Download - DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2016 …epaper.dailyexcelsior.com/epaperpdf/2016/dec/16dec05/page7.pdfKohli convenes public grievances redressal camp Excelsior Correspondent

DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2016 (PAGE 7)

KPC demands passage of Shrines Bill

Excelsior Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Dec 4:Kashmiri Pandit Conference(KPC) in its meeting here todaydecided to accelerate its strugglefor protection and promotion ofshrines and temples in theValley.

KPC president, KundanKashmiri vehemently criticizedthe State and CentralGovernments for their failure intaking concrete steps for safetyof historical Hindu shrines andtemples in Kashmir valleywhich have suffered a huge loss-es from the last 27 year long tur-moil. He said that KPC has beenalways actively involved andpart of nation wide struggle,which include Porbhanderhunger strike and protestdemonstration, dharna &demonstration at Jammu PressClub,in front of Governor HouseJammu, JanterManter,Memorandums submitted topresident of India,HomeMinister of India, Chief Ministerand Speaker of State, and meet-ing with yoga Guru Ram Devand apprised him in detail aboutbad condition of shrines andtemples in Kashmir valley andsought his intervention in the

matter.He said besides KPC also

approached many of Parliamentmembers and others for protec-tion and promotion of shrinesand temples in Valley and seek-ing their support for passage ofShrine Bill.

He said that the assurancesgiven to KPs and their organiza-tions by State and CentreGovernments proved totally falseas both failed to take concretesteps for safeguarding Hindu reli-gious places in Kashmir.

He also disclosed that KPCwould hold corner meeting inKP dominated areas and mobi-lize them for accelerating thestruggle for the said purpose inthe country. Besides, communitypeople would be made awareand up-dated about the damagecaused to religious places, tem-ples and shrines in the valley.

KPC strongly demanded theconstitution of Board forshrines and temples by theGovernment.

KPC senior vice president,Tej Pandita, secretary KPC R.L.Raina and other senior leadersalso expressed their resentmentfor the damage and destructionof temples and shrines from thelast three decades in the Valley.

Kohli convenes publicgrievances redressal camp


POONCH, Dec 4: Ministerfor Animal & Sheep Husbandryand Fisheries, Abdul GhaniKohli, today convened a jointmeeting of public and officers toassess the public grievancesbesides taking stock of develop-ment works being executed inthe area.

The Minister took stock ofpeople's grievances and issuednecessary instructions to con-cerned departments for an earlyredressal to the same.

Addressing the gathering,the Minister said that theGovernment is making allefforts to ensure transparencyand accountability at all levelsfor hassle free services to thepeople. He said that strictinstructions have been given tothe officers to leave no stoneunturned on account of extend-ing enhanced basic amenities to

the people with focus on ruraland hilly parts of the State. Nolaxity would be tolerated in thisregard, he maintained.

The Minister emphasized theneed of putting in place an effec-tive mechanism for monitoringof all ongoing developmentalworks so that these could becompleted in a time bound man-ner. The prime concern of everyofficer and official should be toensure that the people get allnecessary services in a total con-venient and time bound mannerfor which the Government isalways determined. This willenable the government realizethe vision of making J&K amodel State, he asserted.

Sub Divisional Magistrate,Tehsildar Mendhar, BDOs,SDPO Mendhar, Chief AnimalHusbandry Officer, ExecutiveEngineers of PWD, PDD, ADfisheries and other officials werealso present in the meeting.

BJYM holds workshop on “Yuvafor Digital Paisa” campaign


JAMMU, Dec 4: A work-shop was organized by BJYM atParty headquarters, TrikutaNagar on "Yuva for DigitalPaisa"campaign to make YuvaMorcha activist aware aboutvarious digital transaction meth-ods. On the occasion an folderwith all information on digitaltransaction was launched byState general secretary(Organisation) Ashok Koul,BJYM State president Dr.Suresh Ajay Magotra, AllMorchas Prabhari MunishSharma, State secretary &BJYM Prabhari Sanjay Barualong with BJYM State generalsecretaries Vikas Choudhary andTarun Sharma, State vice presi-dent Anu Behnal.

Speaking on the occasion,Ashok Koul appreciated the roleof BJYM for organising Statelevel workshop on "Youth forDigital Paisa" and said that YuvaMorcha is doing good. He fur-ther said, for ensuring re-makingof Indian economy demonetizehigh denominations by PrimeMinister is a welcome step andhe has high aspirations from theyouth of the country to make it abig success. Koul further saidthat organisational structure cancollectively work to achievedreams of prosperous India.

He said, that all banks acrossthe country, be it government

run, co-operative or privatebanks, all are offering debitcard, credit card to their cus-tomers efficiently. Given tothese statistics, it should not bechallenging to move towardscashless transactions.

Addressing the workshopMunish Sharma said that dreamof 100% cashless society, is notan overnight work. ``We have tomove in the direction of lesscash, thereby eventually achiev-ing the goal of a cashless socie-ty'', he added.

In his address, Dr Magotrasaid that youth has a "historicopportunity" to join hands withthe revolutionary step taken byPrime Minister Narendra Modito take our nation to greaterheights and eradicate corruptionand black money from the coun-try. He further said that whenthere are around "80 crore" peo-ple who possess debit or creditcards and "90 crore mobileusers" are already in the country,it should not be challenging tomove towards cashless transac-tions. Our present effort andsupport to cashless economywill secure future of Bharat, headded.

On the occasion, State treasur-er Anshul Gupta made presenta-tion on digital money use of bankcards, e-wallets, AADHAR-enabled payment, unified paymentinterface and USSD, later fol-lowed by question answer session.

BJP & BJYM leaders at a workshop at Jammu on Sunday.


JAMMU, Dec 4: Speaker,J&K Legislative Assembly,Kavinder Gupta, inauguratednew branch of Axis Bank atPanjtirthi here.

Member of LegislativeCouncil (MLC) Ashok Khajuria,Circle Head of Axis BankNeeraj Jain, Cluster Head ofAxis Bank Vishesh SudhakerDhingra, Branch Head GouravKhajuria, Branch Sales ManagerBhupinder Singh and other staffmembers were also present onthe occasion.

The new branch was the 13thbranch of Axis Bank in Jammuwhich was inaugurated today.With that J&K now has a total of

24 branches of the bank, whichdeal in cash transactions, loanfacility, banking transactions,business promotion loan,besides ATM facility.

Circle Head Neeraj Jain onthe occasion, discussed aboutthe Bank's expansion in the Stateand the banking facilities whichwill be offered for benefit of allcustomers including Businessloans for intensifying the busi-ness standards in the area.

Speaking on the occasion,the Speaker appreciated theefforts of the bank managementfor opening new branches in theState. He hoped that the digitali-zation in the banking systemwould help the bank customersin a big way.

ReT Forum threatens to gheraoCivil Secretariat on Dec 15


UDHAMPUR, Dec 4: Up inarms against unprecedenteddelay in release of SSA salaryand Government move onscreening test of the Rehbar-e-Talim teachers, the JammuKashmir ReT Teachers forum hasthreatened to gherao the CivilSecretariat on December 15.

The warning was issued dur-ing monthly meeting of theForum, held here today under thechairmanship of the State presi-dent Vinod Sharma and districtpresident Lekh Raj Parihar.

While speaking on the occa-sion, Sharma lambasted the StateGovernment and EducationDepartment for allegedly harass-ing the ReT cadre day by issuingunjustified orders to screen ReTshaving degrees from StudyCentres by giving reference ofcourt order. "Without publishingthe list of fake Study Centres,how can the department go forthe screening test?," he asked.

Vinod Sharma also drewattention towards the SSA teach-ers of the State, who are withoutsalary for last 4 to 6 month andthe families of these teachers areliving under miserable condi-tions as they are unable to pro-vide proper food and clothing totheir children and medicines totheir old and ailing parents.

"Though Education Ministerhad assured two years back thathe would streamline the SSAsalary within 6 months, theground reality after two years isthat SSA teachers are on verge of

starvation. None fromGovernment bothers to resolvethe issue of SSA salary whichhas always been a chronic prob-lem but at the same time thedepartment leaves no stoneunturned to harass the ReTs onthe name of so called screeningtest which is condemned by ReTForum and it's a matter of shamefor those who are making to suf-fer the families of thousands ofReTs under SSA and due to suchorders," he said.

The Forum unanimouslythreatened to Gherao the CivilSecretariat on 15th of December2016 if order on screening test isnot revoked and 6 months SSAsalary is not released by then.

Others who also spoke on theoccasion, included SukhdevSingh Sumbria, Ashok Seth,Pritam Goswami, BhushanKhajuria, Sandeep Sharma,Kuldip Katoch, Surjit Singh, AnilSharma, Sushil Singh and MannChand.

Meanwhile, a meeting of theReT forum, Zone Khari inRamban was also held at HSSKhari, under the chairmanship ofdistrict president Farooq AhmadRunyal, for voicing concernagainst screening tests of ReTsand highlighting the demandslike release of pending salary,enhancement of honorarium, rev-ocation of ban on exam duty byReTs, etc.

The meeting was attended byFarooq Ah med Tantray, BihariLal Sharma, Mushtaq Malik,Hussain Sohil, Javaid AhmedLone and others.


JAMMU, Dec 4: Giving acall for complete pen down strikeon December 8-9 and SecretariatGherao on December 10, JammuKashmir and Ladakh AllDepartment Clerical StaffAssociation has appealed theGovernment to solve the longpending demand of the employ-ees regarding removal of payanomalies of Clerical cadre byimplementing the High Courtorder in this regard.

An emergency meeting of theAssociation was held here todayunder the chairmanship of BabuHussain Malik, State president,for announcing call by clericalcadre employees for pen downstrike and deciding to assemble infront of the Press Club Jammu onDecember 10 to march forSecretariat Gherao.

The meet appealed theGovernment to solve long pend-ing demand of the clerical cadre

employees regarding removal oftheir pay anomalies by imple-menting the High Court ordervide SWP number 3058/2015 MPNo 01/2015 in letter and spirit.

The meet also highlightedsome other demands of theAssociation, which include DPCin all the departments after everysix months, implementation of7th Pay Commission, dislocationAllowance to all the officialswho are posted outside theirhome district, and regularizationof daily wagers.

The meeting was attended byBharat Bhushan, KhurshidAhmad, Ashok Singh, YashpaulSharma, Meenakshi Sharma,Munish Sharma, Jaswant Singh,Ansuya Gupta, Vishwa Bandu,Seva Ram Rathore, Farida Bano,Lekh Raj, Om Parkash, VikasChander, Arun Sharma, MohdSadiq, Javid Akhoon, KapilGupta, Sandeep Singh, VikasSharma, Ranbir Singh and others.

NPP protests exploitation of contractual lecturers


JAMMU, Dec 4: Castigatingthe State Government for itscriminal apathy towards School,College and Polytechnic lectur-ers engaged on Academicarrangements, the Panther Partyactivists along with scores ofsuch lecturers spearheaded byRajesh Padgotra, Provincialpresident NPP and GaganPratap Singh general secretaryYoung Panthers and others,staged a protest demonstrationseeking immediate salaryenhancement and regularizationof their services at ExhibitionGround here today.

Describing the exploitationof educated youth of the State asworst form of human rights vio-lation, Rajesh Padgotra said thatthe highly qualified educatedunder-employed youth in theState were treated like mereexpendables. He said that thebrewing anger of the youthcould explode any moment likea catastrophe and cause irrepara-ble damages.

Expressing solidarity withthe these lecturers engaged oncontract / academic arrangementbasis and who included PhDs, MPhils, double post graduates

etc., he regretted that such high-ly qualified youth were beingpaid Rs 7,000 per month inHigher Secondary schools andPolytechnics where as Rs 8,000in colleges which had not beenrevised for the last more than 12years. He said that they wereoppressed like bonded labourerswhose honorarium was grosslymeagre in proportion to thequantum of work assigned tothem. He sought hike in theemoluments to at least Rs20,000 as the existing rates hadnot been revised since 2004.

Gagan Pratap Singh andShyam Gorkha pointed out thatseveral lecturers engaged onacademic arrangement in hillyand remote areas had shownreluctance to join services inview of negligible emolumentsoffered to them with the resultthat the majority of educationalinstitutions including Schools,Colleges and Polytechnics hadbecome defunct and staff defi-cient. They said that the highlyapathetic approach of the Govttowards the miseries of theselecturers had pushed themtowards starvation. They exhort-ed the Govt to frame a definitepolicy and regularize the servic-es of these lecturers.

NPP activists and contractual lecturers staging protest dhar-na near Press Club in Jammu on Sunday.

NC, Hurriyat trying toappease Pakistan: BJP


JAMMU, Dec 4: It appearsthat NC is trying to edge outHurriyat as Pakistan's mouth-piece as is evident from the pro-Pakistan statements being madeby its leaders almost on dailybasis. What is most surprisingthat the Jammu based leaders ofNC are also not only singing inunison with their aakaas but alsoopenly defending them on thenational media?

Reacting sharply to therecent statement of OmarAbdullah, "don't be under thefalse impression that the unrestyou are seeing in Kashmir hasbeen ignited by Pakistan. Wefound that some people at theCentre willingly or unwillinglywanted to keep themselves igno-rant about the situation inKashmir. It was easy for them toblame Pakistan," Brig AnilGupta, BJP State Spokesperson,stated that the timing of thestatement is interesting and hasobviously been made to helpPakistan.

Explaining further, BrigGupta said that after the recentPak-sponsored terror attack atNagrota, it has been confirmedbeyond doubt that despite inter-

national condemnation, Pakistancontinues to use terrorism as aninstrument of State policy.Anticipating that Pakistan willface severe flak at the Heart ofAsia Conference which beganon the same day Omar Abdullahmade the statement becauseAfghanistan was planning toname Pakistan as sponsor of ter-ror in India and Afghanistan inthe Amritsar Declaration sched-uled to be released today, OmarAbdullah has made this state-ment to bail out beleagueredSartaj Aziz, heading the Pak del-egation.

Brig Anil Gupta lamentedthat a few Indian politicianshave been manipulated by thePak intelligence agencies andTrack 2 diplomats to the extentthat they not only challengeJ&K's accession to India butalso ridicule the 1994 resolutionpassed by the Parliament ofIndia. Only the other day, OmarAbdullah immediately after theNagrota terror attack, absolvedPakistan by blaming theGovernment. Pakistan's involve-ment in Kashmir is recognizedinternationally; even the currentunrest was not only financed,sponsored but also guided byPakistan, Brig Gupta added.

PHEEA demands separate head for daily wagers


UDHAMPUR, Dec 4: WaterWorks (PHE) EmployeesAssociation Udhampur heldexecutive body meeting of boththe districts of Udhampur andReasi at PHE Complex hereunder the chairmanship ofRattan Singh, senior vice presi-dent of the association forUdhampur district.

The meeting criticized theattitude of the State Governmenttowards the workers who havenot been paid their wages for thepast 36 to 40 months, which hasmade the life of daily ratedworkers worst than hell. Thesenior vice president of the asso-ciation appealed the StateFinance Minister for a separateHead in the grant of funds for alltype of daily rated workers, sothat their families may notstarve.

They also raised variousother long pending demandswhich included; Implementationof Minimum Wages Act;Immediate regularization of

workers; Revision of sanctionedstrength of the department, asthere was no revision of sanc-tioned strength of field func-tionaries of the department forthe past 40 years; Meeting short-age of staff to effectively manthe on-going water supplyschemes; Change of designationas per nature of job being per-formed by the workers; Paymentto those engaged in lieu of landdonation; Release of 6% DAinstallment to employees andworkers from July 2015; andEnhancement in daily wage rateto Rs 150 to Rs 400.

Rattan Singh appealed all theassociations of PHE Departmentto unite and be ready for agita-tion as State Government wasnot willing to fulfill genuinedemands of the employees andworkers of the Department.

Others who spoke on theoccasion included SurajParkash, Makhan Chand,Krishan Lal, Parth Singh,Shambu Ram, LakshmanChand, Rakesh Kumar, ShamLal etc.

Gujjars urge State to push forrecognition of Gojri languageExcelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 4:Maintaining that Gojri- the lan-guage of Gujjar tribe residing in12 States of India- deserves itsinclusion in the eighth scheduleof Indian Constitution -thespeakers of a programme organ-ized here today by TribalResearch and CulturalFoundation - demanded thatState Government should presshard for national recognition oftheir mother tongue.

They said that Gojri, thelargest spoken 'tribal languages'of Northern-Western States inIndia with more than two mil-lion native speakers in Jammuand Kashmir State, fulfills allthe requisites and qualify for thegrant of recognized Indian lan-guage status.

Dr Javaid Rahi, well-knownGujjar researcher, who presidedover the function, stated thatGojri was in queue since last 2decades and they were eagerlywaiting its inclusion.

Being oldest and significantlanguages of India, Gojrideserves recognition at nationallevel long back, he said andadded that Gujjars-the mainspeakers of Gojri- live mainlyin 12 States of North-WesternIndia, listed as ST in J&K andHimachal Pardesh and OBC in

10 other State are fighting joint-ly and vigorously for recogni-tion of Gojri in Constitution as itis a common feature amongGujjar community.

The speakers said that theinfluence of Gojri - as a culturallanguage in Indian subcontinent,is increasing day by day mainlydue to growing ethnic con-sciousness among Gujjars,Bakerwals and other communi-ties who speak this languagesince centuries. The meetingwas informed by the members ofTribal Foundation that for inclu-sion of Gojri in IndiaConstitution, Governor of J&KN N Vohra, two Chief Ministersof the State from time and again,have written separate recom-mendation letters to UnionHome Ministry and favored itsinclusion in the list of recog-nized Indian Languages.

On the occasion, a commit-tee of senior writers, poets andintellectual was also framed towork jointly in order to meet dif-ferent dignitaries to address theissues with regard to recognitionand development of Gojri lan-guage and Culture.

Those who spoke includedAbdul Kareem Dildar, GhulamRubani, Aaijaz Ahsen, RukamDin Bhomla, Aslam Bhalot,Khadam Khaki and others.

Axis Bank opens 24thbranch at Panjtirthi

Clerical Staff Association calls forpen down strike, Secretariat Gherao

Survival possible in suddencardiac arrest: Dr SushilExcelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 4: Taking astep further in his resolve to servethe people and caring for human-ity by bringing awareness aboutthe prevalence of cardiovasculardiseases, Dr. Sushil Sharma(HOD Cardiology GMCH &SSH Jammu) today held a daylong camp in collaboration withMahajan Sabha at Panch MandirChanni Himmat, Jammu.

Accompanied by a team ofyoung doctors, paramedics andvolunteers, Dr. Sharma examinedpeople of the area for the preva-lence of cardiac diseases andother health ailments. More than300 people were screened, evalu-ated, diagnosed and free medi-cines were given as per therequirements.

While interacting with thepatients Dr Sushil stated thatmore than 3.5 lakh deaths occureach year as a result of SuddenCardiac Arrest. "SCA claims onelife every two minutes, takingmore lives each year than breastcancer, lung cancer, or AIDS.Sudden Cardiac Arrest is a med-ical emergency. If not treatedimmediately it causes sudden car-diac death," he said.

He underlined that the mostcommon cause of SCA is a dan-gerous and abnormal heartrhythm called VentricularFibrillation (VF).

In VF, the electrical signalsthat control the lower chambersof the heart (ventricles) becomechaotic. This sends the ventriclesinto fibrillation, an extremelyrapid and irregular quivering thatcannot effectively pump blood tothe body. With fast, appropriatemedical care survival is possible,

administering cardiopulmonaryresuscitation (CPR) treating witha Defibrillator -or even just com-pressions to the chest canimprove the chances of survival,he elaborated.

"What has been more alarm-ing is that the Sudden CardiacArrest occurs abruptly and with-out warning, and two-thirds ofSCA deaths occur without anyprior indications of heart disease.In fact, SCA can happen to peopleof all ages and health conditions.While signs and symptoms areoften not present, there are certainrisk conditions for SCA, whichinclude a previous heart attack:individuals who have had a heartattack are at greater risk of SCA -75 % of people who die of SCAshow signs of a previous heartattack, a family history of suddendeath, heart failure, or massiveheart attack, an abnormal heartrate or rhythm of unknown causeand episodes of fainting etc", hesaid.

He advised people that nodoubt it is not possible to predictSCA but people at risk of SCAmay benefit from regular screen-ing and Diagnosis.

Others, who were part of thishumane effort, included Dr.Dhaneshwar Kapoor, Dr NidhiMahajan, Dr Kewal Sharma andDr Chakshu Mahajan,Paramedics and Volunteers, whowere part of the team includedKashmiri Lal, Kamal Kishore,Raghav Rajput, Gourav Sharma,Vikas Sabharwal, Ankush Kohli,Suresh Sharma, Raj Kumar,Ashish Soni, Kumar Abhishek,Ashwani Gupta, Vikas Kumarand Dr. Vivak M Arya (ScientistCum Social activist).

HoD Cardiology Dr Sushil Sharma examining patients atChanni Himmat on Sunday.


JAMMU, Dec 4: Provincialpresident of Women Wing ofNational Conference SatwantKaur Dogra today strongly crit-icized PDP-BJP Governmentfor raising rates of CAPD rationby 60% when the FCI is provid-ing the food grains on old rates.

"The Government hasbetrayed the poor people whomthey exploited during electionsby making tall promises thatturn out to be just hoax,"Satwant said while addressingthe NC delegates meeting at NCoffice Samba today.

Launching a scathing attack

on the Government, SatwantKaur Dogra said this suddenincrease in the rate of "atta" by62% and rice by 50% withoutany justified reason has exposedthe anti- poor face of BJP-PDPGovernment. She said that theState is going through one of theharshest period where poor peo-ple are facing the brunt and withsuch hikes in ration the poor isbeing punished more.

It seems that Government ishell bent on making the peoplesuffer for everyday needs badly.While terming the move anti-people, she said that the peopleof the state are already sufferinga lot due to continuous borderfiring and increasing prices ofration at this juncture is a severeblow on common man.

NC leader charged the PDPand BJP of working at cross pur-poses, saying the people are suf-fering adversely as a conse-quence. Unfortunately, the BJPGovernment has only donethings that appeal to its core,committed base and has virtual-ly forgotten the large section ofpeople who voted for "develop-ment" not "division". BJP'sbiggest promise to the youngvoter was to create jobs eachyear and regularization of thou-sands of workers. But BJP failedto keep that promise.

Satwant asked NC delegatesto reach out to the public inevery nook and corner of theconstituency and leave no stoneunturn to consolidate andstrengthen the party at grassrootlevel.

Ramesh Kumar, AshokKumar Bhagat, Rasaal Singh,Rama Sambyal, Asif Ali,Baldev Raj, Prabh Dayal,Madan Lal and Kishori Lal alsoaddressed the delegates.

Hike in prices of CAPDration unfair: Satwant

Three arrested withtwo stolen bikes


JAMMU, Dec 4: Arniapolice nabbed three personsalong with two stolen motorcy-cles.

As per police spokesman, ateam from Arnia police stationarrested a bike lifter, who hasbeen identified as LakhwainderKumar alias Sunny alias Ladoo,son of Prem Chand, a resident ofKalyana.

On his disclosure, two stolenbikes, which he had sold afterchanging the registration num-ber plates were recovered fromthe possession of Sahil Sharma,

son of Joginder Pal of BadyalKazian RS Pura and KaranSingh, son of Joginder Singh ofKalyana RS Pura. Sahil andKaran were also arrested.

A case under FIR Number92/16 under Section 379 RPChas been registered with policestation Arnia and investigationstarted.

Police team led by SDPO RSPura Surinder Choudharyaccompanied by SHO ArniaInspector Satish Kumar madethe arrest under the supervisionof SP Headquarters Jammu RCKotwal.

Fire breaks out in PWD store, vehicles damagedExcelsior Correspondent

KISHTWAR, Dec 4: Fire broke out in Public WorksDepartment (PWD) store at Om Mehta road, here today.

As per police sources, inferno broke out in PWD store at OmMehta road this evening, causing damages to the vehicles parkedinside the store. The fire broke out probably in the grass.

On getting information, police team rushed to the spot and firetenders along with fire fighters also reached the spot.

After hectic efforts, the fire was brought under control andrestricted it from spreading to other areas.

No injury or casualty has been reported in the incident, whilethe exact loss could not be ascertained yet.

Kishtwar police has taken cognizance in this regard MoS Sunil Sharma and other senior officers from the district

administration also rushed to spot and took stock of the situation.

35 injured inroad mishap


SAMBA, Dec 4: Thirty fivepersons were injured, 15 ofthem critically, when an over-crowded vehicle they were trav-elling in turned turtle in Sambadistrict today.

The accident occurred whenthe mini-bus, that was on itsway to Kotah village fromPatyari, turned turtle in Nichlavillage in Ghagwal area of thedistrict, a police officer said.

He said 35 passengers wereinjured in the mishap and theywere admitted in DistrictHospital Samba for treatment.

He said 15 persons withgrievous injuries were latershifted to Government MedicalCollege and Hospital, Jammufor treatment.

A case has been registeredand investigations initiated, hesaid. Police said the mini buswas over crowded. The driverand conductor of the mini busfled after the accident.

One killed, two injured as gas tanker plunges into gorge


RAMBAN, Dec 4: One per-son was killed and two othersreceived injuries, when the gastanker they were travelling in,skidded off the road and plungedinto gorge near Nachilana area,falling under the jurisdiction ofRamsu police station.

The ill-fated vehicle bearingregistration number NL02N-8165, was on its way to Srinagarfrom Jammu, when the driverfailed to negotiate sharp curveand the vehicle landed intogorge, resulting into on the spotdeath of one person and seriousinjuries to two others.

After getting information,police team led by SHO RamsuMuneer Khan rushed to the spotand with the help of locals, shiftedthe injured persons to PHC Ramsu,where they were undergoing treat-ment, when reports last came in.

The deceased has been iden-tified as Ramandeep Singh,while the injured were identifiedas Mandeep Singh and RajinderSingh. The deceased and injuredpersons were residents of

Jagraon, Ludhiana.A case under FIR Number

96/16 has been registered atRamsu police station and inves-tigation started.

SSA Teachers/MastersAssociation urges

Govt to release salaryExcelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 4:All J&KState SSA Teachers/MastersAssociation, Jammu, has appealedthe State Government to releasepending salary for avoidingprotest demonstrations and agita-tion by the Association members.

Appeal in this regard wasissued during a meeting of theAssociation, held here today fordiscussing the burning issue ofpending salary of SSA Teachersand Masters in the schools.

The meeting was attendedby Jagdish Raj, Rattan Chand,Devinder Singh, Karnail Singh,Mohd Ramzan, Mohd Ramzan,Mohd Sadiq, Jugal Kishore andothers.