CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Thursday that the 135.65-km-long Kundli-Manesar Palwal Expressway (KMP Expressway) would be completed on schedule by the middle of 2009 at a cost of Rs.1,915 crore. The total project cost of the country's longest expressway does not include the cost of land, Rs.630 crore. Aerial survey

Bhupinder Singh Hooda CHANDIGARH: The Mewat Development Agency has prepared a Rs.76.90-crore district development plan for Mewat district in accordance with the Prime Minister's new 15-point programme for the welfare of minorities, Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Wednesday after a meeting of the Mewat Development Board here.

CHANDIGARH: While speeding up activity to further strengthen and improve the network of roads in Haryana, the State Public Works (Building and Roads) Department has allotted 12 more works involving an investment of Rs.944.23 crore, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Tuesday. Other projects He further disclosed that 15 other projects involving an investment of Rs.82.05 crore had either been completed or were nearing completion.

Sirsa: The state government has announced Rs 100 bonus on select varieties of paddy brought to the market from September 26, 2007, to December 31. V. Umashankar said here today that all commission agents had been directed to pay Rs 100 against a quintal on "leviable' and grade A paddy, which were procured at Rs 645 and Rs 675 per quintal, respectively.

NEW DELHI: After a tiger skeleton was recovered from a residential premises at Surat Nagar in Gurgaon on Monday following a combined raid by the local police and officials of the Delhi-based Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, the Haryana police have registered a case and are now looking for the accused identified as Bhima Bavaria.

GURGAON/NEW DELHI: A complete tiger skeleton was recovered from a residential premises at Surat Nagar in Gurgaon on Monday afternoon following a combined raid by the Gurgaon police and officials of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. A senior official of the Bureau said: "The raid was carried out following a tip-off from a non-government organisation working in the field of wildlife conservation. We raided the residence and found a complete tiger skeleton and traps used by poachers to capture wild animals in the forest. The skeleton weighs over 10 kg.'

July 7: In a joint operation between Haryana police and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, about 20 kg of suspected tiger bones have been seized in Suratnagar village near Pataudi in Haryana. Sources in the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau said the chances of these bones being of tigers is 99 per cent and they are fresh, which were preserved in salt. Officials also seized iron traps which are used to catch tigers by the poachers.

Employment of 7.49 lakh man-days has been generated, 408 water tanks have been constructed and 214 tanks are under construction under a new initiative taken by Haryana Horticulture Department to integrate a component of National Horticulture Mission with Micro Irrigation.

The oil price hike burdens already strained State finances and threatens to jeopardise welfare programmes run by State governments. THE Union government's decision to raise the prices of petroleum products has placed State governments in a quandary. While taxes on petroleum products constitute a significant proportion of a State's revenue, a reduction of these taxes could undermine the State's fiscal balance.

The higher Bt cotton acreage and output will partially compensate the overall decline in cotton acreage and output in North India in 2008-09 (October-September), O P Agarwal, executive director, Cotton Association of India, said today. Lack of irrigation in Ganganagar cotton belt in Rajasthan led to a 35 per cent fall in cotton acreage from 368,000 hectares in 2007-08.