Accepting the request made by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Union Home Minister, Amit Shah announced that land would be given in Chandigarh for the additional Vidhan Sabha building of Haryana.
The Home Minister was presiding over the 30th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council meeting at Jaipur in which chief ministers of several northern states participated.
After the announcement, Khattar said that land has been identified for a new additional building for Haryana Vidhan Sabha and after the announcement of the Home Minister, the work on the same will start soon.
A new delimitation is proposed in the year 2026, based on which Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections will be held in the year 2029. It is estimated that as per the population size of Haryana in the new delimitation, the number of Assembly Constituencies will be 126 and the number of Lok Sabha constituencies will be 14, an official statement said here. The Chief Minister said that presently, there are 90 MLAs in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha. There is not enough space available in the existing building to even accommodate these 90 MLAs. Not only this, but it is also not possible to expand this building, because it is a heritage building, added Khattar.
The Chief Minister said that even after a lapse of almost 56 years, Haryana has not got the full right in the existing building. He said 24,630 square feet area in the Vidhan Sabha building was given to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Secretariat. But the 20 rooms that came under Haryana's share are still in the possession of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. In such a situation, there is a lack of adequate space for the meeting of MLAs, Ministers and Committees along with the employees, he added
KHATTAR RAISES ISSUES OF HARYANA
Attending the 30th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council, chaired by Union Home Minister, Amit Shah at Jaipur, Khattar raised several important issues of the State including the Sutlej-Yamuna link canal, appointment of members in the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), restoration of Haryana's share in Panjab University, and a new additional building for the Haryana Vidhan Sabha. The Chief Minister said that the 30th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council would be helpful in promoting cooperative federalism as well as in resolving various issues of inter-state and between the Center and the states in a time-bound manner.
Khattar said that the completion of the construction work of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal is a long pending and serious issue between the states of Haryana and Punjab. Due to the non-completion of the SYL Canal, surplus, unchanneled water of Ravi, Sutlej and Beas goes to Pakistan. He said that through a demi-official letter dated May 6, 2022, he had requested the Union Minister of Jal Shakti to convene the second-round meeting of the Chief Ministers of both the states at the earliest to discuss this issue. Besides this, he had written a demi-official letter to the Home Minister, requesting to organize a meeting of the Chief Ministers of both the states.
Khattar said that earlier he had also written three demi-official letters to the Punjab Chief Minister for this meeting, but no response was received from his side. Now that the new government has come in Punjab, therefore, the Home Minister is again requested to hold this meeting at the earliest and the Supreme Court should also be informed about its findings, said the Chief Minister.
Highlighting the issue of appointment of members in Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), the CM said that the previous tradition of nominating Member (Irrigation) from Haryana should be continued on similar lines of the nomination of member (power) in BBMB from Punjab. If there is interference in the processes which have been going on for the last about 56 years, it will affect the interests of Haryana, especially in the context of Sutlej- Beas river water sharing. If the permanent members of the BBMB are from outside the participating states, they will not be able to understand local issues and problems. Therefore, in addition to appointing Member (Irrigation) from Haryana and Member (Electricity) from Punjab, a third member (Personnel) can also be appointed to the Board. This third member may be appointed alternately from Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, said Khattar.
Khattar said the share of Haryana in Panjab University should be restored and the colleges of Haryana adjoining Chandigarh should also be affiliated with this University. Haryana's share in Panjab University was granted under the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966. It was abolished by the Union Home Ministry by issuing a notification on November 1, 1973. Earlier the colleges of the erstwhile Ambala district of Haryana were affiliated to this University. Therefore, the Home Minister is requested to amend the rules to restore the share of Haryana State in Panjab University, said the CM.
The CM said that the present State Government is committed to the speedy construction of National Highway-105 connecting Haryana with Himachal Pradesh. The length of this project is 31.71 km, out of which 13.30 km falls in Haryana. We are fully cooperating with the National Highways Authority of India in completing this project, he said.
On crop residue and burning, Khattar said that along with taking action in such cases, farmers have been made aware of the issue. Indian Council of Agricultural Research report says thatthere has been a 73 percent reduction in the burning of crop residues since the year 2016. "To control stubble burning, we have provided free decomposer capsules to the farmers. Till now 3,19,350 acres have been covered with decomposer technology. The target is to cover 5 lakh acres of land with decomposers during Kharif-2022," he said.