Seed giant, Hoechst Schering Agrevo Ltd (HSAL) has been ordered by the Pune district consumer redressal forum to pay Rs 96,000 to DH Holkar, a farmer from a village in Baramati taluka, for selling defective seeds. Holkar bought 2 kgs of hybrid Okra (lady's finger) seeds from the multinational seed company's Baramati agent in February 1992, for Rs 1,600.

The company brochure claimed the seeds were immune to a viral disease, yellow vein mosaic virus (YVMV) and guaranteed a yield of 14 to 15 tonnes per acre, using 2 kgs of seed. However, the plants were entirely contaminated by YVMV and the yield was 1603 kgs, giving Holkar a net income of Rs 3,502.

The consumer forum has upheld the farmer's contention of defective goods and ordered Hoechst Schering Agrevo to pay him a compensation of Rs 90,000 for the failure of the crop, Rs 5,000 towards mental torture and Rs 1,000 as cost of the complaint. The total amount, Rs 96,000 carries an interest of 18 per cent per annum from April 1, 1994 and has to be paid within three months of the consumer forum's order.

Himachal Pradesh seeks Rs 25 crore to develop national highways

Himachal Pradesh government on Friday urged the centre to provide Rs 25 crore to the state for development of national highways, according to the state government spokesman here.

He said the demand was put forward by the state public works minister JBL Khachi, in a meeting with the union transport minister TG Venkatraman here. Khachi said that advancement of the money had become necessary to complete the sanctioned work for development of national highways in the state within the stipulated time frame.

Khachi told the union minister that the proposal for development of Swarghat-Pinjore section of national highway no-22, which partly fell in haryana and partly in Himachal, had already been forwarded to the centre.

Andhra Pradesh forms cabinet sub-committee on power

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday announced constitution of a three-member cabinet sub-committee to help government finalise policies on power.

Talking to newsmen after holding discussions on the functioning of Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board (APSEB) here, Naidu said the sub-committee, consisting of minister for finance P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, minister for revenue T Devender Goud and minister for major and medium irrigation T Nageswara Rao, would hold discussions with different sections of people and help finalise policies for improving power situation in the state.

He said electricity was an important item that touched all sectors of the society -- industrial, agricultural an domestic -- and top priority would be given for resolving all issues concerning power.

Agro-workers bill likely in monsoon session

The government intends to bring about the much-awaited legislation on agriculture workers in the forthcoming monsoon session of parliament, the labour minister MP Veerendra Kumar said on Friday.

He told a press conference that a fresh draft of the bill was recently circulated to all the states and concerned departments and a two-day conference of state labour ministers, beginning here on monday, would discuss it. The conference would also discuss the issues of child labour and employees' state insurance scheme, he said.

Veerendra Kumar said the government wanted to arrive at a consensus on the new agriculture workers bill intended to protect the interests of about 200 million agriculture labour and small and marginal farmers in the country.

Stating that the issues of agriculture workers and child labour were major components of the United Front's common minimum programme, the minister said a delegation of trade unions, who met him on Fridaay, also demanded the immediate tabling and adoption of the agro-workers bill.

IRFC negotiating $60 million credit from Holland

Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC, a subsidiary of the railway ministry, is holding talks with the Dutch government and banks for a US $60 million line of credit for import of machinery required in the manufacture of electro mechanical units.

IRFC is negotiating for import of AC/DC equipment from Holland for the emus involving nearly $60 million , which includes transfer of technology and equipment, company's managing director NP Srivastav said. The machinery, once acquired by IRFC would be leased out to the railway ministry.

Registered as a non-banking finance company under the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) act, IRFC also has over $165 million line of credit from Japan and Canada.

Rajasthan expects fiscal aid of Rs 5000 cr

Rajasthan on Friday announced that it was confident of receiving financial assistance to the tune of more than Rs 5,000 crore from international funding agencies during the ninth five-year plan for its infrastructure development sector.

The World Bank has already committed to finance various reform linked projects in the desert state which is likely to be sanctioned in the next 18 months, an official spokesman said. The commitment was received after discussions with World Bank officials here last month.

The spokesman said the power sector reforms, initiated by the state government, led the World Bank commit an assistance of Rs 1400 crore in this sector with another international agency, KFW of Germany, chipping in with another Rs 1000 crore. Rajasthan would also be receiving about Rs 750 crore under the district poverty initiative project and Rs 50 crore for road development project.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.