Dutt for emulating EU model
KURUKSHETRA, May 1 — Veteran film actor, Sunil Dutt, who passed through here as part of goodwill expedition "Hands Across the Borders', called upon the youth of South Africa to work towards happiness for all its inhabitants.

SBI duped of Rs 5 lakh
ROHTAK, May 1 — The police appears to be uncertain about the identity of the swindler who duped the State Bank of India of Rs 5 lakh here yesterday.

Deputy Speaker's son cheated
AMBALA, May 1 — Mr Ajay Kumar, son of the Deputy Speaker of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Mr Faquir Chand Aggarwal, has complained to the police that he has been cheated of Rs 33 lakh by Mr Pramod Khosla, a resident of the Urban Estate here.

Missing girl found
ROHTAK, May 1 — A teenaged girl who had reportedly been missing from Mukhra village since April 13 has been recovered by the police from a nearby town.

Underweight bags cause huge losses
From K.G. Dutt
Tribune News Service

KARNAL, May 1 — The supply of underweight bardana gunny bags to arhtiyas by government agencies has led to the loss of crores of rupees to farmers in grain markets in the state.

This has resulted in widespread resentment among the farmers and the arhtiyas. While the farmers blame the arhtiyas for overweighing, the actual reason is the supply of underweight wheat bags to the arhtiyas by the government agencies. The problem took serious turn in Kaithal and Cheeka grain markets recently when the government suspended the licences of six traders on a charge of overweighing. There was a strike in the grain markets by the traders. It was called off on Thursday after the intervention of the district administration and assurances to the traders that their licences would be revived.

Mr V.P. Singhal, president of the Ladwa Grain Merchants Association, told this reporter that the supply of underweight gunny bags was to blame.

He maintained that the prescribed weight of b.twill should be 2.25 pounds. But the bags supplied to the arhtiyas weighed only 1.75 pounds. Due to this empty bags weighed only between 750 gm and 800 gram. Therefore, while filling a bag, the arhtiyas had to fill 200 gram to 300 gram excess grain in each bag.

Mr Singhal said after the filling of four bags, the loss to a farmer was about 1 kg of wheat.

He clarified that this quantity went to the government agencies as there was 100 per cent procurement by these agencies from the arhtiyas.

Mr Singhal stated that in the Ladwa market from where about 8 lakh bags were expected to be procured, the gain to the agencies was about 2 lakh kg.

The value of excess wheat at prevalent rates came to about Rs 11 lakh. This was a loss to the farmers. Insiders pointed out that when the agencies sold the wheat to states, the excess wheat was left with officials in-charge of different buffer stocks. How it was disposed of and who pocketed the money was a mystery.

Mr Singhal clarified that the person responsible for weighing in every market was a licence of the Market Committee.

The arhtiyas as such had nothing to do with weighing. Further, the platform scales provided in various markets could show a difference in weight up to 1 kg, provided a grain was held in the platform below. This could occur frequently during the peak season.

He also stated that the arhtiyas as well as the farmers were the sufferers because of slow procurement by government agencies. Procured bags were lying in the Ladwa market for the past 15 days. Although Mr S. C. Disodia, Commissioner, Food and Supplies, Haryana, visited the Shahabad, Babain, Ladwa and Pipli grain markets yesterday to look into complaints of overweighing and slow procurement, there had been no improvement in the situation. Wheat bags procured by agencies since April 6 are still lying there, creating space problems for the arhtiyas and the farmers.

Review election strategy: BJP
From Our Correspondent

FATEHABAD, May 1 — The district unit of the BJP has called upon the party high command to review its poll strategy in Haryana with regard to the Lok Sabha poll.

Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, the district BJP chief, Dr Atam Parkash Mehta, said the district unit had impressed upon the senior leadership of the party not to overlook the fact that the party fought the lost Assembly elections with the Haryana Vikas Party, but after assuming power, Chief Minister Bansi Lal changed his attitude towards the BJP and neglected almost all pre-poll promises of the party. The BJP, he said, had promised to abolish the octroi tax, but the Chief Minister refused to do it, though he had agreed to do so during his talks with state BJP chief Om Parkash Grover.

Dr Mehta alleged that Mr Bansi Lal's "negative attitude" had led to the closure of Agroha Medical College, adding that the state executive of the BJP had to pass a resolution to ask the Chief Minister to roll back the hike in market fees which had affected farmers and traders.

The senior leadership of the party has been asked to reconsider its poll strategy and contest the next poll on its own, he said.

Dutt for emulating EU model
From Our Correspondent

KURUKSHETRA, May 1 — Veteran film actor, Sunil Dutt, who passed through here as part of goodwill expedition "Hands Across the Borders', called upon the youth of South Africa to work towards peace and happiness for all its inhabitants.

Mr Dutt, addressing a gathering at Panchayat Bhavan here today, said that the last half-century had been one of mutual suspicion, bitterness and conflict among the nations of this region. He said we should say we are Hindustanis rather than Haryanvis, Gujaratis, Punjabis and Bengalis etc just as all Americans said they were Americans.

He said the region would grower stronger through not weapons.

Talking about people his delegation met during the tour, Mr Dutt said that the youth, especially students want poverty to be uprooted.

He said that the people of many countries of Europe had succeeded in breaking national boundaries in the EU model and we should also follow in example.

Talking about the objectives of expedition, Mr Akhil Bakshi, expedition leader and president, Yuva Shakti, said the expedition aimed at building an environment of peace and development in South Asia.

He said a peaceful environment could only be achieved if the people themselves led the way by going a step further than the government and "Hands Across the Borders' was a people's initiative in this direction.

The expedition comprises of young men and women from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India travelling in five jeeps. It commenced its journey from Colombo in Sri Lanka and driving over 15,000 km in three months will travel through India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan Nepal and Pakistan.

Representatives of various social and religious organisations welcomed the delegation.

'Silk Route' weaves music magic
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, May 1 — Dressed in black with a beret, strumming his guitar passionately, Mohit of Silk Route, in his velvety voice enthralled the audience with notes of sentimental numbers at a performance at the North Park Resort, here today.

With his eyes closed, deep into his music, everything around him ceased to exist as he presented number after number and "Dooba Dooba" wove magic in the night for the appreciative audience. Kem Trivedi on the keyboard, played melodious tunes on the clarinet while Mohit joined in with his harmonica to produce some lovely music.

Beginning with "Jadoogar", the group went on to present "Boondein" which won them the Channel V award for the best song of the year. "Humsafar", "Mermaid" and "Higher" were among the many songs presented by the group. The instrumental number "Banjara" had a heady concoction of notes of the various instruments. The tune, Mohit disclosed, was taken from a shepherd humming in the hills as his flock of sheep grazed.

"Chakkar Four'' a peppy, foot-tapping number presented by the group had all words beginning with the "ch" sound and the audience, too, enjoyed it thoroughly. A Himachali folk song also found its way to the list of songs the group presented.

Between songs, Mohit took time off to explain how and where each song was conceived and the message it conveyed.

The five-member band led by Mohit had Kem Trivedi on the key-board, Kenny on the drums, Sameer on the percussion instruments and Robert on the base.

SBI duped of Rs 5 lakh
Tribune News Service

ROHTAK, May 1 — The police appears to be uncertain about the identity of the swindler who duped the State Bank of India of Rs 5 lakh here yesterday.

The swindler, according to the FIR, forged the signature of a bank official, mentioned a fictitious scroll number underneath and presented the cheque to the cashier against token no 925.

The cheque has signed by "H.P. Dass" in the capacity of a proprietor of a firm named as Krishna Traders showing account number 296. Interestingly, the bank has no account in the name of Krishna Traders.

The bank officials said the token number was also forged. The cheque also had a forged stamp of C and I Division, Rohtak 0706.

A case under Sections 420,467,468,and 471, IPC has been registered.

Dy Speaker's son cheated
From Our Correspondent

AMBALA, May 1 — Mr Ajay Kumar, son of the Deputy Speaker of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Mr Faquir Chand Aggarwal, has complained to the police that he has been cheated of Rs 33 lakh by Mr Pramod Khosla, a resident of the Urban Estate here.

In a written complaint to the district police chief, he said Mr Khosla had offered to get him several hundred acres in Ropar district of Punjab which belonged to the Punjab Wakf Board. He said Mr Khosla had also assured to get the land cleared from the forest and revenue departments. On the basis of the assurance, Mr Ajay Kumar said he gave Rs 33 lakh to Mr Khosla in August, 1998, Mr Khosla gave him a receipt of the Punjab Wakf Board.

The complainant said that in September when he tried to get the possession of the land in question, he was told that it was in the name of the Forest Department. When Mr Khosla was informed about it, he feigned ignorance, the complainant said.

According to the complaint, Mr Khosla was asked to return the money, but he refused to do so.

On the basis of the complaint, the police has registered a case of cheating against Mr Khosla. The Baldev Nagar police is investigating the matter.

Missing girl found
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, May 1 — A teenaged girl who had reportedly been missing from Mukhra village since April 13 has been recovered by the police from a nearby town.

A case under Sections 363, 366 and 506, IPC had been registered in this connection. The police found the girl at a house in Meham, 30 km from here, yesterday. She was reportedly staying in a rented house along with a youth identified as Vijender, of Masini Chanderpal village.

Meanwhile, in another case Bhagwan, a resident of Behrana village in Jhajjar district was allegedly murdered by some persons of the same village yesterday.

A case under Section 302, IPC, has been registered.