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| Vohra returns, reviews stocks in Valley | | |
Jammu, Aug 3: With no results after four days of his hectic efforts in Jammu, the Governor NN Vohra today returned to Srinagar where he reviewed supply and stock positions in Kashmir Valley.
An official spokesman said that the Governor, Mr N N Vohra, has been personally monitoring the movement of supplies to the Kashmir valley and the overall situation in Jammu region. He has given strict instructions to the Administration to ensure uninterrupted flow of supplies across the Banihal. He has also reiterated his appeal to the people of Jammu to maintain calm.
Mr Vohra was informed late last night that the National Highway had been fully restored from Banihal to Lakhanpur.
The Governor was informed that all the 400 Jammu bound trucks were cleared yesterday for their onward movement to respective destinations while 126 fruit laden trucks and 45 empty tankers and mercantile trucks left the Valley for Jammu this morning. Further, 122 trucks carrying essential commodities moved this morning from Jammu to Srinagar. These included 64 oil tankers. Another 52 oil tankers are moving to Srinagar today.
Reports submitted to the Governor today furnished the details of the fruit laden trucks which had crossed Lakhanpur and of the movement of essential commodities to the Valley during the past three days. As many as 178 fruit trucks, 230 Light Motor Vehicles and 300 empty trucks crossed Lakhanpur on August 1 while 148 trucks carrying rice, cement, coal and other commodities and 22 tankers carrying petrol, diesel and kerosene oil reached Srinagar. Also, 130 fruit trucks crossed Lakhanpur while 165 trucks carrying different essentials reached the Valley yesterday.
The Fruit Growers Association had urged the State Government to ensure the safe movement of 400-500 trucks stranded at various points on the Highway, which has been fully secured and the land slides due to incessant rains at Dhar Road have been removed. As per the Governor's directions, the Administration is monitoring, round-the-clock, movement of supplies and fruit laden trucks. The Fruit Growers have been asked to line up all fruit trucks at Lower Munda for being dispatched in a convoy to Lakhanpur.
Meanwhile, Mr Vohra has directed for speeding up Sales Tax processing at Lakhanpur to ensure against delays and piling up of vehicles on this account.
Observing that the Government is taking all necessary steps to ensure uninterrupted movement of supplies, the Governor has appealed to the people in the Valley not to get swayed by the false propaganda by vested interests. He also discounted any apprehension about the shortage of essential commodities and said that adequate stocks are available in the Valley.
Meanwhile the Chief Secretary, S. S. Kapur, today said that the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway had been secured for movement of trucks on either side and spelt out government's resolve to ensure smooth movement of fruit, fuel and essentials carrying vehicles. He said the situation had improved since yesterday with fuel and fruit laden trucks moving on both sides of the Jawahar Tunnel.
"We assure and guarantee free movement of trucks on National Highway", Mr. Kapur told at a press conference here and asked fruit growers not to entertain any apprehensions on this account. The Highway had been secured and situation was under control, he added.
Mr. Kapur declared in unequivocal terms the government's determination to disallow any disruption in the movement of traffic on the Highway. He said the Governor, N. N. Vohra, had given clear instructions against disruption of supplies. He said the administration had single mindedly taken upon itself the task of securing the National Highway and also sought the help of Army in this regard. He said the steps taken on Friday evening had improved the situation.
Giving details, Mr. Kapur said 178 trucks including those laden with fruit crossed Lakhanpur check post on Friday by 8.30 P.M. He said 148 trucks from Jammu arrived here the same day. These include 79 tankers. On Saturday, he said, 130 fresh fruit laden trucks crossed Lakhanpur by 10 PM. He said given the concern of the government to ensure smooth supply of fuel to the Valley, special permission was sought from the central government to keep open oil depots in Jammu today despite being Sunday to load tankers and send the supplies to Kashmir.
The CS said that the stock position of petroleum products in the Valley was satisfactory. He said the petrol stocks were sufficient for 15 days, high speed diesel for 10 days, kerosene for over a month and LPG for 12 days. Similarly, he said rice and wheat stocks were adequate for one and a half month each while sugar stocks would suffice for 10 days. He said the entire quantity of allotted food grains of July had been lifted from FCI to be used in August and there was no cause of panic on supplies situation.
Mr. Kapur said that the stock position of fuel and essentials being adequate, the immediate concern was the transportation of fresh fruit from Srinagar. He said due to the situation in Jammu there had been some problem in the movement of trucks but it had been addressed now as the National Highway had been secured for smooth flow of trucks on both sides. He said the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir today had a meeting with the Fruit Growers Association and briefed them about the steps taken by the government to address their concern. He said the government was given to understand that 70 to 100 trucks would be required daily to transport fresh fruit from the valley. He said nodal officers would be placed at the three important fruit markets of Sopore, Shopian and Parimpora to oversee the transportation of fruit. He said the growers should give the requirement of trucks for a week or ten days so that the Government ensured their availability. He said besides arranging trucks locally, empty trucks returning after offloading merchandise in the valley would be marshalled to carry fruit from here. He said the transportation of fruit would be monitored on daily basis. He said this was not the peak season of fruit in Kashmir as only Babgosh, early varieties of apple and plum were being exported these days. He reiterated that the government would not allow any disruption of National Highway at any cost.
In reply to a question on the ban imposed on two cable network channels in Jammu, the Chief Secretary said that the two channel operators were twice called by the administration and asked not to transmit the content that flared up passion and violence. He said they were advised to stick to the programme code as given in the Cable Network (Regulation) Act, 1995. He said they were also issued notices under the law. However, he said the two channels continued to transmit objectionable material upon which the District magistrate ordered prohibition on transmission of these channels. He, however, clarified that there was no ban on any newspaper, national news channels or entertainment channels in the State. He said since the two cable operators did not have signal separators, the transmission of entertainment channels or national news channels had also got disrupted. But there is no ban on their transmission, he added.
The CS said that the government was to safeguard public interest and was not against journalists. He said all patience had been exhausted in this case and the time had come to take action.
About some Kashmiri students reportedly stranded in Jammu, the Chief Secretary said that he had read about it in newspapers. He said some specific names of students had been given in the news report, saying that they were facing problems. He said the administration would check the facts and reach out to them.
Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Commissioner/Secretary, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Range and Inspector General, Traffic were also present.
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