The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

They queued up for peace in area
Kunzar, May 8
Since early morning, voters in long queues could be seen standing for their turn to cast votes at various polling stations in the Kunzar block of Baramulla district and the Narbal block of Budgam district.

Development is his main agenda
Uttersoo, (Anantnag), May 8
In his early 20s, Javed Ahmad Bhat, a science graduate, is contesting the panchayat elections for the post of sarpanch in Uttersooo village, 75 km from Srinagar.

Now, Chinese mobile network in Jammu!
Jammu, May 8
As if Chinese intrusions, military build-up along the Indian border and presence of Chinese army in the POK were not enough to create problems for India, now signals from the Chinese mobile network have been detected in this militancy-infested state.

People in Shangus vote for water, power

Shangus (Anantnag), May 8
Since early morning, people thronged their respective polling stations with a belief that their basic problems of water, electricity, roads and employment would be addressed at the grass-roots level without waiting for the attention from legislators or the civil administration.

Villagers outside a polling station after casting their vote in Nowgam area of Shangus block on Sunday. Every voter or a candidate in this area has a long tale of woe on the plight of the area. Tribune photo: Amin War

CAG pulls up state govt for time, cost overrun on hydel projects
Jammu, May 8
Pulling up the Jammu and Kashmir government for time and cost overruns on hydel projects, the CAG has said the excess expenditure on these initiatives was in the range of 41 per cent to 687 per cent, adding up to Rs 1,700 crore, and the delays were from four to 16 years.

Villagers demand action against SHO, Tehsildar
Udhampur, May 8
The residents of Bugratean village in Ramnagar tehsil of Udhampur district today demanded an inquiry into the unprovoked lathicharge on the villagers protesting against inadequate staff at Government High School in their village. Around 14 sustained injuries.

POWER PLAY: A scene from the play ‘Pantrabaaz’, directed by Balwant Thakur, which was staged at the Natrang Theatre on Sunday.
A Tribune photograph

Militant hideout busted in Kupwara
Huge cache of arms, ammunition recovered
Srinagar, May 8
A militant hideout was busted and a huge cache of arms and ammunition recovered by the Army in the forest area of Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said here today. “A militant hideout was busted in the Rajwar forest area of Handwara in Kupwara district by troops of Six Rashtriya Rifles assisted by the police,” a senior army official said.

Jammu Central varsity still a dream
Jammu, May 8
Due to an impasse over the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor (V-C), Central University, Jammu, is all set to lose one more academic session. Nearly one-and-half-year has passed after the Union government earmarked two central universities for Jammu and Kashmir, but the Union HRD Ministry has so far failed to establish Central University in Jammu.

Militants give forces the slip again
Jammu, May 8
A joint operation launched by the Army, Special Operations Group (SOG) and the police in the Dongra forests of the Bafliaz area in Surankote to track down a group of militants has been called off as the militants managed to give them a slip. “The operation has ended without any result,” said Poonch SSP Ashqoor Wani.

Darbar Move offices to open today
Srinagar, May 8
All arrangements are in place for the reopening of the Civil Secretariat and other Darbar Move offices here tomorrow, after they closed in Jammu on April 29 last. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will be given a Guard of Honour on the opening of the Civil Secretariat at 9.30 am tomorrow, following which he will visit various sections in the Secretariat.

Minor raped in Reasi
Udhampur, May 8
The police today found a minor girl of Karwa village in Reasi district, who was missing since yesterday after being allegedly kidnapped and raped by a youth. The police has arrested the accused.

Error exposes casual approach of authorities
Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 8
Although authorities have ordered re-polling in the Bhayia panchayat of Hiranagar district of Kathua following misprinting of the ballot papers, this incident has exposed casual approach being adopted by some officials involved in conducting such important elections.

Five candidates were in fray for the post of sarpanch in Bhayia panchayat. Interestingly on the day of polling, name of one of the contesting candidate, Madan Lal, was missing from the ballot papers, which were available in ward number 3 of Bagochay Chak village. As it was blunder on the part of those who were involved in the process of conducting elections, the authorities concerned suspended the polling.

“Action will be taken against those who were found guilty. It is a serious matter and authorities would not take it lightly”, Block Development Officer (BDO) Hiranagar, Narayan Dutt, told The Tribune. He said date of re-polling would be announced by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).

Bhayia is not an isolated incident. Earlier similar types of mistakes were detected. During the first phase of polling which were held on April 13. Elections were cancelled in Ratnal panchayat of Bishnah area because symbol allotted to one of the contesting candidate was not printed on the ballot papers.

Similarly, elections were also postponed in Kipher panchayat of Chenani block due to same fault. The symbol, which was allotted to the candidate, was not printed on the ballot paper. A candidate contesting for the post of panch in Dagh panchayat of Ramnagar also faced a similar situation.

Instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), poll authorities are using paper ballots and ballot boxes for the panchayat polls, which were being held in 16 phases. “We are using ballot boxes as the State Panchayati Raj Act does not allow the use of EVMs in these elections”, official sources said.

They queued up for peace in area
Tejinder Singh Sodhi/TNS

Kunzar, May 8
Since early morning, voters in long queues could be seen standing for their turn to cast votes at various polling stations in the Kunzar block of Baramulla district and the Narbal block of Budgam district.

The five months of unrest in the Valley last year had ruined the lives of residents of this block, as the entire business here collapsed due to the unrest. Now, the people here say that if voting will bring back peace, they are ready to defy any boycott call.

“Peace is the driving force that brought me here to vote in the panchayat elections. If voting will bring back peace and stability, we are ready to vote,” said Iftiqar Ahmed, a businessman.

A large section of voters came to cast votes in the hope of bringing back normalcy in the Valley. However, issues concerning development of the area and employment of the youth remained high on their agendas.

“This is our reply to the people who have their own family members well-settled and who themselves live in palatial houses, but ruin the life of the common people. We want to send them a message that we want peace at any cost,” said Ali Mohammed, a voter in the Kunzar block.

“The roads in our area are in a shambles, we don’t have electricity and our women folk have to walk several miles to fetch potable water. The government machinery has totally failed to address our problems, so we want to elect a representative, whom we can approach in the time of need,” said Khalid Waseem, a student and a first-time voter.

A large number of women could be seen outside the polling stations waiting anxiously for their turn.

“There are a large number of women who are victim of domestic violence, but do not want to approach the police. But they want their cases to be resolved by the village panchayat. Therefore, such women have come in a large number to vote. We want to vote for a woman candidate, who can understand our concerns,” said Khalida, a voter in the Narbal block.

Now, Chinese mobile network in Jammu!
Jupinderjit Singh/TNS

Jammu, May 8
As if Chinese intrusions, military build-up along the Indian border and presence of Chinese army in the POK were not enough to create problems for India, now signals from the Chinese mobile network have been detected in this militancy-infested state.

An import-export trader on a visit to the state has revealed that while traveling, his Arab Emirates international number detected Pakistani as well as Chinese telecom signals. “I was surprised to receive “Welcome to Pakistan” and “Welcome to Zong service” signals. (Zong is a mobile service provider in China). I was scared whether I was in India or Pakistan or China,” the trader told The Tribune. His phone received these messages when he was near Hira Nagar. The place is 25-30 km from the Indo-Pak border but thousands of km from China.

Though signals from Pakistan mobile networks are easily received here, it is probably for the first time that presence of Chinese signals has been reported. Mobile connections of foreign countries do not work in Jammu and Kashmir as militants were reportedly using those. The trader said his Arab Emirates number did not work otherwise, but it was receiving the Chinese and Pakistan signals.

DIG Farooq Khan said: “I have no information about the Chinese mobile signals though Pakistan mobile phone signals are often reported. The telecom officials should be able to throw better light on this.”

General Manager of the BSNL Sandeep Sawarkar said Chinese mobile network is common in Pakistan and it was quite possible that the signals reach here. But not much could be done about this, he added.

“It is definitely a violation as Pakistan and Chinese signals can’t be received more than 1 km inside India. But we can’t jam the signals. That would affect our mobile networks as well,” he said adding India was keeping the mobile signals within its boundary but Pakistan was not following it.

Intelligence sources revealed that many militants had carried out operations using Pakistan or international mobile networks due to which the international mobile networks were banned in the state. However, Pakistan increased the signal strength more to help militants and the signals were used in terrorist activities.

Sources also revealed that the use of these signals have proved counter-productive for terrorists and infiltrators. “Many were caught just because they used the international network, which our experts detected and we zeroed down on the users,” revealed an intelligence official. The Zong website reveals it is one of the most popular Chinese mobile phone service provider with a large customer base. It is used in Tibet also.

	People in Shangus vote for water, power Ehsan Fazili/TNS Shangus (Anantnag), May 8 Since early morning, people thronged their respective polling stations with a belief that their basic problems of water, electricity, roads and employment would be addressed at the grass-roots level without waiting for the attention from legislators or the civil administration. The area has been visited by two Prime Ministers, including Manmohan Singh, who addressed an election rally during the last Assembly elections at Khundroo on December 14, 2008. The former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, had also visited the area. The two visits had left a deep impression on the minds of both young and the old people, who lamented over the “negligent attitude” of the government despite the assurances from the Prime Ministers. The area also hit the newspaper headlines due to a fire incident at an arm depot of the Army at Khundroo on August 11, 2007, which left four persons dead and a heavy damage to the property and crops there. The incident still continues to haunt the residents, many of whom still await the settlement of compensation from the government against their losses. Every voter or a candidate in the Nowgam area, which has got its name for being at the centre of nine surrounding villages, has a long tale of woes on the plight of the area. The villagers pointed towards the 27-km-long road from the tourist resort of Achchabal near Anantnag to Thimran that passes through the area. It was being upgraded under the Prime Ministers Reconstruction Programme and the work started two years ago. However, what one sees are dug up roads, sidewalls of culverts and growing number of potholes following snowfall during the past two winters. The other issues that have been haunting the people include lack of accommodation in Government Higher Secondary School and at the Primary Healthy Centre. The school comprises two single storey buildings with just 12 rooms to accommodate hundreds of students. A spacious Primary Health Centre, which has come up during the recent years, has only one doctor and no other staff or infrastructure. Apart from these, people of the area depend upon one branch of J&K Bank at the tehsil headquarters of Shangus, a couple of kilometres away from the area. “We have to fight for these things and this can be possible only by taking up the issues with the local representative,” said an elderly voter, Ghulam Rasool Sheikh. “It is not only the problem of roads, there are so many other problems also being faced by the people in our area,” said a voter in Shangus, which is the tehsil headquarters of Anantnag district.
	CAG pulls up state govt for time, cost overrun on hydel projects Jammu, May 8 Pulling up the Jammu and Kashmir government for time and cost overruns on hydel projects, the CAG has said the excess expenditure on these initiatives was in the range of 41 per cent to 687 per cent, adding up to Rs 1,700 crore, and the delays were from four to 16 years. "Delay in completion of six hydro-electric power (HEP) projects of Power Development Corporation (PDC) resulted in huge cost overruns ranging between 41 per cent to 687 per cent and time over-run ranged from four to 16 years," a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report for the year ended March 31, 2010, revealed here. Giving further details, the CAG report said there was a cost over-run of Rs 1,708.97 crore on six mini and major projects that detail project reports (DPR) had estimated involved a total expenditure of Rs 3,945.30 crore. The actual spending on these projects was Rs 5,654.27 crore. "It has been seen from above review of the projects that in six projects implemented during the review period, there was a cost over-run ranging from 41 to 687 per cent," it said, adding, "It was the result of a lack of effective control over the completion of the projects." The 450-MW Phase-I Baglihar project, which DPR estimates had envisaged involved an expenditure of Rs 3,899 crore and would be completed in 2003, was completed and commissioned in 2009 after a delay of six years and cost escalation of Rs 1,611.09 crore, with total expenditure of Rs 5,510.09 crore, it said. Similarly, the Marpacho mini-hydel project, with a cost estimate of Rs 1.63 crore and completion schedule of 1990 as per the DPR, was completed in 2006 at a cost of Rs 11.21 crores with a cost overrun of Rs 11.21 crore (687 per cent) and a delay of 15 years, it said. Not only this, the Haftal project, with a DPR cost estimate of Rs 3.95 crore and envisaged completion in 1990, was completed after a delay of 16 years at a cost overrun of Rs 12.17 crore (308 per cent) in 2006. Similarly, the Baderwah project was completed after nine years with a cost overrun of Rs 8.21 crore (344 per cent) at a total cost of Rs 10.60 crore, as compared to the DPR estimate of Rs 2.39 crore. The 3-MW Igo Mercellong project suffered a cost overrun of Rs 27.79 crore (128 per cent) and time overrun of eight years, the CAG said, adding that it was completed at a cost of Rs 49.42 crore as compared to the DPR estimates of Rs 21.63 crore in 1997. The CAG also revealed that the 1-MW Pahalgam project suffered a similar fate. The CAG recommended the timely completion of ongoing projects to ensure and avoid time and cost overruns. — PTI
	Militant hideout busted in Kupwara Huge cache of arms, ammunition recovered Tribune News Service Srinagar, May 8 A militant hideout was busted and a huge cache of arms and ammunition recovered by the Army in the forest area of Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said here today. “A militant hideout was busted in the Rajwar forest area of Handwara in Kupwara district by troops of Six Rashtriya Rifles assisted by the police,” a senior army official said. He said the arms and ammunition included 12 rifles of AK series (eight AK 56 rifles, four AK 47 rifles), one Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL), 40 UBGL grenades and 31 hand grenades. The security forces also recovered 10 IED boxes, 48 detonators, 25 switches, 30 metres cordex wire, 42 magazines of AK rifles, 694 AK ammunition and 63 PIKA rounds, the official said. Sophisticated navigation and communication equipment was also recovered from the hideout, he said. “This is a major haul. Militants could have wreaked havoc with such kind of ammunition and explosives,” the official added. A case under Section 7/25 of the Arms Act has been registered. This is second major recovery of arms and ammunition in the forests of Kupwara district in north Kashmir, close to the Line of Control, within the last 72 hours. On Friday, the Army had recovered a similar haul from Trehgam area of the district. Army officials said the arms and ammunition were apparently hidden by the militants for their colleagues who have made several failed attempts to infiltrate into Kashmir Valley from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
	Jammu Central varsity still a dream Archit Watts/TNS Jammu, May 8 Due to an impasse over the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor (V-C), Central University, Jammu, is all set to lose one more academic session. Nearly one-and-half-year has passed after the Union government earmarked two central universities for Jammu and Kashmir, but the Union HRD Ministry has so far failed to establish Central University in Jammu. At a time, when the fate of Central University, Jammu, is hanging in balance, Central University, Kashmir, which started functioning last year is about to enter in its second academic session. The process to establish both the universities - Central University, Jammu, and Central University, Kashmir - was started in 2009. However, in the absence of a V-C, the campus of the much prestigious Central University, Jammu, has not come up, delaying the admission process and the academic session. The academic session in other central universities is all set to start from June, but here the things are not yet clear. The final decision on V-C’s appointment is pending before the Union HRD Ministry, which had earlier rejected a number of candidates, following protests and agitation by some local organisations demanding a local V-C for the much prestigious university. Even Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had earlier recommended some names for the post of V-C, but all of them were rejected. Omar had also blamed local leaders for inordinate delay and politicising of this issue, who were demanding someone from Jammu be appointed as the V-C.
	Militants give forces the slip again Tribune News Service Jammu, May 8 A joint operation launched by the Army, Special Operations Group (SOG) and the police in the Dongra forests of the Bafliaz area in Surankote to track down a group of militants has been called off as the militants managed to give them a slip. “The operation has ended without any result,” said Poonch SSP Ashqoor Wani. Reports said troops of the 16, 25, 37 and 39 Rashtriya Rifles joined by the SOG and the police had launched a search operation to track down at least three militants in the forest area of Bafliaz in Poonch district. The security forces had launched a massive operation last week after receiving an intercept about the movement of a group of militants in the area.
	Darbar Move offices to open today Tribune News Service Srinagar, May 8 All arrangements are in place for the reopening of the Civil Secretariat and other Darbar Move offices here tomorrow, after they closed in Jammu on April 29 last. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will be given a Guard of Honour on the opening of the Civil Secretariat at 9.30 am tomorrow, following which he will visit various sections in the Secretariat. Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Madhav Lal accompanied by senior officers here today took stock of the Darbar Move arrangements at the new Secretariat. He inspected various sections of the Secretariat, including the ARI Trainings, Health and Core Computer Section of the Planning Department, which have been modernised as per the latest requirements.
	Minor raped in Reasi Tribune News Service Udhampur, May 8 The police today found a minor girl of Karwa village in Reasi district, who was missing since yesterday after being allegedly kidnapped and raped by a youth. The police has arrested the accused. The 8-year-old girl, a student of class IV hailed from the Tanda area of Reasi district. She along with her sister had gone to Karwa village on May 6 with a marriage party when the incident took place. She went missing and did not return till 2.30 am. The relatives searched for her and informed the police. However, she was found crying in the wee hours today near the marriage venue, said an investigating official. Confirming the incident Reasi SSP KR Chaurasia said the police had registered a rape case after verifying the allegation made by the victim in the presence of a magistrate. The accused was identified as Ajay Kumar (20), a resident of Karwa village. The medical reports also confirmed rape, added SSP Chaurasia.