Ajay Raina
Despite rapid transformation in its texture, RS Pura Constituency has remained choked with various civic problems for the past over six decades. On the one hand, where some people appreciated the role of their MLA Gharu Ram Bhagat in carrying out developmental works in different areas of the constituency, some people took him to task by saying that their MLA has done nothing in their favour.
Comprising of over 100 villages, RS Pura Constituency is spread on a wide area having various colonies including Indira Nagar, Brij Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Nandpur, Tinda Kalan, Simbal Camp, Prem Nagar, Miran Sahib, Nai Basti, Shiv Nagar, Ben Sultan, Kalyana, Phinder, Kotli Mian Fateh, Jinder Malu, etc.
Due to non-availability of basic amenities including water, power, roads, lanes and drains, etc, the residents of RS Pura Constituency are going through tough times, but MLA’s response to all this plight is just assurance and nothing else.
While taking a round of the constituency, it was found that the lanes and drains remained choked but no steps have been taken regarding the sanitary condition either by Municipal Committee or by the MLA, which led to health hazard many times.
The main road connecting various villages is having pot-holes, which sometimes prove fatal for the commuters especially during the night.
The condition of the main town RS Pura comprising of 13 wards worsens day-by-day. Dilapidated condition of roads, lanes and drains, unscheduled power cuts and erratic water supply are the main problems which came to fore while interacting with the people, which according to them, their MLA has failed to take up with the concerned authorities aggressively.
Regarding educational infrastructure in the area, students of Government Degree College (GDS) RS Pura are facing manifold problems as there are only 7 to 8 rooms where around 1000 students are studying presently. “How students manage to study in these over half dozen rooms where laboratory, computer lab, etc works are also carried out simultaneously is beyond one’s imagination. The problems faced by students on account of it have not stirred the conscience of the MLA”, which has raised the level of anguish among them against the MLA.
However, the standard of education in the RS Pura has shown some positive signs as the MLA has upgraded around five Government Schools to High School and Higher Secondary levels.
A student of Government Degree College RS Pura said that MLA should be one who can come up to the expectations of the people of his constituency by bringing development projects and taking advantage of various welfare and poverty eradication schemes.
“Our MLA never took keen interest towards the youth of his constituency and how we can expect that he can solve the civic problems of the area. We continue to compromise with our studies as only few rooms are here in this college in which around 1000 students study”, he added.
Tarsem Lal, a Retired Professor said that the education standard has seen some change as many schools were upgraded by the MLA, he said, adding that a GDC RS Pura also needs additional classrooms as it caters to hundreds of students.
RS Pura Constituency is almost a ‘Farming Community’ and its Basmati Rice is world wide famous. The demand of the farmers was of declaring RS Pura as ‘Basmati Zone’ at par with ‘Saffron Zone’ in Kashmir, but the MLA has paid least heed towards this, which will somewhere create hurdles for the MLA to represent the constituency in the Legislative Assembly again.
The Ranbir Canal water, the only lifeline of the farmers for cultivation is being used by the ‘Brick Kiln’ owners, which has also raised the level of anguish among the farmers.
Tejinder Singh, a farmer while narrating the ordeal of farmers of RS Pura Constituency said that the farming community is feeling neglected by the MLA, as none of their issues including water and power required for farming have been properly attended to by him.
“RS Pura is at the tail end of Ranbir Canal and the water level is so low, that it becomes very difficult for the farmers to cultivate their land”, he said. The theft of canal water is a common issue here as every farmer needs water for cultivation and sometimes, these thefts of water have led to clashes, Singh said, adding that their MLA shows least concern toward this problem.
“MLA should be one who not only listens to the plight of the people of his constituency but should also work day and night to get the issues redressed”, said Sunil Sharma of RS Pura town.
He added that their MLA is least bothered about the problems of the people especially farming community and if this situation continues, a time will come, when no farmer will cultivate his land. This will jolt not only J&K but outsiders also, as maximum Basmati rice is grown here and is popular world-wide”, he added.
There is no proper way of disposing of household waste. All the waste of the main town RS Pura gets accumulated in “Purkhoo Nallah”, which is never cleared due to which the drainage system of the RS Pura town remains almost choked.
Dinesh Sudan, a resident of Indira Nagar told that the developmental works in his area have taken place but not up to the mark. Many lanes and drains are in deplorable condition and the issues have been taken up with the MLA by senior citizens of the locality, but nothing has been done so far in this regard.
Anu Bharti, a housewife residing in one of the wards of RS Pura town said that RS Pura has not seen much change during the tenure of their MLA as condition of roads, lanes and drains and developmental works is the same as was six years before.
“The deplorable condition of the roads, choked drains, scarcity of water and unscheduled power cuts are the major problems being faced by the people, but no positive steps have been taken by the MLA in this regards”, she added.
Earlier, many youths in the constituency were desired to join the para-military services to serve the Nation, but MLA’s least concerned toward their future has forced them to work in their agriculture fields or private companies.
While interacting with the youths of area, it came to fore that recruitment drive for this border belt was held some 20 years back and since then, no recruitment drive have been conducted.
“No recruitment drives have been conducted for the youth of RS Pura constituency in the para-military forces, which is compelling the youth to join hands with their old age family business ‘agriculture’ leading to anguish among the youth”, said Vishal Sharma, a Post Graduate student.
He said that despite being highly qualified, the youth of RS Constituency feel neglected as their MLA never took up the recruitment drive issue in the para military forces with the concerned authorities.
The construction work of new Revenue Office inaugurated by Former Minister RS Chib along with MLA Gharu Ram some three years back has been stopped by the concerned Contractor due to non-payment of pending dues.
The already hellish condition of the main town RS Pura is compounded by the road side parking by the people and encroachment by shopkeepers, which results in constant traffic jams. Sometimes it becomes too difficult to ride a two wheeler on this road, which connects Jammu and Tourist Spot ‘Suchetgarh’.
The main town RS Pura witnesses traffic snarls various times especially during office-school hours, as the road is encroached by shopkeepers and no one takes steps in this regard, Sunil Sharma, a private company employee said, adding that ill-manned parking by the people is also one of the reasons behind the jams.
The pavilion work inside Bana Singh Stadium has been stopped, due to the reasons best known to the authorities, but local people say that the MLA never tried to intervene in the matter.
The residents of Miran Sahib while sharing their experience of past six years said that their area has noticed development, but the basic amenities including scarcity of water and unscheduled power cuts always remain unattended to by the concerned authorities.
Ramesh Kumar, a resident of Miran Sahib said that the residents of the area were demanding Miran Sahib to be undertaken by Municipal Corporation since long and this issue was on various times taken up with the MLA, but nothing has been done in this regard, which left the issues of choked drains and dilapidated condition of roads unattended.
Talking about the transport facilities to various far-flung villages of RS Pura constituency, the people said that they are still using ‘horse-cart’ to reach their destination, as the transport services are not available.
Suman Sharma, a student hailing from village Abdullian of Suchetgarh constituency said that she has to travel on horse-cart to attend school in RS Pura and to go back to home. The bus and mini-bus facilities to her village are almost zero, she added.
“If the students do not use the facilities of horse-cart, many of the students residing in far-flung areas can not study”, she added. “What have MLAs of both RS Pura and Suchetgarh Constituencies have done to provide transport facilities to the school/college going students”, she questioned.
When all these issues were taken up with MLA Gharu Ram Bhagat, he said the grievances of the people are justified and all the issues including basic facilities will be redressed in the time to come.
Regarding the issues of farming community and youth, MLA failed to give satisfactory reply.
He said that the issues of farming community and youth will be redressed at the earliest, but did not mention how much time he will take, as many issues of the farmers and youths of the constituency remained unattended for several years.

Fayaz Bukhari

SRINAGAR, Aug 4: As State faces severe financial crunch, the Ministers and bureaucrats spent around Rs 3 crore on foreign tours during past 5 years.
According to official documents of the Tourism Department of the State, Ministers and bureaucrats in the department spent Rs 2.75 crore on their 21 foreign tours during past 5 years since 2009.
In 2013, Minister for Tourism, G A Mir and Director Tourism Kashmir, Talat Parvez spent Rs 9.55 lakh on their tour to Fitur, Spain. And on another foreign tour, KSA Road Show, in 2013, the Minister and Director along with MoS Tourism, Sajjad Ahmad Kitchloo and Chief Executive Officer, Gulmarg Development Authority spent Rs 11. 65 lakhs.
In 2012, Additional Secretary to Government, Leena Padha, Assistant Secretary Tourism, Sonam Dorjey spent Rs 5.55 lakhs on tour to Singapore for a road show. In the same year, the then Minister, Nawang Rigzin Jora, the then MoS Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani and Director Tourism Jammu, Robin Singh Mehta spent Rs 11.77 lakhs for a road show in Argentina and Brazil.
In 2012, the  then Minister, Jora, the then MoS Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, the then Commissioner Secretary, Atal Duloo and MD JKTDC, Satish Nehru spent Rs 21.00 lakh on foreign tour to Canada.
In 2012, the  then Minister, Jora, the then MoS Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, the then Commissioner Secretary, Atal Duloo, the then Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Shah and the then Director Tourism Jammu, Robin Singh Mehta spent Rs 25.00 lakh on foreign tour to ITB Berlin.
In 2012 the then Commissioner Secretary Tourism, Atal Duloo, Director Tourism Kashmir, Talat Perwaiz, spent Rs 10.67 lakhs for foreign tours to Telaviv, Jordan and Dubai.
In 2012, the  then Minister, Jora, the then MoS Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, the then Commissioner Secretary, Atal Duloo, the then Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Shah and the then MD JKTDC Satish Nehru spent Rs 14.56 lakh on foreign tour to Saudi Arabia.
In 2012, Additional Secretary to Government, Leena Padha, Assistant Director Tourism, Illyas Ahmad, Manager JKTDC, Shamim Kraipak, Assistant Director Tourism, Sonam Dorjey spent Rs 4.60 lakh for foreign tour to Dubai.
In 2011, the  then Minister, Jora, the then Commissioner Secretary, Atal Duloo and the then MD JKTDC, Satish Nehru spent Rs 15.48 lakh on foreign tour to London for WTM.
In 2011, the then Minister, Jora, the then MoS Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, the then Commissioner Secretary, Atal Duloo and the then Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Shah spent Rs 18.29 lakh on foreign tour to Berlin.
In 2011, the  then Minister, Jora, the then MoS Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, the then Commissioner Secretary, Atal Duloo and the then MD JKTDC Satish Nehru spent Rs 23.22 lakh on foreign tour to South East Asia.
In 2011, the then Advisor to Chief Minister, Mubarak Gul, Special Secretary to Government, Altaf Hussain, the then Director Tourism Jammu, R S Mehta, the then General Manager JKTDC Shamim Ahmad spent Rs 6.29 lakh on foreign tour to ATM Dubai.
In 2011, the then Minister, Jora, the then MoS Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, the then Commissioner Secretary, Atal Duloo and the then Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Shah spent Rs 11.70 lakh on foreign tour Geneva.
In 2011, the  then Minister, Jora, the then MoS Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, the then Commissioner Secretary, Atal Duloo, the then Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Shah, the then Director Tourism Jammu, R K Verma and the then MD JKTDC, Satish Nehru spent Rs 23.16 lakh on foreign tour to Lord Mayor’s Show London.
In 2010, the  then Minister, Jora, the then MoS Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, the then Commissioner Secretary, Atal Duloo, the then Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Shah, the then Director Tourism Jammu, R K Verma and the then MD JKTDC, Satish Nehru spent Rs 22.88 lakh on foreign tour to WTM London.
In 2010, the then Minister, Jora, the then Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Shah and the then MD JKTDC, Satish Nehru spent Rs 12.23 lakh on foreign tour to ITB Berlin.
In 2010, the then Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Shah, the then Director Tourism Jammu, SM Sahni and the then MD JKTDC, Satish Nehru spent Rs 10.22 lakh on foreign tour to Dubai Global Village.
In 2009, the then Minister, Jora, the then MoS Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, and the then Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Shah spent Rs 8.99 lakh on foreign tour to WTN London.
In 2009, the then Secretary Tourism, Tanvir Jehan, the then Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Shah, the then Director Tourism Jammu, SM Sahni and the then Director General Museums, R A Qadri spent Rs 14.25 lakh on foreign tour to ITB Berlin.

Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, Aug 4: Two brothers were washed away in flash flood while two were rescued in Manjakote area of district Rajouri late this evening.
A police spokesman said that mishap took place at around 9.15 pm when the four brothers including ration dealers Aurangzeb were going to their hamlet at Kalaban after crossing a nallah. A truck load of CAPD ration reached late at the depot at Manjakote  and three brothers of  Aurangzeb, namely Mohd Farooq, Mohd Alam and Javed, sons of Gulzar Hussain had also been accompanying him.
As they were crossing nallah, they started washing away  in flash flood. Farooq was leading them and managed to  catch some bushes. Aurangzeb, Javed and Mohd Alam washed away. They raised alarm and people of the area rushed there. Farooq was rescued with some injuries while Mohd Alam was also found lying unconscious at some distance down stream with serious injuries.
About 2 kms down stream the dead body of  Javed was recovered while Aurangzeb was still missing. A large number of people including Armymen and police were searching for him. He was believed to have washed away in the nallah.
Alam was brought to Manjakote hospital but there was no Medical staff or doctor. He was then rushed to Rajouri hospital.

NEW DELHI, Aug 4:
Lt Gen Philip Campose- a veteran mechanised infantry officer, has taken over as the new vice chief of Army Staff succeeding Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, who is now heading the 1.3 million strong force.
59-year-old Lt Gen Campose, who was till now the Western Army Commander, took over as the vice chief on August 1, an Army release said here.
An alumnus of St Xavier’s School, Delhi, the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun, he was commissioned into the Infantry in 1974 and later sidestepped into the newly constituted Mechanised Infantry Regiment in 1982.
Trained at the Vystral Academy, Russia and the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, the officer has also attended the Higher Command Course, Mhow and the National Defence College, New Delhi.
His command appointments include an Independent Armoured Brigade, an Infantry Division on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and a Corps in the Western Sector.
“He has participated in a UN Peacekeeping Mission in the former Yugoslavia and headed a UN security force in Northern Iraq,” the release said.
The officer had headed a General Court Martial in the Sukna land scam while he was commanding the Jodhpur-based 12 Desert Corps. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 4:
Keen to defuse the escalating UPSC row, the Government today announced in Parliament that English marks in CSAT-II will not be included for gradation or merit but the impasse is likely to continue with agitating aspirants sticking to the demand for complete scrapping of this format.
The Union Public Services Commission (UPSC), meanwhile, said the civil services preliminary exams will be held as scheduled on August 24 incorporating the changes even as the Government refused to yield to the demand of the civil service aspirants for doing away with Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT).
The aspirants, who also demanded postponement of the exams, shifted their protests to Jantar Mantar from Mukherjee Nagar in north Delhi where they have been agitating for the last 25 days.
The Government also announced that candidates who took the 2011 UPSC exam will get another chance to appear for the test next year.
The UPSC row also rocked Parliament forcing a spate of adjournments in the Rajya Sabha.
“Government is of the opinion that in the Civil Services Preliminary examination, Paper-II, the marks of the question section on ‘English Language comprehension skills’ should not be included for gradation or merit,” Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said.
In a brief statement, Singh also said, “Candidates, who appeared in Civil Services Examination 2011, may be given one more attempt in 2015.”
“We are not satisfied with MoS Personnel Jitendra Singh’s speech in Lok Sabha regarding CSAT. We want complete scrapping of CSAT. We have decided to continue our fight from Jantar Mantar,” Pawan, an UPSC aspirant, who is leading the protest said.
Pawan said the Government announcement has not addressed its demand.
“We never demanded from BJP-led Government to modify CSAT pattern. Instead, our demand was to finish this test for the welfare of lakhs of students, who had studied in Hindi medium,” he added.
In Rajya Sabha, trouble also broke out over Jitendra Singh’s remark that, “We have made it language-neutral. What is the confusion?”
Singh’s statement could not pacify agitating members from Congress, CPI, DMK, Trinamool and AIADMK.
AIADMK and other opposition parties sought to know if the civil service aspirants would be able to write the examination in native languages.
Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the minister’s use of the phrase ‘language-neutral’ has further complicated the entire thing.
There are two compulsory papers of 200 marks each in the preliminary examination. These papers are also known as CSAT-I and CSAT-II.
The CSAT-II paper carries questions on comprehension, inter-personal skills including communication skills, logical reasoning and analytical ability, decision-making and problem- solving, general mental ability, basic numeracy, and English language comprehension skills (of Class X level). (PTI)