Jammu, April 10
Due to the pressure of agitating government employees, the NC-Congress government has shelved a move to increase the salaries and perks of ministers and legislators.

Though a Bill to enhance the salaries and allowances of the Chief Minister, ministers and legislators was moved in the Assembly on March 26, it mysteriously disappeared from the list of Bills, which was tabled in the House on the last day of the Budget Session.

Neither Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather nor Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar had divulged reasons for not tabling the Bill in the Assembly again.

Highly placed sources said the government had decided to defer the move to enhance the salaries of the ministers and the legislators due to the ongoing strike of the employees. When the Bill was introduced in the Assembly on March 26, it was scheduled to be passed on April 5 - the last of the Budget Session.

Interestingly, all Bills, which were introduced during the Budget Session, were passed by the government, but the Bill seeking to enhance the salaries and allowances of the ministers and the legislators was deleted from the list of business to avoid criticism from different sections of society.

“When the Bill was introduced in the Assembly on March 26, the employees were not on strike. However, at present, it is illogical to raise the salaries of the ministers and the legislators when the government has categorically refused to accept the demands of the employees due to the non-availability of funds,” the sources said.

Srinagar, April 10
While the state government employees’ strike continued for the fifth consecutive day, the police foiled their march to Lal Chowk here today. The police resorted to a cane-charge and water canons to chase away the agitating employees.

Khursheed Alam, a senior leader of the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), spearheading the agitation, and several others were arrested as protests were held in different parts of the city. The police deployed in large numbers had set up barricades at different places on the roads leading to Lal Chowk. Several employees were injured in the lathi-charge here today.

Meanwhile, the employees welcomed the government’s offer for talks, but lamented that it had not received any formal invitation from the government in this regard.

The strike called by the Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) also entered its seventh consecutive day in the Kashmir valley today. The employees have been demanding the payment of arrears as per the Sixth Pay Commission, raise in the retirement age and the regularisation of the services of contractual employees.

Meanwhile, Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Naseem Lanker, while reviewing the situation here yesterday, said the employees had called off their strike in Kargil and essential services were working as per the contingency plan put in operation by the administration. The meeting was told that the attendance of employees was being monitored by the Deputy Commissioners concerned, while the attendance of gazetted officers was satisfactory.

The Divisional Commissioner said the OPD of the Government Medical College, Srinagar, was functioning normally and health services in the rural areas were effectively providing health care to patients. With the intervention of senior citizens, some schools had started functioning in Anantnag, Beerwah, Uri, Tangmarg etc.

Keeping in view that more than 10 lakh students are studying in government schools of Kashmir division, the Divisional Commissioner had appealed for the opening of educational institutions so that the future of the children was not jeopardised. She informed that the colleges in the valley were open and functioning smoothly.

Regarding the availability of essential supplies, the Divisional Commissioner said fair price shops, which normally covered 36 per cent of population, had been authorised to include more population of the adjacent areas so that there was no inconvenience to people. Food grains were being dispatched to the fair price shops directly by the Food Corporation of India, she informed.

Srinagar, April 10
The Bill banning inter-district recruitment passed by the state Assembly in Jammu yesterday has generated a debate on the issue of 8 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC), particularly in the Kashmir valley where separatists are opposing the government move. While the PDP has been initially in favour of the Bill, it opposed the move for 8 per cent reservation for SCs.

It has been observed that the reservation for SCs will benefit only a section of society while depriving others of the jobs at the district level in the state where government jobs are the only and the main source of employment. Most of the districts in this Muslim majority state do not have SC population where the youths will be deprived of jobs, observers say.

Noor Ahmad Baba of the Political Science Department of Kashmir University said several districts in the state like Srinagar and the two districts of Leh and Kargil in the Ladakh region may not have any SC population. The Bill gave an extraordinary advantage to a section of people while the majority areas in Kashmir without any SC population would be deprived of job benefits.

A senior PDP leader said, “We are against the Bill in this form.” He added that the Bill was passed in a haste violating all norms. “This has been done only to stop the PDP from voicing its concern regarding the genuine aspirations of people,” he said.

“In the districts it will be seen as an assault on the youths’ right to jobs,” the PDP leader commented. “We think it is going to introduce a new element of friction in the political and social ethos of the state,” he said.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said the government introduced the Bill last year, which found a broader agreement. “It was referred to a select committee that recommended the passage of Bill in its original form giving a formal shape and structure to recruitment at state, divisional and district levels,” she added.

Rejecting the Bill with the reservation provision, Mehbooba said, “Jammu and Kashmir is a state that has to be handled carefully and with sensitivity to the interests of all sections of people. We feel that any reservation in jobs at district and divisional levels for any section of people is fraught with political and social dangers,” she said.

The Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has also denounced the idea of 8 per cent reservation under the new Bill apprehending that the move would create differences among people from different areas of the state. The Mirwaiz alleged that it was yet another ploy of the government to create a wedge between people from different areas of the state.

Srinagar, April 10
A legislator from Langate has said he will continue to fight for the abrogation of 8 per cent reservation for the Schedule Castes (SC) in the Inter-district Recruitment Bill that was passed yesterday.

Engineer Abdul Rashid Sheikh, MLA, Langate, while addressing a press conference here today, said: “Eight per cent reservation was not needed in various districts of the Kashmir region as there is negligible SC population here. However, the government can consider 30 per cent reservation for the Schedule Tribes (ST)in the Jammu region,” Sheikh said.

“The passage of the Bill was a victory for us, but we would continue to fight for the abrogation of 8 per cent reservation for the SCs in and outside the Assembly. We are not against them, but their population is not so high in Kupwara and some other districts here,” Sheikh said.

Stating that inter-district recruitment had always been the demand of the people of Jammu and not Kashmir, Sheikh said: “If the government wants to give reservation to the SCs, it should also consider reservation for the STs of the valley, besides families of the slain militants.”

Flaying the legislators for “making one statement in the Assembly and another outside it,” he said the PDP was “befooling” people through its “contradictory” stand on the inter-district recruitment issue.

Stating that “district cadre post means that it is meant for a particular district,” he appealed to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to understand the sentiments of people by banning inter-district recruitment completely, without reservations.

Jammu, April 10
With no end to the ongoing stalemate between the striking employees and the state government in sight, the premier hospital of the region, Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Jammu, has started stinking with garbage and filth littered everywhere. The hospital has not been cleaned for a week now.

Horrible smell coming out of dirty bathrooms and toilets has filled the surrounding sections. While the renovation and construction work is also on, the floors of the hospital are covered with sand and dust, giving it a shabby look.

Contrary to the claims of the government that routine work was unaffected in hospitals, the Tribune team during a visit to the GMC hospital today discovered that even doctors in the OPD (medicine and surgery departments) were not on duty. Except for emergency services that are going on smoothly, the strike has thrown the functioning of the hospital out of gear.

In the medicine department of the OPD only Dr Gurmeet Singh was attending to patients and other rooms were locked. In the surgery section, there were no nameplates on the chambers of doctors, whereas Postgraduate interns were attending to patients though intermittently. Besides test laboratories in different departments, the main lab was also close and patients very getting diagnostic tests conducted outside.

Similarly, a thin presence of doctors was seen in the wards also. The CT scan section, besides the MRI section, in the department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging was also locked. Not only this, surgery theatres were also seen closed for patients. As the employees of the engineering section were also on strike, one of the two elevators was not operating as it was out of order. The other was also not working properly as per reports.

In the absence of any nursing staff, even those students who has just started the multipurpose health worker course were administering injections to the patients. In case a patient needs an oxygen cylinder, the person attending to him or her has to look for the Medical Superintendent of the hospital for arranging one after much efforts.

In the OPD ward, more security personnel of the hospital and the police were seen rather than patients. Some volunteers, though in the name only, were running the OPD services. The volunteers maintained that at least hundred patients visited the OPD yesterday against 1,000 on a normal day.

As per official sources, the protesting employees were marking their attendance regularly to escape implications of ESMA, but were not working. Medical superintendent Dr Ramesh Gupta said, “See things on your own. I am already hard-pressed.”

Srinagar, April 10
The security forces arrested three militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen from Kupwara district today.

The arrested militants have been identified as Bilal Ahmad Wani, Imran Ahmad Wani and Mohamm ad Ashraf Gogri, all residents of Warpora Magam, Handwara. The security forces seized one AK 56 rifle, two magazines, 60 rounds of ammunition and eight UBGL. The three were handed over to the police and a case was registered against them.

In another incident, the police arrested Nazir Ahmad Mir, an overground worker of militants and resident of Pahaldogi, here today. Two hand grenades were seized from his possession.

Meanwhile, the security forces busted a militant hideout at Danwasd Gadool in Anantnag district and seized utensils, blankets, a sleeping bag, medicines and Army uniform. In another incident, the security forces seized a hand grenade from the shop of Showkat Ahmad Shalla, a resident of Neharpora, Sopore. The owner of the shop is at large.

Ganesh Khajuria is a senior member of the Joint Consultative Committee of the employees. Following are the excerpts of his interaction with Jupinderjit Singh:

Q: How do you justify your strike? The whole state is held to ransom.

Ganesh Khajuria: It is not our fault. We went on a complete strike after we had exhausted all possible means of finding a solution. The government promised us revised pay scales and arrears. We got the revised salary from July onwards but arrears had not been paid.

Q: The government is saying it has absorbed Rs 1,800 crore additional burden on account of the revised pay scales, but does not have Rs 4,300 crore required to pay the arrears?

Ganesh Khajuria : Why it does not put forward these figures when it talks about the salaries of ministers. Why it does not talk about scaling down its travelling expenses, renovation expenses of bunglows, all of which amount to crores of rupees.

Q: But you also know the poor financial condition of the state. Why are we troubling the common man?

Ganesh Khajuria: Who else are commoners than us? Still we waited all these months to go on a complete strike after talks failed. Initially, we went on a strike for a day or two. The Chief Minister has promised us in April last year that revised pay scales and arrears will be paid. We were paid the new scales in July 2009 but there was no word on arrears. Then in February this year, they promised us the matter would be resolved by March 31, but it didn’t.

Q: Can’t there be a middle path?

Ganesh Khajuria: We have already proposed the arrears could be paid in instalments. We are also willing to consider the offer that the arrears be transferred to our provident fund accounts. But the government is not willing to concede to any demand.

Q: The Chief Minister said yesterday he was open to talks?

Ganesh Khajuria: They make statements like this in the media and then give full page advertisements decrying the strike and try to prove the employees have taken a wrong stand. No one has invited us for talks directly. We are willing to talk but the government wants confrontation. They invoked ESMA just a day after the employees started a complete strike. By the way, how does the government has money for these advertisements.

Q: But can’t employees help the government in increasing revenue. The government is dependent on the Central government for 80 per cent of the funds. The Centre says pay scales and arrears is a state government matter. Where will the money come from?

Ganesh Khajuria: This is a problem the state government to see. When did employees say no to work or extra work for betterment of the state? The pay commission comes once in 10 years. See the price rise in these years. Even the pay commission has not helped the employees much. The state government has not sorted out the issue of the house rent allowance. There is 10 per cent HRA for employees in rural areas and 20 per cent in urban areas. The government is undecided on that and is not paying us. Even the demand for a uniform payment of 15 per cent HRA to all has not been accepted.

Q : How do you plan to intensify your strike?

Ganesh Khajuria: We are determined to take the fight to its logical conclusion. We are not scared of ESMA or any other law. We have already prepared six rings of leaders to keep the movement alive in case of more arrests.

Jammu, April 10
Assuring the full involvement of government employees, Jammu Divisional Commissioner Pawan Kotwal said today that the three-day Baisakhi festival, beginning April 13, would be celebrated with fervour.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Kotwal said the stalemate between the employees and the government would in now way cast its shadow on the forthcoming festival. The employees from various government departments required to make the festival a successful event would be there, he said. As per the past practice, the Tourism Department would again remain at the forefront, he said, adding that this year the government had decided to promote border tourism.

An event would be organised on the border at Suchetgarh followed by highlighting of the rich heritage of Jammu on April 14 and 15 via various means at Jio Potha Ghat in Akhnoor, Bagh-e-Bahu, Bahu Fort and Balidan Stambh in Jammu, Kotwal said.

Similarly, ethnic food stalls, cultural programmes, road shows, band displays, an exhibition of water sports, children games and a lot more would add to the grandeur of the festival, he added.

Jammu, April 10
A 37-year-old woman was found dead under mysterious circumstances at her house in Sector 7 of Nanak Nagar here late last night.

The police said the incident came to light around 11:30 pm yesterday. A police party along with experts of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) reached the house to collect samples.

Vijay Singh, SHO, Trikuta Nagar police station, said: “The investigation proceedings under Section 174, CrPC, have been initiated.” However, sources said disharmonious relations between the deceased and her in-laws could be the reason behind the incident.