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Mysterious disease destroys paddy
Rain damages paddy in Ambala dist
Compensate farmers: BJP
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Holiday for women staff today
Incentive draws docs to Mewat areas
3 suspected dengue cases in Ratia
Patil for strengthening security to combat terror
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil presents a trophy at the raising day function of the NSG at Manesar on Thursday. Photo: Rajesh Kumar Yadav
Notices to ‘errant’ industrial units
Murthal, Ganaur flyovers unlikely by year-end
Dons at loggerheads over association
Double Murder Case
Youth dies in road mishap; contractor booked
Four get life term for murder
50 cases of power theft detected
MLA Sumita Singh inaugurates a power bill payment centre in Karnal on Thursday. A Tribune photograph
3 Bangladeshis get jail
3 sealed chemist shops opened
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Mysterious disease destroys paddy
Rohtak, October 16 A survey of several affected villages revealed that a large number of farmers have been hit hard by the disease, which wreaks havoc on the standing paddy crop within a few hours. “We leave our paddy fields absolutely fine, but a few hours later, the crops are found lying down…within some more time, the crops lying down become dry,” said Ashok Kumar, a farmer of Titoli village in the district. Jasbir Singh, another farmer of the village, points out that the government agencies have not taken any steps to prevent or check the outbreak of the mysterious disease. Farmers complain that they are also cheated by traders dealing in insecticides, who give them costly chemical sprays. “On the top of it, even these insecticides are ineffective and only add to farmers’ loss,” said Krishan Kumar of Titoli. Kuldeep Singh of Ballam village and Jai Karan of Kansala village in the district also maintain that they have suffered heavy losses due to the mysterious disease damaging the standing crop paddy crop. “The disease has assumed such proportions that the farmers hardly get any time to take any corrective measures,” said Umed Singh of Sristi Gyan Kendra, a voluntary organisation engaged in documenting traditional knowledge and creating scientific awareness among farmers. Agricultural experts assert that the disturbed weather cycle witnessed this year has led to the germination of small mosquito-like insects, which have caused widespread damage in the standing paddy crop. Meanwhile, a delegation of the Haryana Janhit Congress, led by its vice-president Krishan Murti Hooda and district (rural) president Bijender Singhal, submitted a memorandum seeking compensation for the affected farmers to the state Governor through the local deputy commissioner. The farmers, who were still to overcome the losses caused due to unfavourable weather conditions prevailing in the region for the past few months, now face another challenge in the form of this disease. Having exercised all options available to them, the hapless farmers are now looking towards the government, who has assumed an indifferent attitude to their woes, at least so far. |
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Rain damages paddy in Ambala dist
Ambala, October 16 Around 78,000 hectares come under paddy cultivation in the district. A loss of 10 to 15 per cent has been reported from various parts of the district due to untimely squall and rain. An exact estimate by the district agriculture department is, however, yet to be prepared. Seventy per cent of the paddy grown in Ambala is hybrid variety like PB-71, PCA-832, Pioneer 2730, Pro-agro 6444. The rest of the 30 per cent is basmati and other superfine groups like duplicate basmati, RH-10, PR-103, PR-119 and PR-129. According to officials of the agriculture department, worst affected would be those who had planted their paddy in time and were ready to cut the crop. Mohinder Singh Rohilla of the agriculture department said farmers in Naraingarh were the least affected. |
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Compensate farmers: BJP
Chandigarh, October 16 In a statement issued here today, party president Atam Prakash Manchanda said in the districts of
Sonepat, Rohtak, Karnal, Kaithal, Kurukshetra and Panipat the matured paddy crop in large areas suddenly withered away due to the onslaught of a mysterious disease. Manchanda demanded a compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre. |
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Patil for strengthening security to combat terror
Manesar, October 16 “A very strange and complex war is being waged against the country and the rest of the world in the name of terrorism. Earlier, there used to be war among countries, but now nations are not fighting one another, but instead some other kind of menace, that is terrorism, has reared its ugly head for which we have to bolster our security apparatus,” Patil said in his 15-minute speech at the 24th raising day of the National Security Guard here. He said harm was being done to the lives of people, to property and the basic fabric of any peaceful nation was being torn apart by this scourge of terrorism and when the threat was such the security forces should be well prepared and should not lack resources to crush it. The issue of security, whether it was of VVIPs, people or the nation, had assumed more significance against the backdrop of recent terror activities, he added, and voiced concern that some powerful weapons had fallen into the hands of threatening elements, which was a big cause of worry for one and all. Patil said falling of powerful weapons in some dangerous hands was an ominous sign for everyone and it could eliminate the entire human race. He said no nation, not even neighbouring countries, escaped the scourge of terrorism and it was no ordinary war which could be fought with plain weapons, adding a different strategy was the need of the hour to eliminate terror. He heaped lavish praise on the NSG and said the force was raised with the prime objective of fighting terrorism and it had been 24 years since its inception and the organisation was carrying out well whatever duties were assigned to it. Patil promised that the government would do everything possible to cater to the needs of the NSG and it would ensure that its personnel got the best of training. Before the speech, Patil distributed awards to meritorious NSG personnel. NSG director-general Jyoti Krishan Dutt presented a memento to Patil and promised that the organisation would try its best to combat terror in all its forms. NSG personnel displayed their combat skills and manoeuvres on the occasion. — UNI |
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Incentive draws docs to Mewat areas
Panchkula, October 16 The applications have been received even from Karnal and Ambala from some specialists, which are considered to be among the best districts for appointment in government hospitals, said Dr Avinash Sharma, director-general, health services, Haryana. In fact, Mewat was facing a huge shortage of medical officers as no doctors and paramedical staff were interested to join duty in this region due to the poor quality of life and difficult working conditions. Besides, the region lacks in catering to basic needs like good educational institutes and housing facilities. The district comprising five blocks - Feroz Pur Jhirka, Nuh, Nagina, Punhana and Hathin - with 410 villages and more than 10.5 lakh population, was facing a shortage of at least 30 medical officers and all efforts in the past to fill these posts proved futile. Only seven applications were received when the government had sanctioned 29 posts of medical officer last year only. Now, after getting a feedback on the reasons behind aversion to serve in this region, the government decided to pay an area-based special incentive to medical officers on a monthly basis for serving there so that the problem could be overcome, said the director-general, health. In case of rural areas, the incentive for medical officers would be Rs 5,000 per month. It would be Rs 10,000 per month for those serving in Mewat and Morni Hills. Moreover, medical specialists would be paid a special allowance at the rate of Rs15,000 per month for rural areas. For service in Morni and Mewat, they would be paid an incentive of Rs 25,000 per month, she said. With this incentive the newly appointed specialists would be able to get around 100 per cent increase in their salaries, added Dr Sharma. |
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3 suspected dengue cases in Ratia
Fatehabad, October 16 The victims, a couple and their son, were admitted to a local private hospital with symptoms of dengue. Their blood tests revealed low count of platelets, an indicator for dengue, and doctors referred them to Hisar, where they are getting treatment now. |
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Notices to ‘errant’ industrial units
Chandigarh, October 16 She directed the officers to constitute an independent committee comprising officials of the board and the forest department for ground inspection of all such units issued notices. Presiding over a meeting of the officers of the environment, Haryana Pollution Control Board and forests in New Delhi, she made oblique references to rampant corruption in the department. She also sought to know why the board had failed to issue prosecution proceedings against units, which were violating the norms on environment protection when notices had been served. Critical of the huge pendency in environment courts, particularly in Kurukshetra and some as old as 2000, she said follow-up of notices of proclaimed offenders (PO) was not carried out. Chairman of the board A.S. Chahal was also present besides member secretary Sameer Pal Srow and judges of the environment courts of Faridabad and Kurukshetra. The minister said the conviction rate for violation of environment protection norms was very poor and hauled up the officials for delaying the putting up of challans for prosecution. She directed the officials to put up all challans within one year and hasten the disposal of cases. She asked the board to submit a list of all such cases and ensure that the cases did not fail because of being “time-barred” or hostile witnesses. Sources said a number of witnesses easily turn hostile since no affidavits were taken from them as was provided by the law. Consequently, they did not show up when summons were sent to them and the case was filed. On her query, the officials informed her that the board had failed to implement the Supreme Court order on closure of crushers within 1 km of the forest area. It is learnt that the crushers begin operations all over again within three days of closing down on the directions of the court. The minister asked the board officials to re-send notices for closure of such crushers and send a copy to her. Sources maintained that the issue of illegal mining also came up for discussion. |
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Murthal, Ganaur flyovers unlikely by year-end
Chandigarh, October 16 The construction work on the flyovers is unlikely to be completed by December this year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court was told by the construction company this afternoon. Seeking the modification of the order imposing a cost of Rs 50 lakh for not meeting the September deadline for completing the work, the counsel for the construction company said they were making all efforts, but it was unlikely that they would be able to complete the flyovers till the year-end. As such, they should be granted additional time. Appearing before the Bench of Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice Daya Chaudhary, senior advocate Manmohan Lal Sarin, appointed amicus curiae in the case to assist the court, said from May to October only one per cent of work on these projects had been undertaken. Taking on record his submission, the Bench in the open court observed that there was no laxity in the payment of the undisputed amount as per the National Highway Authority of India’s project director. The Bench added in view of the slow progress of one per cent, despite regular payment, it did not find any ground to modify the order imposing the cost of Rs 50 lakh. At that point, the counsel for the construction company, on the instructions of its general manager, undertook to make the payment of Rs 25 lakh within a week. The rest would be deposited as bank guarantee. The Bench, on a previous date, had made it clear that half the amount would go to the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s Bar Association Welfare Fund. The remaining amount was directed to be deposited with the State Legal Services Authority. The case will now come up on October 24. A notice for that date has been issued to another construction company involved in setting up the Smalkha flyover and underpass at Pasina Khurd. |
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Dons at loggerheads over association
Sirsa, October 16 This time two groups of university teachers are at loggerheads over the issue of teachers’ association of the university. As many as 50 teachers of the university today issued a signed press note questioning the legality of the Chaudhary Devi Lal University Teachers Association (CDLUTA) that met on October 14 and passed several resolutions. The 10-member executive committee of the CDLUTA had met on October 14 under its president J.S. Jakhar, chairperson of the law department, and passed several resolutions, including condemning the attack on Kurukshetra University lecturer Vineet Kumar and expressing concern over the activities of anti-social elements on the CDLU campus. Today, a note, claiming the signatures of 50 university teachers, alleged that no such association by the name of the CDLUTA existed at all. The note, signed among others by Rajesh Vaid, Pankaj Sharma, Dilbhag Singh, Mohammad Kashif, Sewa Singh Bajwa, Vikram Singh, Virender Singh Chauhan, Vazid Ali, Anu Shukla, Deepti Dharmani, Nivedita and Joginder Singh, said even if any such teachers’ association existed, it did not represent a majority of the teachers from the university. “It is a group of individuals which has self-proclaimed itself to be the teachers’ association. No election or even a meeting of the CDLUTA was ever held,” the release said. The note has requested the media and others concerned to refrain from citing such an association as a representative of the university teachers. It requested the university vice-chancellor to take action against these teachers for using the name of the university. It also condemned the attack on Kurukshetra University lecturer Vineet Kumar. The note expressed surprise over the concern over security affairs in the university shown by the association as its secretary Rajesh Malik happens to be the security in charge of the university and questioned his moral right to continue in office under these circumstances. J.S. Jakhar, president of the CDLUTA, however, maintained that the association was registered vide registration number 87/2008 under the Registration of Societies Act. He said any seven members could get a society or an association registered under the laws and all its founder members being regular teachers of the university, there was nothing wrong in naming the association after the name of the university, particularly, when no other association by that name was already in existence. “We have a legal right to form an association and there is no need to inform the university authorities for this purpose,” asserted Jakhar. “The first meeting of the association was held on September 29 and the doors of the association are open for all university teachers,” Jakhar added. Meanwhile, Dr Rajesh Malik, secretary of the CDLUTA and security in charge of the university said he stood by his allegations that anti-social elements roamed in the university with impunity. He maintained that as security in charge of the university, he wrote to the university authorities about the activities of these elements and even attached complaints of girls from the university hostel, but these had fallen on deaf ears. |
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Double Murder Case
Fatehabad, October 16 Two persons, including the victim’s wife, Santosh, and her paramour Naseeb, have been arrested in the case. Illicit relations have been cited as reason for the murder. SP Saurabh Singh said Santosh had lodged a complaint with the police that her husband Hanuman did not return from the fields on the night of October 3 and someone, who came to deliver his motorcycle and mobile phone, forcibly took away her daughter Rachna. The police was suspicious of the woman’s statements from the very beginning. Finding several discrepancies in her statements, the police took her into custody on October 12 and interrogated her. The woman revealed before the police that she had illicit relations with Naseeb, who took her husband, Hanuman (30), towards the canal on October 3 on the pretext of having beer. Naseeb allegedly mixed some intoxicants in the beer and when Hanuman fell unconscious, he and Santosh killed him with a spade and threw his body in the canal. When Santosh reached her residence with Naseeb around midnight, she found her daughter weeping. She thought that Rachna would disclose before everyone that the duo had come around midnight, so she took her towards the canal and threw Later, the body of Rachna was recovered from a canal in Sirsa district, while Hanuman’s body was found from a canal near their home. The police had registered a case under Sections 452, 364, 302 and 201 of the IPC on the complaint of Santosh. Yogesh Kumar, SHO, Sadar, said the accused had been arrested. |
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Youth dies in road mishap; contractor booked
Rohtak, October 16 There were neither any signboards on the road indicating the ongoing repair work, nor had the traffic been diverted from the under-construction portion of the road. On the basis of the aforesaid facts, the family members of the deceased have got a case registered against the contractor engaged in repairing the road. The deceased, Ramesh Sharma (42), a resident of the local Pada Mohalla, was returning to his office located in the Improvement Trust market from his residence around 10 pm last night. His motorcycle skidded on the concrete rubble and collided with the building material blocks and a boulder on the Subhash road in front of the PWD rest house. He suffered a serious head injury and died on the spot. A brother of the deceased, Naresh Sharma, lodged the complaint against the authorities concerned at the city police station, on the basis of which the police registered an FIR under Section 283 and 304-A of the IPC against the contractor who had been allotted the contract to repair the road. |
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Four get life term for murder
Fatehabad, October 16 An undertrial was killed in the local courts by a person pretending to be a lawyer on July 30, 2004. The incident took place when Yuvraj, an accused in an attempt to murder case, was being produced in the court. The killer came to the courts wearing a lawyer’s dress. He was carrying a briefcase in which a country-made pistol was concealed. He followed Yuvraj, as he was being shifted from the court to a lockup. He opened fire at Yuvraj from a point blank range killing him on the spot. The killer identified as Om Parkash, a resident of Dhigtana, was overpowered on the spot. He told the police that he had been paid Rs 2 lakh for the crime by Manoj, Ramesh and Lakha. The police booked Om Parkash under Section 302 and 353 of the IPC and the other three accused under Section 120-B read with Section 302 of the IPC. Pronouncing the judgment, the Judge observed that July 30, 2004, was a sad day in the history of Fatehabad courts when an undertrial was killed by an accused pretending to be an advocate. |
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50 cases of power theft detected
Karnal, October 16 Stating this here today, a spokesman of the UHBVN said a penalty of Rs 4.71 lakh was imposed on the erring consumers out of which Rs 64,000 had been recovered. Alarmed by the increase in cases of power theft, the UHBVN constituted inspection teams to conduct surprise checking and also announced a reward scheme for those who brought such cases to the notice of the nigam. The inspection teams conducted surprise checks of 127 consumer premises in areas under the city operation division and two suburban divisions covering Karnal city, Taraori, Nilokheri, Nissing, Indri, Assandh, Jundla and Gharonda during the past 15 days. In most of the cases domestic consumers were found to be indulging in the pilferage of power by tampering with power meters or putting “kundis”. The nigam has lodged FIRs against 41 erring consumers who failed to deposit the assessed penalty amount with the nigam within the stipulated time period. The connections of these consumers have also been disconnected. Meanwhile, the UHBVN today opened three bill payment centres, two equipped with I-payment machines and one computerised cash collection centre for the consumers of Karnal town. The local MLA, Sumita Singh, inaugurated the centres. The I-pay machines have been installed at the circle office, Kunjpura road, and the electricity office, Sector 6, Karnal.The facility for the payment of energy bills through the computerised cash collection centre has been provided at Jatto Gate, Karnal. |
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3 Bangladeshis get jail
Karnal, October 16 The conviction was made under section 14 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, as none of the accused had a valid passport. The three Bangladesi citizens - Atul, son of Hassan; Salma, alias Abhilina, wife of Abdul; and Kohinoor, wife of Vilaat, all belong to Suransi in Bhagirath district in Bangladesh. Salma was also carrying a nine-month-old child Noyam when they were arrested near Ganjbarh, 25 km from here, while they were on their way to Karnal. The police got suspicious about their movement and asked them about their identity. After some questioning, they confessed that they were Bangladesi nationals and on search it was found that they did not have valid passports. Later, they were arrested and a challan was filed in the court, which convicted them. |
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3 sealed chemist shops opened
Sirsa, October 16 The officers went to Rajdhani Medicose too for opening the seal, but that was found closed. The authorities affixed a notice on the said shop. The drugs control authorities have taken several samples from these shops. |
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Rohtak, October 16
Manesar, October 16
Karnal, October 16
