JAMMU: The Government today said the Centre has approved a package of only Rs 1102 crore for the flood-hit State as against the requirement of Rs 2600 crore.
“Rs 2926.11 crore has been projected for the flood-hit people of J&K as per SDRF norms. Such assessment was made at the initial stage and during the completion of verification process, the requirement as per SDRF norms came down to Rs 2600 crore,” Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Kumar said in Legislative Assembly here today.
“The Central Government while considering the claim of the State Government in respect of State Disaster Response Fund requirement approved only Rs 1102 crore,” Kumar said while replying to a special discussion on the relief and rehabilitation measures for the affected people.
Giving details of relief measures after September 2014 floods, Singh said the previous Government had submitted a comprehensive package amounting to Rs 44,000 crore to the Centre for restoration of public infrastructure, ex-gratia to next of kin of the deceased and relief on account of damage to various crops etc.
He said in the first instance, the Union Government provided Rs 426 crore for paying compensation to those families whose houses were either severely or partially damaged. Another amount of Rs 13.79 crore was also provided under PM’s National Relief Fund for making the ex-gratia payment to next of kin of the deceased.
Deputy Chief Minister said the State Government also made available Rs 1044 crore out of the SDRF for relief operations and temporary restoration of damaged public infrastructure.
He said these funds have been kept at the disposal of Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and other concerned departments for the purpose. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI:
Security has been beefed up at various parts of the National Capital following an alert by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) that Pakistan-based terrorists belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed may launch a ‘fidayeen’ (suicide) attack at areas in Delhi.
Delhi Police have been issued an alert by the IB which said the attack may be similar to that on an Army camp on the Jammu-Pathankot highway in Samba district in Jammu and Kashmir.
The police have been alerted to take all the necessary measures to foil any terrorist attack in the national capital.
According to sources in the police, the advisory from the IB said that ”JeM has plans to carry out a terror attack in Delhi which may be similar to the fidayeen attack in Samba.”
Terrorists belonging to the JeM stormed a police station in Kathua district in the Jammu region on March 20, resulting in the death of three security personnel and two civilians and injuries to 11 persons, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police.  (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI:
Several senior Muslim leaders and clergy from all over the country called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi here today and expressed apprehensions about the trend of increased radicalisation and emerging threats of terrorism, underlining the need for greater unity and collective efforts to meet the challenges.
The Muslim leaders informed the Prime Minister about issues relating to properties of Muslim shrines, Masjids and Madrasas and sought the Government’s support in providing better facilities to Muslim youth particularly in the field of education.
The leaders reiterated full support of the Muslim community to the Prime Minister in meeting his objectives of ensuring speedy economic growth, promoting communal harmony and peace and strengthening national security.
The Prime Minister assured the leaders of his full support in meeting grievances of all sections of the Muslim society. He emphasised the need of empowerment of the Muslim youth to enable them to play a larger role in nation building.
He specifically assured the leaders that he would look into their grievances on shrines, Masjid and Madrasas and promised assistance in ameliorating their social conditions and addressing their educational requirements.
The leaders who met the Prime Minister included Syed Sultan-Ul-Hasan Chishti Misbahi (Sazzada Nashin, Ajmer Sharif), Hazrat Ghulam Yasin Sahib (Shahar Kazi, Varanasi), Sheikh Wasim Ashrafi (Imam Tanzeem, Mumbai), Er. Mohd. Hamid (National President, Imam Tanzeem, Nagpur), Allama Tasleem Raaza Sahib (Dargah Barelvi Sharif, UP), Syed Abdul Rashid Ali (Syed Shahid Dargah Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh), Maulana Abu Bakr Basani  (Nagori Sharif Dargah, Rajasthan), Syed Ali Akbar (Taajpura Sharif, Chennai) and Haji Abdul Hafiz Khan (Imam, Tanzeem Balaghat, MP).  (AGENCIES)

JAMMU:
More than 156 acres of land, belonging to the State, is under unauthorised occupation of influential people in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir Government said today.
“In Sirsa (Haryana) more than 156 acres of J&K land is under the unauthorised occupation of Bajwa Brothers to whom the land was initially leased out for five years from 1957 to 1962,” Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed said in a written reply to the question of Javed Ahmad Rana in the legislative Assembly.
He said “Bajwa Brothers” managed to transfer the land in favour of Mirpur cooperative society by an order dated April 2, 1986 passed by the assistant collector first class, district revenue officer Sirsa.
“Since a revision petition filed by the State has been dismissed by the Commissioner, Hisar on January 12, 2012, a writ petition has been filed in Punjab and Haryana High Court for restoration of the land to the Government of J&K,” he said.
Mufti said at Rajaji Marg in Delhi out of 14.25 acre land belonging to J&K, 12 acre was under the possession of the Army, “Out of 14.25 acre land, about 12 acre of land is in possession of the Army and 0.2 acre of land was occupied by the CPWD.”
He said that the properties of J-K outside the State were located in various states, so it was not possible to provide the precise details of the latest market value of these properties.
“However, Principal Resident commissioner, New Delhi has been tasked to ascertain the current market value of these properties from the concerned authorities, revenue of the area after due assessment,” he said. (AGENCIES)

JAMMU:
Minister for Horticulture and Haj Auqaf Abdul Rehman Veeri today said since 2010 rehabilitation policy, 453 ‘misguided’ youth have returned to their homes via Nepal route in different parts of the State.
Replying in the Legislative Council, Mr Veeri said acting on the recommendations of the working group (constituted by then Prime Minister in 2006) the State Government in consultation with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, had in November, 2010 notified the policy and procedure for the return of misguided youth, who had crossed to PoK.
He said since the notification of the Policy in 2010, none of the youths has returned to the State through the four approved routes. “However, 453 persons along with 197 wives and 603 children have returned via Nepal which is not a recognized route,” he said adding that reportedly, 4,000 persons are in PoK/Pakistan.  (AGENCIES)

SRINAGAR:
A fresh alert has been issued to all security force field commander in the Kashmir valley, where militants struck at three places leaving three police personnel dead, a Sub Inspector (SI) and a former militant injured today.
The attacks come on a day when Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed declared open Asia’s largest Tulip garden on the foothill of Zabarwan overlooking Dal Lake. Official sources said though security forces are already on high alert, a fresh message has been flashed to all the field commanders following three militant attacks at different places in as many districts.
They said security agencies have been asked to activate their local sources and pool intelligence inputs so that these attacks are foiled. (AGENCIES)

JAMMU:The Government today admitted that corruption was a major challenge in the State with various anti-graft agencies having received more than 5,000 complaints in this regard.
Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed attributed the pile-up of large number of cases to various processes which ‘take a lot of time’.
In a written reply in the Legislative Assembly to a question by Qamar Hussain on whether State Government plans to review the procedure for obtaining sanction for prosecution of guilty former ministers, ex-legislators, bureaucrats, ex-police officers, Sayeed said, “No such proposal is under consideration of the Government.”
“Corruption is a major challenge for the Government and its adverse effects on the society cannot be underestimated,” he said.
On another question about delay in solving pending cases, he said, “Collection of relevant records required in investigation takes a lot of time.
“Obtaining records from the Government of India in cases also needs time. Expert opinion from various agencies like FSL, Forest, Industries, Agriculture, etc, take time. It requires a lot of manpower to finalise the case,” he said.
Listing details of complaints received by anti graft agencies, he said the vigilance organisation received 5,946 complaints out of which 3,641 were found valid, the State vigilance commission received 2,327 complaints out of which 1,404 were disposed and the crime branch received 37 complaints out of which five were disposed.”
Sayeed said the State accountability commission has not made any recommendation in any case. (AGENCIES)

JAMMU: The J&K Government is contemplating to formulate a new “comprehensive” recruitment policy soon, the State Legislative Council was informed today.
Replying to a joint question by Showkat Hussain Ganie and Sham Lal Bhagat in the Legislative Council, Minister for Finance, Labour & Employment and Culture, Haseeb Drabu today said the Government is contemplating to formulate a new recruitment policy soon that would be comprehensive in nature.
The minister said with regard to daily wagers engaged upto 31-01-1994, a policy is already in place in terms of which 56,223 Daily Rated Workers (DRWs) have already been regularised upto February, 2015.
In order to extend the benefit of regularisation to left out 3,660 DRWs, the Government has decided to create 3,660 posts of Helpers for regularisation of as much number of DRWs, the minister said, adding that the Government has also decided to create more posts of Helpers to cover such departments, from where the information is still awaited.
With regard to Need based and Casual labourers engaged prior to 31-01-1994 or after that, the minister said, there is no policy in place for their regularisation.
He said there are over 61,000 Casual and Seasonal labourers, who have been engaged by different departments.
He that the State Government will announce a High Power Committee of Ministers and some external experts to examine the issue and for necessary recommendations. Hence, at present no Casual Labourers have been regularised, the minister added. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI:
Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and that country’s Army have directed the militants operating in Jammu and Kashmir not to carry out attacks on civilians but to target security forces, leading to spurt in casualties among men in uniform, Home Ministry officials said.
Officials said the killing of three policemen by militants today in Kashmir valley was a clear indication about the plans of the Pakistan-sponsored groups.
Quoting intelligence inputs, the officials said the directive of ISI and Pakistan Army to terrorist groups like Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen came following international pressure as global powers have joined hands against terrorists violence on innocent civilians.
Citing the spurt in recent militancy-related violence in Jammu and Kashmir, the officials said the two powerful establishments in Pakistan told the militants to intensify their attacks on security forces.
Two fidayeen militants attacked an army camp on Jammu-Pathankot highway in Samba on March 21.
However, the attack was foiled by security personnel who killing both the terrorists.
On March 20, two fidayeen militants of the same group had stormed a police station in Jammu’s Kathua district killing three security personnel and two civilians and injuring 11, including a DSP.
Two militants were also killed in the gunfire. (AGENCIES)

SRINAGAR :  Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said the attack on a police party in which three unarmed policemen were killed in Shopian district was a grim reminder of the challenges in the Valley.
“Grim reminder of the challenges in Kashmir, while we celebrate the colours of spring & try to attract tourists 3 brave policemen are killed,” Omar wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Militants today shot dead three unarmed policemen, who had gone for investigating a crime in a village in Shopian district.
Omar, the working president of National Conference (NC), expressed condolences to the bereaved families of the slain policemen.
“My condolences to the families of the 3 police personnel killed in the line of duty in #Shopian today. May their soul rest in peace,” he said. (AGENCIES)