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Faction-ridden Cong attempts to project united face
Earth Hour falls flat in Valley, infamous for long power cuts
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Army felicitates beneficiaries of medical camp
PDP all out to woo displaced Kashmiri Pandits
Centre asked to hike SPOs’ honorarium
CBI to protect whistle-blowers in corruption cases
Sikh bodies for ‘complete freedom’ to Rajoana
Ramnavmi held amid tight security in Rajouri
3 shops, house looted at Thanamandi
Police holds medical camp
Youth commits suicide
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Faction-ridden Cong attempts to project united face
Jammu, April 1 As a number of leaders and ministers loyal to Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief Saifuddin Soz were present in the function, Azad tried to downplay the utterances of his loyalist Lal Singh. “There is no need to give importance to what Lal Singh has said,” Azad told the gathering and asserted that there were no differences in the Congress and the party was united in the state. “The differences in the Congress are a creation of the media and all leaders of the party have been working as a single unit to serve the people,” he said and called upon the workers not to give importance to reports of differences in the party. Although Azad avoided a direct attack on Congress ministers in the coalition government, he asked party ministers to visit far-flung areas and listen to grievances of party workers to strengthen the party. On the performance of the coalition government, Azad said the decision of the high command to give six-year time to the National Conference to lead the coalition was acceptable to Congress workers and leaders. It was the duty of both the National Conference and the Congress to ensure smooth functioning of the coalition in the state, he added. While admitting that “some bickering and fissures” were part of a coalition, Azad said it was really difficult to run a coalition government. “I have run a coalition government in the state,” he said and added that present regime in the state was working smoothly. There was a Coordination Committee that had member of both parties to solve contentious issue for the smooth running of the government. In today’s function ministers belonging to the Soz faction, namely RS Chib, Raman Bhalla and Sham Lal Sharma, were also present to project a united party. |
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Earth Hour falls flat in Valley, infamous for long power cuts
Srinagar, April 1 While the Power Development Department (PDD) claimed that 350 MWs of load was reduced during the hour from 8.30 to 9.30 pm last night leading to reduction of 400 M tons of carbon emissions, locals of the Kashmir valley ridiculed the government’s appeal to the public. The Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, had last week urged all Heads of Departments and Deputy Commissioners to organise events across the Valley to create awareness about Earth Hour in collaboration with the PDD while the general public had been urged to wholeheartedly participate in the event. “Our area like many other parts of the Valley had no electricity from 6 pm to 10 pm last night. Therefore, telling us to observe some Earth Hour is not only insensitive but also laughable. If they (government) are claiming that they saved power, it's because of their curtailment schedule,” said Rayees Khan, a resident of the Elahi Bagh area here. “This winter a civilian was killed by security forces at Uri (in Baramulla district) during protests over power shortage but the PDD still has not woken up. While the spring is already here, we are still being subjected to the harsh power curtailment schedule that was announced in winter,”
he added. The social networking site, Facebook, too was splashed with sarcastic and funny comments against the PDD. “The power department observing Earth Hour for one hour in Kashmir is preposterous. There's already a four-hour power cut twice every week,” said Gowher Bhat. Sana Fazili pointed out that the Valley had been observing “Earth Months” during winter. “Just wanted to tell the respected PDD that there wasn't any need of this Earth Hour... this whole winter we controlled the CO2 emission to a great extent.... I mean we celebrated a kind of ‘Earth Months’ and not just hour,” she commented. To make matters worse for the PDD, some rumour-mongers spread the news that an earthquake would occur between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm yesterday. “Some mischievous persons stole the opportunity and spread rumours that an earthquake would occur and all lights would go off. We had to launch counter measures to make people aware that these were just rumours as earthquakes could not be predicted. But still people were scared,” an official of the Natural Disaster Management Cell said.
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Attaining power not PDP agenda, good governance is: Mufti
Jammu, April 1 Addressing a public meeting at the Karan Bagh area, Mufti said the PDP-led regime had brought transparency and accountability to the governance and justice was given to all sections of society. He claimed that during the PDP-Congress regime more than 70,000 rehbar-e-taleem (ReT) teachers were appointed. More than 40,000 anganwari workers were also appointed but not even a single case of favouritism and nepotism was highlighted. “We institutionalised the recruitment process to ensure that only deserving and meritorious candidate should be recruited,” he said. He reminded the gathering that the PDP during its tenure had fulfilled the promises which the party had made to the people of the state in the 2002 Assembly elections. “Although we had only 16 members yet we had changed the socio-economic scene of the state besides creating a sense of security among the common masses,” he said, adding that the biggest achievement of the PDP was that it had earned the credibility of the people through its conviction and commitment. “Unlike the National Conference, the PDP leadership has never compromised on its principles for power,” he asserted and reminded the gathering that the PDP had got into a power-sharing alliance with the Congress in 2002 only after the formulation of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) — an agenda to run the coalition. “Attaining power is not the agenda of the party,” he said. |
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Cycle race held to make Srinagar pollution-free
Srinagar, April 1 The race was organised by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) at the Zabarwa Park here in collaboration with various government departments, including Social Forestry, Pollution Control Board and Tourism, as well as the Red Cross. Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Asgar Samoon flagged off the race in which a large number of cyclists, especially schoolchildren, took part. Commissioner, SMC, GN Qasba also participated in the race. Taking to reporters on the occasion, he said: “The motive of the event is to make the city pollution-free and motivate people to make use of bicycles so that the dust and smoke that emanate from vehicles causing environmental degradation in the Valley diminish. Using bicycles will also ease traffic congestion, which leads to accidents.” The race took off from the Zabarwan Park and concluded at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) located on the banks of
the Dal Lake. |
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Army felicitates beneficiaries of medical camp
Udhampur, April 1 Chief of Staff, Northern Command, Lt Gen Balbir Pama was the chief guest at the function. He complimented the Commandant, doctors and paramedical staff for making the medical camp a success and lauded their hard work and dedication. Lt Gen Pama distributed spectacles to patients with eye problems and interacted with them. An Army spokesperson said the camp was part of the Army’s initiative to provide free of cost and quality medical treatment at the doorsteps of rural population in the district, who find it difficult to travel to Udhampur or Jammu for their medical treatment, repeatedly. A team of doctors from the hospital had examined the patients at the medical camp held on October 2, 2011, at the village with facilities for eye, ENT, obstetrics and gynaecology. Medical and surgical facilities along with field pathological laboratory services were also provided to patients during the camp. A large number of people from surrounding areas had turned up for the medical camp. Most of the people were treated as out patients. Women in the reproductive age group were screened for cervical and breast malignancy and others were screened for diseases like anaemia, hypertension and diabetes. About 2,200 people had benefited from the camp while 105 cases were screened for follow-up.
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PDP all out to woo displaced Kashmiri Pandits
Jammu, April 1 Although PDP patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has convened a number of meetings with leaders of the displaced Pandit community, party president Mehbooba Mufti has now taken the charge to “bridge” the differences and to counter the “vicious” propaganda being launched by parties against the PDP. The party has been utilising the services of known Kashmiri Pandit cancer specialist Dr Sameer Koul, who has been visiting the Kashmir Pandits along with leaders of the PDP, to counter the disinformation campaign. Mehbooba Mufti along with other senior leaders today addressed three public meetings at Subash Nagar, Bohri and Sainik Colony areas in Jammu. She highlighted the problems being faced by the displaced Pandit community and assured full support to them in solving their problems. While addressing a meeting at Bohri, she said the PDP was committed to the honourable return of the Kashmiri Pandits to their native places. She said the Kashmiri Pandits were a part and parcel of Kashmir and the party would make every possible effort to ensure their return. She also highlighted the hardships being faced by the displaced Pandit community at Jammu. She said the displaced community had been living in different areas of the Jammu region, but their colonies still lacked basic amenities like drinking water and electricity etc. The PDP chief repeatedly highlighted the steps taken during the regime of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to solve the problems of the displaced Pandit community. She said it was only during the regime of Mufti Sayeed that every section of society was treated equally and justice was given to all the regions and sub-regions. In their effort to woo the displaced Pandits, a three-member team of PDP legislators comprising Abdul Haq, Basharat Bukhari and Peerzada Mansoor visited agitating Kashmiri Pandit youth at Jammu and assured them of full support. The PDP legislators assured the agitating youth that they would vociferously take up their issues in and outside the Assembly for their early redress. In the 2008 Assembly elections, the displaced Kashmiri Pandits had played a crucial role in the victory of some of the candidates from the Kashmir valley. Some National Conference candidates had won the 2008 Assembly elections on a narrow margin due to the support of the Kashmiri
Pandits. |
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2.75 lakh pilgrims visited Vaishno Devi during Navaratras
Katra, April 1 This information was given by Rishpal Singh, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Katra. Rishpal Singh added that on an average over 30,000 devotees paid obeisance at the cave shrine every day during Navaratras. Situated in Reasi district, the cave shrine registered a record number of over 1 crore pilgrims in 2011. Around 87,49,326 pilgrims had visited the shrine
in 2010. |
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Residents of Rajouri slam MC for dumping garbage into nullah
Rajouri, April 1 Even after several requests, complaints and demonstrations by local residents, who were demanding a garbage plant for the city, garbage is still being dumped into a nullah by the MC. “By doing so they are polluting the Rajouri stream, which ultimately will lead to death of aquatic life in it. It is also causing great problems to people, who pass through the area, as foul smell emanates from the stream,” General Secretary, Mountaineering Club, Rajouri, Mahrajkar Singh said. He added that due to the negligence of the municipal authorities, the fauna and flora in the stream had been badly affected. “Employees of the MC after collecting garbage from various parts of the town throw it directly it into the nullah. We have complained to the authorities many a times, but to no avail,” a local resident said. “We have told the MC employees not to throw garbage into the stream, but they do not pay heed to our repeated requests,” Mahrajkar said. Admitting that the MC was throwing garbage into the nullah in Rajouri, former executive officer, Rajouri, said “We had submitted a proposal to the government for the disposal of garbage and Rs 1 crore had been sanctioned for the garbage disposal plant.” MLA Shabir Khan said, “We will start the project as soon as we identify suitable land for the garbage disposal plant.” Executing Officer, Municipal Corporation, Rajouri, Parveez Mirza said, “Money was sanctioned by the government, but identification process of land is still on, as people are not ready to provide land for a garbage disposal plant.” |
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Centre asked to hike SPOs’ honorarium
Jammu, April 1 The issue of SPOs witnessed a walkout by an angry PDP MLC, Murtaza Khan, in the Upper House here on Friday. Khan got infuriated after he failed to elicit any response from the Law Minister, Ali Mohammed Sagar, to his query. The minister, instead of answering the question, quietly left the House. Irrespective of party affiliations, the MLCs cornered the coalition government over miserable plight of SPOs and village defence committee (VDC) members. After members Ghulam Qadir Pardesi, Naresh Kumar Gupta, Khalid Najeeb Suharwardy, BA Veeri, Rafiq Shah, Amin Bhat, Ashraf Mir, Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, Jugal Kishore Sharma and Javed Ahmed Rana cornered the government on the issue, PDP MLC Murtaza Khan asked the minister if Rs 1,500 or Rs 3,000 a month to ReTs and SPOs was not a violation of the Minimum Wages Act. Instead of responding to the query, Sagar left the House, which irked Khan, who assembled near the well of the House and staged a protest before walking out. The Chairman, Amrit Malhotra, unsuccessfully tried to calm the frayed nerves. The Chairman said he had found Khan’s query null and void and therefore didn’t ask the Minister to respond to it. Earlier, in a written reply, the minister informed the House that the government spent Rs 9,680.12 lakh every year on SPOs, which included their monthly honorarium. He also stated that since the onset of militancy in 1990, at least 477 SPOs and 131 VDC members had sacrificed their lives. “While an ex gratia of Rs 5.27 crores has been paid in 265 cases of SPOs, a compensation of Rs 49 lakh had been paid in 52 cases of deceased VDC members. In addition, the wards of 38 deceased SPOs have been appointed as constables/followers in the police on compassionate grounds under SRO 43 of 1994,” he added.
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CBI to protect whistle-blowers in corruption cases
Jammu, April 1 On corruption in the CBI, he said, “I will not say the CBI is free from corruption. It (corruption) does exist here, but let me make it clear that it may exist at an individual level. The CBI as an organisation is strict in dealing with corruption. We do not spare black sheep in our department. The recent example is of a CBI lawyer, who was involved in a corruption case in Mumbai.” Responding to a query on alleged scams in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), he said the CBI could not take suo motto notice until directed by the High Court. “The NRHM is a grey area and i can’t say whether it is in our jurisdiction. I will have to consult legal experts for that,” the SP added. Asked about the much touted impersonation case of MBBS entrance examinations of the University of Jammu, SP Armandeep said the case was under investigation. “It is a nexus, involving many kingpins outside the state and the CBI is working on those lines,” he added. Sharing the response of the CBI’s anti-corruption campaign launched last year, where people could lodge their complaint through SMS or a phone call, he said, “We got a good response, but people are mostly lodging complaints against petty issues. Most of the complaints fall under the prerogative of the state agencies and many a times complainants reveal their personal issues.” He said both the CBI and the State Vigilance Organisation were working together on corruption. On corruption in the Army in the state, he said, “Some cases are being investigated by us, but I cannot share the details, as the probe is in the initial stage.” |
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Sikh bodies for ‘complete freedom’ to Rajoana
Jammu, April 1 Making an appeal to the Government of India, they said “complete freedom” to Rajoana would earn “the goodwill of the Sikh community”, which they alleged had been neglected by the successive state and Central governments. Condemning the “calculated move of communal elements”, Sikh leaders maintained that it was the duty of law enforcing agencies to identify and curb such mischievous elements. They also condemned the arrests of Sikh youth in the Kashmir valley on March 28 during the protests held by the Sri Akal Takht Sahib. The Sikh organisations also highlighted the plight of refugees and Jammu migrants and alleged that the government was least concerned towards their problems. Leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), United Sikh Council, All J&K Sikh Intellectual Circle, Sikh Students Federation, Dasmesh Youth Organisation, Members of Sikh Missionary College (Jammu circle) and All J&K Sikh Progression Front attended the meeting. |
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Ramnavmi held amid tight security in Rajouri
Rajouri, April 1 The Shobha Yatra commenced from the Sanatan Dharam Sabha complex and passed through the main areas of the town. Over five hundred men of the police and 200 of the CrPF were deployed in the town, the police said.
— OC
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3 shops, house looted at Thanamandi
Rajouri, April 1 In another incident, thieves barged into a house and decamped with Rs 87,000 and other valuable items, including eight tola gold ornaments and two ATM cards. The police has failed to arrest any person. A case under Section 379 of the RPC has been lodged in the concerned police station. The police has detained three persons for questioning. The SHO, Thanamandi, said, “No one has been arrested till now, but investigations are on.”
— OC |
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Police holds medical camp
Rajouri, April 1 A team of doctors was taken to Khawas for the check-up of poor people, who lack medical facilities. The doctors treated 400 local residents and provided them free of cost medicines. Additional SP, Rajouri, Mohammed Shabir was present on the occasion and supervised the medical camp.
— OC
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Youth commits suicide
Srinagar, April 1 Mudasir Qadir (27), a resident of Androni Kathi-Darwaza, committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence. The police handed over Qadir’s body to his family after completing legal formalities. The reason for the suicide was not known.
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Srinagar, April 1
