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Panthers Party MLAs favour support to Azad govt
Bill to rationalise stamp duty
Quake victims observe strike in Uri
FLASHBACK 2005: QUAKE RELIEF
Three Pak ultras shot
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Panthers Party MLAs favour support to Azad govt
Jammu, December 26 An indication to this effect was given by a senior Panthers Party leader and former Education Minister, Harshdev Singh. He said today “withdrawal of support to the Azad-led Ministry will send wrong signals among people, especially party supporters, in the Jammu region.” Mr Harshdev added “We have supported a coalition regime led by a valley based leader. There is no ground for us withdrawing support when the Government is led by a leader from the Jammu region.” He said the Panthers Party had demanded a chance for a Jammuite to occupy the Chief Minister’s chair and it was for the first time since 1947 that a leader from the Jammu region was installed Chief Minister of the state. The Panthers Party leader, in reply to a question, did not support his one time mentor and the party supremo, Prof Bhim Singh, fulminating against the Congress-led Government. “As an ally it is not our job to air our grievances against the Government or the Chief Minister in public, “he said adding if Prof Bhim Singh “has some genuine complaint he should meet the Chief Minister and sort out the issues.” He made it clear that “my support to the Government is not conditional. I do not seek berth in the Cabinet. I want the Chief Minister, hailing from the Jammu region, to get time for performance.” “A month or two is a small period to judge the performance of a Chief Minister,” he said adding that after Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh gave assurance that required funds would be made available for the implementation of the Wazir Committee report Prof Singh or anybody else should have no complaint on this count. Inside reports indicated that two Panthers MLAs, Balwant Mankotia and Faqir Nath, who had sided with Prof Bhim Singh in his (Bhim’s) tussle with Mr Harshdev have started mediating between the two for reconciliation to avoid a vertical split in the organisation. Mr Mankotia also suggested the name of Mr Harshdev Singh for speaking on the condolence resolution tabled in the Assembly on the opening day of its special session in Jammu on December 22. Speaker Tara Chand had given time to Mr Mankotia to speak on the resolution but the member suggested to the Speaker that Mr Harshdev be allowed to speak on the issue as he was the right person to do so. One thing is certain Mr Harshdev and Mr Yashpal Kundal, MLA, may prefer split in the Panthers Party to withdrawing the support to the Azad led Government. Mr Harshdev is grateful to Mr Azad for appreciating “my performance as Minister for Education whenever Mr Azad would visit the state as Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.” Political observers say since Mr Azad has not changed his opinion about Mr Harshdev the latter may find berth in the Cabinet during the next expansion of the ministry. |
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Bill to rationalise stamp duty
Jammu, December 26 The Bill seeks to have area-wise rate structure of land that will be the benchmark value for registrations for calculation of stamp duty coupled with lowering the rates of stamp duty. What has necessitated the government to move the Bill is the general practice of suppressing the value of the real estate to avoid payment of tax on income exchanging hands in the course of transactions rather than the fear of payment of stamp duty alone. The Deputy Chief Minister moved another Bill seeking to provide relief to small dealers by enhancing their taxable limit to Rs 7.50 lakh per annum from the existing Rs 5 lakh. The Bill also seeks to provide certain relief under the VAT regime to industries. |
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Quake victims observe strike in Uri
Baramula, December 26 The victims, including women and children, took to streets today demanding shifting of the Relief Commissioner’s office from Gingal to Uri. The demonstrators, who also blocked traffic on the main road, alleged that relief was being distributed to selected persons only. They further alleged that a minister had divided the quake-affected people on caste basis. The demonstrators, led by Garkote sarpanch Ghulam Rasool, said that only Gujjjars were being provided proper relief while others were being neglected on direction from a minister. Later, normalcy returned in the town after Sub-District Magistrate assured them that he would take up the matter with the higher authorities and redress their grievances.
— UNI |
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Army rose to the occasion
S.P. Sharma Tribune News Service JAMMU: It was a year of disasters in Jammu and Kashmir that exposed the incapability of the civil administration to handle such mishaps, but the graph of the Army’s popularity has gone high as the troops got engaged in the relief and rehabilitation work without wasting any time. The state had not yet come out of the shock of widespread damage that was caused earlier in the year due to a snowstorm that lashed the hilly areas when another tragedy of a bigger magnitude rocked the state in the shape of an earthquake. About 1,400 persons were killed due to the earthquake, particularly in areas along the Line of Control (LoC). The epicentre of the quake that hit the area on October 8 was near Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). Hundreds of houses were either completely destroyed or rendered unfit for living. Almost three months have passed, but the civil administration has failed to streamline the relief and rehabilitation works. However, the Army, which itself suffered damages due to the quake, did not waste time in coming to the aid of the people. The troops were out of their barracks within 30 minutes of the quake. This is for the first time in the history of India that the local population has demanded that the relief and rehabilitation work should be entrusted to the Army. The allegations of the PDP chief, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, that the Centre and the private sector in the country had failed to provide relief to the quake victims on the scale they helped the earthquake-hit in Gujarat were belied when truckloads of relief material from across the country started reaching here. Several institutions, individuals and philanthropists came out with open heart to the aid of the quake victims. A philanthropist organization of Maharashatra recently adopted 500 children orphaned by the quake. The entire nation has stood by the victims of the quake. Trainloads of material for shelters have already reached the affected areas. After taking over reins of the government, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad has streamlined the relief and rehabilitation operations to a large extent. Cries of discrimination in providing relief material were being raised in Poonch district of Jammu. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, during her recent visit to the area, ordered a fresh assessment of the loss as the victims had complained of discrimination by the authorities. Reconstruction of houses and the damaged infrastructure has been suspended for the time being as the quake-hit areas, particularly in the valley, are now buried under snow. Mr Azad has made a commitment that a massive reconstruction activity will be restarted in April. Earlier during the year, the far-flung areas of the state faced a disaster caused by a snowstorm.
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Three Pak ultras shot
Srinagar, December 26 Also, 10 improvised explosive devices were detected and defused near railway track between Kaluchak and Bari Brahamana area of Jammu today. Two Pakistani militants were killed in a gunbattle during a raid on their hideout in the Salwa area of Poonch district last night, a police spokesman said today. The ultras were identified as Lashkar-e-Toiba “area commander” Mohammad Farooq alias Abu Umer and Abu Suhail. Two AK rifles, four magazines, 44 rounds, seven grenades and a wireless set were seized from them, he said.
— PTI |
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Army installs power project
Srinagar, December 26 |
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