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Nexus among politicians, cops and land mafia
Stray dogs a growing threat in Srinagar
Stray dogs on a road in Srinagar. Photo: Amin War |
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Six LC members to retire in April
Tech-savvy CM now ‘tweets’ to connect to youth
Srinagar diary
Few takers for Urdu regrettable: Poet
Relief: KPs pin high hopes on apex court
Seminar on career in Punjabi
Decision to convert HSS as Intermediate Colleges
Police Dept organises talent hunt
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Nexus among politicians, cops and land mafia 1500 kanals of government land freed from land mafia in Jammu district Ravi Krishnan Khajuria & Dinesh Manhotra Tribune News Service
Jammu, February 18 Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who interestingly has declared 2011 as an anti-corruption year, ordered a high-level probe on February 15 to expose the nexus and stem the rot, which has caused a huge loss to the state exchequer, besides robbing commoners of their hard-earned money.
After reports of the nexus appeared in a section of the local media, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah taking serious note of the matter ordered a high-level probe, sources in the Home Department told The Tribune. Omar also asked Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla to check land grabbing in the state, they said, adding that Raman Bhalla has now asked all Deputy Commissioners to conduct thorough inquiries in the areas under their jurisdiction. The land mafia, which enjoys the patronage of politicians, has encroached upon government land, including gair mumkin khuds (unorganised wetlands) in the state, which has attained the dubious distinction of being the second most corrupt state in the country. The mafia sells such pieces of land to common people by manipulating records in connivance with some revenue officials. In some cases, same plots have been sold twice and thrice. While Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla has asked the land mafia to vacate government land voluntarily or get ready to be booked under the Public Safety Act, the revenue authorities on the other hand have started a campaign to retrieve government land encroached upon by land grabbers. Official sources said the authorities had decided to form committees in different blocks comprising officers of different departments, namely Revenue, Forest, Irrigation, PHE, Education and Roads and Buildings so as to prepare authentic data about the total state land encroached upon by the land grabbers. In some places, a few influential persons have encroached upon land belonging to the PHE and the Irrigation Departments. Alleged nexus between the land mafia and politicians has taken political overtones as Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) dissidents have stepped up theit campaign to settle scores with their political opponents on the issue. Since a section of the media has reported about the nexus, this faction has been holding press conferences almost everyday. Meanwhile, Bhalla said the government had established a special complaint cell in the offices of the Deputy Commissioners for collecting information about illegal evacuee property and land encroachments across the state. The minister lauded the revenue staff for retrieving 225 kanals of evacuee property land and 50 kanals of government land from the land grabbers. Bhalla asked the evacuee property and state land authorities to demolish the structures from the retrieved land and fence it properly. He said the government had also received complaints about the fake allotment of government and evacuee land in different areas of the state. He asked the authorities concerned to probe the complaints and send reports to the higher authorities for further action. The minister said the best officer/official of the EP and the Revenue Department would be awarded for best performance in this regard and those with poor performance would face action. Bhalla appealed to the people not to sell agricultural land for commercial and housing purpose without permission from the Revenue Department. The government had come up with the J&K State Lands (Vesting of Ownership Rights to Occupants) Act in 2001 to check encroachments upon government land and at the same time generate revenue to fund hydel projects, “Though the Chief Minister has ordered a probe, it would be an intricate process because over the years the land mafia in connivance with politicians and police has succeeded in encroaching upon a vast chunk of land, gair mumkin khuds, ponds, etc. Now, residential localities have come up on such land ,” said a real estate dealer . He admitted that the mafia had spread its tentacles more in districts like Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua and Samba. He also mentioned about 14,539 hectares of forest land, which has been encroached upon in the state. Forest land had been encroached upon in the Bhatindi, Sunjuwan and Sidhra areas as well. Meanwhile, the state government has so far freed 1500 kanals of government land from the land mafia in the past one week in Jammu district alone, including 400 kanals in Bain Bajalta, where a stadium will come up, 300 kanals in Mishriwalla and 500 kanals in Chowala.
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Stray dogs a growing threat in Srinagar
Srinagar, February 18 “This is a major problem for all of us. Stray dogs bite people, chase them when they go to prayers early in the morning, and scare away children. Besides, they act as a traffic hazard as well,” said Abdul Hamid, a local resident. Stray dogs can be seen in large groups around garbage dumps in the residential areas. These dogs have made the life hell, particularly for women and old age persons. “The camps of security forces have been one of the reasons behind the growing population of these dogs as they have a plenty of spare food which they give to stray dogs helping in their growth,” said Abdul Hamid. It seems that the Srinagar Municipal Corporation is unaware of various laws regarding how to check the growth of stray dogs as the animal birth control rules prevent their killing unless the animal turns highly infectious or rabid. Amir Ali, officer on special duty, divisional commissioner’s office, Kashmir, said, “Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon, divisional commissioner, Kashmir, recently reviewed the progress of steps taken recently with regard to performing Animal Birth Control (ABC) of male dogs”. The meeting was also attended by Khurshid Ahmed Mir, who claims that he can make all stray dogs to leave the Valley without killing them. The DC has issued instructions to the MC to allow Khurshid Ahmed Mir to try his skills in one or two municipal wards on an experimental basis, subject to the condition that he does not do anything illegal. Based on the success of the programme, more areas can be allotted to him. The DC has also directed the MC to make the Animal Treatment Centre at Tengpora functional so that male dogs could be sterilised there. Meanwhile, the MC has made arrangements to train its staff in the art of catching stray dogs for which a team of experts from the US is visiting the city from February 28 to March 4. These experts will teach the employees a scientific procedure of catching stray dogs. Help on the way from US The MC has made arrangements to train its staff in the art of catching stray dogs for which a team of experts from the US is visiting the city from February 28 to March 4. The experts will teach the employees a scientific procedure of catching stray dogs
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Six LC members to retire in April Dinesh Manhotra Tribune News Service
Jammu, February 18 Since elections to all 11 vacant seats are likely to be held in April, senior Congress and NC leaders have started efforts to get themselves accommodated on these seats. Arminder Singh Micky, acting chairman of the Legislative Council, said six members namely Tarlochan Singh Wazir, MR Qureshi, Showkat Hussain, Altaf Ahmed Wani (all from National Conference), Jehangir Mir and Abdul Gani Vakil (both from Congress) would retire on April 19. “Elections for these seats are likely to take place before their retirement,” he said. Sources said elections for six seats would be held in the next two months. “As the elections process of the local bodies is likely to be completed by April, elections for other vacant seats would be held soon after,” the sources said. Although all outgoing members have been working overtime to ensure their re-election, other influential leaders are also trying to get a berth in the Upper House. Interestingly, both Congress members belong to the Ghulam Nabi Azad faction. Thus, loyalists of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Saif Ud Din Soz have been trying hard that they should not be re-elected. They have already projected some new faces for these two seats. Some Congress stalwarts, who lost in the last Assembly elections, are also eying these seats. They are trying to exploit links with their political mentors in Delhi. Similarly, a group within the NC is also trying to introduce new faces in the Upper House.
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Tech-savvy CM now ‘tweets’ to connect to youth
Jammu, February 18 Born on March 10, 1970, at Rochford, Essex (UK), and commerce graduate from Sydenham College, Mumbai, the Chief Minister is being followed by 4,360 people on Twitter, while he follows 38. “In this world of information technology, he understands the significance of Internet and I feel that his tweets are attempts to connect to the computer-savvy youths of Kashmir, perhaps to strengthen his vote bank,” said Sakshi Dhar, a young Kashmiri Pandit girl. “When most of the politicians in the country and the world are using Twitter nowadays, I see no harm in Omar using networking sites to air his opinions and disclosing his itinerary for the day to the people of the state,” she said. “After he quit blogging on his party’s website over two years ago, Omar has now making the best use of Twitter regularly posting his comments and opinions on day-to-day developments in the state ranging from governance, anti-militancy operations and killings in Kashmir”. The Chief Minister has definitely succeeded in striking a chord with the youths via Twitter and it feels good when he responds to relevant issues assuring solution to their problems, said Sakshi. A political analyst opined that Omar had found the most suitable mode to feel the pulse of the youths in the state, provided he walks his talk. “The state had attained a dubious distinction of being the most corrupt state in the country. Let us see if he also exposes big fishes in his fight against the corruption,” said the analyst. “Last year, Omar had drawn flaks from the parties in the Opposition, including the PDP and the BJP, for allegedly remaining aloof from the people and I think Twitter has provided him a right opening to stay connected with the youths,” he added. “In the past two years, Omar saw enough of upheavals and turbulent phases, the summer unrest last year being the most disturbing one, and hence if he succeeds in engaging the young Kashmiris via Twitter, there is no harm in it,” he added.
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Award for Kashmir’s progressive farmers
Srinagar, February 18 Chief Minister Omar Abdullah gave away the prizes. Those present included Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister for Agriculture; Sham Lal Sharma, Minister for Horticulture and Floriculture; Aijaz Ahmad Khan, Minister of State for Fisheries and Rural Development; Manohar Lal Sharma, Minister of State for Cooperatives; Javed Ahmad Dar, Minister of State for Agriculture; Tej Pal, vice-chancellor, SKUAST; Asgar Samoon, divisional commissioner, Kashmir; and Ghulam Hassan Shah, director, agriculture. The first two state-level awards were given to Abdul Ahad Mir of Srinagar and Dr Gazalla Amin of Bandipore district. Abdul Ahad Mir of Gooso village, near Srinagar, was motivated by the Horticulture Department to plant strawberries in his orchard. Besides technical assistance, he was provided financial assistance under the Horticulture Mission. He is now earning about Rs 60,000 to 70,000 per kanal per annum. His success story motivated other farmers in his neighbourhood and they too adopted strawberry cultivation. Gosoo is now know as “strawberry village”. No wonder, Mir has been ranked number one progressive farmer at the national level for 2009-10. Mir and his family are now fully committed to farming. Dr Gazalla Amin from Asham, Sumbal in Bandipore district, is a medico by her academic background, but has great affection for farming. She started cultivating medical and aromatic plants over an area of one hectare with a single aromatic plant species in her village. Within two years, she expanded the area to three hectares and established her own aromatic oil distillation plant. Dr Gazalla is now expanding her farming activities to horticulture crops as well. She has set up a public-private partnership unit with Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), a first in the state. Giving details, Ghulam Hassan Shah, director, agriculture, said the Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA), a Centrally sponsored scheme was launched in the state in 2006-07 with an aim to strengthening the state extension programme for extension reforms. “It facilitates dissemination of latest technology among the growers and designing and devising proper planning for research and implementation of various programmes in agriculture and allied sectors. The awards are aimed at boosting the morale of the farming community to infuse interest among the farmers so that they take lead in their areas of operation,” he added. |
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Food alert on a flight
More than 100 passengers of a leading airline travelling from New Delhi to Srinagar via Jammu earlier this week had a unique experience. Behold! There was no need for a security alert but a note of caution. When food was served on the flight, the passengers smelt something wrong. They found rotten smell in a sweet dish served to them, which was immediately brought to the notice of the service staff. An announcement followed immediately, asking the passengers not to take the sweet dish. Heard of such things earlier also? There is hardly any idea, but it has raised questions over the alertness of the staff concerned about the hygienic conditions of the eatables served to the passengers. While absolute precautions must have been taking care of the technical and mechanical system to ensure safety of the lives of the passengers, the hygienic condition of the food served on board the plane also requires equal attention for good health of the passengers. Highway closure
fuels price rise
The successive governments have failed to curb the rise in the prices of essential commodities during the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway during winter months. With the closure of the highway, most shopkeepers hike the prices of essential commodities, selling these at exorbitant rates. However, the government has done nothing so far to control the price rise. Common people in the Kashmir Valley are forced to pay almost double the actual price, but no law-enforcing authority seems to have taken any steps to rein in the menace. For example, before the closure of the highway chicken in Srinagar city was being sold at Rs 80/kg but after the closure of the road it is being sold at Rs 95 to 100/kg. Most shopkeepers give an excuse that in the absence of supply, there exists a huge gap between the demand and the supply. Moreover, locally produced chicken is costlier than the one brought from outside. It is high time the government wakes up to take measures to curb the unnecessary price hike so as to provide succour to the common masses. (Contributed by
Ehsan Fazili and Tejinder Singh Sodhi) |
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Few takers for Urdu regrettable: Poet
Jammu, February 18 Ashk, who was here recently in connection with a function organised by the Department of Urdu, University of Jammu, asserted that over the language has remained associated with a particular religion. “Those who think on such lines are ignorant of the fact that most of the Hindi poets have exhaustively written in Urdu and earned fame,” the Punjab-born poet said. Ashk recalled that even after the Partition, Urdu was a widely read language in Punjab. “Now it has a few takers,” he said. Similarly, this language was meeting the same fate in Hindu-dominated districts of Jammu, Samba, Reasi, Udhampur and Kathua. “This was not the case some years ago,” he said. Ashk, who was deeply moved by the Partition, said some vested interests had even divided languages and attributed them to a particular faith. Praying for peace in the subcontinent, Ashk said people of India and Pakistan shared the same cultural lineage. He referred to one of his books “Dua Zameen” in which he prays for dismantling the imaginary borders like this: “Zameen Ko Aye Khuda Wo Zalzala De, Nishaan Tak Sarhadoon Ke Jo Mita De. Mohabbat Mein Badal Jaye Siyasat, Khuda Lahore Ko Dilli Se Mila De” (Oh God! Let a massive earthquake hit the earth so that boundaries vanish and Lahore meets New Delhi and politics gets transformed into love). Known for projecting modern existential realities of life through his poetry, Ashk said ghazals were an important genre of the Urdu language. “Such style of writing is nowhere found in other languages”. Ashk has five books to his credit, which included “Dar-be-Dar”, “Chandni Ke Khatoot” and “Ghazal Tere Sheher Mein”. His popular song “Asshqan di balle balle”, sung by Daler Mahandi and Jaspinder Narula was part of Bollywood movie “Dhoom Dhadhaka”. A civil engineer by profession, Ashk said he started his poetic career during student days. “Thereafter, I never looked back. Ghazal writing has been my passion all these years,” he added.
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Relief: KPs pin high hopes on apex court
Jammu, February 18 While addressing a press conference, Kaul said in response to state government’s affidavit given in compliance with Supreme Court’s order, the AIKS, besides other points, has submitted that cash relief given to the beneficiaries must be at least Rs 10,000 per family and it must be linked with the price index. “The government should provide relief to Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) by waiving their loans. When Rs 60,000 crore worth of loans to farmers can be written off, waiving a few crores of loans of KPs should not be an issue,” he said. Kaul said the state government had failed to protect the interests of KPs and their properties in spite of directions of the apex court. “The government has also not furnished details of the properties sold and registered after 1997. It has also not taken concrete steps as confidence building measures to ensure the rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrant families,” Kaul alleged. Regarding the recent employment orders for KP youth, the AIKS has responded that the government is imposing harsh conditions for the candidates who have been appointed recently. “The state government cannot enforce such harsh conditions as terms of appointment,” Kaul said, adding that based on the directives of the Supreme Court, the AIKS should soon bring out a form to be filled by the displaced members of the community covering details of the properties damaged, and the losses suffered by traders and agriculturists during the past 22 years.
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Seminar on career in Punjabi
Jammu, February 18 Head of the department Updesh Kour and Dr Baljeet Kour, Senior Assistant Professor from Department of Punjabi, University of Jammu, were the main resource-persons in the seminar. Dr Updesh Kour explained in detail the role of Punjabi language in promoting cultural harmony among various sections of society. She talked about the hurdles in the way of popularising the language in the state and also suggested measures to overcome the problems. She also shared with the students various career options with Punjabi as a subject for various competitive examinations. Dr Baljeet Kour talked about the value system in society. She said that Punjabi was a language not only of a particular community but of the entire society. She explained the significance of Punjabi as a subject in different careers. Dr. Ajeet Angral, Principal of MAM College, said the presentation and interaction by such academicians would go a long way in promoting self-confidence among the students. He said that the main focus was to provide a platform to the intellectuals, staff and students to sit together and discuss about the significance of the subject and plan to strengthen the subject concerned by such seminars in different subjects. |
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Army organises tour for Gujjars, Bakarwals
Srinagar, February 18 The impressive flagging off programme included a prayer song by Gujjar and
Bakarwals, motivational talk by Brig Narinder Singh, Cdr 1 Sector Rashtriya Rifles, and introductory talk by Col DR
Rai, Commanding Officer, 50 Rashtriya Rifles (Kumaon), a spokesperson said. The tour moved for Srinagar International Airport to board their flight for Jammu. The tour is scheduled to visit Jammu, Mumbai and
Pune. In Mumbai, they would be taken to various places of historical and cultural importance like Haji Ali
Dargah, Gateway of India, Nehru Planetarium and Nehru Museum. They would also get an opportunity to visit the National Defence Academy, Singarh Fort and the historical Shahiwar Vada in
Pune. In Jammu, the tour would go to Bagh-e-Bahu, Fish Aquarium and Maharaja Hari Singh Palace. The aim of the tour is to develop awareness among the participating Gujjars and Bakarwals about the economic growth, development and cultural diversity of the country that would widen their horizon and shape up their overall growth. The tour would help immensely in spreading the message of peace and brotherhood who could then act as messengers of peace and prosperity. |
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Decision to convert HSS as Intermediate Colleges Tribune News Service
Jammu, February 18 The House expressed its satisfaction that the viewpoint of the forum has finally been vindicated that with the reorganisation of the department in accordance with the basic draft of 1987, the facilities of higher education would reach the doorsteps of every citizen in the remote and far-flung areas of the state. Speaking on the occasion, Qureshi expressed gratitude to Peerzada for conceding the long-pending demand of the forum for converting Higher Secondary Schools as Intermediate Colleges in accordance with the pattern existing all across the country with separate directorates at the elementary, secondary and higher-secondary level with director-general at the state level.
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Police Dept organises talent hunt
Srinagar, February 18 While inaugurating the event, SM Sahai, IGP, said the department initiated the programme to garner good relations with the public. More than 24 budding singers selected from the Valley contested in the final. Their performances were judged by a panel of judges comprising Nisar Naseem, Aijaz Rah and Munir Ahmed Mir. Six contestants were adjudged winners in three categories in the final event. In senior category, Masrat Aziz and Bilal Ahmad Sheikh were declared winners. Nasir Ahmad Wani and Nafeesa Bilal bagged the junior category titles while in the open category, Nusrat Aziz and Khalid Ahmad Malik were adjudged winners. Abdul Gani Mir, DIG Kashmir, presented the vote of thanks to the contestants for their brilliant display of talent. |
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The menace of stray dogs in the city has become a cause of concern not only for residents but also for the authorities who have so far failed to put a check on their growing population.
Jammu, February 18
