JAMMU, APRIL 04: Dr Sunanda Raina, Dean Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu, who is also the President of Jammu and Kashmir Paramedical Council, today presented a cheque of Rs 2 crores to the Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu as a contribution to J&K Relief Fund. The amount has been contributed by the members of the J&K Paramedical Council towards the efforts being undertaken to combat COVID-19 pandemic.

The Lt Governor lauded the crucial, life-saving role being played by the paramedics along with other front-line warriors in the battle against COVID-19.

Sh. Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education was present of the occasion.

JAMMU, APRIL 04: Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu today interacted with leaders and heads of various religious groups and organizations of different faiths through video conferencing and asked them to advise their followers against holding any congregations and spread awareness about observing social distancing norms to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.

Sh. BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Sh. Bipul Pathak, Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor; Sh. Sanjeev Verma , Divisional Commissioner Jammu, and Sh. Pandurang K. Pole, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, besides heads of various religious organizations and social activists attended the video conference.

The Lt Governor observed that the Government alone cannot fight the emerging situation unless public participates and cooperates with the government in its efforts to prevent and contain this pandemic. “Religious and spiritual leaders have a crucial role to play in order to bring about a conscientious behavioral change with regard to the importance of maintaining personal hygiene and social distancing”, he added.

He advised them to utilize the potent media tools like social media, print and electronic media to spread awareness messages regarding importance of social distancing and adherence of guidelines and advisories related to the prevention of the COVID-19. He said the Government would also rope in the religious leaders for message to the people, besides the routine official announcements regarding various advisories and other aspects.

The Lt Governor urged the religious leaders to appeal to their followers to voluntarily report their travel history and participation in the religious congregation held in Delhi, and adopt the practice of ‘Stay at Home-Pray at Home’ during the upcoming festival season.

The Lt Governor observed that Coordination Committees have been formed at all levels and PRIs and ULB functionaries are involved for generating awareness and mobilizing the relief efforts.

The religious leaders assured their full support to the UT Administration in the efforts to combat COVID-19 and unanimously resolved against the social gathering. They said that all the religious places have been closed to avoid any mass gathering.

Important issues like home delivery of essential commodities in vulnerable areas and reaching out the people of rural and far off areas were also discussed during the interaction.

The Lt Governor assured the participants that the government would leave no stone unturned to reach out to the last person, and sought the public cooperation for better results in the fight against the deadly virus.

JAMMU, APRIL 04: Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu today held a video conference with the Vice-Chancellors of the Universities of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in order to review their preparedness to fight the COVID-19.

Vice-Chancellors of University of Jammu; University of Kashmir; Cluster University of Jammu / Kashmir ; Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology ( SKUAST) Jammu / Kashmir, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Islamic University of Science & Technology attended the meeting through video conferencing.

Sh. Bipul Pathak, Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor was also present during the meeting.

The Lt Governor sought a detailed report from the VCs about the precautionary measures taken by the Universities and their post-lockdown preparations and asked them to get the campus premises sanitized regularly. “Comprehensive planning and continued efforts are imperative to break the transmission chain of coronavirus,” he added.

On being asked about the steps taken to compensate the learning in the Universities and Colleges, the Lt Governor was informed that the students are being provided with the online lessons through the e-learning mode and virtual class rooms to ensure their studies do not suffer due to COVID-19 lockdown. The VCs also informed about the availability of intranet in their campuses.

He also sought a detailed report on the strategy of the Universities to smoothly conduct Academic session and examinations post-lockdown and asked the VCs to explore possibility of preparing learning modules and distributing among the students through pen drives etc to facilitate them, in addition to the e-learning.

The Lt Governor urged the VCs to continue regular fumigation and sanitization of the hostels of the Universities, especially the ones converted into isolation centres, and asked them to ensure complete sanitization of these facilities before making them available for hostel accommodation of the students. He further asked them to strictly adhere to social distancing norms and avoid crowding in the Universities after the lockdown period. “The lockdown could be over, but we need to follow the social distancing even after the lockdown period to avoid re-occurrence of the virus spread”, he maintained.

It was informed that the Nodal officers have been appointed in all the Universities to provide necessary assistance to the students. Further, doctors are regularly visiting the campuses and hostels for regular health checkups and counselling.

The Lt Governor observed that 24 spots in Kashmir and 10 in Jammu have been identified as Red Zones and the VCs of the Universities would ensure the testing and proper scanning of students belonging to these Red Zones. The students coming from the families having attended the religious congregation in Delhi would be tested for the safety of others, he said.

The Lt Governor also asked the VCs to adhere to the guidelines of AYUSH and encourage students to take immunity boosters for self care during the ongoing crisis.

Doda, April 5 (GNS): Amid the lockdown, the administration on Sunday canceled curfew passes to three government employees including an officer of assistant director rank for “misusing” them in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Official sources told GNS that the district administration discarded the curfew passes as they were found roaming on streets late in the evening without any official work.

Confirming it, Deputy Commissioner Doda, Dr Sagar D Doifode told GNS over the phone that the three employees include the Assistant Director Planning in Health Department, an employee of Rural Development Department and ECHS Polyclinic.

The Deputy Commissioner said that the trio was supposed to use the curfew passes for government duty only but they were found roaming without any purpose in odd hours during evening time. “There has to be a purpose for using the passes and on finding the use of the passes by these employees against the purpose, I ordered the cancellation of their curfew passes,” he said, adding, “Besides departmental disciplinary action has been initiated against the trio. We will take more action against these officials.” He also warned others against misusing the passes in the district.