Srinagar, February 18
Despite being categorised as essential services, the sanitation staff of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation did not clear garbage in the city during the past three days as they supported the strike by government employees. Garbage could be seen dumped on main roads in the city as the MC sanitation staff did not report for duty.

Mayor Salman Ali Sagar said people would continue to suffer in case the sanitation staff supported the strike call by government employees as there was no emergency plan for such situations.

“As there is no mechanism to handle the situation emerging out of a strike, the disposal of garbage will have to wait till the sanitation staff report for duty. The disposal of garbage is a daily affair and we have no choice but to wait for the strike to end,” says Salman.

Heaps of garbage could be seen lying on main roads across the city, with Lal Chowk virtually stinking. Areas like Jawahar Nagar, Gouripora-Sanat Nagar, Hyderpora, Bemina, Khanyar, Bohri Kadal, Soura, Hazratbal, Sonwar and Lal Bazar present a filthy look with garbage littered all around.

“As the sanitation staff did not turn up for duty for the past three days, we were forced to dump garbage on roads. The Employees Joint Action Committee has exempted essential services from strike, but still there is no action against those who are responsible for the cleanliness of the city,” says Imran Ahmad, a Lal Chowk resident.

Jammu, February 18
The state government today accepted the demand of employees for the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations.

Surprisingly, the government has conceded to the employees’ demand without any commitment from the Centre regarding the allocation of funds for the purpose.

The breakthrough came after a Cabinet subcommittee formed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah held talks with a 30-member employees’ committee here today. However, the Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) and the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), which are spearheading the agitation, said they had not called off the strike yet.

Talking to the Tribune, employee leader Gafoor Ahmed Dar said, “We have only deferred our strike till tomorrow. We will review the situation after tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting in which the government would give a formal nod to the agreement reached between the two sides. We will call off the strike only after we are satisfied that the agreement has been implemented in letter and in spirit.”

Earlier, addressing a press conference following talks with employee leaders, Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather said the government had agreed to implement the recommendations. “The employees will get the revised salaries from August this year, though the recommendations will be implemented with retrospective effect from January 1, 2006,” he said.

The salary arrears would cost the government a whopping Rs 3,800 crore, while the recurring expenditure would be Rs 1,380 crore annually. “It has been decided that the arrears will be paid in five instalments toward their GP Fund. However, there will be a moratorium period, which means the employees will not be allowed to withdraw that amount for a certain period though they will get interest on it,” he added.

He, however, candidly admitted that the Centre had made no commitment to the state government regarding facilitating funds required to implement the pay panel report.

Rather said the government had also agreed to extend equal benefits to the PSU employees from the same date, while the demand to give them DA on the lines of other government staff would be considered.

On the issue of ad hoc/contractual employees, he said there were various court judgements over the matter and any decision could involve legal implications. “We can’t afford to take a decision in haste. A committee has been formed to deliberate on various aspects of the issue,” he said, adding that the panel would work in a time-bound manner.

Regarding casual labour in the state, the minister said the government did not have any detailed information about such employees. He, however, said they would formulate a policy for the permanent absorption of those “properly appointed”.

Rather said the government would also constitute a pay anomaly committee to deal with the grievances of the employees, if any, at a later stage.

On the demand for an increase in the retirement age to 60 years, he said the Cabinet subcommittee neither rejected it nor accepted it. 

Jammu, February 18
Mental healthcare across Jammu has suffered a major jolt yet again. The reason :a prestigious Rs 30-crore project to raise ‘Centre for excellence in mental health’ has now been awarded to Government Medical College, Srinagar, owing to the missing faculty of PG psychiatry in the only Government Psychiatric Diseases Hospital of the Jammu region.

Not only this, another Rs 3 crore project to have the MD faculty has also stuck in rough weather as successive regimes since 1982 failed to create the post of associate professor in the psychiatric department of Government Medical College and Associated Hospitals, Jammu.

Being close to Himachal and Punjab, members of the executive committee under the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) of the Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare wanted to award Rs 30 crore project to Jammu, official sources in the Health and Medical Education Department told The Tribune.

Since the psychiatric department of the GMC and Associated Hospitals, Jammu, sans the PG faculty, GMC, Srinagar, where the same had been introduced in way back in 1982, staked claim and got it, they said.

“We simply could not fulfil the criteria because of the missing PG faculty and hence we paid a heavy price,” the sources added.

At a recent NMHP’s executive committee meeting in Jaipur, GMC, Srinagar, had submitted a project report. The sources further said though they, too, had given a presentation, it had no substance because they lacked the faculty. Adding they said, over a week ago the Union government eventually gave its go-ahead to the Rs 30 crore project that would come up in Srinagar.

Again the winter capital might lose another Rs 3 crore project to run the PG faculty because the post of associate professor in psychiatry had not been created since long and without creating it, the faculty couldn’t be started.

“Omar Abdullah, who holds the portfolio of medical education, should create this post, otherwise the state will fail to avail the project”, the sources said.

Principal of the GMC, Jammu, Dr Rajinder Singh claimed that Jammu faced a shortage of staff and hence the PG faculty couldn't be started.

Srinagar, February 18
Google Earth, the virtual global map, may be a nightmare for security experts for the satellite imageries of places it provides to any user, but it is also serving as an important tool for counter-terrorist agencies in locating and neutralising militants 
in Kashmir.

Security officials said the programme is an essential part of many important operations as through it they get a map of the area used by militants as their hideouts and plan their movement accordingly.

Whether in the killing of Tamim, the top Al Badr commander, in Handwara on January 15 or the almost successful cordon of seven militants, including Pakistanis, on hills skirting Srinagar's national park on February 3, the technology has been quite handy for official agencies. In the second case, militants had managed to escape from their hideouts as the longer route taken by the police and the Army took more time than anticipated.

Officials said the accurate map thrown by Google Earth once longitude and latitude of an area is fed into it comes handy. When security agencies manage to approximate the location or hideout of a militant by intercepting his mobile, their next stop is to get an overview of the area through the programme.

Officials said it was not always possible for them to do a reconnaissance of a place of hiding of their target. "It is more useful when the area is an isolated place like high up in some hills, as is the case with hideouts of many foreign militants," an official said.

Even if some one goes for reconnaissance, the map provided by Google Earth helps everybody in understanding the topography of the area as a large contingent of security personnel goes for an operation, he said. "What a spy used to do in earlier day is done by this programme without risking any life," he said.

When asked about claims of Google Earth being a security threat as it has brought maps of sensitive locations into public domain, officials sources said that remained an issue but it was better to use technology to serve their purposes rather than lamenting over its misuse by subversive elements.

Baramulla, February 18
As many as 14,000 youths turned up for an Army recruitment drive, physical process for which began here today.

Deputy Director-General, recruitment, Brig KD Malhotra says the response they have received is “overwhelming” and shows desire of youths in Kashmir to become a part of the Indian Army.

It was not long ago when youths here avoided joining the Army due to a sense of alienation caused by political as well as militants’ threats. “I need a job and have no problem with the Army as it offers a decent life,” Nasir Ahmad Ganai, who came from the separatist heartland of Sopore, said.

Many graduate candidates also came to try their luck. “I have done graduation and looking for a job. I pray that I should be selected,” Imtiyaz Ahmad (22), a resident of Kupwara, said. Brig Singh said the Army would hold more recruitment rallies in the valley.

Jammu, February 18
Even as Jammu University recently equipped all departments with Xerox facility for students, yet they get a raw deal when it comes to availing the same.

Students rued that whenever they approached the employees concerned for getting study material photocopied they were told that the machine was out of order or they did not know how to operate it.

They said there was no ‘grievances redressal cell’ or any students’ body available where they could approach. A student of the Department of Commerce said: “We have approached the authorities concerned in this context, but to no avail.”

Students further rued that apart from Xerox machines in departments, there were only three photocopiers units on the entire campus, as a result of which they had no other option than to wait for their turn during the daytime.

Students living in hostels alleged that these photocopying units get closed in the evening so they had to go out, adding that though the varsity had equipped the central library with Xerox units, there was hardly anyone to get the job done even in the afternoon.

Even if one convinced employees at the department to perform the job, they charged more than what was charged in the open market, they said.

However, students of the arts faculty have been given a raw deal. They said in departments like English, Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Dogri and Psychology, there was no photocopying unit at their discretion.

Despite repeated attempts, registrar of the varsity Prof GS Sambyal could not be contacted for his comment.

Jammu, February 18
The Panun Kashmir Movement (PKM), a frontal organisation of internally displaced Kashmiri Pandits, has expressed concern over the recent remarks of the Hurriyat Conference, other separatist organisations and the PDP about the vexed Kashmir issue.

Addressing mediapersons here, PKM leader Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo said: “The Hurriyat Conference is trying to rake up the issue of accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India and the resolution of the Kashmir issue to keep the pot boiling,” said Chrungoo.

Similarly, the PDP’s statements like “the Assembly is the forum to resolve the Kashmir issue” and “unresolved political issues that have generated violence in context of the Kashmir issue raise very serious questions about the accession of Jammu and Kashmir”, he added.

By asking for a debate on resolution of the Kashmir issue in the Assembly, the PDP was trying to provide a legal format and forum to a debate on separatism, he said. He added that such a posture was completely inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of India.

Referring to the PDP’s oft-repeated demand for demilitarisation, he said the deployment of the Army was the sole prerogative of a sovereign state and no power other than the Union of India could force it to take decisions regarding the deployment of forces.

“Statements that demand a dialogue on Kashmir, notwithstanding the fact that terror attacks by Pakistan are a continuous process, also cause concern,” he said.

And this situation of uncertainty leaves little scope for the minorities of Kashmir to continue living in the Kashmir valley.

The Kashmiri Pandits treated the accession of Kashmir as complete and final and being the indigenous people of Kashmir, he said.

Udhampur, February 18
Jammu and Kashmir Young Panthers president and Udhampur MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia today urged Governor NN Vohra to direct the authorities concerned to start the construction of campus of Jammu University here.

Mankotia, who met the Governor today to highlight the problems of his area, said Jammu University had opened a campus in Udhampur, but its construction work was yet to start. He requested the Governor to provide special grants for the campus.

The MLA submitted a memorandum to the Governor demanding reservation in jobs and admissions for locals in Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University. He also demanded that the locals should be given preference in employment in the under construction cancer hospital here.

Mankotia demanded that the locals be provided reservation in admissions to SMVD University on the pattern of Jammu University campuses at Bhaderwah and Kathua.

Highlighting the potential of tourism in Udhampur, Mankoita demanded that besides famous pilgrim places, other tourist and religious spots like Krimchi temples, Devaka, Neeli nullah etc., be brought on the tourism map.

He said Mata Vaishno Devi shrine had emerged as the major point for pilgrim tourism and the people of the state had benefited immensely by the developmental initiatives of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board that includes setting up of the university and the under construction super speciality cancer hospital at Katra.

The MLA demanded that some developmental projects be initiated in Udhampur areas so that pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi also visit these areas of historical significance.

He demanded the revival of ancient route to the Vaishno Devi shrine via Garhi-Rehmbal-Jib-Thathi-Painthal-Karkial. He also demanded the bypass at Jakhani to Falata be made fully functional to ease traffic congestion in Udhampur town. 

Jammu, February 18
Former Chief Minister and PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has said the road to peace, stability, progress and prosperity in South Asia passes through Jammu and Kashmir.

Welcoming Lok Janshakti (LJP) and BSP leaders led by Rafiq Malik (state president) and state BSP secretary Kapoor Chand Baghat from the Jammu region into the PDP fold here today, Sayeed said an amicable settlement of the Kashmir problem offered the only opportunity of a breakthrough for India and Pakistan to co-exist peacefully.

Referring to the internal dimension of the Kashmir problem, the Mufti said there were important and well-defined issues to be resolved between the state and the Union. The current crisis on economic, financial and infrastructure fronts confronting the state could not be met with small-time responses of the government.

Srinagar, February 18
The security forces yesterday nabbed two militants from a house in Kheeri in Baramulla district and arrested the house owner for offering them refuge, police said.

The arrested Lashkar-e-Toiba militants have been identified as Jamal Sheikh of Lolab and Fayaz War of Handwara. The owner of the house, Aijaz Ahmad Mir, has also been put behind bars.

The security forces seized four IEDs fitted in pressure cookers, a modus operandi used to deadly effects in serial blasts in Indian cities, 5 kg of explosives, one pistol and six rounds.