Excelsiordaily

REGD. NO. JK-71/18-20RNI No. 28547/65Vol No. 55 No. 39 JAMMU, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2019 16 Pages `̀ 5.00

Mohinder VermaJAMMU, Feb 8: In a land-

mark decision aimed at fulfill-ing the governance and devel-opment related aspirations ofthe people of cold desertregion, Government hasapproved the creation of a sep-arate Administrative andRevenue Division for Ladakhwith its headquarters at Leh.Even approval has beenaccorded to the creation of theposts of DivisionalCommissioner and InspectorGeneral of Police Ladakhwhile as task of identifying theposts of divisional level headsof various departments hasbeen assigned to a committeeheaded by Principal Secretaryto Government, Planning,

Development and MonitoringDepartment.

The EXCELSIOR in its edi-tion dated December 6, 2018had exclusively reported that theGovernor's Administration wascontemplating to accordDivisional status to the Ladakhregion and formal orders in thisregard would be issued soonafter completion of basic groundwork.

It was also mentioned in thereport that following accord ofDivisional status, there will beseparate DivisionalCommissioner and InspectorGeneral of Police for Ladakhregion besides separateDirectorates and heads ofaround 40 departments to ensurethat people of Leh and Kargildistricts don't face the hassles oftravelling to Srinagar for gettingroutine issues resolved.

As per the official handoutissued by the Government, acommittee has been constitut-ed under the chairmanship ofPrincipal Secretary to

Government, Planning,Development and MonitoringDepartment to identify theposts of Divisional level headsof various departments thatmay be required for the newDivision; particularly theirstaffing pattern, role andresponsibilities and proposedlocation of these offices.

A Divisional Commissionerand Inspector General of Policefor Ladakh Division will beappointed shortly while as post-ing of Divisional heads of vari-ous departments will take sometime.

"There has been a persistentdemand for the creation ofDivision for Ladakh from manyorganizations including theLadakh Autonomous HillDevelopment Councils of Lehand Kargil and the issue wasthoroughly discussed at variousforums before reaching at a con-clusion about creation of thirdDivision for the State afterKashmir and Jammu", theGovernment said, adding "thedecision will go a long way infulfilling the governance and

Finally, Ladakh becomes separateAdministrative, Revenue Division

Farooq hopes newGovt will holdtalks with PakExcelsior CorrespondentSRINAGAR, Feb 8:

National Conference presidentDr Farooq Abdullah todayhoped that the new Governmentin New Delhi will hold mean-ingful and result oriented par-leys with Pakistan on the issueof Jammu and Kashmir.

Abdullah speaking at afunction at his Gupkar resi-dence in Srinagar said: "I amsure that the new Government

at the Centre will open talkswith Pakistan. There is no sub-stitute to dialogue. Dialogue isimperative to end the loominguncertainty in Jammu andKashmir."

"The need of the hour is tomake party stronger at grassroots in order to put up strongfront against those forces as areinimical to the State's special

Mehta getsFinance, KabraHome

Excelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Feb 8: The State

Government today ordered trans-fer, posting and adjustments offour senior IAS officers.

Arun Kumar Mehta,presently on leave, has beenposted as Principal Secretary tothe Government, FinanceDepartment.

Raj Kumar Goyal, PrincipalSecretary Home Department wastransferred and posted as PrincipalSecretary, Technical EducationDepartment, relieving SecretarySchool Education Department of

Azad dissociatesfrom Committees

Excelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Feb 8: Leader of

Opposition in Rajya Sabha and for-mer Chief Minister, Ghulam NabiAzad today dissociated himself fromvarious Committees announced yes-terday by Congress president, RahulGandhi for Jammu and Kashmir.

When contacted by theExcelsior on formation of thenew Committees and their man-date, Azad said: "I'm alreadymember of several suchCommittees of the party atnational level and was surprisedto see inclusion of my name inthese State level Committees''.

Azad said he hasn't beenconsulted for inclusion of hisname into these Committees.

"Therefore, I cease to be amember of these Committees,''he added.

3 X-Ens, 43AEEs shifted

Excelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Feb 8: The

Government today issuedorders of transfers and postingsof three Incharge ExecutiveEngineers (Mech) and 43Incharge Assistant ExecutiveEngineers (Civil) in PW(R&B)department.

I/C XEn Fayaz AhmedPatigaroo, presently on deputa-tion to Lakes and Water WaysDevelopment Authority hasbeen recalled and placed inPDC vice Harpal Singh Talwar.Shafat Jeelani, I/C XEn Mech,Dy Director State ProcurementDepartment has been deputed to

Two CD hospitaldocs suspended

Excelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Feb 8:

Government Medical College(GMC) Principal, Dr SunandaRaina today ordered suspensionof two doctors, posted in theChest Diseases (CD) Hospitalfor unauthorized absenteeismfrom the duty.

The doctors placed undersuspension included Dr ManikMahajan, Registrar and DrHeena Naaz, Demonstrator.

They have been asked toexplain their unauthorizedabstention from the duty within48 hours of the order.

HC seeks appearance ofComm/Secy SWD

Excelsior CorrespondentSRINAGAR, Feb 8: On fail-

ure of filing of compliancereport with regard to fresh sur-vey for those girls who need tobe granted benefits underGovernment schemes, the HighCourt has sought personalappearance of higher officialsof Social Welfare Departmentin case the report is not filed onnext date.

The direction followed afterthe amicus to the PIL, Senioradvocate Bashir Ahmad Bashir,submitted before the Division

120 PDD AEstransferred

Excelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Feb 8: The

Government today transferredand posted 120 InchargeAssistant Engineers (Electric)of the Power DevelopmentDepartment (PDD).

Mohd Tahir Shah I/CAssistant Engineer (Electric)ED-Ganderbal SD-Ganderbalwas transferred and posted asI/C AE (E), GCD Srinagar, SD-1 vice Khursheed AhmadAkhoon.

Khursheed Ahmad AkhoonI/C Assistant Engineer(Electric) GCD Srinagar, SD-1,was transferred and posted as

NH remains closed, air traffic resumed

5 cops among 10 killed, 2 rescuedFayaz Bukhari/Gopal Sharma

SRINAGAR/ JAMMU,Feb 8: Two policemen wererescued while dead bodies ofseven others including 5 copswere recovered from the ava-lanche that struck at JawaharTunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highwaylast evening while one cop wasstill missing, whereas two per-sons were killed due to shoot-ing stones in Ramban area anda boy was buried alive underavalanche in Chatroo area ofKishtwar.

The air traffic was restoredto Kashmir this afternoon whileJammu-Srinagar NationalHighway remained closed forthe third consecutive day today.

Batote-Doda-Kishtwar highwaycould not be restored due tofresh landslides in Assar andRaggi Nallah area today.

Official sources said thatsome villagers along with SDRFand Police this morninglaunched massive rescue opera-tion at Jawahar Tunnel by dig-ging snow with the shovels andearthmovers they had bought

along. They pulled bodies offive policemen and two civiliansand rescued two cops in injuredcondition while one was stillmissing. They were buried under

snow after an avalanche hitJawahar Tunnel along Srinagar-Jammu highway last evening.

The rescuers comprisingpolice, volunteers and memberof SDRF besides security forces

pulled out two persons alivefrom the Police posts who wereburied under mounds of snow.

The rescuers faced a lot ofdifficulty in reaching the ava-

lanche site this morning due tostrong winds and heavy snowthat had accumulated on thehighway. Around 1000 localsjoined the SDRF, Police andsecurity forces in the rescue

operation. The locals were carrying

shovels and three earthmoversthat they used to clear the high-way and dig the snow at the ava-lanche site. They protestedagainst the administration andpolice and alleged that theydelayed the rescue operation thatled to death of the seven personsincluding 5 cops. They alsoraised slogans against the policeand local administration.

Two survivors were locatedby the rescuers and they havebeen identified as MohammedKhalil (SPO) of Dog Squad,Ghulam Nabi alias Gulzar.

Seven bodies were alsoretrieved and they include that ofFayaz Ahmad Parrey (SelectionGrade Fireman, belt No. 1571),Firdous Ahmad (Head Constableof Fire Service, Driver No. 181),Constable Arshad Gul (1000/Kgm), Head Constable Muzafer(125/ Kgm.), Shabnam of (DogSquad) Kokernag, Vikram Singh,a civilian, son of KalvenderSingh of Salan Talab Udhampurand Baljeet Singh, civilian, sonof Hari Singh of Dera BabaNanak Gurdaspur Punjab. Theduo were arrested two days backwith narcotics at the JawaharTunnel.

Gopal SharmaDARHAL: Darhal con-

stituency of district Rajouri,recently represented by formerPDP Legislator, Ch Zulfkar Alicontinued to reel under severewater and power scarcity. Thecondition of most of the roadsand main Rajouri-Kandi- BudhalRoad, which is under BRO, isalso not good, although fromPalma side, the work has beenexpedited.

The people of this entire con-stituency are facing lot of prob-lems due to inadequate healthcare facilities, shortage of doc-tors and other para-medical staff.Even for small ailments, theMedical staff refers the case toDistrict Hospital, Rajouri fromDarhal, Kotranka and Budhal.Most of the water sources go dryduring hot summer days and thepeople of most of the villages

and hamletsr e m a i n

depend on the natural sourceslike, nallahs and springs.

This was second consecutiveterm of Ch Zulfkar Ali fromDarhal constituency. During2014 elections, Zulfkar secured24,381 votes and defeated NCcandidate Liaqat Choudhary,who got 19,313 votes. IqbalMalik of INC remained at thirdplace with 18,605 votes.

Excelsior team conductedextensive survey of the entireconstituency recently and inter-acted with a large number of peo-ple at Budhal, Khawas, Samote,Kotranka, Rehan, Targain,Swari, Danna, Tralla, Charhan,

Dhar Sakri, Peeri, Mandargalla,Darhal, Thanna Mang,Chowkian and several other vil-lages. It was found that water andpower related problems haveremained almost same as it wereabout 5 years ago. The teamrecorded the statements of vil-lagers and sought their remarkswith respect to performance oftheir recent MLA during thisterm.

In Kotranka area, many peo-ple spoke in favour of ex-MLAand former Minister Zulfkar ,giving him the credit for severalworks initiated including provid-ing ADC to Kotranka, improv-ing road condition in some areas,opening of many ration outlets in

the area, up-gradation of schoolsand sanctioning of many roadsunder PMGSY/CRF etc but thepeople from Budhal said thatthey are demanding restorationof their old Rajnagar `Kool'which has been broken at severalplaces but concerned authoritiesand their recent MLA did notgive attention towards this popu-lar demand. In the entire con-stituency, there is not even a sin-gle Gynecologist while peopleare dependent for delivery caseson the District Hospital, Rajouri.Darhal, Budhal and Kotrankahospitals are suffering for wantof adequate staff.

Mohd Shabir and ChanderShakher from Budhal said inGovt High School Gabbar,which is hardly 6 kms away,there is no Laboratory andLibrary. There are four ReTteachers, one headmaster out of

Darhal segment reels under water,power scarcity; roads too in bad shape

Ex-MLAs’ Report Card Constituency: Darhal

Ch Zulfkar Ali (PDP)http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/ex-mlas-report-card/

JAMMU : Mainly clear

TEMPERATUREMax: 18.5 Degree C Min: 6.1 Degree C

RELATIVE HUMIDITYRH-I (Morning): 91.0 per centRH-II (Evening): 41.0 per centSunset on Saturday: 06.12 p.m.Sunrise on Sunday: 07.19 a.m.

SRINAGAR:Mainly dry

TEMPERATUREMax: 8.8 Degree C Min: -1.0 Degree C

RELATIVE HUMIDITYRH-I (Morning): 93.0 per centRH-II (Evening): 54.0 per cent

LEH: TEMPERATURE

Max: 2.0 Degree C Min: -6.5 Degree C

WEATHER

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Nishikant KhajuriaJAMMU, Feb 8: Jammu

and Kashmir is likely to makeprovision of 10 percent reser-vation for economically weak-er sections in the general cate-gory by extending 124thAmendment of the IndianConstitution to J&K Statethrough a PresidentialOrdinance , very soon.

According to the highlyplaced sources, the matter in thisregard has been discussed at thetop level and the PresidentialOrdinance is likely to be issuedbefore the Modal Code ofConduct comes into force aheadof the forthcoming Lok Sabha

elections.A draft proposal is being

prepared by the StateGovernment in consultationwith the Department of Law,which will be forwarded by theState Administrative Council tothe Union Cabinet for itsapproval and consequentPresidential Ordinance for thereservation, sources added.

Prime Minister NarendraModi, in his Vijaypur rally onFebruary 3, had also hinted ofthe same when he said thatreservation for economicallyweaker sections of the generalcategory would also benefityouth of Jammu and Kashmir.

The reservation, meant for

individuals belonging to eco-nomically-weaker sectionswhose annual earning is belowRs 8 lakh and who possess lessthan 5 acres of agriculture land,was recently implemented bythe Government of India acrossthe country, except Jammu andKashmir State, after passage of124th ConstitutionalAmendment Bill by theParliament and subsequentapproval of the same byPresident of India, last month.

In Jammu and Kashmir,reservation for the reservedcategories is governed by J&KReservation Act 2004 andrules 2005, passed by the State

Presidential Ordinance likely soon on quotafor economically weaker unreserved in J&K

Sanjeev PargalJAMMU, Feb 8: With a

view to enhance and strength-en its capability for anti-ter-rorist and anti-infiltrationoperations along the Line ofControl (LoC) in Jammu andKashmir, the Army has startedinduction of sniper rifles andother modernized equipmentsand the entire process ofinduction will be completedshortly.

Sources told the Excelsiorthat Army would be inductingabout 6000 sniper rifles alongLoC in Jammu and Kashmirincluding twin border districts ofPoonch and Rajouri in Jammuregion and Baramulla andKupwara in Kashmir duringnext few months, which wouldbe of great help to the troops in

anti-militancy operations espe-cially in thwarting intrusion bidsfrom Pakistan as sniper riflescan strike the target from quite adistance.

"Army has a target of pur-chasing around 6000 sniperrifles for the soldiers deployedall along the LoC in Jammu andKashmir. The induction processhas begun with arrival of someof the weapons from suppliers.As soon as all weapons arereceived, they will be inductedon the LoC to strengthen capa-bility of the troops during anti-infiltration operations,'' theysaid.

The sniper rifles will replaceDragonov SVD rifles with Armysoldiers on the LoC.

Induction of sniper rifles onthe LoC, according to sources,will go a long way in more

forcefully countering infiltrationattempts by the troops on theLoC as these weapons can targetthe infiltrators from a very longdistance. The targets can be hitvery accurately with theseweapons, sources said.

Sources, however, added thatupgradation of weaponry is anongoing exercise.

"Other equipments whichenhance counter terrorismcapability of the Army alongthe LoC were also beinginducted,'' sources said,adding that further capabilitybuilding of the troops is in thepipeline".

As per the reports, soldiersguarding the LoC are being armedwith deadly new sniper rifles,including an anti-material riflethat can go through concrete and

Army begins induction of6,000 sniper rifles on LoC

Govind SharmaJAMMU, Feb 8: The State

Government today announcedStandard OperatingProcedures (SOPs) and nomi-nated Nodal Officers at vari-ous levels of healthcare institu-tions to streamline thepatients' referral system.

The objective behindannouncing SOPs is to providerequired level of treatment facil-ities to the patients, who needtreatment that is not within thescope of services of hospital andthe referral is made to other hos-pital.

According to the SOPs, the'On Duty' Consultant/Post

Graduate/BMO/Medical Officershall decide referral fromperipheral hospital/healthcarecentre to Tertiary Care Hospitaland sign the 'Referral Slip' of thepatient. The doctor referring thepatient will have to mention thedetails of the patient like treat-ment received, status of thepatient and reasons for referringthe patient to 'Tertiary CareHospital' on the 'Referral Slip'.

"Also, when the patient isbeing referred, a Whatsapp mes-sage should immediately go tothe Nodal Officer of the con-cerned referral hospital from the

'On Duty' doctor so that the nec-essary preparations are madewell in advance", read the SOPs.

"The treating doctor, besidessigning the referral, will have tomention his name, designation,registration number and mobilenumber under his seal. In case,the treating doctor decides toshift the patient in an ambu-lance, a medical attendant/ASHA worker, well versed with'resuscitation drill' shouldaccompany the patient alongwith a Patient Referral Log inthe prescribed format. However,

Govt announces SOPs to streamlinepatients’ referral system

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*Watch videos on www.excelsiornews.com

*Watch videos on www.excelsiornews.com

*Watch video on www.excelsiornews.com

Troops to get more upgraded weapons

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Planning Secy headed committee to identify posts of divisional heads

Div Com, IGP to beposted shortly; stepto fulfil people’saspirations

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Monthly audit to be conducted

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Doda, Kishtwar plunge into darkness

Dead bodies of cops buried under avalanche at JawaharTunnel being removed to Lower Munda by villagers and SDRFmen. Another pic on page 6. -Excelsior/Sajad Dar

(Contd on page 6 Col 5)