Category: General News

General News

Mehbooba Drops Four Party Ministers, 22 Ministers took oath in five languages

Editor

Taking everybody by surprise, PDP chief Mehoboba Mufti, who took over as first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, dropped four party ministers including a senior leader. Mehbooba dropped Altaf Bukhari and Javed Mustafa Mir, who were cabinet ministers in late Mufti Sayeed’s 10 month long government. Both are senior leaders. Bukhari is party treasurer and represents Amira Kadal constituency in Assembly while Javed Mustafa Mir represents Chadoora constituency. He won three elections in a row from Chadoora. Besides, Mehbooba also dropped two former MoS in Mufti-Sayeed’s…

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BJP-PDP Alliance will take JK to ‘Newer Heights’ : Amit Shah

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BJP chief Amit Shah today asserted that the party’s alliance government with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir will take the state to “newer heights”. “Congratulations to CM Mehbooba Mufti and Deputy CM Nirmal Singh. I am sure the BJP-PDP alliance will take state to newer heights,” he said in a tweet soon after the PDP leader took oath as the first woman chief minister of the state. Finance Minister and senior party leader Arun Jaitley also congratulated Ms Mufti. “Congratulations Mehbooba Mufti ji on being sworn in as the first…

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PDP, BJP to axe important faces in Mehbooba Govt?

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As officials at the Jammu and Kashmir Raj Bhavan and the civil secretariat skipped their Sunday holiday to address protocol and legal issues related to Monday’s swearing-in of an elected government, intense speculation did the rounds on who will get a berth or will be axed in new council of ministers. Governor N.N. Vohra formally invited Mehbooba Mufti, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief, on Saturday evening to be sworn-in as the new chief minister of the state on Monday. Initial reports about the composition of the council of ministers…

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No word yet on who made it to new council of ministers

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As PDP president Mehbooba Mufti prepares to take charge tomorrow as the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, there is no word yet on who all made it to the council of ministers. “We are all in Jammu for the swearing-in ceremony but we have not been informed yet as to who all are going to be included in the council of ministers tomorrow. At least I have not been informed yet,” an influential PDP leader and a former minister told . He said the PDP president has…

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Get ready for power pangs this summer

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Low discharge of water hits electricity generation, eight small hydropower projects still shut Scanty rain and less snowfall are set to compound electricity woes of Jammu and Kashmir this summer as the state continues to generate only 50 per cent of its total power generation capacity due to low discharge of water into all major rivers. “The generation capacity of the state is 770 MW. Generation has come down drastically to around 400 MW due to low discharge into rivers. We have been running only two turbines of 150 MW…

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Guv approves supplementary budget for three months

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Jammu and Kashmir’s State Administrative Council (SAC) which met here on Monday under the chairmanship of Governor N.N. Vohra, approved supplementary budget for three months for the state. “The SAC approved the ‘On Account Appropriation’ for a period of three months beginning April, 2016,” said an official statement here. The ‘on account appropriation’ by the governor’s administration was necessitated because a regular budget could not be passed in Jammu and Kashmir as the state legislature has been put under suspended animation following imposition of governor’s rule here on January 8.…

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Haj Committee must increase general category quota for J&K : Mir

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The decision of the Haj Committee of India not to increase the quota for Haj aspirants of Jammu and Kashmir under the general category has not gone down well with people of the state. Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Party Nationalist president Ghulam Hassan Mir has asked the Haj Committee to reconsider its decision and increase the quota under the general category. Mir said J&K being the only Muslim-majority state had high expectations from the Haj Committee in giving preference in the Haj quota. “The decision has disappointed Haj aspirants who…

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Madhav to visit Jammu to tackle infighting over portfolios

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Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Ram Madhav will be reaching Jammu on March 30, his second visit here in a week since the process of government formation began in the state. Sources say Madhav’s visit is aimed at overcoming the infighting in the BJP cadre over distribution of portfolios and inclusion of fresh faces in the Cabinet. It was apparent that all was not well with the BJP when former Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh went to give the letter of support to Governor NN Vohra on March 25 while…

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New National Highway leaves people jobless

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Tourists and pilgrims deprived of picnic spots on Jammu-Srinagar stretch The newly constructed Jammu-Srinagar highway that opened for vehicular movement in March 2015 has brought a new dimension to commuting with four-laned traffic movement making it fast and quick. This left behind certain important spots bypassed in the process that used to be tourists’ delight while commuting on the old highway. Nandini and Jhajhharkotli, the two important sojourn spots for the tourists moving from Jammu to Srinagar, had been important stopovers for tourists for many reasons. Nandini, 28 km from…

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In JK, New Delhi’s key infrastructure, energy projects hit by delays

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The Government of India’s key infrastructure projects in J&K have been hit by delays, raising questions on the central government’s promises to bring about socio- economic development in the State, according to officials. A cursory look at the mega central-sector projects being executed in the State reveals that all of them have failed to meet deadlines fixed for their commissioning. The projects—which could have been of immense benefit to over 1. 25 crore souls of the State—are being executed at a snail’s pace, with interventions from top offices including the…

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