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General Budget
Budget blues: No relief to sick industrial units
Depot fire leftover still haunts farmers
Killing of militants sparks protest
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‘One out of 7 baby girls is eliminated in Jammu’
Five mini dams to be completed in year: Minister
BJP, Panthers for early panchayat poll
Expansion of airport held up
Reasi seat: NC yet to finalise candidate
BJP to hold programme at Ramban
HC ban on 15-yr-old vehicles doesn’t work here
Police captures leopard
Two gangs of burglars, car lifters busted; 5 arrested
Hike in passenger fares on cards
Pandits seek CBI probe into massacres
More metal industries being set up
Lineman booked for forgery
Detenue set free from illegal custody
Veterinary camp for nomads
Armyman booked for kidnapping
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Common man happy, industry left high & dry
Tejinder Singh Sodhi Tribune News Service
Jammu, February 29 The already sick industry of Jammu and Kashmir was expecting an industrial package on the same patters as given to the other north eastern states, but nothing in this regard was announced by the finance minister in his budget speech in Parliament, this has disappointed industrialists in the state. Speaking to The Tribune, chairman of the federation of industries, Jammu, Annil Suri said “We had lot many expectations from the union finance minister for the budget, we wanted a similar industry package as given to the other north-eastern states, but we stand neglected by today's budget announcement.” He said, "As the FM slashed central excise duty on menthol and pharma units; it would prove a death knell for such units in J&K as such units here were getting a refund of excise duty they paid, because cost of production was already high in the state, but as now the excise duty has been slashed from 16 per cent to 8 per cent, the refund would also get slashed." Terming it as a budget aimed at impressing the voters, president of the Chambers of Commerce and Industries Ram Sahi told The Tribune, "Though the union finance minister has tried to impress the common man by offering income tax rebate, this budget has nothing for J&K as such, to uplift its already sick economy." Adding, he said, "the government has decided to waive off loans up to the tune of Rs 60, 000 crore, though it's a welcome step, but it wont be beneficial for the smaller farmers who commit suicides, as such farmers never take loan from banks instead they rely on moneylenders, who force them to return the money with hefty amount, so they commit suicide." He further said that the benefits and the projects announced in today's union budget would help benefit the common man. "As I told you this is an election budget, despite having nothing about the overall development of the state, but the finance minister keeping in view the upcoming elections have announced a lot for common man." The common men in the state have welcomed the announcements made the finance minister during his budget speech. "We welcome the announcements, as the concessions given in the budget would directly benefit the common man; the income tax rebate given would help people like us to save more." said Parveen Kumar, a resident of Gandhi Nagar locality.
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Budget blues: No relief to sick industrial units
Srinagar, February 29 Like the railway budget, the general budget presented by union finance minister P. Chidambaram today has been described as “disappointing.” Reacting to the budget, Nazir Ahmad Dar, senior vice-president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCC), said the state had been ignored once again. He hailed the waiving off of the loans to the farmers in other states of the country but lamented that no relief had been given to the sick industry in Kashmir. He also pointed out that even in the case of militancy-hit Punjab, 100 per cent waiver of loans had been effected, but no relief had come to the sick industrial sector in the state despite assurances. He added that it was the question of the relief in case of about Rs 500 to 600 crore, which could have come to the help of sick industrial sector. “We were not demanding waiver of the loans,” the senior vice-president of KCCI said. The related issues had been take up by the KCCI with the Prime Minister and union finance minister soon after the budget last year, but it had not been reflected even in this year’s budget, Dar commented. There was also no relief for those in the tourism industry sector, Dar held and added that the hoteliers, houseboat owners and tour operators had also suffered due to the turmoil, but had again been ignored in the budget.
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Depot fire leftover still haunts farmers
Srinagar, February 29 In the incident, 17 people lost their lives, and several were injured besides damage to livestock and property. Though the Army claimed to have cleared the area of 3 km comprising 13 villages, there have been incidents of explosions of live ammunition, which have left many injured. A villager was also killed and six others got injured in one such explosion later last year. A Bofors tank shell was recovered by the police at Khundroo village on Tuesday. “This is in continuation to the incident of fire in the Army ammunition depot at Khundroo in Anantnag,” a police spokesman said. Due to these recoveries the residents, particularly in Sombran and Khundroo villages, close to the depot continue to express apprehensions about the dangers in the fields when they come out to till their land. With the havoc caused in August 11 last year fire, the hapless farmers have been up in arms once again demanding an increase in the rentals for their agricultural land. “We have taken cognizance of this and we hope that the rentals would be increased very soon,” a senior officer told The Tribune adding that a report has been submitted to the government fixing the rents “much more than the existing rates.” The report has been submitted after consultations with Agriculture and Horticulture Departments of the state government fixing up the annual rent per kanal of land, according to the productive capability of each category of land. The existing annual rates of rent to the farmers range between Rs 413 and Rs 1,575 for per kanal of land in four different categories, and the revised rates may be effected soon. An amount of Rs 26 crore has already been sanctioned as compensation to the affected villagers following the tragedy last year in which 17 lives including 14 inside the depot, were lost and seven others were injured. Expressing concern over the tragic incident, chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had said he would impress upon the central government to consider setting up of ammunition depots away from populated areas in future.
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Killing of militants sparks protest
Srinagar, February 29 The police said they received a tip-off on the presence of these militants at Saidpora in Shopian and zeroed in on their hideout yesterday evening. The encounter stretched through the night and today, and ended with the death of all trapped militants. They have been identified as Riyaz Ahmed Thokar alias Abu Jihad of Hizbul Mujahideen, Siyar Ahmed Thokar of Hizbul Mujahideen, Siyar Ahmed Bhat of Al Badr and Iqbal of Hizbul Mujahideen. Three guns and a sniper rifle have been recovered from the spot. It may be mentioned that two CRPF personnel were gunned down in neighbouring Pulwama district on February 27 by Hizbul Mujahideen militants. The authorities have refrained from linking the slain militants with the death of CRPF soldiers, but such an immediate offensive measure by the cops might have come following the intelligence on those responsible for their killings. However, there were massive protests by the people against the killing of militants. |
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‘One out of 7 baby girls is eliminated in Jammu’
Jammu, February 29 “One girl out of 7 newly born girls becomes a victim portraying a very bleak picture in Jammu and Kathua districts of J-K,” Dr Sabu George said during a two-day media workshop on child sex ratio and female foeticide at the medical college here. Dr George, an expert who has done extensive study of the issue says a very unfortunate situation was developing in the Jammu region. It will soon surpass Punjab as per the trends. Quoting the survey done on the data collected from twin districts in 2006-07, he said as a result of girl killings, the child sex ratio in Jammu is 828 girls to 1,000 boys and in Kathua district it is 796 girls for 1000 boys. If the present trend continues, Kathua, which borders Punjab, is visibly heading for a demographic catastrophe in a decade or so, he said. Dr George, who has already toured various districts across the country advocating the cause of girl child and ensuring a total ban on the sex determinations tests said, “It is time for administration and society to wake up and arrest this serious trend.” He said, in Punjab sex ratio in the age group up to 6 years was worse. It is followed by Haryana. The child sex ratio (up to 6 years age group) that stood at 976 girls for 1,000 boys in 1961 has gone from bad to worse to 927 in the 2001 survey conducted by the UNPF, he said. The most dramatic decline has come in the decade 1991-2001 from 945 down to 927, he said adding the situation had worsened since 1991 with none of the districts recording more than 825 girls per 1000 boys. Ostensibly out of the 18 districts, 9 districts of Punjab record a drastic reduction in the child sex ratio to less than 800 girls for every 1,000 boys, he said. The Fethgarh Sahib district has lowest 766 girls to 1,000 boys, it said adding that state has an average 798 girls to 1,000 boys. Similarly, the situation is bad in Haryana, as UNPF have shown five districts of Haryana with worst ratio of 800 girls to every 1,000 boys.
— PTI |
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Five mini dams to be completed in year: Minister
Jammu, February 29 With dual objectives to recharge ground tubewells and irrigation facility to about 600 acres in its catchment area, the dam shall be commissioned by the end of next month. The Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Jammu, has undertaken an ambitious project to construct 27 such mini water storage dams over Yakh Nallah, Basantar and Devak rivers in Hira Nagar and Samba at a cumulative cost of Rs 132 crore. This will be first of its kind fully centrally funded project under Nabard and the design for the project has been approved by the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the state Design Directorate. Each storage dam would be 300 to 800 metre in length across the river and 10 feet in height. Dilawar Mir was accompanied by chief engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control, Jammu, V.K. Abrol, superintending engineers concerned and prominent industrialists of the state. Speaking on the occasion, he said that five such mini water storage dams at a cost of about Rs 50 crore would be completed during the current year. “Construction of these mini check dams would not only provide irrigation facilities in respective areas but would give an aesthetic and cooling effect on the hot climatic conditions in the area,” he said. He asked the engineers to construct pathways around these water bodies with provision of floodlights so that local people could visit these water bodies to entertain and refresh themselves. |
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BJP, Panthers for early panchayat poll
Jammu, February 29 Soon after dissolving over 1,300 panchayat committees where the election had been held in 2001, the government had announced that fresh elections would be held in 2005. In fact the panchayat elections in the state in 2001 were held after a gap of over 23 years. However, owing to unfavourable security scenario elections could be held only in over 1,300 panchayats out of 2,700. When the elected bodies were dissolved, the National Conference had criticised it on the plea that instead of completing the panchayat election process the ruling coalition had dissolved the elected bodies without allowing them to complete a five-year term. The then minister for panchayati raj Peerzada Mohd Syed had said in 2004 that while the election to the panchayati raj institutions in Jammu and Kashmir regions would be held in January-February 2005 that in Ladakh was to be held in June 2005. This commitment has not been fulfilled so far. The opposition leaders, including BJP president Ashok Khajuria and leader of Panthers Party in the Assembly Harsh Dev Singh said here today the delay in holding elections to the panchayati raj institutions had defeated the programme of granting functional and financial autonomy to the panchayats. They said the government has also failed in constituting block development councils and district planning boards resulting in the grounding of panchayati raj. These government sources said since the Assembly poll was round the corner the schedule for holding the panchayat elections could be fixed only after the new Assembly was constituted. This indicated that election to the panchayati raj institutions might be held somewhere in 2009. He and other opposition National Conference leaders, including Ajay Sadhotra, said that since there was no provision in the constitution for dissolving elected panchayats the ruling coalition took extreme step by securing an ordinance from the Governor in 2004 under which the elected bodies were dissolved.
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Expansion of airport held up
Jammu, February 29 Talking to The Tribune, a senior AAI official said, “No work whatsoever has been started since the union government decided to modernise Jammu airport to convert it into an international airport.” “Under the expansion and modernisation plans length of the runway had to be increased from 6700 feet to 8000 feet, a bay for the parking of aircraft and a building equipped with all facilities at a cost of Rs 100 crore had to be constructed but the process had not started as yet,” he added. He said, “The defence authorities had to provide approximately 145 kanals of defunct land adjacent to the airport, which so far has not been given to us.” The AAI official said, “However, expansion of the airport on Chatha side has been put on hold. It was not feasible considering that the move would dislocate a fairly large number of people.” When contacted, a Defence Ministry official said, “The land could not be given unless state government provides us an alternate piece of land,” adding “The 145 kanals of land is not lying defunct with us and we had been duly authorised to use it.” Talking to The Tribune, Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, HK Singh said, “The project had to be executed under two phases and the first is in the pipeline but the immediate bottleneck is 144 kanals of land with the Army.” “Now the government has decided to acquire 1300 kanals of land on Belicharana side and the AAI too has agreed. The AAI has been asked to send us a formal indent for the acquisition of land,” he said. It may be mentioned here that modernisation project of Srinagar airport at a cost of Rs 110 crore has almost reached into final stages.
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Reasi seat: NC yet to finalise candidate
Reasi, February 29 Former minister Jagjiven Lal has already started village to village campaign as National Conference candidate, while on the other hand, another party leader Sher Singh is also staking claim to Reasi assembly constituency. Recently Sher Singh had conducted an extensive tour of some remotest areas to interact with the people. Due to infighting in the party, National Conference cadre is in dilemma as party leadership has yet not finalised the name of the candidate. Interestingly both the leaders have been claiming they were assured by the party leadership about mandate. "It is high time to finalise the name of party candidate", said Tariq Bhat, senior leader of the National Conference, who himself staking claim on this seat. "It is all due to indecisiveness of our leadership we are lagging behind the Congress and the BJP as far as launching of campaign is concerned", Mr Bhat told The Tribune. In 2002 assembly elections, the Congress had wrested this seat from the National Conference. This assembly segment always witnessed a triangular contest as the BJP also has a strong footing in this belt which was once known as bastion of the Jan Sangh. In 1996 assembly elections Jagjivan Lal had won this seat as Janata Dal candidate and later he had joined the National Conference. Instead of adopting delay tactics, the party leadership should finalise name of the candidate so as to give to fight to the Congress and the BJP", Mr Bhat said. On the other hand, the Congress has already kicked off its campaign. During the last fortnight, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has himself visited this area twice as party has been trying to "conquer" adjoining constituencies also.
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BJP to hold programme at Ramban
Udhampur, February 29 Keeping in view the forthcoming assembly elections in mind, the party leadership has decided to revive those issues "controversial" which the BJP has abandoned due to "political compulsions" for quite some time. While political parties like the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference have been demanding restoration of those special powers which have been given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, the BJP on the other hand has decided to revive the agitation for the abrogation of this Article. On Saturday the BJP is organising a programme at Ramban to pay tributes to those martyrs who had laid down their lives while protesting against giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir. These issues are our core issues. There is no question of abandoning these vital and ideological issues", Bali Bhagat, state general secretary of the party said. Giving details of the programme, Bali said that party workers would pay tributes to martyrs and later take pledge to work for the abrogation of Article 370, which according to him, was the root cause of secessionism in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP has been desperately trying to regain in ground in Ramban district which was earlier part of Doda. In 1996 the BJP had won Ramban seat, which was once considered as bastion of erstwhile Jan Sangh but in 2002 assembly election the party had lost this seat to the National Conference. |
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HC ban on 15-yr-old vehicles doesn’t work here
Rajouri, February 29 Most of these vehicles have been found operating in Buddal,
Darhal, Thanamandi and Shahdara Sharief in Rojouri, whereas in Poonch district such vehicles are plying in Mendhar,
Surankote, Bufliaz and Mandi areas. Owners of such vehicles, which are more susceptible to road accidents due to heavy wear and tear, have a nexus with the traffic police and the local police (which is also involved in traffic management due to less number of traffic policemen in these
districts). The owners bribe the traffic policemen and the police on a monthly
basis to ply such vehicles on roads. The Tribune investigation indicates that during last year, these over-aged vehicles have caused deadly accidents killing hundreds of passengers in these frontier districts. Now it is found that the vehicle owners of these over aged vehicles either sell these vehicles to transporters or are themselves operating the vehicles. Farooq Ahmed Dar, a businessman, said, “The government should implement the directions of the high court so that precious human lives are saved and the air pollution is checked.” Transport minister Hakeem Muhammad Yaseen expressed his ignorance about the matter. “No one ever brought the matter to my notice. But if there is truth in your findings, we will take action,” said the transport minister. “To start with, we will form checking squad to check whether such vehicles are plying on roads in Rajouri and Poonch.” |
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Police captures leopard
Srinagar, February 29 Official sources said a police party was rushed to the sheer Kote village under police station Vilgam after receiving a message that a leopard was seen in the area. They said the leopard was caught and later handed over to the wildlife authorities. In a village at Anantnag in south Kashmir, a leopard killed 16 sheep and injured another 15 last week, they said. A musk deer was captured by Jammu and Kashmir police in the outskirts of the city early last week and handed over to wildlife authorities at Dachigam. The sources said more than two dozen peoples were killed and about 40 others wounded by wild animals in the Kashmir valley during the past one year. After unprecedented snowfall, people living in upper reaches in the Kashmir valley are now facing a threat from wild animals who have come down from woods in search of food. The Wildlife Department has directed people living in villages adjacent to forests to remain cautious against the movement of wild animals who have now turned towards plains in the wake of heavy snowfall on upper reaches. Reports of attacks on villagers by wild animals during the past fortnight have been received from different areas in north and south Kashmir. In retaliation, villagers also killed four wild animals in the valley during the period. A number of animals loving organisation protests against these killings. However, villagers rejected these protested and said the wild animals kill and injures people, including women and small children.
— UNI |
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Two gangs of burglars, car lifters busted; 5 arrested
Srinagar, February 29 “I am innocent,” Matta said when a senior police officer was addressing a press conference and introduced him as one of the gang members, who were arrested along with stolen car, motorcycles, computers and other gadgets. The officer said Aijaz Ahmad Sabloo alias Waseem and Adil Sidiq Matta alias Pinka were involved in lifting vehicles from different parts of the city. Four Maruti cars lifted by them from Kashmir, Srinagar, Hazratbal, Bagat Barzulla and Karan Nagar and TVS motorcyle from Baramulla were recovered. He said Adil has also committed a fraud by using forged cheques and has withdrawn an amount of Rs 35,000 from J and K Bank. The officer said another gang consisting Firdous Ahmad Dandroo, Niyaz Ahmad Matta and Zahoor Ahmad were also arrested by the police. He said on their disclosure police recovered one car, two computers, one printer, one transformer and one gas cylinder.
— UNI
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Hike in passenger fares on cards
Jammu, February 29 Chairing a high-level meeting of transport and its allied departments here yesterday, minister for transport Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen said the government was actively considering hike in the fare of passenger services in the state in view of continuous demand of transporters and rising prices of petrol, diesel, automobile and spares. “Measures were also under way to provide licences, registration certificates and other required documents to the transporters under Single Window System by the Regional Transport Authorities so as to ensure transparency,” he added. He said, “The government would introduce a mechanism to check rash driving. For the purpose a sophisticated equipment speed garnor would be fixed in passenger vehicles plying in Srinagar and Jammu cities on experimental basis.”
Hakeem Yaseen said that the government would add 50 more vehicles to the fleet of State Motor Garages
(SMG) to cope up with the demand of newly created districts. “Presently 390 vehicles are available in the fleet of SMG which are not sufficient to meet the requirements of the state,” he added. |
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Pandits seek CBI probe into massacres
Jammu, February 29 The police recently closed down a case in which 23 Kashmiri Pandits were massacred on January 25 at Wandhama as it could not trace the culprits. In a letter addressed to the State Human Rights Commission, the Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti has sought an independent probe by the CBI into the killings as the police had failed to solve these. The president of the samiti Sanjay Tikoo said on the one hand the police department solved cases within the stipulated time but in the case of minority these remained unsolved. He said for the past 17 years the community had faith in the state government that they will bring to bok those persons who were behind these heinous acts but the recent closure of the case has "shattered all our hopes" |
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More metal industries being set up
Jammu February 29 Threadbare discussion was held on various issues related to the registration of manufacturing units under metal, menthol and pesticide sectors. The meeting was informed that 56 metal, 34 menthol and 23 pesticide manufacturing units were functioning in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts besides, 96 metal, 33 menthol and 45 pesticide units were registered provisionally. It was decided that the registration of more units under menthol category would also be done for the rest of the districts and these units would be asked to necessarily procure raw material from the local farmers. |
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Lineman booked for forgery
Srinagar, February 29 The investigation in the case revealed that the recorded date of birth of the suspect is April 17, 1950, while as the date of birth of his son Sudershan Paul Singh working in the same department is recorded as April 6, 1956. The actual date of birth of the accused is February 11, 1929. In another case, one Reyaz Ahmad Wani is accused of cheating one Jalal-ud-Din Sheikh, who approached him for executing a sale deed for half potion of his house situated at Budgair Aali Kadal Srinagar. The accused though obtaining court fee from the plaintiff prepared fake documents. The case has been registered and presented before the court.
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Detenue set free from illegal custody
Jammu, February 29 Iqbal’s earlier detention under J&K Public Safety Act was quashed by the high court on May 18, 2007. He was taken into custody under Section 18 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. While in custody, another detention order was passed by the district magistrate, Jammu, for his constant involvement in hatching conspiracies with other jailed militants of banned outfit while keeping the pot of subversive and disruptive activities boiling. The counsel for petitioner argued that grounds on the basis of second detention order was issued, while reiterating earlier grounds, is impermissible as no was no material justifying his detention.
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Veterinary camp for nomads
Udhampur, February 29 The camp was conducted by the 27 Dog unit of the Army at Talwara to solve problems of Gujjars and Bakkarwals of the area. During the camp about 6000 sheep and goats were dewormed using drenching guns. Gujjars and Bakkarwals were also given consultancy services on prevention of various diseases in sheep and goats. The camp was an effort by Uniform Force in assisting the locals, especially Gujjars and Bakkarwals towards inculcating a habit of regular deworming. |
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Armyman booked for kidnapping
Srinagar, February 29 Fayaz Ahmad Bajad is in the Territorial Army and hails from the same locality, the police said. However, official sources said it was more of a case of consensual elopement than a forced abduction as made out by the woman's family. The woman is married and knew Bajat, they said, and added that they had sent teams to search for
Bajat.
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The police and the Army today killed four militants holed up in a house in Shopian district since yesterday. The militants
belon- ged to outfits of the Hizbul Mujahideen and Pakistan-based Al Badr.
