Sirsa, May 18
The state is witnessing a decline in wheat procurement this year. The reasons behind the shortfall this year are claimed to be the low production due to inclement weather conditions during the maturity of grains, diversion of crop to Narela and other private markets from the neighbouring districts and announcement of bonus by poll-bound Rajasthan.

Against the total procurement of 87.52 lakh metric tonne (MT) wheat in 2012-13, merely 58.69 lakh MT had been procured till May 17 this year, out of which, 58.60 lakh MT had been procured by the government agencies.

Sirsa was leading in wheat arrival where over 8.31 lakh MT of wheat had so far arrived in the mandis, followed by Karnal where over 6.53 lakh MT of wheat had arrived in the mandis.

Fatehabad ranked third with over 6.03 lakh MT of wheat followed by Kaithal with over 5.61 lakh MT, Jind with over 5.48 lakh MT of wheat arrival. In Kurukshetra district, over 4.56 lakh MT of wheat had arrived.

Similarly, in Hisar district over 4.25 lakh MT, in Sonepat over 2.98 lakh MT, in Panipat over 2.34 lakh MT, in Palwal over 2.10 lakh MT, in Ambala district over 2.04 lakh MT, in Yamunanagar district over 1.90 lakh MT, in Bhiwani over 1.68 lakh MT, in Rohtak over 1.50 lakh MT, in Faridabad district 91,010 MT, in Jhajjar district 72,022 MT, in Gurgaon 45,822 MT, in Mewat district 42,273 MT, in Panchkula 33,982 MT, in Rewari district 20,083 MT and in Narnaul 17,795 MT of wheat had arrived in the mandis.

With procurement season almost over, the government agencies do not hope to purchase much of the crop now.

The sharp decline in procurement is set to hit the farmers, grain market traders as well as the functioning of the procurement agencies hard this year.

“The highest production per hectare in our area has dipped from 65 quintal per hectare last year to 58 quintal per hectare this year. However, this is the production of high-yielding new varieties sown by a few farmers like me. In general, the production this year is 47 to 48 quintal per hectare,” said Gurjeet Singh Mann, a progressive farmer from Kirpal Patti village in Sirsa.

Mann, however, added that though the production of wheat was 15-20 per cent lesser than production of last year.

“Last year was exceptional, when we witnessed a long spell of cold weather when the grains were maturing and hot conditions, when the grains needed heat for their ripening,” Mann added.

He said on the contrary, farmers had to deal with uneven chills and relatively higher temperatures during the maturing period and also rise in diseases like yellow rust this year.

Dr Mahavir Singh, Director General-cum- Secretary, Food and Supplies Department of Haryana, said inclement weather during the maturity period of wheat grain alone accounted for a loss of 15 to 20 per cent in the procurement.

Further, private markets of Delhi, particularly the one at Narela, attracted farmers from the neighbouring districts of Haryana, due to the better price they offered.

The neighbouring state of Rajasthan, which is going for polls this year, also offered Rs 150 as bonus to the farmers. The total procurement this year was expected to touch 60 lakh MT, he added. This would be the lowest procurement since 2008-09 when 52.37 lakh MT of wheat was procured.

Bhiwani, May 18
Public Health Engineering Minister Kiran Choudhry today said over Rs 200 crore would be spent on improving the supply of drinking water in the Dadri and Badhra assembly segments of Bhiwani this year.

Choudhry was addressing villagers after laying the foundation stone of water works project to be constructed in Bigowa village in Dadri at a cost of Rs 2.67 crore.

She said the Public Health and Enginering Department had a plan to spend Rs 118 crore in Dadri and over Rs 100 crore in Badhra for setting up of new water projects.

Both Dadri and Badhra fall under the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh parliamentary constituency represented by the minister's daughter Shruti Choudhry.

Remembering her family's association with the area, Kiran Choudhry said her father-in-law, a former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, and her husband Surender Singh had done a lot for the area and now her daughter Shruti Choudhry was making efforts to ensure that Bhiwani always lead in terms of development.

She said after assuming the charge of the Public Health and Engineering Department, new water works projects and tube wells were being set up at different places to ensure drinking water in every village.

She also laid the foundation stones of new water works projects in Dhani Phogat at Rs. 2.67 crore, in Balkara at Rs 1.48 crore, in Dudhwa at Rs 2.32 crore, in Balali at Rs 1.66 crore and in Khorda at Rs 7.63 crore.

She said for the development of southern Haryana, Shruti Choudhry has got approved various development works from the Central Government.

The minister also unveiled the statue of martyr Sandeep Singh at Morwala village in the Dadri assembly segment of Bhiwani.

Chandigarh, May 18
The political temperature is hotting up in Haryana ahead of the June 2 Municipal Corporation elections. With the BJP releasing the first list of 18 candidates for the Panipat Municipal Corporation , the filing of nomination is picking up momentum with 150 candidates filing their nomination till today.

In fact, 120 candidates filed their nominations on the third day of filing nominations - the highest so far - for the seven MCs. Besides, the filing of the nominations by the candidates, the door-to-door campaigning by the candidates also picked up momentum.

The HJC’s decision to allow its cadre to contest has left the BJP red-faced raising doubts about the continuation of the alliance. The INLD and the BJP are leaving no stone unturned to wrest the crucial MCs ahead of the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections next year. It is being felt by the Opposition parties that their win would help them some brownie points over the Hooda government fighting anti-incumbency and allegations of regional bias in development from detractors within the party and the Opposition.

While the Congress is banking on the unprecedented development under the present regime, the Opposition is trying to put the government on the mat for the Hooda government’s various acts of omission and commission besides regional bias in development and jobs.

Meanwhile. Election Commissioner, Haryana, Dharam Vir said while nine candidates filed their papers from Ambala, 42 from Hisar, 20 from Panchkula, 21 from Panipat, 36 from Karnal, 17 from Rohtak and five from Yamunanagar. Besides, six candidates filed nomination papers from Farukh Nagar and 14 from Kalanaur Municipal Council, also going to the polls on June 2, he added. 

Chandigarh, May 18
The second attack by members of the Ror community on the Dalits in Pabnawa village of Kaithal district on May 14 has derailed the gradually building camaraderie and escalated tension.

Though the police immediately booked and arrested the accused, the Dalits feel far from secure, claiming relocating their community may be the only lasting solution. Also, for the first time, the Dalits expressed apprehension that a village leader was “playing politics” and disrupting peace.

Having already packed off their families to “safer places” since their return two weeks back following a government-initiated “peace-pact”, the Dalits insist that fear haunts them in the village.

On April 13, the village peace was shattered after members of the Ror community, angry over the marriage of a Dalit boy to a Ror girl, attacked the Dalits, injuring them and damaging their property. The government brokered peace between the two communities. The still fragile “peace accord” suffered a blow after two Ror boys attacked a couple of members of the Dalit community on May 14.

A member of the committee and a Dalit, Lakhmi Chand, said the common sentiment prevailing among the Dalits is that they must leave the village for good. “It seems unlikely that this tension will ease. The wounds of the April 13 attack are still raw. We have made a request to PWD Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala to shift us out of the village. We have also given the option to consolidate the three Dalit settlements at one place. A meeting of the panchayat is slated for tomorrow,” he said.

Heading the peace committee from among the Dalits, Ram Kumar, said that a fear psychosis prevails among the Dalits. “We feel vulnerable. The families were sent back after the May 14 violence. This arrangement does not seem lasting. Though relocation seems the best bet, we are working on getting the scattered families at one place to feel safer,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, Surjewala visited the village today and interacted with the Dalits and Rors. He cautioned them against “those vested interests conspiring to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere” of the village.

Surjewala went to the chaupals of both communities and interacted with the people and heard their point of view. He said some elements wanted to disrupt the village peace. 

Rewari, May 18
Irate residents of Baliar Kalan village blocked traffic on the Rewari-Dharuhera-Delhi road at Hansaka village, about 6 km from here today, in protest against the erratic water supply in the village.

Raising slogans against the administration, they complained that when they had resorted to a blockade about 15 days ago against the poor water supply, the authorities had assured them of doing the needful, but had done nothing.

The blockade, which lasted for about four hours, was lifted at the persuasion of Narender Sarwan, District Development and Panchayat Officer, who assured them that their concern would be addressed soon.

Chandigarh, May 18
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has said the state government would expand the scope of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) to cover beneficiaries in all 21 districts in the state. This decision would benefit more than 10 lakh poor families and Haryana would be the first state in the country to implement such a unique scheme.

The Chief Minister had launched this plan yesterday at Tarou with funds from the Central Government for two districts of Mewat and Sirsa. However, he decided to give financial package to the Self-Help-Groups (SHGs) formed by rural poor families under this scheme in remaining 19 districts from the state's own resources on the pattern of the Central Government.

Fatehabad, May 18
A Drug Control Officer (DCO) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Haryana, today took samples of iron and folic acid (IFA) tablets from the community health centre (CHC) at Ratia where over a hundred schoolchildren had been taken ill after consuming these tablets in the past four days.

Raman Sheoran, DCO, Hisar, today took samples of three different batches of iron tablets supplied by a little known company M/s Medicamen Organics Limited based in Haridwar.

Sheoran said samples of three batches 39, 40 and 41 of these tablets had been taken today. Dr VK Jain, Senior Medical Officer in the CHC, Ratia, said he had received 6 lakh tablets and out of these, 3 lakh tablets had already been consumed. GL Singal, State Drug Control, Haryana, said the reports of these samples would be received within a week.

Meanwhile, those connected with the drug industry maintain that the reports of samples might not help in ascertaining the cause of complications witnessed due to its use.

Chandigarh, May 18
Haryana Power Minister Ajay Singh Yadav said there would be no shortage of power in the summer as adequate arrangements had been made in this regard.

Yadav, who reviewed a meeting of power corporations yesterday, said at present the rural electricity consumers were being supplied electricity up to14 hours and urban consumers up to 22 hours. He said the Central Government had invited applications from all states and Haryana had applied for three places, regarding allocation of coal blocks. He hoped that after allocation of coal blocks to Haryana, the power supply would be further improved.

He said with a view to curb the theft of power and to ensure power supply on the urban pattern, it was decided to install PVC pipes.

As experiment, these pipes were installed in three villages of district Hisar where the line losses which was 60 per cent earlier had been reduced to 10 per cent. He directed the officers to ensure that the meters especially in urban areas should be installed outside their houses and take strict action otherwise.

The minister was apprised in the meeting that the Bijli Suvidha Kendras (BSK) have been asked to register all type of complaints of consumers. To ensure this, telephone number service 155333 have been started on all such centers.

Apart from this, for the online registration of complaints, an online consumer grievance redressal system has been developed.

Sonepat, May 18
Two armed youths were arrested for looting a truck driver on the GT Road today. One of them was impersonating as a policeman.

The youths have been identified as Navdeep Singh and Pritpal Singh of Tilak Nagar in Delhi. The police has seized a pistol, a police uniform and a car from their possession.

The police said a truck driver Sonu lodged a complaint at the Murthal police station that he was on the way to Gharonda from Delhi with his paddy loaded truck. Around 3 am today, a Sentro car overtook his truck on the GT Road. One of the accused came out of a car and asked him to show his papers to the policeman sitting in the car.

A person in police uniform and holding a pistol in his hand was sitting in the car. When the papers were shown to him, the impersonator said the papers were not complete and asked him to pay a fine of Rs 2,500. While he was taking out the money, the accused snatched Rs 600 from him and sped away.

After receiving a complaint, the police laid a trap on the GT Road and arrested the accused.