Siwani Mandi, April 26
Farmers of the subdivision and nearby villages in Bhiwani district have set a novel example by forming a society to bypass the arhtiyas and sell their produce directly to the government agencies.

The farmers, who had been selling their mustard through arhtiyas at the local grain market, were allegedly harassed by them in weighing produce and charging commission.

To mount pressure on the farmers and force them to sell their produce at low prices, the arhtiyas stopped weighing the produce earlier this month. However, instead of buckling under pressure, the farmers took a firm stance and formed a society with the help of the Hafed authorities and the local administration.

The Siwani bus stand, which was lying unused for quite some time, was prepared for the purpose. The farmers shifted their produce from the grain market to the bus stand, where its purchase is going on. As of now, the farmers are satisfied with the smooth manner in which purchase is going on. "We are happy with the way the things have turned out and would like to repeat this experiment in future as well," said a young farmer.

On being contacted, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Ms Pankaj Chaudhary, asserted that while bypassing the arhtiyas for the direct sale of produce was a daring step on part of farmers, the interests of both sides had to be kept in mind before taking any decision.

Hafed Manager Ishwar Chander, who was present at the alternative site, said the purchase of mustard at the bus stand began on April 18 and nearly 10,000 quintals of mustard had been purchased so far.

He added that about 2,500 quintals of mustard was being purchased per day. "Now, the arhtiyas are requesting us to restart mustard purchase at the grain market as well," the SDM said.

She, however, maintained that no official order had been issued to stop mustard purchase at the grain market. "We only provided an alternative arrangement on being approached by the farmers in this regard," she added.

Kurukshetra, April 26
A trader was kidnapped at revolver point from near his house in Sector 5 here last night.

According to the information, the trader, Mr Ishwar Bansal, along with his friend, was strolling near his house at around 11, last night, when a Scorpio car, bearing red light, stopped near them. The car occupants, about five in number, alighted from the car and on the pretext of asking the way to Sector 13 here called Mr Bansal near them. Before Mr Bansal could get aware of the situation, they compelled him to sit in the car at revolver point and drove away.

However, Mr Bansal’s friend informed the police, but he could not tell the police the vehicle number as he could not read the same because of darkness.

Immediately after getting the information, district police officers, led by the district police chief, Mr Sanjay Kumar, reached the site of incident and sealed all the exit points.

Though a case in this connection has been registered, no arrest has been made so far.

However, the reason for kidnapping could not be known immediately.

Rewari, April 26
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Hamdard Wakf Laboratories, Manesar, to pay a compensation of Rs. 10,000 to complainant Manoj Kumar of Sulkha village near here holding the company guilty of unfair trade practices.

The forum has also ordered the company to deposit Rs.50,000 with the district Red Cross Society here to atone for the damage it had caused to the society through its unfair trade practices.

Besides directing the company to pay Rs.1100 to the complainant by way of litigation charges, the company’s local dealer Devi Sahai and company, has also been ordered to refund the cost amounting to Rs. 126 of the two bottles of Rooh Afza to the complainant

The compliance of the Forum’s order is to be carried out in 30 days.

Manoj Kumar had purchased on May 24, 2004 two bottles of Rooh Afza which were found to contain elements of pan parag. It is alleged that when the dealer turned down Manoj’s request to change the bottles, he filed a petition in the forum here for relief and justice.

Hisar, April 26
Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) here has been acknowledged for outstanding research contribution in pearl-millet (bajra) improvement and declared as the best pearl-millet centre under the All -India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP), of the Indian Council Agricultural Research (ICAR).

At the annual group meeting of the AICRP held at Junagarh Agricultural University, the university has been conferred upon a certificate of merit inscribing the best AICRP-pearl-millet centre.

This honour was received by pearl -millet scientists Dr Prem Sagar, Dr L.K. Chugh and Dr Y.P. Yadav of the university who attended the meeting.

Earlier, the university owned the pride of being the best agricultural university at the national level. Acclaiming the outstanding work done here in the fields of entomology and veterinary microbiology, the ICAR had also granted it a status of centre of excellence in these fields. Besides, its recent endeavour in the promotion of zero-tillage technology in the state has also been recognised at the national level.

In bajra research, HAU scientists Dr Prem Sagar, Dr R.S. Hooda, Dr M.S.Panwar, Dr H.P.Yadav, Dr M.S.Narwal, Dr Yashpal Yadav, Dr L.K.Chugh, Dr Ramesh Kumar, Dr Krishan Kumar, Dr Bal Chandra, Dr I.S.Khairwal and Dr C.R.Bainiwal have developed a dozen superior hybrids and composites with a wide range of maturity, productivity and disease resistance, besides evolving their production as well as protection technologies.

Most strikingly, HHB 67 hybrid of bajra developed by these scientists is the first extra early maturing hybrid of the world. It had been largely accepted by the dryland pearl-millet growers and covered about 60 per cent of the area in Haryana and nearly 10 per cent in Rajasthan.

HHB 117 is yet another wonder hybrid which does not lose green colour even after maturity and animals eat its fodder longingly. In all, the various hybrids and composites of bajra developed at HAU were being grown in 8-10 per cent of the 10 million hectares of land under cultivation in the country.

In Haryana, the productivity of pearl millet has increased three times with the adoption of these high yielding hybrids. 

Jhajjar, April 26
The headmaster of a private school situated in Beri township here reportedly sodomised a Class VII student of the school this afternoon. The police has arrested the teacher following a complaint from the student’s parents.

According to information, the Principal of the Saraswati Shishu Mandir High School, Prakash, (28) held the boy back in the school after the school time. He reportedly took him to his room and allegedly sodomised him.

The boy later narrated the incident to his parents, who immediately went to the local police station and lodged a complaint. The police raided the school premises and arrested the accused. Medical examination of the boy conducted at the local Government Hospital confirmed the sodomy charges.

A case has been registered and the accused has been dismissed from the service the school management.

Yamunanagar, April 26
Panic gripped in and around the Jagadhri Workshop post office here when a lanky youth with his face covered behind a handkerchief carrying a bag in one hand and a tiffin box in the other entered the post-office this afternoon and threatened to blow up the office with a bomb lying in the tiffin box.

Police sources said around 2.30 pm the youth placed the tiffin on the counter where telephone bills were being collected. He asked the employee behind the counter to fill his bag with money, else he would drop the tiffin box on the ground and everything would be blown. In no time panic gripped the customers and postal employees.

In the meantime, a postal employee, Chander Mohan, slipped out of the post office and raised an alarm.

Sensing trouble, the youth ran out of the post office leaving behind the 
tiffin box.

The premises was vacated. The box was found to be empty when cops who later reached the spot opened it. 

Chandigarh, April 26
The plan on imparting computer education to children of upper primary classes as part of the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has gone up in smoke in Haryana.

The SSA purchased computers for this purpose with promptness. But the computers were not of the specifications mentioned by the Electronics and IT Department of the state government. Worse, the Education Department has not employed any teacher for giving training to students in computers.

Government sources said the Electronics and IT Department instructed the SSA in a letter on September 10, 2004, to purchase Celeron-based computers for giving training to students. However, disregarding the instruction, the SSA purchased Pentium IV computers. A total of 1,766 Pentium IV computers were bought by the SSA. The final lot of 120 computers arrived in March, 2005, after the Congress had formed the government in the state.

According to the sources, under innovative activity of the SSA, it was decided to provide computer systems to various schools for imparting computer education to the children of the upper primary classes (Classes V to VII).

The Electronics and IT Department suggested Celeron- based computers because these were not only cheaper but also capable of meeting the requirements of schoolchildren. However, ignoring the Electronics Department's directive, the Prathamik Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad, which runs the SSA, placed orders for Pentium IV computers.

Each Pentium IV computer costs about Rs 5,500 more than a Celeron- based computer. The parishad's action led to an additional expenditure of over Rs 36 lakh from the SSA funds. Incidentally, the computers were purchased through HARTRON. It is doubtful whether HARTRON consulted the Electronics and IT Department, HARTRON's administrative department, before procuring the computers.

The parishad also did not prescribe any syllabus for computer education for the upper primary classes.

An official of the SSA, when asked about the present status of computer education in schools, said computer-aided learning in certain subjects was available to students. The official added that while no teacher had been recruited exclusively for teaching the subject of computers, some teachers had been given training in computers to help students become familiar with the machine.

Yamunanagar, April 26
A girl of Ponti village near here who was allegedly abducted five years ago has returned home carrying a two-year-old baby girl. She has alleged that she was kept at several places in Punjab, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh and gang-raped during the past five years by four persons including two from her own village.

The girl was 14-and-a-half-year old when the alleged abduction had taken place.

The family members of the victim allege that the police was not taking action against the accused. It is to be mentioned here that a case of abduction was registered by the local police only after intervention of a court. The alleged abduction had taken place on the morning of June 26, 2001, when the girl had left her home to purchase medicines and a case was registered on September 4, 2001, under Sections 266 and 266-A of the IPC.

The girl managed to escape from a house in Bibipur here in the wee hours of April 21, informed the mother of the victim, Ms Ismaildi. She said that during the abduction period, a baby was born to her daughter but the baby died after three days of birth.

The family members, along with the victim and the baby, had today gone to meet the Superintendent of Police but they were denied a meeting, alleged Ms Ismaildi.

Ms Ismaildi said that her daughter was kept at several places in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh and raped by the four accused, Mehandi Hassan, Nisar (both residents of Ponti village), Irshad (Hamida) and Arshad (Faizabad, UP). The family members also said that intoxicants were administered to the girl every night so that she could not escape or raise alarm. The girl has injury marks on her legs, neck and other body parts.

The SP could not be contacted for comments.

Shahabad (Kurukshetra), April 26
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Parkash Singh Badal inaugurated Miri Piri Institute of Medical Sciences and laid the foundation stone of the college amidst protest by activists of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) here today. The HSGPC organised the protest demanding the creation of a separate gurdwara management committee for Haryana, which is being opposed by the SAD. Activists of the HSGPC waved black flags at the SAD president and raised slogans ‘Badal go back’ while standing on both sides of the NH 1 near the institute. The police resorted to mild lathicharge when the activists tried to come on the road.

However the HSGPC and the police had different claims on the lathi charge. HSGPC president Jagdish Singh Jhinda said at least 50 activists, including him, had received minor injuries, Kurukshetra SP Sanjay Kumar denied the lathi charge he said the police had pushed the protesters to stop them from coming on the road and some of them might have received injuries.

Meanwhile independent sources confirmed that seven persons received minor injuries in the lathi charge.

Mr Badal told reporters a section of Haryana Sikhs was playing into the hands of the Congress, which had been working to divide Sikhs. He was accompanied by SGPC chief Avtar Singh, senior vice-president Raghujit Singh Virk and SAD leader Daljit Cheema. 

Chandigarh, April 26
The Haryana Governor, Dr A.R. Kidwai, who had nominated Prof Ramesh Chandra, former Vice-Chancellor of Bundelkhand University, to the Executive Committee of Kurukshetra University, against the rules, today rectified the mistake.

According to the university rules, no person who has been dismissed for misconduct from a government or semi-government institution or from a university or an educational institution can be nominated to any authority of the university. Against this specific stipulation, Dr Kidwai nominated Prof Chandra to the highest decision-making body of Kurukshetra University. Not only this, he was also nominated to the Executive Committee and the court of Maharashi Dayanand University, Rohtak.

Dr Kidwai today accepted Prof Chandra’s resignation from the posts he was holding in the two universities.

The controversy over Prof Chandra’s nomination arose because he was sacked as the Vice-Chancellor of Bundelkhand University by its Chancellor, Mr T.V. Rajeswar, who is also the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. The dismissal orders were issued after an inquiry was conducted against him by the Commissioner, Jhansi division, in which he was indicted.

Prof Chandra was also removed from a committee of Delhi University on a similar ground.

The Tribune first raised the issue on March 12, when a spokesman for the Haryana Raj Bhavan said Dr Kidwai had asked Prof Chandra to resign from the Executive Council of Kurukshetra University. However, the next day Prof Chandra denied that he had been asked by the Governor to resign. He even attended a meeting of the council held several days after Dr Kidwai was supposed to have asked him to resign.

A public interest litigation was also filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking the removal of Prof Chandra. However, the court directed the petitioner to represent to the Governor. When the petitioner failed to get any response from the Raj Bhavan, he again approached the court.

The First Bench, which heard the petition, asked the state counsel to inform the court about the status of the petitioner’s representation to the Governor on April 19. On that day, however, the state counsel sought adjournment. The case is now scheduled to come up for hearing in the first week of May.

Chandigarh, April 26
The Haryana bureaucracy may be much maligned at home. But it is frequently appreciated by unexpected quarters. If a few months ago, Punjab MLAs had praised the Haryana bureaucracy while running down its counterpart in their state, now it has earned kudos from the Union Department of Personnel and Training, which controls the bureaucracy.

The appreciation has come indirectly. Recently, the department circulated a notice to the Chief Secretaries of the states, asking them to send names of suitable officers for their posting as Senior Regional Managers of the Food Corporation of India(FCI) for Haryana and Punjab.

The term of the present incumbent of the Haryana region of the FCI, Mr T.C. Gupta, is to expire after a couple of months. Mr Gupta is also holding the additional charge of the FCI in Punjab.

According to informed sources, while calling for the officers to head the Haryana office of the FCI, the department has categorically stated that preference would be given to the officers of the Haryana cadre. However, no such stipulation has been made for the Punjab FCI.

Interestingly, Punjab had already sent a panel of three IAS officers for being sent on deputation to the FCI. But the department, it seems, has not accepted the panel because it has asked for the officers from all over the country for the post of Senior Regional Manager, FCI, Punjab.

This communication is being interpreted as a good testimonial to the performance of the Haryana bureaucracy. 

Pinjore, April 26
Though decks have been cleared for the four-laning of the Pinjore-Kalka-Shimla highway, residents and motorists will have to face the frequent traffic jams on the Pinjore-Kalka-Parwanoo stretch for over three years.

After a survey conducted by the PWD B&R, Haryana, in mid-90s for laying a bypass from Pinjore to Kalka, a number of houses and other structures on the proposed highway have increased manifold.

Sources in the department disclosed that people along the Kaushalya river had encroached upon the sides of the proposed highway. To remove the encroachments could take time thus delaying the execution of the project, sources added.

The 14.5 km Pinjore-Kalka-Parwanoo stretch used to witness frequent jams . The number of accidents has also multiplied in the past years.

The situation has now worsened after the Himachal Government had offered multinational companies for setting up their units in Baddi. With the setting up of industries in Baddi, the volume of traffic has also multiplied on the highway.

Heavy vehicles heading towards Baddi add more to the vehicular traffic on the Shimla-Chandigarh route. Travelling on the Pinjore-Kalka-Parwanoo stretch of the highway causing hardship to passengers, laments Mr Shushil Kumar, a resident of Kalka.

A survey by The Tribune revealed that shopkeepers and roadside vendors have taken over the "narrow" road by spreading their establishments outside in the Pinjore and Kalka markets. Haphazard parking of taxis and auto-rickshaws on the roadsides has further aggravated the problem.

The situation at the intersection of the Panchkula-Kalka and the Baddi-Pinjore road is pitiable where the vendors have encroached upon the main road thus reducing its width to almost five to six feet.

Moreover, motorists often violate traffic rules that further making the problem more peculiar. Regularisation of vehicular traffic by the police was another cause of traffic jams on the highway.

Residents of the area have demanded an alternate route to Baddi from Surajpur and besides execution of the project for constructing the Pinjore-Kalka-Parwanoo bypass soon to get rid of this problem.