Timely
action saves property worth crores
Major fire at Bachan depot, Grid Station
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, May 4: Property worth
crores of rupees was saved in timely
action by the Fire Services men after a
major fire broke out at Narwal Grid
Station of PDD and the periphery of
Bachan SFC depot this afternoon.
Reports
said at around 1.15 pm, the Gandhinagar
Fire Station received a call that dry
bushes in the premises and periphery of
Narwal Bye-Pass, Gladni Grid Station
caught massive fire and it was spreading
towards adjoining Bachan depot. It was
Sunday and most of the employees were
enjoying holiday.
The Power
Development Department has installed
large electric transformers worth crores
at this grid station and the fire was
advancing towards them. In Bachan SFC
depot, huge dumps of Deodar and Koil
timber worth crores came under fire
threat. The SFC men also sounded alarming
bells.
Divisional
Commissioner Jammu and other senior
officers of PDD and SFC also rushed to
the site besides senior police officers.
Director
Fire Services Jammu, R K Sodhi himself
rushed to the spot to supervise the
operation.
Earlier,
three vehicles from Gandhinagar Fire
Station were sent to control the fire but
sensing the gravity of threat total eight
fire tenders from City and Canal Road
Fire Stations were pressed into service.
Mr Sodhi
when contacted said though no
infrastructure damage was reported in the
incident and only dry bushes were
involved, yet the gravity of threat
perception was much high due to
installation of transformers worth
crores. He said fire had spread over to
the fencing near Bachan Depot and it was
posing threat to the timber dumped there.
He claimed that it took about three hours
to the fire men to fully control
Fire
in yet another Kishtwar village, 4 houses
gutted
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, May 4: Four houses
were completely gutted and around 25
cattle heads perished in a devastating
and mysterious fire at village Dhungai in
Dachhan block of the Kishtwar district.
However, the members of all the four
families escaped unhurt.
This was
the second fire incident in Kishtwar
district during the past one week.
Earlier, on April 28, a devastating fire
broke out in Ongoi village gutting 25
houses and perishing more than 800 cattle
heads.
Reports
said that on the intervening night of May
3 and 4, fire broke out in the Dhungai
village of Dachhan block, 70 kilometres
from the Kishtwar town gutting 4 houses
completely and burning alive around 25
cattle heads.
On the
receipt of information about the
incident, the district administration
deputed revenue staff to the village with
the directions to distribute Rs 5000 cash
assistance to each affected family
besides one month’s ration free of
cost.
"We
have also directed the revenue staff to
prepare their cases for relief under
NCRF", Additional Deputy
Commissioner, Kishtwar, Riaz Ahmed Zargar
said when contacted. He added that police
teams have also been deputed to the
village to ascertain the cause behind the
fire.
It is
worthwhile to mention here that the
administration has yet to ascertain the
cause behind the fire in Ongoi village.
4
killed in accidents
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, May 4: Four persons were
killed in separate accidents reported
from different parts of Jammu.
Police
spokesman said that one person was killed
when he was hit by a speeding vehicle at
Lakhanpur Toll Post. The critically
injured pedestrian was immediately rushed
to hospital where doctors pronounced him
as brought dead.
The
deceased has been identified as Laxman
Rai, son of Pardesi Rai of Hoshinagar,
Uttar Pradesh and presently residing at
Ludhiana.
In another
accident, an unidentified middle aged man
was rushed to death by a train at Bari
Brahamana. The body has been kept in the
mortuary of the Government Medical
College Hospital for identification and
post-mortem.
Meanwhile,
an unidentified youth was killed and one
Raj Kumar, son of Des Raj of Bari
Brahamana sustained severe injuries when
a motor cycle was hit by a tipper number
JK02T-5342 at Kaluchak.
The
condition was injured was stated to be
critical when reports last came in. The
body of deceased has been kept in the
mortuary for identification and
post-mortem.
The
spokesman said that an unidentified woman
of about 65 years of age was knocked to
death by an unknown vehicle at Manwal.
Minor
girl among 3 found hanging
Excelsior
Correspondent
KATHUA, May 4: The body of a
16-year-old girl was found hanging at her
residence at village Dhani, under Rajbagh
police station’s jurisdiction this
morning while two more women died under
mysterious circumstances at Bani and
Hiranagar today.
A police
spokesman giving information said that on
receiving an information regarding the
incident, a Rajbagh police party rushed
to the village. It was found that
girl’s body was hanging on the
ceiling hook of a room.
The
deceased was identified as Anu Bala,
daughter of Ashok Kumar of Dhani village.
While the family members refused to
divulge the reason behind this incident,
they were termed it as case of suicide.
However, a case under section 174 CrPC
was registered by police.
The body
of the girl was shifted to Kathua
hospital for post-mortem.
In yet
another incident, Rekha Devi, wife of
Jagdish Raj, resident of Chhan Morian in
Hiranagar was found dead in her house.
The police registered a case and started
investigation. The family was claiming
that woman committed suicide.
A report
from Bani said that 21-year-old Kanta
devi, wife of Bhushan Kumar, resident of
village Bakon died under mysterious
circumstances at her in-laws house this
morning. The villagers informed police
about the matter. A police party shifted
the body to Bani hospital for postmortem
and registered a case for investigation.
SEOA
resents delay in regularization
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, May 4: The school
education officers (Headmaster cadre)
today expressed concern over the delaying
tactics being adopted by the Government
over the regularization of their cadre,
in a meeting held here today.
The
meeting under the banner of School
Education Officer’s Association
(SEOA) was held under the chairmanship of
Subhash Khanna, president.
The
members said that the Government was
delaying the regularization of HMs/Sr
HMs/ZEPOs/ZEOs since 1997, which was
leading to only to mess, as majority of
officers either have died or retired or
in the process of retiring in their own
pay and grade.
Concern
was also expressed over the fact that the
genuine demand of the removal of time bar
for promotion of the cadre, as agreed
upon by the Government has not been
conceded till date.
The cadre
also highlighted that 40 posts of ZEOs
were lying vacant in Jammu division
causing loss to Education Department due
to non-availability of officers in
different zones.
It was
also highlighted that the post of
DEPOs/Dy CEOs were being filled by
promoting the people from other cadres,
which were actually meant for the cadre.
The
members appealed the Government for
speedy redressal of their genuine
demands. Those who spoke on the occasion
included Raj Singh, S Rajinder Singh, Kh
Hussain Mohd, Kuldeep Singh Langeh, Puran
Singh Manhas and S Gurdev Singh.
Leopard
creates terror, kills cattle near Budhi
Excelsior
Correspondent
KATHUA, May 4: A full grown
leopard has created a terror in the
several hamlets around Budhi-Merath
villages in Kathua district.
Reports
said this wild beast has killed more than
a dozen cattle in Bhudi, Merath,
Kaungani, Dinga Amb and Kakra area in
last one month. Due to the intense heat
several water sources have gone dry.
This
leopard while searching for water, landed
at Sauthli village at around 5.30 pm. A
small artificial water pool was created
by a farmer for his cattle at a pucca
water tank in his field. This leopard was
spotted by the family members also. The
wild beast drank water and then killed a
5-month old calf. Other cattle escaped
from the area sensing trouble.
As the
villagers raised alarm, the leopard
escaped towards nearby jungle, leaving
behind his dead prey. The villagers of
the area have been terrorised of the free
movement of this animal and even they
have stopped sleeping in the open
compound despite intense hot weather
conditions due to the fear of
leopard’s attack.
The people
have urged the district administration
and the Wild Life authorities to capture
the animal and put him in the cage or
wild life park as it was giving them
sleepless nights. They indicated that the
same leopard has been freely moving in
the area of 20 to 30 sq km and all the
people were passing sleepless nights due
to its terror..
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