|
|
|
|
Govt’s ‘pro-separatists’ steps
Marriage season turns sour
in Jammu
Admn alert ahead of Divali celebrations
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Measures to streamline traffic prove futile
Minister of State for Tourism Nasir Aslam Wani during his visit to Gulmarg Palace.
Photo: Ehsan Fazili
Jammu diary
Committee to check encroachments
Prefabricated huts for migrant
Pandits soon
Delay in road widening irks commuters, shopkeepers
Unrest hits development works
Army revives tradition
of wrestling
Panels to assess education loss mooted
|
|
Govt’s ‘pro-separatists’ steps Dinesh Manhotra Tribune News Service
Jammu, November 2 Government has been creating confusion by endorsing controversial steps of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Over 12 groups of BJP leaders and the same number of batches of displaced Kashmiri Hindus have been visiting different parts of the country and addressing seminars and rallies to present a clear picture of the prevailing situation in the state. These groups have been especially asked to educate the countrymen about the pro-secessionists steps---fraught with dangerous consequences---have been taken by the coalition government to appease leaders like Sayeed Ali Shah Geelani. Senior BJP leader and former Legislator Bali Bhagat, who addressed two seminars at Ahmedabad and Rajkot in Gujarat, told The Tribune that people were worried about the weak policies being propagated by the UPA government at the Centre and the Congress-NC regime in the state. “Wherever we visited people were anxious to know about the real situation in the Valley in particular and the state in general”, Bhagat, who reached Jammu two days back, said and claimed that they had successfully educated the masses that the state government was playing with fire. He said that a seminar was organised at Ahmedabad by the “Bharat Vikas Parishad” on the topic “Accession, Problem and Solution of J&K”, in which MPs, MLAs, scholars, columnists, students and social activists participated. He said intellectuals were particularly keen to know about the ongoing developments in the state, especially after the controversial statement of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in which he has challenged constitutional relations of the state with the Indian Union. The CM’s controversial speech, Bhagat said, had angered people and countrymen would exhibit their resentment over the statement in the days to come. Groups of displaced Kashmiri Pandits are also visiting different parts of the country as part of the drive to inform the people about real picture of Kashmir. They are cautioning countrymen about Talibanisation of Kashmir in the name of so-called movement. A similar nationwide drive to educate people was started in the early 90s after the eruption of militancy in the state. At that time the ABVP, the student wing of Sangh Parivar, had taken up that campaign but today different organisations had been pressed into service. Leaders of Sangh Parivar feel that the present situation in the Kashmir Valley was grimmer than that in the 90s. “After the eruption of militancy, only gun- wielding terrorists were challenging constitutional relations of Kashmir with India but today the duly elected Chief Minister has been speaking in the same language with some ministers of the Union Government endorsing his stand”, said a senior Sangh Parivar leader, adding that this nationwide campaign was launched to prepare the countrymen for a decisive war on Kashmir.
|
|
Marriage season turns sour
in Jammu
Jammu, November 2 Following an October 14 order of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, the JMC has ordered the closure of more than 90 banquet halls that either did not have licences for operation or had violated building permission laws. Disposing of a PIL on October 14, the Divisional Bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice Aftab H Saikia had ordered the implementation “in true letter and spirit” of building laws under the Statutory Regulation Order (SRO) to control the haphazard growth of banquet halls in Jammu. Explaining the action taken on the court's order, SC Sahni, joint commissioner, JMC, said, “All owners of banquet halls who do not fulfill the requisite formalities under SRO and building laws governing community halls under the Master Plan 2021 are directed not to use the premises as eating point for functions with immediate effect”. Sahni said out of the more than 100 unlicensed and illegal banquet halls operating in the city, only three have permission to operate while some have applications pending for approval. “These halls do not have the licenses for running as eating points (banquet halls). In case, anyone violates the premises for the purpose of functions, it shall be sealed by the JMC without serving any notice,” he said. As per the SRO 64 of the Housing and Urban Development Ministry under the Master Plan Jammu-2021, building byelaws governing community and banquet halls have a fixed minimum requirement of construction of a banquet hall in an area of two acres with 30 per cent of the coverage area, 10 m set backs, 12 m height and 60 per cent green area, besides licence from the JMC with sanitation, power and water supply sanctions. “This is the season of marriages and for almost the next four months these halls were always booked. But this time, we will be unable to operate in view of the JMC order and court directions,” an owner of several banquet halls said. “We have returned advance money to over 19 persons who had booked halls for weddings and tendered apologies to them,” he said, adding, “This is a major loss to us and also to marriage organisers who are in the most difficulty now over where to organise the marriage”. Shyam Lal Koul, who is marrying his son Arvind and daughter Sunita off on November 22, finds himself in major trouble after the banquet hall owner returned the advance money and cancelled the booking. “Where will we go? Where will we hold the wedding function? We are in a fix,” Koul said. — PTI
|
|
Admn alert ahead of Divali celebrations
Jammu, November 2 Fire tenders have also been parked near stalls for selling firecrackers so that the blaze cannot turn this festival of happiness into sorrows. Besides, the departments concerned has also asked traders to sell crackers in the earmarked areas in accordance with the guidelines and adopt fire precautionary measures to avoid any untoward incident. Since a number of mishaps had occurred last year, the administration does not want to take risk and also issued guidelines to residents so that everyone can enjoy the festival. While reviewing the security arrangements, the deputy commissioner has put a blanket ban on the sale of combat uniforms in the district as some anti-national elements might try to hamper the celebrations. Ashok Kumar Gupta, IGP, said all security arrangements had been made and the cops in civil dresses have also been deployed in all busy areas, so that nothing wrong could take place. For a safe Divali Dos
While purchasing firecrackers ensure that it is not an explosive or bomb While bursting firecrackers:
Don’ts
Don’t burst firecrackers:
Besides these guidelines, the administration has appealed the public to call after dialing 101 or 100 to inform about any mishap |
|
Measures to streamline traffic prove futile
Jammu, November 2 It has been learnt that in inaugurating or launching new traffic schemes, the traffic police is much faster, but when it comes to implement them, they hardly give any attention towards them and in result, all of their schemes get failed. As The Tribune correspondent found one such initiative taken by the traffic police in April this year, which has totally failed in solving the traffic chaos. Earlier, the traffic cops had erected bollards on the ever-busy Gandhi Nagar market for the smooth flow of traffic, but in vein. With the passage of time, commuters and shopkeepers have also removed the bollards and the road has once again been opened for traffic rules offenders. After visiting the market, it was found that bollards were lying dumped on the roadside, which clearly shows that how funds are being misused and the state exchequer is being wasted on such steps. Sunny Sharma, a shopkeeper in Gandhi Nagar, said: “The bollard system had controlled traffic jams to some extent in the market, but with the removal of these bollards, the traffic scenario has once again worsened”. He said: “It seems that traffic police officers are reluctant to solve the chaos, as after installing these bollards, hardly any senior traffic cop visited the area”. Some shopkeepers also blamed Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) officials for the removal of bollards from the city roads. “Whenever road carpeting work starts, they remove bollards from the road and after completing the work, no one even pays any heed to erect them, which is resulting into huge loss of funds,” said Rahul Khajuria, another shopkeeper. On the other hand, a senior traffic cop said they had launched this scheme with the help of JMC officials and if there was something wrong, the JMC would be told to check the spot. |
|
Gulmarg to be international tourist destination
Srinagar, November 2 This was revealed by the Minister of State for Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, while reviewing the works under execution by the Gulmarg Development Authority (GDA) for the development of the tourist spot and the Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation, about 50 km from here on Sunday. The minister directed the GDA to immediately install wi-fi technology to provide high-speed wireless Internet connections and to procure three snow-scooters for visitors on trial basis. “The Chief Minister in his last review had stated that the government would make additional allocation in works’ programme so that gaps in making Gulmarg ideal for foreign tourists were filled earnestly,” Wani said. The minister said the government had decided to install a fixed-grip ski lift at Kangdori to pave way for holding of national and international skiing events. The work on the project, estimated at Rs 18 crore, had been allotted to a French Company M/s Pomalgaski and the construction of the chairlift from Kangdori to Marry Shoulder was currently in progress. The project that was to be completed this month had been delayed due to unrest in the Valley over the past few months, he added. Stressing the need to have a wi-fi system installed, the minister stated that the system would keep Gulmarg connected to the rest of the world and would ensure that timely intervention was made to meet natural calamities like avalanches and road blockades. Wani asked the GDA to complete the skating rink without any further delay for which the government had allocated substantial funds in this year’s work plan. On the progress achieved on setting of Gulmarg Golf Course, the minister impressed upon the GDA to complete the project on time. “A task force, headed by none other than the Chief Minister, has been constituted for early completion of Gulmarg and Pahalgam golf courses,” he said. Wani was informed that while the work on greens, tees and bunkers had been completed, the work was presently underway at fairways, catch basins and drainage. However on Saturday, the minister visited Gulmarg Palace, which was being restored by the GDA in collaboration with the Indo National Trust for Art and Culture Heritage (INTACH), J&K Chapter, at a cost of Rs 1.61 crore. Wani called upon the executive engineer, GDA, to immediately begin the restoration work since very little working season was left in Gulmarg. He also directed the GDA to immediately start conservation work on the Mahraja Palace that had been declared as a heritage site by the INTACH. The conservation plan for the palace was taken at a high-level meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to restore the pristine glory of the palace. The minister was informed that the project costing Rs 1.61 crore had been prepared by the INTACH to develop and preserve this heritage site as a convention centre in two phases to hold national and international level tourism-related conferences. He was assured that truss work would be completed by the next month, which was necessary to protect the structure during the coming winter. However, under Phase I, the government for safeguarding the structure, had already released Rs 50 lakh and it would be executed by the GDA. The INTACH would provide the design of the conservation project and also monitor its execution. |
|
Saying welcome with marigold
In the present-day political setup of the temple city political activists or rather hawks keep on hopping from one party to another in search of greener pastures. However, to welcome old pals or rebels from other outfits, political parties harbouring different ideologies do have one thing in common-garlands of marigold. Second-rung leaders of various parties, who it appears have been especially assigned the task of engineering defections (saindh lagana), waste no time in garlanding either new faces or old pals and then don't' forget to give them a "warm" hug. The other day while watching a similar function I asked another journalist friend that from where they bring garlands of marigold flowers, that too, during off-season. The journalist friend whispered: "Who cares...may be from crematoriums or elsewhere. Don't you know floriculture in Jammu, particularly the farming of marigold, has flourished like anything in recent times." Slip of the tongue
"During the past 20 months Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been working overtime to remove "employment", said provincial president of the National Conference Rattan Lal Gupta while welcoming the Chief Minister at a function held at Abtal village recently. Over-enthusiastic Rattan Lal Gupta repeated this sentence a number of times in the rally, but failed to differentiate between "unemployment and employment". Some leaders tried to correct him but to no avail. Actually mike of the public address system was in the hands of Rattan Lal Gupta when Omar Abdullah entered the pandal. As it was a golden opportunity to praise the Chief Minister in his presence, Gupta repeatedly shouted that "Omar Sahib employment khatam karnay kay leya bahut mehnat kar rahay hain". Even in the presence of Omar Abdullah he repeated the sentence but the Chief Minister did not take notice busy as he was receiving garlands from leaders. Publicity ke liye kuch bhi karega
Those government departments, which normally fail to get media coverage for round the year, have, become active these days as it is the festival season and they don't want to leave this opportunity of hogging headlines in the newspapers. In one such incident, when 850 kg of adulterated khoya was found lying abandoned at the railway station, the police and the Drugs and Food Control Department of the Jammu Municipal Corporation were at loggerheads over the seizure of this illegal item, as both wanted to claim the credit. Not only this, even the drives for seizure of adulterated food items like milk (see photo) have been intensified these days, which is also raising the eyebrows of everyone with a question whether the department has just started functioning or adulterated items have of late been hoarded in
the city. (Contributed by Ravi Krishnan Khajuria, Dinesh Manhotra and Archit Watts) |
|
Committee to check encroachments
Srinagar, November 2 The committee, headed by Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Asgar Samoon, comprises six other HoDs, including Srinagar Municipal Corporation Commissioner; Director Local Bodies, Kashmir; vice chairman, Lakes and Water Development Authority; vice chairman, Srinagar Development Authority; Director, Employment and Deputy Commissioner, Sales Tax. The Additional Commissioner, Kashmir, has been made the convener of the committee. The committee has started the process of identifying illegal occupants of government shops, commercial complex and government buildings, who have illegally subleased their shops and other government units. The committee had also started collecting lists of various illegal constructions, multistory complexes and encroachments that were made on the government land in the past few months. An official spokesman said the committee had been provided a list of 4,000 government shops, which actually belonged to the Estates Department, Municipalities, Custodians Department, R&B, Auquaf and other government and semi-government institutions. The value of these shops was in hundreds of crores. However, the committee has received reports that some allottees have sold their allotments through illegal methods by receiving crores of rupees as ‘pagdi’ or ‘nazrana’ in a clandestine manner without depositing the same as premium with the government departments concerned, which are the actual owners of such shops and commercial establishments. The committee after identifying such cases, who have caused loss to government exchequer and are still illegally occupying these shops, will impose penalties under law and make recovery of arrears as per existing rules in this regard and ensure eviction of such encroachments and illegal occupation.
|
|
|
Prefabricated huts for migrant
Pandits soon
Srinagar, November 2 The accommodation is meant for employees selected under the Prime Minister's Employment Package, who are to be posted in Anantnag and Kulgam districts. While finishing touches are being given to the quarters, plinth work of 97 more quarters would be completed by the next month. The project is part of Prime Minister's relief package of Rs 30 crore for Kashmiri migrants. Raman Bhalla, Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation, recently inspected the site. He was informed that separate blocks have been identified for accommodating female employees. The employees selected in Baramulla and Kupwara districts would be given accommodation at Baramulla in the first phase and in the second phase, quarters would be constructed at Kupwara. For Srinagar and Budgam districts, quarters are being constructed at Sheikhpora, and at Hall, for employees in Shopian district. The Minister said the government was committed to provide accommodation to the Kashmiri Pandit migrant employees. He added that more such quarters would come up for which land had already been identified across the Valley. The Minister asked the executing agency to take up the work on rest of the quarters soon so that the project was completed within the stipulated time. He asked for the construction of a multi-purpose community hall, dispensary, fair-price shop and boundary wall, besides blacktopping of the link road. Earlier, the Minister also reviewed the progress of work on Jagati project near Nagrota in Jammu. He was informed that the work on the project would be completed by December and allotments would be made to beneficiaries by 2011. |
|
Delay in road widening irks commuters, shopkeepers
Kathua, November 2 The work was taken up on this project by the J&K Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) in April 2008 and a deadline for accomplishing the task was fixed as April 2011. However, it appears that by no standards, the work will be completed by the end of this financial year as the same was going on at a snail’s pace. Informed sources said even 20 per cent of the work has so far not been completed during the past 30 months. “Except digging and dumping of construction material, the authorities have done nothing substantial on this project during the period,” the sources said. Under the project, costing over Rs 23 crore, three concrete bridges besides drains and footpaths were also to be constructed on both sides of the road. However, it is visible from the sites that the major portion of the work is yet to be taken up. “The authorities initially took up the work at a fast pace by constructing drains, but the same was left halfway, forcing people to face hardships,” said Naresh Kumar, who runs a shop at Kalibari. Rashpal Singh, a resident, said due to haphazard digging, underground water pipes often get damaged at a number of places, putting the people to immense hardships. “Also, due to the damage to underground cables, the telephone exchange, Kathua, which is located by the side of this road, fails to provide satisfactory services to the subscribers,” he rued.
|
|
Unrest hits development works
Srinagar, November 2 Creating law and order problem while raising political issues and hampering development is in no way in the interest of the people and the state, Omar said after laying foundation of the Rs 24-crore Udyog Bhawan at Bemina
here. He said it was unfortunate for Kashmir that five months of unrest put the economic development on a standstill. “We could not spend funds on schemes as per schedule. The huge macadamisation programme in Srinagar city and other towns received a setback. Progress on infrastructure development in health, education, roads, water supply, power and industry got hampered,” Omar said. He asked the people to think over the setback to development process and play their part in pulling out the Valley from retrogress and economic downward dip caused by constant lockouts and disturbances. The Chief Minister said with the approval of Rs 6,500 crore Annual Plan by the Centre for the state, the government offices opened here in May to spend the allotted share of funds in the Valley on fast track and carry forward the equitable development on par with other areas of the state. “But unfortunately a situation was created which hindered the progress and put obstacles in the way of implementing schemes,”
he said. Omar said his endeavours of bringing investors and business houses to the Valley were also affected. “As per an estimate, about 50,000 people were rendered jobless due to the law and order situation created in the Valley during the past five months,” he said.
— PTI |
|
|
Army revives tradition
of wrestling
Udhampur, November 2 The event began with great fanfare with enthusiastic crowd cheering for wrestlers representing their native villages. The final bout that lasted about half-an-hour between Liaquat Ali of Jammu and Hoshyar Singh of Reasi drew a large number of wrestling lovers from the entire area. Hoshyar gave a tough fight before losing to his rival Liaquat. The planning for dangal began weeks before the actual event, wherein wrestlers for different weight categories were selected from remote areas of Mahore tehsil by the battalion to represent their respective village team in the competition. Arjuna awardee Ayub Khan was among the distinguished personalities present on the concluding day. Brigadier DA Chaturvedi, SM, Cdr, 15 Sect RR, distributed prizes to winners and assured the gathering that the Army would organise many more such events in future. The local people thanked the Army for having revived the sport, which is an important source of entertainment for them. However, no dangal was organised in the area for the past many years since the beginning of the militancy. |
|
Panels to assess education loss mooted
Srinagar, November 2 The recent unrest in the Valley took a heavy toll on the education sector as schools remained shut for 100 days before the institutions were reopened on September 27 when students and teachers given a free passage by the security forces, despite curfew and restrictions in many parts. The spokesman said the decision to constitute the task committees was taken at a high level meeting chaired by Asgar Samoon, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, here. Chief Educational Officer of the district would be the member secretary of the proposed committees which will have representatives from government schools, private institutions and parents as members. The meeting discussed threadbare measures to be taken in connection with the reconstruction of the damaged educational infrastructure, the spokesman added. — PTI
|
|
||
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
The sport of wrestling, popularly known as ‘dangal’, has got a new lease of life in Mahore area of Reasi district where it had almost lost its relevance due to militancy.
The 61 Rashtriya Rifles Battalion (JAT), located at Sarh, under the aegis of Mahore Garrison, has made an attempt to revive it by organising traditional dangal bouts.
Marigold fits the bill for every occasion. "Yeh Humare Kuch Saathi Naraaz Ho Gaye Thay Magar Ab Vaapis Aa Gaye Hain. Hum Inko Welcome Karte Hain," a politician was giving this "bite" to news-starved television channels about "old pals" who had gone angry after a "misunderstanding".