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Friday,
February 28, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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QUESTIONS IN ASSEMBLY AND COUNCIL
MLA allowed to speak in Sheena language APHC talks remain
inconclusive |
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More humane Army needed: Mufti ‘Jammu discriminated against’ Tourism picks up in J&K again Six of family
buried alive
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QUESTIONS IN ASSEMBLY AND COUNCIL Jammu, February 27 This was stated by the Minister for Cooperatives in reply to a question of Dr R.C. Sharma (Cong) in the Assembly today. The minister said that the Principal Secretary of the General Administration Department would be the chairman of the committee in place of the Financial Commissioner (Agriculture). He said prosecution of 45 officials had been sanctioned. The minister said that the fact-finding committee, headed by Mr. K.B. Pillai, Financial Commissioner, had reported embezzlement of Rs 300 crore in the JAKFED. A special audit of the JAKFED was conducted and misappropriations and shortages worth Rs 217.59 crore were detected. He said an amount of Rs 18.55 lakh had so far been recovered. Notices had been issued to the defaulters to remit the outstanding amount within 10 days, failing which the amount shall be recovered as arrears of land revenue. In reply to a question of Mr Yogesh Sawhney (Cong) regarding the acute shortage of tap water supply in the old city here, the Minister for Public Health and Engineering, said a project to add 27 lakh gallons of water had been undertaken. The minister said to augment the water supply in the old city, some tubewells were also being dug along the Tawi. The Minister for Finance, Law and Parliamentary Affairs said the restoration of power supply in snow and rain-hit urban areas of Jammu and Kashmir was in full swing while it may take some time in the rural areas. Responding to the issues
raised by members during zero hour in the assembly this morning, the minister said power supply had been restored in several areas where it had gone haywire due to snow and rains. He said the replacement of electric polls is a time and money-consuming proposition, for which over Rs 550 crore would be needed. Snow and rain fury continued to dominate zero hour in the assembly for the second day today with most of the members raising issues related to damages caused to road network, drinking water and power supply. Mian Altaf Ahmed sought immediate restoration of power and snow clearance of roads in his constituency, complaining that Gund and Nararnagh villages continued to be under darkness. Mr Qaiser Lone, Dr Ramesh Sharma and Mr Babu Singh sought immediate relief to those whose property had been damaged and cattle perished in the wake of weather fury. Mr Abdul Bahi Rather complained about the scarcity of drinking water in the holy township of Chrar-e-Sharief. The Minister for Education, Mr Harshdev Singh, announced that schools in the affected areas of the winter zone would reopen on March 7 instead of March 1. In the Legislative Council, the Minister of State for Home, Mr A.R. Veeri, said the government had constituted a Cabinet sub-committee to examine the report submitted by a one-man commission of inquiry to adopt further course of action in connection with fudging in blood samples of Pathribal DHA tests. Mr Veeri was replying to a question of Mr Nizam-ud-Din Khatana. In reply to a question of Mr M.Y. Taing regarding the non-state subjects, the Minister for Revenue, Mr Hakim Mohammed Yasin, agreed that complaints had been received that some non-state subjects, hailing from different parts of the state and Jammu city, in particular, had secured permanent state subject certificate illegally. A commission of inquiry had also been constituted to investigate the matter and complaints received. Mr Yasin said the commission had submitted its interim report, which is under consideration by the government. One final report of the commission is received by the government, same will be placed on the table of the House. Meanwhile, 11 members of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, belonging to the People Democratic Forum (PDF) and the CPM, have jointly sought recognition as a separate group and elected veteran Marxist Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami as their leader. The meeting of the MLAs of the PDF and the CPM held here last evening also decided unanimously that Manohar Lal Sharma would be the group’s chief whip, according to a resolution submitted by them to the Assembly Speaker Tarachand here today. It urged the Speaker to recognise the 11 members as a parliamentary group for the purpose of functioning in the House. |
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MLA allowed to speak in Sheena language Jammu, February 27 Participating in a discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the Governor’s Address, Mr Gurezi lamented that while both Kashmiri and Dogri languages were allowed in the Assembly,
Sheena, which was his mother tongue, was not allowed. “Not many legislators sitting in the House know that there is a language called
Sheena, which is my mother tongue, and which is extensively spoken in Gurez and Drass and also in Gilgit (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir),” he said. About 65,000 persons speak Sheena but official apathy towards the language has relegated it to the background, he added.
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APHC talks remain
inconclusive Srinagar, February 27 A similar meeting of the seven-member executive committee was held here yesterday, which decided to take up the issues at meeting of the 23-member general body of the Hurriyat Conference. An APHC spokesman said the other issues discussed in the six-hour meeting today included blacklisting of over a century-old religio-educational organisation, Anjuman-e-Nusrat-ul-Islam, run by the Awami Action on Committee (AAC), a constituent of the Hurriyat Conference. Its patron and former chairman of the Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq, had on Tuesday accused the Central government of “waging a war against the Islamic institutions in Kashmir”. The forced closure of the APHC bureau office in New Delhi and certain international issues also came up for discussion. He said the meeting remained inconclusive as there were nearly 40 speakers from its constituents who participated and put forth their views. |
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More humane Army needed: Mufti Jammu, February 27 “If we try to win the hearts and minds of the people, provide them a responsive administration, address their socio economic problems and give a healing touch, the situation is bound to have a turnaround for the good,” he said while inaugurating a day-long civil-military liaison conference here this morning, the first after six year. Saying that a consensus was emerging at the national level on Kashmir, the Chief Minister said he was getting adequate support from the NDA government in his efforts to win the hearts and minds of people. He made a special mention of the Central government sanctioning the superhighway project from Srinagar side and other projects and expediting the execution of the rail project. He said horticulture, IT projects and upgradation of Srinagar airport to international status would transform the development profile of the state. The Mufti stressed the need for constant vigil on the border to check infiltration and said that the Army had a Herculean task in dealing with militancy. Stressing on the need for a regular interaction between the civil and military authorities for ensuring greater coordination, he said issues like land compensation, plying of traffic and vacating educational, health and tourist institutions in possession of the Army at some places were required to be resolved mutually. |
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‘Jammu discriminated against’ Jammu, February 27 Mr Balwant Singh, who was speaking on the Motion of Thanks on the Address of the Governor in the assembly, lambasted the governments which have been pursuing only the policies aimed at the betterment of the Kashmir valley and always depriving the Jammu region of its due share. He alleged that no efforts have been spared to wipe out the identity of Jammu and the name of the radio station was changed to Radio Kashmir. He demanded that the recommendations of the Wazir Commission for removing the imbalanced with the Jammu region should be implemented without delay. Although his party is supporting the Mufti government, Mr Balwant Singh regretted that no mention has been made in the Governor’s Address regarding the implementation of the report which is gathering dust in government records. Mr Balwant Singh pointed out that although has spread more in the Jammu region than the Kashmir valley, the Kashmir-dominated governments have always been projecting it as a problem of Kashmir without mentioning the name of Jammu. He said that the Jammu region was always made to sacrifice for the Kashmir valley, but the equality among three regions of the state was only on papers and the ground reality was totally different. Some of the Assembly constituencies in the Jammu region had an electorate of 1.65 each, while in the Kashmir valley about 12,000 persons elected their respective MLAs in certain areas. Mr Balwant Singh said that no steps were taken to provide employment to the educated youth of the Jammu region. He demanded that the Mufti government should make equal distribution of the budget among the three regions. Moulvi Abdul Rashid (Independent) who is also supporting the Mufti government, said though much was being talked about the “healing touch”, the policy was not visible on the ground in his Banihal constituency. |
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Tourism picks up in J&K again Chandigarh, February 27 Talking to the mediapersons here yesterday Mohammad Ashraf, Director General (Tourism), Government of J&K, said more than 20 film producers from Bollywood had planned to shoot their films/serials in the Kashmir valley during this year. Most of them would be arriving in Kashmir from March onwards. This was a positive sign of revival of tourism in J&K, said the DG, Tourism. He said various organisations had also approached the Department of Tourism to conduct seminars, conferences and workshops. All-India travel agents’ association had planned to hold its annual conference in Kashmir on April 4 and 5, this year. He admitted that unemployment among the educated youth was increasing but there was a positive sign of growth in the traditional income-generating sources. ‘‘Handicrafts export had increased ten times in the past one decade’’, he added. It may be mentioned that in the year1988, 7.2 lakh tourists including 60,000 foreigners had visited Kashmir valley. But figures suddenly declined to just 6,000 in the year 1991. This situation prevailed till 1998. During these years, the maximum number of visitors to the valley included only foreign diplomats and journalists. The revival of tourism started in the year 1998, when 1.11 lakh tourists visited the valley despite terrorism being at its peak. Surprisingly, even Kargil war in the year 1999 did not affect the tourist flow in the valley and at least 2.17 lakh tourists visited the Kashmir valley in that year. Similarly, 44 lakh pilgrims visited the Vaishno Devi shrine last year. The figures were below 20 lakh in the early 90’s. ‘‘We had also planned to develop new tourist sites in the Jammu region, particularly near the Vaishno Devi shrine to attract pilgrims to visit these places’’. Mr Ashraf said the state government had decided to provide many incentives to the investors willing to invest in the tourism sector in J&K from the next financial year. Even, the annual budget allocation for the tourism department had been increased from Rs 26 crore to 30 crore. |
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Six of family buried alive Baramula, February 27 It said the house of Bashir Ahmad Lone was buried under avalanche on Saturday night in the Machil sector following heavy snowfall. Lone’s wife Zoni, sons Farooq Ahmad and Altaf Ahmad besides, daughters Robeena, Gulshana and Nazira were buried alive. However, Bashir Ahmad escaped with injuries. More than 15 persons, including six security personnel, lost their lives in the recent snow storm in north Kashmir.
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