Excelsiordaily

REGD.NO.JK-71/15-17RNI No. 28547/65Vol No. 53 No. 346 JAMMU, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2017 18 Pages `̀ 5.00

Neeraj RohmetraJAMMU, Dec 15:

Tassaduq Hussain Mufti,Coordinator J&K ChiefMinister's Grievance Cell andbrother of Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti today sub-mitted his resignation ahead ofhis nomination as member ofthe Legislative Council, whichwas cleared by the Cabinettoday through circulationamong the Ministers.

He is being nominated as theMember of Legislative Councilagainst a vacancy that aroseafter the resignation ofVikramaditya Singh from thePDP as well as Upper House ona host of issues including non-

declaration of holiday on birthanniversary of Maharaja HariSingh.

PDP insiders told theExcelsior that while decks havebeen cleared for nomination ofTassaduq Mufti to theLegislative Council, few daysbefore start of budget session ofthe Legislature on January 2 butthey ruled out his immediateinduction in the Council ofMinistry on the ground that thePDP president and ChiefMinister Mehbooba Muftiwould like her brother to gain

some experience before beingmade the Minister.

Confirming his resignation,Tassaduq told the Excelsior thatthe CM's Grievance Cell, wherehe was working as Coordinatorwas doing very well and hadbeen able to handle lot of prob-lems put forth by the people.

"I enjoyed full support ofthe Chief Minister. We werenot only engaged in addressinggrievances of the people butwere working to create betteravenues for youth through thedata base,'' Tassaduq, whohad been appointedCoordinator of the CM'sGrievance Cell on May 12 thisyear, said.

Expressing confidence thatthe Grievance Cell would con-tinue to function with similarzeal, he said, " I owe success ofthe Cell to some brilliant offi-cers, who worked 24x7 to makeworking of the Cell a completesuccess by addressing problemsprojected by the people beforeit".

"We made lot of efforts invarious fields. Efforts were

made to reduce traffic conges-tion, solve problems arising outof brick kilns and enter into col-laboration with several organi-zations to find solution to prob-lems voiced by the people.Various innovative measureswere taken to simplify workingof many Departments,''Tassaduq said.

Sources said Tassaduq's res-ignation was necessitated beforehis nomination to the LegislativeCouncil as he can hold only oneoffice at a time. However, evenafter his resignation, sourcessaid, the Grievance Cell wouldcontinue to function and possi-bility about the appointment ofnew Coordinator hasn't beenruled out.

On his nomination to theUpper House, Tassaduq wouldget only remaining tem ofVikramaditya i.e. about threeand a half years.

He submitted his resignationto the Chief Secretary.

The State Cabinet todaycleared the nomination of

Tassaduq resigns as CM Grievance CellCoordinator, to be nominated as MLC

Gopal Sharma/ Fayaz Bukhari

JAMMU/ SRINAGAR,Dec 15: While dense fog inJammu and parts of northernregion badly affected air andtrain traffic, the winter capitalcity recorded season's lowesttemperature today whereas,ski-destination Gulmarg inKashmir broke last 10 years'record of experiencing lowestnight temperature.

Entire northern region hasgone in the grip of intense coldwave and the people have takenout heavy winter clothes. Withclear sky during night hours forthe last two days, the minimumtemperature in Jammu hasshown sharp fall.

Today, Jammu recorded aminimum temperature of 5.7degree Celsius while it was 12.5

degree C on December 12. OnThursday, the winter capital cityrecorded a temperature of 7.1degree Celsius while a day earli-

er, it was 8.8 degree Celsius. Asharp fall of nearly 7 degreesCelsius has been witnessed inJammu's temperature in just

past three days. A Met spokesman said that

in Jammu region, sky willremain clear for next one week.But the night temperature willshow gradual fall. He predictedsimilar dry weather in other tworegions of the State. He dis-closed that foggy weather condi-tions will continue to affect air,train and vehicular traffic in thenorthern region including someJammu areas for some time incoming days.

The spokesman furtherdisclosed that with theimprovement in weather afterrains, Jammu recorded a max-imum temperature of 15.5degree Celsius, Katra 15.6degree C, Bhaderwah maxi-mum 8.7 degree C and mini-mum minus 0.6 degree C,Banihal maximum 12.0

Sanjeev PargalJAMMU, Dec 15: The

State Government has put asound mechanism in place forimplementation of theannouncements made byChief Minister MehboobaMufti during her PublicOutreach Programmes foraddressing grievances of peo-ple in every district of theState.

Through the mechanism,which has been put in place, theGovernment wants to ensurethat announcements and promis-es made by the Chief Minister ather Grievance Redressal Campsare implemented expeditiouslyand the people don’t get achance to complaint about theworks.

Principal Secretary to ChiefMinister, Rohit Kansal, whoalso holds charge of Planning,Development and MonitoringDepartment, told the Excelsior

that the two DivisionalCommissioners of Jammu andKashmir divisions have beendesignated as Nodal Officers fortheir respective regions toimplement works approved bythe Chief Minister on spot onrequests of the people and otherannouncements made at the pub-lic outreach programmes.

“The DivisionalCommissioners have been askedto regularly monitor implemen-tation of the decisions taken dur-ing the Grievance RedressalProgrammes, held at the districtheadquarters and see to it thatprojects are taken up immediate-ly after the announcements andexecuted in time bound man-ner,’’ the Principal Secretary toCM said.

Official sources saidthough the Planning,Development and MonitoringDepartment, whose portfolioalso lies with Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti, would be

releasing funds promised forexecution of works at the pro-grammes at district level,within a week’s time, theDivisional Commissioners andthe District DevelopmentCommissioners have beenasked to go ahead with theworks without waiting forrelease of the funds.

“The DivisionalCommissioners and the DistrictDevelopment Commissionershave been briefed that theyshould go ahead with the worksapproved by the Chief Ministerwithout waiting for release ofthe funds. They have been prom-ised that the funds would bereleased within a week and,therefore, they can completeother formalities by then toensure completion of works atthe earliest.

A regular and proper moni-toring system has also been

Mohinder VermaJAMMU, Dec 15: Taking

serious note of disposal of solidwaste in most unscientificmanner and non-implementa-tion of Solid WasteManagement Rules, DivisionBench of State High Courtcomprising Chief JusticeBadar Durrez Ahmed andJustice Sanjeev Kumar todaydirected the CommissionerSecretary to Government,Housing and UrbanDevelopment Department andCommissioner of JammuMunicipal Corporation toappear in person on next dateof hearing to explain reasonsbehind non-serious approachtowards the issue connectedwith the environment andhealth of the common masses.

These directions were issuedin a Public Interest Litigation

titled Rajinder Singh VersusState of Jammu and Kashmirand Others. When the mattercame up for hearing, AdditionalAdvocate General Rohit Kapoorappearing for the PollutionControl Board made a powerpoint presentation highlightingthe mechanism to monitor ambi-ent air quality in Jammu.

Through the power pointpresentation, light was alsothrown on generation and dis-posal of solid waste and bio-medical waste and the areas ofthe concerns for the PollutionControl Board.

The DB was apprised thatPollution Control Board has set-up three stations for monitoringambient air quality at JewelChowk, Narwal and BariBrahmana and 13 new ambientair quality monitoring stationshave been proposed to theCentral Pollution Control Board.

It was also informed that threemore stations will come up atKachi Chawani, Janipur andSatwari Chowk.

As far as solid waste man-agement is concerned, the powerpoint presentation prepared bythe Pollution Control Boardrevealed that a total of 653 met-ric ton of solid waste is generat-ed every day in Jammu regionout of which 605 metric ton iscollected and only 5.5 metric tonper day is treated.

As far as Jammu city is con-cerned, a total of 380 TPD wasteis generated out of which 350TPD is collected. However,there is no mechanism for scien-tific disposal of waste and maxi-mum waste is either thrown inRiver Tawi or dumped in openat Bhagwati Nagar on about 60kanals of land despite the factthat the dumping site is at a

DB seeks personal appearance ofH&UDD Secy, JMC Commissioner

INSIDE WEATHERRegularizing daily wagers ...Page 8* Power crisis in Birpur industriesGovt regularizes services of493 ReTs in Jammudivision ....Page 3Naeem asks studentsto be torch-bearersof peace, humanity ....Page 5HC seeks report onfoot bridges ....Page 7Govt assign academic streams,faculty to 2 new EngineeringColleges ...Page 9Sindhu trounces Akane, Srikanth loses again at Dubai Finals ...Page 16

JAMMU : Partly cloudy.

TEMPERATUREMax: 15.5 Degree C Min: 5.7 Degree C

RELATIVE HUMIDITYRH-I (Morning): 97.0 per centRH-II (Evening): 84.0 per centSunset on Saturday: 05.28 p.m.Sunrise on Sunday: 07.27 a.m.

SRINAGAR:Possibility of light rain/thundershowers

TEMPERATUREMax: 8.3 Degree C Min: -0.1 Degree C

RELATIVE HUMIDITYRH-I (Morning): 84.0 per centRH-II (Evening): 63.0 per cent

LEH: TEMPERATURE

Max: 3.9 Degree C Min: -5.7 Degree C

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DB seeks ATR onex-MD, DGM inHousing scam

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 15: In themuch publicized Rs 27 crorescam in J&K Housing Board,Division Bench of the StateHigh Court comprising ChiefJustice Bader Durrez Ahmedand Justice Sanjeev Kumartoday directed CommissionerSecretary to GovernmentHousing and UrbanDevelopment Department tofile Action Taken Report (ATR)against Ram Paul Sharma, the

Illegal brickkilns around

AirportExcelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Dec 15: TheHigh Court was informed todaythat the authorities have shutdown the brick kilns in 8 kilo-meter radius around SrinagarAirport while they have failedto close down illegal brick kilnsoperating in the area.

High Court has beeninformed that all those regis-tered brick kilns, which werewithin 8 kilometers of peripher-al limits of airport, have beenclosed as per Court directions.However, Court has beeninformed that some illegal kilnsare still operating in the areawhich has also been broughtinto the notice of DeputyCommissioner Budgam but heis unable to take action.

Police foils rallyof separatists

Excelsior CorrespondentSRINAGAR, Dec 15:

Authorities today foiled sepa-ratist public rally at Anantnagtown by imposing restrictionsin Anantnag town and parts of

Srinagar while senior resistanceseparatist leader Mirwaiz UmarFarooq was detained by policeas he attempted to marchtowards Anantnag from his res-idence.

Police and Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) sealed offAnantnag town this morning to

Sonia to retirefrom politics

NEW DELHI, Dec 15: A day ahead of formally

handing over the leadership ofthe Congress party to her sonRahul, Congress president SoniaGandhi has indicated that shemay retire from active politics.

"My job is to retire," SoniaGandhi told reporters on thefirst day of the Winter Sessionof Parliament when asked abouther role after Rahul Gandhi for-mally takes over on Saturday.

"I will retire," Sonia Gandhitold reporters on the first day ofthe Winter Session of Parliamentwhen asked about her role afterRahul Gandhi formally takesover on Saturday. (Agencies)

Triple talaq billgets Cabinet nod

NEW DELHI, Dec 15: A draft law which seeks to

make the practice of instanttriple talaq "illegal and void"and provides for a jail term forthe husband was today clearedby the Union Cabinet.

The nod paves the way forits introduction in Parliamentduring the Winter session whichbegan today.

Law Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad confirmed that the'Muslim Women Protection ofRights on Marriage Bill' has

3 officers transferred

Excelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Dec 15: The

Government today issuedorders of transfer and postingsof three senior officers.

Commissioner/ Secretary toGovernment, Department ofForest, Ecology andEnvironment, MohammedAfzal Bhat has been transferredand posted as Commissioner/Secretary to Government,Agriculture ProductionDepartment against an availablevacancy.

Cell did a lot of work, I hope it will be taken forward’

Various innovative stepswere taken for

youth

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Pic on page 6

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Div Coms designated as NOs, release of funds in a week

Braving thick fog and harsh cold, a horse-cart driver moveson a road in Jammu on Friday morning. More pics on page 6.

-Excelsior/Rakesh

Slackness of authorities compels courts to interfere: CJ

Unscientific disposal of solid waste in Jammu

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Govt puts mechanism in place toimplement CM’s announcements

PANAJI, Dec 15: Jammu and Kashmir Chief

Minister Mehbooba Muftitoday asked the media to getKashmiris closer to the rest ofIndia rather than adding “fuelto the fire”.

She was speaking at thethree-day-long “India IdeasConclave 2017” organised bythe India Foundation here.

She said the media keptabusing and accusing separatistsbut at the same time kept gettingthem on television giving themTV time to spew venom.

“I don’t know why do theydo it. Is it because of TRPs?Media should help us to getKashmir out of the present situ-ation and not add fuel to thefire,” she said.

She said that some sectionsof the media pick up the “most

rotten” person fromthe State who speaksagainst the country.

“They pick up aguy who is notknown to anyone, noKashmiri knowshim. They put himon television andthen they get some-one to combat him.They give him thatkind of space on tele-vision,” she said.

“And these twoare fighting andKashmiris and othercountrymen watchthem. The other coun-trymen feel that this Kashmiri istalking bad about the country soKashmiris are bad. And theKashmiris feel that other fellowis accusing Kashmir,” she said.

“Media should play a role in

bringing Kashmiris and the restof the country closer to eachother. They should pick up peo-ple who talk nice things aboutthe country,” she added.

She said that Kashmiriyat isreflected in the acts of the peo-

ple of Kashmir. “You can get theproof of Kashmiriyat in the actsof people who rushed to helpAmarnath yatris (when theywere attacked),” she said.

“That time large number ofpeople went to hospital todonate blood. Last year whenthere was an accident, peopletook passengers to their houses.This is what Kashmiris are basi-cally,” she said.

The three-day conclave wasinaugurated in presence of for-mer Sri Lankan PresidentChandrika Kumaratunga, UnionMinister of State for externalAffairs M J Akbar, Minister ofState from the United ArabEmirates Zaki Anwar Nusseibehand Goa Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar.

Mehbooba said herGovernment was also helping

‘Helping Pandits who stayed back’Bring Kashmiris closer to India: CM to media

Jammu records season’s lowest temp,Gulmarg breaks record of past 10 yrs

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Dense fog affects train, air traffic