After the suspension for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Amarnath Yatra 2022 will commence on June 30 and conclude on August 11, said Nitishwar Kumar, CEO, Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, on Thursday. Kumar also informed that the registration for Amarnath Yatra would begin on April 11 this year.

“Amarnath Yatra 2022 will start on June 30 and conclude on August 11. So the registration will start on April 11. The pilgrims can also register online through the website and mobile app of the Shrine Board,” the board official said.

He said that a Yatri Niwas had been made in the Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir, which can accommodate 3000 pilgrims.

The board expects an average footfall of more than three lakh pilgrims in the shrine this year.

“Registration for Yatra will start on April 11 in 446 Branches of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, PNB Bank, Yes Bank and 100 branches of SBI Bank across the country. We’re expecting more than three lakh pilgrims. In Ramban, a Yatri Niwas has been made to accommodate 3000 pilgrims,” he stated.

He further added, “RFID will be given to pilgrims by which the Shrine board can track the pilgrims. The insurance coverage period for pony handlers increased to one year. The insurance cover for pilgrims increased from Rs 3 lakh to 5 lakh this year.”

Out of all Hindu deities, Lord Shiva is worshipped not only by Indians but also by people of other countries. To get closer to their revered God, who appears on this earth in the unique form of an ice Lingam, millions of devotees trek through the daunting mountains to Shri Amarnathji Shrine in South Kashmir every year in the summer months to pay their obeisance.

The Amarnath Yatra could not be held in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even in 2019, the yatra was suspended a few days before August 5, when the Centre abrogated Article 370 and revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, dividing the state into two union territories.

Three persons, including a woman, were killed after the motorcycle they were riding hit a road divider in the Garani area of J&K’s Udhampur district on Friday.

A police official said that the accident occurred when a motorcycle, JK02B 4739, moving on the highway, hit a divider, causing injuries to all three riders.

The official said they were all shifted to Udhampur district hospital and declared dead.

The deceased have been identified as Shanti Devi age, 40, wife of Saleem; Saleem age, 45, son of Goga and Sameer alias Rinku, 20, daughter of Saleem, all residents of Arnas in district Reasi.

In a major political development, two former MLAs from Jammu & Kashmir are likely to join Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi on Friday. Sources said that two former MLAs from the Panthers Party-Balwant Singh Mankotia and Yashpal Kundal- are likely to join AAP in the presence of its supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

While Mankotia, Kundal, DDC member Taranjit Singh Tony flew to New Delhi, Harshdev is already camping in Jammu, and his pictures with Delhi deputy CM and key AAP leader Manish Sisodia have appeared on social media. Apart from former MLAs, DDC member Taranjit Singh Tony and several BDC members, Sarpanchs and Panchs are expected to join AAP tomorrow.

“Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is the last hope for the people of Jammu and Kashmir as BJP, which enjoyed the support of one and all, junked people after betraying them badly on all fronts,” Tony said before leaving for New Delhi to join AAP. According to observers, it would be interesting to watch whether AAP could dent the electoral prospects of the BJP in Jammu.

On the other hand, the BJP leadership claimed that AAP’s entry wouldn’t impact its electoral prospects, but they said delaying elections is disadvantageous to the party.

It has been learnt that several former ministers, legislators, retired bureaucrats and business people from J&K are in touch with AAP leadership and could join the party in the next few weeks.

In a brief interaction with JK Media J&K, BJP Chief Ravinder Raina proclaimed, ” Leave all the worries aside as there is no one to challenge BJP”.

Excerpts from the interview :

Q: In one of your recent rallies, you have promised people free water and electricity. Is it on the lines of AAP that now all the political parties, along with the BJP, are following the suit to woo the voters?

• We highly appreciate the vision of our PM when he talks about “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas, Sabka Vishwaas”. It is needless to mention that he has done a lot to improve the standards of the poor and underprivileged, be it the supply of free rations, free vaccination, and free LPG connections under the Ujjawala Yojana, free Ayushman Card and countless other benefits and schemes. Hence when the PM is working relentlessly towards improving the condition of deprived sections, it eventually becomes our topmost priority to follow in the footsteps of Modi Ji. So the time J&K has BJP Chief Minister, we guarantee subsidized water and electricity to the people of the UT.

Q . How would you react to the remarks made by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on the movie “The Kashmir Files” by calling it a lie and thereby insulting the sufferings of Kashmiri pandits?

• It’s back in the 1990s when those horrific killings took place at that time Arvind Kejriwal would have been enjoying in a five-star hotel somewhere in Delhi little did he have an idea of what the people of J&K went through, be it the genocide and mass exodus of Kashmiri pandits from the valley, atrocities faced by Sikhs, and several incidents of violence by terror outfits in the Jammu region also. And not only Kashmiri pandits various Muslim patriots have also suffered during those dark years. So our heart cries whenever such baseless statements are made by anyone out there.

Q. Bhagwat Mann had promised the regularisation of around 30,000 daily wagers in Punjab. Again, similar claims have been made by your party, but we don’t see any groundwork being done in this direction, and even LG Manoj Sinha has maintained silence on this issue. What do you have to say?

• The documentation of around 12,000 PDD employees is underway soon, their services will be regularised, and the employees working under various other departments of the state will also be regularised. So there is a set of the complete procedure, but we’ll resolve all the issues sooner or later.

Aditi Tikku

Today, Er Abdul Ghani Kohli, former Minister, J&K, called on Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhavan.

The former Minister, accompanied by representatives of nomadic tribes, discussed various matters pertaining to the welfare of nomadic people with the Lt Governor. They put forth the demands of facilities like transportation and offline permission options for smooth migration of nomads to high-altitude regions of the UT, besides establishing an Eklavya Model School at Kalakote and other demands.

While interacting with the delegation, the Lt Governor said that the UT Government is taking dedicated initiatives for the holistic welfare of all tribal people of J&K.

The Lt Governor assured them that the issues and demands would be looked into for their early redressal on merit.

Terrorists are not liking the wind of peace flowing in Kashmir. So nowadays, terrorists are targeting security forces and people from outside states.

Terrorists shot non-local drivers in Pulwama. He was immediately admitted to the nearest hospital for treatment. The driver has been identified as Sonu Sharma, son of Banarasi Sharma, resident of Pathankot. Other details are awaited.

Reasi Police claimed to have busted a gang involved in selling fake helicopter tickets to Vaishno Devi pilgrims with the arrest of three accused from Bihar. Police also identified 40 websites involved in selling phoney helicopter tickets to pilgrims.

Reasi SSP Amit Gupta said, “Police had registered three separate FIRs at Katra police station based on complaints regarding fake online helicopter tickets being sold to Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims. Special teams were framed under the supervision of Katra SP Amit Bhasin and were dispatched to various parts of the country for the arrest of the accused involved in the crime. After a hectic investigation, a team headed by Kuljeet Singh, SDPO Katra, zeroed in on some places in Bihar and subsequently raided various locations and nabbed three fraudsters from Bahadurpur area in Khagaria district of Bihar.”

All accused were brought to Katra after obtaining a transit remand from the court. The accused were identified as Ashok Mistri, Santosh Kumar and Lakhpati Paswan. Police also claimed to have seized incriminating material from their possession. “Moreover, during the investigation, 40 fake websites selling fake helicopter tickets to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims were identified and blocked,” the SSP said.

Last month on March 18, Jammu Police, with assistance from Rajasthan Police had, busted a gang of fraudsters offering fake online helicopter tickets to Vaishno Devi pilgrims through fake websites and had arrested four people.

A lookout notice has been issued against former Jammu and Kashmir minister Babu Singh who has gone underground after his name figured as a suspect in a hawala transaction case here, officials said Wednesday.

Singh’s link to the case surfaced after the police Thursday arrested Mohmmad Shareef Shah (64) and seized Rs 7 lakh of alleged hawala money from him.

The seized cash was allegedly meant to support the insurgency in the Jammu district, the police said.

“We have issued a lookout notice for Babu Singh,” a senior police officer told PTI, adding that the Jammu senior superintendent of police issued the notice.

The J&K Police has also informed airport authorities at various places so that Singh does not flee the country, they said the police are focusing on various areas in different states to track Singh down. On Friday, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh had said that the politician is absconding and will be traced soon.

“After his questioning, a complete picture will emerge in the case which is linked to Pakistan and separatism,” he had said, adding that some people have already been arrested, and the money trail indicates that the fund was meant for subversive and anti-national activities.

Shareef Shah, a resident of south Kashmir, was arrested with the Hawala money on March 31 in the Gandhi Nagar area of Jammu on Thursday.

Shah had disclosed that he was tasked by Jatinder Singh, aka Babu Singh, chairman of the Nature-Mankind Friendly Global Party and a former minister in the PDP-Congress coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir, to collect money from a person named Omer in Srinagar.

Shah had come to Jammu after receiving the money from Omer. He revealed the names of his local and overseas associates — Javed and Khatib from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Farooq Khan from Toronto.

Shareef Shah is also the admin of a secret WhatsApp group having members from various nations, including Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

S Gurdev Singh from Jammu, Sidhant Sharma from Kathua and Shrief Sartaj from Jammu were detained for questioning. A case has been registered, and an investigation is in progress.

Babu had initially launched the International Democratic Party and then contested and won the 2002 assembly elections from Kathua.

Subsequently, he was inducted as a minister in the Congress-PDP coalition government.

The government of Jammu and Kashmir has reported receiving proposals for investments worth approximately ₹ 51,000 crore so far, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Responding to a question in a written reply, the Minister shared the information indicating towards these proposals since the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35 A from Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019.

Moreover, in order to boost industrial development in the Union Territory, Rai said the government of Jammu and Kashmir has also notified the Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Policy, Jammu and Kashmir Private Industrial Estate Development Policy and Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Land Allotment Policy.

He further said that the government of India has notified the New Central Sector Scheme for Industrial Development of the Union Territory on February 19 last year to attract capital investments in Jammu and Kashmir with a financial outlay of ₹ 28,400 Crore (upto the year 2037).

“The Scheme provides four types of incentives namely Capital Investment Incentive, Capital Interest Subvention, Goods and Services Tax Linked Incentive and Working Capital Interest Subvention,” said the Minister when asked, “whether the government has announced any industrial policy for Jammu and Kashmir to boost industrial activities in the UT”.