KARGIL
A third rock-cut Buddha statue was discovered last week in the remotest corner of Kargil district. Khursheed Ahmed Qadri, state’s former Director General of Archives and Archaeology, traced it at Apathi, 18 km from Kargil on Batalik road. Nicely carved on soft rock, it is 26 feet high and six and half feet wide. Termed as Chamba Budhas, they were earlier traced at Suru Kartse village near Sankoo on Kargil-Zanskar road and in Mulbik on Kargil-Leh Highway. While the later is being protected by Archaeological Survey of India, the Suru Kartse Budha is a state protected monument since March 16, 2012. It was a similar Buddha that Talban destroyed in Bamiyan a few years back.
LONDON
Gul Faraz (54), a conman, who was a fake Pir, was indicted by a British court last week and imprisoned for six years. Claiming to be faith-healer, he would enter people’s homes in London and Leicester and collect money for J&K. Donning robes and claiming to own a Djin, he boasted of use spiritual powers to cure patients. He would seek victims’ jewellery, put it in a liquid and tell his hosts to shut eyes. It was during this period he would slip the jewellery into his pocket. The prosecution gave telling details about how Faraz took 3000 pounds from Suresh Rani in Bow, East London and pocketed 2500 pounds from Ayshe Hassan in Stepney. His defence lawyer said the charlatan turned to alcohol and crime after developing health problems including paralysis on his left side, which forced him to give up his successful Indian takeaway business.
MUMBAI
Shah Rukh Khan “celebrated” Eid in Ladakh. With Katrina Kaif, he was shooting for Yash Raj Films for a still-unnamed film. Khan, who plays a soldier, suggested filming the final shots amid the snow-capped mountains and the crew was off to Ladakh where he had shot Dil Se earlier. “All alone on Eid… on a thin winding road. Nowhere and everywhere. Just gave myself a hug after a long time. Will celebrate with happy winds,” Shah Rukh tweeted on Eid. The movie is releasing on November 13.
UDHAMPUR
Two students, Sheikh Imran (18) and Nawaz Sharief (16), were arrested for wearing a green coloured sports T-shirt with white stripes, crescent and Pakistan inscribed on it. They were booked under section 153-A, a penal section used to tackle individuals found involved in promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony. They had purchased the T shirts from Srinagar and these were manufactured in Ludhiana. While one boy is son of a cop, another’s dad is an old NC worker.
DELHI
J&K State Power Development Corporation (PDC) has managed financial closure of 450-MW Rs Rs 3113.19 crore Baglihar-II. Power Finance Corporation will fund Rs 1679.23 crore and the J&K Bank Rs 500 crore and the balance Rs 934 crore would be the PDC equity. In fact, PDC has already spent Rs 390 crore on the project that will go into generation capacity in August 2014 and produce 1300 million units of electricity per year. The financial closure was managed in record time with only two FIs on favourable conditions without any collateral mortgaging. Jai Prakash Associates that executed the Rs 5827 crore first phase is implementing the project.
DARHAL
A teacher of state run higher secondary school at Darhal Malkan was formally booked for kicking a ninth standard student in his belly to the extent that he was shifted to GMC hospital in Jammu. The boy, Ishtiyaq Ahmad was accused of making noise in the classroom when the accused teacher, Mohammad Latif, brutally kicked his stomach. A case has been registered against the teacher under sections 323 and 341 of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC).
