Srinagar, February 10
The bodies of 17 Army personnel, including Lieut Prateek, killed in an avalanche in Gulmarg on Monday, were sent to their native places by two special flights of the IAF from here today.

A special flight carried four bodies to Jammu and four others to Chandigarh, said defence PRO JS Brar here today. The four bodies sent to Chandigarh included that of two Army personnel from Amritsar and one each from Ropar and Kullu.

The other nine bodies sent to Delhi by the special IAF flight included that of two each from Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, and one each from Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Manipur and Nepal.

The 17 Army personnel were killed and an equal number injured when an avalanche hit their camp at Khilanmarg in the upper reaches of Gulmarg during a training course at High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS).

Meanwhile, according to the Met Department forecast, light rain or snow is likely to occur at isolated places across the state during the next 24 hours. The valley and its upper reaches witnessed moderate to heavy snowfall during the past five days, which also led to the disruption of traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, the lifeline of the valley.

Meanwhile, Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir visited High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) in Gulmarg and expressed his deep sorrow and grief over the loss of precious lives in the avalanche incident in the Gujar Hut area. At least 70 Army men were buried under the avalanche. In the tragic incident, 17 Army men were killed and 17 injured, while rest were rescued.

An official spokesman said the Minister was briefed by Colonel Vijain and Colonel Shekhawat of HAWS about the incident and rescue operations.

They said 14 of the rescued Army men had resumed their duties. The injured were admitted to the 92 Base Hospital and are out of danger.

The Colonels appreciated the role of the civil administration for extending all possible assistance during the rescue operation and said the Tourism Department, GDA, the police and the district administration swung into action and pressed latest snow cutter and snow grooming machines due to which minimum casualties
were caused.

Jammu, February 10
Even as Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has stoutly denied any factionalism in the Pradesh Congress, his day-long visit in the winter capital has boosted the morale of the anti-Saifuddin Soz lobby within the party.

A faction within the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) headed by Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand has been continuously boycotting functions organised by the pro-Soz lobby. The detractors of Soz own their allegiance to Ghulam Nabi Azad.

A senior party leader of the anti-Soz faction told The Tribune that Azad’s visit had boosted their morale as they have been virtually sidelined by the party leadership in state. “We will accelerate our activities to strengthen our faction,” he said and asserted that in the days to come the dissidents would organise public meetings at all districts.

During the past four months, the anti-Soz faction has stepped up its activities throughout the state. This faction has been playing safe as in every function, the detractors have been praising UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Ghulam Nabi Azad. This faction has already exhibited its strength by organising massive rallies in different parts of the Jammu region.

Meanwhile, buoyed over Azad’s visit, this faction today organised a meeting to chalk out a future course of action after the decision of the official body to close membership drive. “We have already distributed membership forms of our workers in different parts of the state, and in today’s meeting it was decided that the same forms would be collected and dispatched as soon as possible,” former Minister Abdul Gani Vakil said.

Vakil claimed that senior leaders of the party participated in the meeting and discussed the issue of membership drive.

Jammu, February 10
The PDP today alleged that the shortage of ration in government depots was the result of rampant corruption and nepotism in the state government.

Addressing a function to felicitate newly-elected party office-bearers of Jammu district, vice-president of the PDP Trilok Singh Bajwa said the miseries of people had increased manifold after the Congress-NC combine came to power in the state. The PDP leader pointed out that the government was formed without any programme and policy and instead of solving basic problems of common masses, leaders of both parties were fooling people by making false promises.

Highlighting problems of farmers, Bajwa said the government had been adopting anti-farmers policies and not solving their problems. He maintained that during the last one year the NC-led regime had not taken any step for mitigating the miseries of people.

“What to say of solving problems of people, this regime has compounded the woes of people due to its wrong policies,” he observed.

Party general secretary Balbir Singh said the present dispensation was one of the most corrupt and anti-people regimes of the state. He said the government was committing blunders which the previous NC regime committed during 1996 to 2002. “One year performance of this regime shows that this government is only concerned about media publicity,” he alleged. All promises made by the NC during the Assembly elections remained only on paper, he added.

Jammu, February 10
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had a miraculous escape after an alert driver of his official vehicle detected that the vehicle’s engine was on fire near Samba on the Pathankot-Jammu National Highway late last night.

The political adviser to the Chief Minister, Devinder Singh Rana, who was travelling in the same vehicle, told The Tribune that the timely detection of smoke coming out of the engine saved their lives, as they stopped the vehicle and came out of it.

He said the incident took place when Omar was returning from Kathua after attending the marriage ceremony of the daughter of Congress MP from Udhampur Lal Singh.

The sudden action by the driver of the vehicle caused panic, as the Chief Minister’s cavalcade consisting of many vehicles screeched to a halt. The Special Security Guards surrounded Omar and cordoned off the area, as they thought it was a militant attack. An accompanying team of doctors also rushed to enquire about the Chief Minister’s wellbeing.

Sources said the smoke was billowing out of the engine and the vehicle was burnt partially. However, the fire was extinguished later.

Rana said, “The cause of fire is being investigated.” He added that “it was our luck that a major tragedy was averted”.

The Chief Minister and other senior leaders and bureaucrats in the state had been receiving militant threats and the possibility of any anti-national element behind the incident could not be ruled out.

Interestingly, the state police is denying the incident with the Samba and Kathua police insisting that no such incident happened in their area.

Ragbir Singh, SSP, Samba, said, “We are not aware about any such incident in the Samba police area.” When this correspondent told the SSP that Rana had confirmed the incident, he said, “The Chief Minister and his political adviser surely know more than us.”

Garibdass, SSP, Kathua, said, “I was also part of the Chief Minister’s cavalcade and personally saw him off at Kathua district boundary with our cars driving at a speed of 110 km/hour late last night. Till then nothing wrong had happened and after that I can’t say anything.”

Jammu, February 10
A local court today granted bail to a journalist of a national Hindi daily, who was arrested by the Gandhi Nagar police yesterday while allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from a businessman of Bishnah,the police said.

The accused posed as Chief Commissioner of Income Tax of Amritsar division and tried to extort money from Ravi Kumar, a fire cracker trader of Bishnah.

An inspector of Gandhi Nagar police station said: “The journalist had been calling the businessman on his cell phone for the last 4-5 days from different PCO booths and demanded money to save him from an income tax raid on his premises. He was arrested after laying a trap”.

Jammu, February 10
Emphasising the need for rooftop rainwater harvesting and protection of springs in the state, delegates from various departments today arrived at a unanimous consensus to think about household water security and conjunctive use of surface, ground and rain water.

At the Central Ground Water Board’s (CGWB) one-day workshop on rooftop rainwater harvesting and spring recharge in the state, principal secretary of the Public Health Engineering, Irrigation and Flood Control Departments AK Angurana said time had come to think about household water security and conjunctive use of surface, ground and rain water.

Similarly, Dr SC Dhiman, member (SML) of the CGWB, accorded importance to the implementation of rooftop rain water harvesting in the hilly state. He pointed out that springs and rivulets were the lifeline for the people dwelling in the hilly areas.

Earlier, Arun Kumar, regional director of the CGWB, introduced the theme of the workshop to the delegates and gave a brief address regarding the role of the rooftop rain water harvesting and spring recharge in boosting the economy of the state.

During the technical and scientific session, discussions were held on topics like methodology of implementation of rooftop rain water harvesting, efficient and scientific management practices for ground water utilisation, proper development and management of springs, including protection of their recharge zones in high hill areas.

Jammu, February 10
Governor NN Vohra has called for promotion of collaborative research projects by all Universities of Jammu and Kashmir for optimal utilisation of infrastructure and resources, with the larger objective of achieving speedy economic development of the state. He was addressing the valedictory session of the three-day 5th JK Science Congress at Jammu University here this evening.

Vohra stressed that such a collaborative approach would help in reducing the time and cost of research projects. He added that we need to focus on the application of research findings to boost agriculture, forestry, fish farming, floriculture, horticulture, vegetable cultivation, animal and sheep husbandry, water supply, healthcare and other critical sectors, which have greater and immediate relevance for the people and the state.

He said such a strategy would not only revolutionise the economy, but also generate employment avenues. He also referred to the serious consequences arising from climate change and the need to address such challenges immediately in a scientific and sustainable manner.

He emphasised that the focus of research must also cover the indigenous design and production of much-needed diagnostic and treatment equipments by effectively utilising the research outcomes as in many cases instruments and gadgets procured from abroad were expensive, and lead to escalation in the cost of treatment. Referring to biotechnology and nanotechnology, the Governor said these had tremendous applications in the varied sectors and need to be encouraged and popularised. He observed: “There is no resource constraint for undertaking such projects but what is required is to ensure their imaginative and optimal utilisation.”

Referring to the Science Congress, he stressed that there was need to encourage and enable participation of more scholars and researchers from the remote areas like Kargil, Leh, Doda, Rajouri, Poonch and such other far-flung pockets so that they were able to pursue science as a career.

He also presented awards to the young scientists for their best paper presentations. He interacted with each of them, enquired about the field and findings of their research and its application. He congratulated them and wished them a bright career ahead.

Jammu, February 10
The ongoing strike of college students in support of their demand for a concession in the syllabus of the three-year degree course entered its sixth day today.

Students of various city colleges have been boycotting the classes and holding demonstrations against the university authorities under the banner of the Jammu Joint Students Federation (JJSF).

Explaining their demand, the students alleged that due to the late declaration of the results of Part -II exams by the university authorities, the academic session of Part -III started late because of which colleges failed to complete the syllabus.

Pratap Singh Jamwal, state vice-president of the JJSF, said either the university authorities should give us an open choice or reduce the syllabus. He said during the previous year, the situation of college students was the same due to the Amarnath agitation and the university granted open choice to the students during the examination.

The university authorities maintained that they had not received any information in this regard from the colleges so far. Calling the strike of the students as inappropriate, R.D. Sharma, Controller, Examinations said: “Students should follow university rules and regulations. They should present their demand through their principals.” The Controller added: “We came to know about their demand today when they held a protest on the campus. Yes, they have a problem and we well look into the matter.”

While accepting the late declaration of results,Sharma said that when students adopted the path of strike, they only harmed themselves.However, one of the college principals said the demand of the students was genuine as the result of part II was declared late.

The Principal said the university had to take a decision in this regard and when it invited college heads for discussing the issue, they would present all facts and figures.

Meanwhile, students of various colleges boycotted classes today. 

Jammu, February 10
The recently formed group of Kashmiri Pandit organisations has urged the government to ensure the release of salaries to displaced employees urgently so that they do not face any problem in celebrating Shivratri.

At a joint meeting held here yesterday, the organisations expressed concern over the delay in the release of funds to some departments by the government for the payment of salaries to displaced Kashmiri Pandit employees on Shivratri.

They said the government ought to airlift the number of employees belonging to the community who were stranded due to the closure of the National Highway.

They further said the government, on priority, should take all the necessary measures for making available essential commodities in the market keeping in view the requirements of Shivratri.

The members also dwelt on the issues that had serious political and strategic implications.

Jammu, February 10
The health wing of the Jammu Municipal Corporation today destroyed about 20 kg of stale food as part of the anti-adulteration drive.

According to a statement issued here, during the drive, the team checked 60 establishments in various areas under the provisions of the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954, and the J&K Municipal Corporation Act, 2000.

An amount of Rs 3200 was realised as fine on spot from the defaulters. The team also seized 8 kg of polythene carrybags.

Meanwhile, the enforcement staff of the corporation removed encroachments from the JDA market.