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Tuesday,
August 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Vohra
holds talks with groups in Ladakh Centre’s
no to subsidy on air travel in state Execute Sewa, Uri hydel projects: CM |
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Varsities told to make use of laboratory
Four
militants shot dead Beg
twisting facts to defame NC, says Rather Six
injured in Pak shelling Punjab, J&K cops to counter militants Cabinet
okays promotions of engineers Kashmiri
youth held by Punjab police writes to PM BJP for action
against police officials Relief sought for border migrants
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Vohra holds talks with groups in Ladakh Srinagar, August 4 Mr Vohra arrived in Leh yesterday on his first visit to Ladakh region after he had had similar meetings with senior state government functionaries, representatives of various political parties and other organisations in Jammu and Srinagar earlier this year. The Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Science and Technology, Mr Nawang Rigzin Jora, in his meeting with Mr Vohra expressed concern about various issues affecting the speedy development of Ladakh. A five-member delegation of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, led by the council’s Chief Executive Councillor, Mr Thupstan
Chewang, emphasised that while good governance and economic development of the region were essential, the political aspirations of the people of Ladakh could not be ignored. The delegation held discussions on various developmental problems affecting Leh district spread over a vast area with a difficult topography and long distances between the villages. The delegation sought a significant differentiation in the allocation of funds to the district than other districts of the state. The council also proposed a revival of the earlier practice of Ladakh being treated under a separate sub-sector plan instead of being treated on a par with the other areas in the larger state plan. They also drew attention towards the tremendous hydro-electric potential of Ladakh, which could be exploited by implementing small and micro-generation projects. Another delegation of the Ladakh Union Territory Front, led by its president, Mr Tsering Dorjay, reiterating its demand for granting UT status to the region, informed Mr Vohra that all political parties that existed in Ladakh prior to the last Assembly elections had been disbanded and this new regional party had been founded which represented all sections of Ladakh society. They also stated that in any settlement of the Kashmir problem, the wishes and aspirations of the people of all the three regions of the state should be taken into consideration for any peaceful and everlasting solution of the problem within the framework of the Indian Constitution. The delegation also stated that there was an urgent need to preserve their Gompas, some of which were 1,000 years old, by initiating conservation and preservation measures. There was also need to improve the telecommunication and agriculture research facilities in the region. There was also a demand for all-weather road connectivity between Ladakh region and the rest of the country even after more than 55 years of Independence. |
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Centre’s no to subsidy on air travel in state Jammu, August 4 It is learnt that the Centre has made if clear to the states demanding such subsidy that they had the option of reducing taxes on aviation fuel in their territories to cut cost of air travel. Sources said that on his recent visit to Srinagar, Mr R.P. Rudy, Minister of Civil Aviation, in his meeting with Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed, said that the Centre was planning to introduce uniform air tariff particularly in the hill states, but was not in a position to extend subsidy to other states. Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal have been demanding subsidised air fares to promote tourism. These states might again raise the issue at the forthcoming meeting of the Inter-State Council which will be presided by Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Srinagar in the last week of this month. The northern states, including Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan had some time ago mooted the idea of launching a regional airline to fly tourists to various destinations. However, the plan did not work although a series of meetings were held between these governments. With limited fleet of aircraft, Indian Airlines was unable to meet the demand of flights of the state governments and neither was it inclined to operate on the economically non-viable routes because of tough competition from the private airlines. Besides demanding subsidy on tariff, the Mufti had also sought the re-introduction of a hoping flight to Chandigarh enroute Srinagar-Jammu-Delhi. The hoping service was discontinued many years ago as there were not many passengers for Chandigarh. However, with regional offices of several multi-nationals having come up at Chandigarh, the need for the re-introduction of the flight was being felt to keep the business going. Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir government has introduced helicopter service for various destinations, but it was beyond the reach of the common tourists because an average tariff of Rs 50,000 for a flight of one hour has been fixed for the helicopter which was capable of carrying about five passengers. The experiment of the Himachal government to utilise its helicopter for tourism was an utter failure particularly during the much publicised celebrations of 1000 years of the Tabo monastery when not a single passenger was booked for a flight. |
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Execute
Sewa, Uri hydel projects: CM Srinagar, August 4 These issues came up during a meeting of the minister and the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, here to discuss the power scenario in the state. The state Power Minister, Mr Mohammad Sharief Niaz, and other senior officers of the department and the NHPC also participated. Mr Geete said the Centre had approved Rs 401 crore for modernising sub-transmission and distribution projects for Srinagar and Jammu under the Accelerated Power Development and Reforms programme. The Chief Minister impressed upon the Union Minister to execute the Sewa and Uri hydel projects immediately. He said the detailed project reports of the Bursar and Pakal Dul projects would be finalised shortly for speedy execution. Mr Geete assured that all Class III and Class IV jobs would be given to locals and 30 per cent technical staff would also be employed from the state in these projects. Referring to the decision taken at the recent meeting of Indian Banks Association to provide a loan of Rs 1,000 crore to the state government for the Baglihar hydel project on easy terms, Mufti Sayeed demanded that the Power Finance Corporation should extend financial support to the state government on soft terms. The Mufti also took up the issue of speedy completion of the Kishenpur-Wagoora transmission line. |
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Varsities
told to make use of laboratory
Srinagar, August 4 The Chief Minister visited this hi-tech laboratory at Gulmarg the other day and enquired about the studies made by it. He asked the Vice-Chancellors of Universities of Kashmir, Jammu and SKUAST, heads of Physics Department of the varsities and Commissioner/Secretary, Science and Technology to visit the research centre at Gulmarg to identify the areas of research for cooperation. The research laboratory was set up at Gulmarg in 1963 on the initiative of late Dr H.J. Bhabha, first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission for high altitude location for scientific research. A number of scientific teams from several leading institutions of the country have used the facility at Gulmarg for research in cosmic ray astrophysics, magnetospheric physics, radio astronomy, geomagnetism, biological and physiological effects of high-altitude medicinal plants. The first gamma-ray telescope was commissioned at high altitude research laboratory at Gulmarg in 1985. A Panaromic Batch Irradiator facility installed at the base laboratory at Srinagar is in use to sterilise medical and other equipment through controlled exposure to gamma-radiation. This facility has been catering to the sterilisation needs of many hospital in Srinagar. It is providing help for pollution-related studies of the Dal Lake in Srinagar and proved useful for archaeological studies. An in-house precision
timing facility with a long-term accuracy of a millisecond has also been in operation at Gulmarg, the Chief Minister was informed. |
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Four militants shot dead
Jammu, August 4 On specific information, the security forces cordoned off the Surankote forests of Poonch district and shot dead two Pakistani militants. One AK rifle, four magazines, 120 rounds, four grenades and two IEDs were recovered. In another encounter in the Rariyalkadi forests of the Banihal area in Doda district, two Pakistani militants were killed and two AK rifles, two magazines, 154 rounds, five hand grenades and two IEDs were recovered from them. The operation was still on when the reports last came from the area, the sources said, adding four militants were still in the cordon. In another incident, militants attacked a marriage party in the Shanoo area in Udhampur district last night and killed a member of the party. The killed person has been identified as Mohammad Yousef. The militants also set on fire the house of naib sarpanch at Thuskund village in Udhampur today. BARAMULA: Two militants were killed at Behak Gulmarg village in this district of North Kashmir last night. Official sources said a security force search party was attacked by militants hiding at Behak village. The security forces retaliated and in the encounter two militants were killed. Two AK rifles, 99 rounds of ammunition, four grenades and one wireless set were recovered from the slain militants.
— PTI & UNI |
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Beg twisting facts to defame NC, says Rather Srinagar, August 4 In a statement issued by the National Conference here yesterday, the former Finance Minister said it was unfortunate that the minister indulged in “financial jugglery” to project a wrong picture in a bid to defame the previous government of the party. Claiming that facts were contrary to the claims of the minister, Mr Rather said the government must lay all facts of the Sawalakote project before the people so that the general public was not misled about the issue. Elaborating further, Mr Rather said the project cost for Sawalkote Hydroelectric Project in 2001 was 3157 crore. The pricing and the design had been certified by an internationally reputed German consultant LA Mayer International after which the contract was signed between the J&K Power Development Corporation and the Norwegian firm in the presence of Norwegian Prime Minister and the state’s Chief Minister. He said that PFC was appointed as a leader and they agreed to do the financial appraisal of the project. He further said a loan application was filed to the PFC for Rs 7500 crore which included certain financial assumptions like ECA premium, Interest rates, IFI guarantee costs, cost escalation, O&M costs, their escalation etc. and the cost so projected was for a particular design and also included transmission lines and certain site development activities like road construction, rehabilitation and compensation to displaced people etc. “Now the international market has changed, the interest rates from the date of application to as of today have also changed with a marked downward slide”, Mr Rather said, adding this coupled with certain design changes which have yet to be approved by the consultants and removal of certain works from the basic project have further changed the pricing structure. |
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Six injured in Pak shelling Jammu, August 4 Pakistani troops used field guns and machine guns in shelling and firing in areas of Choki
Chora, Jallas, Bhawani, Krishnagati, Laam, Salotri, Balnoi, Mendhar,
Jangard, Sabzian, Mangyalnad, Tangli, Sabragali and Balakote in the Rajouri and Poonch sectors. Nearly 50 mortar shells of 60 and 81 mm range were fired in the Rajouri sector and 70 in the Poonch sector till 11am today, the sources said, adding that two jawans and two civilians were injured in Poonch and one child and a jawan in Rajouri. Two of the injured, a jawan and a child, were critical, the sources said, adding that Indian troops retaliated and exchanges were on.
— PTI |
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Punjab, J&K cops to counter militants Jammu, August 4 Mr P.L. Gupta, Inspector-General of Police, Jammu range, will preside over the meeting which has been convened following reports of militants' plan to blow up the dam.
— OC |
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Kishtwar
curfew continues Jammu, August 4 A nine-hour relaxation in curfew was given in some areas yesterday and it was extended by two hours as no untoward incident was reported from the town, official sources said.
— PTI |
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Cabinet
okays promotions of engineers Srinagar, August 4 It has also granted special incentives to the trainees in the Sher-e-Kashmir Police Academy, Udhampur. The Chief Secretary, Dr S.S.
Bloeria, briefing about the decisions taken at today’s Cabinet meeting, said incentives equivalent to 10 per cent of their basic pay would be given to the trainers. This step was aimed at attracting talent in the police force for this assignment, he said. This follows an assurance given to the staff to the police academy by the then Chief Minister in 1998 which was brought to the notice to the Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed, early this year. These decisions were taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet with the Mufti in the chair here today. The meeting was the first of its kind following a recent decision to hold such meetings on the first and third Mondays of every month. Three superintending engineers — Mr Mumtaz
Nazim, Mr F.A. Mantoo and Mr Vinod Goswami — were promoted as in charge Chief Engineer, in their own pay and grade, an official spokesman said. Mr Mumtaz
Nazim, Superintending Engineer, Anantnag, has been posted as in charge Chief Engineer,
PHE, Kashmir. Mr E.H. Fazili, in charge, Chief Engineer, PHE, Kashmir, has been transferred and posted as Chief Engineer,
UEED, Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Mohammad Ramzan Bhat, in charge Chief Engineer,
UEED, has been transferred and posted as in charge, Chief Engineer, Power Development Corporation, Jammu. Mr
F.A. Mantoo, Superintending Engineer, Hydraulic, Doda, has been posted as in charge Chief Engineer, Design Directorate, Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Vinod Goswami,
Superintend-ing Engineer, Hydraulic, Kathua, has been posted as in charge, Chief Engineer, Ravi-Tawi Irrigation Complex. The Cabinet also decided to spend Rs 5.60 crore during the current financial year on the repair of furniture, desks and provision of jute matting in government primary schools wherever such shortage was noticed. |
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Kashmiri
youth held by Punjab police writes to PM Srinagar, August 4 Malik, a resident of Zandfaran village of Baramula district and is presently on bail, was arrested by the Punjab police allegedly on fabricated charges in 1999 and his case is still pending before the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Amritsar. In his letter to the Prime Minister, Malik alleged he was arrested despite having valid travel documents as he refused to “grease the palm of the policemen at Attari border” while on way to Bahawalpore in Pakistan to meet his uncle. After waiting for justice for over five years, he said he was amused to see a message from the Punjab police “advising me to visit the state as the Punjab Human Rights Commission is holding a fresh inquiry into the case.” Claiming that “they have already inquired into the case and found me innocent,” he alleged that “the fresh inquiry was ordered just to prolong the case,” Malik appealed to the Prime Minister that a serious effort should be made to allow members of broken families on both sides of the Line of Control.
— PTI |
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BJP for action
against police officials Jammu, August 4 In a statement here today, Prof Hari Om, spokesman of the state BJP, said the party was concerned over the handling of the situation by some officials of the area. He said the families had migrated because of the total collapse of the administrative apparatus in Doda district. The law and order authorities had deliberately ignored the plea of members of the ill-equipped village defence committees (VDCs) for timely help and allowed the situation to deteriorate at Pullar, Mr Hari Om alleged. |
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Relief sought for border migrants
Jammu, August 4 “The heavy rains have washed away all possessions in the Devipur camp where 1289 such families are living,” NC provincial president Ajay Sadhotra told reporters here. Mr Sadhotra, who visited the camp along with some party functionaries, said the migrants were living in miserable conditions with torn tents. The recent rains had added to their woes. Accusing the state government of ignoring their problems, he appealed to Governor S.K. Sinha to intervene in the matter. The NC leader also demanded the setting up of a police post in the camp for the safety of the migrants.
— PTI |
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Temple has visitors after 14 years
Srinagar, August 4 The natives of Sumbal-Sonawari, who migrated from the Valley in 1990 in the wake of militancy, arrived at the Shri Nand Kishore Maharaj temple yesterday and performed pujas for nearly six hours, official sources said today. Many migrants, who included women and children, could not control their sentiments and burst into tears on seeing their damaged homes and property in the area. However, a majority among the 200 persons were visiting their ancestral homes for the first time as they were born after their parents migrated from Kashmir. Local Muslims accorded warm welcome to their Hindu neighbours on reaching Sumbal and took them to their homes and offered food and tea, the sources said. Later the Hindus returned to Jammu, the sources added.
— PTI |
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