Govt Mulls To Revoke Walnut Tree Felling Ban, Environmentalists Aghast
Malik Nauman Feroz
SRINAGAR: The Department of Horticulture’s proposal to revoke the ban on the felling of Walnut trees has met resistance from environmentalists and people associated with the famed industry.
Faiz Bakshi, Convener Environment Policy Group expressed concerns over how the revoking of the ban would affect Kashmir’s environment and heritage.
“Ideally, we shouldn’t cut these trees. The more trees we have, the better it will be for our environment. Our forest cover has already decreased significantly. The Walnut trees along with Apple trees form a big chunk of our total forest cover,” Bakshi said.
Contingent Paid Workers Protest, Seek Implementation Of Minimum Wages Act
Malik Nauman Feroz
SRINAGAR: The Contingent Paid Workers (CPW) of Education Department Thursday carried out a protest march from the Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) to Press Enclave Srinagar demanding the establishment of Departmental Promotional Committees (DPC) across all districts mandated under SRO-308.
Contingent Paid Workers hold Protest in Srinagar. KL Image
The protesters also demanded extending the Minimum Wages Act so that they get paid minimum wages.
Shouting slogans, the protesters working as sweepers, watchmen, and cooks in government schools appealed to the Lieutenant Governor and Education Department seeking “justice”.
For Some Candidates Wednesday Poling Means, They Can Go Home Finally
Malik Nauman Feroz
PULWAMA: The penultimate phase of the District Development Council (DDC) elections in Pulwama will take place in the single constituency of Kakapora I on Wednesday. For an electorate of 20,384 (10,568 males and 9,816 females), ten candidates are in the fray for the seventh phase.
The Wednesday contest sees several veterans of the area like People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) Abdul Qayoom Mir, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party’s (JKAP) Syed Showket Gayoor Andrabi, and Indian National Congress’s (INC) Umar Jaan facing off for a place on the district’s DDC. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has given its mandate to Syed Mohammad Lateef. Others in the fray are Manoj Pandita, Arsheed Ahmad Bhat (also contested for the Pulwama II constituency), Ishtiaq Ahmad Ganie, Ali Mohammad Wani, Ghulam Qadir Sheirgojri, and Mohammad Ismail Dar.