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Amarnath Yatra
Shrine Board, govt getting regular Met updates
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High Court wants govt to clarify ban on use of polythene in J&K
Court stays J-K cricket panel meet
State stalled enrolment for Aadhaar card 6 months ago
Governor, CM extend Gurpurb greetings
Arms, ammunition seized from hideout in Kishtwar
Infiltration bid foiled along LoC in Poonch
J-K Anti-Corruption Act
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Amarnath Yatra
Srinagar, July 4 The injured driver, identified as Ghulam Nai Lone from
Kangan, has been admitted to a hospital, where his condition is stated to be stable, a police spokesman stated. The clash took place when CRPF men were regulating the movement of vehicles at the busy camp site near
Sonmarg, about 100 km from here. “After the clash, some miscreants threw stones on the deployment there. The situation has been brought under control,” the police spokesman said. The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board
(SASB) has expressed concerned over the incident and it wants the issue to be sorted out by the police at the earliest, say sources. Meanwhile, nearly 89,000 pilgrims have had darshan of the ice lingam of Lord Shiva at the Amarnath cave shrine during the first week of the pilgrimage, which began via the Pahalgam and Baltal routes on June 28. Of these, only 16,000 yatris have arrived in the yatra convoys, which are running daily from the base camp in Jammu to Pahalgam and Baltal in Kashmir, since June 27. Officials said most of the yatris were arriving in private vehicles and by air. At least 25 flights carrying tourists, pilgrims and locals land in Srinagar daily. From June 28 to July 3, 80,640 pilgrims paid obeisance at the holy cave, while 7,838 pilgrims paid their obeisance by this afternoon. The yatra has been going on smoothly, with the weather conditions remaining normal since the yatra started, officials said here. The
SASB, in accordance with the Supreme Court directives, has been sticking to the ceiling of 15,000 yatris every day from both routes. Strictly enforcing the directives, not more than 7,500 yatris are allowed each via Baltal and
Pahalgam. Officials confirmed that the number of yatris leaving from the Nunwan
(Pahalgam) base camp did not exceed 6,000 on any day so far. 2 yatris die of cardiac arrest Two pilgrims died due to cardiac arrest in the Amarnath cave shrine area on Wednesday. The police said Ashwini
Patil, 51, a resident of Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, died at Nagakoti, while Krishan Kanji, 50, a resident of Vasandrapur in Gujarat, died at the holy cave. |
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Shrine Board, govt getting regular Met updates
Jammu, July 4 This year the IMD in the state has especially set up six automatic weather stations at the holy cave area,
Panjtarni, Sheshnag, Chandanwari, Nunwan and Baltal, sending detailed weather forecasts via faxes, SMSes and emails to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board and the state government, including the disaster management authority, twice every day. The practice will continue till the Amarnath yatra ends on August 21. “Only after analysing the weather forecasts, the state authorities are allowing batches of pilgrims from Baltal and Pahalgam towards the cave shrine,” said IMD Regional Director Sonam Lotus. He said by next year J&K would also get a state-of-the-art Doppler weather radar which will provide precise and improved forecasts in the state which remains as vulnerable to natural calamities as
Uttarakhand. The state witnessed cloudbursts in Leh on August 6, 2010, killing over 1,000 people. A 7.6 magnitude quake in the Poonch and Uri areas killed nearly 1,400 people and nearly 1 lakh in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The state is prone to natural calamities. “In the ongoing pilgrimage, our teams of weathermen are keeping a hawk’s eye on the weather conditions round the clock, getting images from the satellites,” Lotus said. “Except the Doplar weather radar, the state as of today has a good network of observatories in the form of 15 automatic weather stations in Kashmir, one in
Leh, six in Jammu and 10 surface manual observatories (five each in Jammu and Kashmir),” said Lotus. Lotus said as of today, Jammu, Srinagar and Leh districts had upper air meteorological parameter-measuring instruments which enable the IMD to measure wind direction, its speed, temperature, humidity and other thermodynamic parameters, 30 km above the surface of the earth. The state also has two seismographs, one each at Jammu and
Srinagar. “When we get information of a drastic change in weather, we inform the state government well in time and make phone calls to the quarters concerned,” he said. |
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Centre allots coal block to J&K
Srinagar, July 4 This was stated by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today after inaugurating the Drungi Micro Hydel Power Project on Ferozpur Nallah at Tangmarg in north Kashmir under the Independent Power Producers (IPP) mode. Equating self-reliance in power production with financial autonomy, Omar said: “My target is to make J&K a power surplus state and strengthen its economy to such a level wherefrom it need not plead for Central assistance time and again.” He said the government had already laid edifice for this “stupendous goal” and various projects with generation capacity of 9,000 MW were currently under implementation. Asserting that the “economic autonomy is as important as the political one”, Omar said the state had sustained “constant and irrevocable loss” due to the Indus Water Treaty in which the two neighbours (India and Pakistan) distributed rivers. All three rivers of Jammu and Kashmir were given to Pakistan without having any care for the future of state, he added. Omar said his aim was to realise the dream of people of the state “to relish 24-hour power supply” and also export the surplus to other states of the country. Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir, MoS for Power Viqar Rasool and MoS for Animal Husbandary Nazir Ahmad Gurezi were also present on the occasion. Meanwhile, referring to the tourism activities in Gulmarg, the Chief Minister expressed dissatisfaction over the reports of “pressure tactics” employed by the ponywallahs at the north Kashmir tourist resort. Stating that hospitality and high quality service to tourists had remained the “traditional trait” of the people of the Valley, Omar said he had received reports that about 7,000 ponywallahs were operating in Gulmarg against the 1,500 registered ones. “Their (ponywallahs) functioning and treatment with the tourists is not up to the standard as should have been. We should not have allowed the unregistered ones to work, but for their livelihood government is not taking this step,” he added. Warning that tourists would not like to visit Gulmarg in case they were not extended hospitality, Omar urged the ponywallahs and other tourism sector stakeholders to work out a strategy with the government departments concerned where they (ponywallahs) could earn their livelihood respectfully and also the goodwill of the tourists. Gulmarg is around 13 km from Tangmarg, where Omar inaugurated the power project.
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High Court wants govt to clarify ban
Srinagar, July 4 In the policy decision, the court said, the state was expected to explain whether as per the ordinance SRO-182, the ban was only on use of polythene carry bags or it also included ban on polythene used for making packing material. These directions were issued today by a division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir in a public interest litigation (PIL) on the preservation and conservation of the Dal Lake. As the matter came up today, counsel GA Lone, representing the industrial units that manufacture polythene packing material other than polythene carry bags, brought to the notice of the court the ambiguity prevailing in SRO-182. He said in SRO-182 the expression “ban on polythene carry bags” and not the term “polythene’ has been used. He said polythene is also used for making packing materials other than polybags, like packing food items. However, the amicus curie, advocate Zaffar Shah, submitted that the use, manufacture, trade and transport of any material made of polythene should be banned altogether in the state. This then prompted the bench to issue directions to the government for taking a policy decision with regard to the SRO-182 as the expression used in the SRO is polythene carry bags. “The state government is expected to take a policy decision whether use of polythene carry bags is banned under the SRO or the polythene material, which may be used
for making packing material,” the bench observed in its orders while Reading from the status report filed by the authorities concerned, the bench also revealed that since January 2013, 12299.35 kg of polythene had been seized by the authorities in the Kashmir province alone despite the fact that the entry of polythene was banned in the state. “There are loopholes and the entry (of polythene) appears to be allowed on extraneous considerations,” the bench observed while directing the authorities concerned to file a detailed report in this regard. The bench also observed that the possibility of accepting “composite biodegradable plastic bags” as an alternative to the polythene carry bags, as was suggested by the Pollution Control Board (PCB), was “minimum”. It directed the PCB to get the proposal examined by the expert committee. ‘Explain policy’ In the policy decision, the court said, the state was expected to explain whether as per the ordinance SRO-182, the ban was only on use of polythene carry bags or it also included ban on polythene used for making packing material What SRO-182 specifies? As per SRO-182 (ordinance) issued by the state government on June 18, 2008, polythene carry bags are banned in the state in the light of Jammu & Kashmir Non-Biodegradable Material (Management, Handling and Disposal) Act, 2007 Subsequently, after the issuance of the ordinance, manufacture, trade, transportation or use of polythene carry bags became illegal in the state Later in July 2012, as a step forward, the High Court had also directed the government to stop entry of the polythene carry bags at Lakhanpur, Jammu railway station and Lower Munda in Qazigund, which are the main entry points into the state However, the ambiguity still prevails in the SRO-182, as in the ordinance the expression “ban on polythene carry bags” is used not the term “polythene material” as a whole |
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Court stays J-K cricket panel meet
Jammu, July 4 The petitioners, the International Cricket Club, sought a stay on the notice and appointment of commissioner-cum-receiver to look after the funds and functioning of the JKCA. Justice Magrey issued notice to Chief Secretary Iqbal Khandey, JKCA, through General Secretary, JKCA president Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Aslam Goni, Salim Khan, Ahsan Mirza, Director General, Youth services and Sports, BCCI, to file their replies within two weeks. In the petition, it has been submitted that during pendency of the petition, honorary treasurer of the JKCA had issued notice on June 22, 2013, for convening the meeting of the Working Committee of the JKCA on July 6, 2013. The election of officer-bearers of the Working Committee of the JKCA and other agendas are mentioned in the notice. While staying the notice, Justice Magrey observed that, “A perusal of judgment reveals that this court while deciding the above mentioned case held that the meeting not notified by the General Secretary or in his absence the other secretary nominated by the president, in accordance with the rules, and not presided over by the president, when he is available on a given agenda and at the given venue would not be competent within a given position of rules. Prima-facie the notice issued by the honorary treasurer is without jurisdiction and therefore shall stand stayed till the next date of hearing.” |
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State stalled enrolment for Aadhaar card 6 months ago
Jammu, July 4 The enrolment for the Aadhaar card started in the state last year after the contract was awarded to Central Bank of India, all over the country. The bank started its process with the help of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), an agency of the Government of India responsible for implementing the Aadhaar scheme but it had to suspend work when some objections were raised. “The process was stopped in Jammu and Kashmir six months ago and after that it was decided that no enrolment for Aadhaar cards in the state would be processed,” said M L Chawla, public relations officer (Chandigarh zonal office) of Central Bank of India. The Aadhaar card is a 12-digit individual identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India. The Aadhaar card will serve as proof of identity all over India. In the absence of Aadhaar cards, people of Jammu and Kashmir will not be able to get benefits of Central schemes like direct cash transfer. When the process started in the state, many people got enrolled and a few of them even received the cards. Most of them, however, didn’t get the cards. “More than a year ago, I got enrolled for the Aadhaar card but to date I haven’t received the card,” said Navneet Dubey, 38, a businessman running a small-scale industry in Jammu. Sources told The Tribune that some agencies of the state raised objections against giving the enrolment contract to Central Bank of India. When the state government failed to sort out the issue, Central Bank of India withdrew from the contract. Now, the UIDAI will have to settle the matter with state government on how to restart the Aadhaar enrolment. The J&K Government did not respond to queries posed by The Tribune on the issue. When contacted, J&K Chief Secretary Muhammad Iqbal Khanday refused to comment on the matter. |
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Governor, CM extend Gurpurb greetings
Srinagar, July 4 The Governor hoped that the celebration would strengthen the bonds of amity, harmony and brotherhood and be a harbinger of peace, progress and prosperity in the state. Vohra observed that Guru Hargobind’s noble example of selfless service, based on high values of righteousness, truth and love, was more relevant today than at anytime in the past. He prayed for the well-being of the people of the state. The Chief Minister
said the state had a rich tradition of celebrating holy occasions and festivals in amity and brotherhood. He prayed for peace and development in
the state. |
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Arms, ammunition seized from hideout in Kishtwar
Batote, July 4 Army sources said the seizure included one AK-56 rifle, three AK-47 magazines, 224 rounds of AK-47 rifle, eight rounds of 7.67mm sniper rifle, one magazine of 7.67 sniper rifle, 13 rounds of 7.67 SLR, one personal pouch and a US army jacket. The sources said the cache was wrapped in polythene bags and hidden inside the hollow of a tree. It is believed to be of Hizbul Mujahideen. |
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Infiltration bid foiled along LoC in Poonch
Jammu, July 4 A group of militants was seen infiltrating into the Indian territory in the forward area of the Durga Battalion area in the Poonch sector last night, a senior police officer said today. The troops challenged them and opened fire, forcing them to retreat to Pakistan, he said, adding that one of the militants is believed to have been injured in the firing as blood stains were seen in the area. — PTI
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J-K Anti-Corruption Act Srinagar, July 4 This suggestion is part of a set of seven suggestions which are to be considered by the state Chief Secretary, who has been further directed to file a compliance report by or before the next date of hearing on July 18. The directions were passed today by a division bench of the High Court comprising Justices Virender Singh and Muzaffar Hussain Attar, in a public interest litigation. The court has also asked the State Vigilance Commission (SVC) to make its suggestion about the proposed amendments to the Anti-Corruption Act and submit the same to the Chief Secretary. In July 2012, the High Court had directed the state government to take steps for amending the J&K Prevention of Corruption Act or make new laws for retrieving money/wealth and confiscating properties accumulated through corrupt practices. Subsequently, the government had announced that it was serious about strengthening laws to tackle corruption. It had said that it proposed to make some amendments to the J&K Anti-Corruption Act. The division bench of the High Court, in its orders passed today, suggested for awarding a maximum of 20 years and minimum of 6 years in jail for conviction under Section 5(2) of the J&K Prevention of Corruption Act, Samvat, 2006. The court also suggested for making “bail provisions stringent” and parallel to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. “In case after receipt of report/record from the Vigilance Organisation, the competent authority does not record sanction for prosecution within one month, it shall be deemed that sanction for prosecution has been granted,” read one of the suggestions put forth by the HC. The others suggestions include posting and appointing of more trained investigation officers in the Vigilance Organisation and prescribing outer time limit for conducting investigation. In a separate but related direction, the High Court has also asked the SVC to suggest within a week amendments to the Anti-Corruption Act and submit its report to the Chief Secretary. The Chief Secretary has been further directed to submit his status report to the court regarding the steps taken for amending the Act. The court has also sought a response from the government to the suggestions of the Vigilance Organisation for creation of two special courts at Srinagar and Jammu for trying offences under the provisions of the Act and how the previous direction regarding the creation of two mobile courts for trying offences under the Anti-Corruption Act has been complied with.
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injured in a clash with CRPF personnel at Baltal base camp of the Amarnath yatra leading to stone-throwing by a group of local labourers and workers at paramilitary personnel at the camp site this evening.
The Indian Meteorological Department
(IMD) in Jammu and Kashmir keeps the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) and the state government, including the disaster management authority, abreast with the vagaries of weather on the twin tracks of Baltal and Pahalgam and the holy cave shrine area, situated about 13,000 feet from sea level.
