Haryana govt in talks to buy Gurgaon toll plaza

Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said the state government is in talks with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ministry of Road Transport to buy out Gurgaon Toll Plaza, which has been caught in a logjam because of dispute over toll charges.

The toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon express way has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court made the Plaza toll-free on the Delhi-Gurgaon border for a period of two weeks after the cancessionare - Delhi Gurgaon Super Connectivity Limited (DGSCL) - failed to provide a proper plan to avoid congestion at the toll.

Earlier, the NHAI had also sent a notice to terminate contract to DGSCL, an issue which was later resolved out of court. 

On the recent union Cabinet decision to defer a decision on minimum support price (MSP) for wheat, Hooda said that he has written to Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar to hike MSP as fertilzer costs have gone up.

Haryana is the second largest wheat producer in India.

The Cabinet recently deferred a decision on minimum support prize for wheat for 2013-14 crop marketing season (April-March). Earlier, the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) recommended to freeze MSP of wheat at 2012-2013 level of Rs 1,285 per quintal to curtail the rising subsidy.

On the repeated labour problems in Gurgaon hurting investor sentiments, Hooda said there is no general issues with labour in Gurgaon, but only specific problems which are being dealt on a case-by-case basis.