Handwara, January 17
The family of 13-year-old Tabinda Gani of Langate, who was allegedly raped and murdered in her native village, is awaiting justice for more than five years. Murder of the minor girl had evoked massive protests in the Valley for weeks forcing the then Ghulam Nabi Azad-led coalition government to order speedy trial in the case.

On July 2007, Tabinda, a Class VIII student, was found murdered in an orchard in Langate. Medical reports had confirmed that the abductors raped her before slitting her throat. “For past more than five years, the trial is going on at a snail’s pace. In spite of clinching evidence against the accused, they have not been hanged or sentenced to life,” complained Abdul Gani Shah, Tabinda’s father.

He said “The government had then announced setting up a fast-track court for speedy justice in the case. But the justice continues to elude us.” The family alleged they were made to run from pillar to post for justice but to no avail.

The victim was a student of Uqab English Medium Public School at Langate and had a desire to become a doctor, he said.

Four days after the brutal murder of minor girl, the police had arrested four accused, including two non-locals, and filed a challan against them. According to the police, the accused had confessed that they committed the crime. “We have produced all material evidence against the accused in the court of law. It is now for the court to decide the quantum of punishment based on the evidence,” said a police officer closely linked to the case.

Victim’s brother Mohd Iqbal said they expected a life imprisonment or death penalty to the accused within six months to one year but disgustingly for over the past five years the trial was going on at a snail’s pace. “In the recent Delhi gang-rape incident, the Government of India acted swiftly and constituted a fast track court for speedy trial of the case but in equally horrible rape and murder case in 2007, the state government promised the same only to cool the tempers and prevent protests,” said Iqbal.

Locals also demanded a death penalty to the accused. “The accused should be hanged so that the punishment serves as a deterrent to potential criminals,” said Mohd Sadiq, a local resident. 

Srinagar, January 17
Nearly four months after a baby girl with a cleft lip and palate was abandoned in the GB Pant Hospital here, a three-day-old infant girl was found dumped today in the washroom of the hospital. A sanitary inspector on his routine inspection found the abandoned baby and informed the hospital administration.

Dr Muneer Masoodi, medical superintendent, GB Pant Hospital, while describing these successive abandonment cases of infant girls as unfortunate, said the administration has approached the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar, for legal adoption of the infant girl.

“As against the last case, this time we were approached by a couple of interested parties who wanted to adopt this baby girl. After the CJM, Srinagar, issued directions to the hospital authorities, we handed over the baby girl to a Qazigund-based couple who expressed desire to adopt the baby,” Dr Masoodi told The Tribune.

He added an FIR has been lodged in Ram Munshi Bagh police station to look for biological parents of the infant who abandoned her.

Doctors posted at the hospital stated the baby is in a good health condition weighing 2.5 kg. “She is a healthy baby. It’s hard to ascertain the reason why her parents abandoned her,” Dr Masoodi said.

Social activists opine these cases of abandonment of infant girls may have a link with declining female gender ratio (as per Census 2011), leading to a negative approach of the society towards girls.

“All these instances suggest the society wants to get rid of girls. This is shameful as we are yet to evolve out of the pre-modern times in Saudi Arabia when girls were buried alive before the arrival of Prophet Muhammad to this area. Even in religion, he preached that this act of abandonment of infant girls is a major sin. But we somehow don’t have enough morals and understanding to save our girls,” Rehana Akhter, a social activist, said. 

Anantnag, January 17
Residents of Jablipora area of Bijbehara town yesterday held protest against the Power Development Department (PDD) for rampant and unscheduled power cuts.

Sources said the protesters blocked the Bijbehara-Shopian road for a couple of hours. The protesters said they were devoid of electricity as scheduled in other metered areas. They demanded that their area should be put on the metered areas map and the power supply should be scheduled accordingly.

“The PDD authorities promised that our area will get power supply like other metered areas. However, after two years of the installation of meters, we still follow the same old schedule,” said Muzaffar Ahmad, a local resident.

Local residents said they were tricked into the metering process by the PDD authorities with false promises. “We are paying almost triple money to the PDD and still the power supply has not been upgraded,” said Muhammad Ashraf, another resident.

Residents said they had been running from pillar to post throughout these two years but to no avail. “We even brought the matter to the notice of Power Commissioner but nobody seems to care about the plight of the common people,” they rued.

They said if the PDD authorities fail to meet their demands they would break their meters.

The PDD authorities maintained that the area was not fully metered and unless that was done, they could not provide the power supply like other metered areas.

“We have a single feeder in the area and some of the lines are metered while the others are not. Unless the area gets 100 per cent lines metered, nothing can be done in this regard,” said Muneeb Ahmad, executive engineer, PDD, Bijbehara circle.

He, however, promised that their problem would be solved within two days.

Srinagar, January 17
The government has extended the term of the seven-member panel, which was constituted to study the environmental impact of cement factories and crushers in Jammu and Kashmir.

Based on the report and the recommendations by the panel, the government is expected to formulate a comprehensive policy on the existing and future plans of the state.

“The term of the committee has been extended by two months to submit its report,” said an official from the Commerce and Industries Department. The panel, headed by the Commissioner Secretary to the state government, Industries & Commerce, was constituted in October last year and was tasked to submit its report within a period of one month.

The committee was tasked to undertake a study on all the cement factories in the state to assess the environmental pollution caused by these factories and come up with concrete recommendations for ensuring pollution free environment in the state. After completing the study, the panel had to submit its report to the committee on the environment of the state legislature.

Sources said the committee had engaged environmental experts from the Kashmir as well as Jammu universities for carrying out the field studies on the cement factories in Samba and Kathua regions in Jammu and Khrew area in Kashmir provinces, where majority of the cement factories were set up.

Sources said based on the outcome of the filed studies and recommendations made in the final report, the government would be formulating a comprehensive policy for minimising the environmental impact of the cement factories in the state.

Studies on impact of cement dust

Many of the previous studies conducted in areas around the cement factories in Krew and Pampore areas had highlighted the adverse impact of the environmental hazards emitted from the factories on the local ecology.

A past study on the effect of cement dust on Saffron carried out in the Krew area had concluded that the saffron production in the areas in close vicinity to the cement factories had reduced from the normal 150 gm per Kanal to as low as 70 gm.

“The study had shown that tiny dust particles emanating from the plants affected the leaf surfaces of saffron plant by blocking the stomata”, said Dr Farooq Ahmad, associate Professor at Environmental Sciences Division of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences & Technology (SKUAST), Kashmir, who had done the research on the adverse effects of cement dust on saffron.

The research study had also revealed that most of the saffron fields, where the production was hit, were located near Khrew, Wuyan, Pampore and Kanmoh that have cement plants operating in the area, with majority of them without electro-static precipitators.

Sources said during the recent field trips, experts appointed by the panel, had found that though many plants had installed pollution control devices but the dust particles in the areas surrounding these factories were found beyond permissible limits.

Besides, it was found that many of the factories had no green cover of plants surrounding factories to reduce the spread of cement dust to other areas.

The Panel

The members of the panel include the Superintendent of Police or his representative, Commissioner Secretary of the Forest Department or his representative, Chief Wildlife Warden, Secretary Pollution Control Board member, Director, Industries Kashmir, Director, Environment and Ecology and Director, Geology and Mining.

Anantnag, January 17
Two people, including a policeman, have been arrested for an alleged ATM fraud, here in south Kashmir, the police said. The police said the accused took ATM cards from people, who came to withdraw cash from the ATM machines, on pretext of helping them with operating the machine.

“They tactfully kept the original cards with them and gave fake cards in return. By the time people came to know about the wrong card, the accused managed to withdraw large amount from their accounts,” said RK Jalla, SSP, Anantnag.

The accused has been identified as Mohiuddin, a special police officer (SPO) with the Jammu and Kashmir police, and another named Tariq Ahmad Wani, a resident of Pulwama district.

“We received complaints from some people regarding the fraud, following which video footage from various bank branches were shown to the complainants, who managed to identify the two people,” said Zaheer Jafri, Deputy SP, Sadder, Anantnag.

He said the police managed to identify one of the accused as an SPO posted at the District Police Lines, Anantnag.

“He was arrested from the duty and it subsequently led to the arrest of the second accused,” said the Deputy SP.

The police has so far recovered a sum of Rs 1.15 lakh from the accused and half-a-dozen ATM cards.

“We are trying to track down the ATM card holders so that their cards can be returned. Meanwhile, a case bearing FIR number 17/2013, under Sections 420 and 380 have been registered,” the Dy SP said.

He said that the investigation was going on and more arrests are on the cards. 

Srinagar, January 17
Kiran Bedi, the first woman IPS officer of India, will visit the Kashmir valley on January 28 as part of the initiative of the Chandigarh-based Aryan Group of Colleges.

Bedi will hand over scholarships to needy students of the state for admission in courses like BTech and MBA at Aryan Group of Colleges, Chandigarh. Aryans Group of Colleges chairman Dr Anshu Kataria said scholarships were given on the merit-cum-means basis.

Students selected under scholarship would study in various courses like BTech, MTech, MBA, BBA, BCA, BEd, nursing, polytechnic, The candidates would be allotted the January or July 2013 batch as per the eligibility criteria.

Bedi had earlier selected a few students for their admission to Aryan Group of Colleges based on their financial needs and academic merit.

Apart from distributing scholarships, Kiran Bedi would address students on women empowerment.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Navjyoti Foundation and Aryans Group of Colleges on the basis of which scholarships were being provided to the students.

Srinagar, January 17
Chairman of moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference today received several public delegations seeking to redress their day-to-day problems like unavailability of electricity and the domestic cooking gas.

Assuring the delegations, Mirwaiz said while day-to-day needs and problems of people could not be ignored, the Hurriyat Conference could not be stopped from raising basic issues.

The statement from the Hurriyat chairman assumes importance since the separatists in Kashmir have been accused of ignoring the basic problems of the people and raising only “utopian” issues like freedom.

The delegation, comprising people from various areas of Srinagar, were today received by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq at his Nigeen residence, wherein they apprised the Hurriyat leader about problems being faced by them.

The Hurriyat chairman assured the delegations that even as the Hurriyat was engaged in activities aimed at resolving the Kashmir dispute, however, it could not ignore the problems being faced by the general public, the spokesman said.

Mirwaiz said Hurriyat was aware about the difficulties being faced by the people and their issues. The Hurriyat spokesman said one of the delegations apprised the APHC chairman about the ongoing road widening in their areas and sought his help in mitigating the problems of the shopkeepers affected by the road widening.

He said a delegation from Lal Bazaar area apprised Mirwaiz about power crisis and cooking gas unavailability in their area. “The delegations expressed their concern over the rising inflation and the careless attitude of the present government to mitigate their problems,” the Hurriyat spokesman said. 

Srinagar, January 17
The J&K Bank today organised awareness camps in Srinagar and Uri, wherein youth were apprised about various self-employment avenues. The camp was held at Akhoon Mohalla, Shalimar, in Srinagar.

JK Bank spokesman Sajjad Bazaz said the camp was organised in association with the Fisheries Department, wherein a large number of youth participated.

Speaking on the occasion, Rural Self Employment Training Institute (RSETI) director gave a detailed overview about the institute and informed the participants about the vision, objectives, scope, trainings, selection of candidates and activity-wise training programmes of the institute.

He said another awareness camp was organised by the bank in association with the Department of Agriculture at Gingle Uri in north Kashmir.

Bazaz said the participants were urged to cultivate the habit for savings and take advantage of products like agriculture, education loan and other self-employment schemes for eradicating unemployment in the area. 

Srinagar, January 17
A day-long animal clinical camp in collaboration with Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Shuhama, was organised by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Pulwama, today. The camp was held under the project “National Initiative on Climatic Resilient Agriculture (NICRA)”.

Experts from various fields of veterinary sciences attended the camp, an official spokesman said.

Various animal species, among the cattle, were found affected by nutritional anoestrus, besides, mineral deficiencies and low-grade infections of diverse symptoms. Sheep were affected by fungal dermatitis, respiratory tract infections and worm infection.

Awareness regarding control of infections in sheep and importance of sanitation and hygiene in cattle sheds were emphasised during the camp and about 100 cattle and 400 sheep were treated during the camp.

Meanwhile, an awareness camp regarding the employment avenues by sheep rearing and free medical check-up of sheep and goats was conducted by the Sheep Husbandry Department (SHD), Budgam, at far-flung uncovered areas of village Poshker in Khag block.

A large number of sheep and goats were examined for their health check up by expert doctors during the awareness camp. Free medicines allotted under Swiss scheme were distributed among the breeders.

District Sheep Husbandry Officer, Budgam, explained in detail regarding the various employment generation schemes of the Sheep Husbandry Department and asked the youth to come forward in large numbers for taking the benefit of these schemes.

He informed that cross-breeding level had reached upto 76.70 per cent in the district, which is highest among all the districts of the Valley.

He said the total sheep and goat population of the district had reached upto 2.44 lakh, meat production upto 12.40 lakh kg and wool production upto 3.25 lakh kg annually.

Jammu, January 17
A 12-member team along with three officials today left for participation in the 15th Youth National Volleyball Championship to be held at Shegaon, Buldana, in Maharashtra from January 19 to 24.

Before the final selection, the team attended a 15-day coaching camp organised by the State Sports Council at Gulshan Ground. The team was flagged off by general secretary of Jammu District Volleyball Association, H S Gill.

The team consists of Anil Kumar, Ankit Kumar, Mohd Aris Khan, Sajid Ahmed Khan, Mohd Sahil, Vicky Singh, Mushtaq Ahmed, Rahul Singh, Puneet Sharma, Chandan Sharma, Vikram Singh and Arvind Verma.