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Udhampur-Banihal highway gets
Rs 11,000-cr revamp plan
Fans make a beeline to their hero’s house
Omar’s message to Parvez Rasool: Make us proud
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Governor congratulates Parvez, invites him to Raj Bhawan
During monsoon, BSF’s job gets more daunting
Protests held against Article 370 in Jammu
BJP begins ‘woo Muslims campaign’
NC fields leaders from Jammu to counter BJP on Article 370
Dialogue only way to resolve Kashmir issue, says Mufti
Centre ‘promises’ Rs 700 cr for
sports
Fake Dervish, 12 others chargesheeted
1.25 lakh pay obeisance at Amarnath shrine
I-Day celebrations
Army holds festival to improve people’s lives in Leh village
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Udhampur-Banihal highway gets
Rs 11,000-cr revamp plan
Jammu, July 6 The ministry will soon table the approved proposal before the Union Cabinet to get the final clearance and will award the contracts for execution of the project thereafter. The road widening is the part of the ambitious project of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for the four-laning of the 286-km-long stretch of the Jammu-Srinagar highway, which will end the isolation of Kashmir Valley with rest of the country during harsh and snowy winters. The four-laning project has been divided into six sub-projects, which include widening of Jammu-Udhampur road (65 km), Chenani-Nashri tunnel (9.2 km), widening of Ramban-Udhampur road (43 km), Banihal-Ramban road (36 km), Qazigund-Banihal road (15.25 km) and Srinagar-Banihal road (67.7 km). “The Ministry of Roads has approved the proposal for an additional sum of Rs 11,000 crore for the two projects, namely widening of the Udhampur-Ramban and Ramban-Banihal stretches for which the tenders to execute the four-laning work are yet to be awarded. The ministry will soon send the proposal to the Union Cabinet for a final clearance and the allotment of work will be done thereafter,” Project Director NHAI, Jammu, RP Singh, said. The project director, who supervises the widening of the highway from Jammu to Banihal, said the estimated cost of the four sub-projects-other than the widening of the Ramban-Udhampur road (43-km) and the Banihal-Ramban road (36 km)-was over Rs 9,000 crore. He said 58 per cent of the work had been completed and hoped the project will be completed within the stipulated time. “The work is being executed at a nice pace and we will complete the four-laning work on the 65-km stretch of the highway from Jammu to Udhampur by June next year,” he claimed. Residents have been eagerly waiting for the completion of the project as it would reduce the distance between Jammu and Srinagar by 50 km. It takes 9 to 10 hours to travel on this stretch and it would take just five hours to cover the same after the project is completed, that too, avoiding the treacherous points on the highway. The major structures of the four-laning project include two major tunnels viz the country’s longest road tunnel between Chenani and Nashri and the 8.5-km-long Quazigund-Banihal tunnel, besides the 6.2-km long 12 short tunnels, 34 major bridges and 24 viaducts. The two major tunnels will end the snow-related blockage and traffic jams that last several days on the highway. The four-laning project was started in 2011 and the deadline for its completion is May 2016. The project The four-laning project has been divided into six sub-projects, which include widening of Jammu-Udhampur road (65 km), Chenani-Nashri tunnel (9.2 km), widening of Ramban-Udhampur road (43 km),
Banihal-Ramban road (36 km), Qazigund-Banihal road (15.25 km) and Srinagar-Banihal road (67.7 km). |
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Fans make a beeline to their hero’s house
Anantnag, July 6 Being a town of cricketers and cricket enthusiasts, historically, every budding cricketer in Bijbehara rushed to see Parvez to be a part of the historic moment. “He is my role model and I’m working hard on my cricketing skills to follow his footsteps,” said Talha
Ashraf, 13, a local cricketer. Mediapersons, cricketers, relatives, his team mates from the local team thronged the humble household of the 24-year-old all-rounder, reports said. The Zargar’s patiently received guests all through the evening yesterday. Even today, Parvez’s absence at home did not deter people from dropping by and congratulating the family. The cricketer’s family is ecstatic, every face beams with joy and pride. “The love showered by people of Kashmir has been heartening to say the least. I pray that my son pays back this love,” said Ghulam Rasool
Zargar, Parvez’s father. Zargar was himself an ardent cricketer in his youth, according to him, and that led him to support all his three sons to follow their passion, despite humble means. “I just provided them the support and whatever means I could. Parvez has worked hard to be where he is,” said
Zargar. “Parvez has made not only me but also the whole Valley proud,” adds Omar, Parvez’s younger brother, a Class XII student and a cricketer. “I hope my brother will be an inspiration for the younger generation of the Valley, including me.” The eldest of the three brothers, Asif
Rasool, also represents Jammu and Kashmir in the Ranji Trophy. “Kashmir has got immense cricketing talent and I am sure that this is just the beginning of an era,” said
Asif. “I am happy for my brother. He deserved a place in the national
side.” Parvez’s was detained by the Bangalore police in November 2009 in the backdrop of an attack at the Chinnaswamy stadium. He was arrested for allegedly carrying explosives in his bag. He was released soon after the forensic reports cleared him. “I will like to forget the incident,” said Parvez in a telephonic interview from
Srinagar, where he was scheduled to meet Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. “But I will remember that good or bad times don’t last for ever.” He says he is anxious
to wear the blue jersey now and prove his worth on the field. Parvez caught the selectors eye after a brilliant Ranji Trophy season in 2012, wherein he scored 594 runs, including two centuries, for the Jammu and Kashmir side. He also took 33 wickets. Soon after, Parvez was selected to represent the India-A side and played against England in January. He picked up seven wickets and scored a quick 36 runs in a warm-up match against Australia in February. |
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Omar’s message to Parvez Rasool: Make us proud
Srinagar, July 6 Parvez (24) got the nod in the 15-member squad, with the selectors preferring to go in with a young team for the five-match ODI series to be held from July 24 to August 3 at Harare and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. “Well deserved selection. Make us proud now,” the Chief Minister wrote on
micro-blogging site Twitter on Friday evening, hours after Parvez was selected for the tour. Omar said the all-rounder made it into the team “on the back of a very strong performance” in recent months. “His being a Kashmiri is incidental,” he
said. Parvez has been on a roll after some match-winning performances in the Ranji Trophy last year. The selectors picked him for the India-A side after he scored 594 runs, including two centuries, in the Ranji season. He also took 33 wickets. Omar also rebuked news channels and called them “stupid” for asking Parvez about “his terror links”, saying they are doing him a “disservice”. “Let his performance on the field speak for itself now,” Omar said. The cricketer was detained for questioning by the Bangalore police in 2009 in connection with suspected presence of explosives at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. He was later given a clean chit. The Chief Minister, who talked to
Parvez, said he was pleased to have spoken to him. “Now like everyone else, I will wait to watch him on TV. Good luck and God speed,” Omar said.
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Governor congratulates Parvez, invites him to Raj Bhawan
Srinagar, July 6 The Governor observed that the youth of J&K were highly talented and given the enabling opportunities, they could excel in sports, academics and other arenas of human endeavour. The Governor observed that Parvez’s selection in Team India would not only contribute to promoting cricket in J&K but also inspire and encourage many young cricketers and other sportspersons from each of the three regions of J&K to emulate Parvez and earn laurels for the state. The Governor has written to Parvez and invited him to meet him at Raj
Bhawan. He has also wished him a spectacular career ahead.
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During monsoon, BSF’s job gets more daunting
Jammu, July 6 “Several ambush points and BSF posts get flooded by rain water during monsoon compelling us either to vacate them or keep performing the duties depending upon the level of water,” said DIG, BSF Jammu Frontier, NS Jamwal. The low-lying areas, particularly those close to the Basanter and Devak rivers in the Samba sector, Nikki and Baddi Tawi in the RS Pura sector of Jammu district and the Chenab in the Pargwal sector of Akhnoor subdivision, get inundated during monsoon. Besides, rivulets between the Kathua and Samba sectors also swell, he added. “We press into force motorboats, manual boats and horse-mounted patrols to maintain constant vigil along the border,” he said. “Besides patrolling the border, our men also come to the rescue of civilians in such forward and low-lying areas,” he added. The officer said during monsoon two or three sensitive posts along the border in the Samba sector get cut off. “We could not even ply manual and motor-operated boats there,” he said. Heavy rains also damage the barbed fence, and it has to be raised again. Though this year so far the rivers and rivulets didn’t swell because of moderate rains in the upper reaches, the BSF certainly needed an all-weather road running all along the 192-km border connecting all border outposts of the BSF, he said in an obvious reference to Pakistan. “Despite constraints and vagaries of the weather, we do not lower our guard. Zero infiltration in the past three years on the international border is a testimony to the strict surveillance of our border guards,” he said. |
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Protests held against Article 370 in Jammu
Jammu, July 6 While addressing a gathering at Jammu, general secretary of the state BJP Bali Bhagat said under Article 370, the President of India enjoyed absolute executive powers. He said using these powers he could issue an executive order, abrogating the Article. He pointed out that Article 356 was not applicable to Jammu and Kashmir. He said the day would surely come when the President would revoke Article 370 and bring the state on a par with other states. Jammu district president of the state BJP Rajesh Gupta said the time had come for people to unite to free the state from Article 370 and work for the removal of the separate constitution and flag, which had induced a sense of separatism among the Kashmiri people. |
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BJP begins ‘woo Muslims campaign’
Jammu, July 6 The BJP has deliberately chosen Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state of the country, to kick-start a campaign to woo Muslims. The party deputed its Minority Morcha national president Abdul Rashid Ansari to test the waters in J&K so as to carry forward and expand the “woo Muslims campaign” in other parts of the country. “The response of Muslims is encouraging in J&K,” Ansari said after participating in an executive committee meeting of the Minority Morcha of the state, which was held on July 5 and 6 at
Banihal. “The participation of Muslims in the executive committee meeting was unexpected,” he claimed and said the party had devised a strategy to work among the minorities, especially Muslims. “Due to the vicious campaign launched by the so-called secular parties, there is negativity against the BJP among Muslims. So our first priority is to counter the campaign,” Ansari said and added that the aim of the vision document was to project the socio-economic condition of the Muslims. The vision document was prepared by a committee headed by BJP national vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and it covered various issues that the Muslims in the country are facing. The document has divided the problems faced by the Muslim community into four broad themes: social and economic
marginalisation, educational backwardness, lack of security and the absence of political empowerment. Sources said the BJP had devised a different strategy in J&K to woo the Muslims, keeping in view the ethnic division. “The party has decided to launch an aggressive campaign to woo the Muslims belonging to the Other Backward Classes
(OBCs) and Gujjar and Bakerwals by highlighting the misuse of Article 370,” a source said and added that the BJP was targeting the OBC Muslims to make inroads into minorities. Earlier, addressing the executive committee meeting, Minority Morcha leaders tried to rake up the issue of abject poverty and backwardness among J&K Muslims. “The state of Jammu and Kashmir has always been run by the Chief Ministers belonging to the Muslim community, but unfortunately the same community has been made to suffer on account of the government policies of discrimination and nepotism,” Ansari pointed out. “The so-called benefits meant for a common Muslim, particularly Gujjars and
Bakerwals, are being availed by a handful of families which are directly associated with political leaders, while the deserving are being ignored and deprived of it,” said Ishtiaq
Wani, national vice-president of the Minority Morcha. |
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NC fields leaders from Jammu to counter BJP on Article 370
Jammu, July 6 Most of the leaders fielded by the NC are former legislators and are attacking BJP leaders for raking up Article 370 for vote-bank politics. It is Valley-based NC leaders, including additional general secretary of the party Mustafa Kamal and senior ministers, who speak on sensitive issues. But this time, the NC felt that the BJP and other Jammu-based parties were raking up the issue to get people on their side, so to counter them it fielded leaders from Jammu. “We don’t have to talk much about the issue. It is a fact that Article 370 acts like a bridge between J&K and the rest of the country and connects people of the state with people from other states,” said Ram Paul, former NC legislator. Article 370 gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The special feature of the Article is that J&K has a separate constitution and no law passed by Parliament is applicable to J&K till it is passed by the state legislature. The BJP and other Jammu-based parties such as the Muslim Rashtriya
Manch, Jammu State Morcha and National Panthers Party have reservations about the special status. The parties are of the opinion that the people are not benefited by it. They say the minority commission is not being implemented in the state and other benefits are not reaching the weaker sections. The debate on the special status is gaining momentum, but the NC is not indulging in it. “The raking up of Article 370 debate by some quarters is irrelevant and is aimed at grabbing votes in some sensitive areas,” Ram Paul said. Ram Paul and other NC leaders from Jammu, including Thakur Kashmira Singh, Brij Mohan Sharma, said they stood by their party leadership and favoured the continuation of Article 370. |
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Dialogue only way to resolve Kashmir issue, says Mufti
Kupwara, July 6 While expressing optimism that the PDP would emerge victorious in forthcoming assembly polls, Mufti appealed to the people to vote the party to power. Mufti said the PDP would leave no stone unturned in bringing peace and development to the state, if the party was voted power. He was addressing a public gathering in Kupwara town. “Broad-based dialogue between two neighbouring countries is the only way forward to resolve the long standing Kashmir issue. I hope the government led by Nawaz Sharief will make efforts to initiate meaningful dialogue with India. Violence in all its manifestations brings death and destruction,” said Mufti
Sayeed. He stressed that the Kashmiri youth who have returned from Pakistan under the rehabilitation policy should be enabled to lead a dignified life. “Despite their come back to the mainstream, such youth are living a disturbed life. There is a need to rehabilitate them so that they lead a normal life,” he said. Mufti said the
PDP-led government spared no efforts to provide good governance to the people of the state. “We disbanded the special task force accused of committing excesses on the people. The government engaged around 75,000 Rahbar-e-Taleem teachers in the Education Department and curbed the menace of corruption. The government ensured basic amenities in every nook and corner of the state,” he said. The PDP patron said the people of the state would never forget the good governance during their regime. He said despite shortage of time, the
PDP-led government made efforts to connect Bandipora and Kupwara via
Lolab. Mufti disclosed Fayaz Ahmad Mir as PDP candidate for Kupwara constituency in forthcoming elections on the occasion. MLA Lolab Abdul Haq Khan, Muzzafar Hussian
Beig, Ghulam Mohidin Sofi and district presidents of the party were present. |
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Centre ‘promises’ Rs 700 cr for
sports
Jammu, July 6 “Under the package, every town with a population of more than 50,000 will be provided an indoor stadium and wherever land is available football and hockey grounds would be raised,” sports department sources claim. The state government had also prepared a comprehensive plan to strengthen sports infrastructure in the state under which indoor stadium would be constructed in every part of Srinagar and Jammu. The TRC grounds in Srinagar would be provided with an all-weather football turf so that it remains functional throughout the year. The government plans to extend sports activities to all the districts so that more youth join them. Sports infrastructure in the state is being given a re-look and more facilities are being added.
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Fake Dervish, 12 others chargesheeted
Srinagar, July 6 In the charge sheet presented before the Judicial Magistrate first class in Budgam today, the main accused has been charged for rape under Section 376 of the RPC, whereas his other accomplices, including four women, have been charged under Section 376/109 RPC for abetment to rape of minors. The charge sheet states that the medical examination of the victims has “corroborated” the commission of offence. |
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1.25 lakh pay obeisance at Amarnath shrine
Srinagar, June 6 A total of 1,13,555 pilgrims had darshan at the holy cave between June 28 and July 5. At least 10,785 pilgrims had darshan up to 3 pm today, taking the number to 1, 24, 340. The movement of the pilgrims to pay their obeisance at the cave shrine was on till last reports came in. Nearly, 15,000 pilgrims pay obeisance at the cave shrine every day. A fresh batch of 4,824 pilgrims left on the traditional route of Pahalgam from the base camp at Nunwan this morning. Similarly, 6,349 pilgrims left the base camp of Baltal near Sonmarg on the Srinagar-Leh axis. |
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I-Day celebrations
Jammu, July 6 The main function would be held at Mini Stadium Parade Ground with unfurling of the Tricolour at 9 am followed by the march past by the contingents drawn from police, armed police, auxiliary police, fire services,
NCC, CRPF etc.
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Army holds festival to improve people’s lives in Leh village
Jammu, July 6 The initiative was part of Operation Sadbhavana to improve the quality of life and spread the feeling of national integration. Civilian dignitaries, local administrators and more than 1,000 locals were present. The festival was inaugurated by Payal Sharma, chairperson of the Army Wives Welfare Association of Fire and Fury Corps. Villagers were extended a comprehensive medical cover by specialists of eye, general medicine, surgery and gynaecology from Army Medical Corps. A dental check-up was organised and children were administered polio drops. A team of veterinary doctors from Remount and Veterinary Corps and the Animal Husbandry Department, Leh, attended to the problems of the livestock of the locals. The village was provided furniture for its community centre and computers for its local school. As an appreciation of their sacrifice and service to the country, veer naris and ex-servicemen were felicitated and given gifts by Payal Sharma. A cultural programme was conducted by local students. Archery competition, tug of war, musical chairs and a best pet competition was organised for the villagers. Stalls were set-up by the State Bank of India and the Zila Sainik Welfare Cell to educate people about the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme and the Army Welfare Education Scheme. The locals were provided free of cost lunch
and snacks. |
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The Union Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways has given its approval to the proposal of allocating an additional Rs 11,000 crore.
Soon after the news of Kashmiri cricketer Parvez Rasool’s inclusion in the Indian national team broke yesterday evening, people started making a beeline.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wished good luck to Parvez
Rasool, who became the first cricketer from the state to be named to the Indian national team, asking him to “make us
proud”.
Parvez (24) got the nod in the 15-member squad, with the selectors preferring to go in with a young team for the five-match ODI series to be held from July 24 to August 3 at Harare and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe.
During monsoon, the job of the Border Security Force guarding the 192-km-long Indo-Pak border in the Jammu region gets more daunting as flood waters inundate forward posts and low-lying areas compelling the paramilitary force to switch over to horse mounted patrols and motorboats to keep vigil along the borderline.
On the birth anniversary of Bharatiya Jana Sangh president Syama Prasad
Mookerjee, the BJP today organised block-level protests in support of their demand for withdrawal of the separate constitution and flag from the state and for complete integration of the state with the Indian Union by abrogating Article 370.
The total number of pilgrims who have paid obeisance at the Amarnath cave shrine has reached 1.25 lakh so far.
A total of 1,13,555 pilgrims had darshan at the holy cave between June 28 and July 5. At least 10,785 pilgrims had darshan up to 3 pm today, taking the number to 1, 24, 340.
The Union Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways has given its approval to the proposal of allocating an additional Rs 11,000 crore for the widening of the 79-km treacherous and toughest Udhampur to Banihal section of the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
