Jammu, April 18
Senior NC leader and Member Legislative Council Ajay Sadhotra has termed remarks of Leela Karan Sharma, BJP candidate from the Jammu-Poonch parliamentary constituency, as “frivolous” and “malicious”. He has also asked Leela Karan to apologise to people.

Leela Karan had yesterday accused the NC-Congress combine of taking over 21 polling booths and casting bogus votes in the Darhal Assembly constituency on April 16.

Sadhotra has said Leela Karan had been exploiting people of Jammu in the name of religion and region.

“Leela Karan had been carrying out the hidden agenda of the BJP to disintegrate the state while he was leading the Amarnath land agitation,” he said.

Instead of blaming Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Leela Karan should tender an apology to people for creating an atmosphere of hatred, Sadhotra said.

It was the NC leadership led by Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah that the state was saved from disintegrating, he said, adding that if left to Leela Karan the situation would have gone out of control.

Unlike the BJP, the NC was committed to unity and integrity of the state and the country. It was further committed to an equitable development of all three regions of the state, he added.

Sadhotra said till date a number of FIRs had been registered against Leela Karan during the Governor’s rule. He asked the government to produce all FIRs against him before the court of law and prosecute him.

Referring to the demand of Leela Karan for a repoll, Sadhotra said losers always find such excuses and out of sheer frustration the BJP candidate had not spared even the Election Commission.

“Leela Karan cannot mislead people, who have seen through his dual designs of deceit and disharmony,” he said.

Urging people not to fall prey to the propagandist approach of the BJP candidate, Sadhotra asked them to reject the politics of emotional blackmail and work for the success of the coalition government.

Srinagar, April 18
PDP candidate Iftikhar Hussain Ansari and ANC’s Khalida Shah, sister of NC president Farooq Abdullah, filed nomination papers for the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency on the last day of filing papers here today. Now the total number of candidates are 17. The scrutiny of papers would take place on April 20. The constituency goes to the polls in the fourth phase on May 7.

NC president Farooq Abdullah had filed nomination papers here yesterday. He is now pitted against Iftikhar Hussain Ansari of the PDP, and his sister and ANC president Khalida Shah, widow of former Chief Minister Ghulam Mohammad Shah.

The ANC after over two-decades of political hibernation had actively participated in the November-December Assembly elections, without, however, opening any account. This is for the first time that Farooq Abdullah’s sister is contesting the elections here.

Khalida said she was not fighting against any individual, but for the cause of people.

Four candidates had filed nomination papers here yesterday, while 13 others filed the papers today, according to district election officer, Srinagar, Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo. The candidates are Iftikhar Hussain Ansari (PDP), Avtar Krishen Pandita (BJP), Farooq Abdullah (NC), Mohamad Ashraf Khan (BSP), Bashir Ahmad Mir (Independent), Syed Mujteba Bukhari (Independent), Ashiq Hussain Bhat (Independent), Mehbooba Shahdab (Independent), Mohd Asan Mir (Independent), Mohd Alyas Kumar (Independent), Bilal Ahmad Bhat (SP), Khalida Begum (ANC), Qari Zahir Abbas Bhatti (AIFB), Abdul Rashid Lone (Republican Party of Indian (A), Abdul Gani Naseem (ANC), Mushtaq Ahmad (RKSP) and Nisar Ahmad Ahangar (BSKP).

Similarly, six candidates filed nomination papers for the Sonwar Assembly segment today. The candidates belong to the PDP, NC, ANC and the All India Forward Block, while two are covering candidates. Byelections in the Sonwar and Hazratbal Assembly constituencies of Srinagar district were necessitated after these seats were vacated by Abdullah.

This is for the fourth time that Abdullah is contesting the elections since November last year.

Jammu, April 18
Describing the BJP and the Congress as birds of the same flock that exploited the village defence committee (VDC) members to propel their political prospects, the Panthers Party today declared that it would observe a day-long hunger fast on April 21 to express its solidarity with the VDC members.

Addressing mediapersons here today, party president and sitting legislator Balwant Singh Mankotia expressed concern over the plight of VDC members.

“They have been exploited by the Congress and the BJP for their political interests,” said the young legislator.

He added that both parties used them as polling agents and played with their sentiments.

He said the government should regularise all VDC members who had completed five years of service as special police officers (SPOs), besides launching a special recruitment drive for them on the basis of their basic qualification.

Initially, the government had decided to pay them a monthly salary of Rs 1,100, but later it was reduced to Rs 300.

This shows the criminal psyche of the government toward the VDC members, he said.

It may be stated here that to combat militancy in remote areas of the state, VDCs were constituted way back in 1995 and since then the VDC members had been confronting militants with 303 rifles, an archaic weapon disbanded after World War II.

Mankotia, who claimed that his party leaders traversed over 500 km during their 20-day-long tour of far-flung areas of Kishtwar, Doda and Reasi districts, said the youths in these remote districts were totally disenchanted with the state government.

“After the government decided to reduce their monthly wages, the VDC members were disinterested,” he said.

Panthers Party activists would stage a sit-in outside the Raj Bhawan on April 21 to pressure the government for an early redress of the grievances of the VDC members, he maintained.

Mankotia served an ultimatum on the government that if the demands of the VDC members were not conceded to at the earliest, the party would intensify its struggle.

Srinagar, April 18
Former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has described the rise of regional parties as a positive development in imparting to the political system a true federal character.

This, he said, in response to the recent remarks of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the regional parties were a hurdle to progress. Mufti Sayeed, accompanied by senior party leaders, was addressing election rallies in Shopian district of south Kashmir today.

“The supremacy of a single party had defeated the federal objectives of the Constitution and converted governance into a unitary arrangement that was insensitive to regional aspirations,” he recalled.

The PDP patron said the coalition era had resulted in the empowerment of weaker sections of society and allowed them entry into power structure at crucial decision-making forums. This shifting balance of power in the country had thrown up forces of change at socio-economic grassroots level, he said.

He said the needs of the diverse nature of our country was reflected better in the coalition of regional forces at the Centre.

He said the Kashmir model of autonomy in its original form was best suited for all states of the country while Jammu and Kashmir for its peculiar nature deserved autonomy plus.

Udhampur, April 18
Ridiculing Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his claim to strengthen the “third generation friendship between Gandhi-Abdullah families”, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti today said that such opportunistic alliances had always proved as short-lived and a bigger political disaster for people.

Addressing a meeting at the Gool area of Ramban district in support of party candidate Balbir Singh, the PDP president said the fate of the present opportunist alliance no way would be different from the previous accords between two parties.

“A number of times the NC leadership has forged such alliances with the Congress for the lust for power and then floundered the same with one or other reasons and entered into confrontation with each others,” she said while reminding the people of the 1952 Nehru-Sheikh accord known as Delhi Agreement, but within a year’s time Sheikh was put behind bars despite being the fact that he had eroded the authority and power of the state while signing that agreement for the lust of power.

Cautioning people against deceiving tactics of the NC, she said the leadership of this 100-year-old party had always bartered wishes and aspirations of the people of the state to remain in power.

Srinagar, April 18
Vice-Chancellor of the Kashmir University Riyaz Punjabi has asserted that media could play a pivotal role in the promotion of Hindi in the state.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a two-day national-level seminar on “role of media in promotion of Hindi” held on the university campus here yesterday.

“Media can help a lot in promoting the language by raising the issues confronting its promotion and the measures that need be taken in this regard”, he pointed out.

The seminar organised by the Postgraduate Department of Hindi was attended by prominent academics from in and outside the state. Riyaz rejected apprehensions that Hindi was not being promoted in the state saying 90 per cent of students in our schools study Hindi. “It is a misunderstanding that Hindi is not being promoted in the valley”, he said.

He, however, added that more needed to be done to promote the language at several levels. “We have to examine how media can play a role in promoting the language. And in promoting it, it is very important for everyone to see what perspective he or she has about a particular language,” he said.

The chairman of the Kashmir Times Group of Publications, Ved Bhasin, called for a “change in mindset” of the Hindi press for the promotion of the language. “It is unfortunate that the Hindi press in India, except for a few occasions, has not contributed much to the promotion of the language,” he said. “Though several newspapers at one moment in time played a pivotal role in promoting Hindi, over the years, the standard of the Hindi press has declined even as the circulation and make up of the newspapers have improved considerably.”

Director, Doordarshan Kendra, Srinagar, Rafeeq Masoodi said Hindi could be promoted through serials and films. However, he said, Hindi script writers had to strictly adhere to the structure of the language. “

The head of the Hindi Deparment, Prof Zohra Afzal, gave an overview of the status of the language in the valley, and the measures needed to promote it in a better way.

The seminar is being attended by eminent experts and scholars from Delhi, Aligarh, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Vishakhapatnam and Jammu.

Srinagar, April 18
Chief Secretary SS Kapur reviewed arrangements for the annual durbar move at a high-level meeting of officers here today. Under the annual durbar move, the Civil Secretariat would close in Jammu on April 24, and reopen in Srinagar on May 4.

The meeting was told that restoration work on several roads was going on and it would be completed within the stipulated time. The Chief Secretary asked for the proper maintenance of the Airport road and the plantation of ornamental plants on both sides of the road.

Kapur impressed upon the BSNL authorities to improve their services in the valley for which he assured all help from the state government. He, in particular, enquired about the pace of work going on to connect the Gurez valley through mobile telephony and asked the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, to review the work with the BSNL authorities.

The meeting was told that 52 coaches of the SRTC and two ambulances of the State Health Department would be pressed into service to ferry employees from Jammu to Srinagar during the durbar move.

The meeting was also informed that the CA&PD and PHE departments had made elaborate arrangements at the colonies of employees. The Director, Health Services, said medical aid centres would be set up in all government flats and hotels where the durbar move employees would be housed.

The Chief Secretary also visited the Civil Secretariat and took stock of renovations going on in there. He asked for a time-bound completion of the works so that employees had a better and relaxed atmosphere to work in.

DGP Kuldeep Khoda, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Masaud Samoon, Commissioner-Secretary, R&B, Mehboob Iqbal, Secretary, Tourism, Tanveer Jehan and IG, Kashmir, B. Srinivas, heads of all engineering departments and other senior officers of the administration attended the meeting.

Samoon informed the Chief Secretary that proper deployment of police personnel had been made for the durbar move and the ongoing parliamentary elections.

Jammu, April 18
Unemployed youth applying for the posts of lecturers in the Higher Education and School Education Department are a harried lot here as they have to wait for hours together under the scorching sun for the purchase and submission of application forms at the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) office.

To cater to the applicants in hundreds on daily basis, only two counters have been set up for the purchase and submission of application forms, one each for the general category and reserved category candidates. Earlier also, the JKPSC had advertised similar posts in 2005, 2006 and 2008, but interviews were not conducted for the selection of candidates due to reasons best known to the authorities concerned. Consequentially, a major chuck of applicants visiting the office of the JKPSC has been reapplying this time.

The posts for the lecturers in both departments were advertised on March 6 and March 9 this year, respectively. Initially, the department had slated April 20 and 22 as last date for the submission of forms for the posts of lecturers in the Higher Education and the School Education Department, respectively. However, as per an official notification issued by the department yesterday, the date for submission of application forms has been extended till April 30.

As the JKPSC office opened yesterday after some official holidays, there were beelines of candidates in front of the office at Railhead complex.

“I purchased the application form last month. Today, I came early in the morning for its submission but the counter was opened up only after 11 am,” Mukta, a candidate from Poonch, said.

Jammu, April 18
The All J&K Public Sector Employees and Workers Federation is disappointed with the state government for not complying with the State Rules Order (SRO) with regard to the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission’s report. They also demanded the conversion of cost of living allowance to dearness allowance (DA) for the state public sector employees. These allowances, which were approved by the state government in the Cabinet meeting on April 15, had been released for the state government employees, but not for public sector employees.

Despite the government’s statement today assuring them that the SRO and DA would be released by April 20, the federation seemed doubtful and thought it to be an exercise to buy time till the durbar move slated for April 24. The federation threatened to hold state-wide protests if their dues were not paid immediately.

It requested the government to issue the SRO for the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission’s report with effect from January 1, 2006, as promised by the Chief Minister and the Finance Minister.

Jagmohan Sadhotra, chairman of the federation, said, “Five lakh employees of the state government and 25,000 employees of the public sector undertaking have formed a coordination committee. The payment of the cost of living allowance, which has been pending for the last four years, was to be converted to DA. But we are aghast to see that the SRO of 1993-94 has been released for the state government employees, but nothing has been done for the public sector employees so far.”

The federation also demanded a separate ministry for the public sector.

Jammu, April 18
Instructions issued by the Directorate of School Education (DSE) banning the sale of unapproved books to children by private schools are being flouted openly. Students are being charged exorbitant admission fees and bus fares even for vacation periods.

A majority of parents are annoyed with the Education Department for its inaction, as they allege the DSE is not willing to put an end to the malpractices of these schools.

People have been demanding that the DSE should appoint a nodal officer for keeping a vigil on all private schools and the officer should be authorised to take action against principals of the schools that violated the instructions.

Sources revealed that despite clear instructions and warnings by the DSE, some private schools continued to ignore them. Pointing toward a particular bookshop in the market, Menu Sharma said, “These booksellers paste price stickers over the printed rates and thus extract more money from parents.” Another parent alleged that these schools had adopted a novel modus operandi. They prescribed uniforms with certain distinct strips of colour like red or blue or green and these were available only with a particular shop.

Another student Amit Mahajan said, “These schools are charging admission fee under the name of tuition fee, developmental funds, etc. They are charging around Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per month from students of Class VI and Class VII, respectively.”

Chief education officer Suresh Kumar Sharma said the Director, School Education, Zahidha Khan, has given clear instructions to the principals of all private schools and the CBSE schools not to charge exorbitant fees from students.

Though CBSE-affiliated schools were charging exorbitant fees from students, but we could not take action against them as we were not allowed to interfere in their functioning according to the Supreme Court orders, said Sharma.

Jammu, April 18
The Shiv Sena Hindustan appreciated the step taken by the Director School Education (DES) for checking the malpractice being done by the CBSE-affiliated private schools of Jammu.

According to the statement issued here, president of the Sena Dimpy Kohli said these schools were charging exorbitant fees from the students on the name of CBSE.

Kholi said: “The buses are overcrowded by the students and nobody seems to be answerable. The teachers in these schools are not getting the salary they deserve.”

He said the salaries to the teachers were given by checks and 60 per cent of cash was taken back. Kholi said: “We will also approach the Income Tax Department to have a check on these schools.”

Jammu, April 18
Jammu Municipal Corporation (MC) commissioner Mubarak Singh has given a clean chit to the officers concerned for the purchase of 103 pairs of shoes for drivers and cleaners of the corporation.

The MC drivers and cleaners had alleged that the corporation had purchased substandard quality shoes on higher prices. Acting upon the complaint, an inquiry was ordered by the commissioner to ascertain the quality and price of the shoes from the market.

“After the inquiry, the allegation about the shoes proved wrong. It was proved that the shoes were branded and had been bought on a discounted price from a prominent company”, said Mubarak Singh.

SK Wali, assistant executive engineer of the corporation, said the shoes had been procured from the Karnal unit of the company on discount. He said the actual price of the shoe was Rs 1,399 per pair and the company had sold it at Rs 1,119 per pair to the MC at a discount of Rs 280 per pair.

Sources revealed that there were 55 permanent drivers and cleaners and eight safai karamcharis in the corporation who were entitled to get these shoes. The MC had purchased additional shoes for 40 drivers and cleaners of NGOs who were working on a contractual basis and were not entitled to it.

However, the MC drivers and cleaners alleged the shoes were of substandard quality. Though the soles of the shoes were made by a branded company, the upper layer of the shoes was of substandard quality.

Expressing disappointment, Attar Singh, president of the Drivers and Cleaners Union, said they would not accept the shoes of substandard quality.

He said last year the corporation had purchased shoes from a local company at Rs 750 per pair and this year shoes were of substandard quality compared to those bought last year. Last year, the MC had also purchased raincoats of inferior quality at Rs 750 per piece, the market price of which was Rs 200.