Jammu, April 1
As there was no consensus among political parties on the Bill to prohibit conversion of agriculture land for non-agricultural purposes, which was was tabled in the Legislative Assembly yesterday, it was referred to the Select Committee of the House for further deliberations and accommodating suggestions of the Opposition.

Legislators of all opposition parties opposed the Bill in the present form and refused to withdraw their amendments. Therefore, on the recommendation of Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla, Speaker of the Assembly Mohammad Akbar Lone referred it to the Select Committee for evolving a consensus.

Initiating a debate on the Bill, PDP legislator Moulvi Iftikar Hussain Ansari pointed out certain flaws in it. He argued that it was not proper to pass the Bill in its present form. Panthers Party legislator Harsh Dev Singh termed the Bill as “unconstitutional” and said poor farmers would be the worst sufferers. “I am of the opinion that the Bill cannot stand legal scrutiny as it is full of lacunae and faults,” he said. He added that the Bill was formulated in haste, without going through the details.

Quoting some clauses of the Bill, Harsh Dev said a farmer, who owned land, would have to take permission from the Deputy Commissioner concerned to construct a house on it. He also demanded that the Bill should be referred to the Select Committee of the Assembly for further discussion.

Another PDP legislator Basharat Bukhari said the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution would also be involved in the Bill, as the matter was related to the production of foodgrains.

While legislators belonging to all opposition parties opposed the Bill in its present form, the Revenue Minister said the aim of the Bill was to check the shrinkage of agriculture land in the state.

The Bill was formulated on the recommendation of a high-powered committee comprising Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar and the Revenue Minister, he said.

“As members have some reservations over the clauses of the Bill, we have no objection to referring it to the Select Committee,” Bhalla said.

The Speaker later referred the Bill to the Select Committee.

Jammu, April 1
Making intentions of his government clear about empowering panchayats in the state, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today directed top officials to finalise a road map for the transfer of functions, functionaries and finances (3Fs) to panchayats, right from the day they are constituted.

“There should be no ambiguity about the empowerment of the panchayats,” he said and reiterated his government’s resolve to empower the people at the grass-roots level through an effective and transparent panchayati raj system.

Omar constituted a high-powered committee headed by Chief Secretary Madhav Lal for formulating a road map for the transfer of vital functions, functionaries and finances to the panchayats in a fixed period so that the panchayats when they come into being did not face any problem.

Omar was chairing a high-level meeting to discuss the issues pertaining to the panchayati raj and the empowerment of the panchayats under the Panchayati Raj Act. The meeting was attended by Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Ali Mohammad Sagar, Minister of State for Rural Development Ajaz Ahmad Khan, Chief Secretary Madhav Lal, Principal Secretary, Home, BR Sharma, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, Suresh Kumar, Commissioner Secretary, Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, Commissioner Secretary, Rural Development, Yudullah, Law Secretary GH Tantray and other senior officers.

The Chief Minister emphasised the need for clearing all decks for the devolution of powers to panchayats before the completion of the election process so that there was no delay.

He laid stress on the timely completion of a road map by the committee constituted for the purpose.

Speaking at the meeting, Sagar underscored the importance of panchayats to bring in more transparency and efficiency in the implementation of development works.

He said panchayats were an effective tool to involve public representatives at the grass-roots level in policy planning and the implementation of area-specific development schemes.

“The Panchayati Raj system would revolutionise the development activities and bring them under public scrutiny,” he said. He added that this would reduce the chances of corruption and malpractices.

The Chief Secretary stressed on imparting training to the panchayat functionaries. He added that the services of the NGOs in the field could be utilised for the purpose.

Jammu, April 1
After the salaries and perks of the legislators were doubled, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced to enhance the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) of the MLAs and MLCs soon.

Speaking in the Legislative Assembly during the last sitting of this year’s Budget session here today, Omar assured the legislators that their CDF would be enhanced soon. “As the salaries and perks of the legislators were increased recently, we decided not to increase their CDF in the current session,” Omar said. However, he assured the House that he would increase the CDF soon.

“Soon a decision will be taken in this regard and everyone will be properly informed about the new guidelines,” the Chief Minister told the MLAs while expressing gratitude for their cooperation during the month-long Budget session.

At present all legislators get Rs 50 lakh as the CDF annually for the development of their constituencies.

As Engineer Rashid, an Independent MLA from Langate, had demanded that the CDF should be raised to Rs 5 crore, Omar said it was not possible to increase it to such an extent. On the last day of the Budget session, a majority of the MLAs demanded the CDF to be increased. They also demanded that the salaries of their personal assistants be increased.

Omar said since the formation of his government in the state, this was the only successful Assembly session. “For the first time, productive discussions took place in the House and the Opposition highlighted the failures of the government in an effective manner,” he said.

Although Omar avoided a direct confrontation with Opposition leader Mehbooba Mufti on the last day of the Budget session, he made a veiled attack on the PDP leader for trying to spoil his good mood.

“I am really in a good mood today, but some people are trying to spoil it by raising a few irrelevant points at a time when the House is going to adjourn,” he added.

Mehbooba, in her address, had asked a question regarding the arrest of “innocent” youths in the state. She had stated that a large number of innocent youths were still languishing in jails and the government should release all of them to create a conducive atmosphere.

Jammu, April 1
The notification for the fifth phase of panchayat elections in the nine blocks of the state was issued here today.

The state Chief Electorate Officer, BR Sharma, issued the notification for Rajwara (Kupwara district), Wagoora (Baramulla), Khansahib (Budgam), DH Pora (Kulgam), Arnas (Reasi), Panchari (Udhampur), Basohli (Kathua), Darhal and Budhal (Rajouri).

The last date for filing nominations is April 8 while the scrutiny of the nominations will be done on April 9. The last date for the withdrawal of candidature is April 13 and the date of polling and counting is April 30. The first notification for the panchayat elections was issued on March 18, the second on March 22, the third on March 25 and the fourth on March 29.

Jammu, April 1
The Department of Posts, which is under the control of the Union Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, today issued orders for the withdrawal of a pin code directory from 1700 post offices in the state

The directory carried a controversial map of Jammu and Kashmir on its cover page, showing with white dotted lines the Line of Control (LoC) in violation of a resolution of Parliament and the guidelines of the Surveyor General of India.

The Chief Post Master General, Jammu and Kashmir, John Samuel, who assumed office a month ago, admitted that this was a blunder on the part of the department. “It happened in year 2009. Somebody had approved it. Now, how it happened and who approved it is being looked into. At the same time I issued orders today to withdraw the directory from all 1,700 post offices in the state. I thank you (The Tribune) for bringing the matter to my notice,” said Samuel.

He said within a month the department would come out with a new directory with telephone numbers of the 1,700 post offices and postmasters to streamline the postal system in the state.

The Tribune, which has a copy of the directory having the controversial map of Jammu and Kashmir on it, had brought the matter to the notice of the Chief Post Master General.

Official sources said it seemed that Department of Posts had “reconciled” itself to the fact that Aksai Chin and areas of Jammu and Kashmir were under the illegal occupation of Pakistan and China.

The department committed the blunder on the cover page of the directory itself and surprisingly it went unnoticed, they added.

The Department of Posts published this map in utter violation of a resolution unanimously adopted in Parliament in 1994 and the standing guidelines of the Surveyor General, Survey of India. Parliament on February 22, 1994, had unanimously passed a resolution that occupied Kashmir (PoK) was an integral part of India and Pakistan must vacate parts of Jammu and Kashmir under its occupation.

A portion of the resolution verbatim reads, ?On behalf of the people of India, Parliament firmly declares that Pakistan must also vacate areas of Jammu and Kashmir that it occupied through aggression. In 1964, Pakistan gave away Aksai Chin to China.

Similarly, the guidelines by the Surveyor General of India strictly restricted the wrong depiction of the map of India that otherwise included states of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh.

Jammu, April 1
The Jammu and Kashmir government today said it had declared 199 villages as backward in the state.

In a written reply to a question by the CPM member MY Tarigami in the Legislative Assembly, Minister for Social Welfare Sakina Itoo, said that 199 villages, 96 in the Kashmir valley and 103 in the Jammu region had been declared backward in Jammu and Kashmir since 2006.

She said no recommendation was made to the government for declaring any village in Srinagar, Samba and Kishtwar districts as backward.

Kathua district had 29 backward villages, which was the highest so far in any district in the past two years, Itoo added. — PTI

Jammu, April 1
Farmers in the Jammu region are a worried lot as the irrigation canals into which the Irrigation Department will release water on April 14 are blocked with silt and garbage.

De-silting of the choked canals has not yet started, thus depriving farmers of water to irrigate their fields. Due to the clogged canals, canal water fails to reach tail-end areas of the region.

Dharam Chand, a farmer of Domana village, said, “After the wheat crop is harvested by April 13-15, water will be required for irrigating fields for the next crop. However, the present condition of the canals and tributaries is not good. Silt and garbage have clogged the network of canals at several places”.

He added, “Breaches have appeared in the banks of the canals and their tributaries at some places. The Irrigation Department has not repaired these breaches yet”.

Tejinder Singh, another farmer of the Hiranagar subdivision in Kathua district, said, “Almost every year the Irrigation Department carries out de-silting of the canals just to get crores of rupees from the state’s exchequer. The condition of these canals exposes the tall claims of the department, which has been claiming that it will provide adequate water to the farmers for irrigation this season,” Tejinder added.

A number of farmers alleged that the de-silting of the Ranbir canal, which is the main source of irrigation in the area, was an eyewash last year, as no serious efforts were made to remove silt.

“The labourers engaged for the purpose last year removed the silt and placed it on the banks of the canals. After the silt dried, it again fell into the canals,” said Duni Chand, a farmer.

However, officials of the Irrigation Department blame people for the condition of the canals saying, “The canals were de-silted last year, but people have thrown garbage into them”.

Irrigation Minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din, while talking to The Tribune over the phone, said, “Last year, an extensive de-silting drive was launched and silt and garbage were removed from most of the canals. There was no need to clean the canals this year”. He added, “The de-silting is done once in three years”. 

Jammu, April 1
Minister for Finance Abdul Rahim Rather has called for making the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan irrelevant, if it could not be demolished altogether like the wall of Berlin.

The minister said the LoC should be made porous to allow frequent meetings of the people living on its either side and also permit more trade through additional routes.

“It is the union of hearts and not the physical segregation that offers a better solution to reconciling conflicting political interests,” Rather said while speaking at the valedictory function of ‘Panel discussion on Cross-LoC Trade’ here yesterday.

He said the LoC, like the wall of Berlin, had emerged in history as one of the biggest tragedies, which had worked as a line of segregation between people with different political ideologies for over six decades.

He lauded the efforts of various humanists, intellectuals and right-thinking individuals in and outside Jammu and Kashmir for making efforts for the revival of people-to-people contact. He added that the Central government, particularly Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had taken up the issue of opening up the LoC for people-to-people meetings as well as trade with Pakistan.

Besides, the Prime Minister had appointed one working group headed by MK Rasgotra exclusively to deal with the subject of ‘Strengthening Relations Across LoC’. This group had recommended several measures for facilitating trade across the LoC as well as for the expansion of people-to-people contact for “not only improving economic conditions on both sides of the LoC, but also as “an important step towards the normalisation of the situation”.

Rather said a steady and gradual growth in trade had taken place over the years despite the restricted lines of communication, absence of a banking and currency mechanism for trading and deficiencies in the trading infrastructure hastily created on either side of the LoC.

Jammu, April 1
Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla has said 46 fake permanent resident certificates have been detected in the state till date.

Replying to a short notice question by Choudhary Zullfkar Ali in the Legislative Assembly here today, Bhalla said the government had already constituted the J&K State Subject Commission under the chairmanship of Justice AQ Parry, a retired High Court Judge, to look into the issue.

The minister said the commission had submitted three interim reports up to now and detected 46 fake state subject certificates issued in favour of non-state subjects.

Of the 46 fake state subject certificates detected, the government cancelled 29 on the recommendations of the commission, he added.

The minister said the remaining fake certificates were being investigated and examined by various authorities, including the Special Tribunal, Divisional Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioners concerned.

Bhalla said in most of the cases, where the permanent resident certificates were cancelled, people managed to obtain stay orders from the High Court.

Replying to a question by BJP Legislator Baldev Raj Sharma, Bhalla said the non-state subjects would not be allowed to acquire property in the state in any condition and Article 370 would be safeguarded at all costs.

Jammu, April 1
DGP Kuldeep Khoda has said militancy-related incidents in the state have come down by 45 per cent from January to March this year as compared to the corresponding period last year.

He was addressing a press conference here today. The DGP said in the recent times, the deaths of civilians and security personnel in militancy-related incidents had declined proportionately. “Many front ranking militant commanders have been eliminated, giving a setback to militancy in the state,” he said.

“Militancy is still there and militants are operating. We have been making an all-out effort through stepped-up operations to neutralise them,” he told mediapersons.

The DGP said to ensure the peaceful conduct of the ensuing panchayat elections the state was not relying on additional security forces from outside the state.

Jammu, April 1
As part of its ‘runaway challan scheme’, the traffic police has decided to make public the names of runaway traffic rule violators.

The list of violators in the twin capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar will be sent to the newspapers being published from there along with details like place and type of the offence, besides the registration number of the vehicle on a daily basis.

With an aim to reduce dependence on manpower and ensure better traffic management, the mechanism was introduced in the state in October last year. The traffic violators were booked without actually stopping them through human interference. The challans were dispatched to the homes of the violators and the latter had to pay fine in the banks.

Besides taking some burden off the traffic police, the new mechanism is reportedly increasing the revenue of the department on account of the amount of fines collected. “When they know a ‘third eye’ is watching them, people become more cautious and adhere to traffic norms while driving on roads. The new move is likely to bring down the number of road mishaps in the twin cities,” said a senior traffic police officer. He added that 30 to 40 persons would be challaned in Jammu and Srinagar daily.

“We seek the cooperation of local newspapers as part of their corporate social responsibility so that the scheme could be successfully implemented for a hassle-free traffic flow on the roads,” said Hemant Lohia, IG, Traffic.

Udhampur, April 1
The Annual 56th Moori Kesari Vishal Dangal 2011, a popular traditional wrestling event in Reasi district, will be organised near Middle School, Moori, about 12 km from Katra on the Jammu-Katra road, from April 3.

The decision to organise the dangal was taken at a meeting chaired by Shiv Kumar Sharma, president of the J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association, recently. The members present in the meeting included Badri Nath, Om Parkash, Romesh Chander, Dharam Chand, Sher Mohammad, Jakeen Ali, Brij Paul Singh, Bodh Raj, Sukhdev Sharma and Mohan Singh. Shiv Kumar Sharma, who is also a member of the J&K State Sports Council, said the Moori Dangal Committee would organise the dangal under the aegis of the Jammu and Kashmir Indian Style Wrestling Association. About 70 wrestlers from the state and outside were expected to participate.

Sharma added that besides wrestlers from Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur, Roun-Domail, Ramnagar, Panchari, Bhamag, Reasi and Jhajjer Kotli in the state, wrestlers from Amritsar, Pathankot, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Khanna, Hoshiarpur and Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab, Delhi as well as from the BSF and the Jammu and Kashmir Police had confirmed their entries.

It was also decided at the meeting that the best wrestler of the dangal would be honoured with the 56th Moori Kesari 2011 title along with a “silver Gurj (Gadda) and Patta”. The decision of the referee in every bout would be final in the dangal, which would be organised on a akhara. All wrestlers would get handsome cash prizes, said Sharma.

Srinagar, April 1
With an aim to attract tourists and Bollywood film-makers to Kashmir, the Tulip garden with over 15 lakh flowers in 20 different colours was formally inaugurated here today. However, it would be thrown open to the public tomorrow.

“The mission is to attract more tourists to the Valley, as many of them have come to see the Tulip garden this year,” said Minister of State for Floriculture Javed Ahmad Dar while inaugurating the garden this afternoon.

“More and more tourists are coming to Kashmir to see the Tulip garden and this is an encouraging trend,” the minister said. He added 50,000 tulip bulbs were distributed among people for cultivation last year while this number increased to about two lakh this year as part of the effort to increase the tulip cultivation for commercial purposes as well.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was scheduled to open the garden but bad weather prevented him from flying to Srinagar from Jammu. The garden, which was first inaugurated by AICC president Sonia Gandhi three years ago, with some 3 lakh tulips had been gradually extended

As colourful tulips in the Bollywood movies of yesteryears captivated people for a long time, the government is contemplating measures to attract the Bollywood film-makers for shooting in the Tulip garden here. — TNS

Jammu, April 1
The government today refuted allegations that relatives of militants were not being issued passports. Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Sagar said in the Legislative Assembly that relatives of militants were being issued passports without any hitch, provided they were not involved in subversive activities.

Responding to a question by the Independent MLA from Langate, Engineer Abdul Rashid, in the Assembly, Sagar said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s directions in this regard were being implemented in letter and in spirit. “As many as 250 cases have been cleared since the Chief Minister gave directions with regard to issuance of passports to the relatives of militants,” he said. “DGP Kuldeep Khoda convened a meeting recently and relaxed some rules regarding the issuance of passports,” the minister said.