Students ride bikes, cars without licenses

Daily chaos prevalent outside schools

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Oct 19: Proving a threat to people and themselves school going students ride bikes and cars without driving license has become a common scene in the city.

It not only puts the life of people in danger but at times have led to tragic accidents leaving many families grieved. Whereas the traffic department observing these riders silently taking no action against them.

The fault is not only the students but also from their parents’ side who allowed them with bikes neglecting the norms created by traffic department.

These underage students not only violating the rules by riding motorcycles without license but also driving without a helmet, driving under the influence, and other documents jumping traffic signals, using mobile phones while driving.

Many times their rash driving resulted dangerous accidents besides these underage students do stunts on roads, risk their own and other people’s lives.

Balder Sharma a local said the authorities should take some acting against such erring riders.

“The traffic police needs to deal sternly with underage riders. Increased penalties, seizing vehicles of violators, traffic awareness workshops for school students are some of the ways by which this menace can be controlled” Sharma said.

He maintained that the parents should also need to understand how dangers it is to drive without proper documents.

In absence of required parking space, private vehicles continue to create traffic mess outside the Government Women College (GWC) and Presentation Convent School, Gandhi Nagar. Daily there is huge jam outside educational institutions during the morning and afternoon.

Traffic can be a nightmare during the morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up, with drivers mounting pavements and narrowly missing themselves or their children as they travel along the Satwari-Bikram Chowk road.

When contacted Assistant Regional Transport Officer (ARTO), Jammu Saleem Ahmed said that the traffic police continuously doing challans of any such underage student who ride bike without license.

“Expect this department is unable to control them to ride the bikes as this is also the responsibility of their parents not to purchase the vehicles for them” he added.

QRTs without equipment, projects fails to create mechanism

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Oct 12: While the road accidents continue to kill people across the state, the Quick Rescue Teams (QRTs) seems to be functioning on the papers and official files only.

Source said that yet these teams have not been provided with necessary equipment, required at the time of rescue operations, virtually making them handicapped. The fully equipped Quick Rescue Teams (QRTs), to be deployed with ambulances for immediate rescue operations in times of road accidents on highways in the state, has been stuck with the finance department from last some years.

Sources further said that though some teams were constituted under the chairmanship of deputy commissioners and deployed on accident prone areas along the highways in the mountainous Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts, yet these teams have not been provided with necessary equipments, required at the time of rescue operations, virtually making them handicapped.”

On February 2009, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had also suggested creation of a corpus to provide insurance cover to passengers travelling in commercial vehicles in the state so that in eventualities the families of the victims were paid relief from the corpus fund” he added.

“Which ambulances deployed the ambulances need longer ropes and other equipments to retrieve injured persons and vehicles from deep gorges and the mighty Chenab flowing through these districts but we were not provided the same. It creates several problems in rescue operations and we fail sometimes to save precious human lives”, said a officer.

When contacted Director Health Services, Jammu Dr Madhu Khullar said in QRT project no such equipment and team were required as the department has deputed some of the ambulances in service on the concern district hospitals and peripheral areas.

Dr Khullar further said that the person has to dial 102 to call for the ambulance service.

Malaria alarm: 654 cases detected in past nine months in J&K

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Oct 8: In past nine months Health Department has detected 654 malaria cases in the state which has sent alarm bells ringing among the officials.

Now the department has started a fresh campaign to identify the people mostly from outside the state who act as carriers of pathogen.

As per the figures in Jammu most of the cases are reported from Mendhar, Poonch, Rajouri, Kathua, Samba. In Kashmir region it is the urban centers from where most of the malaria cases are reported.

Talking to TNI, State Malariologist, Dr Kuldeep Kesar said that from January upto September this year department has registered 654 cases of malaria whereas 352 samples have been sent to laboratories for detection of Dengue fever. However no dengue positive case has been detected so far.

Dr Kesar further said that department has launched a awareness campaign to make people aware about the threat.

“If anybody found suffering from these diseases the department starts early treatment besides doing focal spray in the said areas where is spread” he added.

He maintained as per the previous year record the cases of malaria is going in parallel.

It is pertinent to mention here that some cases of Dengue has been found in Punjab area due to which the treat of this disease may occur in the state.

However department has actively launched the drive in collaboration with Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) supervised by Anti-Malaria Officer to prevent spread of water borne diseases in the area falling within the municipal limits.

Though the department has been claiming that its campaign has been able to curb the breeding grounds, but in most parts of the city, mosquito menace is still prevented.

They appealed the people, especially children and those allergic to smoke to remain in door during fogging and have urged the people to keep their surrounding clean so that mosquitoes don’t get places to breed.

Pertinently the under-construction sites, potholed roads and lanes, pits in and around the localities provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other disease causing germs, which when passed into the human body through mosquitoes are life threatening.

Govt wakes up from slumber: GMC to have eye bank soon

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Oct 03: After fifteen years since its enactment, the state government finally mooted a proposal to establish a Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (RIO) in Srinagar and two eye-banks one each in Government Medical Colleges of the state to comply with statutory obligation under the Jammu and Kashmir Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1997.

This was disclosed by HOD Department of Opthalamology Dr Sudhir Bhagotra while talking to TNI.

Dr Bhagotra further said that proposal has been sent to the state government for further proceedings.

He maintained that after sanctioned the funds by the state government the department needs to purchase the required infrastructure of functioning of Eye Bank.

“As per the new guidelines of the centre government for the transplant of body organ there are certain rules which have to be fulfilled by the department for running an eye bank” Dr Bhagotra added.

It is pertinent to mention here that the hospital had the facility of Eye Bank a decade ago but due to some problems the bank had to be closed. 

After Human Organs Transplantation Act was passed in the country envisaging transplantation of human organs, including eyes, in a recognized and registered medical institution by competent eye specialists the eye bank in GMCH has closed as it does not follow the norms and guidelines required for an Eye Bank.

 As per sources, the Eye Bank infrastructure had been deported to other departments. The ambulance of the eye bank is now being used for transportation of the students.

Sources further said that the project would be fully funded by Union government.

“The Union government had assured the state government to fully fund the project which is to the tune of Rs. 78 Crores, but the land was to be provided by state government” sources said, adding that the state government has identified 16 Kanals of land in Dewanbagh Sringar.

Courts to have video conferencing facilities to hear criminal cases

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Oct 02: All the jails and courts in Jammu and Kashmir will be soon connected with video conferencing facility, allowing judges to conduct trial while sitting at their respective courts.

A senior officer said that centre has asked the J&K to select the people for handling the equipments. “There is need for a separate technical wing to run the project and they have to be imparted necessary training to handle it”, said an official. 

As part of the centrally sponsored E-Court project, National Informatics Centre
(NIC) has started a detailed survey of the requirements to implement the project
and the report will be submitted to the central government for the final approval.

Sources said that state government is showing keen interest in the project,
keeping in view problems police is facing while shifting militants and hardcore
criminals to courts during the trial period.

“NIC has already asked its unit in the state to make detailed report about the
requirements and problems they will face when the project would be started, as it  will be the main implementing agency”, officials said.

The project is being implemented in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and
Himachal Pradesh as part of the modernisation plan for the jails and courts and
speeding up the justice process.

“It had been found that the detainees had to waste a long period before they were
produced in the trial courts. The reason was they had to be moved from distant
places to the district headquarters where the courts exist, this will simply the
process”, officials said.

Sources said that Government of India plans to spend over Rs.500 crores on the
rehabilitation of jail inmates over next decade.

Few years back government had decided to install E-attendance system in all the jails of the state for the daily attendance of the staff, though the project was not fully implemented, but at some jails it is working. At many places, CCTV cameras have been installed to keep an eye on the inmates, many of them are local and foreign militants.