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Thursday,
January 30, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP’s charge against Mufti J&K demands north-south corridor from Uri 18 Jammu colonies to be regularised Ultras attack camp of security forces 6 more courts to be set up soon |
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8 held in land scam case
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BJP’s charge against Mufti Jammu, January 29 In a statement here yesterday, Prof Hari Om, spokesman of the BJP, accused the Congress of taking the people of Jammu for a ride by giving unstinted support to the PDP. The Congress had gone back on its election promise to give the Chief Minister from Jammu and empower the region by appointing the regional development board. Mr Hari Om said the anti-Jammu stance of the PDP was understandable because the influence of the party was confined to two districts of the Kashmir valley, Pulwama and Anantnag, notwithstanding its highly emotive and unsettling political agenda. The PDP had no support base in the Jammu region which had been facing the worst discrimination and neglect eversince October 1947, when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru transferred the state power from Jammu and Kashmir to appease the “valley-centric Sheikh Abdullah”. He alleged that the PDP and the Congress were ignoring the Jammu region and busy distributing appointment letters to a particular section in Kashmir, including the relatives of subversives and anti-social elements, under the guise of a “healing touch” and the pretext of alienation. |
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J&K demands north-south corridor from Uri Srinagar, January 29 “Government is pressing the Centre to take up the construction of north-south corridor not from Srinagar but from Uri to Kanya Kumari”, State Finance Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beig said yesterday during an extensive tour of Baramula district town, 55 km from here. He said government had formulated a comprehensive master plan for the development and beautification of Baramula, once a prosperous town but now lacks even basic amenities like road communication and drinking water. Seeking people’s cooperation in the government’s endeavour to accelerate the pace of development, Mr Beig said, “without people’s cooperation, the government cannot succeed in mitigating their sufferings which have grown manifold during the turmoil”. “The government has to take some hard decisions to remove encroachments from the town. But while doing so we have to ensure that no injustice is done to helpless people”, the minister said adding that a mechanism was being worked out to rehabilitate the deserving persons whose houses or shops were demolished. He said an inquiry has been ordered taking cognisance of complaints regarding some injustice done during the demolition drive in the town.
PTI |
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18 Jammu colonies to be regularised Jammu, January 29 This was announced here today by the Housing and Urban Development Minister, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir. He warned that the government would deal land grabbers with an iron hand. Mr Mir urged the encroachers to volunteer by removing their structures. He said other areas will be involved in the drive phasewise and encroachments on roads in residential areas would also be removed. The inter-state bus terminus would be shifted to Transport Nagar, near railway station, to ease traffic congestion. Those affected by the move would be rehabilitated. The minister said the government had decided to rgularise all 18 unauthorised colonies here and a committee headed by the vice-chairman of the Jammu Development Authority had been set up to submit a report in this matter. PTI adds from Srinagar: The Srinagar municipality is all set to launch a campaign to rid the Kashmir valley of polythene bags, one of the major contributors to environmental pollution. People in general know about the disastrous affects of use of polythene and the municipality in a bid to provide pollution-free
environment and better hygienic facilities has decided to launch an effective drive against its use, which has taken epidemic proportions, the municipality said in an appeal to the people on Wednesday. |
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Ultras attack camp of security forces Srinagar, January 29 Official sources said the militants fired a couple of rifle grenades at the camp in Wazir Bagh here last night. However, the grenade missed the target and exploded at some distance damaging windowpanes of a house. No one was injured. A counter insurgent was wounded when militants attacked a camp at Kulgam in Anantnag last evening. The militants escaped. Body of a person was recovered at Ganderbal today. An official spokesman said the foreign mercenary was killed in a group clash at Nowgam Kokernag last night. He said three armed persons entered the branch of Illaqai Dehati Bank at Aru Mohanpur Kulgam today and looted Rs 30,655. They also snatched some cash from customers present there. Premises of the Public Works Department (PED) store, near the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri, was rocked by a grenade blast last evening The grenade exploded without causing any damage.. The spokesman said security forces apprehended a Hizbul Mujahideen militant at Akal Kangan last evening and seized a pistol with two magazines and five rounds.
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6 more courts to be set up soon
Srinagar, January 29 Minister for Finance, Planning, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Muzaffar Hussain Beigh said this during an interaction with the Bar Association of Baramula yesterday. However, he made it clear that while identifying the areas for setting up of new courts, the government would strictly go by the advice of the High Court and would not succumb to any political pressure. The minister also announced that Consumer Courts would be set up at the district level to ensure speedy redressal of grievances of consumers, who he said had to go to Srinagar or Jammu to file a suit. Regarding the appointment of Advocate-General, Additional Advocate-Generals and government advocates the minister said merit was the only criteria to determine the suitability of a person for these posts. Mr Beigh said while going through the files of the Law and Finance Department, he was surprised to learn that the government had to spend a whopping Rs 135 crore on legal matters due to unavailability of sufficient and efficient government counsels. “And that is why we want the people who can save the government such a huge amount,’’ he said. Mr Beigh provided Rs 2.69 lakh from his constituency development fund for the construction of lawyers chambers at the Baramula Court.
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Police teargas shopkeepers Srinagar, January 29 This was part of the demolition drive against encroachments, launched by the Srinagar Municipality and the Srinagar Development Authority early this month. Over 1500 such structures have already been removed in different parts of the city. Though there has been little resistance offered by shopkeepers in this regard, most of them have been removing illegal structures on their own, but not without notices being served on them by the agencies concerned. The drive is yet to be launched in the green belt area, falling in the high-security zone along the Boulevard road from Dalgate to Nishat near the Dal lake. The government has already stopped construction work on the official residences of the Chief Minister and the Director-General of Police coming up in the area. The
Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Complex (SKICC), the venue of functions
like oath ceremonies for Chief Minister and his ministerial colleagues in 1996 and in 2002, is also under question. The drive was launched first along the 15-km-long Indira Gandhi airport road, where a number of structures had come up during the past several years. The people in the area have been asked not to make the road peripheries commercial, creating traffic hazards on the road frequented by VIPs’ vehicles. The Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation had called for a general strike here earlier this month to protest against the drive, causing them heavy loss. Though shops and business establishments were closed in response to the call, employees’ unions and transporters opposed the move. The
government plans to continue the drive against such encroachments and the same have already been launched in other major towns like
Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam, Budgam, Sopore and Kupwara. |
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8 held in land scam case
Srinagar, January 29 A spokesman of the police said a complaint had been received that 45 ‘kanals’ of the government land was acquired for a Railway station at Kakapora in south Kashmir district of Pulwama and compensation worth lakhs of Rupees had been paid fraudulently. He said the case was verified by the government and referred to the police for further investigation. The investigation prima facie established that 11 ‘kanals’ and 19 ‘marlas’ of shamlat land was mutated to individual benefit of six villagers vide ‘shait indraj mutation number 1858’ by the then Tehsildar (Settlement) Pulwama. It was further revealed that three mutations under the same number were processed against the norms of law by the revenue authorities. He said Rs 16,49,100 was paid as compensation to the beneficiaries. The ‘shait indraj mutation’ was processed by Patwari Shuja Mehmood Andrabi, verified by Altaf Ahmad Mistry and attested by Nazir Ahmad Qadiri the then Tehsildar Settlement Pulwama in favour of six persons. The police yesterday arrested Nazir Ahmad Qadiri ex-tehsildar, Shuja Mehmood Andrabi, Altaf Ahmad along with five beneficiaries. The spokesman said the recovery of the government money was in process.
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2 Army officers die as mine explodes Jammu, January 29 The powerful explosion at Devigarh in Arnia belt of Jammu district rocked the entire border belt and killed on-the-spot Lt G.B. Boley and Naib Subedar Ajmer Singh, they said. Another officer Major Banerjee received serious injuries in the explosion and was airlifted to military hospital at Udhampur, they said.
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Heavy firing by Pakistani troops Jammu, January 29 The Pakistani troops targeted Nikowal, S H Way, Karotna and Khurd BOPs last evening, the sources said. There was no damage or casualties on the Indian side, they said. PTI |
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Bank Manager booked for graft Srinagar, January 29 According to the state Vigilance Bureau, Muzaffar Ahmad Lala, Manager of Cooperative Bank branch in Kangan, a rural area of Srinagar district, allegedly accepted the bribe from Mohammad Maqbool Mir for sanctioning a loan of Rs 50,000.
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13 cattle head perish in fire Jammu, January 29 The mishap took place when a fire broke out in the cowshed of Ghulam Rasool Gujjar at Karloop village yesterday. The fire brigade, which rushed from Jammu, brought the fire under control. PTI |
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