SRINAGAR: The Jammu & Kashmir Government has set the ball rolling for the outsourcing of its lone apple juice plant in Kashmir Valley, which was set up nearly four decades ago.

The J&K Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation (JKHPMC), which owns the plant, has floated a tender for its operation, maintenance and commercialization.

The plant was made operational in 1985 with a capacity of producing 10,000 metric tonnes concentrates per year.

The decision to outsource the plant was taken by the JKHPMC’s board of directors in its meeting held on July 26, 2021, saying operation of the plant by the Corporation was not a good option.

It authorized the managing director, JKHPMC to outsource the apple joint plant by signing a concessional agreement with a registered company/firm/agency associated with the food processing sector. According to the minutes of the meeting of HPMC’s BoD, outsourcing could earn reasonable royalty and would contribute to sustainability of the Corporation.

Meanwhile, locals told that the successive regimes have turned a blind eye towards the plant and it has been lying dysfunctional from the last four years. “If the plant would have remained functional, it would have generated crores of rupees annually,” they said.

Mohammad Saleem, a local associated with the fruit business, said they used to supply the leftover apples to the unit and were earning good profits.“But since the unit is not running, the leftovers are thrown away,” he claimed.

SRINAGAR: Rains lashed plains and snowfall was recorded over higher reaches of Kashmir Valley while as the meteorological department on Tuesday forecast more wet weather in days to come.

“Today weather will be generally cloudy. There is possibility of light to moderate rain/snowfall(1-2 inches over middle and higher reaches). No snow in the plains,” a MeT official here said.

On November 2-4, he said, partly to generally cloudy weather is expected. “Light rain/snow may occur at isolated places, although chances are less.”

From November 5-8, he said weather is expected to be cloudy with scattered light to moderate rain/snowfall over middle and higher reaches. “There is no forecast of heavy snowfall. (forecast confidence upto75%),” he said.

He said snowfall and low temperature during the day may lead to temporary disruption of surface transportation, mainly over Zojila, Sinthantop, Mugal road etc. during November 5-7.

While light snowfall was reported on higher reaches, Srinagar received 1.8mm of rainfall overnight till 0830 hours today. Qazigund had traces of it while Pahalgam received 0.5mm, Kupwara 0.2mm and Gulmarg 0.8mm , the MeT official said. He said rains eluded Jammu region as well as Kokernag.

Meanwhile, he said, Srinagar recorded a low of 7.6°C against 3.9°C on the previous night. The temperature was 4.8°C above normal for the summer capital during this time of the year, he said.

Qazigund recorded a low of 8.0°C against 2.2°C on the previous night. The temperature was 5.4°C above normal for the gateway town of Kashmir, he told GNS.

In Pahalgam, the mercury settled at 6.0°C against minus 1.1°C on the previous night and it was 6.3°C above normal for the south Kashmir resort, he said.

Kokernag recorded a low of 7.6°C against 5.1°C on the previous night and it was 3.3°C above normal for the place, he said.

Gulmarg recorded a low of 0.0°C against 2.5°C on the previous night and it was 1.7°C below normal for the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

In Kupwara town, the mercury settled at 6.4°C against 3.8°C on the previous night, the official said. It was 4.0°C above normal for the north Kashmir place, he said.

Jammu recorded a low of 18.3°C against 16.8°C on the previous night. It was 2.4°C above normal for J&K’s winter capital, he said. Banihal recorded a low of 7.6°C (above normal by 2.7°C), Batote 11.2°C (3.3°C above normal), Katra 16.0°C (above normal by 2.9°C) and Bhadarwah 8.9°C (above normal by 4.3°C).

Jammu, November 1:

Thirteen Kashmiri Pandit families, who migrated from a village in South Kashmir amid targeted killings of members of their community, on Monday urged the administration to register them as migrants.

Of the 13 families comprising 43 members, 10 had left Choudharygund village in Shopian district and reached Jammu on October 26. The remaining three had reached the city earlier.

A few days ago, the Shopian administration had rubbished reports that stated some Hindu families had already reached Jammu.

“We have submitted a joint application to the office of the relief and rehabilitation commissioner in Jammu for registration of the 13 families as migrants in the wake of migration from the Valley to Jammu,” said VJ Kaul, a representative of the families.

Puran Krishan Bhat was gunned down by terrorists outside his ancestral house in Choudharygund village on October 15. Monish Kumar and Ram Sagar were killed in a grenade attack by terrorists while they were asleep in their rented accommodation in Shopian on October 18.

In the application, the families said they had migrated to Jammu following Bhat’s killing in broad daylight. “The incident of brutal killing compelled us to leave our native village to save our lives,” they said.

They said prior to Bhat’s killing, a government primary school was attacked but fortunately three teachers belonging to the minority community had a narrow escape. Even Hindu employees, posted in Kashmir, have been protesting in Jammu for months, demanding their transfer from the Valley in the wake of killings.

Jammu: The members of SC, ST, and OBC communities Monday held a protest demonstration in Jammu against “diluting reservation norms by extending the benefit to the non-deserving sections”.

Seeking rollback of the decision, the members of SC, ST, and OBC organised the protest to express their anger over the decision to extend reservation benefits to more and more categories and termed it unconstitutional.

They said that the reservation was being granted to the people from the general category for vote bank politics and it hurt the basic motive of the reservation.

Jammu, November 1

Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways and Civil Aviation, Gen VK Singh, on Monday visited Doda as a part of the ongoing public outreach programme. He reviewed the progress of different projects going on in the region and also took a detailed review of package-wise progress on alternate National Highway 244.

During his visit to various ongoing development projects, Gen Singh instructed the executing agencies to stick to the timeline and ensure the completion of NH-244 and other projects within the given time frame.

The minister also directed the district administration to send details of bottlenecks if any, such as forest clearance or non-acquisition of land, so that the same could be taken up with the authorities concerned for early redressal.

The minister also inspected the work on the Khellani tunnel. He was informed that 36% of the work on both the tubes had been completed and tentative date of completion of the tunnel project was April 24. Gen Singh directed the engineers to get the expertise and use contemporary technology to give public a state-of-the-art infrastructure without harming the ecology of the area.

The minister also inaugurated the link road to Nai Dangri, constructed by the PWD, at an estimated cost of Rs 1.91 crore. He also laid the foundation stone of a water supply project built at an estimated cost of Rs 422.69 lakh, benefiting Shahpura and Malnai villages.

Jammu: The daily wagers of Jal Shakti Department Monday continued their ongoing protest demonstration seeking their regularisation and regular release of wages.

Accompanied by handicapped wagers, the daily wagers assembled here at the BC Road office of the Jal Shakti Department under the banner of PHE Employees United Front Jammu Division.

The daily wagers alleged that they were holding protests for the past 132 days in support of their demands that include regularisation, implementation of the Minimum Wage Act, and regular release of wages.

One of the handicapped wagers said that despite being handicapped he had to come from Miran Sahib to attend the protest so that their long-pending demands could be accepted. He said that he was working in the department for the last 16 years but their regularisation was still pending although the government had assured them of their regularisation.

Srinagar, Nov 01: The Srinagar-Leh highway was closed for vehicular movement on Tuesday after fresh snowfall at Zoji La Pass, officials said.

The road has been closed in view of slippery conditions.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir traffic police on its official Twitter handle also confirmed that SSG road has been closer for vehicular movement. 

“Traffic plying on Jammu-Srinagar NHW,  Mughal road through. However SSG Road closed for vehicular movement in view of fresh snowfall in Zoji La axis,” the police said in a tweet.