Jind, April 24
Despite tall claims made by the authorities concerned regarding procurement, the problems faced by farmers and people, involved in this process, are far from being over. With the mandis overflowing with wheat produce, delay in lifting and shortage of gunny bags have added to the woes of both the farmers and the commission agents.

"With the weather playing a villain due to intermittent showers and dusty winds since the beginning of the arrival of the wheat this year, the government agencies and the officials concerned appeared to be casual in their approach as a huge quantity of wheat was lying in the open here for the past few days and farmers were left with no space to bring more wheat in the market," claimed Mahabir, a farmer from a nearby village.

He said he had been waiting for the past few days to unload wheat in the local grain market, but had been told by the commission agents that he would have to wait as there was no space left here.”

“There was a glut-like situation in the Jind market and some other towns, including Safidon and Narwana, as a large quantity of the produce was occupying space and there was hardly any space left for fresh arrivals,” said Sandeep, a commission agent.

Claiming that this was perhaps due to the fact that there was a shortage of gunny bags, he said it was the duty of the procurement agencies to remove or lift the procured produce within 12 hours, so that it could pave the way for fresh arrival. "Moving from one place to another inside the market had become difficult due to heavy concentration of wheat here". "The inclement weather was also a cause of concern as the wheat was lying in the open and was susceptible to get wet due to inadequate facilities to cover it in case of rain, said Krishan, another farmer, adding that showers on Tuesday evening left hundreds of quintals of wheat moist or wet besides causing concern among those farmers who had been awaiting their turn to unload the crop in the mandis.

It is claimed that the total arrival and procurement in the district had crossed 3.80 lakh metric tonnes (MT) till Tuesday. The total arrival was expected to be over 6.60 lakh metric tonnes this season. Reports of delay in lifting and shortage of gunny bags have also poured in from Rohtak also.

Sirsa, April 24
Peeved over the non-availability of gunny bags and an “indifferent” attitude of the procurement agencies, farmers blocked the Sirsa-Rania state highway outside the Rania grain market in Sirsa for sometime today.

The farmers started a sit-in on the highway forcing a complete blockade of vehicular traffic for sometime, before the marketing board authorities assured them that their problems would be solved within two hours.

However, there was no imminent end to the farmers’ woes by the time of filing this report and the District Food and Supplies Controller, Ram Singh, maintained that the gunny bags would reach Rania by tomorrow

“I have been sitting in the grain market for the past four days trying to save my crop from inclement weather and animals, but have not been able to sell my produce,” alleged Balwant Singh, a farmer.

The DFSC, Ram Singh, however, maintained that the authorities had enough stock of gunny bags with them and these would reach Rania by tomorrow.

Sirsa, April 24
Standing crop on over 25 acres and harvested crop on five acres of land came under water after a breach in the Karamshana Minor near Ellenabad yesterday.

The canal water also entered tubewells of three farmers, causing damage to machinery.

The breach occurred near Mithanpura village on Sunday night and it could be plugged only by Monday evening.

Farmers alleged that the breach occurred due to lack of maintenance.

“There is no silt clearance by the irrigation authorities for the past several months leading to clogging of the minor,” alleged Dalip Singh, a farmer.

He alleged that the farmers had suffered losses to the tune of Rs 3 to 4 lakh due to the breach.

An engineer of the Irrigation Department, however, maintained that due to winds, leaves and branches of trees had fallen in the minor leading to the breach. 

Chandigarh April 24
After Gurgaon, Faridabad and Manesar, now it is the turn of Rohtak to emerge fast on the industrial map of Haryana. A few years ago, Rohtak was considered a dusty town, unfit for setting up major industries. But the situation changed after Bhupinder Singh Hooda took over as Chief Minister. No wonder the people of the town, which was once considered to be the political capital of the then Hindi-speaking areas, which constituted Haryana after the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, are celebrating the advent of an investment of over Rs 4,700 crore, which will provide direct and indirect employment to 40,000 persons. They thanked Hooda today for making it possible.

Hooda laid the foundation stones of six major industrial units and had inaugurated two manufacturing plants at Ranbir Singh Industrial Model Township (IMT), Rohtak, yesterday.

The foundation stones of the research and development facility of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, a a two-wheeler plant of Suzuki Motorcycle India Private Limited and units of Nippon Carbide, Sabarkantha Cooperative - a unit of Amul Dairy, Lakshmi Precision Screws Ltd and Aisin Automotive Haryana Pvt Ltd were laid. He also inaugurated the second plant of Asian Paints Limited and a blending and bottling plant.

An elated Hooda said, “It is a day of satisfaction for me as these industries will provide direct employment to 7,500 to 10,000 people and indirect employment to 20,000 to 30,000 persons, so it is a day of satisfaction for me.”

Describing the day as a new milestone in the industrialisation of the state, with snowballing effects leading to other employment-generating economic activities, Hooda said additional sources of employment could be generated only through two ways — by providing quality education and by setting up new industries. He said he was concentrating on both.

MD of Maruti Suzuki Shinzo Nakanishi said the continuous support by Hooda and his team to his company was a source of encouragement to them.

Haryana Industries Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala said several industries had been set up in the state during the past seven years of the Congress government. 

Gurgaon, April 24
The Haryana Lokayukta, Justice Pritam Pal (retd), has supported the campaign for a strong Lokpal spearheaded by noted social activist Anna Hazare and his supporters.

“I support the movement (led by Team Anna) for the establishment of a strong Lokpal in the country in principle,” the Lokayukta told The Tribune here today.

Justice Pritam Pal maintained that though the Haryana Lokayukta was a stronger institution in comparison to those of Punjab and other states, it needed more teeth for effective functioning.

“We have sought the power to take suo motu action in cases of corruption brought to our notice by media reports or anonymous complaints, to make provision for initiating contempt proceedings against officials not complying with Lokayukta orders and authority to prosecute corrupt government functionaries without having to obtain sanction from the government,” he asserted.

He said a proposal in this regard had already been submitted to the Haryana Governor, who could refer it to the State Assembly for amending the Lokayukta Act to include the proposed provisions.

The Lokayukta was in Gurgaon to release a booklet titled “Prostrate: Useful Information” written by Dr SPYadav, a Gurgaon-based urologist.

Hisar, April 24
Hawa Singh Sangwan, president of the Haryana unit of the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, today hinted at the possibility of Jats withdrawing support to the anti-corruption movements launched by Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said both these activists had not yet supported the struggle launched by Jats to seek reservation for the community in government jobs. As against this, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar had openly backed Jats on the issue. He said the community leaders would take a call on this issue at a meeting of the national executive committee meeting at Kaithal on April 29.

Sangwan said samiti chief Bhagat Singh Dalal had started touring 13 states where Jats had been living for ages to gather support for the movement. The tour would conclude on August 15. If the government did not provide reservation by then, the samiti would launch a nationwide agitation.

New Delhi, April 24
Noting that Haryana was witness to several historical battles, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the state government was maintaining old monuments which could help promote heritage tourism.

Speaking after releasing a book titled "Heritage of Haryana" here, the Chief Minister said there was vast diversity in Haryana's history.

“It was here that the battle of Mahabharata was fought and the message of Bhagvad Gita was delivered. It was here that three battles of Panipat were fought, which gave a new direction to the history of the country," he said, adding that there were still many places in the state where historical remains were found during excavation.

SK Mishra of Rural Heritage Organisation spoke about excavations conducted at Rakhi Ghari and Rakhi Kalan villages and said Sarswati river had its course in that area. Such places could be developed as centres of tourist interest, he said.

The book, authored by Yashpal Gulia, provides information not only about heritage of the state, but also about its culture and history.

It has colourful illustrations of ancient monuments located in the state and provides description of historical forts, royal palaces and tombs of archeological importance and ancient "bawaris”.— PTI 

Rohtak, April 24
While the local police authorities claim to have controlled the rising crime graph in the district during the past four months in comparison to the corresponding period last year, the authorities have announced that assistant sub-inspectors posted in various police stations will now be accountable to arrest the bail jumpers.

District police chief Vivek Sharma has said a comprehensive strategy has been worked out to keep a tab on the crime graph, which he claimed had already shown considerable improvement. He said while ASIs would now be responsible for nabbing a bail jumper in the respective police station area, policemen and officials posted in a particular police station or the post would be held responsible for any incident of crime that took place in a particular area.

This move, he claimed, had shown results as there was a drop in the incidents of chain-snatching, loot, dacoity, house breaking, abduction and rape in the past about four or five months. The police had been able to arrest 113 bail jumpers and 22 proclaimed offenders (POs) during the past four months against the arrest of 127 bail jumpers and 23 POs in 12 months last year. According to details provided by the department, there were 18 murders in the district till April this year as compared to 24 such incidents last year. 

Bhiwani, April 24
The Bhiwani police today claimed to have solved the Prahladgarh murder case with the arrest of two persons. Rajbir was murdered on the outskirts of the village on March 20.

The case grabbed public attention after INLD secretary-general Ajay Singh Chautala tried to link it with the hospitalisation of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Ram Kishan Fauji at the PGI, Chandigarh, reportedly with poisoning symptoms. Fauji is still in the intensive care unit. Demanding a judicial probe into the hospitalisation of Fauji, Ajay Singh had claimed to have a CD in his possession, which, he hinted, might link the murder and Fauji’s present health condition.

The Bhiwani police arrested Sunil, alias Sheesha, of Bhagwi village and Krishan of Bhiwani. The third accused Rajesh, alias Mota, is absconding.

The police claims that the arrested persons had confessed their crime. They would be produced before the court tomorrow and the police would seek their remand.

According to the police, on March 20, the three accused came on a motorcycle and attacked Rajbir, Subhash and Vinod with sharp-edged weapons. After injuring Rajbir, Subhash and Vinod, the accused snatched the motorcycle, the mobile phone and some documents of Vinod and fled from the spot. Rajbir later died. The investigation was handed over to CIA-2 branch.

The police claims that it got information last night that four youths with two motorcycles were planning to loot the vehicles near Bapora village. A police team nabbed the four youths. During interrogation, two of them, Sunil alias Sheesha and Krishan, revealed their involvement in the murder of Rajbir. The police also claimed to have recovered the snatched motorcycle besides a pistol from the accused.

However, relatives of the victim are not willing to accept the police version as they allege that the police has implicated innocent persons to save certain influential persons.

Jhajjar, April 24
As many as 25 schoolchildren and three others, including a teacher, were injured in a collision between a school bus and a truck at Beri turn near Dujana village on the national higway No 71 here today. Both vehicles overturned after the accident.

Eight of the injured have been referred to the PGIMS, Rohtak. The police have registered a case against the truck driver. The bus was carrying 47 schoolchildren.

The truck driver fled the spot after the incident. A father-son duo sustained injuries when their car collided with the ill-fated vehicles just after the accident. 

Gurgaon, April 24
Poonam(18) of Laxman Vihar here, who was cheated in a property matter and harassed by a naib-tehsildar, consumed poison in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office at the local mini-secretariat today.

The girl was under treatment in the ICU at the local Civil Hospital.

Inquiries made by The Tribune revealed that Poonam decided to sell land located in Dhankot village of Gurgaon district to her paternal cousin. He assured her of making the payment at the time of the registry.

However, after getting the mandatory buyer-seller photograph clicked at the registry office on April 18, she was given a token amount of Rs 5 lakh instead of the full payment.

She approached the naib-tehsildar and urged him not to register the sale deed as she had not got the full payment. The naib-tehsildar asked her to submit a written request, but when she did so, he threw the paper back at her.

The girl, whose father had passed away, was accompanied by her mother, Santara Devi, and Bhoop Lal, her elder sister’s husband . Their requests, too, fell on deaf ears.

“We rushed to the Deputy Commissioner, who asked his subordinates to do something. After this, the naib-tehsildar accepted our application, but refused to give us a receipt thereof,” Bhoop Lal said.

Poonam, Santara Devi and Bhoop Lal went to see the naib-tehsildar again next morning but he was unapproachable. Later, they were told that the sale deed had been registered.

The family then went to the police to get a fraud case lodged but they were advised to approach the Deputy Commissioner as it was a civil case. They again went to the Deputy Commissioner on April 20, only to be told that the sale deed could not be cancelled.

As April 21, 22 and 23 were holidays, Poonam went to see the naib-tehsildar today. She was told that she would have to move the court to get her due.

According to eyewitnesses, the hapless girl wept in front of the naib-tehsildar’s office and went to the DC’s office yet again. When she saw no hope there either, she consumed poison.

A press note issued by the district administration stated that the registry was done on April 18 though Poonam had approached the authorities concerned with her complaint on April 20.

Naib-Tehsildar Ram Mehar stated that no transaction of money had taken place in his presence. “She pleaded to get the balance amount paid and threatened to commit suicide, if it was not done. I tried to pacify her, saying that once a sale deed is registered, neither the Joint Sub- Registrar, nor the Sub-Registrar have the power to cancel it. She was told to file a suit in a court,” claimed Ram Mehar. 

Jhajjar, April 24
Ravi of Badhvi village in Bhiwani district, a wine contractor, was battered to death by youths engaged in liquor business at Sahlanga village late last night. The assailants also kidnapped the deceased’s friend while fleeing the spot.

A business dispute is stated to be the reason for the killing. A case of murder has been registered against 11 persons on the complaint of Ravi’s uncle, Mahender Singh.

As the news of Ravi’s murder spread in his native village this morning, villagers blocked the Emlauta-Matanhale road for over two hours, alleging that the police had not provided medical aid to the victim in time. Actually, Ravi succumbed to his injuries at the Jhajjar Civil Hospital a few hours hours after the crime.

Ravi and his friend, Mukesh, went to a liquor shop at Sahlanga village lat night. Raj Kumar and his friends, who were present there allegedly attacked them after an altercation over sale of liquor. The accused fled the spot, leaving Ravi there. They, however, took Mukesh along in a vehicle.

The police admitted Ravi to a private hospital which later referred him to the civil hospital in Jhajjar where he succumbed to his injuries.