Jammu, August 6
Efforts of the BJP high command to bring around the six suspended party MLAs seem to have failed as these legislators are demanding that the expulsion of their leader Chaman Lal Gupta be revoked before they take a decision. The BJP leadership wants to resolve the crisis in the party before the Assembly session starts in Srinagar but the suspended MLAs are adamant on their stand.

It was only due to the back channel discussions that Anil Gupta, son of Chaman Lal Gupta, filed a defamation suit against state BJP chief Shamsher Singh Manhas and state general secretary of the party Sat Sharma.

Party sources said other BJP activists, including some suspended MLAs, would file defamation suits in different areas of the Jammu region to corner the party leadership for singling them out in the cross-voting episode.

“We have information that neither the state party unit nor the high command has any authentic proof against us that we voted against the BJP candidate in the Legislative Council elections,” one of the suspended party MLAs told The Tribune. He added that, “We have decided to step up our campaign against the party high command for damaging our image in the eyes of the people by accusing us of cross-voting.”

Sources said the party high command had assured the suspended MLAs that their suspension would be revoked provided they accepted Jugal Kishore Sharma as the leader of the BJP in the Assembly in place of Chaman Lal Gupta.

After Gupta’s expulsion from the primary membership of the party, the BJP had nominated Jugal Kishore as the party leader in the Assembly. But the suspended legislators had reposed faith in Gupta’s leadership. Of the total 11 BJP legislators in the Assembly, only three had accepted Jugal Kishore as their leader.

“Instead of rectifying their mistake, party leaders have been trying to weaken our group so as to get their decisions implemented,” the suspended MLAs said. They added that during their meeting with the party leadership they had made it clear that Gupta was their leader in the Assembly and they could not accept anyone else in his place.

The suspended MLAs have rejected the offer of the high command and decided to intensify their campaign to expose the “black sheep” in the BJP, who, according to them, have been furthering the interests of the National Conference. Four of the six suspended BJP MLAs, Garu Ram Bhagat, Durga Dass, Jagdish Sapolia and Bharat Bhushan, have convened a media interaction tomorrow to disclose their future course of action.

Jammu, August 6
The Panun Kashmir, a frontal organisation of internally-displaced Kashmiri Pandits, today expressed satisfaction over the introduction of a special resolution on Kashmir and Kashmiri Pandits in the US House of Representatives by Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone.

“Pallone’s resolution has vindicated our stand that the community is a victim of terrorist violence, aided and abetted by Pakistan,” the Panun Kashmir said in its executive council meeting here today.

“Pallone is a great friend of India and has always supported the Indian cause in the US. The introduction of the current resolution in the US House of Representatives condemns the violence in Kashmir, lack of religious freedom and human rights violations committed against the Kashmiri Pandits for the past more than two decades,” Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, president of the Panun Kashmir, said.

“Pallone has insisted in his resolution that the terrorist infrastructure in the region must be dismantled and terrorists held accountable for their actions. The historic resolution in the US House vindicates the stand of the organisation that the Kashmiri Pandits, against whom acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing took place in their ancestral habitat, are the main victims of the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist violence,” Chrungoo added.

The Kashmiri Pandits were grateful to Pallone for having supported their cause all along, particularly when the Panun Kashmir was engaged in the presentation of the Kashmiri Pandit human rights case in the National Human Rights Commission, he added.

Virender Raina, national spokesperson for the Panun Kashmir, said Pallone’s resolution reflected his understanding of the historical and cultural moorings of the Kashmiri Pandits as the original inhabitants of Kashmir and tracing their ancestry back to several millenniums.

In his resolution, Pallone expressed concern over the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley due to violence. It also depicted the conscience of the right-thinking members of the global community, who rejected terrorism as a means to solve conflicts.

The Panun Kashmir expressed gratitude to its activists, members of the Kashmiri Pandit diaspora and the Hindu-American Foundation, which had consistently strived at the international level to make the facts about the Kashmir valley and the Pandits known to the international opinion makers.

The Executive Council of the Panun Kashmir has now asked the government to take lead from Pallone’s resolution and take appropriate and proactive measures against terrorism and also ameliorate the conditions of the Kashmiri Pandits, who had been living as refugees in their own country for the past two decades.

Those who attended the meeting included Prof ML Raina, chairman of the Political Affairs Committee, besides JL Kaul, Upinder Kaul, and Kamal Bagati, vice-president, general secretary and organising secretary of the organisation, respectively.

Jammu, August 6
“Why had the government wasted two academic sessions of the Central University of Jammu, if it had to appoint a former bureaucrat as the Vice-Chancellor and that, too, when at least eight to nine academicians from Jammu University were in the fray.”

This is how academicians in Jammu, who didn’t come on record for obvious reasons, reacted to the appointment of former Chief Secretary of the state SS Bloeria as the Vice-Chancellor.

“Jammu University academicians were also in the fray. We have several academicians with vast experience in Jammu, but I fail to understand why has the government appointed a former bureaucrat as the Vice-Chancellor of the Central varsity,” said an academician, who was one of the contenders to the post.

If the Central University of Kashmir could have a local academician as the Vice-Chancellor, why couldn’t the Central University of Jammu?, he quipped.

There had been a craving among the people of Jammu to see a local academician head the Central varsity, he said.

Another aspiring professor felt that the Central varsity required an academician and not an administrator. “An academician can serve the university better than an administrator. No doubt, the former Chief Secretary was a good administrator and had done a Ph.D, but that did not make him an academician. Moreover, he never remained associated with the academics,” said the professor.

“Academics and administration are altogether two separate fields and only an academician knows the pulse of the students and other requirements of a university,” he added.

The professor went on to the extent saying that Bloeria being the father-in-law of the Chief Minister’s political adviser, the state government projected him at the Centre at the cost of the academicians.

“Ever since the Central varsity was announced for Jammu in 2009, the people here started demanding that a local academician be made its Vice-Chancellor and if the government had to appoint a former bureaucrat as the Vice-Chancellor, it should have done so two years back. Why had it wasted two academic sessions and played with the careers of the students in Jammu,” he asked.

The Jammu Central University Morcha (JCUM), which has been spearheading an agitation demanding a local academician as the head of the Central varsity, felt that the Central and state governments were playing with the sentiments of the people of Jammu.

Reacting to Bloeria’s appointment, JCUM president Rajinder Singh Jamwal, while referring to the University Act, said the former Chief Secretary did not fulfil the eligibility criteria. “The Act says that a person with at least 10 years of experience as professor or a person of prominence from the field of academics should be appointed as Vice-Chancellor,” he claimed.

Jammu, August 6
On the second day of the strike of the government employees here today, the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), an amalgam of several employees’ unions, gave a one-month ultimatum to the government.

The JCC warned the government that either it should fulfil the demands of the employees as per the Sixth Pay Committee’s report or get ready for another round of agitations from September 6.

The JCC has given another strike call from September 6 to 8 if the government failed to fulfil its commitment by September 5.

Today, the employees of various departments assembled at the Exhibition Ground to stage a protest against the state government’s failure in fulfilling the commitments made to the employees. There was a thin attendance in various government departments due to the strike.

Addressing the protesting employees, JCC leaders flayed the government for delaying the payment of the arrears as per the Sixth Pay panel recommendations. Besides the arrears, the employees were also demanding the regularisation of the services of contractual employees and the enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60 years.

Describing it as an anti-employee dispensation, JCC leader Ram Kumar Sharma flayed the government for its apathetic attitude towards the employees. By its indifferent attitude, the government had been constantly provoking the workers to adopt the path of agitation, he said.

“The JCC wants that the arrears of the pay commission be paid in two equal instalments on the pattern of the employees and pensioners of the Central government,” Sharma said.

The JCC also demanded that the services of the daily-rate workers, who had completed seven years of service since 1994, should be regularised.

In February 2009, the government had announced on the floor of the Assembly that the services of the daily-rate workers, who had completed seven years of service, would be regularised. On May 14, 2010, a Cabinet sub-committee had declared that the relevant orders would be issued within 15 days. However, the commitments and announcements simply remained on paper, said BH Malik, another JCC leader.

Jammu, August 6
The centrally-sponsored project to four-lane the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is facing a hurdle between Nashri, Ramban and Ramsoo, as no construction company has so far come forward to take up work on this 50 km hilly and treacherous portion, which is also prone to landslides.

The work on this ambitious project from Lakhanpur to Srinagar has been divided into six phases involving over Rs 9,700 crore. While the work on the 114-km Lakhanpur to Jammu track and the 17-km Srinagar bypass is near completion, two private companies have come forward to construct tunnels from Qazigund to Banihal and from Chenani to Nashri.

Informed sources, however, said the work beyond Nashri up to Ramsoo had so far not been given to any construction company as they either did not fulfil the required conditions or had expressed their inability to widen this stretch of road due to its peculiar geographical conditions.

The sources said the authorities concerned were at present working out modalities to float global tenders afresh so as to rope in some reputed construction company.

They added that some construction companies, which had visited the stretch, later expressed their inability to widen the highway in the Ramban area where it serpentines along the ferocious Chenab on one side. “To widen the road and simultaneously maintain the flow of traffic on this landslide-prone stretch is a herculean task and needs expertise,” the sources said.

Even as civilian land and forestland in Ramban district had been procured and villagers compensated, no one was sure when this stretch of road could be widened.

The deadline for the four-laning of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, being executed by the National Highway Authority of India, is 2016.

Besides being strategically important, the construction of tunnels and the widening of the highway, which links Kashmir with the rest of the country, would reduce the travelling time by four hours and bypass the avalanche-prone areas.

Jammu, August 6
Several protesters, including men and women, held a rally here today in support of Congress leader Surinder Singh Shingari, against whom an FIR had been lodged for allegedly provoking the family members of deceased Class XII student Sukhbir Singh to stage protests.

Shingari has been accused of provoking the members of Sukhbir’s family and his relatives to stage violent protests at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) here, a day after Sukhbir died due to the alleged negligence of doctors on duty.

Sukhbir had sustained critical injuries after he was stabbed by two students at Shastri Nagar on July 30.

Blaming the district administration for buckling under pressure of doctors, the protesters demanded that the FIR lodged against Shingari be cancelled and stern action be taken against the guilty doctors, who did not attend to the injured student in time.

Shingari had unsuccessfully contested the last Assembly elections from the Jammu West Assembly constituency.

Talking to The Tribune, Shingari said two days after Sukhbir’s death he along with the members of the deceased student’s family, mediapersons and the police had met the GMCH Principal and asked him to conduct a probe against the guilty doctors for the alleged delay on their part in attending to the injured student.

“After the GMCH Principal expressed his inability to order a probe, we went to Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Sanjeev Verma and urged him to order a judicial probe into the incident. He, however, ordered a magisterial probe and we returned little dejected,” said Shingari.

“The magisterial probe didn’t augur well with the junior doctors, who went on a two-day strike demanding adequate security at the GMCH, withdrawal of the probe and the registration of an FIR against me,” he added.

Meanwhile, Shingari has also been accused of vandalism at the hospital. “I didn’t slap anyone. I did not have heated arguments with any doctor. How can I be accused of provoking the members of Sukhbir’s family?” he asked. Shingari said if the police wanted to conduct an inquiry, he would cooperate with it.

The district administration has ordered a magisterial probe directing the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Sheetal Nanda, to submit a detailed report within 15 days.

Jammu, August 6
He has dispelled many wrong notions about the contemporary Dogri music. Since his hit Dogri song “Likh-Likh Chithiyan…” way back in nineties, distinguished music composer and singer Surinder Manhas has come a long way. These days, he is giving the final touches to the music of an upcoming Dogri film, “Kuggiay Maar Dooari”, which is likely to be released by the year-end.

At his studio at Kachchi Chawni, Manhas is accompanied by director of the film Neelam Phul and lyricist Pyasa Anjum. “There are eight songs composed by Manhas in the film. The music is a perfect blend of folk and modern styles. We have worked keeping in mind the taste of the youth,” Anjum said, adding that, “Besides me, there are two other song writers.”

“Instead of engaging artistes from outside, as is usually done in Jammu, I have got all the compositions sung by established local singers, including Suraj Singh, Jewan Sharma, Deepali Batal and Zulaikha Fareed, a budding singer from Bhadarwah,” Anjum said. He added that, “The musicians also belong to Jammu. Hence, the music of the film dispels the ill-conceived notion that local artistes cannot perform like the artistes of national fame.”

“I can say it with authority that when it comes to singing “Bhaakh” and “Karak”, even established Bollywood singers cannot perform better than the local singers,” he said and went on to elaborate, “Dogri is in our blood. We need not work on the language, but unfortunately many local composers get their compositions sung by famous singers of other languages. I am not against it, but the local artistes and singers should also be given the opportunity. If we do not encourage them, who will?”

Playing a sad number from the film composed in Raag Bhairav, “Chetain Diyan Punian...”, sung by Zulaikha, a new singer having a powerful voice, Anjum said, “She recorded the first song of her career. I had to work hard to get a good performance from her. We need to instill confidence in the budding artistes.”

Manhas belongs to Hameerpur Kona village of Akhnoor. He spent his childhood in Uttar Pradesh and had to face difficulties in learning Dogri. “I was in Class X when I came to Jammu. Dogri fascinated me as it sounded quite melodious. Singing was my childhood passion and hence I made it a point that I would sing and promote Dogri throughout my life,” Manhas said. He added that, “I got formal training in classical music from Dr Hari Kishan at the Nutan Sangeet Vidyalaya.”

Till now, Manhas has composed and arranged music for at least 60 albums, including devotional and patriotic. He has also composed music for scores of tele-serials broadcast by the DD, including “Lahu Ke Dau Rang”, “Anjaam” and “Kunju Chanchalo”. “In the near future, I will be composing music for films in other languages, but Dogri will be my top priority,” he said. The music of the upcoming Dogri film was likely to be released in October, he added.

Srinagar, August 6
Farooq Ahmad, Director of Census Operations, Jammu and Kashmir, called on Governor NN Vohra here yesterday and presented a copy of the “Census-2011 Report on Provisional Population Totals of the State” to him.

Ahmad briefed the Governor about the status of various operations carried out and those underway under the aegis of the Census-2011.The Governor stressed the importance of the entire work of the preparation of identity cards being commenced timely and completed within the envisaged schedule. The Governor urged him to see that all the departments were furnished the copies of the Census Report so that the basic village and town-wise data could become the basis of all future planning.

Jammu, August 6
The District Legal Services Authority, Ramban, organised a seminar on the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act and the rights of street children, under the chairmanship of the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Ramban, Bala Jyoti, here today.

The Judge stressed the need for a change in the attitude towards female foeticide and apprised the gathering about the legal aspects of the PNDT Act. She said she was pained to see cases of gender discrimination.

Earlier, a colloquium was also organised for street children. While celebrating the year of the “Rights of Child”, the Judge focused on the right to education, particularly for the marginalised children of society.