The Opposition parties – Indian National lok Dal and Congress — on Tuesday assailed the Manohar lal Khattar Government on issues including Sutlej Yamuna link (SYl) canal, ongoing Jat agitation, crop insurance scheme and Saraswati revival project.
As soon as the question hour ended on Tuesday during the second day of budget session of Haryana Assembly, the leader of opposition and INlD’s senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala demanded moving an adjournment motion to discuss the ongoing Jat agitation in the State.
lashing out at the BJP led Haryana Government for not resolving the issues of Jat protestors, whose agitation has completed one month and entered its 31st day on Tuesday, Chautala said “People have been forced to sit on dharnas. During last year’s Jat agitation, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had himself assured a Jat delegation to accept their demands but their demands have not been fulfilled till now.”
Continuing his tirade against the State Government, the leader of opposition said, “The Chief Minister should give a statement on this issue…It seems that the Government is deliberately delaying the entire issue and is not serious about accepting the demands of Jat protestors. The BJP Government should not forget what had happened during last year’s Jat stir.”
Responding to this, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma accused the INlD and Congress of trying to gain political mileage and building their political career by provoking the Jat protestors.
Haryana Speaker Kanwar Pal, however, rejected the motion of adjournment moved by opposition members, saying that since the matter related to Jat agitation is sub-judice, it cannot be discussed in the House. The House can take up other issues related to the ongoing Jat agitation but not the cases which are sub-judice,” he said.
Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, then intervened saying, “Only reservation issue is sub-judice but the House can discuss other issues related to the ongoing Jat protest in Haryana.”
“People are sitting on dharnas for a month now and development work in the State has stopped. It has also created a law and order situation in Haryana. The House should discuss the issues related to ongoing Jat agitation,” demanded Hooda.
Following this, a verbal duel ensued between legislators of ruling and opposition on the Jat agitation issue.
Amid commotion, the Speaker adjourned the House for half an hour and also, called senior party leaders from the ruling and opposition to resolve the issue amicably.
When the House reconvened, the Speaker announced that the issue pertaining to ongoing Jat agitation will be taken up for discussion on Wednesday.
Besides seeking quota in education and Government jobs under Other Backward Classes category, the demands of the Jats include release of those jailed during last year’s agitation, withdrawal of cases slapped during the protest and Government jobs for the kin of those killed and injured while taking part in the stir.
later, during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on Governor’s address in the State Assembly, the opposition slammed the BJP led Haryana Government for looting the farmers in the name of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) and for failing to do anything on SYl canal issue.
The motion was moved by BJP MlA Abhe Singh Yadav and seconded by BJP MlA Pawan Saini.
MlA Abhe Singh, who moved the motion, praised the PMFBY, which provoked Congress legislators, who stood up and asked him to speak truth about the scheme.
While Congress MlA Raghubir Kadiyan and former Speaker Kuldeep Sharma were levelling allegations against the ruling BJP for ignoring the farmers, INlD Jasvinder Singh Sandhu and other party legislators also joined in to hit out at the State Government.
The Speaker Kanwar Pal then warned the opposition legislators not to disrupt the House proceedings and let the BJP MlA complete his address.
later on, BJP MlA Pawan Saini’s statement that Congress and INlD are doing politics on SYl issue, triggered angry reactions from opposition legislators, who were on their feet and the discussion turned into a shouting match between the MlAs of treasury benches and opposition.
Taking a dig at INlD for returning unsuccessful from Punjab without digging SYl on February 23 as announced by them, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma said that they (INlD) went to Patiala jail and ate food there.
Reacting sharply to Sharma’s statement, INlD’s Jasvinder Sandhu said, “Not only Punjab Police stopped us (INlD) from digging SYl but the State Government had also put barricades to stop us to move towards Punjab.”
The BJP Government in Haryana was also severely criticized by the opposition for undertaking “Saraswati revival project”.
Questioning the multi-crore project to revive mythological river “Saraswati”, leader of opposition, Abhay Chautala said that the BJP is trying to befool people of Haryana by making claims to revive Saraswati.
The Congress had also tried to revive Saraswati river during their tenure in Haryana but did not succeed, he added.
Tributes paid to former Union Minister and freedom fighter
Tributes were paid to former Union Minister and Governor of Sikkim and Kerala, P Shiv Shankar and freedom fighter Kundan Singh of village Khanda, district Sonipat, on the second day of the ongoing budget session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha. They both had passed away on Monday. The members of the House also observed a two-minute silence to pay homage to the departed souls.
923 complaints of child marriage
923 complaints of child marriage have so far been received since 2014 and 531 child marriages were prevented through counselling in Haryana. Women and Child Development Minister, Kavita Jain in a written reply to a question stated that 123 child marriages were prevented with injunction orders, 74 complaints were referred to Police for necessary action and application was filed in Court for nullity in 25 cases under Section 3 of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. The girl or boy was found to be a major after enquiry or complaint was found to be false after enquiry in 188 cases.
In 2014-15, as many as 246 complaints were reported, and child marriage was prevented through counselling in 119 cases and with injunction orders in 48 cases in Haryana. In 2015-16, 315 complaints were reported, and child marriage was prevented through counselling in 182 cases and with injunction orders in 37 cases while in 2016-17, 362 complaints were reported, and child marriage was prevented through counselling in 230 cases and with injunction orders in 38 cases.
359 companies signed MoUs with Haryana Govt
Haryana Industries and Commerce Minister, Vipul Goel said that 359 companies had signed Memoranda of Understanding during Happening Haryana Global Investors’ Summit. Goel in a written reply said that work has started on 157 projects in 16 districts with proposed investment of about `85075.58 crore. Investment of `11900.04 crore has already been made in these projects, said he.
11 districts taken up to deal with problem of stray cattle
Haryana Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister, Om Prakash Dhankar informed the State Assembly that 11 districts namely Fatehabad, Sirsa, Mewat, Kurukshetra, Panchkula, Panipat, Rewari, Karnal, Ambala, Yamunanagar and Hisar have been taken up in first phase wherein stay cattle would be rehabilitated in existing gaushalas wherever possible and in newly established Nandishalas, cattle pounds and phataks with the help of Municipal Corporations or Committees and local gram panchayats by respective district administration.
Road accidents in Haryana
3800 people were killed in Haryana which witnessed 8446 road accidents from April to December 2016. As many as 4880 persons had died in 11188 road accidents in 2015-16 while the State had witnessed 10512 accidents and 4600 deaths due to this in 2014-15.
The figures of road accidents were tabled in the House on Tuesday. The road accidents account for a large number of deaths and injuries every year in Haryana.
Over 14 lakh beneficiaries paid old age pension
Haryana Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Krishan Kumar, said that 14,32,380 beneficiaries in the state had been paid old age pension in February, 2017.