Srinagar, October 18
For the third consecutive day today, strict curfew-like restrictions remained in place in north Kashmir’s volatile Palhalan village.

The restrictions were imposed in the area on Wednesday afternoon after a police driver, Kanwal Nain Singh, died following a stone-pelting incident after the Eid prayers.

Since morning, dozens of policemen and paramilitary troopers from the Central Reserve Police Force had sealed various link roads leading to the village and no one was allowed to move in or go out of the village.

There was, however, no report of any clash on Wednesday from the village.

The vehicular traffic on the Baramulla-Srinagar highway plied normally. While restrictions remained imposed in Palhalan, the shops and business establishments remained open in its neighbourhood.

On Wednesday, a police vehicle was attacked by a group of people at Palhalan after the Eid prayers. They pelted stones at the vehicle.

The police claimed a stone had also hit a driver who lost the control of his vehicle and hit an electric pole.

He was critically injured and was shifted to a hospital where he was declared dead.

The police said the bus that was attacked was carrying trainees from the police training school, Sheeri, in Baramulla. Four policemen were also injured in the incident.

The restrictions, resident said, has hit normal life in the area.

They also alleged harassment at the hands of the security personnel.

Kupwara, October 18
Residents of Kupwara have complained that the power department was serving them bills after months, making it difficult for them to make payments.

They demanded that bills be served each month so that they can pay bills in time and avoid disconnection of power supply.

“The Kupwara power division served me a bill in September for about eight months amounting to Rs 12,000 . For past few weeks, I am not able to pay the bill. Had the department served me the bill each month, the hassle could be avoided,” said Abdul Aziz from Muqam Shahwali near Kupwara.

Residents of some other villages, including Hayhama, Ticker, Batergam, Sahipora, Sulkoote, Gushi, Dar and Mohalla Kupwara, said payment of month-long bills was a daunting task for them.

“We had requested the officials of the Kupwara power division to serve us bills in time, but to no avail. If someone fails to pay the bill within two weeks, power supply to their houses is snapped. It is easy to pay the bill each month than to pay a large some at once. We appeal to the power minister to intervene in the matter,” said Naseer Ahmad, a resident of Dudwan.

A power official said bills were generated after every two months and the department tried hard to serve them within a week. “Generally bills are served within a week after these are generated. Consumers who do not receive bills in the stipulated time should come to the office and get it,” he said. 

Srinagar, October 18
The installation of traffic lights at some places in the city last year had raised hopes that the government will follow suit elsewhere. However, the government neither has plans to install lights in the other parts of the city nor in any other district of the Valley.

“There is no proposal for installing signal lights on the intersections of the roads of Srinagar and other districts as of now,” said official documents tabled in the recently concluded autumn session of the state legislature.

As many as 31 traffic lights were installed at several junctions of the city with much fanfare in April last year. Pertinently, the signals were first installed in the summer capital in 1970 but had soon become defunct.

Even as the official documents claim that the traffic signals have “helped in the free movement of traffic”, many have been put in the blinking mode.

The government had earlier stated that 10 signals had been kept in the blinking mode due to shortage of manpower in the state traffic department.

Similarly, 30 traffic lights had been set up in Jammu city. A total of Rs 3.97 crore was spent on the installation of 61 traffic signals in Srinagar and Jammu cities. A New Delhi-based agency, Onnyx Electronics, looks after the maintenance of the traffic signals as per the official documents.

In case of any damage to the traffic lights, Onnyx Electronics, as per the government, is supposed to restore the same within two weeks.

Srinagar, October 18
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said the rule of law was paramount to achieve the goal of justice and equated the survival of rule of law with the survival of democracy.

Omar, who was addressing the inaugural session of three-day North Zone Regional Judicial Conference at SKICC in the city here, said the justice delivery should seem to be delivered in the true spirit of justice.

He said the speedy and time-bound delivery of justice was of significant importance to people and counts a lot to the justice seekers.

Omar said different interpretations and delay in justice delivery makes common people apprehensive and their faith in the system gets eroded.

He said the large dependency of cases in courts and delayed delivery of justice are a cause of worry to the people. “This sometime creates law and order problem. People take law in their own hands,” he said.

The Chief Minister called for strengthening the justice system, rule of law and speedy delivery of justice to the people.

“Cutting across barriers, all stakeholders have to work together to rebuild the faith of people in the institutions by sticking to promises and commitments towards the rule of law,” he said.

Omar said the speedy justice should be the benchmark in the courts and the alternate system of settling legal disputes through lok adalats should be given considerable fillip.

The function was also addressed by the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Justice, MM Kumar, the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice, Sanjay Krishan Kaul, state Minister for Law and Justice Mir Saifullah, judges of Jammu and Kashmir High Court and Director National Judicial Academy Balram K Gupta.

Minister for Finance Abdul Rahim Rather, various judges of Jammu and Kashmir and other High Courts, Chief Secretary Mohammad Iqbal Khandey, Principal Secretaries BR Sharma and BB Vyas, various administrative secretaries, judges of sub-ordinate courts, members of the Bar, lawyers from other states and former Chief Justices and judges of the High Court and students of law were present at the conference.

Anantnag, October 18
The Fruit Traders and Growers of Anantnag district and its peripheries are breathing a new lease of life with the commencement of fruit mandi in the Bantengoo area of the district, along the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

The Anantnag district has more than 18,000 fruit growers and 1,100 traders, who were forced to venture into other districts to sell their produce. Moreover, the district produces around 1.25 lakh metric tonnes of fresh fruit and around 60,000 tonnes of dry fruit. However, with the commencement of the mandi, both the fraternities have started doing their business in the market and are more than satisfied with the way things have unfolded.

“Earlier, we were vulnerable to the cheating and losses because had to go outside the state or other districts,” said Muzaffar Ahmad Lone, an apple grower from Bijbehara town of the district.

He said this year, even though the produce was not much, he and other growers had secured good gains.

Fruit traders are a satisfied lot as well, “We were subjected to unnecessary costs while selling the fruits in other states,” said Gulzar Ahmad, a fruit trader.

“We keep our fingers crossed. We hope that the mandi does good business in the coming years,” he added .

The fruit market, a project of the marketing and planning (P&M) wing of the Horticulture Department, had been in limbo since more than three decades.

A blame game between the planning and the marketing wing and the Fruit Association of the Anantnag district had been the stumbling block. This year, however, the differences between the P&M and the Fruit Association have been sorted out.

Completed with a cost of more than Rs 3 crore, the market was finally thrown open for business in September this year and the business has been brisk ever since. 

Srinagar, October 18
The Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the state government to ensure that the local communities living around the Wular lake were involved in the execution of the conservation project, initiated with the assistance of the Government of India.

Addressing a public meeting at Saderkote Payeen, Bandipora MLA Nizamudin Bhat and party chief spokesperson Naeem Akhtar said it was unfair that the locals were not involved in the execution of the project which was directly connected to their lives.

"The two leaders said locals from Saderkote and other villages along the lake should be given preference in the execution of works, transportation of materials and disposal of silt," a party spokesperson said in a statement. "They said without the involvement of locals, the project would lose its meaning and preservation of the lake will remain a distant dream."

Srinagar, October 18
To promote latest advances and applications in the field of operations, research for data analytics and decision analysis amongst the young researchers and scholars, the Department of Statistics, Kashmir University, is organising a three-day “International Conference on Operations Research for Data Analytics and Decision Analysis (ICORDADA-13)”.

A spokesperson of the Kashmir University said the conference would begin from Monday.

Department of Physics head Aquil Ahmad said, “The purpose of the international conference is to bring together researchers and practitioners interested in the advances and applications in the field of operations research for data analytics and decision analysis.”

He said the scheduled conference had already generated a huge amount of interest amongst young scientists and researchers from various corners of the world and several veterans and experts in the field would deliver special lectures during the event.

The KU spokesperson said the event would include plenary talks, special invited talks, invited talks, contributed talks and posters on all areas of operations research, thereby providing great opportunity for both academics and professionals to share their ideas and network with people in the field of operations research.

Srinagar, October 18
As the arrival of Haj pilgrims is scheduled to begin from October 21, their kith and kin have been advised to collect the entry passes to the airport from the office of the Deputy Commissioner.

An official statement said the passes for entering the Srinagar International Airport for receiving the Haj pilgrims of Budgam district are available at the office of Deputy Commissioner and could be obtained on production of ‘cover number slip’ and identity card with a phone number.

The Haj passes can be obtained a day before the date of arrival of Haj pilgrims, the statement added.

Srinagar, October 18
The Eid-ul-Azha celebrations continued in the Valley for the third day today. Attendance at most of the offices and educational institutions remained thin while several shops remained shut today.

“I could not distribute meat to all my relatives and friends during the last two days. So i visited many of my relatives today,” said Imtiyaz Ahmad, a local.

People usually sacrifice cattle to honour Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son before Allah on Eid-ul-Azha. Later, meat is distributed among the kith and kin besides neighbours and the needy.

People were seen exchanging Eid greetings to each other today as well.

While most of the shops remained shut, comparatively thinner traffic was seen plying on the roads. “I usually ply my bus till late in the evening but today I returned home early,” said Ejaz Ahmad, a bus driver.

Syed Tariq, a boutique owner, said as people indulged into shopping ahead of the festive occasion, not many would shop for clothes in the coming days. “I will open my boutique on Monday. Business is expected to be lean in the coming days,” he said.

The annual Haj pilgrimage also culminates with Eid-ul-Azha. The Hajis of Jammu and Kashmir will start arriving at the Srinagar International Airport from October 21.

Meanwhile, Eid-ul-Azha was celebrated with fervour for the last two days as well. The largest Eid prayers congregations here were held at the revered Hazratbal shrine on the banks of the Dal Lake and historic Jama Masjid in the old city on Wednesday

Leh, October 18
Minister for Urban Development and Local Bodies Nawang Rigzin Jora today laid the foundation stone of open stadium and youth hostel at Spituk in the presence of LAHDC chief executive councillor Rigzin Spalbar.

The stadium and youth hostel projects worth Rs 20.35 crore are being executed under the ‘Task Force’, a special grant of Rs 200 crore sanctioned by the Union Government for the Leh district. The projects spread over 130 kanals of land will have an open stadium with an estimated sitting capacity of 30,000 spectators. It will have facilities for organising sports activities like football, cricket, hockey, olympic size track etc. The youth hostel will have the capacity of over 1,000 beds with all facilities of boarding and lodging for the sportspersons and other supporting staff. The minister expressed happiness over the modern outdoor stadium project and said such stadium was much needed to display our youths’ talent in sports activities to compete at the national as well as the international level. He said local youth have a lot of sports potential provided that is nurtured in a systematic way.

Spalbar spoke about the futuristic plan of stadium having multiple sports facilities. He asserted that our children were not lagging behind in any field, be in sports, education, culture or any other activities provided they get chances and nurtured in the right direction. — TNS

Kupwara, October 18
The police has registered a case against a Zachaldara resident in Handwara tehsil for his alleged assaulting a doctor and two pharmacists at the Zachaldara sub-district hospital.

On October 15, Mohd Amin Khan allegedly beat Dr Nazir Ahmad and pharmacists Ali Mohd Banday and Mohd Amin Bhat. “He used abusive language and resorted to beating. He was arguing that no medical staff was present at the hospital to treat his ailing son,” said a staff member.

Staff alleged that Khan, along with a few goons, also ransacked a ward and the office building of the hospital. “He thrashed windowpanes and a ward before leaving the hospital. We tried to pacify him but he did not listen to anyone,” he said.

The staff at the Zachaldara hospital suspended their work for the third consecutive day today, demanding action against the erring person and his accomplices. Kupwara Deputy CMO Muneer Ahmad Khawaja, who visited the hospital, said, “We are hopeful that the police will take action against the erring persons, so that nobody dares to inflict damage on the hospital property or harm the doctors,” said Khawaja. —OC

Srinagar, October 18
Two persons died and 12 others were injured in different road accidents across the Kashmir valley today, said a police spokesperson.

A bus hit a cyclist, Muffasir Ahmad Pandith, a resident of Wadoora, at Wadoora in Baramulla district, the spokesperson said. He died on the spot.

A motorcyclist hit and injured a pedestrian, identified as Mohammad Yousuf Baktoo, a resident of Barbarshah, at Lal Chowk in the city here. The injured was shifted to SMHS hospital for treatment where he succumbed to injuries, the spokesperson said.

A car collided with a cab at Padshahi Bagh in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, resulting in damage to the car. The injured was shifted to a hospital.

Five persons got injured when the car they were travelling in collided with a bus at Janbazpora in Baramulla district, the spokesperson said. The injured have been shifted to the district hospital, Baramulla, from where three of them were shifted to SMHS Hospital.

A vehicle skidded off the road and fell into in deep gorge at Dardkote in Baramulla district, resulting in injuries to driver Mohammad Farooq Khan and passenger Mohammad Aslam Khan, both residents of Dardkote.

The injured have been shifted to the district hospital, Baramulla, the spokesperson said.

In Ganderbal district, a car hit three pedestrians, identified as Sharifa, Tufail Ahmad Rather and Shugufta, all residents of Wusan. The injured have been shifted to a Wusan hospital from where Shugufta has been referred to SKIMS Hospital, the spokesperson said.

A car hit and injured a boy near Muran in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The injured was shifted to SKIMS Hospital, the spokesperson added.