Press Association flays Govt

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 3: A meeting of the Ranbir Government Press Employees Association, under the chairmanship of Parshotam Chand Sharma, president of the Association was convened to review the situation arising out of the Government Circular regarding "No Work No Pay" and backing out of its committment to pay the pay revision arrears in three years in equal installments.

The meeting arrived at the consensus that this attitude of the Government is a betrayal of the understanding arrived at between the employees and the Government recently and condemned it.

The meeting also reviewed with concern the back tracking of the Government regarding the payment of arrear of pay revision. The employees had agreed to receive the pay arrear in three years keeping in view the financial condition of the State but condemned the back tracking of the Government from its committment.

The meeting was also attended by Bal Krishan Magotra, Ghanshyam Sharma, Sanjay Koul Babu, Umesh Sharma and Jagjit Singh.

Sahai calls for immediate repair of telephone lines

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 3: Mr Ram Sahai, president, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jammu has expressed grave concern over the wholesale default in the telephone lines for the last 15 days. As per a release Mr Sahai said it was unfortunate that inspite of tall claims and damaging all the roads in the name of development of telephone system, the most of the telephones are not working.

He said it was all the more frustrating that almost all the telephones of Industrial Estates Gangyal are found to be non-functional causing lot of inconvenience, hardship and loss to the industrial activities over that area.

Mr Sahai further pointed out that even the local non-STD telephones are getting exhorbitant bills which by no means can be justified by the department and even when applied for providing the locking system in the local telephones, the same is not being provided by the department on the plea that the system is already over loaded.

"Telecom system is the nerve centre of all commercial, social and industrial activities these days and its failure causes unmeasured difficulties and loss. So the authorities should take cognizance of the failure and set things right at the earliest", added Mr Sahai.

Tuesday is public hearing day in Doda

Excelsior Correspondent

DODA, Feb 3: The District Development Commissioner, Doda, Mr Shalindra Kumar had fixed every Tuesday of the week exclusively as Public Hearing Day at district headquarter Doda.

Apart from holding various Sectoral Officers meetings, the District Development Commissioner, Doda also reviewed holding of public grievances meetings at District, Sub-Divisional and tehsil headquarters of the district. So far such grievances meetings were held at Bhaderwah on January 4, at Kishtwar on January 6 and at Doda on January 15, 2000 while as such meetings were held on January 21, 2000 at Thathri and Gandoh on 29th January 2000, to listen the grievances/problems of the people on-spot, of the immediate needs like supply of electric and drinking water, free supply of ration to the drought affected families and other problems.

A complete accountability and transparency has been maintained at all levels in the District Administration and every individual will be made available of information of any kind of developmental activities of the district. Besides accountability and supply of essential items at the centres set up at each tehsil and panchayat levels to monitor the supply and stock position, sale and rate list of essential commodities in their respective areas. Apart from this, Public Coordination Committees have also formulated which will have liason with Army and paramilitary forces to redress the grievances of the public.

Alla Rakha’s death condoled

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 3: A condolence meeting was held in the State Academy of Art, Culture and Languages to mourn the sad demise of the Internationally renowned Tabla master and son of the soil Ustad Allah Rakha Khan. Besides Academy Staff, eminent artistes attended the meeting.

Ustad Allah Rakha Khan was born in Samba (Jammu) in 1919. He was enclined towards classical music from his early childhood and later on received training in Tabla from renowned artists of Punjab Gharana and then he migrated to Mumbai long back. His son Zakir Hussain has earned name and fame not only for his family but for the country as well. Ustad Allah Rakha Khan has given training in Tabla to dozens of his disciples besides Zakir Hussain. He has been giving his accompaniment to internationally renowned Sitarist Pt Ravi Shanker.

Ustad Allah Rakha Khan was conferred fellowship of the State Academy of Art, Culture and Languages in 1989 at Abhinav Theatre, Jammu. This fellowship was honoured to him by Dr Farooq Abdullah, the president of the Academy (Chief Minister). Ustad Allah Rakha Khan was also honoured with the Padam Shri and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards.

The condolence meeting was held in the office Chamber of Mr Ramesh Mehta, Additional Secretary (Central) Cultural Academy and observed two minutes silence in the sacred memory of Late Ustad Allah Rakha Khan and his daughter ‘Razia ’ who expired on the same day earlier to late Ustad Allah Rakha Khan. The meeting also prayed to Almighty to grant peace to the departed souls and to give strength to the breaved family.

Meanwhile, to mourn the sad and untimely passing away of Ustad Allah Rakha, a condolence meeting by students and the staff of Institute of Music and Fine Arts, Jammu was held in the Institute premises today.

The staff members highlighted the achievements of the maestro in the field of Tabla and paid rich tributes to the departed soul.

Messrs TS Batra, RK Tiku, VN Kohli, Savita Bakshi, KL Verma and others, paid tributes.

Regular classwork was suspended after the meeting.

Students call off strike in Udhampur

Excelsior Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Feb 3: Students of the Degree College, Udhampur (boys), who were on strike for the last seven days have decided to resume their normal class work after their meeting with the College management.

The decision in this regard was taken by the representatives of various houses, who were assured by the concerned authorities that their demands will be taken up with the higher authorities. They also condemned the disturbance created by some students in the college during all these days of strike.

The students, who called in the college management included Sunil Sharma of Gandhi House, Yashpal Khajuria of Nehru House, Shamim Ahmed of Bhagat House and Neeraj Gupta of Subash House, besides Manish Punj, Paramjeet Singh, Sunil Badyal, Sudesh Kumar and Anil Sharma, all special invitees in the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) held a meeting of the City boys college presidents and discussed various problems of the students including uninterrupted electricity in the night hours and curtailment in the examination syllabus.

It was unanimously decided in the meeting that ‘open choice’ should be given to the students, who have lost precious time due to employees strike. They also demanded uninterrupted electricity supply in the night hours atleast for the coming three months.

The meeting which held at GGM Science College was attended by Vivek Sharma, state joint secretary, Adarsh Kumar, city president, Parminder Singh, president SPMR College of Commerce, Gurmeet Singh of MAM College and Ranjeet Singh of GGM, Science College. The representatives of college units of ABVP were also present in the meeting.

Army torturing innocents: Rehman

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 3: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state chief and MLA, Bhadarwah Assembly segment Sheikh Abdul Rehman has blamed the army for committing atrocities on innocent people in Doda district.

Talking to media persons on behalf of newly constituted Bhalesa Peace Unity and Welfare Forum he said a lot of resentment is prevailing among the people against alleged excesses committed by jawans of Five Sikh Infantry Regiment forcing the people to migrate to neighboring state of Himachal Pradesh for safety.

He said not only the innocent people are being harassed and tortured by the jawans of Five Regiment but also their property including fodder for cattle has been set ablaze in villages of Maloti, Deerrka, Gajhote and Panjgarhi.

The people of these villages are taken as bonded labourers forced to get wood from jungles without paying any wages.

He said recently army jawans physically tortured 25 people in Tindla village. Five persons received serious injuries among whom three died.

He said the serious people were not allowed to take medicare in hospitals and even the women folk were not spared.

Terming it a serious issue the BSP chief said if security forces will continue to behave in this way the people will loose whole confidence in them.

He said this will give rise to acceleration of militancy further as more and more youth will be alienated and join the militants ranks.

He said in November 106 youth have gone for arms training from Doda district among whom 55 were from Banihal tehsil alone while others were form the rest of the district.

He said after confirming it was found that the reason for these youth to join militancy was in reaction to atrocities committed by army.

Sheikh Rehman while expressing his concern demanded constitution of an Advisory Forum to work as bridge between different classes of people and administration.

Speaking on the occasion Mr Yahya Firdous secretary of the Bhalesa Peace Unity Forum said the administration should work for creating confidence among the people. He said the Government should initiate some effective steps to win the confidence of alienated youth.

He alleged that some vested interests in administration do not want the militancy should end which has led to the worsening situation in the state.

Voice of People
What people think about JKP?

By Mohinder Verma

With the shifting of ‘Durbar’ to the winter capital, the anti-India forces functioning under the garb of militants have also targetted their guns to the Jammu region. But, despite this well-known fact people here in general feel that security agencies have not taken adequate steps to keep these forces at bay. While the Central and State leaders have been making rehotric speeches about the ‘pro-active’ policy, things seems to quite different on ground.

It is widely felt that our ‘elite’ Police force of the State has also not been able to curtail the spill over of militancy from Kashmir right into the Jammu city.

There have been instances like bollywood style, when the Police in the J&K also reached the spot when the militants or anti-national elements fled away from the spot after committing the crime. Due to the recent spurt in the incidents of militancy in this year, people have started questioning the efficiency of anti-insurgency operations.

When this correspondent met a cross-section of society to know their views about the Jammu and Kashmir Police, he observed that there is a wide spread resentment among them over the criminal negligence of the police towards militants activities.

The State BJP vice-president Mr Chander Mohan Sharma while expressing his resentment over the working of the police said that police is also responsible for the spurt in militancy. He said that police personnel posted at various ‘Nakas’ are not performing their duties efficiently, honestly and dedicately.

"The recent incident of Panama Chowk shows the `alertness’ of our police", he said and pointed out that instead of paying attention towards what the auto driver said, the police cops posted at Panama Chowk asked him to show the papers of the vehicle". He further said that only due to this the militants fled away from the spot. Shockingly, instead of taking action against those `alert’ policemen, they were awarded one rank promotion.

Mr Sharma further said that the traffic police cops feel that their duties is only to check the overloading and papers of the vehicles and added that they are not mentally prepared to meet the challenges of the growing menace of militancy. "We cannot say that entire J&K Police is inefficient, noboubt there are many police cops who are honest towards their profession", he said and added that the indifferent attitude of the Government towards the hard working cops degrades their morale.

Pointing towards the double murder in the New Plots area last year, he said that constable Jatinder Sharma who held the accused at Banihal was awarded only certificate but not promotion. He said that Government should change its attitude towards the hard-working cops and should reward the honest cops suitably to boost their morale.

Last week, when this correspondent was on his way from Medical College to Janipur, he observed that a group of police personnel including a Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) posted at Bakshi Nagar Naka was busy in rubbing lime with tobacco in their palms and gossiping. All the mini buses were allowed to cross the barrier without any checking but when they saw an ambassador car with red light on roof top, they rushed from one spot to another just to show that they are performing their duties with full alertness. Not only the police personnel at Bakshi Nagar ‘Naka’ but there are numerous cases of such incidents. Similar are the habits of all cops manning ‘Nakas’ in and out-side the city.

Mr Harsh Dev Singh, Panthers Party MLA from Ramnagar said that nodoubt the police personnel are not sincere about their duties. He added that the cops posted at various ‘Nakas’ never bother to stand at the alloted spots when the climatic condition is bad. "I observed many times that the police personnel are busy in gossips and allow the vehicles to cross the nakas without any checking", he said and added that when there was a VIP movement in the particular area only then they start moving from one place to another and perform their duties sincerely.

He pointed out that despite having full knowledge of hide-outs of militants or anti-national elements, the police personnel do not bother to take any action or raid the said localities due to the pressure from some influentials.

He further said that no doubt there are certain policemen who perform their duty with full dedication and the department is proud of them but their number is very thin. And if such cops are true to their service, they are not tolerated in the department itself and are not suitably rewarded for performing duties honestly.

Pointing towards the killing of SOG, DSP Mr Kuldeep Singh in Srinagar, he said that ministers who visited the home of DSP had promised his young widow to put her on the Government job and to give her compensation but nothing has been done so far. He added that this attitude of the Government was also responsible for the degradation of morale of the security forces.

He said that the police personnel posted at various nakas should be vigilant and perform their duties dedicately and honestly to prevent the militants from spreading their tentacles in Jammu. He added that the Government should suitably reward the police personnel who are performing their duties honestly to boost the morale of the security forces.

Mr Sunil Anand, an accountant in the private firm was also of the same view about the police personnel. "Security does not mean to harass the general public", he said while pointing towards the incidents on Republic Day outside M A Stadium where the police personnel put innocent persons behind bars with no fault of theirs. "One can see cops travelling in mini buses without paying fare", he said and added that this is a clear misuse of police uniform. He further said that instead of laying nakas at some permanent places there should be random checking at different places.

While pointing towards the statement of SSP Mr M A Anjum in a press conference in which he sought help of army, he said that this shows that our police is unable to provide security to general masses. "If army has to man the nakas then what is the need of police personnel", he questioned.

While talking to Excelsior, the DIG Jammu- Kathua range, Mr S P Vaid said that if people find such inefficient cops they are welcomed to complain to the senior officials. He ignored to reply to some other queries regarding carelessness and laxity on the part of cops at some sensitive places. Another senior official however, claimed that even after the Republic Day, cops at nakas and check posts continued to be at high alert due to threat perceptions.

On the whole, it is a bitter truth that such image of police is not due to any misconception of the people. The people should realise that the Police personnel are facing many problems as they have to maintain law and order situation along with the counter-insurgency operations. The senior officials of the Police Department should also check where are the failures in their Department and why people have such conception about police. The police personnel should perform their duties dedicately to counter the growing menace of militancy so that police can win the confidence of the people.

Parihar’s concern on non payment of
salaries to employees

Excelsior Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Feb 3: Mr Parvesh Parihar,senior vice president Social Reforms and Charitable Organisation (SRCO) has shown his grave concern over non payment of salary for the month of December and January to employees despite the agreement reached between the Government and EJAC.

In a statement issued here today, he criticised the Government for treating the strike period on leave and demanded that the same be treated on duty.

He said employees have suffered a lot for their fundamental rights and genuine demands already and Government should not create fresh problems for them now.

J&K Far Flung Asso highlights problems
of Ramnagar villages

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 3: J&K Far Flung Area Association, state president Mr Mohinder Singh Thakur has expressed deep resentment over Government’s failure in addressing the basic necessities of the people living in the far flung villages of Ramnagar Tehsil.

As per a release, he said the people in these villages are facing the scarcity of K Oil. He said despite the various representations the administration has failed to open a separate K Oil Depot at Kulwanta. He demanded that K Oil be issued to people in Ramnagar daily so that the people in far flung villages do not face hardships.

He alleged the Departmental officers were violating directions in Integrated Water Shed Development Programme (IWDP) Shivalik Project Second Ramnagar by engaging the employees on muster roll instead of casual labour.

Mr Mohinder Singh who called on Chief Executive Officer of the Project apprised him of the various shortcomings .

The CEO expressed his inability in undertaking the spill over works and plantation for damaged projects due to shortage of funds.

However, Mr Thakur warned agitation in case the motivators were not replaced by local and proper implementation of project not ensured.

Mr Thakur who visited villages of Kulwanta, Keya, Chigla Balota, Joffar, Lehar to assess the problems of the people interacted cross sections of the people enroute and listened their problems.

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