Jammu Feb 28 PTI Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary A K Mehta on Monday asked officials to build a database of five lakh young people of the union territory by April-end in an effort to map their job requirementsMehta was chairing a meeting to review the progress under Mission Youth an ambitious programme to empower 50000 unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir through gainful employmentThe youth in JK need to be skilled according to their needs and aspirations to enable them to have not only gainful employment but also a sense of dignity in the jobs they do the chief secretary saidThere is a need to sharply focus on skilling and upskilling the youth to not only empower them for better jobs but to enable them to set up their own ventures he saidMehta said skilling and upskilling programmes have to be anchored in the concept of learn to earnHe asked the officials concerned to build a database of five lakh youth through youth clubs and other mission initiatives with Aadhaar numbers mobile numbers and other relevant information in an effort to map their job requirements by the end of AprilThe facility to reach out to them through bulk SMS and mail must also be ensured by the mission It is important for the mission to know about the persons it is dealing with he saidMehta said the mission should focus on empowering the youth to set up their ventures or start economic activities at new and upcoming heritage tourist and trekking sitesHe asked Chief Executive Officer Mission Youth Shahid Iqbal Choudhary to tap the young people in and around these destinations and provide assistance to enable them to make a livingChoudhary in his presentation on the progress made under various components under the mission said while 4882 beneficiaries have been provided self-employment under the Mumkin scheme so far 8000 beneficiaries will be provided self-employment by the end of the current fiscalUnder the Tejaswani scheme the mission has provided financial support to 3447 young women entrepreneurs to take up self-employment ventures across various sectors of the economy he saidHe said a total of 6600 young women will be covered under the scheme by the close of the financial yearThe chief secretary said a special task force comprising secretaries of a few departments shall be constituted to look into areas of convergence and also set out the measures for creating employment opportunities in the new and upcoming tourist destinations PTI TAS AB IJT

Jammu Feb 23 PTI Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday laid the foundation stones of various health infrastructure projects here and said the new facilities across the union territory will promote social equalityThe foundation stone laying ceremony for the projects including two paediatric centres of excellence 28 maternal ICUs with 10-20 beds 20 paediatric hybrid ICUs with 12 beds and 15 paediatric wards with 20-30 beds in seven government medical colleges across all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir was held at the SMGS Hospital here officials saidA memorandum of understanding MoU between Tata Memorial Hospital Mumbai and Government Medical College GMC Jammu was also signed on the occasion they saidLaid foundation stone for various state-of-the-art health infrastructure projects at GMCs DHs district hospitals CHCs Community Health Centres PHCs Public Health Centres across the UT The augmented facilities will contribute towards the further strengthening of the healthcare system Sinha said in a tweetOn the signing of the agreement between Tata Memorial Hospital and GMC Jammu he said MoU with Tata Memorial Hospital for academic and technical collaboration would help in developing ultra-modern tertiary cancer care facilities and providing technical expertise to faculty paramedical staff and integration of state cancer institute into national cancer grid Tata Memorial Centre Sinha said his administration is committed to the goal of health for all and determined to ensure that the new health facilities in various districts promote social equality and its benefits reach our brothers and sisters living in far-flung areas PTI TAS AB DIV DIV

Jammu Feb 22 PTI A minor fire broke out at the Government Medical College GMC hospital here on Tuesday but no one was injured officials said The fire was noticed in the storeroom of ward number eight of the hospital at Bakshi Nagar around 10 am and was swiftly brought under control averting a possible tragedy they saidAn official of the fire and emergency services said fire tenders were rushed to the spot upon getting information about the fire that is believed to have been caused by a short circuitThe fire was put out at around 1020 am and there was no loss of life or injury in the incident a police official said PTI TAS AB RHL

Jammu Jan 19 PTI A traders body dealing with essential supplies on Wednesday announced its decision to observe weekend lockdown here to support the efforts of the Jammu and Kashmir administration to contain the spread of COVID-19 infection On January 15 the Union Territory administration imposed complete restriction on non-essential movement during weekends amid a surge in Covid cases In the highest single-day spike this month Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday recorded 4651 fresh cases of COVID-19 taking the total number of infections to 366851 while three deaths pushed the death toll linked to the pandemic to 4575 We are dealing with essential supplies and hence do not come under the purview of the lockdown announced by the administration However given the situation in view of the rising covid-19 cases our advisory committee met and decided to observe the weekend lockdown voluntarily to support the efforts of the administration to contain the spread of the disease President Traders Federation WareHouse Nehru Market Deepak Gupta told reporters here However he said the federation would ensure regular supplies while working for five days from Monday to Friday We have taken this decision in the best interest of public safety We will make it sure that the supply chain is not affected Gupta said He said like in the past two waves of COVID-19 the federation has activated the three war rooms for supply of oxygen ration and medicines and anyone in need of the these items should contact the concerned for the same PTI TAS AB RCJ RCJ

Jammu Jan 19 PTI Four alleged drug peddlers were arrested with 47 kg charas and four grams of heroin worth over Rs 1550 lakh in grey market in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir police said on Wednesday Amjad Khan and Mohd Ashraf alias Shongu were arrested after 4440 kg of charas and four grams of heroin were seized from their vehicle near Katra a police official said Two other peddlers Sunil Kumar and Sandeep Singh were arrested from Malai nallah in Mahore area and 430 grams of charas were recovered from their possession the official said He said the total recoveries made from the four peddlers are worth over Rs 1550 lakh in the illegal drug market They were booked under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances NDPS Act and further investigation is on the official said PTI TAS AB RCJ RCJ

Jammu Dec 22 PTI Describing deaths due to road accidents a cause of worry Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday directed officials to identify factors contributing to road accidents and rectify black spots within three months He asked the health department to explore the possibility of developing more trauma centres near accident-prone highways to help accident victims during the crucial golden hour Deaths due to road accidents are indeed a cause of worry The government is making continuous efforts to make the public aware of road safety and is committed to enforce the rules and necessary interventions and facilities the Lt Governor said chairing a high-level meeting on road safety here He directed the officials to identify factors contributing to road accidents and take proactive measures ensuring enforcement of safety laws in true spirit and making improvements in the response system and spreading awareness on road safety Sinha passed explicit directions to the officials to rectify black spots within three months Traffic management has become more and more technology-driven We need to make necessary technological interventions for highly effective road safety measures he said He said training of traffic police strengthening manpower generating awareness amongst the people especially in educational institutions crackdown on drunken driving and speed and roping in volunteers for road safety programs would be important steps to address the challenges The Health and Medical Education Department has so far established eight trauma centres in various districts particularly along the highways The Lt Governor advised replicating the effective traffic management models and collaborative efforts with different stakeholders to get the desired results on the ground He asked the departments concerned to explore the modalities and prepare a proposal for establishing integrated centres of inspection certification and licensing in highly accident-prone areas of the Union Territory He also gave directions for conducting regular meetings of the district road safety committees for comprehensive and multi-sectoral road safety strategies PTI TAS AB HDA

Jammu Dec 21 PTI Three cases of Omicron variant were confirmed here Jammu and Kashmirs health and medical education department said on Tuesday Officials said the three have no foreign history and all their close contacts have been identified and tested Three Omicron cases confirmed by NCDC Delhi from a cluster in Jammu Sample taken on 30th November RTPCR testing of entire locality ordered the Health and Medical Education department JK wrote on its official twitter handle It asked the people to observe Covid-appropriate behaviour PTI TAS AB SNE

Jammu Oct 27 PTI The Jammu and Kashmir administration is working on provision of subsidy on seeds and fertilisers for the next crop to facilitate affected farmers Lieutenant Governors Advisor Farooq Khan said on Wednesday as he reviewed crop losses due to recent rains and hailstorm in the Jammu division Khan was speaking to a group of farmers who met him at the Civil Secretariat here and said immense losses have occurred to agricultural crops like paddy vegetables potato fodder and oil seeds an official spokesman said He said the farmers appealed for providing adequate compensation to those who suffered losses due to incessant rains The government is working on providing subsidies on seed and fertilisers for the next crop to facilitate the farmers the advisor said The advisor issued directions to the field functionaries of the agriculture department to conduct joint survey along with revenue officials by organising meetings with the farmers of all villages to get and prepare detailed digitalised report of crop damages at the earliest He enjoined upon the insurance companies to immediately settle the claims of crops under the PM Fasal Bima Yojana The farmers further anticipated losses to rabi crops due to excessive moisture in soil leading to delayed sowing Khan asked the officers to assess the realistic impact of inclement weather conditions on the agriculture sector and extend technical hand to farmers for tackling the situation emerging from the prevailing scenario by devising a strategy for the upcoming rabi season to compensate crop losses to some extent the spokesman said Regarding the paddy straw problem he recommended popularisation of the use of a decomposer to dispose of the logged paddy straw He also instructed the agriculture department to plan for opening of maize procurement markets in maize-growing districts as soon as possible PTI TAS AB hrs hrs

Jammu Oct 26 PTI A leopard was caught by the wildlife department after it strayed into a village in the outskirts of Jammu on Tuesday officials said The leopard ran into a trap laid by villagers of Bhalwal-Brahmana in Akhnoor to safeguard their maize crop from damage by wild animals they said They said the villagers were surprised to see a leopard caught in one of their traps and immediately informed the wildlife department A rescue team was rushed and the leopard was tranquilised before being shifted to Manda zoo the officials said PTI TAS AB ANB ANB

Jammu Sep 28 PTI A Pakistani intruder was apprehended along the Line of Control LoC in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday officials said Army troops guarding the LoC picked up the movement of a person who attempted to sneak into this side from across the border in Keri sector the officials said They said the infiltrator was challenged and taken into custody for questioning Nothing incriminating was recovered from his possession the officials said adding further details are awaited PTI TAS AB AQS AQS