JAMMU: A delegation of J&K National Conference leaders today called on Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha here at the Raj Bhavan.
The delegation led by Provincial President of NC, Devender Singh Rana, comprising of former Ministers – Surjit Singh Slathia; Ajay Kumar Sadhotra and Mushtaq Bukhari; former Legislators- Javed Rana and TS Wazir; expressed gratitude and congratulated the Lt Governor and the UT administration for successful, peaceful and historic conduct of DDC elections.
The members of the delegation urged the Lt Governor to ensure that District Development Councils are constituted at the earliest while upholding the highest democratic values thereby fulfilling the people’s aspirations.
The delegation demanded enquiry into the killing of a goldsmith namely, Satpal Nischal in Srinagar recently, besides calling for investigation into Lawaypora encounter.
Meanwhile, CPI (M) Leader, MY Tarigami also met with the Lt Governor, congratulated him for successful conduct of DDC elections and demanded that the councils be constituted at the earliest for the benefit of the masses.
The Lt Governor also congratulated both the delegations for success of the DDC elections and reassured that the UT administration is taking every step to empower and strengthen the grass-root democratic setup in J&K.
The Lt Governor observed that killings of innocents are cowardly acts aimed at vitiating the peaceful atmosphere and political parties should outright condemn such incidents. He outlined that our Armed forces and Police are professionals handling their job, and they would always ensure safety and security of the public.
NC, CPI (M) Leaders call on Lt Governor; express gratitude for successful conduct of DDC elections
ACB J&K Registers Case Against PDD Meter Reader In Jammu; Owns Banquet Hall, Gym, 8 Acres Land & Audi Car
JAMMU: Based on the results of a verification conducted by the Anti Corruption Bureau on the allegations that one Surinder Singh S/o Jagdish Singh R/o Upper Thathar, Jammu posted as Meter Reader in PDD Department at Gandhi Nagar, Jammu has amassed huge properties both movable and immovable worth crore of rupees in his own name and in the names of his family members which were highly disproportionate to his known sources of income, an FIR No. 01/2021 was registered on 04.01.2021 u/s 5(1) (e) r/w section 5(2) PC Act and Sections 109, 120-B/RPC against accused persons namely Surinder Singh, his son Kunal Singh and wife Meenakshi Bandral and others.
Verification has revealed that the accused Surinder Singh Meter Reader and his family members had accumulated both immovable as well as moveable assets which included 7.8 acres of land in various parts of Jammu, one Banquet Hall in the name of Oasis Farms, one Gym and a construction Business in the name and style of MK Building Materials and Constructions which was beyond the reach of a public servant of his stature. Apart from this, moveable properties in the form of one Audi car, two Scorpio, one tractor and a motor cycle was found in his possession during the verification conducted.
A preliminary assessment of the both immovable and moveable assets had revealed that the accused Surinder Singh Meter Reader, PDD Department and his family members were in possession of assets worth Rs. 2.37 crores which were highly disproportionate to their known sources of incomes. In order to avoid scrutiny before the eyes of law the assets were disguised in the names of the accused’s wife and son. It was also shown that the wife was running a construction business whereas verification has revealed that she does not possess enough resources to create so many assets. The verification had also revealed that the construction business was only an eye wash to disguise the unaccounted money which was pumped into creation of the immoveable and moveable assets.
After registration of the FIR against accused and his family members, search warrants were obtained and searches were conducted on all the locations and incriminating documents and articles have been recovered which are under scrutiny. The Bank accounts of the accused and his family members are also being scrutinized for further flow of amounts in them and also for presence of lockers maintained by the accused Surinder Singh and his family members.
Further investigation of the case is in progress.
IT dept questions Robert Vadra for 2nd day in benami assets case
NEW DELHI: The Income Tax department questioned Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, for the second consecutive day on Tuesday in connection with its probe against him under the benami assets law, official sources said.
A team from the Chandigarh investigation unit of the department, that is handling the probe, was seen going inside Vadra’s office in the Sukhdev Vihar area of the national capital around 3 PM.
Vadra is married to Congress leader and Sonia Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
After he was questioned on the first day on Monday, the 52-year-old had said the aim of the tax department’s action was to “digress” from the “real issues” concerning the country like the farmers’ agitation.
On Monday, he was questioned for about eight hours and his statement was recorded as part of the proceedings related to the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, sources had said.
Tax department sources had said Vadra was asked to join the investigation at their office but as he cited the prevailing COVID-19 restrictions, I-T officials decided to visit his premises.
Officials had said the questioning was linked to the purchase of some land parcels by a firm linked to Vadra in Rajasthan’s border town of Bikaner in which another central probe agency, the Enforcement Directorate, had filed a money laundering case in 2015.
The ED has questioned Vadra in this case in the past and had attached assets worth Rs 4.62 crore of his firm Ms Sky Light Hospitality (P) Ltd (now LLP) in 2019.
Sources said the ED shared case documents of this probe along with that of possession of some alleged undisclosed assets abroad with the tax department for action under the anti-benami law that is enforced in the country by the latter.
“Everyone knows it is (political vendetta). Whenever Priyanka (his wife Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) moves out for helping farmers…And other issues then whom will they (probe agencies) come to?” Vadra had said to reporters after the tax department team left.
“They will come to Robert Vadra. I don’t want to go into political issues but they (government) are digressing from real issues…Like the farmers issue,” he had said.
Vadra had said he had “nothing to hide and worry about” and that the truth will prevail.
When reporters asked him if the latest questioning pertains to proceedings under the anti-benami law, he had said “it was general and nothing related to that (benami).”
The I-T department has also been probing Vadra on charges of alleged possession of some undisclosed assets in the UK.
The ED too is investigating these charges, under the anti-money laundering law, against the businessman.
The ED has accused Vadra of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property at 12, Bryanston Square worth 1.9 million GBP (British pounds), which is allegedly owned by him and this transaction involves the role of absconding defence consultant Sanjay Bhandari.
Bhandari has never joined the I-T or ED probe in this case and is stated to be based abroad. (AGENCIES)
Amid pandemic, UK PM Boris Johnson cancels visit to India
NEW DELHI: United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday cancelled his visit to India later this month, citing the need to oversee the pandemic response at home, reported Reuters.
Johnson was invited to take part in the Republic Day celebrations on January 26 as a chief guest.
“The prime minister spoke to Prime Minister Modi this morning, to express his regret that he will be unable to visit India later this month as planned,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“In light of the national lockdown announced last night, and the speed at which the new coronavirus variant is spreading, the Prime Minister said that it was important for him to remain in the UK so he can focus on the domestic response to the virus,” Johnson told PM Modi.
The spokesperson said that the leaders underlined their shared commitment to the bilateral relationship, and to continuing to build on the close collaboration between our countries – including in response to the pandemic.
“The Prime Minister said that he hopes to be able to visit India in the first half of 2021, and ahead of the UK’s G7 Summit that Prime Minister Modi is due to attend as a guest,” the spokesperson said.
The cancellation comes at a time when the UK is grappling with a surge in coronavirus infections with the country going under a strict lockdown.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court orders reconstruction of vandalised Hindu temple
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Evacuee Property Trust Board (EPTB) to start reconstruction of a century-old Hindu temple that was vandalised and set on fire by a mob in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province last week, saying the attack has caused “international embarrassment” to the country.
The apex court, which took notice of the attack and ordered the local authorities to appear before the court on January 5, also directed the board to submit in court details of all functional and non-functional temples and gurdwaras across Pakistan, Dawn newspaper reported.
The attack on the temple in Terri village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Karak district on Wednesday by members of radical Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party (Fazal ur Rehman group) drew strong condemnation from human rights activists and the minority Hindu community leaders.
During the hearing on Tuesday, a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed also directed the EPTB to clear encroachments from temples across the country and take action against officials involved in the encroachments.
Justice Ahmed said that the Karak incident had caused “international embarrassment to Pakistan”.
The EPTB is a statutory board that manages religious properties and shrines of Hindus and Sikhs who had migrated to India following the partition.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary, police chief, and Dr Shoaib Suddle, the head of a commission on minorities’ rights, were also present during the hearing.
Suddle, who visited the temple in Karak district and presented a comprehensive report in the case to the Supreme Court on Monday after it asked the one-man commission on the rights of minorities to probe the attack, told the court that the provincial EPTB “did not protect the shrine”, the paper said.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan then questioned the police chief on how the attack could have happened when there was a police check post next to the temple. “Where were your intelligence agencies?” the judge asked.
The police chief told the court that a protest by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) was going on near the site on the day of the incident which was sponsored by Maulana Faizullah.
“Out of the six ulema at the protest, only Maulvi Mohammad Sharif incited the crowd,” the police chief said.
The official informed the court that 109 people involved in the attack were arrested while 92 police officials, including the superintendent of police (SP) and deputy superintendent of police (DSP) who were on duty at the time, were suspended.
Chief Justice Ahmed said that “suspension was not enough”.
The judge also slammed the EPTB chairman, saying he should “not sit on the chairman’s seat with government mentality”.
“Your employees are doing business on the land meant for shrines. Arrest them and start the reconstruction of the temple,” Justice Ahmed directed.
“Money should be taken from Maulvi Sharif for reconstruction of the shrine,” the chief justice remarked.
Justice Ahsan observed that the EPTB “has the money to construct its own buildings but does not have money for Hindus”.
The bench directed that details of functional and non-functional shrines, records of disputes on EPTB lands and a report on the performance of the EPTB chairman be submitted to the court in two weeks. It also directed the KP branch of the EPTB to hold discussions with the provincial minorities commission, the paper said.
The apex court said a detailed judgement would be released later and adjourned the hearing for two weeks.
Last week, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan said that his government will rebuild the temple. He said the government has issued orders to rebuild the temple.
The temple was attacked by the mob after members of the Hindu community received permission from local authorities to renovate its decades-old building, according to witnesses.
The mob had demolished the newly constructed work alongside the old structure.
Leader of Hindu Community Peshawar Haroon Sarab Diyal said that a samadhi of a Hindu religious leader exists at the temple site and Hindu families from across the country do visit the samadhi on every Thursday.
The Samadhi of Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj is considered sacred by the Hindu community. It was built where he died in 1919 in Teri village of Karak.
The controversy over the samadhi erupted many decades ago.
According to the details submitted to the Supreme Court in 2014 in a case about it, the Hindus had been visiting the shrine till 1997 when it was dismantled by the locals.
The apex court in 2014 ordered the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to restore and reconstruct the Hindu shrine.
The order was issued over a petition of a Hindu lawmaker who had claimed that the shrine had been occupied by an influential cleric of the area.
Hindus form the biggest minority community in Pakistan.
According to official estimates, 75 lakh Hindus live in Pakistan. However, according to the community, over 90 lakh Hindus are living in the country.
The majority of Pakistan’s Hindu population is settled in Sindh province where they share culture, traditions and language with Muslim residents. They often complain of harassment by the extremists. (AGENCIES)
Amid bird flu scare, alert sounded in J-K
JAMMU: As neighbouring Himachal Pradesh reported cases of bird flu, Jammu and Kashmir has sounded an alert and started collecting samples to check the health of the winged guests flocking the Union territory during winters, officials said.
The joint teams of Animal Husbandry and Wildlife departments on Tuesday visited Gharana wetland in the outskirts of Jammu and collected 25 bird droppings for testing to ascertain whether any of the birds is infected with the dreaded avian influenza, the officials said.
“The J&K government has sounded an alert following reports of bird flu cases in Himachal Pradesh and issued certain guidelines as a precautionary measure,” Wildlife Warden, Jammu, Anil Atri said.
Atri, who along with Dr Ranjit Katoch of the Wildlife department joined the Animal Husbandry team at Gharana wetland, said all the birds present in the wetland looked healthy.
Gharana Wetland Conservation Reserve in R S Pura sector near the International Border was notified in 1981 and is home to more than 170 species of birds like bar-headed geese, gadwalls, common teals, purple swamp hens, Indian moor hens, black-winged stilts, cormorants, egrets and green shanks.
During the winter, the wetland is visited by thousands of birds from Central Asia and some of the migratory bird species visiting this wetland are endangered.
“The team of Animal Husbandry Department, Jammu collected the bird dropping samples for testing,” he said, adding there is no need for alarm as this is being done just as a precautionary measure in view of reported cases in HP, Rajasthan, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh to keep the wetlands safe and check the spread of the H5N8 virus.
“We have alerted our staff and the public in accordance with the government guidelines like avoiding touching any animal with symptoms and wearing of proper personal protective kits. They were also asked to report immediately if they see any change in the behavior of the birds,” Atri said.
Asked about the number of birds present at the wetland, he said the figure fluctuates between 1,000 and 2,000.
“The number does not remain static and keeps changing as the migratory birds move from one wetland to another including those across the border. Bar-headed geese outnumber other migratory birds at the wetland,” he added.
Dr Katoch said the sampling team of the Animal Husbandry Department collected the samples which would be tested in Jalandhar.
“So far, no death of any migratory or local bird was reported from the wetland. We have checked the birds and all are healthy,” he said.
He added that observatory staff has been alerted to keep an eye on the birds. (agencies)
Chattergala tunnel to connect Kathua with Doda: Dr Jitendra
NEW DELHI : The proposed Chattergala tunnel will connect district Kathua with district Doda enroute the new Highway via Basohli-Bani through Chattergalla to touch Bhaderwah and Doda. This is going to be a historic landmark project providing all-weather alternate road connectivity between the two distant regions and reducing the travel time from Doda to Lakhanpur to just around four hours.
This was stated here today by Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh after he was briefed by the new Director General, Border Road Organisation (BRO), Lt General Rajeev Chaudhry about the ongoing and proposed road and bridge projects in Jammu & Kashmir and North East. In his presentation, Gen Choudhary said that Jammu & Kashmir and particularly Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Lok Sabha constituency had witnessed unprecedented progress in road and bridge construction in the last 5 to 6 years and about a dozen BRO bridges have come up in this single Lok Sabha constituency itself, the notable among which are Atal Setu at Basohli and Devika Bridge at Udhampur.
As for the Chattergala Project, the Minster was informed that it was going to be a 6.8 Km long tunnel for which the Feasibility Survey has already been conducted by BRO. The tunnel is likely to take about 4 years for completion after the execution work starts and its construction cost is around Rs. 3,000 crore.
Impressing upon the BRO Chief to expedite the process as fast as possible, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, Chattergala is going to be a revolutionary game changer, particularly for the districts Kathua and Doda. He said, this will not only generate revenue but also job generation. Moreover, the all-weather road connectivity will bring ease of business, shorten the travel time and also provide a unique opportunity for places like Bani and Bhaderwah to emerge as tourist destinations of national repute, he added.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the demand for the tunnel at Chattergalla had been pending for several years, but somehow not taken up by earlier governments because of their different priorities.
The other important BRO projects that came up during the review meeting included construction of road from Bhagwa to Lal-Darman to Masal-Dushnan in district Doda, Chkramore-Maharajpur-Rajbagh-Haria Chak road in district Kathua and upgradation of Phatala to Jakhani road in district Udhampur. Gen Choudhary also gave Dr. Jitendra Singh a brief about a dozen BRO road and bridge projects coming in his Lok Sabha constituency.
About the Northeast, Dr. Jitendra Singh received an update, particularly about road projects funded by the North Eastern Council (NEC) under the aegis of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) in Mizoram and two other BRO projects in Manipur.
Need to build guidelines and if required, red lines for Indo-Pacific: outgoing US envoy Juster
NEW DELHI: Emphasizing the need to build guidelines and if necessary, “red lines” for the Info-Pacific region, outgoing US Ambassador to India Ken Juster said on Tuesday that such an endeavor would enable all countries in the region to prosper.
In his farewell policy speech here, Juster said the Indo-Pacific region needs stability and democratic governance, and that is why India is important.
He also asserted that no bilateral relations in the world are as broad and of such substance than the one between India and the US.
Juster was appointed by the US president on November 3, 2017, to be the 25th United States ambassador to India.
Underlining the importance of the Info-Pacific in US-India ties, Juster said, “We are now building out the foundation of a stronger Indo-Pacific architecture that will enable us to tackle the challenges that lie ahead.”
“Our mission over the next five years and beyond should be to give this endeavour further form and substance to develop guidelines and if necessary, even red lines. This should enable all countries to prosper in a region that respects sovereignty, a rules based order and a peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law,” he said.
Juster said as democracies, the US and India are committed to a rules based order as well as to peace and diplomacy.
“We (US and India) are both influenced by the legacies of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. But we know that not everyone thinks as we do and some choose suicide vests or military incursions. That is why the US is committed to strengthening our defence and security cooperation,” he said without naming any country. (AGENCIES)
India’s cumulative COVID-19 positivity rate has declined to 5.87 pc: Health Ministry
NEW DELHI: India’s cumulative COVID-19 positivity rate has declined to 5.87 pc; last week positivity rate was recorded at 1.97 pc said Health Ministry.
Of total active COVID-19 cases presently, 43.96 pc patients are in healthcare facilities, while 56.04 pc are in home isolation said Govt.
Overall burden on healthcare infrastructure in country on account of COVID-19 has declined appreciably said Health Ministry.
Based on feedback of dry-run, govt said it is ready to introduce COVID-19 vaccine within 10 days from date of emergency use authorisation.
In terms of new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2, we have not seen emergence of any untoward clusters in country as of now which is reassuring said Govt. (agencies)
CCPA recommends Budget session of Parliament from January 29
NEW DELHI:Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) recommends Budget session of Parliament from January 29 said sources.
Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) recommends Part 1 of Budget session from Jan 29-Feb 15, Part 2 from Mar 8-Apr 8 said sources.
President Kovind to address joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on Jan 29; Union Budget on Feb 1 said sources quoting CCPA recommendation.(agencies)