Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Sunday said that the State Government has identified seven priority areas and their effective implementation could usher in a new ‘Sapt kranti’ in the State.
“This will enable Haryana to be a special State not only in the country, but also in the world,” said the Chief Minister, while addressing a day long workshop on “Issues and Challenges in Preparation of Budget — 2017-18” at Panchkula.
He said these key areas included women empowerment, development of youth, agriculture and rural development, infrastructure, education, health and culture.
The Chief Minister said probably, it is the first time that such a workshop has been organised to have threadbare discussion on various issues before the presentation of final budget of the State in the Vidhan Sabha. This exercise would ensure optimum utilisation of the funds and enhance efficiency of the departments, he added.
He also stressed the need for mobilisation of resources to increase the quantum of the budget as it would enable the State Government to spend maximum on development works.
As the year 2017 will be the year of implementation, the State Government has identified certain schemes and programmes of different departments for their implementation, he said.
The Chief Minister also directed the departments concerned to make adequate provision of funds in the Budget for the year 2017-18 so that these schemes and programmes could be implemented in an efficient manner.
He said all these schemes will be implemented with the spirit of Antodya to ensure that their benefit reach the poorest among the poor.
While laying special emphasis on rural development, the Chief Minister directed the officers to make provision of providing facilities to the villages, having a population of over 10,000, on the pattern of urban areas.
The State Government has decided to strengthen the Panchyati Raj Institutions (PRIs) by transferring certain works of various departments along with budgetary provisions in a phased manner. This, he said, would not only help in making the government system more efficient, but would also help in ensuring effective monitoring of development works.
He also exhorted the officers to promote cashless transactions in their respective departments as this would help in keeping a check on corruption and leakage of revenue. It is a high time for the departments to switch over to e-services and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system to bring about transparency in their functioning, he added.
Manohar lal also asked the departments to accept all Government transactions of over `5,000 in digital mode.
Earlier, the Chief Minister was presented with the awards which Haryana has bagged at national level in recognition of its outstanding performance in different fields. While Haryana Finance Minister Capt. Abhimanyu presented the trophies of best State award in New Pension Scheme (NPS) and egrass, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Kumar Bedi presented the trophy which the State had received as e-governance award in social security pension scheme.
Speaking at the workshop, Haryana Finance Minister, Capt Abhimanyu said that the State Government has transferred the facility of providing loans to its employees for housing, vehicles, computers and marriage to the banks.
This decision has proved to be immensely beneficial for the employees as now they need not make frequent
rounds to get their loans sanctioned, he said.
Earlier, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance P Raghavendra Rao gave a detailed presentation on State’s economy and resource mobilisation.