Delhi: 300 vehicles charred in fire

Jammu, Dec 19 (IANS) Union Home Minister, Amit Shah is scheduled to chair a high level Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) security review meeting on Thursday, which will be the first such meeting after an elected government took office in the Union Territory.

Security and law & order continue to remain the responsibility of the Union government since J&K is a Union Territory.

The meeting will be attended by J&K Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, senior officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs, chiefs of Intelligence agencies, J&K DGP, chiefs of CAPFs and others connected with the anti-terrorist grid.

The meeting will especially address the issues related to the series of terror attacks that took place immediately after an elected government took office in J&K.

On October 20, two terrorists, a foreign mercenary and a local terrorist entered the workers camp of an infrastructure company in Gagangir area of Ganderbal district and fired indiscriminately.

Seven civilians including six workers of the company and a local doctor were killed in this attack.

On October 24, terrorists attacked an Army vehicle in Botapathri area of Gulmarg killing three soldiers and two civilian porters.

On November 2, terrorists hurled a powerful hand grenade at the busy Sunday Market near the Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) in Srinagar. A 42-year old woman, mother of 3 children, was killed this explosion and 9 other civilians were injured.

Intelligence agencies believe that the handlers of terrorism sitting across the border have got frustrated after the peaceful, people participative Lok Sabha and legislative elections in J&K and the terrorists have been directed to give the dying terrorism the last push in J&K.

Even though the statistics stand to prove that both the number of terrorist attacks and casualties have come down since 2019 when article 370 was abrogated and J&K divided into two UTs, yet the attempts to revive terrorism by the enemy remains a major security concern for the union home ministry.

In 2019, 50 civilians were killed in terrorist attacks while 14 have been killed this year till date. Statistics apart, the thrust of terrorism has remained on non-local foreign mercenaries after 2019 while local youth have largely dissociated from joining militant ranks.

–IANS

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Bhubaneswar, Dec 22 (IANS) The Mohan Charan Majhi-led government has directed the Collectors of districts affected due to the recent unseasonal rainfall in Odisha to carry out proper assessment of the damages to crops, Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari said on Sunday.

Speaking to media persons, Revenue Minister Pujari said: “The Collectors have been instructed to carry out the proper assessment of crop loss due to the unseasonal rainfall. The assessment couldn’t be carried out properly due to rainfall which continued till yesterday.

“The revenue officials- Tehsildars, Revenue Inspectors, Amins- from the unaffected areas have also been roped in to do assessment of the loss in the affected areas of the state. The assessment will be conducted accurately after the rain subsides.”

Pujari assured the farmers that the state government will provide adequate compensation for the crop loss and also extend help for the sale of the remaining crops. The Revenue Minister stated that he would personally visit the affected areas, if needed.

Meanwhile, the state government has urged the farmers who are insured their Kharif crops under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Kharif -2024) to report about the crop loss due to the unseasonal rainfall to avail the insurance compensation.

As per a press statement of the state government, the harvested crops of farmers in many coastal and interior districts — Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Boudh, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Deogarh, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kandhamal, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Khordha, Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Nawrangpur, Nayagarh, Puri and Raygada, would have been damaged due to the unseasonal rainfall over the last two days.

“About 15 lakh farmers from these districts have been enrolled under the scheme. The farmers who have insured their Kharif crops under PMFBY (Kharif -2024) are required to report loss of their harvested crops for claiming insurance compensation,” the statement read.

The farmers have been advised to upload the information on crop loss using “Krishi Rakshak” App within 72 hours of the crop loss or inform through the help line No 14447.

The state government further said that the post-harvest loss is covered under PMFBY – Crop Insurance Scheme, if the crop loss has occurred in cut & spread condition or in small bundled condition within 14 days of harvest.

The insurance compensation will be paid to the farmers after a joint survey of the affected fields by the officials of implementing insurance companies and government officers.

The compensation will be paid to insured farmers on the entire sum insured amount based on the loss.

–IANS

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Kolkata, Dec 17 (IANS) A new bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday heard the bail plea by former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee in the multi-crore cash-for-school job case and reserved its judgement.

On November 20, a division bench of Justice Arijit Bandopadhya and Justice Apruba Sinha Roy delivered a split judgement on the bail petition by Chatterjee and eight others accused in the case.

While Justice Bandopadhya pronounced in favour of bail for Chatterjee and eight others accused in the case, Justice Sinha Roy rejected the same for Chatterjee and four others.

Thereafter the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice allotted the bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty to hear the matter, the detailed hearing for which was completed on Tuesday.

The counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), since the beginning, has been opposing the bail plea for Chatterjee and four others on grounds that all these four accused are so influential that there are chances of tampering with the evidence and influencing the witnesses, if released on bail. The counsel also said that the trial process against them could not be conducted because of the lack of necessary approval from the state government which is required for state government employees.

The CBI counsel also opposed the argument of the counsels of the accused that the clients should be granted bail considering their age, arguing that there is no legal logic behind granting bail to anyone because of their age.

Two parallel cases are going on against the former state minister, one registered by the CBI and the other by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Chatterjee was arrested in July 2022 by the ED after huge amounts of cash and gold were recovered from the twin residences of his close aide Arpita Mukherjee. Since then, a solitary cell at Presidency Central Correctional Home became his abode and his bail petitions one after another were rejected at different courts. Mukherjee has been in judicial custody since then.

Soon after his arrest, his Trinamool announced his removal from all administrative and organisational posts. The party even abolished the post of Secretary General, which was specially created to give Chatterjee a party rank somewhat equivalent to a national General Secretary.

–IANS

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