58 pc agriculture land irrigated by rain

58 pc agriculture land irrigated by rain
Archit Watts/TNS

Jammu, April 5
After 63 years of Independence, the farmers of Jammu and Kashmir are still dependant on rain to irrigate their agriculture land. Giving a written reply to a question raised by the Congress legislator BR Kundal in the Legislative Council recently, the Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir informed the House that out of total 7.39 lakh hectares of net sown area, the 4.26 lakh hectares were dependant on rain. On this, Kundal asked, “What steps has the government initiated to protect the interests of farmers in such rainfall-fed areas?”

Mir replied, “The department is providing subsidy for the construction of deep bore wells and water harvesting tanks to the farming community especially in these areas”.

“22,000 hectares are being irrigated through bore wells, irrigation pump sets, tube wells and ponds. Besides, a National Agriculture Insurance Scheme is also under implementation in all the districts to cover the risk and damage to the crops due to drought, hailstorm, cloudburst and fire,” Mir added.

Kundal also questioned the minister about the functioning of the sub-stations established by the Agriculture Department to develop such areas.

Mir replied, “Three sub-stations have been established for carrying out research related to rain-fed areas at Dhiansar, Raya and Samba and all the three are functional”. The minister added, “Twenty two Automatic Weather Stations have been sanctioned by the Indian Space Research Organisation for all the districts in the state, which will become functional shortly. These will prove a boon for the general public and the farming community, as weather forecasts will be available at the district level”.

Legislative Council: Minister grilled over poor functioning of CAPD Dept

Legislative Council
Minister grilled over poor functioning of CAPD Dept
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 5
Legislators of the NC and the PDP grilled Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Shabir Ahmad Khan in the Legislative Council here recently over the poor functioning of the CAPD Department.

PDP legislator Syed Asgar Ali asked a question related to Class IV employees of the CAPD Department in erstwhile Doda district being given the charge of storekeeper. Ali said, “As a large number of appointments made in 1996 had been cancelled by the state government, how were these persons given the full-fledged charge of storekeeper at various sale centres?”

Replying to Ali’s question, the minister said, “Yes, these employees have been given the charge of store/sale centres at various places, as the High Court has stayed the cancellation of their appointments”.

Dissatisfied with the minister’s reply, Ali said, “When the state government has cancelled the appointments of 22 persons out of the total 36, how were they given the charge of storekeeper. There is something fishy about the whole issue”.

“That’s why a number of questions are being asked regarding the functioning of this department and the results are before the House to see. People are facing a lot of hardships in getting ration on time,” added Ali. However, the minister said, “Since all these people are getting salaries, we thought to assign them some tasks”.

Meanwhile, Murtaza Ahmad Khan of the PDP said, “Has the government mooted any action in this regard or not?” Khalid Najib Suharawardy of the NC said, “I fail to understand what is the government doing?” NC legislator Mohammad Rashid Qureshi said, “Storekeeper is an important job and the department has posted those employees whose appointments have been cancelled by the General Administration Department (GAD). This proves the inefficiency of the CAPD department”.

The minster admitted that the department was facing an acute shortage of staff and assured the House that the government was taking action in this regard. He said, “We have declared 44 vacancies and have also written to the SSRB to fill these posts. The interviews will be conducted in a short period. Besides, some more posts are also being created to solve the issue”.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, the acting chairman of the House, Arvinder Singh Micky, intervened. He said, “This is the concern of all members and the CAPD Department should act in this regard”.

Meanwhile, Syed Asgar Ali, after threatening to stage a walkout from the House, demanded an assurance from the minister that the procedure for posting employees would be reviewed. Suharawardy also supported the concern of Ali. The minister further assured the House that the problems of the people would be solved by filling vacant posts.

CAG REPORT: Jammu MC failed to address parking problem

CAG REPORT
Jammu MC failed to address parking problem
Archit Watts/TNS

Jammu, April 5
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in its report for the year ended March 31, 2010 has indicted the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), which has an area of 112 sq km, for failing to carry out a study to explore the possibility of more parking lots in the city.

The CAG report stated, “No study has ever been carried out by the JMC to ascertain the parking requirements so as to solve the prevailing parking problem”. So far, the city, having a population of over 12 lakh, has three parking lots.

Terming parking as a key issue, the CAG report stated that it required the attention of the JMC, as the parking problem was assuming an alarming proportion with a rapid increase in the number of vehicles. However, the JMC, in its reply to the CAG, stated that for the creation of parking lots it would take steps after consulting the Traffic Department and the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) for conducting surveys.

The report also highlighted another important issue of encroachments upon footpaths.

It said, “The Audit did not find any evidence of records showing the total length and breadth of footpaths on roads within the municipal limits and action taken to remove temporary and permanent encroachments upon footpaths so that these could be used by pedestrians unobstructed”.

The CAG report also stated that no inspection reports were ever prepared or submitted to any authority by the anti-encroachment wing of the JMC. On the issue, the JMC replied to the CAG that though drives for the removal of encroachments were being conducted, shopkeepers were again encroaching upon footpaths.

Following this reply of the JMC, the CAG reported that this was indicative of the fact that action taken by the corporation was ineffective.