Determined to increase the income of farmers by encouraging them to take up horticultural and other alternative crops, Haryana Government has decided to provide incentives on the use of new farming techniques within 100 kilometres around Delhi in the National Capital Region.
This was announced by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal, who was addressing a public meeting at Patuadi in Gurgaon on Sunday. The Chief Minister said that farmers should take up cultivation of alternative crops such as fruits, vegetables, flowers and medicinal plants instead of the traditional wheat and paddy. This would boost the income of farmers, which could be more than Rs 1 lakh per acre. Farmers could also increase their income by rearing cattle and selling milk and milk products, he added.
He also made a slew of announcements for accelerating the pace of development in the National Capital Region (NCR). These included the status of National Highway to Gurgaon-Rewari road via Pataudi, an engineering college in Panchgaon, Metro service from Gurgaon to Manesar, and development of the area within one km on both sides of the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway to boost industrial and commercial activity. He announced Rs 15 crore for the development of rural areas and Rs 5 crore for urban areas in Pataudi. The other projects include construction of a stadium on six acres in Heli Mandi and gymnasiums in 10 villages, construction of new roads from Ramnagar to Gurawara and Baspur to Kapriwas, expansion of veterinary hospital in Pataudi and of the civil hospital from 50-bedded to 100-bedded, a new fire station in Pataudi, and community centres in Nawada-Rajpur-Nakhraula along with Pataudi.
The Chief Minister said that on coming to power, the present State Government had fixed three areas of priority: honesty, zero tolerance towards corruption and sensitivity towards society. According to the feedback received, the Government has been successful in these areas, he added.
Urging the people to intervene directly to end corruption, Manohar lal said that if complaints regarding corruption were received, strict action would be taken against those found guilty. He said that the year 2000 onwards, Discoms had suffered losses of Rs 33,000 crore and the government had decided to bear the previous losses. He urged the people to pay their electricity bills on time.
Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of State for Defence, Rao Inderjit Singh, said that he had recently met the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, who had agreed to consider the proposal to offer up to 70 per cent rebate in toll at the Kherki Daula Toll Plaza to the residents of Gurgaon.