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Monday,
May 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Cong, PDP trying to woo NC MLAs Tight security for durbar move
4 ultras shot in Budgam |
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Water problem gets acute Azad emerges stronger Mufti’s decision on Governor flayed Bhim Singh denies Farooq’s claim Lightning kills
4 soldiers
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Cong, PDP trying to woo NC MLAs Jammu, May 4 No doubt the Congress and the PDP have decided to allow the coalition to complete its six-year tenure, now that six months are over, it is an equation of convenience rather than conviction. Leaders of both parties have been on the look out for influential leaders belonging to the National Conference and the BJP to strengthen their parties. While the PDP continues to concentrate on Kashmir where it bagged all 16 seats in the Assembly poll, the Congress is keen to expand its base in the Jammu region where it secured 15 out of 20 seats. The Congress has, so far, succeeded in angling National Conference bigwigs, including Janak Raj Gupta, R.S. Chib and Govind Ram Sharma. Mr Chib had crossed over to the BJP from the National Conference just a month before the Assembly poll and now he has joined the Congress. Govind Ram Sharma, a former minister of State, in the Dr Farooq-led Council of Ministers, also joined the Congress despite being an opponent of Madan Lal, Minister for Public Works. The Congress has already hooked Ajat Singh Shatru, a former minister and a close associate of Dr Farooq Abdullah, but his announcement was deferred because the AICC President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, could not make it to Reasi owing to bad weather. The ruling party has been eyeing three Ministers of State, Thakur Puran Singh, Aijaz Ahmed and Abdul Majid Wani. On the other hand, Wani and Aijaz continue to be goaded by the PDP. In fact, both the Congress and the PDP are said to be trying to inflate their strength in the Assembly so that they are able to survive without the support of each other. The PDP has a strength of 16 MLAs and the Congress has 20 members in the Assembly. Hence the former is short of 28 MLAs while the latter has to get the support of 24 MLAs to form government on its own. The PDP as well as the Congress have started sending feelers to those NC MLAs who have been dismayed with the performance of the party leadership. Inside reports said more than three NC MLAs were keen to join either, the Congress or the PDP but were deterred by the anti-defection law. In wake of this development, the NC President, Omar Abdullah, dropped a hint recently that the National Conference might form a government with the support of the Congress. A senior Congress leader said it was part of the strategy of the NC leadership to check the march of its MLAs to the Congress or the PDP. It was the fear of defection on either side that the CPM member of the Assembly, M.Y. Tarigami, was motivated to head a group of independent MLAs under the banner of the Peoples’ Democratic Forum (PDF). Mr Tarigami said leaders of the Congress, the PDP and the National Conference should respect the peoples’ mandate and avoid doing anything by way of luring MLAs from one side to the other which would insult the peoples’ verdict. |
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Tight security for durbar move Srinagar, May 4 Tight security arrangements have been made around the Civil Secretariat and other vital installations in view of the reopening of the “durbar” or the high offices of the state administration. The area around the Civil Secretariat, where the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, will have his first day after he took over, has been sanitised to avoid any attempt of disturbance by suspected militants. Mufti Sayeed took over on November 2 last year, when the move offices were functioning in Jammu. Restrictions have been imposed on the movement of traffic on the main road passing by the Civil Secretariat for two hours each in the mornings and evenings. According to the new schedule, traffic on the Batamaloo-Jehangir chowk road passing by the highly guarded Secretariat building, will remain closed from 9 am to 11 am in the morning on all working days. Traffic during this time would be diverted via the Karan Nagar-Shaheed Gunj link. Similar restrictions would remain in force between 3 pm and 5 pm. Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Government is faced with the problem of the strike called by minibus operators in protest against the “downward revision” of the fares. While the strike has entered its sixth day in Jammu, it continued for the fourth consecutive day today in the Kashmir valley. All eyes are set on the re-opening of the durbar move offices so that a decision is taken by the government to end the ongoing strike by over 8,000 minibuses in the valley alone. There are also expectations over transfers of a number of senior officers at the administrative level. Over Rs 4 crore is spent on the biannual shifting of offices between summer and winter capitals of the state every year. About 3,600 employees working in different departments of the Secretariat and other offices have already shifted from Jammu to Srinagar, whereby each employee gets an amount of Rs 2,500 as TA. Over 111 vehicles were pressed into service for the transportation of the records from Jammu. Migrant Kashmiri Pandits and those belonging to the Jammu region, working in the move offices have been lodged in various government houses and hotels taken over by the government. But despite the heavy expenditure incurred on the shifting of the offices and records, “people in both the regions want it”, said a senior move officer. In this connection he referred to the 47-day long strike observed in Jammu region in protest against what they called “truncated” durbar move in 1987. The government had to rescind the orders and resume the durbar move to the winter capital. |
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4 ultras shot in Budgam Srinagar, May 4 The militants, who were hiding in the house of Ghulam Nabi at Chewdara in Beerwah area of the district, were killed when the security forces lobbed mortar shells to flush them out, the sources said. Acting on a tip-off that militants were hiding in the house of Ghulam Nabi, a Forest Department employee, the security forces cordoned off the building. The militants opened fire at the security forces which was retaliated and the exchange of fire continued for nine hours, the sources said. Besides the bodies of the slain ultras, the security forces recovered three AK rifles, they added. The security forces also killed a Lashker-e-Toiba militant at Bawan village in north Kashmir last night while the body of Tariq Ahmad, who went missing on April 27, was recovered at Doru in south Kashmir. JAMMU: In a major seizure the security forces recovered 26 kg of explosives and five anti-personnel mines during search operations in Poonch and Doda districts of Jammu division during the past 24 hours, a defence spokesman said here on Sunday. The security forces recovered five anti-personnel mines, 20 kg explosives, 26 electric detonators and four remote control devices and one pre-timed improvised explosive device (IED) in Surankote area of Poonch district. In another search operation in Banihal area of Doda district the security forces recovered 6 kg of explosives, the spokesman said. Troops also busted a hide-out in Surankote area and recovered one mobile phone, one radio set and an identity card of the J and K police.
PTI, UNI |
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Water problem gets acute Jammu, May 4 Tanker-owners are making a fast buck as residents of most of the new colonies skirting the main town are dependent on them for their requirement of drinking water. Many colonies are being supplied drinking water twice a week by the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department, while some get tap water on alternate days. The position is worst in the Kandi areas of Samba, Kathua,Udhampur and around Akhnoor in Jammu division. About 500 water bodies have already dried in and around the Bari Khud, near Badhori, in Jammu district. The taps trickle even in the posh localities of Gandhi Nagar and Trikuta Nagar. Another problem is that essential supply of drinking water and electricity is done here only during “fair weather”. A slight rain or a strong wind throws these essential supplies out of gear for hours together. This has been happening in the town for the past three days as the special electricity connections provided at the water pumping stations were also getting snapped. Private tanker-owners can be seen doing advance booking for supplying drinking water in the localities of Sainik Colony, Channi, Narwal and Bhatindi on the outskirts of the town. A housewife in Sainik Colony cried that water was being supplied in her locality on every third day and there was no fixed time for the supply. A tanker full of water is being sold for anything around Rs 450 in the town and Rs 500 outside. It is learnt that the tankers of the PHE Department undertake as many as 102 trips a day, while the private operators make a slightly more number of trips to supply water to the consumers. Residents of the 13 localities around Roop Nagar Colony were also facing an acute shortage of drinking water. The position is equally bad in the old city where water is supplied from the Tawi which flows right in the middle of the town. Water is supplied only once for about 30 minutes a day in most of the areas. It is not only the local population which is being catered to by the PHE Department, a large number of migrants from the border areas, the Kashmiri Pandit migrants from the Kashmir Valley and the heavy floating population of the pilgrims of the Vaishno Devi shrine also depend on the existing water supply system, which is virtually worn out. However, Mr B.B. Gupta, Superintending Engineer, PHE, claimed that there was a shortfall of only nine million gallons of water in the town every day. Against the total demand of 63 million gallons, about 54 million gallons of water was being made available to the consumers. He said that several steps were being taken to end the perennial scarcity of water. A Rs 550 crore OPEC-funded scheme for carrying drinking water from the Chenab to the greater Jammu is expected to be taken in hand shortly. |
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Azad emerges stronger Jammu, May 4 Besides these states, Mr Azad will not only continue to head the party in J&K, but will also remain chairman of the important coordination committee of the coalition government here. The reshuffle in the AICC indicates that Mr Azad has managed to reacquire his lost position at the 10 Janpath as the formula of one man — one post has not been applied on him by Ms Sonia Gandhi and he has been allowed to hold three positions simultaneously. Initially, when Mr Azad was appointed president of the PCC before the Assembly elections in the state, it was claimed by various sections in the party that he had been shunted out of the national arena by Ms Gandhi. However, the turning point came and his position in the party improved when the Congress performed impressively in the elections after 27 years. But he was unable to become chief minister as Ms Gandhi backed Mufti Sayeed of the PDP for the post because of certain political compulsions. Mr Azad was instrumental in resolving the recent crisis in the party in Maharashtra and Kerala where he was sent by Ms Gandhi to calm the rival factions. He has deep knowledge of the political affairs in Himachal Pradesh where he has looked after the party affairs thrice earlier. He was instrumental in solving the dispute over the post of chief ministership there in 1990s when Mr Virbhadra Singh and Mr Sukh Ram were locked in a tussle for the post. Ms Gandhi had reportedly taken his advise even this time when Mr Virbhadra Singh and Mrs Vidya Stokes were claimants for the post of Chief Minister. Mr Azad is expected to visit Himachal shortly to forge unity between the two warring groups which eluded during the tenure of Mrs Mohsina Kidwai as in charge of the affairs in the hill state. |
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Mufti’s decision on Governor flayed Jammu, May 4 “Sayeed had been taking crucial decisions on his own without taking into confidence other coalition partners, which affected the performance of the government during past six months,” JKNPP chief Bhim Singh said. Referring to Centre’s interlocutor
N.N. Vohra’s talks with several groups in Kashmir, JKNPP President said, “The process cannot deliver any results.”
PTI |
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Bhim Singh denies Farooq’s claim Jammu, May 4 “There is no truth in the statement of Abdullah. There is no reason to topple the present coalition government,” he said. “In fact, it is part of the NC’s attempt to destabilise the coalition government. Abdullah is trying to create confusion in the coalition government as well as among its partners,” he said.
PTI |
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Lightning kills
4 soldiers Srinagar, May 4 The four soldiers were killed when lightning struck their camp in Machil sector on Friday, the sources said. 45-year-old Qazi Maeood died and a woman, Basharat Begum, injured when their house collapsed at Tad village, situated close to the Line of Control, in Karnah in the same district yesterday. Six houses and a government building owned by the Police Department were also damaged in the village, the sources said.
PTI |
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This
palatial house in Srinagar is more than 150 years old. But this
is not its only strong point. The beautiful structure is also
home to more than 50 descendents of seven generations stay under
one roof. 
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