Under fire from Opposition for not taking immediate action to provide succour to the farmers, Haryana Government has now urged the Centre to provide immediate interim relief of Rs500 crore to compensate the damage caused to Rabi crops of farmers due to recent unseasonal rain and hailstorms in the State.
During the ongoing budget session in Vidhan Sabha, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Tuesday informed the House that he has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi through a written communication to provide immediate interim relief of Rs500 crore to compensate the damage caused to Rabi crops of farmers due to recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms in the state.
Elaborating other initiatives taken to assist the farmers, the Chief Minister informed the house that the Government has decided to reschedule the payment of loans under which crop loans would be converted into medium term loans for a period of three years.
Apart from this, the next crop loan would be provided to farmers on zero per cent interest rate, he said.Manohar lal added that the government will also give benefit to the farmers in electricity bills. Under this, 50 per cent of the electricity bills of previous six months and upcoming six months would be waived off for the farmers whose damage of crops is in the range of 25 per cent to 50 per cent.
Similarly, 100 per cent electricity bills of farmers would be waived off for one year whose crops have been damaged to the extent of more than 50 per cent, he added. The BJP Government has come under heavy criticism from the opposition parties during the ongoing budget session over the farmers’ issue.
Following the announcements made by Manohar lal, several Congress and INlD legislators alleged that the exercise to assess the crop damage is not being done in many villages of the State. INlD MlA Parminder Singh Dhull also questioned the Chief Minister on the demand raised by the party to give bonus to the farmers.
Responding, the Chief Minister said that the preliminary reports have been received from many places. Upto 100 per cent crop damage have been reported in some villages of Mewat, Palwal, Rewari and the final report will be compiled by March 31.
Manohar lal assured that all the affected villages will be covered during the assessment exercise, which is still in progress and compensation will be given accordingly Intervening, the Congress MlA Karan Dalal alleged that the State Government has sung into action only after the visit of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to eight villages of Haryana’s Bhiwani district on Saturday.
Sonia Gandhi during her visit to the State had on Saturday met farmers whose crops were damaged in the recent heavy rains and had also promised her party’s support to raise their concerns.
The Chief Minister earlier also gave information of the announcement made by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on Monday during ‘Shahidi Diwas’ in Hussainiwala (Punjab) to give monthly pension of Rs5,000 to farmers after they attain 60 years of age.
No tenders invited for SEZ in Gurgaon-Jhajjar region: Capt Abhimanyu
The previous Congress Government had not invited tenders or followed the competitive bidding process before signing the memorandum of understanding with Reliance Ventures limited in 2005.
The HSIIDC and Reliance Ventures limited had signed an MoU on December 12, 2005 for setting up a multi product Special Economic Zone (SEZ) over an area of 25,000 acres in Gurgaon-Jhajjar.
However, later the agreement was terminated on August 29, 2014, informed Capt. Abhimanyu, Industries and Commerce Minister on Tuesday. While giving reply to a question, the Minister informed that after the termination of the MoU, 15 per cent penalty, which is almost Rs50 crore could have been imposed on the company but nothing was done by the previous Congress.
The State Government is examining all the alleged corruption cases during the tenure of previous Congress Government, he added.
Haryana constitutes Pay Anomaly Commission
Haryana Government has constituted a Pay Anomaly Commission on September 11, 2014 in order to remove pay anomalies among its employees. In a reply to a question regarding any proposal under consideration of the Government to enhance the salaries of all the employees of the Government departments in Haryana at par with Punjab Government, the State Government in a written reply has informed that this Commission would make appropriate recommendations to the Government on representations received from individual employees or association or union of employees for removal of pay anomalies and deviations, which might have arisen out of the implementation of pay revisions as Haryana Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008 and Haryana Civil Services (Assured Career Progression) Rules, 2008 were amended from time to time.
Rs52.08 crore milk cess recovered so far
A total of Rs52.08 crores have been recovered as milk cess upto December 31, 2014 from various milk plants against due amount of Rs565.29 crores, informed Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar while adding that demand notices for recovery of milk cess are being served to various milk plants by the Competent Authority i.e. concerned Semen Bank Officers.