J&K waits for 720 cr Central aid
SRINAGAR, Oct 14 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government is awaiting financial assistance to the tune of Rs 720 crore from the Central Government in order to overcome the fiscal deficits due to the mismanagement of funds over eight years of militancy.

IED blasts: local aid not
ruled out
JAMMU, Oct 14 — Mystery shrouds the IED blasts within the Police Lines in Poonch town in which two policemen were killed. Experts are of the view that the IEDs could not have been planted inside the Police Lines without the help of a local person.

PM, Farooq review situation
NEW DELHI, Oct 14 — Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah today, held a detailed meeting with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the situation in the border state.

3 policemen killed in Poonch

JAMMU, Oct 14 (PTI) — A police officer was killed in an encounter with militants at Surankote in the border district of Poonch in the wee hours today, an official spokesman said.

Ajay Gupta, a Sub-Inspector of the special operations group, was killed in the gunfight which erupted at around 0400 hours, the spokesman said.

Two policemen were killed and 12 injured when militants fired a rocket on the police quarters in Surankote area of Poonch district last night.

The police quarters were damaged in the attack which took place around midnight. Later, the bodies of two police officials were found in the debris.

In another incident, an improvised explosive device went off on Darhal road in Rajouri district yesterday, but caused no casualty or damage.

Reports from Doda said an exchange of fire took place between militants and members of a village defence committee at Khoranti area yesterday.

One person was injured critically in firing from across the Indo-Pakistani border in Akhnoor Sub-Sector of Jammu region, the police said.

Some bullets fired by the Pakistani troops hit a civilian, Raghbir Singh, at Sidwa village on the line of control injuring him critically. He was admitted to a Jammu hospital.

Nine border outposts (BOPs) and some civilian areas were targeted by the Rangers in the Akhnoor area. There was no loss of life or damage to property in the firing.

J&K waits for 720 cr Central aid
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Oct 14 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government is awaiting financial assistance to the tune of Rs 720 crore from the Central Government in order to overcome the fiscal deficits due to the mismanagement of funds over eight years of militancy. These funds include the security-related expenditures of about Rs 562 crore in addition to other sectors, mainly power and agriculture.

‘‘The eight-year militancy distorted the economic fabric of the state. The financial management had reduced only to the name due to the mismanagement without the balance having been maintained in the financial structure of the State’’, said the Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister, Mr Mohammad Shafi here today. He was addressing mediapersons at a meet-the-press programme organised by the Information Department. ‘‘We are paying on the negative effects of the mismanagement of eight years till now’’, the Finance Minister told the crowded press conference.

In view of the financial constraints, the Finance Minister said that short-term and long-term measures were devised and the packages submitted to the Centre. The short-term packages up to the tune of Rs 300 crore and long-term packages for Rs 800 crore had been submitted to the Central Government. So far there was no response to the state's demands by the Centre where three governments changed after the National Conference government headed by its President, Dr Farooq Abdullah, took over in the state in October 1996. He regretted the apathetic attitude of the Central Government towards the Jammu and Kashmir.

‘‘We have taken strong measures to overcome the economic deficits as much as possible and we expect the Central Government to fulfil its commitments’’, the Finance Minister said. In spite of the repeated assurances from the Central Government no concrete steps were taken by it to overcome the problems of the State. In this connection he referred to the waiving of the loans on security expenditures in Punjab. He said that the Deve Gowda government at the Centre waived loans up to Rs 50,000 which amounted to Rs 300 crore, while the agricultural loans were not waived.

Faced with mounting expenditure on security-related activities and increased burden of over Rs 500 crore on account of implementation of Fifth Pay Commission the state government did everything possible to revive the economy, enforced financial discipline, mobilised additional resources and monitored expenditure effectively. He said the burgeoning gap between the income and expenditure kept on increasing. The budgetary deficit in 1989-90 was around Rs 30 crore, which now stood at Rs 1280 crore. The state government used to manage its budgetary deficit to meagre overdrafts from Jammu and Kashmir Bank which were at Rs 58 crore in 1989-90 and had risen to Rs 641 crore in 1996-97 when the National Conference government took again. Last year, it had increased to Rs 945 crore, which included Rs 240 crore as interest.

Giving the reasons for current cash crunch the Finance Minister said that though the state plan had been fixed at Rs 1900 crore, the Centre had asked us to mobilise Rs 720 crore on plan and non-plan sides by impounding GP Fund, Dearness Allowance, arrears on account of pay revision, but we did not agree to it. The state government had been requesting the Centre to protect this year's plan of Rs 1900 crore by providing the non-plan deficit of Rs 1280 crore. Against the requirement of Rs 3180 crore (Rs 1900 crore plan and Rs 1280 crore non-plan deficit), the Centre, had made a commitment of Rs 2459 crore against which it had released so far only Rs 1200 crore. The shortfall in the central support to meet the non-plan deficit up to September this year was Rs 360 crore, which is mainly responsible for the cash crunch in the state, he added.

IED blasts: local aid not ruled out
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Oct 14 — Mystery shrouds the IED blasts within the Police Lines in Poonch town in which two policemen were killed and more than 12 constables wounded. Experts are of the view that the IEDs could not have been planted inside the Police Lines without the help of a local person.

The militants have sophisticated gadgets with which they can explode an IED from a distance of 1 km but the explosive was carried inside the complex with assistance from a knowledgeable source.

The experts are intrigued over the way militants planted a landmine near Surankot at a place not far from the checkpost, indicating laxity on the part of the security forces.

These two incidents and the one on September 6 in which militants fired mortar shells within the Divisional Headquarters in Rajouri, injuring two jawans and damaging scores of vehicles, indicate that the militants have begun a major offensive against the security forces and managed to sneak into areas close to prohibited belts.

Official sources say the new strategy of Pakistan trained militants in the state is to attack the police, Army paramilitary forces and members of the village defence committees. By demoralising these agencies, they hope to coerce the people into supporting the ongoing struggle.

During the past two years, the police in the state have been on the offensive, infusing confidence among the people to shut their doors to the militants. Hence, the insurgents have decided to step up their activities to prevent the security forces from carrying out search operations.

Misappropriation of govt funds alleged
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Oct 14 — A number of cases of misappropriation of government funds involving crores of rupees during eight years of militancy have come to light in the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department of Jammu and Kashmir. The government has handed over these cases for further investigations to the Vigilance Organisation.

However, there is no data available about the number of these cases in the PHE Department dealing with the supply of drinking water in the state. Action, however, of insignificant nature, has been taken by the government since it took over two years ago. The Minister for PHE, who also holds the portfolio of Irrigation and Flood Control, Ali Mohammad Sagar, said there were "many cases in which funds were not spent properly". He was addressing mediapersons at a Meet the Press Programme organised by the State Information Department here yesterday.

The minister, however, identified certain cases of the misappropriation of funds during the past eight years of militancy. In this connection he referred to misuse of Rs 2 crore in the PHE at Handwara, Rs 1.71 crore in Bandipore, Rs 45 lakh in Tral, and Rs 3.50 crore that were spent under various schemes in Anantnag against the provision of only Rs 1.50 crore. He also referred to the misuse of Rs 26 lakh in a water supplies scheme in the Ganderbal area near Srinagar. The minister admitted that there were cases of different nature.

The Vigilance Organisation of Jammu and Kashmir Police is looking into many such cases, the minister informed. He added that many of the engineers found involved in the cases of misuse of government funds were "punished." The minister admitted that due to the delay in the procedures of investigations, "immediate action" was not being taken against those found responsible for the misuse of funds.

Referring to the irrigation sector, the minister stated that Rs 10.50 crore were being spent for minor irrigation schemes in the state during the current financial year. He added that Rs 34 crore had been earmarked under state sector for major or medium irrigation schemes. An ambitious programme of modernising 15 canals under major and medium sector had been taken up for execution at an estimated cost of Rs 183.15 crore.

"The government has taken a decision to the effect to get a master plan for flood management for the entire valley prepared on the international standards", the minister stated. He added that these steps were taken for getting the valley clear of the flood problems.

In view of the lack of proper attention towards the maintenance of pure drinking water facilities, the minister admitted that steps were being taken to streamline the process.

PM, Farooq review situation

NEW DELHI, Oct 14 (UNI) — Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah today, held a detailed meeting with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the situation in the border state.

There is urgent need to evolve a new strategy to firmly deal with the new "type of terrorist" in the Jammu region, he reportedly told the Prime Minister.

Dr Abdullah briefed the Prime Minister on the security scenario in the state and urged him to induct more security forces to combat militancy.

He said there was need for new task forces to effectively deal with militancy in various parts of the state.

Expressing serious concern about the killing of eight jawans of the Rashtriya Rifles in Doda on Monday, he said the anti-insurgency operation had to be intensified to eliminate militancy from the state.

He hoped that the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks, schedule to begin in Islamabad tomorrow, would prove fruitful.