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Azad hints at playing bigger role in state politics
No posts of JE for general candidates in PWD
Lashkar
Threat
3 Cong workers killed, 29 injured in accident
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Govt, electoral dept undecided about local bodies elections
Water scheme for Katra to begin on April 21
Governor reviews Amarnath yatra arrangements
More oxygen cylinders for pilgrims
Governor grant for visually impaired
British nixed Dogra king’s plan for Jammu-Srinagar ropeway
New post office for Srinagar
Truck driver drowns in Chenab
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Azad hints at playing bigger role in state politics
Jammu, April 18 While addressing a gathering of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) at Sidhra this evening, Azad promised that in the next Assembly elections adequate
representation would be given to the OBCs. Though Azad doesn’t hold any position in the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) yet the way he made the promise is a clear indication that he will
play a bigger role in state politics. Besides addressing two public meetings at Billawar in Kathua and Sidhra on the outskirts of Jammu city, Azad addressed a series of small meetings with his supporters on his way to these two places. The frequent visits of Azad to the state has given sleepless nights to the supporters of JKPCC chief Saifuddin Soz as the visits have encouraged the Union Minister’s loyalists to intensify their activities against their rivals. Azad’s loyalists claimed that the Union Minister’s frequent visits indicated that he was keen to play a bigger role in Jammu and Kashmir politics in the days to come. The Congress in Jammu and Kashmir is divided between warring factions -- one headed by JKPCC chief Saifuddin Soz and the other by Azad’s loyalists. Azad’s supporters had received a shot in the arm, when Jugal Kishore Sharma got the party mandate for a Legislative Council seat on March 12 this year. Despite stiff opposition by the pro-Soz faction, Azad managed a mandate for his staunch supporter Jugal Kishore, who was elected unopposed as member of the Upper House. “Jugal’s victory was a morale booster for our faction because for the last three years, Soz faction was dominating the party affairs in the state,” one of Azad’s supporters told The Tribune on condition of anonymity. After the Legislative Council election, Azad intensified his activities in the state. He visited his native town Bhaderwah on March 25 and inspected developmental works there. During his day-long stay, Azad interacted with his supporters there. On April 1, Azad attended a function to unveil the statue of Maharaja Hari Singh. In that function, Azad gave a hint about his role in state politics in the days to come. He had advised his party ministers to visit areas where Congress was weak so as to ensure the maximum seats for the party in the next Assembly elections. Azad spent four days in Jammu and Srinagar cities in the first week of April and met with party leaders.
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No posts of JE for general candidates in PWD
Jammu, April 18 Since 2008, the Public Works Department (Roads and Buildings) has not advertised a single post of Junior Engineer or Assistant Engineer Mechanical for the candidates belonging to the general category from Jammu and Kashmir. Further, the department had no “information” about the projected number of vacancies, which had to be filled in 2011 or 2012. This information has been furnished by the PWD in response to an RTI query filed by a Delhi-based mechanical engineer from Jammu, Ajay Singh Jamwal. In response to the RTI query, Under Secretary to the government in PWD, CS Rathore said in view of the creation of posts of JE Mechanical under the Prime Minister’s special package for Kashmiri migrants, there was no post of JE Mechanical lying vacant as on date. When asked about the projected number of vacancies which had to be filled by the department in 2011 and 2012, the reply read, “There is no such information available at this point of time”. When the RTI applicant asked the department to produce the document which showed the reason for not advertising the vacancies of JE Mechanical for all eligible permanent residents of the state in 2010 and 2011, the department asked him to refer to relevant provisions of the J&K Kashmiri Migrants (Special Drive) Rules, 2009, to seek the information. “Nearly three years have passed since 2008 but not a single vacancy of JE mechanical has been advertised by the PWD for candidates belonging to the general category in striking contrast to the fact that nearly 2000 youth have done diploma engineering in the mechanical stream,” said Jamwal. “We (unemployed engineers)are on the brink of crossing the upper age limit. We have also approached the Chief Minister via his grievance cell Awaz-e-Awam but nothing positive has taken place,” declared Jamwal. He said that the state government under the J&K Kashmiri Migrants (Special Drive) Rules, 2009, had advertised 2,045 posts for Pandits in January 2010. |
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Lashkar
Threat
Jammu, April 18 Posters with threatening messages, allegedly pasted by the LeT, have sent
shock waves across the Kashmir valley. Reportedly for the past one month over 30 villages in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district were witness to a vicious campaign through the alleged LeT posters that appeared at public places and even on the houses of panches and sarpanches. The Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference, an organisation of elected panches and sarpanches, today submitted a memorandum to Rural and Panchayati Raj Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, who also holds the portfolio of the Law Ministry. “Panic has gripped the elected representatives after reports of LeT threats appeared in the media,” said president of the Panchayat Conference
Shafiq Mir. The matter is of serious concern and cannot be taken lightly. It is the responsibility of the state government and the Centre to make necessary arrangements for the safety and security of panches and sarpanches of the state,
Mir added. If any harm is done to any sarpanch or panch due to laxity of the state government then the elected representatives will not have any other option but to follow the diktats of militants, he said. Mir said if such a thing happened, it will be a big blow to democracy in Jammu and Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference has urged the Panchayati Raj Minister to take serious cognisance of the matter and make necessary arrangements for the safety and security of the elected representatives, he added. The state, as of today, has 35,000 elected sarpanches and panches. The elections to various panchayats were held last year after more a decade. Militancy and other compelling situations in the state had delayed the panchayats elections by over a decade and the Centre had also stopped funds meant for the rural sector in
he state. |
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3 Cong workers killed, 29 injured in accident
Jammu, April 18 The deceased were identified as Parkash, Kewal Krishan and Chian Singh, all residents of Lehri in Kumari Kathera village. Four of the injured are in a critical condition. The police said three Congress workers died on the spot when an overloaded minibus, in which they were travelling, turned turtle after the driver of the minibus (JK08B-6597) failed to negotiate a sharp curve near Mahanpur Morh. The injured were shifted to the District Hospital, Kathua, while the four critically injured Congress workers referred to the Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu. Ghulam Nabi Azad has condoled the demise of the three Congress workers and announced an ex gratia of Rs 50,000 each to the next of kin of those who died in the road mishap. Deputy CM and Minister of State for Cooperatives also announced Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively, for the next of kin of the three accident victims.
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State turns to heritage to attract tourist footfalls
Srinagar, April 18 “We have identified heritage sites across the state that would be renovated and developed into tourist sites. Heritage sites are our wealth and would attract more tourists, especially foreigners,” Director, Tourism Department, Farooq Shah said while addressing a function held on World Heritage Day here today. Shah said the department had planned to throw open a few heritage sites to tourists in the downtown area of Srinagar this year. The sites include Aali Masjid that was constructed by Sultan Hassan Shah of the Shahmiri dynasty in the 15th century, a Mughal structure built in the memory of Sufi saint Mullah Akhoon Shah and Naagar Nagar, the walled city of the Mughal period. “Right now Srinagar is used as a transit camp and if heritage sites are developed, we can retain tourists for seven days,”
Shah added. The department would develop heritage buildings into tourist sites with the support of the Indian National Trust for Art and Culture Heritage, J&K Chapter, and the Archaeological Survey of India. Talking to reporters later, Shah said the construction of the Lal Ded museum, named after Kashmir’s legendary female mystic poet, was underway and it would be thrown open to the public soon. |
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Govt, electoral dept undecided about
Jammu, April 18 Though the state government had decided to complete the election process by April 30, it has still not decided about the conduct of the urban local bodies poll in the state. “So far, the state election office has not completed the process of finalisation of electoral rolls. As the state government has missed its deadline, the elections should be deferred till the completion of the Amarnath yatra. The government should reschedule the elections and conduct them in September,” president of the Jammu Hotels and Lodges Association Inderjeet Khajuria said. He said the government had proposed to hold these elections by the end of May, when tourists pour in from all over the country and abroad. “The civic bodies poll will have a direct impact on the tourism sector, which is the backbone of the state economy,” Khajuria added. Ravi Mahajan, chairman, Jammu Paryatan Vikas Mandal, an apex body of 22 organisations related with tourism and pilgrimage, also called for the postponement of the local bodies elections in the state. “The state is totally dependent on the tourism sector. The government should shelve its proposal for holding the local bodies poll at this point, as it will disturb tourism,” Mahajan said. “Thousands of people, including traders and people related with the tourism sector, earn their livelihood during the four months of summer when the tourism season is at its peak. The tourism season is directly linked to the livelihood of people and the government should put the civic bodies poll on hold till October,” he said. These observations came a day after Kashmir-based tourism players made an appeal to the state government for postponing the urban local bodies elections till September. While expressing their reservations, they said there was every possibility of some untoward incident in the trouble-torn Kashmir valley. On April 4, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development Nasir Aslam Wani had said the state government had issued directions to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to complete the local bodies elections by the end of April 2012 -- a deadline which is all set to be missed by the state government. The five-year term of the urban bodies, including the Jammu Municipal Corporation and the Srinagar Municipal Corporation, ended in March 2010 and since then the elections have been delayed. Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, who holds the charge of the Housing and Urban Department, reiterated that the final call on holding of the municipal elections in the state would be taken by the state electoral office, as the CEO has been directed to initiate the process. The Chief Electoral Officer, BR Sharma, said they had not yet finalised the date for conducting the municipal polls in the state. “We have initiated the process, like finalisation of electoral rolls, but nothing has been decided in this regard so far,” Sharma added. |
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Water scheme for Katra to begin on April 21
Katra, April 18 Officials said the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) had listed it as a priority project, keeping in view the shortage of water, as it was becoming a major issue for the authorities concerned. The water supply scheme project was taken up in December 2009 under a special package of the state government and the SMVDSB. The project worth Rs 13.65 crore is being executed by the Department of Public Health Engineering at Nu Devi. Giving this information, Mohammad Rafiq, Executive Engineer, Public Health Engineering, Reasi, said the project was completed in 28 months and it will supply 8 Litres Per Capital Per Day (LPCD). “The supply of water through the completed distribution lines is now functioning on a trial basis for Bhawan and Adhkuwari,” he said. Rafiq said the water supply project with a design period of 10 years envisages supply of protected water to the area en-route to the holy shrine, exclusively. Meanwhile, work on the Rs 47.42 crore water supply schemes for Katra town sanctioned recently by the Centre on the recommendations of the Special Task Force for the Jammu region is in full swing to meet the requirements of the town up to 2040. Officials said the government had sanctioned special funds to end the water crisis in Katra and the entire project would be completed within three years. At present, against the requirement of 14 lakh gallons per day, only 8 lakh gallons are available from the Gobian spring, Ban Ganga (the Ram spring) and dug wells at Jhajjar. The shortage is met through water tankers. “The new scheme has been designed to meet the requirement of water up to 2040. Not only the local population of Katra town, but also the pilgrims visiting the cave shrine have been kept in mind while designing the new water supply scheme,” sources said. |
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Governor reviews Amarnath yatra arrangements
Jammu, April 18 Minister of State for Home Nasir Aslam Wani; Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda; Principal Secretary, PWD, KB Aggarwal; Principal Secretary to Chief Minister BB Vyas; Principal Secretary to the Governor and Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board Navin Kumar Choudhary and other senior functionaries were present in the meetings. In the meeting with the Minister of State for Home, the Governor had a detailed review of the security arrangements. He also discussed with Wani and officials concerned the to-date status of action taken to implement the recommendations of the high-level committee, which was set up on the directions of the Governor and the Chief Minister after the last year’s yatra, particularly those related to the opening and clearing of tracks along both the routes to the cave shrine. It was agreed in the meeting that the Public Works Department will immediately approach the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for taking up the project for the improvement and up gradation of the Baltal track and the time-bound execution of the project under the Border Roads Organisation. The Governor directed the CEO of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board to urgently visit Pahalgam and Baltal to assess the status of the snowmelt and preparations for undertaking various works related to the yatra. He also directed the CEO to discuss all other yatra related issues with the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; Deputy Commissioners of Anantnag and Ganderbal districts; CEOs of the Pahalgam and Sonamarg Development Authorities; Director, Indian Meteorological Department, Srinagar; Chief Engineer, Project Beacon, Border Roads Organisation and other related agencies. |
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More oxygen cylinders for pilgrims
Srinagar, April 18 This information was given at a review meeting of the Amarnath yatra under the chairmanship of Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Asgar Hasan Samoon here today. It was informed that 900 portable oxygen cylinders would be provide this year instead of 300 last year. Hundred more cylinders would be kept for any contingency. Samoon also reviewed the action taken report with regard to recommendations of the high-level committee constituted for the management of the Amarnath yatra. All the departments were asked to submit their action plans and contingency plans to the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, within a week. The meeting was attended by Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Baseer Ahmed Khan; Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, Kifayat Hussain Rizvi; Deputy Commissioner, Ganderbal, Shoukat Ahmed Mir; Deputy Inspector General of Police AG Mir and other senior officers. All the departments concerned were directed to put in place arrangements before the commencement of the
yatra.
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Governor grant for visually impaired
Jammu, April 18 Navin Kumar Choudhary, Principal Secretary to the Governor and Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine Board, said the amount had been provided to complete the construction work on the first floor of Louis Braille Memorial Residential School for Blind Girls at Roop Nagar. The first floor is being constructed at a cost of Rs 47 lakh and the school has received Rs 32 lakh till date. Choudhary added that the management of the school had called on the Governor and apprised him about the status of the construction of the building and the funds required to complete the construction. He stated that on the instructions of the Governor, initiatives were being taken to provide support to encourage the functioning of socio-cultural organisations, which were rendering valuable service for the promotion of education and uplift of physically challenged, orphans, widows and destitute persons. |
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British nixed Dogra king’s plan for
Jammu, April 18 Rare documents preserved by the Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums say Maharaja Partap Singh had envisaged a plan to connect both cities with ropeway in 1910 because for more than six months in a year, there was no connectivity between the two capital cities of the Dogra dynasty. Maharaja Partap Singh, who ruled the state from 1885 to 1925, had invited tenders from various international firms in this regard and ultimately M/s Forbes Campbell and Company of London had been assigned the job to construct the ropeway through the Public Private Participation (PPP) mode in 1910. Webb, who was chairman of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Darbar (Dogra Dynasty) as a representative of M/s Forbes Campbell and Company to start the work on the PPP mode. The document revealed that after signing the MoU, a detailed project report (DPR) of the project was prepared and, subsequently, the survey of the project was started. It took more than two years for the Company to complete the survey and the report was finally submitted to the Maharaja in 1912. In the survey report as well as in the DPR, four halting stations were proposed on the ropeway. As per the MoU, the Maharaja had to pay £100,000 as the state’s share for the project while the remaining expenditure had to be borne by M/s Forbes Campbell and Company. The documents, which were duly signed by the then Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and representatives of the Company, disclosed that the fare for travelling from Jammu to Srinagar was also fixed. Three types of travelling categories were proposed: Rs 32 was fixed for first class, Rs 16 for second and Rs 5 for third class. A provision for 25 per cent concession to government officials was also made in the MoU. It has been mentioned in other documents of the Dogra dynasty that the British empire had stalled the project as it was not in their interest and it felt that only the Dogra state would benefit from the project. Ironically for the last 15 years, the 10-km Mubarak Mandi-Bagh-e-Bahu-Mahamaya Temple ropeway project still has to see the light of day as successive regimes have failed to begin work on it. But, the late Maharaja more than a 100 years ago had conceived the 290-km ropeway project and almost got it
through. |
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New post office for Srinagar
Srinagar, April 18 Suneeta Trivedi, Member, Postal Services Board, New Delhi, inaugurated the office that will offer facilities like speed post and savings bank. Chief Postmaster General John Samuel was also present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Samuel said three more post offices would be inaugurated at Nowpora Uri, Attina Beerwah and Cha-Lungnak in Zanaskar this month. The department was also planning to set up new post offices at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) and National Institute of Technology (NIT) here, he said. He said out of the 1,700 post offices in the state, 250 post offices would be computerised. The Jawahar Nagar Post Office will provide India Post Gold Coin Service which allows sale of 24-carat gold coins. These tamper-proof packaged gold coins are available in 0.5 gm, 1 gm, 2 gm, 5 gm, 8 gm, 10 gm, 20 gm and 50 gm denominations. Samuel said 6 per cent discount would be given on purchase of gold coins under the special package, Akshay Tritya.
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Batote, April 18 Reports said the truck was carrying CAPD ration and was going to Srinagar. The driver of the truck has been identified as Nasrullah, a resident of Keri in Baramulla. Though the vehicle was taken out of the river by a rescue team of the police, but efforts were being made by the Quick Response Team to find the body of the driver. — TNS
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Jammu, April 18
