Grants of 25 Deptts, Appropriation bill passed
in 9 minutes without any debate, reply
Kundal report climax: House adjourned sine die
All 4 NPP MLAs forcibly evicted by Marshals
NC members protest, show black flags in Assembly
Curtains down on Lower House 10 days ahead of schedule

By Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, Jan 30: Amidst unprecedented pandemonium which saw forcible eviction of all four National Panthers Party (NPP) legislators, Speaker Tara Chand this afternoon adjourned the Assembly sine die ahead of 10 days after the House approved clubbed grants of nearly 20 Departments within 5 minutes in first sitting and approved the budget (Appropriation Bill) in just four minutes in second sitting with ‘yes’ from the treasury benches and massive sloganeering from entire Opposition. With grants of Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig’s Departments also passed earlier in the day, budget of nearly 25 Departments was passed in a single day without any debate by the members or reply by the Ministers as per the practice.

The Assembly, according to last revised calendar, was scheduled to adjourn on February 9. Initially, the Assembly had business listed upto February 1. However, following resentment shown by the Opposition who complained of less working days, the session was extended upto February 9.

Speaker’s announcement of sine die adjournment of the House which came at 3.44 pm barely four minutes into second sitting, called for passing the Appropriation bill, was climax of massive protests by NC leading to repeated adjournments of House since last Tuesday demanding resignation of two PDP Ministers—Tariq Hamid Qarra, Incharge Finance and Qazi Mohd Afzal, Incharge Forests, following their indictment by Kundal Committee report.

The Kundal Committee report was exclusively published in the Excelsior on last Sunday & Monday. It was then tabled in the House by the Chief Minister on Tuesday.

This was for the first time in current Assembly, which was in its last budget session, that grants of 25 major Departments and Finance Bill were passed in one day without any debate or reply by the Ministers concerned within a span of nine minutes. As per the Assembly calendar, the grants were to be debated and passed over next week with members scheduled to be given answers to their cut motions, running into hundreds.

A total of 29 Departments’ grants are debated and passed in the Assembly. Yesterday the House had approved grants of four Departments held by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad as NC had abstained from the proceedings, thus, facilitating a debate and reply on the grants. The CM’s Departments include Home, General Administration, Revenue, Relief & Rehabilitation, Information and Hospitality & Protocol. Today’s business had listed grants of Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig’s Departments including Planning, Law & Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism.

Both the times, when grants of nearly 20 Departments were read out and moved by Finance Minister Tariq Hamid Qarra and passed by the House within five minutes and when Appropriation Bill was introduced and passed within four minutes, there was massive uproar from entire Opposition including National Conference and NPP members who were into the Well shouting slogans against the Government.

When the House assembled for second sitting at 3.40 pm and Mr Azad also joined proceedings after first sitting’s absence, NPP Legislature Party leader Harshdev Singh was on his feet saying the Government has made a "mockery of the system and the House" by passing grants of such a large number of departments within 5 minutes.

Mr Singh and all other three NPP legislators including Balwant Singh Mankotia, Yashpal Kundal and Faqir Nath tore papers in their hands and threw them in the House. Simultaneously, all NC MLAs including Leader of Opposition Abdul Rahim Rather also stood up from their seats and tried to proceed towards Well of the House but were prevented by Watch and Ward Staff (Marshals) of the Assembly.

Harshdev Singh tried to rush towards the Finance Minister to snatch the copy of Appropriation Bill but was stopped by the Marshals. His colleague, Balwant Singh Mankotia nearly reached to the Speaker. He was pulled down by the Marshals from stairs leading to the Speaker’s chair. Harshdev stood on top of the bench and then it was sloganeering all over the House. Sensing that the Speaker was going to adjourn the House sine die, the NC members shouted in full voice "Gali Gali Mein Shor Hai Qazi Qarra Chor Hai", the NPP MLAs chanted "Choron Ki Sarkaar Hai Hai".

Marshals made repeated attempts to forcibly evict Harshdev Singh from the House but didn’t succeed. In the process, the MLAs and Marshals were virtually seen clashing with exchange of fits and blows. The NC MLAs, however, continued their peaceful protest and made no attempt to break the cordon laid down by Marshals to prevent MLAs from reaching to Well of the House or Speaker’s podium.

As NPP MLAs continued to clash with Marshals, all of them were forcibly evicted from the House. Over a dozen Marshals were seen in action for evicting Mr Singh and Mr Mankotia, who resisted their eviction. However, Mr Mankotia managed to rush again into the House three times and tried to break Marshals cordon to reach Well of the House but all the time his attempts were thwarted.

R&B Minister Jugal Kishore and Higher Education Minister Gulchain Singh Charak were trapped in the Opposition benches as they had their seats on right side of the House but they soon shifted towards the treasury benches.

Amidst a virtual ruckus in the House, Finance Minister first introduced the Appropriation Bill and within a minute moved the pass motion. Assembly proceedings lasted just four minutes and the Appropriation bill was passed with ruling alliance members shouting a loud ‘yes’ and NC members responding with "Chor Hai Chor Hai, Yeh Sarkar Chor Hai".

After the Appropriation Bill was passed, the Speaker announced adjournment of the House sine die. Slogans of "shame shame" by entire NC group rented the House.

After adjournment, the Ministers and coalition partner MLAs had to use the Chief Minister’s office, linked to the Assembly, to come out of the House with NC members going ahead with sloganeering for sometime.

Earlier when the House met at 12.34 pm after two adjournments in the morning, Mr Qarra moved clubbed grants of all Departments, barring those held by the Chief Minister, whose grants were passed yesterday and the Deputy Chief Minister whose grants were passed in the morning. As supplementary business of clubbing grants of all Departments was circulated among the members, all NC and NPP MLAs stood up from their seats and tried to move towards Well of the House but were stopped by the Marshals.

A number of NC MLAs displayed black flags with slogans written on them "Daagi Waziron Ko Bahar Karo", "Gali Gali Mein Shor Hai, Qazi Qarra Chor Hai" etc. They continued to display black flags till Mr Qarra moved a pass motion for all grants jointly and it was approved by treasury benches with thumping of desks.

Grants of nearly 20 Departments were passed within four minutes of business and the Speaker adjourned the House at 12.38 pm for lunch break till 3.30 pm.

No cut motions were moved or considered during the grants as cut motions for only the Departments held by Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Baig were listed today while other cut motions would lapse with passing of the grants of all other Ministries simultaneously through supplementary business circulated among the members minutes before clubbed grants were taken up for passing.

Major Departments, whose grants were passed within four minutes without any debate or cut motion or reply by the Minister, include Finance, Housing & Urban Development, Agriculture & Horticulture, Animal and Sheep Husbandry, Transport, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD), PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Health and Medical Education, Ladakh Affairs, Labour and Employment, Social Welfare, R&B, Public Works, Rural Development, Higher and School Education, Forests & Environment, Power, Industry and Commerce, Fisheries, Youth Services and Sports etc.

The NC and NPP members continued massive protests when the grants of a number of Departments were passed within a couple of minutes through circulation of supplementary business as they hadn’t been listed in today’s agenda before the House. However, the treasury benches thumped desks and ensured passage of grants.

The grants of Planning, Law & Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism Departments, held by the Deputy Chief Minister were also passed without any debate when the House met at 11.31 am after first adjournment during the Question Hour.

Before Mr Baig moved his grants, Mr Qarra stood up to lay on table of the House the Finance Accounts and Appropriation Accounts for 2006-07 and the CAG report. The NC members rushed into Well of the House shouting "Yeh Kundal Wala Hai" followed by "Daagi Wazir Hai Hai". Mr Qarra laid papers on table of the House amidst pandemonium after which Mr Baig moved his grants. Amidst slogan shouting, the grants were passed without any debate. The Speaker adjourned the House at 11.35 am and it met again when clubbed grants were taken up.

Sources in Assembly Secretariat told the Excelsior that all possible options to run the House were explored before adjourning it sine die this afternoon.

Sources said that Speaker Tara Chand arranged a number of meetings between Opposition members and the Chief Minister to break the logjam but the NC insisted on Ministers’ resignation or a CBI probe against the Ministers while the Government first wanted a debate on Kundal report.

"As virtually no business could be carried out in the Assembly excepting debate and reply on the Chief Minister’s grants since first day of last week after publication of Kundal Committee report and simultaneously its tabling in the House, the Speaker had no option but to go for sine die adjournment", they added.

This was, however, for the first time during current Assembly as also during last about 12 years after Assembly was revived in 1996 following seven year spell of Governor’s rule in the State that grants of a number of Ministries were clubbed together and passed with a mayhem in the House.

The Ministers, who are grilled by the Opposition as well as ruling members during debate on the grants of their Departments, heaved a sigh of relief with their grants approved by the House without any debate or reply.

The Assembly was first adjourned in the morning by the Speaker within seven minutes into the Question Hour.

According to Assembly sources, there was a practice in the Parliament and other Assemblies to debate grants of only few Ministries.

While NC members continued protests demanding resignation of the two Ministers with NC MLA Mohd Sayeed Akhoon also displaying a black flag, all four NPP MLAs besides Jammu State Morcha (JSM) member Ashwani Sharma marching to front row condemning forced removal of unemployed engineers, ITI trained youths and Home Guard jawans etc from Mubarak Mandi complex in wee hours this morning.

"Goondagardi Naheen Chalegi", "Tanashahi Naheen Chalegi", the NPP and JSM MLAs shouted while flaying the eviction of unemployed youths and alleged lathicharge on them especially on the day Mahatma Gandhi had attained martyrdom.

NPP MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia sought an apology from the Government for lathicharge on unemployed youths and called for dismissal of ‘Angrezi Sarkaar’.

As replies of the Ministers were lost in the din created by Opposition members, the Speaker adjourned the House at 10.07 am for an hour. This was for fifth day (beginning last Wednesday) that Question Hour was completely disrupted by the Opposition members.

Brief session likely for Govt business

The Government is likely to hold a brief session of the Legislature after sometime to take up the Government business left out due to abrupt sine die adjournment of Assembly session following protests by the Opposition.

Official sources said the Government had promised introduction of three important bills including promotional benefit granted to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under SRO 294, Kashmiri Hindu Shrines (Protection) and an amendment in Right to Information (RTI) Act to make it at par with the Centre which couldn’t be introduced due to paucity of time.

While Kashmiri Hindu Shrines (Protection) bill was ready for introduction, it was deferred at last moment as the Government wanted to make some changes into it, they said.

The Government intends to call a brief 3-4 days session for the purpose, most likely in March, to pass the bills. The session will be called only after the dust settles on Kundal Committee report.

The session is likely to be held before the Durbar Move in April.

The Government has promised a last Assembly session in Srinagar, summer capital of the State, in May.

Under rules, the Assembly must meet within six months. Assembly elections in the State are due in September-October.

I’ll quit politics if charges proved: Rather
Baig takes on Farooq, Rather, top brass of NC
*Time for Governor to act: Harshdev

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 30: Coalition partners today launched a counter attack on National Conference including party’s top brass—Farooq Abdullah, former Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition Abdul Rahim Rather, Dr Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, MLA and former Minister, Choudhary Mohd Ramzan, former Minister, Mohd Yusuf Taing, MLC and Mohi-ud-Din Shah, late veteran leader of the party.

Putting up a united front, almost all Congress, PDP and PDF Ministers and even MLAs joined a press conference addressed by Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig after the Assembly was adjourned sine die. Mr Baig, without naming Dr Farooq Abdullah, alleged that a former Chief Minister had constructed his ‘Qila’ (fort) at Bhatindi after taking Forest land from Gujjars through cheating.

"Who has spoiled forests in Bhatindi and Sunjwan is known to all", he said in a virtual counter to NC attack on Forest Minister Qazi Mohd Afzal.

Flanked by senior Ministers like Mangat Ram Sharma, Tariq Hamid Qarra, Mula Ram, Taj Mohi-ud-Din, Qazi Mohd Afzal and Rigzin Jora etc, Mr Baig said he would propose to the Cabinet that a Commission be set up to probe the assets of all political leaders since 1975.

Without naming anyone, he said there were leaders who didn’t have even shoes to wear but now have crores of rupees. "We will have to search different foreign banks of different countries for ‘nami’ and ‘benami’ accounts of several leaders", he added.

Taking on the Leader of Opposition Abdul Rahim Rather who had been in forefront in attacking Government on Kundal Committee report, the Deputy Chief Minister said he had purchased 400 kanals land at Nagam Kaswari in Kashmir on the name of his wife where water tap was installed from 50 kms distance and sheds were constructed under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) from Government funds.

He said Mr Rather’s kin was allotted a hall at Re 1 per square feet at Panama Chowk as against the prevailing rate of Rs 25 per square feet at that time for business purposes. There was a complaint that Mr Rather had recruited 400 Multi Purpose Workers (MPWs) through backdoor when he was a Minister. The complainants have pointed out that Rs 50,000 to Rs 80,000 were charged per appointment, he alleged.

"Even there were cases in Vigilance Organisation against Mustafa Kamal and Madr-e-Meherbaan", he claimed.

Mr Baig said the later NC leader Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Shah during his tenure as Minister in previous NC Government has recruited 650 employees in local bodies, all though back-door while a former Forest Minister (Choudhary Mohd Ramzan) has made 750 appointments in Forest Protection Force, 224 in IWDP and 13 in Pollution Control Board. Backdoor appointments were also made in Transport, Health and Medical Education and Excise Departments during NC tenure, he added.

Pointing out that one Anil Saraf has filed a complaint before State Accountability Commission (SAC) against Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for backdoor appointments of Bodh Raj Balgotra, Rajinder Tickoo and Rohit Verma as Inspectors, Mr Baig said the appointments of Balgotra and Tickoo had been made in 1979 when Sheikh Mohd Abdullah was president of Cultural Academy in his capacity as Chief Minister of the State while Mohd Yusuf Taing, NC MLA, was its Secretary. In fact, Mr Taing, was an accused in the case, he alleged.

"All these facts and figures would have come up during discussion on Kundal Committee report and that is why the NC was not ready for a discussion on the report", the PDP leader said. He added that the Forest Department has, on its own, referred the irregularities pointed out in the report to Vigilance Organisation and Crime Branch even without waiting for the Chief Minister’s directive.

Mr Baig reiterated that no Minister has been charged with taking money or any other financial transactions in Kundal Committee report and, therefore, there was no question of their resignations.

He said he personally felt that there was even no need for School Education Minister Peerzada Mohd Sayeed to resign. "Once he resigned, the NC thought they would made two others to resign", he asserted.

On NC leader Ali Mohd Sagar’s allegation that 22 Ministers have been indicted in State Accountability Commission (SAC) report, Mr Baig said even no notice has been issued to some of the Ministers while proceedings against others have been dismissed. "A mere complaint in the SAC, which can be even made by a NC worker, can’t make a CM or the Minister an accused", he clarified.

To a question, he said late SAC chairman, Justice R P Sethi had adopted a "wrong approach" in dealing with the complaints. "Soon after receiving the complaint, Justice Sethi used to call cameras and issued statements to media which was not the right approach. In fact, preliminary investigations had to be kept secret", he added.

On sine die adjournment of session, the Law Minister asked: "what was the fun of holding session now with the Opposition holding the House to ransom, hurling abuses and not allowing any business"? He noted that Rs 1 crore is spent everyday on Assembly proceedings. However, according to him, the Opposition was conveyed yesterday that if they were not interested in proceedings of the House, the grants can be passed on one day.

On Kundal Committee report stating that works had been approved by the Ministers, Mr Baig said the Minister was right in approving works. Asked whether the observations of B R Kundal, presently Chief Secretary of the State, were wrong, he said the Chief Secretary is also a human being. Even the Prime Minister can make errors, he added.

Replying to another question, Mr Baig said the present development will have no affect on Assembly elections schedule.

He praised Speaker Tara Chand for being so liberal despite "rowdism" adopted by the Opposition.

Wondering that Mr Baig can stoop too low, Leader of Opposition Abdul Rahim Rather, who was also flanked by most of MLAs and MLCs of his party, declared that he would not stay in politics even for a minute if the charges levelled against him including that of 400 kanals land were proved.

"If it was proved that Mr Baig was telling a lie, he should quit politics", he told the mediapersons.

"I don’t have even two rooms to live in the Valley. I have not even a small Maruti car. When I retire from politics, I will have to live in a rented house", he said in an emotion choked voice.

Challenging Mr Baig to prove the allegations, Mr Rather declared that he would file a defamation suit against the Law Minister for levelling baseless allegations against him.

Alleging that today was the day of "political burial" of the coalition Government, he said he came to the Assembly despite being ill to participate in "last rites" of the Government. The day will be remembered as a "black slot" in the history of Legislature as it was "unheard off" that entire budget of the year was passed in one minute.

"Entire country is looking at us. What precedents are we setting. The most important Appropriation bill was introduced and passed within seconds", he regretted and noted that there was no need to rush through the business as the State had its budget upto March 31.

Mr Rather said the NC had even given an option to the Government to go for a CBI probe against the Ministers if they don’t intend to resign but that demand of the Opposition was also not conceded. "What was the fun of debate when the ruling party leaders had already given their verdict that the Ministers wouldn’t resign"? he asked.

Referring to the charges levelled against former NC Ministers, the Leader of Opposition said if there were any complaints, the Government should have approached the SAC. "Why the Government was silent for last 5 years"? he asked.

Pointing out Mr Baig’s recent statement in Assembly that he was feeling suffocated and was waiting for the Mufti come from abroad to resign, the NC leader asked: "was that a hypocrisy"?

Mr Rather said the NC was not against a political party or an individual but it was a prove case against two Ministers inquiry had been ordered by the Chief Minister and was conducted by the Chief Secretary. The Government should have accepted his findings.

"The Government can close down the House but they can’t silence our voice as we will take the case to people’s court. It will spell a political doom for the coalition", he warned.

"I have never talked about enmasse resignation by NC MLAs", Mr Rather said and added that the NC would chalk out its future course of action soon.

Earlier, addressing a press conference, Ali Mohd Sagar said the Government has no moral right to continue in the office, should resign and go for fresh polls.

Asserting that there was a big question mark on credibility of the Government, Mr Sagar said the NC will take its fight to streets.

Addressing a press conference, NPP Legislature Party leader Harshdev Singh, flanked by NPP supremo Bhim Singh and all three MLAs, Balwant Singh Mankotia, Yashpal Kundal and Faqir Nath, took strong exception to Government passing all grants and Appropriation bill in one go.

"This was an escapist policy. We would have exposed the Ministers during debate on the grants for the acts of omissions and commissions committed by them. That is why the Government has adjourned the House sine die", Mr Singh said.

Describing today’s incidents in Assembly as "massacre of democracy and rule of law", Harshdev Singh said the Government has lost its right to govern.

"There was a ‘jungle raj’ in and outside the Assembly. There was a total breakdown of Constitutional machinery. It was high time for the Governor to invoke Section 92 of the Constitution of J&K and dissolve the Assembly, dismiss the Government and hold fresh Assembly elections under independent observers", he said, adding the party will also submit a memorandum to the Governor tomorrow seeking his intervention.

Half of total forest area rendered degraded

By Mohinder Verma

JAMMU, Jan 30: The Forest Department, which remained in the eye of storm ever since the much-hyped Kundal Committee report was made public, came under another heavy hammer this time from the central autonomous authority.

This autonomous authority—Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in its report for the year ending March 31, 2007, has painted a picture of complete neglect and over exploitation about the Forest and Allied Departments and remarked that objectives of the Department concerning conservation, protection and restoration were not achieved due to lack of State specific Forest Policy, non-approval of working plans of most of the Forest Divisions and non-formulation of the projects for afforestation programmes.

In the absence of any viable vision policy, the encroachment of the forest area increased considerably including 3,378 hectares in nine divisions only and half of the State’s total forest area became degraded.

According to the report tabled in the Legislative Assembly today, the working plans for forest management were prepared by only 12 out of 28 divisions across the State. Of 12, the plans of only four divisions (Jammu, Langate, Ramnagar and Reasi) were approved and plans of eight divisions (Batote, Billawar, Doda, Kathua, Nowshera, Rajouri, Sindh and Udhampur) prepared between 1996-97 and 2004-05 were pending for approval with the Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF) for a period ranging between two to 10 years as on March 2007.

As per the State Forest Conservation Act, 1997, forests were to be raised over degraded area equal to or twice the area diverted for non forest purposes. The rules further provide that the agency using the forest area should deposit the compensation for compensatory afforestation for loss of forest land, trees and other charges.

But the scrutiny of the records by CAG revealed that against 2243.32 hectares of forest land diverted between April 2002 to August 2006 for non forest purposes, only 719 hectares (32 per cent) of forest area was raised. Moreover, no records were maintained at apex level to monitor the amount outstanding against various agencies on account of compensation for compensatory afforestation.

In 10 divisions (Batote, Doda, Jammu, Kishtwar, Kupwara, Marwah, Poonch, Ramnagar, Sopore and Udhampur), an amount of Rs 188.55 crore was outstanding against various agencies on account of compensation for a period ranging between 10 months to 20 years.

Although the State Government kept the money received from user agencies on account of compensatory afforestation with itself for afforestation through annual plans of operation, however, no projects or annual plans were formulated between 1992 to June 2007 by the Department for afforestation against the availability of Rs 79.34 crore collected during the same period. Despite non-formulation of projects, Rs 3.34 crore were released to 20 Divisions (upto March 2005) for compensatory afforestation.

The report also pointed out that for diversion of 265.10 hectares of forest land for construction of Lakhanpur-Jammu Highway, two Social Forestry Divisions received the compensation of Rs 5.11 crore as fixed by the State Government, from National Highways Authority of India and Railways.

However, compensatory afforestation was not undertaken as no project report was framed in this regard. As the amount was kept in the current account instead of having been invested in fixed deposits, the Department suffered interest loss of Rs 21.66 lakh thereby defeating the objective of compensation.

The scheme of rehabilitation of degraded forests envisages rehabilitating degraded forest land by plantation, construction of check dams, water harvesting structure and natural regeneration. But despite expending Rs 18.11 crore during 2002-03 to March 2007, there was no reduction of degraded forests. Rather the area of degraded forest increased by 43 per cent from 7 lakh to 10 lakh hectares from April 2002 to February 2007 and it constituted half of the total forest area of the State which is 20 lakh hectares.

The test check of 16 Divisions revealed that against the total degraded area of 5.13 lakh hectares, only 10,551 hectares (two per cent) was rehabilitated between 2002-03 and 2005-06 and the plans for rehabilitation of remaining 98 per cent degraded forests were not framed.

In order to promote natural regeneration and vegetative growth for restoration of forest cover, it is essential to check unrestricted grazing in the forest area but in the absence of any approved grazing policy, the natural regeneration was only 10 per cent.

To ensure protection of existing forest area, the Department conducts survey and demarcates the existing forests by putting up permanent boundary pillars which besides discouraging encroachments, seals the forest area which is otherwise prone to grazing.

Against the target of 64,000 pillars set for erection in 10th Plan (2002-07) with an outlay of Rs 4 crore, only 20705 pillars were erected during the period at a cost of Rs 1.42 crore.

The shortfall in achievement of targets facilitated encroachment of forest area of 3,378 hectares in only nine divisions (Batote, Doda, Jammu, Kathua, Kishtwar, Marwah, Poonch, Ramnagar and Udhampur). Out of this only 29.40 hectares (one per cent) got vacated till March 2007.

To hush up the encroachment of forest area, the year wise details of area surveyed with respect to revenue records, area identified as forest land and area encroached upon was not maintained, the report indicated.

To check damages to forests and tackle armed intrusion, Government sanctioned in December 1996, 30 units of Forest Protection Force (FPF) with adequate infrastructure by the end of 9th Plan (2001-02). However only 17 units were established till March 2007.

The rules governing the service conditions of the FPF, its area of activity and handling of arms and ammunition were not framed till February 2007 thereby defeating the objective of checking the forest damages which were 15,895 during 2002-03 to 2005-06.

Further infrastructure (two quarter guard buildings and three armoury buildings) costing Rs 84.69 lakh created during 2002-05 and nine barracks worth Rs 9.85 crore created during 2002-06 were also not put to any use till March 2007.

Besides, the Government also sanctioned purchase of 200 each of Bullet Proof (BP) jackets and helmets for FPF. But the record revealed that Rs 43 lakh advanced to DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) for supply of only 127 BP jackets and helmets.

Though the reply of 127 BP jackets and helmets was received yet only 57 were issued resulting in blocking of funds of Rs 41.91 lakh apart from non-utilisation of the potential of the FPF.

According to the report, the incidence of illicit felling of trees increased from 137624 in 2002-03 to 143061 in 2005-06. The number of unsettled cases rose from 1.38 lakh to 1.44 lakh during the period indicating slackness on the part of the Department in settling the cases.

The report also revealed that the Department engaged 696 watchers from time to time upto March 2005 without securing selection of the competent authority resulting in irregular expenditure of Rs 6.39 crore on pay and allowance of these employees during the period from 2005-06 to 2006-07.

Adjournment—Sidelights

* Ever since Kundal Committee report was tabled in the Assembly on last Tuesday, the Assembly had been witnessing turmoil with National Conference disrupting proceedings of the House. This Monday, the Question Hour had lasted 18 minutes, it came down to 12 minutes on Tuesday and was at its lowest at 7 minutes today when Speaker adjourned the House.

* The House was first adjourned at 10.07 am today for one hour by Speaker Tara Chand. It resumed at 11.31 am and passed the grants of Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig’s departments within 4 minutes and the Speaker again adjourned the House at 11.35 am.

* The House again assembled at 12.34 pm and grants of nearly 20 Departments were moved by Finance Minister Tariq Hamid Qarra and passed within 5 minutes without any debate or reply. The Speaker adjourned the House at 12.38 pm for lunch break till 3.30 pm.

* The Assembly met at 3.40 pm. It took up Appropriation bill (also called as budget of all Departments) which was passed amidst mayhem within four minutes. The Speaker then adjourned the House sine die at 3.44 pm.

* Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was present in the Assembly during mayhem. When the House was adjourned sine die, he immediately left the Assembly.

* Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig, in his press conference, cited the example of four persons forcing a poor man to call his ‘bheru’ (sheep) as ‘kutta’ (dog). The example was given to derive home the point that Opposition was compelling the Government to admit that its Ministers were corrupt. When all four men, sitting at distance, called the ‘bheru’ as ‘kutta’ the poor man agreed that it was a ‘kutta’, he quoted from a story.

* ‘Chor Hai Chor Hai’ was the only audible slogan amidst ruckus in the Assembly when the Speaker was about to adjourn the House. The NC MLAs displayed black flags in the House with anti-Government slogans written on them.

* R&B Minister Jugal Kishore and Higher Education Minister Gulchain Singh Charak were trapped between protesting Opposition members and Marshals as they had their seats on front row of right side. They were seen leaving their seats and taking seats on left side.

* NPP member Balwant Singh Mankotia managed to regain entry in the Assembly three times despite being forcibly removed by the Marshals. He nearly reached the Speaker’s chair, breaking all cordons, in a bid to snatch the papers but was overpowered by the Marshals and removed again.

* Surprisingly, the mayhem in the Assembly took place when the country was observing martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi.

IGP declares Kulgam as militancy-free zone
‘Distt Commdr’ among 4 militants killed

Excelsior Special Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Jan 30: With the killing of four militants of Hizbul Mujahideen, including a top wanted ‘District Commander’, senior officials of Jammu and Kashmir today declared Kulgam area of south Kashmir as a "militancy-free zone".

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone, S M Sahai, held a specially organized news conference at Bijbehara in south Kashmir only to declare Kulgam-Arwani belt as militancy-free area. He said that working over a specific information, Special Operations Group (SOG) of District Police Anantnag and District Police Kulgam, joined by Rashtriya Rifles Sector-I and CRPF 155 Bn, today laid siege to a cluster of residential houses at Batpora, near Arwani, and began search for a group of militants hiding in the locality. According to the specific information, four Kashmiri militants of Hizbul Mujahideen were hiding at the house of one Mohammad Maqbool Malik S/o Assadullah Malik.

During the search operation, an encounter took place between the militants and security forces in which all the four holed up militants got killed. They were identified as Sajjad Ahmed Bhat alias Tahir Maqsood S/o Ghulam Hassan Bhat R/o Hattipora Batpora, Firdaus Ahmed Wani alias Naseer R/o Tungduna Yaripora, Javed Ahmed alias Weqas R/o Buchroo and Farooq Ahmed War alias Huzaib R/o Arwani. Even as the gunbattle had subsided, officials said that the search was still underway for recovery of arms and ammunition. Two AK-56 rifles are claimed to have been recovered from the debris immediately after the militants got killed.

IGP claimed that this group of militants was the last available evidence of militants in Kulgam-Yaripora-Arwani belt. However, some of his juniors said that two more militants of Hizbul Mujahideen, namely Basharat and Shahid, were yet to be killed or apprehended in Kulgam area. They asserted that Pakistan-based Jihadi outfits, like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, had already been completely wiped out by police and security forces with the elimination of all listed militants in Kulgam area in the last one year.

IGP said that Sajjad alias Tahir Maqsood had been active in south Kashmir for the last over three years. He said that among other incidents of violence, Sajjad had also been found involved in the massacre of Nepalese labourers at Badroo, Anantnag, in June 2006. He had also kidnapped and either killed or left injured a number of civilians in Kulgam area.

Officials insisted that Javed of Buchroo had returned from his organisation’s training camp in PoK to Kashmir in July 2007 via Nepal. According to officials, Sajjad was a school dropout who had worked as a tailor of some time before joining militancy three years ago. They said that Farooq Ahmed War had returned from his training camp in Pakistan in September last year. They said that Firdaus Ahmed Wani alias Naseer had taken guerrilla training at a camp in Pakistan in 2001 and later returned to the Valley.

In 1994, Army had declared Kulgam as a "militancy-free zone" and installed signboards with this claim at several places. However, in the next couple of years, militancy showed resurgence and a large numbers of militants from Hizbul Mujahideen and three Jihadi outfits dominated Shopian-Kulgam-Qazigund belt. However, nearly 200 militants have been killed by police and security forces in this belt in the last two years.

Committee for IAS officers’ promotion formed

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 30: The Government has constituted a screening committee for the purpose of promotion to the IAS officers in the State.

While Chief Secretary B R Kundal is the chairman of the Committee, the other two members are-Financial Commissioner Agriculture Production Department S S Sahni and Financial Commissioner Planning and Development Department, S S Kapur.

20 employees, 3 cops injured in cane-charge
Police foils EJAC bid to gheroe Assembly

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 30: Over 20 Government employees and three policemen were injured today after police resorted to cane charge to foil their bid to storm the Civil Secretariat and gheroe the State Assembly which is in session to force the Government to concede their demands.

A highdrama prevailed at Shalamar Chowk as the protesting employees and police jostled with each other for over one hour. The protesting employees who broke the police barricades at City Chowk, were not allowed to move further from Shalamar Chowk by the men in Khaki who besides resorting to cane charge also fired water cannons to disperse the agitating employees.

Over 20 employees were injured in police cane charge. They were admitted into Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital Jammu. Though some of the employees were discharged after the first aid others with serious injuries are still undergoing treatment in the Hospital, said an employees spokesman.

Earlier a huge procession of employees started from Residency Road this afternoon towards the Civil Secretariat. The employees with banners in their hands were shouting slogans in support of their demands and against the anti working class policies of the Government.

As the procession reached near City Chowk, the Police did not allow it to proceed further. But breaking the police cordon the processionists marched towards Shalamar Chowk in their bid to move towards Civil Secretariat forcing the police to resort to cane charge and firing of water cannons to disperse the protesting employees.

Four leaders of EJAC including its president, Abdul Qayoom Wani, general secretary, Haji Bashir, Manzoor Bhat and Ghulam Sofi were arrested by the Police. These employee leaders who were taken to City Police Station were released later in the evening.

However, the EJAC has warned to continue its Assembly gheroe agitation in case its demands were not conceded by the Government by tomorrow morning. Talking to this Correspondent, the EJAC president, Abdul Qayoom Wani said that authorities yesterday had assured to arrange their meeting with Chief Minister this morning for a counter guarantee from them on agreed demands. Though employees were waiting for a communique from Government side upto the afternoon failing which they took out a procession to continue their agitational programme to gheroe the Assembly.

He warned that agitation will be intensified in case the demands were not conceded immediately and did not rule out that employees will also resort to lock out of offices in view of what he termed the rigid attitude of the Government towards the genuine demands of the EJAC.

Mr Wani said even today the Additional DC Jammu and S P met the EJAC leadership and framed a list of its leaders to arrange their meeting with the Chief Minister and EJAC is hopeful of positive result.

He said the employees on the assurance of the Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Sudhanshu Pandey that their meeting will be arranged with Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister this morning agreed to disperse yesterday from Shalamar Chowk and did not proceed towards Civil Secretariat. As no response came from authorities side upto this afternoon the employees were forced to resort to agitational path again.

He also accused the police of resorting to lathicharge on peaceful processionists.

However a police spokesman blamed the employees for violating the Section 144 CrPC and crossing the police barricades to move towards the Civil Secretariat. Three policemen were injured in the melee, he added.

The spokesman said when the employees did not agree to disperse at Shalamar Chowk and jostled with Policemen deployed there to proceed towards the Civil Secretariat the authorities were left with no alternative but to resort to cane charge to disperse them.

Meanwhile, All Public Sector Employees and Workers Federation (APSEWF) has strongly condemned the police lathicharge on employees rally at Shalamar Chowk today.

In a statement issued here, today it urged the State Government to give up its rigid attitude towards the working class and concede their genuine demands immediately. It warned that employees will be left with no alternative but to intensify the agitation in case the demands of EJAC and Public Sector employees were not conceded.

The employees are demanding extension of retirement age to 60 years, change of designation of helpers, release of pending pay of nine months in favour of all public sector employees, decreasing the qualifying service for pension from 33 to 21 years, payment of Interim Relief to Rs 1000 till Pay Commission report is implemented, payment of Risk Allowance to PDD, Health and Mechanical Engineering employees, increasing the SLI slab from Rs 36,000 to 1.50 lakh and conversion of 6500 grade into 7450 and benefits of Janata Insurance policy be given in case of natural death.

In addition to this the Public sector employees were demanding regularisation of salaries, conversion of COLA into DA, pensionary benefits to PSUs, release of conditional pending COLA, remittance of Statutory liabilities and regularisation of daily wagers and consolidate employees.

It may be recalled that the employees took out a massive procession in the Jammu City yesterday also from Ranbir Higher Secondary School to Shalamar Road in their bid to gheroe the State Assembly. But later they dispersed on the assurance of authorities that their demands have been conceded and for a counter guarantee in this regard they will arrange a meeting of EJAC leaders with Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister this morning.