Jammu Jan 20 PTI Police on Thursday booked a private company engaged in road construction for illegal mining in Jammu and Kashmirs Rajouri district officials said Dharam Raj Contracts India Private Limited has been engaged by the Border Roads Organisation BRO for a road-widening project in Rajouri This firm was found guilty of illegal mining from the river in Thanamandi causing a huge loss to the exchequer The mining was being carried out without paying any royalty to the government and without allotment of any mining block they said Police said the companys actions amounted to committing theft of natural resources The company has decayed the river bed which is also causing ecological imbalance and the water level has receded The company illegally extracted river bed materials from a natural source and crushed them the police said A huge stock of crushed materials approximately 70-80000 metric tonnes was found on the crusher spot during an inspection they said Acting on specific inputs the police raided different locations and seized a dumper and an excavator officials said PTI AB CJ CJ CJ

Jammu Jan 20 PTI Former Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta on Thursday hit out at PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti for allegedly promoting soft-separatism by opposing every move of the Centre He said the BJP has ensured that she does not continue with her anti-national agenda by swaying youth towards stone pelting and picking up guns against the government Gupta said that the advent of the BJP in the Centre has decimated the plans of Mehbooba This weird dream of Mehbooba Mufti will never see the day of light as BJP will not allow her to sway youth towards violence and loot the resources of Jammu and Kashmir with impunity again he said told reacting to the remarks of the PDP chief asking people to get rid of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh polls Mehbooba on Tuesday has taken a sharp dig at the BJP and said that getting rid of the party in UP will be a greater azadi than in 1947 Gupta said The BJP has ensured that Mehbooba and her ilk in the Valley do not continue with their anti-national agenda like swaying youth towards stone pelting and picking up guns against the government swindle funds with no fear of the land of law and above all promoting soft-separatism by opposing every move of the government of India GoI as if the GoI is the enemy of Kashmir and Kashmiris He said that what the former chief minister is dreaming about is next to impossible because strong and dynamic Prime Minister Narendra Modi will never let her raise the pro-Pakistan slogans or give her the liberty to eulogise Pakistan and seek pre-August 5 2019 status for J-K The J-K under BJP government is a changed entity and now no one is allowed to say or do anything without being questioned Gupta said He said the kind of freedom she Mehbooba is seeking will never become a reality again because the BJP government is not a meek entity rather it can go to any extent to suppress the people and voices which are against the interest of the country He said All such political entities in the Valley should understand that BJP is ensuring development as never before and it will be better for all to avail benefits of this development because the BJP government has accomplished colossal development for people without any discrimination on the basis of region religion or caste PTI AB AQS AQS

Jammu Jan 20 PTI The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Thursday announced 64-hour-long restrictions on weekends on non-essential movement to arrest the worrying spike in coronavirus cases officials said Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday recorded 5992 fresh coronavirus cases its biggest single-day spike in infections so far pushing the tally to 378661 Seven people also died in the past 24 hours Announcing the decision of the State Executive Committee SEC which met under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta the officials said there will be a complete halt on non-essential movement in the union territory every Friday from 2 pm to Monday 6 am An order issued by the chief secretary said pregnant women employees will be exempted from physical attendance and shall be allowed to work from home on workdays As per an earlier order the night curfew and online mode of teaching in schools and colleges will continue it added There shall be a complete restriction on non-essential movement during weekends in the entire Jammu and Kashmir Mehta said PTI AB AQS AQS

Jammu Jan 20 PTI The excise collection during the current fiscal year is expected to exceed the last years target by Rs 300 crore Additional Chief Secretary Finance Atal Dulloo said on Thursday He made this observation while reviewing the functioning of the finance department in which other senior officers of the department were present on Thursday Excise collections during the financial year are expected to exceed the last financial years target by Rs 300 crore Dulloo said He further said that SGST collections as on December 2021 have been 46 per cent higher than the corresponding period in the last year while IGST settlement has registered a growth of 35 per cent over the previous year in the same period He said that stamp collection is 87 per cent higher than the previous year over the same period even as MST motor and spirit tax collections have shown a growth of 4641 crore The department will ensure that all 24 services in the excise department are integrated in the single window under the business reform action plan of the department he said The Additional Chief Secretary further directed the department to bring all 16 services under e-grass on top priority PTI AB MKJ

Jammu Jan 20 PTI The Jammu and Kashmir administration has declared Jerri settlement in Reasi district as the first milk village of the Union Territory and sanctioned 57 more dairy farms under the Integrated dairy development scheme IDDS for the hamlet officials saidThe milk village which houses 73 individual dairy units with 370 cows will give financial security to the local farmers they saidTaking a lead to carving out a hamlet of dairy farms the women of the settlement have formed a cooperative of 11 females for collecting milk from the dairy farms and households for further transportation to the milk selling plants or other establishmentsWe have carved out this village into a dairy or milk hamlet as local farmers of DC Reasi inspect dairy farms a local farmer Dheeraj saidAfter being declared as milk village a total of 57 units have been sanctioned under the IDDS for the village Agriculture Department officials saidUnder the integrated dairy development scheme dairy units of five animals are provided with a 50 per cent subsidyThe scheme also has a provision for milking machine bulk milk cooling unit at 50 per cent subsidy maximum Rs 5 lakh paneer making machine khoya making Dahi making cream separator ice cream making machine butter and ghee making machine max subsidy Rs 3 5 lakh milk van maximum subsidy Rs 2 lakh milk ATM subsidy of Rs 5 lakh they addedThe District Development Commissioner DDC Reasi Charandeep Singh reached out to the hamlet to interact with farmers and also inquired about the income status and turnover of their dairy unitsHe asked them to encourage fellow farmers for opening more such units for handsome earnings as this will also resolve the issue of unemploymentThe hamlet saw the formation of one cooperative of 11 women for collecting milk from the dairy farms and households for further transportation to the milk selling plants or other establishments they saidMore such cooperatives in the village will be set up to ensure collection of the milk by the cooperatives and its further transportation to the milk selling establishments thereby completing the supply chain a senior official saidIn December the administration declared the Jerri hamlet as a milk villageNaveen Choudhary Principal Secretary in the Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Department lauded the launch of the milk village terming it as a major economic reform by the localsThe milk village which houses 73 individual dairy units with a total of 370 cows would give financial security to local farmers he saidChoudhary said that the establishment of the milk village and its eventual success would attract many others to launch similar units in their larger interestTimely support and subsidies by government agencies have immensely helped farmers in establishing such self-employment ventures to earn their livelihood with dignity he notedThe principal secretary also called for increasing the average size of a dairy unit besides asking dairy farmers to form their farmer producer organisations that can transform their lives towards a bright futureHe also directed the Animal Husbandry department to provide a refrigerated van to these farmers on a 50 per cent subsidy PTI AB BAL BAL