srinagar rni no: 48956/88 vol: 33 no. 98 pages: 08 rs. 5...

Published from Srinagar | Jammu RNI No: 48956/88 Vol: 33 No. 98 Pages: 08 Rs. 5.00

TUESDAY, April 07, 2020 13, Shaban, 1441 33rd Year of publication

16 persons detained under PSA in August released

Rs 63 crore allocated for 15 hospitals in Jammu, 1 in Kashmir

SHABIR IBN YUSUF

Srinagar, Apr 6: Gen-eral Officer Commanding 15 Corps, Lt Gen BS Raju, Monday said that Army suffered only five casual-ties in Keran gunfight with militants yesterday. He said the operation, in Kupwara district in which five mili-tants were also killed, got hampered due to adverse weather conditions and dif-ficult terrain.

“We suffered only five casualties, no further casu-alties or injuries,” Lt Gen B S Raju told the Greater Kashmir.

The Special Forces per-sonnel killed in the gun-battle have been identified as Subedar Sanjeev Kumar, Havildar Davendra Singh, Paratrooper Bal Krishan, Paratrooper Amit Kumar and Paratrooper Chhatrapal Singh.

“We have dispatched the mortal remains of the sol-diers around 11.30 am today and they will be reaching their respective families by this evening only.”

Gen Raju said that the Keran operation has been called off. “The operation took time because of difficult terrain and adverse weath-er,” he said adding that for the first three days weather was totally adverse. “In last two days weather opened up we carried out the opera-tion.”

The GOC said that the militants divided themselves into two groups. “One group with the guide was trying to go back and we trapped that. At the same time we engaged other one and eliminated both the groups,” he said. “There is over 10 feet snow right now where the gunfight took place.”

Keran operation endsMilitants were eliminated in hand to hand battle: Army

SHABIR IBN YUSUF

Srinagar, Apr 6: As many as 16 persons detained under Public Safety Act were released from central jail Srinagar on Monday. Officials said more releases were on cards.

The 16 persons were detained just before or on August 5, 2019, when the cen-tral government scrapped the special status of J&K.

The release of the detain-ees came after Home Depart-ment revoked their PSA orders.

“Today PSA order of 16 persons detained in central jail Srinagar was revoked,” a Home Department official told Greater Kashmir. “We have directed their immedi-

ate release.”He said that all of them

were arrested in August last year. “Hopefully more such detainees will be released in coming days,” he said, adding that steps were being taken to decongest jails in view of coronavirus out-break.

The official informed that there were 129 PSA detain-ees in Srinagar central jail.

Home Department offi-cials said that they are scrutinising the cases of other PSA detainees. “Most of them are likely to be released in phased manner in coming days.”

Earlier, the Home Depart-ment revoked PSA of 14 per-sons and they were freed from central jail.

Worldwide cases

1,297,704

Deaths

71,282

1,297,704

Recovered

272,819

India cases

4,281

India deaths

111

Number of Red Zones in J&K reaches 45SAQIB MALIK

Srinagar, Apr 6: With a sharp increase in number of Covid-19 cases, number of Red Zones declared by the administra-tion in Jammu and Kashmir has also witnessed an increase, touching 45. As per officials, out of these, 26 Red Zones are located in Kashmir division while rest are in Udhampur, Rajouri, Samba and Jammu.

A senior official said the number of Red Zones, an area which is a clus-ter of positive Covid-19 cases, has seen a spurt during last few days. Use of technology such as Geo-tagging is help-ing in exact identification of

the affected areas, the official said.“We are regularly updating the Covid-

19 affected Red Zones on our official web-site for public information. As of now, we have 39 identified Red Zones in rural areas of J&K. Six Red Zones fall in Srinagar dis-trict,” said an official from Remote Sens-ing department, which is undertaking the Geo-tagging process of the affected areas. “Keeping in view patient privacy, we don’t reveal the exact location of the

house of the patient on the website but mark only the wider Red Zone,”

the official said.Divisional Commissioner

Kashmir, Pandurang Pole, told Greater Kashmir that

Patients su� er as major hospitals suspend elective surgeries

rest are in Udhampur, Rajouri, Samba


areas. “Keeping in view patient privacy, we don’t reveal the exact location of the

house of the patient on the website but mark only the wider Red Zone,”

the official said.Divisional Commissioner

Kashmir, Pandurang Pole, told


we don’t reveal the exact location of the house of the patient on the website but

mark only the wider Red Zone,” the official said.

Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Pandurang Pole, told

148 persons discharged from quarantine

MUDASIR YAQOOB

Srinagar, Apr 6: A group of 148 persons including students and other travel-lers of different districts across Kashmir were

sent to their homes on Monday after complet-ing 14 days quaran-tine period.

Additional DC Srinagar Syed Hanief

Balkhi, who looks over all quarantine facilities in Srinagar said the group of 148 people was directly

MUKEET AKMALI

Srinagar, Apr 6: With the coronavirus scare expos-ing loopholes in the health-care system, the central government has allocated Rs 63 crore to the Jammu and Kashmir government for augmenting healthcare infrastructure.

Government of India has released these funds under Prime Minister Develop-ment Package (PMDP) for health and medical educa-tion department.

According of officials, the money has been allo-cated for augmentation of healthcare infrastructure which includes completion of 500-bedded New Pediat-rics Hospital at Srinagar, 200-bedded New Maternity Hospital at Jammu, New

Bone and Joint Hospital at Jammu, District Hos-pital Reasi, DH Kishtwar, DH Ramban, DH Samba, 100 bedded Hospital at Kot Bhalwal, 100 bedded hospi-tal at Gangyal Jammu and sub-district hospitals at R S Pura, Bishnah, Akhnoor, Billawar, Sunderbani, Now-shera, Marwah.

“Release of funds will help a long way to overcome the deficiency in healthcare infrastructure. By releas-ing Rs 63 crore to health and medical education depart-ment of Jammu and Kash-mir, it has become the first department of J&K which has received its hundred percent share out of PMDP which was announced by PM in 2015,” said a senior health department official.

Doctors suggest confi ning COVID19 treatment to designated hospitals

KHALID GUL

Srinagar, Apr 6: Idrees Ahmad Dar, 40, from Anantnag is bedrid-den for last three years, suffering from kidney, bladder and urinary tract disorders. The doctors have suggested him to undergo three surgeries - nephrectomy, urethro-plasty and kidney transplant.

He lives in a rented accommoda-

tion in Bakshiabad locality of the town along with his wife, 2 year old daughter and elder brother.

“We somehow managed to arrange money and were planning to go for surgery early this month. But to our ill-luck all planned sur-geries have been deferred due to Covid19 pandemic,” says Ata Muhamad, who will be donating his kidney to the younger brother.

He says his brother’s condition is deteriorating day by day.

The only source of income for the family is the meager salary Ata draws as a salesman at a local shop.

Idrees is on dialysis and other medications for the last three

years which has consumed all the resources of the family.

Like Dar, there are other such patients suf-fering from life-threat-ening diseases who were allotted dates for surgeries in the tertiary care hospitals of Kashmir but are now left in lurch.

Ishfaq Ahmad of a remote Shop-ian village says, “My aged father is suffering from gastric cancer and was asked to get admitted to SMHS for surgery this week. But now I am being told that all the surgeries have been suspended.”

He said that his the economic

condition does not allow him to go for surgery in

a private hospital.A senior doctor

working in SMHS sug-gested that elective surgeries - colostomy;

hemorrhoid; hernia, piles, gynae and other

surgeries should continue as usual.

“We cannot afford to even deny chemo and radiotherapy to the malignancy patients,” he said.

Another doctor said only COVID19 designated hospitals like SKIMS Bemina, JLNM, CD hospi-tal and the ones in north and south should deal with the infected or

suspected patients.“The other tertiary care hospi-

tals, district, sub district hospitals and maternity, child care hospitals should function as routine,” the doctor said.

He added that some hotels and government buildings should exclusively function as COVID19 hospitals for now.

Medical superintendent of val-ley’s largest private-run hospital, Khyber Institute of Medical Sci-ence, Dr Showkat Shah said their hospital is flooded with patients.

“Patients who otherwise would prefer SKIMS and SMHS now come to us,” he said.

ZEHRU NISSA

Srinagar, Apr 6: Kashmir saw a dip in positive cases today as only three samples were found positive for COVID19, the total in J&K reaching 109. A total of 1692 samples have been tested in J&K, of which 1583 have been found negative.

Two patients admitted at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences tested positive for COVID19 today. Both patients are residents of Srinagar. Dr Farooq Jan, medical superinten-dent SKIMS said one of the patients, a 37 year old woman, had travelled to Delhi recently. The second patient, a 25 year old man, also had traveled to Delhi.

Sample of a patient, admitted at GMC Baram-ulla, he said, had also tested positive. Dr Jan said the patient is a 35 year old woman whose husband has recently tested positive for COVID19.

None of the samples tested at Chest Diseases Hospital tested positive for COVID19 today. Dr S Saleem Khan said 36 samples were tested today and all were negative for COVID19. He said reports of 48 samples were awaited while 90 more samples awaited testing.

The toll of COVID19 posi-tive cases has reached 109 in J&K. As per the Govern-ment bulletin on COVID19, 103 patients were currently admitted in hospitals of J&K for management of the viral infection - 103 are active pos-itive, 4 have recovered and 2 have died. The bulletin said 85 cases are from Kashmir and 18 from Jammu divi-sion.

Of these, 18 were admitted in GMC Jammu. In Kashmir

division, 85 patients were admitted for COVID19. The bulk of patients were admit-ted in Srinagar hospitals – SKIMS (26), CD Hospital (21), JLNM (9) and JVC(1).

GMC Baramulla had 19 positive cases, while dis-trict hospital Pulwama had 9 positive cases of COVID19.

Government said 1708 samples have been sent for testing of which 1583 have tested as negative, and 16 reports are awaited. It added 35243 travellers and persons in contact with suspected cases had been put under surveillance which include 10556 persons in home quar-antine including facilities operated by government, 615 in hospital quarantine, 103 in hospital isolation and 17506 under home surveil-lance. Besides, 6463 persons have completed their 28 day surveillance period.

3 new positive cases in Kashmir: J&K total reaches 109

4281 cases, 111 deaths in India

MPLAD funds suspended for 2 years

PTI

New Delhi, Apr 6: The Union cabi-net on Monday decided to cut 30 per cent salary of all MPs for one year, and divert MPLAD funds for two years --nearly Rs 7,900 crores--to fund the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Announcing the cabinet decision, Union minister Prakash Javadekar also said the President, the Vice Presi-dent, governors of states have also vol-untarily decided to take a pay cut as a social responsibility.

The cabinet gave its nod to an ordi-

PTI

New Delhi, Apr 6: The death toll due to the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to 111 and the number of infections climbed to 4,281 in the country on Monday register-ing a record jump of 704 cases in 24 hours, according to Union Health Ministry data.

The active COVID-19 cases stood at 3,851, while 318 people were either cured or discharged and one had migrated, the ministry stated.

According to the data updated at 6 PM, 28 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours -- 21 from Maharashtra, two each from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and one each from Punjab, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.

According to the ministry, Maha-rashtra has reported the most coronavi-rus deaths at 45, followed by Gujarat (12),

Be ready to fi ght economic impact of COVID19: PM

President, PM, MPs take pay cut

COVID 19: LG TO DONATE 30%SALARY FOR 1 YEAR News | Page 07

Paris, Apr 6: The worldwide number of fatalities from the novel coronavirus rose to 71,282 on Monday.

More than 1,297,704 declared cases have been registered in 191 countries and territories since the

epidemic first emerged in China in December. Of these cases, at least 272,819 are now considered recovered.

The tallies, using data from national authorities and informa-

tion from the World Health Organisation (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the

actual number of infections.Many countries are only testing

the most serious cases.Italy, which recorded its first

Chief Justice interacts with senior lawyers of HC

MHRD postpones several entrance exams

GK NEWS NETWORK

Jammu, Apr 6: Chief Jus-tice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice Gita Mittal, today held an inter-action with senior lawyers of High Court via video con-ferencing.

Prominent among the lawyers who interacted from Srinagar were Zaffar Shah, Zaffar Qureshi, Ashraf and Manzoor Dar. Leela Karan Sharma, Sunil Sethi, Ved Raj Wazir, UK Jallali interacted from Jammu.

Besides these senior law-yers, President High Court Bar Association Jammu, Abhinav Sharma and Exec-utive member of High Court Bar Association Kashmir, Ashraf Bhat, were also pres-ent.

Chief Justice exhort-ed upon lawyers to keep ascertaining about the well

being of the lawyer fra-ternity and to look into col lective needs of the people of UTs of J a m m u and Kash-mir and Ladakh as

well as to discuss way for-ward during and after the lifting of the lockdown.

During the interaction, lawyers highlighted the fact that High Court of Jammu and Kashmir is the only court in country which took the initiative of giving advance dates to the cases so as to streamline further listing of the cases as well as keeping lawyers and liti-gants informed about the progress of their respective cases.

1.29 million cases worldwide; 71,000 deaths

New Delhi, Apr 6: The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has decided to postpone entrance exams including JNU, UGC, NET and IGNOU PhD and several others keeping in mind the lockdown.

Human Resource Devel-opment Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said: "The Director General of National Testing Agency has been advised to post-pone the last date for sub-mission of applications for various examinations".

The Union Minister said: "This includes admission examinations of Jawaharlal Nehru University UGC NET, IGNOU PhD, ICAR exam, NCHM-G and management course." The deadline for all these exams has been extended by one month.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has also directed the CBSE, NIOS and NTA to prepare a revised schedule of exami-nations. Along with this, autonomous bodies and the NCERT have been asked to

PTI

New Delhi, Apr 6: Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi on Monday asked Union ministers to prepare plans to fight the economic impact of COVID-19 on war footing and asserted that this crisis is an oppor-tunity to boost the 'Make-in-India' initiative and reduce dependence on other countries.

Chairing the first meeting of the council of ministers via video-conferencing after announcing a 21-day lockdown to combat the coro-navirus outbreak, Modi indicated a phased emergence from the lock-

down and said that "a graded plan to slowly open departments where hotspots aren't existing should be made".

See 3 new positive...on Pg-06

See President...on Pg-06

See Be ready...on Pg-06

See Number of...on Pg-06 See 148 persons...on Pg-06

See MHRD...on Pg-06

See 4281 cases...on Pg-06 See 1.29 million...on Pg-06 See Chief Justice...on Pg-06

See Rs 63 crore...on Pg-06 See Patients...on Pg-06

See Keran...on Pg-06Deserted MA Road Srinagar on Monday Aman Farooq/GK

epaper.GreaterKashmir.comGreaterKashmir.com, GreaterKashmir.net, GreaterKashmir.news

CMYK

srinagar rni no: 48956/88 vol: 33 no. 98 pages: 08 rs. 5...

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