1st Day Amarnath Yatra

12,717 pilgrims will move towards holy shrine

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, June 27: 12,717 yatris have registration for the first day of annual Amarnath yatra which is going to start from June 28.

Out of those 3157 devotees from different party of the India starting their journey from Jammu Yatri Niwas, Bhagwati Nagar today morning at 5 am. 


Official said 6567 pilgrims have registered to travel by the Baltal route will have the darshan of Ice Lingam by tomorrow only whereas and 6150 by the Pahalgam route will have darshan after two days.

The first batch of the yatri from Jammu was flagged off by Minister of Tourism, Ghulam Ahmad Mir. The minister was accompanied by Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Pardeep Gupta and Deputy Commissioner, Jammu A K Sahu besides higher officials of police department and bureaucrats. 


Official disclosed that for this year’s yatra the Shrine Board has fixed a ceiling of 7500 Yatris per day per route. This excludes pilgrims who travel by the Heli services upto Panjtarni, 6 kms short of the Shrine, whose number may normally vary between 1000-1400, depending upon the number of sorties which are undertaken during the day, which would be based on the weather conditions. 


From Jammu the 3157 yatris included 2466 males, 563 females, 37 children and 91 sadhus in 75 buses and 21 Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) moved towards base camp Srinagar. The pilgrims shouting slogans ‘Bum Bum Bole’, singing bhajans and dancing. 


This yatra would conclude on the day of Shrawan Purnima one day before Raksha Bandhan. Last year 6.21 lakh pilgrims had performed darshan at holy cave. 


“As per the SHPC recommendation which has been endorsed by the Supreme Court’s decision, the District Administration is bound to stop all those Yatris who attempt to undertake the yatra without valid registration” said a official. 


“In view of the inclement weather in entire state during last 24 hours, the Chief Executive Officer and the Divisional and District Administrations are closely monitoring the situation and, if needed suitable advisories will be issued at the appropriate time” official added. 


In is pertinent to mention here that the Shrine Board had opened 422 Registration Counters across the country, against 174 last year and, further, this year Registration was commenced three months in advance of the Yatra to ensure that every intending pilgrim could timely go through the registration.

Resentment among Super Specialty Safai Karamcharies

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, June 26: Safari Karamcharis engaged as contractual worker in Super Speciality Hospital Jammu went on strike after the Medical Superintendent (MS) misbehaved with a lady safai karamchari this morning.

According to sources there was some issue in between MS and safai karamchari after which all workers went on strike and started protesting against hospital administration in front of hospital. Later the issue was resolved and they call off the strike and went back to their work.

Supervisor Manish Kumar said there are 15 safai karamcharis who were engaged in November 2012 on a monthly salary of 3300, but the administration haven’t paid them from the last seven months.

“Our contractor Ram Kumar Dubey is paying the salaries of all the karamcharis on his own but the government is not taking and heed to them neither they pay the contractor” he said.

He demanded that their salary should be increased to Rs 4500 per month as other safai karamcharis and there will be a fixed time to pay the salary.

For the smooth functioning of the hospital the administration need Rs 60 crore annually including the salaries and other expenses of the hospital, but in February, Rs 2 crore was sanctioned, which lapsed due to administrative apathy,” said a insider.

Lack of medical and para medical staff in the hospital is another issue from which the patient care is suffering. Several times the government has advertised posts for the GMC Jammu and associated hospitals through Public Service Commission (PSC) and Services Recruitment Board (SRB), but didn’t get any response.

Neuro surgery deptt of super specialty hospital without doctors

One on holiday, other on amaranth duty

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, June 25: You may find it funny and tragic, but it shows the plight of the health system in Jammu and Kashmir.

The neuro surgery department in super specialty hospital Jammu is without doctors as one of them is on holiday while other has been deputed for Amarnath yatra duty.

Due to this hundreds of patients are suffering in absence of doctors while the receptionist and para medical staff in the hospital is unaware about the whole affair. 

Sources said as per the roster the Out Patient Department (OPD) of Neuro-Surgery Department is fixed on every Tuesday in Super Speciality Hospital but due to the unavailability of the concerned doctors patients suffering these days.

Sources further said that the higher officials didn’t even bother to inform the person on reception that there is no doctor available in the hospital these days, so don’t entertain any such patient for neuro surgery department.

This mismanagement and lack of coordination among the official on duty led to harassment of patients as around 35 came and fill up the registration form for the checkup in the said department, as both the receptionist and patients are unaware of the fact that no doctor is available on duty.

“If the higher authorities depute a doctor on special duty of amaranth yatra or the doctor is on vacation the authorities should have arrange some doctor on duty so that patient care should not suffer” said a official.

One of the patient said that Ramesh Singh said in the morning when I came to the hospital for examine but after wait of two hours later I came to know that there is no doctor in the neuro surgery department available on duty.

When contacted incharge principal GMC Jammu Dr Shashi Gupta said the there is some miscommunication between Medical Superintendent of Super Speciality Hospital and the staff as the Medical Superintendent is on leave due to which he was unable to inform the staff about the unavailability of doctor in neuro surgery department.

“The department had interview a doctor and appointed the same for the said department and directed him to join today, but the doctor didn’t reported again” Dr Gupta said.

However, sources claimed that so such interview has been conducted so far.

No doctors to run super specialty hospital, Jammu

Out of 13 doctors, 6 on summer vacation

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, June 21: Owing the poor response of the advertisement published in local dailies by Public Service Commission (PSC) for around 2000 posts in different position of medical education department including 800 for Super Specialty Hospital, infrastructure worth crores remain unutilized in hospitals of Jammu and Kashmir.

The condition of much hyped Super Specialty hospital is worse as only 13 doctors are present including 2 in cardiology, 4 in cardio thoracic surgery, 3 in urology, 1 in neurology, 2 in neurosurgery and 1 in nephrology in the hospital, among those 6 doctors are on summer vacation, which is not sufficient to run the critical facilities for which the hospital was established.

Incharge Principal Government Medical College and Hospital (GMC), Jammu Dr Shashi Gupta said that PSC has advertised required number of posts for the said hospitals but the department didn’t get any response.

“Proposal to get doctors for Super Specialty hospital from outside the state is under consideration and pro and cons are being studies”, Dr. Gupta said.

The state government started the newly constructed hospital but without appointment of required number of doctors and other paramedical staff the administration only able to start with Out Patient Department (OPD) for the patients whereas the six indoor super specialties, including cardiology, cardio thoracic surgery, urology, neurology, neurosurgery and nephrology yet to function.

Further sources said another reason behind vacant position in Super Specialty Hospital is that government has failed to sanction required funds for smooth functioning of the hospital.

This 500 bedded hospital has no adequate facilities and infrastructure. The hospital purchased 22 ventilators and 17 have been shifted to GMC.

Sources maintained that for the functioning of the hospital there is a need of Rs 60 crore per year which includes the staff salary and other expenses but the government only sanctioned Rs 2 crore.

It is pertinent to mention here that Super Specialty Hospital was constructed at a cost of Rs 120 crore, which was made partially functional on May 6 after missing six deadlines.