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Procurement
agencies begin lifting wheat in Haryana Former
Haryana BSP chief joins HVP Selja’s
candidature blow for Bhajan Lal
Doc
remanded for castrating youth |
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Students
asked questions on wrong topic HIGH
COURT Gen
Panwar visits stud farm 
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Procurement agencies begin lifting wheat in Haryana Karnal, April 5 After the announcement of the procurement of wheat by the state government from April 1, almost two weeks earlier than the previous years, the state agencies hurriedly prepared for the procurement Karnal district while the FCI was still to lift wheat from the grain markets even after five days of the start of procurement. The Tribune on visiting the grain markets in the city and surrounding areas found that the lifting of wheat began today and that too by the state procurement agencies HAFED and the Food Supply Department. The FCI was yet to begin lifting the procured wheat from the commission agents. Naresh Kumar, a commission agent in the old grain market here said no government agency came forward to procure wheat in the past four days even as the farmers had started arriving in the market with their produce. “Today, the wheat is being lifted from this market by the Food and Civil Supplies Department”, he said. However, the exact quantity of wheat lifted by this agency from the old grain market was not known as the figures were yet to be compiled. Jasbir Singh, a farmer of Pakka Khera village, said the yield per acre of wheat had decreased during this season with the early rise in temperature. “Earlier, we used to get an average of 22 quintals of wheat per acre but this time it has decreased to 18 quintals per acre”, he said. Another farmer, Hari Ram, of the same village expressed a similar view. These farmers brought the wheat in the old grain market on Saturday morning but were still waiting for the agencies to lift it when The Tribune visited the market this afternoon. During this time, they had spread the wheat on the floor to reduce the moisture content by drying it in sunlight. Another commission agent said the minimum humidity content prescribed by the procurement agencies was 12 per cent but the humidity content of the wheat harvested two weeks earlier than the scheduled time was approximately between 15 to 18 per cent. The District Magistrate of Karnal, Mr R.S. Doon, also called a meeting of all procurement agencies this evening and asked them to start lifting wheat from the grain markets without any delay. Meanwhile, the farmers of Jadauli village in the presence of heavy security and the revenue authorities of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana harvested the standing wheat crop with mutual understanding from 100 acres of the disputed land falling on the inter-state border. |
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Former Haryana BSP chief joins HVP Chandigarh, April 5 Mr Nagra, who had been associated with the founder of the BSP, Mr Kanshi Ram, since his student days, said here today that Ms Mayawati had not entered into an alliance with any party for strategic reasons. He said she must have thought that in case of a hung Lok Sabha, she would be able to strike a better bargain in the post-poll alliance. Mr Nagra, however, today announced his entry into the Haryana Vikas Party of Mr Bansi Lal, with whom, he said, he always felt “unity of ideology”. Though Mr Nagra became the first BSP MP from Haryana when his party contested the 1998 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal of Mr Om Prakash Chautala, he thinks that Mr Chautala’s politics and actions are driven purely by self-interest. He involved himself in the Dalit politics when he came in contact with Mr Kanshi Ram as a student. He was appointed president of the students wing of the Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF), the first organisation to be floated by Mr Kanshi Ram. Later, he was appointed convener of the state unit when the DS4 was formed. In 1988, he became the general secretary of the Haryana BSP. In 1999, he became its president when he was in jail for opposing an alleged move to oust Dalit tenants from the Shahzadpur area of Ambala district. He also contested the 1991 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections from inside the jail. He was defeated from the Chhachhrauli assembly constituency by 174 votes. He alleges the result was “manipulated”. Three years after he became the first BSP MP(and so far the last) from Haryana, he was expelled from the BSP under, what he says, a conspiracy against him. After his expulsion, he says, the BSP’s decline in Haryana commenced. He said the recent split in the party had further weakened it. Mr Nagra, who formed the Samaj Shakti Party after his expulsion from the BSP, has come to the HVP via the Congress after the latter was not given the ticket from Ambala. Now the HVP is likely to field him from Ambala, where he scored over 1.66 lakh votes in 1996. His presence will make the contest in Ambala four-cornered in real sense of the term. |
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Selja’s candidature blow for Bhajan Lal Chandigarh, April 5 Ms Selja’s candidature from Ambala was indeed a blow for Mr Bhajan Lal, sources said while adding that given Ms Selja’s proximity to Ms Sonia Gandhi, she did not need anyone’s help to get the nod of the party’s central election committee. It is not clear who had backed Mr Atma Singh Gill, the candidate for the Sirsa seat. While a section of Congress men claimed he was Mr Bhajan Lal’s choice, others said Ms Selja, who had herself decided to move away from Sirsa, had suggested the name of this former MLA from Ratia as a candidate. Mr Hooda’s own candidature from Rohtak has also been welcomed by his rivals who are saying that irrespective of his victory or defeat, he would have to bid adieu to his position the Leader of the Opposition and as a result his chance of becoming the Chief Minister of Haryana would suffer. The Hooda camp is replying to this propaganda saying that Mr Hooda was an MP even when he had become president of the HPCC. The Congress candidates for the five remaining Haryana seats — Hisar, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Mahendragarh and Faridabad — are expected to be decided sometime this week and it will be interesting to see which of the two warring Congress leaders establish dominance for selection of candidates. Acrimonious exchanges between Mr Hooda and Mr Bhajan Lal over an unsavoury incident had reportedly broken out in the meeting of the party’s central election committee in Delhi yesterday necessitating intervention by Mr R.K. Dhawan who asked the two Congress leaders to cool off. Significantly, some new names have also made an appearance in the list of Congress probables for the five remaining seats. While the name of Ms Santosh Yadav, a mountaineer who climbed atop Mount Everest, has been proposed for the Mahendragarh seat, Mr Vinod Sharma, who had earlier represented Chandigarh and was a union minister, is the new entrant in Karnal. Similarly, Mr Mahender Pratap Singh reportedly is a contender for the ticket from Fatehabad. Responding to the proposed candidature of Ms Santosh Yadav, a Congress leader said she did not have even primary membership of the Congress party. He also criticised Mr Bhajan Lal for being responsible for Ms Selja’s decision to move away from Sirsa. Backing the candidature from Sonepat of Mr Dharampal Malik by Mr Bhajan Lal also drew flak from him. Mr Malik had lost from Sonepat on two previous occasions. |
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Flt Lt Gagan Oberoi cremated
Ambala, April 5 The mortal remains of Flt Lt Oberoi were consigned to flames at Ram Bagh, Ambala Sadar. Blue peak caps of Air Force personnel and Red berets of Para Commandoes dotted the cremation ground. The body of Flt Lt Mayank Mayur arrived at the Ambala airbase late tonight and the cremation may take place tomorrow. A tearful farewell was given to Flt Lt Oberoi by his family. His mother, Mrs Prem Oberoi, was inconsolable. The funeral pyre was lit by Gagan’s younger brother Hemant. Earlier, his body was brought to the Oberois’ residence on Staff Road. Gagan’s family members broke down on seeing the casket containing his body. Donning an Air Force uniform, Flt Lt Nidhi and other officers sat alongside the casket which had been wrapped in the Tricolour. The pain could be read in Nidhi’s eyes even though she bravely held back her tears. From the residence, Flt Lt Oberoi’s body was taken to Ram Bagh in Ambala Sadar. Air Force officers acted as pall-bearers while Flt Lt Nidhi walked alongside. The ceremonial funeral parade was carried out by Air Force personnel. Fiftyone rifles fired three rounds of gunshots in the air as a mark of respect to the deceased officer. The last post was sounded by a solitary bugle player. Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy, AOC-in-C, Western Air Command Air Marshal S.P. Tyagi and SASO Air Marshal S. Bhojwani. The other officers who laid wreaths were Air Commodore L.K. Malhotra, Air Commodore S.P. Tiwari, Sub Area Commander Brig D.C. Katoch, Commanding Officers of 5 Squadron and 14 Squadron, Col U.B. Shinde of Para Commandoes, Deputy Commissioner H.S. Malik and Additional Deputy Commissioner M.L. Kaushik. Floral tributes were paid by former MP Ratan Lal Kataria, Ambala Cantt MLA Anil Vij and family members.Para Commandoes had arrived at Ambala to pay tributes to Flt Lt Oberoi. Flt Lt Nidhi’s brother, Major Ashish Aggarwal, is also a Para Commando. Jaguar fighter pilot Wing Commander S. Sarkar, who was leading the Jaguar formation when two Jaguars went missing, was present at the cremation. Wing Commander Sarkar and Flying Officer Saurabh Yadav had reached Ambala airbase safely while the Jaguar aircraft of Flt Lt Oberoi and Flt Lt Mayur crashed in Sonmarg Valley. Wing Commander Sarkar said he lost contact with the two Jaguars while he was flying. “At that time, we were flying at a height of nearly 15,000 feet. We were flying back to Ambala when the incident took place,” he said. “Both of them were good pilots,” he added. |
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Doc remanded for castrating youth Hisar, April 5 The local police had produced the accused Dr K.K. Shrivastva, a resident of Farukhabad town in Uttar Pardesh, in the court today after arresting him from Uttar Pardesh. The court had earlier remanded three persons, including two eunuchs from Punjab, in judicial custody in the case. A local youth, Mr Bal Krishan, resident of nearby Mangali village, had alleged that eunuch Jhanjhar and her two associates Darshan and Jaggi, all residents of Budhladha town in Punjab, had allegedly castrated him with the help of Dr K.K. Shrivastva after kidnapping him from his village last year. After this, they sold him to another eunuch Chameli, resident of Faridkot, for an amount of Rs 85000. Later, the youth had got himself released from the house of Chameli and reached here. He met the local SDM, Mr Bal Raj Mor, and narrated the whole incident. After this, the SDM sent him to the local Civil Surgeon for medical examination. The medical examination of the man conducted at the local Civil Hospital had confirmed the alleged castration. After this, the local police had registered a case against five persons in this regard. |
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Students asked questions on wrong topic Kurukshetra, April 5 Thirty two affected students, in a complaint to Dr S.N. Chaturvedi, Examination Controller, KU, today pointed out that the Excise Duty paper of the B.Com final contained questions on the Custom Duty topic. They requested the authorities to look into the matter and suggest them what should they do in the next paper of Custom Duty, which was scheduled to be held tomorrow. When contacted on telephone, the Vice-Chancellor, KU, Dr A.K. Chawla, said the case had been referred to the newly constituted complaint committee. Dr Chawla said he had asked the students to prepare for the next paper of Custom Duty, in which questions would be asked from the prescribed syllabus. Meanwhile, the complaint committee’s emergent meeting had been convened in the evening and the decision would be announced today itself, Dr Chawla added. |
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HIGH
COURT Chandigarh, April 5 In his petition, Mr Singh, who is presently President of the District Congress Committee, Ambala, has claimed that the case that the RPO has taken cognisance of was registered on November 3, 2001 for allegedly getting shops closed during a Haryana bandh on November 2, 2001. However, he further claims the case was registered at the “instance of the present Haryana Chief Minister” and was therefore politically motivated. Saying that his bona fides could not be questioned as he has remained a minister as well as an MLA on many occasions, Mr Singh has requested the court to
order the RPO to renew his passport. Today, a Division Bench the High Court comprising Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar and Mr Justice Amar Dutt, while accepting the placing on record of the copy of the FIR registered against Mr Nirmal Singh, adjourned the case to July 8.
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Gen Panwar visits stud farm Hisar, April 5 The General Officer Commanding
visited the farm where zero tillage experiments have been conducted for the first time. Normally, this technique is used for wheat and paddy production. However, Army experts used the technique for producing oat korean after harvesting the maize crop. The General inaugurated a tubewell which has two bores at varying depths but is operated by a single motor. He also inaugurated a STD booth on the farm. |
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8 schoolchildren hurt in road mishap Fatehabad, April 5 According to reports, the van of a local private school, was going to Mohammadpur Rohi village to drop children after school in the afternoon. The driver of the van while giving pass to a Haryana Roadways bus lost control over the vehicle. |
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