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Fate of Madan Lal, Leela Karan to be sealed today
Omar’s EVM remarks |
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CM quoted out of context: Rana
NC bartered state’s interests for power: Mehbooba
Polluted Tawi no poll issue
NHPC Projects
People here see God’s will in lack of development
New farming methods for Ladakh, Kashmir
Border migrants yearn to return home
Expenses Details
Parties keeping tab on rivals’ activities
Plan to preserve, digitalise rare manuscripts
Bhim for defeat of Cong, BJP
CBSE-affiliated schools more popular
Boozers on a buying spree
Police told not to arrest couple
Vohra mourns death of soldiers in Kupwara
Chain-snatchers target
four women
60 micro-observers for Reasi
13 vie for Anantnag LS seat
2 bootleggers arrested
IED seized
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Fate of Madan Lal, Leela Karan to be sealed today
Jammu, April 15 As per data furnished by the State Information Office, the Jammu constituency consisting of 20 Assembly segments, has the highest number of voters in any parliamentary constituency. With 17,21, 696 voters, the constituency has not much difference in male and female voters. There are 8,89,562 male voters, while there are 8,32,134 female voters. Interestingly, the constituency has seen a decline in the number of voters. In the last parliamentary elections in 2004, there were 18,49,989 voters. Opposition parties, including the BJP, allege a conspiracy behind the decline in the number of voters. The election commission has defended arguing it was routine. The main contest is between sitting MP and Congress candidate Madan Lal Sharma and BJP’s Leela Karan Sharma. Madan Lal is seeking votes on development and secularism planks, while Leela Karan is seeking votes for ending discrimination against Jammu. Also, he is promising to end the delimitation controversy. As many as 450 companies of paramilitary forces, besides the police will be providing security to the voters and the poll staff. The seats has traditionally favoured the Congress. In the 1967 elections and the 1971 midterm polls, the Jammu seat was won by Congress candidate Inderjit Malhotra, while as in 1977 the seat was won by Independent candidate Baldev Singh. Meanwhile, DGP Kuldeep Khoda today chaired a high-level coordination meeting of police officers to review security arrangements. Reviewing the overall security scenario in Samba, Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch districts, the DGP stressed on maintaining law and order at all sensitive and hypersensitive polling stations, besides ensuring adequate security cover to the poll staff and voters. |
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Omar’s EVM remarks
Jammu, April 15 In Vijaypur, Omar yesterday had reportedly said in a lighter vein that EVMs had already been programmed in favour of a particular party and only those votes would count that were polled by pressing the button of the ruling party symbol. He reportedly went on to say the rest of the votes would not get registered on the EVMs because wires of all other symbols had been disconnected. The PDP president in her complaint to the EC had said the comments of the Chief Minister had created a perception among the people that the EVMs had already been programmed in favour of a particular party and only those votes would count that were polled by pressing the button of the ruling party symbol. “Such a sensational and alarming statement made by the Chief Minister is going to cast aspersions on the fairness of the whole electoral process in the troubled state. People could again get disillusioned with the authenticity of the democratic exercise,” she said in her complaint. Mehbooba added, “I would expect an early legal action by the Election Commission against the Chief Minister on the issue to dispel any negative impression of his loaded statement on the voters.” Talking to The Tribune, Mehbooba said the Chief Minister could not afford to make such a statement just a day ahead of polling. Being Chief Minister, he should know what he was talking about, she said. People and political parties were already skeptical about the EVMs and we still remember rigging of the 1987 elections when the NC and the Congress had joined hands, said the PDP president. Earlier, hype over Taliban’s presence in the state had created confusion among people, she said. |
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CM quoted out of context: Rana
Jammu, April 15 In a statement, Rana said the Chief Minister had made no mention of the word ‘EVM’ and so any reference or link with the EVM was misplaced and misconceived. Rana said the Chief Minister conveyed to the gathering that only the UPA had the capacity to recast the destiny of the state and all other political parties were bereft of any agenda for the welfare, peace and development of the state and the symbol of ‘Hand’ only has the power and strength to deliver change. |
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NC bartered state’s interests for power: Mehbooba
Srinagar, April 15 Addressing election rallies in the Anantnag constituency today, Mehbooba said after having bartered plebiscite, autonomy and even the state’s resources and the honour and dignity of its people through successive accords with the Centre, the NC leadership had, through the January 2009 accord, now even mortgaged the party’s ideology and identity to the Congress leadership for the sake of power. Referring to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s statement that he and Rahul Gandhi were carrying forward the legacy of historic accords between their grandparents and fathers, Mehbooba said Omar while referring to Sheikh-Nehru, Indira-Abdullah and Rajiv-Farooq accords perhaps deliberately gave a miss to the NC-NDA accord where he was enjoying power with his BJP mentors. “Going by Omar Abdullah’s own account, for the lust of power the NC has, instead of representing the regional aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, always worked as a protégé of Delhi’s political class in the state,” she said. The PDP president said the infamous accords that Omar was bragging of stripped the state not only of its distinct identity, but also snatched its natural and water resources. “And what a horrific fallout Rajiv-Farooq accord had when the NC resorted to the worst ever rigging of polls in 1987, is there for everybody to see”, she said. Mehbooba added the portents of the lurking dangers emanating after the recent NC-Congress accord had already started pushing the state back into a vortex of political instability and economic deprivation. Warning the Centre of disastrous fallout if the NC was allowed to use its traditional “goonda” tactics to manipulate the ongoing parliamentary polls in the state, the PDP president said the state government had already started using strong-arm, suspicious and manoeuvering tactics to influence the polls.
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Polluted Tawi no poll issue
Jammu, April 15 Untouched by the humdrum of the 15th Lok Sabha elections, the river, where folklore says goats and tigers drank water together from it, is one of the most polluted water bodies now. It is taking industrial effluents, sewerage discharge, polythene bags and carcasses. So much so that water, which was used for drinking since centuries, is now unfit for consumption. Yet, pollution of the river is not an election issue. No candidate, all of who talk about discrimination and other issues, is promising to clean the river. The necessity of clean water does not seem to be anyone’s priority. Ajay Sharma, a local social worker, says he is pained to note that the Tawi, along whose banks Jammu city developed, lies badly ignored and polluted. “So many projects were started to clean it, but none could see the light of the day. Cases were filed in local courts, some orders were also issued. But the ground situation does not reflect the orders were ever implemented. The persons, who would be representing us in Parliament, should have made the Tawi the top priority. But there is not a single candidate who is raising the issue during electioneering or promising to do anything about it,” he said. The Jammu Municipal Corporation (MC) is dumping about 300 tonnes of garbage, including polythene, in the river bed daily. This is besides the dumping done directly by residents and persons travelling on roads along the river. These include plastic bottles, cans, waste material, carcasses and animal waste from the butcher’s shop. As if all this was not enough, sewage from drains flows directly into the river. There are dozens of such outlets in the city, besides hundreds of others upstream and downstream. Religious rituals, including throwing of lead, also pollutes the river. Narinder Singh, an active environmentalist, who also runs an organisation on preventing global warming, says he was appalled at the insensitive politicians who had nothing to say on the pollution of the Tawi. |
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NHPC Projects
Udhampur, April 15 While PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed yesterday demanded the scrapping of, what he called, discriminatory and arbitrary agreements with the NHPC, he demanded today that the state must be compensated for the losses suffered owing to the exploitation of its water resources by the central agencies. Addressing a series of public meetings in Kishtwar and Doda districts he demanded implementation of the recommendations of the working group headed by former RBI Governor C. Rangarajan. The PDP leader regretted that though Rangarajan had recommended that the NHPC-operated Dulhasti and Salal hydel projects should be handed over to the state government no decision had been taken on these recommendations. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had constituted five working groups to give recommendations for resolving the Kashmir problem. The Mufti said: “As per rough estimates the state has already been suffering a recurring loss of Rs 600 crore per annum because of the discriminatory Indus Water Treaty. The decision to hand over major projects to the NHPC would further deprive the state of its major natural resources”. “Even for the salaries of employees, our government has been approaching Delhi”, he regretted, asserting that Jammu and Kashmir would solve all its economic problems if water resources were exploited by the state itself. Lambasting the NC for surrendering water resources to the NHPC in 2000 against a paltry royalty of 12 per cent electricity, the PDP leader said the decision had further complicated the state's economic distress. |
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People here see God’s will in lack of development
Chak Drow (Rajouri), April 15 Talib Hussain, Noor’s younger brother, has withered prematurely tilling the meagre family land with the help of his brother and the two bulls. “Just the two of us work on the farm during the season, while my nephews Nazir Hussain, Abdul Majid and Mohammad Zabir look for work as farm labourers. What the land produces is not enough to pay for one month’s ration”. The two brothers are not the only ones to face hardship in eking out a livelihood or find seed and fertiliser, almost all villages in the Rajouri-Mandi belt are without electricity, clean drinking water or basic education. Not many have ever gone to school out of poverty. But, surprisingly, despite being very backward, those who can afford to send their children to study do not discriminate between sons and daughters. Then why do they vote? Most people do not know who are the candidates here. They have not even decided whom to vote. “We will take a decision in the polling booth. We live in Hindustan, so we must vote - in a democracy we must all vote”, says Noor, adding that, “We have to cast our vote because we must participate in the election process. For us, the Congress, BJP and the PDP all are the same. No candidate ever comes here. It is Allah who will decide what benefits will come to me and not these candidates”. The villagers in the neighbourhood say whenever they are in trouble, they have to find a solution themselves. They have got used to living without roads, with “Allah’s fazal” natural springs are a plenty here and the local hakim is good enough to take care when they are sick. The logic is “even if we go to an MP or an MLA for help, people surrounding them never allow us to come near him”. The people find ‘Allah’s’ hand in the fact that electricity is yet to reach many villages like Saroi, Cheladangri, Kadran, Chumber, Barachar and
Ari. |
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New farming methods for Ladakh, Kashmir
Srinagar, April 15 He identified important issues in various sectors of agriculture, particularly forestry, fisheries and livestock husbandry that need focused attention. Addressing the 43rd Research Council meeting, he expressed satisfaction over the university’s progress on the research front. He said 17 varieties of field, vegetable and horticultural crops, which include nine hybrids recently released by the university, should be put into the production chain to harness their benefits for the farming community of the region and the line departments concerned had to play the major role in this regard. On the occasion, the meeting was informed that latest technologies had been identified and developed both for Ladakh and Kashmir regions and their adoption would ensure high returns to the growers. The adoption of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) has increased yield by more than 15 per cent. Similarly, the newly evolved maize variety showed significant response to integrated nutrient management strategies using both organic and inorganic fertilisers. Mentioning about the rice blast, which usually emerges in the valley, Alam emphasised on the scientists associated with plant breeding and plant pathology to come up with a new variety that was resistant to the blast so that farmers who lose crops due to the disease did not suffer economic losses. The Vice-Chancellor also released two publications -- “Peri-Urban Agriculture” edited by Shah Masood and “Almond Production Bulletin” edited by FA Banday. During the two-day meet, the deans, heads of divisions of the university shall present their progress reports of various research projects pertaining to their respective faculty, divisions, stations. The meeting is being attended by directors of the university, deans, director, CITH, and directors of the Development Department, besides scientists of the university. |
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Border migrants yearn to return home
Qasba-LoC (Poonch), April 15 Hundreds of families are forced to change their homes twice a day due to the circumstances. They go to their native village in the morning on the other side of the fence for farming and rear their cattle there, and return in the evening to this village leaving their cattle at the mercy of God. They have been following this routine for the past 10 years. “We have adapted ourselves to this routine, since the Army doesn’t allow us to stay in our native village. We wish to stay there but until and unless the government doesn’t take the matter with the Army authorities, they won’t allow us to live there,” Muhammad Kareem, a border migrant living here, said. He cultivates 50 kanals in his native village on the other side of the fence and has about half a dozen cattle. “Majority of people in our village will vote on April 16 with a hope that whosoever is elected from the Jammu-Poonch parliamentary constituency will ensure that they get to live in their native village permanently,” he added. These villagers had to migrate from their native village of Kerni to the colony in Qasba here after 1998 due to heavy shelling along the LoC. They were reportedly given financial aid by the government for constructing houses in this village and are putting up here only. A senior Army officer posted in the area admitted that these villagers are not allowed to stay in the village Kerni on other side of fence near LoC and cited security concern as the main reason for this. Defence sources said safety of these villagers was the prime concern of the Army and it was done just for security reasons. |
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Expenses Details
Jammu, April 15 Official sources told The Tribune that acting on the instructions of the returning officer the police today produced Independent candidates Ramesh Chander Sharma of Bain Bajalta and Sanjay Kumar of Prem Nagar before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jammu. The CJM referred the case to the Sub Judge, Jammu, and the latter imposed a fine of Rs 200 each on the erring candidates and warned them to adhere to the EC guidelines. It may be stated here that the EC had fixed an upper limit of Rs 25 lakh on electioneering expenditure for each candidate. The sources said after Ramesh Chander Sharma of the All India Janata Party Secular, an unregistered and non-recognised party, and Independent Sanjay Kumar had failed to furnish their expenditure registers on April 5 and April 10, the returning officer directed SSP, Jammu, Manohar Singh on April 11 to initiate action against them. National president of the All India Janata Party Secular, Somnath Dabgotra, however, accused the election authorities of sparing candidates belonging to major political parties. “Several candidates belonging to major political parties flouted the guidelines, but no action was initiated against them,” he alleged. But Bhandari outrightly rejected the allegations describing them as baseless. “All candidates except these two had produced their expenditure registers on the fixed dates,” said Bhandari. The non-compliance of the EC guidelines by these two candidates was brought into the notice of election observers, he added. |
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Parties keeping tab on rivals’ activities
Jammu, April 15 Besides, the political parties also keeping a tab on the activity of rival parties. BJP spokesperson Ramesh Arora said: “A day before the elections, many political parties try to buy voters living in slums and BPL colonies by distributing liquor or booties through kingpins. So we keep our local people on alert to remain informed about such malpractice that can be stopped then and there only.” The Congress dismissed the BJP’s allegation saying that the BJP has nothing concrete to say so it is indulging in blame-game to seek votes from electorates. Ravinder Singh, MLC and spokesperson of the Congress, said: “There is no restriction on contacting voters at personal level and what the BJP was saying is false.” |
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Plan to preserve, digitalise rare manuscripts
Jammu, April 15 Under the project, the academy intends to collect data on manuscripts housed in a variety of places, including shrines, temples, mutts, madrasas and monasteries. Secretary of the academy Zafar Iqbal Manhas said the main objective of the project was to digitalise the manuscripts by using the latest available technology globally. He said the academy would also involve writers and religious scholars in the mission. The secretary said preservation of these manuscripts was necessary since the state had a rich history of 5,000 years. “Incidentally, the oldest manuscripts of Buddhist texts that India possesses were found from Kashmir 60 years ago’’, he said. Zafar said under the project the academy would improve awareness about cultural inheritance and encourage the use of manuscripts for educational and research purposes. He impressed upon private collectors to register their manuscripts with the academy. “We will also provide free consultations for the preservation of such manuscripts’’, he said. |
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Bhim for defeat of Cong, BJP
Jammu, April 15 Refuting the news reports published in a section of the Press about the JKNPP support to the Congress candidate from Jammu-Poonch, Prof Bhim Singh described both Congress and the BJP as the faces of the same coin. Meanwhile, secretary-general of the party Ram Rattan Sharma said the third front led by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda had supported Prof Bhim Singh’s candidature from the Udhampur-Doda parliamentary constituency. |
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CBSE-affiliated schools more popular
Jammu, April 15 As per the trends in admissions, private schools have witnessed 5 to 7 per cent decrease and the figure may go even up to 15 per cent. Principal of the Model Institute of Education and Research (MIER) Adit Gupta said students were opting for CBSE-affiliated schools as their parents thought that the standard of CBSE was better than the BOSE-affiliated private schools. “Though the CBSE is happy with its public image, it is not willing to give admissions to students from outside this year,” principal of K.V.1 Gandhi Nagar, Chitra Mishra said. She said they had been given instructions by the higher authorities that they should not take anyone from outside so this time they would prefer to give admission to the students who belong to KVs only. “The image of government schools is not good as far as imparting of quality-education is concerned,” Krishan Sharma of Janipur said. However, government school principals claim that they provide quality-education as compared to private schools but do not elaborate the reasons why people prefer to send their children to private schools. Most of the students belong to economically backward families and those who fall under categories like SCs, STs or OBCs seek the admission in government schools. Describing the idea of people that private schools impart better education as misconception, J K Sooden, principal of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Canal Road, said: “Every government school has qualified teaching faculty as compared to the mushrooming private schools, how come they can teach better?” He said: “The students belonging to weaker section are provided scholarships in government schools, and from Class I to VIII they are being given free books.” |
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Boozers on a buying spree
Jammu, April 15 “There would be no sale and purchase of liquor till the election process is over on April 16 evening,” said returning officer for the Jammu-Poonch parliamentary constituency MK Bhandari. He further said no polling booth could be set up within a radius of 200 metres of any wine shop. “Instructions have been issued to the police to take suitable action against any person indulging in the sale and purchase of alcohol within this period ,” he said. Wine shops in and around the city witnessed a heavy rush of Bacchus lovers as they struggled for their quota of liquor. “Shopkeepers are fleecing us and it has become a regular feature during elections,” said a tippler. The government must ensure that alcohol is not sold at exorbitant rates. The office of the Excise Commissioner in a notice said: “Under Section 135 C of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, no spirited, fermented or intoxicating liquor or other substance of lighter nature shall be sold, given or distributed at a hotel, eating house, tavern, shop or another place, public or private, within a polling area during 48 hours fixed for the conclusion of poll in any polling area,” it stated. |
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Police told not to arrest couple
New Delhi, April 15 A Bench, however, allowed the police to continue with its investigations on the basis of a complaint filed by the parents, alleging kidnap. The court issued the order after senior counsel Colin Gonsalves mentioned the matter before the Bench, which included Justices P Sathasivam and JM Panchal. Anjum reportedly got converted to Hinduism and assumed the name of Bhawani before the marriage at the Arya Samaj Mandir here with the help of the Guild of Service headed by a former chairperson of the National Commission for Women, the petition said. In the petition, the couple alleged that their parents were conspiring to cause physical harm to them and that two policemen from the state were camping in Delhi to arrest them. |
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Vohra mourns death of soldiers in Kupwara
Jammu, April 15 In a condolence message the Governor requested the Northern command chief, Lt-Gen. PC Bhardwaj to convey his sentiments to the families of the deceased soldiers. The Governor also prayed for speedy recovery of the soldiers injured in the incident. |
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Chain-snatchers target
four women
Jammu, April 15 Official sources told The Tribune that two youths on a motorcycle targeted Phola Rani Bhan, 65, a resident of the posh Trikuta Nagar locality, Sector 8, outside her residence. They engaged Phola in a talk, asking her to help locate an address and snatched her gold chain and fled. In a similar incident in Sector 1 of Trikuta Nagar, two youths snatched the gold chain of Rita Talwar, 51. Similarly, Chanchala Gupta of Gandhi Nagar was targeted by chain-snatchers. The sources said unidentified youths snatched the chain when the victim was purchasing vegetables near Doodadhari Temple here. In Preet Nagar, under the jurisdiction of Digiana, another group of snatchers targeted Sushma Devi, 40, while she was buying medicines. They, too, had come on motorcycles, the sources added. |
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60 micro-observers for Reasi
Udhampur, April 15 EO Thiru Reddy also appointed more than 200 micro-observers to keep a watch on the campaigns of the candidates. These observers would attend public meetings of the political parties to record speeches of the candidates and their supporters. For three Assembly segments of Reasi district, 60 micro-observers had been appointed. Reddy today convened a meeting of leaders of all political parties to educate them about the guidelines of the Election Commission, maintenance of election accounts and other related issues. Today’s meeting attached importance to political parties charging each other of exploiting sentiments of people. While the ruling Congress blamed the BJP for raking up the religious sentiments of the minority community in Doda district, the latter charged the coalition with playing the religious card to woo the majority community. Reddy made it clear that canvassing on the basis of caste, race, community or language would invite action under law. |
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13 vie for Anantnag LS seat
Srinagar, April 15 The main contest in Anantnag is between the ruling NC and the PDP as the CPM has not fielded its candidate this time. A former MLA and former provincial president of the NC, Mehboob Beigh, is pitted in a direct contest against PDP candidate Peer Mohammad Hussain. The constituency has 11,65,951 electors, apart from 377 service voters. It has 1485 polling stations spread over 16 Assembly segments in Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam districts. |
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2 bootleggers arrested
Jammu, April 15 Sources said Madan Lal of Mai Chak and Anita Devi of Satyal villages in Kathua district were arrested after a raid and 14 litres of illicit liquor and 45 kg of lahan seized. The contraband was destroyed on the spot. Being election time, the Excise Department has intensified raids in villages to check illegal distillation of liquor. |
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IED seized Rajouri, April 15 Army sources said troops of 48 RR during a search and destroy operation near Beri Gala hamlet seized 13 kg of IED in three packets this evening. Six detonators and wire were also seized.
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