Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 24: As a protection measure against the threat of flash floods during rainy season, Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla today laid foundation of deep drain including slab at Azad Colony in Bathindi.
Mr. Bhalla asked the R&B engineers to put their sincere efforts in completing the project well in time adding that inhabitants of Azad Colony have faced lot of hardships during last year’s monsoon due to flood waters that entered into their houses and caused heavy loss to properties.
The Minister said the Government was making all out efforts to provide all basic amenities to the people of Bathindi and Sunjawan like safe drinking water, electricity, road connectivity, health, education besides better lanes and drains.
Listing the measures taken by the Government to uplift the socio-economic condition of the people of Sunjwan and Bathindi, the Minister said Government has earmarked Rs. 1.60 crore for upgradation of link roads and drainage system, adding that the blacktopping including renovation of surface drains would be started soon after completing the tendering formalities. He said Government has approved Rs. 1.6 crore for construction of Doogian-Jagti road, Rs. 2.37 crore for Sunjwan-Bermeeni Road, adding that the projects are under progress on war-footing and would be completed within prescribed time frame. He said Government is committed to connect last end corners of the Bathindi and Sunjwan areas with nearest headquarter by providing better road connectivity.
Mr. Bhalla asked the PDD to prepare estimates for installation of street lights in the main chowks of Bathindi and submit the same for funding so that the demand of the inhabitants could be resolved after releasing funds out of his CDF.
For regularization of land under Roshni Act, the Minister said that instructions have been issued to Revenue Officers to make survey and submit status of the land so that the demand of inhabitants could be redressed at the earliest.
Under Education Sector, Mr. Bhalla said Government has opened one Higher Secondary School at Sunjwan, Government High School at Bathindi and Government Middle School at Karayani Talab so that the students could get education at their doorstep institutions. He said Government has been making all out efforts to upgrade Government High School Bathindi, and a proposal is under active consideration at School Education Ministry for approval.
Mr. Bhalla said Government has also approved a plan to construct a modern line playfield on the 35 kanals available land at Government Higher Secondary School Sunjwan, adding that the play ground would be developed for promotion of sports activities in the area with the facilities of pavilion, toilet block, gymnasium and changing room facilities. He said for this purpose, the instructions have been issued to the concerned department to prepare the detailed project report and submit the same for funding so that the development of the play ground is taken up.
Later, the Minister visited Gorkha Nagar and installed idols of Shiv Parivar, Ram Parivar, Radha Krishan darbar, Maa Sarswati, Shannidev, Hanuman ji, Vasuki Nag and Laxmi Narayan.
Thousands of devotees thronged the temple and prayed for peace and prosperity of the State and country.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 24: The Minister for Tourism and Culture, Nawang Rgzin Jora today said that the concerted efforts of the Government towards showcasing and development of tourism attraction spots in the state has won the Jammu and Kashmir the status of best destination 2012.
While referring to the Lonely Planet magazine readers voting Jammu and Kashmir State as best destination-emerging (India) for 2012, the Minister said that massive tourist infrastructure development for attracting tourists of varied interests and publicity of new and old spots has put the sate prominently on the world tourism map.
He said the varied landscape of tourism attraction places right from Lakhanpur to Ladakh and Poonch to Kishtwar have added to the already famous places of Kashmir Valley and catapulted the scope of Tourism Industry in the State. He said today the state has a variety of tourism for the visitors, including adventure, spiritual, heritage, adventure, sports and eco in addition to the traditional leisure tourism.
Listing the completed and under execution tourism projects, the Minister said that the government has also taken up development of unique Trans Himalayan Culture Centre Leh, Nagarnagar- Watalab Tourist circuit at a total cost of Rs 60 cr. He said the centre has also agreed to fund development of three pilgrim Tourism Projects of Rs 50 crore each, which includes Buddhist Circuit Leh , Sofi Circuit for Kashmir and Spiritual Circuit for Jammu. He said these innovative projects are all set to add new dimensions to the tourism industry in the State.

`Passport sub-office in Leh shortly’
Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 24: A new Passport Seva Kendra, equipped with modern technology and world class infrastructure with transparent and quick delivery system, was inaugurated at Gandhinagar here today.
Chief Passport Officer and joint Secretary from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Muktesh Pardeshi announced the operational launch of this new Seva Kendra at Auqaf Market complex, adjacent to existing Regional Passport office in presence of Passport Officer Rajinder Gupta, Principal Consultant Golak Simli and Head Operations Rajesh Dogra besides other staff.
While announcing the launch, Mr Pardeshi said that for providing better and faster services, Ministry of External Affairs has opened this Passport Seva Kendra in partnership with the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). He said as a part of nation wide implementation of Passport Seva Project under the National e-Governance Program, these Kendras are being set up keeping in view easier accessibility, convenience and to provide services in a comfortable environment using world class infrastructure. This centre has been developed in an area around 4500 sq feet having 14 service counters.
Conceived by the MEA, under this project, the TCS has taken up 77 Kendras. It has been done keeping in view the increasing rush at the Passport offices and contain the crowd. He disclosed that after 1947 to 1950, average 20,000 passports were being issued by the Passport offices across the country but this number went on increasing. During 2011, about 75 lakh passports were issued. He disclosed that MEA plans to open sub-offices at district headquarters to cover several areas and extend its reach. In J&K such sub-centre is going to be opened at Leh to cover applicants of Ladakh region. These Kendras will be integrating with the police verification system and no physical application is required as was being done earlier. The applicant will move himself to Seva Kendra, his photograph will be taken besides finger prints etc. The applicant will seek appointment and move to the office at the given time and date, he added.
Regional Passport Officer, Jammu Rajinder Gupta, disclosed that Jammu Kendra will be providing services to the citizens of various districts falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Passport office Jammu. Various amenities including snacks counter, photo copier facility, air conditioned and modern waiting lounge, baby care facility etc have been provided for the convenience of the citizens. While all front end and citizen facing activities including processing of applications are done by the TCS staff, the sovereign functions such as document verification and granting of passport will be done by the Regional Passport office staff, Mr Gupta maintained.
Mr Gupta disclosed that as per new system, applicant has to log on to the website, www.passportindia.gov.in and create a user ID, By using the user ID he or she can apply for passport or related service by uploading the form on-line. Once the form is uploaded, appointment for Passport Seva Kendra can be taken on line. The applicant will move along with the documents needed on the given date and time to the Kendra. There is no need to carry physical forms or photographs. Bio-metric measurements etc will be taken and under this new system there is no chance of forgery or duplicity. The launch of this service will greatly ease the burden and rush at the passport office Jammu where earlier hardly 150 applications were being processed each day. The district passport cells will continue to accept the passport applications as usual till further orders, he maintained.
Mr Simli and Rajesh Dogra also spoke on the occasion and briefed the gathering about the new system and its benefits.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 24: HDFC Bank and US-headquarterd Wells Fargo have joined hands to enable NRIs in the United States to quickly remit money to their beneficiary’s HDFC Bank saving accounts in India.
The new service will significantly enhance remittance opportunities to India as Wells Fargo has one of the largest number of banking locations among US Banks and HDFC Bank has over 2500 branches in India, a country that has a large number of NRIs based in US.
Executive vice-president and head of Wells Fargo’s Global Remittances Services said, “India has one of the highest remittance volumes in the world according to World Bank, which is also evident by high customer demand as well”, adding that they are glad that they can make payout locations even more conveniently now by working with HDFC Bank.
“While we are a major player in the Gulf-India remittance market, this alliance will help us consolidate in the US-India sector which has been growing exponentially. Given our reach and the web-based nature of the service, this will allow people to send money back home in one of the safest and fastest possible ways”, said Harish Chander, Executive Director, HDFC Bank.
Remittances to HDFC Bank are denominated in Indian Rupees. Once a customer sets up his ExpressSend agreement and the beneficiary account information is verified with HDFC Bank, the customer needs to conduct his first transaction at a Wells Fargo branch. Subsequent transactions can be conducted through Wells Fargo.com, or via Wells Fargo Phone Bank.
Funds are sent to HDFC Bank quickly for credit during HDFC Bank’s local processing hours from Monday to Saturday excluding Indian holidays.

Mamta Joshi’s Rabindra Sangeet recital leaves audience spellbound
Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr: 24 Under the special scheme of J&K Cultural Academy, three monographs on well known personalities of Duggar were released by Nawang Rigzin Jora, Minister for Tourism and Culture, at the K L Saigal Hall, here today.
The monographs on life and works of Prof Shiv Nirmohi, Dev Dass and late Durga Dass have been penned down by Prakash Premi, late Ashok Jerath and Sita Ram Sapolia.
Critical papers on these monographs were also read by Nirmal Vinod, N D Jamwal and Bishan Singh Dardi on the occasion.
Earlier in her welcome remarks Academy’s additional secretary, Savita
Bakshi threw light on the importance of Academy’s monograph scheme.
The release function was presided over by Prof. Ved Kumari Ghai who welcomed the publications on personalities relating to fields like painting, poetry and History and culture. She also recounted their respective contributions in respective spheres.
Coalescing two programs, Academy’s K.L. Saigal Hall also provided the perfect stage, for the recital of Rabindra Sangeet this evening.
Noted Sufi singers Dr. Mamta Joshi, from Chandigarh, as part of her ten assigned programs of Gurudev’s music in different parts of the north India, gave a gripping recital of Rabindra Sangeet. The local singers who also sang in the program included Tsewang Dorjey, Vishal Gupta, and Aastha Raina.
The artistes giving accompaniment included Sunil Sharma, Joginder Paul, Vikas Nagar, Chetan Joshi, Deepak and Puneet.
The chief guest, minister for tourism and culture, Nawang Rigzin Jora praised the Academy for holding events like Rabindra Sangeet, saying such events helped people appreciate the richness of Indian music.
The audience appreciated all the songs with perfectly timed applause, music for which was besides other dignitaries, commissioner secretary tourism and culture and secretary Academy, Atal Dulloo was also present on the occasion. Additional secretaries of Academy, Shamima Akhter and Dr. Arvinder Singh Amn were also present on the occasion. The program proceedings were conducted by well-known broadcaster Ravi Kant.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 24: A meeting of provincial committee of J&K United School Teachers Association (USTA) held here under the chairmanship of its president, Hari Singh, discussed various problems being faced by the teaching community.
Speaking in the meeting, president of the Association appealed the authorities at the helm of affairs to discharge all teachers from non-academic duties. He urged the authorities to adjust all the teachers who were appointed by SSRB recently and also demanded selection grade in favour of trained under-graduate teachers, which is pending since long.
Other demands highlighted in the meeting included DPC of masters, lecturers and fourth class employees, regularisation of headmasters and lecturers, removal of disparity in grade of under-graduate teachers created by SRO 225, bringing back the masters who are working out of their districts and have completed their tenure to their respective districts, enhancement of honorarium of ReT teachers and release DA installment arrears in favour of ReT teachers regularized after January 1, 2010 and a transfer policy for them.
The members appealed the authorities to concede the demands at an earliest otherwise Association would be forced to resort to agitation.

Excelsior Correspondent
PADDAR, Apr 24:The residents of village Dhundi, District Kishtwar, today flayed the Government for its claims to have provided primary and middle schools to each and every nook of the State under SSA norms of 1km and 3km respectively but the ground reality contradicts its claims as the village Dhundi is still without a middle school.
Addressing a gathering, Panchayat, Halqa Gulabgarh, Panch Dheer Singh, said ” The Government Primary School Dhundi was established in 1968 and has at present about 100 students with feeding primary schools at Sanyas, whereas middle schools are at a distance of about five kilometer due to which the students of this institution face tremendous hardships after passing 5th class. The tender aged students have to pass dense forests and deep nallahs and cross rivers to reach the middle schools.”
Chemail Singh, a resident of the village said, “The poverty stricken people of this far-flung area and most difficult hilly terrain do not send their wards to school after 5th due to fear.”
He said on one hand Government has made right to education a fundamental right and on the other hand there is gross denial of this very right to the students of this backward area.
The residents of the village urged the Government to upgrade the school as the school fulfills each and every ingredient for its upgradation.

Shri Amarnath Yatra
Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 24: Governor N.N. Vohra, discussed the required arrangements for the ensuing Shri Amarnathji Yatra at a meeting held at Raj Bhavan here last evening.
The Governor was briefed by Deputy Commissioner, Ganderbal, and Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, regarding the current status of snow melt at Baltal and Chandanwari and the action being taken for clearing the tracks of the frozen snows and timely putting in place all the Yatra related arrangements at the Base Camps at Baltal and Nunwan, Camps enroute and in the Holy Cave area. He also reviewed the preparations for construction of Entry Gates at the Base Camps at Baltal and Chandanwari.
During the meeting, all Yatra related arrangements, proposed to be made on the Chandanwari and Baltal routes by the C.E.O., Pahalgam Development Authority, various concerned Departments including Tourism, PHE, PDD, CAPD, Health, Labour and Animal Husbandry were discussed at length and the required decisions were taken.
Referring to the implementation of the sector-wise recommendations of High Level Committee which related to the District Administration, the Governor, who is also the Chairman of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, emphasized that the required action on the ground must be completed timely to ensure the availability of the required arrangements.
Particularly reviewing the Health related arrangements, the Governor instructed the CEO to timely co-ordinate with the Health Department and District Administration for provision of all required measures such as placing experienced and qualified Doctors at identified locations/Camps, positioning of ambulances at Chandanwari and Baltal and provision of hard bed stretchers and oxygen cylinders in the Yatra area. He also gave instructions regarding proper arrangements being made for evacuation of seriously sick pilgrims and in the event of any pilgrim losing life, there should be satisfactory arrangements for conduct of post mortem and issuance of Death Certificate.
Navin K. Choudhary, Principal Secretary to the Governor and Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, Kifayat Hussain Rizvi, Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag; Showkat Ahmad Mir, Deputy Commissioner, Ganderbal; Preet Pal Singh, Additional CEO of the Board; Mir Altaf Ahmad, Chief Executive Officer, Pahalgam Development Authority, and K.G. Bamba, General Manager (Works), Shrine Board, were among those who participated in the meeting.