SRINAGAR | June 22, 2013 | 12, Shaaban 1434 AH Vol: 26 | No. 170 | Regd. No. JK NP-6/SKGPO-2012-2014 | Pages: 18 | Rs. 3.00(Air SurchArge For JAmmu/Leh 50 PAiSA)

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http://www.greaterkashmir.com, greaterkashmir.netPublIShed FRom SRINAGAR & JAmmu

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COLUMN ONE

INSIde outby: malik Sajad

temPeRAtuRe Max: 32.7 °C Min: 16.6 °C

WeAtheR ForeCast

Sunset on Saturday 07:47 pmSunrise on Sunday 05:21 am

mainly dry weather over

the state.

outlook for subsequent two days. Fall in day temperature 24th

onwards. Warning: Nill

Ahead of JK visit, PM does the home work

Unscientific wAste disPosAl tAKes sheen off GUlMArG

Police confines Mirwaiz Umar to houseKashmir’s Head Cleric Reiterates June 25 Shutdown CallGK News NetworK

Srinagar, June 21: Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M) Mir-waiz Umar

Farooq was placed under house-arrest on Friday to prevent him from leading a rally at Jamia Masjid here to com-memorate the 49th Foun-dation Day of the Awami Action Committee.

Addressing a gather-ing on telephone, Mir-waiz said, “Nobody can put restrictions on aspi-rations, emotions and thinking of Kashmiris.”

“The supreme cause for which Kashmiri people, leadership, Shaheed-e-Millat and Mahajr-e-Millat offered

Uttarakhand disaster brings Amarnath Yatra in focus

Mufti sounds Alert on ‘environmentally-sensitive’ JK

no more picnic to sonamarg, Pahalgam

Governor reviews Yatra arrangementsGK News NetworK

Srinagar, June 21: Governor N N Vohra Friday visited Sheshnag, Chandanwari and Nunwan camps on Pahalgam route to review arrangements for Shri Amarnath Yatra com-mencing on June 28.

The Governor, accompa-nied by Navin K Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer of the

cabinet orders transfers, postings in administration

GK News NetworK

Rajouri, June 21: Express-ing deep grief at the heavy loss of life and property in Uttarakhand, Peoples Demo-cratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed has said the disaster should serve as wake up call for all environmentally-sensitive states like Jammu and Kashmir to avert such tragedies.

Addressing party workers’ convention in Shahdra Sharief on Friday, he said the appre-hensions about the safety of upcoming Amarnath Yatra are misplaced and could damage the image of the state at a time when “we need to work whole-heartedly for removal of trust deficit between J&K and rest of the country.”

Mufti said the people of the state are deeply sad

Government Takes Decision To Ensure 'Smooth Pilgrimage'

Srinagar, June 21: Authori-ties in Jammu and Kashmir Friday asked educational institutions not to arrange picnic of students to the famous hill resorts of Pahal-gam and Sonamarg- the twin routes to the Amarnath cave.

The direction was issued to both government and private educational institu-tions by School Education Department to allow smooth conduct of the nearly two-month long pilgrimage, sched-uled to begin later this month.

“In view of the ensuing Amarnath Yatra, the heads

of government and private educational institutions are put to strict instructions that they should desist from send-ing the students on excur-sion and picnic to Pahalgam and Sonamarg,” an official

spokesman said quoting Joint Director School Education, Kash-mir. The spokes-

man said in respect of other picnic spots, prior permis-sion must be obtained from concerned Zonal Education Officer and Chief Education Officer in case of the elemen-tary schools and High and

Srinagar, June 21: The State Cabinet which met here Friday under the chair-manship of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah ordered sev-eral transfers and postings in the administration.

Shaleen Kabra, Commis-sioner Secretary Youth Ser-vice and Sports and Techni-cal education, holding addi-tional charge of the Post of the Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Health and Medical Education Department has been trans-ferred and posted as Commis-sioner/ Secretary to the Gov-ernment, Health and Medical Education Department.

B A Runyal, Chairman, J&K Special Tribunal has been transferred and posted as Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Labour and Employment Depart-ment, relieving Farooq Ahmad Peer, Commissioner Secretary to the Govern-ment, Rural Development Department, of the addition-al charge of the post. Sarita Chouhan, has been posted as Chairman, J&K Special Tri-bunal, Vice B A Runiyal.

Paarvez Ahmad Malik, Director, Command Area Development, Jammu has been transferred and posted

AMARNATH Y A T R A

Govt employees stage demosYet again, Geelani barred from offering Friday prayers

Srinagar, June 21: The Chair-man of Hurriyat Conference (G) Syed

Ali Shah Geelani who is under continued house arrest, was not allowed to offer congregational Friday prayers.

In a statement, the Hurriyat (G) spokes-man Aiyaz Akbar said Geelani has been placed under house arrest since March 7 when he returned from New Delhi. “Geelani sahib was not allowed to offer congregational prayers for 17th consecutive Friday. Under virtual gun-point Geelani sahib is not allowed to perform his religious, political and social obligations. We strongly condemn his continuous house

at the widespread destruc-tion caused in Uttarakhand which has resulted in collapse of infrastructure apart from huge loss of life that included

many pilgrims to holy sites located in the Himalayas. He said, “We share the grief of the state and all those who lost their loved ones in ter-

rible circumstances. However we will have to work hard to avert the tragedy that struck Uttarakhand in other areas.”

Reviews Rs 37000-Cr Reconstruction Package

To review dev programs during

Kashmir visitwill Chair Meeting of state

Council of Ministers In srinagarSrinagar, June 21: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh would review execution of development programs including centrally sponsored schemes in Jammu and Kashmir during his 2-day visit to the State later this month, sources said.

Along with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Dr Singh will arrive in the State on June 25 to lay the founda-tion stone of a power project in Kisht-war district, release a stamp on

See to review dev programs...on Pg-10

New Delhi, June 21: Ahead of his visit to Jammu and Kashmir early next week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday reviewed the status of the Rs 37,000-crore reconstruc-tion package for the state which is currently being implemented.

The Prime Minister's Reconstruction Plan involves 67 projects and schemes covering 11 sectors of the economy including expansion of infrastructure and basic services and employ-ment generation.

The review was undertaken by the Prime Minister with officials involved in the imple-mentation of these projects, sources said.

The Prime Minister is undertaking two-day visit to the state from June 25.

At the meeting, it was noted that 34 projects and schemes have been completed and work in 28 is in progress, the sources said. Among the

projects completed are setting up of 1,000 micro hydro-electric projects, electrification of all villag-es, expansion of total liter-acy campaign to remain-ing three districts of Kargil, Poonch, and Doda and training to enhance skills of youth for IT/BPO sector at Jammu and Sri-nagar. The other schemes completed are starting of

six new degree colleges and setting up of five women's ITIs in Kashmir Valley. The com-pleted projects also include

‘It Can Trigger Environmental Catastrophe In Ski-Resort’

This is a forest area in Gulmarg where garbage is dumped in broad daylight.

ArIf shAfI wANI

Gulmarg, June 21: Unsci-entific disposal of tons of gar-bage in this world famous ski resort is taking a heavy toll on its fragile ecosystem.

While the State govern-ment projects Gulmarg—hous-ing Asia’s largest and longest ropeway—as major tourist attraction in Kashmir, it has failed to put in place basic sanitation facilities there.

On an average 131.16 metric tons of garbage is annually generated in Gul-marg. However, in absence of any scientific disposal mecha-nism, the garbage is dumped in forests along the resort’s

‘outer circular road’.Tons of garbage including

non-biodegradable polythene, plastic bottles and left-over

food items lie scattered along this stretch of forests. Pun-gent smell emanating from these garbage dumps has

engulfed the resort’s outer cir-cular road, causing immense inconvenience to visitors.

Proper sanitation is a concern even in the core areas of Gulmarg including Gondola, Ice-Skating Ring and Children’s Park. Though the authorities have placed dumper bins in these areas, garbage overflows from them in absence of regular clean-ing. Near the Ice-Skating Ring, authorities have placed an out-dated trolley as a dumper bin. Throughout the day non-local scavengers rummage through the garbage to sift plastic bot-tles and empty juice cans.

“During night this

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Raj Bhawan gheRao today

Experts for cap on tourist, pilgrim inflowIMrAN MuzAffAr

Srinagar, June 21: The flashfloods and land-slides in northern state of Uttarakhand, which envi-ronmentalists said were triggered due to imbalance between constructions and environmental protection, have put the spotlight on the fragile ecology of Jammu and Kashmir.

While ecologists in Uttarakhand blamed the State and Central Govern-

ments for the man-made disaster, experts in Kash-mir suggest that a similar situation could arise in J&K if environmental imbalance continues.

The disaster has trigged a debate in J&K with experts opining that massive urbanization, huge tourist and Yatri flow pose a threat to the State’s ecology.

“A disaster similar to that of Uttarakhand is

MuDAsIr YAQooB

Srinagar, June 21: Hundreds of government employees under the banner of Joint Consul-tative Committee (JCC), an amalgam of various employees unions, Friday assembled at various dis-trict headquarters and staged protest demon-stration in support of their demands. JCC demands include enhancement in retire-ment age of employees from 58 to 60 years, regularization of daily wagers and consolidated workers and removal of pay anomalies in all departments.

According to JCC agitation program, employees would observe pen down strike, assemble in Sher-i-Kashmir

Park here on Saturday and march towards Raj Bhawan to press for their demands.

JCC members assembled at Press Enclave here and staged protest demonstra-tions, raising anti-govern-ment slogans like ‘Mehnat hamari loot tumhari nahi cha-legi (We’ll not allow anyone to exploit our hard work).”

Though the protestors dis-

persed peacefully, police detained a few of them only to be released within 15 minutes. Farooq Trali led the protest demonstrations while Muntazir Mohiddin and Shabnam Fayaz pre-sented memorandum of demands to DC.

Protest demonstra-tions were also held at other district headquarters

and memorandum were pre-sented to DCs. GM Hamdard in Budgam, Manzoor Pampori in Pulwama, Showkat Ali Beigh in Islamabad (Anantnag), Muntazir Ganai in Kulgam, Muhammad Ishaq in Shopian, Peerzada Shariefudin in Ban-dipora, Mir Ajaz in Kupwara and Muhammad Rafi in Bara-mulla led the protests.

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See uttarakhand...on Pg-10

See experts for...on Pg-10 See Governor...on Pg-10

See Ahead of JK...on Pg-10

See unscientific...on Pg-10See Govt employees...on Pg-10

See Police...on Pg-10

See Yet again...on Pg-10

See No more picnic...on Pg-10

See Cabinet orders...on Pg-10

CMYK