Karnal, August 16
Waterlogging had become a curse for Ramesh, a farmer from Puthi village, who was able to reap only one crop in a year as the water table was just 3m. Thanks to the bio-drainage technique developed by the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, proved boon for him. Today, he is making good money from eucalyptus plantations, which were primarily aimed at lowering the water table.

Eucalyptus tereticornis (e-tereticornis), known for luxurious water consumption under excess soil moisture conditions was used for bio-drainage, raised by him on suggestions of CSSRI scientists brought down the water table to 15m and he made sufficient earnings from the wood extracted from parallel strip plantations.

Ramesh’s was not the only case and most of the farmers in Puthi and Bass villages faced the same problem. But today, there was a sea change and potential waterlogged areas were blooming with fast growing cloned eucalyptus plantations turning the wetland deserts to greenery.

The bio-drainage system consists of fast-growing tree species, which absorbs water from the capillary fringe located above the groundwater table and translocates it to different parts of plants and finally more than 98 per cent of the absorbed water is transpired into the atmosphere mainly through the stomata.

The studies conducted by the CSSRI at Puthi and Baas villages of Hisar district revealed that the groundwater table underneath plantation strips was lower than the adjacent field. During April 2005, when trees were two years and three months old, the average drawdown under plantation was 18 cm, but it improved to 85 cm during the period April 2005 to April 2008 due to plantations and the spatial extent of lowering of groundwater table in the adjacent fields was beyond a distance of 66m from the edge of outer strips.

Eucalyptus tereticornis plantations acted as bio-pumps and parallel strip plantations of this species resulted in uniform drawdown of shallow groundwater table.

Farmers harvested a total wood biomass volume 47 m3/ha in form of timber (suitable for poles/ballies and pulpwood) from five year and four months old trees having an average girth of 56 cm and height of 18m, total volume 47 m3/ha.

Further, the mean annual increment of wood produce was 8.7m3/ha/year and the total aboveground biomass of timber, fuel wood, twigs and leaves was 39t/ha, while the belowground biomass of extractable roots was 15t/ha.

Benefit cost ratio at the discount rate of 12 per cent of the first rotation of strip plantations was 3:1 against the 1.3:1 of agricultural crops in Haryana and it would be manifold for the next 3 to 4 rotations due to the negligible cost of maintenance of coppiced eucalyptus.

Dr JC Dagar, head of the Bio-drainage Division, said initially the farmers of Puthi village were not willing to plant trees, but after observing the growth and survival of parallel strip plantations of clonal e.tereticornis and expected higher financial returns, almost all farmers of the village as well as other villages were approaching the state Forest Department to develop similar plantations on their farmlands. As a result, about 4,000ha waterlogged areas on farmers’ fields had been brought under bio-drainage strip plantations during 2008-10 in Hisar and Jhajjar districts.

Fatehabad, August 16
Now that the special girdawari for damage to crops due to floods has been completed, the landowners can hope to get compensation soon. However, the landless farmers, who actually till the lands and grow crops on contract or share basis, often end up without any compensation, though they suffer financially equally, rather sometimes more than the owners.

The Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha yesterday submitted a memorandum to the government though the local DC demanding inclusion of the names of actual cultivators in the special girdawari to make them entitled for the compensation.

“The government agencies enter the names of cultivators in the special girdawari. However, in over 95 per cent of the cases, the names of owners, who get their fields ploughed from landless farmers on contract or share basis, are entered in the records as cultivators,” alleged Krishan Swaroop, president of the district unit of the Sabha. The Sabha also demanded that the government should give land in lieu of land, whenever it acquires it for the government purposes.

“The government will be acquiring land for nuclear thermal power plant and district jail and that will render several farmers landless. Instead of giving compensation in terms of money, the government should provide the farmers government land lying in several villages,” the memorandum said. The memorandum also demanded remunerative prices for crops, government purchase of all crops, subsidised loans to farmers and better power supply to tubewells. Krishan said the Sabha would hold a demonstration on August 25 in support of these demands.

Chandigarh, August 16
Rules for functioning of the Haryana State Disaster Management Authority and the District Disaster Management Authority were framed and approved by the state Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda recently.

Under these rules, a secretariat to the state authority under the administrative control of the state government, a state executive committee and its sub-committee as and when required, and district authorities, will be established.

The state disaster response fund and the state disaster mitigation fund along with other funds will also be established. The state authority will meet at least twice a year and the quorum of the authority will be of five members. In case a meeting is postponed due to lack of quorum, the subsequent meeting will not have any requirement of quorum.

The term of the nominated members of the state authority will be two years, unless removed by the state government before the completion of their term.

Any member of the authority could resign from the office of the state authority by giving a notice in writing to the chairperson of the state authority. The vacancy of members arisen due to resignation, disqualification, death or otherwise will be filled by fresh nomination. Official members of the state authority will be governed by the conditions of their official position and non-official members would be paid such allowance as decided by the state government from time to time.

There will be a secretariat to the state authority under the administrative control of the state government. It will be responsible for planning and promoting training and research in the area of disaster management, documentation and development of state-level information base relating to disaster management policies, prevention, mechanisms and mitigation measures. It will be responsible to assist the chairperson of the state executive committee in the performance of his functions.

The state executive committee can constitute a sub-committee when required with the prior approval of the state government. The term of nominated members of the district authority will be two year unless removed by state government before the term. The other rules for removal of the members, their resignation or re-filling the vacancy of members will remain same as state authority. The quorum of district authority will be of four members.

The account of the state authority will include all sums of money received and expended by the state authority, including the funds receive and accounted for in the state disaster response fund and state disaster mitigation fund. The state authority will prepare the annual report after the commencement of each financial year so in the annual expenditure and income statement which will include all money received and expenditure incurred and other subsidiary accounts.

The books of accounts will remain open for inspection or audit by the officers of the Central government or state government when considered necessary by them. 

Panipat, August 16
Home to around 3 lakh people, the city’s problem of mounting garbage continues to remain unsolved.

Uncollected garbage in the form of heaps can be seen in every nook and corner of the city. These heaps not only emit foul smell but also ruin the beauty of its surroundings. This is one of the main problems that had been besetting the city of weavers since long.

The city generates tonnes of garbage everyday. Even as the local civil authority presses into action all resources available to it for the removal of garbage from the city, but the ever-increasing pressure on civic amenities due to population growth makes their task altogether more difficult.

Residents of several local colonies have been living in miserable conditions due to garbage problem. Open dumping of garbage also leads to blockage of sewers. In certain colonies, sullage can be seen flowing in open areas.

The existence of dairies in the residential area of the city is also one of the main reasons behind the griminess. Though there was a plan to shift the dairies out of the city, due to certain reasons it failed to materialise.

The project to set up a Rs 22-crore garbage disposal plant too failed to take off as it got caught in red tapism. It was about four years back that the civic body had conceived the idea of setting up a garbage disposal plant so that it could get rid of solid waste being generated in the city.

The project could have proved a boon for the city, which is already under the grip of high pollution due to the presence of a large number of industries. There are hardly any localities in the city that do not have heaps of garbage. It has been a long pending demand of local residents who wanted the civic body to initiate effective measures to check the garbage problem.

Till date, the council has been using unscientific methods by dumping garbage in the low-lying areas of town, which posed a threat to the health of local residents.

Sonepat, August 16
In a letter written to Public Health Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, BJP MLA from Sonepat

Kavita Jain has stressed the need for setting up another sewerage treatment plant (STP) in the town to solve the growing problem of sewers in many areas of the town.

In the letter, she stated that there was only one sewerage treatment plant of 30 million litre daily (MLD) capacity near Rathdhana village at present.

She pointed out that the population of the town had increased manifold after 1995 but no more sewerage treatment facility had been provided to the town, thus overburdening the one in operation

However, if any problem occurs in the generator sets or disruption in power supply, sewage starts overflowing in the streets and roads or as a result of reverse pressure, sewage starts receding in houses

The MLA stated that the Municipal Council had recently regularised 63 new colonies in the town where the process for laying sewer pipelines was in full swing. "What will happen when the sewer lines of these colonies are connected with the main sewer lines? she asks.

The sewer lines laid in Kalupur and Bhagat Singh colonies had not yet been connected with the main sewer lines for want of proper sewerage treatment facilities, she stated, adding that there was no sewerage in HUDA's residential sector 23 either.

" Though the Public Health Department has planned to set up a sewerage treatment plant of 30 MLD capacity on Kakroi roadside, it will not be sufficient to meet the requirement," she explains, demanding another  treatment plant of at least 100 MLD capacity to meet the situation.

Sonepat, August 16
The state government has plans to open a polyclinic for every two districts in the state in order to boost animal husbandry and dairy development, which are priority areas for generating more self-employment opportunities and to supplement the income of people in the rural areas.

This was stated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while talking to mediapersons after inaugurating the state’s first polyclinic here on August 14.

Hooda said the budget provision for the Animal Husbandry Department had been increased three times. He added that the polyclinic at Sonepat would be upgraded as the regional centre of the proposed university.

He said the veterinary polyclinic project at Sonepat, set up at a cost of Rs 5 crore, would provide facilities, like complete haematological examination, blood protozoan parasite examination, urinalysis, milk examination, skin scrapping examination, culture tests, antibiotic tests and immunological tests of live stocks.

Later, addressing a meeting of faculty members and students of Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya at Khanpur Kalan on the 68th death anniversary of Bhagat Phool Singh and 96th birth anniversary of his daughter Subhashni Devi, Hooda said the gurukul education had played an important role in the state before the Independence also in spreading women education and eradicating social evils from society.

The Chief Minister said in the present era of globalisation, only those countries and states would progress, which would be leading over others in education.

He added, the state government had given top priority to the promotion of education and development of educational infrastructure in the state, adding that the state had been emerging as an educational hub in the country.

He lauded the achievements of the university and appreciated the initiative taken by the university for launching the Centre for Society-University Interface and Research.

Appreciating the role of Khanpur Kalan and Bhainswal Kalan villagers in setting up gurukuls by donating lands, Hooda announced a development grant of Rs 1 crore for each village.

Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal, who was present on the occasion, said in order to upgrade the standard of education, the state had introduced English language lab in all university and colleges of the state.

Jind, August 16
At least 19 new buses will be inducted in the local bus depot soon, which will be operational within the next two months. It will raise the figure of the total number of buses in the depot here to 176.

However, The Tribune had recently carried a report that commuters were left in a lurch after a large number of buses of the Haryana Roadways were diverted to Kurukshetra to ferry representatives of the Panchayati Raj bodies for an oath ceremony, which was held on July 25 last.

A large number of commuters had faced inconvenience after they could not find any bus for their destinations and had to either postpone their journey or to depend on private vehicles that overcharged them.

The report further revealed that about 76 buses had been deputed to carry the newly elected representatives to Kurukshetra. The rest of the buses had been ordered to ply on selected routes, mainly on the longer routes, while a large number of routes, including the smaller one, were ignored.

While nearly all depots in the state had a similar story, including Rohtak, which was the home district of the Chief Minister, the department concerned had initiated a move to acquire more buses for various depots in the state and Jind was one of them, said the department sources.

The newly acquired buses for the district would be reaching here from the bus body workshop from Gurgaon soon and would be plied on longer routes, replacing the older buses, which would be given shorter routes, said deputy commissioner Abhay Singh.

He said a new bus service would also be started between Jind and Jodhpur soon. Though the depot had already been providing services to various long routes, the condition of bus services on short and middle distance had deteriorated over the years due to the lack of buses and required infrastructure, said a Haryana Roadways Worker Union’s spokesperson. 

Kalka, August 16
Despite the fact that the Kalka-Shimla rail section has made a mark on the world heritage map, residential houses of various railway colonies, including the heritage kothies, are in bad shape, thanks to the negligent attitude of the Inspector of Works (IOW) Department.

Residents of these colonies, including T-13, T-15 and T-14 of the NG Railway Colony, say more than 75 per cent of the residential houses of the Narrow Gauge Railway Colony, Broad Gauge Railway Colony and railway colony adjacent to Kalka Railway branch school are in deplorable condition.

These houses have been facing the problem of roof leakage due to non-maintenance. Besides, windows and doors need immediate replacement. In many houses, old electric wiring system poses a threat to life. Residents have brought these problems to the notice of the IOW department many times, but to no avail.

They add that the old kothies (heritage residential buildings) that are considered as better accommodations near NG Diesel Shed, Railway Gurdwara, Railway Workshop, near old running room, which are more than 95 years old, are also in deplorable condition. They further allege that these residential houses, especially the single room quarters, have not even been whitewashed for the past couple of years.

Children parks in these colonies are in ruins and even lost their existence. The link roads of these railway colonies have not been recarpeted for more than five years and are in worst condition.

Chandigarh, August 16
The pilot project of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam to register electricity complaints through Self-Help Groups that is Sakshar Mahila Samoohs (SMSs) has evoked a good response.

The responsibility was assigned to the members of the SMSs to register complaints in 32 villages under the command area of the nigam. Two village-level complaint centres are functional at Vasudevpura and Raipur Rani in Panchkula district. Poonam, a representative of the SMS, registers complaints relating to power supply of Vasudevpura, Dhamala, Karanpur, Johluwal, Prempura, Shahpur, Nawanagar, Khol Mola, Khol Mola Fatehpur and Madhawala villages. Sushila, another representative of SMS, registers the complaints of the consumers of Raipur Rani town.

The complaints registered by the SMSs are being attended to promptly by the nigam staff. On an average, complaints were being attended in less than one hour. Normally, consumers were not able to reach the concerned complaint centres located at a distance from two to eight km in one hour and that too by spending money and time.

The members of the SMSs have been provided with a cellphone and stationery items. The nigam pays Rs 700 per month as honorarium to each member. Many of them have offered to take the responsibility of meter reading and bill distribution also in their area. The nigam has authorised the field officers to assign them the responsibility in view of their willingness and capability.

The SMSs registered 1,140 complaints in June and all of them were attended by the staff. At present, nine complaint centres in coordination with the SMSs in the rural area of Kurukshetra, four in Yamunanagar, three in Jhajjar and two each in Panchkula, Ambala, Kaithal, Karnal, Jind, Panipat, Sonepat and Rohtak districts are in operation.

The average time of attending complaint registered at Raipur Rani was 47 minutes and in Pinjore it was 43 minutes. These centres had registered 42 and 125 complaints regarding power supply, respectively.

A source said the minimum average time to attend the complaint in 20 minutes was noticed at Bhor Shadian (Kurukshetra) and the maximum average time of 2 hours and 7 minutes was noticed at Raogarh village (Kurukshetra).

The members of the SMSs had started the work as a challenge and were totally unaware of the system. After overcoming the problems at the initial stage, they are now enjoying the responsibility. The SMSs at Keorak in Kaithal district has also started electricity bills distribution in the village, he added.

Chandigarh, August 16
Haryana Power Minister Mahender Partap Singh, Minister of State for Revenue Shiv Charan Lal Sharma and Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Sharda Rathore have hailed the decision of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for sanctioning metro connectivity to Faridabad. On Monday, Hooda had approved the state government's share of Rs 1,588.60 crore for the Rs 2,533-cr Faridabad Metro project, thus paving the way for connecting this NCR city with Delhi Metro stations.

In a joint statement issued here yesterday, the ministers and the CPS from the Faridabad region said the decision was a landmark and historical which would prove to be a boon for the entire Faridabad region. The decision would not only provide an alternate traffic option to the people, but also boost the general economy and generate other economic activities in the area.

It will not only ease the traffic congestion of the city and roads connecting to Delhi, but would also enhance the status of the city, thus putting it in the select league of other Metro cities. Faridabad leaders said the Congress government had taken a number of important decisions to benefit all regions of the state, whereas the previous INLD and the BJP governments had halted the progress of Faridabad. But with the present government taking due care for the progress of all regions of the state, Faridabad is all set to become a leading city of the country, they added.

These three senior leaders said the face of Faridabad is all set to be lifted as more projects were coming up and a number of projects were in the pipeline for the development of the region. An Industrial Model Township (IMT) was being developed over an area of 1,800 acres in Faridabad. The work of Badarpur flyover on the National Highway-2 would be completed this year.

The highway from Faridabad to Agra was also being made six-lane; seven flyovers are being constructed between Badarpur border and Ballabhgarh, which indicates the commitment of the state Government for the people of the area, they added.

Rewari, August 16
The BSNL has brought out a new issue of the telephone directory of Rewari Telecom District, which comprises of six short distance charging areas (SDCAs) of Rewari, Jatusana, Kolsi, Bawal, Mahendergarh and Narnaul.

There are now 70 telephone exchanges in the district, which all are connected on optical fibre technology transmission mode.

Entries of about 60,000 landline telephone subscribers as well as WLL users have been listed in the directory. This new edition of the directory was released by senior general manager (SGM) TS Chauhan at a press conference here recently.

Stating that while broadband services had been made available at all telephone exchanges throughout the district, the SGM said as many as 180 towers had been installed to ensure hassle-free functioning of cellphone services in the district.

Chauhan said it was a matter of great satisfaction that the number of cellphone users of the BSNL had now touched 3.5-lakh mark in the district.

Further stating that while provision of 3G services had been made at Narnaul, Rewari, Mahendergarh and Dharuhera, he said 2G SIMs were now being supplied free of cost to subscribers during this fortnight of the Independence Day celebrations. The scheme would remain in vogue till August 31.

The SGM also said keeping in view the convenience of the subscribers of this Hindi-knowing region, a Hindi edition of this new directory would be brought out by October 2010.

Rohtak, August 16
The response of property dealers in the CM’s city here appears to be nil towards the move of the state government to register such agents with the authorities concerned with a view to safeguarding the interests of those buying or selling property. There was not a single application received so far with the district authorities despite the fact that the drive had been launched several months ago.

While there has been no official figure of persons dealing in the property work, there has been a mushroom growth of such agents in the city and the district over the past few years.

“It was the first time that the state government had announced to make it mandatory for property dealers and real estate agents to register their business with the district administration, but not a single agent has contacted us so far in the regard,” claimed the Deputy Commissioner when he was asked about the status of the registration process of real estate agents.

He said notices would be issued soon to all those who had been operating such kind of business and had shops and offices functioning in various parts. The report in the regard would be submitted to senior officials at Chandigarh and any action would follow as per the instructions received from them, he added.

According to the rules, non-registration of firms and violation of the Act could result in two years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh. The state government had implemented the Haryana Regulation of Property Dealers and Consultants Rules to save people from property related frauds and check the construction and development of illegal and unauthorised colonies.

The residents have been urged to conduct property deals or book houses through registered property agents only. As per the rule, a fee of Rs 25,000 has to be deposited by a person for obtaining a licence, which would be valid for five years. The same can be renewed by paying an amount of Rs 5,000.

The main cause of the poor or no response of dealers and agents here towards the government’s direction for registration had been in an adequate pressure of the authorities concerned and the sense of political patronage prevailing here due to being the residents of the CM’s city, claimed an official.

Sirsa, August 16
When the ravaging floods were inundating villages after villages in Sirsa in July this year, several NGOs, social organisations and village panchayats performed exemplary services to provide some succour to the victims.

Their services included helping the Army and the district authorities in plugging breaches on the embankments of the Ghaggar, rescuing those who were marooned by the floods and providing them shelter, food and medication.

Help provided by these NGOs helped the authorities in their relief operations largely and the authorities now paid back by felicitating them on the occasion of the Independence Day.

The Green S. Welfare Force of the Dera Sacha Sauda was in the forefront of the relief operations and the members of this NGO were the first to be honoured by Haryana Minister Om Parkash Jain, who unfurled the National Flag in Sirsa on the occasion of the Independence Day.

Besides the Dera, the Sirsa Grain Market Brokers Association, the Baba Bhumman Shah Charitable Trust and the Dashmesh Yuva Club, Chormar Khera, were honoured for providing food and other relief material for flood victims.

Rania and Ellenabad units of the Bharat Vikas Parishad, Yuva Pariwar Sewa Samiti, Sirsa, Baba Ram Dev Bhandara Sewa Samiti, Shiv Welfare Samiti, Namdhari Vidya Jatha, Ellenabad, Grain Market Traders Association, Ellenabad, Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Ottu, Gurdwara Neem Sahib, Rania, Shri Gurdwara Sahib, Chormar, Shri Murti Charitable Trust, Sirsa, Kaluana Welfare Shiksha Samiti, Kaluana, Shahid Bhagat Singh Yuva Club, Kariwala, Yuva Jansandesh Club, Sirsa, Shri Guru Hari Singh Society, Jeewannagar, Gram Panchayat, Fakiranwali Theri, and Gram Panchayat, Partap Nagar, were among those who were felicitated on the occasion.

Some villagers like Kashmir Singh and Kuldeep Singh from Kariwala, Kewal Krishan Popli from Rania, Hira Singh from Sukhera Khera, Baba Deep Singh from Ellenabad, Rai Singh, Balraj Singh and Ved Parkash from Bani village, Balihar Singh from Sant Nagar, Kashmir Singh from Panihari and Sita Ram Gupta from Sirsa were also given citations for their services during the floods.

Among the government functionaries, Ram Singh (district revenue officer), Satish Mehra (district information and public relations officer), Jitender Ahlawat (BDPO, Rania), Bal Mukund and Sham Lal (both naib tehsildars), Dr GS Somani and Dr Viresh Bhushan (both deputy civil surgeons) and Dr Ruku Kalra, Dr Budh Ram and Dr Ganender (all medical officers) were among those who were rewarded for their exemplary services during the floods in the district.

Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), August 16
The local police claimed to have busted an interstate gang of bike thieves who used to steal merely those bikes which have unbranded locks. Members of the gang had kept a master key with them through which they easily succeed to open unbranded lock of any motorbike.

During the police investigation, this revelation was made by two members of the gang, who had recently been arrested by the police while acting on a tip-off. The police also recovered as many as 11 motorbikes of various companies from different places of Delhi on their demarcation. These motorbikes were stolen from Bahadurgarh, Gurgaon, Najafgarh and Delhi areas during the past sometime.

Vishnu Dutt, SHO of the Bahadurgarh City Police Station, said the police had got a tip-off that two members of the gang had been riding on a stolen bike in Bahadurgarh town. Taking swift action on the tip-off, they laid a trap and nabbed Anup and Surender, both residents of Delhi, with the stolen bike.

“During the investigation, the accused confessed to have stolen seven motorbikes from Bahadurgarh and two each from Gurgaon and Delhi. The theft was committed with the help of the master key that easily unlocks the unbranded lock of the bikes,” said the SHO, adding that the accused used to identify the motorbikes having unbranded locks before stealing them.

The police had started the process of handing over the stolen bikes to their owners, while a hunt had also been launched to nab other members of the gang, said the police official.

Jhajjar SSP Sourabh Singh said the police had been making all-out efforts to curb the incident of motorbike thefts in the district.

“Nakas have been installed at various key points of the district where regular checking of motorbikes is being carried out by the policemen,” said the SSP, adding that those motorbikes were also being impounded whose owners failed to produce necessary documents related to the bike during the checking.

Hisar, August 16
Haryana Agricultural University has issued an advisory to farmers on the prices of brinjal and tomato that are likely to prevail in the market in the three-month period, beginning this month.

This crop-wise exercise on prices is regularly undertaken by the university’s Department of Agricultural Economics to enable farmers to extract the maximum price by timing the sale of their produce.

The advisory has been prepared on the basis of the price trends, opinion survey among traders, expected good harvest of the crop in the state and analysis of the prices for the past nine years.

The advisory says that the prices of brinjal are expected to range between Rs 605 and Rs 640 per quintal in August. These may vary from Rs 545 to Rs 570 during September and Rs 525 to Rs 610 in October.

Brinjal was sown on 13,000 hectares in 2009-10 and the production aggregated about 1,37,000 tonnes. The largest area under brinjal is in Gurgaon district followed by Sonepat, Panipat and Ambala.

Prices of tomato are expected to range between Rs 910 and Rs 1,050 per quintal this month. In September and October, these may vary from Rs 965 to Rs 1,170 and Rs 925 to Rs 1,100, respectively.

The area under tomato in 2009-10 was 22,000 hectares and the production aggregated 2,98,000 tonnes in Haryana. Karnal district has the highest area under the crop followed by Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra and Ambala.

Recent floods that wreaked havoc in Punjab and Haryana have adversely affected vegetable farmers in the region. The tomato-growing belt in Haryana, which sends its crop to Delhi, has been destroyed forcing the prices to spiral.

Vishal Garg said earth was warming up and the best available evidence pointed to the increasing concentration of greenhouses gases as the leading cause. The destruction of forests not only harmed the communities that depend on them but also affected all. He said every student of the university would be persuaded to plant at least one sapling in a year.

Sonepat, August 16
Maintaining outstanding performances in the examinations of MDU, Rohtak, two students of the final semester of BCA of the local Geeta Vidya Mandir Girls College secured first and second positions and three other students bagged seventh, ninth and 13th positions in the university.

According to Jyoti Juneja, principal of the college, Samriti topped the university by securing 2,519 out of 3,000 marks (83.97 per cent) and Surbhi stood second with 83.73 per cent marks.

Chhavi Garg with 82.53 per cent, Divya Madan with 82.10 per cent and Switi with 81.70 per cent marks got seventh, ninth and 13th position, respectively.

Samriti attributed her success to valuable guidance of teachers and full cooperation from her family members.

She wished to pursue higher studies.

Dr OP Pruthi, chairman of the GVM Education Society, and the college principal congratulated the students and hoped that junior students would be encouraged.

Karnal, August 16
Two of Haryana’s leading lifters did the state proud by bagging top slots in the national power lifting championship that was held at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu recently.

As many as 12 players from the state participated in the championship in different weight categories. Rajesh Sharma from Kalsora village of the district won bronze medal in 125 plus kg weight category by lifting a total of 840 kg during the championship.

While Reena Gehlawat from Sonepat won bronze medal in 90 plus kg weight category by lifting a total weight of 435 kg.

The contingent from the state was accompanied by Narender Gulati, general secretary of the Haryana Power Lifting Association. Navdeep Singh Hooda, president of the association, while congratulated the squad said it was an impressive feat and their achievement would encourage many others to take up the sport and earn a name for themselves at the national and international levels.