Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, while chairing the meeting of the High-Powered Purchase Committee (HPPC), on Tuesday approved the purchase of textbooks and workbooks for classes I to VIII in government schools of the state before the start of the academic session 2024-25. The printing cost for this is estimated to be around Rs 55 crores. In addition, in the meeting of HPPC and the High Powered Works Purchase Committee (HPWPC), approvals were given for contracts and purchases worth Rs. 264 crores. After negotiations with various bidders, approximately Rs 5 crores have been saved by setting competitive rates, said an official spokesperson.

School Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar, Higher Education Minister Mool Chand Sharma, Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister JP Dalal, Cooperation Minister Dr Banwari Lal, Urban Local Bodies Minister  Dr Kamal Gupta, and Minister of State for Labour Anoop Dhanak were present during the meeting.

The spokesperson said that in the meeting of HPPC and HPWPC, 13 agendas, including the School Shiksha Pariyojana Parishad, Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department, Irrigation and Water Resources Department, GMDA and FMDA were approved.

He further said that the Haryana government is actively implementing micro-irrigation projects with a focus on water conservation and higher productivity with less water. In this regard, approval was given to a project for the use of treated water from the 15 MLD capacity STP plant established in Jind for the micro-irrigation project. The installation of a community-based solar/grid-operated integrated micro-irrigation basic infrastructure on the STP is estimated to cost around Rs 30 crores.

In the meeting, under the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority,  approval was given for upgrading and special maintenance work to be carried out for Master Roads Dividing in Sector-103/106, Sector-102A/103, Sector 102/102A, and Sector-106/109, as well as Sector 75/75A. Additionally, approval was given for the development work of roads, footpaths, cycle tracks, drainage, gardening, and other works on the master road dividing Sectors 27/28 and 28/43. Furthermore, under the Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority, approval was granted for the special maintenance work of various master roads from Sector 75 to 89 in Greater Faridabad. The estimated cost for all these works is around Rs. 159 crores.