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NC, PDP members join hands
Dropping of resolution on Justice Sagir’s report |
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Militant supporters using
cross-LoC trade: Govt
Efforts on to provide
modern machinery to hospitals: Minister
MLAs highlight malpractices in mid-day meal scheme
Poppy cultivation goes on unabated in Anantnag
Top Hizbul militant killed
Two of family killed in mishap
Road digging hits phone lines
Major dies in accidental blast
Rice farmers asked to use new equipment
Governor greets people on Nauroz
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NC, PDP members join hands
Jammu, March 20 Interestingly, members of the NC and the PDP shunned their political differences on this controversial issue and jointly lodged a protest against the government for not tabling the Bill. The NC and PDP members sat in front of the chair of Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone and announced that they would not lift their dharna until their demand was fulfilled. After shouting slogans for some time, the members returned to their seats only after Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar assured them that the government would present a comprehensive Bill on inter-district recruitments to address the aspirations of all sections of society. Due to opposition from the coalition partner Congress the government has developed a cold feet on the issue the Bill that bans inter-district recruitments. Though the Congress has not made its stand clear officially, some party ministers are opposing the Bill unofficially. Earlier, as soon as Question Hour completed, NC members Mir Saifullah and Khafil-ul Rehman raised the issue and both of them later sat in front of the Chair. Within no time, PDP members Abdul Haq and Javed Mustafa Khan, along with Independent member Abdul Rashid Engineer, also trooped towards the front row. They joined the protesting members and sat on the floor of the House with them. In the meantime, senior NC member and former minister Choudhary Ramzan, along with his party colleague Nazir Gurezi and PDP member Dr Mohammad Shafi, also joined the dharna. They shouted that the government had promised to bring the Bill in the current Budget session, but it had not take any step in this regard. There was total commotion in the House, as the agitating members were shouting slogans in favour of the Bill. “We will not allow our youths to suffer because outsiders snatch their rights. The district posts should be filled from among the candidates from the district concerned only,” shouted NC member Khalif-ul Rehman. Amid din Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar intervened and assured the members that the government would take some steps in this regard. The protesting members were ultimately satisfied with the assurance of the minister and they returned to their seats. |
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Dropping of resolution on Justice Sagir’s report
Jammu, March 20 Intervening during resolutions being moved in the House this afternoon, Murtaza Khan tried hard to draw the attention of Deputy Chairman Arvinder Singh Micky towards a total of seven resolutions listed in the business on March 18, including
an important one, which was to be moved by NC legislator Ajay Sadhotra. Sadhotra was to move a resolution on Justice Sagir Ahmed committee’s recommendations for a discussion. “Though four resolutions were retained today, three others, including Sadhotra’s, were missing from the business list today,” said Murtaza. I want to make a point that if they (resolutions) were listed in the business list, what prompted the government to drop them, he added. Joined by party MLC Asgar Ali, Murtaza created an uproar accusing the Deputy Chairman of ‘gagging’ the democratic institution. After his repeated attempts failed to get the attention of the Deputy Chairman, Murtaza fired a salvo saying “you have hammered yet another nail into the coffin of democracy in Jammu and Kashmir.” First listing the resolutions and then dropping them from the business list, including the one on Justice Sagir Ahmed’s recommendations, exposed the intentions of the government, he added. “We want to know why the business was changed today,” said Murtaza’s party colleague Asgar Ali. However, the Deputy Chairman went on with other resolutions, forcing
fuming PDP legislators to stage a walkout. Later talking to The Tribune, Murtaza said, “Since ruling partners NC and Congress altogether have a different stand on Justice Sagir’s recommendations, the government dropped Sadhotra’s resolution to escape a confrontational situation.” It may be stated here that Jammu and Ladakh based political parties have already dubbed Justice Sagir’s recommendations as nothing more than a replica of the NC’s autonomy document. |
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Omar’s billboards put up without his knowledge
Jammu, March 20 Angry at not being consulted before the billboards were put up at key points all over the state, the Chief Minister today ordered the removal of the hoardings immediately. The Chief Minister reportedly got angry when he saw the billboards near the Srinagar Airport and issued orders for their removal immediately. Omar’s ire is all set to cost the Directorate of Information dear, as the preparing and installation of billboards was an additional burden on the state exchequer. Though exact expenditure on putting up these hoardings was not known, sources said the cost was in lakhs of rupees. This, highly placed sources revealed, did not go well with the Chief Minister, particularly because his government had a few months ago initiated austerity measures in the state. The Chief Minister had even told senior police and civil officers not to rush to airports to greet or see him off as per the protocol. The billboards of political leaders have interestingly put them in trouble more often than not. During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government at the Centre, the India Shining boards put up on the national highways had invited a lot of criticism. Similarly, the life size cutouts of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje Scindia had not gone well with the masses. The billboards of Omar in different colours were installed recently. |
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Militant supporters using cross-LoC trade: Govt
Jammu, March 20 The militant sympathisers have been utilising services of some trading companies to accomplish their task. A case in this regard has been registered against five persons namely Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, Vipin Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar of Amritsar, Suraj Parkash of Jammu, and Zahoor Ahmed of Kulgam. In a written reply to the question of BJP member Ashok Khajuria, the government admitted that some persons linked with the trade industry had been found indulging in providing hawala money and helping militants. The police received information that an active worker of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) Mushtaq Ahmed Lone with the help of his accomplices, Furqan of Pakistan and Mohammad Munwar of Kulgam, who is at present living in the occupied Kashmir (PoK), had imported some grains, especially moong dal, through a private firm. The amount of Rs 13.85 lakh obtained from these items were to be distributed among active militants of the LeT to spread the terrorist network in the valley. Minister for Commerce and Industries Surjeet Singh Slathia in a written reply admitted that some illegal SIM cards were also seized from the possession of Pakistani truck drivers. “After seizing the SIM cards from the truck drivers as well as travellers at the Chakan Da Bagh route in Poonch, the same were sent to the police headquarters. They were then forwarded to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Ahmedabad, for expert opinion,” the minister stated. Slathia, however, said goods worth Rs 52.72 crore had been exported through the Salamabad route, while items worth Rs 64.67 crore (in Pakistani currency) were imported from Pakistan from the same route. As far the Chakkan Da Bagh road is concerned, goods worth Rs 59.20 crore had been imported till January and items worth Rs 95.54 crore (in Pakistani currency) had been imported. |
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Efforts on to provide
modern machinery to hospitals: Minister
Jammu, March 20 During Question Hour in Upper House here, Congress MLC Abdul Gani Vakil said: “My knowledge says that the district and sub-district hospitals san necessary equipments like ventilators, CT scan, cardio monitors and even blood banks.” “In the absence of these equipments, surgeries are being conducted,” he added. PDP legislator Murtaza Khan wanted to know whether the government had any plans up its sleeves to provide physiotherapists in the district and sub-district hospitals. NC legislator Vijay Bakaya asked the Health Minister about the steps initiated by him to overcome shortage of manpower. Responding to the queries, Sham Lal Sharma said the district and sub-district hospitals under the Health Department of Jammu division had been equipped with latest necessary equipments akin to Kashmir division. “However, efforts are on to provide modernised machinery like CT scan to the district hospitals at the first instance, subject to availability of sufficient funds,” he added. Sharma brought to the fore shortage of doctors and experts in operating such equipments. To overcome the problem, the government recently sanctioned 4,000 posts, while another 2,500 posts had been projected to the government, he said. “Soon, we are going to come out with a detailed document about shortage of manpower,” he added. Addressing the concern of Vakil, Sharma said only those surgeries were performed in the district and sub-district hospitals, which had necessary equipments. Regarding physiotherapists, he said since it was a new discipline there was no provision in the Health Department to have them, but now it was being put in place. “Already 203 posts have been recommended for the approval of the Planning and the Finance Department,” he said. |
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MLAs highlight malpractices in mid-day meal scheme
Jammu, March 20 Hurling a barrage of supplementary queries, legislators from the NC, Congress and PDP put Peerzada in the dock. Congress MLC Amrit Malhotra wanted to know if the government had any monitoring committee to check the quality of food being served to schoolchildren, while NC legislator Javed Ahmed Rana found certain drawbacks in the implementation of the scheme. “With all candidness and honesty, may I inform the minister that in my area of Rajouri and Poonch, the entire teaching community is involved in purchasing vegetables and other items,” Rana said. Another legislator Showkat Ahmed Ganai said in haste food was being cooked and this half-baked food served to the students would become a cause of food poisoning, while PDP MLC Asgar Ali wanted to know whether the government had any centrally-sponsored scheme to provide safe drinking water to the students. Faced with acerbic queries, Peerzada outrightly denied any involvement of teachers in purchasing vegetables and other ration items, saying that necessary purchases were made by cooks engaged for the purpose. He also refused that there was any dearth of supporting infrastructure for kitchen-cum-sheds. “The construction of 1,436 kitchen-cum-sheds is in progress in the state, while potable water is being supplied to the schools through the PHE Department. As far as food grains are concerned, they are provided to the schools as per the norms approved by the Centre,” he said. |
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Poppy cultivation goes on unabated in Anantnag
Srinagar, March 20 The police arrested Manjeet Singh and Arjun Singh, both residents of Amritsar in Punjab, along with six kg of poppy today. The police also arrested Shabir Parray, a resident of Charsoo in Awantipora, and seized 200 grams of charas from his possession. Official sources said the area under cultivation of narcotics in the district had increased manifold in the recent past and despite stringent measures adopted by the law enforcing authorities, its cultivation was going on unabated in the district. “Though the district administration has destroyed the poppy crop to the maximum level, there are some inaccessible pockets where its cultivation has increased. Aerial images show that there has been an increase in area under cultivation of narcotics in Anantnag district,” said a senior police officer. He said a majority of people, who cultivate the banned crop, escaped the law because they used forestland to cultivate the crop. “In the recent past, we destroyed narcotics crop that was planted in forestland, so their growers escaped law,” said
the officer. To discourage the cultivation of poppy, the administration has appealed to farmers in Anantnag and Pulwama districts to destroy its crop voluntarily. The DDC, Pulwama, Mohammad Afzal, has asked the revenue officials to constitute special teams headed by patwaris to identify growers of poppy and land owners and submit the list of such persons within two weeks so that further action could be initiated. “Under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, whoever in contravention of this Act cultivates opium and poppy can be booked under law and punished with rigorous imprisonment up to 20 years and fine of Rs 2 lakh,” the Deputy commissioner said. Meanwhile, the officers of the Anti-Narcotic Department said as narcotics cultivation yielded easy money, it became very difficult for the authorities to stop people from cultivating narcotics completely. “Smugglers have adopted innovative means to smuggle narcotics. Sometimes, we found drugs packed in fruit boxes and even in sports items,” said a
police officer. |
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Top Hizbul militant killed
Pulwama, March 20 On specific information that some militants were hiding in a house at Batapora village of Pulwama district, troops from the Rashtriya Rifles and the CRPF and the police launched an operation. “The operation was launched by the security forces on specific information about the presence of two Hizbul militants in a house, which was cordoned off,” said a senior police officer. “The hiding militants were asked to surrender, but they started indiscriminate firing on the approaching party. The security personnel returned fire killing one militant,” said a defence spokesman. The killed militant has been identified as Parvaiz Ahmad, alias Musharaf, the self proclaimed district commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen. At the time of filing this report, the encounter was still going on and the security forces were preparing to launch the final assault to kill the second militant. “The second militant is firing at the security forces and the encounter is still on,” the spokesman said. For the past few months there has been a sudden spurt in militancy-related activities in the Kashmir valley. Meanwhile, Batapora village has been cordoned off. The security forces have used barbed wires, bulletproof vehicles and big search lights to carry out the operation. “We won’t give the holed-up militant a chance to escape, as all escape routes have been sealed,” said a senior Army officer engaged in the operation. The officer said before launching the operation residents of the area were evacuated safely. “To avoid collateral damage and desist militants from using people as human shields, we first evacuated civilians from the area, especially from the house where the militants are hiding,” the officer said. Meanwhile, an Army officer was also injured in the ongoing operation. |
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Two of family killed in mishap
Jammu, March 20 It said the victims were on their way to Srinagar from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh when their car collided with a truck in Lakhanpur. The deceased have been identified as Zahida Khan and her son Kamran (6), while her husband Aslam Khan and two other sons, besides the car driver, were injured in the accident. The victims were rushed to a hospital in Kathua. A case has been registered and the truck has been impounded. However, the truck driver managed to flee. Meanwhile, the police claimed to have seized 400 grams of charas and arrested Abdul Gani of Nagrota from Khanpur Basti here on Saturday. In another incident, the police claimed to have seized 200 intoxicant capsules and arrested Raj Kumar of Krishna Nagar from the Residency Road here. Cases have been registered. |
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Road digging hits phone lines
Udhampur, March 20 Since yesterday, more than 100 connections went out of order as the PHE workers started digging work on the Dhar Road to shift the water pipeline. It is being done to facilitate the proposed widening of the road, which bears the brunt of heavy vehicular traffic. The underground telephone cable reportedly got cut by a JCB machine while digging the road near Raj Theatre. Due to this, four distribution panel (DP) boxes have been affected. SDO, BSNL, Surinder Kadalbuju alleged that the PHE Department did not give any prior notice before starting the digging work. The affected connections could be restored only after the completion of the digging work, he added. However, Executive Engineer, PHE, RK Sharma denied the cutting of the telephone cable during the digging. He passed the buck to the Udhampur Deputy Commissioner when told about the charges levelled by the BSNL official. |
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Major dies in accidental blast
Srinagar, March 20 “The Major died and an inquiry has been ordered into the incident. Investigations
are on to ascertain more details about the incident,” Srinagar-based Defence Ministry PRO Lt-Col
JS Brar said. A police team was also rushed to the area to bring back the body of the
Major to the nearest police station. Captain found dead
Meanwhile, in another incident a Captain of the 14th Corps dental unit was found dead in his bathroom at the unit quarters at Leh. A case has been registered in this regard. The deceased officer has been identified as Capt Vikram Agnihotri. |
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Rice farmers asked to use new equipment
Srinagar, March 20 Advocating the use of innovative machines, equipment and implements designed by agricultural scientists in the country, the Vice-Chancellor, during a valedictory function of the three-day training programme on “Advanced Technologies for Temperate Rice Production”, stressed to reduce drudgery involved and lack of interest exhibited by the youth of the valley in farming practices. The training programme was organised by the division of agronomy under the aegis of the State Agriculture Management and Extension Training Institute (March 17-19). Describing mechanisation as of paramount importance for remunerative agriculture, Alam advocated mechanically transplanted rice, adoption of pre-germinated paddy seeder, avoiding transplanting all together and highlighted the advantages of direct seeded rice and the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method of rice farming.
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