At the inauguration of Gujjar Desh Charitable Trusts Centre for Culture and Heritage by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi,the clapping from the audience was the loudest whenever the name of Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was mentioned. The organisers had the blessings of Pradesh Congress chief Saifuddin Soz and the function was organised to pave the way for the entry of Trust chairman Choudhary Masood into the Congress. The move,political observers say,was aimed at cutting to size Congress Legislature Party leader Choudhary Aslam an Azad loyalist. Whenever organisers took the name of Azad,there was loud clapping,causing unrest among the detractors of the Union Health Minister present at the function. They later attributed it to the hijacking of the function by Azad loyalists. Gujjars dissatisfied with state Govt response Nearly a fortnight after thousands of Gujjars and Bakerwal families along with their livestock got trapped in the northwestern Himalayas due to unprecedented rains and snowfall,the state government is yet to know the exact toll. Stating that only two nomads have died and 5,000 livestock perished in Warwan so far,the officials say that they,along with the Army and Air Force,have launched rescue operations. Needless to say Gujjar leaders are not satisfied with the governments response. Alleging that over 100 nomads are missing and 30,000 livestocks have perished so far,they have asked the Centre to order an inquiry by a Supreme Court judge into the delay in the rescue operations. Census survey: Fate of migrants hangs in balance Nearly 50,000 families migrated from West Pakistan during Partition and settled around Jammu. Though Indian citizens,they do not enjoy the status of permanent residents of the state in view of the special status enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370. As a result,they exercise their right to franchise during the Lok Sabha elections but are not entitled to cast vote during Assembly polls. With Census officials holding that no non-state subject will be added into the national population register of the state and giving the example of Governor N N Vohra being shown as a permanent resident of Gurgaon in Haryana,the fate of the permanent residency of these families hangs in the balance. Power woes: Blame it on resin extraction Power supply was restored in Kishtwar district last week. It took the lid off the havoc caused by unscrupulous elements involved in extraction of resin. The power supply had got snapped following damage to the 132 KVA transmission line between Udhampur and Kishtwar near Doda. The administration attributed the damage to a tree which got uprooted during recent rains and fell on the transmission line. Officials held people involved in extraction of resin responsible for it. Pointing out that such incidents were bound to happen,they said excessive extraction of resin from trees grown along the transmission line has made their stems hollow and they fall on the transmission line whenever it rains.
