Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 18: In order to bail out Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation of the financial crisis, the State Government is going to carry out some amendments in the Water Resources (Regulation and Management Act), 2010.
A proposal in this regard is being placed before the State Cabinet, which is meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah at Civil Secretariat, Srinagar tomorrow afternoon. The Cabinet is also likely to order transfers and postings in the administration.
Authoritative sources told EXCELSIOR that since the implementation of the Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act, the NHPC has been charged with Rs 1899.91 crore on account of Water Usage Charges, which has been paid to the State Government.
Out of Rs 1899.91 crore, an amount of Rs 1198.57 crore has been deposited into the Water Usage Fund and Rs 701.34 crore received through treasury route prior to the opening of the Water Usage Fund, sources said.
The Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation has deposited Rs 20 crore in the year 2011-12 on account of Water Usage Charges. Thereafter, no Water Usage Charges were deposited by JKSPDC, the arrears on account of which are to the tune of Rs 1072.75 crore till December 2013, sources said while disclosing that this situation emerged for the JKSPDC as Power Development Department failed to clear the energy charges towards the Corporation.
Sources disclosed that following the implementation of the Act, NHPC moved Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and bagged relief in the shape of increasing the generation cost of the power and selling of the same at the enhanced rate within Jammu and Kashmir.
Similarly, JKSPDC moved State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) seeking relief on the analogy of NHPC but its petition was rejected by the SERC on the ground that this decision would result into adverse impact on the power tariff within the State.
Keeping in view the impending financial crisis for the JKSPDC, a proposal has been mooted seeking an amendment in the Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act to enable JKSPDC to liquidate the water usage charges out of the fund created under the Act in respect of power generated and sold within the State.
The proposal about amendment in the Act has been formulated by the Department of PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Department with the consent of the Finance, Planning and Development and Law Departments, sources said, adding the amendment will enable utilization of amount of the Water Usage Fund set up under Section 185-A of the Jammu and Kashmir Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act, 2010 for the payment of water usage charges levied on generation in respect of power sold within the State so as to reduce the impact on the power tariff within the State in the interest of the public.
According to the sources, the Cabinet is also likely to order transfers and postings in the administration.
“A proposal in this regard was also discussed in the last Cabinet meeting but no decision could be taken because of varied reasons”, they said, adding “there are all chances of the proposal being discussed in tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting”.

Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, June 18: The Government would hold last session of the present 11th Assembly in August before going for the elections to constitute 12th Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir in November-December this year. Deadline for holding the Assembly session expires on September 4 and the Government has to hold the session before that date.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the Government has decided to hold Assembly session in August after the completion of Amarnath yatra and Independence Day celebrations to meet the deadline of September 4. The last session of the presently Assembly would be brief but it would take up pending legislative business in which a day would be reserved for farewell speeches.
Sources said budget session of the State Assembly had adjourned sine die on March 4. According to Constitutional requirement, the State Assembly must meet at least once within a period of six months, which means the Government had to convene the Assembly session before September 4.
“As the holy month of Ramazan falls in July this year, the Government has decided to go for the Assembly session in August after completion of annual pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath ji on August 10 and Independence Day celebrations on August 15,’’ sources said, adding that it would be a brief session lasting eight to 10 days.
The Government would like to clear the pending legislative business in the final session including Kashmiri Hindus Shrines Bill apart from some other legislations including those belonging to private members. The Government has set up a Joint Select Committee on the Shrines Bill. The reports of House Committees including the one on discriminatory allotment of Sub Health Centres could also be taken up in the last session.
“We will try to clear as much legislative business as possible in last session of the 11th Assembly as the business, which couldn’t be taken up, would lapse,’’ sources said, adding that even if the Government had to extend the session by couple of days, it would do that to clear the pending business. However, they admitted, that it wouldn’t be possible for the Government to clear all pending private member’s bills in the last session.
The Assembly session in August would be last session of the Legislature as the Assembly elections were likely to be announced by the end of September and held in November-December after which 12th Assembly would be constituted.
The last session of the Assembly would be held with 83 elected members only plus two nominated women as four seats of the Assembly have fallen vacant. While three sitting MLAs have been elected to Lok Sabha including Jugal Kishore (BJP), Mehbooba Mufti and Muzaffar Hussain Baig (both PDP), Congress Legislature Party leader Choudhary Aslam died a day before.
Jugal represented Nagrota in the present Assembly, Ms Mufti (Wachi), Baig (Baramulla) and Aslam (Surankote). The strength of the Assembly has been reduced to 83 plus two nominated women.
The Assembly has 87 elected members while two women are nominated as MLAs by the Government.

NEW DELHI, June 18:
Forty Indian construction workers have been kidnapped in the oil-rich Mosul town of strife-torn Iraq, presumably by Islamic militants but no ransom demands have yet been received.
The workers, mostly from Punjab and other parts of northern India, were working on a construction project in Mosul in northern Iraq which has been captured by Sunni militant group ISIS. Reports said that the kidnapping took place while they were being evacuated yesterday.
“Yes, I can confirm to you that 40 Indian workers have been kidnapped in Mosul,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters here.
He said humanitarian agencies and International Red Crescent have confirmed to India about kidnapping of the workers, employed with Tariq Nur Alhuda company, but said there no information about their location.
“We have not received any calls of any nature from anyone who have indicated about ransom or any information that they have taken these people under their control,” he said on being asked whether there has been any ransom call.
India is in touch with various humanitarian agencies, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and Iraqi Government to gather more information about the kidnapping, he added.
The MEA spokesman said the development has triggered a “very difficult situation” for India which is working with several partners in Iraq as well as elsewhere “to try and see what would be the best ways to take our efforts further”.
“We are trying to work with everybody on the ground who can assist us in these difficult circumstances,” he said.
Asked whether Government was taking help from the US, he refused to get into operational details, saying in an evolving situation the Government was not going to share such information.
The Government is in touch with the 46 nurses who are stranded in Tikrit town, which was also taken over by the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) militants. In response to a request by the Indian embassy, International Red Crescent had contacted the nurses.
The Government, earlier in the day, decided to send former envoy to Iraq Suresh Reddy to strengthen the Indian Mission in Baghdad.
Iraq is witnessing serious strife with militants, backed by Al-Qaeda, capturing various cities and marching towards Baghdad.
Asked about safety of the nurses, the spokesperson said a”contigency planning unit” was working on “variety of options”. He said some of the nurses have conveyed that they want to stay back there.
The External Affairs Ministry yesterday set up a 24-hour control room to provide information on Iraq. The control room has received around 60 phone calls till this afternoon.
On when the Indians were kidnapped in Mosul, Akbaruddin said Government was trying to gather more information. At the same time, he insisted that every possible effort was being made to deal with the situation.
“These are difficult situations. We are working with the company. Also we are trying to work with International Red Crescent which has confirmed to us (about the kidnapping). But they have also indicated that at this stage they do not know the location of these 40 Indian workers,” he said.
“This is a situation where information is trickling in from various sources. It is the information that we are piecing together here based on inputs received,” he said.
The spokesperson said at this stage Government was trying to get as much information as possible and was trying to establish contacts in Mosul.
He said around 10,000 Indians are currently staying in Iraq and a little over 100 of them are stranded in violence- affected areas.
The spokesperson said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was also monitoring the situation and has also spoken to family members of those kidnapped.
“We are trying our best on all fronts. Let me assure you that we will not leave any stone unturned in our quest to help every single Indian national,” he said.
Meanwhile, asked whether the Indian Air Force has readied its aircraft for evacuating the Indians stranded in Iraq, an IAF spokesperson said the force has not yet received any order or request from the Government in this regard.
He said one aircraft in each of the squadrons of transport aircraft is on stand-by for any emergency but no unit has been asked to be ready for evacuating Indians stuck in the strife- torn country. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 18:
Senior IAS officer Rajeev Topno was today appointed Private Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi even as the Government cleared the names of private secretaries to two of his Cabinet colleagues after having put on hold some of these appointments.
Topno, a 1996 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre who was already working as Director in the Prime Minister’s Office, has been appointed Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, according to an official order issued today .
IAS officers Sameer Verma and B V R C Purushottam have been appointed PS to Uma Bharati, Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, and M Venkaiah Naidu, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, respectively.
Verma is a 2002 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre and Purushottam is a 2004 batch IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre.
The orders for appointment of Verma and Purushottam were issued yesterday following approval of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC). Their tenure will be co-terminus with that of the Ministers, the order said.
A controversy has erupted after the appointment of PS to three Union Minister, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, a decision which was put on hold.
Rajnath Singh has proposed IPS officer Alok Singh, who had served in the same capacity to Salman Khurshid as External Affairs Minister during UPA rule, as his PS. However, Alok Singh’s appointment was not cleared by Modi, official sources said.
The appointment of private secretaries of Ministers of States for Home Kiren Rijiju and MoS for External Affairs V K Singh –Abhinav Kumar and Rajesh has also been not cleared, the sources said.
Abhinav was private secretary to Minister of State Shashi Tharoor and Rajesh was PS to Cabinet Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch in the UPA Government.
Sources said the Government is against allowing PS to the UPA Government’s Ministers to work as personal staff of the Ministers in NDA Government.
Earlier this month, IAS officer Manoj Kumar Dwivedi was appointed as PS to Kalraj Mishra, Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. Dwivedi is a 1997 batch IAS officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre. Dwivedi was working as Director in DoPT.
Ashish Chatterjee, a 1999 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, was on June 13 appointed as PS to Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Santosh Kumar Mall, a 1997 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, has been appointed as PS to Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.
The Government has asked all ministries to take prior approval of  ACC before appointing PS and Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to a Minister.
DoPT has also directed all departments under it to identify and ensure availability of deputy secretary or director-level officers who could be private secretaries to the new Ministers untill the appointment of a regular PS. (PTI)

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 18: Pakistani forces fired at Indian border outposts (BoPs) along the International Border in Samba sector for the second time in 24 hours, drawing retaliation by the Border Security Force (BSF).
Pakistan Rangers fired on 6-HR BoP in Suchetgarh-Kullian forward belt along the International Border in Samba district during pre-dawn time, official sources said here today.
The firing occurred from 2.15 am to 2.40 am they said, adding BSF troops of 9 battalion, guarding the borderline effectively retaliated resulting in exchanges.
“There was no loss of life or injury to anyone in the firing,” he said.
This is second ceasefire violation by Pakistani rangers in less than 24 hours in Samba sector
On June 17, around 1.30 pm, Pakistani Rangers had violated ceasefire and resorted to firing on BoPs in Suchetgarh-Kullian belt along the IB.
Meanwhile, India and Pakistan officials today held a flag meet on the IB at Ballard post in Samba sector at 2.30 pm. The meeting lasted about an hour.
“A Commandant level flag meet between BSF and Pak Rangers was held this afternoon at Ballard Post on the IB,” sources said.
“The BSF raised the issue of cross border firing with their counterpart besides the cultivation of ‘sarkanda’ (wild bushes) on other side of the fence, which creates problem for the troops to maintain vigil on the border,” sources added.
Earlier the flag meetings were held on June 5 and 14 in which security related issues, ‘unwanted’ movement along the border and arrangements for annual Chambliyal fair were discussed.

NEW DELHI, June 18:
Mercy petitions of five death row convicts including Surendra Koli, who was found guilty in the sensational Nithari serial rapes and killings, were today rejected by the Home Ministry.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh signed five files recommending to President Pranab Mukherjee that the mercy pleas of Renukabai and Seema (Maharashtra), Koli (Uttar Pradesh), Rajendra Pralhadrao Wasnik (Maharashtra), Jagdish (Madhya Pradesh) and Holiram Bordoloi (Assam) should be rejected, official sources said here.
The President, who takes the final call on mercy pleas, can return the cases to the ministry for reconsideration. This can be done only once if he so decides after which he is constitutionally obliged to accept the ministry’s decision.
42-year-old Koli, who brutally killed and later axed children in Nithari locality of Noida in UP, was awarded death sentence by a lower court which was upheld by the Allahabad High Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court in February 2011.
In a case that outraged the nation, Koli was found guilty of serial rapes and murders between 2005 and 2006 at his employer, businessman Moninder Singh Pandher’s house in Nithari. Remains of several missing children were found near the house.
While 16 cases were filed against Koli, he has been awarded death sentence in four of them so far and others are still under trial.
Out of the five whose mercy petitions were rejected by the Government, Mukherjee’s office had returned the files of Seema and Renukabai and Jagdish to the Home Ministry for review as the previous Government sent them to the President’s Secretariat at the fag end of its tenure.
The two sisters, along with their mother and another accomplice Kiran Shinde, kidnapped 13 children between 1990 to 1996 and killed nine of them. However, the prosecution could prove only five murders. The two sisters were given death sentence.
The case against the mother had to be abated as she died in 1997 while Shinde turned an approver in the case.
The two sisters used to kidnap children from localities of poor people in the areas of their operation and force them to commit thefts, lift goods and snatch chains.
But when the children grew old enough to understand things, they were brutally killed. Some were found with their heads smashed, strangulated, thrashed with iron rods and thrown on railway tracks,
The Supreme Court had confirmed the death penalty of the two sisters on August 31, 2006.
In January this year, the Supreme Court had ruled that “inordinate and inexplicable” delays in hanging are grounds for commuting a convict’s death penalty and had spared 15 death row convicts from execution.
The third case pertains to the gruesome killing of a girl child in village Asra of Maharashtra in which the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Rajendra Pralhadrao Wasnik in October 2012 for sexually abusing and murdering the victim.
The Home Ministry also recommended rejection of mercy petition of Jagadish who was convicted for murdering his wife and five children (four daughters and a son, all aged between one and 16 years).
He was sentenced to death by Additional Sessions Judge, Manasa on April 24, 2006. This was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2009.
Jagdish had submitted that he was in an unsound state of mind and that his death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment as the capital punishment had not been executed for over three years.
However, the apex court said that in Jagdish’s case there was not much of a delay from the time of his conviction till the dismissal of his appeal on September 18, 2009.
The mercy petition of Assam’s Holiram Bordoloi, whose death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2005,, has also been recommended for rejection by the Home Minister.
Bordoloi carried out the execution of three men of the same family in a gruesome manner in broadlight in front of the villagers in an effort to protect his supremacy in the village.
On November 26, 1996, Bordoloi, along with 17 others, attacked the hut of Narayan Bordoloi who was staying with his brother, wife and two sons. When Narayan locked the hut from inside, the accused and his men set the hut on fire.
Narayan’s brother and elder son tried to escape through a hole in the wall. However, Bordoloi and his men pushed the boy back into the fire. Narayan and his son were charred to death while his wife sustained serious burn injuries.
Bordoloi did not stop at this. He later dragged another brother of Narayan, who was staying nearby, and sliced him into pieces in front of the villagers. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 18:
NTPC and Jammu & Kashmir State Power Development Corp Ltd (JKSPDCL), which have been jointly allocated coal block in Odisha, may form a joint venture agreement to develop the mine by this month-end.
The information was conveyed to the Coal Ministry in the meeting held recently under the Chairmanship of Additional Secretary Coal A K Dubey.
“In regard to Kundanali-Luburi coal block in Odisha, allocated jointly to NTPC and J&K State Power Development Corp Ltd… It was expected that JV (Joint Venture) would be formed by the end of June,” according to the note of the meeting.
“…NTPC mentioned that, based on new Indian Companies Act, the draft proposal on the formation of a Joint Venture agreement had been revised and finalised. Representative of J&K informed that, JKSPDCL would be able to get the approval of the competent authority shortly,” it said.
The Additional Secretary had called a meeting to discuss on the status of creation of JV and the steps being taken on the same.
The coal block in the Talcher coalfield of Odisha — having an estimates reserves of 396.10 million tonnes (MT) — was jointly allocated to both the companies in July last year.
The Government had last year allocated 14 coal mines to Central and state PSUs, including four to NTPC.
Other PSUs which have been allocated mines includes Neyveli Uttar Pradesh Power Ltd, Odisha Thermal Power Corp, Chhattisgarh State Power Gen Co Ltd, Andhra Pradesh Generation Co, Maharashtra State Power Generation Co, Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam and Punjab State Power Corp Ltd. (PTI)