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PM: Centre to help speed up state’s economic revival Sonia invokes Indira’s special ties with valley SRTC staff pin hopes on Cabinet meeting 3 seized hard discs sent to forensic lab Fake Membership |
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Braving cold, thousands attend PM’s rally 23,000 B.Ed aspirants appear for counselling Chib elected researchers’ body president
Lecturers hail govt decision College students boycott classes Explosion rocks Bhaderwah Ex-servicemen’s rally held Meeting of board staff, management inconclusive
Student federation
holds protest
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PM: Centre to help speed up state’s economic revival Srinagar, October 28 He said this while chairing the high-level meeting of economic reconstruction and revival of the state at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) here this evening. The Prime Minister said all Union Ministries were coordinated to clear all pending projects and issue expeditious approval and sanctions wherever required without any delay. While admitting the need of power particularly during winter months, the Prime Minister announced additional power allocation up to 500MW for the state. He further said the state would get approximately 1,000 MW of power more from all such units which are at various stages of construction. Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister of State in PM’s Office Prithvi Raj Chouhan, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister TKA Niar were present, besides the Chief Minister along with his Cabinet colleagues, advisers, Chief Secretary and other top-level civil officers were present in the meeting. The Prime Minister while appreciating the importance of Mughal Road and conservation of world famous Dal Lake, announced approval of the road’s revised cost of about Rs 640 crore and Rs 350 crore for the rehabilitation of Dal and Nagin lakes. He said Rs 125 crore had been earmarked specially this year for upgrading urban infrastructure in important towns of the state. The Prime Minister, while appreciating the presentation made by the Chief Minister on the PMGSY, announced that Rs 227 crore additional funds would be provided to cover land acquisition costs under the scheme. He also approved Rs 235 crore as counterpart funding for ADB-II projects for the state. While appreciating the points raised by the Chief Minister for addressing unemployment problem in the state, the Prime Minister said the state government had rightly emphasised the question of increasing employment and employability among the youth. The Prime Minister said the Centre would readily support any initiative in this sector and should work shoulder-to-shoulder and involve a large number of youth in constructive nation-building activities. He said as part of the All-India Initiatives, the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs would enroll, deploy and manage around 8,000 youth from the state as volunteers every year with honorarium of Rs 2,500 per month.
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Sonia invokes Indira’s special ties with valley Wanpoh (Anantnag), October 28 Sonia in her brief address in Hindi did not make any direct reference to the much-publicised talks with the separatists, but said all differences could be sorted out through dialogue. “You in large numbers participated in Assembly and parliamentary elections and showed the world your faith in democracy,” she said. Touching an emotional chord, Sonia said Indira was in Kashmir on this very day in 1984, three days before her assassination, and “she might have had a sense of foreboding and come here to say her last goodbye”. She said Kashmir had a special place in Indira’s heart and it was fortuitous that the completed rail line was being inaugurated today on the very day 25 years later she came here last. Indira’s accord with Sheikh Abdullah in 1975 had paved the way for a long era of peace in Kashmir, though it later invited strong reactions Sonia mentioned developmental projects going on in the state and said the inauguration of the rail line was historical not only for the people of the state, but also the whole country. The Union government had done its best to give pace to development, she added. The UPA chairperson later inaugurated a coffee-table book, which traverses the pictorial journey of the Northern Railways in Kashmir. |
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SRTC staff pin hopes on Cabinet meeting Jammu, October 28 “We have asked the state government to take up our demands and address them in the coming Cabinet meeting in
Srinagar, failing which we would intensify our stir,” said Paramjeet Singh, general secretary of the SRTC Employees Union. He said after four rounds of negotiations between the government representatives and the union leaders the government had accepted that the demands of employees were “genuine”. In the recent meeting, the government had agreed to pay salaries for three months to the employees. But the employees were demanding the release of two months’ salary only and the remaining salary along with the implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. The employees had also alleged the SRTC had not deposited in their accounts their contributions towards GP and CP funds deducted from their salaries for the past 10 years. They had also been demanding the constitution of a departmental promotion committee to look into the pending cases of promotion above the rank of booking manager. The employees want a one-time settlement of their demands and a written statement from the government to end the impasse. “If the government says the corporation is running in losses, it should take control of it and declare it a government department,” Ashok
Mehra, president of the union, said. Meanwhile, the SRTC employees held a protest at Bikram Chowk in Jammu today, demanding the immediate fulfilment of their demands. |
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3 seized hard discs sent to forensic lab Jammu, October 28 Journalist Farooq Ganai, son of a former NC minister, had allegedly been supplying secret information to the Pakistan’s Field Intelligence Unit (FIU) via a news agency being run by him at Nowabad here. BL Bhat, Special Judge under the Enemy Agents Ordinance (EAC), had yesterday extended Ganai’s police remand by another 10 days. He was arrested last week under Section 74 of the Information Technology Act, 3 Enemy Agents’ Ordinance and 120-B, RPC. Though Ganai had been in touch with Pakistan’s ISI for the past couple of years, he was getting Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 every second week for the past one year, a senior police officer told The Tribune. He had received around Rs 8 lakh so far through illegal means via Western Money Transfer, added the officer. Being an Internet savvy man and a professional journalist good at taking pictures, he had been supplying secret information regarding the movement of security forces, location of defence installations to the enemy country, the officer said. He claimed that Ganai had also passed on maps of garrisons and the Kashmir rail link to the FIU. “We have sent three hard discs of as many central processing units of computers to the FSL, Hyderabad, so as to retrieve and decipher the data,” the officer added. He said Ganai had been shifted to the Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) today where he would be subjected to intensive questioning by the police and other secret agencies. The journalist hails from the Dooru area of Anantnag district in the valley. Meanwhile, official sources said on information supplied by Ganai about the location of Indian troops on the border, the ISI used to shift terrorists to various launching pads on its side so as to push them at an opportune time. |
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Fake Membership Jammu, October 28 As it is not possible to check the credentials of all new members, senior party leaders have assigned the job to randomly verify identities of those who have been enrolled by the party activists. Insiders in the BJP told The Tribune that during the meeting which was convened by Manohar
Lal, North India in-charge of the party, to review the progress of the on-going membership drive, verification in-charge of all districts were directed to
seriously verify credentials of those who have been enrolled as new
members. Manohar Lal, while cautioning the party workers against enrolling fake members, made it clear that the party leadership would verify as many as new members to make it sure that the membership drive would be completed in its real spirit. To make it sure that only genuine people were enrolled members, the party this time had created two additional columns in the membership forms and made it mandatory to mention landline as well as
mobile numbers of the new members. The verification team has assigned the job to randomly contact these new members through their phones to verify their credentials. State president Ashok Khajuria is himself heading the verification team for Jammu district, while party general secretary Bali Bhagat has been assigned the job of Udhampur and Reasi districts, Pawan Khajuria for Kishtwar and Doda districts, Ranjit Singh for Samba and R S
Pura, Dr Nirmal Singh for Kathua and Pawan Gupta Ramban district. Sources in the party said keeping in view the forthcoming election of the state president of the party, factions within the BJP had been trying to enroll maximum members to maintain their dominance in the mandal committees. Interestingly, it was all due to the constitution of the verification team that the membership drive had been going on at snail’s pace. Earlier the membership used to be completed within a month after releasing of forms, but this time three-and- a- half months had already passed and the process was still incomplete. |
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Braving cold, thousands attend PM’s rally Wanpoh (Anantnag), October 28 An enthusiastic Omar Abdullah remarked as he surveyed the audience that it indeed appeared that situation has changed in the valley and it was for all to see. As the fear of gun has receded, though by no means finished, people seem more inclined to listen to their leaders irrespective of their ideologies. “I voted for the PDP in the Assembly elections and did not vote in the Lok Sabha elections. I wanted to hear what the Prime Minister thinks about our concerns and I am happy for whatever he said,” Bilal Hassan of Anantnag said as he left the venue after the rally. One pleasantly striking aspect of the crowd was the large participation of youths. Kashmir’s new generation is largely viewed more alienated from the mainstream than its previous generation. Taking over of Omar Abdullah as the Chief Minister might have been a factor for their participation. And it was his name that invited biggest cheers from the crowd as names of all participating leaders were announced from the dais again and again before they finally arrived. People were carrying flags of the Congress and the NC and kept raising slogans despite being kept at a long distance from the venue for security concerns. |
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23,000 B.Ed aspirants appear for counselling Jammu, October 28 As many as 23,000 candidates from outside the state are competing for around 5,000 seats. Apart from these 5,000 seats, 15,000 seats are reserved for local candidates. “There are around 20,000 seats available for this course and so far, 14,800 seats have been filled, while 5,200 are still vacant,” RS Dalpatia, assistant registrar, Jammu University said. Last year around 4,000 local candidates took admission in this course. This time the figure has increased slightly as 5,200 local candidates have taken admission in the course so far. “I appeared thrice for the entrance test in Rajasthan but could not qualify that. Here I can get admission in the course without giving any entrance test,” Sanjay Charniya from Rajasthan said. The university is also providing on the spot admissions to the candidates. Saleem Khan, an aspirant, said: “Every year we have number of vacancies in teaching profession in Rajasthan due to which a large number of students are opting for the course.” |
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Chib elected researchers’ body president Jammu, October 28 Chib secured 20 votes, whereas his rival Ajay Taloor got nine votes. Similarly, Babita got 23 votes, whereas her opponent Renu Gupta from the Education Department got six votes. Among others who were elected unopposed to the executive committee included Javed Iqbal (treasurer), Kuldeep Raj Sharma (general secretary), Anupa Sharma (organising secretary) and Sunil Sharma (joint secretary).
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Lecturers hail govt decision Jammu, October 28 According to a statement issued here today, president of the Forum HD Qureshi said the minister had made commitments for judicious decision in favour of all incumbents working in the pay scale of Rs 8,000 to Rs 13,500 (pre-revised) for placement in pay band-III in accordance with the recommendations of the SL Bhatt Committee. He said the delegation met the minister under the leadership of MY
Tarigami, MLA Kulgam. |
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College students boycott classes Jammu, October 28 A delegation of the students later called on Deputy Commissioner GR Bhagat and sought his intervention in resolving their problems. They also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner and gave him a week’s time for redressing their grievances. The students boycotted classes this morning and held a demonstration demanding the removal of encroachments from the college premises. They also demanded basic facilities like a library, a laboratory and a sports complex in the college. The protesting students later marched towards the office of the Deputy Commissioner and staged a dharna there. Traffic remained disrupted for more than four hours due to the students’ protest. Later a students’ delegation called on the Deputy Commissioner and apprised him of their problems. Bhagat assured them that their problems would be resolved within a couple of days. It was only after his assurance that the students decided to resume classes from tomorrow. Bhagat told The Tribune that the Assistant Development Commissioner (ADC) and the Assistant Commissioner Revenue (ACR) had been directed to visit the college and resolve the encroachment issue within three days. “As far as other problems are concerned, I have brought all issues before the Education Department authorities,” Bhagat said. |
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Explosion rocks Bhaderwah Jammu, October 28 Reports said an explosion took place in the restaurant of local Broadway hotel located in the heart of Seeri Bazaar at 4.30 pm. The blast was so powerful that most of the widow panes of the hotel and adjoining shops were smashed. Locals immediately rushed to the spot. Fortunately not even a single person was sitting in the restaurant when blast took place and the staff members were in the kitchen. A team of explosive experts rushed to the spot and sealed the entire area after collecting splinters. “Restaurant staff told the police that before the blast two youths were sitting in the corner where explosion took place. After having tea, both of them left the restaurant about 4.15 pm,” police sources said. After the blast shopkeepers down their shutters and raised slogans against the authorities. A large number of local youth also joined the protesting shopkeepers and demanded arrest of the culprits involved in the blast. DIG Doda-Ramban range Deepak Kumar told the Tribune that initial investigation suggested that crude bomb with detonator was used in the explosion. |
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Ex-servicemen’s rally held Akhnoor, October 28 The rally was inaugurated by the GOC 16 Corps. In his inaugural remarks, the GOC 16 Corps reiterated the commitment of the Indian Army towards supporting welfare schemes and measures for improvement and uplift of ex-servicemen and veer naris of the region. The rally was attended by 563 ex-servicemen, which included 36 retired officers. The president of the Jammu and Kashmir Ex-servicemen League, the president of the Rajya Sainik Board and the director of the ECHS informed the ex-servicemen about various schemes and programmes being organised for their benefit by the government and other organisations. The rally aimed to address relevant issues pertaining to health services for the ex-servicemen and acquaint them with various schemes and plans for enhancing their quality of life post retirement. The ex-servicemen and veer naris were informed about various welfare and financial schemes available, pension related information, functioning of the Cross Sword Ex-servicemen helpline, Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) and other service opportunities after retirement. |
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Meeting of board staff, management inconclusive Jammu, October 28 The association decided to continue the strike till its demands were met and a written assurances was given by the management. As per a statement issued by the Housing Board employees, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, who is also the chairman of the Housing Board, had assured them that their demand regarding the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission would be met. Meanwhile, the association held a protest outside the office of the Managing Director of the board in Gandhi Nagar today. The employees also decided to hold a massive protest rally on October 31. |
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Student federation holds protest Jammu, October 28 According to a statement issued here, the protest was led by Partap Singh Jamwal, state vice- president, JJSF. Addressing the gathering, Jamwal said the Prime Minister had visited the valley under the pressure of separatist leaders.He said the state and central governments should solve the Kashmir issue without involving separatist leaders. |
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