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| Monday,
December 18, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Nabbed ultras
were to kill Thackeray Steps to recover power tariff
arrears Killings worry
Farooq Major arms haul
in Anantnag Implement report
on minorities: Sena |
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Nabbed ultras were to kill Thackeray SRINAGAR, Dec 17 (PTI) — Four Kashmiri militants arrested by the Maharashtra police recently had plans to attack the RSS headquarters and assassinate Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray, the
IGP, Kashmir, Mr A.K. Bhan, said today. The militants being interrogated here after they were handed over to the local police revealed that they also planned to “wreak havoc on communally sensitive places all over the country”, Mr Bhan said. They revealed that they had gone to Maharashtra last month and visited Nagpur, Thane and Mumbai to attack the RSS headquarters and assassinate Bal Thackeray, the IGP said. The group had created a base at Thane and were to work under a new outfit “Soutal Khilafa” (the voice of
Khilafat), Mr Bhan said. The militants have been identified as Mohammand Tayub alias Abu Abdullah, Mohammad Afzal Sahad alias Abu Maz and Mohammad Yasin alias Abu Hamza, all Pakistanis, and Ghulam Rasool alias Saifullah of Doda, Jammu.
JAMMU, Dec 17 — Reeling under acute electricity shortage in Jammu and Kashmir, the state government has initiated several measures for improving the power supply and increasing the recovery of power tariff. The Chief Secretary, Mr Ashok Jaitley, has directed the department concerned and its officers to galvanise efforts for ensuring full recovery of power tariff. He has warned the officers against any laxity in checking electricity pilferage and suggested them to immediately disconnect illegal connections. Mr Jaitley asked the Power Development Department (PDD) to instal meters in every consumer house or shop so that there was no room for power theft. While expressing resentment over the poor collection of power tariff the Chief Secretary demanded an action plan for improving the collection and in connecting all supply lines of the consumers to meters. The department has been able to realise revenue to the tune of Rs 92 crore, Rs 58.93 crore from the Jammu division and Rs 33.28 crore from the Kashmir valley during the first eight months of the current financial year. This was stated by the Minister of State for Power, Mr Qamar Ali Akhoon, during a meeting of the PDD officers in Jammu. He said that the collection figures had showed a marked difference between the realisation and the target. Mr Akhoon also suggested to the engineers to snap illegal connections immediately and monitor whether shopkeepers were misusing electricity even after the closing their business establishments. The government had received reports that some business establishments. would keep the lights on even after closing their shops. Mr Akhoon said that the two grid stations at Gladni and Hiranagar were slated to be commissioned during the current year. Once these stations were opened, the generating capacity from Gladni would increase from 240 MVA to 520 MVA and from Hiranagar from 120 MVA to 320 MVA, allowing better power supply to Jammu division. However, the government is perturbed over the rapid fall in the river level feeding two major power projects — Uri-I and Lower Jhelum project in the Kashmir valley. Even the Salal project in Reasi has not been able to generate its installed capacity of 600 MWs. Reports said that as a result of steep decline in the water of the Jhelum, both Uri-I and Lower Jhelum hydel projects had been able to generate one-tenth of their installed capacity. The Northern grid has refused to supply additional power as the state Government has not been in a position to clear the arrears which have touched over Rs 1500 crore. The power grid twice threatened to snap the power supply to Jammu and Kashmir if the government did not clear the arrears. The work on the 590 MW Bhagliar power project has been in progress and seven other medium scale projects have been cleared but it may take not less than seven to 10 years to see these projects commissioned, depending on the availability of funds. The state government had planned to increase the power tariff in April last but the move was deferred because since 1996, when the National Conference assumed power, the electricity tariff had been hiked twice. The Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, has hinted that in case power tariff collection did not achieve the target fixed by the authorities, he may be forced to privatise the Power Department. All these problems have forced people to suffer the ordeal of power curtailment between nine hours and 12 hours a day. Dr Abdullah has called for judicious use of power as consumers were paying Rs 1.70 per unit when in neighbouring states it was Rs 4 a unit. He said power arrears had touched Rs 600 crore. |
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Killings worry
Farooq JAMMU, Dec 17 — The Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, has expressed concern over the way foreign mercenaries continue to kill innocent people in the state even after three weeks of the ceasefire announced by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. Addressing a function in the border village in Suchetgarh yesterday, Dr Abdullah said though the peace efforts were showing some results, there was no room for complacency in view of the unpredictable neighbour. He said this was witnessed during the Lahore bus journey which was immediately followed by the Pakistani intrusion in Kargil. He said that no doubt Pakistan had responded to the ceasefire by asking its troops to observe maximum restraint on the LoC militants pushed by agencies across the border in Jammu and Kashmir continue to kill innocent persons. The Chief Minister said after having failed to grab even an inch of the Indian territory in the three wars Pakistan had embarked on proxy war. He blamed the Government of India for having baretred away its gains during the previous wars against Pakistan. He announced India’s resolve to fence the International Border in Jammu sector. He said it was essential to fence the border belt to check infiltration and arms smuggling from across the border. SRINAGAR, Dec 17 — Six persons, including three militants were killed in separate incidents of violence in Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday. The police here said a militant was killed in Khadanyar area of Baramula district yesterday. The encounter ensued when the hiding militant opened fire on a patrol party. Militants shot dead Abdul Kareem in his house at Chuntwali War in Ganderbal area of Srinagar. Another person was killed by militants at Iskanderpora in Beerwah area of Budgam district, near here. Identified as Mohammad Asghar Dar, alias Chutoo, he was shifted to the SKIMS here where he succumbed to his injuries. The police found the body of Mohammad Yaseen in Zachaldara area of Kupwara district. Explosions rocked the Puthshahi woods in the frontier district of Kupwara early this morning. A report from Baramula said several trees were damaged in the explosions. In the first major arms haul in Jammu and Kashmir since the Centre’s Ramzan ceasefire, the police seized a large quantity of deadly weapons, including an 82-mm multi-purpose RCL gun capable of shooting down aircraft, in Anantnag district. The seizure followed the interrogation of four Lashkar-e-Toiba militants, arrested recently by the Maharashtra Police and handed over to the state police, the IGP, Mr A.K. Bhan, told mediapersons here. Besides the RCL gun, the seizure included seven busters, a telescope, a pika gun with 752 rounds, a Chinese pistol with magazines, a search device (one set), 20 RPG shells, five motor shells, 15 RPG premiers, four rifle grenades and 750 rounds of ammunition, Mr Bhan said. The 82 mm multi-purpose gun with a range of 5 km is capable of downing aircraft and destroying oil depots and arms and ammunition dumps. Two militants were killed during an encounter at Gandoh in Doda district. One of them was identified as Aiaz Ahmed, tehsil commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen. Arms and ammunition were recovered from the site. An Army jawan, who was injured during a militant attack on the Army camp at Mendhar in Poonch yesterday, succumbed to his injuries last night.
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Implement report
on minorities: Sena JAMMU, Dec 17 — At a meeting of the Jammu and Kashmir Shiv Sena (Thackeray) held today under the chairmanship of Mr Devinder Krishna Shastri (Sampark Pramukh), office-bearers expressed concern about the ‘double standards’ of the state government towards the minorities and demanded that the government clarify its policy on this matter. The deputy chief of the state Shiv Sena, Mr Rakesh Gupta (Up-sampark Pramukh), urged the state government to implement the recommendations of the National Minorities Commission. He added that during its visit to state, the commission members met a cross-section of society, including politicians. He warned that if the National Conference government failed to implement the recommendations of the National Minorities Commission or dally-dallied on the issue, the Sena would take to the streets. |
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More tubewells
for Jammu JAMMU, Dec 17 — Nine tubewells costing Rs 7.74 crore would be dug during the current financial year in the district raising the total number of functional tubewells to 125.
This was revealed by the Minister of State for Works, Ms Sakin Itoo, here today, during the inspection of the tubewells under construction. The tubewells are being dug in Peerkho, Nitco Lane, Patta Paloura, Gole, Muthi, Rakh Bandhu and Ahastri Nagar.
The Chief Engineer, PHE Mr I.C. Jandial, and other engineers of the PHE Department accompanied the minister during the inspection.
SRINAGAR, Dec 17 (UNI) — Fresh snowfall in the upper reaches of the Kashmir valley since last evening led to temperatures plummeting in the entire valley.
Srinagar and its adjoining areas had light showers last evening, dropping the mercury further and forcing people to remain indoors. |
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