The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	MUL complex political battleground From Ravi S. Singh Tribune News Service GURGAON, Oct 18 — The exit and entry points in the factory complex of Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) have become a battleground for the ruling Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the opposition parties in the state with regard to the ongoing agitation by workers of the company, spearheaded by the Maruti Udyog Employees Union (MUEU). In a development today the MUL Managing Director, Mr Jagdish Khattar, expressed hope that normalcy would return on the factory premises shortly. The district police has strengthened the security set-up around the factory premises to prevent any untoward incident. The district police chief, Mr Shatrujit Kapur, said no one would be allowed to create a law and order problem. The MUEU is agitating for increasing the incentive to the workers to about Rs 42,000 per month. The MUL management claims the present incentive stood at about Rs 23,000 per month. A couple of days ago the management announced notification of a new incentive scheme whereby the average monthly cost to the company of a Maruti employee would increase to Rs 33,767 in the next two years. The new scheme comes into effect from November 1 this year. The new incentive scheme adopted by MUL gives incentives on increased productivity and has also brought in an element of quality of production in the scheme. In what is considered to be a change in the stand in a section of the MUEU, its joint secretary, Mr Madan Lal Sharma, told TNS today the management was misleading people as the present amount of incentive was much less than what it claimed. He said the union would settle for about Rs 23,000 incentive per month. He alleged the management was gradually shrinking the perks and facilities, including uniform and medical allowances. What is intriguing to the observers is that the affair between the workers and the management has activated the political opponents of the INLD in favour of the employees. A BJP stalwart, Mr Sita Ram Singhla, also took part in the gate meetings organised by the workers. The main opposition in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, the Congress, is giving unqualified support to the workers. Congress leader Jai Prakash addressed the workers this afternoon. He along with leaders of the union criticised Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and the Deputy Speaker of the Haryana Assembly and local MLA, Mr Gopi Chand Gehlot. According to them, the government was supporting the management. The reason for the political leaders throwing their hats in the ring is not far to seek. The strength of the union is more than 4,000. Many of them are locals. The numbers are handy in electoral politics. In a latest move the Gurgaon Industrial Association has decided to organise a peace march of industrialists in support of the MUL management. In a counter-move the workers are reported to be in touch with the farmers of nearby villages to organise demonstrations. It may be recalled that recently a rally of farmers was organised here under the aegis of the Kisan Sangharsh Panchayat in which the president of the Haryana unit of the Congress, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was the main speaker. The rally adopted a resolution supporting the demands of the workers. At the corporate level the MUL management claimed the production today further picked up and the target was to produce about 1,000 cars by tomorrow. The production which had plummeted to about 200 cars each day in the early parts of the agitation, was stated to have reached 650 yesterday. Before the agitation the production stood at an average of about 1,400 per day. At present the management is sticking to its decision of making it mandatory on the part of all employees to sign “good conduct undertaking” before reporting for duty. This is understood to be turning out to be a hitch on the part of some workers who may like to join work. One worker tried to sum up the mood saying that earlier the employees had gone on strike now the management had enforced a lockout. To many this appeared to be a cat-and-mouse game between the workers and the management. According to observers, there was an element of farcical comedy in the entire development with the politicians contributing much to it.
	KUNTEA poll: staff issues missing From K.G. Dutt Tribune News Service KURUKSHETRA, Oct 18 — Issues of employees’ interest and welfare seem to be missing from the election campaign of the Kurukshetra University non-Teaching Employees Association (KUNTEA). Campaign has gripped various non-teaching departments of the varsity. Elections to the KUNTEA is scheduled to be held on October 20. From the way, various groups are campaigning it seems that this election is sans any important issue. The KUNTEA had been a most powerful body of the non-teaching employees in Kurukshetra University for a number of years. So much so that it spearheaded a record strike for more than three months to pressurise the university administration to concede its demands. Unity of KUNTEA was considered as an unique by other unions of employees both at the state and district level when Mr Babu Ram Gupta headed it. But slidedown started when its leaders started working for self-aggrandizement instead of caring for the problems of the employees. Even KUNTEA’s “power and unity” was used by some leaders for self promotion and the welfare of their near and dear ones. Time came when KUNTEA was divided into two groups. Then its politics became a slanging match of allegations and counter-allegations between the two groups. Mr Babu Ram Gupta, was replaced by Mr Karan Singh who believed in a policy of laissez faire instead of permanent confrontation with the university administration. Naturally, the KUNTEA leaders started currying favours with the administration. The situation reached such a pass that every conceivable leader of KUNTEA has got one favour or the other from the administration. These favours include out of turn house allotment to their supporters or self, employment for their sons and wards and relations, other sundry benefits of transfers at key and convenient posts. The university administration found a golden opportunity in such atmosphere and cashed on it. Starting from Prof Bhim Singh Dahiya, former Vice-Chancellor of the university till today including the Vice-Chancellorship of Dr M.L. Ranga, the varsity atmosphere remained without strikes and strife. While the university administration has been heaving a sigh of relief in such congenial atmosphere at the same moment, demands of the employees have not been given that much attention as it deserved. All controversial issues relating to the welfare of the employees have been put in the cold store as there is no leader of standing who could take up their cause boldly with the administration. For instance, there are employees in the university who still live in private rented accommodation even after putting 20 years of service. Over the years, no KUNTEA leader has pleaded either with the university administration or with the state government to allocate more funds for residential accommodation for class III and IV employees. Furthermore, ad hocism has come to stay in appointments in various departments of the university. Employees are hired and fired on contract basis on the sweet will of the authorities. Not that the university authorities are solely to be blamed for it. The over concentration of powers in the hands of the state government regarding appointments in the university, is also a major factor. But the basic question remains that no KUNTEA leader over the past decade had taken up the cause of appointments in university. On the other hand, promotions on selective basis in some departments had been manoeuvred by the persons sitting in key positions. The KUNTEA on the other hand has acted as a pawn in the hands of politicians in power from time to time. KUNTEA leaders have been seen campaigning for various political parties amongst the employees with the assurance that they would get them benefits whenever a particular party came to power but this never happened. After getting the votes of employees, the politicians dropped them like hot cakes and did not care for their genuine difficulties. Because they knew that the KUNTEA leadership in not that powerful which could make troubles in the university. The present election, therefore, has not generated much enthusiasm amongst the employees. The war of posters is missing. The leaders of three groups who are in the fray are concentrating on personal contact rather than on any intensive campaigning. Furthermore, various types of temptations are being offered to the employees. Besides, evening parties are arranged by some groups. The three candidates who are in the fray for presidentship, are the sitting president, Mr Karan Singh, Mr Maan Singh, belonging to the Babu Ram Gupta group and Mr Bhim Singh Saini, who has floated a third neutral front.
	Row over temple demolition From Our Correspondent FARIDABAD, Oct 18 — The demolition of a temple in Sector 28 of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) locality as part of the anti-encroachment drive has ballooned into a ‘controversy’ following sharp criticism by and involvement of BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders in condemning the move. On other hand, the HUDA authorities claim that the action was totally justified as the construction was ‘illegal’ and ‘pure encroachment’ on government land. About 30 sadhus and their disciples belonging to the Akhand Paramdham Samiti have been camping at the site of the demolished structure. They have been continuing with prayers and kirtan in the basement of the structure which is still intact. Swami Prakasanand, secretary of the Paramdham Samiti, said that the sadhus would continue their agitation till their demand for reconstruction of the temple and an apology from the authorities was met. Claiming that the temple was not built on encroached land, he said the HUDA action was ‘unjustified’ and ‘unacceptable’. Further claiming that the temple was more than five years’ old and an amount of over Rs 20 lakh has already been spent on its construction, he said that the authorities had never contested the ownership of this plot except through a notice served about 10 days ago. He said the plot belonged to the Wakf Board and the samiti was trying to contact the real owner for transfer of the plot in its name. Alleging that the officials took away idols of various deities from the temple, he said an idol of ‘Hanumanji’ was broken while it was being pulled down with help of the JCB machine. The head of the Akhand Paramdham Samiti, Swami Parmanand is leading this protest by camping at the site. On their part, the HUDA officials have claimed that nothing illegal or improper had been done by demolishing the temple. They claimed that the temple had come up on a HUDA plot meant for building a nursery school. HUDA proposed to auction this plot, measuring about 1200 square yards, on October 24 next. The commercial value of this plot was reported around Rs 2 crore. The Estate Officer, Mr Dinesh Yadav, said that the demolition was done under the campaign launched to remove encroachments from HUDA land and there was no motive to hurt religious sentiments of anyone. He claimed that the issue was being raised by certain outsiders, who wanted to serve their vested interests. He further claimed that the plot was duly acquired by the department in 1974. He claimed that HUDA had already allotted a plot to the VHP for construction of a religious building in the same sector on June 19, last. Meanwhile, the visit of certain political leaders, including the President of the Haryana BJP, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, Mr Ramchander Bainda, BJP MP from here, and BJP MLA from NIT, Mr Chander Bhatia to the site yesterday provided ‘moral support’ to the protesters. These leaders also condemned the demolition.
	Meritorious students to be honoured Tribune News Service CHANDIGARH, Oct 18 — The Haryana Government will honour meritorious students, who took the annual examinations held in April, 1999, of Kurukshetra University and Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, at a state-level function scheduled to be held at Bhagwad Gita Sadan, Kurukshetra University, on October 23. Giving this information, a spokesman for the Higher Education Department said the Minister of State for Education, Mr Bahadur Singh, would be the chief guest on the occasion. He said the meritorious students of non-government colleges affiliated to Maharshi Dayanand University included Mohinder Singh, Kavita Rani, Swati Mehta, Sunita and Tarun Kumar of BLJ Suiwala College, Tosham (rural); Ruchi Gupta of GGDSD College, Palwal (urban); Parveen, Preeti, Deepika, Geeta, Komal Rani, Sangeeta, Brijesh, Sunita, Indu, Sangeeta, Geeta Rani, Manu, Manju, Vinita, Kiran Jit Kaur, Monika Rathi and Varsha Rani of BPSM Girls College, Khanpur Kalan (rural); Kiran Kumari, Dipti Mittal, Rekha Bhardwaj, Neetu, Anju, Alka, Kriti, Harsh Lata and Jyoti Bala of Adarsh Mahila Mahavidyalya, Bhiwani (urban); Shaily Singla of Saraswati Mahila Mahavidyalya, Palwal (urban); Kavita Yadav of Ahir College, Rewari (urban); Sarita of MAPG College for Women, Jhajjar (urban); Rajesh Kumar, Vinit Kumar, Manoj Kumar and Mamta Diwan of Vaish College, Bhiwani (urban); Archana Chhabra, Sandhya and Minakshi of DAV Girls College, Kosli (rural); Rita, Krishan Lal, Sanjay Kumar, Reepika, Satish Kumar and Sonia of SJK College, Kalanaur (rural); Rajeshwari of MKM Kanya Mahavidyalya, Hodal (rural); Mamta Diwan and Harsh Lata of Kirori Mal College of Education, Bhiwani (urban); Nirmala of MK Jat Kanya Mahavidyalya, Rohtak (urban); Ritu Malik of TR Girls College, Sonepat (urban); Sudha Rani and Sunita Devi of Kanya Mahavidyalya, Kharkhoda (rural); Vivek and Hem Lata of JVMGRR College, Charkhi Dadri (urban); Rashmi, Manish Jain, Hari Shankar and Versha Aggarwal of Aggarwal College, Ballabhgarh (rural); Rahul Hans, Dhruv Kumar Sharma, Arihant Jain, Divananshu Kernatek, Jagbir Singh and Shiwani of Hindu College, Sonepat (urban); and Ranju of Vaish Mahila Mahavidyalya, Rohtak, (urban). He said Neelam Devi, Pawan Kumar, Rimpi Goyal, Rama Nand and Reena Gupta of Government College, Jatauli Haily Mandi, (rural); Sarita of Government College, Bound Kalan, Bhiwani, (rural); Ashok Kumar, Ranu Rani and Anjli of Government College, Dujana, Jhajjar, (rural); Manisha Rani, Chavi Rani and Veenus of Government College, Nagina, Gurgaon (rural); Saroj Kumari, Satender Kumar and Mayuri of Government College, Sidherawali, Gurgaon (rural); Vineet Sharma, Kavita, Vikash Jain, Shardha Sharma, Nitesh Kumar and Sandeep of Government College, Hodal (rural); Kandla Jain, Sonia Goyal, Devender Malik, Chand Ram and Asha of Government College, Gohana (rural); Mukesh Kumar of GC, Nangal Chaudhary (rural); Preeti Sharma, Muni Rani, Sunil Kumar, Urmila and Anurag of GC, Meham (rural); Ish Kumar of GC Bawal (rural); Rajni, Nilu, Phool Singh and Ritu of GC Tauru (rural); Pinki Goyal, Shanti Parkash, Sucheta Yadav and Krishan Kumar of GC Ateli (rural); Yogita, Monika, Khushali and Lata Gaur of GC Faridabad (urban); Manisha Rani, Suman Kumari and Ila Chandra of Government College for Women, Mahendragarh; and Niraj Rani, of GC Tigon (rural), would also be honoured. These institutions were also affiliated to Maharshi Dayanand University. He said the meritorious students of non-government colleges affiliated to Kurukshetra University included Nitu Gupta, Ramandeep Kaur, Puja Garg and Arjinder Kaur of Guru Nanak Girls College, Santpura, Yamunanagar (urban); Divya Chabra of DAV College, Ambala city (urban); Manish Dahiya, Ranjit Kaur, Annu Suneja, Anamika and Ashish Kumar of MLN College, Yamunanagar (urban); Lovleen, Arti, Deepika Mehta, Namita and Navita of Arya Kanya Mahavidyalya, Shahabad Markanda (urban); Kapil Dev, Savita Arora, Suraksha Rani, Rajkumar, Kavita Rani, Ravinder Kaur and Indu Verma of DAV College, Pehowa; Sangeeta Kaushal, Rajesh Kumar, Manjula, Reena, Samita Dhiman, Sarita Sindher, Robby Matta, Samta, Vandana, Seema, Atul and Shifali Gupta of Dayal Singh College, Karnal (urban); Aparna Bansal, Aditi, Siwani Sharma, Anoop Bansal, Lovekesh Gupta, Archna Sharma, Vandna and Vaishkha of S D College (Lahore), Ambala cantt (urban); Baljit Kaur of Hindu Girls College, Jagadhri (urban); Priyadarshani, Sandhya Anand, Jyoti Batra, Sunedha Arya and Ashish Khurana of S D College, Panipat (urban); Menakshi, Suchita, Taruna, Rohit Kumar and Shweta Gupta of Maharaja Aggarsain Mahavidyalya, Jagadhri (urban); Nishu Jain, Veena and Payal Sharma of Dev Samaj College for Girls (Lahore), Ambala city (urban); Ramesh Kumar, Varender Kaur and Rajinder Singh of BAR Janta College, Kaul, Kaithal (rural); Kavita of DAV College for Women, Karnal (urban); Renu Bala, Suman Rani, Anita Rani, Kiran Singla and Neha of Janta Girls College, Ellenabad (rural); Priyanka of SD Mahila Mahavidyalya, Hansi (urban); Mamta Goyal and Shalini Aggarwal of FC College for Women, Hisar (urban); Snehil Dua, Pooja and Manisha of Dr Ganesh Dass DAV College of Education for Women, Karnal (urban); Rajat of Markanda National College, Shahabad (urban); Harvinder and Sanjeev Kumar of Sri Guru Hari Singh College, Sri Jiwan Nagar, Sirsa (rural); Shalini Atri of Gandhi Memorial National College, Ambala cantt (urban); Poonam of Shri Atmanand Jain College, Ambala city (urban); Kusum of Arya College, Panipat (urban); Poonam Rani, Pooja Monga, Radha and Anu Gupta of RDG Multipurpose College for Women, Bherian Pehowa, Kurukshetra (rural); and Monika Saini, Deepa Rani, Pooja Miglani, Sumit Gupta, Kavita Gupta and Shikha Rani of Indira Gandhi National College, Ladwa (rural). He said Surender Kumar, Ajay Kumar and Rina of GC, Ghauranda (rural); Vandana, Madhu, Shephali, Rajiv Kumar and Suman Shudha of KM Government College, Narwana (urban); Rimpi Gupta, Manish, Rajni Gupta, Deepika, Shweta Gupta and Babbal Preet Kaur of Government College, Naraingarh (rural); Pankaj of Government College Jind (urban); Vandana, Gurdeep Kaur and Tanu Jain of Government College for Women, Karnal (urban); Surender Singh of Government College, Nalwa Hisar (rural); Vibha Gupta, Nidhi Man, Geeta, Anita and Shweta Gupta of GPGC, Karnal (urban), would also be honoured. These institutions were also affiliated to Kurukshetra University. He said the Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Education Department, Mr Prem Prashant, would preside over the function.
	Fall in water-table will cause crisis: board Tribune News Service GURGAON, Oct 18—The Central Ground Water Board of the Union Ministry of Water Resources yesterday cautioned that if remedial measures were not taken to arrest the fall in the water-table, the city and its nearby areas would face acute shortage of water. If the present drift was allowed, in about seven years, the people of Gurgaon would face a situation where a majority of the tubewells would go dry, according to the Chairperson of the Board,Dr D.K.Chadha.Although the problem was alarming in this city,the entire district would face a crisis on the water front. Dr Chadha made the alarming statement at a symposium organised here as part of a mass awareness prgramme on conservation, protection and regulation of ground water in this district,organised by the Board.Already consumption had started from the “reserve” base of underground water.This meant that the tubewells were drawing water from a depth,which was tapped only during crisis.So,there was an urgent need to renew the water table. For the past 10 years, there had been 32 per cent increase in the population of the city.There had been large-and scale industrialistaion and urbanisation and this was taking a toll of the water resource.Annually,the water-table was falling by 90 cm. He said the Board planned to notify Gurgaon city for imposing regulatory measures for management of the available water resource. In the first phase ,the notification would make it mandatory for registration of all water sources.The tubewell owners would have to register their source to the district administration. There would be strict regulation on installing new tubewells.There would be rationalisation of water consumption by the industrial units. These steps would also facilitate the Board to study the consumption of water from various sources for more proactive scientific measures and anlaysis to improve the situation. To compound the problem major parts of Mewat,covering about two-thirds of the geographical area of the district,as well as stretches in other parts, have brackish water.Ironically,as brackish water is not consumed in any form, the water tables in these areas were on the rise. Besides, thousands of hectares in the Mewat area, forming the southern part of Gurgaon district,were land-locked by the Aravalli Hills on both sides.The rain water keeps on recharging the water table ,contributing to the rise of sub soil water.So the time had come when the cultivation of only special crops could be done in these areas. However,the Board underlined ,that Gurgaon was not a lost case. Remedial measures, like conservation of rain water and judicious utilisation of the resource would go a long way in tiding over the problem. Already, the Board had notified Faridabad and Ambala towns.However,according to Dr Chadha,the situation in Gurgaon was more ticklish than in Faridabad and Ambala because in this city and its adjoining areas the ground level at 225 m was rocky.At some places the rocky ground level was at a depth of only 50 m,thereby not allowing further percolation of water and leading to early drying up of the water base. The president of the Gurgaon Municipal Council,Mr Braham Prakash,urged the Board not go in for such harsh measures.He reasoned that in some of the colonies the municipality had not been able to provide potable water.So the only source of water were the tubewells. The president of the Gurgaon Industrial Association,Mr Jagan Nath Mangla,also urged upon the Board not to single out the industrial units for the proposed harsh measures.
	Democracy basis of Panth: Soch Tribune News Service KURUKSHETRA, Oct 18 — Dr H.S. Soch, Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, today inaugurated national seminar on ‘Khalsa Panth: A Symbol of Indian Pride’, organised by the Department of Punjabi, Kurukshetra University. Dr Soch said Guru Gobind Singh had laid the foundation of secularism in India. Dr Soch said Guru Gobind Singh had given an identity to the Khalsa Panth. In fact, the Guru by starting Khalsa Panth broke caste barriers and gave a message to create ‘a casteless and classless society’. The concept of “langar” and living together was a symbol of democratic concept and togetherness as a way of life, he said. Dr Soch lamented that India and its society had misconstrued secularism. He laid stress on the need to start moral education in schools. He maintained that lack of moral education was affecting the very vitals of our society. Mr R.S. Chaudhry, Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, said the foundation of the Khalsa Panth had in fact been laid in the days of Guru Nanak. He stated that social and political conditions during the time of Guru Gobind Singh had made the creation of the Khalsa Panth a necessity. The Khalsa Panth stood against repression and force which was at its peak during the regime of Mughal emperors. He said the first Guru of the Sikhs had started preaching against social evils like caste and religious discrimination much before the creation of Khalsa Panth. However, the credit of starting Khalsa Panth and initiating the cult of “shakti and bhakti” went to Guru Gobind Singh. Mr Chaudhry was of the view that Guru Gobind Singh believed in “bhakti” while keeping sword in hand to fight social evils and repression. It was the Khalsa Panth which protected and helped the repressed and the poor. Mr Chaudhry stated that Khalsa Panth also symbolised moral values in true form. He also said the Khalsa Panth had played a key role in saving India’s pride. He opined that a spiritually strong person with a strong will was a true symbol and follower of the Khalsa Panth. Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, Agriculture Minister, Haryana, said the Khalsa Tercentenary had been celebrated with great enthusiasm throughout the state. Prof S.S. Noor of Delhi University presented the keynote address.
	Cleanliness drive launched From Our Correspondent SONEPAT, Oct 18 — The Sonepat Municipal Council launched a two-week-long cleanliness campaign in this fast-growing industrial city and district headquarters of Haryana from today. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sudhir Rajpal, told mediapersons here today that the entire city has been divided into six zones for making the campaign success. Each zone would be supervised by an HCS officer who had been empowered to take stern action against the erring safai workers. The campaign, he said, would continue until October 31. The civil administration had earmarked 52 garbage dumps sites in different parts of the city consisting of 31 wards. These sites, he said, would be cleaned daily with the help of manual labour, tractor-trailers, JCB machines and dumpers. Moreover, a number of sub-dumps had also been set up which were cleaned by the safai workers with the help of hand-held trolleys. He claimed that one JCB machine and five dumpers had already been pressed into service for the removal of solid waste and garbage from the areas of Durga Mandir in Ashok Nagar market, Purkhas road, Balmiki Basti, Subzimandi, Kami Road, Raj Mohalla, veterinary hospital, Murthal Adda, Delhi road opposite HUDA office, West Ram Nagar near Tikka Ram College, Industrial Area, etc. The safai workers had removed 100 trolleys of garbage from these sites during the past two weeks. The district administration had set up a special cell for the redressal of public grievances about insanitation, block sewerage and inadequate and erratic supply of drinking water. Two complaint centres, he said, are functioning — one at the boosting station No. 1 and the other on the premises of old tehsil building near foodgrain market. A total number of 4,000 complaints relating to the sewer blockage, erratic supply of drinking water and insanitation received in the Janata Darbars had so far been disposed of. Work for improving the sanitation and cleanliness of open drains and sewerage lines was being carried out. The Public Health Department and the Sonepat Municipal Council had cleaned 12 major drains within the municipal limits. Moreover, the side drains and link drains are being cleaned regularly by the safai workers.
	Success of HVPN ‘questionable’ From Our Correspondent FARIDABAD, Oct 18 — The state government has been losing revenue of about Rs 275 crore, annually after the corporation of the erstwhile Haryana State Electricity Board. The functioning of the Power Department had ‘failed’ to improve mainly due to the problem of rampant corruption being a part of the government machinery. Claiming this, Mr R.C. Jagga, president of the Sarva Karamchari Sangh, Haryana, which represents over two lakh government employees, said here yesterday a big question mark had arisen over the ‘success’ of privatisation or corporation move taken a few years ago. He said the authorities had claimed that the move to corporatise bodies like the HSEB and other departments would not only solve the problem of shortage of power but the state would be able to save revenue of several crores accruing due to various factors. Addressing a meeting of the district unit of the sangh here last evening, Mr Jagga claimed theft of power had risen sharply in the past couple of years and the government had failed to recover a huge amount of pending bills in rural areas. He said an amount of about Rs 270 crore was lost by the state government on account of power theft alone in an year. He alleged that even after pumping crores of rupees taken from the World Bank as loan the performance of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) had not improved as expected, due to inefficiency and corruption at higher levels. He said the line losses had increased from 24 to 45 per cent due to power theft. He said unless the functioning of senior officials did not improve any move, including corporation or privatisation, would not help.
	Central team visits Haryana mandis Tribune News Service CHANDIGARH, Oct 18 — A central team of experts from Delhi today visited various mandis of Haryana following the state government’s demand for a Punjab-type compensation package for Haryana farmers. The team will visit the remaining mandis tomorrow and give its report, Mr Dhirpal Singh, Town and Country Planning Minister of Haryana, who is camping in Delhi, told TNS on the telephone. The minister said he was optimistic about a favourable report from the central team which would enable the farmers to get compensation. “Our point is very simple. The agro-climatic conditions in Punjab and Haryana are the same. Moreover, the farmers of Punjab have facilities such as free power and water which their counterparts in Haryana do not enjoy. Therefore, if Punjab can be given compensation, a similar package should be considered for Haryana also”, Mr Dhirpal Singh said. Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala was also reaching Delhi in the evening after his foreign trip. He was likely to meet Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Food Minister, and discuss the issue of a package for Haryana, Mr Dhirpal Singh said. Mr Dhirpal Singh said Mr Chautala had a telephonic discussion with Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha earlier regarding compensation to the farmers. The state government had initially denied that paddy, refused by the government procurement agencies, was being sold by the farmers to private traders at prices much below the minimum support price announced by the Union Government. However, the state government did a volte-face and publicly admitted distress sale by farmers when the Centre announced a compensation package for Punjab following pressure mounted on it by the Punjab Government. The Haryana Government was also not keen on a visit by a central team of experts since it felt that its argument on the similarity of climatic conditions in Punjab and Haryana would be easily accepted by the Union Food Ministry. Any delay in the submission of the report by the central team could create further complications because paddy arrivals might not continue beyond Divali, an official here said. Mr Dhirpal Singh, however, said such problems would not arise as the central team would give its findings by Thursday evening.
	Irate farmers block Jagadhri road Tribune News Service AMBALA, Oct 18 — Farmers today blocked the Jagadhari road for a short while in protest against the non procurement of paddy lying in the Mullana anaj mandi. The farmers who had come to sell their produce at the Mullana mandi blocked the Jagadhari road in the afternoon, protesting against the procurement agencies not buying their stock. The area Naib Tehsildar intervened in the matter. The farmers were assured by the market committee that procurement would take place but only that paddy would be bought, which was within the laid down specifications. The traffic on the road was restored after the assurance was given. Similarly, in Ambala city anaj mandi, the auction process ground to a halt following claims by the farmers that discrimination was taking place in the procurement of paddy by the procurement agencies. The auction process was resumed after Sub Divisional Magistrate, Mr Satbir Saini, intervened. Mr Saini said the matter was sorted out. “There was resentment among some people which led to the procurement process coming to a halt but I have ensured that the process is immediately resumed,” he said. “Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, Mr Ram Niwas, through a press note said, till October 17, 75,355 tonnes of paddy had arrived in the 15 mandis of Ambala. Out of which, 10822 was ordinary variety, 64530 tonnes was grade A and three tonnes of Basmati variety. The millers had bought 23,306 tonnes, dealers had bought 7191 tonnes, Hafed had bought 22,893 tonnes, food and supplies has bought 1730 ton, Haryana Agro had bought 6471 tonnes, Haryana warehouse corporation had bought 3731 tonnes and Confed had bought 10,133 ton.
	100 cr package for farmers sought From Our Correspondent SIRSA, Oct 18 — The Centre must give a package of Rs 100 crore to the farmers of Haryana on the pattern of Punjab keeping in view the similar geographical and climatic conditions in the productive paddy belt of the state. This was demanded by the senior INLD leader and MP from Bhiwani, Mr Ajay Chautala, in a press note issued today. Mr Chautala said that Haryana’s paddy cultivators had also suffered similar conditions and, therefore, must be taken care of like the Punjab farmers. He said the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, had intervened to demand a package for Haryana farmers from the Centre.