Activists Urges LG to Set up National Highway Help Desk in his Office

Set Up  National Highway Help Desk in LG’s Office: Activists

Jammu, 16/Jan/2019: Disappointed over frequent blockade of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and death of people  in road accidents, civil society members from Jammu have urged the Union Territory Administration of Jammu and Kashmir headed by Lieutenant Governor Governor Girish Chandra Murmu to pay attention towards the plight of the people of the J & K UT who are facing acute hardship due to repeated  closure of the Jammu Srinagar National Highway and establish a National Highway Desk in his office.

In a joint appeal endorsed by RTI Activist Raman Sharma, Dewaker Sharma, Deepak Sharma, advocates of J & K High Court, Munish Sharma, founder and managing trustee ‘Vishwas_the Trust ‘ and Karan Parasher of Law department of Jammu University, they have asked the UT administration to remain responsive to the difficulties faced by the people of the region due to road blockade. The civil society members while making the appeal to the LG also condemned the lethargic  approach of the National Highway Authorities and civil administration of all districts falling  between the Jammu_Srinagar National Highway who pay no heed towards the stranded passengers, truck, tank and other heavy load carrying vehicles who are compelled to spend days together on road and the district administration there make no arrangement for their food or even water and these people are made to live in sub-humane conditions.

They also said that more  than the natural calamities and bad weather, the lackadaisical approach of the concerned authorities  is responsible for long traffic jam on road. In the appeal they have asked the government to make proper halt points for drivers, cleaners of commercial vehicles where they may get minimum facilities like food, water,  washrooms, restrooms, ATMs and telephone services.  

The activists said it is wrong to blame only traffic police for the mess on the National Highway because neither they have adequate manpower nor resources and it needs coordination amongst all the stakeholder departments to make these roads motor able and it is only possible when highest office like office of Lieutenant Governor takes charge of the situation on daily basis and issue necessary directions clearing all the bottlenecks and strengthening the coordination between different departments therefore it is imperative that a help desk is established in LG’s office in this regard.  

Two Months on , J & K High Court Yet to Frame New RTI Rules

Jammu, 06/Jan/2020: After the scrapping of article 370 of the Constitution of India and Implementation of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019 in the month of August last year, from the appointed day  i.e from 31/Oct/2019, total 106 central laws were made applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir (now UT) and 153 State acts and 11 governor’s acts were repealed from Jammu and Kashmir including J & K Right to Information Act 2009 that was replaced with central transparency law, Right to Information Act 2005.  

The provisions of implementing central laws and repealing previous State acts is mandated under section 95 and 96 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019.

Like other 164 State laws (including governor’s acts), after 31/October/2019, the Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act 2009 also stands repealed and replaced with Right to Information Act 2005 that is enacted by the Parliament of India and as per the provisions of Right to Information Act 2005, it is mandatory on Competent Authorities including Chief Justice of a High Court, Speaker of House of People/ State or UT assembly, Governor of a State or administrator of a UT to make rules to carry out the provisions of the Right to Information Act.

As the J & K RTI Act 2009 does not exist as on date  thus the rules made are also cease to be present and it was an obligation on all competent authorities including the J  & K High Court to frame RTI rules under the Central RTI law mandated under section 28 read with section 2(e) of RTI Act 2005 however in response to an RTI application of Jammu resident Raman Sharma, the Public Information Officer/ Additional Registrar(Adm) of the Main wing of J & K High Court have stated “ No Rules have been framed/adopted by the Hon’ble High Court of J & K u/s 28 of Right to Information(central) Act 2005 as yet. The matter is pending consideration before the hon’ble High Court Rules Committee”.

It is pertinent to mention here that even as on date the website of many public authorities in Jammu and Kashmir union territory including that of J & K High Court  are serving details of obsolete RTI Rules of state act whereas they have to factually implement central transparency act and makes rules accordingly.  

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Four Months Post  Article 370 Abrogation

In 309 Terrorist Incidents, 26 Terrorists Killed, 47 Arrested in J  & K

Jammu, 04/Jan/2020: The union home ministry has informed that four months post scrapping of article 370 and 35-A from Jammu and Kashmir,  between the month of August and November last year , in 309 terror related incidents, 26 terrorists have been killed and 47 others arrested.

 In response to an RTI application of Jammu based activist Raman Sharma, the union home ministry in a written communication have shared  the data related to terror related incidents happened in the J & K state(now UT) with regard to terror related incidents happened and terrorists killed, arrested and also the number of civilians and Security force personnel martyred in such incidents.

The reply of union home ministry reveals that out of 309 terror related incidents that happened in the four months, September-2019  witnessed maximum number of such incidents i.e 152  followed by  October wherein 97 terror violence related incidents occurred however  the month of August and November remained bit calm comparatively wherein  50 and 10 such  incidents happened respectively.  Though the month of September had witnessed maximum terror related incidents but unfortunately in the month of October civilians suffered maximum losses wherein 11 civilians lost their lives and also 9 terrorists were killed and 10 others arrested, during the month 20 Security force personnel also got injured while taking on terrorists.

The data compiled by the union government further tells that in these four months 19 Civilians also lost their lives and 4 Security force personnel got martyrdom. Forty security force personnel also got injured while dealing with these terror related incidents during the same period. 

Though in his RTI application, the applicant had also sought information related to data of local and foreign terrorists caught alive by the Security force personnel from Jammu and Kashmir during the same period however  this portion of his RTI plea was transferred by union home ministry officials  to  Public Information officer of the Home department of government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for providing the further information.

Data  Related Total     Number   of   Terror   Related   Incidents Happened in J & K During the Period 01/Aug/2019 to 30 Nov/2019

Year 2019 (Month)	No. of Incidents	Civilians Martyred	Security force personnel Martyred	Terrorists Killed	Security force personnel Injured	Terrorists Arrested
AUGUST	50	3	2	5	3	8
SEPTEMBER	152	0	1	7	9	18
OCTOBER	97	11	0	9	20	10
NOVEMBER	10	5	1	5	8	11
Total	309	16	4	26	40	47

BSNL Provided 17995 New Broadband Internet Connection Since August-2019 in J & K

BSNL Provided 17995 New Broadband Internet Connection Since August-2019 in J & K

J & K: RTI Reveals BSNL Provided 17795 New Broadband Internet Connection After Aug-2019

Jammu, 03/Jan/2020: While providing information in response to an RTI application of RTI activist Raman Sharma, government owned telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, BSNL has stated that it has provided 17795 Broadband Internet Connections to the subscribers in Jammu and Kashmir between period 01/Aug/2019 to 19/Dec/2019 (till RTI reply filed).  The written RTI reply has been forwarded by GM(Admn) & CPIO, BSNL, J & K Circle dated 28/12/2019.

Earlier Sharma had filed an online RTI plea with the BSNL authorities seeking information about the number of days in which a subscriber should get a broadband internet connection, the fees charged and the total number of broadband connection provided by the BSNL in J & K.

It is pertinent to mention here that after abrogation of article 370 and 35-A,  since 05/Aug/2019,  the mobile internet services were suspended in entire J & K state(now UT)  that have caused huge losses to the business community and also to the students of J & K UT. Many traders and even government employees could not file their Income Tax Returns on time due to internet blockade.

Applicant Raman further informed that though the BSNL have provided him the information with regard to number of broadband connections it provided post Aug-2019 but the information related to number of days in which a connection should be provided is yet awaited.