Governor lists agenda of Haryana Govt

The Budget session of Haryana Assembly began on Monday with Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki highlighting the Manohar Lal Khattar Government’s achievements and setting targets for the next fiscal year. 

During his customary address, the Governor listed the Government’s success in rural and urban development, health, education, women and child development, agriculture among other sectors. 

He also announced introduction of comprehensive state action plan on sexual and gender based violence to address all major components of crime afflicting women and children, insurance scheme for mediapersons, procurement of 500 new buses and hiring another 500 buses and plan of setting up solar power plants in 278 gaushalas (cow shelters).

Solanki did not read the entire text of his customary address that ran into 40 pages, and after about 45 minutes, he urged the members of the House to treat the speech ‘as read’ by him.

Ahead of Indian National Lok Dal’s rally in Delhi on March 7 to press the Central Government for completion of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, Solanki reiterated the State Government’s commitment to obtain its legitimate share of Ravi-Beas waters and the completion of the SYL canal.

“The concerned efforts of State Government have resulted in a favourable verdict from Supreme Court on the Presidential Reference which has paved the way for initiation of the long pending construction work on the remaining portion of SYL canal,” he said.

The Governor, however did not make any mention of controversial Hansi-Butana canal, which was constructed to carry Haryana’s own share of Ravi-Beas waters from Bhakra Command to Western Yamuna Canal and Lift Command and has not been operationalised.

Realizing that law and order is a key issue in the state, Solanki claimed, “The crime situation in Haryana remained well under control during 2017. During this period, 97392 cases under IPC were registered and most of the cases under various heads were solved. The percentage of solved cases of murder was 81.73 percent.”

The BJP led State Government remained under fire from the opposition in past one year over law and order situation. Apart from 2017 dera violence at Panchkula and other parts of Haryana, the cases of brutal rape and murder also led to major embarrassment for Haryana Government.

Congress and Indian National Lok Dal have time and again attacked the Haryana Government over its alleged failure to maintain law and order situation in the State.

The Governor also praised the Government’s first ever ‘chintan shivir’ held at an upscale, Timber Trail Heights in Himachal in December last year. The first ever ‘chintin shivir’ organized by my government has created a common sense of ownership and a strong desire to transform the lives of people of Haryana, said he.

Notably, the three-day chintan-shivir  (workshop on governance issues) for Ministers, MLAs and bureaucrats at Timber Trail Heights had attracted severe criticism from the opposition over alleged wastage of public money. On employment, he said that projects with an investment of Rs32,516 crore providing employment to 150389 persons have been implemented. Upto mid-December 2017, online composite application forms have been filled for 2713 projects.”

Enumerating the Government’s achievements, Solanki said, “Compared to 6012 announcements made during the previous 10 years, 4583 announcements have been made since October 2014 and out of these, 2996 announcements have either been implemented or are in advance stages of implementation.”

 A total 4,78,000 new LPG connections have been released till December 2017, providing a smoke-free and healthy environment to the house wives while cooking, added he.

The Governor further said, “Haryana Government is committed to rolling out Government of India’s National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) in the state by August 15.”

The Government will also soon set up a Haryana Kisan Kalyan Pradhikaran to undertake all possible measures to make agriculture remunerative and enhance agricultural productivity to mitigate the physical, financial and psychological distress of farm household and landless workers, said he.

Apart from this, a  new scheme ‘Irrigation Efficiency Fund’ with assistance from NABARD will be implemented in Haryana from the next financial year for undertaking water conservation and harvesting works in 36 identified overexploited and critical blocks of the state for recharging of the ground water.

The Governor also announced that Cooperative Election Authority would be set up in the state for superintendence, direction and control of the election process in the cooperative organizations.  Meanwhile, the opposition has termed the Governor’s address as “directionless”.

Kiran Choudhry, Leader of the Haryana Congress Legislature Party, has described the Governor’s address as rudderless, and said that it loudly contradicts on many a count what the CM said at his presser the day before, and finds it convenient to gloss over some hard and unforgettable facts inconvenient to the powers that be.

"The Governor address claimed that the crime situation in Haryana remained well under control in 2017 and talked of the cases solved, conveniently glossing over the violence that rocked Panchkula last year claiming more than 30 lives, the dubious distinction the State Government has earned Haryana of being the rape capital of north India, and rampant cases of murders and robberies," the Congress leader added.