#JAMMU: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha inaugurated Prasad cum Souvenir Counter of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board in the departure area of Jammu Airport, today.

The facility will fulfill the long pending demand of the devotees of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi ji from across the country to make packaged Prasad and other Souvenir available at the Jammu Airport, said the Lt Governor.

At the inaugural ceremony, the Lt Governor shared initiatives taken by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board for providing better facilities to the pilgrims.

The Shrine Board has also taken several digital initiatives to facilitate the devotees from across the country and abroad, he added.

The Lt Governor also distributed the Prasad packages to the people at the airport.

Premium Panchmewa Prasad, Gold Medallions, Silver Coins and other souvenirs will also be available at the Prasad counter.

Pertinently, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has taken several measures for enhancing the efficiency of the operation of door-to-door delivery of Prasad boxes, Panchmewa Prasad and minimising the delivery time with real time tracking of Prasad.

Five dedicated Prasad Kendras cum Souvenir Shops have been made operational in the last 10 months besides operationalization of 07 counters in existing establishments. A Modern Prasad Kendra cum Souvenir Shop was inaugurated at Bhawan by Lt Governor in the month of February this year.

Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Dr Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor; Anshul Garg, CEO Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board; members of the Shrine Board and other senior officials were present.

#REASI: Annual Baba Jitto Aghar Mela, which commenced on June 3, concluded today amid Vedic rituals and chanting of mantras by a group of Pujaris of Baba Jitto shrine at the site.

A small village Agar, located about 5 km from Katra, was beautifully decorated for the big event. Thousands of devotees from within and outside J&K including from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pardesh thronged the place to pay obeisance to Baba Jittu Mal- a farmer, who had preferred to end his life instead of bearing the injustice at the hands of greedy landlords.

ADC Abdual Star was the chief guest on the last day. He lauded the efforts put in by the Aghar Management Committee, locals and district officers for making elaborate arrangements for the successful conduct of Aghar Mela.

 The devotees took the holy bath at springs known for having a healing power and paid obeisance at the temple constructed in the memory of the saint farmer. It is believed that by taking a bath in the spring, people can get rid of skin diseases.

A Dangal competition organized by the Mela Management Committee witnessing the participation of  professional wrestlers hailing from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and several parts of Jammu and Kashmir, was one of the major attractions on the concluding day.

On the second day of the Mela, a Culture programme was also organised by the Department of Information and Public Relation in which many cultural troupes performed.

Awareness camps and exhibition stalls put up by the Government departments including Department of Agriculture, Horticulture, Sericulture, Floriculture, Handicrafts, Health department, tourism and various other departments showcased their schemes and programmes.

The locals and the Mela committee appreciated the DDC Reasi Babila Rakwal for adding new events to the Mela that helped attract a large number of people.

#SRINAGAR: Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta today stressed on making the issuance of ‘Life Certificate’ online and bringing all other eligible services under the Auto-appeal system by 15th of June.

Dr Mehta made these remarks while launching new online services of H&UDD pertaining to application for license by Architects and Draftsmen in Municipal Corporations of Jammu/Srinagar and all other Municipal bodies across J&K.

On the occasion Principal Secretary, H&UDD; Commissioner Secretary, GAD; Commissioner Secretary, IT, Commissioner, JMC; CEO, JaKeGA; Scientists from NIC besides other concerned officers were present.

The Chief Secretary appreciated the efforts of the IT Department and NIC for in-house development of all these services. He said that the performance of the Department has been excellent in promoting digital J&K.

He advised the concerned to further expedite the process of incorporation of auto appeal feature in Service plus platform. He asked them to onboard atleast 100 services on this portal by next week and all the other eligible services under the Auto-appeal system by 15th of next month.

He also directed incorporating of all the required  improvements relating to  the departmental websites by upgrading their content so as to make them compliant with the standards set under National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA).

The Commissioner Secretary, IT, Prerna Puri informed the meeting that by launching these 6 services of H&UDD today, the number of online services offered by the UT has risen to 480 today. She apprised that all these services have been linked with payment and SMS gateways for ease of applicants.

She further added that soon more services would be made online and the number of such services is going to touch 500 mark soon.

During the meeting the Chief Secretary also reviewed the progress made in development of services like online FIR registration, online billing of water connections besides others.  He enjoined upon the officers that by offering services online and bringing them into the ambit of Auto-appeal system is ensuring their timely delivery and weeding out corruption.  He observed that with the system of auto-escalation under PSGA in place both the quality and delivery of services to public would improve a lot as is reflected from the statistics of services brought under this prudent system during the past year.

JAMMU: Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Ramesh Kumar, along with Additional Director General of Police Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh today chaired a meeting to review the law and order situation in districts of the Jammu Division.

Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Avny Lavasa; Senior Superintendent of Police Jammu, Chandan Kohli; Deputy Director Intelligence Bureau were present in the meeting, while other Deputy Commissioners along with Senior Superintendents of Police participated in the meeting through video conferencing.

The meeting deliberated on a range of issues related to the security, law and order situation in the districts. The DCs and SSPs informed the chair about the measures put in place for maintaining peace and order to ensure security of the people.

The Senior Superintendents of Police were directed to strengthen nakas, keep check on suspicious movements and ensure there was no law and order situation in the districts. The SSPs were further instructed to stay vigilant against any attempt by any person or group to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere of the districts or indulge in any illegal activity.

#JAMMU: Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Ramesh Kumar today chaired a meeting of District administration Kishtwar and other stakeholder departments to review the arrangements being put in place for smooth conduct of Annual Shri Machail Mata Yatra.

The Deputy Commissioner and concerned officers joined the meeting online, while Director Tourism, Vivekanand Rai; Deputy Director Planning, Munish Dutta; Chief Engineers of JPDCL, PWD, Superintending Engineers of PMGSY, Jal Shakti besides senior functionaries of Reliance, Airtel and other concerned officers attended the meeting in person.

At the outset, the Divisional Commissioner inquired about the overall infrastructure development requirements. The Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar apprised him of progress achieved so far and future work plan.

While reviewing annual Yatra arrangements which generally start from July 25, it was informed that varied works have been identified for development of basic facilities, roads, power supply, buildings, improvement of communication services etc in the Shrine area and the en-route. The DC informed that the estimates of various works have been done and tenders would be floated within days for early start of required works.

The Div Com reviewed the status of roads and was informed that 66 KM Kishtwar to Gulabgarh (Padder) road was already there and another 21 KM PMGSY road will be completed from Gulabgarh Padder towards Machail Mata Bhawan by the end of June, 2023. He directed the Executive Engineer to expedite the pace of work and complete more length for smooth conduct of Yatra.

Regarding the power supply facility, the DC Kishtwar informed that a dedicated genset was already in place for the Shrine area and a solar plant will be installed to cater the power requirements in the shrine.

The Div Com also instructed Chief Engineer JPDCL to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply was ensured during the Yatra days.

Asking for the provision of dependable telecom services for the pilgrims, the Div Com stressed on the district administration to facilitate the work on installation of towers by telecom service companies, resolve land and power supply issues if any.

While reviewing the registration process, the Div Com stressed on developing a website portal/ mobile app for registrations of pilgrims and to provide the information related to Shri Chandi Mata Ji Machail Yatra.

While reviewing sanitation facilities, the DC apprised the Div Com that temporary toilets would be constructed en-route well before the start of Yatra.

The Div Com also reviewed the health care facilities and stressed for provision of adequate medical staff en-route and in the Shrine for providing patient care during Yatra days.

He also reviewed Development works executed for yatra and directed the concerned officers to expedite the pace of work for early completion.

The Div Com instructed DC Kishtwar to visit the area and review the arrangements for smooth conduct of Yatra.