Month: November 2015

Flights resume from Srinagar after 3 days

Editor

After three days of hiatus, air traffic resumed from the Srinagar airport today, with stranded passengers, mostly tourists, heaving a sigh of relief. With improved visibility and foggy conditions easing out, almost all flights, barring two which were scheduled to operate from the Srinagar international airport, were able to either take off or land. “The flight operations resumed from the Srinagar airport today as the visibility improved considerably,” said RK Shinde, Director of the Airport Authority of India in Srinagar. He said almost all airlines which had operations at the…

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Foundation laid twice by 2 CMs, but work on multi-storey parking yet to start

Editor

The PDP-BJP government has once again allegedly fooled the residents of Jammu as despite laying foundation stone twice by the two Chief Ministers, a multi-storey parking is yet to start at the busy General Bus Stand in the city. The Rs 201-crore project for the “modernisation of the General Bus Stand-cum-multi-level car parking-cum-commercial complex” was proposed in 2010-11. The foundation stone was laid by the then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in September 2 last year. But the work never started and once again the city witnessed a same impressive function…

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Make your own ration cards: Dept to consumers

Editor

Instead of providing new ration cards to consumers, the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department in Kashmir has asked them to buy a notebook where the record of monthly ration will be noted. People said instead of providing new ration cards, the department had asked them to buy a notebook with photograph pasted on it which would be considered as a ration card and on which the record of ration and other items provided would be recorded. “We have done as told by the department. They have said they…

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Srinagar downtown living in protests and choking pepper gas

Editor

The signs of daily life emerge early in Srinagar’s old city, the ground zero of frequent and often violent protests, as shopkeepers assemble the merchandise and ‘harrisa’ shops serve the exquisite mutton delicacy soon after the dawn’s first light. On Monday, as fog enveloped much of the Kashmir region, it was still a pleasant morning in old city neighbourhoods as residents, mostly young men, lined up inside famed eateries for harrisa, served hot and preferred on wintry mornings. A series of bridges over the Jhelum mark a boundary and divide…

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Smog engulfs Kashmir valley, poses threat to glaciers

Editor

The thick blanket of smog engulfing the Kashmir valley for the past three days has once again brought to focus the deadly mix of environmental conditions and pollution casting its spell on the fragile Himalayan region. Smog led to suspension of air traffic with people in idyllic region surprised by weather conditions which has affected every section of society. Though foggy conditions are usual phenomena during extreme winter months, it is often witnessed between mid-December and January and current haze is being seen by weather scientists due to excessive burning…

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‘Tainted’ members form part of JU’s sexual harassment panel

Editor

With blatant sexual harassment scarring faculty members, research scholars and students, the role of Jammu University — the country’s first ISO certified institute of research and higher learning — in conducting probe and punish culprits in sexual harassment cases has come under scanner. Contrary to the much-talked about claims of the university that it had “policies and procedures to provide an environment that is free from sexual harassment and sexual assault”, the Committee Against Sexual Harassment (CASH), constituted by the varsity to conduct inquiry and recommend action against the culprits,…

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Foggy weather affects flight movement at Srinagar airport

Editor

Air traffic to and fro Srinagar international airport was hit for the third day running today due to foggy weather, stranding hundreds of passengers including tourists. Flight operation at the airport is suspended for the last two days due to the fog. “Air traffic remains affected for the third day today as no flight has either landed or taken off from the airport here this morning,” Director, Airport Authority of India here, R K Shinde told PTI. He said bad weather was hampering the air traffic and no clearance has…

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Geelani made lifetime chairman of Hurriyat (G), organization expanded to Jammu & Ladakh

Editor

Hardline Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday appointed Syed Ali Shah Geelani as its lifetime chairman while restructuring the separatist amalgam to accommodate leaders who defected recently from the rival faction headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. “Seeing the unshakable, steadfast, uncompromised and active leadership of Geelani, the Hurriyat conference had accepted him as its lifetime Chairman,” a spokesman of the Hurriyat said after a meeting of the conglomerate of various separatist groups here. The meeting thoroughly discussed the prevailing political situation in Kashmir and Hurriyat also made some vital changes in the…

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Traders protest ‘forced evacuation’ for Flyover construction

Editor

Traders in the city staged a protest today accusing the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) of forcing them to evacuate their shops ahead of a flyover construction without proper rehabilitation. Traders staged a protest at the Hari Singh High Street this morning and demanded that they should be provided proper rehabilitation. The executing agency, ERA, was in the process of evacuating many commercial and residential properties to facilitate the ongoing construction of the longest flyover in Kashmir connecting Jahangir Chowk with Rambagh in which many shopkeepers have already been evacuated from…

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Police await Centre’s nod to prosecute Brigadier

Editor

Charges of abduction, murder invoked against the Army officer The Jammu and Kashmir Police have invoked charges of abduction, murder and disappearance of evidence against a brigadier-level officer of the Army, accused of the custodial death of a chemist from the Rawalpora locality of Srinagar in 2002. In its status report, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the police has told the Jammu and Kashmir High Court that the investigation into the 14-year-old case had been completed and the Central government nod for prosecution of accused Brigadier Kishore Malhotra was…

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