No LPG filling station for vehicles in Valley
Although thousands of LPG-powered vehicles ply in Srinagar and other parts of the Valley, there is no LPG filling station for them. After the Centre announced a revised LPG policy in 2012, the state government had said that LPG filling stations would be set up to provide refills for LPG-powered vehicles. But no such station has been set up so far. So owners of such vehicles use domestic cooking gas as auto fuel. This creates a shortage of gas in winters. There are LPG filling stations in Jammu.
Hospitals chilly without heating at night
Patients in at least three hospitals in Srinagar have to brave extreme cold at night because the heating systems are shut after midnight. The central heating systems in Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, Bone and Joint Hospital and Chest Disease Hospital are closed from midnight to 5 am or 6 am, causing much inconvenience to patients and their attendants. The patients use kangris and hot water bags or bottles to keep themselves warm at night during Chilai Kalan, the harshest period of winter in the Valley, which begins around December 21 and lasts until January 31. Officials in the hospitals say financial constraints make it impossible to run the central heating systems round the clock.
Enhance green spaces, HC tells government
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the PDP-BJP coalition government to enhance the green space in Srinagar and Jammu. According to a report prepared by Urban and Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation, the desirable green space in Srinagar is 570.5 hectares, but the city has only 242.6 hectares of it. Taking cognizance of a letter written by SHRC chairman Justice (Retd) Bilal Nazki to the High Court’s Chief Justice, Badar Durrez Ahmad, on the matter, a division bench of Justices Ramalingam Sudhakar and M K Hanjura asked Chief Secretary B B Vyas to implement the action plan for enhancing the green space in the two cities.
The HC has favoured restoration of all the green spaces and parks in Srinagar, to be used in the four
seasons to ensure that the city becomes vibrant environmentally. Nazki had sought the court’s intervention to identify and earmark areas in each locality of Srinagar for development of parks, green spaces or urban forests.
Traffic police act tough
The traffic police in Srinagar has become strict against those violating traffic rules, including people who use mobile phones while driving. An officer said the traffic police had recommended to the Regional Transport Office the suspension of driving licences of 79 people who were found using mobile phones while driving. Drivers had already been cautioned in this regard earlier. The authorities have also suspended the route permits of 83 passenger vehicles for flouting traffic laws. The traffic police have also launched a drive to ensure that seats reserved for women in passenger buses are not occupied by men.
Fayaz Wani
Our correspondent in Jammu and Kashmir
fayazwani123@gmail.com