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| Saturday,
October 14, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Noisy scenes in J&K
Assembly Experts flay Uri-II power
project Students threaten
self-immolation Theatre festival ends with
elan |
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SRINAGAR, Oct 13 (PTI, UNI) — Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly today when the lone CPM member, Mr Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, raised the issue of restoration of greater autonomy to the state. Opposing autonomy, opposition members mainly from the BJP, the JD(U) and some members of the BSP tried to shout down Mr Tarigami as he accused both the Centre and the state government for not being serious and sincere about the restoration of autonomy to the state. As all opposition members spoke in a loud voice simultaneously nothing could be heard but Mr Tarigami ignored their protests and said the rejection of the autonomy resolution by the Centre, passed by the House, amounted to an insult of the Assembly as well as the people of the state. He demanded that the House should be taken into confidence about the steps being taken by the state government with regard to implementation of the autonomy resolution. Later talking to reporters, Mr Tarigami alleged the state government had meekly surrendered before the Centre, as no effort was being made for implementation of the resolution passed by the Assembly. Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather said the state had been facing a cash crunch for the past two years mainly because of the delay in finalisation of the plan outlay by the Centre. The minister told the Assembly today the state lacked resources and had always been in deficit. Though the award of the Eleventh Finance Commission was finalised in July, the plan outlay had not been settled by the centre so far. The matter was being followed up with the Centre at the highest level, he said. Asked why the state government was not forcing the Centre to release the funds on time as the state had a very limited work season in Ladakh and Kashmir, Mr Rather said, ‘‘We have taken up this issue with the Centre time and again and hope to get the funds during the next meeting with Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission in Delhi on the 20th of this month.’’ However, he informed the House that District Development Commissioners had been authorised to spend 75 per cent of the plan so that development activities did not suffer. ‘‘This time we hope to get a good plan,’’ he informed the House when a BJP member asked why the state was not mobilising its own resources and recovering crores of rupees looted by corrupt officials, the minister said tax collections, Rs 123 crore in 1996, had reached Rs 260 crore. There was a 36 per cent increase in sales tax in the state, he said. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has said the cult of violence unleashed by neighbouring Pakistan has left innumerable scars on humanity in the state. However, the people of the state wanted to come out of this situation and join the march of progress and development, Mr Abdullah said while talking to a delegation of the Indian Red Cross led by its secretary-general Dr Vimala Ramolingam, that called on him here yesterday. Ironically, both India and Pakistan were spending huge funds on defence that could be utilised for the welfare of people, the Chief Minister said. It was because of paucity of resources that public utility services like healthcare suffered. The condition of hospitals in the state was not very rosy, he said, adding that besides further improving the system there was a need to inculcate the spirit of dedication, zeal and commitment among doctors and paramedical staff. Mr Abdullah lauded the efforts of organisations like the Red Cross that helped people in distress across the globe and said ‘‘Every little thing helps humanity immensely’’. Mr Abdullah today promised a White Paper on the appointments in government departments since he assumed office. In a written reply in the Assembly, he said the White Paper on appointments made since October 1996 would among other things give department and cadre-wise details. The document would be ready before the Budget session and there would be a day’s discussion on it, he assured members. The government had employed 58,760 persons since coming to power. Of this number, the State Selection Board selected 11,332 while another 2,225 were selected by the Public Service Commission and 991 by the Forest Board. Mr Abdullah said 18,000 persons were appointed as special police officers. When a bjp member alleged people from Kashmir were appointed against vacancies in the Jammu region, Mr Abdullah said: “Let the White Paper come out and you will come to know each and every detail.’’ Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly expressed concern over the Army not paying for the land occupied by it in the state for its anti-insurgency operations. Speaker Abdul Ahad Vakil told the Assembly the owners were not paid for the land occupied by the Army and other security forces in the state for the past so many years. The Chief Minister assured the Assembly he would take up the matter with the Defence Minister after the issue dominated question hour. Intervening during question hour, he said Defence Minister George Fernandes was arriving in Srinagar on October 23 and he would discuss the issue with him. Mr Vakil asked the Chief Minister to “forcefully’’ take up the matter with the Defence Minister so that all those whose land had been acquired by the Army received compensation. Meanwhile, the autumn session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, which was scheduled to end on October 14, has been extended by two days. The decision to extend the session till October 18 was taken at a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the House under the chairmanship of the Speaker, Mr Abdul Ahad Vakil. As per the revised calendar issued by the Assembly secretariat, there would be government business for three days (October 13, 14 and 18) while the Private Members Bill would be taken up on October 17. The sittings of the House on October 14 and 18 shall begin with question hour and the sitting of the House scheduled for October 17 shall begin at 3 p.m. hours without holding question hour. |
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Experts flay Uri-II power
project JAMMU, Oct 13 — Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir Government, the NHPC will construct six hydel power projects in the state during the next five to seven years, depending on the availability of funds. Jammu and Kashmir will get 12 per cent share by way of free supply of electricity from these projects. The MoU had to be signed as the state government had no resources to take up these projects. The state had requested the Centre to give counter guarantee so that various foreign firms could be approached for constructing major power projects in the state which has a capacity to generate 15,000 MW of power. The Central Government refused to give any counter guarantee, forcing the state government to accept the conditions for constructing hydel power projects by the NHPC. Experts here are critical of the sanction given to the NHPC to build the Uri phase II power project. This multi-crore project, according to the experts, would hardly serve any purpose. Their argument is that when Uri phase I, which has an installed capacity of 400 MW, was able to generate 50 per cent of the installed capacity for more than six months, there is no point in wasting crores of rupees on Uri phase II. Even the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, has stated on several occasions that Uri phase I generated 35 to 40 MW of power during four lean months. Since Uri phase I draws energy from the Jhelum, fall in the water discharge directly affects power generation. Reports said since the beginning of this month, Uri phase I and the Lower Jhelum Hydel Project, which has an installed capacity of generating 106 MW of electricity, were generating one-fourths of their optimum capacity. Power engineers say if the water level in the Jhelum continues to drop from November, Uri and the Jhelum hydel projects will not be able to generate more than 80 MW out of the total installed capacity of 505 MW. Since October 1, the load shedding period in the state, including the two capitals, has been increased from four and a half hours to six hours. The engineers fear a further fall in the local generation. This time, out of the total requirement of nearly 17,000 million units per day, the availability from the local generation and supply from the Northern Grid has decreased to less than 13 million units per day. The gap of four million units has warranted increase in local shedding. The experts are of the opinion that both successive governments at the Centre and the state had bungled a sound policy on power generation. They say the initial blunder was the signing of the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan in 1960 by Central team. Under the treaty, there are limitations on the use of water of the Jhelum, Chenab and Indus that flow from Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan. Both for power generation and irrigation, prior approval has to be sought from Pakistan if the state government wants to frame a fresh plan for tapping the river water for power generation. A team of experts from Pakistan visits Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab once every year to check if any violation of the treaty has been committed. It is because of this treaty that the state government has not been in a position to build massive reservoirs for using stored water for generating electricity during the lean period. The state government has repeatedly urged the Centre to scrap the treaty. However, there has been no response from the Centre. The state government has calculated that the treaty has forced it to suffer an annual loss of about Rs 10,000 crore and the Centre should compensate it. Under this situation, when the load shedding may be increased to nine hours a day, the experts have suggested to the state and Central governments to abandon the Uri phase II project for the time being and construct small power projects on and along the Chenab which has better water potential than the Jhelum. According to these experts, another blunder committed by the state government was the way macro power projects were abandoned long ago. The state government under the recommendations of the experts, had sent a team to China to study the working of macro power plants. On its return, the team identified 40 places where such power projects could be constructed which included Pahalgam, Pulwama and Budgam. Work on at least 12 projects had been undertaken in the late 70s but owing to faulty distribution of funds not a single project was commissioned. A huge amount of money was wasted. The experts say the state has only two alternatives to tackle the power crisis during the next one to two years. First, it should raise resources to increase its buying capacity so that additional power can be purchased from the Northern grid. The state government had requested the Centre to release additional funds for purchasing additional power from the Northern Grid which was turned down. The state purchases nearly 7,000 million units from the grid everyday. The state has no money to buy more. Also as the state owes more than Rs 300 crore to the grid, it had to resort to heavy load shedding to reduce the arrears. Secondly, funds have to be raised for constructing macro power plant. They say if the funds are made available the macro projects, each having a capacity of 10 MW, can be commissioned in six months. It also has to take firm steps in checking power theft and transmission losses. Jammu and Kashmir is on the top of the list as far transmission losses and pilferage of power are concerned. The state government has enhanced power tariff twice but it has not ensured the supply of electricity for more than 10 hours everyday. The Congress, the PDP, the BJP and other associations connected with trade and commerce have started protesting about the increase in load shedding. The Chief Minister has expressed his inability to do anything. He has suggested to BJP leaders to persuade the NDA government to release additional funds so that more power could be purchased from the grid.
Meanwhile, people have started preparing for the dark winter. |
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Students threaten
self-immolation JAMMU, Oct 13 — Students of camp college, which has been functioning since 1991 for the benefit of the students belonging to migrant Kashmiri families, have threatened to carry out self-immolation if their demand for maintaining the status quo is not accepted. The students have been on strike for the past several days, holding demonstrations and dharnas in protest against the government’s decision to merge the college with the main college. Following the decision, the migrant students would be affiliated to Jammu University. The camp college here and another at Udhampur were earlier affiliated to Kashmir University. The agitating students alleged that by winding up the camp college, the government was sealing the chances of their return to the Kashmir valley. Several organisations, including the Jammu Joint Student Federation, have extended support to the students. The students have appealed to the Central Government’s Ministry of Human Resources to intervene. They said that the state government was trying to create a wedge between the migrant students and those belonging to Jammu by merging camp college with the main college. What has surprised many Kashmir watchers is that during the past several years, students of the camp colleges were demanding affiliation with the Jammu University so that they could take the examinations in time. Between 1991 and 1996, the examination schedule of Kashmir University remained disrupted and the results were not declared in time. The state Education Minister, Mr Mohammed Shafi, has said that the government’s decision was the result of pressing demand from camp college in the past. He denied charges that the government was trying to divide the local students and those belonging to the migrant families. |
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Theatre festival ends with
elan SRINAGAR, Oct 13 — The five-day Kashmir theatre festival, organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, in collaboration with the North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala, concluded at the Tagore Hall here today. The concluding play, “Nagare roza wazan” written by Shafiq Qureshi portrayed the exploitation of Kashmiri through an experiment of mixing modern and traditional theatre practices of Kashmir. The noteworthy feature of the event, held in Kashmir after 12 years, was that all plays were Kashmiri in origin and written by prominent Kashmiri playwrights. These reflected the agony of Kashmiri masses and their sufferings. Mr Balwant Thakur, Secretary of the cultural academy, lauding participants, encouraged theatre artistes of Kashmir to compete with the mainstream theatre. The festival had been inaugurated by veteran stage artiste and writer, Pran Kishore. It opened with the play “Natuk kariv band” which was presented by the Wahab Dramatic Club, Hajin (Baramula). Playwright Hari Krishan Koul wove a theme with the backdrop of a Ramlila performance in which a conflict had been shown where all actors wanted the role of Lord Rama. The play symbolises how people manage to hold the top position and exploit the common man. Written in a modern style, in a play within a play technique, the play offered a lot of comic situations. The second play, “Insaaf” was presented by the Young Welfare and Cultural Forum, Khahipora, Baramula. The “Kandam Maal” written by Mohammad Yusuf Shaheen and directed by Abdul Majid Wani was staged on Wednesday by the Kashmir Kala Manch, Srinagar. In this play, the influence of western culture on youth was shown. |
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