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Govt employees to get 6th pay panel arrears
Opposition protests over petrol price hike
Dissolution of state unit irks Youth Cong leaders
Three washed away in Poonch flash floods
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Jhelum touches danger mark, flood alert in Kashmir
Human rights panel recommends probe
Interlocutors to submit final report to Centre before October 12
Suspected HuJI operative remanded in police custody
12 years on, families of slain SPOs still await jobs
Mehbooba not allowed to address
public meeting at Bhadarwah
Eight held for snatching chains, purses
Lt-Gen Parnaik visits remote areas of Kishtwar
5 arrested, illicit liquor seized
Mystery shrouds youth’s death
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Govt employees to get 6th pay panel arrears
Srinagar, September 16 At a meeting between government representatives and employees’ leaders last night, it was decided that the employees would be paid 20 per cent of the arrears annually over five years without any lock-in period, an official spokesman said. The instalments would be deposited in the GPF accounts of the employees, he added. It was also decided that the payment of the arrears to the state government pensioners and family pensioners from January 1, 2006, to June 30, 2009, would be made in cash in five equal annual instalments from this financial year. The earlier road map prepared by the government, which was rejected by the employees, had suggested a three-year lock-in period for the withdrawal of the arrears. The employees had been protesting against the delay in the payment of the arrears. Addressing the employees after the agreement, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said before coming to power, he had promised them that their genuine demands would be accepted. He said his aim to build a prosperous state led him to accept their demands, though it was difficult to take such a step under the present financial scenario. “At no point, the government had any intention of having a confrontation with the employees, whom I consider to be its part,” Omar said. Omar said the decision to provide the first instalment of arrears to the tune of over Rs 820 crore should galvanise the work culture, transparency and commitment of the employees in performing better. The Secretariat Non-Gazetted Employees Union thanked the Chief Minister for resolving the issue. On the demand for increasing the retirement age from 58 years to 60 years, it was agreed upon at the meeting that a committee headed by Chief Secretary Madhav Lal would submit a comprehensive report by February next year and an appropriate decision would be taken by the Cabinet sub-committee constituted for the purpose by March. About the regularisation of the services of temporary and casual labourers working since January 1994, it was decided that the Finance Department shall ensure that the defaulting Administrative Departments submitted the required information in respect of the casual and temporary labourers engaged after 1994 to have a comprehensive report within next three months. Thereafter, the matter would be sent to the Cabinet sub-committee for the formulation of an appropriate policy in this regard, the agreement stated. It was also agreed that the cases of the regularisation of the services of the remaining pre-1994 casual employees and ad hoc, contractual and consolidated appointees shall be fast-tracked as per the existing policy. The agreement comes ahead of a three-day strike called by the employee unions to coincide with the summer session of the state Assembly beginning on September 26. |
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Opposition protests over petrol price hike
Jammu, September 16 Raising anti-UPA slogans, a large number of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha activists, led by their state president, Munish Sharma, took out a rally in Kachi Chawni Chowk to protest against the recent petrol price hike.Sharma said the UPA regime had been adopting “anti-poor policies”. “With each passing day, the survival of the common man is becoming difficult in view of the rise in the prices of essential commodities,” he said. He added that the prices of food items, medicines, petrol and diesel were hiked several times during the past two years and asked the UPA government not to test the patience of the people. Meanwhile, activists of the BJP Mahila Morcha led by their state president, Sakina Bano, held a massive protest at the Gole Market area in Gandhi Nagar against the petrol price hike. Addressing activists of the party, Bano said the petrol price hike or hike in the price of any other essential commodity had its effect on womenfolk. She said frustration among the women might culminate into a strong reaction against the government for its “anti-poor and anti-people policies”. A meeting of the Jammu Regional Committee of the CPM was held here under the chairmanship of comrade Sham Prasad Kesar to condemn the price hike. “The Jammu Regional Committee condemns the increase in the price of petrol by Rs 3.14 per litre. This third increase in the price of petrol this year comes at a time when inflation is touching a double digit and people have no respite from the rise in the prices of essential commodities. This callous move will only have a cascading effect on inflation,” the meeting observed. Hari Chand Jalmeria, general secretary and spokesman of the Panthers Party, also expressed concern over the petrol price hike. He said the hike in the petrol prices would upset the budget of the common people who was already reeling under the burden of inflation. |
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Dissolution of state unit irks Youth Cong leaders
Jammu, September 16 The office-bearers were appointed on July 29 this year after a two-year-long exercise, including a talent hunt contest, in Jammu and Srinagar, respectively. The leaders said on condition of anonymity that the decision to dissolve the PYCC unit was nothing but a cruel joke on those who were given important positions at the time of its formation. “Within 45 days of our appointment, the new body was dissolved,” regretted a Youth Congress leader. The decision would demoralise dedicated workers, the leader said. Some of the leaders had used the clout of their political mentors in New Delhi to get important positions in the PYCC. PCC chief Saifuddin Soz, too,admitted that the decision to dissolve the newly formed committee was surprising. He added that the decision was taken to implement a new policy.“The leadership has taken the decision to appoint elected office-bearers to all the posts,” he said. The outgoing PYCC chief, Shoaib Lone, who was appointed after a talent hunt contest, refused to make any comment. “The decision to dissolve the existing body was taken to strengthen the Youth Congress in the state,” he said. Interestingly, a few office-bearers of the
dissolved unit were still being felicitated on their appointment. |
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Three washed away in Poonch flash floods
Jammu/Srinagar, September 16 The police said Mohmmad Taj and his brother, Afzal Razzaq, who tried to cross a rivulet in Surankote tehsil were washed away in the flash floods. Razzaq’s body was recovered, while efforts were on to trace Taj’s body, it added. In another incident, a 16-year-old girl, Tazeem, who was crossing a nullah in the Sabzian sector of Poonch district, was washed away in the flash floods. Meanwhile, a Gujjar family was rescued from the flash floods in the Ramsoo area of Ramban district this morning. The police said the eight members of the family, who were camping near the Bisleri nullah, were trapped in flash floods this morning. A rescue operation was immediately launched after some passersby saw them asking for help. Meanwhile,the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was closed to traffic for six hours today due to landslides triggered by heavy rain in Ramban district, about 170 km from here. Though the authorities used heavy machinery to remove boulders from the highway, the incessant rain hampered the work for a long time due to which hundreds of commuters and vehicles were stranded at various places. Kifayat Hyder, SSP, National Highways, told The Tribune over the phone that the highway was opened in the evening with the efforts of Border Roads Organisation engineers and officials of the departments concerned. During the rain, the people should enquire about the status of the road from the police control room before moving out, he said. Arun Sharma, a passenger, who was stranded on the highway talking over the phone from Kud, near Batote, said almost 400 trucks and many light vehicles remained stranded there till evening, as the authorities were not allowing anyone to go beyond this point. “There were some minor landslides from Jammu to Kud, but ahead of it, the road was blocked. So, the policemen told us to wait till the highway was cleared,” Sharma added. Meanwhile, following incessant rain across Kashmir last night, the water level in the Jhelum touched the danger mark this afternoon, prompting the authorities to sound a flood alert. Though the weather conditions improved later, the upper reaches in the Valley witnessed the first snowfall of the season, reports reaching here said. Heavy rain triggering flash floods wreaked havoc on the Baragam, Nawdal and Yangwani areas of Tral in Pulwama district, officials said. A steel bridge at Batgund was washed away and the Lam Nullah inundated Yangerwani village. Flood waters also damaged eight shops at Hud village in Kupwara district. At Khushipora, the flood channel was breached at Kumhar Mohalla, the officials said. The Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control, Kashmir, has sounded a flood alert and directed all the Zonal Flood Committees to establish control rooms. The people have been asked not to panic. The affected families in Tral were shifted to safer locations and provided temporary shelters and free ration. The locals at Baragam requested the rescue teams to remove tree stumps that had blocked the flow of a nullah near the bridge. |
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Jhelum touches danger mark, flood alert in Kashmir
Srinagar/Jammu, September 16 Heavy rain triggering flash floods wreaked havoc on the Baragam, Nawdal and Yangwani areas of Tral in Pulwama district, officials said. A steel bridge at Batgund was washed away and the Lam Nullah inundated Yangerwani village. Flood waters also damaged eight shops at Hud village in Kupwara district. At Khushipora, the flood channel was breached at Kumhar Mohalla, the officials said. The Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control, Kashmir, has sounded a flood alert and directed all the Zonal Flood Committees to establish control rooms. The people have been asked not to panic. The affected families in Tral were shifted to safer locations and provided temporary shelters and free ration. The locals at Baragam requested the rescue teams to remove tree stumps that had blocked the flow of a nullah near the bridge. A report from Jammu said three persons, including two brothers, were washed away in flash floods in Poonch district today. The police said Mohmmad Taj and his brother, Afzal Razzaq, who tried to cross a rivulet in Surankote tehsil were washed away in the flash floods. In another incident, a 16-year-old girl, Tazeem, who was crossing a nullah in the Sabzian sector of Poonch district, was washed away in the flash floods. |
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Human rights panel recommends probe
Srinagar, September 16 “An independent duly representative-structured body having due credibility and weight, fully empowered to go into all questions (and) aspects regarding unmarked graves, disappeared persons ... be constituted and put in place in time,” a Division Bench of the J&KSHRC said here. The Bench, comprising the commission chairman, Justice Syed Bashiruddin Ahmad (retd), and member Javaid A Kawoos, in its six-point recommendation sought the DNA profiling of the bodies in the unmarked graves in a cluster of villages at various places in Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara districts. The investigative wing of the commission, on the instructions of the Bench, had earlier reported that more than 2,000 unmarked graves existed "beyond doubt" at 38 sites across north Kashmir. The Bench also recommended the prosecution of those found involved in the "crime", including culpable homicide. Meanwhile, the commission took cognisance of an application filed by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons , which claimed the existence of over 3,844 unmarked graves at 208 sites in Poonch and Rajouri districts in the Jammu region. The secretary, Tariq Banday, said the commission had asked the government to provide a report on the allegations of unmarked graves in Poonch and Rajouri. “The APDP filed a rejoinder providing more details regarding Poonch and Rajouri. I do not remember the figures, but the commission has taken cognisance of the cases also and we have issued notices to the government for providing us the actual report regarding the allegations,” he said. — PTI |
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Interlocutors to submit final report to Centre before October 12
Jammu, September 16 Talking to mediapersons here today, the interlocutors, who were on their 12th visit to the state, made it clear that they would try to meet the aspirations of all the regions and sub-regions in the final report. Journalist Dilip Padgaonkar, who heads the three-member panel, said there was no question of delaying the submission of the report. “Our term is going to end on October 12. The report will be handed over to the Centre before that,” he said. Denying some reports that the term of the interlocutors would be extended, Padgaonkar said there would be no delay in submitting the report. “I don't know from where people get this stuff ,” he said. The interlocutors who reached Jammu yesterday, met the GOC-in-C, Northern Command, Lt-Gen KT Parnaik, at Udhampur today and held detailed discussions about the security scenario in the state. Various delegations called on the visiting interlocutors and highlighted their problems. Some delegations cautioned them against submitting a Kashmir-centric report. At Samba, the interlocutors were cautioned against ignoring the aspirations and wishes of nationalist forces. Some delegations made it clear that the accession of the state with the country was final and the people of Jammu would not tolerate any move to weaken the state’s relations with the country. The panel has so far visited 18 of the total 22 districts in the state and sought suggestions to find out a practical, feasible and workable solution by accommodating the aspirations of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. |
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Suspected HuJI operative remanded in police custody
Jammu, September 16 “Principal District and Sessions Judge ML Manhas remanded 21-year-old Amir Abbas, a suspected Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) operative, in seven-day police custody this morning,” official sources told The Tribune. Amir’s police remand comes close on the heels of the arrest of two Class XI students, Abid Hussain Wani and Shariq Butt. The duo had divulged the names of Amir Abbas and Hilal Amin during interrogation. The investigating agencies believed that Abbas in connivance with his friend Hilal, a resident of Dool Nagseni village, near Kishtwar, had allegedly drafted the terror e-mail before handing it over to the two Class XI students in Kishtwar in a pen drive. The sources said Abbas had been pursuing studies through correspondence from Hyderabad-based Maulana Azad National Urdu University. “While Amir Abbas has been remanded in seven-day police custody, his friend, Hilal Amin, was not produced before the Principal District and Sessions Judge,” they said. The sources said Abbas had a mental disorder in childhood and had , therefore,been undergoing psychiatric treatment in Jammu for over 12 years. Consequently, he faired dismally in academics during the initial years. He later joined the Tablig-e-Jamait, a religious organisation, which had been a launch pad for several jihadi groups, they added. Meanwhile, Mukesh Singh, DIG of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), reached Kishtwar last evening to take stock of the investigation.The sources said he had a closed-door meeting with officials of the NIA and the state police. Meanwhile, IGP, Jammu zone, Dilbag Singh said the relevant details of the case would be officially shared with the media at an appropriate time. He also asked the media to refrain from speculative reporting. The e-mail claiming responsibility for the September 7 Delhi blast had originated from Kishtwar, 220 km from Jammu, and seven people had been detained so far.
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12 years on, families of slain SPOs still await jobs
Jammu, September 16 SPO Ashok Kumar , son of Som Raj, and his cousin and namesake, Ashok Kumar , son of Gian Chand, were killed in an encounter with militants at Breshwana in Prem Nagar in Doda district on March 31, 1999. Though next of kin of the slain SPOs have got Rs 1 lakh each as compensation, they are yet to get government jobs. The SPOs were getting Rs 1,500 as monthly salary.Vijay Kumar, a resident of Khankoot village in Prem Nagar tehsil of Doda district and a relative of the SPOs, said, “The Army had proposed to the local administration to give a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to both families, besides government jobs in April 1999. It had put on record that the slain SPOs fought bravely and sacrificed their lives for the nation.” Vijay said he had been pursuing the matter for a long time. “After completing the paper work, I wrote to senior police and civil administration officials and also met them,” he said. “On October 21, 2010, I, along with next of kin of 14 SPOs, who died fighting militants in the area, was called by the then SP, Doda, Prabhat Singh, for recruitment. We took a physical test. Despite good performance, we did not get any response.” Vijay said, “My parents are old and my two brothers are studying. There is no government employee in my family and the measly amount of compensation has been spent.” In the family of the other slain SPO, there was no male member, he said. “Sarla Devi, Ashok’s sister, should be given a government job,” he added. SSP, Doda, Varinder Sharma said, “During 1999, the district administration provided relief comprising Rs 1 lakh and a job each to the families of the SPOs killed in the counter-insurgency operations.” Deputy Commissioner, Doda, Farooq Ahmed said, “The families concerned should meet me. I will look into the matter as the district administration provides jobs to next of kin of the deceased in such cases.” |
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Mehbooba not allowed to address
public meeting at Bhadarwah
Jammu, September 16 As the PDP president was not allowed to address the public meeting, she addressed party workers at a guest house and criticised the state government for turning Jammu and Kashmir into a police state by gagging voices of dissent through oppressive measures. Mehbooba regretted that the present regime was behaving in a dictatorial manner and not allowing the Opposition to perform its role. “I fail to understand why the government is so paranoid about the PDP,”
she said. She said yesterday problems were created to sabotage the party’s programme at Doda and today permission was denied to the party to organise a public meeting at Bhadarwah. “The Opposition plays an important role in democracy, as without it democracy cannot flourish,” she said. “The brutal use of force to create a false impression of peace will prove disastrous for the state,” she added. Expressing anguish over denial of permission to hold a public meeting at Bhadarwah, Mehbooba appealed to the party workers to obey the law and order and not create any problem. “Since our party has played a pivotal role in bringing peace and normalcy in the state, we must not do anything to jeopardise the same, despite the provocation by the government,” she said. She reiterated her party’s resolve to restore sustainable peace in the state. Asking her party workers not to be provoked by the actions of the government, she said despite the attempts of the government, the PDP had been gaining faith
and confidence of the common people. |
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Eight held for snatching chains, purses
Jammu, September 16 The SSP, Jammu, Anand Jain, said a special team was constituted under the supervision of the SP, City North, JS Johar, in view of an increase in the incidents of chain and purse snatching at Pacca Danga, Bakshi Nagar and Janipur. The team arrested eight persons, identified as Rahul Massih, a resident of Dogra Hall, Hardeep Singh of Nanak Nagar, Dharamveer Singh of Paloura, Sunil Kumar of BSF Colony, Sarjeevan Singh of Paloura, Manjit Singh of Preet Nagar, Balbir Singh of Nanak Nagar and Vivek Begda of Tikri of Udhampur and recovered the stolen items. “On sustained interrogation, the team managed to work out nine cases,” he said. With the help of Janipur residents, the police also arrested Pooja Devi in connection with a theft case. She was a domestic help at the house of Kuldeep Singh in Janipur from where she decamped with ornaments worth Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 10,000 in cash,he said. Further investigation was in progress. |
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Lt-Gen Parnaik visits remote areas of Kishtwar
Jammu, September 16 He was accompanied by Lt-Gen JP Nehra, GOC, White Knight Corps. During the course of the visit, the Army Commander visited the forward location of the Rashtriya Rifles Battalion at Navpachchi, which is the highest and the remotest area within the jurisdiction of the force. Lt-Gen Parnaik was briefed by the Commanding Officer, the Sector Commander and the GOC of the Counter-Insurgency Delta Force Delta, about the operations and situation in the surrounding areas. The GOC-in-C also interacted with the troops and appreciated the work being done by them. Later, the delegation flew over the Keshwan, Warwan and Inshan Valleys before landing at Kishtwar. On arrival at Kishtwar, the Army Commander interacted with prominent personalities of the district, including civil administration officials, officers of the Central Police Organisations and political leaders. Members of religious institutions and representatives of the judiciary and the Health Department also interacted with the Army Commander. Two disabled persons, ex-sepoy Thakur Das of the Army Service Corps of Moolchattar village, and Kantram of Chingam village, were given wheelchairs by the Army Commander. During the last leg of his visit, Lt-Gen Parnaik was briefed by Maj-Gen M Ramesh Babu, GOC, Delta Force, on the prevailing situation in the region. The Army Commander also had a detailed discussion with senior Army officers at Dharmund. |
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5 arrested, illicit liquor seized
Jammu, September 16 Sleuths of the department also destroyed illicit liquor on the spot. According to reports, sleuths of the Excise Department conducted a series of raids at the Dalhori, Argi-Potha, Saranu, Danghri, Baljerallian, Katharian, Panjpeer, Sassal Kote, Darian, Jhanger, Narian and Lam Drahal areas in the district. The accused were arrested and booked under the Excise Act.
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Mystery shrouds youth’s death
Jammu, September 16 The deceased, identified as Abdul Majeed, a resident of Pauni, was married to Mukhtiyar Bibi in Garran village in Dharamsal. He was living there. However, sources said no missing report was lodged with the police at either Nowshera or Dharamsal police stations. The body of the deceased with an injury on the head was recovered from the banks of a river in the Rajal area of Nowshera on September 5 and despite messages to all the police stations, nobody claimed it. Thereafter, the body was buried after a post mortem. But yesterday, the identity of the deceased was established by his family on the basis of clothes seized by the police as well as a photograph provided by the SDPO, Nowshera. Accordingly, to facilitate further investigation and fulfil the demand of the local people to shift the body to his ancestral graveyard, the SDM, Nowshera, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, ordered the exhumation of the body in the presence of witnesses and family members. His family said Majeed left home on September 3 to purchase livestock. The SDPO, Nowshera, GL Sharma said further investigation was in progress.
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Srinagar/Jammu, September 16
Jammu, September 16
