The Haryana Government bought tebucanazol from a multi-national company at 34-38 per cent more cost than the prevailing market rates at the time the deal was inked to buy the fungicide for the treatment of loose smut, flag smut and Karnal bunt diseases in wheat seeds. Documents available with The Tribune reveal that while Haryana was buying the fungicide for Rs 1,343 per kg since October 2010, the same fungicide was being supplied to the Uttarakhand Government at Rs 970 per kg (inclusive of all taxes) and to National Seeds Corporation at Rs 1,000 per kg. While the Uttarakhand government had purchased 900 kg of the fungicide for Rs 8.73 lakh, the Haryana Government had bought it for a much higher price of Rs 1,343 per kg. Haryana government had reportedly bought 4,50,000 kg of the fungicide. A year later, in 2011, the National Seeds Corporation, too, bought the fungicide (from private dealers) at Rs 1,000 per kg. The sale receipts, available with The Tribune show that the fungicide was available for much less amount in the open market than the rate at which the company supplied it directly to the Haryana government. This aspect was also highlighted by the managing director of the Haryana Seeds Development Corporation (HSDC), Ashok Khemka, with the multi national company, supplying the fungicide. The company general manager, in his reply to the HSDC, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, had personally certified that the rate offered to HSDC, other government organisations and seed producers in Haryan, as decided in the state’s high powered purchase committee, are the best rates of the fungicide than any other dealer in Haryana. Over the past three years, Haryana Government has spent Rs 60 crore to purchase tebucanazol from the multi-national company for curing, among other diseases, Karnal bunt, in wheat crop. However, this particular fungicide is not even registered to cure the disease, with the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC). The issue was highlighted in the news columns of The Tribune, in its issue dated March 14. The Tribune had highlighted how the Haryana Government had mandated the compulsory use of tebucanazol for treatment of wheat seeds, as a pre-condition to their certification since 2010-11. The cost of Raxil is reimbursed out of public funds to certified wheat seeds produced and sold in Haryana and the state has reimbursed almost Rs 60 crore out of public money in the last three years. This recommendation, making use of the fungicide mandatory, was made by the CCS Haryana Agricultural University. Karnal bunt up with fungicide use? A Bhiwani-based NGO, Bhiwani Sudhar and Vikas Samiti, had filed an RTI application with the university, asking for application made by the fungicide producing company for conducting field trials on the efficacy of tebucanazol to control Karnal bunt. In its reply to the NGO, a copy of which is with The Tribune, the university has said it was unable to trace the application. Interestingly, data gathered by this NGO from the Haryana State Seeds Certification Agency, also shows that after the fungicide treated seeds were used in Haryana, the incidence of Karnal bunt has actually increased in the state. The agency has replied that as against 185 samples that tested posditive for Karnal bunt in 2008-09, and 98 samples that tested positive in 2009-10, the number of samples that tested positive for the disease in 2010-11 were 842, said Capt Pawan Kumar Anchal, president of the NGO.