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Cross-voting in Legislative Council Poll
BJP leaders meet Showkat’s family
Lakhanpur-Jammu highway shortens journey by 40 min
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Trans-Loc trade
155 years of Raghunath Bazaar
Fake arms licence
scam
Sagar wins Dera Kesari Vishal Dangal
Notification for 8th phase of panchayat poll issued
Devika Baisakhi Mela starts
Australian High Commissioner calls on Omar
Pakistan national nabbed
Incentives to teachers hailed
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Cross-voting in Legislative Council Poll
Jammu, April 14 RP Singh, national secretary of the BJP, who was part of the team deputed by national party president Nitin Gadkari to inquire into the whole episode of cross-voting, told reporters around 10.30 pm that all 11 MLAs had submitted their resignations taking moral responsibility for yesterday’s happening. He said the resignations would be handed over to Gadkari, who would take the final decision. Sources in the BJP said after day-long hectic meetings the party high command asked all MLAs to submit their resignations this evening. The MLAs were charging each other of cross-voting so the party directed all of them to resign. Instead of addressing resignations to Gadkari, the MLAs were forced to address the resignations to the Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly so that Gadkari, if he decides so, could forward the same to the Speaker for acceptance. They said the BJP leadership was in favour of taking some mild action but it was all due to pressure of the Sangh Parivar that it decided on such a strong action. Earlier, angry over cross-voting, senior party workers had started an indefinite dharna at the party office. They were demanding the expulsion of all 11 MLAs as well as the state president of the party for “selling out” the wishes and aspirations of the people of the Jammu region in lieu of monitory gains. The BJP workers demanded that the guilty MLAs should be thrown out of the party for the “cash-for-vote” episode. Infuriated over, what they called, the shameful action of the party legislators, the party workers heckled some of the MLAs, who reached the party office this afternoon. They alleged that the MLAs had taken a huge sum of money for casting votes in favour of the Congress and National Conference candidates. “Our national leadership has started a war against corruption to target the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, but our local MLAs have brazenly indulged in corrupt practices to favour Congress candidates,” said Subash Jandial, a veteran BJP leader and former councillor of the Jammu Municipal Corporation. “All MLAs have taken money for casting votes in favour of the Congress candidate,” alleged Omi Khajuria, another leader. This afternoon when a large number of BJP workers were present in the office, Jandial announced to sit on an indefinite dharna, demanding the expulsion of all party MLAs. He was joined by former Mayor of the JMC Kavinder Gupta, former MLA and vice-president of the party Bali Bhagat, former municipal councillors Omi Khajuria, Sheela Handoo and others. The party workers directly targeted two veteran leaders, who were known for their proximity with the government, for the cross-voting. A senior party leader said some party leaders had been shielding “black sheep” in the state unit as they had their own agendas at the national level that they wanted to accomplish with the help of the National Conference. Kohli, who reached Jammu early this morning, said strict action would be taken against the erring MLAs. |
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BJP leaders meet Showkat’s family
Srinagar, April 14 The delegation paid obeisance at the revered Hazratbal shrine and prayed for peace and harmony in the state. It also visited Gurdwara Chhatti Padshahi at Rainawari, where a large number of devotees had gathered on the occasion of Baisakhi. The five-member delegation, including former ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Shahnawaz Hussain, arrived here yesterday to assess the situation by meeting people from different walks of life. The BJP leaders have already met 28 delegations in Jammu, while 15 delegations were slated to meet them during their stay in Kashmir. However, the separatists are not meeting the BJP delegation. The BJP leaders will also visit the Ladakh region and hold meetings with various sections of society. Expressing condolences to the bereaved family of Moulana Showkat in the Lal Bazaar area, Rajnath Singh said the party would impress upon the Central government to have a thorough probe into the killing. He assured the bereaved family that they would take up the issue of Moulana’s killing with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Rajnath Singh hailed the contributions of Moulana Showkat towards establishing peace and harmony in the Valley. |
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Lakhanpur-Jammu highway shortens journey by 40 min
Being a Central government-sponsored project, which was started by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in year 2005 at an estimated cost of around Rs 158 crore, the road has been carpeted right from the main gateway of the state at Lakahnpur to Jammu and dividers installed. However, eight bridges (each less than one km in length) of nearly 30 bridges on the highway are yet to be completed. A senior official of the NHAI said the work on the highway had been completed up to 80 to 85 per cent and the remaining 15 per cent would be done by this year end. “The road has been widened and carpeted. Now, a few bridges are left on which construction work is going on. Of the total 91-km stretch, only 5 km of road, which runs under the bridges, awaits completion,” he said. The NHAI official said once the four-laning of the highway was complete it would save 40 to 60 minutes of travel time. “The journey on this road, which earlier took nearly around two-and-half hours, has shortened by 40 to 45 minutes,” he added. Driving a car on this highway, this correspondent observed that traffic jams, which were earlier the order of the day, were not to be seen, as hardly any obstruction was found during the peak hours. A number of newly-constructed bridges had been thrown open to traffic, though the work on the highway was in progress at Kalibari, Sakte Chak, Dayala Chak, Samba Cantonment, on the outskirts of Samba, near Chichi Mata Temple, Barian and Vijaypur. It is the only trade link of the state with other parts of the country, besides the route of the pilgrims of Mata Vaishno Devi and the Amarnath cave shrine. Tourists also enter the state via this road. |
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Trans-Loc trade
Jammu, April 14 “What used to be a duty-free trade for 21 selected items has been brought under the ambit of VAT by the state government, that too for the traders from Poonch. However, no such tax has been levied on our counterparts in Kashmir, who continue to trade their merchandise via the Uri-Muzzaffarabad route,” Pawan Anand, president of the Cross LoC Traders’ Association, Poonch, told The Tribune.
Traders in Chakkan-Da-Bagh, near the LoC, held a protest against the government decision to levy the tax. “We fail to understand what compelled the government after two-and-a-half years to suddenly levy VAT on the merchandise of traders from Poonch,” said Anand. He added that the authorities concerned cited a bizarre logic behind the decision. “The authorities told us that since the state is one entity, including occupied Kashmir, the merchandise attracted VAT. Upon this, we asked the authorities to allow us to have godowns in occupied Kashmir so that we can directly sell our merchandise there and remit VAT here,” he said. The decision really appeared to be absurd, he added. “We have already submitted memorandums to the Governor and the Chief Secretary apprising them about inconvenience being caused to the trans-LoC traders in Poonch,” said Anand. He added that the government had clearly deviated from the standard operating procedures, which stated that the trans-LoC trade would be a duty-free exercise. Even Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather had admitted that levying VAT on the trans-LoC trade was wrong, Anand said. “So far nine trans-LoC traders in Poonch have been served notices to remit VAT while there has been no such instance in Kashmir. We fail to understand why this government has adopted different parameters for the same set of people,” he wondered. The trade is conducted twice a week from Chakkan-Da-Bagh on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. “The government decision has so far caused a loss of over Rs 50 crore to us in the past six weeks,” he added. |
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155 years of Raghunath Bazaar
Jammu, April 14 The IG, Jammu, Dilbagh Singh, who was the chief guest on the occasion, inaugurated the celebrations by lighting a ceremonial lamp. Vice-chairman of the association Sachin Khurana said, “The association holds a carnival on the sixth day of every month, as part of its celebrations to revive the pristine glory of the historical bazaar. Free coupons are issued to all customers, who make purchases up to Rs 500 from any shop in the bazaar. Later, a lucky coupon draw is held on the sixth day of every month and 10 gifts are given to the winners”. “The scheme that commenced today will run till Diwali in November. A bumper draw of lucky coupons will be held after the scheme ends and a Tata Nano car will be given to the winner of the final draw. Last year also the association held such a draw and awarded a Nano car to the winner,” he added. Meanwhile, submitting copies of a memorandum to the IGP; Director, Tourism, Robin Singh Mehta; Vice-Chairman of the Jammu Development Authority Vinod Sharma; and the Additional Commissioner, Jammu Municipal Corporation, the association demanded that the parking slot at the old police station City Chowk be renamed as Raghunath Bazaar parking stand. It also demanded two public conveniences each at the old city police station and along the Gurdwara Sunder Singh road near Hans Raj Park. Further, the association also demanded that the police should install a public address system and CCTV cameras between Raghunath Chowk and City Chowk, besides Raghunath Bazaar be declared a tourist area and be exempted from observing weekly offs and the timing for closing of shops. |
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Kishtwar students call on Governor
Jammu, April 14 The Governor was interacting with a group of about 25 meritorious students of the Islamia Faridiya Educational and Research Institute, Kishtwar, who called on him at Raj Bhawan here today. During his visit to the institute in November last year, the Governor had invited meritorious students, along with their teachers, to Raj Bhawan in Jammu. The visiting students from Class V to XI had obtained top positions in the recent annual examinations. The Governor observed that the youth of Jammu and Kashmir were highly talented and hard working. He added that given the enabling environment, they had high potential to excel in both academics and extra-curricular activities. The Governor said career counselling needed to be arranged to enable the students to make well informed choices about their careers. He added that along with academics, the children, particularly those from remote areas, should be encouraged to take part in various extra-curricular activities, including debates, essay writing competitions and sports, for their balanced personality development. The Governor interacted with each of the visiting student, inquired about their studies, achievements in the last annual examinations and the careers they planned to pursue. Impressing upon them to work hard for ensuring a promising future, the Governor presented gifts to them and wished them a bright future. He hosted a lunch for the students and their teachers. |
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Fake arms licence
scam
Jammu, April 14 The owners of the shops had been evading arrest for the past few days, as they were wanted by the police for allegedly selling arms to fake licence holders in connivance with the former SDM, Mendhar, Mukhtyar Ahmed Choudhary. Mukhtyar at present is in police custody after he was arrested from the old city the other day. The police broke open the locks of the shops, seized arms and records and sealed the shops. The arms were reportedly taken over by the SDPO (North), SS Sambyal, under the supervision of the Tehsildar, Jammu. It has been on a look out for the absconding owners of the arms shops and is likely to initiate action against some other
gun dealers in connection with the fake arms licence scam. |
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Sagar wins Dera Kesari Vishal Dangal
Udhampur, April 14 The Dangal is organised on Baisakhi in the memory of the warrior Saint and martyr Baba Banda Bahadur, under the supervision of the president of the Jammu and Kashmir India Style Wrestling Association, Shiv Kumar Sharma. The Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Reasi, Avtar Singh, who was the chief guest on the occasion, gave away prizes to the winners. The first main bout fought between Sagar of Delhi and Navdeep of Khanna (Punjab) lasted one minute and 25 seconds. Sagar clinched the bout amid thunderous applause by an enthusiastic crowd. He was rewarded Rs 5,000 in addition to a Silver Gurj (Gadda) and Patta by Baba Jatinder Paul Singh Sondhi, Gaddi Nasheen of Dera Baba Banda Bahadur, and the ADC, Reasi, Avtar Singh. Navdeep received Rs 4,000. A total of 36 bouts were played in the competition. In the second main bout between Omkar Singh of the BSF and the national junior medalist, Parveen of Khanna (Punjab), the latter emerged the winner and the fight lasted 25 minutes. Parveen received a cash prize of Rs 3,600 while Omkar got Rs 2,500. The third main bout was fought between Kalbir Singh of Kot Bhalwal, Jammu, and Malkiat of Attari (Punjab). Kulbir won the bout and was given a reward of Rs 2,000 while Malkiat got Rs 1,500. Presiding over the felicitation ceremony, Shiv Kumar Sharma appreciated the organisers for the successful conduct of the event, which was witnessed by about 10,000 persons. He urged the state government and the Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council to provide necessary infrastructure and coaching facilities to groom the budding wrestlers of the state for national and international competitions. He also appreciated the contribution of the technical officials, Major RS Manhas (retd), Capt Lehar Singh (retd), Vijay Singh, Mohammad Fareed and Allah Mai. |
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Muftis greet people on Ambedkar Day
Srinagar, April 14 Paying tributes to Dr BR Ambedkar, the PDP leaders said he was one of the illustrious sons of India, who struggled throughout his life to restructure Indian society. He not only led various social movements for the uplift of the depressed sections of society, but also contributed to the understanding of the socio-economic and political problems of India through his scholarly works on caste, religion, culture, constitutional law and economic development.
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Notification for 8th phase of panchayat poll issued
Jammu, April 14 The last date for filing nominations is April 25 while the last date for the withdrawal of candidature has been fixed as April 27. These blocks will go to polls on May 12 and the counting will be held the same day. |
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Baisakhi celebrated in Valley
Srinagar, April 14 The main celebrations were held at Gurdwara Chhatti Padshahi in the Rainawari area here and a large number of devotees from different parts of the Valley participated. The visiting delegation of the BJP, led by former party national president Rajnath Singh, also attended the celebrations at Gurdwara Chhatti Padshahi. Special prayers for peace and prosperity of the Kashmir valley were also held at gurdwaras in Mattan (Anantnag), Pattan, Baramulla, Tral, Budgam and other areas of the Valley. The jubilant youth on the occasion organised various programmes and entertained visitors at the Mughal Gardens here today.
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Udhampur, April 14 The DDC extended warm wishes to the people on Baisakhi. He expressed hope that the festival would be celebrated with fervour and gaiety. The district administration has made elaborate arrangements, including uninterrupted power supply, safe drinking water, sanitation, medicare and assistance booths, for the smooth conduct of the mela. Besides, various government departments, including Agriculture, Horticulture, Health, Apiculture, Handicraft and Handloom and Animal Husbandry, have put up stalls to create awareness among people about various state and Centre-sponsored schemes. The District Information Centre, Udhampur, is holding cultural programmes and film shows based on folk culture. The three-day mela will culminate with a freestyle-wrestling contest in which a number of wrestlers from outside the state are expected to participate. Those present on the occasion included SSP Surinder Gupta; mela officer Sushil Kesar; chairman of the mela committee Surinder Khajuria and president of the committee Swatanter Dev Kotwal. — TNS
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Australian High Commissioner calls on Omar
Jammu, April 14 Omar apprised the Australian High Commissioner of the initiatives taken by the government with the liberal financial logistic assistance from the Central government to ensure equitable development and peace in the state. Varghese showed keen interest in the innovative measures taken by the government to address the unemployment problem, give fillip to power generation and its transmission and distribution, upgrade health, education and road communication sectors. Earlier, Varghese called on Governor NN Vohra at
Raj Bhawan here last evening. During the meeting, the High Commissioner discussed various matters of mutual interest with the Governor. |
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Pakistan national nabbed
Jammu, April 14 Subsequently, they spotted a youth and nabbed him. The arrested youth was identified as Rehmat Ali, 25, a Pakistani national. |
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Incentives to teachers hailed
Jammu, April 14 The central executive of the forum, which met under the chairmanship of its state president HD Qureshi, praised the announcement by Education Minister Peerzada Mohammad Syeed about special incentives to teachers.
— TNS |
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Lakhanpur, April 14