Jammu/Srinagar, January 28
Work was paralysed in government offices across the state, including Leh, today as 4.5 lakh employees went on strike to press for the immediate implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations

The two-day strike that has been called by the Jammu and Kashmir Employees Joint Action Committee entered its second day today.

Government employees of various departments, including the civil secretariat, did not attend work and held a protest march in Jammu city. They tried to march toward the civil secretariat, but were stopped by security forces.

The striking employees raised slogans for the grant of the Sixth Pay Commission benefits, as they marched toward the civil secretariat.

The employees made various attempts to move toward the secretariat complex but were stopped by the security forces, which were present in a large number around the secretariat where Section 144 had been imposed.

Besides the immediate implementation of the commission report, the employees are demanding the enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60, regularisation of daily wage workers, removal of pay anomalies and the enhancement of rates of daily wages.

“Our demands are genuine and this is only a token strike. If the government fails to give us our due right, we would not hesitate to prolong our strike,” said a protesting employee. The main opposition PDP has also asked the state government to implement the recommendations immediately.

Leaders of the agitating employee said both Congress and NC that now share power in the state had promised to implement the pay commission report during the election campaign and thus should immediately to fulfil those promises.

Minister for Finance, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Abdul Rahim Rather last week had reiterated the government’s commitment to implement the recommendations and had said “the employees will hear good news soon”.

Work in state government offices was also suspended and protest demonstrations were taken out by employees in Srinagar today. The strike and demonstrations were also reported from Leh in the Ladakh region.

The Employees Joint Action Committee, that is spearheading the agitation, has threatened to intensify the agitation in support of the demands in case the government did not take any immediate effective measures. It threatened to go on a two-day pen down strike on February 10 and 11 in case no remedial measures were taken immediately by the Omar government.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of employees from various departments under different organisations converged at the Old Secretariat here this morning to highlight their demands. They took out a protest march from the Old Secretariat through Jehangir Chowk, Budshah Chowk, MA Road, culminating at the Residency Road. Those in the protest march raised anti-government slogans. The employee leaders, including general secretary of the committee, Haji Bashir Ahmad, blamed the government for delaying tactics even as assurances had been given to the employees from time to time. 

Srinagar, January 28
Indefinite strike of employees of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) continued for the sixth consecutive day today. Heaps of filth and garbage could be seen littered across the roads and lanes due to the strike.

The strike had begun on Friday when two of its employees were allegedly attacked by residents of Saidpora, who were protesting against the dumping of garbage at Achen garbage dump here.

Mayor Salman Sagar held a meeting with leaders of the SMC employees today, impressing upon them to end the strike. The authorities here have been making all efforts to end the stalemate, which has led to heaps of garbage all across the city.

The employees have been demanding adequate security as there is threat to their lives in the wake of recent attacks on them in which two employees were allegedly injured and several vehicles damaged.

Residents alleged the continued dumping of garbage at the site for the past many decades was hazardous to their health. They alleged the SMC continued to dump the garbage there despite an agreement to end it by October last.

However, the trouble started again during the past one week, when two of the employees of the SMC were allegedly attacked by the protesters. Several residents, particularly the youth, have been picked up by the police on charges of creating trouble in the area.

There have been continued protests with the authorities sensing “vested interests” behind the trouble for raising the real estate cost in the area.

The residents, on the other hand, claim that the garbage dumping creating foul smell all across diminished the real estate values and no one was ready to purchase land for residential purposes in the area.

Udhampur, January 28
Some businessmen of Udhampur have gone underground, as Saji Mohan, IPS officer who was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) for allegedly trying to sell heroin in suburban Oshiwara, has personal relations with them.

Besides Udhampur town, Saji Mohan is believed to be have a strong network in Bhaderwah, Ramban and Doda areas, where he has served as SDPO and SP from 2001 to 2004.

Sources said during his tenure of the assistant director of the Sher-e-Kashmir Police Academy, Saji developed strong links in the town and it is believed that he made investments in some business establishments here. During his tenure here, he gave undue favour of some businessmen.

Although police officers have maintained a guarded silence over the incident, sources said Saji, the 1995 IPS officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, had developed relations with notorious drug smugglers during his postings in Bhaderwah and Doda, bordering Himachal Pradesh.

The sources further said there was a possibility that in 2001 Saji started smuggling narcotics and other drugs through the Himachal border to other parts of the country after acquiring the same from smugglers via the Kashmir valley from Pakistan, the sources disclosed.

It is also alleged that during his tenure as SP, Doda, Saji even smuggled Sapphire (Neelam) stone procured from the Padder area.

Srinagar, January 28
The police has recovered 321 shawls stolen from a shop and two stolen cars in two cases, SSP, Srinagar, Afad-ul-Mujtaba said today. It has also seized 120 of kg poppy straw.

He said a large number of Pashmin shawls worth lakhs of rupees were stolen from Shaw Brothers, a shop located near Jhelum Bank.

The police began contacting various Kashmiri art dealers, as thieves were likely to strike a deal to sell their booty, and it met one Manzoor Ahmad, who deals in Kashmiri arts. On information provided by Manzoor, the police intensified the surveillance of shops in a particular locality and apprehended Mohammad Shafi Khan. Shafi disclosed the names of his accomplices as Tanvir Ahmad, Muntazir Ahmad Bhat, Mohsin Ahmad Wani, Irshad Ahmad Akhoon and Arshid Ahmad Bhat.

The SSP said Irshad Ahmad and Arshid Ahmad are still at large, while the others had been arrested. The arrests resulted in the recovery of 321 Pashmina shawls worth Rs 30.35 lakh.

The SSP said two stolen cars had also been recovered, besides poppy straw had been seized.

Jammu, January 28
The desire of getting quality education has become a distant dream for the students of Government Girls High School, Gandhi Nagar, where students are being imparted education under the sky due to lack of proper infrastructure.

Around 400 students are studying in the school, but it does not have sufficient classrooms . There are only seven classrooms in the school and that, too, are in a dilapidated condition. Cracks have surfaced on the walls and roofs are leaking. As a result, classes are conducted in the open, particularly the primary classes.

Though higher classes are conducted in available classrooms, they too face hardship as two-three classes are combined to accommodate primary classes during rainy season.

The primary students face a tough time while studying in open during winter days due to intense cold and dense fog.

Manju Sharma, principal of the school said: “We have no option but to conduct the primary classes under the open sky due to lack of classrooms.”

The school authorities alleged that the funds provided to the school by the authorities concerned are inadequate to meet expenses. Promila Sharma, a school staff, said: “We can not make our expenses by the funds given to us by the higher authorities as they are insufficient.” “A majority of the students belong to Below Poverty Line families. Although the school provides them books free of cost up to Class VIII, being illiterate their parents could not help them in their studies. Under such circumstances it becomes all more important to provide them quality education,” she said.

Though it is a girls school, the boys are also being imparted education up to Class V. The school has only one toilet being used by both boys and girls. Meanwhile, repeated attempts to contact Director School Education Zahida Khan proved futile.

Srinagar, January 28
To over come scarcity of drinking water in the Kashmir valley, 661 water supply schemes are under execution at an estimated cost of Rs 1,438.85 crore, Minister for Public Health Engineering (PHE), Irrigation and Flood Control Taj Mohiuddin said today.

Out of the released expenditure to the tune of Rs 223.59 crore, Rs 85 crore would be utilised to provide potable drinking water facility to 69 habitations in the valley, he said addressing officers of his department here.

The minister asked the officers to devise an effective mechanism for the speedy completion of the schemes.

He also asked to ensure transparency and accountability at all levels in the implementation of schemes under the PHE sector so that benefits of the schemes could reach the common people.

Taj said dereliction of responsibilities by officers would be viewed seriously and those performing their duties honestly and sincerely would be encouraged. He also asked the officers to remain accessible to people and promptly address their concerns.

The minister urged the engineers to submit project reports of all new schemes to be started in the division under various sectors within a week. — PTI

Sopore, January 28
Security forces today killed three militants, including two commanders of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad, while two Army jawans also lost their lives in gunfights and some of them were injured.

The encounter in Sopore that began last evening ended today with the killing of Abu Hamza, a common code name among Pakistani militants active in the valley. The police said Hamza was a senior operative of the LeT and was holed up in a house in Amargarh village. Sohan Lal, a jawan of the 52 RR, was killed in the firefight and the security forces had initially suspected the presence of more than one militant.

In another fierce encounter in Bandipore, which started after militants fired upon an Army party in Aayatmullah, two militants were killed. Sources said both militant are Pakistanis and one of them, Wasim Bilal, alias Mujahid, is a top commander of the JeM. The other has been identified as Shaqil.

Official sources said an Army jawan, rifle man Mohammad Amin Bhat of 57 RR, was killed in the ambush and some other were injured. Officials, however, said they were still verifying the antecedents of the slain militants.

An Army jawan of 21 RR was also injured in the firing by a Pakistani militant in Handwara who was also subsequently killed. The militant has been identified as Abu Rehman.

The police has seized AK rifles and a large amount of ammunition from the encounter sites.

The spot in Sopore bore signs of a ravaged battleground with the house, in which the militants were hiding, hugely damaged in over a 12-hour-long fight and smoke emanating from it long after the fight ended. Agitated crowds of locals, including a large number of women, soon assembled and chanted slogans in the support of the killed militant, while the security forces quietly left the site with their job done.

Jammu, January 28
Some 80 Sikh migrants residing in upper Bellicharana are living a primitive life. The main road of 2 km passing through their locality is in a bad shape.

The enormity of problem escalated due to the closure of linking bridge between their area and Gandhi Nagar, a posh city of Jammu, many years ago. People until then were using this passage to reach to the main city in Jammu for their respective offices and the educational institutions. But the passage had to be closed down due to the security reasons, given to the militant activity in the region in this area, which falls in the jurisdiction of the Jammu Cantonment Board.

Prem Singh, former Member of the board, says, “We met local MLA Raman Bhalla many times during the recent Assembly election, but he blatantly refused to repair the road, citing the reason that he can not develop it due to lack of funds.”

Prem Singh said during his membership in the board he got the repair work done twice in 1998 and 2002, but then it got damaged as it was heavily used to transport the concrete excavated from the Tavi river, which flows beside it. Moreover, the vehicles of other migrant localities, too, have been plying on it. “Normal life has come to halt for us, as we face hardship in plying our vehicles on it, nor the local transport is allowed inside. Our social life is getting affected. The letters and mail too do not reach here in time. We are living a life of backwardness.” Indeed, it becomes a challenge to reach to the offices, schools and other places in time.

Despite several efforts, when Bhalla was contacted to get version of the entire story, he did not answer the phone call.

But there seem some glimpse of hope in the promise made by the newly elected representative of the area in the board, Parmajit Kaur who said, “I will try to get this road repair either by pleading Bhalla or with the funds available from the board during my tenure itself.”

Jammu, January 28
Not caring two hoots about the norms, overloading by minibus operators of border villages like Gomanasa, Gajansoo, Mud and Kanachak continues unabated.

The situation worsens during peak hours, as these buses are not only packed to capacity, but also have passengers on roofs. Travelling in minibuses on Bakshi Nagar to Gomanasa, Mud, Gajansoo, Lalida Bagh, Kanachak etc., routes has become a nightmare for commuters. “The authorities should crackdown on bus operators instead of being a mute spectator to their violations,” said Manoj Gupta, a resident of Gajansoo.

“Buses come packed from Bakshi Nagar and we have to travel standing for about one hour before we reach our village,” said Tej Krishan, a resident of the Mud area. “The transport authorities should penalise bus operators for carrying passengers more than the capacity,” said Ram Krishan, another resident of Gajansoo.