Lok
Adalat on Jan 9
Excelsior
Correspondent
UDHAMPUR, Jan 2: According
to Principal District and
Sessions Judge, Udhampur, A.K
Shan, who is also Chairman of
District Legal Services Authority
(DLSA), next Adalat would be held
at Udhampur on January 9, 2008 at
12 Noon.
The
persons desirous of getting their
cases settled in the Lok Adalat
may approach his office before
holding of Lok Adalat.
The
concerned Insurance Companies
have been asked to send the list
of cases which were ready to be
taken up in the Lok Adalat.
Contractual
engineers demand regularisation
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 2:
Contractual Engineers
Association, J&K today
reiterated their demand regarding
the regularisation of contractual
engineers as junior engineers in
various engineering departments
of the State.
At
a press conference here, this
evening, the president of the
Association, Peerzada
Hidayatullah, its secretary,
Sajad Malik and Jammu province
chief, Sanjay Gandotra said that
they have been working as
contractual engineers for last
five years and deserve to be
regularized as JEs.
They
said, while their appointment as
contractual engineers the then
Chief Minister ,Mufti Mohammed
Sayeed had said he had signed an
MoU with Union Government and
this will be the first sign
towards solving the unemployment
problem in the state.
In
an appeal to Chief Minister,
Ghulam Nabi Azad and Deputy Chief
Minister Muzzafar Hussain Baig
they sought their immediate
attention towards the matter and
urged them to save the future of
675 contractual engineers by
regularizing their services.
Peerzada
said that their selection was
made by a Selection Committee
which was comprising of IAS
officers and senior engineers so
the Government should have no
problem in regularizing their
services at this time.
Moreover
,the Government should also keep
its word made with the engineers
while their selection on
contractual basis, he said,
adding any delay in this regard
will add to the woes of these
hapless engineers as they have
already become overaged now and
were not entitled for the
Government service.
Moreover
the contractual engineers are
working on a paltry sum of Rs
4500 per month on which they
can’t feed themselves and
their families, he said, and
expressed the hope that
Government will be sympathetic
towards
the demand.
He
said asthe Chief Minister has
taken many historical decision
and solved many ticklish issues,
the contractual engineers are
also pinning high hopes in him
expecting that he will prove a
Messiah for them.
Bhim inaugurates
exhibition on "Horrors of
Atom Bomb"
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 2:
The Jammu and
Kashmir National Panthers Party
(JKNPP) supremo Prof Bhim Singh
inaugurated an exhibition of
photographs on "Horrors of
Atom Bomb at Hiroshima and
Nagasaki" at General Zorawar
Singh Auditorium Complex,
University of Jammu (JU) this
afternoon.
The
photographs, donated by Prof
Baldev Sharma for the exhibition,
depicted the scenes of death and
destruction at Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the
aftermath of atomic bombing there
by United States six decades ago.
These include billowing mushroom
cloud, heat rays, vanished
cities, after bombing effects,
damage to human bodies, revival
from ruins and reviving the
cities.
After
inaugurating the exhibition, Prof
Singh also delivered a lecture on
"India and the Arab
World’ wherein he
highlighted the culture and
society of Arabian countries and
their relationships with India.
He also described about their
currencies, spoken languages and
the main products being
manufactured there.
Prof
B P S Sehgal, Dean Academic
Affairs JU, Dr D L Choudhary,
Administrator of the complex, Ms
Nasreen Ahmed, Hari Chand
Jalmeria and Ms Anita Thakur were
also present on the occasion.
Rehman flays Govt
for failure on all fronts
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 2: State unit
president of Samajwadi Party,
Sheikh Abdul Rehman, strongly
criticized the coalition
Government for its failure on all
fronts despite liberal flow of
funds from the centre.
Sheikh
Abdul Rehman was addressing a
well attended meeting of party at
village Khanpura in Marh block in
which workers from Bhagal Pura,
Taro Chak, Suhagni, Dehi Chak,
Kharian Gho-Manhasan and Chargali
villages took part.
Referring
to much hyped Roshani Act, Mr
Rehman reminded the Government
about its tall claims of
retrieving 25000 kanal of land
from grabbers and realizing Rs
20,000 for depositing into
Government coffers and what is
the position as of now, he
questioned? He added that infact
the Roshani Act has benefitted
Bhatindi dwellers including
former and present Chief
Ministers, Ministers, several
MPs, MLAs, police and revenue
bureaucrats.
The
concern of NC, PDP and Congress
leaders towards the plight of
unemployed youth Mr Rehman
categorically pointed out that
when in power the leaders of
these parties did nothing for
them and now when the general
elections were round the corner,
they have started shedding
crocodile tears to gain their
sympathy. He cautioned the
unemployed youth not to fall into
the trap of deceptive slogans and
remain vigilant.
Regarding
announcement of Chief Minister at
Banihal to give free ration to
drought hit farmers of district
Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar, The SP
supremo termed it as a complete
joke and stated that they must be
given free ration for atleast one
year as both Rabi and Kharif
crops have totally failed.
Dargah Sharif
devotees take out procession
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 2: Devotees
of Dargah Sharif Baba Lashman
Shah Wali organised a religious
function at Valmiki Colony Gandhi
Nagar here on the occasion of New
Year and took out a procession on
Tuesday.
Baba
Kuk Ram Mahant was leading the
procession which started from
Dargah Sharif. A large number of
devotees including children and
women participated in the
programme. The procession passed
through Valmiki Colony, Bahu
Plaza, Gole Market, Shivaji
Chowk, Nanak Nagar, Zorawar Singh
Chowk and finally culminated at
Dargah Shrief.
Several
saints, Baba Mangte Shah and Peer
Baba Mashi Shah also accompanied
Baba Kuk Ram. A langar was also
arranged at the Dargah which
started on December 30 and
continued till Ist of January.
These
saints also addressed gathering
during religious congregation and
conveyed their message to the
masses to maintain brotherhood,
unity among all the members of
the society and respect all the
religions.
Tributes paid to
Sadiq on 96th birth anniversary
Excelsior
Correspondent
Srinagar, Jan 2:
Rich tributes were
paid to the former Chief Minister
G M Sadiq on his 96th birthday
anniversary at a function
organized by the J&K Sadiq
Memorial Society here today.
The
function was attended by the
associates, senior citizens and
some Pradesh Congress Committee
activists. Dr Iftikhar Rafiq
Sadiq, the co chairman of the
Society termed Mr Sadiq a
towering personality of the State
who contributed to the society in
the fields of politics, law and
social service. The departed
leader throughout his life worked
relentlessly for the upliftment
of the underprivileged and
ignored sections of the society,
he said.
He
was in the vanguard of political
movement which overthrew the
autocracy in the State and played
to his full capacity in the
social and political integration
of the State with the Indian
union. He was a progressive
leader who fought a relentless
battle against communal forces,
Dr Iftikhar said.
Recalling
the late leader's efforts in the
abolition of landlord system in
the State, a former PCC state
secretary and a long time
associate of Mr Sadiq, G N Shah
said that Mr Sadiq played a
pivotal role in the handing over
of land to the tiller. Belonging
to a family of landlords, he had
the distinction of abdicating
hundreds of hectares of his
ancestral land to the peasants,
said Mr Shah.
G
N Shoroo another associate of the
late leader termed Mr Sadiq a man
of integrity.
The
fallout of the assassination of
the former Pakistan premier was
also deliberated in the meeting.
ISI militant
sentenced to 18 years
imprisonment
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 2: Principal
Sessions Judge Jammu J R Kotwal
convicted and sentenced ISI
trained militant to undergo 18
years imprisonment.
According
to the prosecution case, on May
1, 2000, one Sanjeev Kumar helped
the security forces in arresting
two persons, who had come from
across the border and enquiring
about the road leading to Jammu.
The
arrested persons disclosed their
identity as Raja Muzaffar code
name Rashed, son of Zulafqar of
Baramulla and Bilal Ahmed code
name Siraj Ahmed, son of Ali Mohd
of Bartha Qamarwari, Srinagar.
From the possession of Raja
Muzaffar maps of Hiranagar
sector, railway line, national
highway and nullahs were
recovered while a pistol
alongwith loaded magazine was
recovered from Bilal Ahmed.
On
the disclosure of Raja Muzafar
Ahmed, two hand grenades, one
pistol magazine loaded with 7
cartridges, one packet containing
five kilograms of RDX, 3 time
pencils, 3 detonators and a
compass were recovered. A similar
recovery comprising grenades and
RDX was effected on the
disclosure of Bilal.
It
was found during further
investigation that the accused
persons were active members of
the Pakistan’s banned
organization and they, at the
instance of Pakistan’s
intelligence agency ISI, entered
India through International
Border in Hiranagar sector to
carry out disruptive activities
in the State.
Principal
Sessions Judge JR Kotwal after
hearing Public Prosecutor E A Tak
appearing for the State and
Advocate Dinesh Verma appearing
for the accused, convicted
accused under Enemy Agent
Ordinance and Explosive
Substances Act.
"The
offence committed by the accused
Raja Muzafar Ahmed is serious as
well as heinous. Normally, a
person involved in commission of
such offence does not deserve
leniency and the court can see
mitigating circumstances in the
case as to how meekly the accused
and the co-accused, who is
proceeded under Section 512 CrPC,
had made their way to police
custody", the Court further
observed.
"They
did not retaliate at all when
confronted by a civilian and
taken into custody by the police
even though one of them (Bilal)
allegedly possessed a pistol. The
conduct of the accused persons at
the time of their arrest by the
police gives the Court a reason
to believe that they might have a
second thought about their future
course of action. Beside, the
court has also taken note that
the convict is in custody for the
last more than 7 years. These are
the factors to mitigate the
quantum of sentence to be imposed
upon him", the Court said.
With
these observations, the court
convicted and sentenced the
accused to undergo imprisonment
for 8 years under Enemy Agent
Ordnance. The accused was further
sentenced to undergo imprisonment
for five years under Section 4
and five years under Section 5 of
Explosive Substances Act.
Diminishing graph
of moral values
By Ravinder Kaul
It
was precisely one year ago when
Disha Kala Jagat, Akhnoor
presented its Dogri play ‘Manavta
da Rishta’ in the Drama
Festival at Abhinav Theatre
(Impressive Debut by Artistes
from Akhnoor - Daily Excelsior
January 5, 2007). In his review
of the play, this reviewer had
showered unqualified praise on
the entire team for its sincerity
and hard work. The artistes were
described as ‘uncut
diamonds’ who had the
potential of shining brightly
with a little trimming and
polish. The relevance of the
topical theme of the play was
also appreciated.
It
was the same group that performed
the play ‘Bisiar’
here this evening. The Dogri
play, written by veteran
playwright N.D.Jamwal, is a
strong indictment of the
diminishing graph of moral values
in our society. One is reminded
of some couplets that aptly
describe the situations depicted
in the play:
Safar
mein dhoop to hogi, jo chal sako
to chalo
Sabhi
hain bheed mein, tum bhi nikal
sako to chalo
Yahaan
kisi ko koi raasta nahin deta
Mujhe
gira ke agar tum sanbhal sako to
chalo
It
is a highly relevant play for our
times. The expectations from the
group were also quite high, going
by their last year’s
performance. Yet, it is sad to
note that the group has not been
able to live up to the hopes
generated by it last year. To
begin with, the group has not
been able to retain its artistes
and the young actors,
particularly the female actors,
who had shown great promise last
year were all missing this year.
The
story of the play deals with an
educated youngman Dalip who gets
employed in a factory on a post
which is being eyed by the
scheming Munim of the factory for
his own son. The Munim
fraudulently has Dalip declared
as mentally deranged. Many other
atrocities are directed against
Dalip and his family till he
actually loses his mental
balance.
O.P.Deepak
successfully enacted the role of
the evil Munim. Kewal Krishan
Kewal and Kanta Sharma also did
justice to their respective
roles. O.P.Shakir, the director
of the play, himself was the
weakest link in the play in his
role as the Doctor. He was
fumbling for words and quite ill
at ease throughout the
performance. Sandeep Choudhary
also could not impress with his
histrionic abilities in the lead
role. His portrayal lacked
earnestness and conviction.
Meenakshi Sharma as Sunanda also
appeared to be in the need for
more hard work.
Music
by well known singer and composer
Dharmesh Nargotra was one
redeeming feature of the play.
Through his moving lyrics and
voice he was able to highlight
the underlying pathos of the
play. The performance was in dire
need for some meaningful
direction and that is all that
one can say about the director.
One
does hope that the group will not
fritter away the promise shown by
it last time and stage a come
back soon with a competent
performance. And they need not
wait for the Annual Drama
Festival to do that. It can be
done much sooner than that.
Anamika
Arts presents its play ‘Jaadugar’
in the Festival on Thursday. The
play has been written by Baljit
Raina, who is also the director
of the play.
Take action
against MLA: Yashpal to EC
Excelsior
Correspondent
POONCH, Jan 2: Yashpal
Sharma, independent candidate
from 87 Poonch-Haveli
constituency, Mohd Zaman advocate
chairman Human Rights Forum
District Poonch and Sanjay Raina,
advocate chief election agent
have urged Chief Election
Commission of India to take stern
action against Jahangir Hussain
Mir, Congress candidate who has
been booked by Police under FIR
No. 92/2007.
In
a joint press statement issued
here today, all the three said
that official candidate of
Congress who is now Member
Legislative Assembly (MLA)
Poonch, has been booked by Mandi
Police under section 353/427 RPC.
They said Jahangir was charged
with several offences including
violence, misconduct, restraining
the presiding officer and other
polling staff to carry on their
job at polling station N0. 52,
Gagrian on December 12.
They
alleged that candidate also beat
up the presiding officer and
other staff members, snatched the
ballot unit No. B-64731 and
stopped the official from
performing election duties.
Regretting the police attitude,
they alleged that Poonch district
police has taken no action in
this regard and even it never
bothered to conduct
investigations.
In
a letter flashed to Chief
Election Commissioner of India,
these leaders have alleged that
MLA Mir has violated code of
conduct and also acted in
contravention of the
Constitutions of India and the
J&K State. They also have
written to the Speaker
MOWF nominates
new office bearers
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 2: A general
body meeting of Medical Officers
(ISM) Welfare Forum elected
office bearers of executive
committee for next two years.
Dr
Jagdish Lal was elected as
president, Dr Dhanwanter Singh
and Dr Shabir Ahmed Matoo as
senior vice presidents, Dr Pritam
Singh Dr Manjeet Singh, Dr Shashi
Kant and Dr Ved Parkash as vice
presidents for districts Kathua,
Rajouri, Udhampur and Doda
respectively. Dr Rameshwar Dutt
Sharma was elected as general
secretary.
Doctors
Jitendar Gupta, M K Koul, V K
Zaroo, Adarsh Prakash, Bal
Krishan, K L Kapoor and Randhir
Dubey were elected as secretary,
joint secretary, academic
secretary, organizing secretary,
publicity secretary and treasurer
respectively.
Doctors
Virinder Gupta and Sanjay Bhatt
were made auditors, whereas V S
Manhas and Arun Jandial were made
ex-officio members. Dr Govind Ram
Gupta was made chief organizer
and Dr Makhan Lal Gupta as
organizer.
Dr
C R Munday was nominated as
chairman of MOWF general body,
which adopted resolutions
demanding separate directorate of
ISM for Jammu province, amendment
in gazetted service recruitment
rules, filling up of vacant posts
of ADMOs Rajouri, Poonch and
Deputy Director ISM Jammu.
Various other demands were also
discussed in the meeting which
included measures for betterment
of ISM staff and also the
redressal of their genuine
demands.
Pir Panchal holds
meeting with displaced artists
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 2: To discuss
the challenges and problems being
faced by the displaced artists,
Pir Panchal organised a meeting
of migrant artists here, today.
The
meeting was chaired by the
president of the organization,
Ramesh Hangloo and the artist
community was represented by
Manoj Jad and Rajesh Khar. It
said the organization will take
up various social projects in
hand in migrant bastis and camps.
It
also gave the final shape to the
Kashmir day function being
organised on January 12 by the
organization during the meeting.
The meeting was informed that
artists from other communities
will also be involved in the
function.
It
said the organization will also
launch a programme to impart
training to younger generations
of displaced community in art so
that they will not go astray from
their roots.
Others
who attended the meeting include
Vijay Kaul, Mukesh Thaploo and
Adarsh Anand.
DPC constitutes
new committee
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 2: A meeting
of displaced residents of
Bijbehara, Jablibora, Krandigram,
Veer Nowbug, Thajiwara, Mahind
and Sirhama was held at Swayam
Anand Ashram, Muthi under the
banner of Devasthan Prabandhak
Committee.
The
meting elected new office bearers
with Vehsnath Jotshi as
president, B L Bhat as senior
vice president, Ramesh Koul and
Raj Nath Tickoo as vice
presidents, M L Malla as
secretary, A K Koul as joint
secretary, V Mohan Bhat as
publicity secretary and Pran Nath
as cashier.
Advisory
committee members included M L
Ash, M M Joshi, Brij Nath Raina,
Bushan Lal Tikoo and C L Tikoo. A
15 member executive committee
representing all the villages of
the tehsil was also
constituted.J&K Legislative
Assembly and Chief Electoral
Officer J&K to initiate legal
proceedings against MLA otherwise
they will be forced to pull the
concerned MLA and officers/
officials involved to the court
of law.
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