By Harihar Swarup
Troubles of Congress-led UPA-II Government seem to be never ending. It began with the 2G scam, followed by controversy over Lokpal, FDI in multi-brand retail, and on the question of setting up National Counter Terrorism Centre. The Congress suffered a major setback when it was trounced in assembly elections in five states including the key state of Uttar Pradesh. Unexpected defeat in Punjab was a big jolt to the ruling dispensation.
Another major challenge is in the offing in forthcoming Presidential election slated for July. This will be followed by election of the Vice-President who is also Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The Congress and allies cannot get its candidate elected to the President’s post on their own. A broad consensus will have to be evolved on a successor to Pratibha Patil. Congress has, however, a better chance of winning 2012 Presidential candidate if it fields a candidate “more acceptable” and cutting across party lines. To achieve this objective, regional parties like Samajwadi Party, AIADMK and BSP will have to be consulted and taken into full confidence. An analysis conducted by the Centre for Media Studies says no national party can get its nominee elected in July elections without the support of the regional parties which account for a quarter of nearly 11 lakh electorate. UPA has not got the numbers on its own to get its candidate elected, but it has a better chance to mobilize support by having a more acceptable and much beyond party line candidates. The UPA has little over 40 per cent of total votes against 57 per cent it had in 2007. Presidential poll, the analysis says, adding that the Congress has 31 per cent of the total votes against 24 per cent of the BJP.
The electorate for the coming Presidential polls is expected to be 10,98,882. Regional parties-SP, AIADMK and the TDP and the Left –will have to be taken on board in getting the required numbers in the Presidential election. “In fact, no candidate can become the next President of India without the support of as many of its group of regional parties. More specifically, support of any two of three regional parties-SP, Left and BSP-are essential for winning”, says the analysis.
In this context, it says, leaders like Pranab Mukherjee and Dr. Karan Singh can mobilize support cutting across party lines. As the UPA’s candidate, Pratibha Patil had won 57 per cent of the votes in 2007. The Congress, which has 206 members in the Lok Sabha and 71 in the Rajya Sabha, has only 31 per cent of the votes. The main opposition BJP-led NDA has 51 seats in the 238- member Rajya Sabha and 114 in the 543-member Lok Sabha, making up 24 per cent of the votes. However, 58 current members of the Rajya Sabha have retired and with fresh election this arithmetic has changed. The BJP-led NDA is in power in nine states, including Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress and its allies are in power in 14 states, including Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Therefore, the regional parties will play a decisive role in the presidential election.
“Regional parties, irrespective of whether they group themselves as a front or not, stands in the way of UPA getting the required numbers in this election”, says the Centre for Media Studies. This account for about a quarter of UPA votes, including the Left parties, BSP, SP, Biju Lok Dal, AIADMK and Telugu Desam Party. Political parties have interpreted the recent coming together of regional parties on one platform and opposing the formation of the proposed NCTC, as significant ahead of the Presidential election. A BLD leader said Patnaik was testing the waters ahead of the Presidential poll.
Nitish Kumar and Jayalalithaa, besides other opposition Chief Ministers, will have a powerful role in deciding the Presidential candidate. Support of a minimum of two of the regional Chief Ministers is essential for winning. Mayawati, though down but not out, could still make a difference and may even decide the candidates for Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections.
If the efforts of a consensus on a Presidential candidate fails, there will be election with battle lines clearly drawn as seen ten years back when APJ Abdul Kalam, put up by the NDA and, supported by the Congress, won by defeating Capt. Lakshmi Sehgal , set up by the Left parties and the Janata Dal.
It is too early to hazard a guess as to who could be a consensus Presidential candidate. There has been faint whispering that Kalam could again be sponsored for the highest office of the land. His last term went on well an he is non-political too. Name of Gopal Krishna Gandhi, a grand son of Mahatma Gandhi and former West Bengal Governor was also heard. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s name is very much there.
Closely will follow the Vice-Presidential election. Pattern of the Presidential election will be repeated in this poll. Still more difficult at this stage is to guess who would be next Vice-President. Heard in some quarters that Wajahat Habibullah, former Central Information Commissioner, may emerge as a dark horse. (IPA)
Presidential elections crucial for Congress
Growth with less energy
By Dr Bharat Jhunjhunwala
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Ms Jayalalitha has given the green light to the Kudankulam nuclear power project. A report of the World Bank also places availability of electricity as the main constraint to economic growth. Indian businessmen have been hollering for increase in supply of coal by Coal India Limited. The earth’s capacity to produce electricity, however, is limited. It is not possible to raise the consumption of energy of the 1.2 billion Indian citizens to the levels of the West. We will have to, therefore, necessarily find ways of attaining economic growth with less consumption of energy. Every country must dovetail its growth process to its natural endowments. For example, the rulers of Saudi Arabia do not rant that they require more water for sustaining economic growth. They grow dates instead of grapes and sugar cane. We must similarly adopt a growth strategy that is in tune with our natural resources.
We have help coming. There is much evidence that economic growth in India is no longer linked with higher levels of energy consumption. A study titled “Electricity consumption and economic growth in India” by Sajal Ghosh of Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai found an absence of long-run relationship between economic growth and electricity consumption. Implication is that economic growth leads to higher consumption of electricity but higher consumption of electricity doe not lead to economic growth. The study concludes, “Electricity conservation policies can be initiated without deteriorating economic side effects. In another study, titled “Electricity Prices in India” by Pierre Audinet of International Energy Agency, Washington concludes: There has been a “sharp decrease of the ratio of electricity consumption growth to GDP growth in the 1990s (in India).”
This same phenomenon has been observed for China. Fengqi Zhou has made a study titled ‘Economic development, energy, and the environment in the People’s Republic of China’. Zhou tells us: “Energy consumption per 10,000 yuan GNP decreased from 13.36 lee in 1980 to 9.3 lee in 1990. Nearly two-thirds of this was saved indirectly through changing macroeconomic structures; the rest was saved directly by industrial enterprises. This indicates a de-coupling of energy consumption and economic growth” Similarly S.-H. Yoo of Hoseo University, Republic of Korea says in a study that “uni-directional causality runs from economic growth to electricity consumption in Indonesia and Thailand without any feedback effect. Thus, electricity conservation policies can be initiated without deteriorating economic side effects in the two countries.”
The reason of this decoupling between energy consumption and economic growth is that high price of electricity impacts growth in only a few energy-intensive industries but saves many hidden costs of environment like global warming. The final impact of lower consumption of energy is positive if the savings from hidden costs is greater than the costs from higher price of energy. The argument that we need to increase production and consumption of energy to sustain economic growth, therefore, does not hold.
The straightforward method of dealing with the problem is to discourage energy-intensive industries like aluminium and steel and promote the services sector. Likewise we must discourage energy-intensive crops like grapes and sugar cane and encourage coarse grains that consume less water. Our businessmen do not understand this because they are enthralled by the Western growth model.
The demand made by our industrialists for increased production of domestic coal by Coal India Limited (CIL) is really a ruse to access the scarce natural resources at a low price. There is a conflict of interest between the producers and consumers of electricity. High price of electricity is beneficial to the producers while low price is beneficial to the consumers. The strategy adopted by them to get out of this contradiction is to seek low price for domestic coal. Then the price of electricity too will be low and both producers and consumers can make merry. They have demanded increased production by CIL so that cheap domestic coal is made available aplenty. Coal could, of course, be imported and the shortage of electricity removed. But international prices of coal are high. Therefore, they want domestic production to be speeded up so that cheap domestic coal can be made available in greater quantities. In other words, the issue is not inefficiency of CIL but the cheap price of domestic coal. Note that the price is cheap because the Government imposes fewer taxes on this resource.
The capacity of earth to produce energy is limited. Mankind will necessarily have to adopt consumption patterns and life styles that are energy-extensive. The solution is to increase the price of coal as well as other sources of energy such as uranium, oil and water; and reduce consumption so that we do not hollow the earth and leave it denuded for the future generations. This is not to justify the inefficiency of CIL. However, increased efficiency should lead to more tax collections and not to higher sale of cheap coal.
Another aspect of the matter is the pattern of domestic consumption of electricity. Data from the 17th Electric Power Survey indicates that between 2004 and 2012 domestic consumption is expected to increase by 7.4 percent pa. In comparison the consumption for ‘production’-inclusive of agriculture, manufacturing and commercial-is expected to increase by a meager 2.7 percent pa. Implication is that increase in generation of electricity is required more for consumption than production. This is not to decry increase in domestic consumption which is justified on its own. This is to point out that increased generation is not such a major bottleneck for economic growth.
There is need to reduce domestic consumption as well. The monthly electricity bill of the house of a top industrialist in Mumbai is Rs 74 lacs. It is common for kothis in Delhi to burn electricity worth Rs 25,000 for a family of four. Then there is a car for each person. Such consumption of energy would add little to the welfare of the country while it imposes huge costs on future generations by depleting natural resources. A back of envelope calculation indicates that diversion of mere two percent of electricity produced at present is sufficient to provide lifeline consumption of 30 units per month to all unelectrified households of the country. Instead of diverting this small amount of electricity, the Government has embarked upon increasing generation to provide for luxury consumption by the richer sections.
Conclusion is that electricity is not the major bottleneck for economic growth. We can further minimize the impact of less generation by discouraging energy-intensive manufacturing and encouraging service sectors. This will be in tune with our endowment of natural resources. We should increase rates of electricity for domestic consumption should be made highly progressive with, maybe, a rate of Rs 20 per unit for consumption beyond 1000 units per month per family. The solution to energy crisis lies not in perpetual increase in generation and consumption of energy. On the contrary the solution will lie in reducing the consumption of energy to levels that are sustainable in terms of the capacity of earth.
UGC sponsored national seminar at SMVDU concludes
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 25: A two day UGC sponsored National Seminar on Wireless Communication and Networks with special emphasis on Adhoc and Sensor Networks was organized by School of Electronics and Communication Engineering of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University on March 24 and 25.
The focus of the seminar was on providing a platform for the researchers, academicians, industry personnel and students from various parts of the country to interact and learn about the new inroads being made in the field of Wireless Networks and Sensor Networks. Prof. Vinod Kapoor, HoD of E&CE, NIT Hamirpur while delivering the keynote address, emphasized the importance of Optical Communication and Networks in the field of day to day communication and the establishment of the internet backbone.
Convener of the seminar, Asstt. Professor Sumeet Gupta said that it was the duty of Technical University like SMVDU to provide platform for such excellent interactions in the exciting field of Communication and Sensor Networks in J&K which generally is seen as being technologically backward.
Prof. Dilbagh Singh from NIT Jalandhar spoke about the application of Wireless Communication and Networks in the field of Tele-medicine and Body Area Networks. Prof. Narottam Chand expounded on the technical aspects of Wireless Adhoc and Sensor Networks while K S Nagla, NIT Jalandahr, spoke about Robotics. Dr, Ankur Gupta from MIET and Dr. Vipan Kakkar from SMVDU spoke about Network Management and VLSI aspects in Sensor Networks.
A session using Qualnet Simulation Software and Sensor Node Test Bed and e-content development was arranged. About 120 participants from Karnataka, Rajasthan, Himachal, Punjab, Haryana, Uttrakhand, Delhi and J&K attended the seminar where Research papers were presented by number of faculty and student researchers highlighting the progress being made in their respective areas.
Co-Convener S B Kotwal and Ashish Suri, Astt. Professor said that they were extremely encouraged by the feedback of the participants and ensure that such events would be organized regularly for the benefit of the academic community at large in J&K. S B Kotwal presented the vote of thanks at the valedictory function.
After Panchayats, powerful Urban Local Bodies in offing: Slathia, Rana
JAMMU, Mar 25: Minister for Industries and Commerce Surjeet Singh Slathia and Political Advisor to the Chief Minister Devender Singh Rana said that after the successful conduct of Panchayat elections and establishment of Panchayati Raj in the State, Omar Abdullah led Coalition Government in the State is keen to see powerful Urban Local Bodies functioning in cities and towns for developing the urban areas on modern lines.
Minister for Industries, Surjeet Singh Slathia while addressing a public meeting at Ward No. 32, Gole Talab Tillo, organized by Dharamveer Singh Jamwal, ex- Deputy Mayor, said that the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wants people to be actively involved in governance at all levels. He said the Chief Minister is determined to transfer the power from the Secretariat to the democratic institutions at grass root and make people masters in the process of development.
Slathia presenting a detailed account of the achievements registered by the coalition Government in the State during last three years said that measures are in place to bring about an all round change in the development scenario reaching out to people in all areas.
He said the importance of local bodies to address local issues of development at towns and cities level is of significant nature. He asked the people to be fully ready to participate in the upcoming urban local bodies elections to select the best candidates and lay edifice for the comprehensive development of towns and cities.
Speaking on the occasion, Devender Singh Rana, Political Advisor to the Chief Minister said that like Panchayats, the urban local bodies in the State would be made powerful to decide on development issues at their level. He said Omar Abdullah wants to empower urban local bodies so that these effectively deliver on the ground and attend to the local public development needs adequately.
He said that the new urban local bodies would not be a farce as was done in 2002 when these institutions were elected but without transferring any powers to the corporators and local bodies representatives, thereby making them redundant and an exercise in futility.
“Omar Abdullah led Coalition Government is determined to make corporators powerful and local bodies institutions functional”, Rana said asking the people to participate in these elections in large numbers electing the best possible candidates who will be always at their beck and call and help resolve their problems.
Rana said the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is taking the Government from Civil Secretariat to the door steps of the people so that specific public requirements in specific areas are addressed specifically and effectively. He said the Omar led Government wants the local developmental issues are properly tackled locally by the local representatives and as such wants to empower and strengthen grass root democratic institutions to ensure comprehensive, transparent and visible development.
Addressing the gathering Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari, Vice Chairman for Development of Pahari Speaking People and Rattan Lal Gupta provincial president National Conference Jammu province gave a brief of the historical initiatives and measures taken by the present National Conference-Congress coalition Government under the leadership of Omar Abdullah for the holistic development of the state.
The public meeting was also addressed by Vijay Lakshmi Dutta, provincial president J&K National Conference Women Wing, Chander Mohan Sharma, Taranjeet Singh Tony, Ashok Singh Manhas and others.
‘Expedite engagement of casual labourers’
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 25: The un-employed Industrial Training Institute (ITI) trained Electrician Diploma Holders Association has urged upon the State Government to expedite the process of their engagement as casual labourers in seven departments.
In a statement, the president of the Union while referring to Government Order Number 105 PD of 2010 said that State Cabinet in its meeting on October 25, 2010 had decided to engage 43,000 ITI trained unemployed youth on casual basis in the seven departments. He said the order is yet to be implemented, adding that this has led to mental agony for these trained youth.
“According to the break-up the Power Development Department (PDD) had to adjust 10,000 youth on casual basis, but nothing of that sort happened. The other departments too have failed in this regard and here too the ITI trained but unemployed youth have been left out,” he said.
The president of the Union alleged that four candidates namely Mushtaq Ahmad Mir resident of Rathipora-Tangmarg, Ghulam Ahmad Mir resident of Sultanpora-Baramulla, Abdul Rashid Ganie resident of Kakothail-Baramulla and Sona-ullah Pala resident of Tangmarg-Baramulla were engaged as casual labourers in backdoor under order number ESTT/GB/11/1183-88 dated February 25, 2012.
He demanded stern action against the officers/officials who facilitated the backdoor engagement of the four persons. He appealed Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to step in and order for immediate engagement of ITI trained youth as casual labourers.
Mihir makes it to mega audition round of DID
JAMMU, Mar 25: Lil Champ of J&K Mihir Gujral, after passing out two audition rounds one at Jammu and another at New Delhi, was selected for Dance India Dance Lil Master Season 2 mega audition round scheduled to be held at Mumbai in the month of April.
This was stated by Sunil Sharma, choreographer, Unique Dancing Institute, during a press meet here this morning.
Sharma said that earlier, Mihir was among six who were selected by the team of DID during the audition at Jodhamal Public School recently. He added that during the audition at school nearly 350 students participated, out of which Mihir and five others were selected from the State to present their performance at Noida, New Delhi.
Sharma further stated that at Noida, 10000 students participated and Mihir was the lone from J&K, who qualified for Dance India Dance Lil Master season 2 mega audition round to be held at Mumbai in the month of April, where Mihir will present his performance in various events including Hip-Hop, contemporary, Bollywood, etc.
“The show was adjudged by Master Geeta, Master Terance and Master Marzi, he said, adding, that ‘Super Wings’ was conferred to the Lil Champ Mihir”. He added that in the mega audition round, 80 participants will be selected and hoped that Mihir will be one of them.
While speaking, Mihir Gujral said that he will work day and night to bring laurels to J&K at national and international level in the field of dance.
Responding to the query, Mihir said that, he had presented Punjabi Bhangra during the recent audition and is ready to take all other challenges during the mega audition round.
“I was nervous at the stage but with an aim to bring laurels to the State have made my performance accountable in the eyes of the three judges Master Geeta, Master Terence and Master Marzi, who presented super wings to me”, Mihir added.
He said that, dance is his passion and he will take all the challenges, to prove his worth at the national and international level, so as to make J&K proud.
Natrang stages ‘Kabab Mein Haddi’ in Sunday Theatre
Excelsior Correspondent
Jammu, Mar 25: In its weekly theatre series ‘Sunday Theatre’, Natrang presented Hindustani adaptation of Balwant Gargi’s famous play ‘Kabab Mein Haddi’.
The play was directed by Neeraj Kant. The hilarious situations in the play made laughter irresistible for the audience. At the very outset Natrang director Balwant Thakur informed that Natrang is going to present Moliere’s famous comedy play ‘Bichoo’ directed by Sumeet Sharma on the occasion of World theatre day on tuesday, at General Zorawar Singh Auditorium, University of Jammu. The entry for the same has been kept open for all.
‘Kabab Mein Haddi’ as the name suggests is a story of one intruder between two lovers. Naseem and Safdar are two college friends. Naseem is in love with Jameela. Both are post-graduate students studying in a University. Jameela is putting-up in the girls hostel whereas Naseem and Safdar are living in a rented accommodation. Despite having engaged they hardly find any space and avenue to meet each other to share their feelings. Jameela’s hostel warden is very strict and hardly allows her to move out and this side, Naseem’s sticky friend Safdar hardly leaves him alone. Both have been shown making attempts to meet each other but in vain.
Mustering courage and pulling in all resources they plan their outing on Friendship day. The movement they step-out, Safdar makes his un-wanted entry and offers them to escort them throughout their outing. Both try to convince him that they can move on their own but this foolish friend is not ready to buy their arguments and forcefully accompanies them. The real comedy unveils here when Safdar spoils their every precious moment by intruding between them by creating funny situations. His intrusions irritate them and the moment he sees that they are irritated; he tries to be closer to them with the intention to ease out tension and conflict between them. Finally they get an opportunity to meet but the same is spoiled by their sincere friend.
This play was presented by the young actors. Rahul Singh as ‘Naseem’, Sunil Bhardwaj as ‘Safdar’ and Sajra Qadir as ‘Jameela’ played their respective characters with full confidence and professional ease.
Renzushah honoured with Media Excellence Award
Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Mar 24: At a function organized by Media Federation of India at FICCI International Auditorium New Delhi, the 6th Media Excellence Awards-2012 were given to various media personalities, electronic news channels of national and international repute, print media and FM radio channels on the basis of their extra-ordinary contribution in the field of media.
Director Information and Public Relations, Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Renzushah was honoured with Media Excellence Award of the Year by Media Federation of India for media support.
On this occasion, 2500 media personalities from all over the country were present. Zee News, Sahara Samay, FM Radio Fever 104 and other electronic and print media also received the awards of the year in various capacities.
Renzushah was selected for the award by the Executive Committee of Media Federation of India for proving his excellence in the field of media, dissemination of information and his contribution in literary activities.
Mr. Renzushah is the author of 11 books and has already received various awards at international and national levels. Even two scholars received M. Phil degree in various universities for writing M. Phil thesis on the literary contributions, novels and afsanas of the Renzushah.
Earlier, Mr. Renzushah was awarded by various literary academies of various states for his literary contribution. His novels include Zakhmo Ki Salgirah, Bahanwar Meri Manzil, Inqilab Ka Shaheed, Doobitia Kinarya, Kashmiri novel Aab Chi Dazan, Discovery of Kashmir, Jaeel Jalti Hai and other books have received various laurels at different literary and spiritual forums.
The other media personalities who received the Media Excellence Award include Uma Shankar Singh NDTV, Dilip Shukla, Editor Danik Bhaskar, Manoj Manu Channel Head Samay, Sharad and Nitin FM Radio, Poonam Mehta Sahara NCR, Fazal Imam Mallic, Jansatta New Delhi, Priyanka Thakur, Channel One News, Ranjana Sharma, Samay News Channel, Asmi Raza, Editor Indian Dominion, Arun Keshri, Editor UNI-Varta, Shiv Bhattia, Advisor to CM Haryana, Harish Chopra, News Editor, Punjab Kesri, Ranjan Kumar, Samay, Anil Anand, General Secretary, Press Club of India, Deepak Gupta, AtoZ News, Kulin Gupta, TV 100 News and Gurbider Singh, Janta TV.
BJP holds Jansamelans
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 25: In continuation of party’s programme to organize Jansamelans, the BJP held public meetings at Ward No 61 in Bohri, Ward No 10 in Old City area and Ward No 63 in Gurah Bantalab today.
A large number of party activists participated in these Jansamelans, which were addressed by senior BJP leaders.
Addressing the Jansamelan at Bohri organized by former Corporator, Ashok Singh Manhas, BJP national executive member, Dr Nirmal Singh, held the NC-Congress coalition responsible for present problems of the people in the State in general and Jammu region in particular.
He said the increasing corruption, price rise and unemployment have added to the woes of common man and the Government was unable to contain the same as it has no concrete policy for governance.
Dr Singh also accused the Government of delaying much talked about Municipal Corporation and Urban Local Bodies elections in the State which are now over due. The delay in holding the elections have delayed the developmental process in the urban areas of the State and people have been put to many hardships on account of the same, he added.
Alleging that there are large number of discrepancies in voter lists, Dr Singh said that the names of genuine voters are missing form the lists and demanded that before holding the elections same should be rectified.
Others who addressed the Samelan included Kavinder Gupta, former Mayor, Bali Bhagat ex MLA and vice president of the party, Mamta Singh, senior leader of Mahila Morcha BJP and Omi Khajuria ex corporator.
Ashok Singh Manhas while speaking highlighted the developmental works, which took place in the area during his tenure as Corporator.
Addressing the party gathering at Dewan Mandir in Ward 10, BJP MLA Ashok Khajuria termed the claims of NC –Congress coalition of providing a corruption free and transparent Government as totally hollow. This Government has been exposed before the masses as it failed on all fronts and could not come up to the expectations of the people, he added.
He cautioned the people against the Kashmir centric policies of NC and PDP and asked the youth not to get lured by their leaders who have always harmed the cause of Jammuites to please their political constituency in Kashmir.
BJP State secretary Yudhvir Sethi cautioned the people against the NC’s demand regarding restoration of pre-1953 position and said that nationalist people in the State are opposed to autonomy.
The PDP is equally dangerous as it is for self -rule and duel currency, which too will not be acceptable to nationalist people in the State.
BJP spokesman, Ramesh Arora said BJP is a party with mission and national interests are dear to its workers than individual interests.
BJP district president, Rajesh Gupta sought an explanation from Government for its failure in implementation of Parliament’s 73rd and 74th amendments in J&K while former Corporator, Priya Sethi, apprised the people about the developmental works undertaken during her tenure as corporator.
At Ward No 63 Bali Bhagat was the chief guest. The meeting was organized by Manohar Lal Corportor and others who addressed it included Suraj Parkash Padha, Col Uttam Singh, Sukh Dev Singh, Rajinder Singh, Omi Khajuria and Mukesh Sharma.
APHCC demands CBI probe into multi crore temple land scam
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 25: All Parties Hindu Coordination Committee (APHCC), an amalgam of various Dogra and Kashmiri Hindu organizations, today reiterated its demand of CBI probe into the multi-crore temple land scandal in the State to expose all those elements who are involved in the same. Besides, Committee also stressed on immediate passage of Hindu Shrines and Temples Protection and Management Bill to safeguard them from land mafia.
The core members of APHCC who met here today to take the stock of the situation created due to encroachment of shrines land by mafia groups in Kashmir Valley expressed grave concern over the indifferent attitude of the Government towards Hindu shrines.
Demanding CBI probe into the illegal selling and encroachment of temple land in Jammu and Kashmir, the core group member of APHCC Pritam Sharma, who is also general secretary of Kranti Dal said that APHCC was in favour of a CBI probe against anybody who has encroached temple land or sold it illegally.
He also warned the vested interests against creating a wedge between the various communities of Hindus of the State and said all Hindus of the State are one on the issue of dharma and they will not allow any body in a any part of the State to sell the temple or shrines land.
Addressing the meeting APMCC chairman Vinod Pandit said that the temples of J&K need protection form the hands of land mafia, which has encroached the land of many temples and shrines in the State.
He also criticized the Government for its total failure in fulfilling the promise made with APHCC last year when he along with other members of the organization went on indefinite hunger strike for 10 days.
Rajiv Mahajan, president Shri Ram Sena asked the Government to initiate measures for the passage of J&K Hindu Shrines Bill as demanded by APHCC. Others who addressed the meeting included H L Chatta, Rashpal Singh, Vaid Gandotra, Ravinder Koul and Ramesh Singh Jamwal leaders of various KP and Dogra organizations.