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Sri Sri Ravi Shankar defends Amarnath yatra schedule
News Analysis
VHP activists continue to protest
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Major fire erupts near Army ammunition depot in Rajouri
Pandits on indefinite stir over PM’s rehab package
Shortage of
manpower, funds
Forest preservation crucial for survival of life: Governor
Once a battleground, LoC post now receives tourist footfalls
Justice Kumar to take oath as CJ on June 8
Omar govt dragging feet on defence land scam, says BJP
J&K not a state of cheats: Omar
Dhoni cheers players during exhibition match at Leh
Home Ministry official meets Guv
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Sri Sri Ravi Shankar defends Amarnath yatra schedule
Srinagar, June 5 “The weather report presented to us shows that there is heavy snow and the Army is helpless to clear the tracks right now. The present situation is very dangerous for the yatris who want to undertake the pilgrimage. I know that due to past history there is suspicion, but I would like to assure people that there is no pressure and that me and other saints would have stepped down from the Shrine Board a long time ago if that was the case. The government is all willing and cooperative,” the spiritual guru said in a statement that was released today by the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) here. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar heads the subcommittee that had decided the dates of this year’s Amarnath yatra, which is scheduled to commence from June 25. He said the date had been decided after taking into consideration logistics, weather conditions and the preparedness to host thousands of pilgrims. “I would like to clarify to Shiv bhaktas, who are eager to go on the Amarnath yatra, that we sincerely wanted to start the yatra from Jayesth Purnima onwards. There is no pressure on us from any individual or organisation. It is purely a logistical challenge to ensure the safety of the yatris,” Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said. He urged the government to make the Baltal route “weather proof” so that the yatra could be performed with “greater safety and security”. Promises 60-day yatra next year Even as there is no let-up in protests over the duration of the Amarnath yatra, the issue is being hotly debated on the micro-blogging website, Twitter. The debate was triggered by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s tweet yesterday when he pointed out that the early resumption of the pilgrimage was not possible due to heavy accumulation of snow on the
yatra routes. While Omar got support from spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s twitter profile, which is managed by his (Sri Sri’s) office, their followers refused to buy their arguments. “Sir, why to restrict the activity of pilgrimage by u in the first place? U r not going there anyway so better not restrict it,” said Vijay Pandita after Omar invited a debate on the duration of the yatra. However, the Chief Minister reiterated that the yatra duration was decided by a subcommittee headed by Sri Sri. To this, a follower questioned why Omar was “passing the buck” to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Meanwhile, Omar termed Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s statement as “excellent”. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had stated: “Date of commencement of Sri Amarnath Yatra to last week of June was decided after studying all records and consulting all stakeholders.” Sri Sri Ravi Shankar also promised that next year the yatra would be held over a period of two months. “I appeal to the people not to agitate or court arrest. Next year, we will have 60
days’ yatra as Jayesth Purnima comes 15 days later,” he tweeted. |
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News Analysis
Jammu, June 5 It can snow and rain anytime and there are no shelters to save pilgrims from the hostile elements at the heights, which are simply inaccessible at this
point of time. Even if that is seen as an excuse, a recall of the pilgrimage to the shrine in August 1996 would reveal a sad story: more than 240 pilgrims and porters were killed by avalanches, snow and rain that year. It was simply because there
was no shield against nature’s fury. Facilities have improved after the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board was set up. But, again nature has its own ways. Till date more than 300,000 people have registered themselves for the pilgrimage this year and the registration is not yet over. Almost every day, the SASB is monitoring the situation on a hour-to-hour basis. Governor N N Vohra has undertaken aerial surveys, and interacted with officials and the locals on the ground. Despite an eager wait for the start of the yatra by locals, who have benefited economically from the pilgrimage all these years, they are aware that the snow and rains can affect the schedule. Till date even the nomads have not been able to make it close to the shrine area. Usually, they are the first to reach there. “I am surprised that some people are talking of pressure coming from politicians for the curtailment of the duration of the pilgrimage,” said Radhe Sham, a regular visitor to the shrine. “How can any human being intervene in divine matters,” he asked. The groups that have made it an issue of divinity versus politics could not travel to the cave shrine when they were given choppers to do so last year. They returned after performing “puja” at Panchtarni, 7 km short of the cave . Raising temperatures on such a sensitive issue would help only those who want peace to become a casualty. Faith moves mountains, but there are only humans who are clearing the tracks which go up to 14,500 feet (Mahagunus pass) before descending and then again climbing up to the shrine at 13,500 feet. |
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VHP activists continue to protest
Jammu, June 5 The protesters led by senior VHP leader Surinder Jain assembled at Parade Chowk and raised slogans, accusing the state government of hurting the sentiments of the people by curtailing the yatra duration to 39 days. They also had a minor scuffle with the police after the former attempted to take out a protest march. Police personnel rounded up the protesters and bundled them into State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) buses and took them to Amarnath Yatri Niwas in Bhagwati Nagar. Talking to mediapersons, Surinder Jain lashed out at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his tweet wherein he had slammed those demanding early start of the Amarnath yatra. “This protest will not stop here... we will take it to the national level. We will submit memorandums to the President, Prime Minister and the Home Minister to seek their personal intervention into the issue,” Jain said.
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Major fire erupts near Army ammunition depot in Rajouri
Rajouri, June 5 The fire broke out in the Ace of Spades (Tuskers) depot area, a few metres away from the main Rajouri city. The fire created panic among locals. Reports said senior Army officers immediately rushed to the spot and deployed their men and fire tenders to control the fire. The fire was brought under control by the efforts of the fire brigade and security personnel. Senior Army officers refused to comment on how the fire erupted inside the sensitive zone. “I have no authority to speak on the issue,” an Army officer said. The forest fires are a major problem in Rajouri district and the Forest Department has failed to control them. Residents said, “The forest fires are affecting the green cover and wildlife in the area.” They blamed Forest Department officials for the loss of green cover and inefficient handling of situation, which had forced them to migrate to other areas. Many hectares of forest land in Jagdad, Bawani, Tapsia under Nowshera division has vanished due to forest fires, but officials of the department are unable to deal with frequent wild fires. District president, Indian Council for Environment Legal Action, Sunil Gupta said, “The area is prone to forest fires and could lead to ecological imbalance.” Gupta urged Forest Minister Mian Altaf to pay attention towards the problem and instruct all DFOs to try to control forest fires. DFO, Rajouri and Nowshera, Chanchal Kumar said, “Fire incidents are on a rise due to high temperature. Sometimes locals are responsible for them. We have lodged 12 FIRs against locals, who were found guilty of starting a fire.” He said forest fires sometimes erupted in Pakistan and spread to this side. However, he refused to comment on whether it was done intentionally to damage Indian property. |
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Pandits on indefinite stir over PM’s rehab package
Srinagar, June 5 Under the aegis of the Youth All India Kashmiri Samaj (YAIKS), the protesters sat on a dharna at Pratap Park while raising slogans against the state government. “As per the package announced in 2008, 6,000 displaced youth were to be appointed in different departments. Only 1,442 youth were appointed in the first phase under the central component but the remaining 1,558 posts are yet to be filled,” said YAIKS president RK Bhat. Urging the government to speed up the filling of posts, Bhat said the “dilly-dallying” approach of the authorities was sending “wrong signals” to the displaced Pandits. YAIKS joint secretary Ajay Safaya said the government had failed to fulfil the promises made to them. “We had called off our 22-day-long dharna in March that was held in Jammu after (Minister for Revenue and Rehabilitation) Raman Bhalla and (MoS Home) Nasir Aslam Wani assured us that our demands will be fulfilled. However, we are still waiting for the fulfilment of the promises made to us,” he said. The protesters also appealed to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to take steps to implement the Prime Minister’s package for the Pandits. “If the government cannot even implement the package, how can one believe that the government is committed towards the return of Pandits,” Safaya said. |
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Shortage of
manpower, funds
Jammu, June 5 Sources said against the required amount of nearly Rs 1 crore per annum to tackle the increasing forest fires, the government had been providing only Rs 5 to 10 lakh per annum to the Forest Department. Officials said the department had failed to equip its field staff with modern fire safety gear, procure special water hoses and vehicles to ferry manpower. In the absence of adequate financial support, the fire lines which are required to be established and maintained, to prevent forest fires from spreading are not being created even in fire prone areas in Jammu, Doda, Kishtwar, Bhaderwah, Ramban, Banihal, Rajouri and Poonch. “Fire defence lines are created in various parts of the country before the onset of summer. In our state no such exercise is conducted due to lack of funds and manpower. We even don’t have adequate number of watchtowers,” said a circle officer on the condition of anonymity. Chief Conservator of Forests Ravi Kesar said, “Yes, funds are a major problem for us. Due to shortage of funds we can’t buy equipment and train our personnel to deal with forest fires. The issue has been taken up with the Finance Department. We hope things will get streamlined soon.” The recorded forest area of the state is 20,230 sqkm. About 59 per cent of the geographical area of the state is under permanent snow cover, glaciers and cold desert and unable to support tree growth. Out of the total area for utilisation, forests constitute nearly 54 per cent. About 12,666 sqkm area falls in the Jammu region and the remaining in Kashmir division. There are five national parks and 14 wildlife sanctuaries in the state. April, May and June are considered worse for naturally-occurring fires, mostly due to dry conditions in the region with the onset of summer. |
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Forest preservation crucial for survival of life: Governor
Srinagar, June 5 The Governor, while interacting with the IFS probationers of 2011-batch, said, “We must protect our forest wealth, as it is important for the survival of life on earth.” He stressed that the preservation of forests was connected with environment and ecology and the issues of climate change and sustainable development. Replying to questions of the probationers, the Governor said the unfortunate situation that had prevailed in the state had not only resulted in human and economic losses, but also damaged forest wealth. He said with the return of normalcy, greater attention was now being given to the conservation and regeneration of forests in the state. The Governor, who is the Chairman of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, referred to initiatives being taken by the board for the conservation and promotion of the green cover in the entire shrine area in the Trikuta hills. He urged the future forest administrators to work with dedication for the conservation of forests and added that there was an urgent need to devise strategies to deal with man-animal conflicts. The Governor asked the IFS probationers which places they had visited so far in Jammu and Kashmir and other states during their tour. He shared with them his own experiences of working in high-altitude areas in the
past. Anu Nagar, Associate Professor, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy,
Dehradun, told the Governor that the main objective of the tour was to familiarise the IFS probationers with latest forest management practices and expose them to varied eco-systems.
— TNS |
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Once a battleground, LoC post now receives tourist footfalls
Kaman Post (LoC), June 5 Almost every day, a large number of locals as well as domestic tourists visit the Kaman Post in Baramulla district to get a first hand account of the historical place. They click pictures at Aman Sethu (Peace Bridge) which connects Srinagar with Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir
(PoK). Some of the visitors even wave at Pakistani soldiers whose bunkers are
visible from the Bridge and they too reciprocate the gesture. “Every day almost 20 to 30 persons, mostly youngsters, visit this last point on the LoC in Kashmir. We issue special passes to the visitors,” said the General Officer Commanding
(GOC), 19 Infantry Division, Maj Gen Bipin Rawat. “We also get requests from various schools in the Valley for allowing their students to make a trip to the Kaman Post. If the number of children is more, we
divide them into two or three groups.” The Baramulla-based 19 Infantry Division of the Army is the nodal agency that issues permits to visitors to visit the Kaman Post. For those who visit the last point at the
LoC, it becomes a memorable experience. “I have been hearing a lot about the LoC and Kaman Post for the last few years and I was lucky to see the historical place this year,” said Tariq Ahmed, a school teacher from
Baramulla. “I could have never dreamt of seeing the LoC so closely as earlier this area was a battleground. It is because of peace between India and Pakistan that common people are allowed to go near the
LoC.” Not only locals but domestic tourists too are keen to see the Peace Bridge. “I along with my family had come to Kashmir a few days ago and I visited tourist places like
Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Mughal Gardens but I must say that visiting Kaman was exciting,” said Arun Kumar, a resident of Chandigarh, who was seen clicking pictures with Army jawans and officers at the Kaman Post. The experience of visiting the Kaman Post is however not like seeing any other scenic place in the Valley, as it presents a grim reminder of the violence on the border. “I was hit by a Pakistani bullet on July 25, 2010,” reads two stickers pasted near three bullet holes on the glass panel in the Army base referred to as “view point”. Army officers at the view point brief visitors about the Peace Bridge and history of the Kaman Post. “Even though there is peace here, but bullet holes are a reminder of the violent past,” said another visitor at the view point. Kaman Post: symbol of peace
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Justice Kumar to take oath as CJ on June 8
Chandigarh, June 5 Governor NN Vohra will administer oath to acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice MM Kumar as the 31st Chief Justice of the High Court on June 8 in Srinagar. Justice Kumar is the second Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court who has been elevated as the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. Prior to Justice Kumar, Justice SS Kang of the Punjab and Haryana High Court was administered oath as the Chief Justice of the J&K High Court on October 24, 1989. Justice Kang continued in office till May 14, 1993. Justice Kumar says: “Those were tough times, but now the condition has improved significantly and the Chief Justice can look forward to deliver justice in a more congenial atmosphere.” The acting Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice Virender Singh, is also from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He was transferred to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and assumed office on April 19, 2007. He was appointed as the acting Chief Justice of the J&K High Court on April 2 after Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifullah was elevated to the Supreme Court. Justice Kumar is expected to leave for Srinagar tomorrow morning. He was accorded a farewell by employees of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today. Employees of the Punjab and Haryana High Court broke into ‘bhangra’ and also placed a green turban on Justice Kumar’s head. The farewell celebration was christened “bhangra-salaam”. The ceremony began with employees’ union president Hemant Singh Walia doling out praises for Justice Kumar. Walia described him as an excellent judge, who had worked for the welfare of the employees. |
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Omar govt dragging feet on defence land scam, says BJP
Jammu, June 5 A delegation led by party’s national secretary Kirti Somaiya and state president Shamsher Singh Manhas called on Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand here alleging that though the defence authorities had already initiated action against the officials convicted in the scam yet
the state government was “dragging its feet” on the issue. Referring to his meeting with Defence Minister A K Antony after which all false NOCs issued by
certain defence officials for the land were cancelled, Somaiya alleged that the scam could not have taken place without the connivance of certain officials in the revenue department of the state government. “The state government must take the necessary action so that the process of undoing the wrongful sale of defence land initiated by the defence authorities can be brought to its logical conclusion,” the BJP leader alleged. Somaiya also brought
to the notice of the Deputy Chief Minister the sensitivity of the matter particularly because the “dubious sale of land” was taking place in the vicinity of the highly
sensitive area of Srinagar airport. Manhas also told the Deputy CM about the party’s concern regarding the Tawi scam in which land encroachments by certain influential persons in the government had allegedly been facilitated by bifurcating the Tawi river in an unscientific manner. Other members of the deputation included MLA Ashok Khajuria and BJP chief spokesperson Jitendra Singh. |
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J&K not a state of cheats: Omar
Jammu, June 5 One of the followers of Omar on the Twitter, while apparently wrapping up his Kashmir visit, wrote: “Srinagar driver blackmailing for additional Rs 2,000 for airport after full payment yesterday! state of cheats!” The Chief Minister re-tweeted, “But I'm sorry sir we are NOT a state of cheats any more than India is a country of thieves or snake charmers.” The follower, in his earlier tweet had said: “We are leaving Srinagar with mixed feelings - disgust at people here, happy with nature experience. Never again Kashmir!” To this, Omar wrote: “I’m very sorry to hear that. I have been warning against this, but there are bad apples in every lot but still inexcusable.”
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Dhoni cheers players during exhibition match at Leh
Jammu, June 5 Dhoni called on Lt Gen Ravi Dastane, Corps Commander of the Leh-based Corps. He was briefed on the unique operational challenges faced by the Army in rough terrain and hostile weather conditions. Dhoni had an informal interaction with Army personnel over a cup of tea at the Corps headquarters. He witnessed an exhibition match played between the Army and a local cricket team at the highest cricket pitch in the world in the afternoon today. The spirit of the game came alive when Dhoni cheered Army personnel, who had donned cricket uniform, and local Ladakhi boys when they played shots all over the park during the match. He gave away prizes to both the teams after the match. Dhoni was presented with the Corps memento by Maj Gen Rajeev Sharma, Chief of Staff of the Leh-based Corps, in front of 1,500 soldiers. Dhoni is expected to visit Army troops deployed along forward areas tomorrow. |
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Home Ministry official meets Guv
Srinagar, June 5 “During the meeting, Chadha briefed the Governor about his aerial reconnaissance of the yatra route and the deployments being made for providing effective security arrangements for this year’s yatra along the Chandanwari and Baltal routes,” an official said. The Governor also discussed with Chadha the importance of traffic regulation during the yatra period, which would also be the peak tourist arrival season in the Valley. Chadha informed the Governor that the matter had been reviewed as additional security forces were being provided to the state for effective arrangements. Chadha was accompanied by K Skandan, Joint Secretary (Kashmir), Union Ministry of Home Affairs. |
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Denying reports that the subcommittee formed to decide the duration of the Amarnath yatra was being pressurised, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has said undertaking the pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine right now was “very dangerous”.
Srinagar, June 5
Chandigarh, June 5
In the absence of required manpower, planning and equipment, the department is relying on the Fire Department to deal with fire incidents, which destroy hundreds of hectares of green gold every year in the state. 
