Excelsior
daily
Vol No. 54
Civilian killed
in Shopian
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 4: Two
militants fled from an
overnight encounter while a
civilian was killed in Shopian
district of South Kashmir.
*Watch video on
www.excelsiornews.com
Security forces cordoned off
Khudpora area of district
Shopian last evening after
inputs about presence of mili-
tants hiding in the village. As
the security forces conducted
searches, militants tried to flee,
leading to an encounter. Two
(Contd on page 6 Col 3)
Curfew relaxed
for 4 hours
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 4: Curfew
was relaxed for four hours
today in Kishtwar town where it
was imposed as a precautionary
measure on Thursday night fol-
*Watch video on
www.excelsiornews.com
lowing the killing of a senior
BJP leader and his brother by
suspected militants, while it
was completely lifted from
Bhaderwah town of Doda dis-
trict.
Official sources said curfew
was relaxed in half of the
Kishtwar town from 1 pm to 3
(Contd on page 6 Col 5)
Hirdesh empanelled
as Joint Secy
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 4: The
Department of Personnel and
Training (DoPT) Government
of India has empanelled 1999
batch Indian Administrative
Service (IAS) officer of J&K
Cadre Hirdesh Kumar as Joint
Secretary.
As per the order, Hirdesh
Kumar, who is presently
Commissioner/Secretary to
Government, Power
Development Department, has
been empanelled for holding
Joint Secretary and equivalent
level posts in the Government
of India.
No. 306
Day’s tour soon after Panchayat polls
PM to visit J&K, lay foundation
stones of AIIMS, Akhnoor NH
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 4: Prime
Minister Narendra Modi will
lay foundation stone for two
All India Institutes of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS) in the State
and four-laning of Jammu-
Akhnoor National Highway,
which will be further extended
up to Rajouri and Poonch,
during his day's visit soon
after completion of Panchayat
elections in Jammu and
Kashmir on December 11.
Work on two AIIMS in
Jammu and Kashmir including
one at Vijaypur in Samba district
of Jammu and another at
Awantipora in Pulwama district
of Kashmir is yet to start though
the projects were approved near-
ly three years back at the cost of
Rs 4000 crore under Prime
Minister's Development Plan
(PMDP).
Official sources told the
Excelsior that exact date for
inauguration of the projects by
Secy LC ignores PMO’s repeated reminders
Fast track promotions of
tainted official to Spl Secy
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Nov 4: In
brazen violation of service
rules, a Government employee
appointed as reporter in
Legislative Council, through
backdoor, 17 years ago has
been given undue promotions
several times in his career to
make him Special Secretary
while some of the KAS officers
of 1999 batch are yet to make
it to such a position after two
decades.
Jammu and Kashmir
Legislative Council (Order No:
466 LC of 2018 Dated: 28-09-
JAMMU, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2018
the Prime Minister will be
worked out soon. However, the
visit will mature soon after the
culmination of process for nine-
phase Panchayat elections on
December 11 as the State was
under Model Code of Conduct
presently in view of the polls.
Though a final date is yet
to be decided, the visit was
likely to take place around
December 15, sources said,
adding that the Prime
Minister will lay foundation
stone of two AIIMS and four-
laning of Jammu-Akhnoor
road.
"All decks for laying founda-
tion of these three major projects
have been cleared,'' sources said,
adding that work on making
Jammu-Akhnoor road a
National Highway has already
started.
Recently, the administration
had removed final hurdle in
starting work on AIIMS Jammu
at Vijaypur by getting the land
vacated from nomadic popula-
2018) promoted Ishfaq Ahmad
Wani as Special Secretary after
series of undue promotions. "In
the interest of administration,
sanction is hereby accorded to
the promotion of Ishfaq Ahmad
Wani, Additional Secretary,
J&K Legislative Council,
presently on deputation to the
Government as General
Manager, SKICC, as Special
Secretary, in the pay level of Rs.
123100-215900 with effect from
1st October, 2018 against the
vacancy arising due to superan-
nuation of Mohammad Ashraf
Wani, Special Secretary, subject
to confirmation by the
tion and shifting them to alter-
nate places. The bottlenecks in
AIIMS Kashmir at Awantipora
have almost been removed.
As per the proposal submit-
ted to the Government of India,
the two AIIMS will have a
capacity of 1000 beds including
300 super specialty beds.
Besides, the ambitious projects
include a Medical College with
an intake capacity of 100 stu-
dents and a Nursing College
with a capacity of 60 students
annually.
The Central Government has
kept Rs 4000 crore under PMDP
for the two AIIMS i.e. Rs 2000
cr for each AIIMS. Some of the
facilities to the AIIMS have to
be provided by the State
Government which included
water and power facilities, con-
struction of approach roads etc.
Initially, the Central
Government had approved only
one AIIMS for the State, which
was taken to the Kashmir valley
(Contd on page 6 Col 3)
Government", read the order.
This is second promotion of
Wani this year since April when
he was promoted and his cadre
was changed to Additional
Secretary (Order No: 209-LC of
2018 Dated: 17-04-2018) from
Special Assistant. The change of
cadre was also done illegally
against Supreme Court order
and recruitment rules of the
Jammu and Kashmir Legislative
Council.
The Government circular
(No. 07-GAD of 2003 dated 12-
03-2003) on change of cadre
read: "It has been observed that
(Contd on page 6 Col 1)
WEATHER
JAMMU :
Mainly dry
TEMPERATURE
Max: 24.3 Degree C
Min: 13.4 Degree C
RELATIVE HUMIDITY
RH-I (Morning): 80.0 per cent
RH-II (Evening): 62.0 per cent
Sunset on Monday: 05.39 p.m.
Sunrise on Tuesday: 06.53 a.m.
SRINAGAR:
Mainly dry
TEMPERATURE
Max: 5.4 Degree C
Min: -0.4 Degree C
RELATIVE HUMIDITY
RH-I (Morning): 93.0 per cent
RH-II (Evening): 91.0 per cent
LEH:
TEMPERATURE
Max: 6.8 Degree C
Min: -1.5 Degree C
NH re-opens,
Nomadic
girl killed
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Nov
4: The Jammu-Srinagar
National Highway was opened
for one-way traffic today, a day
after being closed due to heavy
snowfall and landslides, and
over 700 stranded commuters
were rescued overnight from
the Jawahar Tunnel area, offi-
cials said.
* Pic on page 6.
Video on
www.excelsiornews.com
The only all-weather road
linking the Kashmir valley with
the rest of the country, was
opened for traffic coming from
Srinagar to Jammu after nine
hours of clearance operations,
SSP Traffic National Highway
Shakti Pathak told the
Excelsior.
He said the highway was
thrown open for one-way con-
voy from Srinagar to Jammu at
1 PM today.
Pathak added that tomorrow
there will be up convoy from
Jammy to Srinagar on the high-
way but only Light Motor
Vehicles will be allowed.
It took almost nine hours for
workers to clear the road for
one-way traffic, he said.
In a major overnight rescue
operation, over 700 stranded
passengers were evacuated
from both sides of the Jawahar
tunnel, a police spokesman said.
He said they were Jammu-
bound commuters and were res-
cued from the Kashmir-side of
the tunnel and the Verinag Zing
area, where more than one-feet
of snow had accumulated.
"In the night-long operation,
police evacuated 700 stranded
passengers from the Jawahar
tunnel area. Passengers strand-
ed at either side (of the tunnel)
were evacuated," the
spokesman said.
The evacuated people,
including tourists, were accom-
(Contd on page 6 Col 5)
REGD. NO. JK-71/18-20
RNI No. 28547/65
„ No focus on suo-moto disclosure of vital details
Information Commission itself
flouting provisions of RTI Act
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 4:
Astonishing it may sound but
it is a fact that State
Information Commission, a
transparency watchdog, has
failed to provide requisite
information about its own
functioning to the people
besides violating the key pro-
visions of Jammu and
Kashmir State Right to
Information Act during the
past several months.
As per the provisions of the
transparency law, the State
Information Commission has
time and again asked the Public
Authorities (Government
Departments) to regularly
update their respective websites
in order to ensure suo-moto dis-
closure of information to the
Mainstream parties’ space widened,
NC’s shrank: Dr Jitendra
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU/HIRANAGAR,
Nov 4 : Ridiculing the state-
ment of former Chief Minister
and NC working president,
Omar Abdullah that the space
of mainstream parties has
shrunk in Kashmir valley,
Union Minister of State in
PMO with Independent
Charge of North Eastern
States, Dr Jitendra Singh
today said that actually NC's
space has shrunk in Valley
while that of mainstream par-
ties has considerably widened.
During an informal chat with
media persons here, this morn-
ing before leaving for Hiranagar
to present a cheque of Rs three
lakh to Rasana protest victim
and attend other party pro-
18 Pages
Mandatory annual report
pending during past 3 yrs
people vis-a-vis their powers
and duties, rules, regulations and
records held by them.
However, when it comes to
furnishing such information to
the public through its own web-
site, the Information
Commission is showing slack-
ness, observers told EXCEL-
SIOR, adding "the adage that it
is always dark at the foot of the
light house suits the present
functioning of the State
Information Commission".
They pointed out that
judgments delivered by the
State Information
Commission in various
appeals during the past over
grammes in connection with
Panchayat elections, Dr Jitendra
Singh said Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) has emerged as Pan
India party
and its space
has consid-
erably wide-
ned all over
the country
including
J&K State.
He said
this can be borne by the result of
recent Urban Local Bodies
(ULB) elections in the State as
the party emerged winner and
registered a resounding victory
in Kashmir valley also.
He said those who are giving
` 5.00
one month have not been
uploaded on its website
although this was brought to
its notice by RTI activists a
number of times.
Similarly, the Commission
has failed to regularly update
information vis-a-vis monthly
disposal of 2nd Appeals and
complaints and the last informa-
tion available on these aspects
pertains to the month of August.
What to talk of judgments,
2nd Appeals and complaints
even the status of compliance by
Public Authorities with Section
4(I)(b) has not been updated
since December 31, 2017. The
(Contd on page 6 Col 7)
such statements should know
that actually the space of their
party has shrunk in Kashmir and
they have been rejected by their
own people as they started sid-
ing with secessionists and anti
India forces.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that
the space of Congress has also
shrunk all over the country as
well as in J&K. The BJP
besides, Centre is ruling in 15
States of the country and is in
coalition in three States also so
its base and space has widened
tremendously over the years,
he added.
Making a scathing attack on
(Contd on page 6 Col 7)