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Bandh in Kashmir, Qureshi still critical
IT returns rise tenfold in valley
Employment policy unveiled
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Rajnish Custodial Death
No action yet against PAU hockey players
15 injured in road mishaps
Farm technocrats go on indefinite fast
School celebrates annual day
Exploitation of labour alleged
11 milk samples taken
Youth killed in shell blast
Medical camp organised Veterinary camp
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Bandh in Kashmir, Qureshi still critical
Srinagar, December 5 The condition of Qureshi, admitted to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, here was stated to be critical. According to the doctors attending upon him in the ICU of the institute, he received head injuries and was under keen observation. His condition would be further assessed after 48 hours by tomorrow evening. Qureshi had been shifted to the hospital near his Soura house after a murderous assault on him last evening. He was operated upon for about three hours and later shifted to the ICU. The Al-Nasreen had claimed the responsibility of the attack. All shops and business establishments here remained closed and thin traffic plied on roads. Agitated youths enforced a bandh and pelted the police with stones. At least 15 persons were injured in clashes in Nowhatta, Rajouri Kadal and Soura areas of the city. Protests were also held in Sopore town of north Kashmir, while a complete shutdown was observed in other major towns, including Kupwara, Handwara, Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian. The 65-year old Qureshi is a senior executive member of the Mirwaiz-led All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and has been a staunch supporter of the dialogue process. He heads the Peoples Political Front (PPF), a constituent of the APHC, and shot into prominence in 2000 when he mediated between the Hizbul Mujahideen and the then Union Home Secretary Kamal Pandey. The talks were held between senior commanders of the Hizbul Mujahideen and Pandey at the Nehru Guest House in Srinagar. This followed a unilateral ceasefire by the Hizbul Mujahideen, which, however, came to an end within two weeks. The APHC has been discussing the fresh offer of the dialogue process by the Central government following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Kashmir on October 28-29 last. Qureshi is known as a strong supporter of the dialogue process and a close aide of the Mirwaiz. Qureshi had also been among the APHC leaders led by the Mirwaiz who held meetings with Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh. He visited the PoK and Pakistan as a member of the APHC five-member delegation via the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road in 2005. With the eruption of militancy in early 1990, Qureshi was arrested in 1991 and released after about two years. |
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IT returns rise tenfold in valley
Jammu, December 5 Terming it as a successful step towards target achievement, Commissioner, Income Tax (J&K), BL Razdan said today that, “As compared to last year’s revenue collection of Rs 1.87 crore, we have realised Rs 21.58 crore till October-end this year.” Razdan said there was a lot of scope for further increase in tax collection both from the valley and Jammu. He, however, expressed apprehension over some of the lacunae that still existed in the tax payment structure, which gave ample opportunity for tax evasion by not filing returns properly. “We came to know that many government employees in the state don’t have PAN cards, due to which tax is not being deducted from their salaries. We also found that around 350 drawing and disbursing officers of various government departments do not have TAN numbers and do not upload their TDS statement with the department,” Razdan said, adding that the issue has been brought to the notice of the Chief Secretary. He said: “The ruling of the Income Tax Tribunal, terming the rebate given under various central excise refund packages to be included in the profit, has extended transparency in Income Tax Department’s working towards which small-time traders and big corporate houses were skeptical earlier. This has given a scope for a wider deliverance of business activities in the state in the right perspective,” Razdan said. He said to evade taxes many people had filed writ petitions in the High Court, which were dismissed by the court asking the industrial units to make prompt payment of taxes. After collecting data from various tax agencies, the IT Department has noticed that many tax payers have disclosed different amounts of annual income with different tax agencies both in Srinagar and Jammu. Razdan said the department had taken a serious note of the blatant understatement of business points and had asked the assessing officers to reopen all such assessments and levy penalties as per the provisions of the law to such violators. |
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Employment policy unveiled
Jammu, December 5 The state, which as of today has nearly 5 lakh registered unemployed youth, has only nearly one lakh jobs in the government sector. However, to deal with the nagging problem, Omar not only unveiled the comprehensive document, but also tried to provide some sort of succour to the unemployed youth in the form of voluntary service allowance for a period of three years, beginning April next year. The employment policy titled “Sher-e-Kashmir Employment and Welfare Programme for the Youth” would be exploring possibilities in the private and the public sector to provide job avenues to the youth. As far as the voluntary service allowance was concerned, it would be provided to the unemployed youth in the age group of 28-37 years and it would be effective from April 1 next year. However, amid back-breaking inflation, the unemployed from matriculates to postgraduate levels would be getting Rs 500 to Rs 1,100 for three years. But the allowance to the registered unemployed youth would not come free and the Planning and Finance Departments were working out the modalities to meet and generate revenue for the same. After elucidating the salient features of the document, Omar described it a step in right earnest by his government to look into the problem from a holistic point of view. “This policy is not a policy for government jobs. We touched upon every aspect of the problem from the quantum of unemployed youth, their qualifications, how many of them are males and how many could be helped,” Omar said. The Chief Minister felt that the mindset of having government jobs should be done away with and the youth should look beyond the government sector. Omar later gave the break up of the allowance for the youth starting from Rs 500 for matriculate, Rs 550 for class XII, Rs 600 for class XII with additional skill-based qualification, Rs 750 for class XII with additional professional qualification with a three-years diploma from a recognised polytechnic institution, Rs 900 for graduates and below postgraduation level, Rs 1,100 for postgraduates and engineering and medical graduates and equivalent levels in the field of computer science, technology and education. In case of females, there shall be an additional financial element of Rs 50 in all categories. Omar also made it clear to the internally displaced Kashmiri Pandits not to misconstrue the employment policy unveiled this evening with the one meant for them so as to see them return to the valley. |
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Rajnish Custodial Death
Jammu, December 5 “We will not give up till police officers from Srinagar and Jammu responsible for kidnapping and custodial killing of Rajnish are punished,” MSS core committee member Priya Sethi said in a press conference here today. Serving a three-day ultimatum on the Chief Minister to take action against the erring police officers, Priya said if the Chief Minister failed to act within three days, the MSS would approach the Governor. “And if the Governor, too, adopts same silence, the MSS will go to New Delhi and seek the President’s intervention,” she added. Till now we had been protesting in Jammu city only and if the Chief Minister didn’t take action, the MSS would carry out signature campaigns, protests in other districts, she said. Moreover, the samiti would approach women associated with political and social organisations and bring them under the banner of the MSS to make it vast and more representative soon, Shilpi Verma, another committee member, said. Priya expressed regrets over the lukewarm response of ministers hailing from Jammu. |
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No action yet against PAU hockey players
Jammu, December 5 Six players of the GKV hockey team were injured when the PAU players allegedly attacked them with sticks at the Vaishnavi Dham here yesterday. Neither the police nor the hosts of the North Zone Inter-University Hockey (mens) Championship, Jammu University, has taken any action against the accused. Notably, the GKV team was the defending champion and this clash rendered it out of the tournament this year. The host, Sports Department of Jammu University, after filing a complaint at Trikuta Nagar police station, is simply saying that it has done its job and will look into the matter after the tournament ends. On the other hand, the police is clueless and has not revealed anything in the case. “We have already informed the police and now it has to look into the matter. What else we can do against the accused players? We will surely take a hard action against the PAU team, but only after the conclusion of the tourney. Still, we are busy managing routine activities,” said director, Sports Department, Prof Dhian Singh Bhau. Bhau said the director, Sports Department, PAU, had apologised to him over the phone for the misbehaviour by their
university players. Vijay Chaudhary, SHO, Trikuta Nagar police station, said, “We have registered a case and are investigating the matter. So far no arrest has been made and no police party has been sent to Ludhiana to nab the accused.” The GKV team has returned to Haridwar after the incident. |
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Six SPOs hurt in cane charge
Jammu, December 5 As many as 250 SPOs, a majority of them had come here from Doda, Rajouri and Poonch districts, were protesting in support of their demand of recruitment without any physical test. The protesters blocked the Bantalab road around 11 am and raised slogans against the government. “We are already serving in the Police Department as SPOs, so we should be exempted from the physical test for recruitment in the CRPF,” Abdul Jabbar, an SPO from Doda, said. Bishnesh Kumar, SHO, Domana police station, said: “We requested the protesters to disperse from the road to allow vehicular movement, but they didn’t budge. We had to use a mild cane charge and nobody was injured.” Bishnesh said they tried to pacify the protesters, but the latter were in no mood to leave the road. Earlier this week, seven persons, including a personal security officer (PSO), of the Domana SHO, were injured when candidates at the BSF recruitment camp, mostly SPOs, clashed with the police at the Janipur check post, demanding jobs even after not clearing physical test. |
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15 injured in road mishaps
Jammu, December 5 All injured were admitted to the GMCH here immediately. A case has been registered. In other road accidents, 12 persons were injured. They were admitted to the GMCH, a police officer said. Three go missing
Halona and her son, residents of Gadigarh, have reportedly gone missing from their house on November 24. Arti Sharma, a resident of Ward No. 2, Chenani, has also been missing from her house since Thursday, the police said. Three consume poison
Pooja Devi, a resident of Kashmiri Basti Miran Sahib, Roma Devi, a resident of Nowshera, and Sunil Gupta, a resident of Shiv Nagar, have reportedly consumed poison, the police said. They were admitted to the GMCH, Jammu. A case has been registered. |
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NC leaders pay tributes to Sheikh Abdullah
Srinagar, December 5 Party president and Union Minister for New and Renewable Sources of Energy Farooq Abdullah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah led hundreds of NC leaders and workers to pay tributes to the leader. However, the coalition government led by Omar failed to come out with its much-talked about employment policy for the educated youth in the state on the occasion. It had earlier indicated that an employment policy would be announced on the occasion. The NC leaders, including Farooq Abdullah, his brother Mustafa Kamal, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, paid floral tributes to the Sheikh on his grave at Naseem Bagh, overlooking the Dal Lake. In his address, Farooq said the coalition government was making all efforts to fulfil its promises made to the people, especially the youth, of the state. He pointed out that all unemployed educated youth would not get government jobs in one go. Referring to the Kashmir issue, the NC president said all issues could be resolved through dialogue with Pakistan. The resolution of the Kashmir issue was necessary for peace and development in the state, he added. Describing youth as the future of the country who would have to face many challenges, Farooq asked them to embolden themselves by going through the lives of great leaders who changed the course of history of their countries with their hard work and dedication. He was later speaking on the 104th birth anniversary of Sheikh Abdullah at a function organised by the Directorate of Youth Service and Sports at Tagore Hall. |
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Farm technocrats go on indefinite fast
Jammu, December 5 “Our volunteers have decided to abstain from taking food and water till our demands are fulfilled,” said Surinder Radhotra, president of the Jammu and Kashmir Agriculture Technocrats Association (JKATA). The dharna marked by a chain fast started on November 16 and the protesters had given December 4 as the deadline. Four technocrats — Sanjeev Verma, Javed Ahmed, Rajneesh Singh and Yaqoob Ahmed — have reportedly started the indefinite fast. The protesting technocrats have been staging a dharna in front of the Press Club, Jammu. “We have earlier called upon CM Omar Abdullah and Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir. They had directed the adviser to the Chief Minister to expedite the process of regularisation of our services as junior agricultural assistants. We were assured that our demands would be fulfilled by July 31, but the assurance proved to be an eyewash,” said Radhotra. He rued that even after five months of assurance there was no hope in sight.
— TNS |
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School celebrates annual day
Jammu, December 5 Speaking on the occasion, the Governor described Nano Nagle as a florence nightingale in the arena of education, adding that her missionary work in the promotion of literacy was well-known all over the world. He said it was a proud moment for the school to remember Nano Nagle by presenting a programme, recreating glimpses of her life and mission. The Governor presented awards to the meritorious students of the school who had excelled in class X and class XII CBSE examinations during 2008-09. Principal of the school Rosamma, speaking on the occasion, highlighted the influence of Nano Nagle and the contributions made by the Presentation Congregation in the past two centuries. Minister for Revenue and Relief Raman Bhalla and Bishop of Diocese of Jammu and Kashmir Rt. Rev. Dr. Peter Celestine were the guest of honour. |
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Exploitation of labour alleged
Jammu, December 5 Kamgar Sena president Dimpy Kohli said in a statement that a sena team visited the industrial area and found that the factory owners in connivance with local contractors were denying various benefits to workers, that were granted to the latter under labour laws. Kohli said the workers were not being paid remuneration as per the Common Minimum Wage Act. “Even the ESI deduction or provident fund deducted from their wages are not being deposited in their accounts,” he alleged. He wondered why 12 workers were sacked by Euro Bond Limited recently. |
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11 milk samples taken
Jammu, December 5 The team visited the areas of bus stand, Jewel, Satwari, Digaina, Gangyal and Trikuta Nagar. A fine of Rs 2,225 was realised from the erring milk vendors. The team also visited Shakti Nagar and Resham Ghar areas, where they found that meat sellers had not fixed tinted glasses in their shops and realised Rs 600 as fine. Meanwhile, the team also impounded 12 stray animals and realised a fine of Rs 1,150 from their owners.
— TNS |
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Youth killed in shell blast
Jammu, December 5 Official sources said Ashok Kumar of Akhnoor died on the spot when the shell exploded near the BSF firing range in the Kaleeth area of Akhnoor, about 30 km from here, last evening. The sources said the shell exploded when Ashok, who had gone near the BSF firing range to collect scrap, picked it up. It may be stated here that several youths here in a bid to extract metal from shells so as to sell it in the market, risk their lives. |
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