Haryana Assembly budget session: Separate tender will be floated if ongoing project requires expansion, says CM Saini

Responding to a query during the question hour of the Vidhan Sabha, CM Saini said that the move is aimed at effectively addressing issues related to cost enhancement and budget escalation

Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini informed the Haryana Assembly on Thursday that the state government has decided that a separate tender will be required if any expansion in the already approved and under construction project becomes necessary.

He said that necessary directions have already been issued to officers concerned of all departments in this regard. (HT Photo for representation)

Responding to a query during the question hour of the Vidhan Sabha, CM Saini said that the move is aimed at effectively addressing issues related to cost enhancement and budget escalation.

Saini said that it is often observed that once a project is underway, its scope is expanded midway. Repeated expansions during implementation create several complications, leading to increase in project costs and enhancement-related challenges, he said.

The CM said that to address these issues, the government has decided that if a project is already under execution and any additional work or expansion is required later, it will be carried out through a fresh and separate tender process. He added that necessary directions have already been issued to officers concerned of all departments in this regard.

‘Cyber attack delayed DSR payment’

Haryana agriculture and farmers’ welfare minister, Shyam Singh Rana told the Assembly that the incentive being paid to farmers for adopting what is called “Direct Seeded Rice (DSR)” technique, the ₹4,000 per acre incentive was not paid to some farmers due to a “cyber attack on the cloud server”.

The minister was responding to a question by Congress MLA Gokul Setia (Sirsa), who had asked if it was true that the government had not paid ₹4,000 per acre to about 18,000-19,000 farmers who adopted the DSR method for paddy cultivation during Kharif 2024.

Rana said that under the scheme, 27,378 farmers in the state were found eligible for benefits, covering a total area of 1,56,891 acres. Out of these, 18,007 farmers cultivating 1,09,245 acres have already been paid an incentive amount of ₹40.36 crore at the rate of ₹4,000 per acre.

The minister further stated that the payment of ₹19.06 crore to 9,371 farmers covering 47,646 acres is still pending. The delay occurred due to a cyberattack on the cloud server, which led to the isolation of the data cluster protected by RailTel Corporation of India. The department is coordinating with RailTel to restore the data. Once the data is restored, the pending payments will be released, he said.

“The payment for the remaining area will be disbursed immediately upon restoration of access to the data. Alternative mechanisms to facilitate early release of pending incentives are also being explored,” he said.