Excelsior Correspondent

NOWSHERA, Jan 29: A grand religious programme was organised at Sunderbani in connection with the birthday of  1008 Maha Mandleshwar Swami Vishavatmanand Saraswati ji Maharaj at Sunderbani the other day.
A large number of devotees and followers of  the Swami ji,  who is also head priest of  Dashnami Akhara Poonch and Budha Amarnathji Chhari Yatra, attended the grand religious discourse from Jammu, Rajouri, Poonch, Reasi and other parts of the State besides Punjab and Delhi.
Minister for Housing and Horticulture  Raman Bhalla, MoS Health Shabir Khan, MLCs Ravinder Sharma (Cong), Yash Pal Sharma (PDP) and Jugal Kishore Sharma (Cong) besides many prominent persons also attended the religious function. They felicitated the Sawami ji and prayed for his long life and asked the people to follow his teachings.
Swami ji delivered  religious discourse to the gathering and asked the people to follow the teachings of great saints of the country. He said that a man can attain `Moksha’ only by serving the humanity with kind heart and devoting himself to the cause of the God. He also asked the youth to study their `Granthas’ and Vedic texts to inculcate moral values in them and understand the Vedic culture.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 29: A joint meeting of Jagti Tenement Committee (JTC) and Soan Kashmir Front was held at Jagti township today under the chairmanship of Shadi Lal Pandita its president.
Addressing the meeting, Mr Pandita and P L Thusoo, chairman JTC expressed grave concern over delaying tactics adopted by authorities in redressing the problems of Jagti inmates.
The meeting demanded smooth supply of ration from February 1 to February 20 so that the inmates of the camp are not put to problems, improvement in power supply by enforcing only eight hour cut during the day and not forcing the inmates to enter agreement with PDD. It demanded that the power supply should continue to camps as per the procedure followed in last 24 years.
The meeting criticized the Chief Engineer M&RE for saying that the Jagti inmates are not the consumers of the department.

Excelsior Correspondent
UDHAMPUR, Jan 29: Two persons were injured in separate road accidents in Maud and Majalta areas of Udhampur district.
A Santro car bearing registration number JK 0AA-0886 rolled down from the National Highway near Maud Camp. Police shifted injured to District Hospital Udhampur. He was identified as Sheikh Ishtaq Maqsood (37) son of Maqsood Sheikh of Jammu.
In another road accident near Majalta, an unknown vehicle hit a pedestrian namely Mahinder (15), son of Shanker Dass of Bilas Pur Mjalta Udhampur.

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Jan 29: Minister of State for Health, Shabir Ahmad Khan today inspected the pace of progress of under construction District Hospital Ganderbal. He directed the concerned executing agency to redouble the efforts for ensuring the time bound completion of the hospital complex for early benefits of the people.
The Minister was apprised by the concerned that construction of DH Ganderbal was taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 52.53 crore against which, so far Rs.18.50 crore have been expended and during current fiscal Rs. 5 crore is being expended on the project.
The Minister also paid surprise visit to MMC Hospital, Wasun, Gousia Hospital Khanyar. He inspected the functioning of these hospitals and directed the hospital staff to ensure all possible medicare facilities to the patients with assurance to ensure free treatment to pregnant women and infants.
The Minister went round each section of these hospitals, inquired the welfare of the patients and asked the hospital administration to ensure cleanliness in and around the hospitals. He cautioned that any laxity found in providing healthcare facility to the patients would be viewed seriously. He directed the Director Health Services, Kashmir to initiate the necessary steps for providing laparoscopic and generator to Gousia Hospital. He also  directed concerned for initiating process for setting up of Sub- Health Center at Wakoora during his visit to Madr-e-Meharban School.
Meanwhile, the Minister also reviewed pace of progress of under construction hospital projects of Kashmir division at an officers meeting. He took review of each project.

Excelsior Correspondent
POONCH, Jan 29: A house was completed gutted after an LPG cylinder exploded in Ward No. 2 of  the city here this afternoon.
A police spokesman said that the mishap took place at around 12.30 pm when the cooking was going on in the house of Mohd Zameel. As the cylinder  gas started leaking, it suddenly caught fire. The woman  engaged in cooking rushed outside the kitchen and raised alarm. The family members moved away in panic. Suddenly cylinder exploded and the large flames engulfed the entire kitchen and then other portion of the house. The neighbourers rescued the family and also some goods but entire house was damaged in the fire. The fire tender could not reach the site for long as area was located in area where approach road was not so wider.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 29: With the sole objective to educate the stakeholders and make them aware of the Employees State Insurance (ESI) Scheme, a seminar on the subject was organised by the ESIC Regional office at Katra today.
President Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jammu Y V Sharma, who is also member of ESIC Regional Board while speaking on the occasion said that the Board has passed a proposal to establish an ESI dispensary, along with a branch office  and staff quarters at Katra as the number of employees covered under the scheme in the area have reached over 1000 at Katra Station. Another proposal for establishing another ESI Dispensary at  Udhampur is in the pipeline to provide better medical aid to the employees and their families at the district.
Regional Director, ESIC Arvind Kumar underscored various salient features  and unique employee friendly features   of the scheme such as eligibility for treatment of self  and dependant family members for 90 days immediately after registration of an employee  and on providing temporary I-Card to him by the employer. Under the scheme there is provision for grant of  advance for treatment, super-specialty treatments, reimbursement of cost of treatment to employer or employee in case of treatment or employee in case of accident etc.
He pointed out that there is provision of cash compensation under the scheme in the State. For treatment, there are  9 ESI dispensaries, one ESI Hospital in the State and tie up with 17 reputed hospitals and Labs ( for tests) for the ailing employees. They included ASCOM Sidhra, Bee Enn General Hospital, Center for Sight , JK Lasers, Kalindi Nursing Home, Dr Lal Path Lab, M/s Gupta Hospital, Sudan Heart Care Centre, Triveni Nursing Home,  M/s Trikuta CT Scan,  and many other institutions. He said many employees are not aware of the empanelled hospitals. The ESIC has its main hospital at Bari Brahmana which provides quality treatment to the ailing private sector employees. The employees can get more details on official mobile No. 9419295822 in this regard. He said Smart Pehchan cards are being provided to the employees and teams of ESI would be deployed to this town to cover all the employees.
Dy Director,  ESIC Sunil K Mehto also spoke on the occasion and explained provisions of ESI Act 1948, relating to contributions and consequences in default.