Tuesday December 17, 20198

TSEWANG RIGZINLEH: The hunger-strike ofstudents in Leh was called offhere on Monday afternoon onthe condition that same wouldbe resumed on December 18,if students will not receive awritten assurance from theMember Parliament Ladakh,Jamyang Tsering Namgyal,as agreed on Sunday.

A number of representativesfrom different students'unions under the banner ofStudents Organisation ofUnified Ladakh (SOUL)have launched a hunger strikesince December 12 demand-ing Sixth Schedule forLadakh. The students wereon hunger strike despitefreezing cold weather of Lehand many were hospitalised."We have been in one voicedemanding Sixth Schedulefor Ladakh to safeguardLadakh's environment, iden-tity, culture and job opportu-

nities," SOUL President,Rigzin Dorjay said whileaddressing media.

He further said that MPLadakh has promised to pro-vide them a written assurancebut the same is still awaited."We are still waiting. Studentswould be forced to resume thestrike if a written assurance isnot received within days. Werequest all religious, politicaland social organisations tojoin our protest demandingprotection of the heritage andculture passed on by our fore-fathers," student leaderStanzin Tsetan said.

President All LadakhStudents AssociationJammu, President LadakhStudents Welfare SocietyDelhi and representatives ofStudents Union of Nubra andEJM Degree College werealso present on the occasion.

MP Ladakh, JamyangTsering Namgyal visited the

students on Sunday andrequested them to call offtheir strike assuring that hewould keep no stone unturnedto ensure safeguarding ofLadakh's ecology, culture anddistinct identity. He alsoassured students of providinga written assurance in thisregard. He was accompaniedby CEC, LAHDC Leh, GyalP Wangyal besides others.

Responding to the demandof Sixth Schedule, MPLadakh said that along withadvantages, Sixth Schedulealso has many disadvantagesfor Ladakh and hence it needsto be studied properly beforedemanding the same.

Regarding protection ofLadakh's land, the MPclaimed that nothing will hap-pen to Ladakh's land as allland comes under the powerof Ladakh Autonomous HillDevelopment Council(LAHDC) as per LAHDCAct. Namgyal further allegedthat the issue has been flaredup politically by some vestedinterests in view of LAHDCelections in 2020.

Ladakhis have beendemanding Sixth Schedule onground as Ladakh constitutesmore than 95 per cent tribalpopulation and the demandalready stands recommendedto the Home Ministry by theNational Commission forSchedule Tribe (NCST).

STATE TIMES NEWSKARGIL: Vice ChancellorUniversity of Ladakh, CPhunsog called on theChairman and ChiefExecutive Councillor,LAHDC, Kargil FerozAhmad Khan at theCouncil Secretariat Kargilhere on Monday.

During the course of themeeting, various issueswith regard to the presentstatus of the functioning ofthe Ladakh University andother related issues werediscussed threadbare.

Registrar LadakhUniversity Imteeaz Kacho,Controller ExaminationsProf Deskyong Namgyaland other concerned offi-cers were also present.

The taking over of thecampuses of the KashmirUniversity in Ladakh

including the Off SiteSatellite Campus atKurbathang by theUniversity of Ladakh alsocame up for discussion.

The Vice Chancellor whileinforming the CEC aboutthe starting of variouscourses by the Universityin its affiliated collegesand various campuses atLeh and Kargil during theupcoming academic seasonsaid that the process ofadmission for variouscourses is scheduled tobegin from December 25,2019 detailed informationabout which would followin due course of time.

Feroz Khan also took upthe matter for granting ofa Degree College at Sankoowhich was agreed by theformer Governor of theerstwhile state of Jammu

and Kashmir Satya PalMalik.

He urged the VC to pur-sue the case with the con-cerned authorities for earlysanction of the college sothat a large number of stu-dents from the Suru Valleydo not have to suffer forthe cause of higher educa-tion.

Meanwhile, the ViceChancellor in the companyof the CEC, LAHDC,Kargil took a round of theHill Council SecretariatBuilding to get an idea forconstructing theA d m i n i s t r a t i v eHeadquarters of theUniversity of Ladakh. TheCEC assured the ViceChancellor all possible sup-port from the LAHDCKargil for establishment ofthe University.

STATE TIMES NEWSSRINAGAR: DIG NKRBaramulla, M SulemanChaudhary reviewed crimeand security situationwhile chairing a meeting ofDistrict Police Baramulla.SSP Baramulla AbQayoom, ASP Baramulla,DySP Hqrs and all SDPOsof the district were presentin the meeting.

DIG NKR Baramullaheld a thorough discussionregarding working ofBaramulla Police on all

fronts including investiga-tion, prosecution, crime,disposal of complaints,L&O and other issuesrelated to policing.

He stressed on promptinvestigation and speedydisposal of under investi-gation cases.

Discussions to strength-en security grid and coor-dination among differentsecurity agencies were alsoheld on the occasionbesides security arrange-ments for district were

also reviewed.Later, DIG NKR held an

interaction with officersand officials at DistrictPolice Lines Baramulla.

He exhorted upon theofficials to continue theirwork with dedication andcommitment to ensure thatpeace prevails in the area.

He emphasized uponthem to deal with issuesinvolving public on priorityand urged upon officers toremain readily availablefor welfare of citizens.

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: National MineralDevelopment Corporation(NMDC), India's LargestIron Ore producer, baggedfive prestigious awards at41st All India PublicRelations Conference organ-ised by Public RelationsSociety of India (PRSI) atHyderabad recently. Theawards were received bySumit Deb, Director(Personnel) on behalf ofNMDC from Mahmood Ali,Home Minister of Telangana.

NMDC bagged awards inHouse Journal (Hindi) titledKhanij Bharati (1st prize).Khanij Bharati is a maga-zine published entirely inHindi by the OfficialLanguage Department ofNMDC Corporate Office.The magazine encouragesemployees to write originalarticles in Hindi and on other

technical topics.Sustainable Development

Report - Titled: ExpandingHorizons (2nd prize): TheSustainability Report hasfocused in the areas of scien-tific mining, social responsi-bility, climate protection, bio-diversity conservation andeconomic development.

Corporate Film (Hindi)(2nd prize): Corporate filmshowcases NMDC's origin,history, activities andachievements, growth plans,R&D activities, CSR activi-ties, Environmental protec-tion measures taken atNMDC, global footprints ofNMDC etc.

Social Media & PR &Branding (2nd prize):NMDC started its socialpresence in Aug'2016 todevelop brand awareness ini-tially. Later this medium isused to amplify PR and

branding.Coffee Table Book titled 60

Years of Excellence (3rdprize): Coffee Table Book ofNMDC is story of journey of60 years of NMDC, rightfrom its inception. Rare pic-tures of past glorious historyof NMDC, apart fromNMDC's milestones in its 60years journey are highlightedin this Collectors' Book.

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: Rotary Club ofJammu Midtown held 'Neki-ki-Diwar', a wall of kindnesshere on Monday at House No38 Sec 1-C, Trikuta Nagar,wherein new and used clothes(winter-wears) includingshawls, blankets, sweaters,utensils, school bags, copies,

pencils, shoes, toys etc weredistributed among needypeople.

Around 200 persons chosegarments and other items forthemselves. In future also,this 'Neki Ki Diwar' eventwill continue to serve needypeople.

Dr Dushyant Chowdhury,

Sumil Goel, AssistantGovernor, Meena JamwalPresident and Agya KaurSecretary and other mem-bers of the Club were alsopresent on the occasion.

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: Jammu andKashmir Academy of Art,Culture and Languages(JKAACL) organised a two-day mega Gojri Conferencehere on Monday on theme'Gojri Language- PresentScenario, Future Challengesand Opportunities'. The con-ference was organised in col-laboration with the RegionalOutreach Bureau, Ministryof Information andBroadcasting, J&K region.

The conference was attend-ed by Vice Chancellor, BabaGhulam Shah BadshahUniversity, Professor MasratJavaid; Deputy Director,Regional Outreach Bureau,Ministry of Information andBroadcasting, J&K region,Neha Jalali; ChoudharyMohammad Irshad andChoudhary Jamaat Ali.

The inaugural session waspresided over by ViceChancellor BGBSU,Professor Masrat Javaid. Inhis address, he said that it istime to take education todoorsteps of Gujjar commu-nity and the best step hasbeen taken with establish-ment of Baba Ghulam ShahBadshah University atRajouri.

He further said that it isonly due to the initiativestaken by Cultural Academy

that Gojri language has beenrevived in J&K and taken outof the oblivion.

Presenting formal vote ofthanks, Deputy Director,Regional Outreach Bureau,J&K Region, Neha Jalalisaid that the media has avital role to play for conser-vation of the language andstressed on importance ofpublic broadcaster and othercentral government organisa-tions for promotion andpreservation of Gojri lan-guage.

Mohammad Amin Qamar,a noted writer andChoudhary Irshad Ahmadalso spoke on the occasion.

Regional Outreach Bureau(ROB), Ministry ofInformation andBroadcasting, J&K Regionalso organised a photo- exhi-bition as a part of the event

focusing on various CentrallySponsored Schemes relatedto women empowerment, girlchild education and safety,mother and child health, bet-terment of farmers, uplift-ment of poor, animal hus-bandry, building-up of infra-structure and social justiceetc. Further, six stalls bySheep Husbandry, AnimalHusbandry, Agriculture,Health, EducationDepartments and J&K Bankwere also installed for aware-ness of people regarding var-ious central sponsoredschemes and programmes.

On the occasion, a numberof books on Gojri prose andpoetry were released includ-ing Quliyat-e-Iqbal Azeem,special issue on Sarvar-e-Kasana, Chandni and collec-tion of short-stories byMohammad Amin Qamar.

STATE TIMES NEWSSRINAGAR: Justice AliMohammad Magrey direct-ed respondents to conductthe counselling-cum-docu-ment verification of thepetitioners with respect tothe post of InformationAssistants (ST Category)advertised vide notificationNo. 03/2017 dated 17th ofNovember, 2017 after giv-ing wide circulation to thesame in the area(s) wherethe concerned candidates,i.e., the petitioners herein,reside and, accordingly,finalize the selection of thesaid post on the basis ofmerit secured by the com-peting candidates in accor-dance with the rules govern-ing the subject. Since, theadvertisement in questionstands issued by the respon-dent Board way back in theyear 2017, therefore, let therespondents complete theaforesaid exercise and takethe selection to its logicalconclusion expeditiously,preferably within a period oftwo months from today.

This significant judgmenthas been passed in a peti-tion filed by Tufail AhmedLone & Ors seeking direc-tion to respondents to con-duct counselling and docu-ment verification in respectof the petitioners for thepost of InformationAssistant advertised videnotification No. 03/2017dated 17-11-2017 and alsoto consider the petitionersfor final selection againstthe post of InformationAssistant advertised videnotification No. 03/2017dated 17-11-2017 and incase the petitioners are mer-itorious, select and appointthem on the post ofInformation Assistant.

Justice Ali MohammadMagrey observed that thepetitioners are the only twocandidates who have beenshortlisted for the post ofInformation Assistantunder ST category, but,they, due to lack of knowl-edge, could not attend thecounselling-cum-documentverification process initiated

by the respondents on theappointed date. It is alsonot in dispute that the peti-tioners hail from a far-offplace in Kargil, where com-paratively far lesser modesof communication are avail-able. Furthermore, from abare perusal of the notifica-tion dated 9th of May, 2018,it becomes axiomatic thatcopy of the same was sent toDirector Information, J&Kfor publication of the samein at least three local news-papers of Jammu/ Srinagaron three consecutive dates,but no request was made tothe Director InformationJ&K to publish the notifica-tion in any local newspaperof Ladakh Division. Therespondents, on beingspecifically asked by thisCourt to produce the rele-vant records substantiatingthe publication of the notifi-cation for counselling-cum-document verification in theleading newspapers, couldnot produce anything withrespect thereto. It being soand having regard to the

fact that only two candi-dates were shortlisted forthe post of InformationAssistants under ST catego-ry, the respondents couldnot deny the petitioners theright to participate in theselection only on the groundthat they did not turn up onthe appointed date fixed forcounselling-cum-documentverification, for which a rea-sonable explanation hasbeen given by the petition-ers. Even otherwise, sincethere are only two candi-dates shortlisted for selec-tion against the post ofInformation Assistantunder ST category, viz. thepetitioners herein, there-fore, no prejudice couldhave been caused to anyone,muchless to a competingcandidate, in case therespondent Board, in viewof the fact situation attend-ing the instant case, had re-fixed the date for coun-selling-cum-document veri-fication so as to take theselection process so initiatedby them to its logical conclu-

sion and the contention ofthe respondent Board thatthe notification dated 9th ofMay, 2018 was dulyuploaded on the officialwebsite of the Board mayconstitute due and suffi-cient publication with refer-ence to the candidates hail-ing from Srinagar/ Jammu,but the same cannot holdgood for the candidates whohail from far-flung areaslike Kargil. Moreover, sincethe petitioners, who bothhail from Kargil, were theonly two candidates short-listed for the post in ques-tion, therefore, it wasincumbent upon the respon-dent Board to have the noti-fication dated 9th of May,2018 for counselling-cum-document verification pub-lished in any of the newspa-pers having wide publicityin Ladakh Division, whichhas not been done by therespondents thereby preju-dicing the rights and inter-ests of the petitioners. Withthese observations HighCourt allowed the petition.

STATE TIMES NEWSKARGIL: In the backdropof the closure of ZojilaPass, two sorties of IL-76between Leh and Srinagarand back while as one sortieof AN-32 Courier Service ofthe Indian Air Force (IAF)between Kargil andSrinagar and back werearranged by theAdministration of UnionTerritory of Ladakh onMonday.

A total of 352 strandedpassengers, students,patients and senior citizenswere airlifted from Leh toSrinagar while as a total of265 stranded passengerswere air lifted fromSrinagar to Leh in two sor-ties of IL-76. One sortie ofAN-32 Courier airlifted 54passengers in total betweenSrinagar and Kargil.

Meanwhile, Chairman andChief Executive CouncilorLAHDC Kargil FerozAhmad Khan has expressedgratitude to the adminis-tration of UT Ladakh forpursuing the matter withutmost urgency.

The CEC has appreciated

the efforts of LieutenantGovernor LadakhR.K.Mathur, Advisor to LGUmang Narula,Commissioner SecretaryCivil Aviation RigzianSampheal and DivisionalCommissioner LadakhSaugat Biswas for takingup the matter with theMinistry of Defence on pri-ority thereby facilitatingthe stranded passengers.

The CEC has also appre-ciated the role of Districtadministration Leh andKargil particularly theDC/CEO LAHDC KargilBaseer Ul Haq Choudharyand DC/CEO LAHDCKargil Sachin KumarVaishya for facilitating theentire process.

The CEC has alsoacknowledged the efforts ofthe Indian Air Force (IAF)for airlifting of the strand-ed passengers.

The CEC has expressedoptimism that the LAHDCKargil will get continuouscooperation and supportfrom the Administration ofUnion Territory of Ladakhand IAF in future as well.

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: Ishwar Sodhi,Executive Member, J&KIntellectual Civil Society(JKICS), New Delhiexpressed gratitude to theMinister for Railways,Piyush Goyal for sanctioninga new train service fromJammu to Chandigarh viaAmritsar, which will not onlyprovide relief to people ofJammu, Chandigarh andAmritsar areas but will alsoboost inter-state rail connec-tivity.

In a statement issued here,Sodhi said that it will provid-ed relief not only to people ofJammu, Chandigarh andAmritsar areas but also tothe tourists who used tospent hefty amount andfaced inconvenience in past,while visiting these areas.

Sodhi further stated thatthe new train will not onlyprovide benefit to tourists

but will also benefit otherswho can easily visit and payrespect at Golden Temple(Darbar Sahib) and haveblessings along with stu-dents, who can also visitthese places for attendinginterviews, examinations,etc. whenever required.People can also easily visitPGI Chandigarh wheneverrequired for treatment oftheir patients, he added.However, the major benefitwill be to traders, who canincrease their activities inaforesaid areas for publicityof their products and otheritems, he said.

All members of the CivilSociety New Delhi, seniorcitizens and others alsoexpressed happiness onintroduction of a new train,which will go a long way tobenefit people of J&K,Chandigarh and Amritsarareas.

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: Newly elected BJPJammu District President,Vinay Gupta along with localleaders visited Rohi Morharea of Gadigarh in Ward No73 falling under GandhiNagar AssemblyConstituency.

He interacted with people,took stock of the ongoingdevelopment activities andassured for every possiblemeasure for welfare of peo-ple. "Our party had promisedSmart City, Metro and inclu-sion of more areas underJammu MunicipalCorporation. Works on theseprestigious projects are beinginitiated," informed Vinay,adding that the projects inpipeline will be completed

soon and Gadigarh area willhave a new look with morefacilities for people.

Gupta said that the earlierMLA of Congress fromGandhi Nagar only cared forself interests and people wereleft at the mercy of God butBJP's MLA worked 24x7and did everything to the bestpossible extent with an objec-tive of developing theConstituency as Model one.

Gupta was accompanied byMadal President BharatBhushan, CantonmentBoard Vice-ChairmanHardeep Singh, Ex-Sarpanch Vijay Sharma,Pitambar Sharma, MohitRaina, Sanjay Gupta, RamLal Choudhary, KoushalKumar and Narinder Gupta.

Ladakhi students call off hunger-strike conditionally; warn to resume on Dec 18

Ladakh University to take over campuses of KashmirUniversity; admissions to begin from Dec 25

NMDC receives five prestigious PRSI awards

Rotary Club of Jammu holds 'Neki-ki-Diwar'

HC directs finalising selection of Information Assistants

DIG Suleman reviews crime scenario

JKAACL organises two-day Gojri conference671 stranded passengers airliftedbetween Srinagar, Leh, Kargil

JKICS hails Railway Minister for sanctioningtrain from Jammu to Chandigarh

Vinay visits Gadigarh to takestock of people's problems

Student leaders calling off hunger strike in Leh.

Members of Rotary Club of Jammu posing for a photograph in front of ‘Neki-ki-Diwar’.

NMDC official receiving an award.

Vice Chancellor, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University,Professor Masrat Javaid inaugurating the conference in Jammu.

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: Urging residents ofward No 41 to contributeactively in Swachh BharatAbhiyan, the BJP StateSecretary and JMCCouncillor, Sanjay KumarBaru said that everyone mustcontribute for the success ofthe Abhiyan. He was address-ing gathering after inaugu-rating development works in

aforesaid ward, at Talab Tilloarea of Jammu WestAssembly Constituency.

Baru along with other sen-ior political and socialactivists inaugurated develop-ment works including repairof lanes & drains, fixation ofgratings and other repairworks highlighted by resi-dents of area.

Baru further said that pres-

ent works will be completed atan estimated cost of about Rs5 lakh. He said that the wardresidents were facing a lot ofdifficulties due to damagedlanes and drains.

Baru also took the liberty tourge locals for contributing inunending efforts of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forkeeping their vicinity cleanand asked them to contributemaximum in Swachh BharatAbhiyan. Only active partici-pation by common masses willmake the mission a successand help in the making theward as 'No 1 Ward' of thecity, he asserted. BJPWard 41 President AshokSingh Wazir, Jaideep SinghSambyal, Brijesh Gupta,Jatinder Khajuria, BubeshThapa, Naresh gupta, BodhRaj, Babu Ram, Triloki NathHandoo, Jangjit Singh, DrParimoo, G C Sharma andWilliam Massi were also pres-ent on the occasion.

Baru urges residents to contribute in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

BJP Corporator Sanjay Baru starting development work in Jammu.