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Centre-State Relations
Inconclusive, says PDP
Foundation for four roads laid
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Need for well-researched books, says Vohra
Christmas
Submission of report raises eyebrows
Focus to be on scientific investigation
Supersession of bank board
Meritorious students get scholarship
Disaster Management
NCC prepares for R-Day
‘Wattan-Ki-Sair’ flagged off
31 bovine recovered
16 injured in bus mishap
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Jammu, Ladakh parties reject Working Group’s report
Dinesh Manhotra Tribune News Service
Jammu, December 24 The National Conference (NC) has termed the recommendations as a vindication of the party’s stand and asserted that the autonomy document prepared by it was the only solution of the Kashmir problem. In an informal chat with mediapersons, Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather has termed the recommendations as a vindication of their stand. Keeping in view its support base in all three regions, the Congress reacted cautiously. “It is unwise to react on the recommendations before going through the full context of the report”, spokesman of the PCC Ravinder Sharma told The Tribune. He, however, assured national interests would be safeguarded. Chairman of the Ladakh Union Territory Front (LUTF) and former Lok Sabha member Thupsang Chewang, who was one of the members of the Working Group, questioned the authority of Justice Sagir Ahmed in submitting the recommendations. “Without holding a final meeting of all members of the group, how Justice Sagir Ahmed can submit the report”? he questioned and warned that such irresponsible acts to appease the separatists would prove disastrous. “We would oppose this report tooth and nail”, Chewang told The Tribune over phone. Rejecting the recommendations, the Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir termed these as unrealistic, prejudiced, biased and anti- tribal. Haji Shamsher Ali Boken, state president of the J&K Gujjar Bakerwal Joint Forum said the recommendations were manipulated and were against the wishes of the tribals of the state who constituted more than 25 per cent population. Dubbing the recommendations as one-sided, discriminatory and communally- biased, the state BJP has warned that such suggestions would force the people of Jammu and Ladakh to demand separation from the Kashmir valley. "Justice Saghir seems to have acted more under the influence of the UPA and National Conference led-coalition government in preparing the report", state BJP president Ashok Khajuria said and pointed out that the report had been submitted without taking members into confidence. The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) has termed the report as rubbish, outdated, stinking and anti-people and managed at the behest of the National Conference to justify its manifesto. JKNPP chairman Bhim Singh while rejecting the report appealed to all parties, intellectuals, students and youth to oppose it. The Jammu State Morcha (Progressive) has strongly condemned the report and termed it as biased against the people of Jammu and Ladakh regions. Ex-convener of the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (SAYSS) Leela Karan Sharma, while dubbing the report as a fraud on the Constitution, exhorted the people of Jammu and Ladakh to come on the streets and launch a mass movement.
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Foundation for four roads laid
Jammu,December 24 Taken up under NABARD, the proposed roads are projected to benefit 50,000 people living in 23 villages of the area. The minister also inaugurated the Kawbagh link road completed at a cost of Rs 44 lakh. MLA, Ramban, Ashok Kumar, MLC Naresh Kumar Gupta, and senior engineers accompanied the minister. Addressing a gathering after lying the foundation of the roads, Saroori said a massive plan had been devised to connect all inaccessible villages, particularly in the hill areas. He said no development was possible without proper road connectivity and added that the number of roads coming up under various schemes like NABARD, Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Central Road Fund (CRF) would have far-reaching impact on the socio-economic condition of the people of the three mountainous districts. The minister said road projects delayed due to procedural formalities were being taken up on fast track after clearance, including that from the Forest Department. He asked engineers and officers of the Forest and Revenue Departments to conduct a joint survey of such roads to ensure early clearance for execution of work. Saroori also instructed deputy commissioners to expedite payment of compensation to land owners whose land had been acquired for construction of roads. |
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Need for well-researched books, says Vohra
Jammu, December 24 He was speaking at a function where he released a book, “Mystic land of half moon, Ladakh” ,this evening. The book has been authored by Dr Ashok Jerath. The Governor said various chairs had been set up in the universities of the state which must sponsor writing of such books by reputed historians and writers. He suggested that the universities should also take up research projects through senior students and scholars for producing authentic materials. Referring to the tourism sector, the Governor observed that there was an imperative need for producing informative materials aimed at tourists. On the occasion, Prof Lalit Magotra presented a review of all the 14 chapters of the book running into 161 pages. He said the book vividly depicts the enchanting natural beauty, geography, people, culture, monasteries, festivals, food habits and architecture of Ladakh region with graphic details. He complimented the author for writing a well-documented book about Ladakh and its people. |
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Governor, CM greet people
Tribune News Service
Jammu, December 24 The Governor hoped that such auspicious occasions would help further cement the bonds of communal harmony, brotherhood, amity, secularism and high traditions of pluralistic ethos for which Jammu and Kashmir was known for centuries. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also felicitated the people on the eve of Christmas and described it as an appropriate occasion for the mankind to remember the lesson of peace, love, brotherhood and non-violence.
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Submission of report raises eyebrows
Jammu, December 24 While parties and state analysts questioned the wisdom behind the move with the local media claiming the group had lost favour with the Prime Minister’s Office and that the timing of the submission of the report suited the National Conference the most, a member of the Working group said the chairman could not submit the report to the Prime Minister because of his ill-health. “He is bed-ridden in Lucknow due to which he couldn’t move to Delhi to submit the report to the Prime Minister. Hence, he authorised his secretary, Ajit Kumar, to submit the report to the Chief Minister,” the member said. He said the Chief Minister would submit the report to Dr Manmohan Singh in a few days.“It would have been a breach of the protocol if the secretary had submitted the report to the Prime Minister,” the member maintained. The Prime Minister had formed five working groups in May, 2006, after the second roundtable conference on the Kashmir issue to study various aspects. |
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Focus to be on scientific investigation
Jammu, December 24 The state police is hopeful of curbing terrorist activities next year through modernisation, better training, field tactics and intelligence gathering . The state police is working hard to make the police personnel, computer-savvy as they plan to link each and every police station in the state.“We would focus more on scientific investigation, synergy and coordination between all the forces to target the militant commanders as it gives better result and severe blow to the terror outfits,” says Director-General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Kuldeep Khoda. With the help of field intelligence and killing of militant commanders, the security forces have been able to keep a check on terror activities. 2009 has been a year of achievements for the security forces. “It was due to better coordination and synergy that there was remarkable decline in the civilian casualties.There was all-time low terrorism related violence, minimum casualties of the police and highest killing of terrorist commanders,” Khoda said. Maintaining that the number of terrorists operative in the state were around 700, he said terrorism was abetted, calibrated and controlled by the ISI as the infiltrators got arms, ammunition and funding from across the border. Till the end of November this year, the security forces eliminated 235 terrorists in the state out of which 50 to 60 were commanders. Thirteen militants also laid down weapons in front of the security forces. The situation is slowly but steadily improving as seven battalions of the CRPF and 10 battalions of the BSF were relocated besides two divisions of the Army comprising 30,000 men moving out of the state. In the Jammu region, there has been no terrorism related incident in the past one year, the last being a militant attack in the Chinore area in August 2008.However, infiltration attempts were made wherein 80 terrorists were gunned down. The police this year had to see lots of ups and downs as an officer of the rank of SSP was arrested in connection with the Amandeep murder case. “Our aim is to provide clean and professional police and we have been taking remedial measures for the same,” Khoda said. |
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Supersession of bank board
Jammu, December 24 The Board of Directors of the Citizens Co-operative Bank Ltd, Jammu, had challenged the impugned order dated December 21, 2009 passed by the Registrar, J&K Co-operative Societies, Jammu, on the ground that the entire proceedings were initiated by him under Section 67 of the J&K Co-operative Societies Act, 1989 with mala fide approach at the behest and at the instance of vested interests as similar proceedings stood already held and nothing concrete was found against the working, business and management of the Bank. Counsel for the Board of Directors of the bank further contended that the tone and tenor of the show cause notice virtually manifested the mind of the Registrar having taken the decision of superseding the board and the issuance of show cause notice was merely a formality and the impugned order was in sheer violation of the principles of natural justice. The Board of Directors sought the setting aside of the order, dated December 21, 2009, with the annulment and revision of the proceedings conducted by the Registrar. |
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Meritorious students get scholarship
Jammu, December 24
The Minister said in the release that to facilitate the students with regard to the scholarship and to provide them the assistance, a full-fledged minority section has been created in the Directorate Office. The objective behind this is to provide assistance and necessary support to the students under a single window. In the coming days we are going to involve the district offices to provide the necessary assistance to the students at Tehsil level. The objective of this scheme is to encourage the parents from the minority communities to send their children to colleges, lighten their financial burden and to sustain their financial burden. |
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Doctors to get specialised training
Tribune News Service
Jammu, December 24 Health Minister Sham Lal said this at the valedictory function of a three-day-long workshop on “Integrating Hospitals Safe from Disasters” here yesterday. The minister said the state happened to be in the seismic zones IV and V that involved comparatively higher damage risk in the wake of any eventuality. He urged the organisers to hold more such workshops and educate more professionals about disaster management. Over 100 delegates participated. They included doctors, police officers, engineers, officers from the fire and emergency services, Civil Defence, the Red Cross Society, NGOs and civil administration. Speaking on the occasion, experts from different fields advocated that the new construction of hospital building must conform to earthquake and other disaster- resistant technologies. They also stressed for establishing mobile hospitals to deal with the disaster-like situations.
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NCC prepares for R-Day
Nagrota, December 24 Colonel Malook Singh, Group Commander, NCC Group, Jammu said,
“In addition to drill competitions, the cadets will also take part in various cultural and national integration related events.”
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31 bovine recovered
Jammu, December 24 Giving the details, a police officer said acting on a tip-off, a party intercepted the trucks in Ramban. The accused were identified as Nassir Hussain, son of Mohd Abdullah, a resident of Mehalpur Simbal; Gafoor Ahmed, son of Bashir Ahmed Khan, a resident of Kachwan Kukernag; Manzoor Ahmed, son of Kabir Bhat, a resident of Bankoot Banihal; Abdul Rashid, son of Mohd. Sharief Gujjar, a resident of Kasi Patta and Balkar Singh, son of Ajit Singh, a resident of Amritsar. A case under Section 188 of of the RPC was registered against the accused. |
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16 injured in bus mishap
Jammu, December 24 The police said the driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a curve. A police official said the injured were taken to District Hospital, Rajouri, from where one of the injured was referred to Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu. |
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‘Wattan-Ki-Sair’ flagged off
Jammu, December 24 The students will visit Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Amritsar during the tour. Addressing the function, Khoda said the 60 students were from different educational institutes of remote areas of districts Kupwara, Baramula, Bandipore and Ganderbal. The group was accompanied by an SP, an inspector, an ASI and a medical assistant. Khoda said the students would visit various historical places, including Parliament House, Red Fort, Qutab
Minar, Ziarat-e-Nizam-u-Din, Museum, Zoo, Appu Ghar, Rajghat, India Gate, Pargati
Maidan, Connaught Place, Metro Ride, Delhi University, Jamia Masjid, Common Wealth Stadium sites, Lotus Temple and Birla Temple from December 25 to January 1. |
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Jammu, December 24
Nagrota, December 24
