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Disparity in Wages
Rajnish’s sister looking for job for family’s survival
NC to fight divisive forces, says Rana
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Apolitical forum to fight ‘discrimination’ against Jammu
Teacher’s husband ‘misbehaves’ with students
Panun Kashmir alleges misuse of its banner
Students hold rally against smoking
Mehbooba: State in crisis due to misgovernance
Two Lashkar militants shot dead in Kishtwar
Army recruitment rally a big draw
Protest held against killing of youth
3 held for bid to smuggle bovines
Minister hailed for awarding health workers
Army gives Rs 4.67 lakh relief to villagers
Parshuram Jayanti celebrations from today
Suicide, fratricide by CRPF jawans on the decline
BJP: Govt ignoring framers’ problems
Tehsildar, engineer booked
Central University
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Disparity in Wages
Jammu, May 8 Casual workers engaged by the PHE Department in the region have been getting just Rs 500 per month, but their counterparts in the Kashmir valley have been getting Rs 2,100 per month. “For the past seven years, we have been fighting for the redress of this injustice, but except promises nothing concrete has been done so far,” Som Nath, a senior leader of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), who has been fighting for the cause of these workers, said. Interestingly, INTUC, the trade union wing of the Congress, has been fighting for the workers’ cause and the minister concerned, Taj Mohi-ud-Din, also belongs to the same party. “We were expecting some concrete announcement from the minister who belongs to our own party,” Som Nath said. He added that except promises nothing had been done so far to remove this glaring example of discrimination against the employees. Meanwhile, the authorities claimed that the process of removing discrimination has been started. “It is a time-consuming process and the discrimination cannot be removed with one stroke,” a senior PHE officer said. The employees, who have been struggling for the removal of the discrepancy, had earlier launched an indefinite strike that was suspended following assurance of the then Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad. Over two years have passed but the authorities have not taken any step. Jammu-based political parties have repeatedly taken up the issue in the Legislative Assembly and the House was rocked over the issue. “Every time assurances were made to these helpless workers, they remained only on papers,” regretted Som Nath. As reported earlier, casual workers in the Jammu region have been engaged in Jammu under the community-participation scheme, while their counterparts in the Kashmir valley are getting wages as daily wagers. “We don’t want to go into the technicalities, and the only question is that we are also doing the same job that our counterparts in Kashmir is doing,” Som Nath said. |
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Rajnish’s sister looking for job for family’s survival
Jammu, May 8 Santosh Sharma, sister of Rajnish, who is a matriculate, is trying her luck at various public departments to get a job for their survival. “I lost my son last year, and will loose the “shelter” also as the landlord needs this room for his personal use,” Raj Kumari, mother of Rajneesh, who at present resides in a one-room rented accommodation at Janipur here, said. She is meeting her expenses out of the pension of her dead husband, who was a driver with the Road Transport Corporation. “We don’t expect a single penny from my elder son, Pawan, as he is already debt-ridden,” Raj Kumari said. She added that Pawan was living separately and his income was too meagre that he could not even meet the daily expenses of his wife and two little children. She further said whenever they approached bureaucrats the latter assured them to provide a job to Santosh in the state police. “Is it possible for a girl to serve in the police who has been through a turmoil-like situation at her house in the recent past? If the government wants to help us, it should appoint my daughter as a Class IV employee in any department,” Raj Kumari said. It may be stated here that a case had been filed by Anchal, Raj Kumari and Pawan in the Supreme Court in the alleged custodial death of Rajneesh. But the sudden disappearance of Anchal from her in-laws’ house to join her parents in Srinagar has dashed Raj Kumari’s hopes to get justice, as the family had no information about the next hearing in the case. “We want to fight to get justice, but the lack of financial help has forced us to remain a mute spectator,” Santosh and Raj Kumari said in unison. They further said political activists, who supported them earlier, had also retreated from their stand as Anchal had given a “false” statement in Srinagar against them. Meanwhile, they expressed hope that Minister for Revenue Raman Bhalla would solve their problem by giving a job to Santosh in the Anganwari Department. But they are yet to meet the minister. |
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NC to fight divisive forces, says Rana
Jammu, May 8 Rana, who was addressing a convention of party workers of the Nagrota Assembly constituency at the party headquarters here today, said the NC would not allow fringe elements in Jammu and Kashmir provinces to play the regional card. “The design of these elements is detrimental to the cause of the state and is not acceptable to people,” he said. Rana said such forces would not be allowed to hoodwink the people of the state. He said the coalition government under the stewardship of Omar Abdullah had unleashed an era of unprecedented and equitable development in the state and would continue to work in this direction. |
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Apolitical forum to fight ‘discrimination’ against Jammu
Jammu, May 8 While main political parties are yet to become a part of this forum, an amalgam of over 50 organisations under the banner of the Jammu Province Peoples’ Forum has started activities to constitute units at the grass-roots level to fight discrimination. “We are receiving an encouraging response from various social, religious and business organisations in our effort to present a united face of Jammu,” said Sunil Sethi, president of the Bar Association of Jammu. He asserted that the forum would remain non-political as the main aim of bringing all groups under one banner was to get Jammu’s voice heard at the national level. Sethi said earlier the region’s point of view was represented by political leaders who failed to address people’s problems due to their petty political agendas. Although forum’s representatives are not ready to give much importance to political parties in their movement, the BJP has offered all support to such a move. “Although ours is a political party, we will support any move to bring all pro-Jammu parties on a platform to fight against injustice against this region,” Shamsher Singh Manhas, state president of the BJP, said. He was of the opinion that there was a need to evolve a consensus among all pro-Jammu groups to fight against injustice meted out to the region. “We will provide all possible to support to the new forum, provided it remains non-political,” he said. This is not the first such attempt to bring Jammu-based social, political, business and religious organisations on a common platform. Earlier, a similar effort was made when the Jammu State Morcha was constituted before the 2002 elections. The morcha, which had more than a dozen organisations as its constituents, was later disintegrated due to an ego clash among some senior leaders. Taking a lesson from the previous mistake, the newly constituted forum has decided not to appoint any president or office-bearer to avoid tussle for leadership. |
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Teacher’s husband ‘misbehaves’ with students
Jammu, May 8 Trouble erupted at the school when the students protested against the teacher on the school premises. After seeing the situation going out of control, the teacher called up her husband, sources said. Her husband came with his security staff and threatened and used abusive language with the students, they added. However, the police and the school principal remained tight-lipped over the entire incident. —
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Panun Kashmir alleges misuse of its banner
Jammu, May 8 While addressing a press conference here, Agnishekhar said: “A strange example of going to the extent of impersonation, using the name of Panun Kashmir and and other related proxies is the proposed convening of the annual general meeting in the name of Panun Kashmir by Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, who was expelled in the annual general meeting of the organisation on December 27, 2009, for his subversive and anti-organisational activities.” He said the said meeting condemned Chrungoo for his ideological drift to hold Jagmohan, the then Governor of the state, responsible for the genocide and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley. Agnishekher said: “The so called annual general meeting is nothing but a trick, a deceit and an unveiled case of
falsehood.” |
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Students hold rally against smoking
Leh, May 8 Holding placards and banners, the students raised slogans against smoking and alcohol to spread awareness among people about its harmful effects. Jhankis were also presented in the rally and the students also presented streets plays. |
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Mehbooba: State in crisis due to misgovernance
Srinagar, May 8 She said the government appeared only on papers because the ruling elites were more particular about issuing press statements and conducting photo sessions to “befool people rather than taking effective steps on grounds”. “It is unfortunate for the state that this regime has failed to the come up to the expectations of the people,” she said, adding: “This regime can neither carry forward the reconciliatory process nor the developmental activities initiated by the previous PDP-Congress coalition.” “The inability of the NC government to respond to the problems of the people of the state could have a negative fallout,” she said. She said the situation had been sliding back to the pre-2002 situation due to “wrong policies being propagated by this dispensation”. “In its tenure of just 15 months, this regime has been exposed because it has reneged on all promises made to the people during the last Assembly elections,” she said. |
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Two Lashkar militants shot dead in Kishtwar
Jammu, May 8 “In a joint operation of the Army and the police, troops eliminated two LeT militants, while their third accomplice has been engaged in a gunfight in Lar forests of Gulabgarh,” the Brigadier General Staff of the 16 Corps, Brig Gurdeep Singh, told The Tribune. However, the slain militants were yet to be identified, he added. “We are getting reports that a police constable was also injured in the encounter,” he said. Two AK-47 assault rifles had been seized from the site of the encounter. Official sources said for the past two days, the security forces were on a lookout to hunt down a group of at least four LeT militants, and this evening they established a contact with three of them. As soon as the contact was established, a fierce gunfight ensued in which two militants were killed. Meanwhile, the security forces today busted a hideout of the LeT and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition in Naidgam forests in Kishtwar district today. They seized one 12-bore rifle, seven Chinese grenades, 37 gelatin sticks, 11 UBGL grenades, 60 kg of explosives, two improvised pipe bombs, one RPG round, seven detonators, 15 metres of cordex wire and one radio set battery. Three fire extinguishers, which could be converted into IEDs, were also seized. “The hideout belonged to LeT district commander Habib Gujjar, aka Habibullah, alias Salman, who in the recent times was reported to be reinvigorating the LeT in the Naidgam-Kuchhal area,” Jammu-based defence PRO Lt-Col Biplab Nath said. The stores seized from the hideout had the potential of causing large-scale casualties and damage to property. The security forces got vital clues about the whereabouts of the dreaded LeT terrorist who had recently been recruiting new cadres from the Keshwan and Chatru areas of Kishtwar to strengthen the dwindling strength of terrorists. Two ultras killed
in Kupwara
Srinagar: The security forces today gunned down two unidentified militants in the frontier district of Kupwara. According to a police spokesperson, the security forces, on a tip-off about the presence of the militants in a house, launched an operation and cordoned off the area. “When the house where the militants were hiding was located, they were asked to surrender. But the militants started firing indiscriminately towards the security personnel and an encounter ensued,” said a police official. Two militants were killed in the encounter that lasted for about eight hours. “The killed militants were yet to be identified,” he said. Meanwhile, a combing operation was still on in the area to ensure that no other militant was hiding there. |
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Army recruitment rally a big draw
Kupwara, May 8 Speaking to The Tribune, Brig KD Malhotra, Deputy Director General Recruitment, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, said, “We are elated over the response that we have got from the candidates here.” He said during the first phase of the rally, which was held in the Tangdhar area along the LoC, a large number of candidates came to take part in it. “In the second phase of the rally, which is going on here, despite heavy rain there is a huge rush of candidates from all parts of the valley for recruitment rally,” Brig Malhotra said. He said most of the candidates wanted to join the armed forces to serve the motherland. “They want to serve the motherland and they know that the Army provides a better living standard to them.” The candidates, who had come from far-off areas of the valley, said they were not afraid of the threats given by various militant organisations against joining the armed forces. “I am not afraid of any threat. It has been my childhood dream to don the olive green uniform. Earlier also I tried a couple of times but failed. But this time I am hopeful that I would make it through in the selection process,” said Ashiq Hussain, a candidate from Anantnag district. Another candidate said as there was not much employment avenues in the valley and the Army was not only providing a better salary but also a chance to serve the motherland, he decided to join the Army. “By joining the Army I would be able to serve the motherland, besides getting a chance to improve the living condition of my parents who burnt their midnight oil to educate me and my siblings. It is now my turn to serve them,” said Mushtaq Ahmed, a resident of Ganderbal district. Meanwhile, to make sure that transparency was maintained in the recruitment drive, the Army had introduced the biometric automatic system, not leaving any scope for impersonators. “During a recruitment drive in Jammu recently we caught 21 candidates, who were impersonating. So this time we have introduced the biometric automation system on a larger scale,” Brig Malhotra said. |
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Protest held against killing of youth
Srinagar, May 8 When the body of Kumar was handed over to his relatives, hundreds of residents of Tragpora village took to streets demanding a thorough probe into the killing. The villagers also blocked the Baramulla-Kupwara road for several hours. The police resorted to a cane-charge and used tear gas shells to disperse the mob that started pelting the security forces with stones. The protesters claimed that Kumar was not a militant but a civilian and was picked up by the security forces before the encounter. However, the police claimed that Kumar was an active militant and was killed during an encounter along with five Pakistani ultras. “The killed militants have been identified as Furqan Bhai, Zubair Bhai, Saad Bhai, Abdullah Bhai, Abu Ubaid and Abu Sayed,” the spokesman said. He said the recoveries made from the slain militants included six AK assault rifles, 20 AK magazines, 521 rounds, four pistols, five magazines, an under barrel grenade launcher with 14 grenades, seven high explosive hand grenades and two Chinese grenades. |
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3 held for bid to smuggle bovines
Jammu, May 8 It said acting on specific information a naka was laid at Bikram Chowk and a truck going from Jammu to Srinagar was intercepted. During checking, 10 bovines were recovered and the vehicle was seized. The police added three persons namely Aijaz Ahmed, Mushtaq Ahmad and Abdul Qayum, all residents of Banihal, were arrested. A case has been registered. —
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Minister hailed for awarding health workers
Jammu, May 8 The committee members said the move would go a long way in improving work culture and creating healthy competition within the department. “It will also encourage dedicated workers and improve service delivery to ailing people,” they said. The federation said several workers, who had also been working with full dedication but could not find a place in the list of awardees, needed to be identified and honoured accordingly. |
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Army gives Rs 4.67 lakh relief to villagers
Jammu, May 8 “The Commanding Officer distributed cheques of compensation received from the Defence Estate Officer, Northern Command, towards the utilisation of civilian dhoks and land among the people concerned,” said Jammu-based defence PRO Lt-Col Biplab Nath. The regular monitoring of the progress in the cases, personal interactions, meetings and liaison with the officials concerned by Army units had resulted in the release of compensation to the villagers, he added. The meeting, chaired by the Battalion Commander, was attended by the residents of Draba, Masthan Dhara, Sangliani, Chamrer and Saila villages. During the meeting, civil-military coordination, pending cases of land compensation and issues pertaining to improving security environment in the area were also discussed. It may be stated that the security forces have acquired vast chunks of land in the state for operational duties. The villagers thanked the Army for the compensation. The meeting ended on a positive note with both sides promising to work together for better and safer security environment in the area. |
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Parshuram Jayanti celebrations from today
Jammu, May 8 On May 11, shastras of Bhagwan Shri Ashram Ji Maharaj will arrive from Akhnoor temple of Bhagwan Parshuram at Raghunath Chowk and subsequently they will be taken to the samiti’s office in
a procession. On May 12, the shastra puja of Bhagwan Parshuram would be performed and, thereafter, a shoba yatra will be taken out. About 450 participants from nine states are likely to participate in the yatra. There would also be tableaux of Ram Darbar from Shri Raghunath Temple and Ranbireshwar Temple. The artists from across the nation would depict their folk culture in the procession. “A wooden-crafted palanquin from Ayodhya is the one of main attractions in which an ‘asth dhathu’ (eight metal) idol of Bhagwan Parshuram will be placed. The area around Satya Narayanmandir will be decorated. The shoba yatra will pass through Mubarak Mandi, Kanak Mandi, Rajinder Bazaar, Residency Road, Raghunath Bazaar, Purani Mandi, Raj Tilak Road, Moti Bazaar, Pacca Danga and Upper Bazaar,” the samiti members said. “Schoolchildren will also perform under the cultural exchange of thought and theme programme,” they added. They also appealed to Jammu people to show hospitality and accord a warm welcome to the guests coming from other parts of the country. |
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Suicide, fratricide by CRPF jawans on the decline
Jammu, May 8 “Twelve jawans had committed suicide in 2007, eight in 2008, three in 2009 and one so far in the current year,” CRPF sources told The Tribune. Similarly, there were two incidents of fratricide in 2007 and one in 2008, but it went up a little with four such incidents in 2009 and none, so far, this year, they added. In the Jammu region comprising 10 districts, the CRPF has 15 battalions and four companies. Across the country, the CRPF had witnessed 46 cases of suicides in 2007, 46 in 2008, 28 in 2009 and three till April 14 this year. In fratricide killings across the country in CRPF 10 incidents happened in 2007, six in 2008, five in 2009 and none so far this year. Worried over spurt in such incidents, the Defence Institute of Psychological Research had conducted a survey and came out with some corrective measures to check the trend. Remedial measures have started paying positive dividends, said a senior officer of the CRPF on the condition of anonymity. “From grievances redressal cell to liberal grant of leave, recreational facilities, increased interaction between officers and jawans, improved working conditions, yoga classes and roping in psychologists to strengthen mental toughness of our jawans, everything has started yielding positive results,” he said. “In this militancy plagued state where our jawans are under stress all the time, we have also increased family accommodation quota from 15 to 25 per cent so that they can live with their families to avoid home sickness,” the officer added. However, he also felt that cellphones that keep the jawans connected to their families back home were the initiating factor for home sickness. |
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BJP: Govt ignoring framers’ problems
Jammu, May 8 Addressing a press conference here today, Sukhnandan said there was an acute shortage of fertilisers in the region and government agencies like JAKFED and Agro-Industries had failed to discharge their duties. “Not only this, the poor farmers are also deprived of power supply,” he said, adding despite repeated representations no effective step has been taken to mitigate the sufferings of the farmers. Sukhnandan also took the coalition government to task for its failure to check the misuse of public exchequer. He said: “Since the NC-Congress coalition government has categorically stated in the recently concluded Budget session that they have no money to meet the long-pending demands of the employees, including the Sixth Pay Commission arrears, it is on official records that the state government has spent crores of rupees on the renovation/repair of ministerial houses, both in Kashmir and Jammu divisions.” |
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Tehsildar, engineer booked
Jammu, May 8 They said Mohammad Bashir, a tehsildar and resident Bhalla Enclave, and Parveen Pandoh, an executive engineer and resident of Janipur, were booked by the Vigilance officers today. Till the filing of the report, raids were going on. Repeated attempts to contact SSP, Vigilance, Parminder Singh proved futile. |
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Central University
Jammu, May 8 This demand was raised at a meeting of the JSSM that was held on the new campus under the chairmanship of Lovejeet Singh, a student of Department of Laws, University of Jammu. Lovejeet Singh said the government should constitute a committee to search a professor from among the new campus of University of Jammu for the coveted post. |
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First, they ran from pillar to post to get justice for the alleged custodial death of Rajnish Sharma, who had married a Muslim girl from Srinagar, Amina Yousuf, aka Anchal Sharma.
Asserting that the NC would fight and defeat the nefarious designs of the divisive forces in the state, Devender Singh Rana, political adviser to the Chief Minister, said the state was an epitome of secularism and brotherhood.
Srinagar, May 8
Jammu, May 8
