Srinagar diary

3 charred to death in house fire
Pall of gloom descended on a Khanyar locality in downtown Srinagar on Saturday after a couple and their minor daughter were charred to death in a fire in their house. The couple’s 8-year old daughter Soheda Javid, however, was saved by her mother, according to locals. “The girl said she was rescued by her mother, who told her she will also bring her sister out. However, her sister couldn’t be saved,” a local said. Srinagar’s District Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said R15 lakh would be given to the girl who lost both her parents and sister to the tragic incident. 

Tap water connections in villages soon
In keeping with the Union government’s target of achieving 100% functional household tap connections (FHTC) under ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ (JJM) by December 2021, the Jal Shakti Department in Jammu and Kashmir will develop in-village piped water supply infrastructure with an aim to provide tap water to every rural household. Under the Jal Shakti Mission, all 10.65 lakh unconnected rural households in the Union Territory shall be provided with FHTC by 2021 in three phases. Under phase-I, 2,81,858 connections would be provided in Srinagar, Ganderbal, Pulwama, Shopian, Reasi, Samba and Poonch districts. The second and third phases will see 4,66,404 and 3,17,634 new tap water connections provided to rural households.

Threat to river embankments
A safety audit of 384-km-long river embankments in Kashmir has found that rat holes and leakage of water pipelines laid across the banks are major threats that could lead to a flood-like situation in the event of heavy rain as was seen in 2014. The audit was carried out from Sempora to Panzinara and segregated into five segments. The audit of the embankments include 63 km stretch from Sempora to Lasjan, 69 km from Lasjan to Padshahi Bagh, 73.5 km from Padshahi Bagh to Foot Bridge at Lal Mandi, 86 km from Chattabal to Chonchi Faqir and 93 km from Chonchi Faqir to Panzinara.

Health card for students
Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Girish Chandra Murmu launched the ‘Student Health Cards’ as part of government’s comprehensive school health education plan. The ‘Student Health Cards’ will have information on the immunisation record of a child, bi-annual examination of a child, checklist of all existing disorders among children and their preliminary diagnostic tools, tabular description of periodic health profile matrices and a brief description of commonly occurring diseases and ailments among children.

Fayaz wani
Our correspondent in Jammu and Kashmir fayazwani123@gmail.com