As much as 39.33 lakh metric tonne of wheat has arrived in the 362 mandis of Haryana so far. The arrival of wheat is gradually picking up and the procurement of wheat has started from April one. Stating this here on Sunday, the Deputy Chief Minister, Chander Mohan said that out of the total wheat arrival, 39.07 lakh metric tonne had been procured by six Government procuring agencies at the minimum support price of Rs 1000 per quintal besides 25,740 metric tonne was purchased by the traders.

Haryana Power Utilities will spend Rs.239 crore by the year 2011 to initiate power reforms in Gurgaon district, an official spokesman said here on Saturday. He disclosed that under this plan, new sub-stations would be set up and the capacity of existing sub-stations would be augmented. Also, new transmission lines would be laid in a phased manner. He further disclosed that seven new sub-stations would be set up in Gurgaon during the current financial year at a cost of Rs.164.40 crore.

Five lakh gunny bags of wheat procured by various purchase agencies are lying dumped in the grain market of Ambala city, which is causing inconvenience to farmers and the grain dealers. The grain market sealers associations are protesting against the failure of the district administration, even then, no proper arrangements of lifting the produce has been made so far. Ambala city is the biggest grain market of the district, where besides Ambala, the farmers of near by Punjab area also bring their produce.

The Haryana Cabinet on Monday approved establishment of Haryana Rural Roads and Infrastructure Development Agency. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda told media persons after the meeting that this agency would undertake infrastructure projects, particularly rural road works approved under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, as well as "plan, execute, monitor and review the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna and other similar programmes'.

A member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Justice Y. Bhaskar Rao, has appreciated the Haryana Government's concern to eradicate child labour and its consideration to provide employment opportunities to the families, whose children are engaged as labour. Justice Rao was addressing a workshop on bonded labour and child labour organised by the NHRC in collaboration with the Haryana Labour Department here today.

After getting a show cause notice from the Haryana State Pollution Control Board, the Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) has applied for consent of the board under the Water Act and the Air Act (prevention and control of pollution). The HPGCL had started commercial production from the first unit of 300 MW of Deenbandhu Chottu Ram thermal plant here with the mandatory consent from the board. Sources in the board said consent would be issued after verification of the documents filed by the HPGCL.

The Haryana Cabinet today increased the fee for grant of mining lease from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000, whereas fee for application for transfer of mining lease has also been increased from Rs 100 to Rs 20,000. The Cabinet also took significant decisions to exempt renewable energy power projects from any CLU charges and increased educational qualification of gram sachivs from matric to Plus Two. It also approved revised criteria for allotting 100 square yard plots to SCs and BPL families. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda presided over the meeting.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said that the present government has augmented the supply of potable drinking water in 2,691 villages during the last three years. The government has also launched the Rs 206-crore Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Supply Scheme to augment water supply in Mewat area of southern Haryana.

There will be some relief from power cuts this summer, as 15 per cent more power will be available in the state as compared to last year. Stating this, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (Power) Ashok Lavasa said the extra power would be arranged by way of bilateral arrangements made with other states, including Himachal Pradesh, J&K and Madhya Pradesh.

The Central government is scrutinising the steep escalation costs of 330-MW Kishenganga power project. The project proposed on a tributary of river Jhelum in Gurez Valley is proving to be a non-starter due to 68 per cent cost escalation. While modifying the design of the project by reducing storage, Union Cabinet had approved the project at the cost of Rs. 2238 crore in July 2007. But, even after eight months since the Cabinet approval the major works could not be awarded due to high price bids.