Chandigarh, April 22
Even while the Congress is still to finalise its candidates for the three assembly byelections in Haryana, it has deputed MLAs and other leaders on election duty in Adampur, Gohana and Indri, where the byelections are to be held.

Last night a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party was held here, where the MLAs were told in which constituency they had to campaign. The main criterion of selection was the proximity of the MLAs’ own constituencies to the areas of the byelections. However, for Adampur, from where former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal is to contest on the ticket of his younger son’s party, the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), those MLAs who are believed to be “bold” have been put on duty by the ruling party.

Though the MLAs were told about their work places in the byelections, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who presided over the meeting, gave them no indication about the possible party candidates.

The INLD and the HJC have already announced their candidates.While the INLD has fielded its veteran leader Sampat Singh, former Public Service Commission chairman K.C. Bangar and Ashok Kashyap from Adampur, Gohana and Indri, the HJC has nominated its sitting members, Bhajan Lal, Dharampal Malik and Rakesh Kamboj, who were disqualified from the assembly on the grounds of defection, from these constituencies, respectively.

The BJP is also still undecided about its candidates. The party is believed to be more serious about the Gohana seat, which falls in the parliamentary constituency of its lone MP from the state, Kishan Singh Sangwan. According to party sources, the party is likely to nominate Pradeep, son of Sangwan, from Gohana. The official announcement is expected on April 24.

The BSP is also undecided whether to contest the byelections and open its cards before the Lok Sabha elections or to abstain to conserve its energy for the more important parliamentary poll scheduled next year.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India has issued the schedule for the byelections.

Chief Electoral Officer of Haryana Sajjan Singh said here today that as per the directions of the commission, electronic voting machines would be used during these byelections.

He said the notification would be issued on April 28 and the last date for filing nominations would be May 5. The nomination papers would be scrutinised on May 6 and the last date for the withdrawal of candidature would be May 8. The polling would be held on May 22 and the votes would be counted on May 25. 

Ambala, April 22
Five lakh gunny bags of wheat procured by various purchase agencies are lying dumped in the grain market of Ambala city, which is causing inconvenience to farmers and the grain dealers.

The grain market sealers associations are protesting against the failure of the district administration, even then, no proper arrangements of lifting the produce has been made so far.

Ambala city is the biggest grain market of the district, where besides Ambala, the farmers of near by Punjab area also bring their produce.

At present, there is no place in the grain market where the farmers could keep their produce for procurement. The farmers have been unloading their produce on the roadside and on the green belt of HUDA sector as most of the space of the grain market is occupied by wheat-filled gunny bags.

The heaps of gunny bags can be seen everywhere in the market. The grain dealers, who were also facing the shortage of gunny bags, had blocked the Ambala-Hissar road close to the grain market two days back. The SDM had assured them that lifting of wheat would begin at a war-footing level.

DC Mohammad Shayin had also visited the grain market yesterday but the heaps of the wheat were still lying around. The lifting process is so slow that hardly 25 per cent of the arrived produce was lifted.

Anil Aggarwal, president of new grain market dealer association, said the grain dealers as well as the farmers had been facing great problem since the arrival of wheat in the market.

He said they had taken up the issue with the secretary of the market committee and the administration, but no sincere efforts were made to solve their difficulty.

Shayin said the problem of lifting would be solved soon as he had strictly directed the contractors to lift the procurement at the earliest. He said the district administration was monitoring the situation everyday so that the farmers might not face any problem, while selling their produce.

JIND: The process of arrival and procurement of wheat in the mandis of the district has reached its peak and is likely to continue till the end of this month.

The wheat procurement this season has been better and has touched 3.85 lakh metric tonnes (MT) so far. The topper is the mandi at Safidon, where about 48,898 MT of wheat has arrived so far. The total procurement has also reached the figure of 3.60 lakh MT, which is reported to be at least 20 percent higher than that of last year.

According to the details made available, the production of wheat crop has been handsome this season despite the rains and occurrence of hailstorms and fire incidents in the district. The minimum support price (MSP) of wheat this year has been Rs 1,000 per quintal, which is Rs 150 per quintal higher than that of last year.

There had been a total of 34 purchase centres set by the government to facilitate the procurement of wheat. While Safidon has been leading the race of arrival and procurement this season, claimed Shyam Sunder, secretary of the market committee here. It is reported that the other agencies, which have been actively purchasing the wheat from the farmers include the Food Corporation Of India (FCI), the Department of Food Supply etc. 

Chandigarh, April 22
Wheat production has touched a new high in Haryana with the state surpassing last year’s own record production. From a production of 100.55 lakh tonnes of wheat in 2006-07, the wheat production is up to 100.94 lakh tonnes, registering a growth of 39,000 tonnes this season.

The Agriculture Department sees this development encouraging since there has been an increase of nearly one lakh hectares in the total area under wheat cultivation in the state. Sources said that against 23.76 lakh hectares, the area under wheat cultivation has increased to 24.74 lakh hectares.

Director, agriculture, Sumita Misra, attributes this increase in the production primarily to increase in land under wheat cultivation. “However, we particularly paid attention to increasing seed replacement rate in the state and making certified seeds available to the farmer. Besides, we also promoted seed treatment in the field by initiating a campaign at the district level. The seeds were treated for better output and made disease-resistant as well,” she said. However, the jubilation has come with a hint of disappointment. Despite the increase in acreage in the state, the overall average yield has shown a decline of 152 kg per hectare.

While the yield has fallen from 100 to 400 kg per acre in a number of districts, there are a few districts where the average yield has shown an increase as well.

Among the districts, which have fared badly in terms of average yield are Bhiwani, Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat where the yield is down by nearly 300 kg per acre.

In Faridabad, the average yield is up from 3,706 to 4,350 kg per hectare, in Mewat from 3,107 to 3400 kgs per hectare while Panipat, Kukrukshetra, Kaithal and Mahendergarh have shown a marginal 
increase only.

Sources in the Agriculture Department blame the failure of winter rains, maintaining that they were expecting an even higher production this season since the area, too, had substantially increased.

An official held that the fall in average yield was spread over western and central Haryana, which received only 2mm rainfall against a normal rainfall of 80mm, taking a toll on average yield.

Karnal, April 22
The Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) has alleged that the state government’s decision to revise the allotment policy of 100 sq yard plots for BPL families amounts to a violation of the model code of conduct.

However, the party has decided not to lodge a complaint against the alleged breach.

Byelections to three assembly constituencies of Indri, Adampur and Gohana are scheduled for May 22.

Addressing mediapersons here this evening, chief of the media cell of the Janhit Congress Rann Singh Mann alleged that the government was bent on adopting cheap tactics to lure voters.

He alleged that the Congress regime had announced the revision at a critical time just to entice the voters. He alleged that it was a clear case of violation of the model code of conduct. He, however, remained evasive on why the party was not lodging a complaint against it.

He said Bhajan Lal, Dharam Pal Malik and Rakesh Kamboj were the obvious choice of the party as the candidates for the Adampur, Gohana and Indri constituencies, respectively.

He claimed that the Janhit Congress would not have an alliance with any party.

The party demanded compensation for the family of the engineer who was burnt to death by certain unidentified persons near Samalkha on April 17.

General secretary of the party Harvinder Kalyan demanded a high-level inquiry into the murder of a party leader who was gunned down in Gurgaon recently.

He also demanded compensation for farmers whose wheat crop had been damaged in fire incidents.

Sirsa, April 22
With a view to minimising interruptions in the distribution system, the state government has authorised the distribution corporations to either bifurcate or trifurcate 225 overloaded and lengthy 11 kV feeders supplying power to urban as well as rural areas.

Stating this, Randeep Singh Surjewala, power minister, who was here on an inauguration spree, said load of nearly 650 feeders, supplying electricity to the domestic and agriculture sectors in rural areas, was being segregated in order to ensure extra fault-free power supply to domestic consumers.

He assured that the segregation work would be completed by the end of June and added that farmers would not face inconvenience during the paddy season.

The power minister said the government had drawn an ambitious annual plan of Rs 920 crore to consolidate the power transmission system in the state

The power utilities would construct 127 new substations and augment the capacity of 100 existing substations all over the state. Surjewala said three substations of 220 kV capacity, 18 of 132 kV, 16 of 66 kV and 95 of 33 kV would be installed during the current financial year.

During his day-long tour to the district, Surjewala inaugurated eight substations of 33 kV capacity and the laid foundation stones of two others of 33 kV capacity.

The substations are at Kagdana, Jamal, Bansudhar, Baragudha, Desu Jodha, Khuiyan Malkana, Risalia Khera, Mohmadpuria, Mirjapur and Kuttabadh.

He was accompanied by Bharat Singh Beniwal, MLA. Lt-Gen O.S. Lohchab (retd) and D.S. Yadav, director, DHBVN, were also present on the occasion.

Rohtak, April 22
The mere mention of the word “police” brings to one’s mind the image of a discourteous and heartless official in khaki, at least in this part of the country. This negative image of the men in uniform witnessed a positive change in the people’s psyche here over the past two days.

Behind the pleasant change was the staging of an impressive light-and-sound show based on the country’s first organised freedom struggle of 1857 by police personnel.

The two-day mega show, involving active participation of as many as 1,200 policemen and women, was inaugurated by Haryana DGP Ranjeev Singh Dalal here last evening. The show was marked by patriotic fervour.

The atmosphere was emotionally charged from the very beginning, with the police personnel exhibiting their remarkable PT skills before the public.

As the gathering settled down, they began a soulful enactment of the 1857 revolt. Haryana ADGP V. N. Rai, who had conceptualised the show, personally supervised its progress.

A spellbound audience watched the scintillating theatrical performances of the cops as an entirely new aspect of the police unfolded before its eyes.

The venue reverberated with clapping of hands as the crowds cheered the policemen presenting before them the heroic deeds of freedom fighters.

Apart from highlighting the atrocities of the British rulers, the performers showcased the indomitable valour of the likes of Mangal Pandey and Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi.

The contribution of the Haryanavis in the freedom struggle was also underlined. The horse brigade of the Haryana police added to the dazzling performance.

In short, the show, directed by Vidhu Khare and Sanjeev Lakhanpal, was successful in inspiring the people by reminding them of the sacrifices of freedom fighters.

Gurgaon, April 22
The names of voters, who fail to turn up to get photographed for voter identity card after being served notice in the form 22-C by the election office, will be struck off from the electoral list.

Addressing officers of Gurgaon, Rewari, Mahendergarh and Mewat districts here today, the election observer R.R. Phulia said as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, the voters whose photo image did not appear on the electoral roll would not be allowed to cast their votes in future elections despite having photo I-cards.

He directed the officers to complete the work of issuing photo I-cards to the voters and as such their photo should also appear on the electoral roll by May 15, 2008.

Of the total 5, 66, 928 voters, including 2, 64, 967 women in Gurgaon district, the images of 86,978 voters did neither have a photo I-card nor their images on the voter list. Notices have already been served to them to get themselves photographed.

Passport size photographs of the voters, who could not appear for photography, were also being accepted but such voters have to give an attested copy of any document issued by the government authority on which his photograph was pasted.

Similarly, of the 5, 79, 973 voters in Mewat district, the images of 1,10,000 voters were not on the voter list and they were also not having the photo I-card.

The district administration has launched a drive to photograph these voters and till now 12,183 voters have been covered.

However, all voters in Mahendragarh district have been photographed through a special drive started for the purpose some time back. Earlier, of the total 4, 17, 676 voters, the images of 96.67 per cent appeared in the voter list.

The names of 5,622 voters, who did not turn up even after notices were served to them have been deleted. Images of more than 95 per cent voters of the total 4, 41,471 in Rewari district have appeared on the voter lists so far.

Yamunanagar, April 22
The district administration has started the process of forming a monitoring committee to watch the working of cable operators and the services they provide to their subscribers. The government had recently issued orders to constitute such committees in all districts.

The district administration had called a meeting of cable operators in the district to inform them about the monitoring committee and the criteria prescribed by the ministry for information and broadcasting for the cable operators.

Nitin Yadav, deputy commissioner, Yamunanagar, said the process of setting up the committee had been started and it would soon be in place.

The chairman of the committee would either be the city magistrate or the superintendent of police. The other members will include the principal of a girls’ college, the district public relations officer, a psychologist and two representatives of NGOs working for the welfare of women and children.

The cable operators were asked to go though the the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act - 1995 and not telecast any matter which was not in the interests of the nation or the public. The deputy commissioner asked them to broadcast programmes of public well-being. He warned the operators not to damage trees while laying cables.

Yamunanagar, April 22
A life insurance agent of ICICI Prudential and his friend were found dead in the Western Yamuna Canal today. The deaths came to light when the body of the agent surfaced in the canal near the Dadupur head waterworks in Chhachhrouli here.

The victims - Ravi Kumar (35) of Usha Colony, Jagadhri, and Anil (31) of Khadir village - had gone to the Dadupur head waterworks yesterday along with three other friends in connection with some work. Their friends - Saurabh, Sunil and Daljeet - returned home, but the two stayed at the waterworks, said police sources.

When they did not return home till late in the evening yesterday, their families started a search for them. The mobile phone of Ravi was switched off, said his father Shanti Parkash.

Today, the body of Ravi was found along a bank of the canal. Divers located the body of Anil in the vicinity. The police found the motorcycle of the victims, a laptop, Rs 85,000 and their other belongings at the waterworks.

The police suspects the two were caught in a whirlpool while swimming in the canal.

Kusum, wife of Ravi, and his mother Kanta Devi have, however, alleged a foul play in the death of Ravi. They alleged that one of his friends conspired and killed him. Kusum alleged that her husband’s death was a murder, not an accident. The postmortem has revealed that the two died of drowning. Ravi has a two-year-old girl, while Anil has two children.

Chandigarh, April 22
The famous Pinjore Garden, near here, will now be available for holding weddings. Commissioner and secretary, tourism, Keshni Anand Arora said here today that the decision had been taken in view of the growing popularity of wedding tourism in the country.

The garden used to be a centre for royal weddings in the past.

Though officially the garden was not available to the public for organising marriage parties, an exception used to be made in the case of senior bureaucrats. Now the government had decided to make it available to the public also. She said the garden was an attractive tourist place like the royal palaces of Rajasthan.

The garden had been planned artistically and appeared similar to Shalimar Bagh of Srinagar. The availability of the garden for wedding functions would attract foreign tourists and NRIs for weddings. 

Fatehabad, April 22
A head constable of the district police lost his life last night, when some armed miscreants, whom he was chasing, opened fire on him from a point-blank range. Cop Sarjant Singh (40), received bullet injuries on the neck and died after he was shifted to the local general hospital.

According police sources, Sarjant Singh, who was posted at the police post outside the local bus stand, had gone to arrest some miscreants near the Ram Sewa Samiti Dharamshala along with Shiv Kumar, SHO, of the city police station and some other cops at about 11.30 pm yesterday.

The police had received a tip off that 6 to 7 youths had been seen roaming in a Mahindra Max vehicle near the dharamshala.

The miscreants, according to the police sources, tried to escape on seeing the police party approaching them.

While the police managed to nab Ravinder Fauji, Ajmer Singh, Pawan Kumar, Monu and Jaidev, two others Ashok Kumar and Sandeep managed to give the police a slip.

The miscreants were running towards a petrol pump. When Sarjant Singh was about to nab one of the miscreants, he opened fire on him from a point-blank range hitting the cop on the neck.

Sarjant Singh was immediately rushed to the local general hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Chandigarh, April 22
In a public interest litigation, a Gurgoan resident has brought to fore Haryana's alleged failure to consider objections filed by affected persons while publishing the final development plan-2021 for Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex.

The petitioner, Rishi Pal, has also sought directions against the finalistaion of the plan and also to redraw the alignment of the road proposed to be built for connecting Dwarka residential complex of national capital region (NCR) with Manesar complex. The same, he said, was necessary to prevent the uprooting of people and industries to make way for the proposed V-2 road under the "Transport and Communication" head in the development plan. Taking up the matter, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Jaswant Singh, issued notice of motion for July 7 to the state, the director of town and country planning department and other respondents. 

Sirsa, April 22
Three persons were killed, while four sustained injuries, in two separate road accidents during the past 24 hours.

Gurmail Singh and Surjit Singh, residents of Dhani Bilaspur village, were killed when their tractor rammed into a canter at NH-10 late last night, while Sagar and his daughter Suman received injuries. Ram Murti of Rampura Dhillon, succumbed to his injuries, when his motorcycle hit a JCB machine, at Nathusari Chopta village, here today. His wife, Suman, was seriously injured and was rushed to the nearest hospital.