J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

AITUC for probe into Dul Hasti
project delay
Jammu, February 6
The All-India Trade Union Congress has urged the Prime Minister to order an inquiry into the delay in construction of the 390 mw Dul Hasti hydel project at Kishtwar by the NHPC that has led to escalation of the project cost by over Rs 2700 crore.

Hurriyat yet to decide on meeting
Pandits’ bodies
Srinagar, February 6
The Hurriyat Conference is yet to decide on its proposed visit to Jammu for meeting organisations of displaced Kashmiri Pandits. Sources in the Hurriyat said that the visit may be delayed due to the varied opinion of different organisations of the Pandits following its desire to meet them. 

9 post offices to have e-post project
Jammu, February 6
Nine post offices in Jammu and Kashmir have been designated for the e-post project, according to the Post and Telegraph Department here. The designated post offices are Jammu Tawi head post office, Gandhinagar HPO, Rajouri HPO, Udhampur HPO, Kathua HPO, Srinagar GPO, Anantnag HPO, Baramulla HPO and Leh HPO, an official told PTI here today.

Temple idols to be changed on Feb 11
Jammu, February 6
The five idols damaged during the November, 2002 terrorist attack on the Raghunath Temple here would be replaced after purification ceremonies on February 11.

AITUC for probe into Dul Hasti project delay
Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 6
The All-India Trade Union Congress has urged the Prime Minister to order an inquiry into the delay in construction of the 390 mw Dul Hasti hydel project at Kishtwar by the NHPC that has led to escalation of the project cost by over Rs 2700 crore.

In a joint statement here today, Mr N.K. Dogra, president of the J&K Federation of Trade Unions and Mr Atamjeet Singh, president of the J&K Council of the Trade Union Congress also demanded an inquiry into the payments made by the NHPC to Jaiprakash Industries for boring the 10 km-long tunnel by conventional methods instead of using the tunnel boring machine (TBM).

They pointed out that the project was targeted for completion in 1994, but has not been commissioned so far. The project initially was estimated to cost Rs 1260 crore, but it has been revised to Rs. 4000 crore meaning that it would consume Rs 10.25 crore for each mw of capacity.

The project was rescheduled to be commissioned in December 2003 as work on it was not completed even in 15 years.

The Prime Minister had declared Dul Hasti as a project of national importance and all help was given to the NHPC for its completion.

The two labour leaders pointed out that the transmission lines laid by the power grid corporation for carrying electricity from the project were lying idle.

The project was given for execution on turnkey basis to a French consortium in 1989 for completing in 1994. However, in 1992 the consortium sought extension by a few months but it abandoned the project in July 1992.

Thereafter, talks were held between the Centre and the French government till 1997 to resolve the dispute. Finally, the civil contractor of the consortium was allowed to withdraw from the project.

The NHPC appointed Jai Prakash Industries in 1997 to complete the project in 33 months by March 2001. The construction equipment including a TBM, was given to the contractor at a highly subsidised rate, they said. However, the TBM got buried in a collapse in the headrace tunnel and the target of completion was revised to December 2003. 

Hurriyat yet to decide on meeting Pandits’ bodies
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 6
The Hurriyat Conference is yet to decide on its proposed visit to Jammu for meeting organisations of displaced Kashmiri Pandits.

Sources in the Hurriyat said that the visit may be delayed due to the varied opinion of different organisations of the Pandits following its desire to meet them. The meeting has been proposed following APHC leaders’ recent meeting with Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani in Delhi. This would be as part of its efforts to broadbase dialogue held with the central leadership.

A senior leader of the APHC told The Tribune here this evening that any decision to this effect would be taken by the general body of the Conference. Such a meeting could not be held in the absence of its chairman, Maulvi Abbas Ansari, presently out of station. “Any decision regarding the proposed meeting would be taken only in presence of the APHC chairman”, the leader said.

After the Hurriyat delegation’s meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister in Delhi last month, its general body and working committee endorsed the discussions held between the two sides. The members of the delegation included chairman, Maulvi Abbas Ansari, former chairmen, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Abdul Ghani Bhat, and executive committee member, Bilal Ghani Lone and general council member, Fazl-ul-Haque Qureshi.

The APHC and several other separatist organisations and leaders like the chairman of the breakaway faction. Syed Ali Shah Geelani, JKLF led by Mohammad Yasin Malik and chief of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Shabir Ahmad Shah have been of the view that Kashmir was incomplete without the Pandits.

The government has also been taking various measures to facilitate their return to the valley after they migrated with the eruption of militancy 14 years babck.

This would be the first such effort on the part of separatist leadership in Kashmir to discuss the issue with leaders of migrant Pandits after their migration.

It assumes significance following the recently held dialogue between the Hurriyat leaders and top leadership of the Central Government.

9 post offices to have e-post project

Jammu, February 6
Nine post offices in Jammu and Kashmir have been designated for the e-post project, according to the Post and Telegraph Department here.

The designated post offices are Jammu Tawi head post office, Gandhinagar HPO, Rajouri HPO, Udhampur HPO, Kathua HPO, Srinagar GPO, Anantnag HPO, Baramulla HPO and Leh HPO, an official told PTI here today.

The e-post is a service under which printed or even handwritten messages of customers are scanned at the e-post centres and transmitted as e-mail through the Internet.

At the destination centres, these messages are printed, enveloped and delivered through postmen like other letters at the postal addresses, he said. — PTI

Temple idols to be changed on Feb 11

Jammu, February 6
The five idols damaged during the November, 2002 terrorist attack on the Raghunath Temple here would be replaced after purification ceremonies on February 11.

“We are installing five new idols of Hanuman, Valmiki, Goswami Tulsi Dass, Jai and Vijay Dwarpal on February 11 after four-day-long shudikaran (purification) cermonies starting from February 8 at the Raghunath Temple complex,” President, Dharmarth Trust, Thakur Divakar Singh told PTI here today.

Five idols including the famous lord Hanuman idol, were damaged in the grenade explosion and firing by militants on the temple complex on November 26, 2002.

All these idols were shifted from their places soon after the attack, he said.

MP and Chairman of Dharmarth Trust, Karan Singh will install the statues. — PTI