Sirsa, July 22
In less than three days of the plugging of breaches on the Ghaggar near their village, farmers in Firozabad are back to work.

After their standing crops were completely ruined in the floods, the gritty farmers have risen like a phoenix from the ashes and were again seen transplanting paddy in their fields today.

Firozabad witnessed three breaches on the river bank and was among the worst-affected villages.

The farmers are bringing saplings from nearby Punjab villages.

“Earlier, I planted paddy on five acres. But floods spared nothing. Now, I have planted the 1121 variety of basmati on two acres so far and plan to do so in the rest of my fields too,” said Raj Kumar, a farmer.

He said he had spent over Rs 5,000 per acre on the transplantation of paddy earlier, and now again he had been forced to shell out about Rs 4,000 per acre more.

“We have no other alternative. After all, our livelihood comes from these fields,” he added. Manoj, another farmer, said residents from nearby Nakora and Nagrana villages had also gone to Punjab to purchase saplings for plantation. Jagdip Brar, Deputy Director, Agriculture, said those who wanted to grow late varieties of paddy would have to prepare nurseries within two days.

The transplantation of such varieties could be done by the first week of August.

He suggested that the farmers could opt for the RS 10, CSR 30, 1121, P19 and PB 1 varieties at this time.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner CG Rajini Kaanthan said the government had offered subsidy on the purchase of seeds for the flood-hit areas.

He said the agriculture authorities had been directed to provide saplings to farmers, wherever these were available.

Jind, July 22
As many as 64 villages in the district have been identified as ‘sensitive’ and vulnerable to flash floods. While 111 pumphouses have been set up, as many as 17 boats have been requisitioned to meet any eventuality.

According to the district authorities, the cleaning of all 64 drains has been completed. Also, several boats, 28 life jackets, 58 rowing pads and three trailers have been requisitioned to shift the population in case of a threat. At least 47 persons have been trained for carrying out rescue work in flood-hit areas.

The tehsildar and the BDO have been made in charge of relief centres in case of floods.

The district has received 200 mm of rainfall in the past two weeks.

The recent downpour had left several low-lying areas in a pool of water.

Sirsa, July 22
A face-off between residents of villages located on either side of the national highway over the flow of floodwaters was averted on the intervention of the authorities at Moriwala village near here.

The waters from the Rangoi Kharif Channel (RCF), flowing above capacity, has flooded Moriwala village since yesterday.

Farmers from the other side of the road closed a siphon set up underneath the highway when the floodwaters started to reach their fields today. A strong police force has been deployed in the village to avert a clash.

Villagers held a protest and raised slogans against the authorities at Ding village where over a dozen houses have collapsed inder heavy rains.

Villagers alleged that the authorities were not doing enough to remove the water from residential areas, which were under 4ft to 8ft of water.

Farmers from other rain-hit villages like Rupana, Jandwala, Shakarmandori also alleged indifference by the authorities.

The district authorities today provided financial help to a flood-hit farmer for the marriage of his daughter. Balkar Singh from Nagrana has been putting up with his family in a school in nearby Balasar. His daughter, Baljit Kaur’s, marriage was scheduled for July 25.

The DC handed over the family cheques for Rs 25,000 and Rs 31,000 from the District Red Cross and the Indira Gandhi Vivah Shagun Yojna, respectively.

Villagers from Balasar also contributed Rs 50,000 for the marriage.

The marriage would be performed in the shelter camp set up in the village school.

The Deputy Commissioner said a girdawri for assessing the losses would begin soon. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 22
The Haryana Agriculture Department has launched a crop insurance scheme for bajra and cotton cultivated in all nine blocks of Hisar district.

All farmers cultivating these crops could avail of the benefits of this scheme. Even those farmers who had not availed themselves of any loan could voluntarily opt for the scheme.

The government provides 10 per cent rebate on premium to small and medium farmers for insuring their crops during this kharif season.

At the rate of Rs 3.50 per cent premium, the farmers would have to pay Rs 430 per hectare for insuring the bajra crop. Similarly, at the rate of Rs 5.90 per cent premium, the farmers would pay Rs 1,416 per hectare for the cotton crop.

For farmers who had not taken any loan, the last date of depositing the premium was July 31 and those who had taken a loan from a bank or other financial institutions, the last date was August 31, 2010.

Meanwhile, government has revised the admissibility condition and limit of advance for the purchase of car, motor cycle, scooter, moped and bicycle by its employees with immediate effect. Now any employee , irrespective of his pay scale or pay band, would be eligible to take advance for purchase of vehicle.

For purchase of car, the loan would be admissible to employees drawing a revised pay of Rs.18,000 and above in any pay band. The limit of advance would be 20 months’ pay, subject to a ceiling of Rs. 6.50 lakh or the actual price of the car, whichever is less.

For two-wheelers, employees drawing pay in any pay band would be eligible for this advance.

Karnal, July 22
Even as unscrupulous agents continue to indulge in human trafficking, luring young girls from poor families with the job bait, two such victims who lost contact with their homes have been traced with the help of an NGO, Pravasi Suraksha Vahini.

Over the years, trafficking of girls from the north-eastern states, Bihar, Jharkhand, Nepal, and Madhya Pradesh has been growing with the active involvement of some placement agencies, said Raj Singh Chauhan who heads the NGO.

He said despite complaints, the authorities do little to investigate the cases. Chauhan said two girls rescued in the past few days were brought from Assam and Madhya Pradesh on the pretext of employment.

A tribal girl, Lucky, hailing from Biapokheri village in Dharam district of Assam, was approached by an agent, identified by her as Lilly, and brought to Delhi. She was promised a job in a “kothi” on a monthly salary of Rs 2,500 but was taken to a “placement agency”.

Chauhan claimed he had talked to Lilly, who had admitted to being paid Rs 3000 for each of the girls thus procured.

Lucky, in a state of shock, was spotted by some women near Phoosgarh, and taken to MDD Bal Bhavan. Lucky, daughter of Kartik and Janav, who was working in a house in Sector 8 here for the past eights months, suddenly disappeared and her employer lodged a complaint with the police.

He said he had paid Rs 17,000 to a placement agency in Punjabi Bagh, Delhi, and was paying Rs 1,800 per month to Lucky.

But the family of the girl denied having received any money.

Chauhan said he contacted Assam government which assured him of appropriate action after enquiry. The other case pertained to Rekha who was sent to Nari Niketan on November 23, 2006, and later shifted to MDD Bal Bhavan. Hailing from Khawsa village in Ghagua district of MP, Rekha had disappeared from the village some years ago. After much effort, Chauhan was able to contact the police in her village.

He learnt that a “missing report” was filed in the Thandla police station after her disappearance.

Hisar, July 22
The police resorted to a lathi charge here today to disperse a mob of villagers seeking the arrest of those responsible for firing in the village on July 10.

Residents of Dhani Mohabbatpur village, led by their sarpanch, converged on the mini-secretariat to hand over a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner YS Khiyalia. They wanted the DC to come down to receive their memorandum. The DC sent messages to them to come to his office to hand over the memorandum. The protesters refused to do so. Instead, they went back to Fountain Chowk where they blocked traffic. They ignored police appeal to lift the blockade.

The police then resorted to a mild lathi charge to disperse them and clear the road crossing. On July 10, some miscreants had fired on a victory procession after the panchayat poll. Two women were hit by gunshots and many others were injured. The villagers alleged that though a case under Section 307 of the IPC had been registered, no arrests had been made so far.

Chandigarh, July 22
Divergent views were expressed at a seminar on “Urdu adab ka Romani Daur” (romanticism in Urdu poetry) organised jointly by the Haryana Urdu Akademy and Ghalib Institute, New Delhi, at Haryana Niwas conference hall here today.

Introducing the theme, akademy secretary KL Zakir observed that the contribution of poets like William Wordsworth, Browning, PB Shelley, John Keats and others had been hailed as the period of romanticism in the English literature.

Poets like Josh Malihabadi pioneered the trend of romanticism in Urdu poetry while poets Hazrat Mohani, Akahtar Sheerani, Allama Iqbal, Sahir Ludhianvi and others made a substantial contribution, he said. In his welcome address, Dr KK Khandelawal, IAS, gave an overview of the romanticism in Hindi and Urdu poetry. He also announced a substantial enhancement in the annual budget of all Haryana akademies, especially Rs 1.5 crore for the Haryana Urdu Akademy.

Acclaimed Urdu scholars presented a deep analytical view on the seminar theme. While Prof Shamim Hanfi read out the keynote address, Dr Siddiq Ur Rehman, Dr Ali Zaved, Dr Rajab Hyder, Dr Kahliq Anjum, Dr KL Zakir and others read out their papers. Geeta Bhukkal, Haryana Minister for Education and Health, who was the chief guest, defined her romanticism in style as she romances with the underprivileged children, poor in society and loves to extend a helping hand amidst lofty applause. Guest of honour Sharda Rathore, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, also expressed her love for Urdu while poet Shams Tabrezi conducted the seminar.

Chandigarh, July 22
Virender Singh Sehrawat, an HCS officer, posted as the SDM, Gohana, has denied the allegations levelled against him by Vishu Phogat, a Panipat resident.

Phogat met Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on June 17 alleging that Sehrawat attempted to rape her and molested her when she met him in connection with some domestic work.

Seeking a CBI probe into the incident, she alleged that instead of taking action against Sehrawat, the police had booked her for abetment to suicide in the case pertaining to Sehrawat’s wife. A news item in this regard was published in these columns on June 18. Sehrawat, through his counsel, claimed that Vishu met him in 2006 with a request to approach the management of a school for not terminating her services. On his refusal to do so, she started harassing him and his wife on the phone and had been filing false and frivolous complaints against him, alleged Sehrawat.

She had filed a “false complaint” in the Gannaur police station on September 9, 2008, alleging attempt to rape.

The matter was investigated by the police as well as the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Panipat, who found the allegations to be false and baseless, claimed Sehrawat, However, he had already lost his wife and two children due to “continuous harassment” on the part of Vishu, alleged Sehrawat.

He said a case in this regard was registered against Vishu by the Samalkha police and an anticipatory bail application filed by Vishu had been dismissed by a court in Panipat.

Moreover, the parents of Vishu had also requested the ADC, Panipat, not to take any action on the complaint filed by Vishu against him stating that the allegations levelled by Vishu had no basis, he added.