MEDIA EDUCATION RESEARCH CENTRE, Vol 8 | No 16 | DECEMBER 30, 2015 UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR गमय ر ोत ﻨﻮ اﻟ ﯽ ा ﻟ म ا ﺖ ो स ﻤ ٰ ﻠ म ﻈ त ﻟ U ا ﻦ N ﻣ IV E RS ITY IR OF KASHM THOUSANDS THRONG HAZRATBAL SHRINE ON EID-E-MILAD Inside It is Official: Massive fire at Doctors at SMHS Food security of KU’s residential go on strike Kashmir at risk MERC quarters P7 M P2 P3 Times } ﻮر य ﯽ اﻟﻨ गम ﻟ ोत ,MEDIA EDUCATION RESEARCH CENTRE ﺖ ا ﻤ ٰ ा ﻠ ﻈ म ﻟ ो ا ﻦ स ﻣ म UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR त U N IR IV M ER H MERC SITY OF KAS Vol 8 | No 16 | DECEMBER 30, 2015 MTimes } 2 Unregulated tourism It is Official: Food security damaging Valley of Kashmir at risk v Sami Khan: the report. Number of cattle was 2,47,900 in 1997 as per the report, which environment: Srinagar: Kashmir is fast losing has come down 1,96,740. The number of its cultivable land to an unchecked sheep was 2,91,000 and the same has construction boom and unabated now got reduced to 1,94,188 in the year Official report conversion of agricultural-land to 2011-12. residential and commercial purposes, Experts link the unabated official data reveals. conversion of cultivable land to other Data collected by state’s Statistics purposes to state’s food grain deficit. and Evaluation Department shows An estimation made by the Directorate that the twin north Kashmir districts, of Agriculture Jammu, food grain Baramulla and Kupwara, lose at an requirement for the State is 25 lakh MT average 150 to 200 acres of agriculture per annum as against the tentative land annually to residential colonies, production of about 20.65 lakh MT shopping complexes, roads and other during 2013-14. Therefore the State government constructions. faces a deficiency of 4.35 lakh MT of In its annual report, the department food grains. shows the baffling trend in “The situation is of grave concern. diminishing area of cultivable and If it was not controlled immediately,it grazing land in the two north Kashmir may pose serious threat to food districts. For instance, the total security in near future”, warned a top available area in the year 2000-2001 revenue official while talking to Merc v Nisar Dharma tourists and Amarnath Yatris was under “permanent pastures and Times. 1308765 and 621000 respectively. grazing fields” in Kupwara was As per the tentative figures Srinagar: Non-regulation of tourist The number of tourist arrivals 7107 hectares, which as per the with Jammu and Kashmir Land flow in Kashmir would result in detri- dropped to 1171130 in 2013 and in 2014 department’s revised2012-13 report Accusation Department, the security mental impact on the overall environ- their number was 116718. Over 10 lakh has reduced to just 1949hectares. agencies occupy10,000 kanals of land ment of the region, claims an official tourists also visited in 2015. However, Officials in the agriculture in Kupwara district.The occupied area report by department of ecology, envi- most of these tourists visited only the department say ‘’the unabated trend mostly includes cultivable land, of ronment and remote sensing Jammu most common tourist places (Gulmarg, of land conversion is posing serious which security agencies pay rent to the and Kashmir. Pahalgam, Sonamarg) as government implications on the food owners. It, however, does not include It says that the influx of tourists be- has so far failed to develop other places security of people and fodder the land the security agencies have yond the carrying capacity of scenic which have the potential of becoming for animals including wildlife, as occupied after eruption of militancy, spots has put tremendous pressure prime tourist destinations. forest land too is enchroached, and as against which they don’t pay any on their existing resources and infra- “We have only few tourist places converted’’ . rent. structure. which have the requisite infrastruc- With the occupation and conversion The experts suggest an Although Valley has been naturally ture, the government has failed to of permanent pastures and grazing uncompromised blanket ban on the gifted, the concerned authorities have regulate the tourists in these places fields there has been a visible decline purchase, conversion and selling of so far not succeeded in developing new which proves detrimental to our envi- also in the number of livestock, says agricultural land. tourist places which in turn means ronment,” an official of Environment the huge number of tourists arriving department said. here have only selected places to visit “We have to work on the lines of putting a lot of pressure on these des- eco-tourism in the state; one way to do tinations. that would be to go on cycles or ride on Acknowledging that higher num- ponies to tourist spots having fragile ber of tourists visiting fewer spots is environment,” he said. turning things from bad to worse, the It has been seen that thousands report suggests government to explore of tourists and pilgrims visit tour- new destinations to reduce the pres- ist places with fragile environment sure on the existing ones. which leads to degradation of environ- The report says that unregulated ment mainly due to heavy fleet of ve- tourist inflow increases pollution hicles carrying pilgrims and tourists (more vehicles thronging in a particu- to these places. lar place), creates pressure on drink- A senior official of Tourism depart- ing water resources, increases chanc- ment said the department was plan- es of unscientific waste disposal, and ning to implement the tourism policy also creates a lot of congestion. in the state for regulating the inflow. According to the official figures, “It will also help us to upgrade the 1314432 domestic and foreign tourists infrastructure at tourist destinations visited the Valley in 2011 excluding with proper water supply, sewage, the Amarnath yatris whose number drainage to ensure that environment was 634000. In 2012, the number of is not affected,” the official said. ﻮر य ﯽ اﻟﻨ गम ﻟ ोत ,MEDIA EDUCATION RESEARCH CENTRE ﺖ ا ﻤ ٰ ा ﻠ ﻈ म ﻟ ो ا ﻦ स ﻣ म UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR त U N IR IV M ER H MMERC SITY OF KAS Vol 8 | No 16 | DECEMBER 30, 2015 3 Times } v Muhammad Yonis Muhammad Sultan Dar, the other dweller of the quarter was mourning Srinagar: A massive fire saturday since all his belongings were destroyed broke out in Kashmir University’s Nas- in the fire.“I had earnings of the last 30 eem Bagh Campus torching multiple years inside and now I have nothing,” he residential quarters accommodated by quietly said. the non-teaching staff. I had gone to see the doctor early in As per witnesses, around 8 AM, smoke the morning. Just couple of days ago, I and flames puffed out of the first quarter brought four blankets costing Rs 2000 and shortly engulfed the three adjoining each and now I do not have even clothes ones. Such was the intensity and the left. I however thank Allah for saving my speed at which the fire spread that it family,” he added. barely allowed the families of the staff to Speaking to Merc Times, KU Proctor save themselves. Dr Naseer Iqbal said that since the The residents believe that the fire quarters were fully wooden, the fire was caused by short-circuit, since the engulfed them within a few minutes. We electricity was restored in the morning. cannot definitely say what caused the “Also the quarters being completely built fire, was it short-circuit or something in wood,it took fire few minutes to engulf else”? entire building,” said Muhammad He further added that his team’s time of Muzaffar, one of the residents in whose intervention was very fast but even after room the fire started. that we could not save the belongings The students living in the adjoining of the three non-teaching staff families hostels came out and tried to douse the living in the quarters. fire but couldn’t and eventually the fire When asked about the resettlement ate up the entire stretch of residential of the affected staff, he said, “There are Massive fire engulfs quarters even though around eight no separate lodging arrangements as of firefighting vehicles turned up at the site now but we are arranging a makeshift within 15 minutes. for them. .“Had not the fire-service turned up at It is pertinent to mention here that all KU’s residential the appropriate time, the fire would have the residential quarters in the Naseem leapt over to the other quarters,” said Bagh are made of wood and are thus quarters witnesses. susceptible to fires. Inspired by CM’s super 50, BOSE to start 45 days crash course for CET aspirants students and the faculty,” he added. v Umar Shafi While talking to Merc Times, aspirants who attended the Srinagar: Inspired by CM’s super 50 inaugural ceremony said that they initiative, JK BOSE has decided to start feel extremely happy to be the part of comprehensive coaching programme this group. for the candidates desirous to appear in Aisha(name changed) one of Medical and Engineering competitive the lucky students who were got examinations to be conducted during selected said “I am from a very poor the year-2016. background. My family cannot afford The programme was inaugurated to send me to those tuition centers by Chairperson, Jammu and Kashmir that charge hefty sums from students. State Board of School Education By offering coaching against just (JKBOSE), Prof Zahoor Ahmad Chatt.