Kurukshetra/ Karnal, April 26
The Haryana government has managed to stop the flooding of its mandis with wheat from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. With wheat from these two states leading to a glut and poor lifting in various mandis across Haryana, the government has resorted to drastic steps to check any inflow of wheat from outside the state.

The state government has now sealed its borders with the two states to check any inflow of wheat for sale in Haryana. Officials of the Excise and Taxation and the Police departments have now been deputed along the border, especially in areas along the Uttar Pradesh border, to check the transfer of wheat in Haryana. Even in mandis, the market committees of the Mandi Board have been instructed to videograph auctions of wheat so that the farmer and the commission agent are identified.

Samay Singh, a farmer from Bakali village near Kurukshetra, said farmers bringing their produce to the mandis were being asked to furnish a proof of their being residents of Haryana before their wheat was allowed to be purchased by various procurement agencies. “Though initially, the state government had also asked farmers to bring the title of ownership of their land to establish that they are local farmers, following objections from farmers this condition has now been done away with,” confirmed an official of the market committee in Karnal.

As a result, wheat arrivals in various mandis have trickled down to a few thousands of quintals during the past three days. As against daily arrivals of almost one lakh tonnes in mandis adjoining Uttar Pradesh, the arrivals are now down to an average of 10,000 tonnes, said an official of the Food and Civil Supplies department.

Though each year, farmers from UP and Rajasthan bring their produce to mandis in Haryana for sale, this time round, shortage of storage space in Haryana has forced the state government to shy away from purchasing wheat brought in from outside Haryana. Officials said as compared to 37. 38 lakh tonnes of wheat that arrived in the state till date last year, the total wheat arrival till date this year is 60.144 lakh tonnes.

“The main reason for the high wheat arrival is that large tract of land in Haryana and UP, that was earlier under sugarcane cultivation, is now under wheat cultivation.

Also, because of distress sale of wheat in Uttar Pradesh (against an MSP of Rs 1,080 per quintal, wheat is selling for Rs 950-1,000 per quintal), commission agents are buying cheap wheat in UP and then selling it at the MSP in Haryana to make a quick profit. This led to a glut in mandis. But now, we have improved the lifting and almost 69 per cent of the total market arrivals (41.26 lakh MT) have already been purchased by various procurement agencies,” said a senior official in the Food and Civil Supplies department.

Hisar, April 26
An inquiry by a senior Kurukshetra University functionary into the alleged irregularities committed by the principal of a local private college has raised more questions than it has answered.

There were 17 charges to be looked into. The main allegations were irregularities in admissions to BCom, BSc (Biotechnology) and Bachelor in Computer Sciences courses, receiving donations for admission to these courses and misappropriation of funds, misuse of college funds for obtaining VIP number for the principal’s car and termination of five employees belonging to a particular caste.

Regarding the allegation of granting admission to BCom, BSc (Biotechnology), and computer science courses, the probe officer found that “no public notice was given” for filling vacant seats. He held that there “may be a genuine reason to suspect” that students with lower merit were admitted denying the opportunity to more deserving students. But instead of holding the principal responsible for the lapse, the report merely stated “the admission committee should have been more responsible and vigilant” thus exonerating the head of the institution from the charges of irregularities.

The report said donations were received only during the period when admissions to self-financing courses were made and nothing was received rest of the year. This, it said, “raises a suspicion” that admissions were made on the basis of donations and that “those who paid higher donations were favoured”.

The report did not find evidence of part misappropriation of the donation received. The officer found that the competent authority had duly approved the purchase of a car for the principal. However, it termed the use of “college funds” for obtaining a VIP number an “avoidable act” despite the fact that there is no provision for obtaining such number at the cost of public money.

It also revealed that services of an employee working on contract basis were terminated although prima facie he was “performing well”. The report stated that the terminated employee “should have been given one more opportunity” to prove his worth. No attempt was made to probe why the employee was terminated without a valid reason.

Another allegation was that the principal had received money for taking classes at the CDLU, Sirsa. However, instead of answering this query, the officer stated that the principal was a teacher of chemistry and thus competent to teach some topics to students of environment sciences.

Explaining the delay in the submission of report, the officer said in the report some facts were sought from the principal of another affiliated college and the Finance Officer of Kurukshetra University, which had not been provided till the time of submission of the report.

Karnal, April 26
This barefoot baba has not a penny in his name but is determined to upset the applecart of bigwigs in the Lok Sabha polls.

He is anguished over the pathetic condition of the people in the country and has entered in the fray from the Karnal Lok Sabha seat to rid the country of hypocrites.

Fiftyfive-year-old ‘fakkar’ (with no possessions) baba Shiv Prasad of Sanalikalan village in Panipat says: “I am sure to win the elections as it is the will of God, which will motivate the people to vote for me.”

Irked over the moral degradation and socio-cultural degeneration that has turned a prosperous, spiritual and culturally diverse country into a divided nation of starving, greedy and immoral people, he says the unique concept of unity in diversity was dead and women who were worshipped as ‘devis’ were being glorified as brand ambassadors for selling products and made to perform on the stage to entertain the people.

“I am fighting for the religion and to save the country from the clutches of hypocrites who are fooling the people of the country and looting them in the name of caste, creed and religion,” he claimed.

He said his mission was to root out corruption, put an end to atrocities and oppression and usher in a new era of harmony, development, prosperity and peace. He said he had chosen TV as his election symbol, as it was the mirror of society and depicted what was good or bad.

He claimed that he underwent “tapasya” for twelve years, did not take bath for ten years and observed fast, surviving only on potatoes.

The only visible asset of baba, who has filed his nomination as an Independent candidate, is his mobile phone.

Barwala (Panchkula), April 26
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is on a unity mission, mending broken fences and repairing hurt egos. Or so it seems. At least that’s the impression he conveyed as he made a fervent appeal to the public, seeking support for Congress candidate Kumari Selja for the Ambala seat at four rallies in the constituency.

At Barwala, his first stop, he repeatedly addressed Selja as “his sister”, attempting to bridge the “distance” that separated them. Greeted with a huge round of applause and pro-Congress slogans, Hooda urged the crowd to show its strength on election day by casting votes in her favour.

As if to lend credence to his appeal, he added, “My son Deepender is fighting from Rohtak and doing well. I will be happy with his win but I will be happier still if my sister wins with a greater margin from the Ambala seat.”

As Selja sat smiling on the dais along with other local leaders and state president of the Congress Phool Chand Mullana and the crowd cheered every time her name was mentioned, the Chief Minister asked the people to vote wisely, vote for development and vote for the Congress.

“All three are interchangeable. Every vote you caste in favour of Selja would amount to voting for me and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” he emphasised.

Initially close to Hooda, Selja, who drifted away from him since the government assumed power in the state, too, seemed a picture of composure as she appealed for votes. “I have served you well in the past five years. We have done much but there is a lot that still needs to be done. I am going into this election not with any challenges but on the strength of our performance,” she stated. Mullana, who was also in the race for the party ticket from Ambala, in his address, chose to leave Selja’s mention to the very end of his speech. He dwelt on the pro-poor, pro-people policies of the government and made one solitary appeal to the crowd to vote for Selja in the very end.

While the Chief Minister had made a brief halt at Ambala and addressed a gathering along with Mullana on the day the Congress rath rolled out from the party office in Chandigarh a fortnight back, this was the first rally he addressed in favour of Selja.

Selja, who managed her ticket from the highest quarters in the Congress, has been exhaustively touring her constituency to muster support.

(Chhachhroli) Yamunanagar, April 26
MP and Congress candidate from the Ambala constituency Kumari Selja today termed the BSP as a party of opportunists and outsiders while seeking votes on basis of the development works carried out by the Congress government.

Addressing a rally here, she said BSP leaders were unable to feel problems of the people and failed to do justice with them.

"The BSP is a party of opportunist leaders changing its slogans and strategy as per their requirement without taking care of interests and sentiments of the Dalits. Mayawati's only agenda is to become the prime minister, not the welfare of the Dalits," she said.

She claimed that the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and the Congress government in the state had implemented various schemes for the poor sections and farmers of rural areas.

Terming the BSP as an outsider party, Selja claimed if we compared the development works done by the Congress government in the state and by the BSP in UP, the BSP stood nowhere.

Highlighting achievements of the Congress, she said even after the global economic crisis, India remained stable and experienced less crisis in different sectors. She urged the people to vote for the Congress.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda claimed the state would have not only surplus power, but would be able to sale power to other states within a year. He said the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and the Congress government in the state had concentrated only on development works.

Chandigarh, April 26
The Election Commission has made arrangements for proxy voting to ensure maximum participation of members of the armed forces and members of other forces covered under the Army Act 1950 under Section 46.

Besides, members of the State Armed Forces, who are working out of the state, have been given the right to cast their vote by post. They can also exercise their franchise through proxy voting.

State Chief Electoral Officer Sajjan Singh said a person who would be appointed for the proxy voting should be a resident of the constituency concerned, not less than 18 years of age and must have basic qualification to be inducted into the list of electorate.

He maintained that the appointment of proxy electorate could be made through Form 13F.

To use the facility, the service voters will have to identity the persons (who were authorised to caste proxy votes) and intimation in the regard should be sent to the returning officer in a prescribed format. The ink mark would be made on the proxy voter’s second finger.

Besides, the EC will set up mobile polling stations in Jaisalmer and Barmer areas of Rajasthan and in Jharkhand’s Palamu district.

Sirsa, April 26
The election campaign of Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) nominee Rajinder Dhanak received a boost yesterday after party supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi addressed several meetings in the district in his favour.

Bishnoi claimed in his meetings that the people of Haryana had decided to change the present dispensation in Haryana and were looking forward to May 7 to oust the UPA government at the Centre first and then the Hooda government in Haryana.

Bishnoi, who was on a one-day visit of the Sirsa parliamentary seat yesterday to campaign for Dhanak, also claimed that his party would win the maximum seats in Haryana.

Playing down the exit of veteran leader Mani Ram Keharwala from the party, Bishnoi said he had already announced that he would nominate youths during these elections and Dhanak was nominated for this reason only.

He said Keharwala had committed a blunder by leaving his party and he would not benefit by joining the Congress.

Interestingly, Bishnoi, whose own candidate Rajinder Dhanak is an outsider, ridiculed Congress candidate Ashok Tanwar’s outsider status by announcing that he would quit politics if Tanwar was able to tell the names of any 100 villages in the Sirsa seat.

Earlier, INLD leader Abhey Singh Chautala and his nominee Sita Ram had criticised the Congress nominee for his outsider status.

Tanwar chose to reply to the allegations of both Bishnoi and Abhey Singh in an aggressive manner today.

“Let Bishnoi tell me the name of any 50 villages first,” he said and added that he had already covered over 350 villages of the Sirsa seat by now.

“I belong to Haryana and am contesting from a seat in this state but Abhey Singh’s family members have been contesting from Rajasthan,” he alleged.

Tanwar campaigned in the Fatehabad district

yesterday and was accompanied by Kunal Bhadoo, son-in-law of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Meanwhile, Abhey Singh Chautala alleged that the Congress gave slogans of “Congress ka hath, garib ke sath” in last elections but after winning elections, it chose to side with Tatas and Birlas.

Abhey Singh was addressing a meeting in Mohalla Ther in Sirsa yesterday.

Kala Amb, April 26
The demand of residents of this Haryana village, on the border with Himachal Pradesh, is very simple. All that they want is that candidates from the Ambala parliamentary constituency should at least come and visit them once in five years.

The villagers are an unhappy lot, except for a flying visit by Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda once on his way to Himachal Pradesh, no politician has come this way.

This village is the poor country cousin of the famous industrial belt by the same name Kala Amb in Himachal Pradesh, which is a stone’s throw away.

Boasting of a population of 10,000, this village has approximately 700 votes.

This village bears the brunt of the working population of its wealthy neighbour. The residents here make extra money from renting out accommodation to the worker class.

But for them it is a catch-22 situation while the Haryana government gives them facilities as per their population records, the residents want them to even consider the floating population they have to support.

“No one listens to us. An MLA cannot do what an MP can do for us. However, no one comes here,” states former sarpanch of Bishambhar Lal village. On records, the villagers claim their population is around 2,500, but with the labour class living here they boast of around 10,000 persons. “We need facilities that can take care of such a huge population, we are not an ordinary village we are special being on the border.”

The perennial problem of no electricity plagues this village which now boasts of three tubewells, thanks to the present sarpanch and his close proximity to the Congress.

The residents had also recently taken to the road and blocked the National Highway to protest against the erratic electricity, so much so that these docile villagers had even attacked the police post and many, including woman, were arrested. “Though the incident was highlighted in the newspapers, no one came here. We were so desperate, electricity does not come for hours and just a few feet away there is an abundance of it,” laments another resident.

Fear of backlash keeps many residents away from naming themselves, but desperation is writ large on their faces. Himachal Pradesh, they say, gives them bread and butter.

“We have to vote, but we are not happy,” says another resident.

Sirsa, April 26
Naresh Kaushal, Editor of Dainik Tribune, said yesterday that no mission of profession could succeed if it overlooked social values and ethics and this was true of media too.

Kaushal was addressing a conference, MediaCon 09, organised by the Journalism and Mass Communication Department of Chaudhary Devi Lal University here yesterday as its chief guest.

The topic of the national seminar was “National conference on state of media education in India”.

He said the media had a duty to highlight the plight of the poorest of the poor so that their lot could be ameliorated.

“I can say with pride that the issues relating to the common man and those living in remote areas are ably raised in the newspapers run by The Tribune Trust with all objectivity,” Kaushal maintained.

Kaushal said certain media groups had started issuing pink slips to their employees in the name of economic meltdown, while the fact of the matter was that the Indian media was least affected by the global slowdown.

Vikram Dutt, a noted media personality, said a journalist had to be knowledgeable and for him general knowledge was important.

He called upon budding journalists to cultivate reading habits as reading was important for increasing one’s knowledge.

HPS Walia, a media teacher from Punjabi University, emphasised the need for taking journalism to rural areas so that the plight of villagers could be made better.

University Registrar RK Sehgal thanked the guests.

Virender Chauhan, chairperson of the CDLU, welcomed the guests and set the ball in motion for the seminar.

Sonepat, April 26
Sanjay (37), Sarpanch of Raipur village, was today shot dead by five car-borne gangsters while he was returning home after a morning walk. He died on the spot and the gangsters managed to flee the spot. Old enmity is stated to be the reason behind the murder.

On a complaint of the victim’s brother, Satbir, the police has registered a case of murder against five persons, including three brothers - Ranbir, Devender and Jasbir - of the same village and Devender of Butana village. No arrest has been made so far.

Irate villagers demanded the presence of high-level officers before allowing the police to take the victim’s body to the Civil Hospital for a postmortem. DC Ajit Joshi, SSP Navdeep Singh Virk and DSP Badri Prasad reached the spot and assured the villagers that the culprits would be arrested soon. Congress nominee from the Sonepat parliamentary constituency Jitender Singh Malik also went to the residence of the victim to mourn the death of Sanjay.