Srinagar, November 7
Several persons, including a policeman, were injured in clashes in the Lal Chowk area following the mysterious death of a youth, whose body was recovered this morning.

The police resorted to lathicharge and lobbed teargas shells to quell the protest that had resulted in disruption of normal life throughout the area.

The body of Mohammad Maqbool Ganie, a resident of Saraie Balla, was found at his rented accommodation at Dobji Ghat, Maisuma. The body bearing injury marks was later sent for a post-mortem examination.

The news about the mysterious death of the roadside vendor sparked protests in the Maisuma locality where agitated youth started hurling stones on the police and vehicles. They said the man had been murdered and the culprits should be arrested immediately.

Shopkeepers shut their shops as tension gripped the area. The trouble spread from Maisuma to the adjacent localities of Lal Chowk, Budshah Chowk, Kokar Bazaar and the Residency Road, where all shops and business establishments were closed by the afternoon. Traffic also remained disrupted for sometime. It became normal only after more police personnel were deployed in the area and they chased the protesters away.

Jammu, November 7
Fifteen-year-old Mohammed Yasin Shah, son of SRTC employee Nisar Ahmed, was most vocal today while protesting against the state government as he could not appear in his board exams after being expelled from a school in Srinagar for non-payment of school fees.

Yasin, who along with his father had embarked on a tedious journey towards Jammu, had arrived here late last evening as over 1,000 employees from Kashmir valley came to Jammu to join their counterparts in the ongoing agitation.

“He had to appear for the board exams, but as I could not pay his registration fees he was expelled from his school in Raj Bagh, Srinagar,” Nisar Ahmed said.

The SRTC employees of both regions of the state have assembled in Jammu and have warned the state government to intensify their stir if it fails to fulfil their demands.

“After the darbar opens in Jammu on Monday we will give the state government three days and hold sit-in outside the civil secretariat on Thursday,” Shakeel Ahmed Kuchay, chairman of the SRTC Workers Union, told The Tribune.

He said: “The employees who have not received wages for the past several months have now landed in a do or die situation. Now we have come to Jammu and will only return after our demands are met by the government,” he said.

The employees of the SRTC, who came from valley, alleged that the state government had made arrangements to stop them from reaching Jammu. However, they reached Jammu either by foot or by private transport, he said.

“The Transport Department had threatened private transporters not to take us to Jammu, but we managed to reach here,” Bilal Ahmed, an SRTC employee, said.

The Command Council of the SRTC employees comprising of 17 members - eight from Jammu region and nine from Srinagar and Ladakh - today held a meeting and sought Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s intervention in the matter.

He said: “If Centre can bear losses of Rs 1,224 crore per year of the DTC and other 26 states abide by the RTC Act, then why our government asks us to make profits and earn our livelihood of our own?” Kuchay said.

Srinagar, November 7
Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah has said renewable sources like hydropower and sunlight need to be utilised for energy, especially in backward areas which face power shortage.

Addressing a public meeting near Shopian today, the Union Minister asked the district administration to explore the possibilities of establishing mini-hydel projects and identify areas for installing solar panels and come up with a detailed project report as early as possible so that his ministry at the Centre could take the required steps to help the people.

He was accompanied by Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats Ali Mohammad Sagar. On the occasion, cheques worth Rs 105 lakh were distributed among 400 beneficiaries under the IAY scheme.

Speaking on the occasion, Sagar reiterated the government’s commitment to develop Karewa-Shadab as a model village. He said it was the endeavour of the government to provide good roads, drinking water and medicare facilities to areas lacking such infrastructure.

He asked the people to avail benefits of the NREGA scheme and said the state government was successful in enhancing daily-wages under the scheme from Rs 70 to Rs 110 and would do its best to further increase it to Rs 150 so that people in rural areas get benefited and had an assured source of income.

Srinagar, November 7
A three-day Sufi Festival organised by the Academy of Art, Culture and Languages in collaboration with the Kashmir Sufi Society, the Departments of Tourism and Information and the Doordarshan Kendra, Srinagar, began here last evening.

Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah inaugurated the festival at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC).

Lauding efforts of the Department of Information, Farooq Abdullah said the contribution of the Doordarshan, radio and the academy in promoting art and culture was worth mentioning. He said he felt happy that the festival was dedicated to Sufi saints as existence in the valley was because of the blessings of those saints. He was happy to see the grand Mufti and Imams of various shrines besides a large number of people attending the spiritual function.

Secretary of the Cultural Academy Zaffar Iqbal Manhas said the initiative was taken keeping in view the fact that the majority of people in Kashmir believed in Sufi saints.

“Kashmir Civilization”, a video-cassette by Farooq Ahmad Renzu, Director Information, was released at the beginning of the festival.

Jammu, November 7
Even as the Central leadership of the BJP has been working overtime to arrive at amicable solution of Karnataka crisis, Chief Minister BS Yeddyuruppa today rushed to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine to seek divine’s blessing to face the challenge being posed by the detractors.

Dissidents led by Reddy brothers, namely Tourism Minister Janardhana Reddy and Revenue Minister Karunakara Reddy, have been demanding removal of Yeddyuruppa from the chair of Chief Minister. For the last one week, the BJP leadership has been holding meetings after meetings with the dissidents as well as with BS Yeddyuruppa to solve the crises, but the deadlock still persists.

In an unscheduled visit to the holy shrine Yeddyurappa along with five members of his personnel staff reached Shanji Chatt around 1.30 pm on the chopper and later started his yatra on ponny. At about 2.10 pm, Yeddyurappa along with his staff reached the bhawan and stayed their till 4.15 this evening. For about two hours Yeddyurappa performed special pooja in the holy shrine.

“We got information about Yeddyurappa’s visit only this morning but it was kept secret due to security reasons,” SDPO Bhawan Ranjit Singh told the Tribune.

Jammu, November 7
After the crashing of MI-17 chopper at Trungal in Doda district, the authorities have ultimately awakened from a deep slumber and decided to strictly monitor the areas where cables of the ropeway have been hung by locals to cross the Chenab river. A complete ban has also been imposed on carrying human beings in the trolleys.

Though the authorities have repeatedly made it clear that ropeway was hung with proper permission and there was no violation of rules, it is widely alleged that the chopper got entangled as the cables were not tied on the very spots where the permission was granted. It is pertinent to mention here that an Indian Air Force chopper was crashed at Trungal near Doda on October 30 when its rotors got entangled with the cable of the ropeway. All crew members were killed in the incident.

After submergence of the only bridge in the reserviour of the Baglihar hydro-electric project, the locals had erected ropeway to cross the Chenab river. The bridge, which connected Sheraj belt with Assar, was submerged in water three years ago, and since then the locals have been crossing the river either through ropeway or boats.

The Defence authorities have already announced a court of inquiry in this case. The civil authorities have also started an inquiry on their own and initiated some concrete steps to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future.

“We have decided to erect our own ropeway to carry passengers from one side of the Chenab river to other,” Doda Deputy Commissioner Sharief-ud-Din told The Tribune. He said those operating the existing ropeway had been directed not to carry passengers. The Deputy Commissioner said the project of erecting the ropeway with cables would be completed by December-end. In the existing ropeway only ration or other essential materials would be allowed to be transported to the Sheraj belt.

“Before the completion of the ropeway being erected by the government, the locals had to cross the river through boats,” the Deputy Commissioner admitted and claimed that work on the construction of the bridge from Trungal to Zangli was also going on.