Jammu, March 17
The issue of inter-district recruitments today rocked the state Assembly as several MLAs, demanding a ban on the process, created a furore in the House. Jammu-based MLAs, on the other hand, countered the demand and warned the government against banning the recruitments.

Amid pandemonium, House marshals removed two MLAs -- Abdul Haq of the PDP from Lolab and Abdul Rashid Engineer, an Independent from Langate- from the Assembly following directions from Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone. As soon as the proceedings started this morning, Abdul Haq took up the issue and asked the government to table the recruitment Bill, which was referred to the select committee, in the House. Engineer, along with Saifullaha Mir and Nizar Gurezi of the NC, also joined issue.

While the NC members were shouting from their seats, Haq and Engineer tried to enter the well, but were stopped by the marshals. “The Bill has already been prepared by the government. It should be tabled in the House,” shouted Haq.

Engineer, who was also raising slogans, was repeatedly directed by the Speaker to behave properly, but he continued to create trouble. “You are speaking in the Legislative Assembly, not in the chowk of Lalgate,” the Speaker repeatedly told him. The Speaker ultimately asked the staff to marshal him out of the House.

In the meantime, PDP member Abdul Haq again came to the front row. The staff was again directed to marshal him out also. When the marshals were taking two members out of the House, other PDP MLAs also resorted to shouting slogans against the government. They trooped in front of the Speaker and tried to enter the well. As they were not allowed to enter, they resorted to shouting slogans.

“I will not allow this House to become a platform for cheap politics,” the Speaker warned the PDP members. He especially mentioned the name of the PDP MLA from Bijbehara, Abdul Rehman Veeri, and asked him not to indulge in cheap politics. “You are an expert in cheap politics, but your graph will not rise by creating pandemonium in the House,” the Speaker told Veeri.

When they were not allowed to enter the well, all PDP members staged a walkout. After PDP members, two NC members stood up and tried to corner the government on the issue. In the meantime, the supporters of the process countered the demand.

They shouted that those demanding a ban on inter-district recruitments were anti-Scheduled Castes (SC) and anti-Scheduled Tribes (STs). “We will not allow this Bill to be passed in the Assembly as the proposed amendment will snatch the rights of weaker sections,” shouted Ashwani Sharma of the JSM. The order was restored in the House only when the Speaker assured a discussion on the issue and he also recalled two members, who were marshalled out of the Assembly.

Jammu, March 17
Nearly 144 truckloads of foodgrains, mainly rice, of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in Jammu and meant for Srinagar never reach their destination. The government admitted this in the state Assembly today and the figure pertained to the year 2008. However, this figure could go up as records of 2009 were under scrutiny.

With one truck carrying just nine tonnes of foodgrains, the loss to the public exchequer is estimated to be several crores of rupees. Records state that some of the trucks were shown to have reached the destination, but time consumed was six months from Jammu to Kashmir.

These vehicles have been shown dispatched from Jammu to Kashmir for the FCI godowns located in different areas of the valley. Interestingly, most of the ‘missing’ trucks were carrying fake registration numbers and even then foodgrains were loaded on these vehicles. Some trucks, which were also dispatched from godowns in Doda, have also gone ‘missing’.

Although Consumers Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Minister Qamar Ali Akhnoon admitted in the Assembly today that 144 trucksload of foodgrains (equivalent to 1.29 million kg)at stores in Jammu did not reach FCI godowns of Kashmir division, sources said the number was more than the officially admitted by the authorities as investigation into only records of 2008 had been completed so far. MY Tarigami, MLA of the CPI, had asked the query regarding the embezzlement of foodgrains.

“There is possibility of the involvement of some local businessmen in the scam, as foodgrains meant for FCI godowns are unloaded in Jammu only,” an officer of the FCI told The Tribune.

The Crime Branch of the state police has registered a case in Srinagar in this regard and started investigations.

Further inquiries by The Tribune revealed that some of the missing trucks , which were recovered later by the officers of the department concerned, had actually unloaded foodgrains in the stores of the Kashmir valley after six months of their departure from Jammu. “It was only after the registration of trucks that some of these reached the destination,” the sources said.

Interestingly, none of the officers of the FCI were ready to discuss the matter with the media. “We cannot disclose the exact numbers about missing vehicles to the media,” said Deputy Manager of the FCI, Jammu. Even senior regional manager of the FCI Farooq Khan had shown his helplessness in giving the exact number of missing vehicles. He gave the phone number of one of his subordinates, who refused to give any details.

Although investigation is still going on, the initial probe has established that 144 trucks did not reach FCI godowns in Kashmir division. The minister said the initial investigation of the year 2008 records revealed that 144 vehicles, which were dispatched to Kashmir, did not reach the FCI godowns.

The minister too did not rule out the possibility of foodgrains sent to the FCI godowns being sold on the black market and freight charges drawn from it fraudulently in connivance with the FCI officials. “The Crime Branch has reported that it has come to light that a huge quantity of foodgrains has been embezzled by the FCI officials,” Akhoon admitted in a written statement in the Lower House. 

Jammu, March 17
Despite issuing 8,299 arms licenses in the past three years in four districts of Jammu and Kashmir, the issue of arms licence today boomed in the Upper House.

Firing a volley of supplementary queries, PDP and NC legislators brought to the fore what they claimed glaring examples of how deputy commissioners have been denying issuance of arms licence to the people.

“Deputy Commissioners of Anantnag and Samba, in particular, have been denying arms licences to the people citing prohibition by the government,” said PDP MLC Nizam-ud-Din Khatana.

NC legislator Altaf Ahmed Wani said the guns taken back by the people in remote areas during militancy were not returned to them even today.

Similarly, NC legislator from Mendhar Javed Ahmed Rana alleged that arms licences were not being given to a particular community, while his colleague Khalid Najib Suharwardy from Doda expressed regrets over lackadaisical attitude of the government.

“Despite serious threat perception to their lives, people in my area have not been provided arms,” he said. PDP MLC Murtaza Khan wanted to know whether weapons taken back by the police would be returned to the people and if so, when. He also wanted to know whether deputy commissioners had the powers to review such cases pending disposal.

In reply, law and parliamentary affairs minister Ali Sagar said 1,116 licences (Samba), 6,855 (Rajouri), 216 (Anantnag) and 112 (Doda) were issued in the past three years. There was no ban on issuing arms licenses in the wake of militancy but certain requirements followed by proper verification were the pre-requisites of obtaining the license, he said.

He also refuted the allegations of pick-and-choose policy being adopted by the officials in granting the licences. On arms taken back by the police during militancy, Sagar said if nothing adverse was found against such persons, the arms could be issued to them.

Jammu, March 17
Smelling rot in the utilisation of the police welfare fund by the police , two legislators from the PDP and the NC today entered into a verbal duel with law and parliamentary affairs minister Ali Mohammed Sagar in the Upper House here.

Much to the chagrin of Sagar, his party legislator, Mohammed Rashid Qureshi (PDP), accused the police department of misutilising the funds by holding police-public fairs every year, a charge that was outrightly denied by the former.

The additional welfare police fund was instituted in 1985 to provide immediate relief of Rs 6 lakh each to legal heirs of cops who die in service. The debate started with PDP legislator Murtaza Khan hurling a volley of supplementary queries to Sagar. Khan said: “The government has admitted that there is no statutory provision for deduction from salaries of police personnel towards the additional welfare fund, yet a huge amount of money is still being deducted from their pay every month.”

No doubt, a relief of nearly Rs 42 crore out of a total fund of little over Rs 75.12 crore was given to legal heirs of 705 cops, who died while in service, but nothing had been mentioned about those cops, who retired without getting any benefit out of this fund, Khan said.

The law minister said retired cops, who were in distress, were granted relief out of the retired policemen welfare fund, under the categories of resettlement of retired cops, financial assistance for disabled cops and expenses incurred on medical treatment.

As far as the additional welfare fund was concerned, a committee headed by the DGP regulates it, he added. But the reply failed to satisfy Khan, who said the post of the DGP was a creation of law, and hence legislation must be mulled and brought into being via the state legislature to have a regulatory body for the funds.

Demanding a debate, he further charged the police department with diverting the funds to police-public fairs. Khan found an ally in Qureshi (NC), who said, “Police personnel themselves accept that the additional welfare fund is being misutilised in holding police-public fairs”.

However, Sagar denied the charge and provided details of various police welfare funds. He said an amount of Rs 62,38,11,273 under various police funds was deposited in fixed deposits and savings accounts, as of January 31 this year.

Jammu, March 17
Police constables may be in the forefront facing bullets fired by militants, but officers outnumber them in a big way when it comes to awards for combating militancy.

This fact came to light while perusing the list of brave and meritorious policemen awarded at the investiture ceremony held by the police on the Gulshan grounds here today.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah awarded the Sher-e-Kashmir Police Medals (SKPM) to 181 policemen for gallantry and meritorious service.

In the meritorious service category, out of the 32 awarded medals only one was head constable, while rest of them were officers. The same is the case with the gallantry award category, where out of 149 awardees only 31 were constables.

The perusal of the list of awardees revealed that in the meritorious service category, three DGs, five IGs, four DIGs, four DSPs, two ADGs, one AIG, four SSPs, one SO, one inspector, three ASIs, one SI, one personal private secretary to the DGP and one PA to the DGP were selected by the Police Department.

Same was the case with the list of those awarded for gallantry as it contained two DGs, one ADG, five IGs, three DIGs, seven SSPs, 14 SPs, two ASPs, 12 DSPs, four SDPOs, 15 SIs, two Deputy COs, 14 Inspectors, 10 ASIs, 19 SGCTs, nine head constables and one SOG. They were awarded medals in the presence of some Cabinet ministers and the families of senior police officers.

Asked by this correspondent why only a few constables were selected for the medals, a police spokesperson said, “Officers will always be officers and no one can even dare to ask such a question to a senior police officer. Let it be what it is, and we should be happy with this.”

Jammu, March 17
Even as the Army guards the country , it has come to notice that over the years it has occupied 1,11,087 kanals and nine marlas of land in Kargil district without any formal allotment by any state authorities.

Responding to a query by nominated legislator Aga Syed Ahmad Rizvi during Question Hour in Upper House here today, law and parliamentary affairs minister Ali Mohammed Sagar said of the 1,11,087 kanals and nine marlas , 1,07,303 kanals and 13 marlas was private land.

In addition, an area of 96,858 kanals had been notified as the Khurbathang field firing range for 10 years, vide SRO 73 on March 8, 2004, Sagar added.

Though no formal allotment was ever made by any authorities, the Army occupied the land at different points of time. In case of private land, it was through direct negotiations that were subsequently regularised for the payment of rentals, the minister said.

The Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Council had already taken up the matter and negotiations were on with the Army to vacate the land so that it could be used for other developmental purposes, he said.

Rizvi claimed that the people of Kargil, particularly those whose lands were taken away for the Khurbathang firing range, had not been compensated till date.

The law minister said even though the land occupied by the Army was regularised for payment of rentals to the owners, but the cases, if any, awaiting compensation would be looked into.

Jammu, March 17
The Bar Association, Jammu, today staged a sit-in while trying to gherao the Civil Secretariat in protest against the Permanent Resident (Disqualification) Bill tabled in the state legislature.

The police resorted to a lathi-charge on the protesting lawyers. The members of the Bar Association were later taken into preventive custody when they tried to block the main Tai Bridge connecting the city and released them after two hours.

“The Bill is an endeavour to suppress the rights of women. It metes out injustice to womenfolk. So, it should be rejected at the outset,” said Surinder Kour, vice-president of the Bar.

Sunil Sethi, President of the Association, said the Bill was dangerous in the sense that it eventually would lead to a demographic shift in the population of the Jammu province.