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Spectre of
drought
Garg panel visits Haud Chillar village
Non-acceptance
of Demands |
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Breach in Sirsa canal floods land
Women’s panel chief visits Nari Niketan
Contract workers suffer exploitation in Gurgaon: MP
Contractual APROs sans pay for 4 months
Major fire in shoe factory
Free treatment for MNREGS labourers
Justice Iqbal Singh to probe Rewari violence
Toxic fruit: 6 kids taken ill Lawyers’ strike continues
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Spectre of
drought
Chandigarh, July 27 Tribune reporters went around the state and assessed the situation. They are of the opinion that unless the weather Gods are kind, the state may face a fall in the production of major kharif crops by about 30 per cent. It is estimated that in areas like Karnal, Kurukshetra and Kaithal that have the highest rainfall deficit may not end up as the worst hit as farmers here have large landholdings and can afford to pump up water from the ground with the help of diesel pumps. This will, however, add to production cost. It is, however, a paradox that whenever Haryana has seen a deficient rainfall, the crop yields have shown an unexpected rise over a normal monsoon year. This is because the petrified farmers tend to overuse pesticides and fertilisers to overcome the shortage of water.
KURUKSHETRA Kurukshetra’s Sub-Divisional Agriculture Officer Wazir Singh said that in comparison to an average rainfall of 350 mm at this time, the district had witnessed only 86 per cent of it. But since the water levels are now too low and quality of sub-soil water is acceptable for paddy, the final situation may not be too bad as compared to other districts. There was, however, no visual sign of drought in the fields of the district. ROHTAK Rohtak residents are expectantly waiting for rain. So far, the average rain in the district is around 38 mm as against an average of 200 mm. Local farmers fear a huge loss in the already sown crops, especially paddy. Paddy sown in many areas has dried up to an extent from which it was, perhaps, difficult to retrieve the crop due to poor water availability. AMBALA It has registered a 70-80 per cent rain deficit in this season. Though, certain segments of the district, including Naraingarh and Shazahadpur, had recived ample rainfall over the last few days (including today), the rest of the areas are witnessing a drought-like situation. With power remaining erratic many farmers are finding it hard to irrigate their field. R S Sangwan, Deputy Director Agriculture Ambala, said that the department was drawing a plan to help farmers tide over the crisis in case the monsoon fails completely. He said that under this plan the farmers would be asked to sow urad dal or maize, as these crops require less water. HISAR The district has so far had 75 per cent less rain this year than the normal average rainfall figure. According to scientists of Haryana Agricultural University’s department of agricultural meteorology, this has adversely affected the sowing of guar, bajra and cereals. They say if it does not rain within the next week, farmers will not be in a position to sow these crops. Farmers who have been awaiting rains to sow these crops will be the worst affected. Official say if there were no rains in the coming days, paddy production could dwindle by 30 per cent. JHAJJAR In this district about 36,000 hectares of agricultural land in the district has been reported to be affected due to poor monsoon conditions this season yet. The economy of the district depends heavily upon agricultural and if the monsoon situation doesn’t improve, it won’t be easy for the farmers to recover their input costs, local farmers claim. Madan Mohan Singh, Deputy Director of Agriculture Department Haryana, said 40 per cent loss in the agriculture sector had so far been estimated. According to reports, the paddy sowing in the district has been around 50 per cent till July 27. Over 70,000 hectares of agricultural land was sowed here in this season last year but only 34,000 hectares have so far been sowed this year. “Paddy transplantation can be done till August 15. With less than three weeks remaining now, the chances of a good paddy crop is slim unless it rains heavily now,” Kapoor Ahlawat, a farmer of Dighal village here. FARIDABAD Faridabad has seen as shortfall of rain by 131mm creating a scare among the farmers. Satbir Singh, President of Progressive Farmers’ Forum, says the farmers face a prospect of 70 per cent loss in sowing of kharif crops. According to statistics of the agriculture department here till July last year, transplantation of paddy crop was completed on 9,000 hectares. However, this year it could be done on 8,000 hectares (deficient by 20 per cent). Sowing of bajra was completed on 3,500 hectares by end of July last year which equals the sowing of the crops thus far this year. Sowing of arhar was completed on 300 hectares by July end last year. So far, only 150 hectares have been covered. Standing sugarcane crops, which were sown in April, and which are to be harvested in October-November, are likely to affected in a big way due to rain deficiency. GURGAON Gurgaon being largely a non-agricultural district, yet it is highly dependent on monsoons of replenishment of the groundwater which is depleting at an alarming rate. A fewer rainy days this monsoons has lead to a monsoon deficit of around 35 percent which is bound to accelerate the depletion of ground water level which threatens to plung as low as 200 metres. The deficit rainfall is largely taking its toll on neighboruing districts like Rewari or Mahendargarh. SIRSA With merely 14 mm rainfall so far, Sirsa has remained almost dry this monsoon. Ellenabad, another sub division has witnessed
7 mm rain so far, while Dabwali and Rania atehabad district, Fatehabad, Ratia and Tohana sub divisions have witnessed 13 mm, 22 mm and 26 mm rains respectively so far in this season. “On papers, our area seems to have been facing a drought-like situation, but on the ground, it is not so,” said Gurjeet Singh Mann, a progressive farmer from Kirpal Patti area of Ellenabad sub division of Sirsa. He said in his Nali (Ghaggar) belt, farmers could get water for their irrigation needs from the Southern Ghaggar Canal, as floodwater came in the Nali around July 14. District-wise cumulative rainfall(in mm) since July 1
Name
Actual
Normal
Deficit (in %)
Ambala
61.7
340.4
82
Bhiwani
44.3
128.7
66
Faridabad
39
193
80
Fatehabad
29.3
112.9
74
Gurgaon
113
169.6
33
Hisar
31.2
125.2
75
Jhajjar
35
153.7
77
Jind
50.6
157.9
68
Kaithal
9.5
139.3
93
Karnal
33.1
219.8
85
Kurukshetra
31.7
228
86
Mahendragarh
32
162.7
80
Mewat
52.4
168.2
69
Palwal
66.9
150
65
Panchkula
163.5
351.9
54
Panipat
54.5
195.1
72
Rewari
29.3
150
80
Rohtak
38.5
199.7
81
Sirsa
38.3
100.4
62
Sonepat
55.6
191.3
71
Yamuna Nagar 116 346.6 67
Haryana
46.8(cm)
171.1
73 (With inputs from DR Vij in Kurukshetra, Brajinder Ahalawat in
Rohtak, Manish Sirhindi in Ambala, Raman Mohan in Hisar, Ravinder Saini in
Jhajjar, Ravi S Singh in Faridabad, Sumedha Sharma in Gurgaon and Sushil Manav in
Sirsa) |
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Garg panel visits Haud Chillar village
Rewari, July 27 Haud Chilhar is situated on the outskirts of Chillar village. As many as 32 Sikhs, including men, women and children, were massacred by rioters in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Justice Garg supervised the remains of the massacred Sikhs’ houses which were destroyed by a frenzied mob in the first week of November, 1984. He also talked to dependants of those who were killed and representatives of various Sikh organisations. It was only after the All-India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) had approached the Haryana government and the apex court seeking justice on the issue that the matter came to light in February, 2011. Following this, the Haryana government formed a Judicial Commission to probe the incident. In November, 2011, the AISSF had organised a function on the occasion of Gurparb in memory of the massacred people at Haud Chillar village. |
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Varsity, college teachers’ agitation from August 1
Tribune News Service
Hisar, July 27 A spokesperson for HFUCTO said here today that the government had issued a notification regarding new pay scales recommended by the UGC. However, this notification had not been implemented in totality. He said HFUCTO leaders had met Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh hooda several times but the government had not taken any steps in this direction. He said university teachers would sport black badges on August 1 to express their resentment. This would be followed by a dharna on August 13 at their respective university campuses. A hunger strike would be organised at the Kurukshetra University campus on August 25. Besides implementation of the notification, HFUCTO demands include benefit of advance and additional increments for higher educational qualifications , creation of posts of professor in colleges, benefit of study leave, duty leave for seminars, child care leave to all university and college teachers, qualification for recruitment of professor as per UGC norms and raising the age of retirement to 65.
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Breach in Sirsa canal floods land
Karnal, July 27 The breach was caused following release of 1,800 cusecs of water in the branch, which was lying dry for the past one year without any intimation and the train services were also affected and the trains crossed the damaged stretch with dead slow speed as the 10-15 wide breach was close to the railway line. The Superintending Engineer, Karnal, SK Sharma, said the Ex-en, Irrigation and Public Health, Jyotisar Jitendra Goswami, released 1,800 cusecs water into the Sirsa branch without any intimation causing the breach. Two JCV were put into the service to plug the breach Sharma and the water would subside in 3-4 hours, Sharma added. Goswami said the canal was empty for quite sometime and possibility of rats making holes leading to breech could not be ruled. Water has inundadated the fields but it had not caused any damage to paddy crops for which water was a manure.
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Women’s panel chief visits Nari Niketan
Sushila Sharma, who paid a surprise visit to Nari Niketan in the wake of the escape of three inmates, said that “the lengthy trial of cases was frustrating and a cause of harassment for the inmates, who have already gone through traumatic experiences and repeated questioning is like scratching the wounds again and again which revives the nightmarish experiences, leading to depression and frustration.” The Chairperson said that “the girls want to study, read books, breath in the open air and learn and practice yoga to relieve stress and the absence of these facilities was adding to their frustration.” She said the Nari Niketan was overcrowded and the government would construct more Nari Niketans to ease the situation.Meanwhile, both the girls who had escaped from Nari Niketan on the morning of July 24 have been brought back and official confirmation from the Batia SP has been received about the third girl, Pooja, who is at her home, Karnal SP Shashank Anand said.
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Contract workers suffer exploitation in Gurgaon: MP
Gurgaon, July 27 Dasgupta urged the state government to widen its perspective and identify the root cause of the problem. “Across India, more so in organised manufacturing, the trend is to employ cheap labour by resorting to contractual employment. In some factories, contract workers outnumber permanent staffers and are made to work in core sectors, doing perennial jobs. This is both violation of the contract labour law and the SC judgement. A contract worker receives much less than what is paid to a permanent worker for the same job. This is also a practice in the public sector. In Gurgaon especially, the exploitation of contract workers is unprecedented. Besides, these workers are not allowed to have a union and whenever there is a move to form a union, the management asks the contractor to drop the person (or persons) from the list”, he added. Dasgupta claims to have approached the Prime Minister to ensure enforcement of labour laws and opportunities for registration of trade unions, drawing his attention to the specific issue of violation by Maruti Suzuki.
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Contractual APROs sans pay for 4 months
Ambala, July 27 Despite running from pillar to post and even requesting Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, they continue to remain bereft of any relief. The APROs, who get their contracts renewed every six months, stated that even as they continue to work at their respective places of postings for the last four months, no fresh contracts had been signed with them. “This has become a routine. Last year, we were kept without salary for six months,” said one of the APROs. Another APRO, on the condition of anonymity, said the state government had already sanctioned the budget for paying their salaries, but they had not received anything till date. “Some of us have come under debt to meet our daily expenses and even to perform official duties. We are neither entitled to any allowances nor reimbursement of mobile bills, which we pay from our own pockets,” rued the APROs. They said while working for the public relations department, which was short of staff, they were asked to travel far and wide within the state but they were not paid any TA or DA. “All the expenditure is incurred by us when we travel from our place of postings to other parts of the state to cover government functions and political rallies,” they said. An IAS official, on the condition of anonymity, said the contractual APROs were putting in their best and it was unfortunate that they were not being given their due by the government. Also, the APROs who had joined the department in April, 2008, on a salary of Rs 12,500 have not been awarded with any appraisals.
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Major fire in shoe factory
Jhajjar, July 27 The fire broke out in a godown of Le Park Shoe Factory this noon when labourers were busy in manufacturing shoes. The fire was so destructive that it engulfed the whole factory within some time. The labourers tried to extinguish the fire, but failed to do so. Then the labourers informed the factory owner, Ishwar Gupta, and the fire brigade office. Several fire tenders rushed to the spot and took around 4 hours to control the fire. “The total loss is yet to be calculated, but the fire has destroyed costly raw material and chemical in the factory,” said Ishwar Gupta.
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Free treatment for MNREGS labourers
Chandigarh, July 27 A spokesman said if such workers need hospitalisation, the government will pay half their daily wages to them. He said to ensure transparency in the payment of wages to workers of Sirsa under this scheme, the payment was made through smart cards. In the district, smart cards had already been issued to 90,000 persons registered under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). He said so far workers of 14 villages of the district had been paid through smart cards. A MoU had been signed with ICICI Bank for payment through smart cards.
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Justice Iqbal Singh to probe Rewari violence
Chandigarh, July 27 An official spokesman said here today that there was a demand from different sections of society for an inquiry into various aspects of the incident. The commission of inquiry would recommend further action along with such remedial measures as deemed appropriate so that such incidents do not recur. The commission would submit its report to the state government within three months. The commission of inquiry would conduct the present inquiry concurrently with the Mirchpur probe.
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Toxic fruit: 6 kids taken ill Karnal, July 27 As many as 20 students complained of headache and giddiness after eating the fruit and all of them were rushed to the community health centre, Indri, and the six children who were in serious condition were referred to Karnal.
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Lawyers’ strike continues
Karnal, July 27 A spokesman of the association said the Bar Association had decided to continue the strike and suspend work till July 30. “We will call off the strike only after the judge concerned will apologise,” he added. — TNS |
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Gurgaon, July 27
Karnal, July 27