H A R Y A N A

Haryana official is VC of AMU
Chandigarh, April 16
A rare honour has come in the way of the Haryana bureaucracy with the appointment of the Financial Commissioner, Agriculture, Mr Naseem Ahmed, as the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh.

Blood bags taken to test capacity
Panchkula, April 16
The state Health Department officials today visited the blood bank in General Hospital in Sector 6 here and took away 500 blood bags for testing their actual capacity.

Foodgrain target 137 lakh tonnes
Chandigarh, April 16
While fixing the annual foodgrain production target at 137.50 lakh tonnes for 2002-2003, the Haryana Government has laid emphasis on the diversification of crops with special thrust on the adoption of cash crops like gram and revival of sunflower.

Wheat procurement
Ambala, April 16
Wheat arrival has picked up in different grain markets of Ambala and about 22,924 tons of wheat has been bought by procurement agencies at the MSP of Rs 620 per tonne.

Haryana official is VC of AMU
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 16
A rare honour has come in the way of the Haryana bureaucracy with the appointment of the Financial Commissioner, Agriculture, Mr Naseem Ahmed, as the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh.

According to information received here this evening, Mr Naseem Ahmed’s appointment has been cleared by the President of India in his capacity as the Visitor of AMU.

An IAS officer of the 1972 batch, Mr Ahmed is an alumnus of AMU, from where he took his LLM degree in 1969. He also taught law in the university for about nine months till he was appointed Judicial Magistrate in Aligarh in 1970. After two years he joined the Indian Administrative Service.

Mr Ahmed is likely to take up his new assignment in the first week of May. His term as the Vice-Chancellor will be for five years. A panel of three names was before the President. Besides Mr Ahmed, the other two were Mr Wahid-ul-Hassan, a former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Mumbai, and Dr Abul Hassan Sadiqi, Director, King Abdul Aziz Petroleum University, Dehran (Saudi Arabia).

Blood bags taken to test capacity
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, April 16
The state Health Department officials today visited the blood bank in General Hospital in Sector 6 here and took away 500 blood bags for testing their actual capacity.

This follows a report in a local daily that the blood banks in Haryana had been supplied with blood bags (CPD- A) having capacity of 450 millilitres, almost 100 millilitres more than the specifications issued by the World Health Organisation. Thus the donors were made to donate 100 ml of blood more than the requisite amount.

It is learnt that these bags are provided to the blood banks in the state by the Haryana AIDS Control Society. The specifications by the WHO authorities mention that the capacity for these bags should be 350 ml.

In fact, when tenders were invited for getting these bags for the state, the condition of capacity of bags being 350 ml. had been mentioned.

However, the tender was given to a Chennai-based firm, Invol Medical India Limited, and marketed by a Delhi-based firm, Insignia International.

The team of the Health Department was led by Mr D.P. Dahiya. He also asked the blood bank authorities not to use the remaining bags. It is learnt that as many as 300 blood bags are used in the blood bank here annually.

Foodgrain target 137 lakh tonnes
Tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, April 16
While fixing the annual foodgrain production target at 137.50 lakh tonnes for 2002-2003, the Haryana Government has laid emphasis on the diversification of crops with special thrust on the adoption of cash crops like gram and revival of sunflower.

This was stated by the Haryana Agriculture Minister, Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, while presiding over the third meeting of the Agriculture Advisory Committee here today. 

Mr Sandhu said the targets of production of sugarcane, cotton and oilseeds had been fixed at 9 lakh tonnes (gur), 14 lakh tonnes of bales and 7.30 lakh tonnes, respectively. He hoped that there would be a record production of rabi crops of about 102.50 lakh tonnes this year.

Wheat procurement
Tribune News Service

Ambala, April 16
Wheat arrival has picked up in different grain markets of Ambala and about 22,924 tons of wheat has been bought by procurement agencies at the MSP of Rs 620 per tonne.

The Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, Mr Mahinder Kumar, said till April 15, the Food and Supplies Department purchased 674 tonnes, Hafed 5,481 tonne, FCI 4,946 tonne and Confed 3226 tonne of wheat. Wheat has also been bought by traders.

Mr Kumar said heavy arrival had taken place in the Ambala city grain market where 10,253 tonne, arrived, while 464 tonne arrived in the Ambala Cantonment grain market.