Srinagar, Feb 5 : A soldier was killed and another injured when a truck hit them near Fruit Mandi at Parimpora Srinagar on Saturday, officials said.

The soldiers—Sanjay Kumar and Rafiq Ahmad— were part of a Road Opening Party (RoP) when the incident took place early morning, the officials told GNS.

They said both the soldiers from 163 Territorial Army were shifted to hospital where Sanjay Kumar was declared brought dead on arrival by the doctors while Rafiq Ahmad has been admitted and is presently under treatment.

A police official told GNS that driver left the truck (JKO3J /3811) at the spot but fled from the spot. He said a case has been registered and further investigations are underway.

Visits SMHS hospital, meets parents of victim, commends police for arresting culprits within 24 hours

Srinagar, Feb 2 : Mayor Srinagar, Junaid Azim Mattu on Wednesday visited the young acid attack victim at SMHS hospital in Srinagar and handed over his one-month’s salary to the victim’s family and assured them of his complete support and solidarity.

Interacting with the parents of the acid attack victim, Mattu in presence of a District Legal Services Aid team deputed by the High Court and Mission Director ICPS, assured the victim’s family of full medical, legal and administrative support and also asked the team of doctors treating the victim to ensure that she receives the best possible medical care.

According to a statement issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Mattu also commended the SIT formed by SSP Srinagar for arresting the culprits within 24 hours and said this was the first and most significant step in ensuring the victim and her family gets justice and would serve as a deterrent for such heinous crimes.

“This is a heartbreaking tragedy. I met the parents of the victims and assured them of complete support and solidarity. While the administration will offer legal, medical and financial aid to the victim and her family, it is also incumbent on us as a society to stand unequivocally with the victim and her family. This criminal, gruesome act needs to be condemned by each and everyone at a social level as well. We should collectively ensure that those anti-social elements responsible for such heinous crimes are brought to book,” Mayor said.

He added that he is going to request the Lieutenant Governor of J&K Manoj Sinha that the administration should fully facilitate and finance the specialized rehabilitation treatment of the victim at the best possible health facility in the country.

“I will be writing to the LG requesting that the victim is offered full financial and logistical assistance to facilitate her rehabilitative treatment at the best possible specialized health facility in the country for the purpose,” Mayor added.

Mayor Srinagar was accompanied by his Advisor and Corporator SMC Danish Bhat and Corporator Zadibal Tanveer Pathan.

Srinagar, Jan 24 : Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only surface link connecting Kashmir Valley with the outside world, has been closed as a “loaded truck is deeply embedded in the mud” near Panthyal area in Ramban district, officials said.

“Highway is still blocked at Panthyal due loaded truck deeply embedded in the mud. Restoration work is going on war footing basis,” a traffic department official told GNS, adding, “People are requested not to travel on highway (Jammu towards Srinagar and vice versa) without confirming the status of road from TCUs (Traffic control units).”

Authorities had Sunday announced that only stranded traffic shall be allowed on thoroughfare which was closed following mudslides and shooting stones at many places on the weekend.

Meanwhile, Mughal Road, connecting Shopian with Poonch and Rajouri districts, remained closed for vehicular movement in view of snow accumulation at Peer Ki Gali.

Also,Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri road remained shut for vehicular movement in view of snow accumulation on Zoji la axis and has been closed till further orders. Kishtwar-Sinthan road also remained closed in view of snow accumulation, the traffic department official said.

Kupwara, Jan 12: The Department of Youth Services & Sports Kupwara today celebrated National Youth Day at Boys Higher Secondary School Kupwara to honour one of the greatest philosopher and spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda.

The DDC Chairman Kupwara, Irfan Sultan Pandithpori attended the function as Chief Guest.

In his address, the DDC Chairman while sharing his views highlighted the role of youth in nation building.

A variety of colourful cultural programmes were presented by the students, at the occasion.

It is pertinent to mention that the Day is being celebrated across the nation to mark the teachings and philosophy of Swami Vivekananda and how the young should participate in the modern world while upholding their values.

Jammu, Jan 12: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, today directed the Revenue department to create a dashboard for continuous and effective monitoring of removal of encroachments on government land.

He asked them to devise a mechanism under which no retrieved patch of land is re-encroached advising them to prioritize the commercial chunks of land to be retrieved first followed by others. He asked them to red flag any instance of new encroachment or re-encroachment by fixing responsibility down the line showing no laxity in taking action against the responsible.

Advisor made these remarks while assessing the performance of Revenue department in a meeting held here.

The meeting was attended by Commissioner Secretary, Revenue; Custodian General; IG Registrations, Jammu and other officers of the department while Divisional Commissioners participated through video conferencing.

Advisor exhorted upon the officers to redress all grievances satisfactorily being fair, responsive and just. ‘The department is the primary interface of governance for the public so they have to be accessible to them every time’, he asked them. He advised them to make all their services online so that the waiting period for public is drastically reduced.

He enjoined upon the officers to work out requirements of infrastructure and tools for offering IT enabled services to general public. He assured them that most of their requirements would be fulfilled on priority.

Advisor also enquired about the process of digitization of land records, expunging of illegal entries, reconstructing the missing records afresh and progress of revenue courts. He called for a comprehensive report on all the cases pending in their courts besides the time line showing progress registered, so far.

In his presentation, Commissioner Secretary informed the Advisor that 371901.1 kanal of state, 110515.8 kanal of Kacharai and 1314.11 kanal of common land has been retrieved from encroachers till date.

The meeting was further informed that digitization of land records for Srinagar and Jammu is in final stage and slated to be completed in coming February. It was also said that the work on updation of Jamabandis in remaining districts is going to be completed in this month followed by digitization of the same immediately in a decentralized manner.

Regarding the settlement and digital survey of all 6850 revenue villages, it was said that the draft survey manual has been prepared and the project management module is also under process. They also revealed that use of CORS and Drone/DGPS technology would be used for digital survey of these villages.

The meeting also dealt in detail with the proposed roadmap for online services to get revenue extracts besides integration of mutation and registration system for real-time updation of revenue records without any extra encumbrance.

The meeting was apprised that with addition of about 127 slots a week in favour of each Sub-Registrar the process of registration of properties has become quick and easy. It was informed that around 60% increase in registration of properties through these offices has been made this year as compared to previous year. The registrations in 2021 were calculated at 65626 in contrast to only 39039 registrations made in 2020.

Moreover, it was informed that initiatives like e-office, change of land use, JKNGDRS customization have been implemented and reforms like revenue court cases information and monitoring system, land pass books, property cards, land grant rules are in process and shortly being made available to public for their general ease and advantage.

Srinagar, Jan 11: The Director General (DG) Horticulture, Kashmir, Ajaz Ahmad Bhat today took stock of the functioning of the Department and reviewed the progress of departmental schemes, here.

The DG took review of all the Departmental schemes like CAPEX, MIDH, PMDP and other centrally and UT sponsored schemes.

During the course of the meeting, DG emphasized upon all the Chief Horticulture Officers (CHOs) for timely completion of given targets particularly civil works. He urged them to make proper and full expenditure and said that low expenditure on the part of any Officer shall not be accepted.

He further instructed them to speed up the implementation of the Modified High Density Plantation Scheme, for which a target of 5500 Ha. has been fixed for a period of 6 years.

DG further directed the CHOs to prepare and submit action plans pertaining to the establishment of Anti Hail Nets and Sprinkle Irrigation Systems, targets for which are already allotted. He also urged the officers to make frequent visits to the field and conduct awareness camps on a routine basis and provide the growers with the latest technical knowhow.

Besides Chief Horticulture Officers, Deputy Director Horticulture, Ex. Engineer P&M and other officers of the department participated in the meeting.