Chautala lashes out at Haryana Govt

Leader of Opposition and INLD’s senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala on Tuesday lashed out at the Haryana Government over deteriorating law and order situation and repeated agitations by government employees, farmers and other sections of the society in the State.

Chautala, while speaking  during the discussion on Governor’s address said, “Since the BJP came to the power in Haryana, various government employees like guest teachers, anganwadi workers, safai karamcharis, ASHA workers, roadways employees, computer lab assistants, farmers, traders and many others have been holding agitations in the state.”

The INLD legislator went onto say that there was nothing in Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki’s address this year and hence, even he did not read out his entire address and urged the members of the House to treat the speech ‘as read’ by him

Deputy Speaker Santosh Yadav intervened, saying that it is the prerogative of the Governor and he can do this.

On the issue of farmers protest, Chautala said that on February 23, farmers from various parts of Haryana and other states were moving towards Delhi to hold protest but they were detained by the Haryana Police at Faridabad. Not only this, the police lathicharged the farmers and sent them to jails.

It was not Haryana Government’s duty to stop those farmers, it was Central Government’s duty. The State Government should immediately release those arrested farmers and withdraw case registered against them, he said.

 Taking a dig at BJP chief Amit Shah’s rally at Jind in February, Chautala said, empty chairs welcomed Amit Shah at the rally even as the party was claiming to gather more than one lakh people.

Replying to this, Minister Anil Vij said that the opposition released the videos and pictures of empty chairs before the beginning of the rally. I went to the rally and all chairs and even the entire ground was filled to capacity, claimed Vij.

Continuing his tirade against the government, Chautala said that the government is not concerned about the people of the state but only concerned about saffronisation.

4,592 people died due to cancer

As many as 4,592 persons died due to cancer in Haryana in 2017, the State Assembly was informed on Tuesday. The cancer deaths in the state were 3,380 in 2015 and 3,782 in 2016, informed the State Government in reply to a question.

The highest number of cancer deaths last year took place in Faridabad district (771), followed by 501 deaths in Yamuna Nagar, 440 in Jind and 354 in Rohtak district. Panchkula district had the least number of cancer deaths (five) last year.

In reply to another related question, the State Assembly was informed that Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC), biopsy and pap smear for early detection of cancer are being performed free of cost in various civil hospitals of the state. Cancer patients in Haryana are also allowed to travel in Haryana Roadways buses for free.

The government had spent over Rs 2.27 crore from January 2015 to January 2018 for treatment of cancer patients under various schemes. No direct financial assistance is provided to cancer patients, the Assembly was informed.

Rs 40.8 l spent on chintan-shivir

The State Government had spent Rs 40,08,718 during the three-day chintan-shivir  (workshop on governance issues) for Ministers, MLAs and bureaucrats at Timber Trail Heights in Himachal in December last year.

Giving details of total expenditure on chintan shivir, the government informed that Rs 31.98 lakh was spent on accommodation, Rs 7.94 lakh on food and Rs 15,420 for transport.

The shivir had attracted severe criticism from the opposition over alleged wastage of public money.

A day before, the Governor had praised the government’s first ever ‘chintan shivir’ held at Timber Trail Heights. 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, he had said.

Cases registered

From the years 2015 to 2017, 246 cases under Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act -1971, 142 cases under the Pre-conception and Pre-natal-diagnostic Techniques Act 1994 and 9 under Registration of Birth and Death Act 1969 were registered in Haryana, informed the State Government in a reply to a question.

Constitution of a Corpus Fund of Rs 150 crore

Haryana Finance Minister, Capt. Abhimanyu announced the constitution of a Corpus Fund of Rs 150 crore to ensure timely disbursement of salaries to the contractual employees engaged under various central government sponsored projects running in the state. He said that the decision to constitute this corpus fund has been taken as sometimes there is a delay in getting the central share under various centrally sponsored projects. The corpus fund would be created on the pattern of Rs 100 crore fund already set up to negate the delay in getting central share under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), he said. 

Gram Sachivs and Patwaris to check stubble burning

Haryana Government has directed the Gram Sachivs and Patwaris to bring all the incidents of burning of wheat stubble or paddy straw and other agricultural waste in the open fields during the harvest seasons, to the notice of concerned Deputy Commissioners within 30 minutes of the occurrence of such incidents.

Process to set up 11 medical colleges under progress

Haryana Health Minister, Anil Vij in reply to a question said that the process to set up 11 medical colleges is under progress whereas 11 other medical colleges are already functioning in the state. 

The Government is working to establish at least one medical college in each district. Five government medical colleges, a government aided and five private medical colleges are functioning in the State.