Chandigarh, March 12
The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) will have a new, independent bench in Srinagar to cater to the requirements of serving and retired armed forces based in Kashmir. Sources said the Defence Ministry had given permission for the new bench.

At present, the tribunal’s bench in Chandigarh has jurisdiction over the state of Jammu and Kashmir in addition to Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.

Sources said since the tribunal became functional, not even a single case pending in courts in the Kashmir and Ladakh regions had been transferred to the Chandigarh bench. Nor had there been any fresh filing of cases from this region. Only a handful of cases from the Jammu region had been transferred to Chandigarh, it added.

The prime reason for people of Jammu and Kashmir shying away from the Chandigarh bench was accessibility. In fair weather, the one-way journey from Srinagar to Chandigarh by road takes two days. In case of those residing in the hinterland and in Ladakh, the time of journey was even more. This implied that a single hearing would require a petitioner to spare a week.

Jammu and Kashmir contributes a fair number of troops to the Army as well as its sister services. Three infantry regiments, the Jammu and Kashmir Light infantry, the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles and the Ladakh Scouts, draw their manpower from the state. Other arms and services also have troops from the region.

Sources said there were proposals for setting up new benches at three places, but only the case of Srinagar had been cleared. Since over 75 per cent cases before the tribunal related to pension and disability benefits, it was felt that ex-servicemen in the state were being deprived of an appropriate forum to get their grievances redressed. Having pensioners travel long distances over several days was hardly fair.

To cater to the problems of ex-servicemen residing in remote areas, the AFT is setting up circuit benches. The Chandigarh bench is setting up circuit benches in Shimla and Jammu.

The earlier plan also included Srinagar in the list of the circuit benches. The Srinagar bench will take the total number of AFT benches in the country to 10, including the principal bench in Delhi.

Jammu, March 12
Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs Abdul Rahim Rather has refuted the charge that a major chunk of taxes collected from Jammu was spent in Kashmir.

Replying to a question during a discussion on the demand of grants for the departments under his charge in the Assembly today, the minister said the tax collections from Jammu were more compared to Kashmir were because the entry to the state was through Jammu (Lakhanpur) only. Entry tax and toll tax are paid in Jammu only. Similarly, the motor spirit tax of around Rs 450 crore was being paid by oil companies in Jammu only, but used throughout the state.

Rather said many national and multi-national companies had their establishments in Jammu only and toll tax of Rs 450 crore was also being collected from them in the city as well. All this, he said, amounted to Rs 1,330 crore, which actually was the state’s revenue and not of a specific province.

The revenue collection of the Commercial Taxes Department for the year 2010-11 (ending January, 2011) was Rs 2,334.14 crore against Rs 1,906.62 crore for the corresponding period of year 2009-10, thus registering a growth rate of 22.40 per cent. The performance was encouraging in the backdrop of a long spell of disturbances, particularly in Kashmir, between June and September last year, said Rather.

He said the total excise revenue realised in 2009-10 was Rs 596.10 crore compared to Rs 517.23 crore during year 2008-09, thus showing an increase of 12.25 per cent. During the current financial year, the revenue realised up to January 2011 was Rs 568.44 crore as against Rs 484.29 crore realised during the same period in the last financial year, showing an increase of 17.38 per cent.

To ensure fiscal discipline in the state, the minister said the Audit and Inspection Department had been entrusted with the job of conducting special audits to exercise budgetary control over the expenditure to see that the funds were appropriately utilised. He said the department had prepared 410 audit reports pertaining to various government departments. He added that strict action would be taken against defaulters.

Later the House passed the demand of grants for Rs 1,998.31 crore for meeting the expenditure of the departments under the charge of the Finance Minister for year 2011-12 and supplementary grants of Rs 403.05 crore for year 2010-11 with a voice vote. The departments for which the grants were passed included Commercial Taxes, Excise, Accounts and Treasuries, Audit and Inspection, Funds Organisation and Ladakh Affairs.

Earlier, MLAs Harsh Dev Singh, MY Tarigami, Chaman Lal Gupta, AR Veeri, Shafi Ahmad Wani, Mushtaq Ahmad Shah, Peerzada Mansoor Hussain, Chaudhary Sukhnandan, Nizam-ud-Din Bhat, Balwant Singh Mankotia, Abdul Haq Khan, Syed Basharat Bukhari, Rafi Ahmad Mir and Chaudhary Zulfikar Ali had moved cut motions, which they withdrew after hearing the “convincing” reply of the minister.

Jammu, March 12
Protesting against the failure and scarcity of ration in his constituency, the PDP MLA from Lolab, Abdul Haq Khan, today staged a dharna in the Legislative Assembly and later staged a walkout from the House.

As soon as the House assembled this morning, Abdul Khan, who was wearing a black apron, resorted to shouting slogans and raised the issue of scarcity of ration in his constituency.

Haq said, “Our people are starved of ration. There is a scarcity of the ration”.

As the Speaker said the government would reply to the question later, Haq started shouting slogans and walked into the well of the House and sat on a dharna.

Intervening, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Qamar Ali Akhoon said ration supply was fully in place in the constituency and ruled out any scarcity or denial of ration to the people. “I am unsatisfied with the reply of the minister. The government is misleading the House,” Haq said. Meanwhile, a few other PDP legislator also supported Haq.

Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone intervened and asked the protesting legislators, “What is the proof? The minister has replied and said ration supply was going on smoothly in your area. You should take your seat”. However, unsatisfied with the reply, Haq staged a walkout from the House.

Jammu, March 12
After a discussion on the demand of grants related to his portfolio, Minister for Rural Development, Panchayats, and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Sagar said on the floor of the Legislative Assembly today that a wage budget of Rs 1,455 crore was projected by the government for the next financial year under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

This projection meant a quantum jump in the expenditure under the scheme as compared to the current fiscal in which around Rs 400 crore has been utilised so far. Moreover, the wages being given under the central scheme have also been increased from Rs 110 to Rs 121 per day so that more and more people could benefit from it. “The implementation of the scheme has been appreciated by a Planning Commission team during its visit to the state recently,” claimed Sagar.

He informed the House that 21 mahagram sabhas were organised in different districts of the state, in which thousands of representatives of panchayats participated and put forth suggestions for the effective implementation of various rural development schemes, including the MGNREGA.

Referring to the role of MGNREGA in changing the rural landscape, building infrastructure and providing much-needed employment avenues to the rural people, the minister said the scheme was being implemented with maximum transparency to ensure that the benefit reached the targeted population. “We will also appoint an ombudsman at the district level and state monitors have already been appointed to effectively monitor the implementation of the scheme and redress complaints, if any,” he added.

Regarding the panchayat elections in the state, the minister said all formalities had been completed and for the first time 3-tier panchayats elections would be conducted on a non-party basis.

Jammu, March 12
A deputation of the Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust, Jammu, called on Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhawan here today and represented their demands to him.

The demands presented by the deputation led by chairman of the trust Haji Hashim Ali included the need for the timely release of funds under the Special Central Assistance for the Tribal Sub-Plan. Other demands included the opening of a sub-office of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes in the state, setting up of cluster houses for Scheduled Tribes, construction of hostels for boys and girls from the Gujjar and Bakarwal communities in the eight newly created districts and the creation of a separate Ministry for Tribal Affairs in the state.

The other demands highlighted by the deputation included the strengthening of mobile schools by providing qualified teachers and the creation of required infrastructure, inclusion of the Gojri language in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution, raising of a Gujjar Regiment in the Army and the provision of political reservation for the Scheduled Tribes in the state.

The Governor gave a patient hearing to the deputation and inquired about the activities of the Trust. He observed that the trust could also consider organising coaching classes in its existing complex to prepare the Gujjar and Bakarwal youths for various competitive examinations at the state and national levels. Referring to the demands presented by them, he assured that these would be taken up with the Chief Minister.

The six-member deputation comprised general secretary of the trust Choudhary Sajad Majeed Chechi, adviser to the trust chairman Choudhary Showket Javed and members Shah Mohammad Chowdhary, Choudhary Showket Parvez and Choudhary Mohammad Yousuf.

Jammu, March 12
Minister for Education Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed said today that all attached teachers, especially of the masters grade, would be detached after the completion of the current academic session.

Sayeed was replying to a question of BJP legislator from Bani Lal Chand, who was protesting against the attachment of a large number of teachers from his constituency to the district headquarters in Kathua.

Sayeed said that on the specific need basis in the interest of the academic session, as many as five masters and 38 teachers had been deployed at various schools in Kathua district. He said no master or teacher from the Bani constituency had been attached and deployed to any other educational institution of the district. He added since the academic session was almost over now, all masters and teachers had been directed to report at their respective places.

Replying to another a question by Durga Dass, the minister said the commerce subject had been introduced in Government Higher Secondary School, Rajpora. He said in government higher secondary schools at Ghagwa, Chandwan, Marheen and Hiranagar no student had opted for geography and commerce subjects. He added that if students opted for these subjects in these schools, the government would provide them with all academic facilities.

Jammu, March 12
As part of the Operation Sadbhavana, a community hall was dedicated to the people of Ranjan village in the Kot Bhalwal area by Lt-Gen JP Nehra, General Officer Commanding of Nagrota-based White Knight Corps, yesterday.

The construction of the community hall has become possible due to cooperation between the Army, residents of Ranjan village and various state government departments. It is pertinent to mention the names of Chanchal Singh, who donated one kanal for this noble cause and Mohinder Singh, sarpanch of the village, whose relentless efforts contributed towards the realisation of the project.

The community hall would meet the requirements of the residents of Ranjan and other remote villages. Besides the villagers, a large number of government and Army officers were present on the occasion. The GOC, White Knight Corps, was accompanied by Major Gen Rakesh Sharma, GOC, Crossed Swords Division, and other senior officers.

Lt-Gen Nehra was given a warm reception by the local residents, who appreciated the Army’s people-friendly approach and expressed gratitude towards it. Interacting with the media, Lt-Gen Nehra said besides ensuring the integrity of the frontiers, the Army was committed to taking peace and development to remote areas. He also advised the villagers to adopt better methods of farming like drip irrigation to optimally utilise water resources in the region. He said the farmers could take up cash crop farming in consultation with Agricultural University.

Jammu, March 12
Governor NN Vohra inaugurated a state-of-the-art mass ARRAY genetic analysis system laboratory, which has been established for undertaking advance research in biotechnology, at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University here today.

The Governor, who is also the Chancellor of the university, laid the foundation stone of a residential block comprising 12 apartments. The complex, which is estimated to cost Rs 1.80 crore, is being built to meet the growing requirements of the faculty members. The project is expected to be completed in a year.

Later, the Governor reviewed the status of various infrastructure projects and the overall functioning of the university in a two-hour discussion with Prof RNK Bamezai, Vice-Chancellor, RK Goyal, Principal Secretary to the Governor and Chief Executive Officer of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Dr MK Bhandari, Additional CEO of the board, and Roop Avtar Kour, registrar of the university.

The Governor also sanctioned additional Rs 2 crore for the university for the construction of two additional blocks of residential quarters, a daycare centre and a boys’ hostel. He laid emphasis on the progressive growth of the university.

The Governor was informed that over 1,200 saplings were planted on the campus last year. He also visited the site of the 645-ft span bridge that would link the Jammu-Udhampur Highway directly with the university campus.

Meanwhile, the Governor visited Kakryal yesterday and reviewed the progress of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence, which is coming up close to the university.

He said the hospital being set up by the shrine board would provide quality medical and healthcare services to the people of the surrounding areas and also to yatris, who visited the shrine.

He also reviewed the layout plan of the hospital complex. He stressed the need for making an effective use of the available land so that adequate area remained available for establishing a college of nursing or a medical college in the future.

Srinagar, March 12
The security forces gunned down three militants in two encounters in the Kashmir valley today. On specific information, the security forces launched a search operation in Lehend Habdipora village of Shopian district late last night.

“As the troops were cordoning off the area, the militants started firing at them. The security forces returned the fire and an encounter ensued. The gunfight ended this morning and two of the hiding militants were killed,” a police spokesman said.

The slain militants have been identified as Ishfaq Ahmed Chopan and Khursheed Ahmad Ittoo, both residents of Shopian. Sources said the two slain militants were involved in an attack on two policemen in the Yaripora area of Kulgam district a few days ago. They had taken away the weapons of the injured policemen. “INSAS and AK-47 rifles snatched from the policeman, after injuring them with a sharp-edged weapon were also seized from the site of the encounter,” they said.

Meanwhile, in another encounter, the security forces killed a militant in the Muslim Peer area of Baramulla district. “On specific information the security forces launched an operation in the area. The militant took refuge in a medical shop and started firing from there. The militant has been killed in the gunfight,” the sources said.

Meanwhile, the security forces also arrested a Pakistan-trained militant of the Hizbul Mujahideen. “The Baramulla police, along with personnel of 54 CRPF and 29 RR of the Army, arrested a Pakistan-trained militant at Chinar Colony, Pattan. The militant has been identified as Nisar Ahmad Rather, alias Abu Kamal of Check Badrinath, Pulwama,” the spokesman said

He said a Chinese pistol along with one magazine, five rounds of live ammunition and two Chinese hand grenades were recovered from his possession. A case under the J&K Arms Act has been registered. The militant was a local and had crossed over to PoK in 1999. Meanwhile, the militant killed in the Muslim Peer area of Sopore town has been identified as Chotta Kalimullah, alias Shamsher, alias Talwar Bhai, divisional commander of the Harkut-ul-Mujahideen.

Srinagar, March 12
The one-day strike call given by the chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, in protest against the alleged continuing arrests of local youths by the police and security forces, evoked a lukewarm response in Kashmir today.

Shops and business establishments in many uptown areas of Srinagar remained open and private transport plied normally on the roads. The authorities said banks, government offices, educational institutes and semi-government offices functioned normally.

Reports from other districts of the Valley also stated that the strike call evoked a mixed response. However, in Lal Chowk, the commercial hub of the Srinagar city, shops and other business establishments remained closed. “Life remained normal in most parts of the Kashmir valley today,” said a senior police officer.

However, the authorities dismissed Geelani’s allegations saying these were baseless and were the handiwork of those who wanted to mislead the people and create a situation similar to last year’s unrest.

Meanwhile, Geelani said today that his amalgam had no plan for prolonged shutdowns or for violent protests this summer in the Kashmir valley.

“There is no programme for prolonged shutdowns or violent protests. We are not in favour of damaging the tourist season this year or disrupting the educational activities,” he said in a statement here. The separatist leader, however, said the shutdowns were the only option for a peaceful agitation.

Srinagar, March 12
The first-ever 10-hour snow cricket tournament was played between the Jonty Rhodes XI and the Tourism Department XI on a snow pitch at Gulmarg today. The match was played to promote winter sports in the Valley, especially in the picturesque tourist resort of Gulmarg, and to boost tourism there.

The Jonty Rhodes XI was led by former South Africa player Jonty Rhodes and the Tourism Department XI was led by Mohammad Shah, chief executive officer, Gulmarg Development Authority.

Describing Gulmarg as an amazing place, Rhodes said the Kashmir valley had a tremendous potential to harness snow cricket and other winter sports. Regarding the World Cup, Rhodes said India had a strong batting line like Gautam, Gambhir, Sachin, Sehwag and Dhoni and also had best spinners.

He added that South Africa had also a strong batting line and Saturday’s match between the two giants would be fantastic. The Jonty Rhodes XI was defeated by the Tourism Department XI by 11 runs. Later, Rhodes gave away mementos to the players of the winning team. He thanked the Tourism Department for inviting him for promoting snow cricket in the Valley and hoped that he would come again for enjoying snow cricket and other sports in the Valley.

Jammu, March 12
An employee of the State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) was found dead under mysterious circumstances at the General Bus stand here last night. He was identified as Omkar Singh (45), a resident of Gharota, near Ban Talab and the body was recovered from outside the cloakroom around 5 am.

Omkar’s family members alleged foul play behind his death and demanded an inquiry into the incident. “The deceased was a bus conductor,” confirmed the Traffic Manager of the SRTC, Zahoor Ahmed. He added that “He reached the general bus stand here with an SRTC bus, which had returned around 5 pm yesterday”.

“Thereafter, he deposited the cash in consonance with the number of tickets sold. As per the duty roster prepared last evening, he was supposed to leave for Pathankot at 7 am today,” he added.

“A case has been registered and the police has started investigation,” said the police. It added, “The body has been sent for a post-mortem”.