Jammu, February 26
Lalu Prasad Yadav’s announcement to appoint them as gangmen in the Railways Department during the budget created a magical effect in porters here today. Such was the excitement that the porters at the station danced to the beats of a drum.

“The announcement by the railways minister to appoint us as Gangman is the biggest gift to us, we have been working for the railway for so many years and now as we would be appointed as Gangman it will not only help us earn money but also would save the future of our families,” said Girdhari Lal, a porter at the Jammu railway station.

Meanwhile, the residents in the Jammu city have given a mixed response to the railway budget that was presented today by Union railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Parliament. Though majority of them welcomed the budget by terming it as a people friendly one, others said more trains could have been started for the region.

Many people in Jammu welcomed the curtailment of railway fares and measures announced to make the rail journey safer.

“Safety of rail journey demands more thrust and we welcome the announcement by the railways minister to make it safer. We also welcome the steps that he announced to reduce the rail fares of various classes as now more people could afford cheap and better rail travel,” said Krishan Kumar, a resident of Shastri Nagar Jammu.

The Jammu railway station is considered one of the busiest railway stations in the country and people here said more rails could have been added on the route so that the passengers don’t have to wait for long for reservation of their tickets.

“As there is no rail in Kashmir valley and Ladakh, huge number of pilgrims coming to visit shrines of Vaishno Devi and Amarnath come via rail, there is a huge rush on the Jammu railway station. The railways minister should have announced few more trains on this route so as to ease the problems faced by the common man.? Said Brijesh Kumar a resident of Jammu city.

People have also welcomed the proposed rebates and discounts offered to the passengers by the railway minister in his budget speech.

“If implemented this railway budget would not only be beneficial to common man but would help improve the railway infrastructure as well,” Brijesh said.

Meanwhile, the state BJP has termed the railway budget as a “mere propaganda” by Yadav to please the voters of the country.

Jammu, February 26
Reacting to the railway budget presented by Lalu Prasad Yadav today, former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah has thrown an open challenge to the Union railway minister for making the Kashmir valley rail project, a reality by 2009. However, if Farooq steps into the shoes of Lalu then he has certain scheme of things on his mind that would see trains chugging in remote areas of the state.

Responding to media queries after releasing the fourth issue of ‘Adarsh’ magazine at ASN Higher Secondary School, Farooq said, “We have already waited for 23 years for the train to reach Kashmir but it still remains a dream.” “The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said that the train to Qazigund would reach by 2007, but it has not reached Katra till date,” he said.

“Though the Union government has laid Jammu-Udhampur track but Katra-Qazigund sector is the difficult portion of Rs 11273 crore project. I openly challenge railway minister Lau Prasad Yadav if he takes it to Qazigund by 2009,” he said, adding “It is simply not possible.”

He described the government’s assurance on the prestigious national project as “sugar-coated pills” saying, “The government should refrain from such statements.”

Responding to another query pertaining to tirade of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on the National Conference (NC) and its leaders, Farooq said, “None in the NC is frustrated. Not even when the party lost in the 2002 Assembly elections which paved way for the coalition government. In fact the lady herself is frustrated,” he added.

Srinagar, February 26
With the arrest of six persons, the Jammu and Kashmir police today claimed to have busted a racket allegedly involved in duping unemployed youths by giving them “fake” letters of appointment to government jobs in return of hefty amount of money.

The arrests were made following a complaint lodged in 2005 that a gang duped a large number of unemployed youths by providing fake orders of appointment to them, a spokesman of the Crime Branch said here.

The arrested men have been identified as Mohammad Ahsan Sofi of Pulwama, Manzoor Ahmad Ganie of Pattan, Ghulam Mohiuddin Parray of Qazigund, Mohammad Shabir Sheikh of Srinagar, Mehrajuddin Dar of Sopore and Noor Majeed Ahanger of Baramulla, he said.

Investigations revealed that they used to lure the youths with the promise of arranging government jobs and take hefty amount of money from them, he said adding, the gang issued “forged” letters of appointment to the job-seekers.

Raids were carried out at different places, which led to the recovery of fake orders favouring different persons, typewriters being used for the purpose, stamps of various government officers and authorities and two vehicles being used for carrying these letters to various parts of the Kashmir valley, the spokesman said. — PTI

Jammu, February 26
Former Chief Minister and People's Democratic Party patron, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, today welcomed the assertion about working for peace in Jammu and Kashmir. However, another former Chief Minister and the National Conference patron, Farooq Abdullah rejected the UPA claims, saying the peace process had lost its momentum.

Reacting to the Address of the President, Pratibha Patil to both Houses of Parliament, the Mufti welcomed the "UPA government's assertion of working for peace and development in Jammu & Kashmir by focusing on confidence-building measures and meeting the aspirations of the State's people". He observed, the initiatives taken at various levels, during the past five years, have laid a strong foundation of mutual trust and confidence to build upon for the ultimate resolution of the problem.

"The emerging situation necessitates a set of substantive political and economic measures, on the internal and bilateral fronts, to consolidate the situation to the extent that holds a promise for enduring peace and prosperity in the state and the region," Sayeed said while adding, "the fast-changing equations in our neighboring country will also have a definite positive impact on the state's situation and there is a need to build on this developing momentum".

On the other hand the NC patron, Farooq Abdullah, said he had no expectations from central or the state governments. He said the peace process had already lost its momentum and there was no hope visible from anywhere. He observed that the government of India had not handled the situation the way it should have and it had lost precious opportunities.

Farooq maintained that the government of India's wrong approach had delayed the situation and now it would be very difficult to retrieve it. He pointed out when the government could not deal properly with one person, that is Pervez Musharaf when he was in full control of the situation, it will find it difficult to deal with a multi-party government. Moreover, he observed it will certainly take some time for the new government in Pakistan to settle down before it could negotiate any settlement with India.

Jammu, February 26
To ensure provision of safe drinking water to the people, the state government has decided to establish water quality monitoring and surveillance laboratories in all districts of the state.

The Central government has agreed to provide 100 per cent funds for the establishment of laboratories in the state and has kept Rs 2.50 crore at the disposal of the government in the first instance. A decision in this regard was taken at a high-level meeting held in Jammu today to review the physical and financial progress under the Bharat Nirman Programme. The meeting was presided over by minister for public health engineering, Mohammed Dilawar Mir; ministers of state for PHE Dr Romesh Chander and various other officials of the department. Dilawar Mir directed the chief engineers to organise comprehensive training programmes for imparting training to lower staff especially, at the junior engineers-level in water quality testing.

He also urged for procuring field testing kits for water quality testing without any delay. He said the setting up of water quality monitoring and surveillance laboratories would help to check water-borne diseases. It was also decided in the meeting to dove-tail the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act with the Bharat Nirman Programme by providing 100-guaranteed employment for unemployed rural youth. He said this would facilitate in the completion of various incomplete water supply schemes.

The meeting also decided to complete computerisation of all rural water supply schemes under ARWSP up to the subdivisional-level by the end of this year. Mir said software applications for this purpose had already been developed and procurement of hardware was in the pipeline. An amount of Rs 3.50 crore had been earmarked for this Centrally-sponsored programme, which would help to keep the status of each and every water supply scheme readily available for monitoring and surveillance. The meeting also reviewed the programme for providing drinking water connections to various government schools.

Jammu, February 26
Mufti Bashir-ud-din, Mufti Azzam (the grand Mufti) of Jammu and Kashmir has hailed the landmark “Deoband Declaration”, which denounced terrorism and described it un-Islamic. The Mufti also denounced whatever was happening in the name of Islam in Kashmir.

However, senior secessionist leader and member of the moderate faction of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, Shabir Shah said, “A line was necessary to be drawn between terrorism and freedom struggle.”

The Mufti told The Tribune over telephone from Srinagar that he fully supported the “Deoband Declaration,” which had been issued in the true spirit of Islam. He said, Islam is a religion of peace and it denounces any sought of injustice or excesses against any one.

Maintaining that peace was the foundation of Islam, he said, the religion had given equal rights to all those who did not subscribe to it. He said Islam holds everybody equal whether he is a Muslim, a Hindu, a Sikh, a Christian or anything else.

He observed it was the wrong projection of Islam that led to identifying Islam with terrorism and vice-versa. The grand Mufti of Jammu and Kashmir said the declaration could not have come at a better time as there were attempts world over, particularly in the west to denounce Islam and equate it with terrorism.

He pointed out Deoband represents thousands of Islamic institutions across the country the declaration will set the record straight. Referring to the killings in the name of Islam, including those in Kashmir, he said, it was “un-Islamic”, as Islam never allows the killing of the innocent.

On the other hand, Shabir Shah maintained that there was nothing new in the “Deoband Declaration”. He remarked, who said Islam supported terrorism. “We have always been asserting that terrorism is un-Islamic, but you must understand a difference between terrorism and freedom struggle,” he said, while adding, there have been attempts to denounce “freedom struggles, as in Kashmir” as acts of terror.

He remarked, “If that be the case, then even Bhagat Singh is a terrorist.” He said the declaration was a welcome move as it will certainly help in clearing certain misconceptions among people about Islam.

“The declaration does not say anything new, but it certainly makes an assertion at the right time,” Shah remarked. 

Reasi, February 26
The decision of residents of Arnas to observe a strike on the eve of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s visit has yielded results as the issue was taken up in the rally held at Reasi today. A number of local leaders and elected representatives highlighted this demand before the Chief Minister.

Minister of state and MLA, Mahore, Aijaz Ahmed Khan, took up the issue during the rally and requested the Chief Minister to consider the demand as it was a genuine issue.

A large number of people thronged the venue to apprise the Chief Minister about their problems. Khan said the status of tehsil should be given to Bhamagh, Chasana and Arnas to mitigate woes of the people.

Similarly, MLA from Reasi, Jugal Kishore Sharma and Cabinet minister in the coalition regime, also demanded four new tehsils in Reasi district.

He asked the Chief Minister to grant the tehsil status to Arnas, Pouni, Chasana and Bhamagh area.

He pointed out that in the newly-carved Reasi district, there were only two tehsils so that the area deserved more administration unit.

It is worthwhile to mention that to draw attention of the authorities towards their demands, the inhabitants of Arnas observed a complete shutdown on Monday, on the eve of the visit the Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Jammu, February 26
World’s highest inhabited plateau Ladakh, also known as Moonland, in the Jammu and Kashmir is a foreigners’ delight as it receives more tourists from abroad than domestic ones every year.

“Ladakh is hot favourite tourist destination for foreigners. The cold desert - Ladakh is being visited more by the foreign tourists than domestic ones annually,” officials of state tourism department said. A record 50,185 tourists visited Ladakh in 2007, an increase of 16 per cent as compared to 2006’s figures of 43,900, they said.

“Of them, 28,178 were foreign tourists and 22,007 domestic. Every year, more foreign tourists visit Ladakh than domestic ones, as foreigners love Gompas and rock carvings dotted across cold desert,” tourism officials said. Similarly, 43,900 tourists visited Ladakh in 2006, out of which 26,070 were foreigners and only 17,830 were Indians.

“Low intensity Kargil war and tension between India and Pakistan has had a negative impact on tourism in Ladakh over the years,” a Leh-based tour operator said, adding that things are improving now.

Ladakh has always attracted foreigners, who had always outnumbered the domestic tourists since 1974, when frontier region of state was opened to them.

Wrapped in the golden silence of rocky terrain, Ladakh is a repository of myriad cultures, traditions, heritage spots, scenic sites and religious influences. It has 30 to 40 odd ancient Gompas, two to three high altitude lakes, two dozen naked peaks for mountaineers, two dozen mountain reeks, markets etc, he said. — PTI

Jammu, February 26
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Legislative Assembly has directed the Power Development Department (PDD) to evolve a well-knit mechanism to improve functioning so that it benefited everyone.

The committee also stressed the need for upgradation of the existing infrastructure so that people got improved power supply. The PAC which met under the chairmanship of MLA Mian Altaf Ahmed in Jammu today reviewed the overall power scenario in the state, especially in the backdrop of snow-hit areas.

The committee also discussed CAG's Audit Report for the year 2005-06 in respect of the PDD. The committee also asked for providing 24-hour power to those areas where 100 per cent metering had been completed. It also directed the officials for achieving targets under the APDR programme in a stipulated time frame.

The PAC also directed the department to provide details of the action taken report on the directions issued by the committee in its previous meetings, besides details regarding old electric meters and other material which had been replaced with new electronic meters and expenditure incurred under the APDRP till date.

While briefing the PAC on the steps taken for improving the power scenario in the state, secretary of the PDD, Basharat Ahmed Dhar said the feeder metering up to 11-KV level had been done in Kashmir and the process in Jammu was still in progress. Regarding consumer electric meters, 3.29 lakh energy meters had been installed in Jammu and 1.94 lakh meters had been installed in Kashmir till January 2008, he added.

Efforts were also being made to achieve targets in remaining areas in a stipulated time frame, Basharat added.

Jammu, February 26
In the wake of widespread damage due to the recent snowfall, the state government today released Rs 2 crore under the Natural Calamity Relief Fund (NCRF) scheme. Chief secretary B.R. Kundal after taking a comprehensive review of the damage caused to the property and infrastructure due to unprecedented snowfall in Jammu released the money.

At least eight districts in Jammu region have been badly affected by the recent calamity. In Doda and Kishtwar, a couple of high transmission towers, too, had been damaged. Kundal released the money after taking into consideration reports furnished by different deputy commissioners. Out of this fund, Rs 1.50 crore will be placed at the disposal of the PDD for installing new electricity poles in far-flung areas of affected districts. 

Jammu, February 26
As a result of opening of over 3,500 primary schools and upgradation of over 3,300 middle and high schools, the dropout rate from schools in Jammu and Kashmir had come down from 18.87 per cent to 5.88 per cent during the last five years.

Notwithstanding the fact that several thousand posts of teachers were vacant, the government has succeeded, to a large extent, in reducing the teacher-taught deficit ratio by appointing about 4,000 teachers under Rehabar-i-Taleem scheme.

As per senior functionaries in the Department of School Education, English is now being taught in the government run schools from class one and the medium of instruction has been shifted to English in mathematics, science and social studies.

In most of the schools the curriculum has been brought at par with NCERT syllabus so that students could go in for higher studies without any problem. For the first time 5th optional subject has been introduced at 10+2 level, which includes computer sciences, biotechnology, environment science and functional English.

Speaking here today, the functionaries said militancy-related violence had caused extensive damage to the infrastructure in the department when several hundred school buildings were damaged and burnt between 1989 and 1994.

They said in the absence of proper school buildings, the dropout rate had gone up during this period. However, since 1997 the state government, with sufficient financial assistance from the Government of India, had taken in hand measures for rebuilding the damaged infrastructure.

During the last about 10 years, the government was able to construct 1,540 primary schools and 160 middle school buildings. About 2,500 primary and middle school buildings in various parts of the state were under construction. In all, over 2,500 additional classrooms were constructed and work on 2,600 additional classrooms was in progress.

However, former education minister Harsh Dev Singh said there were chances for frittering away the gains of the state government, headed by Mufti Mohd.Sayeed, that had been achieved between 2002 and 2005.

He said during the last three years as many as 14,000 posts of teachers were vacant and a large number of teachers, posted in rural areas, had been attached enabling them to work in the cities and towns.

Harsh Dev Singh said these two factors had resulted in “collapse of teaching activities in the rural areas.” He alleged that teaching work in several hundred schools in the rural areas had become defunct. He wanted all the vacant posts be filled on the basis of merit and the services of Rehabar-i-Taleem teachers be regularised so that they exhibit greater interest in their work.

Prominent educationsists have suggested to the government to fill all the vacant posts of teachers under a crash programme so that the existing teacher-taught ratio was further narrowed down.