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Protests continue in Jammu
Little response in Rajouri, Poonch
Amarnath land stir takes roots in rural areas
Vohra holds talks with samiti
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Fruit growers’ SOS to Centre
NC blames Cong for unrest
Jammu may face shortage of petroleum products
3 ultras nabbed
Explosive device found on Amarnath route
Detention of POK resident under PSA quashed
Woman smuggler detained
Submit reports on projects: Governor
Javed Beg quits PDP
Shivalingam emerges in Nai Basti
CET aspirants sore
8 years gone, milk chilling plant yet to kick off
Sonia asks Azad to focus on J&K
NC, PDP in poll mode
Taxpayers fail to file IT returns
State BJP chief hospitalised
Demand for insurance as paddy crop hit
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Protests continue in Jammu
Jammu, July 31 The trouble broke out in Bari Brahmana when a group of protesters reportedly smashed electricity meters of shops and houses of minority community. Over 300 protesters had gathered at Teli Mohalla in Bari Brahmana and there were apprehensions of the situation taking a communal turn. However, timely action by the district administration saved the day. Deputy commissioner Sourav Bhagat and top police officials reached the spot and held talks with the protesters. Bhagat said the situation was totally under control and there had been an adequate deployment in the area to deal with any untoward incident. The protesters also reportedly set ablaze a tanker and a truck loaded with some chemical in Samba district late last night. However, Bhagat said the oil tanker didn’t catch fire and fire tenders were rushed to the spot in time. Meanwhile, the protests continued all across the city today. The protest turned violent at Parade Ground, where agitators clashed with the police, where they reportedly lobbed teargas and cane-charged the former. The protesters also resorted to road blockade on the Akhnoor road by chopping off trees. The city also witnessed massive rallies in which women and children too participated in big numbers. The protesters burnt the effigies of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and NC president Omar Abdullah. In the other case, the authorities said the truck had sneaked into the area from the Dhar road as the entry of such vehicles was restricted during the night. |
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Little response in Rajouri, Poonch
Rajouri, July 31 The SAYSS, which managed to get some support during the initial days of its agitation, has not got much
support from the people of these border districts. In fact, as the Jammu district continues to witness huge rallies and protest demonstrations in response to the call given by the SAYSS, the people here are staying away from the “agitation” and it is business as usual here. Rajouri district has the most organised cadre of the Bajrang Dal, the RSS and the VHP in the state. “During the initial days of the agitation, we observed complete shutdown and our business was hit badly. We have to earn our livelihood and don’t want to indulge in any sort of politics”, said Rakesh Kumar, a local shopkeeper. “There is clear cut politics in this agitation since the agitation has the BJP supporting it. The BJP want to communalise the issue to get votes,” he added. Even a local leader of a political party supporting the agitation admitted that though the agitation got some support during its initial days, it has failed to get adequate support now. He attributed the little response to the agitation to the organisational problems of the participating groups and to no support from the majority community (Muslims). An activist of the Bajrang Dal attributed a little support to the agitation to lack of support from the political parties supporting it. He told The Tribune that “Some of the political leaders supporting the ongoing agitation having their business houses didn’t want to suffer any losses in their business and refused to close their business establishment as a mark of support to the ongoing agitation”, the activist said. |
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Amarnath land stir takes roots in rural areas
Jammu, July 31 Vinod Kumar, a transporter from Miran Sahib, said: "We firmly stand by the agitation, as we believe that it is a fight against grave injustice meted out not only to the people of Jammu but also to the entire Hindu brethren." Dharam Pal, who owns a readymade wear shop, said: "We are ready to continue with the shutdown for another month even if it means suffering more losses. The samiti should continue with its aggressive approach till the agitation reaches its logical end i.e. the land is restored to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board." Sham Singh, a farmer from Badoi village, said residents of a cluster of villages have been holding protests and burning effigies over the issue on the Jammu-Pathankot highway daily. "They are common people and have no party affiliations. However, they are united as they feel that they have always been given step-motherly treatment," he said, adding that the people of Jammu didn't object when land was allotted to Islamic University in Rajouri and they had expected the same from Kashmiris when land was diverted to the shrine board. Om Prakash, who runs a tea stall in Vijaypur, said people from rural areas are fighting the battle with equal enthusiasm. He said the agitation should be intensified and the supply line to the valley should be totally cut off. "We have been tolerating Kashmiri domination for long and we can't take it anymore. It has now become a do-or-die battle for the people of Jammu," he added. "It is not at all a political issue. The revocation of land diversion order has hurt sentiments of the Hindu community across the country. It is purely a religious issue," said Raj Kumar of Miran Sahib. |
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Vohra holds talks with samiti
Jammu, July 31 The delegation handed over its demands in writing to the Governor, which included restoration of the land and handing back the yatra management to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. However, the Governor did not give them any proposal as to how the government wanted to resolve the contentious issue. The samiti members said the agitation would continue until their demands were met and would be intensified in the coming days. The delegation comprised Brig Suchet Singh (retd), Ramesh Sabharwal, Narain Singh, D.K. Khajuria, Prof Narinder Singh and Tilak Raj Sharma. |
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Fruit growers’ SOS to Centre
Jammu, July 31 "We are made to suffer huge losses as a majority of the fruit is lying packed in the open, but no trucker is ready to load it fearing attacks in Jammu." president of the Baramulla, Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Ghulam Rasool Bhat told The Tribune. He said: "We have written a letter to the administration to provide security cover to our trucks as these were being attacked in Jammu and the national highway, but if the government fails to provide security we would be left with no other option but to sell our fruit production in Muzaffarabad across the Line of Control." The fruit growers have proposed to the Centre to allow them to transport their crop to the other side of the Line of Control through the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road. "As our trucks are being attacked in Jammu, we have proposed the Centre to allow us to ferry our fruit to Pakistan so that we can send it to other Indian states through Rawalpindi." Bhat said. Fruit growers say that around 40 lakh families in the state were associated with fruit business and they have suffered losses in crore of rupees following the protests in Jammu. "The fruit business in Kashmir is on the verge of collapse due to the apathetic attitude of the successive state governments. This year the fruit growers had to bear the brunt of nature's fury as hailstorms damaged a major portion of the crop," G.R Wagai, general secretary, Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Association, said. "Whatever was left is rotting in the open as the grower is unable to transport it to other parts of the country” as trucks carrying fruit from Kashmir were attacked in Jammu and the loaded fruit was damaged, he added |
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NC blames Cong for unrest
Jammu, July 31 In a joint statement issued here today, NC leaders Rachpal Singh and Thakur Kashmira Singh said, "The Congress is the party which created the problem and put entire Jammu on fire." Instead of shedding crocodile tears, Charak should candidly admit before the people that he was the main culprit, they said, adding that the people of Jammu should never forgive the Congress and leaders like him. |
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Jammu may face shortage of petroleum products
Jammu, July 31 The government has approached the Oil Tankers Association, which extended support to the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti, to ensure the supply of petroleum and allied products to the Army and the security forces in the Kashmir valley. There are 1800 tankers belonging to the IOC, IPC and HPC, ferrying oil and related products across the state, which has been on a standstill for over a week now. The manager of a filling station said the stock of oil was fast depleting and he would have to shut the outlet within a couple of days. Yashpal Gupta of the Federation of Retailers Association, Jammu, said as far as essential commodities were concerned there was no shortage since shops have not opened for several days. Gupta said wholesale items were regularly coming from other parts of the country and were being stored in warehouses and a little relaxation in curfew would be able to restore depleting material in retail stores. |
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3 ultras nabbed
Srinagar, July 31 Mohmmad Altaf Rather of Tral was apprehended after the police received a specific input in this regard. remains a hotbed of militancy and the security forces had killed eight Jaish militants, including four Pakistanis, in this area a few weeks back. In another operation, the Army arrested one Mohammad Ashraf Lone of Tangmarg and seized four hand grenades, two 9mm pistols and three magazines. Jammu:The security forces today arrested a militant of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit in Doda district official sources here said. “Based on specific information, the police, the 8 Rashtriya Rifles and the Special Operation Group conducted a joint search operation at the bus stand and intercepted one person,” the sources said. The LeT militant identified as Bashir Ahmed, resident of Darosh tehsil, was immediately taken into custody. During preliminary investigations, he revealed that he was assigned the task of causing blasts in Doda in view of the forthcoming Independence Day celebrations. —
UNI
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Detention of POK resident under PSA quashed
Srinagar, July 31 Khan had been languishing in different jails in and outside the state for the past
15 years. Quashing his detention Mr Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir directed the state government to take immediate steps for Khan’s safe return to his house in POK. The court gave the order after hearing arguments from both sides. Earlier, counsel for Khan informed the court that the city magistrate had already issued the acquittal orders of Khan. He further said the government had registered four cases against Khan, which stood decided by the court. He submitted that Khan had already completed the term of punishment in two cases while the court had acqitted him in other two cases. It would be now illegal to again imprison Khan under the fresh PSA.— UNI |
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Woman smuggler detained
Srinagar, July 31 A police spokesman said there were reports of sale and purchase of banned drugs, including charas, in Srinagar district. The woman drug dealer has been identified as Hamida Bano of Zaidpora, Sheikh Coloney, Lal Bazar. He said Hamida was arrested several times earlier also on the same grounds. Finally, the police succeeded in issuing an arrest warrant against her under the NDPS Act, he said. —
UNI |
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Submit reports on projects: Governor
Srinagar, July 31 Reviewing the pace of progress of road projects in the state being executed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Sampark and Himank, today Vohra asked the chief engineers concerned to submit progress reports of the ongoing projects on a fortnightly basis. He said these reports should highlight the bottlenecks, if any, coming in the way of execution of the projects with regard to acquisition of land, release of funds and clearances wherever needed. He asked the secretary, Roads and Buildings, to convene meetings with the deputy commissioners concerned to examine the impediments hampering the execution of roads under their jurisdiction and take immediate measures for removing them. Vohra stressed on the preparation of detailed project reports of the roads likely to be awarded under the Central sector so that work could be started well in time. Chief engineers of Beacon, NHAI and Sampark, Brig A.K. Bhutani, M.K. Jain and Brig U.S. Dadu, gave a presentation of the ongoing road projects in the state. Vohra was informed that 761-km 11 road projects costing Rs 1,405 crore were going on in full swing and expected to be completed by March 2011 by the BRO, while under Sampark, four laning of 17.20 km of NH-1A and double laning of 10 roads and construction of 27 roads was going on.Vohra was also informed that Rs 591.47 crore 5-road projects of 113 km, 4-bridges and one fly-over were under execution in the state by the NHAI and were likely to be completed by next year. — UNI
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Javed Beg quits PDP
Srinagar, July 31 Javed Beg told The Tribune that the decision-making in the PDP had become more and more "dictatorial" after its patron,Mufti Sayeed, left the day-to-day affairs to his daughter and party president Mehbooba. "It is no longer the same PDP of which I was one of the first members," he said. Beg said the PDP made a blunder by deciding to topple the Ghulam Nabi Azad government over an issue which united the two factions of the Hurriyat. The PDP should have ideally gone to the public and accepted the collective responsibility of the coalition government behind a decision that had hurt the people's sentiments. Instead, it passed the buck and withdrew the support, he said. Beg said his uncle, Muzaffar Beg, was also feeling "frustrated". PDP sources said Javed Beg was bitter as it was clear that he was not going to be the party nominee from Sangrama seat this time, with the honour, instead, going to party spokesperson Basharat Bukhari. |
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Shivalingam emerges in Nai Basti
Jammu, July 31 Eyewitnesses said last night a truck loaded with sand was parked in the area and following heavy rain, sand seeped out from the rear of the truck, forming a structure akin to a Shivalingam. As soon as the word spread, people from various localities thronged to catch a glimpse of the Shivalingam. “This is a miracle. Lord Shiva himself has emerged to give us darshan,” Pankaj Kumar, a local resident, said. There was heavy rush and it seemed as if the whole city had converged on the area. Defying heavy downpour, people could be seen waiting in long queues to have a glimpse of the Shivalingam. Police personnel were also deployed to control the crowd. People offered money and within no time, a huge amount of money was piled in front of the structure. A majority of people associated the formation of the Shivalingam with the ongoing agitation in Jammu over the revocation of the forestland transfer. They said the Shivalingam was a blessing from Lord Shiva to the people of Jammu for supporting the “cause”. People sang hymns and posters of Lord Shiva were pasted on the truck from which the sand had seeped out to form the structure. The devotees were also offered “parshad”. |
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CET aspirants sore
Jammu, July 31 Irregular power cuts have further aggravated the atmosphere.In this humid climate, CET is now scheduled for August 9 and 10, 2008.Umesh, one of the teachers of Apex Tutorial, said the institute had remained closed for the past one month due to bandhs, affecting not only CET aspirants but also those who came for academic coaching. The coaching is supposed to end by October as after that their CET coaching starts, but due to the bandhs, 20 per cent of their syllabus could not be completed. Amir Qazi, an MBBS aspirant advocated for timely conduct of the CET examinations so that the students who don’t qualify the exam are able to get admission in other streams. |
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8 years gone, milk chilling plant yet to kick off
Sodhra-Sunderbani (Rajouri), July 31 The project, conceived in the 90s, was a joint venture between the state Animal Husbandry and the Jammu and Kashmir Milk Producers Limited. The former was to install the machinery and latter was to carry out the operations, including procuring milk from the farmers. It was thought, the milk chilling plant, having a capacity of 10,000 litres, would change the destinies of the milk-producing farmers of Sunderbani and Nowshera. They were supposed to get good price for their produce from the local cooperative society, which had collaborated with the JKMPCL, which was to store milk in the plant and transfer it to Jammu for selling purpose. “We produce a huge quantity of milk but the irony is that we don't get market for our produce. Since milk is perishable commodity, we cannot store it for long,” said Jograj Sharma, a local farmer. “After the milk chilling plant was ready for operation in 2000, we expected that the agency concerned would procure our milk at a good price but nothing of that sort happened,” he said. Congress spokesperson and a local resident, Ravinder Sharma, who took up the matter with the state government couple number of times, said they were ready to extend any sought of cooperation to the agencies concerned for making the project operational. “I took up the matter with former animal husbandry minister several times but there was no result. I again appealed to the state government to get this project (which would benefit local milk producing farmers) operational,” Sharma said. Talking over the phone from Jammu, Dr S.P. Sharma, director, Animal Husbandry, told The Tribune, “We have installed the machinery under the Integrated Dairy Development project. It is the Jammu and Kashmir Milk Producers Limited, which has to start the operation.” A senior officer of the JKMPCL asking not to be named said they were facing problems in making the project operational. “Firstly we require around 10,000 litres of water for running the project and there is water shortage in the area. Secondly the local cooperative society, which has to procure milk from the farmers too is defunct,” he said. “Besides, there are other problems, which need to be tackled to make the project
operational,” he said. |
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Sonia asks Azad to focus on J&K
Jammu, July 31 Despite strong resentment in the Hindu majority areas across Jammu against Azad in the wake of Amarnath land row, the party high command wants him to turn the tide in favour of the Congress. Reliable sources said Azad and PCC president Saif-ud-Din Soz had been asked by the party high command to gel well and lead the Congress to the next Assembly elections. A party leader said since the UPA government survived the trust vote, Azad as of now was not required at Delhi, and hence, had been asked to campaign in the state till the next elections. Party sources said, being a development-oriented man, who as the Chief Minister had been doing wonders before the PDP’s raked up the land row, Azad still enjoyed confidence of the people and hence Congress president Sonia Gandhi had asked him to focus on his native state. No doubt, the PDP triggered the land row controversy for garnering votes and the BJP would leave no stone unturned to corner the Congress during the elections, but Azad being a nationalist and a secular man had a much better popularity graph than other politicians, they said. Before the second term of the erstwhile coalition government headed by the Congress came to an abrupt halt, Azad had launched a series of developmental works in the state. And now, he had been asked to highlight them before the people besides taking on those responsible for the fall of his government and prevailing unrest,
they added. |
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NC, PDP in poll mode
Srinagar, July 31 Poll preparations were in full swing in June with top leaders like Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah, both from the National Conference (NC), Mufti Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti from the PDP, and the then chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, were addressing public rallies almost every day in the valley. However, the Amarnath land transfer protests, largely appropriated by separatist leaders who attempted to channelise public anger against India and mainstream parties, put an end to these rallies. As tempers cool down, the NC and the PDP, have started galvanising their cadres. The PDP has held rallies in different parts of Kashmir in the past few days. “Polls are not far away. We will have a tough fight with the NC and will try to reach out to as much people as possible in the coming days”, a PDP leader said. Yesterday the NC held a meeting of its top leaders, including Abdur Rahim Rather, Ali Muhammad Sagar, Mehboob Beg besides, Omar and Farooq. A NC leader said they mulled over the prevailing political mood in the state and discussed the right time to release the list of party candidates. “Our main concern is the polarisation of votes along communal lines in Jammu”, he said. |
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Taxpayers fail to file IT returns
Jammu, July 31 While the state government yesterday extended by 30 days the date for filing returns after amending the Rule 28 of the state’s VAT, there were no such indications from the Central Income Tax Department till late this evening. “Clamping of curfew for days together and extending bandh calls have forced me to stay at home, as a result, I could not file the returns at the Income Tax counter”, Sanjay Kumar, a government employee, residing in Rehari area of the city. Sanjay said his other colleagues had also failed to file the returns. Sources in the Income Tax Department said they had received hundreds of calls from anxious employees and other taxpayers, expressing their inability to file returns by July 31. “The matter has been taken up with the authorities at New Delhi so that any decision in respect of the state could be taken” the
sources hoped. |
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State BJP chief hospitalised
Jammu, July 31 However, GMC hospital administrator Rakesh Khajuria stated his condition to be stable. “So far his reports are normal and he is kept under observation at the hospital ICU”, said Khajuria. |
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Demand for insurance as paddy crop hit
Srinagar, July 31 Jammu and Kashmir Kisan Tehreek said it had affected vast crops in the rural areas of Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian and Ganderbal districts.Its general secretary GN Malik said farmers had been watching the epidemic helplessly and needed immediate protection. He said the epidemic was still in an early stage and could be controlled if the department concerned took prompt measures. “The farmers in Kashmir are not very educated about required measures and needed help from the experts,” he said. He also reiterated the demand for introduction of a crop insurance scheme for the entire state. |
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Jammu, July 31
Jammu, July 31
