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Fall in voters’ count
Martyrdom day observed
A child pays floral tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh on his 78th Martyrdom Day in Jammu on Monday. Photo: Inderjeet Singh
Nano launch soon
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Air Marshal Barbora visits Udhampur
BJP resents penetration of Bangladeshis
Martyr given full military honours
Kupwara gunfight continues
Varsity firing accused held
JU observes strike, seeks security
Security personnel deployed at the gate of Jammu University following a protest on Monday. Tribune photo: Anand Sharma
Islamic body terms stone-pelting un-Islamic
Fake credit card racket unearthed, two arrested
BJP refutes SSH charges against Leela
Anganwadi workers protest
Jaspal Bhatti launches talent hunt
Help save forests, Mian asks people
24 lakh trees to be planted
Militants kill PDD employee
Slump in KP voters a ‘conspiracy’
3 PDP campaign teams for Jammu
ERA ‘playing fraud’ with Ramnagar people
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Fall in voters’ count
Jammu, March 23 However, Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Mandeep K Bhandari maintained that the decrease did not happen overnight and it was the result of intensive revision of electoral rolls in 2005. Bhandari is also the returning officer for the key seat. In 2004, the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha segment had 18.49 lakh voters, but the count decreased to 17.22 lakh after the election authorities conducted an intensive revision of the electoral rolls in 2005. Talking to the Tribune, Bhandari said, “Acting upon the instructions of the Election Commission, an intensive revision of electoral rolls was conducted in 2005 and this remarkable decrease happened thereafter.” The purpose of the revision was to renew the entire list of voters, for which house-to-house visits were undertaken and eventually we had a new database, he said. Previous lists might not have undergone intensive revision and dead and bogus voters might have existed in those lists, he added. However, former Education Minister and Panthers Party legislator Harsh Dev Singh described it a big conspiracy against the people of Jammu. Under a deep-rooted conspiracy, new voters were not being included in the voters’ list, while names of existing voters were being deleted arbitrarily and that too without affording an opportunity of being heard, he said. “All this is being done to deny Jammu its political power and neutralise their long pending demand of delimiting Assembly constituencies,” said Harsh Dev. The Panthers Party would move the Election Commission in this regard, he added. Echoing similar views, BJP candidate from the Jammu-Poonch seat Leela Karan Sharma also called it a conspiracy by the government. “It’s a deliberate attempt to undermine the people of Jammu,” he said. He added that he would take a look into areas from where voters had been removed in the revised electoral rolls. The BJP would also represent the Election Commission in this regard, he added. |
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Martyrdom day observed
Jammu, March 23 The CPM, Jammu, organised a meeting where an appeal was made to the people to follow the ideology of Bhagat Singh. He also remembered Comrade Dhanvantri, who was an associate of Bhagat Singh. The party demanded that a statue of Comrade Dhanvantri should be installed in the main chowk of old city. The Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Foundation observed the day at Bhagat Singh Chowk. They also organised a ‘Deshbhakti Geet’ competition. The Sanskriti Manch Jammu (SMJ) also observed the day and paid rich tributes to the three martyrs. The SMJ held a poster exhibition depicting thoughts of Bhagat Singh and revolutionary poems of Paash was also organised on the occasion.
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Nano launch soon
Jammu, March 23 “The car would be a boon office-goers because of its economical price tag and lower fuel consumption. I am looking forward to purchasing it,” said Gurmail Singh of Gandhi Nagar. — TNS
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Air Marshal Barbora visits Udhampur
Udhampur, March 23 On arrival, The AOC-in-C inspected a guard of honour at the airbase. Addressing IAF personnel later, he asked them to strive towards maintaining high standards in all spheres of activity the IAF had been proud of. The Air Marshal interacted with aircrew and other personnel and took stock of various measures being undertaken by the station towards their welfare. The AOC-in-C also visited the Headquarters of AOC, Jammu and Kashmir, and held discussions on operations in the region. He later left for Nathatop to visit to other units in the area. |
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BJP resents penetration of Bangladeshis
Jammu, March 23 Moving further, some of them are now fighting the elections of local bodies. We tried to reverse their attempt through legislation but the Congress foiled that attempt to gain from the politics of the vote bank. But as soon as we get back in power, we will bring in the legislation of issuing national Identity Card. People who would not have these I-cards will have to leave the country. India is not an inn that any number of people can come here from outside the country and, attain the citizenship rights. He emphasised that the negative development in both neighbouring countries, rebellion by the Bangladesh Rifles in Bangladesh and protest of Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan has direct impact on inciting terrorism in India. In this time of economic downturn, when country is passing through lean phase, he demanded all frauds buried in the Swiss Bank accounts at Switzerland exposed. The Switzerland government has refused to maintain the secrecy of dubious banks accounts anymore. Just imagine the enormity of the amount as the annual budget of India is nine lakh crore, whereas the money deposited by Indians in Swiss bank is 65 lakh crore. Coming back to the national politics in this time of Lok Sabha election, he talked about the group of smaller parties, which are emerging as Third Front and, dreaming of forming government at the Centre. Most of these small parties do not have any ideology and vision. Some of them are even one-man party. The Congress is trying to woo them but has been marginalised by these very regional parties in UP and Bihar, he said. Defending the selection of Leela Karan Sharma, former convener of Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti for the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat, He said the candidature of Leela was approved by one and all in the State Working Committee. |
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Martyr given full military honours
Jammu, March 23 The last rites of the soldier were performed at his native village of Broh in Tathapani (Rajouri district). The deceased soldier was given full military honours with jawans of 63 RR (Bihar) conducting the funeral parade. Netar Singh is survived by his mother, Vipan Kumari. — TNS |
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Kupwara gunfight continues
Srinagar, March 23 An Army spokesman identified the dead soldiers as havaldar Rakesh Kumar, naik B Sanjay Anna and paratroopers Manoj Kumar and Shabir Ad Malik, taking the total toll of killed Army personnel to eight, including a Major who died fighting militants on Saturday evening. Officials said 11 militants had also been killed so far. “A few militants are still trapped in the forests and the encounter is on,” the spokesman said. The gunbattle had started on Friday. The dense forests and rugged terrain have proved advantageous for hiding militants while proving otherwise for the Army which could not use heavy vehicles and weapons. One militant had yesterday slipped out of cordon and broke into a house in Hafrada village. Villagers said the unkempt militant, who by his looks and language appeared a foreigner, broke down the door of a house and barged in. Armed with a rifle and hand grenades, he forced the Gujjar family to offer him food but was soon surrounded by chasing troops. The house came down in the firefight as explosives were used and the militant killed. The family members were, though, evacuated. In another operation, the security forces gunned down a Hizbul Mujahideen militant at Ratnipora in Shopian. Sheraz Ahmad, a resident of Pandochan in Shopian, was killed when he opened fire at an advancing party of security forces. One Insas rifle, one magazine and some shells were recovered from him.
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Varsity firing accused held
Jammu, March 23 It may be stated here that students and teaching fraternity of the JU today held a protest on the varsity campus in protest against the incident. “We arrested one of the accused Vinay Sharma of Pir Mitha from the Sainik Colony area today”, SP South Mubasir Latifi told The Tribune. However, main accused Amandeep Singh, son of former MLC Deepinder Kour, and an unidentified Sikh boy are still absconding, said Latifi, adding that they would be arrested soon. Amandeep had fired two rounds from his revolver injuring a JU student Virinder Singh Chib and a security guard Sahil Kumar. While fleeing Amandeep, Vinay Sharma and an unidentified Sikh youth had attacked another law student Jeetu, near the main entrance of the JU. |
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JU observes strike, seeks security
Jammu, March 23 This was stated by vice-chancellor (VC), JU, Prof Varun Sahni today while addressing the teaching, non-teaching, class IV employees as well as students of the varsity, who were protesting against the Friday shootout in the VC chamber. There was a heavy deployment of the CRPF troops and the police personnel in and around the JU. While students stayed away from classes, the varsity staff observed a token strike and demanded strict security measures on the campus so that such incidents could be averted in future. The protesters converged at the administrative block and demanded strict action against accused Amandeep Singh. “Law is taking its course and I assure you that no lenience would be shown to the accused,” Prof Sahni said and added that the criminal elements would not be tolerated on the campus. Prof Sahni further appreciated the staff as well as students of the varsity for holding the protest demonstration. He further said those who had suffered injuries in the incident were fast recovering. However, the protesters accused the administration of being casual towards the security and nurturing the “gunda elements” on the campus. Students also demanded disciplinary action against the teacher who allegedly molested a girl student. The students were protesting against the teacher when Amandeep Singh fired the gunshots on Friday. “We were scared of stepping into the campus after the incident of gunshot, but now things are getting normal and fear psychosis has gone. The JU is taking measures to stop such incidents from happening in future,” said, a student of Physics Department, Richa. We condemn the incident and asked administration to beef up the security at campus,” said president of non-teaching staff association SS Heer, adding, “The varsity has given an interim relief of Rs 10,000 to both injured employees. It has also assured of further help to them.” The police said Amandeep was still at large but assured that it would soon get hold of him.
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Islamic body terms stone-pelting un-Islamic
Srinagar, March 23 The orthodox Islamic body which has gained ground in the valley over the last few years has sided with separatists, as the case with almost every Muslim religious organisation in Kashmir, and its president Showkat Ahmad Shas was a member of the coordination committee heading the secessionist movement last year. However, terming stone-pelting un-Islamic by the organisation would be welcomed by the administration which, as a last-ditch measure, has invoked religious guidelines to dissuade youths from throwing stones.
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Fake credit card racket unearthed, two arrested
Jammu, March 23
The Crime Branch sleuths caught a foreigner, Hardie Temmy Wesley Adisa, a resident of Oyo state in Namibia, and Sunita Subba from Darjeeling while swiping fake credit cards for around Rs 15,000 in an outlet here last evening, said IG, crime, SM Sahai. “We arrested the duo and seized a number of fake credit cards, charge slips worth lakhs of rupees,” he added. Though Sunita’s niece had been accompanying them, she was not involved, said Sahai. Of late, we were getting complaints, including some from the Assistant Commissioner, Udhampur, that a credit card scam in form of skimming of credit cards, misuse of plastic cards and cloned cards was going on in the region, he said. The Crime Branch had been working on the complaints, the IG added. Sustained questioning of the duo revealed that the Namibian was the kingpin of the racket and had fraudulently swiped cards to the tune of Rs 3 to Rs 4 lakh, he said. He had been operating in the region since September last year. A laptop, a swiping machine and another machine used for altering and topping-up fake cards had also been seized from the Namibian. The accused had been getting the data of genuine, but stolen credit cards from his contacts in some foreign countries, said Sahai. Elucidating the modus operandi the duo adopted to cheat banks and genuine cardholders, Sahai said after altering the plastic cards using a blank piece of plastic, information was downloaded from the host terminal or obtained through their contacts and subsequently imprinted on the cards. In form of cloned cards, the fraudsters used original cards issued by an authorised agency by making a slight modification on their face and rear side in the panels of validity date, card number, signature and magnetic strip, he added. The duo, which had duped several banks and cardholders, had confessed to their crime, he said. Some shopkeepers of the temple city in lieu of commission (even up to 40 per cent) connived with the fraudsters, he said, adding that the Namibian used their swiping machines to take cash instead of merchandise. The Namibian had come on a student visa to India in 2006. He confessed to swiping cards in Mumbai, Delhi, Jammu and other parts of the country, said Sahai.
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BJP refutes SSH charges against Leela
Jammu, March 23 The two parties, which worked closely during the Amarnath land agitation, are now at loggerheads. In the run up to the Lok Sabha election, bitterness between them has deepened and come out in the open. Dimpy Kohli, president of the SSH, questioned the credibility of Leela Karan Sharma, who has been fielded by the BJP from the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat, saying “the fact is that Leela has entered into an agreement with the BJP for getting ticket and in the process has sold the honour and respect of the people of Jammu. Common people did not sacrifice life, business, money and even studies for him to do politics on the deaths of our martyrs of the land agitation.” The senior vice-president of the SSH also said their party had time-to-time cautioned people against the nefarious design of the sangharsh samiti and the BJP. He said, “We will not let Leela to go free without giving the details of money collected during the agitation.” He also attacked the BJP saying “the party has run out of leaders to fight the elections. The BJP is now exploiting the name of Lord Amarnath like Lord Ram for political gains.” He also questioned the BJP’s sincerity in fighting for Jammu saying “the BJP has been talking more about delimitation and discrimination against Jammu, but where were its MLAs when the Anti-Delimitation Bill was passed in the Assembly.” Replying to the SSH’s accusations, senior BJP leader and in charge of J&K Shanta Kumar said, “This is election time. Political parties will say one thing or the other against each other. But it is wrong to say that the BJP has a dearth of good leaders. We have many good leaders, but we opted for Leela Karan Sharma from the Jammu-Poonch seat because he played a decisive role in winning the biggest agitation of the region.”
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Anganwadi workers protest
Jammu, March 23 Addressing the rally, Mohammad Gafoor Dar, president of the J&K National Trade Union Front, condemned the delaying attitude of the government and said if the the demands were not settled soon, the union would hold another demonstration on April 8. Their demands include regularisation of anganwadi workers and helpers, implementation of the contributory pension scheme, promotion list of anganwadi workers as supervisors be declared forthwith, removal of pay anomalies of ICDS supervisors, amendment in recruitment rules to enhance the promotion quota of anganwadi workers from 50 per cent to 100 per cent, payment of pending arrears and higher fuel charges.
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Jaspal Bhatti launches talent hunt
Jammu, March 23 “We have been assigned a project by Sony and SAB channel to produce 52 episodes of a serial titled “Thank You Jija Ji”, so we decided to visit Jammu to choose talented youth for our venture”, Bhatti said during a press conference. Jaspal Bhatti has written the serial and he will also direct it. More auditions will take place in major cities of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir. “We can train the talented youth to our requirement, as now we have our own school,” Bhatti said. He said the serial would be shot at his Mad Arts Studio in Chandigarh. “The new serial “Thank You Jija Ji” is about family relationships and the official working of an IAS officer,” Bhatti said. His wife Savita Bhatti, who is also the CEO of Mad Arts, said now people wanted sensible comedy and respected comedians. |
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Help save forests, Mian asks people
Jammu, March 23 “The government is open to suggestions and measures, including those proved effective in other states, for better protection and surveillance of forest resources,” he said. The minister was addressing officers of the Forest Department and its allied departments at a one-day workshop on “Forest Protection Challenges” here today. Describing the protection of forests and state’s ecology as a collective and specific responsibility of the participating officers, Altaf said every official was accountable for the job he was entrusted with. He said the department would send a team of officials to other states to study the suitability of these measures in our state. —
TNS
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24 lakh trees to be planted
Srinagar, March 23 According to SFD director Shamim Mohammad Khan, the department has planted 27 crore trees on 1.05 hectares while 15 crore trees have been distributed among farmers in the state so far during the past few years. He said the SFD had started a massive plantation drive in the state. The principal chief conservator of forests said to attain self-sufficiency in foodgrains and maintain the ecological balance, need was to protect and preserve the forests and restore the degraded forests. He appealed the people to plant at least one tree. —
UNI |
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Militants kill PDD employee
Srinagar, March 23 Manzoor Ahmad Waza, an employee of the Power Development Department (PDD), was killed by gunmen while he was asleep in his house in Ward No. five in Bandipora district town of north Kashmir, official sources said. Waza was shot from a point blank range, they said. An empty cartridge was found from the scene of the murder, the sources said, adding a case had been registered. — PTI |
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Slump in KP voters a ‘conspiracy’
Jammu, March 23 However, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) BR Sharma says the migrants themselves were responsible for not getting themselves registered. But following a strong protest by them, the CEO today conceded their request for registering new voters for which The Relief and Rehabilitation Department would be assigned the task of registering new voters. Describing steep decline in number of their voters as a political conspiracy, migrants today staged a protest demonstration and even threatened to boycott the LS polls if the election authorities failed to concede their demands, registration of voters being the major one. Under the aegis of Jammu Kashmir Nationalist Movement (JKNM), a conglomerate of 18 organisations, they accused the government of deliberately reducing the number of Former MLC BL Bhat said, “Two decades back over three lakh KPs were hounded out of the valley and at that time there had been 2.5 lakh registered voters but now it has come down to 72,000.” Logic says the population of KPs, including the number of voters, had to increase in the past 20 years but we fail to understand how the number of voters has drastically come down, that too when we had been filling in Form 6, he added. President of All-State Kashmiri Pandit Conference, Amarnath Vaishnavi, too, had been furious over what he claimed step-motherly treatment being meted out to the displaced community. “We should also be given the rights as citizens of India but it appears that there has been a deliberate attempt to deprive us of our fundamental rights,” said the veteran leader. JKNM coordinator MK Krishan, while referring to ‘M’ Form, a pre-requisite for the displaced KP voters to cast their votes, said when voting had been made easy for others, it had been made more difficult for the displaced community. The JKNM demanded complete enrolment of eligible KP voters right from 1947, disbanding ‘M’ Form, 12-C Form and issuance of electors’ photo identity cards (EPICs). CEO BR Sharma said “we have asked them to fill in Form 6 to redress the grievance of voters. Officials from the Relief and Rehabilitation Department would be deputed for the purpose but as far as ‘M’ Form is concerned, it’s an advantage for them and hence can’t be done away with, he added. |
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3 PDP campaign teams for Jammu
Jammu, March 23 Though the party has formally not declared its list of party candidates who would be contesting, yet party sources say that party president Mehbooba Mufti has given go ahead to the names of sitting MP Rajya Sabha Tirlok Singh Bajwa from the Jammu Poonch seat, whereas the party is also expected to give its mandate to Balbir Singh from the Doda Udhmapur seat. The party has also divided the two Jammu-based constituencies in three parts and to campaign for the party candidates, Sayeed is also camped up in Jammu region. The first team, led by Murtza Khan, would try to woo voters in the Poonch and Rajouri sector, the second team, led by Tirlok Singh Bajwa, would look after the Jammu segment, whereas, Asgar Ali would concentrate on Doda district and adjacent areas. Though the party is against forming any alliance with any other party, yet they could have a secret pact with other opposition parties, on the patterns of what was done during the recently held elections of the Upper House of the state legislature. |
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ERA ‘playing fraud’ with Ramnagar people
Jammu, March 23 According to the statement issued here today, he said if the government failed to solve the matter then his party cadres would start people movement against the injustice. Pathania said he would not hesitate in knocking at the doors of the court also in the case of immediate remedial measures are not affected at the earliest. He criticised the ERA authorities as well as the state government for non-paying of compensation to people who shall lose their homes, shops and lands on account of the road-widening programme. Pathania blamed the construction agency for subletting of work to contractors of the choice of MLA Harsh Dev Singh. He submitted that subletting is already against the norms and rules of ERA and this raises a serious question mark on the quality of work. |
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Jammu, March 23
Jammu, March 23
