Bari-Brahmana, June 25
Hijacking ships is not just bread and butter for Somali pirates, they do it so easily that they treat it like a game.This is how Narottam Kumar Sharma of Bari Brahamana town, 12 km from Jammu, describes the pirates, who held him hostage along with 21 other crew members of MV Suez merchant ship for over 10 months.

“They are so expert in the game that a big dock of such ‘hijacked ships and vessels’ has come up near Somalia. There were over 10 other ships with us but we had no communication with others,” he said.

Sharma and others used to get only rice and noodles to eat twice a day. Back home, he immediately sought “puri channa”. It was a great family get-together at his house. “Almost all my relatives have come together, probably for the first time after our marriage,” he said.

“They (pirates) swooped down on us early morning in high speed boats. We tried to save ourselves by firing water canons, but those were nothing in the face of sophisticated weapons. Once on the board, the pirates beat us into submission. While some among us were tied with ropes, our captain, a Pakistan national, and the chief engineer, an Egyptian, were assaulted with gun butts and batons,” said Sharma.

Surrounded by concerned relatives, a visibly shaken Sharma often was at loss of words and could not speak coherently. “Eventually, thanks to the initiative of human rights activist Ansar Burney, the ransom amount was airdropped from a small aeroplane near the ship,” he said.

The vessel loaded with cement had started off from the Karachi port on July 26 last year for Massawa in Eritrea, but on August 2 high-speed boats of Somali pirates cordoned off the vessel, opened fire at it and eventually succeeded in hijacking it.

“Being part of a highly-organised international crime, it is just a game for them,” Sharma said, adding that thereafter a translator started marathon negotiations with the vessel owner, Mohammed Sobh of Egypt, who owns Red Sea Navigation Company.

Initially, the pirates had demanded a ransom of six million dollars, which they gradually reduced to three million dollars. Sharma expressed regrets over Sobh’s apathetic attitude. “He was not ready to cough up more than a million dollar and the pirates were adamant on their demand. Eventually, the deal was struck at 2.1 million dollars,” he said.

In February this year, they finally allowed us to talk to the members of our families. Eventually, it was due to the extensive media exposure that we were freed, Sharma said. He is now not very sure of returning to the high seas. “As of now, I have no plans of returning to the high seas again,” he said. 

Jammu, June 25
The authorities concerned here have started the verification of the degrees of engineers appointed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) following allegations that candidates with fake degrees have been recruited under the Central scheme under political pressure. It is also alleged that deserving engineers had been ignored.

Although such allegations have been levelled in various parts of the state, the Rural Development Department of Kishtwar has started the process of verifying the degrees of all engineers, who were appointed under the rural job scheme recently.

Additional Development Commissioner (ADC) Abdul Latif Choudhary said there were a few complaints that candidates with fake engineering degrees had been appointed under the MNREGA scheme. “We have started verifying the degrees of all engineers appointed recently under the scheme,” he said, adding that the recruitments were made before his posting as ADC.

Choudhary said some newly-appointed engineers had done degrees from government institutes while others had obtained degrees from unknown private institutes from other states.

Sources said following a large scale complaints of the appointment of candidates with fake engineering degrees as engineers, the authorities had decided to send teams of officials to the private institutes from where these candidates had done their degrees.

Although the authorities are tight-lipped over the progress in the investigation, the sources said a few engineers had procured degrees through illegal means from unrecognised institutes. Most of the engineers, who had been recruited on the basis of fake degrees, had political backing and had been appointed due to political pressure, they added.

Even a few mechanical engineers had been recruited to the posts of civil engineer just to accommodate political workers. Choudhary admitted that some mechanical engineers had been recruited as civil engineers in Kishtwar. “At the time when the recruitment process was initiated, an adequate number of civil engineers were not available in the hill areas. Therefore, the higher authorities gave consent to recruiting mechanical engineers,” he said.

It is widely alleged that the ruling parties in the state have been using the MGNREGA scheme to accommodate political workers. In some areas, local politicians have allotted jobs under the scheme to their supporters while genuine persons have been ignored.

Srinagar, June 25
Governor N N Vohra, who is also the chairman of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, today inaugurated a control room equipped with a 24-hour helpline to facilitate the pilgrims undertaking the Amarnath yatra.

The Chief Executive Officer of the shrine board, RK Goyal, said any person seeking information or help with regard to the yatra, which commences on June 29, could call at 0194-2501679. Any person wishing to make any complaint regarding the yatra arrangements could also make a call to the control room. Goyal said the intending yatris should leave the Pahalgam and Baltal base camps only on June 29 morning.

Goyal said the pilgrims could also have yatra-related information through the shrine board’s website www.shriamarnathjishrine.com and also send e-queries online. 

Jammu, June 25
Residents of Jammu and its adjoining areas had to brave a hot and humid weather after a high-velocity squall coupled with rain disrupted power supply on Thursday night.

Though the Power Development Department (PDD) partially restored the power supply to the affected areas, in some areas like Nanak Nagar, Gandhi Nagar and Trikuta Nagar the supply was restored around 6 pm yesterday.

PK Puri, PDD superintending engineer, said the power supply was fully restored to the affected areas by 5.30 am yesterday morning.

“A high velocity squall uprooted trees at many places and at the same time conductors of a main feeder got snapped, resulting into the disruption of electricity supply at many places in the capital city,” he said.

A technical snag in the conductors, burning of cables and transformers and a major snag in a 132 KV transmission line were the reasons for the disruption of power supply, he added.

The residents of the old city also bore the brunt of hot weather conditions, as the electricity supply remained disrupted for the entire day. “Rampant power cuts and poor voltage have been causing hardships to us and now the disruption of power supply for more than 18 hours is simply unbearable,” said Sushma of the Nanak Nagar locality. 

Jammu, June 25
Protesting against rampant power cuts and scarce water supply, residents of Jammu blocked the Jammu-Akhnoor highway here today, disrupting traffic for nearly two hours.

Raising slogans against the coalition government, the protesters from the areas of Muthi, Barnai, Durga Nagar and Marh assembled at the highway and blocked the road for nearly two hours.

BJP MLA from the Marh Assembly segment Choudhary Sukhnandan and newly-elected sarpanches and panches from Marh also joined the protesters and staged a dharna on the road.

Addressing the protesters, the BJP MLA criticised the government for its “inefficiency” in providing basic amenities to the people. Later, senior officials of the district administration reached the dharna site and pacified the protesters by assuring them that necessary measures would be taken to ensure regular water and power supply. 

Srinagar, June 25
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said today that the state suffered a loss of at least Rs 1,200 crore as Central assistance during the 12th Finance Commission period due to the non-existence of panchayats.

“The state suffered a loss of about Rs 1,200 to Rs 1500 crore due to the non-existence of panchayat system during the 12th Finance Commission period,” Omar said while addressing newly-elected panches and sarpanches of the Bandipora and Khan Sahib constituencies at two functions organised by the Rural Development Department in these areas.

The Chief Minister said with the successful conduct of the panchayat elections, the state government could expect a Central assistance of around Rs 2,000 crore under various schemes for rural development during the 13th Finance Commission period.

“Now, we are expecting a Rs 400 to Rs 500 crore annual grant from the Central government under the 13th Finance Commission award, which shall be spent by the panchayats throughout the state,” he said.

The Chief Minister reiterated his government’s determination to involve the public in crucial decision making for the holistic and all-round development of the state. He termed the successful completion of the panchayat elections as a significant initiative in this direction.

“We are aiming at developing panchayats as focal centres of power and delivery,” he said, adding that the delegation of the decision making power from the secretariat to the grass-roots level was the ultimate objective of the Panchayati Raj system.

“The holding of the panchayat elections in the state after a period of 33 years was a key decision of the government. We took the decision with determination to implement it firmly and sincerely. Thank God, we succeeded in our efforts and completed the process smoothly,” he said.

“The overwhelming participation of voters in the elections and the sincere efforts of the government proved the assertions of our political opponents wrong,” Omar added.

“Besides your important role in the implementation of schemes in the rural development sector, you have to render a stupendous service in the sectors of CAPD, PHE, education, health, social welfare etc,” he told the newly-elected panchayat members, reminding them that “where there is power there are responsibilities too”.

Omar said the panchayat elections would be followed by the elections of block and district committees. The powers would gradually percolate to the grass-roots level, making it the basic centre of planning and development. 

Jammu, June 25
The national president of the BJP Kissan Morcha, Om Prakash Dhankad, yesterday urged party workers to create awareness among the masses about the “large scale corruption” prevalent in the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.

Addressing a function organised as part of the party’s countrywide campaign against corruption, scams and black money, Dhankad said one scam after another had come to light during the rule of the UPA government. “Not only this, a large amount of Indian money has been stashed away in foreign banks and the government has failed to take effective steps to bring it back. If the money deposited in the foreign banks is brought back, poverty will be wiped out from the country,” he said.

He added that the farmers of the country would face more hardships in the coming days as the new Seed Procurement Policy had been framed keeping in mind the interests of the multinational companies. Dhankad said the campaign against corruption should be stepped up and it should be continued till the 2014 general elections.

State president of the BJP Shamsher Singh Manhas, senior leader Daya Krishan Kotwal, Jatinder Singh and Chander Mohan Sharma also addressed the function.

Kishtwar, June 25
The authorities suspended 10 teachers for being absent from duty in Kishtwar district today.

During a surprise visit to government schools in the district, Chief Education Officer (CEO) Ajeet Sharma found 10 teachers absent from duty in Government Middle School, Malikpora, and Government High School, Dool, Education Department officials said.

Sharma ordered the suspension of the teachers with immediate effect, they said. — PTI 

Jammu, June 25
An all-women cooperative initiative for empowering the fairer gender and improving their socio-economic condition is taking shape in the state.

Jammu Women Credit Cooperative Limited (JWCCL), which is confident of getting an RBI licence to start banking operations in a year, has so far set up 23 branches in the rural areas of Jammu, Samba, Kathua and Udhampur districts, where women can be seen working with zeal to make it a cooperative bank, exclusively for women.

Talking to The Tribune, JWCCL chairperson Kailash Verma said, “Since there has been no involvement of women in the cooperatives, we initiated a movement in the state. From 2004 to 2006 we succeeded in having 302 members and in July, 2006, we registered our initiative under the Self-Reliant Cooperatives Act of 1999.”

In 2007, the JWCCL had just two branches in Marh and Randhwal and today it had 800 women members in the Jammu region with a strong network of 23 branches. With 13 directors on its board, the JWCCL today had 250 women employees.

“The RBI has already inspected our nine branches and soon we are going to apply for an RBI licence to convert it into Jammu Women Credit Cooperative Bank Limited, as RBI reports are in our favour,” Verma added.

“Women belonging to below poverty line (BPL) families can open their accounts with us on a minimal deposit of Rs 50, while women from above poverty line (APL) families can open accounts by depositing Rs 100,” she added.

In a short span of time, the JWCCL has disbursed loans to the tune of Rs 72 lakh to women out of a total business of Rs 1.50 crore.

To attract business and increase the number of members, the JWCCL has lowered the rate of interest on loans by one per cent and provides half a per cent interest more on deposits as compared to other recognised banks.

“Soon, we are going to submit a project report to the Union Ministry of Cooperatives with a request to provide us interest-free funds so that we could spread our network in other six districts of the Jammu region,” said Verma.

Right now, the JWCCL is providing a maximum loan of Rs 50,000 to women for various purposes, including setting up of small ventures. “Once the initiative is converted into a cooperative bank, the women associated with us will be empowered, as it will improve their socio-economic condition,” Verma added. 

Srinagar, June 25
In a breakthrough, the police today arrested a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant involved in yesterday’s grenade attack on Sopore police station. Tanveer Ahmad Sheeru, a resident of Armpora in Sopore, was arrested for the grenade attack in which five civilians and one policeman were injured. A case has been registered against the arrested militant.

Srinagar, June 25
Two women teachers of a school died when their raft capsized in the Sindh at the famous tourist resort of Sonmarg on Saturday.

The police said Naseema and Mubeena, both teachers of the Sindh Valley Educational Institute at Kangan, died after their boat capsized.

They were accompanying students on an excursion to Sonmarg. 

Srinagar, June 25
On the birth anniversary of Helen Keller, special children of the Zaiba Appa Institute of Inclusive Education, Bijbehara in Anantnag, displayed their talent before Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhawan here today. In all, 30 special children and 20 special educators, teachers and instructors participated in the function.

The children presented a captivating cultural programme, played a two-over cricket match, a water ball game and tug-of-war on the magnificent lawns of Raj Bhawan. Some of them also demonstrated their talent in academics.

The Governor presented the Helen Keller Awards-2011 to one hearing impaired girl, Irtiza Nisar, for excelling in academics and to a special instructor of the institute, Feroz Ahmad Bhat, for his outstanding contribution to imparting Braille education to the physically-challenged children.

The Governor presented a cheque for Rs 1 lakh to the Zaiba Appa Institute for the education of special children. He announced that suitable steps would be taken to make the Raj Bhawan premises in Srinagar and Jammu friendly for differently-abled persons.

The chairman of the Humanity Welfare Organisation, Javed Ahmad Tak, thanked the Governor for taking keen interest in the empowerment of special children. He also highlighted various demands, including the effective implementation of laws pertaining to physically-challenged persons, constitution of a technical committee in the Social Welfare Department for redressing the grievances of persons with disabilities, appointment of a full-time disability commissioner, conducting a separate census of physically-challenged persons and a representation to them in the state Legislative Council.