Jammu, May 24
High speed winds prevented an IA-821 flight from landing at the Jammu Airport yesterday afternoon. The flight was headed to Srinagar from Delhi with a stopover at Jammu.

The plane then flew directly to Srinagar after making two futile attempts to land at the airport here. The plane could not land at Jammu on its return journey from Srinagar as well.

With memories of the Mangalore air crash fresh in mind, the passengers, including the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Dr Aftab Hussain Saiki, had anxious moments. Their relatives, as well as many passengers waiting at the Jammu Airport to board the plane for Srinagar, also had troubled moments.

The worst affected were 14 Srinagar-bound tourists waiting for the plane in Jammu. The Indian Airlines provided them overnight accommodation at Asia Hotel before arranging a special flight for them today. Similarly, the passengers scheduled to land in Jammu were provided stay in Delhi and they reached Jammu today.

Airport sources said the winds were quite fast and abnormal. The region is currently facing a strong heat wave with speedy winds. However, the flights landed safely throughout the day today.

Sanjiv Misri, Station Manager, Indian Airlines, told The Tribune, “The winds, which were little unusual at the moment of landing, led the pilot to cancel landing and head to Srinagar.”

He said the pilot tried to land twice but decided against it to prevent any mishap. “The plan was to land here after returning from Srinagar. However, by that time the pilot touched the flight duty time limit and proceeded straight to Delhi.”

Jammu, May 24
For aspiring paramedics, the long wait for getting a degree in a paramedical course is becoming a distant dream. Though the students have been attending the classes for the last two years, for an 18-month course, the exams of not even the first semester have been held.

The students of nearly 30 government and private paramedical institutes of Jammu share the same agony. These institutes come under the administrative control of the J&K State Medical Faculty (SMF).

The students feel cheated. “I got admitted in S Sidartha Paramedical Institute, Channi Himmat, in July 2008, for the male multipurpose health worker course. Usually, the course gets over in one-and-a-half years. But in Jammu, the students like me have not appeared in the first semester as yet, whereas those who joined the colleges outside the state for the same course are back with degrees and are doing jobs,” said a student, requesting anonymity.

The aspiring paramedics have been doing courses like multipurpose health workers, pharmacists or medical assistants, laboratory assistants, X-ray assistants, dental assistants, ophthalmic assistant, sanitary assistants and junior staff nurse.

Sources pointed out that corruption, weak administrative control over such institutes and absence of proper mechanism for conducting exams have been some of the reasons behind this delay.

They said most of the colleges keep on enrolling students for different courses all through the year, as there was no time frame for the admission process. The institutions have to submit examination forms of the candidates to the SMF at the time of examination only. Also, there has been no uniform fee structure in the paramedical colleges.

The official sources said the state medical faculty operates from a single room in the Directorate of Health Services and severe manpower crunch had crippled its functioning. Director Health Services, Jammu, Jasbir Singh, who is also SMF president, told The Tribune that the exams were scheduled in March this year. “We may conduct the exams sometime next month,” he said, without disclosing the reasons for such a long delay.”

He said exams would also be conducted in the 21 paramedical colleges of Kashmir. Though the faculty has not notified the date for exam, a notice issued by the directorate today said, “All the principals of AMT/ANMT schools and private institutions be instructed to submit examination forms of all the candidates, who are eligible, up to May 2010 for appearing in the next examination before May 29 this year.”

The students have been keeping their fingers crossed at the notification, as similar notification of submission of the forms was made twice in January and March this year.

Jammu, May 24
Even as uneasy calm prevailed on the LoC in the Krishna Ghati (KG) sector of Poonch district where Pakistan troops had opened heavy fire on at least eight Indian posts, India today lodged a strong protest with Pakistan in a flag meeting held at Chakkan-da-Bagh, a transit point on the LoC for trans-border trade between the two countries.

However, Pakistan outrightly denied its involvement in the incident. “In the flag meet at Chakkan-da-Bagh, the Pakistan officers denied the involvement of their troops in yesterday’s incident. They denied that they had fired rockets and mortar bombs on eight of our posts,” Brig General Staff of 16 Corps, Brig Gurdeep Singh told The Tribune. As usual they (Pakistan officers) denied their involvement and rather blamed us for resorting to fire, he added.

“We have already informed the Army headquarters about the incident and the troops have been put on alert on the LoC in the wake of yesterday’s incident,” Brig Gurdeep Singh said.

Official sources, however, disclosed that at the flag meeting Pakistan officers did not utter even a word about the killing of three of their soldiers in retaliatory fire by the Indian Army.

The complete denial by them and their silence over the killing of their soldiers in retaliatory fire proved their double standards beyond suspicion, said sources.

The sources said, “Flag meetings with Pakistan practically serve no purpose and they are nothing more than a channel of official communication.” Though there were no reports of any exchange of fire today on the LoC where guns had boomed for over four hours yesterday, tension prevailed, they added.

The sources, however, attributed Pakistan’s unwarranted action to trying to facilitate intrusion by ultras waiting in various launch pads on the other side of the border.

Our intelligence inputs suggest the presence of 200 to 250 militants in various launch pads on the other side of the LoC, said the sources, adding that the Pakistan troops resorted to unprovoked fire with a dual purpose to engage our soldiers in gunfight and at the same time try to push in armed ultras under cover fire. However, there was no such attempt today, they added

Pakistan troops, in a major ceasefire violation, had opened heavy fire on Kranti, Kirpan and Deep Complex posts in the KG sector from Pimple, Daku and Battal posts on their side. Subsequently, the Pakistan troops had also resorted to intermittent fire till 3 pm on five other forward posts. Jawan C Narayanan of 17 Mahar Regiment sustained splinter injuries in the Pakistan firing.

Jammu, May 24
BJP activists today observed a black day against the price rise and accused the UPA government for spiralling prices of all essential commodities and demonstrated in the old city.

The party leaders said the black day was observed to make the public aware of the anti-people policies of the Congress-led UPA government, as a result of which the common man was suffering.

Led by state president, Shamsher Singh Manhas, the party activists wearing black badges, assembled at Kachi Chawni and raised slogans against the UPA for its failure to contain the prices, which have broken the back of billions of poor people in the country.

While addressing the general public and the activists, Manhas said, “The UPA leadership is insensitive towards the issues that are directly connected with the common masses.”

Comparing the 6-year rule of the BJP-led NDA government with the present Congress-led UPA, Manhas said the prices during NDA rule were well within control, as the NDA government did not allow the black marketers and hoarders to indulge in malpractices. 

Jammu, May 24
The General Officer Commanding, Ace of Spade Division, today flagged off a troupe of 25 students from remote and far-flung areas of Rajouri district on an educational-cum-motivational tour.

In a vibrant ceremony, the GOC flagged off the tour from the Raina Auditorium in Rajouri. The tour is being organised under Operation Sadbhavana by the Tithwal Brigade.

Accompanied by a teacher, the students will visit Bangalore, Mysore and other important cities of south India.

The children have been selected from economically backward sections belonging to the remote and underdeveloped areas of Rajouri district. The aim of the tour is to acquaint these children about the rich heritage of the country and increase their awareness about the culture, traditions and economic prosperity of other states.

The tour also aims at developing a spirit of travelling, adventure and national integration among the students.

The GOC, while interacting with the students, called upon them to utilise the opportunity to get educated and develop themselves as responsible citizens of the country.

He also stressed on the importance of the youth in ensuring the progress and prosperity of the state, which is witnessing a phase of peace and stability over the last couple of years.

Jammu, May 24
Senior leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Darhal MLA Choudhary Zulfikar has charged the National Conference-led coalition regime with adopting step-motherly treatment to constituencies represented by the Opposition.

Addressing a series of meetings in his Assembly segment, Zulfikar alleged that the residents of his constituency had been facing hardship due to the discriminatory policies of the ruling coalition. He regretted that most of the schemes announced by the government had been confined only to the paper, as the ruling parties were not interested to mitigate the woes of the residents of this area.

Pointing to an acute shortage of drinking water in his constituency, Zulfikar expressed surprise that about 95 per cent of the water supply schemes in his constituency were defunct due to the casual approach being adopted by the authorities.

Lambasting the authorities for their failure to distribute the foodgrains meant for the BPL families, the PDP MLA said the situation had been deteriorating with every passing day due to the non-availability of the ration.

While highlighting the woes of the farmers, he said neither the seeds nor the fertilisers had been provided to them in the present sowing season and criticised the authorities for not providing health facilities to the residents of the area and demanded the appointment of adequate staff in health centres.

Srinagar, May 24
Governor NN Vohra, who is also the chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, today visited Pahalgam and took stock of the arrangements for the ensuing Amarnath yatra at the Nunwan base camp.

The Governor spent over three hours there and discussed the arrangements being made for the yatris. Chief Executive Officer of the board Raj Kumar Goyal accompanied him.

The Governor also took stock of the present status of the facilities in the pipeline in the Pahalgam-Chandanwari sector. He held discussions with the Anantnag Deputy Commissioner and all district-level officers about the facilities required for the smooth conduct of the yatra.

While reviewing the pace of the ongoing work for the establishment of various logistical and other arrangements, he directed the CEO and all authorities concerned to ensure completion of the work by June 20.

He emphasised that as soon as the weather opened up, the work on the clearance of the track and at the camping sites should be taken up on a war-footing. The Governor reviewed all the sanitation related arrangements under implementation at the base camp.

He asked the CEO to prepare a comprehensive site plan of the camp, so that various usage areas were clearly demarcated for being allocated to different service providers like langarwalas, shopkeepers, tentwalas, ponywalas etc. The Governor also emphasised that the environment and ecology must be maintained by taking all possible measures, particularly timely collection and treatment.

The shrine board and each of various government agencies concerned were being geared up for making necessary arrangements at the base camps and all along both the routes to the shrine.

The Governor would be undertaking weekly review meetings with the CEO and all other officers concerned to ensure the timely completion of all arrangements.

Meanwile, arrangements with regard to deployment of security personnel for smooth conduct of Shri Amarnathji Yatra were reviewed at a high-level meeting held here today. Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda chaired the meeting that was attended by senior officers of the J&K police and other paramilitary forces.

Addressing the meeting, the DGP stressed upon the security and intelligence agencies to work in coordination with each other to ensure smooth conduct of yatra, commencing from July 1. He said the security and other arrangements should be made for the yatris from Lakhanpur to Holy Cave.

Srinagar, May 24
While people in other parts of the country are praying for rain so as to get relief from the scorching heat, residents of the Kashmir valley are holding prayers pleading the rain god to stop the downpour as it has played havoc with fruit and other crops.

The continuous rain for the past almost two months has damaged a large quantity of fruit crops and standing ripe mustard crop in various parts of the region.

“We were expecting a good strawberry and cherry crops this year, but due to the incessant rain the crops have been damaged,” said Murtaza Ahmed, a fruit grower in Baramulla district.

He said a major portion of the cherry and strawberry crops had been damaged due to hailstorm that lashed the area a few days ago. “The crops were almost ready to be harvested but the hailstorm destroyed almost the entire crop,” Murtaza said.

Kashmiri cherry and strawberry are famous and the produce are sent to various parts of the country and abroad. The farmers say that due to the damage to the crops the prices of the fruits have risen.

The continuous rain for the past some days has also spelt doom for the almond crop in various parts of the valley. “More than half of the premature almond crop has been destroyed due to the continuous rain. The crop is the only source of our livelihood and this year we don’t know what would happen,” said Abdul Hamid, a fruit grower in Pulwama district.

The farmers say that they have been holding special prayers so that the rain stops. “Though rain is good, the fruit crop also needs sunshine to ripen. So we have been praying to the almighty to stop the rain and show the sunshine again,” said Gulzar Ahmed, another farmer.

Jammu, May 24
The first Universal Concept Mental Arithmetic system (UCMAS) Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Competition 2010 was held today.

According to a statement issued here, Tanya Aggarwal of DPS School won the title of Champions of Champions whereas Juicy Sharma of Presentation Convent school, Tanvi Mahajan of KC Public School and Vasu Gupta of KC Gurukul School won the title of Champion.

Over 150 students from six centres of the state participated in the competition. The children in the age group of 4 to 13 years solved 100 to 150 sums of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in 8 minutes with abacus and/or without abacus (mentally).

This event was conducted by the master franchisee of J&K in the presence of Vijay Puri, Academic Director, K C Gurukul Group, Vikesh Sandhel, Principal, Air Force School, Satwari, and Renu Sachdeva, Principal, Heaven Kingdom School, Janipur. 

Jammu, May 24
The police arrested a man from a local cremation ground this afternoon while he was trying to secretly cremate his wife’s body, who had allegedly died under mysterious circumstances in their house in Basant Nagar in Janipur colony two days ago. The accused, Ajay Sethi, a tailor, allegedly kept his wife’s body at home and with his son Sumit, 4,walking around the body confused at his mother’s condition.

The tailor has told the police that his wife, Meenakshi, committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan. He kept the body in the house as he did not know what to do. Ajay’s father, Ram Krishan, aged over 60, also lived with him. The police said Ram Krishan was also present at the cremation ground. He, however, was not arrested due to his old age. He would be questioned later.

SP (City North) Randeep Kumar said they were investigating Ajay’s claims and were awaiting the post-mortem report to proceed further. Giving details, he said, “Someone informed us a few people were about to cremate a woman’s body who had died under mysterious circumstances at her house two days ago. We reached the spot and found something suspicious going on. The body has been shifted to the GMCH and the tailor arrested.”

The police, however, earned the ire of the Acharya Brahmin Biradari as it picked up an aged priest from the cremation ground along with the accused. Vikrant Sharma, president of the biradari, alleged that the police ill-treated the aged priest, beat him up and kept him in the lock-up without feeding him even water. The association staged a protest following which the priest was released. The police reached the Jogi Gate crematorium when the accused was about to lay the body on the pyre and arrested him. After getting the news, Ajay’s neighbours started gathering at the hospital but they kept mum over the issue and were not ready to talk about the relations between the couple.

The police said information about the incident had been given to the parents of Meenakshi, who reside in Delhi and were on their way to Jammu. 

Jammu, May 24
The enforcement wing of Jammu Municipal Corporation today removed encroachments raised at public places in different colonies.

The team demolished a kiosk at the Gurudwara Sunder Singh Road. The team also demolished a bathroom that was constructed by encroaching upon a part of the municipal lane at Bakshi Nagar.

Later, the team demolished a wall that was raised by encroaching upon the municipal drain and part of the road at Rehari colony. The demolition was executed with help and co-operation of the police force from the Sarwal police post.

The enforcement wing also stopped 30 constructions works that were being raised in violation of the approved building permissions at Channi Himmat.