Jammu, February 25
Residents of the Jammu region have welcomed Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s proposals in the Railway Budget to set up a bridge factory and an Institute of Tunnel Engineering in the state. Although the people were expecting a coach factory for the region, they were satisfied with today’s announcement regarding a bridge factory and hoped it would help in the timely completion of the ongoing railway projects in the state.

The opening of a bridge factory would boost the economy of the region and help in accelerating the ongoing rail project of connecting the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country. The announcement was important because in the 248-km Katra-Baramulla section, which was under construction, there were 97 major and 792 minor bridges, including the world’s highest bridge at a height of 359 metres near Reasi.

Similarly, the 25-km Udhampur-Katra rail section envisaged nine major and 29 minor bridges, including one 85 metre high and 154 metre wide steel girdle bridge of the first of its kind in the country. The move would also speed up the ongoing work to double-line the Jammu-Pathankot section as raw material would be available locally.

“As unemployment is the biggest problem of the state, we were expecting a railway coach factory in this year’s Railway Budget for the creation of job avenues in the region,” said YV Sharma, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI), Jammu. He, however, appreciated the proposals regarding the bridge factory and the Institute of Tunnel Engineering. “These are welcome steps but local industrialists should be given preference in creating infrastructure for the proposed bridge factory,” Sharma demanded.

Jammu, February 25
Eminent economists here are not expecting much from the Jammu and Kashmir Budget-2011 to be presented by Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather in less than two weeks. “The annual Budget has more or less become more of a political exercise than an economic one. For the last 10-12 years, I have never witnessed any serious debate on people’s issues before the Budget. How it will fulfil the hopes of people?,” said Prof Prakash C Antahal of the University of Jammu here.

He was not optimistic about the Budget announcements. “In the last year’s Budget, crores of rupees were announced for schools, but the government schools still lack infrastructure both in rural and urban areas,” he added.

Prof Antahal said the legislators always did more good to themselves. “All ministers, including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, speak a lot about adopting austerity measures, but when it comes to renovating their bungalows, they spend lavishly. This is a cruel joke with people and if the government is seriously concerned about the financial crunch, the Finance Minister should put up serious proposals for improving economy and resource generation.”

Another noted economist, Prof Dipankar Sengupta of the University of Jammu, said the Budget-makers did not seem to have much regard for economists. “I was shocked when the Finance Minister called us a few days ago to get our suggestions for the coming Budget. But he did not provide any data to ponder upon. How could we help the government in making good the financial losses it had been suffering every year?” he said.

He added, “This is merely a formal practice to hoodwink people and nothing else. See, the deficit in the power sector alone. When the state has suffered a loss of more than Rs 1,500 crore during 2010-11, how can we even think about revenue generation. Our state is totally dependent upon the Central government.”

Another well-known economist, Prof Nirmal Kamal, said the Budget had been reduced to an outlay of government expenditure. She added that, “In the last few years I have observed a trend that our Budget is merely an expenditure Budget and not a revenue generating plan. It doesn’t mean we don’t have sources of revenue generation, but our ministers and bureaucrats are more interested in increasing their salaries than giving any benefit to people. Last year too, they approved a Bill increasing their salaries.”

Prof Nirmal said, “Government employees, who have been demanding arrears of salary according to the Sixth Pay Commission’s report for the last three years, are yet to get their dues.” The experts expected the Finance Minister to take some good steps for long-term investments. Otherwise, the debt of the state would increase manifold in the coming years and so would be its dependency on the Union government, they feared.

Jmmu, February 25
Even though Josh Malli Abadi has various dimensions to his poetry, he is remembered more for his revolutionary poetry. He was not an ordinary poet, but a poet par excellence.

This was stated by reputed broadcaster, producer and writer Yawar Abbas from BBC, London, while delivering an extension lecture on Josh Malli Abadi, particularly his revolutionary poetry, at the Prof Gian Chand Jain seminar hall of the Department of Urdu.

The lecture was organised by the Department of Urdu, University of Jammu, under the Bazyafat programme. Ved Bahsin, chairman of the Kashmir Times Group of Publication, presided over the function, while MY Tarigami, MLA, Kulgam, was the chief guest.

Yawar Abbas described Abadi as a revolutionary poet, who wrote mainly on Independence of the country. He said though some poetry of Abadi was seized by the Britishers, he was not discouraged and kept on writing even more revolutionary poetry.

Jammu, February 25
Gujjar milkmen of Kathua district submitted a memorandum to the Military Farm authorities here today demanding the release of their dues pending for the past 50 days.

A delegation of milkmen, led by Chowdhary Ali Mohammed, chairman of Kotpunnu Milk Producers Cooperative Limited, said the Gujjar milkmen were affiliated with the J&K Dairy Producers, Processors and Marketing Cooperative Union (JKDCUL), which supplied milk to the Army in the state.

“We have been supplying milk to the JKDCUL for the past five years, but this time the union has not made payments for the milk supplied during the past 50 days, as the Military Farm authorities have not paid it the amount,” Mohammed said.

“Milk is our only source of livelihood and if payments are not made to us on a daily basis, our families and cattle will starve. Therefore, we came to the Military Farm to request the officials concerned to pay the outstanding dues at the earliest,” he added.

Jammu, February 25
The state government’s decision to shift proposed Government Degree College from Paloura to the Jhiri area in the Marh block has triggered a controversy, as residents of the Bhalwal block of Jammu have decided to launch a stir against the move. The government had earlier sanctioned the college for the Bhalwal block.

Addressing a joint press conference here today, leaders of all political parties from the Bhalwal block resented the government decision, terming it discriminatory.

Meanwhile, the residents of the area have formed a Sangharsh Samiti comprising representatives of all political parties to intensify their struggle against the government decision to shift the college.

“Some vested political interests are behind the decision to shift the college from the Bhalwal block to the Marh block,” alleged Raj Dev Singh Jamwal, convener of the samiti.

He said the residents of Bhalwal had offered a huge chunk of land for setting up the degree college, but the authorities concerned were adamant to construct the college in other area. “Furthermore, a large chunk of government land is also available at Bhalwal which can be utilised for the purpose,” he added.

The Bhalwal block consisted of nine Jammu Municipal Corporation wards and 23 panchayats. Hence, it was an ideal place for the institute, Jamwal said. The opening of a college was a long pending demand of the people of the area, but after sanctioning a college for the belt the government was now trying to shift it,” he said.

The samiti has threatened to launch an agitation if the decision to shift the college was implemented.

Udhampur/ Srinagar, February 25
A fresh spell of snowfall forced the traffic authorities to close the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway again in the evening. The highway was opened to vehicular traffic this morning,

The closure of the highway left hundreds of commercial and private vehicles stranded between Udhampur and Banihal in the Jammu region. Traffic officials manning the highway said the measure was taken in the interest of the Valley-bound commuters, as the road had become slippery. The traffic moved throughout the day after getting a nod from the highway traffic authorities, but the change in weather conditions forced its closure again in the evening.

The weather played truant in almost the entire Jammu region. Though the sky was clear before noon, it became heavily overcast in the afternoon. Hail proceeded by rain and cold winds lashed the entire region. The hill resort of Patnitop again received snowfall in the afternoon after a day’s gap. About six inches of snowfall was also reported from Bhaderwah in Doda district.

The vehicular traffic on National Highway-1B covering Batote, Kishtwar and Doda areas was also affected. Heavy rain lashed the region, causing inconvenience to the commuters. The traffic came to a halt in the area in the evening. The traffic authorities had yesterday closed the highway in the wake of heavy snowfall on the Lower Munda side of the Jawahar Tunnel.

As a precautionary measure, the Traffic Police Control Room at Ramban flashed an advisory to the authorities concerned in Jammu and Udhampur to disallow traffic movement, and as a result the traffic was not allowed to move beyond Jakhani in Udhampur. As per official estimates, around 150-200 vehicles were stranded up to Banihal.

Meanwhile, in Kashmir the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was opened to vehicular traffic today after remaining closed for a day.

“The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was opened to vehicular traffic after it was cleared of the snow,” said an official of the state Traffic Department. He said due to continuous rain and snowfall only light and medium vehicles were allowed to ply on the highway.

“Snowfall around the Jawahar Tunnel and on the higher reaches of the Pir Panjal mountain range had rendered the highway slippery, following which it was closed to traffic,” said the official. He added that around 300 vehicles were stranded on the highway and they would be allowed first to move.

An official of the state MeT Department said, “There is some disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir, so there will be moderate to heavy rain and snowfall in the hilly areas of the Valley.”

Srinagar, February 25
While various separatist organisations have rejected the offer for talks with the Centre’s interlocutors, the Peoples Political Party (PPP), a separatist organisation, has said it would send a “road map” to the interlocutors for the resolution of the Kashmir issue.

“I am offering this road map on behalf of the people of Kashmir so that the notion that Kashmiris have nothing to offer is proved wrong. So, we are offering this road map to the Government of India through the interlocutors,” PPP chairman Hilal Ahmad War said while addressing a press conference here today.

The PPP is the first separatist outfit in the Kashmir valley to establish contact with the interlocutors as most of the separatist organisations have rejected the offer for talks terming the process as an “exercise in futility”. “It is unfortunate that the interlocutors are trying to project that the pro-freedom camp in Kashmir does not have a road map or solution and that is why we decided to project a road map for the solution,” Hilal said.

“We do have a solution to offer both to India and to Pakistan. The Indian government should soften its Kashmir policy. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh needs to play a role of a bold visionary and consider a solution of Kashmir outside the fabric of Indian federalism,” Hilal said.

Jammu, February 25
Two alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba militants, along with their spouses and seven minor children, were nabbed by the Army at the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch sector around 8.30 am today. They crossed over to the state after spending 10 years in occupied Kashmir (PoK).

“Shaukat Hussain, 30, and Shaukat Hussain, 29, both natives of Surankote tehsil in Poonch district, along with their spouses, namely Iqbal Bibi (27) and Zaida Parveen (28), respectively, and their seven minor children, were arrested near a forward post at Nakarket in the Digwar area of the Poonch sector this morning,” said Army officers.

“Though no one is allowed to illegally cross the LoC, we permitted them to enter the Indian territory on humanitarian grounds as they were accompanied by women and seven minor children,” they added. They were later taken to the house of a resident of the area, Abdul Khan. During preliminary questioning, the alleged militants revealed that they had migrated to the PoK in August 2001 where they were trained at a terrorist camp in Bagh for two months.

They claimed that in October 2001 they returned to Surankote and stayed there for two to three days before returning to the PoK with their wives. They initially stayed in Bagh in the PoK and were later shifted to a Mohajir camp, where they worked as labourers. Some militants had forcibly taken them from Kerni village in Poonch to the PoK in 2001 for arms training, but they refused and subsequently worked as labourers, they told the officers. Iqbal Bibi, wife of Shaukat Hussain (30), has three sons, while Zaida Parveen, wife of Shaukat Hussain (29), has three daughters and one son.

Iqbal Bibi’s three sons have been identified as Hamza (8), Mustafa, (5½) and Ali (2½) while Zaida Praveen’s daughters have been identified as Malaika (8), Saima (4½) and Muqaddas (3½) and son Abdullah (1½). “They are being subjected to thorough questioning before we hand them over to the local police,” said an Army spokesperson.

Two Nokia cellphones with three Pakistan’s SIM cards, two Mohajir identity cards, two PoK identity cards, one driving licence issued by the transport authorities of occupied Kashmir and Rs 12,705 of Pakistan currency and clothes were seized from them.

Since the announcement of the rehabilitation policy by the state government for the misguided youths, who had crossed over to the PoK for arms training, the police has received more than 200 applications in various districts from families of such youths requesting it to afford them an opportunity to return to the state and live as law abiding citizens.

Last year, a militant from the PoK, along with his two children, reached Jammu via Nepal. He claimed he was returning to the mainstream, but was found to be sent to the state to help militants. Similarly, another man, along with his wife, had crossed over to the state last year claiming he wanted rehabilitation. However, he turned out to be an active militant.

Jammu, February 25
Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), at a meeting with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, said today that the work on the Banihal-Srinagar National Highway project would begin in May. Representatives of the Railways, who were also present at the meeting, informed the Chief Minister that the work to bore a tunnel in Pir Panjal for the Udhampur-Qazigund rail link would be completed by December this year.

The Chief Minister called for the timely completion of the four-laning of the national highway and railway projects in the state. He also directed the Revenue Department to ensure speedy payment of compensation to people, whose lands were being acquired for the projects.

Omar also directed the Divisional Commissioners of the state for the monitoring of land compensation cases on a monthly basis and asked them to submit the status report regularly.

“I do not want any delay in the completion of projects for land compensation,” he said. KB Agarwal, Principal Secretary, Roads and Buildings, briefed the meeting about the progress on the two projects.

Srinagar, February 25
The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was opened to vehicular traffic today after remaining closed for a day.

“The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was opened to vehicular traffic after it was cleared of the snow,” said an official of the state Traffic Department. He said due to continuous rain and snowfall only light and medium vehicles were allowed to ply on the highway.

“Snowfall around the Jawahar Tunnel and on the higher reaches of the Pir Panjal mountain range had rendered the highway slippery, following which it was closed to traffic,” said the official. 

He added that around 300 vehicles were stranded on the highway and they would be allowed first to move. An official of the MeT Department said, “There is some disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir, so there will be moderate to heavy rain and snowfall in the hilly areas of the Valley.”

Meanwhile, in the Jammu region a fresh spell of snowfall forced the traffic authorities to close the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway again in the evening. The highway was opened to vehicular traffic this morning.

The closure of the highway left hundreds of commercial and private vehicles stranded between Udhampur and Banihal in the Jammu region. Traffic officials manning the highway said the measure was taken in the interest of the Valley-bound commuters, as the road had become slippery. The traffic moved throughout the day after getting a nod from the highway traffic authorities, but the change in weather conditions forced its closure again in the evening.