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Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday announced the Haryana Shahri Vikas Yojana as the agency for the development of basic amenities in unauthorized colonies after the state government decided to regularize such colonies. In this scheme, an initial fund of Rs 500 crore will be kept from the Haryana Urban Development Fund, Khattar said while speaking during the last day of the monsoon session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha.
Khattar said that the government has recently regularized 449 unauthorized colonies. Besides this, the process of regularization of 1000 colonies is going on. He said that the above fund would be in addition to the development charges levied on the residents of regularized colonies and will be fully used for infrastructure development in the colony.
He said that the issue of sand in small rivers like Markanda, Ghaggar, and Tangri etc. became a serious concern during floods. The rivers do not remain filled with sand as the irrigation department nor the mining department found any solution of delisting the rivers.
Now a 5-member committee has been formed to solve this problem. Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue, Advisor to Chief Minister (Irrigation), Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Forest and Wildlife Department, Additional Chief Secretary, Mining and Geology Department and Commissioner and Secretary, Irrigation and Water Resources Department will be the committee members.
Responding to the statistics presented by the Opposition regarding the state's fiscal parameters, the Chief Minister said that the figures presented by the Opposition are misleading and beyond facts. He said that in the year 2014-15 the GSDP of the state was 4, 37,000 crore, which has increased to 9 lakh crore today, which indicates the progress and economic development of the state.
He said that the internal debt figures shared by Opposition are not accurate. The Opposition gave the figure of Rs 44,000 crore in public account deposits, whereas it is Rs 40,000 crore. He said that internal debt is not added to the liabilities. In the budget of 2014-15 also, the internal debt was 2.58 percent, which is 2.3 percent today.
PPP eases access to welfare schemes
Underscoring the significant strides made by the government in enhancing eligible citizen access to government schemes through the Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) initiative, Khattar said that this novel approach has not only eliminated many hurdles but also empowered eligible beneficiaries to effortlessly avail themselves of various state welfare schemes and programs.
Replying to a calling attention motion moved by the opposition, he highlighted the government's commitment to streamline processes for the betterment of the public through PPP and informed that the initiative aimed to ensure that poor and eligible ones are no longer subjected to the unnecessary rigmarole of office visits and documentation submission.
He recounted that the earlier system disproportionately favored those who were dominant or well-connected, often leading to an unequal distribution of scheme benefits. In contrast, vulnerable individuals were often discouraged from participating due to procedural complexities.
Through the issuance of over 12.30 lakh new ration cards in January 2023, the government has achieved the commendable feat of identifying eligible beneficiaries and granting them access to essential services. This strategic approach, he noted, has aided in identifying those truly in need.
Khattar said that the Old Age Samman Allowance benefits have been linked pro-actively to PPP. The verification process of all those in the age group of 59 to 70 are being identified including those who were left out in the earlier process and their consent is being sought for start of the Allowance. This process is likely to be completed by September 2023.
The Chief Minister said that in the current academic year 2023-24, 3.52 lakh fresh admissions have been made in private and govemment schools based on PPP data. Similarly, 1.28 lakh admissions have been made in colleges through the Online Admission Portal of the Department of Higher Education using PPP data. Admissions to Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) is still underway and till date 1.01 lakh registrations using PPP for admission to ITIs has been received on the Online Admission Portal of the Department of Skill Development and Industrial Training, of which 61,405 admissions have been made.