Jammu, April 26
BJP state secretary and in charge Kashmir province S Charanjit Singh Khalsa and BJP Migrant Cell convener Hira Lal Chatta charged the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Chief Electoral Officer, Jammu and Kashmir, for deleting the names of thousands of voters of Kashmiri migrants from the voter lists of the valley and introducing M Form and Postal Form, which has turned the migrant voters as second class voters in their own country. They said the commission provides the voter lists to the candidates after filing the M forms just 24 hours before the polling starts, which is violation of the fundamental right of the contesting candidate.

The BJP leaders questioned the ECI as to why no action has been taken despite repeated representations to the CEO, Jammu, and the Chief Election Commission at Delhi, regarding irregularities in voter lists of Kashmiri migrants from the valley.

Elaborating further, BJP leaders informed that in the 1996 Assembly election, out of 1.47 lakh, 97,000 voted, whereas in 2002 the number came down to 1.17 lakh due to the death factor. Despite the boycott call of the Hurriyat Conference, 40,000 Kashmiri Pandits voted. In 2008, the number again decreased up to 71,000 out of which 17,000 votes had been polled.

Citing an example, Chatta said during the 2008 Assembly polls, there were 400 Kashmiri Pandit voters in Chanam village of Baramulla, but in the list prepared for the 2009 parliamentary election only 16 names are there in the voter lists which reflects that names of the Kashmiri Pandits voters have been deleted deliberately, a blunder ECI and state government is responsible as they both have failed to check the same.

Alleging that the NC and the Congress too was responsible of militancy and exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from the valley, Chatta said now the NC and the Congress were again curbing the right of the Kashmiri Pandits by getting their names deleted from the voter lists.

They further appealed the Kashmiri Hindu migrants from the valley to vote in favour of party candidates Avtar Krishan Pandita and Mohd Sadiq Khan, who were contesting the parliamentary election from the Srinagar and Anantnag constituencies, respectively.

Jammu, April 26
Gold ornaments worth lakhs of rupees were burnt in a fire, which broke out in a jewellery showroom in the congested old city here this afternoon. A major fire broke out this afternoon around 1.30 pm in the showroom of Talla Jewellers at Lakhdatta Bazaar under the jurisdiction of Pir Mitha police station here.

The fire soon engulfed the entire showroom and within no time ornaments worth lakhs of rupees were gutted in it.

Though a fire tender, along with fire-fighting personnel from the city fire station, controlled the blaze within half an hour, yet they had to toil hard to make their way through the old and congested road to reach the spot.

Pir Mitha police station SHO, Mohammed Showkat, said one fire tender was pressed into service to control the fire.

Showkat said the preliminary investigations revealed that short-circuit in livewires was the cause of incident.

However, no one was injured in the incident, which had created panic among the residents in the area.

In this district town that forms part of the Anantnag parliamentary constituency, all aspects of democracy prior to polling are limited to men. Unlike women artists and entertainers that perform on stage to keep the gathering in Punjab and elsewhere, that task too is allotted to men here, albeit dressed as women.

The constituency does not have a single woman candidate. Their role is limited to casting their vote in favour of the candidate their husbands or fathers choose. In one such performance witnessed by this correspondent, a man dressed as a woman performed the role of a beloved, singing in praise of her lover - the beautiful landscape of the Kashmir valley.

The all-male gathering of about 2000 listened with rapt attention for over two hours till the PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed arrived.

“It is not our culture to bring women out to such “ijalsas” (gatherings) unless it is essential. If PDP president Mehbooba Mufti were to come, you would have seen a few women here”, Mir Abdula, a party worker said, explaining the absence of women from such rallies.

The absence of women appears a little out of place, especially when they constitute almost half of the voters in the Anantnag segment. Women are discouraged from coming out of their homes when it comes to polling. “We go to vote only if the male members of the family feel that the candidate they are supporting is not on a firm wicket and our vote will make a difference”, says Amina Bi of nearby Laroo village.

At Mufti’s rally, a local artist, who did not wish his identity to be revealed was dressed like a woman in what could be best described as a “red ghagra choli” and danced to the words of local Kashmiri folklore to the tunes of a rabab, a local sting instrument. “I have no choice but to do the role of women, otherwise the entire troupe of six to eight persons would remain unemployed as no woman would agree to come and perform on stage”.

In a place like Kulgam (with about 100 villages in the neighbourhood), which lacks any entertainment, such a function is a smashing hit, even if it man with an unshaven beard performing the role of a woman.

Jammu, April 26
Even though Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Mohammed Akbar Lone has served notices on “illegal occupants” of MLA hostels in the twin capital cities, former legislators and government employees enjoying political patronage continue to live in the secured hostels. They also owe lakhs of rupees in arrears to the state government.

Official sources told The Tribune that besides illegal occupation for years together, these occupants owe around Rs 30 lakh in arrears to the cash-strapped state government.

Quoting instances, sources said a PRO with a sitting minister, who had a stint with a former Speaker, had been given a two-room accommodation in the MLA hostels here in Jammu.

Not only this, in 2005-06, using his political influence, this blue-eyed PRO got another two-room quarter in the Company Bagh area allotted in his name by the Estates Department, they said.

Among the defaulters in the MLA hostels in Jammu, this PRO now had been asked by secretary of the Legislative Assembly Mohammed Ramzan to pay arrears, besides vacate the quarter, said the sources.

Similarly, another employee of the Legislative Assembly Secretariat had been given rooms in the MLA hostels in Jammu and Srinagar on a monthly rental of Rs 2,500, the sources said.

They said out of 104 rooms in the MLA hostels in Srinagar, 25 were occupied illegally by former legislators and blue-eyed officials, who were not entitled to avail the facility.

However, Ramzan refused to respond on phone.

Jammu, April 26
Tourism is the backbone of the state’s economy and the government has been working on providing better facilities to tourists by undertaking various developmental works. However, unplanned expenditures by the Tourism Department have resulted in a loss of lakhs of rupees to the state exchequer.

The official records available with The Tribune suggest that the injudicious action of the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Patnitop Development Agency (PDA) in taking the delivery of vehicles without inspection and failing to get defects rectified has resulted in an idle expenditure of more than Rs 15 lakh.

As per the records, to provide environment-friendly transport at Patnitop, besides earning revenue, the PDA in December 2003 approached Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) against their offer for the supply of two battery-powered road vehicles (BRV) at Patnitop.

As per the terms of the offer, 50 per cent cost of the vehicles was to be paid as interest free advance along with the purchase order and the balance amount, including taxes and duties, was to be paid against the delivery and inspection of the vehicles.

However, the CEO of the PDA paid Rs 27.39 lakh to the suppliers in two instalments. The inspection clause was waived by the CEO in lieu of the early supply of the vehicles. The vehicles were provided in April 2004, but were not operated for a year, as they were not registered with the Regional Transport Office. An expenditure of Rs 3.80 lakh was also incurred on the payment of toll tax, fixing of sheets and fabrication of cabins.

The vehicles were put to operation in May 2005. However, after using them for five months, the vehicles were grounded in October 2005, as they developed some technical defects.

The CEO stated (April 2008) that the vehicles could not ply, as the defects had not been set right by BHEL, which inspected the vehicles in October and November 2007.

As per the records, after the matter was referred to the government in May 2008, the CEO backtracked from his earlier reply and stated that BHEL officials had rectified one vehicle in November 2007 and the second vehicle could not be set right due to the non-availability of spares. The expenditure of Rs 15.60 lakh on the procurement of the vehicles had thus proved idle and futile.

Similarly, the Phalgam Development Authority (PDA) took up a work for execution without ensuring the availability of funds, resulting in an idle expenditure of Rs 28.87 lakh.

Jammu, April 26
The Jammu West Assembly Movement (JWAM) alleged that the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) has failed to provide basic amenities to the people of the city particularly to the Jammu West Assembly constituency and demanded dissolution of the MC and holding up of fresh elections in the corporation.

In this regard, a massive protest demonstration was held today by hundreds of traders, residents and heads of various mohalla welfare committees of the Jammu West Assembly constituency under the leadership of Sunil Dimple, president, JWAM.

The protesters burnt the effigy of the coalition government and the MC and blocked the Newplot-Janipur road for one hour.

While addressing protesters, Dimple urged upon Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to dissolve the present MC and said the corporation had failed to provide basic amenities to the people of the city and the constituency.

He said no development work had been taken place in the city for the past five years and people were facing hardship due to the pathetic condition of the sanitation and drainage system in the city. Dimple further said the condition of roads, lanes and drains were bad, overflowing drains have made the life of the people miserable. Meanwhile, expressing disappointment over the worsen traffic system, Dimple demanded for the construction of more flyovers in the city particularly at Rehari Chungi and Jewel Chowk.Dimple warned that if the government did not pay attention for the development of the city, they would intensify their agitation in future.

Jammu, April 26
While others in the fray kept twiddling their thumbs, Mohammed Rafiq Mir of Bhatindi finally walked away with an “AK-47” after coughing up a total amount of over Rs 1 lakh here yesterday.

In an open bid for the much sought after registration numbers, regional transport officer (RTO), Jammu, RC Sharma yesterday allotted the registration number (JK02AK-47) to Rafiq Mir of Bhatindi for his Honda City car after he paid the highest bid of Rs 85,000, besides remitting token tax of Rs 22,200.

“He paid a total amount of Rs 1,07,200 to get the registration number of AK-47,” Sharma told The Tribune.

Registration number of JK02AK-56 had already been sold to Randhir Verma of Trikuta Nagar, who had paid the highest bid of Rs 29,300 on April 7, he added.

Jammu, April 26
The state will finally have a drug policy. This will improve the situation with regard to drugs availability in government-run health institutions. Official sources told The Tribune that Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma had contemplated measures to put in place a foolproof drug policy on the lines of Tamil Nadu.

After convening meetings of reputed health experts, the state government had prepared a draft drug policy, including a list of essential drugs, they said, adding that the final draft had been forwarded to the government.

“Under the first-ever drug policy, everything from the procedure of procuring drugs to quality control, proper treatment and the creation of essential drug lists would be there to streamline the entire process,” said a senior official of the Health Department.

He added once the drug policy was in our hands the archaic system of procurement would be done away with.

The Health Minister, who held a threadbare discussion with the experts, had also given his consent to come up with a procurement directorate for the entire state, he said.

He candidly admitted that at present the state had a shabby system of procuring medicines and discrepancies crop in in prices of drugs being supplied.

Sources said the new draft had been prepared during deliberations during a consultative workshop on the formulation of the drug policy at the Indian Institute of Integrated Medicine in the winter capital.

Dr Rajinder Singh said the draft policy along with the list of essential drugs had been submitted to the government.

Atal Dulloo, Commissioner Secretary, Health, said: “We are making all-out efforts by involving universities, pharmacists, manufacturers, drug-regulatory agencies, medical experts, NGOs, professional associations, industrial units etc to come up with a foolproof drug policy and ensure smooth availability of drugs.”

Rajouri, April 26
Four policemen, including the police checkpost in charge, was arrested and suspended last evening for firing at a car-borne person for not stopping at a police checkpost at Dalogra, near here. Even as the person suffered a bullet injury and is stated to be out of danger, the higher authorities of the police have taken strong notice of the incident.

Local sources said Javed Iqbal, son of Muhammad Bashir Khan of Dalogra, was fired at by police checkpost in charge of the Chingus area Muhammad Shahid and four other policemen for not stopping at a police checkpost. After that the policemen opened fire at Javed just near his home and one of the bullets pierced through his back area, angry residents caught hold of the four policemen and took away their weapons and tied them with ropes, the sources said. The sources further added that it was only after a senior police officer rushed to the spot that the residents freed the erring policemen and gave back their weapons.

In the meantime, Javed was shifted to the district hospital here where his condition is stated to be out of danger.

DIG, Rajouri-Poonch range, SDS Jamwal, who visited the injured persons, said the policemen was arrested and suspended. He added that the police was investigating the matter for doling out the facts.

Srinagar, April 26
Denouncing the PDP’s dual trait of using underhand means to relish power and simultaneously shedding crocodile tears for resolution of the state-centric issues, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said the PDP floated the imaginary idea of self-rule on behest of the BJP to scuttle the NC autonomy resolution adopted by three-fourth majority of the state legislature.

Omar was addressing large public gatherings at Dooru and Kokernag in south Kashmir today. He said after the NC made through endeavours to acquaint the political leaders of the country about the importance and feasibility of the autonomy proposal, considerable pressure was mounted on the then BJP-led Central government which was compelled to constitute a committee to discuss the proposal.

Omar said under a deal with the PDP, the BJP asked Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and his daughter to float imaginary self-rule idea so that autonomy proposal passed by the state Assembly was put to back burner.

Jammu, April 26
The security forces today arrested two persons, including a government employee, for allegedly harbouring two hardcore ultras and then facilitating their escape during an encounter in Doda district.

Official sources said PWD supervisor Abdul Qayoom and Abdul Gani were arrested and handed over to the Doda police for allegedly providing shelter and food to two top militants at Malso village in the mountain-locked district.

The escaped militants were identified as Mohammad Ashraf and Mansoor Hussain. The police cordoned off the area on a tipoff about the presence of militants, resulting in a brief exchange of gunfire. However, the ultras managed their escape with the help of Qayoom and Gani.