Srinagar, April 27
The police in north Kashmir has registered a case against the administration of a private educational institution for putting the lives of the students at risk by organising a cycle race in bad weather conditions.

The case was filed by parents of a student, Adnan Farooq, who was injured today while taking part in the race.

The race was organised by Saint Joseph’s School in Baramulla, north Kashmir. The parents have alleged that the race was organised by the school administration without making the highway secure and the students were forced to participate in the cycle race despite bad weather conditions.

The parents alleged that some students got grievously injured on the highway as there was no check from the school and the students started committing foul on each other instead of cycling and some of them fell from the cycles.

“I have got registered a case against the school as my son, a participant, got grievously injured in the race and there was no presence of school teachers. He was taken to hospital by people after half an hour,” said advocate Farooq Ahmad, father of Adnan Farooq, who got injured in the race.

He also blamed the administration for not providing safety kits, especially helmets, to the students on the “dangerous” national highway.

“Doctors who examined my son said he had a narrow escape. He has been admitted in the hospital and is being treated as he suffered fractures and broke his teeth,” he said.

The race started from the school in Delina and moved on to Baramulla through a distance of 6 km early on Saturday morning.

The Saint Joseph’s principal Sebastian said he had informed the Army and police about the event. Army and policemen were on the roads along with the school staff, he added. “We have been organising this event for the past many years and it is not necessary to seek permission for the race from the district administration,” he said.

“As for the injuries caused to the student, we gave him first aid and also got him admitted in the hospital. His condition is stable,” he added.

Kanispora (Baramulla), April 27
Five years back, Hinna’s father had left home to secure a good future for her by joining J&K police. Today, six year-old Hinna, and her two brothers Sahil, 9, and Rizwan, 6, are mourning the death of their father Gulshan Bhat, who was one among the four policemen who were shot dead by militants on Friday in Haigam village near Sopore.

Gulshan was working as a Special Police Officer (SPO) at a meagre salary of Rs 3,000.

“We are shattered as he was the only bread earner in the family,” said Gulshan’s wife Mehmooda. “After we came to know about his death yesterday, my three children are in shock along with the entire family,” she said.

Gulshan’s father Abdul Aziz Bhat said the body of his son was handed over to them by the police last night.

“We are very poor people and my son had joined the police at a meagre salary. I am too old and it is difficult for the family to come to terms with his death. What was the fault of my son who had gone to the village after getting an information about a crime?" asked Bhat.

Apart from Gulshan, those killed in the militant attack included head constable Abdul Rahim of Tulmullah, Ganderbal, constable Mudasir Ahmad Bhat of Noorbagh Srinagar and SPO Mudasir Ahmad Parray of Kreeri, Baramulla.

A police spokesman in Srinagar said senior police and civil officers visited the families of the four slain policemen on Saturday.

“To sympathise with the families of the police martyrs who sacrificed their lives at Haigam, Sopore yesterday, senior police and civil officers visited their families today. Quran Khawani was also held at district police lines Srinagar to pray for the departed souls,” the spokesman said.

“These officers assured all help to the families of these martyrs,” it was stated.

Srinagar, April 27
Not just tightening the noose around the erring drivers, Srinagar traffic police has got onto a counselling mode too, with the people being advised to keep a vigil on traffic rules violations and report the same to the police.

Superintendent of traffic police Haseeb-ur-Rehman told Kashmir Tribune that people should not cooperate with those public transporters who blatantly violate traffic rules and should rather report about them to the police.

“The fact is that a lot can be changed with full public participation in enforcement of traffic rules. Although we do occasionally receive complaints from people regarding drivers who violate rules, I am sure a lot more could be done. Incidents of traffic violation are very common, so people should accordingly report to us frequently. The traffic police department will take all the required steps to punish the violators,” SP traffic said.

The Srinagar traffic police had introduced the concept of complaint boxes at various points in the city where people could submit their complaints which did not work out.

“The regular sensitisation drives the department is organising are not just to fine the rules violators but also to apprise the commoners that traffic rules should be taken more seriously,” Rehman said.

He added that Sumo drivers who tend to find their way around rules will also be brought to book in case they are found to be violating the norms.

“We have been implementing the rules on all major public transport systems in the city like buses and auto-rickshaws. Now, even Sumos will be included in this ambit. Since Sumos initially used to ply only on the National Highway (Jammu-Srinagar highway) route, they were not monitored that closely. Now since we have Sumos plying within the districts of the Valley, these will be checked too,” the SP traffic said.

He said the number of passengers permitted for each Sumo vehicle is seven on the National Highway route and nine within the Valley.

“Wherever the commuters feel overloading and overcharging by Sumo drivers is taking place, a complaint should be registered with the traffic police,” he added.

Kupwara, April 27
Police has initiated preliminary investigations against three persons posing as mediapersons involved in extortion of money from officials of forest department and other people in Handwara tehsil.

In a written complaint, Tawheed Ahmad Deva, Divisional Forests Officer (DFO) Langate, on Saturday, alleged that three persons posing as mediapersons were demanding money from officials of the department at the behest of a few media organisations. The trio is also accused of extortion from sarpanches and officials of some other departments, said sources.

SP Handwara Mohammad Aslam Chowdary said preliminary investigations have been initiated into the compliant and if found guilty, the accused would be strongly dealt with under law.

“On the basis of a complaint against the impostors, we have started investigations to ascertain the facts. Nobody would be spared if the mediapersons are found guilty,” said the SP Handwara.

DFO forest division Langate, in his complaint to Handwara police, has stated that three mediapersons - Aijaz Ahmad Khan from Kukroosa Handwara, Mudasir Ahmad Lone from Bakiakar and Mohammad Hussian Mir from Dareshpora, were demanding money from forest officials in Handwara and were threatening them with character assassination in the media if the officials did not concede to their demand. Earlier, on April 25, Ahmadullah Najar, block forest officer, Bakiakar, received a call from the “mediapersons” asking him to reach forest compartment 67 Trumnard in Magam range.

“They came in a Maruti 800 bearing registration number JK04 A-6142. They said I, along with some other officials, were in nexus with timber smugglers and demanded Rs 20,000 for the story not getting highlighted in print and electronic media,” said Najar.

“They later forced me to meet them in Handwara and demanded the money once again. I told them they should go ahead with a story against me but they continued to make phone calls to harass me,” added Najar.

Later, Najar informed DFO Langate and he formally lodged a complaint against the accused.

“They are extorting money from the officials and harassing them on one pretext or another. They bank on such unlawful activities to make easy money. I hope the police will deal with them with an iron fist under the law,” said the DFO.

The accused also extorted ransom from Habibullah Mir, sarpanch, Maidan Chogal.

“To highlight problems of farmers in Maidan Chogal, the trio demanded and received Rs 4,000 on two occasions and still did not highlight the protest by farmers. They apparently had video clips of protest demonstrations but maintained that to run the footage on each channel, payment of Rs 500 was needed,” said Habibullah.

Srinagar, April 27
Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) will soon issue demolition notices against structures constructed in violation of the city's Master Plan as it has signalled launching of a sustained campaign against the defaulters.

The decision to launch the aggressive campaign was taken by the vice-chairman of the SDA Mohammad Shafi Rather while meeting officials of the body’s enforcement wing, an official spokesman said.

Rather warned the violators to cooperate with the SDA in removal of the encroachments, saying action including demolition of structures would be initiated against those who fail to remove the illegal structures immediately.

“The meeting observed that the norms of Master Plan need to be implemented strictly as violations hamper planned growth and development of the city,” the spokesman said.

It was decided at the meeting that action would be taken against the residents who have violated the city’s Master Plan. The spokesman said action will be immediately taken against those who have constructed structures in “non-permissible zones” and in violation of building plans.

The campaign will also be directed against those residents who have converted their residential buildings into commercial centres, the spokesman said.

The meeting also decided to strengthen the enforcement wing of SDA by including more manpower and equipment to ensure speedy removal of encroachments, the spokesman said.

Srinagar, April 27
An unidentified person has been found dead, his body charred, as fire destroyed three structures in two separate incidents in central Kashmir.

Fire broke out at a shop in Beerwah market in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, a police spokesman said. During subsequent search of the shop, a charred male unidentified body was recovered there. The body has now been kept inside police station Beerwah while police has registered a case, the spokesman said. In central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, two houses were gutted.

Srinagar, April 27
Police has launched a hunt to trace a shopkeeper who has gone missing.

A police officer said Manzoor Ahmad Bhat of Nishat went missing on Friday afternoon when he left his shop at Lal Chowk along with a few persons who had visited him at the shop. The family is apprehending that Bhat has been kidnapped. — TNS

Kupwara, April 27
Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers of education zone Sogam, in Lolab valley of Kupwara district, demanded release of their pending arrears at the earliest.

They said the arrears of all other zones in Kupwara district had been released in time but the department was delaying the release of their arrears for the past over a year.

“All the zones in the district have released the outstanding amount of ReTs but we are being subjected to inordinate delays in the release of arrears for reasons best known to the department,” said Zahoor Ahmad.

They said they were being paid a meagre salary of Rs 3,000 per month and the release of arrears in time could come handy in meeting the day-to-day expenditures.

“I am not able to pay Rs 2,000 of pending school fee of my daughter enrolled in a private school. The release of arrears could have helped me pay the fee and meet some other expenditure,” said Abrar Ahmad, a protester.

The ReTs threatened to resort to protests if the arrears were not released before Friday. They alleged that despite several representations to the Chief Education Officer (CEO), Kupwara, the department had not bothered to address their problems. Some of them alleged that the clerical staff in Zonal Education Office (ZEO), Sogam, demanded Rs 200 from each teacher for releasing the arrears.

“The clerks in the ZEO office demanded money for releasing the dues. The clerical staff is paid a handsome salary and is duty-bound to do our work. I fail to understand why they ask for bribe for releasing payment due to us,” said a teacher.

Another ReT said, “We made several representations to ZEO, Sogam, with a plea to release our hard earned money but to no avail. We will be forced to go on strike or hold protests if the department did not release our outstanding amount in time”, said Shabir Ahmad.

Some of them said they would collect the money demanded by the clerical staff to get the outstanding amount released without any further delay. CEO, Kupwara, Ashok Kumar Sharma said he was not aware of the matter. “I will intervene to get their arrears released at the earliest,” said CEO Kupwara.

Srinagar, April 27
University of Kashmir’s (KU) Institute of Kashmir Studies (IKS) will shortly introduce MPhil and PhD courses on various subjects as Kashmir’s economy, history and geography, from this year.

This came to light in an interactive session of former Union Minister and Chairperson, South Asia Foundation, Indian Chapter, Mani Shankar Aiyar with 20 post graduate students at IKS.

This was announced by Vice-Chancellor, KU, Prof Talat while interacting with the representatives of South Asia Foundation (SAF), UNESCO and the first batch of students enrolled at the Institute of Kashmir Studies.

While interacting with the students and faculty, Aiyar said the objective of SAF was to uphold its core values of regional cooperation and peace through education and cultural interaction between the eight SAARC countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

He said “make efforts for the preservation of cultural heritage of Kashmir and dissemination of information regarding the same among the general public by publishing and projecting the research findings on the various aspects related to Kashmir Studies, which is the primary aim of the centre.”

Prof Ahmad, while talking about the higher level courses which will be introduced at IKS, said the admissions would be started this year so that deep research on various facets of Kashmir’s culture, religion, philosophy and regions could be conducted.

Srinagar, April 27
Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Ali Mohammad Sagar today inaugurated a Panchayat Ghar constructed by Rural Development Department at Zarwan in Budgam district of central Kashmir, on the occasion of Panchayat Day.

Sagar said the government was taking all possible steps to empower panches and sarpanches of the state by implementing various welfare schemes.

He said Rs 20 lakh was spent on the construction of Panchayat Ghar comprising seven rooms, one conference hall, office for sarpanch and other required facilities.

Later in the day, Sagar also addressed a panch-sarpanch conference at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) where he said through panchayat raj institutions the panchayat members had been empowered to look into the smooth functioning of 14 departments and that their contribution in implementation of development and welfare schemes were of great importance for the betterment of socio-economic conditions of the people. Rejecting the elements bent upon weakening the panchayati raj institutions, Sagar said such elements would never succeed and the tempo of panchayati raj institutions would gather momentum day-by-day.

About the remuneration of panch members, Sagar said the government was committed to support panches and sarpanches in respect of their emoluments and other facilities. Later, he distributed cheques worth Rs 17 lakh, under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, among 170 beneficiaries of Khimber and Panchnad of district Srinagar.