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There is no flip-flop in coalition on 73rd Amendment, says Omar
Guv’s secretariat reopens in Jammu
Army: Govt must turn to village committees for panches’ security
Bedi probe panel starts hearing final arguments
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Twin capitals await completion of major sewerage plants
Civil secretariat staff express shock over PDD decision
Panchayat members rebuff Hizb chief for threatening them
Geelani alleges govt crackdown on Tehreek-e-Hurriyat
Militancy on sharp decline in JK, says police
Sports must not be linked with politics: Omar
Azad to visit Jammu, Kathua today
Pakistan fires on BSF posts
State to have MMS facility
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There is no flip-flop in coalition on 73rd Amendment, says Omar
Jammu, November 5 Although the Congress has been persistently demanding the 73rd Amendment for J-K, the Chief Minister said the coalition government had been very clear that the Amendment would not be brought to the state. The Congress had “forced” the government to defer the block development council elections at the eleventh hour only to extend the 73rd Amendment to J-K. Reiterating the National Conference’s stand on the issue, Omar said provisions of the Amendment would be incorporated in the existing Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act. “We have the unique distinction of our own constitution. Why should we incorporate (Amendments to) the central Constitution here when we can make changes in our own Panchayati Raj Act?” he asked. Omar said even before the panchayat elections were held, he had written to JKPCC chief Saifuddin Soz and sent copies to the Congress high command in Delhi telling them that the state government had every intention of reviewing its Panchayati Raj Act to incorporate those provisions of the 73rd Amendment that would be beneficial for the panchayati institution. He however, made it clear that at no point of time there had been any pressure to bring in the 73rd Amendment and there wasn’t any discord on the issue between the two coalition partners. Admitting that the state had been facing a crisis due to the decision of the Union Government to impose a cap on subsidised LPG cylinders, Omar said, “There is a problem on two accounts: firstly, people have to pay the increased market price and, secondly, the re-registration is causing difficulties for the common masses.” “Winter has already set in. Had this new regimen been launched in March, I would have been able put in place the necessary arrangements. This caught us by surprise,” he said. Virtually putting the ball in the Centre’s court, he said the state government was pressing for more subsidised cylinders and wanted the date for re-registration to be extended in view of the geographical location of J-K. Union Ministers Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad have also endorsed the demand of the state government. He ruled out raising the cap on subsidised cylinders from six to nine on the state’s expense. The Chief Minister said: “The additional subsidy on every three LPG cylinders would cost the state government Rs 225 crore annually. We can’t provide subsidy on power and LPG simultaneously. The power tariff is the second cheapest in the country after Sikkim and it is not possible to give subside on LPG too.” OmarSpeak We have the unique distinction of our own constitution. Why should we incorporate (Amendments to) the central Constitution here when we can make changes in our own Panchayati Raj Act? Provisions of the Amendment will be incorporated in the existing Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act |
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Guv’s secretariat reopens in Jammu
Jammu, November 5 Governor NN Vohra went around various wings of the Raj Bhawan secretariat and told officers and staff to maintain proper record-keeping and satisfactory maintenance of the entire complex. He also instructed the officers in charge of horticulture and floriculture departments to maintain attractive lawns and gardens. The Governor also inspected the solar power plant and the CRPF and J&K Police camps in the complex. The Governor was accompanied by Principal Secretary Navin K. Choudhary and other officials during his visit to various wings in the complex. Title revised
On the instructions of Governor NN Vohra, the Raj Bhawan secretariat has informed the state government that for future correspondence, instead of “His Excellency”, the word “Hon’ble” be used before the title of Governor. The word “Excellency” will, however, be used in Governor’s interactions with foreign dignitaries.
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Army: Govt must turn to village committees for panches’ security
Srinagar, Novemeber 5 “As far the Army is concerned, it had started dominating remote areas but over 33,000 elected representatives in the state still remain vulnerable vis-a-vis Salah-ud-Din’s threat, the remaining militants and fresh infiltration by 40 ultras in Kashmir this summer,” said a senior Army officer. He said a mischief-maker always had an upper hand and that a single shot was enough to knock-out an unarmed man in remote areas. To be precise, a gunman could rule the roost in any remote village, he said. The officer said, “We admit that against the backdrop of fresh threat, they (panchayat members) remain vulnerable to attacks but it is up to the state government to think about protecting them via special police officers or village defence committees as providing security to over 33,000 elected members is not practical for us,” he added. Besides guarding the vast frontiers, the Army was involved in counter-insurgency operations in the state but following the killings of three panchayat members and threats to others, the Army in tandem with the police had expanded its area of domination in remote areas to instill a sense of security among sarpanches and panches, said the officer. The Army in no way could provide security to each panchayat member and going by their number, 33,825, vis-à-vis fresh threat and presence of militants, they could be targeted easily, he added. The General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based Chinar Corps, Lt Gen Om Prakash, had stated yesterday in Srinagar that around 40 militants had managed to infiltrate into Kashmir this summer. A senior Army officer said the Army was hunting down the remaining ultras to bring down the level of violence to zero, which in turn would reduce the threat perception to the panchayat members. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today shied away from providing security to every panchayat member and downplayed Salah-ud-Din’s fresh threat. All J&K Panchayat Conference convenor Shafiq Mir said even 40 to 50 militants were enough to gun down unarmed elected representatives and that Salah-ud-Din’s threat could not be taken lightly. |
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Bedi probe panel starts hearing final arguments
Srinagar, November 5 While concluding his arguments today, the counsel representing the Chief Minster submitted that the allegations against Omar Abdullah were “just bald allegations” and based on “hearsay”. For three days, starting today, the commission will be hearing final arguments from all sides before concluding the proceedings. The one-man commission of inquiry headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice HS Bedi was appointed by the state government on November 18, 2011, to inquire into the mysterious death of Yousuf. Yousuf had died in police custody on September 30, 2011, after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah handed him over to the crime branch of the police on September 29, 2011. The Chief Minister had summoned Yousuf to his official residence at Gupkar after party workers had alleged that he had taken money from them after promising a legislator’s job to one of them and a ministerial berth to another. As the commission resumed its hearing today, the arguments were first opened by Senior Additional Advocate General Ali Mohammad Magray, who represented the state government in the matter. He is reported to have submitted that the government had taken all steps to “ensure a fair probe”, including appointment of the inquiry commission. Magray was seconded by advocate Gourav Pachnanda, who represented the Chief Minister. “Today, we concluded our arguments from the CM’s side and put forth our point of view. I submitted that the allegations against the Chief Minister are just bald allegations and not confirmed by any medical evidence,” Pachnanda told The Tribune. “I submitted that the allegations against the CM were just based on hearsay and not supported by any medical or other evidence.” |
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Twin capitals await completion of major sewerage plants
Srinagar, November 5 The work on the project was started in March 2008 under the Urban
Infrastructure and Development Scheme (UIG) of the Jawaharlal Nehru
National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The State Housing and Urban Development (HoUD) Department is overseeing the implementation of the projects which is being executed by the National Buildings Construction Corporations Ltd (NBCC). The HoUD has said in its official report that the pace of execution was slow due to shifting and realigning of utilities, site clearance and extremely narrow and congested areas of the old city. The overall physical progress achieved with regard to sewerage projects in Jammu and Srinagar stands at 40 per cent and 45 per cent respectively. A sewerage treatment plant of 27 million litre daily (MLD) capacity is about to complete in Jammu which is part of the project. For Srinagar, a 60 MLD capacity sewage treatment plant is being constructed with 60 per cent work having being completed. The budget allocations by the Central government for the two sewerage systems are Rs 129.23 crore and Rs 132.92 crore respectively. Besides construction of two plants in these cities, sewerage projects also include laying of trunk, lateral and raider sewer lines across major residential and commercial areas there and also providing house connections. The house connections phase will be taken up only after major sewerage lines are laid down which is a difficult part because of traffic congestion in commercial areas and limited space availability in residential areas of the old city, the official report says. In Jammu, sewer lines are being laid in 55.83 kilometers of the city connected to more than 30,000 homes. In Srinagar, the sewer lines will be connected to 48,000 homes spread across 143.8 kilometer area. The HoUD has set 30 September, 2013 and 31 March, 2014 deadline for the sewerage project completion in Jammu and Srinagar respectively. Hanging fire for years The work on two plants in Jammu and Srinagar was started in March 2008 Official report says the pace of execution was slow due to shifting and realigning of utilities and site clearance The overall physical progress of project is 40 per cent in Jammu and 45 per cent in Srinagar |
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Civil secretariat staff express shock over PDD decision
Jammu, November 5 Earlier, these employees used to a pay a fixed amount as electricity bill. The employees have also written to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah seeking his immediate intervention in the matter. The employees blamed the PDD authorities for “overruling” the cabinet decisions taken in 2001 and 2008 wherein, they said, it was decided that the government would “compensate or share” their monthly electricity bills. The employees said as per the cabinet decisions the government had fixed Rs 90 as monthly power tariff for a one-room set and Rs 150 for a two-room set. For the first time, the PDD authorities had done e-metering in all government quarters and the employees had been asked to pay according to actual electricity consumption. Sources said the PDD made it mandatory for all the Darbar Move employees to execute agreements or power supply would not be provided to them for the next six months. “The PDD officials have already collected the details vis-à-vis number of power connections in government quarters and they are issuing clearance certificate in favour of only those employees who sign the agreement with the department,” a source said. There are around 3,500 quarters of the Estates Department in Jammu, while the number of quarters in Srinagar is 1,250 meant for accommodating Durbar Move employees. The non-gazetted employees today thronged the office chamber of All Non-Gazetted Employees Union at the Civil Secretariat to chalk the strategy for taking up the matter with the state government. Rouf Ahmad Bhat, president, J&K Civil Secretariat Non-Gazetted Employees Union, said the employees were not against power reforms but the Cabinet decisions should not be overruled by the PDD authorities. “We will have to bear the brunt of the PDD decision because we are paying electricity bills at three separate places in a single year. Our parents live in villages while spouses and children put up in cities. A single employee has to pay power tariff at three separate places in a year which is totally unfair,” Bhat said. “And if the PDD wants to review the tariff, they should do it sympathetically,” Bhat said. The PDD had incurred a loss of about Rs 2,000 crore in 2011 owing to a huge gap in purchase and recovery bills. |
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Panchayat members rebuff Hizb chief for threatening them
Srinagar, November 5 “We know that Salah-ud-Din has issued threats to us but we will not resign,” the spokesman for the All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference, Ghulam Hassan Panzoo, said at a press conference in Srinagar. “We believe in democratic values and the Constitution of India and will continue to work to strengthen it at the grass-roots level,” he said. The slighting of the Hizb chief by panchayat members came on the same day when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said all panchayat members in the state would not be provided security in the wake of militant threats. Panzoo said they, too, had never demanded security for every panchayat member. “Wherever a panchayat member feels insecure, he should be provided security,” he said. “In case the government fails to provide security to those who are facing threat, the apex body of panches and sarpanches will go to New Delhi and stage protests at the Jantar Mantar,” he added. The Hizb chief in a recent interview to a Delhi-based news magazine had said the attacks against panches and sarpanches would continue. “Panches and sarpanches are exploited by India to project Kashmir as pro-India and as such they will continue to be targeted. No matter how much the government tries to secure them, they will still be attacked,” he was quoted by the magazine. After the threat by the Hizb chief, over 50 panchayat members have resigned from different parts of the Kashmir valley. Panzoo said after the fresh threat, many panches and sarpanches in the Valley were scared. The police said after two sarpanches had been killed by gunmen in Baramulla district in north Kashmir in September, over 1,000 panches and sarpanches had resigned through newspapers advertisements. However, the government maintains that only 51 panchayat members have submitted their resignations this year. “The militants should not attack the panchayat members as we have no affiliation with any party. If they want to attack, there are powerful people who have a security cover and they work under the Constitution of India,” Panzoo said. WHAT HIZB CHIEF HAD SAID Panches and sarpanches are exploited by India to project Kashmir as pro-India, and as such, they will continue to be targeted. No matter how much the government tries to secure them, they will still be attacked |
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Geelani alleges govt crackdown on Tehreek-e-Hurriyat
Srinagar, November 5 “Omar Abdullah’s government has failed to face us politically and now it is using the police and the Army to suppress the voice of the people,” Geelani said. Geelani, who heads the hardline separatist amalgam, is also a leader of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, which he founded in 2004 after splitting from his parent organisation Jamaat-e-Islami. The 83-year-old separatist alleged that the government has launched a crackdown against Tehreek-e-Hurriyat and has banned the religious and political work of his party. Geelani was reacting to the recent arrest of his party’s district president for north Kashmir’s Baramulla Ameer Hamza and another leader Mir Hafeezulah. He also condemned the police raid on Tehreek-e-Hurriyat’s Anantnag office.
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Militancy on sharp decline in JK, says police
Jammu, November 5 While Army Chief General Bikram Singh, on October 13 this year, had put the number of militants in the border state at 400, Director General of Police Ashok Prasad today said the number did not exceed beyond 250, which involved 150 dormant ultras. Talking to mediapersons after assuming his office on the opening day of the Darbar move here in the winter capital, Prasad said though there had never been a perfect method to count the number of militants, rough estimates suggest them to be around 230 to 250 in number. Among these, 25 to 30 ultras were in the Jammu region while the rest were in the Kashmir valley, he said. The DGP said this year so far, more than 100 militancy-related incidents had been reported across the state, which suggested that the remaining 150 ultras were dormant. He said various security agencies had been successful in containing the situation despite the fact that militants on the other side of the border faced a lot of pressure to infiltrate into the state. The DGP also classified the militants in three categories, those active within the state, those who were dormant and those who were desperate to infiltrate into the state from PoK. “Infiltrating into the state is not impossible but going by the arrangements in place and strict vigil along the frontiers, it has indeed become very difficult,” said Prasad. He said there was constant pressure on the international border and the Line of Control but the Army and the BSF were maintaining a strict vigil and thereby containing the situation. The Army chief had said there were 400 ultras in the state in an interview to a weekly news magazine in New Delhi. |
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Sports must not be linked with politics: Omar
Jammu, November 5 Reacting to threats issued by Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray over India-Pakistan cricket series beginning from December 25, Omar said: “We will never desire that sports should be mixed with politics.” He said it was not for the first time that India and Pakistan were playing matches after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. “Maybe, the matches were played at any other place but they were played. If they (Bal Thackeray) have a problem with matches between India and Pakistan then they should have also opposed them in the past but they didn’t. They issue statements under political compulsions,” Omar said. He hoped that wherever these matches were played, all security arrangements would be made. |
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Azad to visit Jammu, Kathua today
Jammu, November 5 In Jammu, Azad will participate in Divali/Eid-Gurpurab Milan function of the Jammu Lawyers under the leadership of advocate BS Slathia. The Jammu Lawyers are organising this function for the third time in a bid to strengthen communal harmony and brotherhood in the Jammu region. Loyalists of Ghulam Nabi Azad had been working overtime to inform people about the function. Lok Sabha member from Udhampur-Doda constituency Choudhary Lal Singh, Minister of State
for Cooperatives Manohar Lal Sharma and Member of Legislative Council Subash Gupta have been touring different areas of Kathua district to make the rally a success. |
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Pakistan fires on BSF posts
Jammu, November 5 “Around 1 pm, the Rangers opened few bursts of small arms fire on the Narayanpur border outpost near Chamliyal in the Ramgarh sector,” said a senior BSF officer. However, the BSF didn’t retaliate. “Since farmers on our side were busy harvesting the paddy crop, we didn’t retaliate because doing so could have put them in danger,” said the officer. The Rangers tried to target our observation posts, he added. |
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Srinagar, November 5 Aircel would launch the service, which allows subscribers to send multimedia content i.e. videos, pictures and text, before the year-end, the company officials said. — TNS
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Contrary to the claims of the coalition partner Congress, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today made it clear that the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution will not be implemented in Jammu and Kashmir.
Non-gazetted employees of the civil secretariat have expressed their concern over the decision of the Power Development Department to allot government quarters only to those who would agree to pay electricity bill as per the meter reading.
Earlier, these employees used to a pay a fixed amount as electricity bill.
The employees have also written to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah seeking his immediate intervention in the matter.
The employees blamed the PDD authorities for “overruling” the cabinet decisions taken in 2001 and 2008 wherein, they said, it was decided that the government would “compensate or share” their monthly electricity bills.
Days after the threat from Jihad Council and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed
Salah-ud-Din, panchayat members today asserted that they would continue to work to strengthen democratic institutions at the grass-roots level.
Srinagar, November 5
Going by the statements of two top authorities- the Army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police- the militant count in the state has declined from 400 to 250 in just three weeks.
While Army Chief General Bikram Singh, on October 13 this year, had put the number of militants in the border state at 400, Director General of Police Ashok Prasad today said the number did not exceed beyond 250, which involved 150 dormant ultras.
Jammu, November 5
