Month: December 2018

Jammu to Kashmir rail link likely to miss 2020 deadline

Editor

Linking Kashmir with the vast railway network outside Jammu and Kashmir has been further delayed due to a halt in construction of a vital bridge across Chenab, a part of the project that is already late by 16 years and facing a massive cost overrun of Rs 25,446 crore. According to the latest report of the union ministry of statistics and program implementation, work on this project was started in March 1995 and was initially proposed to be completed in 2002. Since then the project has missed several deadlines. In…

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Prolonged power cuts irk consumers across Kashmir Valley

Editor

Frequent unscheduled and prolonged power cuts have irked the people here as they have to face an ordeal in view of the biting cold in the ongo­ing winter. Many residents ex­pressed their resentment over the cuts enforced b the Power Development Department which has also triggered pro­tests in parts of Kashmir. Several residents complained of prolonged and unscheduled power cuts in their areas. The residents said that PDD is resort­ing to unscheduled power cuts in summer capital Srinagar and other districts of the valley. They lamented that the PDD is…

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BJP faces leadership crisis in Ladakh

Editor

Ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled next year, the BJP is facing a “leadership crisis” in the Ladakh region as all attempts of party leaders to mollify the “angry” lone Lok Sabha member from the region, Thupstan Chhewang, have failed to yield any positive results. Chhewang, who was the face of the BJP in Ladakh, had resigned from the saffron party’s primary membership and as a Lok Sabha member on November 14 to express his resentment for “exhibiting little concern for implementing the categorical assurance given during the 2014 elections that…

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Setback for PDP as Former Finance Minister Drabu quits party

Editor

In a major setback to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), its senior leader and former Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu on Thursday resigned from the party without specifying any particular reason. Drabu announced his resignation in a letter (uploaded on Twitter) to PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday evening while saying, “Bidding adieu to PDP! Another phase of life over”. In his letter, Drabu, who was associated with the PDP for the past over four years, said, “This had been coming for a while now. Even though I have not been…

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Intense cold wave continues across Kashmir Valley, Fresh snowfall expected on Dec 18, 19

Editor

An intense cold wave continued on Thursday across the Ladakh region with Leh recording minus 8.6 degrees Celsius, a Met department official said. He said the minimum temperatures remained below freezing point in the Kashmir Valley. “It will be partly cloudy for the next 24 hours till Friday in the Valley,” the official said. Jammu city recorded 8.8, Katra 8, Batote 2.7, Bannihal 0.2 and Bhaderwah 0.7 as the night’s lowest temperatures. The plains and upper reaches of Kashmir may receive another spell of rain and snowfall in the third…

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Real Kashmir Beat Aizawl FC 1-0, Jumps to 4th Spot

Editor

Debutants Real Kashmir FC continued their impressive show this I-League season by registering a solitary goal victory over former champions Aizawl FC at the TRC Turf ground here on Wednesday. Ivorian midfielder Bazie Armand struck the match-winner in the 30th minute to help the home side register their third win and jump to fourth in the league standings with 10 points from six games. Aizawl FC remains in ninth place with five points from seven games. Both the coaches made one change to the playing eleven that featured in their…

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Four political families in Kashmir target each other for being Dynasts

Editor

Owing their relevance largely to strong and irrefutable familial affiliations, Jammu and Kashmir’s four powerful dynastic families are engaged in serious verbal altercation blaming one another for being the dynasty. Four political families of the Kashmir Valley—the Abdullahs, Muftis, Lones, and Ansaris—are trying hard to prove to each other that they have risen on Kashmir’s political landscape without a godfather. National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir’s oldest political party. In the 1930s it was formed as J&K Muslim Conference which was rechristened as National Conference by the late 1930s. Since…

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Groom Gulmarg’s ski slopes, get them certified to boost its potential: Skiers

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Skiers and experts say that Gulmarg could realize its full skiing potential if its slopes are groomed and if the authorities concerned get its slopes, especially those in Apharwat range, certified by the Federation of International Skiing. For competitive skiing, says Olympics skiing coach Shabir Ahmad Wani, certification of ski slopes is important. The Federation takes into account different parameters such as the vertical drop, width, and degree of a ski slope. “Minus this certification, we are missing out on holding international competitions on our ski slopes. If we get…

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Presence of BSF at Pari Mahal ‘Unauthorized Occupation’, declares govt

Editor

The state government has declared the Border Security Force (BSF) camp inside Pari Mahal as “un-authorized occupation” and asserted that the camp would be reallocated soon. A meeting held under the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir to discuss “unauthorized occupation” of Pari Mahal by BSF, a nationally protected monument, stated that presence of BSF camp has been hampering the renovation work of the monument. According to the senior archaeologist and conservation assistant GRI, Archaeological Survey of India (Srinagar Circle), Pari Mahal is under “severe threat. The senior archaeologist informed the meeting that…

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Mercury plunges further, Srinagar shivers at -3.2

Editor

With the winter’s core period — famously known as ‘Chillai Kalan’ — still weeks away, the minimum temperatures across the Kashmir valley have dropped several degrees below the freezing point marking an early arrival of winter in the region. The night temperatures across the Valley, including in the summer capital, have dropped several degrees below the freezing point over the past week. The overnight temperature in the city was recorded at -3.2°C, which was two degrees below the normal, and marked a continuity of freezing night temperatures. The Valley is…

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