The Supreme Court today did not allow a plea of Haryana to "lift' water from the Bhakra main line (BML)canal and pump it into the Hansi-Butana. The stay on puncturing the BML to connect the Hansi-Butana canal will continue and the matter will be now heard on July 18. Notably Haryana had submitted a proposal in the apex court to lift 500 cusecs of water through pumping and send it down the Hansi-Butana canal. This is a significant move as by-elections are due in Haryana on May 22.

A large number of students of primary schools in the district are suffering from anaemia and worm infection. To tackle the problem, a campaign to "de-worm" primary schoolchildren of the state has been started with a target of giving oral pills to 13,63,466 students. The children will be given a tablet of albandazole (400 mg).

With the aim of augmenting availability of electricity in Haryana, the state government is undertaking short, medium and long term measures to be self-reliant in power within the next few years. These include commissioning of its three major thermal power projects at Yamuna Nagar, Jhajjar and Hisar which will generate about 3,300 mw of electricity; contracting power from various projects outside the state for 4,000 mw and generating power through bidding process under case I of tariff policy to the tune of 2,000 mw.

Most of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Haryana have not been able to function optimally due to power shortage. SMEs face almost six to eight hours of power failure everyday. SMEs with strong financials rely on captive power, run on diesel gensets, that costs about Rs 12.50 per unit. Power supplied by the the state electricity board costs Rs 4.50 per unit. The going is tough for those who cannot afford captive power. IS Paul, managing director of Panchkula based Drish Shoes Ltd says: "It is not only the issue of availability of power , but of quality as well."

The crop diversification policy of the Haryana government seems to be bearing fruit at last. The area under cotton crop in the state is going to increase to 5.25 lakh hectares from the 4.83 lakh hectares last year, said sources in the Haryana Agriculture Department. Both the desi variety and the BT cotton is going to be sown over a larger area this year. Cotton is generally grown in Hisar, Sirsa, Jind, Fatehabad and Bhiwani districts. May is the sowing season for BT cotton. Having found general acceptability among the people, BT cotton had become more popular with the farmers now.

With the tariff for generation of power through solar energy being fixed at an attractive rate of Rs 15.96 per unit by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC), the state is confident of attracting top corporate houses to set up solar power projects.

Wheat procurement in Punjab and Haryana so far has crossed 100 lakh metric tons and 51 lakh metric tons, respectively. The procurement in Punjab so far has been the highest in the last six years, while that in Haryana has broken the last three years' record, according to Food Corporation of India data. Out of the total procurement in Punjab, government agencies and FCI have lifted 93.95 lakh MTs, an official said here on Friday. In Haryana, government agencies and FCI have procured 50.40 lakh MT.

The state government has decided to immunise all children between 1 to 15 years of age in Ambala district against Japanese Encephalitis (JE) this year. A meeting to implement the Japanese Encephalitis Vaccination Campaign to be started next month was held under the chairmanship of Dr Satvir Chaudhary, director health services (malaria), Haryana, here today.