DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2014 (PAGE 5) Govt silent as paddy land VC KU, Dr Hajini, Prof Ravi call on Vohra Excelsior Correspondent activities in the University and, and preserving the Kashmiri Medical Education, Research as desired by the Chancellor, language and culture. and Training Programme in a shrinks at alarming rate , May 13: Prof. gave him a list of all significant The Governor appreciated meeting with in Vohra informed Mir Iqbal under apple crop was 1, 40,156 Talat Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, matters which would require to the role of the AMK in high- him that he along with Dr. Dewa hectares which has increased to University of , called on be decided in the coming weeks. lighting the rich culture, tradi- Ramlu, Vice President, SRINAGAR, May 13: The 1, 43,534 hectares in 2013-14. Governor N.N Vohra, Dr. Aziz Hajini, President, tions and International University, School agriculture land is shrinking at Despite High Court's direc- Chancellor of the University, Adbee Markaz Kamraz (AMK) and wished Dr. Hajini high suc- Of Medicine, Michigan, USA an alarming rate in Kashmir val- tions to Government for impos- here at Raj Bhavan today. also called on Mr. Vohra and cess in all the future endeavors would like to assist the Shri The Vice Chancellor briefed briefed him about pursuits of of the Kamraz. Amarnath ji Shrine Board and CEO of SMVDSB addressing at a seminar on Drugs ley, particularly in south ing a blanket ban on raising con- the Governor about the to date AMK in collection and publica- Prof. Ravi Jyee, Vice train doctors in clinical cardiolo- Addiction at SGC Katra. Kashmir-once known as rice structions in paddy land, and in status of all important academic, tion of literary heritage of liter- President, International gy, particularly all those who bowl of Kashmir-as the brazen violation of Section 133 research, co-curricular and ary legends of Kashmir and University, School of Medicine, would be doing duty during the Government continues to be a of Land Revenue Act, the offi- Seminar on Drug infrastructural development about its efforts for promoting Michigan and Head "SAARC" Yatra. mere spectator to this onslaught. cial reports revealed that paddy As one could see swathes of land was increasingly being Addiction organised "Abi-Awal" land-strictly to be used for residential and com- used for agricultural purposes is mercial purposes shrinking the Excelsior Correspondent be organised on Drug being turned into concrete jun- land from 1.6 lakh hectares to Addiction as well as other such gles with shopping malls, busi- 1.4 lakh Kanals from the last 7 KATRA, May 13: A semi- issues more often. ness units and residential build- years. nar on Drug Addiction was Vivek Gupta, SP Reasi, ings coming up. In district's village jointly organised by Shri Mata spoke about the serious conse- A visit to various areas of Koil, Tengwuna, Padgampora, Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, quences of Drug Addiction on Pulwama, Shopian, Bandzoo, Pinglena, Gangoo, Police and Hotel & Restaurant the individual, family and the and districts in south Pahoo, Kakapora, Newa, Association, Katra at Spiritual society and urged upon all the Kashmir by Excelsior found that Gudoora, Tahab, Wasoora and Growth Centre here today. stakeholders to help in discour- some land mafia has been con- Galender, hundreds of Kanals of Dr. Mandeep K. Bhandari, aging this menace by spreading verting paddy land into com- agriculture land was converted Chief Executive Officer, Shri awareness about Drug mercial purposes. into concrete mesh and authori- Mata Vaishno Devi Shri Board, Addiction. He also emphasised Some villagers said that with ties despite watching all this speaking on the occasion, said the need for nurturing moral and official nexus people first con- have failed to take any action that it is extremely important ethical values among children. vert paddy land into non-paddy any of them. to sensitize general population Kulbir Singh, Additional SP by sowing plant nurseries, veg- A top official in the district Katra, in his opening remarks, etable fields and orchards. And administration Pulwama told dwelt on the aims and objects after few years the same practice EXCELSIOR that a Tehsildar of organizing the seminar. He of agriculture is being aban- was suspended recently after he gave details of the harmful doned and construction is car- was trapped by vigilance for affects of Drug Addiction and ried without any trouble. taking bribe in cases like this. the programmes being organ- "To avoid Government wrath He admitted that the con- ised to enlarge awareness about the farmers convert paddy fields struction has been going on both it. into plant nurseries and after the sides of the Srinagar- The proceedings of the that the same piece of land is Pulwama road, but showed his seminar commenced with light- used for construction and other helplessness to stop construc- ing of the ceremonial lamp by purposes," residents of Qoimuh tion. the CEO of the Shrine Board, town in Kulgam said. Notwithstanding the shrink- Deputy Commissioner, Reasi, ing of agricultural land due to SP Reasi and other dignitaries Similarly, dozens of villages in Kulgam including, Ponew, rapid urbanization, the fate of present on the occasion. bill which disallows conversion Shyam Lal Kesar, president Bugoum, Qoimuh, Mir Bazar, Khudwani and other neighbour- of agricultural land for non-agri- Hotel and Restaurant cultural purposes was moved in Association, Katra presented a ing villagers said that by plant- ing nurseries of different fruit the Legislative Assembly in vote of thanks while Rakesh 2011, but has been hanging in on crucial issue like Drug Wazir, senior vice president of bearing plants fetch them much balance during the past over Addiction. He said that such the Association conducted the revenue annually in comparison three years. seminars can go a long way in proceedings of the seminar. to paddy crop. Agriculture experts believe enlarging awareness about The Resource Persons who The Horticulture Department that if the land conversion takes Drug Addiction and its nega- delivered lectures on various in its recent report mentioned place with present pace time tive fallouts. He said that the aspects of the topic of the sem- that the area under the apple would not be far when every problem of Drug Addiction is inar included Dr. Varun crop has increased by 3378 inch of paddy fields would turn required to be addressed very Tripathi, Assistant Professor & hectares in 2013-14. According either into concrete mesh. seriously and effectively and Director Incharge, School of to the report, the area covered all the stakeholders need to Philosophy, Shri Mata Vaishno contribute their efforts in this Devi University, Dr. Saurabh, HC stays transfer, attachment regard. In this context, he Assistant Professor, Shri Mata underscored the important role Vaishno Devi University and which the students can play in Dr. Gurmeet Kour, Registrar of CEO Udhampur extending awareness about Psychiatry, GMC, Jammu. A Excelsior Correspondent ject to objections from other Drug Addiction. He felt the skit was also presented by the side and till next date of hear- need for concerted efforts to Narcotics Control Bureau on JAMMU, May 13: High ing the impugned Government organise de-addiction camps the occasion, highlighting ill Court today kept in abeyance order shall remain in abeyance, and more targeted approach effects of drug addiction. the Government order regard- Justice Rabstan directed. apart from creating general Among those present on the ing transfer of Chief Education The High Court also direct- awareness in the public. occasion were Mr. Manoj Officer Udhampur Balbir ed the official respondents to Dr. Shahid Iqbal, Deputy Kumar, Zonal Director, Singh and his attachment with file status of the case on the Commissioner, Reasi, Narcotics Control Bureau, Directorate of School next date of hearing. observed that Drug Addiction J&K, Mr. Anil Sharma, Deputy Education Jammu. has very serious consequences CEO, SMVDSB Shiv Kumar for the society at large. He Sharma, president, Indian Style The transfer order dated lauded the initiative of the Wrestling Association, J&K, April 16, 2014 was challenged organisers for holding this functionaries and members of by Balbir Singh on the ground seminar with a view to making the Hotel and Restaurant that the same was passed for public aware about various Association, Katra, senior mala-fide considerations. aspects of Drug Addiction and civil, Police and Shrine Board Advocate W S Nargal, who how to deal with this problem. officers, prominent citizens, a was appearing for the petition- He suggested that awareness large number of people of the er, submitted before Justice generation programmes should area and students. Tashi Rabstan that the order was issued in flagrant violation of Model Code of Conduct and also the ban imposed by the School Education Department wherein the policy has been framed that no transfer/attach- ment of the teaching staff shall be made in Jammu province till further orders. "The transfer order seems to have been issued by the Principal Secretary, School Education Department at the behest of Deputy Commissioner Udhampur, Yasha Mudgal for mala-fide considerations and that too on the basis of a complaint filed by one Tirath Ram, who hap- pens to be the general secre- tary of Block Youth Congress, Ghordi", he said, adding "the order of attachment of the peti- tioner is stigmatic and is an offshoot of a false and a frivo- lous complaint". Advocate Nargal further submitted that the allega- tions leveled against the petitioner were never veri- fied nor the petitioner was given any opportunity of being heard. After hearing counsel for the petitioner, Justice Tashi Rabstan issued notice to the respondents returnable within four weeks. Meanwhile, sub-