Farooq to meet Advani
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Feb 12 — The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, will meet the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, within the next three days to persuade him to deploy additional companies of paramilitary forces during the panchayat elections in the state proposed to be held during May.

The issue was discussed at a Cabinet meeting here today. It was decided the panchayat poll would be held in three phases in May. Since more than 1400 panchayat halqas were sensitive the candidates and the polling booths needed a heavy security cover. Since the security forces deployed in the state were engaged in sanitising several areas against militants the state needed additional companies of paramilitary forces.

The Chief Minister will also apprise the Union Home Minister of the ongoing financial crisis which had affected development work. For holding peaceful panchayat elections after a gap of 20 years additional funds were needed along with bulletproof cars. More than Rs 14 crore is estimated to be spent on the panchayat poll which excludes expenses on security related matters and allowances to the employees who would be assigned poll duty.

The Cabinet decided the ensuing panchayat elections would be held on party basis. Several opposition parties had suggested to the government the proposed panchayat poll should be made a non-party affair but it seemed the National Conference being confident about its success rejected the Opposition's suggestion and decided it would field candidate on the party symbol.

While the state Finance Minister, Mr Mohd Shafi, informed the meeting about ways and means adopted for mobilising additional resources it was felt the financial crisis would not be resolved without central assistance. The Cabinet renewed its plea to the Centre to reimburse the security related expenses which had touched more than Rs 800 crore failing which the government may be forced to seek overdraft from the bank.

At present, the assistance received from the Centre is spent on giving wages of the employees and it has become difficult for the state to continue work on the ongoing development projects.

Relative of Kuka Parrey killed
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Feb 12 — A counter-insurgent and a close relative of the militant-turned-politician and MLA, Kukka Parray was among two persons killed in Kashmir since yesterday while security forces seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition during search operations.

Shabir Ahmad Sofi, a counter-insurgent and a close relative of Kuka Parray, was shot dead by unidentified militants at Brar village in the Bandipore area of Baramula district last evening. Shabir died on the spot while two of his guards were injured in the shootout. Another bodyguard of Shabir Ahmad, identified as Mumtaz Ahmad, is reported to be missing since the shootout. The police believes he has been kidnapped by the militants.

Militants shot dead the chowkidar of a government primary school at Hajibal, Kakapora, in Pulwama district last evening. An LPG cylinder in his house burst due to a shot fired by the militants and caught fire. Riyaz Ahmad, the chowkidar, died on the spot while his father and sisters received burn injuries as a result of the fire.

A shopkeeper, identified as Merajuddin, was shot at and injured by unidentified militants at Kathidarwaza here this morning. He succumbed to his injuries while being shifted to the hospital.

Pipeline extension till Udhampur okayed
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Feb 12 — The Petroleum Ministry has agreed to extend the underground pipeline from Jalandhar to Udhampur.

The Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Mr Sadhotra said here today that he had succeeded in persuading the Centre to extend the pipeline. He said his suggestion for extending the line upto Srinagar was under consideration and the work on the Jalandhar-Jammu-Udhampur pipeline was expected to be completed within the next three years.

Mr Sadhotra said arrangements were being made to enable the consumers to get LPG connections on demand. He said three more LPG bottling plants would be set up in the state, including one in Leh, to increase the availability of LPG in the state. He said the present capacity of filling 1,40,000 cylinders was much less than the requirement.

He said the Ministry of Petroleum and ONGC had agreed to restart gas and hydro-carbon exploration in the Surunsar area. The exploration had been suspended there about 10 years ago without any valid reasons.

Mr Sadhotra said the state government had sufficient stock of foodgrains and the public distribution system was catering to the needs of poor people in the state. He said it was because of the intervention of the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, that the Centre had decided not to raise the prices of foodgrains supplied to the consumers through the PDS.

Experts reject Singhal panel recommendations
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Feb 12 — Legal experts have rejected the recommendations of the Singhal committee, which was set up to probe whether the selection of candidates for the MBBS and BDS courses for 1997 had been fair and regarding selection of candidates on regional basis.

The committee had recommended that a common entrance test for medical and engineering colleges should be held at one time, results be declared so that selection lists were issued separately for the two regions of Jammu and Kashmir. It had made a specific recommendation that candidates belonging to the Kashmir valley be selected for the medical and REC colleges in the valley and the two colleges in the Jammu region should have seats earmarked for the students belonging to this province.

Soon after the committee submitted its report to the government that Chief Minister sent a team of law experts, including the Law Minister, Mr P.L. Handoo, to Delhi to discuss the recommendations with legal luminaries. The experts turned down the demand for granting admission to professional colleges on regional considerations. The experts told the state government that this was against the fundamental rights and the spirit of the Constitution.

The Singhal committee report and the report of the legal experts were discussed at a meeting and it was decided to follow the existing system. The Cabinet accepted other recommendations of the committee, including fixing a calendar for the conduct of entrance tests by a competent authority so that there was "no inordinate" delay in the declaration of the results. The Cabinet accepted another recommendation regarding the setting up of an advisory committee to guide the competent authority, review its functions, lay down rules pertaining to the tenure of the senior officers of the competent authority. The Cabinet okayed the suggestions of the Singhal committee regarding improvement in the procedure for paper setting, conduct of examinations, supervision of examination centres and compilation of results.

Farooq visits slain principal’s family
From Our Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 12 — The Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, visited the residence of K.K. Badyal at Kali Jani in old city here this afternoon to condole his tragic death and handed over a cheque for Rs 2 lakh to the bereaved family as ex-gratia relief.

Badyal, Principal for the Government Higher Secondary School, Gandhi Nagar, here was recently killed in the school premises.

Consoling the family of the deceased Dr Abdullah said law would take its course and the guilty would be punished. He expressed anguish over the killing of an educationist in front of students and staff, in the school premises. Killers, he said, must face exemplary punishment. He assured the bereaved family of all possible help and said a memorial would be considered in the memory of the deceased principal.