SOLD: A ring with a Kashmir sapphire was sold for $ 1.37 million (more than Rs 7 crore) at a Christie’s auction in New York. Earlier this year a diamond-platinum ring with 8.99 carat Kashmir sapphire was sold for $527,500 (Rs. 2.86 crore) at an auction in New York at more than double of its pre-sale estimate.
TOOK OVER: Bashir Aarif, a broadcaster, replacing Ruksana Jabeen took over as deputy director general of Radio Kashmir and its allied commercial broadcasting service. Aarif was posted as deputy director general (PR) at AIR headquarter, Delhi.
GRANTED: State high court granted four weeks time to Tufail Mattoo’s family for filing a reply to the recently submitted state police’s SIT report. The time is granted in view of the curfew imposed in Tufail’s area which snapped the communication between Mattoo’s family and the lawyer. Tufail was allegedly killed by a teargas shell near Gani Memorial Stadium in Rajouri Kadal.
DEMANDED: Congress legislators seeking intervention of the Union Home Minister have demanded the creation of 4000 SPO posts for erstwhile Doda district. The legislators have also demanded increase in the wages of SPOs from Rs 3000 to Rs 10,000.
KILLED: Abu Zarar, a Pakistani national working as a divisional commander of LeT; Khitab of Kulgam and Yahya Khan, a Pakistani national working for Jaish-e-Muhammed were killed in two separate encounters in Cherher Tujar and Mundji, Sopore. The operation was led by 27 RR and SOG Sopore and continued for almost two days.
BID ADIEU: Tata Teleservice have officially bid adieu to its customers in J&K by asking them to switch over to other service providers.They have decided to end its operations in the state from January 18, 2013. The decision has been communicated to the customers through SMSs and emails.
KILLED: Nuzhat , 14, was killed and Shaista and Kulsuma, two of her friends, were injured in an explosion suspected to be a hand grenade in a forest area of Lolab, Kupwara.
TOOK OFF: The first flight of AN-32 Kargil Courier Service took off carrying 31 passengers from Kargil to Srinagar. The aircraft could not return to Kargil from Srinagar due to inclement weather en-route and the Indian Air Force Aircraft returned to Chandigarh from Srinagar.
SUBMITTED: State government has sent preliminary reports (proposal) for 62 watershed projects costing Rs 450 crore to the central government for approval. The detailed project reports for the sanctioned projects are also being prepared so that they can be executed within a given time-frame, an official spokesman said.
OATH TAKEN: Ghulam Nabi Monga, Ali Mohammad Dar, Sham Lal Bhagat and Dr. Shenaz Ganai, the four newly elected MLCs, administered oath by Amrit Malhotra, chairman J&K Legislative Council. Chief Minister, various members of council of ministers, legislators, high level government officers and prominent citizens were present on the occasion.
REVIEWED: Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister, reviewed the status of progress on proposed Bhatinda-Jammu-Srinagar Gas Pipeline Project (BJSSPL) at a meeting of high-level officers. The project was approved by Abdullah early this year during a meeting of state officer and the team of Bhatinda-Jammu-Srinagar Gas Pipeline Project (BJSSPL). The project is likely to get completed by July 2014.
PRESENTED: Masarat Alam, deputy chairman Muslim League and a Hurriyat (G) member was presented in the city court after the gap of more than two months. Alam is undergoing sixth consecutive PSA since his arrest in October 2010. He is lodged in district jail Kathua.
HALTED: Kashmir train was halted by hundreds of people at Naidgam after Rukaya, an undergraduate student, was crushed to death by it. The railway officials maintain that she has committed suicide while as the villagers’ insist that it is an accident.
DETECTED: An IED planted under a culvert in Tral, Pulwama was detected and destroyed by a joint patrolling party of police and army, a police statement claimed.
VISITED: The first ever business delegation from J&K visited United States to meet the officials of state and commerce departments to explore the possibilities of enhancing trade with them. The delegation is led by Waseem Trumboo, executive director of Trumboo Industries Pvt Ltd and comprises of businessmen who operate small and mid-sized enterprises (SME’s) across a wide spectrum of industries.
HELD: Police have arrested three Burmese nationals for allegedly being involved in human trafficking of their females in Kishtwar district. Police is looking for their associate. The Myanmese have also been booked under Passport Act as they were illegally staying in India.
RESHUFFLED: The Departmental Promotion Committee cleared promotion of four IGPs including IGs of J&K divisions as Additional DGPs, five DIGs as IGPs and four SSP as DIGs. Promotion of one of the SSP as IGPs has been kept in sealed cover in view of an inquiry against him. The reshuffle has left posts of J&K’s IGPs vacant due to the promotion of Dilbagh Singh and SM Sahai as Additional DGPs.
