The fact came to light when a Sirsa-based organisation demanded information from the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board regarding income through collection of market fees and expenditure on development works of various market committees in the state.

The figures supplied by the board provide credence to allegations of the INLD that Sirsa and Fatehabad are being ignored at the expense of Rohtak and Jhajjar by the government.

Interestingly, similar allegations regarding their area being overlooked at the expense of Sirsa and Fatehabad were levelled by people from Rohtak and Jhajjar, when the INLD was in power.

The reply provided by the chief administrator of the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board, Panchkula, said as per section 26 of the Punjab Agriculture Produce Market Act, 1961, the marketing committees, which were 106 in number in the state, were fully competent to execute development works as deposit works.

The reply further said these market committees were fully competent to incur expenditure on development works and though there were no fixed criteria for expenditure incurred on development works, yet of the total income, 70 per cent was to spent on development activities while the rest 30 per cent was to be spent on the salaries of employees of the board and on pensioners.

The reply submitted by the board revealed that a sum of Rs 711.96 lakh was collected by the market committee, Fatehabad, by way of market fees on the sale of agricultural produce of farmers during from April 1, 2007, to December 31, 2007.

However, only Rs 189.32 lakh was spent on development works in the area falling under this committee during the corresponding period.Similarly, the Sirsa market committee collected a revenue of Rs 1166.48 lakh by way of market fees during this period, but only a paltry sum of Rs 253.99 lakh was spent on development activities in the areas falling under Sirsa market committee.

Tohana and Ratia market committees falling under Fatehabad district collected a revenue of Rs 475.90 lakh and Rs 622.84 lakh, respectively, during this period, but when it came to their share in development works, Rs 145.40 lakh and Rs 127.25 lakh, respectively, were spent in the area falling under these committees.

The Rania and Ellenabad marketing committees in Sirsa district, which collected Rs 500.66 lakh and Rs 665.40 lakh, respectively, by way of market fees during the same period, seem to be the worst affected as trivial sums of Rs 63.91 lakh and Rs 76.30 lakh were spent on development activities in areas falling under these committees.

On the contrary, the Rohtak market committee that collected Rs 509.47 lakh during this period cornered Rs 1,007.98 lakh for development works.

Jhajjar, another area where a hefty sum of Rs 476.77 lakh was spent on development projects, collected merely Rs 173.78 lakh.