Jammu, March 9
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is projected as a “revolutionary step” for the benefit of neglected and marginalised lot of society. However, its functioning has been badly affected in the state due to a lack of staff. Although the government has sent some officials on deputation, the staff is inadequate at grassroots level.

The government has admitted in an official handout that deficiency of staff has been creating hurdles in the implementation of NREGA scheme. A large number of posts of engineers and village-level workers have been lying vacant in the Rural Development Department (RDD) and this shortage of staff is the real cause of the scheme’s non-implementation.

The government has identified 1,394 positions of supporting staff in different districts of the state. Out of these, 649 posts have been filled through contractual employment and the process of filling rest of the posts has started.

As far as the filling of posts of village-level workers are concerned, the government claims to have started the process under the recruitment rules. Besides, the government has decided to engage technical assistants and gram rozgar sevaks and other staff on contract.

In many parts of the state, the scheme has been badly affected or yet to take off for the want of staff. Besides, wages being paid to the labour is another reason for the non-implementation of the scheme. Earlier, Rs 70 per day was being paid to labourers, but now the wages have been enhanced to Rs 110 per day.

According to officials, Rs 139.81 crore has been received during the current financial year ending January 2010. Out of this, Rs 9,974.92 lakh has been spent so far. Doda, the most backward district of the state, has received maximum amount i.e Rs 1610.53 lakh for NREGA scheme and out of which Rs 1,540.23 lakh has been spent by the end of January. In the whole state, 83.59 lakh man days work was generated till January and 6,23,238 job cards were issued out of which 49,162 cards were issued in Doda district alone.

Jammu, March 9
Ghulam Hussain, alias Titru, (67) of Haveli, Poonch, carries a bagful of bravery and commendation certificates wherever he goes. Issued by the Indian Army and other authorities related to counterinsurgency and militancy, the certificates are his life’s earning. But no matter how much the glorified piece of paper can make him happy, they don’t fill his stomach.

A poor example of how civilians fighting militancy should not be treated, Hussain has broken his 19-year-long silence on the ill-treatment meted out to him seeking befitting remuneration for him and job for his children.

The certificates tell a tale of bravery and acknowledgement of how he was instrumental in arrest and killing of scores of militants. But in a severe insurgency-hit state, where nabbing each militant is worth thousands of lakhs, he got a reward of Rs 100.

“I was silent for all these days as I was told that militants would kill me. How long I will suffer in silence? Now I want to make it public how people like me are bullied and betrayed,” an embittered Hussain said.

After having worked as intelligence operative, his family has been living in shadows after militants in a revengeful attack blasted their native house at Gontrian. In another incident, terrorists, who were after his life, shot dead four of his relatives few years ago.

“As part of secret missions, I had been to Pakistan a number of times leaving behind family members fending for themselves,” he revealed.

Flipping through a file, he pulled out several certificates. Remarkably, one such certificate awarded by the Criminal Investigation Department, Jammu, on July 12, 1990 reads: Sanction is hereby accorded to the grant of commendation certificate class III with cash reward of Rs 100 in favour of Ghulam for commendable job done by him in getting some terrorists apprehended.

Another certificate given by The Punjab Regiment in November 1991 endorses: Ghulam Hussain has been an excellent person who has remained loyal and dedicated to the cause of nation. He has rendered valuable service and help to the Army during the recent confrontation with Pakistan in Kirni village. He is totally dependable, reliable and can be entrusted with any task. A sincere and hardworking person who is simple and decent. A sober person with clean habits and is an asset to the village. The Army can rely on him for any task.

“My sons were not recruited even as porters in the Army. What could be more embarrassing?” he said with teary eyes and added, “What I did was patriotism, but what will you name it what the country has been doing with me. I fail to convince my family”.

Hussain wants to meet UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. “Rukhsana, who killed a militant last year, also belongs to my community,” he said and added: “There are many more like me who battled militancy. They also did not get anything but death at the hands of militants”.

Jammu, March 9
Despite having 500 authorised outlets in three districts of Jammu, Kathua and Samba and an online system in place, CellOne subscribers have been facing a tough time in paying their bills.

“I have been coming to the BSNL office here at Rani Park from the past two days, but every time I had to return without paying my bill because of long queues,” said Ashwani Sharma, a BSNL subscriber.

“Though BSNL counters open at 8 am and work till 8 pm with half-an-hour lunch break, constantly rising number of BSNL subscribers continues to compound our problems,” he added.

Similarly, long queues could be seen at Rani Park and Gandhi Nagar, the two other BSNL offices which accept bills, but here also subscribers have to face the same problem, said Sharma, a hardware businessman.

I cannot afford to stand in queues for long hours just to pay my bill and hence the BSNL Authorities should open more counters across the winter capital to cope up with the rush, he added.

“It’s like undergoing a harrowing time to deposit bills at the BSNL counters, so now I deputed my peon for the purpose,” said Ajay Gupta, a grocer.

At the Exchange Road sub-office of the BSNL though the employees do accept bills, only one counter for CellOne subscriber is not sufficient to tackle the rush, he added.

The two other counters, one for senior citizens and the other for landline bill remittance, serve no purpose to CellOne subscribers, said Gupta who felt that not more than two bills from a single person should be accepted by the authorities at the counters.

Some people, might be commission agents, come here with a bundle of bills and once their turn comes at the counter, others have to wait for hours together, he said.

When reminded about the online system and 500 outlets authorised recently, he said: “Online system don’t serve a purpose to a person like me who is not computer savvy and these outlets don’t issue a receipt”.

However, Sandeep Sarwanker, BSNL’s General Manager (mobile), J&K Circle, said in the wake of rising number of subscribers, over 500 outlets of STD/PCO owners have been authorised in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts to collect bills from CellOne subscribers.

“Subscribers can deposit their bills at no extra charges at these outlets and they get a SMS from us informing about the remittance of their bills, but they don’t get a receipt from these outlets,” said the official. The money paid at these outlets gets reflected in the account of subscribers, he added.

Meanwhile, considering the huge rush of subscribers at its counters, authorised outlets and congestion at its online system, the authorities have extended the due date of the last month bills of CellOne customers to March 11.

Srinagar, March 9
The Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages has announced the prestigious Best Book Awards for 2009-10 in nine languages, including Urdu, Kashmiri, Dogri, Pahari, Gojri and Punjabi. These awards would be given by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and president of the academy soon, said Zafar Iqbal Manhas, secretary of the academy.

Renowned Kashmiri poet and short-story writer Amin Kamil has got the award in Kashmiri language for his poetic collection “Yim Maine Sokhan”, while in Dogri, “Lalla Ded”, a Dogri adaptation of the story of Lalla Ded, by Ved Rahi has made it to the award.

In Urdu, the award has gone to “Mera Rakht-e-Safar” by Tarannum Riyaz, and in English, “Kashmiri Folklore” by Farooq Fayaz has been found eligible for the award.

“Rang Rutan Gulzar” of Sabir Mirza and “Jaan-e-Gazal” of Jan Mohammed Hakeem have got the award in Pahari and Gojri languages, respectively. In Punjabi, “Band Darwazey Da Birtand” by Harbhajan Singh Sagar and in Hindi, “Me Samunder Hi Ho Sakta Tha” by Shyam Bihari has got the highest literary award of the state.

In Ladakhi language, the award has gone to “Gan Shar Sems Ki Melong” by Tsering Chospal.

Under the awards, the academy gives away Rs 51,000 each to the best books written in languages enshrined in the constitution of the Jammu and Kashmir and to those recognised by the academy such as Kashmiri, Urdu, Pahari, Balti, Gojri, English, Dogri, Hindi, Ladakhi, and Punjabi, Manhas said.

“In response to our notice inviting entries for the award, we had received 22 books in Kashmiri, 19 in Dogri, five in Pahari, four in Gojri, 13 in Hindi, eight in English, 25 in Urdu, two in Ladakhi and eight books in Punjabi,” he informed.

Apart from the languages spoken in the state, the best book award for English language has gone to a Kashmir University teacher, Farooq Fayaz for his book “Kashmir folklore - A study in historical perspective”.

Jammu, March 9
A large number of families affected by militancy presently camping at various places in the region, including Talwara in Reasi district, are without relief for the past one year or even more.

At Talwara, migrants from Doda, Reasi, Rajouri and Mahore have been camping. Migrants from within Reasi are without relief since December 2009 whereas Doda migrants have been awaiting relief since December 2007. Similarly, Rajouri and Mahore migrants have not received any relief since August 2009.

Officially, these migrants are entitled to a cash assistance of Rs 400 per head subject to a remuneration of Rs 1,600 per family, besides ration, including nine kg of flour, two kg of rice per month, 10 litres of kerosene per family and cash assistance of Rs 300 per cattle.

Nine-year-old Kajal squatted near the chullah while cooking meals on firewood falsifying the claims of the administration that these migrants do not accept kerosene. Her family has been migrated from Doda.

“During the rainy season, we do not get dry wood to burn. We do have a stove but cannot afford kerosene,” said Kajal.

When this correspondent visited them, Kajal’s mother was away working at a nearby nursery run by the Department of Social Forestry. His father cannot work due to poor health. Her family is yet to get any sort of relief from the administration.

“Who wants kerosene these days? The migrants have switched to gas stoves. In other districts, migrants get kerosene,” said Relief Commissioner (Migrant) Vinod Kaul, adding, “After migration, migrants have ceased rearing cattle, so they do not need fodder.”

Pawan Kotwal, divisional commissioner, said in Reasi district, the migrants got kerosene. However, he expressed ignorance over the status in rest of the district headquarters like Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri, Poonch and Udhampur.

Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din, chairman of the erstwhile Doda Migrant Committee, contradicting the claims of the administration, said kerosene and cash assistance for fodder was not given in any of the districts.

He said: “The ground reality is that we do not get any relief in the form of kerosene and fodder money and this means that it goes to some other pockets”.

“I ask the administration to pay surprise visits to shelters of migrants. If you find LPG cylinder in any of the home, terminate the migrant status of the family forthwith,” he said.

One such migrant, Soam Raj, who survived more than a 12 bullets fired by militants, said: “Our relief is far lesser than Kashmiri Pandit migrants. This is against the apex court’s ruling. Just to make our relief seem equal on papers, the administration has made a provision for kerosene and fodder, but the fact is we do not get anything other than Rs 1600 and ration (without sugar)”.

Officially, nearly 1,000 families have been classified as militancy-affected migrants in the Jammu province. Even though the Supreme Court has directed that these migrants should be treated on a par with Kashmiri Pandit migrants, they do not even get half of the relief provided to KP migrants.

Meanwhile, Thajur Sher Singh, tehsildar, Reasi, said: “The relief that we disburse comes from the Relief Commission (Migrant), Jammu. The delay is on their part. We have notified the commission.”

“Within the next few days, more installments of relief would be disbursed,” he added.

Srinagar, March 9
Tithwal, a picturesque village on the banks of the Kishan Ganga River, was ravaged by an earthquake on October 8, 2005 throwing the lives of 1,400 persons out of gear, while exposing them to extreme hardships.

The impact of the earthquake was so devastating that it not only destroyed houses, but also resulted in disruption of water, electricity and road connectivity. While the Army and the Civil Administration evacuated people by air, the village lay in ruins. The government, the Army and the local people rose to the impending challenge to develop Tithwal into a modern 21st century village, a defence spokesman said.

He stated that various projects were undertaken in consultation with village elders, which resulted in Tithwal village of prosperity today. School facilities have been upgraded, including computerisation, which has enriched 66 students studying there. A 63 KVA transformer and two 35 KVA generators have been installed, besides 15 solar power lights that electrify the streets at night to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity. Water supply scheme has been enhanced with three water pumps and 19 water storage tanks with 5,000 litres capacity each.

The Tithwal Community Development Centre imparts training and means of livelihood to women through handicrafts, tailoring and embroidery. The centre also has a library and a computer training school, which is appreciated by children. For entertainment, an Amphi theatre with a capacity of 150 seats has been constructed where movies are regularly screened.

Health care scheme includes a health centre staffed by the State Health Department and an ambulance, besides construction of public toilets to improve hygiene and sanitation of the village. It is good to see children in park and sports stadium playing games.

Tithwal is now a model village, which clearly demonstrates the resolve of all stakeholders to overcome challenges and strive to make their village a better living area for the future of their children.

These days former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has been trying to set up his party’s base in the Jammu region. As his party, the PDP, has emerged as the single largest party in Kashmir, he has diverted all his attention towards this part of the Pir Panchal range.

Besides highlighting achievements of his government, the Mufti has also been trying to develop emotional relations with people of this region.