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Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday said he has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the recent change in rules for the selection of Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) members.
Speaking in the state assembly, Khattar also said that he will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue when he meets him. ''..When the decision was taken, I wrote to Union home minister (Amit Shah) that Haryana has an objection and even Punjab is objecting,'' Khattar told the assembly. He said the state will present its stand strongly. ''I will also tell MPs from the state to take up the issue (with Centre),'' he said while replying to the debate on the governor's address during the ongoing budget session of the state assembly.
The BBMB, which is a statutory body under the Punjab Reorganisation Act-1966 and manages the water resources of Sutlej and Beas, has a whole-time chairman and two members of irrigation and power.
According to convention, the member (power) is always from Punjab and the member (irrigation) is from Haryana. But now, the change in rules for selection allows anyone to apply for these posts and several political leaders in Punjab and opposition leaders from Haryana are opposing the move. Khattar said his government has verbally conveyed to the Centre that there can be three members on the board if it was felt that Rajasthan should have better representation.
In the BBMB, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi to some extent are the stakeholder states, he said.
COMPENSATION AMOUNT OF CROP DAMAGE INCREASED
Khattar said that the compensation amount for crop damage was increased from Rs 10,000 per acre to Rs 12,000 and in this financial year it has been increased again to Rs. 15,000 per acre. Replying to a question, he said that in this financial year, Rs. 581.17 crore has been given as compensation to the farmers. Apart from this, claims of about Rs 755 crore have also been approved for the farmers for Kharif 2021 under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, while the premium of Rs. 242 crore has been paid by the farmers. Till now an amount of Rs. 534 crore has been deposited in the accounts of farmers, the balance amount will be deposited in the accounts of farmers by the end of March 2022.
7-FOLD INCREASE IN RECRUITMENT OF DOCTORS SINCE 2014
Khattar said that at present 2,615 posts of Medical Officers have been filled, including 954 posts of Medical Officers (Group-A) which were filled during the COVID-19 pandemic. To avoid any delay in the recruitment of doctors, it was decided instead to recruit through a committee of HPSC. The process of filling 980 vacant posts of medical officers is also going on by this committee. The process of creating a separate specialist cadre of doctors in the health department is underway, he said. The CM said in 2014, there were 7 medical colleges in the state, out of which 3 were government and 3 were private. During our tenure, 3 government and 4 private medical colleges have been opened. Now the number of colleges has increased to 13 in the state and target is to open one medical college in every district. At present, out of 13 medical colleges, 6 are government, 6 private and one government aided. There are 1,685 MBBS seats and 510 PG seats.
CMIE PRESENTING FALSE FIGURES ON EMPLOYMENT
Khattar said that Center for Monitoring Indian Economy Private Limited (CMIE) is a profit making private company, which is presenting false employment figures in the state. This company presented the unemployment figure of 34.1 percent in its report in December 2021. Just a month later, in January 2022, unemployment was shown at 23.4 percent. How come there has been a drop of 11 percent in just one month? If this is considered right, 16 lakh unemployed people got employment in a month. On this the opposition should praise us. This type of report works to create unrest in the society by presenting baseless figures, he said. The government has refuted these figures on several occasions, he added.
KHATTAR REPLIES TO MOTION OF THANKS TO GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS
Responding to Ram Kumar Gautam who said that work is not being provided under MGNREGA putting Haryana in fourth place, Chief Minister said that every person seeking work under MGNREGA has been given work. In the year 2021-22 till February 2022, there were 6,75,487 applicants and 6,74,947 persons were offered employment, out of which 5,41,000 persons worked under MGNREGA. He welcomed the criticisms made by the members of the opposition and said that he is also in favour of criticisms, provided they are constructive. He said that some people keep creating obstacles, but the present government will continue to talk about public welfare and public interest.
Giving reply to the issue raised by the Leader of Opposition of the National Capital Region Planning Board, the Chief Minister said that the NCR Board was formed in 1985, at that time there were 8 districts in Haryana and in 2013, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh, Karnal, Jind, Panipat were included. The NCR Planning Board provides loans to the states at an interest rate of 7 to 8 percent. The economic condition of Haryana is good and loans are being received from other agencies at the rate of 6.9 percent. The development projects of Gurugram cannot be compared with the projects of Bhiwani, and Mahendragarh districts.
On Anganwadi workers, Khattar said that Left parties are instigating these workers to sit on dharna. Talks were held with various unions and their demands were accepted and 65 per cent workers are on duty. He clarified that Haryana is giving highest honorarium to Anganwadi workers and helpers as compared to other states except Telangana.