C M Y K

“You are the fearless guardian of divine light.”

Vol. 12 No: 87 | JAMMU, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020 | Pages: 12 | Price: R 3.00 | Air surcharge 50 paisa for Leh

BJP MPs, formerMLAs, MLCs in J&Kdonate one monthsalary/pension to PM Relief Fund

Kabul Gurdwaraattacker fromKerala, left forAfghanistan

in 2018

Lack of crickettough but a

welcome rest forIndia players:Ravi Shastri

The MotherDivine:

Skandamata

JAMMUMAX : 23.0 °CMIN : 16.0 °CSUNSET : 6:48 pm TodaySUNRISE : 6:23 am TomorrowSRINAGARMAX : 11.0 °CMIN : 6.0 °CLEHMAX : 0.0 °CMIN : -8.0 °C

YEH HAI JAMMU

CLEAR SKY AFTER SPELL OF RAINS: HEALTHY SIGN #FIGHTAGAINSTCORONA. GJ Photo

Ladakh MP sanctionsof RR one Crore LEH: In order tostrengthen the ongoingfight against global epi-demic of COVID-19 inevery perspective, MPLadakh, Jamyang TseringNamgyal sanctionedRupees one Crore fromhis MPLADS for pur-chase of immediate med-ical equipments for bothLeh and Kargil District.He also donated his onemonth salary of R onelakh to PM National

Contd. on P-4 Col 4

JKRC establishes24x7 Helpline forstranded residentsNEW DELHI: Toaddress issues faced bystranded residents fromJammu and Kashmir dur-ing lockdown period inNew Delhi and otherparts of country, a dedi-cated Helpline Centreoperational 24x7 hasbeen established in theJammu and KashmirResident Commission,here. Additional

Contd. on P-4 Col 4

Make judicious use of water,appeals J&K GovtJAMMU: Jammu andKashmir Government onSaturday yet againappealed to the people ofthe Union Territory tomake judicious use ofwater amid the novelcoronavirus pandemicand advised to not turnthe virus crisis into awater crisis. "As in pre-vailing situation almostall commercial

Contd. on P-4 Col 4

Two LeT OGWsarrestedSRINAGAR: Policearrested two OverGround Workers (OGWs)affiliated with bannedterror outfit Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) and recov-ered arms and ammuni-tion in north Kashmirdistrict of Baramulla,official sources said hereon Saturday. They saidthat following specificinformation about pres-ence of two OGWs in

Contd. on P-4 Col 4

IN BRIEF

SPREAD ACROSS AT LEAST 170 COUNTRIESWORLD : 293,291 confirmed, 27,198 deathsINDIA : 918 confirmed, 19 deathsJ&K: 5919 : Travellers, Persons in contact

with suspected cases3535 : Home quarantine

227 : Hospital quarantine1525 : Home Surveillance

632 : Complete 28-day surveillance 532 : Samples sent for testing 486 : Tested Negative

33 : positive1 : Death

LADAKH: 6 : Tested NegativeNo fresh positive case

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28:Jammu and KashmirGovernment on Saturdaysaid that the number of pos-itive cases have swelled to33 with an appeal to peoplenot to hide their travel his-tory.

The government alsosaid that there is no short-age of essential commodi-ties and no need to panic.

Principal Secretary,Planning, Development andMonitoring Department,Rohit Kansal, who is alsothe J&K GovtSpokesperson here said thatthe administration is closelymonitoring and reviewingthe situation and proactive-ly taking a number of stepsto combat COVID-19 pan-demic.

However, he appealed tothe people to report travelhistory and cooperate withthe government in breaking

Contd. on P-4 Col 1

Positive cases swells to 33 in J&K, Govt appeals for self report travel historyCORONA VIRUS

Principal Secretary Rohit Kansal flanked by Director Information Dr Syed Sehrish Asgarand Mission Director NHM Bhupinder Kumar addressing a press conference in Jammu onSaturday. GJ Photo

Jammu: Jammu andKashmir Bank Chairmanand MD, R K Chibber onSaturday presented acheque of Rs 5 crores tothe Lieutenant Governor,Girish Chandra Murmu asa contribution to J&KRelief Fund towards theefforts being undertakento mitigate the spread ofCOVID-19.

The Lt Governor askedthe CMD of the Bank torelease the over draft tothe Jan Dhan account

holders as per theFinancial Packageannounced by the PrimeMinister and implementthe RBI guidelines regard-

ing three-month longmoratorium on the pay-ment of installments ofterm loans. He further

Contd. on P-4 Col 1

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28:Jammu and KashmirLieutenant Governor,Girish Chandra Murmu onSaturday asked the officersengaged in Corona preven-tion efforts to double theefforts for containing thespread of the deadly virus.

Chairing a meeting hereat Raj Bhavan, Murmuobserved that being at thethreshold of third stage ofCOVID-19, escalating thepreparatory efforts for pre-venting the spread of the

virus is required. He passed the directions

for doubling up of the isola-tion and quarantine facili-ties as well as beds in thehospitals and asked theofficers for tracing the con-tacts of suspected cases ofCOVID-19 so that randomsampling and testing couldbe done as a precautionarymeasure.

"Ensure home deliveryof essential commodities invulnerable areas; identifylabour pockets and slum

Contd. on P-4 Col 2

LG for doubling efforts tocontain spread of virus,

appeals to religious leadersto stop congregations

Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu chairing ameeting at Raj Bhawan in Jammu on Saturday. GJ Photo

NEW DELHI, MAR 28:Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturdayannounced the creation of anemergency situation relieffund, where people can con-tribute and help in the gov-

ernment's fight againstNovel Coronavirus.

The Prime Minister'sCitizen Assistance andRelief in EmergencySituations Fund will go along way in creating ahealthier India, Modi postedon Twitter.

"People from all walks oflife expressed their desire todonate to India's war againstCOVID-19," he said.

According to the PrimeMinister's office, 'The PMO

Contd. on P-4 Col 2

PM announces setting up ofemergency situation relief fund

AYUSH sectorhas importantrole to play inchecking spreadof COVID-19: PM

FC dedicates CD,Psychiatry hospitals asCOVID-19 exclusive hospitalsJAMMU, MAR 28:Financial Commissioner(FC), Health and MedicalEducation Department,Atal Dulloo today declaredPsychiatry Hospital andChest Diseases (CD) hos-pital in Jammu to beexclusively dedicated fortreating COVID-19patients.

The FC today visitedthe two hospitals to see theinfrastructure and man-power strength there.During his visit the FCdirected the officials to ful-fill every requirement sothat they are able to handleany COVID-19 cases in anefficient manner.

Contd. on P-4 Col 3

JAMMU, MAR 28: The'We Care' campaignlaunched by Jammu Policeis in full swing to break thechain' of coronavirus pan-demic following which the.men in khaki' are reachingout to people to providethen all facilities at theirdoorsteps.

The campaign waslaunched by SSP JammuShridhar Patil with an aimto spread awareness andsensitize people aboutCOVID-19 pandemic aswell as help needy and poorpeople.

Different teams of policein entire Jammu district ledby Mr Patil are helping peo-ple and also distributingessential commodities withan aim to make people Stayat Home, Stay Safe.

Contd. on P-4 Col 3

India recordshighest single-day jump, 918positive nowNEW DELHI: The totalnumber of COVID-19cases in India reached 918with 179 fresh cases beingreported on Saturday, thehighest single-dayincrease so far, while thedeath toll rose to 19,according to the UnionHealth Ministry data.

Deaths have so farbeen reported fromMaharashtra (5), Gujarat(3), Karnataka (2),Madhya Pradesh (2) andone each from TamilNadu, Bihar, Punjab,Delhi, West Bengal,Jammu and Kashmir andHimachal Pradesh.

In its updated data at5.45 PM, the ministrystated that the number ofactive COVID-19 cases inthe country was 819,which is an increases of179 since Friday when itwas 640.

The total number ofContd. on P-4 Col 2

J&K Bank donates RR 5 cr towards Relief Fund

J&K Bank Chairman and MD, R K Chibber handing over thecheque to LG G C Murmu at Raj Bhawan on Saturday. GJ Photo

COVID-19: Jammu Police's 'We Care For You' campaignreaches out to masses to provide facilities at doorsteps

Police with civil society distributing ration among needy inJammu on Saturday. GJ Photo

Jammu Police onSaturday lodged FIRsagainst unknown

rumour mongers for circulatingfake order on social mediaregarding restoration of highspeed 4G internet service in theJammu and Kashmir UnionTerritory.

"An FIR has been lodged for

uploading a fake order with aforged signature of PrincipalSecretary to the HomeDepartment government ofJammu and Kashmir in respectof order for restoration of 4gmobile internet services in theUT of J&K," said SSP CyberCrime Sandeep Mehta.

Contd. on P-4 Col 4

FIR lodged against rumour mongersJAMMU, MAR 28: Jammu and KashmirDirector General of Police Dilbag Singh onSaturday said that 337 FIRs have been reg-istered during the period of lockdownagainst the violators but most of the arrest-ed persons have been released sensingthreat in view of Corona Virus.

"Police are very strict against the viola-tors of lock down. As of now, 118 shops,490 vehicles have been seized for defyingthe government orders," Singh here told asect of media.

He said that 337 FIRs were lodgedagainst the violators in which 627 persons

have been arrested. Most of arrested werelater on released after sensitizing themabout the threat.

He also reiterated his appeal to the peo-ple of Jammu and Kashmir to follow thehealth protocols to help us in fighting theCorona Virus.

The fight against COVID-19 is notrestricted to one organization or one com-munity, it's time to fight against this deadlydisease together, he said, and added thatcooperation provided by the people ofJammu and Kashmir, is highly encouraging.

Contd. on P-4 Col 3

COVID9: 337 FIRs lodgedagainst violators in J&K UT,

arrested released sensing threat

Account Number :2121PM20202

IFSC Code : SBIN0000691 SWIFT Code : SBIN-

INBB104 Name of Bank & Branch :

State Bank of India, NewDelhi Main Branch

UPI ID : pmcares@sbi Following modes of pay-

ments are available on thewebsite pmindia.gov.in -

Debit Cards and CreditCards Contd. on P-4 Col 1

DETAILS

|| GREATER JAMMU ||JAMMU, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020 ||GJ INFO/ENTERTAINMENT2

CMYK

su do ku

SU

DO

KU

- 9

28

A mind gameand a puzzle that yousolve with reasoning and logic. Fill in the grid withdigits in such a mannerthat every row, every column and every 3X3box accommadates thedigits 1 to 9, withoutrepeating any. Thesolution to yesterdays’spuzzle is at right.

SU DO KU (927) SOLUTION

1849 – The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab. 1857 – Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th Regiment, Bengal

Native Infantry mutinies against the East India Company's rulein India and inspires the protracted Indian Rebellion of 1857,also known as the Sepoy Mutiny.

1867 – Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British NorthAmerica Act which establishes Canada on July 1.

1886 – John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in abackyard in Atlanta.

1911 – The M1911 .45 ACP pistol becomes the official U.S.Army side arm.

1961 – The Twenty-third Amendment to the United StatesConstitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C.,to vote in presidential elections.

1974 – NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first space probe to flyby Mercury.

1974 – Terracotta Army was discovered in Shaanxi province,China.

1982 – The Canada Act 1982 receives the Royal Assent fromQueen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canadato proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982.

1993 – Catherine Callbeck becomes premier of Prince EdwardIsland and the first woman to be elected in a general election aspremier of a Canadian province.

1999 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the10,000 mark (10,006.78) for the first time, during the height ofthe dot-com bubble.

1999 – A magnitude 6.8 earthquake in India strikes the Chamolidistrict in Uttar Pradesh, killing 103.

2004 – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia,and Slovenia join NATO as full members.

2014 – The first same-sex marriages in England and Wales areperformed.

C M Y K

Nav DurgaThe Mother Divine manifests herself in

nine different forms with each form signi-fying something subtle and deep.Discover the hidden meanings of the ninegoddesses or the Nav Durga. The fifthManifested form is known as Skandmata.

Skandamata The Mother of Wisdom:

SkandamataThe fifth form of the Mother Divine

is Skandamata.Skanda is another name for Lord

Karthikeya who represents the comingtogether of Jnana Shakti (power of knowl-edge) and Kriya Shakti (power of right-eous action). Skanda is the combinationof these two . Skandamata is that form ofthe Divinity that brings practical wisdomand action together.

The Shiva Tattva is the blissful princi-ple, ever calm and disengaged fromaction. The Devi Tattva (Mother Divine) isthe primordial energy responsible foraction and activity in creation.

It is said that the Devi represents theconfluence of Iccha Shakti (power ofintention), Jnana Shakti (power of knowl-edge) and Kriya Shakti (power of right-eous action). When the Shiva Tattvaunites with these three powers, then whatemerges is Skanda.

Skandamata represents the very ori-gin of Jnana (knowledge) and Kriya (theprinciple of action or activity). It can beunderstood as Kriyatmak Jnana (knowl-edge in action or action driven by rightknowledge).

Many times, we see that knowledge isthere but it has no purpose, or it cannotbe used in any action as such. But thereis also knowledge which has a definiteend or purpose (attained through action).In college you study subjects like Physicsand Chemistry in great detail, but you donot use it much in your daily life. Whenyou study Medicine, then you use thatknowledge every day. When you under-stand how to repair a television, then youcan use that knowledge and skill to repaira TV when it is damaged. Or like when

you learn how a motor works and how torepair it . This is more practical-orientedknowledge. Skanda signifies the comingtogether of knowledge and (righteous)action in our life. Skanda Tattva is thus anextension of the Devi Tattva (MotherDivine).

We often say that the Brahman ismanifest everywhere and is omnipresent;but at present when you have a difficultsituation to deal with in your life, thenwhat do you do? What knowledge wouldyou use then? In order to resolve theproblem you need to act, you need to putknowledge into action. So when you takeaction that is guided by knowledge, it isthe Skanda Tattva that manifests. AndGoddess Durga is considered as themother of the Skanda Tattva.

Silence and Navratri :Everything we see in this world is

made up of energy. From the rays of thesun to the flowing rivers, from buzzingmobile phones to silent pacemakers -energy is present everywhere. AsNewton's law rightly states, energy canneither be created nor destroyed; it canonly be converted from one form to anoth-er. But what is the source of this energy?What powers all objects, animate and

inanimate, to exude energy, every singlemoment?

According to Hinduism, the MotherDivine or Devi is the source of all energy.Due to this attribute, she is also referredto as Shakti, which literally translates topower or energy. The Mother Divine pow-ers everything in this existence and sus-tains it. And Navratri is nothing but ameans to honor and worship the Devi forour very existence.

Like a child who grows in the mother'swomb for nine months, the nine nights ofNavratri offer us a chance to go back toour source to rest and rejuvenate. Buthere, resting not only implies absence ofphysical activity but mental activity too.The constant clamor in the mind drains usand doesn't allow us to experience deepstate of rest.

The world is full of energy - energythat can be used to recharge ourselves.To tap into this vast reservoir of energy,we simply need to attune ourselves prop-erly. When the mind is still, it draws ener-gy from its surroundings, and expands.This leads to increased awareness, acalm state of mind, and better productivi-ty. And, spiritual practices such as medi-tation and fasting are ways to attune to

such a state of mind.While meditation and fasting help

calm down the mind and reduce mentalchatter, silence is what really enhancesthe experience. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar saysthat silence not only purifies our speechbut also develops our skills. Further,being in silence lets the mind settle downand turn its focus completely inwards,thus letting you dive further inside.

However, silence is not only aboutrefraining from speaking but has a biggerdimension to it. In a nutshell, silence canbe divided into three different types:

When one does not speak to anybodyWhen the mind is not interested in the

things around but is just focused inwardsWhen there is total oneness and con-

tentmentIn the first type of silence, we conserve

our energy by not speaking out and avoid-ing use of gestures. In the second type,we go one step further and abstain fromindulging in sensory pleasures. Every timewe indulge in a sensory pleasure, themind is active and feeding on the activity.So to rest the mind, sensory pleasures areavoided. Another notch up is the third typeof silence where we don't feel the need foranything and are at peace and content-ment with everything around us. Thisenables the mind to become still andcome back to its source.

You think celebration is only in noise,and silence is only mourning. When peo-ple are celebrating, they make too muchnoise and when people are silent, theysimply mourn. Somebody died, or some-one is in a horrible situation, then theykeep silent. Our celebration is totally dif-ferent, our silence is completely opposite.This is being joyful and yet keepingsilence. That is how joy gets its depth, andsilence in its true sense becomes a domi-nating force in our life. So this silence isnot that silence of sadness, and the cele-bration is not just very frivoling and super-ficial. For celebration to get depth, youneed silence. For silence to manifest in itstotal glory, you need celebration.

www.artofliving.org/navratri

HISTORY TODAY

Sunday 4.30 P.M to 6.00 P.MMonday 7.30 A.M to 9.00 A.M

This time is not auspicious for doing any importanttask/ taking any decision.

Rahu Kaal

Samvat: 2076 (Shaka Samvat 1941)Paksha: Shukla PakshaNakshtra: Krittika [Sulochana] 15:17:57Tithi: Panchami 26:01:39+Moon Zodiac: Vrishabha*Time is after midnight but before sunrise of next day

TITHI/NAKSHTRA

PP ANC

HANG

ANCH

ANG

Chaitra 13 March to 13 AprilVaishakha 13 April to 14 May

INDIAN MONTHS ENGLISH MONTHS

Pt. Kamal Shastri

INGREDIENTS Paneer ( Indian cottage cheese)

: 15 cubes Green chutney / cilantro - mint

chutney : 4-5 tbsp Spice mix roasted and crushed

coarsely : ½ cup Spice mix : Coriander seeds : 1 tbsp Cumin seeds : 1 tbsp Fennel seeds : 1 tbsp White Sesame seeds : 1 tbsp Nigella (kalonji) seeds : 1 tbspINSTRUCTIONS Marinate the cubed paneer in

green chutney (cilantro-mintchutney) for at least half an hour.Coat each side of the paneerwell with the chutney.

Roast the spices in a pan andthen crushed them coarsely in a

mixer, a pulse or two is just fineto get a coarse mixture.

Insert a toothpick in the marinat-ed cubed paneer and dip them inthe roasted spice mixture.

Coat them well with the spicemixture and arrange them on abaking tray lined with foil.

Roast them in a preheated ovenat 375 F for 10 minutes.

Serve immediately with greenchutney or sauce.

NOTES Feel free to use any sauce you

like, plain old tomato ketchupwill also goes good with it.

If you want to give it Far-easterntouch, then dipped the paneer(you can use tofu too) in soy oroyster sauce and coat them withroasted white sesame seeds.

RECIPE TODAY“NAVARATRI”

THE MOTHER DIVINE: SKANDAMATA

Carelessness does more harm than awant of knowledge. We have toadminister the basic perception of

these lines in our personal calendar, if wehave to defeat the Corona Virus. While thecase-fatality rates also increasing with thecoronavirus disease (COVID-19), thetransmission is quite dynamic acrossgeopolitical boundaries and this all isbecause of our insensibility. It is the indi-vidual that matters in passing on the dead-ly Virus to next and then to next and wholesociety. What most required is to breakthis chain of transmission. The only advi-sory in this behalf speaks of maintainingsocial distance and to confine within fourwalls. Now is the time to understand more,so that we may fear less. We have verybeautiful verse penned down by BrotherRichard Hendrick, a Capuchin Franciscanliving in Ireland that encourages us: "Yesthere is fear, but there does not have to behate. Yes there is isolation, but there doesnot have to be loneliness. Yes there ispanic buying, but there does not have to bemeanness. Yes there is sickness, but theredoes not have to be disease of the soul. Yesthere is even death, but there can alwaysbe a rebirth of love. Wake to the choicesyou make as to how to live now".

When the whole world is in the grip ofCorona Virus, what we need to do is toshare the news of what we know about

COVID-19 and then to tell people whatthey need to do about it. When the enemyis invisible, rapidly advancing and hard toexplain, no amount of public or scientificadvice, however reassuring it may be, isenough to dispel rumors and fear-monger-ing. Awareness is a key ingredient in suc-cess. Awareness can lead us to wake upand live a meaningful life. "The questionis not, that there be difficulties and threatsto our existence, but how will we deal withthem and what can we learn from them.How can they become blessings to society,as a life threatening disease is to an indi-vidual, by teaching us about the meaningof our life and existence?" - Bernie Siegel.Right now we're in uncharted territorywith this coronavirus diseases virus thathas brought number of advisories and pro-hibitory orders. As a sensible human beingwe must adhere to them and it is not forindividuals' safety only but to make ourwhole community and society secure andsafe from this pandemic. Let us be com-mitted individual to carry out our socialresponsibilities with both the letter andspirit of all ethics of prohibitory ordersand canons of conduct.

Largely we find, we are not exhibitingour sensibility towards the social responsi-bility expected at this juncture of deathtrap laid by the coronavirus. We must real-ize that it is 'Me' who owe a responsibilityand it is 'Me', the only one, who can put astop to the transmission of this virus and atthe other it is only 'Me' who can becomeitself a carrier of this virus and prove dis-astrous for the entire community. TheVirus do not move from one to another atits own, it require 'We' for its disastrousjourney. Un-knowingly we are the carrieragents of this invisible killer. If we cannotcontrol the entire society, at least we cancontrol our self and this will be a greatachievement for the society.

(To be continued...)Mahadeep Singh Jamwal

Time to exhibit sensibility

Confusing timesare overcome byadvise from a sen-ior counsel.Creative hobbieshelp you think dif-ferently. Shoppingcould help. Lucky colour: BlueLucky number- 2

A workshop or anew idea could helpyou improve effi-ciency in business.Expect overseasc o l l a b o r a t i o n .Politics will need tobe checked. Lucky colour: WhiteLucky number- 8

Stress has beena state of thepast. New collab-oration will bebeneficial. Youmaybe not takinga good advise.Lucky colour:WhiteLucky number: 2

A hobby couldturn into businessand take youplaces for thesame. Successfollows passion.Lucky colour:GreenLucky number: 7

Good news is onthe way. A newcar or house ison the cards.Emotional satis-faction is expect-ed.Lucky colour:BlueLucky number: 9

Sudden collapsehas bought aboutharmony andopened new oppor-tunities of security.Pregnancy or mar-riage is on thecards.Lucky colour:GoldenLucky number: 1

ARIES TAURUS

GEMINI CANCER

LEO VIRGO

Justice is on yourside. Delayedactivities are nowon completionmode. Things willmove fast. Lucky colour: RedLucky number: 2

Marriage or busi-ness will be pros-perous. But thereis an element ofdoubt. Clear itfrom a profes-sional in the field.Lucky colour:GreenLucky number: 9

There are two situ-ations which arepriority. Both willlead to the samedesired goal.Shifting abroad isa good idea.Lucky colour-PurpleLucky number- 7

Being stringentabout moneywon't help. Thinkout of the box.Pregnancy or pro-motion is on theway.Lucky colour: RedLucky number: 4

Negativity in one-self is the causeof worry. Thinkbefore trusting.Luck will soonfavour.Lucky colour:BlueLucky number: 7

Divine wish ofmoney is on thecards. Healing willhelp. There isc o n t e n t m e n taround money. Lucky colour:YellowLucky number: 9

LIBRA SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS PISCES

Tarot is all about your intuition, that innervoice of your higher self and Tarot cards

are one of many forms of divination Theyare used to measure potential out-comes and evaluate influence sur-

rounding a person, an event or both.Geetika, a young Tarot card reader

and Angel therapist is a mother of twoto whom Tarot is a God's gift. Every

Sunday we have been bringing you herweekly predictions as per your zodiac

sign. We hope you enjoy the column andappreciate the efforts. She is otherwise

available at geetikaz@gmail.com

SPICE CRUSTED PANEER TIKKA

C M Y K

|| GREATER JAMMU ||JAMMU, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020 ||GJ STATE3

CMYK

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28: J&KBJP MPs donated onemonth salary and formerMLAs and MLCs willdonate their one monthpension to the PrimeMinister Relief Fund to aidrelief procedures duringthe time of Coronaviruspandemic; BJP UTPresidents Ravinder Rainahere on Saturdayannounced.

He stated this at partyheadquarters, flanked byformer deputy chief minis-ter, Kavinder Gupta andparty General Secretary(Org.), Ashok Kaul.

Ravinder Raina said thatthe whole world is passingthrough very rough phaseand India too is in state ofwar against deadly Covid-19 and asserted that resi-dents of J&K are also onfrontline to combat with

the situation amid Covid-19 lockdown.

He said, "On call of BJPNational, President JPNadda, we have issuedhelpline numbers for thegeneral masses and everyJ&K resident especiallymigratory labours can feelfree to contact on thesenumbers. Every possible

measure will be taken byparty to help those in needat this hour of crisis."

Raina said that the partyhas further decided that allBJP MPs including twoLok Sabha MPs and oneRajya Sabha MP willdonate their one monthsalary to the PM Relieffund. Besides all the for-

mer MLAs and MLCs willalso donate their pension ofone month to the ReliefFund.

He said that the Centrehas announced Rs. 170000Crores and presently it isthe collective responsibili-ty of all of us to support therelief operations as calledby PM Modi. "Whole

nation is standing along-side the strong measuresand relief operations arebeing taken by PrimeMinister, Narendra Modi tocombat the grave situa-tion."

Raina said that while allBJP activists are involvedin various relief measuresincluding distributingration, food packets, medi-cines and providing othertype of services to those inneed, party has furtherdecided to contribute bydonating one monthsalaries which amounts tonearly Rs. 25 lakhs.

He appealed to the mass-es to help the daily breadearners, migratory laborersand everybody who is inneed. "Every capable per-son must come forward tohelp the needy that will bethe greatest humanitariangesture," he said.

BJP MPs, former MLAs, MLCs in J&K donateone month salary/pension to PM Relief Fund

BJP calls for contribution from competent persons

BJP UT Presidents Ravinder Raina holding cheque donated by MPs and former MLAs andMLCs to PM Relief Fund in Jammu on Saturday. GJ Photo

COVID-19 SCAREGJ REPORTSRINAGAR, MAR 28:Divisional Commissioner,Pandurang K Pole onSaturday visited Universityof Kashmir Campus here atZakura and reviewed pre-paredness and arrange-ments in the institution forfuture exigency of Covid-19 suspects.

He inspected the campusand reviewed all facilitieswhich are required forCoronavirus suspected per-sons as per advisory.

The DivisionalCommissioner directedconcerned to ensure allarrangements forCoronavirus suspectsincluding proper sanita-tion, fumigation, sensiti-zation, adequate stocks ofmasks, PersonalProtection Equipment,testing facilities, besidesquarantine and isolationwards and other logistic

support are in ready modefor future exigency.

Later, the Div Com visit-ed Psychiatric Hospita atBadamwari Park Road,Kathi Darwaza andreviewed normal function-ing of the health institution.

The DivisionalCommissioner inspectedvarious sections of the hos-pital and inspected thefunctioning and delivery ofhealth care facilities to thepatients.

He was informed that

hassle-free Medicare facili-ties are available forpatients in the hospital.

Pole directed concernedofficers to provide besttreatment to the patientsround the clock on prioritybasis.

Director HealthServices, Dr SameerMattoo, Principal GMCDr Saima Rashid, DeputyDirector Health Servicesand other concerned offi-cers accompanied theDivisional Commissioner.

Divisional Commissioner visits KUcampus Zakura, reviews facilitiesDirects to put arrangements on ready mode

Divisional Commissioner Pandurang K Pole during hisreview visit to KU Zakura campus in Srinagar on Saturday.

GJ REPORTUDHAMPUR, MAR 28:Taking strict action againstthe persons who are hidingtheir travel history, theDistrict DevelopmentCommissioner, Dr PiyushSingla on Saturdayappealed to the people whohave been returned fromforeign countries andLadakh region after March1, 2020 and have not dis-closed their travel history,to come forward and regis-

ter their names.They were appealed to

call on 01992 272727 or01992272728 within twodays so that they can bequarantined well in time.

While briefing themedia, the DDC said thatthe district administration ismonitoring the situationclosely and people need notpanic regarding threat ofCoronavirus and appealedto the people to stay athome and maintain social

distancing. The DDC added that

various surveillance teamsof health and other depart-ments are monitoring thesituation on the ground.

He warned those whoare hiding their travel histo-ry that district administra-tion has deputed teams onground to track such peopleand asked them to registertheir names within twodays.

"After two days, if any-

body is found hiding his/heridentity, he/she will bedealt with strictly and FIRwill be lodged againstsuch defaulters", the DDCsaid.

He asked PRIs,Lamberdars, Chowkidarsand frontline workers,Patwaris and VLWs to con-duct door to door survey intheir respective areas andreport all such cases so thatthey can be quarantinedwell in time.

GJ REPORTPOONCH, MAR 28: MunicipalCouncil here on Saturday startedthe process of spraying (sanitiza-tion) and cleanliness drive inevery nooks and corner of the dis-trict as a preventive measure tocombat the spread of Coronavirus(Covid-19).

During the drive, CEOMunicipality, Garu Ram,Councilor, Imtiaz Slaria andInspector, Abdul Rehman and theworkers of municipality werepresent.

The CEO said that the workers

of the concerned department havebeen continuously swung intoaction to spray and clean variouspublic places and said that theirefforts are to disinfect all placesto contain spread Covid-19.

He appealed to the public tostay at home and maintain clean-liness at their home and surround-ings.

Speaking on this occasion,Inspector Abdul Rehman alsoappealed to the public not to vio-late the measures and rules takenby the Government and stay intheir home for safety.

56% of elementaryschool children

provided dry rice:Mid Day Meal MD

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28: According to MissionDirectorate (MD) of Mid Day Meals, a totalnumber of 492755 children are being provid-ed with dry rice in Jammu and Kashmir, whichamounts to 56 percent of all children enrolledat elementary level.

As per the break up, 240485 children inJammu and 252270 children in Kashmir divi-sion are provided dry rice till March, 28.

It was informed that the total number ofchildren at elementary level in Jammu andKashmir is 886899.

Foreign travelers, Ladakh returned to disclosetheir travel history within two days: Dr Singla

COVID-19: MC Poonch conductscleanliness drive

GJ REPORTSAMBA/KATHUA, MAR 28:Sahib Bandgi Sant AshramRanjri Satguru, SwamiMadhu Paramhans todaysaid that during lockdown,the poor should not sufferand starve.

"We are with theGovernment to take care ofthe daily needs of the poorand people living on thestreets and provide themfood through communitykitchen," he said.

As a part of the socialresponsibility, SahibBandgi Sant Ashram Ranjripermitted by local adminis-tration is operating commu-nity kitchen in Kathua.More than 1500 shortlistedfamilies will get dailypacked meals during thelockdown period.

It was informed that freemeals will also be distrib-uted at four locations inSamba including near 17Miles, Gurha Morh, nearVijaypur Police Station andat Devta Naka Vijaypur.

While serving the peopledue care is taken to followthe advisory of theGovernment on social dis-tancing and other securitymeasures and guidelines arefollowed as issued by thelocal administration fromtime to time.

Sahib Bandgi SantAshram Ranjri has alwaysactively engaged to helppeople in the time of crisiswhether it be the AmaranthLand row, Cross bordershelling or any other naturaldisaster.

"We should rise above

the barriers of class, caste,colour and creed and helpeach other at the time ofneed. We believe in theprinciple that service tohumanity is service toGod," Madhu Paramhanssaid.

Meanwhile, police teamof Police Station Vijaypurwith the assistance of SahibBandgi Ashram, Ranjriserved breakfast to nearly500 needy people whichincludes homeless people,daily wagers, labourers andslum dwellers affected bythe lockdown in view of theCoronavirus pandemic. Thebreakfast was served withall safety protocols andmaintaining the social dis-tance. Ration items werealso distributed among the

families whose livelihoodshave been hit due to thelockdown. On the occasion,SDM Vijaypur, SDPOVijaypur, TehsildarRamgarh, Tehsildar BariBrahmana and SHOVijaypur were present.

As a part of initiative"We Care For You" by J&KPolice, Samba Police comeforward and provide foodand ration items to theneedy people at other areasalso falling under the juris-diction of PS BariBrahmana and Ghagwal bythe police teams of con-cerned police station.

Samba Police hasappealed to its citizens tostay at home, abide by thelockdown order and not tocome out of home.

1500 families to get packed meals daily: Madhu Param Hans

Members of Sahib Bandgi Sant Ashram Ranjri andPolicemen serving meals to needy people on Saturday.

GJ REPORTSRINAGAR, MAR 28:Jammu and Kashmir Bankhas taken a series of steps toprovide relief to the people inthe wake of Corono virus pan-demic.

A major step taken by thebank has been issuance ofdirections to the operativelevels to extent overdraftfacility of ten thousand rupeesto the Jan Dhan Yojna accountholders wherein all suchaccount holders can avail anoverdraft facility of up to Rs10,000 in their respectiveaccounts. Remarkably, anoverdraft of Rs 2000 in eachaccount can be extended tothe account holders withoutany documentation. There are

around 22 lakh Jan Dhanaccount holders in the UT ofJ&K out of which 16.51 lakhaccounts are with J&K Bank.

In another significantmove, as an immediate reliefto its borrowers, J&K Bankshall also be increasing theworking capital limits of itsaccount holders to an extentof up to 10 pc of their existinglimits. Borrowers interestedto avail this facility have beenadvised to approach theirrespective business units.

These steps are in linewith the Rs 1.7 lakh croreGareeb Kalyan Packageannounced by the FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanto mitigate the hardships ofthe poor due to the

Coronavirus lockdown, anamount of Rs 500 per monthwill be released to all womenJan Dhan account holders ofJ&K UT for the next 3months through direct trans-fer.

Bank has alreadyannounced a 3-month morato-rium on the payment of instal-ments of term loans anddeferment of interest onworking capital facilities out-standing as on March 1, 2020besides slashing the key lend-ing rate by 75 basis points(0.75 percentage point) andother measures in an emer-gency move to counter theeconomic fallout of theCoronavirus-induced 21-daylockdown. J&K Bank has also

reduced its external bench-mark/ repo linked lined rateby 75 basis points. Further asalready announced therewould be no charges on debitcard transactions on domesticATMs, NEFT/RTGS transac-tions initiated on mPay orebank and on UPI transac-tions. Also no charges shall belevied on account of non-maintenance of minimum bal-ance.

"About 16.51 lakh JanDhan account holders of J&KBank can avail the overdraftfacility from our bank. Thefacility is meant to help thepeople in dire need of moneyunder the prevailing circum-stances", Chairman and MDJ&K Bank, RK Chibber said.

Overdraft facility to Jan Dhan Yojna accounts Directions issued to all operative levels: J&K Bank CMD Police, Sahib Bandgi Ashram serve breakfast to 500 needy people in Vijaypur

GJ REPORTUDHAMPUR, MAR 28:Announcing the start of dedicat-ed COVID-19 Online Helpline,Prof (Dr) Nutan Kumar Resutra,Principal, GDC Udhampurappreciated the Healthcare pro-fessionals, AdministrativeOfficials and SecurityPersonnel who, without regardfor their own safety, are fightingthis epidemic on the frontline.

Dr Resutra emphasized thatthe best contribution every citi-zen can make towards fighting

this epidemic is to stay indoors.Govt Degree CollegeUdhampur is fully committed toproviding every possible assis-tance and required tools to bothteachers and students to facili-tate the Teaching Learningprocess at home, he said andasked the students to stayindoors and focus on their stud-ies.

In a press release, DrResutra said that to raiseawareness about the threat ofCOVID-19, an online helpline

has been started athttps://devikacloud.in/helplinewhere students can ask ques-tions and clarify their doubts.The helpline will also guide stu-dents about various EntranceExaminations and careeroptions available to them.Online Applications for NETExamination in various subjectshad recently been announcedby the UGC, whereas NEETExaminations has been post-poned due to the threat ofCOVID-19. Dr Resutra enunci-

ated the engagement of GovtDegree College Udhampur withits students through the DevikaCloud Online Portal, and saidthat the faculty is workingaround the clock to provideinformation, guidance andcounselling to students throughOnline Mode.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that for more than last twoweeks Faculty Members of theCollege from variousDepartments under the guid-ance of Principal Resutra have

been uploading Course materialas well as conducting OnlineClasses for the students. Thestaff members who have active-ly participated in this initiativeinclude Dr Bhavnaish Chand,Dr Ved Kumar, Prof SatishKumar, Dr B L Thakur, Dr G RVerma, Prof Javaid Sarver, ProfSunita Kumari, Prof KamalKishore, Prof Samosh Kumar,Dr Pankaj Sharma, Dr AjayKumar, Prof Asma Javed, DrRakesh Prashar, and others.

The Institution has also

started Online Coaching forUGC NET Paper 1 and Paper 2in English, and coaching formore subjects would be addedin the next few weeks. OnlineCoaching would be provided tothe students through the DevikaCloud Platform available ath t t ps : / / dev i kac loud . i n /ne tsupervised by Prof SureshDogra (Convener, IQAC). ITInfrastructure for the projecthas been developed by ProfShaji Khan and Prof RakeshKumar.

GDC Udhampur starts COVID-19 helpline, offers Guidance and Counselling for Entrance Aspirants

|| GREATER JAMMU ||JAMMU, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020 ||GJ STATE4

CMYK

Positive cases swells...the chain of the transmission.

Director Information & PR, Dr. Syed Sehrish Asgar andMission Director NHM Bhupinder Kumar were also present dur-ing the occasion.

In an online briefing with the media persons, he said that pub-lic cooperation is of critical importance in breaking the chain oftransmission.

He said that like in the rest of the country Jammu and Kashmirtoo has seen a spurt of cases in the last week or so. He informedthat the total number of cases in Jammu and Kashmir hasreached 28, of which active cases are 25 including 21 in Kashmirand 4 in Jammu division.

"Our teams have been consistently and aggressively trying totrace out the contacts and test them. This will cause some incon-venience and this is where we need support and cooperation ofthe Public. He further said that tracing out contacts and testingthem is of critical importance in breaking the chain of transmis-sion.

Giving further details, he said "We have found out that 11 ofthe positive cases in Kashmir division could be traced to a singlereligious congregation. Another 6 cases could be traced to anoth-er group which had travelled to Saudi Arabia. We are also gettingreports that one of the positive patients had suppressed his trav-el history to Dubai. This is extremely dangerous for the family, thecommunity and finally the entire UT" and appealed the peoplenot to hide travel history and self report and cooperate with thegovernment.

"While we have been aggressively tracing out contacts, wehave also been reviewing our capacities and facilities. We nowhave an administrative quarantine facility of over 35000 beds inJammu (6500), Srinagar (10000) and individual districts(1000each) spread over large locations" he added.

He further informed that the government has identified andearmarked 11 hospitals, 8 in Kashmir and 3 in Jammu division asexclusive COVID hospitals and as a result the government haveearmarked 2400 treatment beds-1300 in Kashmir and 1100 inJammu for the purpose.

"We are also preparing to upgrade capacity to include 1000more quarantine beds. On the request of the medical fraternity,the health department has also made arrangements for hotelsboth in Jammu and Kashmir for exclusive use of medical profes-sionals engaged in treatment," he added.

He said that the Health department is also engaged in pro-curement of all required material and equipment includingmasks, Personal Protection Equipments (PPEs) and ventilators.

Kansal also listed the steps taken in order to alleviate the dif-ficulties being faced by the people in the emerging situation.

"The administrative council has already met under theChairmanship of the Lt Governor and announced a series ofsteps to alleviate the problems of the people, especially the poorand the destitute. These include immediate release of Rs 1000each to workers registered with Building & Other ConstructionWorkers Welfare Board for purchase of one month's advanceration under Mid-Day meal, release of two installments of oldage, disability and family pension to all the 7.7 lakh pensionersand additional coverage of all 1.7 lakh pending cases, "heinformed.

He further said that "To help the destitute, slum dwellers andmigrant labour, ration packets containing essential edibles arebeing prepared and supplied through the DCs and urban localbodies. In addition, Rs 50 crore has been released to supplementalready for the containment of COVID-19 to the districts, PHEdepartment, ULBs for quarantine facilities.

"The administration has also fully geared up to implement allthe welfare measures announced under the 'Pradhan MantriGarib Kalyan Package'.

Distribution of ration both the normal ration and free ration asprovided under PMGKAY has already been started. Preparationsfor implementing other components are also being finalized," headded.

He also mentioned that the supply lines of essential commodi-ties including drugs are fully in place. There is no shortage of anykind of essential commodity in procurement level and facilitationpasses have been issued in this regard.

He therefore urged general public not to hoard any sort ofcommodity and avoid panic.

He said that the Resident Commission in Delhi has estab-lished a dedicated 24X7 helpline centre to assist students,patients or any other residents of J&K facing difficulties due tothe lockdown. The numbers are 011-24611210, 2461108 and24615475.

For the assistance of the labourers and residents of UT resid-ing in different parts of the country, the administration is startinga dedicated labour helpline; an appeal has been made to all theState governments to take care of people from other states.Similarly in J&K, the administration is taking caring measures ofall such people who may happen to be residing in the UT of J&K.

An appeal has also been made to all the religious leaders, forinstance the grand Mufti of Srinagar has made an appeal regard-ing holding prayers at home. He also urged to maintain socialdistances and stay at home besides follow all the advisoriesissued from time to time to win this battle.

"These are extraordinary times. We are grateful that we aregetting unprecedented understanding and cooperation from thepeople at large. We would like to reassure the people that theentire administrative machinery is constantly and closely moni-toring the situation and taking all necessary steps" he reiterated.

He further solicits the support of everyone in reporting cases,following advisories and in cooperating with the administrationeven though it may be uncomfortable at times.

According to the bulletin on novel coronavirus, 227 personshave kept under hospital quarantine while as 632 persons havecompleted surveillance period.

1525 persons are under home surveillance besides that so far532 numbers of samples have been collected for test of covid-19out of which, 486 samples have been tested negative while as 28have been tested positive among them two have recovered anda positive patient has died due to COVID-19 besides that reportsof 18 samples are yet to come

"Any kind of suppressing the travelling history could be dan-gerous to self, family, society and community," he added andappealed to people to come forward and self declare your travelhistory.

"We have been aggressively trying to trace the contacts," hesaid and said, "we have over 35,000 quarantined in J&K UT," hesaid and added that 11 hospitals have been in the Union territo-ry and trying to increase more quarantine beds.

"Arrangements of Hotels in Jammu and Srinagar have alsobeen made exclusively for use of medical professionals," headded.

Kansal also said that there is no need to panic and essentialcommodities are available for the public.

J&K Bank donates...asked him to enhance the working capital limit of the bank by 10percent.

The Lt Governor asked the CMD to formulate an effectivestrategy to deal with the emerging situation and take proactivemeasures to sensitize the masses about various Governmentschemes and relief packages through awareness programmes,especially in view of the COVID-19 threat.

BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Arun Kumar Mehta,Financial Commissioner, Finance Department; Bipul Pathak,Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor and Sunit Kumar,

Vice President, Zonal Head, J&K Bank were present on the occa-sion.

India records highest...918 cases in the country included 47 foreigners, the data stated.

As many as 79 people were either cured or discharged andone had migrated.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of COVID-19cases so far at 180 (including three foreign nationals), followedby Kerala at 176, including eight foreign nationals, according tothe ministry data. In Telangana, the number of cases hasgone up to 56, including 10 foreigners while Karnataka hasreported 55 cases till now.

The number of cases in Rajasthan has climbed to 54, includ-ing two foreigners.

Uttar Pradesh has reported 55 cases, including a foreignerwhile in Gujarat, it has gone up to 45, including one foreignnational.

In Tamil Nadu 40 people, including six foreigners, have testedpositive, while the number of positive cases in Delhi has gone upto 39, including a foreigner.

Punjab has reported 38 cases, while 33 COVID-19 caseshave so far been detected in Haryana, including 14 foreigners.

Madhya Pradesh has recorded 30 cases, Jammu andKashmir 20, West Bengal 15, Andhra Pradesh 14 and Ladakhhas reported 13 COVID-19 cases.

Bihar has nine cases, Chandigarh eight and Chhattisgarh hasreported six cases so far.

Uttarakhand has five cases, including a foreigner. HimachalPradesh and Odisha have reported three cases each. Six caseshave been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Goahas reported three coronavirus cases.

Puducherry, Mizoram and Manipur have reported one caseeach.

The ministry on its website stated, "Remaining nine cases arebeing assigned to states to initiate contact tracing." (Agencies)

LG for doubling...areas and form teams to provide ration and essential commodi-ties to these areas", the Lt Governor maintained.

He further directed for allocating mobile ambulances for ran-dom health checkups of the students living in Hostels across theUT and also to ensure the ration supply etc to them.

The Lt Governor also appealed to the religious leaders to stopall types of religious congregations to avoid public gatherings.

He called for regular fumigation and announcements, espe-cially in Kashmir and other areas where large number of peoplewith foreign travel history are coming up.

Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board was asked to distributeration kits to Pony-walas, Palki-walas, Pithoos and other strand-ed workers who have lost their wages due to closing of the pil-grimage.

The meeting was informed that the Administration is effective-ly working out the strategy so that the Financial Packageannounced by the Central Government reached to the benefici-aries.

The chair was informed that the wages for daily rated workersof various departments have been released by the Financedepartment. There is a free flow and smooth transportation ofessential commodities including fodder for cattle.

It was further informed that in each designated COVID hospi-tal, a COVID clinic has been set up for preliminary checkups anddiagnosis; besides, sufficient testing kits and isolation beds areavailable in the designated Hospitals.

Kewal Kumar Sharma, Farooq Khan, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagarand Baseer Ahmed Khan - Advisors to the Lt Governor; BVRSubrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Arun Kumar Mehta, FinancialCommissioner, Finance Department; Atal Dulloo, FinancialCommissioner Health and Medical Education; Bipul Pathak,Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor; Rohit Kansal,Principal Secretary, Planning, Development and MonitoringDepartment; Sanjeev Verma, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu;Simrandeep Singh, Administrative Secretary to the Government, Department of Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation andReconstruction & FCS & CA; Sushma Chauhan, DeputyCommissioner, Jammu and Sh. Bhupinder Kumar, MissionDirector, NHM J&K attended the meeting.

PM announces setting...has been receiving spontaneous and innumerable requests formaking generous donations to support the government in thewake of this emergency.

'Distress situations, whether natural or otherwise, demandexpeditious and collective action for alleviating the suffering ofthose affected, mitigation/control of damage to infrastructure andcapacities.

'Therefore, building capacities for quick emergency responseand effective community resilience has to be done in tandem withinfrastructure and institutional capacity reconstruction/enhance-ment. Use of new technology and advance research findings alsobecome an inseparable element of such concerted action.

'Keeping in mind the need for having a dedicated nationalfund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emer-gency or distress situation, like posed by the COVID-19 pandem-ic, and to provide relief to the affected, a public charitable trustunder the name of 'Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Reliefin Emergency Situations Fund' (PM CARES Fund) has been setup,' the PMO said.

The Prime Minister is the Chairman of this trust and it's mem-bers include the Defence Minister, the Home Minister and theFinance Minister, it added.

'PM Narendra Modi has always believed and shown in actionsthat public participation is the most effective way to mitigate anyissue and this is yet another example. This fund will enablemicro-donations as a result of which a large number of peoplewill be able to contribute with smallest of denominations,' said thePMO.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said that the Ayush Sectorin India has an important role to play in checking spread ofCoronavirus in the country.

In an interaction with AYUSH sector practitioners via videoconference, the PM said, 'AYUSH sector has a long tradition ofkeeping the nation healthy Their network is spread through thelength and breadth of the country. So it's imperative for them toutilize this network, while working according to WHO guidelines,to spread the message of good practises which need to beadopted in the efforts to control the spread of the virus. '

He also praised the ongoing efforts of AYUSH Ministry in pro-moting #YogaAtHome to de-stress the mind and strengthen thebody during this difficult phase.

Prime Minister underlined the importance of countering andfact checking unsubstantiated claims of AYUSH having cure forthe disease, adding that AYUSH scientists, ICMR, CSIR andother research organizations must come together for evidencebased research.

'The country must be ready to use the entire healthcare work-force to meet the challenge, and if the need so arises, help fromprivate doctors connected with AYUSH may be sought by thegovernment,'the PM said.

The Prime Minister suggested that AYUSH medicine produc-ers could utilize their resources towards producing essentialitems like sanitizers which are in high demand these days. Heexhorted them to utilize the platform of telemedicine to reach outto the public and generate constant awareness to fight the pan-demic. He also highlighted the importance of enforcing social dis-tancing with full vigour to counter the spread of the pandemic.

The AYUSH practitioners lauded the Prime Minister for lead-

ing the country's fight against Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).They talked about the impact of these traditional practisestowards boosting immunity.

They also mentioned their efforts to conduct research forsymptomatic treatment, and expressed desire to serve the nationduring this time of crisis.

Prime Minister said that it is important to create awarenessabout India's traditional medicines and medical practises all overthe world. He thanked the AYUSH practitioners for constantlystriving to serve the people and once again highlighted theimportant role they have to play in India's fight against COVID-19.

Union Minister for AYUSH, Cabinet Secretary and Secretary,Ministry of AYUSH also participated in the interaction. (UNI)

DETAILS Internet Banking UPI (BHIM, PhonePe, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, PayTM,

Mobikwik) RTGS/NEFT Donations to this fund will be exempted from Income Tax

under Section 80(G).

COVID9:...He said the outreach programmes conducted by the JK Police atthe grass root level helped in controlling the social/religious gath-erings.

The DGP appealed to the people of Jammu and Kashmir tocome forward in disclosing their travel history or if they are incontact with such persons.

He said there is no harm in disclosing travel details rather it isfor the safety and security of the individuals, their families/ rela-tives and for the communities.

The DGP said that on Friday, people of J&K understood theneed of staying at home and offering prayers from home exceptfew incidents where people come out. He said most people arecooperating in fighting this threat which is posed to the wholeworld, and have preferred to remain indoors.

He said that people should not be afraid but it is the time tobe cautious. He said that the quarantine centres are ready inevery district and added that individuals need to come forward inhelping to break the chain. He said the number of positive casesis increasing each passing day but can be reduced to if we fightit together.

He said the J&K Police is providing all possible assistance tothe health department, to the civil administration in managing thequarantine centres.

The DGP said that all those coming from outside J&K arebeing quarantined. He said that Dial 100 of J&K Police in everydistrict and Union Territory's Dial 112 are active to help all thosewho wanted any type of assistance.

He said hundreds of people are giving details of those per-sons who are hiding their travel history. So far more than 1200people have been traced with the cooperation of general public.

He said for the Police personnel training centres at differentlocations in the J&K have been activated as quarantine centres.He said Police Hospitals at Srinagar and Jammu have openedmany helplines.

He said all officers/security agencies including J&K Policehave been strictly instructed to follow the health protocol and toprepare quarantine centres at unit levels.

He said that police is also using its resources to help all thosemigrant labourers who have no work these days by providingration or by organizing it with the help of locals.

FC dedicates CD...Principal Government Medical College, Dr Sunanda Raina;Director Coordination New Medical Colleges, Dr YashpalSharma; Joint Director Planning, Health and Medical Education,Madan Lal and other officers of the health department accompa-nied the Financial Commissioner during his visit to the hospitals.

The FC said that as a measure of preparedness we are keep-ing these hospitals in Jammu exclusively for coronaviruspatients. He also said that additional manpower, if required, inthe twin hospitals will be provided by National Health Mission.

During his visit the FC was informed that everything is inplace and the two hospitals are ready to handle COVID-19cases. He was informed that beds, ventilators and other neces-sary equipment required has been put in place and they areready to handle COVID-19 patients at any time, if need arises.

The other operations of the Chest Diseases Hospital andPsychiatry Hospital Jammu have been wound down and they willbe entirely dedicated towards the treatment of COVID-19patients. The patients of these two hospitals have been shifted toSuper Speciality Hospital and Government Medical CollegeJammu.

As part of its efforts in the fight against the corona virus, thegovernment has already dedicated Government Hospital GandhiNagar entirely for treating COVID-19 patients where 200 isolationbeds are been readied in addition to the 90 beds in place.

The decision for dedicating associated hospitals ofGovernment Medical College Jammu entirely for treating COVID-19 cases was taken during a recent meeting to augment the iso-lation facilities. The government has also ordered suspension ofnon-urgent operations and other treatments to free up capacityfor a possible surge on COVID-19 cases in various designatedhospitals.

He said that the idea behind dedicating some designated hos-pitals entirely for COVID-19 is to avoid intermingling them withother patients. He said that separation of the COVID-19 patientswill prevent contraction of the virus.

COVID-19: Jammu..."At Nagrota and Jhajajr Kotli, the police teams with BDCChairpersons also started going door-to-door with appeal to peo-ple to come forward with their travel history, if any," Patil heresaid.

He said that the teams also spread awareness about the 'dosand don'ts' regarding COVID-19 to members of family and impor-tance of following instructions from authorities time to time.

The police teams distributed ration and other food items to theneedy people on Saturday in Sidhra and Nagrota area also.

The police officials said this door-to-door campaign will proveeffective in tracking foreign and other travel related returnees andall PRIs are being roped in so that myths are cleared as well aspeople could be aware and sensitise about COVID-19.

The BDC chairpersons and Sarpanch's are also sensitised tocome forward to help needy people of their area during lockdownand spread awareness through all PRI members.

As a result of these innovative efforts, police have been ableto trace 32 persons with travel history so far and more than 400labourers families have been identified to be provided with eata-bles and ration for which police is working and PRIs and otherorganisations help is being called.

Patil said, "the similar drives was also carried out at all policestations and police posts in the district to distribute Food Itemsamong needy and disable."

FIR lodged against...Mehta said that acting against the rumour mongers and peoplesharing fake messages on social media platforms, cyber policestation Jammu registered an FIR against unknown personsunder relevant sections of IT Act and IPC.

"An FIR has been lodged for uploading a fake order with aforged signature of Principal Secretary to the Home Departmentgovernment of Jammu and Kashmir in respect of order forrestoration of 4G mobile internet services in the UT of J&K," saidMehta.

He said that by a uploading fake order the miscreants hadmislead the general public and added, "cyber police will leave nostone unturned to get hold of the actual culprit who uploaded thisfake order".

Ladakh MP sanctions...Relief Funds.

The funds will be utilized by the Deputy Commissioners ofboth the districts of Ladakh for Purchase of LaboratoryEquipment for Establishment of Bio Safety Level-3 TestingLaboratory, Infra-Red Thermometers (Non-Contact) to facilitateDoctors, Nurses and Medical Staffs to remotely record and trek aperson's temperature, Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)including Face Masks, Gloves and Sanitizers Kits for the medicalpersonnel to keep them well-protected and enable them to func-tion efficiently by minimizing the risk of transmission, Thermalimaging scanners, cameras or CORONA Testing kits.

The fund will be further used to improve the ICU Ventilatorand Isolation/Quarantine Wards within their approved facilities,Masks, Sanitizer Sprays and allied food materials for Police,Para Military, Bankers and all other officials on duty and otherneedy persons in Ladakh Parliamentary Constituency and Anyother medical equipment for COVID-19.

He urged to establish the BSL-3 Laboratory.Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal has been coordinating

between the Union Administration and various Ministries inCentral Government very efficiently to deal with the COVID-19situation in Ladakh. He also donated his one month salary of Rsone lakh to PM National Relief Fund of India to help the countryto fight this deadly pandemic COVID-19.

JKRC establishes 24x7...Secretary, Rimpy Ohri is supervising the overall functioning of theCentre. Five helpline numbers have been dedicated for the pur-pose.

An official spokesperson told that JK residents facing anyissue due to lockdown may contact following helpline numbersfunctional 24x7:- +91 97173 55186 (M), +91 98103 14773 (M),24611210, 24611108, 24615475 or mail at jkhsdelhi@gmail.com.

Hundreds of students from across the country have alreadybeen facilitied by the Commission to return to their home districtswhile several others have been facilitated to stay at various ded-icated Hotels in New Delhi, informed the official spokesperson.

Make judicious use...establishments are closed and we have sufficient water to meetday to day requirement of people," Ajeet Kumar Sahu,Commissioner/Principal Secretary Public and health Engineeringand Irrigation here said.

He said, "We have sufficient drinking water supply and thereare no complaints received from any end but want to appeal peo-ple to judiciously use water."

"Though there is no crisis, our men are on job and nothing toworry," he said and added that the problem being faced is ofrepaired work due to lockdown but a machinery bank has beenestablished for immediate repair of damaged pipes or anygadget."

He, however, also appealed to people to deposit bills online.

Two LeT OGWs...Baramulla, a joint operation was launched by police, army andCRPF in Pattan on Friday. "During the raids, security forcesarrested two OGWs, identified as Showkat Ahmed Mir andShowkat Ahmed Yatoo," they said.

They said the duo was providing logistic support to active mil-itants of LeT. "During questioning, the duo gave away locationwhere they had kept weapons," they said, adding a team wasrushed to the area and a pistol, a magazine and six rounds, onehand grenade and one Ak-47 magazine were recovered.

They said the duo also confessed to have helped five youthto travel to Pakistan on valid visas to get weapons training.

"Police has registered a case and initiated investigation intothe incident," they said, adding more people could be arrested incoming days.

From Page-1...

Five DySPs transferred

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28: The government has ordered trans-fers and postings of five Deputy Superintendents of Police(DySPs) with immediate effect.

According to an order issued by the PoliceHeadquarters today, Imtiaz Ahmad. DySP IR-23rd Bnunder transfer to PC Magam has been posted as SO to DIGUdhampur- Reasi Range against available post. DySPDAR Handwara in addition to his own duties shall lookafter the work of DySP PC Magam Handwara till furtherorders

Rashid Younis, DySP CID SB Kupwara has been trans-ferred and posted as DySP PC Kupwara against availablepost.

Bhupinder Kumar, DySP JKAP-8th Bn under transferto PC Awantipora has been posted as DySP CID CIJammu/Samba against available post. SDPO Awantiporain addition to his own duties shall look after the work ofDySP PC Awantipora and DySP Hqrs Anantnag in addi-tion to his own duties shall look after the work of DySP PCAnantnag, till further orders

Bashir Ahmad, DySP IR-11th Bn has been transferredand posted as DySP JKAP-13th Bn against availablevacancy

Zia-ul-Haq, DySP awaiting orders of adjustment hasbeen posted as DySP IR-22nd Bn against available vacan-cy They shall be relieved forthwith.

NEW DELHI, MAR 28:Clear blue skies, a very raresight in Delhi-NCR hasbecome the norm after thelockdown was announced onMarch 25. This is now sup-ported by data also.

A new analysis by Centrefor Science and Environmentsaid morning and eveningpeaks in PM 2.5 (fine, res-pirable pollution particles)have flattened out. Thereduction in nitrogen dioxide(NO2) concentrations is evenmore pronounced becausethe major source of NO2emissions are vehicles andindustries.

The hourly pollutiontrend in Delhi, Gurugram,Faridabad, Noida andGhaziabad analysed byCSE used to be majorlyinfluenced by traffic peaksin morning and eveningwhich is not seen anymore.

“This analysis bringsout the pronounced effect

of traffic on hourly pollu-tion trend and on dailyexposures to toxic vehicu-lar pollution. With trafficminimized hourly trendsplummet. This is sharplyevident in NO2 trends,” theanalysis released onSaturday said.

Meanwhile, the regionalweather forecasting centre inDelhi released historical datafor the maximum tempera-ture recorded in April whichranges from 39.6 degree C in1994 to 43.7 degree C in2010. “Data analysis since1992 shows maximum tem-perature over Delhi reaches40 degree C during April 17to 20. If temperature andhumidity play a role inreduction of transmission ofthe virus (SARS-CoV-2) wewill be able to see the trendsin April. But things will bedifferent if people use airconditioning indoors,” saidKuldeep Shrivastava, head,RWFC.

|| GREATER JAMMU ||JAMMU, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020 ||GJ NATIONAL5

With profound grief & sorrow, we inform the sad demise of ourbeloved mother Smt. Rattana Hakhoo/Nancy R/o KanyaKadal, Srinagar (Kmr.) A/p Ward no. 60 Near Billu WeldingShop, Dhok Paloura, Jammu who left for heavenly abode on24-03-2020. The Tenth Day Kriya will be performed atAkhnoor Ghat on 2nd April 2020 & Assembly will be at 11 AMat our residence.

GRIEF STRICKENSh. Chuni Lal Hakhoo -HusbandSons & Daughter-in-lawsMrs. & Mr. Amit & SudhaMrs. & Mr. Sumit & MeenakshiGrand ChildrenAshank, Maanya, AmayraSMAST HAKHOO & KOUL PARIVAARMob: 9419280061, 9149459164, 9823666718

OBITUARY/TENTH DAY KRIYA

Smt. Rattana Hakhoo(Sabha)

MUMBAI, MAR 28: AfterAkshay Kumar, Industrialistand Tata Group ChairmanEmeritus Ratan Tataannounced to donate Rs 500crore to fight the ongoingpandemic COVID-19.Taking to Twitter, he pledgedthe amount for the welfare ofthe people who are sufferingdue to the lockdown andCOVID-19. Tata Trusts haspledged to protect andempower all affected com-munities. It has announcedPersonal ProtectiveEquipment for the medicalpersonnel on the frontlines, respiratory systemsfor treating increasingcases, testing kits toincrease per capita testing,setting up modular treat-ment facilities for infectedpatients and knowledgemanagement and trainingof health workers and thegeneral public. Also Read -

Coronavirus: Suresh RainaDonates Rs 52 Lakh ToCOVID-19 Relief Funds

Sharing the statement, hewrote, “The COVID 19 crisisis one of the toughest chal-lenges we will face as a race.The Tata Trusts and the Tatagroup companies have in thepast risen to the needs of thenation. At this moment, theneed of the hour is greaterthan any other time.”

As soon as the newsbroke, netizens applaudedRatan Tata and AkshayKumar for donating in therelief fund and soon theirnames started trending onTwitter. One user wrote,“This man never disappoints!Best person toidolize!Loudly crying faceLegend with an heart of gold#RatanTata.” (Agencies)

Akshay Kumar, Ratan Tata, donatesRs 500 crore for coronavirus fight

NEW DELHI, MAR 28: One of the threeIslamic State (IS) suicide attackers whostormed a gurdwara in Kabul on Wednesdayand killed 25 people is suspected to be arecruit from Kerala. The attacker has beenidentified by central intelligence agencies asMohammed Muhsin based on informationprovided by his family, who now live inKannur, sources in the security establish-ment said.

An Islamic State magazine, al Naba, onFriday published a picture of the suicideattackers identifying one of them as AbuKhalid al-Hindi. The picture has been identi-fied by the parents of Muhsin as that of theirson.

“Muhsin’s mother has also claimed thatshe received a message over Telegram froman IS associate of Muhsin’s yesterday thather son had attained martyrdom in the Kabulattack. However, when we asked her toshow the message she said she had deletedit out of fear. As of now we have the family’sclaim to go by,” a senior central agency offi-cial said.

A day earlier, the IS-linked Amaq newsagency had issued a statement claiming the

attack was revenge for Kashmir.Central agency sources said there are

two Mohammed Muhsins who joined IS fromKerala, and the Kabul attacker should not beconfused with the one that was killed in a USairstrike in July 2019. That Muhsin was anengineering graduate from Malappuram whohad joined the IS in 2017.

The Muhsin who attacked the Kabul gur-dwara, intelligence sources said, belongs toTrikkarippur in Kasargod district, and had leftfor Afghanistan in 2018 to join IS inKhorasan Province, or ISKP (comprisingKunar and Nangarhar). This was a good twoyears after some two dozen youths fromKasargod and Malappuram had left for

Afghanistan via Iran in 2016.“He was not part of the first module — a

group of 21 members — from Kerala whotravelled to Nangarhar in Afghanistan.Muhsin from Payyannur had left home sometime in early 2018 in search of a job in Dubai.Later he travelled to Afghanistan fromDubai,” a senior Kerala Police officer toldThe Indian Express. Trikkarippur (Kasargod)is a small town very close to Payyannur(Kannur) in northern Kerala.

“He (Muhsin) is said to be 28 years oldand is a school dropout. He had left forDubai in 2018, and from there he went toAfghanistan. His family lives in Kannur,” acentral intelligence official said.

The official added that intelligence agen-cies were trying to ascertain if any of theother Kabul attackers too, was Indian.

Sources in the Ministry of HomeAffairs said a decision on whether to handover the case to the NationalInvestigation Agency is yet to taken.According to the amended NIA Act, thecentral agency can take over the investi-gation into a terror attack overseas if anyof the victims is Indian.

Kabul Gurdwara attacker from Kerala,left for Afghanistan in 2018

With profound grief and sorrow, we inform the sad demise ofour beloved mother Smt. Kailash Kumari W/o Late Sh.Bishan Dass Pokhetra (Ramnagar Wale), who breathed herlast on 19-03-2020. 13th Day/Kriya: on 31-03-2020(Tuesday) at 11 AM. Rasam Pagri: on 01-04-2020(Wednesday) at 4 PM will be performed at our residenceH.No. 150-B, Bhawani Nagar, Gole Pulli, Talab Tillo,Jammu.GRIEF STRICKENSons & Daughters-in-lawSh. Adhip Rattan & Smt. Anita GuptaSh. Adish Rattan & Smt. Usha DeviSh. Sudesh Kumar & Smt. Parveen GuptaDaughters & Sons-in-lawSmt. Rattan MalaSmt. Suman Mala & Sh. Sarup SinghDEEPLY REMEMBERED BY ALL GRAND CHILDRENMOBILE NO: 9797698860, 9055033101, 7298788830

TENTH DAY/KRIYA/RASAM PAGRI

SMT. KAILASHKUMARI

With profound grief and sorrow , we would like to inform that our belovedbrother Prof. (Dr.) B.L. Wazir S/o late prof. Nand Lal Wazir (originally fromShalayar, Habba Kadal , Srinagar, Kashmir, present address 103 UpperLaxmi Nagar, Sarwal, Jammu) left for his heavenly abode on 21st March2020 at D- 104, Aditya Megacity, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad.TENTH DAY KRIYA would be performed on 30th March at MuradnagarGhat at 8am.IN PROFOUND GRIEF:Mrs. Durga Wazir -WifeMr. J.L Wazir and Phoola WazirMr. S.L Wazir and Shobha WazirMrs. Veena Razdan -SisterMr. R.K Bhan and Sarla BhanSons and Daughter-in-law'sPradeep Wazir and Sumam WazirDeepak Wazir and Shivani WazirSanjeev Wazir and Meenakshi WazirAshutosh Razdan and Sunita RazdanSidharth BhanDaughter and Son-in-lawsDr. Meenakshi and Dr. Pawan ZutshiMonika and Pramod ManjareSonika and Abhishek ThussuGRAND CHILDREN AND SAMASTWAZIR PARIVARCONTACT- 9910261163, 8851715258

TENTH DAY KRIYA

Prof. (Dr.) B.L. Wazir

With profound grief and sorrow, we inform the sad anduntimely demise of our beloved Smt. Urmila Tickoo W/oSh. Maharaj Krishen Tickoo permanent resident ofMartand Mattan A/p H.No. 2/114 Indira Vihar Old Janipurnear Amba Theatre Jammu on 25-03-2020.10th Day Kriya will be held on 03-04-2020 (Friday) atAkhnoor Ghat & Assembly at our home at 11.00 a.m.Grief StrickenSmt. Mohini Tickoo- Mother-in-LawSh. Maharaj Krishen Tickoo (PNB)- HusbandDevar & DevraniSh. Ravi Shanker Tickoo & Smt. Jyoti TickooSon & Daughter-in-LawMr. Rahul Tickoo & Mrs. SunainaMr. Aditya Tickoo- SonMiss Diya Tickoo- DaughterSmt. Neelam Yogi & Sh. Raj Kumar Yogi- Sister & Brother-in-LawCell: 94191-02556, 9086059138

TENTH DAY KRIYA

Smt. Urmila Tickoo

With profound grief and sorrow, we inform the sad demise of our belovedShri Bansi Lal Tiku S/o Shri Sarwa Nand Tiku R/o Railway Road, NearShiv Palace Udhampur who left for heavenly abode on dated 24/03/2020.Tenth Day Kriya will be held on date 02/04/2020 (Thursday) at DevikaGhat Udhampur at 10:30 A.M.GRIEF STRICKENSMT. JAYANTI TIKU (WIFE)SMT. SHARDA TIKU W/O LATE MR. PYARE KRISHAN TIKU (BHABHI)MRS. SUSHMA AND MR. ASHOK KUMAR (BHABHI AND BROTHER)MRS. SHASHI TIKU W/O LATE MR. P.K. TIKU (SISTER)MRS. SUDERSHAN AND MR. BRIJ MOHAN TIKU (BHABHI ANDBROTHER)MR. MOHAN LAL TIKU (BROTHER)MRS. VANITA AND MR. RAJESH TIKU (DAUGHTER IN LAW AND SON)MRS. SUNITA AND MR. ABHISHEK TIKU (DAUGHTER IN LAW ANDSON)MRS. MEENAKSHI AND DEEPAK WARIKOO (DAUGHTER AND SON IN LAW)MRS. KAMINI AND VIVEK SUMBLY (DAUGHTER AND SON IN LAW)MRS. KANCHAN AND SUNIL KOUL (DAUGHTER AND SON IN LAW)MRS. ARCHANA AND SANDEEP CHOGTU (DAUGHTER AND SON IN LAW)SAMAST TIKU AND KOUL FAMILY.CONTACT NUMBER :- 7006388942 (M), 01992270845 (TEL), 7006227443 (M)

TENTH DAY KRIYA

Shri Bansi Lal Tiku

With profound grief and sorrow, we inform the sad and untimelydemise of our beloved Tej Krishan Warikoo S/o Lt. Sh PoshkarNath Warikoo R/o Galavan Pura (Hyderpura) Distt. Budgam(Sgr) Kashmir at present H.No.524 Sector-2 Ext. Durga Nagar,Jammu.Tenth Day will be performed on 3rd April 2020 at Akhnoor GhatAssembly will be held at Residence 11.00 am.GRIEF STRICKENSmt Roopa Ji Warikoo W/o Late P.N Warikoo -MotherAunty & UncleSmt Nime Ji Warikoo & Bushan Lal WarikooSmt Usha Ji Warikoo & Proboo Ji WarikooSmt Jai Kishen Warikoo W/o Late Krishan Lal WarikooBrothers & BhabisSmt Ranu Warikoo & Maharaj Krishen WarikooSmt Arti Warikoo W/o Late Taj Krishan WarikooSister & Brother-in-lawSmt Vijay Vaishnavi & Sh S.K VaishnaviM.No. 9469574638 / 9419859242

TENTH DAY

Tej Krishan Warikoo

With profound grief and sorrow, we inform the sadand untimely demise of our beloved Smt Rita JiKoul W/o Sh Behari Lal Koul originally resident ofVessu, Anantnag, Kashmir, at present H.No. 88,Lane No. 4, Amrit Vihar, Upper Barnai Jammu on25-3-2020.Tenth Day Kriya will be performed on 3rd April2020 (Friday) at Akhnoor Ghat and Assembly willbe held at our residence at 11.30 AM.Grief StrickenSh Behari Lal Koul -HusbandMiss Sapna & Shilpy -DaughtersSmt Bindoo Ji & Sh R.K. Bhat -Sister & Brother-in-lawAND SAMAST KOUL PARIVARMB. 9419992334, 9149463109

OBITUARY

Smt Rita Ji

KOLKATA, MAR 28: A29-year-old woman who wasasked to stay quarantined athome violated the instruc-tions and took two trainsfrom New Delhi to reachTehatta, about 170 kilome-tres north of Kolkata. She hastested positive for Covid-19,along with her six-year-oldson and nine-month-olddaughter, a 45-year-old rela-tive and her 11-year-old son.The family allegedly social-ized and went to the localmarket too.

What has complicatedmatters is that the peoplewho came in contact with thefamily are refusing to admitit. The district administrationhas appealed to the locals tovoluntarily disclose whetherthey came in contact with thefamily without which the dis-

ease could spread in Bengal.“Not many people are

admitting that they came intouch with the family. Thiscould aggravate matters,”said a senior district official.

The 29-year-old woman isa resident of Uttarakhand andher 45-year-old relative is aresident of Delhi.

According to a seniorhealth official of Nadia dis-trict in West Bengal, thewoman had on March 16 mether cousin in New Delhi whohad returned from UK, fol-lowing which she wasadvised by the Delhi admin-istration to stay in homequarantine. However, shetook the Delhi-SealdahRajdhani Express on March19, reached Kolkata onMarch 20 and took a passen-ger train to reach Tehatta in

Nadia district.Her children were with

her. She was accompanied byanother relative. These fivepeople travelled together andall of them have tested posi-tive for Covid-19 on March27.

Her male cousin, who hadreturned from UK, wasadmitted at a hospital in NewDelhi from March 19 withsymptoms of the novel coro-navirus and tested positive onMarch 20.

They travelled fromSealdah to Tehatta in a pas-senger train in an unre-served compartment. Afterde-boarding from the train,they took an auto-rickshaw.Over the next two-threedays, they also socialisedand went to the local mar-kets. (Agencies)

5 of family who tested positive for Covid-19 travelledin 2 trains, socialized and went shopping

With profound grief and sorrow, we inform the sad demiseof our beloved mother Smt. Prabhawati Koul W/o LateJanki Nath Koul R/o Hanjura Budgam Presently at H. No152 A Sector 3 Lane 8 Durga Nagar Jammu on 22-03-2020.Tenth Day will be performed on 31st March at AkhnoorGhat and assembly will be held at Muthi Ghat at 11 am.GRIEF STRICKENSons & Daughters-in-lawSh. Rattan Koul & Smt. Sarla KoulSh. Daya Krishan Koul & Smt. Basanti KoulSister & Brother-in-lawSmt. Durga Koul & Sh. Dwarka Nath KoulBrother & Sister-in-lawSh. Raj Nath Bhat & Smt. Keemta BhatGrandchildrenSmt. Jyoti Koul & Sh. Amit KoulSmt. Archana Pandita & Sh. Vinod PanditaSmt. Sunita Koul & Sh. Vicky KoulMiss. Varsha KoulContact details: 9419155556, 9419211113

TENTH DAY KRIYA

Smt. PrabhawatiKoul

With profound grief and sorrow we inform the saddemise of our beloved revered Karmayogi Sh. HirdeyNath Mattoo (Bobu Jee) original resident of MalarattaBhori Kadal, Srinagar A/p H.No 256, Colonel Colony,Talab Tillo Bohri on March 20, 2020.The Tenth Day Kriya will be performed on March 29,2020 (Sunday) at Akhnoor Ghat and Assembly will beheld at 11.30 am at our residence.GRIEF STRICKENSmt. Sona Batni Mattoo -WifeSmt. Phoola & Pran Nath Mattoo -Daughter-in-law &SonSmt. Rajni & Ashok Kumar Mattoo -do-Smt. Dulari & Bansi Lal Bhat -Daughter & Son-in-lawSmt. Phoola Ji & Mohan Krishan Mantoo -do-Smt. Santosh & Avtar Krishan Suri -do-Smt. Sudesh & Chaman Lal Kath -do-Grand Children

TENTH DAY KRIYA

Karmayogi Sh. HirdeyNath Mattoo (Bobu Jee)

GREATER JAMMU SHARES YOUR CONCERNFor Obituaries and Remembrance Call us at Ph: 2435309, Mob: 9906198186 or email to: editorgreaterjammu@gmail.com

Air pollution curve flattens in Delhi-NCR due to lockdown impact

NEW DELHI, MAR 28: TheCentre on Saturday asked thestates and Union territories toprovide all possible support tomigrant workers while authoris-ing them to use the StateDisaster Response Fund(SDRF) for their temporaryaccommodation, food, clothingand medical care amid thethree-week countrywide lock-down imposed to halt the spreadof the coronavirus (Covid-19)pandemic.

Migrant workers have beenamong the hardest hit becauseof the lockdown and many ofthem have been prompted toundertake long journeys to theirhomes on foot in absence ofpublic transport, work andmeans to sustain themselves.

The SDRF was constitutedunder the National DisasterManagement Act (NDMA) in2005 and is the primary fundavailable with state govern-

ments for disasters likecyclones, droughts, earth-quakes, fires, floods, hailstormetc. The Centre contributes 75%to the SDRF for general catego-ry states and Union territoriesand 90% for those under specialcategory--the North-Easternstates, Sikkim, Uttarakhand,Himachal Pradesh, Jammu &Kashmir. The annual centralcontribution is released in twoequal instalments.

In its directive, the Centrehas said the SDRF can be usedas per section 3 (a) related torelief measures listed under itand the National DisasterResponse Fund (NDRF). Thesection provides for relief in caseof a calamity for 30 days. In caseof continuation of a calamity, thisperiod may be extended first upto 60, and later to 90 days.Subsequently, medical care canbe provided from the NationalRural Health Mission funds, the

Centre said.For 2019-20, the Centre has

released around Rs 10,343crore to 29 states as SDRF,according to official data. AroundRs 14,108 crore has been givento eight states, includingRajasthan, Odisha,Maharashtra, Madhya Pradeshand Karnataka, under theNDRF.

A Press Information Bureaustatement said the states havebeen advised to give wide pub-licity, using public address sys-tems, technology, services ofvolunteers and non-governmen-tal organizations, to preciseinformation on the locations ofthe relief camps and the facilitiesbeing made available.

Home minister Amit Shahsaid the “government has com-mitted all support to migrantworkers” who are returning totheir states or trying to do soduring the lockdown period.

Centre asks states to use disaster funds togive food, shelter to migrant workers

Armyman killed in blastduring repair of Howitzergun in Madhya Pradesh

JABALPUR, MAR 28:An Army personnel waskilled and three of his col-leagues were injured in anexplosion during repair ofa howitzer gun at the 506Army Base Workshop inMadhya Pradesh' Jabalpuron Saturday, the policesaid.

Kaluram Gurjar (38), anArmy official fromRajasthan, was killed when anitrogen cylinder exploded,police said.

Gurjar and others werefixing a howitzer gun whenthe accident took place,police official DharmeshDixit said.

The three other personnelwho were injured wereadmitted to the military hos-pital, he said. (Agencies)

Air India scheduledto operate 14 specialcargo flights today

MUMBAI, MAR 28:National carrier- Air Indiahas been operating specialmedical cargo flights fromSaturday morning and isscheduled to operate 14such flights by the end ofthe day.

Airline sources said thatthe cargo flights are carry-ing medicines and medicalequipment. Air India oper-ated AI 1809 from Mumbaito Delhi at 11am onSaturday, that landed inDelhi at 1.10 pm and AI1624 that departed fromDelhi at 2.30 pm and is dueto arrive in Mumbai at 4.40pm. Both these flights wereoperated using BoeingB787 aircraft.

Another Air India cargoflight that is scheduled tooperate in the Delhi-Imphal-Delhi sector will beusing Airbus 320 aircraft.

DEAR EDITOR,

Bringing great reliefs to mil-lions of borrowers who arefacing tough time from

income erosion due to the lockdown, theReserve Bank of India on Fridayallowed lenders to provide a three-month deferment on payment ofEquated Monthly Installments (EMIs)for all term loans that were outstandingas on March1, 2020. During the morato-rium period, the borrower will not berequired to make any repayment to thebanks. Notably, term loans include retailloans like home loans, automobile loans,personal loans, credit card dues, educa-tion loans, micro loans besides farmloans and crop loans that have a fixedtenure. The RBI relief on loans will sig-nificantly ease pressure on both lendersand borrowers as availing such a mora-torium would not lead to a downgrade inan individual's credit rating/credit score

and also not affect the classification ofthe loan on the banks' books. Thus, themoratorium declared on all kinds ofloans has indeed brought a big relief toespecially millions of middle-class peo-ple who were otherwise under acutemental agonies till the other day.Needlessly, lockdown is a great testingtime for people who are struggling hardto remain indoors especially the peoplein apartments and flats in cities andtowns. Now with this announcement bythe RBI, millions of people who are ben-eficiary to different kinds of loans standrelieved of the stress and pressure fromtemporary repayment of EMIs. Kudos tothe RBI for the timely action which hasbrought mental composure to peoplewho are fighting the Covid-19 in anunprecedented way.

T K NANDANAN,THEVARA, KOCHI.

|| GREATER JAMMU ||JAMMU, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020||GJ EDIT/OP-ED PAGE6

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Please send your valuable responses at editorgreaterjammu@gmail.com

RBI's MORATORIUM FOR 3 MONTHS ON ALLKINDS OF LOANS IS A WELCOME DECISION

Greater Jammu

The efficacy of the judicial institutions today seems to beengulfed within the mist of doubts most probably due tothe prime stakeholders having failed to fully adjust to the

global trends in this field. This is evident from the fact thatthere is lack of access to justice due to its high cost; there aredelays in the delivery of justice besides lack of a mechanismfor accountability despite allegations of corruption. All this hastogether added to the pervasive pessimism about the effica-cy of judicial institutions. Yes, given the situation on groundevery common man in India feels so. It is an undeniable factthat the changing world has made globalization an unavoid-able necessity and this cannot just be restricted to economicsand trade policy only. When the global standards are gettingextended to all the fields, the sector of dispensation of justicecannot remain untouched. Today the space for local peculiar-ities is shrinking impliedly as an essential consequence ofglobalization. The sooner the concerned stakeholders adjustto it, the better it is going to be for all primarily the litigants,lawyers and judges and ultimately the eventual beneficiarywill be public. Legal profession is today one of the most cher-ished careers not only across the globe but even in India.There was a time when opting for legal profession meant justpursuing litigations in courts or at the most a few of them mak-ing it to the Bench. As of today the field and scope of this pro-fession has expanded at an unprecedented scale bringingwithin its fold journalism, politics, social work and law-relatedbusiness including legal process outsourcing, research andpublication besides other career options. However in a coun-try like India having the second largest population in theWorld, with a sizeable chunk of people living in rural areas,being illiterate and of course poor, the system under which theprofession and litigation process run deprive this significantpart of the population of getting their legal rights enforcedwhich can by all means be said to amount to injustice withthese poor people. Besides, in view of the huge populationand available statistics, we have one lawyer for every 2,000persons as compared to the developed world like Europe andAmerica where there is one lawyer for every 200 persons. Insuch a situation the poor and the disadvantaged people haveno option but to silently suffer injustice. As a result in everyissue litigated in India, the rich do enjoy unfair advantage ascompared to the poor ultimately resulting in adversarial pro-ceedings where parties are not equally placed thus defeatingthe very principles of equity. Hence it is very important toaddress this vital issue by adopting litigant friendly proce-dures recognized by law to provide justice to the financiallyweaker sections in the society. Though there are variousmechanisms put in place under various laws but on groundthese have failed to provide the desired results. It is high timethat the stakeholders in the judicial system realize that thisfield is on the threshold of drastic transformation as a conse-quence of rapid technological developments and the worldhaving been reduced to a global village. As such there is adire need to focus mainly on the underprivileged section ofthe society as it constitutes the largest client and litigant bankso far as numbers are concerned. Unless the lawyers do notinitiate the changes themselves, it is not possible to achievethe desired reform necessary to put the profession in the fore-front of poor section of the society. Therefore it is essential tounderstand that the traditional public esteem for the judiciaryhas been reinforced by its activism in contrast to the failure ofthe executive to apply correctives on matters of concern andthis is particularly true of its good work in expanding the ambitof rights. The area of concern is the excessive zeal reflectedat times in pronouncements of members of the judiciary. It ishoped that besides the lawyers bringing a drastic change intheir mode and attitude of working, the judges too shall dis-charge their duties objectively and impartially to uphold recti-tude which is the prime requirement in judiciary. Only then thecommon man in India will get justice and the concept that lit-igation is a luxury in India will evaporate from the Indian soci-ety.

SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020

ADDRESSING A VITAL ISSUE

BRIG ANIL GUPTA

At the risk of being labelled an alarmist,I would like to standby each and everyword spoken by the Prime Minister

during his nationwide 8pm address on Tuesday,March 24. It is very unusual for the PM of anation to address the nation twice within 96 hoursunless there is a grave emergency. With a verylow literacy rate in our country, we are used tolive with "Chaltahai" (Couldn't care less) and"Ram Bharose" (Leave it on God) attitude but arefailing to recognise the gravity of the situationthis time which is something our generation hasnot faced. After independence, this is perhaps thefirst time when the nation is being put to a testcollectively with every part of the country affect-ed. Not only that, it is not confined to India alonebut the entire neighbourhood of South Asia isbeing engulfed by this pandemic. A day before thePM made this announcement Dr Dara Singh, therenowned orthopaedic surgeon of Jammu, wroteto me thus, "I feel we are late in understandingCovid-19. In other words we failed to take therequired steps so far. Being a surgeon I believe inspot decision and Quick Action. Considering thepresent situation and future expectations from thedisease behaviour, the education and understand-ing level of ours as a whole I would not shy insuggesting to the policy makers to plan and actimmediately taking a note of one line 'everyone inIndia is Covid+ unless proved otherwise', I maysound too aggressive but it will prove to be leastdamaging. Good luck. Jai Hind." I being an armyveteran could not agree more than him because Ihad always been a votary of quick decision mak-ing in case of an adversity and against those whopreferred to remain as "fence sitters."

It appears the Doctor and the PM had a tele-pathic connection because the sum total of whatthe PM said was the gist of my friend's aggressiveadvice. The government advisories insisted onSocial Distancing as the best way to avoid thespread of the deadly pandemic in our country butthe public at large either didn't understand themeaning and purpose of Social Distancing orwere still overwhelmed by the "Chalta Hai" atti-tude. It was evident from the nation's response tothe PM's earlier call of one day voluntary "JantaCurfew" on Sunday, 22 March. Though theresponse was overwhelming as far as remainingindoors was concerned but an apology to the con-cept of Social Distancing as was evident frommany videos flashed on the electronic media. Thefine difference between Isolation and SocialDistancing is what the majority countrymenfailed to realise. PM in his address also empha-sized on this aspect when he said that social dis-tancing is not meant only for the affected personsbut each and every one including the PrimeMinister himself.

PM in his address also said, "If we are not ableto manage next 21 days, we will be pushed backby 21 years. For 21 days forget what it means tostep out of your homes." He stressed on treatingthe doorstep of houses as a "LaxmanRekha" andnot violating it.Why 21 days? Corona Virusspreads exponentially. The urgency is to break thechain of its spread. This flu is like an avalanche,slow moving snow initially but then a wallop. Theend effect of avalanche is well known to all. Wehave to worry because due to very limited testingfacilities available initially, the testing of suspectsin our country was restricted. Hence, it is pre-

sumed that actual figures may be much higherthan declared and once we enter phase 3 whichmeans that transmission is not restricted to per-sonnel returning from foreign countries butbegins to spread more rapidly within communi-ties. Considering, India's population and limitedavailability of health infrastructure such stagewould be catastrophic for us. Hence prevention isbetter than cure. Thus the need for 21-day lock-down to break the cycle of exponential spread.

Why it is the last hope? The figures of infect-ed persons released so far indicate that despitegovernment advisories and many pro-activemeasure taken by state/UT administrations inmany parts of our country, the virus is spreading.The table below illustrates the fact:

The medicos and analysts feel that if numberof cases double in more than five days, as is evi-dent from the above chart, it would not take morethan a month to reach the phase of unmanageable

number of cases and deaths. Thus, next 21 daysare very critical. India has been quick to learnfrom the happenings in countries like China, Iran,the United States and Western Europe countriesand draw lessons from successful models of con-tainment followed by countries like Japan, SouthKorea, Taiwan, Singapore. India under thedynamic and visionary leadership of PM Modihas come out with its own model of 21-Day lock-down and the entire world including WHO iswaiting with bated breath to see the outcome ofthis unique model. India is not only trying to com-bat the pandemic through control measures but isalso actively involved in promoting indigenousefforts to manufacture testing kits (in which it hassucceeded) and in research (succeeded in isolat-ing the virus). Thus, India is emerging as a majornation to lead the fight against pandemic and con-tinue to be part of research community. India ear-lier has also shown the world the path to fight twopandemics like small pox and polio. 21-day lock-down will slow down virus transmission. India isdeveloping capability and capacity to isolate, test,treat and trace. But isolation is the most critical toprevent the surge and ultimate outbreak.

The model no doubt is harsh but with self-con-trol and self-discipline Indians can ensure successof this model and provide lead to the world andbecome real "Vishaw Guru". The task is giganticbecause we have a very low literacy rate and avery high number of workers in "informal sector"depending on daily wages. A lot would dependon how they behave or how the governmentensures the compliance from them. Can dailywage earners afford to remain indoors, is a moot

question? With eateries and Dhabas closed howwill the stray cattle survive? With large number ofpeople staying in over populated Jhuggis and one-room dwellings with shared unhygienic publictoilets, unhygienic living conditions and dirtywater supply, how will the social distancing bemaintained? While, the government is busy withits hands full in combating the Covid-19 pandem-ic, it is the responsibility of civil societies, politi-cal parties and NGOs to come forward andaddress these issues.

"The gods didn't sentence death for the hungry,and death visits even the one with full belly, thegiver never diminishes. One who doesn't give,doesn't even find a giver (no one forgives a non-giver)" [Rigveda 10.117.1}

As quoted above, even the Rigveda says, don'tlet anyone die of hunger! Gods have not givendeath sentence to the poor, hungry, unfortunateand it is not as if those who eat full belly will

never die! Then why not share your excess, giveand live and let live?

In all probabilities, these sections of the socie-ty will continue to venture out to seek livelihoodand remain exposed to the threat of Corona Virusand be a potential threat to the society until theearlier mentioned organisations do not accepttheir social responsibility to look after these peo-ple.

Another issue is the disposable of bio-wastebeing generated daily in numerous quarantine andisolation centres built across the country. If thewaste is not disposed of scientifically, it couldprove to be another source of spread of the dead-ly virus. The administration needs to take a seri-ous note of it and ensure zero-error in the same.

To sum up, it would not be out of place toquote the assessment of Ashish Jha, the Directorof Harvard Health Institute. Jha predicts that asmany as 40 percent of Indians could get infectedwith the coronavirus, which could mean between300 million and 400 million infected, up to 70million needing some hospital treatment, and asmany as 8 million to 20 million needing intensivecare in hospitals. "That's not fathomable in termsof what the hospital system can possibly accom-modate, a lot of people could die outside of healthcare facilities,"predicts Jha. To prove his predic-tion wrong, 21-day lockdown is the last hope.

(The author is a Jammu based veteran,political commentator, columnist, security and

strategic analyst. He can be contacted atanil5457@gmail.com)

21-DAY LOCKDOWN IS THE LAST HOPE

OMKAR DATTATRAY

The NRC implementation is necessaryto identify and deport the infiltrators.The national register of citizens is an

ambitious project and it should be implement-ed in letter and spirit. The anti CAA protestsand loss of lives and property should not be thereasons for holding back the much neededNRC. Instead the central government should goon with its programme of launching and thenthe implementation of the NRC. There is greatand urgent need for the enumeration of NRCdata all over the country .It is important toidentify the infiltrators who have infiltratedinto India and are working to destabilise ourcountry and therefore their detection is neces-sary along with their ouster from the country.Their detection and deportation is absolutelynecessary to arrest the growing demographicimbalance in the country. In fact the identifica-

tion and then the deportation of the illegalimmigrants is necessary not only for curbingthe demographic change which is in the offingbut also for arresting the threat to national secu-rity .This exercise has become necessarybecause some states are overflowing with theoutsiders and they are collaborating with theanti-nationals. But it seems that the centralgovernment is now not serious on this impor-tant issue because of the opposition of somepolitical parties who have used the Muslimminorities for this purpose. All this is going inthe country due to the unfortunate vote bankpolitics. But the fact is that this should not havehappened. We are the believers in the oneworld family and have given shelter to manyforeigners and we also believe that the gusts arethe gods. However that does not mean thatIndia is a Dharamshalla to house all foreignerswithout any distinction. There is a big conspir-acy to change the demographic profile of Indiaand the anti national forces are at it and so it isall the more necessary to arrest the growingtrend of the infiltration. There is no doubt thatthis big task will be resisted by those who willhave to leave the country but the governmentshould go with its decision of deporting of theinfiltrators. As of now the government seems tobe on the back foot on the implementation ofthe NRC because of the anti CAA violencewhich the country has seen thanks to the sup-port to the anti-CAA protests by the congress,SP, Leftists and others. The anti CAA protestshave taken a heavy toll of human life and theloss to private and government property wasvery big and thus the government is taking

steps with care and caution. The governmentshould not abandon its programme of the NRClaunching and implementation as these is veryimportant for the security and demography ofthe country. The way population of the minori-ties in India is growing is a cause of concernand the minorities with the support of the infil-trators will pose a big threat to the nationalunity and cohesion. The launching and imple-mentation of the NRC is a herculean task and avery challenging task and the authorities willhave to face stiff opposition from the politicalparties and the country's minorities. But thegovernment should show its resolve and detectthe illegal immigrants from the soil of India sothat the threat to national peace and progress isarrested and a peaceful India is ensured and theforeign powers are defeated. Thus for peace,security and above all for the curbing of thedemographic change, it is very important tolaunch and implement the ambitious plan of theNRC so that India is saved from the bomb ofdemographic change and the security of thenation is also ensured. Implementation of theNRC was the agenda item in the manifesto ofthe BJP and they and their government shouldgo ahead with its much talked about pro-gramme of the identification and deportation ofthe infiltrators. Any way the governmentshould wait and watch and then boldly take theimportant decision of the detention and depor-tation of the illegal foreigners and this will bein the interest of the nation.

(The writer is retired education officerand columnist)

NRC IMPLEMENTATION IS NECESSARY

|| GREATER JAMMU ||JAMMU, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020 ||GJ INTERNATIONAL7

Deserted stretch of the Cape Malay Bo-Kaap district during day 1 of a 21 day national totallockdown in Cape Town, South Africa.

Wuhan market shrimp sellermay be COVID-19 patient zero

LONDON: A shrimp seller at the wet market in theChinese city of Wuhan believed to be the centre of thecoronavirus pandemic, may be the first person to havetested positive for the disease, a media report said onSaturday. The report said that 57-year-old woman,named by the Wall Street Journal as Wei Guixian, wasselling shrimp at the Huanan Seafood Market when shedeveloped what she thought was a cold last December.Coronavirus lockdown: Latest updates Chinese digitalnews outlet, The Paper has said that she may be 'patientzero'. Wei was told by doctors her illness was "ruthless"and other workers at the market had come to the WuhanUnion Hospital with the same symptoms, report quotedthe outlet as saying. "Every winter, I suffer from the flu,so I thought it was the flu," the woman was quoted assaying by The Paper news outlet. The shrimp selleradded that she believed she contracted the coronavirusfrom the shared toilet in the market. She said the fataldisease would have killed fewer people if the govern-ment had acted sooner. Wuhan Municipal HealthCommission has confirmed that Wei was among the first27 people to test positive for the coronavirus. Agencies

Virus prevention measuresturn violent in parts of Africa

JOHANNESBURG: Police fired tear gas at a crowd ofKenyan ferry commuters as the country's first day of acoronavirus curfew slid into chaos. Elsewhere, officerswere captured in mobile phone footage whacking peoplewith batons. Virus prevention measures have taken a vio-lent turn in parts of Africa as countries impose lockdownsand curfews or seal off major cities. Health experts saythe virus' spread, though still at an early stage on the con-tinent, resembles that of Europe, adding to widespreadanxiety. Cases across Africa were set to jump above 4,000on Saturday. Abuses of the new measures by authoritiesare an immediate concern. Minutes after South Africa'sthree-week lockdown began on Friday, police screamed athomeless people in downtown Johannesburg and wentafter some with batons. Some motorists were pursued,stopped, searched and called selfish. Other citizensreported the police use of rubber bullets. Fifty-five peopleacross the country were arrested. In Rwanda, the firstcountry in sub-Saharan Africa to impose a lockdown,police have denied that two civilians shot dead Mondaywere killed for defying the new measures, saying the menattacked an officer after being stopped. Agencies

Italy says virus responsefateful for EU

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte warnedSaturday that the European Union could lose its purposeif it fails to come up with a strong response to the coron-avirus threat. Conte aired his grievances after the 27 EUleaders could not agree on an action plan during an argu-mentative six-hour video conference Thursday and gavetheir finance ministers two more weeks to forge a policythat could please Italy and Spain. The two countrieshardest-hit by the pandemic blocked Thursday's state-ment because it did not go far enough. The crux of theargument is about the extent to which the EU -- facingwhat Italy views as an existential threat -- should aban-don its policy of keeping within tight budget constraints.The bloc has already untied its purse strings in ways notseen since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. Conteargues that this is not enough. Rome and Madrid want theEU to start issuing "corona bonds" -- a form of commondebt that governments sell on markets to raise money andaddress individual economic needs. More spendthriftnations such as Germany and the Netherlands are balkingat the idea of joint debt. Conte said he and GermanChancellor Angela Merkel had "not just a disagreementbut a hard a frank confrontation" Thursday about how toproceed. Agencies

"Sorry, some will die": Brazil Presidenton coronavirus death count

RIO DE JANEIRO/SAO PAULO: Brazil's PresidentJair Bolsonaro cast doubt on Sao Paulo's death toll fromthe coronavirus outbreak and accused the state governorof manipulating the numbers for political ends, withoutgiving evidence for his claims. Bolsonaro's accusationswere the latest broadside in an ugly battle with Brazil'sgovernors, who have chafed at the president's view thatprotecting the economy takes priority over social distanc-ing measures to combat the spread of the highly conta-gious virus. Following the advice of public health experts,the vast majority of the country's 26 governors havebanned non-essential commercial activities and publicservices to contain the outbreak in their states. "I'm sorry,some people will die, they will die, that's life," Bolsonarosaid in a television interview on Friday night. "You can'tstop a car factory because of traffic deaths." Bolsonarosaid that in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil's economic pow-erhouse, the death toll seemed "too large." Sao Paulo hasthe most cases and deaths so far of coronavirus in Brazil,at 1,223 cases and 68 deaths. "We need to look at what ishappening there, this cannot be a numbers game to favorpolitical interests," Bolsonaro said. Agencies

IN BRIEF

LONDON, MAR 28:British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson spoke to USPresident Donald Trumpover the phone to discussthe coronavirus pandemicsoon after he took to socialmedia to announce that hehas tested positive forCOVID-19 and has goneinto self-isolation.

The 55-year-old, who isbelieved to be the firstworld leader to have testedpositive for the deadlyvirus, said his symptomsare mild which means hewill carry on leading theresponse to the outbreak inthe UK where the death tolljumped by 181 to hit 759and the number of con-firmed cases of COVID-19stood at 14,543 on Friday.

Prime Minister BorisJohnson spoke with USPresident Donald Trumptoday. The Presidentwished the Prime Minister

a speedy recovery fromcoronavirus, a DowningStreet spokesperson said onFriday evening.

They agreed to worktogether closely, along withthe G7, the G20, and otherinternational partners, todefeat the coronavirus pan-demic, the spokespersonsaid.

The call came soon afterPrime Minister NarendraModi sent his best wishesto Johnson on Twitter,describing him as a fighter .

You're a fighter and youwill overcome this chal-lenge as well. Prayers foryour good health and bestwishes in ensuring ahealthy UK, said Modi.

Earlier in the day,Johnson had posted anupbeat video messageinsisting that we will winagainst the virus if we carryon following the advice to"stay at home". Agencies

Australia localelection goesahead despite

virus threatSYDNEY, Mar 28:People in the Australianstate of Queensland wereurged to vote in localelections on Saturday orface a fine of $80, aspolls went ahead despitemost citizens beingencouraged to stay hometo stem the spread of thecoronavirus.

The state's top healthofficial said it was safe tovote in person as long aspeople followed socialdistancing guidelines.

"There's no risk here,we've got to rememberthe risk of people goingto the shops is far, farhigher," Jeannette Youngtold reporters. Many ofthe three million eligiblevoters had cast their bal-lot early, or remotely bypost or telephone.However long queueswere reported outsidesome booths on Saturdaydue to safety measureslimiting the number ofpeople allowed inside atonce. Queueing voterswere told to stand 1.5metres (5 feet) apart andasked to bring their ownpens. Agencies

BEIJING, MAR 28:China on Saturday dis-patched an eight-membermedical team to Pakistan tohelp “iron brother”Islamabad cope with thenovel coronavirus outbreakin the country, the Chineseforeign ministry announcedSaturday afternoon.

The Chinese medicalexperts left for Pakistan aday after China handedover medical supplies toPakistan at the high-altitudeKhunjerab pass in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

The mountainous pass inPoK borders the XinjiangUyghur AutonomousRegion (XUAR) in north-west China. Islamabadopened up the PoK borderto strategic ally China asthe outbreak began to take atoll on its medical infra-structure. Reports fromPakistan said the number ofconfirmed Covid-19 casesin the country rose to 1,408on Saturday with 11 deaths;the number of infected rose

sharply by more than 100from the day before.

“Nearly two tons ofmedical supplies fromChina were successfullyhanded over to Pakistan onFriday at the Khunjerabpass in north Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region tohelp the country fightCovid-19,” the officialXinhua news agency said ina report.

“The medical suppliesincluding ventilators, facemasks, protective clothes

and testing kits were donat-ed by the government ofnorthwest China’s XinjiangUygur AutonomousRegion, said the embassy,adding that the total valueof the supplies is 2.778 mil-lion yuan (about 391,500U.S. dollars),” the Xinhuareported, giving details.

Chinese foreign ministryspokesperson, GengShuang said the medicalexperts’ team has left forPakistan on Saturday after-noon. Agencies

China sends medical aid to Pakistan viaPoK, dispatches team of experts to help

TEHRAN, MAR 28: Iranannounced Saturday that139 more people had diedfrom the novel coronavirus,raising the official deathtoll to 2,517 in one of theworld's worst-affectedcountries. Health ministryspokesman KianoushJahanpour told a news con-ference that 3,076 morecases had been confirmedin the past 24 hours, bring-

ing the total number ofinfections to 35,408.

"The condition of 3,026of those hospitalised is crit-ical in one way or another,"he said, adding that 11,679patients have recoveredand been discharged fromhospital.

Jahanpour said that 57million Iranians had beenscreened for the virus.

He said the data

received had been "signifi-cant" and had helped withearly detection and inter-vention.

Iran has imposed strictnew containment measures,after weeks of publicappeals largely failed todeter hundreds of thou-sands taking to the roads tovisit family for the PersianNew Year holidays.Agencies

Iran coronavirus death tolltops 2,500: ministry

British PM Johnson speaks toTrump after coronavirus diagnosis

NEW ORLEANS, MAR 28:New Orleans rushed tobuild a makeshift hospitalin its convention center astroubling new outbreaksbubbled in the UnitedStates, deaths surged inItaly and Spain and theworld warily trudgedthrough the pandemic thathas sickened more than ahalf-million people.

Punctuating the factthat no one is immune tothe new coronavirus, itpierced even the highestechelons of global power,with British PrimeMinister Boris Johnsonbecoming the first leaderof a major country to testpositive.

While New York

remained the worst hit cityin the US, Americansbraced for worsening con-ditions elsewhere, withworrisome infection num-bers being reported inNew Orleans, Chicago andDetroit.

“We are not throughthis. We're not even half-way through this,” saidJoseph Kanter of theLouisiana Department ofHealth, which has record-ed more than 2,700 cases,more than five times whatit had a week ago.

New Orleans' sprawl-ing Ernest N. MorialConvention Center, alongthe Mississippi River, wasbeing converted into amassive hospital as offi-

cials prepared for thou-sands more patients thanthey could accommodate.

The preparationsimmediately conjuredimages of another disaster,Hurricane Katrina in2005, when the conven-tion center became asqualid shelter of lastresort in a city that hasbraved a string of stormhits, not to mention greatfires and a yellow feverepidemic in centuries past.

As the new health crisisloomed, economic catas-trophe had already arrivedin the city, where manyalready live in poverty andthe tourism industry hasscreeched to a halt.Agencies

VATICAN CITY, MAR 28:Pope Francis stood alone invast Saint Peter's Square tobless Catholics around theworld suffering under thecoronavirus pandemic, urg-ing people to ease their fearsthrough faith.

"Thick darkness hasgathered over our squares,our streets and our cities; ithas taken over our lives, fill-ing everything with a deaf-ening silence and a distress-ing void, that stops every-thing as it passes by," hesaid.

In a historic first, theArgentine performed therarely recited "Urbi et Orbi"blessing from the steps ofthe basilica to an emptysquare, addressing those inlockdown across the globevia television, radio andsocial media.

"We find ourselves afraidand lost," he said in a homi-ly ahead of the blessing, ashe stood under a canopyprotecting him from a down-pour.

He described the coron-avirus "tempest" which hesaid had put everybody "inthe same boat".

The hour had come to"reawaken and put into prac-tice that solidarity and hopecapable of giving strength,support and meaning tothese hours when everythingseems to be floundering", hesaid.

The blessing -- whichtranslates as "To the City(Rome) and the World" -- isusually given on just threeoccasions: when a pope iselected, and each year atChristmas and Easter.

The pontiff traditionallyspeaks out against armedconflicts around the globebefore delivering the Urbi etOrbi blessing.

But on Friday, theCOVID-19 pandemic whichhas already killed more than23,000 people was in hissights -- and humanity'serrors and lack of faith lead-ing up to the crisis.Agencies

Covid-19: US eyes new outbreaks asinfections worldwide top 575,000

Pope Francis faces coronavirus"Tempest" alone at Vatican City square

WASHINGTON, MAR 28:The US government is mak-ing arrangements to airliftover 2,000 American citizensstranded in India due to thesuspension of flights and thelockdown in the country tolimit the spread of the coron-avirus pandemic, the StateDepartment has said.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday announceda three-week lockdown in thecountry as part of measuresto curb the spread of coron-avirus that has claimed over26,000 lives globally.Principal Deputy AssistantSecretary Ian Brownlee,Bureau of Consular Affairson COVID-19, said that therewere about 1,500 Americansin the New Delhi area,between 600 and 700 in theMumbai area and 300 to 400Americans elsewhere whohave identified themselves.

"We are working with amultiplicity of options here.

There is a church group thathas chartered a large aircraft.We are facilitating the neces-sary permits for that aircraft.They're ready to take out 150or so Americans. We areworking directly with bothUS and foreign carriers to layon aircraft direct from Indiato the United States," he saidduring a briefing on Friday.

"The permitting is what'scomplicated at the moment.We're ready to act on this, butit's the permitting that takes awhile both in India and theUnited States. So we're hope-ful, and I think with reasonwe are hopeful, that thoseflights will begin within sev-eral days, within about threedays or so," he said.

He said the StateDepartment was tracking33,000 citizens strandedabroad due to lockdownsand/or cancellation of flightswho wanted help returninghome. Agencies

Hopeful flights to bring Americansfrom India will start in 3 days: US

Syria, UAE leaders discusscoronavirus, a thaw in relations

DAMASCUS (SYRIA), MAR 28: Syria’s President andone of the United Arab Emirates’ most powerful leadersspoke on the phone , signalling a major thaw in Damascus’troubled relations with Arab countries, which had mostlyboycotted President Bashar Assad and backed his opposi-tion.

The official Emirati news agency said Assad and AbuDhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed AlNahyan discussed efforts to contain the coronavirus out-break and reviewed preventive measures to fight it.

Sheikh Mohammed, believed to be the Emirates’ day-to-day ruler, said Syria and the UAE need to “place thehumanitarian solidarity over political issues during thiscommon challenge ‘we are all facing’,” according to thereport.

The crown prince of the oil-rich Abu Dhabi affirmedthat Syria “will not be left alone during these delicate andcritical circumstances.”

Syria’s health system and infrastructure have been dec-imated by years of conflict. Although Damascus hasrecorded only five cases of infection with coronavirus,there are concerns the fast-spreading virus may prove amajor test for the government. The UAE had been a sup-porter of the Syrian opposition during the early years of thewar, now in its tenth year. But as the war wound down andwith the Syrian army capturing most of the territory thatwas once lost to the opposition, the UAE and a few Arabcountries made limited and usually indirect openingstoward Assad’s government. Agencies

MADRID, MAR 28: Thedeath toll from coronavirusin Spain surged over 5,600on Saturday after a record832 people died in 24 hours,and the number of infec-tions soared over 72,000,the government said.

Spain has the world'ssecond-highest coronavirusdeath toll after Italy with5,690 fatalities. The numberof confirmed cases havejumped to 72,248 as thecountry moves to signifi-cantly increase testing.

Although Spain's latestfigures showed a dailyincrease of more than 8,000cases, the rate of new infec-tions appears to be slowing,with officials saying the epi-demic appeared to be near-ing its peak.

Madrid remains theworst-hit region, with 2,757deaths and 21,520 infec-tions, leaving hospitals andmortuaries overwhelmed,and the regional authoritiesworking to open a secondtemporary morgue in anunused public building nearthe airport to house thedead. An initial site wasopened last week at the ice

skating rink at the Palaciode Hielo (Ice Palace) shop-ping centre.

With undertakers alsooverwhelmed, the govern-ment has authorised thearmy's involvement in thecollection and transport ofbodies for the duration ofthe state of emergency.

The latest figures cameas Spain marked two weekssince the imposition of anunprecedented nationallockdown which willremain in place until at leastApril 11.

Earlier on Saturday,Spain received a delivery of1.2 million masks fromChina for health workersand those in the transportsector, the government said.

The delivery, whicharrived at Madrid's Barajasairport, includes some387,000 surgical masks forhealthcare personnel,75,000 masks for the securi-ty forces and more than725,000 for those in thetransport sector, from busdrivers to port and airportstaff as well as those work-ing for the postal service.Agencies

832 dead in Spain due to COVID-19 in24 hours, total count crosses 5,600

DUBAI, MAR 28: With thesuspension of religious serv-ices across the UAE due tothe coronavirus outbreak,several temples, churchesand Islamic centres in thecountry are using technologyto connect to the people andhelp them remain calm in thetime of pandemic, accordingto a media report.

Measures adopted by dif-ferent faith groups includevirtual Islamic classes; live-streaming of masses bychurches; webcasts of week-ly satsangs by Hindu temple,Khaleej Times reported.

The Islamic InformationCentre in Dubai is conduct-ing two new courses viaWhatsApp, which now has166 attendees, said RashidAl Junaibi, director of the

centre. The centre had put allclasses on hold until furthernotice as per the instructionsby the Islamic Affairs andCharitable ActivitiesDepartment.

“We have also started areading course in Englishand French languages viaWhatsApp for over 269 ofour students of 32 differentnationalities to learn thebook titled New MuslimGuide,” he added. “Classquizzes are conducted onlinevia webforms.” Anothercommunity Islamic centre,Kalemah, is also conductingits weekly Islamic lecturesand Arabic language classesusing live broadcast appMixlr.

The St Mary’s CatholicChurch in Dubai has been

holding live-streaming ofmasses every day afterplaces of worship temporari-ly shut as a precaution toprevent the spread of Covid-19.

“We have dedicatedpriests each day who con-duct online masses that arelive-streamed every day at6am, 6.45am, 12pm and7pm. We feel good servingpeople and are glad we canconduct these masses onlineas something is better thandoing nothing at all,” RevFather Lennie Connully,parish priest at the St Mary’sCatholic Church, said.

“We feel encouragedwhen we see their apprecia-tion messages online thank-ing us for conducting massesonline. Agencies

India Abroad, paper chronicling lives ofIndian Americans, shuts down

WASHINGTON, MAR 28: India Abroad, an iconic news publication that chronicled theadvent and rise of Indian Americans, announced Friday it was closing down because ofpre-existing troubles worsened by the flight of advertisers, who are the mainstay of anynews outfit, in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. “Compounding all of this,” publisherSuresh Venkatachari said in a farewell note referring to earlier problems, “was the adventof the ominous coronavirus pandemic and the devastating repercussion in its wake whichled to several advertisers cancelling their advertisements and hence the looming outlookfor future revenue generation looking even more bleak”. The publication never reallymanaged to expand its reach from print to online despite that being the obvious course ofaction pursued by all other news outfits. Agencies

Coronavirus cases in Pakistan rise to over1,320 as Punjab emerges as new epicentreISLAMABAD: The coronavirus cases in Pakistan onSaturday reached 1,321, including 11 deaths, with thePunjab province emerging as the new epicentre of the dead-ly viral infection in the country. Punjab recorded a total of448 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, up from 419 cases onFriday. The number surpassed Sindh's tally of 440 cases.Sindh was the province, which reported Pakistan's first coro-navirus case. Of the 448 cases in Punjab, the highest numberof 207 were reported from Dera Ghazi Khan district. Mostof the infected persons had returned from Iran, Punjab chiefminister Usman Buzdar said. Agencies

Temples, churches in UAE hold online prayers tohelp people keep calm amid coronavirus scare

|| GREATER JAMMU ||JAMMU, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020 ||GJ MISCELLANEOUS8

Edited, Printed, Published and Owned by Capt. Murti Gupta, Mob: 9419182274, Managing Editor Seema Murti, Leh Office: E-41, Moti Market, Leh Ph. 01982-251305, Bureau Representative Jigmet Janspal. Srinagar office: New Theed Harwan Srinagar, Bureau Chief Irfan AalamGanie Mob: 9797994664, 9469773518 Delhi office: Flat No. 726 Pocket 13, DDA Flats, Dwarka Phase 1, Bureau Chief Sudesh Dogra Mob: 9654351768, 09968041934, Email: sudeshdogra11@gmail.com.

Printed at JK Printing and Publications, near Matador Stand Sunjwan, Jammu and Published from Greater Jammu, Hall No. 7&8, 2nd floor Auqaf Complex, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu-180004. Ph. No(s)- 0191-2435305-09, 0191-2439705 Fax:- 0191-2431799.Email: editorgreaterjammu@gmail.com RNI No. JKENG/2009/29765. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums at Jammu. The views expressed by authors and writers are their personal and publication is not responsible for any comment.

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28: Onthe directions of BJP J&KPresident, Ravinder Rainaand General Secretary(Org.), Ashok Kaul, partyleaders on Saturday distrib-uted essentials amongneedy people at theirdoorstep to meet dailyneeds here at Ward No 50.

Party leaders includingNeena Gupta BJPCorporator Ward No. 50,Ishant Gupta BJP J&K Co-Incharge IT and socialmedia and Poonam GuptaWard President BJPMahilla Morcha distributedthe essentials includingrice, Atta, edible oil, salt,vegetables and other com-modities among peopleduring the difficult time of21 days of lockdown asannounced by PrimeMinister, Narendra Modi asa precautionary measurefor the fight against Covid-

19 epidemic.Neena Gupta hailed the

vision of Prime Minister,Narendra Modi regardingto combat with deadlyCoronavirus and his poli-cies by announcing reliefpackage of over Rs. 1.7lakh Crores to protect thepeople of country suffering

amid lockdown. She said that the JMC is

committed and has beenworking across the city byspraying, fogging andensured proper sanitation inorder to protect the spreadof Coronavirus.

She appealed to the gen-eral public to kindly adopt

all precautionary measuressuggested by Government,WHO, doctors and otherhealth care serviceproviders and also stay athome and maintain cleanli-ness to protect themselvesand others from beingaffected with this deadlyvirus.

Ishant Gupta said thatduring 21 day lockdownacross country, the poorand daily-wagers are goingto bear the brunt as theyhave been left with nomeans of earning and BJPworkers across country aredirected by NationalPresident, JP Nadda to pro-vide every possible essen-tial assistance to the needyand poor.

He added that during thedistribution of ration andother essential things theyare taking proper care tomaintain social distancingand other precautionarymeasures to protect our-selves and others fromCovid-19.

He appeals all those per-sons who are able enoughto provide essential foodand other items must comeforward for noble causeand help the needy withintheir surroundings.

BJP leaders distribute essentials among needy at Ward No. 50

BJP leaders distributing daily essentials among people at Ward No 50 in Jammu onSaturday. GJ Photo

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28:Team of Abhi ProductionsWelfare Trust keeping inmind the pandemic coron-avirus (Covid-19) and thelockdown imposed byadministration for thesafety of everyone servedfood to stranded peoplehere.

They served food tohundreds of stranded peo-ple at Bus Stand, Railwaystation and other roads.People are stranded due tothe Covid-19 lockdown.

It was informed thatTrust Chairman, AbhishekSharma and President,Dinesh Raina alongwithTrust vice President,Varun Verma have servedfood to the needy.

Stranded people whowere from all parts of JKUT including Kashmir,

Rajouri, Poonch andLakhanpur were withoutfood amid lockdown.

Abhishek Sharma said,"It is our moral duty tohelp the administrationand people who arestranded without food inthese hard times."

He also urged upon

and requested to all thesocial activists andNGO's active in UnionTerritory of J&K to comeforward and help the peo-ple and administration tofight against the pandem-ic Covid-19 sicne it is themoral duty of every citi-zen.

GJ REPORTSRINAGAR MAR 28:With rising positive casesand a death due to thenovel Coronavirus inKashmir valley so far,Doctors AssociationKashmir (DAK) onSaturday urged doctorshere to use arthritis drug;hydroxychloroquine forpatients who are diagnosedwith the viral infection.

DAK President, DrNisar ul Hassan said, "Thatwould save lives and pre-vent spread of the disease."

"A French study pub-lished in the InternationalJournal of AntimicrobialAgents has shown promis-ing results for hydroxy-chloroquine as a treatmentfor the virus, and whenused with Azithromycin, itsignificantly reduced theviral load," Dr Nisar said.

"According to the study,at day six of treatment 70percent of the patients whoreceived hydroxychloro-quine had cleared the virusand 100 percent of the

patients treated withhydroxychloroquine andazithromycin combo werevirologically cured," heinformed.

Dr Nisar said thatweighing the findings, theresults are enough for themto recommend the treat-ment for Covid-19 patients,considering the gravenessof the pandemic and thelack of available treatment.

He said that in additionto the direct therapeuticrole, combo drug can play arole in controlling the dis-ease epidemic by limitingthe duration of virus shed-ding which can last for sev-eral weeks in the absenceof specific treatment.

Dr Nisar said the combotreatment could preventsevere disease and sparethe hospitals and healthcaresystems from most expen-sive and invasive care ofICU's and ventilators.

"Clinicians across theworld are using the drugcombo and it is workingand saving lives," he said.

"We cannot see peopledying. We cannot deny anoff-label drug to a patientwhen it is backed by solidscientific evidence," DrNisar said.

"Off-label means to usethe drug for other reasonsthan what the FDA hasapproved the drug for," hesaid and added "A doctor islegally free to prescribe adrug for any reason that heor she thinks is medicallyappropriate, and whenthere are no other optionsavailable."

"ICMR has recom-mended hydroxychloro-quin as a preventive med-ication for healthcareworkers and householdcontacts of confirmedcases," he said.

Dr Nisar added that therecommendation needs tobe expanded, and clini-cians should be authorizedto use the drug for treat-ment. "The restrictive usewould take a heavy toll onpatients and the communi-ty at large," he cautioned.

Abhi Productions Welfare Trust servesfood to stranded people in Jammu

Stranded persons having meals served by Abhi ProductionsWelfare Trust in Jammu on Saturday. GJ Photo

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28:Kranti Dal President,Pritam Sharma on

Saturday asked the J&KPolice to crackdown ondrug peddlers and mafiasduring lockdown amidCovid-19.

Sharma said that duringCovid-19 lockdown, mostof drug peddlers try to fleeto other states. "Most ofthe people fleeing areinvolved in drug ped-

dling."He asked the police

department to crackdownon such drug peddlers and

mafias whohave pushed theyouth into thisnexus.

"Drug abuseis a chronic dis-ease. This con-dition involvesthe use andabuse of drugsdespite harmfulconsequences.Drug menace isat an alarmingrate and has

consumed ouryoung genera-tion," Sharma

said. Students are increas-ingly becoming habitualand getting addicted todrugs, he said.

Sharma also asked UTadministration to makeproper arrangements offood and shelter for home-less and poor people dur-ing country wide lock-down.

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28: Inview of the preventivemeasures taken to containthe spread ofCoronavirus, Departmentof Disaster ManagementRelief, Rehabilitation andR e c o n s t r u c t i o n(DMRR&R) on Saturdayissued a duty roaster forthe officer and officials.

According to the order,Director Finance,Additional Secretary(R)/(S) and UnderSecretary (A) shall attendthe officer as per routine.

It was informed thatthe Officials of thedepartment have beenclubbed into Group I andGroup II. The Group Ishall work from March 28to April 4, 2020 and fromApril 15 to April 22,2020.

Furthermore the offi-cials put in Group II willwork from April 6 toApril 11, 2020 and fromApril 23 to April 30,2020.

The groups will beassisted by officials in thepersonal section of theadministrative secretaryDMRRR accordingly inbatches.

According to the orderissued by AdditionalSecretary Sunil Kumar,the arrangement shallremain in force till furtherorders.

Meanwhile, in view ofthe preventive measurestaken to contain thespread of Corona virus,Department of Food CivilSupplies and ConsumerAffairs (FCS&CA) alsoissued a duty roaster forthe officer and officials.

According to the order,Director Finance,Additional Secretary(J)/(M), Deputy DirectorPlanning, and UnderSecretary (S)/(M) and

PLO shall attend the offi-cer as per routine. TheOfficials of the depart-ment have been clubbedinto Group I and GroupII. The Group I shall workfrom 28 March to April 4,2020 and from April 15 to22 April 2020.

Furthermore the offi-cials put in Group II shallwork from April 6 toApril 11, 2020 and fromApril 23 to 30 April 2020.

The groups will beassisted by officialsworking in the personalsection of theAdministrative SecretaryFCS&CA accordingly inbatches.

According to the orderissued by AdditionalSecretary FCS&CA,Jugal Kishore Anand thearrangement shall remainin force till further orders.

DAK urges doctors to use hydroxychloroquinefor Covid-19 patients

DMRR&R, FCS&CA issueduty roster for officials

Kranti Dal asks JKP tocrackdown on drug peddlers

during Covid-19 lockdown

Kranti Dal President Pritam Sharmaspeaking to media persons in Jammu

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28: Lalded WomenWelfare Society here staged Nukkad (cor-ner) play; 'Save Everybody' as a part ofSaturday series in presence impressivegathering including eminent citizens of thearea. The Play Is Written by Surya Naryanand Directed by Naveen Pal.

Nukkad Play: the play was all about theCovid-19 awareness and preventions to betaken from its prevention. It also reflectedthat animals should also be taken care of.The play requested everyone to take care ofanimals' alongwith yourself. "Give somefood to animals and be friendly with them.Stay indoors, stay safe, stay healthy and bein self quarantine," it reflected.

Message: in the Play it was requested topeople of Jammu that do not takeCoronavirus lightly and at the same timedon't panic and take precaution. Follow therules which are told by government fromtime to time.

It was informed that the performance

was played by Sanyam Mahajan and KaranRanja. The play was directed by NaveenPal.

GJ REPORTUDHAMPUR, MAR 28:As a social responsibilitytowards society, retiredSSP, Mahadeep SinghJamwal on Saturday urgedupon the retired policefraternity to come forwardas social volunteers toassist the police depart-ment to make aware themasses about adoptingCovid-19.

He appealed to them tocome forward to ask peo-ple to take safety meas-ures against Coronavirusand to comply restrictiveorders issued by theDistrict Administration.

Jamwal apprised thatthe concerned SP has

appreciated the retirees'efforts to guide the peopleto stay at home.

Retired police person-nel's presence was felt inevery Ward, town, villageand Panchayat and theyhave well knitted socialcontacts between localpopulace and police intheir respective areas.

It was informed thatthe retired police fraterni-ty has been connectedwith 'District PoliceRetiree' WhatsApp groupalongwith concerned SSPand SDPOs in the district.

The retirees have beenrequested to maintainclose cooperation withpopulace in their area and

every problem faced bythem and population beposted on the group.

It was informed thatthe SSP and SDPOs per-sonally monitor the socialgroup and immediatelylook for the problems forredressal.

Jamwal assured to theDistrict SSP that retiredpolice fraternity is alwayson the forefront as anassisting tool for anyassignment by the policein this hour of the need.

"We will come up tothe expectations of thedepartment and will carryforward the responsibili-ties being shouldered onus," he said.

Nukkad holds play 'Save Everybody' on Covid-19

A still from the play 'Save Everybody' heldby Nukkad in Jammu on Saturday.

Ex-Police officials come forward forCovid-19 awareness campaign

GJ RPEORTJAMMU, MAR 28:Jammu and KashmirCongress, Vice Chief, GMSaroori on Saturday urgedupon the government toevacuate the J&K labourersand students who are unableto return home due to lock-down.

Large number of studentsstudying in different col-leges and labourers workingas daily wagers in differentunorganized sectors are nowstranded in HimachalPradesh, Punjab, Haryana,Uttarakhand, Rajasthan,Assam and other states.Most of them are fromDoda, Kishtwar, Ramban,Reasi districts, he said.

"Stranded labourers andstudents are making distresscalls and they should beimmediately brought backto their homes in view ofthe alarming spread of

Covid-19", Sarooridemanded.

Saroori said it is theresponsibility of the admin-istration to take up the mat-ter with respective stategovernments and GoIbesides appointing nodalofficers and grievance cellsfor each state to identifysuch people and renderthem all possible help.

He said that without thegovernment help; it is notpossible for them to help themigrant labourers and stu-dents affected by the lock-down.

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28: Earlyrelease of monthly reliefand ration to the displacedpeople of J&K has beentaken up with the govern-ment, BJP and KashmiriPandit leader, AshwaniKumar Chrungoo said hereon Saturday.

In a statement issued, hesaid that due to the com-plete lockdown in force upto the middle of April 2020,the administration of J&Khas been requested to con-sider urgent and early dis-bursement of relief andration to the displaced peo-ple.

Chrungoo said that sincethe administration has alsoresponded positively to thesuggestion, it is expectedthat the issue will be

processed before the onsetof April 2020 enabling the

displaced persons to get thenecessary items in the firstweek of April 2020. "Imade an appeal to the gov-ernment to even consideradvance payment of thenext month relief and rationto the concerned people."

He has appealed to thepeople to observe theguidelines issued by thegovernment in respect ofthe countrywide lockdown

from time to time strictlyand without any failure."Stay Indoors, home staysafe is the most importantdoctrine of the day in con-text of fight against theCovid-19."

Chrungoo maintainedthat it also needed to bemade clear that the recentlyannounced financial pack-age and the moratorium onloans by the Union FinanceMinister apply to the con-cerned sections of the dis-placed community as well.

"The package of 1.7 lakhCrore announced includesPradhan Mantri Ann Yojna;5 kg cereals and one kgpulses for next threemonths, cash transfer, dailywages increased from 182to 202 and other benefits tothe common man.

Evacuate J&K labourers, studentsunable to return home amid

lockdown: GM Saroori

Early release of relief, rationtaken up with Govt.: Chrungoo

GJ REPORTBHADERWAH, MAR 28:Sub District Administrationon Saturday started saniti-zation of public places andgovernment offices of hugefootfalls to reduce thespread of the Covid-19here.

Additional Deputy

Commissioner (ADC),Rakesh Kumar alongwithASP, Raj Singh andTehsildar, Zeeshan Tahirsaid the sensitizationprocess was started to con-trol the growing spread ofthe virus.

In some governmentoffices with huge footfall

were sanitized, said theADC.

Zeeshan Tahir said allnecessary steps were beingtaken by the administrationto protect the residents. "Tocarry out the sanitizationprocess, teams have alreadybeen constituted byMunicipal Committee andHorticulture department.

He said that sodiumhypochlorite was beingused for the sanitizationprocess.

Horticulture departmentofficer, Amir Rafeqi andsanitation wing of MC ledby Raju Kagazgar, Sukesh,Mohd Sajid Malik, WasimRaja informed that in com-ing days each and everyknock and corner ofBhaderwah will be sensi-tized.

Sanitization of public placescommences in Bhaderwah

Sub district Administration officers sanitizing publicplaces in Bhaderwah on Saturday. GJ Photo

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28:National Students Unionhere on Saturday suggest-ed initiatives regardingthe stranded studentsstudying in variousUniversities.

NSUI appealed to theMHRD to take up the fol-lowing suggestion for thestudents including makesure that the students stuckoutside should be providedwith proper meals and san-itation. "They do not haveany problem regarding therent or anything."

Most of the collegesare conducting onlineclasses, but still there arecourses which highlydepend on practical andlab learning, so it shouldbe made sure that their

syllabus is finished beforethe exams start, NSUIdemanded.

Their fee should bewaived off because theclasses remained suspend-ed most of the time duringthe current semester,Union said. "If thesepoints are not possiblethen the academic sessionto be delayed to three-fourmonths."

National PresidentNSUI, Neeraj Kundansaid that the studentsshould be MHRD's firstpriority at this tough time.

It was informed that theUnion is going to launch ahelpline number for thestudents all over the Indiasoon and the students candirectly call on those num-bers for assistance.

NSUI suggests initiatives forstudents amid Covid-19 scare

C M Y K

|| GREATER JAMMU ||JAMMU, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020 ||GJ LEGAL/BUSINESS 9

CMYK

NEW DELHI, MAR 28:Supreme Court JudgeJustice NV Ramana hasmade a contribution of Rs3,00,000 to relief funds inthe wake of spread of NovelCorona virus.

The second senior mostJudge of the Supreme Courthas made a contribution ofRs one lakh each towardsthe Prime Minister's Relief

Fund as well as the ChiefMinister's Relief Fund ofthe States of Telangana andAndhra Pradesh.

This donation madethrough cheques has beenhanded over by theSupreme Court Judge to theconcerned officers stationedat the Andhra PradeshBhavan and the TelanganaBhavan in New Delhi. In

the wake of a nation-widelockdown imposed in orderto contain the spread of theCoronavirus, JusticeRamana has requested thepublic to abide by theinstructions of Governmentand to take proper measuresand follow social distancingmethod so as to effectivelyfight against COVID-19unitedly.

Justice NV Ramana contributing for relief against COVID19.

SC Judge Justice Ramana contributesR 3 lakh to Relief Fund

KOKATA, MAR 28: In view of the nation-wide lockdown in view of the NovelCoronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic, theCalcutta High Court has decided to hearextreme urgent matters via video-conferenc-ing through skype conference call.

As per the Notice issued by the HighCourt, Advocate-on-Record/Party-in personis first required to file a scanned copy ofurgent petition/application and documents,alongwith Form-A or Form-B, whichever isnecessary, through an email to'rghc_cal@rediffmail.com. AOR/Party-in-Person are requested not to send such e-mailsto any other e-mail ids.

The email must contain a prayer forexemption from filing duly affirmed affidavitwith an undertaking that deficit court feeswill be paid within 48 hours of opening theHigh Court, after attaining normalcy.

Thereafter, the AOR/Party-in-person isrequired to separately email a signed and ver-ified application containing a synopsis of

extreme urgency, latest by 2:00 pm on theday preceeding the day of sitting of the HighCourt's Benches, subject to the permission todo otherwise.

The application must, inter-alia containthe case-details, Bench-details, contactdetails of the AOR/party in-person includinge-mail id etc.

The AOR/Party-in-person are also request-ed to mention their 'Skype' contact details.

The application must also contain a sepa-rate paragraph giving consent that the mattermay be taken up through the Video-Conferencing mode, along with the clarifica-tion as to whether he/she would link throughown desktop/laptop/mobile or would preferto avail such facility in the High Court prem-ises. Upon approval of the urgency by thePresiding Judge of the Bench(es), the case(s)would be enlisted in the cause-list to be pub-lished on the High Court website.

An intimation regarding time of sitting ofthe Bench(es) and approximate time of the

hearing of their case(s) shall also be sent tothe concerned AOR/Party-in-Person on theMobile Number and e-mail as mentioned inthe application.

If the Advocate/Party-in-Person is unableto connect through video-conferencing due tonon-availability of hardware/network on anygiven date, the matter would be listed on thenext date and the AOR/Party-in-Person mayappear through Video-Conferencing facilityavailable in the High Court premises.

Since the prevailing situation demandsthat the persons be discouraged from under-taking any kind of travel, AORs/Parties-in-persons are advised to refrain from exercis-ing the option of participating in the hearingthrough video-conferencing facility availableat the High Court.

During this period, the Registry wouldkeep only those offices open, with skeletalstaff, which may be required to facilitate theholding of the Court for extreme urgentcases.

NEW DELHI, MAR 28:In the absence of any rulesor guidelines to regulatemovement of the publicamid the Coronaviruslockdown, a PIL has beenfiled in the Supreme Courtseeking directions for thesame.

A nationwide lockdownto curb the spread ofCOVID-19 was announcedby Prime MinisterNarendra Modi earlier thisweek. This announcementwas preceded by somestates imposing lockdownsand as many as 75 districtsbeing placed under pro-hibitory orders underSection 144 of the Code ofCriminal Procedure. Theannouncement of thenationwide lockdown

came with a few exemp-tions, with the governmentassuring the public thatbasic and essential com-modities will continue tobe made available. Theguidelines issued by theUnion Home Ministryurged the public to observesocial distancing whilestepping out to buy medi-cines or groceries.

Despite the same,police across various stateshave been resorting tolathi-charging or punish-ing people found on thestreets, regardless of thepurpose of such personsstepping out of theirhomes. Highlighting thisissue, a PIL has been filedin the Supreme Courtseeking directions for the

Centre to chalk out specif-ic guidelines or rules toregulate the movement ofthe public amid this lock-down of an unprecedentedmagnitude. The petitionstates, "Due to circulationof various videos wherepolice are seen to be beat-ing public and also as readin several news that policeare beating the publicwhoever is seen outside itappears apt to file the pres-ent petition seeking appro-priate direction as it is feltthat due to not havingproper instructions andguidelines everyoneincluding the many Policespersons who are cluelessof how to proceed furtherin this situation."

The petition is filed by

Amit Goyal, an Advocateat the Gauhati High Court.He has proposed certaindirections that can bepassed, including allowinggrocery stores to sell veg-etables, permitting oneperson per family to go outfor purchasing essentialitems, disallowing peopleto go beyond their nearestgrocery store, and homedelivery of medicines,among other things.

The petition is filedthrough Advocate KaushikChoudhury and AdvocatePritam Baruah will alsorepresent the petitioner.This matter may come upfor hearing in the weekcommencing March 30, iffound to be of urgentnature by the Apex Court.

Coronavirus lockdown: Calcutta High Court tohear only urgent matters via video conferencing

PIL filed before Supreme Court seeking regulationof public movement during lockdown

KARNATAKA, MAR 28:A Public Interest Litigation(PIL) has been movedbefore the Karnataka HighCourt urging to take neces-sary steps to decongest allprisons in the State in orderto guard against the spreadof the Novel Coronavirus(COVID-19) in line withthe Supreme Court's direc-tive on the same.

The plea filed byAdvocate Shridhar Prabhufurther seeks to ensure thatthe no arrests and deten-tions are carried out unlessthey are absolutely neces-sary.

The petitioner states thatmore arrests and detentionswould only aggravate thesituation by causing moreovercrowding in prisons.

"While it is true thatassembly of persons has tobe prevented and deterredat this juncture, however,indiscriminate arrests anddetentions would result inextreme hardship to citi-zens, besides being coun-terproductive. More arrestsand detentions will result incongestion of prisons andpolice stations, making thearrested persons as well asthe police personnel vulner-able to COVID-19 pandem-ic." Further, it was high-lighted that if arrests weremade on the basis of frivo-lous and unjustified rea-sons, the prisons wouldcontinue to be overcrowd-ed, thus, increasing therisks of the virus pandemic.The petition further points

out that, "It is not in dispute that

social distancing is one ofthe most important ways ofcontrolling the spread ofCOVID-19; however, in avast nation like ours marredby poverty and inequities,the vulnerable sections ofsociety have to step out forearning their livelihood orto procure essential sup-plies. Such people will berisking their life and per-sonal liberty. In case ofarrests, such persons willnot be able access justice tosecure their release."

Even if arrests are made,Article 20(3) must be fol-lowed in letter and spirit,the petitioner prays.

The petitioner has alsopointed out that the High

Courts of Kerala andAndhra Pradesh havealready issued directionswithin their respectivejurisdictions to comply withthe the Supreme Courtorder passed on March 23to decongest prisons amidstthe COVID-19 pandemic.The PIL essentially statesthat it is imperative for suchdirections to be passed forthe state of Karnataka aswell.

Apart from prisons, evenplaces of safety and obser-vation homes have to bekept decongested, the peti-tion urges. It is added that"In fact, these places, whichare essentially group spacesare extremely vulnerableand there are high chancesof spread of the disease."

Karnataka HC to hear PIL calling for necessarysteps to decongest prisons, avoid frivolous arrests

Ayu Health offers onlinemedical consultations

CHANDIGARH, MAR 28: Amidst lockdown, AyuHealth has started to enable video consultation withits doctors across all medical specialties. Through thisinnovative facility, patients can talk to their doctorsthrough a video link without stepping out of theirhomes.

Giving information, Arjit Gupta, co-founder at AyuHealth said, "We saw the Prime Minister's address andhow he stressed on the need for people to avoid visit-ing hospitals for non-critical or regular check-ups. Inthe spirit of helping the country tackle this menace,we have created a functionality for our hospitals to goonline and help out patients."

The functionality allows patients to pay online,consult with doctors through video and also get e-copies of prescriptions and other documents, heasserted.

Patients are also provided a link to upload anyrelated documents from past consultations, heinformed.

Meanwhile the service has got phenomenalresponse so far and the company is now planning toalso introduce medicine delivery and sample collec-tion for lab tests to ensure a true online consultationexperience.

One of the early beneficiaries of this service,Pankaj said, "My 72-year father is a chronic patientand needs to consult with his doctor every 2-week.This service has helping us lot in present situation."

The company has also created a free version of thetool that can enable any doctor or clinic to go online.Multiple independent doctors have already startedusing it for the benefit of their patients, informedArjit.

Patients can book a consultation by visitingwww.ayu.health or call / whatsapp on 6366100800.

CWA appeals people to stay athome, lauds Carona warriors

GJ REPORTJAMMU, MAR 28: Consumer Welfare Association(CWA), Jammu, having held a tele-meeting of its mem-bers, urged upon the citizens of India, particularly UTsof J&K and Ladakh to strictly abide by the appeal ofPrime Minister Narendra Modi and remain within thefour walls of their homes so as to be safe from theonslaught of deadly Corona Virus.

CWA appreciated the steps being taken by the Govtto ensure supply of essential commodities to the resi-dents of J&K for sustenance during period of lock-down. The members requested all the concerned depart-ments to ensure that the dealers do not overcharge. Forthis they need to frequently check the shops sellingrations, fruits, vegetables, medicines, milk and milkproducts etc, they said adding that CWA team is readyto go with these officials as and when required.

"Our police is doing a great job of ensuring that onlyeligible persons are allowed to come on to the streetsand are earning great appreciation for their role. OurDoctors and paramedics are doing a duty with all safe-ty precautions without worrying about themselves, andthe Govt of India has rightly provided insurance of Rs50 lakh each for their this dedication," CWA memberssaid lauding all the agencies involved in the efforts toeffectively contain the current situation.

NEW DELHI, MAR28: Be ready to payhigher interest on youroutstanding loan if youdecide not to pay EMIson your home or autoloan for the next threemonths under a mora-torium announced bythe Reserve Bank ofIndia on Friday.

Analysts andexperts tracking thesector said that simpleinterest rate would becalculated by banks forthe three-month periodin which loan repay-ment was due but wasnot paid under themoratorium. Thiswould be added up intoyour EMIs at the end of

three-month forbear-ance, raising yourmonthly bill.

So, if you're defer-ring payment of anEMI of, say Rs 1,000,and the bank is charg-ing interest at the rate10 per cent on out-standing, you will endup paying Rs 25 extraon each of the threeEMIs that has not beenpaid during the morato-rium. This additionalinterest may either beadded up to all yourfuture EMIs or yourloan tenure could getextended at the sameEMI level.

"Whether the cus-tomers will have to pay

this additional interestin one go or will beallowed to get it adjust-ed as additional EMI issomething that needs tobe clarified by banks,"said a financial sectoranalyst asking not to benamed.

As a result of themoratorium, the tenureof such loans will getextended by threemonths which shouldbe possible as floatingrate loan contracts typ-ically have a provisionfor extension of loantenure.

If additional interestburden for three monthamoratorium period isalso equally divided in

all future EMIs, themonthly bill for cus-tomer may increase orbanks may decide tokeep EMIs same butincrease the tenure ofloan by a few months.

"The 3-month EMImoratorium is a wel-come move for thosecustomers whose short-term cash flows areadversely affected bythe coronavirus pan-demic. This basicallymeans that the cus-tomers may be allowedto defer their immedi-ate EMI payments, butcome June, they willhave to resume thepayments. It is not awaiver, but only a shift

in payment schedules,"Kunal Varma, CBOand Co-Founder,MoneyTap said.

Customers whohave the ability to pay(such as salaried pro-fessionals whoseincomes are still intact)should compare theiroriginal cash flowswith the revised repay-ment schedules andaccrued interest pay-ments, and then take acall on what makes themost sense for them, headded.

The Reserve BankGovernor ShaktikantaDas on Fridayannounced a three-month moratorium on

EMIs of all term loansdue during March 1 toMay 31 and said thatthe repayment schedulefor all those loanswould be shifted bythree months after themoratorium.

"In respect of allterm loans (includingagricultural term loans,retail and crop loans),all commercial banks(including regionalrural banks, smallfinance banks and localarea banks), co-opera-tive banks, all-IndiaFinancial Institutions,and NBFCs (includinghousing finance com-panies) are permitted togrant a moratorium of

three months on pay-ment of all instalmentsfalling due betweenMarch 1, 2020 andMay 31, 2020," saidthe RBI's circular to allbanks and non-bankingfinancial companies.

As of January-end,over Rs 13 lakh croreof housing loans andRs 2 lakh crore of autoloans were outstand-ing, data with theReserve bank of Indiashows.

Besides retail bor-rowers, micro, smalland medium enterpris-es and large companieswill also benefit fromthe RBI's relaxation ofloan repayment.

Higher interest if you defer EMI payment for three months

GURUGRAM (HARYANA), MAR 28:Gurugram realty developers have laudedRBI measures to inject liquidity into theIndian economy. The Reserve Bank of Indiatoday slashed the repo rate by 75 bps to 4.4percent and reduced the reverse repo rate by90 bps to 4 percent. Moreover, it hasallowed a moratorium on all loans anddeferment in interest payment on theseloans for three months. Developers have,however, argued that much will hinge onwhether the banks pass on these benefits tocustomers.

"We welcome RBI's measure as it is animportant step in the right direction. Theneed of the hour was to take care of the eco-nomic pandemic also in addition to takingcare of the health pandemic. The compre-hensive measures announced by RBI alongwith the fiscal measures by the governmentwill impart financial stability as well asstrengthen the sentiment across sectorsincluding real estate in the wake of theCovid-19 pandemic," said Pankaj Bansal,Director of M3M Group.

"A substantial cut in repo rate to 4.40%as compared to 5.15% earlier coupled with a

reduction in cash reserve ratio to 3% willease the problem of cash flows. The three-month moratorium on loans and defermentof interest payments on them will be abreather for borrowers. The banks are likelyto transfer these benefits to customers,"added Pankaj Bansal.

Developers stressed that these measureswere the need of the hour considering thepotent impact of the pandemic on the Indianeconomy.

"Considering that the impact of the pan-demic on the economic outlook is negativeand highly uncertain, taking strong steps toprotect the domestic economy is of para-mount importance. The RBI's move toreduce the repo rate and reverse repo rate by75 basis points and 90 bps respectively isappreciable," said Ashish Arora, Director-Distribution, Viridian RED.

Elan Group which has Elan Miracle andElan Towncentre as its marquee offeringsechoed a similar view.

"The RBI measures to bolster the econo-my amidst the lockdown are indeed com-mendable," said Ravish Kapoor, ManagingDirector, Elan Group.

Gurugram real estate developers laud RBI measuresMUMBAI, MAR 28:Keeping in mind the lock-down on account of theCOVID-19 outbreak andthe government's request torestrict travel and outsidecontact, India's first preven-tive care start up for pets,Wiggles launched WigglesSmartVet, a unique onlineconsultation service for petparents across India.

With a hassle free andswift process, pet parentscan be assured of the bestmedical consultation fortheir pets while at home.With a panel of highlyexperienced and trainedvets that is set up acrossIndia, Wiggles SmartVetwill ensure that pets aren'tmissing out on their neces-sary support and treatment

in their times of need."Over the past couple of

weeks, access to vets hasbecome increasingly chal-lenging. At Wiggles, webelieve it is our responsibil-ity to make all possibleefforts within our capacityto keep our pets safe and ingood health. Post the lock-down, we noticed severalpet parents facing issues inconsulting vets, gettingtimely treatments, medi-cines, etc. To bridge thisgap, we have launchedWiggles", said AnushkaIyer, Founder and CEO ofWiggles on adding a newline of service at Wiggles tofurther empower pet par-ents. "SmartVet is a first ofits kind, online consultancyservice for our furry

friends. With SmartVet, wewill proactively support allpet parents by connectingthem with our experiencedvets at Wiggles. In additionto that, in case of non-avail-ability of medicines, wewill also ensure the timelyshipment of medication topet parents. We hope thatthis new service, will reallyhelp us empower parentsand help them sail throughthese uncertain times",added Anushka

Wiggles SmartVet serv-ice will be available sevendays a week and will ensureround the clock advice fromvets over a video call at anominal fee of Rs 399 permonth for 180 minutes ofconsultation for a singlepet.

Wiggles launches online veterinaryconsultation for pets across India

Trump signs USD 2 trillion coronavirus stimulusbill, tells Americans 'help is on the way'

WASHINGTON, MAR 28: US President Donald Trump has signed into law the historicUSD 2 trillion rescue package, setting in motion a desperately needed financial relief formillions of Americans and secure the country's economy ravaged by the coronavirus pan-demic that has killed over 1,700 and infected more than 100,000 people across the nation.

Trump signed the bill on Friday just hours after the House passed it in a bipartisan vote.The far-reaching legislation is the largest emergency aid package in US historyand

promises to deliver a tidal wave of cash to individual Americans, businesses and healthcare facilities all reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Help is on the way," Trump assured his countrymen as he signed the bill in the OvalOffice at the White House. The Senate and the House of Representatives earlier passed theBill. "We got hit by the invisible enemy and we got hit hard," he said, adding the econo-my would come roaring back.

DM Pulwama pledges one month's salary for COVID-19GJ REPORTPULWAMA, MAR 28: Amidst the reeling Corona Virus pandemic and the unprecedent-ed situation created by it, District Administration Pulwama is making efforts in creat-ing Quarantines and other essential facilities for the people having travel history in par-ticular and for the Public in general.

In this regard a local COVID fund has been created for Officers to donate and con-tribute to the cause of fighting against COVID-19 pandemic.

District Magistrate Pulwama, Dr Raghav Langher, pledged his one month's salarytowards it and exhorted others to come forward.

The aim of the initiative is to create a fund which can fortify the efforts of governmentand generate a spirit of volunteerism among the officers of the district for working in uni-son in the time of crisis and emergency.

C M Y K

|| GREATER JAMMU ||JAMMU, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020 ||GJ SPORTS10

CMYK

NEW DELHI, MAR 28:Sport coming to a standstillowing to the COVID-19pandemic is a “welcomerest” for India cricketers,feels head coach RaviShastri, who has spent bare-ly 10-11 days at home sinceleaving for the World Cuplast May.

As with other sportsacross the world, crickethas also been affected withall international and domes-tic fixtures being called offdue to the outbreak of thenovel coronavirus.

“(This rest) cannot be abad thing because towardsthe end of the New Zealandtour, you could see somecracks coming up when itcame to mental fatigue,physical fitness andinjuries,” Shastri said.

He was speaking to for-mer England captainsMichael Atherton andNasser Hussain and RobKey on a Sky Sports pod-cast.

According to Shastri, theplayers may use the time tore-energise themselves,especially after a gruelling

New Zealand tour whereIndia played five T20Is,three ODIs and two Tests.

“The amount of cricketwe have played over thelast ten months, that wasbeginning to take its toll.Guys like me, and someother guys from the supportstaff, we left India on May23 for the World Cup inEngland. Since then wehave been at home for 10 or11 days.

“There are certain play-ers who played all three for-mats, so you can imaginethe toll it has taken on them,especially being on thefield, adjusting from T20s

to Test match cricket and allthe travel that goes withthat because we travelledquite a lot,” Shastri said.

After the World Cup, theIndian team travelled to theWest Indies, then played along home series againstSouth Africa that was fol-lowed by a full tour of NewZealand.

“So it has been tough buta welcome rest for players,”the coach said.

India is currently in a 21-day lockdown and accord-ing to Shastri, his playersknew something like thiswas imminent when theseries against South Africa,

right after the New Zealandtour, was called off.

“It came as a shock butto be honest, having beenon the road during theSouth Africa series, weguys anticipated it,” hesaid.

“We knew somethingwas on the cards as the dis-ease had just started spread-ing. When the second ODIwas called off, we knewsomething was gonna hap-pen and a lockdown wasimminent.”

The disease, which orig-inated in the Chinese city ofWuhan in Hubei province,has so far claimed over27,000 lives across theworld.

“I think the players knewit was coming, they sensedit in New Zealand. Therewere apprehensionstowards the end of that tour,when flights were comingthrough Singapore, out ofSingapore.”

“By the time we landed(in India), I thought we gotout at just the right time.There were only two casesin New Zealand at that

time, that has rocketed nowto 300.

“The day we landed, thatwas the first day they werescreening and testing peo-ple at the airport. So (wecame back) just in the nickof time.”

Shastri said that in sucha situation, players couldplay a role by spreadingawareness about this pan-demic.

“As players, you have alot of responsibility. That’swhy the message is veryclear that cricket should belast on everyone’s mindnow,” he said.

“I think the most impor-tant thing is safety and notensuring just your safetybut ensuring safety of oth-ers as well, by creating akind of awareness that tellspeople there is somethingserious around.

“Virat has done it, a lotof other players have doneit by posting certain mes-sages on social media. Theyknew that it’s somethingvery serious and there couldbe a hold up in cricket forsome time.”

Lack of cricket tough but a welcomerest for India players: Ravi Shastri NEW DELHI, MAR 28:

The postponement of theTokyo Games has catapult-ed the sports organizationsthat make up the backboneof the U.S. Olympic teaminto crisis. At least one hasalready started layoffs andothers are desperate to staysolvent. Some are expect-ing a major downturn inmembership dues, whileothers are reeling fromevent cancellations total-ing more than 8,000 acrossall sports.

A database analyzed byThe Associated Pressshows combined projectedlosses of more than $121million in revenuebetween February andJune for 43 of the 50national governing bodiesthat responded to a surveyfrom the NGB Council inthe wake of the coron-avirus crisis.

As much or more as theU.S. Olympic andParalympic Committee,which serves as an umbrel-la regulator of the coun-try’s Olympic sports, it’sthe NGBs that providefunding and other support

for athletes to pursue theirdreams at the Olympic andother elite levels. About80% of the typical NGB’s

budget goes toward sup-porting athletes.

Not including the U.S.Tennis Association — anoutlier because of the mas-sive revenue it generatesfrom the U.S. Open — theNGBs have a combinedannual revenue of about$685 million. By compari-son, the NFL and NBA eachreportedly brought in about$8 billion during its latestcompleted season. Half theNGBs are little more thanma-and-pop operations,working with small staffs

and on revenue not morethan $5 million a year.

The USOPC, which sentcash grants to the individualNGBs to the tune of around$65 million in 2018, is alsoin uncharted territory. Thepostponement of theOlympics forces the federa-tion to make up for a short-fall nearing $200 millionwithout the NBC payoutthat comes during Olympicyears.

The USOPC broke withrecent practice by not tak-ing out insurance againstthat possible loss, insteaddeciding to self-insure.Some of the shortfall isexpected to come from anendowment fund createdout of a surplus from the1984 LA Olympics.

The USOPC says thelosses across Americansports could range from$600 million to $800 mil-lion. A good portion ofthese losses can berecouped if the games goforward, as expected, in2021. But staying financial-ly healthy until that time isnot a given for some of themore vulnerable NGBs.

NEW DELHI, MAR 28:For as long as she canremember, PV Sindhu hasstarted her days evenbefore the sun has risen.Training and playing in bigarenas; jumping, leaping,smashing, sweating. Nevera still moment. And neveralone. The last few dayshave been quite the oppo-site for the 24-year-old:confined to her room, wak-ing up ‘really late’, noteven touching her playingkit, following news and ona streaming spree.

How else do you beatthe boredom? On somedays, she amuses herselfby watching various‘challenges’ sportspersonsare taking up on socialmedia.

The other night, shewatched the Hollywoodthriller Contagion andlike many who have redis-covered the 2011 hit inthe last few weeks,Sindhu, too, has been

blown away by the eerieresemblance the moviebears to the Coronaviruspandemic.

“There has never beena period like this,”Sindhu, who has been inself-quarantine afterreturning fromBirmingham earlier thismonth, says. “It’s been 12days now that I have notleft my room.” In isola-tion. But not cut off.

With all the time shehas, Sindhu has beenclosely following the out-break of Covid-19. Sherattles off the timelinesand trajectories of thevirus spread in differentcountries, the measurestaken by countries andstatements made by someleaders. Sport, in thesetrying times, seems rathertrivial to her.

“It’s good that they arecancelling all tourna-ments. Even theOlympics,” Sindhu says.

NEW DELHI, MAR 28:Rising tennis star NaomiOsaka said Japan PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe andthe International OlympicCommittee (IOC) took abrave decision of postpon-ing 2020 Tokyo Games dueto the coronavirus pandem-ic. On Tuesday, IOC post-poned the Tokyo Olympicsto no later than the summerof 2021 because of the coro-navirus pandemic whichhas claimed more than27,000 lives thus far acrossthe world.

In a post on her Twitterhandle, Osaka -- who wonthe US Open in 2018 andthe Australian Open in 2019and was the central charac-ter in the video to launchTokyo 2020’s official mottofor the Games launched lastmonth -- said that althoughshe was disappointed thatOlympics will not takeplace this year, she is surethat “we all be ready to gostronger in 2021”.

“I’ve been thinking

about how to articulate mythoughts on this for a coupleof days now, so here goes.Everyone knows how muchthe Olympics means to meand how proud I will be toparticipate in my homecountry. Of course, I amdisappointed that it won’thappen this year, but we’llall be ready to go strongerthan ever in 2021! I supportPrime Minister Abe’s bravedecision and the IOC 100per cent,” Osaka said.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sportingcalendar has also come to agrinding halt. The FrenchOpen has already been post-poned and the Wimbledonare also in line to be post-poned or even cancelled.

“Sport will eventuallyunite us again and be therefor us always, but that timeis not now. This is the timefor people from all coun-tries, backgrounds and racesto rally together to save asmany lives as we can,”Osaka said.

No games, big losses: Moneycrisis faces US Olympic sports

BENGALURU, MAR 28:Former New Zealand coachMike Hesson feels that Indiawere probably the bestequipped team to haveplayed a Test series in NewZealand in recent years eventhough they ended up losing2-0. India were completelyoutplayed by the Kiwis, los-ing the first Test by 10 wick-ets and the second by seven.But the former Kiwi coachbegs to differ and feels thatthe conditions were tough.“I thought India are proba-bly be the best equipped tohave travelled to NewZealand, but the conditionswere challenging,” Hessontold the Mumbai Mirror.“They weren’t ridiculous inany means, and they werechallenging in both games(in the two Tests whichIndia lost).”

India had batted first inboth Tests and Hesson saidthat was an important factoras conditions got better as

the matches wore on. “TheNew Zealand conditionswere challenging for every-body, especially in the firstinnings. Things certainly goteasy later on. The firstinnings was challenging foranyone coming from over-seas,” he said.

Hardly any Indian bats-man made a mark in theseries, including captain andsecond ranked Test batsmanin the world Virat Kohli.Hesson feels that Kohli and

the others simply didn’t getany time to adjust to theconditions

“When the ball seams,there is very little time toadjust. You need time toadjust your technique. Hecertainly was not the onlyone (to have struggled).Also, New Zealand’s plansfor Virat were exceptional.New Zealand have had thebest of attacks for a longtime and they challenged theIndians,” he said.

Suresh Raina pledgesR 52 lakh in fightagainst Covid-19

NEW DELHI, MAR 28: Indiabatsman Suresh Raina onSaturday donated R 52 lakh tothe country’s fight againstCOVID-19 pandemic and urgedothers also to contribute inthese times of health crisis.

Raina’s contribution isbiggest from any Indiansportspersons across disci-plines. “It’s time we all do our bitto help defeat COVID19. I’mpledging Rs 52 lakh for the fightagainst Corona Rs 31 lakh tothe PM-CARES Fund & R 21lakh to the UP CM’s DisasterRelief Fund). Please do your bittoo. Jai Hind,” Raina tweeted.

The 33-year-old left-handedbatsman has played for India in18 Tests, 226 ODIs and 78Twenty20 Internationalsbetween 2005 and 2018. He iscurrently with Chennai SuperKings in the IPL. Batting maes-tro Sachin Tendulkar on Fridaydonated Rs 50 lakh to fight theCOVID-19 pandemic, which hasso far claimed 21 Indian livesand more than 28,000 deathsglobally.

NEW DELHI, MAR 28:Former India cricketerWasim Jaffer came up witha hilarious reply after a fanasked him to choosebetween cricket icon SachinTendulkar and current skip-per Virat Kohli. Jaffer wasasked the question during aquestion and answer sessionon social media after theRanji great put up a statusasking fans to use#AskWasim for queriesrelated to on and off thefield. Jaffer left everyone insplits as he used a memefrom a popular bollywoodflick to answer a fan’s ques-tion. When asked to choosebetween Tendulkar andKohli Jaffer used the meme

with quote: “Dange kar-waenge kya aap (Do youwant to cause riots)?”

He further wrote: “On aserious note, different eras.Both are greats in differenteras.”

Tendulkar is regarded asone of the greatest batsmenin the history of the game, ifnot the best. He remains thehighest run-getter in bothTests and ODIs and alsoholds the unique record ofscoring a combined 100international centuries.

As for Kohli, he is oftenregarded as modern-dayversion of Tendulkar, due tohis consistent performancesand ability to score biginnings. The number one

ODI batsman of the worldhas broken multipleTendulkar records thus farand still has a lot more yearsleft in him to give to thegame.

As an Indian cricket fan,it’s tough choose betweenTendulkar and Kohli as theyare both greats in their ownrights and eras and Jafferwas successful in evadingthe question brilliantly.

Meanwhile, Jaffer wasrecently critical of TeamIndia’s overseas Test recordand stated Virat Kohli andCo would really become thenumber the side in the worldif they manage to beat topteams in their own back-yards.

NEW DELHI, MAR 28:IOA President NarinderBatra said the TokyoOlympics qualificationevents, postponed due toCOVID-19 pandemic, willbe held once the health cri-sis is resolved and asked theNational Sports Federations(NSFs) to prepare a list ofsuch tournaments in theirrespective sports.

The Indian OlympicAssociation (IOA)President also asked the topbrass of all the NSFs toshare calendar of their ath-letes’ preparations for theTokyo Games, pushed backby one year to 2021 in viewof the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.

“The qualification

events which were post-poned will happen again atrevised dates once this virusissue is resolved. Draft ten-tative planning for that.Please share details of allthe qualification events yetto happen in your sport,”Batra wrote in a letter to thepresidents and secretariesof all the NSFs.

International OlympicCommittee (IOC) PresidentThomas Bach on Thursdayhad a conference call withits members in the after-math of the postponementof the Olympics. Batra is anIOC member as well as thepresident of InternationalHockey Federation. Batraalso said the IOA and NSFsneed to plan on the exten-

sion of contracts of thecoaches whose tenureswere to end this year. Thecontracts of many coaches,including those fromabroad, were to end byAugust when the TokyoGames were to end beforethey were postponed to nextyear.

“As you are alreadyaware that 2020 Olympicsis postponed to 2021. Wenow need to plan for:Extension of Contracts forHPD (High PerformanceDirector), coaches, supportstaff etc till end of 2021 asmany such contracts areending in 2020, the processneeds to start as soon aspossible,” the IOA chiefsaid.

BCCI to contribute RR 51 croreto combat COVID-19 pandemic

NEW DELHI, MAR 28: The Board of Control for Cricketin India (BCCI) on Saturday donated R 51 crore to thePrime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief inEmergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES Fund) tostrengthen the country's fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

"Mr Sourav Ganguly, President, Mr Jay Shah, HonorarySecretary and Office Bearers of the Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) along with the affiliated state asso-ciations on Saturday announced to donate INR 51 crores tothe Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief inEmergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES Fund) to con-tribute towards strengthening the nation's disaster manage-ment capacities and encourage research to combatCOVID-19 and protect Indian citizens," BCCI's releasestated.

The BCCI along with its state associations will contin-ue to extend its help to the government in their battle toprevent the spread of deadly virus.

"The Board along with its state associations will contin-ue to monitor and work closely with the Government ofIndia, state governments and other state regulatory bodiesand are committed to providing support to the statemachinery in the face of adversity," it added.

People are dying, lifecomes first: PV Sindhu

Virat Kohli wasn’t the only one to strugglein New Zealand: Mike Hesson

I support ‘brave decision’ to postponeTokyo Olympics: Naomi Osaka

Batra says postponed Olympic qualifiers will happen,asks NSFs to share athletes’ training plans

Wasim Jaffer posts meme in reply to Sachin Tendulkaror Virat Kohli question, leaves everyone in splits

COVID-19: Photographs depicting distribution of relief material and preventivemeasures taken on 4th day of ongoing lockdown to contain Coronavirus spreadacross Jammu on Saturday. GJ Photos

C M Y K

|| GREATER JAMMU ||JAMMU, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020 ||GJ NEWS 11

CMYK

COVID-19: Preventive measures continues on Day 4 of lockdown

C M Y K

|| GREATER JAMMU ||JAMMU, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020 ||GJ NEWS 12

CMYK

A Monk distributing eatables among people amidst lockdown in Leh on Saturday. Jigmet Janspal Shey

YEH HAI LEH

GJ REPORTLEH, MAR 28:Commissioner/SecretaryHealth Rigzin Samphelstated that a total of sixsample reports werereceived from NCDC,Delhi today, and all theresults are of Kargil district

and are negative forCOVID-19.

In order to deliver prop-er medical treatment,Mahabodhi KarunaCharitable Hospital will beused as the separate hospi-tal facility dedicated forCOVID-19 in Leh district.

Fresh positive cases ofCOVID-19 would beplaced at MahabodhiKaruna Charitable Hospitalwhich houses 50 beds,Samphel while addressinga press conference heretoday.

Replying a query,Samphel stated that disci-plinary action will be initi-ated soon against thosedoctors who are on deputa-tion-basis out of Ladakh indifferent parts of the coun-try and have not joinedback despite repeatedorders. Further violation oforder would invite thedecision of termination oftheir service, he asserted.As per the media bulletinreleased, the condition ofall 10 positive cases in UTLadakh are stable.

Commissioner/Secretary Health Ladakh Rigzin Sampheladdressing a press conference in Leh on Saturday.

6 samples test negative; Separate COVID-19hospital facility recognised in Leh

LG Mathur lauds peoples' cooperation to combat COVID-19

GJ REPORTLEH, MAR 28: Lieutenant Governor Ladakh, R K Mathurhas expressed his gratitude to the people for their resolve andcooperation to the efforts of UT Administration in their fightagainst COVID-19.

In an address to the people of Ladakh, the LG appreciatedtheir sincere adherence to the guidelines issued in view of theNovel Coronavirus outbreak and in observing the lockdownto contain its spread in the region. He said that dedicatedteams of health professionals in Ladakh are working day andnight to combat the Novel Coronavirus, making the best useof medical facilities in Leh and Kargil districts. He also men-tioned about the tireless efforts put in by government func-tionaries and police personnel performing their duties inensuring complete lockdown and also ensuring the availabil-ity of essential commodities to the people during this time.He said that the UT Ladakh is also taking measures to helpthe migrant labourers by providing them free food and otherbasic amenities. The LG has lauded the invaluable supportextended by all the religious organisations and the voluntarysupport extended by individuals and civil society organisa-tions like the Merchant Association, ALTOA, HotelAssociation and others in this time of crises. He has appealedto the people of Ladakh to stay cautious and continue theirpatience and support during the lockdown period of 21 daysin the country. The LG hoped that united Ladakh can combatthe pandemic.

GJ REPORTLEH, MAR 28: AdvisorUmang Narula convened aseries of meetings to takestock of readiness andmeasures in place to pre-vent and contain the spreadof COVID-19 in Ladakh.

The Advisor convened ameeting of HealthDepartment which wasattended byCommissioner/SecretaryHealth Rigzin Samphael,Director Health DrPhuntsog Wangchuk, CMOLeh Dr Motup Dorjay, DyMedical SuperintendentLeh Dr Tsering Angchukand Dr Tsering Wangchuk.

Detailed discussionswere held regarding chalk-ing out the future actionplan to deal with COVID-19.The Advisor issued

instructions for establish-ment of dedicated COVID-19 hospitals in both theDistricts of Leh and Kargil.The CommissionerSecretary Health was askedto work out a comprehen-sive and detailed plan forestablishment of these hos-pitals.

Advisor also issuedinstructions for augmenta-tion of the stocks ofVentilators, PPE's andMedicines and asked thehealth authorities to placesupply orders on a regularbasis. He urged upon thehealth authorities to makejudicious use of the avail-able PPEs. The issue ofhuman resource for theestablishment of COVID-19 hospitals was also dis-cussed during the meeting.

The Advisor asked DirectorHealth to train the existingHealth Care Workers forestablishment of IntensiveCare Units.

Later, the Advisor held ameeting over video confer-ence with DeputyCommissioner KargilBaseer-ul-Haq Choudharyto review the measuresbeing taken to containCOVID-19 in Kargil.Deputy Commissionerapprised the Advisor aboutthe arrangements in placefor ensuring essential sup-plies. He also apprised theAdvisor about the quaran-tine facilities being put inplace there. The Advisorissued instructions toDeputy CommissionerKargil to chalk out a planfor establishment of

COVID-19 Hospital in con-sultation with the healthdepartment.

Thereafter, the Advisorconvened a meeting withArmy and ITBP regardingavailability of facilitieswith them which can be uti-lized for establishment ofquarantine facilities. It wasinformed that army can pro-vide 100 bedded quarantinefacilities both in Leh andKargil. A team of doctorsfrom PGI Chandigarh alsoparticipated in the meetingand apprised the Advisorregarding their assessmentof the facilities currently inplace. They advised the UTadministration to update theprotocols, as and when theyare updated by the IndianCouncil of MedicalResearch on their website.

Advisor Narula reviews preparedness tocontain spread of COVID-19 in Ladakh

GJ REPORTKARGIL, MAR 28: As apart of the ongoing steps bythe District AdministrationKargil to facilitate thehouse to house delivery ofration and other essentialcommodities to peopleamidst prevailing situationof COVID-19, the team of

designated officers todayensured the house to housedelivery of several quintalsof rice and Atta besides gascylinders among differenthouseholds in 32 villagesspread across 7 blocks inthe district.

The team of officers incoordination with the

SDMs and other officersconcerned ensured thehome delivery of 523 quin-tals of rice and 615 quintalsof atta among severalhouseholds in differenthamlets of Sankoo, Barsoo,TSG, Chiktan, Shargole,Lotsum and Main BazarKargil including Barooarea.

Moreover, 800 LPGcylinders were also deliv-ered to households acrossthe district. Meanwhile, the

Nodal OfficerDis t r ibu t ion /Ass i s tan tC o m m i s s i o n e rDevelopment KargilGhulam Muhammad saidthat house to house deliveryof 457 quintals of rice and439 quintals of atta, 800LPG cylinders and 2500liters of Kerosene oil for thehouseholds in differenthamlets spread across 36villages in 7 blocks of thedistrict will be done tomor-row.

GJ REPORTLEH, MAR 28: DistrictMagistrate, Leh SachinKumar directed the officersto provide free ration to themigrant labourers and dailywagers during the lock-down period.

With a view to ensuresupply of basic food itemsto the migrant labourers anddaily wagers who arestranded in various parts ofLeh district due to sudden

lockdown in the aftermathof the outbreak ofCOVID19 (Corona VirusDisease), the DistrictAdministration Leh hasbeen able to identify about8000 labourers and dailywage workers across thedistrict, who will be provid-ed with basic ration supplyviz rice, dal and cookingoil, free of cost.

On the directions ofDistrict Magistrate, a com-

mittee has been formed underthe supervision of AdditionalDistrict DevelopmentCommissioner Leh MosesKunzang, to formulate aproper mechanism so thatthis facility could reachdirectly to the genuine peo-ple.

Accordingly, the loca-tions of these labourershave been mapped and theSub-Divisional Magistrateshave been directed to act asNodal Officers for theirrespective Sub-divisions toensure free and fair distri-bution of ration.

To begin with, around5000 labourers and dailywage workers of Tehsil Lehare being provided withfree ration as per scale ofRice 2.5 kg per person; Dalone kg per person andCooking Oil 0.5 ltr per per-son.

LPG cylinders were alsodelivered to householdsacross the district while ashouse to house delivery ofration to the labourers inmany villages were alsodistributed in Leh district.

Officials distributing ration in Leh.

DM Leh directs for providing free rationto migrant labourers, daily wagers

Ration being distributed in Kargil on Saturday.

District Administration ensures house to housedelivery of ration commodities across Kargil

COVID-19: 15 Councillors allocate RR 28lakh from CCDF to combat pandemic

GJ REPORTLEH, MAR 28: Keeping in view the prevailing situationdue to COVID-19 pandemic and the need of resourcesfor necessary medical facilities in Leh district, 15Councillors of LAHDC, Leh decided to allocate funds tothe tune of Rs 28 lakh out of their CCDF.

Chairman/ Chief Executive Councillor LAHDC LehGyal P Wangyal, Deputy Chairman Tsering Sandup,Executive Councillor for Agriculture Phuntsog Stanzin,Executive Councillor for Education Konchok Stanzin,Executive Councillor for Minority Mumtaz Hussain andCouncillor Nyoma Thupstan Angchuk have decided toallocate Rs 2.5 lakh each out of their CCDF. Likewise,Tsering Nurbu, Councillor Basgo; Tsering Murup,Councillor Temisgam; Stanzin Chosohel, CouncillorMartselang; Sayeda Bano, Councillor Nominated;Tsering Angchuk, Councillor Diskit; Sonam Dorje,Councillor Lingshed and Gurmet Dorje, CouncillorKorzok have allocated Rs 2 lakh each from their CCDF.Similarly, Gyan Lobzang Nyantak, Councillor Upper Lehand Sonam Chosohel, Councillor Nominated have allo-cated Rs one lakh each from their CCDF.

CEC reviews quarantinemeasures in Leh

GJ REPORTLEH, MAR 28: Chairman/ Chief Executive CounicllorLAHDC Leh Gyal P Wangyal today through teleconferencewith Deputy Commissioner /Chief Executive OfficerLAHDC Leh Sachin Kumar reviewed the measures takenby District Administration with regard to COVID19 pan-demic in the district, quarantine measures and other arrange-ments including supply of essential services and commodi-ties, medicines etc to the public in the wake of lockdown inthe District. Chairman expressed his satisfaction on theexcellent measures and arrangements made by the DistrictAdministration and asked DC/CEO to convey his apprecia-tion and gratitude to all those involved in fight againstCOVID-19 in Leh district. CEC Wangyal directed the DC todebit required expenditure from LAHDC Leh Council Fundfor containing the spread of COVID-19 in Leh district andmaking necessary required arrangements for labourers, strayanimals and all those in distress in Leh District due to lock-down. Chairman also directed DC to look into the demandsof all such villages, where no shops of essential commodi-ties available to make necessary arrangements for essentialcommodities.

EC Education discusses alternate

plans to support learning at home

GJ REPORTLEH, MAR 28: ExecutiveCouncillor for EducationLAHDC, Leh KonchokStanzin, in a meeting withChief Education Officer(CEO) Leh Girdari Lal,today discussed about theacademic loss to the stu-dents owing to ongoingclosure of schools due toCOVID-19 pandemic andalternative plans to supportthe learning of children athome.

EC Konchok directedCEO Leh to contact withall the Principals andHeadmasters ofGovernment schools ofLeh district and come upwith the ideas of learningsupport activities for chil-dren at their respectivehomes including assign-ing of holiday homeworkfor students with the helpof their parents and thetechnology.

GJ REPORTKARGIL, MAR 28: SubDivisional Magistrate(SDM) Zanskar SonamDorjay along with SHOPolice Station Zanskar andZonal and SectoralMagistrates appointed forCOVID-19 combat meas-ures visited StongdayPanchayat here today.

The visiting team metwith the Sarpanchs, Panchsand Nambardars of the areaand enlightened them about

the preemptive measures tobe followed to prevent thespread of Corona Virus.

The SDM stock of theavailability of essentialcommodities in thePanchayat and also inter-acted with some of the nonlocal teachers of privateschools and enquired abouttheir well being.

Meanwhile, ZanskarSub Division experiencedfresh snowfall measuringaround 1 foot.

SDM Zanskar Sonam Dorjay speaking at an awareness pro-gramme at Stongday Panchayat on Saturday.

SDM Zanskar conducts awarenessprogramme in Stongday Panchayat