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Bill to hike salaries of CM, ministers, MLAs moved
Inter-District Recruitment Rocks Assembly |
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Governor, CM lay stress on job-oriented education
MMS Clip
Job racket unearthed in Kathua
Drug addict kills mother
LeT letter surfaces in Doda village
Kashmir Administrative Service
4,124 posts of doctor being created: Chib
NGO helps Pak national get prosthetic leg
22 killed in violence so far in 2010
Militant shot dead near LoC CRPF imparts computer training
to youths One killed, 3 hurt in mishaps
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Bill to hike salaries of CM, ministers, MLAs moved
Jammu, March 26 The proposed enhancement in the salaries of legislators and pensions of former legislators shall have an additional expenditure to the tune of Rs 6.50 crore per annum approximately. The first Bill seeks to enhance the salary of the Chief Minister from Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 and ministers from Rs 20,000 to Rs 35,000 per month. As far as the salary of the Deputy Ministers is concerned, it has been proposed to enhance from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000. Similarly, the salary of members is being enhanced from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000. Furthermore, it has been also proposed in the Bill to enhance constituency allowance from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000, telephone allowance from Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,300 and medical allowance from Rs 300 to Rs 1,000. Presently the Chief Minister is entitled to get a salary of Rs 45,000 per month, including all allowances, and a minister is getting Rs 40,300. Total salary of the deputy ministers or MLA is Rs 40,000. If the present Bill passed, their salaries and allowances would be enhanced about 60 per cent. While moving these Bills in the House, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Sagar stated that members of the State Legislature had raised the demand of enhancement of their salaries and allowances on the floor of both the House during the last session in view of the price hike of all essential commodities and increase in the cost of living. Another Bill to give effective protection to women from domestic violence was also tabled in the House. Jammu and Kashmir Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Bill (2010) was introduced in the Assembly by the Minister for Social Welfare to provide more effective protection of the rights of women guaranteed under the Constitution. |
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Inter-District Recruitment Rocks Assembly
Jammu, March 26 The order was restored in the Assembly only when members of the opposition parties staged a walkout and those demanding a ban on inter-district recruitment returned to their seats after an assurance from the Speaker. The NC-led government had announced to table the Bill in the Assembly to ban inter-district recruitment, but due to pressure from the Congress the move had been deferred for the time being. As soon as the House assembled this morning, PDP member Abdul Haq raised the issue and demanded the tabling of the Bill. “The government has promised to bring a Bill in this regard, but now it is adopting delaying tactics,” he shouted. NC member Mir Saifullah also raised the same demand along with his party colleague Khafil Ur Rehman. PDP members Javed Mustafa Mir and Mohammad Shafi, along with Engineer Abdul Rashid, also stood on their seats and shouted slogans with other members. They trooped towards the chair of the Speaker but were stopped near the front row. As these members were shouting slogans demanding a ban on inter-district recruitment, members of the BJP, Panthers Party and the JSM resorted to counter sloganeering. “We will not allow the government to snatch the rights of weaker sections,” shouted Jammu-based leaders and they entered into a verbal duel with those who were demanding a ban on inter-district recruitment. There was total din in the House for quite some time. Amid din, members of the BJP, Panthers Party and the JSM staged a walkout. The PDP members also staged a walkout to lodge a protest over the silence of the government on the issue. |
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Governor, CM lay stress on job-oriented education
Srinagar, March 26 They were addressing students and faculty members of Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) after the inauguration of the Skill Enhancement and Training Centre at Awantipora by the Governor today. Vohra said the universities and other institutions of professional and technical education had to ensure that the youth passing out of these institutions possessed requisite employability to find placements in the job market at the global level. He said the youth had enormous potential that needed to be properly channelised. He observed that training and skill development of this human resource was the only answer to reduce unemployment. The Governor said agriculture, forest, horticulture, poultry, dairy, livestock rearing etc. had the inherent potential to generate thousands of crores, besides creating job opportunities every year. He hoped that this centre would become a nucleus to fine-tune the knowledge of the students and keep them ahead in the job market. The Chief Minister said he had been monitoring the university’s growth and development. He said: “Still a lot needs to be done to fully equip this university with the state-of-the-art infrastructure.” Vice-Chancellor Siddiq Wahid, in his welcome address, said the skill enhancement of the students had taken a centre stage in this institution. He said the centre had been set up in five months. |
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Pulwama Chief Medical Officer held
Tejinder Singh Sodhi Tribune News Service
Srinagar, March 26 The police said the accused, Dr Ghulam Qadir Sofi, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Pulwama district, was arrested late last evening after sufficient evidence of his involvement in the “crime” was found. The MMS clip surfaced last week following which the doctor was suspended and the police was asked to investigate the case. An FIR was also registered against the doctor at Pulwama police station. The woman in the clip was one of his patients. Speaking to The Tribune, SSP, Pulwama, Kifayat Hyder said: “The woman in the clip has been identified and she was a patient who used to visit the doctor.” He said the case against the doctor was registered almost a week ago after the clip surfaced, but he was arrested only after the police gathered some “vital clues” in the case. “Proper investigation was conducted, some persons were questioned and statements recorded in front of a judicial magistrate, and it was only after the police had sufficient evidence that the doctor was arrested,” Hyder said. The doctor was on bail in the Shoipan case. However, the CBI accused him of fabricating the slides of the vaginal swab of two women Asiya Jan and her sister-in-law Nelofar, who the CBI said, drowned. In its report, the CBI had stated that it had been conclusively established during the investigation that the slides sent for scientific examination were fabricated by Dr Nighat with the active connivance of Dr Ghulam Qadir Sofi, Dr Maqbool Mir and Dr Ghulam Qadir Paul. Interestingly, though the CBI chargesheeted him, the state government gave him out-of-turn promotion for his “honesty and dedication”. Meanwhile, the doctor was today shifted to the central jail, Srinagar, from where the police would produce him in court to seek his judicial remand for 15 days. The doctor was arrested under Section 376 (b) after an FIR 121/2010 was lodged against him at Pulwama police station last week.
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Job racket unearthed in Kathua
Jammu, March 26 The incident came to light when some ‘selected’ candidates appeared before the Deputy Commissioner for joining duties. However, they were taken aback when the Deputy Commissioner found their appointment letters to be fake. He immediately requisitioned the district police chief and brought the matter to his notice. It has been reliably learnt that some touts operating in the town have cheated people, promising them jobs in lieu of money. A senior police officer said some persons were issuing fake appointment orders to naive and gullible people. “It was found that the appointment orders carried the signature and seal of the Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, which were fake,” he added. The officer said some people might have stolen the stamp of the Deputy Commissioner and were using it to fool people. He did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of some insiders. Ghanshyam, Additional SHO, Kathua police station, said, “A case under sections 420, 467 and 468 of the RPC has been registered against some persons and we are investigating the matter.” He added, “The tests for class IV posts were conducted in 2005-06 and thereafter no appointment letter was issued to anyone due to some reasons. The matter is sub judice.” It may be mentioned here that a number of times people had protested against the government for not providing them jobs, even after they took exams. A number of times, local MLA and former bureaucrat Charanjeet Singh had raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly. However, till the filing of this report, no accused had been arrested. |
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Drug addict kills mother
Sure Chak (Jammu), March 26 The incident came to light when neighbours heard cries coming out of Dhano’s house. Fearing something wrong happening they informed the police. A police party led by SHO, Satwari, Iqbal reached there and found the old woman lying in a pool of blood. The police arrested Darshan immediately. After a post-mortem, the accused was permitted to perform the last rites of her deceased mother. The Tribune team visited Darshan’s house and found that the accused was sitting outside the house. “Kill me. I am a threat to everyone. Don’t let me go scot-free,” said Darshan while smoking a beedi. However, the reason behind the murder could not be established till the evening. The sarpanch of Sure Chak village, Deepak Kumar, said, “Being poor, Darshan was facing starvation and that could be the reason behind his mental sickness. And this may have provoked him to commit the crime.” Villagers told The Tribune that the daughter of Darshan also died about three years ago. Mohammad Aarif, in charge of Phalian Mandal police post, said, “The accused, along with his son and mother, was living in the house. His father had died a few years ago.” He said Darshan had been arrested. “Dhano’s injury did not look like she fell on the floor. Actually, her injury suggests she was hit with a stone or brick and that claimed her life,” said Iqbal. |
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LeT letter surfaces in Doda village
Jammu, March 26 The half-page letter was spotted around 25 days back in Sungali village, 5 km north of Doda town, wherein the LeT had asked local people not to join the police as special police officers (SPOs), official sources told The Tribune. A request was also made to people that they should not join the police against their cause of freedom struggle, they added. The letter was promptly removed from the village the same day and no such incident happened thereafter, said
the sources. However, contradictory reports stated that in the letter the LeT had threatened local policemen asking them to either quit their jobs by the 20th (month and year not mentioned) or get killed. The handwritten half-page letter carried the name of Lashkar district commander Gul Mohammad. Official sources, however, maintained that the recent successes of the security forces against militant outfits like the LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and the Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI) in erstwhile Doda district had demoralised their remaining cadres totally. Being desperate, they were now resorting to every possible ploy, they added. After top commanders of the militant groups were killed in the recent times, militancy in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts was on the wane, said an Army officer. It may be recalled here that after losing its top commanders the LeT, on February 5, had announced a unilateral ceasefire via posters that appeared overnight in Kishtwar district. It had announced a ceasefire claiming a shift in its ‘strategy’ to deal with ‘informers’ first. The SSP, Doda, Parbhat Singh outrightly rubbished the reports saying no such incident happened in Doda. Despite repeated attempts DGP Kuldeep Khoda could not be reached for his comments. However, a senior officer working with one of the counter-insurgency forces confirmed the incident saying one poster had appeared in Sungali village some 20 to 25 days back. |
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Kashmir Administrative Service Ashutosh Sharma Tribune News Service
Jammu, March 26 Official sources in the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) told The Tribune that any quick decision on the issue could trigger resentment among the candidates belonging to any of the regions. The exam for the coveted administrative posts in the state government started on March 15 and are scheduled to conclude on April 15. Except for one centre in Kashmir, where the exam was conducted, candidates in the other two centres in the Jammu division had boycotted agriculture paper-A on March 22 after they found that the ‘paper was out of syllabus’. The candidates appearing at the examination centre at Government Polytechnic College, Bikram Chowk, had boycotted the exam en masse and they were joined by candidates appearing at the centre at Vishav Bharti College of Education, Muthi. The agitated candidates claimed that 70 per cent of the paper included questions from the syllabus of agriculture paper-B, which is scheduled for April 8. According to them, out of the total 300 marks, questions for 220 marks were from the syllabus of paper B. “The commission’s focus is on conducting the scheduled exams. But we have been looking into the complaints of the candidates who boycotted the exam. We will shortly take decision in this regard,” said JKPSC chairman SL Bhat.
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4,124 posts of doctor being created: Chib
Jammu, March 26 Replying to the Demand of Grants for the health and allied departments in the Legislative Assembly today, the minister said telemedicine facilities had been introduced at Kupwara, Poonch, Kathua, Leh and Kargil, besides 20 blood banks, including three blood component separation facility units, 15 X-ray plants, 14 anaesthesia machines and 31 dental units, had been provided to various health institutions in the state. Sham Lal said the construction of 108 health institutions, including PHCs, allopathic and ISM dispensaries, at an estimated cost of Rs 117.50 crore had been taken up while the construction of 32 buildings for various health institutions had been completed. He further informed the House that 125 ambulances had been procured and efforts were underway to improve the availability of human resource in health institutions in rural areas. Meanwhile, Minister for Medical Education RS Chib said today that the government would upgrade medicare facilities in two medical colleges in Jammu and Srinagar and Rs 120 crore would be spent on various facilities under the PMSSY. As a result, 15 super speciality departments were being added in these two premier institutions, he added. To tackle the growing rush of patients in tertiary centres, the government would add another 1,000 beds in Government Medical Colleges in Jammu and Srinagar, he said. He added efforts were also afoot to increase MBBS/BDS and PG seats in these colleges. Sham Lal said 90 per cent work on the 220-bed super speciality hospital block in Jammu had been completed and its targeted date was ending in June. |
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NGO helps Pak national get prosthetic leg
Poonch, March 26 The Pritam Spiritual Foundation, a Poonch-based NGO working for the rehabilitation of mine blast victims, came to his aid. “Though we have provided artificial limbs to 3,272 persons since the formation of our foundation, making a Pakistani guest stand on two legs is a matter of satisfaction for us,” Jagbir Singh, chairman of the Trust, told The Tribune. Jagbir said Yasin had approached him through the sarpanch of Salotri village and the foundation decided to provide him with the best treatment.Yasin came to India on a valid visa and permission to meet his relatives. Yasin had lost his right leg in a mine blast at Yaar Sharief village in Pakistan in year 1986. And since then he had been approaching doctors and different organisations in Pakistan for an artificial limb, but to no avail. Fortunately, Yasin came to the state in February this year to meet his cousin Haji Mohammad Rashid at Salotri, Poonch. After Partition, Yasin for the first time crossed the LoC to visit his native place in Poonch and meet his cousins. “When we met our guest from Pakistan during a function, he narrated his tale of woes. As an NGO has been working in Poonch to provide artificial limbs, we decided to approach the foundation,” Mohammad Azam, sarpanch of Salotri village, told The Tribune. “Most of the time we have to bring limbs from outside the state. But at that time we had some additional limbs with us,” Jagbir Singh said. He added that within three days Yasin was able to walk on his legs. As Yasin had to return to Pakistan, the foundation decided to provide accessories, including orthopaedic shoes, to him. “I do not know how I express my gratitude towards people of India, especially the Pritam Spiritual Foundation, for changing my life,” Yasin said as he walked on two legs. Being a border town in the Jammu province, a large number of Poonch residents have lost their limbs in mine blasts. The foundation has taken up the task of providing artificial limbs to the affected people. It was set up in 1989 and since then it has changed the lives of many people. |
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22 killed in violence so far in 2010
Jammu, March 26 Giving the details of the casualties, an official document of the state Home Department says so far this year, 13 civilians and nine security force/police personnel have lost their lives in a bomb blast, firing and other violent incidents. In addition, 17 militants were also killed by the security forces, added the Home Department. |
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Militant shot dead near LoC Srinagar, March 26 “An encounter took place near the LoC in the Keran sector in which an unidentified militant was killed,” he said. The Army had foiled an infiltration bid in the upper reaches of Budinambal near Ustad post in the sector, 145 km from here in north Kashmir, on Wednesday by killing two heavily-armed militants. However, other militants of the group had fled back during the encounter and the Army had launched a search operation. In an other incident, one person was injured when suspected militants threw a grenade at jawans of the 179 Battalion, CRPF, guarding State Bank of India building at Sopore in Baramulla on Friday. The police said the grenade exploded on the roadside, causing injuries to Tanveer Ahmad Yatoo. He was admitted to
hospital. Jammu: A powerful improvised explosive device (IED) allegedly planted by militants on Friday exploded, but no casualty was reported. Suspected militants had planted an IED on the Poonch-Jammu highway, 270 km from here, at the Bafliaz Wali Gali area and exploded late this afternoon, sources said. However, there was no loss of life or property in the blast. |
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CRPF imparts computer training
to youths Srinagar, March 26 Speaking on the occasion, IG,CRPF, PVK Reddy said: “These types of courses will help unemployed educated youth get jobs or start their own ventures in an effective manner and motivate them to learn with interest and compete with the outside world”. He said there were many avenues for students not only in the state but outside too and computer skills would help them compete and secure a livelihood for themselves and their families. The students who underwent the training also expressed their happiness and thanked the CRPF for organising such courses. They appealed to the force to organise more such courses. |
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One killed, 3 hurt in mishaps Srinagar, March 26 A Tata Sumo hit and injured Uzma of Ahan Ganderbal while Abdul Salam Dar of Lassipora in Uri was hit by a vehicle on the bypass near SKIMS Medical College, Bemina, Srinagar. |
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The controversial issue of inter-district recruitment rocked the Legislative Assembly once again today as members supporting and opposing it entered into a verbal duel and resorted to sloganeering in the House.
Sure Chak (Jammu), March 26
Poonch, March 26
