Lashing out at the former Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha for his constant diatribe against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), senior PDP leader Tariq Hameed Qarra has accused Gen Sinha of having gone astray following his unceremonious exit from the State's gubernatorial post.

SRINAGAR : The residents of Kralgund, Batchi, Ashpora, Harwat and Muqam in Handwara held a strong protest demonstration against the Public Health Engineering (PHE) authorities for non-availability of water supply in these villages for past two weeks. They maintained that the non-availability of drinking water in the villages has forced them to consume contaminated water from Nallah Mawar due to which, at least 25 persons have already become victims of dehydration and other intestinal infections.

Jammuites heaved a sigh of relief from the hot and humid weather after heavy rains lashed several parts of the region this morning. The rains also brought relief for curfew-hit city residents, who were facing unscheduled long power curtailments after the mother Grid Station Gladni was damaged in a fire here on Wednesday night. Heavy rains lashed almost all the parts of the region, reports here said. "The downpour in Jammu city was measured 20.5 mm in the morning," Met department said.

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to interfere in Jammu and Kashmir government order to revoke the transfer of land to Sri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). The bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir also declined to entertain the prayer seeking directions for the lifting of curfew in Jammu. The apex court said that it was an administrative matter and court has no voice in it. Hearing a PIL filed by Prof. Bhim Singh, Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party, the apex court, however, ordered the state government

Yielding to the public pressure in Valley, the state government today finally cancelled its earlier order to divert 800 kanals of land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). The government also decided to make land available to the tourism department from Jammu to holy cave on Pahalgam and Baltal routes for creating required infrastructure and providing logistic support for the pilgrims. The government also assured that it would not interfere in the religious affairs of Amarnath yatra.

Dissatisfied with the cabinet's decision of revoking the order of transfer of land to the Shrine Board, the state unit of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) today warned that the agitation for Amarnath issue will go nationwide. "The cabinet's decision today at Srinagar has made it clear that Jammu and Kashmir government is being run by Kashmir-centric leadership," Ashok Khajuria, BJP state president told mediapersons at a press conference here this afternoon.

MENDHAR : The shopkeepers of Mendhar town today observed a shutdown for couple of hours in protest against the losses occurred due to the flash floods in the area. Flash floods caused by heavy rains caused havoc in the area resulting in losses worth lakhs of rupees as the water entered the shops and houses near nallah in Dori Kassi area. This triggered protest in the town today. The shopkeepers downed their shutters from 11 AM to 1PM and also disrupted the vehicular traffic for couple of hours. The local people of the area today led by

The residents of Khrew and Khanmoh in Pampore Tehsil have expressed serious concern over the increasing number of cement manufacturing factories, which they said have become major source of pollution in the area. Demanding that the factories should either be closed down or shifted to some uninhabited areas, the residents maintained that cement plants continue to affect the growth and production of saffron fields and other vegetations badly.

Reiterating government's commitment to ensure equitable development of all the regions of the state, Minister for Rural Development and Panchyat Raj Mula Ram inaugurated Gurah Pattan lift irrigation scheme worth Rs. 110.46 lakh from Ranbir Canal here today. This project had been started in 2004-05 under NABARD in the left bank of river Chenab in Ranbir Canal to cater to the irrigation requirements of agriculture land of 800 acres.

KATHUA : A seven member committee was constituted by District Development Commissioner Kathua, Sarita Chauhan today to sort out the problem arising due to flooding of National Highway from Kalibari to Kathua town due to unpredictably heavy rainfall on the intervening night of June 7 and 8. The heavy downpour resulted in water entering the houses of people and water logging on the National Highway.