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Discrepancy in BPL lists
Bus service to Pak cancelled for a day
Highway project misses deadline
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Liquor trader fakes robbery
Bomai protesters suspend agitation for 15 days
Move to recruit more SPOs triggers row
Gupta re-elected Mayor
Sartaj Madni elected Dy Speaker
Ban on felling chinars in valley
3 killed, 8 hurt in accidents
Hoax caller arrested
Army defuses IED
Gen Nandal is Victor Force GOC
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Discrepancy in BPL lists
Jammu, March 5 Though a cornered PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din, on behalf of the CAPD Minister, a portfolio with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, announced a fresh survey to remove discrepancies, legislators of the BJP, the Panthers Party and the JSM walked out of the House accusing the government of “entertaining” well-to-do strata, including government servants, at the expense of poor people. Trouble erupted in the House on the very first question of the day when NC legislator Sakina Itoo said there were numerous instances of government employees and other non-deserving people being included in the BPL list. She even claimed that a government employee (storekeeper) had issued 24 ration cards to his relatives. BJP’s Lal Chand drew attention toward two surveys of BPL families saying a yawning gap existed between the two lists. Choudhary Sukhnandan said rich people figured in the list while landless, poor and marginal farmers had been ignored. His colleague Durga Dass from the Hiranagar constituency, a first timer in the House, went a step further saying “the BPL list in my constituency has 80 per cent non-deserving people like government servants, transporters and landlords.” If proved wrong, I would resign from the House. But if I am correct the minister should resign, he said. After NC’s Bimla Luthra, RS Sharma and Rachhpal Singh, too, came up with their barbed supplementary queries, Taj admitted that at times there had been political pressure and complaints of discrepancies in the BPL list. Members had been given the list during my previous stint as the CAPD Minister and the survey had been conducted five to six times. But even if they insisted on a new survey, it could be conducted, he added. He announced that a committee framed in 2005-06 would conduct a fresh survey immediately. Before conducting a fresh survey, lists would again be provided to the members so as to solicit changes, he said. However, his efforts failed to pacify MLAs of the BJP, the Panthers Party and the JSM, who before walking out raised slogans. During Zero Hour, Ashwani Kumar Sharma again staged a walkout over what he claimed as “government’s lackadaisical attitude on the delimitation of Assembly constituencies”. The Chief Minister, too, had a slipshod approach toward delimitation and it was a deliberate attempt to deny political power to Jammu, he said. |
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Bus service to Pak cancelled for a day
Srinagar, March 5 The primary reason for the cancellation seems to be the sensational terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, which may have prompted the Pak authorities
to have a relook at the security measures in place for bus passengers. The across-the-border bus service, called Karwan-e-Aman (a march of peace), has been on the hit list of radicals. Radicals had attacked the Tourist Reception Centre in Srinagar on the eve of the inauguration of bus service by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The spokesman said the Pakistani authorities had informed the Army last evening that they would not be able to send the bus or receive passengers from this side due to some “administrative” problem. It forced the cancellation of journey, he said. The bus would now run on the next Thursday. The abrupt cancellation caused major inconvenience to the passengers who had arrived in Srinagar from different parts of the state. “The matter has been brought to the notice of the External Affairs Ministry,” he said. |
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Highway project misses deadline
Jammu, March 5 The four-laning of entire 300 km road project from Lakhanpur to Srinagar had started with cost estimation of Rs 7,000 crore in 2005 but till now even 30 per cent of the work has not been completed. The four-laning of existing highway from on 94 km stretch from Lakhanpur to Sidhra bypass is still incomplete while it was to be completed by 2008. Consequent upon it, commuting on the road between Jammu to Lakhanpur is giving hell lot of time to travellers and transporters as the highway at several places has been dug up. “Besides jumps due to potholes, dust spews into the vehicle causes inconvenience to the passengers especially to patients,” said Narinder Gupta, manager, City King Travels, adding, “If they could not complete the work, they should repair the highway at least so that transporters and passengers do not suffer.” “We have to overhaul engines of the busses after every 3-4 days. There are a lot of diversions on the highway that results into wastage of time and fuel,” he rued, adding that during rains road turns into marshy land making commuting prone to risks. The 64-km long road stretch from Lakhanpur to Vijaypur is being executed by Indo-Thai Development Cementation while from Vijaypur to Kunjwani, a road with a length of 17 km, is being developed by the Border Road Organisation. M. Venkketarao, another road construction company, is constructing 15 km long highway from Kunjwani to Sidhra bypass. Presently, the road is in bad shape from Lakhanpur to Samba while it is equally pathetic at Kunjwani and Bari Bramana where the work at the site of under construction flyover has been stalled, Kathua, Ghagwal and Jatwal, etc. The ambitious project includes two tunnels that would be amongst the longest tunnels in Asia. The first such tunnel would connect Chenani and Nashri Nullah. It would be the second longest tunnel in Asia with a length of 9.2 km. Another such tunnel with a length of 8 km would be constructed in the Peer Panchal area to connect Banihal and Qazikund. Colonel MK Jain, project director, National Highway Authority of India (Ministry of Shipping Road Transport and Highways), said, “The delay was on part of the state government as we did not get clearance at several places.” “Now the work is going on smoothly, the stretch between Jammu and Lakhanpur will get completed by March, 2010,” he added. |
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Liquor trader fakes robbery
Jammu, March 5 Addressing mediapersons here today, Jammu SSP Manohar Singh said to avoid honouring a sale agreement, Vinod concocted the robbery story. The SSP said Vinod appeared before the SP, City South, on March 3 and told him that around 2.30 pm he was intercepted by three armed youth, including one in police uniform, near the RBI branch in Trikuta Nagar. He told the SSP that the kidnappers forced him to move toward the Channi Himmat-Narwal road in his Fiat car and looted Rs 5 lakh from him. As Vinod reported the incident, the police acted swiftly and questioned him and conducted raids. Several suspects were grilled, but the statements of Vinod and the suspects were found to be at variance, the SSP said. He added that the liquor trader kept changing his version over the money looted from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh, to Rs 20 lakh and then to Rs 29 lakh. To ascertain the veracity of his statements, his bank transactions were scanned. It was found that Vinod had entered into an agreement to purchase a house from Jagdish Chander Padha of Lower Roop Nagar for Rs 29 lakh through property dealer Sunil Bhasin of Janipur, he said. The agreement was signed on January 12, wherein Vinod had given an advance money of Rs 2 lakh and the balance amount of Rs 27 lakh had to be paid by February 28, failing which the advance money would have been forfeited, he said. As Vinod had to pay Rs 27 lakh within the stipulated time, which he could not manage, he enacted the drama, said the SSP. He did all this to get back the advance money of Rs 2 lakh, which he had forfeited by virtue of not honouring the agreement, the SSP said. However, he eventually broke down and narrated the real story, he added. |
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Bomai protesters suspend agitation for 15 days
Srinagar, March 5 Bomai coordination committee head Hakim-ur-Rehman told The Tribune that they trusted the administration after its inquiry report indicted the Army for the “unprovoked firing” on February 21 which killed the two. “Their initial actions have been positive and we decided to give them some time,” he said. The breakthrough came after a meeting between local representatives and Baramula’s DC Lateef Deva. Among the major demands of locals are action against the guilty soldiers and shifting of the 22 RR camp from the village. The administration has hinted that the camp might be relocated to some other place. Locals claimed that the presence of the camp in the village had been a constant source of fear for them. Markets in the locality had been closed since the incident and families had refused to send their wards to schools. Normal activity would resume tomorrow, district officials said. |
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Move to recruit more SPOs triggers row
Udhampur, March 5 Political groups and social activists raised questions over recruiting SPOs in a clandestine manner without giving wider publicity to the recruitment process. Congress rebel and eminent advocate RS Pathania has smelt a deep-rooted conspiracy in this recruitment process and alleged that it was an attempt to recruit workers of a particular political party in the belt force. After various political groups have charged authorities with making recruitment on the direction of local MLAs, police higher-ups have maintained a guarded silence over the issue and started damage control exercise. “We were just conducting measurement to shortlist candidates for recruitment as SPOs,” said SSP, Udhampur, Surinder Gupta. As the model of code of conduct has been imposed after the announcement of elections schedule, the police higher-ups could not complete the process without the approval of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the state, he added. Notwithstanding statements of the police higher-ups, the authorities had started process for the recruitment of SPOs in Ramnagar and the Udhampur areas without proper notification. Instead of calling applications from all deserving youth the recruitment process was started secretly. As soon as some local youth got information, they, too, reached the spot and demanded that they should also be considered for recruitment. Some youth brought the matter to the notice of local politicians who took up this issue with higher-ups and demanded scrapping of the list of short listed candidates. Pathania said at the behest of local MLAs Udhampur the police have decided to recruit 25 SPOs in Ramnagar and 50 in Udhampur secretly to adjust worker of political party in police. State president of the BJYM Pawan Khajuria warned the authorities against succumbing before any political pressure. “We will not tolerate if deserving youth were rejected to recruit worker of any political party”, Khajuria said. |
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Gupta re-elected Mayor
Jammu, March 5 The contest was quite bitter intense as votes had to re-polled twice to declare the winner. Congress candidate Rajni Bala gave Kavinder Bhushan a run for his money by losing the elections by just one vote. Gupta has become Mayor for the third time. Last year, he won the Mayoral post by wining 37 votes. This time he won 35 votes, while Rajni Bala netted 34. There were 70 total votes. Though 36 votes were required, Gupta won by virtue of a vote declared invalid by presiding officer. Meanwhile, sitting deputy Mayor and NC candidate Dharmvir Singh Jamwal was declared as deputy Mayor. He won 40 votes whereas other two independent candidates, Jaswant Singh Sooden bagged 18 votes and Dewarka Nath Choudhary won 11 votes. |
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Sartaj Madni elected Dy Speaker
Jammu, March 5 Soon after question hour, Abdul Rahim Rather, Minister for Finance, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, moved a motion for the election of Deputy
Speaker. PDP MLA Abdul Rehman Veeri seconded the motion. Subsequently, Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone put the motion for passage before the House. Later, the House unanimously passed it, paving the way for Madni’s election as Deputy Speaker. |
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Ban on felling chinars in valley
Srinagar, March 5 The DC concerned has also been directed that permissions for felling and lopping of chinar trees, which have not been put to execution or which are pending grant for permission, be put in suspended animation and all such cases shall be referred to the DC, Kashmir, for review and orders. |
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3 killed, 8 hurt in accidents
Srinagar, March 5 The police said Ghulam Rasool Dagga was killed on the spot when a Gypsy hit him at Umerabad on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway. A person died when a vehicle hit him at Lawaypora on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway. Vivek Obrai of Kerala died on spot when he was hit by a Santro car at Sarnal in Anantnag A girl, Nelofar Jan, was also injured in the mishap. Two brothers, Abdul Salam Dar and Mushtaq Ahmad dar were injured when their Maruti car collided with a truck near Pattan on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway today. They were shifted to the hospital where their condition is stated to be out of danger. Six persons were injured when a bus of the SRTC and a Sumo collided at Jewbhara, near Awantipora, on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway. |
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Hoax caller arrested
Jammu, March 5 Jammu SSP Manohar Singh said a hoax call regarding presence of some explosive material in the high court premises was received between 10.45 pm to 11.15 pm on March 2. During the investigations and after thoroughly examining calls detail record of high court exchange, a mobile number (9858593408) was detected as that of the caller, he said. Singh said the Aircel number was issued in the name of Raj Kumar of Keran Gurah in the Ban Talab area. The house of the caller was raided immediately but we came to know that the caller had been absent from his house since the past one year, he said. Acting on a tip off the police raided a house in the Gangyal area where Raj Kumar had been living on a rented house, he said. To evade the arrest, Raj Kumar tried to immolate himself but due the police acted swiftly and prevented him from doing so, he added. He has been arrested. |
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Army defuses IED
Rajouri, March 5 Army sources said the ROP averted a major tragedy after it recovered two packets of IEDs and defused these at Madana along the Jammu-Poonch highway. They added that IEDs were planted by militants under a rough sandy surface. Meanwhile, following the detection of IEDs, traffic remained disrupted along the Jammu-Poonch highway for more than three hours in the morning and was restored in the afternoon. 2 Hizb ultras held
Srinagar (PTI): The police today arrested two militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen in Pulwama district, a police spokesman said. Shabir Hussain Mir and Noor Mohammad Dar of the Hizbul Mujahideen were arrested during a search operation in Gulshanpora-Tral, 55 km from here, he said. He said the duo were involved in extortion. A case has been registered. |
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Gen Nandal is Victor Force GOC
Srinagar, March 5 General Nandal, commissioned into Gorkha Rifles in September, 1974, is an alumnus of Officers Training Academy, Chennai, Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College, a defence spokesman said. |
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