Month: July 2011

Jammu, July 26: Welcoming the formation of a sub- committee for fixing duration of the Amarnath yatra from next year, an amalgam of religious, social and trade bodies on Monday urged Shri Amarnath Shrine Board to upgrade medical facilities for the pilgrims.

“We welcome the formation of the sub-committee to decide on the duration of the annual pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave shrine,” Baba Yatri Niyas (BYN) president Surinder Mohan Aggarwal told reporters here.

Srinagar, July 26: The Army on Monday rubbished allegations levelled by hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani that the force was trying to hush up the alleged rape of a woman by two men in uniform in south Kashmir Kulgam district last week.

Srinagar-based Defence spokesman Lt Col JS Brar in a statement issued on behalf of General Officer Commanding of Army’s 15 Corps Lt Gen SA Hasnain rebutted the charges against the army leveled by the Hurriyat.

Srinagar, July 26: In the aftermath of violent protests over the alleged rape of a woman by two Army personnel, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday appealed for peace to allow authorities to unearth the facts behind the incident.

“I appeal to the people not to resort to violence, stone pelting and setting vehicles on fire, but give chance to the law enforcing agencies to unearth the facts,” Omar said after laying foundation stone of a tunnel at Wazur village in Qazigund, 80 km from here, on Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

Anantnag (Srinagar), July 26: Unveiling Rs 10,000 crore road projects for Jammu & Kashmir that include two strategic tunnels — Quazigund-Banihal and Chenani-Nashri to provide all weather connectivity to the state with the rest of the country, the Centre on Monday said it is committed to rapid growth of the region.

Jammu, July 26: Amid tight security, the 27th batch of 1,021 Amarnath yatra pilgrims Tuesday left for the holy shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas from the base camp here.

As many as 179 women and 11 children left from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here around 0515 hours this morning in a cavalcade of vehicles for the 13,500-feet high cave shrine.

With today’s batch, as many as 71,208 pilgrims have left Jammu in 27 batches for their onward journey to Amarnath.

Till last night, around 5.72 lakh pilgrims had darshan at the cave shrine.

Jammu, July 26: A self-styled district commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) was Tuesday shot dead in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Acting on specific information about the presence of the top commander in Thachna-Gokund forests in Nawapachi belt in the district, troops of 11 Rastriya Rifles and Police cordoned the area and launched a search operation, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kishtwar Bhim Sen Toti said.

As the troops closed in around the forest hideout, militants fired on them resulting in a fierce gun battle as troops fired back early this morning, he said.

Nawanshahar, July 26: Congress will go it alone in the Assembly elections in Punjab next year and sweep the polls, PCC chief Amarinder Singh on Friday said.

Congress is not seeking alliance with any political party in the state and will sweep the elections entirely on its own, the former chief minister told reporters here.

The Congress leader, who was speaking to reporters after meeting party workers from three Assembly segments of Nawashahar, Balachaur and Banga, said unlike the Akalis and the BJP, the Congress did not need any alliance partners in Punjab.

Chandigarh, July 26: A 25-year-old woman was killed and her Indian Army officer husband seriously injured when they were attacked by unidentified assailants in Punjab’s Ropar district, police said Wednesday.

Harinder Kaur and Navdeep Singh, who got married just a few months ago, were returning home to their village in Ropar district, about 50 km from here, when they were attacked.

“The assailants stopped their car and attacked them. Harinder was attacked by sharp-edged weapons and died on the spot,” a police official told a news agency.

Chandigarh, July 26: The Haryana police on Wednesday claimed to have busted an illegal arms racket in Jind district with the arrest of its kingpin and two others.

Based on an information given by a person named Surender, who was arrested on July 8, police raided the arms factory at Julana on the same day and recovered two country-made pistols, seven live cartridges and equipments for making arms, a senior police official said.

Chandigarh, July 26:”The heritage city of Amritsar is all set to get a facelift by November when 22 projects to improve the infrastructure and beautify the city are likely to be completed at a cost of Rs 2,557 crore.

Reviewing the progress of ongoing development projects at a high-level meeting here, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal asked the concerned authorities to expedite the work.

Phagwara, July 26: The blood-stained body of a man was on Thursday recovered from the tavern where he was working near here, police said.

“The deceased, identified as Princepal Singh alias Pinka (50) of Amritsar, was possibly hit with an iron rod or pipe as he was found with his face smashed,” DSP Sandeep Sharma, who visited the site along with City SHO Amrik Singh Chahal, said.

A blood-stained stick was also recovered from the nearby plot near the Hargobind Nagar crossing, Sharma said.

New Delhi, July 26: Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has said that former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao was to be blamed for the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, as the act occurred when he was in office.

Talking to media persons in New Delhi on Sunday, Aiyar said that Rao had a conflict with Congress party over secularism.

Chandigarh, July 26: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) today hit out at the Punjab government for “rising” atrocities against Scheduled Caste people.

After a meeting with state government officials, NCSC Chairman PL Punia said atrocities against SCs in the state were on rise.

The cases of atrocities against SC families increased from 97 in 2009 to 118 in 2010, he said.

Punia said the state had not even held a meeting of the State Vigilance and Monitoring Committee to monitor atrocities against SCs in the last five years.

Chandigarh, July 26: Punjab’s Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Affairs Minister Balbir Singh Bath has asked officials to immediately respond to the grievances of NRIs.

The minister said in a statement that the state government had initiated many new steps for the welfare and security of NRIs.

“In order to safeguard their properties in Punjab, the East Punjab Rent Act has been amended empowering NRIs to get their property on rent vacated from tenants,” Bath said.

He said all 20 districts in Punjab had separate revenue courts for NRIs for speedy disposal of their cases.

Fatehgarh Sahib (Punjab), July 26: A married woman, who was allegedly raped by two persons on June 21, has set herself afire at the house of her in-laws, police said on Saturday.

On the statement of the deceased’s father, the Badali Aala Singh police has registered a case under section 174 of CrPC and handed over the woman’s body to her parents.

The woman, a resident of Jarkhela Kheri village, was married 8 years back to a resident of Cholti village of the district and they had two children, police said.

Chandigarh, July 26: A woman DSP, arrested for taking Rs one lakh bribe by the CBI which also recovered cash and valuables worth crores of rupees from her residence, was on Monday remanded in two-day CBI custody.

A special CBI court here sent Raka Ghera to two days custody even as the prosecution sought seven-day remand.

While the prosecution submitted that CBI sleuths have recovered Rs 1 crore cash from her residence and Raka has failed to give a satisfactory reply, the defence said the money was laying in her house as she sold a plot recently.

Hyderabad, July 26: Taking exception to the comments of Union Minister and AICC leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on separate Telangana demand, Congress leaders from the region on Monday said they had decided not to accept his invitation to come to Delhi for talks.

“Telangana people are hurt by Azad’s comments that consensus and Assembly resolution are needed for the formation of a separate state,” Congress MP G Sukhender Reddy told reporters here.

Thiruvananthapuram, July 26: At a time when corruption and lack of transparency in administration are the hotly debated topics in the country, the 24-hour live webcast of the functioning of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s office has become news in the latest edition of ‘New York Times’.

The NYT has carried the report in the global business section of its internet edition under the title “Transparency in Government, via webcams in India.”

Thiruvananthapuram, July 26: A nine-member joint legislature committee was today set up to probe the alleged appointment of former chief minister V S Achuthanandan’s son as director of an academic body with a hefty salary towards the fag-end of the previous LDF government’s rule.

Congress MLA V D Satheesan would head the panel which has four others from the UDF and as many from the Opposition LDF. The committee was announced by Speaker G Karthikeyan in the assembly today, before the budget session ended.

Thiruvananthapuram, July 26: Born in an impoverished family, 17-year-old Jayasree had both her kidneys damaged at the age of 11, saw her father lose his mental balance and now, when she finally saw a flicker of hope after a priest came forward to donate his kidney for free — a law stopped him from doing so.

Speaking to IANS, Father Santhosh George said it is quite strange that government hospitals allow kidney transplants only when the doner and donee are relatives.

New Delhi, July 26: The Supreme Court, Thursday, appointed a five-member expert committee to supervise the unearthing and preservation of assets of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala.

The committee will be headed by Director General of National Museum CV Ananda Bose and will also consist of representatives of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Virtually taking over the work of monitoring unearthing of assets, a bench headed by justices RV Raveendran and AK Patnaik said that the expert committee would submit its report only to this court.

Thiruvanthapuram, July 26: Opposition Leader in Kerala assembly VS Achuthanandan on Thursday alleged that Speaker G Karthikeyan helped the UDF government sail through during voting on the Appropriation bill yesterday by allowing Finance Minsiter K M Mani to continue his speech till he ensured that the ruling Front had majority on the floor.

“If the voting was taken up immediately after the third reading of the bill, only 62 UDF members were present in the House. But the Speaker and the Finance Minister delayed the proceedings,” Achuthanandan told reporters here.

New Delhi, July 26: Former Telecom Minister AS Raja who comes out of Tihar jail for the first time after his arrest in February to attend his 2G spectrum case in CBI court at New Delhi on Saturday, has told the court that both Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh and P.Chidambaram were well aware of the allocation of 2G spectrum licenses and the deals were made with their approval only. This leads to uproar in the political circles and Congress become the soft target for BJP and other political parties in this regard.

Thiruvananthapuram, July 26: Kerala Association of Travel Agents on Thursday urged Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to intervene to get adequate compensation for the next of kin of victims of Air India plane crash at Mangalore last year.

In a statement here,Association President K V Muraleedharan and General Secretary Channankara M P Kunju said it was unfortunate Air India had not come forward to award a decent compensation to the families even one year after the accident.

Thiruvananthapuram, July 26: A Vigilance probe has found that there is no evidence that KPCC President Ramesh Chennithala had tried to shield accused in a triple murder case.

The probe by State Vigilance and Anti-corruption bureau was ordered by the previous LDF government based on a complaint that Chennithala accepted a “huge amount” as bribe to save the accused, who ran a private chit fund, of murdering a staff member of the firm at Kannichikulangara in Alappuzha district in 2007.