Jammu November 7:  Gulmarg resort in Jammu and Kashmir was draped in a white blanket as heavy snowfall lashed the Union Territory on Monday. Officials said snowfall and rains brought down the day temperature in the UT. 

Gulmarg, in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, recorded around 9 to 12 inches of fresh snowfall, they said.

Another tourist destination, Sonamarg, in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, recorded about three inches of fresh snowfall.

Sadhna Pass, on Srinagar-Tangdhar road in Kupwara, received about two feet of snow, while Machil received about five inches of snow, they said.

Gurez, in north Kashmir’s Bandipora, received three inches of fresh snow.

There are reports of fresh snowfall in other areas in the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir as well, the officials added.

The plains of the Valley, including Srinagar, were lashed by rains.

The officials said rain/snow showers are likely to continue at many places till afternoon and a significant improvement in the weather is expected in the evening.

Another western disturbance may bring light to moderate rain/snow showers from November 9-11, they added.

JAMMU: After months of chaos and uncertainty, the Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board (JKSSB) has announced the conduct of the examination for 1200 posts of Sub Inspector, Jammu and Kashmir Police tentatively in December 2022, five months after it scrapped the earlier recruitment drive after irregularities including the leak of question paper.
Only few among those who featured in the earlier selection list would be happy with the SSB notification, which said that the final dates of examination would be notified separately in due course of time. However, tens of thousands of those who had raised the question on the recruitment drive by the board have hailed the leadership of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who has not only ensured transparency and accountability, but has acted on every complaint his office has received.
As the administration gets lauded, youth prepares for the examination, the recruiting agency, JKSSB suffers from an institutional credibility crisis, restoring which is a Himalayan task.

3 Decades Of Neglect

For decades altogether, the Service Selection Board, the premier recruitment agency of Jammu and Kashmir remained a completely neglected and ignored institution. With Iqbal Khandey’s punishment posting way back in 2001 by an angry Farooq Abdullah, the deployment of officers to JKSSB has made the board a dumping yard.

“Despite tall claims of Farooq Abdullah, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, none of the governments ever paid attention to such a sensitive institution that we didn’t even have our own building,” said an official.

The board has suffered for long from staff deficiency, both in terms of quantity and quality, even as scores of vacant posts have affected the functioning of the board, which was overloaded with the work, courtesy the government’s accelerated recruitment drive.

However, things started looking up for the better post August 2019, with a new constitutional environment setting in and new parameters of accountability being introduced.

JAMMU: Congress leader Vikar Rasool Wani on Sunday claimed that the BJP-led Centre is neither serious about holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir nor restoring its statehood.

The J-K Pradesh Congress Committee president also sought support from the people for the ‘Bharat Jodo Padyatra’ launched by party leader Rahul Gandhi to defeat “politics of hate and division” in the country.

“The Centre is not serious about fulfilling the commitment of early restoration of statehood and holding assembly elections (in Jammu and Kashmir), and only hoodwinking people by issuing vague statements from time to time for the last three and half years,” Wani said, addressing a workers’ convention in Samba district.

He said the vague statements by some central ministers from time to time about restoration of statehood and assembly elections do not inspire confidence and trust among people as the promises were never fulfilled by the BJP government.

The Congress leader questioned the BJP, saying the people want to know the benefits of the abrogation of special status guaranteed to them under Article 370 of the Constitution.

“People had not voted for the BJP to divide and downgrade our historical state into Union Territory and snatch our rights over lands and jobs, guaranteed to people by the last Dogra ruler through state subject laws.

“BJP only betrayed and be-fooled people… the situation is worse today than earlier, as Kashmiri pandits, migrant labourers and other minorities are becoming targets of selective killings under the BJP regime,” he said.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had on Saturday hinted at the possibility of the Centre considering restoring state status to Jammu and Kashmir.

She dropped the hint while talking about the distribution of funds to the states by the Centre as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission.

SRINAGAR, Nov 7: Police on Monday claimed to have cracked a case of IED incident in Sopore by arrested two Lashker-e-Toiba hybrid terrorists in north Kashmir’s Sopore.
The Kashmir Zone Police Zone while quoting ADGP kashmir wrote, “Sopore Police has cracked the recent IED blast incident at Kenusa Bandipora. 02 hybrid terrorists namely Irshad Ganaie Shahid & Waseem Raja of Kenusa Bandipora arrested. 02 remote controlled IEDs with detonators recovered. Case registered & investigation going on,”.(Agencies)

Srinagar: Rains continue to lash plains while upper reaches received snowfall even as meteorological department here on Monday forecast more wet weather in Jammu and Kashmir till November 11.

A meteorological department official said that rain and snow was expected at most places of J&K with snowfall over higher reaches currently.

On Tuesday (November 8), he said, weather would generally be cloudy and “light snow may occur over higher reaches, although chances are less.”

“From November 9-11, widespread rain and snowfall (over higher reaches) is expected (forecast confidence more than 75%),” he said, adding, “Improvement in the weather is expected from November 11 onwards.”

Regarding probable impacts of the prevailing weather system, he said, snowfall and low temperature may lead to temporary disruption of surface transportation, mainly over Zojila, Jammu-Srinagar Highway, Leh-Manali road etc on today and between November 9-11.

The MeT department has also advised people to check status of these road from traffic police prior to embarking on a journey to avoid inconveniences.

“Travellers on major passes are advised to carry sufficient food items, warm shoes, clothes etc. with them as road conditions remain uncertain during inclement weather.”

Meanwhile, according to reports , snowfall has draped the entire Gulmarg and parts of Sonamarg in white blanket. Reports of snowfall with depth of 4 inches to 1.5ft on higher reaches have also been received. Sadhna top and Machil in Kupwara have received 1.5ft and 4 inches snowfall respectively, Dawar Gurez in Bandipora district about 3 inches, they said,

A meteorological department official said that in the last 24 hours till 0830 hours, Srinagar received 30mm of rain, Qazigund 36mm, Pahalgam 19mm, Kupwara 24mm, Kukernag 25mm, Gulmarg 30mm, Jammu nil, Banihal 18mm, Batote 2mm, Katra 14mm and Bhaderwah 2mm.

Meanwhile, he said, Srinagar recorded a low of 4.2°C against 5.2°C on the previous night. The temperature was 1.7°C above normal for the summer capital during this time of the year, he said.