
Four months after the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav began distributing free laptops to students, it now turns out that Hewlett Packard, the supplier, has not been paid for more than 5 lakh laptops it has so far delivered. With a Rs 900-crore bill pending, HP has threatened to stop further supplies till dues are settled, government sources said. In June 2012, the Samajwadi Party government had announced a budget of Rs 2,721.24 crore for distributing tablets and laptops tomeritorious students of classes X and XII. Of this, while Rs 400 crore was earmarked for tablets, the remaining was to be spent on laptops. But funds got entangled...