Panchayat Act amended
From M.L.Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, April 12 — The state assembly today adopted an amendment to the State Panchayat Raj Act of 1989 amid walkout by the opposition members. The Minister for Rural Development and Cooperatives, Mr Abdul Rahim Rather, moved the Bill and informed the House that the main objectives of the amendment was to establish halqa majlis which would sanction the yearly estimates of income and expenditure. It aimed at the establishment of a Panchayat Advisory Committee to provide safeguards against any arbitrary suppression of a panchayat halqa.

The Opposition members belonging to the BJP, the Congress and the Panthers Party were on their feet demanding an amendment to the basic Panchayat Act so that nomination of women and other panches was scrapped and replaced by reservation. Mr Harsh Dev Singh of the Panthers Party staged a demonstration in the well of the House while criticising the Panchayat Act adopted by the state. He wanted to know the criteria to be followed for nominating women to the panchayat committees. "Will you nominate those women who have good looks to the panchayats?" he asked. Mr Rather said he too would be associated while preparing the criteria.

When the government remained firm on carrying through the amendment without dropping nomination procedure the opposition members, including Mr Som Nath of the BSP staged a walkout. Later the amendment Bill was adopted by a voice vote. Mr Rather had explained to the Opposition members that any further amendment would take a longer time and the government was keen to see the panchayat poll held in the state after a gap of 23 years.

The assembly witnessed noisy scenes soon after zero hour when the ruling party members took part in the short duration discussion on the security situation. When Mr Dilawar Mir (NC) started accusing the security forces of committing excesses on the people, Mr Harsh Dev Singh of the Panthers Party raised objections and wanted the Speaker to know under which rule the member was speaking on the issue.

Mr Singh staged a walkout when the Speaker ruled that Mr Mir could speak on the issue as he had sought prior permission. Mr Dilawar Mir wanted a system under which human rights were protected and honoured.

The Minister of State for Home, Mr Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, said that during Governor's rule the rate of excesses by the security forces was higher. He said after the National Conference assumed power the rate had dropped and the police had gradually taken the responsibility of tackling militancy related activities. He said the security scenario had witnessed a marked improvement.

Mr Lone said the gun culture was alien to Kashmir and it had been exported by Pakistan through the proxy war. The proxy war had been the root cause of excesses both by the militants and the security forces. He said the Army Chief had conveyed to the state government that any cases of excesses by troops should be reported and action would be initiated against the guilty.

During question hour the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, said legal opinion had not favoured selection of candidates to professional colleges at the district level. He said the competent authority entrusted with the task of selecting candidates for the professional colleges would be kept out of political influence and interference.

Dr Abdullah opposed the suggestion of the BJP member, Mr Shiv Charan Gupta, that candidates belonging to the Kashmir valley be selected for professional colleges in Srinagar and those belonging to the Jammu region in Jammu colleges. The Chief Minister said, "I do not want to divide the state." He said to ensure fair selection supervisors from the Kashmir valley would supervise the entrance examination in Jammu and those from Jammu in Srinagar.

He ruled out the scope for any CBI inquiry into the selection procedure on the plea that the Singhal committee report had exonerated the competent authority.

The Forest Minister, Mr Ramzan, said in reply to a question that the department would not extract green timber. He said the Forest Department had been extracting fallen and dry timber and between 1992 and 1998 the department had supplied to the forest corporation 2.35 crore cft worth over Rs 88 crore. He said a high-level committee under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) had been constituted to resolve the forest royalty arrears issue. He said several crores of rupees had been standing as arrears with the forest lessees.

9 militants shot in encounters

SRINAGAR, April 12 (PTI) — Nine militants were gunned down, four arrested and a huge quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from an arms dump in the Kashmir valley since last evening.

Three militants, believed to be foreigners, were killed in an encounter with security forces at Boniyar village in Baramulla district today, official sources said.

Two heavily-armed foreign militants were killed in an encounter with the security forces at Garan Nalla in Baramullah district today.

Two AK assault rifles, 10 magazines, 3012 rounds of ammunition, a grenade launcher, an AK silencer, four hand grenades, five rifle grenades, a pistol, a binocular and a wireless set were seized.

Two militants each in Pulwama and Badgam districts, were shot dead by the security forces yesterday, he said.

He said the police and the security forces arrested four militants during search operations at Batmaloo, Palyardbal-Safakadal and Chattabal in Srinagar last evening.

Two pistols, a hand grenade and some ammunition were recovered from the captured militants.

He said the security forces unearthed an arms dump of militants during search operations at Boban-Watsar forests in Kupwara district last evening.

The arms and ammunition seized from the arms dump included six AK assault rilfes, 20 magazines, 160 rounds, two flame throwers, four wireless sets, 22 grenades, six two inch mortar bombs, five remote control devices and 85 detonators.