JKB Manager among 4 held in Euro-Rupee scam
HuM chief Sajjad Afghani gunned down in Sopore

From Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Apr 29: In a major achievement, Sopore Police tonight claimed to have gunned down Harkatul Mujahideen's Jammu & Kashmir chief, Sajjad Afghani, in a dramatic gunbattle at Sub District Hospital Sopore. Baramulla Police have, meanwhile, arrested four persons, including a branch manager of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd, for illegal exchange of foreign currency and its subsequent supply to militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Informed sources in North Kashmir told EXCELSIOR that a 7-member Police-SOG party, led by SHO Sopore Inspector Shafeeq Ahmed, conducted a raid on the residential quarter of Pharmacist Shaukat Ahmed Pir R/o Model Town Sopore at Old Sub District Hospital, close to Iqbal Market, over a specific information at 2200 hours tonight. On sighting the Police party, a heavily armed militant lobbed a hand grenade and opened bursts of AK-47 gunfire in an attempt to escape. One constable Abdul Majeed sustained injuries. In sharp reaction, Police gunned down the militant and arrested the Pharmacist.

A number of residents gathered at the site of the encounter immediately after the gunbattle ended and they identified the militant killed in the action as none other than Harkat-ul-Mujahideen's J&K Chief, Sajjad Afghani---a Pakistani guerrilla commander who had been active in Kupwara-Sopore belt in the last 10 years.

SP Sopore, Imtiyaz Hussain Mir, confirmed that the HuM chief, Sajjad Afghani, had been killed in the 5-minute gunbattle. He said that immediately after receiving information that Afghani was hiding at Shaukat Ahmed Pir's official quarter, SHO Sopore conducted the raid with just six personnel from Police Station and SOG Sopore. He said that a constable sustained minor injuries in the encounter. For the militant's bad luck, his AK-47 rifle perhaps got locked and it prevented otherwise possible casualties in the Police party. He said that the Pakistani militant's host, Shaukat Ahmed Pir, was taken into custody and subjected to sustained interrogation. Some more officials' arrest for questioning was not ruled out.

Sources said that Police had already communicated to the highest authorities on occasion of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's visit and inauguration of the new SDH, which is located near Dak Bungalow, last month that with the support of some local officials, militants were likely to establish hideout at the old SDH after shifting of the static guard to the new premises.

Senior Police officials claimed that Sajjad Afghani's death in an encounter tonight was a remarkable achievement for J&K Police and an equally significant setback for militants who had already suffered substantial damage in Kashmir valley in the last three months. They said that the detained Pharmacist's interrogation could lead to some arrests as he was believed to be "hand-in-glove" with the militants. Afghani's death in Sopore has come in immediate follow up to arrest of over a dozen militants and their over-ground workers, besides killing of four senior most militants of Hizbul Mujahideen in Baramulla and Pattan.

Before shifting his base to Sopore, Afghani had reportedly operated in Kupwara area for several years. He was allegedly involved in over a dozen armed attacks on security forces, Police and soft targets in North Kashmir in the last 10 years.

Lashkar-e-Toiba spokesman, Dr Abdullah Ghaznavi, told EXCELSIOR over telephone that all of his organisation's holed up militants had managed to escape in the 36-hour-long gunbattle in Rajwar forest area of Handwara-Zachaldara belt. He asserted that his organization did not suffer any damage in the gunbattle. He claimed that as many as 10 troopers, including a Commanding Officer and a Major, got killed in the two-day long encounter.

Officials confirmed that Police and security forces had launched a cordon-and-search operation after receiving information that a group of militants was in movement in Rajwarh belt. They claimed that no militant, civilian or Police personnel had got killed or injured in the two-day-long gunbattle.

Sources said that dead body of one Mohammad Rafeeq Teedwa S/o Khan Mohammad R/o Thune Kangan, Ganderbal, was recovered from power canal Kangan. He had reportedly drowned in the canal on April 22nd.

Baramulla Police have, meanwhile, arrested three persons, as also Manager of Dangiwachi Branch of J&K Bank Ltd, namely Naser Ahmed Shah S/o Ghulam Nabi Shah R/o Asha Mir, Sopore, for allegedly having exchanged Euros worth Rs 18 Lakh into the Indian currency and subsequent transfer of the money to militants. SSP Baramulla, Anand Jain, said that, six months back, he had received a complaint that some residents of Dangiwachiarea of Rafiabad had exchanged Euros into the Indian currency and subsequently supplied the money to some militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba.

SSP said that three of the accused, namely Mohammad Ramzan Lone S/o Khizar Mohammad Lone, Nazir Ahmed Lone S/o Ghulam Mohammad Lone, residents of Suyan Sad'naar, and Fayaz Ahmed Mir S/o Abdur Rehman Mir R/o Sheikhpora Dangiwacha, had been taken into custody as they had exchanged the money and converted Euros worth Rs 18 Lakh into the Rupee. He said that J&K Bank's Dangiwachi Branch Manager, Naseer Ahmed Shah, was prima facie deeply and directly involved in the money laundering and thus arrested by Police.

Sarabjit’s family back with hope

AMRITSAR/ISLAMABAD Apr 29: Death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh’s family today returned from Pakistan hoping he would be pardoned after spending 18 years in jail.

"My brother is a victim of bad luck," Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur, who returned with his wife Sukhpreet Kaur and his daughters Swapandeep and Poonam, told reporters.

The family hoped Sarabjit’s death sentence, reportedly deferred by three weeks, would be commuted and he will be able to walk out of the Lahore jail as a free man.

Dalbir said that she would like to once again visit Pakistan if she was granted visa.

Dalbir, who met 42-year-old Sarabjit along with other family members at Kotlakhpat jail in Lahore, said she spent 48 minutes with him. "I could not even hug my brother and he could not hug his daughters, since he was kept separated by bars. It was very tough time for him when he met his family members and he was struggling hard to hold back his tears," she said.

"During the meeting, Sarabjit himself prepared tea for his family in the jail and we took it with sweets. Later, he also offered us cold drinks," Kaur recalled.

"Sarabjit is innocent and could never commit a heinous act," she said claiming he had crossed over inadvertently.

Sarabjit has been sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan in 1990. His execution, scheduled for April 1, was deferred by 30 days by the Pakistani Government.

At the Wagah Border, Dalbir told reporters "when I come back again, I hope you will send Sarabjit back with me. And we will all celebrate at this same spot."

Efforts to save Sarabjit from the gallows received a boost with former premier Nawaz Sharif asking the Pakistan Government not to hang him on humanitarian grounds.

Sharif said Sarabjit should be released on the condition that he would be sent back to Pakistan if concrete evidence is found against him.

Sharif also suggested that any review of Sarabjit’s case by the Pakistan Government should be linked to similar action by the Indian Government in the cases of Pakistanis currently being held in the neighbouring country.

Dalbir also appealed to Prison Authorities in India and Pakistan to treat all prisoners, irrespective of their nationality, as human beings.

"After reading about my brother’s experiences in jail in his earlier letters, I was hurt. There should be no ill-treatment of prisoners," she said.(PTI)

Pak militant, cop killed in Kishtwar gunbattle

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 29: A top Pakistani militant of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit and a police constable were killed in a fierce encounter at village Muslai in Bonjwah area of Kishtwar district this morning.

Official sources said Kishtwar police, Special Operations Group (SOG) and security forces launched a joint operation in Bonjwah area last night after extracting information from an arrested militant Mohd Ibrahim alias Abu Moosa that a hardcore Lashkar militant Mohd Maqbool alias Abu Hamza R/o Gujranwala, Pakistan, was hiding in the same area.

Abu Moosa, as reported, was captured by Kishtwar police yesterday and during his interrogation he was reported to have revealed a couple of hide-outs of the militants in Bonjwah area where he had been operating for past quite sometime.

A police party led by Inspector Gurmeet Singh, Incharge Operations, Kishtwar under the supervision of DIG Doda range Hemant Kumar Lohia and SP Kishtwar Mumtaz Ahmed trapped Abu Hamza in a dhok at Muslai early this morning.

On observing movement of police, the militant opened heavy firing from an AK rifle and lobbed a couple of grenades on the cops. He deserted the dhok and took shelter in a forest area. He was chased by the cops and gunned down in an hour long gunbattle.

A Selection Grade Police Constable (SGCT) Kikkar Singh, Incharge police post Dandal also lost his life while fighting bravely in the encounter. His body was evacuated from the site of firing and sent to his native village for cremation with full police honours.

Body of the militant has also been recovered from the spot. From his possession, police recovered one AK-56 rifle, 52 rounds, one radio set, two grenades, five detonators, explosive material, incriminating documents and some eatables.

Slain militant was active in Kishtwar and Doda districts for last four to five years and had been rated as ‘A’ category militant. His killing was a major setback to Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit, sources said.

Abu Hamza, sources said, was involved in a series of subversive activities including killings, extortions and attacks on security forces and police in Doda and Kishtwar districts. He was being searched for past quite sometime.

Our Poonch correspondent adds: Police and Army today destroyed a hide-out of the militants at Kasblari in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district and recovered four magazines of AK-47 rifle, 83 Pika rounds, one Pika brush, five rounds of UBGL, 72 AK rounds, shawls, eatables and incriminating documents.

However, no arrests were made from the hide-out as the militants were not present there, sources said.

Govt takes Rs 1500 cr hit
Duties revised to tame inflation

NEW DELHI, Apr 29: Continuing the tirade against inflation, the Government today announced a host of fiscal measures, particularly on steel, entailing a net burden of Rs 1,500 crore on the exchequer.

With steel contributing more than one-fifth to total inflation, Finance Minister P Chidambaram imposed export duty on steel to increase its domestic availability, besides slashing customs duty on the alloy, skimmed milk powder and changing duty structure for cement.

Winding up the debate on the Finance bill in Lok Sabha, he also levied export duty on basmati rice, while assuring the house that there is no food crisis in the country and the supply is adequate to meet everyone’s requirements.

However, despite intense lobbying by the commodity exchanges, the Finance Minister retained the commodity transaction tax that was proposed in the budget.

Chidambaram also extended the tax benefits on software technology parks and export oriented units by a year till March 31, 2010 and seven-year Income Tax holiday for refineries starting operations by March 31, 2012.

The Minister reply came after the Reserve Bank further tightened money supply by raising the cash reserve ratio by 0.25 per cent to curb inflation, which is ruling at three-year high of 7.33 per cent.

Government has taken a series of measures to contain the rise in prices. These included reduction in import duty on edible oil and banning export of non-basmati rice.

"Despite the fiscal steps taken by us, some sectors like steel continue to exhibit sharp increase in prices. It contributes 21.3 per cent in the overall inflation," Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram made import of pig iron, mild steel products like HR coil, CR coil, sponge iron and semi finished products duty free to increase their supply at reduced prices. These products currently attract import duty of five per cent.

House construction products like TMT bars and structurals have been exempted from 14 per cent Counter Vailing Duty (CVD), while existing five per cent basic custom duty on inputs used for steel making like metallurgical coke, ferro alloys and zinc was removed. In a move to disincentivise exports of steel, which stood at Rs 26,000 crore last year, Chidambaram announced a 15 per cent export duty on specified primary forms and semi-finished products and hot rolled coils.

Besides, a 10 per cent export duty was levied on specified rolled products, including cold rolled coil and sheets, and pipe and tubes. A five per cent duty was imposed on overseas sale of galvanised steel in coil and sheet forms. Similarly, export duty of Rs 8,000 per tonne on basmati rice was imposed, though the Government has reduced minimum export price from 1,200 dollars per metric tonne to 1,000 dollars.

In case of cement, Chidambaram replaced specific excise on a 50 kg cement bag costing Rs 250 with 12 per cent ad-valorem duty on retail price. He said specific duty on cement was resulting in regressive duty structure.

To ensure adequate availability of milk in summer months, the Finance Minister announced reduction in basic customs duty on skimmed milk powder from 15 per cent to five per cent.

On butter oil, which is used in production of liquid milk, customs duty was reduced from 40 per cent to 30 per cent. Not satisfied with Government’s response, members of the Left parties walked out of Lok Sabha, as the House approved the Finance bill 2008.(PTI)

28 injured in Kishtwar accident, 4 airlifted

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 29: Twenty eight persons were injured, four of them critically, when a bus carrying them skidded off the road and rolled down near Kishtwar town this afternoon.

The ill-fated vehicle bearing registration number JK02M-2737 was on its way from Jammu t o Kishtwar when it met with the accident near the Kishtwar town injuring all the passengers severely.

On the receipt of information, police and civil administration teams rushed to the spot and started rescue operation. All the injured were shifted to District Hospital, Kishtwar where four of them were declared critical by the doctors.

Divisional Commissioner Jammu Sudhanshu Pandey on the request of Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar, Shahid Innayatullah arranged chopper to airlift four critically injured passengers to Jammu for specialised treatment in the Government Medical College and Hospital.

In the evening, all the four persons were admitted in the Medical College and their condition was stated to be out of danger when reports last came in.

They have been identified as Vinod Kumar, son of Moti Lal of Muthi Camp, Prem Nath, son of Punnu Ram of Kishtwar, Vikram Singh, son of Daya Krishan of Thathri and Dev Raj, son of Sait Ram of Jammu.

The injured admitted in Kishtwar hospital have been identified as Saad Hussain, son of Mohd Iqbal, Arifa Bano, daughter of Din Mohd, both the residents of Duga Saroor, Tariq Hussain, son of Abdul Rashid Ahangar of Thakrai, Mohan Lal Gupta, son of Mast Ram Gupta of Shakti Nagar, Kishtwar, Mohd Isaq, son of Abdul Gani, Mudassar Ahmed, son of Mohd Iqbal, both the residents of Tatani Saroor, Bhushan Lal, son of Om Parkash of Sarooti, Ghulam Ahmed, son of Mohd Ramzan of Chatroo, Kamlesh, wife of Vinod Kumar of Muthi Camp, Joginder Singh, son of Pritam Singh of Doda, Rekha Devi, wife of Joginder Singh, Lovely, son of Uttam Singh of Rapora, Krishan Lal, son of Amar Nath of Thakrie, Pritam Singh, son of Kesar Singh of Doda, Rakesh Sharma, son of Prem Nath of Nanak Nagar, Shavia Aggarwal, wife of Suchan Aggarwal of Kishtwar, Rena Devi, wife of Bhushan Kumar of Saroor, Surav Goyal, son of Shiv Kumar Goyal of Kishtwar, Massar Din, son of Kedar Baksh of Path Shalla Panjwah, Din Mohd, son of Mohd Ramzan of Tatani Saroor, Mohd Sameer, son of Mushtaq Ahmed of Tatani Saroor, Sarva Begum, wife of Ghulam Mohd of Chatroo and Mohd Ishaq, son of Abdul Gani of Kishtwar.

Standing crop on 400 kanals of land destroyed in fire

By Mohinder Verma

JAMMU, Apr 29: With the rise in temperature the Kandi belt has started witnessing tremendous increase in the fire incidents and standing crop on around 400 kanals of land was destroyed in the districts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua during the past two days.

Official figures revealed that since the morning of April 28 around 35 cases of fire incidents have been reported in the Kandi areas of Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts and in 16 fire incidents standing crop on around 400 kanals of land was destroyed.

The damage to the standing crop could have been much more but due to the timely and swift action by the Fire and Emergency Services Department, the losses were restricted to around 400 kanals, the sources disclosed.

They said that fire incidents where the standing crop was gutted were reported from Bari Brahamana, Ramgarh, R S Pura, Samba, Hiranagar and Kathua which are being considered as most vulnerable vis-a-vis fire incidents due to dry season and rise in temperature.

Sources said that fire in standing crop usually broke out due to the negligence of the farmers, who don’t pay any heed to the warning about indulging in smoking while carrying out different activities in the fields and keeping heaps of harvested crops near the agriculture tools being operated on the electricity.

"The electricity sparking from the tools is also being considered as second major reason behind the fire incidents involving standing crop", they said, adding "if the farmers exercise their activities on field with utmost caution the number of fire incidents can be minimized upto large extent".

It is pertinent to mention here that at present harvesting of wheat, oil-seeds, gram and peas is going on at large scale in the Kandi areas of Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts.

Reports said that even in the other side of International Border in the Chinore Farm area standing crop on huge chunk of land was gutted in the devastating fire during the past three days.

When contacted, Director, Fire and Emergency Services, R S Sodhi confirmed that fire incidents due to dry season have been increasing tremendously during the past few days and 16 fire incidents involving standing crop were reported from different Kandi areas of three districts.

He disclosed that to cope with the situation arising out of the fire incidents involving standing crop, the Department has opened a temporary station at Ramgarh. "In routine, the fire incidents in Ramgarh area are being tackled by Bari Brahamana, Arnia and Samba Fire Stations but since the standing crop fire spreads at a very fast pace we have set-up temporary station at Ramgarh for prompt action", he added.

Mr Sodhi said that Fire and Emergency Services Department has fully geared itself for swift action in case of any fire incident and the long leave of all the staff has been restricted for two months. "We have recently added five fire tenders in the fleet thereby raising the total number of fire tenders to 70 across the Jammu province", he added.

Cash relief, free ration for Angoi fire victims

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 29: On the directions of Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister for Roads and Buildings Jugal Kishore Sharma and Divisional Commissioner Sudhanshu Pandey today visited remote village of Angoi, 85 kilometres from Kishtwar town, where 25 houses were gutted and more than 800 cattle heads perished on the intervening night of April 27 and 28.

After assessing the damages due to the devastating fire, the Divisional Commissioner announced Rs 25,000 cash assistance each to the affected families besides free ration and ordered the District Administration to immediately start providing succor to the populace of the remote village.

Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar, Shahid Innayatullah told the EXCELSIOR that keeping in view the intensity of damages due to the fire and losses suffered by the people, Rs 25,000 cash assistance to each of 31 affected families and three months free ration was announced by the Divisional Commissioner for the sufferers.

The Forest Department was directed to provide free of cost timber to the affected families to reconstruct their houses. It was also ordered that Tehsildar Paddar will organise free langar in the village for a period of seven days to provide meals to the affected populace, the Deputy Commissioner disclosed.

The affected people were yesterday provided Rs 2000 immediate cash assistance and 250 blankets besides medicines, kitchen accessories and food items on the directions of the Deputy Commissioner, who on the receipt of information about the incident immediately deputed a team of officers.

The divisional administration will send more ration, utensils, clothes and other items of immediate necessity through chopper tomorrow morning for distribution among the people, Mr Innayatullah said, adding the Assistant Commissioner (Revenue) will personally camp at Paddar to coordinate the relief distribution work.

He disclosed that cash assistance sanctioned under CM’s Relief Fund will be distributed to the affected populace tomorrow so that the villagers don’t face any problem on account of purchasing required material.

According to the official figures, 25 houses housing 31 families and 10 cattle sheds were gutted in the devastating fire while 758 sheep, 32 cows, 15 yawks and one mule were burnt alive.

Though a police team was also camping at Angoi village yet the cause of the fire could not be known till late this evening.

HC refuses to quash FIR in DA case

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 29: Chief Justice of State High Court, Justice K S Radhakrishnan today dismissed a petition seeking quashing of FIR registered with the State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) against the then Executive Officer, Notified Area Committee (NAC), Katra Sham Lal for possessing disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 18,76,756.

After hearing Advocate D S Thakur appearing for the petitioner and Additional Advocate General B S Salathia appearing for the State, Chief Justice observed "the reference by the counsel of the petitioner to the decision of the Apex Court in a case of State Police Inspector Vs Surya Sankaram Karri doesn’t apply to the facts of this case", adding "Apex Court was hearing a regular criminal appeal and was not dealing with a case falling under Sections 561(A) CrPC or Section 482 CrPC".

Rest of the grounds raised by the counsel for the petitioner for quashing the FIR are also unsustainable. A detailed investigation has been conducted by the investigating agency which was time consuming and the delay if any in presenting the FIR has not caused any pre-judice to the petitioner, the Chief Justice further observed.

"The Court also finds no infirmity in the orders whereby sanction was accorded by the Government for prosecuting the public servant and this is not a fit case where this Court should exercise its inherent powers under Section 561-A CrPC or extra-ordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India read with Section 103 of the State Constitution", the CJ said and dismissed the petition.

15 days remand for Capt Chataniya

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 29: Forest Magistrate, Jammu, Yahaya Firdous Ahangar today granted 15 days more judicial remand to Captain Chataniya Bhatwadaker, husband of Capt Megha Razdan, who was found hanging on July, 1, 2007 at Kunjwani Army Quarters under mysterious circumstances.

Capt Chataniya was arrested under Section 306 RPC (abetment to suicide) and 498-A (cruelty) after the investigations revealed that he instigated his wife to commit suicide.

While granting judicial remand, the Forest Magistrate directed the Investigating Officer to produce the accused before the Court after completion of the remand period.

5 kg charas seized by NCB

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 29: Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) today recovered five kg charas and arrested a narcotics smuggler from Sunjwan area under the jurisdiction of Channi Himmat police station.

Police sources said a team of NCB, on a specific information, conducted a raid at Sunjwan late this evening and apprehended a narcotics smuggler. From his possession, five kg charas was recovered.

The narcotics consignment was reported to have been smuggled from Kashmir valley and was supposed to be taken to Amritsar. However, on a tip off the NCB team apprehended the narcotics smuggler and recovered the consignment.

Police sources, however, were tightlipped about the arrest and the recovery of narcotics.

A case against the narcotics smuggler, whose identity couldn’t be ascertained immediately, has been registered for further investigations.

Govt denies rise in terror activities

NEW DELHI: The Government today denied that extremist and anti-national activities were on the rise in the country, saying there was an improvement in the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East.

In written reply to questions in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said while in Tripura and Meghalaya the situation has improved considerably, Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Nagaland coordinated measures have been taken to check and control activities of militant groups.

"In Naxal affected areas also the overall level of extremist violence has more or less remained at a similar level in the last few years and has in fact shown improvement in a number of areas but for a few major incident in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand," he added.

He said during February-March this year 18 civilians were killed in Jammu and Kashmir compared to 26 people in the corresponding period last year.

"Only 98 terror-related incidents occurred in Jammu and Kashmir during February-March this year against 137 last year for the same period," he added.

The minister said the Central and State Agencies are maintaining coordination and a large number of terrorist modules have been busted and possible terror incident averted.

The Centre is supplements the efforts of the State Government and resources by various measures, including enhanced intelligence sharing and strengthening border management, he added.

He said 400 terrorists were arrested in Jammu and Kashmir during 2007 against 429 in 2006, 1837 from the North East in 2006 compared to 1406 in 2007 and 1240 from Naxal-affected states in 2006 and 1448 during 2007.

"Besides, during 2006 and 2007 more than 250 militants are reported to have been arrested in the Hinterland," he added.

The Government has been constantly taking up issue of cross-border terrorism with Pakistan in bilateral meetings, he said. (UNI)

NHPC likely to form JV with J&K power utility by May-end

NEW DELHI: Hydropower Utility National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) today said it expects to sign a Joint Venture agreement with the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation (JKPDC) for setting up three power projects on Chenab by May-end.

In this JV, NHPC will hold 51 per cent stake, while remaining will be owned by JKPDC.

"Talks with the Jammu and Kashmir Government are on and the response is very good. We expect the tripartite agreement with the J&K Goverment and the JKPDC will be signed by the end of May," NHPC Chairman and Managing Director S K Garg said here.

The J&K Government, which will be monitoring the project, has given its nod for the same, he added.

The three projects will have a cumulative installed capacity of around 2,120 mw and would entail an investment of over Rs 12,720 crore.

The three projects, to be set up in next four years, include 600 mw Kiru, 1,000 mw Pakal Dul, and 520 mw Karwa.

NHPC has been conferred upon Mini Ratna status on Monday, which gives it financial and operational autonomy.

The State-owned hydropower utility with current capacity of 5,200 mw, aims at becoming the 10,000 mw plus company by the end of 11th five year plan. (UNI)

‘Only one incident where water supplied
instead of diesel’

NEW DELHI: Only one incident has so far been reported when water, instead of diesel, was supplied in fuel tankers to the icy heights of Ladakh, the Government informed the Rajya Sabha today.

Defence Minister A K Antony said a solitary incident came to the notice of the Government in July, 2005 about water being supplied instead of diesel in seven tankers of Indian Oil Corporation in Ladakh region of Northern Command.

A Court of Inquiry instituted by Army Headquarters completed its report soon after. Disciplinary action was directed against two Army officers, among others based on the report. Administrative action was initiated against four other officers involved in the incident.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police had lodged fir against the civilian drivers of the tankers, Mr Antony informed the Upper House in a written reply.

The State Police also filed a chargesheet against one Brigadier level officer and one Lt Colonel level officer alongwith others in March this year in a local Leh court.

As the case came up for hearing this month, the Army was given time to exercise option of taking over the case in terms of section 549 Criminal Procedure Code and Army Act section 125. (UNI)