Jammu, May 3
A day after a high intensity blast in a car killed a milk vendor and injured 10 others near the Birwan Bridge in the garrison town of Udhampur, the police rounded up six suspects today.

However, nothing substantial has emerged so far in the police investigations. “Suspects are being questioned, but nothing concrete has emerged yet,” DIG, Udhampur-Reasi range, Jagjit Kumar told The Tribune.

The DIG said most probably it appeared that deadly RDX was used in the blast to cause the maximum damage.

Major-Gen DS Pathania, Commandant of the Command Hospital, Udhampur, had a close shave while milk vendor Kuldeep Kumar Sharma was killed and 10 others were injured in the remote-controlled blast.

Official sources said the police was working hard to identify the owner of the old Maruti -800 car that was used in the crime. “We are trying to ascertain as to where the explosives were planted in the Maruti car,” they said, adding that it appeared that a militant might himself have drove the car to the bridge.

Though no militant outfit has so far claimed the responsibility for the incident, going by the modus-operandi it appeared the handiwork of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), said the sources. In the recent times the security forces had eliminated some top commanders of the LeT in the Jammu region, including Abu Musa and Zulqarnain in Ramban district.

Jammu, May 3
The process of registration for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, simultaneously along both Baltal and Chandanwari routes in the state, shall commence from May 10 through 149 bank branches located across the country and Internet-based e-registration system.

According to RK Goyal, Chief Executive Officer of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), the registration of the yatris will commence at registration counters established in 121 designated branches of J&K Bank, 24 branches of YES Bank and four district cooperative banks.

He added that for the information of all concerned, the details of the branches were available on the board’s website (www.shriamarnathjishrine.com).

As decided by the shrine board after its meeting held on February 18, the yatra would commence simultaneously along the Baltal and Chandanwari routes from June 29 and culminate on August 13, Goyal said.

He added that on the directions of Governor NN Vohra, who is also the chairman of the SASB, the board had endeavoured every year to expand the registration network in the country for the convenience of the intending yatris. The shrine board has succeeded this year to increase the number of counters from 121 in 2010 to 149 by securing the support of other banks in various states. The registration will be done on the first-come-first-served basis. The registration counters at the designated branches of J&K Bank (121), YES Bank (24) and the district cooperative banks (4) in the state of Bihar shall remain open from 3 pm to 6 pm on all weekdays and 1 pm to 4 pm on all Saturdays during the period of registration, up to August 10.

The requisite application form can be collected from any of the designated branches of J&K Bank, YES Bank and the aforesaid district cooperative banks or downloaded from the board’s website. Registration will be done through a yatra permit, which will be issued on the submission of the application form, duly filled in, along with the payment of handling charges of Rs 15 per pilgrim.

It was clarified that the yatra permit generated through an Internet-based system will no longer be treated as provisional.

Goyal said the yatris could register online via the website: http://yatra.jkbank.net of J&K Bank in an interactive mode on the payment of handling charges of Rs 15 per yatri. This facility has been provided particularly for the benefit of those pilgrims, who may not have ready access to any of the 149 designated registration counters. Every registered yatri will be provided an accidental insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh at the cost of the shrine board.

Jammu, May 3
Continuing its crackdown on illegal ultrasound clinics, the state government sealed two more clinics here today.

During a surprise check in the city, Minister for Health Sham Lal Sharma today detected an ultrasound clinic, which was functioning without permission. Interestingly, the clinic is located in the heart of the city in front of the SMGS Hospital.

Arora Ultrasound Clinic was working without permission. The permission of the clinic had lapsed way back in 2002 but it still had been operating, Sharma said.

Although following the direction of the minister the clinic was sealed, the incident exposed the Health Department authorities, who had been repeatedly claiming that the PNDT Act was being strictly implemented in the region.

Another clinic was also found functioning without maintaining proper records of pregnant women.

Sources said during the raid, eight pregnant women were found in the Karuna Ultrasound Clinic.

The management of the clinic had not maintained any record of the clients, especially pregnant women, which was mandatory as per the PNDT Act. The minister ordered the closure of the clinic immediately.

Directing the officers to step up vigil on the activities of all ultrasound clinics and nursing homes in the Jammu division, the minister asked them to conduct inspections of these establishments on regular intervals and ensure that no unlawful activity was carried out there.

He issued warning to all such clinics to desist from conducting sex determination tests. He asked all clinics and nursing homes to get proper permission from the authorities concerned and warned that those not fulfilling the required norms would be dealt sternly.

Talking to mediapersons after the inspection, the minister said the recent Census report showing a substantial decrease in the sex ratio in the state was an eye-opener and time had come to strictly implement the PNDT Act.

Kathua, May 3
Aradhna Andotra, who claims that she was the only woman sarpach during the last tenure of panchayats in the state, feels that 33 per cent reservation in panch seats for women in the state is not enough for the empowerment of rural women.

A sarpach candidate from the Jarai panchayat halqa in Kathua district this time, where the elections are going to be held on May 16, Aradhna stresses on increasing reservation for women, as prevalent in other states, to 50 per cent in the panchayats. “If we want more and more rural women to participate in the public sphere, the ambit of reservation has to be enhanced,” she advocated.

Aradhna believes that the panchayats could be strengthened only when the elected representatives of panchayats were equipped with similar powers and privileges as enjoyed by their counterparts in neighbouring states like Punjab and Haryana.

This gutsy and spirited former sarpanch belongs to Kathua district where reports of female infanticide and foeticide are rampant and the sex ratio is seriously skewed. However, 53-year-old Aradhna is being supported by her husband and the family in the panchayat elections. “My family is with me. It has been accompanying me during the door-to door campaigning. There is an unsavoury propaganda that a woman will not be an efficient sarpach, though I am optimistic that it will not succeed”. She is pitted against Joginder Singh and Babu Ram.

“Our village borders Punjab and it has been a route for smugglers. When I was the sarpanch, I ensured that such practices do not take place in the village. Consequently, I invited the ire of many anti-social elements, who even threatened me in person but could not discourage me,” Aradhna said.

“Though panchayats did not get enough money for development last time, I strived to solicit the assistance of the legislators and parliamentarians for getting funds and development projects,” she said.

“During my previous tenure, my panchayat got Rs 1 lakh in the first year and Rs 1.5 lakh each in the successive years,” she claimed. “Then there is no remuneration for the elected representatives of panchayats while their responsibilities and work areas are huge,” she said. The elected members of panchayats were not given representation at the meetings of the District Development Boards, she added.

“The government did not train the elected members of the panchayat last time but I was invited to two workshops organised by the Women Power Connect, an NGO, in Delhi,” Aradhna said.

She added that, “In the absence of training programmes, most of the panchs and sarpanchs remain unaware of their rights and development schemes”.

“The Panchayat Ghar in my constituency is in a dilapidated condition. Last time I arranged chairs and tables for it, but the building is very old and can collapse any time,” she said.

Srinagar, May 3
The All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) has expressed concern over the continued neglect of the minority community by the successive state governments and injustices meted out to it over the past six decades.

It feels that the community played a key role in the development of the state and the nation as well without much demands. The community has urged the opposition parties in the state to take up its issues and ask the government to make efforts for the uplift of the Sikhs of the state. “The APSCC will come out with concrete plans at the state level to shape its efforts,” said Jagmohan Singh Raina, chairman of the APSCC, at a function held at Gurdwara Guru Nanak Dev Ji at Bejbehara in south Kashmir. The function was attended by a large number of community members.

Raina said the Sikhs were the decisive voters in 20 important Assembly constituencies of the state. But the MLAs of these areas had always ignored them and never addressed the problems facing the community. “We have apprised ministers and MLAs about the problems we face in their constituencies, but they have always let us down. We now warn them if they don’t address our problems, we will launch a campaign across the state and later in the National Capital for the intervention of civil society,” Raina said.

He added that some of these MLAs were now ministers in the coalition government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. These legislators include Javid Ahmad Dar, who had won by 216 votes in the last Assembly elections, Nasir Aslam Wani, who won by a margin of 816 votes, Raman Bhalla, who won by 2,263 votes, and Surjeet Singh Slathia, who won by a margin of 1,212 votes.

Jammu, May 3
In continuation of the party’s scheduled programmes against the decision of the state government to revoke the order of issuing Dogra Certificate, the BJP organised protests at Udhampur, Reasi and RS Pura today. The party activists also burnt the effigies of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as a mark of protest against the NC-Congress coalition government’s total surrender to the separatists over the Dogra Certificate issue.

At Udhampur, president of the BJP district unit Dina Nath Bhagat led the protest at Gole Market, which was attended by Som Raj Khajuria, Raj Kumar Buchha and Rakesh Gupta. At Reasi, Kabla Singh led the protesting party activists, while Jasbir Singh Lucky led the party activists at RS Pura.

The BJP leaders criticised the NC-Congress coalition led by Omar Abdullah and the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for their appeasement policy towards separatists. They said the decision of the state government to stop the issuance of Dogra Certificates had been taken under pressure of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. It had hurt the sentiments of the people of Jammu and more so insulted the brave Dogras. “The issuance of Dogra Certificates to all residents of the Jammu region, which would have entitled them to relaxation in physical standards for recruitment to some paramilitary forces, could in no way have harmed the interests of the Valley people,” they observed. They said the certificate was being issued for more than 100 years without any consideration of religion and had never affected the recruitment of Valley people to the Central security forces.

Meanwhile, Panthers Party chief Prof Bhim Singh has condemned the state government’s authoritarian decision to revoke the Dogra Certificate order and termed the decision as illegal, discriminatory and mala fide that amounted to a grave insult to more than 10 million Dogras, who had changed not only the history but also the geography of India in the Himalayan range.

In a statement issued here today, Bhim Singh said those were the Dogras who had annexed Gilgit-Baltistan, the entire Ladakh region to India in the mid 19th century by spilling their blood and making unprecedented sacrifices for the unity and integrity of the country.

Jammu, May 3
While the BJP high command is in a dilemma over further action against seven party MLAs to whom notices have already been served in the cross-voting episode, the state unit of the BJP has become a battleground, as legislators of the party are publicly indulging in mud-slinging against each other.

The four MLAs, who have been given clean chit by the party leadership, are using all platforms to create an impression in the minds of people that they are “loyal” to the people of Jammu. The seven suspended MLAs, on the other hand, have launched a blistering attack on the four “Mr clean” to convince the pubic that the real culprit was among those who had got clean chit.

A few social organisations have also come out in support of the suspended MLAs. The supporters of the suspended MLAs have procured some documents also to substantiate their allegations that the real culprits were among those who had been given clean chit by the party high command.

After the Bhagat Samaj came out openly in support of suspended MLA Prof Garu Ram Bhagat, the Mahajan Sabha had given a veiled warning to the BJP against further action against veteran party leader Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, who has also been suspended for cross-voting.

While the four MLAs have been trying to project the seven others as “traitors”, who betrayed the people of Jammu by voting in favour of the Congress and the NC, the suspended MLAs are also availing of all opportunities to expose the four legislators. The suspended MLAs and their supporters have been targeting the chief whip of the party, Ashok Khajuria, and blaming him for the entire controversy. They have been circulating some documents among the people also.

However, the suspended MLAs, especially Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, Master Lal Chand and Baldev Sharma, had already pointed a finger towards Khajuria. Now, the supporters of the suspended MLAs have launched an aggressive campaign in the city to “expose” Khajuria and are highlighting the proximity of Khajuria to Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah to substantiate their allegations that he (Khajuria) was also the real culprit in the entire episode.

Sources in the BJP said the supporters of the suspended MLAs had given a number of “proofs” to the party high command to target Khajuria. They had even mentioned the episode when two of the party MLAs had joined the NC in 2002, they added.

Jammu, May 3
All seven suspended BJP legislators today decided to reply on May 6 to the show-cause notices issued to them by the party high command.

The party high command had set a deadline of May 7 for replying to the show cause notices, which were issued to seven of the 11 MLAs of the party. Seven MLAs were suspended by the party following cross-voting by the BJP legislators in favour of the Congress and National Conference candidates in the Legislative Council elections.

Sources said the suspended MLAs held a meeting here today and decided to reply to the show-cause notices separately. They added that the MLAs also decided to contest the parameters adopted by the party high command to single out them for cross-voting while giving clean chit to the four others.

Jammu, May 3
Activists of the Mahila Wing of the PDP held a protest against the NC-led coalition government here today for “encouraging corruption” and “undermining” the integrity of the highest institutions like the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.

The protest was held under the leadership of former MLA Shanti Devi. The activists raised slogans against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the NC for, what they alleged, legalising corruption and malpractices in the state.

Addressing the activists, Shanti Devi said since its formation, the present government headed by Omar Abdullah had been encouraging corruption in public life. She said the recent cross-voting episode, in which the ruling party had brazenly ‘purchased’ MLAs to ensure the victory of its candidates in the Legislative Council elections, was a glaring example of encouraging corruption.

The former MLA charged Omar of luring the BJP MLAs into voting for the candidates of the coalition partners in exchange of huge money. “The Chief Minister cannot escape his responsibility, as cross-voting by BJP MLAs in lieu of money was not possible without his consent,” she alleged.

Taking a dig at the Chief Minister for not initiating any inquiry into the cross-voting episode, Shanti Devi said the action taken by the BJP leadership to suspend its seven MLAs was the authentication of the allegations that there was something fishy in the entire episode.

“Now, it is high time for the Chief Minister to come clear on the whole episode, which has discredited the highest institutions like the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council,” she said. Those who addressed the gathering included Vijay Dogra, Surjeet Kour, Arsha Kumari and Anita. 

Jammu, May 3
In continuation to the efforts of the Army to link the Gulabgarh bowl in Ramban district with the rest of the Jammu region, the 59 Rashtriya Rifles (Assam) constructed a footbridge over the Shadaul nullah.

The bridge was inaugurated by Minister for Higher Education Abdul Gani Malik yesterday. According to the locals, while negotiating the Shadaul nullah in the absence of a bridge used to be a challenge. During bad weather and rain, the people had to take a diversion of around 500 metres.

The bridge is a respite for the old and the sick in particular, who will now have an easy access to the road ahead. The sarpanch of Ladh and Shadaul commended the efforts of the Army. He said when they approached the Army post at Dandiala with their grievances, the officer and jawans of the company immediately responded and the bridge was constructed within 20 days.