Cong raises 'fake seed' issue in Hry Assembly, BJP hits back

Opposition Congress today raised the issue of "fake wheat seed" in the Haryana Assembly and demanded a probe in the matter.
Raising the matter through a Calling Attention Notice, Congress' Karan Singh Dalal said that the state government "is playing in the hands of private seed suppliers who are supplying fake wheat seed in the garb of certified seed" to the Haryana farmers.
The issue saw Dalal and Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar engage in war of words. The Congress MLA later staged a walkout for government's failure to order a probe in the matter.
Earlier, Dalal alleged that the BJP government, instead of ensuring quality wheat seed for the farmers of Haryana, was playing into the hands of the private suppliers, who were supplying "fake seed to the Haryana Seed Development Corporation (HSDC)".

"The subsidy on wheat seeds is being pocketed by the government officials in connivance with the private seed suppliers," Dalal alleged.
Dhankar claimed that till date, about 5.83 lakh quintals of certified seed had been sold to the farmers at a subsided rate of Rs 1,875 per quintal.

"The HSDC has procured over 2 lakh quintals of certified seed and its quality had been certified by the Haryana Seed Certification Agency," the minister said.
However, not content with minister's reply, Dalal pointed fingers on minister's technical knowledge about the certified seed, triggering a war of words between the two leaders.

This prompted Dhankar to hit back, saying the Congress member was in the habit of asking frivolous question like wanting him to state the definition of certified seed.
Dhankar said that Congress was feeling jittery because the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP Government had started probe into various acts of omission and commission of the previous government, which included the "Raxil pesticide scam".
The BJP MLAs came to Dhankar's defence and attacked Dalal, saying "like he (Dalal) was asking the definition of certified seed from the minister, tomorrow a Health Minister may be asked to detail how a surgery is conducted or a Transport Minister may be asked to drive a bus."

Dhankar even demanded that Dalal should be removed as member of the Assembly for "misleading" the House, but the Congress legislator dared the government to form a high-level committee, saying that he would resign on his own if proved "wrong".
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Meanwhile, Haryana Agriculture Minister O P Dhankar said that an allocation of Rs 99.50 crore has been received from the Government of India for crop diversification in the current year.
Dhankar was replying to another Calling Attention Notice on the concluding day of the winter Session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha here today regarding the alarming adverse effects of the existing crop pattern.

He said that an amount of Rs 43.05 crore had been spent on crop diversification during 2013-14 and Rs 45.85 crore during 2014-15.
The Agriculture Department is implementing crop diversification scheme since 2013-14. Three activities, mainly laying of demonstration plots of alternative crops, providing subsidy on water saving implements, and encouraging the use of underground pipelines are being undertaken under the scheme, he said.