Tag: Admin

Anantnag Admin Launches Widescale Rescue Op As Nearly 20 Families Alongside Livestock Stuck Near Margan Top

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So far rescued 2 dozen people and 20 farm animals: SDM Kokernag
Waris Shah
Srinagar, May 8 (GNS): District administration Anantnag has launched a widescale rescue operation to evacuate nearly twenty families stuck alongside their livestock at Margan Top in Kokernag area, amid ongoing inclement weather conditions across the region.
“A joint rescue operation comprising of revenue, police, army, CRPF, Medical, ASH, SRTC was launched to respond to distress call at Nawkan, near Margan Top”, SDM Kokernag, who is leading the rescue operation under the overall supervision of DC Anantnag, told GNS over phone.
“It is estimated that there are some 10 to 20 families with livestocks stuck there”, the official said adding they have so far rescued 2 dozen people and around 20 farm animals.
“Another team is on way with JCB machinery to tackle any eventuality”, the official said.
“We have established a temporary shelter at Gawran and also a medical camp through army as a contingency measure”, the official added. (GNS)

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#Anantnag #Admin #Launches #Widescale #Rescue #Families #Livestock #Stuck #Margan #Top
( With inputs from : thegnskashmir.com )

May 8, 2023
Biden admin to set up migrant processing centers in Latin America to reduce border strain

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Canada and Spain have agreed to accept referrals from the processing centers, officials said.
News of the centers comes just two weeks before a seismic shake-up in border policy, the lifting of Title 42. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will announce details at a joint press conference Thursday morning at the State Department. The White House will also release a fact sheet about the regional processing centers and other efforts to prepare for the May 11 end of Title 42, the Trump-era border policy that has been used more than 2 million times to expel asylum-seeking migrants on public health grounds.
The processing centers are just one piece of the administration’s multi-pronged response as the White House tries to strike a balance of deterrence with creating additional legal pathways. Officials also announced the expansion of the family reunification parole program to include Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Colombia, a program previously only available to Cubans and Haitians.
“[It’s] a significant plan that is really at a level of ambition and scale that has never been done before,” a senior administration official told reporters. “However, there is far more that we could do if we had the cooperation of Congress. They have really tied our hands, and so we really do appeal to Congress to work with us.”
The White House has been intensely planning for the end of Title 42 since before the New Year, weighing a patchwork of policy solutions. May, already the historically busiest month for migration, is expected to bring one of the greatest policy challenges yet for the White House. And the timing falls at a challenging political moment for President Joe Biden, who just launched his 2024 reelection campaign.
The efforts to expand legal pathways and expedite processing will be paired with deterrence measures — in an effort to build upon the humanitarian parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, which officials tout as a success story in bringing border numbers down. The program for these groups will continue, officials said, including the expulsion to Mexico of those who try to enter the U.S. unlawfully.
In place of Title 42, officials also plan to rely on a new rule that will bar some migrants from applying for asylum in the U.S. if they cross the border illegally or fail to first apply for safe harbor in another country. The administration has been working to finalize and implement the rule — a version of a Trump-era policy often called the “transit ban” — before May 11.
The administration will also expand expedited removal processes under Title 8, officials said Thursday, which would allow the government to remove from the country anyone unable to establish a legal basis — such as an approved asylum claim.

“With this shift from Title 42 to Title 8, it does not mean that the border is open,” a senior administration official said Thursday. “Returning to regular order under Title 8 means that we will once again be able to impose significant consequences on those who fail to avail themselves of the many legal pathways that we have announced today and that already exist.”
The Biden administration has 24,000 agents and officers at the border and is hiring an additional 300 border patrol agents this year. They’re also prepping Custom and Border Protection facilities to include spaces for interviews with asylum officers, immigration judges and for counsel purposes.
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#Biden #admin #set #migrant #processing #centers #Latin #America #reduce #border #strain
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 27, 2023
Biden admin to shore up HIPAA to protect abortion seekers and providers

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The move, a longtime ask of abortion-rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers, comes just days after a Texas court ruling threatening access to the abortion pill — the most common method for ending a pregnancy. Vice President Kamala Harris will meet Wednesday afternoon with the White House’s Task Force on Reproductive Health Care Access to discuss the new HIPAA rule and other potential responses to the court decision.
During a call with reporters on the new rule Tuesday night, a senior administration official said that while the agency released guidance when Roe fell last June telling doctors they do not have to comply with demands for information from law enforcement or state officials about a patient’s abortion, they have gotten feedback from health providers and advocacy groups that a clearer and more binding rule would offer better protection.
“We found that even with the permissible disclosures [policy], some providers get fearful when they receive a subpoena or they might feel like they have to turn the information over,” said the official, granted anonymity as the condition for the briefing on the new rule.
That chilling effect, the official added, is also affecting pregnant patients and causing them to avoid the medical system entirely.
“They’re scared, they are concerned about their medical information being misused and disclosed,” the official said. “As a result, individuals may hesitate to interact with providers, health plans, pharmacies or related health applications out of fear that their data will be tracked or shared inappropriately.”
The agency will take public comment on the proposed rule for the next 60 days, and will then issue a final rule.
Democratic lawmakers and abortion-rights advocates have been pleading with the Biden administration for months — beginning before Roe was overturned — to take this step, and the calls have grown louder as conservative states ramped up enforcement of their anti-abortion laws.
In January, Democrats in Congress introduced the Secure Access for Essential Reproductive (SAFER) Health Act that would have made similar updates to HIPAA with respect to abortions and miscarriages, but the bill has not moved in either chamber.

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#Biden #admin #shore #HIPAA #protect #abortion #seekers #providers
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 12, 2023
Biden admin sidesteps painful decisions for Colorado River cuts

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In an interview, Deputy Interior Secretary Tommy Beaudreau told POLITICO that the department’s current approach is aimed not just at equipping the department to act unilaterally if needed, but also providing “markers” to states as they negotiate.
“I really do think there is unity in the basin to continue and strive for a consensus approach to maintaining the system,” he said.
During an event overlooking the Hoover Dam Tuesday where Interior announced the move, state negotiators expressed a renewed commitment to those talks, with a California representative saying that “ideally” a seven-state deal could be reached within a month and a half.
Tom Buschatzke, Arizona’s lead negotiator, noted that some of the options at Interior’s disposal could lead to litigation, which could freeze negotiations and tie water managers’ hands at a time of crisis.
“Instead, let us accelerate our discussions in the basin for a collaborative, consensus-based outcome,” he said.
The Colorado River is in the midst of a 23-year drought that has shriveled flows by 20 percent, and hotter, drier conditions fueled by climate change are expected reduce supplies even more in the coming years as the planet continues to warm. But thirsty farms and cities in California and Arizona have continued using water at rates far greater than the volumes flowing in the river, draining the two main reservoirs at Lake Mead and Lake Powell to the point that they are now about only about a quarter full. While a strong snowpack this winter has forestalled the crisis for now, Beaudreau argued that the federal government needs to be prepared to act if dry conditions push the system to the brink of crisis again in the next few years.
Last fall, federal projections showed that water levels at Glen Canyon Dam, just upstream of Grand Canyon National Park, could fall so low by the end of this year that it would halt hydropower production that is central to the stability of the Western grid and threaten the ability to make downstream water deliveries to Nevada, Arizona and California.
The Biden administration at the time called for the states to craft a plan to cut consumption by as much as a third of the river’s flows, and it launched an environmental review process to shore up its legal authorities to act unilaterally if the states remained at loggerheads. The Interior Department’s new draft version of the environmental analysis released Tuesday laid out a series of options it could take for heading off a crisis.

But rather than provide a clear roadmap of what Interior would do if it must step in, the department instead analyzed variations of the two competing proposals put forth by the states, as well as a scenario in which no reductions are made and reservoir levels fall precipitously.
One of the action options, similar to the approach backed by California, would have Interior impose water cuts using the century-old legal framework that governs the river, which cuts off newer water users entirely before senior users — mostly farmers and ranchers — see any reductions.
Another option hews to the spirit of a proposal backed by Arizona and the five other states that share the river, spreading the cuts more equitably across all water users. But, whereas the states’ proposal had done so by taxing users for water that evaporates from reservoirs and leaks from canals, Interior’s proposal would do so using legal authorities it has for protecting human health and safety, ensuring water is being put to “beneficial use” and acting in an emergency.
John Fleck, a Colorado River expert at the University of New Mexico, said that by avoiding picking sides, Interior’s approach could give it leverage over both sides in negotiations.
“It leaves space for productive negotiations, and now that we have a good snowpack, we have some room for the possibility of those productive negotiations to happen,” he said.
But Interior officials also made clear they are prepared to step in if necessary.
“It is our hope and our fervent desire that the tools laid out in the supplemental [environmental impact statement] never have to be used,” Beaudreau said, citing optimism for the negotiations. “At the end of the day, though, it’s the Secretary’s responsibility to keep this system operating and continue providing services. And we’re going to protect those minimum critical levels at both Powell and Mead in order to accomplish that.”
The current process is part of a short-term effort to avoid a crisis on the river in the next few years, while the states begin negotiating a longer-term set of rules to govern the river that must be in place by 2026.
The Biden administration is also seeking to win as many voluntary reductions as possible using new funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law and Inflation Reduction Act. Last week, Interior officials blitzed the region, announcing hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of investments in conservation deals and infrastructure upgrades.
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#Biden #admin #sidesteps #painful #decisions #Colorado #River #cuts
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 11, 2023
LG Admin orders SIT probe into illegal lease of temple properties in Kashmir

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Srinagar, Apr 07: The Jammu and Kashmir administration led by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into illegal lease of temple properties in the Valley while Deputy Commissioners (DC) have been directed to furnish the updated inventory within a week’s time.
According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), on the directions of Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat References Monitoring Cell, Jammu & Kashmir, a letter has been issued to 10 DCs of Kashmir, wherein they were asked to probe the illegal lease of temple properties and nexus in temple properties being used illegally.
“I am hereby directed to enclose herewith copy of communication along with its enclosures bearing O.M no. GAD-RMC/256/2022-LGRMC-GAD dated 20-05-2022 received from Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat References Monitoring Cell, Jammu & Kashmir with the request to ascertain any such instances in your district and take appropriate necessary action under rules with intimation to this office,” a letter issued from Divisional Commissioner’s office under number DIV.COM/Mig-121/7150795/46-57, reads.
Besides, the DCs have been asked to furnish the updated inventory of Religious Minority Properties (Temple, Gurudwara, Others) within week’s time positively—(KNO)
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#Admin #orders #SIT #probe #illegal #lease #temple #properties #Kashmir
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

April 7, 2023
Biden admin defends Afghan troop pullout, blames ex-Prez Trump for chaos

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Washington: Joe Biden’s administration has defended its decision to pull American troops out of Afghanistan and blamed former US President Donald Trump for the chaotic withdrawal from the war-torn country.
The White House on Thursday released a 12-page document on the conditions that led to US’ exit from Afghanistan in 2021 and sent related classified documents to various Congressional committees.
The report places much of the blame on the previous Trump administration, saying President Biden was “severely constrained” by former president Trump’s decisions.

The Trump administration had negotiated a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban that Biden pledged to honour. But Thursday’s report criticised the former Republican president for a lack of planning to carry out the deal.
According to the report, when Biden took office on January 20, 2021, “the Taliban were in the strongest military position that they had been in since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country.”
At the same time, the US had only 2,500 troops on the ground, the lowest since 2001, and President Biden was facing Trump’s near-term deadline to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan by May 2021, or the Taliban would resume its attacks on US and allied troops, it said.
It said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testified on September 28, 2021, “The intelligence was clear that if we did not leave in accordance with that agreement, the Taliban would recommence attacks on our forces.”
John Kirby, White House National Security Coordinator for Strategic Communications, told reporters here that the Biden administration was “proud” of its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“The president’s very proud of the manner in which the men and women of the military, the Foreign Service, and the intelligence community conducted this withdrawal,” he said.
“I’ve been around operations my entire life, and there’s not a single one that ever goes perfectly according to plan,” he said.
Kirby said Biden’s choice was stark, either to withdraw all US forces or resume fighting with the Taliban.
“He chose the former, but even in doing so, secured extra time to conduct that withdrawal, stretching it out to August. Despite having his options curtailed, President Biden led a deliberate, rigorous and inclusive decision-making process that was responsive to facts on the ground,” he said.
Noting that the administration focused keenly on the need for proper planning, he said Biden directed his top national security leaders to begin planning for a withdrawal even before he had made the final decision to leave Afghanistan.
He ordered troop reduction plans, plans to turn over bases and equipment to the Afghan government as the previous administration had negotiated, plans to draw down the diplomatic presence and plans to evacuate both American citizens and Afghan allies alike, Kirby said.
The White House official said the evacuation planning started in the spring of 2021 and the president ordered additional military forces pre-positioned in the region by mid-summer in case they were ever needed.
Throughout, President Biden insisted that his team plan for worst-case scenarios such as the fall of Kabul, even though the intelligence community’s assessment when he was making the decision in early 2021, was that Taliban advances would accelerate only after the withdrawal of US forces, Kirby said.
The president repeatedly requested assessments of the trajectory of the conflict from his military and his intelligence professionals, he said.
The long-awaited report also cites intelligence failure in not predicting rapid Taliban victory.
Responding to a question on inaccurate intelligence assessment, Kirby said no agency predicted a Taliban takeover in nine days.
“No agency predicted the rapid fleeing of President Ghani who had indicated to us his intent to remain in Afghanistan up until he departed on the 15th of August,” he said.
The internationally backed Afghan government collapsed and then-President Ashraf Ghani fled the country in August 2021 as the Taliban took over the capital, Kabul, amid the withdrawal of US forces.
During the evacuation, a suicide bombing by the Afghanistan branch of ISIS killed at least 175 people, including 13 US service members.
“No agency predicted that the more than 300,000 trained and equipped Afghan National Security and Defense Forces would fail to fight for the country, especially after 20 years of American support,” Kirby said.
The mission that was originally sent into Afghanistan was accomplished a long, long time ago, he said.
“Remember, they were ordered under President Bush to avenge the 9/11 attacks and to go specifically after Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. And decimating and degrading al-Qaida’s capability in Afghanistan was a mission that we accomplished a long, long time ago,” he said.
“Over time, the president has talked about this, the mission in Afghanistan morphed into something it wasn’t intended to originally be,” Kirby said.
The Biden administration has faced mounting criticism, especially from Republicans, over its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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#Biden #admin #defends #Afghan #troop #pullout #blames #exPrez #Trump #chaos
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 7, 2023
Baghi Mehtab Prostitution Racket Fallout: District Admin Srinagar Orders Property Owners/Landlords to Furnish of Tenant Details

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Srinagar, Apr 5: Coming close on the heels of busting of a rough trade in Bagh-e-Mehtab locality, District Magistrate Srinagar on Wednesday ordered the property owners/landlords to furnish details of tenants putting up in the properties anywhere in the district, within a period of ten days.
Citing a letter by Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar the District Magistrate said that the recent incident in Bagh-e-Mehtab has necessitated conducting the verification of the tenants as the district has a good number of people from other places putting up all across.
“Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar, vide his letter No. 01-23/12741-42 dated: 03-4-2023 and No. CS/01-23/12910-12, dated: 04-04.2023 has reported that Srinagar being a capital city, a good number of people from other places are putting up in the District Srinagar in the rented accommodation. Investigation in multiple incidents of social crime including theft/burglary has revealed that the persons involved in such activities have been staying as tenants in Srinagar city which poses a danger to the ordinary Citizens. On April, 3rd, 2023 an incident of immoral trafficking came to the fore in the Bagh-i-Mehtab area of Srinagar city falling within the jurisdiction P/S Channapora. During the preliminary investigations it has been divulged that accused persons hail from outside of District Srinagar and had hired a private house in the said area. Further, the house-owner, where the illicit racket was busted, had not conducted tenant verification and whereas, the surfacing of the racket has evoked outrage among the public circles having a tendency to become a law and order issue thus necessitating putting in place measures for stopping such illicit / immoral activities”, reads the content of the order, a copy of which lies with GNS.
“Whereas time and again it has also been brought to the notice of undersigned that few incidents of acid attack/eve teasing have occurred in the recent past in the District which are in turn damaging the social fabric of society thus calling for putting the deterrence measures in place. SSP, Srinagar vide above mentioned communication/s has requested that there is an imminent need to conduct verification of tenants staying in rented accommodations in various parts of the city as there have been instances of social crimes and illicit activities”, it reads.
“Whereas, SSP, Srinagar vide above mentioned communication/s has requested that there is an imminent need to conduct verification of tenants staying in rented accommodations in various parts of the city as there have been instances of social crimes and illicit activities. It is necessary that some steps are taken to make the landlords, property owners accountable before renting out or making available their premises to tenants, so that such criminals / anti-social /anti-national elements in the guise of tenants do not succeed in the Commission of crime in the Community.”
“Whereas, I consider the threat being posed by such anti-social elements as an imminent apprehended danger to public safety and security that warrants immediate preventive measures”, the order reads.
“Now, therefore, for the reasons stated in the preceding paras, and in exercise of powers vested in me under various Sections of Cr.P.C, I, District Magistrate, Srinagar do hereby order and require all landlords, owners of properties, attorney holders, persons in-charge of premises in any capacity (hereafter called as building owners) located in the entire jurisdiction of District Srinagar to comply strictly with the following directions: a) All Building Owners shall after the issuance of this order and within ten days of letting/ sub-letting / renting out his/her house or part thereof to any tenant(s), submit without fail the detailed particulars of the tenant(s) to be signed by both the owner and the tenant(s) to the concerned Police Station, either in person or by registered post addressed to the concerned Station House Officer; b) The Building Owners who have already let/sub-let/rented out their house(s) or part(s) thereof to any tenant on any date prior to issuance of this order, shall within ten days after the issuance of this order submit without fail the detailed particulars of the tenants to the concerned police station; c) All arrangements of letting or sub-letting the property like “paying Guest” tenants etc, shall be covered by this order; d) Every SHO in Srinagar District shall maintain a separate register for such purpose.”
“This order shall come into force with immediate effect and it shall remain in force for a period of 60 days, unless withdrawn earlier. Any violation of this order shall invite punitive action under Section 188 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 and other relevant sections of the Cr.P.C”, reads the order adding the Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar will implement this order. (GNS)

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#Baghi #Mehtab #Prostitution #Racket #Fallout #District #Admin #Srinagar #Orders #Property #OwnersLandlords #Furnish #Tenant #Details
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

April 5, 2023
Austin admits admin should’ve notified Congress ‘earlier’ about Syria strike

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The gap prompted Republicans to question if the administration held off on notifying Congress to shield Kurilla from tough questions and to ensure the war-powers measure sailed through the upper chamber.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, asked Austin on Tuesday if the Pentagon’s congressional affairs team should’ve notified Congress sooner, especially because of the war powers vote. Austin agreed: “We should’ve notified you earlier.”
The secretary noted that the U.S. suffered an attack and responded in one day, letting Congress know about both events in between. “We take the War Powers Act very seriously,” Austin said, seated alongside Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley.
Later in the hearing, Austin told Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that there was no connection between the notifications and the war powers vote.
“Secretary Austin, I don’t believe you,” Cotton responded, noting that an amendment by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) “directly touched” on the Syria strike scenario. “That’s my belief, nothing you can say is going to change my belief on that.”
“I just want to say, senator, that is absolutely not true,” Austin said.
“Maybe you didn’t personally do it, but I believe entirely that people in your office did that,” Cotton replied.
Tess Bridgeman, the co-editor in chief of Just Security, told POLITICO on Monday that the executive branch isn’t required to include casualty information in reports to Congress.

“That said, the Biden administration did include casualty information in its notification to Congress, even though it was not required to do so,” she added.
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#Austin #admits #admin #shouldve #notified #Congress #earlier #Syria #strike
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 28, 2023
Dem AGs clash with Biden admin over abortion pill restrictions

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Should the judge rule in their favor, the case could eliminate restrictions in those states — broadening access to the drug for tens of millions of people. But the oral arguments also come as a federal judge in Texas is set to rule on whether to ban the pills entirely, and the potential for clashing federal court decisions could push the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
The Biden administration has repeatedly criticized GOP officials and corporate entities in recent months for moving to curb access to abortion pills — noting that they have been deemed safe and effective by the FDA for nearly 25 years and have become the most popular way of terminating a pregnancy in the U.S.
Yet it is also in court fighting to maintain restrictions on the pills known as REMS — or Risk Evaluation & Mitigation Strategies — that the FDA places on a narrow class of drugs. Namely, Biden administration is defending requirements that patients sign a “Patient Agreement Form” acknowledging the risks of the medication and that health care providers who prescribe the drug first obtain certification and prove they can accurately date pregnancies, diagnose ectopic pregnancies, and provide or arrange for a follow-up care if needed.
The FDA declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing litigation.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is co-leading the lawsuit with Ferguson, and they are joined by the Democratic attorneys general representing Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont.
The pill restrictions, the group claims, are burdensome for both patients and doctors and the documentation requirements put them at risk for harassment or violence.
The Justice Department, meanwhile, is arguing that the attorneys general challenging the FDA rules waited too long to do so, didn’t follow the proper procedure and have failed to prove the remaining pill restrictions are harming patients in their states.
“They cannot credibly claim to be irreparably harmed by FDA’s decision to retain two 22-year-old requirements,” Biden administration attorneys wrote in a brief filed earlier in March. “Their delay shows that any harm is not so significant as to justify a preliminary injunction that would upset the status quo.”

Even as the Democratic officials and the FDA face off in Washington State on Tuesday, they’re on the same side in the Texas case, arguing that the anti-abortion groups suing the agency have no standing, haven’t proved the pills are causing harm and are infringing on the FDA’s authority to regulate the drugs. The same group of Attorneys General, plus several others, submitted amicus briefs in the Texas case backing the FDA rules around abortion medication.
When the FDA originally approved mifepristone for market in 2000, after many years of debate, the agency said the pills could only be dispensed in person by a certified physician. The Biden administration has acted multiple times to loosen those restrictions. In 2021, soon after Biden took office, the FDA allowed the drugs to be prescribed via telemedicine and delivered by mail — at first only for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic and then permanently. Then, this January, the FDA announced that retail pharmacies could dispense the pills to patients with a prescription and the Justice Department reaffirmed that mailing the pills is not considered a federal crime under the Comstock Act.
Still, Ferguson and his fellow attorneys general argue the remaining restrictions on the pills are not justified given their well-documented safety record and lower rate of complications compared to many other over-the-counter medications. They also say the restrictions prevent providers in their states from serving both their own residents and the high volume of patients coming in from states with abortion restrictions.
“The FDA has approved over 20,000 drugs without limitations. So why is mifepristone listed along with fentanyl as one of only 60 drugs that have limitations?” he said. “It doesn’t make sense from a science perspective. And that’s why we think we’re going to prevail.”
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#Dem #AGs #clash #Biden #admin #abortion #pill #restrictions
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 28, 2023
Helipad To Volleyball Ground: Investigation Ordered By Admin

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SRINAGAR: The inhabitants of Malanu village situated in Thathri of Doda district have alleged that the village sarpanch permitted the establishment of a volleyball ground on the only helipad designated for medical emergencies. This district is hilly, and there are frequent road mishaps. The helipad was built for medical evacuations, but it has been used by choppers merely three times since its construction in 2007. In response to the accusation, the Doda district administration has requested the J&K Sports Council and the PWD to furnish details regarding this matter.
According to a statement made by social activist Asif Iqbal, as quoted by The Tribune, “There was no other helipad in the tehsil. After the tendering process for a synthetic volleyball court, the work was taken up by a contractor who got almost a ready-made plain area. The sports council and PWD should have consulted each other before allowing the construction.”
As per his statement, an access road was constructed during the helipad’s development, and he also mentioned that the location was unsuitable for a volleyball court due to its position on a hill and being encompassed by ravines.
Meanwhile, Sarpanch Zafarullah Magray said that officials from the J&K Sports Council approached him for identification of land. “I showed them two places but they said machines wouldn’t be able to reach those sites. They asked me to allow construction on the helipad. I asked them to get a no objection certificate before starting the work,” he said. “The helipad has been used twice or thrice since its construction in 2007. The construction of the volleyball ground started in December last year. No one spoke at that time, but they are now accusing me of scam,” he said. SDM Athar Amin Zargar told The Tribune that a probe had been launched. “We are trying to know if it was a designated helipad. The probe result will come out soon,” he added.

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#Helipad #Volleyball #Ground #Investigation #Ordered #Admin
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

March 22, 2023