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Friday,
April 27, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Militancy
to end in 2 years: CM Insecurity
haunts border farmers Rather’s
measures pay Governor
calls for rehabilitation of militancy victims |
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One
killed, five hurt in rocket attack Srinagar-Leh
highway to be opened soon
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Militancy to end in 2 years: CM Kathua, April 26 Addressing the passing-out parade at S.P. Rithinandan Singh Police Training School, Kathua, Dr Farooq Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir said that J&K would eliminate Pakistan-sponsored militancy within two years. For this purpose, the special anti-militancy, anti terrorist-training with sophisticated arms and ammunitions, night vision equipments and bullet-proof vehicles and uniforms will be given to the police on the pattern of the Punjab Police. The strength of J&K Police personnel has been doubled from 30,000 to 60,000 within three years and hope, it would cross 75000 in the coming three years. Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel posts will be set up in the thickly populated area and in the forest and the hilly areas. He praised the role of women in the J&K police and said that women police is competing with men. The all-round best award winner Miss Sunita Verma is the example of it, who has been adjudged best all round outdoor in the Police Training School Kathua. The Principal of the Training School Mr Sham Lal Sharma read the annual report and highlighted achievements of the school. Mr M.A. Lone Home Minister assured to solve the problems of policemen and allotment of the funds for the construction of three-storey buildings for the recruits. Later, Dr Abdullah gave away awards to Miss Sunita Verma (Kathua) best all-round award and promotion of one rank, Balwan Singh, Parade Commander, Mr Jahangir Khan DSP best parade commander, Tufail Hussain (Rajouri) Shyam Lal (Kathua), Sansar Singh, Joginder Singh, Narinder Singh (Jammu), Bashir Ahmad, Mohan Lal, Sushma Sharma etc. About 949 men and women recruits passed out and got posting in J&K. Later addressing journalists at Police Lines Kathua, Dr Abdullah said that new Degree College will be opened at the middle of Billawar and Basohli shortly. Blue-print of it has been ordered. On the strike by public sector under-taking employees, Dr Abdullah said that all genuine demands of the employees of PSUM have been met and remaining ones would be fulfilled shortly and he appealed to the striking employees to withdraw the strike. Dr Farooq Abdullah expressed surprise over the withdrawal of the ambulance and other civic amenities from the Ceramics Kashmiri-migrant camp Kathua and assured that he would look into the matter. |
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Insecurity
haunts border farmers R. S. Pora (Jammu), April 26 Recent rain in this belt and surrounding border areas has delayed harvesting on this side of the IB. This has worried 3,000 farmers because of the uneasy security scenario. After a recent meeting between the field commanders of the BSF and the Pak Rangers an agreement was reached that no side would open fire to enable farmers to reap wheat crop. The Pakistani Farmers would complete the reaping exercise in next three days. But Indian farmers may take another three to five days on this side of the IB to start harvesting. A visit to the area revealed that some farmers had started harvesting but the bulk of them had to wait for the wheat-ears to get dry before the reaping started. Richipal Singh of Suchetgarh said “we are worried because the Pakistani troops may resume firing on our villages after the other side completed harvesting.” He said in 1998 and 1999 the Pakistani troops had
violated the agreement reached at flag meetings. A senior BSF official said that at the meeting between the two sides on the octroi post in this sector the Pakistan Rangers had agreed to
avoid any incident on the border to enable the farmers to complete harvesting. He said that on the whole both the IB and the LOC remained calm after the enforcement of ceasefire which was reciprocated by Pakistan by ordering her troops to observe restraint on the border. However, information collected from various pockets of the IB revealed that during the past three weeks the Pakistan Rangers, aided by men of the regular Army, had resumed firing in several segments of the border villages and Indian posts in Akhnoor sector. The Pak troops had feared that the Indian paramilitary forces were fencing the IB and hence they opened fire to disrupt the project of raising a barbed wire. Jagdish Raj of Pallanwala said that Pakistani troops and Rangers do not keep any calendar. He said “the enemy troops opens fire whenever they like, and usually without any provocation.” |
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Rather’s measures pay Jammu, April 26 In fact, the Finance Minister was supported by the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, when the former suggested to the Law Department to frame the Bill which was adopted by the state legislature. During the past two years, Mr Rather has not imposed any fresh taxes on the state but he has launched a drive against tax defaulters. As a result, during the just-concluded financial year, the state was able to collect a record sales tax revenue of Rs 385 crore which was 100 per cent more than collected in 1998-99. Mr Rather has been himself monitoring the activities of various tax collection agencies. The system of toll tax and sales tax collection at the Lakhanpur barrier near Pathankot has been simplified and modernised. Leakages and misappropriation have been reduced to a large extent. The Chief Minister has appreciated the efforts put in by the Finance Minister in exceeding the target fixed for tax and non-tax revenue. During the financial year 2000-2001, the state government collected Rs 734.70 crore as tax revenue against the target of Rs 693.62 crore. For the current financial year, the target is Rs 794.91 crore and in the non-tax sector the target is Rs 661.58 crore against Rs 530.65 crore realised during the last financial year. Since the Centre refused to waive off a loan of Rs 1275 crore and provide compensation for the losses suffered owing to the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, which has imposed limitations on harnessing river waters for power generation, the state continues to be faced with financial distress. Mr Rather has imposed several austerity measures to tide over the cash crunch. One such measure relates to regular monitoring of maintenance expenditure in all government departments, ban on fresh recruitment and purchase of new fleet of cars for various departments. Experts say had not Mr Rather taken strong measures for mobilising additional resources the state would have been declared bankrupt long ago. The state government has estimated a loss of Rs 6,000 crore and in case the Centre compensates by even 20 per cent, the financial crisis will disappear. |
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Governor
calls for rehabilitation of militancy victims Jammu, April 26 Addressing a managing committee meeting of the Red Cross here yesterday, the Governor said the state should utilise resources for helping the needy. Dr Farooq Abdullah, who also participated the meeting, said the private schools should be covered in fund-raising drive for the noble cause. The Chief Minister asked Red Cross officials to visit various districts and report on the progress of government measures taken to mitigate the problems of the under-privileged people. He directed the Deputy Commissioners to mobilise their staff for Red Cross activities. |
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One killed,
five hurt in rocket attack Jammu, April 26 Militants attacked a CRPF camp by firing rockets and shooting indiscriminately this morning. One of the rockets fell on a residential house and exploded, injuring six members of a family. Later, one of them succumbed to his injuries in the hospital, the spokesman said. The condition of the remaining five was stated to be stable, even as the exchange of fire
continued, he added. Meanwhile, according to reports from Rajouri district, a person was killed in a mine blast in a border village last evening.
PTI |
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Srinagar-Leh highway to be opened soon Jammu, April 26 This was announced at a joint meeting of senior civil and Army officers here yesterday. The meeting was presided by the Minister for Transport and Information, Mr Ajatshatru Singh. The meeting was called to review the arrangements for the movement of supplies to the Ladakh region, official sources said. Matters regarding traffic regulations, convoy timings, the hiring of transport by the Army, the fixation of special freight for Ladakh, facilities en route, and progress in repair work on the national highway were also discussed, the sources said. It was decided that about 400 vehicles would be allowed to cross over to Ladakh daily, including those of the Army, the Border Roads Organisation, besides civil buses, trucks, oil tankers and light motor vehicles. The meeting was informed that vehicles coming from the region would be allowed to leave Gumri at 7.30 a.m. and reach Sonamarg at 9.30 a.m. Similarly, vehicles destined for Ladakh would leave Sonamarg at 1 p.m. and reach Gumri at 3 p.m.
UNI |
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