Top Stories

Waris Fayaz

Baramulla, Mar 25 : Unscheduled power cuts in Tangmarg and its adjacent areas of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district are giving a tough time to the residents in Ramadhan.

Speaking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) on phone, locals said their lives and businesses have been severely affected due to pesky power cuts.

“These frequent power cuts have become a daily affair. To demand 24×7 electricity is a dream. We just demand regular and scheduled power supply,” said Umer, a local.

He said that the power department should follow the curtailment schedule.

The areas facing the outages since last week include Tangmarg, Warapora, Hajibal, Waniloo and other adjacent areas.

The residents also said that they brought the issue into the notice of the concerned officers several times to no avail.

They urged the administration to look into the matter and solve the issue at the earliest.

“I am in a meeting”, Assistant Executive Engineer, Power Development Department, Tangmarg said, when contacted—(KNO)

BARAMULLA, MARCH 25: In order to encourage the beneficiaries of Baramulla district, Agriculture Department Baramulla today organised a distribution camp of Beehives and colonies among Self Help Groups and FPOs under Capex Budget 2022-23 at Khawjabagh here.

The distribution camp was kick started by District Development Commissioner Baramulla, Dr Syed Sehrish Asgar in presence of Joint Director Planning, Chief Agriculture officer and other concerned functionaries.

On the occasion, Dr Sehrish Asgar distributed 300 Beehives and colonies among the unemployed youth of the district. It was informed that the total number of Beekeepers in the district stands 210 and Number of colonies are 7810 in which 730 Quantils are yielded annually.

In her address at the event, the DDC stated that beekeeping as an enterprise can be a significant step for boosting the income and livelihood opportunities for the youth including landless farmers.

Considering the huge area under horticultural crops like apple and other fruit crops in the UT, keeping bee hives in the crop fields can increase pollination efficiency and improve the crop yield and quality, Dr Sehrish added.

Moreover, the DDC also stressed on expanding agriculture activities by cultivation of mushroom produce and beehives to increase the income of local people under the Model Tribal Village programme.

Later, She also distributed the registration certificate of National Beeboard among farmers.

BARAMULLA, MARCH 25: To give impetus to the progress towards Measles-Rubella Elimination in the district, a meeting of District Task Force (DTF) was held today at DC Office here under the Chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner Baramulla, Dr Syed Sehrish Asgar.

During the meeting, a detailed discussion was held regarding implementation of road map formulated by the Government for Measles, Rubella elimination from the country by 2023.

On the occasion, the DC said that our district has adequate healthcare infrastructure to manage the universal immunization programme and surveillance activities to achieve the target.

The DC urged upon the Health functionaries of the district to take all possible measures and give focused attention towards the Measles, Rubella elimination in the District.

Dr Syed Sehrish stressed on active participation of educational institutions in spreading awareness and sensitizing students about the infection of Measles and Rubella. She urged the officers to adopt the multi pronged interventions to identify the target at the right time to arrest the disease at the right time.

The DC also highlighted the importance of acquiring complete knowledge about the preventive measures of Measles-Rubella disease, and asked the officers to identify the target groups, conduct surveys and prepare separate plans for vulnerable groups.

She further asked them to put in a committed effort in order to achieve the objective of the campaign i.e to rapidly build up immunity for both Measles and Rubella diseases and ensure that all the children should receive MR vaccine during the campaign.

Meanwhile, the DC also reviewed the quarterly performance of District Quality Assurance committee. She asked for disseminating the quality assurance guidelines and tools and methodology to be followed at District and sub district level.

Joint Director Planning M Yousuf Rather, Chief Medical officer Baramulla Dr Bashir Ahmad Malik, Chief Education officer Baramulla Balbir Singh Raina, Dy CMO Dr Jozy Bashir, Block Medical officers, Senior Doctors were present in the meeting.

Baramulla, Mar 25: Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday Jammu and Kashmir will have Vande Bharat trains next year as Jammu-Srinagar rail link will be opened this year only.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), he also said that Kupwara and other two destinations in the Kashmir Valley will be connected with the Indian railways soon.

He said that railways across Jammu and Kashmir will be improved and the improvement will be witnessed by the year end.

“Telephone connectivity, double lines, parcel services, cement and pharmaceutical trade via Indian railways would be ensured by year end, besides, facilities for apple trade would also be considered,” he said—(KNO)

Srinagar, Mar 24: The government has started night bus services on many routes to ensure that the common people, who don’t have their own transport, get accessible and reliable transport system in evening hours and also give access to the people towards Dalgate-Boulevard road, Regional Transport Officer (RTO), Kashmir, Syed Shahnawaz Bukhari said on Friday.

The directions in this regard were passed by Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, V K Bidhuri in a meeting yesterday.

Talking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), RTO Kashmir, said that the decision to come up with the night bus service on many routes has been taken keeping in view many issues.

“The shopkeepers in many areas put down their shutters by 6 PM as they are not confident whether they would get transport to reach home in late evening. Similarly, the people too don’t come out in the evening in absence of public transport,” he said, adding that the night bus services will be ensured on the Chadoora route and Lal Chowk-Dalgate to Harvan.

He said that the people are being given access to boulevard road in evening hours as there were many events in the past and the common people, who don’t have their own transport, desired to visit the place, but couldn’t. “Thus, keeping these things in mind, the night bus service will be ensured along these routes to ensure the people heave a sigh of relief,” he said.

RTO Kashmir further said that the decision has been taken to ensure accessible and reliable transport system for the people—(KNO)

Srinagar, Mar 24 : The administration of Jammu & Kashmir on Friday unveiled guidelines regarding the use of social media by government employees in the Union Territory.

According to guidelines, a copy of which is in possession of news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), no employee shall, through any post, tweet or otherwise, discuss or criticize on social media, any policy pursued or action taken by the government, nor shall he/she, in any manner, participate in any such discussion or criticism on social media pages communities/microblogs.

The guidelines state that no employee shall post, tweet or share content that is political or anti-secular and communal in nature or subscribe to pages, communities or twitter handles and blogs of such nature. “No employee shall himself/herself or through any person dependent on him/her for maintenance, or under his care or control, undertake any such activity on social media which is, or tends directly or indirectly to be, subversive of the government as by law established in the country or in the Union territory,” the guidelines further state.

According to the government, the employees, directly or indirectly, shall not publish, post or release any information on social media that is considered confidential or that is not meant for public dissemination.

The employees have also been directed that they not pass any official document or any part thereof to any employee or any such person to whom he is not authorized to communicate such document or information.

But the guidelines allow employees to defend and explain to the public the policy of the government through their social media posts. “An employee may, for the purpose or removing misapprehensions, correcting misstatements, and refuting disloyal and seditious propaganda, defend and explain to the public the policy of Government in his posts and tweets on social media,” it said, adding that employees shall not post on social media, any such content or comments about co-workers or individuals, that are vulgar, obscene, threatening, intimidating or that violate the conduct rules of employees.

The employees have also been directed that they shall not post grievances pertaining to their workplace on social media in the form of videos, posts, tweets or blogs or in any other form, but will follow the already established channels of complaint redressal existing in the departments.

“The employees shall not indulge in sharing/partaking in so-called giveaways and contests on social media platforms, which are actually scams in disguise, as they could unknowingly spread malware or trick people into giving away sensitive data by sharing it on their profiles, “the government further said.

The government said that violation of these guidelines/rules shall tantamount to misconduct and invite disciplinary action against the delinquent official under the relevant rules.

“All administrative secretaries, deputy commissioners, heads of departments, managing directors shall immediately proceed against the employees working in their departments/offices who are found to have violated the aforesaid guidelines and rules, in terms of the relevant disciplinary framework,” the government said.

“Further, in case of a violation committed on a group platform, the ‘administrator’, if they are serving government/semi-government employees, shall also be liable for disciplinary proceedings,” the government said—(KNO)

Ganderbal, Mar 23 : Tanveera Jan, an eighteen-year-old girl from the Fatehpora area of central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, has published her first poetry book ‘Tasawar-E-Zindagi’. The book, which comprises 40 poems, focuses on the menace of dowry prevalent in Indian society.

Tanveera, studying in the 12th class at Government Girls Higher Secondary School Ganderbal, discovered her passion for writing at a very young age.

“I started writing poems in 2019, and have penned around 40 poems so far,” she told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).

“I started penning my thoughts and feelings in the form of poetry when I was in 8th standard. With time, I honed my writing skills and finally published my first book in 2022,” she said.

‘Tasawar-E-Zindagi’ is on dowry and revolves around different aspects of life such as kindness, love, hate, struggles, destiny, emotions, pain, and more, Tanveera said.

“I have always been encouraged by my parents, relatives, and friends. My teachers have been a great support to me,” the young girl said. “My family has been very supportive of my dreams and aspirations. They encouraged me to pursue my passion for writing and provided me with all necessary resources.”

Talking about her future plans, Tanveera said she wants to become an author and “spread happiness through my writings”.

In her message to the youth of Kashmir, especially girls, Tanveera urged them to tap into their talent and set their goals high. “Giving up is not an option; one must work hard to achieve targets,” she said.

The book is available on Amazon and is receiving an overwhelming response from readers—(KNO)

Sopore, Mar 23 : Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday claimed to have arrested a militant associate of Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit in Sopore area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

An official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the militant associate was arrested during a joint cordon and search operation near Railway Station in Peth Seer area of Sopore.

He identified him as Umer Bashir Bhat son of Bashir Ahmad Bhat of Manz Seer.

“During his personal search a hand grenade, Pistol, Pistol Magazine, 15 Pistol live rounds and a mobile phone along with Sim card was also recovered from him,” he said.

The official said a case under relevant sections of law has been registered at Police Station Amargrah and further investigation has been initiated—(KNO)

Waris Fayaz

Sopore, Mar 22 : With poor jio network services at Tarzoo village of Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, subscribers are alleging it to be a reason for immense hardships, with the Jio officials claiming a dispute between two families a reason for disruption of services.

The subscribers told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), that there is a poor network of JIO from months together. JIO service is irking the customers, we have been suffering because of the insensitive and fleecing attitude of this telecom service providing company, they said.

“With JIO telecom providers claiming to launch 5G services across the region, however, the village – barely 3 kms from Sopore township is facing immense problems, as we are currently using 1G services”, alleges a local resident, Bilal Ahmed.

He said that from last month, the area is witnessing a cut off from the rest of the internet world, with the authorities concerned failing to take any appropriate steps to redress the issue.

“JIO has been a cause of irritation for them as most times it doesn’t function properly, Due to poor services, many JIO subscribers have switched over to other service-providers for better calling/internet services,” said Hakeem Junaid, a commercial photographer”. He said that, due to the low internet, he is unable to do his professional duties. “I have to remain stationed in Sopore town only for better connectivity”, he added.

The subscribers, however, later appealed to the JIO higher ups and the district administration to look into the matter and redress their grievance at earliest, so that they may not face any issues anymore.

“If there is any dispute between the families over some issue, why would they suffer? Why can’t the telecom provider find an alternative till the issues are resolved”, they added.

An official at Jio telecommunication services told KNO that they have two sites in the Tarzoo area, one at Tarzoo and another at Amberpora. However, the site at Amberpora is not functional because of the stay – as there is an internal dispute between the two families. “Due to overload on the Tarzoo site, network congestion happens”, Official added.

The issue would be resolved once the stay on the site is lifted, he further added—(KNO)

Waris Fayaz

Kupwara, Mar 21: Deputy commissioner Kupwara on Tuesday termed the reports of deaths in the district following strong earthquake in Jammu and Kashmir as fake and baseless.

Talking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), deputy commissioner Kupwara Doifode Sagar Dattatray said the reports doing rounds on social media about 3 deaths in Kupwara due to earthquake are fake.

He said no such incident has happened anywhere in the district, while damage to any property was being ascertained.

Earlier, an earthquake of 6.6 magnitude shook Jammu and Kashmir and several parts of north India—(KNO)