Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Feb 20: The State is all set to witness another round of inclement weather as the Meteorological (MeT) Department has forecast that both the Kashmir and Jammu divisions would be hit by rains and snow on Friday and Saturday.
Meanwhile, Srinagar, the summer capital of the State, recorded the hottest day of the year as well as this winter season. The day temperature in Srinagar was recorded as 16.4 degrees Celsius while as the night temperature was recorded as 1.2 degrees Celsius. Jammu, the winter capital of the State recorded the day temperature of 21.1 degrees Celsius while as the night temperature was recorded as 10.0 degrees Celsius.
Director Meteorological Department, Sonam Lotus said that higher reaches of the State would receive moderate snowfall on February 22 and 23. He said that the plains are likely to be hit by rains during these two days adding that the impact may be more in Jammu division as compared to Kashmir division.
“Light to moderate rain/ snowfall is likely on February 22 and 23 in the upper reaches of the State. Some places in south west of the State mostly in Jammu division too are likely to receive moderate to heavy rain/ snow. Ladakh region may also receive light snowfall during these days,” Lotus said.
An official of MeT Department said that light rain/snow may occur at isolated places in the State in the next 24 hours. The official said that scattered rain/snow would occur from February 22 to February 24 in most parts of the State.
The MeT official said that Srinagar would witness partly cloudy sky and this would become generally cloudy as the day progresses by. He said the maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 15 degrees Celsius and 2 degrees Celsius respectively. The official said that Jammu would also witness partly cloudy sky. It would become generally cloudy with the passage of the day. He added that maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 22 degrees Celsius and 9 degrees Celsius respectively.
Meanwhile, Srinagar along with the other parts of the Valley too witnessed a sunny day on Wednesday. Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir, recorded the maximum temperature of 14.5 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature of 0.2 degrees Celsius. The world famous tourist resort of Pahalgam in South Kashmir recorded the day temperature of 10.6 degrees Celsius while as the night temperature was recorded as minus 0.8 degrees Celsius.
Kupwara in North Kashmir recorded the day temperature of 16 degrees Celsius and the night temperature of 0.7 degrees Celsius. The world famous ski resort Gulmarg also in North Kashmir recorded the day temperature of 6.0 degrees Celsius while as the night temperature was recorded as minus 6.7 degrees Celsius.
Day temperatures in Ladakh region too witnessed an increase. Leh and Kargil recorded 6.4 and 3.0 degrees Celsius maximum temperatures respectively while as the minimum temperature at these places was recorded as minus 10.8 degrees Celsius and minus 13.0 degrees Celsius respectively.
Meanwhile, one-way traffic continued to ply on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. While traffic plied from Jammu to Srinagar today, a Traffic Police official said all kinds of vehicles would be allowed to travel from Srinagar towards Jammu on Thursday subject to fair weather conditions.

Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Feb 20: There was a mixed response to the strike called by the hardline Hurriyat Conference in support of the demand for handing over the body of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged in Tihar Jail early this month.
The hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who is under house arrest in Delhi, had called for three day strike in Kashmir to press for the return of Guru’s body to his family. Geelani had called for complete civil curfew on Wednesday and Thursday, while a shutdown after Friday prayers followed by peaceful protests.
The shops and business establishments in the commercial hub of Lal Chowk, old city area remained closed, while in most the shops were open in other parts the Valley.
The public transport remained off the roads in most of the major towns of the Valley, however, some of the private cars were plying in Srinagar and other major towns of Kashmir valley.
In Srinagar, outskirts and parts of civil lines area, life was near normal as the strike call failed to evoke much of a response in these areas. Majority of the shops were open.
The Government offices and banks in Kashmir valley remained open. However, majority of the employees faced difficulties in reaching their offices due to lack of public transport.
Hundreds of policemen donning riot gear were deployed in the sensitive areas in Srinagar and other towns to thwart any possible protest.
However, in Srinagar’s old city areas, the authorities had kept minimum presence of police and para-military forces in the streets. There were no reports of any protests or clashes from old city area. However, shops were closed and hardly few private cars were seen plying in the old city.
Authorities on Tuesday imposed restrictions under Section 144 CrPC in Srinagar apprehending law and order problems in view of the three-day strike called by the separatist group. While imposing restrictions, he had said the restrictions have been imposed to avoid breach of peace and tranquillity, besides loss of life and damage to property.
A police spokesman said here this evening that the situation remained peaceful across the Valley. “No incident of violence or stone pelting was reported from any place”, he said.
The spokesman said that private traffic was plying normally while as public transport was partially plying in all parts of the Valley.
However, there were minor clashes in Shopian, Pulwama and Tangmarg areas of Kashmir valley. Police used batons and fired tear smoke to disperse the protesters.
In the meantime, a statement issued by the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference said that senior leaders of the outfit – Professor Abdul Gani Bhat, Agha Syed Hassan were put under house arrest while Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, Hakim Abdul Rashid and many others were detained.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 20: Additional Sessions Judge Anticorruption Jammu, Jaffer Hussain Beigh today awarded four years imprisonment and fine of Rs 4000 to the then Junior Engineer Mohd Bashir, son of Fiaz Mohd of Gujjar Mandi Rajouri, who was arrested by the Vigilance Organization while demanding and accepting illegal gratification.
The trap to arrest JE was laid on the complaint of Mandeep Sharma, a resident of village Sair, Kalakote mentioning that JE was demanding Rs 10,000 for releasing the payment of construction work executed by the complainant.
After hearing CPO Anil Magotra with Senior PO Himanshu Gupta for the Vigilance Organization whereas Advocate Nazir Ahmed Choudhary appearing for the accused person, Additional Sessions Judge observed, “from the evidence on record it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused Mohd Bashir received Rs 6000 from the complainant in bar room of a hotel at Narwal Chowk in the presence of prosecution witnesses”.
“The breach of trust and criminal misconduct by a public servant are certainly serious offences calling for a deterrent sentence and in modern civilized societies, such type of crime deserves as matter of fact deterrent punishment in the larger interest of the society”, the Court said.
With these observations, Court awarded two years rigorous imprisonment each under Section 161 RPC and Prevention of Corruption Act. The Court, however, clarified that both the sentences will run concurrently.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 20: Governor NN Vohra today fixed February 28 as the date for holding election for the post of new Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
The post of the Speaker had fallen vacant on January 15 this year after Mohammad Akbar Lone, who had commanded proceedings of the Assembly for nearly four years, had resigned to join the Council of Ministry where he was inducted as Minister for Higher Education.
“Under Rule 9 of the Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Governor NN Vohra has fixed February 28 for holding the election of the Legislative Assembly Speaker”, an official handout said.
February 28 is first day of budget session of the Legislature when the Governor would address joint session of the Legislature followed by separate meetings of the Assembly and the Council.
Official sources said election of the Speaker would be held after the obituary reference.
Since the resignation of Mr Lone as the Speaker, Deputy Speaker Sartaj Madni is discharging duties of the Presiding Officer in the Assembly.
Sources said National Conference-Congress coalition Government would field NC MLA Mubarak Gul for the post of the Speaker. Mr Gul was likely to be elected unanimously to the post of the Speaker as the Opposition might not field any candidate against him.
“In the event of Opposition fielding a candidate against Mr Gul forcing the election, Mr Gul would be elected convincingly going by the majority the Alliance enjoyed in the Legislative Assembly”, sources said.
Mr Gul had on January 15 resigned as Advisor to the Chief Minister in the rank of Cabinet Minister. He had also been serving as chief whip of the National Conference. He had been elected to the Assembly for three consecutive terms in 1996, 2002 and 2008. Prior to that also, he had served both Houses of the Legislature.
Meanwhile, the post of the Deputy Chairman in Legislative Council is also falling vacant with the retirement of National Conference leader Mohammad Yusuf Taing from the Upper House on March 16.
As per the agreement between National Conference and Congress, the National Conference would hold the post of Speaker while the post of Chairman Legislative Council would go the Congress. Amrit Malhotra, veteran Congress leader is Chairman of the Council.
The post of the Deputy Chairman would go to the National Conference. Sources said election for the Deputy Chairman’s post could also be held during budget session of the Legislature. However, the National Conference was yet to decide its nominee for the post of the Deputy Chairperson.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 20: Government today ordered transfers and postings of three officers with immediate effect.
According to the orders, Rajinder Krishan Varma, Special Secretary to Chief Secretary has been transferred and posted as Special Secretary, General Administration Department. Zubair Ahmad, Special Secretary, Finance Department has been transferred and posted as Special Secretary to Chief Secretary.
Tahir Mustafa Malik, Under Secretary, General Administration Department has been transferred and posted as Under Secretary, School Education Department.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 20: Twenty Shri Mata Vaishnodevi pilgrims were injured, eight of them critically when a bus carrying them skidded off the road and turned turtle at Moori, 10 kilometer short of Katra town this afternoon.
The ill-fated bus bearing registration number JK02X-9947 was on its way from Jammu to holy town when it met with accident at Moori due to the negligence of driver, who along with conductor fled from the spot soon after the accident. According to the injured pilgrims, the vehicle was being driven rashly and negligently despite their objections.
On getting information about the accident, police and medical teams rushed to the spot and started rescue operation. Even Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board pressed into service its ambulances to shift the injured to the Community Health Centre (CHC) from the accident spot.
Later, eight critically injured persons were shifted to Government Medical College and Hospital for specialized treatment. Their condition was stated to be out of danger when reports last came in.
SP Katra, Mohan Lal, who personally supervised the rescue operation, said that efforts were on to nab the absconding driver and conductor of the ill-fated vehicle.
The injured admitted in the CHC Katra have been identified as Vanketesh Kalati, son of Soropa Kalati, Nisha Singh, wife of Anil, Vijay, son of Kailash, Devi Dass, all the residents of Pune, Amit Verma, son of Shambu Nath wife of Bihar, his wife Sapna Verma, Dheeraj Kumar, son of Nawal Kishore of Bhagalpur Bihar, Omesh Dubey, son of Ram Suraj Dubey of Lucknow, Aditya Verma, son of Jagdish Verma of Lucknow, Kavita Verma, son of Jagdish Verma of Lucknow, Rahul Kumar Shah, son of N K Shah of Bhagalpur and Anil Kumar Verma, son of S N Verma of Bihar.
Those admitted in GMC have been identified as Jagdish Verma, son of Bheja Lal Verma of Lucknow, Sharda, wife of Raju Ram Verma of Lucknow, Kamaljeet Kapoor, wife of Sunny Kapoor of Delhi, Deepak Yadav, son of Ashok Yadav of Pune, Noor Mohd, son of Abhu Khan of Pune, Tanu Chowan, son of Gopal Chowan of MP, Anusha, wife of Naveen Kumar of Patna, Mahesh Lather, son of Ram Krishan Lather of Chandigarh.
Meanwhile, Governor N N Vohra, who is also the Chairman of the Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board, expressed serious concern over the accident.
After discussions with the Chief Executive Officer, Navin K Choudhary, Governor directed Dr Mandeep K Bhandari, Additional Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine Board to provide all required help and support to those injured in the accident.
The Additional CEO directed the General Manager, Vaishnavi Dham, Jammu, to rush to the Government Medical College to ascertain the help and support required by the injured persons and provide the same without any delay.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 20: IGP Kashmir SM Sahai today ordered out of turn promotion of 20 Constables and Head Constables (HCs) and regularization of 40 Special Police Officers (SPOs) as constables.
He made the announcement of out of turn promotions for Constables and Head Constables and regularization of SPOs while speaking in a Darbar of police officers and jawans at Sopore.
The promotions and regularizations were ordered due to outstanding performance of Constables, Head Constables and SPOs.
Nalin Prabhat, IGP CRPF and Rajesh Kumar, DIG North Range were present in the Darbar.