In 2002, the Jammu and Kashmir government set up a water-treatment plant at Pokhribal in Srinagar to supply drinking water from the Dal Lake to the households of the area. But local people objected saying the lake water was unfit for consumption, so the government changed the water source to a nearby freshwater stream. But, in the last decade, despite getting even more polluted, the Dal Lake has again become a source of drinking water for a significant portion of the city. The state’s Public Health Engineering (PHE) department, which…
Read MoreMonth: July 2018
Do not have numbers to form govt says BJP, Denies support to rebel PDP leaders
Priority to establish peace in state, says party’s in charge for Jammu & Kashmir In charge of the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir Avinash Rai Khanna has said that since the party did not have the numbers to form the government, it was not in any kind of hurry. Though he did not deny looking for a suitable arrangement, he said the party’s priority was to establish peace in the state before any decision on the government formation could be taken. “It is also wrong that the BJP is in…
Read MoreWular has lost its primary function of flood absorption basin for Jhelum
Not so long ago Wular in Bandipore was considered to be one of the largest freshwater lakes in Aisa, acting as a natural flood reservoir for Jhelum River to prevent floods in the Valley. Today, the lake is however gasping for survival as years of encroachment and siltation are posing a mortal threat to its existence. Notwithstanding these challenges, the government continues to sit over implementation of an ambitious multi-crore project to dredge the heavily silted Wular, a key component of lake’s massive conservation project, and restore its lost glory.…
Read MoreTragic Sunday: Rock crushes 7 to death under Siar Baba waterfall in Reasi
Seven people were crushed to death and 33 were wounded Sunday when a rock slipped off cliff and fell on them as they bathed under the famous Siar Baba waterfall in Reasi district. Two of the dead were women. All the injured were taken to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana hospital, Katra, where condition of three of them is stated to be serious. “Five people died on the spot and two others succumbed to their injuries at the hospital. Total 33 people sustained injuries,” District Development Commissioner Reasi, G PrasannaRamaswamy…
Read MoreJammu divided over Martyr’s Day, Governor skips ceremony in Srinagar
NC pays tributes, BJP says ‘not martyrs’ for us There should not be holiday on this day: Congress There is a sharp divide among people and the political parties in some of the districts of Jammu region with regard to observing of July 13 as the Martyrs’ Day. While BJP said that those who lost their lives on July 13, 1931 “were not martyrs” and some organisations observed it as a black day, the National Conference in the Jammu region observed the day paying rich tributes to the people who…
Read MorePDP rebels go all out against Mehbooba, says they are against Mehbooba not party
For the first time, the rebel group of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) jointly came out in public on Friday to counter the statement of party president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who earlier in the day cautioned New Delhi that engineering a split in her party would prove dangerous. The rebel legislators said they were not acting at the behest of New Delhi to split the PDP or form a government with the BJP. “It is a serious allegation. We are elected people and if you brand us like…
Read MoreLt. Gen Syed Ata Hasnain appointed Chancellor of Central University of Kashmir
Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd) has been appointed Chancellor of the Central University of Kashmir (CUK) for a five-year term. The appointment was cleared by President Ram Nath Kovind. He will replace founding Chancellor Sri kumar Banerjee. “The President of India in his capacity as a Visitor of central university of Kashmir has been pleased to appoint Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, former Military Secretary of the Army, as the Chancellor of CUKfor the tenure of five years as per statute 1 of the Central Universities Act of 2009,”…
Read MoreUnited Nations report on human rights violation in Kashmir baseless: Nirmala Sitharaman
The United Nations (UN) report on the human rights situation in Kashmir is baseless and without seeing the ground realities, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said here on Friday. On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had backed the report, and called for investigating the rights situation. “I don’t expect the UNSG to say anything different. But the fact is it was a report prepared sitting somewhere else. Assessment by UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is without basis on the ground and without seeing the situation on the ground,” Ms. Sitharaman told…
Read MoreUN Secretary-General backs Zeid’s call for Kashmir human rights investigation
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has backed Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s call for an international investigation into human rights situation in Kashmir saying that it represents the “voice of the UN”. He also defended at a news conference on Thursday his own report on children in armed conflict that referred to situations in Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. He denied India’s assertions that his report overstepped his mandate and that Zeid’s had no mandate and said that they were both covered by the “the general mandate…
Read MoreRSS-affiliate Rashtriya Muslim Manch sponsored Namaz on river bank called off after protest in Ayodhya
There were also rumours about Rashtriya Muslim Manch cancelling the event under pressure from the district administration. The Rashtriya Muslim Manch cancelled the grand namaz and Quran recitation session on the banks of Saryu river in Ayodhya scheduled for Thursday after some saints objected to it. “This programme was planned to bolster the unity between the two communities but since few people had reservations against it, the place has been changed,” said Muslim Rashtriya Manch leader Shabana Azmi. According to reports, some saints and a priest from Hanumangadhi Raju Das…
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