Monday February 19, 20184 DISTRICTSBootlegger nabbed with 55

pouches of liquorSTATE TIMES NEWS

SAMBA: Police on Sunday arrested a bootlegger and recov-ered 55 pouches of the illicit liquor from his possession atGhagwal.

According to a report, a team of Ghagwal Policestation headed by Amit Singh Andotra, SHO along withDistrict Special Branch intercepted a one person fromBorder Road Ghagwal. During his frisking, police recovered55 pouches of the illicit liquor from his possession. The boot-legger identified as Arun Kumar son of Vishwanath residentof Ghagwal was arrested and a case under relevant sectionwas registered against him.

Man held with intoxicating capsulesSTATE TIMES NEWS

KATHUA: Police on Sunday apprehended one drug peddlerwith intoxicant capsules at Kathua.

As per the details, on specific informa-tion, a team of Police Post Nagri led bySI Vikas Jasrotia Incharge Police PostNagri as directed by Inspector AnilSharma SHO Police Station Kathuaunder the direct supervision of S.SSambyal Dy. SP Headquarters Kathua, conducted raid atSakta Chak area and apprehended one person namely MiyanDin son of Makhan Din resident of Duwaal Tehsil andDistrict Kathua and recovered 380 Spasmo Proxyvon PlusCapsules from his possession. The accused was arrested anda case vide FIR No 65/2018 under section 8/21/22 NDPSAct was registered against him at Police Station Kathua.

STATE TIMES NEWS BHADARWAH: After witnessinggrand tourism flow in summers,the Bhadarwah DevelopmentAuthority (BDA) and those associ-ated with tourism were upbeat andeyeing on the winter season tobring more success for tourismindustry as famous high altitudetourist destinations of Bhadarwahincluding Padri, Guldanda and JaiGhati received good snowfall lastweek, but all their efforts goes invain as no one road includingInterstate Bhadarwah-Chambaand Bhadarwah-Basholi Roadswere cleared by the concernedauthorities.

People especially those associ-ated with tourism are alleging step-motherly treatment to Bhadarwahby the government and concernedauthorities, as even after passing ofa week, authorities are still failed tocleare the roads approaching tothese tourist destinations.

Fresh Snowfall in Bhadarwah,including the tourist resort of Jaivalley and especially Padri meadowlocated on interstate Bhaderwah-Chamba Road, has literally come as

a boon from the heavens for wintersports and tourism-related activi-ties in the Bhadarwah Valley, asBDA had planned to host a 'SnowCarnival', but all programmes gotcanceled due to closer of road con-nectivity to all tourist destinationsincluding Padri, Jaie Valley andGuldanda.

People associated with tourismare suffering a lot due to blockageof roads and their hopes of receiv-ing huge number of visitors duringsnow is now breaking down, as theycanceled all their advance bookingof tourists, who expressed theirwillingness to visit Padri andGuldanda meadows located oninterstate Bhaderwah-Chamba andBhadarwah-Bani-Basoli roadssimultaneously to enjoy the muchawaited snowfall.

Publicity Officer, BhadarwahDevelopment Authority Sajid NisarKhan said that, after gap of threemonths, finally we received snow-fall here, which was a good omenfor Tourism industry, but it isunfortunate that tourist cannotenjoy the snow in this beautiful val-ley as they can't reach to the snow

filled high altitude destinationseasily, as all the roads leading tothese meadows are closed for trafficdue to non clearance of snow by theconcerned authorities.

"I request to the concernedauthorities to clear all approachingroads to tourist destination ofBhadarwah, so that tourist canvisit here to enjoy the beauty of this

valley in winters as well, " Khanadded.

Meanwhile hoteliers, guesthouse owners and tour operatorsare demanding that to attract moretourists during winters, all roadsshould be opened immediately onthe pattern of Gulmarg andPehalgam.

President Travel Trade

Association Bhadarwah TariqChoudhary said that we have amplescope for winter Tourism here, Jaievalley and Padri can be developedas a major destination for skiing,sledging and other sporting activi-ties on snow, but unfortunately dueto closed roads all our efforts tomake Bhadarwah all weathertourism destination remained onlya dream this year too.

It is notable to mention herethat during this summerBhadarwah recieved record num-ber of tourists from May to midAugust as the number of touriststouched to 5 lakhs for the first timebut after that there was a lull andvery few tourists turned duringautumn, both tour operators anddepartment attributed steepdecline with prolonged dry weather.

After recent snowfall, they werehopeful that snow will revive theinflow of tourists, but this time con-cerned departments includingR&B, BEACON and GREFauthorities played a big role to spoiltheir expectations by not clearingthe approach roads since last oneweek.

‘Closure of roads affects winter tourism in Bhadarwah’

Snow clad mountains affecting road connectivity to Bhadarwah.(pic by Raja Rehber Jamal)

STATE TIMES NEWS JAMMU: Minister forIndustries and Commerce,Chander Prakash Ganga heldpublic Darbar at Data Talab.A good number of peopledrawn from different sectionsof the society met him andapprised him about theirproblems and grievances.

People apprised him aboutunscheduled power cuts, lessavailability of ration, provid-ing of drinking water facili-ties and other developmentalissues. Besides that unem-ployed youth of the areaurged upon the Minister to

formulate a policy to attractthe private sector for adjust-ment of unemployed youth inthe Industries and manufac-turing units.

Ganga heard the grievancespatiently and assured thatwhatever has been broughtinto his notice will be takenup with the concernedauthorities for appropriateaction. He also issued on spotdirection to the concerned forthe redressal of genuinedemands of the people.

Speaking on this occasion,the minister said that govern-ment has provided a platform

to the general public fordirect interaction with itsministers so the woes of thepeople are raised at highestlevel and mitigated.

He said that the CentreGovernment headed byNarendra Modi and thePDP-BJP coalition in theState has been workingtowards development andwelfare of the people of theState. He also said that anera of development andprogress has started in theState adding that social andeconomic up-liftment of theweaker sections, downtrod-den, women, youth andfarmer is on prime agenda ofboth the governments.

He said that government islaying emphasis on improvingroad network by linkinginternal roads with NationalHighways to give a furtherfillip to development activitiesin the state. "Government isensuring liberal fundingunder several state and cen-trally sponsored schemes toensure overall development ofthe State", he added.

Era of development, progress started: Ganga

Industries Minister Chander Prakash Ganga addressing apublic gathering at Data Talab.

STATE TIMES NEWS R S PURA: Continuing hisstreak of holding public griev-ance redress camps at regu-lar intervals, Minister forPHE, Irrigation and FloodControl, Sham LalChoudhary today listened tothe grievances and concernsof the common masses duringa public meeting at R.S.Pura.

The people hailing fromMokha, Flora, , Grani, NayiBasti, Khedyapur,Punjgrani, Devlea and otherareas of SuchetgarhConstituency apprised theMinister about the problemsbeing faced by them relatedto power supply, road connec-tivity, education, healthcare,sanitation and ration distri-bution.

The villagers also demand-ed upgradation of transform-ers, replacement of electricpoles, LT and HT wires,blacktopping of roads andconstruction of lanes anddrains.

The minister gave all thedeputations a patient hearing

and assured them that alltheir genuine concerns anddemands will be addressed ina phased manner.

The minister on the spotalso gave directions to theconcerned about the redressalof various public importantworks raised by the deputa-tions. The Minister said thatsteps are being taken toupgrade the transformersand repairing the old ones,wherever required.

The Minister urged the peo-ple to extend support instrengthening the develop-

mental initiatives of theadministration.

He further said the govern-ment is taking various path-breaking steps for empower-ment of poor, youth, women,senior citizens and downtrod-den sections of the society. Hecalled on the people to takemaximum benefits of publicfacilities having been madeavailable. Sham Choudharyalso held a review the progresson the decisions taken in theprevious public meetingsbesides assessing grievancesof common masses.

Steps on for empowering downtrodden: Sham

PHE Minister Sham Choudhary listening to the grievancesof people during a camp at R S Pura.

STATE TIMES NEWS VIJAYPUR: All Jammuand Kashmir Raber-e-Taleem Teachers Forum(AJKRTTF) demandedrelease of SSA salary.Addressing a press confer-ence at Vijaypur, Secretaryof the Forum RinkuSharma said that teachersare suffering due to thenon-payment of SSAsalaries for the last four to

five months. They demand-ed that necessary measuresshould be taken to stream-line the SSA salary. RinkuSharma also appealed todepartment for the releaseof pending DA of NPSteachers. Those present onthe occasion include HiraLal, Ashutosh Dubey, AjaySahrma, Raj Kumar, SunilKumar and SubashChander.

AJKRTTF seeks releaseof pending SSA salary

Secretary of the Forum Rinku Sharma addressing apress conference at Vijaypur.

STATE TIMES NEWS KATRA: 'The objective of an economistin Indian perspective should be to havethe ability to blend economic suste-nance with spiritual advancements;were the enlightening thoughts sharedby Dr. Subramanian Swamy, ChiefGuest, at the Megafest "Artha' organ-ised by School of Economics, SMVDUniversity. Dr. Swamy; a well-knowneconomist and member of Rajya Sabha,addressed the gathering of young stu-dents and faculty members of SMVDUniversity, in the valedictory functionof 'Artha.'

Before the lecture, Dr. Sanjeev Jain,Vice Chancellor, SMVD University, wel-comed the Chief Guest, DrSubramanian Swamy, and congratulat-ed the students of School of Economicsfor the mega event. Prof. D.Mukhopadhay, Dean, Faculty ofManagement, welcomed the esteemedguest and said that the academic envi-

ronment in SMVD University providesfor a wholesome development of the stu-dents. The occasion was graced by,Prof. V.K. Bhat, Registrar, Dr.YugalKhajuria, Dean of Students, Dr.PabitraJena, I/C Head, School of Economics,faculty staff and students of SMVDUand other schools and colleges from

across India. The event Artha was amega fest organised by the students ofSchool of Economics in SMVDUniversity, from February 16-18 2018.

The event 'Artha' witnessed variouscompetitive and knowledge gainingevents such as future Chanakya,Quizonomics, Ecoscrap etc. The eventwas participated by the students of var-ious schools and colleges across India.The festival was proceeded by the awardgiving ceremony. SPMR college andAPS bagged first position inFurtureChanakya. Students fromSPMR College and SPMR School wonfirst prize in Quiizonomics and Rock-O-Nomics, while GCW Udhampur wonfirst prize in Shipwreck, KC PublicSchool and APS Sain Xaviers, KV-1,were winners in Delve through the lensof Nature. Prof. D. Mukhopadhaya,Dean faculty of Management, distrib-uted the prizes and encouraged studentsfor their enthusiastic participation.

Objective should be happiness: Dr Subramanian Swamy

Dr Subramanian Swamy being givenmemento during the programme.

STATE TIMES NEWS KATHUA: J & K StateWomen's DevelopmentCorporation organised anawareness camp at Nehru(Mandi) Billawar on Sunday.The camp was attended byK.S Pathania Manager Dev.Corporation Kathua/Samba,Javed Akhter Social Worker,Ajeet Singh formerSarpanch Halqa Makwal andother prominent people. Thewomen were made awareabout State / CentrallySponsored Schemeslaunched and sponsored bythe Women's DevelopmentCorporation for uplift ofwomen.

Speaking on the occasion,District ManagarKathua/Samba PathaniaJKWDCJ , stressed upon

the participants to takeadvantage of CentralSponsored Schemes likeNMDFC, NBCFDC, andNHFDC includingEducation loan and also onescheme implemented namelyEmpowered Skilled YoungWomen (ESW) under Sher-e- Kashmir Jammu andKashmir State. They urgedupon the women to take ben-efit of the schemes and estab-lish their own income gener-ating units by way of loansavailable at nominal interestrates to become self reliant.

Javed Akhter a socialactivist of the area spoke onthe occasion about BetiPadao Beti Bacha, SwachBharat Abhiyan about 100women, men participated inthe camp.

JKSWDC holds awareness camp

STATE TIMES NEWSRAMBAN: Inhabitants ofGool, Sangaldan and sur-rounding areas staged aprotest against the telecomcompanies here on Sunday andblamed them of poor services.

Protesters alleged instead ofpaying rate of 4G services andthe companies are providingthem 2G, 3G Services withweak internet service. Peoplealso blocked Gool-RambanRoad in front of Niabat.

Mohd Shafi Bhat a local saidthat BSNL a government tele-com company and other pri-vate companies which includesAirtel, Aircel, Vodaphone andothers loot their customers inthe name of monthly rent forthe service which was providedby them to their customers. Hefurther said that all these com-panies are unable to provideproperly the internet facilitiesto their customers from lastthree years.

Protest against weak mobile network

People staging protest at Ramban.

STATE TIMES NEWS SAMBA: In a view to reviveand encourage the potteryprofession in the State andas per the demand ofPrajapati (Kumhar) SabhaSamba, DeputyCommissioner SambaSheetal Nanda along withDirector Handicraft andother concerned officers vis-ited the various villages ofdistrict Samba where theKumhar community peoplemake earthenware.

Bua Ditta presidentPrajapati Kumhar SabhaSamba also accompaniedthe Deputy CommissionerSamba. During her tour theearthenware pot makersapprised the DC that in thismodern era this profession

has reduced its marketing assteel, plastic utensils andother electric cooling agentshas replaced the clay potsdue to which these peopleare facing very difficult topull on their families

It is worthwhile to men-tion here that the Sabhasubmitted a memorandumregarding introducing thepottery trade in the ITIColleges so that unemployedyouth of this community canget the modern techniquesof pot making. AshokBadyal Chief Advisor andSr. leader of the Sabhathanked the DeputyCommissioner and otherofficers for their kind visitand hoped that this visit willdefinitely encourage this

downtrodden community.Yog Raj Secretary and PremLal were also present on theoccasion.

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DC for revival of pottery

DC Sheetal Nanda during a visit to variousvillages of district Samba.

STATE TIMES NEWS KATHUA :-TagoreVidyarthi Vikas SansthaKathua today organised afarewell party for the out-going 10th class studentsat Govt. Primary school(Colony) Kathua.

Sanjay Sehgal Presidentwelcomed the dignitariesand made the participantsaware about the aims andobjectives of the Sansthaand gave tips to the stu-dents who are appearingin the board examination.

The adopted studentspresented a cultural pro-

gramme to give farewell tothe students.

On the occasion skits,solo songs, group danceand raps were presented.Solo song sung by Nitishkumar and rap sung bySohail Dogra were mostappreciated.

Rinki Mali, Neha andAditi anchored the wholeprogramme. Dr. DayaRam General Secretary,Raju Yadav CulturalSecretary, Sahil Verma ,Sunil Gupta , Mohan Laland Ravinder Kumarattended the function.

Tagore Vidyarthi Vikas Sansthaorganises farewell party

STATE TIMES NEWS REASI: Krishi VigyanKendra (KVK), Reasi ofSher-e-Kashmir Universityof Agricultural Sciencesand Technology of Jammu(SKUAST-J) concludedfive days long training pro-gramme on organic farm-ing/natural farming/cowbased economy/sustainableagriculture here at OrganicTraining Centre at Talwaravillage of Reasi District. Atotal of 30 farmers fromthe different areas of

Jammu province partici-pated in the programmewhich was sponsored by theIndian Council ofAgricultural Research(ICAR), New Delhi underPt. Deen Dayal UpadhayaUnnat Krishi ShikshaYojana.

The programme wasorganised under the guid-ance of Vice Chancellor(VC) Dr.P.K Sharma andAssociate DirectorExtension (ADE) &Incharge of all the KVKs,

Dr.R.K Arora of SKUAST-J. Scientist and Head ofKrishi Vigyan Kendra(KVK), Reasi, Dr. BanarsiLal inaugurated the pro-gramme. Dr.Suja NabiQureshi, scientist, AnilSuri, Agriculture ExtensionOfficer, Vipan Kohli,Agriculture ExtensionOfficer gave lectures duringthe programme. The pro-gramme was assisted byManohar Lal and concludedby Dr.Banarsi Lal with voteof thanks.

KVK training on organic farming concludes

STATE TIMES NEWS REASI: Minister for RuralDevelopment, PanchayatiRaj, Law and Justice, AbdulHaq Khan dedicated to thepublic various roads, culvertsand paths constructed by theDepartment of RuralDevelopment Departmentunder various schemesincluding MGNREGS inReasi District.

The minister was accompa-nied by Minster of State forFinance and Planning, AjayNanda, DC Reasi ReasiPaarsanna Ramaswamy, SPReasi, ACD Reasi, SDM,BDOs and other senior offi-cers of the district. He inau-gurated more than a dozentiled roads, culverts andpaths at Thanda Pani ,Moori, Mani Talai, Bhangal,Kotli , Simbal Chdwa.

The roads have been con-structed under MGNREGSand generated more than 10thousand Person Days ofwork for the unemployed andunskilled youths of the areabesides creation of durableassets in the district.

Three lanes at Thanda pani, Moori in Panthal block andGref compound to KhadHigh School Kotli have beenconstructed at the cost of Rs5 lakh each, road at Mani

Talai and Culvert on Oldroad at Panchayat Manj Takiat the cost of Rs 10 lakh, BusStand to Mani Tali lane at Rs9.90 lakh, Main road toBhangal in Aghar JitoPanchayat at Rs 6 lakh, laneat Bhaga Panchayat at 4lakh and a communicationlink to bowli at SimbalChadwa at the cost of Rs6.39 lakh.

Speaking on the occasionminister said the governmentis implementing the centrallysponsored scheme in letterand spirit on ground there byproviding employment to theunemployed and unskilledpeople besides creatingdurable assets in the villages.He said to construct theseassets, government was ableto generate more than 10

thousand Man days besidesmitigating the problems ofthe people by constructinggood roads, paths and cul-verts.

He said the works done byRural DevelopmentDepartment will ultimatelydiminish the Urban-Ruraldivide as the infrastructure isbeing developed in the vil-lages and facilities being pro-vided at par with the urbanareas.

The minister also visitedthe proposed site for the con-struction of court complex inReasi. The minister interact-ed with the officers andurged them to complete thedocumentation process andpre-execution formalities atearliest so that work can bestarted at earliest.

RDD will diminish Urban-Rural divide: Haq

Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Law andJustice, Abdul Haq Khan inaugurating a civic work.