Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, May 24: The elections to Dogra Brahmin Pratinidhi Sabha (DBPS) will be held either in last week of July or by middle of August this year.
This was announced by three member Election Committee of the Sabha comprising of Devki Nandan Pangotra, Surinder Kumar Sharma and Jagan Nath Sharma while talking to reporters here today.
They said the Election Committee was constituted by the Executive Committee of the Sabha in its meeting on December 14 last year to conduct the elections to the Sabha in accordance with its Constitution.
They said that the Committee met on January 2 this year to take the process of holding elections in hand and the areas of membership were also taken into consideration and accordingly 25 membership books with 25 forms each were printed.
Later the notification for memberships were issued and the same was suspended for one month due to Bhagawan Parshuram Jayanti due to which the date of submitting the membership books after completing the drive was extended from May 15 to 25 this year. But due to the harvesting season it was again extended upto June 15, they added.
They said the Election Committee has also constituted the Sub Committee of five members to identify those areas of Jammu province where the membership has not been made till date.
The Committee included prominent members of the Community B D Badyal, D K Sharma, Nanak Chand Sharma, Madan Lal and Mohan Lal Sharma. The Committee has been asked to furnish its report within 15 days. After this the membership drive in untouched areas will be taken up in hand by Committee directly, they added.
The Committee members said Rs 2 has been fixed as membership per person of the community and any one can approach Sabha for the same from 10 am to 4 pm on week days. After completion of this process the elections will be held either by ending July or middle of August, they added.

Excelsior Correspondent

KATHUA, May 24: Two houses were gutted in separate mishaps in tehsil Hiranagar while alert was sounded in Nagrota Budhi village after wild fire spread towards residential locality today.
Reports said in a fire incident, in the house of one Parshotam Singh at Gurha Balu near Hiranagar this afternoon, property worth over Rs 5 lakh was completely destroyed. The housewife and two children however, ran out to safety. The landlord had gone away from home when the incident took place.
A fire tender from Hiranagar arrived after some time but the entire house was already in flames. Short circuit was said to be the reason behind the incident. The police has taken cognizance.
Later, Tehsildar Rajiv Magotra, SHO Hiranagar Karanveer Singh and MLC Subash Gupta also visited the spot. They provided some assistance to the family from local administration.
Another fire incident took place in the house of one Tej Ram, son of Badri Nath at Gurha Morh in Hiranagar during mid day today. Over 75% household items were gutted in the incident.
Another report said that panic gripped a locality near Nagrota-Budhi after wild fire started moving towards residential area. The villagers shifted their household items and valuables to safer locations. The firemen and police reached there after the villagers pleaded for help. The fire was controlled with the help of villagers and the firemen. The army had also been requested for the assistance.
Meanwhile, a cow was charred to death while three cattle injured after a shed caught fire at Chak Ram Singh near Govindsar last night. Reports said the cattle shed of Surinder Singh caught fire and his one cow was killed and three others sustained serious injuries.

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, May 24: Police arrested two persons who were illegally diverting the wheat meant for public supply to a flour mill in Tangmarg area of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
A police spokesman said that a party of Police Station Kunzar while patrolling intercepted a LP-Truck bearing registration number PB 46J/ 1297 carrying 300 bags of wheat. As per challan the driver had to unload the wheat at FCI Shali Store in Srinagar but on reaching Srinagar the driver was directed to unload the wheat bags at a flour Mill.
“While on way to the mill, the truck was intercepted at Kunzar and after scrutinizing the papers produced by driver, it surfaced that the wheat bags were supposed to be unloaded at FCI Srinagar. During preliminary questioning it surfaced that the FCI/CAPD authorities in connivance with owner of the Flour Mill had diverted the food grains illegally with intention to embezzle the same,” said the spokesman.
Kunzar Police Station has registered case FIR No. 61/2012 under section 407, 409 RPC into the matter and the driver and co-driver of the vehicle namely Kulwinder Singh and Manjeet Singh sons of Kuldeep Singh resident of Taran Taran-Amritsar, Punjab were arrested. The investigation of the case is on.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, May 24: Three days Entrepreneurship Awareness Programme organised by the Entrepreneurship Development Cell of Government College of Engineering and Technology (GCET) concluded today.
The programme was attended by faculty and staff from GCET, MBSCET, MIET, Government Boys Polytechnic, Government Polytechnic Women, IECS Polytechnic and North Polytechnic.
On the valedictory function, Prof Bhopinder Singh, Principal, GCET, was the chief guest, who while interacting with the participants stressed that advances in science and technology have brought in revolutionary changes in the concept of entrepreneurship.
Prof Singh said that there is no aspect of human life that is not touched by these advances on some way or the other.
Dr Sarabjeet Singh, HoD, Mechanical Engineering and convener of the programme, stressed that students of academic institutions should be exposed to entrepreneurship as an alternative career.
He also discussed that the educated youth are the drivers of tomorrow and they must work hard for nation building.
At the end, Er Roaf Ahmed Khan, presented vote of thanks.

Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, May 24 : Terming the development of ruralites as real scale of measuring growth, Member Parliament Udhampur-Doda Parliamentary constituency Ch Lal Singh said Government of India is endeavouring to provide every basic amenities viz water, electricity, road connectivity and education to people of rural areas especially living in hilly, kandi and border areas of the State. He was addressing an open Darbar at Tehsil Basohli today.
Ch Lal Singh patiently listened to the problems of people and assured to redress their grievances in phased manner. He called upon the officers to extend every possible help to the people living in isolated and far off areas. Ch Lal Singh appealed the people to get maximum out of Government schemes meant for rural people, which not only provide livelihood but also ensure participatory development of the area. He also threw light on central sponsored schemes like MNREGA, ICDS, PMGVY, PMGSY and other job oriented schemes.
MP Lal Singh said panchayat representatives have duty to project the demands and problems of their respective panchayats, adding that empowerment of panchayats will foster the pace of development in the rural areas.
He disclosed that to strengthen the educational and medical infrastructure in the State the Government of India is providing extra funding to the State. He further added that enhancement in pension under Old Age Pension Scheme and regularization of Special Police Officer ( SPO) were taken up in parliament and other concerned authorities, adding that he will pursue these issues till the positive outcome.
Responding to the demand of shortage of staff in remote area of the Tehsil Basohli, he directed Chief Education Officer to do the needful so that students of far off areas don’t suffer.
Ex MLA Basohli Kanta Andotra also spoke on the occasion.

Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, May 24: The shopkeepers of Chadwal Morh today held protest against the police for its alleged failure to arrest the accused involved in attack on a local trader and looting his cash and other belongings when he was returning home yesterday.
Identified as Nek Ram of village Chak Ranga, the trader was running Mobile Phones shop at Chadwal Morh. He was attacked by some unknown persons when he was returning home from shop at around 9.15 pm two days back. The attackers looted his cash and laptop and threw him on the road side considering him as dead. He had received several blows of lathis on head and other parts of the body.
The victim was shifted by police to hospital and later referred to GMC Jammu. The victim is now struggling for life in PGI, Chandigarh. The police registered a case and started investigation.
The traders from Chadwal today held protest demonstration at Chadwal Morh on National Highway for about an hour, demanding immediate arrest of the accused persons. They said that traders would launch indefinite ‘Hartal’ if the attackers were not arrested within next 24 hours. They demanded security and alleged that lawlessness was on the rise with poor policing and lack of proper monitoring by the senior officers in the area.

Excelsior Correspondent

POONCH, May 24: All J&K Sheep and Wool Workers Association (SWWA) held a meeting under the chairmanship of Assistant Live Stock Officer, Mohd Bashir, to constitute the district body, here today.
The employees from all corners of the District participated in the meeting and held threadbare discussion on various problems.
The meeting elected Mohd Rafiq Malik as district president, Mohd Ibrahim as vice-president, Hamid-ul-Haq Khan as district secretary, Mohd Aziz as cashier, Mohd Syed Khan as secretary whereas Sadu Singh, Nazir Hussain and Mohd Afzal as Tehsil presidents of Surankote, Mendhar and Mandi respectively.
Moreover the nine member advisory committee was also constituted which comprised of Vijay Kumar, Mohd Hanief, Haji Shabir, Mohd Zabir Khan, Manzoor Hussain, Mansoor Ali, Ghulam Hussain, Mohd Taj and Abdul Hamid.