Govt depts continue to use condemned vehicles

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Aug 27: Government departments continue to violate the norms set by the transports department which has put restriction on use of vehicles more than 25 years of age.

According to the sources most of the departments which includes Public Health Engineering (PHE), Power Development Department (PDD) as well as State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) department are still using vehicles which are more than two decade old, but the transport department is not taking any action against the same.

Sources further said that these vehicles causing problem to the drivers as well as the mechanical department which has the responsibility to repair the vehicles.

“The government has also made in compulsory for passengers and commercial vehicles aged between 15 to 25 of age to undergo fitness test after every six years” they disclosed.

The drivers of the heavy vehicles are also showing their resentment on using these over aged vehicles as they are forced to drive these outdated vehicles leaving under constant threat of life.

Due to these outdated vehicles running on the roads many people lost their precious lives in several road accidents marking a question mark to the working of the concern authorities.

When contacted Minister for Transport, Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan said that at several times the department has asked to the other government departments to replace their outdated vehicles.

“Notwithstanding to courts order the government departments has advocated that the order should not be imposed on government departments as the vehicles possessed by them were not used for years due to disturbance in the valley and they appealed for relaxation from the said order” he said.

The minister however, refuting the statement and said that the SRTC department has replaced all their vehicles running on roads from the last more than 25 years.

Kapai, a saga of neglect and Govt apathy

BPL families await benefits of Centrally Sponsored Schemes

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Aug 05: The poor people of the state, especially Below Poverty Line (BPL) and backward class families are the worst victims of Government apathy and neglect. Village Kapai falling under the Panchayat of Sarai and Bharatgarh in Samba Block is live example of this neglect. Many of the mud houses have collapsed in ongoing Monsoon but compensation is yet to be paid.

There are around 300 households in the village out of whom majority are BPL and surviving on meager resources. The poor people are bereft of all the Central Government sponsored welfare schemes likes MNREGA and IAY. Though, some of the poor villagers have been given Job Cards under MNREGA schemes but, neither job was given to them nor any work was allotted to villagers.

Som Nath, a native of Kapai while narrating the woes of poor people said, “It seems that village is not a part of developing state. Most of the inhabitants are living miserable life. Neither there is provision of water supply nor is power supplied properly. None has benefitted from Indira Awas Yojna and MNREGA in the village. We are still living in 50s and been the victim of neglect.

Panch of the village, Bodh Raj blamed the Government for backwardness of the Kapai villagers. He explained that none from the side of authorities visited Kapai to assess the loss caused due to rains while the affected people were forced to live miserable life. He alleged that no work had been allotted to MNREGA Job Card holders. The BDO has never bothered to visit the village to assess the state of centrally sponsored schemes, he said.

When contacted, BDO Samba Charanjit Singh while claiming innocence said it was not his job to allot work to MNREGA Job Card holders and people shall approach their respective Gram Sewaks. He further said that villagers should ask District Commissioner to look into the damages caused due to rains. Refuting the allegations of Panch, the BDO claimed that he visits all the villages on periodic basis.

Inefficient heath department in J&K

GMC CT scan defunct for two weeks, as rats tore the wires

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Aug 02: It may surprise you, but CT scan machine in premier hospital of Jammu and Kashmir, Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu was made defunct by rats, who cut the wires of the machine at several places.

The machine is not in working condition for last over two weeks, creating problems for hundreds of patients, including accident victims. Sources said that recently there was clash between doctors and attendants of a road accident victim, whose scan was not conducted due to the defunct machine.

A senior doctor said that despite repeated reminders to the hospital administration, not effort has been made to repair the machine, which could help save lives of several people.

There are two CT Scan machines installed in the hospital, in which one is in the emergency block whereas the other is in Radiology Department. The machine at emergency block is not working.

 Sources further said that the machine in Radiology Department was being used for the cancer patients only while other patients have been tested on machine in emergency block.

On daily average, around 20 to 30 patients need CT scan who are mostly admitted in emergency ward with head injuries as most of the medical help cannot be provided in such cases with the report of scan. Some brain scan cases are pending for months, mostly patients from rural and poor background.

These patients are suffering due to non functional machine in the hospital, but this was not the first time when patients have to pay for the fault of the hospital but many time earlier patients have to face problem due to one reason or the others.

“In other three hospitals included Super Speciality Hospital, Shri Maharaja Gulab Singh Hospital, (SMGS) Hospital and CD Hospital there is one CT Scan machine each and some patients are asked to CD hospital which has the CT facility” sources added.

When contacted, Principal GMC, Dr Shashi Gupta said that rats cut the cable of CT Scan machine due to which it went out of order.

“The machine will be made operational in next few days and steps are being taken to avoid the situation in future so that patients don’t have to suffer”, Dr. Gupta said.

Red-tapism in PDD delays privatisation of electricity bill distribution

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, July 30: Plan of government to privatise electricity bill distribution and revenue collection in urban centres of Jammu and Kashmir about three years back failed to take off due to red-tapism which mars functioning of Power Development Department (PDD).

Nearly 100 youth were trained to handle the field work such as bill distribution, meter reading and preparing the list of defaulters by the government so that they can provide a helping hand to department in curbing the electricity theft, but project failed because officials never took it seriously.

Officials said that though government is talking about privitisation of revenue collection and has engaged consultant Price Water House Cooper for restructuring of the department, including its unbundling and corporatization but even this small project did not move beyond the planning stage.

Manpower shortage is a major challenge when it comes to deal with the consumers in Jammu and Kashmir. Under the plan, department had decided to give franchise to local youth, to ensure that recovery process is streamlined.

As per the model, the franchisee were not to deal with cash and consumers had to pay their bills in banks, their role was to assist the field staff of PDD to keep an eye on their respective areas and how people use the electricity.

PDD has the staff strength of nearly 30,000 but as there has been no reorganisation in past three decades and expansion of the infrastructure, it is proving insufficient to deal with the consumers. Most of the maintenance work is already dependent on daily wagers to keep the electricity supply running in the state.

Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses has shown a substantial increase in past decade. The losses have increased from 46.98 per cent in 2005-06 to 64.11 per cent in the financial year 2012-13, with State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) blaming it mostly on the theft by the consumers.

"The reasons for existence of high level of T&D losses is the practice of rampant hooking of LT lines across the State which is not being properly checked by the Department. Even where meters are installed, various means are adopted by a large number of consumers for by-passing and tampering the meters”, said an official.

When contacted, Minister for State (MoS), Power Vikar Rasool Wani said that government had bigger plans to curb losses and improve revenue realization.

He however said “No time limit has been frame for the completion of the project and the project for privatization of electricity bill is yet to be implemented” he added.

Updating websites

Govt. departments fail to comply with GAD order

Tahir Mushtaq (TNI)

JAMMU, Aug 01: Despite directions by government to update government websites immediately, not a single website has been updated even after passage of one week.

The directive was issued by General Administration Department (GAD) keeping in view that fact that despite investing crores of rupees under e-governance project since past over a decade most of the websites does not provide updated information.

About ten years back the government had taken a major initiative to implement E-Governance in all the departments, Public Sector Undertakings (PSU)s and other organisations under the centrally sponsored scheme.

National Informatics Centre (NIC), a premier institution of the Government of India, established in 1976 is main agency which is looking after the e-governance projects in the state. However respective departments had to maintain the infrastructure which includes the software content.

“Lakhs of rupees were invested in introducing Information Technology (IT) and e-Governance in the day to day working of the government but it is not proving useful information, only few departments keep regular updated information”, said Keshav Sharma, who runs a NGO.

Talking to TNI, Secretary GAD, M A Bukhari said it will some take time to implement the order as there no timeframe has been fixed.

Bukhari further said, “I have recently taken over as secretary of the GAD and I am also very keen about this matter. Directions will be given to officials to speed up the process to update the process”.

Sources said that the departments are not giving any heed to the directions of the government and they are not showing any concern to update the websites which could provide information to the masses.

“Whenever I try to get some information about the state from any government website, it is always shows outdated data. How can a student of person preparing for competitive exams rely on these sites”, said Akhil Sharma, a scholar in Jammu University.