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Mufti’s resignation accepted
Cutting Cabinet size is Azad’s priority
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Cops fire teargas shells to quell mobs
LPG shortage to increase after darbar move
High Court asks Bar body to assess quake relief
Governor cancels celebrations
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Mufti’s resignation accepted
Srinagar, October 29 The Mufti, who took over as Chief Minister on November 2, 2002, called on the Governor at the Raj Bhavan here this morning and tendered his resignation to the Governor. The Governor, according to an official spokesman, told the Mufti to continue as caretaker Chief Minister till new arrangement was made. The Congress nominee, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, is to take over as per the agreement on November 2. After his meeting with the Governor, the Mufti said it was a gentleman’s agreement, which he had been repeatedly making clear, would be implemented in the letter and the spirit. He said the decision of the Congress to nominate Mr Azad as his successor had not come as a surprise, but he had instead asked the Congress to take over the reigns of the government in accordance with the agreement. He pointed out that he had conveyed to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the PDP would extend its full support to the Congress regime for the next three years. Replying to questions from waiting media persons at the Raj Bhavan overlooking Dal Lake, the Mufti said he was “not disappointed” on the decision of the Congress. He had not asked for any extension of his term as Chief Minister as indicated in a section of the media. He, however, indicated that the Congress had “second thoughts” in view of the performance of his government. The Mufti held that his party was given mandate by the people of the state for a change, which led to a change in the security scenario. He added that there was a sense of security among the people and there was a discernible decline in human rights violations at the hands of security forces. He credited his government with the initiation of the peace process through dialogue and the opening of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service. Meanwhile, the PDP is holding its party meeting of the ministers, legislators and senior party leaders here tomorrow to decide on the future strategy. Among other things it is going to discuss the nomination of its Deputy Chief Minister, which as per practice has to be from the PDP. When the Mufti took over as Chief Minister, he was not a member of either House of the state legislature. He, later, became a member of the State Legislative Council. It was in October last year that he was elected to the Assembly from the Pahalgam constituency of his home district of Anantnag. The seat had fallen vacant following his daughter’s election to the Lok Sabha early last year. His daughter and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti was elected from the Anantnag constituency to the Lok Sabha last year. |
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Cutting Cabinet size is Azad’s priority
Jammu, October 29 Senior Congress leaders said here today that Ms Sonia Gandhi had advised Mr Azad to ensure that those carrying tainted image were not retained in the council of ministers and an attempt be made to downsize the ministry. According to these leaders, Mr Azad contemplates reducing the size of the ministry from 39 to 25. Already Prof Bhim Singh has threatened to withdraw support if the new Chief Minister did not reduce the size of the ministry. He also stated that the issue of Panthers Party support would be decided on November 3. It may be mentioned that the pradesh Congress committee had last year favoured throwing Panthers Party, which has four MLAs, while out of the coalition regime. However, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed did not take any step in this connection as he wanted to keep the flock of different parties together. As far as the post of Deputy Chief Minister is concerned, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad has left it to the PDP to nominate a party leader. The Congress high command is said to be in favour of Ms Mehbooba Mufti, head of the PDP and MP, to be installed as Deputy Chief Minister following reported tug of war among four senior PDP leaders, Mr Muzaffar Hussain Beig, Finance Minister, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir, Tourism Minister, Mr Abdul Aziz Zargar, Minister for Agriculture, and Mr Qazi Mohammad Afzal, Irrigation Minister, for the post of Deputy Chief Minister. One thing is certain that Mr Tara Chand, Speaker, Assembly, is tipped for a Cabinet post and two Congress ministers Jugal Kishore, and Aijaz Kha, who have been members of the Mufti-led council of ministers, are likely to be retained in order to contain the growing influence of Panthers Party in Udhampur district. Mr P. Namgyal, former MP and at present MLC, may be another new face in the Cabinet in order to allow the Congress an opportunity to regain its ground in Ladakh. Party sources said at least three new faces from the Congress were to be inducted in the council of ministers. |
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Rough ride ahead for Azad
Jammu, October 29 Chief ministership of this state is full of thorns, not only because of terrorism, but also due of groupism within the party. Aspirants for the post in the valley are unlikely to relent as chief ministership has gone out of the hands of the valley for the first time in the post-Independence era. However, the advantage Mr Azad carries is that he enjoys pockets of influence in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Having regained power in the state after 30 years, the Congress would have a difficult time in showing its worth. The party shed power in 1975 when the then Chief Minister, Syed Mir Qasim, handed over the reins of the government to Sheikh Abdullah following an accord between Indira Gandhi and the Sheikh. The common man in the state was reeling under corruption as the successive governments failed to check it. Corruption continues to flourish as neither the Mufti government nor any of his coalition partners have been able to do something about it. The Jammu and Ladakh regions are crying because of the “step-motherly” treatment provided to them over the years. The voices for granting union territory status to Ladakh are being raised again as the people there are not satisfied with the “discriminatory” treatment being meted out to them by the Kashmir-based rulers. The Mufti government failed to implement the promise of Ms Sonia Gandhi that a finance commission and a regional board would be constituted to ensure equal distribution of funds among the three regions for balanced development. The demand for creating new districts in the Jammu division was ignored by the successive governments on the pretext of shortage of funds. However, there was no hurdle in creating new districts and tehsils. The new Chief Minister would carry forward the process of return of the Kashmiri Pandits. The process was postponed by the Mufti because of security reasons. Mr Azad is the first person from the Jammu division to be nominated as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in the past 58 years. Mr Azad, comes from a remote village in the backward district of Doda and has managed to reach the top political post in the state. It is learnt that the pressure built by Congress ministers at the last minute by resigning en masse worked and Ms Sonia Gandhi had to change her mind on the issue of granting another term to Mufti Sayeed. There was disenchantment among the people here as reports of the Congress high command having made up its mind to allow the Mufti to continue had started pouring in. There was a general feeling that the Congress was once again set to “betray” Jammu by backing out of its electoral promise of appointing the Chief Minister from this region.
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Cops fire teargas shells to quell mobs
Jammu, October 29 The vital Jammu-Akhnoor road was blocked by irate mobs at several places. Angry residents of villages around Domana and Nagbani came out on the road at 7 am and put up blockades, demanding strict action against policemen and an officer involved in the shooting incident. Angry demonstrators threw stones at the police. Windscreens of many vehicles were smashed. Armed police personnel were deployed in strength at strategic places. They fired scores of teargas shells to chase away the demonstrators. Nitish Kumar, a student of Class IV, was injured when a teargas shell hit him. Another person received injuries on his face due to a shell. The post-mortem of Nishu Sharma (16), who was killed in the police shootout, was conducted at the Medical College under tight security. The CRPF was deployed in strength around the college where an angry mob blocked the main gate. Another group gheraoed the police station near Roop Nagar and demanded action against the guilty policemen. The situation was tense in the area. The Divisional Commissioner, Mr B.R. Sharma, said a case would be registered. The report of the magisterial inquiry would come within 10 days. Meanwhile, the condition of another boy, Rakesh Kumar, who received bullet injuries, was stated to be stable. He is in the Army and had come on leave here. |
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LPG shortage to increase after darbar move
Jammu, October 29 Mr Kamal Anand, a major distributor of LPG cylinders, said here yesterday that several reasons were behind the short LPG supply. He said besides short supply from the main dealers, misuse of domestic connections for commercial purposes had also contributed to the shortage. Another distributor said that extension of the cooking gas services to the rural areas was also being misused by businessmen and other influential persons. He said that after the extension of gas services to the rural belt, “We expected the supply to the region to be increased, but it was not done hence the shortage.” Mr Anand said that daily bookings in his establishment had increased from 130 to 230 but against this during recent weeks the supply had been reduced by 20 per cent. Other dealers said that bakers, confectioners, restaurant and hotel owners had two to four cooking gas connections. Since their daily demand was for more than five to eight cylinders they illegaly secured additional cylinders either from the rural sector or from the domestic connections for their commercial use. They suggested that a proper inquiry be initiated so that no commercial establishment misused domestic connections. Mr Anand said that since domestic consumers had more than two cooking gas connections they too had their cylinders refilled to avoid facing inconvenience during shortages. The dealers said that since the government offices were to reopen in Jammu, under Darbar move, from November 6 “We need added supply to cater to the requirements of 5,000 employees who shift to Jammu from Srinagar. “They said if the supply was not increased the Jammu region would face acute shortage forcing people to wait for over a month for getting their gas cylinders refilled. They said that food supplies department officials had not carried out regular checking in order to prevent misuse of domestic cooking gas connections for commercial use and transfering rural connections to the
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High Court asks Bar body to assess quake relief
Srinagar, October 29 The court also directed the crisis management committee headed by state Chief Secretary Vijay Bakaya to unambiguously state whether the government would provide shelter to all affected families by December 15. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Bashir Ahmad Khan and Mr Justice Mansoor Ahmad gave the direction on a public interest litigation (PIL) regarding distribution of relief to quake hit families yesterday. The court on October 20 had termed as “unsatisfactory” the steps taken by the crisis management committee and directed the Chief Secretary to file an affidavit and indicate the time-frame by which shelters could be provided to the affected families in the quake-hit areas of the state. The court also directed the state government to restore
telephone links, including mobile phones, and provide timber and tin sheets free of cost to the affected families. As per the directions of the court, the Chief Secretary filed a detailed affidavit on Thursday stating that providing timber up to 30 to 50 cubic feet and GIC sheets would involve a financial implication of Rs 200 crore or more. As such, the state government was not in a position to provide the same, he said, adding, that the government, however, had provided all necessary facilities like timber, cement and tin sheets at various places to enable quake victims to purchase these items from the cash relief granted to them. — PTI |
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Governor cancels celebrations
Srinagar, October 29 A Raj Bhavan spokesman said the
Governor would not host the Iftar party this year. He said General Sinha would not celebrate the festival of lights either as many had been killed and millions rendered homeless by temblor.
— UNI |
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Hizbul militant held
Srinagar, October 29 Security forces nabbed the militant in Baramula, 55 km from here, and found two rocket launchers, two mines and two grenades from his possession, the police said. The police and security forces also recovered two .303 rifles with 18 rounds of ammunition in a joint operation at Sherbas-Banihal in Doda district.
— PTI |
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