TOP STORY OF THE DAY

PDP Policy: Eating The Cake And Having It Too Animosity between coalition partners is casting shadow in administrative affairs 7/1/2007 11:23:44 PM NIRBHAY JAMMUAL Jammu, July 1: As already reported in our Saturday’s edition, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is finding it difficult to make appointments of district police chiefs in the newly created districts –the hitch is that the coalition partner Peoples Democratic Party is not coming to terms to facilitate the cabinet decisions in a discipline of smooth administrative business. It may be mentioned here that appointment of SSPs in the newly districts is not the only hitch which the troubles relations between the coalition partners have created. The cost of this sustained animosity goes well far beyond that. The unrest between the coalition partners has been a visible reflection of the present government ever since Ghulam Nabi Azad took over as Chief Minister. However, since the middle of last year, differences and egoes have been telling badly on the general health of administration. The internal squabbling is not only halting but also derailing the process of administration. In the newly created districts, so far the government has been able to make appointm...   READ MORE

FRONT PAGE STORIES

BSNL stonewalls J&K Cellular, internet service out of gear 7/1/2007 11:23:03 PM ET CORRESPONDENT Jammu, July 1: It was virtually a nightmarish weekend for all across Jammu and Kashmir; the business establishments ran into rough weather and those who can’t imagine staying out of touch found them at the receiving end of communication failure. As staying in touch with each other through telephone has become a part of modern life, the failure of service made one to feel like living in Stone Age. Worst sufferers still were the pilgrims of Amarnath shrine and Mata Vaishno Devi shrine as they lost contacts with their relatives due to snagging service of the largest cellular telephony provider the Bharat Sanchar Nigm Ltd (BSNL). For Amarnath pilgrims it was some thin...   READ MORE   Restoration not likely till Tuesday 7/1/2007 11:22:17 PM ET CORRESPONDENT Jammu, July 1: With large scale inconvenience and huge business losses reported from across the region, the telecommunication service still remained crippled and the authorities could not give word on the deadline for restoration as a major fire incident at the BSNL exchange in Chandigarh threw the services out of gear. Sources told EARLY TIMES that a fire erupted in the BSNL telephone exchange in Sector 17 in Chandigarh on Saturday, leaving services in the region crippled. BSNL officials said normalcy was not likely before Tuesday. BSNL officials said that up to 2 million lines of BSNL mobile and landline services were affected in Chandigarh and in the northern reg...   READ MORE   Amarnath Yatra formally begins 13,000 pilgrims trek up as lingam melting reports fail to reduce enthusiasm 7/1/2007 11:21:49 PM Jammu, July 1: With the improvement in weather, the two-month long annual pilgrimage to the Himalayan cave shrine of Lord Shiva, also known as Amarnath Cave, officially took off this morning. Meanwhile the reports melting of “lingam”, though had disturbing effect, but it did not generally effect the enthusiasm of devotees. Nearly 13,000 pilgrims headed for the cave shrine since this morning, said reports reaching here. Amid the chanting of vedic hymns, pilgrims made their way to the Himalayan cave shrine in Anantnag district of Kashmir but their enthusiasm was not affected by the news that the naturally formed ice lingam representing Lord Shiva had melted. The Shivlingam has m...   READ MORE   Patil does a diplomat! 7/1/2007 11:21:18 PM MUNISH GUPTA Jammu, July 1: Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who chaired a high level meeting in Srinagar Saturday to review security scenario played a perfect diplomatic role: Unlike the Defence Minister AK Antony, who rules out demilitarisation proposal ever day much to the chagrin of Peoples Democratic Party, Patil had different messages for different people. To keep the PDP and the supports of troop reduction in good humour he said, “such a move will be taken at appropriate time depending upon the ground situation. Therefore, therefore was no complete ruling out like Anotny who annoys the PDP almost every morning. For security forces and agencies the message of Patil was quite d...   READ MORE   Ice lingam melts completely 7/1/2007 11:17:10 PM Srinagar, July 1: Even as the Amarnath Yatra began today morning after being suspended on Saturday due to heavy rains, there have been reports of complete melting away of the main Shivlingam. The CEO of the Amarnath Shrine Board confirming the report blamed the environment for the same. Although the melting away of the Shivling is a natural feature which occurs almost every year, it has happened a little earlier this time, said the Board CEO. The Shivlingam, a natural stalagmite, begins to melt ten days after the start of the yatra, he said, while blaming the environment changes as the main reason behind the early melting of the Shivlingam. The Board has said that there are...   READ MORE   Bill to preserve heritage sites soon 7/1/2007 11:16:47 PM SRINAGAR, JULY 1 The Jammu and Kashmir government is likely to introduce a Bill aimed at preservation and protection of heritage sites in the coming session of the state assembly. An assurance to this effect was given by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz, who handed over the draft of the Bill prepared by experts, Soz told reporters here today. Upset over the sorry state of affairs at the heritage sites in the state, Soz got the Bill drafted by experts at the national level and handed it over to the Chief Minister here last evening. The Chief Minister promised to introduce the Bill in the coming assembly session where lawmakers will discus...   READ MORE   Thousands begin holy trek to Amarnath 7/1/2007 11:15:16 PM SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Thousands of pilgrims chanted hymns as they trudged on Sunday to a cave shrine deep in the Himalayas, undeterred by reports that a naturally formed ice stalagmite they worship as symbol of Lord Shiva was melting. The two-month long pilgrimage, one of Hinduism's holiest, was delayed for a day due to bad weather leaving thousands stranded in tented colonies in Kashmir forests. Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims trek through treacherous mountains in the strife-torn region along icy streams and frozen passes to reach the Amarnath cave, located at an altitude of 3,800 metres (12,700 feet). On Sunday, the richer pilgrims flew in helicopters while old an...   READ MORE   They came, they stayed, they disappeared Jaish guerrillas sneak into Jammu sector 7/1/2007 11:10:32 PM BL KAK NEW DELHI, JULY 1: Jammu sector has an unspecified number of "unwelcome persons", who can pose a serious threat to the security of the people and vital installations, according to intelligence inputs available with the government. A report prepared by members of a couple of field intelligence units has spoken of the undetected entry into a few pockets of Jammu sector by "unwelcome persons"--Islamist subversives, to be precise. These subversives--also called guerrillas--are believed to have been sponsored by the dreaded anti-India and anti-Hindu terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Their entry into Jammu sector has been reported at a time when the Pakistan-based JeM ...   READ MORE

CARTOON CORNER

E-PAPER PREVIEW

LOCAL NEWS

READ MORE THIS SECTION

OTHER STORIES

India manage a narrow win against England for bronze medal Dravid, Kumble fail to find place in dream team Schedule for vice presidential poll this week Probe finds 62 Taliban, 45 civilians killed in Afghanistan Patil breaks silence, says charges against her are baseless Micro planning process in block Nyoma begins today   READ MORE THIS SECTION

ARCHIVE SECTION

Sunday, July 1, 2007 Saturday, June 30, 2007 Friday, June 29, 2007 Thursday, June 28, 2007 Wednesday, June 27, 2007 Tuesday, June 26, 2007 Monday, June 25, 2007

STOCK UPDATE

BSE Sensex NSE Nifty

CRICKET UPDATE