Excelsiordaily

REGD.NO.JK-71/15-17RNI No. 28547/65Vol No. 53 No. 360 JAMMU, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2017 16 Pages `̀ 5.00

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 29: ThePDP-BJP CoordinationCommittee will meet heretomorrow to discuss and final-ize the coalition Government'sstrategy for upcoming budgetsession of the Legislature andPanchayat elections among ahost of others.

Deputy Chief Minister DrNirmal Singh, Chairman of theCoordination Committee, willpreside over nine-memberCoordination Committee meet-ing.

Dr Singh told the Excelsiorthat the Coordination Committeewill meet here tomorrow at 5 pmand take up number of issuesincluding PDP-BJP AllianceGovernment's floor strategy forboth Houses of the Legislaturefor budget session, beginningJanuary 2 and Panchayat elec-tions in the State, which arescheduled to start from February15.

The CoordinationCommittee members includedDr Nirmal Singh, Chairman,Jugal Kishore Sharma, LokSabha member from Jammu-Poonch seat, ThupstanChewang, Lok Sabha memberfrom Ladakh, Shamsher SinghManhas, Rajya Sabha memberand Narinder Singh, State gener-al secretary, all BJP, Revenueand Parliamentary Affairs

Minister Abdul Rehman Veeri,Sartaj Madni, State vice presi-dent, Dillawar Mir, formerMinister and Tarlok SinghBajwa, former Rajya Sabhamember, all from PDP.

Sources said general situa-tion in Jammu and Kashmir,both on security and politicalfronts, yesterday's expansion ofCouncil of Ministry and CentreGovernment's dialogue initiativeon Jammu and Kashmir throughSpecial RepresentativeDineshwar Sharma, were alsolikely to figure in the meeting.

"Besides, all members cantake up any issue of theirchoice in the CoordinationCommittee meeting for discus-sions,'' sources said, addingthat the BJP members couldrake up the issue of

Mohinder VermaJAMMU, Dec 29:

Harnessing solar energy is theleast priority for all the con-cerned agencies in Jammu andKashmir despite the fact thatState has second highestpotential in the country afterRajasthan. Moreover, due toabsolute non-seriousness thefate of two Ultra Mega and aSolar City Projects is hangingin balance during the past sev-eral years.

As per the study conductedby the National Institute of SolarEnergy (NISE), Jammu andKashmir has solar power poten-tial of 111.05 GWp (Gigawatt-peak), which is the second high-est in the country after Rajasthanwhere the potential is 142.32GWp. None of the other Statesin the country have the potentialeven up to 65 GWp.

“However, no seriousattempts are being made toharness this potential to makethe State self reliant in this sec-tor", sources said while dis-closing that during 2016-17year merely 0.77 Million Unitsof electricity was generatedfrom solar energy.Astonishingly, during the cur-rent year not even single unit

of electricity has been generat-ed from renewable energy tilldate.

Notwithstanding the fact thatsolar energy can play crucialrole in meeting the electricityrequirement of the State, thepotential is being harnessed onlyfor operating solar lanterns andlamps, street lights and pumps incertain parts of the State.However, majority of suchlanterns and lamps remaindefunct due to non-seriousnesson the part of Jammu andKashmir Energy DevelopmentAgencies (JAKEDA), sourcesinformed.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that the States which havefar less potential as compared toJammu and Kashmir have beenable to generate several hun-dreds of million units of electric-ity from solar energy.

Keeping in view solar ener-gy potential particularly inLadakh region, some yearsback the Union Governmenthad sanctioned two projects-one each for Leh and Kargil togenerate 7500 Mega Watts ofsolar power and even a

Memorandum ofUnderstanding was signedbetween the Union Ministry ofNew and Renewable Energyand Science and TechnologyMinistry of Jammu andKashmir.

Thereafter, the State Cabinetaccorded formal sanction forsetting up of two Ultra MegaSolar Power Projects and even ahigh-level coordination commit-tee was constituted to give prac-tical shape to the projects."However, there is no progresson these projects despite lapse ofseveral years", sources said.

The intensity of non-serious-ness can be gauged from the factthat even concerned authoritieslike Leh and Kargil EnergyDevelopment Agencies failed togive any satisfactory reply whenapproached by EXCELSIOR toascertain the reasons behinddilly-dallying approach on boththe projects.

It is worthwhile to mentionhere that average solar energy atLeh is 5530 Whr/m2/day whilethe estimated average for Kargiland Nubra is 5390 Whr/m2/day

Not even single unit generated during current year so far

Excelsior CorrespondentNEW DELHI, Dec 29:

Union Home Minister RajnathSingh today said that the secu-rity situation in Jammu andKashmir has considerablyimproved with the efforts ofthe security forces and thedevelopment initiatives under-taken by both the Centre andthe State.

He made these remarkswhile chairing an inter-ministe-rial meeting, convened heretoday to discuss developmentissues in Jammu and Kashmirbesides Left Wing Extremism-affected States and the Northeastregion.

The high-level meet dis-cussed improvement of commu-nication infrastructure in theJ&K State, particularly Ladakhregion, strengthening of educa-

tion system in Jammu Kashmirand other developmental issues.

The meeting was attended byMinister for Science andTechnology, Earth Science andEnvironment, Forest andClimate Change, Dr HarshVardhan; Minister for HumanResource Development, PrakashJavadekar; Minister of State forCommunications (Incharge) andRailways, Manoj Sinha, MoSHome Hansraj Gangaram Ahir,Secretaries and other senior offi-cers of the Ministries.

According to an officialspokesman, the Union HomeMinister said that security sit-uation in the militancy infestJammu Kashmir had shownconsiderable improvement

and it was time to move for-ward with speed on the devel-opmental front.

Maintaining that the overallsituation in J&K was well con-trol, Rajnath Singh stressed thatit was made possible due to theefforts of security forces anddevelopment initiatives under-taken by the incumbentGovernments at Centre and theState. “Now it is time to moveforward with speed on the devel-opment front,” he added.

Besides J&K, the UnionHome Minister said, the overallsecurity situation in the country,including Naxal hit area and theNortheast region had also shownconsiderable improvement.

J&K security situationimproved: Rajnath

INSIDE WEATHERMake Jammu Cancer Institute functional* River bed encroachments ....Page 8Drabu reviews expenditure, liability position of keydepartments ....Page 3Govt terminates 8 doctorsfor unauthorisedabsence ....Page 3Intl convention on ‘KashmirShaiva Drishti-ConnectingGeNext’ begins ...Page 5Kavinder reviewsRs 380 cr proposal forflyover projects ....Page 7Viswanathan Anand wins World Rapid ChessChampionship ...Page 14

JAMMU : Mainly dry

TEMPERATUREMax: 23.4 Degree C Min: 7.6 Degree C

RELATIVE HUMIDITYRH-I (Morning): 55.0 per centRH-II (Evening): 58.0 per centSunset on Saturday: 05.36 p.m.Sunrise on Sunday: 07.33 a.m.

SRINAGAR:Mainly dry

TEMPERATUREMax: 12.4 Degree C Min: -2.8 Degree C

RELATIVE HUMIDITYRH-I (Morning): 93.0 per centRH-II (Evening): 55.0 per cent

LEH: TEMPERATURE

Max: 4.5 Degree C Min: -11.4 Degree C

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CWC submits UjhDPR to J&K

NEW DELHI, Dec 29:

The Central WaterCommission has submitted aDetailed Project Report (DPR)of the Ujh multi- purpose proj-ect to the Jammu and KashmirGovernment for evaluation, anofficial release said today.

The project will storearound 0.65 million acre-feet(MAF) of water of the river Ujh(a tributary of river Ravi) to irri-gate nearly 30,000 hectares ofland and produce more than 200MW of hydro-power, it said.

HC issues warrant against

Director TourismExcelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Dec 29:Taking serious note on casualapproach of higher ups inTourism Department on Courtdirections, High Court todayissued warrant against itsDirector to be executed throughSenior Superintendent of Police(SSP) Srinagar.

Facing contempt proceed-ings, the Director Tourism wasdirected to show cause as towhy he shall not be punishedfor contempt of Court order,instead remaining presentbefore the Court for today'sproceedings, he filed applica-tion seeking exemption of per-sonal appearance while as hewas supposed to answer as towhy not be punished for dis-obeying the Court orders.

Farah Bashir, Counsel forthe petitioner submitted beforethe Court of Justice AliMohammad Magrey that thegrounds taken in the applica-tion seeking exemption frompersonal appearance are not suf-ficient.

She also added that notonly the Director was havingthe knowledge of the Courtorder dated 28.11.2017 but alsothe Secretary to Tourism

BJP crucialmeet today

Excelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Dec 29: The

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)will hold crucial strategy meet-ing here tomorrow, which willbe attended among others byparty’s national general secre-tary (organizations) Ram Laland Union Minister of State inPrime Minister’s Office (PMO)Dr Jitendra Singh.

All party Ministers in theState Government, Members ofParliament, MLAs, MLCs,State office bearers, districtpresidents and other senior

Govt extendsdeadline for GSTreturns

NEW DELHI, Dec 29:

The Government todayextended by 10 days the lastdate for filing of final salesreturn GSTR-1 till January 10under the Goods and ServicesTax.

Businesses with a turnoverof up to Rs 1.5 crore will haveto file GSTR-1 for July-September by January 10, 2018,as against December 31, 2017earlier, as per a Governmentnotification.

A Shikara boat in the middle of Dal lake on a cold day in Srinagar. -Excelsior/Shakeel

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ATM with cashtaken away

Excelsior CorrespondentSRINAGAR, Dec 29:

Unidentified people took awayan Automated Teller Machine(ATM) of State Bank of India(SBI), along with cash in South

Kashmir district of Anantnagduring the intervening night ofThursday and Friday, officialsources said.

They said robbers brokeopen shutter of a shop in whichthe SBI ATM was installed.They later took away the ATM

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Dr Dara Singh resumes charge

Excelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Dec 29: The State

Government today ordereddetachment of Dr Dara Singhallowing him to resume hisduties as Incharge MedicalSuperintendent GovernmentMedical College, Jammu.

“In the interest of adminis-tration, Dr Dara Singh, present-ly attached with Director HealthServices, Jammu, is herebydetached and is allowed toresume his duties as InchargeMedical Superintendent, GMCJammu,” says an order, issued

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Sanjeev PargalJAMMU, Dec 29: Jammu

and Kashmir’s general budgetfor 2018-19 could, for the firsttime, touch around Rs 85,000crores and Rs 1.5 lakh crore ifcollective revenue plus expen-diture were taken, whichwould lead to massive infra-structure development in theState, giving further push togrowth rate, which was closeto 7 per cent, better than thecountry.

The growth rate and massiveincrease in upcoming budgetwere possible due to series ofreforms initiated by the FinanceMinistry including clubbing of

29 Departments into four sec-tors, doing away with Plan,Non-Plan System, presentationof early budget and endingTreasury system in the State.

The budget size for nextFinancial Year of 2018-19,which will be presented byFinance Minister Dr HaseebDrabu in the LegislativeAssembly on January 11, couldbe around the size of Rs 80,000cr to Rs 85,000 crore. The com-bined revenue and expenditurebudget could be around Rs 1.5lakh crore.

Meanwhile, FinanceMinister Dr Haseeb Drabu,

who will be presenting hisfourth budget in a row, toldthe Excelsior that the FinanceMinistry has decided to takeback 25 per cent unspentamount if the expenditure byDecember 31 was below 50 percent.

“We had fixed the deadlineof December 31 for 75 per centexpenditure and left only 25 percent expenditure for last quarteri.e. between January 1 to March31 with a view to avoid “finan-cial indiscipline’’ and ensuretimely execution of works. If theexpenditure is around 60 percent, it’s alright but if it’s below

50 per cent, we are going to takeback 25 per cent amount,’’ DrDrabu said, adding this wouldserve as deterrent and ensuretimely expenditure of amountnext year.

He said this was one of themajor reforms initiated by theFinance Ministry to overcome“yearend rush’’ of utilization offunds, under the garb of which“misappropriation of funds’’was also reported. However,with streamlined system of theFinance Ministry fixing quarter-ly deadlines of expenditure, only25 per cent funds have been left

J&K’s budget likely to go up toRs 85,000 cr for first time

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 29: In aPublic Interest Litigation(PIL) seeking State VigilanceOrganization (SVO) probeinto allotment scam in JammuMunicipal Corporation,Division Bench of the StateHigh Court comprising ChiefJustice Badar Durrez Ahmedand Justice Sanjeev Kumartoday issued notices toCommissioner Secretaries ofGeneral AdministrationDepartment, Housing andUrban DevelopmentDepartment, CommissionerJammu Municipal Corporationand Director State VigilanceOrganization.

The notices have also been

issued to Jeet Lal Gupta, formerCommissioner SecretaryHousing and UrbanDevelopment Department, R SJamwal, former JointCommissioner (Adm) JammuMunicipal Corporation, MadanMohan Khajooria, former PA toJMC Commissioner, BharatBhushan, driver JMC, SurinderKumar, PSO to CommissionerSecretary H&UDD, BalbirSingh (driver SUDA), NarinderSharma (President NGO-PEACE), Chain Singh, son ofChhato Ram and Kharati Lal,son of Mani Ram seeking theirresponse on or before February16, 2018.

In the PIL filed by IrtizaMushtaq, a practicing lawyer of

J&K High Court and also an RTIactivist, prayer has been madefor quashment of orders where-by Jammu MunicipalCorporation has allotted 10Municipal Flats situated atGandhi Nagar on pick andchoose basis to various ex-offi-cers of JMC including some pri-vate persons.

When the PIL came up forhearing, Advocate SheikhShakeel Ahmed withAdvocates Rahul Raina, SurajSingh and Supriya Chouhanappearing for the petitionersubmitted that videCommunication No. JMC/RB/ 1516 dated September 21,2017 the Jammu MunicipalCorporation furnished the

information to the petitionerunder J&K RTI Act, 2009 andafter perusing the RTI infor-mation it came to light thatJMC has indulged in makingillegal/arbitrary allotments of10 prime Municipal Flats/Quarters situated at GandhiNagar in favour of the officerswho had served in JMC at sen-ior positions and later super-annuated.

"The JMC has continued toextend allotments up to 40 yearsat a meager rent of Rs 600 to Rs900 per month", AdvocateAhmed said, adding formerCommissioner Secretary Housingand Urban DevelopmentDepartment Jeet Lal Gupta hasbeen a major beneficiary of the

Fate of 2 Ultra Mega, Solar CityProjects hanging in balance

Harnessing solar energy least priorityin J&K despite having huge potential

DB issues notices to GAD, H&UDDSecys, former IAS officer, others

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Fayaz BukhariSRINAGAR, Dec 29: In a

landmark judgment, HighCourt today held that landacquisition notice cannot bechallenged by way of writ peti-tion before High Court as it isin the larger public interest.

Hearing an appeal filed byone Hajra against the awardpassed for her land acquisitionfor public purpose, the DivisionBench of Justice RamalingamSudhakar and Justice M KHanjura dismissed the appealwith the finding that no writpetition can be filed to challengethe acquisition notice.

"It is trite to say that after theaward is passed, no writ petitioncan be filed to challenge theacquisition notice or against any

proceedings there under. It iswithin the power and the author-ity of the Government to decidewhether the acquisition is, or isnot, required for public pur-pose", DB said.

Upholding the judgment ofthe writ Court, DB said, it isclear and vivid and cannot beinterfered with. "It is based onthe sound foundations of thelaw and reason. The judg-ments and the law cited andrelied upon by the writ Courtto decide and determine thepetition of the petitioner aresuited to the purpose pro-pounded under it", DB said.

Underscoring that smallerpublic interest has to give way tothe larger public interest Courtsaid, these are pertinent to thefacts and the circumstances of

the case.DB also said that the interest

of justice and the public purposegrow together and these are theindispensable conditionsembedded in the matter of theland acquisitions.

To address her grievances,Court said, she has an alterna-tive remedy available to herunder Section 18 of the Jammu& Kashmir Land AcquisitionAct. "To this it may, however, beadded that the appeal of theappellant is ineffective, incom-plete, incompetent and defec-tive", Court said.

It is pertinent to mentionhere, Court said, that it is for theGovernment to decide that a par-ticular acquisition was required

Land acquisition notice can’tbe challenged: HC

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CC meets today to discuss Sessionstrategy, Panchayat polls

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PIL seeking SVO probe into ‘allotment scam’ in JMCBJP may rake up

discrimination

Govt to take back 25% funds if Dec 31 deadline not met

Lakhanpur Toll not part of GST: Drabu

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Pic on page 6

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Improvement of education, communication, infra discussed

Special emphasis on

Ladakh

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh chairing inter-ministe-rial meeting on development issues in J&K and other States atNew Delhi on Friday.

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