Karnal, June 24
With the monsoon nowhere in sight in the northern region and people suffering due to the prolonged dry spell, parched fields of paddy are a common sight in Haryana.

The monsoon had arrived on June 16 in Haryana last year, but now it has been delayed by a week and there are no signs of the rains hitting the region for another 10 days. Paddy plantation began on June 10 in the region but till date only 25 per cent of paddy sowing has been completed against 50 per cent in previous years.

About 11.50 lakh hectares is under paddy cultivation in the state and a target of 55.20 lakh hectares had been fixed against 49.47 lakh tonnes production last year. However, the chances of achieving the enhanced target appears bleak.

Non-basmati transplantation normally finishes by June-end while basmati varieties are grown up to July 12, but farmers are wary of rushing in for transplantation in view of the uncertainty over the monsoon. With the declaration of Pusa 1121 as a basmati variety by the government, the area under basmati has increased to 40 per cent of the total area under rice cultivation.

In Karnal district, where paddy has been grown on 1.65 lakh hectares, the total rainfall till date has been 60 mm against the normal rainfall of 250 mm last year.

The situation is worrisome and there may be a shortfall in production if the dry spell continues, Wazir Singh, Subdivisional Agriculture Officer, Karnal, said.

Maya Dass, a distressed farmer of Darad village in Indri, said it was exasperating to see the plants wilting.

In spite of assured irrigation, the situation was alarming as sufficient water for the paddy crop was not available due to long and frequent power cuts. Farmers were resorting to road blockades and staging dharnas to draw the attention of the government. The plight of the farmers was miserable as they could not bear the sight of their crops wilting,said a villager in the Assandh area.

Rohtak, June 24
To press for their demand to make Sanskrit a compulsory subject in the Haryana School curriculum, a large number of activists under the aegis of the Haryana Sanskrit Evam Sanskriti Raksha Samiti blocked National Highway 10 for three hours here today.

The protest came to an end in the evening when the agitators courted arrest at the Delhi bypass following an assurance by Deputy Commissioner PC Meena and SSP AK Rao that they would arrange their meeting with Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda after apprising him about their demands.

Earlier, thousands of activists assembled outside the Deputy Commissioner’s residence in the morning. After pondering over the ongoing movement, the activists marched towards the Chief Minister’s local residence shouting slogans against the state government.

Later, the protesters blocked the traffic on the NH-10. They also deflated tyres of two buses parked there. They also blocked the traffic on the Delhi bypass.

Though the district administrative officers tried to persuade them to lift the blockade, the agitators remained adamant on their stand.

Activists of the samiti have been sitting on dharna for about two weeks to press upon their demands.

Chandigarh, June 24
The newly formed Bahujan Samaj Party-Haryana Janhit Congress alliance will shortly get down to the business of framing its common minimum programme.

Panels of candidates from all seats will also be drawn up and submitted to BSP supremo Mayawati for approval.

Addressing a joint press conference here today, HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi and BSP leader in charge of Haryana affairs Mann Singh Manhera said their “historic alliance” had unnerved the Congress, which was till now pressing for an early poll in the state.

“If the zero-plus-zero-is-equal-to-zero calculation of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is so accurate, let him go ahead with the plan for early elections. We are game for it,” Bishnoi said.

Manhera added that after the elections, everybody would know who gets a zero and who gets to be the Chief Minister.

The leaders said that while the general election was fought on national issues, the Vidhan Sabha elections would be localised in nature. “Everything from power to roads, law and order to the provision of basic amenities has collapsed. The government has promoted one particular pocket at the cost of the rest of the state,” the leaders said.

Accompanied by their supporters, Bishnoi and Manhera said theirs was a long-term alliance and they were confident of success.

Maintaining that the Indian National Lok Dal was history in Haryana and the BJP was finished in India, Bishnoi said their alliance was necessitated since their vote bank got divided and the Congress got an advantage.

Referring to expelled leaders of the HJC, Krishanmurty Hooda and Subhash Batra, Bishnoi said the former needed to cross-check their facts about the real HJC. “There is no place for them in the party and they are acting at the behest of some Congress leaders. Some party supporters, too, have left the HJC under their influence,” he admitted, adding that elder brother Chander Mohan, too, would not be taken into the HJC.

The two parties would jointly organise a rally after the monsoon and launch an agitation against the government over atrocities against Dalits. Manhera and Bishnoi said they would discuss the creation of a separate SGPC for Haryana and the introduction of Punjabi as the second language.

Meanwhile, the rebel faction of the Haryana Janhit Congress led by “expelled leader” Subhash Batra today said that they had decided to meet BSP supremo Mayawati to caution her about the alliance with the Kuldeep Bishnoi-led HJC. Speaking to mediapersons, he said a nine-member committee had been constituted under Krishanmurti Hooda to seek time to meet Mayawati and “expose” this alliance with the HJC “which had no support anymore”. Batra said their faction was ready to take Fiza into their party fold.

Chandigarh, June 24
The World Bank has agreed in principle to give a loan of $ 330 million to Haryana for its power system development project, which will go a long way in strengthening the transmission and distribution systems in the state.

Stating this here today Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the state would get an additional 5,000 MW of electricity in the next five years through its own new generation units and long-term power purchase agreements.

The loan from the World Bank would be used for setting up 400/220/132 KV substations and transmission lines.

The loan will be approved by the board of the World Bank on August 6 next in Washington DC. The loan carries a low rate of interest with a tenure of 30 years and the entire amount of will be disbursed by 2013-14.

Gurgaon, June 24
At 4.35 pm yesterday, the local Fire Department got a call stating that a fire had broken out at the local Deputy Commissioner’s office. Two fire engines were immediately rushed to the mini-secretariat, which houses the DC office. Of these, one fire engine was sent from the Bhim Nagar fire station, the other was diverted from Kherki Daula village where it was deployed for a firefighting-cum-rescue and relief operation.

The operation was going on at an Adidas unit in the village, where a major fire had broke out on Monday evening. So intense was the fire that even the multi-storeyed building of the Adidas unit collapsed around 1.30 am on Tuesday.

Nearly 10 persons, including District Fire Officer Hanuman Sihag, several firefighters and workers at the unit, were injured during the operation.

However, strangely enough, Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kataria, who had himself visited the scene of mishap and was aware of the gravity of the matter, ordered a mock drill to be carried out even while the operation was on.

On being contacted for his comments, Kataria maintained that he had ordered the mock drill to check the preparedness of the ambulance service of the local government hospital.

However, sources in the Fire Department affirmed that two fire engines had also been rushed to the DC’s office, one of which was diverted from the actual scene of mishap.

“Such mock drills are performed at a time when no real mishap has occurred,” asserted a senior police official requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, Gurgaon Divisional Commissioner DPS Nagal also conceded that the mock drill was timed wrongly.

Kurukshetra, June 24
Reacting to a statement made by chairman of the Haryana Pensioners Welfare Society (HPWS) Kasturi Lal Sharma, HPWS president Kuldeep Sharma, general secretary Jagdish Prashad Gupta and patron Nawal Kishore Nawal in a jointly signed statement released here today said: “The society disassociates itself from the statement of supporting a particular political alliance in the Assembly elections.”

The chairman of the society had urged the Haryana government to fulfill their demands otherwise the society would not hesitate to support the newly created alliance of the HJC and the BSP in the Haryana assembly elections due in February 2010. The statement was published in The Tribune on Tuesday last.

In the statement, they made it clear that no such resolution was passed by the HPWS and the statement made in the Press by one of its office-bearers did not match with the policy of the society.

They further clarified that their association was non-political and worked for socio-economic welfare of pensioners. Therefore, it deplored the statement made by one of its office-bearers.

“To support or oppose a particular party can be the personal choice of the office-bearer and the HPWS has nothing to do with it,” they added.

Rewari, June 24
Local leader and convener of the Rashtriya Nav Chetna Vijay Somany has demanded a high-level inquiry into the “multi-crore scandal” of the Rewari Municipal Council.

Somany, who unsuccessfully contested the Assembly elections twice from Rewari, is considered to be a bete noire of the local minister.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, he said the previous inquiry, which was conducted by the then Additional Deputy Commissioner of Rewari into the allegations of corruption levelled against the MC chairman, had prima facie established the veracity of the charges following which the MC chief was suspended.

He further said when the MC chief somehow regained the local minister’s “goodwill”, he was reinstated and the “ multi-crore scandal” was pushed under the carpet to the chagrin and disappointment of citizens. Somany has also demanded a CBI probe into the assets of the local minister.

Rewari, June 24
The Khol police yesterday arrested Hoshiar Singh (19) from a hotel in Nangloi area of Delhi for allegedly abducting a teenaged girl (15).

The police also recovered the girl, who was allegedly abducted from Harjipur village here on June 18.

Hoshiar was today produced before the Duty Magistrate, who remanded him in judicial custody. Simultaneously, the girl was restored to her parents after her medical examination here.

Consequently, Section 376 of rape has now been added to the FIR, which was earlier registered on charges of abduction, coupled with seduction under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC.

Sources said Hoshiar had developed intimacy with the girl, who lived with her grandparents in the village.

Rewari, June 24
In an altercation between two persons at a liquor shop in Kanuka village, 12 km from here, last evening, Dashrath (19) of the neighbouring Sataun village of Alwar district, was done to death allegedly by Ramesh Kumar (25) of Jhunjhunoo district of Rajasthan.

Sources said when Ramesh, who was staying at his maternal uncle’s house in Kanuka village, went to the liquor shop, he incidentally came across Dashrath there

Soon after drinks, the duo had an altercation after which Ramesh allegedly hit Dashrath on the head with a stick, the sources added. The police, which registered a case of murder, has arrested Ramesh.