3-day
Dera Baba Mela concludes
Excelsior
Correspondent
Reasi, Apr
15: Over 40,000
devotees of Dera Baba Bandha
Bahadur paid obeisance at the
historic Gurudwara situated at
Dera Baba on the bank of river
Chenab in Reasi during three day
Baisakhi Mela and Dharmik
Sammelan, which concluded here
yesterday.
The
devotees hailing from various
parts of Jammu province and other
states like Punjab, Haryana,
Chandigarh and Delhi and other
parts of the country participated
with great enthusiasm and gaiety
in the three day mela to pay
obeisance and seek blessing of
Dera Baba Bandha Bahadur shrine.
During
last day of the mela, Power
Minister Nawan Rigzin Jora and
Minister for Rural Development
and Panchayati Raj, Jugal Kishore
Sharma visited the shrine and
took part in the celebrations
which were organized by the
Gaddinasheen of Dera Baba Mahant
Jatinder Paul Sodhi in the
evening.
Speaking
on the occasion, Jugal Kishore
Sharma explained the sacrifices
made by Baba Banda Bahadur for
the sake of the humanity. He
asked the people to strictly
follow the path shown by Dera
Baba Bandha Bahadur by serving
the poor and downtrodden people
of the society irrespective of
their caste, creed and colour.
Mr.
Johra also congratulated the
people on this auspicious
occasion and said such occasions
teach us a lesson of national
integration and inspire us to
strengthen the hands of mutual
brotherhood by celebrating such
festivals together.
Free
langer for the visiting devotees
during the three days was also
organized by the Dera Baba
management.
On
the occasion, a free camp
organized by the Charitable
Acupuncture Hospital Ludhiana was
also held at Dera Baba where
large number of patients
suffering from various ailments
were treated free of cost.
Thousands
of devotees had also a dip in the
cool water Chenab flowing near
Dera Baba on this august
occasion.
Among
others, Baba Jatinder Paul Singh
Sodhi, Tehsildar Reasi, Ashok
Kumar Sharma, SSP, Reasi, J.L
Sharma, Sub Divisional Police
Officer, Vijay Choudhary, Mela
Officer, R.C. Tripathi,
Magistrate of duty Puran Chand,
officers of various departments
and thousands of devotees were
present on the occasion.
JAC
threatens to actively support
non-teaching employees’ stir
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr
15: Expressing serious
concern over apathetic attitude
of the State Government towards
the ongoing Kaam Chor Hartal by
Colleges non-teaching employees,
J&K Joint Action Committee
has threatened to actively
support the ongoing stir if
demands of the agitating
employees are not conceded.
A
meeting of central committee
members of J&K Employees
Joint Action Committee was held
today wherein threadbare
discussion on the non-teaching
employees stir, which entered
into 12th day today, was held.
The
Action Committee justified the
demand for implementation of the
agreement reached out between
J&K Colleges Non-Teaching
Employees Association and the
Higher Education authorities,
last year. Urging Government to
settle the issue immediately,
meeting warned that if demands of
the non-teaching employees are
not fulfill, the Joint Action
Committee will be left with no
option other than to come
actively in support of the
striking employees.
The
meeting was attended by Ram Kumar
Sharma, Mohd Gafoor Dar, Ganesh
Khajuria, Darshan Lal Sharma, Dev
Anand Gill, Dharminder Singh,
Yash Paul Gupta, K L Sharma,
Balwainder Singh and Managat Ram
Parihar.
NMC demands
early release of 6% DA
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr
15: President
of National Mazdoor Conference,
Subash Shastri has urged the
State Government to release 6% DA
in favour of State employees from
January 1, 2007.
Addressing
NMC activists meeting Shastri
hoped that a decision in the
matter would be taken in the
Cabinet meeting to be held before
Durbar Move.
Other
demands raised in the meeting
pertained to immediate release of
wages of motivators of IWDP
Akhnoor, release of 49 months
salary of Social Forestry
Department daily wagers of
Trikuta Hills, release of pending
installments of COLA to Public
Sector Undertaking workers etc.
Those
who spoke in the meeting included
Rajan Babu Khajuria, Sunil
Kochhar, Sham Lal Sharma, Bodh
Raj Sharma, Mohd Farooq, Sukhdev
Singh, Madan Lal, Puran Chand,
Sat Pal Sharma, Narinder Bhagat,
Lalit Sharma, Subash Chander, Ram
Lal Sharma, Prabh Dayal, Sudagar
Mal and Bhupinder Singh.
Provide ample
staff in upgraded schools
I
would like to bring it to your
kind notice that the Government
has upgraded number of School
from MS to HS, and HS to HSS, but
the post of teahers Masters,
Lecturers, Headmasters and
Principals have not been filled,
with the result that all the
newly upgraded schools are under
staffed. In some schools there is
no class iv employee for celling
the school bell. The Centre Govt
of India has provided millions of
Rupees for the improvement of
Education standard and the Govt
is announcing that from the
academic session there will be no
drop out case.
In
some cases a Principal is holding
more than one charge thus how can
he show the improvement in
Education. I mean to say that the
number of posts of Lecturer are
lying vacant and contractual
lecturers are working against the
post of lecturer. The contractual
lecturer working in valley have
been regularized, beside this the
contractual lecturers of Jammu
region are hanging. It is thus
requested to fill up all the
vacant posts of Principals,
ZEO's, Headmasters, Masters,
Sections Officers, Head
assistants immediately to enable
the staff to show the better
response in the Education. The
Director School Education is also
is retiring, the post of the
Director School Education be
filled from the School Department
because the Director from School
Education Department can show
better reforms in Education
Department.
J S Chaudhary
Retd SO Edu.
R/o Ram Nagar
Repair damaged
lanes
We,
the residents of Patel Nagar,
Talab Tillo Jammu bring to the
notice of the concerned
authorities the worst condition
of lanes of Mohalla Patel Nagar,
Talab Tillo, Jammu. It is
worthwhile to mention here that
few months back the sewerage
Department laid Sewerage Pipes in
this Mohalla which caused almost
total damage to the lanes. The
heavy rains further worsened the
condition of these lanes. The
Sewerage Department is/was under
contractual obligation to restore
the said lanes, but this
department has turned a deaf ear
to the plight and problems of the
residents of the Mohalla.
The
Municipal Staff has also stopped
regular cleaning and maintenance
of these lanes, which has
resulted in accumulation of dirt
and debris, which has posed a
threat to the health and hygiene
of the inhabitants of Patel
Nagar.
We
request the authorities concerned
to immediately rise to the
occasion and whereas on one hand
immediately restore all the
lanes, particularly Lane No. 16
and 15, to its original condition
on the other hand a special
cleanliness drive for Patel Nagar
be also taken forthwith, so that
the problems and miseries of the
residents are minimized. We
request Health Minister Pandit
Mangat Ram Sharma who is the
sitting MLA from Patel Nagar to
intervene personally and impress
upon the concerned authorities to
redress the grievances of the
residents forthwith.
Prof R L Sharma
General Secretary
Patel Nagar
Welfare Development Committee
Harassing air
passengers
My
sister had booked an air ticket
for Delhi from Jammu in Spice jet
flight for 10th of April. As soon
as she reached the airport she
was not allowed to travel for the
reason that she was in a family
way. Only one week back she had
boarded a Go Air flight from
Delhi to Jammu and nobody asked
her to present a medical
certificate. But the Spice jet
staff was very rude with us and
harassed her. She was not allowed
to travel without a medical
certificate. We were mentally
agast at their rude behaviour. I
hope that the concerned airline
authorities will look into the
case and take necessary steps to
correct the unruly and rude
behaviour of their staff towards
passenges who need their
attention and care.
Indu Munshi
Jammu
Poor signal in
Karian, Rajouri
I
belong to a small village called
Karian near Dassal in Rajouri
district most oftenly called as
Mini Kashmir. I want to draw the
kind attention of Doordarshan
authorities on the deteriorating
condition of the TV signal.
People here used high to high
antennas to clear the pictures on
their television but all in vain.
They are completely unaware of
the programmes being telecast by
the Doordarshan because of
unclear signals. Their TV only
catch the signal of Pakistani
programmes in which they listen
the Kashmir related wrong news
always criticizing Indian armies.
So
its my request to the DD
authorities to erect an
additional tower in that area or
do anything to clear their TV
signals so that people there are
not unaware of their national
news as Television is the main
communication between Government
and people.
Arun Kumar
Paloura needs
attention
Paloura
is a very central part of the
city. Thousands of people live
here. Thousands of vehicles ply
on the main road as Paloura
connects many farflung areas of
the city.
We,
the residents of Paloura are very
much concerned about the
detoriating sanitary conditions
of the place. Take the case of
the Graveyard here. Instead of
being a place of final place of
peace and rest for the departed
it has become a garbage dump
where heaps of garbage emit foul
smell and swarms of flies buzz
around. The street near Jaggi
Darbar has no street lights.
Every big colony has a dispensary
but Paloura has not been given
such a facility. The area of
Pamposh Colony and Vivek Vihar
need roads and drains. They are
in a bad shape and thus need
immediate repairs. The concerned
authorities are requested that
given the huge population of the
area of Paloura cries for
attention. We hope that our
problems will be soon attended
to.
Baljeet Singh
Manhas
Paloura
Restore street
lights
I
have been literally crying to
restore my street light which has
gone out of order for the last
ten days. I have registered the
complaint many times over but
sadly to state I was not allowed
to talk to the concerned
authority of the Jammu
Municipality in this regard.
Despite my repeated requests my
problem to rectify the faulty
street light has not been solved.
In this regard I again request
the concerned authorities to
solve my genuine problem soon. I
hope that the authorities in the
Jammu Municipality will take
action.
Dr O N Matoo
Opp. Balmiki
Colony
Gandhi Nagar,
Jammu.
Bharat Nagar
Enclave,
Bantalab, area of neglect
Bharat
Nagar Enclave Bantalab is a
successor residential colony to,
what was hitherto; known as
Bharat Nagar, Lane No-II, The
change in the nomenclature was
necessitated following the
de-notification of this area from
the road map of new municipal
limits notified by the Municipal
Corporation Jammu. What
considerations weighed with the
Municipal administration to
single-out this colony for
differential treatment is, to say
the least, bizarre decision which
justly generated sullen
resentment amongst the residents
who had harboured hope, falsely
though, that the colony would
attract attention in the matter
of infrastructure development
activities like construction of
roads, lanes, by lanes, disposal
of garbage, street light
installation, and above all,
regular scavenging operations to
ensure environmental cleanliness
and civic hygiene. Little did the
helpless residents realize that
all this would turn elusive, much
the same way, as Mirage in the
desert. It is inconceivable that
a compact and a solid plot of
land be split in a fashion that
one part remains within the
Municipal limits, and other
denotified and ditched into
dumps. Be that as it may, the
residents of the colony, however,
are feeling encouraged with a
change of guards in the hierarchy
of the corporation. Those at the
helm may like to review the whole
situation on spot and reverse the
anti-people and un-democratic
decision which alienated the
residents of the area from the
main-stream of civic
dispensation. The Welfare
committee of the Colony are
looking forward to a visit by the
Mayor and the other dignitaries
to see for themselves how one
whole unit has been split, one
favoured with civic rights, and
the other looking on the mute
despair.
In
the circumstances the welfare
committee of the colony is
constrained to seek the
intervention of Minister for PWD
and the Chief Engineer to gear-up
the machinery to complete the
work without incurring any
further delay. The committee
feels sanguine that our request
will be acceded to soonest.
S. N. Bhat
(President)
Welfare Committee
Bharat Nagar,
Enclave,
Bantalab Jammu.
UNESCO to protect
Kashmir museum
SRINAGAR,
Apr 15: A
century-old museum here has been
included by UNESCO in its
protection of movable cultural
property programme to ensure the
repository is presented to the
world in a better way.
The
selection of the Sri Pratap Singh
Museum for inclusion in the list
of UNESCO’s projects for
2007 was done after the visit of
its Director Minja Yang to the
State last November, the Indian
National Trust for Art and
Cultural Heritage (INTACH) said.
Under
the programme, the UN body
identifies museums throughout the
world which are declared as
embodiments of cultural and
educational value through intense
scrutiny.
The
UNESCO has partnered with Jammu
and Kashmir Chapter of INTACH and
selected a team of experts for
providing package plans,
programmes and assistance for
promoting the museum as a
repository of rich cultural
heritage.
The
experts will prepare condition
assessment reports, photo
documentations and key
collections along with technical
recommendations for conservation
and restoration of the building
and its collections, INTACH said.
The
museum was set up in 1900 at a
building which had earlier been
used as a State Guest House. Over
the past 100 years, the museum
had been acquiring and displaying
unique archaeological objects
representing Buddhist, Hindu and
Muslim periods.
Its
numismatic sections are supposed
to be one of the most interesting
collections of coins. The initial
contribution of artifacts
included a distinct collection of
Kashmir’s ornamental crafts
like shawls, paper machines and
metal works.
The
display was part of the royal
collection acquired by the Dogra
rulers during and after their
conquest of Kashmir.
Though
the collections of the museum
have been mentioned in different
writings, the present State of
the building, collections,
display and storage had created
lot of anxiety among cultural
bodies.
The
UNESCO intervention was aimed at
presenting the cultural diversity
of the repository with a view to
develop better understanding
between various cultures and
regions of the world. (PTI)
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