Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 6: The chain hunger strike launched by the PHE workers in support of their demands reached the 5th consecutive day here today.
The protest dharna, under the banner of  PHE Workers Welfare Association is continued at BC Road office complex of the PHE department. These agitating workers are demanding release of wages of all sorts of workers CP/ consolidated/ temporary workers at the rate of Rs 125 per day, payment of wages before 5th of every month regularly, clearance of backlog wages of the workers, regularization of daily rated workers who have completed five years of service and transfer of Class-IV employees within the sub-division.
They further demanded that left out categories be incorporated in SRO 59, the widow of the deceased daily rated workers be engaged in the department on compassionate grounds and the technical grade be given to the employees having such qualification. They condemned the higher authorities in the department for not taking note of the demands being projected by the employees/ workers. President of the Association Bakshi Singh urged the PHE Minister to solve the pending issues of the PHE workers otherwise, workers will be bound to launch ‘Kam Chor Hartal’ from April 20 for 24 hours, for which State Government will be responsible.
Addressing the workers, Subash Verma provincial general secretary of the Association alleged that Executive Engineer PHE Division Akhnoor has been forcing the workers to get the wages at the old rate of Rs 500, 700, 800 etc while these workers have already been paid at the rate of  Rs 125 on earlier occasions. He apprehended something fishy behind the scheme of things and asked the workers to turn down the offer of Executive Engineer because it was  most unfair and unjustified. He alleged that workers have been facing exploitation at the hands of such officers at the helm of affairs.
The other senior members of the association namely,  Lal Chand, Ramesh Chander, Raskesh Kumar, Sardari Lal, Bishamber Nath, Ram Parkash, Vijayant Kumar and Mumtaz Ali also addressed the gathering. Those who sat on chain hunger strike included Vijay Kumar, Paritam Lal, Ajit Lal, Ganesh Raj and Chua Ram.

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Apr 6: To review the arrangements being put in place for annual Darbar Move from Jammu, a high level meeting of Divisional and District Officers was convened by the Chief Secretary, Madhav Lal here today.
The meeting was attended by the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon, IGP Kashmir, S.M. Sahai and officers of Tourism, Information, Transport, Engineers of various disciplines.
The Chief Secretary was informed that Estates Department has arranged 1285 residential quarters out of which 780 are being provided to Darbar Move employees while 166 rooms are being allotted to senior officers by JKTDC at TRC, Kanposh and Heemal Hotels besides 43 huts in Cheshmashahi are also being acquired for the residential purposes for senior officers of the State. He was also informed that 115 hotels have been identified with the capacity of 3287 room.
The Chief Secretary directed the concerned officers to speed up the all the under construction projects so that they are completed within the stipulated time for the convenience of move employees. He also directed officers to ensure uninterrupted and water supply, sanitation in quarters of move employees, roads and parks. He asked the CAPD authorities to make LPG cylinders available for Darbar Move employees from Jammu to Srinagar with elaborate security arrangements.
Later, Madhav Lal conducted detailed tour of Civil Secretariat and took stock of renovation works being carried out. He also inspected the newly constructed additional block in the Civil Secretariat premises. He also inspected the newly setup 6 offices and 3 meeting halls in the Civil Secretariat.

JAMMU, Apr 6 : Governor            N. N. Vohra today emphasized the need for greater coordination among the Universities of the State and extension agencies of the Government besides creating a corpus of scientists to share expertise and research findings and for convergence of initiatives to effectively meet the effects of climate change and take required measures for enhancing agri-productivity on sustainable basis.
The Governor was chairing the 7th University Council meeting of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu, at Raj Bhavan, here today.
The Governor, who is the Chancellor of the University, suggested that the larger objectives of the State would be far better served if the Vice Chancellors of all the Universities and major institutions of higher learning in J&K could establish effective coordination and carry through collaborative approaches in identified areas.
Reviewing the status of establishment of Krishi Vigyan Kendras, the Governor called for making the Kendras as nodal points for transfer of agri-technology from the labs to land and dissemination of improved agricultural practices for the speedy growth of agriculture and each of its allied sectors.
He stressed the importance of ensuring the establishment of Krishi Vigyan Kendras within envisaged time-lines, adding that if sustained coordinated efforts can be organized, there can be no difficulty in achieving a significantly high growth rate in agriculture production in the next 2-3 years. He also asked the University to propagate the model of integrated farming so that the small land holding farmers could achieve surpluses.
Referring to the vocational training courses being run by the Universities, the Governor stressed that the intake of youth for undergoing such short-term courses should be increased to enlarge their employability as also equipping them with necessary skills to set up their own ventures in the sectors like dairy, fish and poultry farming, food processing, vegetable and mushroom cultivation, apiculture, sericulture, etc.
To ensure against any further delay, the Governor urged the Agriculture Minister to early convene a meeting of all concerned authorities and arrive at an agreed approach to set up a multi-disciplinary Empowered Task Force for Water Management. The Governor advised that a similar Task Force approach could be adopted for the collection and analysis of all data relating to Agriculture and its allied sectors for evolving region, area and crop specific strategies for boosting production. He stressed the usefulness of drawing up a comprehensive Action Plan for transfer of requisite agricultural practices to enhance productivity and production of various crops in the rainfed areas of the State.
Minister for Horticulture and Floriculture Sham Lal Sharma put forth several suggestions for the growth of these sectors while as Minister for Agriculture, emphasized the need for greater coordination among the Farm Universities and the extension agencies of the Government for the growth of agriculture and its allied sectors in the State.
Aga Syed Ruhulla Mehdi, Minister for Animal and Sheep Husbandry, emphasized the need for running courses in Dairy Technology by the Farm Universities of the State.
Dr. B. Mishra, Vice Chancellor, SKUAST, Jammu, presented a detailed report on the status of teaching, research and extension activities undertaken by the University.
The meeting took stock of various research projects and other initiatives taken after the last meeting of the SKUAST, besides discussing other agenda items which included a review of the follow-up action in respect of various decisions taken in the last meeting.
The Council approved the two-tier Career Advancement Scheme for Non-Teaching employees of the University besides taking decisions on various other agenda items.
The meeting was attended by Dr. Tej Partap, Vice Chancellor, SKUAST, Kashmir; Dr. A. R. Trag, Vice Chancellor, Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipore; M. I. Khandey, Principal Secretary, Finance; Navin Kumar Choudhary, Principal Secretary to the Governor; Shaleen Kabra, Commissioner/Secretary, Agriculture Production; and Dr. B. B. Gupta, Registrar, SKUAST, Jammu.

Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Apr 6: Uday Kumar Varma, Secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting today said that the Ministry is contemplating to introduce structural improvements for  strengthening the performance and reach of  different media units in the State.
Chairing a meeting of all the media units under Ministry here today, Mr Varma stressed the need of close coordination and synchronization to improve performance of the media units for effective results at grass root level. He said all the media units need to bring transparency and encourage work culture to flourish, for improving the information dissemination mechanism.
He said this would help in reaching out to the common masses with the information about the policies, programmes, achievements and initiatives of the Central Government, in a better way.
The Secretary also called for strengthening Inter Media Publicity Coordination Committee (IMPCC) with the instruction to hold IMPCC meetings on monthly basis for better coordination.
Mr Varma informed the meeting that the Ministry is constituting Recruitment  Board & framing Rules within six months, for strengthening the Prasar Bharti Broadcasting Corporation of India (PBBCI). He assured the meeting that the issue of office accommodation for the media units other than Prasar Bharti will be looked into seriously and instructed the officers concerned to work out some temporary feasible arrangements.
The meeting was attended by L.R. Vishwanathan, Director S&DD, New delhi besides heads and representatives of local offices of AIR, DDK, PIB, DFP, S&DD, AIR/DDK (News) and Engineering wings.
Earlier, the Secretary chaired a similar meeting at Jammu. He also visited proposed site for High Power Transmitter of AIR & Doordarshan at Nathatop/Patnitop.
Mr Varma is on a four day official visit to J&K to review the issues pertaining to the working of all the media units under Ministry in the State.
The Secretary is scheduled to attend a Seminar on ‘TDSAT’ at SKICC on Saturday.

Excelsior Correspondent
Jammu Apr 6: Expressing deep concern at the lack of progress on taking forward the cross LoC trade and travel process, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today cautioned leadership of India and Pakistan against the serious pitfalls that could result from it.
“Credibility of the entire peace process is at stake and unless the two Governments come over the hawkish elements in each country to implement major decisions taken by them the painstakingly built effort could breed renewed cynicism in the state with serious implications” Mr Sayeed  said while addressing a gathering of people from Hiranagar, who joined PDP under the leadership of prominent Dalit leader Suraj Prakash here today.
PDP patron told the gathering,  on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the launch of historic Karvan-e-Amn between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, that the bus service between the two halves of the state was started after 58 years by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi from Srinagar on 7th April 2005 to facilitate the coming together of divided families, with a vision to extend it into regular travel and travel facility to break the decades long siege around the state.
Mufti said it was sad that the Governments of India and Pakistan had failed to implement the decisions taken by their Foreign Ministers more than a year back to carry forward the original vision of bringing the two sides closer through trade, travel, joint ventures and cultural exchanges. He said there was no reason as to why the two Governments should take so long to implement the decision to open more routes in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions, increase bus frequency, remove hassles in providing permits and more importantly extend the facility to all categories for tourism and pilgrimage purposes.
Referring to the situation that had prevailed in the state when the present peace process was launched by Atal Behari Vajpayee, Mufti said it had proved to be the most sustainable effort in the unhappy relationship between India and Pakistan only because it was primarily driven by the desire for peaceful resolution of the people of state.
“Vajpayee picked up the vibes from Srinagar correctly and embarked on a bold process amid clouds of war and the initial support it received from the UPA leadership broke the hardened mindsets of the security establishments which had held the state hostage for decades”, he said and called for employing similar statesmanship by the leadership to take it out of the groove it apparently has gone into. He said the tardy implementation of decisions could cause serious disillusionment among the people of the state who had started feeling its benefits even though in very small measure yet.
He said the trade across LoC is not just about exchanging ‘potatoes for pulses’ but it has an important historic, cultural and economic perspective. “PDP wants opening up of all traditional routes through Kashmir, Jammu, Ladakh and Kargil regions and lifting curbs on travel and trade to create an Economic Free Zone (EFC) across the state that with its tremendous natural resources could become one of the most affluent regions of the country”, he maintained. He said major hurdles had been crossed in this process by conceding important principles like travel on permits instead of passport and visa and trade without custom duties and it needed only fine tuning now in terms of the decisions taken by foreign ministers last year.