Year: 2020

Will fight for the restoration of J&K’s Special Status, won’t let BJP succeed in “Mission to Grab”: PDP

Editor

With its president behind bars, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday passed a resolution in Jammu, the first since the Centre’s August 5, 2019 decision to revoke J&K’s special status, and “pledged to fight for the restoration of the special constitutional and legal status of the erstwhile State.”J&K should be made a bridge of peace and friendship instead of a battleground between neighboring countries. There is no alternative to the roadmap and the vision of [PDP patron] late Mufti Muhammad Sayed, who advocated dialogue and reconciliation between communities, within…

Read More

From July 21, Highway travel to get costlier as NHAI will start toll collection at Lakhanpur

Editor

Amid growing public outcry and protests, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is starting a new toll plaza at Lakhanpur—the gateway of Jammu and Kashmir—in Kathua district from July 21, the day this year’s curtailed Amarnath Yatra is proposed to begin. The NHAI has signed a Letter of Agreement (LoA) for operationalisation of toll plaza at Lakhanpur with the Haryana-based Ranchordas Company. With this, all Kashmir-bound tourists and Vaishno Devi pilgrims entering or leaving J&K will now have to shell out extra money on toll at three different toll posts—Thandi…

Read More

Amid complaints of negligence, doctors face attacks in hospitals leading to Protest & Strike

Editor

As the spike in COVID cases has burdened the already stressed health infrastructure, doctors have come in the line of fire amid complaints of medical negligence from patients and attendants. While the doctors are demanding security after an increase in confrontations and attacks from attendants, many are questioning the role of doctors in the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Videos of both doctors being attacked in hospitals and those of attendants highlighting the poor infrastructure and medical negligence have, of late, been doing the rounds on the social media. “Confrontations…

Read More

Hue & Cry across Kashmir as thousands of non-local are arriving amid pandemic and lockdown

Editor

If public transport is banned in Kashmir, why is no such ban on the highway: Locals ask Is India planning large-scale killings in Kashmir through Hindutva terrorists A video has gone viral on social media network sites wherein non-local labourers heading towards Kashmir say they have not undergone COVID19 test has left people here worried. The administration says that the necessary protocol is being followed. In the video, a bus can be seen halted somewhere on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway while on the way to Kashmir. One of the passengers…

Read More

Weatherman predicts wet spell between July 20 and 21

Editor

Kashmir is likely to get a relief from hot weather conditions as the Metrological department Saturday forecasted light rains between July 20 and 21 while its main activity would be Monday evening. Director Meteorological Department, Srinagar, Sonam Lotus told Kashmir InFocus that they were expecting light rains in scattered places of Kashmir from Monday till Tuesday afternoon. “We are expecting a good spell of rains to occur at most places of Jammu, scattered places of Kashmir and at isolated places of Ladakh regions between July 20 and 21 with main…

Read More

As corona-virus cross 13000 cases, restrictions & curbs returned to J&K

Editor

Five fresh deaths, all from Kashmir Valley, were reported during the past 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), taking the coronavirus toll to 236 in the Union Territory. With 441 new positive cases, the Covid count reached 13,198. Even as J&K continued to witness a surge in COVID cases, for the first time, the number of patients recovered was higher than those who tested positive on a single day. Patients, numbering 607, were cured and discharged from different hospitals in J&K on Saturday. As per the official bulletin issued…

Read More

GoI amended J&K Development Act for ‘Land Grabbing’: Regional Political Parties

Editor

A day after the Jammu and Kashmir administrative council amended the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act, paving the way for armed forces to notify “strategic areas” for themselves, regional political parties accused the government of being “on a mission of a major land grab”. The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference in a statement said the move could be anything ranging from establishing colonies to the special deployment of defense equipment to creating an army establishment in J&K. The party described the proposed amendment as a remnant of colonial era laws.…

Read More

GoI changes laws to aid the construction of armed forces facilities outside cantonments

Editor

Slum rehabilitation, Special townships, New Housing Policy approved in J&K Over 2 lakh houses to be built in the next few years 7 models of housing development in JK The Administrative Council (AC), which met here under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, G C Murmu, accorded sanction to the proposal of Housing and Urban Development Department for adoption and notification of J&K Housing, Affordable Housing, Slum Redevelopment, and Rehabilitation and Township Policy, 2020. The policy envisages seven models of housing, ranging from in-situ slum redevelopment to integrated township, to cater…

Read More

Kashmir could be Next Big Flashpoint between India and China: US Experts

Editor

These moves in Kashmir will add more tensions to already strained ties between India and China. According to experts, “Exploiting India’s vulnerabilities is an essential element of China’s “contain India” policy.” Tensions between India and China have not even cooled down and experts have already warned that Kashmir could emerge as the next big flash-point between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. And this time, India and China would be joined by the third claimant to Kashmir – Pakistan. India has vehemently objected to the construction of multi-billion-dollar Diamer Bhasha multipurpose dam…

Read More

Udhampur – Srinagar -Baramulla railway link to completed by 2022: V.K. Yadav

Editor

The Indian Railways is hopeful it will complete the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link by December 2022 and the central government is closely monitoring its progress, Railway Board Chairman V.K. Yadav said on Friday. Addressing a virtual press conference, Yadav said, “Execution of the last stretch of 111 km from Katra to Banihal is in progress and the project is targeted to be completed by December 2022.” The Chairman stressed that the balance section of the project is one of the most challenging tasks as it entails large scale tunneling and bridge…

Read More