Srinagar, June 22
The Jammu and Kashmir Government got a big relief today with the Centre announcing a grant of Rs 2,000 crore for rural development under the Bharat Nirman programme.

Inaugurating the three-day Editors’ Conference on “Social Infrastructure with focus on Jammu and Kashmir” here today, the Union Minister for Rural Development, Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, said the Centre was ready to provide assistance to the state for the conservation and preservation of water resources. He asked the state to formulate a master plan in this regard. He stressed upon the need for developing social infrastructure in the trouble-torn state.

The conference has been organised by the Press Information Bureau in collaboration with the Department of Information and Public Relations of the state government.

Referring to various sectors, the Union Minister said 1,820 villages, each having a population between 500 and 1,000, in the state were still not having road connectivity, while over 3,000-km-long roads were in bad shape.

He pointed out that 80 per cent of diseases in rural areas were due to impure drinking water and bad sanitation. Dr Raghuvansh Prasad assured that the target of providing proper drinking water, sanitation and houses in the state would be achieved by 2009.

The Chief Minister, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, who also addressed the gathering after jointly inaugurating the conference, said the social infrastructure suffered extensively due to militancy. He said the government’s main thrust was on education, healthcare and tourism. sectors.

Jammu, June 22
The arrest of former minister and sitting MLA G.A. Mir by the CBI in connection with the alleged sex racket has come as a setback to not only the Congress but also Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Mir, who held the important portfolio of roads and buildings as a nominee of the Congress in the government of Mufti Sayeed, is considered as member of the kitchen cabinet of Mr Azad.

His arrest as one of the accused in the case relating to sexual exploitation of teenaged girls has provided an opportunity to the BJP and other opposition parties to ridicule the Congress at the national level.

Raman Mattoo, another MLA and former minister, who has also been arrested by the CBI, was supporting the Congress-led coalition government from outside.

Arrest of these two legislators of the ruling coalition has put Mr Azad in an awkward position as he has been stressing the party legislators to maintain probity in public life. He had also taken steps to introduce good governance in the state.

Mir also had good relations with various Congress leaders at Delhi who in a quiet operation saw to it that he was given the important portfolio of roads and buildings that was held by Mr Madan Lal before he won the Lok Sabha election.

Mir was so far considered as a hot contender for a ministerial berth when Mr Azad expanded his Cabinet. However, his arrest in connection with the sex racket that has rocked the state appears to have blocked his entry into the ministry for the time being.

On the other hand, the chances of Mrs Khemlata Wakhloo, a nominated MLA of the Congress, for induction into the ministry as a representative of the Kashmiri Pandit community have brightened following the arrest of Mattoo. These are the only two legislators belonging to the community.

Srinagar, June 22
Two persons, including a woman, were killed and 27 injured when militants hurled a grenade at the house of a saint at Sopore in Baramula district this afternoon.

Elsewhere, at least two persons, including a militant, were killed and six injured in the state during the past 24 hours.

The police said two persons were killed and 27 injured in the blast outside the house of dervish Abdul Ahad in Sopore. The victims were waiting to meet Peer Ahad Sahib. The place usually remains busy with the rush of people for invoking the blessings of the saint.

Those killed were identified as Khatoon Shah Begum (80) and Javed Ahmad.

A police spokesman said one militant of the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen was killed in an encounter in the Macchil area of Kupwara district yesterday.

Ghulam Rasool Najar of Rajpora in the Handwara area was shot dead by militants last night.