Ambala, March 23
Sending out a clear message to detractors, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today set the tone and tenor for competitive politics while maintaining that the government’s commitment for overall development of the state was unchallengeable.

Addressing a massive gathering at the Shaheedi Divas function organised by local Congress legislator Venod Sharma on Martyrdom Day of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev in Ambala City, the Chief Minister laid to rest rumours of “disparity in development” in the state.

Hooda said any comparison with the previous terms of the INLD in the state and that of the Congress could lay bare the claims being made by the detractors. He said the state government in the past eight years had spend more than Rs 2,000 crore on various development works in the district, while during the INLD-BJP rule a mere Rs 400 crore had been spent.

Without violating the truce called by the high command between him and local MP Kumari Selja, the Chief Minister said the government was still ready to set up an Industrial Model Township (IMT) in Ambala, which, he said, had became a victim of some vested interests and opposition from the INLD and BJP parties.

The project had generated a lot of political heat when it was announced in 2010. A number of leaders within the Congress party and some of INLD and BJP activists had staged protests here against the setting up of the project.

Venod Sharma said those who had been opposing the setting up of the IMT had failed to realise that it could generate more than 1.5 lakh jobs for the youth of the region. Citing examples of IMTs at Gurgaon and Manesar, he said the two cities were now world famous and were adding to the prosperity of the state.

Speaker of the Assembly Kuldeep Sharma and president of the HPCC, without making any direct reference to Kumari Selja, said all the hue and cries of “partiality in development” were far-fetched ideas.

Earlier, Hooda and Venod Sharma also paid floral tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. President Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee Phool Chand Mullana, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Ram Kishan Gujjar and former MLA Nirmal Singh also paid tributes to the martyrs.

It was the responsibility of the manufacturer to get its fungicide registered as a cure for Karnal bunt and the manufacturer should have pursued the case with the government. Roshal Lal, principal secretary, agriculture

Chandigarh, March 23
The Haryana government today claimed that there was no wrongdoing in the purchase of tebuconazol 2 per cent DS, for the treatment of certified wheat seeds in Haryana. The government claimed that the decision to use Raxil 2 per cent DS for the treatment of certified wheat seeds was taken on the basis of professional recommendation of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, which had recommended that the fungicide cures all three diseases -- loose smut, flag smut and Karnal bunt.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Roshal Lal, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Dr K S Khokhar, Vice-Chancellor, CCS HAU, also said university scientists had conducted field trials for three years, wherein they had found the fungicide to be effective for Karnal bunt disease. They said that it was based on these trials that the university had recommended the use of fungicide in its package of practices since 2003, while the state government purchased it in 2010.

The Tribune had recently highlighted that the Haryana government had spent crores of rupees for buying a fungicide to treat wheat seeds against Karnal bunt when this particular fungicide is not registered to cure the disease and was effective only as a cure against loose smut and flag smut diseases. The newspaper had also highlighted that the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC) of the Union Ministry of Agriculture had also said that tebucanozol was not registered for treatment against Karnal bunt. Even the company, Bayer Crop Sciences, had later conceded that the fungicide supplied by it to the Haryana government was not registered to treat Karnal bunt, though two agriculture universities - CCS HAU and Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar -- have found that the molecule was effective in treatment against Karnal bunt.

The Tribune had also highlighted that the state government had purchased the fungicide at rates higher than the prevailing market rates and the rates at which this was supplied to other government agencies.

However, Roshan Lal and Dr Khokhar failed to explain why the results of the field trials conducted by the CCS HAU were not passed on to the Government of India so that tebucanozole could be registered for treatment of Karnal bunt. They said that it was the responsibility of the manufacturer to get its fungicide registered as a cure for Karnal bunt and the manufacturer should have pursued the case with the government.

They were also unable to show the results of any of these field trials to the mediapersons, though they claimed to have the results.

Interestingly, The Tribune had highlighted that a Bhiwani-based NGO, Bhiwani Sudhar and Vikas Samiti, had filed an RTI application with the university, asking for an application made by the fungicide-producing company for conducting field trials on the efficacy of tebucanazol to control Karnal bunt disease. The university had said that it was unable to trace the application. However, today Dr Khokhar claimed that Bayer Crop Sciences had deposited a cheque with the university in May 1999 for testing the efficacy of Raxil against loose smut, though the university checkerd the efficacy against all three diseases.

The duo claimed that the incidence of Karnal bunt in Haryana was quite low as compared to loose smut and flag smut. “We have always claimed that the fungicide was procured to control loose smut and flag smut. But the incidence of Karnal bunt has come down and it is just 0.5 per cent now,” said Lal.

He, however, had no answer as to how a state government agency -- Haryana State Seeds Certification Agency -- had itself conceded in an RTI reply that after the fungicide-treated seeds were used in Haryana, the incidence of Karnal bunt had increased in the state. The agency has replied that as against 185 samples that tested positive for Karnal bunt in 2008-09, and 98 samples that tested positive in 2009-10, the number of samples that tested positive for the disease in 2010-11 was 842 - after the fungicide-treated seeds were sold to farmers.

Roshal Lal said the purchase of Raxil was finalised in a high-powered purchase committee for this year, and Ashok Khemka, who had now pointed to irregularities in its purchase, had not raised any objections earlier. 

Gurgaon, March 23
Passing sexist remarks on the dress of national women kabaddi coach and Dronacharya awardee Sunil Dabas has cost dear to Congress MLA from Badshahpur Rao Dharampal.

Dabas fainted on Guru Dronacharya Government College premises yesterday when Dharampal passed the insulting remarks on her dress. She was admitted to a hospital. Activists of the HJC and the BJP staged a demonstration in front of Dharampal’s residence today. — TNS

Jind, March 23
After almost a year, the police has booked four persons, including two women who are relatives of the main accused, in a sexual exploitation case of a minor girl. The main accused has already been arrested.

According to complaint lodged with the police, the girl aged about 17-and-an-half years has alleged that the accused identified as Sunil of Kharalwal village, Narwana, had come into her contact in January 2012 and since then he had been sexually exploiting her.

As per the complainant, Sunil raped her on January 1 when she was alone in her house. She alleged that three persons helped him in exploiting her that went on for the past one year. She could not lodge a complaint as the accused also threatened her of dire consequences if she revealed the incident to anyone.

Station house officer (Sadar Police) Kulwant Bishnoi said a case had been booked relevant sections of the IPC against Sunil, Sonu, Rani and Sudesh.

Rani and Sudesh are sisters of the main accused and Sonu is also reported to be a relative of the main accused. Police sources said the matter was related to an affair between the accused and the victim and the latter wanted to get married to the boy which could not materialise in the period. Sunil has been arrested but the police is yet to arrest the other accused.

In another case, two youths were given 10 years’ jail and a penalty of Rs 10,000 each by the district court in a case of alleged abduction and gang-rape of a girl at Jhanjkhurd village of in August, 2012.

The convicts have been identified as Vijay and Amarjit who had made a MMS clip of the victim and threatened her of dire consequences if she revealed the incident to anyone. The court has, however, acquitted a couple who had been booked on the charges of helping the accused in the incident.

Sirsa, March 23
One person was killed and three were injured when a roadside tree fell on the Innova vehicle they were travelling in near Bajekan village on the Sirsa-Delhi National Highway 10 this morning.

The deceased has been identified as Suresh, a resident of Hanumangarh.

The victim was driving the ill-fated vehicle when a poplar tree fell on it, damaging the front portion of the vehicle badly.

The injured persons have been admitted to the General Hospital at Sirsa for treatment.

Manoj Kumar, a computer professional from Tibbi in Rajasthan, was going to Delhi to attend a function with his wife and 5-year-old daughter.