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Cong gets into poll
mode, ropes in NC, PDP leaders into JKPCC
3.02 lakh families yet to be given ration cards
Ranjit Sagar
Dam |
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State mulls 5-yr action plan for agricultural growth
Hafiz Saeed providing launch pad to terrorists near
LoC: Army
Govt has no plans to revoke SMS ban
J&K losing forest cover to infrastructure projects
I am being victimised by the system, says Cong minister Sham Lal
Sham Lal Sharma, Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, addresses a lawyers’ meet in Jammu on Monday. Tribune photo: Inderjeet Singh
Kashmir apples lose sheen this season
Apples being packaged on the outskirts of Srinagar. Tribune photo: Yawar Kabli
Kishtwar riot victims being harassed, claims BJP
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Cong gets into poll
mode, ropes in NC, PDP leaders into JKPCC
Jammu, October 14 While the National Conference is the senior ally in the ruling coalition, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had parted ways with the Congress in 2008 resulting in the unceremonious exit of then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. Already into election mode, Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi today accepted suggestions to rope in some prominent faces from the National Conference and the PDP into the JKPCC. The list of 15 prominent faces also included some former bureaucrats. According to an official handout issued by the All India Congress Committee general secretary, Janardan Dwivedi, in New
Delhi, Sonia Gandhi accepted the suggestion to include 15 prominent persons in the JKPCC with immediate effect. They include Thakur Balbir Singh, Murtaza Khan, Syeed Tassaduq Hussain, Mujeeb Ali Sheikh (all from PDP), Mohammed Aslam Goni (NC), Gurbachan Kaur, Ghulam Hassan Geelani, journalist-turned-politician Shafeeq Mir, former bureaucrat Zahida Khan, former state information director Farooq Ahmed Renzu, Bashir Ahmed Shah, Ghulam Hassan Rather, Gulzar Ahmed, Tafazul Hussain and Wali Mohammed. Reacting to the new JKPCC list, prominent PDP leader Thakur Balbir Singh said, “I have no knowledge about it. I just returned from touring my constituency and I am hearing it from you. How can they do it without my consent?” Another PDP leader Murtaza Khan said, “Principally, it is settled that I am in the Congress but it would not be appropriate for me to make a comment
till the time a formal function of joining the party takes place.” Syed Tassadu Hussain, one of the founder members of the PDP who lost the last Assembly elections from the Rajouri segment by 136 votes, said: “I was aware of it. I have joined the Congress out of my own choice.” Despite repeated attempts, NC leader Mohammed Aslam Goni could not be contacted over the phone. Sonia has also constituted coordination, disciplinary and election panels
for J&K. She has accorded her approval to the J&K Congress coordination committee that includes in charge of J-K party affairs Ambika Soni, JKPCC president Saifuddin Soz, Congress Legislature Party leader Choudhary Mohammed Aslam, Deputy CM Tara Chand, Muzzaffer Parey and RS Chib. The disciplinary committee includes Gurmukh Singh, who is chairman of the panel, GN Moonga, Narboo Gyalson, Vinod Sharma and Anwar Bhat. The election panel includes Saifuddin Soz, Choudhary Mohammed Aslam, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Tara Chand, Peerzada Mohammed
Syeed, Sham Lal Sharma, GA Mir, Mohammed Sharif Niaz, Bashir Ahmed Magrey, Shamphel, Khemlata Wakhloo and Ravinder Sharma. |
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3.02 lakh families yet to be given ration cards
Srinagar, October 14 The state receives monthly supply of these essential supplies as per the fixed scale of Rs 35 per kg per ration card holder. The official records say there are 1,96,204 ration card holders in the state (as per Census 2001). The CAPD report says according to Census 2011, essential supplies should be provided to at least 3.02 lakh more families in the state with a national average of 5.52 persons per family. "There has been an augmentation in the population as per Census 2011 of nearly 23 lakh people in the state from the figures of Census 2001. However, the mothly supply continues to be allocated to the state as per the old figures." the official report stated. The report further says that the food grains are lifted from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) on a monthly basis to Kashmir and Jammu divisions and then reallocated among the districts of these divisions as per the registered ration card holders with the CAPD department. The CAPD report says that currently there are 2.90 lakh cylinders in stock with the department available with various oil companies. Meanwhile, people are feeling the pinch of shortage in essential supplies especially during the festival season when the CAPD ration depots run short of supply. "Even after the state government admitted that there is a shortage of essential supplies, it is doing nothing to address the grievances of the common man. Only a couple of days are left before Eid but the government depots are already empty and people are forced to buy from markets," Ghulam Muhammad Beigh, a Srinagar-based businessman said. The state government has said in its report that the necessary steps required to address the ration needs of 3.02 lakh families in the state will be fulfilled by the National Food Security Bill, which was passed by Parliament recently.
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Ranjit Sagar
Dam
Srinagar, October 14 The state government has said it has taken up the matter of the release of the balance amount with the Punjab Government. This was revealed by the government in the documents submitted in the just concluded Assembly session in response to questions put up by MLA Jagdish Raj Sapolia. Sapolia had wanted to know the details of the compensation paid to the people whose land had been submerged in the dam waters. In a separate query, he had also sought details of the employment provided to the people ousted by the coming up of the dam. “About 2,000 persons out of the total 8,579 affected by the dam construction are yet to be paid compensation for the land acquired for construction of the Ranjit Sagar Dam by the Government of Punjab, due to non-release of the funds by the indenting department of the Punjab Government,” the government stated in its written reply. It said the total compensation amount to be paid to the 2,000 persons was Rs 28.42 crore, excluding the interest money. For the construction of the dam for storage of water and hydropower generation on the Ravi near Thein village in Jammu and Kashmir, thousands of acres of land in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh was acquired by the Punjab Government. “Despite the earnest efforts of the state government, the Punjab Government has not released the balance amount so for. The matter has again been taken up with the Punjab Government for resolution of all outstanding issues, including the release of the balance land compensation,” the government said. Since April 2012, 482 persons affected by the Ranjit Sagar Dam have been provided jobs under the Relief and Rehabilitation Policy so far, the government added. Multi-state project
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State mulls 5-yr action plan for agricultural growth
Srinagar, October 14 This was decided at the 10th meeting of the University Council of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu, held at Raj Bhavan here today under the chairmanship of Governor NN Vohra, who is also the Chancellor of the University. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also attended the meeting. A high-level committee has been set up to prepare the action plan in collaboration with all the concerned line departments. The committee comprises the Minister for Forests, Minister for Agriculture, Minister of State for Animal and Sheep Husbandry, Vice Chancellors of both the farm universities of the state and the Commissioner-Secretary, Agriculture Production. Addressing the meeting, the Governor emphasised the need for adequate utilisation of infrastructure, manpower and all other resources available with the farm universities for maximising their outputs. He said all necessary measures should be taken to enhance the production of dairy, poultry, mutton and fish on urgent basis. Vohra also called for close coordination among both the farm universities of the state and extension agencies of the government for enhancing agri-productivity on sustainable basis. Reviewing the intake capacity of the SKUAST, Jammu, the Governor said every effort must be made to ensure that no seat in any discipline remains unfilled. Regarding the status of infrastructure works, Vohra asked the Vice Chancellor to take up the matter with the concerned executing agencies for ensuring timely completion of all such works. He also emphasised expediting all the required measures to facilitate construction of building for Maize Research sub-station at Sansoo in Udhampur district in a time-bound manner. While reviewing the progress made with regard to establishment of Krishi Vigyan Kendras in Samba, Udhampur and Ramban districts, the Governor told the Vice Chancellor to pursue the matter with the concerned authorities for expediting possession of land.
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Hafiz Saeed providing launch pad to terrorists near
LoC: Army
Rajouri, October 14 The Commander said, “There are reports about Hafiz Saeed’s presence in Muzaffarabad, where he meets terrorists. We have information that big terrorist leaders are continuously visiting various areas near the LoC and motivating militants to infiltrate into the Indian territory.” "Firing from across the border has increased in the past two-three months. Besides, ceasefire violations and infiltration attempts have also increased. The situation on the border is tense," he said. The Commander said a number of terrorists were waiting to sneak into the country but high vigil on the border had foiled their attempts. Speaking on the situation in the Rajouri and Poonch region, he said, “There are some militants present in Rajouri and Poonch, but they are on a silent mode," he said. “There are possibilities that militants will focus on the Rajouri-Poonch borders to infiltrate, owing to heavy snowfall in the Kashmir region,” he said. Talking to mediapersons regarding new training camps active in the PoK, he said, “Over 30-40 training camps are already active near the LoC, where a massive number of terrorists are being trained,” he said. tion. Our counter-infiltration postures are very strong,” he added.
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Govt has no plans to revoke SMS ban
Srinagar, October 14 While there are no official figures available about the number of pre-paid and post-paid mobile subscribers, as per the figures of the Economic Survey Report-2013, the number of cell phone users in the state has increased from 40,000 in 2004 to 9 lakh in 2012. “The short message service to all the pre-paid mobile subscribers has been suspended till further orders vide Government order No. Home-1479 of 2010 dated December 22, 2010,” the state government said in the documents tabled in the just concluded Assembly session. It said the ban on the messaging service in the state was imposed “with a view to stop circulation of rumours through fake and false” messages. “These (kind of messages) have a tendency to arouse the passions, vitiate the peaceful atmosphere thereby resulting in law and order problems,” the government stated in the documents, which were tabled in the Assembly in response to a question by Independent MLA Engineer Abdul Rasheed, who wanted to know the objective of the government for imposing the ban. “There is no proposal under consideration to revoke the suspension of SMSes for pre-prepaid mobile subscribers,” the government said on being asked if it planned to lift the SMS ban on prepaid mobiles. Earlier, the SMS facility on prepaid as well as post-paid mobile phones was withdrawn in the state during the Amarnath land row agitation in 2008. The service was later restored for a brief period. The ban on sending bulk messages on postpaid phones, however, continues in the state. One cannot send more than 100 messages from a single SIM card during a day in J&K through the post-paid
service. CHECK ON RUMOURS
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J&K losing forest cover to infrastructure projects
Srinagar, October 14 As per the figures, 875.6647 hectares of forest land has been used for construction of roads under the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), the nationwide rural road connectivity initiative. Besides human encroachments, infrastructure projects in the state are turning out to be the second largest reason of fast depleting forest cover in Jammu and Kashmir, the data revealed. The government, however, during the recently concluded autumn session of the state legislature said due to the conversion of a total of 875.6647 hectares of forest land into roads under the PMGSY, the Forest Department has undertaken various remedial measures to compensate the loss. “In order to mitigate the damage of forests, compensatory afforestation on the degraded forests (equivalent to double the area of deforested land) is being done at suitable locations,” an official report said. “To protect the new plants, effective fencing and other soil conservation measures have been adopted aiding in natural regeneration,” it added. The report further said the provision of avenue plantation on either side along the road length passing through the forests is being done by the Forest Department. The Forest Department has further directed the executing agency of the PMGSY in the state to construct the retaining/breast walls and take necessary steps to prevent soil erosion.
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I am being victimised by the system, says Cong minister Sham Lal
Jammu, October 14 The Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, had observed that “irresponsible and controversial statements” given by people have been bolstering the morale of forces inimical to India. Omar during a meeting with a European Union Delegation had said Jammu and Kashmir only acceded and did not merge with the Union of India. Sham, meanwhile, reiterated that he would continue to oppose those, who were preaching secessionism and supporting anti-national forces. Launching an apparent attack on coalition partners National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party for supporting the demand of ‘Greater Autonomy’ and ‘Self Rule’, Sham said: “Such demands raised by some forces were part of infamous Dixon plan.” “You have to counter such demands constitutionally,” he added.
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Kashmir apples lose sheen this season
Srinagar, October 14 Though, the government claims that the disease has reduced the apple prices only by 10 to 12 per cent, but those associated with the trade say they are selling the fruit for much less. “I used to sell the delicious variety (of apples) for at least Rs 30 per kilo last year, but this year due to the poor quality the same is being sold for Rs 20,” said Abdul Rashid, a
fruit vendor. The fungus, as per the survey conducted by the Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Horticulture Department and Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir, was caused by high temperatures followed by three or four days of incessant rain in mid August earlier this year. “Based on preliminary assessment, about 10 to 12 per cent orchards were found affected and extent of leaf fall was to the tune of 70 to 80 per cent in some cases. The situation induced fruit drop, resulting into poor quality during the last phase of development,” the findings revealed. The issue of bad quality of apples that are exported outside the state in large quantities had come for discussion during the recently concluded autumn session of the Legislative Assembly as well. Several legislators urged the House to take adequate measures in this regard, as livelihood of many was associated with apple production. The government too admitted that the quality of apples was affected, however, it maintained that there was no loss in terms of production. While 1,92,330 metric tonnes of apple were exported outside the Valley till September end this year, 1,57,455 metric tonnes were exported till the corresponding period last year, as per the government figures. |
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Kishtwar riot victims being harassed, claims BJP
Jammu, October 14 “Leave alone the compensation based on assessment of individual losses as promised, the government has so far not even come forth with the disbursing of immediate relief announced by it,” BJP state chief spokesman Jitendra Singh said in a statement here yesterday. “There is tremendous harassment in the name of compensation,” he added. As evidence, Singh cited the order issued by the ADC Kishtwar, wherein each victim is required to fulfil nine different clauses before claiming the relief. One of the clauses include the submission of an affidavit duly attested by the Judicial Magistrate stating that they shall be personally responsible for providing any wrong information regarding value of goods damaged and shall be liable for penalties and recoveries etc…, Singh said “The question is what is the real motive of this ridiculous procedure, to provide the relief or to deny it,” the BJP leader asked. “Any sensible person would understand that a trader, who could not save his establishment and other valuables, could have hardly been able to save each of the documents (enlisted in the clauses),” he added. He disclosed that the decision with regard to this was taken during a meeting of the committee framed by the Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar with ADC Kishtwar, ACR Kishtwar, Tehsildar Kishtwar and Padder as its members. “The committee was ostensibly framed by the administration for speedy disposal of ex-gratia relief, but the tediously long procedure followed by it has defeated its very purpose,” Singh said.
— TNS
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Ahead of elections to the Lok Sabha and Assembly in J&K next year, the Congress today came out with a list of 15 prominent persons from the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party who would be joining the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee
with “immediate effect”.
Rajouri, October 14
Congress minister Sham Lal Sharma today alleged that he was being “victimised” by the system for opposing secessionist forces active in the state.
“Whenever I raise my voice against the discrimination with Jammu and oppose those who preach secessionism, some forces become active and start defaming me,” Sharma said while addressing a function organised by Jammu lawyers here today.
With the demand for Kashmir’s apples growing, both within the state and outside, above normal day temperatures in the summer months and unseasonal rainfall has affected the quality of this famed fruit.
The apple crop this season has developed ‘alternaria mali’ disease due to adverse weather conditions and the fungus is also having an effect on its pricing.
