Jammu, May 24
Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi on May 26, the security forces have been put on high alert all along the Line of Control (LoC) and international border in the state.

“Despite an invite to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, possibilities of disturbances on the borders by rogue elements backed by the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) and terror groups cannot be ruled out. Therefore, security forces have been alerted in the state,” said a top Intelligence source.

It has been witnessed in the past that whenever political leadership in New Delhi and Islamabad try to come closer, terror groups in Pakistan try to stall the ties by increasing frequency of terror attacks, especially on the frontiers and hinterland of the strife-torn state.

On May 18 a soldier was killed in a suspected Pakistan Border Action Team (BAT) attack in Jogwan forward area along the LoC in the Akhnoor sector.

“We are maintaining a strict vigil all along the international border and adequate manpower has been deployed along the fence,” said a BSF source.

He also said the surveillance grid along the international border has been further strengthened.

“Deployment of our personnel has been increased and tactically re-adjusted, while more floodlights were recently installed in gaps along the international border,” the source said. He said the BSF men were also very cautious and watchful to the sniper attacks from across the border.

Pakistan Rangers last year had frequently opened sniper fire causing casualties and injuries to the BSF men on the border, which caused a flare up between the two sides.

Similarly, the Army has also strengthened its anti-infiltration obstacle grid along the LoC and has made tactical manoeuvres.

Besides placing ambush parties in vulnerable stretches along the LoC, the Army has also upped the electronic surveillance, said an Army source.

This year there has been a spurt in truce violations and infiltration attempts in the Rajouri and Poonch sectors. “We are in a state of high alert. Readjustments (of troops) keep taking place depending upon the intelligence inputs,” said the source.

The Intelligence agencies have also alerted the police and the CRPF. They have been told to remain on an alert in the hinterland in view of increased threat perception of terror strikes.

Srinagar, May 24
The Jammu and Kashmir Police have charged a group of trainees of the Army’s High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) with attempt to murder, rioting and robbery after they allegedly beat policemen at the tourist resort of Sonamarg in Ganderbal district on Friday, leaving five of them injured.

The police said two trainees of the school, who were involved in the assault, were arrested and later handed over to the Army.

“We have registered a case against a HAWS group, which attacked policemen, under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 452 (house trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 392 (robbery), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging his duty), 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) of the Ranbir Penal Code,” said a senior police officer at Ganderbal.

He said the law would take its own course and all the accused would be taken to task.

Sources said the Army too would hold an inquiry into the issue to ascertain the facts about the incident.

Meanwhile, a police team, including those who were injured in the assault, visited the local camp of High Altitude Warfare School at Sonamarg today to identify the soldiers who were involved in the incident.

Police sources, however, said the identification of accused jawans could not made due to certain reservations expressed by some Army officers.

The Army on Friday had said a close liaison was being maintained with the police and anyone found guilty after the inquiry would be dealt severely.

The scuffle reportedly took place after a cab driver lodged a complaint that an HAWS vehicle had hit his cab and fled the spot.

Some HAWS personnel allegedly reached the Sonamarg police station and an argument took place between the police men and HAWS trainees, following which they entered into a scuffle in which five police men were injured.

Reports also said that an HAWS jawan even snatched a service rifle of a police man and fired some shots which created panic in the area.

Jammu, May 24
Travel on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway is likely to get costlier as the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is looking forward to collect toll from the vehicles playing on the road.

The NHAI in all likelihood is going start the toll plaza at Ban, near Nagrota, and is awaiting state government’s approval in this regard.

The government is expected to take a decision on the collection of toll during a meeting at the civil secretariat in Srinagar next week.

With the toll plaza at Ban getting operational, the journey of more than 10 lakh pilgrims visiting the cave shrine of Vaishno Devi and scores of other tourists travelling to the Valley is going to get dearer as commercial vehicles plying on the road will likely raise the fares. Even the local population using the highway will have to shed more money on their travel.

According to the NHAI, light motor vehicles, excluding two wheelers, will have to pay Rs 65 for one-way trip and Rs 95 for a round trip.

The light commercial vehicles will have to pay Rs 105 for one-side trip and Rs 155 for a return trip, whereas heavy vehicles, including buses and trucks, will have to pay Rs 220 for single-side journey and Rs 330 for a return trip.

Up to three-axle vehicles, the one-way trip will cost Rs 240 and the round trip will cost Rs 360. For a four to six-axle vehicles, the single journey will cost Rs 345 and for a round trip they will have to pay Rs 515.

For seven or more axle vehicles, the charge for single journey will be Rs 420 and for round trip it will be Rs 630, the NHAI stated.

“When toll charges are slapped on vehicles, the prices of essential commodities will increase automatically and it will have an impact on common man who is already facing the brunt of inflation,” said Ashok Kumar, a businessman.

The NHAI has said they are ready with the toll plaza and are only waiting for state government’s approval.

“We are expecting that the meeting in this regard will be held next week. Once we get the approval, the toll plaza will start functioning,” said RP Singh, NHAI project director for Jammu.

The meeting will be chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, he added.

Singh also said the toll plaza is going exist there for the future.

Pulwama, May 24
Bad weather in the Valley has hampered the seasonal migration of hundreds of shepherds, who take their flocks to the upper reaches of the Pirpanjal mountain range during the summer months.

Shepherds from various areas of Kashmir take their flocks to lush green meadows called “nai” for grazing for four months. The seasonal migration usually begins in the last week of April, but due to bad weather it got delayed by about 20-25 days this year.

Shepherds in Pulwama and Shopian take their flocks to two sides of the Pirpanjal mountain ranges, one in the east comprising Pahalgam, Aru, Trasar, Marsar and Sechwas and second the upper reaches of Yousmarg in the west of the mountains.

However, the incessant rainfall and fresh snowfall in the upper reaches is giving a tough time to the community.

Meanwhile, several shepherd families in Pulwama have started moving ahead as they cannot graze their flocks in the plains. “It is very difficult to manage the flocks in the plains as most of the area is occupied by crops and rearing the flocks in these areas is difficult and often leads to scuffle between farmers and shepherds,” said Abdul Gani Wagay, a shepherd from Payer Pulwama.

District Sheep Husbandry officer Rafiq Ahmad Shah said though the migration had been hampered by bad weather, they had made preparations and established first aid centres at various places falling on the routes, where migration takes place.

Jammu, May 24
Facing "liquidity crisis", the Jammu and Kashmir Government has stopped giving approval to start any new development work in the state and is keenly watching the changes in the Planning Commission of India (PCI), which will be getting a new team in the coming days.

Jammu and Kashmir is dependent on the Centre for carrying out 80 per cent of urban and infrastructure development activities.

The state has faced a "bumpy road" in getting annual financial grants from the Centre mainly due to poor management and failure to submit key reports.

Sources said with a large number of bills pending in the government treasuries due to paucity of funds well before the Lok Sabha elections and announcement of the Model Code of Conduct , the government would launch all-out efforts to convince the Union Finance Ministry and Planning Commission to release special grants to tide away the monetary crisis before the final budget allocation expected in mid-June.

Officials said though the work on the ongoing projects was going on after the state's Planning Department allocated 25 per cent plan amount in favour of the respective District Development Commissioner (DDC) for current financial year to facilitate expenditure but there was "hesitation" within the government and Planning Department to approve any new work. "There is uncertainty among the alliance partners about the fate of several Centre-sponsored schemes announced during the UPA-II, which had already faced scrutiny by the PCI. Added to this is the poor performance in achieving targets," said an official source in the Planning Department.

A few days back the Planning Department had directed departments to initiate an exercise to prepare draft annual plan 2014-15 documents for submitting it to the Planning Commission of India (PCI) before Working Group discussions and all the focus is now on to make a convining presentation before the new government.

However, Economic Adviser (J&K), Jalil Ahmed Khan claimed that there was a mechanism already in place to deal with the fiscal needs of the state keeping in view the Lok Sabha elections. "The respective DDCs had been allocated enough resources to carry out the works and they are working. Provision has been kept to deal with any fiscal crisis," Khan said.

Pertinenty the state government has projected a plan size of Rs 11,900 crore in the state budget, including Rs 7,300 crore state plan, Rs 4,000 crore Centrally-sponsored schemes and Rs 600 crore under the PMRP.

In recent years, administrative inertia and failure to submit key reports to the Planning Commission led to non-utilisation of around Rs 2,150-crore plan grants during the last six years.

Kupwara, May 24
Residents of Shumriyal village in Kupwara district are facing problems due to non-availability of a bridge on a nullah. The village, comprising more than 500 households, is almost cut off from the rest of the district due to the absence of a vital bridge, which is supposed to connect the village with rest of Kupwara district.

Villagers boycotted the recent Lok Sabha polls in protest against the government's failure in erecting the vital bridge. They said during the last two decades four persons, including a Class XII student, drowned in the nullah while trying to cross it to reach the other side.

“For the last one week, we have hired a JCB machine to divert the flow of water. We will then erect a foot bridge on the nullah so that the villagers can cross to the other side. In 2001, a government agency started work on the bridge, but the work was suspended after a few weeks and has not been resumed to date,” said Ghulam Mohammad Shah, a local resident.

“The government has ignored us and we have decided not to approach any official or minister in future. Each household contributed Rs 200 and the work is on to divert the water. It may take another one week to erect the foot bridge on the nullah,” he added.

Residents said their problems were compounded during emergency cases like shifting of a serious patient to a hospital. “A few months before, we carried a expecting mother on shoulders to Khumriyal. More delay in taking her to the Kupwara hospital could have proved fatal,” said Javid Ahmad. “Minor schoolchildren are accompanied by their parents to the other side as fear of their drowning into the nullah looms large, especially in the rainy season,” he added.

Baramulla, May 24
Sopore town in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district is fast turning into garbage dump in the absence of proper dumping site, putting residents to lot of inconvenience.

Heaps of unattended garbage could be witnessed across the town as the authorities concerned “don’t bother to lift the trash for months together”. “The garbage generated from market places and households remain on streets. There is no proper dumping site where the garbage can be disposed of scientifically,” said Abdul Aziz, a local. Heaps of garbage are lying around Model Town, Guru Hospital, Shalimar colony, Government Girls Higher Secondary School and many other places.

The authorities, however, expressed helplessness saying they can’t do anything in the absence of proper dumping site. “The Municipal Committee is compelled to dump waste in and around the town. What can we do?” an official said on the condition of anonymity.

The authorities, years ago, had marked a dumping site at Aadipora in the outskirts of Sopore, but locals objected to the disposal of waste there.

The scene is no different at Watergam. Though the Municipal Committee does lift the garbage from the interiors and exteriors of the town after few weeks, they dump it along rivers resulting in water pollution. — OC

Srinagar, May 24
The Health and Medical Education Department yesterday issued the notification for setting up of the five new medical colleges in the state.

With the issuance of the notification, the process for setting up of these colleges has been formally set off.

The state and central governments have announced the setting up of the medical colleges in Jammu and Kashmir.

The new colleges are set to come up at Anantnag and Baramulla in the Kashmir region and at Doda, Kathua and Rajouri in the Jammu region.

The medical colleges are being established under the centrally sponsored scheme of the Establishment of New Medical Colleges Attached with District/Referral Hospitals.

As per the notification, each college will have an intake capacity of 100 students at the undergraduate (MBBS) level, for which a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, and the state government has been already signed.

Minister for Health and Medical Education Taj Mohiuddin has already inspected all five proposed sites and impressed upon the authorities to ensure that the colleges are made operational before the start of the coming academic session.

The government has also appointed nodal officers to make these colleges functional at the earliest.

Rajouri, May 24
As the state government is facing problems to start the maiden session of MBBS in the newly sanctioned five medical colleges in J&K, the authorities at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) have approached the chief minister for opening the Rajouri medical college on the university campus.

As per the guidelines of the Medical Council of India (MCI), the new medical college can be opened in a 200-bedded hospital and the college must have 100 kanals.

At Rajouri, the newly constructed district hospital has the capacity to raise the strength to 200 beds but has only about 80 kanals. To fulfill the land requirement, the Health Department has approached the government to attach about 30 kanals belonging to the Agriculture and Education departments near to the district hospital.

The BGSBU has 7,500 kanals. Dr Prof Asghar, Dean, mathematical sciences, and Principal, College of Engineering and Tecnology (CE&T), BGSBU, said a major chunk of the university land was for development and could be used for the establishment of the medical college.

The university has now approached the chief minister and all other quarters concerned to open the medical college on the campus in Rajouri and affiliate it with the institution.

Earlier, the BGSBU, under its first Vice Chancellor Masood Choudhry, had approached the Centre for a medical college.

Prof Asghar said: “Universities are national entities. They attract and recruit faculty at the national level and in some cases on the international level as well which helps in bringing out the best and diversified talent from across the nation.”

He said the health institutions of the Pir Panjal range and adjoining Reasi district were facing shortage of doctors which was affecting the health system. He said the people of the region wanted a medical college at the BGSBU that could resolve the problem and provide best human resource in the field of medicine and the overall health system.

Asghar said the district hospital was already short of space and staff.

He said Rajouri town had been facing connectivity and parking space problem because of its faulty town planning and unprecedented urbanisation during militancy. He said traffic jams were frequent in the town and the area around the new district hospital, which would create problems in the future.

He further said the BGSBU would soon be connected to many places under ensuing J&K and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana projects and all populous areas would have easy access to the BGSBU which is 8 km from the Rajouri district headquarters.

As for the affiliation of the medical college with the BGSBU is concerned, Asghar said: “More than 150 colleges and institutes are affiliated with the University of Jammu, 43 government colleges, 20 private colleges, 73 B.Ed colleges, five engineering colleges, eight other institutes offering MBA and law degrees and 12 offering medical education and training. In addition, the University of Jammu manages five off-site campuses offering various postgraduate courses and two more medical colleges are to be established at Doda and Kathua. Thus, the university is overburdened with affiliated institutions and to affiliate more institutions will significantly affect the quality of education and timely declaration of results.”

Quoting the UGC’s Affiliation Reforms Committee Report, 2011, Asghar said a limit of 100 colleges had been fixed that could be affiliated with a university. He said the BGSBU was a developing state university, approved and funded by the UGC, and could be the best possible alternative to resolve the issue of affiliations, not only for the prospective medical college but also for other degree colleges and institutions in the region.

Anantnag, May 24
A banner addressing Kashmiri Pandits today appeared near Pandit Colony in the Vessu area of Qazigund in Kulgam district.

The banner, with the picture of a local ‘mentally unsound’ dervish, apparently seems to be his address to the Pandit community wherein he calls the Kashmiri Pandits his brothers.

“I, with all humility, ask my Pandit brethren that who among the Muslims of Kashmir drove them out of the state,” reads the banner, adding that the Pandits were sacred and after a discussion with then Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Jagmohan, they fled Kashmir.

The poster further reads that the Pandits have been living in the government quarters. “However, I want to ask you people, whether you have been able to do justice to your children.”

The self-proclaimed dervish, in the banner, has advised the Pandits to talk to the present Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and return to their proper homes in the Valley.

“The land that has been allocated to you belongs to another faqeer Sona Sahib,” the banner reads. “It’s a hand-folded request to all of you to return to your homes and leave the place.”

Following the appearance of the banner, the members of the Pandit community staged a protest inside their camp. Senior district administration officials rushed to the spot and tried to pacify the angry protesters.

“We do not feel safe here. We demand that we be shifted to some safer place, preferably Jammu,” said a Kashmir Pandit.

Meanwhile, the police have summoned the self-styled dervish to ascertain whether he had got the banner printed. “He is not mentally fit. Besides, the poster is in no way threatening,” said a senior police officer in the area, adding that investigation has been started and the Pandit community does not need to worry.

Doda, May 24
A Rashtriya Rifles Battalion at Doda on Thursday organised a medical camp for the people of Bharat area and its nearby villages.

A total of 232 villagers attended the camp. They received professional advice from an Army medical team.

The locals thanked the Army for organising such camps for the needy.

Adil Karim, sarpanch, Bharat area, said, “The medical team from the Army provided professional advice to patients. Such camps will go a long way in improving the healthcare system in Doda district.” — OC

Srinagar, May 24
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachra called on Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhawan here today.

The Army Commander extensively briefed the Governor about the obtaining and emerging security situation, particularly in the context of the continuing concerted attempts at infiltration across the international border and the Line of Control.

The Governor discussed with Lieutenant General Chachra issues relating to field firing ranges located in Jammu and Kashmir and the importance of amicable civil-police-military relations being maintained under all circumstances.

Srinagar, May 24
Director of UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institute of Kashmir Studies (UMIKS), University of Kashmir, Gul Mohammad Wani called on Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhawan here today.

Wani briefed the Governor about the ongoing academic and co-curricular activities in the UMIKS, the initiatives taken by the institute to attract students from the SAARC countries and the efforts being made to invite experienced scholars in the area of international and regional studies to deliver lectures at the institute.

The Governor, who is also the chairman of the UMIKS, advised Wani to make all possible efforts to see that the institute gains meaning and stature by identifying and addressing emerging challenges which are nationally and regionally important.