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Srinagar freezes at -4.2, Jammurecords season’s lowest temp

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR/ JAMMU, Dec15: The cold wave intensified inKashmir today with the minimumtemperatures dropping severalnotches below the freezing pointand Srinagar recorded the coldestnight of the season at minus 4.2degrees Celsius, whereas, Jammurecorded the lowest night temper-ature of the season.

A Meteorological Departmentofficial said that the minimumtemperature is likely to drop fur-ther across the region in the nextfour to five days as dry weatherwith clear night sky is expectedduring this period.

Srinagar recorded the coldestnight of the season at minus 4.2degrees Celsius and at minus 19.0degrees, Drass town in Kargil dis-trict was the coldest place in theState.

The minimum temperature inLeh, Kargil, Gulmarg andPahalgam on Saturday remainedminus 13.6 degrees Celsius,minus 10.2 degrees Celsius,minus 11.5 degrees Celsius andminus 9.5 degrees Celsius,respectively.

The maximum temperature inSrinagar, Leh, Kargil andPahalgam was recorded at 10.1degrees Celsius, 1.9 degreesCelsius, 1.2 degrees Celsius and7. 0 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Jammu recorded season'sminimum night temperature of5.5 degree Celsius. The nighttemperature across Jammu regionis on downward trend over thepast one week after the high alti-tude areas experienced snowfall.The night temperature fell byalmost two degrees compared to

the previous night to settle at 5.5deg C, 3.7 notches below the nor-mal, during this part of season.

However, a bright sun shonein the morning, providing somerelief to the people from the chillynight. The night temperature inJammu is further expected to fallin next couple of days, Metspokesman said.

The holy township of Katrarecorded a minimum temperatureof 5.8 deg C, Batote 0.6 degreeC and Bhaderwah minus 2.0degrees Celsius. The maximumtemperatures at Jammu remained22.5 degrees Celsius, Katra 19.2degrees Celsius, Batote 11.2degrees Celsius and Bhaderwah9.0 degrees Celsius.

Villagers lit fire to have some relief from chilling cold on out-skirts of Jammu on Saturday morning. -Excelsior/Rakesh

NC threatens State wide agitationif killings are not stopped

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Dec 15: NationalConference General Secretary AliMuhammad Sagar today said thatGovernor administration seeming-ly has given free hand to the secu-rity forces to aim at civilians likesitting ducks and has threatenedState wide agitation if the killingsare not stopped.

Addressing a press conferenceat party headquarters, Sagar said:"The incumbent Governor admin-istration has no respect for human

rights and basic fundamentalrights. Our party in unison con-demns the killings in strongestterms as such acts reveal the dis-dain of incumbent Governoradministration for human rights,"he said.

The NC General Secretary said

that such unabated killing of civil-ians if not stopped will furtherdeteriorate the already fragile situ-ation of our State. "Our party coregroup has time and again imploredon incumbent Governor adminis-tration to put a thaw on civiliankillings. But our pleas fell on deafears. We in fact took out a protestrally against these unabatedkillings but that too fell on deafears," he said.

Sagar threatened State wideagitation if the killings are notstopped. "If the administrationdoesn't stop such unabated civil-ians killings we shall be obligatedto carry out State wide protestsagainst the disdain with whichcivilians are being devoured."

NC General Secretary saidpeople of Kashmir are being usedas fodder by the central BJP leddispensation to increase their elec-toral prospects in other parts of thecountry. "Governor's vacillatingstatements on Kashmir add moreconfusion to the already grim situ-ation in our State. Governor, who isbusy politicking, has miserablyfailed to implement his assur-

ances," he said.Sagar said that Jammu and

Kashmir is not a military colony."We too have rights and privilegesto live a dignified life. The dracon-ian law AFSPA which we want tobe done away with has belittled thevery dignity of human life. Eventhe recent assertions of formerHome Minister P Chidambaramare reflective of how inhumane thelaw is. What aggravates the situa-tion is the laidback and sadistic atti-tude of central Governmenttowards such civilian killings," he

said.Party Provincial President

Nasir Aslam Wani while address-ing a press conference said thatSoP'S are not being adhered to dur-ing such operations. "The civiliankillings are not acceptable to us orfor that matter to any sane voicethroughout the country. Wedemand a time bound inquiry onthe incident. Civilians and militantsare being treated in the same man-ner," he said, adding, "There oughtto be some checks and balances toensure that civilians aren't beingkilled. Had proper SoPs beenadhered to such civilian killingsmight have been avoided."

Senior NC leader, Ali Mohammad Sagar, addressing a pressconference in Srinagar on Saturday. -Excelsior/Shakeel

Mayor Chander Mohan Gupta addressing maiden General House meeting of JMC onSaturday. -Excelsior/Rakesh

Corporators list suggestions asJMC General House meeting held

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 15: In themaiden General House meetingof the newly constituted JammuMunicipal Corporation, all theCorporators cutting across partylines pressed hard for a suitablehonorarium of around Rs 40thousand to them besides high-lighting issues of public interest.

In the marathon meeting,which lasted for more thanseven hours, all the Corporators

drew attention towards generalissues of their respective wardsand also listed suggestions forimprovement in the functioningof JMC to keep Jammu cityclean and green.

They also stressed forextending 74th Amendment ofthe Panchayti Raj to J&K formore empowerment of theLocal Bodies. A number ofCorporators from differentpolitical parties and independ-ents also highlighted the issue ofhonorarium to them. They

stressed said that a minimum ofRs 40-50 thousand honorariumshould be given to eachCorporator for carrying out theirduties.

The Corporators alsostressed that small works ofemergency nature should be car-ried out without inviting tendersas the exercise involved in invit-ing bids delays emergencynature works.

In the presence of MayorChander Mohan Gupta, DeputyMayor Purnima Sharma, JMCCommissioner Pankaj Magotraand Secretary Sunaina Mehta,each Corporator was givenaround five minutes to speakand list suggestions for betterfunctioning of the JMC.

The meeting began with cir-culation of agenda, comprising11 items, which included open-ing of school for children of theMunicipal employees, openingof dispensary for the Municipalemployees, speed up recruit-ment of SKCs, issuance of pro-motion orders of official clearedin earlier DPC, beautification ofJMC walls, development of `No

Parking Zone' in JMC premises,ensure plantation in and aroundJMC, procurement of sufficientstreet lights, outsourcing ofautos, deployment of SKCs fornight sanitation and animalbirth control programme.

All the agenda items wereunanimously passed by theHouse even as a fewCorporators registered theirreservations over not circulating

the agenda prior to the meeting. The General House also

agreed to the suggestion for atleast one meeting in a month.First Monday of each month wasselected for holding GeneralHouse meeting.

Earlier, after introductoryremarks by Secretary SunainaMehta, Mayor Chander MohanGupta addressed the House andappealed all the Corporators tolist suggestions for improvingthe functioning of JMC. Hestressed that clean and greenJammu should be the objectiveof everyone and he was confi-dent that each Corporator wouldleave no stone unturned forachieving the target.

He said that people ofJammu have great expectationfrom their Corporators as JMCelections have been held after along gap of 13 years.

DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2018 (PAGE 3)

DCC Leh recalls achievements of P Namgyal

Excelsior Correspondent

LEH, Dec 15: An executivemeeting of District CongressParty Leh was held here todayunder the chairmanship of DCCpresident T Namgyal to celebratethe achievements of formerUnion Minister and three timeMember Parliament. P Namgyalon the occasion of

his 85th birthday.The meeting was attended by

sitting Councilors, ex-MLADeldan Namgyal, ex MLC NurbuGyaltsen, ex CEC Rigzin Spalbar,MCL president Dr NamgyalGangjor, MCL Ward members, exECs Mohd Shafi Lasu, GhulamAbbas Abidi, Sonam DorjeySercho, DCC senior members,BCC Nubra president StobdanGoba, Youth Congress Executivemembers, Sewa Dal Chairman VirChakra Capt Tsepel and WomenWing members.

Speakers on the occasiondescribed P Namgyal as one of thepillars of Congress Party in Ladakhever since he became a members ofINC in 1969 and played a verypivotal role in strengtheningCongress Party in Ladakh.

While being Union Ministerand MP from Ladakh, PNamgyal worked tirelessly forthe welfare of the people ofLadakh and carried out somemajor developmental activitiesfor the region. In grant of ST sta-

tus for Ladakh region, P.Namgyal played role of a pro-peller and it was due to his con-stant personal persuasion in ful-filling the nitty gritty of formali-ties at different Ministerial leveland the Registrar General ofCensus India.

Again P Namgyal was a keyperson to convince then PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi to talk toagitating LBA in 1989 and agreefor Hill Council Dispensation.The Union decision in 1989 toexempt Ladakh from any kind ofTaxes on income was anothervery important milestoneachieved for which Namgyalstruggled very hard. People ofNubra Valley also got a majorgift when he was successful increation of a separate MLA con-stituency for Nubra region. Theestablishment of bulk Indian OilDepot in Leh, LPG Gas bottlingplant and opening of first PetrolPump in Leh were other majorachievements of Namgyal. Theinstallation of first Satellite com-munication in Leh District was agreat feat which was amongst thefirst in the country.

Namgyal was also instrumen-tal in introducing Indian Airlinesflights to Leh from Delhi, open-ing of the All Indía Radio stationat Leh and compelled the Govt todo away with the permit systemfor the movement of the localswithin Leh.

Members of DCC highlighting achievements of P Namgyal.-Excelsior/Morup Stanzin

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 15: All J&KEmployees Joint ActionCommittee (EJAC), today dis-cussed the pending issues of theState Government employees.

In a meeting of the JAC heldunder the leadership of BabuHussain Malik, the membersheld threadbare discussion ontheir pending issues. Theyalleged that despite repeatedrepresentations to the higherauthorities, holding protests, theState Government has failed toaddress the issues of theemployees.

They strongly demandedremoval of pay anomalies in thepay grades of clerical cadre, reg-ularisation of Local Fund casualemployees of Higher EducationDepartment in different col-leges, regularization of daily

wagers/ casual and contractualworkers, enhancement ofMedical allowance from Rs 300to Rs 3000 per month, revoca-tion of Medical InsurancePolicy, DPC and CareerProgression of employees out-side the Civil Secretariat, revivaland allocation of funds for func-tioning of Stores ProcurementDepartment.

The speakers in the meetingurged upon the Governor'sAdministration to take cog-nizance of the matter and settlethe pending issues of theemployees.

Prominent among those whoattended the meeting included ,Sewa Ram Rathore, HilalAhmed Khan, ShowkatNowshari, Jaswant Singh, VijayKumar, Manjeet Singh, MohdAshraf, Dharamveer Singh andothers.

EJAC projects burningissues of employees

West Pakistani refugees protesting at Kathua on Saturday.-Excelsior/Pardeep

West Pakistani refugees protest,demand release of compensation

Excelsior Correspondent

KATHUA, Dec 15: WestPakistani refugee held a protestdharna here, today which wasled by its president, Labha RamGandhi in support of their gen-uine demand for release of thecompensation announced byCentral Government some timeback.

The protestors raised slogans

in favour of their demand. Whileaddressing the protestors' presi-dent of West Pak refugees,Labha Ram Gandhi criticizedthe attitude of State Governmentand Revenue Department whichhe alleged was creating hurdlesin disbursement of compensa-tion on one pretext or another.

He said that the decision ofCentral Government to someextent could have given a reliefto the hapless refugees but theattitude of State Government todelay the whole process of dis-bursement of compensation

despite the Central Governmenthas fixed the deadline till endingMarch is unfortunate. Healleged that the RevenueDepartment is demanding thedocument of 1951.

He said on the one side, theState Government is claiming toidentify the West Pakistani fam-ilies but on the other side theywere demanding unwanted doc-uments. He said that “I thinkState Government is not inter-ested to disburse the compensa-tion in favour of refugee.”

As Revenue Department iscreating undue hurdles in theprocess and even a dozen fileswere not settled so far. In suchcircumstances Government willtake 60 year to disburse thecompensation, he added.

He appealed the Governor,Satya Paul Malik to take neces-sary steps otherwise they willapproach to Ministry of Home toget their genuine demands ful-filled.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 15: A scenewas created just before thecommencement of reviewmeeting of the RuralDevelopment Department(RDD), Jammu division, atPanchayat Bhawan, RailwalyRoad, this morning, when twoExecutive Engineers (XEns) ofREW resorted to verbal clashand counter allegations of cor-ruption and embezzlements oneach other.

Official sources said thatDirector Rural DevelopmentDepartment, Jammu, was aboutto take review meeting in theconference hall of thePanchayat Bhawan at 11 am.All the ACDs, SE REW, allExecutive Engineers andDistrict Panchayat Officers(DPOs) from Jammu divisionhad been asked to attend themeeting.

When some officers werejust standing in the sun andwaiting for the director in thecompound, Executive Engineer,REW, Udhampur BashirAhmed Sheikh allegedly startedabusing another ExecutiveEngineer, REW Samba, AshokKumar Pargotra. Sheikh allegedthat Pargotra was getting falseand fabricated news items pub-

lished in various news papersagainst him. This led to verbalclash between the two. Evenboth came to near blows andwere controlled and draggedaway by other officers standingthere. They raised allegationsand counter allegations againsteach other for some time. Theystopped only after the directorarrived there at the gate.

Later, after the meetingPargotra lodged an FIR againstBA Sheikh at Trikuta NagarPolice Station alleging thatSheikh has threatened to killhim and also get his familymembers kidnapped. He alsoalleged he had written about thecorruption and embezzlementrelated scandals in RDD Sambaduring 2015-16 and 16-17 tothe Governor and ChiefSecretary to expose the nexusof some people and that is whythis officer was scared and try-ing to eliminate him and wageddirect confrontation. Hedemanded that security shouldbe provided to him.

SHO, concerned ParvezSajjad when contacted said thatpolice has taken cognizance ofthe matter under sections504/506 RPC and investigationhas been started. He said that acounter FIR has also beenlodged by the other party.

REW XEns clash at RDDreview meet, FIR lodged

GCPFJ urges Modi Govt to removecaste-based discrimination

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 15: GeneralCategory People's Forum Jammu(GCPFJ) urged the ModiGovernment to shun the policy ofdiscrimination and focus onremoving existing caste-baseddiscrimination against so calledupper castes.

Addressing a meeting of theForum which was held under thechairmanship of Raj KumarBanathia, chairman of the Forum,Yash Paul Sharma, President ofthe Forum, said that the electionresults of Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh wentagainst BJP because it took its tra-ditional vote-bank for a ride andignored Swarn castes in everysphere.

“The attitude of ModiGovernment and its behavior ofpromoting casteism and commu-nalism ignoring the fundamentalprinciples of equality, justice andliberty for the lust for powerproved fatal”, Sharma said. Headded that the pampering andappeasement of the some castesand ethnic groups for politicalgains and nullifying the legal andgenuine verdict of Supreme Courtof India on SC/ST Atrocity Actcaused anger and discontentment

against Modi Government. “The upper castes (Swarn

Castes in the elections votedagainst BJP and used NOTA toteach a lesson to MP,’ Sharmasaid, adding that Swarn Castesare no more ready to toleratecaste-based discriminationagainst them.

Som Nath Sharma, generalsecretary of the Forum, demand-ed ending of caste-based reserva-tions, special privileges, quotasand other concessions. Hedemanded, equal rights and equallaws for all to make India a secu-lar nation in real sense. He statedthat birth in a particular casteshould not be a qualification or adisqualification.

Raj Kumar Banathia, in hisaddress, said that BJP failed towin states elections because ofanger expressed by Swarn Castesagainst the promotion ofcasteism, cynical minorityism,communalism and appeasementpolicies. He alleged that ModiGovernment distanced itself fromSwarn castes - its core constituen-cy which harmed the party.

Vijay Kumar Sharma,Bhushan Pargal, DeepakKhajuria, Capt Tulsi Dass andJagdish Dora also spoke on theoccasion.

DC reviews functioning of Revenue Deptt

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 15: To reviewthe functioning of RevenueDepartment, DeputyCommissioner Ramesh Kumartoday chaired a meeting of thesenior officers of the depart-ment.

The meeting was attended byADC Jammu, Rishpal Singh,ACR Jammu, Sanjay KumarBadyal, SDM South Jammu,Shrikant Suse, SDM NorthJammu, Satish Sharma, SDMKhour, Devinder Paul, SDMR.S.Pura, Jagdish Singh, SDMMarh, Tarik Naik, SDMAkhnoor, Gopal Singh, SDMChowki-Chowra, RavinderSharma and all Tehsildars of dis-trict Jammu.

A threadbare discussion washeld to finalize revised stampduty rates. Tehsildar concernedapprised the meeting about thearea wise hike in stamp dutyrates. The DC asked theTehsildars to submit the finalstamp duty rates within a week.

Meanwhile, the DC also dis-cussed the land acquisition andrequisition cases of army.Tehsildar concerned apprisedthe DC about the progress ofcases. The DeputyCommissioner directed theTehsildars to resolve all the landacquisition and requisitionissues.

The meeting also discussedcompensation cases for the landacquired for Ring Road andJammu Akhnoor Road projects.He directed the tehsildars forimmediately disbursement of thecompensation amount to theowners where the final awardshave been issued.

The DC instructed the offi-cers for early completion of landacquisition cases, preparation ofJamabandi, attestation of muta-tions. Tehsildars were impressedto direct the Girdawars andPatwaris of their jurisdictions toprepare Jamabandi and otherrevenue records.

The DC also reviewed theprogress of community and indi-vidual bunkers in border tehsilsof district jammu. The DC askedthe Tehsildars for monitoringand expedites the constructionof bunkers.

Deputy Commissioner alsoreviewed progress made ongrievance redressal especially ofpublic grievances routedthrough Governor grievances &advisor grievances forums. He

also stressed upon officers forearly redressal of these griev-ances through special camps bydedicating special days for pub-lic hearing.

DC directed all Tehsildars toframe an action plan for remov-ing the encroachments fromState and Kacharai Land in theirrespective areas in time boundmanner. He gave strict instruc-tions for timely disposal of rev-enue cases and public griev-ances.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 15: Anti-Corruption Bureau booked aJunior Engineer, posted at SubDivision Sunderbani on corrup-tion charges and raided his resi-dential premises as well theoffice from where cash andincriminating documents per-taining to various immovableproperties acquired by accusedpublic servant were seized.

A case FIR 40/2018, undersection 5(1) (e) r/w 5 (2) of J&KP C Act Samvat 2006 has beenregistered against the accusedJE, namely Ramesh Chanderson of Patti Ram of JawaharNagar, Rajouri.

The instant case was regis-tered on the basis of a writtencomplaint lodged in VigilanceOrganization, upon which asecret verification was conduct-ed into the allegations that saidJE has acquired huge assets dis-proportionate to his knownsource of income by resorting tocorrupt and illegal practices andby abuse of his official position.

During the course of secretverification, it was found thatthe suspect had acquired variousmoveable and immoveableproperties i.e. three storey fullyfurnished house with modernfacilities and costly articles atRajouri, other immoveableproperties in the form of land,plot, shops, Brick Kiln etc atRajouri and also moveable prop-erties like Tipper, cars, JCB etc.It also came to fore that he hasinvested money in variousaccounts, insurance policies etc.It was also found that most ofthese properties/assets havebeen raised by the suspect offi-cial out of the ill gotten moneyobtained by him by abuse andmisuse of his official position as

public servant. On the prima-facie establish-

ment of allegations, Anti-Corruption Bureau Jammu reg-istered a formal case and alsoconducted simultaneous raidswith the help of local police /Magistrates at the residentialpremises and office of accusedperson in District Rajouri inpresence of independent wit-nesses. During the process,incriminating documents includ-ing cash and documents pertain-ing to various immovable prop-erties acquired by accused pub-lic servant, other documentsregarding purchase of Tipper,JCB, Brick Kiln, large numberof bank accounts, InsurancePolicies, other officialrecords/bills etc have beenrecovered from the residentialhouse in Rajouri.

Detailed and in-depth scruti-ny of the seized record will becarried out during further courseof investigation by sleuths ofAnti-Corruption Bureau,Jammu.

JE booked on corruption charges

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