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Pak offers olive branch
PDP to organise peace march against border firing
HC concerned over delay in disposal of cases
Plea on scholarships |
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Army’s UAV crashes in Nowshera
Border flare-up coincided with Sharif's US visit, says CM
3-day Saffron Fest begins today
Cong committed to solving problems of border residents: Haque
Panthers Party flays govt for delay in relief disbursement
4 doctors attached with CMO’s office, 5 officials suspended
NIT students introduce bio-science water filters in schools
Estate Dept staff defer strike by a month
J&K Bank physically, psychologically connected with people: Jora
Army to procure latest equipment to check attacks
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Pak offers olive branch
Jammu, October 28 The Pakistan Rangers handed over a letter to
its counterpart, the Border Security Force (BSF), at a forward octroi post in
RS Pura of Jammu district this evening. The letter contains broad contours of the flag meeting likely to be held at the earliest between the two forces guarding the border, said a BSF source. “Three officers of the Pakistan Rangers visited the border octroi outpost around 4:30 pm and handed over a letter to us. The BSF side was represented by an equal number of officers at the local level,” he added. The source said the flag meeting would be held at the earliest, preferably at the octroi post. “Yes, there has been no heavy firing by the Rangers since October 25. At the same time, there was no communication from them till 3:45 pm today. We were awaiting a formal letter from them to pave the way for
a flag meeting,” said a senior BSF officer. He added that the Rangers were expected to deliver a formal letter this morning. On October 25, the
BSF had some communication with the Rangers in a bid to de-escalate the border tension. The Rangers approached the BSF via hotlines on October 25 for a flag meeting and the BSF had exchanged communication with them from Nikowal and Shidra octroi posts. The international border witnessed a flare-up from the night of October 17 to October 26, resulting in the killing of one BSF personnel, ML Meena, and injuries to 31 others, including women and children. Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s instructed the security forces at the unified headquarters meeting in Jammu on October 22 to initiate all possible measures to de-escalate the border tension without compromising national security. On October 18 and 20, the BSF had twice approached the Rangers in connection with flag meetings, but the latter did not turn up. |
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PDP to organise peace march against border firing
Srinagar, October 28 “Our party has decided to take out a peace march in Srinagar on November 4 to convey to the national leadership our concern about the deteriorating security environment and the need to mend it through peaceful means,” PDP patron Mufti Mohammad said while addressing a press conference in Srinagar on Monday. “The message has to be sent across to the Pakistani leadership as well to spare the state of any fresh adventures,” he said. Mufti said the concerns of the state's people must be respected and the ceasefire restored. “We hope to convey our concern on the issue through the peace march and expect it to get registered despite the din, partisan interests and strategies of the ongoing electoral battle,” the PDP patron said. He said the rising tension along the Line of Control and the international border with Pakistan was a very serious issue, which needed to be addressed immediately. “The intensity and frequency of ceasefire violations suggest that the decade-long truce is getting shattered,” he said. Mufti said the people of the state had been looking up to the Manmohan Singh-Nawaz Sharif summit in New York with great hope for revival of the peace process. “Unfortunately, the meeting failed even to restore normalcy on borders, leave alone any proactive measures on the vision unfolded in 2003. Even the DGMOs of the two countries have not been able to follow up on the declaration by the Prime Ministers,” he said. The PDP patron ruled out the possibility of alliance with any party ahead of the next year elections. “Our alliance with the Congress was more successful and it was a golden period. The NDA was equally responsive and it appreciated that the PDP was working on the ground to win hearts and minds of people. They (NDA) were forthcoming. There is no alliance as of now," he said. |
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HC concerned over delay in disposal of cases
Srinagar, October 28 The High Court has attributed the delay of cases mainly to the casual approach of the government, particularly the Law Department, in contesting matters. These observations were made by a single-Judge Bench of the the High Court in a writ petition which has been pending disposal for the last two years. The High Court, in its order made available today, said the instant petition could not be taken forward due to the non-cooperation of official respondents. “The delay in disposing of court cases has reached an alarming situation. The reason for such a delay is mainly attributable to the casual approach adopted by the (government) respondents,” Justice Ali Mohammad Margay observed in his two-page order. “The government in the Law Department does not seem to be serious to have matters contested, which is evident from the approach adopted in the present case,” Justice Margay further observed. He added that “three state counsel” were reported to have been “instructed to contest” the matter in question “at the cost of the public exchequer.” “Lack of co-ordination is writ large, depicting non-seriousness of government functionaries concerned, which is detrimental to the public interest,” the High Court further observed in the order. The High Court said it would have been appropriate that in matters where the issue involved concerned more than one government department, only one state counsel was engaged for contesting the matter. “It ought to be the policy of the state to ensure that an effective mechanism is pressed into service for effective representation in court cases,” the High Court said, adding that the matter (regarding proper representation of cases in court) needed to be considered by the government. The High Court further directed making available a copy of the said order to the Chief Secretary of the state, besides directing the counsel appearing in the case to ensure filing of the reply within two weeks. Pendency in courts
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Plea on scholarships
Srinagar, October 28 Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir gave four weeks’ time to the state government and other respondents to file objections relating to the petition. The petition was filed by students undergoing academic courses under the scheme. The court ordered that status quo should be maintained in respect of petitioners pursuing the academic courses and release of scholarships to them. The scheme was announced in the wake of the 2010 summer agitation to improve the educational scenario in the state. The main objective of the scheme is to provide tuition fees, hostel fees, cost of books and other incidental charges to the students belonging to Jammu and Kashmir who secure admission in
government-recogniseed colleges or institutions located outside the state. The PMSSS envisages 5,000 fresh scholarships every year over the next five years, beginning 2011. Many students who had availed admission under the scheme alleged that the scholarship money had not been released and the colleges were telling them to either pay up or leave. — PTI |
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Army’s UAV crashes in Nowshera
Rajouri, October 28 The incident took place around 2 pm when the unmanned aerial vehicle was on a mission in the border district of Rajouri to keep a watch on activities of militants. It crashed due to a technical snag. No casualty was reported. Within no time, personnel of the Army and other agencies concerned rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation and obtain first-hand information about the crash. The vehicle is a spying vehicle fitted with modern and sensitive cameras. It is about six feet in length and weighs round 1,000 kilogram. An eyewitness, Ram Saroop of Rajal, said, “Panic gripped the village when an aircraft crashed outside my cattle shed at Rajal village, but fortunately, there was no damage.” The authorities of the district administration and senior police officers visited the site where the incident took place. Additional Superintendent of Police, Nowshera, Parshotam Sharma, said, “Fortunately, no casualty or loss of property was reported. Morden village was heavily populated and most people were working in their fields when the crash took place.” He added, “The technical wing of the Army rushed to the spot and were trying to find out what actually happened to the remote-controlled vehicle.” When reports last came in, Army officials and the police were collecting facts and the debris of the unmanned aerial vehicle were yet to cleared from the spot. |
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Border flare-up coincided with Sharif's US visit, says CM
Srinagar, October 28 Omar said as soon as the visit was over, the ceasefire has suddenly been restored. "The flare-up started when Nawaz Sharif was going to the United States. As soon as the visit was over, the ceasefire was suddenly restored," he said. "Apparently, it was an attempt to internationalise the Kashmir issue. When they realised that it had failed, the situation came back to normal," Omar told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. "We are hopeful that the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border (IB) will hold and peace will prevail," Omar said. He said the situation along the LoC and IB had been mostly calm for the past two days. He said the incident at Uri, in which a Junior Commissioned Officer was killed, seemed to be a localised incident, which was not as worrisome as the large-scale violations that took place along the LoC and the IB recently. "Localised incidents keep happening. These should not worry us much. We were worried because the violations were taking place along the IB where there were no such incidents in the past 10 years," he said. — PTI |
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3-day Saffron Fest begins today
Srinagar, October 28 Various events such as flower plucking will be held during the fest, which aims at spreading awareness to visitors about the medicinal value of the world's most expensive spice, besides its use in cooking. An official of the Tourism Department said the festival was being held mainly to promote the Kashmiri saffron and to encourage educated youth to take up tourism-related entrepreneurial activities. Records with the Agriculture Department reveal that the area under saffron cultivation in Pampore was 5,361 hectares in 1997 and has dipped to 3,715 hectares in 2013. Other activities of the festival include "saffron run", cultural programmes, a laughter show and painting competition. Various stalls of agro-based products will also be put up. Even though the authorities admit that the tourist influx this year remained low as compared to the last year, they are tight-lipped over figures in this regard. To lure more tourists, the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC) has already announced 50 per cent rebate on lodging at its hotels and transport charges during the fest. The Valley had witnessed a heavy tourist footfall in the last two years, but the sector was affected in the aftermath of execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in February earlier this year. The sector revived later, but the government had to postpone the Gurez tourism festival after the killing of two youth in north Kashmir’s Bandipore district in June. A militant attack on June 24 that had left eight Army men dead near Hyderpora, which too hit the tourism industry. |
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Cong committed to solving problems of border residents: Haque
Jammu, October 28 "We condemn the continued Pakistani shelling on border causing heavy loss of human lives and property. The Congress fully stands with the people living on border and is committed towards sorting out the problems being faced by them," said AICC secretary, state in charge, Mainul Haque. Haque and other senior Congress leaders, including former minister RS Chib, today visited border areas of the RS Pura sector in Jammu district to take stock of the situation there. He asked the government to take all possible steps to ensure safe harvesting of paddy crops in the border areas. The Congress leader said the party stood for the uplift of the weaker sections of society and fighting communal forces, which were out to divide people on the basis of caste, creed and religion. He urged people to remain vigilant and united against these forces and their propaganda. Chib highlighted problems of refugees of 1947, 1965 and 1971 and demanded a "one-time settlement" and special package for their rehabilitation. — PTI |
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Panthers Party flays govt for delay in relief disbursement
Jammu, October 28 In a press note issued here, Harsh Dev Singh, JKNPP chairman, expressed concern over the “apathetic and indifferent approach” of the government and said the incessant rain in August had claimed several lives, besides causing colossal damage to property, houses, roads, standing crops and water and power infrastructure. He said the government had assured immediate relief and announced a package of Rs 9.95 crore for damage to residential houses, private property and standing crops, land erosion and loss of human lives. “The issue of early relief had been raised in the last Assembly session. The government had assured to supplement the funding for losses suffered by farmers. However, the government has failed to release even the initially announced amount of Rs 9.95 crore in favour of the affected farmers who were rendered shelter-less,” he said. He castigated the state government for its “half-hearted and biased survey” of rain-hit areas and resultant “faulty and flawed statistics” collected in pursuance thereof. While the number of collapsed houses exceeded the 10,000-mark, the government had merely shown the number at 5,600 in its record, the JKNPP leader alleged. He said there was a vast majority of villages and areas in Udhampur, Kathua, Samba and erstwhile Doda and Reasi districts which were not paid a visit by the field functionaries of Revenue Department, depriving several bona fide farmers of their legitimate claims of compensation and relief. He sought additional funds for restoration of damaged public infrastructure. |
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4 doctors attached with CMO’s office, 5 officials suspended
Katra, October 28 Dr Mohammad Ismail, Dr Rekha Soan, Dr Ajaz Ahmed Lone and Dr Arshad Hussain have been attached with the office of the Chief Medical Officer after they have been found guilty of misconduct and unauthorised absence in a preliminary inquiry. Sunita Kumari, Abdul Hamid, Nanak Chand, Suraj Prakash, Daleep Singh and Karnail Singh have been placed under suspension with immediate effect. the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Mohammad Younis, has been told to make alternative arrangements at the Primary Health Centre at Banna immediately. The Deputy Commissioner received a complaint over the telephone on October 23 from the Banna panchayat about the death of a child who was rushed to the Primary Health Centre for treatment, but it was found locked. After the child's death, the Mahore Block Medical Officer, Dr Rashpal Singh, was rushed to the spot to conduct the post-mortem examination and an inspection of and inquiry into the state of affairs at the Primary Health Centre. Meanwhile, the Reasi Chief Medical Officer deputed a special team to the spot. The inquiry officer found that all doctors were absent from duty and had not attended the hospital for more than 10 days in a row. The inpatient department and outpatient department registers were not maintained. The immunisation and stock register was not filled in. The support staff did not attend to their duties. In his report, the Block Medical Officer recommended termination of services of doctors. Taking serious note of the lapse on the part of health officials indicted in the inquiry report, the doctors were attached and further action was being initiated against them while the other staff members were suspended. The Deputy Commissioner told the Assistant Commissioner, Development, to issue a show-cause notice to the sarpanch to explain why the absenteeism at the Primary Health Centre was not reported to the authorities even after the administration had issued clear instructions in a series of meetings held recently. The Chief Medical Officer was now making alternative arrangement of doctors and paramedical staff at the Primary Health Centre of Banna. In another similar report received about the Primary Health Centre at Gotta in Mahore, the Deputy Commissioner told the Chief Medical Officer to thoroughly probe the matter based on the inquiry report of the Block Medical Officer and recommend necessary action. |
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NIT students introduce bio-science water filters in schools
Srinagar, October 28 The "bio-science filter", which has been devised by three students, utilises the twin power of the solar energy and extra cellular polymeric substances (EPS) to purify tap water or contaminated water. “The water filter is essentially based on biological and physical processes and we have aided the water purification system with solar batteries, which trap solar energy and stores it in the filter. The filter is in turn connected to a bio-film (purchased), where an inbuilt mechanism of biological process by the EPS, mainly proteins and polysaccharides, act as natural disinfectant of water. These films also have the strongest water disinfectant chlorine in them, which aid in water treatment,” said Syed Owais Bukhari, one of the group members. Other than Bukhari, who is a student of electronics and communications department, the project was handled Ankit Srivastva, an electrical engineering student and Kartik, a civil engineering student. All of them are second year students at the institute. These students were supervised by Shiekh Ghulam Muhammad, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Department, as a part of a campaign aimed at creating better hygienic conditions in society, especially among the weaker sections. “There is almost no expenditure incurred in maintaining this filter. Since it is cost-effective, we want to popularise its use in Kashmir's government schools, which are infamous for having no or poor drinking water facilities. As of now, these filters have been installed in three government schools of Srinagar,” said Shiekh Ghulam Muhammad. |
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Estate Dept staff defer strike by a month
Jammu, October 28 A delegation of the employees met the Estate Director after the protest demonstration in Jammu. Estate Director MM Gupta told them to give some time to the department to consider their demands. Employees were demanding reorganisation of the department, two-and-a-half-day extra salary, inclusion among essential services, regularisation of daily wage workers, release of pending salary of need-based employees, clearing cases of time-bound promotions and arrears, finalisation of seniority list, setting up of departmental promotion committee, shifting of office of Deputy Director and release of tools and uniform of employees. Prem Singh Bawa, co-coordinator of the committee, said, “The Director has told us to give them a month. We have unanimously decided to defer the strike by one month on the assurance of the Director.” “We will go on an indefinite strike if our demands are not met within a month,” he asserted. Estate Deputy Director Rakesh Mangotra and other senior officers of the Estate Department were present in the meeting with the employees. |
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J&K Bank physically, psychologically connected with people: Jora
Srinagar, September 28 The minister said this at a function organised to celebrate the platinum jubilee of the bank in Leh. "The bank has attained great success over the decades, especially during the past 25 years. Comparative facts and figures speak volumes about the progress made by the bank since its golden jubilee year," he said. Jora also appreciated the bank for generating direct as well as indirect employment opportunities for youth of the state. "The current chairman of the bank (Mushtaq Ahmad) has brought more humility and a sense of responsibility in this flagship company of the state. As he understands the system and has a vast experience in the field of banking, the bank has made a lot of progress during his term." The minister said, "The vibrant colours of the logo of J&K Bank not only speak about the philosophy of the bank, but also represent three regions of the state and convey that the bank's connection with people is both physical and psychological." The bank's chairman, Mushtaq Ahmad, expressed gratitude to people and the state government for their continued support to J&K Bank. "The unflinching support and trust of people of the state has been the main force behind surpassing targets and achieving milestones. The state government's patronage has contributed a lot in making this institution what it is today," he said. |
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Army to procure latest equipment to check attacks
Jammu, October 28 A "request for proposal" tender was issued recently by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, for procurement of 22 'sakriya' radio and cell phone jammer counter IED systems for the Army units deployed in the state. "These counter IED jammers will be put to use for service deployment and operational usage for quick reaction teams, VIP protection vehicles, convoy escorts, movement of troops and counter-insurgency operations," said an official. The procurement of jammers had become important in the wake of increasing attacks on security personnel in which IEDs are detonated by cell phones and radio signals, officials said. These jammers are based on advanced digital signal processing (ADSP) technology with frequency jamming of GSM, CDMA, DCS and 3G bands of cell phones besides frequency modulation (FM) and pre-initiator of 136 MHz to 174 MHz frequency, they said. — PTI
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Rajouri, October 28
Srinagar, October 28
