Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, May 2: Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla today said that Government is committed to connect every nook and corner of the State by providing all weather road connectivity.
The Minister was speaking at a public meeting at Gangyal after laying foundation stone of 9.80 meter long vented causeway over Barsati nallah, coming up at an estimated cost of Rs. 22 lakh.
Mr. Bhalla asked the R&B officers to redouble their efforts in completing the ongoing construction work of culvert well before the start of rainy season. He said people of the Babliana and Gangyal areas faced lot of hardships during last year monsoon due to choking of nallah with mud which resulted into flood water entering into the houses of inhabitants.
The Minister said for providing relief from flash floods in Barsati nallah, Government has already earmarked Rs. 2 crore for the construction of both sided embankments including beds from Gangyal to Babliana villages, adding that with the completion of the project, the people would get relief from flash floods in rainy season.
Mr. Bhalla asked the executing agency to immediately remove the garbage from the choked portion of the nallah holes so that the people do not face any inconvenience.
To beautify the half a kilometer open space of the canal, the Minister said Government has sanctioned Rs. 1.6 crore for development of recreation park, walkway besides landscaping facilities. He said the project is under progress and would be completed within stipulated time frame on modern lines.
At Shiv Nagar in Bandhu Rakh, Mr. Bhalla laid foundation stone of link road from Joogian Mohallah to Dharap village, for which Government has earmarked Rs. 10 lakh.
Interacting with the villagers, the Minister said with the completion of the road, the distance to village Dharap would be reduced to a large extent. He said for improving the drinking water facilities in Dharap and Joogian Mohalla, the government has already commissioned two deep drill tube wells at an estimated cost of Rs. 1.95 crore under Dharap Kothey Water Supply Scheme.
The dedicated tube wells would go a long way in solving the water scarcity problem in Dharap, Dharap Kothey, Jogian Mohalla and Gujjar basti localities. He asked the PHE authorities to complete the digging as well as laying of water supply pipes works in left out areas of the villages at the earliest so that the inhabitants do not face drinking water scarcity during summer season.
He said Government has prepared a comprehensive plan to meet the requirement of drinking water facilities in summer season, adding that instructions have been issued to the concerned departments to install hand pumps in water deficit areas.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, May 2: Minister for Industries and Commerce Surjit Singh Slathia today convened various public meetings to take stock of grievances and demands of the people.
During the day long tour, the Minister visited Malshah, Nai Basti, Khokhre Chak and Chak Jawar in Vijaypur block and listened to the problems of the people.
While addressing the public meeting at Malshah, Mr. Slathia said that the Coalition Government is committed to provide all basic amenities to the people of the state especially living in rural and far off pockets. He said that Government is providing adequate opportunities of jobs, development and other facilities to the people with focus on rural areas. The education, health, road connectivity, PHE sectors remained areas of priority and massive development in these sectors has taken place, he added.
People from Malshah and adjoining areas apprised the Minister about their demands which mainly included installation of transformer, construction of ladies bathroom, upgradation of various link roads, community hall and various other demands.
Responding to their demands, Mr. Slathia announced construction of Ladies Bathroom, installation of hand pump Mark-II and transformers for the area.
The Minister also dedicated Ladies Bathroom at Nai Basti Mahalshah under Scheme BADP MV Abtal completed at a cost of Rs. 3.29 lakh. Interacting with people in a public meeting at Nai Basti, the Minister listened to the demands of the people of the area. He directed the concerned officers to take necessary steps for redressing the genuine grievances at the earliest. The Minister also announced installation of hand-pump in the area.
Later, during his visit to Chak Jawar, the Minister inaugurated newly constructed lanes/drains completed at a cost of Rs. 6 lakh under Scheme BAPD Model Village Abtal (Cluster Area Approach.
The local people demanded tube-well at Chak Jawar, construction of nallah, replacement of old electric wires, street lights, etc.
While responding, the Minister onspot gave instruction to the Engineer PDD for early replacement of old electric wires besides assured the people that the tube-well would also be constructed soon to mitigate the water scarcity. He also said that a community hall would be constructed soon in the area.
On the occasion, the Minister directed the concerned officers to identify the deserving people to be covered under IAY and Widow Pension Scheme as demanded by the locals.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, May 2: Indian Oil Corporation commenced Advanced Winter Stocking (AWS) of bulk LPG for Leh from their LPG Bottling Plant, Bari Brahmana.
The first tanker loaded with LPG dispatch was flagged off by Tejpal Dahiya, Plant Manager, Indian Oil Corporation, Bari Brahmana, in presence of other plant officers and staff.
Srinagar-Leh National Highway remains closed during winters almost for six long months and advanced stocking of Bulk LPG is done every year to cater the LPG requirement of the Ladakh region during this period.
Only Indian Oil Corporation Limited has put up a LPG Bottling Plant at Leh, which is highest in the world.
Indian Oil’s bottling plant situated at Bari Brahmana, is the nodal bulk LPG loading point for Leh plant, which in turn bottles the LPG into cylinders for further distribution within the region.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, May 2: In an effort to recognize the remarkable work of excellence done by various renowned figures, Bhartiya Kala Sangam organized a simple but impressive function based on Life Time Achievement Award at K.L. Saigal Hall Cultural Academy Complex.
Minister for Medical and Technical Education, Youth Services and Sports, R.S. Chib was the chief guest on the occasion.
While speaking on the occasion, Chib appreciated the efforts of Bhartiya Kala Sangam (BKS) for launching the Life Time Achievement Award in recognition of valuable services rendered in various field of activities. He opined that such function needs to be organized at a regular interval so that the precious service given by anyone in the civil society gets adequate reorganisation.
Earlier, T.R. Sharma highlighted the various activities so far organized during the last one year saying that BKS has been functioning for the last thirty years during which a large number of programmes were held not only in the state, but also in the other states of the country. He also gave details of persons who were honoured with Life Time Achievement Award.
The persons who were awarded include Minister for Medical and Technical Education, Youth Services and Sports, R.S. Chib, IGP, Farooq Khan, Additional Secretary (J) Cultural Academy, Savita Bakshi, senior journalist, Sohail Kazmi, Redt, Dy. SPs, Manmohan Mahi and Kamal Sharma, Ajay Kumar, Balbir Singh, Sanjeev Gupta, Veena Honda.

Excelsior Correspondent
RAMNAGAR, May 2: Elaborate arrangements have been made for successful conduct of Bhagwan Narsingh Ji’s Jayanti Utsav, which falls on May 4.
According to Vinod Khajuria, the priest of Shri Narsingh Dev Ji Mandir, as a part of festivities the Ramayan Paath shall start on May 3 at 9 am and conclude on May 4 at 9 am. Hawan shall start at 10 am and Purnahuti at 12 noon.
A Shobha Yatra of Bhagwan Narsingh Ji would be taken out throughout the town and at 6 pm special pooja of Bhagwan Ji would be conducted. That would be followed by Bhajan Sandhya which shall start from 7 pm till midnight.
The organizers have appealed the devotees of Bhagwan Narsingh Ji and others to participate in the annual religious ritual in a big way to make the celebrations a grand success.

Excelsior Correspondent

SAMBA, May 2: A meeting of officers of Education and Social Welfare Departments was held under the chairmanship of District Development Commissioner, Samba Mubarak Singh to expedite the process of sanctioning of scholarships in favour of students belonging to various categories.
The District Development Commissioner impressed upon the Zonal Education Officers, Principals and Headmasters of the Institutions present in the meeting to submit the list of all the eligible students to the Social Welfare Department within week’s time so that the scholarship is sanctioned and disbursed before May, 2012.
The Chief Education Officer and District Social Welfare Officer, Samba were directed to personally monitor the process of sanctioning and disbursement of the scholarship within the time frame so as to enable the students to utilize the amount for purchase of books, stationery etc.
It was also informed in the meeting that during the year 2011-12, an amount of Rs. 84.48 Lacs was spent to provide scholarship to 9772 SC Students, Rs. 15.25 Lakh to provide scholarship to 1263 ST students and Rs. 24.99 Lakh to provide scholarship to OBC students, besides Rs.2.60 Lakh and Rs.0.33 Lakh disbursed among 239 children belonging to unclean occupation and 34 physically handicapped students respectively.
Among others, Additional District Development Commissioner, Samba Neelam Sethi, CPO Sant Ram, Chief Education Officer, Ravi Dubey, District Social Welfare Officer, Babu Ram Tandon, besides the Zonal Education Officers, Principals and Headmasters of various Institutions were present in the meeting.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 2: PDP is shedding crocodile tears to exploit the elected Sarpanchs and Panchs in the State, said Ajay Sadhotra, MLC and senior National Conference leader while addressing a public meeting at Trilokpur in Marh Assembly Constituency. Sadhotra said PDP leadership has perhaps forgotten that in order to kill Panchayati Raj Institutions in the State, Mufti Mohd Sayeed led Government in 2004-2005 had passed a Bill in the Assembly to curtail the life of the Panchayats and nominate Committees in place of elected Panchayats.
It was National Conference under the leadership of Omar Abdullah which represented to the then Governor for his intervention to come to the rescue of the Panchayati Raj Institutions. On the demand of National Conference and to save democracy Governor did not give assent to the Bill and Panchayats completed full term.
Sadhotra said PDP has become issueless and in sheer frustration to grab power is misleading the Panchayati Raj Institutions. He said Omar led Coalition Government has given powers of 14 departments to the Panchayats and Sarpanchs and Panchs are being trained to use the powers.
NC leader said Panchayati Raj Act, 1989 is the best Act in the country and National Conference is committed to strengthen Panchayati Raj System as Sher-i-Kashmir has given slogan “Sardari Awam Ka Haq Hai”.
He appealed the elected Sarpanchs and Panchs to strengthen the hands of Omar Abdullah in order to further strengthen Panchayati Raj System.
Hundreds of workers left BJP and joined National Conference like Subash Ram, Kaku Ram, Jagdish Raj, Jai Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Jorawar Singh, Vikram Singh, Suresh Kumar, Romesh Lal, Sanjay Verma. They were welcomed in the party by Ajay Sadhotra.
Those who spoke on the occasion include Baldev Singh, Block President, Piar Singh Sarpanch, Darshan Lal, Inderpal Singh Sarpanch, Dewan Singh Sarpanch,Gurnam Singh Ex-Sarpanch, Bablu, Capt. Sarwan Lal Choudhary.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 2: Youth Wing of Jammu Kashmir Democratic Front (JKDF), today nominated the workers and office bearers.
Ravi Mehar, Sumit Singh, Krishan Kapoor, Sanjay Khajuria have been nominated as office secretaries while Funny Sardar, Jyoti Dogra, Akshay Sharma, Kapil Shastri, Karan Deep Singh, Ajay Sadotra, Raman Bhagat, Gulshan Rattan, Sachin Bakshi and Jaswinder Singh have been nominated as executive members.
Mannu Tak, Sanjeev Rattan Choudhary, Ankush Sharma, Sanjdeep Magotra, Anil Balgotra, Sumit Thakur, Rohit Kerni, Sourav Bhagat, Virender Singh Jamwal, Dinesh Sharma, Dushyant Kumar, Vikas Jamwal and Yash Kumar have been nominated as general secretaries while Rubal Sharma, Suresh Gupta, Sukhpreet Singh, Amit Baloria, Ajay Sharma, Veer Karan Singh, Vijay Marwah, Niteesh Sharma, Varun Gupta, Navdeep Singh, Naveen Sharma, Sunil Sharma, Vijay Kumar, Digvijay Singh, Salil Arora and Sumit Dogra as secretaries.
Vikrant Sharma was nominated as treasurer, Viren Koul, Manik Seth and Raju Balgotra as joint secretaries and publicity secretaries, Mangal Singh, Devinder Sharma, Udit Chadda, Shehzad Ali, Sushil Chopra, Rahi Kalgotra, Vikram Sharma, Arun Rana, Vijay Kumar, Nawazish Chowdhary and Ankush Gupta as media secretaries.
The nominations were made by president of the youth wing of JKDF, Munish Khajuira, in consultation with Anil Gupta, Chairman and Arun Khanna, district president, Jammu Urban.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 2: For encouraging the talented youth of Jammu, Nav Durga Kala Manch has taken a solid step to discover the talent by organizing the mega talent hunt show “JAMMU’S ENTERTAINERS” Season 2 in the city of temples for those who have never got a chance to expose themselves.
Anybody having latent talent and possessing confidence to perform on stage and has the capacity to entertain, should certainly be a part of ‘Jammu Entertainers’. In this mega event more than 500 participants are expected to take part and exhibit their talent in different fields, said Aaditya Bhanu, Director NDKM.
He stated that it is the only event going to be organized which provides a basic platform for those people who have got a special talent of entertaining the people of Jammu. The show is not just only for the singers and dancers of Jammu who are mostly famous in our Jammu and most of the events were organized either for singing or dancing.
He also stated that this mega event is not limited to the boundaries of Jammu District but it is for the whole Jammu Province. It is the only event in which there is no age limit. The main motive of this event is to provide a stage for promoting each and every talent in various fields.
The winners will get the chance in Video Albums, TV Advertisements and in Serials. Also Gift Hampers, Cash Prizes, Mementoes would be given to the winners in each category.
The initial auditions would be held at Performing Art Studio, Tangewali Gali, Kachi Chowni, Jammu, for about a week. After short-listing the talented youth, they would be required to perform at a bigger auditorium.
First Phase of Audition would be held on 10 May, 2012 and free registration Forms would be available from the office of NDKM, Performing Art Studio, Arya Public High School, Tangewali Gali, Kachi Chowni, Jammu from May 5, 2012 onwards.

Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI Apr 2: Minister of State for Power, CA&PD and Transport, Shabir Ahmed Khan today said that expansion of higher education in remote and hilly areas was the commitment of the Government and several innovative steps have been taken by the Government.
Addressing a public meeting at Jawhar Nagar after inaugurating up-gradation of Girls Middle School Jawahir Nagar, the Minister called upon the parents to pay attention towards the education of their wards as it was must for socio-economic up liftment of a society or State.
He advised students to pay attention to their studies and take full benefits of the government incentives provided to them in the shape of scholarships and educational loans. ‘He said that more educational institutions would be opened and up graded especially in remote and hilly areas of Rajouri district in near future.
Late, the minister reviewed the pace of progress of several ongoing water supply schemes at district officers meeting. He directed concerned authorities to redouble their efforts and accelerate the pace of progress on these water supply schemes for early benefit of the people of the area. He also stressed for use of quality material on the execution on these projects.