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| Friday, November 17, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Rats eat into crop,
grain Regular power supply a
dream BSNL ready to meet
new challenges Tackling escape
of undertrials GPF: Haryana issues
directions |
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2 convicted for
power theft Farmers urged to
adopt new techniques ‘Delayed’ crushing
worries farmers National Press
Day celebrated Test for posts of
Math Master Three killed in
accident
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Rats eat into crop,
grain FATEHABAD, Nov 16 — Thanks to a lackadaisical approach of the authorities, the population of rats and mice in agricultural fields in this part of Haryana is increasing. The presence of a large number of rodents in the fields have been causing heavy losses to the farmers, but the authorities have failed to take measures to tackle the problem. This correspondent talked to a cross-section of farmers in Jamalpur, Akanwalim Kulan and Bhuna villages and Fatehabad town. The farmer confirmed that the rodent population has increased manifold during the past few years. A drive on the Tohana-Kulan-Bhune road during the night reveals rats scurrying across the road, more so on the link roads where the vehicular traffic is scarce. The farmers complain that the rats nibble at the sown seeds the sowing season, thereby preventing the sprouting of the plants. They also eat the tiny plants thereby causing early death of the plants. They cause incalculable losses to the paddy and wheat crops by not only eating away the food grains but also storing the grains in their holes. The farmers say that any hole of the rats during this part of the year is full of nearly 3 kg of wheat. The rodents fill their holes with sufficient quantity of food grain so as to ensure their survival during the “off season”. The rats cause the biggest damage to the sugarcane fields. They eat through the lower part of the cane, thereby starving the upper portion of the stem. Besides the losses they cause to the standing crops in the fields, the rats also cause great damage to the food grains stored in godowns. According to the Panse Committee report on agriculture, the rodents were responsible for 2.5 per cent loss to the foodgrains stored in the godowns. They not only eat the grains but also spoil it through their faeces, hair and dead bodies. The sources say the lose of grains due to rats in the fields as well as in the godowns is nearly 10 per cent. The Agriculture Department has not been able to take effective steps to control the rat population. The sources in the department say that the main reason in the insufficient supply of zinc phosphide, a pesticide used for killing rats. The department requires about 12 quintals of the pesticide to cater to the needs of 5 lakh acres of agricultural land in Fatehabad district in a year. But the supplies are never more than 1 quintal a year. Though the plant protection wing of the Agriculture Department launches a rat campaign during the sowing seasons in December and July every year, but the approach has to be selective due to a shortage of zinc phosphide. As the chemical is not available in the open market, the farmers have to suffer. |
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Regular power supply a
dream SONEPAT, Nov 16 — Regular power supply has become a dream for the residents of this fast-growing industrial city and a district headquarters. Power plays hide and seek with the residents almost every day and this has thrown the normal life out of gear. Business and industrial activity are the worst hit. Frequent power cuts, trippings and failures which are not confined to a particular area but to the entire city and its suburbs. The situation in the rural areas is alarming as the local authorities of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) have to impose restrictions on power supply in the wake of reduced power quota to the Sonepat circle of the UHBVN. Though the UHBVN has launched a massive campaign to check power theft, there has been no perceptible improvement in power supply to the domestic sector. The current year has been cruel for the people both in urban and rural areas as they had faced unprecedented power and drinking water shortage. The announcements of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, that the government would provide round-the-clock power supply to power consumers have proved a hoax. Ever since the present government came into power in the state, the power and water supplies continue to be irregular. And since the feeders of tubewells are connected with the domestic feeders, the drinking water supply to the city is automatically disrupted. The tubewells at the main waterworks at Murthal have not been linked with diesel generators and this is the main cause in the disruption of water supply system whenever power supply fails. An officer of the UHBVN blamed the BBMB authorities for
erratic power supply. The BBMB authorities switch off the supply either from Barela or Panipat almost every day on plea of low frequency. Moreover, if there is any breakdown in any unit of the Northern gird, the effect is felt by all the member states. The Northern State Electricity Board regulates the power load of the member states. Even if there is a trouble in the Singrauli thermal plant in Uttar Pradesh, the impact is felt in Haryana as well. But the worst-affected areas in the state are those which have no other sources of power supply. Meanwhile, the entire city and its
suburbs faced power cuts, yesterday. The power cuts not only affected routine business activities, but also the drinking water supply. Representatives of various political parties, social voluntary organisations today urged the Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, to order a high-level probe into the affairs of the UHBVN and take action against the officials found responsible for the power crisis and diverting the bulk quota of power to certain selected industries particularly in Murthal subdivision. |
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BSNL ready to meet
new challenges AMBALA, Nov 16 — Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is all set to give private players in mobile telephony a run for their money. BSNL Director (Operations) Prithipal Singh, who released the new telephone directory of Ambala this evening, said that tenders were soon going to be floated with regard to mobile telephony. "In the initial phase we are planning for 15 lakh customers with an estimated 40,000 customers being targeted in Haryana for mobile telephones," he said. He said that they were planning to utilise the similar GSM technology, which had proved to be effective. "In mobile telephones, we are going to cover the areas in a much broader manner. Highways, rail tracks, important towns and others are going to be soon under our mobile telephone cover," he said. He said that right now there were 30 million fixed lines and mobile telephone users were a small percentage. “We are optimistic of introducing the mobile telephone services by the middle of next year,” he said. He said we are going to meet 50 per cent of the market demand in mobile telephones. "There is no doubt that the number of mobile telephones is going up steadily. Also, the prices of sets will come down when the number of users goes up," he said. Among others, the Chief General Manager Telecom, Haryana circle, Mr N K Mangla, General Manager, Mr G. S. Daria, Deputy General Manager, Mr Chauhan and the DGM (MM), Mr S K Aggarwal, were present on the occasion. Earlier, Mr Prithipal Singh, while addressing the gathering at the main telephone exchange after the release of the new telephone directory said that the telephone directory was a tool for information. He stated that special attention should be paid to tourist areas. "We must provide facilities to domestic and international tourists like the VCC cards, Internet access and STD facility," he said. Mr Mangla said that “we are going to ensure that our consumers can book complaints any time of day and night.” He stated that all villages in Haryana had telephone services and now there were 16 Internet nodes in the state. |
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Tackling escape
of undertrials GURGAON, Nov 16 — In view of the increased attempts by undertrials to escape from police custody in the
state, especially with the help of their associates at large, the district police here has devised some measures to tackle such situations. According to the Senior Superintendent of
Police,Gurgaon, Mr Shatrujit Kapur, the police has decided to minimise its dependency on the public transport system, especially for taking the undertrials to and from between the courts in different districts of the state. The unsuccessful but daredevil operation near Madina village in Rohtak district by the associates of an undertrial a few days ago is understood to have triggered the action. A police team was bringing a life convict from Hisar to Gurgaon in a bus the of Haryana Roadways when some persons tried to free him. In the subsequent exchange of firing, two cops of this district were injured. Dwelling on other aspects relating to law and
order, he said that in the second phase of reforms to be initiated by him next week, an improvement in the quality of investigations into criminal cases by the police would be the major thrust
area. The chargesheets prepared by the police in a number of cases are not up to the mark. On account of weak and missing links in the evidence collected and presented in the
courts, the prosecution side lose the case. In such an eventuality, all the hard work done by the police in nabbing the criminals and culprits comes to naught and act as a morale booster to anti-social elements. He said legal officers led by the district attorney will train the personnel regarding the investigation to make the cases of the prosecution more strong. He stressed that focus would be on regulating vehicular traffic. |
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GPF: Haryana issues
directions CHANDIGARH, Nov 16 — The Haryana Government today issued procedural instructions to all heads of department to overcome the problems associated with missing credits in general provident fund subscriptions. An official spokesman said all drawing and disbursing officers had been asked to ensure that the information sent to the Accountant-General’s office in respect of deductions made from the salaries of the employees towards general provident fund subscriptions should be correctly reflected while sending statements to the office of the AG. The DDOs should either issue verified annual salary statements or verify the pay book entries maintained by the employees themselves in respect of the staff working in their offices as part of the permanent record to be available with the employee concerned. The government also advised the employees to ensure that the nomination forms filled by them in respect of their general provident fund accounts were updated from time to time. Since the GPF accounts had been computerised and the details of the monthly subscriptions from salaries were given in the general provident fund statements being issued annually by the AG’s office, the employees must ensure that they obtained their GPF statements and report the missing credits, if any, to the office of the AG. |
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2 convicted for
power theft KAITHAL, Nov 16 — The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr N.P. Dewat, has sentenced Balraj Singh of Arjun Nagar and Mr Amrik Singh of Bijli Chowk here to three years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1000 each for stealing electricity. According to the prosecution the checking staff of the power board found that the accused had tampered with electricity meters. The court also held that in default of the payment of fine, the accused will have to undergo further simple imprisonment of one month each. In another case, a part-time HVPN employee has been booked for stealing an electric meter. According to an information, the SDO, Mr Ishwar Dutt Sharma lodged a complaint with the police that a part-time employee working in his office had stolen a meter kept in the office almirah. |
Farmers urged to
adopt new techniques KURUKSHETRA, Nov 16 — Demonstrating the bed planting of wheat at Mathana village, 10 km from here, yesterday, the Deputy Commissioner, Mrs Jyolt
Arora, called upon the farmers to adopt the new technology to obtain maximum produce. She informed the farmers that 50 per cent 60 per cent irrigation water could be saved in this manner which would go a long way in conserving the natural resources. She also laid stress on changing the cropping pattern of rice and wheat. Mrs Arora informed that the technology allows efficient use of fertilisers and the weed phalaris minor (Mandusi), which has become a serious impediment to wheat production in the region, can be controlled by inter-culture operations, reducing dependence on chemical herbicides. |
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‘Delayed’ crushing
worries farmers CHANDIGARH, Nov 16 — The Haryana Krishak Samaj today alleged that while the state government claimed that the
crushing season had started from November 14, some sugar mills in the state were planning to start crushing only by the end of this month. In a press note issued here today, Mr Satpal Kaushik, general secretary of the HKS, said if the cane was harvested in December, it would not be possible to sow crops till March, the statement said. The national pool for wheat would also be adversely affected. The statement demanded that the state government should start its mills immediately. It also urged that a meeting of the Sugarcane Control Board be called and there should be an increase of Rs 10 per quintal in the price of cane. |
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National Press
Day celebrated FATEHABAD, Nov 16 — The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anil Malik, said here on the occasion of the National Press Day that despite the unprecedented progress in the field of information technology, the role of print media could not be underestimated. Mr Malik was addressing a meeting of mediapresons today. Reports of the National Press Day celebrations poured in from Shimla, Hamirpur and other parts of the region. |
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Test for posts of
Math Master CHANDIGARH, Nov 16 — The Haryana Staff Selection Commission will conduct a test for posts of Math Master in the Education Department on November 26 at various centres in Karnal and Bhiwani. A spokesman of the commission said today that roll numbers for the written examination were being issued separately to the eligible candidates. If any candidate did not receive his roll number, he could contact the office of the commission from November 20 to 22. |
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Three killed in
accident ROHTAK, Nov 16 — Three persons were killed on the shop when the car in which they
were travelling collided head on with a truck near Madina village today. The deceased have been identified as Ikbal Singh (driver), Madan Lal and Shyam Kumar of Delhi. The car was reportedly going to Hisar from Delhi when it was hit by a truck carrying 12 buffaloes and 20 calves. A case under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC has been registered. |
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