Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Apr 8: All the roads in the old Srinagar today led to historical Badamvaer where Jashne Aamad-e-Bahaar, organised by J&K Bank, appeared to herald publicly the arrival of spring in Kashmir.
Hundreds of families relished the precious moments of leisure under the shifting shades of almond trees across the park. Thousands thronged the park, young celebrated, kids had fun and elders turned nostalgic while ruminating over the past.
Festooned with the purple and white blossom across its panoramic landscape, the buzz of gleeful kids breathed verve into the sleepy soul of the park.
The hustle of the event radiated across the Srinagar and later in the afternoon people began to turn up from almost all its corners and beyond. Scores of tourists from outside the state could be spotted striking poses before the fountains, flower beds and almond trees in the afternoon.
Notably, J&K Bank has revived and restored the glory of Badamvaer under its Heritage Preservation Programme.
In the morning, Chairman and CEO J&K Bank Mushtaq Ahmad inaugurated the event by unveiling the black-stone, titled ‘Badamvaer in History’, upon which a brief historical overview of the park in English as well as Urdu has been inscribed. Present on the occasion were Executive Presidents,Tafazal Hussain, Ghulam Mohiuddin and Parvez Ahmad, Presidents, Meera Jamwal, Shafat Banday, Vagish Chander, Abdul Rashid, Nayeemullah, Mohammad Syed Wani, R. K. and S K BhatVice-Presidents and other officials of the Bank.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman said, “Places like Badamvaer rejuvenate our cultural and spiritual collective and this initiative is one of the expressions of our commitment towards the cultural and emotional health of the people of this state. We have tried our best to restore its traditional and cultural essence using quite modern means in the process as well.
“People have their deeper emotional equity invested in J&K Bank and we will leave no stone unturned to come up to their expectations, always”, he added.
The Chairman also unveiled a poem-in-stone titled Badamvaer that noted poet and humorist, Zareef and Zareef, has dedicated to the place evoking the cultural past of people vividly besides hailing the role of J&K Bank in its rejuvenation. Zareef recited the poem and talked in detail about the popular history of the place. The attraction of the event was the amphi-theater that resounded with the musical performances followed by thunderous applauses by the renowned Kashmiri singers like Abdul Rashid Hafiz, Mohammad Abdullah Shaksaaz and Gulzar Ahmad Ganie. Chinar Boys Orchestra, a musical band performed some popular Kashmiri songs to the delight of jam-packed audience of men, women and children that ran into hundreds.
Besides the music, boys and girls from Greenland Educational Institute (Hawal), Tibetian Public School (Hawal) and Sane Kids Secondary School (Gojwara) presented few cultural programmes on the stage.
Shortly after the cultural programmes, Chairman J&K Bank announced a donation of 5 computer systems each for the three participating schools.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 8: Saying that National Conference (NC) is the real representative of the people of the State, the State Minister for Industries and Commerce, Surjit Singh Slathia today said NC has always espoused the cause of weaker and downtrodden sections of the society and decentralization of power with focus on women empowerment is mission of the NC leadership.
Addressing a public gathering at Gurah Morh in Vijaypur, Mr. Slathia called upon the NC cadres for joint efforts to further strengthen the party base for transforming the cherished dream about a welfare and prosperous state into a reality.
“Massive welfare and developmental initiatives launched by the Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in every nook and corner of the state have started paying dividends”, Mr. Slathia said while seeking whole-hearted support of the people to strengthen the hands of Coalition Government. He said the development graph witnessed during last 3-years of the present dispensation has surpassed all the previous records, adding that what could not be done in last 6-decades after independence was achieved in just last three years. He asked the people to compare performance of the present Government with other regimes and judge by themselves, who is their real well wisher. He cautioned the people about the vicious propaganda of the opposition, adding that opposition is hoodwinking public opinion on frivolous issues to cover up mis-deeds committed during it’s regime.
The Minister also addressed a public gathering at Dhamore More and favourably responded to the demands made by the people of the village. He on the spot issued instructions to the concerned officers and engineers for solving the problems of the people of the village in respect of improving drinking water facility, upgradation of lanes and drains, black toping of approach road, construction of multipurpose community hall and sanctioning of new IAY cases. He also announced cash assistance and pension for some handicapped, widow and old-aged persons of village Dhamore.

Excelsior Correspondent

Surinsar, Apr 8:  The Political Advisor to the Chief Minister Devender Singh Rana said that PDP and its leadership are the saboteurs of peace for petty political gains unmindful of the ramification of their deeds.
He said it is sad that in a state like Jammu and Kashmir where political parties must rise above politics and work together for the peace and stability PDP has always indulged in political gimmickry for personal political ends sacrificing the interest of the state and its people.
Rana who was addressing a public meeting at Surinsar in Nagrota assembly constituency , said that 1984-the murder of democracy, 1989-the sending of Jagmohan as Governor, the bloodshed and destruction between 1990 to 1996 and 2008 the Amarnath row are stigmas on the political scape of Jammu and Kashmir which have all been orchestrated by the PDP leadership in one way or the other leading to destabilization of peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
He said corruption is a menace which has to be fought and Omar Abdullah led Coalition Government has taken radical steps to create functional autonomous institutional mechanism to check that menace rather than mere sloganeering.
“PDP leadership is in a habit of leveling unsubstantiated, unfounded, vague charges of corruption in the last four years against the present Government which is a sad commentary on their mind set. If it (PDP) has any substantial proof they must approach the autonomous institutions setup by the present Government and prove their charges rather than just giving vent to their frustration by mere hollow sloganeering and leveling motivated charges, he said.
The Political Advisor said that the Omar Abdullah led Coalition Government has unleashed an era of unparallel and unprecedented development and has taken some important steps to tackle the issue of unemployment as also to address the issue of unauthorized, fake, adhoc and daily wagers appointments done by the PDP led Government between 2002 to 2005.
Rana said the young men and women who are on the streets clamouring for justice today are the outcrop of plethora of fake/ unlawful appointments done between 2002 to 2005 by the PDP Government to hoodwink the gullible youth of the state. He said, the present Government has taken upon itself the challenge to resolve their issues and not let them suffer because of the wrong doings of the PDP Government and so despite financial constraints is trying to find via-media to dispense justice to them.
Speaking on the occasion, National Conference Provincial President, Rattan Lal Gupta asked the party rank and file and the National Conference delegates to strengthen the party at grass roots and play active role in development process.
He said during the last three year of the Coalition Government under the leadership of Omar Abdullah has kick started many developmental projects and laid out many developmental plans to be carried out in the next coming years.  He called upon the people to come forward and join hands together in the State Government’s endeavor under the leadership of Omar Abdullah.
Among others who were present on the occasion included Rameshwar Dutt, Block President National Conference Block Dansal, Haji Mohammad Hussain,ex-MLC, Sarpanches Subash Singh, Girdhari Lal, Balwant Singh, Din Mohammad, Kirpal Singh, Bharat Singh, Joginder Lal, Mohan Lal and Gian Chand, Ch. Haroon Rashid, Som Nath Khajuria, Ch. Zaqir, Krishan Chand, Balwan Singh, Kuldeep Raj, Babu Khan, Girdhari Lal, Fareed Chowdhary, Ch. Sadiq, Hand Raj and others.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 8: Two day visit of Delhi Advertising Club (DAC) members to the City of Temples concluded this afternoon.
Fifty senior members of the Club arrived here yesterday morning on the invitation of Editor-in-Chief of Daily Excelsior, S D Rohmetra and left for Union Capital this afternoon. Before their departure, the DAC members had a lunch hosted by Minister for Tourism and Culture, Nawang Rigjin Jora.
Several officers of the Tourism Department including Director, R S Mehta attended the lunch. On the occasion, a detailed presentation was made by the Tourism Department about the scenic beauty of the State. The presentation was widely appreciated by the media fraternity.
Earlier, in an impressive function held at Hotel Asia, the members of the DAC had an interaction with the management of Daily Excelsior on various aspects of advertising. On the occasion, mementos were also present to the members of the Club on behalf of the management of Daily Excelsior.
In recognition to their services in the field of advertising, some senior members of the Club including its president, R C Tanwar were given Excellent Award by the management of Daily Excelsior.
The delegates of the DAC who were on two day visit to City of Temples included Mukesh Gupta, Managing Director Graphisads Advertising, Anil Sharma, Past President DAC and Managing Director, Interads Advertising, Narinder Sharma, Past President DAC and Managing Director, Critique Communication, R C Tanwar, DAC president and Director Advertising, Aj Hindi Daily, Manmohan Gupta, Joint Secretary DAC and General Manager, Punyanagari, K K Malhotra, Hony Treasurer DAC and Managing Director K’s Advertising, Ashok Sharma, Member of Event Management Committee DAC and Regional Director, Rashtradoot Hindi Daily, Dinesh K Srivastava, Board Member DAC and Senior Consultant Sales and Marketing, Pearls News Network, J P Singh, Board Member DAC and Director Charhdikala Publications (P) Ltd, Kailash Arora, Board Member DAC and Regional Head, Tarun Bharat-Goa, Ashok Sharma, Chief (PR), Indian Airlines, Harpreet Singh, Director Sri Guru Harkishan College of Management and Technology, Paramjit Singh, Assistant Director (Publicity), M/o Textile, Amitabh Gupta, Managing Director, Airads Limited, Chander Mohan, Managing Director, Jupiter Advertising, Naresh Sachdeva, Managing Director Niyati Communications, Narinder Khanna, Proprietor Enkay Advertising and Marketing, R K Chopra, Managing Director, The Group Advertising, Rahul Srivastava, Managing Director MARCOM, Sandeep Sen, Director National Advertising, Arun Soni, Senior Director Buying and Operations, MPG India, Ajay Sharma, Media Director Dentsu Media, Ayyappan/ OPS Group Head, Madison Communication, C S Paul, Vice President Marketing, Paul Media Promoters, Devender Sharma, Marketing Head Niyati Communication, K K Padmanabhan, Investment Director, Group M/ Maxus, K Rajendran, Media Director, Lodestar Universal, Nitin Dhingra, Media Manager, Zenith Optimedia, Parmod Kumar, Assistant Vice-President, Zenith Optimedia, P P Grover, General Manager, Aj Hindi Daily, Rajinder Sharma, Media Director, Jupiter Publicity Company, Rattan Sharma, Senior Media Manager, Madison Communication, Ravi Shorey, Promo Producer/ Live India, Rohit Gora, Associate Media Director, Zenith Optimedia, Raj Kumar Raheja, Manager Madison Communication, S B Goel, Director Media, National Publicity, Sriram Gopal, Director Alaknanda Advertising, Surinder Malhotra, Group Head Implementation, Group M/Mediacom, Surinder Rana, Vice-President, Graphisads (P) Limited, Umesh Bhardwaj, General Manager, K’s Advertising and Marketing, H S Paul, Board Member, Convener Event Management Committee DAC and Advertisement Chief, Delhi, NCR , Daily Excelsior, Rajinder, Assistant Manager, Aj Hindi Daily, Tarun and Pankaj.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 8: A deputation of State Accounts Employees Coordination Committee led by Kulwant Singh today met with Director General, Accounts and Treasuries, Wali Mohd Bhat, and discussed various issues related to Accounts Department.
The deputation demanded removal of increment bar after completion of one year of regular service, conducting of departmental exam, creation of welfare fund at State level, GP fund cases to be sanctioned at provincial level head, redressing of issues related to cashier, class IV employees, creation of posts of Record Keeper and Junior Assistant in treasuries, promotion of computer operators and adjustment of corporation employees and change of designation of accounts assistant to accountant and accountant to senior accountant. They also demanded that SRO 272 after crossing 50 years of age should be a promotion avenue and internal working system as well as infrastructure of all the treasuries should be analogy of banks system.  The Director General assured the deputation to solve their pending issues within a short span of time and apprised that some issues are already under consideration.