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Thicker security cover for all shrines
PDP rakes up civic issues to strengthen base
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Need to strengthen Indo-Pak relations, says NC
Five more pilgrims die, toll mounts to 19
Tourism traders have their fingers crossed
Omar for speeding up work on Srinagar-Leh power line
Record 1 lakh quintal wheat procured in Jammu
Now, battle of sexes reaches public buses
2 ex-militants denied entry into India
Police remand of 4 policemen extended
Peace, normalcy essential for growth:
Governor
BJP opposes J-K interlocutors' report
25.71% growth in revenue realisation
Father hacks son to death over property
GMC ophthalmology dept to be upgraded, says Chib
Blast creates panic
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Thicker security cover for all shrines
Srinagar, July 1 The Waqf Board, which looks into the management and upkeep of Muslim shrines and properties across the state, had raised the issue of security with the government. “After the fire incident at the 250-year-old shrine, we took up the issue of security of religious places with the Home Department and they agreed to enhance the security at all shrines,” said MY Qadri, vice-chairman, Wakf Board. “A comprehensive security plan is being chalked out by the government to provide security cover to these shrines.” The Waqf Board is looking after 35 major shrines across the state and the state government has decided to ensure the safety of all shrines. There are nearly 100 shrines across the Valley, including 22 highly revered and architecturally important shrines. The decision to enhance the security was taken following the mysterious fire at the Sufi shrine and two incidents of desecration. “We will ensure safety of all shrines and that is why a security audit of all religious places has been ordered,” Minister of State for Home Nasir Aslam Wani told The Tribune. “We will work out a foolproof security arrangement for the shrines and take all steps to safeguard these.” After the fire incident, the state government has been claiming that “certain elements with vested interests” have been trying to disrupt peace and tranquility. |
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PDP rakes up civic issues to strengthen base
Jammu, July 1 As pro-Jammu parties, especially the BJP, has been facing infighting, the PDP has jumped into the battlefield to create a space for itself, especially in Hindu-dominated areas where the PDP has so far been perceived as a Kashmir-centric party. Former Chief Minister and PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has been addressing a series of public meetings in different areas of the region to rake up the issue of power and water scarcity. Mufti has been exhorting people to take to the streets to force the government to provide basic amenities like power and water to them. In June alone, Mufti addressed over 20 small and big public meetings in different areas of the Jammu region and vociferously highlighted severe power crisis in the region, especially when temperatures hovered around 45 °C. Insiders in the PDP said the party leadership had realised that the prevailing situation in the region was ripe for the party to create its base as other political groups had failed to effectively take up the issue of power and water crises. The PDP leadership has realised that it was difficult for the party to make its self-rule or other political agenda acceptable in the Jammu region, so the party has been concentrating on civic issues to give a message to the people of the region that the PDP was the only party raising their issues effectively. During a public meeting at Hiranagar in Kathua district, Mufti reminded the gathering that no unscheduled power cuts were effected during the PDP-Congress regime. He said during their regime, neither the Baglihar nor the Dulhasti project had been commissioned, yet they had ensured uninterrupted supply of power to the people. Mufti had also been reiterating the fact that a mega water supply scheme funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) had been sanctioned for the region to solve water crises during his regime. |
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Need to strengthen Indo-Pak relations, says NC
Jammu, July 1 This view was shared by Minister for Higher Education Abdul Gani Malik and Political Advisor to the Chief Minister Devender Singh Rana. The NC leaders, while addressing public meetings at Surankot urged the governments of India and Pakistan to introduce banking system for the cross LoC trade and replace the barter system with monitory transactions. They also urged the two governments to allow easier movement across the LoC on two sides of Kashmir for a better people to people contact. They said that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has reiterated that better Indo-Pak relations are imperative for peace and resolution of various issues between the two neighbours. The coalition government seeks permanent peace and stability in the state. Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari, Vice Chairman of Advisory Board for Pahari Speaking People, Aijaz Jan, MLA Poonch and others also spoke on the occasion. Among others who were present on the occasion were Bashir Ahmed Wani, MR Qureshi, Ch Abdul Gani, Bagh Hussain Rathore, Mohinder Pyasa, Moulvi Sayeed, Surinder Singh Bunty and others. |
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Amarnath Yatra
Srinagar, July 1 As many as 20,487 pilgrims had darshan of the Shivalingam at the shrine on Saturday, an official said here. While another 16,100 reached the shrine by 4 pm today, the total number of pilgrims to have visited the shrine has reached 1,37,991. The death toll of yatris during the pilgrimage, which commenced on June 25, has reached 19. Five more yatris died in overnight incidents. The deceased have been identified as Babu Singh (83) of Madhya Pradesh, Rinku (55) of Tamil Nadu, Megha Gupta (24) of Chandigarh, Jasbir (64) of Haryana and another unidentified pilgrim. While most yatris have died due to cardiac arrest, the Sri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) has regularly been issuing appeals to yatris to follow health advisories issued by the board. The SASB has made it mandatory for pilgrims to produce a health certificate before embarking on the yatra, while medical camps have also been set up on both routes. Governor and SASB chairman NN Vohra, who has been closely monitoring the yatra-related activities, has also been urging people to secure a valid yatra permit and health certificate so that other pilgrims are not put to inconvenience. The yatra is performed through the Baltal route in Ganderbal district and the Chandanwari route in Anantnag district. While the steeper Baltal route is preferred by those who wish to return to the base camp in a day, the other route, which is longer, is preferred by the elderly and hardcore devotees, who believe that Lord Shiva took the same route to the holy cave. |
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Shrine blaze
Srinagar, July 1 Monday’s bandh followed by days of general strike has changed the overall situation in the city, especially around the Dal Lake and the central Lal Chowk area. There was little or no vehicle movement with shops closed in the Civil Lines area during the first few days of the incident. “People’s sentiments are greatly attached to the shrine and such public response is natural,” a tourism official said. “Though there has been no significant decline in tourist arrivals, there has been some impact which is evident,” said the official adding that the restrictions on movement of people and vehicles in the downtown area were not disturbing. A tourism official said that a number of tourists were already in the Valley and many of them were undertaking pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amaranth in south Kashmir. An impact on the tourist movement was also seen around the Boulevard near Dal Lake. “There is less movement during the daytime as tourists arrive from outside the Valley in the evenings,” said Nayeem Ahmad, a hotelier at Nehru Park. Nayeem said there was a slight decline in the current bookings in the evenings for the past few days. “Most of the tourists visit scenic spots or they are busy with the Amarnath yatra. Instead of two to three entries per day till recently, there have been little or no current evening bookings. The advance bookings are there with no cancellations so far,” Nayeem added. “The fire incident at the shrine is unfortunate but it should not have impacted the tourist season,” Hoteliers Club president Mushtaq Ahmad said. “It has affected our bookings. The bookings in one of our hotels went down from 80 per cent to 30 per cent in the past two days,” said Siraj Ahmad of the Kashmir Hotels and Restaurants Association (KHARA). Ahmad pointed out that a number of weddings and invitations had also been cancelled which was clear from the advertisements being published in local newspapers. |
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Omar for speeding up work on Srinagar-Leh power line
Srinagar, July 1 Taking brief about various projects, the Chief Minister emphasised the need for speeding up the work on the Srinagar-Leh transmission line to enable smooth supply of electricity and its distribution in the Ladakh region and transmission of power from various power stations constructed in the region. Omar Abdullah also emphasised the need for targeted completion of the ITIs being established by the corporation at Ganderbal and Jammu. Nayak assured the Chief Minister that the corporation would take all steps aimed at completing the projects within the scheduled time frame. |
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Record 1 lakh quintal wheat procured in Jammu
Jammu, July 1 This was stated by the Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir during a meeting with officers of Agriculture and CAPD departments here held to review the procurement of wheat during the current season. He said the procurement of 92,000 quintal wheat grain for public distribution system was the result of coordinated efforts of the FCI, the CAPD and the Agriculture Department. The total quantity of wheat procured could have been much higher, had it not been for some teething problems, this being the first year of procurement of wheat, he added. The minister observed that pro-active measures taken by the Agriculture Department in recent years had led to higher production and productivity. The measures included timely provision of high yielding varieties of seeds and fertilizers, increase in seed replacement rate and heightened awareness among farmers, besides reaching out to the farmers through kisan melas and awareness programmes and exposing them to such practices outside the state. He asked the agencies concerned to work in coordination to ensure that farmers got the minimum support price (MSP) for the surplus grain produced by them so as to encourage them to further increase their yield by adopting scientific agricultural practices. The minister said the procurement of wheat was done for the first time in the state to benefit the farmers by providing them with MSP of Rs 1,285 per quintal to avoid their exploitation by middlemen and local traders. He said the department was providing additional incentives to achieve the main objective of the Seed Village Programme i.e to increase the seed replacement rate. “We have been moving towards self-sufficiency in seed production in the division by producing over 8,000 quintal certified wheat seed of high-yielding varieties in the fields under the supervision of seed certification agency of the Agriculture Department and also in producing a record 21,000 quintal wheat seed in the seed multiplication farms of the department,” he added. The minister also reviewed the strategy for procurement of paddy during the ensuing kharif season. He directed the officers of the CAPD and Agriculture Department to open adequate number of centres in the grain producing areas. |
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Now, battle of sexes reaches public buses
Srinagar, July 1 Women complain that they hardly get to sit in the seats reserved for them as most of these are already occupied by men. “Whenever I board a bus or a mini-bus, I find all those reserved seats occupied by men,” said Firdousa, a schoolteacher and commuter. “I hesitate to ask anyone to vacate the seat and most of the times male passengers do not leave the seat voluntarily.” Many women say that the enforcement of law is necessary for ensuring the reservation. “It was a good initiative to keep seats reserved for women in public transport buses but the situation on the ground is altogether different,” said Nusrat Ara, a college student from the old city. “At times when we tell bus conductors why they don’t tell male passengers to vacate the seats reserved for women, they express their inability and do not listen to us. If the seats are reserved for women, the police must enforce the law strictly.” “We have created awareness among women that eight seats are reserved for them. We have in a few cases also issued challans against the drivers of those vehicles in which women did not get the reserved seats. At the end of the day, men should understand that the seats are reserved for women and they should voluntarily vacate the seats,” said Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Traffic, Shafqat Watali. The traffic department had also printed posters to make people aware that the first eight seats of all passenger buses were reserved for women, the DIG said. Since early this year, the traffic department started implementing the seat reservation in Srinagar city. But many male passengers complained that it was not fair to keep eight seats reserved for women in minibuses. “For a 56-seater buses, eight seats reserved for women is understandable but for a mini-bus that has only 14 seats how could the reservation of same number of seats be justified?” said Bashaarat Ahmed, an employee. “There has to be a different policy for reservation in different types of passenger vehicles,” he added. |
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2 ex-militants denied entry into India
Poonch July, 1 Those denied entry were identified as Nazir Hussain and Mohd Farooq, both residents of Hari Surankote village in Poonch district, who had crossed over to PoK in March 2001 for arms training. Sources said the Army had recently barred three former militants who along with their 19 family members had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in North Kashmir’s Uri sector. Sources said these two former militants had entered into the Indian territory about 6 am in the Digwar sector in Poonch district and when the soldiers challenged them, they kept moving forward. “When the soldiers asked them about their identity, they disclosed that they were former militants and wanted to return to India but the soldiers did not allow them to enter the Indian side. When the Army warned them with dire consequences,
they retreated,” Army sources said. The Army had also apprehended Mukhtar Ahmed, a resident of Hari village in Surankote, on June12. “During preliminary interrogation, Mukhtar had revealed that dozens of former militants of Poonch district wanted to return back via Nepal but financial crunch prevented them from taking that route. Hence, they were taking the risk of choosing the LoC to cross over to the Indian side,” a police official told The Tribune. “To take the Nepal route, they have to get passports and local permanent identification certificates made in PoK, which costs around Rs 1.25 lakh. They have to do it illegally since they are not permanent residents of PoK and are treated as Muhajirs there,” the officials said. The officials added that the militants used the wrong route. Last year, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had announced a rehabilitation policy for former militants who were trapped in Pakistan and had taken the designated Nepal-Gorakhpur-New Delhi route for return. So far, the government has received around 1,100 applications from the kin of those ‘stranded’ in Pakistan. “In Poonch district, we have received 75 applications from the family members of militants who had crossed over to the PoK for militant training. The applications are being scrutinised and verified whereas 10 of them are being re-verified,” Poonch Senior Superintendent of Police Shamsheer Hussain said. |
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Police remand of 4 policemen extended
Srinagar, July 1 The three policemen identified as Mohammad Ilyas of Kawa Mohalla Srinagar, Mukhtar Ahmad Sheikh of Rainawari, Srinagar and Riyaz Ahmed Beig, moved a bail application in the court. The special investigation team of the J&K police, entrusted with probing the case, produced the four arrested cops before the CJM court in Srinagar yesterday as their police remand ended on June 30. The SIT pleaded for extension of their police remand saying that investigation in the case was still on. The CJM extended the police remand of the four accused for five days. The CJM also sought a case report from the SIT before deciding about the bail application of the three policemen. On June 17, J&K police claimed to have unearthed an alleged nexus between militants and some policemen after detaining the four for their alleged links with the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit. Police said the four policemen were planning to orchestrate terror strikes to create chaos in the state. The arrested personnel were taking money from the militants for carrying weapons and providing sensitive information about the movement of police officers, the police had claimed. The SIT is also investigating the role of the accused in various militancy-related incidents. |
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Peace, normalcy essential for growth:
Governor
Srinagar, July 1 The Governor said this while addressing a function organized by Athwaas Foundation, a society of artists, producers, directors, writers, performers and musicians. He said the ‘unfortunate’ situation that prevailed in the state in the past years resulting in the immense human and economic loss, had adversely hit the education of children. He, however, expressed happiness that things were moving in the right direction hoping that Jammu and Kashmir would become a prosperous state in the coming years. On the occasion, the Governor felicitated six distinguished personalities from the field of art and culture including GR Hasrat Gadda, Zameer Ashai, Hirday Koul Bharti, Kusum Dhar, Balwant Thakur and Mipham Otsal. ‘Waktuk Partav’, a musical opera in Kashmiri, was also presented on the occasion. Earlier, Bihari Kak, president of Athwaas Foundation, said the event was organized in the memory of late Vijay Kumar Malla, a well-known singer and artist of the state who passed away recently. Mubarak Gul, Advisor to the Chief Minister, Nasir Aslam Wani, Minister of State for Home and other dignitaries were present on the occasion. |
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BJP opposes J-K interlocutors' report
Jammu, July 1 "The report by Dileep Padgaonkar-led interlocutors is unacceptable as it has no solution for anything," he said. Singh said the state unit of BJP has taken up a campaign to educate the people across the country about the report. — PTI
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25.71% growth in revenue realisation
Jammu, July 1 This was stated by Minister for Finance and Planning Abdul Rahim Rather here today, while chairing a meeting to review the functioning and achievements of the department in Jammu division.Discussions were held on issues like number of dealers registered, returns, assessment under VAT, extra demand under GST, position of assessment under GST, details about tax audit, refund claimed, etc. during the meeting. It was stated that the department had achieved Rs 2,357.80 crore in revenue during 2011-12 against 1,875.61 crore during 2010-11. After taking the brief from the Commissioner and Additional Commissioner, Commercial Taxes, the Finance Minister conducted a detailed review of the functioning of various wings and circles of the department with the Deputy Commissioner and commercial tax officers. While discussing the functioning of the check posts, the minister stressed the need for offering transparent and hassle-free services to the dealers. The minister, while reviewing the functioning of each commercial circle, instructed the commercial tax officers to make the system more trader-friendly. He said cases of tax evasion should be dealt with strictly. He also emphasised the need for frequent inspections and efficient conduct of tax audit and audit assessment. He assured support to the functionaries in issues pertaining to administration and taxation. He said the department was the backbone of the economic apparatus of the state and asked officials to maximise tax accruals. Principal Secretary (Finance) MI Khandey also appreciated the efforts of the department in surpassing the targets. He said outstanding officers would be rewarded, while poor performers would face action. |
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Father hacks son to death over property
Srinagar, July 1 Wani had divorced his first wife and their only child Farooq had been living with his father at Medora village. Wani later remarried and had two sons from his second wife. “Farooq had been demanding a share in the father’s property for a long time. On Friday, the neighbours informed the police that Farooq had gone missing and they suspected that he had been murdered,” said Awantipore SP Abdul Waheed Shah. “After registering a case, we started our investigation and found Wani’s behaviour suspicious. He showed little interest in knowing the whereabouts of his missing son. We called him for questioning and he broke down, admitting that he had murdered his son with an axe and dumped his body in a nearby well. We went to the scene and recovered the body, which was kept in a gunny bag,” Shah said. The police said Wani along with his son, Ashraf, murdered Farooq and later removed the body from the house. The police said Ashraf was at large and they were raiding various places to arrest him. |
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GMC ophthalmology dept to be upgraded, says Chib
Srinagar, July 1 The minister said this while speaking at the valedictory function at SKICC in Srinagar here. He said the land measuring 13 kanals had already been earmarked at Dewan Bagh adjacent to the GMC, Srinagar for the construction of Regional Institute of Ophthalmology. "We will approach the union government for funding," he said. He said that besides construction of two super-specialty hospitals in Jammu and Srinagar, two maternity hospitals with full-fledged pediatrics units would also come up to provide better healthcare facilities to the people of the state. |
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Blast creates panic
Srinagar, July 1 A local resident said an explosion took place outside a CRPF bunker at Tral in Pulwama district around 11 am. Soon after the blast, pedestrians ran for cover, fearing that a grenade had been lobbed at the security force picket. “CRPF and police officers visited the scene and cordoned off the area. They later found it to be a firecracker explosion,” said Sudhir Kumar, a spokesperson for the CRPF. “Someone had played a prank and thrown a firecracker towards a security picket to create panic in the area.” The bomb disposal squad of the police said the blast was caused by a cracker thrown by “unknown miscreants”. No one was injured. — TNS
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Srinagar, July 1
Srinagar, July 1
Governor NN Vohra today said that sustained peace and normalcy were the ‘essential elements’ for the development and prosperity of the state.
