Fatehabad, July 22
The recent floods have done extensive damage to crops and property in Fatehabad district, inundating standing crops on 24297 hectares, according to official figures.

The paddy crop has been hit the most with crop sown on 20400 of the 75000 hectares having been deluged.

Besides, cotton on 2200 hectares out of the total 83200 hectares and fodder on 1697 hectares out of 10,000 hectares have also been damaged.

As many as 5678 tubewells have been damaged due to floods in Fatehabad. An area of 200 hectares under horticulture has also been damaged

“The loss due to damage to crops, pumps and subsidy on inputs comes out to be Rs 6671 lakh,” said Deputy Commissioner OP Sheoran.

Besides, the floods would put extra financial burden on the authorities for veterinary care, healthcare, repair of roads and bridges, dewatering operations and repair of electrical installations.

“A sum of Rs 528 lakhs will be needed for repair of damaged bandhs and breaches and also dewatering operations. A further sum of Rs 389 lakhs would be spent on repair of electric installations and replacement of transformers,” the DC said.

The district authorities would need Rs 70.52 lakh for repair of roads and bridges, Rs 700 on veterinary care and Rs 80 lakh on healthcare in the flood-hit areas.

Meanwhile, a new trend has been noticed in the recent floods in affected villages. Oldtimers maintain that earlier people used to make collective efforts to save the village “abadi” from getting flooded.

“However, such camaraderie is missing this time,” said a village elder, adding that people now seem to be more self-centered, preferring to save their own properties.

“I requested several farmers to contribute their tractors to erect bandhs outside the village, but they are busy constructing bandhs around their own properties,” said a village elder at Majra.

Kaithal, July 22
A team of Central government officials, headed by RP Nath, joint secretary, home; and comprising GK Choudhry, director, agriculture and cooperation department; RK Verma, director power board; and Dr Amarjit Kaur, senior regional director, Health and Family Welfare Department, recently visited flood-affected areas in the district.

Madhu Sudan Parshad, Haryana financial commissioner, power; SS Dhillon, commissioner and secretary, irrigation; Roshan Lal, financial commissioner, agriculture; Anil Kumar, commissioner, Ambala division; Amneet P Kumar, deputy commissioner; Hawa Singh, SDM, Kaithal; and Ashok Bansal, SDM, Guhla; accompanied the team which had come to asses the loss due to floods in Kaithal and Guhla subdivisions. The team members visited Dhand, Faral, Teek, Jadola, Jajanpur, Khanauda and other villages in Kaithal subdivision. Later, the team went around villages of Guhla.

Flood victims of Sollumajra narrated their problems before the team. The DC explained about the losses and told that crop in 1.09 lakh hectres suffered damage. Besides, 147 villages were affected directly or indirectly. The villagers demanded adequate compensation for losses suffered by them.

At some places, farmers explained that their standing paddy and other crops were completely destroyed and they had to replant paddy that had put extra financial burden on them. Besides, some fields are still under water and farmers will not be able to sow crop soon. They demanded Rs 30,000 per acre as compensation.

The team members assured flood victims that they would recommend reasonable compensation. The villagers demanded digging of a drain to save them from floods in future. Later, the team reached the Guhla area and visited the site at Kharal where Hansi-Butana canal had breached. 

In one of the areas, the team members did not come out of their vehicles and listened to the grievances of victims while sitting in. A few residents even stopped their cars forcibly, but still the team left without listening them.

The team members also went to Naggal, the worst affected area of Ambala. The team members met residents of Segta and Bishangarh villages situated along the GT road. Around 24 villages of this belt remained submerged and paddy crop over 5,000 acres was destroyed. The Central team could have assessed the problem in a better way had it taken a round of the villages.

Talking to mediapersons, Nath said it seemed that there was a heavy loss due to floods in the area. He said the team had all sympathy with the flood victims.

Panipat, July 22
With the feeling of loss still warm in their hearts and a hope that refuses to ebb even with numerous days passing by, parents of Tejas Gaba, who was kidnapped about 20 months ago, are still struggling to get their only son back.

Tejas, who was eight years old when he was kidnapped, was waiting for his school bus in the morning of December 12, 2008 at Paruthi Chowk. He was accompanied by his mother, Neena Gaba. When he wished to have a pack of chips and his mother went to fetch one, a person stepped down from a Honda Accord car parked nearby and grabbed him from his arm. As Neena reacted, the person took out a 9 mm revolver and fired a shot on the ground near her feet. Before the shocked mother could react, the person got into the car and sped away.

The police, despite making tall claims, is still far from making any breakthrough in the case even as the case was transferred to the Haryana crime branch. Seeing the incapability of the police, Tejas’s father Rajesh Gaba and mother Neena Gaba recently decided to announce a reward of Rs 15 lakh for anyone coming up with information that could help them find their son. The anticipation that people (if not police) might prove to be the guardian angel for their son, who recently turned nine (six months back) is something which the two continue to rely on.

Rajesh even floated a website (www.savetejas.com) so that anyone with some vital information about his son could contact them, even if secretively.

Speaking to The Tribune, Rajesh said grief of knowing that his son was alive and still not with them was far beyond the forbearance of a parent. “Had Tejas died, the family would have overcome the sorrow with time. But our son is alive and each day has been a living hell. Only someone going through the same pain can perceive what it means,” said an aggrieved father.

“Tejas was kidnapped for ransom and it became evident when we got a number of calls from the kidnappers, who even e-mailed us several letters that were not only intimidating but also nerve-racking for me and Neena,” he said. “But we never got an opportunity to speak to Tejas, which might have led us to giving in to the demands of the kidnappers”.

The ransom calls have stopped since long and there are no e-mails being received anymore. But the optimism to see their son is still alive and the efforts have not subsided.

Jind, July 22
The district has received funds to the tune of Rs 13.70 crore for the improvement and augmentation of the water supply in the district during the present financial period so far.

While an amount of Rs 714 crore has been spent, a total of 88 schemes are in progress at present.

Revealing this, a senior official of the district administration claimed that the amount allocated by the state government was meant to improve and augment the water supply system and network in the rural parts of the district as many villages in the district were still to get adequate supply of drinking water.

He said a majority of the villages had already been linked with the supply network and local boosting stations. The funds had either been spent or will be spent on the work of construction of new tubewells, water tanks, laying of pipelines and replacing the old machinery with new ones having higher capacity of boosting and supply system.

He said about 85 per cent works on the setting up of the boosting station at Echrakhurd village had been over while about 15 lakh have been spent on the tubewell at Anupgarh village in the district under the ongoing projects.

Yamunanagar, July 22
In yet another incident of leopard attack in a village situated near the Kalesar forest, a leopard killed a calf inside the cowshed of Gulam Ali in Ambwali village in Chhachhrauli subdivision, 25 km from here, on Friday. This was the second such incident within a week.

The incident has spread panic among villagers as leopards have been attacking villagers, cattle and dogs in the area for the past few months. A leopard had killed a goat in Chhachhrauli six days ago and a 65-year-old woman of Pammuwala village of Sadhaura subdivision three months ago.

According to the forest officials, there are 28 leopards in and nearby the areas of the Kalesar forest, which is spread across 11,570 acres.

The leopards stray into villages in search of food and are found roaming near villages even during the day. The villages situated in Chhachhrauli and Sadhaura subdivision near the forest areas are more prone to leopard attacks.

“There is a terror among villagers and they do not move out of their homes during night. The forest officials should make suitable arrangements to trap the leopards straying into the villages,” said Gulam Ali.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rajesh Gulia said according to the last survey there were 28 leopards in the Kalesar forest area. He said, “These leopards keep on moving from one place to another. We cannot barricade the forest areas as the leopards sometime face food shortage and stray into the nearby villages.”

Jhajjar, July 22
World’s number two player in ranking and India’s badminton queen Saina Nehwal, and veteran shuttler Prakash Padukone, father of Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, will join DLF Senior National Badminton Championship scheduled to be held from January 2 to January 10 next year at Rohtak to boost the morale of budding players besides giving away prizes to the winning players of the tournament.

Manoj Sharma, Jhajjar District Badminton Association’s secretary and media manager of the tournament, disclosed this while talking to mediapersons here recently. He said it would be the first time when a national championship was going to be held in Haryana.

“During the tournament, Saina will be awarded with cash prize of Rs 5 lakh by the Haryana Badminton Association (HBA) for completing her hat-trick by winning three world-level tournaments in a row,” said the secretary, adding that over 500 badminton players and coaches across the country would also participate in the event.

He said an important meeting of staring committee of the HBA was organised recently at the mini-secretariat in Rohtak wherein committee members deliberated over various aspects of the tournament in the presence of Rohtak district administrative officials.

Rohtak, July 22
Autorickshaws, which have been responsible for pollution and traffic jams on the city roads, have added to the agony of the local commuters by raising the fares. The minimum fare in the town will be Rs 7 instead of Rs 5 earlier.

While the district administration has failed to provide the public transport system making autorickshaws the only alternative left for commuting in the city, the autorickshaw union has announced to revise its fare.

Against a fare structure of Rs 5 as minimum and Rs 7 as maximum, auto operators have announced that it would be Rs 7 and Rs 10, respectively, from now onwards as the costs of operations had gone up.

The city has about 10,000 autorickshaws at present, of which a majority of them have not been following pollution check standards.

“The Transport Department here, which used to operate a local bus service about 10 years back, withdrew the service leaving the commuters in the lurch. Since then, this service has not been reintroduced despite the demand of such a facility and the fact that the population of the city had gone up sharply over the decade,” claims Pawan Bansal, a local resident.

“The city and its residents have been left at the mercy of such vehicles which are not only outdated, but also a source of major pollution. They hardly follow any traffic rules,” says Virender Phogat, a resident of Para Mohalla.

He claimed that operators had been getting old and outdated vehicles from Delhi and neighbouring states to operate here as one did not require any clearing certificate from any one to operate an autorickshaw.

The police carries out drive once in a year to check the papers and pollution certificates, but a majority of these go scot-free soon after paying bribe or the challan fee.

The operator union went on a strike a few months ago when the police took up such a drive, said an official who claimed that any drive against autorickshaws would not be a success till they had political support from the ruling party leaders who see these as their vote bank.

“The state government shall launch a local transport system run by the State Roadways to provide a respite from the problem which has gone multifarious due to the lack of vision on the part of the administration,” said a local lawyer Yoginder Dahiya.

Rohtak, July 22
Relief work in flood-hit areas in the state has been poor and much below expectations of those affected, alleged INLD leader and MLA from Dabwali Ajay Singh Chautala while speaking to mediapersons here yesterday.

Demanding immediate steps to provide relief to the people of the districts of Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Ambala and Kaithal, the junior Chautala said lakhs of people in these districts had been marooned in the flood waters. Their suffering had increased mainly due to the “gross failure of the government to ameliorate the problems faced by them”.

The people were dependent on NGOs or private initiative for their daily supplies. “The Chief Minister had been talking of surveys and girdawari (land) alone but had not been able to ensure the victims items of daily use. The victims lodged on rooftops or temporary shelters had been rendered helpless,” he claimed.

Describing it as a man-made calamity, he alleged there were floods in Sirsa and Fatehabad districts because the administration had not taken precautionary measures, despite the warning signals.

Claming there had been a huge shortage of machinery and funds, he said an official who sought such help was transferred out of Sirsa.

Among the main factors that had caused floods were the Dadupur-Nalvi canal, removal of earth from the embankments of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal and failure to plug breaches, besides absence of siphons under the Hansi-Butana link channel. 

Kaithal, July 22
Freedom fighter Prabha Singh (91), who had the opportunity to work with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, passed away in Kakeor Majra village, Kaithal, on July 15. He was cremated with state honours at his native village in the presence of a large number of friends, relatives and officials of the district administration.

Guhla SDM Ashok Bansal and DSP Tekan Raj Sharma paid floral tributes to the departed on the behalf of the district administration. A police party of the Haryana police reversed its arms as a mark of respect to the freedom fighter and later fired volley of shots in the air. His eldest son Shamsher Singh lit the pyre.

According to family sources, Prabha Singh was born in 1919 in Pakhrewani village of Gujranwala district, Pakistan, before partition.

However, after partition, his family migrated to Hoshiarpur and later in 1960 settled at Kaeormajra village in Siwan block. 
Motivated by Netaji’s speeches, he joined the Indian National Army.

He also participated in the war between Germany and England and remained a war prisoner for six months. After independence, he served in the paramilitary forces. He used to celebrate Netaji’s birth anniversary every year along with his colleagues with a great enthusiasm.

Manjeet Singh, his youngest son, said the family was proud of him, who never compromised with his principles. 

Rohtak, July 22
The state unit of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) has launched an email campaign in support of demands of Bhopal gas tragedy victims. The state unit proposes to send about 10 lakh emails to President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil during the campaign.

Speaking at a function here recently, Satbir Nagal, secretary of the Haryana Vigyan Manch, alleged that Union Carbide’s greed of super profits took the lives of about 20,000 Indians. The common people in Bhopal were still faced with serious problems because of that gas leakage.

Claiming that recent court judgement of June 7 had failed to provide the much-needed relief, he said it was the failure of the government which was responsible for providing help and care to the victims. It has also failed to ensure prompt and proper action against the culprits. The whole world had joined the demand for justice in this regard and the campaign of the DYFI was a step in this direction, he added. This would continue till the accused were booked, he said.

Charging the successive governments, politicians and bureaucrats of favoruing big corporate houses at the cost of the common man, Sandeep Singh of the DYFI claimed that the authorities had been insensitive towards the cause of poor workers and common man and the injustice to the victims of the gas tragedy had been a part of such attitude and policy. “The government has failed to take a lesson from the Bhopal tragedy which was evident from its willingness to pass the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill in haste,” he said.

This, if done, he said, would permit the government to fix the compensation amount to just Rs 500 crore in case of any accident at the nuclear plants. “The DYFI condemns the motive of this Bill and demands that the government desists from going forward with this Bill in the larger interests of the citizens,” he said. He announced that the DYFI would carry the email campaign down to the village level.

Faridabad, July 22
In view of the coming Commonwealth Games, the police authorities here facilitated a workshop for its force on effective communication and to fine-tune their behaviourial responses while policing.

The one-day workshop, organised recently at Manav Rachana International University, had communication as its theme. It was split into two parts, theory and practical. Dr Chabbi Bhargava Sharma, director, Faculty of Management Studies, and Col VK Gaur, director, Faculty of Applied Sciences of the University, conducted the workshop.

The thrust laid in the workshop was on psychological aspects, which should be taken into account by the personnel while dealing with the public. The participants were told to have flexible and open-ended approach of mind to understand the behaviour and gestures of guests, both foreigners and from various parts of the country, who would stay put here.

The constabulary was made to react and respond to various simulated situations during the workshop. The thrust was also on the thought aspect of an individual that forms the basis of feeling, attitude, behaviour, destiny, habit, personality and action of an individual. It was impressed upon the participants to improve their thoughts which would help them evolve not only as a good personality but would also keep them on the right course while taking decision during the time of policing and investigations.

Dr Chabbi said the personnel were well receptive to the workshop. According to them, a number of participants contacted them after the workshop and expressed satisfaction over the event.

PK Aggarwal, Police Commissioner, said such workshops and programmes would be a regular feature for the force. He said now the character and demand of policing had undergone a change. From rural and traditional policing, the demand was now on urban and modern policing.

With regard to the Commonwealth Games, he said Tuglakabad shooting range would be a centre of sports activities. “Although the shooting range is in Delhi on the Faridabad-Delhi border, a number of guests, both foreign and domestic, are expected to stay in Faridabad during the event. Hence, the exposure of the force to new ideas on behavioural aspects would stand them in good stead and help them to present themselves in a better way to the guests here.”

Also, the police in Faridadad has to be in top gear as the world’s focus would be on Delhi during the time of games. The Faridabad police, being on Delhi’s border, is readying itself to attend to any call of duty, he added.

Directed by: Priyadarshan
Akshay Kumar’s home production “Khatta Meetha” is directed by Priyadarshan who has given comedies like “Hera Pheri”, “Hungama”, “Bhool Bhulaiyaa”, “Phir Hera Pheri” and “De Dana Dan”.

Priyadarshan, who has launched Trisha Krishnan in 2003 in South films, again launches her in Bollywood with this film. Model-turned-actress, who was chosen for the Miss India Pageant in 2001, has already done more than 35 films in South. “Khatta Meetha” is touted as typical comedy with doses of action, romance and drama.

The film opens today at PVR MGF, PVR Ambience, PVR Sahara, SRS Omaxe, SRS Wedding, DTCC, DTMM, DT Star, Big Cinemas (Gurgaon), PVR Crown Plaza, SRS Sector 12, SRS Pristine, SRS INOX (Faridabad), Fun, Nigar, Minerva (Ambala), Fun, Cinemax (Panipat), Harsha, Movie Time (Karnal), Glitz-Kurukshetra, Sheila-Rohtak, OHM-Sirsa, Everest-Rewari, Fun, Sun City (Hisar), Suraj-Panchkula. — Dharam Pal