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Action taken reports on assurances in State Assembly
Industrial workers allege exploitation
Parties seek new dist HQ
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BSNL’s 3G services in state by June
Four illegal brick-kilns shut down
SRINAGAR DIARY
Experts call for study on PoK
YHAI to focus on RTI, preservation of water bodies
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Action taken reports on assurances in State Assembly
Jammu, April 8 In its annual report the committee, which is headed by CPM legislator MY Tarigami, lamented that all departments showed a causal approach towards the implementation of the assurances held out by the government in the House and furnish the action taken reports (ATRs) to the committee. It expressed serious concern over the fact that the departments did not take cognizance of the repeated directions of the committee to ensure the submission of ATRs within the stipulated time. The committee complained that most of the departments had not even furnished ATRs till the finalisation of the annual reports. It observed that senior bureaucrats, especially heads of departments (HODs), had not taken cognizance of the earlier directions of the Committee to ensure the presence of departmental representatives in the official gallery of the Assembly to record the assurances, commitments and promises made on the floor of the House by the government. “This tendency delays implementation of the assurances within the stipulated time”, the Committee observed in its report. The committee observed that some officers usually took long for the implementation of various assurances held out on matters of urgent importance in utter disrespect to the prescribed rules and as such, it should be endeavour of the government to ensure the implementation of its assurances within the shortest possible time in the interest of transparency and accountability. Committee chairman MY Tarigami directed the Assembly Secretariat to convey to all HODs to take immediate steps to ensure the delivery of ATRs in respect of the assurances pertaining to their departments for the perusal of the committee under Rule 308-A of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Bussiness in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.
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Industrial workers allege exploitation
Jammu, April 8 The representatives of industrial workers complained that the contribution of Provident Fund from the employers’ side is also deducted from the salary of the workers. Moreover, when they want to withdraw some amount from Provident Fund, the Provident Fund Office makes delay in the payment, they alleged. They further complained that they are not given wages as per the Minimum Wage Act and they are forced to work for 12 hours in one shift which is the violation of labour laws. They complained that the industries management did not categorise the workers, which are working for several years in the industries. They said the management of industries assigns skilled jobs to them, but they are paid the wages of unskilled jobs. They requested the Minister to empower the concerned assistant labour commissioner to categorise the workers as per experiences. They complained that ESI doctors are not punctual and they do not give prescription slips to them. The workers expelled by Met Trade Industries also met the Minister and narrated their problems. Malik listened to the problems of the workers patiently and said a grievance cell would be established soon in Jammu where any worker could complain to the department if he had any problem. He said the District Provident Fund Office would be strengthened soon so that there was no delay in the payments of Provident Fund to the workers. Regarding the categorisation of workers, he said if there was any provision in labour laws, the assistant labour commissioner would be empowered to categorise the workers according to their experience.
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Parties seek new dist HQ
Jammu, April 8 Claiming that out of the eight tehsils in Rajouri district, five tehsils, including Rajouri, Thanamandi, Darhal, Budhal and Manjakote, fall within a distance of 20-40 km from the district headquarters, the committee stated that the rest of the three tehsils, which are Sunder Bani, Nowshera and Kalakote, were 80 km, 48 km and 46 km away from the district headquarters, respectively. “Sunder Bani tehsil borders famous shrine Shiv Khori in Reasi district which is 130 km away from Rajouri. Thirty per cent of the population belonging to Akhnoor, Reasi, Budhal, Kalakote and Nowshera tehsils is dependent on the sub-district hospital, Sunder Bani, for medical care,” the committee said in a written representation to the President, the Prime Minister and the UPA Chairperson and demanded that a separate district headquarters for three tehsils and their adjoining areas be set up in a centrally located Siot village for better administration and development. The committee also asked for the constitution of a panel to take stock of perpetual underdevelopment, poor health care facilities and illiteracy prevailing in Sunder Bani and its bordering areas. Alleging discrimination at the hands of successive governments, committee members recently gave a written representation to the President, the Prime Minister and the UPA Chairperson and sought their attention towards the redressal of burning issues. “On April 4, 2007, the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad went on record in admitting that Sunder Bani remains underdeveloped through all these years. He made several commitments in the largely attended rally, but the promises remain unfulfilled till date,” the committee members maintained and rued that despite former Chief Minister’s assurance, the sorry state of affairs remained the same. The committee further maintained that the student community of the area was suffering due to the absence of adequate infrastructure at educational institutions. “Sunder Bani tehsil headquarters is 80 km from the district headquarters, Rajouri, and 80 km from Jammu. But there is no college in the span of 160 km, east to west. Similarly, in between the distance of 90 km from Budhal to Dori Dager, north to south, there is no government degree college,” it stated.
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BSNL’s 3G services in state by June
Furthermore, the BSNL has decided to install 100 more Base Transceiver Station (BTS) towers along the border, including the Line of Control (LoC). It has also planned to cover the historic Mughal Road once it connects Bufliaz, a town in Poonch district with Shopian in the Kashmir valley.
As far as the installation of BTS towers along the border is concerned, we have already installed 16 to 17 of them and 100 more TBS towers will be installed soon, Kaul added. Once the Mughal Road project is complete, we have plans to cover it with the BSNL network as well, he said. However, in sharp contrast to CGM’s claims of offering lowest and most transparent tariff, the state-owned telecom giant has lost 110 customers to other service providers in the state ever since the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) was launched early this year. Since the launch of the MNP in the state early this year, about 110 customers of the BSNL had ported out and 76 new customers had ported in, said Kaul. He, however, candidly admitted that the BSNL faced stiff competition today and hence it wanted to be pro-active. On poor network of the BSNL and traffic congestion during peak hours, the CGM said that the BSNL had been trying its best to improve the network connectivity so as to provide hassle-free services. “Though at times our BTS towers develop some problems and we too have some limitations. We have also considerably increased the connectivity for BSNL customers and even for customers of other telecom operators in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
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Four illegal brick-kilns shut down
Srinagar,
April 8 The closure orders in respect of other unlawfully established
brick-kilns and stone crushers have also been issued. According to
information, out of 204 brick-kilns across the district, 44 have been
identified by the administration for violation of relevant laws and
rules. Special teams, comprising officials of the revenue, police and
pollution control board, have been set up to ensure enforcement on
ground of such closure orders. Meanwhile, the Kashmir divisional
commissioner also reviewed the functioning of brick-kilns in the Valley
and it was informed that out of 385 brick-kilns, almost 100 are
unauthorised. The DC gave instructions for immediate closure of the
unauthorised units in accordance with the J&K Brick Kilns
(Regulation) Act 2010, as they cause environmental disorder. The Act has
been uploaded on the website www.kashmirdivision.nic.in and draft rules
are under preparation. The same will also be uploaded on the website
and suggestions will be sought from the general public. The government
has authorised deputy commissioners as the licencing authority under the
Act and authorised them to fix the rates of bricks in their territorial
jurisdiction. |
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Valley faces shortage of mutton
The mutton prices had remained static to some extent over the past one year. Sensing the demand for mutton, the dealers have shut down their shops in the hope that the government would allow a hike in the rates without wasting much time. But, the brunt of price rise hits hard the common man, who gets sandwiched between the dealers and the government agencies. Due to the non-availability of mutton in the market, the hotels have also been facing its shortage. The mutton dealers claim that the rise in taxes and transport charges have dried up the mutton supply to the Kashmir valley from the mandis outside the state . The government, however, maintains silence on this issue though it has shown alertness in streamlining the milk prices that range between Rs 20 and Rs 25 per litre. It has fixed the rate of Rs 24 per litre for packed milk in Srinagar which was being sold at Rs 25. The suppliers have, therefore, stopped the supply in the market. Apolitical Army
That the
Army is truly apolitical was demonstrated a few days back during the
interaction of Lt-Gen SA Hasnain, GOC of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, with
civilians in Handwara (See photo). To settle his scores with an MP of
the ruling party, a leader of the opposition in Handwara started talking
politics in the meeting, prompting the GOC to take strong exception to.
Maintaining that everyone was welcome to air his views, the GOC,
however, made it amply clear that he would not tolerate politics in the
function organised by the Army. While the entire audience applauded the
stand of the GOC, the opposition leader who was trying to rake up
political issues in the meeting was compelled to change the topic of
discussion. (Contributed by Ehsan Fazili and Tejinder Singh Sodhi)
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Experts call for study on PoK
Jammu, April 8 These views were put forth during a two-day national seminar on “PoK: Its Internal Dynamics and Externalities”, organised here recently by Jammu University’s Department of Strategic and Regional Studies (DSRS). Prof Varun Sahni, vice-chancellor, opined that it was extremely important for researchers, strategists and academicians to understand the economy and culture of Pakistan and PoK. “In its absence, we are handicap,” he asserted. Sahni regretted that no serious work had been made all these years to understand that part of the state falling on the other side of the LoC. “We do not have a mechanism in our university where we can learn and teach languages like Pashtu, Balouch and Sheena, commonly spoken in PoK and its northern areas, which we claim to be our part,” the VC said. Lieut-Gen KT Parnaik, GOC-in-C Northern Command, and Lieut-Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, GOC, 15 Corps, Kashmir, who also attended the seminar, firmly stated, “We are bound by the Parliament resolution of 1994, which calls for the unification of the whole of Jammu and Kashmir”. Some of the participants while comparing the economic condition of both parts of Kashmir regretted that the Pakistani administration had deliberately neglected that part which continues to be under its illegal occupation since 1947. They also referred to a series of sectarian clashes taken place in that region all these years. The participants further asserted that the construction of the Karakorum national highway in 1963, linking China with PoK, had given an opportunity to Beijing to nourish and cultivate its long-term strategies in the region. Prof Sanjay Chaturvedi of Panjab University, Chandigarh, while delivering a keynote address on “Relocating PoK in Heartland Geopolitics”, discussed threadbare how China was extraordinarily interested in the region. While former DGP MM Khajuria talked about the history and political development of PoK, Dr Mohd Monir Alam, director, DSRS, discussed and analysed the self-governance system prevailing in the Gilgit- Baltistan belt. Dr Shalinder Singh Jamwal of the Department of History wanted to know the circumstances which lead to the formation of PoK. Prof Rekha Choudhary talked about the identity and resistance politics in occupied areas. Prof KN Pandita, a former director of the Central Asian Studies, talked about “PoK in the regional strategy”. Dr Mathew Joseph of Jamia Millia Islamia discussed about independence and autonomy in Gilgit-Baltistan. Lieut-Col Sumeet Abrol and Bashir Manzar, editor, Kashmir Images, touched about geo-strategic importance of PoK. Col Ravi Nair presented his paper on “Chinese presence in POK and implications for India”. Prof Sangeeta Thaplial of JNU talked about Indo-Pak water treaty and harnessing of water in PoK. Dr Jabin Jacob of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi, interpreted China’s “forward policy” on Kashmir. The speakers also took part in a roundtable conference to discuss the PoK imbroglio and options open to India.
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YHAI to focus on RTI, preservation of water bodies
Jammu, April 8 He also declared that the mission of the youth hostel activities during 2011-12 would be to popularise the use of right to information as an important tool in the hands of the common man to check malpractices and strengthen the institution of democracy. Pandit emphasised that while doing so “our vision will be to create awareness and work for the upkeep of all state rivers like Jhelum, Chenab, Indus and Ravi, streams like Tawi, Ujh, Kanetar, Sewa and Neeru, and water bodies like Dal, Mansabal, Mansar and Saruinsar lakes. He said the national heritage trek and the nature study-cum-trekking camps at Patnitop, Bhaderwah, Gulmarg, Dachigam, Pahalgam and Leh would provide an opportunity to the trekkers to know about the state, its flora and fauna, medicinal herbs and plants and above all, geology and geography of the area through an “earth show”. He said cycle expeditions and cycling competitions should open new vistas of youth involvement in adventure activities. SP Varma, chairman, YHAI, state branch, welcomed all members and special invitees at the meeting. Giving an overview of the activities for the next year, KK Gandotra, state director, adventure promotions, said a national heritage trek had been planned from Udhampur to Pantalai via Pancheri, Sanki Devta, Nathtop, Sanasar, Patnitop and Sudh Mahadev in Udhampur and Ramban districts from May 1 to June 30 in the first instance and from August 15 to September 30, depending upon the response of the trekkers from different parts of the country. Efforts shall also be made to organise paragliding at Sanasar and parasailing at Mantalai, nature study-cum-trekking camps at Patnitop, Bhaderwah, Pahalgam, Dachigam, Sonamarg, Gulmarg, Sarthal-Machhedi-Sukrala, Padder, Rajouri, Poonch and at Leh, besides awareness about RTI Act by organising programmes in all higher educational institutions in the state. A cycle yatra to spread the message of communal and regional harmony would also be organised.
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Jammu, April 8
Replying to questions from the
media-persons here today, BSNL’s Chief General Manager (CGM), of the
Jammu and Kashmir Circle, RK Kaul, said, “Initially, we tried 3G
services on a trial basis. Now we have procured the equipment and we
will implement the 3G services within this quarter of the year”.
The Kashmir valley has once again been facing a shortage of mutton
over the past about two weeks. For the common man, this shortage seems
to be well-planned aimed at raising the prices much to his
disappointment. With the rise in fuel prices, the common man is already
facing a hike in the prices of essential commodities.