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Work on country’s longest tunnel suspended
Tribune Exclusive
Home delivery of cooking gas in Kashmir soon
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Shinde’s ‘Hindu terror’ remark
Power woes deter bizmen from investing in Kashmir: Minister
Soz appeals on behalf of Urdu medium students
Militant hideout busted in Reasi
Jammu-Chandigarh train
Mufti hails resumption of
cross-LoC trade
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Work on country’s longest tunnel suspended
Batote, February 1 The skirmishes between the two groups since Wednesday evening snowballed into a free-for-all situation allegedly due to delayed arrival of the police. Six workers were injured in the clash. Bashir Ahmed of Rakh Jaddokh, a helper, was referred to the GMC, Jammu, while Yasir Katoch, a driver, Jaffar Mir, Rashid Ahmed, Gurmeet Singh and Mushqoor Ahmed were being treated at the SKME hospital, Batote. According to eyewitnesses, during the clash, besides two cars (a Tata Safari and Indica), a truck, an ambulance, and a bulldozer of Leighton Wellspun Contractors Ltd (LWCL) -the Australian firm constructing the tunnel for the National Highways Authority of India - were damaged. A bullet was reportedly also recovered from the site of the clash. On the complaint of the LWCL management, the police has registered a case against 12 persons under Sections 307 and 427 of the RPC. The police has launched a manhunt for the accused. The workers were allegedly protesting against the deduction of Rs 2,000 from the salary of each worker to supplement the compensation to the family of Chuni Lal, who was electrocuted on January 29. They were also demanding parity in wages, recruitment as per their skill, reinstatement of 10 retrenched workers, an extra ambulance and not to allot contracts inside the escape tunnel to the LWCL’s favourites. They had suspended the work on Wednesday evening when the LWCL management refused to hold a meeting with them and accede to their demands. At last, the LWCL project director told the protesters that he did not recognise any of the Unions but anybody could come to him for talks. He assured that those who indulged in vandalism would be terminated. He also assured that all those workers who were on medical leave or due to any genuine reason would be reinstated. Ramban Deputy Commissioner SA Bhat has called all the stakeholders for a meeting on Monday to end the impasse. |
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Tribune Exclusive
Jammu, February 1 “Under no circumstances, the Indian troops will cross the LoC. This has been made clear to all the troops deployed in Jammu and Kashmir,” a highly placed source told The Tribune. The Pakistan army, which has plenty of “rogue” elements supported by terrorist outfits operating on the LoC, had executed a well-planned and coordinated attack on the Indian soil by crossing the LoC on January 8. The Pakistani troops had killed two Indian soldiers Lance Naik Hem Raj and Suidhkar Singh. One of them was beheaded, and the body of the other was mutilated. “All the telltale signs were there to indicate that it was an act of the Pakistan army,” the source said. Anger among the Army men had mounted, but they, as disciplined soldiers, did not fall into the Pakistani trap. They did not cross the LoC to avenge the brutal murder of two of their colleagues. Now they have been told that India doesn’t want to escalate the situation on the LoC, where fragile peace is prevailing following the telephonic conversation of the Director Generals of Military Operations of India and Pakistan last month. “Any ceasefire violation by Pakistan will be responded with the same intensity but without violating the sanctity of the LoC,” the source said. The Indian Army would be within its right to shoot the intruders on this side of the LoC, be they Pakistan regular troops or terrorists sponsored by it. The source cited the example of the Kargil conflict of 1999, when the Indian Army could have crushed Pakistan had it crossed the LoC. But, it did not do that. Former Pakistan army chief Pervez Musharraf may say anything, the fact of the matter is that it was he who had asked the Prime Minister of the day, Nawaz Sharif, to visit the US and get the things de-escalated on the LoC as Pakistani soldiers were dying by the dozens in that sector on a daily basis. Indian soldiers, after tremendous sacrifices, regained the heights. They had scripted a new manual for mountain warfare. Defence Minister A K Antony has already rubbished the reports of Pakistanis being beheaded by the Indian Army in the past. “It’s all baseless,” he maintained on Thursday. |
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Home delivery of cooking gas in Kashmir soon
Srinagar, February 1 Thanks to the directives from the state government to ensure home delivery, which has already been resumed in various parts of Srinagar city, the supply of LPG refills at the designated points will be banned after March 31. This, however, seems to be a distant dream for various reasons, mainly the haphazard localities with unnumbered houses. In Jammu and Kashmir, the process of regularising domestic LPG connections has been a rigorous one, which led to public outcry for more than three months of autumn following the Central government’s decision to cap subsidised cylinders. These connections had not been accounted for over the past more than two decades in the wake of militancy in Kashmir, which also impacted the streamlining process in other parts of the state. The process got delayed and was extended till December-end last year to regularise and register over 6 lakh domestic connections in the Kashmir valley. The Directorate of Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution System (CA&PDS) has come out with a list of all 17 LPG outlets operating in Srinagar for the purpose of providing home delivery to consumers. The consumers have been directed to contact their respective dealers for availing the “home delivery” of LPG cylinders. “The decision to start home delivery of LPG to consumers in Srinagar and other major towns of the Valley has been taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah”, the Directorate of CA&PDS said. In the first phase, the process is being completed in Srinagar, which has the largest number (nearly 2 lakh) of domestic consumers as compared to other major towns of the Valley. The LPG dealers, on the other hand, have their fingers crossed over the issue, looking at varied problems coming in the way of ensuring a 100 per cent home delivery. “In the absence of house numbers, except for a few localities in Srinagar, it is difficult to ensure home delivery to all the consumers”, said Jagmohan Singh Raina, general secretary of the J&K LPG Distributors Association. He said except for a few localities like Jawahar Nagar, Karan Nagar and Chhanapora, there are hardly any colonies which have house numbers. Raina said at present 25 per cent of home delivery was going on and it would go up to around 50 per cent in the next three to four months. |
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Shinde’s ‘Hindu terror’ remark
Jammu, February 1 Sources said an aggressive campaign would be launched throughout the country and religious heads of various Hindu sects would also be roped in to “restore dignity and honour of the Hindus”. Although all organisations of the Sangh
Parivar, including the VHP, Bajrang Dal and the ABVP, would be involved in the campaign, the BJP would lead the campaign across the country. “The Parivar has decided not to be apologetic on the ‘malicious’ allegation levelled by the Congress leadership”, a senior BJP leader told The Tribune on the condition of anonymity. A clear message has already been sent to all the workers to return to politics of 1990s when the party had openly embarrassed Hindutava as its core agenda. Sources said like other parts of the country, this campaign would also be aggressively launched in the Jammu region where senior leaders of the Parivar would educate the party cadres about “malicious campaign” launched by the Congress against Hindus. Sources said senior Sangh Parivar leader Dr Manmohan
Vidhya, who reached Jammu today, would inform the workers about the ploy of the Congress to repeatedly “demonise” the Hindus. Vidhya is scheduled to address a number of meetings in Jammu. Along with
Vidhya, a couple of other senior RSS leaders also arrived in Jammu today to interact with the party cadres to educate them on “Hindu terror” issue. To counter the Congress’ allegation that the RSS and the BJP was supporting Hindu terrorists, the Parivar has devised a strategy to consolidate Hindu vote bank. “During our campaign, we will try to involve some religious heads to create an impression that the Congress has demonised the Hindus by dubbing them as terrorists just to get votes of a particular section”, a senior RSS leader said on the condition of anonymity. He exuded confidence that “Hindu terror” word would be boomeranged for the Congress party. The VHP and other organisations have also asked to establish connect with religious leaders to utilise their services. |
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Power woes deter bizmen from investing in Kashmir: Minister
Srinagar, February 1 “Electricity is the biggest problem here… otherwise all Indian industrialists would have come here,” Minister of State
(MoS) for Industries and Commerce Sajad Ahmad Kichloo told reporters here today. He said this after inaugurating the
counselling-cum-facilitation centre of the Federation Chambers of Industries Kashmir
(FCIK) at the Barzulla area of the city. As the centre has been set up to encourage local unemployed youth to start entrepreneurial ventures, Kichloo made the comments when asked whether electricity remained a deterrent to set up industries in the Valley. The minister said the government was taking the required steps to tackle the electricity problem in the state. However, he said the facilitation centre would still help in tackling the unemployment issue in Kashmir. “Many youth do not come forward… this centre will facilitate and educate them and it will also help reduce unemployment,” Kichloo said. Regarding the problems related to procuring loans faced by the youth in setting up industries or other entrepreneurial ventures, he said: “We have been getting many complaints in this regard. There are many formalities, including a lot of paperwork, in banks. We will take up the matter with the banks so that there are fewer
formalities.” FCIK president Zahoor Ahmad said the setting up of the centre was a “dream come true” for them. He said the centre would counsel and train local youth wishing to set up industries. |
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NGO reconstructing lives of those injured by border firing, blasts
Jammu, February 1 For the past 22 years,
Poonch-based NGO Pritam Spiritual Foundation Charitable Trust has been improving the lives of such victims. The NGO provides artificial limbs not only to J&K residents but also to those from
PoK. This Trust has so far provided artificial limbs totally free of cost to over 4,000 victims of the state and nearly a dozen residents of
PoK. Trust’s founder president Jagvir Singh said, “We set up the Trust in 1990 and since then we have not only provided artificial limbs to over 4,000 victims but have also presented wheelchairs, crutches and walkers.” Last year, Singh with his team also conducted a rehabilitation workshop in Poonch where 33 such victims between the age of 18 and 40 years were trained in cultivation of mushroom and apiculture. “The majority of them were victims of landmine explosions and firing victims,” said Singh. He said his Trust had also provided artificial limbs to nearly a dozen PoK citizens who had come via the
trans-LoC bus service to Poonch. “We provided them artificial limbs totally free of cost. They had fallen prey to landmine blasts on their side of the
LoC.” Singh claims that over 60 per cent of the population in forward areas of Poonch district has been rendered handicapped by such incidents. He said no compensation had been provided to such victims in the state, particularly before Operation Parakaram in 2001. “Death in such incidents is always wished by those left maimed because they die every moment,” said Shafiq Mir, convenor of the All J&K Panchayat Conference, who hails from Poonch district. “In the past over 22 years, the border areas in the state have become ammunition depots. If the security forces planted mines in forward areas then militants dumped grenades, mortars and other arms and ammunitions in fields and jungles. Consequently, innocent civilians, including school-going children, became sitting ducks to these stockpiles of deadly explosives,” he said. Even today farmers in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch are scared to plough their fields fearing that a mine might explode, he added. Admitting that border residents in the state continue to bear the brunt of mine explosions and cross-border firing by Pakistan, sitting legislator of Bishnah Assembly constituency Ashwani Sharma said that in his constituency the state government till date had not provided any ex gratia to such victims. “There have been deaths and serious injuries to people in my constituency. People, who were marginal farmers and sole bread earners of their families, lost limbs in mine explosions but this government has been silent on the issue,” he said. The exact number of civilians injured due to mine and grenade blasts or cross-border firing is not known, said an official of the state home department while admitting that a comprehensive mechanism was required for the victims and their families. Giving Succour
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Soz appeals on behalf of Urdu medium students
Srinagar, February 1 “It was a shock to learn that the future of some 5,000 students who have pursued studies from Urdu medium schools in Maharashtra and other states would find it difficult to appear in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-2013) to be held on May 5, 2013,” Soz has written as per a JKPCC statement issued here. Soz requested both the ministers to find ways to allow students from Urdu medium to appear in the test to pursue medical degrees. “Earlier when the test was not nationalised, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, Maharashtra, was conducting the medical entrance test in the Urdu medium as well, besides in other languages,” he added. He asked the ministers to ensure equal opportunities for Urdu medium students and deserving aspirants for greater uniformity across the country. |
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Militant hideout busted in Reasi
Katra, February 1 Acting on a tip-off, troops of 61 Rashtriya Rifles launched a search operation in Shakari forest belt of the district in the afternoon. During the search and cordon operation, the hideout was busted and
five Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), including four units with 1 kilogram of explosive and one
with half kilogram of explosive in a paint box, were recovered. |
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Jammu-Chandigarh train
Jammu, February 1 “We had already taken up the matter with Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal a week ago but interest showed by Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has encouraged us”, Kuldeep Singh, president of the Sabha, told The Tribune over the phone from Chandigarh. Singh said the Sabha had also submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in this regard. “We will again meet Union Railway Minister so that this proposal is incorporated in the Railway Budget”, he said. He added that the Sabha had been pursuing this matter for the past seven years because PGI-bound patients from Jammu and Kashmir had been facing a lot of hardships due to non-availability of direct train service. Singh, who is a faculty member of the Chandigarh Judicial Academy, recalled that former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had assured to start the train service but the proposal could not materialise. “This time we are hopeful that Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal would seriously consider our demand,” Singh said. — TNS |
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Mufti hails resumption of cross-LoC trade
Jammu, February 1 He was addressing a meeting of the PDP district committees of Poonch and Rajouri. He said the PDP had pioneered a political and economic agenda to establish sustainable peace in the subcontinent and for the development of backward and neglected areas. “Establishing lasting peace and to consolidate the reconciliation process is on top of PDP’s agenda,” Mufti said, adding “Our party, through its pro-peace policies, has consolidated reconciliation process and facilitated the efforts of establishing peace in this region.” — TNS |
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Batote, February 1
If all goes well, long queues of residents waiting for their turn to get an LPG cylinder at the designated points across the Srinagar city would not be seen.
