Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 30: All J&K Senior Citizens’ Welfare Council (SCWC) today discussed its future plans for the coming years, in its annual general meeting held here under the presidentship of Raj Sharma.
The meeting, which was also attended by the governing body of the Council, discussed in detail its future plans for the coming years besides achievements in last one year. Meanwhile, the audited accounts of the council were also put before the members by vice-president of the Council, SN Koul.
While addressing the meeting, the president of the Council gave account of the work done by the elected committee in last one year. She also put before the house future plans of the Council envisaged for the coming years.
While briefing the house of various activities done by the Council, the president said a Day Care Centre at Village Raika Lubana is being run by the Council, where about 50-60 senior citizens are actively involved in day-to-day activities and are being looked after by the Council.
It was also disclosed in the meeting that the Committee had approached the Social Welfare department for financial support to run the Day Care Centre at Raika Lubana and the case is with the Director, Social Welfare, for approval on merits.
The meeting was conducted by general secretary of the Council, Balbir Singh while it concluded with vote of thanks by SN Koul.
SCWC discusses future plans
NC committed to overall development of all 3 regions: Tony
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 30: National Conference (NC) leader, Taranjeet Singh Tony, District president, Jammu Rural “B” reiterated that his party is committed to all round development of all the three regions of the State with focus on far- flung and border areas.
Tony was addressing a series of workers’ meeting at villages Tokanwali, Sai Burejall, Diwangarh in Suchetgarh constituency.
Referring to the initiatives taken by Omar Abdullah led Government during the past five and half years, he said these reflect keen desire of NC to uplift the living standard of poor and down trodden people. He said that the State Government is also bringing special package for industries in the State.
He further said that the revolutionary steps taken by Sher-i-Kashmir, late Sheikh Mohd Abdullah by bringing land reforms has strengthened the poor farmers of the State.
Tony also demanded special recruitment drive of Police Department for the youth of the area.
Driver held with poppy straw
Excelsior Correspondent
UDHAMPUR, June 30: Police today arrested a truck driver along with around 10 kilograms of poppy straw from Kud.
As per police sources, on reliable information, police party from Kud police station intercepted a truck bearing registration number JK02AC-7393.
During checking, police recovered 9.700 kilograms of poppy straw and arrested the driver, who has been identified as Hem Raj, son of Vishaba Nath of Mada Tehsil Chenani, district Udhampur.
A case under FIR number 49/14 under Section 8/15 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been registered at police station Kud and investigation started.
President congratulates ISRO team
NEW DELHI, June 30:
President Pranab Mukherjee today congratulated space agency ISRO for the successful launch of rocket PSLV-C23, saying it is a significant milestone in the progress of the country’s space capabilities.
India launched five foreign satellites from four countries on board PSLV-C23 rocket which placed them in orbit.
In his message to Dr K Radhakrishnan, Chairman of ISRO, the President said, “I congratulate you and your team at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the successful launch of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C23, carrying five satellites from four countries.
“The nation is proud of this important achievement which is a significant milestone in the progress of our space capabilities”.
He conveyed his greetings to the members of the team of scientists, engineers, technologists and all others associated with the mission.
Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Piyush Goyal, too, congratulated the entire ISRO team for the successful launch of PSLV C23.
Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Naidu, who watched the launch along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Sriharikota, described the experience as “scintillating” and wished ISRO all the success in its endeavour of launching the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV Mark-III, later this year.
Naidu said that the Indian launch vehicle soaring into the skies with five satellites of developed countries like France, Germany, Canada and Singapore was a matter of great satisfaction and pride for the nation.
Coal and Power Minister Goyal, meanwhile, said that such events fill the heart of Indians with joy and make them proud.
“Heartiest congratulations to the scientists at ISRO, under the aegis of Dr K Radhakrishnan and his team of geniuses for launch of PSLV-C23,” Goyal tweeted.
“Events like these fill the hearts of 125 crore Indians with immeasurable joy and make us all immensely proud,” he added. (PTI)
Body framed
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 30: The residents of Block “A” Roop Nagar Enclave, Jammu held a meeting under the chairmanship of Dr M L Bhat and K K Bakshi for unanimously electing a body, today.
The elected members are R K Wali as president, Manoj Kumar as vice president, K K Bakshi as general secretary and Venjan Raina as treasurer.
Jaswinder hits power-packed 92 in JCC’s big win
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, June 30: In form batsman Jaswinder Singh scored power-packed 92 runs to help Jammu Cricket Club thrash Friends Cricket Club by a huge margin of 141 runs to consolidate their position in the ongoing Chevrolet Cricket Cup 2014 tournament sponsored by KC Motors Jammu and being played at KC Public School ground adjacent to KC Sports Club.
Batting first, JCC scored 185 runs in the stipulated 20 overs by losing 5 wickets. Jaswinder top scored with magnificent 92 runs off 58 balls, studded with 10 fours and 4 sixes, while Guru Pratap Singh contributed valuable 50 runs off 28 balls with 7 fours and one six. For FCC, Shalesh took 2 wickets, while Abhi, Raju and Manik claimed one wicket each.
In reply, FCC bundled out for 44 runs in 12.3 overs. Vivrant captured 4 wickets for JCC, while Rahil Singh, Jatinder, Guru Pratap and Vishwajeet Singh claimed one wicket each. Jaswinder was adjudged man of the match for his superb knock.
In another match, Strikers Club defeated Aarav Mahajan Cricket Club by a big margin of 94 runs.
Strikers CC opted to bat first and scored 166/6 in 20 overs. Karan Bawa and Surinder scored 63 and 41 runs respectively. Rajesh Choudhary and Shiva took 2 wickets each for AMCC and Sachin Singh took 1 wicket.
In reply, AMCC were all out for 72 runs in 12.1 overs. Bablu Dai and Gulshan scored 14 and 10 runs respectively. Sanjay and Sachin took 3 wickets each for SCC. Strikers CC won the match by 94 runs. Karan Bawa of SCC was declared man of the match.
In yet another match, New Challenger CC defeated Chelsin CC by a margin of 120 runs. NCCC decided to bat first and scored 170 for 2 in 20 overs. Ashu scored 83 runs off 55 balls, while Parveen Singh contributed 58 valuable runs to the impressive total. For CCC, Sunny Bhan and Sunny Pari claimed 1 wicket each.
In reply, CCC collapsed at a paltry score of 50 runs and NCCC won the match by 120 runs. Robin was the only one to get into a double figure score of 18 runs. Ashu of NCCC was declared man of the match for his score of 83 runs and 1 wicket. Sadiq Hussain Malik, Rajinder Singh, Abhijyot Singh Bedi, Sandeep Manchanda and Sohail Yusuf were the officials of the matches.
Westside Coupons worth Rs1000 were presented to the winners of man of the match awards. The prizes are being sponsored by KC Motors, Narwal, Jammu.
Swiss flag ‘organised crime’ link in India laundering trail
BERN/NEW DELHI, June 30:
As Indian government steps up pressure on Switzerland to share information about alleged black money flow, a Swiss government agency has disclosed having come across suspicious money laundering activities related to cases of “organised crime” in India.
The disclosure has been made by the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS), which is part of the Swiss Federal Office of Police. MROS functions as a relay and filtration point between financial intermediaries and the law enforcement agencies.
Under the Swiss Money Laundering Act, MROS receives and analyses Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in connection with money laundering and, if necessary, forwards them to the law enforcement agencies.
As per MROS’ latest update on developments in the fight against money laundering, organised crime and terrorist financing in Switzerland, as many as 1,411 SARs were received by this central agency during 2013, involving suspicious assets worth a record high amount of nearly 3 billion Swiss francs (over Rs 20,000 crore).
While MROS did not disclose the specific number of India- related cases, it said the number of SARs involving ‘organised crime’ increased to 104 during 2013 — from 97 in the previous year.
In terms of the size of assets involved in these cases, criminal gangs from Italy were on the top, the MROS said, while adding that “further cases of organised crime involved occurrences in China, Brazil and India”.
Switzerland’s central money laundering prevention agency, however, did not divulge any specifics about the cases of organised crime in India. Detailed queries sent to MROS head Stiliano Ordolli remained unanswered in this regard.
MROS data further showed the number of SARs involving terrorist financing has also increased more than two-fold — from 15 in 2012 to 33 in 2013.
During 2013, MROS received inquiries from foreign Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) involving a record high number of 3,061 foreign nationals or entities, with Argentina and USA topping the list with 512 and 321 cases respectively.
Surprisingly, India does not figure on this list of inquiries from foreign FIUs, while other countries included Liechtenstein (279), France (137), Germany (115), UK (104), Spain (96) and Luxembourg (89).
Further, the MROS data does not figure any inquiry related to Indians for over a decade now. The last time the MROS disclosed having received a foreign inquiry about Indians was in the year 2002.
During 2002 and also in 2001, India was among the “countries which made inquiries about only a small number of individuals or companies”.
Prior to that, MROS had received four suspicious activity reports in the year 2000 with Indians as beneficial owners, while the number of such cases in the previous year (1999) stood at three. There were no cases involving Indians in 1998.
MROS further said it replied to 660 inquiries from 93 countries during 2013, but it was unable to answer 30 foreign FIU inquiries on “formal grounds”.
It further said MROS responded to FIU inquiries during 2013 within an average of seven working days following receipt, while the foreign FIUs took an average of 25 working days to reply to Swiss requests.
Earlier in 2012, MROS had taken an average of 6 working days to reply to inquiries from abroad, while the equivalent time period for foreign FIUs stood at 24 working days.
Following a revision of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), MROS has also been authorised to exchange financial information with foreign FIUs, while it also has got powers to collect information from financial intermediaries mentioned in a SAR submitted by another financial intermediary.
Besides, the revised Act also authorises MROS to conclude technical co-operation agreements with foreign FIUs. MROS is a member of the Egmont Group, which is an international association of FIUs from across the world, including India.
The objective of this group is to foster a prompt and legally admissible exchange of information in order to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. (PTI)
Traders of minority community observe complete bandh
Excelsior Correspondent
KISHTWAR, June 30: On the call of Traders Association, the businessmen belonging to minority community observed a complete bandh here today in protest against the failure of the State Government to pay the compensation to the victims of August 9 last year riots.
The irate traders who downed the shutters of their business establishments staged a demonstration in front of DC Office Kishtwar demanding justice to them. They raised slogans against the authorities and the Government and alleged that majority of the traders have been deprived of the compensation as the losses shown by the Committee assessing the same is much less than the actual damage.
They said that these traders have been virtually brought to footpath after torching of their business establishments by the frenzy mob during the August 9 violence last year and it is unfortunate that the administration was also behaving in a biased manner in releasing the compensation and assessing the loss.
Ravi Gupta, chairman of Traders Association said that the majority of traders of the minority community who suffered during the violence have been deprived of the compensation as the losses shown by the Committee is comparatively much less than actual damage suffered by them.
He said 27 traders who could not open their business establishments for a year now have been ignored completely by the Loss Assessing Committee and this will not be allowed to happen. “First we suffered due to the failure of the administration to protect our business establishments and now the Government was even ignoring to pay compensation for the losses suffered which is unacceptable’’. The traders will be forced to launch agitation in case the justice to them was delayed further, he added.
Gupta said that traders protested and blocked road in front of DC Office for three hours. He said the DC later convened a meeting with the traders and also gave directives to Loss Assessing Committee led by ADC, Kishtwar to submit the report at an earliest.
BJP State secretary, Sunil Sharma said that his Party has given two days ultimatum to the Government and in case it failed to settle the issue within two days the Party will launch an indefinite agitation. He also took up the issue with PMO Office and sought immediate intervention of Dr Jitendra Singh Minister in PMO Office who represents Doda-Kathua Lok Sabha Constituency.
When contacted DC Kishtwar, Javed Khan said that there was no bandh however some traders who had certain grievances about the compensation protested and held a dharna in the town.
He said they were protesting saying that less compensation has been sanctioned in their favour and the same be revived. He said the Committee was already constituted and 90 percent traders have been paid the compensation while the remaining 10 percent have grievances and that will be reviewed.
He said the Committee is examining these cases and he has issued directions to it to finalize the report within week’s time.
The leaders of Traders Association including its president Bushan Gupta, vice president Surinder Gupta, Ravi Sehgal, Ranjit Wazir and Lucky Gupta addressed the protesters.
Sagoon Club wins Cricket Tournament
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, June 30: Defeating Challana Cricket Club in a tough contest in the summit clash, Sagoon Cricket Club won the title trophy in the 30-days long Sanger Challana Cricket Tournament at Sanger, here today.
The tournament was organized by the Sanger Challana Cricket Tournament Committee under the overall supervision of its Chairman Mohan Lal Sarpanch and Vice Chairman, Karan Singh, O P Sharma and Ravi Kumar in which more than 15 teams participated.
Bahujan Samaj Party, State General Secretary and Candidate Nagrota Assembly Constituency Rakesh Wazir was the chief guest on the occasion, who gave Rs 5000 and Trophy to the winning team.
After winning the toss, Challana Cricket Club elected to bat first and in 15 overs scored 57 runs and while chasing Sagoon Cricket Club achieved the target in just 9.5 overs with 6 wickets in hand.
Abhinash Sanyal was adjudged the man of the match for his contribution of 27 runs as Gajan Singh was adjudged as man of the series who secured 76 runs and 6 wickets.
Sanger Challana Cricket Tournament Committee members and technical officers who helped in conducting the tournament included Mohan Lal, Karan Singh, Baldev Raj, Capt Retd Prithvi Raj,Onkar Singh, Master Jagdish Raj, Mohan Lal Naib Sarpanch, and Shanker Singh.
Enquiry demanded into encroachment of Tawi river bed
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 30: President, Tawi Andolan, Chander Mohan Sharma today demanded enquiry into involvement of Revenue authorities in illegal encroachment of Tawi river bed.
Alleging that illegal encroachments removed by JDA authority last year of Tawi river bed near Sidhra were again occupied by the encroachers, Sharma demanded immediate removal of all encroachments from River Tawi.
Sharma was addressing a gathering of Tawi Archaists assembled at Tawi Bank to perform Sandhya Arts of Suraj Purti Tawi.
The chief guest of Sandhya Arti and a prominent educationalist, Prof B N Sharma, while addressing the gathering of Tawi activists stressed the need of revival of pristine glory of river Tawi, which he said, is our identity and a symbol of Dogra Culture and traditions.
Bansi Lal Bharti appealed all the citizens to join the campaign for the safety of Tawi.
Rajiv Charak, another activist while addressing the gathering extended full support of his organization i.e. Bahu Fort Development Committee, to Tawi activists.
Tripta Jamwal, Usha Slathia, Rajkumar, Shilpi Verma, Shiv Ram Sharma and Darshan Sharma also addressed the gathering.