Jammu, February 3
Union Minister for Water Resources and state Congress chief Saif-ud-Din Soz, former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad were among the five candidates who filed nominations for the four Rajya Sabha seats on the last day of nomination here today.

While Soz and Azad are poised to be elected unopposed, Farooq's win is also almost certain as the ruling coalition has the numbers to clinch at least one of the remaining two seats going to the polls in the third phase. Apart from Dr Farooq Abdullah, the other NC candidate is former minister Mohammad Shafi Uri.

The ruling coalition has fielded candidates for all four seats, though it can win only three owing to three separate notifications for elections - one each for two seats and the third for the two remaining seats.

Earlier, there was speculation that the NC-Congress alliance might return the goodwill gesture of previous the Congress-PDP regime that allowed Dr Farooq Abdullah to go uncontested in 2002. However, with Uri in the fray the contest for the fourth seat is imminent.

According to sources, the Congress high command sought two safe seats for its leaders -Saif-ud-Din Soz and Ghulam Nabi Azad - from the NC leadership on the ground that the Congress being a national party ought to have more presence in the Rajya Sabha.

In turn, the Congress has agreed to leave a major share for its coalition partner, National Conference, in the Legislative Council, which would have 20 vacancies by the end of March.

From the opposition, while PDP's Altaf Bukhari filed his nomination yesterday, AV Gupta, supported by the BJP, filed his papers today. Gupta, a former Advocate- General, claimed having the support of the BJP, Panthers Party and some Independents, including those from the Kashmir valley. He, however, maintained that he had some "ideological differences" with the BJP.

Now, while the stage is set for the unopposed election of Soz and Azad, the polling for the remaining two seats will take place on February 13.

The NC-Congress alliance has the support of 46 MLAs, including Ghulam Hassan Mir of the JKDP and Hakeem Mohammad Yasin of the PDF.

The PDP has 21 MLAs while the BJP has 11. The Panthers Party with three MLAs will also play a crucial role.

While the ruling coalition will take one of the two seats, the PDP would have an edge for the fourth seat.

Jammu, February 3
Buoyed over a steep decline in militancy-related activities in the state, the NC-led coalition government has decided to approach New Delhi so as to get vacated travel advisories issued by the European Union and countries like the US, UK and Australia.

The state witnessed all-time low militancy-related activities in 2008. The state economy’s mainstay, tourism, had been hit hard by the protracted militancy in the past two decades and the EU, US, UK and Australia sounded death-knell when they, too, issued travel advisories advising their respective citizens to keep away from the militancy-plagued Jammu and Kashmir.

“It is a major issue on our agenda. The state government has been regularly taking up the matter with the Union government,” said tourism secretary Nayeem Akhtar.

Akhtar said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was also serious about the issue, but travel advisories did not mean that tourists from the UK, US and Australia had stopped visiting the state.

“The year 2008 witnessed all-time low militancy and normalcy has been returning to the state, but a lot needs to be done so as to attract foreign tourists,” he said.

Sarita Chauhan, director, tourism, said the state government had been regularly taking up the matter with the Union government at the secretaries’ level and this time, too, the matter would be taken up.

However, official sources told TNS that for the past over six years, the state government via New Delhi had been trying hard to get these advisories lifted, but its efforts so far proved futile.

They said no doubt there had been a sharp decline in militancy, but certain laws like the Disturbed Area Act and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state perhaps restricted certain foreign governments to lift travel advisories.

“If the government lifts such Acts then it will surely increase the influx of foreign tourists to the state,” the sources maintained.

They said tourism minister Nawang Rigzin Jora also wanted to see tourism flourishing in the state, but unless and until such laws were removed, fear-psychosis would keep foreigners away from Jammu and Kashmir.

Not only this, a heavy presence of paramilitary and other security forces also left a negative impact on minds of visitors, the sources said.

Jammu, February 3
Chief Secretary SS Kapur has directed all district development commissioners to submit detailed action plans for the next financial year regarding the rehabilitation of militancy-affected people by March 10 so that the proposed action plan of Rs 503 crore could be approved in time.

Kapur was chairing an executive council meeting for the rehabilitation of militancy-affected people, including widows, orphans and physically challenged, besides old persons here today.

It was decided that the Rehabilitation Council would provide one month vocational training to 120 beneficiaries and would also provide Rs 15,000 as corpus fund to be converted into grant-in aid for the purchase of raw material for marketing products through exhibitions.

The meeting decided that pension in respect of militancy-hit widows, which has been enhanced from Rs 500 to Rs 750 by the Ministry of Home Affairs, would be distributed equally among people affected by militancy. A grant-in aid of Rs 1.20 lakh for Ashaina Orphanage was also approved.

Jammu, February 3
The State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) has registered a case against the branch manager of Jammu Rural Bank, Bufflaiz, Poonch, and others for fraudulent sanction and misappropriation of bank loans worth over Rs 16 lakh.

A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered following a joint surprise check of Jammu Rural Bank branch at Bufflaiz.

The inspection revealed that under a conspiracy Satya Paul Sharma, manager, Jammu Rural Bank, Buffliaz, in league with the beneficiaries, resorted to manipulation of records and fraudulently sanctioned loans.

The bank manager in league with Wajahat Ali Khan (beneficiary) prepared and entertained fake documents to facilitate the sanction of Rs 75,000 each as a loan in favour of Wajahat and his wife, Rukhsana Begum.

Another beneficiary, Altaf Hussain Shah, who was sanctioned Rs 2 lakh, was fraudulently shown as a government employee.

This loan scheme was applicable to government/semi-government employees only.

The beneficiary was found to be a labourer but shown as a government teacher in loan papers to facilitate the loan in his favour.

Mohd Ismail and Mohd Nayeem Khan, residents of Dundak, had not approached the bank for loans of Rs 2 lakh and 1.5 lakh, respectively.

However, fake documents were prepared and loans of these amounts were found to have been sanctioned, drawn and subsequently misappropriated.

The bank manager also facilitated a loan of Rs 9.10 lakh for the purchase of a tipper in favour of Wajahat Ali Khan.

This amount was found not even spent on the purchase of tipper, the purpose for which it was sanctioned.

Udhampur, February 3
To resolve the problem of shortage of doctors at health centres in rural areas, the state government has decided to hike the salaries of contractual doctors manifold to encourage them to serve in remotest areas of Doda, Udhampur, Reasi and Kishtwar districts of Jammu province.

Unemployed and contractual doctors in the state are in for a good news as the state government is likely to advertise contractual posts in various districts offering emoluments on a par or even better than the regular doctors.

As a majority of health centres and hospitals are facing a shortage of doctors, this move of the government is likely to improve health facilities in backward areas.

To convince doctors to serve in remote areas, the government has also decided to provide more incentives to doctors who serve in the remotest and backward areas.

Highly places sources said the contractual doctors could be offered anywhere between Rs 18,000 and 28,000, depending upon the area of their posting and hardships involved.

The sources added this move had been possible after Union Minister of Health A Ramdoss gave a “go-ahead” to state Health Minister Sham Lal during the latter’s recent visit to New Delhi.

The move would be a win-win situation for both doctors as well the state government as it would mitigate doctors’ resentment over lesser salaries as were hitherto being offered, besides the state government would not have to recruit regular employees.

The funds, as assured through central grants, are sufficient to take care of financial outflow on account of increasing the number of doctors at various levels across the state, said sources, adding that people in far-flung areas would be benefited as the salaries offered to the contractual doctors would be lucrative enough for them to agree to rural postings.

Udhampur, February 3
Residents of Sangana Kuntwara and the adjoining areas of Kishtwar district today staged a dharna on the Doda-Kishtwar national highway and blocked the traffic.

They were protesting against the failure of the police to trace the whereabouts of chowkidar Prem Nath, who has been missing since January 18.

Prem Nath had gone with a team of officials for conducting a fresh survey of voters’ lists on January 18.

Other officials returned, but he has been missing since that day. The police had picked up some persons for questioning but of no avail.

The people said he had been ‘kidnapped’ due to political rivalry and alleged that the police had been adopting delay ‘tactics’ in the case due to political pressure.

Although some cops were deployed there, the protesters shouted slogans against the police authorities for their failure to trace the chowkidar and threatened to launch a movement in the district.

The Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Kishtwar, along with other senior police officers rushed to the spot and assured them that the case would be handed over to the Crime Branch if the police failed to trace the missing person in a week.

After getting the assurance, the residents lifted the blockade, but warned to revive the agitation if the missing man was not traced by February 8.

Udhampur, February 3
A top militant of the Hizbul Mujahideen, who according to the police was absconding for a long time, was arrested in Reasi district today.

The arrested militant has been identified as Mumtaz, a resident of Darmari in Reasi. The arrested militant is being interrogated.

Meanwhile, with the seizure of 5 kg of explosives by the Army, a major tragedy was averted on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway this morning.

According to defence sources, the road opening party of the 12 Rashtriya Rifles today detected an IED at Sher Bibi, near Banihal, on the national highway.

The IED was planted under a culvert on the highway. The Army defused the
explosive.

Traffic on the highway was suspended for a while after the troops detected the IED, but was later restored after the Army defused it.

Jammu: A large quantity of arms and ammunition, including a universal machine gun (UMG), was seized from a natural cave hideout of militants in Kishtwar district on Tuesday, official sources said.

Army troops seized an UMG, two hand-held radio sets, a 303 rifle and a large quantity of live ammunition from a natural cave hideout of militants in the Kuchhal area of Kishtwar, an official source said.

Search operations, which were launched on a tip-off, were underway, the sources
added.

Srinagar, February 3
The famous ski town of Gulmarg received snow today even as the authorities flagged off the annual snow festival amidst palpable enthusiasm.

The weather in the valley changed last night, with rain in the wee hours after a few rather warm days.

Srinagar , Baramulla, Anantnag, Kupwara and all major towns had a wet day.
Snow has been reported from a number of places in higher reaches like Gulmarg
and Kangdoori.

The Met Department said the minimum temperature in Srinagar and other towns continued to hover above normal.

It was 3.6°C in the summer capital while 3.4°C in Qazigund. North Kashmir was relatively cold with its northern most town Kupwara recording a low of 1.3°C.

The tourist town of Pahalgam, however, was the coldest with mercury dipping
to -4.2°C.

The night temperature in Jammu was 12.2°C, followed by Katra (11.6), Batote (8.2), Bhaderwah (5.0) and Banihal (4.8).

Meanwhile, the state government is taking several measures and various events are being organised to promote winter tourism in Kashmir.

This was stated by Minister for Tourism and Culture Nawang Rigzin Jora while inaugurating a two-day Gulmarg snow festival- 2009 at the tourist spot here today.

He said to promote the winter tourism in Kashmir, various events would be made an annual feature.

The minister said Gulmarg offered one of the best ski resorts in the country and that there was a need to attract a large number of tourists to this resort, particularly during the winter.

He said a vigorous media campaign would be launched to attract tourists to the state, which offers round-the-year attraction for domestic and foreign visitors.

Jora said the snow festival was gaining popularity and it would be followed by the champions festival in which a large number of participants and visitors were expected. He said varied events would be included for the benefit of sportsmen.

The two-day festival organised by the tourism department includes ice-skating, snow cycling, snowboard race, slalom, sledge race, skidoo race and snow rugby. As many as 200 youths are participating in these events.

Srinagar, February 3
MY Tarigami, state secretary of the CPM, has sought collective and unified efforts by political forces for sustainable peace and development in the state.

While addressing a public meeting in his constituency, Tarigami, MLA from Kulgam, today asked the government to fulfil promises made to people.

He sought people’s active role in this regard and said peace, progress and prosperity were inseparable ingredients for state’s healthy growth rate.

The CPM leader asked the government to seize the opportunity of conducive environment for integrated and equitable development of the state.

Having graduated through six decades of sovereignty, the state was unable to satiate the aspirations of its people, Tarigami maintained.

He said the pace of development was to be accelerated for achieving prosperity.

Srinagar, February 3
Vice-chancellor of Kashmir University Riyaz Punjabi hoisted the university flag at two places, one outside the administrative block, and another in front of the convocation complex, on the campus here today.

The Qur’anic verse Minnaz-zulmaati Illan Noor (from darkness to light) is inscribed on the flags unfurled by the vice-chancellor.

Speaking on the occasion, the vice-chancellor said the idea to unfurl the flags was to reiterate university’s commitment inscribed on the flag: from darkness to light.

“It is to remind our colleagues in different spheres, administration, teaching and research, that the process of moving from darkness to light is a continuous process”, he said.

Asserting that Kashmir had a long intellectual history, he said: “We have left indelible mark on the intellectual history of the entire sub-continent. The unfurling of flags is a reminder that we still have potential, manpower and commitment to move from darkness to light”.

Arnas (Reasi), February 3
Keeping in view anger and resentment among the locals against the decision of the Railways to go in for a fresh alignment of the Katra-Qazigund railway project, the visiting members of the parliamentary committee has decided to depute a team of experts to inspect various spots that have been causing problems in the completion of the work.

The team of experts will inspect the stretch between Katra and Dharam, which comprises most of the difficult terrains where the railway authorities have been facing challenges.

“Instead of accepting reasons given by the railway authorities for a fresh alignment, the visiting team of parliamentarians has decided to depute some experts to inspect the vital spots to assess the real situation”, MP from the Udhampur-Doda segment Lal Singh told the Tribune.

Lal Singh, who is a member of the parliamentary committee headed by Vasudev Acharya, informed that the team of experts would visit the state on February 19 and would also interact with the engineers and officers of the companies engaged by the Railways in the project.

Lal Singh made it clear that the fresh alignment would not be allowed without the recommendations of the team of experts.

He said in case of a fresh alignment officers found responsible for the wastage of government money and resources in the project would be held accountable.

Reports already suggest that the proposed changes in the alignment on the “national project” would cause a loss of Rs 2,000 crore to the Railways and further delay the project by several years.

“The project has already been delayed and the fresh alignment move would further delay the completion of the work by six more years”, Lal Singh said.

He said those found guilty of wasting public money would be brought to book.

As reported earlier, the decision of the Railways to conduct a fresh alignment for the project triggered resentment among the residents of this mountainous region.

The Railways has roped in Austrian expert John Golser for a fresh survey.

While the railway authorities have been giving logic that the earlier survey was found to be inadequate, the locals alleged that the authorities were going for the new alignment just to give benefit to some private companies.

Keeping in view the anger of the people, the Parliament committee inspected various spots of the project.

The team visited Bakal, Garan Morh, Kouri, Salal, Arnas, Reasi and assessed the situation after the suspension of the work on the project, which was publicised as a “national project”.

"When the government can withdraw PSA cases against 15 separatist leaders why not Dinesh Bharati who fought for a nationalist cause?" he asked.

Jammu, February 3
The implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations and enhancement of the retirement age are under consideration, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told a delegation of BJP legislators led by Chaman Lal Gupta.

Omar said the government had agreed in principal to implement the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations and central assistance was being sought in view of the huge amount required for the purpose.

"The matter was being pursued with the Centre actively," Omar said.

Regarding the holding of a BPL survey he said the government would consider holding a fresh survey.

The CM said a Rs 100-crore road project to open up the far-flung area of Dachhan had been prepared for which funding was being sought from the Centre.

He assured a delegation from Kargil that a minister from the area would be inducted into the Cabinet soon.

Jammu, February 3
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has reiterated the government’s keen interest in developing sports, upgrading its standards and improving infrastructural facilities.

“We have both potential and talent and only proper nurturing and coaching is required to boost sports activities and attain excellence in sports,” he said after giving away prizes at the 20th State Football Championship here today.

In a nail-biting final between J&K Bank and J&K Forest teams, the former won the championship 3-1 in a penalty shootout.

Omar said the holding of sports events encouraged young sports persons to showcase their skill and talent.

Thirty-two teams participated in the championship organised by the J & K
Football Association.

Jammu, February 3
A delegation of the J&K Olympic Association led by its president, Rangil Singh, today called on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah here to discuss matters relating to the development of sports.

The Association demanded streamlining of the process of funding, development of infrastructural facilities at the district level for sports like athletics, boxing, gymnastics, wrestling, judo, weightlifting, etc.

They also demanded adjustment of outstanding sportspersons in the police and other departments, reconstitution of the sports council, incentives to the medal winners and deputing outstanding and deserving sportspersons for training.

The Chief Minister assured to take up these issues with the authorities concerned.

The seminar was attended by gynaecologists, pediatricians, neurologists and physiotherapists from across the state. UNICEF officers also attended the seminar.