Chandigarh, August 27
Despite a good monsoon in the country, nine districts of Haryana have received deficient rainfall, resulting in the state failing to bring the targeted area of 29.70 lakh hectares under kharif crops.

The deficient rainfall has taken its toll on the kharif crops with the state farmers managing to sow crops on an area of 28.37 lakh hectares against the target of 29.70 lakh hectares (nearly 95 per cent of the targeted area), ringing alarms bells for the Hooda-led Congress government in the pre-election year.

While only 47 per cent sowing target for pulses could be achieved with the state sowing these on 0.26 lakh hectares as against the target of 0.60 lakh hectares, maize could be sown on 0.26 lakh hectares as against the target of 0.50 lakh hectares (52 per cent).

Similarly, cotton could be sown on 5.57 lakh hectares against the target of 6 lakh hectares (92.8 per cent). Bajra, another major crop of the state, which was supposed to be sown on 6.10 lakh hectares, was sown on 4.18 lakh hectares (67.2 per cent), official sources told The Tribune here today.

However, the saving grace for the agriculture state was the fact that kharif crops were sown on 4.26 lakh hectares more, than the area sown under the kharif crops last year (24.11 lakh hectares).

Data showed that the deficient rainfall has been in the major agriculture districts with Kurukshtra having a 56 per cent deficient rainfall followed by Rohtak (53 per cent), Panipat (49 per cent), Panchkula (37 per cent), Bhiwani and Jhajjar (31 per cent), Palwal (22 per cent), Sonepat (21 per cent) and Gurgaon (20 per cent).

Sources, however, claimed that the assured irrigation in the rainfall-deficient areas would make sure that productivity was not adversely affected. “Since the supply of the inputs like seeds, fertilisers, pesticides had been satisfactory, there is no reason to worry. In fact, the area under other the kharif crops had exceeded the target area, reaffirming the fact that the production of various crops will not come down”, a senior official claimed.

For instance, the area under paddy has been 11.54 lakh hectares against the target of 11.50 lakh hectare (100.3 per cent), sugarcane 1.30 lakh hectares against the target of 1.10 lakh hectares (118.2 per cent), oilseeds 0.15 lakh hectares against 0.10 lakh hectares (150 per cent) and guar 4.26 lakh hectares against 3 lakh hectares (142 per cent).

Gurgaon, August 27
The police today conducted a flag march in Wazirpur village and surrounding areas where tension prevailed since Monday following demolition of a wall of a religious structure. The police action comes a day before a mahapanchayat of 30 villages.

Commissioner Alok Mittal said, "Maintaining peace is our priority. The flag march was meant to send a strong message to the elements bent upon creating misunderstandings. I can say all is well here.”

Yesterday, the caretaker of a religious structure had complained to Mittal that some miscreants had thrashed him and demolished a part of the structure.

The police cordoned off the village and got the restoration work done. A case was also filed against these miscreants.

Representatives of 30 villages have decided to hold a mahapanchayat tomorrow to decide on the course of action on the issue.

“People are free to meet but nothing against law will be tolerated. We have stepped up security due to the mahapanchayat,” Mittal said.

Gurgaon, August 27
The Gurgaon police has constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the alleged murder of Wasan resident Vikrant Yadav.

Yadav was murdered in the wee hours on Sunday by cattle smugglers whom he was chasing. The murder had enraged thousands of villagers, who disrupted the rail and road traffic for several hours. They destroyed public property, including the Bhuj-Bareily Express, a Roadways bus and a police chowki.

While there were reports of passengers being thrashed, the police denied it.

The SIT aims at nabbing the murderers and probing the role of suspended officials, who had allegedly let the tempo carrying cows pass a naka without checking.

Chandigarh, August 27
Acting on a bunch of petitions for quashing an advertisement issued in November last year declaring candidates possessing Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) certificate ineligible for posts of primary teacher in Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today stayed the declaration of results.

The development is significant as the process of filling 8,763 posts of primary teachers will be affected by the orders. As the petitions came up for hearing this morning, the Division Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Surinder Gupta also directed the State of Haryana and other respondents to provisionally allow candidates possessing the CTET certificate to appear for interviews.

In the petition filed by Antim Kumari, counsel Sukhvinder Singh Nara stated that the petitioner had passed the CTET conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education in June 2011.

He said Haryana School Teachers Selection Board had issued the advertisement for 8,763 posts but the CTET was not included as an eligibility criteria for the same. The petitioner tried to fill the application form through the Internet but her application was not accepted.

The rejection of her plea was accompanied by remarks on her ineligibility. It said the candidate was required to pass the Haryana Teacher Eligibility Test or School Teacher Eligibility Test.

Nara argued that the refusal to recognise a Central eligibility test for primary teachers' post was in violation of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India and also principles of natural justice.

He said: "As per the guidelines issued by the National Council of Teacher Education, the appropriate government should conduct TET at least once a year. In this particular case, the teacher eligibility test was not conducted in 2012 while the posts for primary teachers were advertised on November 8, 2012.

"In the circumstances, a person qualifying the Central eligibility test should have been considered for the post of primary teacher?. The petitioner by qualifying the Central Teacher Eligibility Test has a legitimate expectation to be considered for the post of JBT teacher in the State of Haryana, particularly when no test was conducted in 2012."?

Jind, August 27
As the second post-mortem report of the 20-year-old Dalit girl of Baniakhera village has been inconclusive, the relatives of the victim will go for a third post-mortem at AIIMS in New Delhi.

The 21-member committee of the villagers and relatives, whose protest entered the third day today, said the cremation would not take place until the cause of the death was ascertained.

The committee also demanded that the alleged killers of the girl should be arrested. They also sought the suspension of the DSP and withdrawal of police cases lodged against the villagers during the protest. The police had recovered the body of the girl under suspicious circumstances on Sunday.

“The second post-mortem of the victim at PGIMS, Rohtak, which was likely to clear the air over the cause of the death of the girl, failed to conclude anything. The police will now wait for the report of the viscera examination at Madhuban (Karnal), which was likely to reach here soon,” said the district police chief Balwan Singh.

While the efforts were on to resolve the issue, the claim of the protesters that the girl was raped and murdered had been proved wrong by the two post-mortem examinations done so far, he added.

However, reports said the members of the committee appeared to be divided over the issue of a third post-mortem. Ajit Singh, sarpanch of Baniakhera village, said a meeting of around 200 persons was held at the Civil Hospital and a decision could be taken once the body of the victim reached here.

According to Dharampal Singh, a member of the committee, a majority of the members were in favour of a third examination, which was required to be done in New Delhi.

Claiming that the girl, who had come here to appear in JBT examination on Saturday, was allegedly murdered, he said the kin and the villagers could not buy the police theory that she may have committed suicide. The role of the police had been unsatisfactory so far, he added.

Over 100 persons had been staging a dharna at the civil hospital since Sunday, said a spokesperson of the committee.

Hisar, August 27
Following an assurance from the administration to carry out a special drive to assess the damage due to failure of kharif crops, farmers of around 10 villages in the district have decided to call off their agitation on the issue.

The farmers had been staging a dharna at Mayyar village and had blocked the road for three consecutive days in support of their demands for a special ‘girdawari’, compensation to farmers and registration of criminal cases against the seed and pesticide suppliers, alleging that they had provided fake seeds and pesticides, resulting in crop failure.

Dhara Singh, who is leading the stir, said the farmers had decided to call off the stir following a meeting of farmers with the SDM today.

Chandigarh, August 27
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today questioned the state and Chandigarh on the issue of appointing Chairman and members of Haryana and Chandigarh Tax and VAT Tribunals without consulting the high court.

As petitions filed in public interest on the issue came up for resumed hearing, the Bench asked Haryana and Chandigarh: "How could you make appointments without consulting the high court?"

The petitions have been filed by advocate Vikas Miglani, challenging the appointments of Haryana tribunal chairman KS Bhoria and members Subhash Kaushik and Mukesh Lata Gupta, and by advocate HC Arora. He is seeking issuance of directions to the Chandigarh Administration to appoint chairman and members of the UT Vat Tribunal after holding consultations with the high court.

During the resumed hearing, Haryana Additional Advocate-General and UT Senior Standing Counsel faced a poser from the Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Augustine George Masih: "How can we treat you differently from Punjab? A Division Bench of the high court has vide its detailed judgment dated April 3 held that the appointments to the posts of Chairman and members of the Punjab Vat Tribunal shall be made only after consulting the high court."

The Additional Advocate-General and UT counsel thereupon sought a short adjournment for studying the judgment delivered in the PIL filed by Arora. Both the PILs have now been adjourned to September 20.

Chandigarh, August 27
As many as 85,000 beneficiaries have so far been identified and registered under the Priyadarshini Awaas Yojana (PAY) implemented in Haryana to facilitate the poor people in the rural areas to have housing facility. Also, first instalment of funds has been released to more than 30,000 eligible beneficiaries.

Giving this information here today, a spokesman of the Haryana Development and Panchayat Department said the process of allotment of funds was in full swing. Under the scheme, each beneficiary would be given financial assistance of Rs 81,000 in three instalments of Rs 25,000, Rs 35,000 and Rs 21,000 by the Haryana Rural Development Authority for the construction of a new house. In all, two lakh houses were to be constructed.

He said in addition to this, a financial assistance of Rs 9,100 would be provided to each beneficiary for the construction of latrine in convergence with ‘Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan’. Besides, each beneficiary being assisted under the Indira Awas Yojna (IAY) would also get financial assistance of Rs 11, 000.

The spokesman said the state government had also implemented Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojana to allot free residential plots measuring 100 sq. yards each to the families belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes (A) and those living Below Poverty Line (BPL). He said 3.82 lakh eligible families had so far been allotted plots under the scheme. The sites on which these plots were located were also being developed. He said the development works of pavement of streets was in progress and likely to be completed by December 2013.

He said under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, an expenditure of Rs1,341.62 crore had been made under this scheme from March, 2005 to July, 2013 and over 7.60 lakh households have been issued job cards. He said the basic objective of the scheme was to enhance livelihood security in the rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The scheme was applicable only in the rural areas and one-third of the jobs were reserved for women.

He said the department had introduced e-Panchayats for Panchayati Raj Institutions, which was one of the Mission Mode Projects under the National e-Governance Plan. e-Panchayat project aimed at supporting the Panchayati Raj Institutions to make effective use of information technology in providing a whole range of services to citizens, government departments and business entities, apart from efficiently managing their own expanding responsibilities.

The department has also introduced Panchayat Enterprise Suite in the state which has been developed under e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project under National e-Governance Plan of Government of India.

Sirsa, August 27
Rania MLA Krishan Kamboj’s son Ranjit Singh and the MLA’s two brothers, Darshan Lal and Hans Raj, were among two dozen people booked by the police after a brawl over a piece of land at Abholi village in Sirsa.

Bhim Raj, a former sarpanch of Abholi village who has lodged the complaint, alleged that after Ranjit’s engagement to his daughter, he had gifted him a piece of land near the road, where Kamboj later set up his petrol station.

After the engagement broke up, he demanded his piece of land back but was attacked by Ranjit and others. He also alleged that the MLA’s son had fired in the air.

Kamboj, however, denied the allegations and said he was being implicated for political reasons.

“I purchased this piece of land from Bhim Ram for setting up a petrol pump, much before my son was engaged to his daughter. I paid the consideration money and got the land registered on my name. Now, after the break-up of the engagement, some vested interests have instigated him and he is asking me to vacate the land,” Kamboj alleged.

SHO of Rania police station said a case had been registered and investigations were in progress.

Sonepat, August 27
Nine students were injured when their school bus overturned on a road between Kumaspur and Deepal Pur village this afternoon.

The students were taken to a private hospital at Bahalgarh and were discharged after treatment, the police said.

The students were going home from South Point Senior Secondary School, Sonepat, when the bus overturned due to "over-speeding".

After receiving information about the incident, the police reached the spot and on the basis of the preliminary investigation, registered a case against the bus drive, Sat Narain, for negligent driving. 

Fatehabad, August 27
The police has cracked the case of the murder of a 7-year-old girl and her 8-year-old brother at Bhattu in Fatehabad on July 13.

The police has arrested their father Ramu and his beloved Praveena, both belonging to the Singhikat community of rag pickers for the murder.

The police had recovered the bodies of the siblings from a canal and prima facie, it appeared that the girl had been sexually assaulted and brutalised.

Fatehabad SP Shiv Charan Attri informed mediapersons here today that the police had arrested both Ramu and Praveena, who had admitted to their crime.

DSP (City) Naripjit Singh and DSP (Headquarters) Shamsher Singh Dahiya were also present on this occasion.

“Ramu has revealed during his interrogation that he suspected illicit relations between his wife and a man, Sunny, and he started hating his children as their appearance matched more with Sunny than with him,” said Attri.

On July 13, Ramu and Praveena took the two children to a canal.

Praveena held the boy firmly while Ramu hit an iron rod on his head.

After this, the two threw the boy into the canal. Seeing this, Punit’s sister Payal (7) ran away in panic. However, Ramu chased and caught her and allegedly threw the girl into the canal.

After killing his children, Ramu eloped with Praveena.

Sonepat, August 27
The police today claimed to have arrested four persons involved in the murder of a woman, Sudesh, at her house at Ram Basti in Gohana on the intervening might of August 21 and 22.

The accused have been identified as Monu of Gohana, Rahul of Rohtak, Raju of Garnawati village and Jai Bhagwan of Katwara village in Rohtak district. The police said they had confessed to have killed Sudesh.

They said Sudesh was married to Sanjay of Issapur Kheri village about 12 years ago and had three children. Due to her strained relations with her husband, she had been living with her children in Ram Basti for the past one year.

After her murder, her brother Anil of Gandhi Nagar, Gohana, in his complaint to the police had stated that her murder was conspired by her husband.

However, during the police interrogation, the alleged accused confessed that on August 21, when they were consuming liquor, Sonu’s mother complained that her son had been meeting Sudesh and it was objectionable to the family. They said they went to Sudesh’s house and murdered her with bricks and sticks. 

Rewari, August 27
Six motorcycle-borne armed miscreants looted Rs 2.20 lakh from Kuldeep Yadav, a property dealer of Kosli, at gun point yesterday afternoon.

The miscreants intruded into his office and thrashed him.

The Kosli police, got Kuldeep admitted in the trauma centre here and has registered a case of robbery,causing grievous hurt, damage and criminal trespass against the gangsters.

Chandigarh, August 27
A delegation of 2+5 Mudde Jan Andolan, a social organisation, called on Shakeel Ahmed, Haryana Congress in-charge, at New Delhi today in support of their demand for the restoration of 25 per cent quota for economically weaker sections (EWS) of the society in private schools.

The delegation, led by organisation president Satvir Singh Hooda brought to the notice of Shakeel Ahmed how the Hooda government apparently under pressure from the powerful private schools lobby recently decided to bring down the EWS quota in private schools from 25 per cent to 10 per cent.

The “anti-poor” decision of the Hooda government has left over 2 lakh EWS students high and dry. The irony of the situation was that the government schools did not have requisite infrastructure adversely affecting the studies of the poor students, he added.

Kurukshetra, August 27
“Students should try to incorporate good human values and ethics along with education. To achieve holistic development of their personality, they should rise above their self and commit themselves to serve the humanity,” said Kurukshetra University Vice-Chancellor Lt Gen Dr DDS Sandhu (retd), addressing the new students of the university on the concluding day of the two-day induction programme at the university auditorium here today.

Sandhu said students were the most important stakeholders in the university system. He emphasised that the students should focus on their target and work hard to achieve it.

KU administration had a ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards ragging, eve-teasing and misconduct, he added.

KU Registrar Dr KC Relhan, Dean, Academic Affairs, Prof Girish Chopra, Proctor Prof CR Drolia, Dean, Students’ Welfare, Prof Anil Vashisth, Chief Warden (male) Dr Sat Dev, Chief Warden (female) Prof Ashu Shookeen, In-charge, IT Cell, DR Sunil Dhingra, dean of all the faculties, chairpersons, university officials and newly admitted students were present on the occasion.

Ambala, August 27
After three years of reluctance, the roadways department has finally set the ball rolling for the construction of a new high-end bus stand for Ambala city. The bus stand will have a 14-bus platform and advanced facilities for passengers.

The roadways department had conceived the project about three years back. As per the plan, the bus stand was to come up on 138 kanals of land with 14 platforms for buses plying on different routes.

The work on the multi-crore project, which was delayed for reasons best known to the authorities, is set to begin soon as the department has taken it up again.

As per the plan, the bus stand would have a 30-bed rest house for passengers along with one family room, two booths for bank ATMs, shops, two waiting halls, washrooms, parking lots, clock room and a police post. Sources said the roadways department had recently revived the project and held a meeting to discuss the details. During the meeting, the officials concerned asked the local authorities to work out the modalities for the completion of the project. The local authorities apprised the officials that a final draft plan had been prepared and sent to the PWD department.

Local residents said a new bus stand was a long-pending demand and it would provide commuters with the much-needed relief.

Rewari, August 27
Rakesh Gujjar (29) was killed while his younger brother Deepak sustained injuries when a car hit their motorcycle at Uttam Nagar Colony here last evening.

The mishap took place when the brothers were returning to their house in Mohalla Gujjarwara while the car was about to enter the locality.

The police has registered a case of causing death by negligence against the car driver who sped away after the accident.