Sirsa, August 2
The 8,500 metric tonnes of wheat lying in 1,70,000 bags in the storehouse of the Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC) now under floodwaters in Bani village, will be sorted into seven categories.

The corporation authorities today maintained that based on this categorisation, the wheat could be used for various purposes and the entire wheat stock valued at approximating Rs 11 crore would not be lost.

“We are waiting for the waters to recede further so that trucks can approach the storehouse.The process of shifting of the stock will begin after that,” said Krishan Kumar, corporation MD.

He said in the meantime, the authorities had started removal of water through pumps. Fans were being used to dry the grains and fumigation of godowns undertaken for preserving the wheat.

“We have shifted 5,000 tonnes of wheat from a nearby storehouse to Rania to create space for shifting the dampened wheat there,” he said. The shifting would take 20 to 25 days after the approach road to the storehouse became motorable.

“Depending on the percentage of sound grains in a particular lot, wheat will be classified as sound, feed-one, feed-two, feed-three, industrial, manure and dumping categories,” informed AK Bhatnagar, manager, Storage, HSWC, Panchkula.

Up to 2 per cent damaged wheat is the permissible limit for the ‘sound’ category wheat totally fit for human consumption and for merchandise, he added.

The lot with 85 to 90 per cent sound grains is categorised as feed-one and that with 70 to 85 per cent as feed-two. Both can be used as animal feed.

Category feed-three has to have 55 to 70 per cent sound grains and is used for poultry, the one with 30 to 55 per cent sound grains called industrial category is used for making starch, that with 10 to 30 per cent sound grain is the manure category and that with less than 10 per cent sound grains is the ‘dumping’ category.

Dried mature grains of natural size, colour and lustre and containing less than 12 to 13 per cent moisture are considered as sound grains, he explained.

Sirsa, August 2
Irked at the merciless thrashing of a vendor by the police, villagers attacked a police post at Kulan village in this district last evening. Such was the fury of the mob that the in charge at the police post had to run for safety.

The villagers, including women, later sat on dharna outside the post till senior officers reached there and made the policeman apologise for his act.

The police had yesterday raided certain places to check gambling and rounded up five gamblers. Puran Singh, a vendor, out of sheer curiosity, went towards the police post to see what was happening.

Prem Kumar, in charge of the police post, beat him up with a stick, dragging him inside the police post situated on the main crossing of Kulan village.

The police action incensed the villagers and shopkeepers in the vicinity, who raised slogans and against the police and freed the victim.

In the meantime, some women members of the family of the victim reached there with sticks and barged into the post, forcing the cop to flee. Additional police force from Tohana and brought the situationunder sat on dharna outside the police station with the victim and his wailing children.

The villagers demanded an apology from Prem Kumar and that the police should bear the expenditure of victim’s medical treatment.

They blocked the crossing halting traffic towards Bhuna, Ratia, Tohana and Jakhal. Prem Kumar could not be contacted for comment.However, the Superintendent of Police, JS Lamba, said there had been some misunderstanding, which had since been removed.

He maintained that Puran Singh was trying to ‘interfere’ in police functioning. He said the matter had been resolved.

Chandigarh, August 2
Is the state government liable to pay compensation in case of fatal accidents involving “peter rehras” and “marutas” — the Punjab and Haryana High Court will adjudicate the vital question of law with the assistance of Punjab, Haryana and the Union of India.

The development is significant as “marutas” and “peter rehras” cannot be registered under the Motor Vehicles Act. Even the traffic rules do not allow their plying, yet they continue to roll on. As the vehicles are not registered, compensation in case of accidents continues to be a sticking point.

The issue cropped up in an accident case filed against Charanjeet Kaur in the High Court by Haryana through Additional Advocate-General Sushma Chopra. The matter was brought under the High Court scanner after a Deputy Commissioner and another functionary were made parties by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal in the case of a 35-year-old’s death in an accident involving a “peter rehra”.

Taking up the matter, Justice Alok Singh observed: “A very interesting issue is involved in the present case as to whether the state can be fastened with the liability to pay compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act for the fatal accidents caused by “peter rehras” or “marutas”, which cannot be registered under the Motor Vehicles Act? The Advocate-General Punjab, the Advocate-General Haryana, and the Assistant Solicitor-General of India are requested to assist the court in the matter.”

The case will now come up for hearing on August 19.

“Peter rehras” are homemade vehicles. These are assembled using a diesel engine, mostly meant for pumping water. Not designed for high performance, these are preferred because of sheer economy. These can easily carry up to 25 persons along with their luggage. These “rehras” not technically recognised as vehicles. These are commonly used in areas where there are no proper bus and train routes. The name has originated from “Petter”, a brand of small diesel engines imported to India in early 60s.

The state government has launched several drives to impound these vehicles so far, but these operation have largely remained consigned to files, as even the traffic cops prefer to bid goodbye to the rules by taking lift.

Chandigarh, August 2
Haryana has urged the Central Government to speed up the process for arranging for additional allocation of 50,000 tonnes of urea from IFFCO and 40,000 tonnes of DAP from Indian Potash Limited .

The request was made by its Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati to the Secretary, Fertiliser, S. Krishnan at a meeting here today.

It may be recalled that the Central Government had agreed for the additional allocation during video-conferencing .Krishnan directed ndian Potash Limited to explore the possibility of setting up a soil testing centre in Haryana.

He also suggested that farmers should be encouraged to use more SSP and other NPK combination in the long term interest of soil health.

Chandigarh, August 2
The opening of general transfers in the past fortnight seems to have opened a Pandora’s box for the School Education Department if the number of “unhappy” teachers seeking new postings is any indication.

Though the number of applications received at different levels of the hierarchy is yet to be assessed, the department has pegged these at 10,000 plus. The receipt of applications was officially closed on July 31, though a “few left out cases” are still being accepted and added to the bundles of applications awaiting to be opened and sifted.

Till a couple of days, the picture outside the offices of district education officers, the directorate and at the office and residence of Haryana’s Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal, was the same - anxious applicants waiting their turn to personally hand over their “request” to those in power.

Recommendations by the hundreds came from MLAs and ministers who liberally stamped these and forwarded the same for perusal.

The government, relaxing its transfer policy, had specified that applications of teachers who had completed three years of stay in a particular school, or were seeking posting against a vacancy or had decided on mutual transfer would be considered. Sources maintain that while the working of the School Education Department has been in a mess and the latter is struggling to set its house in order, this displacement and adjustment mid-session could further adversely affect teaching in government schools.

On the condition of anonymity, a few principals said such “concessions and relaxations” were not welcome during the academic session because studies had come to a virtual standstill with teachers playing truant. “Everybody seeking a transfer dropped teaching and ran pillar to post approaching politicians and influential persons whose word, they thought, will carry weight. Only we know how we have managed our schools in the past fortnight. The government should, once and for all, decide nobody seeking mid-session transfers will be obliged at any cost,” a principal in a senior secondary school in Yamunanagar said.

However, Minister Geeta Bhukkal is optimistic and says this could instead streamline teacher availability in schools being run “single-handedly”. “We intend to follow the transfer policy to the letter and initially fill vacancies in schools which have only one teacher.,” she said. Further, the department intends finalising its transfer list in a single go and putting this list on the department’s website instead of entertaining requests for information. The process will be completed within this week.

Sirsa, August 2
A woman gave cops the jitters in the office of the Superintendent of Police here today when she declared that she was committing suicide against the indifferent attitude of the police on her complaints against her husband.

SP Satinder Kumar Gupta, however, assured her that her allegations would be inquired into and action taken against the guilty. The woman, Poonam, a resident of the local Friends Colony, had announced on Saturday that she would commit suicide in the SP office as the local police was allegedly not acting on her complaint.

The woman got married three years ago and alleged that her husband used to harass her for dowry, before he finally threw her out of his house six months after their marriage.

She alleged that now her husband wanted their two-and-a-half-year-old son and had been threatening to kidnap him.

She alleged that the police had failed to act against him despite complaints.The woman reached the SP office with some other women of her area to “execute” her announcement on suicide.

Rohtak, August 2
In yet another case of a couple marrying against the wishes of their parents, the police today arrested the brother and brother-in-law of the girl for allegedly threatening them. The girl had married a boy hailing from Dobh village in the district and yesterday sought police protection, apprehending a threat from her family.

The family of the boy, Naveen, has now reportedly accepted the marriage, but the girl’s kin allegedly threatened the couple after they got married in a temple in Kalanaur village on Thursday.

Naveen and Mukesh, hailing from Dadri town in Bhiwani district, eloped and later got married without the permission of their families.

The couple, however, decided to seek police cover and submitted an application in this regard, said the SHO of the Sadar police station here.

Mukesh's family got enraged and her brother and brother-in-law allegedly threatened the couple with dire consequences. The couple yesterday reported the matter to the Rohtak police which offered them police cover and registered a case. It also arrested Mukesh’s brother Satish and brother-in-law Suresh. Sirsa, August 2. Meanwhile, the Sirsa police today claimed to have rescued a 12-year-old girl and arrested four of her relatives who were allegedly trying to sell her for Rs 50,000. The police arrested Surjit Singh and Hira Singh, her uncles, and Pooja and Manju, relatives of the girl.

Yamunanagar, August 2
The district is in the grip of malaria with at least six cases being reported from different villages every day. A total of 371 cases of malaria were reported in the district last month.

The situation has aggravated in Bilaspur, Chhachhrauli and Jagadhri subdivisions due to the recent floods.

Sources said 1,363 malaria cases had been reported from the district this year so far while last year 3,292 cases of malaria had come to light in the district.

Stagnant water due to the recent floods has provided “ideal conditions” for mosquitoes to breed in around 100 villages in the three subdivisions. Cases of malaria are on the rise from flood-affected villages in Chhachhrauli subdivision. Residents of Jedhari, Urjeni and Baloli villages have been complaining of typhoid fever. Dr Vijay Atreja, Deputy Civil Surgeon, who is also the in charge of the malaria programme in the district, said: “We have covered 24 of the 43 villages which are prone to mosquito breeding. We are fogging the affected villages to prevent mosquito breeding. The state government has sanctioned Rs 7.5 lakh to tackle malaria cases and provide medicines to the afected villagers. We are expecting to get the amount by tomorrow,” he added.

Faridabad, August 2
A three-member Jail Reforms Committee, headed by former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Jai Singh Shakhon, today inspected the district jail at Neemka village, 6 km from here.

The committee, having a former ADGP, Haryana, VK Kapoor, and a retired IAS officer of the state, RR Banswal, as its other two members, was constituted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to study and make recommendations for the improvement of the facilities provided to jail inmates in the state.

The committee for jail reforms in Haryana was simultaneously constituted with a separate committee for Punjab by the HC.

Kapoor said, the committee constituted for Haryana had already visited majority of the district jails in the state. He said the committee was sensitive about human rights of inmates and necessary directions had been issued to the quarters concerned on the matter. In response to a question, he said jammers would soon be installed in the district jails to prevent possible use of mobile phones by inmates.

Justice Shakhon stressed that inmates in jails should be seen from the human angle. He repeated the age-old dictum: “Hate the crime and not the criminal.”He added that efforts should be made to orient the jail inmates through various vocational trainings and programmes to enable them to join the mainstream after they complete their terms.

Anil Rao, Joint Commissioner of Police, Faridabad, who accompanied the committee members to the jail, said an inmate could keep Rs 1,000 to buy goods of basic needs.

The facilities provided in the jail include a 30-bedded hospital and well furnished library for inmates. The inmates are also roped into agriculture works and vegetable farming on about six acres on the jail premises, Rao added.

Hisar, August 2
VP Arora, Chief Engineer, Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Plant, Khedar, near here, today denied that engineers were under pressure to ignore lapses on the part of the EPC contractor building the plant.

Referring to a news item published in The Tribune today, he said RS Dahiya, president of the Haryana Power Engineers Association, was spreading canards without verifying the facts regarding execution of the RGTPP units.

He said the project was being executed as per the procedures laid down by the Ministry of Power and the Central Electricity Authority.

He said there was no pressure of any kind from the management on the engineers, who were working round the clock for the successful completion of the trial operations. Any lapses or shortcomings were being promptly attended to on priority by the EPC contractor.

Arora added that the 600 MW unit-1 of the RGTPP, which was the first unit in the country of this capacity, achieved 100 per cent plant load factor on four days since July 24. Teething troubles were bound to be there and after successful test run it would start producing power on commercial basis during August itself.

Jind, August 2
The Haryana Roadways, which is faced with shortage of buses on various routes, is offering concessions and packages to its commuters under various categories.

The department is now offering a monthly bus pass to girl students, 33 per cent less than the fare charged from their male counterparts.

Girl students can avail of this facility up to a distance of 60 km for a period of six months at one time. Class III and IV employees of the Haryana Police have already been given free travel facility against a monthly fee of Rs 80 which is deducted from their salary each month.

While elected representatives and former legislators have the privilege to travel free in all buses, the physically challenged and eldery women have also been given concessions.

Women aged above 60 will have to pay half of the fare on any route.

Free travel facility is being offered to cent per cent physically challenged, the speech and hearing impaired and the visually impaired. Accredited journalists have the free travel facility up to 400 km in a year, while candidates appearing in an interview for a government job also have the free travel facility.

The other categories which enjoy free or concessional travel include kin of martyrs who travel to collect their pension, women and children on the occasion of Rakhi each year, children suffering from thalassaemia, national awardees, Arjuna awardees, Olympians, outstanding state sportspersons and nambardars working in tehsil offices.

The shortage of buses has led to a spurt in the number of private transporters plying buses on various routes under political patronage.

“They have not only been overcharging, but are also seen as a cause of accidents, putting to risk the lives of thousands of passengers in the state,” claimed sources in the department.

“The depots in Jind and Rohtak have only 300 buses at present while the demand is for at least 1,500 buses,” claimed a member of the Haryana Roadways Workers Union here.