Security stepped up in Kashmir after terror attack leaves 5 migrant labourers dead
Srinagar: Security has been heightened in Kashmir following the terror attack in Kulgam district that left five labourers from West Bengal dead, even as a complete shutdown disrupted normal life across the valley on Wednesday, officials said.
The terror attack came at a time when a delegation of parliamentarians from the European Union is in Kashmir to talk to locals and ask them about their experience after abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 of the Constitution. Five migrant labourers in Kulgam district of south Kashmir were shot dead by terrorists on Tuesday night. Another labourer was injured and has been shifted to a hospital here.
Clashes also broke out at several places in Kashmir on Tuesday, leaving several persons injured. Official said security personnel along with a flying squad have been deployed in several areas of the city and across the valley, especially in South Kashmir.
The officials said random checking of vehicles and frisking of people was being done as part of the security drill. Security personnel were alert to thwart any attempts by anti-national elements to target non-locals or to derail peace in the valley.
Normal life remained affected across the Kashmir valley for the 87th day on Wednesday following the abrogation of Article 370. The officials said markets remained closed on Wednesday, while public transport remained off the roads. Roadside vendors, who had regularly set up their stalls over the past two months, also did not turn up for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, they said.
The annual board examinations for class 10 and class 12 are being held as per schedule. Class 10 examinations began on Tuesday, while the class 12 exams are scheduled to start from Wednesday afternoon. Landline and post-paid mobile phone services have been restored across the valley, but all Internet services continued to remain suspended since 5 August.
Most of the top-level and second-rung separatist politicians have been taken into preventive custody while mainstream leaders including two former chief ministers -- Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti - have been either detained or placed under house arrest. The government has detained former chief minister and sitting Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah under the controversial Public Safety Act.
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Mathura boat capsize tragedy: Death toll climbs to 13
Mathura (UP)(PTI): With the recovery of two more bodies on Sunday, the death toll in the boat capsize incident in the Yamuna river in Mathura has climbed to 13, officials said on Sunday.
Search for three more missing persons is underway.
Superintendent of Police (Rural) Suresh Chandra Rawat said renewed search efforts led to the recovery of the body of a college student, identified as Dinki Bansal, near Devraha Baba Ghat and that of a man identified as Rishabh Sharma approximately 3 km away from the accident site.
The incident occurred on Friday afternoon when a boat carrying over two dozen tourists, primarily from Punjab, hit a floating drum of a pontoon bridge and capsized near Kesi Ghat in Vrindavan.
Most of the victims were from Jagraon and Dugri areas of Ludhiana district.
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) along with the district administration and local police were actively engaged in the search for the missing pilgrims.
However, strong currents of the Yamuna river and the significant depth of the water at the ghats are proving a hindrance.
Circle Officer (Mant) Sandeep Singh said the Yamuna river stretch extending from Keshi Ghat to Gokul Barrage has been divided into seven sectors.
The search for the missing individuals will now be conducted within this specific 20-square-km zone. A Station House Officer (SHO) has been designated as the in-charge for each sector.
Acting on the orders of the DIG (Agra Range), seven SHOs will oversee operations across the seven sectors of river Yamuna.
Giving details about the operation, Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Pankaj Kumar Verma, citing NDRF officials, on Saturday had said although the search for the missing persons is currently focused within a 14-km radius from the spot where the boat had capsized, there is a possibility that they may have been swept much further downstream.
SHO of Vrindavan police station Sanjay Pandey said boat operator Pappu was arrested late on Friday night.
He is accused of failing to provide life jackets to passengers before allowing them to board the boat, and operating the boat at high speed. This resulted in the boat losing control and colliding with a pontoon bridge's drum, which led to the accident, officials said.
Police have registered a case and also arrested the contractor, Narayan Sharma, responsible for the repair work on the pontoon bridge.
Rawat said that on Friday evening, police registered a case under section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the boatman Pappu (alias Dauji) and Sharma, and subsequently arrested them.
According to the case details, Pappu's boat did not have any safety equipment or provisions whatsoever.
Moreover, despite repeated pleas from pilgrims, Pappu operated the boat at high speed. By the time he realised the danger upon approaching the pontoons of the bridge, it was already too late.
Consequently, after colliding with a pontoon drum, the boat lost control and capsized. It has also come to light that he is among those operators who have not obtained the requisite license to operate a boat.
Sharma was carrying out the work of dismantling and reassembling the pontoon bridge without providing any prior notification.
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