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Villagers panic as water accumulates
Shopian case
Outsiders woo Mahore youth to join militancy
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Appointment of 229 excise guards, class IV staff upheld
Bank staff go on 2-day strike
Sans pay for 4 months, SRTC workers protest
Protest over torture of Panthers’ leader
CCI chief Ram Sahai cremated
Supply position for Ladakh reviewed
Varsity staff suspend strike
Central varsity at Doda sought
30 students on educational tour
New exam dates
School timings changed
Panel to help women get loans
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Villagers panic as water accumulates
Gharana (Jammu), August 6 The bandhs built by Pakistan have blocked the natural drainage of water to its territory. Rainwater as well as excess water from the Tawi usually drains out through seasonal rivulets that flow into Pakistan. However, these bandhs have blocked the flow of the rivulets and natural drains causing water to accumulate and threat
of floods. The Tribune had reported a few days ago about the threat of floods due to these bandhs. The administration, however, has not taken any preventive action so far. The proposal of digging a drain to carry the excess water away has not been approved. Another visit to the Gharana wetland and adjoining areas revealed that water was accumulating in the fields. The pressure of water had grown to such an extent that a bandh erected by Pakistan collapsed two days ago. The Pakistan Rangers repaired it much to the chagrin of Indian villagers as the water level started rising again. “Our land is low lying. Rainwater on hills as well as in Jammu eventually flows down to this region. The area is bowl-shaped also with drainage dependent on seasonal rivulets that flow into Pakistan. These bandhs have blocked this natural drainage,” said Fateh Singh, a resident of Gharana village. Government officials said the situation was under control but admitted that regular rain could cause trouble. However, no official warning had been given to the villagers so far. Water has accumulated between both Indian and Pakistani forward posts. The Pakistan Rangers have made bunkers atop the newly erected bandhs thus insulating themselves from the rising water level. |
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Shopian case
Srinagar, August 6 Tauqeer Ahmad, Principal District and Sessions Judge, said it would be “premature” to grant the four officers bail as the investigation in the case was still on and bail to them could hamper it, as contended by the prosecution. The court’s decision brings an end to over a fortnight-long arguments between the prosecution and the defence as the latter contended that there was no material evidence against the four officials and the state was victimising them. The state government would heave a sigh of relief following the court’s order as the Assembly reconvenes tomorrow after a gap of seven days and the main opposition, PDP, is likely to embarrass the government over its handling of the Shopian incident. The prosecution said the accused officials were influential and could hamper the special investigation team probe into the alleged rape and murder of Neelofar Jan and Asiya Jan, who were found dead in a rivulet in Shopian on May 30, triggering 47-day- long strike and protest in the south Kashmir town. A judicial probe indicted the police for several lapses, leading to the registration of a case against all these officers and they were arrested on the order of the High Court. The SP and the DSP moved the Supreme Court against the High Court’s order and, though, the apex court objected to several aspects of the High Court’s order, including its direction to the police to arrest them, it refused to grant them bail, asking them to move instead the sessions court for the purpose. |
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Outsiders woo Mahore youth to join militancy
Udhampur, August 6 Due to prevailing poverty and unemployment, the Mahore area has become a breeding ground for fresh recruitments. The arrest of an overground worker (OGW) of the Anantnag area from Mahore tehsil of Reasi district has exposed the new strategy of the militant groups. Mohammad Shafi of Anantnag was nabbed by the Rashtriya Rifles in a remote village of Mahore
tehsil. Initially, the arrested OGW told security agencies that he was here in Mahore to meet one of his relatives. As Shafi’s activities were suspicious, the security agencies interrogated him and he disclosed that he had assigned the task of motivating the youth of this belt to join militant groups.
Shafi, a resident of Anantnag, crossed over to this side through the Pir Panjal range. Sources said it was still not known how many OGWs had come from Kashmir but it was true that some outsiders had been deputed in this belt. Peace to some extent has been restored in Mahore, which was once a considered as a stronghold of militancy. Meanwhile, the bullet-riddled body of a Gujjar was recovered from a forest area of Arnas this morning. Qasim Gujjar had been reportedly missing for the past three days. Militants had reportedly kidnapped him from his ‘dhok’ three days ago. Militants usually use these nomadic Gujjars as porters to carry arms and ammunition as well as ration from one place to another. After getting ration and ammunition dumped at safer places, they usually kill these nomads. |
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Tension in Nowhatta over death in custody
Srinagar, August 6 A police spokesman said Mehraj-ud-din Sheikh was found heavily drunk outside his house in the Nowhatta area in downtown Srinagar late last night and was taken to hospital where he died in the wee hours today. However, Sheikh's relatives staged a demonstration here alleging that he along with his neighbour Ghulam Qadir was taken into custody by the police last night and Sheikh was beaten to death. A group of protesters indulged in stone-pelting, prompting the shopkeepers to pull down the shutters, official sources said. The police fired a teargas shell and used batons to chase away the protesters. Denying the allegations of Sheikh’s relatives, the police maintained that he died due to excessive intake of liquor. “We had received a complaint that Sheikh and Qadir under the influence of liquor were creating problems for the residents during the evening hours. A police party rushed to the locality and found both of them heavily drunk and shifted them to nearby Rainawari hospital,” the police spokesman said. He said while Qadir responded to treatment, Sheikh’s condition worsened and subsequently he was shifted to Soura Medical institute where he died. “There are some vested interests who are bent upon creating trouble by spreading
rumours,” the spokesman said and advised people to remain vigilant. — PTI |
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Power cuts draw ire of Jammuites
Jammu, August 6 With the commencement of kite-flying season, many power lines had been damaged by the kites that which got stuck in electric wires. The Power Development Department (PDD) has appealed to the residents to avoid kite flying in the proximity of electric transmission lines. PDD chief engineer, Maintenance and Repairing Wing, Ajay Gupta said in order to avoid any untoward incident and also the damage caused to the power lines, people should fly kits away from electric wires and electric poles. He said on Raksha Bandan they had received a large number of complaints from different areas about the intermittent power failure, which was mainly of the kite flying near to the power lines. However, the residents of Shastri Nagar, Nanak Nagar and Sanjay Nagar had already faced 36 hour-power cuts due to some fault in the power transformer of the area and miseries. Indeerjet Singh of Nanak Nagar said: “We are facing a lot of problems due to power shutdown from the past two days. However, the department concerned seems less bothered towards our problems.” Similarly in other areas too, particularly in the Jammu west region, erratic power supply has increased woes of the residents. Sonia Sharma of Talab Tillo said: “There have been frequent power cuts for the past several days. We were hoping that with the completion of the Baglihar project, we would receive 24-hour power supply but our assessment proved wrong.” However, Ajay Gupta, chief engineer of the PDD, has assured a new transformer will be installed in the Nanak Nagar area till this evening. |
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Appointment of 229 excise guards, class IV staff upheld
Jammu, August 6 In 1998-1999, the then Excise Commissioner had ordered appointment of excise guards and other class IV employees while invoking the government order that empowered him to make appointments against the said posts. The controversial appointments were challenged in a batch of writ petitions, and the high court quashed the appointments in its judgement of July 5, 2000. On the dismissal of the Letters Patent Appeal of the state, the matter was ultimately argued before the Supreme Court, which dismissed it on September 16, 2004, with directions to the state to notify the vacancies and initiate the appointment process within six months. The apex court further directed the state to allow the litigating parties to continue in service till regular recruitment was made. Following the apex court’s order, the state constituted a state-level selection committee to fix the criteria for selections that was made public to ensure transparency. More than 47,000 applications were received for the said posts. Since the number of applications received were large in the proportion of 1:120 to the posts advertised, the candidates were shortlisted for interview. Three selection committees were constituted i.e State Level Selection Committee, Divisional Level Selection committees for Jammu and Kashmir divisions. After the completion of the selection process, the list of shortlisted candidates was published in newspapers on February 10, 2007, which was challenged in these 19 writ petitions. Justice Hali, after hearing a battery of lawyers for the contesting parties, dismissed the writ petitions holding that “when a large number of candidates appear and the shortlisting procedure is adopted, the selection by interview is not bad, provided such interviews are conducted scientifically. In the present case, there is no allegation that the interview was not conducted fairly. The vague allegations in the some of the writ petitions would not cause any doubt about the interview.” |
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Bank staff go on 2-day strike
Jammu, August 6 The strike was observed in protest against the Indian Bankers Association’s (IBA) rejection of the bank employees’ demand for a 17.5 per cent wage increase. The agitated employees have been demanding a wage revision, pension option and the creation of provisions for appointment on compassionate grounds. Earlier, the discussion between the IBA and the representatives of several banks unions held on August 4 remained unproductive, compelling the employees to strike work in their respective banks on August 6 and 7 across the country. Meanwhile, the staff of the Reserve Bank of India held a protest outside the RBI building at Bahu Plaza here today. They were addressed by Arun Kumar Gupta and Ashwani Pradhan, president and general secretary of the Jammu Province Bank Employees Federation, respectively, and Supen Kumar, chief secretary of the Reserve Bank Workers Union. The speakers reiterated their demands and expressed full support to the striking employees. They warned the IBA and the Central government that if their demands were not met forthwith they would intensify the agitation. |
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Sans pay for 4 months, SRTC workers protest
Jammu, August 6 Both wings of the SRTC Workers Union in Jammu and Srinagar held protests. Shakeel Ahmed Kuchai, chairman of the union, said, “Drivers of the SRTC are being laid off under GHS/VRS schemes. The Departmental Promotion Committee (DPS) has been reduced to a farce because employees who were promoted in year 2005 were again being promoted. While deserving employees had been denied promotions for many years”. He demanded a fair inquiry into the matter. The debt-ridden SRTC has not been paying salaries to the employees regularly. The SRTC will need Rs 331crore to pay 886 employees under the VRS/GHS. In year 2007, against a revenue of Rs 51.86 crore the SRTC’s expenditure was Rs 95.18 crore. The workers union protested for two hours today. On August 8, it would hold a protest again, and if it did not get a positive response by August 10, they would go on a strike. The union had planned a mass protest at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, and Vikram Chowk in Jammu. Meanwhile, the Managing Director of the SRTC was not available for comments. |
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Protest over torture of Panthers’ leader
Udhampur, August 6 As the police refused to register an FIR against their colleagues, the victim approached the court for registering a case against the cops responsible for beating Rehmat Ali throughout the night. Although police officers are tightlipped over the incident, reports said that cops in a mid night operation picked up Rehmat Ali, president of the youth wing of Kishtwar district unit of the Panthers Party. Family members of Rehmat Ali visited one police station after another but of no avail. This morning, members of the Panthers Party joined family members of Rehmat Ali and staged a demonstration. They staged a protest in front of the SP’s office. After the demonstration, the police brought Rehmat Ali who showed severe injuries on his body. He alleged that the police had tortured him throughout the night without any reason. He named the police officer who had tortured him with the help of other cops. Activists of the Panthers Party asked the police to register an FIR in this regard. As the police refused to register a complaint against their colleagues, Panther Party workers approached the court. |
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CCI chief Ram Sahai cremated
Jammu, August 6 Distinguished among those who attended the cremation were Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Tara
Chand, Finance Minister AR Rather, state BJP president Ashok Khajuria, DGP Kuldeep
Khoda, among others After eldest son Rahul Sahai lit the pyre of his father , Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed sympathy with the bereaved family. The last journey of a man, appreciated across the state and even in neighbouring Pakistan, brought life in the temple city to a standstill. Despite traffic diversions and keeping
Sher-e-Kashmir Bridge near Gujjar Nagar exclusively for VIP movement, several people couldn’t reach the crematorium because of traffic
snarls. Sahai, a business tycoon, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in his office chamber in Bahu Plaza here at 2 pm yesterday. Even as the police continues to probe all possible angles to unravel the mystery, official sources say truth would be known only after the FSL and autopsy reports are received. However, circumstantial evidence indicates it to be a case of suicide, they said, adding that a suicide note had also been recovered late last evening from a dustbin in Sahai’s office, citing some “personal problems”. Rocky, driver of the deceased, was the first to see Sahai lying on a sofa with blood oozing from his right temple. Besides Rocky, two others-a sentry and a guard of a BSNL tower (atop the CCI building), have been picked up for questioning. |
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Supply position for Ladakh reviewed
Srinagar, August 6 The minister directed the officers concerned to build targeted stocks of foodgrains for winter in Leh and Kargil districts by September 15. He called upon officers of the
SRTC, FCI & the CA&PD to maintain close co-ordination to ensure that the foodgrain stocking for winter in the Ladakh region was completed before the closure of the Srinagar-Leh road. He also directed for building adequate stocking in other snow-bound and inaccessible areas of the state viz.
Dachhan, Warwan, Marwah, Keran, Tangdhar, Gurez, Machial, Karnah, etc. so that people did not face any difficulties. |
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Varsity staff suspend strike
Jammu, August 6 Members of the advisory committee of the employees today met university registrar PS Pathania, who assured them that the matter of pay anomalies would be taken up with the government within a week. SS Heer, leader of non-teaching employees, said, “We have suspended the strike till August 20 on the registrar’s assurance that he would take up the matter of pay anomalies with the government.” |
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Central varsity at Doda sought
Udhampur, August 6 Students of Doda under the banner of the CVCUF today protested in support of the demand The students marched through the bazars of the town, shouting slogans against the government. Doda Student Forum president Salah-ud-Din Tahir said as universities had already been functional in Jammu and Srinagar , there was need to set up a university at Doda. He warned that if the demand was not fulfilled an agitation would be launched to make the government fall in line. |
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30 students on educational tour
Jammu, August 6 During the tour, the students would get an opportunity to see the national capital and various locations in western India, it said, adding that they would be accompanied by army personnel and teachers to ensure smooth and safe journey. The GOC stressed that this tour would enlighten the children about the country's vast natural and cultural heritage.
— PTI |
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New exam dates
Jammu, August 6 Earlier, the examination dates of these courses were postponed due to administrative reasons. Examination for MDP (second semester) would be conducted from August 11 to 28 and MDP (fourth semester) from August 11 to 29. Such examinations that were already notified to be held on or after August 110 shall be held as per the notified dates. Centre, timing and roll numbers of the candidate will remain the same. Paper of BEd Special Education (bi-annual examination, 2008) would be conducted on August 18 and 20. The examination of BEd (bi-annual session) old/new courses would be conducted on August 11 to August 20. |
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School timings changed
Srinagar, August 6 Any default on the part of private schools will entail action under rules, which may include de-recognition of such institutions. |
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Panel to help women get loans
Srinagar, August 6 The KWCC, started four years ago, aims at providing loans to the women so that they can set up their units to make jams, pickles, spices and other things of daily nature. “We are planning to give loans to more women,” says Nighat Shafi, KWCC chairperson, adding that, “We intend to increase membership as well from 700 at present.” |
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