Srinagar, June 1
The State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) today conducted raids in north Kashmir after a case of disproportionate assets was registered against an executive officer of the Municipal Committee, Bandipora.

Abdul Rashid Shah of Papchan, Bandipora, was accused of amassing disproportionate assets.

A spokesman for the SVO said several complaints were received against Shah regarding disproportionate assets.

“A secret verification was conducted into the allegations which substantiated the complaints. Accordingly, a case under the J&K Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against Shah,” he said.

Search warrants were obtained from the court of the Anti-Corruption, Srinagar, and searches were conducted to lay hands on incriminating documents related to assets disproportionate to his know sources.

“Among the places searched by officials of the SVO, included residential houses of the accused at Papchan and Gazaliabad, HMT, Srinagar, a residence of his relative Abdul Rahim Wani at Wani Mohalla, Sunarwani, Bandipora,” he said.

During the searches, several incriminating documents related to disproportionate assets were recovered, besides documents related to his bank and ATM transactions were recovered.

“The scrutiny of documents is going on. Some more recovery of incriminating documents is expected during further scrutiny,” he added.

“The assets found link to the officer include residential houses at Papchan and Gazaliabad, a shopping complex consisting of 15 shops titled Al-Abrar Shopping Complex at Madina Market, Bandipora, and seven kanals of land at prime locations,” he said.

Handwara, June 1
Alleged negligence of the Power Development Department (PDD) claimed the life of a poor woman in remote Zachaldara village of Handwara tehsil yesterday evening. After the incident, residents of the village protested against the department and demanded stern action against ‘erring employees’ posted in the village.

Sara Begum (39), wife of Bashir Ahmad Sheikh, was electrocuted when she unintentionally stepped on a live low-tension supply wire that had fallen down on the ground near her house, sources said.

The woman received serious burn injuries and was rushed to the local health centre, where doctors declared her brought dead. Sara was returning home after getting a few kilograms of ration from a ration depot when the accident took place.

“It is a crystal clear case of power department’s negligence which led to the death of the poor woman. The live wire tied loosely on a poplar tree had fallen down at least two hours before the victim accidentally stepped on it,” said Mohd Ramzan, a local resident.

The deceased was the mother of five minor children and used to do household chores in neighboring houses to feed her children. Her husband Bashir Ahmad mostly remains bedridden due to an illness for the past few years.

The protesters raised slogans against the power department and blocked the Handwara-Zachaldara road in the evening. Sensing trouble, no power official visited the spot and the protesters were pacified around 8 pm, sources said.

A local resident said even a slight wind threatens accidents in the village as most of the supply wires were loosely tied on poplar and other trees. “The lives wires fall on the ground following winds posing serious threat to human lives. We requested the power officials to tie the supply lines on electric poles but nothing has been done so far,” said Mushtaq Ahmad, another local resident.

Handwara Power Division Executive Engineer Abdul Qayoom said, “We will investigate the incident and if found guilty, officials responsible for the accident will be punished. I make a fervent appeal to the people not to resort to any activity if supply line falls down anywhere due to wind and inform the department about the same.”

Handwara, June 1
A 27-year-old man was found hanging from a deodar tree in nearby forests today.

Farooq Ahmad Shabangi, a resident of Malikpora Haril village, 20 km from Langate, along with his horse left his home around 7 am today to fetch firewood.

His family grew anxious and started looking for him and around 11am, a local informed them about his murder, reports said.

“The rope which he had tied around the neck of his horse had been used to hang him. My son was innocent and worked hard to feed me and his spouse. Now, who will take care of us,” said Raja Begum, mother of the deceased.

Farooq got married only six months ago to Gulshana from a nearby village. His father Ahmad Ali Shabangi was killed by unknown gunmen in 1998 at his native village.

Farooq was the eldest son of his parents and used to live with his mother. Two of his brothers are living separately in the village. Hundreds of villagers visited the bereaved family to offer their condolences when Farooq’s body reached his home.

Family sources said one Abdul Qayoom Rakhi, Farooq’s friend, was at his residence last night. “Besides his mother and wife, Farooq’s friend Rakhi was at his home for the night. As usual, he left his house in the morning, but never to return,” said a relative.

Langate MLA Engineer Rashid asked the state government ensure strongest punishment to the culprits.

Kupwara, June 1
Farmers in north Kashmir are busy planting paddy seedlings amid good weather conditions. The sowing season will last up to last week of this month. Earlier in last week of May, incessant rain hampered the planting process for a few days.

“Thankfully, the weather has improved for the past few days allowing farmers to plant the seedlings. We are hopeful of a good yield this year. Last year, hailstorm on a few occasions damaged the crop in its peak season,” said Bashir Ahmad Dar, a farmer from Charkote Lolab. Women also help in plantation of the seedlings.

The plantation season of paddy seedlings offers jobs to many. Labourers charge about Rs 300 to Rs 350 per day. “The season lasts about three to four weeks offering jobs to many. Local labourers are engaged in planting of paddy and later in its harvest as well,” said Javid Ahmad from Trehgam.

More than 90 per cent people cultivate paddy crop as their mainstay in north Kashmir. The farmers demanded that major streams in Kupwara district, including Pohru Peth, Nallah Mawar and Lal Koul, should be cleaned for weeds to ensure adequate supply of irrigation water to the fields in hot summer season ahead.

“Lifeline of thousands of kanals of paddy, these streams have long been ignored by the Irrigation department. Cleaning of these water bodies is a must to ensure adequate supply of water to the fields in the coming months,” said Abdul Ahad, a farmer from Handwara.

A delegation of farmers from Gulgam near Kupwara said the Chakwari stream had witnessed dense growth of weeds choking the flow of its water. They said the stream which was the only source of irrigation water to thousands of kanals had not been cleaned for weeds for the past many years.

“There will be a severe shortage of irrigation water if the stream is not cleaned for weeds. In next few weeks, availability of the irrigation water in fields will help in ripening of the paddy crop. Paddy is the main source of our sustenance and the Irrigation department least bothers to take care of streams,” said Fayaz Ahmad.

Srinagar, June 1
The Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) today launched an anti-encroachment drive in General Bus Stand (GBS), Batamaloo, and Regional Bus Terminal (RBT), Panthachowk, and removed scores of illegal vendors and squatters.

During the drive launched by the Enforcement Wing on the directions of SDA vice-chairman Mohammad Shafi Rather, hundreds of vendors and squatters were removed from roadsides, pavements and other assets to facilitate smooth movement of traffic and pedestrians.

“Scores of vendors were removed from the entry and exit points of the RBT to facilitate smooth movement of traffic there as their presence was adding to the chronic congestion there,” said Rather. “Passenger and mini buses and Sumos were also asked to operate from within the premises of the RBT instead of plying from the roadside,” he added.

The SDA authorities also removed some temporary sheds from the marshalling yard of the GBS besides clearing fire gaps, staircases and bathrooms of various SDA shopping complexes of illegal encroachers.

“Under the renewed drive, we will be clearing all the encroachments from the GBS and RBT and restore the public facilities to the original position, so that people in general and thousands of commuters in particular do not face any inconvenience,” said Abdul Aziz Khawaja, Deputy Director, Enforcement, who led the anti-encroachment drive.

The vice-chairman had directed the Enforcement Wing of the SDA to ensure that no encroachments take place in and around any of the public facilities owned by SDA and the violators should be taken to task.

Recently, the high court took serious cognisance of encroachments of public facilities including roads, footpaths, bus stands and other facilities illegally by hawkers, vendors and squatters and ordered immediate restoration of all such facilities for public use.

Srinagar, June 1
Congress state president Saifuddin Soz today said sarpanches and panches could only be empowered if the provisions of 73rd amendment were incorporated in the JK Panchayati Raj Act.

Soz, who addressed a party worker’s convention in Anantnag district, said the Congress had an ‘unequivocal position’ on the 73rd amendment.

“Unless these provisions are incorporated into the Panchayati Raj Act of Jammu and Kashmir, the sarpanches and panches can never be empowered and, therefore, Congress party’s struggle in the achievement of this goal would continue,” Soz said.

The state Congress chief said it was ‘in the fitness of things’ to hold local bodies’ elections as early as possible.

The day-long convention was held at Dak Bunglow in Anantnag today. The state Haj Auqaf and Horticulture Minister Peerzada Mohd Sayeed, Tourism Minister GA Mir, MLC Mohammad Muzaffar Parray, MLC Gulam Nabi Monga, MLC Bashir Ahmad Magrey and other leaders of the Congress were present at the convention.

Soz reiterated that the Congress would emerge as the single largest party in the 2014 JK legislative Assembly elections. He also said he would take the issue of introduction of more subjects at the south campus of Kashmir University with the Vice-Chancellor.

Peerzada Mohd Sayeed, while addressing the gathering, made an appeal to the Congress workers that they should remain united for the cause of the party.

Pahalgam, June 1
Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Shalendra Kumar today visited Pahalgam to take stock of the arrangements made for the Amarnath Yatra, commencing from June 28.

Kumar urged the officials to adhere to the timeline for the conduct of smooth and successful Amarnath Yatra this year.

He directed the officials concerned to speed up the clearance of routes from Pahalgam to the Holy Cave.

The Divisional Commissioner was accompanied by senior officials of the divisional administration,

besides Chief Executive Officer, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), in his day-long tour to Chandanwari.

He directed the officials to ensure that only those pilgrims who had valid permits be allowed to undertake the yatra.

“Uninterrupted power and water supply, sanitation, Medicare, telecom facilities and transport facilities should be taken care of on a priority basis,” Kumar told the officials of the Anantnag district administration.

Anantnag District Development Commissioner Farooq Ahmed Lone told the Divisional Commissioner that adequate stocks of essentials would be made available to the pilgrims.

He said 13 medical-aid centres, besides six emergency medical centres, would be established for the Medicare facilities.

Chief Executive Officer, Shrine Board, Navin Kumar Chowdhary, exhorted the officials to maintain discipline and put in coordinated efforts for the conduct of smooth and incident-free yatra.

The Divisional Commissioner directed the officials of the CA&PD to submit daily stock position of essentials during the yatra period and also asked for expediting the registration of ponies and labourers.

He also directed the officials of the Meteorological Department to announce weather forecast after every three hours.

Srinagar, June 1
CPM state secretary Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami today criticised the Centre for increasing the petrol and diesel rates, saying such a hike hits the interest of the poor and lower-middle class.

Tarigami, who is a state legislator from south Kashmir, said the hike in the petrol rates by 75 paise and diesel rates by 50 paise per litre affected the price of all commodities and demanded an immediate rollback. “The price hike shows that the Centre is no more concerned about the common man,” said Tarigami.

He said the deregulation of diesel prices would keep up the price hike phenomenon. “It is hitting the common man, who is already reeling under the problem of high-inflation. The food inflation and depreciation of rupee have already worsened the economic condition of the people and the hike in petrol and diesel prices will add to it,” said the CPM leader. Tarigami said the ‘justifications’ provided by the government for ordering the hike in fuel charges were ‘unreasonable and unrealistic’.

Srinagar, June 1
In protest against an attack on Bar office and thrashing of some lawyers by a group of people here yesterday, lawyers today boycotted the proceedings in the high court and other subordinate courts in the city.

The call for boycotting the court proceedings was given by the Kashmir High Court Bar Association to protest the attack. While showing solidarity with the lawyers who were assaulted, the Bar in a meeting yesterday had also showed its concern over “ineffective attitude by judicial officers” concerned to the incident and called for a day-long strike on Saturday.

Though the offices in high court and Sadder court complex in Srinagar were opened today, however, the lawyers did not appear in their respective cases before the courts.

Following registration of a complaint by the Bar Association, the police had yesterday evening arrested a man for assaulting his lawyer at the Saddar court and later ransacking the office of the Kashmir High Court Bar Association with his supporters.

Srinagar, June 1
The Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) has started upgrading infrastructure at the Regional Bus Terminal (RBT), Panthachowk, on war-footing in view of the High Court directions for making the terminal fully functional for south-bound traffic.

A team of officials, comprising Vice-Chairperson of the SDA Mohammad Shafi Rather, Transport Commissioner Sanjeev Verma, Kashmir Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Mohammad Anees and Managing Director of the SRTC JS Tandon visited the Panthachowk RBT today to take stock of the existing and upcoming facilities for transporters there.

The team was informed that the work for the development of the SRTC yard was in full swing, said an official spokesperson of the SDA.

“Coming up at an estimated cost of Rs 1.03 crore and spread over 20 kanal, the yard will have facilities like office block, workshop, marshalling yard and toilet block,” he said.

To ease the traffic congestion near the Panthachowk, the SDA Vice-Chairperson called for having separate entry and exit points for the bus terminal. He ordered immediate opening of separate exit for vehicles from the bypass side, which would go a long way in facilitating smooth traffic movement in and out of the bus terminal.

The Vice-Chairperson also ordered immediate lifting of garbage from the bus terminal and proper landscaping and beautification of the area.

“The team was also informed that the demarcation of sites at the bus terminal for various segments of transporters, including buses, tempo travellers and light vehicles, would be done immediately,” added the spokesperson.

Responding to the demands of transporters, Rather said the issue of drinking water facility would be taken up with the PHE Department.

Speaking on the occasion, the Transport Commissioner instructed the authorities concerned to ensure development, face-lifting and provision of adequate amenities at the bus terminal for the convenience of the tourists and general public.