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NC headquarter, Congress Khidmat center in Srinagar get land for peanuts Roshni delivers for coalition! 3/4/2014 11:50:42 PM Rs 13.10 crore land transferred for Rs 1.97 crore Syed Junaid Hashmi JAMMU, Mar 4: Roshni scheme has benefitted National Conference (NC) and Congress equally when it comes to vesting of ownership rights over occupied land. Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has his report said that land has been transferred to Khidmat Trust which is brainchild of senior Congress leader Ghulam Rasool Kar and Naw-i-Subah Trust, which is the headquarter of National Conference (NC) under institutional use but the same is under commercial use. According to CAG, Revenue department transferred 7 Kanals 15 Marlas of land to Khidmat trust at Kothibagh and 3 Kanals 16 Marlas at Zero Bridge to Naw-i-Subah complex which is NC headquarter in Srinagar at concessional rate applicable to lands under institutional use. CAG has said that market rate fixed by the committee for the land was Rs. 110 lakh per kanal in case of Khidmat Trust and was Rs. 120 lakh per Kanal in case of Naw-i-Subah Trust. If the market rate is taken into consideration, Khidmat Trust was supposed to pay Rs. 8.52 crore while Naw-i-Subah ...   READ MORE

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Claimant declared non-resident, over dozen reminders of CM's grievance cell goes in vain Revenue officials shield State land grabber in Anantnag since last 5 years 3/4/2014 11:50:24 PM Saahil Suhail ANANTNAG, Mar 4: Instead of taking action on the complaint filed by claimant regarding land encroachment in Anantnag district's Bijbehara area, Revenue officials aren't only covering up the scam since year 2009 but also declared the claimant a non resident despite electoral proof evidently reveal the heights of corruption inside the department. Documents lying with Early Times reveal shocking details about how the revenue officials covered up the scam and are delaying the action against the single affluent man having strong political and bureaucratic connections despite over dozens reminders from Chief Ministers grievance cell. According to documents on 1-05-2009, one Mush...   READ MORE   Delaying tactics on mind, coalition Govt stage manages 'role' in LA Temple bill pushed in cold storage 'mode' 3/4/2014 11:50:13 PM Having spent time and money on Select Committee, refers it to Joint panel...... Early Times Report JAMMU, Mar 4: Even as the ruling National Conference stage managed its 'role' related to crucial Temple Bill in the Legislative Assembly today, two things emerged very clear from what was witnessed in the House - one that NC doesn't want to annoy its partner Congress over the issue which is the main party posing impediment in its passage and second that coalition Government all through was never sincere and truthful in having this legislation for various reasons. The Government wasted precious time of Select Committee for over two years and spent huge amount in holding its meetings. Referri...   READ MORE   Opposition alleges lack of will, nexus, discrimination; stages walk out from LA In a bid to cover up Tax defaulters, Govt stands woefully exposed 3/4/2014 11:49:42 PM Abodh Sharma JAMMU, Mar 4: Maiming its own intent and credibility, the State Government once again attempted to cover up the individuals and firms who have defaulted in clearing their tax liabilities, arguing that the cases against them were sub judice even as many such defaulter firms had gone untraceable. This is not the first time the Government has tried to conceal the names of the defaulters as NPP MLA Harsh Dev Singh has asked this question to the Government several times before in the State Legislative Assembly and the Government has consistently filed the same reply that the names of defaulters cannot be disclosed as the cases against them are sub judice. While the Minister for F...   READ MORE   Gleaming fleets of SUVs: Govt tears 'austerity' into pieces 3/4/2014 11:49:31 PM Kunal Shrivatsa JAMMU, Mar 4: Throwing the austerity measures it announced to tide over the prevailing financial crisis, the coalition Government has spent lakhs of rupees on the purchase of gleaming fleets of luxury SUVs for its Ministers and officers in last few years. State Motor Garages (SMG), a unit of Transport Department, provided luxury Sport Utility Vehicles (SVUs) to the Ministers replacing the already purchased Ambassador Cars against the essence and spirit of austerity initiatives it announced. Besides, the SMG also bought and provided such vehicles which can easily be bracketed into the category of luxurious vehicles to other VVIPs. The information came to light in Governm...   READ MORE   Er Rashid speaks from his heart; washes dirty political linen in public 'Police, not political parties run this state' 3/4/2014 11:49:22 PM Abodh Sharma JAMMU, Mar 4: MLA Langate, Er. Rashid's monologue was welcomed by thumping of desks as he made an emotional appeal to the ruling as well as opposition parties to respect the people and stop playing politics over emotive issues. Er. Rashid spoke after the opposition PDP staged a walkout from the House demanding revocation of FIRs against Youth in Lalpora Lolab, where protests had erupted following killings of seven foreign terrorists by security forces. Making a fervent appeal, Rashid called upon all political parties to learn to respect the people and not use them for their political ends. While he referred to the hyped Reconciliation Commission proposed by the Chief Ministe...   READ MORE   Veeri's son on cover of environment committee report, LC suspends official 3/4/2014 11:49:02 PM Syed Junaid Hashmi JAMMU, Mar 4: Having taken his son for joy ride despite being on an official tour, National Conference (NC) MLC Dr. Basheer Veeri managed to get his son's photograph on the cover page of the report of the study tour of the committee on environment. Veeri was Chairman of the Environment Committee which visited States of Tamil Nadu, Andaman Nicobar and Maharashtra for a study tour. The report was tabled recently in both houses of the State legislature. A virtually surprised Chairman Amrit Malhotra ordered an in-house inquiry to find out how the photograph got printed on the cover page of the report. Not only cover page, a group photo taken inside the legislative Assembly...   READ MORE   CM remains absent on concluding day of LA session Omar's non-seriousness 3/4/2014 11:49:53 PM Sandeep Bhat JAMMU, Mar 4: The current budget session which started on February 10, 2014 ended today in absence of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Omar's absence has been perceived as his non-seriousness. As per precedents the Chief Minister remains present on the first and the last day of the session. Many a times the session functioned without proper quorum .The replies to various questions given by Ministers were wrong, inadequate and incomplete. The Speaker tried his best to run the session which he succeeded but most of time members from ruling side even Ministers seemed less interested in the proceedings. On most of the occasions Ministers were seen replying questions on behalf of ...   READ MORE   MLAs, MLCs finally surrender on VK Singh 'contempt' 3/4/2014 11:49:09 PM ET Report JAMMU, Mar 4: When the former Army chief Gen. (retd.) V.K. Singh uncovered the Jammu and Kashmir Ministers' extra-curricular activity of grabbing huge secret funds from the Central agencies in September last year, there was a political choreography in either House of the State Legislature in the autumn session in Srinagar. Minister of Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir, who, according to VK Singh used to receive secret funds in crores from the Army's Technical Support Division, showed no hesitation to remain firmly seated through the session. "I assure you colleagues, I have done nothing that would make you ashamed", he said on the floor of the Assembly It appeared Mir alone was not...   READ MORE   Veeri family on front page of study tour report SO suspended for depicting photos of father, son duo 3/4/2014 11:48:53 PM Avinash Azad JAMMU, Mar 4: Taking cognizance of an objection filed by some members of upper house over a photograph published on the front page of "Report of The Study Tour of the committee on Environment", the Secretary Legislative Council today placed under suspension a Section Officer, for depicting Chairman of committee, MLC Dr Syed Bashir Ahmed Veeri and his son in the photograph, while ignoring other members of the committee on front page. Most astoundingly, MLC Syed Bashir Ahmed Veeri was chairman of the Committee and reportedly on his instructions SO had used the picture of Veeri and his son on cover page, but helpless SO was placed under suspension and Veeri is left scot-free. W...   READ MORE   Legislators allege bureaucratic Dadagiri, seek Privilege Motion against erring Officers 3/4/2014 11:48:38 PM Abodh Sharma JAMMU, Mar 4: Irate by what they termed as bureaucratic Dadagiri, several members of the State Legislative Assembly have demanded privilege motion against Deputy Commissioners who have shown disrespect to the elected representatives. Interestingly, the issue was raised during Zero Hour today by MLA Kathua Charanjeet Singh, who himself has been a bureaucrat before being elected to the State Legislative Assembly. The MLA informed the Chair that he was using public funds arbitrarily without the consent of the District Development Board and was ignoring the repeated correspondences of the MLA which he was under legal obligation to respond to and hence he intended to bring Privil...   READ MORE   No new administrative units under NC-Congress regime? No Money, No Employee, No Infrastructure 3/4/2014 11:48:32 PM Neha JAMMU, Mar 4: It is now almost clear that the people of the State are unlikely to get new administrative units during the present NC-Congress regime. Of course, the State Cabinet hurriedly adopted the recommendations of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on new administrative units on February 1 to give the people understand that the present regime would bring administration to their doorstep, obviously, keeping its eyes fixed on vote-bank, but it did not really mean it. This became clear on the day the Finance Minister presented the NC-Congress coalition Govern-ment's last budget and did not earmark any amount for the creation of the recommended over 600 administrative units. He only earmarke...   READ MORE   JK spends least on Social Welfare during 2012-13: CAG 3/4/2014 11:32:31 PM Bivek Mathur Jammu, Mar 4: Against the common rhetoric of the ruling coalition government of getting success over providing better administration and better facilities to the commoners, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's (CAG) report tabled in both the Houses of legislature today revealed that the state has spent least on Social Welfare, Transport, Agriculture & Allied activities, Rural development among other important sectors . As per the details provided in the Finance Accounts, Volume-II titled statement of Progressive Capital expenditure, the total expenditure incurred on Social Welfare and Nutrition in 2011-12 was Rs. 2, 51, 72.28 lakh whereas for the next year i.e. 2012...   READ MORE   Woman's death leads to protests at Prang- Ganderbal, SHO among four injured 3/4/2014 11:32:20 PM Jehangir Rashid SRINAGAR, Mar 4: Protests broke out in the Prang area of Central Kashmir's Ganderbal district after a woman died allegedly due to the poisoning by her in laws. The protests led to situation with ding dong battles being witnessed between the protesters and the police cops. Reports reaching here said that a police officer was among four people injured in the clashes between the people protesting against the death of the woman and the police. The clashes carried on for some hours leading to disruption both in the pedestrian and the traffic movement. There was tension in the area due to the clashes and the situation remained volatile for hours together. Reports said that Nil...   READ MORE   Saroori again embarrasses Govt, seeks probe against ex-DC Kishtwar Cong MLA creates uproar in LA 3/4/2014 11:31:41 PM Asif Iqbal Naik JAMMU, Mar 4: Former Minister and MLA Inderwal Ghulam Mohammad Saroori today demanded probe against former Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar Bashir Khan for surrendering an amount of Rs. 5 Crore meant for relief to Kishtwar earthquake victims. While raising the issue in Legislative Assembly, Ghulam Mohammad Saroori created uproar in assembly over the issue and demand an inquiry against former DC Kishtwar who surrender the amount at the cost of the innocent and poor people who lost their property in said earthquake. He said that government sanctioned Rs 19 crore for distribution among the earthquake victims of Doda and Kishtwar District and added that in Rs 19 Cr, Kishtwar Dis...   READ MORE   136 retired officers re-engaged during last 3 yrs 23 officials engaged in personal section of ministers 3/4/2014 10:43:25 PM Bashir Assad Jammu, Mar 4 : In what can be termed as nepotism through adhocism in administrative affairs, the state government re-employed as many as 136 government officials after their retirement in different administrative departments and public sector undertakings besides a good number of retired officials having acquaintances with the power corrodors have been re-engaged in the personal sections of the ministers including in the office of the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah. The government today admitted on the floor of the House while responding to a written question of NPP Legislator, Harshdev Singh that as many as 136 retired officers/officials were either re-employed or their ser...   READ MORE   CAG accuses RDD of financial irregularities BDOs operate multiple bank accounts 3/4/2014 10:43:10 PM Avinash Azad Jammu, Mar 4 : Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report which was tabled in upper house accused Rural Development Department (RDD) of financial irregularities, as most of the Block Development Offices (BDOs) are using two to four bank accounts. "The closing balance of funds of the previous years did not match with the opening balance of the subsequently years in the monthly progress reports (MPRs) submitted by the Assistant Commissioner Development (ADCs) to the government of India", the report reads, adding that two to four bank accounts were in operation in five out of six test-checked district and in 10 blocks, two to eight bank account were being operated by the BD...   READ MORE   Noted bureaucrat loyal to politicians in nexus with spray oil dealers, Agri officials lobbying to supply substandard pesticides, fertilizers 3/4/2014 10:43:36 PM Javaid Naikoo Srinagar, Mar 4 : Despite state government's blanket ban on the sale of substandard pesticides and fertilizers through dealers to the orchardists following the tremendous loss to orchardists over the years, one noted bureaucrat in nexus with dealers and officials have been making all their efforts to lift the ban on the sale of "unregistered" spray oils, pesticides and fertilizers. At a time when season's first spray to apple trees is near, according to sources one noted bureaucrat of Kashmir who is considered as loyal to politicians and highly placed officials of the Department of Agriculture because of his uncountable wealth is supplying substandard pesticides and fertil...   READ MORE   Defiant Farooq shows no remorse on `Maha Chor' remark 3/4/2014 10:42:54 PM Asif Iqbal Naik Jammu, Mar 4 : The Union Minister for New & Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah who is in the eye of the storm over his comment "Kashmiri's are maha Chor (Kashmiri's are thieves)" remained defiant and unapologetic over his remark and blamed the media for creating the misunderstanding and confusion. While talking to the media persons on the sideline of a function at Jammu, he said that media has misquoted him. "I am very sad that one of the newspapers has misquoted me two days ago. I was in a meeting at Delhi and I spoke about power pilferage," said Farooq Abdullah. He said that he had said that there is an unfortunate thing that the state government buy power to nearl...   READ MORE   PSC annoyed with administrative departments, declares recruitment rules obsolete 3/4/2014 10:42:43 PM Mustansir Jammu, Mar 4 : The Jammu and Kashmir Public service Commission has pinpointed that officers placed in Own Pay & Grade (OPG) arrangements continue beyond 6 months in many departments which is in violation of the Article 85 of the J&K CSR Act. In its annual report for the year 2012-13, tabled in the house the other day, the Public service Commission has said many departments in general and Health and Family welfare Department in particular have made OPG arrangements on pick and choose basis. The report said while making OPG arrangements same procedure should be adopted as in making regular promotions. It said pick and choose arrangements result in litigations and invariably ad...   READ MORE   Lal Singh declares his and another Congress leader's candidature for Lok Sabha polls himself Voters at receiving end 3/4/2014 10:42:32 PM Rustam JAMMU, Mar 4: Congress MP from Kathua-Udhampur-Doda parliamentary constituency on Monday declared his candidature for the same Lok Sabha constituency himself, notwithstanding the fact that the Congress Parliamentary Board is still to meet to finalize the names of candidate for two Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu province and the lone constituency in Ladakh region. Lal Singh has been representing this constituency in the Lok Sabha since 2004. He not only announced his own candidature but also the candidature of another sitting MP Madan Lal Sharma, who has been representing Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency since May 2004. "It is Choudhary Lal Singh and Madan Lal Sharma who wil...   READ MORE

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