Karnal, October 4
Enraged over the failure of procurement agencies to lift paddy at the New Grain Market, hundreds of farmers blocked NH-1 for several hours for the second day today.

The farmers, who held up traffic for four hours yesterday, were furious that despite assurance from the local authorities, paddy was rotting in the open and they had been left to fend for themselves.

The blockade that began at noon ended at 5.30 pm after strenuous efforts by the administration. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on the highway. the traffic to Delhi was diverted via Meerut and Shamli.

The farmers parked their tractors-trailers on the road. They also placed boulders and bricks on the highway. The police booked 300 persons, including local leaders Balkar, Tinku, Rajatman, Deepak, Jasmer, Balwinder, Gurnam, Satnam, Hari Singh and Arjun Dass under Sections 147,148,283 and 341 of the IPC for obstructing traffic and indulging in violence here yesterday.

The farmers charged the government with shirking responsibility and demanded that the procurement be undertaken by state agencies and the FCI and the role of rice-millers be eliminated. Bhartaiya Kisan Union (BKU) district general secretary Sham Singh said the farmers should be permitted to undertake the shelling of paddy and the rice should be sold directly to government agencies.

The leaders said against Rs 40,000 incurred on rice cultivation on one hectare area, the net return was

Rs 20,000. The situation had turned worst this year with floods and diseases post-floods.

Instead of providing relief to the farmers, the government had left them at the mercy of millers.

District Food and Supplies Controller (DFSC) Ravinder Malik claimed that 30,000 quintals of paddy had been purchased in the Karnal Grain Market and Confed, Hafed, FCI, DFSC and other government agencies had started making purchases. The farmers, however, maintained that the purchase was negligible with about 40,000 to 50,000 quintals of paddy arriving in the market daily.

DC Neelam Pradeep Kasni assured the farmers that the entire produce meeting the prescribed specification would be lifted. But the farmers said the paddy was not being lifted on the pretext that the produce was below specification and the moisture content was 22 per cent against 17 per cent specified by the government.

Meanwhile, a delegation of rice-millers, led by president of the state unit Azad Singh Rathi, called on the Chief Minister. The millers urged the government to abolish the hoarding charges, raise the percentage of damaged and discoloured paddy to 4 and 4.5 respectively and decrease the quantum of rice per quintal to 64 kg.

Jhajjar, October 4
In a broad daylight incident, an amount of Rs 30 lakh of the State Bank of India (SBI), being taken in a Bolero jeep, was allegedly looted by three armed youths at gunpoint on the Chhuchhakvass-Matanhail road here today.

The robbers shot dead a securityman of the SBI when he tried to resist their attempt.

The Salhavaas police has registered a case against the three unidentified robbers on a complaint of the bank manager, Ashok Kumar, in this connection.

The incident took place in the afternoon when cashier Bijender Yadav, along with securityman Rishi Prakash, was taking Rs 30 lakh from the Rohtak branch of the SBI to the Matanhail branch at Matanhail village here in the jeep.

As the jeep reached near a canal on the Chhuchhakvass-Matanhail road, three armed youths, who had come in a Tata 407 vehicle, reportedly intercepted the jeep and asked the driver, the securityman and the cashier at gunpoint to get down from the vehicle.

However, when the securityman tried to resist their attempt, the robbers allegedly opened fire on him.

They fled in the Bolero along with the cash, leaving behind the Tata 407.

The securityman was taken to the PGIMS at Rohtak in a critical condition where he succumbed to his injuries.

Jhajjar SP Sourabh Singh, along with a police force, reached the spot and took stock of the situation.

“The Bulero jeep has been recovered from a village in Charkhi Dadri subdivision in Bhiwani district.

“Raids are being conducted at various places to nab the robbers,” said the SP, adding that a case under Sections 392 and 397 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act had been registered against the robbers.

Fatehabad, October 4
The Vigilance Bureau today caught a block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) red-handed while accepting a bribe Rs 5,000 from a local villager.The vigilance sleuths caught BDPO of Bhattu Kalan Mahender Singh Nehra when he was allegedly taking Rs 5,000 from Mahender Singh Beniwal of Chulibagdian village.

A criminal case has been registered against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.Beniwal had made a complaint against the village sarpanch on March 2, 2010, accusing her of cutting 68 fresh trees from the panchayat land.

The allegation was found true by the Forest Department, who wrote to the DC to take action against the sarpanch. The DC in turn wrote to the BDPO with a copy to the complainant.

However, the BDPO, according to the complainant, demanded a bribe of Rs 5,000 for taking action against the sarpanch. The vigilance sleuths laid a trap, following which the BDPO caught red-handed. 

Sirsa, October 4
A retired District and Sessions Judge has now been asked to probe the complaint of alleged harassment of a woman Assistant Professor of Chaudhary Devi Lal University here by the chairperson of her department even as the university authorities are yet to make the report of an earlier inquiry on the issue public.The university authorities have appointed the retired judge, Hari Ram, as the inquiry officer in the case and have asked him to complete the inquiry as early as possible. A communication of the university addressed to the judge said “the report of the Women Complaint Committee/Grievances Cell is enclosed in a sealed cover”.

Interestingly, the university authorities had refused to provide a copy of the inquiry report to the complainant, when she sought it by moving an application under the RTI last month.

The woman Assistant Professor has now made an appeal before the first appellate authority under the RTI in the university. The Assistant Professor had lodged a complaint of harassment and misbehaviour against the Professor in May this year.

Chandigarh, October 4
After five brothers belonging to Sonepat district failed to appear before the court, deposit the costs, and reply to a show-cause notice issued to them in a land dispute, Justice LN Mittal directed them to be kept in detention. Their 85-year-old father has been let off on bail.

The five - Surender, Randhir, Sant Lal, Subhash and Nandi - have been sent to Model Jail in Burail. As the case came up this afternoon, Justice Mittal observed: “Pursuant to the non-bailable warrants, all respondents, except one, have been produced in the custody of sub-inspector Rajpal Singh.

“Respondent number one, Kanwar Singh, is stated to be physically infirm being 85 years old. Accordingly, as prayed for, he is released on bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000.”

Justice Mittal observed that neither reply to the show-cause notice had been filed on behalf of the respondents, nor the cost of Rs 2,000 had been deposited. As such, they be kept in detention.

Before parting with the order, Justice Mittal fixed October 28 as the next date of hearing in the case.

The High Court had earlier issued a notice to the respondents asking why proceedings under the provisions of the Contempt of Court Act be not initiated against them.

The court had observed that the respondents were disobeying its orders. A local commissioner was appointed with the consent of the parties. “But the respondents did not permit the local commissioner to execute the commission at the spot, although two police officials were also there with him”.

The High Court had also directed the issuance of non-bailable warrants after observing that they were absent from the court, even though they were directed to be present. Moreover, the High Court had also observed that reply had not been filed even though a last opportunity had been given to the respondents - all residents of Siwanka village in Sonepat district. The directions came on a petition filed by Ram Phal of Gohana. 

Sirsa, October 4
The police today said it had got vital clues to the Peepli murders. A widow and her three sons were strangled to death in the viillage on Thursday night.

The SP, Satinder Kumar Gupta, said the police had obtained vital evidence that would help the police crack the case.

Hardev Kaur (55) and her sons Jaspal Singh (26), Darshan Singh (23) and Hardeep Singh (20) were found dead on their cots on Friday morning.

Later, the postmortem examination confirmed that they had been strangled with bare hands.

The SP had constituted three teams to look for the killers. The villagers had threatened to hold a bandh in Kalanwali if the murderers were not nabbed soon.

Yamunanagar, October 4
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today conducted an aerial survey of flood-affected areas in Yamunanagar district and allocated Rs 85 crore for the district, which includes Rs 60 crore for damage caused to the irrigation sector and Rs 25 crore for roads and bridges.

Talking to mediapersons after the survey, he said Rs 2.15 crore had been given for repair of roads and bridges on the Markanda-Sadaura river, Rs 3.15 crore on the Som river and Rs 7.15 crore on the Pathrala river.

Hooda said the region witnessed an extensive damage due to heavy rains this year. He said directions had been issued to assess the loss of standing crops and damaged houses.

A special girdawari had been ordered and it would be completed by October 31, he said.

Hooda said a separate High Court for the state would be set up in Chandigarh and Union Law Minister and Chief Justice of Supreme Court of India have agreed for it.

He said the government was committed to enhancing the potential of players in rural areas for which 170 rural stadia had been constructed. He said the state government had reserved 3 per cent posts for outstanding players in the Police Department.

Ten sportspersons had been directly appointed as DSP from the sports quota.

To identify promising players at the tender age, a unique scheme “Play for India” has been started, under which Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000 per month are being given to 1,608 players in the age group between 8 and 14 years and 14 and 19, respectively.

Faridabad, October 4
The Faridabad police has decided to close the passage to Delhi from the Suraj Kund side in view of the events of the Commonwealth Games that will be organised in the nearby Karni Singh Stadium in the national capital.

The commuters will now have to take the Badarpur route to reach Delhi. The new dispensation will be in place from 6 am to 8 pm from tomorrow and be in effect till October 13.

Joint Commissioner of Police, Faridabad, Anil Yadav, who has been made the nodal officer concerning security arrangements with regard to the Commonwealth Games, said the Suraj Kund route to Delhi would not be blocked entirely. The commuters could go till Prahladpur crossing, from where they would have to take a detour towards Badarpur to reach Delhi.

According to him, the local population will not be affected by the arrangement, as the intra-city movement remained intact.

However, the police has diverted routes at Palli Chowk, Ankhir Chowk and NTPC Chowk in the innards of the city.

Chandigarh, October 4
The state government today increased the bus fare by 12.5 paise per km after a gap of over four years. The hike has been made because of an increase in the cost of diesel, bus chassis and maintenance of buses. Stating this here today, a spokesman for the Transport Department said the hike would yield a revenue of Rs 100 crore per year whereas the department was already bearing a loss of Rs 250 crore annually.

He said the government had last increased the bus fare in April 2006.