Hisar, April 10
Four villages of Rewari district, Bhagthala, Gothra, Kapriwas and Malapur, have become the first four villages in Haryana with metered power supply in 100 per cent of their households.

A spokesman for Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam said here today that Bhagthala village of Bawal operation subdivision now had metered power supply in all 415 houses in the village. The biggest of these villages, Gothra, had 482 households all of which now had metered power supply. Kapriwas and Malapur of Dharuhera subdivision had 362 and 131 houses, respectively all of which had regular power connections.

A survey conducted by the nigam a few months ago had revealed that in a large number of villages the number of power consumers was less than half the total number of houses with electrical fittings. Obviously, those without a regular connection were stealing power through kundi connections. Such illegal tapping of power overloaded the distribution system causing transformers to burn.

The spokesman said now that the problem of overloading in these four villages had ended there was no unauthorised load. Rather, the nigam had 30 per cent excess capacity on its transformers serving the area. So, during peak load hours also, there was no over loading of the system in the villages. The elimination of theft and over loading had minimised complaints of unscheduled power cuts, breakdowns and interruptions.

He said that under its campaign to provide regular connections in place of kundi connections in villages, the nigam was regularly organising camps in villages to sanction connections on the spot.

He said though the nigam was still monitoring the consumption pattern in these villages, preliminary findings indicated that there had been no change in the consumption pattern as the unauthorised load now reflected in bills. Besides, metering had made villagers cautious and they were conserving power.

The spokesman said the actual availability of load on record of the nigam helped designing and justification of projects for augmentation of power distribution systems. This resulted in better management of the system.

Rohtak, April 10
The state government has sanctioned an amount of Rs 17.87 lakh to provide relief to the farmers whose crop had been damaged by the recent hailstorm. Recently, the standing crops in Bahalba, Sisar Khas and Meham areas had been damaged by the hailstorm.

Deputy commissioner R.S.Doon today said the state government had constituted various teams comprising officers in order to distribute the relief-amount among the affected farmers.

“The SDO (Civil), Meham, has been made incharge of the relief distribution work, while the teams comprising circle revenue officer concerned, girdawar and patwari would distribute compensation to the affected farmers,” he added.

Doon further informed the state government had distributed an amount of Rs 10.22 lakh to the livestock-keepers of the district under the Livestock Insurance Scheme. He pointed out that under the scheme, the livestock-keepers had to pay just 25 per cent of the insurance premium amount, while the remaining 75 per cent has to be paid by the state government.

The deputy director (Animal Husbandry), Satbir Hooda, asserted that the department officials went to the premises of the livestock-keepers for on-the-spot insurance.

He appealed to the people to avail benefit of the scheme themselves.

The deputy commissioner revealed that the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) had began the work on four-laning of National Highway No. 71-A passing through the city.

“The 5.5- km stretch of the two-lane road from MDU chowk to Sukhpura chowk will be four-laned at an estimated cost of Rs 9.50 crore,” he said, adding that covered rainwater drains would be constructed on both sides of the road.

Doon said the 6-km-long stretch of national highway no. 10 from Kharawar village to JLN feeder was being six-laned at a cost of Rs 20 crore. “Also, a railway overbridge will be constructed at a cost of Rs 30.25 crore which will be built on the road connecting the Rohtak-Sonepat road to the Rohtak-Gohana road over the Rohtak-Panipat railway track,” he added.

Hisar, April 10
Agitating students of the College of Agriculture of Haryana Agricultural University today resorted to gandhigiri to voice their demands.

During the opening ceremony of the annual athletic meet of the university, the agitating students marched past the saluting base shouting slogans and carrying placards. Vice-Chancellor Dr J. C. Katyal was seated on the dais.

After their protest, they were asked to vacate the ground which they did. Later, the athletes marched past the saluting base.

However, men students stayed away from the athletes' march. Only girl students of the College of Basic Sciences and College of Home Science participated.

The students have been agitating for the past several days protesting against changes in some examination rules.

Kurukshetra, April 10
The police has registered a case against an unidentified person for allegedly encashing two cheques worth Rs 11,460 each with forged signatures.

Confirming this here today, district police chief Sanjay Kumar said that on the complaint of Sardara Singh, assistant registrar, scholarship branch, Kurukshetra University, the police had registered the case against the alleged cheat.

Sanjay Kumar said the fraud came to light when the MBA Department students, Manjeet Singh and Ajeet Singh approached the scholarship branch officer to get their scholarship cheques and were told that the cheques in their names had already been issued. Again, when they went to the State Bank of India branch on the university campus here and inquired about their scholarships, they were told that they had already received their scholarships by signing the cheques. They brought the matter to the notice of Sardara Singh, who immediately got lodged the complaint with the police against the unknown person, Kumar added. Meanwhile, the university administration has constituted a one-man inquiry committee headed by Dr C.P. Singh, chairman, Social Works Department, who has reportedly submitted his inquiry report to the university.

Dr V.K. Agarwal, Registrar, Kurukshetra Univeristy, said "the university is taking up the matter with the State Bank of India branch that how this payment was made on the basis of forged signatures. If need be, the university may take the help of handwriting expert to catch hold of those who are guilty of forging the signatures,” added Prof Agarwal.

Fatehabad, April 10
The Commissioner, Hisar Division, M K Midha, today directed the procurement agencies to see to it that farmers did not have to wait for long in the grain market for selling their produce.

He was addressing officers of various procurement agencies after supervising wheat procurement operations in the local grain market.

He asked the marketing committee authorities to make proper arrangements for drinking water and toilet facilities for farmers.

Talking to mediapersons, Midha said that necessary instructions have been issued to the authorities to make arrangements for timely lifting of wheat from the grain market so that there was no glut in the mandis. 

Kurukshetra, April 10
After inaugurating a six-day flood-relief training camp at the southern bank of Brahmsrover here last evening, special secretary, D.D. Gautam, Haryana Revenue Department, said employees of all departments here would be given flood-relief training and method of using flood-relief equipment. The employees attending the camp would be told about safety measures to be taken against natural calamities. These measures would be modernised to ensure minimum loss to life and property.

Gautam said although natural calamities like drought, flood and hail storms were not man-controlled yet it was the responsibility of the state and the District Administration to safeguard people and provide relief measures to the victims.

He informed another flood-relief training camp, where training would be given in running water would be organised in Yamuna Nagar district next month whereas another camp similar to this would take place in Rohtak in June. In both camps employees from all over Haryana departments and would take part so that all are rendered with flood-relief training. — OC

Panipat, April 10
A landlord and his accomplices were booked following a clash between two parties in a land dispute that left eight injured at Shahpur village, near here, today.

According to sources, a team of revenue officials, including the Naib Tehsildar of Israna, kanungo Mahinder Singh and patwari Ranbir Singh along with a police party today reached the village for demarcation of land belonging to farmers Raghbir Singh and Lakhmi. However, Lakhmi and his accomplices reportedly protested the move and entered into a clash with the other party. Sources said five accomplices of Raghbir Singh sustained injuries in the clash and after their medical examination at Civil Hospital here, Ved Prakash was admitted to hospital.

Three persons, including a woman from Lakhmi's camp, too, were admitted to the hospital. Meanwhile, the revenue officials had to return without carrying out any demarcation. On the basis of kanungo Mahinder Singh's complaint, Lakhmi and his aides have been booked under Sections 144, 149, 323, 506, 186 of the IPC at Israna police station.

Chandigarh, April 10
After a cyber security centre at Chandigarh that will train Chandigarh police personnel in the detection of cyber crime, the Haryana police has also decided to set up a cyber crime cell for the prevention and detection of computer- related crime.

According to police sources, the Haryana police cyber cell will be set up at Bhiwani. The cell will initially train people to detect white collar crime such as transfer of money from banks electronically. But the scope of the cyber cell will be widened to include crime committed using internet and intranet.

So far, the police in the region finds it tough to deal with cyber crime in the absence of specialised training. "Cyber crime basically includes any criminal activity that uses a computer either as an instrument, target or a means for perpetuating further crimes”, says a senior police officer.

“Not many policemen at the lower level are exposed to computers, but at a senior level officer can generally manage things like emails, etc, but there is neither enough trained manpower or expertise within the department to track and prevent cyber crime”, an officer said on condition of anonymity.

Police officers feel that even in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai, where cyber crime cells are in existence, the law enforcement agencies are not well-equipped and oriented. They say there is immense need for training, and more cities need to have such cells for better coordination as cyber crime is generally not limited to one city or area. Once a cyber crime cell comes up at Bhiwani, the Haryana police will look at vertical and horizontal linkages within and outside the country.

The National Capital Region (NCR) has seen a steady growth in cyber crime over the past few years, though the Haryana police finds it hard to deal with the situation. The setting up of a cyber crime cell at Bhiwani is believed to be the brainchild of Haryana DGP R .S. Dalal.

The proposed cyber crime cell, sources said, will also monitor the progress of investigations into such offences besides providing expert views and assist them in legal matters coming under the IT Act, 2000. The department will have its own advisory council on cyber crime and it is looking at including members from the private sector, the IT department and police officials of the rank of SP to IG.

Cyber crimes across the country involve hacking, destroying files and data through spreading viruses. But the cyber cell will also look at cases of a financial nature, cyber pornography, sale of illegal articles, intellectual property crimes, email spoofing, forgery and cyber defamation.

Kaithal, April 10
S.K.Monga, director, Food and Civil Supply Department, Haryana, undertook a tour of local anaj mandi here today to oversee wheat purchase arrangements. He stated that elaborate arrangements for purchase of wheat brought to mandis had been made all over the state. The wheat will be purchased according to specifications and the payment will be made within 48 to 72 hours.

While reviewing the purchase procedures in the local Anaj Mandi, Monga said all the procurement agencies had been making purchases since April 1. He also heard the problems of commission agents and stressed on the need for better coordination among traders and purchase agencies.

He called upon the commission agents not to purchase wheat privately as it could be a losing proposition for them. The director asked the farmers not to bring wheat with excessive moisture contents. He urged the traders not to purchase such wheat.

The deputy commissioner Rajinder Kataria stated that according to figures collected by agriculture department, wheat this year had been sown in 1,78,000 hectares as compared to 1,73,000 hectares last year in Kaithal district. In spite of heavy rains and hailstorms, wheat production is likely to touch 7,77,000 tonnes as against 7,26,000 tonnes last year.

Kataria said that it is expected that 5,00,000 tonnes wheat will arrive in district mandis this year out of which 4, 50, 000 tonnes is likely to procured by purchase agencies and the rest 50000 tonnes by private traders.

Till date, 33,205 tonnes wheat had arrived in district mandis out of which government agencies have procured 30,777 tonnes, while 2428 tonnes had been purchased by private traders. A.K.Gaur, DFSC, Ashwani Shorewala, president, New Mandi, Sham Bahadur Khurania, president, old mandi, and representatives of various government purchase agencies were present on the occasion.

Chandigarh, April 10
The electricity bills waiver scheme introduced by the Hooda government in Haryana evoked a good response and more than 9.21 lakh consumers who were not able to pay their electricity bills in time opted for the scheme and have started paying their current bills regularly.

Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Power, Ashok Lavasa said here today that the main aim of the scheme was to bring back the non-paying consumers into the mainstream. There were 13.86 lakh consumers, who were not able to pay their electricity bills in time, including 2.53 lakh tube well consumers, as on June 16, 2005, when the scheme was launched.

The total amount against these consumers was Rs 1,600 crore. This amount also included surcharge for the non-payment of electricity bills in time. It was practically not possible for a majority of the non-paying consumers to pay their complete outstanding bills of huge amount.

It was felt that in the absence of any permanent solution of the problem pending for more than a decade, there was a need to give an opportunity to the consumers and inculcate a habit in them of making payment of the current bills by breaking an impasse. In the scheme it was made mandatory that the consumers, who desired to opt for the scheme, would be required to make payment of their current bills for 20 months period regularly. It was decided that the total pending amount prior to June 2005 would be waived after the regular payment of bills by them.

He said now the power utilities had been directed to launch a vigorous campaign against non-paying consumers, both in the urban and rural areas and step up measures against the theft of electricity. 

Ambala, April 10
All India Anti Terrorist Front president M.S. Bitta was today granted bail by a city court in a defamation case filed by Anti Terrorist Front of India president Viresh Shandilya. Bitta’s lawyer Pankaj Sharma said the bail was granted on a surety of Rs 10,000.

Shandilya had filed the case after Bitta had complained to the then DGP Haryana, M.S. Malik, alleging that the former was misusing his name to get an escort vehicle. Bitta had also complained that Shandilya was using red beacon lights on his vehicle.

Shandilya has stated that after the inquiry by the police, the charges levelled by Bitta were found to be baseless and he filed a defamation case against Bitta.