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‘Seizure’ near Sonia’s venue fake: Police
Tehsildar’s house raided
Third Front viable option: JD(U)
Infiltration bid foiled
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Snowfall deaths: Relief given to next of kin
Number of SSI units up 20 pc
No action in cases of human rights abuse
Fresh snowfall, rain in valley
‘Buddhist teachings antidote to violence’
Polluted canal water poses epidemic threat
Poll Goal
National Winter Games conclude
MP misbehaves with SDM
One killed
Need to preserve Kashmiri culture
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‘Seizure’ near Sonia’s venue fake: Police
Udhampur, February 23 The deputy inspector general of police Doda-Kishtwar range had ordered a fact-finding inquiry, to be conducted by the SSP Doda, into matter so that further action as deemed fit under law would be initiated. This afternoon, DIG Doda-Kashtwar range Farooq Khan issued an official handout and termed the seizure as “fake recovery”. According to the handout, the local police when asked officers of the paramilitary forces about recovery of such arms and ammunitions they showed their ignorance despite being the fact that news was prominently being telecasted on news channel along with claims of some officials of paramilitary forces. “Till 1630 hours on February there was no official intimation from any quarters furnished to police station Bhaderwah. After 1630 hours, reportedly a letter was received in police station Bhaderwah from local unit of paramilitary forces claiming recovery of explosive and ammunitions,” the handout stated. “This claims by some officials of paramilitary forces first came to light through print and electronic media and then reported to the local police after an unexplained delay of about one day makes the whole claim highly suspicious and incredible and it was apparently found that the information was not based on the facts and no such recovery was made from the said area,” the official handout stated while putting question mark over claims of the CRPF. On Friday morning, before the visit of Sonia Gandhi and Union home minister Shivraj Patel, the CRPF had claimed to bust a militant hideout with recovery of huge cache of explosives and grenades from the rally venue in Bhaderwah, Jammu. B.S. Dhara, commanding officer, CRPF, who headed the team, which busted the hideout, had himself claimed that the operation was launched on a specific intelligence in Chinnote village. Although the CRPF senior officers had refused to comment whether the militants were planning to attack meeting of Sonia Gandhi, recovery of such a huge quantity of arms and ammunitions near venue of Sonia Gandhi's rally put question mark over security arrangements taken by the local police for the security of VVIP. As the “seizure” landed the local police in embarrassing position, since yesterday morning Jammu and Kashmir Police has been refusing to subscribe claim of the CRPF regarding “recovery” of arms and ammunitions from Bhaderwah. |
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Tehsildar’s house raided
Jammu, February 23 The raid which was carried out early in the morning at the Sanjay Nagar residence of Janak Raj was going on till the filing of this report. Official sources in the SVO said that the raid was carried out in connection with the accumulation of disproportionate assets by the tehsildar as compared to his known sources of income. “We have already received a few complaints about the officer as his assets are more than his known source of income,” an officer of the SVO said. Meanwhile, according to the sources the vigilance has recovered some documents that show the officer had accumulated assets disproportionate to his known source of income. The documents recovered have been sealed. |
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Third Front viable option: JD(U)
Jammu, February 23 Addressing mediapersons here, Singh said, “The Third Front would have representation of all three regions in the state and would focus on economic and developmental issues haunting the people.” “The present regime under Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has failed on all fronts and corruption has crossed all limits,” he said. Singh also demanded a white paper on properties of ministers and legislators. Citing gross corruption in the corridors of power, he said, “The coalition government has made over 347 back door appointments in Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences at Jammu here during the past three years.” “In the multi-crore scam of back door appointments, varsity vice-chancellor Prof Nagender Sharma played a significant role,”
he added. Demanding a CBI probe into the scam, he said, “Shortly the party would meet the university Chancellor, Governor Lt-Gen S.K. Sinha (retd) to apprise him about the scandal.” He also demanded the immediate sacking of the vice-chancellor saying, “He has been abusing his powers with impunity and may manipulate things to give a twist to the issue of back door appointments.” |
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Infiltration bid foiled
Jammu, February 23 Troops of the Border Security Force today arrested a Pakistani national while he infiltrated into the Indian side of the international border. According to the official sources, BSF troops deployed at Mangral border outpost in R.S. Pura sector noticed movement inside the Indian side near the border. “When our jawans closed in they found a man who had entered into our side, so he was arrested on the spot,” a BSF official said. Meanwhile, the infiltrator has been identified as Ahsan Raja, a resident of Gujranwala in Pakistan. It is pertinent to mention that on February 17, troops of the BSF had gunned down two intruders in the same area while they were trying to sneak into the Indian side. |
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Snowfall deaths: Relief given to next of kin
Srinagar, February 23 The legal heirs of six persons from Palhalan in the Kapran area and one person of Gulab Bagh, Dooru, who died due to snow avalanches were paid Rs 1 lakh each at Anantnag yesterday. The cheques were disbursed to the kith and kin at the district headquarters, District Development Commissioner, G.A. Peer said. The disbursement of the relief coincided with the visit of UPA chairperson and Congress president, Sonia Gandhi to review the situation arisen due to the heavy snowfall in the region earlier this month. Gandhi accompanied by the union Home Minister visited snow-affected areas of Doda and Kishtwar districts yesterday and reviewed the situation in Kashmir division with senior officers here. Her planned aerial survey of the affected areas in South Kashmir districts of Anantnag and Kulgam had been delayed due to bad weather conditions in the area. She, however, reviewed the situation accompanied by the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil at the airport before returning to New Delhi this evening. Sonia Gandhi arrived at the technical airport here where she was received by Union Minister for Water Resources and President JKPCC, Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz, Chief Secretary B. R. Kundal, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Mehboob Iqbal and other senior civil and police officers. She was accompanied by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Joint Secretary, Home Affairs and other dignitaries. The DC gave presentation listing the detail of damage caused to infrastructure in power, roads and buildings and public health and engineering sectors due to the snowfall. She was informed that the state needed huge financial support for procuring new snow-cutter machines to be able to promptly respond to such exigencies in future. It was revealed that as of now the mechanical engineering department had only four snow cutters and 38 snow-clearance machines. The state might also need additional resources to manage the floods, which were imminent when the snow melts, for providing potable drinking water to the people living in inaccessible areas. |
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Number of SSI units up 20 pc
Jammu, February 23 A survey conducted by the Entrepreneur Development Institute, Ahmedabad, revealed that out of over 36,000 SSI units surveyed, only over 15,000 were functional. According to the survey, more than 306 units were sick and over 4,000 units had been closed. In addition to this, over 16,000 units were untraceable, while most of them after having received soft loans and other packages did not even bother to set up their units. The survey also revealed that over 32 per cent units became sick owing to financial crunch, 30 per cent due to law and order problem, 19 per cent owing to marketing problems and 9.24 per cent on account of raw material unavailability. A latest survey also indicated that about 396 sick units had the potential of getting revived and hence the government had covered these units under the rehabilitation programme. Between 2002 and 2007, the government provided various incentives to 2,700 industrial units to the tune of Rs 57.85 crore. During the same period, 476 units were paid Rs 22.99 crore as capital investment subsidy. Besides, the interest subsidy of Rs17.88 crore was paid to 1,573 units during the past two years and Rs 10.82 crore was paid to 453 units as subsidy on the purchase of diesel generator sets. Official sources said the government had decided to continue the rehabilitation and investment subsidy schemes for another one year to promote industrial growth. They said the law and order situation in the state had registered a marked improvement. A number of industrial houses from outside the state had opened and were opening their units in several industrial estates in the state, they added. |
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No action in cases of human rights abuse
Jammu, February 23 However, the government denies the charge claiming that the JKSHRC recommendations in genuine cases were being implemented ‘religiously’. Talking to The Tribune, a JKSHRC official said, “Since the inception of the JKSHRC, it has received 3,920 complaints of human rights abuse in one form of the other, including those of custodial deaths and disappearances.” “Till date, we have received 540 cases of disappearances and 185 cases of custodial deaths,” he added. “Though the JKSHRC did decide on 245 disappearance cases and 51 of custodial deaths, in most of the cases, our recommendations have not been implemented by the state government,” he said. He further said, “No doubt prolonged militancy continues to take its toll on innocent people, but some people in the security forces and in the state police have also committed heinous atrocities on the people, particularly in the Kashmir valley and in militancy-infested Doda, Rajouri, Poonch and Udhampur districts.” Despite Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s much-hyped “zero tolerance” to human rights abuse by the security forces and the tall claims of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, complaints continue to inundate the JKSHRC. The JKSHRC official said, “From 1997 to 2007, the commission received 3,920 complaints.” Fifty one complaints were registered in 1997-98, 227 in 1998-99, 309 in 1999-2000, 395 in 2000-01, 474 in 2001-02, 482 in 2002-03, 575 in 2003-04, 406 in 2004-05, 312 in 2005-06 and 366 in 2006-07. “In genuine cases we certainly recommend relief to victims and their kith and kin which may include one-time compensation and job on compassionate grounds. However, it has always been the prerogative of the government to implement them or not,” he said, adding “Usually our recommendations don’t get the desired response from the government.” However, a senior government official outrightly denied the charge. “Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has made it clear that the SHRC recommendations should be taken in the right earnest,” he said, adding “The government regularly provides relief in proved cases of HR abuse.” “However, it takes some time for the government to implement the SHRC recommendations as district commissioners have to go through it carefully before arriving at any decision,” he added. It may be mentioned here that the coalition government last year had framed a cabinet sub-committee so as to implement recommendations of the SHRC. |
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Fresh snowfall, rain in valley
Srinagar, February 23 Srinagar and its adjoining areas shivered in intense cold due to fresh spell of snowfall in the mountain ranges surrounding Kashmir valley, including hill resorts of Sonamarg, Pahalgam and Khilanmarg, official sources said. Many areas along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, including Banihal, Batote, The Met office said Banihal, Batote and Qazigund recorded 13.6, 13.2 and 8.0 mm of rain, respectively. Kokernag in south Kashmir and Kupwara in north Kashmir were the coldest places in the valley with a minimum temperature of minus 2.6 degree celsius and minus 1.0 degrees celsius, the Met Department said. Srinagar, where the minimum temperature was 2.5 degrees celsius, recorded 3.4 mm of rainfall, while Kupwara received 19.2 mm of rainfall. Jammu also received 1 mm of rainfall. The minimum temperature in Jammu was 14.2 degrees celsius, while
Bhaderwah and Katra recorded 8.2 mm and 2.5 mm of rain, till this morning. —
PTI |
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‘Buddhist teachings antidote to violence’
Jammu, February 23 Speaking during the inaugural ceremony of Mahabodhi Jammu Deepa Centre at the University of Jammu here this morning, the Governor said, although Buddhism did not now occupy the centre stage in India but to say that it got extinct would not be right as it continues to influence the Indian ethos. He said, “Buddhism greatly influenced the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, who used non-violence, brotherhood and love, the hallmark of Buddhist philosophy, and forged them into a weapon in his crusade colonialism in 20th century.” He observed the Buddhist philosophy used by the Mahatma against colonialism could be equally effective in the fight against extremism, terrorism and threat of nuclear weapons. He remarked, “If the Mahatma was Buddha reborn, Jawaharlal Nehru was an Ashoka the Great reborn. Nehru may have been an agnostic but like Ashoka he adopted peace and amity as the corner stone of his foreign policy.” To an observation by industries minister Rigzin Jora that religion in public life might have become a source of conflict between communities, the Governor observed that this has no doubt been so in the case of other religions but it is remarkable that Buddhists have never in history got involved in communal clashes. Even the destruction of Bamyan statues and more recently the Budha statues in Swat did not evoke any violent reaction from Buddhists, he pointed out. Vice-chancellor Prof Amitab Mattoo appreciated Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre, Leh for launching Deepa Centre in Jammu and hoped that it will emerge as a vibrant destination for meditation. He said a museum has been set up in the name of noted Buddhist philosopher, Rinchan Zangpo. |
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Polluted canal water poses epidemic threat
Jammu, February 23 The main contributor to this serious problem is the Regional Research Laboratory, which drains out contaminated water into the canal despite strict instructions from the high court to the state government and the laboratory to mend their ways. The main canal is 60 km in length while its distribution system spans over 400 km. It has a gross command area of 1.67 lakh acre and cultivable command area of 95,400 acre. The modernisation work of Ranbir Canal was started way back in 1981-82 at an estimated cost of Rs 84.40 crore and since then an amount of Rs 117 crore has been spent. However, today the canal has been turned into a filthy drain posing threat to the health of people and crops alike. A senior doctor at the Government Medical College said, “Leave aside water borne diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery and typhoid, the contaminated water with high content of toxicity can also cause adverse effects on the crops.” A resident of Akhnoor Road, Surinder Pal Singh said, “The people, who have the responsibility of protecting the environment are in fact destroying it with impunity.” “The pump house which continues to discharge sewerage water into the canal was constructed by the laboratory within its premises to overcome the problem of stagnant water getting accumulated in its compound from adjoining colonies,” he said. It may be mentioned here that a public interest litigation filed in the High Court way back in 2002 still awaits disposal. “Some time later the pump house was handed over to Urban Environment Engineering Department (UEED), which now constantly drains out the dirty water from the pond into the canal,” he added. Savita Sharma, a housewife, said, “Besides polluting the canal unethical practice has been creating serious health hazards for the residents.” “Considering serious ramifications on the environment and health of the people the government could have set up a water treatment plant for a permanent solution to the problem but our repeated pleas have fallen on deaf ears,” she rued. The then UEED chief engineer had submitted before the court in 2002 that an amount of Rs 3 crore was needed to solve the problem. The court had regretted that despite being the responsibility of the state government it had utterly failed to take any action. “The pond inside the RRL has obnoxious substances like human excreta, effluents, filth, weds, bushes, algae that were noticed by senior advocate MK Bhardwaj, who had been appointed by the State High Court,” claimed another resident on Akhnoor road. An official of the pollution control board was contacted for his comments but he declined to do so. |
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Poll Goal
Srinagar, February 23 Similarly, these parties have also planned to induct more dissident leaders into their party folds to make their position stronger. This trend have to come to fore in the past one month, where a number of leaders have shifted parties in the state. Prominent among these have been the homecoming of Ajatshatru Singh to the National Conference. Ajatshatru, son of senior Congress leader Dr Karan Singh, had earlier been associated with the NC and was a minister in the Farooq Abdullah’s government between 1996 and 2002. He represented the Nagrota constituency. Another senior National Conference leader and former minister Ghulam Hassan Geelani joined the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) along with his supporters in Jammu on Thursday in the presence of PDP patron and former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Geelani, a member of the NC working committee and the party’s district president for Budgam in central Kashmir, has represented the area three times in the Legislative Assembly. Another social activist from Kanihama Beerwa in Budgam district, Dr Shafi Ahmad Wani, who was the chief medical officer Ganderbal resigned from the government services and joined the PDP yesterday. Commenting upon Geelani’s and Wani’s decision to join the party, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said the PDP had emerged as a credible voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He said given the PDP’s pro-people agenda and policies, people from across the political divide were acknowledging its contribution in ensuring peace, dignity and prosperity for the people of the state. Mufti said the party would welcome all such political forces with a commitment to pursue and work for the PDP agenda in the larger interest of peace and stability, not only for the state, but the whole region. In a related development, the Kashmir Province Centre-state labour union on Monday last merged with People’s Democratic Trade Union Front (PDTUF) when a delegation of this union led by president of Kashmir province labour cell Ghulam Rasool Tantry met senior PDP leader and finance minister Tariq Hameed Qarra. Qarra welcomed the trade union leaders in the party fold and assured them of redressing their genuine grievances. Later, the delegation at the party headquarters in Jammu for formal merger into the party in the presence of senior leaders. |
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National Winter Games conclude
Srinagar, February 23 Minister for youth services and sports Haji Nisar Ali, who was also the chief guest on the occasion, gave away medals at the concluding function. President, Indian Olympic Association
(IOA), Suresh Kalmadi; secretary, tourism, Nayeem Akhter; director, tourism, Farooq Ahmad Shah; director, SKIMS, Dr Abdul Hamid Zargar besides, a large number of sportspersons and tourists were also present at the function. During the five-day event, the Army received seven gold, three silver and six bronze medals, GMVN received three gold and two silver medals, Himachal Pradesh received three gold, four silver and three bronze medals, while the team from Delhi won two gold, one silver and one bronze. Similarly, the Maharashtra team received 4 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal, the Jammu and Kashmir team won 3 gold, 5 silver and 9 bronze, while Andhra Pradesh won 3 silver and ITBP won 1 silver and 1 bronze in cross-country skiing, skating and Ice hockey events. |
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MP misbehaves with SDM
Jammu, February 23 The police today formally registered a case against Bajwa for disrupting the anti-encroachment drive, stopping SDM Mandeep Kour at Sarawa village in R.S. Pura border town on Tuesday, the sources said. A team of officials, led by the SDM, on Tuesday had gone to the village to remove a boundary wall. As the team was removing the encroachment, Bajwa along with over 100 activists reached the spot and forced the officials to stop the work. Kour, later filed a written complaint against Bajwa to the divisional commissioner and IGP, Jammu. — PTI |
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One killed
Jammu, February 23 Identified as Vishal Rain, son of Hoshiari Lal of Gadigarh, Jammu, succumbed to his injuries at the Government Medical College, Jammu, where he was rushed after the accident. The police has registered a case and an FIR under Section 304-A of the RPC has been registered. —
TNS |
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Jammu, February 23
