Omar condoles demise of children in road accident

            SRINAGAR, JULY 11 – Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has expressed deep grief over the sad demise of children in a road accident on Tangmarg-Gulmarg road in Baramulla district of the Valley.

            In his condolence message, the Chief Minister said that he has been deeply saddened to hear about the loss of children in the road accident. He conveyed his heartfelt condolence and sympathy to the bereaved family and showed his solidarity with them at this movement of grief and sorrow.

 Says JKAIDCL has a huge scope to widen its business activities

Srinagar, July 11:- Appreciating the efforts of employees of  J&K State Agro Industries Development  Corporation LTd. (JKAIDCL) for showing progress in its business, The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir said that the JKAIDCL has a huge scope to widen its business activities across the state and country level for making it as a viable Corporation.

The Minister said this while chairing the 61^st Meeting of Board Of Directors’ of JKAIDCL this afternoon. He said the management and its employees have to play a bigger role in future for revival of its sick units for which the Board has passed the orders for their upgradation.

Assuring the Employees of the Corporation to provide them service benefits at par with government employees of the state, the Minister asked them to work with full dedication and zeal for showing profit in all the units of the corporation across the state and New Delhi. He assured that as soon as the financial health of the corporation is improved, all the genuine demands of the employees of the corporation would be full filled.

Tabling the performance of the corporation in the meeting, MD JKAIDCL Mr. Abdul Majeed Bhat said that with popularizing of Mulberry jam In the market, the corporation has purchased 12. 36 qtls of mulberry for achieving the target of 6300 bottles of 500 gms production during this year against 4952 bottles in last year. He said production of honey has also been increased by procuring more raw honey from the farmers as compared to the last year. He further said the corporation has started to provide its products to big departmental stores. He said the Agro products are now available at almost all departmental stores of Srinagar city and efforts are being made to widen the network in other districts and Jammu city also in the near future for increasing the economy of corporation.

Presenting consolidated report of the corporation for the year 2009-2010, 2010-2011 and 2011-12, the MD informed the Board that during 2011-12 the corporation shows net profit of 1.22 crore against losses in previous fiscal years.

During the Discussion, the Board of Directors asked the MD Agro to setup milk collection centres/ banks at different locations in the state.

The board has fixed the turnover of the corporation of Rs. 6000 lakhs against 4112 last year. The board also directs the corporation to strength the financial year of the Canning and Processing Division Khonmoh positively. The board also gave their consent for modernization of food and honey processing plant, renovation of cattle feed plant Baribrahmana, Jammu, Agro Showroom at Lalmandi, Srinagar/Jammu/TRC, Construction of new chambers at cold storage at Delhi, Setting up of cold store at Lalmandi, Srinagar, Cattle feed plant at Khonmoh and Pulwama and Cold storage plant at Jammu/Srinagar and Sopore.

The board unanimously appreciated the efforts of Ex- MD Dr. Farooq Ahmed Lone for infusing momentum in its business during last one and half years.

The board also gave approval for new initiatives for business development for installing two new machines for pouch packing and sealing machine for packing of honey and jam and other items in pouchs.

The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary Finance Department, Mr. M.I. Khanday, Commissioner Secretary Agriculture Production Department Mr. Shaleen Kabra, Director Agriculture Jammu, Mr. Ajay Khujaria, Director Agriculture Kashmir Dr. Farooq Ahmed Lone, Director Animal Husbandry Mr. Farooq Ahmed Kaloo, MD JKAIDCL, Mr. Abdul Majeed Bhat , Director Horticulture Kashmir Mr. Saleem Sheshgar and other senior officers.   

Speaker lay foundation stone Rs. 4.92 Cr WSS, Pethpora

Asks officers to complete ongoing development projects in a time bound manner

Srinagar, July 11:- Speaker, Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Mr. Mohammad Akbar Lone on Wednesday said that the infrastructure development programme launched across the state is to ensure basic amenities to the people. He said due to the efforts of young and dynamic Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the center has provided liberal funds under various sectors to improve the living standard of the people of the State.

The Speaker was addressing at a large public gathering at Gundi Jehangir after laying   foundation stone of Water Supply Scheme (WSS), Pethpora Gundi Jehangir.

He said Rs. 4.92 crore will be spent on the said Centrally sponsored schemes adding that on completion of this project it will cater the drinking water facilities to more than 500 souls of  3  habitations of the area. He said several WSSs have been sanctioned for Sumbal Sonawari Constituency and on the completion of these schemes it will minimize the scarcity drinking water facilities in the Constituency. He said construction work of 8 ongoing water supply schemes costing to Rs. 20 cr in constituency is in full swing, Mr. Lone directed the officers and engineers to speed up the pace of work on all developmental works under execution in the constituency in time bound manner.

Making a mention of developmental works under various sectors in the Constituency, Mr. Lone said several micro and macro projects have been sanctioned and some are in pipe line. He said that the administration has been asked to conduct the survey constituting for identifying the BPL families so that they could be covered under the welfare schemes launched by the Government for the weaker sections of the society.

The Speaker said that the Omar led coalition government has implemented Public Service Guarantee Act so that day to day problems of Aam Admi could be solved in a time bound manner, while the delegation of powers to Panchayats has bridged the gap between the people and the administration.

Earlier, tributes were paid to Mader-e-Maharban on her 12^th birth anniversary on the occasion.  The Speaker said that the Mader-e-Maharban was a great pious lady and very much optimistic to see the women community of the State to come forward and took a leading role not only in shaping the future of the State but also get empowered in socially, economically and educationally.

Registration of Iqra School, Khumriyal cancelled

DSE grieved over the tragic accident

SRINAGAR, JULY 11:- Director School Education(DSE), Mr. Shafi Rather today ordered Chief Education Officer Kupwara to withdraw registration of Iqra Public School Khumriyal, Lolab for taking school children for picnic, thus defying Government order issued earlier for not proceeding on an outing without permission of the education department.

Pertinently, a bus carrying students of Iqra School met with tragic accident today near Baba Reshi causing death to a teacher and a student.

CEO, Baramulla and Kupwara and other concerned officers rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation and helped in relief operation.

Meanwhile, Director School Education has asked all the heads of the government/private institutions of Kashmir valley to take utmost care about the safety of students during such outings. He said, “The delinquent heads of the institutions shall be dealt with severely”. He also expressed shock over the incident and paid heartfelt sympathies with the bereaved families.

Gul visits SMHS, SKIMS enquire welfare of injured students

     SRINAGAR, JULY 11:- Advisor to Chief Minister, Mr. Mubarak Gul this evening visited SKIMS and SMHS Hospitles where the injured students were shifted for treatment to enquire their welfare.

     The Advisor went round each ward where injured students kept for treatment, enquired their welfare. He instructed hospital authorities to ensure all possible medicare facilities to the injured students for their early recovery.

     Meanwhile, the Advisor expressed his heartfelt sympathies with the deceased families. He prayed for eternal peace to the departed souls.

Tragic school bus accident claims 3 lives, scores injured

7 critically injured children shifted to SKIMS

(VOS)

Srinagar, July 11:  Three people died and fifty others were injured in a tragic accident when a school-picnic bus skidded off the road at Nambal Nar area of Tangmarg Tehsil. The bus fell into a 150 feet deep gorge, after the driver lost control over the bus on a sharp curve, while it was on its way to Gulmarg hill station.

The school bus bearing registration Number JK14-6144 of Iqra Education Institute, Khumriyal Lolab Kupwara, which was carrying students and staff of the school for a picnic met with an accident at 10 am, near Nambal Nard village of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

Three people including a student, a teacher and the driver of the bus have died while as 51 people are reported to have been injured in the accident. “Three people have died in the tragic incident, and we have already sent official teams to the site of incident”, said Deputy Commissioner Kupwara Sarmad Hafeez while talking to VOS.

The injured were shifted to Sub District Hospital Tangmarg where from they were shifted to different city hospitals.

Tragically the injured include 31 school children, who were shifted to different hospitals for treatment. Out of the injured, 9 critically injured children have been shifted to Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Soura for specialized treatment. “One of the injured children namely Junaid Ahmad, 10 is presently admitted in the Surgical ICU at the hospital”, said Director SKIMS Dr Showkat Zargar while talking to VOS.

The three victims have been identified as Owais Manzoor S/o Manzoor Ahmad a 5^th class student, Jehangir Ahmad Dar, a Teacher of the school and Akhtar Hussain Ganie the driver of the bus.

Meanwhile the Director School Education Kashmir has cancelled the registration of the school. “Preliminary investigation have revealed the school management had not sought permission from the authorities for the picinic”, Director School Education M Shafi Rather told VOS over phone. The school authorities had not contacted the concerned Zonal Education Officer or the Chief Education Officer for seeking permission for the picnic, the Director said.

People in the Tangmarg area came on roads to protest against the aurthorities for not reparing the road despite repeated requests. “We have been asking the authorities to repair roads but our appeals are falling to deaf ears”, said Ali Mohammad of Tangmarg. (VOS)