‘Omar will bring package for State’
Nazir hints at reduction in size of Ministry

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 22: Fueling the speculations rife in the air, National Conference general secretary, Sheikh Nazir Ahmed today hinted at a major change in the State Cabinet.

In an informal chat with media-men at Sher-i-Kashmir Bhawan, Sheikh Nazir said, "we are exploring various options to cut down Government expenditure including reducing the size of Ministry". But in the same voice he made it clear that no final decision has been taken so far. "We are seriously thinking to reduce size of Ministry as some tough steps are essential to bail out State from financial crunch", he said, adding "at least 30 percent of Government expenditure would be reduced".

Allaying apprehension of resentment in the party in case some Ministers would be dropped, Mr Nazir asserted that as a soldier of National Conference it is duty of the every worker to perform the job assigned to him. "All MLAs can’t become Ministers some have to serve the party with out Ministry", he said while candidly admitting it was really a difficult task to satisfy every one.

National Conference general secretary also hinted at some changes in meeting of the party legislators, district and block presidents of the Jammu province. In the presence of Ministers, Mr Nazir pointed towards reports published in a section of press regarding reshuffle in the Cabinet.

"One should not be worried about these reports as soldiers of National Conference we should be ready for any duty for the welfare of the State", he said, adding, "some persons can be deputed to another job in the interest of the State". He said that Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah has also expressed his concern over the performances of some Ministers. "He (the Chief Minister) told me to ask some Ministers to reach backward areas to mitigate miseries of the masses," Nazir said.

Reiterating National Conference’s demand of greater autonomy to the State, Mr Nazir said that report has been sent to the Union Government for its consideration and hoped that NDA Government would take favourable decision in this regard. "We can take unilateral decision on autonomy but want to involve Centre in this issue also", he asserted.

Lashing out at Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta for his statement that Home Minister, Mr L K Advani has out-rightly rejected greater autonomy demand, Mr Nazir asked "who is Chaman Lal Gupta, he is neither a Cabinet Minister nor spokesman of the BJP".

When his attention was drawn towards the repeated criticism of the State Government by the BJP, Mr Nazir said, "we have cordial relations with Central leadership. We are least concerned about what local BJP leaders are saying", he said, adding, "we had faced similar situation with Congress leadership also".

Earlier addressing the meeting, Mr Nazir expressed his gratitude towards NDA Government for giving representation to the State in Union Ministry. He said that party’s representative in Centre, Mr Omar Abdullah is contemplating certain packages to bring the State on the Industrial map of the country.

Mr Nazir reiterated his demand for liberal Central assistance to bail out the State from the financial crunch. He said it has been endeavour of the National Conference Government to bring back on the rails the damaged infrastructure of the State by speeding up re-construction measures during past over three years of its rule. He, however, claimed that as a Part-B State, Jammu and Kashmir has right for share.

He called upon the party workers to get ready for the forthcoming Panchayat elections which will be held as per democratic norms and practice. Elections, he said, is the soul of a democracy and we should exercise our right to vote in a befitting manner.

Industries and Commerce Minister, Mr Bodh Raj Bali, Sheep and Animal Husbandry Minister, Mr Surjit Singh Slathia, Education Minister, Mr M S Tariq, Agriculture Minister, Mr Nissar Ahamd Khan, MoS Food and Supplies, Mr Ajay Sadhotra, provincial president, Harbans Singh and other senior leaders attended the meeting.

Tawi bridge blocked
14 injured as police cane-charges porters

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 22: A number of porters, dis-engaged by the Army after Kargil operations, blocked Tawi bridge this afternoon but were chased and dispersed by the police which resorted to heavy lathicharge on them causing injuries to 14.

Numbering about 200 and joined by some social workers of Akhil Bharatiya Shiv Sena, the porters took out a march in the City and moved towards the busy Tawi bridge at about 1400 hours.

Hardly when 10 minutes had passed after the blockade of bridge, a strong contingent of police and para-military personnel swooped on the protestants and resorted to heavy lathicharge. Initially, the protestants resisted but as police continued beating and cane-charging, the porters alongwith the activists of Sena.

The bridge was cleared of the porters within a span of 15 minutes of lathicharge. A large number of vehicles, which were stranded on either side of the bridge due to blockades raised by the porters, were cleared after 15 minutes.

The porters, who earlier held a demonstration and took-out a protest march in the City shouting slogans in favour of their demands, were demanding their regularisation in the army. The porters were engaged by the army during Kargil operations on fixed monthly wages of Rs 3700. The porters said that they were paid the monthly wages but were dis-engaged after the Kargil operations were over.

Three of them Harjeet Kumar and Subash Chander of Suchetgarh and Mohan Singh of Dablehar had suffered fracture in their arms and legs while working as porters in different areas of Kargil. Despite our best of services rendered under toughest circumstances, we were ignored, they complained and vowed to continue their struggle till they were absorbed in regular services by the army.

42-seater bus carried 104 passengers
9 killed, 108 injured in two bus mishaps at Ramnagar, Doda

Excelsior Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Nov 22: Nine persons including a woman and a minor boy were killed and 108 others were injured, 27 of them seriously in two accidents involving passengers buses at Kaintha in Ramnagar tehsil and Palmarh in Kishtwar tehsil of Doda district today. The bus, which met with an accident at Kaintha, was carrying 102 passengers on board as against the capacity of 42 seats due to shortage of buses on the route.

While five persons were killed and 74 others were injured when a bus No. 7511 JK02D rolled down over 200 feet deep into a gorge at Gundian village on Kaintha-Ramnagar road, four persons were killed and 34 others were wounded in accident of bus No. 9401 JK02E at Patti Mahal on Palmarh-Kishtwar road.

Official sources said the bus on way from Kaintha to Ramnagar was negotiating a deep curve at Gundian village at about 0845 hours today when the bus driver identified as Amrik Singh of Gandoh lost balance due to heavy over-loading in the bus. The bus was loaded atleast two and a half times to capacity and a number of passengers were sitting on its roof top, the eye-witnesses told the visiting officials.

The bus driver fled from the spot as the vehicle rolled down into the nullah after skidding off the road killing three persons on the spot and wounding 76 others. One of the injured succumbed to his injury at Ramnagar hospital while another injured died while being referred to district hospital, Udhampur.

Local people, who saw the bus rolling down into the nullah, went down and started a rescue operation. Local police and medical teams also rushed to the spot. MLA Ramnagar, Mr Harshdev Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur Mr Mehboob Iqbal, Mr Madan Lal, RTO and Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Udhampur Ms Purnima Bhat visited the site of accident.

The injured were rushed to Ramnagar hospital. Seventeen seriously injured persons were referred to Udhampur while 34 injured were still admitted in Ramnagar. Rest of the injured were discharged after first-aid.

The deceased have been identified as Shankar Dass son of Mansu Ram of Laher, Sham Lal son of Dani Ram of Marta village, Sukhdev son of Puran Chand of Lenga, Madan Singh son of Omkar Singh of Amroh and 14-year old Sudesh Kumar alias Kalu son of Krishan Chand of Jindrah. Bodies of the deceased were in the process of being handed over to their families after post-mortem.

MLA Ramnagar Mr Harshdev Singh strongly denounced the Transport Minister Mr Bashir Ahmed Kitchloo and Transport Commissioner Mr A K Suri for paying no attention to his repeated request of plying more buses on this route. He demanded that both Transport Minister and Commissioner should resign owning moral responsibility for the accident.

Mr Singh said the bus operators were forced to carry 100 passengers minimum due to heavy rush of passengers and shortage of buses on all link roads of Ramnagar. "My repeated requests to Transport Department for more buses on the road have evoked no response", he said, adding "none else but the Transport Department was responsible for this tragedy". He disclosed that another bus, which followed the ill-fated bus, was carrying 110 passengers.

Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur Mr Mehboob Iqbal has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10,000 for each of the kin of deceased persons. He also asked the doctors in Udhampur and Ramnagar to provide best treatment to the injured.

Local police have registered a case in the accident and seized the bus. Efforts were on to apprehend the bus driver, Amrik Singh but he remained untraced.

Meanwhile, in another accident at Patti Mahal on Palmarh-Kishtwar road, four persons including a woman were killed and 34 others were injured. The bus No. 9401 JK02E was on way from Patti Mahal to Kishtwar when the accident occurred at 0900 hours.

The bus rolled down over 150 feet deep into a nullah killing four persons on the spot and wounding 34 others. Security forces and police personnel, accompanied by local people, extricated the victims out of the nullah and shifted them to sub district hospital in Kishtwar.

Four deceased persons have been identified as Nazir Ahmed, a retired Subedar and a resident of Patti Mahal, Ghulam Mohd Rather son of Saimal Ullah of Patti Mahal, Fatima Begum daughter of Mohd Aziz of Bilwah and Abdul Majid son of Khushi Mohammad of Patti Mahal.

The injured have been admitted in the Kishtwar hospital where condition of some of them was said to be serious. The bus has been seized by the local police and a case registered in the accident.

Cheat woman arrested
City police recovers newly-born baby

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 22: A newly-born child of Manjusha wife of a CRPF head constable Uday Kumar, who was stolen from Ward No. 2 of SMGS hospital, was recovered from a house at Rehari Colony this afternoon. The cheat woman, who had stolen the boy, has been arrested.

SP City (North) Mr Johnny Williams said the newly-born was recovered from a house by a City police station party after receiving an anonymous phone call at the police station. However, the spokesman, declined to name the house owner.

The cheat woman was identified as Kanchan wife of late Kuldeep Narain, a resident of Pacci Dhakki. She had been working at a clinic of a private doctor at Mishriwalla. She was arrested after searches carried out by a City police station party led by SHO Inspector Ravi Gupta.

Police said Kanchan Devi had sold the child to a childless couple of Poonch, presently putting up in Jammu. She had charged Rs 17,000 from Jagdish Khajuria for selling the baby. Mr Khajuria told police that they weren’t aware that Kanchan Devi had stolen the boy from the hospital. He said he was told by the cheat woman that baby had no parents.

According to police, no action was taken against Khajuria as he had himself informed the police about the baby. However, Kanchan Devi was arrested and a case against her has been registered at City police station for further investigations.

It may be recalled that cheat woman had mixed up with Manjusha and developed friendship with her. She had taken the baby on the pretext of taking her in the sun-shine but didn’t return.

Meanwhile, Uday Kumar, a CRPF head constable and husband of Manjusha, a resident of Kerala has expressed his gratitude to City police for recovering his stolen baby. He also appreciated the help rendered to him by Medical Superintendent Dr Rakesh Khajuria and Deputy Superintendent Dr Harbans Lal.

Goa Govt receives jolt

PANAJI, Nov 22 : The Luizinho Faleiro Government in Goa today received a jolt with Speaker Pratapsinh Rane accepting breakaway group’s demand for a separate sitting arrangement in the assembly on the day of trust vote on Nov 24 even as Congress high command stepped up rapprochement efforts amidst indication that it might consider leadership change.

A crucial meeting of the Congress Legislature Party was on tonight to discuss the political developments in the presence of Congress central observers Govindrao Adik and Ramesh Channitala who were rushed by the party high command to reinforce efforts at working out a patch-up between the rival groups.

It is not yet clear if Congress central observers have been able to establish contact with the rebel group leader Francisco Sardinha who along with 10 MLAs broke ranks reducing the Faleiro Government to minority in the 40-member house and staked claim to form an alternative backed by BJP.

Rane announced that he acceded to the request of the Congress rebel group for a separate sitting arrangement on Nov 24.

I have not gone into the legal part of it as there is no disqualification petition before me, he told reporters.

Congress sources here said Faleiro and his supporters had meetings with ADIK but, progress, if any, was not yet known.

In Delhi, Congress indicated that it was willing to consider replacing Faleiro once his Government wins the vote of confidence, a move seen as an attempt to win back the rebels.

Congress spokesman Anil Shastri told reporters that the question of change of leadership in Goa did not arise until the vote of confidence is sought and until the report of the AICC observer is received.

I hope that the situation will come under control by the time of the trust vote, he said.

He parried questions whether negotiations were on with the rebels led by Francisco Sardinha. "We have left it to the AICC observer to handle".

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said its lone MLA in Goa would oppose the Faleiro Government in the trust vote.

Once the Government falls, we will decide our next course of action vis-a-vis our stand on the new formation. Right now every thing is hypothetical, Party spokesman DN Dwivedi told reporters after NCP’s working committee meeting in Delhi.(PTI)

Target was army camp, police station
Militants fire 5 mortars at Darhal creating panic

Excelsior Correspondent

RAJOURI, Nov 22: Militants fired five mortar shells aiming a police station and an army camp in Darhal area last mid-night while dead body of a militant was recovered today from Rathal area near Hajan in this district.

Official reports reaching here said a group of militants fired five mortar shells—one after the other—from Topa forests and targeted Darhal police station and an adjoining army camp at 0030 hours last mid-night. However, all the mortar shells missed the intended targets and exploded harmlessly.

Of five mortar shells, two fell in a nullah, one near a house of Government teacher and two opposite the police station building. There was no casualty or any damage in the mortar attacks.

Army personnel and police parties cordoned off Darhal town as panic gripped the villagers following the attack. The big bangs of mortar attacks shook the entire sleeping town sending a wave of panic among the people.

Troops also fanned out towards Topa area from where the mortar attacks had been launched. Searches continued in the area but no arrest had been made so far. Searches, however, continued in Topa forests to track down the militants involved in the mortar attacks.

Splinters of the mortars were seized by the troops in the morning. Sources said the mortars were same, which were fired by the militants at Chowdhary Narh area last month. They looked like anti-tank grenades.

Security around vital installation in Darhal including army camps, police station, police posts and Government offices was being strengthened to thwart any further attack by the militants in the area.

Army and police have also intensified patrolling in the Darhal town and adjoining areas to restore confidence among the panic-stricken people.

Meanwhile, army and police today recovered dead body of a militant from a nullah in Rathal area near Hajan in Darhal. The bullet-riddled dead body of the militant was shifted to a local hospital for post-mortem.

Reports said the militant was believed to be killed in an encounter with army and police at Panad. He was dragged upto Rathal by his colleagues and left near a nullah. The militant succumbed to his injuries in the absence of any treatment.

His body was noticed near the nullah by local people, who informed police. Four grenades, one pouch, two magazines and 20 rounds were also recovered near the body of militant.

The militant was identified as Shamas Bhai, a foreign national. The identity was established through messages of the militants intercepted by army and police.

A Defence spokesman said the local people of the area had categorically refused to provide any medical help to the injured militants, which resulted into his death. This is an encouraging sign, he added.

He said the locals even refused to bury the dead body of militants, which clearly shows that people were disenchanted with militants.

Editor’s house damaged in blast
Militant, NC activist killed

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Nov 22: Even as security forces claimed to have eliminated a militant in an encounter at Kohistan forest area, unidentified gunmen have killed an activist of the ruling National Conference (NC) in Ganderbal area. A powerful explosion occurred at Karan Nagar residence of the editor of Urdu daily "Afaaq" early this morning causing extensive damage to the structure.

At 0500 hours this morning, an extremely powerful explosion took place at the house of Ghulam Jeelani Qadiri, editor of the vernacular daily "Afaaq" at Balgarden, Karan Nagar, just 200 yards from the J&K Police Headquarters. The three-storeyed house suffered extensive damage as a number of its doors and windows were thrown out and several walls developed wide cracks. Qadiri, as also his younger brother and journalist Marifat Qadiri besides their mother and two servants were present at the house. However, all the inmates were safe.

Jeelani Qadiri told EXCELSIOR that none of the inmates could make out whether it was a grenade or an IED or a rocket fired from some distance. No splinters, sharpnels or any other pieces of the used explosive were found at the spot. In addition to the Police Headquarters, there are several paramilitary camps in Karan Nagar-Balgarden locality.

Official sources said that security forces killed an unidentified militant in an encounter at Kohistan forest area of Baramulla district. One AK-56 rifle, one rifle grenade and a wireless set were claimed to have been recovered.

Sources said that during last night, unidentified persons, believed to be militants, appeared at Kharbagh village in Ganderbal and kidnapped the village president of NC, Abdul Aziz Bhat S/o Sonaullah Bhat. Later, this morning his beheaded dead body was recovered from Waskoora, one km from Kharbagh.

PMO denies EC being expanded

NEW DELHI, Nov 22: The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) tonight denied that Government was considering any proposal to expand the Election Commission to a five-member body.

There is no proposal before the Government to expand the Election Commission to a five-member body, a spokesman of the PMO said.

He maintained that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had not made any such remark during his brief interaction with journalists after the swearing-in ceremony of the four new Ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening. (PTI)

Army Subedar killed in blast

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 22: An Army Subedar Satinder Singh was today killed in a powerful blast at Batyas in Gandoh tehsil of Doda district.

Official sources said Subedar was leading an army patrol party in Batyas when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), planted by the militants, exploded. He died on the spot.

Army personnel, accompanying the Subedar, cordoned off the area and launched searches but the militants had escaped. Body of the Subedar was removed to a hospital.

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