Jammu, May 20
The registration of pilgrims for the annual Amarnath yatra in south Kashmir started today in 110 branches of Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited (JKBL) across the country.

A senior JKBL official told The Tribune that apart from registration at 110 counters of the JKBL set up in different states across the country, on line registration had also been started. Pilgrims could register themselves at www.jkbank.net/yatra2009, he said. He added a maximum of 1,000 pilgrims would be registered every day on line. A total of 3.20 lakh pilgrims would be registered for the pilgrimage by the JKBL.

A registration fee of Rs 15 would be charged from pilgrims, while an insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh each would be offered to the interested pilgrims by the bank at an affordable premium of Rs 25 only, he said.

In New Delhi alone, the JKBL had set up 20 registration counters in as many branches, he added. The registration counters would function from 3 pm to 6 pm on working days and 1 pm to 4 pm on Saturdays, while it would remain closed on Sundays, the official said.

Meanwhile, the state government has been making adequate arrangements at the Yatri Niwas, the base camp on the banks of the Tawi in Bhagwati Nagar here, from where the first convoy would leave on June 5 for the Amarnath cave shrine.

However, this time around langars would not be set up on the premises of the Yatri Niwas. Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Mandeep K Bhandari said, “To facilitate the pilgrims, langars would be set up opposite to the Yatri Niwas.”

Barely 10 metres away from the Yatri Niwas, langars would be set up across the road in a secured zone amid the tents of security forces, he said. At any point of time during the pilgrimage at least 2,000 pilgrims would remain present in the Yatri Niwas so to ensure hassle-free conduct of the pilgrimage, he said. The two-month long annual pilgrimage begins on June 7 and ends on August 5.

Jammu, May 20
Infuriated over erratic water supply, angry villagers today held hostage an official of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department in Meen Charakan village near industrial town of Bari Brahmana.

Official sources said this morning a group of villagers went to the PHE office in Bari-Brahmana and apprised the officials about the acute shortage of water in their village.

They said for the past 18 days there had been no water supply to Meen Charakan village. This forced the villagers to stage a protest in the village before approaching the PHE officials in Bari-Brahmana.

The sources said to assess the situation an assistant executive engineer Manoj Bhardwaj accompanied the villagers to Meen Charakan village, where an angry mob held him hostage for hours before letting him off on the intervention of the police.

Villagers said they had been facing an acute shortage of water for the past over a month and not a single drop had been supplied to them for the past 18 days.

The villagers also apprised the officials about hardships being faced by the womenfolk, who had to fetch water from a tube well located fairly away from the village, they added.

Though the PHE official tried to pacify the villagers assuring them of regular supply in the next few days, tempers ran high and the villagers held him hostage.

The sources said a police party from Bari Brahmana police station rushed to the village and rescued the official.

However, a police officer denied that the official was held hostage.

Around 20 villagers had come to the PHE office in Bari-Brahmana to lodge their protest against water scarcity and to assess the situation officials had gone to the village. But none was held hostage, he claimed.

However, realising the gravity of situation the PHE Department pressed into service four water tankers assuring the villagers that normal water supply through taps would be restored in the next few days, he said.

Till normal supply was restored, four water tankers would continue to cater to the needs of the village, he added.

Jammu, May 20
For the people of the Jammu region last night’s earthquake was a shocking reminder of the tremors of the devastating earthquake of October 8, 2005, that killed more than 1,400 people in the state.

Around 12:56 am, the residents of the Jammu region woke up to the tremors of the earthquake that lasted for around five to 10 seconds. People were frightened as every standing structure again shook after a gap of a few minutes as there was another tremor.

Residents in the majority of the areas in the Jammu region were awake when the tremors hit, as there was an unscheduled power cut due to the fast blowing wind in the area.

“We were standing on the terrace as we could not sleep inside due to the unscheduled power cut when suddenly our house started to shake. We at once realised that it was an earthquake and we ran toward the open ground,” said Amit Nanda, a resident of Nai Basti locality.

He added, “After the earthquake, we could not sleep for hours as we were afraid of aftershocks, as we witnessed during the earthquake of October 8, 2005, when our house developed severe cracks.”

As per the officials of the state Metereological department, the intensity of the earthquake was between 4.9 and 6 on the Richter scale and its epicentre of the earthquake was somewhere in the mountains of the PoK.

“The epicentre of the earthquake was somewhere in the mountainous ranges of the PoK and there was one main shock then followed by an aftershock,” a Met official said.

The state falls under the seismic zone of 4 and 5, which is considered to be the most vulnerable to the earthquakes.

“Our engineers in the region have been holding sessions with masons to train them in constructing earthquake-proof structures. Due to the vulnerability of our state to major earthquake, we advise people to build earthquake-resistant structures,” said an officer of the disaster management cell of the state.

Jammu, May 20
Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Pawan Kotwal today submitted the detailed inquiry report into the Belicharana incident to the Commissioner, General Administration Department, Basharat Ahmed Dar.

It may be recalled here that at least six persons, including SP, South, Mubasir Latifi, two policemen and three Gujjars, were injured in a bloody clash in Belicharana in the Phalian Mandal area and more than 50 huts were gutted in fire on May 9.

The Gujjars had allegedly encroached upon government land belonging to the Social Forestry Department in Karnaila Chak in the Belicharana area and the department had sought police help to evict the encroachers.

“The report was submitted to the Commissioner Secretary, GAD, today and now it would be placed before the Chief Minister,” Kotwal said.

Though he refused to divulge the details of the report, he said at least 70 kanals out of 10 hectares belonging to the Social Forestry Department had been encroached upon. However, official sources told The Tribune that the report had mentioned about a land grabber, who had instigated the Gujjars to encroach upon the land.

They said the report described police action as paradoxical but inevitable following injuries to six persons in the clashes. The sources said though there was no attempt in the report to justify police action, it had clearly stated that the possibilities of such incidents could not be ruled out during anti-encroachment drives.

The report also stated that repeated pleas to the encroachers had failed to evoke desired results and hence the department had no option but to seek help from the police, they added.

Srinagar, May 20
The separatist APHC is organising an “election rejection rally” here tomorrow on the occasion of the nineteenth death anniversary of founder leader of the Awami Action Committee (AAC) Mirwaiz Moulvi Mohammad Farooq, who was killed on May 21, 1990. It is also paying tributes to senior APHC leader Abdul Ghani Lone, who fell to the bullets of unidentified gunmen while paying tributes to the Mirwaiz on May 21, 2002, at Eidgah.

The week-long commemorative programmes for the founder AAC leader that included religious congregations, seminars and blood donation camps would conclude with the tomorrow’s rally at Eidgah. APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, son of late AAC leader, would address the congregation at Eidgah tomorrow. The AAC, now being headed by the Mirwaiz, is a constituent of the separatist conglomeration of the APHC.

In its resolutions passed here today, the AAC urged the Centre to initiate meaningful and composite dialogue with Pakistan and Kashmiri separatists for resolving the Kashmir issue.

The AAC meeting paid tributes to Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq and others killed during the past about 18 years of militancy.

Srinagar, May 20
PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and president Mehbooba Mufti have paid rich tributes to Mirwaiz Molvi Muhammad Farooq and Abdul Ghani Lone on their martyrdom anniversaries.

In a joint statement issued here today, the PDP leaders said the assassination of these leaders represented the worst face of violence in the state.

They said the deceased leaders, despite all odds, stood for peaceful resolution of the Kashmir problem and sacrificed their lives for the cause.

They asserted that the demise of the two leaders created a big void, which is difficult to be filled. They added that Mirwaiz besides being a respected religious leader, throughout his life played an important role in shaping political movement in Kashmir.

“It was his keen interest that the Anjuman Nusratul Islam, which runs a chain of schools, where besides modern education, religious education was also imparted to the students. Mirwaiz Farooq was also in the forefront of the movement against social and other evils,” they said.

“His absence from the Kashmir scene becomes more painful as in the changing circumstances, Maulana would have played an important role in fulfilling the task of bringing peace and stability in Kashmir,” PDP leaders added.

They asserted said that Abdul Ghani Lone had the qualities of a great leader who enjoyed a mass following. His courage and dedication was distinguished and he always stood for the right cause and sided with the oppressed and the suppressed.

Rajouri, May 20
The police has handed over a woman to her husband on her statement that she was not kidnapped by him and they had willingly got married.

Parents of the girl had lodged a kidnapping case against her husband after the duo got married, following permission from a local court.

Police sources told The Tribune that Basharat Hussain of Badda Kanna, presently serving in the 156 TA Battalion, fell in love with Samlia Kabir, daughter of Abdul Kabir, a police constable posted at the city police post here.

Fearing that their parents could create problems and the woman’s father serving in the police may create hurdles for them, the duo approached the court for permission and both got married in February.

Sources said recently after the girl’s parents came to know about their daughter marrying Basharat, the former lodged a case against him, accusing him of kidnapping their daughter.

After the police arrested the duo, the woman in her statement termed the allegations levelled by her parents against her husband as baseless.

Following the woman’s statement, the police handed over the girl to her husband.

Jammu, May 20
Numbers will be issued to every house that falls under the municipal limits and streetlights will be installed in every ward soon. This decision was taken at the 48th general house meeting held on the MC premises today.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Municipal Commissioner Mubarak Singh, and Mayor Kavinder Gupta and Deputy Mayor Daramveer Singh Jamwal, besides councillors from 71 wards were present.

While answering queries, Mubarak Singh said earlier the project of issuing house numbers in every colony was given to the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA), but the agency had refused to do it.

He said now the MC would take up the work and would issue numbers to every house and install streetlights in every ward.

It was also decided in the meeting that at least one safai karamchari would be deputed by the MC daily for maintaining sanitation in the graveyards situated in the city.

Meanwhile, Jaswant Singh Sudan, chairman, Public Health and Sanitation Committee, criticised the NGO system prevalent in the corporation. He said labours hired by these NGO for maintaining sanitation in the city had failed to perform their work properly.

Sudan said all drains remain filled with garbage and at many places garbage remained scattered on the road, due to the overflowing of garbage bins for many days. He condemned the pitiable condition of sanitation in the city.

Sudan blamed the corporation for allegedly deliberately ignoring the standing committee while taking important decisions regarding sanitation and during the release of funds for sanitation purposes.

The councillors demanded the installation of more water coolers in the city in view of the rising mercury.

Udhampur, May 20
With a view to providing road connectivity to residents of the remotest areas of Udhampur district, various road projects under the Prime Minister’s Gramin Sadak Yojna are gaining momentum. As many as 55 road projects with an aggregate length of 452 km at an estimated cost of Rs 216.35 crore stand sanctioned by the government in phase III to IV under the scheme.

Of these, 40 schemes are under speedy execution with an objective to achieve time-bound goals. Till date, over 90 km of additional road length with the fair weather status along with cross drainage and allied works have been completed at a cost of Rs 30 crore, thereby benefiting 24 habitations with a population of 500 and above each.

This was disclosed in a joint meeting of engineers executing the yojna works, divisional forest officers and revenue officers held to review the progress of road projects in the district. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur, Ajay Khajuria.

In the meeting, a detailed review of land compensation was also discussed on a project-to-project basis. It was observed that of the 55 cases undertaken for land compensation regarding 20 road projects, most of them had been cleared.

The Assistant Commissioner, Revenue, Udhampur, disclosed that an adequate land compensation had been received from the government and would be cleared within a month as soon as the award of land compensation was issued.

Rajouri, May 20
A soldier allegedly gunned down his senior after they had a fight over night-duty posting in the Kalakote area, here late last night. Army sources said the jawan, Raj Kumar of Kishtwar, posted with the 63 RR based at Mathiani Gala in Kalakote, gunned down Company Havaldar Major YV Yadav, following altercation between them over a night-duty posting.

In the firing, Yadav was killed on the spot while another jawan, identified as Rajinder Kumar, was also injured in the indiscriminate firing by Raj Kumar.

Meanwhile, police sources said a case under Sections 302, 307, RPC, and 3/25 of the Indian Arms Act has been registered against the accused in Kalakote police station.He is still in the custody of the Army authorities and will be handed over to the police for further investigation. A court of inquiry has been ordered.