Sirsa, November 12
Procurement of paddy and other crops have come to a standstill in the local grain market after partners of a firm ran away leaving the creditors high and dry. The firm allegedly owed over Rs 6 crore to various firms of the grain market.

The traders have gone on strike and threatened to keep their business closed until the guilty are brought to book. A meeting of grain market traders was called in the Gandhi Park today to assess the loss to various traders.

“Over Rs 6 crore has been fleeced. The guilty should be immediately held otherwise business in the market would be adversely affected,” said Ruli Chand Gandhi, president of the Anaj Mandi Vyapar Mandal, Sirsa, after the meeting.

Meanwhile, farmers coming to the grain market were a harassed lot as no auction of their produce was possible today.

“I came here with my lot of PUSA 1121 paddy variety last evening and was hoping that my produce to be sold today. However, no auction was held today due to strike by the traders and I am told that they may continue their strike tomorrow,” said Karam Chand, a farmer from village Mangala.

He said the prices of paddy had already witnessed a sharp decline this year and now the farmers would have to wait for the auction of their produce due to the strike.

Sirsa, November 12
Owing to the difference in the rates of wheat seed supplied by the Haryana Seed Development Corporation (HSDC) and that being sold by private manufacturers, the subsidised corporation seed has become a scarce commodity.

Only 125 bags of wheat arrived in the sale outlet of the HSDC near the local grain market today, but the stocks were exhausted within two hours. Long queues of farmers are seen outside the outlet in Sirsa and other towns of the district everyday, with several farmers returning empty-handed.

“We have been giving a maximum of five bags per farmer. We sell whatever stocks we get from our regional office. We will start further sales as soon as we receive more stocks,” said Satya Pal Gaba, HSDC.

He said wheat seed bags, each weighing 40 kg, are being sold at Rs 560. “The seed from HSDC is finding its way to the black market as there is a huge gap between the rates of seeds from private manufacturers and from the corporation,” said, Daljit Singh, a farmer.

He said seed manufactured by private companies was available in the market at a price ranging between Rs 1,600 and Rs 1,700. He saw official connivance behind the black-marketing of the HSDC seed.

Farmers Dharam Pal and Bhup Singh alleged that certain preferred seed varieties were not available at all.After standing in long queues, farmers got only five bags of seed. This was grossly insufficient for most.

Many times the farmers stood in queues only to be informed that the stocks had exhausted.

“The situation has arisen due to a sharp rise in the prices of wheat in the open market,” said Gurdial Mehta, a trader at the local grain market and a former president of the local Vyapar Mandal. 

Chandigarh, November 12
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has quashed the allotment of industrial plots in Bhiwani and asked HUDA to evolve some criteria for re-assessing the comparative merit of the applicants.

One of the grounds of challenge to the allocation in three petitions filed in the matter was that it was allegedly made to relatives, friends and protégé of politicians and bureaucrats.

But the Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia made it clear the allotment was liable to be quashed even without examining the allegations of malafide.

The petitioners had earlier alleged the applicants had succeeded in allotment, “not on the basis of merit but because authorities allowed them to steal a march over the better candidates available”.

The petitioners had contended this amounted to “distribution of largesse, as the recipient of plots were less meritorious and no comparative criteria to evaluate claim of all those, who applied for allotment of plots, had been followed”.

After hearing rival contentions, the Bench said: “A perusal of the record reveals no comparative merit of the applicants was drawn. No exercise to compare the successful allottees and unsuccessful applicants was undertaken.

“The relevant factors, experience, availability of capital, qualification, managerial capability and professional skill etc were not considered to determine inter-se merit.”

Justice Ahluwalia asserted: “ We are not inclined to examine the allegations of malafide and their denial.

“We are of the view that the committee ought to have evolved criteria for allotting marks under different sub-heads such as qualification, experience, financial strength, product, capability and skill….”

“We are of the view that the so-called selection committee failed to advert to the comparative merits of the applicants and it has not been pointed out as to why the allottee was selected from amongst those applicants who have been left out,” said the Bench. 

Karnal, November 12
More than 80 students of Government Primary School, Chundipur, 12 km from here, were taken ill due to food poisoning and were rushed to a trauma centre.

The school authorities could not prepare the mid-day meal today as there was no water for cooking and the kids were tempted to eat a “poisonous fruit” (jatropha), grown outside the school near a tubewell during lunch break. Soonafter, the students complained of nausea and started vomiting.

The authorities brought the kids to the trauma centre.

Reshma and Vimla of Class IV and Class III, respectively, said the students were not aware that the fruit was poisonous

Village sarpanch Sher Singh said he had asked employees of the water supply department to remove four jatropha plants growing along the boundary wall of the school six months back, but in vain.

Today’s incident was a result of “indifference and insensitivity” shown by the authorities. At least 12 children were in critical condition when brought to the trauma centre. Their condition improved later.

SDM MK Ahuja, who visited the children, said the BDO of Karnal had been sent to the village to ensure none was left without medical aid. He assured that the matter would be looked into.

District Elementary Education Officer Sarita Bhandari had no plausible explanation as to why the meal was not cooked by the school. Health and Education minister Geeta Bhukal visited the sick children. She said all jatropha plants in the state would be uprooted so that such an incident did not recur.

Karnal, November 12
In a subtle move that could infringe upon the rights of cable operators to do business without undue interference, the Haryana government has notified an amended bylaw to allow cable operations in municipal areas through open bidding.

Cable operators are up in arms against the move as they fear that it would create monopoly; bring the operators under License Raj and make cable business akin to liquor trade.

Cable operators said there was no saving clause for the 1000-odd existing multi-system operators (MSOs) in the state and 3,000 local cable operators, and in case they fail to match the highest bidders they would be out of business.

Cable operators have laid extensive cable network across the state and were providing gainful employment to thousands of youth.

In case their business was disrupted it would render these youth jobless, said a cable operator.

"The move of the government is arbitrary and uncalled for.

“It has not cared to consult the operators before bringing about such sweeping changes in cable business to tighten their control," said a Gurgaon-based operator who has been in this business for the past decade.

Notably, Haryana, which houses affluent cities like Gurgaon and Panchkula, has about seven million cable users; almost 8 per cent of the 85 million cable users in the country.

The operators said giving a licence to only one operator (the highest bidder) would wipe out competition and the subscribers would ultimately suffer.

While the TRAI has allowed multiple telecom service providers to operate in the same area, the Haryana government was moving in a different direction to restrict competition.

The cable operators have moved the High Court to seek a stay on the 
notification.

Fatehabad, November 12
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today visited former Agriculture Minister Harpal Singh in Tohana and expressed his condolences on the sudden demise of his wife Santokh Kaur. Harpal Singh’s son Paramvir Singh is the Agriculture Minister in Hooda cabinet now.

Santokh Kaur was admitted to PGIMER, Chandigarh, two days ago where she breathed her last on November 11. Her mortal remains were consigned to flames today at the family’s farmhouse in Tohana.

Many Congress leaders, family friends among others attended the funeral. Those present included ministers Shiv Charan and Sukhbir Kataria, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Prahlad Singh, Sultan Singh, Jaleb Khan, MLAs Sampat Singh, Raghubir Singh Kadyan, MP Shadi Lal Batra, Deputy Commissioner CG Rajini Kaanthan, among others.

Jind, November 12
Instead of imparting education to students in a desired manner, a teacher of a government primary school in the district has been found using his students to get liquor from market for his consumption during the school time.

A raid conducted by a team of officials led by a naib tehsildar caught the teacher red-handed while taking liquor from a student in Aftabgarh village of Safidon subdivision here today.

The authorities concerned have recommended a departmental action against the accused teacher. The alleged illegal and immoral practice of the teacher identified as Om Pal also working as head teacher of the primary school having a staff strength (teaching) of two came to light following a complaint and the raid conducted today on the directions of the SDM.

The teacher would often use his students to get his daily supply of liquor. His son also works as a teacher in the school. The raid found that a student of class II identified as Mangatram (7) came to the school office with a quarter bottle of country-made liquor in his pocket and a cash amount of Rs 75 in another pocket.

It is reported that the teacher had sent the student by giving him money to purchase the liquor bottle and bring it to the school during the school time. A medical examination of the accused teacher was also conducted, but it is not known whether the accused was drunk at that time.

Hisar, November 12
Former Finance Minister and Congress leader Sampat Singh today denied that the Congress had offered any “deal” to former CM Bhajan Lal and his son Kuldeep Bishnoi for merging their HJC with the Congress.

Talking to mediapersons during a tour of Nalwa, he said all such claims by the father-son duo were “white lies”. He said the Congress did not believe in “buying support” to run a government although unconditional support from any quarters was welcome.

Sampat Singh said the HJC legislators had decided to join the Congress on realising that Bishnoi was using them as pawns to secure a political deal for himself with the INLD.

He lashed out at INLD chief Om Parkash Chautala, claiming his war cry of overthrowing the Hooda government was just a ploy to ensure his legislators and cadres did not desert him.