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Depute teams for smooth LPG supply: HC to govt
Centre yet to okay new rehab policy for ultras
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Mission Saffron in Kashmir as cheaper varieties flood market
Love pursuit went awry for fake Army officer
Sarpanches raise pitch for 73rd Amendment
Shutdown call fails to disrupt life in
Sopore
Janglat Mandi case listed for Nov 7
Ladakh appeals to PM over LPG demand
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Depute teams for smooth LPG supply: HC to govt
Srinagar, November 2 The double Bench of the high court, comprising Justice Yaqoob Mir and Justice Hasnain Masoodi, after hearing the state government, which submitted a detailed report today, directed it to ensure smooth supply of cooking gas to consumers. “The government should constitute teams led by senior officers to monitor the supply and distribution of gas,” the court observed. The Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, who submitted the details said there was a demand of 18,000 cylinders everyday in the Valley during winter. He also gave a detailed account of the verification and distribution procedure adopted by the state government following the Union government’s ruling to cut down subsidised gas cylinders in the country. The court directed the oil companies to also accept online applications of consumers for verification. “This will help consumers and make the verification process easy,” the court observed. Problems pertaining to cooking gas triggered nearly a month ago when the Centre announced a cap on the number of subsidised LPG cylinders along with compulsory paperwork for each family every year, both of which have been strongly resented by Valley residents. LPG demand The Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, said there was a demand for 18,000 cylinders everyday in the Valley during winter Court order
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Centre yet to okay new rehab policy for ultras
Jammu, November 2 The official website of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (mha.nic.in), which was last modified on October 26 this year, still displays the old rehabilitation policy, which was formulated via a Cabinet decision on January 31, 2004. The new rehabilitation policy, which speaks of bringing home “misguided Kashmiri youth” from terror camps in PoK via the officially identified routes of Wagah border, Salamabad in Baramulla district, Chakan-da-Bagh in Poonch district and Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, was formulated by J&K in 2010. The old rehabilitation policy on the MHA’s website makes no mention of PoK, where according to rough estimates 3,000 to 3,500 Kashmiri youth had gone during the peak militancy period to get arms training in various terror camps. Ever since the new rehabilitation policy was announced by the present dispensation in 2010, not even one Kashmiri militant has returned via the officially identified routes. They are, however, entering the state via Nepal, he added. Even the Minister of State for Home Nasir Aslam Wani, in the recently concluded Assembly session, had admitted on the floor of the Lower House that not a single Kashmiri militant had returned through the identified routes in the past two years. Law Minister Ali Mohammed Sagar told The Tribune that though the Centre had agreed to the new rehabilitation policy, it faces some hiccups over practical issues. Since several security agencies and ministries like defence, home affairs and external affairs are involved in the issue, there are certain roadblocks. There is no clarity on the issue, said the Law Minister. “Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had taken up the policy with the then Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and the state government strongly feels that as a sort of confidence-building measure, it (policy) should happen,” said Sagar. A top source in the Ministry of External Affairs confided in The Tribune that the detailed document containing minute details of the new rehabilitation policy was lying with it and no decision had been taken on it. Centre, state not on same page? Perhaps, the Centre and the J-K Government are not on the same page vis-à-vis the new rehab policy, which is purely hypothetical considering that Pakistan is not on board and never will be for obvious reasons. — A top Army source
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Mission Saffron in Kashmir as cheaper varieties flood market
Srinagar, November 2 Though the saffron growing area has decreased over the years, scientists at the Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH) here have been successful in producing more than double the yield of saffron per hectare through the use of latest technologies. The increase in the yield without compromising on the quality, the scientists say, will enable the state to sell the spice at a cheaper cost, and thus help it counter the cheaper varieties. “While one gram of saffron grown in Kashmir costs Rs 200, the one imported from Iran costs only Rs 125 to 150. While Kashmiri saffron is of better quality, we can produce more saffron through the use of latest technologies that would not only give more yield per hectare but also lead to reduction in prices,” said CITH Director Nazeer Ahmad. “Our work on improvement of saffron has resulted in creation of new varieties and development of a few elite clones that can yield as high as five to eight kilograms per hectare as against the average productivity of 2.3 kg per hectare,” he added. While the institute uses intensive production technology for higher production in the cultivation of saffron and other crops, Nazeer said the local farmers had started showing interest but “much more” had to be done to take the technology to the grass roots. Stating that saffron in the state was grown over 5,707 hectares in 1996-97, he said it had then dropped to 2,742 hectares in 2003-04. “However, with the coming of Horticulture Technology Mission, the crop got a technological boost and incentives for area expansion and production. The saffron growing area spread to 3,785 hectares in 2009-10,” Nazeer added. Besides farmers, entrepreneurs too can come forward and avail themselves of the intensive production technology that can also address the unemployment issue in the state. Nazeer said through the technology, saffron can also be grown in other parts of the Valley. Now, it is mainly grown in south Kashmir. Saffron show
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Love pursuit went awry for fake Army officer
Jammu, November 2 The imposter, Umesh Kumar of Churu in Rajasthan and an M. Tech engineer, had been wearing the olive uniform of the Meerut-based 9 Infantry Division and not that of the Nagrota-based 16 Corps (where he claimed he was posted) at the time of his arrest from the Jewel area here on October 27. “Going by his amateurish moves to entice the Army nurse, who had been serving with Military Hospital, Satwari, he is not even a good con artist,” said an Army source. While the Army nurse is the daughter of a retired IAF personnel from Ajmer in Rajasthan, the imposter is the son of a retired Army personnel from Taragarh in Churu district of Rajasthan. “Umesh, who is a married man and has a five-year-old son back home, had fallen in love with the nurse when he first saw her at a Nursing College in Pune. Sometime back he had also put forth a marriage proposal before her father,” said the source. He had told his “girlfriend” that he was an Army officer who had been court-martialled but was acquitted later, added the source. To convince her that he was an Army officer, he succeeded in getting an Army uniform that belonged to the Meerut-based 9 Infantry Division and not of the Nagrota-based 16 Corps, said the source. The imposter had told the nurse that he had been posted to 16 Corps. On his breaching security of various Army formations, the source said: “The fake captain might have succeeded in getting inside Army cantonments in Nagrota, Yol Cantonment in Himachal Pradesh and Satwari Cantonment but that’s not a big deal because domestic helpers and civilians do visit these Army formations.” Umesh had prepared fake identity cards, the source added. He had even prepared papers of the court martial proceedings taking the help of the Internet. The Nowabad police had arrested the fake officer from a hotel in the Jewel area. His behaviour and dissatisfactory replies had aroused the suspicion of the police team leading to his arrest. The police had contacted Army officers in 16 Corps to know how he had managed liquor cards which he generally used to get entry into Army units. Other fake identity cards, a laptop and stamp of a senior Army officer posted in Srinagar were also recovered from him. The fake officer is now cooling his heels in a police lock-up and has been booked under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 419 and 171 of the Ranbir Penal Code at the Nowabad police station here.
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Sarpanches raise pitch for 73rd Amendment
Jammu, November 2 They also took on the Congress for its “double-speak” vis-à-vis the issue and warned the party that it would pay a heavy price in the next general and Assembly elections. “While the National Conference has been left in isolation for opposing the demand for the implementation of the 73rd Amendment in the state, the Congress has also been exposed due to its double-speak. We don’t trust the changing statements of the Chief Minister and Congress leaders,” Shafiq Mir, chairman, All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC), told reporters after the merger of various organisations of panches and sarpanches with the AJKPC. Mir alleged that there was a “sense of political uncertainty” among Congress leaders and that they were not in the favour of complete empowerment of
the panchayats. He, however, announced that a delegation of the AJKPC would visit New Delhi to meet the Central leadership and civil society groups to garner support for the empowerment of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the state. “After the visit, we will hold a maha panchayat conference, which would be attended by top leaders of the country,” Mir said. On Thursday, various organisations of panches and sarpanches fighting on the issue in the state announced their merger with the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference, which has been renamed All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference, and vowed to put up a united front to achieve their mission. Mir was announced the chairman of the organisation and Anil Sharma was appointed as its general secretary. Ghulam Hassan Panjoo was appointed as the spokesperson for the organisation and Kulbushan Khajuria and Imtiyaz Afzal Bieg were appointed as presidents of Jammu and Kashmir provinces respectively. A 31-member executive committee was also formed, which will be represented by at least one member from each district of the state. The committee will represent panchayat-related issues before various forums.
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Shutdown call fails to disrupt life in
Sopore
Srinagar, November 2 Shops in the town were open and traffic was plying as usual in the area on Friday, a local resident said. He said many people in
Sopore, a key town in north Kashmir's Baramulla district, had no prior knowledge about the shutdown call given by
Geelani. The hardline separatist leader was elected several times from the Sopore constituency to the Legislative Assembly before militancy erupted in the region in 1988. Locals, too, have a strong militant-sympathetic sentiment, which was evident from the two-day spontaneous shutdown in Sopore last week when a local militant commander, Muzumil Amin Dar, along with a Pakistani militant, Abdullah
Shaheen, were killed in an encounter on October 21. A photojournalist based in Sopore said there was no information about the shutdown call. “Some thought the (shutdown) call was a
rumour. It took a lot of time in the morning to clarify this confusion and by that time the routine day work had begun,” he said. The Hurriyat Conference had called for a shutdown against the arrest of the president of Baramulla district’s separatist group
Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, Ameer Hamza. The Hurriyat had on Thursday said Hamza was arrested from the Sopore-Bandipora road while he was returning from the Chinkipora locality of Sopore with his
associates. Hurriyat spokesman Ayaz Akbar said the shutdown call was issued late in the evening. “The message was not properly disseminated,” he said.
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Janglat Mandi case listed for Nov 7
Srinagar, November 2 The Advocate General of the state completed his argument today and he vehemently sought dismissal of the case. However, the arguments of the complaint’s counsel, Zaffar Qureshi, could not be concluded. The case was later listed for November 7 for further arguments. On Thursday, Army counsels Karnail Singh Wazir and KS Johal had completed the arguments and had claimed the petition was part of a conspiracy to malign the image of Gen Bikram Singh. The petitioner, Zytoona Begum, in October 2011 had moved the high court alleging that her son, Abdullah Bhat, was killed in a fake encounter in Janglat Mandi and was later identified by the Army as foreign militant Mateen Chacha. The petitioner’s counsel, during his arguments in May, had sought identification of the grave and DNA testing. |
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Ladakh appeals to PM over LPG demand
Leh, November2 Spalbar told the PM that the people of the remote region were the worst
sufferers of the government’s decision of putting a cap on subsidised LPG cylinders. He said the consumption of the cooking gas in Ladakh was more than that in any other place in the country owing to cold weather and shortage of bio-fuel. The CEC said people of Ladakh had a strong resentment against the government due to the decision. In his memorandum addressed to the PM, Spalbar said Ladakh was known for arctic climatic conditions with temperatures under zero degrees Celsius for most of the year resulting in greater consumption of the LPG. He said the region was devoid of a forest cover due to which bio-fuel in the region was scarce.
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Srinagar, November 2
