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Sunday,
July 20, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Unchecked
flow of yatris affects ecological balance
Nitish,
George visit Amarnath shrine Rights
violators to be dealt with sternly, says Mufti |
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Anti-graft
drive fails to net big fish Sangh
Parivar reins in State Morcha Hurriyat
not opposed to Simla Accord 19 hurt
in blasts 3
killed, 2 hurt as truck rolls into gorge
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Unchecked
flow of yatris affects ecological balance Pahalgam, July 19 Even as the registration of yatris for the month-long pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath was stopped at 1.20 lakh persons earlier this month, the number had already touched 87,317 during the first 11 days till today. An official spokesman said here 75,500 pilgrims had had the darshan of the holy ice lingam of lord Shiva till this afternoon. The pilgrimage from here began with 4,678 yatris on the first day, and had been on the increase since then touching 8,000 yatris per day. However, this account was exclusive of those paying obeisance at the holy cave shrine via the Baltal route on the Srinagar-Sonmarg highway. The number exceeds all permissible limits in violation of the Nitish Sen Gupta Committee recommendations set up following the death of over 250 pilgrims due to bad weather conditions on the cave route in 1996. It had recommended that only 2,700 pilgrims be allowed to visit the cave shrine via the Pahalgam route and 800 others via the Baltal route in view of the tough high altitude conditions. There is no system to check the movement of pilgrims, lament officials here, adding that any restrictions on the tourists are bound to create law and order problems. "They come as tourists to the valley and reach here for undertaking the yatra", says an official. "The available infrastructure enroute cannot sustain such a number of yatris" points out the officer. He adds that the hilly trek from Chandanwari to the holy cave is also not safe for so many pilgrims. Besides the large quantity of polythene bags, plastic bottles and other disposable items used to carry eatables and drinking water is also hazardous for the ecological balance of the 48-km route to the holy cave. While the government’s efforts to check the use of polythene elsewhere in the valley have failed, there is no check on its use along the yatra route. "The condition is even worse near the cave, where no check is possible on such items", says Dinesh Gulati, a yatri from Faridabad in Haryana, after his return from the cave. There are heaps of garbage, polythene bags, human faeces and other discarded things near the cave. Elsewhere, around the base camp here, the pilgrims and security personnel prefer to defecate in the open, in spite of deep trench latrines made for the purpose. The Jammu and Kashmir Government has recently established the Pahalgam Development Authority here for the overall development of the tourist spot on the pattern of Gulmarg and Sonmarg. Such establishments are of no use unless the unprecedented construction works are stopped. A number of hotels and business establishments are coming up here degrading the environment. Huge buildings have come up here during recent years, while no construction above 32 ft from the ground level are allowed, laments Mohammad Sayeed, a former official of the Public Works Department. The government has entrusted Jammu and Kashmir Bank with a project worth over Rs 1 crore for the construction of an amusement park here, which may be completed within a couple of months. Why an artificial amusement park in these natural surroundings, question many at the helm of affairs. |
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Nitish, George visit Amarnath shrine Srinagar, July 19 Mr Fernandes and Mr Nitish, accompanied by six party MPs, paid obeisance at the cave shrine this morning, official sources said today. The leaders visited the shrine out of the Chief Minister’s special quota, the sources added. JAMMU: The 10th batch of 3,841 pilgrims left here today for the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir, an official said. A batch of 2,669 men, 683 women, 47 children and 442 sadhus left the MAM stadium in a fleet of 182 vehicles escorted by a CRPF and police vehicle this morning for paying obeisance at the cave shrine, the official said. So far 57,627 yatris have visited the cave shrine from Jammu, of these 42,681 had taken the Baltal route whereas 14,946 had gone through
Pahalgam, he said. As many as 73,132 devotees had the “darshan” of the ice lingam of Lord Shiva till last evening.
— PTI |
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Rights violators to be dealt with sternly, says Mufti Srinagar, July 19 Addressing the Central Police Welfare Committee at Zewan here, the Chief Minister said his government had made it clear to all wings of the security forces and the police that no human rights violations would be tolerated. “With the coming of the coalition government to power, the people have expectations from us to the extent that not even a single human rights violation should be there,” he said. He said the message was clear and there had been a great deal of change in the mindset even among the security forces. Although the challenges of the situation were enormous, there was no justification, whatsoever, for the use of excessive force, he said, adding that while no human rights violation should take place in any situation, such incidents were totally out of place with the overall emerging relaxed atmosphere. Regretting that it was a matter of concern that human rights abuses were still reported from some areas, the Mufti said the government had taken serious cognisance of all these cases. He asked the DGP to investigate all these cases and bring the guilty to book. Lauding the role of the Jammu and Kashmir Police in recent times, the Chief Minister said the police needed to play a pivotal role in restoring peace in the state. Asserting vindication of his anti-gun culture stand, the Mufti welcomed Pakistani Senator Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s statement favouring bilateral negotiations to resolve the Kashmir issue.
— UNI, PTI |
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Anti-graft
drive fails to net big fish Jammu, July 19 Although the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, has been talking tough and pleading for a change in the mindset of the officialdom, yet hardly anything has changed ever since the PDP-Congress coalition took over the reins of the government in November last. While the Vigilance has been netting small officials like patwaris, it has not been able to lay hands on senior officers who are identified by the public as the fountainhead of corruption. A majority of such officers have political connections and were ruling the roost even during the previous regime of the National Conference. Several glaring irregularities in the functioning of various departments were pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, but these reports have been pushed under the carpet without taking any action against the erring officers. The Vigilance has so far not registered any case against two top bureaucrats known as the blue-eyed boys of a former Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, although the Mufti government had about a month ago sent their files pertaining to alleged irregularities in spending Rs 5.50 crore. Soon after coming to power, the Mufti had got a top IPS officer, Mr R.V. Raju, repatriated to the state from the CBI for heading the Vigilance as DGP and it was expected that the department will get mobilised in controlling corruption, which has deeply penetrated in almost all organisations of the government in the state. However, nothing such has happened so far and corruption is rampant, belying the election promises of the PDP, the Congress and the other coalition partners, which made its eradication as a major issue in their poll campaign. The Bill for setting up an accountability commission to look into the complaints of corruption against political bigwigs was passed by the legislature some time ago, but the panel has not been established so far as certain amendments were proposed to be made in the process of selection of the incumbent. The setting up of such a panel was proposed even during the regime of Dr Farooq Abdullah, but a top bureaucrat scuttled the move by turning down the decision of the Cabinet for this purpose. The file was approved twice by the Cabinet, but the bureaucrat, who was considered stronger than the entire Cabinet, reportedly ensured that the orders were not issued. A senior officer said the government was not in a hurry to register half-baked cases against anyone. But no one would be spared in case a case of corruption was made out against him or her without any consideration of his position in the government. He said a dozen departments had been identified for intensive surveillance. |
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Sangh Parivar reins in State Morcha Jammu, July 19 The State Morcha leaders have been told to treat their organisation as a political movement with the sole objective of securing statehood status for the Jammu region and not act like a political party. The Morcha leaders had been gearing up for the proposed civic elections in Jammu before the latest instructions from the RSS top brass forced them to suspend the plan. The Jammu Mukti Morcha, which was a constituent of the State Morcha, pulled itself out of the conglomerate when its leaders, especially its chief, Prof Virender Gupta, realised that by being part of the amalgam led by the RSS, his organisation could not contest any election. It was only after the State Morcha leaders agreed to abide by the direction of the RSS leadership that various constituents of the Sangh Parivar started attending the weekly meetings in Jammu. The BJP sources said the RSS bosses were convinced by the BJP’s plea that the BJP and the Morcha had been routed in the 2002 Assembly elections because of the divisions in pro-Sangh voters. With the resolution of the conflict, the BJP has decided to strengthen the party by organising public meetings, party conventions and mass-contact programmes. The programme for reaching the masses will be finalised at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the BJP here shortly. Another positive development for the BJP has been narrowing of the chasm between Prof Chaman Lal Gupta and Dr Nirmal Singh, president of the state unit of the BJP. It is in this context that a former MLA, Mr Shiv Charan Gupta, has not organised any function under the banner of the Prajya Parishad Yadgaar Samiti, which has the potential of functioning as a parallel unit of the BJP. |
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Hurriyat
not opposed to Simla Accord Srinagar, July 19 “Hurriyat is not against Simla Agreement but there are three important issues which have to be addressed,” the 25-party amalgam said in a statement here. First, the wishes and aspirations of the people of Kashmir be taken note of, it said adding a there should be a time-frame for resolving the problem involving the future of Jammu and Kashmir. The statement added that Kashmiris should be accepted as the basic party to the issue and involved in the talks. The Hurriyat said it wanted a sound, final and permanent solution to Kashmir issue. The Hurriyat rejected internal autonomy and conversion of the Line of Control as possible solutions to Kashmir issue. The statement said the people of the state had gone through these experiments right from 1947 to 1953 when Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah-led government was “toppled” and the Sheikh was sent to jail. The Hurriyat said unless positive steps were taken with an open mind, Kashmir issue could not be resolved and the Dream of permanent peace in the region could not be realised.
— PTI |
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19 hurt in blasts Srinagar, July 19 An ex-serviceman, identified as Bashir Ahmad was killed when some explosive device, suspected to have been planted by militants, exploded at Nag Batra in the Kishtwar area of Doda district today, the spokesman said. He said 18 persons, including a policeman and a woman, were injured when militants lobbed a grenade on a security patrol at crowded Tral bus stand in Pulwama district of south Kashmir this afternoon.
— PTI |
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3 killed, 2 hurt as truck rolls into gorge Jammu, July 19 The goods truck, which was on its way from Srinagar to Jammu, skidded off the road at Kalakupda when the driver tried to negotiate a curve. The persons who were killed Javed Ahmed, Farooq Ahmed Bhatt and Mohammad Latief. The injured have been taken to hospital.
— PTI |
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