Resentment among SPOs
JAMMU, May 15 — The police authorities in Rajouri, Udhampur and Doda districts are worried over the way the acute cash crunch has caused deep resentment among several thousand special police officers and members of the Village Defence Committees as they have not received their monthly emoluments for the past two to three months.

Scientists asked to study Jhelum waters
SRINAGAR, May 15 — Recycling of waste products and use of modern technology is the best way to contain pollution, Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Forest and Environment Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan has said.

Non-payment of emoluments
Resentment among SPOs
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, May 15 — The police authorities in Rajouri, Udhampur and Doda districts are worried over the way the acute cash crunch has caused deep resentment among several thousand special police officers (SPOs) and members of the Village Defence Committees (VDCs) as they have not received their monthly emoluments for the past two to three months.

Even in the case of VDCs and SPOs who had been accorded formal government sanction, the monthly emoluments have been released only till February. And those men of the VDCs and SPOs who have been recruited on verbal orders from the authorities have not received their monthly wages for the past three months.

In Doda district there are at present 3,700 SPOs against the sanctioned strength of 1,800. The additional recruitment was made in the light of the step-up in militancy-related activities. And when massacres were carried out in Doda, Udhampur and Rajouri, state government functionaries ordered raising more VDCs and recruiting more SPOs to ensure the protection of minorities in the three districts so as to check migration.

Accordingly, more than 55 per cent SPOs were recruited and more than 50 per cent VDCs were set up against the sanctioned strength. In Doda district against the sanctioned strength of 330 VDCs more than 835 VDCs are at present functioning. Each member of the VDC is paid Rs 200 per month and SPOs get Rs 1,800 per month.

Senior police functionaries are worried as several SPOs and members of the VDCs have threatened to quit and stop risking their lives while fighting militants for which they are not even paid what they call a "pittance." A senior police officer feared that SPOs and VDC members might run away taking their guns along with them.

Some of the VDC members have complained to the senior police authorities that they have not received their emoluments for the past over six months. Reports said wages to the SPOs and members of the VDCs were covered under security-related expenses which the Centre had been reimbursing to the state government. However, there is a tussle between the state government and the Union Home Ministry over the expenses shown by the state authorities on security-related matters.

The state government had informed the Union Home Ministry in March, 1999, that the security-related expenses had touched over Rs 774 crore and the figure had crossed Rs 800 crore by now. The delay in those reimbursing the expenses had been one of the factors responsible for the acute cash crunch and for the inordinate delay in releasing emoluments and wages in favour of VDC members and SPOs.

The Union Home Ministry is said to have raised an objection informing the state government that expenses to the tune of over Rs 550 crore under security-related matters had not been justified by documentary evidence. The Centre had agreed to release Rs 230 crore which qualified for reimbursement under security-related expenses.

This assurance was given in February, 1999, but till date not a penny has been reimbursed by the Centre. It was in this connection that the Finance Minister, Mr Mohd Shafi, met the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, in Delhi requesting him to release at least Rs 230 crore which the ministry had agreed to reimburse.

Mr Shafi felt embarrassed when Mr Advani asked senior functionaries of his ministry to examine the matter and release the amount under the rules. The state government feels that the instructions given by Mr Advani to officers in the ministry was yet another way of delaying reimbursement.

Permanent government employees working in various rural areas have also not been paid their monthly salaries for the past two to three months.

Scientists asked to study Jhelum waters

SRINAGAR, May 15 (PTI) — Recycling of waste products and use of modern technology is the best way to contain pollution, Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Forest and Environment Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan has said.

Scientific planning is the key to progress and if this is done, execution and implementation will become less cumbersome, Mr Ramzan said while addressing the fourth regional conference of Pollution Control Boards here yesterday.

The three-day conference, the first of its kind in the state, is being attended by experts from central and northern states.

Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said in a bid to contain pollution, the State Pollution Control Board had been strengthened and its scope widened.

He said water pollution was a major problem and scientists should undertake a study of the Jhelum, the lifeline of the valley, under the National River Action Plan.

The minister asked the authorities to take note of the air pollution caused by vehicles and industries and come up with remedial measures.

He said rapid deforestation, increase in population, ozone depletion and global warming had adversely affected environment, resulting in irreversible climate changes and other natural disasters.

He said sustained development was a necessity, especially in a state like Jammu and Kashmir keeping in mind its geographical location and fragile eco-system.

If water, air and environment protection Acts were implemented properly, these would help contain pollution to a large extent, he said emphasising the need for pollution monitoring and environmental education, besides strengthening technical expertise of Pollution Control Boards.