Ultra modern ITI to come up at Uri, NHPC to fund half of the expenses

SRINAGAR, JULY 04: The central public sector undertaking NHPC would help in establishing a modern Industrial Training Institute at Uri even as the corporation would also fund the renovation and infrastructure upgradation at the existing ITI.

This was decided at a meeting of officers of the J&K Government and NHPC here today. The meeting was chaired by Minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Mr. Taj Mohi ud Din.

The meeting decided that 25 kanals of land will be made available by State government out of state land for constructing new ITI building at Uri and the estimates for raising the building would be formulated by the PWD(R&B). The NHPC would bear the half of the cost estimates of the new ITI building and other infrastructure like machinery equipment, tools etc., the meeting decided.

The meeting decided posting of staff, including Principal, instructors and other staff on academic arrangement basis for three years, to whom the remunerations will be paid by the NHPC till permanent staff is posted there.

The meeting also decided that in case any new trade is to be introduced at the ITI or any existing trade is to be upgraded, the expenses will be borne by the NHPC.

Earlier, Mr. Taj briefed the meeting about his meeting with Union Power Minister last week during which it was agreed that NHPC would make recruitments to Class III and Class IV vacancies from youth within five kilometer radius of Uri-II power project.

Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla, Mr. G. A. Khawaja, Executive Director, NHPC, Mr. Jatinder Singh, Chief Engineer, NHPC, Uri-II, Mr. S. K. Singh, Director, Technical Education and other officers were present in the meeting.

Governor seriously concerned about 22 pilgrim deaths

 Yatris with medical problems yet again advised not to undertake pilgrimage   

             SRINAGAR, JULY 4 – Mr. N. N. Vohra, Governor, who is Chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, chaired a meeting here today to discuss the problems of the pilgrims during the first 9 days of the Shri Amarnathji Yatra. Mr. Navin K. Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer, SASB, Mr. Preet Pal Singh, Additional CEO, SASB, and other concerned officers were present in the meeting.

        The Governor expressed serious concern over the unfortunate deaths of 22 pilgrims during the first 9 days of the pilgrimage, mostly due to cardiac failures. He directed the CEO to take immediate steps for further publicizing the Do’s and Don’ts and the Health Advisory issued by the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board for the Yatris. It was reiterated that all intending pilgrims who wish to undertake the Yatra to the Shri Amarnathji Holy Shrine must follow and fully adhere to the Do’s and Don’ts and the Health Advisory issued by the Shrine Board, and also available at the Board’s website, before deciding to undertake the Yatra.

          All those intending to undertake the Yatra were once again urged to take all required precautions and no person who has any medical or orthopaedic ailment, or any breathing, chest or heart problem should even think of undertaking this arduous Yatra, which involves climbing upto nearly 14,000 feet. Trekking in the high altitude route to the Holy Cave is difficult and, besides, inclement weather also poses challenges for the pilgrims. Doctors and paramedical staff along both the two routes, via Pahalgam and Baltal, have been deployed for providing emergency medicare and treatment to the pilgrims. Any Yatri feeling uneasy must immediately seek medical assistance. It was also emphasized that every Yatri, even those in good physical condition, must carry the medicine, which he or she is required to take daily, if any, and, besides, some general preparations like Glucose, Disprin, Combiflam, Moove, Iodex, etc.

            Of the total of 22 Yatris who lost their lives, 15 were males and 7 females; 5 were from Punjab, 3 each from Haryana and Gujarat, 2 each from Rajasthan and Karnataka and one each from West Bengal, Jharkhand, UP, MP, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand. In the past 9 days 13 pilgrims lost their lives due to cardiac arrest. 11 Yatris died at the Yatra Camps, 2 in hospitals at Srinagar and the remaining 9 at various locations in the entire Yatra area.      

          Mr. Preet Pal Singh, Additional CEO of the Shrine Board disclosed that in the case of death of any Yatri, the Shrine Board arranges, at its own expense, to shift the dead body from the place of death to the Base Camp and from there to the Police Control Room at Srinagar for Post Mortem and other required formalities. In indigent cases, the Shrine Board has been providing the required financial support for transporting the dead to their native places.

Interest Subvention of 1% on housing loans

New Delhi, July 04, 2012

The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal for extending the scheme
of interest subvention of 1% on housing loans upto Rs.15 lakh where
the cost of the house does not exceed Rs.25 lakh for the year 2012-13
and to amend the operational part of guidelines for release of funds.

A budgetary provision of Rs.400 crore has been made for Financial Year
2012-13 for implementing the scheme.

Consequent upon the extension of scheme, the limit of subsidy for an
individual borrower would be Rs.14,912 for a loan of Rs.15 lakh and
Rs.9925 for a loan of Rs.10 lakh.

The extended scheme will benefit all house loans availed in Financial
Year 2012-13.

Planning Commission to Meet States Planning Boards

New Delhi, July 04

In a major initiative aimed at improving understanding and functional
relationship with the States, Planning Commission is organising a
day-long workshop on Friday July 6 with the Vice Chairpersons of the
Planning Boards and Planning Secretaries of all the States and Union
Territories of India.  This first-ever collective meeting with the
Commission and all its counterparts in the States is being done to
improve our shared understanding of how to plan better, and work
together, especially in the context of the 12th Plan.  This workshop
will be facilitated by ShriArunMaira, Member of the Planning
Commission.


The meeting to be presided over by the Deputy Chairman, Mr Ahluwalia
will aim at explaining the philosophy, content, and strategy of the
12th Plan to the States.  This will be followed by a presentation on
the different scenarios that the country could have—an exercise that
the Commission has recently concluded.  In the next session, selected
states will make brief interventions about how they have improved
their process of planning.  This will be followed by an open
discussion with all states.  The last session will come up with
specific ways in which the Commission and the States can work together
to more effectively address the many challenging issues that the Union
and the States face.


The discussion will be on four issues:

1)         The “purpose” and “content” of planning required.

2)         To fulfil this purpose and to produce the content, the
“organization” required and the “processes” needed for better
planning.

3)         The human and knowledge “resources” required to perform
these processes.

4)      What can the Planning Commission do to improve its own processes
and what can it do to better support States.

Iran missiles can hit all US bases in region: Cmdr.

A senior Iranian commander says the country’s missiles can obliterate the US military bases in regional countries within minutes of an attack on Iran.

Referring to the existence of 35 US military bases in the region, Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s Aerospace Division Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh said, “The (US) bases are all within the reach of our missiles.”

“Measures have been devised to set up bases and deploy missiles within the first minutes of an attack to obliterate all these (US) bases,” he said, adding that Iranian missiles could also easily reach Israel. 

The senior commander also made a reference to Iran's successful launch of ballistic missiles during ‘the Great Prophet 7’ drill and said all the missiles, which were launched from different locations in the country, successfully hit a designated target that resembled the air bases of foreign countries in the region.

Hajizadeh said that ‘the Great Prophet 7’ maneuvers were different from the previous ones as all missiles used in the recent exercise were fired at a single target from different locations not a single spot.

The three-day IRGC missile drill, named ‘the Great Prophet 7,’ started in the central Iranian province of Semnan wrapped on Wednesday.

The indigenous missiles, including Shahab (Meteor) 1, 2, 3, Khalij Fars (Persian Gulf), Tondar (Lightning), Fateh (Victor) and Zelzal (Quake) as well as Qiam (Uprising) were fired at mock targets during the drill as IRGC’s fighter jets and drones also hit the spots.

Over the recent years, Iran has made important breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing important military equipment and systems.

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly made clear that its military might is merely based on the nation's defense doctrine of deterrence and poses no threat to other countries, in particular regional states. 

1.3m still live in darkness in USA

Amid scorching heat, power remains cut to nearly 1.3 million homes and businesses in the eastern United States.

Twenty-three people have been killed in violent weekend storms and days of record heat since Friday, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Utility companies have said that power is unlikely to be restored to some of the 1.3 million homes and businesses from Illinois to Virginia for the rest of the week.

The utility companies are grappling with power outages in ten states and the District of Columbia.

Washington Mayor Vincent Gray expressed frustration with the slow pace of repairs.

"We have had power outage after power outage in the District of Columbia. Frankly, the people are just fed up with it. I don't have any power in my own home," Gray was quoted as saying.

Washington is reportedly distributing food to people who cannot cook at home.

The power outages have forced many Fourth of July celebrations across the region to be canceled as local governments deal with damage from the strong winds and with heat wave and drought conditions that make firework shows hazardous.