Kishtwar facing ecological imbalance due to development of power projects: Legislative Council Panel

The Committee on Petition of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council today said that Kashtiwar district is is facing brunt of ecological imbalance and negative effects of development process due to the Power Projects on the Chenab Basin. According to an official spokesperson, the meeting of the Legislative Panel Committee on the petition was held here today under the Chairmanship of MLC, Saif-ud-din Bhat to examine the issues relating to a petition of BK Thakur on behalf of people of Marwah-Dachchan and Kishtwar on Chenab Valley Power Projects (CVPP). The meeting…

Read More

Two more die of Swine Flu at SKIMS, toll rises to 27

Two more patients died of Swine Flu at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura, taking the death toll to 27 this season. Sources at SKIMS told Kashmir Post that a woman hailing from central Kashmir’s Budgam district died of H1N1 on Tuesday. “She was a case of comorbidities and also tested positive for H1N1 influenza earlier in the week,” they said. Another male patient from Ganderbal died of influenza on January 7 due to H1N1 at the hospital. With the fresh deaths, the death toll due to H1N1 influenza…

Read More

428000 kanal land under illegal possession of forces in J&K: Mehbooba Mufti

More than 21,400 hectare (428000 kanals) of land are under unauthorised occupation of army and other government forces in Jammu and Kashmir, the state legislative assembly was informed on Wednesday. In a written reply, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti informed the House that over 18,846 hectare (376920 kanal) are under unauthorised occupation of the forces in Kashmir division, including Ladakh. She added that over 2,555 hectare (51100 kanal) of land are under unauthorised occupation of the army in Jammu division. The chief minister maintained that this was in addition to thousands…

Read More

Three scholars take to arms in Kashmir during last two years

The newest recruit to the militant cause in Kashmir has a rare academic qualification. Before being suspended, he was a PhD scholar in applied geology at Aligarh Muslim University. Mannan Wani, a resident of Tekipora village in Kupwara district, appeared in a militant avatar in a photograph that went viral on social media recently and shows him posing with an assault rifle. “It is clear what has happened,” his brother Mubashir Wani, an engineer, told Kashmir Post, referring to the photograph. He said Mannan came home in October last year…

Read More

Only India will help develop Kashmir: Mehbooba Mufti

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday urged the people of the state to respect India as a nation and not to distance itself from the rest of the nation. While addressing the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Mehbooba said that the state’s development will be hindered if it did not show faith in the Indian constitution. While addressing the state assembly here, Mufti asked, “If we don’t believe in the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, if we don’t believe in the country’s constitution, then what do we believe…

Read More

GST not viable for J&K’s economy: KCCI

The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has not gone down well with the businessmen in Kashmir who are seeking its roll back in the present form. They complained that their concerns were never considered by the state and the central government before its extension to JK which, they said, has affected their already fledgling business. Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) president, Javed Tenga said GST implementation in Jammu and Kashmir was not a “well-thought-out” and not good for state’s economy. “It was implemented here in…

Read More

J&K govt has initiated power sector reforms worth Rs 4000 cr: Deputy CM

Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh on Wednesday said the central government has launched various schemes to strengthen the power infrastructure in the state worth over Rs 4,000 crore. Replying to a question raised by legislator Surinder Kumar Choudhary in Legislative Council, Singh informed the House that the Centre has sanctioned Rs 1,885.02 crore under various centrally sponsored schemes for carrying out power reforms and strengthening sub transmission and distribution network in Kashmir and Ladakh during the last three years. Similarly, an amount of Rs 2,211.01 crore has…

Read More

Tensions brewing in Kashmir after Hizb issues acid attack threat contesting panchayat polls

Ahead of the next month’s crucial panchayat elections, which will be a litmus test for the PDP-BJP coalition government, the Valley has been gripped with fear after Hizbul Mujahideen threatened to pour acid into the eyes of those who participate in the polls. The open threat by Riyaz Naikoo, the operational chief of the Hizb, comes days after the Hurriyat also asked people to stay away from the polls. In a video that has gone viral on social media, Naikoo is seen asking another top militant commander from south Kashmir’s…

Read More

Valley shivers at -6.2°C, water bodies freeze, No Rain, Snow till January 14

The weather in the summer capital continued to remain below -6°C for the third consecutive day, giving a tough time to residents. Though the weather is predicted to remain dry for the week, the mercury further dropped in Srinagar. Officials said the weather would remain dry till January 11 as the cloud cover had disappeared from the sky. The night temperature in the city settled at the season’s lowest of -6.2°C which was the coldest in the season so far — marginally down from -6.1°C recorded the previous night. Many…

Read More

Annual Amarnath pilgrimage from 28 June, 15000 pilgrims to be allowed daily

Governor chairs shrine board meeting; implementation of NGT directions discussed Governor NN Vohra, who is also the Chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), presided over an emergent meeting of the shrine board at New Delhi today to particularly discuss among other issues the implementation of the recent directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) with regard to the yatra and to decide the further course of action. The shrine board deliberated on the NGT’s directions contained in its December 13 and 14 orders in the case titled “Gauri…

Read More