Katra, August 20: The movement of pilgrims to Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in Katra town in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir resumed on Saturday, after a temporary suspension due to flash floods triggered by heavy rainfall in the region.
“In the wake of heavy rainfall, upward movement of pilgrims to Vaishno Devi temple has been stopped from Katra. Priority is given to pilgrims coming downwards. Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have already been deployed, The situation is being monitored. No untoward incident reported so far,” the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board said late on Friday.
However, the movement of devotees resumed on Saturday morning after the situation became normal.
Earlier in July, a cloudburst struck the holy cave area of Amarnath which resulted in a heavy discharge of water in the ‘Nallah’, adjoining the holy cave, following which the route to Amarnath was damaged, it the yatra was on halt for some time.
Four Mi-17V5 and four Cheetal helicopters of the Indian Air Force were also deployed for rescue and relief efforts at the Amarnath shrine.
The Yatra began on June 29, from Jammu amid tight security arrangements made by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) along with the army and the local police.
The Amarnath shrine pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine of Lord Shiva, located in the upper reaches of the Himalayas, is held from the twin routes of Pahalgam and Baltal. (Agencies)
Vaishno Devi Yatra resumes after being suspended due to flash floods triggered by heavy rainfall
Earthquake of magnitude 3.1 hit J&K’s Hanley
Hanley, August 19: An earthquake of magnitude 3.1 on the Ritcher Scale hit South Southwest of Jammu and Kashmir’s Hanley on Friday, the National Center for Seismology (NCS) informed.
“Earthquake of Magnitude:3.1, Occurred on 19-08-2022, 12:02:14 IST, Lat: 31.89 & Long: 78.67, Depth: 5 Km ,Location: 92km SSW of Hanley, Jammu & Kashmir, India,” NCS tweeted. (Agencies)
Lalu Yadav’s son-in-law attends official meeting, BJP guns for ‘Parivarvad’ in Bihar
Bharatiya Janata Party has accused the newly formed government in Bihar of promoting ‘Parivarvad’ after Lalu Yadav son in law Shailesh Kumar attended the government officials’ meeting of the Pollution Control Board.
The controversy errupted when newly appointed Bihar’s Forest and Environment Minister Tej Pratap Yadav took his brother-in-law Shailesh along to the government meeting. BJP is targeting Tej Pratap for violating the due official protocols.
Lalu Yadav’s elder son-in-law, Shailesh Kumar, attended the government meeting sitting right next to the chairman of the Pollution Control Board.
Tej Pratap Yadav took oath as minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet on August 16 and took charge of the environment, forest and climate change department on the same day.
Yadav chaired a review meeting of the environment, forest, and climate change department at Aranya Bhawan on 17th August. Tej Pratap’s brother-in-law was seen sitting in this meeting with department officials.
On 18th August, Tej Pratap reviewed another meeting with officials of the Bihar Pollution Control Board, where Shailesh Kumar was once again seen attending the meeting. He was seen sitting along with the chairman of the Pollution Control Board.
Shailesh Kumar is the elder son-in-law of Lalu Yadav and husband of Misa Bharti.
Targeting Nitish Kumar, Bihar Former Deputy CM Sushil Modi said, “Has Nitish Ji given permission that now brother-in-law will not only participate in government meetings but will also conduct.”
Kashmiri Pandits celebrate Janmashtami
Srinagar, Aug 19: Kashmiri Pandits on Friday took out Shoba Yatra here on the occasion of Janmashtami.
The marchers, which included children dressed in traditional attire, started from Kathleshwar temple in Tankipora area and passed through Habbakadal, Ganpathyar, Barbar Shah, Regal Chowk, Lal Chowk, Hari Singh High Street and Jahangir Chowk amid tight security.
Chanting religious slogans, a good number of Pandits took part in the event.
The President of the Hindu Welfare Society of Kashmir, Chunni Lal, prayed for peace and prosperity of the whole humanity. He said the traditional brotherhood among the people of Kashmir should flourish for centuries peacefully.
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha greeted the devout on the occasion. (Agencies)
IAF deploys Cheetal helicopter to rescue Italian mountaineer stranded in Kargil sector
New Delhi, August 19: The Indian Air Force on Friday deployed its Cheetal helicopter to rescue an Italian mountaineer stranded on a mountain top in the Kargil sector, the sources informed.
The operations are in progress and all required logistics have been deployed.
It is likely that the operations may take some time due to the terrain. (Agencies)
Weapons dropping case: Accused dies in J&K jail
Jammu, Aug 19: A suspected member of a terrorist module involved in collection and ferrying of weapons and explosives dropped via drones along the International Border in Jammu frontier died after suffering a heart attack in the Kotbalwal jail here, officials said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the module involved in the May 29 explosive dropping case in Kathua, had arrested the accused earlier this month.
“Undertrial Muni Mohmmad was offering ‘namaz’ along with the rest of the prisoners when he suddenly collapsed. He was shifted to a hospital where he was declared dead”, an officer said, adding that he suffered a heart attack.
The 36-year old Muni, who belonged to Rampura village of Kathua district, was slapped with charges 121 (Waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war against the Government of India), 121a (conspiracy) /122 (collecting arms with intention of waging war against the Government of India) of IPC, Explosive Substance Act, 16 (recruits any person or persons for commission of a terrorist act), 18 (hatching conspiracy) and 20 (being member of terrorist organisation) of UAPA and sent to Kotbalwal jail on August 10.
The case was initially registered at the Rajbagh police station in Kathua on May 29 and was re-registered by the NIA on July 30.
The NIA on Thursday carried out searches in five districts of Jammu and Kashmir in connection with its investigation into the dropping of weapons by Pakistani drones along the International Border, an official said.
According to police, the module was in operation for over two years and was involved in collection and ferrying of weapons and explosives dropped via drones from the Pakistani side along the International Border. (Agencies)
Sixth ‘Deepotsav’ edition in Ayodhya, 14.5 lakh diyas to be lit
The sixth edition of ‘Deepotsav’ will be held in Ayodhya on October 23. According to official sources, nearly 14.5 lakh diyas will be lit on the Ghats this year, creating a new record.
Last year, a record had been created by lighting 7.5 lakh diyas (earthen lamps) at Ram Ki Paidi ghat on the banks of river Saryu.
Official sources said that the scale of ‘Deepotsav’ is being increased in view of greater public participation that is expected this year.
In the past two years, due to the pandemic, people had largely kept away from participating in the event.
The Deepotsav event had been started by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in 2017 and has grown bigger in scale ever since.
Jammu: Biker dies, another in road accident
A youth was killed while another seriously injured after their bike collided with a Tipper near Thalka Army Camp in Nowshera area.
Police sources said that one Puneet Sharma (23), son of Vishwamittar, resident of Bus Stand area Poonch was travelling on bike bearing registration number JK 12A- 5369 from Poonch to Jammu. A Tipper bearing registration No.JK02AB- 4795 hit him near Army Camp, Thalka, Nowshera.
He was immediately shifted to Nowshera hospital by Police team led by SHO Rajesh Jasrotia where doctors declared him as brought dead. His associate Ayush Khajuria, son of Susheel Kumar Khajuria, resident of Ward No. 1, near DPL Poonch received injuries and was undergoing treatment in Nowshera hospital. An FIR No. 194 has been registered in police station Nowshera in this connection.
Jammu: Hotel 17 Miles Sealed by Administration
The authorities have sealed the Hotel 17 Miles, Vijaypur on the directives of court.
According to police, the district authorities have received the court directives regarding the sealing of the Hotel 17 Miles as the hotel owners have failed to repay the loan sought from the Punjab and Sindh Bank.
Police said the Bank sought the directives from the court regarding sealing of entire mortgaging area of the Hotel and the orders were got executed by the district administration.
Police said a team of district officers, police and Bank staff led by ADC, Samba, Suram Chand Sharma and Additional SP Samba, Surinder Choudhary sealed the premises of the hotel today.
Covid cases in J&K dip
After witnessing a surge in Covid cases from last month, Jammu and Kashmir is once again on decline as active cases have reduced from over 5,200 to around 3,300 in the last 12 days.
As per the data, the active in J&K presently are 3,327 while the cases reached 5,261 on 6 August and number of active cases in Jammu have reduced to 512 which were around 2,000 before some days.
The total number of active cases in Jammu and Kashmir are 3,327 including 2,815 from Kashmir division and 512 from Jammu division
Officials told KNO the cases showed an upward trend in Jammu division first followed by Kashmir and similarly cases are on decline in Jammu first followed by Srinagar.
They said that the majority of affected persons were unaware that they had COVID as they never tested for it and despite being positive, they kept on doing their routine activities as symptoms were like the common flu.
There was no severity of currently circulating strain as it mainly affects the upper respiratory tract and as such the hospital admissions as of now were minimal with those having comorbidities being hospitalized.
They said that the positivity rate in J&K is decreasing now and it is likely that sub lineages of omicron were behind the recent surge.
The common symptoms in positive persons in this surge were of mild form presenting with fever, body aches, sore throat and cough and the person was recovering within 2 to 4 days.
The variant wasn’t so aggressive as the hospital admissions didn’t increase like we witnessed in the second wave, they said