Srinagar, September 3
The Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) has decided to move an application before the court to seek directions to the police for eviction of taxi drivers who have encroached upon a portion of the prime SDA land in the heart of city last week.

The decision to approach the court for further directions to the police has been taken after the police in its report to the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Srinagar, submitted that it had registered an FIR into the incident involving the forcible and illegal encroachment of the prime SDA land by some drivers backed by a minister and an MLA of the ruling National Conference.

Acting on an application by the SDA, the CJM had on August 30 directed the police to investigate the matter and file a compliance report in three days.

In its subsequent report to the court on September 2, the police had told the court that an FIR had been registered into the matter. Subsequently, the CJM had disposed of the application, an official said.

Sources, however, said the SDA had now decided to approach the court with another application in which the directions to the police would be sought, “asking it what steps it has taken to evict the encroachers from the SDA land.”

Earlier on August 30, the SDA had approached the CJM with a plea that Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Srinagar, and Station House Officer (SHO), Kothibagh, might be directed to evict the encroachers from SDA Divisional Store opposite the Sangarmal city centre on Moulana Azad Link road.

In its application before the CJM, the SDA had said “the facts and the circumstance manifestly suggest” that the non-applicants (SSP and SHO) had “failed in discharge of their statuary duty”.

During the intervening night of August 24 and 25, a group of taxi drivers backed by a senior minister from the ruling National Conference, forced their entry into the compound housing the Divisional Store of the SDA on the MA Link Road and parked their vehicles on a portion of the SDA land.

Since then they have been occupying six kanals of land worth crores of rupees and the government has so far failed to take note of the violation and restore the portion of the prime land.

Kupwara September 3
The district administration has ordered the suspension of supplies of two supplements to a few anganwari centres in Lolab after these were found unsuitable for use. During a visit to the centres at Charkote village of Lolab valley, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Kupwara, Bilal Ahmad Bhat found ‘daliya’ and ‘sooji’ unsuitable for use and ordered immediate suspension of supplies of these supplements.

“The supplements were containing moisture and partly fungus, may be due to improper storage. I asked the department to stop the supplies forthwith and ensure that no child is fed the supplements,” said the ADC. He visited a few centres in Lolab villages to ascertain the stock position.

“A majority of the children did not find ‘daliya’ tasty and hence refused to eat it. A few other supplements, including pulses, are available at the anaganwadi centres and there is no need to panic,” he added.

The Department of Social Welfare supplies various supplements, including pulses and ‘daliya’ to the anganwari centres for the consumption of the children.

Local residents alleged that the supervisor concerned did not take the necessary action after she was informed about the infected supplements.

“We have informed the supervisor concerned about the unhygienic condition of the food, but instead of destroying the supplements, she asked the anganwari workers to dry the supplements under the sunlight and feed the same to the children,” said Charkote sarpanch Haji Ghulam Mohd Dar.

The residents, however, hailed timely action by the district administration. “Soon after the ADC was informed about the unhygienic and infected supplements, he inspected a few centres and immediately ordered suspension of the supply. We are thankful to him for his timely action,” said deputy sarpanch Wali Mohd Dar.

Some others alleged that the storekeeper and worker concerned supplied the infected supplements to the centres. “The storekeeper and worker knew that the supplies were lying in the store for the past nearly eight months and were carrying moisture and fungus. They played with the health of the children by supplying the rotten supplements. Had we not noticed the infected supplements, they would have served the same to the children,” said a local resident.

Anantnag, September 3
The police and district administration officials today destroyed cannabis being cultivated from Bijbehara to Sangam along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway in south Kashmir's Anantnag district.

The police said a joint team of the police and excise department raided the area and destroyed the illegal cultivation.

"The cultivation was spread over a vast stretch of land," said a senior police official from the area. "We employed tractors to mow down the cultivation," he added.

He said a case had been registered in this regard against the owner of the land on which the cannabis was being cultivated. The south Kashmir region has been a hot bed of this illegal trade.

"We have been able to curb the cultivation to a great extent," a senior district administration official said, adding, "However, there are people who have been found to be returning to the trade given its quick profits."

The police said the Tuesday's exercise was part of their anti-narcotics campaign which they have been actively pursuing over the past few years.

"Though we cannot say there is zero cultivation of cannabis in the area, it has been curbed to a very large extent," said a police officer.

He said the police had also been cracking down heavily on drug-peddlers and other people related to the trade.

Anantnag, September 3
Some private schools in Shopian district are forcing their students to wear more than five different uniforms a week, while making it mandatory for the students buy the uniforms from the school premises only.

Parents said the school authorities were on a looting spree and making money out of the uniform business.

"My ward goes to a local private school located on the court road in the town,” said a parent. “The school authorities have made it mandatory that the students wear six different uniforms a week,” he added.

He said he would have preferred to enrol his child at some other school, but fearing that they would be no different, he had been obliging the diktats of the school authorities.

Sources said almost every school in the town had a separate section for the sale of uniforms on its premises.

Residents said the authorities were least bothered about the plight of the gullible parents being looted by these private schools.

“There must be some guidelines for these private schools so that they at least feel answerable and accountable to someone if not the students and their parents,” said another parent.

The parents said they had time and again brought the issue to the notice of the officials concerned, however, no action had so far been taken.

Chief Education Officer (CEO), Shopian, Abdul Hameed, said he would look into the matter and take due action against the erring schools. “Now that you have conveyed me the names of these schools, I will definitely look into the matter,” said the CEO.

Srinagar, September 3
As autorickshaws plying on the city roads continue to charge arbitrary rates, the erring drivers as per the authorities will soon face strict action. While commuters have for long been demanding action, they want that the proposed drive should be taken to its logical conclusion instead of leaving the same half-way as seen in the past.

“In the coming days, autorickshaws without meters will face strict action as we will be launching a stringent drive against the offenders,” Srinagar Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Haseeb-ur-Rehman told the Kashmir Tribune.

As previous drives by the authorities have failed to bear fruit, the SP Traffic said the scheduled drive would be forceful as the higher ups had passed strict enforcement orders in this regard.

He said the Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, had recently chaired a meeting where directions were passed to the authorities concerned to install meters in the autorickshaws and subsequently launch a drive to take action against the offenders.

However, he said enforcing the directive in toto would take some time as the autorickshaws were not used to charging customers metered rates.

While local residents say the step is welcome, they want that the same should be enforced strictly. “We have for long been demanding action against autorickshaws who continue to charge exorbitant rates from the commuters. If such a drive is being launched, it’s a welcome step but I must admit that such attempts have failed in the past,” said Fayaz Ahmad, a local resident.

“Unfortunately, there is no culture of charging the customers at metered rates and it is high time the authorities concerned take strict action and ensure that such drives are taken to their logical conclusion. I am sure if charged fair rates, more people will use autorickshaws for commuting,” he added.

Srinagar, September 3
A local court has issued non-bailable warrants against four separatist leaders in a case registered against them in 1997.

The four separatist leaders against whom arrest warrants have been issued include Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik, Javed Ahmad Mir (Hurriyat member and JKLF leader), Shakeel Bakshi (JKLF) and Shah-id-ul-Islam of Hurriyat faction headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

The non-bailable arrest warrants have been issued by Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajeev Gupta, wherein the police has been authorised to arrest the four separatist leaders and produce them before the court on next hearing fixed for October 5.

The warrants were issued in a case registered in 1997 under Sections 336 and 427 of the RPC at the Sadder police station here.

“I received the non-bailable warrants at my Hurriyat office on Monday and it was delivered to me by the police concerned,” said Hurriyat leader Javed Mir.

He said the case dated back to 1997 when the separatist leaders had organised a protest demonstration against the human rights violations, custodial disappearances allegedly by the security forces, including the police.

Mir said, “The police is now digging up old cases against the separatist leadership to harass them”. He, however, added that they might seek to get the bail in the said case.

Srinagar, September 3
A man and his sister-in-law, both residents of a village in south Kashmir, consumed some poisonous substance at their home, a police spokesman said here today. The woman died while she was being taken to a hospital, the spokesman said.

Alam Din Bijran and his sister-in-law consumed some poisonous substance at their home Kathuhallan village in Shopian district, the spokesman said.

Both of them were shifted to the Public Health Centre, Keller, for treatment from where they were referred to SMHS hospital in the city.

The woman died on the way to the hospital while the man was admitted to the hospital, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, an 80-year-old man slipped to death in a remote village in Kupwara district. Mehboob Ali, a resident of Deemari village near Karnah, fell down at Seemari Bala when he was collecting grass for the cattle, the spokesman said.

“He died instantly after the fall,” the spokesman said. 

Srinagar, September 3
The Environment Committee of the State Legislative Council has called for an enhanced inter-departmental interaction to develop a consensus on facing the challenges posed by climate change in the state.

An official spokesman said the committee, which had a meeting here today, held threadbare discussions on the impact of climate change on forests, water resources, agriculture, wildlife etc and the initiatives being taken by the government in this regard.

“The committee discussed adaptation and mitigation strategies for awareness and understanding of the common masses,” he said, adding that the status of chinar trees across the state was also discussed.

It was informed that the committee would organise a seminar on climate change on September 14 at Dak Bunglow, Anantnag, to spread awareness among the common masses about its impact. Students, scholars, researchers, sarpanches, panches and other prominent citizens are expected to participate in the event.

The meeting was chaired by MLC Syed Bashir Ahmed Veeri.

Srinagar, September 3
Chief Secretary Muhammad Iqbal Khanday, who is heading the committee for the promotion of Urdu language, today reviewed the findings and recommendations of the sub-committee mandated to find out ways and means of overcoming shortage of Urdu, Dogri and Kashmiri language teachers, an official spokesman said here.

He said the committee had given its nod to the proposal of setting up the J&K Urdu Promotion Council.

"During the review meeting, the Chief Secretary asked the sub-committee to further examine the figures regarding the district-wise requirement of language-specific teachers and finalise the report for submission to the government," he said.

The spokesman said the committee had also given concurrence to the proposal aimed at incorporating necessary provisions in the recruitment rules for direct-entry posts in various departments, where knowledge of Urdu language is required, to ensure proper and effective service delivery.

The meeting was attended by Commissioner Secretary, Tourism and Culture, Atul Duloo; Secretary, School Education, Hirdesh Kumar; Secretary, Higher Education, Sheikh Mushtaq; directors of School Education of Kashmir and Jammu and other officials.

Srinagar, September 3
Ruling National Conference leaders of Kashmir region yesterday held a meeting to finalise the arrangements for the 31st death anniversary of Shieikh Mohammad Abdullah, the founder of the party who died in 1982.

The meeting was chaired by Kashmir zone president Nasir Aslam Wani. Arrangements for the September 8 anniversary were discussed and finalised at the meeting, a statement said.

Wani spoke about the importance of the day and also highlighted the contributions of Abdullah towards the Kashmiri society. The main function on September 8 would be held at Abdullah’s Hazratbal graveyard.

Srinagar, September 3
Senior officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) yesterday discussed the arrangements for a day-long Police-Public Mela to be held in the city on September 15. The meeting, held at the Armed Police Headquarters here, was chaired by Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Armed, SM Sahai.

Addressing the meeting, Sahai said the festival was one of the grand events organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Police Wives Welfare Association. He said, “The melas have assumed much importance as the public have shown keen interest in these festivals — both at Srinagar and Jammu — for years.”

"People from all walks of life visit the melas and avail the opportunity of having items of their choice from all regions of the state under one roof. These melas have also brought the police and public together to work for peace and prosperity of the state,” Sahai said.

The meeting was attended by IGP (Traffic) Muneer Ahmed Khan, DIGs AS 
Bali, SA Mujataba, Sheikh Abdul Hamid and Jadesh Kumar and other police 
officers. Commandant, JKAP 9th Battalion, Altaf Ahmad Khan has been nominated as nodal officer for the event.

The ADGP described the event as a bridge between the police and the public saying such events provide an opportunity to the police and the public to assemble and interact with each other.

The festival will be held on September 15 at Bakshi Stadium in the city.

He said bumper prizes have made the event more attractive and people from all corners of the state wait for months to test their luck through raffle draws.

During the meeting, discussions were held with regard to various arrangements in and around the venue. “For this purpose, various committees headed by senior officers were constituted and asked to start the preparations for the grand event,” a police spokesman said.