Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 23:  Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand accompanied by Vice Chairman, Lakes and Water Ways Development Authority, Erfan Yasin today visited Dal Lake to take stock of the on-going Dal cleaning operation.
He was informed that five machines, imported from US and Switzerland, along with old machines have been put into service to clean unwanted weed in the Lake, however, owing to magnitude of the weed, the augmentation of the machineries has become necessary.
Deputy Chief Minister instructed the officers of the Authority to undertake cleaning of weed from inner and deeper portion of the Lake including Lilly-pad.
While reviewing the re-location of Dal dwellers, Tara Chand directed that remaining structure in Karpora, Doldemb and Moti Mahal need to be removed in a time bound manner. He asked officers to pay the land and structure compensation to the affected families to make their rehabilitation easy.
The Deputy Chief Minister directed them to get revenue record of such structures and land transferred to the Authority as early as possible. He emphasized for beautification of shore line of the lake by way of planting flowers and perennial plants to make it more attractive.
Mr Tara Chand also directed officers to lift the extracted weed from the road immediately without allowing it to pile up for next day on roads besides laying of tiles on the footpaths. He asked officers of the Authority to show substantial progress on all these areas.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 23: Police today arrested an absconder involved in a triple murder after eight years in Bhaderwah area of Doda district. The accused was arrested from Solan district of Himachal Pradesh.
He has been identified as Manjeet Singh son of Hari Ram Bhagat R/o village Drone in Prem Nagar area.
He was wanted in FIR No. 143/2004 under Sections 302, 436, 460 RPC and 4/27 Arms Act of Bhaderwah police station.
Three members of a family at village Chakrabati including Master Ghulam Nabi, his wife Sakeena Begum and servant Mohammad Azim were killed on the intervening night of November 13 and 14, 2004 in cold blood and their bodies were burnt by setting their house on fire.
The motive was to loot cash and jewellery from the house and give it the angle of militancy. Other accused in the case had been arrested while Manjeet Singh was absconding.
Police parties headed by PSI Gurpal Singh made the arrest under the supervision of SP Doda Mohammad Arif Rishu.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 23: The result of some of the students in provisional Merit list of BA Part III (Faculty of Arts) appeared in the various newspapers has been wrongly printed due to an inadvertent printing error by Controller of Examinations, Jammu University.
As per the clarification issued by the Prof Manoj Dhar, Controller of Examination, Jammu University the result may be read as 5370000, Altaf Javaid Naik, S/o Ghulam Mohd, 74.72 per cent (Government Degree College, Thanna Mandi, Rajouri), 5470013, Sayeera Parveen, D/o Mohd Din, 72.24 per cent (Himalayan Degree College, Rajouri), 537002, Baseerat Afroz, S/o Alam Gir Rather, 72.12 per cent (Government Degree College, Thanna Mandi, Rajouri) instead of 5370000, Altaf Javaid Naik, S/o Ghulam Mohd, 74.72 per cent (Himalayan Degree College, Rajouri), 5470013, Sayeera Parveen, D/o Mohd Din, 72.24 per cent (Government Degree College, Thanna Mandi, Rajouri), 537002, Baseerat Afroz, S/o Alam Gir Rather, 72.12 per cent (Himalayan Degree College, Rajouri)

Excelsior correspondent
RAJOURI, May 23: Five persons were arrested while 800 kg lahan and 200 ltr illicit liquor and four working stills were destroyed on spot during Excise raids by Inspector Excise, Sub Range, Rajouri.
Led by Dr Sajad Majid, Inspector Excise under the supervision of Afaq Ahmad Excise and Taxation Officer Rajouri-Poonch Range conducted series of raids at villages Larn, Jhanger, Kha no-2 Nar Singh Pura Dalhori, Dhangri, Dani Dhar, Agri, Chingus, Soughat and Panjpeer, Potha, Brow, Sanchal, Gharat Borow, Gooni, Raj Pur Pathat Sarnoo, Grati Chackli and Sawni Grati areas of Rajouri district.
These raids were conducted under direct supervision of Mrs Anuradha Gupta, Deputy Excise Commissioner (Executive) Jammu.
During the course of raids five persons were arrested and booked under Excise Act.
The arrested persons were identified as Kamleh Devi W/o Pashori Lal, Rekha Devi W/o Joginder Kumar, Kunti Devi W/o Sat Pal of resident Grati, Behdi Chand S/o Sukhi Ram R/o Chakli and Sheela Devi W/o Suram Singh of Sawani Grati.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 23: Crime Branch today produced challan in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jammu against Advocate Bashir Ahmed Mir, who was involved in cheating and forgery.
According to the Crime Branch spokesman, one Baldev Raj, son of Mela Ram of RS Pura lodged a written complaint with Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, which forwarded the same to the Crime Branch for investigation.
In the year 2005, Advocate Bashir Ahmed Mir, son of Ghulam Qadir Mir of Kulgam told the complainant that a house situated at Plot No.19-A, Block-C Sector-B Gandhi Nagar was allotted to one Vijay Bhat by Housing and Urban Development Department and the owner had given him full authority to dispose off the house.
The accused advocate executed a Power of Attorney in favour of complainant and also facilitated the transfer of the house in his name in the year 2007 after receiving a payment of Rs 73 lakh which was paid to him through Demand Draft, cheques and in cash.
However, the complainant was dispossessed of the house by Vijay Bhat and his brothers on the ground that they had not authorized any body to sell the house.
During the course of investigation, it was found that Vijay Kumar Bhat had executed a letter of authority in favour of accused advocate only for watch and ward of the property. After completion of investigation, Crime Branch presented challan in the court of CJM against advocate for cheating the complainant of Rs 73 lakh.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, May 23: As part of its country wide programme to counter the claims of Congress led UPA of its performance on the completion of three years in office , BJYM activists under the leadership of their State president Munish Sharma held a demonstration in front of Press Club here today.
The protestors raising slogans against the UPA Government and its anti people policies said that Dr Manmohan Singh’s rule has added to the woes of people and compounded their problems. They announced that the Day be observed as Dhikkar Divas. They accused the UPA of its total failure in coming upto the expectations of the people.
While addressing the protestors Munish Sharma said that the Congress led UPA at the Centre has completed three years in power and is celebrating the day with much publicity to mislead the people by claiming of bringing revolution in the country. But the people can’t be mislead by such false propaganda as they know that during these three years country witnessed high time corruption, price rise, insecurity and depositing of Indian money in foreign banks.
He said the claims of UPA of bringing a revolution in country are totally hollow as people have been put to more hardships and their miseries increased due to UPA’s misrule. He also accused the UPA of its total failure in framing any youth policy and alleged that it did nothing for the upliftment of the people living below poverty line.
Sharma said that the BJYM is organizing protest programmes and rallies to educate masses about the failure of the UPA on all fronts and the party will expose the coalition for its open encouragement to all such elements involved in corrupt practices and looting the state exchequer.
Aseem Gupta, Vijay Choudhary, Sanjay Baru, Surinder Choudhary, Parimoksh Seth, Vipin Shastri, Bharat Sharma, Ajay Vaid, Sat Pal Choudhary, Pradhuman Singh, S Sheetal Sing, Ishant Gupta, Vikas Sharma, Sachin Gupta were among other BJYM activists who took part in protest.

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, May  23: The last day of the week long Tagore theatre festival at Radio Kashmir Auditorium in Srinagar saw the Kashmiri adaptation of Tagore’s famous short  story ‘Live or Dead’ being staged at the venue.
Directed by Ayash Arif the story traces the last two days of a vexed Hindu widow, who has been unceremoniously cremated by her in-laws, but wakes up, gagged, bound and soot-covered. Undecided about whether she’s passed on or not, she meanders through a cavalcade of emotions – from fear at being dead, to joy at being ’empowered’ as a ghost, to depression about never seeing her beloved nephew anymore, through the dawning realisation that she really is alive and finally driven to distraction to prove that she isn’t dead.
Adapted from Rabindranath Tagore’s short story Jeebito o Mrito – Live or Dead and written by Dr Sohan Lal Koul, the play is a soliloquy given by the lead character as she grapples with liberation in a post-death state and the value of her life on this planet. Ace performance by the artists of Kalidas Theatre made ‘Marnue Chu Behtar’ a must watch play.
Organised by J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, the last day of the play festival saw deputy chairman, legislative council, Mohammed Yusuf Taing as the chief guest.
Airing his remarks on the occasion Taing said that Tagore was a towering personality and staging of his plays would allow people to understand him in a better manner both as a person and as a playwright.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, writer Dr Sohan Lal Koul said that the play is about the worth of ‘lesser’ lives as society deems. ‘It is really easy to ‘invisibilise’ people and that is what we’ve tried to portray’, Lal said.
The proceedings of the festival were conducted by chief editor, Urdu, Mohammed Ashraf Tak.

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, May 23: All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) has urged Pakistan and India to take bold step on Jammu and Kashmir so that relations can be further normalized between the two powerful  sisters nations.
Jagmohan Singh Raina, APSCC chairman urged both the nations to show greater strength of confidence in each other during the Secretary level talks and expected that they will clear the fact about the possible visit of Sikhs across the border especially in J&K without passport at par with regular border bus movement at Jammu and at Srinagar..
These requests have already been communicated to the Union Home Secretary R K Singh, to keep this on the agenda during his talks with his counterpart Pakistan Home Secretary,  K Siddique Akbar.
He added that the talks between India and Pak can only be successful when both the nations forget their past bitterness, and have the meeting with an open mind and a brave heart to strengthen the ties for the prosperity and benefit of the people of both India and Pakistan.
Jagmohan Singh Raina acknowledged that Sikhs across the globe are closer to their Pakistani counterparts than other communities. He added that the bus service started between Indo-Pak via Muzaffarabad- Uri, and Poonch- Rawlakot has proven very fruitful but Sikhs have not been benefitted at all as most of the Sikhs from J&K want to visit their historic Gurudwaras across the border but are denied.
APSCC has demand separate quota for the Sikhs of J&K for all Gurudwara yatras via Wagha border on regular basis and especially on the occasion of Baisakhi, Gurunanak Dev Ji birth day and at other festivals

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, May 23: Jammu Municipal Corporation is making sustained efforts for clearing and desilting of deep drains or nallahs through out the City well before the onset of Monsoon season to avoid any losses to the property due to overflowing of nallahs.
As a part of the special drive, the transport and sanitation wing of JMC today started the desilting of main Shakti Nagar nallah and Nanak Nagar nallah in sector 6 by utilizing men and machinery and a total of about 200 cubic metres of slit, boulders and garbage was desilted. The desilted material is being transported to landfill or dumping site.
As the choking of deep drains may lead to damage to the houses or properties, the JMC has appealed the general public not to throw waste, debris and building materials etc in the drains as it makes the task of JMC more cumbersome in clearing the drains.
Meanwhile, The Building Operation Controlling Authority in a meeting held today, examined the building permission cases and cleared 73 out of them, which would generate revenue of Rs 15 lakh for JMC.
All those whose building permissions have been approved are requested to deposit the building fees in JMC and get the copy of approved building plan. In case of any difficulty they may contact Commissioner, JMC.

Jehangir Rashid

SRINAGAR, May 23:  The independent MLA from Langate Engineer Abdul Rashid alleged said that Sarpanches, Panches and former polling agents of mainstream political parties took part in separatist rally at Langate yesterday.
Addressing a press conference here, Engineer Rashid accused the Hurriyat Conference of adopting a dual policy. He said on one side the conglomerate asks the people to boycott the assembly elections and on the other people who were elected in the last year’s Panchayat elections took part in the rally.
During the press conference the independent legislator played a video CD and pointed towards the presence of a Sarpanch and some of the defeated Sarpanchs.
“I am not against the people who fight elections but I am against the people who betray the masses by issuing anti-elections diktats and on the other take proxy part in the elections. The Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is doing the same thing and it is important that people know their real face,” said Engineer Rashid.
Engineer Rashid said that parliamentary, assembly and panchayat elections cannot change the disputed nature of Kashmir issue. He said Kashmiris want to live a dignified life adding this is possible only with the resolution of Kashmir issue. He said UN resolutions are very much relevant with regard to the final dispensation of Kashmir issue.