Jammu-Srinagar NH closed after landslides, heavy rain, snowfall

Union Minister of State for PMO, Dr. Jitendra Singh on Sunady reviewed the launch of ‘Sansad Khel Spardha’ in Udhampur-Kathua Parliamentary Constituency. During the review meeting, Dr. Singh impressed upon all the DDC Chairpersons, Deputy Commissioners and SSPs of all the six districts of the parliamentary constituency to identify sports talent through this sports talent hunt program so that this talent may find place at the national and international sports platforms. Dr. Singh said that Government has taken many initiatives like ‘Khelo India’ to identify the talent in the multidisciplinary sports at the grassroots level.  Dr. Singh emphasised that besides the mainstream sports, traditional sports of the district must be identified like ‘Chinj’ of Reasi & ‘Archery’ of Doda so that the traditional sports would be encouraged through this talent hunt campaign. He also impressed upon all the concerned to identify brand ambassadors at the local level for different games that can be in the form of famous sportspersons from the area who might have played at the national or international level.

-Tamilnadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin has appealed to the Central Government to drop the proposed amendments to IAS (Cadre) Rules 1954 and instead engage with the State Governments to further strengthen the federal spirit of the Nation. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Stalin urged that the Government can positively reconstruct the working or service conditions for All India Service officers through transparent empanelment process.  He said that the proposed provisions to unilaterally draft the services of any officer without their consent and without the concurrence of the concerned State Government will destabilize the steel frame of bureaucracy in the country. 

-West Bengal remembers Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 125th birth anniversary on Sunday. The main function was held at Maidan in Kolkata. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee paid floral tributes to the statue of Netaji. The day was observed as Parakram Diwas at BJP headquarters. Left Front observed the day as Deshaprem Divas. Congress organised a function at its headquarters in Kolkata. In an interview to Akashvani Kolkata, academician and relative of Netaji, Prof. Dr. Sugata Bose speaks on Netaji.

-In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the vehicular traffic on the 270 km Jammu-Srinagar national highway was suspended on Sunday following landslides triggered by heavy rain and snowfall. It is the only all-weather road which links Kashmir valley with rest of the country. Over 100 trucks are stranded between Chanderkote and Ramsu and efforts by the road clearance agencies are on to make the road trafficable. The national highway was closed after overnight rain triggered landslides and shooting of stones from the hillocks at various places including Cafeteria Morh, Duggi Pulli (Chanderkote) and Panthiyal in Ramban district. No fresh traffic, which was scheduled to ply from Jammu towards Srinagar was allowed.Moreover, the helicopter service to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine atop Trikuta hills in Reasi district also remained suspended for the second day on Sunday due to inclement weather but the yatra continued despite a landslide on the new track and fresh snowfall at the bhawan. The Vaishno Devi shrine experienced over six inches of snow, while the depth of snow in its peripheral areas including Bhairon Ghati was over one feet.

-In Maharashtra, after a gap of almost a month, schools in some parts of the state will reopen from Monday. Citing less hospitalisation of patients infected with COVID-19, the demand to reopen schools were made by parents. Likewise, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had given approval to reopen schools. However, the state government has entrusted the district administration to take a call on reopening schools by taking note of the COVID situation. The decision to reopen schools from the pre-primary level has been taken after consulting the COVID task force for children. State health minister Rajesh Tope has appealed to parents to give permission to their wards to go to schools. He also said that schools as well as students should follow the Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.