Jammu, February 28
As Finance Minister P Chidambaram presented the Union Budget with focus on taxing high-income groups and no changes in tax slabs and rate for personal income tax, the business community and the general public here has mixed opinion about the budget.

Chidambaram tried to keep the common man happy by not raising any new taxes while the focus has shifted to the high income groups.

People say that little has been done to find ways to curb the rising prices of essential commodities.

Walking a tightrope ahead of the General Election next year, Chidambaram offered minor sops to income tax payers but slapped a 10 per cent surcharge on super-rich segment and the corporate sector.

He also levied inheritance tax and raised duties on mobile phones, cigarettes and luxury vehicles.

Batote, February 28
A major snag in the power line of 132 KV National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) threw normal life out of gear depriving the residents of Doda and Kishtwar districts of power supply for 18 hours.

The offices, banks and other business establishments were also remained affected till today noon.

“Heavy lightening coupled with rain and snowfall snapped a conductor span (wire) of the 132 KV Udhampur-Kishtwar power line last morning affecting the power supply between Doda and Premnagar,” said SK Koul, Superintending Engineer, Power Development Department (PDD), Doda-Kishtwar.

“The delay was caused due to difficulty in locating the fault and mobilising men and machinery in the bad weather,” he added.

The power supply in various parts of Ramban district, including like Batote, was also disrupted since yesterday as a result of which residents groped in the dark.

“Because of the heavy snowfall and incessant downpour we had to close the power feeders as a precautionary measure to avoid major damage,” said SC Meenia, Senior Engineer, PDD, Batote. 

Jammu, February 28
The All Jammu & Kashmir National Youth Corps (JKNYC) today asked the government to review their services as “thousands of unemployed youth were engaged to monitor developmental works” under the scheme.

Syed Baker Ali Jafri, state joint secretary, JKNYC, said 8,000 unemployed youth had been engaged to provide them employment and monitor developmental activities, particularly in the rural and militancy-infested areas. But their services were being terminated, he lamented.

“Volunteers were selected from all the 22 districts of the state and they have done their services excellently in the past two years. Now their services are being terminated without giving any reason,” Bhat said.

Protesters demanded that they should be given extension as most of the youth were working with dedication in their respective areas despite being paid Rs 2,500 monthly.

Bhat said they were recruited through a transparent method and were serving 14 different departments.

The protesters threatened to sit on hunger strike if their demands for regularisation and extension of services were not accepted. —TNS

Jammu, February 28
Former employees of the State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) today organised a rally to protest against the “failure of government to fulfill its promise” when they took voluntary retirement.

The retired employees, under the banner of the All J&K SRTC Volunteer Retirement Employees Association (VREA), alleged that both the management and the government had failed to fulfill their promises.

The protesters said their dues, including 126 slabs of Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), should be cleared immediately.

The association also demanded a vigilance probe into the alleged misuse of the crores of rupees released for clearing the COLA slabs of the employees.

It said that government had “trapped them assuring that the money will be cleared on time” but only few people got their dues cleared once they retired.

The protesters raised slogans against the managing director of the corporation and the Finance Department for delay in fulfilling their promise.

Dev Raj Bali, the association president, said the SRTC management had not cleared their pending arrears since 1999 and not implemented the Sixth Pay Commission.

“The SRTC management wrongly represented our case before the Finance Department which is still pending. We are struggling for the past two years,” he said.

He added that most of the employees who had opted for the voluntary retirement were still waiting for the clearance of their money.

“They say the corporation has no money. But why did they promise that if we take voluntary retirement our dues will be cleared,” said Ashok Singh, a protester. 

Jammu, February 28
In order to provide round-the-clock irrigation facilities to farmers, the Command Area Development wing of the Agriculture Department is all set to begin concreting work on water channels in paddy fields of the areas falling under the Pargwal project this year.

This was stated by Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir while he was chairing a high-level meeting of officers of Command Area Development organised to review the activities of the wing here today.

The minister said the work on the Pargwal project, which would cost Rs 14.61 crore, would be started with the state funds this year till the Central share is released.

The Agriculture Minister said this would help farmers in enhancing crop production.

It was informed in the meeting that, at present, irrigation facilities to farmers of Jammu were being provided through the Ranbir Canal and New Pratap Canal projects.

Besides, an area of 7,996 hectares has been covered under irrigation through the Ranbir Canal for which an amount of Rs 929.52 lakh has been incurred so far.

An area of 1,100 hectares has been irrigated through the New Pratap Canal Project at a cost of Rs 120 lakh.

Ghulam Hassan Mir asked the officials concerned to ensure that the concreting work is done by using quality material and is completed within the specified time.

The Minister for Agriculture said agriculture sector was a big contributor in the state’s economy and the government was endeavouring to enhance the production, both qualitatively and quantitatively, through introduction of latest techonology and expertise. 

Jammu, February 28
The Children’s Welfare Society today submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah demanding amendment to the current Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDAT) Act.

Submitting a memorandum to the Chief Minister, Gurdeep Singh Sasan, chairman, Children’s Welfare Society, expressed surprise over the recommendations of the J&K State Advisory Board for PC-PNDT Act in its latest meeting held in November last.

He said female foeticide was “murder, criminal conspiracy, violence against a particular gender, besides being unethical.

The society appealed to the Chief Minster to bring necessary amendments to the Act and book the perpetrators under Sections 302 and 120B of the IPC/RPC and other relevant sections.

The society also sought to make it mandatory for all sonographic centres to go online regarding information. It said there was a need to bring transparency in sonographic tests conducted on pregnant women and also make mandatory for such clinics to maintain proper details of the tests conducted on pregnant women on their website.

Expressing concern over the alarming rise in crimes against women, the society urged the Chief Minister to make necessary amendments to Sections 375, 376, 354 and 509 of the IPC/RPC and make provision for giving death penalty to perpetrators of such heinous crimes.

Women candidates should be exempted from payment of fees for appearing in competitive examinations, the society demanded.

Women should be allotted minimum quota of 33 per cent for jobs in government departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs), recruitment boards and judiciary.

Anita Rachpal Singh, Dr KS Kotwal, Dr Vionod Bhityal, Dr SK Gupta, Advocate Surinder Singh, Prof Surjeet Kour, Dr Swarn Singh, Dr Priyanka, Dr Harjinder Kour and Prof Sushma were among the signatories to the memorandum. 

Jammu, February 28
The Panun Kashmir (PK), a frontal organisation of displaced Kashmiri Hindus, will organise a national seminar to make people across the country aware about the “need for re-organisation of Jammu and Kashmir to safeguard the interests of minorities”, in New Delhi on March 3.

Kuldeep Raina, general secretary, PK, said, ”Eminent speakers and leaders from various national parties will participate in the conference. Speakers from the state will bring to the fore the aspirations of the nationalist forces and the minorities of the state.”

He said nationalist people of the state were demanding political re-organisation for the implementation of the Indian Constitution in letter and spirit in the state. “Their long-time demands have been the creation of the homeland with the union territory on the north and east of the Jhelum in Kashmir for displaced Kashmiri Hindus, union territory of Ladakh and the settlement of refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).”

Raina said the women’s wing of the PK, ‘Daughters of Vitasta’, would also organise a women’s conference in Jammu on March 24. He said the thrust of the women’s conference would be on the role of Kashmiri Pandit women towards the resurgence of the community to counter social evils. 

Jammu, February 28
The seven-member wrestling team of Jammu and Kashmir today left for Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, to participate in the All India Invitational Indian Style Wrestling Championship and Mahan Bharat Kesari Title 2013 slated 
to be held from 
February 28.

The team was selected during selection trials-cum-screening conducted by the J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association at MA Stadium in Jammu under the overall supervision of its president Shiv Kumar Sharma.

The team comprises Sachin Kumar (51 kg) of Samba, Shami (55 kg) of Jammu, Rohit Kumar (60 kg) of Jammu, Aniyat Ali (66 kg) of Jammu, Rakesh Kumar (74 kg) of Jammu, Gopal Sharma (84 kg) of Jammu and Sujjan Ali (96 kg) of Jammu. Mulkh Raj Sharma is accompanying the team as coach. Prem Kumar is the team manager and Bansi Lal Tidyal is the technical official.

J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association members who were present on the occasion include general secretary Rakesh Khajuria and treasurer RR Sharma.

J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association president Shiv Kumar Sharma has announced a cash prize of Rs 31,000 for the gold medal winner and Rs 21,000 and 11,000 for 
silver and bronze 
medallists, respectively.

Srinagar, February 28
The Agriculture Department today organised an awareness camp for farmers in the Kangan area of Ganderbal district in which local panchayat members and a large number of farmers participated.

The farmers were apprised about various initiatives being undertaken by the department under various Centrally sponsored schemes for boosting the agricultural production, a spokesman said.

“On the occasion, Chief Agriculture Officer SA Shah said in the current financial year, 14 farm tractors, one power tiller, 100 irrigation pump sets, six tubewells, 50 poly green houses, 10 vermi-compost units, one borewell and other power and manually operated equipment were provided to farmers of Kangan sub division,” the spokesman said.

While quoting him, the spokesman said in this regard, an amount of Rs 43 lakh was being given to farmers.

“In addition, Rs 50 lakh have been earmarked for undertaking different activities in two watershed projects of Wangth and Anderwan of the sub division,” he said.

Jammu, February 28
The Customs and Central Excise team bagged both singles and doubles titles in the table tennis event of the Annual Sports Meet of Centre Government Employees, organised by the Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committee (CGEWCC) at IIIM Sports Complex here today.

In the singles final, Ajay Thakral of the Customs and Excise got the better of Chand Raina of the IIIM in straight sets. The set score read 11-02, 11-04, 12-10.

The doubles final was won by Ajay Thakral and SK Gupta who beat Kuldeep and Sat Pal Rawat of the Customs and Excise by 2-1 (11-04, 08-11, 11-07) sets.

The table tennis competition was held under the supervision of committee members Ashok Chada, BS Bhan, PS Jamwal, Shashi Jamwal, Sunil Chakoo and Anoop Magotra.

The badminton event of the ongoing meet will start tomorrow at the RRL School Indoor Sports Complex.

Jammu, February 28
In a bid to fill up vacant posts of doctors for providing improved health care facilities to people living in inaccessible areas, the government has engaged 136 unemployed doctors under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

Minister of State for Health Shabir Ahmed Khan distributed engagement and posting orders among the selected doctors at a function held at the NRHM office here today. NRHM director Yashpal Sharma and other senior health officials were present on the occasion.

The minister asked the selected doctors to work with full dedication. — TNS