Excelsiordaily

REGD.NO.JK-71/15-17RNI No. 28547/65Vol No. 53 No. 287 JAMMU, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2017 20+4 (Supplement) = 24 Pages `̀ 5.00

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Oct 16: TheState High Court today saidwhile dealing with publicrelating matters and distribut-ing bounties for employees,Government should followdemocratic form and not arbi-trariness and discrimination.

Hearing a petition filed byJammu and Kashmir VeterinaryDoctors Association seekingtime bound promotion as hasbeen given to doctors of otherdepartments, Justice TashiRabstan said the State need notto venture into any such accordhaving discriminatory ramifica-tions on other section.

"The Government actionshave a public element and,therefore, there should be fair-ness and equality in allprovinces of the society. It maynot be out of place to mentionhere that Article 14 of theConstitution of India strikes atarbitrariness in the State actionand ensures fairness and equali-ty of treatment", Justice Tashirecorded in the judgment.

Court said the State actionmust be on some rational andrelevant principles and not bearbitrary guided by any extrane-ous or irrelevant considerationwhich amounts to denial ofequality.

"Therefore, Veterinariansof Animal and SheepHusbandry Department (peti-tioners herein) cannot be sin-gled out and denied the benefitof 3rd Time Bound Promotionthat is being given to similarlysituated persons", Court said.

Court, thus, held that mem-bers of petitioner Association(JK Veterinary DoctorsAssociation) are entitled to thirdtime bound promotion, whohave completed 20 years ofcumulative service before 1stJanuary 2010.

Court has also made it clearthat any order or communication

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 16: The StateGovernment today came outwith series of reforms pertain-ing to expenditure especiallyduring last quarter of currentfinancial year from January 1to March 31, 2018 andannounced that all unutilizedfunds over and above 30 percent of the budgeted amountwill be automatically forfeitedand won’t be allowed to beused for any other purposesafter December 31, 2017.

The reforms announcedtoday by the State Government

said that all powers related to re-appropriation and re-distributionof funds vested in theAdministrative Departments,Head of Departments (HoDs)and Drawing and DisbursementOfficers (DDOs) have beenwithdrawn.

“All the un-utilized fundsover and above 30 per cent ofthe budgeted amount on both

Revenue and Capex side as onDecember 31, 2017, shall beautomatically forfeited and willnot be allowed to be used forany other purposes,’’ theGovernment order said.

It added that only 30 per centbudget allocation on bothRevenue and Capex side will beallowed for utilization duringlast quarter of current financialyear i.e. from January 1, 2018 toMarch 31, 2018.

This, according to officialsources, has been done toensure that there were nofinancial irregularities during

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Oct 16:Taking a strong note of thereports of non-availability ofspecialist doctors in the farflung and rural areas, ChiefMinister, Mehbooba Muftitoday sought a status reportwithin a week's time from theconcerned department andposting of requisite staff at theplaces where they are neededthe most.

She gave these directionsduring a meeting to strengthenthe availability of doctors andmedical facilities in rural and farflung areas following her feed-back from people who met herduring her public outreach pro-grammes recently.

Mehbooba, it may berecalled, has recently visiteddistricts of Ramban, Kargil,Kupwara, Pulwama andBudgam during her public out-reach programmes in which peo-ple had complained of non avail-

ability of doctors at the healthcentres in the far flung and dis-tant areas.

Minister for Finance, Dr.Haseeb Drabu; Minister forHealth & Medical Education,Bali Bhagat and Minister ofState for Health & MedicalEducation, Asiea Naqash werepresent in the meeting.

The Chief Minister direct-ed for taking action againstthe doctors who do not reportto duty in these areas. Besides,she also directed strengthen-ing of the facilities by way ofdiagnostic equipment, ambu-lances and other testing facili-ties at the hospitals in ruraland far flung areas.

Mehbooba directed for prop-er and adequate strengthening ofdistrict hospitals by way of post-ing of specialist doctors, in par-ticular gynaecologists, anaes-thetists and paediatricians. Shesaid strengthening of districthospitals would provide a onestop healthcare facility to people

from all across in the district onone side, it would also enablelessening the burden on tertiarycare hospitals in capital cities,thereby relieving patients oftravelling long distances fortreatment.

She directed constructionand proper maintenance of resi-dential quarters for doctors atDistrict and Sub DistrictHospitals. For this, she directedpreparation of a proto typedesign with all the facilities of adecent living to be replicated allacross. She said that till suchtime these residential quartersare ready, adequate rentedaccommodation be provided tospecialist doctors to stay put atthese places.

Chief Secretary, B. B. Vyas;Principal Secretary to ChiefMinister, Rohit Kansal;Principal Secretary, Health &Medical Education, PawanKotwal and other senior officers

CM seeks report on non-availabilityof docs in far flung areas

Sanjeev PargalJAMMU, Oct 16: The

Power Ministry of Jammu andKashmir Government hasdetected a major scam thatmight run into several crores,in allotment of contract forworks under two prestigiousschemes of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, in six districtsof Kashmir valley includingKupwara, Baramulla,Bandipora, Ganderbal,Budgam and Anantnag.

Acting swiftly after gettingreports or irregularities in allot-ment of works, the PowerMinistry immediately orderedan inquiry into them and sus-pended execution of projectsunder Prime Minister'sDevelopment Plan (PMDP-Rural) and Deen DayalUpadhyaya Grameen JyotiYojana (DDUGJY). The inquiryreport too has confirmed irregu-larities in allotment of works ,directed scrapping of the tenders

followed by issuance of newNITs and action against officersand officials, responsible for theirregularities.

In the process, execution ofworks has been delayed to suchan extent that ambitious plan ofNarendra Modi-- ‘Power for All’by November 2018-could wellbe missed in Jammu andKashmir, which could be amajor setback as the PrimeMinister has publically declaredthat the Centre would electrifyall villages by November 2018.

A copy of the Enquiry reportinto the 'Bid Evaluation ofDDUGJY and PMDP (Rural) forsix districts of Kashmir, which isin possession of the Excelsior,has established serious irregular-ities in allotment of works fortotal negotiated cost of Rs 598crores and recommended thatthe contract should be immedi-ately scrapped. It has called forissuance of fresh tenders strictlyin terms of the guidelines issuedin this behalf by the Ministry of

Power, Government of India.The enquiry was conducted

by Commissioner/Secretary toGovernment, PowerDevelopment Department(PDD), Dheeraj Gupta on thedirections of Deputy ChiefMinister, Incharge PDD, DrNirmal Singh.

According to sources, a"serious and deliberate attempt''had been made to favour a par-ticular businessman and his firmby the Contract Committee byraising the final offer from 36per cent to 46 per cent above theestimated cost after negotia-tions.

The contracts had beendecided by the ContractCommittee-1, which was head-ed by the DevelopmentCommissioner (Power) andcomprised all Chief Engineersof the Department. The ChiefEngineer, Projects Wing, hadhandled the bidding process

Major scam detected in Centre’sambitious power schemes in J&K

Pak uses terroras state policy:Naidu

NEW DELHI, Oct 16:Stating that Pakistan was

encouraging cross border ter-rorism against neighbors as astate policy,Vice-President MVenkaiah Naidu today urged theworld community to isolateStates that sponsored terrorism.

''Our neighbor has made astate policy to aid, fund andtrain terrorists,'' Naidu said inhis address at the 33rd raisingday of the National SecurityGuard at the Manesar Garrisonin morning.

5 of a familykilled in mishap

Excelsior Correspondent

DODA, Oct 16: In a tragicaccident, five members of afamily were killed, while twoothers received serious injuries,when the Alto car they weretraveling in skidded off the roadand plunged into deep gorgenear Babore on Doda-Ghatroad, here today.

As per police sources, awithout registration numberAlto car plunged into deepgorge near Babore area, result-ing into on the spot death of twopersons and serious injuries tothree others.

After getting information,police team from Doda PoliceStation led by SHO InspectorRaghubir Singh rushed to thespot and with the help of locals,shifted the three injures personto District Hospital Doda,where they failed to respond tothe treatment and succumbed totheir injuries, taking the toll inthe accident to five.

The deceased have beenidentified as Bashir AhmadShah, son of Feroz Din Shah,

9 AEEs, 39 AEsshifted

Excelsior CorrespondentSRINAGAR, Oct 16: The

Government today shifted nineIncharge Assistant ExecutiveEngineers (AEEs) and 39Incharge AEs

I/C AEE Aftab Anwar underorders of transfer to KotrankaSD of Rajouri R&B Div, hasbeen placed to Shahdara ShariefSD of Rajouri vice RajeshKumar who shall report toChief Engg R&B Jammu. I/CAEE Farooq Ahmed Dagga hasbeen shifted from Floricultureto Landscape Sub Div Srinagar,

CM meetsGovernor

Excelsior CorrespondentSRINAGAR, Oct 16: Chief

Minister Mehbooba Muftitoday met Governor N N Vohraat the Raj Bhavan here.

They discussed severalimportant issues related to func-tioning of courts and highereducation institutions, time-bound implementation of roadand connectivity projects,cleaning up and restoration ofwater bodies and other matters.

Karvan-e-Aman suspended

SRINAGAR, Oct 16:There was no Karvan-e-

Aman bus service, operatingbetween Srinagar andMuzaffarabad, capital ofPakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK), today, official sourcessaid.

The weekly bus service hasbeen suspended due toDeepawali festival, sourcessaid.

They said the service wassuspended after the authoritiesin PoK and here agreed in viewof the festival. "We are suspend-ing the service on big occasions,

NOTICEToday’s issue of DailyExcelsior consists of 24pages including 4-pagesupplement. —Editor

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Mohinder VermaJAMMU, Oct 16: In a major

blot on the performance ofPower DevelopmentDepartment, work on powertransmission line which suf-fered extensive damage overthree years back has yet notbegun thereby depriving vastarea in the border district ofPoonch of dependable electrici-ty supply. This is mainlybecause the contractors havenot been showing any interest inthe works of the department onthe experience of delayed pay-ments and lack of cooperation.

Official sources toldEXCELSIOR that 132 KV dou-ble circuit transmission linefrom Rajouri to Draba in Poonchsuffered extensive damaged inJanuary 2013 due to heavysnowfall. Similarly, 132 KV sin-gle circuit transmission linefrom Draba to Chandak whichwas running along the left bankof river Suran suffered damagein September 2014 due to flashfloods.

Though 132 KV double cir-cuit transmission line from

Rajouri to Draba was restoredafter more than three years inMay 2016 at a cost of Rs 2.81crore, the work on 132 KV sin-gle circuit transmission linefrom Draba to Chandak has notbegun till date.

Since the power supply fromGrid Station Chandak was notpossible in view of the damageto the transmission line, the GridStation Draba was augmentedfrom 1*20 MVA to 2*20 MVAcapacity under National DisasterResponse Fund (NDRF) and the

power supply to the affectedareas was restored through 33KV lines, sources said while dis-closing that this was only tem-porary measure and was not suf-ficient for providing dependableelectricity supply to the vast areaof the border district.

Though the PowerDevelopment Departmentfloated tender for laying ofDraba-Chandak transmis-sion line on turnkey basis yetthere was no response from

Contractors showing least interest in PDD’s works

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Un-utilized funds to lapse

on Dec 31

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No discrimination in jobs, promotions: HC to Govt

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‘Fill up vacancies in Health, Education’

Fayaz BukhariSRINAGAR, Oct 16:

Security forces today busted amilitant module with thearrest of three militants fromKulgam area of Kashmir andInspector General of PoliceMuneer Khan said that thenumber of militants in

Kashmir has decreased withcontinued successful opera-tions.

Khan said that three militants- two from the Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) and one from the HizbulMujahideen -were arrested overthe past three days from SouthKashmir.

"On October 14, two terror-ists with the intention to snatchweapons of personal securityguards of a protected personfired few rounds at Kund in

Qazigund area.But they had tobeat a retreat due to hue and cryraised by locals," Khan told apress conference here.

He said on receipt of thisinformation, a joint party of thepolice, Army and the CRPFestablished a check point andnabbed the two militants, whowere riding on a motor cycle.

"They were identified asKhursheed Ahmad Dar and HaziqRather.One pistol, some ammuni-tion and a live grenade wererecovered from their possession.They belong to LeT," he added.

Militants’ number decreasing withsuccessful operations: IGP

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Damaged over 3 years back, work on powertransmission line for border distt yet to begin

Dependable electricity supply for vast area remains dream

‘Power for All’ may miss deadline due to probe

Module busted, 3 held in South

Kashmir

PDP worker, militantkilled in scuffleIn one of the rare inci-

dents, a militant was killedby the sons of a People'sDemocratic Party worker andformer Sarpanch after mili-tants gunned their father inShopian district of SouthKashmir.

Sources said that at leastthree Hizbul Mujahideenmilitants barged into thehouse of Mohammad

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Re-distribution powers from HoDs withdrawn

Govt restricts expenditure in last3 months to 30%, March 15%