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REGD. NO. JK-71/18-20RNI No. 28547/65Vol No. 55 No. 64 JAMMU, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2019 20 Pages `̀ 5.00

AHMEDABAD, Mar 5:

Prime Minister NarendraModi today used the air strikeanalogy to underscore his willto take on terrorism emanat-ing from Pakistan.

Speaking after launching a

pension scheme for the unorgan-ised sector, Modi said the oppo-sition wants to dislodge him.

"They (opposition) want tostrike Modi, but I want to strikeon terror," Modi said. "Theywant to remove this 'chowkidar'

but I want to fight poverty," headded.

"The honesty of your'chowkidar' is troubling those inopposition. That is the reasonthey are saying Modi hatao,(remove Modi) while I am say-ing that I want to fight poverty

and dishonesty. I am standingfirm due to your support, Modisaid.

Taking potshots at theattempts to cobble up a maha-gathbandhan (grand alliance)against the BJP, Modi said the

opposition parties are forminga 'mahamilavat' (highly adul-terated) combine to removehim.

"But I am working to safe-guard interest of workers andfarmers. I am also working toprovide security, he said.

Modi, who launched thePradhan Mantri Shram YogiMandhan Yojana pensionscheme, targeted Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi over pover-ty, saying only those oblivious tosleeping hungry at night canthink that it is a "state of mind".

For some, poverty is just anopportunity to click photos,Modi said, sharpening his attackon the Congress chief.

"This scheme is aimed atuplift of the section of societywhich has been ignored and leftat the mercy of God.

They (Congress) gave slo-gans of garibi hatao (end pover-ty).

Some projected themselvesas messiah of workers. But dur-ing their tenure they did notlaunch such a scheme, he said.

"They ruled the country for55 years and collected votes inthe name of poor," he said.

"They thought that poverty is

They want to strike Modi,I want to strike on terror: PM

Mohinder VermaJAMMU, Mar 5: Even

after admitting that drug-addiction is still on rise in thelength and breadth of Jammuand Kashmir, the Governmenthas yet not started implemen-tation of Drug De-addictionPolicy, which was notifiednearly two months back afterthe approval of the StateAdministrative Council (SAC)headed by Governor.

The State AdministrativeCouncil vide DecisionNo.10/1/2019 dated January 4,2019 accorded approval to thefirst ever Drug De-addictionPolicy of the State and vide

Order No.41-HME datedJanuary 11, 2019 Governmentadopted the same.

However, till date theGovernment has not startedimplementation of the policydespite being well aware of thefact that drug abuse in the lastfew years has increased mani-fold and is fast proving mali-cious to the society by causingphysical, psychological andintellectual decay, officialsources told EXCELSIOR.

In the policy, roles andresponsibilities of various stake-holders have been clearlydefined by the Health andMedical Education Department

but till date none of them hasstarted acting on the same, theyfurther said, adding "followingapproval of the policy by theSAC it was decided that depart-ment-wise Action Plan would beformulated so as to avoid confu-sion at any level and achieve theobjectives behind the initiativeof the Government".

"The Action Plan hasreportedly been drafted by theHealth and Medical EducationDepartment but the same isyet to be finalized by a com-mittee, which has the mandateto monitor implementation ofthe policy at the State level",

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 5: GovernorSatya Pal Malik and MoS,PMO Dr. Jitendra Singhlaunched the Pradhan MantriShram Yogi Maan Dhan (PM-SYM) scheme, a pensionscheme for unorganised sector,at the Convention Centre heretoday.

Khurshid Ahmed Ganai,Advisor to Governor; JugalKishore Sharma, and ShamsherSingh Manhas, Members ofParliament; Chander Mohan

Gupta, Mayor JMC were amongthe dignitaries present on theoccasion.

Lauding the initiative of theUnion Government in conceptu-alising this exclusive scheme,Governor described it as a sig-nificant step towards benefittingthe workers in country's unor-ganised sector.

Governor announced that thefirst month instalment on behalfof registered beneficiaries willbe contributed by the StateGovernment. Noting that thescheme has been launched withthe highly laudable objective ofproviding social security cover-age to labourers and workers in

Malik, Dr Jitendra launch PM-SYM

Azhar’s son,brother among 44arrested

ISLAMABAD, Mar 5: Jaish-e-Mohammed chief

Masood Azhar's son and brotherwere among 44 members of thebanned militant outfits takeninto "preventive detention",Pakistan said today, amidmounting pressure from theglobal community on it to reinin the terror groups operating onits soil.

"It was decided (at a meet-ing) to speed up action againstall proscribed groups. In com-pliance, 44 under observation

DM to visitHiranagar on Mar 7

Excelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Mar 5: Defence

Minister Nirmala Sitharamanaccompanied by UnionMinister of State in the PrimeMinister’s Office (PMO), DrJitendra Singh will visitHiranagar sector of Kathua dis-trict on March 7.

Sources said the DefenceMinister will inaugurate abridge constructed by the Armyin Hiranagar sector.

They added that earlier thevisit was scheduled for lastweek but due to escalated ten-sion between India and Pakistanin view of air strikes, it waspostponed.

Dheeraj appointedas CEO

Excelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Mar 5: The

Government has appointedDheeraj Gupta, PrincipalSecretary, Housing and UrbanDevelopment Department asChief Executive Officer (CEO),Jammu Metropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority andSrinagar Metropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority.

The order in this regard hasbeen issued by GeneralAdministrative Departmenttoday.

SG to 18 officersExcelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Mar 5: The

Government has accordedSelection Grade (NonFunctional) of the Jammu andKashmir AdministrativeService in favour of 18 officers.

According to the order,Selection Grade (NonFunctional) of Rs 15600-39100with Grade Pay of Rs 7600(Pre-revised) of Jammu andKashmir AdministrativeService has been accorded infavour of 14 officers namelyBabu Ram, Pawan Kumar, DrNargis Suraiya, Asma Hamid,

Northern Comdrfor strict vigil

Excelsior CorrespondentSRINAGAR, Mar 5:

Northern Army Commander, LtGeneral Ranbir Singh, todayasked the troops along the Lineof Control (LoC) to remain vig-ilant and foil any attempts ofinfiltration from Pakistan.

Accompanied by the Chinar

Corps Commander, Lt GeneralKJS Dhillon, the ArmyCommander visited the forwardareas in Kupwara andBaramulla and reviewed the sit-uation along the LoC. He alsovisit Army formations inKupwara and Baramulla dis-

Oppn needs toswitch tracks:Omar

Excelsior CorrespondentSRINAGAR, Mar 5: NC

leader Omar Abdullah saidtoday the opposition partiesneed to switch strategies byfocussing on issues such asrural distress and unemploy-ment in order to deny PrimeMinister Narendra Modi thespace to "politicise" thePulwama terror attack and theBalakote air strike.

The Indian air strike at aJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) ter-ror camp in Pakistan's Balakoteon February 26 came days afterthe suicide bombing inPulwama, claimed by the JeM,in which 44 CRPF personnelwere martyred.

Listened to all, will take call onsimultaneous polls in Delhi: CECSanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, Mar 5: ChiefElection Commissioner (CEC)Sunil Arora said today that adecision on conduct of simul-taneous Lok Sabha andAssembly elections will be

taken shortly and announcedin New Delhi even as he main-tained that the ElectionCommission was taking allsteps for high turnout andfree, fair, peaceful, transpar-ent, ethical and inclusive elec-tions.

Addressing a press confer-ence at the end of two-day visit

to Jammu and Kashmir to takedecision whether to holdAssembly elections with LokSabha polls or defer them,Arora, accompanied by Election

Commissioners Ashok Lavasaand Sushil Chandra, ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO), J&K,Shailendra Kumar and other

officials of the Commission,said during two days they dis-

cussed issues of simultaneouselections with political partiesand took opinion of civil andpolice administration.

"In the past also, we had

been inter-acting with the UnionHome Secretary, the ChiefSecretary and the DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP) ofJ&K. Today, again we havetaken opinion of the officers. Wewill consider the opinion andtake final call on simultaneouselections. The decision will be

announced in New Delhi,'' Arorasaid.

However, the Chief ElectionCommissioner declined to dis-close the views presented byChief Secretary BVR

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Suhail BhatRAJPORA: In the 2014

Assembly elections, the resi-dents of Rajpora constituencybrought People's DemocraticParty (PDP) back to power byvoting overwhelmingly in favorof its candidate, Dr HaseebDrabu, hoping to change theirfortunes. Four years later, theconstituency remains neglectedon the developmental front.

Rajpora has been one of thestrong bastions with the PDPand the party has won this seatsince 2002. In 2014, PDP field-ed Dr Haseeb Drabu from theAssembly segment, who defeat-ed NC candidate GhulamMohiuddin Mir by a majority of4,273 votes. He got 18103

votes, while1383 voteswere polled

by the runner-up. The constituency is facing

multiple problems including bro-ken roads, shabby or missingsewerage, insufficient portablewater and an absence of adequatehealth and educational facilities.Residents in several localitiesalso complained about lack ofconnectivity to their areas.

At one of the biggest vil-lages of the constituency,Murran, residents lamented lack

of development in the villagedespite being identified as"Model Village" in 2002. Theysaid the village has nothing toboast about on developmentfront, "the roads are dilapidated,drainage is missing and streetlights are defunct. There isnothing which can justify itstitle," Waseem Ahmad, a resi-dent said, the village has beenthe victim of political apathy.

A few kilometers away atRohmoo village, peopleexpressed strong resentmentagainst the former MLA who

allegedly failed to address theirproblems. The residents saidthat the village continued tograpple with basic amenitieslike macadamized roads,portable water and most impor-tantly a bridge that connectsabout 14 villages includingRohmoo with Pulwama town.The bridge was washed away in2014 floods and authorities hasfailed to complete it, causingproblems in commuting forthousands of people in the area.

The bridges besides con-necting dozens of villages toeach other form a vital inter-dis-trict link that connects Pulwamadistrict with Budgam viaCharar-e-Sharif and Pakherpora."We have been traveling on dan-

PDP’s bastion since 2002, Rajporaremains badly neglected

Ex-MLAs’ Report Card Constituency: RajporaDr Haseeb Drabu

http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/ex-mlas-report-card/

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Governor Satya Pal Malik handing over PM-SYM card to abeneficiary on Tuesday. -Excelsior/Rakesh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a function inGujarat on Tuesday.

Full Election Commission at a press conference in Jammu on Tuesday. -Excelsior/Rakesh

Tax-free gratuitywill benefit PSU,pvt sector: FM

NEW DELHI, Mar 5:Finance Minister Arun

Jaitley said today the decisionto double tax-free gratuity limitto Rs 20 lakh will benefit publicand private sector employees.

The Government in Budget2019-20 also announced hikingof tax free gratuity to Rs 20 lakhfor employees having service ofmore than five years.

"Income Tax Exemption forGratuity under Section10(10)(iii) of the Income TaxAct has been enhanced to Rs 20lakh. Would benefit all PSUemployees and other employeesnot covered by Payment ofGratuity Act," Finance MinisterArun Jaitley said in a tweet.

Parliament last year passedPayment of Gratuity(Amendment) Bill, 2018,enabling the Government to

Pak Minister sackedover ‘anti-Hindu’

remarksLAHORE, Mar 5:

Pakistan's Punjab provinceGovernment today sacked itsInformation and CultureMinister Fayyazul HassanChohan over his anti-Hinduremarks that invited intensecriticism from senior party lead-ers and the minority communi-ty.

Prime Minister Imran Khantook serious notice of Chohan's'anti-Hindu' remarks and direct-ed Punjab Chief MinisterUsman Buzdar to remove himforthwith, party sources said.

"PTI Punjab Governmenthas removed Fayyaz Chohanfrom the post of PunjabInformation Minister followingderogatory remarks about theHindu community," officialtwitter account of PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf tweeted.

NEW DELHI, Mar 5:

Weeks after the Pulwamaattack, Navy chief AdmiralSunil Lanba today warnedthat there are reports aboutterrorists being trained tocarry out operations throughthe sea.

Addressing a gatheringof global experts at theIndo-Pacific RegionalDialogue here, Lanba saidthe Pulwama attack wasperpetrated by extremiststhat were "aided by a State"that seeks to destabiliseIndia.

"We also have reportsof terrorists being trainedto carry out operations invarious modus operandi,including through themedium of the sea," hesaid.

The 26/11 attack was

carried out by 10 sea-borne ter-rorists of the Lashkar-e-Toiba,who hijacked an Indian fishingtrawler to reach Mumbai andunleash mayhem.

The Navy chief said thispart of the world had wit-

nessed multiple forms of ter-rorism in recent years and fewcountries in the region hadbeen spared.

The global nature that terror-ism has acquired in the recenttimes has further enhanced the

scope of this threat, Lanbasaid.

India, however, faces a"far more serious" version of"state-sponsored" terrorism,he said.

"We recently saw the hor-rific scale of the extremistattack in Jammu and Kashmirabout three weeks ago. Thisviolence was perpetrated byextremists aided and abettedby a State that seeks to desta-bilise India," the Navy chiefsaid without namingPakistan.

On February 14, a suicide

Have reports of militants being trainedfor ops through sea: Navy chief

Fayaz BukhariSRINAGAR, Mar 5: Two

Hizbul Mujahideen militantswere killed in a gun battle inReshipora area of Tral town ofSouth Kashmir's Pulwamadistrict today.

A joint team of Army's42RR, 180 Batallion of CRPFand SOG of police cordoned offReshipora village after credible

input about presence of militantshiding in the area.

As the house to housesearches were going on, thesearch party of the troops wasfired upon by the militants. Thefire was retaliated, leading to agunfight.

The operation was put onhold last night and the cordonwas strengthened so that the mil-

itants may not flee from the vil-lage under the cover of dark-

ness. The firing resumed in the

morning and residents of thearea woke to huge sound ofblasts and gun fire. Theencounter lasted around anhour during which two mili-tants were killed and the bod-ies were recovered from thesite of encounter.

They were identified asAdfar Fayaz Parray son of FayazAhmad Parray, resident ofGulshanpora Tral and IrfanAhmad Rather son of GhulamHassan Rather, resident ofShariefabad, Tral.

As per police records, theywere affiliated with militant out-fit Hizbul Mujahideen. "Theywere involved in conspiring andexecuting several attacks andwere wanted by the law for theircomplicity in a series of militantrelated incidents including theattack on security establish-ments and civilian atrocities.

2 Hizb militants killed in Tral

*Watch video on www.excelsiornews.com

*Watch video on www.excelsiornews.com

*Watch video on www.excelsiornews.com

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Notified 2 months back, implementationof Drug De-addiction Policy yet to begin

State to contributeIst month

installment

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Neither Action Plan nor Monitoring Committees formulated so far

No focus on use of solvents, steroids in health clubs

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Pic on page 6

Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba address-ing global experts in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Contd on page 6 Col 3)

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Traders strike disrupts life

The strike called by vari-ous trade bodies over ban-ning of Jamat-e-Islami andtinkering with Article 35Adisrupted normal life inKashmir today.

Shops and other commer-cial establishments were closedin several parts of Kashmir.Traffic on the roads was thin.

Police and para-militaryCRPF were heavily deployedin the sensitive areas ofSrinagar and other towns toprevent any violence.

‘Committed to free, fair, transparent elections’

EC to take all steps for good turnout

(Contd on page 6 Col 3)

Jawan injuredin Pak shelling

Excelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Mar 5: An Army

soldier was injured as Pakistanarmy again violated ceasefireby resorting to unprovokedmortar shelling and firing ofsmall arms on forward postsand villages at Nowshera andKrishna Ghati sectors inRajouri and Poonch districtsrespectively.

The unprovoked firing fromacross the border was retaliatedvery effectively and strongly bythe Indian troops at all theplaces in Nowshera and KrishnaGhati sectors.

Official sources said anArmy jawan, guarding a for-ward post in Kalal area ofNowshera sector, suffered abullet injury in the firing fromacross the border and was sub-sequently admitted to a hospi-tal.

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All parties in Jammu too favour

Assembly pollsRepresentatives of differ-

ent political parties here metthe visiting team of ElectionCommission of India todayand advocated holding ofState Assembly polls simulta-neously with the Lok Sabhaelections. Similar were theviews of political parties,which met the Commission inSrinagar yesterday.

National Conferenceprovincial presidentDevender Singh Rana said

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