DELHI

panoramic-view-coachesThe latest on the rail front is that the Union Tourism Ministry has approved the idea of purchasing panoramic-view coaches for the Qazigund-Baramulla rail. While it will be a first in India to have glass encased rail coaches, it will make India the fifth republic to have this on tracks. This is a joint project of tourism and railway ministry. Inductions suggest the coaches might be fabricated within India. It was K Chiranjivi, junior tourism minister seeking the facility for VISTA, a special tourist train from Visakhapatnam to Araku area that the Kashmir train cropped up, courtesy Parvez Dewan. Finally it was decided to have two trains for Andra and one for J&K. It incurs barely Rs 3.5 crore to have such a coach!

RAJOURI

Believe it. A young boy, who had crossed over to the other side, returned home and later joined the school. Mohammad Riaz claimed he was picked up by the militants on his way back home from school in a village in Rajouri district when he was 16-year-old. He stayed in Pakistan for nine years and recently returned under the rehabilitation scheme. Back home, he picked up from where he had left.

SRINAGAR

It was 2003 when a copy of hand written Koran carrying signatures of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb went missing from Srinagar’s moth-eaten museum. Police is investigating the case and has offered no clue about the million dollar theft. Now the court, hearing a PIL, is keen to crosscheck the investigator who was given the case a decade back. But this is not the only thing that is missing from the museum. Those stolen include a 4-inch seated Buddha statue, a 2 ft bronze statue of a Hindu deity, brass images of Jain Tirthankara, and Buddha.

JAMMU

narendra-modi_505_122012075931Modi, BJP’s pogrom specialist Prime Ministerial candidate, is expected to speak to a huge gathering in Jammu’s M A Stadium. BJP says it will be Lalkar rally. Preparations are on and it is going to be a good gathering. The interesting part is that BJP has mobilized Muslims as well. Party leaders say they have made an arrangement that anybody can detect Muslims in the rally while watching the TV: those from Kashmir will have caps and those from Jammu will have turbans. How much did it cost BJP to distribute headgear at such a large scale?

DELHI

TRAMBOKhyber is in news for its Resort and Spa at Gulmarg bagged Condé Nast Traveller India award at the third edition of its Readers’ Travel Awards at ITC Maurya, New Delhi. It was adjudged first Runner Up – Favourite Boutique Hotel in India, for 2013. Umar Tramboo, MD, Pinnacle Resorts Pvt. Ltd, who received the award termed the occasion a proud moment. The Resort opened barely 11 months back. “The award bears testimony to the fact that the Resort is the finest and first resort in Gulmarg that offers comforts and facilities at par with international standards and personalised service hitherto unavailable to discerning international travellers,” a spokesman for the company said. Even Leh won the Readers Travel Award for the favourite emerging destination that Tanvir Sadiq received for the government.

SRINAGAR

moujmu1 - CopyJ&K Bank has finally rolled out the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) / Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Scheme in the State. Its Chairman inked a MoU with J&K government last week. The system envisages transfer of government entitlements under various state and central schemes directly into the beneficiary’s accounts. The government has designated its bank as the Leader Bank in all the 22 districts of J&K. The model being followed is ‘one district – many banks – one leader bank’. Ganderbal, Jammu, Kargil, Leh, Rajouri and Srinagar will be the pilot districts where the scheme will be implemented in the first go. In the pilot phase, IGNOAPS – a social welfare scheme for Old Age would be implemented. The bank rolled out the scheme after HDFC managed to take a bit of rural development business worth Rs 750 crore a few months back.

BARAMULLA

news_26_11_2013_12Muhammad Akbar Lone of Rafiabad is literally caught between devil and deep sea. A fresh kidney transplant who survives on single kidney, Lone was bitten by a dog. People with kidney transplants have to undergo immune suppression till the grafts are accepted by the body and the rabies treatment requires boosting immune. SKIMS doctors were in a fix and they finally decided to prevent rabies. Now his problem is – he is too low on immunity front. His survival would be a miracle now.

SMC has detected more than 400 metric tonnes of solid waste dumped by the Airports Authority of India near the airport itself.

Vaishno Devi shrine might not be able to cross the last year more than a crore visitors record in 2013 because the arrivals are too little. By the end of November, there were hardly nine million pilgrims to the shrine.

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