Jammu, May 20
Amid reports that some old Congressmen may rejoin the party in the presence of national general secretary Mohan Parkash, party leaders have cautioned the party high command against the entry of these, what they called, ‘traitors’ who had left the party during the Assembly elections and contested against the party candidates.

After his appointment as AICC general secretary and in charge of Jammu and Kashmir, Mohan Parkash is visiting the Jammu region for the first time to review the functioning of the party. During his three-day stay, Mohan Parkash will interact with the leaders of all factions to iron out differences. Interestingly, leaders of the pro-Saifuddin Soz faction have been opposing the re-entry of some ‘turncoats’, who had contested the last Assembly elections against the party candidates. Today, a close-door meeting of a group of Congress leaders owing allegiance to the Soz faction was held to devise a strategy to stall the re-entry of some leaders.

Sources said this group had vowed to oppose the entry of such turncoats, as it would spoil their political career in their respective constituencies.

Even during a meeting at the Congress headquarters at Sheedhi Chowk held in connection with the visit of Mohan Parkash on May 17, some party leaders had raised the issue of the re-entry of some defectors and warned that their entry would demoralise dedicated Congress workers who had been working sincerely. Some of the Congress leaders had stated that if the party high command was interested in admitting these defectors, they should not be given ticket in the next Assembly elections.

The sources said some Congress leaders, who had contested the last Assembly elections as rival candidates, were in touch with Mohan Parkash, as they had old relations with the latter. These leaders had been claiming that they would re-join the party and would get important positions in the organisation as well.

The pro-Soz faction has already allowed the re-entry of some Congress leaders who had contested the last Assembly election as rival candidates but it has been opposing the entry of leaders owing allegiance to the rival faction.

Shiv Dev Singh and Pankaj Dogra, two prominent Congress leaders, who had contested the Assembly elections as rival candidates from the Nagrota and Billawar Assembly segments, respectively, were allowed to rejoin the party. But some leaders belonging to the pro-Soz faction had opposed the re-entry of Balwan Singh and Ashok Sharma because they belonged to the rival Ghulam Nabi Azad faction. Balwan Singh had contested the elections as a rival candidate from Marh while Sharma had contested the elections from the Jammu West and Kalakot segments against the party candidates.

Jammu, May 20
Though Chief Minister Omar Abdullah holds the power portfolio, residents of the Jammu region are a harried lot these days, as they are deprived of regular power supply.

Due the government’s failure to supply adequate power to the consumers, normal life here has been thrown out of gear.

With a drastic increase in temperature, the people in the region are having a hellish time, as unscheduled power cuts and regular fluctuations in power supply have become a routine affair.

The fluctuations have damaged electric appliances of a large number of people here. Even a house caught fire in the Panjtirthi area here last night due to a sudden power fluctuation.

Sources in the Power Development Department (PDD) said the power crisis was due to power pilferage, kundi connections, which was going on unabated in the region.

The kundi menace has worsened the situation this year and the people were unable to sleep during the nights. A huge gap in the demand and supply of power has forced a few industrialists to stop their units here as well.

Not only villages or un-metered areas, but also cities, including the winter capital of the state, are reeling under the power crisis. However, a perusal of government records revealed that the money spent for reforms in the power sector in the past few years had failed to bring results.

Sources revealed that on an average 20-25 transformers were getting damaged in the region due to overloading. The residents here had been protesting against the PDD officials for their apathetic attitude. Even villagers had submitted memorandums to the minister concerned to look into the matter so that the power situation could improve.

Officials concerned said the demand of power had almost doubled and they were working to provide maximum supply to the people. They said the department was trying hard to bring reforms in the electricity transmission and distribution system by creating mass awareness about the proper use of electricity. However, Minister of State for Power Shabir Ahmad Khan avoided commenting on the issue. “It will be better if you call me later or any other day,” said Khan.

Jammu, May 20
The Fire and Emergency Services Department is on tenterhooks these days, thanks to false calls on its toll free number 101.

The department, which in the past 24 hours received 121 genuine fire calls, has now turned to the police and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for help.

“As it is easy to remember, we get numerous prank calls on our toll free number, which causes immense hardships to our staff,” Director of the Fire and Emergency Services Department, RS Sodhi told The Tribune.

Such prank calls keep the number engaged, he added. Fed up with such calls, the department had taken up the matter with the BSNL authorities, urging the latter to circulate a message to the people, advising them not to make fake calls on the toll free number, as it hampered quick response to the contingencies, said Sodhi.

After the BSNL circulated the message there had been some improvement in the scenario, he added.

Besides the BSNL, we also came up with advertisements in the print media with the sole purpose of educating the people about the significance of our toll free number, the Director added. Though we did have other telephone numbers, 101 was the easiest to remember, he said.

However, trouble-makers were mostly children and even women, Sodhi said. The department in the recent times had also approached the police for help, he said. In certain cases the phone numbers of trouble-makers were traced, he added. After we approached them and informed them about the mischief, their family members apologised to us, said Sodhi.

Obviously, such unwarranted acts by trouble-makers delay our action in genuine cases, as people easily recall toll free number 101 than contacting us on other regular seven digit telephone numbers, he added.

Trying to prove the indispensability of 101, Sodhi said in the past 24 hours the department had received 121 genuine fire calls on the number.

The department, which has 160 fire stations in the state, has approximately 3,000 officials and firemen, nearly 325 fire tenders, over 300 portable pumping units, two advanced rescue tenders and two hydraulic platform ladders.

Udhampur, May 20
The GOC-in-C of the Northern Command, Lt-Gen KT Parnaik, laid the foundation stone for the construction of houses for married Army personnel at the Chetri Enclave in the Udhampur military garrison today.

As per an Army spokesperson, a total of 1,370 houses will be constructed as part of the Married Accommodation Project (MAP) Phase II. The project is spread over seven locations in Udhampur and is being executed by the DG, MAP (Ministry of Defence). It includes houses for 20 officers, 126 junior commission officers and 1,224 other ranks of the Army at a cost of Rs 234 crore.

He added that the project was aimed at improving the quality of life of the Army personnel and the construction of good quality housing was a step forward to reduce the hardships faced by them. The construction is expected to be completed by January 2013. The project is being executed by the Indu Projects Limited.

Jammu, May 20
Acting on the complaints of bungling in various sections of the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Jammu, Minister for Medical Education RS Chib conducted a surprise check at the hospital and seized records of the CT Scan section.

According to sources, Chib conducted the surprise check after people complained that fake CT scans were being conducted in the hospital, while deserving patients were being ignored.

During the checking, the minister found that no proper records were maintained at the section. He took away all records and asked the authorities concerned to verify them thoroughly. Chib also visited various sections of the hospital and inquired from the patients about the facilities being provided to them.

On the complaints that private ambulances were overcharging patients in the hospital, the minister ordered the seizure of one such ambulance and directed the authorities to deploy more ambulances.

Meanwhile, as unscheduled power cut has become a routine affair in the Jammu region, most of the government hospitals have made alternative arrangements to tackle the situation.

“We have minimised our dependency on the Power Development Department (PDD), as there is no certainty of receiving power during peak hours,” said Dr Madhu Khullar, superintendent of the Gandhi Nagar Hospital.

She said five generators had already been installed in the hospital to tackle the power shortage problem.

New Delhi, May 20
The BJP remained non-committal on the fate of its seven Jammu and Kashmir MLAs led by its former Legislature Party leader Chaman Lal Gupta, who had allegedly indulged in cross-voting in favour of the candidates of the NC and the Congress in the Legislative Council elections on April 13, even as the party’s disciplinary committee met here today on the issue.

OP Kohli, chairman of the disciplinary committee, recused himself from today’s meeting pleading that as he was the party’s in charge of the state’s affairs he would better stay away, as the committee was deliberating on his report on the conduct of the legislators. That leaves the committee with members Kesrinath Tripathi, Balarmjidas Tandon, Mridula Sinha and O Rajagopal.

Sources said the meeting was presided over by Kesrinath Tripathi. But Kohli and other BJP leaders threw sufficient hints that the party was balking from acting against the suspended MLAs.

Kohli tried to avoid the issue saying, “The Parliamentary Board has suspended the seven MLAs and asked the disciplinary committee to deliberate on my report to BJP president Nitin Gadkari. The deliberations may be completed by today or the committee may take some more time, but at the end of the day, it will submit its report to the president. The president is the final arbiter and whatever action has to be taken, has to be decided by him”.

Denying any softening or change in stand on punishing the suspended legislators, Kohli said, “Nothing has changed. Anyway, we will let you known only when a final decision is taken”.

But it was clear that the matter was far more complex than Kohli tried to project. As the BJP had done remarkably well this time by winning 11 seats in the J&K Assembly and the loss of two-thirds of these at one go might be difficult for the party to compensate in a byelection if it succeeded in getting them disqualified. Besides, expelling Chaman Lal Gupta, the only known face of the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir for years, may serve as a big blow to the party.

Sources said the BJP could not be too sure of the loyalty of the four “loyal” legislators. Already the seven suspended legislators have challenged the parameters adopted by the party high command in singling them out for allegedly defying the party whip and indulging in cross-voting.

Moreover, upset with the treatment meted out to them, the suspended MLAs have elected Gupta as their leader in spite of the BJP suspending him and putting him on notice. They have also written to the Speaker not to take notice of the resignations letters they had given to Kohli, if these were forwarded by Gadkari to him.

Moreover, the suspended MLAs have gone to court and obtained a stay against the disciplinary action.

A senior leader involved with the party’s state affairs summarised the BJP dilemma saying, “There is no legal problem.

We can get the stay vacated tomorrow. But there are political implications of the entire thing and we, who are handling the state, will have to face the fallout of all this”.

Jammu, May 20
Exposure to the sun can be disastrous for the skin as ultraviolet (UV) rays have crossed the safety threshold in the Jammu region. The temperature is also 4 to 4.5 degrees above normal here.

Scientists at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu, here have recorded the UV rays at 1.75 Minimum Erythema Dose (MED), whereas the limit is one MED only. This means exposure to sun can cause skin problems, including redness, severe sunburns and more serious problems.

Dr MK Khushu, chief scientist at the Agro-Meteorology Department of the university, said, “Besides the UV rays, the temperature is 4 to 4.5 degrees above normal”. He added that the harmful UV rays were making people more uncomfortable.

He said the temperature would rise further in the coming days, but the good news was that the El-Nino effect, the harbinger of good rain, was noticed on the Pacific Ocean. “We will receive good rainfall after June 22, but till then the temperature will rise”.

Khushu said though the temperature was lower as compared to last year, a major change was increase in the UV rays. “It is a disturbing global change. We need to plant more trees,” he said.

The maximum temperature recorded on May 18 was 43.2°C, which was far above the average of 38.9°C, but still lower than 40°C recorded the same day last year.

Similarly, the minimum temperature on that day was 23°C while the average minimum temperature was 22.1°C.

The data further revealed that the region had received less rain in comparison to last year. In May, 2010, 40.6 mm of rain was recorded, but so far only 29 mm of rain had been recorded.

Jammu, May 20
The Jammu Paryatan Vikas Mandal, an umbrella organisation of 22 tourism and pilgrimage-related trade organisations, has welcomed the holding of the three-day Bhaderwah tourism festival from May 27.

The festival, highlighting the scenic beauty, wide landscapes and rich culture of Bhaderwah, popularly called “Chhota Kashmir”, will go a long way in promoting tourism in the area, the mandal has observed.

A meeting of the mandal convened by its president Kuldeep Vahi and chaired by its chairman Ravi Mahajan today, while thanking Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Minister for Tourism and Culture Nawang Rigzin Jora for this imaginative venture, extended their full support and assured of the participation of all stake holders in making the festival a grand success. The mandal has laid stress on making the Bhaderwah and Kishtwar circuit an independent and alternative tourist destination by constructing all weather roads, linking tourist sport in Himachal Pradesh with Bhaderwah and the Kashmir valley as well as Ladakh with Kishtwar.