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Kargil council stalemate over, Cong to stake claim
Shrine board okays fresh initiatives to facilitate Vaishno Devi pilgrims
No lesson learnt from Bihar mid-day meal tragedy
Kishtwar riots: SIT files 3 chargesheets
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Legislature session on Sept 30
Another civilian killed in Shopian
Register case against CRPF men involved in Shopian killings, demands PDP
Pak again violates ceasefire in Poonch
2-day lockout strike by govt staff ends; fresh stir from Sept 17
BJP team in Kishtwar to assess losses in riots
New clauses likely to be incorporated in land Bill
Guv summons session of legislature on Sept 30
BJP out to woo West Pak Refugees ahead of LS poll
Temples Bill in for controversy
Leh council initiates coaching for students to improve results
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Kargil council stalemate over, Cong to stake claim
Srinagar, September 11 The National Conference, which had submitted a list of 17 members, staking the claim to the Council formation, withdrew its claim yesterday. Out of the four nominated seats, two each would now go to the Congress and the National Conference (NC), with the Congress going ahead with the Council formation, sources said. The Council formation would be given a green signal at the meeting of the Coordination Committee, headed by the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Saifuddin Soz, here tomorrow. The meeting would also be attended by Congress leaders, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand and Cabinet minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed. The NC is being represented by senior leaders, and ministers, Abdul Rahim Rather and Ali Mohammad Sagar, in addition to MLA Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan. Sources said the issue was resolved by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is also the working president of the NC, at a meeting with All India Congress Committee general secretary and Congress in charge of J&K Ambika Soni in New Delhi yesterday. The sources said both agreed upon sharing the four nominated members to end the stalemate. With the new proposition, the Congress would be having a majority with 17 members and the NC will have 13 members in the 30-member Kargil Council. Though none of the coalition parties, contesting separately, had a clear majority, the congress emerged as the single largest party with 11 elected members. It has got the support of five Independents, taking the number to 15, required for the majority in the 26-member council. Four others are nominated by the government. Earlier meetings of the Coordination Committee of the NC and the Congress had failed to reach any agreement as the Congress had resented to the nomination of the four members with voting rights to the LAHDC, Kargil, days before the scheduled oath ceremony. The oath-taking ceremony scheduled for September 7 was postponed as the nomination prior to that had tilted the balance in favour of the National conference. |
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Shrine board okays fresh initiatives to facilitate Vaishno Devi pilgrims
Srinagar, September 11 The 52nd meeting of the board was held in New Delhi yesterday under the chairmanship of Governor NN Vohra, who is the chairman of the board. The meeting was attended by board members E. Sreedharan, SS Bloeria, Ashok Bhan, Sudha Murthy, Shiv Kumar Sharma and H. L. Maini, chief executive officer (CEO) Navin K. Choudhary and additional chief executive officer M K Bhandari. The board was informed that, at the Governor’s request, Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami had last month reviewed the security of the shrine and had issued necessary directions to the state police and the CRPF for the time-bound completion of various security measures and arrangement for the necessary manpower and fund support for the safety of yatris. The CEO was directed to arrange regular meetings of the Shrine Board Security Commission, constituted under the chairmanship of former DGP Ashok Bhan, for reviewing the implementation of the decisions taken and dealing with any new situation. While approving the process underway for selecting a suitable partner to operate Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME), Katra, as a multi-specialty hospital, the board reiterated its earlier decision that the medical facilities to be provided to pilgrims and others should be of high standard and rationally priced. The board also approved the detailed project report of the medical institute that would involve an expenditure of about Rs 285 crore. The board was told about the Rs 45-crore project for securing the stabilisation of the Trikuta mountain slopes and thus ensuring against landslides and shooting stones, which have been causing serious injuries to pilgrims. The project, which involves the treatment of 24 landslide-prone sites above the yatra tracks, is planned for completion over the next two and a half years. A multi-purpose audio system is also being installed along the entire track from Banganga to Bhawan. The system, to be completed by August next year at a cost of Rs 12 crore, will aid the functioning of several important services, particularly CCTV, LAN, EPABX and public announcements in the event of any emergency. Sustained attention is being given to enlarge the infrastructure for the increasing number of yatris, who crossed the 1.05-crore mark last year. In this connection, the Aashirvad Complex at Katra and Parvati Complex at Bhawan, two major accommodation projects costing Rs 10.88 crore, had been completed. For meeting the projected increase in pressure on the facilities consequent to the opening of the Udhampur-Katra railway link later this year, the chairman has directed the time-bound implementation of several arrangements, including more lockers and improvement in toilets along the entire track. For yatri assistance |
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No lesson learnt from Bihar mid-day meal tragedy
Jammu, September 11 “There are around 5,000 government schools in the state which still lack the facility of kitchen-cum-stores, resulting in serious problem of storing foodgrain and utensils. In Jammu district, work on construction of kitchen-cum-stores in more than 950 primary and upper primary schools has not been started so far,” the sources said. The sources said the Central assistance of Rs 83.93 crore was released for the construction of kitchen-cum-stores for 11,815 schools from 2006-07 to 2012-13. “Of the 11,815 kitchen sheds sanctioned during the last fiscal, only 4,803 kitchen sheds were constructed and work on 2,315 kitchen-cum-stores is in progress. The construction work for 4,697 government schools has not yet been started despite the availability of funds,” the sources said, adding that the total expenditure incurred was just 55 per cent of allocated expenditure. The Centre expressed serious concern about the slow progress of construction of kitchen-cum-stories and told the state government to expedite the project, the sources said, adding that the state government had not submitted any proposal for new kitchen-cum-stores as most schools were in rented buildings and there was no space for construction of kitchen sheds. The sources said the Programme Approval Board (PAB) of the Union Human Resource Development Department has questioned the monitoring mechanism of the state government vis-à-vis implementation of the scheme as the state government had inspected only 38 per cent government schools during last financial year. “The PAB nailed the state government for its failure in implementation of the school health programme. Only 4,920 schools were covered under the school health programme which was 22 per cent of total schools to be covered under the scheme. The health check-up of only 1,99,064 children, 18 per cent of target, was carried out,” the sources said. The monitoring institutes, including the University of Jammu for Jammu division and the State Resource Centre for Kashmir division, pointed out that some government schools were found not serving regular meals to students, besides delay in payment of honorariums to cook-cum-helpers engaged for serving meals, with the quality of food being served not up to the mark. Deputy CM Tara Chand, the Minister for School Education, and Commissioner-Secretary of the department Hirdesh Kumar Singh were not available for comment. |
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Kishtwar riots: SIT files 3 chargesheets
Jammu, September 11 Jammu and Kashmir is the only Muslim majority state in the country. On August 9, when members of the majority community were heading towards Chowgan Ground to offer Eid prayers, some miscreants threw stones at them which led to communal clashes. Within few hours, around 60 shops, a patrol pump, four houses and many vehicles were set on fire. During the communal clashes, three people were killed and scores got injured. A judicial inquiry has also been ordered which is being headed by retired high court judge Justice R C Gandhi. The inquiry commission has been asked to submit the report within one month. — TNS
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Another civilian killed in Shopian
Anantnag, September 11
The killing comes less than a week after four persons, including three civilians and a Lashkar operative, were allegedly gunned down by personnel of the same battalion in the same area. The CRPF, however, have denied any role in today’s killing. “The CRPF did not open fire. Our men were not even deployed on the streets,” said CRPF spokesperson Kishore Prasad. The slain youth has been identified as Muhammad Rafiq Rather, son of Ghulam Qadir Rather of the Bona Saidapora area of Shopian. “Protests had been going on in the area intermittently since morning. After one of the bouts of clashes, Rafiq along with some friends was sitting in an alley,” a local resident said. Eyewitnesses said CRPF personnel spotted them sitting there and fired on them. “The firing was unprovoked,” alleged a local resident. The two injured persons have been shifted to the hospital. The police, however, in their statement has not mentioned the cause of Rafiq’s death. “According to initial reports, the slain Rafiq Ahmad was brought dead to Memandar hospital,” the police statement said. “The case stands registered and the investigation has been taken up by the police.” The statement also said two other people were injured. Curfew was relaxed today in many parts of the Shopian district, including the Gagren area. After the clashes broke out today, the authorities have reimposed restrictions across the south Kashmir district. Protests for the removal of the 14th Battalion of the CRPF have been going on in the Gagren area since Saturday after the civilian killings. Violent clashes erupted in many parts of the town as soon as the news of the killing went viral. More than half a dozen people have so far been injured in the fresh wave of clashes. Meanwhile, curfew remained imposed in the neighbouring Kulgam district for the fifth day and a complete shutdown was observed in Pulwama district. Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called for a complete shutdown on September 12 to protest the killing.
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Register case against CRPF men involved in Shopian killings, demands PDP
Srinagar, September 11 “CRPF men were involved in the killing of three civilians in Shopian. There are conflicting reports about the killing of the fourth person. So we demand that the government should register an FIR against them,” PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said while addressing a press conference in Srinagar today. “We give two days to the government to register an FIR,” she said. Mehbooba also demanded that the CRPF camp at Gagren in Shopian should be shifted immediately. “I have lost faith in this government. I am only raising the demands of the people of Shopian who have sought shifting of the camp and registering an FIR against the CRPF men,” she said. Four persons were killed on Saturday by CRPF men in Shopian. While the police on Monday said the three among those killed were civilians and another was a Lashkar-e-Toiba militant, residents have been claiming that all four were civilians, who were shot dead by CRPF men. The CRPF continues to maintain that all four were militants and one among them was involved in many attacks on security men. The PDP president said if the two demands were not met by the government immediately, they would take possible steps so that the government was forced to do it. She also attacked Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and said innocent people had died during his tenure. Earlier, Mehbooba was disallowed to visit Shopian and was detained at Pulwama. |
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Pak again violates ceasefire in Poonch
Jammu, September 11 Officiating defence spokesperson, Jammu, Shib Narayan Acharya said, “The Pakistan army fired upon Indian forward posts with small arms around 12.30 pm, which continued till 1.40 pm. This was unprovoked firing by the Pakistani side and the Indian Army retaliated with similar arms.” The Pakistan army has been violating the ceasefire for the past more than a month. They have been resorting to firing from small, medium and heavy arms with mortal shells from time to time on the Line of Control (LoC) in Mendhar, Balakote and other sectors. The Indian Army has been giving a befitting response to the Pakistani firing and has damaged several posts of the Pakistan army. Army sources said there was calm on the LoC for a few days as the Pakistani forces were busy developing their infrastructure which was damaged in the cross-border firing. The Pakistan army on Monday night had fired on two sub-sectors in the Poonch sector with small arms. for a few hours but no damage was reported from this side of the LoC. This year, Pakistan has violated the ceasefire highest number of times since 2003 when the truce agreement between India and Pakistan was put in place. The major aim of truce violations by Pakistan is to push militants into the Indian side to create trouble in hinterland. Due to the aggressive approach of the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, militant outfits, being controlled by their mentors in Pakistan, have suffered huge losses. |
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2-day lockout strike by govt staff ends; fresh stir from Sept 17
Srinagar, September 11 JCC leader Farooq Trali claimed that the strike was a “complete success” and it was observed at all the government offices of the Valley today and yesterday. He said the strike was also observed in the Jammu and Ladakh regions of the state. The strike was observed after the march of the government employees to the civil secretariat was foiled here on Monday. Later in the afternoon, JCC leaders, including Abdul Qayoom Wani and Trali, addressed a press conference where the amalgam announced its fresh programme. The JCC called for protests across the districts of the state on September 17 followed by a ‘mashaal march’ to the Chief Minister’s residence on September 18. Trali said protests outside the Divisional Commissioner’s office would also be held in Jammu on September 18 and 19. Besides, the JCC has also called for “Raj Bhawan chalo” in the summer capital on September 19. Trali said another two-day lockout strike would be observed on September 20 and 21. He said the JCC was being “forced to intensify protests as the government had continued to ignore their demands”. After a series of protests and strikes by the employees last year, the government had reached an agreement with the JCC wherein the employees were assured that a decision on their demands would be announced by September 30. However, the JCC then resumed protests, saying the government had failed to fulfil the promises made to them. This year, too, the government had urged the employee leaders to resolve their issues through talks but the same was rejected by the JCC. The employees’ demands include release of arrears recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission, enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60 years, removal of pay anomalies and regularisation of daily wagers and casual workers working in various government departments. The other JCC demands are inclusion of five years of contractual service of Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers in the service book and regularisation of education volunteers after seven years of service. |
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BJP team in Kishtwar to assess losses in riots
Jammu, September 11 The delegation will interact with locals to devise a joint strategy to take the fight of the riot victims to its logical conclusion. After the August 9 riots, the state government, in its agreement with the Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Jammu, had promised to complete the survey of losses within a month and said compensation “as per losses” would be disbursed next month to all affected families. Almost a month has passed, but no action has been taken so far. So the BJP availed of this opportunity to “expose” the state government for “taking such things casually”. “Earlier we had arranged meetings of the riot victims of Kishtwar with Members of Parliament of different political parties at New Delhi to apprise political groups of the country about the real situation (in Kishtwar),” Khanna told The Tribune. He said the delegation's purpose to visit Kishtwar was to assess the ground situation in the riot-hit town. He said the BJP delegation would visit Padder and other remote areas of Kishtwar district to get feedback from the people. On his way to Kishtwar, Khanna also convened meetings of party workers at Batote and Doda and sought views of the cadre on launching a campaign against policies of the state government. BJP sources said the party had devised a strategy to cash in on the prevailing sense of insecurity among the minority community in the erstwhile Doda district, especially after the Kishtwar riots. After the riots, the party has been deputing one team after another to the affected town to reap the political benefit of the prevailing situation in the belt which has been considered a citadel of the Congress. In the 2008 Assembly elections, the Congress had five out of six seats from the belt. One seat was won by the National Conference. Kishtwar Beopar Mandal president Rakesh Gupta regretted that the state government was trying to make a fool of them. “Till date, we have not received even a single penny despite government's announcement to give immediate relief to the tune of Rs 2 lakh each to the affected families,” he said. |
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New clauses likely to be incorporated in land Bill
Jammu, September 11 The Bill was tabled in the Assembly in 2011. It prohibits conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. As differences cropped up among political parties, Assembly Speaker referred the Bill to the Select Committee on April 1, 2011, for its final recommendations. Later, the Bill was referred to the Joint Select Committee comprising members of the Legislative Assembly and Council. The first meeting of the Joint Select Committee was held on August 26 this year, but the meeting remained introductory because new members were not aware of the deliberations in the earlier meetings. “The passing of the Land Acquisition Bill is likely to have its impact on the Bill introduced in the Assembly,” said Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, member of the Joint Select Committee. While terming the Land Acquisition Bill a good step in protecting the rights of farmers, Kamal predicted that some members were likely to raise the issue of extending the jurisdiction of the Bill to J&K in the coming Assembly session. He said the Land Acquisition Bill would have an impact on the Bill to ban conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. Sources said in the last meeting of the Joint Select Committee some members suggested that a clause should be incorporated into the Bill to make the Cabinet approval must to convert more than two kanals of agriculture land for non-agricultural purposes. Earlier, a proposal was made that any piece of land, which failed to yield any crop in three successive years, should be declared as barren. In the last meeting, a proposal was made to curtail this period to one year, sources said. Rani Billoria, member of the Join Select Committee, said the passing of the Land Acquisition Bill will have an impact on the Bill under consideration. “Let us wait for the response of the state government to extend the Land Acquisition Bill to J&K,” she said and added that the spirit of both Bills was almost the same. Sources said the chances of the passage of the Bill looked bleak because the government was adopting delaying tactics. More than two years have passed since the tabling of the Bill in the Assembly but nothing concrete has been done so far. |
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Guv summons session of legislature on Sept 30
Srinagar, September 11 Earlier, the state cabinet, on September 4, had considered and approved the proposal to this effect. The spokesman said the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council would meet at Srinagar on September 30 at 10.00 am and at 11.00 am, respectively. The autumn session, after the Budget session, held in Jammu earlier this year, is going to commence in the backdrop of various incidents of violence, witnessed across the state during the summer months. These include the killing of four persons in the Gool area of Ramban district in July and communal violence in Kishtwar beginning on Eid on August 9, both in the Jammu region. The recent killings of four persons by security forces in Shopian, resulting in continued restrictions in the area followed the earlier incidents of violence that rocked the state. The opposition parties, including the People’s Democratic Party and the BJP, among other issues, are expected to take on the government over these issues during the brief session which will be held in the summer capital before the offices close down here for the Durbar move to Jammu by the end of the next month. While the opposition parties are going to take on the government on different issues, the Congress is expected to raise the block development council elections, pending for the last more than two years. Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Saifuddin Soz has been advocating for the conduct of these elections after the panchayat elections were held two years ago.
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BJP out to woo West Pak Refugees ahead of LS poll
Jammu, September 11 The political parties have a reason to woo the refugees because their votes are a deciding factor in the Jammu-Poonch and Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seats of the Jammu province. The West Pakistan refugees, who have been denied all constitutional rights, can only cast their vote in the Lok Sabha elections. According to a rough estimate, there are around 1 lakh refugee voters in the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat and about 30,000 in the Udhampur-Doda seat. The BJP, which has taken the lead in “solving” the problems of the refugees, has decided to take out a yatra on october 2 to educate people about the displaced people. The party has chosen the border belt for the yatra, where the refugees have been camping since 1947. “Our yatra will start from Kathua village and pass through various areas inhabited by the West Pakistan refugees. It will culminate at Akhnoor,” Rajya Sabha member and in charge of J&K BJP Avinash Rai Khanna told The Tribune. Being the in charge of the state BJP, Khanna has decided to lead the yatra. “We have been repeatedly taking up the West Pakistani refugees issue in Parliament. This time we have decided to mobilise the refugees for their decisive war against those who have been opposing their citizenship,” he said. As a majority of the West Pakistan refugees are Dalits, Khanna has taken up the issue before the chairman of the National Scheduled Caste Commission to restore the constitutional rights to the “helpless” refugees. Two Congress Lok Sabha members, Madan Lal Sharma from Jammu-Poonch and Choudhary Lal Singh from Udhampur-Doda, have intensified their activities to “solve” the problems of the refugees. Both of them have brought the issue before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Chairman of the West Pakistani Refugees Action Committee Labha Ram Gandhi told The Tribune that these parties make false promises with them every time during the parliamentary elections. “We are fed up with their promises because since 1947 except promises nothing has been done for us,” he said and asserted that this time the West Pakistan refugees would give a befitting reply to those who have been opposing their citizenship rights. |
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Temples Bill in for controversy
Jammu, September 11 The Trust manages 12 shrines in the Valley, which have their annual income in crores and is run by Dr Karan Singh, heir to the erstwhile rulers. Over the past two decades, some influential persons having close proximity with political leaders have established separate management bodies for different temples. Sources said there was general consensus within the Select Committee constituted by the Legislature on April 5 to recommend amendments such as those shrines run by the Trust and other bodies constituted over past two decades should be kept out of the Bill’s purview. Officials maintained that though a final decision has been to be taken by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, would the Bill be introduced in the autumn session of the Assembly which will begin in Srinagar on September 30, but whenever it will be placed before the House for voting, this clause will be added. “There is a general agreement that shrines and temples already under the management of the Dharmath Trust and other bodies created by certain individuals should not be brought under the new law. Only those which are without any management mechanism must be considered. A meeting with such organisations has been called on September 25,” said a Law Ministry source on the condition of anonymity. However, displaced Hindus have been opposing any such move and have been demanding that a single management body be established on the pattern of the Muslim Auqaf Trust and Gurdwara Parbandak Committee to look after more than 500 shrines in the Valley, some of them more than 1,000 years old. “We will oppose any exclusion of temples from single management. We feared that some shrines which are under certain influential persons will be kept out of it,” said Dr Arjun Nath Pandita, president Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust (PNBMT). The Trust is a nodal body to chalk out and carry on the line of action to get the law enacted for the purpose. The Bill was first introduced in 2009 and since then has been being deferred. In April this year, it was again placed before the Assembly but opposition from some ruling party MLAs forced the Speaker to refer it to a Select Committee. Since the eruption of Pakistan-sponsored insurgency in the state in 1990, 208 temples have been damaged or burnt down by either rampaging mobs or insurgents. This was admitted by the government in the Assembly last year. Data states there are 438 shrines in the Valley. This has been disputed
by priests, who claim that the damage was much more and large chunks of land had been encroached in different villages, from where members of the minority community migrated due to threat from the terrorists both local
and foreign. Select Committee member MLA Chaman Lal Gupta said some temples were in good shape and under effective management and their opinion was important. “Respective Deputy Commissioners have been asked to submit a detailed data of the
management bodies already existing. Their views will be considered before any law is enacted,” Gupta said. However, Law Minister Mir Saifullah, who
heads the Select Committee, was unavailable for comments. |
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Leh council initiates coaching for students to improve results
Leh, September 11 The extra coaching classes of one hour each in the morning and evening in government schools was started in the first week of September and the programme will continue till the coverage of the entire syllabus. There are 14 higher secondary schools and 27 high schools in Leh district. The overall pass percentage in class 10th and 12th, in the board exams conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education, has remained around 30 to 40 per cent for the past few years. Interestingly, for the smooth conduct of the programme parents of the students are staying in the school on turn basis to support their wards and prepare food for them and the teachers. Respective constituency councillor of the LAHDC is also financially supporting the school management committee as per the need of students and teachers. “Education is the top priority of the LAHDC policy. Enrolment in schools is not an issue now, but improvement of education standards remains a worry and coaching for students is one of the measures for address the issue,” Chief Executive Councillor of LAHDC, Leh, Rigzin Spalbar, who is also in charge of the education department, said. He added that for the improvement of education standards in the government run schools, the LAHDC also introduced pre primary teachings in 2011. |
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Srinagar, September 11
As the countdown to the Lok Sabha elections has started, political parties have started “serious” efforts to woo the West Pakistan refugees who have been struggling to get their citizenship rights since 1947.
The political parties have a reason to woo the refugees because their votes are a deciding factor in the
Jammu-Poonch and Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seats of the Jammu province.
