Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar presents an insurance certificate to a beneficiary of a government scheme in Chandigarh on Wednesday. (Express photo: Jaipal Singh)DAYS AHEAD of the announcement of election programme for Haryana Assembly polls, the state BJP government on Wednesday made almost a dozen announcements to woo different sections of society. These include traders, dairy farmers, sanitation workers, anganwari workers and those living in dhanis (hamlets). The government has expanded the scope of Ayushman Bharat Yojana, which provides free treatment upto Rs 5 lakh annually.
Speaking to the journalists, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that as per their estimates, the state Assembly polls will be held before Diwali (October 27). “The government is to be formed by November 2,” he said. The model code of conduct is likely to be enforced soon.
Khattar announced an insurance cover for small and middle level traders in case any of them suffer losses to their stocks. The insurance cover will range from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh as per turnover. According to the government, there are 3.13 lakh firms registered under GST in the state, which will be covered under the scheme.
Under Ayushman Bharat Yojana, free treatment will be offered to families with an annual income of upto Rs 1.8 lakh. The government also announced electricity for 16,700 families living in hamlets mainly in Hisar, Sirsa and Fatehabad districts.
Salaries of sanitation workers has been increased to Rs 15,000 from the current Rs 13,500 in urban areas while it will be Rs 12,500 against the current Rs 11,000 in rural areas. There will be periodical increase in the salary of anganwadi workers.
The Haryana government has also decided to give a waiver of Rs 1,268 crore on milk cess. It has plans to introduce a ‘one-time settlement’ of past dues of milk cess levied on milk plants in the state. The defaulter entity may be permitted to pay the pending principal amount of milk cess due along with simple interest calculated @ 12 per cent (from the date of default) for receiving the benefits of the scheme.
The government claims that this decision will help milk plants in their day-to-day working capital requirement and also buy more milk at better price, which will be beneficial for farmers.
On challans
Khattar announced that they would first launch an awareness campaign regarding the new Motor Vehicles Act which has provision of heavy fines in case of traffic violations. However, he did not say that there won’t be any challans during the campaign, which will be held for over one month. He said there won’t be need of any penalties if the awareness campaign proved successful.
