NEW DELHI, Feb 9:
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today welcomed the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
“Better late than never,” Modi posted on microblogging site Twitter after the Centre announced that Guru was hanged at Tihar Jail here this morning.
Guru, a Jaish-e-Mohammed militant, was convicted of conspiracy in the December 2001 attack on Parliament and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in 2004.
After the hanging of Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab, main opposition BJP had stepped up its demands for speedy execution of Guru. (PTI)
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 9: Vice Chairman, J&K State Advisory Board for Development of Kisans Radhay Sham Sharma today chaired a meeting to review status of tube wells and irrigation canals in Jammu for the welfare of the farming community.
Chief Engineer Irrigation and Flood Control Jammu, K. K. Gupta, Members of State Advisory Board led by Rajesh Bittu and other officers attended the meeting.
The Vice Chairman was informed that 301 tube wells are installed in the Jammu division with 272 fully functional. The remaining 29 tube wells need release of funds for carrying out the necessary repairs and make them fully functional, he was informed.
Sharma was also informed that the tendering process for de-silting of the Ranbir Canal is under progress. He stressed upon the officers to ensure de-silting of the canal immediately and providing of water well before 15th March thereby enabling the farming community to utilize the canal water on time for irrigation purposes and to ensure desired yield of their crop.
He stressed upon officers to work hard with dedication in carrying out farmer friendly activities so that the issues regarding the welfare and development of farmers are resolved at the grass root level.
Mr. Sharma further impressed upon officers that every effort should be made to redress the grievances of the common farmers.
LAHORE, Feb 9:
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have moved into a new sprawling bomb-proof residence in this eastern city that will be the base for their political activities in Punjab province ahead of the general election.
Zardari drove straight from the airport to Bilawal House, his new residence in Bahria Town, after flying into Lahore yesterday.
He did not go to the Governor’s House, where he usually stays, following an assurance given by a government lawyer to the Lahore High Court that Zardari would not use his official accommodation for political activities.
The President and his son are expected to stay in Lahore for five days and Bilawal House will be the hub of political activities.
Zardari and his aides want to improve the performance of the Pakistan Peoples Party in Punjab, a province of 90 million that is currently ruled by the PML-N led by Nawaz Sharif.
Bilawal House, which is spread over some 200 kanals or 25 acres, is yet to be completed.
However, Zardari had become cautious about using any official residence in the wake of the assurance given by the government to the Lahore High Court earlier this week.
Arguing that Zardari was co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, which is a “private association”, government’s lawyer Wasim Sajjad had said Zardari will not use his official residence for political activities.
Sajjad resorted to a technicality as the ruling party is registered with the Election Commission as the Pakistan People’s Party-Parliamentarians.
The Bilawal House in Lahore is said be a gift for Zardari from controversial property tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain.
The residence has bomb-proof structures and a landing strip for small jets and helicopters. The house is surrounded by lawns that can accommodate up to 10,000 people.
The compound is surrounded by high 30-inch thick walls fitted with security gadgets. Once completed, the residence will have a three-tier security system, sources said.
Bilawal House is located about 1.5 km from former premier Nawaz Sharif’s palatial residence at Raiwind Road that is spread over 300 acres that has a mini zoo and is ringed by orchards and agricultural land. (PTI)
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 9: Sending a loud and clear message to the corrupt elements in the police uniform holding senior positions, the State Government has accorded sanction to prosecute an officer of the rank of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), whose dishonest acts caused loss of lakhs of rupees to the Police Department exchequer. This has paved the way for State Vigilance Organization (SVO) to present challan against the officer in the court of law.
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR that on the basis of a complaint vis-a-vis favouritism in the purchase of large quantity of coolant, State Vigilance Organization, Kashmir lodged FIR No.47 in the year 2007 against SSP Police Technical Workshop, Srinagar, Afroz Ahmed Malik, Sub-Inspector Abdul Aziz Ganaie and owner of two Srinagar-based firms.
During the course of investigation, it came to fore that without floating tenders and adhering to other codal formalities, SSP Afroz Ahmed Malik approved rate lists of two Srinagar based firms owned by one person, for purchase of coolant for the Tata and Maruti Suzuki make vehicles, sources said.
During the course of scrutiny of record, the State Vigilance Organization further came to know that the owner of firms had conveyed that the rate lists of coolant were approved by the Delhi and Jaipur based manufacturers.
However, during investigation it was found that the rate lists submitted by the owner of the Srinagar based firms were not issued by the manufacturers and were prepared by the owner on his own by inflating the figures, sources said, adding “the manufacturers of coolant even denied having supplied their product to these Srinagar based companies for onward supply to the Police Technical Workshop”.
In response to a question, sources said, “the actual cost of coolant sold by the Srinagar based firms to the Police Technical Workshop was Rs 3 lakh but the firms submitted bills of Rs 9 lakh in connivance with SSP Afroz Ahmed Malik and others”, adding “in this way the accused persons caused loss of Rs 6 lakh to the exchequer of Police Technical Workshop”.
In order to ascertain the quality of coolant supplied by the Srinagar based firms, the State Vigilance Organization even approached the authorities of Maruti Suzuki and Tata companies with the samples and both these companies found the coolant supplied to the Police Technical Workshop of poor quality. These companies even conveyed to the Vigilance sleuths that coolant of such a poor quality can cause even damage to the engines of the vehicles.
After the completion of investigation into the case, State Vigilance Organization approached the State Government seeking sanction to prosecute SSP Police Technical Workshop, Srinagar. “Few days back, Government accorded sanction and now the Vigilance Organization would present challan in the court of law”, sources said.
In response to a question, they said, “there is no requirement of sanction to prosecute SI Abdul Aziz Ganaie as he is no more in the Government service”, adding “the sanction is only required in case of serving employee”.
By according sanction to prosecute serving SSP, the Government has sent a loud and clear message that whosoever is found involved in the corrupt practices would be taken to task.
Excelsior Correspondent
MUMBAI, Feb 9: The Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Minister, Ghulam Ahmad Mir has called upon the Overseas’ Tour and Travel bodies to guide and steer the people of their countries to visit Jammu and Kashmir, describing it the most ideal tourist destination in the world. He assured that J&K is as peaceful as any other part of the world and people of State remain enthusiastic to welcome the foreigners on their visit here with all hospitality facilities.
Speaking at the one day Overseas’ Travel Mart held here today, the Minister said that tour and travel operators can play active role to promote tourism between countries. He assured fullest cooperation of Jammu and Kashmir Government to Foreign and Domestic Tour and Travel Operators in this regard. He said that Government has taken all necessary steps to upgrade the world class tourist infrastructure at varied destination across all the regions of the State, besides new destinations at Yousmarg, Doodipathri, Lolab, Bangus, Drangyari, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar, Rajouri, Poonch and Mughal road are being explored and promoted fully.
He said that the tremendous scope of adventure, sports, heritage and pilgrim tourism also received focused attention of the Government and by the financial assistance of the Central Government new golf courses, adventure tracks, conservation of historical monuments, promotion of skiing, water sports and development of new leisure spots have been carried out to a large extent in the State.
The Tourism Minister assured the Tour and Travel Operators that State Government would facilitate in easing the air travel of foreign tourists while visiting Jammu and Kashmir. He said the issue for direct flights besides additional flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Srinagar and Jammu would be taken with Union Ministry of Civil Aviation on priority.
The Tourism Minister invited Domestic and Over seas’ Tour and Travel operators to the visit of the State for their own assessment of the peaceful situation besides avenues of varied tourism potential of the State.
The conference was attended by representatives of various overseas’ countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Maldives etc who deliberated upon several issues for showcasing the tourism of their respective countries.
Over 150 Tour and Travel Operators of the State participated in the Mart.
ALLAHABAD, Feb 9:
Devotees are arriving in large numbers in the city for the auspicious bathing day of Mauni Amavasya tomorrow during the ongoing Maha Kumbh congregation at the holy Sangam.
Devotees, including women and children, have been arriving here as well as in the trans-Ganga and trans-Yamuna regions from where people, mostly rural folk, are walking miles, to find a place in the vast city of tents that has come up in the vicinity of the confluence of the two rivers.
The Mauni Amavasya bathing festival, when “naga sadhus” have their second “shahi snan” after Makar Sankranti, has always witnessed the biggest turnouts and according to Divisional Commissioner of Allahabad, Devesh Chaturvedi, who is the nodal officer of the Maha Kumbh, around three crore devotees are expected to take a holy dip tomorrow.
Tight security arrangements have been put in place to tackle law and order problem and prevent stampedes and thwart any terrorist activity.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police (Kumbh Mela), R K S Rathore, commandos of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Anti-Terrorism Squad have been deployed in sufficient strength at the sprawling Kumbh area of about 6,000 acres.
They will be assisted by more than 5,000 policemen drawn in from various parts of Uttar Pradesh and 4,000 personnel of Provincial Armed Constabulary.
Dog squads and bomb disposal squads have also been pressed into service, while watch towers have been established at various points from where security personnel will be having a bird’s eye view while remaining in touch with control rooms for necessary action.
CCTV cameras have also been placed at various places to keep a tab on the movements of the people.
Vehicular traffic has been banned since this morning in the Kumbh area where a SP, an ASP, three Deputy SPs, five Traffic Inspectors, 10 Traffic sub-inspectors and 200 Traffic Constables have been deployed to take care of crowd management.
According to Kumbh Mela Officer Mani Prasad Mishra, “an appeal has been issued to all VIPs to either refrain from visiting the congregation tomorrow, or if they must do so, not to expect the special security arrangements which are made available on normal days.” (PTI)
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 9: After the knocking down of a seventh standard girl student of DPS by a school bus in the school premises on February 7, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Traffic Shakeel Ahmed Beig today issued advisory to various schools of the Jammu province on road safety.
DIG asked the schools to impart road safety education to the children vis-à-vis staff members and also to those who ferry students from home to school and vice-versa in their vehicles.
He asked the teachers to impart essential knowledge about road safety to school children by making them familiar with Traffic laws and also by explaining them the causes of accidents involving pedestrians, cyclists and children.
He also issued guidelines for the parents and presented a DVD to the school administration to disseminate it to the parents so that they can aware their wards about the traffic rules and regulations and also about their security.
Beig also sent the copy of advisory to Director School Education and Chief Education Officers, so as to disseminate the awareness about road safety in every school in the Jammu province.
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Feb 10: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today asked police and para-military forces to exercise maximum restraint while dealing with the situation in the aftermath of execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. He also appealed for calm and asked people not to allow those with vested interests to exploit the situation.
Guru was hanged early this morning after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy and cleared the way for his hanging. He was convicted for his role in the attack on Parliament in 2001.
While addressing a hurriedly arranged press at his residence this morning the Chief Minister said: “I understand there is a certain degree of angst as a result of execution. I also understand there are among us those who would like to exploit the situation for their own personal and political advantage thereby putting the people of the State to more inconvenience.”
The Chief Minister asked people not to make matters worse: “Please do not indulge in any violent protests that will make matters worse,” he said.
Omar appealed media, especially electronic media, to cross check the facts before putting out any stories on air as it aggravates the situation. “Please check, cross check and re-verify before putting out any story. My experience during 2010 was that many a times, in order to break the news, rumours and not facts were used.” He said such kind of reporting makes matters worse.
He said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had informed him last night that Afzal Guru’s hanging will take place at 8 a.m. today as all the judicial process had been completed.
Omar said: “We made a quick assessment of the situation and decided to impose some restrictions in Kashmir valley.” He said that Army had not been called out to assist the State Government in dealing with the law and order situation. He said that the Jammu and Kashmir police and para-military forces are carrying out the law and order duty.
Chief Minister said he did not sign any documents for approving hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. “In contrary to Maqbool Bhat’s case, where there were cases against him in the State, there was no case in the State against Afzal Guru, so I did not have to sign any warrant of death.” Bhat was hanged in 1984 in Tihar Jail in New Delhi.
Omar said the State Government had expressed its reservations to the Central Government over the hanging of Guru. “We have informed Centre of our apprehension and kept doing so till the end.”
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 9: Cantt Cricket Club defeated Young Cricket Club by 55 runs in an easy contest to advance in the ongoing Ravi Singh Charak Memorial T20 Cricket, being organised by Cantt Club at Government High School Satwari Cantt ground, here.
Winning the toss and batting first, Cantt Club scored a modest total of 127 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. Sagar Gupta, Dheeraj and Rahul Mulan contributed 35, 31 and 20 runs to the total respectively. Raghu was the pick of the bowlers for Young XI, scalping 3 wickets by giving away 11 runs in his 4 overs, while Sunil bagged 2 and Rishu one.
In reply, Young XI managed to score 72 runs in 20 overs by losing 8 wickets, thus losing the match by 55 runs. Vishal played a good knock of 27 runs. For Cantt Club, Rahul Mulan, Rajkumar Bakshi and Omesh shared 2 wickets each. For his all-round performance, Rahul Mulan was adjudged man of the match.
The match was officiated by Parshotam Sharma and Vijay Choudhary as umpires, while Piyush maintained the scorebook.
Winners posing for a group photograph during Annual Sports Day at Kids Campus in Jammu on Saturday.
JAMMU, Feb 9: Kids Campus International Pre-School celebrated its Annual Day with great enthusiasm in its school premises at Channi Himmat, here today.
Managing Director, Ganshyam Gupta was the chief guest on the occasion.
The events held during the day included Hopping Race, Lemmon-Spoon Race, Hug the Ball Race, Ball in the Tub Game, Spot the Coins Game and Hold the Ball Race.
Vanshaj, Gourav and Tejas Gupta won the first three places in the boys Find the Coins Game, while in girls section of this event, the first three positions went to Arya, Diya and Ridha.
In Hopping Race boys, Japtej, Udhey and Nilesh claimed the first three positions, while in girls section, Aaruni, Suriti and Shaan claimed first three places.
In Ball in Tub event, Aneesh, Parwaan and Akhil bagged first three positions, while in girls section, the first three positions went to Pragati, Priya and Airya.
Urjit, Sanshray and Rakshin clinched first, second and third position in Lemon-Spoon Race, while Aarohi, Nabiha and Suhana claimed first three slots in girls section.
In Hug the Ball team event, the duo of Priya-Remon, Rajveer-Akhil and Aavika-Pragati bagged the first three positions respectively, while in Hold the Ball Race, the pair of Aryan-Nitiya, Rakshin-Niharika and Urjit-Suhana claimed the first three places respectively.
