Chandigarh, July 12
It has been pouring trouble for farmers in the three districts of Ambala, Kurukshetra and Kaithal. The downpour continues and nurseries for paddy transplantation have nearly shut shop.

The threat of not being able to harvest a paddy crop seems real as days go by. To add to the loss, there is the burden of debt to be taken care of and the pressure of unpaid loans staring them in the face.

Incessant rain has already damaged paddy over an area of nearly 2.85 lakh hectares. Says Ram Pal Chauhan of village Amin in Kurukshetra, who has lost paddy transplanted over 11 acres in the floods: “What can any of us do? The floods have left us bankrupt. If I don’t manage to raise a nursery for my fields over the next few days, it may be too late to reverse ther losses.”

A gritty farmers from Barna village on the Kurukshetra-Kaithal road, Surinder Singh, says: “I’m trying to raise a nursery for paddy transplantation again. However, it will not serve any purpose until the waters in the field recede fast. The nursery, too, will take 20-25 days. I’m looking for farmers who may have raised a nursery bigger than required.”

The rain may prove beneficial for farmers whose crop has withstood the fury of the charging waters that virtually “drowned” the crop in Kurukshetra.

A few commercial suppliers who raise nurseries have exhausted their resources too. However, they are raising another nursery but pricing it for a lot more than what it is worth, sources say.

The Revenue Department has pegged the damage at over 2.85 lakh hectares and sought an assistance of Rs 540 crore for agriculture. “The crop damage has gone up with the recent floods in Fatehabad and Sirsa. The farmers now have the option of planting maize, oilseed, pulses or fodder.

The option of going in for basmati is open.

“If assistance comes, we will give them crop compensation and mini kits with seeds and fertilisers while converting short-term loans into medium-term loans,” Financial Commissioner Naresh Gulati, said. A total of 150 villages have suffered crop damage in Ambala, 152 in Kurukshetra and 85 in Kaithal.

Chandigarh, July 12
There is some hope for farmers in the flood-affected areas. Their freshly transplanted paddy fields may have been inundated, but they can still make up for the losses by switching over to basmati varieties.

The floods will surely have an impact on the state’s contribution to the central pool for paddy with non-basmati varieties having been damaged. With the department recommending the sowing of basmati varieties, farmers can be saved from financial losses. Officials in the agriculture department suggest that the farmers begin preparing the nursery for basmati, so that this can be transplanted in the fields by the end of July.

They are advising farmers to use land for preparing the nursery either in the adjoining fields which are not submerged, or in nearby villages so that the basmati varieties are ready for transplantation by the month-end. They hope the water level in the flood-affected areas would have receded by then and the fields ready for the basmati crop.

Traditionally, most farmers have been sowing the basmati varieties. Of the total area under paddy, an average of 55 per cent to 60 per cent is under the basmati varieties and just 40 per cent under the non-basmati varieties.

This year, the target for area under paddy (both basmati and non basmati varietes) is around 11.50 lakh hectares.

Large tracts of land are submerged under water and nurseries have to be prepared near the fields. “In case, farmers are unable to get a nursery and the fields remain fallow, we will be asking the farmers to go in for oilseed crops like toria or urad.”

Conservative estimates show that paddy on 2.59 lakh hectares has been affected by the floods.

The maximum damage has been in Kaithal (88,000 hectares), followed by Kurukshetra (68,000 hectares), Karnal (57,000 hectares) and Ambala (45,600 hectares).

Fodder on 26,600 hectares has been damaged. Vegetables sown on 19,500 hecatres have been damaged too.

Sirsa, July 12
The Army has been called to assist the civil authorities in Sirsa where two breaches have occurred on the Ghaggar at Farwai and Nejadela.

Villagers have started evacuating these villages. The situation is said to be grim. The authorities have declared over 15 villages along the Ghaggar as ‘critical’.

These are Nejadela Kalan, Nejadela Khurd, Farwai Khurd, Burj Karamgarh, Panihari, Mattar, Lehangewala, Kirarkot, Budabhana, Mallewala, Saharani, Musahibwala, Jhopra, Ranga and Nagoki.

Farwai village, situated at a distance of 7 km from Sirsa on Barnala Road, faces the biggest threat. Floodwaters was seen gushing at the outskirts of the village this morning. A 6-ft-wide bundh was the only barrier saving the villagers from the the deluge.

The situation in Nejadela was alarming too. Villagers of Nejadela and Farwai clashed this morning over the bundh location. A cop was injured when he tried to intervene.

Musahibwala, Panihari and Burj Karamgarh are surrounded by floodwaters. The Sirsa-Barnala Road has been closed to traffic. The villagers have set up a temporary bundh on the road near Musahibwala.

“Over 20 per cent of villagers have already left their homes and shifted with relatives in nearby villages,” said Inder Singh, a former sarpanch of Nejadela. Sources said that the discharge in the Ghaggar at Sardulgarh in Punjab, upstream of Sirsa, was recorded at an alarming 30,000 cusecs today.

The work on strengthening embankments in Farwai has been held up since yesterday with the villagers refusing to have soil lifted from their fields, despite the DC’s assurance that they would be compensated for the same.

Fatehabad, July 12
More areas came under floods in Fatehabad today as men of 33 Armoured Division from Hisar failed to plug the two breaches in the Rangoi Nullah because of the strong water current.

The discharge of floodwaters from the spillways on the Ghaggar near Khanauri remained unabated, making the flood situation even more grim. Over 55 villages in the district have been marooned. The floodwaters are fast approaching the boundaries of Fatehabad town now.

“All efforts to plug the two breaches on the Rangoi Nullah have been in vain because of the strong water current and heavy discharge in the channel,” said Col Russell D’ Souza.

He said his men were now trying to contain the breach with wooden logs and sand bags.

The 50-ft wide breach may take another two days to be plugged, maintain official sources. Supply of material to the jawans is proving a difficult task amid the strong water flow. Meanwhile, the flow of water in the Rangoi Nullah has come down to 9,900 cusecs from 12,000 cusecs yesterday and in the Joiya stream to 5,500 cusecs against 7,000 cusecs yesterday.

The discharge of water at the spillway over the Ghaggar near Khanari, responsible for inundation of agriculture land running into several kilometres, has also decreased from 20,000 cusecs yesterday to 12,000 cusecs today. The discharge at Chandpura and Khanauri was recorded at 21,000 cusecs and 14,000 cusecs respectively today.

However, the decline in the discharge has failed to provide relief to the farmers with the floodwaters running at a fast speed, inundating more villages in the process. More rainfall in the region today has made the situation worse. Villagers in the low-lying areas of Kudni, Puranmajra, Himmatpura, Nadel, Talwara, Talwari, Jakhal village and Sadhanwas have begun shifting to safer places.

Chandigarh, July 12
Accusing Punjab of carrying out a sustained campaign blaming Haryana for the floods in its state, Irrigation Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav has sought the Centre's intervention in the matter, staunchly defending the construction of the Hansi-Butana link canal. Addressing a press conference here today, he said he would direct his officers to resolve the matter with their counterparts in Punjab.

“If they continue to be indifferent to our concerns, we would be happy to let the Centre step in and resolve all such issues between us. I recently met Union Minister for Water Resources Pawan Bansal and apprised him of the situation,” he said.

Yadav said he had also written to his counterpart in Punjab to help the people of the state in this hour of adversity. Objecting to Punjab Chief Secretary SC Agarwal’s letter to his Haryana counterpart Urvashi Gulati, stating that the Hansi-Butana canal was “illegal and built against the natural flow of water.” “The Supreme Court did not stay the canal's construction on Punjab's plea. Even the Central Water Commission allowed its construction," he said. He said Punjab should stop blaming Haryana and instead the two should start joint patrolling of "troubled spots" along the SYL canal to avoid repeat of the floods.

He also said that Punjab was responsible to some extent for the floods, because the state had not created the required under-passage for floodwaters at Khanauri.

"The under-passage is only for 49,500 cusecs whereas it should have been over 1 lakh cusecs," he said, adding that Haryana had created several siphons in the canal. Yadav said Punjab had failed to plug its breaches despite assurances.

Sonepat, July 12
Even as Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Sirsa and Fathehabad are reeling under the fury of floods, Sonepat has so far remained almost dry.

The average rainfall in the district during July so far has been a mere 58 mm. The situation has had the farmers worried who had been waiting for a rain bounty to start planting paddy. Expressing concern over the situation, state vice- president of the All-India Kisan Sabha Shradha Nand Solanki demanded that the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and the irrigation department should ensure sufficient availability of electricity and canal water for the agriculture sector to enable farmers to complete paddy plantation. — OC

Chandigarh, July 12
Haryana’s former Director-General of Police SPS Rathore today suggested Aradhana’s claims of being Ruchika’s “close friend” were bogus. Aradhana’s family was rather using Ruchika “for their own interests”.

“Ruchika is a convenient tool to build up a cases against Rathore,” his wife-cum-counsel Abha Rathore asserted in the open court, as the former top cop’s appeal against conviction and 18-month sentence awarded in Ruchika molestation case came up for hearing before Justice Jitendra Chauhan today.

The hearing saw Abha make attempts to convince the court that Aradhana and Ruchika were never the best of friends, in an apparent attempt to show that the case was pursued by Aradhana’s family as her father Anand Parkash had his own axe to grind and had used her to settle scores.

Aradhana, according to the prosecution, is an eyewitness to the incident and the entire case largely hinges on her testimony. Her family is said to have pursued the case because of Aradhana’s friendship with Ruchika.

Attacking the prosecution theory, Abha said the intensity of their friendship and closeness level could easily be gauged from the fact that Aradhana was not even aware that Ruchika’s pet name was Ruby - as disclosed by victim’s father SC Girhotra in his statement.

Referring to Aradhana’s statements, Abha said she had never visited Ruchika’s house, otherwise she would have heard someone sometime take the name Ruby. Moreover, Aradhana in her statement said Ruchika’s brother Ashu Girhotra never played tennis, but could remember the names of some other players. On the other hand, her own father stated that Ashu was playing tennis at the same centre.

Carrying forward the argument, Abha said Aradhana’s own statement was that she was not aware of SC Girhotra’s second marriage or about Ruchika having a stepmother, though this logically speaking should have been the first topic of conversation. Girhotra, in his statement, had asserted that he had tied the knot with Veena in 1991 and was living with her till June 1995. The molestation had taken place in 1990 and Ruchika had ended her life three years later.

Claiming discrepancies, she said Aradhana had asserted that her mother Madhu Parkash and Ruchika had gone together for the inquiry being carried out by top cop RR Singh. However, Girhotra had stated that Ruchika had accompanied him.

Yamunanagar, July 12
In yet another setback to the Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL), environmentalist Medha Patkar wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to withdraw the award of gold shield medal given to Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram Thermal Power Station (600 MW), Yamunanagar, for early commission of the thermal plant.

She alleged that the award was given to the thermal plant by the Union Power Ministry despite the fact that the CAG in its audit report had indicted the HPGCL for delaying the commissioning of the thermal plant that led to losses.

Patkar said the Union Power Ministry had awarded the gold shield to Yamunanagar thermal plant for early commissioning on January 29 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The award was not justified and therefore should be withdrawn as even the HPGCL had imposed a penalty of Rs 204.46 crore on the contractor company for delaying the commissioning of the two units of the thermal plant, she added.

Earlier, the issue was also highlighted by the All-India Power Engineers Federation, which also demanded withdrawal of award.

Patkar has sent a copy of the letter to the members of the All-India Power Engineers Federation and its chairman Paramjit Singh. A copy of the letter is available with The Tribune.

Citing reasons for the withdrawal of award, Patkar said the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) had passed adverse comments in its order of May 18, 2009, regarding delayed commissioning of the thermal plant.

Besides, the CAG in its audit report had indicted the HPGCL for delayed the commissioning.

She said now information received under the RTI Act revealed that the HPGCL had imposed a penalty of Rs 204.46 crore on Reliance (EPC Contractor for Yamunanagar thermal plant) for delayed commissioning of the two units.

As per the information gathered through the RTI Act from the HPGCL, it also came to light that till March 2010 the thermal plant was not taken over by the HGPCL from the contractor company.

However, the gold shield award was awarded to the plant for early commissioning, she added.

Patkar is supported by six other organisations, including Institute for Democracy and Sustainability, Delhi, United Forum for RTI and NAPM, Hyderabad, and Vimalbhai Matu Jan Sangthan, Delhi.

Karnal, July 12
Lt Col Ranjeet Singh Mann, who was awarded Shaurya Chakra in 2002 for killing Lashkar-e-Toiba militants in direct combat in Jamba, was cremated with full state honours here today.

Mann (42), who was posted at Ganganagar, had sustained two bullet injuries in stomach and thighs during the encounter. He developed an infection due to the bullet injury in the stomach and was admitted to the Army hospital, Delhi, two weeks ago. He succumbed to his injuries on July 10 and was cremated at Model Town cremation ground here today.

Keeping the family tradition, he joined the Indian Army and was commissioned as an officer on June 8, 1991, and inducted into 7 Maratha Light Infantry. He volunteered for Special Forces (2 para) and during his duty with para Commandos in anti-terrorist operations on April 18, 2001, he killed Lashkar- e-Toiba militants.

For his act of bravery, he was awarded Shaurya Chakra by the then president, APJ Abdul Kalam, on October 29, 2002.

Born on February 5, 1968, to Major Ranbir Singh Mann and Rashmi, Ranjeet is survived by his wife Sandhya and son Shaurya.

Faridabad, July 12
A seven-year-old boy, Inderjeet, died after he fell in an open “lamp hole” near his house in Sector 55 here last night.

MP Gupta and Ganga Ram, SDO and Junior Engineer of HUDA, respectively, have been placed under suspension in this connection. According to the Administrator, HUDA, Faridabad, D Suresh, the two employees have been placed under suspension by the Chief Administrator, HUDA, Haryana, on the basis of a report sent by his office. He alleged that it was a case of negligence on the part of the two employees.

DC Praveen Kumar said a criminal case had also been registered against the two employees. The deceased was the only son of the family.

The boy, along with his mother Sudha Singh, was on the way to a vegetable market in Sector 55 late last evening when the mishap took place. The mother was apparantely talking on her mobile and lost track of the child. The child fell into an open “lamp hole” on the road. By the time she could take action the child had plunged into the sewer.

The HUDA Administrator said a “lamp hole” is got dug by a house owner to connect the sewer connection of his house with the main sewer line. The district administration has provided a compensation of Rs 2 lakh from the District Red Cross Fund. Besides, HUDA employees contributed Rs 2 lakh as relief to the family.

Gurgaon, July 12
The local administrative, municipal and the police authorities, who were starkly indifferent to the grave inconvenience faced by the local residents and commuters due to the waterlogged service lane near Hero Honda Chowk here, suddenly swung into action in the past few days.

As a result of their collective and concerted efforts, the stagnant water, which had been inconveniencing people for a long time, has been drained out from the area, at least for the time being.

The sudden activism of the authorities “concerned” was no less than a miracle for the locals. How the high officials, who were completely indifferent and unresponsive to the people’s plight, became so sincere and efficient was indeed a matter of surprise.

Inquiries made by The Tribune revealed that some senior government functionaries, including a minister, were caught in a massive jam due to traffic congestion near Hero Honda Chowk.

The minister reportedly called up the top state authorities and expressed his resentment over the situation. The state authorities, in turn, gave a severe dressing down to the local officials concerned.

Following this, local Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Khullar, HUDA administrator Nitin Yadav and Joint Police Commissioner Alok Mittal rushed to the site.

All these senior IAS and IPS officers were in their official Ambassador cars, which could not pass through the rainwater accumulated there.

The officers then took lift in a private vehicle to cross the waterlogged area to get the water drained out through pumps underway. The expressway concessionaire, DS Constructions, was also roped in to expedite the work.

The officers again went to the site on the next day to ensure that the work of draining out of water was going on properly.

From Hero Honda Chowk, the team went to the Patoudi road. They found a deep pit filled with water, due to which the traffic had been blocked. The senior officers ordered their subordinates to drain out water from it and get it filled.

The team also found that the Patoudi road was slightly cut on the left side due to pressure of accumulated rainwater. The team members directed the technical officials concerned to install pipes for draining out water.

A cemented box drain is being constructed by HUDA at a cost of about Rs 15 crore to drain out stormwater.

All in all, the inconvenience faced by the minister and his subsequent reprimand proved to be a blessing in disguise for the local residents and commuters.

Jhajjar, July 12
Residents of Chhuchhakwas village today blocked vehicular traffic on the main road for over five hours in protest against the failure of the police to arrest the accused in a gangrape case.

The protesters sought the intervention of V Kamaraja, IGP, Rohtak Range, in the case.

Jhajjar SDM HC Bhatia and DSP Balwan Singh Rana reached the spot along with a police force and tried to pacify the protesters to lift the blockade, but they remained adamant. The villagers lifted the blockade after over five hours following an assurance by Jhajjar SSP Sourabh Singh that the accused would be arrested soon.

A woman running a beauty parlour was allegedly abducted and raped by two co-villagers in a moving car at Chhuchhakwas village on June 14.