Jammu, July 29
Activists of the Jammu Justice Movement (JJM) along with students of various colleges of the city boycotted classes on the issue of central university for the fourth consecutive day today,. The boycott of classes occurred in Government Gandhi Memorial (GGM) Science College, SPRM Commerce College, MAM College, Government College for Women (GCW),Gandhi Nagar, and GCW, Parade.

Students of Government Gandhi Memorial (GGM) Science College, and SPRM Commerce College also took out a funeral procession (shavyatra) of the state government and burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Meanwhile, activists of the Central University Joint Action Committee (CUJAC) held a massive demonstration in support of their demand for setting up the proposed central university in Jammu.

The protesters gathered on the main road in front of the university gate and burnt tyres on there to disrupt traffic. Blocking the main road for half an hour, the protesters raised anti-government slogans.

ABVP demonstration

The ABVP organised a massive demonstration in support of the central university issue at Samba. Thousands of college students boycotted their classes and participated in the protest All students assembled at Maharaja Hari Singh Chowk where from they took out a march, passing through the main market of Samba. The march turned into a dharna at the Main Chowk where the protesters blocked the national highway for three hours.

Mukesh Kumar, an executive member of the ABVP, said all political, social and student organisations would merge into a common platform as the Central University Andolan (CUA) in Samba to carry out future activities in connection with this issue.

Meanwhile, Sangarsh, a student organization, has urged the government to settle the issue as soon as possible, maintaining that any delay in the allotment of the propsed central varsity to either of the regions could widen the existing divide between Jammu and Kashmir, General Secretary of the movement Suresh Kumar demanded the allocation of land for the university in the Jammu region.

Srinagar, July 29
Assembly Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone today accepted the privilege motion against senior PDP leader Muzaffar Beigh moved by NC legislatures for his “unsubstantiated” allegations against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

The Speaker first allowed Beigh to speak but NC MLAs rose in unison against it and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Sagar submitted the proposal signed by 12 MLAs, including those of NC and Congress and independents, to Lone. Lone admitted the proposal and barred Beigh from speaking, sparking exchange of allegations between the treasury and the opposition benches.

Sagar quoted rules to back the motion against Beigh as he indulged in “character assassination with unverified allegations” on the floor of the House yesterday against the leader of the House.

With his party at the receiving end of public ire after he stunned the state with his sensational allegations against Omar, who enjoys a clean image, Beigh stuck to his guns and insisted that the Chief Minister’s name figured in the list of suspects lying with the High Court.

He told The Tribune outside the Assembly that the list carried name of 190 suspects and included many top politicians and bureaucrats. He declined to give a copy of the list, saying it was under the consideration of court and he could not circulate it.

“I never said Omar Abdullah was an accused. I said he was one of the suspects and reiterates it again,” he said. When asked about the bona fide of list, he said the CBI had made a list of those persons whose names had cropped up during the questioning of women, especially kingpin Sabeena. The CBI, he alleged, selectively targeted a certain few while left behind many others.

Though authenticity of the Beigh’s list remains questionable as officials aware of the probe have expressed their surprise over it, sources said, adding that a list did circulate around in the early months of the sex scandal probe and some prominent people, including politicians, received blackmail calls by associates of Sabina.

The list was prepared by the state police before the case was handed over to the CBI by perusing diaries recovered from Sabina and her accomplices and on the basis of her verbal claims.

“It was completely unverified and included names of even those whose telephone numbers were found in the diary. But even that list did not carry as many name as the one produced by Beigh does and, moreover, it would be churlish to accuse anybody on the basis of that unsubstantiated list,” an official said.

Srinagar, July 29
NC members today accused former Deputy Chief Minister and PDP MLA Muzaffar Beigh of “immoral” conduct and Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone brought on record one such list accusing him of having a series of “illicit” relations.

Nazir Gurezi, MLA, Gurez, submitted his bundle of allegations against Beigh to the Speaker who asked Beigh to reply to these. The list carries six questions for Beigh and each one detailing his consorting with different women in New Delhi, Jammu and Srinagar.

Mehbooba Mufti and her party colleague Nizam-ud-Din Bhat raised a point of information saying the list was unsigned. The Speaker then informed the House that the questionnaire was submitted by Gurezi.

The charges completely personal in nature and touching the marital aspect of Beigh took many by surprise who rued that it was another example of declining standards of proceedings in the House.

Udhampur, July 29
The allegation against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah seems to have provided the NC a temporarily relief from the rebellion the party had been facing since the recent Cabinet expansion .

NC workers, who had raised a banner of revolt for not including their leaders in the Council of Ministers, came out openly in support of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. On the second successive day, Doda and Kishtwar towns witnessed demonstrations by NC workers against PDP leaders for, what they alleged, a malicious allegation against Omar Abdullah.

Tanvir Kitchloo, Kishtwar district unit president of the NC, who had resigned from the party after MLA Sajjad Kitchloo was denied a ministerial berth, was leading the pro-Omar Abdullah procession. “PDP leaders had made a false accusation against our leader and we would not remain a mute spectator”, shouted the dissident NC leader addressing party workers who were raising slogans against Mehbooba Mufti and Muzaffar Hussain Beigh.

Amidst incessant rain, NC workers from Kishtwar came on the roads to express solidarity with Omar Abdullah. Some NC workers said that the issue of denying a ministerial berth to their MLA Sajjad Kitchloo would be decided later.

Similarly, NC workers of Doda town also organised a demonstration there to express solidarity with the Chief Minister. They took out a procession and shouted slogans against PDP leaders.

A similar procession was taken out here in Omar’s support.

Jammu: NC leaders and supporters on Wednesday observed a day-long fast here in protest against the “derogatory remark” made by senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Beigh. The NC leaders demanded the resignation of Beigh from the Assembly and his immediate arrest for trying to malign the image of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

Addressing the protesters, Rattan Lal Gupta, Jammu provincial president, said:“Stern action should be taken against Beigh for misleading the House by creating a law and order problem in the state,” Gupta said.

Rajouri: Hundreds of NC activists led by Kedar Nath, district vice-president, assembled at Gujjar Mandi Chowk here on Wednesday and burnt an effigy of PDP leader Muzzafar Hussain Beigh for making derogatory remarks against Chief Minister in the Assembly on Tuesday.

Srinagar, July 29
Amid a ruckus in the Assembly, Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone today informed the House that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah did not figure among those chargesheeted by the CBI in connection with the sex scandal case as alleged by PDP MLA Muzaffar Hussain Beigh

Responding to the issue raised by BJP leader Chaman Lal Gupta when the House assembled this morning, the Speaker said soon after the PDP member’s allegation against the Chief Minister in the House yesterday, he took up the matter with the CBI Director, seeking a written clarification about the matter.

The clarification issued by the SP,CBI, reads: “It is clarified that nine chargesheets in the CBI case RC 1 (s)/2006/SCR. III New Delhi were filed in the competent court against 17 accused persons. The name of Shri Omar Abdullah, son of Shri Farooq Abdullah, does not figure in the list of accused persons chargesheeted in the case.”

Talgarh (Samba), July 29
His wedding was cancelled twice after his would be in-laws came to know that the village where he lives has no source of potable water. Though Rakesh Kumar was lucky that third time he got married, but there are many others like him in this village who were not as fortunate.

Situated in Samba district near the Indo-Pakistan international border, Talgarh village is a unique village where residents of adjoining villages don’t want to give their daughters as the entire village of more than 100 families doesn’t have a single source of potable water.

“We are living in a difficult situation as the village doesn’t have any source of potable water and the residents of other villages don’t want to marry their daughters in our village,” Nath Singh (58), resident of this village, said.

“The entire village is depending on the mercy of a brick-kiln owner who has installed a bore-well near his kiln. But why would he waste his diesel to run the motor to give us water?” Rawal Singh, another resident of the village, said.

Though a large number of Talgarh residents depend on farming, in the absence of any irrigation facility, their crop is also wilting down. The situation is so bad that villagers have to lease most part of their cultivable land to the brick-kiln owner for the extraction of soil to make bricks to get water.

“We get Rs 1,500 to 2,000 per kanal of land per year from the kiln owner, the land is fast losing its fertility due to excavation,” Rawal Singh said.

To mitigate the problems of this village the state Public Health Engineering Department some years ago had started construction of an overhead water tanker, but due to some dispute with the owner of the land the work was stayed by the court and could not be completed.

“In 1971, I got married in this village, since then we were told that water would come very shortly, but till date there is no water,” Vidya Devi of Talgarh village said.

RS Pura, July 29
Rain in the past few days has brought smiles on the faces of farmers in this basmati belt of the state, but it seems a case of a little too late as most farm labourers have already left due to the delayed monsoon.

Farmers first paid wages to labourers without any work and now when the farm labour had left, the farmers were paying hefty charges to the few left or to rope in construction labourers to do the work. Some farmers like Manjit Singh of Begha village have themselves come out in the field along with their families for timely sowing of paddy.

A hectic paddy-sowing activity was witnessed in the area after the rain. Farmers had not sown paddy in most of the region due to the lack of water. Even over six decades after Independence, the farmers are dependent on rain largely as irrigation through the canal system and tubewells was inadequate.

Sham Singh, a former sarpanch of Abdullian village, told a Tribune team that he had to feed farm labourers for nearly two weeks waiting for rain. “For 14 days, labourers were free as there was no rain. I saw them off as it was difficult to pay them wages without any work. But a couple of days after they left, rain gods have smiled. The delay has already caused us losses and now we have to pay more to the available labourers.”

Mohan Chowdhary, a Congress leader and a resident of Begha, said the farmers used to pay Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,400 per acre of paddy sowing. But now they have to dish out Rs 1,600 or more to for it.”

Close to the border, some farmers were seen ploughing land with cattle. “I don’t have money to hire a tractor. Moreover, it is impossible to find a free tractor now. I could not wait for long as rain has provided a perfect setting for ploughing and paddy sowing,” said Mukhtiar Singh of Ahmedian village.

Jammu, July 29
Maintaining that more than 50 per cent of the maize crop over 2.22 lakh hectares, besides other seasonal crops, including vegetables and pulses, have been damaged due to the delayed monsoons in the Jammu division, the Department of Agriculture today filed a report to the government aimed at compensating the affected farmers.

The department recently conducted a field survey following complaints over the fate of crops in the Jammu region. According to the report filed by the district official of the department, due to the unprecedented dry spell this year the maize crop had suffered heavy losses across the hilly terrain of the Jammu province. Maize is traditionally sown in districts like Gol, Ramban, Kishtwar, Doda, Udhampur, Rajouri and Poonch. The last year’s production of maize was 5.25 lakh quintals, out of which only 40,000 quintals was surplus. The surplus maize is generally produced by Rajouri and Poonch districts. Confirmed reports said due to delayed or no rains, farmers of Ramnagar, Doda, Basantgarh, Majalta block and Chennai did not even cultivate maize or any of the seasonal vegetables. However, farmers in Sunder Bani and Nowshera tehsil alleged that the department sold low-quality seeds to them as a result of which the maize plants had grown very thin despite the fields were sown repetitively for 2-3 times.

“Today, we submitted our report on the tentative assessment of farm losses to the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu,” revealed Vinod Bala, Director Agriculture.

“According to our field reports, more than 50 per cent of the maize crop has wilted,” she added.

Udhampur, July 29
Students of Government High School, Masso, in Paddar tehsil of Kishtwar district today staged a demonstration in front of the office of the tehsildar. Parents of the agitating students also joined the struggle against a shortage of teachers in the school.

Although there are sanctioned posts of eight teachers, only three have been appointed in this school with over 300 students.

As the agitating people were adamant on their demands, the tehsildar for the time being arranged one teacher for them and assured to deploy two more soon. It was only after this that the agitating people were pacified. They, however, warned that they would launch an agitation if their demands were not fulfilled within a fortnight.

Rajouri, July 29
Two days after two brothers--Rajat Sharma (8) and Rakesh Sharma (13)--strayed into POK, the Pakistani authorities handed them over to their Indian counterparts at a flag meeting held at Roshini post in the Mendhar sector of Poonch district.

After receiving the two, the Army handed them over to the police who, in turn, restored them to their family in Sarya village in the Jhangar sector of Nowshera here.

They had strayed into POK fearing punishment from their parents after one of the cattle (a buffalo) was injured in landmine blast near the LOC on Monday.

Jammu, July 29
The OPD services in the government hospitals across the state would remain affected tomorrow as the Doctors Joint Action Committee has decided to go for a one-day strike in favour of their demand for third pay band.

However, the emergency services would function as normal. Convener of the committee Satyainder Singh said: “Earlier, we called for a two-day strike on July 29 and 30 but with the intervention of Health Minister Sham Lal and Minister for Medical Education RS Chib, we have decided to observe only a one-day strike.” He said the strike call was supported by the Doctors Association, Kashmir, besides the Junior Doctors Association, Kashmir.