir Valley on Tuesday received this year’s major snowfall, ending nearly two months of dry spell. Since then Val-ley has been reeling under intense cold.Meanwhile the Srinagar-Jammu Highway which was closed on Tuesday evening

following heavy snowfall was reopened for one way traffic on Friday. Authori-ties regulated the vehicular movement on the highway allowing traffic from Jammu to Srinagar.DSP traffic National High-way Muhktar Ahmad told KNS that highway was re-opened this morning after proper assessment. “All ve-hicles were allowed to move

See Highway on Pg. 11

Highway reopens for one way traffic

Light Vehicles only to move from Srinagar to Jammu today

Jammu, Jan 03: Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has asked the Jam-mu and Kashmir Bank to rollout a vision of achieving new goals and touching new highs in the next 25 years of its journey towards cente-nary year in the service of people.Congratulating J&K Bank for its success story of growth and devel-opment during the last 75 years, Omar Abdullah said that the Plati-num Jubilee celebrations of the Bank provide an opportunity to its Management to dream and outline a vision for the march of the Bank in next 25 years.“You have to think of laying national and international footprints and rollout a vision for the futuristic goals and objectives for the Bank right now so that the Bank would move ahead accord-ingly and achieve the targets to be fixed for the centenary year to celebrate”, the Chief Minister said and added that the growth story of

achievements of the Bank has been appreciable and praise worthy but it is not enough that the Bank will rest on laurels it has achieved be-cause in the story of growth and achievements there is no fixed high point. He asked the Bank to contin-ue its march on roads to progress and development with commit-ment and added enthusiasm under a visionary document of develop-ment and public service to be put

in place now for the next 25 years.Speaking at the valedictory func-tion of Platinum Jubilee celebra-tions of Jammu and Kashmir Bank at Zorawar Singh Auditorium here this afternoon in which Governor, N. N. Vohra was the chief guest, Omar Abdullah said that celebrat-ing centenary celebrations by an in-stitution is often possible and many institutions have achieved this and

See J&K Bank’s on Pg. 11

Traffic mess on Sgr-Jmu

highwaySrinagar, Jan 3: The Srinagar-Jammu highway, which was thrown open for one-way traffic Friday, wit-nessed acute traffic mess, giving tough time to passen-gers. According to reports re-ceived by KNS said that the passengers had to face sev-eral hardships due to long traffic jams on

See Traffic on Pg. 11

Better for Mirwaiz to keep mum:

Azam Inqalabi

Srinagar, Jan 3: Se-nior resistance leader and patron Mahaz-i-Azadi, Muhammad Azam Inqalabi Friday said that no Hurriyat leader whosoever he may be is in a posi-tion to reprimand any other leader. He told Srinagar based news gathering agency CNS that in recent past Hur-riyat committed series of blunders and if this continued then people in Kashmir will cer-tainly get disillusioned from the ongoing free-dom movement.

Azam Inqalabi said that the biggest blun-der committed by Hurriyat Conference is that it has already rejected the consulta-tive forum. “Instead of consulting each other, Hurriyat leaders take decisions in personal capacity. The stale-mate between differ-ent freedom groups in Kashmir has caused considerable anxiety to common people,” he said. Reacting over the development Mirwaiz Umar Farooq directing the amalgam Convener in Pakistan adminis-tered Kashmir (PaK) not to entertain the leaders and represen-tatives who decided to “tread a separate path and left the Hurriyat

See Cracks on Pg. 11

Hurriyat leaders lack consensus Srinagar, Jan 03: Scores of people on Friday staged demonstrations in Ac-chabal area of south Kash-mir’s Anantnag district de-manding the closure of the wine shop. Reports reaching GNS said that scores of people after offering congrega-tional Friday prayers assembled at Acchabal market and staged demon-stration against the pres-ence of a liquor shop in the area. Shouting slogans, the protesters, including the members of Auqaf committee alleged that the presence of the wine shop in the area has led to waywardness among the youth. The protesters were demanding immediate clo-sure of the shop saying it was destroying the future of the youth.Gauging the public anger, the staff of the liquor shop locked the gate and

See Protests on Pg. 11

Takes stock of restoration works of essentials healthcare facilities

JAMMU, JANUARY 03:

Speaker, Jammu and Kash-mir Legislative Assembly Mr. Mubarak Gul today chaired a meeting of the senior func-tionaries of the Assembly Secretariat convened to take stock of the working of various House committees constituted in the interest of general pub-lic.

While taking review of the working of various Com-mittees, the Speaker was informed that Public Ac-counts Committee (PAC) has conducted 7 meetings so far during the current financial year, while Public Under-taking Committee (PUC) 20, Estimates Committee 10, Assurance Committee 12, Li-brary Committee 8, Environ-ment Committee 19, Ethics Committee 8, Committee on Petitions 5, Rules Committee 3 and Press Award Commit-tee 2 meeting. Besides the

Environment Committee has conducted on spot visits to Mawar Handwara, Aharabal and Indirabi Colony Shaltang, the Speaker was informed.

Mr. Gul appreciated the working of the officers and their subordinate staff and hoped that they could contin-ue to work with same vigour and zest in future also.

The Speaker asked the of-ficials dealing with various house committees to complete the compiling of reports these house panels well before the start of the next session. He

directed all concerned to work with utmost dedication to en-able this highest democratic institution to deliver as per the expectations of the people.

Mr. Mubarak Gul said that the people of the State have high hopes from this law mak-ing institution adding that its functioning should be a role model for other units of the government.

The speaker was informed that ten reports submitted by various committees would be tabled in the house during the forthcoming session.

JAMMU, JANUARY 03:

Underscoring the importance of proposed Zojila Tunnel project, the Minister for For-ests and Environment, Mian Altaf Ahmad today asked the Forest and Environment Departments to expedite the process of forest, environ-ment and wild life clearances to facilitate early start of work on this prestigious project.Reviewing the procedure re-lated to the clearance of the Tunnel project at a high lev-el meeting held here today, the Forest Minister said that it was the historic decision of Centre and State govern-ments for providing round the year connectivity to the people of Ladakh region. He said that proposed tunnel has great economic impor-tance as well as it would also boost inter-regional and local trade and com-merce.

Secretary Forests, Principal Chief Conservator Forests, Chief Wild Life Warden and Secretary Pollution Control Board were among other senior officers attended the meeting.The Forest Minister instruct-ed the concerned authori-ties to identify the suitable sites for dumping the mud dug out of the tunnel to avoid damage to the local flora and fauna. He asked the concerned authorities to ensure formulation of nec-essary environment study reports besides forest clear-ances for approval of the concerned union Ministries in time. He directed the of-ficers concerned to work in close coordination with other concerned Depart-ments to resolve all issues to facilitate early start of work.Mian Altaf said that the state government, under the dynamic leadership of Chief

Minister, Omar Abdullah is paying focused attention to provide all weather con-nectivity, especially those regions and sub-regions which remain cut off due to heavy snow fall for about 4 to 5 months from rest of the state. He said that the sanc-tion for construction of Zo-jila tunnel was the outcome of concerted endeavours of the state government. He asked the concerned Offi-cers to ensure settlement of all the forest related issues at the earliest to remove all hindrances in the way of early start of work.The senior functionaries of the two departments briefed the Minister about latest status of various is-sues including forest, envi-ronment and wild life clear-ances and assured that all impediments in this regard would be removed well in time.

Speaker reviews working of Assembly Secretariat

Altaf directs for early forest clearance to Zojila Tunnel project

SATURDAY, JANUARY | 04 | 2014Daily ZABARWAN TIMES NEWS

Once you stop dreaming about having superpowers, you’ll feel a lot better. You’re not a superhero and you never were. For that matter, no one is. On the other hand, you sure-ly have capacities that you’ve exploited in the past but now you seem persuaded that they’re of no interest. It’s time to rethink this issue.

This isn’t the moment to adhere to a particular philos-ophy, whatever it may be. You may feel frustrated by your inability to figure out which path to take, but this is very good for you. Continue to search with your little flashlight, as weak as it may seem, because this is how you’re going to get solid faith back again. Best of all, it will be a faith tailored for you.

You can’t let everything fall apart now, not after you’ve come so far. This may be a difficult moment for you, as it seems the time has come to prove yourself once and for all. But this isn’t a reason to give up. Sleep, play sports, and eat healthfully. You should be able to win this battle provided you give yourself the opportunity to do so.

Do you have the blues? It happens to everyone. Call a friend or go to a movie. Get out and do things that you know can help you overcome this funk. This isn’t the mo-ment to retreat. You have some inner work to do, even if it appears to lead nowhere. You may have the impression of being abandoned, but you know perfectly well that this isn’t true.

You’ll be in your element today. The stars challenge you to try something different. When you look at things rela-tively, rather than turn into a vague generalist, why not try coming up with a philosophy that’s more construc-tive? What good is the ability to see all sides of an issue if you can’t channel your insight and observations into something specific?

It appears that today and for the past several days you’ve been building up internal tension without an outlet. As a re-sult, your fuse is somewhat short. In fact, if anyone is unfor-tunate enough to provoke your anger by criticizing you or your work, you’re liable to explode. There’s a storm brewing! Try to weather it as best you can.

The idea of expressing yourself will seem like a joke today. Have you ever stopped to question what expressing yourself really means? This is the ideal time to think about it, especially if you have artistic objectives. Do only what you want to do. Don’t force anything. In other words, ex-press yourself for your own sake and not for the sake of others.

A certain decision means that you’ve reached a turning point. The hardest part about making this decision is say-ing farewell to your old ways. The past can seem cozy and reassuring, especially when the unknown looms. It takes strength and determination to leave it behind. But whether it’s your career or your love life, you have personal goals that can’t be sacrificed or denied.

The horizon is clouded with doubt. You’re feeling the frustrations brought about by recent decisions about your love life. In other words, you’re getting cold feet! Today you must draw on your willpower and self-control in order to face your problems realistically while vanquishing your anxieties.

The mood is oppressive and heavy today. Some disap-pointments will crop up here and there if you have to prove yourself in any way, either privately or professionally. There is some likelihood you’ll feel angry with someone important to you. Don’t yield to your negative feelings too quickly. It would be bad for your morale.

In the past few days, you’ve made a resolution to work steadily, seek stability, and follow your plans to the letter. So the day ahead will come as a rude surprise. You can expect to receive news that challenges the rigid program you’ve set for yourself, or meet people who are determined to discourage you. Overcome these obstacles or they’ll overcome you.

Today you may feel some anxiety about the future. You may feel your strength ebbing, especially if you have a deadline. You need challenges in order to assert yourself. Now is the time to begin getting in shape. Doubt is ex-tremely counterproductive. You’re completely equipped for success!

JAMMU, JANUARY 3:

In a meeting held at the Raj Bha-van today Mr. N.N. Vohra, Governor, reviewed the progress achieved in the construction of approach roads and the Bridge connecting Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University with National Highway -1A at Jhajjar Manthal; upgradation of approach road from Railway Station Katra to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University via Nangal; and upgradation of ap-proach road from National Highway 1A to Panthal via Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University.

After discussions Mrs. Yasha Mudgal, District Development Com-missioner, Udhampur, undertook to fully complete the Land Acquisition process by 10th February 2014 and Mr.Tilak Raj Bhagat, Managing Direc-tor JKPCC committed to complete the entire Project by 30th June 2014. The Governor cautioned all concerned against any further delay as the proj-ects under review provide connec-tivity to important institutions like Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University

and the upcoming Multi – Speciality Hospital, both at Kakriyal, with the National Highway.

Reviewing the status of upgrada-tion and widening of road from Rail-way Station Katra to Shri Mata Vaish-no Devi University, the Governor was informed by Mr. Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Chief Engineer PWD, that earthwork on 5 km of road length, out of total length of 7 km, had been completed. Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choud-hary, Deputy Commissioner, Reasi, informed the Governor that there is requirement of Rs. 8.70 crore to com-plete the land acquisition process for the said road. It was decided that State Planning Department would be approached for release of funds in this regard.

Reviewing the status of funds for up-gradation of road between Na-tional Highway at Jhajjar and SMVDU , the Governor desired that matter be urgently taken up with NHAI with the request to provide funds under its Corporate Social Responsibility programme.

The Governor asked the Deputy

Commissioners of Reasi and Udham-pur districts to monitor the progress of the said three projects to ensure that they are completed without any further delay.

Mr. Navin K. Chowdhary, Princi-

pal Secretary to Governor, Mr. Sudhir K. Jain, Vice Chancellor, SMVDU; Dr. M. K. Bhandari, CEO, SMVDSB; Dr. Shahid Iqbal Chowdhary, Deputy Commissioner, Reasi; Ms. Yasha Mudgal, Deputy Commissioner, Ud-

hampur; Mr. Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Chief Engineer, PWD, Jammu; Mr. Tilak Raj Bhagat, Managing Director, JKPCC; Mr. Tariq Ahmed, Joint direc-tor, Planning, PWD were present on the occasion.

JAMMU, JANUARY 03:

Minister of State for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Mr. Nazir Ahmad Gurezi has asked the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department Jam-mu to work with utmost dedication and speed up the pace of work on all ongoing water supply schemes to en-sure timeline completion.

The Minister was chairing a meet-ing of senior officers and engineers of PHE and Mechanical wings of Jammu division, convened here today to dis-cuss the problems of water scarcity in Sunjwan, Narwal, Bathindi, Bagh-e-Bahu, Sainik Colony, Channi Himant, Rahim Nagar, Bantalab, Roopnagar and Bhalwal areas.

It was informed in the meeting that the work on 1001 Water Supply Schemes is in progress across Jammu region, while 149 habitations of the division have been provided water supply up to ending November 2013.

Detailed discussion was held on the status of construction work on Water Supply Schemes of Jallalabad and Dodhi Gujjar. He was informed that additionally Rs 10 lakh each are

required for completion of these schemes.

The Minister directed the con-cerned to complete work on the water supply schemes of Jallalabad, Dodhi Gujjar and Raika costing Rs 1.09 core by ending February 2014.

Discussing the water scarcity problem in Bantalab, Roopnagar and Bhalwal areas, the Minister was in-formed that a project of Rs 100 crore has been prepared for purchase of DG sets and submitted to the government for equipping various Water Supply

installations to augment supply to the water deficit areas. Mr Gurezi direct-ed the concerned to submit area wise proposal for infrastructure augmenta-tion at the PHE installations by giving preference to the area where the scar-city of water is highest.

Addressing the meeting, Mr. Gurezi said that the government un-der the dynamic Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, is committed to provide drinking water facility to every house-hold of the State especially the people living in rural and hilly areas.

JAMMU, JANUARY 03: Vice Chairman, Jammu and Kash-mir State Advisory Board for Development of Kissans (MoS), Radhay Sham Sharma, today said that the Board would soon be sending teams of Jammu and Kashmir farmers on study tour to get first-hand knowledge of the progress made in ag-riculture and allied sectors by the agriculture rich states of the country.

The vice chairman has also recently returned from the study tour to the States of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Utta-rakhand and Rajasthan to get first-hand appraisal about the latest Agriculture Technologies, innovations and package of practices recommended by various Agriculture Universities of these states in the field of Agriculture Research and De-velopment.

During the tour vice-chairman also get acquainted with the impact on ground of package of practices being presently adopted by these varsities and their contributions made for boosting agriculture production and in its allied sectors in-cluding horticulture, sericulture, floriculture, fisheries, ani-mal/sheep husbandry and development of forests.

Mr. Sharma was impressed to note the dedication, hard work and sincere efforts put in by the concerned scientists experts in these states in helping the farming community in increasing their produce in agriculture and allied sectors. He was highly impressed to know about the landmark innovations of Pingal-wara Natural Agricultural Farming society, Jandiala, Amritsar in production of different crops and in particular sugar free wheat crops by using natural agricultural manure’s helping the state of Punjab in getting disease free crops.

Kissan Board mulls to send interested JK farmers on study tour: R S Sharma

Deputation of Sarpanchs from Doda call on Vikar Rasool

G.H Mir visits Tangmarg

Gurezi for early commissioning of Jallalabad, Dodhi Gujjar, Raika WSSs

Governor reviews status of Katra- National Highway road connectivity

JAMMU JANUARY 03:

Minister of State for Technical Education, Power and Information, Mr. Vikar Rasool Wani has reiterated the government’s com-mitment to provide improved facilities to the people living in far-flung, remote and hilly areas of the state. He said during the past five years the Government has taken several steps in this direction and change can be well acknowledged at the ground level. The Min-ister was interacting with a deputation of Sarpanchs and Panchs from Doda, Assar, Tha-thri, Gandoh, Bhaleesa and Ghathi panchay-ats. The deputation was led by MLC Mr. Sham Lal Bhagat. The deputation apprised the Min-isters about their day to day problems per-taining to their areas. The problems which were highlighted included improvement in power supply, road connectivity, drinking water and health care facilities, in view of the heavy snowfall in the region. Responding to the demands of the deputationists, the Min-ister said that the un-electrified areas of the erstwhile Doda district will be covered un-

der RGGVY scheme during the next financial year under phase-II. He also assured that the power supply position will be reviewed to shed the frequent cuts in the area. Mr. Vikar said that empowering of panchayats is the priority of the government and several initia-tives in this direction have been taken during the past five years. He said PRIs are the vital tools to ensure all round development of the rural areas as they are well versed with their areas. He asked the representatives of PRIs to fullfill their obligations and serve the people with best of their abilities. Regarding ad-equate ration supply in the area, the Minister said that he will call a meeting of the CA&PD officers soon and review the distribution sce-nario to ensure regular supply of essentials. Others who were part of the deputation in-cluded, Farooq Ahmad Wani, Sarpanch Assar, Kuldeep Raj, Sarpanch Assar, Rakesh Charak Sarpanch Thatri, Reyaz Ahmad Sheikh Sar-panch, Ghati, Rajesh Kumar Sarpanch Jijote, Surinder Kumar, Sarpanch Rewada, Ghulam Hassan Panchayati Shair Gandoh and Bodh Raj Sarpanch Dhadda.

TANGMARG, JANUARY 03:

The Minster for Agriculture, Mr. Gh-ulam Hassan Mir today took extensive tour of Tangmarg and reviewed the pace on progress of restoration operation of important public services hit by recent heavy snowfall.

Mr. Mir directed the PDD authorities to ensure that the restoration of electric-ity is done on priority so that the people do not face any inconvenience. The Minis-ter directed the CA&PD officers to ensure availability of essential commodities to the public on priority and conduct regu-lar market checks to curb the menace of hoarding and profiteering.

The Minister also inspected the Power development workshop at Batpora where electricity transformers of the area are under repairing. He directed the con-cerned authorities to speed up the pace of the work and make them functional soon.

The Minister also visited the sub dis-trict hospital Tangmarg and enquired

about the medicare facilities being pro-vided to the patients. He inspected the heating arrangement and other vital facil-ities being provided to the patients. He in-teracted with the doctors and attendants and directed the hospital authorities to provide best possible healthcare facilities to the people of the area.

Earlier, the Minister chaired a meeting with the hospital authorities including BMO, Doctors and para-medics staff and reviewed the hospital functioning. The meeting also discussed the issues regard-ing upgradation of hospital infrastructure. The Minister said that hospital infrastruc-ture will be upgraded on modern trends so that people of the area need not to move to City hospital for treatment.

During his visit various deputations called on the Minister and apprised him about the problems confronting to them. The Minister gave patient hearing to all of them and assured that all their genu-ine problems would be redressed on pri-ority.