A meeting of the Working Committee of Dogra Sadar Sabha (DSS) J&K, was held at Dogra Hall, Jammu on 30th June 2017 under the chairmanship of their President Th. Gulchain Singh Charak. The meeting expressed great concern over the deteriorating law and order situation of Kashmir valley and losses of lives on almost daily basis. Members expressed hope that the security forces will be able to control the situation and restore peace.They felt aggrieved over the losses of trade and commerce due to negated tourism in the State as a whole. Most of the members expressed dismay over the prevailing conditions in Srinagar and brought out that it was not possible for any one from Jammu to go to Srinagar, stay there for various pending works in the secretariat. They demanded that the Secretariat with few ministers and essential staff should be operative in Jammu.
Members brought out that the Shri Amarnathji pilgrims arriving in Jammu are being kept confined in the Yatri Nivas only and are not able to see the various sites of heritage and religious interest in and around Jammu. This has adverse impact on the local economy. The President DSS requested the J&K Government to provide modified SRTC tourist buses for “Jammu Darshan” for the pilgrims and urged the government for making pre-planned adequate arrangements for any stranded pilgrims if the Yatra gets stalled for climatic or any other reasons.
Members of DSS denounced the conduct of Jammu festival this year in one voice and felt aggrieved that the very idea of celebrating it as a ‘Dogra’ festival has been defeated. Members also rued over the held up or slow moving development works. It was beyond understanding as to how repair to the partially damaged 4th bridge at Jammu could take years to complete.
While welcoming the inclusion of Dogri Language in the educational institutions as compulsory subject, some members demanded that Punjabi should have also been included the same way. Th. Gulchain Singh Charak informed the members that the DSS has gone Global with opening of the overseas chapter in UK. He described the enthusiasm and warmth with which the Dogras from all over the world are participating with special reference to Dogras of PoJK.
Some members raised strong objection towards the education department for changing the name of “Brigadier Rajinder Singh Memorial Higher Secondary School Rahya” in District samba to “Government High School Rahya”. They called it a deliberate mischievous act to disrespect the great martyr who is reverenced as “Saviour of Kashmir” by the nationalist people of J&K. This is an act of hurting the sentiments of Dogras and they demanded that the previous name be restored immediately. Some members also pointed out that the name of “Ranbir” High School (a Heritage School) is mis-spelled as RUNBIR and needs immediate correction as a mark of respect to the great Maharaja.
The meeting formed various committees to promote the DSS activities. It was decided to establish a Dogra cultural Gallery as a ‘Hall of fame’ to display great Dogra achievers from various fields of academics, soldiering, administration, art, culture, research, trade and commerce. This committee was assigned to Vice president DSS Col Karan Singh along with Prof Anita Billowria and Col Dr Virendra Sahi. Prof Anita Billowria was also tasked to establish the DSS library. Both these committees will be guided by President JKESL Maj Gen Goverdhan Singh Jamwal, AVSM. Shri Kuldeep Wahi was earmarked to mobilize tourism related activity and put up proposals for projection to the Government. Similarly Shri Janak Khajuria was asked to put up proposals from the betterment of Dogra Artists. He poited out as to how the Kashir Channel has failed to meet its aims and the DD Jammu has been starved of financial crunch, staff and equipment.
Finally the meeting also planned the tentative date of its general body meeting during the month of august 2017.
Other members of the Working Committee who attended the meeting are as under:- Dr. N. K. Dogra, Sh. Prem Sagar Gupta, Brig. M. S. Jamwal (Retd.), Sh. Gambhir Dev Singh Charak, Sh. Syed Amanat Ali Shah, Sh. S. Peter, Sh. Chander Gulati, Sr. Kulbir Singh, Sh. Rattan Singh Manhas, Sh. Daljit Singh Langeh, Sh. Amrik Singh, Sr. J. S Mangal, S. Hakumat Singh, Sh. Sukhdev Singh, Sh. K.P Singh, Sh. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Sh. Rakesh Thakur, Sh. Michael Wazir, Sh. Raj Kumar Sharma, Sh. Atma Ram Khajuria, Sh. Om Parkash, Sh Ashok Kumar, Sh. Hari Om Singh, Sh. Babu Sat Paul, Sh Ravi Kumar, Sh. Vijay Saraf & Sh. Madan Lal.
,
Leave a Reply