Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 19

In May 1999, the Indian Army had a war to fight — to evict Pakistani Army troops occupying several peaks on the Indian side of the Line of Control in Mushkoh, Drass, Kargil and Batalik — all located east of the Zojila on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC).The Kargil conflict ensued in the summer of 1999. The Army needed to move machines and ammunition across Zojila, an 11,500-ft-high mountain pass through which meanders an important road link between Kashmir and Kargil-Ladakh. The pass, located some 130 km east of Srinagar, is closed for six months. It normally opens in May-end after an engineering effort by snow-cutters.Former Army Chief General VP Malik (retd), in his book ‘Kargil: From surprise to victory’, describes the importance of Zojila: “More than 19,000 tonne of ammunition was moved, mostly across Zojila.” To put it in perspective, a truck can carry 8-10 tonne of ammo. It was done in summer, but in winter, the pass is under 20 ft of snow.Prime Minister Modi on Saturday laid a plaque to begin work on the 14-km-long Zojila tunnel at a cost of Rs 6,800 crore. It promises to provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar-Kargil and Leh. It will cut down the time taken to cross the Zojila from the present three-and-a-half hours to just 15 minutes.Zojila’s military importance was first felt in 1948 during the first India-Pak war. Code-named Operation Bison, it was a defining tank battle to evict the Pakistan Army, which had moved in from Skardu-Drass axis to capture Zojila in February 1948.Stuart Tanks of the 7 Cavalry led the charge along with the infantry following closely to clear the vital mountain pass. It was finally re-captured in November 1948. Any hesitation to tackle Zojila at this juncture would have resulted in the loss of Leh and Ladakh.Without tunnels, the summer months are crucial as the road is used for stocking up food items, LPG cylinders, medicines, clothing, shoes etc, besides the Army’s own movement and the road-opening teams.During the winters, Army equipment and men can only be moved on board the daily flights of IL-76 from Chandigarh and in case of a war-like scenario, the air effort was the only option. COST Rs 6,800 CRORE

VITAL PASS AT 11,500 FEET

• Zojila links Kashmir with Kargil-Ladakh
• 130 km east of Srinagar
• 6 months closed during winter and opens in May-end after an engineering effort by snow-cutters

THE TUNNEL

Length: 14 km

Target: All-weather connectivity between Srinagar-Kargil and Leh Relief: Will bypass Zojila and travel time will come down from 3.5 hours to 15 minutes

Tarn Taran, April 24

The video of the ransacked house of two brothers, both of whom are Army men and residents of Piddi village, eight km from here, has gone viral on social media. It has caused embarrassment to the district administration.The incident took place on April 14 while a case under Sections 324, 452, 427, 506. 148 and 149 of the IPC was registered on April 18. A total of 23 persons, including 16 are yet to be identified, were booked.Sub-Inspector Amritpal Singh, who is investigating the case, said raids were on to arrest the accused.Jasbir Singh Piddi, former sarpanch of the village, said the victim, Jaswant Singh and Paramjit Singh, had come to the village on leave. He said the accused were harassing them by parking their bikes in the common street. He said the accused armed with swords, sticks and other sharp-edged weapons attacked them and ransacked the house. The victims are three brothers and Baljinder Kaur is the wife of their third brother. She is the sarpanch of the village.Jasbir Singh said a delegation of villagers had met SSP Darshan Singh Mann on Monday and demanded action against the accused, but no accused had been arrested yet. He said the damaged household items were worth more than Rs 20 lakh. The former sarpanch said a car and bikes were damaged. — OC

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Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 20

The Ministry of Defence has issued orders to hike the pension of officers of the rank of Major Generals and equivalent who were drawing pension lower than that of subordinate rank of Brigadier because of anomalies in implementation of successive pay commission recommendations.The affected officers had sought judicial redressal of their grievance and moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In 2008, the Supreme Court upheld the high court’s order and laid down guidelines for fixation of pension of Major Generals with effect from January 1, 1996, the date of applicability of the Fifth Pay Commission, at rates higher than that of Brigadiers.A group of 52 Major Generals who had then moved the court would benefit from the apex court order. A similar situation arose when the Sixth Pay Commission was implemented and 57 affected Major Generals, who had retired prior to 2006, moved the Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal.In 2010, the tribunal ruled in their favour in terms of the Supreme Court’s earlier orders, following which the Union Government again moved the apex court in 2011. The matter is pending before the court and in the interim, the MoD implemented the tribunal’s decision only for the litigants in the said case but not for other similarly placed pensioners and family pensioners. In December 2017, the Supreme Court pointed out that the decision should have been implemented for all similarly placed officers and not only for litigants, after which the government sought time to do the needful.An April 16 MoD letter states that “it has been decided to allow similar benefit of revision of pension and family pension to all Major Generals and equivalent ranks in the Air Force and the Navy who retired prior to 2006”. The benefits will be with effect from January 1, 2006, the date of implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission.

Panaji, April 7

Goa has issued an alert to all the vessels and casinos operating off the state’s coast following an intelligence input about possible arrival of terrorists on board a fishing trawler, the state’s ports minister said.State’s Ports Minister Jayesh Salgaoncar told PTI that his department has issued a warning to all the off shore casinos, water sports operators and barges to be alert as the Indian Coast Guard has shared an intelligence input about a possible terror attack on the western coast.“The alert is not specific to Goa. It can be even to Mumbai or Gujarat coast, but we have alerted the vessels and concerned agencies,” Salgaoncar said.“A fishing trawler from India, which was seized by Pakistan has been released and there is intelligence input that on its way back, it may carry terrorists,” the minister said.State’s Ports Department has written to the off shore casinos and cruise vessels, and barges to remain alert in the wake of the intelligence input.“Have received intelligence input from District Coast Guard that anti-national elements have boarded an apprehended Indian fishing boat in Karachi and (are) likely to land on Indian coast and attack vital installations,” states the communication by Captain of Ports James Braganza to Goa’s tourism department and all the water sports operators, casinos, and cruise vessels and barges.“All vessels to increase security and report any sighting or untoward movement to concerned authorities,” the letter states.When contacted, Braganza confirmed sending the letter today to all the people concerned. The letter was also marked to State Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma. PTI

MC Thakur

MANALI, APRIL 2

The strike by workers of the Rohtang Tunnel project has entered the sixth day on Monday as the talks between the worker union and the management failed.While the workers have threatened not to resume work until their demands are met, supply trucks have queued up at Solang, waiting for unloading of material for the past six days.Lalit Kumar, a truck driver, said he had parked the truck at Solang since March 28. The material was to be taken to the tunnel site at Dhundi where strike was going on. Another driver Bhim Singh said he had delivered goods to the tunnel project site. “This time, we are waiting for the strike to call off so that we could deliver goods and go back,” he said.The strike has stalled the work at both portals of the tunnel. The worker union has 15 demands, including implementation of labour laws, better transport, medical, lodging and sitting facilities and reappointment of the workers who had been sacked by the management.Dharmender Singh, president of the Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh, Rohtang Tunnel project, alleged that the project management was not accepting their complaint letters and the meeting failed as the security personnel stopped them while they were going to meet the officials.“We were executive members of the union. But the security personnel said only five persons could meet the officials. Earlier too, all members of the executive body had met the management to discuss issues but this time, we were stopped,” he said.He added that if project management could not have talks with the team, the strike would continue.

New Delhi, March 22

The government has removed the cap it had imposed last year on educational expenses paid to children of martyrs or those disabled in military action.In July 2017, the educational expenses paid to such children were capped at Rs 10,000 per month, impacting some 3,200 students studying in schools, colleges and professional institutions. The fee in professional colleges is about Rs 10 lakh per annum and there was no way for the affected students to pay up after the cap. The scheme applies equally to children of officers and jawans. The move resulted in a meager saving of less than Rs 4 crore per annum. The Tribune was the first to report on the  decision, following which the Ministry of Defence agreed to review the matter and referred it to the Ministry of Finance. The scheme was announced on December 18, 1971. — TNS

Nasreen Kouser (11), who was injured in cross-border shelling in Balakote sector of Poonch, being airlifted to Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu, on Sunday. PTI

Amir Karim Tantray & Shyam Sood

Tribune News Service

Jammu/Rajouri, March 18

Five members of a family were killed as the Pakistan army shelled civilian areas in Balakote sector of Poonch district on Sunday morning.Two girls — Nasreen Kouser (11) and her younger sister Mahreen Kouser (5) —were seriously injured in the incident. They were shifted to Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu, after being airlifted by the Air Force from Rajouri.Those killed were identified as Muhammad Ramzan (35), his wife Malika Bi (32) and sons Abdul Rehman (14), Muhammad Rizwan (12) and Razzaq Ramzan (7) — all resident of Devta Sargloon village. The family was having breakfast in the verandah of their house when a shell landed there.The incident occurred around 8 am. Five of them were killed on the spot while two injured girls were shifted to Rajouri district hospital, from where they were airlifted to Jammu at noon.Five soldiers have also been injured in Pakistani shelling in Balakote sector. They have been identified as sepoy G Vishnak, Subedar Deshbandhu, Rifleman B Rai, Naik Jatinder Verma and Sepoy Rahul Pandey. Jammu-based PRO (Defence) Lt Col Devender Anand said the Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked firing from 7.45 am to 11.30 am along the Line of Control (LoC) using small arms, 81mm and 120mm mortars.“Pakistan continues in its cowardly design of targeting civilians, their homes and livestock in villages close to the LoC. The deliberate provocation has resulted in loss of five civilian lives,” the PRO said. The Army retaliated strongly, effectively and proportionately to the dastardly act, he added. Earlier in the day, DGP Shesh Paul Vaid wrote on his Twitter page: “Due to shelling from across (LoC) in Balakote sector of Poonch, five members of a family died and two are injured who are being shifted to hospital.”Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed anguish over the loss of lives and stressed the need for peace “if we want to save people of the state”.The Pakistan army has violated the ceasefire agreement 777 times along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir till March 4 this year. The 63-day tally is half the figure for 2017, when it violated the agreement 1,411 times.Since January 1, 10 Indian soldiers have been killed along the LoC whereas a BSF jawan also fell to the enemy bullet in Tangdhar sector on February 20

J&K govt to take care of injured sisters

• The Jammu and Kashmir Government said it would take full care of the two injured sisters whose entire family, including parents and brothers, were killed in Pakistan shelling. “The government will take full care of the two girls (Nasreen and Mahreen), who have no one left to look after them in the family,” minister Naeem Akhtar said after meeting the two. PTI

C-17 Globemaster at Tuting airfield in Arunachal Pradesh. — ANI

New Delhi, March 13

The Indian Air Force’s largest transport aircraft — C-17 Globemaster — on Tuesday landed at Arunachal Pradesh’s Tuting airfield which is close to the Chinese border.The landing of the US-manufactured aircraft is seen as part of the IAF’s move to strengthen its overall operations in the strategically-key border state.”The C17 Globemaster carried out a historic landing at Tuting Advanced Landing Ground. The mission was executed flawlessly owing to its superlative performance and excellent flying skills of pilots,” said an IAF spokesperson.Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The face-off ended on August 28.Sources said China has been keeping its troops in north Doklam and significantly ramping up its infrastructure in the disputed area. – PTI

Tribune News Service

Mohali, March 13

The Chandigarh international airport will remain closed for operations from May 12 to May 31 for the second phase of runway repair, airport officials announced today.Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) public relations officer (PRO) Deepesh Joshi said, “As per the NOTAM (notice to airmen), no civil and military flights will operate from Chandigarh from May 12 to May 31.”The Indian Air Force (IAF) is carrying out runway resurfacing work at the airport and as per directions of the High Court, the runway had to remain shut for 15 days on two occasions. The first phase was completed between February 12 and February 26.Airport sources said the contractor working on the runway requested for four additional days of closure since during the first phase, the repair work was hampered by inclement weather.The sources said the IAF might increase the operation hours from dawn to dusk after the end of the second period of closure. The watch hours at the airport, currently from 5 am to 4 pm, are likely to change to 7.20 am to 5.30 pm when the summer schedule comes into effect from March 25.Airport officials said the available runway length, which had been reduced to 7,200 ft for the resurfacing work, would increase to 9,000 ft and in due course of time to 10,400 ft.Suneel Dutt, CEO, CHIAL, said, “The upgrade of the runway will attract several airlines to operate long-haul flights from Chandigarh to popular destinations such as the US, Canada, Europe and the UK. After the completion of civil works on the runway, lighting work for the night landing facility will start and it will be completed on time.”The Federation of Indian Airlines, a private airlines’ body, had earlier written to the authorities, raising apprehensions regarding the proposed closure in May, considering that it was the peak time for airlines and airports.Second phase of runway repairThe Indian Air Force is carrying out runway resurfacing work at the airport and as per directions of the High Court, the runway had to remain shut for 15 days on two occasions. The first phase was completed between February 12 and February 26. The work on the second phase will be undertaken now.