Srinagar, November 2
The police has registered a fresh case against the owners of the Hajeej India for swindling another nearly Rs 5 crore from residents of the region who had paid the travel company around Rs 1 lakh each to arrange for them the annual Haj pilgrimage.

The case was registered against father-son trio Waheed Gilkar, Fabian Gilkar and Arsalan Gilkar, the owners of the city-based Hajeej India travel company, at the Khanyar police station.

Another case against the trio had already been already registered at the same police station for allegedly duping Haj aspirants of more than Rs 5 crore.

An official at the police station said the new case had been registered against the Hajeej India under Sections 420 (cheating), 406 and 295-A of the RPC.

Superintendent of Police (North City) Tahir Saleem said the case against the Hajeej India was registered after they received complaints that the travel company had again defrauded nearly 380 Haj aspirants and swindled nearly Rs 5.01 crore.

“Last year, the company swindled Rs 4.5 crore from Haj aspirants and another Rs 1.6 crore from other companies. This year, they have again swindled Rs 5.01 crore from some 384 Haj aspirants. Other than that, they have also swindled the exchange money of Rs 5.35 lakh,” the police officer said.

Hajeej India, owned by Fabian Gilkar, a resident of Harwan area of the city, arranged travel to the cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia for residents of Kashmir during the annual Haj pilgrimage.

Fabian was arrested last year in December from Rajasthan where he was hiding. The police had issued a “hue and cry” notice against him as he disappeared after his name surfaced in the scam.

The SP said Fabian had been arrested twice, including once from Churu district of Rajasthan.

Hundreds of residents in Kashmir valley had frequently held protests against the travel company demanding their money back.

Srinagar, November 2
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today received the first batch of Haj pilgrims, who returned after performing the annual pilgrimage, at Srinagar airport.

“As many as 270 Hajis, including 105 women, returned from Saudi Arabia today,” an official said.

Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah and Minister of State for Haj Auqaf Aijaz Ahmad Khan were also present on the occasion, the official added.

The Chief Minister had seen off the first Haj batch at the airport on September 17.

Air India is operating direct Haj flights from Srinagar to Saudi Arabia after a gap four years. Each flight would accommodate 270 pilgrims during their return to the Valley, an official said.

Around 9,170 pilgrims from the state performed Haj this year. This year’s quota for Jammu and Kashmir had been increased from 8,441 to 8,670. In addition, private Haj operators facilitated 500 Haj pilgrims.

The authorities had earlier announced that it would allow only one attendant and a vehicle with a driver at the airport to avoid heavy rush of people that is usually seen while welcoming the Hajis.

Haj is among the five fundamentals of Islam and every believing Muslim aspires to perform the annual pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime.

Meanwhile, an official press release said the Chief Minister congratulated the Haj pilgrims and enquired about the status of arrangement made by the state departments in Saudi Arabia and enroute.

“The Hajis expressed satisfaction over the arrangements. They said during the Haj days, they prayed for peace, prosperity and development of the state and well-being of the mankind,” the press release added.

Srinagar, November 2
In a major policy shift, the moderate Hurriyat Conference on Friday talked about the issue of local governance and criticised the Omar Abdullah led Jammu and Kashmir Government for failing to deliver on the promises made during the elections.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who heads the moderate separatist faction, alleged that the state government had “failed on all fronts”.

“These people (government), instead of delivering their responsibilities and fulfilling the so-called election resolve to solve the issues of the common masses, are suppressing their political, religious and economic rights,” Mirwaiz said while addressing a Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid in the old city.

Castigating the state government, Mirwaiz said their “incompetence and wrong methodology” was forcing the people to suffer.

“Bad shape of roads, shortage of water and power, deteriorating traffic situation, rise in the price of cooking gas and other essential commodities, increasing inflation and a wide range of taxes have become a norm for the people,” Mirwaiz said.

The separatist camp usually avoids talking about the local governance issues and instead focuses their daily commentary on the political situation of Kashmir.

However, the growing discontent among the residents over the LPG crisis, which has been triggered nearly a month ago by a cap on the distribution of subsidised cylinders, and a plethora of local governance issues seems to have forced the moderate separatist camp to talk about the local governance.

The moderate separatist leader, who usually talks about separatist politics, said it had become difficult for the people to live their lives.

“Winter season has begun but the government institutions have no sense of responsibility and are protecting their own interests which is tragic and worth condemnation,” Mirwaiz said as he expressed his displeasure with the growing LPG crisis.

Srinagar, November 2
Hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Geelani was arrested on Friday when he left his residence to offer the mid-day congregational prayers at a local mosque, his party said.

“When he (Geelani) left his house today to offer prayers at a mosque, the police as usual took him into the custody. He remains in the lock-up till now,” Hurriyat Conference, headed by Geelani, said in a statement here in the evening.

According to the details provided by the separatist group, Geelani has been barred for offering Friday congregational prayers from the past 30th consecutive weeks.

Geelani was also arrested on Eid-ul-Azha when he had left his Hyderpora residence to offer the special Eid prayers.

The separatist leader, before being arrested, also criticised the state government for deliberately creating the ‘LPG crisis’.

Srinagar, November 2
The Jammu and Kashmir Government today announced that it would continue to exempt the cooking gas from the Value Added Tax (VAT).

State Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather announced this at the quarterly review meeting of the Commercial Taxes Department of the Kashmir Division here.

“Exemption of VAT on domestic cooking gas from the month of April this year will continue in future also to provide respite to the people,” Rather said.

The Minister said the exemption had already cost the state exchequer a burden of Rs 17 crore during the last seven months when the decision to exempt VAT from the cooking gas was taken.

The state is facing a simmering gas crisis after the Union Government fixed the number of subsidised LPG cylinders per household per year to six.

At the meeting, Rather further said the state’s development was subservient to the tax collection and asked the Commercial Tax Department to launch a vigorous campaign against tax defaulters irrespective of their status and position.

“There are stringent laws to deal with defaulters but they are providing one more opportunity to them to clear their arrears as early as possible before any action is initiated against them,” the Minister said.

Rather also called for greater coordination between the JK Bank, Accounts and Treasuries and Commercial Taxes Departments to streamline tax realisation system.

“Strict action will be taken against the defaulting officers for any lapses and negligence in the tax collection process,” he said.

The review meeting was also attended by the Commissioner, Commercial Taxes Department, Kifayat Hussain Rizvi, Joint Director, Accounts and Treasuries, Altaf Hussain, Joint Director, Commercial Taxes Department, Kashmir, Rafiq Ahmad, Deputy Commissioner, Commercial Taxes Department, Showkat Aijaz, president, JK Bank, and other commercial taxes officers of the Kashmir Division.

The meeting was informed that an amount of Rs 739.23 crore had been realised during the first two quarters of the current fiscal against Rs 681.88 crore realised during the corresponding period last financial year.

The department had collected Rs 20.29 crore as penalty from defaulters up to October this fiscal, whereas more than 32,000 new registrations were granted to traders during the same period.

Srinagar, November 2
LPG cap and subsidy issue has taken the course of intellectual debates in Kashmir, the University of Kashmir today hosted a three-hour long debate on “Should government continue offering subsidies on LPG and other essential commodities?” during the ongoing Intra University Youths Festival “Sonzal-2012” being held on the varsity campus.

Around 20 undergraduate and postgraduate students participated in the debate held at the Gandhi Bhavan in the Kashmir University. Hundreds of youths from 40 degree colleges of the state and various departments of the university were part of the audience.

Students presented an alternate solution of ‘target subsidies’ to the state and central governments which the authorities concerned could provide to the several cross-sections of people in the society like Below Poverty line (BPL) population, the government employees with an annual salary of less than Rs 1.5 lakh and families living close to border areas.

Students stressed that the provision of subsidies is still required in India where 55 per cent of the population are living in poverty especially. Rural part of the country still faces the problem of lack of basic infrastructure.

“I think the removal of LPG subsidies would serve a big blow to the poor, rather make them poorer. The government should devise some outlays which have a positive impact on the economy and should not cast people into abject miseries. In a democratic set up, the concerns of the people should be a top most priority for the ruling government,” a commerce graduate from Kashmir University North Campus, Baramulla opined.

Debaters speaking in favour of the motion rationalised that the Union government should continue providing subsidies to border and strife-torn states like Jammu and Kashmir which is also climatologically unique from those of other states of the country.

“Ladakh and Kashmir regions are usually cut off from the rest of the world for months together during extremely harsh winters. In case, the essential commodities like LPG are sold at non-subsidised rates, then it would prove detrimental to the affordability of such commodities for the common man. We all know that in such crucial times, the prices tend to increase much more than the usual and thus such basic commodities would become out of reach,” reasoned a management student from Islamia College of Science and Commerce, Srinagar.

Few students interestingly spoke in favour of the government’s decision and said that the global norms of inflation and recession have compelled the government to go for such decisions in order to maintain the economy stable.

“At a time when even the developed countries are suffering from regressive economical trends, India needs to adopt stringent measures to prevent its economy from falling off. People who work in both government and private sectors should bear in mind that if the government is removing subsidies, it has also increased the average salaries of the working class, hence the move is justified,” Muhammad Imran, a mass communication student at Kashmir University said. 

Srinagar, November 2
While it is a custom in Kashmir to present gold coins as ‘wartaav’ (gift of sorts) on various occasions, the Department of Posts (DoP) is eyeing to sell 30 kgs of Swiss-made gold coins in the coming festive months. The DoP is offering 7 per cent discount on the coins till the year-end.

Gold coins are usually given as 'wartaav' on auspicious occasions like marriages, engagements, birthdays and also when students pass examinations or manage to procure medical or engineering college seats. The gold coins are also gifted across the Valley when a person manages to get a government job, including the gazetted ones.

Even as the custom has been disapproved by many due to ever escalating gold prices, the DoP is offering festive discounts on gold coin purchases.

“We are offering the discount because of the ongoing festive season and we are hopeful of selling about 30 kgs of gold coins,” John Samuel, Postmaster General J&K circle, said.

The post office had always catered to the needs of the common man. The coins were available in the lower denominations of 0.5 and 0.1 gram as well, he added.

“India Post gold coins are 24 carat with 99.99 per cent purity. These coins are made from Valacambi in Switzerland and they are packed in tamper proof packages. These coins are available in denominations up to 50 grams,” Samuel added.

The DoP is also encouraging people to invest in gold as it is a solid asset whose price has increased manifold over the years.

“In the past few years, the price of gold has been appreciating by more than 39 per cent per annum on an average. Considering the return of investments of various deposits, the return from gold is definitely high. This is one of the reasons why we are offering this service. In 2007, 10 grams of gold was worth Rs 10,800 and now after five years, the same weight will cost Rs 34,495,” Samuel said.

The DoP is planning to open 20 new outlets for selling gold coins. The department is offering the same in collaboration with the World Gold Council and Reliance Money.

Srinagar, November 2
Reacting sharply to repeated claims of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah that corruption could not be tackled because of a ‘coalition compulsion’, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today said the National Conference was the ‘fountainhead of corruption’ in Jammu and Kashmir irrespective of whether it was in coalition or enjoyed two-third majority in the Assembly.

In a statement here today, party president Mehbooba Mufti said the NC was responsible for according social respectability to corruption after their two decades long 'hunger in wilderness' between 1953 and 1975. “Until the tallest leader of the NC began his second innings in power in 1975 with allocation of prime state lands to his family, corruption was still viewed with contempt in the state,” she said. Mehbooba said, “The state needs a commission to probe all politicians for their assets post 1975, and she offered her own as the first.”

Anantnag, November 2
An irrigation canal flowing through Pranbhawan village in Mattan area of the district has turned into a cesspool.

Local residents said the squalid condition of the canal was taking menacing proportions day by day and an epidemic might be just round the corner.

“Every kind of filth that our and adjoining villages generate goes into this canal. The canal has been reduced to a drain over the last few years,” said Muzaffar Ahmad, a resident of Pranbhawan village.

He said the squalid condition of the canal was due to lack of proper sanitation in the area. “Even drains flowing through the neighbourhood culminate into the canal, making it all the more a threat to the local population,” he added.

Local residents said smaller health concerns were common in the neighbourhood now. They said they feared that the filthy state of the canal could become a source for an epidemic.

The residents alleged that despite repeated pleas to the authorities concerned, nothing happened.

“We have been literally begging the authorities to do something about this menace but nobody listens to the poor common man,” said Mushtaq Ahmad, a resident of the area.

The authorities, however, acknowledging the health hazards that the canal poses to the population say that proposals are being drafted to do something about the problem.

“I know the filthy state of the canal is posing a grave threat to the locals. I have so far drafted two proposals for the canal. We are waiting for the approval,” said Javaid Ahmad, Executive Officer, Municipal Committee, Mattan.

He said the only thing that their department had been able to do was to take some cosmetic measures like cleaning the canal periodically. “Something very concrete needs to be done in this regard,” said the officer.

Srinagar, November 2
When a 29-year-old pregnant woman from south Kashmir was shifted to the lone maternity hospital in Srinagar a fortnight ago, her family members were least hopeful of her survival. The womb of the woman had ruptured resulting in internal bleeding and death of the male foetus and the family was expecting worse.

But doctors at the district hospital, Pulwama, instead of going for hysterectomy, repaired her uterus.

“The uterus repairing is usually done in tertiary care hospitals and it was for the first time that the procedure was done at any district hospital in the Valley,” said Kashmir Health the Director Dr Saleem-ur-Rehman. “We also felicitated the doctor in Srinagar who performed the surgery,” he added.

The patient was admitted to the district hospital, Pulwama, for delivery. Soon after her admission, she developed complications and was rushed to the operation theater where doctors diagnosed that her uterus had ruptured, resulting in internal bleeding and death of nine-month-old male foetus. The woman was critical and doctors on duty shifted the patient to Srinagar.

The doctors on duty also informed Dr Mehraj-u-Din, consultant gynaecologist of the hospital, about the case.

Mehraj asked the doctors to call back the ambulance ferrying the patient to the maternity hospital in Srinagar, fearing that the patient might not survive till she reaches Srinagar due to internal bleeding.

The ambulance returned to the hospital and Mehraj geared up for hysterectomy, removal of the uterus. “We decided to remove the uterus to save the woman, but I was told by the family that the woman had two daughters and if her uterus was removed there was no hope of giving birth to another baby. We decided to repair the uterus,” said Dr Mehraj. “We were able to do a remarkable procedure,” he added.

The consultant gynaecologist said the woman was stable and discharged from the hospital last week after the surgery. 

Srinagar, November 2
Almost a fortnight after three civilians were killed in Churanda village near Line of Control in Uri sector in unprovoked shelling by Pakistan, the J&K government today distributed ex-gratia relief to each of the next of kin of those killed in the shelling.

On October 16, three civilians - 30-year-old Mohammad Shafi, son of Imam Din Khatana, 17-year-old Liayaqat, son of Nazir Ahmad and Shanhwaz, daughter of Mohammad Ismail Lohar- were killed in the first major ceasefire violation in Kashmir in nearly past one decade.

A government spokesman said Minister for Public Health Engineering (PHE), Irrigation and Flood Control, Taj Mohi-ud-Din today visited Churanda and consoled the family members of those killed during the shelling from across the border.

“In this hour of grief not only the state government but the entire people of Jammu & Kashmir are with them,” the minister said.

The minister later disbursed ex-gratia relief of Rs 1 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed in the incident.

The shelling has created panic among the residents living near the LoC. While India protested the unprovoked firing in Churanda village, the Pakistan denied their involvement in the firing. 

Srinagar, November 2
‘Sonzal- 2012’, an intra-university students’ carnival, is going on in full swing with a series of competitions including debates, collage making and rangoli etc, organised today on the Kashmir University campus.

Students from different educational backgrounds from 43 affiliated degree colleges and other departments of the university participated in the three major events - debate, rangoli contest and collage making on day 4 of the carnival.

Debate competition on ‘Should the government continue providing subsidies on LPG and other essential commodities?’ was the highlight of the day with students locking horns while engaging in the controversial debate which has already sparked protests in the state.

Collage making and rangoli contest were the other two events which were held on Naseem Bagh campus and Home Science department respectively. Each institute participating in both competitions was represented by five students. The creativity of students was judged by the renowned artists from within and outside the Valley.

Beautiful rangolis were made from rice, petals, saw-dust with free hand, pictorial and descriptive forms of expression by participating students. Collage making was essentially done with cutting old newspaper or magazine articles to be pasted as per the given topic.

Girls outnumbered boys in various fine arts competitions especially from the rural district colleges of the Valley.

“We have given fine arts a special space in the festival, and hence we held cartooning, painting, collage making and rangoli competitions during the course of the carnival. Undoubtedly, girls have proved to be better than boys in arts and even in debating which was held earlier today,” Shahid Khan, Cultural Officer, KU said.

Sonzal 2012 which was started by the Department of Students Welfare, Kashmir University, in 2007 is popular among the students and faculty members who comprised judges’ panels in many competitions.

Students who have won the music, theatre, and literary events and fine arts competitions during the festival would represent the Kashmir University in the North Zone- Inter University Youths Festival to be held by Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar from November 7- 11. 

Jammu, November 2
MV International School, Vijaypur, bagged seven medals in their first participation in Jammu Sahodya Athletic Meet (JSAM), hosted by Sainik School, Nagrota, where 11 CBSE affiliated schools from Jammu region participated.

Minister for Revenue, Raman Bhalla, was the chief guest on the occasion and gave away the medals and trophies.

The winning athletes include Jimmy Verma, who won two bronze medals (4x400 mtr relay race and 3000 mtr), Shivani Rajput, with two bronze medals (4x400 mtr relay race and 400 mtr), Amit Jamwal, who got a silver medal (110 mtr), Sakshi Sambyal and Harshita Sharma, who bagged two bronze medals (4x400 mtr relay race).

BN Sarkar, principal of the school, school management and chairman HL Abrol acknowledged the team and also the coach for the performance. 

Srinagar, November 2
Two residents of the city were among the three persons injured in different road accidents in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, police today said.

Mohammad Ashraf Shiekh (32) and Bilal Ahmad Dar (30), both residents of the city, were injured when a passenger cab they were travelling in skidded off the road near Titanic Point in Kulgam district.

Both the injured were shifted to sub-district hospital, Qazigund for treatment, a police spokesman said.

In another mishap, Mubarak Ahmad Itoo was injured when he was hit by a vehicle in Kulgam town.

Itoo was shifted to a hospital in Srinagar, the spokesman said.