Anantnag, May 3
Residents of two villages today blocked the Railway track in the Wathall area of Qazigund for several hours.

The protesters alleged that they had not been duly compensated by the authorities for the land acquired from them by the Northern Railways.

The residents of Wathall and Humu villages in the area came out in large numbers and blocked the Railway track, sources said.

The protesters alleged that the authorities had promised them jobs, besides monetary compensation for the land they had provided to the Railways.

“We gave up our only source of income, our agricultural land,” said a protester, adding: “Now the Railways are fully functional they are shying away from fulfilling the promises made to us.”

The villagers said there were huge discrepancies in the allotment of compensation as well as the jobs.

“Some blue-eyed residents, who did not deserve a job as a part of the compensation got one but the deserving ones have been waiting for years now,” they alleged.

The protesters were later pacified by officials of the District Revenue Department. “The officials have sought a time period of three days to solve this long pending issue,” they said.

The protesters, including women and children, threatened to intensify their protest if their demands were not accepted.

Railway officials, meanwhile, maintained that they had nothing to do with the agitation as they had already paid the full amount of the compensation to the Revenue department concerned.

“Halting a train is a mark of protest, otherwise Railways has no role to play in this,” said Chief Controller of the Railways Vikramjeet Singh. “As far as providing jobs to these people is concerned that too has been done on the directions of the Revenue department,” he said.

He said his department had provided jobs to the people who had been recommended by the department concerned.

Assistant Commissioner Revenue (ACR), Anantnag, Ghulam Rasool Wani said he had sought a week's time from the protesters.

"There has been some delay in the process, but that has been due to the scrutiny of the files," said the ACR. 

Srinagar, May 3
Protection of forests in the state has been severely affected due to shortage of range officers (ROs). About 63 posts of range officer are lying vacant in different forest ranges of the state and most of these ranges are considered prone to timber smuggling.

Kupwara district is the worst affected with 18 posts of ROs lying vacant for the past over six months. The absence of ROs is affecting the monitoring of forest ranges leading to timber smuggling.

“One major reason of unabated timber smuggling in forests is the absence of ROs. Such officers are especially tasked with protection of forests from timber smugglers,” said a senior forest official.

“They (ROs) are assisted by a few forest guards and other field staff in monitoring of forests,” he added.

In Kashmir division, about 40 forest ranges are without the ROs for the past over a year. In Kupwara district, protection of forest ranges, including Magam, Handwara, Rajwar, Harai, Sogam and North Lolab (NL), has been severely affected in the absence of range officers.

“These forest ranges witness smuggling of timber time and again due to shortage of officers. RO assisted by a team of forest guards maintains a strict vigil on forests in his respective area,” said the official.

In Baramulla and Bandipora districts, the situation is no better. In Bandipora, eight forest ranges are without the ROs and six in Baramulla. Residents said they were suffering for want of timber as their respective forest ranges were causing inordinate delays in processing their cases for sanction of timber.

“We are suffering inordinate delays in sanction of timber due to absence of ROs in forest ranges. We are forced to make repeated visits to the office of DFOs concerned for procuring timber. Had RO been there, the sanction cases would have been disposed off in due course of time,” said Nazir Ahmad of Wadar Handwara.

The absence of ROs is also affecting the livelihood of many. “For the past many years, auction of timber has not been done by the forest ranges without ROs. We used to engage hundreds of labourers for transporting timber to depots for sale,” said Abdul Wahid of Kralpora.

Minister for Forests Main Altaf Ahmad said, “The vacancies would be filled in shortest possible time. We understand the problems of people and soon after opening of the civil secretariat in Srinagar, necessary steps will be taken to fill the vacancies.”

Srinagar, May 3
The Maisuma locality in the city here observed a shutdown over the reports of detention of chairperson of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik in New Delhi.

Malik, who was in New Delhi to lead a hunger strike against pronouncement of life sentences against his party activists, was detained yesterday, a JKLF spokesperson said. The hunger strike was also meant to demand the return of the bodies of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru and 1960s militant commander Mohammad Maqbool Bhat.

Guru was hanged on February 9, while Bhat was hanged on February 11 in 1984 in Tihar Jail. Both are buried inside the jail.

The JKLF spokesman said Malik, along with several other leaders, was “forcibly” put on a plane to Srinagar from New Delhi and later placed under detention at a police station.

When Malik’s news reached Maisuma early today, the JKLF sympathisers burnt tyres and pelted stones at the police after which shopkeepers downed their shutters and businesses were affected in the area. 

Srinagar, May 3
For the first time, police personnel would be deployed across the downtown areas of the city to regulate traffic. Despite an increase in traffic flow over the years, the old city areas so far had not witnessed deployment of policemen in full strength.

“From tomorrow, we will cover the maximum downtown areas by deploying our men at Rajouri Kadal, Bohri Kadal, Khanyar, Hawal, Gojwara, Nowhatta and other parts. Two to three men will be deployed at every beat depending on the requirement,” Srinagar Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Haseeb-ur-Rehman told The Tribune.

He said, last year, the department had deployed policemen at two or three points in downtown. However, he said it was for the first time that the traffic police personnel would be deployed across the major old city areas.

The traffic police had earlier this month launched a major drive to regulate traffic. The department had also joined hands with the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) to remove roadside encroachments. After removing encroachments in most of the southeastern parts of the city, including areas in and around nerve centre Lal Chowk, the authorities will soon launch another drive in the northwestern areas during the second phase.

The drive was launched after a nearly month-long counselling drive where students of the Kashmir University too were roped in to create awareness over adherence to traffic rules.

To regulate traffic, the authorities would also be giving specific numbers to buses plying on various routes just like the metros. Till now, all the buses plying on the city roads have only been displaying names of respective destinations.

An official said Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Shailendra Kumar had already passed directions to the traffic police and the Regional Transport Office in this regard. The official said besides numbering, buses plying on eastern and western parts of the summer capital would be marked with green and red six inches strip so that the vehicles ply on their respective routes. 

Srinagar, May 3
The School Education Employees Coordination Committee (SEECC) today held a meeting here to discuss the issue of placement of masters, lecturers, zonal education officers and chief education officers, who were promoted six months ago on a fast-track basis.

President of the Employees Joint Action Coordination Committee (EJAC) Abdul Qayoom Wani said all those promoted had been awaiting adjustments for the past six months, as the promotion orders were yet to be finalised by the officials at the Directorate and Secretariat level.

Wani said a few adjustments of those promoted have been done on the basis of political affiliations of the candidates.

He said class IV employees and non-teaching staff had been waiting for years for their promotions and some even died and some reached superannuation waitng for promotions.

He threatened that if the adjustment of the promoted employees was not made till May 10, the SEECC would have no option but to protest.

The committee has urged Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand to take immediate steps in this regard, so that the promotion process of the employees was not stalled any further.

The committee also expressed dismay over the non-seriousness of the state government in resolving the issues of the Rehbar-e-Taleem, volunteers and migrant substitutes that are lingering for many years now.

Srinagar, may 3
The High Court Bar Association (HCBA) today urged the government to increase security in jails after a Pakistani prisoner was attacked in Kot Balwal jail.

The association said prisoners lodged in jails outside Kashmir valley should be provided adequate security after the attack on Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistani jail and subsequent attack on Pakistani prisoner Sonaullah at Kot Balwal jail. Both attacks were carried out by fellow inmates.

In a statement issued after a meeting of its executive council here today, the HCBA said they had asked the government to provide adequate security to all the prisoners lodged outside Kashmir valley. The lawyers’ body said the meeting was called to discuss the safety of “Kashmir freedom fighters who had been lodged in various jails of the country and also the foreign Muslim prisoners who were also lodged outside Kashmir valley”.

“Bar feels that all the Kashmiri prisoners who are lodged outside the Kashmir valley have threat to their lives and are not safe including other prisoners,” HCBA said. It also demanded that “stern action” be taken against the Superintendent of Kot Balwal jail and others responsible for “murderous attack” on Sonaullah.

The HCBA had early this year released a report about the condition of jails in the region after visiting and meeting inmates in the state’s jails. More than 500 inmates, including 68 foreigners, were lodged in the Kot Balwal jail, the report said.

The report, which was released in January this year, said 45 foreigners lodged at Kot Balwal jail were detained under the provisions of the Public Safety Act while six were undertrial prisoners and five were convicts. —TNS

Srinagar, May 3
Specially abled children got a chance to exhibit their painting skills during the ongoing ‘Spring Festival’ at the Sangarmal shopping complex here today.

A painting competition for the specially abled saw a participation of around 20 students at Sangarmal. Bashir Ahmad, principal of ‘Shafaqat’ - special school for mentally challenged children, said the competition was held to encourage the students.

“Usually, the specially abled are confined to their homes and we held this competition to encourage them and to integrate them with the society….we call them special because they need special attention,” he said.

Akeel Hassan, executive director of the ‘Wings’ - a group that organised the programme, said the competition was organised to promote art and to encourage the specially abled children. He said the works would be judged by a jury of local artists later and the participants would be awarded accordingly.

Kashmir fashion designer of international fame Zubair Kirmani too was present on the occasion to encourage the specially abled children.

DJ Aki released a Kashmiri music remix number on the occasion. He said the remix would be uploaded on the Internet and money received from downloading it would be donated to the specially abled children.

The month-long Sangarmal Spring Festival was launched on April 14.

Handwara, May 3
With sunset, life comes to a standstill in many villages of Handwara tehsil, as people confine themselves indoors due to the fear of attacks from wild animals on prowl. The most affected villages reeling under the scare of wild animals include Hanjishot, Warpora, Rajwar, Rajpora, Zachaldara, Bawan, Shanu, Shatgund, Muqam, Harwat, Ringpath, Kaynyal, Badbukh, Hanga and Manzgam.

The increasing fear of attacks from wild animals has forced most of the people to abstain from work in orchards and vegetable fields. Locals said about a 10 leopards were roaming in villages here, posing serious danger to their lives. They said they were forced to accompany children to schools due to the wild-animal scare.

“Children are more prone to attacks from wild animals. We are forced to take children to the schools and accompany them back home,” said Tariq Ahmad Sheikh, a teacher from Mawar.

“Leopards are freely roaming in Mawar and its adjoining villages and dozens of cattle have been devoured,” he said.

A leopard on Thursday killed three goats in cowshed of Shabir Ahmad Dar of Warpora. Locals of Zachaldar, Ringpath and adjoining villages said leopards intensified their movement in the evening and pose serious threats to human lives.

They demanded that cages be set up in the villages to trap the animals and ensure their safety.