Chenab Valley witness season’s first snowfall

Most parts of the twin districts of Doda and Kishtwar today received season’s first snowfall, ending a long dry spell in the region. The snowfall was witnessed in the Kailash mountain ranges, Asha-Patti, Seoj Dhar, Chattargala, Dheraja, Mothala, Thanala, Dessa, Bhatta, Mangalthatha and many upper reaches of Kishtwar since last night. Mohammed Abbas, a local resident, said, “It is a great respite for the people who had been facing a dry spell for more than two months. The dry grass caught fire in many areas, resulting into massive damage to…

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Tourism best way to promote dialogue: Mehbooba

Asserting that tourism is the best way to promote dialogue, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said the state government is making efforts to create world-class tourist infrastructure in J&K. Interacting with a delegation of tour operators from different cities of the country, the Chief Minister said tourism promoted people-to-people contact and tourists become goodwill ambassadors of a place. She said like the maxim “seeing is believing,” a tourist can testify the veracity of a claim about a place only after visiting it. She asked the tour operators to promote visiting…

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Srinagar -Banihal highway four laning project misses another deadline

While work on major portion of Srinagar-Jammu highway from Jammu side is complete, the four laning of 67.7 km from Srinagar-Banihal has missed another deadline with officials stating that the project would take yet another year, thus aggravating the connectivity conundrum faced by the people in Kashmir. The four-laning project of Srinagar- Jammu Highway has been divided into six sub-projects, Jammu-Udhampur road (65 km), Chenani-Nashri tunnel (9.2 km), Ramban-Udhampur road (43 km), Banihal-Ramban road (36 km), Qazigund-Banihal road (15.25 km) and Srinagar-Banihal road (67.7 km). While work on Jammu-Udhampur stretch…

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Hari Om slams Leadership, BJP breaks silence, vows to back West Pak Refugees

Hari Om slams BJP over West Pak refugee issue Party ministers, however, keep mum to avoid confrontation with PDP Former BJP ideologue Hari Om has termed the BJP’s U-turn on the issuance of “domicile certificate” to Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan as “inhuman.” Hari Om, who had resigned from the party to oppose the formation of the coalition government with the PDP, alleged that the BJP had proved that it was no different from the separatists and other mainstream parties in the state. Hari Om now heads Jammu For…

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PDD Violates own schedule, resorts to over 20 Hour Cuts

Power supply will improve soon: Chief Engineer The Power Development Department (PDD) is resorting to over 20-hour power cuts in violation of the curtailment schedule of 4 and 8 hours which was earlier approved by the government for metered and unmetered areas respectively. PDD is not sticking to any curtailment schedule and the electricity is supplied only for few hours during the day which has triggered widespread resentment among people with protests lodged at many places. Even as PDD had to notify the outages schedule, it has not done so…

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Time to address ‘Weaknesses at Internal Level’: Mirwaiz on Kashmir Uprising

‘United leadership mulling long-term protest program, can’t go for hartals throughout the year’ Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Sunday said the recent five-month-long uprising in Kashmir has showed people and pro-freedom leaders how to “defeat” moves aimed at changing the Muslim majority character of J&K. He also said it is time to reach out to victims of forces’ action and go for introspection to “overcome the weaknesses” so that Kashmir can “emerge as a strong nation to combat politics of deceit.” Addressing a Seerat Conference organised by…

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Will make up for the lost time due to unrest: Mehbooba Mufti

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today regretted that a number of youth were affected by the turmoil in the past five months during which not only the government but every section of society suffered and now people have started realising the quantum of loss. The Chief Minister said her resolve had been to get the people of the state out of the time of uncertainty so that the youth have a joyful, happy and smiling future. Mehbooba also regretted the loss of time during the current working season and said instructions…

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