Water Woes

Village that is voice of water-starved residents

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
Tribune News Service
Meen Charakan, June 5

This village, situated 22 km from Jammu, has become the voice of water-starved residents.
On May 20, its residents, seeking an end to the acute water crisis, had held hostage a group of Public Health and Engineering (PHE) Department officials.
The PHE authorities claimed that they had pressed into service four water tankers to meet the contingency till normal supply was restored.
However, it was found that only one PHE tanker had ferried water twice on May 20, and since then no tanker was ever seen in the village.
“After the village, comprising over 100 families, did not get even a single drop of water continuously for 20 days in May, we held hostage an assistant executive engineer Manoj Bhardwaj and two JEs Sham Lal and Tariq Hussain,” said 64-year-old Puran Singh.
A lone handpump is the lifeline of the villagers here. “With two of the three handpumps out of order, the entire village relies upon one handpump for meeting its water demands. The supply through PHE pipe comes every third day,” said Vijay Singh, an employee of the State Road Transport Corporation.
With anger writ large on her face, Purni Devi, an elderly woman, cursed the day when her parents married her to a man of this village.
“Since my marriage 35 years ago, this problem continued to haunt us. Perhaps, it is a cursed village because despite being situated very close to the winter capital, drinking water remains a luxury here,” she said.
Another villager, Satpal (70) vent his anger on the political leadership.”The sitting MLA from the Vijaypur constituency, Surjeet Singh Salathia, who holds the portfolio of Industries and Commerce, Labour and Employment in the Omar Abdullah cabinet, has handed over a raw deal to this village”.
Before the Assembly elections, Salathia had come to the village and promised to install a tubewell, but after becoming a minister, he and his tubewell vanished into thin air, he added.
In the twilight of his life, 90-year-old Ravi Singh Charak attributed the nagging problem to government apathy, particularly of the PHE department.
“Why the PHE’s motor at the Barjani station develops a technical snag every day and why don’t they find a permanent solution to this problem,” he asked while hinting at malpractices within the PHE department.
“Though the PHE had laid an overground pipeline in the village, it lies broken for the past two years and none had bothered to repair it,” said another villager, Koushalaya Devi.
To a query, a village youth, Parveen Singh responded, “In a village where we don’t get sufficient drinking water, thinking of irrigational water would be like living in a fool’s paradise. Agriculture has taken a severe beating because we have no option than to rely upon rain”.

Amarnath Yatra 2010

Pilgrims leaving for Kashmir during night sans security

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service
Jammu, July 11

Even as the Kashmir valley continues to simmer over the Shopian and Baramulla incidents followed by the rape and murder of another girl, allegedly by an Army soldier in Tregam in Kupwara , Amarnath pilgrims have been leaving the winter capital for the valley during night without any security cover.
“It has come to our notice that several pilgrims, local and outsiders, have been leaving Jammu in the night for their journey to the cave shrine without security cover,” said a senior police officer.
Another police officer at the Yatri Niwas base camp here said ever since the annual pilgrimage began on July 15, only 40,000 pilgrims had left for the cave shrine from the Yatri Niwas base camp under security cover but the total arrival at Baltal and Pahalgam has touched the 2.50 lakh mark. It clearly shows that a majority of the pilgrims are now leaving on their own for the cave shrine, he added.
Sources in the counter-intelligence wing of the police felt that there was no risk whatsoever to the pilgrims, particularly those leaving on their own. “Track records show that militants often target Amarnath pilgrims, who visit the valley under security cover because by doing so they succeed in inviting attention of the world media,” they said.
Talking to this correspondent at Nagrota last evening, some pilgrims, who were on their way to the valley, were bothered little about security. “We are here for the fourth time. Leaving for the valley without going to Jammu base camp saves our time,” said Sudhir Gupte, one of the pilgrims from Pune.
Another pilgrim Akhilesh Kamle said:“ There is no fear whatsoever in our minds but only a burning desire to pay obeisance at the cave shrine”
Meanwhile, a fresh batch of 1735 pilgrims left the Yatri Niwas base camp for the valley yesterday, said SP Benam Tosh, security in charge of the base camp.

(http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090712/j&k.htm#10)

Vaishno Devi

Ropeway project makes no headway

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service
Jammu, February 17

Conceived over six years back, the ropeway project to connect the Bhairon Ghati Temple with the holy cave shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, nestled amidst the Trikuta hills in Katra, hangs in balance.
Despite being the second richest autonomous body in the country after the Tirupati Dev Sthanam (TDS) of the famous Tirupati Temple, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine board (SMVDSB) so far has failed to initiate work on the ambitious Rs 18 crore project.
Undoubtedly, ever since the then Governor Jagmohan created the SMVDSB, it has not only streamlined the entire pilgrimage but also improved existing facilities at the holy town of Katra and the 13km long route till the Bhawan.
However, the ambitious project costing Rs 18 crore has not seen the light of the day as yet, said a SMVDSB official on the condition of anonymity.
He said, "In a bid to attract more pilgrims, the board has decided to come up with the project at a cost of Rs 17.88 crores. The proposed ropeway will be 450 metres in length.”
“Since without paying obeisance at the Bhairon Ghati temple, pilgrimage remains incomplete, so we decided to have a ropeway,” he added.
Board has been into consultations with the rail India transport and economic service (RITES) and a preliminary report, too, has been prepared but a final word was yet to be taken in the board meeting, he said.
No work, whatsoever, has been started as of now, he added while expressing regrets over inordinate delay in executing the project. Every year lakhs of pilgrims from around the world visit the famous cave shrine but a miniscule number among them go to the Bhairon Ghati because of the fatigue.
However, SMVDSB's assistant chief executive officer Bodh Raj claimed that the board has been actively deliberating upon the issue. “We are actively considering the project, but as of now no final decision has been taken,” he said.

(http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090218/jkplus.htm#1)

Central Varsity Row

Jammu bandh hits life
BJP leaders court arrest

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 10

Normal life was affected here today due to a near total Jammu bandh, call for which had been given by the Central University Andolan Samiti (CUAS), demanding setting up of the proposed central university in Samba. The bandh was also observed in Kathua, Samba, Reasi and Udhampur districts.

While no untoward incident was reported from any part of Jammu region, around 30 BJP leaders, including state president and sitting MLA Ashok Khajuria, general secretary Charanjeet Singh Khalsa and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha vice-president Munish Sharma, courted arrest.
However, another BJP leader Yudhvir Sethi was arrested in Purani Mandi when he was allegedly trying to enforce bandh in the area.
The leaders courted arrests when they tried to take out a procession in the violation of Section 144 of the CrPC.
Amidst an intense sloganeering by BJP activists against the coalition government, Khajuria warned the government of intensifying the agitation if it failed to set up the institution in Jammu.
Though the state administration had clamped Section 144 of the CrPC prohibiting the gathering of more than four persons at public places, CUAS activists also defied the orders and took out rallies in and around the temple city.
Outside Jammu University, the CUAS activists blocked the road leading to the railway station and burnt tyres besides shouting slogans against the NC-Congress government accusing it of harbouring malafide intentions vis-à-vis the central university.
Earlier in the morning, the activists, led by its convener retired Justice Paviter Singh, assembled outside the Raj Bhawan here to take out a rally to Purani Mandi.
Talking to mediapersons, Paviter Singh regretted that despite protests by students from the past over a fortnight, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had maintained silence over the issue.
As per the decision of the Union government, the central university should have been set up in Jammu, he said, describing students’ agitation as genuine.
While the bandh was near total and peaceful, most of the shops and business establishments remained closed. Schools and colleges also remained closed and thin attendance was reported in various government offices and banks.
By and large, public transport also remained off the roads but a few minibuses and auto-rickshaws plied in the city. Tourists and pilgrims, who reached Jammu railway station and bus terminals, had to face hardships. The Bar Association, Jammu (BAJ), also suspended work in the high court and lower courts.

However, the state government had made all arrangements to prevent any untoward incident.

(http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090811/j&k.htm#1)

Bari Brahmana town

Raising dust

Realty takes a beating in Bari Brahmana town near Jammu as elevation of NH-1 divides it into two

Shop prices crash 70% w Cash sales of petrol stations down 75%

Residents wanted flyover, NHAI said it wasn’t feasible.

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
Tribune News Service
CONSTRUCTION of a road or a highway often brings development and sends property prices spiralling, but exactly the opposite is happening in Jammu. The very lifeline of the country, National Highway No. 1, is spelling doom for realty in the town of Bari Brahmana, 13 km short of Jammu.
The stretch of NH-1 passing through the town is being four-laned. So far, so good. In the widening process, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) elevated the one-kilometer stretch by raising 30-40 feet surface constructing concrete walls to lay a new, elevated road. Consequently, the town has been virtually cut into two separate, unconnected halves with no passage for vehicles to drive under. Only pedestrians can walk through the three-four openings.
Shops and business establishments that once boasted of facing NH1 are now in trouble. As sales plummeted due to the new construction, so did property prices. A 12x15 sq.ft. shop that once fetched upwards of Rs 3.25 lakh has no takers even at Rs 1 lakh. It would be convenient and safe to earn interest than wasting Rs 1 lakh from where business has virtually disappeared was the general refrain among the people here.
While the trading community on the left side of the highway (from Jammu) is witnessing a 25 per cent business loss, their counterparts on the right side are bearing a whopping 60 per cent loss. Sample this: Cash sales have slumped to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 4 lakh a day at petrol filling stations. On lean days, sales hover around the Rs 50,000-mark. The Indian Oil Corporation filling station established in 1978 has recorded a whopping loss of Rs 60 lakh a month. “Heavy vehicles and long distance vehicles don’t come to us and we are forced to cater to local vehicles,” said an official.
Things are no better at Shivalik Autoliners, owned by a retired police officer. Lone employee Satpal said that before the project began, they would get 22 oil tankers a month. “Now we barely order two to three tankers. Sales have come down from Rs 1.2 crore to Rs 1.5 lakh a month,” he said.
A three-storey hotel with a bar and restaurant now earns a petty Rs 6-7000 a day. Gazelle Bar, Restaurant and Hotel owner Satinder Singh, who had invested Rs 75 lakh to raise the hotel, is struggling to repay the bank loan. “We have nine rooms. Most of them remain vacant as no one likes to stay here,” he said.
The trading community in the industrial town of Bari-Brahmana has been bearing the maximum brunt of ‘ambitious’ schemes part of the north-south corridor project. “Usually, such projects see a steep increase in real estate prices but here, not only have our livelihoods have been hit hard, property rates too have gone down drastically,” said 70-year-old M.L. Khanna, who has been running a steel workshop for the past two decades. “It is impractical even for pedestrians. There are just three-four openings in the one-kilometre stretch. It would have been lot better had they constructed a flyover like the one in Jammu city, Khanna added.
Tarsem Gupta, a businessman dealing in cosmetics, readymade apparel and branded shoes since 1982, said that his business, too, had been ruined. “My business has come to zero after NHAI raised the surface to build an elevated road. We now want to sell our shops, but there are no takers,” said Gupta. We have made numerous representations to the state government through the then Jammu divisional commissioner B.R. Kundal, Congress MPs Lal Singh and Madan Lal Sharma, sitting minister Surjeet Singh Salathia and former minister Gulchain Singh Charak but nothing worked out.
“We also contacted NHAI and suggested that a flyover be made instead, but they turned down our request saying rules did not allow it,” said Gupta. Had NHAI raised a flyover, the space underneath could have been utilised for parking lots besides providing wider passage to the people easily to cross over, he added.
Pawan Kumar Garg, manager of NHAI’s technical wing, said that five-six openings had been maintained in the stretch, but only for pedestrians. “Keeping openings for vehicles increases the risk of mishaps,” he said. He said that flyovers could be constructed on highways, but the bearing capacity of Bari Brahmana soil was poor. “NHAI had no choice but to raise the surface. Half the work running into crores of rupees had been completed by the time objections were raised,” Garg said.
By design?

RESIDENTS and traders allege that the design was deliberately altered to inconvenience them and “teach them a lesson” after some shopkeepers misbehaved with a NHAI engineer. However, the allegations could not be substantiated. A senior official did claim that no NHAI official had been manhandled in Bari Brahmana.

(http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090321/real.htm#1)

Delimiting J&K Assembly Constituencies

Bill on delimitation rejected

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 6

Turning out to be a hard nut to crack for pro-Jammu parties, like the Panthers Party, the BJP and the JSM, state Legislative Assembly today rejected a Bill seeking increase in the number of the Assembly constituencies proportionate to size, population and topography of the Jammu region.
Panther’s Party legislators Harsh Dev Singh, Balwant Singh Mankotia and Yashpal Kundal, staged a walkout in protest after the House via voice-vote rejected the Bill.
Harsh had moved a private member’s Bill for leave to introduce
“The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir (Amendment) Bill 2009” seeking increase in the number of Assembly constituencies via fresh delimitation.
In the wake of the long-pending demand for constitution of the delimitation commission so as to redraw Assembly constituencies and remove regional discrimination, the Bill should be passed, he said.
He coined a suggestion of having 52 Assembly seats each for Jammu and Kashmir regions, while having six for Ladakh region.
Besides this, 30 seats should be kept for the PoK refugees, out of which eight seats should be filled up from families, which have settled in Jammu, after being uprooted because of wars with Pakistan.
Harsh also sought an increase in the reserved seats for women from two to six.
Yet again, he cited population, size and difficult topography of Jammu region vis-à-vis Kashmir region.
Despite having bigger population, larger size and difficult terrain the Jammu region has 37 seats compared to 46 of the Kashmir region, he said, adding that BJP, too, had been raising this demand.
However, Finance, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Abdul Rahim Rather, who opposed the Bill, reminded Harsh that if passed, the Bill would cast huge financial burden on a shackled state economy.

Accusing the government of being anti-Jammu, Harsh said he would not accept Rather’s logic and subsequently he, along with Mankotia and Yashpal Kundal, staged a walkout.

(http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090307/j&k.htm#1)

Scamsters in J&K

CBI nets SBI Chief Manager in mulit-crore fraud

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

JAMMU, August 22:

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today conducted simultaneous raids at five places and unearthed multi crore scam allegedly involving a senior banker of State Bank of India (SBI) and two businessmen of the capital city.

Initial investigations worked out the fraud to Rs 18 crores, highly placed sources in the CBI told The Tribune.

They said, if one of the two businessmen with the active connivance of the banker availed a loan of Rs 4 crores in the name of around 12 fictitious firms then the other floated 15 fake firms to avail a loan of Rs 14 crores.They said, the latter also owed a whopping amount of Rs 82 crores to the SBI, adding, in total contravention to the rules huge overdrafts were advanced to the two businessmen in the name of fake firms.The senior banker identified as LA Kachru, Chief Manager of the SBI in Satwari branch and other bank officials, allegedly advanced overdrafts to the firms floated by the two businessmen Satish Gupta, a resident of Gandhi Nagar and Dr Kulbhushan Nahar, a resident of Patel Market, Parade, they added.A senior CBI official said that Dr Kulbhushan Nahar had availed an overdraft of Rs 4 crores for fictitious firms, which he had floated in the name of his sons, father and employees.He runs an Ayurvedic medicine factory and a clinic under the name and style of Humane Clinic in industrial estate of Ashok Nagar from where he had been running his fake firms in one to two small rooms each, he added.From the scrutiny of records involvement of the SBIs Chief Manager LA Kachru could not be ruled out as no formalities whatsoever were followed to advance an overdraft of Rs 4 crores to Dr Kulbhushan, he said.Similarly, the CBI detected another fraud of Rs 14 crores in the same branch, he said.The official said, an overdraft of Rs 14 crores was advanced to the owner of Surya Ved Products Limited, Satish Gupta, resident of Gandhi Nagar.He also owed a whopping amount of Rs 82 crores to the bank, he added.This businessman, who runs his factory in Gangyal area, had also floated 15 fake firms, said the official.However, no arrests were made but we have seized relevant documents from all the five places where sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had conducted simultaneous raids.The raids were conducted in the factory of Dr Kulbhushan Nahar at Ashok Nagar, at his Patel Market residence, Satish Guptas factory in Gangyal, at his Gandhi Nagar residence and SBI Chief Managers Channi Himmat residence in sector 3.The five teams were headed by the Additional SP, ACB, KL Raina and SSP, MK Bhat supervised the entire operation.ENDS.