Infiltration attempt foiled on LoC
3 top militants, two cops killed in Mendhar

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 2: Three top militants, believed to be Pakistanis, and two police personnel including a constable and a Special Police Officer (SPO) were killed while an Army soldier was injured as security forces foiled an infiltration attempt on Line of Control (LoC) in Ghani forests of Mendhar sector in Poonch district this morning.

The operation was still on with Army and police hunting more militants, who had infiltrated into this side from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

DIG Rajouri-Poonch range Prithvi Raj Manhas said Army and police started a massive search operation in Ghani forest, falling under Krishna Ghati sector, in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district this morning after observing movement of a group of freshly infiltrated militants from across the LoC.

A heavy exchange of gunfighting started between the two sides after a contact with the infiltrators was established in dense Ghani forests, about a couple of kms inside the LoC, official sources said, adding the gunbattle between the two sides continued till late this evening.

Latest reports revealed that three infiltrators and two police personnel had been killed in the operation while an Army jawan was injured.

Police jawans killed in the encounter include a constable Aurangzeb and a SPO whose identity has not been ascertained so far. An Army jawan, who was injured in the encounter as he stepped over a mine, was identified as Rifleman Bal Bahadur. He was evacuated from the site of encounter and airlifted to Udhampur where he was admitted in the Military Hospital.

Bodies of three slain militants have been recovered from the encounter site but their identity hasn’t been established immediately. They were, however, suspected to be the foreign mercenaries of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit.

Security forces and police continued a hunt for the other infiltrators, sources said, adding the operation was going on when the reports last came in. SSP Poonch Jagjit Kumar was camping at the spot supervising the operation.

Defence authorities, however, said they had reported that a group of three to four militants had gone to receive the infiltrators after receiving a prior information of infiltration. The group, which had gone to receive the intruders, had cut fencing to receive the infiltrators.

Both groups have been trapped in the gun-battle and security forces were making efforts to eliminate them, sources said.

So far three AK rifles, three magazines, 75 rounds, 14 grenades, two wireless sets, one mobile telephone, rucksacks, clothes, eatables and some documents have been recovered from the slain militants.

Bad weather in the area was hampering search operations in Ghani forests and possibility of some militants having managed to escape from the spot was not ruled out, sources said.

Bodies of slain police constable and SPO have been shifted to Mendhar police station and will be handed over to their families tomorrow morning after post-mortem.

Civil Secretariat fails to implement e-governance

By Mohinder Verma

JAMMU, Feb 2: Though it was approved about six years back, the e-governance programme has not even been implemented in the seat of the Government—Civil Secretariat due to lack of planned approach rendering expenditure of crores of rupees unfruitful besides idling of hardware and supporting software.

The fate of this programme aimed at enhancing the efficiency, bringing about transparency and monitoring of Secretariat functioning has been detected by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its latest audit report.

As part of Government efforts to introduce e-governance in the State, implementation of e-governance programme in the Secretariat was approved in April 2002 with the objectives to ensure transparency and improvement of turn-around of files.

For this purpose, the Department acquired a software solution Secretariat Knowledge Information and Management System (SKIMS) Triple Plus developed by M/s Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The key features of the application included electronic work flow (movement of files through computer), document/knowledge management system and monitoring system,

The Department entered into an agreement with TCS in May 2002 for implementation of the project by August 31, 2002 at a cost of Rs 3 crore. The agreement provided for installation and configuration of software on ‘as is’ basis, post configuration support upto February 28, 2003, training of staff and a Gap Analysis for customization of the software in tune with requirements of the Civil Secretariat.

The audit observed that the software package had been developed by the TCS for Andhra Pradesh and the Department of Information Technology of J&K had accepted the product on an ‘as is’ basis without first ensuring its customization as per the requirements of the State.

According to the report, the agreement with TCS provided for only the Gap Analysis of the software and the customization part was kept out of the purview of the agreement. The product in ‘as is’ form didn’t cater to all the requirements of the State as out of 430 applications only 274 were applicable to J&K and the remaining applications were specific to the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

Of the 274 applications, only 18 were identified to be implemented ‘as it is’ and the balance required customization which was pending till June 2007. Out of the 18 applications which could have been implemented at Srinagar and Jammu, attendance module was the only application put live. However, audit scrutiny revealed that the application had been used by only 25 employees out of 308 employees populated in the master table against a total of over 2000 employees in the Secretariat.

The Gap Analysis report submitted by TCS in October 2002 identified further specific applications which were required to be developed as part of customization of the product which had not been done till June 2007. The Department had been availing post configuration support of TCS from 2002-03 and despite incurring an amount of Rs 2.67 crore as effort charges (paid to TCS from 2002-03 to March 2007), the project continues to be un-implemented till September 2007. Thus, the procurement of software without actually ensuring its applicability indicated lack of planning and adhoc approach in initiating project of such a magnitude.

It also came to fore during audit in March 2007 that the Department had started the digitization process belately on May 2004 without carrying out any feasibility study about the technical specifications, volume of work to be digitized and fixing of time frame with the result digitization continued to be incomplete till September 2007.

According to the CAG report lack of planning in procurement of software, delay in creation of infrastructure and unplanned digitization of old records resulted in non-fulfillment of the objective of initiating computerization within the Secretariat.

This rendered an expenditure of Rs 5.67 crore (cost of application software Rs 300 crore and payment to TCS for effort charges Rs 2.67 crore) unfruitful besides idling of hardware and supporting software worth Rs 7.69 crore for the last six years.

Civilian gunned down in Sopore
Hizb ultras surrender in Pulwama gunbattle

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Feb 2: While Police today claimed surrender of two militants of Hizbul Mujahideen in an encounter in Pulwama district, suspected militants gunned down a civilian in Sopore area in north Kashmir.

SSP Pulwama, Nitish Kumar, told EXCELSIOR that a Police party launched a cordon-and-search operation on the basis of a specific information at Fuki Mohalla of village Wachi in Pulwama district today. According to the information gathered by Police, two local militants of Hizbul Mujahideen were hiding at the residence of one Nisar Ahmed Ganai. As soon as the search party zeroed in on the target house, both the holed up militants fired some rounds and triggered off an encounter.

When the first round of the firing subsided, Police communicated the option of surrender to the holed up militants. Both of them agreed to come out while keeping their hands up. Responding to a green signal, both the militants came out of their hideout and they were immediately taken into custody. Police went in and recovered one AK-47 rifle, one pistol, two hand grenades and a quantity of assorted ammunition from the hideout.

During the sustained interrogation later, the militants in custody identified themselves as Gulzar Ahmed Mir alias Nikka Mir S/o Mohammad Ramzan Mir R/o Chowdhary Bagh Zainapora and Showkat Ahmed Rather alias Mustafa S/o Mohammad Abdullah Rather R/o Grawgund, Pulwama, SSP said that both were listed militants of Hizbul Mujahideen, allegedly involved in a number of subversive incidents.

According to police records, Nikka Mir was responsible for a grenade attack on the prominent Bareilvi cleric, Maulvi Abdur Rasheed Dawoodi, in which seven of his followers had got killed and 31 others, including the prime target, injured at village Tahab in Pulwama district on November 10th, 2006. On February 2nd, 2007, Nikka Mir had allegedly planned and executed an attack on a Police party at District Police Lines in Rakh-e-Littar in which four personnel had got killed and three more injured.

SSP said that another detainee, namely Showkat Ahmed Rather, had planned and executed a number of IED attacks on police, paramilitary and military forces in Pulwama district. On October 24th, 2007, he had also planted an IED to target a party of security forces at Gund-e-Moosa. It was, however, detected and defused.

Police utilized the option of the militants' surrender during a gunbattle inspite of the fact that a holed up militants Khursheed, had similarly deceived police and security forces in a gunbattle in Pakharpora a few months back while as an identical episode of deceit had also taken place in Kulgam area. SSP claimed that today's surrender was a veritable setback for Hizbul Mujahideen in south Kashmir.

Meanwhile, informed sources in north Kashmir said that two persons, believed to be overground workers of a militant outfit, appeared at village Sadpora, 5 kms from Sopore, and one of them fired three pistol shots on 25-year-old Shabir Ahmed Bhat S/o Mohammad Ramzan Bhat in the afternoon today. Bhat was evacuated and rushed to Sopore but he succumbed to injuries on way to the hospital. Reports said that he was a horse-cart driver. Officials insisted that Bhat had no militancy, counter-insurgency or political background. Being no protest over the killing indicated that it was the handiwork of militants.

Dera chief's cavalcade attacked, 11 injured

KARNAL (HARYANA), Feb 2: The cavalcade of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who had earned the wrath of Sikh clergy, today came under attack when a tyre stuffed with explosives was hurled triggering a blast near a vehicle injuring 11 persons, two of them seriously.

The Sect chief, who has been provided the Z-plus category security, however, was unharmed as he was travelling in a vehicle at a distance from the one that went up in flames.

Unidentified persons from a truck parked on a highway on which the Dera chief’s cavalcade was passing, threw a tyre at one of the cars which burst into flames, Additional Director General of Police V B Singh said in Chandigarh quoting the injured.

The incident occurred near Nilokheri in Karnal district when the Sect head was returning to the Dera headquarters in Sirsa after appearing in a court.

Singh said that the Haryana police rounded up two persons, including the driver of the truck.

The ADGP said forensic experts from Haryana reached the attack site and collected evidence.

Karnal Deputy Commissioner B S Malik said any conclusion on the nature of the blast could only be reached after the forensic experts submit their report.

Investigations were on and it was too premature to provide further details, Malik added.

Haryana Home Secretary K S Bhoria, however, did not rule out a pre-planned attack on the Dera chief.

"We are not ruling out a pre-planned attack on the Baba," Bhoria said.

Supporters of the Dera chief blocked traffic on the Delhi-Ambala National Highway soon after the incident.

The traffic had to be diverted from Pipli (Kurukshetra) to Karnal via Ladwa and Indri. Reinforcements had been summoned from neighbouring districts to clear the highway of the protestors, the ADGP said.

The tyre was thrown at a black Mahindra Bolero vehicle of the cavalcade, eyewitnesses at the site of the incident said.

Two seriously injured persons had been rushed to a hospital at Karnal. Nine others, who received minor injuries, were admitted to a local hospital.

Six security personnel were among the injured.

The Dera chief was returning after appearing in a court in Ambala in one of the three criminal cases against him.

The Sikh clergy was up in arms against the Dera chief for allegedly dressing like Sikh Guru, Guru Govind Singh.(PTI)

Mayawati- Governor row over suspensions

LUCKNOW, Feb 2: Hitting back at the Governor for disapproving her decision to suspend four senior officials for praising Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today said he should have sought clarification from her instead of going by media reports. Releasing copies of her letter to Governor T V Rajeshwar to the media here, Mayawati justified the suspension while stating that she had "respect" for Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.

"It would have been appropriate if, instead of writing a letter to me on the basis of media reports, you (Governor) had spoken to me to clarify the situation," Mayawati said in her letter.

Rajeshwar in his letter to Mayawati questioned the suspension of Faizabad Commissioner Venkateshawarlu and Sultanpur District Magistrate Sanjai Kumar on charges violating service rules by writing foreword on a book "Sultanpur-Kal Aaj Aur Kal" which glorified Rahul Gandhi and other members of the Nehru-Gandhi family in the development of the Sultanpur. The Governor had yesterday asked the UP Government to revoke the disciplinary action against the officials. The suspension has led to great resentment among the IAS officers of the State.

Mayawati claimed that the officials not only wrote messages in the book but also ‘directly and indirectly’ helped in its publication.

Mayawati said the author, a Central Government servant, in his preface, has written that the DM was the centre of inspiration for the book.

The author had also said in that the Chief Development Officer of Sultanpur had extended ‘valuable suggestions’ in writing the book, she said.

There appears to be a prima facie violation of service rules by the suspended officials, she claimed.

The Chief Minister said she chose to go to the media as the Governor had also informed the media about his letter.

While contending that the contribution of the BSP Government had also been lauded in the book, she said officials should avoid praising any political party.

"The question of any political vendetta in taking action against the officials does not even arise," Mayawati said in her letter.

The book does not mention the name of the publisher nor had been priced which was a violation of the press and registration of books act, she said.

Mayawati said she and her Government had "respect for late Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi" and clarified that the action had been taken to ensure that the bureaucracy was not "politicised".

She said her Government had been established by rules under the constitution and would not tolerate violation of service rules by anyone be it by an IAS or IPS officer.

Mayawati also referred to the CD case against senior BJP leaders and said the State Government had written to the Centre recommending a CBI inquiry into the matter. "Now the State Government has nothing to do with the case....It is up to the Centre to take appropriate action against those found guilty, she added.

The Government had yesterday suspended four officers including the two IAS officers for writing messages in the book brought out by the regional publicity officers of Sultanpur.

The other two officers suspended by the Government are the former Chief Development Officer Ishtadeo Prasad Singh and Assistant Director, Information, Pramod Kumar Singh. (PTI)

ODs cross Rs 2288 cr, up by Rs 98 cr in 1 year
*Govt mulls long term debt

By Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, Feb 2: Overdrafts of the State Government with Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd (JKBL) have constantly been on rise. Ever increasing Overdrafts have forced the Finance Ministry to consider replacement of structural part of ODs by a long term debt.

Presently, the J&K Government had an Overdraft of Rs 2288.21 crore. Overdrafts have now been divided into two categories—Normal Overdrafts (OD-I) and Power Overdrafts (OD-II)

While OD-I stood at Rs 2092.57 crore, OD-II was to the tune of Rs 195.64 crore, a Finance Ministry document said.

In January last year, the ODs stood at Rs 2190 crore—Rs 1942 crore as normal overdraft and Rs 248 crore as power account overdraft.

Figures revealed an increase of Rs 98 crore in ODs in last one year.

The Overdraft amounted to 15.33 per cent in 1996-97 and went upto 18.37 per cent in 1997-98. Overdrafts at the end of third quarter of last year i.e. December 31, 2007 was Rs 2110 crore i.e. below the March 2007 level.

The Government proposed to make every effort to bring down Overdrafts in first instance to 14.5 per cent of expenditure, the document said.

It added that a very large part of Overdrafts has assumed the character of a "structural deficit" which is required to be broken into current level of ODs into two components—a long term liability and a short term "ways and means" facility.

"The first component can be overcome through a combination of grant from the Central Government, issue of bonds by the State Government and raising of additional market borrowings", the document observed but noted "the most practical way and perhaps the only way to go forward is to replace the structural part of Overdraft by a long-term debt".

The Finance Ministry attributed power deficit as one of the major reason for Overdrafts.

The Government has admitted that bills were pending in treasuries but majority of payments were being cleared at regular intervals. Total pending bills in all treasuries of the State amounted to Rs 551.66 crore a fortnight ago. The amount include Rs 85 crore payable to Food Corporation of India (FCI). Total pending bills in Civil Secretariat treasury were Rs 129.51 crore, sources said.

Rs 6.06 crore worth bills for salary, pension and wages have been cleared. Other outstanding liabilities which the Government has cleared during last two months include salary, pension, wages, CDF, TE-OE-POL/drug and diet, cash assistance to migrants, gratuity commutation, GP Fund, contractors, firms, material/supplied and self help group payments.

The railway land compensation was Rs 8.19 crore only but the bills received during 2007-08 amounted to Rs 20.07 crore. Bills aggregating Rs 11.88 crore stand cleared, sources said.

Cabinet reshuffle before budget session

NEW DELHI, Feb 2: Amid talks that a reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers is expected soon, the Congress today indicated that the exercise may not see many young faces.

Unlike in the past, this is not a Party Government and therefore there are bound to be limitations because of the coalition character, AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi suggested.

Dwivedi also insisted that the Congress has maximum young leaders as compared to any other party and it has always strove to encourage the youth.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has been herself a votary of giving more opportunities to the young leaders in the party and in Government.

In the reshuffle of the AICC Secretariat in September last year, she brought in a number of young faces, including her son Rahul Gandhi.

Besides, she brought in several Union Ministers, including Prithviraj Chavan, Ajay Maken, Jairam Ramesh and Shakeel Ahmed into the party in various capacities in order to be well-versed in the organisation.

Party leaders are maintaining that Gandhi had utilised the opportunity to give these ministers, who were relatively less burdened in the Government, to work in the party.

Young leaders like Sandeep Dikshit, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot and Jitin Prasada have also been given some responsibility in the organisation.

The talk in party as well as Government circles is that a reshuffle of the Union Ministries is possible before the budget session of Parliament.(PTI)

NH blocked after girl crushed by car

Excelsior Correspondent

KATHUA, Feb 2: Irate public blocked Jammu-Pathankot national highway disrupted movement of traffic for about two hours after a minor girl was crushed under a speeding car near Kalibari here today.

Reports reaching here said that mishap took place at around 1 pm when the 8-year-old Mamta, daughter of Romesh Chander, resident of Kalibari was crossing highway this afternoon. A speeding Maruti car bearing registration No. JK08/0210 being driven by one Vicky, son of Omkar Singh, resident of Chann Gran under Kathua police jurisdiction, hit the minor girl, resulting her on the spot death.

While the youth escaped from the spot leaving behind vehicle, people of the area gathered on the spot and raised barricades to block the highway. Agitated residents sat on dharna on the road to protest negligence on the part of authorities for not constructing underground sub-way or flyover bridge at this crucial point where number of such mishaps was increasing day by day in view of massive traffic flow. They raised slogans against the Government demanding immediate steps for saving precious human lives. They also demanded compensation/ relief for the poor family which lost this minor child.

Addl SP Kathua Benam Tosh and SHO Inspector Kuljit Singh rushed to the spot. A long traffic jam was created with the blockade on the either side. The passengers had to face tough time in view of highway blockade. The traffic on the Jammu-Pathankot highway remained suspended for about two hours. Later, with the intervention of police, the public lifted dharna. Police claimed to have arrested the accused driver.

Pak ready to discuss India's concerns

KARACHI, Feb 2: Pakistan is prepared to discuss with India any reservations it may have about the Gwadar port being built on the coast of Balochistan province, the country’s naval chief said today.

"If India has some concerns over Gwadar port, it may be discussed. However, we cannot stop our progress due to concerns from any quarters," The Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir told reporters.

Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta had said last month that the Gwadar port has "serious strategic implications for India".

Speaking on the sidelines of a joint naval exercise being conducted by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the waters off the port city of Karachi, Tahir said: "We have always been saying that Gwadar port is a commercial port. It has no implications for any other naval force or any other country. It has been built for the development of Pakistan.

"If any one has any reservations, I can only say such reservations are unfounded. If any one still has reservations, they can talk to us about this," he said.

Mehta’s remark had provoked an angry response from Pakistan’s caretaker Interior Minister Nisar Memon, who claimed the statement as proof of India’s "involvement in promoting terrorism in Balochistan".

Admiral Tahir visited Bandar Island in the waters off Karachi to inspect the joint exercise code named "Naseem-e-Bahar".

Seven Saudi warships and several Pakistan vessels are taking part in the drill. "The large military drill between the two countries is abundant proof of the brotherly relations between us," Tahir said. (PTI)

Court seeks Sridevi's appearance

MUMBAI, Feb 2: A local court today directed Bollywood actress Sridevi to remain present during next hearing on March 7 of a cheque bouncing case, filed against her by proprietors of Photo Film Industries.

Advocate H H Nagi, who is representing Sridevi, moved an exemption application for physical appearance of his client for the next 10 days on medical grounds.

Metropolitan Magistrate S R Jagtap at the Kurla Court granted permission for the same and directed Mr Nagi that the actress should be present in the court during the next hearing.

Earlier, Sridevi had moved Sessions Court seeking cancellation of a bailable warrant issued by a trial court for non-appearance in the court. However, the Sessions Court directed her to go before a proper forum.

The proprietors of Photo Film Industries — Madhu Gupta and Sushil Gupta —had filed a case against the actress alleging that she had issued two cheques of Rs 92 lakh and Rs 8.41 lakh last year which had bounced.

However, Mr Nagi said the Juhu Police had filed the case against his client without any concrete evidence.(UNI)

Highway reopens after closure due to snowfall in morning

SRINAGAR : Traffic on the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was restored on both sides today after it remained suspended for several hours due to landslides and snowfall.

A traffic police official said, passenger vehicles from Jammu and Srinagar were allowed after receiving green signal from the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and traffic officials posted at different places on the highway, the only road linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country.

However, trucks and other heavy vehicles were allowed from Srinagar to Jammu only. No heavy vehicle was allowed from Jammu to Srinagar as a precautionary measure to avoid traffic jams, he added.

The highway was closed for traffic movement this morning following landslides triggered by rains at Penthal.

Shooting stones and landslides at Penthal, the most troubled spot on the highway, occured due to rains in the entire belt since morning.

There was also fresh snowfall between Jawahar Tunnel and Banihal since last evening. However, the BRO pressed into service hundreds of workers and sophisticated machines, and cleared the landslides and accumulated snow.

Hundreds of vehicles, including those carrying passengers, were stranded on the highway. The vehicles which had left Jammu this morning were stopped at Udhampur and other places.

Similarly, vehicles which left Srinagar for Jammu, were stranded on this side of the tunnel.

The vehicles were allowed to proceed towards their respective destinations this afternoon. (UNI)