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‘Superior’ blankets leave troops cold
Change ‘faulty’ industrial policy: Workers’ union
Hurriyat moderates ‘heartbroken’
Packages: Azad seeks people’s appreciation
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Real
Estate Biz
Gujjar-Pahari tussle intensifies
Gujjars unhappy with Manmohan
Dul Hasti Project
Tulip garden bids adieu to tourists
Team arrives to review train project
PM indifferent towards Jammu: Panthers
New courses in Islamic finance, media
Cable services resume
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‘Superior’ blankets leave troops cold
Jammu, April 27 The blankets were procured from the private sector at more than double the prices offered by the handloom sector. Troops using them complained of inadequate warmth, inferior wool and reduced life expectancy of 2-3 years against five years in case of barrack blankets. The defence ministry had approved a proposal by the Director General Ordnance Services
(DGOS) for procurement of 3.5 lakh blankets to meet emergent requirements. The situation, it was revealed, arose due to inept procurement planning as the requirement had been projected several years earlier. Later, undue haste was shown in procuring the blankets outside the approved supply chain. According to policy, all Central government organisations are required to procure handloom fabrics at rates fixed by the ministry of textiles. Two suppliers, the Women Development Organisation
(WDO) and the Association of Corporations and Apex Societies of Handloom
(ACASH) had responded to tenders issued by the DGOS. While the WDO had cited a price of Rs 236 per blanket as fixed by the ministry, the ACASH quoted a price of Rs 252 per blanket, which was higher by Rs 16. As the matter of prices was being sorted out, the
DGOS, citing emergent requirements, persuaded the defence ministry to approve procurement of 6.11 lakh blankets from other sources at a price of Rs 300 per piece. It was later found that blankets at the proposed rate did not exist and another proposal was mooted to procure 3.5 lakh blankets at a price of Rs 519 per piece. This was Rs 267 more than the rates provided by the handloom sector. The DGOS had claimed that the blankets being procured from the private sector were superior to the grey barrack blanket normally procured from ordnance factories. Orders placed by the DGOS stipulated deliveries by March-April, which reduced the extent of their utilisation. Further, 1.57 lakh blankets were lying in stock at various depots till December 2007. Further, the stock position of another 70,000 blankets was not known. |
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Change ‘faulty’ industrial policy: Workers’ union
Jammu, April 27 Addressing mediapersons here today, Nirdosh Uppal, joint secretary, CITU, said taking advantage of the faulty industrial policy, employer’s lobby continued to siphon off the state exchequer throwing the burden of unemployment and financial crunch on the shoulders of poor people by frequent closures of their factories. “The pseudo-industrialists from within and outside the state establish their units for concessions only,” said Uppal. The trade union leader said industrialists in the state after availing sops and industrial incentives for eight to nine years, suddenly declared the unit sick, rendering hundreds of people jobless. He said disgruntled industrialists after accumulating capital, by taking huge subsidies and incentives, vanished from the state. “Paradoxically, such pseudo-industrialists were not made accountable by the authorities, which simply remain a mute spectator,” he added. Uppal said poor people had became a scapegoat of the unethical practise and the state’s economic development had been retarded. He said the government should see whether the capital availed by such industrialists in the form of concessions was reinvested in the state or somewhere else. Demanding a slew of concessions for the workers of such closed units, he said the government should take serious cognisance of the malpractice before it proved to be late. |
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Hurriyat moderates ‘heartbroken’
Jammu, April 27 A day before the Prime Minister’s arrival in Jammu, senior APHC leader Shabir Ahmed Shah had expected Dr Manmohan Singh to say whether he was willing to resume his talks, which have remained suspended for the last two years, with the APHC leaders or not. When Shah was asked about it today, he said, “We cannot force the Prime Minister to hold talks with us.” However, another senior APHC leader Prof Abdul Gani Bhat said, “It is unfortunate that the Prime Minister did not say anything on the resumption of dialogue with us.” He said, “The sooner it is held the better.” Bhat said, “There can be no escape route and even if it takes six months or two years, New Delhi has to resume dialogue with us in the interest of peace and normalcy in In reply to a question Bhat said, “We appreciate Prime Minister’s announcement in Jammu and that pace of talks with Pakistan will get accelerated following the installation of a democratic government in “We have always been in favour of settling the Kashmir issue through dialogue,” he added. He said, “Bilateral talks are good but trilateral dialogue can be a better option and a stage will come when Delhi will realise the need and importance of tripartite talks. We can wait. We are not in a hurry but we want the core issues to be settled as early as possible.”" On the other hand, Congress spokesman Ravinder Sharma said the APHC leaders are themselves responsible because the Prime Minister had stated, on several occasions, that the doors of the Centre were open for dialogue. He said the Prime Minister had invited the Hurriyat leaders to the roundtable conferences but they did not respond. Sharma said during his two-day visit, the Prime Minister had been specific on the need for accelerating the pace of talks with Pakistan and had hoped that the ongoing dialogue process will further promote friendly ties with Pakistan. In reply to a question, Sharma said the way the APHC organised a silent protest march and its activists later clashed with the police in Srinagar on Friday when the Prime Minister was scheduled to land in Jammu was possibly a part of the pressure tactics for motivating the Prime Minister to resume the dialogue. He said, “The government does not take cognisance of such designs because the separatists have been resorting to these tactics for the past 18 years.” The Congress spokesman said if the APHC leaders were interested in holding talks with the Prime Minister they should come forward. However, Prof Bhat said, “We want an invitation for such talks as had been the case in the past.” He said since the Prime Minister remained awfully busy “we cannot expect to meet him the day we land in Delhi. At least we should get firm dates for the venue and time for
the talks.” |
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Packages: Azad seeks people’s appreciation
Kathua, April 27 “This was a major initiative taken for the first time since Independence to address the chronic problems with social and economic dimensions. The package announced by PM for the refugees from PoK and west Pakistan need to be appreciated,” Azad said while addressing a public rally in Kathua. He said though there was always a scope for doing more; still the Congress-led government in the state had succeeded in getting the victims out of adverse circumstances. Azad said the people who have been criticising the package were doing so because of their political compulsion. “The problem of these refugees was there since 1947 and the successive governments had failed even to attempt at addressing them,” he said. He said he had held an all party meeting for two days to address the issues confronting the refugees, however, he said no consensus could be reached among the political parties. “It was then the government chose the second option as was unveiled by the Prime Minister on Friday,” Azad said. He said the package of Rs 50 crore was for those refugee families who had not been adequately compensated at the time of their arrival in the state. Giving details about the refugees of 1947 Azad said, “As many as 31,619 families migrated from PoK of which 26,319 came to Jammu and Kashmir, out of these, 22,719 families settled in rural and 3,600 families in urban areas.” “From 1947 to mid-50s land was distributed among these families at the rate of 32 kanals aabi or 48 kanals khushki per family. Since 1956 to 2000, 4,988 families had been claiming that they did not get full compensation whether it was aabi or khushki land.” He said that though central government had announced a package in year 2000, however everyone could not be compensated as only 3800 claims were verified. Regarding the fundamental rights for the refugees from West Pakistan, Azad said, “As the constitutional provisions stand in their way for permanent settlement in Jammu and Kashmir and in the wake of the absence of consensus among the political parties on the issue, the government had announced perhaps the near best package for them in the given circumstances.” He said, “Concessions would be provided to let their children and grand children secure admission in technical educational institutions in other parts of the country, they would be provided domicile certificates on whose basis they could apply for jobs in the central government departments.”
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After Jammu, Kathua becomes hot bed
Tejinder Singh Sodhi Tribune News Service
Kathua, April 27 “As majority of the people who want their own house in the Jammu region are not in a position to afford a one there, they now turn towards Kathua as the cost of property here is much lower as compared to Jammu.” said Tirlochan Singh, a real estate agent in Kathua. Though the inflow of people who want to purchase residential property in Kathua has resulted in an increase of the price of property in the district, the price here is still much lower to that in Jammu city. People have also been considering purchase of real estate in Kathua as an investment option as they are hopeful of getting good return in a very short span of time. “Investment in the real estate is the only way to get a good return, so I have purchased a few acres of farm land in Billawar and now am planning to purchase a piece of residential plot in Kathua town,” said V.K. Agarwal, a resident of Jammu. “If I sell this land after five to 10 years I would get an income of many time then what I had invested,” he added. The residents of Kathua and its adjoining villages show a mixed response to the increase in the sale of land in and around the city. At some places residents do feel that the sale and purchase of their property (land) would help them get good money whereas some feel that greed for more money would compel farmers to sell their land. “Greed for money would compel farmers to sell away their land ,” said Girdhari Lal, a resident of Kathua.
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Gujjar-Pahari tussle intensifies
Udhampur, April 27 On the other hand, Gujjars also have plans up their sleeves as various organisations have warned the ruling coalition in the state against granting ST status to any community on the basis of language or dialect. The Gujjars-Paharis “fight” which was early confined only to the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri, is now gradually engulfing other districts also. Recently a meeting of Gujjars was held at Reasi in which all leaders stoutly opposed ST status to Gujjars. Today, a meeting of Pahari-speaking leaders was held at Mahore in which speakers announced to intensify the ongoing campaign for getting ST status. With prominent Pahari leader convincing the Central government about the demand, leaders at the grass-root level have also started village-to-village meetings to consolidate their force. Keeping in view, the coming Assembly elections, these Pahari leaders have stepped up attack on those who have been opposing their demand. Furthermore, Pahari leaders have also asked all political parties to clear their position on their demand. Gujjars, on the other hand, have also warned political parties against supporting the “unconstitutional” demand of the Paharis. The Gujjar leaders are very much aware that no political party can ignore their strength so they have also started exerting pressure on political groups not to support Paharies demand. “We have already made our position clear. Those who will ignore our wishes and aspirations have to face the music in the coming Assembly elections,” a senior Gujjar leader said, adding, “No political party can afford to turn a blind eye on our stand.” Most of the political parties have supported ST status for Paharis but all these political groups are also trying to woo the Gujjars. Only the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has come out openly against the demand of ST status to Paharis. The BSP has been trying to create SC-ST vote bank before the Assembly elections. The Pahari community is hopeful to get the ST status before the Assembly elections as Pahari leaders of all political parties have formed a common platform to convince both the state and the Centre to get their demands fulfilled. |
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Gujjars unhappy with Manmohan
Srinagar, April 27 According to Shamsher Ali Boken, state president of the Gujjar Bakerwal Joint Forum, there was no mention of this tribal community in the speeches delivered by the Prime Minister as they expected a rehabilitation package for the two-lakh landless and homeless community members. He alleged that there was no initiative for Scheduled Tribe Gujjars in three packages announced by the PM and added that the Working Groups had failed to give any recommendations for uplift of the community. The Gujjar leader said the state government had failed to persuade the cause of tribals before the central leadership. It was stated that the ST Gujjar communities constitute more than 20 per cent of total population of the state but were being ignored. “We are being discriminated by all the state governments for the last 60 years,” Boken commented. The Scheduled Tribe status granted in 1991 failed to provide benefits in any field of life, Boken said. |
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Respite for Jammu this summer
Tribune News Service
Jammu, April 27 With the mercury rising everyday, people may get a respite, and not face unscheduled power cuts for 10 to 12 hours. Official sources said the government found it hard to strike a balance between the ever-increasing gap of demand and supply, compelling it to overdraw power from the Northern Grid. Despite becoming a habitual defaulter of the Northern Grid, the state had not been able to meet the peak hour power requirements, official sources said. During summers, the state on a rough estimate requires 1,400 MW of power in a day where as it has a self-generation of just 200 MW to 250 MW. Sources said the state imports 240 lakh units of power, including over-drawls every day from the Northern Grid, but it fell short of 200 MW to 250 MW. D.S. Pawar, chief engineer, power development department (PDD) said, “With the commissioning of the Dul Hasti project, there would be stability this summer.” Entitled for 12 per cent free electricity would definitely bring respite not only to the people but to the state government as well, he said, adding that over-drawls from the Northern Grid, too, would go down saving the state from whopping power arrears. The coalition government, in a bid to have surplus general budgets and check rampant power pilferage, had been presenting separate power budgets but the efforts had not paid positive dividends. Pawar said apart from 12 per cent free power to the state, we could also purchase 10 per cent of unallocated electricity which would surely bring stability. However, officials in the PDD regretted that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh did not announce transfer of the project to the state. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and his Cabinet colleagues had pinned hopes that the project might be given to the state. Sources said not only Azad but deputy chief minister Muzaffar Hussain Beig, industries and commerce minister Nawang Rigzin Jora and power minister Babu Singh had requested UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to allot the project to the state so as to give an impetus to the state’s economy.
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Tulip garden bids adieu to tourists
Srinagar, April 27 The garden overlooking famed Dal Lake advanced the tourist season by a month was inaugurated and dedicated to the people by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on March 29. Dr G S Naqash, floriculture director, said 74,421 visitors from different parts of the country, abroad and locals visited the tulip garden. The department earned a revenue of Rs 27.30 lakh from entry tickets, he said. The authorities had announced that entry to the garden will be through tickets as adults will have to pay Rs 50 and children Rs 20. Parents of different schools, including government run educational institutions alleged that their children were forced to visit the garden. This, they said, was done on the directions of higher education authorities making it necessary for every student to visit the garden after paying entry fees. Naqash said because the tulip season is coming to an end, the department is now gearing up its men and machinery to develop the garden for transplantation of other seasonal flowers. However, this activity will take some time and the garden will remain closed for general public for time being till further orders. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad who took keen interest to develop the garden said this had filled the gap as tourist season normally started in May every year. Giving an idea of the development of the tulip garden, Azad said in December 2005, 30,000 tulip bulbs were sown in the garden and extended to three lakh bulbs in December 2006. He said the garden was further extended by sowing 12 lakh bulbs last winter, making it the Asia's largest tulip garden. In all, 60 varieties of early, mid, late and very late blooming tulips spread a rainbow of red, orange, purple, white, pink, parrot and yellow colours on the garden. The Chief Minister said there was plan for further extension to 20 lakh bulbs next year. The garden, he said, was being developed in terraces, three of which had already been laid while two more would be laid next year. He said while he would not like to compare the garden with Shalimar and Nishat Gardens but the Tulip Garden would be double the size of the Mughal Gardens by next year.
— UNI |
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Team arrives to review train project
Jammu, April 27 The team would also review the security measures of the track, working of the nine railway stations, train trials and technical faults if any on the 68-km of rail track, they said. Commissioner, railway safety, would then arrive here in the first week of May and would go for train trials and working of the stations, they said. They added that in June, train services were expected to start in the valley. Other members of the team include senior divisional commercial manager Brijesh Dharmani, divisional electrical engineer B.S. Kharkal and senior divisional financial advisor Mukesh Mittal.
The nine railway stations along the track have come up at Anantnag,
Bijbehara, Panzgam, Awantipura, Kakapura, Pampore, Srinagar, Budgam and
Rajvansher. — PTI |
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PM indifferent towards Jammu: Panthers
Jammu, April 27 Addressing media persons here today, Harsh Dev Singh said Dr Manmohan Singh turned a blind eye to the aspirations of people of the Jammu region. “They were expecting a comprehensive economic package including job avenues but Prime Minister disappointed them,” he said. He said Jammu has been a home for over 80,000 Pakistani refugees since 1947 but they are still living without fundamental rights. “The Prime Minister didn’t bother to look into their genuine demand,” he said adding, “PoK refugees also deserved immediate attention of the Union government for their permanent rehabilitation.” Switching over to families affected by militancy in Jammu region, he said nearly 5,000 families of Jammu migrants continue to face starvations in absence of any relief from the government. |
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New courses in Islamic finance, media
Srinagar, April 27 The Islamic University of Science and Technology will start B Tech and postgraduation courses in food technology, Masters in journalism besides Islamic finance and investment and tourism from July, a spokesman of the varsity said today. Islamic finance and investment as one of the subjects in MBA will be the first time in the country, he said. Islamic banking will be introduced in all public sector banks and we
will be pioneers, the spokesman said. He said the inclusion of tourism in the syllabus as the main subject will help the students as Kashmir is known world over as the star attraction for holiday-makers.
— PTI |
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Srinagar, April 27 The cable operators had issued a 48-hour ultimatum to authorities on April 24 to lift the ban on four Pak channels - Geo, ARY, PTV and Aaj - otherwise they would suspend their operation in the valley. However, airing of Pak channels had not been resumed. The district authorities had banned the airing of Pak channels in the valley with immediate effect and had warned that any cable operator found violating the ban orders would be booked under the Cable Television Network (regulation) Act, 1996. The authorities said the ban order was issued on the directions from the ministry of information and broadcasting. The cable operators in retaliation stopped airing all Indian or foreign channels, including sports channels. — UNI
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