Srinagar, Dec 11: Allaying apprehensions that the ongoing flight disruption of low-cost carrier IndiGo may dampen the Umrah-related travel this winter, full-scale Umrah travel on Thursday saw its resumption at the Srinagar International Airport after almost a week.

Over 180 Umrah pilgrims, in three to four batches, left the Srinagar International Airport on IndiGo flights for Hyderabad and for an onward journey to Jeddah, the airline sources said.

Amid the restoration of Umrah travel, five routine flights were cancelled at the Srinagar Airport on Thursday.

Director, Srinagar International Airport, Javed Anjum, told Greater Kashmir that of the four IndiGo flights cancelled, two flights were scheduled for Delhi, one each for Kolkata and Amritsar.

Besides, one SpiceJet flight from Srinagar was also cancelled on Thursday, the spokesman said.

However, the Airport Director said resumption of full-fledged Umrah travel was a positive sign.

“During the last week, we saw some flights carrying Umrah pilgrims leaving from here. But, today, the number of these travellers has grown manifold,” Anjum said.

Commenting on the resumption, Jammu Kashmir Association of Hajj and Umrah Companies (JHAHUC) President, Sheikh Feroz, said that the focus was to clear the backlog of Umrah travellers, whose flights got cancelled during the last few days.

Feroz said the departure of flights carrying Umrah pilgrims had helped the travel agents to heave a sigh of relief.

Last Monday, JHAHUC held a news conference and said the IndiGo flight cancellations had not till then had a “major impact” on Umrah-related travel as a limited number of groups of pilgrims were by then leaving for the holy journey.

However, the umbrella body had warned of dire consequences if the flights carrying pilgrims did not resume by December 15.

The journey of the pilgrims from Srinagar to Jeddah via Ahmedabad is being seen as a welcome step.

“Today, three to four groups left from Srinagar and this brought huge relief. We hope there is an end to this flight fiasco soon,” Feroz said.

Four IndiGo flights – two each scheduled for Hyderabad and Delhi – were cancelled at the Jammu Airport on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by IndiGo said its foremost priority continues to be the “care of travellers”.

“As part of this, following the operational disruption, we have ensured that all necessary refunds for cancelled flights have been initiated, most of which have already been reflected in your accounts, with the remainder following shortly. If the booking was made through a travel partner platform, the necessary actions for your refund have also been initiated,” it said.

“As we may not have your complete details in our system, we request you to write to us at customer.experience@goindigo.in so we can continue to assist you promptly. IndiGo regrettably acknowledges that part of our customers travelling on December 3, 4, 5, 2025, were stranded for many hours at certain airports, and a number of them were severely impacted due to congestion. We will offer travel vouchers worth Rs 10,000 to such severely impacted customers. These travel vouchers can be used for any future IndiGo journey for the next 12 months. This compensation is in addition to the commitment under the existing government guidelines, as per which, IndiGo will provide compensation of Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000, depending on the block time of the flight, to those customers whose flights were cancelled within 24 hours of departure time. At IndiGo, we are committed to restoring the experience you expect from us – safe, smooth, and reliable. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you again,” the IndiGo spokesperson said.

“IndiGo continues to strengthen its operations, improving its services day by day, and now operates over 1900 flights that seamlessly connect all 138 destinations across our network. Our commitment to operational excellence has led to significant efficiency gains, and our On-Time Performance has been restored to top-tier industry standards,” it said.

Kupwara, Dec 11: DIG North Kashmir Range Maqsood-ul-Zaman on Thursday chaired a detailed crime review meeting at the District Police Office Kupwara, focusing on law-and-order assessment and strengthening the district’s investigation mechanisms.

The DIG reviewed overall crime disposal, placing particular emphasis on the progress of UAPA and NDPS cases, recent recoveries, and the status of property attachment proceedings. He directed officers to ensure strict monitoring of Zero FIRs, carry out regular visits to the Forensic Science Laboratory, and properly link SID records on the e-Sakshya platform. The functioning of MedLeaPR, timely submission of e-Court challans, and prompt execution of e-Summons were also identified as key priorities.

The meeting also assessed action taken under PIT-NDPS, regulation and monitoring of pharmacies, and identification of hotspots in NDPS-affected areas of the district. Maqsood-ul-Zaman underscored the need for evidence-based investigations, better supervision, and speedy disposal of public grievances.

Appreciating the ongoing efforts of Kupwara Police, he urged officers to maintain high standards of professionalism and ensure prompt, effective policing across the district.

Srinagar, Dec 11: With the culmination of the annual examination of the J&K Board of School Education (JKBOSE) for secondary classes, stakeholders have expressed their concern over the bogus admissions in higher secondary schools.

The teachers revealed to Greater Kashmir that most of the students enroll themselves in the government higher secondary schools for class 11th and 12th while they remain physically present in the private coaching centres.

The teachers have demanded that biometric attendance should be made compulsory for the students enrolled in the senior secondary classes to curb the ongoing practice of the dummy admissions.

“As the class 10th JKBOSE exams are over, the students who opt for science stream enroll themselves in different coaching centres and never attend their schools,” the teachers said.

They said these students manage dummy admissions in schools, supported by the heads of the institutions to showcase the “Fake” pass percentage of the schools.

“The trend is going on for the last many years only to show the fake pass percentage in JKBOSE results. The department is aware of the fact but no action is being taken against the school heads to allow this practice,” the teachers told Greater Kashmir.

The teachers said that the majority of the students shift from private schools to government schools after qualifying their class 10th JKBOSE exams only to manage bogus admissions.

“In private schools, there is a proper check on absenteeism and students are not allowed to follow any such practice of managing dummy admissions. So they get admission in government higher secondary schools only to join private coaching,” they said.

The teachers said introducing biometric attendance in higher secondary classes of government schools can do away with this practice.

Earlier this year, the Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) has tightened its noose against the high and higher secondary class students over skipping regular classes in schools.

A circular was issued to all school heads and made it mandatory to strictly maintain attendance records of students in classes 9th to 12th.

Citing the objectives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, DSEK said that consistent classroom attendance was crucial to achieve the vision of competency-based learning, hands-on activities, peer engagement, and teacher-student interaction.

“National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) envisions education not merely as academic instruction but as a holistic journey nurturing students’ intellectual curiosity, emotional intelligence, creative expression, ethical awareness and social skills,” the DSEK circular said.

The DSEK said that a number of students of classes 11th and 12th were skipping regular classes and the trend was spreading to class 9th and 10th as well.

“This is a matter of serious concern as it will impact to achieve the objectives of student development as envisioned by NEP-2020,” it reads.

The Directorate stated that the regular school attendance was mandatory and the school curriculum was designed to provide comprehensive learning and “missing classes can create significant gaps in a student’s effective learning.”

The heads of the schools were asked to ensure strict enforcement of student attendance in all government and private recognised schools through VSK attendance Chatbot, Aadhaar based attendance.

The school principals were instructed to ensure that practical classes in science subjects are conducted regularly as these are crucial for hands-on learning.

The schools have been warned of strict action for non-compliance and may attract disciplinary action as warranted.

Despite the instructions from the department, there is a growing trend of dummy admissions in schools, raising questions on the accountability and implementation of the government instructions.

Srinagar, Dec 11: Additional Deputy Commissioner,(ADC), Handwara, Javed Naseem Masoodi, who is also Adjudicating Officer Handwara today imposed a fine of Rs 8000 on various erring Food Business Operators (FBOs) for violations of various provisions of Food Safety and Standard Act (FS&SA) 2006.

The fine was imposed on the erring traders for miss-branded and sub-standard food during the proceeding of cases related to the FS&SA Act 2006 which were listed before the Adjudicating Officer.

The Adjudicating Officer warned them to abide by the legal regulations adding that non-compliance of Food Safety & Standards Act 2006 and rules there under by the food business operators will be dealt with more strictness in coming time.