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Thursday,
February 13, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Cong wants end to demolition drive Id celebrated with fervour in J&K
Gypsy blown up, cop killed |
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‘Expedite report on resource mobilisation’ Book on tourist spots released
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Cong wants end to demolition drive Jammu, February 12 The demolition drive was started by the PDP-Congress coalition government a few days ago and many encroachments have been removed. The Housing and Urban Development Minister, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir, said the demolition of illegal structures would continue to make the city beautiful. He denied that the drive had been slowed down because of any pressure. The demolition drive has assumed political overtones and the opposition parties and the affected persons have started accusing the Mufti government of razing to ground only the structures of common and poor people and not touching those of the influential ones who have blantantly violated the municipal laws while constructing palatial buildings and even encroaching on public lands. Panicked over the adverse public opinion being generated over the issue, the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, before leaving for the Congress election campaign in Himachal Pradesh on Monday, visited the Nai Basti areas and promised alternative places to the affected people for carrying out their business. Many Congress activists claim that the party will suffer the wrath of the people in the JMC elections in case the demolition drive was continued. The PDP, which was heading the government, has no stake here as it did not win even a single Assembly seat in the Jammu region. In these circumstances, the Congress will be the only sufferer. The BJP, which has always captured the Jammu Municipal Council, has already started highlighting the grievances of the people, who were affected due to the demolition of their shops. The Jammu and Srinagar municipal councils are being upgraded to the status of municipal corporations and the elections to the civic bodies in the state are expected to be held in April as has been announced by the Chief Minister. The demolition drive is becoming a major issue in both cities, as it was first started in Srinagar, where a large number of unauthorised commercial establishments constructed during the peak of terrorism have been demolished. A Congress leader said the demolition might cast its shadow even on the byelection for the Pampore Assembly seat, where polling will be held on February 26. However, the Mufti has claimed that the people have appreciated the demolition of the illegal structures which has restored the beauty of the town. Meanwhile, the Congress leadership is not convinced with this claim of the Mufti and is no mood to allow the further continuance of the drive. In the past even when the Congress was in power in the state, the Jammu Municipal Council was always controlled by the BJP, as the city is considered to be its stronghold. However, every time the BJP-controlled council was superseded and a government officer appointed as the administrator. Even at this moment, the municipality is being headed by an administrator since 1982 when the Council was dissolved. |
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Id celebrated with fervour in J&K Jammu, February 12 Addressing an Id congregation at Idgah here this morning, Mr Sayeed said India, along with Russina and some European countries, was trying its best to avoid a war on Iraq. He said matters had to be resolved through dialogue. Exuding confidence, the Mufti said with the cooperation of the people, his government would be able to give a happy turnaround to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and steer the state out of the morass. He said his coalition government was making all-out efforts to accelerate the process of normalisation and would seek support of everyone. “We want to make Jammu and Kashmir once again an abode of peace, tranquility and brotherhood”, he said. The Chief Minister said, “Our endeavour is to create a conducive atmosphere where everyone gets justice and the issues are resolved peacefully through
dialogues”. He said, “We on our part are trying to ensure that the pristine glory of Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh and Kargil of being peaceful destinations is restored and all regions of the state get justice”. Stating that a number of steps had been taken by his government to streamline the administration to make it deliver better, the Chief Minister impressed upon the people to come forward and supplement his efforts to provide a transparent, accountable and responsive administration to them. Mr Sayeed said Kashmir gave hope to the country during Partition when the sub-continent was in the grip of a communal holocaust. In the same manner during militancy the ray of hope came from Jammu where people maintained brotherhood and amity despite provocation. He said they had also extended all help to the people who had to migrate from the valley due to militancy. Mr Sayeed said everyone should pray on this auspicious day, celebrated to recall the highest example of sacrifice and submission to the will of God, for peace and tranquility in the world. Later, a stream of people representing all shades of opinion visited his residence and greeted him on Id included ministers, legislators, political leaders, senior officers and prominent citizens. Meanwhile, Id was celebrated all over the state with traditional gaiety and fervour. The biggest congregation was held at Idgah here where the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, several ministers and leaders were among thousands of people who offered namaz. A large number of prominent citizens including the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, the provincial president, National Conference, Mr Bodh Raj Bali, and senior officers of the administration and the police were present, who embraced their Muslim brethren after the namaz and greeted them on Id. Similar scenes of amity were also witnessed in other parts of the city. |
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Gypsy blown up, cop killed Jammu, February 12 Militants abducted three civilians from their houses at Dharam village in Udhampur district last night, took them to a school and shot them dead, they said. The victims were identified as Mohammad Shafi, Fareed Ali and Abdul Rashid, the sources said, adding that panic gripped the area after the killings and a number of people fled their homes. Security personnel shot dead an unidentified militant in the Fetahpur area of Rajouri district and another at Sumber in Udhampur district during the period. A woman identified as Bagoo Begum was killed in cross-firing in the Chak Slaw area of Surankote tehsil of Poonch district, the sources said. One foreign mercenary was killed as Army personnel foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir today, official sources here said. A group of militants infiltrated in the Mendhar area of the district around 11 am and were challenged by the Army personnel, they said. An exchange of fire broke out in which one foreign mercenary was killed on the spot while the others fled, the sources said, adding that one AK rifle, two magazines, three pistols, 147 rounds and one wireless set were seized from the encounter site. SRINAGAR: Two top Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed and two securitymen, including an assistant sub-inspector of police, injured in a fierce gunfight in Pulwam district of south Kashmir, a BSF spokesman said on Wednesday. The encounter took place at Kari Mohalla village in Tral township on Tuesday night when a joint party of the BSF and the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the local police raided a suspected militant hideout following specific information about the presence of Hizbul Mujahideen militants, the spokesman said. He said the two militants opened fire on the approaching troops wounding ASI Trilok Singh of the SOG and constable C Jain of 138 Battalion of the BSF. The troops immediately retaliated and killed both militants who were later identified as Manzoor Ahmad Wani, alias Munna, a resident of Chhankittar-Tral and Mohammad Qadir Khan, a resident of Payneer-Tral, the spokesman said. Manzoor and Qadir, who were ‘categorised’ militants, carried a state reward of Rs 2 and 1 lakh, respectively, he said, adding that Manzoor was an IED expert involved in many blasts in the past. Two AK assault rifles, four magazines, 14 rounds and a hand-grenade were seized from the killed militants. Meanwhile, in the first major strike ahead of bypoll to the Pampore Assembly constituency in Jammu and Kashmir, a policeman was killed and four others seriously injured when militants blew up a police Gypsy in the south Kashmir constituency of Pulwama district on Wednesday, official sources said. The Gypsy was patrolling in the Konibal area when it ran over an improvised explosive device (IED) resulting in the blast around noon, the sources said. Constable Aijaz Ahmad died instantly while four others, Satesh Kumar, Subash Chander, Ghulam Nabi and Ashwani Kumar, were seriously injured and moved to hospital. No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the blast, so far, they said, adding that a hunt had been launched to arrest the militants involved in the attack. This is the second major militant strike in Pampore in three months. Sitting MLA Abdul Aziz of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was assassinated by militants in December necessitating the bypoll in the constituency. Nine candidates are in the fray for the February 26 bypoll in the constituency which has over 50,000 voters.
PTI |
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‘Expedite report on resource mobilisation’ Jammu, February 12 The group had been asked to submit its report within one month. Official sources said Dr Hasib Drabu, Editor, Business Standard, convener, Head of the Department of Economics, Jammu University, and his counterpart in Kashmir University besides an expert from the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy were yet to carry out a detailed study of the state’s economic structure and the areas which could help the government in raising additional resources. According to a senior functionary of the state Finance Department, the expert group was constituted after the government realised that there was no scope for further taxation in Jammu and Kashmir where the tax payers already paid higher taxes than the national average. Experts from the Finance Department, headed by Mr M.S. Pandit, Financial Commissioner, are at present engaged in the formulation of Budget proposals which are to be tabled in the state legislature when its session starts from February 24. These experts have laid emphasis on tax arrear recovery instead of imposing additional taxes. During the past three years, no heavy taxes were imposed in the state and all efforts were directed towards collection of the power tariff and sales and excise duties. This measure helped the state to net an additional revenue of nearly Rs 300 crore last year. The Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, has directed all concerned government departments, especially the Power Development Department, to recover arrears of about Rs 600 crore. The state government has set a target of collecting Rs 480 crore by the end of the current financial year. To make up for the acute financial stringency, the state government has placed an embargo on the purchase of furniture, furnishings and other items for government offices after December 31. Restrictions have been placed on expenditure and all departments have been directed to curtail revenue expenditure especially non-plan expenditure. |
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Book on tourist spots released Jammu, February 12 The book contains many unexplored destinations of tourist interest and is a guide for tourists. Ms Mufti said it was the endeavour of the government to develop tourism in the Jammu region and steps had been taken in this direction. The Tourism Minister, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir, said there was an urgent need to provide infrastructure for tourists and the current drive of the government to remove encroachments was a step in this direction. |
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