JAMMU, May 26: KC Public School Jammu dominated table tennis and badminton events, while Guru Harkrishan Public School lifted under-14 and under-17 girls tug-of-war titles in the Jammu District 2-Day Inter-School Competitions, which concluded here today.
KC Public claimed table tennis girls Under-14 title by drubbing Shangrilla Higher Secondary School Jammu by (3-0) in the summit clash. Jhanvi Pandoh of KC toppled Archita Sharma of Shangrilla and Shreya Mahajan of KC outplayed Pallavi Jasrotia of Shangrilla in singles event, while in doubles, Jhanvi and Shreya of KC got better of Archita and Pallavi of Shangrilla. In table tennis Under-17 girls, KC Public School outclassed JK Public School by (3-1), while in badminton U-17 boys and girls, KC Public School prevailed upon Army Public School Domana and JK Public School respectively. The badminton U-14 boys and girls titles went to MIER and JK Public School respectively.
Meanwhile, Guru Harkrishan Public School won twin tug-of-war title, defeating DBN in U-14 girls category and Government HSS Mubarak Mandi in U-17 girls title clash.
In judo U-14 girls, Diya Jamwal and Vandona Indora claimed gold and silver in below
23 kg, while in below 27 kg, Tanvi Panjgotra and Bhawana Hans clinched gold and silver respectively. In below 32 kg, Komal Mangotra and Akriti Sharma bagged gold and silver respectively, while in below 36 kg, Sakshi Sharma bagged gold and Bhumika Mahajan claimed silver. Below 40 kg gold went to Aditya Sharma, while the silver medal was claimed by Divya Kumari in this category.
Meanwhile, in judo U-17 girls, below 36 kg gold went to Arohi Khajuria, below 40 kg gold to Arpita Puri, below 44 kg gold to Himanshi Nagri, while below 48 kg gold went to Rashika Wali.
The competitions were organized by the Department of Youth Services and Sports, under the overall supervision of Tirath Ram, District Youth Services and Sports Officer, Jammu.
JAMMU, May 26: Selection trials for selecting J&K Senior Athletic team for Inter-State Athletic Championship will be conducted at MA Stadium Jammu on May 28 and 29 from 3 pm onwards.
52nd Senior Inter State Athletic Championship is being held at Hyderabad from June 23 to 26 June.
Outstanding Athletes desirous of taking part in the selection trials are directed to report to S S Gill, Associate Secretary J&K Athletic Association at 3 pm at MA Stadium on May 28 with date of birth certificate.
NEW DELHI, May 26:
Rajneesh turned out to be India’s best performer of the day as he clinched the gold medal in the freestyle 60kg category after Neha and Kamlesh bagged silver and bronze in their respective categories on the second day of the Hari Ram Grand Prix wrestling tournament here today.
It was a clinical performance by Rajneesh who, right from the beginning, looked in full control against his opponent, Kim Jin Cheol of Korea.
Swift in his movements, Rajneesh outmanoeuvred Kim to win the bout 3-0 2-0, much to the delight of the sparse crowd at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
But it was Rajneesh’s semi-final bout against Batasaikhan of Mongolia that hogged the limelight as he came back strongly in the second round after trailing initially. The win, surely, must have given him the confidence ahead of the final.
Earlier in the day, Neha won the silver medal in the 51kg category but Kamlesh had to be content with a bronze in 59 after going down to Hiromi Sakurai of Japan 1-1 0-1.
Just like day 1, it again seemed like India would fail to win a yellow metal.
But all that changed after Rajneesh took to the mat in the title clash.
Results: Men Freestyle 60 KG: 1. Rajneesh (IND), 2. Kim Jin Cheol (KOR), 3. Daniel (NGR) and Moradgholiei (IRI).
96 KG: 1. Kerashvili (GEO), 2. Yahkouski (BLR), 3. Anakulov (TJK) and Tahan (IRI).
120 KG: 1. Sakandelidze (GEO), 2. Dziatko (BLR), 3. Jung Yei (KOR) and Saeed Ahmad (PAK).
Women Freestyle: 51 KG: 1. Hiromi Sakurai (JPN), 2. Neha (IND), 3. Conder Whitney (USA), 4. Narepekha (UKR).(PTI)
SRINAGAR/JAMMU, May 27: Police today charged batons and arrested over 200 State Government employees at Lal Chowk this afternoon to foil their Rajbhawan march while the employees toughened their stand and called for 4 days strike, the date for which will be announced after Joint Co-ordination Committee (JCC) meeting scheduled for tomorrow.
The Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ali Mohammad Sagar,described the Government employee strike as unprovoked and unjustified. He said that employees should leave the path of confrontation and keep channels of communication open.
Around 2000 employees gathered at Srinagar’s city centre, Lal Chowk and started their march towards Rajbhawan on third day of the strike. The march culminated at Regal Chowk as police charged batons on employees and arrested over 200 of them.
The employees march to Rajbhawan started this afternoon from Lal Chowk but police deployed in full strength foiled the march by charging batons on them. Despite tough resistance from employees’ police managed to foil their march.
The employees were marching to Rajbhwana to present a memorandum to State’s Governor NN Vorha seeking his intervention for implementation of the agreement with State Government signed with them last year.
The Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ali Mohammad Sagar, told Excelsior that employees strike has no justification and described it unprovoked. He said that Government has conceded to the demands of the employees last year only. They praised the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, for resolving their issues and celebrated it last year.
The Minister said that there are some issues which are of sensitive nature. Regarding the enhancement of the retirement age, he said that there are lots of stakeholders of the issue. He said the issue of the unemployment is one of the biggest issues and Government does not want to take any risk.
Sagar said that Government is looking at the pros and cons of the issue and have formed a committee to look into the enhancement of retirement age demand. “Once the committee submits its report, it will be discussed in the cabinet”, he added.
Sagar said that the basic demand of the Government employees was Sixth Pay Commission, its arrears, DA and HR. He said that Government has regularized around 17,000 daily wagers and adhoc employees and the process is going on.
While praising JCC leaders Abdul Qayoom Wani and Khursheed Aalam, Sagar said that they should talk sense and show responsibility toward society. He said that at the time when there is an atmosphere of peace and thousands of tourists are arriving Kashmir daily, there is no logic and reason for the strike.
The Minister said that issue of the employees will be resolve and advised them to leave the path of confrontation and keep channels of communication open.
In the meantime the JCC leaders held a meeting this evening soon after their march was foiled by the Government. The meeting that was attended by the representatives of all the four factions of employees decided to observe 4 day strike.
Senior JCC leader and president of the Employees Joint Action Committee (R), Ram Kumar Sharma, said that JCC leaders are meeting again tomorrow and will decide about the dates of the next round of strike.
Kumar said that the decision of the 4 day strike was taken after State Government instead of fulfilling the demand of the employees’ resorted to repressive measures by arresting over 200 Government employees.
Kumar said that repressive tactics of the State Government aggravated the situation. He said that by these tactics Government forced employees to intensify their agitation.
Kumar, however, said that employees can call off strike now if the Government implements the agreement which it reached with the State Government employees last year.
The JCC leaders who participated in today’s meeting are Ram Kumar Sharma, Rafiq Khanyari, Madan Sangral, Bashir Ahmad Ganai, Haji Bashir, Nisar Ahmad, Ghulam Mohammad Dobi, Kulwant Singh, Ghulam Rasool Geelani, Mohammad Gafoor Dar and Mushtaq Ahmad Badana.
The president of the Employees Joint Action Committee (Q), Abdul Qayoom Wani, told Excelsior from the Police Station Kunzar that employees’ programme was a grand success and urged the employees to follow the JCC programme in future.
Wani asked the employees to resume their duties from Monday and future course of action will be chalked out on in the JCC meeting. He said that despite the use of force thousands of employees managed to reach Lal Chowk.
The senior JCC leader Mohammad Gafoor Dar said that around 700 employees were arrested today by police and described the programme as a grand success. Dar and Syed Gulam Rasool Geelani were leading their employees in the protests today at Lal Chowk. Dar said several leaders of his employee organization faction were arrested today. They included Rafiq Kar, Shabir Ahmad, Irshad Ahmad, Gul Mohammad Malik, Bashir Ahmad Wani, Mir Nazir Ahmad.
The senior leader of ITI employees Union, Mohammad Abbas, said here that the main demand of the employees is the regularization of the daily wagers, contractuals and adhoc employees, and removal of pay anomaly. He said that Government should not have signed the agreement with the employees last year when they were in no mood to implement it. He condemned the arrest of employees and use of force by the Government.
The State Government employees are demanding regularisation of daily wagers, contractuals and adhoc employees, and removal of pay anomaly and increase in the retirement age from present 58 years to 60 years.
Around 300 State Government employees, mostly their leaders, were arrested during past three days. Over a dozen of the JCC leaders were arrested by police during mid-night raids on Wednesday on their residences. And over 50 of them courted arrested yesterday at the main entrance of the Civil Secretariat, Srinagar.
The prominent among those who courted arrest yesterday are Syeda Ladakhi, Purshotam Sharma, Balwan Singh, Shabir Ahmad, Javed Ahmad Akhoon, Ghulam Mohammad Hamdard, Ghulam Mohammad Bandro, Naseer Ahmad Wani, Khurshid Ahmad Dewani, Abdul Rashid and Mir Waseem.
And those who were arrested in mid night raids a day before the 3 day strike that began on Thursday included Abdul Qayoom Wani, Mohammad Khurshid Aalam, Mohidin Muntazir, Khursheed Ahmad Bhat, Farooq Trali, Khalid Mehmood, Abdul Qayoom Beigh, Haji Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Abdul Qayoom Beigh.
In the meantime as the Employees continued to stay away from work for the third day today Government offices remained deserted.
All Government offices, including the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CA&PD) ration depots and headquarter also remained closed.
The Government educational institutions also wore a deserted look as students and teaching staff stayed away. However, private schools across the State were functioning normally.
Normal work in many Government and Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) offices remained paralysed today with the strike of employees across Jammu region while the Joint Consultative Committee of the employees leadership will announce next course of action tomorrow.
Responding to the three-day strike call given by the JCC on May 24, 25 and 26, a large number of employees held strong protest demonstrations and dharnas in their respective offices in Jammu city and other district and tehsil headquarters. The general public had to suffer due to ongoing strike. The healthcare in many hospitals was also hit.
All the sections of State Government, Public Sector Undertakings, temporary and permanent employees observed nearly complete strike. The employees held demonstrations, staged dharnas at district and tehsil headquarters to lodge their protest against the Government. In majority of the offices in the region the work was affected due to strike but in some of the offices, the work continued though the attendance was found thin. The emergency units in hospitals and other essential services had been kept out of the purview of strike.
While addressing employees in various offices in Jammu city today EJAC/ JCC leaders strongly condemned the attitude of the Government. They said that due to non-serious approach of the Government, the employees have been forced to go on strike. The Government has failed to honour its commitment. Nothing has been done on ground to address the agreed demands during meeting with employees’ leaders on 19-2-2009, 14-5-2010 and recently on September 15, 2011. They said several representations were given to the Government from time to time but it seemed to be in no mood to respond to the employees’ demands.
JCC leaders further alleged that Government has done nothing to formulate the policy for regularization of casual, seasonal and daily rated workers. The committees constituted by the Government for enhancement of retirement of age from 58 to 60 years and for removal of anomalies in different cadre, have not done their job within the framework of stipulated time. The PSU workers are being deprived of the Sixth Pay Commission benefits, arrears, DA, linking it with profit and loss. They claimed that it is only due to mismanagement and negligence of politicians that some PSUs are running into huge losses.
A large number of employees held protest demonstration outside Divisional Commissioner’s office at Rail head Complex in support of their demands. Under the banner of JCC, these workers, mostly from PSUs earlier assembled near Panama Chowk and then moved towards Rail Head complex. Arun Moza, Nazir Ahmed, Rajinder Kumar Amrik Singh Sasan and others addressed the gathering and projected their demands.
In Leh also employees observed strike and held demonstrations. Similar reports were received from Kargil. In Poonch, Rajouri and Kathua, the employees protest rallies were also held. The employees from several departments assembled at PHE complex Poonch and held dharna and protest rally. In Rajouri town, protest demonstration/ dharna was held near DC office and some other offices today. In many tehsils like Hiranagar, Billawar, R S Pura, Nowshera similar reports of protest rallies were received.
Reports from Samba, Udhampur, Ramban, Kishtwar, Doda and Reasi districts said that protest demonstrations were held by employees and the normal works remained affected. The emergency units of the hospitals, operational staff of urban local bodies, PHE and PDD remained out of the purview of the strike.
NEW DELHI, May 26:
Team Anna today clubbed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with 13 other Cabinet Ministers, whom they accused of corruption, which the Congress dismissed as “unsubstantiated averments” that need not be responded to.
The anti-graft group, which has threatened to launch an indefinite fast from July 25, has picked up portions of a draft CAG report to make charges against Singh when Coal Ministry was with him. They had never made allegations against the Prime Minister before.
Besides Singh and Mukherjee, the Ministers against whom the Team Anna has demanded probe by an independent Special Investigation Team include P Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar, S M Krishna, Kamal Nath, S M Krishna, Praful Patel, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Virbhadra Singh, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid, G K Vasan, Farooq Abdullah, M Alagiri and Sushil Kumar Shinde.
Dismissing allegations levelled by Team Anna members Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan and Kiran Bedi at a press conference, Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said, “I do not need to give an answer to unsubstantiated averments.”
He said this is not the first time such things have been said and answered. “It is not necessary that every unsubstantiated averment needs to be responded to.”
Tiwari also referred to a report in a newspaper that Bedi has written to Hazare complaining against NGO led by Kejriwal not using funds properly.
The Team, some of whose members have been accused of financial misconduct, denied the report.
Hazare and his close aides sent a letter to Singh seeking setting up of an independent Special Investigation Team with three retired judges as it members to probe the charges.
They suggested that the government could select the judges from a panel of Justices Sudarshan Reddy, A K Ganguly, A P Shah, Kuldeep Singh, J S Verma and M N Venkatachellaiah.
In the letter, they said the SIT should investigate charges against the 15 “corrupt” Ministers as well as those against party chiefs Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Jayalalithaa.
They also said that the SIT can investigate charges against Team Anna.
“We will wait till July 24. If the Government does not take steps to (set up SIT), we will go on an indefinite fast from July 25,” activist Arvind Kejriwal told reporters.
Meanwhile, Key Team Anna member Kiran Bedi today denied having written any mail to social activist Anna Hazare doubting the integrity in funds of Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF), headed by another prominent team member Arvind Kejriwal.
“If Anna has not received anything so what does it mean? I have checked with Annaji. He has denied any such correspondence. I have never doubted the integrity of PCRF in general and of Arvind Kejriwal in particular,” Ms Bedi said in a statement.
The former IPS officer said in fact, PCRF was the “most closely well audited body”.
She alleged that the intention of such a front page space in a national daily was nothing but an effort to somehow break or weaken the synergy in the most needed anti-corruption movement in the country.
“The sabotage will not succeed. Readers are wise to see through this,” she added.
The report claimed that Mr Hazare has revealed that Ms Bedi had written to him that funds were not being handled properly by PCRF. (Agencies)
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 26: As a sequel to the decision taken during the Congress convention at Srinagar, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Ghulam Nazi Azad is visiting Kargil on May 28 to gear up the party activities in the district.
Mr Azad would address party workers rally at the district headquarters and advise the party rank and file to gear up Congress activities in every nook and corner of the district for strengthening party’s base there.
This is going to be the first rally of Mr Azad following the Congress convention at Srinagar where two rival factions of the party buried their differences and resolved to work together for strengthening party across the State.
NEW DELHI, May 26:
Five days before his controversial 26-month tenure as Army Chief comes to an end, Gen V K Singh today voiced criticism of the defence Ministry for “selectively leaking” information to “fix” him.
In a series of interviews to TV channels, the General also made no secret of his unhappiness with the Supreme Court where he lost a legal battle over his age in February.
In an apparent reference to a remark by Justice R M Lodha, one of the two judges on the bench that heard his case, the Chief said that a very senior apex court judge had told him to “blow with the wind”.
“If all of us are going to blow with the wind then we will all become muggers, we will all become corrupt,” he said, according to a transcript of his interview released by the Times Now channel.
Justice Lodha had actually remarked, “wise men are those who move with the wind. We take pride in having (an) officer like you. Credit must go to you.”
In a separate interview to CNN-IBN, the Army Chief said that he had withdrawn his petition on the age issue because the Supreme Court gave no decision. “They tried to arbitrate. Then I realised that you are fighting a system.”
During the interviews, Singh said it was not “just lobbies” working against him, but “some people are trying to protect people who are basically doing wrong things.”
Turning on the Ministry of Defence, he said that papers related to his age were “illegitimately” released. Some papers that should never have been released under RTI rules were released and this included a couple of pages, which the Ministry itself had labelled “top secret”.
Asked if he was saying that he had been set up, the General replied, “obviously”.
When pressed to state as to who was releasing the information, Singh replied that it was the Ministry.
“Absolutely,” the General answered when asked whether he was saying that information was being selectively leaked to “fix you”.
Barely concealing his anger over the leakage of his letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh complaining of deficiencies and shortages in the army, the General said this was a “treasonable act”.
He then referred to a PTI story, denied by the Government, that a Joint Secretary-level officer in the Cabinet Secretariat had been held responsible for the leak.
The General said that PTI does not “manufacture” stories on its own. “So somebody must have told them, somebody authoritative enough”.
The leakage was done “with a purpose to create an impression that Gen V K Singh is leaking it”, he said, adding, somebody within the Government “had some agenda”.
Asked if he would get into politics after he demits office on May 31, the Chief replied, “I haven’t decided anything.”
Told about the speculation that he may join Yogaguru Ramdev, Singh replied ” I don’t think so. All this is speculative kite flying, to say the least. And I will not go with this kite flying.”
Referring to his allegation that retired Lt General Tejinder Singh had offered him bribe to clear a deal for Tatra trucks, the Army Chief said he had informed Defence Minister A K Antony as per the Services regulations.
Apparently questioning inaction by Antony then, the General said, “He (Antony) has ordered a CBI inquiry. It could have been done earlier.”
On inaction on his own part, he said, “If he (Antony) had asked me to take action, action would have been taken. Be rest assured about it.”
He, however, went on to add that because of Antony’s “blessings” the file regarding the procurement of Tatra trucks was not cleared.
With regard to the controversy over his show cause notice to 3 Corps Commander Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, the Army Chief criticised its leakage and suggested his involvement in it.
“Who else will go (to the media)? The notice was signed by me and it is in the name of the officer (Suhag). Who else will handle it?… It was his responsibility to answer that show cause notice…. But without giving an answer, somebody goes to the press and shows the show cause notice,” Gen Singh said when asked whether he suspected Suhag of having leaked the notice.
He said it was “morally unacceptable that a notice from a senior officer to a junior officer has found its way into media and started getting discussed”.
Gen Singh has since put Suhag, who could head the force in 2014 by the current succession line, on Disciplinary and Vigilance (DV) ban, by which his promotion would be stalled.
Asked what if the Government overturns his decision to put Suhag on DV ban, he said, “it will be Government’s decision, not mine. People will hold the Government responsible for it.” (PTI)
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 26: In a major success, police and Army today gunned down a dreaded militant of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit in an encounter at village Bachkundi in Bhimdassa area of Ramban district. Slain ultras was involved in a series of subversive activities including killing of three Army personnel.
Addressing a joint press conference here this afternoon, IGP Jammu Zone Dilbagh Singh and DIG Doda-Ramban range Gareeb Dass said the killing of militant has dealt a big blow to the militants in Ramban district and thwarted their plot to revive militant activities in erstwhile Doda district.
The IGP Jammu said the police was determined for a smooth Amarnath yatra for which adequate security arrangements were being made. He added that the few remaining militants would be kept away from the National Highway to ensure peaceful and smooth yatra.
The militants, who was killed in a joint operation by Ramban police and troops of 58 Rashtriya Rifles in wee hours of this morning, has been identified as Ghulam Qadir alias Toheed-ul-Islam son of Sher Mohammad Malik, a resident of village Lahni in Asthanmarg area of Ramban district.
He was active in the militancy for past six years and was involved in a series of subversive activities including killing of three Army personnel in an encounter.
SSP Ramban Anil Magotra and DySP Police Component, Gool, Deepak Digra led police teams in the joint operation.
Reports said Army and police cordoned off upper reaches of Bachkundi last night after developing a specific information about the present of Ghulam Qadir in the area. Movement of the militant was spotted at about 11 pm last night. A cordon was maintained in the area and the militant was finally challenged and asked to surrender with the Sunlight early today.
The militant opened firing and tried to escape. Police and Army retaliated and gunned down the militant in an about half an hour long gun-fight without suffering any casualties. Recoveries made from the possession of slain militant included one AK-56 rifle, three magazines, one pouch, one matrix sheet and 54 rounds of AK rifle.
The IGP Jammu said with today’s elimination of dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen commander, only four militants have been left in Ramban district and seven in Kishtwar district while Doda district was free of militancy. A total of 29 militants were active in Jammu region and barring 11 militants active in erstwhile Doda, rest were operating in twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.
This was second major success against militants after the killing of Akhter Hussain in Kishtwar district few days back, Dilbagh Singh said.
Replying to a question on safety of Amarnath pilgrims, Mr Singh said: “last year also the militants were active but we conducted peaceful and smooth pilgrimage. This year also adequate arrangements were being made for peaceful yatra. We will keep the militants away from the National Highway’’.
To another question that about 25,000 Bajrang Dal activists were planning to start Amarnath yatra on June 4 from Jammu and whether they would be stopped, the Jammu Police chief said the dates for the yatra were decided by Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) taking into account the weather and clearance operations of snow.
“Moreover talks were reportedly on between the Board and other groups to resolve the matter’’, he said, adding that every year only registered pilgrims were allowed to proceed to Amarnath shrine to avoid overcrowding and ensure that there was no law and order problem.
He said about 35 to 40 companies would be deployed in Jammu region for yatra security and rest in the Kashmir Valley. Presently, he added, police was undertaking sanitisation operations for the yatra.
On reports that one of the militant wanted by National Investigating Agency (NIA) in connection with September 7, 2010 Delhi High Court blast, Junaid Akram Malik, has been killed by his opponents, Mr Singh said: “the reports have not been confirmed’’.
He said another militant wanted by the NIA, Chhota Hafiz, narrowly survived police encounter in Kishtwar when Akhtar Hussain was killed.
Meanwhile, a joint column of Rashtriya Rifles and police today recovered a consignment of arms and ammunition from Saldhar in Mahore tehsil of Reasi district.
Recoveries included one 12 bore riddle, six cartridges, three Chinese made hand grenades, 172 AK rounds, 78 Insas rounds, four Insas magazines, 61 detonators, one electronic detonator, 36 HE hand grenades, one IED battery, one Motorola radio set, one cassette recorder and 45 pencil cells.
Jehangir Rashid
SRINAGAR, May 26: The Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC) is all set to start Budshah hotel located in the heart of the city from June 15. Work on the Rs 4 crore project is going on at full swing and the hotel would be reopened after a closure of 26 years.
Talking to Excelsior, Satish Nehru, Managing Director JKTDC said that so far Rs 3 crore have been spent on the construction of the hotel. He said the hotel would have four big halls with a dimension of 20,000 square feet per hall.
“The Budshah hotel would have four big halls and these would be used as food courts. The executing agency has been directed to complete the work on the construction of the hotel in the next three weeks. We are hopeful to reopen the hotel between June 15 and 20. The food courts would provide food facilities to the tourists since Lal Chowk area and the adjoining areas are frequented by the tourists,” said Nehru.
He said that a comprehensive plan has been taken up for upgrading the facilities at the different tourist destinations across the State. He said budget hotels are being constructed by the Corporation at Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Yusmarg and tourist huts at Cheshmashahi, Patnitop and Katra.
“At Sonamarg and Yusmarg we are constructing 20 bed room budget hotels at a cost of Rs 4 crore each. The work on the construction of two 10 bedroom huts at Gulmarg would start once the preliminary formalities are completed. At the same time we are constructing 10 huts at Cheshmashahi in Srinagar,” said Nehru.
The JKTDC MD said that work on the low budget hotels would be completed by July next year adding that this would provide more accommodation options for the tourists visiting the State. He said the Corporation would develop the huts vacated by the security forces at Patnitop.
“Work on five huts vacated at Patnitop by the security forces would start soon and Rs 60 lakhs would be spent on their reconstruction. In addition we are developing and upgrading the infrastructure at Sanasar, Katra and Tourist Reception Centre, Jammu. The tourism infrastructure is being developed at Ducksum, Kokernag, Achabal and Manasbal in Kashmir valley,” said Nehru.
Referring to the reopening of the Lala Rukh hotel in the Lal Chowk area, Nehru said that out of the 46 rooms available at the hotel 36 rooms have been rented out to Estates department as accommodation for the Durbar Move employees.
“The response of the tourists towards Lala Rukh hotel has been exemplary and we are adding 16 rooms to the existing infrastructure. The rooms are available to the tourists at cheap rates and the facilities being offered to them are wonderful. The hotel also has facilities of a seminar hall and dormitories,” said Nehru.
He said that the revenue receipts have shot up from Rs. 19. 60 crore to Rs. 33 crore during the previous two years. He said the employees of the corporation have been given benefits under the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations adding that they are being paid 35 percent DA.
Meanwhile, Minister for Tourism and Culture Nawang Rigzin Jora took a stock of the work on Budshah Hotel. The Minister was told that the hotel will be made operational in June after a gap of 26 years with all latest facilities for the tourists.
Jora was informed that the traditional look of the hotel has being restored by using local material which included wooden Deodar columns, with lattice work of traditional pattern, Khatamband ceiling and local brick work. He directed the executing agencies to redouble efforts, accelerate pace of progress on the project and complete the same by June 15.
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 26: The Interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir have recommended wide ranging powers for three proposed Regional Councils for the State by enabling them to effectively implement the State Assembly’s basic legislation by taking into account the specific economic, social and other needs of the people of their regions.
They have proposed that all members of the Legislative Council (the Upper House of the Legislature) should be equally elected by the three Regional Councils instead of present system of their elections by MLAs and nominations by the Government. They suggested amendment in the State Constitution to establish the Councils.
Ruling out separate statehood for Jammu and Union Territory status for Ladakh, the Interlocutors in their report made public by the Ministry of Home Affairs by putting it on the website, recommended that each region shall be endowed with a Regional Council, District Councils and Panchayats (In Ladakh, the Hill Development Councils would serve as District Councils).
“The Governor, the Chief Minister and his Cabinet, the State Assembly and Council, judiciary and State cadre services shall deal with all subjects that need a uniform policy for the State as a whole, subjects that involve expenditure beyond the capacity of the regions, which deal with inter-regional problems and overall subjects that are not delegated to the regions”, the Interlocutors-Dileep Padgaonkar, a veteran journalist, Prof Radha Kumar, an academician and MM Ansari, a former Information Commissioner said in their report.
They recommended that the Legislative Council of J&K should have a fairer representation of three regions.
‘‘Ideally, it should have an equal number of members-11 each to be elected by the Regional Councils”, they said but admitted that it would be a big jump for Ladakh from its present quota of two members. A via media needs to be found, they asserted.
Presently, out of 36 members of Legislative Council, eight were nominated by the Government while four seats were reserved for Panchayats (two each for Jammu and Kashmir divisions) and two for Urban Local Bodies (one each for Jammu and Kashmir division). Rest of the members were elected by the MLAs (the Members of Legislative Assembly).
The Interlocutors’ report recommended that the subjects allocated to the regions should be akin to the subjects allocated to autonomous regions in other States and 27 subjects handled by districts in other parts of the country.
“All subjects within the financial capacity of the regions should be included (in the Regional Councils). A provision similar to Article 249 of the Constitution of India should be included in Jammu and Kashmir Constitution to facilitate, with the consent of the Regional Councils, transfer of subjects from one list to another”, the report said.
The Interlocutors proposed: “ in addition to executive and financial powers allotted to the Regional Councils on the lines of powers made available to Autonomous District Councils on the basis of 6th Schedule of the Constitution of India, the Regional Councils shall be empowered by the State Assembly to pass subordinate, enabling legislation.
“This would enable the Regional Councils to effectively implement the State Assembly’s basis legislation by taking into account the specific economic, social and other needs of the people of the region. The membership of the State’s Public Service Commission will also reflect Jammu and Kashmir’s regional pluralism”.
The report said the composition, election, powers and functions of the Regional Councils shall be based on the points of convergence of various proposals that favoured establishments of such Councils.
‘‘The State Constitution should be amended accordingly to provide for Regional Councils and can include a special provisions on the lines of Article 356 of the Constitution of India to enable the State Government to recommend to the Governor that it should take over the functions of a Regional Council if it didn’t shoulder its responsibilities according to letter and spirit of the Constitution of the State”, the Interlocutors said.
They recommended that members of the Regional Councils shall be elected with representation assured for women, SC/ST/OBCs and displaced communities through reservation of an appropriate number of seats.
They proposed that the Governor shall be authorized to appoint members of minority community, who are not adequately represented in the Councils but their number shall not exceed 10 per cent of total strength of each institution. The MLAs will be ex-officio members with voting rights in Regional Councils.
The Interlocutors proposed that all resources generated within the State will be equitably apportioned to the regions bearing in mind their population size and topography. “This applied for the budget as a whole”.
