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Pandemonium breaks out in Assembly
Omar breaks silence, says he is ready to face probe panel
Governor for more research work on Kashmiriyat
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6 killed as van rolls into Chenab
LeT commander among two militants killed in Kashmir
10 chargesheeted for Samba fraud
Police returns stolen jewellery to 3 women
Over 6,000 RTI queries disposed of in state
Bus strike leaves commuters harassed
Meeting of Sainik Schools begins
Plant productive centre inaugurated
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Pandemonium breaks out in Assembly
Srinagar, October 3 Even as Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone assured the PDP members that the motion was under his consideration and would be taken up after Question Hour, the members continued to insist on taking the issue first. Nothing could be heard in the noisy scenes as most of the members from different parties, both ruling and Opposition, were engaged in heated arguments, disrupting the proceedings of Question Hour. During the chaos, an opposition member even hurled a pedestal fan towards the Speaker while others uprooted mikes and tore papers. Some of them stood on their seats. Even as the Speaker said the matter would be taken up after Question Hour, the PDP members were not satisfied. There were heated exchanges between the Speaker and senior PDP leader Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari. However, the remarks were later expunged from the proceedings of the House. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti at one stage was heard saying that “there has been a murder and an inquiry has not been started”. Reacting to Omar's threat of filing a defamation suit, Mehbooba said he was free to sue her and pressed for his resignation. The ruling National Conference members in
turn raised slogans for identifying the “killers” of a former minister in
the PDP-led coalition government. When the proceedings could not be held smoothly for the first 35 minutes, the Speaker adjourned the House for half an hour. The House resumed after about 45 minutes, but the pandemonium continued with PDP members seeking the attention of the Speaker towards the motion. The PDP motion was disallowed by the Speaker, but later he allowed its senior leader, Muzaffar Hussain Beig, to speak. Senior NC leader and Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar and other NC members, however, raised objections after the Speaker allowed Beig to speak. The Speaker had to adjourn the House again and it resumed only after about an hour. After the conduct of normal business for about 15 minutes, the angry members from both the ruling and opposition parties disrupted the normal proceedings again, forcing the Speaker to adjourn it till tomorrow. |
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Omar breaks silence, says he is ready to face probe panel
Addressing mediapersons in the lawns of the Assembly complex this afternoon, the Chief Minister said he was eagerly awaiting the setting up of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by a sitting Judge of the High Court to inquire into the unfortunate death of Sayeed Mohammad Yousuf. “I will have no hesitation in presenting myself before this Commission,” he asserted. Sayeed Mohammad Yousuf, a NC worker from south Kashmir's Anantnag district, died on September 29 allegedly in police custody after two fellow party workers had accused him of taking Rs 1.18 crore from them for getting them berths in the Legislative Council. Omar said he was silent over the issue consciously because earlier in a different case when he shared the preliminary findings with the media, he was accused of prejudicing the judicial inquiry. He held that instead of appreciating the fact that he had taken suo moto action on serious allegations of corruption against an individual associated with National Conference, it had been suggested that he or his colleagues were involved in criminal activity. He added that certain “responsible political leaders” had gone to the extent of suggesting that he had been involved in a case of murder. Referring to today’s comments of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, the Chief Minister said she had levelled “certain grave and very serious allegations” against him and his father Farooq Abdullah. He added that he would respond to these allegations in the form of “defamation notice”. On the incident, Omar said: “Two of my party workers came to see me last week on Friday levelling allegations against a third worker, which were of extremely serious nature. In the interest of transparency and fair play, I decided to call all three -- the two making the allegations and the person against whom the allegations were made. “I also called Minister of State for Home to be present there realising the criminal nature of the allegations that were levelled. Upon realising the seriousness and magnitude of the allegation, I immediately referred the matter to the Crime Branch of the J&K Police and asked them to proceed in the matter on the basis of the facts that they would ascertain as a result of their investigation”. He lamented over the developments that followed after the death of Yousuf, saying that the facts had been “twisted, distorted and presented in a completely unrelated ma ner to the actual facts of the case”. ‘Cardio respiratory arrest’ caused death: Govt Srinagar: The government has clarified that the death of National Conference worker Sayeed Mohammad Yousuf was caused due to “cardio respiratory arrest” while no external injuries had been found on his body. This information was given by the State Home Secretary, B R Sharma, at a press conference here this evening. |
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Governor for more research work on Kashmiriyat
Srinagar, October 3 Governor NN Vohra, chairman of the IKS, presided over the meeting held at Raj Bhavan. Mani Shankar Aiyar and Veena Sikri, chairperson and vice-chairperson of the India Chapter of South Asia Foundation (SAF) respectively; and G M Khawaja, Professor Research, IKS, University of Kashmir, were among those who participated. The Governor emphasised the usefulness of all initiatives being launched to bring about improvement in the functioning of the IKS. He spoke about the profitability of evolving a broad framework for selection of scholars from home and abroad, identification of the nature of subjects for pursuing research projects and the number of scholars to be admitted annually. After the discussions, Aiyar stated that Sikri would draw up a charter for the IKS in consultation with Khawaja. Aiyar also stressed on the need to disseminate information about the work done by the IKS to SAF institutes through the Internet and other modes of communication. Aiyar suggested that the research projects being pursued by SAARC scholars at the IKS should meet the objectives of the institute.
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6 killed as van rolls into Chenab
Udhampur, October 3 While the condition of seven injured was said to be critical and were airlifted to the Government Medical College, Jammu, the remaining five were admitted to the District Hospital, Ramban, where their condition was stated to be stable, the police said. The truck driver had been arrested, it added. The head of the Red Cross and Quick Rescue Team (QRT), Ramban, Mohammad Arif Wani, who along with 18 volunteers reached the spot immediately after the accident, said the accident took place at 8 am at Gharat Morh, 1 km from Ramban. “Our volunteers fished out six bodies, besides rescuing the injured with the help of four CRPF jawans, who were patrolling the highway,” said Wani. The deceased have been identified as Mohammad Ashraf (22), Mahfooz Ahmed (25), Abdul Latif (35), Abdul Latif (26), Asadullah Shah (70) and Patel Singh (35). Shabir Ahmed Batt, Deputy Commissioner, Ramban; Anil Magotra, SSP, Ramban; and Naseem Chaudhary, Assistant Commissioner, Ramban, also reached the spot. The Deputy Commissioner announced compensation of Rs 5,000 to next of kin of the deceased as well as the injured. “I have also recommended further ex gratia relief to the state government for the injured and the families of the deceased,” Batt said. This is the second major road mishap that has taken place near Ramban within the past 20 days. On September 13, as many as 25 persons were killed and 14 injured when a Matador fell into the Chenab near Digdol, about 20 km from Ramban. The Ramban Deputy Commissioner had recommended the state award for the QRT volunteers for their exemplary performance in retrieving the bodies and rescuing the injured. Meanwhile, Governor NN Vohra has expressed grief over the loss of lives in the accident. In a message, the Governor expressed sympathy with the bereaved families and prayed for the early recovery of those injured in the accident. The Governor was anguished over the frequency of road accidents, leading to a large number of deaths. Recalling the establishment of a committee under the chairmanship of MLA, MY Tarigami, to examine the various aspects of the frequent road accidents, the Governor hoped that the committee would be able to finalise its recommendations soon.
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LeT commander among two militants killed in Kashmir
Srinagar, October 3 A Defence spokesman here said on receipt of specific information about the presence of militants, a joint operation was launched by 55 RR of the Army and the police in Supathin village in Pulwama district this morning. A militant of the LeT, identified as Abdul Rehman alias, Rehman Bhai, was killed in the encounter, he added. The spokesman said the militant, a Pakistan national was nominated as the Divisional Commander of the LeT, North Kashmir, after the death of Abdullah Uni recently. He was active in Sopore for the last 11 years and was operating in Pulwama since 2007. The Srinagar-based Defence Spokesman of the Army, Lt-Col JS Brar, said one INSAS rifle, three AK magazines, 90 rounds of AK ammunition and war like stores were recovered till reports last came in. Lt-Col JS Brar said in another gunfight an unidentified militant was killed at Dardpura in Trehgam sector of Kupwara district. The operation was still in progress, the spokesman said. A police spokesman said Abdul Rehman was involved in a number of attacks on the police and the security forces, including the IED blast outside the Central Jail in Srinagar in September 2009, in which five policemen were killed. Rehman was also involved in the killing of an assistant sub-inspector at Imam Sahib in Shopian, besides his involvement was also established in the killing of two policemen in Pampore. Abdul Rehman was operating in the Kupwara area where he came in contact with Al-Badr Chief Zeenat-ul-Islam alias, Zahid. He shifted his base to south Kashmir in 2007 and worked under a local LeT commander, Gazi. After Gazi’s elimination, he took over the reigns of the LeT in south Kashmir. |
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10 chargesheeted for Samba fraud
Jammu, October 3 The accused identified as Dr Arvind Bhagat of Nandpur, Ramgarh, Nirmala Bhagat, wife of Dr Arvind Bhagat, Rakesh Kumar Edwin of Pathankot and Kamal Bakshi of Gurgaon, Haryana, were presented before a court in Samba. The police also made a request for initiating proceedings under Section 512 of the CrPC against six absconding accused, who have been identified as Dr Buti Ram, Krishan Lal Bhagat of Chorli in Bishnah, Anupreet Kour and Gurcharan Kour of Ambala Cantt, Arvind Singh of New Delhi and Vitre Roy of Bangalore. Roy of Bangalore was the marketing manager and the operation partner of “Unipay 2 U”, a company owned by James from Sri Lanka, who had been running clandestine business in Malaysia. Since Roy had closed his office and was absconding, it was possible to access the records of the company and ascertain whether the money had been embezzled by Vitre only or by both James and Vitre. The police teams from Samba raided the offices and premises of Roy at Bangalore, Arvind at Delhi and Anu Preet Kour at Ambala, but found them locked. The raiding party found that both Arvind and Roy were already facing similar charges by the Delhi, Punjab and Bangalore police, but had managed to evade arrest. On the directions of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Samba, under Section 156 (III) of the CrPC, FIRs were lodged against them on the complaint of Om Parkash Attri, who had represented a large number of investors who had been duped by the fraudulent finance companies, Unipay 2 U and Visaray. From the record, it was also established that Dr Bhagat, Dr Buti Ram and Nirmala Bhagat had formed two more companies, Unipay 2 U International and Pan Asia.Thereby, they embezzled crores of rupees from the investors in the state. All their properties, including lands, a nursing home, shops and luxury cars which they had purchased in 2010 and 2011, had been seized and records had been submitted in the court so that they could be put on an auction to compensate the investors. |
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Police returns stolen jewellery to 3 women
Jammu, October 3 The police yesterday returned the jewellery recovered from two arrested thugs to three women, who had lodged complaints at the Satwari police station, regarding the thefts committed on August 14. As part of their modus operandi, the gang would voluntarily offer lift to women, drive them to some distance and then ask them to alight from the vehicle on some pretext, after stealing their jewellery. “There were six people, including five women and a male driver, inside the car. We were all huddled up in the car. One of them skillfully stole my gold bangle and chain,” said Arina Rani of Pathankote. “I found my gold chain and bangle missing only after they asked me to get down from the car near the Satwari airport,” she added. The police said the two arrested members of the gang, Daleep Kaur (65) of Malerkotla and Renu Devi (45) of Barnala, were caught by some passengers in a public bus at Kathua, when one of them was trying to steal the gold chain of a woman passenger. Later, they were handed over to the Kathua police. SP, South, Rajeshwar Singh said, “The police has been looking out for other members of the gang and I hope we will soon get hold of them.” “It has come to our notice that the arrested women belong to a gang of 500 women, operating in the country,” Singh said and cautioned: “The people should not take lift from strangers to avoid such consequences.” Meanwhile, the police returned a gold chain and a bangle to Arina
Devi. |
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Over 6,000 RTI queries disposed of in state
Srinagar, October 3 Replying to a question by PDP member Murtaza Ahmed Khan in the Legislative Council recently, Minister for Finance Abdul Rahim Rather denied the allegations that a large number of applications under the RTI were pending beyond the statutory period. “As many as 584 applications and 306 cases are pending in different departments,” Rather said and admitted that 560 applications had been disposed of with delay. The minister said in 11 cases, the Chief Information Commissioner had issued a fine and caution. Murtaza Khan had alleged that a number of applications were pending before the public information officers (PIOs) of different departments. He demanded that the system of disposing of applications should be streamlined. Replying to a question on behalf of the Chief Minister, Rather said the result of the Combined Competitive (Preliminary) Examination, 2010, and the Main Examination, 2010, was duly displayed by the J&K Public Service Commission on its official website. He said the Combined Competitive (Preliminary) Examination, 2011, had been conducted on September 25, 2011, while the Main Examination would be conducted only after notification of the result of the preliminary examination. He said the results of the said examinations would also be put on the website of the commission. He informed the House that various steps had already been taken to enhance transparency in the working of the Public Service Commission (PSC) which include compulsory screening for all selections where the number of candidates is relatively large, exemptions granted earlier to the candidates possessing higher qualification from appearing in the screening tests had been waived. He said this had expedited the selection process and also minimised the number of litigations. |
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Bus strike leaves commuters harassed
Jammu, October 3 The trouble erupted around 8 am, when the drivers and conductors of various private buses gathered outside the bus stand at Bani, demanding revocation of permit issued to two new buses on the Udhampur-Bani route. The private bus operators here opposed the decision of regional transport office to introduce two new buses and termed it a clash with their already existing timings, said Vijay Kumar, a local resident. The buses remained off the road throughout the day and caused immense hardships to all those who had to go to the district headquarters at Kathua, Punjab and any other far off place. Office goers were the worst affected by the strike. They had to arrange other modes of transportation. Ramesh Kumar, a banker, said: “I had to reach the bank at 9:30 am in Kathua but the strike caused me a delay of almost an hour.” Sushil Kumar, a resident of Dhar Mahanpur village in Basohli, said: “I had to go to Pathankot to get some medicine. But because of the strike, I would have to now go in a cab, which would cost almost five times the bus fare.” He added that a very few state run buses were available on the hilly and remote routes. KB Singh, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Bani, said: “The transporters here opposed the government’s decision to introduce two new buses on the Udhampur-Bani route. They came on the roads to stage their protest and kept their buses off the road.” “The situation is normal. But taking some precautionary measures, we have deployed some cops to keep an eye over the situation,” added Singh. Meanwhile, Zahida Khan, Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, sent the RTO and some other officials to talk to the protesting transporters. “The RTO is still there. But so far the stalemate has not ended,” said Zahida. A senior official in the district administration said the new buses belonged to some politicians and the local transporters were against this decision of the state government. |
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Meeting of Sainik Schools begins
Jammu, October 3 Ravindra Prasad, honorary secretary, Sainik Schools Society, New Delhi, presided over the function while Brig Ajit Kumar IO (A) and Group Captain VT Parnaik IO (P), Sainik Schools Society were also present on the occasion. Principals of the rank of Colonel and equivalent from the Air Force and the Navy, heading 24 Sainik Schools in as many states are participating in the three-day long conference. An impressive guard of honour, commanded by Cadet Nitish Bhau was given to Lt-Gen JP Nehra, GOC, 16 Corps, who also attended the conference as a guest of honour. Lt-Gen Nehra also interacted with the delegates on matters related to Sainik Schools. Earlier, Group Captian Ajay Kumar, Principal, Sainik School, Nagrota, presented a welcome address and mentioned that the school had got the privilege of conducting the conference after a gap of three decades. Many core issues pertaining to academic and administrative aspects of Sainik Schools will be deliberated upon during the conference.
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Plant productive centre inaugurated
Srinagar, October 3 Speaking on the occasion, the minister said forests were imperative for maintaining the ecological balance, protection of wildlife, and boosting agricultural protection in the state. He added that under phase-I, one lakh saplings had been grown in the nursery for plantation on the available urban and state lands. He also said new species of Scottish pine (Pinus Syslystris) had been imported from Finland. Ahmad said the new forest policy had been issued, keeping in view the growing needs of the people and conserving the green forest of the state, which had witnessed degradation over the last decades. He said by the indiscriminate deforestation, the forests of the state had been squired to a long extend which had also affected the survival of wild life. The minister has directed the forest officials for massive afforestation on the vacant urban forest land. He said programme like social forestry, urban forestry and farm forestry should be promoted by involving the communities of the concerned areas. Ahmad further said in order to reduce the pressure on the forest land to meet consumer needs of timber, firewood and raw material for packing purposes, there was a need to promote strip plantation and community forestation programmes in the state. He directed that deodar, kail and fir should be grown in the nurseries of the department for transplantation on the available waste lands. He said it would help increase the green cover to maintain the ecological balance. |
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Udhampur, October 3
Srinagar, October 3