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Friday,
July 27, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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J&K finalises report on Mughal Road Jammu’s case for statehood
ignored Fake currency racket
busted NAC administrator arrested |
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J&K finalises report on Mughal Road Srinagar, July 26 The Jammu Kashmir Projects Constructing Corporation (JKPCC) has been entrusted with the job of preparing the feasibility report for 46 km of the road, a press note said. A team of officers has been constituted in this regard. The Mughal Road project was taken up for execution in 1979. The construction of the road was simultaneously started from two sides, Shopian on the Kashmir side and Bafliaz on the Poonch side. The total length of the Mughal Road is 89 km, of which 43 is on the Kashmir side and 46 on the Jammu side. The government has already completed 10 km of the black-topped road from Shopian to Heerpora and 6 km metalled road up to Dubjan, besides completing earth work on another 10 km. The bridge over Rambiara has also been completed. Similarly, from the Poonch side a 13-km fair-weather road with two major bridges at Bafliaz and Punar have been completed and the earth work up to 17 km has also been completed. Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has formulated an ambitious Rs 10,000-crore afforestation project in the state with the help of Norwegian funding. Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, who reviewed the performance of the Forest Department, said an MoU had been signed with Norway on the project. Two officers of the state had visited Norway in this connection. The project is scheduled to be completed in a phased manner in 20 years. Mr Abdullah called for evolving a multi-pronged strategy to intensify forest surveillance, conserving water bodies and effectively creating awareness regarding environment in the state. He said surveillance against timber smugglers and poachers should be undertaken in a big way. The field staff must be adequately equipped and the Forest Protection Force provided with communication and other logistics, including weapons. The Chief Minister announced grant of Rs 9 crore for the regeneration of forests.
UNI |
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Jammu’s case for statehood
ignored Jammu, July 26 The 20-year-agitation over autonomous status has brought the Buddhists under one canopy of the Ladakh Buddhists Association (LBA). And after having achieved their goal for a Leh Hill Development Council, the LBA has become a genuine representative of the people of Ladakh. The Buddhists have fought with slings and arrows since 1982 and have demonstrated their strength in resisting cultural aggression from Kashmir. Under the umbrella of the LBA, the Buddhists have succeeded in insulating Ladakh against militancy. Their fight for a union territory status is still on. They have joined hands with a faction of the Panun Kashmir and the Jammu Joint Students Front to secure for Ladakh the status of a union territory. For the past several years the demand for statehood for Jammu has started gaining ground. But neither the state government nor the Centre has taken the activities of protagonists of statehood for Jammu seriously. The reason being that those who have been agitating for statehood have hardly any representative character. What is amazing is the way voices rose from Jammu for involvement of representatives of the people in the talks for resolving the Kashmir issue. Such a demand was heard from the Kashmir valley too where at least the 23-party conglomerate, the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, has staked claim for a representative character. The APHC has established a foothold in the valley which can help it to represent the sentiments of a major section of the people. As far as the Jammu region is concerned it has not been able to throw up a mass leader or a conglomerate of different political parties that could fight for the rights of the people on the pattern the Buddhists did in Ladakh. In recent months, the All-Party Jammu Statehood Movement has been floated for espousing the cause of separate state for Jammu. The Front is toothless because political parties that matter have not joined it. An interview with a cross-section of intellectuals and academicians has revealed that as a result of leadership crisis, the case of Jammu residents has been ignored by powers that be in the state and at the Centre. A university teacher said political leaders of different hues in Kashmir would not hesitate joining hands while agitating to push economic development. It is because of this that one finds better economic growth in the Kashmir valley than in Jammu. Elected representatives in the Assembly in the Kashmir valley have been seen campaigning successfully while demanding construction of new roads, hospitals, school buildings and community centres. The teacher, who has been close to several politicians in Jammu, said that neither BJP nor Congress leaders, including those elected to the Assembly, took up the case of development of Jammu with force. Most leaders and Assembly members, he stated, were seen engaged in securing minor favours from the ruling class in the shape of promotions and appointments in government offices for their kin or favourites. Another teacher said. “If there is talk of discrimination against the Jammu region, our leaders from the province are responsible for it.” A senior doctor said, “We have no mass leader in Jammu who can get things done at the drop of his hat.” He said Kashmir had the advantage of producing a leader with a mass base, like Sheikh Abdullah, who was taken seriously by successive governments at the Centre. He said Jammu had more political organisations and leaders than the Kashmir valley but each leader or party had been seen working at cross-purposes. He cited the example of the fight for statehood for Jammu and explained that those organisations and leaders, who mattered, had refused to land their weight to the movement. He said during the past 50 years, mainstream political leaders in Jammu had been seen following an “appeasements” policy. The Jammu leaders could have formed a front in which the Gujjars could have been involved. Gujjars with a population of 15 lakh could turn the tide against any government in the state, provided they were brought under one umbrella. |
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Fake currency racket busted Srinagar, July 26 The Inspector-General (IG), BSF, North Kashmir, Mr Naresh Mehra Pacui, said the special field intelligence team of the BSF arrested the kingpin of the gang and three of his close associates along with sophisticated equipment and fake currency worth Rs 2,35,400. He said the ISI was circulating fake currency in order to destablise the Indian economy. The four arrested were identified as Bashir Ahmad Peer of Sangrama-Sopore, Mushtaq Ahmad Gojri and Mushtaq Ahmad Shah (both surrendered militants) and Ali Mohammad. During questioning, Bashir revealed that he had printed and supplied fake currency worth Rs 15 lakh. The questioning of the arrested persons also revealed that such fake currency was being siphoned off through militant groups as also through some functionaries working in banks, the BSF officer said.
PTI |
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NAC administrator arrested Srinagar, July 26 The arrest followed the registration of a case against him pertaining to accumulation of disproportionate to his income assets.
UNI |
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