Jammu, March 2
Nearly 35 college students were injured and 12 detained by the police in a cane-charge on a group protesting against the Jammu University authorities in support of their demand for concession in the three-year degree course syllabus here today.

Earlier, students of Government Gandhi Memorial Science College and SPRM College of Commerce boycotted classes and gathered in front of the science college.

Raising slogans,they started a march.Later,students of MAM College joined them at Vikram Chowk from where they marched towards the university campus.

The students held a demonstration in front of the Vice- Chancellor’ office. The protest turned violent when the police deployed there cane-charged them.The students pelted the cops with stones.

“Nearly 35 students were injured and some were arrested by the police. We were holding a peaceful demonstration and highlighting our genuine demand of syllabus curtailment. The authorities forced to make our agitation violent”, said a student leader. According to sources, a scuffle also took place between the protesting students and the university employees in which more than three employees were injured.

However, Registrar P.S.Pathania said the students were handed over to the police as they manhandled the university employees and broke the windowspanes of the administrative block. He said without meeting the authorities, the students ransacked the property. “We would lodge an FIR against the students who did this unlawful act”,he said.

Meanwhile, the Jammu University Teachers Association (JUTA) strongly condemned the stone- pelting incident Expressing sympathies with the injured employees, JUTA urged the district administration to take stern action against the guilty.

Srinagar, March 2
About six months after setting up a separate central university in Jammu, the Union Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry has identified land for the two universities in Kashmir and Jammu regions, while the academic programmes are commencing this summer.

The land for the Central University of Kashmir has been identified in the Tulamulla area of Ganderbal district, near here, while that for the Central University of Jammu in Samba district, informed sources revealed. However, a formal decision regarding the identification of land for the two universities was awaited, which was expected within a week, they added.

The decision had been taken following the visit of a high-level team of experts of the union government to the two regions recently. “Though the requisite area of 5,000 kanals is available at the identified location around Wakoora-Khurhama villages near Tulamulla in Ganderabl district, an additional chunk of 1,700 kanals is being acquired soon,” the sources said.

The Central University of Kashmir, which had been functioning from a temporary office here, would be starting six academic programmes from the session in July this year, Dr Abdul Ghani, OSD, administration, of the central university, said. These programmes include three masters degree courses and three research programmes in information technology, business administration and English language and literature.

There would be three masters degree programmes, M.Sc in information technology, MBA and MA in English and integrated M.Phil and Ph.D programmes in the three streams. The admission dates for these streams would be advertised soon, Ghani said.

While Dr Abdul Wahid Qureshi was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Kashmir after he had earlier taken over as the VC of the Central University of Jammu and Kashmir, other important recruitments were yet to be made. These include the appointments of Registrar and Finance Officer, for which interviews were being held on March 18 and 19, respectively. Several other vital decisions would be taken in the first meeting of the Executive Council scheduled for April 3.

After the Central University of Jammu and Kashmir was sanctioned among 15 such universities in the country in January last year, the identification of land, admission and recruitment process got delayed with the demand for setting up a central university in Jammu. 

Jammu, March 2
As members cutting across party lines created uproar in the Assembly today over the shortage of ration and discrepancies in Below Poverty Line (BPL) lists, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Qamar Ali Akhoon assured that only deserving people would get benefits of schemes meant for the poor and weaker sections of society.

Responding to the concern expressed by members,he said a fresh survey and re-verification of BPL lists would be conducted to exclude undeserving people who had managed to get their names included in the lists. Despite assurances of the Minister, Panthers Party MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia pointed out that instead of elected representatives, officers had been conducting re-verification.So, there were chances of inclusion of undeserving people. He demanded that public representatives be involved in the process.

Earlier, the shortage of ration generated much heat in the House as members tried to grill the Minister on the non- availability of essential commodities in government depots. The question was raised by PDP member Peerzada Mansoor Hussain.

Replying to queries of the member about the exclusion of a large number of deserving families from the BPL scheme, the Minister admitted that deserving families had been left out. He, however, stated that the Centre had fixed the quota of BPL families in the state which could not be exceeded. He, however, said the state government had constituted committees comprising officers of the CAPD, Rural Development and Revenue Departments with Deputy Commissioners and Tehsildars as the nodal authorities for carrying out the re-verification of the BPL population.

In his supplementary, Hussain pointed out that a number of undeserving people had been included in the list.Another PDP member echoed a similar viewpoint. In the meantime, members of the BJP also joined issue and demanded a special debate on the shortage of ration.

BJP Legislature Party leader Chaman Lal Gupta drew the attention of the Minister to a statement of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who, according to him, had himself admitted that there were discrepancies in the BPL list. He demanded that there should be uniformity in releasing ration. As most of the members from Opposition Benches were on their toes, the Minister intervened and assured to take effective steps.

Jammu, March 2
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court today kept in abeyance the ban on manufacturing of polythene bags in the state.

The order was passed by Justice Hakim Imtiyaz Hussain in response to a petition filed by JK Polythene Manufacturers and Traders Association against the government notice dated January 25, 2010, which imposed a ban on selling, manufacturing, storing and transporting polythene carry bags. However, in terms of the state government’s order of June 18, 2008, there was no ban on manufacturing polythene bags.

After hearing both the sides and going through the provisions of the JK State Non-Bio Degradable Material Act, 2007, and the June 18, 2008, order besides others passed by the competent authority, Justice Hakim Imtiyaz Hussain observed “there is no ban on the manufacturing of polythene bags by the competent authority.” He further said “till objections from the respondents, operation of impugned order dated January 25, 2010 so far it relates to manufacturing of the polythene bags shall remain in abeyance.” — PTI

Jammu, March 2
The Jammu & Kashmir Assembly today passed four Bills with voice vote. According to an official statement issued here, a Bill to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1961 was moved by Minister for Labour and Employment Abdul Gani Malik.

The Bill aims at making a provision for an appeal against the order of the Provident Fund Commission by the aggrieved employees within 30 days for review of the order.

Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs Abdul Rahim Rather moved a Bill to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2006.

The objective of the Bill, inter-alia is to avail the current year’s benefit of Rs 116 crore for bringing the fiscal deficit to 4 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

A Bill to prohibit benami transactions and the right to recover property held benami and for matters connected there with or incidental thereto was moved by Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Sagar.

The Bill seeks further curbing the menace of corruption in the state and inter-alia provides for acquisition of properties held benami and that too without the payment of any amount.

Sagar moved another Bill to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1997, which seeks an amendment to slash the rate of interest for arbitral awards to 6 per cent instead of existing 18 per cent.

Jammu, March 2
Five-year-old Monika, abandoned by her father here yesterday, was reunited with her family today due to the ‘efforts and persuasion’ of the police and the Child Line, Jammu.

When Monika was brought to the office of the Child Line this morning, she was visibly appalled to see her father Bin Bahadur, who had come to reclaim her. Her mother Budhi Shera broke down on seeing her and embraced her tightly. Monika spent the night at a welfare home, Neha Ghar, at Kachi Chawni yesterday.

“He (father) took me to Jewal Chowk yesterday and deserted me over there. He is abusive and beats me and my mother everyday,” said Monika looking at her father with scornful eyes. She added, “I won’t go out with him again.” Being unattended, the girl was located by a patrol party of Nowabad police station and handed over to the Child Line. However, Bin Bahadur said he had gone to get her something to eat when she went missing.

Officials at the Child Line maintained that Bahadur was addicted to drinking and habitually manhandled his wife and daughter. “We gave him counselling to treat Monika gently, besides admitting her to a school. He seems to be remorseful of his acts and will to mend his ways,” said OP Gupta, project coordinator of the Child Line.

However, the Child Line faced hurdles in arranging a shelter for the child. Since there are no child welfare committees for sheltering children in the need of care and protection, the Child Line has to depend on some welfare homes run by non-governmental organisations like Bal Niketan, Ambphala, Balika Niketan, Neha Ghar SOS Village, Gole Gujral, Home for Mentally Challenged Children, Channi Rama.

“These welfare homes usually run out of space and we have to plead for accommodation for the destitute child we find,” said Gupta. He appealed, “Such organisations should not deny admission to children as it’s a humane issue and needs a humane approach.”

In the absence of any policy for such children, authoritative sources maintain that the police entrusts such children to people, putting them at risk of unknown dangers. They disclosed that three destitute children entrusted to some welfare homes by the Child Line last year had gone missing. 

Jammu, March 2
The government has posted the names of Public Information Officers (PIOs) designated for each department under the state Right to Information Act (RTI) on its website for the information of general public.

According to an official statement issued here today, as part of government measures for the effective and transparent implementation of the RTI Act, the officers had already been designated for each department at district, divisional and state levels and anyone interested in seeking information could consult the designated officer of a particular department.

The designated officer would facilitate the required information to the person (s) seeking it under the RTI Act. The procedure for applying for the required information is provided under the RTI Act.

Jammu, March 2
Putting daily commuters to inconvenience for almost an hour, nearly 70 employees of the Excise and Sales Tax Department blocked the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway at Lakhanpur, 87 km from here, this afternoon.

The employees, led by a senior sales tax official, were protesting against the alleged interference by the police in their daily work.

Trouble erupted this afternoon when a police party impounded a truck near the Basohli Morh check post and seized over four quintals of poppy straw from it.

The vehicle, moving to Punjab from Srinagar, had allegedly been cleared by the Excise and Sales Tax Department from a weigh bridge, at least 300 metres behind the check post, where the police impounded it.

“Acting on information that contraband was being smuggled in the truck, we stopped it near a railway line at Basohli Morh, just near Punjab border, and seized over four quintals of poppy straw. The employees of the Excise and Sales Tax Department objected to it,” a police officer posted at Lakhanpur told The Tribune.

Though we confiscated the contraband and arrested truck driver Javed Ahmed Bhat of Awantipora, the employees started shouting slogans against us and blocked the highway, he said.

The officer also divulged that on February 27 an excise sub inspector was booked by the police after he allegedly took a bribe of Rs 800 from an overweight load carrier reflecting less weight in its record to allow it entry into the state.

The excise SI had caused a loss of Rs 2,000 to the state ex chequer and hence was booked by the police, he said.

However, a senior advocate and former president of the Lakhanpur Municipal Committee, Sushil Gupta, said the excise and sales tax employees held daily commuters hostage by blocking the highway.

“For their illegal act of blocking the highway, they should be booked under Section 341 of RPC,” he said.

Ten days ago, Gupta had moved an application before the Kathua DC seeking his attention towards alleged irregularities and malpractices at Lakhanpur -- the gateway to the tourist state -- where every vehicle had to remit toll and other taxes while entering or leaving the state. On an average, 2,000 trucks alone enter or leave the state from Lakhanpur.