THEDAILY

VOICE OF SRINAGAR

SRINAGAR, TUESDAY, 19 SHABAN 1433 AH ; 10 JULY 2012

Email:-editorvosgr@gmail.com

NEWS

Incharge AEE, JE ,PHE Sub- Division Pattan placed under suspension

            SRINAGAR, JULY 09: Government has placed the engineers of Public Health Engineering Department Pattan under suspension for non-implementation of orders regarding the devolution of powers to the Panchayats on account of charges levelled against them by the Panches of the constituency.

            Mr. Javid Ahmed sofi Incharge AEE and Mr. Umar Nehvi Junior Engineer PHE Division Pattan have accordingly been placed under suspension till  the enquiry committee  could submit the report to government.

            Meanwhile ,The Chief Engineer Irrigation and Flood Control Department Kashmir has been asked for conduct  thorough enquiry in the matter, besides Identifying the Sub-Divisions where the government orders regarding devolutions of powers to Panchayat have not been implemented yet. He shall be assisted by the Superintending Engineer concerned in the process and has been asked to submit the report within 15 days to the department.

Malik orders prosecution of violators of Cess

SRINAGAR JULY, 09: Minister for Higher Education, Labour and Employment, Mr. Abdul Gani Malik today ordered prosecution of violators of Cess, both Governmental and private agencies. He also asked the officers of Labour Department to simplify the procedure for obtaining relief from J&K construction and workers Board by construction workers so that more and more beneficiaries are covered under the scheme.

The Minister was addressing the 5^th J&K construction and workers Board meeting here today.

Secretary, Law, Mr. G. H. Tantray, Secretary Labour and Employment, Mr. Yedullah, Labour Commissioner, Shahid Inayatullah, CEO, JKCWDB, Syed Muried Hussain, Chief Engineer, R&B, Jammu, Mr. Taseen Mustafa. Director, Resources and Institutional Finance, Rashim Kashyap, Accounts Officer, Mr. Farooq Ahmed Shah were present in the meeting.

The Minister also asked construction agencies to engage only registered workers for execution of construction work. He also impressed for forwarding the cases of construction work for disbursal of relief in their favour.   

Commissioner Secretary, Labour, Yedullah informed the meeting that Rs. 134 crore Cess amount has been collected by the board from various construction agencies upto ending June this year. He said Rs. 13.27 crore was released to Assistant Labour Commissioners of the state for disbursal among registered construction workers under welfare scheme out of which 4 crores have been disbursed among the beneficiaries. 

CEO, Syed Muried informed the meeting that land for construction of office building at Srinagar and Jammu is being acquired so that the functioning of the board is improved and the benefit of welfare scheme reaches to deserving beneficiaries.

The board approved constitution of an expert committee for finalizing the rules and other sub-committee for creation of staff.

Earlier, a meeting of Registrars of Jammu University, Kashmir University, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University and Islamic University, Awantipora was held under the chairmanship of Minister for Higher Education, Mr. Abdul Gani Malik.

The meeting reviewed the pace of execution on various development works in these universities.

The Registrars apprised the meeting about the present status of funds available in their campus and demanded more funds under state plan so that new projects could be undertaken and at the same time, works under execution would be completed in time.

Commissioner Secretary, Higher Education, Mr. Hussain, Registrar Kashmir University, Dr. Syed Fayaz Ahmed, Registrar Jammu University, Prof. Naresh Padha, Registrar BGSBU, Prof. Rashid Choudhery, Dean Students Welfare, Islamic University, Dr. Jamwal, Joint Director Planning, Mr. Ishfaq Ahmed, OSD, Finance JU, Mr. Neeraj attended the meeting.

Handicrafts Stakeholders consultation workshop for 10 clusters held at SKICC

Government wants to see handicrafts develop as an organised sector: CS

            SRINAGAR, JULY 9: Calling upon artisans to work together towards developing handicrafts as an organized sector, Chief Secretary Madhav Lal Monday said that complete benefits of several government sponsored programmes and intervention schemes remain under-utilised due to lack of an organised craft industry in the state.

            Addressing a consultation meeting of stakeholders for the ‘Integrated Development of 10 Handicraft Clusters in Srinagar and Ganderbal’, organised by J&K Entrepreneurship Development Institute at SKICC here, Chief Secretary re-iterated that the purpose of cluster development Initiative is to develop the age old and famous household craft industry of Kashmir from unorganized towards an self sustaining organised industry.

            “A multi pronged strategy is being followed wherein along with the infrastructural development and beautification of the cluster areas, artisans belonging to these clusters are also provided a platform to interact and bring to light the problems they are facing in their trade and craft related activities” Madhav Lal said, adding that government is consulting all stakeholders especially artisans to listen to their opinions in order to finalise a comprehensive intervention and development plan and consultation workshop today has provided one such platform for all stakeholders in this direction.

            While taking part in the deliberation, artisans raised several key issues for consideration including limited access and unavailability of quality raw materials, certification tags to check fake handicrafts sale and purchase, artisan insurance and old age support cover, financial support and linkage facilities and marketing of finished products. Several chamber representatives, trader’s, handicrafts societies, members of civil society and government departmental experts also took part in the discussions.

            Winding up the day long deliberations, Chief Secretary said that a positive and optimistic attitude towards the initiative and cooperation by all stakeholders will deliver success in the implementation and intended outcome, calling upon participants to provide further inputs and valuable suggestions in this regard.

            Earlier, Director J&K Entrepreneurship Development Institute Dr. M.I Parray welcomed the participants and highlighted the significance and importance of handicrafts in the state and presented a brief account of the progress achieved under the cluster development initiative.

            A detailed power point presentation on Diagnostic study and business plan for 10 handicrafts clusters in Srinagar and Ganderbal was also made by the Cluster Development Agency (CDA), IL&FS appointed by J&K EDI to assist them in the holistic development of the identified 10 clusters.